diff --git "a/wikipedia_17.txt" "b/wikipedia_17.txt" new file mode 100644--- /dev/null +++ "b/wikipedia_17.txt" @@ -0,0 +1,10000 @@ + + Tabloid Company, Aiding Trump Campaign, May Have Crossed Line Into Politics + +Publishing companies established in 1936 +Magazine publishing companies of the United States +Newspaper companies of the United States +Privately held companies based in New York City +Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2010 +1936 establishments in New York (state) +Publishing companies based in New York City +Aramaic (; ; ; ; Western Neo-Aramaic ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria, and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the Southern Levant and eastern Anatolia where it has been continually written and spoken, in different varieties, for over three thousand years, today largely by Assyrians, Mandeans and Mizrahi Jews. + +Aramaic served as a language of public life and administration of ancient kingdoms and empires, and also as a language of divine worship and religious study. Several modern varieties, the Neo-Aramaic languages, are still spoken by Assyrians (whose dialects are influenced by Akkadian), and Mandeans and Mizrahi Jews and is used as the liturgical language of a number of West Asian churches. + +Aramaic belongs to the Northwest group of the Semitic language family, which also includes the mutually intelligable Canaanite languages such as Hebrew, Edomite, Moabite, Ekronite, Sutean and Phoenician, as well as Amorite and Ugaritic. Aramaic languages are written in the Aramaic alphabet, a descendant of the Phoenician alphabet, and the most prominent alphabet variant is the Syriac alphabet. The Aramaic alphabet also became a base for the creation and adaptation of specific writing systems in some other Semitic languages of West Asia, such as the Hebrew alphabet and the Arabic alphabet. + +The Aramaic languages are now considered endangered, since several varieties are used mainly by the older generations. Researchers are working to record and analyze all of the remaining varieties of Neo-Aramaic languages before they or in case they become extinct. Aramaic dialects today form the mother tongues of the Assyrians and Mandaeans, as well as some Mizrahi Jews. + +Early Aramaic inscriptions date from 11th century BC, placing it among the earliest languages to be written down. Aramaicist Holger Gzella notes, "The linguistic history of Aramaic prior to the appearance of the first textual sources in the ninth century BC remains unknown." + +History + +Historically and originally, Aramaic was the language of the Arameans, a Semitic-speaking people of the region between the northern Levant and the northern Tigris valley. By around 1000 BC, the Arameans had a string of kingdoms in what is now part of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and the fringes of southern Mesopotamia (Iraq). Aramaic rose to prominence under the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911–605 BC), under whose influence Aramaic became a prestige language after being adopted as a lingua franca of the empire by Assyrian kings, and its use was spread throughout Mesopotamia, the Levant and parts of Asia Minor, Arabian Peninsula and Ancient Iran under Assyrian rule. At its height, Aramaic was spoken in what is now Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine/Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, parts of southeast and south central Turkey, Northern parts of the Arabian Peninsula and parts of northwest Iran as well as the southern Caucasus, having gradually replaced several other related Semitic languages. + +According to the Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 38b), the language spoken by the Bible's first was Aramaic. + +Aramaic was the language of Jesus ("Yeshua Mkheetha", Yeshu, Eshu, Esho, Isho in Aramaic dialects), who spoke the Galilean dialect during his public ministry, as well as the language of several sections of the Hebrew Bible, including parts of the books of Daniel and Ezra, and also the language of the Targum, the Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Bible. It is also the language of the Jerusalem Talmud, Babylonian Talmud and Zohar. + +The scribes of the Neo-Assyrian bureaucracy had also used Aramaic, and this practice was subsequently inherited by the succeeding Neo-Babylonian Empire (605–539 BC), and later by the Achaemenid Empire (539–330 BC). Mediated by scribes that had been trained in the language, highly standardized written Aramaic (named by scholars as Imperial Aramaic) progressively also became the lingua franca of public life, trade and commerce throughout the Achaemenid territories. Wide use of written Aramaic subsequently led to the adoption of the Aramaic alphabet and (as logograms) some Aramaic vocabulary in the Pahlavi scripts, which were used by several Middle Iranian languages (including Parthian, Middle Persian, Sogdian, and Khwarazmian). + +Aramaic was slowly phased out of public life starting from after the conquest of Arabia in the 7th century AD, but never fully died out. + +Some variants of Aramaic are also retained as sacred languages by certain religious communities. Most notable among them is Classical Syriac, the liturgical language of Syriac Christianity. It is used by several communities, including the Assyrian Church of the East, the Ancient Church of the East, the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Syriac Catholic Church, the Maronite Church, and also the Saint Thomas Christians (Native Christians) and Syrian Christians (K[Q]naya) of Kerala, India. One of Aramaic liturgical dialects was Mandaic, which besides becoming a vernacular (Neo-Mandaic) also remained the liturgical language of Mandaeism. Syriac was also the liturgical language of several now-extinct gnostic faiths, such as Manichaeism. Neo-Aramaic languages are still spoken in the 21st century as a first language by many communities of Assyrian Christians, Jews (in particular, the Jews of Kurdistan/Iraqi Jews), and Mandaeans of the Near East, and with numbers of fluent speakers ranging approximately from 1 million to 2 million, with the main Akkadian influenced languages among Assyrians being Suret (240,000 speakers) and Turoyo (100,000 speakers); in addition to Western Neo-Aramaic (21,700) which persists in only three villages in the Anti-Lebanon Mountains region in western Syria. They have retained use of the once dominant lingua franca despite subsequent language shifts experienced throughout the Middle East. + +Name + +The connection between Chaldean, Syriac, and Samaritan as "Aramaic" was first identified in 1679 by German theologian Johann Wilhelm Hilliger. In 1819–21 Ulrich Friedrich Kopp published his Bilder und Schriften der Vorzeit ("Images and Inscriptions of the Past"), in which he established the basis of the paleographical development of the Northwest Semitic scripts. Kopp criticised Jean-Jacques Barthélemy and other scholars who had characterized all the then-known inscriptions and coins as Phoenician, with "everything left to the Phoenicians and nothing to the Arameans, as if they could not have written at all". Kopp noted that some of the words on the Carpentras Stele corresponded to the Aramaic in the Book of Daniel, and in the Book of Ruth. + +Josephus and Strabo (the latter citing Posidonius) both stated that the "Syrians" called themselves "Arameans". The Septuagint, the earliest extant full copy of the Hebrew Bible, a Greek translation, used the terms Syria and Syrian where the Masoretic Text, the earliest extant Hebrew copy of the Bible, uses the terms Aramean and Aramaic; numerous later bibles followed the Septuagint's usage, including the King James Version. This connection between the names Syrian and Aramaic was discussed in 1835 by Étienne Marc Quatremère. + +In historical sources, Aramaic language is designated by two distinctive groups of terms, first of them represented by endonymic (native) names, and the other one represented by various exonymic (foreign in origin) names. Native (endonymic) terms for Aramaic language were derived from the same word root as the name of its original speakers, the ancient Arameans. Endonymic forms were also adopted in some other languages, like ancient Hebrew. In the Torah (Hebrew Bible), "Aram" is used as a proper name of several people including descendants of Shem, Nahor, and Jacob. Ancient Aram, bordering northern Israel and what is now called Syria, is considered the linguistic center of Aramaic, the language of the Arameans who settled the area during the Bronze Age . The language is often mistakenly considered to have originated within Assyria (Iraq). In fact, Arameans carried their language and writing into Mesopotamia by voluntary migration, by forced exile of conquering armies, and by nomadic Chaldean invasions of Babylonia during the period from 1200 to 1000 BC. + +Unlike in Hebrew, designations for Aramaic language in some other ancient languages were mostly exonymic. In ancient Greek, Aramaic language was most commonly known as the "Syrian language", in relation to the native (non-Greek) inhabitants of the historical region of Syria. Since the name of Syria itself emerged as a variant of Assyria, the biblical Ashur, and Akkadian Ashuru, a complex set of semantic phenomena was created, becoming a subject of interest both among ancient writers and modern scholars. + +The Koine Greek word (Hebraïstí) has been translated as "Aramaic" in some versions of the Christian New Testament, as Aramaic was at that time the language commonly spoken by the Jews. However, is consistently used in Koine Greek at this time to mean Hebrew and (Syristi) is used to mean Aramaic. In Biblical scholarship, the term "Chaldean" was for many years used as a synonym of Aramaic, due to its use in the book of Daniel and subsequent interpretation by Jerome. + +Geographic distribution + +During the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian Empires, Arameans, the native speakers of Aramaic, began to settle in greater numbers, at first in Babylonia, and later in Assyria (Upper Mesopotamia, modern-day northern Iraq, northeast Syria, southwest Iran, and southeastern Turkey (what was Armenia at the time). The influx eventually resulted in the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911–605 BC) adopting an Akkadian-influenced Imperial Aramaic as the lingua franca of its empire. This policy was continued by the short-lived Neo-Babylonian Empire and Medes, and all three empires became operationally bilingual in written sources, with Aramaic used alongside Akkadian. The Achaemenid Empire (539–323 BC) continued this tradition, and the extensive influence of these empires led to Aramaic gradually becoming the lingua franca of most of western Asia, Anatolia, the Caucasus, and Egypt. + +Beginning with the rise of the Rashidun Caliphate in the late 7th century, Arabic gradually replaced Aramaic as the lingua franca of the Near East. However, Aramaic remains a spoken, literary, and liturgical language for local Christians and also some Jews. Aramaic also continues to be spoken by the Assyrians of Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and northwest Iran, with diaspora communities in Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and southern Russia. The Mandaeans also continue to use Mandaic Aramaic as a liturgical language, although most now speak Arabic as their first language. There are still also a small number of first-language speakers of Western Aramaic varieties in isolated villages in western Syria. + +Being in contact with other regional languages, some Aramaic dialects were often engaged in mutual exchange of influences, particularly with Arabic, Iranian, and Kurdish. + +The turbulence of the last two centuries (particularly the Assyrian genocide) has seen speakers of first-language and literary Aramaic dispersed throughout the world. However, there are a number of sizable Assyrian towns in northern Iraq such as Alqosh, Bakhdida, Bartella, Tesqopa, and Tel Keppe, and numerous small villages, where Aramaic is still the main spoken language, and many large cities in this region also have Assyrian Aramaic-speaking communities, particularly Mosul, Erbil, Kirkuk, Dohuk, and al-Hasakah. In Modern Israel, the only native Aramaic speaking population are the Jews of Kurdistan, although the language is dying out. However, Aramaic is also experiencing a revival among Maronites in Israel in Jish. + +Aramaic languages and dialects +Aramaic is often spoken of as a single language, but is in reality a group of related languages. Some Aramaic languages differ more from each other than the Romance languages do among themselves. Its long history, extensive literature, and use by different religious communities are all factors in the diversification of the language. Some Aramaic dialects are mutually intelligible, whereas others are not, not unlike the situation with modern varieties of Arabic. Some Aramaic languages are known under different names; for example, Syriac is particularly used to describe the Eastern Aramaic variety used in Christian ethnic communities in Iraq, southeastern Turkey, northeastern Syria, and northwestern Iran, and Saint Thomas Christians in India. Most dialects can be described as either "Eastern" or "Western", the dividing line being roughly the Euphrates, or slightly west of it. It is also helpful to draw a distinction between those Aramaic languages that are modern living languages (often called "Neo-Aramaic"), those that are still in use as literary languages, and those that are extinct and are only of interest to scholars. Although there are some exceptions to this rule, this classification gives "Modern", "Middle", and "Old" periods, alongside "Eastern" and "Western" areas, to distinguish between the various languages and dialects that are Aramaic. + +Writing system + +The earliest Aramaic alphabet was based on the Phoenician alphabet. In time, Aramaic developed its distinctive "square" style. The ancient Israelites and other peoples of Canaan adopted this alphabet for writing their own languages. Thus, it is better known as the Hebrew alphabet. This is the writing system used in Biblical Aramaic and other Jewish writing in Aramaic. The other main writing system used for Aramaic was developed by Christian communities: a cursive form known as the Syriac alphabet. A highly modified form of the Aramaic alphabet, the Mandaic alphabet, is used by the Mandaeans. + +In addition to these writing systems, certain derivatives of the Aramaic alphabet were used in ancient times by particular groups: the Nabataean alphabet in Petra and the Palmyrene alphabet in Palmyra. In modern times, Turoyo (see below) has sometimes been written in a Latin script. + +Periodization + +Periodization of historical development of Aramaic language has been the subject of particular interest for scholars, who proposed several types of periodization, based on linguistic, chronological and territorial criteria. Overlapping terminology, used in different periodizations, led to the creation of several polysemic terms, that are used differently among scholars. Terms like: Old Aramaic, Ancient Aramaic, Early Aramaic, Middle Aramaic, Late Aramaic (and some others, like Paleo-Aramaic), were used in various meanings, thus referring (in scope or substance) to different stages in historical development of Aramaic language. + +Most commonly used types of periodization are those of Klaus Beyer and Joseph Fitzmyer. + +Periodization of Klaus Beyer (1929–2014): + Old Aramaic, from the earliest records, to 200 AD + Middle Aramaic, from 200 AD, to 1200 AD + Modern Aramaic, from 1200 AD, up to the modern times + +Periodization of Joseph Fitzmyer (1920–2016): + Old Aramaic, from the earliest records, to regional prominence 700 BC + Official Aramaic, from 700 BC, to 200 BC + Middle Aramaic, from 200 BC, to 200 AD + Late Aramaic, from 200 AD, to 700 AD + Modern Aramaic, from 700 AD, up to the modern times + +Recent periodization of Aaron Butts: + Old Aramaic, from the earliest records, to 538 BC + Achaemenid Aramaic, from 538 BC, to 333 BC + Middle Aramaic, from 333 BC, to 200 AD + Late Aramaic, from 200 AD, to 1200 AD + Neo-Aramaic, from 1200 AD, up to the modern times + +Old Aramaic + +Aramaic's long history and diverse and widespread use has led to the development of many divergent varieties, which are sometimes considered dialects, though they have become distinct enough over time that they are now sometimes considered separate languages. Therefore, there is not one singular, static Aramaic language; each time and place rather has had its own variation. The more widely spoken Eastern Aramaic and Mandaic forms are largely restricted to Assyrian Christian and Mandean gnostic communities in Iraq, northeastern Syria, northwestern Iran and southeastern Turkey, whilst the severely endangered Western Neo-Aramaic is spoken by small communities of Arameans in western Syria, and persisted in Mount Lebanon until as late as the 17th century. +The term "Old Aramaic" is used to describe the varieties of the language from its first known use, until the point roughly marked by the rise of the Sasanian Empire (224 AD), dominating the influential, eastern dialect region. As such, the term covers over thirteen centuries of the development of Aramaic. This vast time span includes all Aramaic that is now effectively extinct. Regarding the earliest forms, Beyer suggests that written Aramaic probably dates from the 11th century BCE, as it is established by the 10th century, to which he dates the oldest inscriptions of northern Syria. Heinrichs uses the less controversial date of the 9th century, for which there is clear and widespread attestation. + +The central phase in the development of Old Aramaic was its official use by the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911–608 BC), Neo-Babylonian Empire (620–539 BC) and Achaemenid Empire (500–330 BC). The period before this, dubbed "Ancient Aramaic", saw the development of the language from being spoken in Aramaean city-states to become a major means of communication in diplomacy and trade throughout Mesopotamia, the Levant and Egypt. After the fall of the Achaemenid Empire, local vernaculars became increasingly prominent, fanning the divergence of an Aramaic dialect continuum and the development of differing written standards. + +Ancient Aramaic + +"Ancient Aramaic" refers to the earliest known period of the language, from its origin until it becomes the lingua franca of the Fertile Crescent. It was the language of the Aramean city-states of Damascus, Hamath and Arpad. + +There are inscriptions that evidence the earliest use of the language, dating from the 10th century BC. These inscriptions are mostly diplomatic documents between Aramaean city-states. The alphabet of Aramaic at this early period seems to be based on the Phoenician alphabet, and there is a unity in the written language. It seems that, in time, a more refined alphabet, suited to the needs of the language, began to develop from this in the eastern regions of Aram. Due to increasing Aramean migration eastward, the Western periphery of Assyria became bilingual in Akkadian and Aramean at least as early as the mid-9th century BC. As the Neo-Assyrian Empire conquered Aramean lands west of the Euphrates, Tiglath-Pileser III made Aramaic the Empire's second official language, and it eventually supplanted Akkadian completely. + +From 700 BC, the language began to spread in all directions, but lost much of its unity. Different dialects emerged in Assyria, Babylonia, the Levant and Egypt. Around 600 BC, Adon, a Canaanite king, used Aramaic to write to an Egyptian Pharaoh. + +Imperial Aramaic + +Around 500 BC, following the Achaemenid (Persian) conquest of Mesopotamia under Darius I, Aramaic (as had been used in that region) was adopted by the conquerors as the "vehicle for written communication between the different regions of the vast empire with its different peoples and languages. The use of a single official language, which modern scholarship has dubbed Official Aramaic or Imperial Aramaic, can be assumed to have greatly contributed to the astonishing success of the Achaemenids in holding their far-flung empire together for as long as they did". In 1955, Richard Frye questioned the classification of Imperial Aramaic as an "official language", noting that no surviving edict expressly and unambiguously accorded that status to any particular language. Frye reclassifies Imperial Aramaic as the lingua franca of the Achaemenid territories, suggesting then that the Achaemenid-era use of Aramaic was more pervasive than generally thought. + +Imperial Aramaic was highly standardised; its orthography was based more on historical roots than any spoken dialect, and the inevitable influence of Persian gave the language a new clarity and robust flexibility. For centuries after the fall of the Achaemenid Empire (in 330 BC), Imperial Aramaic – or a version thereof near enough for it to be recognisable – would remain an influence on the various native Iranian languages. Aramaic script and – as ideograms – Aramaic vocabulary would survive as the essential characteristics of the Pahlavi scripts. + +One of the largest collections of Imperial Aramaic texts is that of the Persepolis Administrative Archives, found at Persepolis, which number about five hundred. Many of the extant documents witnessing to this form of Aramaic come from Egypt, and Elephantine in particular (see Elephantine papyri). Of them, the best known is the Story of Ahikar, a book of instructive aphorisms quite similar in style to the biblical Book of Proverbs. Consensus regards the Aramaic portion of the Biblical book of Daniel (i.e., 2:4b–7:28) as an example of Imperial (Official) Aramaic. + +Achaemenid Aramaic is sufficiently uniform that it is often difficult to know where any particular example of the language was written. Only careful examination reveals the occasional loan word from a local language. + +A group of thirty Aramaic documents from Bactria have been discovered, and an analysis was published in November 2006. The texts, which were rendered on leather, reflect the use of Aramaic in the 4th century BC Achaemenid administration of Bactria and Sogdia. + +Biblical Aramaic +Biblical Aramaic is the Aramaic found in four discrete sections of the Bible: + + Ezra – documents from the Achaemenid period (5th century BC) concerning the restoration of the temple in Jerusalem. + Daniel – five tales and an apocalyptic vision. + Jeremiah 10:11 – a single sentence in the middle of a Hebrew text denouncing idolatry. + Genesis – translation of a Hebrew place-name. + +Biblical Aramaic is a somewhat hybrid dialect. It is theorized that some Biblical Aramaic material originated in both Babylonia and Judaea before the fall of the Achaemenid dynasty. + +Biblical Aramaic presented various challenges for writers who were engaged in early Biblical studies. Since the time of Jerome of Stridon (d. 420), Aramaic of the Bible was named as "Chaldean" (Chaldaic, Chaldee). That label remained common in early Aramaic studies, and persisted up into the nineteenth century. The "Chaldean misnomer" was eventually abandoned, when modern scholarly analyses showed that Aramaic dialect used in Hebrew Bible was not related to ancient Chaldeans and their language. + +Post-Achaemenid Aramaic + +The fall of the Achaemenid Empire ( 334–330 BC), and its replacement with the newly created political order, imposed by Alexander the Great (d. 323 BC) and his Hellenistic successors, marked an important turning point in the history of Aramaic language. During the early stages of the post-Achaemenid era, public use of Aramaic language was continued, but shared with the newly introduced Greek language. By the year 300 BC, all of the main Aramaic-speaking regions came under political rule of the newly created Seleucid Empire that promoted Hellenistic culture, and favored Greek language as the main language of public life and administration. During the 3rd century BCE, Greek overtook Aramaic in many spheres of public communication, particularly in highly Hellenized cities throughout the Seleucid domains. However, Aramaic continued to be used, in its post-Achaemenid form, among upper and literate classes of native Aramaic-speaking communities, and also by local authorities (along with the newly introduced Greek). Post-Achaemenid Aramaic, that bears a relatively close resemblance to that of the Achaemenid period, continued to be used up to the 2nd century BCE. + +By the end of the 2nd century BC, several variants of Post-Achaemenid Aramaic emerged, bearing regional characteristics. One of them was Hasmonaean Aramaic, the official administrative language of Hasmonaean Judaea (142–37 BC), alongside Hebrew which was the language preferred in religious and some other public uses (coinage). It influenced the Biblical Aramaic of the Qumran texts, and was the main language of non-biblical theological texts of that community. The major Targums, translations of the Hebrew Bible into Aramaic, were originally composed in Hasmonaean Aramaic. It also appears in quotations in the Mishnah and Tosefta, although smoothed into its later context. It is written quite differently from Achaemenid Aramaic; there is an emphasis on writing as words are pronounced rather than using etymological forms. + +The use of written Aramaic in the Achaemenid bureaucracy also precipitated the adoption of Aramaic(-derived) scripts to render a number of Middle Iranian languages. Moreover, many common words, including even pronouns, particles, numerals, and auxiliaries, continued to written as Aramaic "words" even when writing Middle Iranian languages. In time, in Iranian usage, these Aramaic "words" became disassociated from the Aramaic language and came to be understood as signs (i.e. logograms), much like the symbol '&' is read as "and" in English and the original Latin et is now no longer obvious. Under the early 3rd-century BC Parthian Arsacids, whose government used Greek but whose native language was Parthian, the Parthian language and its Aramaic-derived writing system both gained prestige. This in turn also led to the adoption of the name 'pahlavi' (< parthawi, "of the Parthians") for that writing system. The Persian Sassanids, who succeeded the Parthian Arsacids in the mid-3rd century AD, subsequently inherited/adopted the Parthian-mediated Aramaic-derived writing system for their own Middle Iranian ethnolect as well. That particular Middle Iranian dialect, Middle Persian, i.e. the language of Persia proper, subsequently also became a prestige language. Following the conquest of the Sassanids by the Arabs in the 7th-century, the Aramaic-derived writing system was replaced by the Arabic alphabet in all but Zoroastrian usage, which continued to use the name 'pahlavi' for the Aramaic-derived writing system and went on to create the bulk of all Middle Iranian literature in that writing system. + +Other regional dialects continued to exist alongside these, often as simple, spoken variants of Aramaic. Early evidence for these vernacular dialects is known only through their influence on words and names in a more standard dialect. However, some of those regional dialects became written languages by the 2nd century BC. These dialects reflect a stream of Aramaic that is not directly dependent on Achaemenid Aramaic, and they also show a clear linguistic diversity between eastern and western regions. + +Targumic +Babylonian Targumic is the later post-Achaemenid dialect found in the Targum Onqelos and Targum Jonathan, the "official" targums. The original, Hasmonaean targums had reached Babylon sometime in the 2nd or 3rd century AD. They were then reworked according to the contemporary dialect of Babylon to create the language of the standard targums. This combination formed the basis of Babylonian Jewish literature for centuries to follow. + +Galilean Targumic is similar to Babylonian Targumic. It is the mixing of literary Hasmonaean with the dialect of Galilee. The Hasmonaean targums reached Galilee in the 2nd century AD, and were reworked into this Galilean dialect for local use. The Galilean Targum was not considered an authoritative work by other communities, and documentary evidence shows that its text was amended. From the 11th century AD onwards, once the Babylonian Targum had become normative, the Galilean version became heavily influenced by it. + +Babylonian Documentary Aramaic +Babylonian Documentary Aramaic is a dialect in use from the 3rd century AD onwards. It is the dialect of Babylonian private documents, and, from the 12th century, all Jewish private documents are in Aramaic. It is based on Hasmonaean with very few changes. This was perhaps because many of the documents in BDA are legal documents, the language in them had to be sensible throughout the Jewish community from the start, and Hasmonaean was the old standard. + +Nabataean +Nabataean Aramaic was the written language of the Arab kingdom of Nabataea, whose capital was Petra. The kingdom (c. 200 BC – 106 AD) controlled the region to the east of the Jordan River, the Negev, the Sinai Peninsula and the northern Hijaz, and supported a wide-ranging trade network. The Nabataeans used imperial Aramaic for written communications, rather than their native Arabic. Nabataean Aramaic developed from Imperial Aramaic, with some influence from Arabic: "l" is often turned into "n", and there are some Arabic loanwords. Arabic influence on Nabataean Aramaic increased over time. Some Nabataean Aramaic inscriptions date from the early days of the kingdom, but most datable inscriptions are from the first four centuries AD. The language is written in a cursive script which was the precursor to the Arabic alphabet. After annexation by the Romans in 106 AD, most of Nabataea was subsumed into the province of Arabia Petraea, the Nabataeans turned to Greek for written communications, and the use of Aramaic declined. + +Palmyrene +Palmyrene Aramaic is the dialect that was in use in the Syriac city state of Palmyra in the Syrian Desert from 44 BC to 274 AD. It was written in a rounded script, which later gave way to cursive Estrangela. Like Nabataean, Palmyrene was influenced by Arabic, but to a much lesser degree. + +Eastern dialects + +In the eastern regions (from Mesopotamia to Persia), dialects like Palmyrene Aramaic and Arsacid Aramaic gradually merged with the regional vernacular dialects, thus creating languages with a foot in Achaemenid and a foot in regional Aramaic. + +In the Kingdom of Osroene, founded in 132 BCE and centred in Edessa (Urhay), the regional dialect became the official language: Edessan Aramaic (Urhaya), that later came to be known as Classical Syriac. On the upper reaches of the Tigris, East Mesopotamian Aramaic flourished, with evidence from the regions of Hatra (Hatran Aramaic) and Assur (Assurian Aramaic). + +Tatian, the author of the gospel harmony the Diatessaron came from Assyria, and perhaps wrote his work (172 AD) in East Mesopotamian rather than Syriac or Greek. In Babylonia, the regional dialect was used by the Jewish community, Jewish Old Babylonian (from c. 70 AD). This everyday language increasingly came under the influence of Biblical Aramaic and Babylonian Targumic. + +The written form of Mandaic, the language of the Mandaean religion, was descended from the Arsacid chancery script. + +Western dialects + +The western regional dialects of Aramaic followed a similar course to those of the east. They are quite distinct from the eastern dialects and Imperial Aramaic. Aramaic came to coexist with Canaanite dialects, eventually completely displacing Phoenician in the first century BC and Hebrew around the turn of the fourth century AD. + +The form of Late Old Western Aramaic used by the Jewish community is best attested, and is usually referred to as Jewish Old Palestinian. Its oldest form is Old East Jordanian, which probably comes from the region of Caesarea Philippi. This is the dialect of the oldest manuscript of the Book of Enoch (c. 170 BC). The next distinct phase of the language is called Old Judaean lasting into the second century AD. Old Judean literature can be found in various inscriptions and personal letters, preserved quotations in the Talmud and receipts from Qumran. Josephus' first, non-extant edition of his The Jewish War was written in Old Judean. + +The Old East Jordanian dialect continued to be used into the first century AD by pagan communities living to the east of the Jordan. Their dialect is often then called Pagan Old Palestinian, and it was written in a cursive script somewhat similar to that used for Old Syriac. A Christian Old Palestinian dialect may have arisen from the pagan one, and this dialect may be behind some of the Western Aramaic tendencies found in the otherwise eastern Old Syriac gospels (see Peshitta). + +Languages during Jesus' lifetime + +It is generally believed by Christian scholars that in the first century, Jews in Judea primarily spoke Aramaic with a decreasing number using Hebrew as their first language, though many learned Hebrew as a liturgical language. Additionally, Koine Greek was the lingua franca of the Near East in trade, among the Hellenized classes (much like French in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries in Europe), and in the Roman administration. Latin, the language of the Roman army and higher levels of administration, had almost no impact on the linguistic landscape. + +In addition to the formal, literary dialects of Aramaic based on Hasmonean and Babylonian, there were a number of colloquial Aramaic dialects. Seven Western Aramaic varieties were spoken in the vicinity of Judea in Jesus' time. They were probably distinctive yet mutually intelligible. Old Judean was the prominent dialect of Jerusalem and Judaea. The region of Ein Gedi spoke the Southeast Judaean dialect. Samaria had its distinctive Samaritan Aramaic, where the consonants "he", "" and "'ayin" all became pronounced as "aleph". Galilean Aramaic, the dialect of Jesus' home region, is only known from a few place names, the influences on Galilean Targumic, some rabbinic literature and a few private letters. It seems to have a number of distinctive features: diphthongs are never simplified into monophthongs. East of the Jordan, the various dialects of East Jordanian were spoken. In the region of Damascus and the Anti-Lebanon Mountains, Damascene Aramaic was spoken (deduced mostly from Modern Western Aramaic). Finally, as far north as Aleppo, the western dialect of Orontes Aramaic was spoken. + +The three languages, especially Hebrew and Aramaic, influenced one another through loanwords and semantic loans. Hebrew words entered Jewish Aramaic. Most were mostly technical religious words, but a few were everyday words like עץ "wood". Conversely, Aramaic words, such as māmmôn "wealth", were borrowed into Hebrew, and Hebrew words acquired additional senses from Aramaic. For instance, Hebrew ראוי rā'ûi "seen" borrowed the sense "worthy, seemly" from the Aramaic meaning "seen" and "worthy". + +The Greek of the New Testament preserves some semiticisms, including transliterations of Semitic words. Some are Aramaic, like talitha (ταλιθα), which represents the noun טליתא , and others may be either Hebrew or Aramaic like רבוני Rabbounei (Ραββουνει), which means "my master/great one/teacher" in both languages. Other examples: + "Talitha kumi" (טליתא קומי) + "Ephphatha" (אתפתח) + "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" (?אלי, אלי, למה שבקתני) + +The 2004 film The Passion of the Christ used Aramaic for much of its dialogue, specially reconstructed by a scholar, William Fulco, S.J. Where the appropriate words (in first-century Aramaic) were no longer known, he used the Aramaic of Daniel and fourth-century Syriac and Hebrew as the basis for his work. + +Middle Aramaic +The 3rd century AD is taken as the threshold between Old and Middle Aramaic. During that century, the nature of the various Aramaic languages and dialects began to change. The descendants of Imperial Aramaic ceased to be living languages, and the eastern and western regional languages began to develop vital new literatures. Unlike many of the dialects of Old Aramaic, much is known about the vocabulary and grammar of Middle Aramaic. + +Eastern Middle Aramaic +The dialects of Old Eastern Aramaic continued in Assyria, Mesopotamia, Armenia and Iran as a written language using the Estrangela script from Edessa. Eastern Aramaic comprises Mandean, Assyrian, Babylonian Jewish Aramaic dialects, and Syriac (what emerged as the classical literary dialect of Syriac differs in some small details from the Syriac of the earlier pagan inscriptions from the Edessa area). + +Syriac Aramaic + +Syriac Aramaic (also "Classical Syriac") is the literary, liturgical and often spoken language of Syriac Christianity. It originated by the first century AD in the region of Osroene, centered in Edessa, but its golden age was the fourth to eight centuries. This period began with the translation of the Bible into the language: the Peshitta, and the masterful prose and poetry of Ephrem the Syrian. Classical Syriac became the language of the Assyrian Church of the East, and the Syriac Orthodox Church and later the Nestorian Church. Missionary activity led to the spread of Syriac from Mesopotamia and Persia, into Central Asia, India and China. + +Jewish Babylonian Aramaic + +Jewish Middle Babylonian is the language employed by Jewish writers in Babylonia between the fourth and the eleventh century. It is most commonly identified with the language of the Babylonian Talmud (which was completed in the seventh century) and of post-Talmudic Geonic literature, which are the most important cultural products of Babylonian Judaism. The most important epigraphic sources for the dialect are the hundreds of incantation bowls written in Jewish Babylonian Aramaic. + +Mandaic Aramaic + +The Mandaic language, spoken by the Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran, is a sister dialect to Jewish Babylonian Aramaic, though it is both linguistically and culturally distinct. Classical Mandaic is the language in which the Mandaeans' gnostic religious literature was composed. It is characterized by a highly phonetic orthography and does not make use of vowel diacritics. + +Western Middle Aramaic +The dialects of Old Western Aramaic continued with Jewish Middle Palestinian (in Hebrew "square script"), Samaritan Aramaic (in the old Hebrew script) and Christian Palestinian (in cursive Syriac script). Of these three, only Jewish Middle Palestinian continued as a written language. + +Samaritan Aramaic + +The Samaritan Aramaic is earliest attested by the documentary tradition of the Samaritans that can be dated back to the fourth century. Its modern pronunciation is based on the form used in the tenth century. + +Jewish Palestinian Aramaic + +In 135, after the Bar Kokhba revolt, many Jewish leaders, expelled from Jerusalem, moved to Galilee. The Galilean dialect thus rose from obscurity to become the standard among Jews in the west. This dialect was spoken not only in Galilee, but also in the surrounding parts. It is the linguistic setting for the Jerusalem Talmud (completed in the 5th century), Palestinian targumim (Jewish Aramaic versions of scripture), and midrashim (biblical commentaries and teaching). The standard vowel pointing for the Hebrew Bible, the Tiberian system (7th century), was developed by speakers of the Galilean dialect of Jewish Middle Palestinian. Classical Hebrew vocalisation, therefore, in representing the Hebrew of this period, probably reflects the contemporary pronunciation of this Aramaic dialect. + +Middle Judaean Aramaic, the descendant of Old Judaean Aramaic, was no longer the dominant dialect, and was used only in southern Judaea (the variant Engedi dialect continued throughout this period). Likewise, Middle East Jordanian Aramaic continued as a minor dialect from Old East Jordanian Aramaic. The inscriptions in the synagogue at Dura-Europos are either in Middle East Jordanian or Middle Judaean. + +Christian Palestinian Aramaic + +This was the language of the Christian Melkite (Chalcedonian) community from the 5th to the 8th century. As a liturgical language, it was used up to the 13th century. It is also been called "Melkite Aramaic" and "Palestinian Syriac". The language itself comes from Old Christian Palestinian Aramaic, but its writing conventions were based on early Middle Syriac, and it was heavily influenced by Greek. For example, the name Jesus, Syriac īšū‘, is written īsūs, a transliteration of the Greek form, in Christian Palestinian. + +Modern Aramaic + +As the Western Aramaic languages of the Levant and Lebanon have become nearly extinct in non-liturgical usage, the most prolific speakers of Aramaic dialects in the 21st century are Sureth Eastern Neo-Aramaic speakers, the most numerous being the Northeastern Neo-Aramaic speakers of Mesopotamia. This includes speakers of the Assyrian (235,000 speakers) and Chaldean (216,000 speakers) varieties of Suret and Turoyo (112,000 to 450,000 speakers). Having largely lived in remote areas as insulated communities for over a millennium, the remaining speakers of modern Aramaic dialects, such as the Assyrians and the Arameans, escaped the linguistic pressures experienced by others during the large-scale language shifts that saw the proliferation of other tongues among those who previously did not speak them, most recently the Arabization of the Middle East and North Africa by Arabs beginning with the early Muslim conquests of the seventh century. + +Modern Eastern Aramaic + +Modern Eastern Aramaic exists in a wide variety of dialects and languages. There is significant difference between the Aramaic spoken by Assyrian Syriac Christians, Jews, and Mandaeans. + +The Christian varieties are often called Modern Syriac, Neo-Assyrian or Neo-Syriac, particularly when referring to their literature, being deeply influenced by the old literary and liturgical language, the Syriac language. However, they also have roots in numerous, previously unwritten, local Aramaic varieties and some contain Akkadian language influences, and are not purely the direct descendants of the language of Ephrem the Syrian. The varieties are not all mutually intelligible. The principal Christian varieties are Suret, Assyrian Neo-Aramaic and Chaldean Neo-Aramaic, all belonging to the Northeastern Neo-Aramaic languages and spoken by ethnic Assyrians in Iraq, northeast Syria, southeast Turkey, northwest Iran and in the Assyrian diaspora. + +The Judeo-Aramaic languages are now mostly spoken in Israel, and most are facing extinction. The Jewish varieties that have come from communities that once lived between Lake Urmia and Mosul are not all mutually intelligible. In some places, for example Urmia, Assyrian Christians and Jews speak mutually unintelligible varieties of Modern Eastern Aramaic in the same place. In others, the Nineveh Plains around Mosul for example, the varieties of these two ethnic communities (Assyrians and Iraqi Jews) are similar enough to allow conversation. + +Modern Central Neo-Aramaic, being in between Western Neo-Aramaic and Eastern Neo-Aramaic) is generally represented by Turoyo, the language of the Assyrians of Tur Abdin. A related Assyrian language, Mlaḥsô, has recently become extinct. + +Mandaeans living in the Khuzestan province of Iran and scattered throughout Iraq, speak Neo-Mandaic. It is quite distinct from any other Aramaic variety. Mandaeans number some 50,000–75,000 people, but it is believed Neo-Mandaic may now be spoken fluently by as few as 5000 people, with other Mandaeans having varying degrees of knowledge. + +Modern Western Aramaic + +Very little remains of Western Aramaic. Its only remaining vernacular is the Western Neo-Aramaic, which is still spoken in the Aramean villages of Maaloula, al-Sarkha (Bakhah), and Jubb'adin on Syria's side of the Anti-Lebanon Mountains, as well as by some people who migrated from these villages, to Damascus and other larger towns of Syria. All these speakers of Modern Western Aramaic are fluent in Arabic as well. + +Other Western Aramaic languages, like Jewish Palestinian Aramaic and Samaritan Aramaic, are preserved only in liturgical and literary usage. + +Phonology + +Each dialect of Aramaic has its own distinctive pronunciation, and it would not be feasible here to go into all these properties. Aramaic has a phonological palette of 25 to 40 distinct phonemes. Some modern Aramaic pronunciations lack the series of "emphatic" consonants, and some have borrowed from the inventories of surrounding languages, particularly Arabic, Azerbaijani, Kurdish, Persian and Turkish. + +Vowels + +As with most Semitic languages, Aramaic can be thought of as having three basic sets of vowels: + Open a-vowels + Close front i-vowels + Close back u-vowels +These vowel groups are relatively stable, but the exact articulation of any individual is most dependent on its consonantal setting. + +The open vowel is an open near-front unrounded vowel ("short" a, somewhat like the first vowel in the English "batter", ). It usually has a back counterpart ("long" a, like the a in "father", , or even tending to the vowel in "caught", ), and a front counterpart ("short" e, like the vowel in "head", ). There is much correspondence between these vowels between dialects. There is some evidence that Middle Babylonian dialects did not distinguish between the short a and short e. In West Syriac dialects, and possibly Middle Galilean, the long a became the o sound. The open e and back a are often indicated in writing by the use of the letters א "alaph" (a glottal stop) or ה "he" (like the English h). + +The close front vowel is the "long" i (like the vowel in "need", ). It has a slightly more open counterpart, the "long" e, as in the final vowel of "café" (). Both of these have shorter counterparts, which tend to be pronounced slightly more open. Thus, the short close e corresponds with the open e in some dialects. The close front vowels usually use the consonant י y as a mater lectionis. + +The close back vowel is the "long" u (like the vowel in "school", ). It has a more open counterpart, the "long" o, like the vowel in "show" (). There are shorter, and thus more open, counterparts to each of these, with the short close o sometimes corresponding with the long open a. The close back vowels often use the consonant ו w to indicate their quality. + +Two basic diphthongs exist: an open vowel followed by י y (ay), and an open vowel followed by ו w (aw). These were originally full diphthongs, but many dialects have converted them to e and o respectively. + +The so-called "emphatic" consonants (see the next section) cause all vowels to become mid-centralised. + +Consonants + +The various alphabets used for writing Aramaic languages have twenty-two letters (all of which are consonants). Some of these letters, though, can stand for two or three different sounds (usually a stop and a fricative at the same point of articulation). Aramaic classically uses a series of lightly contrasted plosives and fricatives: + Labial set: פּ\פ p/f and בּ\ב b/v, + Dental set: תּ\ת t/θ and דּ\ד d/ð, + Velar set: כּ\כ k/x and גּ\ג ɡ/ɣ. +Each member of a certain pair is written with the same letter of the alphabet in most writing systems (that is, p and f are written with the same letter), and are near allophones. + +A distinguishing feature of Aramaic phonology (and that of Semitic languages in general) is the presence of "emphatic" consonants. These are consonants that are pronounced with the root of the tongue retracted, with varying degrees of pharyngealization and velarization. Using their alphabetic names, these emphatics are: + ח Ḥêṯ, a voiceless pharyngeal fricative, , + ט Ṭêṯ, a pharyngealized t, , + ע ʽAyin (or ʽE in some dialects), a pharyngealized glottal stop (sometimes considered to be a voiced pharyngeal approximant), or , + צ Ṣāḏê, a pharyngealized s, , + ק Qôp, a voiceless uvular stop, . + +Ancient Aramaic may have had a larger series of emphatics, and some Neo-Aramaic languages definitely do. Not all dialects of Aramaic give these consonants their historic values. + +Overlapping with the set of emphatics are the "guttural" consonants. They include ח Ḥêṯ and ע ʽAyn from the emphatic set, and add א ʼĀlap̄ (a glottal stop) and ה Hê (as the English "h"). + +Aramaic classically has a set of four sibilants (ancient Aramaic may have had six): + ס, שׂ (as in English "sea"), + ז (as in English "zero"), + שׁ (as in English "ship"), + צ (the emphatic Ṣāḏê listed above). + +In addition to these sets, Aramaic has the nasal consonants מ m and נ n, and the approximants ר r (usually an alveolar trill), ל l, י y and ו w. + +Historical sound changes +Six broad features of sound change can be seen as dialect differentials: + Vowel change occurs almost too frequently to document fully, but is a major distinctive feature of different dialects. + Plosive/fricative pair reduction. Originally, Aramaic, like Tiberian Hebrew, had fricatives as conditioned allophones for each plosive. In the wake of vowel changes, the distinction eventually became phonemic; still later, it was often lost in certain dialects. For example, Turoyo has mostly lost , using instead, like Arabic; other dialects (for instance, standard Assyrian Neo-Aramaic) have lost and and replaced them with and , as with Modern Hebrew. In most dialects of Modern Syriac, and are realized as after a vowel. + Loss of emphatics. Some dialects have replaced emphatic consonants with non-emphatic counterparts, while those spoken in the Caucasus often have glottalized rather than pharyngealized emphatics. + Guttural assimilation is the main distinctive feature of Samaritan pronunciation, also found in Samaritan Hebrew: all the gutturals are reduced to a simple glottal stop. Some Modern Aramaic dialects do not pronounce h in all words (the third person masculine pronoun hu becomes ow). + Proto-Semitic */θ/ */ð/ are reflected in Aramaic as */t/, */d/, whereas they became sibilants in Hebrew (the number three is שלוש šālôš in Hebrew but תלת tlāṯ in Aramaic, the word gold is זהב zahav in Hebrew but דהב dehav in Aramaic). Dental/sibilant shifts are still happening in the modern dialects. + New phonetic inventory. Modern dialects have borrowed sounds from the dominant surrounding languages. The most frequent borrowings are (as the first consonant in "azure"), (as in "jam") and (as in "church"). The Syriac alphabet has been adapted for writing these new sounds. + +Grammar +As in other Semitic languages, Aramaic morphology (the way words are formed) is based on the consonantal root. The root generally consists of two or three consonants and has a basic meaning, for example, כת״ב k-t-b has the meaning of 'writing'. This is then modified by the addition of vowels and other consonants to create different nuances of the basic meaning: + כתבה kṯāḇâ, handwriting, inscription, script, book. + כתבי kṯāḇê, books, the Scriptures. + כתובה kāṯûḇâ, secretary, scribe. + כתבת kiṯḇeṯ, I wrote. + אכתב eḵtûḇ, I shall write. + +Nouns and adjectives +Aramaic nouns and adjectives are inflected to show gender, number and state. + +Aramaic has two grammatical genders: masculine and feminine. The feminine absolute singular is often marked by the ending ה- -â. + +Nouns can be either singular or plural, but an additional "dual" number exists for nouns that usually come in pairs. The dual number gradually disappeared from Aramaic over time and has little influence in Middle and Modern Aramaic. + +Aramaic nouns and adjectives can exist in one of three states. To a certain extent, these states correspond to the role of articles and cases in the Indo-European languages: + The absolute state is the basic form of a noun. In early forms of Aramaic, the absolute state expresses indefiniteness, comparable to the English indefinite article a(n) (for example, כתבה kṯāḇâ, "a handwriting"), and can be used in most syntactic roles. However, by the Middle Aramaic period, its use for nouns (but not adjectives) had been widely replaced by the emphatic state. + The construct state is a form of the noun used to make possessive constructions (for example, כתבת מלכתא kṯāḇat' malkṯâ, "the handwriting of the queen"). In the masculine singular, the form of the construct is often the same as the absolute, but it may undergo vowel reduction in longer words. The feminine construct and masculine construct plural are marked by suffixes. Unlike a genitive case, which marks the possessor, the construct state is marked on the possessed. This is mainly due to Aramaic word order: possessed[const.] possessor[abs./emph.] are treated as a speech unit, with the first unit (possessed) employing the construct state to link it to the following word. In Middle Aramaic, the use of the construct state for all but stock phrases (like בר נשא bar nāšâ, "son of man") begins to disappear. + The emphatic or determined state is an extended form of the noun that functions similarly to the definite article. It is marked with a suffix (for example, כתבתא kṯāḇtâ, "the handwriting"). Although its original grammatical function seems to have been to mark definiteness, it is used already in Imperial Aramaic to mark all important nouns, even if they should be considered technically indefinite. This practice developed to the extent that the absolute state became extraordinarily rare in later varieties of Aramaic. + +Whereas other Northwest Semitic languages, like Hebrew, have the absolute and construct states, the emphatic/determined state is a unique feature to Aramaic. Case endings, as in Ugaritic, probably existed in a very early stage of the language, and glimpses of them can be seen in a few compound proper names. However, as most of those cases were expressed by short final vowels, they were never written, and the few characteristic long vowels of the masculine plural accusative and genitive are not clearly evidenced in inscriptions. Often, the direct object is marked by a prefixed -ל l- (the preposition "to") if it is definite. + +Adjectives agree with their nouns in number and gender but agree in state only if used attributively. Predicative adjectives are in the absolute state regardless of the state of their noun (a copula may or may not be written). Thus, an attributive adjective to an emphatic noun, as in the phrase "the good king", is written also in the emphatic state מלכא טבא malkâ ṭāḇâking[emph.] good[emph.]. In comparison, the predicative adjective, as in the phrase "the king is good", is written in the absolute state מלכא טב malkâ ṭāḇking[emph.] good[abs.]. + +The final א- -â in a number of these suffixes is written with the letter aleph. However, some Jewish Aramaic texts employ the letter he for the feminine absolute singular. Likewise, some Jewish Aramaic texts employ the Hebrew masculine absolute singular suffix ים- -îm instead of ין- -în. The masculine determined plural suffix, יא- -ayyâ, has an alternative version, -ê. The alternative is sometimes called the "gentilic plural" for its prominent use in ethnonyms (יהודיא yəhûḏāyê, 'the Jews', for example). This alternative plural is written with the letter aleph, and came to be the only plural for nouns and adjectives of this type in Syriac and some other varieties of Aramaic. The masculine construct plural, -ê, is written with yodh. In Syriac and some other variants this ending is diphthongized to -ai. + +Possessive phrases in Aramaic can either be made with the construct state or by linking two nouns with the relative particle -[ד[י d[î]-. As the use of the construct state almost disappears from the Middle Aramaic period on, the latter method became the main way of making possessive phrases. + +For example, the various forms of possessive phrases (for "the handwriting of the queen") are: + כתבת מלכתא kṯāḇaṯ malkṯâ – the oldest construction, also known as סמיכות səmîḵûṯ : the possessed object (כתבה kṯābâ, "handwriting") is in the construct state (כתבת kṯāḇaṯ); the possessor (מלכה malkâ, "queen") is in the emphatic state (מלכתא malkṯâ) + כתבתא דמלכתא kṯāḇtâ d(î)-malkṯâ – both words are in the emphatic state and the relative particle -[ד[י d[î]- is used to mark the relationship + כתבתה דמלכתא kṯāḇtāh d(î)-malkṯâ – both words are in the emphatic state, and the relative particle is used, but the possessed is given an anticipatory, pronominal ending (כתבתה kṯāḇtā-h, "handwriting-her"; literally, "her writing, that (of) the queen"). +In Modern Aramaic, the last form is by far the most common. In Biblical Aramaic, the last form is virtually absent. + +Verbs +The Aramaic verb has gradually evolved in time and place, varying between varieties of the language. Verb forms are marked for person (first, second or third), number (singular or plural), gender (masculine or feminine), tense (perfect or imperfect), mood (indicative, imperative, jussive or infinitive) and voice (active, reflexive or passive). Aramaic also employs a system of conjugations, or verbal stems, to mark intensive and extensive developments in the lexical meaning of verbs. + +Aspectual tense +Aramaic has two proper tenses: perfect and imperfect. These were originally aspectual, but developed into something more like a preterite and future. The perfect is unmarked, while the imperfect uses various preformatives that vary according to person, number and gender. In both tenses the third-person singular masculine is the unmarked form from which others are derived by addition of afformatives (and preformatives in the imperfect). In the chart below (on the root כת״ב K-T-B, meaning "to write"), the first form given is the usual form in Imperial Aramaic, while the second is Classical Syriac. + +Conjugations or verbal stems +Like other Semitic languages, Aramaic employs a number of derived verb stems, to extend the lexical coverage of verbs. The basic form of the verb is called the ground stem, or G-stem. Following the tradition of mediaeval Arabic grammarians, it is more often called the Pə‘al פעל (also written Pe‘al), using the form of the Semitic root פע״ל P-‘-L, meaning "to do". This stem carries the basic lexical meaning of the verb. + +By doubling of the second radical, or root letter, the D-stem or פעל Pa‘‘el is formed. This is often an intensive development of the basic lexical meaning. For example, qəṭal means "he killed", whereas qaṭṭel means "he slew". The precise relationship in meaning between the two stems differs for every verb. + +A preformative, which can be -ה ha-, -א a- or -ש ša-, creates the C-stem or variously the Hap̄‘el, Ap̄‘el or Šap̄‘el (also spelt הפעל Haph‘el, אפעל Aph‘el and שפעל Shaph‘el). This is often an extensive or causative development of the basic lexical meaning. For example, טעה ṭə‘â means "he went astray", whereas אטעי aṭ‘î means "he deceived". The Šap̄‘el שפעל is the least common variant of the C-stem. Because this variant is standard in Akkadian, it is possible that its use in Aramaic represents loanwords from that language. The difference between the variants הפעל Hap̄‘el and אפעל Ap̄‘el appears to be the gradual dropping of the initial ה h sound in later Old Aramaic. This is noted by the respelling of the older he preformative with א aleph. + +These three conjugations are supplemented with three further derived stems, produced by the preformative -הת hiṯ- or -את eṯ-. The loss of the initial ה h sound occurs similarly to that in the form above. These three derived stems are the Gt-stem, התפעל Hiṯpə‘el or אתפעל Eṯpə‘el (also written Hithpe‘el or Ethpe‘el), the Dt-stem, התפעּל Hiṯpa‘‘al or אתפעּל Eṯpa‘‘al (also written Hithpa‘‘al or Ethpa‘‘al), and the Ct-stem, התהפעל Hiṯhap̄‘al, אתּפעל Ettap̄‘al, השתפעל Hištap̄‘al or אשתפעל Eštap̄‘al (also written Hithhaph‘al, Ettaph‘al, Hishtaph‘al or Eshtaph‘al). Their meaning is usually reflexive, but later became passive. However, as with other stems, actual meaning differs from verb to verb. + +Not all verbs use all of these conjugations, and, in some, the G-stem is not used. In the chart below (on the root כת״ב K-T-B, meaning "to write"), the first form given is the usual form in Imperial Aramaic, while the second is Classical Syriac. + +In Imperial Aramaic, the participle began to be used for a historical present. Perhaps under influence from other languages, Middle Aramaic developed a system of composite tenses (combinations of forms of the verb with pronouns or an auxiliary verb), allowing for narrative that is more vivid. Aramaic syntax usually follows the order verb–subject–object (VSO). Imperial (Persian) Aramaic, however, tended to follow a S-O-V pattern (similar to Akkadian), which was the result of Persian syntactic influence. + +See also + +References + +Sources + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + . + +External links + + Ancient Aramaic Audio Files: Contains audio recordings of scripture. + The Aramaic Language and Its Classification – Efrem Yildiz, Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies + Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon (including editions of Targums) at the Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati + Dictionary of Judeo-Aramaic + Jewish Language Research Website: Jewish Aramaic + + +Languages attested from the 10th century BC +Titus ( ; ; Títos) was an early Christian missionary and church leader, a companion and disciple of Paul the Apostle, mentioned in several of the Pauline epistles including the Epistle to Titus. He is believed to be a Gentile converted to Christianity by Paul and, according to tradition, he was consecrated as Bishop of the Island of Crete. + +Titus brought a fundraising letter from Paul to Corinth, to collect for the poor in Jerusalem. According to Jerome, Titus was the amanuensis of this epistle (2 Corinthians). Later, on Crete, Titus appointed presbyters (elders) in every city and remained there into his old age, dying in Gortyna, near the city of Candia (modern Heraklion). + +Life +Titus was a Greek, apparently from Crete who is said to have studied Greek philosophy and poetry in his early years. He seems to have been converted by Paul, whereupon he served as Paul's secretary and interpreter. In the year 49, Titus accompanied Paul to the council held at Jerusalem, on the subject of the Mosaic rites. + +Towards the close of the year 56, Paul, as he himself departed from Asia, sent Titus from Ephesus to Corinth, with full commission to remedy the fallout precipitated by Timothy's delivery of 1 Corinthians and Paul's "Painful Visit", particularly a significant personal offense and challenge to Paul's authority by one unnamed individual. During this journey, Titus served as the courier for what is commonly known as the "Severe Letter", a Pauline missive that has been lost but is referred to in 2 Corinthians. + +After success on this mission, Titus journeyed north and met Paul in Macedonia. There the apostle, overjoyed by Titus' success, wrote 2 Corinthians. Titus then returned to Corinth with a larger entourage, carrying 2 Corinthians with him. Paul joined Titus in Corinth later. From Corinth, Paul then sent Titus to organize the collections of alms for the Christians at Jerusalem. Titus was therefore a troubleshooter, peacemaker, administrator, and missionary. + +Early church tradition holds that Paul, after his release from his first imprisonment in Rome, stopped at the island of Crete to preach. Due to the needs of other churches, requiring his presence elsewhere, he ordained his disciple Titus as bishop of that island, and left him to finish the work he had started. Chrysostom says that this is an indication of the esteem Paul held for Titus. + +Paul summoned Titus from Crete to join him at Nicopolis in Epirus. Later, Titus traveled to Dalmatia. The New Testament does not record his death. + +It has been argued that the name "Titus" in 2 Corinthians and Galatians is nothing more than an informal name used by Timothy, implied already by the fact that even though both are said to be long-term close companions of Paul, they never appear in common scenes. The theory proposes that a number of passages—1 Cor. 4:17, 16.10; 2 Cor. 2:13, 7:6, 13–14, 12:18; and Acts 19.22—all refer to the same journey of a single individual, Titus-Timothy. 2 Timothy seems to dispute this, by claiming that Titus has gone to Dalmatia. The fact that Paul made a point of circumcising Timothy but refused to circumcise Titus would indicate that they are different men, although certain manuscripts of Galatians have been taken (by Marius Victorinus, for example) to indicate that Paul did circumcise Titus. + +Veneration +The feast day of Titus was not included in the Tridentine Calendar. When added in 1854, it was assigned to 6 February. In 1969, the Catholic Church assigned the feast to 26 January so as to celebrate the two disciples of Paul, Titus and Timothy, the day after the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America celebrates these two, together with Silas, on the same date while he is honored on the calendars of the Church of England and Episcopal Church (with Timothy) on 26 January. + +The Eastern Orthodox Church commemorates Titus on 25 August and on 4 January. His relics, now consisting of only his skull, are venerated in the Church of St. Titus, Heraklion, Crete, to which it was returned in 1966 after being removed to Venice during the Turkish occupation. + +Titus is the patron saint of the United States Army Chaplain Corps. The Corps has established the Order of Titus Award, described by the Department of Defense: + +References + +See also +Epistle of Pseudo-Titus + +Seventy disciples +1st-century births +107 deaths +People in the Pauline epistles +1st-century bishops in the Roman Empire +Christian saints from the New Testament +Saints of Roman Crete +Military saints +Anglican saints +The actinide () or actinoid () series encompasses the 14 metallic chemical elements with atomic numbers from 89 to 102, actinium through nobelium. The actinide series derives its name from the first element in the series, actinium. The informal chemical symbol An is used in general discussions of actinide chemistry to refer to any actinide. + +The 1985 IUPAC Red Book recommends that actinoid be used rather than actinide, since the suffix -ide normally indicates a negative ion. However, owing to widespread current use, actinide is still allowed. Since actinoid literally means actinium-like (cf. humanoid or android), it has been argued for semantic reasons that actinium cannot logically be an actinoid, but IUPAC acknowledges its inclusion based on common usage. + +All the actinides are f-block elements. Lawrencium is sometimes considered one as well, despite being a d-block element and a transition metal. The series mostly corresponds to the filling of the 5f electron shell, although in the ground state many have anomalous configurations involving the filling of the 6d shell due to interelectronic repulsion. In comparison with the lanthanides, also mostly f-block elements, the actinides show much more variable valence. They all have very large atomic and ionic radii and exhibit an unusually large range of physical properties. While actinium and the late actinides (from americium onwards) behave similarly to the lanthanides, the elements thorium, protactinium, and uranium are much more similar to transition metals in their chemistry, with neptunium and plutonium occupying an intermediate position. + +All actinides are radioactive and release energy upon radioactive decay; naturally occurring uranium and thorium, and synthetically produced plutonium are the most abundant actinides on Earth. These are used in nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. Uranium and thorium also have diverse current or historical uses, and americium is used in the ionization chambers of most modern smoke detectors. + +Of the actinides, primordial thorium and uranium occur naturally in substantial quantities. The radioactive decay of uranium produces transient amounts of actinium and protactinium, and atoms of neptunium and plutonium are occasionally produced from transmutation reactions in uranium ores. The other actinides are purely synthetic elements. Nuclear weapons tests have released at least six actinides heavier than plutonium into the environment; analysis of debris from a 1952 hydrogen bomb explosion showed the presence of americium, curium, berkelium, californium, einsteinium and fermium. + +In presentations of the periodic table, the f-block elements are customarily shown as two additional rows below the main body of the table. This convention is entirely a matter of aesthetics and formatting practicality; a rarely used wide-formatted periodic table inserts the 4f and 5f series in their proper places, as parts of the table's sixth and seventh rows (periods). + +Discovery, isolation and synthesis + +Like the lanthanides, the actinides form a family of elements with similar properties. Within the actinides, there are two overlapping groups: transuranium elements, which follow uranium in the periodic table; and transplutonium elements, which follow plutonium. Compared to the lanthanides, which (except for promethium) are found in nature in appreciable quantities, most actinides are rare. Most do not occur in nature, and of those that do, only thorium and uranium do so in more than trace quantities. The most abundant or easily synthesized actinides are uranium and thorium, followed by plutonium, americium, actinium, protactinium, neptunium, and curium. + +The existence of transuranium elements was suggested in 1934 by Enrico Fermi, based on his experiments. However, even though four actinides were known by that time, it was not yet understood that they formed a family similar to lanthanides. The prevailing view that dominated early research into transuranics was that they were regular elements in the 7th period, with thorium, protactinium and uranium corresponding to 6th-period hafnium, tantalum and tungsten, respectively. Synthesis of transuranics gradually undermined this point of view. By 1944, an observation that curium failed to exhibit oxidation states above 4 (whereas its supposed 6th period homolog, platinum, can reach oxidation state of 6) prompted Glenn Seaborg to formulate an "actinide hypothesis". Studies of known actinides and discoveries of further transuranic elements provided more data in support of this position, but the phrase "actinide hypothesis" (the implication being that a "hypothesis" is something that has not been decisively proven) remained in active use by scientists through the late 1950s. + +At present, there are two major methods of producing isotopes of transplutonium elements: (1) irradiation of the lighter elements with neutrons; (2) irradiation with accelerated charged particles. The first method is more important for applications, as only neutron irradiation using nuclear reactors allows the production of sizeable amounts of synthetic actinides; however, it is limited to relatively light elements. The advantage of the second method is that elements heavier than plutonium, as well as neutron-deficient isotopes, can be obtained, which are not formed during neutron irradiation. + +In 1962–1966, there were attempts in the United States to produce transplutonium isotopes using a series of six underground nuclear explosions. Small samples of rock were extracted from the blast area immediately after the test to study the explosion products, but no isotopes with mass number greater than 257 could be detected, despite predictions that such isotopes would have relatively long half-lives of α-decay. This non-observation was attributed to spontaneous fission owing to the large speed of the products and to other decay channels, such as neutron emission and nuclear fission. + +From actinium to uranium + +Uranium and thorium were the first actinides discovered. Uranium was identified in 1789 by the German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth in pitchblende ore. He named it after the planet Uranus, which had been discovered eight years earlier. Klaproth was able to precipitate a yellow compound (likely sodium diuranate) by dissolving pitchblende in nitric acid and neutralizing the solution with sodium hydroxide. He then reduced the obtained yellow powder with charcoal, and extracted a black substance that he mistook for metal. Sixty years later, the French scientist Eugène-Melchior Péligot identified it as uranium oxide. He also isolated the first sample of uranium metal by heating uranium tetrachloride with metallic potassium. The atomic mass of uranium was then calculated as 120, but Dmitri Mendeleev in 1872 corrected it to 240 using his periodicity laws. This value was confirmed experimentally in 1882 by K. Zimmerman. + +Thorium oxide was discovered by Friedrich Wöhler in the mineral thorianite, which was found in Norway (1827). Jöns Jacob Berzelius characterized this material in more detail in 1828. By reduction of thorium tetrachloride with potassium, he isolated the metal and named it thorium after the Norse god of thunder and lightning Thor. The same isolation method was later used by Péligot for uranium. + +Actinium was discovered in 1899 by André-Louis Debierne, an assistant of Marie Curie, in the pitchblende waste left after removal of radium and polonium. He described the substance (in 1899) as similar to titanium and (in 1900) as similar to thorium. The discovery of actinium by Debierne was however questioned in 1971 and 2000, arguing that Debierne's publications in 1904 contradicted his earlier work of 1899–1900. This view instead credits the 1902 work of Friedrich Oskar Giesel, who discovered a radioactive element named emanium that behaved similarly to lanthanum. The name actinium comes from the , meaning beam or ray. This metal was discovered not by its own radiation but by the radiation of the daughter products. Owing to the close similarity of actinium and lanthanum and low abundance, pure actinium could only be produced in 1950. The term actinide was probably introduced by Victor Goldschmidt in 1937. + +Protactinium was possibly isolated in 1900 by William Crookes. It was first identified in 1913, when Kasimir Fajans and Oswald Helmuth Göhring encountered the short-lived isotope 234mPa (half-life 1.17 minutes) during their studies of the 238U decay. They named the new element brevium (from Latin brevis meaning brief); the name was changed to protoactinium (from Greek πρῶτος + ἀκτίς meaning "first beam element") in 1918 when two groups of scientists, led by the Austrian Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn of Germany and Frederick Soddy and John Cranston of Great Britain, independently discovered the much longer-lived 231Pa. The name was shortened to protactinium in 1949. This element was little characterized until 1960, when A. G. Maddock and his co-workers in the U.K. isolated 130 grams of protactinium from 60 tonnes of waste left after extraction of uranium from its ore. + +Neptunium and above +Neptunium (named for the planet Neptune, the next planet out from Uranus, after which uranium was named) was discovered by Edwin McMillan and Philip H. Abelson in 1940 in Berkeley, California. They produced the 239Np isotope (half-life = 2.4 days) by bombarding uranium with slow neutrons. It was the first transuranium element produced synthetically. + +Transuranium elements do not occur in sizeable quantities in nature and are commonly synthesized via nuclear reactions conducted with nuclear reactors. For example, under irradiation with reactor neutrons, uranium-238 partially converts to plutonium-239: + + +This synthesis reaction was used by Fermi and his collaborators in their design of the reactors located at the Hanford Site, which produced significant amounts of plutonium-239 for the nuclear weapons of the Manhattan Project and the United States' post-war nuclear arsenal. + +Actinides with the highest mass numbers are synthesized by bombarding uranium, plutonium, curium and californium with ions of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon, neon or boron in a particle accelerator. Thus nobelium was produced by bombarding uranium-238 with neon-22 as + _{92}^{238}U + _{10}^{22}Ne -> _{102}^{256}No + 4_0^1n. + +The first isotopes of transplutonium elements, americium-241 and curium-242, were synthesized in 1944 by Glenn T. Seaborg, Ralph A. James and Albert Ghiorso. Curium-242 was obtained by bombarding plutonium-239 with 32-MeV α-particles + _{94}^{239}Pu + _2^4He -> _{96}^{242}Cm + _0^1n. + +The americium-241 and curium-242 isotopes also were produced by irradiating plutonium in a nuclear reactor. The latter element was named after Marie Curie and her husband Pierre who are noted for discovering radium and for their work in radioactivity. + +Bombarding curium-242 with α-particles resulted in an isotope of californium 245Cf (1950), and a similar procedure yielded in 1949 berkelium-243 from americium-241. The new elements were named after Berkeley, California, by analogy with its lanthanide homologue terbium, which was named after the village of Ytterby in Sweden. + +In 1945, B. B. Cunningham obtained the first bulk chemical compound of a transplutonium element, namely americium hydroxide. Over the few years, milligram quantities of americium and microgram amounts of curium were accumulated that allowed production of isotopes of berkelium (Thomson, 1949) and californium (Thomson, 1950). Sizeable amounts of these elements were produced in 1958 (Burris B. Cunningham and Stanley G. Thomson), and the first californium compound (0.3 µg of CfOCl) was obtained in 1960 by B. B. Cunningham and J. C. Wallmann. + +Einsteinium and fermium were identified in 1952–1953 in the fallout from the "Ivy Mike" nuclear test (1 November 1952), the first successful test of a hydrogen bomb. Instantaneous exposure of uranium-238 to a large neutron flux resulting from the explosion produced heavy isotopes of uranium, including uranium-253 and uranium-255, and their β-decay yielded einsteinium-253 and fermium-255. The discovery of the new elements and the new data on neutron capture were initially kept secret on the orders of the US military until 1955 due to Cold War tensions. Nevertheless, the Berkeley team were able to prepare einsteinium and fermium by civilian means, through the neutron bombardment of plutonium-239, and published this work in 1954 with the disclaimer that it was not the first studies that had been carried out on those elements. The "Ivy Mike" studies were declassified and published in 1955. The first significant (submicrograms) amounts of einsteinium were produced in 1961 by Cunningham and colleagues, but this has not been done for fermium yet. + +The first isotope of mendelevium, 256Md (half-life 87 min), was synthesized by Albert Ghiorso, Glenn T. Seaborg, Gregory R. Choppin, Bernard G. Harvey and Stanley G. Thompson when they bombarded an 253Es target with alpha particles in the 60-inch cyclotron of Berkeley Radiation Laboratory; this was the first isotope of any element to be synthesized one atom at a time. + +There were several attempts to obtain isotopes of nobelium by Swedish (1957) and American (1958) groups, but the first reliable result was the synthesis of 256No by the Russian group (Georgy Flyorov et al.) in 1965, as acknowledged by the IUPAC in 1992. In their experiments, Flyorov et al. bombarded uranium-238 with neon-22. + +In 1961, Ghiorso et al. obtained the first isotope of lawrencium by irradiating californium (mostly californium-252) with boron-10 and boron-11 ions. The mass number of this isotope was not clearly established (possibly 258 or 259) at the time. In 1965, 256Lr was synthesized by Flyorov et al. from 243Am and 18O. Thus IUPAC recognized the nuclear physics teams at Dubna and Berkeley as the co-discoverers of lawrencium. + +Isotopes + +32 isotopes of actinium and eight excited isomeric states of some of its nuclides were identified by 2016. Three isotopes, 225Ac, 227Ac and 228Ac, were found in nature and the others were produced in the laboratory; only the three natural isotopes are used in applications. Actinium-225 is a member of the radioactive neptunium series; it was first discovered in 1947 as a decay product of uranium-233, it is an α-emitter with a half-life of 10 days. Actinium-225 is less available than actinium-228, but is more promising in radiotracer applications. Actinium-227 (half-life 21.77 years) occurs in all uranium ores, but in small quantities. One gram of uranium (in radioactive equilibrium) contains only 2 gram of 227Ac. Actinium-228 is a member of the radioactive thorium series formed by the decay of 228Ra; it is a β− emitter with a half-life of 6.15 hours. In one tonne of thorium there is 5 gram of 228Ac. It was discovered by Otto Hahn in 1906. + +There are 31 known isotopes of thorium ranging in mass number from 208 to 238. Of these, the longest-lived is 232Th, whose half-life of means that it still exists in nature as a primordial nuclide. The next longest-lived is 230Th, an intermediate decay product of 238U with a half-life of 75,400 years. Several other thorium isotopes have half-lives over a day; all of these are also transient in the decay chains of 232Th, 235U, and 238U. + +28 isotopes of protactinium are known with mass numbers 212–239 as well as three excited isomeric states. Only 231Pa and 234Pa have been found in nature. All the isotopes have short lifetimes, except for protactinium-231 (half-life 32,760 years). The most important isotopes are 231Pa and 233Pa, which is an intermediate product in obtaining uranium-233 and is the most affordable among artificial isotopes of protactinium. 233Pa has convenient half-life and energy of γ-radiation, and thus was used in most studies of protactinium chemistry. Protactinium-233 is a β-emitter with a half-life of 26.97 days. + +There are 26 known isotopes of uranium, having mass numbers 215–242 (except 220 and 241). Three of them, 234U, 235U and 238U, are present in appreciable quantities in nature. Among others, the most important is 233U, which is a final product of transformation of 232Th irradiated by slow neutrons. 233U has a much higher fission efficiency by low-energy (thermal) neutrons, compared e.g. with 235U. Most uranium chemistry studies were carried out on uranium-238 owing to its long half-life of 4.4 years. + +There are 24 isotopes of neptunium with mass numbers of 219, 220, and 223–244; they are all highly radioactive. The most popular among scientists are long-lived 237Np (t1/2 = 2.20 years) and short-lived 239Np, 238Np (t1/2 ~ 2 days). + +There are 20 known isotopes of plutonium, having mass numbers 228–247. The most stable isotope of plutonium is 244Pu with half-life of 8.13 years. + +Eighteen isotopes of americium are known with mass numbers from 229 to 247 (with the exception of 231). The most important are 241Am and 243Am, which are alpha-emitters and also emit soft, but intense γ-rays; both of them can be obtained in an isotopically pure form. Chemical properties of americium were first studied with 241Am, but later shifted to 243Am, which is almost 20 times less radioactive. The disadvantage of 243Am is production of the short-lived daughter isotope 239Np, which has to be considered in the data analysis. + +Among 19 isotopes of curium, ranging in mass number from 233 to 251, the most accessible are 242Cm and 244Cm; they are α-emitters, but with much shorter lifetime than the americium isotopes. These isotopes emit almost no γ-radiation, but undergo spontaneous fission with the associated emission of neutrons. More long-lived isotopes of curium (245–248Cm, all α-emitters) are formed as a mixture during neutron irradiation of plutonium or americium. Upon short irradiation, this mixture is dominated by 246Cm, and then 248Cm begins to accumulate. Both of these isotopes, especially 248Cm, have a longer half-life (3.48 years) and are much more convenient for carrying out chemical research than 242Cm and 244Cm, but they also have a rather high rate of spontaneous fission. 247Cm has the longest lifetime among isotopes of curium (1.56 years), but is not formed in large quantities because of the strong fission induced by thermal neutrons. + +Seventeen isotopes of berkelium were identified with mass numbers 233–234, 236, 238, and 240–252. Only 249Bk is available in large quantities; it has a relatively short half-life of 330 days and emits mostly soft β-particles, which are inconvenient for detection. Its alpha radiation is rather weak (1.45% with respect to β-radiation), but is sometimes used to detect this isotope. 247Bk is an alpha-emitter with a long half-life of 1,380 years, but it is hard to obtain in appreciable quantities; it is not formed upon neutron irradiation of plutonium because of the β-stability of isotopes of curium isotopes with mass number below 248. + +The 20 isotopes of californium with mass numbers 237–256 are formed in nuclear reactors; californium-253 is a β-emitter and the rest are α-emitters. The isotopes with even mass numbers (250Cf, 252Cf and 254Cf) have a high rate of spontaneous fission, especially 254Cf of which 99.7% decays by spontaneous fission. Californium-249 has a relatively long half-life (352 years), weak spontaneous fission and strong γ-emission that facilitates its identification. 249Cf is not formed in large quantities in a nuclear reactor because of the slow β-decay of the parent isotope 249Bk and a large cross section of interaction with neutrons, but it can be accumulated in the isotopically pure form as the β-decay product of (pre-selected) 249Bk. Californium produced by reactor-irradiation of plutonium mostly consists of 250Cf and 252Cf, the latter being predominant for large neutron fluences, and its study is hindered by the strong neutron radiation. + +Among the 18 known isotopes of einsteinium with mass numbers from 240 to 257, the most affordable is 253Es. It is an α-emitter with a half-life of 20.47 days, a relatively weak γ-emission and small spontaneous fission rate as compared with the isotopes of californium. Prolonged neutron irradiation also produces a long-lived isotope 254Es (t1/2 = 275.5 days). + +Twenty isotopes of fermium are known with mass numbers of 241–260. 254Fm, 255Fm and 256Fm are α-emitters with a short half-life (hours), which can be isolated in significant amounts. 257Fm (t1/2 = 100 days) can accumulate upon prolonged and strong irradiation. All these isotopes are characterized by high rates of spontaneous fission. + +Among the 17 known isotopes of mendelevium (mass numbers from 244 to 260), the most studied is 256Md, which mainly decays through the electron capture (α-radiation is ≈10%) with the half-life of 77 minutes. Another alpha emitter, 258Md, has a half-life of 53 days. Both these isotopes are produced from rare einsteinium (253Es and 255Es respectively), that therefore limits their availability. + +Long-lived isotopes of nobelium and isotopes of lawrencium (and of heavier elements) have relatively short half-lives. For nobelium, 11 isotopes are known with mass numbers 250–260 and 262. The chemical properties of nobelium and lawrencium were studied with 255No (t1/2 = 3 min) and 256Lr (t1/2 = 35 s). The longest-lived nobelium isotope, 259No, has a half-life of approximately 1 hour. Lawrencium has 13 known isotopes with mass numbers 251–262 and 266. The most stable of them all is 266Lr with a half life of 11 hours. + +Among all of these, the only isotopes that occur in sufficient quantities in nature to be detected in anything more than traces and have a measurable contribution to the atomic weights of the actinides are the primordial 232Th, 235U, and 238U, and three long-lived decay products of natural uranium, 230Th, 231Pa, and 234U. Natural thorium consists of 0.02(2)% 230Th and 99.98(2)% 232Th; natural protactinium consists of 100% 231Pa; and natural uranium consists of 0.0054(5)% 234U, 0.7204(6)% 235U, and 99.2742(10)% 238U. + +Formation in nuclear reactors + +The figure buildup of actinides is a table of nuclides with the number of neutrons on the horizontal axis (isotopes) and the number of protons on the vertical axis (elements). The red dot divides the nuclides in two groups, so the figure is more compact. Each nuclide is represented by a square with the mass number of the element and its half-life. Naturally existing actinide isotopes (Th, U) are marked with a bold border, alpha emitters have a yellow colour, and beta emitters have a blue colour. Pink indicates electron capture (236Np), whereas white stands for a long-lasting metastable state (242Am). + +The formation of actinide nuclides is primarily characterised by: + Neutron capture reactions (n,γ), which are represented in the figure by a short right arrow. + The (n,2n) reactions and the less frequently occurring (γ,n) reactions are also taken into account, both of which are marked by a short left arrow. + Even more rarely and only triggered by fast neutrons, the (n,3n) reaction occurs, which is represented in the figure with one example, marked by a long left arrow. + +In addition to these neutron- or gamma-induced nuclear reactions, the radioactive conversion of actinide nuclides also affects the nuclide inventory in a reactor. These decay types are marked in the figure by diagonal arrows. The beta-minus decay, marked with an arrow pointing up-left, plays a major role for the balance of the particle densities of the nuclides. Nuclides decaying by positron emission (beta-plus decay) or electron capture (ϵ) do not occur in a nuclear reactor except as products of knockout reactions; their decays are marked with arrows pointing down-right. Due to the long half-lives of the given nuclides, alpha decay plays almost no role in the formation and decay of the actinides in a power reactor, as the residence time of the nuclear fuel in the reactor core is rather short (a few years). Exceptions are the two relatively short-lived nuclides 242Cm (T1/2 = 163 d) and 236Pu (T1/2 = 2.9 y). Only for these two cases, the α decay is marked on the nuclide map by a long arrow pointing down-left. A few long-lived actinide isotopes, such as 244Pu and 250Cm, cannot be produced in reactors because neutron capture does not happen quickly enough to bypass the short-lived beta-decaying nuclides 243Pu and 249Cm; they can however be generated in nuclear explosions, which have much higher neutron fluxes. + +Distribution in nature + +Thorium and uranium are the most abundant actinides in nature with the respective mass concentrations of 16 ppm and 4 ppm. Uranium mostly occurs in the Earth's crust as a mixture of its oxides in the mineral uraninite, which is also called pitchblende because of its black color. There are several dozens of other uranium minerals such as carnotite (KUO2VO4·3H2O) and autunite (Ca(UO2)2(PO4)2·nH2O). The isotopic composition of natural uranium is 238U (relative abundance 99.2742%), 235U (0.7204%) and 234U (0.0054%); of these 238U has the largest half-life of 4.51 years. The worldwide production of uranium in 2009 amounted to 50,572 tonnes, of which 27.3% was mined in Kazakhstan. Other important uranium mining countries are Canada (20.1%), Australia (15.7%), Namibia (9.1%), Russia (7.0%), and Niger (6.4%). + +The most abundant thorium minerals are thorianite (), thorite () and monazite, (). Most thorium minerals contain uranium and vice versa; and they all have significant fraction of lanthanides. Rich deposits of thorium minerals are located in the United States (440,000 tonnes), Australia and India (~300,000 tonnes each) and Canada (~100,000 tonnes). + +The abundance of actinium in the Earth's crust is only about 5%. Actinium is mostly present in uranium-containing, but also in other minerals, though in much smaller quantities. The content of actinium in most natural objects corresponds to the isotopic equilibrium of parent isotope 235U, and it is not affected by the weak Ac migration. Protactinium is more abundant (10−12%) in the Earth's crust than actinium. It was discovered in the uranium ore in 1913 by Fajans and Göhring. As actinium, the distribution of protactinium follows that of 235U. + +The half-life of the longest-lived isotope of neptunium, 237Np, is negligible compared to the age of the Earth. Thus neptunium is present in nature in negligible amounts produced as intermediate decay products of other isotopes. Traces of plutonium in uranium minerals were first found in 1942, and the more systematic results on 239Pu are summarized in the table (no other plutonium isotopes could be detected in those samples). The upper limit of abundance of the longest-living isotope of plutonium, 244Pu, is 3%. Plutonium could not be detected in samples of lunar soil. Owing to its scarcity in nature, most plutonium is produced synthetically. + +Extraction + +Owing to the low abundance of actinides, their extraction is a complex, multistep process. Fluorides of actinides are usually used because they are insoluble in water and can be easily separated with redox reactions. Fluorides are reduced with calcium, magnesium or barium: + + +Among the actinides, thorium and uranium are the easiest to isolate. Thorium is extracted mostly from monazite: thorium pyrophosphate (ThP2O7) is reacted with nitric acid, and the produced thorium nitrate treated with tributyl phosphate. Rare-earth impurities are separated by increasing the pH in sulfate solution. + +In another extraction method, monazite is decomposed with a 45% aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide at 140 °C. Mixed metal hydroxides are extracted first, filtered at 80 °C, washed with water and dissolved with concentrated hydrochloric acid. Next, the acidic solution is neutralized with hydroxides to pH = 5.8 that results in precipitation of thorium hydroxide (Th(OH)4) contaminated with ~3% of rare-earth hydroxides; the rest of rare-earth hydroxides remains in solution. Thorium hydroxide is dissolved in an inorganic acid and then purified from the rare earth elements. An efficient method is the dissolution of thorium hydroxide in nitric acid, because the resulting solution can be purified by extraction with organic solvents: + +Th(OH)4 + 4 HNO3 → Th(NO3)4 + 4 H2O + +Metallic thorium is separated from the anhydrous oxide, chloride or fluoride by reacting it with calcium in an inert atmosphere: + +ThO2 + 2 Ca → 2 CaO + Th + +Sometimes thorium is extracted by electrolysis of a fluoride in a mixture of sodium and potassium chloride at 700–800 °C in a graphite crucible. Highly pure thorium can be extracted from its iodide with the crystal bar process. + +Uranium is extracted from its ores in various ways. In one method, the ore is burned and then reacted with nitric acid to convert uranium into a dissolved state. Treating the solution with a solution of tributyl phosphate (TBP) in kerosene transforms uranium into an organic form UO2(NO3)2(TBP)2. The insoluble impurities are filtered and the uranium is extracted by reaction with hydroxides as (NH4)2U2O7 or with hydrogen peroxide as UO4·2H2O. + +When the uranium ore is rich in such minerals as dolomite, magnesite, etc., those minerals consume much acid. In this case, the carbonate method is used for uranium extraction. Its main component is an aqueous solution of sodium carbonate, which converts uranium into a complex [UO2(CO3)3]4−, which is stable in aqueous solutions at low concentrations of hydroxide ions. The advantages of the sodium carbonate method are that the chemicals have low corrosivity (compared to nitrates) and that most non-uranium metals precipitate from the solution. The disadvantage is that tetravalent uranium compounds precipitate as well. Therefore, the uranium ore is treated with sodium carbonate at elevated temperature and under oxygen pressure: +2 UO2 + O2 + 6 → 2 [UO2(CO3)3]4− +This equation suggests that the best solvent for the uranium carbonate processing is a mixture of carbonate with bicarbonate. At high pH, this results in precipitation of diuranate, which is treated with hydrogen in the presence of nickel yielding an insoluble uranium tetracarbonate. + +Another separation method uses polymeric resins as a polyelectrolyte. Ion exchange processes in the resins result in separation of uranium. Uranium from resins is washed with a solution of ammonium nitrate or nitric acid that yields uranyl nitrate, UO2(NO3)2·6H2O. When heated, it turns into UO3, which is converted to UO2 with hydrogen: + UO3 + H2 → UO2 + H2O +Reacting uranium dioxide with hydrofluoric acid changes it to uranium tetrafluoride, which yields uranium metal upon reaction with magnesium metal: + 4 HF + UO2 → UF4 + 2 H2O + +To extract plutonium, neutron-irradiated uranium is dissolved in nitric acid, and a reducing agent (FeSO4, or H2O2) is added to the resulting solution. This addition changes the oxidation state of plutonium from +6 to +4, while uranium remains in the form of uranyl nitrate (UO2(NO3)2). The solution is treated with a reducing agent and neutralized with ammonium carbonate to pH = 8 that results in precipitation of Pu4+ compounds. + +In another method, Pu4+ and are first extracted with tributyl phosphate, then reacted with hydrazine washing out the recovered plutonium. + +The major difficulty in separation of actinium is the similarity of its properties with those of lanthanum. Thus actinium is either synthesized in nuclear reactions from isotopes of radium or separated using ion-exchange procedures. + +Properties +Actinides have similar properties to lanthanides. The 6d and 7s electronic shells are filled in actinium and thorium, and the 5f shell is being filled with further increase in atomic number; the 4f shell is filled in the lanthanides. The first experimental evidence for the filling of the 5f shell in actinides was obtained by McMillan and Abelson in 1940. As in lanthanides (see lanthanide contraction), the ionic radius of actinides monotonically decreases with atomic number (see also Aufbau principle). + +Physical properties + +Actinides are typical metals. All of them are soft and have a silvery color (but tarnish in air), relatively high density and plasticity. Some of them can be cut with a knife. Their electrical resistivity varies between 15 and 150 µΩ·cm. The hardness of thorium is similar to that of soft steel, so heated pure thorium can be rolled in sheets and pulled into wire. Thorium is nearly half as dense as uranium and plutonium, but is harder than either of them. All actinides are radioactive, paramagnetic, and, with the exception of actinium, have several crystalline phases: plutonium has seven, and uranium, neptunium and californium three. The crystal structures of protactinium, uranium, neptunium and plutonium do not have clear analogs among the lanthanides and are more similar to those of the 3d-transition metals. + +All actinides are pyrophoric, especially when finely divided, that is, they spontaneously ignite upon reaction with air at room temperature. The melting point of actinides does not have a clear dependence on the number of f-electrons. The unusually low melting point of neptunium and plutonium (~640 °C) is explained by hybridization of 5f and 6d orbitals and the formation of directional bonds in these metals. + +Chemical properties +Like the lanthanides, all actinides are highly reactive with halogens and chalcogens; however, the actinides react more easily. Actinides, especially those with a small number of 5f-electrons, are prone to hybridization. This is explained by the similarity of the electron energies at the 5f, 7s and 6d shells. Most actinides exhibit a larger variety of valence states, and the most stable are +6 for uranium, +5 for protactinium and neptunium, +4 for thorium and plutonium and +3 for actinium and other actinides. + +Actinium is chemically similar to lanthanum, which is explained by their similar ionic radii and electronic structures. Like lanthanum, actinium almost always has an oxidation state of +3 in compounds, but it is less reactive and has more pronounced basic properties. Among other trivalent actinides Ac3+ is least acidic, i.e. has the weakest tendency to hydrolyze in aqueous solutions. + +Thorium is rather active chemically. Owing to lack of electrons on 6d and 5f orbitals, the tetravalent thorium compounds are colorless. At pH < 3, the solutions of thorium salts are dominated by the cations [Th(H2O)8]4+. The Th4+ ion is relatively large, and depending on the coordination number can have a radius between 0.95 and 1.14 Å. As a result, thorium salts have a weak tendency to hydrolyse. The distinctive ability of thorium salts is their high solubility both in water and polar organic solvents. + +Protactinium exhibits two valence states; the +5 is stable, and the +4 state easily oxidizes to protactinium(V). Thus tetravalent protactinium in solutions is obtained by the action of strong reducing agents in a hydrogen atmosphere. Tetravalent protactinium is chemically similar to uranium(IV) and thorium(IV). Fluorides, phosphates, hypophosphate, iodate and phenylarsonates of protactinium(IV) are insoluble in water and dilute acids. Protactinium forms soluble carbonates. The hydrolytic properties of pentavalent protactinium are close to those of tantalum(V) and niobium(V). The complex chemical behavior of protactinium is a consequence of the start of the filling of the 5f shell in this element. + +Uranium has a valence from 3 to 6, the last being most stable. In the hexavalent state, uranium is very similar to the group 6 elements. Many compounds of uranium(IV) and uranium(VI) are non-stoichiometric, i.e. have variable composition. For example, the actual chemical formula of uranium dioxide is UO2+x, where x varies between −0.4 and 0.32. Uranium(VI) compounds are weak oxidants. Most of them contain the linear "uranyl" group, . Between 4 and 6 ligands can be accommodated in an equatorial plane perpendicular to the uranyl group. The uranyl group acts as a hard acid and forms stronger complexes with oxygen-donor ligands than with nitrogen-donor ligands. and are also the common form of Np and Pu in the +6 oxidation state. Uranium(IV) compounds exhibit reducing properties, e.g., they are easily oxidized by atmospheric oxygen. Uranium(III) is a very strong reducing agent. Owing to the presence of d-shell, uranium (as well as many other actinides) forms organometallic compounds, such as UIII(C5H5)3 and UIV(C5H5)4. + +Neptunium has valence states from 3 to 7, which can be simultaneously observed in solutions. The most stable state in solution is +5, but the valence +4 is preferred in solid neptunium compounds. Neptunium metal is very reactive. Ions of neptunium are prone to hydrolysis and formation of coordination compounds. + +Plutonium also exhibits valence states between 3 and 7 inclusive, and thus is chemically similar to neptunium and uranium. It is highly reactive, and quickly forms an oxide film in air. Plutonium reacts with hydrogen even at temperatures as low as 25–50 °C; it also easily forms halides and intermetallic compounds. Hydrolysis reactions of plutonium ions of different oxidation states are quite diverse. Plutonium(V) can enter polymerization reactions. + +The largest chemical diversity among actinides is observed in americium, which can have valence between 2 and 6. Divalent americium is obtained only in dry compounds and non-aqueous solutions (acetonitrile). Oxidation states +3, +5 and +6 are typical for aqueous solutions, but also in the solid state. Tetravalent americium forms stable solid compounds (dioxide, fluoride and hydroxide) as well as complexes in aqueous solutions. It was reported that in alkaline solution americium can be oxidized to the heptavalent state, but these data proved erroneous. The most stable valence of americium is 3 in the aqueous solutions and 3 or 4 in solid compounds. + +Valence 3 is dominant in all subsequent elements up to lawrencium (with the exception of nobelium). Curium can be tetravalent in solids (fluoride, dioxide). Berkelium, along with a valence of +3, also shows the valence of +4, more stable than that of curium; the valence 4 is observed in solid fluoride and dioxide. The stability of Bk4+ in aqueous solution is close to that of Ce4+. Only valence 3 was observed for californium, einsteinium and fermium. The divalent state is proven for mendelevium and nobelium, and in nobelium it is more stable than the trivalent state. Lawrencium shows valence 3 both in solutions and solids. + +The redox potential \mathit E_\frac{M^4+}{AnO2^2+} increases from −0.32 V in uranium, through 0.34 V (Np) and 1.04 V (Pu) to 1.34 V in americium revealing the increasing reduction ability of the An4+ ion from americium to uranium. All actinides form AnH3 hydrides of black color with salt-like properties. Actinides also produce carbides with the general formula of AnC or AnC2 (U2C3 for uranium) as well as sulfides An2S3 and AnS2. + +Compounds + +Oxides and hydroxides + + An – actinide **Depending on the isotopes + +Some actinides can exist in several oxide forms such as An2O3, AnO2, An2O5 and AnO3. For all actinides, oxides AnO3 are amphoteric and An2O3, AnO2 and An2O5 are basic, they easily react with water, forming bases: + + An2O3 + 3 H2O → 2 An(OH)3. +These bases are poorly soluble in water and by their activity are close to the hydroxides of rare-earth metals. +Np(OH)3 has not yet been synthesized, Pu(OH)3 has a blue color while Am(OH)3 is pink and curium hydroxide Cm(OH)3 is colorless. Bk(OH)3 and Cf(OH)3 are also known, as are tetravalent hydroxides for Np, Pu and Am and pentavalent for Np and Am. + +The strongest base is of actinium. All compounds of actinium are colorless, except for black actinium sulfide (Ac2S3). Dioxides of tetravalent actinides crystallize in the cubic system, same as in calcium fluoride. + +Thorium reacting with oxygen exclusively forms the dioxide: + Th{} + O2 ->[\ce{1000^\circ C}] \overbrace{ThO2}^{Thorium~dioxide} + +Thorium dioxide is a refractory material with the highest melting point among any known oxide (3390 °C). Adding 0.8–1% ThO2 to tungsten stabilizes its structure, so the doped filaments have better mechanical stability to vibrations. To dissolve ThO2 in acids, it is heated to 500–600 °C; heating above 600 °C produces a very resistant to acids and other reagents form of ThO2. Small addition of fluoride ions catalyses dissolution of thorium dioxide in acids. + +Two protactinium oxides have been obtained: PaO2 (black) and Pa2O5 (white); the former is isomorphic with ThO2 and the latter is easier to obtain. Both oxides are basic, and Pa(OH)5 is a weak, poorly soluble base. + +Decomposition of certain salts of uranium, for example UO2(NO3)·6H2O in air at 400 °C, yields orange or yellow UO3. This oxide is amphoteric and forms several hydroxides, the most stable being uranyl hydroxide UO2(OH)2. Reaction of uranium(VI) oxide with hydrogen results in uranium dioxide, which is similar in its properties with ThO2. This oxide is also basic and corresponds to the uranium hydroxide (U(OH)4). + +Plutonium, neptunium and americium form two basic oxides: An2O3 and AnO2. Neptunium trioxide is unstable; thus, only Np3O8 could be obtained so far. However, the oxides of plutonium and neptunium with the chemical formula AnO2 and An2O3 are well characterized. + +Salts + + *An – actinide **Depending on the isotopes + +Actinides easily react with halogens forming salts with the formulas MX3 and MX4 (X = halogen). So the first berkelium compound, BkCl3, was synthesized in 1962 with an amount of 3 nanograms. Like the halogens of rare earth elements, actinide chlorides, bromides, and iodides are water-soluble, and fluorides are insoluble. Uranium easily yields a colorless hexafluoride, which sublimates at a temperature of 56.5 °C; because of its volatility, it is used in the separation of uranium isotopes with gas centrifuge or gaseous diffusion. Actinide hexafluorides have properties close to anhydrides. They are very sensitive to moisture and hydrolyze forming AnO2F2. The pentachloride and black hexachloride of uranium were synthesized, but they are both unstable. + +Action of acids on actinides yields salts, and if the acids are non-oxidizing then the actinide in the salt is in low-valence state: + U + 2 H2SO4 → U(SO4)2 + 2 H2 + 2 Pu + 6 HCl → 2 PuCl3 + 3 H2 +However, in these reactions the regenerating hydrogen can react with the metal, forming the corresponding hydride. Uranium reacts with acids and water much more easily than thorium. + +Actinide salts can also be obtained by dissolving the corresponding hydroxides in acids. Nitrates, chlorides, sulfates and perchlorates of actinides are water-soluble. When crystallizing from aqueous solutions, these salts forming a hydrates, such as Th(NO3)4·6H2O, Th(SO4)2·9H2O and Pu2(SO4)3·7H2O. Salts of high-valence actinides easily hydrolyze. So, colorless sulfate, chloride, perchlorate and nitrate of thorium transform into basic salts with formulas Th(OH)2SO4 and Th(OH)3NO3. The solubility and insolubility of trivalent and tetravalent actinides is like that of lanthanide salts. So phosphates, fluorides, oxalates, iodates and carbonates of actinides are weakly soluble in water; they precipitate as hydrates, such as ThF4·3H2O and Th(CrO4)2·3H2O. + +Actinides with oxidation state +6, except for the AnO22+-type cations, form [AnO4]2−, [An2O7]2− and other complex anions. For example, uranium, neptunium and plutonium form salts of the Na2UO4 (uranate) and (NH4)2U2O7 (diuranate) types. In comparison with lanthanides, actinides more easily form coordination compounds, and this ability increases with the actinide valence. Trivalent actinides do not form fluoride coordination compounds, whereas tetravalent thorium forms K2ThF6, KThF5, and even K5ThF9 complexes. Thorium also forms the corresponding sulfates (for example Na2SO4·Th(SO4)2·5H2O), nitrates and thiocyanates. Salts with the general formula An2Th(NO3)6·nH2O are of coordination nature, with the coordination number of thorium equal to 12. Even easier is to produce complex salts of pentavalent and hexavalent actinides. The most stable coordination compounds of actinides – tetravalent thorium and uranium – are obtained in reactions with diketones, e.g. acetylacetone. + +Applications + +While actinides have some established daily-life applications, such as in smoke detectors (americium) and gas mantles (thorium), they are mostly used in nuclear weapons and as fuel in nuclear reactors. The last two areas exploit the property of actinides to release enormous energy in nuclear reactions, which under certain conditions may become self-sustaining chain reactions. + +The most important isotope for nuclear power applications is uranium-235. It is used in the thermal reactor, and its concentration in natural uranium does not exceed 0.72%. This isotope strongly absorbs thermal neutrons releasing much energy. One fission act of 1 gram of 235U converts into about 1 MW·day. Of importance, is that emits more neutrons than it absorbs; upon reaching the critical mass, enters into a self-sustaining chain reaction. Typically, uranium nucleus is divided into two fragments with the release of 2–3 neutrons, for example: + + ⟶ + + 3 + +Other promising actinide isotopes for nuclear power are thorium-232 and its product from the thorium fuel cycle, uranium-233. + +Emission of neutrons during the fission of uranium is important not only for maintaining the nuclear chain reaction, but also for the synthesis of the heavier actinides. Uranium-239 converts via β-decay into plutonium-239, which, like uranium-235, is capable of spontaneous fission. The world's first nuclear reactors were built not for energy, but for producing plutonium-239 for nuclear weapons. + +About half of the produced thorium is used as the light-emitting material of gas mantles. Thorium is also added into multicomponent alloys of magnesium and zinc. So the Mg-Th alloys are light and strong, but also have high melting point and ductility and thus are widely used in the aviation industry and in the production of missiles. Thorium also has good electron emission properties, with long lifetime and low potential barrier for the emission. The relative content of thorium and uranium isotopes is widely used to estimate the age of various objects, including stars (see radiometric dating). + +The major application of plutonium has been in nuclear weapons, where the isotope plutonium-239 was a key component due to its ease of fission and availability. Plutonium-based designs allow reducing the critical mass to about a third of that for uranium-235. The "Fat Man"-type plutonium bombs produced during the Manhattan Project used explosive compression of plutonium to obtain significantly higher densities than normal, combined with a central neutron source to begin the reaction and increase efficiency. Thus only 6.2 kg of plutonium was needed for an explosive yield equivalent to 20 kilotons of TNT. (See also Nuclear weapon design.) Hypothetically, as little as 4 kg of plutonium—and maybe even less—could be used to make a single atomic bomb using very sophisticated assembly designs. + +Plutonium-238 is potentially more efficient isotope for nuclear reactors, since it has smaller critical mass than uranium-235, but it continues to release much thermal energy (0.56 W/g) by decay even when the fission chain reaction is stopped by control rods. Its application is limited by its high price (about US$1000/g). This isotope has been used in thermopiles and water distillation systems of some space satellites and stations. So Galileo and Apollo spacecraft (e.g. Apollo 14) had heaters powered by kilogram quantities of plutonium-238 oxide; this heat is also transformed into electricity with thermopiles. The decay of plutonium-238 produces relatively harmless alpha particles and is not accompanied by gamma-irradiation. Therefore, this isotope (~160 mg) is used as the energy source in heart pacemakers where it lasts about 5 times longer than conventional batteries. + +Actinium-227 is used as a neutron source. Its high specific energy (14.5 W/g) and the possibility of obtaining significant quantities of thermally stable compounds are attractive for use in long-lasting thermoelectric generators for remote use. 228Ac is used as an indicator of radioactivity in chemical research, as it emits high-energy electrons (2.18 MeV) that can be easily detected. 228Ac-228Ra mixtures are widely used as an intense gamma-source in industry and medicine. + +Development of self-glowing actinide-doped materials with durable crystalline matrices is a new area of actinide utilization as the addition of alpha-emitting radionuclides to some glasses and crystals may confer luminescence. + +Toxicity + +Radioactive substances can harm human health via (i) local skin contamination, (ii) internal exposure due to ingestion of radioactive isotopes, and (iii) external overexposure by β-activity and γ-radiation. Together with radium and transuranium elements, actinium is one of the most dangerous radioactive poisons with high specific α-activity. The most important feature of actinium is its ability to accumulate and remain in the surface layer of skeletons. At the initial stage of poisoning, actinium accumulates in the liver. Another danger of actinium is that it undergoes radioactive decay faster than being excreted. Adsorption from the digestive tract is much smaller (~0.05%) for actinium than radium. + +Protactinium in the body tends to accumulate in the kidneys and bones. The maximum safe dose of protactinium in the human body is 0.03 µCi that corresponds to 0.5 micrograms of 231Pa. This isotope, which might be present in the air as aerosol, is 2.5 times more toxic than hydrocyanic acid. + +Plutonium, when entering the body through air, food or blood (e.g. a wound), mostly settles in the lungs, liver and bones with only about 10% going to other organs, and remains there for decades. The long residence time of plutonium in the body is partly explained by its poor solubility in water. Some isotopes of plutonium emit ionizing α-radiation, which damages the surrounding cells. The median lethal dose (LD50) for 30 days in dogs after intravenous injection of plutonium is 0.32 milligram per kg of body mass, and thus the lethal dose for humans is approximately 22 mg for a person weighing 70 kg; the amount for respiratory exposure should be approximately four times greater. Another estimate assumes that plutonium is 50 times less toxic than radium, and thus permissible content of plutonium in the body should be 5 µg or 0.3 µCi. Such amount is nearly invisible under microscope. After trials on animals, this maximum permissible dose was reduced to 0.65 µg or 0.04 µCi. Studies on animals also revealed that the most dangerous plutonium exposure route is through inhalation, after which 5–25% of inhaled substances is retained in the body. Depending on the particle size and solubility of the plutonium compounds, plutonium is localized either in the lungs or in the lymphatic system, or is absorbed in the blood and then transported to the liver and bones. Contamination via food is the least likely way. In this case, only about 0.05% of soluble 0.01% insoluble compounds of plutonium absorbs into blood, and the rest is excreted. Exposure of damaged skin to plutonium would retain nearly 100% of it. + +Using actinides in nuclear fuel, sealed radioactive sources or advanced materials such as self-glowing crystals has many potential benefits. However, a serious concern is the extremely high radiotoxicity of actinides and their migration in the environment. Use of chemically unstable forms of actinides in MOX and sealed radioactive sources is not appropriate by modern safety standards. There is a challenge to develop stable and durable actinide-bearing materials, which provide safe storage, use and final disposal. A key need is application of actinide solid solutions in durable crystalline host phases. + +Nuclear properties + +See also + Actinides in the environment + Lanthanides + Major actinides + Minor actinides + Transuranics + +Notes + +References + +Bibliography + +External links + + Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory image of historic periodic table by Seaborg showing actinide series for the first time + Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Uncovering the Secrets of the Actinides + Los Alamos National Laboratory, Actinide Research Quarterly + + +Periodic table +Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949), The Crucible (1953), and A View from the Bridge (1955). He wrote several screenplays, including The Misfits (1961). The drama Death of a Salesman is considered one of the best American plays of the 20th century. + +Miller was often in the public eye, particularly during the late 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s. During this time, he received a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee, and married Marilyn Monroe. In 1980, he received the St. Louis Literary Award from the Saint Louis University Library Associates. He received the Praemium Imperiale prize in 2001, the Prince of Asturias Award in 2002, and the Jerusalem Prize in 2003, and the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize in 1999. + +Early life and education +Miller was born in Harlem, in the New York City borough of Manhattan, the second of three children of Augusta (Barnett) and Isidore Miller. He was born into a Jewish family of Polish-Jewish descent. His father was born in Radomyśl Wielki, Galicia (then part of Austria-Hungary, now Poland), and his mother was a native of New York whose parents also arrived from that town. Isidore owned a women's clothing manufacturing business employing 400 people. He became a well respected man in the community. The family, including Miller's younger sister Joan Copeland, lived on South 110th Street in Manhattan, owned a summer house in Far Rockaway, Queens, and employed a chauffeur. In the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the family lost almost everything and moved to Gravesend, Brooklyn. (One source says they moved to Midwood.) As a teenager, Miller delivered bread every morning before school to help the family. Miller later published an account of his early years under the title "A Boy Grew in Brooklyn". After graduating in 1932 from Abraham Lincoln High School, he worked at several menial jobs to pay for his college tuition at the University of Michigan. After graduation (), he worked as a psychiatric aide and copywriter before accepting faculty posts at New York University and University of New Hampshire. + +On May 1, 1935, he joined the League of American Writers (1935–1943), whose members included Alexander Trachtenberg of International Publishers, Franklin Folsom, Louis Untermeyer, I. F. Stone, Myra Page, Millen Brand, Lillian Hellman and Dashiell Hammett. (Members were largely either Communist Party members or fellow travelers.) + +At the University of Michigan, Miller first majored in journalism and wrote for the student newspaper, The Michigan Daily, and the satirical Gargoyle Humor Magazine. It was during this time that he wrote his first play, No Villain. He switched his major to English, and subsequently won the Avery Hopwood Award for No Villain. The award led him to consider that he could have a career as a playwright. He enrolled in a playwriting seminar with the influential Professor Kenneth Rowe, who emphasized how a play was built to achieve its intended effect, or what Miller called "the dynamics of play construction". Rowe gave Miller realistic feedback and much-needed encouragement, and became a lifelong friend. Miller retained strong ties to his alma mater through the rest of his life, establishing the university's Arthur Miller Award in 1985 and the Arthur Miller Award for Dramatic Writing in 1999, and lending his name to the Arthur Miller Theatre in 2000. In 1937, Miller wrote Honors at Dawn, which also received the Avery Hopwood Award. +After his graduation in 1938, he joined the Federal Theatre Project, a New Deal agency established to provide jobs in the theater. He chose the theater project despite the more lucrative offer to work as a scriptwriter for 20th Century Fox. However, Congress, worried about possible Communist infiltration, closed the project in 1939. Miller began working in the Brooklyn Navy Yard while continuing to write radio plays, some of which were broadcast on CBS. + +Career + +1940–1949: Early career + +In 1940, Miller married Mary Grace Slattery. The couple had two children, Jane (born September 7, 1944) and Robert (May 31, 1947 – March 6, 2022). Miller was exempted from military service during World War II because of a high school football injury to his left kneecap. In 1944 Miller's first play was produced: The Man Who Had All the Luck won the Theatre Guild's National Award. The play closed after four performances with disastrous reviews. + +In 1947, Miller's play All My Sons, the writing of which had commenced in 1941, was a success on Broadway (earning him his first Tony Award, for Best Author) and his reputation as a playwright was established. Years later, in a 1994 interview with Ron Rifkin, Miller said that most contemporary critics regarded All My Sons as "a very depressing play in a time of great optimism" and that positive reviews from Brooks Atkinson of The New York Times had saved it from failure. + +In 1948, Miller built a small studio in Roxbury, Connecticut. There, in less than a day, he wrote Act I of Death of a Salesman. Within six weeks, he completed the rest of the play, one of the classics of world theater. Death of a Salesman premiered on Broadway on February 10, 1949, at the Morosco Theatre, directed by Elia Kazan, and starring Lee J. Cobb as Willy Loman, Mildred Dunnock as Linda, Arthur Kennedy as Biff, and Cameron Mitchell as Happy. The play was commercially successful and critically acclaimed, winning a Tony Award for Best Author, the New York Drama Circle Critics' Award, and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It was the first play to win all three of these major awards. The play was performed 742 times. + +In 1949, Miller exchanged letters with Eugene O'Neill regarding Miller's production of All My Sons. O'Neill had sent Miller a congratulatory telegram; in response, he wrote a letter that consisted of a few paragraphs detailing his gratitude for the telegram, apologizing for not responding earlier, and inviting Eugene to the opening of Death of a Salesman. O'Neill replied, accepting the apology, but declining the invitation, explaining that his Parkinson's disease made it difficult to travel. He ended the letter with an invitation to Boston, a trip that never occurred. + +1950–1963: Critical years and HUAC controversy +In 1955, a one-act version of Miller's verse drama A View from the Bridge opened on Broadway in a joint bill with one of Miller's lesser-known plays, A Memory of Two Mondays. The following year, Miller revised A View from the Bridge as a two-act prose drama, which Peter Brook directed in London. A French-Italian co-production Vu du pont, based on the play, was released in 1962. + +Shortly before the film's premiere in 1961, Miller and Monroe divorced after five years of marriage. Nineteen months later, on August 5, 1962, Monroe died of a likely drug overdose. Huston, who had also directed her in her first major role in The Asphalt Jungle in 1950, and who had seen her rise to stardom, put the blame for her death on her doctors as opposed to the stresses of being a star: "The girl was an addict of sleeping pills and she was made so by the God-damn doctors. It had nothing to do with the Hollywood set-up." + +In 1952, Elia Kazan appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Kazan named eight members of the Group Theatre, including Clifford Odets, Paula Strasberg, Lillian Hellman, J. Edward Bromberg, and John Garfield, who in recent years had been fellow members of the Communist Party. Miller and Kazan were close friends throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s, but after Kazan's testimony to the HUAC, the pair's friendship ended. After speaking with Kazan about his testimony, Miller traveled to Salem, Massachusetts, to research the witch trials of 1692. He and Kazan did not speak to each other for the next ten years. Kazan later defended his own actions through his film On the Waterfront, in which a dockworker heroically testifies against a corrupt union boss. Miller would retaliate against Kazan's work by writing A View from the Bridge, a play where a longshoreman outs his co-workers motivated only by jealousy and greed. He sent a copy of the initial script to Kazan and when the director asked in jest to direct the movie, Miller replied "I only sent you the script to let you know what I think of Stool-Pigeons." + +In The Crucible, Miller likened the situation with the House Un-American Activities Committee to the witch hunt in Salem in 1692. The play opened at the Martin Beck Theatre on Broadway on January 22, 1953. Though widely considered only somewhat successful at the time of its release, today The Crucible is Miller's most frequently produced work throughout the world. It was adapted into an opera by Robert Ward in 1961. + +The HUAC took an interest in Miller himself not long after The Crucible opened, engineering the US State Department's denying him a passport to attend the play's London opening in 1954. When Miller applied in 1956 for a routine renewal of his passport, the House Un-American Activities Committee used this opportunity to subpoena him to appear before the committee. Before appearing, Miller asked the committee not to ask him to name names, to which the chairman, Francis E. Walter (D-PA) agreed. When Miller attended the hearing, to which Monroe accompanied him, risking her own career, he gave the committee a detailed account of his political activities. Reneging on the chairman's promise, the committee demanded the names of friends and colleagues who had participated in similar activities. Miller refused to comply, saying "I could not use the name of another person and bring trouble on him." As a result, a judge found Miller guilty of contempt of Congress in May 1957. Miller was sentenced to a fine and a prison sentence, blacklisted, and disallowed a US passport. In August 1958, his conviction was overturned by the court of appeals, which ruled that Miller had been misled by the chairman of the HUAC. + +Miller's experience with the HUAC affected him throughout his life. In the late 1970s, he joined other celebrities (including William Styron and Mike Nichols) who were brought together by the journalist Joan Barthel. Barthel's coverage of the highly publicized Barbara Gibbons murder case helped raise bail for Gibbons' son Peter Reilly, who had been convicted of his mother's murder based on what many felt was a coerced confession and little other evidence. Barthel documented the case in her book A Death in Canaan, which was made as a television film of the same name and broadcast in 1978. City Confidential, an A&E Network series, produced an episode about the murder, postulating that part of the reason Miller took such an active interest (including supporting Reilly's defense and using his own celebrity to bring attention to Reilly's plight) was because he had felt similarly persecuted in his run-ins with the HUAC. He sympathized with Reilly, whom he firmly believed to be innocent and to have been railroaded by the Connecticut State Police and the Attorney General who had initially prosecuted the case. + +Miller began work on writing the screenplay for The Misfits in 1960, directed by John Huston and starring Monroe. It was during the filming that Miller's and Monroe's relationship hit difficulties, and he later said that the filming was one of the lowest points in his life. Monroe was taking drugs to help her sleep and more drugs to help her wake up, which caused her to arrive on the set late and then have trouble remembering her lines. Huston was unaware that Miller and Monroe were having problems in their private life. He recalled later, "I was impertinent enough to say to Arthur that to allow her to take drugs of any kind was criminal and utterly irresponsible. Shortly after that I realized that she wouldn't listen to Arthur at all; he had no say over her actions." + +1964–2004: Later career +In 1964, After the Fall was produced, and is said to be a deeply personal view of Miller's experiences during his marriage to Monroe. It reunited Miller with his former friend Kazan; they collaborated on the script and direction. It opened on January 23, 1964 at the ANTA Theatre in Washington Square Park amid a flurry of publicity and outrage at putting a Monroe-like character, Maggie, on stage. Robert Brustein, in a review in the New Republic, called After the Fall "a three and one half hour breach of taste, a confessional autobiography of embarrassing explicitness ... There is a misogynistic strain in the play which the author does not seem to recognize. ... He has created a shameless piece of tabloid gossip, an act of exhibitionism which makes us all voyeurs ... a wretched piece of dramatic writing." That year, Miller produced Incident at Vichy. In 1965, he was elected the first American president of PEN International, a position which he held for four years. A year later, he organized the 1966 PEN congress in New York City. He also wrote the penetrating family drama The Price, produced in 1968. It was his most successful play since Death of a Salesman. + +In 1968, Miller attended the Democratic National Convention as a delegate for Eugene McCarthy. In 1969, Miller's works were banned in the Soviet Union after he campaigned for the freedom of dissident writers. Throughout the 1970s, he spent much of his time experimenting with the theatre, producing one-act plays such as Fame and The Reason Why, and traveling with his wife, producing In the Country and Chinese Encounters with her. Both his 1972 comedy The Creation of the World and Other Business and its musical adaptation, Up from Paradise, were critical and commercial failures. + +Miller was an unusually articulate commentator on his own work. In 1978, he published a collection of his Theater Essays, edited by Robert A. Martin and with a foreword by Miller. Highlights of the collection included Miller's introduction to his Collected Plays, his reflections on the theory of tragedy, comments on the McCarthy Era, and pieces arguing for a publicly supported theater. Reviewing this collection in the Chicago Tribune, Studs Terkel remarked, "In reading [the Theater Essays] ... you are exhilaratingly aware of a social critic, as well as a playwright, who knows what he's talking about." + +In 1983, Miller traveled to China to produce and direct Death of a Salesman at the People's Art Theatre in Beijing. It was a success in China and in 1984, Salesman in Beijing, a book about Miller's experiences in Beijing, was published. Around the same time, Death of a Salesman was adapted into a television film starring Dustin Hoffman as Willy Loman. The film was broadcast on CBS, and garnered an audience viewership of 25 million. In late 1987, Miller's autobiographical work, Timebends, was published. Before it was published, it was well known that Miller would not talk about Monroe in interviews; however, in the book, he wrote extensively in detail about his experiences with Monroe. + +During the early 1990s, Miller wrote three new plays: The Ride Down Mt. Morgan (1991), The Last Yankee (1992), and Broken Glass (1994). In 1996, a film adaptation of The Crucible starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Scofield, Bruce Davison and Winona Ryder was released. Miller spent much of 1996 working on the screenplay. + +Mr. Peters' Connections was staged Off-Broadway in 1998, and Death of a Salesman was revived on Broadway in 1999 to celebrate its 50th anniversary. The 1999 revival ran for 274 performances at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, starring Brian Dennehy as Willy Loman. Once again, it was a large critical success, winning a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. + +In 1993, Miller received the National Medal of Arts. He was honored with the PEN/Laura Pels Theater Award for a Master American Dramatist in 1998. In 2001, the National Endowment for the Humanities selected him for the Jefferson Lecture, the U.S. federal government's highest honor for achievement in the humanities. His lecture, "On Politics and the Art of Acting", analyzed political events (including the U.S. presidential election of 2000) +in terms of the "arts of performance". It drew attacks from some conservatives such as Jay Nordlinger, who called it "a disgrace"; and George Will, who argued that Miller was not a legitimate "scholar". + +In October 1999, Miller received The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, given annually to "a man or woman who has made an outstanding contribution to the beauty of the world and to mankind's enjoyment and understanding of life". In 2001, he received the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. On May 1, 2002, he received Spain's Principe de Asturias Prize for Literature as "the undisputed master of modern drama". Later that year, Ingeborg Morath died of lymphatic cancer at the age of 78. The following year, Miller won the Jerusalem Prize. + +In December 2004, 89-year-old Miller announced that he had been in love with 34-year-old minimalist painter Agnes Barley and had been living with her at his Connecticut farm since 2002, and that they intended to marry. +Miller's final play, Finishing the Picture, opened at the Goodman Theatre, Chicago, in the fall of 2004, with one character said to be based on Barley. It was reportedly based on his experience during the filming of The Misfits, though Miller insisted the play was a work of fiction with independent characters that were no more than composite shadows of history. + +Personal life + +Marriages and family + +In June 1956, Miller left his first wife, Mary Slattery, whom he had married in 1940, and wed film star Marilyn Monroe. They met in 1951, had a brief affair, and remained in contact. Monroe had just turned 30 when they married; she never had a real family of her own and was eager to join the family of her new husband. + +Monroe began to reconsider her career and the fact that trying to manage it made her feel helpless. She admitted to Miller, "I hate Hollywood. I don't want it any more. I want to live quietly in the country and just be there when you need me. I can't fight for myself any more." Monroe converted to Judaism to "express her loyalty and get close to both Miller and his parents", writes biographer Jeffrey Meyers. She told her close friend, Susan Strasberg: "I can identify with the Jews. Everybody's always out to get them, no matter what they do, like me." Soon after Monroe converted, Egypt banned all of her movies. Away from Hollywood and the culture of celebrity, Monroe's life became more normal; she began cooking, keeping house and giving Miller more attention and affection than he had been used to. + +Later that year, Miller was subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee, and Monroe accompanied him. In her personal notes, she wrote about her worries during this period: + +Monroe obtained a "Mexican divorce" from Miller in January 1961. + +In February 1962, Miller married photographer Inge Morath, who had worked as a photographer documenting the production of The Misfits. The first of their two children, Rebecca, was born September 15, 1962. Their son Daniel was born with Down syndrome in November 1966. Against his wife's wishes, Miller had him institutionalized, first at a home for infants in New York City, then at the Southbury Training School in Connecticut. Though Morath visited Daniel often, Miller never visited him at the school and rarely spoke of him. Miller and Inge remained together until her death in 2002. Miller's son-in-law, actor Daniel Day-Lewis, is said to have visited Daniel frequently, and to have persuaded Miller to meet with him. + +Death +Miller died on the evening of February 10, 2005 (coincidentally the 56th anniversary of the Broadway debut of Death of a Salesman) at age 89 of bladder cancer and heart failure, at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut. He had been in hospice care at his sister's apartment in New York since his release from hospital the previous month. He was surrounded by Barley, family and friends. His body was interred at Roxbury Center Cemetery in Roxbury. + +Within hours of her father's death, Rebecca Miller, who had been consistently opposed to the relationship with Agnes Barley, ordered her to vacate the home she shared with Arthur. + +Legacy +Miller's writing career spanned over seven decades, and at the time of his death, he was considered one of the 20th century's greatest dramatists. After his death, many respected actors, directors, and producers paid tribute to him, some calling him the last great practitioner of the American stage, and Broadway theatres darkened their lights in a show of respect. +Miller's alma mater, the University of Michigan, opened the Arthur Miller Theatre in March 2007. Per his express wish, it is the only theater in the world that bears his name. + +Miller's letters, notes, drafts and other papers are housed at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin. + +Miller is also a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame. He was inducted in 1979. + +In 1993, he received the Four Freedoms Award for Freedom of Speech. + +In 2017, his daughter, Rebecca Miller, a writer and filmmaker, completed a documentary about her father's life, Arthur Miller: Writer. + +Minor planet 3769 Arthurmiller is named after him. + +In the 2022 Netflix film Blonde, Miller was portrayed by Adrien Brody. + +Foundation +The Arthur Miller Foundation was founded to honor the legacy of Miller and his New York City Public School education. Its mission is "Promoting increased access and equity to theater arts education in our schools and increasing the number of students receiving theater arts education as an integral part of their academic curriculum." Its other initiatives include certification of new theater teachers and their placement in public schools, increasing the number of theater teachers in the system from the current estimate of 180 teachers in 1800 schools, supporting professional development of all certified theater teachers, and providing teaching artists, cultural partners, physical spaces, and theater ticket allocations for students. The foundation's primary purpose is to provide arts education in the New York City school system. Its current chancellor is Carmen Farina, a prominent proponent of the Common Core State Standards Initiative. The Master Arts Council includes Alec Baldwin, Ellen Barkin, Bradley Cooper, Dustin Hoffman, Scarlett Johansson, Tony Kushner, Julianne Moore, Michael Moore, Liam Neeson, David O. Russell, and Liev Schreiber. Miller's son-in-law, Daniel Day-Lewis, has served on the current board of directors since 2016. + +The foundation celebrated Miller's 100th birthday with a one-night performance of his seminal works in November 2015. + +The Arthur Miller Foundation currently supports a pilot program in theater and film at the public school Quest to Learn, in partnership with the Institute of Play. The model is being used as an in-school elective theater class and lab. Its objective is to create a sustainable theater education model to disseminate to teachers at professional development workshops. + +Archive +Miller donated thirteen boxes of his earliest manuscripts to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin in 1961 and 1962. This collection included the original handwritten notebooks and early typed drafts for Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, All My Sons, and other works. In January, 2018, the Ransom Center announced the acquisition of the remainder of the Miller archive, totaling over 200 boxes. The full archive opened in November, 2019. + +Literary and public criticism +Christopher Bigsby wrote Arthur Miller: The Definitive Biography based on boxes of papers Miller made available to him before his death in 2005. The book was published in November 2008, and is reported to reveal unpublished works in which Miller "bitterly attack[ed] the injustices of American racism long before it was taken up by the civil rights movement". + +In his book Trinity of Passion, author Alan M. Wald conjectures that Miller was "a member of a writer's unit of the Communist Party around 1946," using the pseudonym Matt Wayne, and editing a drama column in the magazine The New Masses. + +In 1999 the writer Christopher Hitchens attacked Miller for comparing the Monica Lewinsky investigation to the Salem witch hunt. Miller had asserted a parallel between the examination of physical evidence on Lewinsky's dress and the examinations of women's bodies for signs of the "Devil's Marks" in Salem. Hitchens scathingly disputed the parallel. In his memoir, Hitch-22, Hitchens bitterly noted that Miller, despite his prominence as a left-wing intellectual, had failed to support author Salman Rushdie during the Iranian fatwa involving The Satanic Verses. + +Works + +Stage plays + + No Villain (1936) + They Too Arise (1937, based on No Villain) + Honors at Dawn (1938, based on They Too Arise) + The Grass Still Grows (1938, based on They Too Arise) + The Great Disobedience (1938) + Listen My Children (1939, with Norman Rosten) + The Golden Years (1940) + The Half-Bridge (1943) + The Man Who Had All the Luck (1944) + All My Sons (1947) + Death of a Salesman (1949) + An Enemy of the People (1950, adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's play An Enemy of the People) + The Crucible (1953) + A View from the Bridge (1955) + A Memory of Two Mondays (1955) + After the Fall (1964) + Incident at Vichy (1964) + The Price (1968) + The Reason Why (1970) + Fame (one-act, 1970; revised for television 1978) + The Creation of the World and Other Business (1972) + Up from Paradise (1974) + The Archbishop's Ceiling (1977) + The American Clock (1980) + Playing for Time (television play, 1980) + Elegy for a Lady (short play, 1982, first part of Two Way Mirror) + Some Kind of Love Story (short play, 1982, second part of Two Way Mirror) + I Think About You a Great Deal (1986) + Playing for Time (stage version, 1985) + I Can't Remember Anything (1987, collected in Danger: Memory!) + Clara (1987, collected in Danger: Memory!) + The Ride Down Mt. Morgan (1991) + The Last Yankee (1993) + Broken Glass (1994) + Mr. Peters' Connections (1998) + Resurrection Blues (2002) + Finishing the Picture (2004) + +Radio plays + The Pussycat and the Expert Plumber Who Was a Man (1941) + Joel Chandler Harris (1941) + The Battle of the Ovens (1942) + Thunder from the Mountains (1942) + I Was Married in Bataan (1942) + That They May Win (1943) + Listen for the Sound of Wings (1943) + Bernardine (1944) + I Love You (1944) + Grandpa and the Statue (1944) + The Philippines Never Surrendered (1944) + The Guardsman (1944, based on Ferenc Molnár's play) + The Story of Gus (1947) + +Screenplays + The Hook (1947) + All My Sons (1948) + Let's Make Love (1960) + The Misfits (1961) + Death of a Salesman (1985) + Everybody Wins (1990) + The Crucible (1996) + +Assorted fiction + Focus (novel, 1945) + "The Misfits" (short story, published in Esquire, October 1957) + I Don't Need You Anymore (short stories, 1967) + "Homely Girl: A Life" (short story, 1992, published in UK as "Plain Girl: A Life" 1995) + Presence: Stories (2007) (short stories include "The Bare Manuscript", "Beavers", "The Performance", and "Bulldog") + +Non-fiction + Situation Normal (1944) is based on his experiences researching the war correspondence of Ernie Pyle. + In Russia (1969), the first of three books created with his photographer wife Inge Morath, offers Miller's impressions of Russia and Russian society. + In the Country (1977), with photographs by Morath and text by Miller, provides insight into how Miller spent his time in Roxbury, Connecticut, and profiles of his various neighbors. + Chinese Encounters (1979) is a travel journal with photographs by Morath. It depicts the Chinese society in the state of flux which followed the end of the Cultural Revolution. Miller discusses the hardships of many writers, professors, and artists during Mao Zedong's regime. + Salesman in Beijing (1984) details Miller's experiences with the 1983 Beijing People's Theatre production of Death of a Salesman. He describes directing a Chinese cast in an American play. + Timebends: A Life, Methuen London (1987) . Miller's autobiography. + On Politics and the Art of Acting, Viking 2001 {ISBN 0-670-030-422} an 85-page essay about the thespian skills in American politics, comparing FDR, JFK, Reagan, Clinton. + +Collections + Abbotson, Susan C. W. (ed.), Arthur Miller: Collected Essays, Penguin 2016 + Kushner, Tony, ed. Arthur Miller, Collected Plays 1944–1961 (Library of America, 2006) . + Martin, Robert A. (ed.), "The theater essays of Arthur Miller", foreword by Arthur Miller. NY: Viking Press, 1978 + +References + +Bibliography + Bigsby, Christopher (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Arthur Miller, Cambridge 1997 + Gottfried, Martin, Arthur Miller, A Life, Da Capo Press (US)/Faber and Faber (UK), 2003 + Koorey, Stefani, Arthur Miller's Life and Literature, Scarecrow, 2000 + Moss, Leonard. Arthur Miller, Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1980. + +Further reading + Critical Companion to Arthur Miller, Susan C. W. Abbotson, Greenwood (2007) + Student Companion to Arthur Miller, Susan C. W. Abbotson, Facts on File (2000) + File on Miller, Christopher Bigsby (1988) + Arthur Miller & Company, Christopher Bigsby, editor (1990) + Arthur Miller: A Critical Study, Christopher Bigsby (2005) + Remembering Arthur Miller, Christopher Bigsby, editor (2005) + Arthur Miller 1915–1962, Christopher Bigsby (2008, U.K.; 2009, U.S.) + The Cambridge Companion to Arthur Miller (Cambridge Companions to Literature), Christopher Bigsby, editor (1998, updated and republished 2010) + Arthur Miller 1962–2005, Christopher Bigsby (2011) + + Arthur Miller: Critical Insights, Brenda Murphy, editor, Salem (2011) + Understanding Death of a Salesman, Brenda Murphy and Susan C. W. Abbotson, Greenwood (1999) + + +Critical articles + Arthur Miller Journal, published biannually by Penn State UP. Vol. 1.1 (2006) + Radavich, David. "Arthur Miller's Sojourn in the Heartland". American Drama 16:2 (Summer 2007): 28–45. + +External links + +Organizations + Arthur Miller official website + Arthur Miller Society + The Arthur Miller Foundation +Archive + Arthur Miller Papers at the Harry Ransom Center + "Playwright Arthur Miller's archive comes to the Harry Ransom Center" + Finding aid to Arthur Miller papers at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library. +Databases + + + +Websites + + + + A Visit With Castro – Miller's article in The Nation, January 12, 2004 + + Joyce Carol Oates on Arthur Miller + Arthur Miller Biography +Arthur Miller and Mccarthyism + +Interviews + + + Miller interview, Humanities, March–April 2001 + +Obituaries + The New York Times Obituary + NPR obituary + CNN obituary + +1915 births +2005 deaths +University of Michigan alumni + +Kennedy Center honorees +Laurence Olivier Award winners +Primetime Emmy Award winners +Pulitzer Prize for Drama winners +Recipients of the Praemium Imperiale +Tony Award winners + +20th-century American dramatists and playwrights +20th-century American essayists +20th-century American Jews +20th-century American novelists +20th-century American screenwriters +20th-century American short story writers +20th-century American memoirists +20th-century travel writers +21st-century American dramatists and playwrights +21st-century American essayists +21st-century American Jews +21st-century American non-fiction writers +21st-century American screenwriters +21st-century American short story writers +Abraham Lincoln High School (Brooklyn) alumni +American agnostics +American anti-capitalists +American anti-fascists +American autobiographers +American male dramatists and playwrights +American male essayists +American male non-fiction writers +American male novelists +American male screenwriters +American male short story writers +American memoirists +American people of Polish-Jewish descent +American radio writers +American travel writers +Analysands of Rudolph Lowenstein +Anti-consumerists +Deaths from bladder cancer +Deaths from cancer in Connecticut +Federal Theatre Project people +Free speech activists +Freethought writers +Hopwood Award winners +Jerusalem Prize recipients +Jewish agnostics +Jewish American dramatists and playwrights +Jewish novelists +Marilyn Monroe +Mass media theorists +American media critics +Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters +Metaphor theorists +The Michigan Daily alumni +PEN International +People from Brooklyn Heights +People from Gravesend, Brooklyn +People from Midwood, Brooklyn +People from Roxbury, Connecticut +Postmodern writers +Recipients of the Four Freedoms Award +Special Tony Award recipients +Theatre theorists +Theatrologists +Writers about activism and social change +Writers about communism +Writers about theatre +Writers from Brooklyn +Writers from Connecticut +Writers of historical fiction set in the early modern period +Writers of historical fiction set in the modern age +Writers of historical romances +National Arts Club Medal of Honor Recipients +American lecturers +Anton (or Antonio) Diabelli (5 September 17818 April 1858) was an Austrian music publisher, editor and composer. Best known in his time as a publisher, he is most familiar today as the composer of the waltz on which Ludwig van Beethoven wrote his set of thirty-three Diabelli Variations. + +Early life +Diabelli was born in Mattsee near Salzburg, then in the Archbishopric of Salzburg. A musical child, he sang in the boys' choir at Salzburg Cathedral where he is believed to have taken music lessons with Michael Haydn. By the age of 19 Diabelli had already composed several important compositions including six masses. + +Diabelli was trained to enter the priesthood and in 1800 joined the monastery at Raitenhaslach, Bavaria. He remained there until 1803, when Bavaria closed all its monasteries. + +Career +In 1803 Diabelli moved to Vienna and began teaching piano and guitar and found work as a proofreader for a music publisher. During this period he learned the music publishing business while continuing to compose. In 1809 he composed his comic opera, Adam in der Klemme. In 1817 he started a music publishing business and in 1818 he formed a partnership with Pietro Cappi to create the music publishing firm of Cappi & Diabelli. + +Cappi & Diabelli became well known by arranging popular pieces so they could be played by amateurs at home. A master of promotion, Diabelli selected widely-accessible music such as famous opera tune arrangements, dance music and popular new comic theatre songs. + +The firm soon established a reputation in more serious music circles by championing the works of Franz Schubert. Diabelli recognized the composer's potential and became the first to publish Schubert's work with "Erlkönig" in 1821. Diabelli's firm continued to publish Schubert's work until 1823 when an argument between Cappi and Schubert terminated their business. The following year Diabelli and Cappi parted ways, Diabelli launching a new publishing house, Diabelli & Co., in 1824. Following Schubert's early death in 1828 Diabelli purchased a large portion of the composer's massive musical estate from Schubert's brother Ferdinand. As Schubert had hundreds of unpublished works, Diabelli's firm was able to publish "new" Schubert works for more than 30 years after the composer's death. + +Diabelli's publishing house expanded throughout his life, before he retired in 1851, leaving it under the control of Carl Anton Spina. When Diabelli died in 1858 Spina changed the firm’s name to “C.A. Spina Vormals Diabelli” and published much music by Johann Strauss II and Josef Strauss. In 1872 the firm was taken over by Friedrich Schreiber and in 1876 it merged with the firm of August Cranz who bought the company in 1879 and ran it under his name. + +Diabelli died in Vienna at the age of 76. + +Compositions + +Diabelli composed a number of well-known Classical works, including an operetta called Adam in der Klemme, several masses, songs and numerous piano and classical guitar pieces. Numerically his guitar pieces form the largest part of his works. His pieces for piano four hands are popular. + +Diabelli's composition Pleasures of Youth: Six Sonatinas is a collection of six sonatinas depicting a struggle between unknown opposing forces. This is suggested by the sharp and frequent change in dynamics from forte to piano. When forte is indicated the pianist is meant to evoke a sense of wickedness, thus depicting the antagonist. In contrast the markings of piano represent the protagonist. + +Diabelli Variations + +The composition for which Diabelli is now best known was actually written as part of an adventuring story. In 1819, as a promotional idea, he decided to try to publish a volume of variations on a "patriotic" waltz he had penned expressly for this purpose, with one variation by every important Austrian composer living at the time, as well as several significant non-Austrians. The combined contributions would be published in an anthology called Vaterländischer Künstlerverein. Fifty-one composers responded with pieces, including Beethoven, Schubert, Archduke Rudolph of Austria, Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart (jun.), Moritz, Prince of Dietrichstein, Heinrich Eduard Josef Baron von Lannoy, Ignaz Franz Baron von Mosel, Carl Czerny, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Ignaz Moscheles, Simon Sechter, and the eight-year-old Franz Liszt (although it seems Liszt was not invited personally, but his teacher Czerny arranged for him to be involved). Czerny was also enlisted to write a coda. Beethoven, however, instead of providing just one variation, provided 33, and his formed Part I of Vaterländischer Künstlerverein. They constitute what is generally regarded as one of the greatest of Beethoven's piano pieces and as the greatest set of variations of their time, and are generally known simply as the Diabelli Variations, Op. 120. The other 50 variations were published as Part II of Vaterländischer Künstlerverein. + +Cultural references +A sonatina of Diabelli's, presumably Sonatina in F major, Op. 168, No. 1 (I: Moderato cantabile), provides the title and a motif for the French novella Moderato Cantabile by Marguerite Duras. + +See also +Romantic guitar + +References + +Published music and further reading +Anton Diabelli's guitar works – a thematic catalogue with an introduction; Doctoral Thesis by Jukka Savijoki (Sibelius Academy; 1996) +Anton Diabelli's Guitar Works: A Thematic Catalogue by Jukka Savijoki (Editions Orphée) +Rischel & Birket-Smith's Collection of guitar music Det Kongelige Bibliotek, Denmark +Boije Collection The Music Library of Sweden +www.karadar.com/Dictionary/diabelli.html + + +Free scores at the Mutopia Project + +External links + +1781 births +1858 deaths +19th-century classical composers +19th-century male musicians +Austrian male classical composers +Austrian opera composers +Austrian people of Italian descent +Austrian Romantic composers +Composers for piano +Composers for the classical guitar +Male opera composers +Sheet music publishers (people) +People from Salzburg-Umgebung District +Anita Faye Hill (born July 30, 1956) is an American lawyer, educator and author. She is a professor of social policy, law, and women's studies at Brandeis University and a faculty member of the university's Heller School for Social Policy and Management. She became a national figure in 1991 when she accused U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, her supervisor at the United States Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, of sexual harassment. + +Early life and education + +Anita Hill was born to a family of farmers in Lone Tree, Oklahoma, the youngest of Albert and Erma Hill's 13 children. Her family came from Arkansas, where her maternal grandfather Henry Eliot and all of her great-grandparents had been born into slavery. Hill was raised in the Baptist faith. + +Hill graduated from Morris High School, Oklahoma in 1973, where she was class valedictorian. After high school, she enrolled at Oklahoma State University and received a bachelor's degree in psychology with honors in 1977. She studied at Yale Law School, obtaining her Juris Doctor degree with honors in 1980. + +Early career + +Hill was admitted to the District of Columbia Bar in 1980 and began her law career as an associate with the Washington, D.C. firm of Wald, Harkrader & Ross. In 1981, she became an attorney-adviser to Clarence Thomas, who was then the Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. When Thomas became chairman of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 1982, Hill served as his assistant, leaving the job in 1983. + +Hill then became an assistant professor at the Evangelical Christian O. W. Coburn School of Law at Oral Roberts University where she taught from 1983 to 1986. In 1986, she joined the faculty at the University of Oklahoma College of Law where she taught commercial law and contracts. + +In 1989, she became the first tenured African American professor at OU. She left the university in 1996 due to ongoing calls for her resignation that began after her 1992 testimony. In 1998, she became a visiting scholar at Brandeis University and, in 2015, a university professor at the school. + +Allegations of sexual harassment against Clarence Thomas + +In 1991, President George H. W. Bush nominated Clarence Thomas, a federal circuit judge, to succeed retiring Associate Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. Senate hearings on his confirmation were initially completed with Thomas's good character being presented as a primary qualification for the high court because he had only been a judge for slightly more than one year. There had been little organized opposition to Thomas's nomination, and his confirmation seemed assured until a report of a private interview of Hill by the FBI was leaked to the press. The hearings were then reopened, and Hill was called to publicly testify. + +Hill said on October 11, 1991, in televised hearings that Thomas had sexually harassed her while he was her supervisor at the Department of Education and the EEOC. When questioned on why she followed Thomas to the second job after he had already allegedly harassed her, she said working in a reputable position within the civil rights field had been her ambition. The position was appealing enough to inhibit her from going back into private practice with her previous firm. She said that she only realized later in her life that the choice had represented poor judgment on her part, but that "at that time, it appeared that the sexual overtures... had ended." + +According to Hill, Thomas asked her out socially many times during her two years of employment as his assistant, and after she declined his requests, he used work situations to discuss sexual subjects and push advances. "He spoke about... such matters as women having sex with animals and films showing group sex or rape scenes," she said, adding that on several occasions Thomas graphically described "his own sexual prowess" and the details of his anatomy. Hill also recounted an instance in which Thomas examined a can of Coke on his desk and asked, "Who has put pubic hair on my Coke?" During the hearing, Republican Senator Orrin Hatch implied that "Hill was working in tandem with 'slick lawyers' and interest groups bent on destroying Thomas's chances to join the court." Thomas said he had considered Hill a friend whom he had helped at every turn, so when accusations of harassment came from her they were particularly hurtful and he said, "I lost the belief that if I did my best, all would work out." + +Four female witnesses waited in the wings to support Hill's credibility, but they were not called, due to what the Los Angeles Times described as a private, compromise deal between Republicans and the Senate Judiciary Committee chair, Democrat Joe Biden. + +Hill agreed to take a polygraph test. While senators and other authorities observed that polygraph results cannot be relied upon and are inadmissible in courts, Hill's results did support her statements. Thomas did not take a polygraph test. He made a vehement and complete denial, saying that he was being subjected to a "high-tech lynching for uppity blacks" by white liberals who were seeking to block a black conservative from taking a seat on the Supreme Court. After extensive debate, the United States Senate confirmed Thomas to the Supreme Court by a vote of 52–48, the narrowest margin since the 19th century. + +Members questioned Hill's credibility after the timeline of her events came into question. They mentioned the time delay of ten years between the alleged behavior by Thomas and Hill's accusations, and observed that Hill had followed Thomas to a second job and later had personal contacts with Thomas, including giving him a ride to an airport—behavior which they said would be inexplicable if Hill's allegations were true. Hill countered that she had come forward because she felt an obligation to share information on the character and actions of a person who was being considered for the Supreme Court. She testified that after leaving the EEOC, she had had two "inconsequential" phone conversations with Thomas, and had seen him personally on two occasions, once to get a job reference and the second time when he made a public appearance in Oklahoma where she was teaching. + +Doubts about the veracity of Hill's 1991 testimony persisted among conservatives long after Thomas took his seat on the Court. They were furthered by right-wing magazine American Spectator writer David Brock in his 1993 book The Real Anita Hill, though he later recanted the claims he had made which he described in his book as "character assassination," and apologized to Hill. After interviewing a number of women who alleged that Thomas had frequently subjected them to sexually explicit remarks, The Wall Street Journal reporters Jane Mayer and Jill Abramson wrote, Strange Justice: The Selling of Clarence Thomas, a book that concluded that Thomas had lied during his confirmation process. Richard Lacayo in his 1994 review of the book for Time magazine remarked, however, that "Their book doesn't quite nail that conclusion." In 2007, Kevin , a co-author of another book on Thomas, remarked that what happened between Thomas and Hill was "ultimately unknowable" by others, but that it was clear that "one of them lied, period." Writing in 2007, Neil Lewis of The New York Times remarked that, "To this day, each side in the epic he-said, she-said dispute has its unmovable believers." + +In 2007, Thomas published his autobiography, My Grandfather's Son, in which he revisited the controversy, calling Hill his "most traitorous adversary", and writing that pro-choice liberals, who feared he would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade if he were seated on the Supreme Court, used the scandal against him. He described Hill as touchy and apt to overreact, and her work at the EEOC as mediocre. He acknowledged that three other former EEOC employees had backed Hill's story, but said they had all left the agency on bad terms. He also wrote that Hill "was a left-winger who'd never expressed any religious sentiments whatsoever ... and the only reason why she'd held a job in the Reagan administration was because I'd given it to her." Hill denied the accusations in an op-ed in The New York Times saying she would not "stand by silently and allow [Justice Thomas], in his anger, to reinvent me." + +In October 2010, Thomas's wife Virginia, a conservative activist, left a voicemail at Hill's office asking that Hill apologize for her 1991 testimony. Hill initially believed the call was a hoax and referred the matter to the Brandeis University campus police who alerted the FBI. After being informed that the call was indeed from Virginia Thomas, Hill told the media that she did not believe the message was meant to be conciliatory and said, "I testified truthfully about my experience and I stand by that testimony." Virginia Thomas responded that the call had been intended as an "olive branch". + +Effects + +Shortly after the Thomas confirmation hearings, President George H. W. Bush dropped his opposition to a bill that gave harassment victims the right to seek federal damage awards, back pay, and reinstatement, and the law was passed by Congress. One year later, harassment complaints filed with the EEOC were up 50 percent and public opinion had shifted in Hill's favor. Private companies also started training programs to deter sexual harassment. When journalist Cinny Kennard asked Hill in 1991 if she would testify against Thomas all over again, Hill answered, "I'm not sure if I could have lived with myself if I had answered those questions any differently." + +The manner in which the Senate Judiciary Committee challenged and dismissed Hill's accusations of sexual harassment angered female politicians and lawyers. According to D.C. Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, Hill's treatment by the panel was a contributing factor to the large number of women elected to Congress in 1992. "Women clearly went to the polls with the notion in mind that you had to have more women in Congress," she said. In their anthology, All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, but Some of Us Are Brave, editors Gloria T. Hull, Patricia Bell-Scott, and Barbara Smith described black feminists mobilizing "a remarkable national response to the Anita Hill–Clarence Thomas controversy. + +In 1992, a feminist group began a nationwide fundraising campaign and then obtained matching state funds to endow a professorship at the University of Oklahoma College of Law in honor of Hill. Conservative Oklahoma state legislators reacted by demanding Hill's resignation from the university, then introducing a bill to prohibit the university from accepting donations from out-of-state residents, and finally attempting to pass legislation to close down the law school. Elmer Zinn Million, a local activist, compared Hill to Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin of President Kennedy. Certain officials at the university attempted to revoke Hill's tenure. After five years of pressure, Hill resigned. The University of Oklahoma Law School defunded the Anita F. Hill professorship in May 1999, without the position having ever been filled. + +On April 25, 2019, the presidential campaign team for Joe Biden for the 2020 United States presidential election disclosed that he had called Hill to express "his regret for what she endured" in his role as the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, presiding over the Thomas confirmation hearings. Hill said the call from Biden left her feeling "deeply unsatisfied". On June 13, 2019, Hill clarified that she did not consider Biden's actions disqualifying, and would be open to voting for him. In May 2020, Hill argued that sexual assault allegations made against Donald Trump as well as the sexual assault allegation against Biden should be investigated and their results "made available to the public." + +On September 5, 2020, it was reported that Hill had vowed to vote for Biden and to work with him on gender issues. + +Continued work and advocacy + +Hill continued to teach at the University of Oklahoma, though she spent two years as a visiting professor in California. She resigned her post in October 1996 and finished her final semester of teaching there. In her final semester, she taught a law school seminar on civil rights. An endowed chair was created in her name, but was later defunded without ever having been filled. + +Hill accepted a position as a visiting scholar at the Institute for the Study of Social Change at University of California, Berkeley in January 1997, but soon joined the faculty of Brandeis University—first at the Women's Studies Program, later moving to the Heller School for Social Policy and Management. In 2011, she also took a counsel position with the Civil Rights & Employment Practice group of the plaintiffs' law firm Cohen Milstein. + +Over the years, Hill has provided commentary on gender and race issues on national television programs, including 60 Minutes, Face the Nation, and Meet the Press. She has been a speaker on the topic of commercial law as well as race and women's rights. She is also the author of articles that have been published in The New York Times and Newsweek and has contributed to many scholarly and legal publications in the areas of international commercial law, bankruptcy, and civil rights. + +In 1995, Hill co-edited Race, Gender and Power in America: The Legacy of the Hill-Thomas Hearings with Emma Coleman Jordan. In 1997 Hill published her autobiography, Speaking Truth to Power, in which she chronicled her role in the Clarence Thomas confirmation controversy and wrote that creating a better society had been a motivating force in her life. She contributed the piece "The Nature of the Beast: Sexual Harassment" to the 2003 anthology Sisterhood Is Forever: The Women's Anthology for a New Millennium, edited by Robin Morgan. In 2011, Hill published her second book, Reimagining Equality: Stories of Gender, Race, and Finding Home, which focuses on the sub-prime lending crisis that resulted in the foreclosure of many homes owned by African-Americans. She calls for a new understanding about the importance of a home and its place in the American Dream. On March 26, 2015, the Brandeis Board of Trustees unanimously voted to recognize Hill with a promotion to Private University Professor of Social Policy, Law, and Women's Studies. + +On December 16, 2017, the Commission on Sexual Harassment and Advancing Equality in the Workplace was formed, selecting Hill to lead its charge against sexual harassment in the entertainment industry. The new initiative was spearheaded by co-chair of the Nike Foundation Maria Eitel, venture capitalist Freada Kapor Klein, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy and talent attorney Nina Shaw. The report found not only a saddening prevalence of continued bias but also stark differences in how varying demographics perceived discrimination and harassment. + +In September 2018, Hill wrote an op-ed in The New York Times regarding sexual assault allegations made by Christine Blasey Ford during the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination. On November 8, 2018, Anita Hill spoke at the USC Dornsife's event, "From Social Movement to Social Impact: Putting an End to Sexual Harassment in the Workplace". + +Writings + +In 1994, Hill wrote a tribute to Thurgood Marshall, the first African American Supreme Court Justice who preceded Clarence Thomas, titled "A Tribute to Thurgood Marshall: A Man Who Broke with Tradition on Issues of Race and Gender". She outlined Marshall's contributions to the principles of equality as a judge and how his work has affected the lives of African Americans, specifically African American women. + +On October 20, 1998, Hill published the book Speaking Truth to Power. Throughout much of the book she gives details on her side of the sexual harassment controversy, and her professional relationship with Clarence Thomas. Aside from that, she also provides a glimpse of what her personal life was like all the way from her childhood days growing up in Oklahoma to her position as a law professor. + +Hill became a proponent for women's rights and feminism. This can be seen through the chapter she wrote in the 2007 book Women and leadership: the state of play and strategies for change. She wrote about women judges and why, in her opinion, they play such a large role in balancing the judicial system. She argues that since women and men have different life experiences, ways of thinking, and histories, both are needed for a balanced court system. She writes that in order for the best law system to be created in the United States, all people need the ability to be represented. + +In 2011, Hill's second book, Reimagining Equality: Stories of Gender, Race, and Finding Home was published. She discusses the relationship between the home and the American Dream. She also exposes the inequalities within gender and race and home ownership. She argues that inclusive democracy is more important than debates about legal rights. She uses her own history and history of other African American women such as Nannie Helen Burroughs, in order to strengthen her argument for reimagining equality altogether. + +On September 28, 2021, Hill published the book Believing: Our Thirty-Year Journey to End Gender Violence. + +Awards and recognition + +Hill received the American Bar Association's Commission on Women in the Profession's "Women of Achievement" award in 1992. In 2005, Hill was selected as a Fletcher Foundation Fellow. In 2008 she was awarded the Louis P. and Evelyn Smith First Amendment Award by the Ford Hall Forum. She also serves on the board of trustees for Southern Vermont College in Bennington, Vermont. Her opening statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1991 is listed as in American Rhetoric's Top 100 Speeches of the 20th Century (listed by rank). She was inducted into the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame in 1993. On January 7, 2017, Hill was inducted as an honorary member of Zeta Phi Beta sorority at their National Executive Board Meeting in Dallas, Texas. The following year, Hill was awarded an honorary LLM degree by Wesleyan University. The Wing's Washington, D.C. location has a phone booth dedicated to Hill. + +Minor planet 6486 Anitahill, discovered by Eleanor Helin, is named in her honor. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on November 8, 2019 (). + +In popular culture + + In 1991, the television sitcom Designing Women built its episode "The Strange Case of Clarence and Anita" around the hearings on the Clarence Thomas nomination. The following season in the episode "The Odyssey", the characters imagined what would happen if new president Bill Clinton nominated Anita Hill to the Supreme Court to sit next to Clarence Thomas. + Hill is referenced in the 1992 Sonic Youth song "Youth Against Fascism." + Her case also inspired the 1994 Law & Order episode "Virtue", about a young lawyer who feels pressured to sleep with her supervisor at her law firm. + Anita Hill is mentioned in The X-Files episode "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man", which aired November 17, 1996. + In the 1996 film Jerry Maguire, after Tom Cruise's character makes a pass at his employee (played by Renee Zellweger), he apologizes with, "I feel like Clarence Thomas." + In 1999, Ernest Dickerson directed Strange Justice, a film based on the Anita Hill–Clarence Thomas controversy. + Anita Hill is interviewed – unrelated to the Clarence Thomas case – about the film The Tin Drum in the documentary Banned in Oklahoma (2004), included in The Criterion Collection DVD of the film (2004). + Hill's testimony is briefly shown in the 2005 movie North Country about the first class action lawsuit surrounding sexual harassment. + Hill was the subject of the 2013 documentary film Anita by director Freida Lee Mock, which chronicles her experience during the Clarence Thomas scandal. + The actor Kerry Washington portrayed Hill in the 2016 HBO film Confirmation. + In 2018, entertainer John Oliver interviewed Hill on his television program Last Week Tonight during which Hill answered various questions and concerns about workplace sexual harassment in the present day. + Hill has been interviewed by Stephen Colbert on The Late Show twice, once in 2018 and again in 2021. + +See also + + Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination + Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination + Christine Blasey Ford + +References + +External links + + Faculty profile at Brandeis University + + Audio lecture: Anita Hill discusses Reimagining Equality: Stories of Gender, Race, and Finding Home on October 4, 2011, on Forum Network. + An Outline of the Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas Controversy at Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media + + African American women speak out on Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas + The complete transcripts of the Clarence Thomas--Anita Hill hearings : October 11,12,13, 1991 + +1956 births +Living people +20th-century African-American academics +20th-century American academics +21st-century African-American academics +21st-century American academics +20th-century American lawyers +20th-century American women lawyers +20th-century American non-fiction writers +21st-century American non-fiction writers +20th-century African-American women writers +20th-century African-American writers +20th-century American women writers +21st-century African-American women writers +21st-century African-American writers +21st-century American women writers +African-American women lawyers +American legal scholars +African-American legal scholars +American women legal scholars +Equal Employment Opportunity Commission members +Sexual harassment in the United States +American feminists +African-American feminists +American women non-fiction writers +American autobiographers +Women autobiographers +American political writers +American political women +Brandeis University faculty +University of Oklahoma faculty +Oklahoma State University faculty +Oral Roberts University faculty +Yale Law School alumni +Oklahoma State University alumni +People from Okmulgee County, Oklahoma +Lawyers from Washington, D.C. +Writers from Oklahoma +Clarence Thomas +20th-century African-American lawyers + + +Events + +Pre-1600 + 654 – Pope Eugene I elected to succeed Martinus I. + 955 – Battle of Lechfeld: Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor defeats the Magyars, ending 50 years of Magyar invasion of the West. + 991 – Battle of Maldon: The English, led by Byrhtnoth, Ealdorman of Essex, are defeated by a band of inland-raiding Vikings near Maldon, Essex. +1030 – The Battle of Azaz ends with a humiliating retreat of the Byzantine emperor, Romanos III Argyros, against the Mirdasid rulers of Aleppo. The retreat degenerates into a rout, in which Romanos himself barely escapes capture. +1270 – Yekuno Amlak takes the imperial throne of Ethiopia, restoring the Solomonic dynasty to power after a 100-year Zagwe interregnum. +1316 – The Second Battle of Athenry takes place near Athenry during the Bruce campaign in Ireland. +1346 – Jaume Ferrer sets out from Majorca for the "River of Gold", the Senegal River. +1512 – The naval Battle of Saint-Mathieu, during the War of the League of Cambrai, sees the simultaneous destruction of the Breton ship La Cordelière and the English ship The Regent. +1519 – Ferdinand Magellan's five ships set sail from Seville to circumnavigate the globe. The Basque second-in-command Juan Sebastián Elcano will complete the expedition after Magellan's death in the Philippines. +1557 – Battle of St. Quentin: Spanish victory over the French in the Italian War of 1551–59. +1585 – The Treaty of Nonsuch signed by Elizabeth I of England and the Dutch Rebels. + +1601–1900 +1628 – The Swedish warship Vasa sinks on her maiden voyage off Stockholm. +1641 – The Treaty of London between England and Scotland, ending the Bishops' Wars, is signed. +1680 – The Pueblo Revolt begins in New Mexico. +1741 – King Marthanda Varma of Travancore defeats the Dutch East India Company at the Battle of Colachel, effectively bringing about the end of the Dutch colonial rule in India. +1755 – Under the direction of Charles Lawrence, the British begin to forcibly deport the Acadians from Nova Scotia to the Thirteen Colonies and France. +1792 – French Revolution: Storming of the Tuileries Palace: Louis XVI of France is arrested and taken into custody as his Swiss Guards are massacred by the Parisian mob. +1808 – Finnish War: Swedish forces led by General von Döbeln defeat Russian forces led by General Šepelev in the Battle of Kauhajoki. +1856 – The Last Island hurricane strikes Louisiana, resulting in over 200 deaths. +1861 – American Civil War: Battle of Wilson's Creek: A mixed force of Confederate, Missouri State Guard, and Arkansas State troops defeat outnumbered attacking Union forces in the southwestern part of the state. +1864 – After Uruguay's governing Blanco Party refuses Brazil's demands, José Antônio Saraiva announces that the Brazilian military will begin reprisals, beginning the Uruguayan War. + +1901–present +1901 – The U.S. Steel recognition strike by the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers begins. +1904 – Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of the Yellow Sea between the Russian and Japanese battleship fleets takes place. +1905 – Russo-Japanese War: Peace negotiations begin in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. +1913 – Second Balkan War: Delegates from Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece sign the Treaty of Bucharest, ending the war. +1920 – World War I: Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI's representatives sign the Treaty of Sèvres that divides up the Ottoman Empire between the Allies. +1937 – Spanish Civil War: The Regional Defence Council of Aragon is dissolved by the Second Spanish Republic. +1944 – World War II: The Battle of Guam comes to an effective end. + 1944 – World War II: The Battle of Narva ends with a defensive German victory. +1948 – Candid Camera makes its television debut after being on radio for a year as The Candid Microphone. +1949 – An amendment to the National Security Act of 1947 enhances the authority of the United States Secretary of Defense over the Army, Navy and Air Force, and replaces the National Military Establishment with the Department of Defense. +1953 – First Indochina War: The French Union withdraws its forces from Operation Camargue against the Viet Minh in central Vietnam. +1954 – At Massena, New York, the groundbreaking ceremony for the Saint Lawrence Seaway is held. +1961 – Vietnam War: The U.S. Army begins Operation Ranch Hand, spraying an estimated of defoliants and herbicides over rural areas of South Vietnam in an attempt to deprive the Viet Cong of food and vegetation cover. +1966 – The Heron Road Bridge collapses while being built, killing nine workers in the deadliest construction accident in both Ottawa and Ontario. +1969 – A day after murdering Sharon Tate and four others, members of Charles Manson's cult kill Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. +1971 – The Society for American Baseball Research is founded in Cooperstown, New York. +1977 – In Yonkers, New York, 24-year-old postal employee David Berkowitz ("Son of Sam") is arrested for a series of killings in the New York City area over the period of one year. +1978 – Three members of the Ulrich family are killed in an accident. This leads to the Ford Pinto litigation. +1981 – Murder of Adam Walsh: The head of John Walsh's son is found. This inspires the creation of the television series America's Most Wanted and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. +1988 – Japanese American internment: U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, providing $20,000 payments to Japanese Americans who were either interned in or relocated by the United States during World War II. +1990 – The Magellan space probe reaches Venus. +1993 – Two earthquakes affect New Zealand. A 7.0 shock (intensity VI (Strong)) in the South Island was followed nine hours later by a 6.4 event (intensity VII (Very strong)) in the North Island. +1995 – Oklahoma City bombing: Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols are indicted for the bombing. Michael Fortier pleads guilty in a plea-bargain for his testimony. +1997 – Sixteen people are killed when Formosa Airlines Flight 7601 crashes near Beigan Airport in the Matsu Islands of Taiwan. +1998 – HRH Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah is proclaimed the crown prince of Brunei with a Royal Proclamation. +1999 – Los Angeles Jewish Community Center shooting. +2001 – The 2001 Angola train attack occurred, causing 252 deaths. + 2001 – Space Shuttle program: The Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on STS-105 to the International Space Station, carrying the astronauts of Expedition 3 to replace the crew of Expedition 2. +2003 – The Okinawa Urban Monorail is opened in Naha, Okinawa. +2009 – Twenty people are killed in Handlová, Trenčín Region, in the deadliest mining disaster in Slovakia's history. +2012 – The Marikana massacre begins near Rustenburg, South Africa, resulting in the deaths of 47 people. +2014 – Forty people are killed when Sepahan Airlines Flight 5915 crashes at Tehran's Mehrabad International Airport. +2018 – Horizon Air employee Richard Russell hijacks and performs an unauthorized takeoff on a Horizon Air Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 plane at Seattle–Tacoma International Airport in Washington, flying it for more than an hour before crashing the plane and killing himself on Ketron Island in Puget Sound. + 2018 – An anti-government rally turns into a riot when members of the Romanian Gendarmerie attack the 100,000 people protesting in front of the Victoria Palace, leading to 452 recorded injuries. The authorities alleged that the crowd was infiltrated by hooligans who began attacking law enforcement agents. +2019 – Thirty-two are killed and one million are evacuated as Typhoon Lekima makes landfall in Zhejiang, China. Earlier it had caused flooding in the Philippines. +2019 – Philip Manshaus shoots his stepsister and attacks a mosque in the Bærum mosque shooting. +2020 – Derecho in Iowa becomes the most costly thunderstorm disaster in U.S. history. + +Births + +Pre-1600 + 941 – Lê Hoàn, Vietnamese emperor (d. 1005) +1267 – James II of Aragon (d. 1327) +1296 – John of Bohemia (d. 1346) +1360 – Francesco Zabarella, Italian cardinal (d. 1417) +1397 – Albert II of Germany (d. 1439) +1439 – Anne of York, Duchess of Exeter, Duchess of York (d. 1476) +1449 – Bona of Savoy, Duchess of Savoy (d. 1503) +1466 – Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua (d. 1519) +1489 – Jacob Sturm von Sturmeck, German lawyer and politician (d. 1553) +1520 – Madeleine of Valois (d. 1537) +1528 – Eric II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1584) +1547 – Francis II, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (d. 1619) +1560 – Hieronymus Praetorius, German organist and composer (d. 1629) + +1601–1900 +1602 – Gilles de Roberval, French mathematician and academic (d. 1675) +1645 – Eusebio Kino, Italian priest and missionary (d. 1711) +1734 – Naungdawgyi, Burmese king (d. 1763) +1737 – Anton Losenko, Russian painter and academic (d. 1773) +1740 – Samuel Arnold, English organist and composer (d. 1802) +1744 – Alexandrine Le Normant d'Étiolles, daughter of Madame de Pompadour (d. 1754) +1755 – Narayan Rao, fifth Peshwa of the Maratha Empire (d. 1773) +1782 – Vicente Guerrero, Mexican insurgent leader and President of Mexico (d. 1831) +1805 – Ferenc Toldy, German-Hungarian historian and critic (d. 1875) +1809 – John Kirk Townsend, American ornithologist and explorer (d. 1851) +1810 – Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, Italian soldier and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1861) +1814 – Henri Nestlé, German businessman, founded Nestlé (d. 1890) + 1814 – John C. Pemberton, United States soldier and Confederate general (d. 1881) +1821 – Jay Cooke, American financier, founded Jay Cooke & Company (d. 1905) +1823 – Hugh Stowell Brown, English minister and reformer (d. 1886) +1825 – István Türr, Hungarian soldier, architect, and engineer, co-designed the Corinth Canal (d. 1908) +1827 – Lovro Toman, Slovenian lawyer and politician (d. 1870) +1839 – Aleksandr Stoletov, Russian physicist and academic (d. 1896) +1845 – Abai Qunanbaiuli, Kazakh poet, composer, and philosopher (d. 1904) +1848 – William Harnett, Irish-American painter and educator (d. 1892) +1856 – William Willett, English inventor, founded British Summer Time (d. 1915) +1860 – Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande, Indian singer and musicologist (d. 1936) +1865 – Alexander Glazunov, Russian composer, conductor, and educator (d. 1936) +1868 – Hugo Eckener, German pilot and businessman (d. 1954) +1869 – Laurence Binyon, English poet, playwright, and scholar (d. 1943) +1870 – Trần Tế Xương, Vietnamese poet and satirist (d. 1907) +1872 – William Manuel Johnson, American bassist (d. 1972) +1874 – Herbert Hoover, American engineer and politician, 31st President of the United States (d. 1964) +1874 – Antanas Smetona, Lithuanian jurist and politician, President of Lithuania (d. 1944) +1877 – Frank Marshall, American chess player and author (d. 1944) +1878 – Alfred Döblin, Polish-German physician and author (d. 1957) +1880 – Robert L. Thornton, American businessman and politician, Mayor of Dallas (d. 1964) +1884 – Panait Istrati, Romanian journalist and author (d. 1935) +1888 – Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark (d. 1940) +1889 – Charles Darrow, American game designer, created Monopoly (d. 1967) + 1889 – Zofia Kossak-Szczucka, Polish writer and member of the WW II Polish Resistance (d. 1968) +1890 – Angus Lewis Macdonald, Canadian lawyer and politician, 12th Premier of Nova Scotia (d. 1954) +1894 – V. V. Giri, Indian lawyer and politician, 4th President of India (d. 1980) +1895 – Hammy Love, Australian cricketer (d. 1969) +1897 – John W. Galbreath, American businessman and philanthropist, founded Darby Dan Farm (d. 1988) + 1897 – Jack Haley, American actor and singer (d. 1979) +1900 – Arthur Porritt, Baron Porritt, New Zealand physician and politician, 11th Governor-General of New Zealand (d. 1994) + +1901–present +1902 – Norma Shearer, Canadian-American actress (d. 1983) + 1902 – Curt Siodmak, German-English author and screenwriter (d. 2000) + 1902 – Arne Tiselius, Swedish biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971) +1903 – Ward Moore, American author (d. 1978) +1905 – Era Bell Thompson, American journalist and author (d. 1986) +1907 – Su Yu, Chinese general and politician (d. 1984) +1908 – Rica Erickson, Australian botanist, historian, and author (d. 2009) + 1908 – Billy Gonsalves, American soccer player (d. 1977) +1909 – Leo Fender, American businessman, founded Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (d. 1991) + 1909 – Richard J. Hughes, American politician, 45th Governor of New Jersey, and Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court (d. 1992) +1910 – Guy Mairesse, French racing driver (d. 1954) +1911 – Leonidas Andrianopoulos, Greek footballer (d. 2011) + 1911 – A. N. Sherwin-White, English historian and author (d. 1993) +1912 – Jorge Amado, Brazilian novelist and poet (d. 2001) +1913 – Noah Beery Jr., American actor (d. 1994) + 1913 – Kalevi Kotkas, Estonian-Finnish high jumper and discus thrower (d. 1983) + 1913 – Wolfgang Paul, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1993) +1914 – Jeff Corey, American actor and director (d. 2002) + 1914 – Carlos Menditeguy, Argentinian racing driver and polo player (d. 1973) + 1914 – Ray Smith, English cricketer (d. 1996) +1918 – Eugene P. Wilkinson, American admiral (d. 2013) +1920 – Red Holzman, American basketball player and coach (d. 1998) +1922 – Al Alberts, American pop singer and composer (d. 2009) +1923 – Bill Doolittle, American football player and coach (d. 2014) + 1923 – Rhonda Fleming, American actress (d. 2020) + 1923 – Fred Ridgway, English cricketer and footballer (d. 2015) + 1923 – SM Sultan, Bangladeshi painter and illustrator (d. 1994) +1924 – Nancy Buckingham, English author + 1924 – Martha Hyer, American actress (d. 2014) + 1924 – Jean-François Lyotard, French philosopher, sociologist, and literary theorist (d. 1998) +1925 – George Cooper, English general (d. 2020) +1926 – Marie-Claire Alain, French organist and educator (d. 2013) + 1926 – Carol Ruth Vander Velde, American mathematician (d. 1972) +1927 – Jimmy Martin, American singer and guitarist (d. 2005) + 1927 – Vernon Washington, American actor (d. 1988) +1928 – Jimmy Dean, American singer, actor, and businessman, founded the Jimmy Dean Food Company (d. 2010) + 1928 – Eddie Fisher, American singer and actor (d. 2010) + 1928 – Gerino Gerini, Italian racing driver (d. 2013) + 1928 – Gus Mercurio, American-Australian actor (d. 2010) +1930 – Barry Unsworth, English-Italian author and academic (d. 2012) +1931 – Dolores Alexander, American journalist and activist (d. 2008) + 1931 – Tom Laughlin, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2013) +1932 – Alexander Goehr, English composer and academic + 1932 – Gaudencio Rosales, Filipino cardinal +1933 – Doyle Brunson, American poker player (d. 2023) + 1933 – Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, Baroness Butler-Sloss, English lawyer and judge + 1933 – Rocky Colavito, American baseball player and sportscaster + 1933 – Keith Duckworth, English engineer, founded Cosworth (d. 2005) +1934 – Tevfik Kış, Turkish wrestler and trainer (d. 2019) +1935 – Ian Stewart, Baron Stewartby, English politician, Minister of State for the Armed Forces (d. 2018) + 1935 – Ad van Luyn, Dutch bishop +1936 – Malene Schwartz, Danish actress +1937 – Anatoly Sobchak, Russian scholar and politician, Mayor of Saint Petersburg (d. 2000) +1938 – Tony Ross, English author and illustrator +1939 – Kate O'Mara, English actress (d. 2014) + 1939 – Charlie Rose, American lawyer and politician (d. 2012) +1940 – Bobby Hatfield, American singer-songwriter (d. 2003) + 1940 – Sid Waddell, English sportscaster (d. 2012) +1941 – Anita Lonsbrough, English swimmer and journalist + 1941 – Susan Dorothea White, Australian painter and sculptor +1942 – Speedy Duncan, American football player (d. 2021) + 1942 – Betsey Johnson, American fashion designer + 1942 – Michael Pepper, English physicist and engineer +1943 – Louise Forestier, Canadian singer-songwriter and actress + 1943 – Jimmy Griffin, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2005) + 1943 – Michael Mantler, American trumpet player and composer + 1943 – Shafqat Rana, Indian-Pakistani cricketer + 1943 – Ronnie Spector, American singer-songwriter (d. 2022) +1947 – Ian Anderson, Scottish-English singer-songwriter and guitarist + 1947 – Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysian academic and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia + 1947 – John Spencer, English rugby player and manager + 1947 – Alan Ward, English cricketer +1948 – Nick Stringer, English actor +1950 – Patti Austin, American singer-songwriter +1951 – Juan Manuel Santos, Colombian businessman and politician, 59th President of Colombia +1952 – Daniel Hugh Kelly, American actor + 1952 – Diane Venora, American actress +1954 – Peter Endrulat, German footballer + 1954 – Rick Overton, American screenwriter, actor and comedian +1955 – Jim Mees, American set designer (d. 2013) + 1955 – Mel Tiangco, Filipino journalist and talk show host +1956 – Dianne Fromholtz, Australian tennis player + 1956 – José Luis Montes, Spanish footballer and manager (d. 2013) + 1956 – Fred Ottman, American wrestler + 1956 – Charlie Peacock, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer + 1956 – Perween Warsi, Indian-English businesswoman +1957 – Fred Ho, American saxophonist, composer, and playwright (d. 2014) + 1957 – Andres Põime, Estonian architect + 1957 – Aqeel Abbas Jafari, Pakistani writer, poet, architect and chief editor Urdu Dictionary Board +1958 – Michael Dokes, American boxer (d. 2012) + 1958 – Jack Richards, English cricketer, coach, and manager + 1958 – Rosie Winterton, English nurse and politician, Shadow Leader of the House of Commons +1959 – Rosanna Arquette, American actress, director, and producer + 1959 – Albert Owen, Welsh sailor and politician + 1959 – Mark Price, English drummer + 1959 – Florent Vollant, Canadian singer-songwriter +1960 – Antonio Banderas, Spanish actor and producer + 1960 – Annely Ojastu, Estonian sprinter and long jumper + 1960 – Kenny Perry, American golfer +1961 – Jon Farriss, Australian drummer, songwriter, and producer +1962 – Suzanne Collins, American author and screenwriter + 1962 – Julia Fordham, English singer-songwriter +1963 – Phoolan Devi, Indian lawyer and politician (d. 2001) + 1963 – Anton Janssen, Dutch footballer and coach + 1963 – Andrew Sullivan, English-American journalist and author + 1963 – Henrik Fisker, Danish automotive designer and businessman +1964 – Aaron Hall, American singer-songwriter + 1964 – Kåre Kolve, Norwegian saxophonist and composer + 1964 – Hiro Takahashi, Japanese singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2005) +1965 – Claudia Christian, American actress, singer, writer, and director + 1965 – Mike E. Smith, American jockey and sportscaster + 1965 – John Starks, American basketball player and coach +1966 – Charlie Dimmock, English gardener and television host + 1966 – Hansi Kürsch, German singer-songwriter and bass player + 1966 – Hossam Hassan, Egyptian footballer and manager +1967 – Philippe Albert, Belgian footballer and sportscaster + 1967 – Riddick Bowe, American boxer + 1967 – Gus Johnson, American sportscaster + 1967 – Todd Nichols, American singer-songwriter and guitarist + 1967 – Reinout Scholte, Dutch cricketer +1968 – Michael Bivins, American singer and producer + 1968 – Greg Hawgood, Canadian ice hockey player and coach +1969 – Emily Symons, Australian actress + 1969 – Brian Drummond, Canadian voice actor +1970 – Doug Flach, American tennis player + 1970 – Bret Hedican, American ice hockey player and sportscaster + 1970 – Brendon Julian, New Zealand-Australian cricketer and journalist + 1970 – Steve Mautone, Australian footballer and coach +1971 – Sal Fasano, American baseball player and coach + 1971 – Stephan Groth, Danish singer-songwriter + 1971 – Roy Keane, Irish footballer and manager + 1971 – Mario Kindelán, Cuban boxer + 1971 – Paul Newlove, English rugby player + 1971 – Kevin Randleman, American mixed martial artist and wrestler (d. 2016) + 1971 – Justin Theroux, American actor +1972 – Dilana, South African singer-songwriter and actress + 1972 – Lawrence Dallaglio, English rugby player and sportscaster + 1972 – Angie Harmon, American model and actress + 1972 – Christofer Johnsson, Swedish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer +1973 – Lisa Raymond, American tennis player + 1973 – Javier Zanetti, Argentinian footballer +1974 – Haifaa al-Mansour, Saudi Arabian director and producer + 1974 – Luis Marín, Costa Rican footballer and manager + 1974 – Rachel Simmons, American scholar and author + 1974 – David Sommeil, French footballer +1975 – İlhan Mansız, Turkish footballer and figure skater +1976 – Roadkill, American wrestler + 1976 – Ian Murray, Scottish businessman and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland +1977 – Danny Griffin, Irish footballer + 1977 – Matt Morgan, English comedian, actor, and radio host +1978 – Danny Allsopp, Australian footballer + 1978 – Marcus Fizer, American basketball player + 1978 – Chris Read, English cricketer +1979 – Dinusha Fernando, Sri Lankan cricketer + 1979 – JoAnna Garcia Swisher, American actress + 1979 – Ted Geoghegan, American author, screenwriter, and producer + 1979 – Brandon Lyon, American baseball player + 1979 – Rémy Martin, French rugby player + 1979 – Matjaž Perc, Slovene physicist + 1979 – Yannick Schroeder, French racing driver +1980 – Wade Barrett, English boxer, wrestler, and actor + 1980 – Aaron Staton, American actor +1981 – Taufik Hidayat, Indonesian badminton player +1982 – John Alvbåge, Swedish footballer + 1982 – Josh Anderson, American baseball player + 1982 – Julia Melim, Brazilian actress +1983 – Kyle Brown, American soccer player + 1983 – C. B. Dollaway, American mixed martial artist + 1983 – Héctor Faubel, Spanish motorcycle racer + 1983 – Alexander Perezhogin, Russian ice hockey player + 1983 – Mathieu Roy, Canadian ice hockey player +1984 – Ryan Eggold, American actor and composer + 1984 – Mokomichi Hayami, Japanese model and actor + 1984 – Jigar Naik, English cricketer +1985 – Enrico Cortese, Italian footballer + 1985 – Roy O'Donovan, Irish footballer + 1985 – Kakuryū Rikisaburō, Mongolian sumo wrestler + 1985 – Julia Skripnik, Estonian tennis player +1986 – Andrea Hlaváčková, Czech tennis player +1987 – Jim Bakkum, Dutch singer and actor + 1987 – Ari Boyland, New Zealand actor and singer +1989 – Sam Gagner, Canadian ice hockey player + 1989 – Ben Sahar, Israeli footballer + 1989 – Brenton Thwaites, Australian actor +1990 – Cruze Ah-Nau, Australian rugby player + 1990 – Lee Sung-kyung, South Korean model, actress, and singer + 1990 – Lucas Till, American actor +1991 – Dagný Brynjarsdóttir, Icelandic footballer + 1991 – Marcus Foligno, American-Canadian ice hockey player + 1991 – Nikos Korovesis, Greek footballer + 1991 – Chris Tremain, Australian cricketer +1992 – Archie Bradley, American baseball player +1993 – Andre Drummond, American basketball player +1994 – Bernardo Silva, Portuguese footballer +1995 – Dalvin Cook, American football player +1996 – Lauren Tait, Scottish netball player +1997 – Kylie Jenner, American television personality and businesswoman +1999 – Ja Morant, American basketball player +2000 – Sophia Smith, American soccer player + +Deaths + +Pre-1600 + 258 – Lawrence of Rome, Spanish-Italian deacon and saint (b. 225) + 794 – Fastrada, Frankish noblewoman (b. 765) + 796 – Eanbald, archbishop of York + 847 – Al-Wathiq, Abbasid caliph (b. 816) + 955 – Bulcsú, Hungarian tribal chieftain (horka) + 955 – Conrad ('the Red'), duke of Lorraine +1241 – Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany (b. 1184) +1250 – Eric IV of Denmark (b. 1216) +1284 – Tekuder, Khan of the Mongol Ilkhanate +1316 – Felim mac Aedh Ua Conchobair, King of Connacht +1322 – John of La Verna, Italian ascetic (b. 1259) +1410 – Louis II, Duke of Bourbon (b. 1337) +1535 – Ippolito de' Medici, Italian cardinal (b. 1509) +1536 – Francis III, Duke of Brittany, Dauphin of France, Brother of Henry II (b. 1518) + +1601–1900 +1653 – Maarten Tromp, Dutch admiral (b. 1598) +1655 – Alfonso de la Cueva, 1st Marquis of Bedmar, Spanish cardinal and diplomat (b. 1572) +1660 – Esmé Stewart, 2nd Duke of Richmond (b. 1649) +1723 – Guillaume Dubois, French cardinal and politician, French Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (b. 1656) +1759 – Ferdinand VI of Spain (b. 1713) +1784 – Allan Ramsay, Scottish-English painter (b. 1713) +1796 – Ignaz Anton von Indermauer, Austrian nobleman and government official (b. 1759) +1802 – Franz Aepinus, German-Russian philosopher and academic (b. 1724) +1806 – Michael Haydn, Austrian composer and educator (b. 1737) +1839 – Sir John St Aubyn, 5th Baronet, English lawyer and politician (b. 1758) +1862 – Hon'inbō Shūsaku, Japanese Go player (b. 1829) +1875 – Karl Andree, German geographer and journalist (b. 1808) +1889 – Arthur Böttcher, German pathologist and anatomist (b. 1831) +1890 – John Boyle O'Reilly, Irish-born poet, journalist and fiction writer (b. 1844) +1896 – Otto Lilienthal, German pilot and engineer (b. 1848) + +1901–present +1904 – Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau, French lawyer and politician, 68th Prime Minister of France (b. 1846) +1913 – Johannes Linnankoski, Finnish author (b. 1869) +1915 – Henry Moseley, English physicist and engineer (b. 1887) +1916 – John J. Loud, American inventor (b. 1844) +1918 – Erich Löwenhardt, German lieutenant and pilot (b. 1897) +1920 – Ádám Politzer, Hungarian-Austrian physician and academic (b. 1835) +1922 – Reginald Dunne, Irish Republican, executed for the killing of Sir Henry Wilson +1922 – Joseph O'Sullivan, Irish Republican, executed for the killing of Sir Henry Wilson +1929 – Pierre Fatou, French mathematician and astronomer (b. 1878) + 1929 – Aletta Jacobs, Dutch physician (b. 1854) +1932 – Rin Tin Tin, American acting dog (b. 1918) +1933 – Alf Morgans, Welsh-Australian politician, 4th Premier of Western Australia (b. 1850) +1945 – Robert H. Goddard, American physicist and engineer (b. 1882) +1948 – Kan'ichi Asakawa, Japanese-American historian, author, and academic (b. 1873) + 1948 – Andrew Brown, Scottish footballer and coach (b. 1870) + 1948 – Montague Summers, English clergyman and author (b. 1880) +1949 – Homer Burton Adkins, American chemist (b. 1892) +1954 – Robert Adair, American-born British actor (b. 1900) +1958 – Frank Demaree, American baseball player and manager (b. 1910) +1960 – Hamide Ayşe Sultan, Ottoman princess (b. 1887) +1961 – Julia Peterkin, American author (b. 1880) +1963 – Estes Kefauver, American lawyer and politician (b. 1903) + 1963 – Ernst Wetter, Swiss lawyer and jurist (b. 1877) +1969 – János Kodolányi, Hungarian author (b. 1899) +1976 – Bert Oldfield, Australian cricketer (b. 1894) +1979 – Dick Foran, American actor and singer (b. 1910) + 1979 – Walter Gerlach, German physicist and academic (b. 1889) +1980 – Yahya Khan, Pakistani general and politician, 3rd President of Pakistan (b. 1917) +1982 – Anderson Bigode Herzer, Brazilian author and poet (b. 1962) +1985 – Nate Barragar, American football player and sergeant (b. 1906) +1987 – Georgios Athanasiadis-Novas, Greek lawyer and politician, 163rd Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1893) +1991 – Lưu Trọng Lư, Vietnamese poet and playwright (b. 1912) +1993 – Euronymous, Norwegian singer, guitarist, and producer (b. 1968) +1997 – Jean-Claude Lauzon, Canadian director and screenwriter (b. 1953) + 1997 – Conlon Nancarrow, American-Mexican pianist and composer (b. 1912) +1999 – Jennifer Paterson, English chef and television presenter (b. 1928) + 1999 – Baldev Upadhyaya, Indian historian, scholar, and critic (b. 1899) +2000 – Gilbert Parkhouse, Welsh cricketer and rugby player (b. 1925) +2001 – Lou Boudreau, American baseball player and manager (b. 1917) +2002 – Michael Houser, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1962) + 2002 – Kristen Nygaard, Norwegian computer scientist and politician (b. 1926) +2007 – Henry Cabot Lodge Bohler, American lieutenant and pilot (b. 1925) + 2007 – James E. Faust, American lawyer and religious leader (b. 1920) + 2007 – Jean Rédélé, French race car driver and pilot, founded Alpine (b. 1922) + 2007 – Tony Wilson, English journalist, producer, and manager, co-founded Factory Records (b. 1950) +2008 – Isaac Hayes, American singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, and actor (b. 1942) +2010 – Markus Liebherr, German-Swiss businessman (b. 1948) + 2010 – Adam Stansfield, English footballer (b. 1978) + 2010 – David L. Wolper, American director and producer (b. 1928) +2011 – Billy Grammer, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1925) +2012 – Philippe Bugalski, French race car driver (b. 1963) + 2012 – Ioan Dicezare, Romanian general and pilot (b. 1916) + 2012 – Irving Fein, American producer and manager (b. 1911) + 2012 – William W. Momyer, American general and pilot (b. 1916) + 2012 – Carlo Rambaldi, Italian special effects artist (b. 1925) +2013 – William P. Clark Jr., American judge and politician, 12th United States National Security Advisor (b. 1931) + 2013 – Jonathan Dawson, Australian historian and academic (b. 1941) + 2013 – Eydie Gormé, American singer and actress (b. 1928) + 2013 – David C. Jones, American general (b. 1921) + 2013 – Jody Payne, American singer and guitarist (b. 1936) + 2013 – Amy Wallace, American author (b. 1955) +2014 – Jim Command, American baseball player and scout (b. 1928) + 2014 – Dotty Lynch, American journalist and academic (b. 1945) + 2014 – Kathleen Ollerenshaw, English mathematician, astronomer, and politician, Lord Mayor of Manchester (b. 1912) + 2014 – Bob Wiesler, American baseball player (b. 1930) +2015 – Buddy Baker, American race car driver and sportscaster (b. 1941) + 2015 – Endre Czeizel, Hungarian physician, geneticist, and academic (b. 1935) + 2015 – Knut Osnes, Norwegian footballer and coach (b. 1922) + 2015 – Eriek Verpale, Belgian author and poet (b. 1952) +2017 – Ruth Pfau, German-Pakistani doctor and nun (b. 1929) +2019 – Jeffrey Epstein, American financier (b. 1953) +2021 – Tony Esposito, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1943) +2022 – Vesa-Matti Loiri, Finnish actor, musician and comedian (b. 1945) + +Holidays and observances + Argentine Air Force Day (Argentina) + Christian feast day: + Bessus + Blane (Roman Catholic Church) + Geraint of Dumnonia + Lawrence of Rome + Nicola Saggio + Nuestra Señora del Buen Suceso de Parañaque, Patroness of Parañaque, Philippines + August 10 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) + Declaration of Independence of Quito, proclaimed independence from Spain on August 10, 1809. Independence was finally attained on May 24, 1822, at the Battle of Pichincha. (Ecuador) + International Biodiesel Day + National Veterans Day (Indonesia) + +References + +External links + + + + + +Days of the year +August +An audio file format is a file format for storing digital audio data on a computer system. The bit layout of the audio data (excluding metadata) is called the audio coding format and can be uncompressed, or compressed to reduce the file size, often using lossy compression. The data can be a raw bitstream in an audio coding format, but it is usually embedded in a container format or an audio data format with defined storage layer. + +Format types +It is important to distinguish between the audio coding format, the container containing the raw audio data, and an audio codec. A codec performs the encoding and decoding of the raw audio data while this encoded data is (usually) stored in a container file. Although most audio file formats support only one type of audio coding data (created with an audio coder), a multimedia container format (as Matroska or AVI) may support multiple types of audio and video data. + +There are three major groups of audio file formats: + + Uncompressed audio formats, such as WAV, AIFF, AU or raw header-less PCM; + Formats with lossless compression, such as FLAC, Monkey's Audio (filename extension .ape), WavPack (filename extension .wv), TTA, ATRAC Advanced Lossless, ALAC (filename extension .m4a), MPEG-4 SLS, MPEG-4 ALS, MPEG-4 DST, Windows Media Audio Lossless (WMA Lossless), and Shorten (SHN). + Formats with lossy compression, such as Opus, MP3, Vorbis, Musepack, AAC, ATRAC and Windows Media Audio Lossy (WMA lossy). + +Uncompressed audio format + +One major uncompressed audio format, LPCM, is the same variety of PCM as used in Compact Disc Digital Audio and is the format most commonly accepted by low level audio APIs and D/A converter hardware. Although LPCM can be stored on a computer as a raw audio format, it is usually stored in a .wav file on Windows or in a .aiff file on macOS. The Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF) format is based on the Interchange File Format (IFF), and the WAV format is based on the similar Resource Interchange File Format (RIFF). WAV and AIFF are designed to store a wide variety of audio formats, lossless and lossy; they just add a small, metadata-containing header before the audio data to declare the format of the audio data, such as LPCM with a particular sample rate, bit depth, endianness and number of channels. Since WAV and AIFF are widely supported and can store LPCM, they are suitable file formats for storing and archiving an original recording. + +BWF (Broadcast Wave Format) is a standard audio format created by the European Broadcasting Union as a successor to WAV. Among other enhancements, BWF allows more robust metadata to be stored in the file. See European Broadcasting Union: Specification of the Broadcast Wave Format (EBU Technical document 3285, July 1997). This is the primary recording format used in many professional audio workstations in the television and film industry. BWF files include a standardized timestamp reference which allows for easy synchronization with a separate picture element. Stand-alone, file based, multi-track recorders from AETA, Sound Devices, Zaxcom, HHB Communications Ltd, Fostex, Nagra, Aaton, and TASCAM all use BWF as their preferred format. + +Lossless compressed audio format +A lossless compressed audio format stores data in less space without losing any information. The original, uncompressed data can be recreated from the compressed version. + +Uncompressed audio formats encode both sound and silence with the same number of bits per unit of time. Encoding an uncompressed minute of absolute silence produces a file of the same size as encoding an uncompressed minute of music. In a lossless compressed format, however, the music would occupy a smaller file than an uncompressed format and the silence would take up almost no space at all. + +Lossless compression formats include FLAC, WavPack, Monkey's Audio, ALAC (Apple Lossless). They provide a compression ratio of about 2:1 (i.e. their files take up half the space of PCM). Development in lossless compression formats aims to reduce processing time while maintaining a good compression ratio. + +Lossy compressed audio format +Lossy audio format enables even greater reductions in file size by removing some of the audio information and simplifying the data. This, of course, results in a reduction in audio quality, but a variety of techniques are used, mainly by exploiting psychoacoustics, to remove the parts of the sound that have the least effect on perceived quality, and to minimize the amount of audible noise added during the process. The popular MP3 format is probably the best-known example, but the AAC format found on the iTunes Music Store is also common. Most formats offer a range of degrees of compression, generally measured in bit rate. The lower the rate, the smaller the file and the more significant the quality loss. + +List of formats + +See also + Video file format + Audio compression (data) + Comparison of audio coding formats + Comparison of video container formats + Comparison of video codecs + List of open-source audio codecs + Timeline of audio formats + +References + +Digital container formats +Two antipopes used the regnal name Victor IV: + + Antipope Victor IV (1138) + Antipope Victor IV (1159–1164) (1095–1164) +Area 51 is the common name of a highly classified United States Air Force (USAF) facility within the Nevada Test and Training Range. A remote detachment administered by Edwards Air Force Base, the facility is officially called Homey Airport or Groom Lake (after the salt flat next to its airfield). Details of its operations are not made public, but the USAF says that it is an open training range, and it is commonly thought to support the development and testing of experimental aircraft and weapons systems. The USAF and CIA acquired the site in 1955, primarily for flight testing the Lockheed U-2 aircraft. + +The intense secrecy surrounding the base has made it the frequent subject of conspiracy theories and a central component of unidentified flying object (UFO) folklore. It has never been declared a secret base, but all research and occurrences in Area 51 are Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI). The CIA publicly acknowledged the base's existence on 25 June 2013, following a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed in 2005 and declassified documents detailing its history and purpose. + +Area 51 is located in the southern portion of Nevada, north-northwest of Las Vegas. The surrounding area is a popular tourist destination, including the small town of Rachel on the "Extraterrestrial Highway". + +Geography + +Area 51 + +The original rectangular base of is now part of the so-called "Groom box", a rectangular area, measuring , of restricted airspace. The area is connected to the internal Nevada Test Site (NTS) road network, with paved roads leading south to Mercury and west to Yucca Flat. Leading northeast from the lake, the wide and well-maintained Groom Lake Road runs through a pass in the Jumbled Hills. The road formerly led to mines in the Groom basin but has been improved since their closure. Its winding course runs past a security checkpoint, but the restricted area around the base extends farther east. After leaving the restricted area, Groom Lake Road descends eastward to the floor of the Tikaboo Valley, passing the dirt-road entrances to several small ranches, before converging with State Route 375, the "Extraterrestrial Highway", south of Rachel. + +Area 51 shares a border with the Yucca Flat region of the Nevada Test Site, the location of 739 of the 928 nuclear tests conducted by the United States Department of Energy at NTS. The Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository is southwest of Groom Lake. + +Groom Lake + +Groom Lake is a salt flat in Nevada used for runways of the Nellis Bombing Range Test Site airport (XTA/KXTA) on the north of the Area 51 USAF military installation. The lake at elevation is approximately from north to south and from east to west at its widest point. Located within the namesake Groom Lake Valley portion of the Tonopah Basin, the lake is south of Rachel, Nevada. + +History + +The origin of the name "Area 51" is unclear. It is believed to be from an Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) numbering grid, although Area 51 is not part of this system; it is adjacent to Area 15. Another explanation is that 51 was used because it was unlikely that the AEC would use the number. According to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the correct names for the facility are Homey Airport (XTA/KXTA) and Groom Lake, though the name "Area 51" was used in a CIA document from the Vietnam War. The facility has also been referred to as "Dreamland" and "Paradise Ranch", among other nicknames, with the former also being the approach control call sign for the surrounding area. The USAF public relations has referred to the facility as "an operating location near Groom Dry Lake". The special use airspace around the field is referred to as Restricted Area 4808 North (R-4808N). + +Lead and silver were discovered in the southern part of the Groom Range in 1864, and the English company Groome Lead Mines Limited financed the Conception Mines in the 1870s, giving the district its name (nearby mines included Maria, Willow, and White Lake). J. B. Osborne and partners acquired the controlling interest in Groom in 1876, and Osbourne's son acquired it in the 1890s. Mining continued until 1918, then resumed after World War II until the early 1950s. + +The airfield on the Groom Lake site began service in 1942 as Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary Field and consisted of two unpaved 5,000-foot (1,524 m) runways. + +U-2 program + +The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) established the Groom Lake test facility in April 1955 for Project AQUATONE: the development of the Lockheed U-2 strategic reconnaissance aircraft. Project director Richard M. Bissell Jr. understood that the flight test and pilot training programs could not be conducted at Edwards Air Force Base or Lockheed's Palmdale facility, given the extreme secrecy surrounding the project. He conducted a search for a suitable testing site for the U-2 under the same extreme security as the rest of the project. He notified Lockheed, who sent an inspection team out to Groom Lake. According to Lockheed's U-2 designer Kelly Johnson: + +The lake bed made an ideal strip for testing aircraft, and the Emigrant Valley's mountain ranges and the NTS perimeter protected the site from visitors; it was about north of Las Vegas. The CIA asked the AEC to acquire the land, designated "Area 51" on the map, and to add it to the Nevada Test Site. + +Johnson named the area "Paradise Ranch" to encourage workers to move to "the new facility in the middle of nowhere", as the CIA later described it, and the name became shortened to "the Ranch". On 4May 1955, a survey team arrived at Groom Lake and laid out a north–south runway on the southwest corner of the lakebed and designated a site for a base support facility. The Ranch initially consisted of little more than a few shelters, workshops, and trailer homes in which to house its small team. A little over three months later, the base consisted of a single paved runway, three hangars, a control tower, and rudimentary accommodations for test personnel. The base's few amenities included a movie theater and volleyball court. There was also a mess hall, several wells, and fuel storage tanks. CIA, Air Force, and Lockheed personnel began arriving by July 1955. The Ranch received its first U-2 delivery on 24 July 1955 from Burbank on a C-124 Globemaster II cargo plane, accompanied by Lockheed technicians on a Douglas DC-3. Regular Military Air Transport Service flights were set up between Area 51 and Lockheed's offices in Burbank, California. To preserve secrecy, personnel flew to Nevada on Monday mornings and returned to California on Friday evenings. + +OXCART program + +Project OXCART was established in August 1959 for "antiradar studies, aerodynamic structural tests, and engineering designs" and all later work on the Lockheed A-12. This included testing at Groom Lake, which had inadequate facilities consisting of buildings for only 150 people, a asphalt runway, and limited fuel, hangar, and shop space. Groom Lake had received the name "Area 51" when A-12 test facility construction began in September 1960, including a new runway to replace the existing runway. + +Reynolds Electrical and Engineering Company (REECo) began construction of "Project 51" on 1October 1960 with double-shift construction schedules. The contractor upgraded base facilities and built a new runway (14/32) diagonally across the southwest corner of the lakebed. They marked an Archimedean spiral on the dry lake approximately two miles across so that an A-12 pilot approaching the end of the overrun could abort instead of plunging into the sagebrush. Area 51 pilots called it "The Hook". For crosswind landings, they marked two unpaved airstrips (runways 9/27 and 03/21) on the dry lakebed. + +By August 1961, construction of the essential facilities was complete; three surplus Navy hangars were erected on the base's north side while hangar7 was new construction. The original U-2 hangars were converted to maintenance and machine shops. Facilities in the main cantonment area included workshops and buildings for storage and administration, a commissary, a control tower, a fire station, and housing. The Navy also contributed more than 130 surplus Babbitt duplex housing units for long-term occupancy facilities. Older buildings were repaired, and additional facilities were constructed as necessary. A reservoir pond surrounded by trees served as a recreational area one mile north of the base. Other recreational facilities included a gymnasium, a movie theater, and a baseball diamond. A permanent aircraft fuel tank farm was constructed by early 1962 for the special JP-7 fuel required by the A-12. Seven tanks were constructed, with a total capacity of 1,320,000 gallons. + +Security was enhanced for the arrival of OXCART and the small mine was closed in the Groom basin. In January 1962, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) expanded the restricted airspace in the vicinity of Groom Lake, and the lakebed became the center of a 600-square mile addition to restricted area R-4808N. The CIA facility received eight USAF F-101 Voodoos for training, two T-33 Shooting Star trainers for proficiency flying, a C-130 Hercules for cargo transport, a U-3A for administrative purposes, a helicopter for search and rescue, and a Cessna 180 for liaison use, and Lockheed provided an F-104 Starfighter for use as a chase plane. + +The first A-12 test aircraft was covertly trucked from Burbank on 26 February 1962 and arrived at Groom Lake on 28 February. It made its first flight 26 April 1962 when the base had over 1,000 personnel. The closed airspace above Groom Lake was within the Nellis Air Force Range airspace, and pilots saw the A-12 20 to 30 times. Groom was also the site of the first Lockheed D-21 drone test flight on 22 December 1964. By the end of 1963, nine A-12s were at Area 51, assigned to the CIA-operated "1129th Special Activities Squadron". + +D-21 Tagboard + +Following the loss of Gary Powers' U-2 over the Soviet Union, there were several discussions about using the A-12 OXCART as an unpiloted drone aircraft. Although Kelly Johnson had come to support the idea of drone reconnaissance, he opposed the development of an A-12 drone, contending that the aircraft was too large and complex for such a conversion. However, the Air Force agreed to fund the study of a high-speed, high-altitude drone aircraft in October 1962. The Air Force interest seems to have moved the CIA to take action, the project designated "Q-12". By October 1963, the drone's design had been finalized. At the same time, the Q-12 underwent a name change. To separate it from the other A-12-based projects, it was renamed the "D-21". (The "12" was reversed to "21"). "Tagboard" was the project's code name. + +The first D-21 was completed in the spring of 1964 by Lockheed. After four more months of checkouts and static tests, the aircraft was shipped to Groom Lake and reassembled. It was to be carried by a two-seat derivative of the A-12, designated the "M-21". When the D-21/M-21 reached the launch point, the first step would be to blow off the D-21's inlet and exhaust covers. With the D-21/M-21 at the correct speed and altitude, the LCO would start the ramjet and the other systems of the D-21. "With the D-21's systems activated and running, and the launch aircraft at the correct point, the M-21 would begin a slight pushover, the LCO would push a final button, and the D-21 would come off the pylon". + +Difficulties were addressed throughout 1964 and 1965 at Groom Lake with various technical issues. Captive flights showed unforeseen aerodynamic difficulties. By late January 1966, more than a year after the first captive flight, everything seemed ready. The first D-21 launch was made on 5March 1966 with a successful flight, with the D-21 flying 120 miles with limited fuel. A second D-21 flight was successful in April 1966 with the drone flying 1,200 miles, reaching Mach 3.3 and 90,000 feet. An accident on 30 July 1966 with a fully fueled D-21, on a planned checkout flight, suffered from an unstart of the drone after its separation, causing it to collide with the M-21 launch aircraft. The two crewmen ejected and landed in the ocean 150 miles offshore. One crew member was picked up by a helicopter, but the other, having survived the aircraft breakup and ejection, drowned when sea water entered his pressure suit. Kelly Johnson personally cancelled the entire program, having had serious doubts about its feasibility from the start. A number of D-21s had already been produced, and rather than scrapping the whole effort, Johnson again proposed to the Air Force that they be launched from a B-52H bomber. + +By late summer of 1967, the modification work to both the D-21 (now designated D-21B) and the B-52Hs was complete. The test program could now resume. The test missions were flown out of Groom Lake, with the actual launches over the Pacific. The first D-21B to be flown was Article 501, the prototype. The first attempt was made on 28 September 1967 and ended in complete failure. As the B-52 was flying toward the launch point, the D-21B fell off the pylon. The B-52H gave a sharp lurch as the drone fell free. The booster fired and was "quite a sight from the ground". The failure was traced to a stripped nut on the forward right attachment point on the pylon. Several more tests were made, none of which met with success. However, the fact is that the resumptions of D-21 tests took place against a changing reconnaissance background. The A-12 had finally been allowed to deploy, and the SR-71 was soon to replace it. At the same time, new developments in reconnaissance satellite technology were nearing operation. Up to this point, the limited number of satellites available restricted coverage to the Soviet Union. A new generation of reconnaissance satellites could soon cover targets anywhere in the world. The satellites' resolution would be comparable to that of aircraft but without the slightest political risk. Time was running out for the Tagboard. + +Several more test flights, including two over China, were made from Beale AFB, California, in 1969 and 1970, to varying degrees of success. On 15 July 1971, Kelly Johnson received a wire canceling the D-21B program. The remaining drones were transferred by a C-5A and placed in dead storage. The tooling used to build the D-21Bs was ordered destroyed. Like the A-12 Oxcart, the D-21B Tagboard drones remained a Black airplane, even in retirement. Their existence was not suspected until August 1976, when the first group was placed in storage at the Davis-Monthan AFB Military Storage and Disposition Center. A second group arrived in 1977. They were labeled "GTD-21Bs" (GT stood for ground training). + +Davis-Monthan is an open base, with public tours of the storage area at the time, so the odd-looking drones were soon spotted and photos began appearing in magazines. Speculation about the D-21Bs circulated within aviation circles for years, and it was not until 1982 that details of the Tagboard program were released. However, it was not until 1993 that the B-52/D-21B program was made public. That same year, the surviving D-21Bs were released to museums. + +Foreign technology evaluation + +During the Cold War, one of the missions carried out by the United States was the test and evaluation of captured Soviet fighter aircraft. Beginning in the late 1960s, and for several decades, Area 51 played host to an assortment of Soviet-built aircraft. + +Munir Redfas defection with a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 from Iraq for Israel's Mossad in Operation Diamond led to the HAVE DOUGHNUT, HAVE DRILL and HAVE FERRY programs. The first MiGs flown in the United States were used to evaluate the aircraft in performance, technical, and operational capabilities, pitting the types against U.S. fighters. + +This was not a new mission, as testing of foreign technology by the USAF began during World War II. After the war, testing of acquired foreign technology was performed by the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC, which became very influential during the Korean War), under the direct command of the Air Materiel Control Department. In 1961, ATIC became the Foreign Technology Division (FTD) and was reassigned to Air Force Systems Command. ATIC personnel were sent anywhere where foreign aircraft could be found. + +The focus of Air Force Systems Command limited the use of the fighter as a tool with which to train the front line tactical fighter pilots. Air Force Systems Command recruited its pilots from the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base, California, who were usually graduates from various test pilot schools. Tactical Air Command selected its pilots primarily from the ranks of the Weapons School graduates. + +In August 1966, Iraqi Air Force fighter pilot Captain Munir Redfa defected, flying his MiG-21 to Israel after being ordered to attack Iraqi Kurd villages with napalm. His aircraft was transferred to Groom Lake in late 1967 for study. Israel loaned the MiG-21 to the US Air Force from January 1968 to April 1968. In 1968, the US Air Force and Navy jointly formed a project known as HAVE DOUGHNUT in which Air Force Systems Command, Tactical Air Command, and the U.S. Navy's Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Four (VX-4) flew this acquired Soviet made aircraft in simulated air combat training. As U.S. possession of the Soviet MiG-21 was, itself, secret, it was tested at Groom Lake. A joint Air Force-Navy team was assembled for a series of dogfight tests. + +Comparisons between the F-4 and the MiG-21 indicated that, on the surface, they were evenly matched. The HAVE DOUGHNUT tests showed the skill of the man in the cockpit was what made the difference. When the Navy or Air Force pilots flew the MiG-21, the results were a draw; the F-4 would win some fights, the MiG-21 would win others. There were no clear advantages. The problem was not with the planes, but with the pilots flying them. The pilots would not fly either plane to its limits. One of the Navy pilots was Marland W. "Doc" Townsend, then commander of VF-121, the F-4 training squadron at NAS Miramar. He was an engineer and a Korean War veteran and had flown almost every navy aircraft. When he flew against the MiG-21, he would outmaneuver it every time. The Air Force pilots would not go vertical in the MiG-21. The HAVE DOUGHNUT project officer was Tom Cassidy, a pilot with VX-4, the Navy's Air Development Squadron at Point Mugu. He had been watching as Townsend "waxed" the Air Force MiG-21 pilots. Cassidy climbed into the MiG-21 and went up against Townsend's F-4. This time the result was far different. Cassidy was willing to fight in the vertical, flying the plane to the point where it was buffeting, just above the stall. Cassidy was able to get on the F-4's tail. After the flight, they realized the MiG-21 turned better than the F-4 at lower speeds. The key was for the F-4 to keep its speed up. An F-4 had defeated the MiG-21; the weakness of the Soviet plane had been found. Further test flights confirmed what was learned. It was also clear that the MiG-21 was a formidable enemy. United States pilots would have to fly much better than they had been to beat it. This would require a special school to teach advanced air combat techniques. + +On 12 August 1968, two Syrian air force lieutenants, Walid Adham and Radfan Rifai, took off in a pair of MiG-17Fs on a training mission. They lost their way and, believing they were over Lebanon, landed at the Betzet Landing Field in northern Israel. (One version has it that they were led astray by an Arabic-speaking Israeli). Prior to the end of 1968 these MiG-17s were transferred from Israeli stocks and added to the Area 51 test fleet. The aircraft were given USAF designations and fake serial numbers so that they could be identified in DOD standard flight logs. As in the earlier program, a small group of Air Force and Navy pilots conducted mock dogfights with the MiG-17s. Selected instructors from the Navy's Top Gun school at NAS Miramar, California, were chosen to fly against the MiGs for familiarization purposes. Very soon, the MiG-17's shortcomings became clear. It had an extremely simple, even crude, control system that lacked the power-boosted controls of American aircraft. The F-4's twin engines were so powerful it could accelerate out of range of the MiG-17's guns in thirty seconds. It was important for the F-4 to keep its distance from the MiG-17. As long as the F-4 was one and a half miles from the MiG-17, it was outside the reach of the Soviet fighter's guns, but the MiG was within reach of the F-4's missiles. + +The data from the HAVE DOUGHNUT and HAVE DRILL tests were provided to the newly formed Top Gun school at NAS Miramar. By 1970, the HAVE DRILL program was expanded; a few selected fleet F-4 crews were given the chance to fight the MiGs. The most important result of Project HAVE DRILL is that no Navy pilot who flew in the project defeated the MiG-17 Fresco in the first engagement. The HAVE DRILL dogfights were by invitation only. The other pilots based at Nellis Air Force Base were not to know about the U.S.-operated MiGs. To prevent any sightings, the airspace above the Groom Lake range was closed. On aeronautical maps, the exercise area was marked in red ink. The forbidden zone became known as "Red Square". + +During the remainder of the Vietnam War, the Navy kill ratio climbed to 8.33 to 1. In contrast, the Air Force rate improved only slightly to 2.83 to 1. The reason for this difference was Top Gun. The Navy had revitalized its air combat training, while the Air Force had stayed stagnant. Most of the Navy MiG kills were by Top Gun graduates. + +In May 1973, Project HAVE IDEA was formed, which took over from the older HAVE DOUGHNUT, HAVE FERRY and HAVE DRILL projects, and the project was transferred to the Tonopah Test Range Airport. At Tonopah, testing of foreign technology aircraft continued and expanded throughout the 1970s and 1980s. + +Area 51 also hosted another foreign materiel evaluation program called HAVE GLIB. This involved testing Soviet tracking and missile control radar systems. A complex of actual and replica Soviet-type threat systems began to grow around "Slater Lake", a mile northwest of the main base, along with an acquired Soviet "Barlock" search radar placed at Tonopah Air Force Station. They were arranged to simulate a Soviet-style air defense complex. + +The Air Force began funding improvements to Area 51 in 1977 under project SCORE EVENT. In 1979, the CIA transferred jurisdiction of the Area 51 site to the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB, California. Sam Mitchell, the last CIA commander of Area 51, relinquished command to USAF Lt. Col. Larry D. McClain. + +In 2017, a USAF aircraft crashed at the site, killing the pilot, Colonel Eric "Doc" Schultz. The USAF refused to release further information regarding the crash. In 2022, unconfirmed reports emerged that the crash involved an SU-27 that was part of the classified Foreign Materials Exploitation program. The reports claimed that the aircraft suffered a technical issue that resulted in both crew members ejecting from the aircraft, resulting in the death of Schultz. + +Have Blue/F-117 program + +The Lockheed Have Blue prototype stealth fighter (a smaller proof-of-concept model of the F-117 Nighthawk) first flew at Groom in December 1977. + +In 1978, the Air Force awarded a full-scale development contract for the F-117 to Lockheed Corporation's Advanced Development Projects. On 17 January 1981 the Lockheed test team at Area 51 accepted delivery of the first full-scale development (FSD) prototype 79–780, designated YF-117A. At 6:05 am on 18 June 1981 Lockheed Skunk Works test pilot Hal Farley lifted the nose of YF-117A 79–780 off the runway of Area 51. + +Meanwhile, Tactical Air Command (TAC) decided to set up a group-level organization to guide the F-117A to an initial operating capability. That organization became the 4450th Tactical Group (Initially designated "A Unit"), which officially activated on 15 October 1979 at Nellis AFB, Nevada, although the group was physically located at Area 51. The 4450th TG also operated the A-7D Corsair II as a surrogate trainer for the F-117A, and these operations continued until 15 October 1982 under the guise of an avionics test mission. + +Flying squadrons of the 4450th TG were the 4450th Tactical Squadron (Initially designated "I Unit") activated on 11 June 1981, and 4451st Tactical Squadron (Initially designated "P Unit") on 15 January 1983. The 4450th TS, stationed at Area 51, was the first F-117A squadron, while the 4451st TS was stationed at Nellis AFB and was equipped with A-7D Corsair IIs painted in a dark motif, tail coded "LV". Lockheed test pilots put the YF-117 through its early paces. A-7Ds were used for pilot training before any F-117As had been delivered by Lockheed to Area 51, later the A-7D's were used for F-117A chase testing and other weapon tests at the Nellis Range. On 15 October 1982, Major Alton C. Whitley Jr. became the first USAF 4450th TG pilot to fly the F-117A. + +Although ideal for testing, Area 51 was not a suitable location for an operational group, so a new covert base had to be established for F-117 operations. Tonopah Test Range Airport was selected for operations of the first USAF F-117 unit, the 4450th Tactical Group (TG). From October 1979, the Tonopah Airport base was reconstructed and expanded. The 6,000-foot runway was lengthened to 10,000 feet. Taxiways, a concrete apron, a large maintenance hangar, and a propane storage tank were added. + +By early 1982, four more YF-117As were operating at the base. After finding a large scorpion in their offices, the testing team (Designated "R Unit") adopted it as their mascot and dubbed themselves the "Baja Scorpions". Testing of a series of ultra-secret prototypes continued at Area 51 until mid-1981 when testing transitioned to the initial production of F-117 stealth fighters. The F-117s were moved to and from Area 51 by C-5 during darkness to maintain security. The aircraft were defueled, disassembled, cradled, and then loaded aboard the C-5 at night, flown to Lockheed, and unloaded at night before reassembly and flight testing. Groom performed radar profiling, F-117 weapons testing, and training of the first group of frontline USAF F-117 pilots. + +While the "Baja Scorpions" were working on the F-117, there was also another group at work in secrecy, known as "the Whalers" working on Tacit Blue. A fly-by-wire technology demonstration aircraft with curved surfaces and composite material, to evade radar, was a prototype, and never went into production. Nevertheless, this strange-looking aircraft was responsible for many of the stealth technology advances that were used on several other aircraft designs, and had a direct influence on the B-2; with the first flight of Tacit Blue being performed on 5February 1982, by Northrop Grumman test pilot, Richard G. Thomas. + +Production FSD airframes from Lockheed were shipped to Area 51 for acceptance testing. As the Baja Scorpions tested the aircraft with functional check flights and L.O. verification, the operational airplanes were then transferred to the 4450th TG. + +On 17 May 1982, the move of the 4450th TG from Groom Lake to Tonopah was initiated, with the final components of the move completed in early 1983. Production FSD airframes from Lockheed were shipped to Area 51 for acceptance testing. As the Baja Scorpions tested the aircraft with functional check flights and L.O. verification, the operational airplanes were then transferred to the 4450th TG at Tonopah. + +The R-Unit was inactivated on 30 May 1989. Upon inactivation, the unit was reformed as Detachment 1, 57th Fighter Weapons Wing (FWW). In 1990, the last F-117A (843) was delivered from Lockheed. After completion of acceptance flights at Area 51 of this last new F-117A aircraft, the flight test squadron continued flight test duties of refurbished aircraft after modifications by Lockheed. In February/March 1992 the test unit moved from Area 51 to the USAF Palmdale Plant 42 and was integrated with the Air Force Systems Command 6510th Test Squadron. Some testing, especially RCS verification and other classified activity was still conducted at Area 51 throughout the operational lifetime of the F-117. The recently inactivated (2008) 410th Flight Test Squadron traces its roots, if not its formal lineage to the 4450th TG R-unit. + +Later operations + +Since the F-117 became operational in 1983, operations at Groom Lake have continued. The base and its associated runway system were expanded, including the expansion of housing and support facilities. In 1995, the federal government expanded the exclusionary area around the base to include nearby mountains that had hitherto afforded the only decent overlook of the base, prohibiting access to of land formerly administered by the Bureau of Land Management. On 22 October 2015, a federal judge signed an order giving land that belonged to a Nevada family since the 1870s to the United States Air Force for expanding Area 51. According to the judge, the land that overlooked the base was taken to address security and safety concerns connected with their training and testing. + +Legal status + +U.S. government's positions on Area 51 + +The United States government has provided minimal information regarding Area 51. The area surrounding the lake is permanently off-limits to both civilian and normal military air traffic. Security clearances are checked regularly; cameras and weaponry are not allowed. Even military pilots training in the NAFR risk disciplinary action if they stray into the exclusionary "box" surrounding Groom's airspace. Surveillance is supplemented using buried motion sensors. Area 51 is a common destination for Janet, a small fleet of passenger aircraft operated on behalf of the Air Force to transport military personnel, primarily from Harry Reid International Airport. + +The United States Geological Survey (USGS) topographic map for the area only shows the long-disused Groom Mine, but USGS aerial photographs of the site in 1959 and 1968 were publicly available. A civil aviation chart published by the Nevada Department of Transportation shows a large restricted area, defined as part of the Nellis restricted airspace. The National Atlas shows the area as lying within the Nellis Air Force Base. There are higher resolution and newer images available from other satellite imagery providers, including Russian providers and the IKONOS. These show the runway markings, base facilities, aircraft, and vehicles. + +In 1998 USAF officially acknowledged the site's existence. On 25 June 2013, the CIA released an official history of the U-2 and OXCART projects which acknowledged that the U-2 was tested at Area 51, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request submitted in 2005 by Jeffrey T. Richelson of George Washington University's National Security Archive. It contains numerous references to Area 51 and Groom Lake, along with a map of the area. Media reports stated that releasing the CIA history was the first governmental acknowledgement of Area 51's existence; rather, it was the first official acknowledgement of specific activity at the site. + +Environmental lawsuit + +In 1994, five unnamed civilian contractors and the widows of contractors Walter Kasza and Robert Frost sued the Air Force and the United States Environmental Protection Agency. They alleged that they had been present when large quantities of unknown chemicals had been burned in open pits and trenches at Groom. Rutgers University biochemists analyzed biopsies from the complainants and found high levels of dioxin, dibenzofuran, and trichloroethylene in their body fat. The complainants alleged that they had sustained skin, liver, and respiratory injuries due to their work at Groom and that this had contributed to the deaths of Frost and Kasza. The suit sought compensation for the injuries, claiming that the Air Force had illegally handled toxic materials and that the EPA had failed in its duty to enforce the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act which governs the handling of dangerous materials. They also sought detailed information about the chemicals, hoping that this would facilitate the medical treatment of survivors. Congressman Lee H. Hamilton, former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told 60 Minutes reporter Lesley Stahl, "The Air Force is classifying all information about Area 51 in order to protect themselves from a lawsuit." + +The government invoked the State Secrets Privilege and petitioned U.S. District Judge Philip Pro to disallow disclosure of classified documents or examination of secret witnesses, claiming that this would expose classified information and threaten national security. Judge Pro rejected the government's argument, so President Bill Clinton issued a Presidential Determination exempting what it called "the Air Force's Operating Location Near Groom Lake, Nevada" from environmental disclosure laws. Consequently, Pro dismissed the suit due to lack of evidence. Turley appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on the grounds that the government was abusing its power to classify material. Secretary of the Air Force Sheila E. Widnall filed a brief which stated that disclosures of the materials present in the air and water near Groom "can reveal military operational capabilities or the nature and scope of classified operations." The Ninth Circuit rejected Turley's appeal and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear it, putting an end to the complainants' case. + +The President annually issues a determination continuing the Groom exception which is the only formal recognition that the government has ever given that Groom Lake is more than simply another part of the Nellis complex. An unclassified memo on the safe handling of F-117 Nighthawk material was posted on an Air Force web site in 2005. This discussed the same materials for which the complainants had requested information, which the government had claimed was classified. The memo was removed shortly after journalists became aware of it. + +Civil aviation identification + +In December 2007, airline pilots noticed that the base had appeared in their aircraft navigation systems' latest Jeppesen database revision with the ICAO airport identifier code of KXTA and listed as "Homey Airport". The probably inadvertent release of the airport data led to advice by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) that student pilots should be explicitly warned about KXTA, not to consider it as a waypoint or destination for any flight even though it now appears in public navigation databases. + +Security + +The perimeter of the base is marked out by orange posts and patrolled by guards in white pickup trucks and camouflage fatigues. The guards are popularly referred to as "camo dudes" by enthusiasts. The guards will not answer questions about their employers; however, according to the New York Daily News, there are indications they are employed through a contractor such as AECOM. Signage around the base perimeter advises that deadly force is authorized against trespassers. + +Technology is also heavily used to maintain the border of the base; this includes surveillance cameras and motion detectors. Some of these motion detectors are placed some distance away from the base on public land to notify guards of people approaching. + +1974 Skylab photography +Dwayne A. Day published "Astronauts and Area 51: the Skylab Incident" in The Space Review in January 2006. It was based on a memo written in 1974 to CIA director William Colby by an unknown CIA official. The memo reported that astronauts on board Skylab had inadvertently photographed a certain location: + +The name of the location was obscured, but the context led Day to believe that the subject was Groom Lake. Day wrote that "the CIA considered no other spot on Earth to be as sensitive as Groom Lake". Even within the agency's National Photographic Interpretation Center that handled classified reconnaissance satellite photographs, images of the site were removed from film rolls and stored separately as not all photo interpreters had security clearance for the information. The memo details debate between federal agencies regarding whether the images should be classified, with Department of Defense agencies arguing that it should and NASA and the State Department arguing that it should not be classified. The memo itself questions the legality of retroactively classifying unclassified images. + +The memo includes handwritten remarks, apparently by Director of Central Intelligence Colby: + +The declassified documents do not disclose the outcome of discussions regarding the Skylab imagery. The debate proved moot, as the photograph appeared in the Federal Government's Archive of Satellite Imagery along with the remaining Skylab photographs. + +2019 shooting incident +On 28 January 2019, an unidentified man drove through a security checkpoint near Mercury, Nevada, in an apparent attempt to enter the base. After an vehicle pursuit by base security, the man exited his vehicle carrying a "cylindrical object" and was shot dead by NNSS security officers and sheriff's deputies after refusing to obey requests to halt. There were no other injuries reported. + +UFO and other conspiracy theories + +Area 51 has become a focus of modern conspiracy theories due to its secretive nature and connection to classified aircraft research. Theories include: + The storage, examination, and reverse engineering of crashed alien spacecraft, including material supposedly recovered at Roswell, the study of their occupants, and the manufacture of aircraft based on alien technology + Meetings or joint undertakings with extraterrestrials + The development of exotic energy weapons for the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) or other weapons programs + The development of weather control + The development of time travel and teleportation technology + The development of exotic propulsion systems related to the Aurora Program + Activities related to a shadowy one-world government or the Majestic 12 organization + +Many of the hypotheses concern underground facilities at Groom or at Papoose Lake (also known as "S-4 location"), south, and include claims of a transcontinental underground railroad system, a disappearing airstrip nicknamed the "Cheshire Airstrip", after Lewis Carroll's Cheshire cat, which briefly appears when water is sprayed onto its camouflaged asphalt, and engineering based on alien technology. + +In the mid-1950s, civilian aircraft flew under 20,000 feet while military aircraft flew up to 40,000 feet. The U-2 began flying above 60,000 feet and there was an increasing number of UFO sighting reports. Sightings occurred most often during early evening hours, when airline pilots flying west saw the U-2's silver wings reflect the setting sun, giving the aircraft a "fiery" appearance. Many sighting reports came to the Air Force's Project Blue Book, which investigated UFO sightings, through air-traffic controllers and letters to the government. The project checked U-2 and later OXCART flight records to eliminate the majority of UFO reports that it received during the late 1950s and 1960s, although it could not reveal to the letter writers the truth behind what they saw. Similarly, veterans of experimental projects such as OXCART at Area 51 agree that their work inadvertently prompted many of the UFO sightings and other rumors: + +They believe that the rumors helped maintain secrecy over Area 51's actual operations. The veterans deny the existence of a vast underground railroad system, although many of Area 51's operations did occur underground. + +Bob Lazar claimed in 1989 that he had worked at Area 51's "Sector Four (S-4)", said to be located underground inside the Papoose Range near Papoose Lake. He claimed that he was contracted to work with alien spacecraft that the government had in its possession. Similarly, the 1996 documentary Dreamland directed by Bruce Burgess included an interview with a 71-year-old mechanical engineer who claimed to be a former employee at Area 51 during the 1950s. His claims included that he had worked on a "flying disc simulator" which had been based on a disc originating from a crashed extraterrestrial craft and was used to train pilots. He also claimed to have worked with an extraterrestrial being named "J-Rod" and described as a "telepathic translator". In 2004, Dan Burisch (pseudonym of Dan Crain) claimed to have worked on cloning alien viruses at Area 51, also alongside the alien named "J-Rod". Burisch's scholarly credentials are the subject of much debate, as he was apparently working as a Las Vegas parole officer in 1989 while also earning a PhD at State University of New York (SUNY). + +In July 2019, more than 2,000,000 people responded to a joke proposal to storm Area 51 which appeared in an anonymous Facebook post. The event, scheduled for 20 September 2019, was billed as "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us", an attempt to "see them aliens". Air Force spokeswoman Laura McAndrews said the government "would discourage anyone from trying to come into the area where we train American armed forces". Two music festivals in rural Nevada, AlienStock and Storm Area 51 Basecamp, were subsequently organized to capitalize on the popularity of the original Facebook event. Between 1,500 and 3,000 people showed up at the festivals, while over 150 people made the journey over several miles of rough roads to get near the gates to Area 51. Seven people were reportedly arrested at the event. + +See also + Area 52 (disambiguation) + Black operation + Black project + Black site + List of United States Air Force installations + Special access program + +Footnotes + +Citations + +Sources + + Darlington, David (1998). Area 51: The Dreamland Chronicles. New York: Henry Holt. + + Patton, Phil (1998). Dreamland: Travels Inside the Secret World of Roswell and Area 51. New York: Villard/Random House + + Stahl, Lesley "Area 51 / Catch 22" 60 Minutes CBS Television 17 March 1996, a US TV news magazine's segment about the environmental lawsuit. + +External links + + Las Vegas sectional aeronautical chart, centered on Groom Lake (Federal Aviation Administration – SkyVector.com) + +1942 establishments in Nevada +Buildings and structures in Lincoln County, Nevada +Conspiracy theories in the United States +Installations of the Central Intelligence Agency +Military installations in Nevada +Research installations of the United States Air Force +Secret places in the United States +UFO conspiracy theories +UFO culture in the United States +Audio signal processing is a subfield of signal processing that is concerned with the electronic manipulation of audio signals. Audio signals are electronic representations of sound waves—longitudinal waves which travel through air, consisting of compressions and rarefactions. The energy contained in audio signals or sound power level is typically measured in decibels. As audio signals may be represented in either digital or analog format, processing may occur in either domain. Analog processors operate directly on the electrical signal, while digital processors operate mathematically on its digital representation. + +History +The motivation for audio signal processing began at the beginning of the 20th century with inventions like the telephone, phonograph, and radio that allowed for the transmission and storage of audio signals. Audio processing was necessary for early radio broadcasting, as there were many problems with studio-to-transmitter links. The theory of signal processing and its application to audio was largely developed at Bell Labs in the mid 20th century. Claude Shannon and Harry Nyquist's early work on communication theory, sampling theory and pulse-code modulation (PCM) laid the foundations for the field. In 1957, Max Mathews became the first person to synthesize audio from a computer, giving birth to computer music. + +Major developments in digital audio coding and audio data compression include differential pulse-code modulation (DPCM) by C. Chapin Cutler at Bell Labs in 1950, linear predictive coding (LPC) by Fumitada Itakura (Nagoya University) and Shuzo Saito (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone) in 1966, adaptive DPCM (ADPCM) by P. Cummiskey, Nikil S. Jayant and James L. Flanagan at Bell Labs in 1973, discrete cosine transform (DCT) coding by Nasir Ahmed, T. Natarajan and K. R. Rao in 1974, and modified discrete cosine transform (MDCT) coding by J. P. Princen, A. W. Johnson and A. B. Bradley at the University of Surrey in 1987. LPC is the basis for perceptual coding and is widely used in speech coding, while MDCT coding is widely used in modern audio coding formats such as MP3 and Advanced Audio Coding (AAC). + +Types + +Analog + +An analog audio signal is a continuous signal represented by an electrical voltage or current that is analogous to the sound waves in the air. Analog signal processing then involves physically altering the continuous signal by changing the voltage or current or charge via electrical circuits. + +Historically, before the advent of widespread digital technology, analog was the only method by which to manipulate a signal. Since that time, as computers and software have become more capable and affordable, digital signal processing has become the method of choice. However, in music applications, analog technology is often still desirable as it often produces nonlinear responses that are difficult to replicate with digital filters. + +Digital + +A digital representation expresses the audio waveform as a sequence of symbols, usually binary numbers. This permits signal processing using digital circuits such as digital signal processors, microprocessors and general-purpose computers. Most modern audio systems use a digital approach as the techniques of digital signal processing are much more powerful and efficient than analog domain signal processing. + +Applications + +Processing methods and application areas include storage, data compression, music information retrieval, speech processing, localization, acoustic detection, transmission, noise cancellation, acoustic fingerprinting, sound recognition, synthesis, and enhancement (e.g. equalization, filtering, level compression, echo and reverb removal or addition, etc.). + +Audio broadcasting + +Audio signal processing is used when broadcasting audio signals in order to enhance their fidelity or optimize for bandwidth or latency. In this domain, the most important audio processing takes place just before the transmitter. The audio processor here must prevent or minimize overmodulation, compensate for non-linear transmitters (a potential issue with medium wave and shortwave broadcasting), and adjust overall loudness to the desired level. + +Active noise control + +Active noise control is a technique designed to reduce unwanted sound. By creating a signal that is identical to the unwanted noise but with the opposite polarity, the two signals cancel out due to destructive interference. + +Audio synthesis + +Audio synthesis is the electronic generation of audio signals. A musical instrument that accomplishes this is called a synthesizer. Synthesizers can either imitate sounds or generate new ones. Audio synthesis is also used to generate human speech using speech synthesis. + +Audio effects + +Audio effects alter the sound of a musical instrument or other audio source. Common effects include distortion, often used with electric guitar in electric blues and rock music; dynamic effects such as volume pedals and compressors, which affect loudness; filters such as wah-wah pedals and graphic equalizers, which modify frequency ranges; modulation effects, such as chorus, flangers and phasers; pitch effects such as pitch shifters; and time effects, such as reverb and delay, which create echoing sounds and emulate the sound of different spaces. + +Musicians, audio engineers and record producers use effects units during live performances or in the studio, typically with electric guitar, bass guitar, electronic keyboard or electric piano. While effects are most frequently used with electric or electronic instruments, they can be used with any audio source, such as acoustic instruments, drums, and vocals. + +Computer audition + +See also + Sound card + Sound effect + +References + +Further reading + +Audio electronics +Signal processing +In computer architecture, Amdahl's law (or Amdahl's argument) is a formula which gives the theoretical speedup in latency of the execution of a task at fixed workload that can be expected of a system whose resources are improved. It states that "the overall performance improvement gained by optimizing a single part of a system is limited by the fraction of time that the improved part is actually used". It is named after computer scientist Gene Amdahl, and was presented at the American Federation of Information Processing Societies (AFIPS) Spring Joint Computer Conference in 1967. + +Amdahl's law is often used in parallel computing to predict the theoretical speedup when using multiple processors. For example, if a program needs 20 hours to complete using a single thread, but a one-hour portion of the program cannot be parallelized, therefore only the remaining 19 hours' () execution time can be parallelized, then regardless of how many threads are devoted to a parallelized execution of this program, the minimum execution time is always more than 1 hour. Hence, the theoretical speedup is less than 20 times the single thread performance, . + +Definition + +Amdahl's law can be formulated in the following way: + +where + Slatency is the theoretical speedup of the execution of the whole task; + s is the speedup of the part of the task that benefits from improved system resources; + p is the proportion of execution time that the part benefiting from improved resources originally occupied. + +Furthermore, + + + +shows that the theoretical speedup of the execution of the whole task increases with the improvement of the resources of the system and that regardless of the magnitude of the improvement, the theoretical speedup is always limited by the part of the task that cannot benefit from the improvement. + +Amdahl's law applies only to the cases where the problem size is fixed. In practice, as more computing resources become available, they tend to get used on larger problems (larger datasets), and the time spent in the parallelizable part often grows much faster than the inherently serial work. In this case, Gustafson's law gives a less pessimistic and more realistic assessment of the parallel performance. + +Derivation + +A task executed by a system whose resources are improved compared to an initial similar system can be split up into two parts: + + a part that does not benefit from the improvement of the resources of the system; + a part that benefits from the improvement of the resources of the system. + +An example is a computer program that processes files. A part of that program may scan the directory of the disk and create a list of files internally in memory. After that, another part of the program passes each file to a separate thread for processing. The part that scans the directory and creates the file list cannot be sped up on a parallel computer, but the part that processes the files can. + +The execution time of the whole task before the improvement of the resources of the system is denoted as . It includes the execution time of the part that would not benefit from the improvement of the resources and the execution time of the one that would benefit from it. The fraction of the execution time of the task that would benefit from the improvement of the resources is denoted by . The one concerning the part that would not benefit from it is therefore . Then: + + + +It is the execution of the part that benefits from the improvement of the resources that is accelerated by the factor after the improvement of the resources. Consequently, the execution time of the part that does not benefit from it remains the same, while the part that benefits from it becomes: + + + +The theoretical execution time of the whole task after the improvement of the resources is then: + + + +Amdahl's law gives the theoretical speedup in latency of the execution of the whole task at fixed workload , which yields + +Parallel programs + +If 30% of the execution time may be the subject of a speedup, p will be 0.3; if the improvement makes the affected part twice as fast, s will be 2. Amdahl's law states that the overall speedup of applying the improvement will be: + + + +For example, assume that we are given a serial task which is split into four consecutive parts, whose percentages of execution time are , , , and respectively. Then we are told that the 1st part is not sped up, so , while the 2nd part is sped up 5 times, so , the 3rd part is sped up 20 times, so , and the 4th part is sped up 1.6 times, so . By using Amdahl's law, the overall speedup is + +Notice how the 5 times and 20 times speedup on the 2nd and 3rd parts respectively don't have much effect on the overall speedup when the 4th part (48% of the execution time) is accelerated by only 1.6 times. + +Serial programs +[[File:Optimizing-different-parts.svg|thumb|400px|Assume that a task has two independent parts, A and B. Part B takes roughly 25% of the time of the whole computation. By working very hard, one may be able to make this part 5 times faster, but this reduces the time of the whole computation only slightly. In contrast, one may need to perform less work to make part A perform twice as fast. This will make the computation much faster than by optimizing part B, even though part B'''s speedup is greater in terms of the ratio, (5 times versus 2 times).]] + +For example, with a serial program in two parts A and B for which and , + if part B is made to run 5 times faster, that is and , then +if part A is made to run 2 times faster, that is and , then + +Therefore, making part A to run 2 times faster is better than making part B to run 5 times faster. The percentage improvement in speed can be calculated as + + + Improving part A by a factor of 2 will increase overall program speed by a factor of 1.60, which makes it 37.5% faster than the original computation. + However, improving part B by a factor of 5, which presumably requires more effort, will achieve an overall speedup factor of 1.25 only, which makes it 20% faster. + + Optimizing the sequential part of parallel programs + +If the non-parallelizable part is optimized by a factor of , then + + + +It follows from Amdahl's law that the speedup due to parallelism is given by + + +When , we have , meaning that the speedup is +measured with respect to the execution time after the non-parallelizable part is optimized. + +When , + + +If , and , then: + + + + Transforming sequential parts of parallel programs into parallelizable + +Next, we consider the case wherein the non-parallelizable part is reduced by a factor of , and the parallelizable part is correspondingly increased. Then + + + +It follows from Amdahl's law that the speedup due to parallelism is given by + + + Relation to the law of diminishing returns + +Amdahl's law is often conflated with the law of diminishing returns, whereas only a special case of applying Amdahl's law demonstrates law of diminishing returns. If one picks optimally (in terms of the achieved speedup) what is to be improved, then one will see monotonically decreasing improvements as one improves. If, however, one picks non-optimally, after improving a sub-optimal component and moving on to improve a more optimal component, one can see an increase in the return. Note that it is often rational to improve a system in an order that is "non-optimal" in this sense, given that some improvements are more difficult or require larger development time than others. + +Amdahl's law does represent the law of diminishing returns if one is considering what sort of return one gets by adding more processors to a machine, if one is running a fixed-size computation that will use all available processors to their capacity. Each new processor added to the system will add less usable power than the previous one. Each time one doubles the number of processors the speedup ratio will diminish, as the total throughput heads toward the limit of 1/(1 − p''). + +This analysis neglects other potential bottlenecks such as memory bandwidth and I/O bandwidth. If these resources do not scale with the number of processors, then merely adding processors provides even lower returns. + +An implication of Amdahl's law is that to speed up real applications which have both serial and parallel portions, heterogeneous computing techniques are required. There are novel speedup and energy consumption models based on a more general representation of heterogeneity, referred to as the normal form heterogeneity, that support a wide range of heterogeneous many-core architectures. These modelling methods aim to predict system power efficiency and performance ranges, and facilitates research and development at the hardware and system software levels. + +See also + + Gustafson's law + Universal Law of Computational Scalability + Analysis of parallel algorithms + Critical path method + Moore's law + +References + +Further reading + +External links + + + . Amdahl discusses his graduate work at the University of Wisconsin and his design of WISC. Discusses his role in the design of several computers for IBM including the STRETCH, IBM 701, and IBM 704. He discusses his work with Nathaniel Rochester and IBM's management of the design process. Mentions work with Ramo-Wooldridge, Aeronutronic, and Computer Sciences Corporation + Amdahl's Law: Not all performance improvements are created equal (2007) + "Amdahl's Law" by Joel F. Klein, Wolfram Demonstrations Project (2007) + Amdahl's Law in the Multicore Era (July 2008) + What the $#@! is Parallelism, Anyhow? (Charles Leiserson, May 2008) + Evaluation of the Intel Core i7 Turbo Boost feature, by James Charles, Preet Jassi, Ananth Narayan S, Abbas Sadat and Alexandra Fedorova (2009) + Calculation of the acceleration of parallel programs as a function of the number of threads, by George Popov, Valeri Mladenov and Nikos Mastorakis (January 2010) + Danny Hillis - Proving Amdahl's Law wrong, video recorded October 2016 + +Analysis of parallel algorithms +Computer architecture statements + + +Events + +Pre-1600 + 247 – Philip the Arab marks the millennium of Rome with a celebration of the ludi saeculares. + 395 – Emperor Arcadius marries Aelia Eudoxia, daughter of the Frankish general Flavius Bauto. She becomes one of the more powerful Roman empresses of Late Antiquity. +711 – Islamic conquest of Hispania: Moorish troops led by Tariq ibn Ziyad land at Gibraltar to begin their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus). +1296 – First War of Scottish Independence: John Balliol's Scottish army is defeated by an English army commanded by John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey at the Battle of Dunbar. +1509 – Pope Julius II places the Italian state of Venice under interdict. +1521 – Battle of Mactan: Explorer Ferdinand Magellan is killed by natives in the Philippines led by chief Lapulapu. +1539 – Official founding of the city of Bogotá, New Granada (nowadays Colombia), by Nikolaus Federmann and Sebastián de Belalcázar. +1565 – Cebu is established becoming the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines. +1595 – The relics of Saint Sava are incinerated in Belgrade on the Vračar plateau by Ottoman Grand Vizier Sinan Pasha; the site of the incineration is now the location of the Church of Saint Sava, one of the largest Orthodox churches in the world + +1601–1900 +1650 – The Battle of Carbisdale: A Royalist army from Orkney invades mainland Scotland but is defeated by a Covenanter army. +1667 – Blind and impoverished, John Milton sells Paradise Lost to a printer for £10, so that it could be entered into the Stationers' Register. +1805 – First Barbary War: United States Marines and Berbers attack the Tripolitan city of Derna (The "shores of Tripoli" part of the Marines' Hymn). +1813 – War of 1812: American troops capture York, the capital of Upper Canada, in the Battle of York. +1861 – American President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus. + +1901–present +1906 – The State Duma of the Russian Empire meets for the first time. +1909 – Sultan of Ottoman Empire Abdul Hamid II is overthrown, and is succeeded by his brother, Mehmed V. +1911 – Following the resignation and death of William P. Frye, a compromise is reached to rotate the office of President pro tempore of the United States Senate. + 1911 – The Second Canton Uprising took place in Guangzhou, Qing China but was suppressed. +1927 – Carabineros de Chile (Chilean national police force and gendarmerie) are created. +1936 – The United Auto Workers (UAW) gains autonomy from the American Federation of Labor. +1941 – World War II: German troops enter Athens. +1945 – World War II: The last German formations withdraw from Finland to Norway. The Lapland War and thus, World War II in Finland, comes to an end and the Raising the Flag on the Three-Country Cairn photograph is taken. + 1945 – World War II: Benito Mussolini is arrested by Italian partisans in Dongo, while attempting escape disguised as a German soldier. +1953 – Operation Moolah offers $50,000 to any pilot who defects with a fully mission-capable Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 to South Korea. The first pilot was to receive $100,000. +1967 – Expo 67 officially opens in Montreal, Quebec, Canada with a large opening ceremony broadcast around the world. It opens to the public the next day. +1976 – Thirty-seven people are killed when American Airlines Flight 625 crashes at Cyril E. King Airport in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. +1978 – John Ehrlichman, a former aide to U.S. President Richard Nixon, is released from the Federal Correctional Institution, Safford, Arizona, after serving 18 months for Watergate-related crimes. + 1978 – The Saur Revolution begins in Afghanistan, ending the following morning with the murder of Afghan President Mohammed Daoud Khan and the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. + 1978 – Willow Island disaster: In the deadliest construction accident in United States history, 51 construction workers are killed when a cooling tower under construction collapses at the Pleasants Power Station in Willow Island, West Virginia. +1986 – The city of Pripyat and surrounding areas are evacuated due to Chernobyl disaster. +1987 – The U.S. Department of Justice bars Austrian President Kurt Waldheim (and his wife, Elisabeth, who had also been a Nazi) from entering the US, charging that he had aided in the deportations and executions of thousands of Jews and others as a German Army officer during World War II. +1989 – The April 27 demonstrations, student-led protests responding to the April 26 Editorial, during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. +1992 – The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, comprising Serbia and Montenegro, is proclaimed. + 1992 – Betty Boothroyd becomes the first woman to be elected Speaker of the British House of Commons in its 700-year history. + 1992 – The Russian Federation and 12 other former Soviet republics become members of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. +1993 – Most of the Zambia national football team lose their lives in a plane crash off Libreville, Gabon en route to Dakar, Senegal to play a 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Senegal. +1994 – South African general election: The first democratic general election in South Africa, in which black citizens could vote. The Interim Constitution comes into force. +2005 – Airbus A380 aircraft has its maiden test flight. +2006 – Construction begins on the Freedom Tower (later renamed One World Trade Center) in New York City. +2007 – Estonian authorities remove the Bronze Soldier, a Soviet Red Army war memorial in Tallinn, amid political controversy with Russia. + 2007 – Israeli archaeologists discover the tomb of Herod the Great south of Jerusalem. +2011 – The 2011 Super Outbreak devastates parts of the Southeastern United States, especially the states of Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and Tennessee. Two hundred five tornadoes touched down on April 27 alone, killing more than 300 and injuring hundreds more. +2012 – At least four explosions hit the Ukrainian city of Dnipropetrovsk with at least 27 people injured. +2018 – The Panmunjom Declaration is signed between North and South Korea, officially declaring their intentions to end the Korean conflict. + +Births + +Pre-1600 +85 BC – Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus, Roman politician and general (d. 43 BC) +1468 – Frederick Jagiellon, Primate of Poland (d. 1503) +1564 – Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland (d. 1632) +1556 – François Béroalde de Verville, French writer (d. 1626) +1593 – Mumtaz Mahal, Mughal empress buried at the Taj Mahal (d. 1631) + +1601–1900 +1650 – Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel, Queen Consort of Denmark (1670-1699) (d. 1714) +1654 – Charles Blount, English deist and philosopher (d. 1693) +1701 – Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia (d. 1773) +1718 – Thomas Lewis, Irish-born American surveyor and lawyer (d. 1790) +1748 – Adamantios Korais, Greek-French philosopher and scholar (d. 1833) +1755 – Marc-Antoine Parseval, French mathematician and theorist (d. 1836) +1759 – Mary Wollstonecraft, English philosopher, historian, and novelist (d. 1797) +1788 – Charles Robert Cockerell, English architect, archaeologist, and writer (d. 1863) +1791 – Samuel Morse, American painter and inventor, co-invented the Morse code (d. 1872) +1812 – William W. 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Originally restricted to areas of Peru, Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador, in the middle of 20th century it became widespread in Brazil in context of appearance of syncretic religions that uses ayahuasca as a sacrament, like Santo Daime, União do Vegetal and Barquinha, which blend elements of Amazonian Shamanism, Christianity, Kardecist Spiritism, and African-Brazilian religions such as Umbanda, Candomblé and Tambor de Mina, later expanding to several countries across all continents, notably the United States and Western Europe, and, more incipiently, in Eastern Europe, South Africa, Australia, and Japan. + +More recently, new phenomena regarding ayahuasca use have evolved and moved to urban centers in North America and Europe, with the emergence of neoshamanic hybrid rituals and spiritual and recreational drug tourism. Also, anecdotal evidence, studies conducted among ayahuasca consumers and clinical trials suggest that ayahuasca has broad therapeutic potential, especially for the treatment of substance dependence, anxiety, and mood disorders. Thus, currently, despite continuing to be used in a traditional way, ayahuasca is also consumed recreationally worldwide, as well as used in modern medicine. + +Ayahuasca is commonly made by the prolonged decoction of the stems of the Banisteriopsis caapi vine and the leaves of the Psychotria viridis shrub, although hundreds of species are used in addition or substitution (See "Preparation" below). P. viridis contains N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a highly psychedelic substance, although orally inactive, and B. caapi is rich on harmala alkaloids, such as harmine, harmaline and tetrahydroharmine (THH), which can act as a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOi), halting liver and gastrointestinal metabolism of DMT, allowing it to reach the systemic circulation and the brain, where it activates 5-HT1A/2A/2C receptors in frontal and paralimbic areas. + +Etymology +Ayahuasca is the hispanicized (traditional) spelling of a word in the Quechuan languages, which are spoken in the Andean states of Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, and Colombia—speakers of Quechuan languages who use the modern Alvarado orthography spell it ayawaska. This word refers both to the liana Banisteriopsis caapi, and to the brew prepared from it. In the Quechua languages, aya means "spirit, soul", or "corpse, dead body", and waska means "rope" or "woody vine", "liana". The word ayahuasca has been variously translated as "liana of the soul", "liana of the dead", and "spirit liana". In the cosmovision of its users, the ayahuasca is the vine that allows the spirit to wander detached from the body, entering the spiritual world, otherwise forbidden for the alive. In Brazil it is sometimes called hoasca or oasca. + +Although ayahuasca is the most widely used terminology in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Brazil, the brew is known by many names throughout Northern South America: + + yagé (or yajé, from the Cofán language or iagê in Portuguese). Relatively spread use in Andean and Amazonian regions throughout the borders of Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Brazil. Cofán people also uses oofa + caapi (or kahpi/gahpi in Tupi–Guarani language or kaapi in proto-Arawak language), used to address both the brew and the B. caapi itself. Meaning "weed" or "thin leaf", was the word utilized by Spruce for naming the liana + pinde (or pindê/pilde), used by the Colorado people + patem (or nátema), from the Chicham languages + shori, mii (or miiyagi) and uni, from the Yaminawa language + nishi cobin, from the Shipibo language + nixi pae, shuri, ondi, rambi and rame, from the Kashinawa language + kaji, kadana and kadanapira, used by Tucano people + kamarampi (or kamalampi) and hananeroca, from the Arawakan languages + bakko, from Bora-Muiname language + jono pase, useb by Ese'Ejja people + uipa, from Guahibo language + napa (or nepe/nepi), used by Tsáchila people + Biaxije, from Camsá language + Cipó ("liana") or Vegetal, in Portuguese language, used by União do Vegetal church members + Daime or Santo Daime, meaning "give me" in Portuguese, the term was coined by Santo Daime's founder Mestre Irineu in the 1940s, from a prayer dai-me alegria, dai-me resistência ("give-me happyness, give me strength"). Daime members also uses the words Luz ("light") or Santa Luz ("holy light") + Some nomenclature are created by the cultural and symbolic signification of ayahuasca, with names like planta professora ("plant teacher"), professor dos professores ("teacher of the teachers"), sagrada medicina ("holy medicine") or la purga ("the purge"). + +In the last decades, two new important terminologies emerged. Both are commonly used in the Western world in neoshamanic, recreative or pharmaceutical contexts to address ayahuasca-like substances created without the traditional botanical species, due to it being expensive and/or hard to find in these countries. These concepts are surrounded by some controversies involving patents, commodification and biopiracy: + + Anahuasca (ayahuasca analogues). A term usually used to refers the ayahuasca produced with different plant species as sources of DMT (like Mimosa hostilis) or β-carbolines (like Peganum harmala). + Pharmahuasca (pharmaceutical ayahuasca). Indicate the pills produced with freebase DMT, synthetic harmaline, MAOi medications (such as moclobemide) and other isolated/purified compounds or extracts + +History + +Evidence of Banisteriopsis caapi use in South America dates back at least 1,000 years, as demonstrated by a bundle containing the residue of the beta-carboline harmine and various other preserved psychoactive alkaloids such as bufotenin and cocaine in a cave in southwestern Bolivia, discovered in 2010. + +In the 16th century, Christian missionaries from Spain first encountered Indigenous people in the western Amazonian basin of South America using ayahuasca; their earliest reports described it as "the work of the devil". In 1905, the active chemical constituent of B. caapi was named telepathine, but in 1927, it was found to be identical to a chemical already isolated from Peganum harmala and was given the name harmine. Beat writer William S. Burroughs read a paper by Richard Evans Schultes on the subject and while traveling through South America in the early 1950s sought out ayahuasca in the hopes that it could relieve or cure opiate addiction (see The Yage Letters). Ayahuasca became more widely known when the McKenna brothers published their experience in the Amazon in True Hallucinations. Dennis McKenna later studied pharmacology, botany, and chemistry of ayahuasca and oo-koo-he, which became the subject of his master's thesis. + +Richard Evans Schultes allowed Claudio Naranjo to make a special journey by canoe up the Amazon River to study ayahuasca with the South American Indians. He brought back samples of the beverage and published the first scientific description of the effects of its active alkaloids. + +In Brazil, a number of modern religious movements based on the use of ayahuasca have emerged, the most famous being Santo Daime, Barquinha and the União do Vegetal (or UDV), usually in an animistic context that may be shamanistic or, more often (as with Santo Daime and the UDV), integrated with Christianity. Both Santo Daime and União do Vegetal now have members and churches throughout the world. Similarly, the US and Europe have started to see new religious groups develop in relation to increased ayahuasca use. Some Westerners have teamed up with shamans in the Amazon forest regions, forming ayahuasca healing retreats that claim to be able to cure mental and physical illness and allow communication with the spirit world. + +In recent years, the brew has been popularized by Wade Davis (One River), English novelist Martin Goodman in I Was Carlos Castaneda, Chilean novelist Isabel Allende, writer Kira Salak, author Jeremy Narby (The Cosmic Serpent), author Jay Griffiths (Wild: An Elemental Journey), American novelist Steven Peck, radio personality Robin Quivers,, writer Paul Theroux (Figures in a Landscape: People and Places) and NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers. + +Preparation + +Sections of Banisteriopsis caapi vine are macerated and boiled alone or with leaves from any of a number of other plants, including Psychotria viridis (chacruna), Diplopterys cabrerana (also known as chaliponga and chacropanga), and Mimosa tenuiflora, among other ingredients which can vary greatly from one shaman to the next. The resulting brew may contain the powerful psychedelic drug DMT and MAO inhibiting harmala alkaloids, which are necessary to make the DMT orally active. The traditional making of ayahuasca follows a ritual process that requires the user to pick the lower Chacruna leaf at sunrise, then say a prayer. The vine must be "cleaned meticulously with wooden spoons" and pounded "with wooden mallets until it's fibre." + +Brews can also be made with plants that do not contain DMT, Psychotria viridis being replaced by plants such as Justicia pectoralis, Brugmansia, or sacred tobacco, also known as mapacho (Nicotiana rustica), or sometimes left out with no replacement. This brew varies radically from one batch to the next, both in potency and psychoactive effect, based mainly on the skill of the shaman or brewer, as well as other admixtures sometimes added and the intent of the ceremony. Natural variations in plant alkaloid content and profiles also affect the final concentration of alkaloids in the brew, and the physical act of cooking may also serve to modify the alkaloid profile of harmala alkaloids. + +The actual preparation of the brew takes several hours, often taking place over the course of more than one day. After adding the plant material, each separately at this stage, to a large pot of water, it is boiled until the water is reduced by half in volume. The individual brews are then added together and brewed until reduced significantly. This combined brew is what is taken by participants in ayahuasca ceremonies. + +Traditional use + +The uses of ayahuasca in traditional societies in South America vary greatly. Some cultures do use it for shamanic purposes, but in other cases, it is consumed socially among friends, in order to learn more about the natural environment, and even in order to visit friends and family who are far away. + +Nonetheless, people who work with ayahuasca in non-traditional contexts often align themselves with the philosophies and cosmologies associated with ayahuasca shamanism, as practiced among Indigenous peoples like the Urarina of the Peruvian Amazon. Dietary taboos are often associated with the use of ayahuasca, although these seem to be specific to the culture around Iquitos, Peru, a major center of ayahuasca tourism. + +In the rainforest, these taboos tend towards the purification of one's self—abstaining from spicy and heavily seasoned foods, excess fat, salt, caffeine, acidic foods (such as citrus) and sex before, after, or during a ceremony. A diet low in foods containing tyramine has been recommended, as the speculative interaction of tyramine and MAOIs could lead to a hypertensive crisis; however, evidence indicates that harmala alkaloids act only on MAO-A, in a reversible way similar to moclobemide (an antidepressant that does not require dietary restrictions). Dietary restrictions are not used by the highly urban Brazilian ayahuasca church União do Vegetal, suggesting the risk is much lower than perceived and probably non-existent. + +Ceremony and the role of shamans +Shamans, curanderos and experienced users of ayahuasca advise against consuming ayahuasca when not in the presence of one or several well-trained shamans. + +In some areas, there are purported brujos (Spanish for "witches") who masquerade as real shamans and who entice tourists to drink ayahuasca in their presence. Shamans believe one of the purposes for this is to steal one's energy and/or power, of which they believe every person has a limited stockpile. + +The shamans lead the ceremonial consumption of the ayahuasca beverage, in a rite that typically takes place over the entire night. During the ceremony, the effect of the drink lasts for hours. Prior to the ceremony, participants are instructed to abstain from spicy foods, red meat and sex. The ceremony is usually accompanied with purging which include vomiting and diarrhea, which is believed to release built-up emotions and negative energy. + +Traditional brew + +Traditional ayahuasca brews are usually made with Banisteriopsis caapi as an MAOI, while dimethyltryptamine sources and other admixtures vary from region to region. There are several varieties of caapi, often known as different "colors", with varying effects, potencies, and uses. + +DMT admixtures: + Psychotria viridis (Chacruna) – leaves + Diplopterys cabrerana (Chaliponga, Chagropanga, Banisteriopsis rusbyana) – leaves + Psychotria carthagenensis (Amyruca) – leaves + Mimosa tenuiflora (M. hostilis) - root bark + +Other common admixtures: + Justicia pectoralis + Brugmansia sp. (Toé) + Opuntia sp. + Epiphyllum sp. + Cyperus sp. + Nicotiana rustica (Mapacho, variety of tobacco) + Ilex guayusa, a relative of yerba mate + Lygodium venustum, (Tchai del monte) + Phrygilanthus eugenioides and Clusia sp (both called Miya) + Lomariopsis japurensis (Shoka) + +Common admixtures with their associated ceremonial values and spirits: + +Ayahuma bark: Cannon Ball tree. Provides protection and is used in healing susto (soul loss from spiritual fright or trauma). +Capirona bark: Provides cleansing, balance and protection. It is noted for its smooth bark, white flowers, and hard wood. +Chullachaki caspi bark (Brysonima christianeae): Provides cleansing to the physical body. Used to transcend physical body ailments. +Lopuna blanca bark: Provides protection. +Punga amarilla bark: Yellow Punga. Provides protection. Used to pull or draw out negative spirits or energies. +Remo caspi bark: Oar Tree. Used to move dense or dark energies. +Wyra (huaira) caspi bark (Cedrelinga catanaeformis): Air Tree. Used to create purging, transcend gastro/intestinal ailments, calm the mind, and bring tranquility. +Shiwawaku bark: Brings purple medicine to the ceremony. +Uchu sanango: Head of the sanango plants. +Huacapurana: Giant tree of the Amazon with very hard bark. +Bobinsana: Mermaid Spirit. Provides major heart chakra opening, healing of emotions and relationships. + +Non-traditional usage +In the late 20th century, the practice of ayahuasca drinking began spreading to Europe, North America and elsewhere. The first ayahuasca churches, affiliated with the Brazilian Santo Daime, were established in the Netherlands. A legal case was filed against two of the Church's leaders, Hans Bogers (one of the original founders of the Dutch Santo Daime community) and Geraldine Fijneman (the head of the Amsterdam Santo Daime community). Bogers and Fijneman were charged with distributing a controlled substance (DMT); however, the prosecution was unable to prove that the use of ayahuasca by members of the Santo Daime constituted a sufficient threat to public health and order such that it warranted denying their rights to religious freedom under ECHR Article 9. The 2001 verdict of the Amsterdam district court is an important precedent. Since then groups that are not affiliated to the Santo Daime have used ayahuasca, and a number of different "styles" have been developed, including non-religious approaches. + +Ayahuasca analogs + +In modern Europe and North America, ayahuasca analogs are often prepared using non-traditional plants which contain the same alkaloids. For example, seeds of the Syrian rue plant can be used as a substitute for the ayahuasca vine, and the DMT-rich Mimosa hostilis is used in place of chacruna. Australia has several indigenous plants which are popular among modern ayahuasqueros there, such as various DMT-rich species of Acacia. + +The name "ayahuasca" specifically refers to a botanical decoction that contains Banisteriopsis caapi. A synthetic version, known as pharmahuasca, is a combination of an appropriate MAOI and typically DMT. In this usage, the DMT is generally considered the main psychoactive active ingredient, while the MAOI merely preserves the psychoactivity of orally ingested DMT, which would otherwise be destroyed in the gut before it could be absorbed in the body. In contrast, traditionally among Amazonian tribes, the B. Caapi vine is considered to be the "spirit" of ayahuasca, the gatekeeper, and guide to the otherworldly realms. + +Brews similar to ayahuasca may be prepared using several plants not traditionally used in South America: + +DMT admixtures: + Acacia maidenii (Maiden's wattle) – bark *not all plants are "active strains", meaning some plants will have very little DMT and others larger amounts + Acacia phlebophylla, and other Acacias, most commonly employed in Australia – bark + Anadenanthera peregrina, A. colubrina, A. excelsa, A. macrocarpa + Desmanthus illinoensis (Illinois bundleflower) – root bark is mixed with a native source of beta-Carbolines (e.g., passion flower in North America) to produce a hallucinogenic drink called prairiehuasca. + +MAOI admixtures: + Harmal (Peganum harmala, Syrian rue) – seeds + Passion flower + synthetic MAOIs, especially RIMAs (due to the dangers presented by irreversible MAOIs) + +Effects + +Adverse effects +Vomiting can follow ayahuasca ingestion and may harm people with conditions such as esophagus fissure, gastric ulcer, early pregnancy and similar. Vomiting is considered by many shamans and experienced users of ayahuasca to be a purging and an essential part of the experience, representing the release of negative energy and emotions built up over the course of one's life. Others report purging in the form of diarrhea and hot/cold flashes. + +The ingestion of ayahuasca can also cause significant but temporary emotional and psychological distress. People that take ayahuasca with an active history of psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, psychosis, personality disorders, or bipolar disorder, among others, are at high risk of having persisting effects after the session. Excessive use could possibly lead to serotonin syndrome (although serotonin syndrome has never been specifically caused by ayahuasca except in conjunction with certain anti-depressants like SSRIs). Depending on dosage, the temporary non-entheogenic effects of ayahuasca can include tremors, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, autonomic instability, hyperthermia, sweating, motor function impairment, sedation, relaxation, vertigo, dizziness, and muscle spasms which are primarily caused by the harmala alkaloids in ayahuasca. Long-term negative effects are not known. + +A few deaths linked to participation in the consumption of ayahuasca have been reported. Some of the deaths may have been due to unscreened preexisting cardiovascular conditions, interaction with drugs, such as antidepressants, recreational drugs, caffeine (due to the CYP1A2 inhibition of the harmala alkaloids), nicotine (from drinking tobacco tea for purging/cleansing), or from improper/irresponsible use due to behavioral risks or possible drug to drug interactions. + +Psychological effects +People who have consumed ayahuasca report having mystical experiences and spiritual revelations regarding their purpose on earth, the true nature of the universe, and deep insight into how to be the best person they possibly can. Many people also report therapeutic effects, especially around depression and personal traumas. + +This is viewed by many as a spiritual awakening and what is often described as a near-death experience or rebirth. It is often reported that individuals feel they gain access to higher spiritual dimensions and make contact with various spiritual or extra-dimensional beings who can act as guides or healers. + +The experiences that people have while under the influence of ayahuasca are also culturally influenced. Westerners typically describe experiences with psychological terms like "ego death" and understand the hallucinations as repressed memories or metaphors of mental states. However, at least in Iquitos, Peru (a center of ayahuasca ceremonies), those from the area describe the experiences more in terms of the actions in the body and understand the visions as reflections of their environment, sometimes including the person who they believe caused their illness, as well as interactions with spirits. + +Recently, ayahuasca has been found to interact specifically with the visual cortex of the brain. In one study, de Araujo et al. measured the activity in the visual cortex when they showed participants photographs. Then, they measured the activity when the individuals closed their eyes. In the control group, the cortex was activated when looking at the photos, and less active when the participant closed his eyes; however, under the influence of ayahuasca and DMT, even with closed eyes, the cortex was just as active as when looking at the photographs. This study suggests that ayahuasca activates a complicated network of vision and memory which heightens the internal reality of the participants. + +It is claimed that people may experience profound positive life changes subsequent to consuming ayahuasca, by author Don Jose Campos and others. + +Potential therapeutic effects + +There are potential antidepressant and anxiolytic effects of ayahuasca. +For example, in 2018 it was reported that a single dose of ayahuasca significantly reduced symptoms of treatment-resistant depression in a small placebo-controlled trial. More specifically, statistically significant reductions of up to 82% in depressive scores were observed between baseline and 1, 7 and 21 days after ayahuasca administration, as measured on the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D), the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), and the Anxious-Depression subscale of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS). Other placebo-controlled research has provided evidence that ayahuasca can help improve self-perceptions in those with social anxiety disorder. + +Ayahuasca has also been studied for the treatment of addictions and shown to be effective, with lower Addiction Severity Index scores seen in users of ayahuasca compared to controls. Ayahuasca users have also been seen to consume less alcohol. + +Chemistry and pharmacology + +Harmala alkaloids are MAO-inhibiting beta-carbolines. The three most studied harmala alkaloids in the B. caapi vine are harmine, harmaline and tetrahydroharmine. Harmine and harmaline are selective and reversible inhibitors of monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A), while tetrahydroharmine is a weak serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SRI). + +Individual polymorphisms of the cytochrome P450-2D6 enzyme affect the ability of individuals to metabolize harmine. + +Legal status + +Internationally, DMT is a Schedule I drug under the Convention on Psychotropic Substances. The Commentary on the Convention on Psychotropic Substances notes, however, that the plants containing it are not subject to international control: + +A fax from the Secretary of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) to the Netherlands Ministry of Public Health sent in 2001 goes on to state that "Consequently, preparations (e.g. decoctions) made of these plants, including ayahuasca, are not under international control and, therefore, not subject to any of the articles of the 1971 Convention." + +Despite the INCB's 2001 affirmation that ayahuasca is not subject to drug control by international convention, in its 2010 Annual Report the Board recommended that governments consider controlling (i.e. criminalizing) ayahuasca at the national level. This recommendation by the INCB has been criticized as an attempt by the Board to overstep its legitimate mandate and as establishing a reason for governments to violate the human rights (i.e., religious freedom) of ceremonial ayahuasca drinkers. + +Under American federal law, DMT is a Schedule I drug that is illegal to possess or consume; however, certain religious groups have been legally permitted to consume ayahuasca. A court case allowing the União do Vegetal to import and use the tea for religious purposes in the United States, Gonzales v. O Centro Espírita Beneficente União do Vegetal, was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on November 1, 2005; the decision, released February 21, 2006, allows the UDV to use the tea in its ceremonies pursuant to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. In a similar case an Ashland, Oregon-based Santo Daime church sued for their right to import and consume ayahuasca tea. In March 2009, U.S. District Court Judge Panner ruled in favor of the Santo Daime, acknowledging its protection from prosecution under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. + +In 2017 the Santo Daime Church Céu do Montréal in Canada received religious exemption to use ayahuasca as a sacrament in their rituals. + +Religious use in Brazil was legalized after two official inquiries into the tea in the mid-1980s, which concluded that ayahuasca is not a recreational drug and has valid spiritual uses. + +In France, Santo Daime won a court case allowing them to use the tea in early 2005; however, they were not allowed an exception for religious purposes, but rather for the simple reason that they did not perform chemical extractions to end up with pure DMT and harmala and the plants used were not scheduled. Four months after the court victory, the common ingredients of ayahuasca as well as harmala were declared stupéfiants, or narcotic schedule I substances, making the tea and its ingredients illegal to use or possess. + +In June 2019, Oakland, California, decriminalized natural entheogens. The City Council passed the resolution in a unanimous vote, ending the investigation and imposition of criminal penalties for use and possession of entheogens derived from plants or fungi. The resolution states: "Practices with Entheogenic Plants have long existed and have been considered to be sacred to human cultures and human interrelationships with nature for thousands of years, and continue to be enhanced and improved to this day by religious and spiritual leaders, practicing professionals, mentors, and healers throughout the world, many of whom have been forced underground." +In January 2020, Santa Cruz, California, and in September 2020, Ann Arbor, Michigan, decriminalized natural entheogens. + +Intellectual property issues +Ayahuasca has stirred debate regarding intellectual property protection of traditional knowledge. In 1986 the US Patent and Trademarks Office (PTO) allowed the granting of a patent on the ayahuasca vine B. caapi. It allowed this patent based on the assumption that ayahuasca's properties had not been previously described in writing. Several public interest groups, including the Coordinating Body of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA) and the Coalition for Amazonian Peoples and Their Environment (Amazon Coalition) objected. In 1999 they brought a legal challenge to this patent which had granted a private US citizen "ownership" of the knowledge of a plant that is well-known and sacred to many Indigenous peoples of the Amazon, and used by them in religious and healing ceremonies. + +Later that year the PTO issued a decision rejecting the patent, on the basis that the petitioners' arguments that the plant was not "distinctive or novel" were valid; however, the decision did not acknowledge the argument that the plant's religious or cultural values prohibited a patent. In 2001, after an appeal by the patent holder, the US Patent Office reinstated the patent, albeit to only a specific plant and its asexually reproduced offspring. The law at the time did not allow a third party such as COICA to participate in that part of the reexamination process. The patent, held by US entrepreneur Loren Miller, expired in 2003. + +See also +Changa +Icaro +Kambo (drug) +Ibogaine +Yachay + +Notes + +Explanatory notes + +Citations + +Further reading + + Burroughs, William S. and Allen Ginsberg. The Yage Letters. San Francisco: City Lights, 1963. + Langdon, E. Jean Matteson & Gerhard Baer, eds. Portals of Power: Shamanism in South America. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1992. + Shannon, Benny. The Antipodes of the Mind: Charting the Phenomenology of the Ayahuasca Experience. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. + Taussig, Michael. Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man: A Study in Terror and Healing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986. + +External links + + +Entheogens +Herbal and fungal hallucinogens +Indigenous culture of the Amazon +Mixed drinks +Polysubstance drinks +Alfonso Leng Haygus (11 February 1884 – 11 November 1974) was a post-romantic composer of classical music. He was born in Santiago, Chile. He wrote the first important symphonic work in Chilean tradition, "La Muerte de Alcino", a symphonic poem inspired by the novel of Pedro Prado. He composed many art songs in different languages and important piano pieces, like the five "Doloras" (1914), which he later orchestrated and are normally played in concerts in Chile and Latin America. He won the National Art Prize in 1957. + +Leng was also an accomplished dentist in Santiago. As a dentist, he was the main founder of the dentistry faculty of the University of Chile, and he was eventually elected as the first dean. + +Leng was the nephew of composer Carmela Mackenna. + +References + +1884 births +1974 deaths +Chilean classical composers +Chilean male composers +Chilean dentists +Musicians from Santiago +Academic staff of the University of Chile +Chilean people of Chinese descent +20th-century Chilean musicians +20th-century classical composers +20th-century male musicians +Male classical composers +20th-century dentists +20th-century Chilean male artists +In optics and lens design, the Abbe number, also known as the V-number or constringence of a transparent material, is an approximate measure of the material's dispersion (change of refractive index versus wavelength), with high values of V indicating low dispersion. It is named after Ernst Abbe (1840–1905), the German physicist who defined it. The term V-number should not be confused with the normalized frequency in fibers. + +The Abbe number, of a material is defined as + +where and are the refractive indices of the material at the wavelengths of the Fraunhofer's C, d, and F spectral lines (656.3 nm, 587.56 nm, and 486.1 nm respectively). This formulation only applies to the human vision. Outside this range requires the use of different spectral lines. For non-visible spectral lines the term "V-number" is more commonly used. The more general formulation defined as, + +where and are the refractive indices of the material at three different wavelengths. The shortest wavelength's index is and the longest's is + +Abbe numbers are used to classify glass and other optical materials in terms of their chromaticity. For example, the higher dispersion flint glasses have relatively small Abbe numbers whereas the lower dispersion crown glasses have larger Abbe numbers. Values of range from below 25 for very dense flint glasses, around 34 for polycarbonate plastics, up to 65 for common crown glasses, and 75 to 85 for some fluorite and phosphate crown glasses. + +Abbe numbers are used in the design of achromatic lenses, as their reciprocal is proportional to dispersion (slope of refractive index versus wavelength) in the wavelength region where the human eye is most sensitive (see graph). For different wavelength regions, or for higher precision in characterizing a system's chromaticity (such as in the design of apochromats), the full dispersion relation (refractive index as a function of wavelength) is used. + +Abbe diagram + +An Abbe diagram, also called 'the glass veil', is produced by plotting the Abbe number of a material versus its refractive index Glasses can then be categorised and selected according to their positions on the diagram. This can be a letter-number code, as used in the Schott Glass catalogue, or a 6 digit glass code. + +Glasses' Abbe numbers, along with their mean refractive indices, are used in the calculation of the required refractive powers of the elements of achromatic lenses in order to cancel chromatic aberration to first order. These two parameters which enter into the equations for design of achromatic doublets are exactly what is plotted on an Abbe diagram. + +Due to the difficulty and inconvenience in producing sodium and hydrogen lines, alternate definitions of the Abbe number are often substituted (ISO 7944). For example, rather than the standard definition given above, that uses the refractive index variation between the F and C hydrogen lines, one alternative measure using the subscript "e" for mercury's e line compared to cadmium's F′ and C′ lines is + +This alternate takes the difference between cadmium's blue (C′) and red (F′) refractive indices at wavelengths 480.0 nm and 643.8 nm, relative to for mercury's e line at 546.073 nm, all of which are close by, and somewhat easier to produce than the C, F, and e lines. Other definitions can similarly be employed; the following table lists standard wavelengths at which is commonly determined, including the standard subscripts used. + +Derivation +Starting from the Lensmaker's equation we obtain the thin lens equation by dropping a small term that accounts for lens thickness, : + +when + +The change of refractive power between the two wavelengths and is given by + +where and are the short and long wavelengths' refractive indexes, respectively, and below, is for the center. + +The power difference can be expressed relative to the power at the center wavelength () + +by multiplying and dividing by and regrouping, get + +The relative change is inversely proportional to + +See also +Abbe prism +Abbe refractometer +Calculation of glass properties, including Abbe number +Glass code +Sellmeier equation, more comprehensive and physically based modeling of dispersion + +References + +External links +Abbe graph and data for 356 glasses from Ohara, Hoya, and Schott + +Dimensionless numbers +Optical quantities +Glass physics +ACN may refer to: + Accenture, professional services company, listed on the NYSE as ACN + Achang language, a Tibeto-Burman language of China + Achnasheen railway station, UK, National Rail code + Acineta, a genus of orchid + ACN Inc., multi-level marketing company providing telecommunications and other services + Action Congress of Nigeria, political party of Nigeria + Africa Cup of Nations, biennial football tournament + Hockey Africa Cup of Nations, biennial field hockey tournament +Men's Hockey Africa Cup of Nations +Women's Hockey Africa Cup of Nations + Agencia Carabobeña de Noticias, news agency, Valencia, Venezuela + Agència Catalana de Notícies, news agency, Barcelona, Spain + Agenzia per la Cybersicurezza Nazionale, Italian cybersecurity agency, Rome, Italy + Aid to the Church in Need, Catholic charity in Königstein im Taunus, Germany + Aircraft Classification Number, pavement load of an aircraft + Algebraic chess notation, the standard notation for recording chess games + American Collectibles Network, former name for Jewelry Television, US + Andean Community of Nations, free trade area + Anglican Communion Network, network of Anglican and Episcopalian dioceses and parishes + ante Christum natum, seldom-used Latin equivalent of BC + Architecture for Control Networks, network protocol for theatrical control + Atlantis Cable News, fictional news channel on The Newsroom (American TV series) + Australian Company Number, unique identifier for companies registered in Australia + Ciudad Acuña International Airport, an airport in Ciudad Acuña, Mexico + +Chemistry + Acetonitrile, CH3CN + Acrylonitrile, CH2CHCN +AD (Anno Domini) is a designation used to label years following 1 BC in the Julian and Gregorian calendars while Ad (advertisement) is a form of marketing communication. + +AD, A.D. or Ad may also refer to: + +Art, entertainment, and media + +Film and television + A.D. (film), a 2010 animated zombie horror film + A.D. (miniseries), a 1985 television miniseries set in ancient Rome + A.D. The Bible Continues, a 2015 biblical drama television miniseries + Arrested Development, an American television sitcom + Attarintiki Daredi, 2013 Indian film by Trivikram Srinivas + Audio description, a service for visually impaired audience on some TV programs + +Music + AD (band), a Christian rock band + A.D. (album), by Solace + +Publications + A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge, a nonfiction graphic novel about Hurricane Katrina + Algemeen Dagblad, a Dutch newspaper + Architectural Digest, an interior design and landscaping magazine + AD (poem), by Kenneth Fearing + +Other art, entertainment, and media + Audio description track, a narration track for visually impaired consumers of visual media + +Brands and enterprises + Alexander Dennis, a British bus manufacturer + Akcionersko društvo (aкционерско друштво), a Macedonian name for a type of company + Aktsionerno drujestvo (акционерно дружество), a Bulgarian name for a type of company + akcionarsko društvo (aкционарско друштво), a Serbian name for a type of company + Analog Devices, a semiconductor company + +Military + Accidental discharge, a mechanical failure of a firearm causing it to fire + Active duty, a status of full duty or service, usually in the armed forces + Air defense, anti-aircraft weaponry and systems + Air Department, part of the British Admiralty +Destroyer tender, a type of support ship (US Navy hull classification symbol AD) + AD Skyraider, former name of the Douglas A-1 Skyraider, a Navy attack aircraft + +Organizations + Action Directe, French far-left militant group + Democratic Action (Venezuela) (Spanish: Acción Democrática), social democratic and center-left political party + Democratic Alliance (Portugal) (Portuguese: Aliança Democrática), a former centre-right political alliance + Democratic Alternative (Malta) (Maltese: Alternattiva Demokratika), a green political party + +People + Ad (name), a given name, and a list of people with the name + ‘Ad, great-grandson of Shem, son of Noah + Anthony Davis (born 1993), American basketball player + Antonio Davis (born 1968), American basketball player + A. D. Loganathan (1888–1949), officer of the Indian National Army + A. D. Whitfield (born 1943), American football player + A. D. Winans (born 1936), American poet, essayist, short story writer and publisher + A.D., nickname of Adrian Peterson (born 1985), American football player + +Places + AD, ISO 3166-1 country for Andorra + Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates + AD, herbarium code for the State Herbarium of South Australia + +Professions + Art director, for a magazine or newspaper + Assistant director, a film or television crew member + Athletic director, the administrator of an athletics program + +Science and technology + +Biology and medicine + Addison's disease, an endocrine disorder + Adenovirus, viruses of the family Adenoviridae + Alzheimer's disease, a neurodegenerative disease + Anaerobic digestion, processes by which microorganisms break down biodegradable material + Anti-diarrheal, medication which provides symptomatic relief for diarrhea + Approximate digestibility, an index measure of the digestibility of animal feed + Atopic dermatitis, form of skin inflammation + Atypical depression, a type of depression + Autosomal dominant, a classification of genetic traits + Autonomic dysreflexia, a potential medical emergency + +Chemistry + Adamantyl, abbreviated "Ad" in organic chemistry + Sharpless asymmetric dihydroxylation, a type of organic chemical reaction + +Computing + .ad, the top level domain for Andorra + Administrative distance, a metric in routing + Active Directory, software for the management of Microsoft Windows domains + Administrative domain, a computer networking facility + Analog-to-digital converter, a type of electronic circuit + Automatic differentiation, a set of computer programming techniques to speedily compute derivatives + AD16, the hexadecimal number equal to decimal number 173 + +Mathematics + Adjoint representation of a Lie group, abbreviated "Ad" in mathematics + Axiom of determinacy, a set theory axiom + +Physics + Antiproton Decelerator, a device at the CERN physics laboratory + Autodynamics, a physics theory + +Other uses in science and technology + Active disassembly, a technology supporting the cost-effective deconstruction of complex materials + +Transportation + AD, IATA code for: +Air Paradise, a defunct Indonesian airline + Azul Brazilian Airlines + Airworthiness Directive, an aircraft maintenance requirement notice + +Other uses + ʿĀd, an ancient Arab tribe, mentioned in the Quran + Aggregate demand, in macroeconomics + Anno Diocletiani, an alternative year numbering system + United States Academic Decathlon, a high school academic competition + +See also + + Anno Domini (disambiguation) +BC (disambiguation) +Domino (disambiguation) +Dominus (disambiguation) +In grammar, the ablative case (pronounced ; sometimes abbreviated ) is a grammatical case for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives in the grammars of various languages; it is sometimes used to express motion away from something, among other uses. The word "ablative" derives from the Latin , the (irregular) perfect, passive participle of auferre "to carry away". + +The ablative case is found in several language families, such as Indo-European (e.g., Sanskrit, Latin, Albanian, Armenian), Turkic (e.g., Turkish, Turkmen, Azerbaijani, Uzbek, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tatar), Tungusic (e.g., Manchu, Evenki), Uralic (e.g., Hungarian), and the Dravidian languages. There is no ablative case in modern Germanic languages such as German and English. There was an ablative case in the early stages of Ancient Greek, but it quickly fell into disuse by the classical period. + +Indo-European languages + +Latin + +The ablative case in Latin (cāsus ablātīvus) appears in various grammatical constructions, including following various prepositions, in an ablative absolute clause, and adverbially. The Latin ablative case was derived from three Proto-Indo-European cases: ablative (from), instrumental (with), and locative (in/at). + +Greek +In Ancient Greek, there was an ablative case ( ) which was used in the Homeric, pre-Mycenaean, and Mycenean periods. It fell into disuse during the classical period and thereafter with some of its functions taken by the genitive and others by the dative. The genitive case with the prepositions "away from" and "out of" is an example. + +German +German does not have an ablative case but, exceptionally, Latin ablative case-forms were used from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century after some prepositions, for example after von in von dem Nomine: ablative of the Latin loanword Nomen. Grammarians at that time, Justus Georg Schottel, Kaspar von Stieler ("der Spate"), Johann Balthasar von Antesperg and Johann Christoph Gottsched, listed an ablative case (as the sixth case after nominative, genitive, dative, accusative and vocative) for German words. They arbitrarily considered the dative case after some prepositions to be an ablative, as in ("from the man" or "of the man") and ("with the man"), while they considered the dative case after other prepositions or without a preposition, as in , to be a dative. + +Albanian +The ablative case is found in Albanian; it is the fifth case, rasa rrjedhore. + +Sanskrit +In Sanskrit, the ablative case is the fifth case (pañcamī) and has a similar function to that in Latin. Sanskrit nouns in the ablative often refer to a subject "out of" which or "from" whom something (an action, an object) has arisen or occurred: pátram taróḥ pátati "the leaf falls from the tree". It is also used for nouns in several other senses, as for actions occurring "because of" or "without" a certain noun, indicating distance or direction. When it appears with a comparative adjective, (śreṣṭhatamam, "the best"), the ablative is used to refer to what the adjective is comparing: "better than X". + +Armenian +The modern Armenian ablative has different markers for each main dialect, both originating from Classical Armenian. The Western Armenian affix -է -ē (definite -էն -ēn) derives from the classical singular; the Eastern Armenian affix -ից -ic’ (both indefinite and definite) derives from the classical plural. For both dialects, those affixes are singular, with the corresponding plurals being -(ն)երէ(ն) and -(ն)երից . + +The ablative case has several uses. Its principal function is to show "motion away" from a location, point in space or time: + +It also shows the agent when it is used with the passive voice of the verb: + +It is also used for comparative statements in colloquial Armenian (including infinitives and participles): + +Finally, it governs certain postpositions: + +Uralic languages + +Finnish +In Finnish, the ablative case is the sixth of the locative cases with the meaning "from, off, of": pöytä – pöydältä "table – off from the table". It is an outer locative case, used like the adessive and allative cases, to denote both being on top of something and "being around the place" (as opposed to the inner locative case, the elative, which means "from out of" or "from the inside of"). With the locative, the receding object was near the other place or object, not inside it. + +The Finnish ablative is also used in time expressions to indicate times of something happening (kymmeneltä "at ten") as well as with verbs expressing feelings or emotions. + +The Finnish ablative has the ending -lta or -ltä, depending on vowel harmony. + +Usage + away from a place + +katolta: off the roof +pöydältä: off the table +rannalta: from the beach +maalta: from the land +mereltä: from the sea + + from a person, object or other entity + +häneltä: from him/her/them + + with the verb lähteä (stop) + +lähteä tupakalta: stop smoking (in the sense of putting out the cigarette one is smoking now, lit. 'leave from the tobacco') +lähteä hippasilta: stop playing tag (hippa=tag, olla hippasilla=playing tag) + + to smell/taste/feel/look/sound like something + +haisee pahalta: smells bad +maistuu hyvältä: tastes good +tuntuu kamalalta: feels awful +näyttää tyhmältä: looks stupid +kuulostaa mukavalta: sounds nice + +Estonian +The ablative case in Estonian is the ninth case and has a similar function to that in Hungarian. + +Hungarian +The ablative case in Hungarian is used to describe movement away from, as well as a concept, object, act or event originating from an object, person, location or entity. For example, one walking away from a friend who gave him a gift could say the following: + +a barátomtól jövök (I am coming (away) from my friend). +a barátomtól kaptam egy ajándékot (I got a gift from my friend). + +When used to describe movement away from a location, the case may only refer to movement from the general vicinity of the location and not from inside of it. Thus, a postától jövök would mean one had been standing next to the post office before, not inside the building. + +When the case is used to refer to the origin of a possible act or event, the act/event may be implied while not explicitly stated, such as : I will defend you from the robber. + +The application of vowel harmony gives two different suffixes: -tól and -től. These are applied to back-vowel and front-vowel words, respectively. + +Hungarian has a narrower delative case, similar to ablative, but more specific: movement off/from a surface of something, with suffixes -ról and -ről. + +Turkic languages + +Azerbaijani + +The ablative in Azerbaijani () is expressed through the suffixes -dan or -dən: + +Ev – evdən +House – from/off the house + +Aparmaq – aparmaqdan +To carry – from/off carrying + +Tatar +The ablative in Tatar () is expressed through the suffixes -дан or -дән or -тан or -тән or -нан or -нән: + +Өй - өйдән +House - from/off the house + +Turkish +The ablative in Turkish (-den hali or ayrılma hali) is expressed through the suffix -den (which changes to -dan, -ten or -tan to accommodate the vowel and voicing harmony): + +Ev – evden +House – from/off the house + +At – attan +Horse – from/off the horse + +Taşımak – taşımaktan +To carry – from/off carrying + +Ses – sesten +Sound/volume – from/off sound/volume + +In some situations simple ablative can have a "because of" meaning; in these situations, ablative can be optionally followed by the postposition dolayı "because of". + +Yüksek sesten (dolayı) rahatsız oldum. / I was uneasy because of high volume. + +Tungusic + +Manchu +The ablative in Manchu is expressed through the suffix -ci and can also be used to express comparisons. It is usually not directly attached to its parent word. + +Evenki +The ablative in Evenki is expressed with the suffix -duk. + +See also + Allative case + Delative case + Locative case + +Further reading + +References + +Grammatical cases +The Adamic language, according to Jewish tradition (as recorded in the midrashim) and some Christians, is the language spoken by Adam (and possibly Eve) in the Garden of Eden. It is variously interpreted as either the language used by God to address Adam (the divine language), or the language invented by Adam with which he named all things (including Eve), as in the second Genesis creation narrative (). + +In the Middle Ages, various Jewish commentators held that Adam spoke Hebrew, a view also addressed in various ways by the late medieval Italian poet Dante Alighieri. In the early modern period, some authors continued to discuss the possibility of an Adamic language, some continuing to hold to the idea that it was Hebrew, while others such as John Locke were more skeptical. More recently, a variety of Mormon authors have expressed various opinions about the nature of the Adamic language. + +According to Ethiopian and Eritrean traditions, the ancient Semitic language of Ge'ez is the language of Adam, the first and original language. + +Patristic Period +Augustine addresses the issue in The City of God. While not explicit, the implication of there being but one human language prior to the Tower of Babel's collapse is that the language, which was preserved by Heber and his son Peleg, and which is recognized as the language passed down to Abraham and his descendants, is the language that would have been used by Adam. + +Middle Ages + +Traditional Jewish exegesis such as Midrash says that Adam spoke the Hebrew language because the names he gives Eve – Isha and Chava – only make sense in Hebrew. By contrast, Kabbalism assumed an "eternal Torah" which was not identical to the Torah written in Hebrew. Thus, Abraham Abulafia in the 13th century assumed that the language spoken in Paradise had been different from Hebrew, and rejected the claim then-current also among Christian authors, that a child left unexposed to linguistic stimulus would automatically begin to speak in Hebrew. + +Umberto Eco (1993) notes that Genesis is ambiguous on whether the language of Adam was preserved by Adam's descendants until the confusion of tongues, or if it began to evolve naturally even before Babel. + +Dante Alighieri addresses the topic in his De vulgari eloquentia (1302–1305). He argues that the Adamic language is of divine origin and therefore unchangeable. He also notes that according to Genesis, the first speech act is due to Eve, addressing the serpent, and not to Adam. + +In his Divine Comedy (c. 1308–1320), however, Dante changes his view to another that treats the Adamic language as the product of Adam. This had the consequence that it could no longer be regarded as immutable, and hence Hebrew could not be regarded as identical with the language of Paradise. Dante concludes (Paradiso XXVI) that Hebrew is a derivative of the language of Adam. In particular, the chief Hebrew name for God in scholastic tradition, El, must be derived of a different Adamic name for God, which Dante gives as I. + +Early modern period + +Proponents + +Elizabethan scholar John Dee makes references to an occult or angelic language recorded in his private journals and those of spirit medium Edward Kelley. Dee's journals did not describe the language as "Enochian", instead preferring "Angelical", the "Celestial Speech", the "Language of Angels", the "First Language of God-Christ", the "Holy Language", or "Adamical" because, according to Dee's Angels, it was used by Adam in Paradise to name all things. The language was later dubbed Enochian, due to Dee's assertion that the Biblical Patriarch Enoch had been the last human (before Dee and Kelley) to know the language. + +Dutch physician, linguist, and humanist Johannes Goropius Becanus (1519–1572) theorized in Origines Antwerpianae (1569) that Antwerpian Brabantic, spoken in the region between the Scheldt and Meuse Rivers, was the original language spoken in Paradise. Goropius believed that the most ancient language on Earth would be the simplest language, and that the simplest language would contain mostly short words. Since Brabantic has a higher number of short words than do Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, Goropius reasoned that it was the older language. His work influenced that of Simon Stevin (1548–1620), who espoused similar ideas in "Uytspraeck van de weerdicheyt der Duytse tael", a chapter in De Beghinselen Der Weeghconst (1586). + +Opponents +By the 17th century, the existence and nature of the alleged Adamic language was commonly discussed amongst European Jewish and Christian mystics and primitive linguists. Robert Boyle (1627–1691) was skeptical that Hebrew was the language best capable of describing the nature of things, stating: +I could never find, that the Hebrew names of animals, mentioned in the beginning of Genesis, argued a (much) clearer insight into their natures, than did the names of the same or some other animals in Greek, or other languages (1665:45). + +John Locke (1632–1704) expressed similar skepticism in his An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690). + +Modern period + +Latter Day Saint movement +Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, in his revision of the Bible, declared the Adamic language to have been "pure and undefiled". Some Latter Day Saints believe it to be the language of God. Glossolalia, or speaking in tongues, was commonplace in the early years of the movement, and it was commonly believed that the incomprehensible language spoken during these incidents was the language of Adam. However, this belief seems to have never been formally or officially adopted. + +Some other early Latter Day Saint leaders, including Brigham Young, Orson Pratt, and Elizabeth Ann Whitney, claimed to have received several words in the Adamic language by revelation. Some Latter Day Saints believe that the Adamic language is the "pure language" spoken of by Zephaniah and that it will be restored as the universal language of humankind at the end of the world. + +Apostle Orson Pratt declared that "Ahman", part of the name of the settlement "Adam-ondi-Ahman" in Daviess County, Missouri, was the name of God in the Adamic language. An 1832 handwritten page from the Joseph Smith Papers, titled "A Sample of the Pure Language", and reportedly dictated by Smith to "Br. Johnson", asserts that the name of God is Awman. + +The Latter Day Saint endowment prayer circle once included use of the words "Pay Lay Ale". These untranslated words are no longer used in temple ordinances and have been replaced by an English version, "O God, hear the words of my mouth". Some believe that the "Pay Lay Ale" sentence is derived from the Hebrew phrase "pe le-El" (), "mouth to God". "Pay Lay Ale" was identified in the temple ceremony as words from the "pure Adamic language". + +Other words thought by some Latter Day Saints to derive from the Adamic language include deseret ("honey bee") and Ahman ("God"). + +The Book of Moses refers to "a book of remembrance" written in the language of Adam. + +Goidelic languages + +It has also been claimed that Scottish Gaelic or Irish was the language spoken in the Garden of Eden. One book that promoted this theory was Adhamh agus Eubh, no Craobh Sheanachais nan Gàël (1837; "Adam and Eve; or, the Gaelic Family Tree"). + +See also + History of linguistics + Mythical origins of language + Origin of language + Proto-Human language + Universal language + +References + +Bibliography + Allison P. Coudert (ed.), The Language of Adam = Die Sprache Adams, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1999. + Angelo Mazzocco, Linguistic Theories in Dante and the Humanists, (chapter 9: "Dante's Reappraisal of the Adamic language", 159–181). + Umberto Eco, The Search for the Perfect Language (1993). + +Dante Alighieri +Garden of Eden +Hebrew language +Kabbalah +Language and mysticism +Latter Day Saint temple practices +Midrashim +Obsolete scientific theories +Religious language +Spurious languages +Religious concepts related with Adam and Eve +Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny () is a political-satirical opera composed by Kurt Weill to a German libretto by Bertolt Brecht. It was first performed on 9 March 1930 at the in Leipzig. + +Some interpreters have viewed the play as a critique of American society. Others have perceived it as a critique of the chaotic and immoral Weimar Republic, particularly Berlin of the 1920s with its rampant prostitution, unstable government, political corruption, and economic crises. + +Composition history + +Weill was asked by the 1927 Baden-Baden music festival committee to write a one-act chamber opera for the festival. He ended up writing Mahagonny-Songspiel, sometimes known as Das kleine Mahagonny, a concert work commissioned for voices and a small orchestra. The work was written in May 1927, and performed in June. It consisted of eleven numbers, including "Alabama Song" and "Benares Song". + +Weill then continued to rework the material into a full opera while Brecht worked on the libretto. The opera had its premiere in Leipzig on 9 March 1930 and played in Berlin in December of the following year. The opera was banned by the Nazis in 1933 and did not have a significant production until the 1960s. + +Weill's score uses a number of styles, including rag-time, jazz and formal counterpoint. The "Alabama Song" has been interpreted by a range of artists, notably Ute Lemper, The Doors and David Bowie. + +Language + +The lyrics for the "Alabama Song" and another song, the "Benares Song", are in English (albeit specifically idiosyncratic English) and are performed in that language even when the opera is performed in its original (German) language. + +A few lines of the briefly interpolated song, "Asleep in the Deep" (1897), lyrics by Arthur J. Lamb, music by H. W. Petrie, referred to in the opera by its opening words, "Stürmisch die Nacht " or "Stormy the Deep", are sung in the German version of the song, composed on verses of Martell, under the title "Des Seemanns Los" (The Sailor's Fate), when the opera is sung in the original German. + +Although the name of the city itself sounds like the English word mahogany and its German-language equivalent, Mahagoni, the character Leokadja Begbick states that it means "City of Nets" while Brecht stated that it was a made-up word. + +Performance history + +The opera has played in opera houses around the world. Never achieving the popularity of Weill and Brecht's The Threepenny Opera, Mahagonny is still considered a work of stature with a haunting score. Herbert Lindenberger in his book Opera in History, for example, views Mahagonny alongside Schoenberg's Moses und Aron as indicative of the two poles of modernist opera. + +Following the Leipzig premiere, the opera was presented in Berlin in December 1931 at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm conducted by Alexander von Zemlinsky with Lotte Lenya as Jenny, Trude Hesterberg as Begbick, and Harald Paulsen as Jimmy. Another production was presented in January 1934 in Copenhagen at the Det ny Teater. Other productions within Europe waited until the end of the Second World War, some notable ones being in January 1963 in London at Sadler's Wells Opera conducted by Colin Davis and in Berlin in September 1977 by the Komische Oper. + +It was not presented in the United States until 1970, when a short-lived April production at the Phyllis Anderson Theatre off Broadway starred Barbara Harris as Jenny, Frank Porretta as Jimmy, and Estelle Parsons as Begbick. It was then presented in Boston in 1973 under the direction of Sarah Caldwell. + +The first university production in the US was in 1973 at UC Berkeley, directed by Jean-Bernard Bucky and Michael Senturia. + +A full version was presented at the Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1974, with Gilbert Price as Jimmy and Stephanie Cotsirilos as Jenny. Kurt Kasznar played Moses. The libretto was performed in an original translation by Michael Feingold; the production was directed by Alvin Epstein. In October 1978, Yale presented a "chamber version" adapted and directed by Keith Hack, with John Glover as Jimmy and June Gable as Begbick. Mark Linn-Baker played Fatty; Michael Gross was Trinity Moses. In November 1979, Mahagonny debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in a John Dexter production conducted by James Levine. The cast included Teresa Stratas as Jenny, Astrid Varnay as Begbick, Richard Cassilly as Jimmy, Cornell MacNeil as Moses, Ragnar Ulfung as Fatty and Paul Plishka as Joe. The production was televised in 1979 and was released on DVD in 2010. This production was streamed through the Met Opera on Demand platform on December 12, 2020 and July 3-4, 2021. + +The Los Angeles Opera presented the opera in September 1989 under conductor Kent Nagano and with a Jonathan Miller production. Other notable productions in Europe from the 1980s included the March 1986 presentation by the Scottish Opera in Glasgow; a June 1990 production in Florence by the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. In October 1995 and 1997, the Paris Opera staged by Graham Vick, under the baton of Jeffrey Tate starring Marie McLaughlin as Jenny, Felicity Palmer (1995) and Kathryn Harries (1997) as Begbick, and Kim Begley (1995)/Peter Straka (1997) as Jimmy. + +The July 1998 Salzburg Festival production featured Catherine Malfitano as Jenny, Gwyneth Jones as Begbick, and Jerry Hadley as Jimmy. The Vienna State Opera added it to its repertoire in January 2012 in a production by Jérôme Deschamps conducted by Ingo Metzmacher starring Christopher Ventris as Jimmy and Angelika Kirchschlager as Jenny, notably casting young mezzo-soprano Elisabeth Kulman as Begbick, breaking the tradition of having a veteran soprano (like Varnay or Jones) or musical theater singer (like Patti LuPone) perform the role. + +Productions within the US have included those in November 1998 by the Lyric Opera of Chicago directed by David Alden. Catherine Malfitano repeated her role as Jenny, while Felicity Palmer sang Begbick, and Kim Begley sang the role of Jimmy. The Los Angeles Opera's February 2007 production directed by John Doyle and conducted by James Conlon included Audra McDonald as Jenny, Patti LuPone as Begbick, and Anthony Dean Griffey as Jimmy. This production was recorded on DVD, and subsequently won the 2009 Grammy Awards for "Best Classical Album" and "Best Opera Recording." + +In 2014 it was performed using an alternate libretto as a "wrestling opera" at the Oakland Metro by the performers of Hoodslam. + +A major new production had its world premiere in July 2019 at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in France conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen with stage direction by Ivo van Hove. It is a co-production of Dutch National Opera, Metropolitan Opera, Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, and Les Theatres De La Ville De Luxembourg. + +Roles + +Synopsis + +Act 1 +Scene 1: A desolate no-man's land + +A truck breaks down. Three fugitives from justice get out and find themselves in the city of Mahagonny: Fatty the Bookkeeper, Trinity Moses, and Leocadia Begbick. Because the federal agents pursuing them will not search this far north, and they are in a good location to attract ships coming south from the Alaskan gold fields, Begbick decides that they can profit by staying where they are and founding a pleasure city, where men can have fun, because there is nothing else in the world to rely on. + +Scene 2 + +The news of Mahagonny spreads quickly, and sharks from all over flock to the bait, including the whore Jenny Smith, who is seen, with six other girls, singing the "Alabama Song", in which she waves goodbye to her home and sets out in pursuit of whiskey, dollars and pretty boys. + +Scene 3 + +In the big cities, where men lead boring, purposeless lives, Fatty and Moses spread the gospel of Mahagonny, city of gold, among the disillusioned. + +Scene 4 + +Four Alaskan Lumberjacks who have shared hard times together in the timberlands and made their fortunes set off together for Mahagonny. Jimmy Mahoney and his three friends – Jacob Schmidt, Bank Account Billy, and Alaska Wolf Joe – sing of the pleasures awaiting them in "Off to Mahagonny", and look forward to the peace and pleasure they will find there. + +Scene 5 + +The four friends arrive in Mahagonny, only to find other disappointed travelers already leaving. Begbick, well-informed about their personal tastes, marks down her prices, but for the penurious Billy, they still seem too high. Jimmy impatiently calls for the girls of Mahagonny to show themselves, so he can make a choice. Begbick suggests Jenny as the right girl for Jack, who finds her rates too high. She pleads with Jack to reconsider ("Havana Song"), which arouses Jim's interest, and he chooses her. Jenny and the girls sing a tribute to "the Jimmys from Alaska." + +Scene 6 + +Jimmy and Jenny get to know one another as she asks him to define the terms of their contact: Does he wish her to wear her hair up or down, to wear fancy underwear or none at all? "What is your wish?" asks Jim, but Jenny evades answering. + +Scene 7 + +Begbick, Fatty, and Moses meet to discuss the pleasure city's financial crisis: People are leaving in droves, and the price of whiskey is sinking rapidly. Begbick suggests going back to civilization, but Fatty reminds her that the federal agents have been inquiring for her in nearby Pensacola. Money would solve everything, declares Begbick, and she decides to soak the four new arrivals for all they've got. + +Scene 8 + +Jimmy, restless, attempts to leave Mahagonny because he misses the wife he left in Alaska. + +Scene 9 + +In front of the Rich Man's Hotel, Jimmy and the others sit lazily as a pianist plays Tekla Bądarzewska's "A Maiden's Prayer". With growing anger, Jimmy sings of how his hard work and suffering in Alaska have led only to this. Drawing a knife, he shouts for Begbick, while his friends try to disarm him and the other men call to have him thrown out. Calm again, he tells Begbick that Mahagonny can never make people happy: it has too much peace and quiet. + +Scene 10 + +As if in answer to Jimmy's complaint, the city is threatened by a hurricane. Everyone sings in horror of the destruction awaiting them. + +Scene 11 + +Tensely, people watch for the hurricane's arrival. The men sing a hymn-like admonition not to be afraid. Jim meditatively compares Nature's savagery to the far greater destructiveness of Man. Why do we build, he asks, if not for the pleasure of destroying? Since Man can outdo any hurricane, fear makes no sense. For the sake of human satisfaction, nothing should be forbidden: If you want another man's money, his house or his wife, knock him down and take it; do what you please. As Begbick and the men ponder Jimmy's philosophy, Fatty and Moses rush in with news: The hurricane has unexpectedly struck Pensacola, destroying Begbick's enemies, the federal agents. Begbick and her cohorts take it as a sign that Jimmy is right; they join him, Jenny, and his three friends in singing a new, defiant song: If someone walks over someone else, then it's me, and if someone gets walked on, then it's you. In the background, the men continue to chant their hymn as the hurricane draws nearer. + +Act 2 +Scene 12 + +Magically, the hurricane bypasses Mahagonny, and the people sing in awe of their miraculous rescue. This confirms Begbick's belief in the philosophy of "Do what you want," and she proceeds to put it into effect. + +Scene 13 at the renovated "Do It" tavern. + +The men sing of the four pleasures of life: Eating, Lovemaking, Fighting, and Drinking. First comes eating: To kitschy cafe music, Jimmy's friend Jacob gorges until he keels over and dies. The men sing a chorale over his body, saluting "a man without fear". + +Scene 14: Loving. + +While Begbick collects money and issues tips on behavior, Moses placates the impatient men queuing to make love to Jenny and the other whores. The men sing the "Mandalay Song", warning that love does not last forever, and urging those ahead of them to make it snappy. + +Scene 15: Fighting. + +The men flock to see a boxing match between Trinity Moses and Jim's friend Alaska Wolf Joe. While most of the men, including the ever-cautious Billy, bet on the burly Moses, Jim, out of friendship, bets heavily on Joe. The match is manifestly unfair; Moses not only wins but kills Joe in knocking him out. + +Scene 16: Drinking. + +In an effort to shake off the gloom of Joe's death, Jimmy invites everyone to have a drink on him. The men sing "Life in Mahagonny", describing how one could live in the city for only five dollars a day, but those who wanted to have fun always needed more. Jim, increasingly drunk, dreams of sailing back to Alaska. He takes down a curtain rod for a mast and climbs on the pool table, pretending it is a ship; Jenny and Billy play along. Jimmy is abruptly sobered up when Begbick demands payment for the whiskey as well as for the damage to her property. Totally broke, he turns in a panic to Jenny, who explains her refusal to help him out in the song "Make your own bed" – an adaptation of the ideas he proclaimed at the end of act 1. Jim is led off in chains as the chorus, singing another stanza of "Life in Mahagonny", returns to its pastimes. Trinity Moses assures the crowd that Jimmy will pay for his crimes with his life. + +Scene 17 + +At night, Jim alone and chained to a lamppost sings a plea for the sun not to rise on the day of his impending trial. + +Act 3 + +Scene 18: In the courtroom + +Moses, like a carnival barker, sells tickets to the trials. He serves as prosecutor, Fatty as defense attorney, Begbick as judge. First comes the case of Toby Higgins, accused of premeditated murder for the purpose of testing an old revolver. Fatty invites the injured party to rise, but no one does so, since the dead do not speak. Toby bribes all three, and as a result, Begbick dismisses the case. Next Jimmy's case is called. Chained, he is led in by Billy, from whom he tries to borrow money; Billy of course refuses, despite Jim's plea to remember their time together in Alaska. In virtually the same speech he used to attack Higgins, Moses excoriates him for not paying his bills, for seducing Jenny (who presents herself as a plaintiff) to commit a "carnal act" with him for money, and for inciting the crowd with "an illegal joyous song" on the night of the typhoon. Billy, with the chorus's support, counters that, in committing the latter act, Jimmy discovered the laws by which Mahagonny lives. Moses argues that Jim hastened his friend Joe's death in a prizefight by betting on him, and Billy counters by asking who actually killed Joe. Moses does not reply. But there is no answer for the main count against him. Jim gets short sentences for his lesser crimes, but for having no money, he is sentenced to death. Begbick, Fatty, and Moses, rising to identify themselves as the injured parties, proclaim "in the whole human race / there is no greater criminal / than a man without money". As Jim is led off to await execution, everyone sings the "Benares Song", in which they long for that exotic city "where the sun is shining." But Benares has been destroyed by an earthquake. "Where shall we go?" they ask. + +Scene 19: At the gallows + +Jim says a tender goodbye to Jenny, who, dressed in white, declares herself his widow. He surrenders her to Billy, his last remaining companion from Alaska. When he tries to delay the execution by reminding the people of Mahagonny that God exists, they play out for him, under Moses' direction, the story of "God in Mahagonny", in which the Almighty condemns the town and is overthrown by its citizens, who declare that they can not be sent to Hell because they are already in Hell. Jim, chastened, asks only for a glass of water, but is refused even this as Moses gives the signal for the trap to be sprung. + +Scene 20 + +A caption advises that, after Jim's death, increasing hostility among the city's various factions has caused the destruction of Mahagonny. To a potpourri of themes from earlier in the opera, groups of protesters are seen on the march, in conflict with one another, while the city burns in the background. Jenny and the whores carry Jim's clothing and accessories like sacred relics; Billy and several men carry his coffin. In a new theme, they and the others declare, "Nothing you can do will help a dead man". Begbick, Fatty, and Moses appear with placards of their own, joining the entire company in its march and declaring "Nothing will help him or us or you now," as the opera ends in chaos. + +Musical numbers + +Act 1 + Scene 1: Gesucht werden Leokadja Begbick ("The Desired Progress of Leocadia Begbick") + Scene 1: Sie soll sein wie ein Netz ("It Should Be Made Like a Net") + Scene 2: Rasch wuchs ("Growing Up Quickly" ) / Moon of Alabama ("Oh, Show Us The Way...") + Scene 3: Die Nachricht ("The News") + Scene 4: In den nächsten Tagen ("In the Next Few Days") + Scene 5: Damals kam unter Anderen ("Among the Crowd There Came") + Scene 5: Heraus, ihr Schönen von Mahagonny ("Come Out, You Beauties of Mahagonny") + Scene 5: Ach, bedenken Sie ("Oh Worries") + Scene 6: Ich habe gelernt ("I Have Learned") + Scene 7: Alle großen Unternehmungen ("All Great Things") + Scene 7: Auch ich bin einmal ("Also I Was Once") + Scene 8: Alle wahrhaft Suchenden ("All Seekers of the Truth") + Scene 8: Aber etwas fehlt ("But Something is Missing") + Scene 9: Das ist die ewige Kunst ("That is the Eternal Art") + Scene 9: Sieben Jahre ("Seven Years!") + Scene 10: Ein Taifun! ("A Typhoon!") + Scene 11: In dieser Nacht des Entsetzens ("In This Night of Terror") + Scene 11: Nein, jetzt sage ich ("No, I Say Do It Now") + Scene 11: So tuet nur, was euch beliebt ("So, Just Do What You Like") + +Act 2 + Scene 12: Hurrikan bewegt ("The Eventful Hurricane") + Scene 12: O wunderbare Lösung! ("O Wonderful Result!") + Scene 13: Von nun an war der Leitspruch ("From Then On The Motto Was...") + Scene 13: Jetzt hab ich gegessen zwei Kälber ("Now I Have Eaten Two Calves") + Scene 14: Zweitens kommt die Liebe dran! ("Secondly Comes Being in Love") + Scene 14: Sieh jene Kraniche ("Look at Those Cranes") / The Duet of the Cranes + Scene 14: Erstens, vergesst nicht, kommt das Fressen ("Firstly, Don't Forget, Comes the Eating") + Scene 15: Wir, meine Herren ("We, My Dear Sirs...") + Scene 15: Dreimal hoch, Dreieinigkeitsmoses! ("Three Cheers for Trinity Moses!") + Scene 16: Freunde, kommt, ich lade euch ein ("Friends, Come, I Summon You") + Scene 16: Meine Herren, meine Mutter prägte ("My Dear Sirs, My Mother Impressed [Upon Me]") + Scene 17: Wenn der Himmel hell wird ("When the Sky is Bright") + +Act 3 + Scene 18: Haben all Zuschauer Billete? ("Do All The Gawkers Have Tickets?") + Scene 18: Zweitens der Fall des Jimmy Mahoney ("Secondly, the Case of Jimmy Mahoney") + Scene 19: In dieser Zeit gab es in Mahagonny ("In This Time It Was In Mahagonny") + Scene 20: Hinrichtung und Tod des Jimmy Mahoney ("The Execution and Death of Jimmy Mahoney") + Scene 20: Erstens, vergesst nicht, kommt das Fressen ("Firstly, Don't Forget, Comes the Eating") + Scene 21: Wollt ihr mich denn wirklich hinrichten? ("Do You Really Want Me to Be Executed After All?") + Scene 21: In diesen Tagen fanden in Mahagonny ("To This Day Found In Mahagonny") + +In other media +The 2005 movie Manderlay, directed by Lars von Trier, contains several references to the plot of Mahagonny. The most notable of these is the threat of a hurricane approaching the city during the first act. Von Trier's earlier movie Dogville, to which Manderlay is a sequel, was in large part based on a song from Brecht's Threepenny Opera ("Pirate Jenny"). In the brothel scene in act 2 of Mahagonny, the choir sings a "Song von Mandelay". The play Happy End (1929) by Elisabeth Hauptmann, Brecht and Weill, also contains a song called "Der Song von Mandelay", which uses the same refrain as in the brothel scene of Mahagonny. Brecht's use of the name Mandelay/Mandalay was inspired by Rudyard Kipling's poem "Mandalay". + +Recordings +1956: Lotte Lenya, Wilhelm Brückner-Rüggeberg (Sony 1990; originally recorded 1956) +1979: DVD, James Levine; John Dexter, stage director; Teresa Stratas, Astrid Varnay, Richard Cassilly; Metropolitan Opera +1985: Anja Silja, Jan Latham-Koenig (Capriccio 1988; recorded in 1985) +1997: DVD 1997, Salzburg Festival +2007: DVD Los Angeles Opera, starring Audra McDonald, Patti LuPone, and Anthony Dean Griffey. This recording won two 2009 Grammy Awards for Best Opera Recording and Best Classical Album. It was screened on TV as part of PBS' Great Performances +2010: Teatro Real (Madrid), starring Measha Brueggergosman, Jane Henschel, Michael König and Willard White, conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado and staged by La Fura dels Baus. (DVD and Blu-ray Bel Air Classiques 2011; filmed in 2010) + +Cover versions of songs +"Alabama Song" has been covered by many artists, notably Ute Lemper, The Doors and David Bowie. + +References +Informational notes + +Citations + +External links +"Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny), Kurt Weill Foundation for Music +Libretto (Italian/German, dicoseunpo.it +"Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny", work details, opera-arias.com + Work details (incl. instrumentation), Universal Edition + +Operas by Kurt Weill +German-language operas +Operas +Plays by Bertolt Brecht +1930 operas +James Avery Hopwood (May 28, 1882 – July 1, 1928) was an American playwright of the Jazz Age. He had four plays running simultaneously on Broadway in 1920. + +Early life +Hopwood was born to James and Jule Pendergast Hopwood on May 28, 1882, in Cleveland, Ohio. He graduated from Cleveland's West High School in 1900. In 1901, he began attending the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. However, his family experienced financial difficulties, so for his second year he transferred to Adelbert College. He returned to the University of Michigan in the fall of 1903, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1905. + +Career +Hopwood started out as a journalist for the Cleveland Leader as its New York correspondent, but within a year had his first play, Clothes (1906), produced on Broadway, with the aid of playwright Channing Pollock. Hopwood eventually became known as "The Playboy Playwright" and specialized in comedies and farces, some of them with material considered risqué at the time. One play, The Demi-Virgin in 1921, prompted a court case because of its suggestive subject matter, including a risque game of cards, "Stripping Cupid". The case was dismissed. + +His many plays included Nobody's Widow (1910), starring Blanche Bates; Fair and Warmer (1915), starring Madge Kennedy (filmed in 1919); The Gold Diggers (1919), starring Ina Claire in New York and Tallulah Bankhead in London; (filmed in 1923 as The Gold Diggers, in 1928 as Gold Diggers of Broadway and also as Gold Diggers of 1933); Ladies' Night, 1920, starring Charlie Ruggles (filmed in 1928); the famous mystery play The Bat (with Mary Roberts Rinehart), 1920 (filmed in 1926 as The Bat, in 1930 as The Bat Whispers, and in 1959 as The Bat); Getting Gertie's Garter (with Wilson Collison), 1921, starring Hazel Dawn (filmed in 1927 and 1945); The Demi-Virgin, 1921, also starring Dawn; The Alarm Clock, 1923, translated from the French; The Best People (with David Gray), 1924 (filmed in 1925 and as Fast and Loose in 1930 with Clara Bow); the song-farce Naughty Cinderella, 1925, starring Irène Bordoni and The Garden of Eden in 1927, with Tallulah Bankhead in London and Miriam Hopkins in New York; (filmed in 1928 as The Garden of Eden). + +Personal life + +In 1906, Hopwood was introduced to writer and photographer Carl Van Vechten. The two became close friends and were sometimes sexual partners. In the 1920s Hopwood had a tumultuous and abusive romantic relationship with fellow Cleveland-born playwright John Floyd. Although Hopwood announced to the press in 1924 that he was engaged to vaudeville dancer and choreographer Rosa Rolanda, Van Vechten confirmed in later years that it was a publicity stunt. Rolanda would later marry caricaturist Miguel Covarrubias. + +On the evening of July 1, 1928, at Juan-les-Pins on the French Riviera, Hopwood suffered a fatal heart attack while swimming. He was buried in Riverside Cemetery, Cleveland. His mother, Jule Hopwood, inherited a large trust from him, but he had not made arrangements for the disposition of other items, including literary rights. While she was working through the legal issues with his estate, Jule Hopwood fell ill and died on March 1, 1929. She was buried next to her son. + +Legacy +Hopwood's plays were very successful commercially, but they did not have the lasting literary significance he hoped to achieve. + +Hopwood Award +The terms of Hopwood's will left a substantial portion of his estate to his alma mater, the University of Michigan, for the establishment of the Avery Hopwood and Jule Hopwood Creative Writing Awards. The bequest stipulated: "It is especially desired that students competing for prizes shall be allowed the widest possible latitude, and that the new, the unusual, and the radical shall be especially encouraged." Famous Hopwood award winners include Robert Hayden, Marge Piercy, Arthur Miller, Betty Smith, Lawrence Kasdan, John Ciardi, Mary Gaitskill, Edmund White, Nancy Willard, Frank O'Hara, and Steve Hamilton. + +The Great Bordello +Throughout his life, Hopwood worked on a novel that he hoped would "expose" the strictures the commercial theater machine imposed on playwrights, but the manuscript was never published. Jack Sharrar recovered the manuscript for this novel in 1982 during his research for Avery Hopwood, His Life and Plays. The novel was published in July 2011 by Mondial Books (New York) as The Great Bordello, a Story of the Theatre, edited and with an Afterword by Sharrar. + +Works + + Clothes (1906) with Channing Pollock + This Woman and This Man (1909) + Seven Days (1909) with Mary Roberts Rinehart + Judy Forgot (1910) + Nobody's Widow (1910) + Somewhere Else (1913) + Fair and Warmer (1915) Remains popular in Germany (Der Mustergatte) and Scandinavia (Gröna hissen ) + Sadie Love (1915) + Our Little Wife (1916) + Double Exposure (1918) + Tumble In (1919, musical version of Seven Days) + The Gold Diggers (1919) + The Girl in the Limousine (1919) with Wilson Collison + Ladies' Night (1920) with Charlton Andrews + Spanish Love (1920, Adaptation of María del Carmen by Josep Feliu i Codina) with Mary Roberts Rinehart + The Bat (1920) with Mary Roberts Rinehart + Getting Gertie's Garter (1921) with Wilson Collison + The Demi-Virgin (1921) + Why Men Leave Home (1922) + Little Miss Bluebeard (1923, Adaptation of Kisasszony férje by Gábor Drégely) + The Alarm Clock (1923, Adaptation of La Sonnette d'alarme by Maurice Hennequin and Romain Coolus) + The Best People (1924) with David Gray + The Harem (1924) with Ernest Vajda + Naughty Cinderella (1925, Adaptation of Pouche by René Peter and Henri Falk) + The Garden of Eden (1927, Adaptation of Der Garten Eden by Rudolf Bernauer and Rudolf Österreicher) + +Filmography + Clothes (1914, based on Clothes) + Judy Forgot (1915, based on Judy Forgot) + Our Little Wife (1918, based on Our Little Wife) + Sadie Love (1919, based on Sadie Love) + Fair and Warmer (1919, based on Fair and Warmer) + Guilty of Love (1920, based on This Woman and This Man) + Clothes (1920, based on Clothes) + The Little Clown (1921, based on The Little Clown) + The Gold Diggers (1923, based on The Gold Diggers) + Why Men Leave Home (1924, based on Why Men Leave Home) + The Girl in the Limousine (1924, based on The Girl in the Limousine) + Miss Bluebeard (1925, based on Little Miss Bluebeard) + The Best People (1925, based on The Best People) + The Bat (1926, based on The Bat) + Good and Naughty (1926, based on Naughty Cinderella) + Nobody's Widow (1927, based on Nobody's Widow) + Getting Gertie's Garter (1927, based on Getting Gertie's Garter) + The Garden of Eden (1928, based on The Garden of Eden) + Ladies' Night in a Turkish Bath (1928, based on Ladies' Night) + Gold Diggers of Broadway (1929, based on The Gold Diggers) + Her Wedding Night (1930, based on Little Miss Bluebeard) + Let's Get Married (France, 1931, based on Little Miss Bluebeard) + Su noche de bodas (Spain, 1931, based on Little Miss Bluebeard) + Ich heirate meinen Mann (Germany, 1931, based on Little Miss Bluebeard) + A Minha Noite de Núpcias (Portugal, 1931, based on Little Miss Bluebeard) + Fast and Loose (1930, based on The Best People) + The Bat Whispers (1930, based on The Bat) + This Is the Night (1932, based on Naughty Cinderella) + Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933, based on The Gold Diggers) + Night of the Garter (UK, 1933, based on Getting Gertie's Garter) + The Model Husband (Germany, 1937, based on Fair and Warmer) + Unsere kleine Frau (Germany, 1938, based on Our Little Wife) + Mia moglie si diverte (Italy, 1938, based on Our Little Wife) + Gröna hissen (Sweden, 1944, based on Fair and Warmer) + Getting Gertie's Garter (1945, based on Getting Gertie's Garter) + Painting the Clouds with Sunshine (1951, based on The Gold Diggers) + The Green Lift (1952 film) (Sweden, 1952, based on Fair and Warmer) + The Model Husband (West Germany, 1956, based on Fair and Warmer) + The Bat (1959, based on The Bat) + The Model Husband (Switzerland, 1959, based on Fair and Warmer) + (Denmark, 1961, based on Fair and Warmer) + Den grønne heisen (Norway, 1981, based on Fair and Warmer) + +References + +Works cited + +Further reading +Broadway, by Brooks Atkinson. NY: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1974. +Matinee Tomorrow, by Ward Morehouse. NY: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1948. +Posing a Threat: Flappers, Chorus Girls, and Other Brazen Performers of the American 1920s, by Angela Latham. Hanover and London: Wesleyan University Press, 2000. +The Splendid Drunken Twenties: Carl Van Vechten Selections from the Daybooks, 1922–1930. Edited by Bruce Kellner. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2003. + +External links + + + + + + + Mary Roberts Rinehart at University of Pittsburgh digital library – includes material on her collaboration with Hopwood + +1882 births +1928 deaths +American gay writers +American LGBT dramatists and playwrights +LGBT people from Ohio +University of Michigan alumni +American male dramatists and playwrights +20th-century American dramatists and playwrights +Writers from Cleveland +20th-century American male writers +Antipope Felix, an archdeacon of Rome, was installed as Pope in 355 AD after the Emperor Constantius II banished the reigning Pope, Liberius, for refusing to subscribe to a sentence of condemnation against Saint Athanasius. + +Biography +In May 357 AD the Roman laity, which had remained faithful to Liberius, demanded that Constantius, who was on a visit to Rome, should recall Liberius. The Emperor planned to have Felix and Liberius rule jointly, but when Liberius returned Felix was forced to retire to Porto, near Rome, where, after making an unsuccessful attempt to establish himself again in Rome, he died on 22 November 365 AD. + +This Felix was later confused with a Roman martyr named Felix, with the result that he was included in lists of the Popes as Felix II and that the succeeding Popes of the same name (Pope Felix III and Pope Felix IV) were given wrong numerals, as was Antipope Felix V. + +The Catholic Encyclopedia (1909) called this confusion a "distortion of the true facts" and suggested that it arose because the "Liber Pontificalis", which at this point may be registering a reliable tradition, says that this Felix built a church on the Via Aurelia, which is where the Roman martyr of an earlier date was buried. However, a more recent source says that of the martyr Felix nothing is known except his name, that he was a martyr, and that he was buried in the cemetery on the Via Portuensis that bears his name. + +The Catholic Encyclopedia remarked that "the real story of the antipope was lost and he obtained in local Roman history the status of a saint and a confessor. As such he appears in the Roman Martyrology on 29 July." At that time (1909) the Roman Martyrology had the following text: This entry was based on what the Catholic Encyclopedia called later legends that confound the relative positions of Felix and Liberius. More recent editions of the Roman Martyrology have instead: + +The feast day of the Roman martyr Felix is 29 July. The antipope Felix died, as stated above, on a 22 November, and his death was not a martyr's, occurring when the Peace of Constantine had been in force for half a century. + +As well as the Roman Martyrology, the Roman Missal identified the Saint Felix of 29 July with the antipope. This identification, still found in the 1920 typical edition, does not appear in the 1962 typical edition. To judge by the Marietti printing of 1952, which omits the numeral "II" and the word "Papae", the correction had already been made by then. One Catholic writer excuses this by saying that the antipope "himself did refuse to accept Arianism, and so his feast has been kept in the past on [29 July]". + +See also + Papal selection before 1059 + +References + +External links +The Papal Schism between Liberius and Felix (a primary source) +Catholic Encyclopedia: Felix II +Encyclopædia Britannica: Felix (II) +1911 Encyclopædia Britannica: Felix II + +Felix II +Felix II +4th-century antipopes +4th-century Christian clergy +Felix II +Ancient Christians involved in controversies +Felix II +Date of birth unknown +Date of death unknown +Place of birth unknown +Place of death unknown +Alkaloids are a class of basic, naturally occurring organic compounds that contain at least one nitrogen atom. This group also includes some related compounds with neutral and even weakly acidic properties. Some synthetic compounds of similar structure may also be termed alkaloids. In addition to carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen, alkaloids may also contain oxygen or sulfur. More rarely still, they may contain elements such as phosphorus, chlorine, and bromine. + +Alkaloids are produced by a large variety of organisms including bacteria, fungi, plants, and animals. They can be purified from crude extracts of these organisms by acid-base extraction, or solvent extractions followed by silica-gel column chromatography. Alkaloids have a wide range of pharmacological activities including antimalarial (e.g. quinine), antiasthma (e.g. ephedrine), anticancer (e.g. homoharringtonine), cholinomimetic (e.g. galantamine), vasodilatory (e.g. vincamine), antiarrhythmic (e.g. quinidine), analgesic (e.g. morphine), antibacterial (e.g. chelerythrine), and antihyperglycemic activities (e.g. piperine). Many have found use in traditional or modern medicine, or as starting points for drug discovery. Other alkaloids possess psychotropic (e.g. psilocin) and stimulant activities (e.g. cocaine, caffeine, nicotine, theobromine), and have been used in entheogenic rituals or as recreational drugs. Alkaloids can be toxic too (e.g. atropine, tubocurarine). Although alkaloids act on a diversity of metabolic systems in humans and other animals, they almost uniformly evoke a bitter taste. + +The boundary between alkaloids and other nitrogen-containing natural compounds is not clear-cut. Compounds like amino acid peptides, proteins, nucleotides, nucleic acid, amines, and antibiotics are usually not called alkaloids. Natural compounds containing nitrogen in the exocyclic position (mescaline, serotonin, dopamine, etc.) are usually classified as amines rather than as alkaloids. Some authors, however, consider alkaloids a special case of amines. + +Naming + +The name "alkaloids" () was introduced in 1819 by German chemist Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Meissner, and is derived from late Latin root and the Greek-language suffix -('like'). However, the term came into wide use only after the publication of a review article, by Oscar Jacobsen in the chemical dictionary of Albert Ladenburg in the 1880s. + +There is no unique method for naming alkaloids. Many individual names are formed by adding the suffix "ine" to the species or genus name. For example, atropine is isolated from the plant Atropa belladonna; strychnine is obtained from the seed of the Strychnine tree (Strychnos nux-vomica L.). Where several alkaloids are extracted from one plant their names are often distinguished by variations in the suffix: "idine", "anine", "aline", "inine" etc. There are also at least 86 alkaloids whose names contain the root "vin" because they are extracted from vinca plants such as Vinca rosea (Catharanthus roseus); these are called vinca alkaloids. + +History + +Alkaloid-containing plants have been used by humans since ancient times for therapeutic and recreational purposes. For example, medicinal plants have been known in Mesopotamia from about 2000 BC. The Odyssey of Homer referred to a gift given to Helen by the Egyptian queen, a drug bringing oblivion. It is believed that the gift was an opium-containing drug. A Chinese book on houseplants written in 1st–3rd centuries BC mentioned a medical use of ephedra and opium poppies. Also, coca leaves have been used by Indigenous South Americans since ancient times. + +Extracts from plants containing toxic alkaloids, such as aconitine and tubocurarine, were used since antiquity for poisoning arrows. + +Studies of alkaloids began in the 19th century. In 1804, the German chemist Friedrich Sertürner isolated from opium a "soporific principle" (), which he called "morphium", referring to Morpheus, the Greek god of dreams; in German and some other Central-European languages, this is still the name of the drug. The term "morphine", used in English and French, was given by the French physicist Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac. + +A significant contribution to the chemistry of alkaloids in the early years of its development was made by the French researchers Pierre Joseph Pelletier and Joseph Bienaimé Caventou, who discovered quinine (1820) and strychnine (1818). Several other alkaloids were discovered around that time, including xanthine (1817), atropine (1819), caffeine (1820), coniine (1827), nicotine (1828), colchicine (1833), sparteine (1851), and cocaine (1860). The development of the chemistry of alkaloids was accelerated by the emergence of spectroscopic and chromatographic methods in the 20th century, so that by 2008 more than 12,000 alkaloids had been identified. + +The first complete synthesis of an alkaloid was achieved in 1886 by the German chemist Albert Ladenburg. He produced coniine by reacting 2-methylpyridine with acetaldehyde and reducing the resulting 2-propenyl pyridine with sodium. + +Classifications + +Compared with most other classes of natural compounds, alkaloids are characterized by a great structural diversity. There is no uniform classification. Initially, when knowledge of chemical structures was lacking, botanical classification of the source plants was relied on. This classification is now considered obsolete. + +More recent classifications are based on similarity of the carbon skeleton (e.g., indole-, isoquinoline-, and pyridine-like) or biochemical precursor (ornithine, lysine, tyrosine, tryptophan, etc.). However, they require compromises in borderline cases; for example, nicotine contains a pyridine fragment from nicotinamide and a pyrrolidine part from ornithine and therefore can be assigned to both classes. + +Alkaloids are often divided into the following major groups: + + "True alkaloids" contain nitrogen in the heterocycle and originate from amino acids. Their characteristic examples are atropine, nicotine, and morphine. This group also includes some alkaloids that besides the nitrogen heterocycle contain terpene (e.g., evonine) or peptide fragments (e.g. ergotamine). The piperidine alkaloids coniine and coniceine may be regarded as true alkaloids (rather than pseudoalkaloids: see below) although they do not originate from amino acids. + "Protoalkaloids", which contain nitrogen (but not the nitrogen heterocycle) and also originate from amino acids. Examples include mescaline, adrenaline and ephedrine. + Polyamine alkaloids – derivatives of putrescine, spermidine, and spermine. + Peptide and cyclopeptide alkaloids. + Pseudoalkaloids – alkaloid-like compounds that do not originate from amino acids. This group includes terpene-like and steroid-like alkaloids, as well as purine-like alkaloids such as caffeine, theobromine, theacrine and theophylline. Some authors classify ephedrine and cathinone as pseudoalkaloids. Those originate from the amino acid phenylalanine, but acquire their nitrogen atom not from the amino acid but through transamination. + +Some alkaloids do not have the carbon skeleton characteristic of their group. So, galanthamine and homoaporphines do not contain isoquinoline fragment, but are, in general, attributed to isoquinoline alkaloids. + +Main classes of monomeric alkaloids are listed in the table below: + +Properties +Most alkaloids contain oxygen in their molecular structure; those compounds are usually colorless crystals at ambient conditions. Oxygen-free alkaloids, such as nicotine or coniine, are typically volatile, colorless, oily liquids. Some alkaloids are colored, like berberine (yellow) and sanguinarine (orange). + +Most alkaloids are weak bases, but some, such as theobromine and theophylline, are amphoteric. Many alkaloids dissolve poorly in water but readily dissolve in organic solvents, such as diethyl ether, chloroform or 1,2-dichloroethane. Caffeine, cocaine, codeine and nicotine are slightly soluble in water (with a solubility of ≥1g/L), whereas others, including morphine and yohimbine are very slightly water-soluble (0.1–1 g/L). Alkaloids and acids form salts of various strengths. These salts are usually freely soluble in water and ethanol and poorly soluble in most organic solvents. Exceptions include scopolamine hydrobromide, which is soluble in organic solvents, and the water-soluble quinine sulfate. + +Most alkaloids have a bitter taste or are poisonous when ingested. Alkaloid production in plants appeared to have evolved in response to feeding by herbivorous animals; however, some animals have evolved the ability to detoxify alkaloids. Some alkaloids can produce developmental defects in the offspring of animals that consume but cannot detoxify the alkaloids. One example is the alkaloid cyclopamine, produced in the leaves of corn lily. During the 1950s, up to 25% of lambs born by sheep that had grazed on corn lily had serious facial deformations. These ranged from deformed jaws to cyclopia (see picture). After decades of research, in the 1980s, the compound responsible for these deformities was identified as the alkaloid 11-deoxyjervine, later renamed to cyclopamine. + +Distribution in nature + +Alkaloids are generated by various living organisms, especially by higher plants – about 10 to 25% of those contain alkaloids. Therefore, in the past the term "alkaloid" was associated with plants. + +The alkaloids content in plants is usually within a few percent and is inhomogeneous over the plant tissues. Depending on the type of plants, the maximum concentration is observed in the leaves (for example, black henbane), fruits or seeds (Strychnine tree), root (Rauvolfia serpentina) or bark (cinchona). Furthermore, different tissues of the same plants may contain different alkaloids. + +Beside plants, alkaloids are found in certain types of fungus, such as psilocybin in the fruiting bodies of the genus Psilocybe, and in animals, such as bufotenin in the skin of some toads and a number of insects, markedly ants. Many marine organisms also contain alkaloids. Some amines, such as adrenaline and serotonin, which play an important role in higher animals, are similar to alkaloids in their structure and biosynthesis and are sometimes called alkaloids. + +Extraction + +Because of the structural diversity of alkaloids, there is no single method of their extraction from natural raw materials. Most methods exploit the property of most alkaloids to be soluble in organic solvents but not in water, and the opposite tendency of their salts. + +Most plants contain several alkaloids. Their mixture is extracted first and then individual alkaloids are separated. Plants are thoroughly ground before extraction. Most alkaloids are present in the raw plants in the form of salts of organic acids. The extracted alkaloids may remain salts or change into bases. Base extraction is achieved by processing the raw material with alkaline solutions and extracting the alkaloid bases with organic solvents, such as 1,2-dichloroethane, chloroform, diethyl ether or benzene. Then, the impurities are dissolved by weak acids; this converts alkaloid bases into salts that are washed away with water. If necessary, an aqueous solution of alkaloid salts is again made alkaline and treated with an organic solvent. The process is repeated until the desired purity is achieved. + +In the acidic extraction, the raw plant material is processed by a weak acidic solution (e.g., acetic acid in water, ethanol, or methanol). A base is then added to convert alkaloids to basic forms that are extracted with organic solvent (if the extraction was performed with alcohol, it is removed first, and the remainder is dissolved in water). The solution is purified as described above. + +Alkaloids are separated from their mixture using their different solubility in certain solvents and different reactivity with certain reagents or by distillation. + +A number of alkaloids are identified from insects, among which the fire ant venom alkaloids known as solenopsins have received greater attention from researchers. These insect alkaloids can be efficiently extracted by solvent immersion of live fire ants or by centrifugation of live ants followed by silica-gel chromatography purification. Tracking and dosing the extracted solenopsin ant alkaloids has been described as possible based on their absorbance peak around 232 nanometers. + +Biosynthesis +Biological precursors of most alkaloids are amino acids, such as ornithine, lysine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, tryptophan, histidine, aspartic acid, and anthranilic acid. Nicotinic acid can be synthesized from tryptophan or aspartic acid. Ways of alkaloid biosynthesis are too numerous and cannot be easily classified. However, there are a few typical reactions involved in the biosynthesis of various classes of alkaloids, including synthesis of Schiff bases and Mannich reaction. + +Synthesis of Schiff bases + +Schiff bases can be obtained by reacting amines with ketones or aldehydes. These reactions are a common method of producing C=N bonds. + +In the biosynthesis of alkaloids, such reactions may take place within a molecule, such as in the synthesis of piperidine: + +Mannich reaction + +An integral component of the Mannich reaction, in addition to an amine and a carbonyl compound, is a carbanion, which plays the role of the nucleophile in the nucleophilic addition to the ion formed by the reaction of the amine and the carbonyl. + +The Mannich reaction can proceed both intermolecularly and intramolecularly: + +Dimer alkaloids +In addition to the described above monomeric alkaloids, there are also dimeric, and even trimeric and tetrameric alkaloids formed upon condensation of two, three, and four monomeric alkaloids. Dimeric alkaloids are usually formed from monomers of the same type through the following mechanisms: + Mannich reaction, resulting in, e.g., voacamine + Michael reaction (villalstonine) + Condensation of aldehydes with amines (toxiferine) + Oxidative addition of phenols (dauricine, tubocurarine) + Lactonization (carpaine). + +There are also dimeric alkaloids formed from two distinct monomers, such as the vinca alkaloids vinblastine and vincristine, which are formed from the coupling of catharanthine and vindoline. The newer semi-synthetic chemotherapeutic agent vinorelbine is used in the treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer. It is another derivative dimer of vindoline and catharanthine and is synthesised from anhydrovinblastine, starting either from leurosine or the monomers themselves. + +Biological role +Alkaloids are among the most important and best-known secondary metabolites, i.e. biogenic substances not directly involved in the normal growth, development, or reproduction of the organism. Instead, they generally mediate ecological interactions, which may produce a selective advantage for the organism by increasing its survivability or fecundity. In some cases their function, if any, remains unclear. An early hypothesis, that alkaloids are the final products of nitrogen metabolism in plants, as urea and uric acid are in mammals, was refuted by the finding that their concentration fluctuates rather than steadily increasing. + +Most of the known functions of alkaloids are related to protection. For example, aporphine alkaloid liriodenine produced by the tulip tree protects it from parasitic mushrooms. In addition, the presence of alkaloids in the plant prevents insects and chordate animals from eating it. However, some animals are adapted to alkaloids and even use them in their own metabolism. Such alkaloid-related substances as serotonin, dopamine and histamine are important neurotransmitters in animals. Alkaloids are also known to regulate plant growth. One example of an organism that uses alkaloids for protection is the Utetheisa ornatrix, more commonly known as the ornate moth. Pyrrolizidine alkaloids render these larvae and adult moths unpalatable to many of their natural enemies like coccinelid beetles, green lacewings, insectivorous hemiptera and insectivorous bats. Another example of alkaloids being utilized occurs in the poison hemlock moth (Agonopterix alstroemeriana). This moth feeds on its highly toxic and alkaloid-rich host plant poison hemlock (Conium maculatum) during its larval stage. A. alstroemeriana may benefit twofold from the toxicity of the naturally-occurring alkaloids, both through the unpalatability of the species to predators and through the ability of A. alstroemeriana to recognize Conium maculatum as the correct location for oviposition. A fire ant venom alkaloid known as solenopsin has been demonstrated to protect queens of invasive fire ants during the foundation of new nests, thus playing a central role in the spread of this pest ant species around the world. + +Applications + +In medicine +Medical use of alkaloid-containing plants has a long history, and, thus, when the first alkaloids were isolated in the 19th century, they immediately found application in clinical practice. Many alkaloids are still used in medicine, usually in the form of salts widely used including the following: + +Many synthetic and semisynthetic drugs are structural modifications of the alkaloids, which were designed to enhance or change the primary effect of the drug and reduce unwanted side-effects. For example, naloxone, an opioid receptor antagonist, is a derivative of thebaine that is present in opium. + +In agriculture +Prior to the development of a wide range of relatively low-toxic synthetic pesticides, some alkaloids, such as salts of nicotine and anabasine, were used as insecticides. Their use was limited by their high toxicity to humans. + +Use as psychoactive drugs +Preparations of plants containing alkaloids and their extracts, and later pure alkaloids, have long been used as psychoactive substances. Cocaine, caffeine, and cathinone are stimulants of the central nervous system. Mescaline and many indole alkaloids (such as psilocybin, dimethyltryptamine and ibogaine) have hallucinogenic effect. Morphine and codeine are strong narcotic pain killers. + +There are alkaloids that do not have strong psychoactive effect themselves, but are precursors for semi-synthetic psychoactive drugs. For example, ephedrine and pseudoephedrine are used to produce methcathinone and methamphetamine. Thebaine is used in the synthesis of many painkillers such as oxycodone. + +See also + + Amine + Base (chemistry) + List of poisonous plants + Mayer's reagent + Natural products + Palau'amine + Secondary metabolite + +Explanatory notes + +Citations + +General and cited references + +External links +Adventism is a branch of Protestant Christianity that believes in the imminent Second Coming (or the "Second Advent") of Jesus Christ. It originated in the 1830s in the United States during the Second Great Awakening when Baptist preacher William Miller first publicly shared his belief that the Second Coming would occur at some point between 1843 and 1844. His followers became known as Millerites. After Miller's prophecies failed, the Millerite movement split up and was continued by a number of groups that held different doctrines from one another. These groups, stemming from a common Millerite ancestor, collectively became known as the Adventist movement. + +Although the Adventist churches hold much in common with mainline Christianity, their theologies differ on whether the intermediate state of the dead is unconscious sleep or consciousness, whether the ultimate punishment of the wicked is annihilation or eternal torment, the nature of immortality, whether the wicked are resurrected after the millennium, and whether the sanctuary of Daniel 8 refers to the one in heaven or one on earth. Seventh-day Adventists and some smaller Adventist groups observe the seventh day Sabbath. The General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists has compiled that church's core beliefs in the 28 Fundamental Beliefs (1980 and 2005). + +In 2010, Adventism claimed to have some 22 million believers who were scattered in various independent churches. The largest church within the movement—the Seventh-day Adventist Church—had more than 21 million members in 2020. + +History + +Adventism began as an inter-denominational movement. Its most vocal leader was William Miller. Between 50,000 and 100,000 people in the United States supported Miller's predictions of Christ's return. After the "Great Disappointment" of October 22, 1844, many people in the movement gave up on Adventism. Of those remaining Adventist, the majority gave up believing in any prophetic (biblical) significance for the October 22 date, yet they remained expectant of the near Advent (second coming of Jesus). + +Of those who retained the October 22 date, many maintained that Jesus had come not literally but "spiritually", and consequently were known as "spiritualizers". A small minority held that something concrete had indeed happened on October 22, but that this event had been misinterpreted. This belief later emerged and crystallized with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the largest remaining body today. + +Albany Conference (1845) +The Albany Conference in 1845, attended by 61 delegates, was called to attempt to determine the future course and meaning of the Millerite movement. Following this meeting, the "Millerites" then became known as "Adventists" or "Second Adventists". However, the delegates disagreed on several theological points. Four groups emerged from the conference: The Evangelical Adventists, The Life and Advent Union, the Advent Christian Church, and the Seventh-day Adventist Church. + +The largest group was organized as the American Millennial Association, a portion of which was later known as the Evangelical Adventist Church. Unique among the Adventists, they believed in an eternal hell and consciousness in death. They declined in numbers, and by 1916 their name did not appear in the United States Census of Religious Bodies. It has diminished to almost non-existence today. Their main publication was the Advent Herald, of which Sylvester Bliss was the editor until his death in 1863. It was later called the Messiah's Herald. + +The Life and Advent Union was founded by George Storrs in 1863. He had established The Bible Examiner in 1842. It merged with the Adventist Christian Church in 1964. + +The Advent Christian Church officially formed in 1861 and grew rapidly at first. It declined a little during the 20th century. The Advent Christians publish the four magazines The Advent Christian Witness, Advent Christian News, Advent Christian Missions and Maranatha. They also operate a liberal arts college at Aurora, Illinois; and a one-year Bible College in Lenox, Massachusetts, called Berkshire Institute for Christian Studies. The Primitive Advent Christian Church later separated from a few congregations in West Virginia. + +The Seventh-day Adventist Church officially formed in 1863. It believes in the sanctity of the seventh-day Sabbath as a holy day for worship. It publishes the Adventist Review, which evolved from several early church publications. Youth publications include KidsView, Guide and Insight. It has grown to a large worldwide denomination and has a significant network of medical and educational institutions. + +Miller did not join any of the movements, and he spent the last few years of his life working for unity, before dying in 1849. + +Denominations + +The Handbook of Denominations in the United States, 12th ed., describes the following churches as "Adventist and Sabbatarian (Hebraic) Churches": + +Christadelphians + +The Christadelphians were founded in 1844 by John Thomas and had an estimated 25,000 members in 170 ecclesias, or churches, in 2000 in America. + +Advent Christian Church + +The Advent Christian Church was founded in 1860 and had 25,277 members in 302 churches in 2002 in America. It is a "first-day" body of Adventist Christians founded on the teachings of William Miller. It adopted the "conditional immortality" doctrine of Charles F. Hudson and George Storrs, who formed the "Advent Christian Association" in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1860. + +Primitive Advent Christian Church + +The Primitive Advent Christian Church is a small group which separated from the Advent Christian Church. It differs from the parent body mainly on two points. Its members observe foot washing as a rite of the church, and they teach that reclaimed backsliders should be baptized (even though they had formerly been baptized). This is sometimes referred to as rebaptism. + +Seventh-day Adventist Church + +The Seventh-day Adventist Church, founded in 1863, had over 19,500,000 baptized members (not counting children of members) worldwide as of June 2016. It is best known for its teaching that Saturday, the seventh day of the week, is the Sabbath and is the appropriate day for worship. However, the second coming of Jesus Christ along with the Judgement day based on the three angels message in Revelation 14:6–13 remain core beliefs of Seventh-day Adventists. + +Seventh Day Adventist Reform Movement + +The Seventh Day Adventist Reform Movement is a small offshoot with an unknown number of members from the Seventh-day Adventist Church caused by disagreement over military service on the Sabbath day during World War I. + +Davidian Seventh-day Adventist Association + +The Davidians (originally named Shepherd's Rod) is a small offshoot with an unknown number of members made up primarily of voluntarily disfellowshipped members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. They were originally known as the Shepherd's Rod and are still sometimes referred to as such. The group derives its name from two books on Bible doctrine written by its founder, Victor Houteff, in 1929. + +Branch Davidians +The Branch Davidians were a split ("branch") from the Davidians. + +A group that gathered around David Koresh (the so-called Koreshians) abandoned Davidian teachings and turned into a religious cult. Many of them were killed during the infamous Waco Siege of April 1993. + +Church of God (Seventh Day) + +The Church of God (Seventh-Day) was founded in 1863 and it had an estimated 11,000 members in 185 churches in 1999 in America. Its founding members separated in 1858 from those Adventists associated with Ellen G. White who later organized themselves as Seventh-day Adventists in 1863. The Church of God (Seventh Day) split in 1933, creating two bodies: one headquartered in Salem, West Virginia, and known as the Church of God (7th day) – Salem Conference and the other one headquartered in Denver, Colorado and known as the General Conference of the Church of God (Seventh-Day). The Worldwide Church of God splintered from this. + +Church of God General Conference +Many denominations known as "Church of God" have Adventist origins. + +The Church of God General Conference was founded in 1921 and had 7,634 members in 162 churches in 2004 in America. It is a first-day Adventist Christian body which is also known as the Church of God of the Abrahamic Faith and the Church of God General Conference (Morrow, GA). + +Creation Seventh-Day Adventist Church + +The Creation Seventh-Day Adventist Church is a small group that broke off from the Seventh-Day Adventists in 1988, and organized itself as a church in 1991. + +United Seventh-Day Brethren + +The United Seventh-Day Brethren is a small Sabbatarian Adventist body. +In 1947, several individuals and two independent congregations within the Church of God Adventist movement formed the United Seventh-Day Brethren, seeking to increase fellowship and to combine their efforts in evangelism, publications, and other . + +Other minor Adventist groups + + True and Free Adventists, a Soviet Union offshoot + At least two denominations and numerous individual churches with a charismatic or Pentecostal-type bent have been influenced by or were offshoots – see charismatic Adventism generally + Church of the Blessed Hope, a first-day Adventist church + United Sabbath-Day Adventist Church, an African-American offshoot of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in New York City + Celestia, a Christian communal town near Laporte in Sullivan County, Pennsylvania, founded by Millerite Peter E. Armstrong. It disintegrated before the end of the 19th century + +Other relationships +Early in its development, the Bible Student movement founded by Charles Taze Russell had close connections with the Millerite movement and stalwarts of the Adventist faith, including George Storrs and Joseph Seiss. Although both Jehovah's Witnesses and the Bible Students do not identify as part of the Millerite Adventist movement (or other denominations, in general), some theologians categorize these groups and related sects as Millerite Adventist because of their teachings regarding an imminent Second Coming and their use of specific dates. The various independent Bible Student groups currently have a cumulative membership of about 20,000 worldwide. According to the Watch Tower Society, there were about 8.5 million Jehovah's Witnesses worldwide as of 2022. + +See also + Advent Christian Church + Adventist and related churches + List of Christian denominations#Millerites and comparable groups + Seventh-day Adventist Church + Other movements in Adventism + Great Disappointment + William Miller (preacher) + Millennialism + Millerites + Second Great Awakening + +General: + Christian revival + Christianity in the 19th century + +References + +Bibliography + + Butler, Jonathan. "From Millerism to Seventh-Day Adventism: Boundlessness to Consolidation", Church History, Vol. 55, 1986 + Jordan, Anne Devereaux. The Seventh-Day Adventists: A History (1988) + Land, Gary. Adventism in America: A History (1998) + Land, Gary. Historical Dictionary of the Seventh-Day Adventists (2005). + + Morgan, Douglas. Adventism and the American Republic: The Public Involvement of a Major Apocalyptic Movement (University of Tennessee Press, 2001) + +External links + + History of the Millerite Movement, a reprint from the Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia 10:892–898, 1976. + Graphical timeline of major Millerite groups from the Worldwide Church of God official website + + +History of the Seventh-day Adventist Church +Christian eschatology +Christian terminology +The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justin Welby, who was enthroned at Canterbury Cathedral on 21 March 2013. Welby is the 105th person to hold the position, as part of a line of succession going back to the "Apostle to the English" Augustine of Canterbury, who was sent to the island by the church in Rome in 597. Welby succeeded Rowan Williams. + +From the time of Augustine until the 16th century, the archbishops of Canterbury were in full communion with the See of Rome, and usually received the pallium from the Pope. The various prerogatives of Henry VIII—emerging parallel with the spread of Protestantism on the continent—culminated in the English Reformation, wherein the Crown broke communion with Rome and seized leadership of the church, and with it the right to appoint bishops. Henry appointed Thomas Cranmer as the first Protestant archbishop of Canterbury in 1533, who would ultimately become one of the most important figures in the development of Anglicanism. The ascent of Henry's daughter Mary to the throne would bring with it a brief restoration of Catholic rule in England, with Cranmer replaced by Reginald Pole as archbishop in 1556. For his role in the Reformation, Cranmer was tried for heresy, and ultimately burned at the stake. Pole would be the final Roman Catholic to hold the office. + +Before the modern era, there was a considerable variety in who appointed church offices, depending on era and political happenstance. Before the dissolution of the monasteries that occurred as part of the Reformation, the choice had often been made by the monks living in Canterbury Cathedral. At other times, the pope in Rome or the reigning monarch would fill the office. Today, the British prime minister is expected to advise the monarch regarding the appointment of the archbishop of Canterbury, with the prime minister in turn receiving a shortlist of two recommendations for the position from an ad hoc committee known as the Crown Nominations Commission. + +Present roles and status +Today the archbishop fills four main roles: + + He is the bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury, which covers the eastern parts of the County of Kent. Founded in 597, it is the oldest see in the English church. + He is the metropolitan archbishop of the Province of Canterbury, which covers the southern two-thirds of England. + He is the senior primate and chief religious figure of the Church of England (the British sovereign is the supreme governor of the church). Along with his colleague the archbishop of York he chairs the General Synod and sits on or chairs many of the church's important boards and committees; power in the church is not highly centralised, however, so the two archbishops can often lead only through persuasion. The archbishop of Canterbury plays a central part in national ceremonies such as coronations; due to his high public profile, his opinions are often in demand by the news media. + As spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop, although without legal authority outside England, is recognised by convention as primus inter pares ("first among equals") of all Anglican primates worldwide. Since 1867 he has convened more or less decennial meetings of worldwide Anglican bishops, the Lambeth Conferences. + +In the last two of these functions, he has an important ecumenical and interfaith role, speaking on behalf of Anglicans in England and worldwide. + +The archbishop's main residence is Lambeth Palace in the London Borough of Lambeth. He also has lodgings in the Old Palace, Canterbury, located beside Canterbury Cathedral, where the Chair of St Augustine sits. + +As holder of one of the "five great sees" (the others being York, London, Durham and Winchester), the archbishop of Canterbury is ex officio one of the Lords Spiritual of the House of Lords. He is one of the highest-ranking men in England and the highest ranking non-royal in the United Kingdom's order of precedence. + +Since Henry VIII broke with Rome, the archbishops of Canterbury have been selected by the English (British since the Act of Union in 1707) monarch. Since the 20th century, the appointment of archbishops of Canterbury conventionally alternates between Anglo-Catholics and Evangelicals. + +The current archbishop, Justin Welby, the 105th archbishop of Canterbury, was enthroned at Canterbury Cathedral on 4 February 2013. As archbishop he signs himself as + Justin Cantuar. His predecessor, Rowan Williams, 104th archbishop of Canterbury, was enthroned at Canterbury Cathedral on 27 February 2003. Immediately prior to his appointment to Canterbury, Williams was the bishop of Monmouth and archbishop of Wales. On 18 March 2012, Williams announced he would be stepping down as archbishop of Canterbury at the end of 2012 to become master of Magdalene College, Cambridge. + +Additional roles +In addition to his office, the archbishop holds a number of other positions; for example, he is joint president of the Council of Christians and Jews in the United Kingdom. Some positions he formally holds ex officio and others virtually so (the incumbent of the day, although appointed personally, is appointed because of his office). Amongst these are: + Chancellor of Canterbury Christ Church University + Visitor for the following academic institutions: + All Souls College, Oxford + Selwyn College, Cambridge + Merton College, Oxford + Keble College, Oxford + Ridley Hall, Cambridge + The University of Kent (main campus located in Canterbury) + King's College London + University of King's College + Sutton Valence School + Benenden School + Cranbrook School + Haileybury and Imperial Service College + Harrow School + King's College School, Wimbledon + The King's School, Canterbury + St John's School, Leatherhead + Marlborough College + Dauntsey's School + Wycliffe Hall, Oxford (also Patron) + Governor of Charterhouse School + Governor of Wellington College + Visitor, The Dulwich Charities + Visitor, Whitgift Foundation + Visitor, Hospital of the Blessed Trinity, Guildford (Abbot's Fund) + Trustee, Bromley College + Trustee, Allchurches Trust + President, Corporation of Church House, Westminster + Director, Canterbury Diocesan Board of Finance + Patron, St Edmund's School Canterbury + Patron, The Worshipful Company of Parish Clerks + Patron, Prisoners Abroad + Patron, The Kent Savers Credit Union + Patron, Sanctuary Mental Health Ministries + +Ecumenical and interfaith +The archbishop is also a president of Churches Together in England (an ecumenical organisation). Geoffrey Fisher, 99th archbishop of Canterbury, was the first since 1397 to visit Rome, where he held private talks with Pope John XXIII in 1960. In 2005, Rowan Williams became the first archbishop of Canterbury to attend a papal funeral since the Reformation. He also attended the inauguration of Pope Benedict XVI. The 101st archbishop, Donald Coggan, was the first to attend a papal inauguration, that of Pope John Paul II in 1978. + +Since 2002, the archbishop has co-sponsored the Alexandria Middle East Peace process with the Grand Mufti of Egypt. In July 2008, the archbishop attended a conference of Christians, Jews and Muslims convened by the king of Saudi Arabia at which the notion of the "clash of civilizations" was rejected. Delegates agreed "on international guidelines for dialogue among the followers of religions and cultures." Delegates said that "the deepening of moral values and ethical principles, which are common denominators among such followers, would help strengthen stability and achieve prosperity for all humans." + +Origins + +It has been suggested that the Roman province of Britannia had four archbishops, seated at Londinium (London), Eboracum (York), Lindum Colonia (Lincoln) and Corinium Dobunnorum (Cirencester). However, in the 5th and 6th centuries Britannia began to be overrun by pagan, Germanic peoples who came to be known collectively as the Anglo-Saxons. Of the kingdoms they created, Kent arguably had the closest links with European politics, trade and culture, because it was conveniently situated for communication with continental Europe. In the late 6th century, King Æthelberht of Kent married a Christian Frankish princess named Bertha, possibly before becoming king, and certainly a number of years before the arrival of the first Christian mission to England. He permitted the preaching of Christianity. + +The first archbishop of Canterbury was Saint Augustine of Canterbury (not to be confused with Saint Augustine of Hippo), who arrived in Kent in 597 AD, having been sent by Pope Gregory I on a mission to the English. He was accepted by King Æthelbert, on his conversion to Christianity, about the year 598. It seems that Pope Gregory, ignorant of recent developments in the former Roman province, including the spread of the Pelagian heresy, had intended the new archiepiscopal sees for England to be established in London and York. In the event, Canterbury was chosen instead of London, owing to political circumstances. Since then the archbishops of Canterbury have been referred to as occupying the Chair of St. Augustine. +Univ +A gospel book believed to be directly associated with St Augustine's mission survives in the Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge, England. Catalogued as Cambridge Manuscript 286, it has been positively dated to 6th-century Italy and this bound book, the St Augustine Gospels, is still used during the swearing-in ceremony of new archbishops of Canterbury. + +Before the break with papal authority in the 16th century, the Church of England was an integral part of the Western European church. Since the break the Church of England, an established national church, still considers itself part of the broader Western Catholic tradition (although this is not accepted by the Roman Catholic Church which regards Anglicanism as schismatic and does not accept Anglican holy orders as valid) as well as being the "mother church" of the worldwide Anglican Communion. + +The Report of the Commissioners appointed by his Majesty to inquire into the Ecclesiastical Revenues of England and Wales (1835) noted the net annual revenue for the Canterbury see was £19,182. + +Province and Diocese of Canterbury + +The archbishop of Canterbury exercises metropolitical (or supervisory) jurisdiction over the Province of Canterbury, which encompasses thirty of the forty-two dioceses of the Church of England, with the rest falling within the Province of York. The four Welsh dioceses were also under the Province of Canterbury until 1920 when they were transferred from the established church of England to the disestablished Church in Wales. + +The archbishop of Canterbury has a ceremonial provincial curia, or court, consisting of some of the senior bishops of his province. The bishop of London—the most senior cleric of the church with the exception of the two archbishops—serves as Canterbury's provincial dean, the bishop of Winchester as chancellor, the bishop of Lincoln as vice-chancellor, the bishop of Salisbury as precentor, the bishop of Worcester as chaplain and the bishop of Rochester as cross-bearer. + +Along with primacy over the archbishop of York, the archbishop of Canterbury also has a precedence of honour over the other bishops of the Anglican Communion. He is recognised as primus inter pares, or first amongst equals. He does not, however, exercise any direct authority in the provinces outside England, except in certain minor roles dictated by Canon in those provinces (for example, he is the judge in the event of an ecclesiastical prosecution against the archbishop of Wales). He does hold metropolitical authority over several extra-provincial Anglican churches, and he serves as ex officio bishop of the Falkland Islands. + +At present the archbishop has four suffragan bishops: + + The bishop of Dover is given the additional title of "bishop in Canterbury" and empowered to act almost as if the bishop of Dover were the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury, since the archbishop is so frequently away fulfilling national and international duties. + Two further suffragans, the bishop of Ebbsfleet and the bishop of Richborough, are provincial episcopal visitors for the whole Province of Canterbury, licensed by the archbishop as "flying bishops" to provide oversight throughout the province to parishes who for conscience' sake cannot accept that women can be ordained in the Sacrament of Ordination in the Church of England. + The bishop of Maidstone provides alternative episcopal oversight for the Province of Canterbury for particular members who take a conservative evangelical view of male headship. On 23 September 2015, Rod Thomas was consecrated bishop of Maidstone. Previously the bishop of Maidstone was an actual suffragan bishop working in the diocese, until it was decided at the diocesan synod of November 2010 that a new bishop would not be appointed. + +Styles and privileges + +The archbishop of Canterbury and the archbishop of York are both styled as "The Most Reverend"; retired archbishops are styled as "The Right Reverend". Archbishops are, by convention, appointed to the Privy Council and may, therefore, also use the style of "The Right Honourable" for life (unless they are later removed from the council). In formal documents, the archbishop of Canterbury is referred to as "The Most Reverend Forenames, by Divine Providence Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of All England and Metropolitan". In debates in the House of Lords, the archbishop is referred to as "The Most Reverend Primate, the Archbishop of Canterbury". "The Right Honourable" is not used in either instance. He may also be formally addressed as "Your Grace"—or, more often these days, simply as "Archbishop", or "Father". + +The surname of the archbishop of Canterbury is not always used in formal documents; often only the first name and see are mentioned. The archbishop is legally entitled to sign his name as "Cantuar" (from the Latin for Canterbury). The right to use a title as a legal signature is only permitted to bishops, peers of the Realm and peers by courtesy. The current archbishop of Canterbury usually signs as "+Justin Cantuar:". + +In the English and Welsh order of precedence, the archbishop of Canterbury is ranked above all individuals in the realm, with the exception of the sovereign and members of the royal family. Immediately below him is the lord chancellor and then the archbishop of York. + +Lambeth degrees +The archbishop of Canterbury awards academic degrees, commonly called "Lambeth degrees". + +Residences + +The archbishop of Canterbury's official residence in London is Lambeth Palace. +He also has a residence, named The Old Palace, next to Canterbury Cathedral on the site of the medieval Archbishop's Palace. +The archbishops had palaces on the periphery of London and on the route between London and Canterbury. + +Former palaces of the archbishops include + + Croydon Palace: the summer residence of the archbishops from the 15th to the 18th centuries. + Addington Palace: purchased as a replacement for Croydon Palace in 1807; sold in 1897. + Archbishop's Palace, Maidstone: constructed in the 1390s, the palace was seized by the Crown at the time of the Reformation. + Otford Palace: a medieval palace, rebuilt by Archbishop Warham and forfeited to the Crown by Thomas Cranmer in 1537. + Archbishop's Palace, Charing: a palace existed from at least the 13th century; seized by the Crown after the Dissolution. + Knole House: built by Archbishop Bourchier in the second half of the 15th century, it was forfeited to the Crown by Archbishop Cranmer in 1538. + +List of recent archbishops + +Since 1900, the following have served as archbishop of Canterbury: + + 1896–1902: Frederick Temple + 1903–1928: Randall Davidson + 1928–1942: Cosmo Gordon Lang + 1942–1944: William Temple + 1945–1961: Geoffrey Fisher + 1961–1974: Michael Ramsey + 1974–1980: Donald Coggan + 1980–1991: Robert Runcie + 1991–2002: George Carey + 2002–2012: Rowan Williams + 2013–present: Justin Welby + +Archbishops who became peers +From 1660 to 1902, all the archbishops of Canterbury died in office. In 1928, two years before his death, Randall Davidson became the first voluntarily to resign his office. All his successors except William Temple (who died in office in 1944) have also resigned their office before death. + +All those who retired have been given peerages: initially hereditary baronies (although both recipients of such titles died without male heirs and so their titles became extinct on their deaths), and life peerages after the enactment of the Life Peerages Act 1958. Such titles have allowed retired archbishops to retain the seats in the House of Lords which they held ex officio before their retirement. + +See also + Accord of Winchester + Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople + Religion in the United Kingdom + +References + +External links + + + The Archbishopric of Canterbury, from Its Foundation to the Norman Conquest, by John William Lamb, published 1971, Faith Press, from Google Book Search + + +597 establishments +6th-century establishments in England +Anglican Communion +Anglican episcopal offices +Christianity in Kent +Church of England +Culture in Canterbury +Ecclesiastical titles +People associated with Canterbury Christ Church University +People associated with King's College London +People associated with the Royal National College for the Blind +People associated with the University of Kent +Canterbury +Religious leadership roles +Albion is a city in Calhoun County in the south central region of the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 7,700 at the 2020 census and is part of the Battle Creek Metropolitan Statistical Area. + +The earliest English-speaking settlers also referred to this area as The Forks, because it is situated at the confluence of the north and south branches of the Kalamazoo River. In the early 20th century, immigrants came to Albion from a variety of eastern European nations, including the current Lithuania and Russia. More recently, Hispanic or Latino immigrants have come from Mexico and Central America. The Festival of the Forks has been held annually since 1967 to celebrate Albion's diverse ethnic heritage. + +Since the 19th century, several major manufacturers were established here and Albion became known as a factory town. This has changed with the closure of several manufacturers. In the 21st century, Albion's culture is changing to that of a college town whose residents have a strong interest in technology and sustainability issues. Albion College is a private liberal arts college with a student population of about 1,250. Albion is a sister city with Noisy-le-Roi, France. + +History +The first European-American settler, Tenney Peabody, arrived in 1833 along with his brother-in-law Charles Blanchard, and another young man named Clark Dowling. Peabody's family followed soon after. In 1835, the Albion Company, a land development company formed by Jesse Crowell, platted a village. Peabody's wife was asked to name the settlement. She considered the name "Peabodyville", but selected "Albion" instead, after the former residence of Jesse Crowell. Crowell was appointed in 1838 as the first US postmaster here. + +Many early settlers migrated here from western New York and New England, part of a movement after construction of the Erie Canal, and opening of new lands in Michigan and other Great Lakes territories. They first developed agriculture and it became a rural trading village. Settlers were strong supporters of education and in 1835, Methodists established Albion College affiliated with their church. The first classes were held in Albion in 1843. The college was known by a few other names before 1861. At that time it was fully authorized to confer four-year degrees on both men and women. + +Albion incorporated as a village in 1855, following construction of the railroad here in 1852, which stimulated development. It became a city in 1885. + +Mills were constructed to operate on the water power of the forks of the Kalamazoo River. They were the first industry in the town, used to process lumber, grain and other products to build the village. Albion quickly became a mill town as well as an agricultural market. The river that powered industry also flooded the town. + +In the Great Flood of 1908, there was severe property damage. In February, snowstorms had deposited several feet of snow across the region. Heavy rains and warmer conditions in early March created water saturation in the ground and risk of flooding because of the high flow in the rivers. After the Homer Dam broke around 3 p.m. on March 7, the Kalamazoo River flooded Albion. By midnight, the bridges surrounding town were underwater. Six buildings in Albion collapsed, resulting in more than US$125,000 in damage (1908 dollars). The town struggled to recover. + +In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, numerous Lithuanian and other Eastern European immigrants settled here, most working for the Albion Malleable Iron Company, and some in the coal mine north of town. The iron company had initially made agricultural implements but around World War I shifted to making automotive parts. The Malleable merged in 1969 with the Hayes Corporation, becoming the Hayes-Albion Corporation. Now known as a division of Harvard Industries, the company continues to produce automotive castings in Albion. Molder Statue Park in downtown is dedicated to the many molders who dealt with molten iron. + +There were soon enough Lithuanians in town to establish Holy Ascension Orthodox Church, which they built in 1916. It is part of the Orthodox Church in America. Today its services are in English. + +The city had its peak of population in 1960. In 1973 Albion was named an All-America City by the National Civic League. It celebrated winning the award on May 15, 1974, when the Governor of Michigan, William Milliken, and many dignitaries came to town. In 1975 the closure of a major factory began a difficult period of industrial restructuring and decline in jobs and population. + +Since that time citizens have mobilized, founding the Albion Community Foundation in 1968. They formed the Albion Volunteer Service Organization in the 1980s, with support from Albion College, to address the challenge of diminishing economic opportunity. + +Key to the City Honor Bestowed: + +1964: Aunt Jemima visited Albion on January 25. +1960s: Columnist Ann Landers was presented with a key upon her visit to Starr Commonwealth for Boys. + +Law and government +Albion has a Council-Manager form of government. City residents elect a Mayor at-large and City Council members from each of six single-member districts. The council in turn selects a City Manager to handle day-to-day affairs of the city. The mayor presides over and is a voting member of the council. Council members are elected to four-year terms, staggered every two years. A mayor is elected every two years. The city levies an income tax of 1 percent on residents and 0.5 percent on nonresidents. + +Geography +According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. Albion is positioned 42.24 degrees north of the equator and 84.75 degrees west of the prime meridian. + +Climate + +Demographics + +2010 population by gender/age + +2010 population by ethnicity + +2010 population by race + +Transportation + +Major highways + +Rail +Amtrak, the national passenger rail system, provides daily service to Albion, operating its Wolverine both directions between Chicago, Illinois and Pontiac, Michigan, via Detroit. + +Bus +Greyhound Lines provides daily intercity city bus service to Albion between Chicago, Illinois and Detroit. + +Notable people + + Kim Cascone, musician, composer, owner of Silent Records; born in Albion + M. F. K. Fisher, food writer, born in Albion + Ada Iddings Gale, author, lived and buried in Albion + Frank Joranko, football player and coach for Albion College + LaVall Jordan, head men's basketball coach for Butler University, born in Albion + Martin Wells Knapp, American Methodist evangelist who founded the Pilgrim Holiness Church and God's Bible School and College, born in Albion. + Bill Laswell, jazz bassist, record producer and record label owner; raised in Albion + Jerome D. Mack, banker, director of Las Vegas hotels Riviera and Dunes, founder of University of Nevada, Las Vegas; born in Albion + Deacon McGuire, professional baseball player for 26 seasons, lived in Albion + Gary Lee Nelson, composer, pioneer in electronic and computer music; grew up in Albion + John Sinclair, poet and political activist, attended Albion College + Jon Scieszka, children's author, attended Albion College + Brian Tyler, racing driver, born in Albion + Jack Vaughn, Assistant Secretary of State, Ambassador to Panama and Colombia, and Director of the Peace Corps (1966-1969); grew up in Albion + The War and Treaty, musical duo + +See also + Holy Ascension Orthodox Church + +References + +External links + + City of Albion official website + Albion City Information Page + Albion District Library + Albion Michigan Home Page + Historical Albion Michigan + Festival of the Forks – Albion's annual music and food festival by the forks of the Kalamazoo River + The Greater Albion Chamber of Commerce + Albion Michigan Community Foundation – For Good. For Ever. + + +Cities in Calhoun County, Michigan +Populated places established in 1835 +1835 establishments in Michigan Territory +Anointing of the sick, known also by other names such as unction, is a form of religious anointing or "unction" (an older term with the same meaning) for the benefit of a sick person. It is practiced by many Christian churches and denominations. + +Anointing of the sick was a customary practice in many civilizations, including among the ancient Greeks and early Jewish communities. The use of oil for healing purposes is referred to in the writings of Hippocrates. + +Anointing of the sick should be distinguished from other religious anointings that occur in relation to other sacraments, in particular baptism, confirmation and ordination, and also in the coronation of a monarch. + +Names +Since 1972, the Roman Catholic Church has used the name "Anointing of the Sick" both in the English translations issued by the Holy See of its official documents in Latin and in the English official documents of Episcopal conferences. It does not, of course, forbid the use of other names, for example the more archaic term "Unction of the Sick" or the term "Extreme Unction". Cardinal Walter Kasper used the latter term in his intervention at the 2005 Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. However, the Church declared that "'Extreme unction' ... may also and more fittingly be called 'anointing of the sick'", and has itself adopted the latter term, while not outlawing the former. This is to emphasize that the sacrament is available, and recommended, to all those suffering from any serious illness, and to dispel the common misconception that it is exclusively for those at or very near the point of death. + +Extreme Unction was the usual name for the sacrament in the West from the late twelfth century until 1972, and was thus used at the Council of Trent and in the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia. Peter Lombard (died 1160) is the first writer known to have used the term, which did not become the usual name in the West till towards the end of the twelfth century, and never became current in the East. The word "extreme" (final) indicated either that it was the last of the sacramental unctions (after the anointings at Baptism, Confirmation and, if received, Holy Orders) or because at that time it was normally administered only when a patient was in extremis. + +Other names used in the West include the unction or blessing of consecrated oil, the unction of God, and the office of the unction. Among some Protestant bodies, who do not consider it a sacrament, but instead as a practice suggested rather than commanded by Scripture, it is called anointing with oil. + +In the Greek Church the sacrament is called Euchelaion (Greek Εὐχέλαιον, from εὐχή, "prayer", and ἔλαιον, "oil"). Other names are also used, such as ἅγιον ἔλαιον (holy oil), ἡγιασμένον ἔλαιον (consecrated oil), and χρῖσις or χρῖσμα (anointing). + +The Community of Christ uses the term administration to the sick. + +The term "last rites" refers to administration to a dying person not only of this sacrament but also of Penance and Holy Communion, the last of which, when administered in such circumstances, is known as "Viaticum", a word whose original meaning in Latin was "provision for the journey". The normal order of administration is: first Penance (if the dying person is physically unable to confess, absolution, conditional on the existence of contrition, is given); next, Anointing; finally, Viaticum (if the person can receive it). + +Biblical texts +The chief biblical text concerning the rite is the Epistle of James (): "Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven" (RSV). + +, and are also quoted in this context. + +Sacramental beliefs +The Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Coptic and Old Catholic Churches consider this anointing to be a sacrament. Other Christians too, in particular, Lutherans, Anglicans and some Protestant and other Christian communities use a rite of anointing the sick, without necessarily classifying it as a sacrament. + +In the Churches mentioned here by name, the oil used (called "oil of the sick" in both West and East) is blessed specifically for this purpose. + +Roman Catholic Church + +An extensive account of the teaching of the Catholic Church on Anointing of the Sick is given in Catechism of the Catholic Church. + +Anointing of the Sick is one of the seven Sacraments recognized by the Catholic Church, and is associated with not only bodily healing but also forgiveness of sins. Only ordained priests can administer it, and "any priest may carry the holy oil with him, so that in a case of necessity he can administer the sacrament of anointing of the sick." + +Sacramental graces + +The Catholic Church sees the effects of the sacrament as follows. As the sacrament of Marriage gives grace for the married state, the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick gives grace for the state into which people enter through sickness. Through the sacrament a gift of the Holy Spirit is given, that renews confidence and faith in God and strengthens against temptations to discouragement, despair and anguish at the thought of death and the struggle of death; it prevents from losing Christian hope in God's justice, truth and salvation. + +The special grace of the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick has as its effects: +the uniting of the sick person to the passion of Christ, for his own good and that of the whole Church; +the strengthening, peace, and courage to endure, in a Christian manner, the sufferings of illness or old age; +the forgiveness of sins, if the sick person was not able to obtain it through the sacrament of penance; +the restoration of , if it is conducive to the salvation of his soul; +the preparation for passing over to eternal life." + +Sacramental oil +The duly blessed oil used in the sacrament is, as laid down in the Apostolic Constitution, Sacram unctionem infirmorum, pressed from olives or from other plants. It is blessed by the bishop of the diocese at the Chrism Mass he celebrates on Holy Thursday or on a day close to it. If oil blessed by the bishop is not available, the priest administering the sacrament may bless the oil, but only within the framework of the celebration. + +Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite (1972) +The Roman Rite Anointing of the Sick, as revised in 1972, puts greater stress than in the immediately preceding centuries on the sacrament's aspect of healing, primarily spiritual but also physical, and points to the place sickness holds in the normal life of Christians and its part in the redemptive work of the Church. Canon law permits its administration to a Catholic who has reached the age of reason and is beginning to be put in danger by illness or old age, unless the person in question obstinately persists in a manifestly grave sin. "If there is any doubt as to whether the sick person has reached the use of reason, or is dangerously ill, or is dead, this sacrament is to be administered". There is an obligation to administer it to the sick who, when they were in possession of their faculties, at least implicitly asked for it. A new illness or a renewal or worsening of the first illness enables a person to receive the sacrament a further time. + +The ritual book on pastoral care of the sick provides three rites: anointing outside Mass, anointing within Mass, and anointing in a hospital or institution. The rite of anointing outside Mass begins with a greeting by the priest, followed by sprinkling of all present with holy water, if deemed desirable, and a short instruction. There follows a penitential act, as at the beginning of Mass. If the sick person wishes to receive the sacrament of penance, it is preferable that the priest make himself available for this during a previous visit; but if the sick person must confess during the celebration of the sacrament of anointing, this confession replaces the penitential rite A passage of Scripture is read, and the priest may give a brief explanation of the reading, a short litany is said, and the priest lays his hands on the head of the sick person and then says a prayer of thanksgiving over the already blessed oil or, if necessary, blesses the oil himself. + +The actual anointing of the sick person is done on the forehead, with the prayer: +PER ISTAM SANCTAM UNCTIONEM ET SUAM PIISSIMAM MISERICORDIAM ADIUVET TE DOMINUS GRATIA SPIRITUS SANCTI, UT A PECCATIS LIBERATUM TE SALVET ATQUE PROPITIUS ALLEVIET. AMEN. +"Through this holy anointing may the Lord in his love and mercy help you with the grace of the Holy Spirit," and on the hands, with the prayer "May the Lord who frees you from sin save you and raise you up". To each prayer the sick person, if able, responds: "Amen." +It is permitted, in accordance with local culture and traditions and the condition of the sick person, to anoint other parts of the body in addition, such as the area of pain or injury, but without repeating the sacramental form. In case of emergency, a single anointing, if possible but not absolutely necessary if not possible on the forehead, is sufficient. + +Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite +From the early Middle Ages until after the Second Vatican Council the sacrament was administered, within the Latin Church, only when death was approaching and, in practice, bodily recovery was not ordinarily looked for, giving rise, as mentioned above to the name "Extreme Unction" (i.e. final anointing). The extraordinary form of the Roman Rite includes anointing of seven parts of the body while saying in Latin: +Per istam sanctam Unctiónem + et suam piisimam misericórdiam, indúlgeat tibi Dóminus quidquid per (visum, auditorum, odorátum, gustum et locutiónem, tactum, gressum, lumborum delectationem) deliquisti. +Through this holy unction and His own most tender mercy may the Lord pardon thee whatever sins thou hast committed by (sight by hearing, smell, taste, touch, walking, carnal delectation), the last phrase corresponding to the part of the body that was touched. The 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia explains that "the unction of the loins is generally, if not universally, omitted in English-speaking countries, and it is of course everywhere forbidden in case of women". +Anointing in the extraordinary form is still permitted under the conditions mentioned in article 9 of the 2007 motu proprio Summorum Pontificum. +In the case of necessity when only a single anointing on the forehead is possible, it suffices for valid administration of the sacrament to use the shortened form: +Per istam sanctam unctionem indulgeat tibi Dominus, quidquid deliquisti. Amen. +Through this holy anointing, may the Lord pardon thee whatever sins thou hast committed. Amen. +When it become opportune, all the anointings are to be supplied together with their respective forms for the integrity of the sacrament. If the sacrament is conferred conditionally, for example, if a person is unconscious, "Si es capax (If you are capable)” is added to the beginning of the form, not "Si dispositus es (if you are disposed)." In doubt if the soul has left the body through death, the priest adds, "Si vivis (If you are alive)." + +Other Western historical forms +Liturgical rites of the Catholic Church, both Western and Eastern, other than the Roman, have a variety of other forms for celebrating the sacrament. For example, according to Giovanni Diclich who cites De Rubeis, De Ritibus vestutis &c. cap. 28 p. 381, the Aquileian Rite, also called Rito Patriarchino, had twelve anointings, namely, of the head, forehead, eyes, ears, nose, lips, throat, chest, heart, shoulders, hands, and feet. The form used to anoint is the first person plural indicative, except for the anointing on the head which could be either in the first person singular or plural. +For example, the form is given as: +Ungo caput tuum Oleo benedicto + in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Vel Ungimus caput tuum Oleo divinitus sanctificato + in nomine Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis ut more militis praeparatus ad luctamen, possis aereas superare catervas: per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. + +I anoint your head with blessed Oil + in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Or We anoint your head with divinely sanctified Oil + in the name of the Holy and Undivided Trinity so that prepared for the conflict in the way of a soldier, you might be able to overcome the aereal throng: through Christ our Lord. Amen. + +The other anointings all mention an anointing with oil and are all made "through Christ our Lord," and "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit," except the anointing of the heart which, as in the second option for anointing of the head, is "in the name of the Holy and Undivided Trinity." the Latin forms are as follows: + +(Ad frontem) Ungimus frontem tuam Oleo sancto in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti, in remissionem omnium peccatorum; ut sit tibi haec unction sanctificationis ad purificationem mentis et corporis; ut non lateat in te spiritus immundus neque in membris, neque in medullis, neque in ulla compagine membrorum: sed habitet in te virtus Christi Altissimi et Spiritus Sancti: per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. + +(Ad oculos) Ungimus oculos tuos Oleo sanctificato, in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti: ut quidquid illicito visu deliquisti, hac unctione expietur per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. + +(Ad aures) Ungimus has aures sacri Olei liquore in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti: ut quidquid peccati delectatione nocivi auditus admissum est, medicina hac spirituali evacuetur: per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. + +(Ad nares) Ungimus has nares Olei hujus liquore in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti: ut quidquid noxio vapore contractum est, vel odore superfluo, ista evacuet unctio vel medicatio: per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. + +(Ad labia) Ungimus labia ista consecrati Olei medicamento, in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti: ut quidquid otiose, vel etiam crimnosa peccasti locutione, divina clementia miserante expurgetur: per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. + +(Ad guttur) Ungimus te in gutture Oleo sancto in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti, ut non lateat in te spiritus immundus, neque in membris, neque in medullis, neque in ulla compagine membrorum: sed habitet in te virtus Christi Altissimi et Spiritus Sancti:quatenus per hujus operationem mysterii, et per hanc sacrati Olei unctionem, atque nostrum deprecationem virtute Sanctae Trinitatis medicates, sive fotus; pristinam, et meliorem percipere merearis sanitatem: per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. + +(Ad pectus) Ungimus pectus tuum Oleo divinitus sanctificato in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti, ut hac unctione pectoris fortiter certare valeas adversus aereas potestates: per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. + +(Ad cor) Ungimus locum cordis Oleo divinitus sanctificato, coelesti munere nobis attributo, in nomine Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis, ut ipsa interius exteriusque te sanando vivificet, quae universum ne pereat continent: per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. + +(Ad scapulas) Ungimus has scapulas, sive in medio scapularum Oleo sacrato, in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti, ut ex omni parte spirituali protectione munitus, jacula diabolici impetus viriliter contemnere, ac procul possis cum robore superni juvaminis repellere: per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. + +(Ad manus) Ungimus has manus Oleo sacro, in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti, ut quidquid illicito opera, vel noxio peregerunt, per hanc sanctam unctionem evacuetur: per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. + +(Ad pedes) Ungimus hos pedes Oleo benedicto, in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti, ut quidquid superfluo, vel nocivo incessu commiserunt, ista aboleat perunctio: per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. + +Eastern Orthodox Church + +The teaching of the Eastern Orthodox Church on the Holy Mystery (sacrament) of Unction is similar to that of the Roman Catholic Church. However, the reception of the Mystery is not limited to those who are enduring physical illness. The Mystery is given for healing (both physical and spiritual) and for the forgiveness of sin. For this reason, it is normally required that one go to confession before receiving Unction. Because it is a Sacred Mystery of the Church, only Orthodox Christians may receive it. + +The solemn form of Eastern Christian anointing requires the ministry of seven priests. A table is prepared, upon which is set a vessel containing wheat. Into the wheat has been placed an empty shrine-lamp, seven candles, and seven anointing brushes. Candles are distributed for all to hold during the service. The rite begins with reading Psalm 50 (the great penitential psalm), followed by the chanting of a special canon. After this, the senior priest (or bishop) pours pure olive oil and a small amount of wine into the shrine lamp, and says the "Prayer of the Oil", which calls upon God to "...sanctify this Oil, that it may be effectual for those who shall be anointed therewith, unto healing, and unto relief from every passion, every malady of the flesh and of the spirit, and every ill..." Then follow seven series of epistles, gospels, long prayers, Ektenias (litanies) and anointings. Each series is served by one of the seven priests in turn. The afflicted one is anointed with the sign of the cross on seven places: the forehead, the nostrils, the cheeks, the lips, the breast, the palms of both hands, and the back of the hands. After the last anointing, the Gospel Book is opened and placed with the writing down upon the head of the one who was anointed, and the senior priest reads the "Prayer of the Gospel". At the end, the anointed kisses the Gospel, the Cross and the right hands of the priests, receiving their blessing. + +Anointing is considered to be a public rather than a private sacrament, and so as many of the faithful who are able are encouraged to attend. It should be celebrated in the church when possible, but if this is impossible, it may be served in the home or hospital room of the afflicted. + +Unction in the Greek Orthodox Church and Churches of Hellenic custom (Antiochian Eastern Orthodox, Melkite, etc.) is usually given with a minimum of ceremony. + +Anointing may also be given during Forgiveness Vespers and Great Week, on Great and Holy Wednesday, to all who are prepared. Those who receive Unction on Holy Wednesday should go to Holy Communion on Great Thursday. The significance of receiving Unction on Holy Wednesday is shored up by the hymns in the Triodion for that day, which speak of the sinful woman who anointed the feet of Christ. Just as her sins were forgiven because of her penitence, so the faithful are exhorted to repent of their sins. In the same narrative, Jesus says, "in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial" (Id., v. 12), linking the unction with Christ's death and resurrection. + +In some dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church it is customary for the bishop to visit each parish or region of the diocese some time during Great Lent and give Anointing for the faithful, together with the local clergy. + +Hussite Church +The Hussite Church regards anointing of the sick as one of the seven sacraments. + +Anabaptist Churches +Anabaptists observe the ordinance of anointing of the sick in obedience to , with it being counted among the seven ordinances by Conservative Mennonite Anabaptists. In a compendium of Anabaptist doctrine, theologian Daniel Kauffman stated: + +The 2021 Church Polity of the Dunkard Brethren Church, a Conservative Anabaptist denomination in the Schwarzenau Brethren tradition, teaches: + +Lutheran churches +Anointing of the sick has been retained in Lutheran churches since the Reformation. Although it is not considered a sacrament like baptism, confession and the Eucharist, it is known as a ritual in the same respect as confirmation, holy orders, and matrimony. + +Liturgy +After the penitent has received absolution following confession, the presiding minister recites James 5:14-16. He goes on to recite the following: + +[Name], you have confessed your sins and received Holy Absolution. In remembrance of the grace of God given by the Holy Spirit in the waters of Holy Baptism, I will anoint you with oil. Confident in our Lord and in love for you, we also pray for you that you will not lose faith. Knowing that in Godly patience the Church endures with you and supports you during this affliction. We firmly believe that this illness is for the glory of God and that the Lord will both hear our prayer and work according to His good and gracious will. +He anoints the person on the forehead and says this blessing: +Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has given you the new birth of water and the Spirit and has forgiven you all your sins, strengthen you with His grace to life everlasting. Amen. + +Anglican churches +The 1552 and later editions of the Book of Common Prayer omitted the form of anointing given in the original (1549) version in its Order for the Visitation of the Sick, but most twentieth-century Anglican prayer books do have anointing of the sick. The Book of Common Prayer (1662) and the proposed revision of 1928 include the "visitation of the sick" and "communion of the sick" (which consist of various prayers, exhortations and psalms). + +Some Anglicans accept that anointing of the sick has a sacramental character and is therefore a channel of God's grace, seeing it as an "outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace" which is the definition of a sacrament. The Catechism of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America includes Unction of the Sick as among the "other sacramental rites" and it states that unction can be done with oil or simply with laying on of hands. The rite of anointing is included in the Episcopal Church's "Ministration to the Sick" + +Article 25 of the Thirty-Nine Articles, which are one of the historical formularies of the Church of England (and as such, the Anglican Communion), speaking of the sacraments, says: "Those five commonly called Sacraments, that is to say, Confirmation, Penance, Orders, Matrimony, and extreme Unction, are not to be counted for Sacraments of the Gospel, being such as have grown partly of the corrupt following of the Apostles, partly are states of life allowed in the Scriptures; but yet have not like nature of Sacraments with Baptism, and the Lord's Supper, for that they have not any visible sign or ceremony ordained of God." + +In 1915 members of the Anglican Communion founded the Guild of St Raphael, an organisation dedicated to promoting, supporting and practising Christ's ministry of healing. + +Other Protestant communities +Protestants provide anointing in a wide variety of formats. Protestant communities generally vary widely on the sacramental character of anointing. Most Mainline Protestants recognize only two sacraments, the eucharist and baptism, deeming anointing only a humanly-instituted rite. Non-traditional Protestant communities generally use the term ordinance rather than sacrament. + +Mainline beliefs +Liturgical or Mainline Protestant communities (e.g. Presbyterian, Congregationalist/United Church of Christ, Methodist, etc.) all have official yet often optional liturgical rites for the anointing of the sick partly on the model of Western pre-Reformation rites. Anointing need not be associated with grave illness or imminent danger of death. + +Charismatic and Pentecostal beliefs +In Charismatic and Pentecostal communities, anointing of the sick is a frequent practice and has been an important ritual in these communities since the respective movements were founded in the 19th and 20th centuries. These communities use extemporaneous forms of administration at the discretion of the minister, who need not be a pastor. There is minimal ceremony attached to its administration. Usually, several people physically touch (laying on of hands) the recipient during the anointing. It may be part of a worship service with the full assembly of the congregation present, but may also be done in more private settings, such as homes or hospital rooms. Some Pentecostals believe that physical healing is within the anointing and so there is often great expectation or at least great hope that a miraculous cure or improvement will occur when someone is being prayed over for healing. + +Evangelical and fundamentalist beliefs + In Evangelical and Fundamentalist communities, anointing of the sick is performed with varying degrees of frequency, although laying on of hands may be more common than anointing. The rite would be similar to that of Pentecostals in its simplicity, but would usually not have the same emotionalism attached to it. Unlike some Pentecostals, Evangelicals and Fundamentalists generally do not believe that physical healing is within the anointing. Therefore, God may or may not grant physical healing to the sick. The healing conferred by anointing is thus a spiritual event that may not result in physical recovery. + +The Church of the Brethren practices Anointing with Oil as an ordinance along with Baptism, Communion, Laying on of Hands, and the Love Feast. + +Evangelical Protestants who use anointing differ about whether the person doing the anointing must be an ordained member of the clergy, whether the oil must necessarily be olive oil and have been previously specially consecrated, and about other details. Several Evangelical groups reject the practice so as not to be identified with charismatic and Pentecostal groups, which practice it widely. + +Latter Day Saint movement + +Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints + +Latter-day Saints, who consider themselves restorationists, also practice ritual anointing of the sick, as well as other forms of anointing. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) consider anointing to be an ordinance. + +Members of the LDS Church who hold the Melchizedek priesthood may use consecrated olive oil in performing the ordinance of blessing of the "sick or afflicted", though oil is not required if it is unavailable. The priesthood holder anoints the recipient's head with a drop of oil, then lays hands upon that head and declare their act of anointing. Then another priesthood holder joins in, if available, and pronounces a "sealing" of the anointing and other words of blessing, as he feels inspired. Melchizedek priesthood holders are also authorized to consecrate any pure olive oil and often carry a personal supply in case they have need to perform an anointing. Oil is not used in other blessings, such as for people seeking comfort or counsel. + +In addition to the James 5:14-15 reference, the Doctrine and Covenants contains numerous references to the anointing and healing of the sick by those with authority to do so. + +Community of Christ +Administration to the sick is one of the eight sacraments of the Community of Christ, in which it has also been used for people seeking spiritual, emotional or mental healing. + +See also + Anointing of the Sick (Catholic Church) + Faith healing + +References + +External links + Church Fathers on the Anointing of the Sick + +Western + The Anointing of the Sick + Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick + "Extreme Unction" in Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) + Apostolic Constitution "Sacram unctionem infirmorum" + +Eastern + Holy Anointing of the Sick article from the Moscow Patriarchate + Unction of the Sick article from the Sydney, Australia diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia + The Mystery of Unction Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, Washington, DC + Coptic Unction on Holy Saturday (Photo) + +Christian terminology +New Testament words and phrases +Supernatural healing +Sacramentals +In computer science, an abstract data type (ADT) is a mathematical model for data types, defined by its behavior (semantics) from the point of view of a user of the data, specifically in terms of possible values, possible operations on data of this type, and the behavior of these operations. This mathematical model contrasts with data structures, which are concrete representations of data, and are the point of view of an implementer, not a user. + +Formally, an ADT may be defined as a "class of objects whose logical behavior is defined by a set of values and a set of operations"; this is analogous to an algebraic structure in mathematics. What is meant by "behaviour" varies by author, with the two main types of formal specifications for behavior being axiomatic (algebraic) specification and an abstract model; these correspond to axiomatic semantics and operational semantics of an abstract machine, respectively. Some authors also include the computational complexity ("cost"), both in terms of time (for computing operations) and space (for representing values). In practice, many common data types are not ADTs, as the abstraction is not perfect, and users must be aware of issues like arithmetic overflow that are due to the representation. For example, integers are often stored as fixed-width values (32-bit or 64-bit binary numbers), and thus experience integer overflow if the maximum value is exceeded. + +ADTs are a theoretical concept, in computer science, used in the design and analysis of algorithms, data structures, and software systems, and do not correspond to specific features of computer languages—mainstream computer languages do not directly support formally specified ADTs. However, various language features correspond to certain aspects of ADTs, and are easily confused with ADTs proper; these include abstract types, opaque data types, protocols, and design by contract. ADTs were first proposed by Barbara Liskov and Stephen N. Zilles in 1974, as part of the development of the CLU language. + +Discussion +For example, integers are an ADT, defined as the values ..., −2, −1, 0, 1, 2, ..., and by the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, together with greater than, less than, etc., which behave according to familiar mathematics (with care for integer division), independently of how the integers are represented by the computer. Explicitly, "behavior" includes obeying various axioms (associativity and commutativity of addition, etc.), and preconditions on operations (cannot divide by zero). Typically integers are represented in a data structure as binary numbers, most often as two's complement, but might be binary-coded decimal or in ones' complement, but for most purposes, the user can work with the abstraction rather than the concrete choice of representation, and can simply use the data as if the type were truly abstract. + +An ADT consists not only of operations but also of a domain of values and of constraints on the defined operations. An "interface" typically refers only to the operations, and perhaps some of the constraints on the operations, such as pre-conditions and post-conditions; but not to other constraints, such as relations between the operations. + +For example, an abstract stack, which is a last-in-first-out structure, could be defined by three operations: push, that inserts a data item onto the stack; pop, that removes a data item from it; and peek or top, that accesses a data item on top of the stack without removal. An abstract queue, which is a first-in-first-out structure, would also have three operations: enqueue, that inserts a data item into the queue; dequeue, that removes the first data item from it; and front, that accesses and serves the first data item in the queue. If these were the entire definitions, there would be no way of differentiating these two data types and their very different expected ordering behavior. Thus, a constraint is introduced that for a stack specifies that each pop always returns (and removes) the most recently pushed item that has not been popped yet, and for a queue (in contrast) specifies that pop operates on the least recently pushed item. + +When analyzing the efficiency of algorithms, one may also specify that all operations take the same time no matter how many data items have been pushed into the stack and that the stack uses a constant amount of storage for each element. However, time bounds are not always considered part of the definition of an ADT. + +Abstract data types are purely theoretical entities, used (among other things) to simplify the description of abstract algorithms, to classify and evaluate data structures, and to formally describe the type systems of programming languages. However, an ADT may be implemented by specific data types or data structures, in many ways and in many programming languages; or described in a formal specification language. ADTs are often implemented as modules: the module's interface declares procedures that correspond to the ADT operations, sometimes with comments that describe the constraints. This information hiding strategy allows the implementation of the module to be changed without disturbing the client programs. + +The term abstract data type can also be regarded as a generalized approach of a number of algebraic structures, such as lattices, groups, and rings. The notion of abstract data types is related to the concept of data abstraction, important in object-oriented programming and design by contract methodologies for software development. + +Definition +An abstract data type is defined as a mathematical model of the data objects that make up a data type as well as the functions that operate on these objects. There are no standard conventions for defining them. A broad division may be drawn between "imperative" (or "operational") and "functional" (or "axiomatic") definition styles. + +Imperative-style definition +In the theory of imperative programming languages, an abstract data structure is conceived as an entity that is mutable—meaning that it may be in different states at different times. Some operations may change the state of the ADT; therefore, the order in which operations are evaluated is important, and the same operation on the same entities may have different effects if executed at different times. This is analogous to the instructions of a computer or the commands and procedures of an imperative language. To underscore this view, it is customary to say that the operations are executed or applied, rather than evaluated, similar to the imperative style often used when describing abstract algorithms. (See The Art of Computer Programming by Donald Knuth for more details). + +Abstract variable +Imperative-style definitions of ADT often depend on the concept of an abstract variable, which may be regarded as the simplest non-trivial ADT. An abstract variable V is a mutable entity that admits two operations: + store(V, x) where x is a value of unspecified nature; + fetch(V), that yields a value, +with the constraint that + fetch(V) always returns the value x used in the most recent store(V, x) operation on the same variable V. + +Fetching before storing can be disallowed, defined to have a certain result, or (less desirably), leave the behavior unspecified. + +As in many programming languages, the operation store(V, x) is often written V ← x (or some similar notation), and fetch(V) is implied whenever a variable V is used in a context where a value is required. Thus, for example, V ← V + 1 is commonly understood to be a shorthand for store(V,fetch(V) + 1). + +In this definition, it is implicitly assumed that names are always distinct: storing a value into a variable U has no effect on the state of a distinct variable V. To make this assumption explicit, one could add the constraint that + if U and V are distinct variables, the sequence { store(U, x); store(V, y) } is equivalent to { store(V, y); store(U, x) }. + +More generally, ADT definitions often assume that any operation that changes the state of one ADT instance has no effect on the state of any other instance of the same ADT, unless the ADT axioms define certain instances as connected (see aliased) in a specific way. The most common such connections include: + + Aliasing, in which two or more names refer to the exact same data object. + Composition, in which an ADT is defined to contain instances of (the same or other) ADTs. + Reference, in which an ADT is defined to refer to instance of (the same or other) ADTs. + +For example, when extending the definition of an abstract variable to include abstract records, operations upon a field F of a record variable R, clearly involve F, which is distinct from, but also a part of, R. + +The definition of an ADT may restrict the stored value(s) for its instances, to members of a specific set X called the range of those variables. For example, an ADT for an aggregate such as a Stack or Queue, may constrain all items in the queue to be integers, or at least to all be of a single type (see homogeneity). As in programming languages, such restrictions may simplify the description and analysis of algorithms, and improve its readability. + +Note that this definition does not imply anything about the result of evaluating fetch(V) when V is un-initialized, that is, before performing any store operation on V. An algorithm that does so may be considered invalid, either (a) because the ADT prohibits such an operation, or (b) simply because its effect is not defined by the ADT. However, there are some important algorithms whose efficiency strongly depends on the assumption that such a fetch is legal, and returns some arbitrary value in the variable's range.) + +Instance creation +Some algorithms need to create new instances of some ADT (such as new variables, or new stacks). To describe such algorithms, one usually includes in the ADT definition a create() operation that yields an instance of the ADT, usually with axioms equivalent to + the result of create() is distinct from any instance already in use by the algorithm. +This axiom may be strengthened to exclude also partial aliasing with other instances. For practical use, such as axiom may still allow implementations of create() to yield a previously created instance that has become inaccessible to the program; however, defining that such an instance even is "the same" is difficult, especially in the abstract (though even a re-used block of memory is only "the same object" in certain senses). + +Example: abstract stack (imperative) +As another example, an imperative-style definition of an abstract stack could specify that the state of a stack S can be modified only by the operations + push(S, x), where x is some value of unspecified nature; + pop(S), that yields a value as a result, +with the constraint that + For any value x and any abstract variable V, the sequence of operations { push(S, x); V ← pop(S) } is equivalent to V ← x. + +Since the assignment V ← x, by definition, cannot change the state of S, this condition implies that V ← pop(S) restores S to the state it had before the push(S, x). From this condition and from the properties of abstract variables, it follows, for example, that the sequence + { push(S, x); push(S, y); U ← pop(S); push(S, z); V ← pop(S); W ← pop(S) } +where x, y, and z are any values, and U, V, W are pairwise distinct variables, is equivalent to + { U ← y; V ← z; W ← x } + +Here it is implicitly assumed that operations on a stack instance do not modify the state of any other ADT instance, including other stacks; that is, + For any values x, y, and any distinct stacks S and T, the sequence { push(S, x); push(T, y) } is equivalent to { push(T, y); push(S, x) }. + +An abstract stack definition usually includes also a Boolean-valued function empty(S) and a create() operation that returns a stack instance, with axioms equivalent to + create() ≠ S for any prior stack S (a newly created stack is distinct from all previous stacks); + empty(create()) (a newly created stack is empty); + not empty(push(S, x)) (pushing something into a stack makes it non-empty). + +Single-instance style +Sometimes an ADT is defined as if only one instance of it existed during the execution of the algorithm, and all operations were applied to that instance, which is not explicitly notated. For example, the abstract stack above could have been defined with operations push(x) and pop(), that operate on the only existing stack. ADT definitions in this style can be easily rewritten to admit multiple coexisting instances of the ADT, by adding an explicit instance parameter (like S in the previous example) to every operation that uses or modifies the implicit instance. + +On the other hand, some ADTs cannot be meaningfully defined without assuming multiple instances. This is the case when a single operation takes two distinct instances of the ADT as parameters. For an example, consider augmenting the definition of the abstract stack with an operation compare(S, T) that checks whether the stacks S and T contain the same items in the same order. + +Functional-style definition +Another way to define an ADT, closer to the spirit of functional programming, is to consider each state of the structure as a separate entity. In this view, any operation that modifies the ADT is modelled as a mathematical function that takes the old state as an argument and returns the new state as part of the result. Unlike the imperative operations, these functions have no side effects. Therefore, the order in which they are evaluated is immaterial, and the same operation applied to the same arguments (including the same input states) will always return the same results (and output states). + +In the functional view, in particular, there is no way (or need) to define an "abstract variable" with the semantics of imperative variables (namely, with fetch and store operations). Instead of storing values into variables, one passes them as arguments to functions. + +Example: abstract stack (functional) +For example, a complete functional-style definition of an abstract stack could use the three operations: + push: takes a stack state and an arbitrary value, returns a stack state; + top: takes a stack state, returns a value; + pop: takes a stack state, returns a stack state. + +In a functional-style definition there is no need for a create operation. Indeed, there is no notion of "stack instance". The stack states can be thought of as being potential states of a single stack structure, and two-stack states that contain the same values in the same order are considered to be identical states. This view actually mirrors the behavior of some concrete implementations, such as linked lists with hash cons. + +Instead of create(), a functional-style definition of an abstract stack may assume the existence of a special stack state, the empty stack, designated by a special symbol like Λ or "()"; or define a bottom() operation that takes no arguments and returns this special stack state. Note that the axioms imply that + push(Λ, x) ≠ Λ. +In a functional-style definition of a stack one does not need an empty predicate: instead, one can test whether a stack is empty by testing whether it is equal to Λ. + +Note that these axioms do not define the effect of top(s) or pop(s), unless s is a stack state returned by a push. Since push leaves the stack non-empty, those two operations are undefined (hence invalid) when s = Λ. On the other hand, the axioms (and the lack of side effects) imply that push(s, x) = push(t, y) if and only if x = y and s = t. + +As in some other branches of mathematics, it is customary to assume also that the stack states are only those whose existence can be proved from the axioms in a finite number of steps. In the abstract stack example above, this rule means that every stack is a finite sequence of values, that becomes the empty stack (Λ) after a finite number of pops. By themselves, the axioms above do not exclude the existence of infinite stacks (that can be popped forever, each time yielding a different state) or circular stacks (that return to the same state after a finite number of pops). In particular, they do not exclude states s such that pop(s) = s or push(s, x) = s for some x. However, since one cannot obtain such stack states with the given operations, they are assumed "not to exist". + +Whether to include complexity +Aside from the behavior in terms of axioms, it is also possible to include, in the definition of an ADT operation, their algorithmic complexity. Alexander Stepanov, designer of the C++ Standard Template Library, included complexity guarantees in the STL specification, arguing: + +Advantages + +Encapsulation +Abstraction provides a promise that any implementation of the ADT has certain properties and abilities; knowing these is all that is required to make use of an ADT object. + +Localization of change +Code that uses an ADT object will not need to be edited if the implementation of the ADT is changed. Since any changes to the implementation must still comply with the interface, and since code using an ADT object may only refer to properties and abilities specified in the interface, changes may be made to the implementation without requiring any changes in code where the ADT is used. + +Flexibility +Different implementations of the ADT, having all the same properties and abilities, are equivalent and may be used somewhat interchangeably in code that uses the ADT. This gives a great deal of flexibility when using ADT objects in different situations. For example, different implementations of the ADT may be more efficient in different situations; it is possible to use each in the situation where they are preferable, thus increasing overall efficiency. + +Typical operations +Some operations that are often specified for ADTs (possibly under other names) are + compare(s, t), that tests whether two instances' states are equivalent in some sense; + hash(s), that computes some standard hash function from the instance's state; + print(s) or show(s), that produces a human-readable representation of the instance's state. + +In imperative-style ADT definitions, one often finds also + create(), that yields a new instance of the ADT; + initialize(s), that prepares a newly created instance s for further operations, or resets it to some "initial state"; + copy(s, t), that puts instance s in a state equivalent to that of t; + clone(t), that performs s ← create(), copy(s, t), and returns s; + free(s) or destroy(s), that reclaims the memory and other resources used by s. + +The free operation is not normally relevant or meaningful, since ADTs are theoretical entities that do not "use memory". However, it may be necessary when one needs to analyze the storage used by an algorithm that uses the ADT. In that case, one needs additional axioms that specify how much memory each ADT instance uses, as a function of its state, and how much of it is returned to the pool by free. + +Examples +Some common ADTs, which have proved useful in a great variety of applications, are + + Collection + Container + List + String + Set + Multiset + Map + Multimap + Graph + Tree + Stack + Queue + Priority queue + Double-ended queue + Double-ended priority queue + +Each of these ADTs may be defined in many ways and variants, not necessarily equivalent. For example, an abstract stack may or may not have a count operation that tells how many items have been pushed and not yet popped. This choice makes a difference not only for its clients but also for the implementation. + + Abstract graphical data type +An extension of ADT for computer graphics was proposed in 1979: an abstract graphical data type (AGDT). It was introduced by Nadia Magnenat Thalmann, and Daniel Thalmann. AGDTs provide the advantages of ADTs with facilities to build graphical objects in a structured way. + +Implementation + +Implementing an ADT means providing one procedure or function for each abstract operation. The ADT instances are represented by some concrete data structure that is manipulated by those procedures, according to the ADT's specifications. + +Usually, there are many ways to implement the same ADT, using several different concrete data structures. Thus, for example, an abstract stack can be implemented by a linked list or by an array. + +In order to prevent clients from depending on the implementation, an ADT is often packaged as an opaque data type in one or more modules, whose interface contains only the signature (number and types of the parameters and results) of the operations. The implementation of the module—namely, the bodies of the procedures and the concrete data structure used—can then be hidden from most clients of the module. This makes it possible to change the implementation without affecting the clients. If the implementation is exposed, it is known instead as a transparent data type. + +When implementing an ADT, each instance (in imperative-style definitions) or each state (in functional-style definitions) is usually represented by a handle of some sort. + +Modern object-oriented languages, such as C++ and Java, support a form of abstract data types. When a class is used as a type, it is an abstract type that refers to a hidden representation. In this model, an ADT is typically implemented as a class, and each instance of the ADT is usually an object of that class. The module's interface typically declares the constructors as ordinary procedures, and most of the other ADT operations as methods of that class. However, such an approach does not easily encapsulate multiple representational variants found in an ADT. It also can undermine the extensibility of object-oriented programs. In a pure object-oriented program that uses interfaces as types, types refer to behaviours, not representations. + +Example: implementation of the abstract stack +As an example, here is an implementation of the abstract stack above in the C programming language. + +Imperative-style interface +An imperative-style interface might be: +typedef struct stack_Rep stack_Rep; // type: stack instance representation (opaque record) +typedef stack_Rep* stack_T; // type: handle to a stack instance (opaque pointer) +typedef void* stack_Item; // type: value stored in stack instance (arbitrary address) + +stack_T stack_create(void); // creates a new empty stack instance +void stack_push(stack_T s, stack_Item x); // adds an item at the top of the stack +stack_Item stack_pop(stack_T s); // removes the top item from the stack and returns it +bool stack_empty(stack_T s); // checks whether stack is empty + +This interface could be used in the following manner: +#include // includes the stack interface + +stack_T s = stack_create(); // creates a new empty stack instance +int x = 17; +stack_push(s, &x); // adds the address of x at the top of the stack +void* y = stack_pop(s); // removes the address of x from the stack and returns it +if (stack_empty(s)) { } // does something if stack is empty + +This interface can be implemented in many ways. The implementation may be arbitrarily inefficient, since the formal definition of the ADT, above, does not specify how much space the stack may use, nor how long each operation should take. It also does not specify whether the stack state s continues to exist after a call x ← pop(s). + +In practice the formal definition should specify that the space is proportional to the number of items pushed and not yet popped; and that every one of the operations above must finish in a constant amount of time, independently of that number. To comply with these additional specifications, the implementation could use a linked list, or an array (with dynamic resizing) together with two integers (an item count and the array size). + +Functional-style interface +Functional-style ADT definitions are more appropriate for functional programming languages, and vice versa. However, one can provide a functional-style interface even in an imperative language like C. For example: +typedef struct stack_Rep stack_Rep; // type: stack state representation (opaque record) +typedef stack_Rep* stack_T; // type: handle to a stack state (opaque pointer) +typedef void* stack_Item; // type: value of a stack state (arbitrary address) + +stack_T stack_empty(void); // returns the empty stack state +stack_T stack_push(stack_T s, stack_Item x); // adds an item at the top of the stack state and returns the resulting stack state +stack_T stack_pop(stack_T s); // removes the top item from the stack state and returns the resulting stack state +stack_Item stack_top(stack_T s); // returns the top item of the stack state + +ADT libraries +Many modern programming languages, such as C++ and Java, come with standard libraries that implement several common ADTs, such as those listed above. + +Built-in abstract data types +The specification of some programming languages is intentionally vague about the representation of certain built-in data types, defining only the operations that can be done on them. Therefore, those types can be viewed as "built-in ADTs". Examples are the arrays in many scripting languages, such as Awk, Lua, and Perl, which can be regarded as an implementation of the abstract list. + +See also + Concept (generic programming) + Formal methods + Functional specification + Generalized algebraic data type + Initial algebra + Liskov substitution principle + Type theory + Walls and Mirrors + +Notes + +Citations + +References + +Further reading + +External links + +Abstract data type in NIST Dictionary of Algorithms and Data Structures + + +Data types +Type theory +The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. The upstart AFL operated in direct competition with the more established NFL throughout its existence. It was more successful than earlier rivals to the NFL with the same name, the 1926, 1936 and 1940 leagues, and the later All-America Football Conference (which existed between 1944 and 1950 but only played between 1946 and 1949). + +This fourth version of the AFL was the most successful, created by a number of owners who had been refused NFL expansion franchises or had minor shares of NFL franchises. The AFL's original lineup consisted of an Eastern division of the New York Titans, Boston Patriots, Buffalo Bills, and the Houston Oilers, and a Western division of the Los Angeles Chargers, Denver Broncos, Oakland Raiders, and Dallas Texans. The league first gained attention by signing 75% of the NFL's first-round draft choices in 1960, including Houston's successful signing of college star and Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon. + +While the first years of the AFL saw uneven competition and low attendance, the league was buttressed by a generous television contract with the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), followed by a contract with the competing National Broadcasting Company (NBC) for games starting with the 1965 season, that broadcast the more offense-oriented football league nationwide. Continuing to attract top talent from colleges and the NFL by the mid-1960s, as well as successful franchise shifts of the Chargers from L.A. south to San Diego and the Texans north to Kansas City (becoming the Kansas City Chiefs), the AFL established a dedicated following. The transformation of the struggling Titans into the New York Jets under new ownership, including the signing of University of Alabama star quarterback Joe Namath, further solidified the league's reputation among the major media. + +As fierce competition made player salaries skyrocket in both leagues, especially after a series of "raids", the leagues agreed to a merger in 1966. Among the conditions were a common draft and a championship game played between the two league champions first played in early 1967, which would eventually become known as the Super Bowl. + +The AFL and NFL operated as separate leagues until 1970, with separate regular season and playoff schedules except for the championship game. NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle also became chief executive of the AFL from July 26, 1966, through the completion of the merger. During this time the AFL expanded, adding the Miami Dolphins and Cincinnati Bengals. After losses by the Kansas City Chiefs and Oakland Raiders in the first two AFL-NFL World Championship Games to the Green Bay Packers (1966–67), the New York Jets and Chiefs won Super Bowls III and IV (1968–69) respectively, cementing the league's claim to being an equal to the NFL. + +In 1970, the AFL was absorbed into the NFL. The ten AFL franchises joined three existing NFL teams- the Baltimore Colts, the Cleveland Browns, and the Pittsburgh Steelers-to form the merged league's American Football Conference. + +League history +During the 1950s, the National Football League had grown to rival Major League Baseball as one of the most popular professional sports leagues in the United States. One franchise that did not share in this newfound success of the league was the Chicago Cardinals – owned by the Bidwill family – who had become overshadowed by the more popular Chicago Bears. The Bidwills hoped to move their franchise, preferably to St. Louis, but could not come to terms with the league, which demanded money before it would approve the move. Needing cash, the Bidwills began entertaining offers from would-be investors, and one of the men who approached the Bidwills was Lamar Hunt, son and heir of millionaire oilman H. L. Hunt. Hunt offered to buy the Cardinals and move them to Dallas, where he had grown up. However, these negotiations came to nothing, since the Bidwills insisted on retaining a controlling interest in the franchise and were unwilling to move their team to a city where a previous NFL franchise had failed in . While Hunt negotiated with the Bidwills, similar offers were made by Bud Adams, Bob Howsam, and Max Winter. + +When Hunt, Adams, and Howsam were unable to secure a controlling interest in the Cardinals, they approached NFL commissioner Bert Bell and proposed the addition of expansion teams. Bell, wary of expanding the 12-team league and risking its newfound success, rejected the offer. On his return flight to Dallas, Hunt conceived the idea of an entirely new league and decided to contact the others who had shown interest in purchasing the Cardinals. In addition to Adams, Howsam, and Winter, Hunt reached out to Bill Boyer, Winter's business partner, to gauge their interest in starting a new league. Hunt's first meeting with Adams was held in March 1959. Hunt, who felt a regional rivalry would be critical for the success of the new league, convinced Adams to join and found his team in Houston. Hunt next secured an agreement from Howsam to bring a team to Denver. + +After Winter and Boyer agreed to start a team in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, the new league had its first four teams. Hunt then approached Willard Rhodes, who hoped to bring pro football to Seattle. However, not wanting to undermine its own brand, the University of Washington was unwilling to let the fledgling league use Husky Stadium, and Rhodes' effort came to nothing (Seattle would later get a pro football team of its own). Hunt also sought franchises in Los Angeles, Buffalo and New York City. During the summer of 1959, he sought the blessings of the NFL for his nascent league, as he did not seek a potentially costly rivalry. Within weeks of the July 1959 announcement of the league's formation, Hunt received commitments from Barron Hilton and Harry Wismer to bring teams to Los Angeles and New York, respectively. His initial efforts for Buffalo, however, were rebuffed, when Hunt's first choice of owner, Pat McGroder, declined to take part; McGroder had hoped that the threat of the AFL would be enough to prompt the NFL to expand to Buffalo. + +On August 14, 1959, the first league meeting was held in Chicago, and charter memberships were given to Dallas, New York, Houston, Denver, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis-Saint Paul. On August 22, the league officially was named the American Football League at a meeting in Dallas. The NFL's initial reaction was not as openly hostile as it had been with the earlier All-America Football Conference (AAFC), as Bell had even given his public approval; but he died suddenly in October 1959, and individual NFL owners soon began a campaign to undermine the new league. AFL owners were approached with promises of new NFL franchises or ownership stakes in existing ones. Only the party from Minneapolis-Saint Paul accepted, and with the addition of Ole Haugsrud and Bernie Ridder the Minnesota group joined the NFL in 1961 as the Minnesota Vikings. The older league also announced on August 29 that it had conveniently reversed its position against expansion, and planned to bring new NFL teams to Houston and Dallas, to start play in 1961. (The NFL did not expand to Houston at that time, the promised Dallas team – the Dallas Cowboys – actually started play in 1960, and the Vikings began play in 1961.) Finally, the NFL quickly came to terms with the Bidwills and allowed them to relocate the struggling Cardinals to St. Louis, eliminating that city as a potential AFL market. + +Ralph Wilson, who owned a minority interest in the NFL's Detroit Lions at the time, initially announced he was placing a team in Miami, but like the Seattle situation, was also rebuffed by local ownership (like Seattle, Miami would later get a pro football team of its own as well); given five other choices, Wilson negotiated with McGroder and brought the team that became the Bills to Buffalo. Buffalo was officially awarded its franchise on October 28. During a league meeting on November 22, a 10-man ownership group from Boston (led by Billy Sullivan) was awarded the AFL's eighth team. On November 30, 1959, Joe Foss, a World War II Marine fighter ace and former governor of South Dakota, was named the AFL's first commissioner. Foss commissioned a friend of Harry Wismer's to develop the AFL's eagle-on-football logo. Hunt was elected President of the AFL on January 26, 1960. + +The AFL draft + +The AFL's first draft took place the same day Boston was awarded its franchise, and lasted 33 rounds. The league held a second draft on December 2, which lasted for 20 rounds. Because the Oakland Raiders joined after the initial AFL drafts, they inherited Minnesota's selections. A special allocation draft was held in January 1960, to allow the Raiders to stock their team, as some of the other AFL teams had already signed some of Minneapolis' original draft choices. + +Crisis and success (1960–61) +In November 1959, Minneapolis-Saint Paul owner Max Winter announced his intent to leave the AFL to accept a franchise offer from the NFL. In 1961, his team began play in the NFL as the Minnesota Vikings. Los Angeles Chargers owner Barron Hilton demanded that a replacement for Minnesota be placed in California, to reduce his team's operating costs and to create a rivalry. After a brief search, Oakland was chosen and an ownership group led by F. Wayne Valley and local real estate developer Chet Soda was formed. After initially being called the Oakland Señors, the rechristened Oakland Raiders officially joined the AFL on January 30, 1960. + +The AFL's first major success came when the Houston Oilers signed Billy Cannon, the All-American and 1959 Heisman Trophy winner from LSU. Cannon signed a $100,000 contract to play for the Oilers, despite having already signed a $50,000 contract with the NFL's Los Angeles Rams. The Oilers filed suit and claimed that Rams general manager Pete Rozelle had unduly manipulated Cannon. The court upheld the Houston contract, and with Cannon the Oilers appeared in the AFL's first three championship games (winning two). + +On June 9, 1960, the league signed a five-year television contract with ABC, which brought in revenues of approximately $2.125 million per year for the entire league. On June 17, the AFL filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NFL, which was dismissed in 1962 after a two-month trial. The AFL began regular-season play (a night game on Friday, September 9, 1960) with eight teams in the league – the Boston Patriots, Buffalo Bills, Dallas Texans, Denver Broncos, Houston Oilers, Los Angeles Chargers, New York Titans, and Oakland Raiders. Raiders' co-owner Wayne Valley dubbed the AFL ownership "The Foolish Club", a term Lamar Hunt subsequently used on team photographs he sent as Christmas gifts. + +The Oilers became the first-ever league champions by defeating the Chargers, 24–16, in the AFL Championship on January 1, 1961. Attendance for the 1960 season was respectable for a new league, but not nearly that of the NFL. In 1960, the NFL averaged attendance of more than 40,000 fans per game and more popular NFL teams in 1960 regularly saw attendance figures in excess of 50,000 per game, while CFL attendances averaged approximately 20,000 per game. By comparison, AFL attendance averaged about 16,500 per game and generally hovered between 10,000 and 20,000 per game. Professional football was still primarily a gate-driven business in 1960, so low attendance meant financial losses. The Raiders, with a league-worst average attendance of just 9,612, lost $500,000 in their first year and only survived after receiving a $400,000 loan from Bills owner Ralph Wilson. In an early sign of stability, however, the AFL did not lose any teams after its first year of operation. In fact, the only major change was the Chargers' move from Los Angeles to nearby San Diego (they would return to Los Angeles in 2017). + +On August 8, 1961, the AFL challenged the Canadian Football League to an exhibition game that would feature the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Buffalo Bills, which was attended by 24,376 spectators. Playing at Civic Stadium in Hamilton, Ontario, the Tiger-Cats defeated the Bills 38–21 playing a mix of AFL and CFL rules. + +Movement and instability (1962–63) +While the Oilers found instant success in the AFL, other teams did not fare as well. The Oakland Raiders and New York Titans struggled on and off the field during their first few seasons in the league. Oakland's eight-man ownership group was reduced to just three in 1961, after heavy financial losses in their first season. Attendance for home games was poor, partly due to the team playing in the San Francisco Bay Area—which already had an established NFL team (the San Francisco 49ers)—but the product on the field was also to blame. After winning six games in their debut season, the Raiders won a total of three times in the 1961 and 1962 seasons. Oakland took part in a 1961 supplemental draft meant to boost the weaker teams in the league, but it did little good. They participated in another such draft in 1962. + +The Titans fared a little better on the field but had their own financial troubles. Attendance was so low for home games that team owner Harry Wismer had fans move to seats closer to the field to give the illusion of a fuller stadium on television. Eventually Wismer could no longer afford to meet his payroll, and on November 8, 1962, the AFL took over operations of the team. The Titans were sold to a five-person ownership group headed by Sonny Werblin on March 28, 1963, and in April the new owners changed the team's name to the New York Jets. + +The Raiders and Titans both finished last in their respective divisions in the 1962 season. The Texans and Oilers, winners of their divisions, faced each other for the 1962 AFL Championship on December 23. The Texans dethroned the two-time champion Oilers, 20–17, in a double-overtime contest that was, at the time, professional football's longest-ever game. + +In 1963, the Texans became the second AFL team to relocate. Lamar Hunt felt that despite winning the league championship in 1962, the Texans could not sufficiently profit in the same market as the Dallas Cowboys, which entered the NFL as an expansion franchise in 1960. After meetings with New Orleans, Atlanta, and Miami, Hunt announced on May 22 that the Texans' new home would be Kansas City, Missouri. Kansas City mayor Harold Roe Bartle (nicknamed "Chief") was instrumental in his city's success in attracting the team. Partly to honor Bartle, the franchise officially became the Kansas City Chiefs on May 26. + +The San Diego Chargers, under head coach Sid Gillman, won a decisive 51–10 victory over the Boston Patriots for the 1963 AFL Championship. Confident that his team was capable of beating that season's NFL champion Chicago Bears (he had the Chargers' rings inscribed with the phrase "World Champions"), Gillman approached NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle and proposed a final championship game between the two teams. Rozelle declined the offer; however, the game would be instituted three seasons later. + +Watershed years (1964–65) +A series of events throughout the next few years demonstrated the AFL's ability to achieve a greater level of equality with the NFL. On January 29, 1964, the AFL signed a lucrative $36 million television contract with NBC (beginning in the 1965 season), which gave the league money it needed to compete with the NFL for players. Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney was quoted as saying to NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle after receiving the news of the AFL's new TV deal that, "They don't have to call us 'Mister' anymore". A single-game attendance record was set on November 8, 1964, when 61,929 fans packed Shea Stadium to watch the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills. + +The bidding war for players between the AFL and NFL escalated in 1965. The Chiefs drafted University of Kansas star Gale Sayers in the first round of the 1965 AFL draft (held November 28, 1964), while the Chicago Bears did the same in the NFL draft. Sayers eventually signed with the Bears. A similar situation occurred when the New York Jets and the NFL's St. Louis Cardinals both drafted University of Alabama quarterback Joe Namath. In what was viewed as a key victory for the AFL, Namath signed a $427,000 contract with the Jets on January 2, 1965 (the deal included a new car). It was the highest amount of money ever paid to a collegiate football player, and is cited as the strongest contributing factor to the eventual merger between the two leagues. + +After the 1963 season, the Newark Bears of the Atlantic Coast Football League expressed interest in joining the AFL; concerns over having to split the New York metro area with the still-uncertain Jets were a factor in the Bears' bid being rejected. In 1965, Milwaukee officials tried to lure an expansion team to play at Milwaukee County Stadium where the Green Bay Packers had played parts of their home schedule after an unsuccessful attempt to lure the Packers there full-time, but Packers head coach Vince Lombardi invoked the team's exclusive lease, and additionally, signed an extension to keep some home games in Milwaukee until 1976. + +In June 1965, the AFL awarded its first expansion team to Cox Broadcasting of Atlanta. The NFL quickly counteroffered insurance executive Rankin Smith a franchise, which he accepted; the Atlanta Falcons began play as an NFL franchise for the 1966 season. In March 1965, Joe Robbie had met with Commissioner Foss to inquire about an expansion franchise for Miami. On May 6, Robbie secured an agreement with Miami mayor Robert King High to bring a team to Miami. League expansion was approved at a meeting held on June 7, and on August 16 the AFL's ninth franchise was officially awarded to Robbie and entertainer Danny Thomas. The Miami Dolphins joined the league for a fee of $7.5 million and started play in the AFL's Eastern Division in 1966. The AFL also planned to add two more teams by 1967. + +Escalation and merger (1966–67) + +In 1966, the rivalry between the AFL and NFL reached an all-time peak. On April 7, Joe Foss resigned as AFL commissioner. His successor was Oakland Raiders head coach and general manager Al Davis, who had been instrumental in turning around the fortunes of that franchise. That following May, Wellington Mara, owner of the NFL's New York Giants, broke a "gentleman's agreement" against signing another league's players and lured kicker Pete Gogolak away from the AFL's Buffalo Bills. In response to the Gogolak signing and no longer content with trying to outbid the NFL for college talent, the AFL under Davis began to also recruit players already on NFL squads. Davis's strategy focused on quarterbacks in particular, and in two months he persuaded seven NFL quarterbacks to sign with the AFL. Although Davis's intention was to help the AFL win the bidding war, some AFL and NFL owners saw the escalation as detrimental to both leagues. Alarmed with the rate of spending in the league, Hilton Hotels forced Barron Hilton to relinquish his stake in the Chargers as a condition of maintaining his leadership role with the hotel chain. + +The same month Davis was named commissioner, several NFL owners, headed by Dallas Cowboys general manager Tex Schramm, secretly approached Lamar Hunt and other AFL owners and started negotiations with the AFL to merge. A series of secret meetings commenced in Dallas to discuss the concerns of both leagues over rapidly increasing player salaries, as well as the practice of player poaching. Hunt and Schramm completed the basic groundwork for a merger of the two leagues by the end of May, and on June 8, 1966, the merger was officially announced. Under the terms of the agreement, the two leagues would hold a common player draft. The agreement also called for a title game to be played between the champions of the respective leagues. The two leagues would be fully merged by 1970, NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle would remain as commissioner of the merged league, which would be named the NFL. Additional expansion teams would eventually be awarded by 1970 or soon thereafter to bring it to a 28-team league. (The additional expansion would not happen until 1976.) The AFL also agreed to pay indemnities of $18 million to the NFL over 20 years. In protest, Davis resigned as AFL commissioner on July 25 rather than remain until the completion of the merger, and Milt Woodard was named president of the AFL, with the "commissioner" title vacated because of Rozelle's expanded role. + +On January 15, 1967, the first-ever championship game between the two separate professional football leagues, the "AFL-NFL World Championship Game" (retroactively referred to as Super Bowl I), was played in Los Angeles. After a close first half, the NFL champion Green Bay Packers overwhelmed the AFL champion Kansas City Chiefs, 35–10. The loss reinforced for many the notion that the AFL was an inferior league. Packers head coach Vince Lombardi stated after the game, "I do not think they are as good as the top teams in the National Football League." + +The second AFL-NFL Championship (Super Bowl II) yielded a similar result. The Oakland Raiders—who had easily beaten the Houston Oilers to win their first AFL championship—were overmatched by the Packers, 33–14. The more experienced Packers capitalized on a number of Raiders miscues and never trailed. Green Bay defensive tackle Henry Jordan offered a compliment to Oakland and the AFL, when he said, "... the AFL is becoming much more sophisticated on offense. I think the league has always had good personnel, but the blocks were subtler and better conceived in this game." + +The AFL added its tenth and final team on May 24, 1967, when it awarded the league's second expansion franchise to an ownership group from Cincinnati, Ohio, headed by NFL legend Paul Brown. Although Brown had intended to join the NFL, he agreed to join the AFL when he learned that his team would be included in the NFL once the merger was completed. The league's last newest expansion team, the Cincinnati Bengals began play in the 1968 season, finishing last in the Western Division. + +Legitimacy and the end of an era (1968–1970) +While many AFL players and observers believed their league was the equal of the NFL, their first two Super Bowl performances did nothing to prove it. However, on November 17, 1968, when NBC cut away from a game between the Jets and Raiders to air the children's movie Heidi, the ensuing uproar helped disprove the notion that fans still considered the AFL an inferior product. The perception of AFL inferiority forever changed on January 12, 1969, when the AFL Champion New York Jets shocked the heavily favored NFL Champion Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. The Colts, who entered the contest favored by as many as 18 points, had completed the 1968 NFL season with a 13–1 record, and won the NFL title with a convincing 34–0 win over the Cleveland Browns. Led by their stalwart defense—which allowed a record-low 144 points—the 1968 Colts were considered one of the best-ever NFL teams. + +By contrast, the Jets had allowed 280 points, the highest total for any division winner in the two leagues. They had also only narrowly beaten the favored Oakland Raiders 27–23 in the AFL championship game. Jets quarterback Joe Namath recalled that in the days leading up to the game, he grew increasingly angry when told New York had no chance to beat Baltimore. Three days before the game, a frustrated Namath responded to a heckler at the Touchdown Club in Miami by declaring, "We're going to win Sunday, I guarantee it!" + +Namath and the Jets made good on his guarantee as they held the Colts scoreless until late in the fourth quarter. The Jets won, 16–7, in what is considered one of the greatest upsets in American sports history. With the win, the AFL finally achieved parity with the NFL and legitimized the merger of the two leagues. That notion was reinforced one year later in Super Bowl IV, when the AFL champion Kansas City Chiefs upset the NFL champion Minnesota Vikings, 23–7, in the last championship game to be played between the two leagues. The Vikings, favored by 12½ points, were held to just 67 rushing yards. + +The last game in AFL history was the AFL All-Star Game, held in Houston's Astrodome on January 17, 1970. The Western All-Stars, led by Chargers quarterback John Hadl, defeated the Eastern All-Stars, 26–3. Buffalo rookie running back O. J. Simpson carried the ball for the last play in AFL history. Hadl was named the game's Most Valuable Player. The AFL ceased to exist as an unincorporated organization on February 1, 1970, when the NFL granted 10 new franchises and issued a new constitution. + +Prior to the start of the 1970 NFL season, the merged league was organized into two conferences of three divisions each. All ten AFL teams made up the bulk of the new American Football Conference. To avoid having an inequitable number of teams in each conference, the leagues voted to move three NFL teams to the AFC. Motivated by the prospect of an intrastate rivalry with the Bengals as well as by personal animosity toward Paul Brown, Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell quickly offered to include his team in the AFC. He helped persuade the Pittsburgh Steelers (the Browns' archrivals) and Baltimore Colts (who shared the Baltimore-Washington market with the Washington Redskins) to follow suit, and each team received US$3 million to make the switch. The remaining 13 NFL teams became part of the National Football Conference. + +Pro Football Hall of Fame receiver Charlie Joiner, who started his career with the Houston Oilers (1969), was the last AFL player active in professional football, retiring after the 1986 season, when he played for the San Diego Chargers. + +Legacy + +Overview +The American Football League stands as the only professional football league to successfully compete against the NFL. When the two leagues merged in 1970, all ten AFL franchises and their statistics became part of the new NFL. Every other professional league that had competed against the NFL before the AFL–NFL merger had folded completely: the three previous leagues named "American Football League" and the All-America Football Conference. From an earlier AFL (1936–1937), only the Cleveland Rams (now the Los Angeles Rams) joined the NFL and are currently operating, as are the Cleveland Browns and the San Francisco 49ers from the AAFC. A third AAFC team, the Baltimore Colts (not related to the 1953–1983 Baltimore Colts or to the current Indianapolis Colts franchise), played only one year in the NFL, disbanding at the end of the 1950 season. The league resulting from the merger was a 26-team juggernaut (since expanded to 32) with television rights covering all of the Big Three television networks (and since the 1990s, the newer Fox network) and teams in close proximity to almost all of the top 40 metropolitan areas, a fact that has precluded any other competing league from gaining traction since the merger; failed attempts to mimic the AFL's success included the World Football League (1974–75), United States Football League (1983–85), the United Football League (2009–2012) and the AAF (2019), and two iterations of the XFL (2001 and 2020), in addition to the NFL-backed and created World League of American Football (1991-92). + +The AFL was also the most successful of numerous upstart leagues of the 1960s and 1970s that attempted to challenge a major professional league's dominance. All nine teams that were in the AFL at the time the merger was agreed upon were accepted into the league intact (as was the tenth team added between the time of the merger's agreement and finalization), and none of the AFL's teams have ever folded. For comparison, the World Hockey Association (1972–79) managed to have four of its six remaining teams merged into the National Hockey League, which actually caused the older league to contract a franchise, but WHA teams were forced to disperse the majority of their rosters and restart as expansion teams. The merged WHA teams were also not financially sound (in large part from the hefty expansion fees the NHL imposed on them), and three of the four were forced to relocate within 20 years. Like the WHA, The American Basketball Association (1967–76) also managed to have only four of its teams merged into the National Basketball Association, and the rest of the league was forced to fold. Both the WHA and ABA lost several teams to financial insolvency over the course of their existences. The Continental League, a proposed third league for Major League Baseball that was to begin play in 1961, never played a single game, largely because MLB responded to the proposal by expanding to four of that league's proposed cities. Historically, the only other professional sports league in the United States to exhibit a comparable level of franchise stability from its inception was the American League of Major League Baseball, which made its debut in the early 20th century. + +Rule changes +The NFL adopted some of the innovations introduced by the AFL immediately and a few others in the years following the merger. One was including the names on player jerseys. The older league also adopted the practice of using the stadium scoreboard clocks to keep track of the official game time, instead of just having a stopwatch used by the referee. The AFL played a 14-game schedule for its entire existence, starting in 1960. The NFL, which had played a 12-game schedule since 1947, changed to a 14-game schedule in 1961, a year after the American Football League instituted it. The AFL also introduced the two-point conversion to professional football 34 years before the NFL instituted it in 1994 (college football had adopted the two-point conversion in the late 1950s). All of these innovations pioneered by the AFL, including its more exciting style of play and colorful uniforms, have essentially made today's professional football more like the AFL than like the old-line NFL. The AFL's challenge to the NFL also laid the groundwork for the Super Bowl, which has become the standard for championship contests in the United States of America. + +Television +The NFL also adapted how the AFL used the growing power of televised football games, which were bolstered with the help of major network contracts (first with ABC and later with NBC). With that first contract with ABC, the AFL adopted the first-ever cooperative television plan for professional football, in which the proceeds were divided equally among member clubs. It featured many outstanding games, such as the classic 1962 double-overtime American Football League championship game between the Dallas Texans and the defending champion Houston Oilers. At the time it was the longest professional football championship game ever played. The AFL also appealed to fans by offering a flashier style of play (just like the ABA in basketball), compared to the more conservative game of the NFL. Long passes ("bombs") were commonplace in AFL offenses, led by such talented quarterbacks as John Hadl, Daryle Lamonica and Len Dawson. + +Despite having a national television contract, the AFL often found itself trying to gain a foothold, only to come up against roadblocks. For example, CBS-TV, which broadcast NFL games, ignored and did not report scores from the innovative AFL, on orders from the NFL. It was only after the merger agreement was announced that CBS began to give out AFL scores. + +Expanding and reintroducing the sport to more cities + +The AFL took advantage of the burgeoning popularity of football by locating teams in major cities that lacked NFL franchises. Hunt's vision not only brought a new professional football league to California and New York, but introduced the sport to Colorado, restored it to Texas and later to fast-growing Florida, as well as bringing it to Greater Boston for the first time in 12 years. Buffalo, having lost its original NFL franchise in 1929 and turned down by the NFL at least twice (1940 and 1950) for a replacement, returned to the NFL with the merger. The return of football to Kansas City was the first time that city had seen professional football since the NFL's Kansas City Blues of the 1920s; the arrival of the Chiefs, and the contemporary arrival of the St. Louis Football Cardinals, brought professional football back to Missouri for the first time since the temporary St. Louis Gunners of 1934. St. Louis would later regain an NFL franchise in 1995 with the relocation of the LA Rams to the city. The Rams moved back in 2016. + +In the case of the Dallas Cowboys, the NFL had long sought to return to the Dallas area after the Dallas Texans folded in 1952, but was originally met with strong opposition by Washington Redskins owner George Preston Marshall, who had enjoyed a monopoly as the only NFL team to represent the American South. Marshall later changed his position after future-Cowboys owner Clint Murchison bought the rights to Washington's fight song "Hail to the Redskins" and threatened to prevent Marshall from playing it at games. By then, the NFL wanted to quickly award the new Dallas franchise to Murchison so the team could immediately begin play and compete with the AFL's Texans. As a result, the Cowboys played its inaugural season in 1960 without the benefit of the NFL draft. The Texans eventually ceded Dallas to the Cowboys and became the Kansas City Chiefs. + +As part of the merger agreement, additional expansion teams would be awarded by 1970 or soon thereafter to bring the league to 28 franchises; this requirement was fulfilled when the Seattle Seahawks and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers began play in 1976. In addition, had it not been for the existence of the Oilers from 1960 to 1996, the Houston Texans also would likely not exist today; the 2002 expansion team restored professional football in Houston after the original charter AFL member Oilers relocated to become the Tennessee Titans. + +Kevin Sherrington of The Dallas Morning News has argued that the presence of AFL and the subsequent merger radically altered the fortunes of the Pittsburgh Steelers, saving the team "from stinking". Before the merger, the Steelers had long been one of the NFL's worst teams. Constantly lacking the money to build a quality team, the Steelers had only posted eight winning seasons, and just one playoff appearance, since their first year of existence in 1933 until the end of the 1969 season. They also finished with a 1–13 record in 1969, tied with the Chicago Bears for the worst record in the NFL. The $3 million indemnity that the Steelers received for joining the AFC with the rest of the former AFL teams after the merger helped them rebuild into a contender, drafting eventual-Pro Football Hall of Famers like Terry Bradshaw and Joe Greene, and ultimately winning four Super Bowls in the 1970s. Since the 1970 merger, the Steelers have the NFL's highest winning percentage, the most total victories, the most trips to either conference championship game, are tied for the second most trips to the Super Bowl (tied with the Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos, trailing only the New England Patriots), and have won six Super Bowl championships, tied with the Patriots for the most in NFL history. + +Effects on players +Perhaps the greatest social legacy of the AFL was the domino effect of its policy of being more liberal than the entrenched NFL in offering opportunity for black players. While the NFL was still emerging from thirty years of segregation influenced by Washington Redskins' owner George Preston Marshall, the AFL actively recruited from small and predominantly black colleges. The AFL's color-blindness led not only to the explosion of black talent on the field, but to the eventual entry of blacks into scouting, coordinating, and ultimately head coaching positions, long after the league merged itself out of existence. + +The AFL's free agents came from several sources. Some were players who could not find success playing in the NFL, while another source was the then newly-formed Canadian Football League. In the late 1950s, many players released by the NFL, or un-drafted and unsigned out of college by the NFL, went North to try their luck with the CFL (which formed in 1958), and later returned to the states to play in the AFL. + +In the league's first years, players such as Oilers' George Blanda, Chargers/Bills' Jack Kemp, Texans' Len Dawson, the NY Titans' Don Maynard, Raiders/Patriots/Jets' Babe Parilli, Pats' Bob Dee proved to be AFL standouts. Other players such as the Broncos' Frank Tripucka, the Pats' Gino Cappelletti, the Bills' Cookie Gilchrist and the Chargers' Tobin Rote, Sam DeLuca and Dave Kocourek also made their mark to give the fledgling league badly needed credibility. Rounding out this mix of potential talent were the true "free agents", the walk-ons and the "wanna-be's", who tried out in droves for the chance to play professional American football. + +After the AFL–NFL merger agreement in 1966, and after the AFL's Jets defeated an extremely strong Baltimore Colts team, a popular misconception fostered by the NFL and spread by media reports was that the AFL defeated the NFL because of the Common Draft instituted in 1967. This apparently was meant to assert that the AFL could not achieve parity as long as it had to compete with the NFL in the draft. But the 1968 Jets had less than a handful of "common draftees". Their stars were honed in the AFL, many of them since the Titans days. + +Players who chose the AFL to develop their talent included Lance Alworth and Ron Mix of the Chargers, who had also been drafted by the NFL's San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Colts respectively. Both eventually were elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame after earning recognition during their careers as being among the best at their positions. Among specific teams, the 1964 Buffalo Bills stood out by holding their opponents to a pro football record 913 yards rushing on 300 attempts, while also recording fifty quarterback sacks in a 14-game schedule. + +In 2009, a five-part series, Full Color Football: The History of the American Football League, on the Showtime Network, refuted many of the long-held misconceptions about the AFL. In it, Abner Haynes tells of how his father forbade him to accept being drafted by the NFL, after drunken scouts from that league had visited the Haynes home; the NFL Cowboys' Tex Schramm is quoted as saying that if his team had ever agreed to play the AFL's Dallas Texans, they would very likely have lost; George Blanda makes a case for more AFL players being inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame by pointing out that Hall of Famer Willie Brown was cut by the Houston Oilers because he couldn't cover Oilers flanker Charlie Hennigan in practice. Later, when Brown was with the Broncos, Hennigan needed nine catches in one game against the Broncos to break Lionel Taylor's Professional Football record of 100 catches in one season. Hennigan caught the nine passes and broke the record, even though he was covered by Brown. + +Influence on professional football coaching +The AFL also spawned coaches whose style and techniques have profoundly affected the play of professional football to this day. In addition to AFL greats like Hank Stram, Lou Saban, Sid Gillman and Al Davis were eventual hall of fame coaches such as Bill Walsh, a protégé of Davis with the AFL Oakland Raiders for one season; and Chuck Noll, who worked for Gillman and the AFL LA/San Diego Chargers from 1960 through 1965. Others include Buddy Ryan (AFL's New York Jets), Chuck Knox (Jets), Walt Michaels (Jets), and John Madden (AFL's Oakland Raiders). Additionally, many prominent coaches began their pro football careers as players in the AFL, including Sam Wyche (Cincinnati Bengals), Marty Schottenheimer (Buffalo Bills), Wayne Fontes (Jets), and two-time Super Bowl winner Tom Flores (Oakland Raiders). Flores also has a Super Bowl ring as a player (1969 Kansas City Chiefs). + +AFL 50th Anniversary Celebration + +As the influence of the AFL continues through the present, the 50th anniversary of its launch was celebrated during 2009. The season-long celebration began in August with the 2009 Pro Football Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio, between two AFC teams (as opposed to the AFC-vs-NFC format the game first adopted in 1971). The opponents were two of the original AFL franchises, the Buffalo Bills and Tennessee Titans (the former Houston Oilers). Bills' owner Ralph C. Wilson Jr. (a 2009 Hall of Fame inductee) and Titans' owner Bud Adams were the only surviving members of the Foolish Club at the time (both are now deceased; Wilson's estate sold the team in 2014), the eight original owners of AFL franchises. (As of the season, the Titans and Chiefs are still owned by descendants of the original eight owners.) + +The Hall of Fame Game was the first of several "Legacy Weekends", during which each of the "original eight" AFL teams sported uniforms from their AFL era. Each of the 8 teams took part in at least two such "legacy" games. On-field officials also wore red-and-white-striped AFL uniforms during these games. + +In the fall of 2009, the Showtime pay-cable network premiered Full Color Football: The History of the American Football League, a 5-part documentary series produced by NFL Films that features vintage game film and interviews as well as more recent interviews with those associated with the AFL. + +The NFL sanctioned a variety of "Legacy" gear to celebrate the AFL anniversary, such as "throwback" jerseys, T-shirts, signs, pennants and banners, including items with the logos and colors of the Dallas Texans, Houston Oilers, and New York Titans, the three of the Original Eight AFL teams which have changed names or venues. A December 5, 2009, story by Ken Belson in The New York Times quotes league officials as stating that AFL "Legacy" gear made up twenty to thirty percent of the league's annual $3 billion merchandise income. Fan favorites were the Denver Broncos' vertically striped socks, which could not be re-stocked quickly enough. + +AFL franchises + +Today, two of the NFL's eight divisions are composed entirely of former AFL teams, the AFC West (Broncos, Chargers, Chiefs, and Raiders) and the AFC East (Bills, Dolphins, Jets, and Patriots). Additionally, the Bengals now play in the AFC North and the Tennessee Titans (formerly the Oilers) play in the AFC South. + +Former stadiums: Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Fenway Park, Nickerson Field, Alumni Stadium, Nippert Stadium, the Cotton Bowl, Balboa Stadium and Kezar Stadium), still standing but currently vacant (Houston Astrodome), or demolished. + +AFL playoffs + +From 1960 to 1968, the AFL determined its champion via a single-elimination playoff game between the winners of its two divisions. The home teams alternated each year by division, so in 1968 the Jets hosted the Raiders, even though Oakland had a better record (this was changed in 1969). In 1963, the Buffalo Bills and Boston Patriots finished tied with identical records of 7–6–1 in the AFL East Division. There was no tie-breaker protocol in place, so a one-game playoff was held in War Memorial Stadium in December. The visiting Patriots defeated the host Bills 26–8. The Patriots traveled to San Diego as the Chargers completed a three-game season sweep over the weary Patriots with a 51–10 victory. A similar situation occurred in the 1968 season, when the Oakland Raiders and the Kansas City Chiefs finished the regular season tied with identical records of 12–2 in the AFL West Division. The Raiders beat the Chiefs 41–6 in a division playoff to qualify for the AFL Championship Game. In 1969, the final year of the independent AFL, Professional Football's first "wild card" playoffs were conducted. A four-team playoff was held, with the second-place teams in each division playing the winner of the other division. The Chiefs upset the Raiders in Oakland 17–7 in the league's Championship, the final AFL game played. The Kansas City Chiefs were the first Super Bowl champion to win two road playoff games and the first wildcard team to win the Super Bowl, although the term "wildcard" was coined by the media, and not used officially until several years later. + +AFL Championship Games + +AFL All-Star games + +The AFL did not play an All-Star game after its first season in 1960, but did stage All-Star games for the 1961 through 1969 seasons. All-Star teams from the Eastern and Western divisions played each other after every season except 1965. That season, the league champion Buffalo Bills played all-stars from the other teams. + +After the 1964 season, the AFL All-Star game had been scheduled for early 1965 in New Orleans' Tulane Stadium. After numerous black players were refused service by a number of area hotels and businesses, black and white players alike called for a boycott. Led by Bills players such as Cookie Gilchrist, the players successfully lobbied to have the game moved to Houston's Jeppesen Stadium. + +All-Time AFL Team + +As chosen by 1969 AFL Hall of Fame Selection committee members: + +AFL records +The following is a sample of some records set during the existence of the league. The NFL considers AFL statistics and records equivalent to its own. + Yards passing, game – 464, George Blanda (Oilers, October 29, 1961) + Yards passing, season – 4,007, Joe Namath (Jets, 1967) + Yards passing, career – 21,130, Jack Kemp (Chargers, Bills) + Yards rushing, game – 243, Cookie Gilchrist (Bills, December 8, 1963) + Yards rushing, season – 1,458, Jim Nance (Patriots, 1966) + Yards rushing, career – 5,101, Clem Daniels (Texans, Raiders) + Receptions, season – 101, Charlie Hennigan (Oilers, 1964) + Receptions, career – 567, Lionel Taylor (Broncos) + Points scored, season – 155, Gino Cappelletti (Patriots, 1964) + Points scored, career – 1,100, Gino Cappelletti (Patriots) + +Players, coaches, and contributors + List of American Football League players + American Football League Most Valuable Players + American Football League Rookies of the Year + American Football League Draft + American Football League Officials + +Commissioners/Presidents of the American Football League + + Joe Foss, commissioner (November 30, 1959 – April 7, 1966) + Al Davis, commissioner (April 8, 1966 – July 25, 1966) + Milt Woodard, president (July 25, 1966 – March 12, 1970) + +See also + American Football League Draft + American Football League win–loss records + American Football League seasons + American Football League playoffs + American Football League Most Valuable Players + American Football League Rookies of the Year + American Football League Officials + AFL–NFL merger + List of leagues of American football + American Basketball Association + World Hockey Association + +Footnotes + +References + + + + History: The AFL – Pro Football Hall of Fame (link). + +External links + RemembertheAFL.com Website + afl-football.50webs.com + American Football League week-by-week box scores, 1960–1969 + The Summer of the Little Super Bowls + PFRA article about the 1926 seasons of both the NFL and AFL + PFRA article about the 1930s and 40s AFL + Pro Football Hall of Fame American Football League Legacy Game + Official Titans website story on the AFL's 50th Anniversary Celebration + Schedule of American Football League Legacy Games + ESPN.com article on AFL Legacy Games + The New York Times article on AFL "Legacy" gear + + +Defunct professional sports leagues in the United States +Sports leagues established in 1960 +1970 disestablishments in the United States +1960 establishments in the United States +Defunct national American football leagues +Sports leagues disestablished in 1970 +1970 mergers and acquisitions +Associazione Sportiva Roma (Rome Sport Association), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for the 1951–52 season. Roma has won Serie A three times, in 1941–42, 1982–83 and 2000–01, as well as nine titles and two titles. In European competitions, Roma won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1960–61 and the UEFA Europa Conference League in 2021–22, while they finished runners-up in the 1983–84 European Cup, the 1990–91 UEFA Cup and the 2022–23 UEFA Europa League. + +Sixteen players have won the FIFA World Cup while playing at Roma: Attilio Ferraris and Enrique Guaita (1934); Guido Masetti and Eraldo Monzeglio (1934 and 1938); Aldo Donati and Pietro Serantoni (1938); Bruno Conti (1982); Rudi Völler and Thomas Berthold (1990); Aldair (1994); Vincent Candela (1998); Cafu (2002); Daniele De Rossi, Simone Perrotta and Francesco Totti (2006); Paulo Dybala (2022). + +Since 1953, Roma has played home matches at the Stadio Olimpico, a venue the club shares with city rivals Lazio. With a capacity of over 72,000, the stadium is the second-largest of its kind in Italy, with only the San Siro able to seat more. The club plans to move to a new stadium, though it is yet to start construction. Having a strong local rivalry, Roma and Lazio contest the Derby della Capitale. + +The club's home colours are carmine red and golden yellow, which gives Roma its nickname "I Giallorossi" ("The Yellow and Reds"). These colours have often been combined with white shorts. The club badge features a she-wolf, an allusion to the founding myth of Rome. + +History + +Foundation + +AS Roma was founded in the spring of 1927 when Italo Foschi initiated the merger of three older Italian Football Championship clubs from the city of Rome: Roman FC, SS Alba-Audace and Fortitudo-Pro Roma SGS. Foschi was an important Roman representative of the ruling National Fascist Party. + +The purpose of the merger was to give the Italian capital a strong club to rival that of the more dominant Northern Italian clubs of the time. The only major Roman club to resist the merger was Lazio because of the intervention of the army General Vaccaro, a member of the club and executive of Italian Football Federation (FIGC). +All three founding clubs were relegated, but the fascist-aligned FIGC bet over the capacity of the new team to give a stronger representation to the capital of Italy, and they were awarded a wild card for the , the Serie A forerunner. The club played its earliest seasons at the Motovelodromo Appio stadium, before settling in the working-class streets of Testaccio, where it built an all-wooden ground Campo Testaccio; this was opened in November 1929. An early season in which Roma made a large mark was the 1930–31 championship, where the club finished as runners-up behind . Captain Attilio Ferraris, along with Guido Masetti, Fulvio Bernardini and Rodolfo Volk, were highly important players during this period. + +First title victory and decline + +After a slump in league form and the departure of high key players, Roma eventually rebuilt their squad, adding goalscorers such as the Argentine Enrique Guaita. Under the management of Luigi Barbesino, the Roman club came close to their first title in 1935–36, finishing just one point behind champions Bologna. + +Roma returned to form after being inconsistent for much of the late 1930s. Roma recorded an unexpected title triumph in the 1941–42 season by winning their first title. The 18 goals scored by local player Amedeo Amadei were essential to the Alfréd Schaffer-coached Roma side winning the title. At the time, Italy was involved in World War II and Roma were playing at the Stadio Nazionale PNF. + +In the years just after the war, Roma were unable to recapture their league stature from the early 1940s. Roma finished in the lower half of Serie A for five seasons in a row, before eventually succumbing to their only ever relegation to Serie B at the end of the 1950–51 season, around a decade after their championship victory. Under future Italy national team manager Giuseppe Viani, promotion straight back up was achieved. + +After returning to the Serie A, Roma managed to stabilise themselves as a top-half club again with players such as Egisto Pandolfini, Dino da Costa and Dane Helge Bronée. Their best finish of this period was under the management of Englishman Jesse Carver, when in 1954–55, they finished as runners-up after Udinese, who originally finished second, were relegated for corruption. Although Roma were unable to break into the top four during the following decade, they did achieve some measure of cup success. Their first honour outside of Italy was recorded in 1960–61 when Roma won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup by defeating Birmingham City 4–2 in the finals. A few years later, Roma won their first Coppa Italia trophy in 1963–64 after defeating Torino 1–0. + +Their lowest point came during the 1964–65 season, when manager Juan Carlos Lorenzo announced the club could not pay its players and was unlikely to be able to afford to travel to Vicenza to fulfil its next fixture. Supporters kept the club going with a fundraiser at the Sistine Theatre and bankruptcy was avoided with the election of a new club president Franco Evangelisti. + +Their second Coppa Italia trophy was won in 1968–69, when it competed in a small, league-like system. Giacomo Losi set a Roma appearance record in 1969 with 450 appearances in all competitions, a record that would last 38 years. + +Time of mixed fortunes from the 1970s to the 1990s + +Roma were able to add another cup to their collection in 1972, with a 3–1 victory over Blackpool in the Anglo-Italian Cup. During much of the 1970s, Roma's appearance in the top half of Serie A was sporadic. The best place the club were able to achieve during the decade was third in 1974–75. Notable players who turned out for the club during this period included midfielders Giancarlo De Sisti and Francesco Rocca. + +The dawning of a newly successful era in Roma's footballing history was brought in with another Coppa Italia victory; they defeated Torino on penalties to win the 1979–80 edition. Roma would reach heights in the league which they had not touched since the 1940s by narrowly and controversially finishing as runners-up to in 1980–81. Former Milan player Nils Liedholm was the manager at the time, with players such as Bruno Conti, Agostino Di Bartolomei, Roberto Pruzzo and Falcão. + +The second scudetto did not elude Roma for much longer. In 1982–83, the Roman club won the title for the first time in 41 years, amidst celebrations in the capital. The following season, Roma finished as runners-up in Italy and collected a Coppa Italia title; they also finished as runners-up in the European Cup final of 1984. The European Cup final with Liverpool ended in a 1–1 draw with a goal from Pruzzo, but Roma eventually lost in the penalty shoot-out. Roma's successful run in the 1980s would finish with a runners-up spot in 1985–86 and a Coppa Italia victory, beating out Sampdoria 3–2. + +After, a comparative decline began in the league, one of the few league highs from the following period being a third-place finish in 1987–88. At the start of the 1990s, the club was involved in an all-Italian UEFA Cup final, where they lost 2–1 to in 1991. The same season, the club won its seventh Coppa Italia and ended runners-up to Sampdoria in the Supercoppa Italiana. Aside from finishing runners-up to Torino in a Coppa Italia final, the rest of the decade was largely sub-par in the history of Roma, particularly in the league, where the highest they could manage was fourth in 1997–98. The early 1990s also saw the emergence of homegrown striker Francesco Totti, who would go on to be an important member of the team and the club's iconic captain. + +Third scudetto in the Sensi era + +Roma won their third Serie A title in 2000–01. The Scudetto was won on the last day of the season after defeating Parma 3–1, edging Juventus by two points. The club's captain, Francesco Totti, was a large reason for the title victory and he would become one of the main heroes in the club's history, going on to break several club records. Other important players during this period included: Aldair, Cafu, Gabriel Batistuta and Vincenzo Montella. + +In the 2001–02 Serie A, Roma ended as runners-up to Juventus by one point. This would be the start of Roma finishing as runners-up several times in both Serie A and Coppa Italia during the 2000s – they lost out 4–2 to Milan in the Coppa Italia final of 2003 and lost to Milan again by finishing second in Serie A for the 2003–04 season. The club also re-capitalized several time in 2003–04 season. In November 2003, €37.5 million was injected by "Roma 2000" to cover the half-year loss and loss carried from previous year. and again on 30 June for €44.57 million. Through stock market, a further €19.850 million of new shares issued, and at the year end, the share capital was €19.878 million, which was unchanged . The following season also saw the departure of Walter Samuel for €25 million and Emerson for €28 million, which decreased the strength of the squad. The Giallorossi finished in eighth place, one of the worst of recent seasons. + +On 9 July 2006, Roma's Francesco Totti, Daniele De Rossi and Simone Perrotta were part of the Italy national team which defeated France in the 2006 FIFA World Cup Final. In the Calciopoli scandal of 2006, Roma were not one of the teams involved. After punishments were issued, Roma was re-classified as runners-up for 2005–06, the same season they finished second in the Coppa Italia losing to Internazionale. In the two following seasons, 2006–07 and 2007–08, Roma finished as Serie A runners-up, meaning that in the 2000s, Roma finished in the top two positions more than any other decade in their history. Meanwhile, in the UEFA Champions League during both of these seasons, they reached the quarter-finals before going out to Manchester United. In the 2008–09 Champions League, Roma reached the knockout stage ahead of Chelsea in their group, thus finishing for the first time in their history as winners of the group stage. However, they lost to Arsenal in the knockout stage on penalty kicks. + +After a disappointing start to the 2009–10 season, Claudio Ranieri replaced Luciano Spalletti as head coach. At the time of the switch, Roma lay bottom of the Serie A table after losses to Juventus and Genoa. Despite this setback, Roma went on unbeaten streak of 24 matches in the league – with the last of the 24 being a 2–1 win over rivals Lazio, whereby they came from 1–0 down at half-time to defeat their city rivals after Ranieri substituted both Totti and De Rossi at the interval. The Giallorossi were on top of the table at one point, before a loss to Sampdoria later in the season. Roma would finish runners-up to Internazionale yet again in both Serie A and the Coppa Italia. During the 2000s, Roma had finally recaptured the Scudetto, two Coppa Italia trophies, and their first two Supercoppa Italiana titles. Other notable contributions to the club's history have included a return to the Champions League quarter-finals (in the 2006–07 and 2007–08 editions) since 1984, six runners up positions in the league, four Coppa Italia finals and three Supercoppa finals – marking Roma's greatest ever decade. + +American ownership and Pallotta era +In the summer of 2010, the Sensi family agreed to relinquish their control of Roma as part of a debt-settlement agreement, ending their reign that had begun in 1993. Until a new owner was appointed, Rosella Sensi continued her directorial role of the club. Following a series of poor results that saw Roma engage in a winless streak of five consecutive matches, Claudio Ranieri resigned as head coach in February 2011, and former striker Vincenzo Montella was appointed as caretaker manager until the end of the season. It was also during this season that Roma icon Francesco Totti scored his 200th Serie A goal against Fiorentina in March 2011, becoming only the sixth player to achieve such a feat. + +On 16 April 2011, the takeover contract was closed with an American investment group led by Thomas R. DiBenedetto, with James Pallotta, Michael Ruane and Richard D'Amore as partners. DiBenedetto became the 22nd president of the club, serving from 27 September 2011 to 27 August 2012 and was succeeded by Pallotta. The new intermediate holding company, NEEP Roma Holding, was 60% owned by American's "AS Roma SPV, LLC" and the rest (40%) was retained by the creditor of Sensi, UniCredit. In turn, NEEP owned all shares held previously by Sensi (about 67%) with the rest free float in the stock market. UniCredit later disinvested NEEP Roma Holding to sell to "AS Roma SPV, LLC" and Pallotta. + +The new ownership hired Walter Sabatini as director of football and former Spanish international and Barcelona B coach Luis Enrique as manager. Signings included attacking midfielder Erik Lamela from River Plate and forward Bojan from Barcelona, as well as Dani Osvaldo and Miralem Pjanić. On the pitch, the team were eliminated from 2011–12 UEFA Europa League play-off round by Slovan Bratislava. In 2012, Pallotta became the new president. The 2012–13 pre-season started with the hiring of former manager Zdeněk Zeman. He was sacked on 2 February 2013, while the team ended up in sixth place in Serie A, and lost 1–0 to rivals Lazio in the Coppa Italia final. It was the first time that Lazio and Roma clashed in the Coppa Italia final. As a result, Roma missed out on European competition for the second-straight season. + +On 12 June 2013, Rudi Garcia was appointed the new manager of Roma. He won his first ten matches (an all-time Serie A record) including a 2–0 derby win against Lazio, a 3–0 victory away to Internazionale and a 2–0 home win over title rivals Napoli. During this run, Roma scored 24 times while conceding just once, away to Parma. The club earned 85 points and finished second to Juventus, who won the league with a record-breaking 102 points. In 2014–15, Roma finished second behind Juventus for the second consecutive season after a poor run of form in 2015. At the end of season, the club was sanctioned for loss making and breaking UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations, being punished with a fine of up to €6 million and a limited squad for UEFA competitions. + +Ahead of the 2015–16 season, Roma acquired Bosnia international, Edin Džeko, from Manchester City on a €4 million loan with an €11 million option to buy clause, which was activated. On 13 January 2016, Garcia was sacked after a run of one win in seven Serie A matches. Luciano Spalletti was subsequently appointed manager of Roma for his second spell. On 21 February, Totti publicly criticised Spalletti due to his own lack of playing-time since returning from injury. Consequently, Totti was subsequently dropped by Spalletti for Roma's 5–0 win over Palermo, with the decision causing an uproar among the fans and in the media. After their initial disagreements, Spalletti began to use Totti as an immediate impact substitute, and he contributed with four goals and one assist after coming off the bench in five consecutive Serie A matches. Spalletti was able to lead Roma from a mid-table spot to a third-place finish in Serie A, clinching the UEFA Champions League play-off spot. + +During the summer of 2016, Roma lost midfielder Miralem Pjanić to rivals Juventus to improve its financial position. On 27 April 2017, Roma appointed sporting director Monchi, formerly of Sevilla FC. On 28 May that year, on the last day of the 2016–17 season, Totti made his 786th and final appearance for Roma before retiring in a 3–2 home win against Genoa, coming on as a substitute for Mohamed Salah in the 54th minute and received a standing ovation from the fans. The win saw Roma finish second in Serie A behind Juventus. Daniele De Rossi succeeded Totti as club captain and signed a new two-year contract. + +On 13 June 2017, former Roma player Eusebio Di Francesco was appointed as the club's new manager, replacing Spalletti, who had left for Internazionale. Roma again lost a key player during the summer transfer window, with Mohamed Salah joining Liverpool F.C. for a fee of €39 million (£34m). Several new players joined the club, including a club-record deal of up to €40 million for Sampdoria striker Patrik Schick. In the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League Roma were drawn against FC Barcelona in the quarter-finals, being defeated 4–1 away in the first leg but winning 3–0 in the second to advance on away goals to the semi-finals for the first time since 1984. Roma then lost to Liverpool, the team that had defeated them in the 1984 European Cup Final 7–6 on aggregate. Roma ended the 2017–18 season in 3rd place on 77 points, qualifying for the following season's Champions League. + +In the summer of 2018, Roma were busy in the transfer market, in large parts thanks to the €83 million they received from reaching the Champions League semi-finals, as well as selling goalkeeper Alisson for a world record €72 million including bonuses to Liverpool. Roma spent €150 million to sign the likes of Shick, Nzonzi, Pastore, Kluivert, Defrel and more, while selling their two starting midfielders from the previous season, Nainggolan and Strootman. The 2018-19 season saw the club eliminated against Porto 4–3 on aggregate in the Champions League round of 16; Di Francesco was sacked and replaced by Claudio Ranieri who served as caretaker manager. The following day, sporting director Monchi stepped down due to disagreements with Pallotta; the club president disputed his account In Monchi's two years at the club, he spent £208 million on 21 signings, while when he left, 12 of his signings remained at the club. Under Ranieri, Roma failed to qualify for the Champions League, finishing 6th. + +Friedkin era and European success +In December 2019, AS Roma SPV LLC was in final negotiations to sell the team for $872 million, to American businessman Dan Friedkin, however negotiations stalled during the COVID-19 pandemic. On 6 August 2020, Friedkin signed the preliminary contract to agree to pay $591 million to Pallotta, the main shareholder of Roma. + +Paulo Fonseca, who was hired as manager in 2019, left two years later and was replaced by fellow Portuguese José Mourinho. On 25 May 2022, he led Roma to win the inaugural edition of UEFA Europa Conference League, defeating Feyenoord in the final. + +Club identity +Roma's colours of carmine red with a golden yellow trim represents the traditional colours of Rome, the official seal of the Comune di Roma features the same colours. The gold and the purple-red represent Roman imperial dignity. White shorts and black socks are usually worn with the red shirt. However, in particularly high key matches, the shorts and socks are the same colour as the home shirt. + +The kit itself was originally worn by Roman Football Club; one of the three clubs who merged to form the current incarnation in 1927. Because of the colours they wear, Roma are often nicknamed i giallorossi meaning the yellow-reds. Roma's away kit is traditionally white, with a third kit changing colour from time to time. + +A popular nickname for the club is "i lupi" ("the wolves") – the animal has always featured on the club's badge in different forms throughout their history. The emblem of the team is currently the one which was used when the club was first founded. It portrays the female wolf with the two infant brothers Romulus and Remus, illustrating the myth of the founding of Rome, superimposed on a bipartite golden yellow over a maroon red shield. In the myth from which the club takes their nickname and logo, the twins (sons of Mars and Rhea Silvia) are thrown into the river Tiber by their uncle Amulius. A she-wolf then saved the twins and looked after them. Eventually, the two twins took revenge on Amulius before falling out themselves – Romulus killed Remus and was thus made king of a new city named in his honour, Rome. + +Kit suppliers and shirt sponsors + +Facilities + +Stadiums + +The first sport facility Roma used was the Motovelodromo Appio, previously used by Alba-Audace. Roma only played the 1927–28 season there until they moved to Campo Testaccio the very next season. Campo Testaccio was used through 1929 to 1940. The team moved later to the Stadio Nazionale del PNF, where they spent 13 years before moving once again. + +In the 1953–54 season, Roma moved to the Olympic arena, Stadio Olimpico, which it shares with Lazio. The arena has undergone several changes over the years. The most significant change took place in the nineties when Stadio Olimpico was demolished and then reconstructed for the 1990 FIFA World Cup, held in Italy. Roma have played almost every season since 1953–54, with exception of the 1989–90 seasons due to the reconstruction of Stadio Olimpico. That year, Roma played its home matches at Stadio Flaminio. + +On 30 December 2012, Roma club president James Pallotta announced the construction of a new stadium in the Tor di Valle area of Rome. The new stadium, Stadio della Roma, will have a capacity of 52,500 spectators. On 2 February 2017, the Region of Lazio and the mayor of Rome rejected the proposal to build a new stadium. However, it was later approved on 24 February after final review of the stadium's design adjustments. In August 2017, the stadium suffered another delay, forcing Roma to renew their lease with the Stadio Olimpico until 2020. It is presently uncertain when the stadium will open. On 5 December 2017 the Stadio della Roma project, after experiencing five years worth of delays due to conflicting interests from various parties in the Roman city government, was given the go-ahead to begin construction, with the stadium expected to be ready to open for the 2020–21 season. On 26 February 2021, it was announced that the stadium project was halted. + +List of stadiums used by the club +1927–1928 Motovelodromo Appio +1929–1940 Campo Testaccio +1940–1953 Stadio Nazionale del PNF +1953– Stadio Olimpico (1989–1990 Stadio Flaminio due to renovations on Olimpico) + +Trigoria +A sports centre located in Trigoria at kilometre 3600 in south-east of Rome was purchased on 22 July 1977 by then club president Gaetano Anzalone. It was opened on 23 July 1979 as Anzalone's final act as president. The complex had its first expansion in 1984 when the club was handled by Dino Viola and another in 1998 under the chairmanship of Franco Sensi. The centre's official name is the Fulvio Bernardini di Trigoria, named after club icon Fulvio Bernardini. + +On 4 September 2019, the Trigoria training ground began to serve also as a private school named 'Liceo Scientifico Sportivo A.S. Roma' exclusively educating only the team's youth players in a renovated building on the training ground premises. 80 students are currently enrolled in the school which features its own cafeteria and gym. + +The centre is also known for hosting the Argentina national team during the 1990 FIFA World Cup, held in Italy. + +Supporters + +Roma is the fifth-most supported football club in Italy – behind Juventus, Internazionale, A.C. Milan and Napoli – with approximately 7% of Italian football fans supporting the club, according to the Doxa Institute-L'Espresso's research of April 2006. Historically, the largest section of Roma supporters in the city of Rome have come from the inner-city, especially Testaccio. + +The traditional ultras group of the club was Commando Ultrà Curva Sud commonly abbreviated as CUCS. This group was founded by the merger of many smaller groups and was considered one of the most historic in the history of European football. However, by the mid-1990s, CUCS had been usurped by rival factions and ultimately broke up. Since that time, the Curva Sud of the Stadio Olimpico has been controlled by more right-wing groups, including A.S. Roma Ultras, Boys and Giovinezza, among others. However, the oldest group, Fedayn, is apolitical, and politics is not the main identity of Roma, just a part of their overall identity. Besides ultras groups, it is believed Roma fans support the left as opposed to Lazio supporters, which are notoriously proud of their right-wing affiliation. + +In November 2015, Roma's ultras and their Lazio counterparts boycotted Roma's 1–0 victory in the Derby della Capitale in protest at new safety measures imposed at the Stadio Olimpico. The measures – imposed by Rome's prefect, Franco Gabrielli – had involved plastic glass dividing walls being installed in both the Curva Sud and Curva Nord, splitting the sections behind each goal in two. Both sets of ultras continued their protests for the rest of the season, including during Roma's 4–1 victory in the return fixture. Lazio's ultras returned to the Curva Nord for Roma's 1–4 victory in December 2016, but the Roma ultras continue to boycott matches. + +The most known club anthem is "Roma (non-si discute, si ama)", also known as "Roma Roma", by singer Antonello Venditti. The title roughly means, "Roma is not to be questioned, it is to be loved," and it is sung before each match. The song "Grazie Roma", by the same singer, is played at the end of victorious home matches. Recently, the main riff of The White Stripes' song "Seven Nation Army" has also become widely popular at matches. + +Rivalries +In Italian football, Roma is a club with many rivalries; first and foremost is their rivalry with Lazio, the club with whom they share the Stadio Olimpico. The derby between the two is called the Derby della Capitale, it is amongst the most heated and emotional footballing rivalries in the world. The fixture has seen some occasional instances of violence in the past, including the death of Lazio fan Vincenzo Paparelli in 1979–80 as a result of an emergency flare fired from the Curva Sud, and the abandonment of a match in March 2004 following unfounded rumours of a fatality which led to violence outside the stadium. + +Against Napoli, Roma also compete in the Derby del Sole, meaning the "Derby of the Sun". Nowadays, fans also consider other Juventus (a rivalry born especially in the 1980s), Milan, Atalanta (since 1984, when friendly relations between the two clubs' ultras deteriorated), and Internazionale (increased in recent years) among their rivals, as they are often competitors for the top four spots in the league table and qualification for the UEFA Champions League. + +Hooliganism +Rivalries with other teams have escalated into serious violence. A group of ultras who label themselves the Fedayn — 'the devotees' — after a group of long-forgotten Iranian guerrilla fighters are regarded to be responsible for the organised hooliganism. In 2014 Daniele De Santis, a Roma ultra, was convicted of shooting Ciro Esposito and two others during clashes with Napoli fans who were in Rome for their club's Coppa Italia final against Fiorentina. Esposito died of his wounds. De Santis was sentenced to 26 years in prison, later reduced to 16 years on appeal. Roma ultras have displayed banners celebrating De Santis. + +There have been multiple instances of Roma ultras attacking supporters of foreign clubs when playing in Rome. These attacks have regularly featured the Roma ultras using knives, poles, flares, bottles and stones on unarmed foreign supporters, resulting in multiple hospitalisations. Home games against Liverpool in 1984 and 2001, Middlesbrough in 2006, Manchester United in 2007, Arsenal in 2009, Tottenham Hotspur in 2012, and Chelsea in 2017 have all resulted in multiple stabbings and other injuries to foreign supporters. In 2018 Roma ultras travelling to an away game at Liverpool attacked home supporters, resulting in a home supporter being critically injured. + +Players + +Current squad + +Primavera squad + +Out on loan + +Women team + +Notable players + +Retired numbers + +Since 2017, Roma had not issued the squad number 10 to commemorate Francesco Totti, who was retired from football since 2017. It was going to be issued to Paulo Dybala in 2022, but Dybala chose the number 21 instead of number 10. + + (1993–2017) + +Management staff + +Chairmen history + +Roma have had numerous chairmen ( or ) over the course of their history, some of which have been the owners and co-owners of the club, some of them were nominated by the owners. Franco Sensi was the chairman until his death in 2008, with his daughter, Roma CEO Rosella Sensi taking his place as chairman. Here is a complete list of Roma chairmen from 1927 until the present day. + +Managerial history + +Roma have had many managers and trainers running the team during their history, here is a chronological list of them from 1927 onwards. + +Honours + +National titles +Serie A: + Winners (3): 1941–42, 1982–83, 2000–01 +Runners-up: (14): 1930–31, 1935–36, 1980–81, 1983–84, 1985–86, 2001–02, 2003–04, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2016–17 + +Coppa Italia: + Winners (9): 1963–64, 1968–69, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1983–84, 1985–86, 1990–91, 2006–07, 2007–08 +Runners-up: (8): 1936–37, 1940–41, 1992–93, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2009–10, 2012–13 + +Supercoppa Italiana: + Winners (2): 2001, 2007 + +European titles + +European Cup / UEFA Champions League: + Runners-up (1): 1983–84 + +UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League: + Runners-up (2): 1990–91, 2022–23 + +UEFA Europa Conference League: + Winners (1): 2021–22 + +Inter-Cities Fairs Cup: + Winners (1): 1960–61 + +Other titles +Serie B: + Winners (1): 1951–52 + +Anglo-Italian Cup: + Winners (1): 1972 + +Hall of Fame +On 7 October 2012, the AS Roma Hall of Fame was announced. +The Hall of Fame players were voted via the club's official website and a special Hall of Fame panel. In 2013 four players were voted in. In 2014, the third year of AS Roma Hall of Fame four more players were voted in. + +Added in 2012: + Franco Tancredi (1977–90) + Cafu (1997–03) + Giacomo Losi (1954–69) + Aldair (1990-03) + Francesco Rocca (1972–81) + Fulvio Bernardini (1928–39) + Agostino Di Bartolomei (1972–75; 1976–84) + Falcão (1980–85) + Bruno Conti (1973–75; 1976–78; 1979–91) + Roberto Pruzzo (1978–88) + Amedeo Amadei (1936–38; 1939–48) + +Added in 2013: + Attilio Ferraris (1927–34; 1938–39) + Sebino Nela (1981–92) + Giuseppe Giannini (1981–96) + Vincenzo Montella (1999–2009) + +Added in 2014: + Alcides Ghiggia (1953–61) + Carlo Ancelotti (1979–87) + Rudi Völler (1987–92) + Vincent Candela (1997–2005) + +Added in 2015: + Guido Masetti (1930–43) + Sergio Santarini (1968–81) + Damiano Tommasi (1996–2006) + Gabriel Batistuta (2000–03) + +Added in 2016: + Giorgio Carpi (1927–37) + Toninho Cerezo (1983–86) + Giancarlo De Sisti (1960–65; 1974–79) + Arcadio Venturi (1948–57) + +Added in 2017: + Francesco Totti (1992–2017) + +Added in 2018: + Mario De Micheli (1927–1932) + Giuliano Taccola (1967–1969) + Rodolfo Volk (1928–1933) + +Club records and statistics + +Francesco Totti currently holds Roma's official appearance record, having made 786 appearances in all competitions, over the course of 25 seasons from 1993 until 2017. He also holds the record for Serie A appearances with 619, as he passed Giacomo Losi on 1 March 2008 during a home match against Parma. + +Including all competitions, Totti is the all-time leading goalscorer for Roma with 307 goals since joining the club, 250 of which were scored in Serie A (another Roma record). Roberto Pruzzo, who was the all-time topscorer since 1988, comes in second in all competitions with 138. In 1930–31, Rodolfo Volk scored 29 goals in Serie A over the course of a single season. Not only was Volk the league's top scorer that year, he also set a Roma record for most goals scored in a season which would later be matched by Edin Džeko in 2016–17. + +Its major founders Fortitudo and Alba having been relegated at the end of 1926–27 campaign, new-founded Roma had to take part to Southern First Division championship (Serie B) for its inaugural season. Nevertheless, the FIGC decided on a special enlargement of first level division re-admitting AS Roma and SSC Napoli. The first ever official matches participated in by Roma was in the National Division, the predecessor of Serie A, of 1927–28, against Livorno, a 2–0 Roma win. The biggest ever victory recorded by Roma was 9–0 against Cremonese during the 1929–30 Serie A season. The heaviest defeat Roma have ever suffered is 1–7, which has occurred five times; against Juventus in 1931–32, Torino in 1947–48, Manchester United in 2006–07, Bayern Munich in 2014–15 and Fiorentina in 2018–19. + +Divisional movements + +UEFA Club Coefficient Ranking + +UEFA Rankings since 2004 + +Football Club Elo Ranking + +As a company + +Since 1999, during Franco Sensi's period in charge, Associazione Sportiva Roma has been a listed on Borsa Italiana. From 2004 to 2011, Roma's shares are distributed between; 67.1% to Compagnia Italpetroli SpA (the Sensi family holding; Banca di Roma later acquired 49% stake on Italpetroli due to debt restructuring) and 32.9% to other public shareholders. + +Along with Lazio and Juventus, Roma is one of only three quotated Italian clubs. According to The Football Money League published by consultants Deloitte, in the 2010–11 season, Roma was the 15th highest-earning football club in the world with an estimated revenue of €143.5 million. + +In April 2008, after months of speculation, George Soros was confirmed by Rosella Sensi, CEO of Serie A club A.S. Roma, to be bidding for a takeover. The takeover bid was successively rejected by the Sensi family, who instead preferred to maintain the club's ownership. On 17 August 2008 club chairman and owner Franco Sensi died after a long illness; his place at the chairmanship of the club was successively taken by his daughter Rosella. + +Since the takeover in 2011, NEEP Roma Holding S.p.A. has owned all shares Sensi previously hold. NEEP, itself a joint venture, was held by DiBenedetto AS Roma LLC (later renamed to AS Roma SPV, LLC) and Unicredit in 60–40 ratio from 2011 to 2013, which the former had four real person shareholders in equal ratio, led by future Roma president Thomas R. DiBenedetto (2011–12). The takeover also activated a mandatory bid of shares from the general public, however not all minority shareholders were willing to sell their shares. The mandatory bid meant NEEP held 78.038% of shares of AS Roma (increased from 67.1% of the Sensi). On 1 August 2013, the president of Roma as well as one of the four American shareholders of AS Roma SPV, LLC, James Pallotta, bought an additional 9% shares of NEEP Roma Holding from Unicredit (through Raptor Holdco LLC), as the bank was not willing to fully participate in the capital increase of NEEP from €120,000 to €160,008,905 (excluding share premium). On 4 April 2014 Starwood Capital Group also became the fifth shareholder of AS Roma SPV, as well as forming a strategic partnership with AS Roma SpA to develop real estate around the new stadium. The private investment firm was represented by Zsolt Kohalmi in AS Roma SPV, who was appointed on 4 April as a partner and head of European acquisitions of the firm. On 11 August 2014, UniCredit sold the remain shares on NEEP (of 31%) for €33 million which meant AS Roma SPV LLC (91%) and Raptor Holdco LLC (9%) were the sole intermediate holding company of AS Roma SpA. + +Since re-capitalization in 2003–04, Roma had a short-lived financial self-sustainability, until the takeover in 2011. The club had set up a special amortisation fund using Articolo 18-bis Legge 91/1981 mainly for the abnormal signings prior 2002–03 season, (such as Davide Bombardini for €11 million account value in June 2002, when the flopped player exchange boosted 2001–02 season result) and the tax payment of 2002–03 was rescheduled. In 2004–05, Roma made a net profit of €10,091,689 and followed by €804,285 in 2005–06. In 2006–07 season the accounting method changed to IFRS, which meant that the 2005–06 result was reclassified as net loss of €4,051,905 and 2006–07 season was net income of €10,135,539 (€14.011 million as a group). Moreover, the special fund (€80,189,123) was removed from the asset and co-currently for the equity as scheduled, meant Roma group had a negative equity of €8.795 million on 30 June 2007. Nevertheless, the club had sold the brand to a subsidiary which boost the profit in a separate financial statement, which La Repubblica described as "doping". In 2007–08, Roma made a net income of €18,699,219. (€19 million as a group) However, 2008–09 saw the decrease of gate and TV income, co-currently with finishing sixth in Serie A, which saw Roma make a net loss of €1,894,330. (€1.56 million as a group) The gate and TV income further slipped in 2009–10 with a net loss of €21,917,292 (already boosted by the sale of Alberto Aquilani; €22 million as a group) despite sporting success (finishing in second place in 2009–10). Moreover, despite a positive equity as a separate company (€105,142,589), the AS Roma Group had a negative equity on the consolidated balance sheet, and fell from +€8.8 million to −€13.2 million. In the 2010–11 season, Roma was administered by UniCredit as the Sensi family failed to repay the bank and the club was put on the market, and were expected to have a quiet transfer window. Concurrently with no selling profit on the players, Roma's net loss rose to €30,589,137 (€30.778 million as a group) and the new owner already planned a re-capitalization after the mandatory bid on the shares. On the positive side, TV income was increased from €75,150,744 to €78,041,642, and gate income increased from €23,821,218 to €31,017,179. This was because Roma entered 2010–11 Champions League, which counter-weighed the effect of the new collective agreement of Serie A. In 2011–12, the renewal of squad and participation in 2011–12 UEFA Europa League had worsened the financial result, which the €50 million capital increase (in advance) was counter-weighted totally by the net loss. In the 2012–13 season, the participation in domestic league only, was not only not harmful to the revenue but increase in gate income as well as decrease in wage bill, however Roma still did not yet break even (€40.130 million net loss in consolidated accounts). NEEP Roma also re-capitalized AS Roma in advance for another €26,550,000 during 2012–13. A proposed capital increase by €100 million for Roma was announced on 25 June 2014; however, until 22 May 2014, NEEP already injected €108 million into the club, which depends on public subscription; more than €8 million would convert to medium-long-term loan from shareholder instead of becoming share capital. Another capital increase was carried in 2018. + +A joint venture of Roma, which was owned by Roma (37.5%), S.S. Lazio (37.5%) and Parma F.C.(25%), Società Diritti Sportivi S.r.l., was in the process of liquidation since 2005. The company was a joint-venture of four football clubs, including Fiorentina. After the bankruptcy of Fiorentina however, both Roma and Lazio had increased their shares ratio from 25% to 37.5%. Another subsidiary, "Soccer S.A.S. di Brand Management S.r.l.", was a special-purpose entity (SPV) that Roma sold their brand to the subsidiary in 2007. In February 2015, another SPV, "ASR Media and Sponsorship S.r.l", was set up to secure a five-year bank loan of €175 million from Goldman Sachs, for three-month Euribor (min. 0.75%) + 6.25% spread (i.e. min. 7% interests rate p.a.). + +In 2015, Inter and Roma were the only two Italian clubs that were sanctioned by UEFA for breaking UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations, which they signed settlement agreements with UEFA. It was followed by Milan in 2018. + +Roma had compliance with the requirements and overall objective of the settlement agreement in 2018, which the club exited from settlement regime. + +Superleague Formula + +A.S. Roma had a team in the Superleague Formula race car series where teams were sponsored by football clubs. Roma's driver was ex-IndyCar Series driver Franck Perera. The team had posted three podiums and was operated by Alan Docking Racing. + +See also + + Football in Italy + European Club Association + +Footnotes + +References + +External links + + + A.S. Roma at Serie A + A.S. Roma at UEFA + A.S. Roma at FIFA (archived 6 May 2016) + + +Football clubs in Italy +Football clubs in Rome +Association football clubs established in 1927 +Italian football First Division clubs +Publicly traded sports companies +Coppa Italia winning clubs +Serie A winning clubs +Serie A clubs +Serie B clubs +1927 establishments in Italy +Multi-sport clubs in Italy +UEFA Europa Conference League winning clubs +R +Companies listed on the Borsa Italiana +The Abu Nidal Organization (ANO; ), officially Fatah – The Revolutionary Council ( ), was a Palestinian militant group founded by Abu Nidal in 1974. It broke away from Fatah, a faction within the Palestine Liberation Organization, following the emergence of a rift between Abu Nidal and Yasser Arafat. The ANO was designated as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, the European Union. and Japan. It became inactive in 1997. + +In practice, the ANO was secular, anti-Zionist, and anti-Western. However, it was not particularly associated with any specific ideology — or at least no such foundation was declared. It was mostly linked with the pursuit of Abu Nidal's personal agendas. Like other Palestinian militant groups, the ANO carried out worldwide hijackings, assassinations, kidnappings of diplomats, and attacks on synagogues. It was responsible for 90 such attacks between 1974 and 1992. In 2002, Abu Nidal died under disputed circumstances in Baghdad, Iraq, with Palestinian sources claiming that he was assassinated on the orders of erstwhile Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. + +Formation and background + +The Abu Nidal Organization was established by Sabri Khalil al-Bannah (Abu Nidal), a Palestinian Arab nationalist and a former Ba'ath party member. Al-Bannah established his faction within the PLO, just prior the Black September in Jordan, and following internal disagreements within the PLO. During Fatah's Third Congress in Damascus in 1971, he emerged as the leader of a leftist alliance against Yasser Arafat. + +Abu Nidal's first independent operation took place on September 5, 1973, when five gunmen using the name Al-Iqab ("The Punishment") seized the Saudi embassy in Paris, taking 11 hostages and threatening to blow up the building if Abu Dawud was not released from jail in Jordan, where he had been arrested in February 1973 for an attempt on King Hussein's life. Following the incident, Mahmoud Abbas of the PLO took flight to Iraq to meet Abu Nidal. In the meeting Abbas became so angry, that he stormed out of the meeting, followed by the other PLO delegates, and from that point on, the PLO regarded Abu Nidal as a mercenary. + +Two months later, just after the October 1973 Yom Kippur War, during discussions about convening a peace conference in Geneva, the Abu Nidal Organization (ANO) hijacked a KLM airliner, using the name of the Arab Nationalist Youth Organization. The operation was intended to send a signal to Fatah not to send representatives to any peace conference. In response, Arafat officially expelled Abu Nidal from Fatah in March 1974, and the rift between the two groups, and the two men, was complete. In June the same year, ANO formed the Rejectionist Front, a political coalition that opposed the Ten Point Program adopted by the Palestine Liberation Organization in its 12th Palestinian National Congress session. + +Abu Nidal then moved to Ba'athist Iraq where he set up the ANO, which soon began a string of terrorist attacks aimed at Israel and Western countries. Setting himself up as a freelance contractor, Abu Nidal is believed by the United States Department of State to have ordered attacks in 20 countries, killing or injuring over 900 people. The ANO group's most notorious attacks were on the El Al ticket counters at Rome and Vienna airports in December 1985, when Arab gunmen high on amphetamines opened fire on passengers in simultaneous shootings, killing 18 and wounding 120. Patrick Seale, Abu Nidal's biographer, wrote of the attacks that their "random cruelty marked them as typical Abu Nidal operations." + +Attacks + +The ANO carried out attacks in 20 countries, killing or injuring almost 1,650 persons. Targets include the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Israel, moderate Palestinians, the PLO, and various Arab and European countries. The group has not attacked Western targets since the late 1980s. + +Major attacks included the Rome and Vienna Airport Attacks in December 1985, the Neve Shalom synagogue in Istanbul and the Pan Am Flight 73 hijacking in Karachi in September 1986, and the City of Poros day-excursion ship attack in Greece in July 1988. + +The ANO has been especially noted for its uncompromising stance on negotiation with Israel, treating anything less than all-out military struggle against Israel as treachery. This led the group to perform numerous attacks against the PLO, which had made clear it accepted a negotiated solution to the conflict. Fatah-RC is believed to have assassinated PLO deputy chief Abu Iyad and PLO security chief Abul Hul in Tunis in January 1991. It assassinated a Jordanian diplomat in Lebanon in January 1994 and has been linked to the killing of the PLO representative there. Noted PLO moderate Issam Sartawi was killed by the Fatah-RC in 1983. In the late 1970s, the group also made a failed assassination attempt on the present Palestinian president and PLO chairman, Mahmoud Abbas. These attacks, and numerous others, led to the PLO issuing a death sentence in absentia against Abu Nidal. In the early 1990s, it made an attempt to gain control of a refugee camp in Lebanon, but this was thwarted by PLO organizations. + +Internal executions and torture + +The ANO's official newspaper Filastin al-Thawra regularly carried stories announcing the execution of traitors within the movement. Each new recruit of the ANO was given several days to write down his life story and sign a paper agreeing to his execution if anything was found to be untrue. Every so often, the recruit would be asked to rewrite the whole story. Any discrepancies were taken as evidence that he was a spy and he would be made to write it out again, often after days of being beaten and nights spent forced to sleep standing up. + +By 1987, Abu Nidal used extreme torture tactics on members of the ANO who were suspected of betrayal and disloyalty. The tactics included hanging prisoners naked, whipping them until unconsciousness, using salt or chili powder to revive them, forcing them into a car tire for whipping and salt application, melting plastic on their skin, frying their genitals, and confining them in tiny cells bound hand and foot. If cells were full, prisoners might be buried alive with a steel pipe for breathing. Execution was carried out by firing a bullet down the pipe. + +From 1987 to 1988, hundreds of members of Abu Nidal's organization were killed due to internal paranoia and terror tactics. The elderly wife of a veteran member was also killed on false charges. The killings were mostly carried out by four individuals: Mustafa Ibrahim Sanduqa, Isam Maraqa, Sulaiman Samrin, and Mustafa Awad. Decisions to kill were mostly made by Abu Nidal after he had consumed a whole bottle of whiskey at night. According to ANO dissidents, the attacks made by the group were unconnected to the Palestinian cause and led to their defection. In addition, they claimed the guerrilla was the "living example of paranoia". + +See also +Abu Nidal +Arab People's Movement +Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine + +References + +Citations + +Sources + +Further reading +Abu Nidal: Ruthless maverick + +Abu Nidal +Arab nationalist militant groups +Palestinian terrorism in Europe +Organisations designated as terrorist by Japan +Organisations designated as terrorist by the European Union +Organisations designated as terrorist by the United Kingdom +Organizations designated as terrorist by the United States +Organizations based in Asia designated as terrorist +Palestinian militant groups +Organizations designated as terrorist by Canada +An antibody (Ab), also known as an immunoglobulin (Ig), is a large, Y-shaped protein used by the immune system to identify and neutralize foreign objects such as pathogenic bacteria and viruses. The antibody recognizes a unique molecule of the pathogen, called an antigen. Each tip of the "Y" of an antibody contains a paratope (analogous to a lock) that is specific for one particular epitope (analogous to a key) on an antigen, allowing these two structures to bind together with precision. Using this binding mechanism, an antibody can tag a microbe or an infected cell for attack by other parts of the immune system, or can neutralize it directly (for example, by blocking a part of a virus that is essential for its invasion). + +To allow the immune system to recognize millions of different antigens, the antigen-binding sites at both tips of the antibody come in an equally wide variety. +In contrast, the remainder of the antibody is relatively constant. In mammals, antibodies occur in a few variants, which define the antibody's class or isotype: IgA, IgD, IgE, IgG, and IgM. +The constant region at the trunk of the antibody includes sites involved in interactions with other components of the immune system. The class hence determines the function triggered by an antibody after binding to an antigen, in addition to some structural features. +Antibodies from different classes also differ in where they are released in the body and at what stage of an immune response. + +Together with B and T cells, antibodies comprise the most important part of the adaptive immune system. +They occur in two forms: one that is attached to a B cell, and the other, a soluble form, that is unattached and found in extracellular fluids such as blood plasma. +Initially, all antibodies are of the first form, attached to the surface of a B cell – these are then referred to as B-cell receptors (BCR). +After an antigen binds to a BCR, the B cell activates to proliferate and differentiate into either plasma cells, which secrete soluble antibodies with the same paratope, or memory B cells, which survive in the body to enable long-lasting immunity to the antigen. +Soluble antibodies are released into the blood and tissue fluids, as well as many secretions. +Because these fluids were traditionally known as humors, antibody-mediated immunity is sometimes known as, or considered a part of, humoral immunity. +The soluble Y-shaped units can occur individually as monomers, or in complexes of two to five units. + +Antibodies are glycoproteins belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily. +The terms antibody and immunoglobulin are often used interchangeably, though the term 'antibody' is sometimes reserved for the secreted, soluble form, i.e. excluding B-cell receptors. + +Structure + +Antibodies are heavy (~150 kDa) proteins of about 10 nm in size, +arranged in three globular regions that roughly form a Y shape. + +In humans and most other mammals, an antibody unit consists of four polypeptide chains; two identical heavy chains and two identical light chains connected by disulfide bonds. +Each chain is a series of domains: somewhat similar sequences of about 110 amino acids each. +These domains are usually represented in simplified schematics as rectangles. +Light chains consist of one variable domain VL and one constant domain CL, while heavy chains contain one variable domain VH and three to four constant domains CH1, CH2, ... + +Structurally an antibody is also partitioned into two antigen-binding fragments (Fab), containing one VL, VH, CL, and CH1 domain each, as well as the crystallisable fragment (Fc), forming the trunk of the Y shape. +In between them is a hinge region of the heavy chains, whose flexibility allows antibodies to bind to pairs of epitopes at various distances, to form complexes (dimers, trimers, etc.), and to bind effector molecules more easily. + +In an electrophoresis test of blood proteins, antibodies mostly migrate to the last, gamma globulin fraction. +Conversely, most gamma-globulins are antibodies, which is why the two terms were historically used as synonyms, as were the symbols Ig and γ. +This variant terminology fell out of use due to the correspondence being inexact and due to confusion with γ (gamma) heavy chains which characterize the IgG class of antibodies. + +Antigen-binding site +The variable domains can also be referred to as the FV region. It is the subregion of Fab that binds to an antigen. +More specifically, each variable domain contains three hypervariable regions – the amino acids seen there vary the most from antibody to antibody. +When the protein folds, these regions give rise to three loops of β-strands, localized near one another on the surface of the antibody. +These loops are referred to as the complementarity-determining regions (CDRs), since their shape complements that of an antigen. +Three CDRs from each of the heavy and light chains together form an antibody-binding site whose shape can be anything from a pocket to which a smaller antigen binds, to a larger surface, to a protrusion that sticks out into a groove in an antigen. +Typically however only a few residues contribute to most of the binding energy. + +The existence of two identical antibody-binding sites allows antibody molecules to bind strongly to multivalent antigen (repeating sites such as polysaccharides in bacterial cell walls, or other sites at some distance apart), as well as to form antibody complexes and larger antigen-antibody complexes. The resulting cross-linking plays a role in activating other parts of the immune system. + +The structures of CDRs have been clustered and classified by Chothia et al. +and more recently by North et al. +and Nikoloudis et al. However, describing an antibody's binding site using only one single static structure limits the understanding and characterization of the antibody's function and properties. To improve antibody structure prediction and to take the strongly correlated CDR loop and interface movements into account, antibody paratopes should be described as interconverting states in solution with varying probabilities. + +In the framework of the immune network theory, CDRs are also called idiotypes. According to immune network theory, the adaptive immune system is regulated by interactions between idiotypes. + +Fc region + +The Fc region (the trunk of the Y shape) is composed of constant domains from the heavy chains. Its role is in modulating immune cell activity: it is where effector molecules bind to, triggering various effects after the antibody Fab region binds to an antigen. +Effector cells (such as macrophages or natural killer cells) bind via their Fc receptors (FcR) to the Fc region of an antibody, while the complement system is activated by binding the C1q protein complex. IgG or IgM can bind to C1q, but IgA cannot, therefore IgA does not activate the classical complement pathway. + +Another role of the Fc region is to selectively distribute different antibody classes across the body. In particular, the neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) binds to the Fc region of IgG antibodies to transport it across the placenta, from the mother to the fetus. + +Antibodies are glycoproteins, that is, they have carbohydrates (glycans) added to conserved amino acid residues. +These conserved glycosylation sites occur in the Fc region and influence interactions with effector molecules. + +Protein structure +The N-terminus of each chain is situated at the tip. +Each immunoglobulin domain has a similar structure, characteristic of all the members of the immunoglobulin superfamily: +it is composed of between 7 (for constant domains) and 9 (for variable domains) β-strands, forming two beta sheets in a Greek key motif. +The sheets create a "sandwich" shape, the immunoglobulin fold, held together by a disulfide bond. + +Antibody complexes + +Secreted antibodies can occur as a single Y-shaped unit, a monomer. +However, some antibody classes also form dimers with two Ig units (as with IgA), tetramers with four Ig units (like teleost fish IgM), or pentamers with five Ig units (like shark IgW or mammalian IgM, which occasionally forms hexamers as well, with six units). + +Antibodies also form complexes by binding to antigen: this is called an antigen-antibody complex or immune complex. +Small antigens can cross-link two antibodies, also leading to the formation of antibody dimers, trimers, tetramers, etc. +Multivalent antigens (e.g., cells with multiple epitopes) can form larger complexes with antibodies. +An extreme example is the clumping, or agglutination, of red blood cells with antibodies in the Coombs test to determine blood groups: the large clumps become insoluble, leading to visually apparent precipitation. + +B cell receptors + +The membrane-bound form of an antibody may be called a surface immunoglobulin (sIg) or a membrane immunoglobulin (mIg). It is part of the B cell receptor (BCR), which allows a B cell to detect when a specific antigen is present in the body and triggers B cell activation. The BCR is composed of surface-bound IgD or IgM antibodies and associated Ig-α and Ig-β heterodimers, which are capable of signal transduction. A typical human B cell will have 50,000 to 100,000 antibodies bound to its surface. Upon antigen binding, they cluster in large patches, which can exceed 1 micrometer in diameter, on lipid rafts that isolate the BCRs from most other cell signaling receptors. +These patches may improve the efficiency of the cellular immune response. In humans, the cell surface is bare around the B cell receptors for several hundred nanometers, which further isolates the BCRs from competing influences. + +Classes +Antibodies can come in different varieties known as isotypes or classes. In placental mammals there are five antibody classes known as IgA, IgD, IgE, IgG, and IgM, which are further subdivided into subclasses such as IgA1, IgA2. +The prefix "Ig" stands for immunoglobulin, while the suffix denotes the type of heavy chain the antibody contains: the heavy chain types α (alpha), γ (gamma), δ (delta), ε (epsilon), μ (mu) give rise to IgA, IgG, IgD, IgE, IgM, respectively. +The distinctive features of each class are determined by the part of the heavy chain within the hinge and Fc region. + +The classes differ in their biological properties, functional locations and ability to deal with different antigens, as depicted in the table. +For example, IgE antibodies are responsible for an allergic response consisting of histamine release from mast cells, often a sole contributor to asthma (though other pathways exist as do exist symptoms very similar to yet not technically asthma). The antibody's variable region binds to allergic antigen, for example house dust mite particles, while its Fc region (in the ε heavy chains) binds to Fc receptor ε on a mast cell, triggering its degranulation: the release of molecules stored in its granules. + +The antibody isotype of a B cell changes during cell development and activation. Immature B cells, which have never been exposed to an antigen, express only the IgM isotype in a cell surface bound form. The B lymphocyte, in this ready-to-respond form, is known as a "naive B lymphocyte." The naive B lymphocyte expresses both surface IgM and IgD. The co-expression of both of these immunoglobulin isotypes renders the B cell ready to respond to antigen. B cell activation follows engagement of the cell-bound antibody molecule with an antigen, causing the cell to divide and differentiate into an antibody-producing cell called a plasma cell. In this activated form, the B cell starts to produce antibody in a secreted form rather than a membrane-bound form. Some daughter cells of the activated B cells undergo isotype switching, a mechanism that causes the production of antibodies to change from IgM or IgD to the other antibody isotypes, IgE, IgA, or IgG, that have defined roles in the immune system. + +Light chain types + +In mammals there are two types of immunoglobulin light chain, which are called lambda (λ) and kappa (κ). However, there is no known functional difference between them, and both can occur with any of the five major types of heavy chains. Each antibody contains two identical light chains: both κ or both λ. Proportions of κ and λ types vary by species and can be used to detect abnormal proliferation of B cell clones. Other types of light chains, such as the iota (ι) chain, are found in other vertebrates like sharks (Chondrichthyes) and bony fishes (Teleostei). + +In non-mammalian animals +In most placental mammals, the structure of antibodies is generally the same. +Jawed fish appear to be the most primitive animals that are able to make antibodies similar to those of mammals, although many features of their adaptive immunity appeared somewhat earlier. + +Cartilaginous fish (such as sharks) produce heavy-chain-only antibodies (i.e., lacking light chains) which moreover feature longer chain pentamers (with five constant units per molecule). Camelids (such as camels, llamas, alpacas) are also notable for producing heavy-chain-only antibodies. + +Antibody–antigen interactions +The antibody's paratope interacts with the antigen's epitope. An antigen usually contains different epitopes along its surface arranged discontinuously, and dominant epitopes on a given antigen are called determinants. + +Antibody and antigen interact by spatial complementarity (lock and key). The molecular forces involved in the Fab-epitope interaction are weak and non-specific – for example electrostatic forces, hydrogen bonds, hydrophobic interactions, and van der Waals forces. This means binding between antibody and antigen is reversible, and the antibody's affinity towards an antigen is relative rather than absolute. Relatively weak binding also means it is possible for an antibody to cross-react with different antigens of different relative affinities. + +Function + +The main categories of antibody action include the following: + + Neutralisation, in which neutralizing antibodies block parts of the surface of a bacterial cell or virion to render its attack ineffective + Agglutination, in which antibodies "glue together" foreign cells into clumps that are attractive targets for phagocytosis + Precipitation, in which antibodies "glue together" serum-soluble antigens, forcing them to precipitate out of solution in clumps that are attractive targets for phagocytosis + Complement activation (fixation), in which antibodies that are latched onto a foreign cell encourage complement to attack it with a membrane attack complex, which leads to the following: + Lysis of the foreign cell + Encouragement of inflammation by chemotactically attracting inflammatory cells + +More indirectly, an antibody can signal immune cells to present antibody fragments to T cells, or downregulate other immune cells to avoid autoimmunity. + +Activated B cells differentiate into either antibody-producing cells called plasma cells that secrete soluble antibody or memory cells that survive in the body for years afterward in order to allow the immune system to remember an antigen and respond faster upon future exposures. + +At the prenatal and neonatal stages of life, the presence of antibodies is provided by passive immunization from the mother. Early endogenous antibody production varies for different kinds of antibodies, and usually appear within the first years of life. Since antibodies exist freely in the bloodstream, they are said to be part of the humoral immune system. Circulating antibodies are produced by clonal B cells that specifically respond to only one antigen (an example is a virus capsid protein fragment). Antibodies contribute to immunity in three ways: They prevent pathogens from entering or damaging cells by binding to them; they stimulate removal of pathogens by macrophages and other cells by coating the pathogen; and they trigger destruction of pathogens by stimulating other immune responses such as the complement pathway. Antibodies will also trigger vasoactive amine degranulation to contribute to immunity against certain types of antigens (helminths, allergens). + +Activation of complement +Antibodies that bind to surface antigens (for example, on bacteria) will attract the first component of the complement cascade with their Fc region and initiate activation of the "classical" complement system. This results in the killing of bacteria in two ways. First, the binding of the antibody and complement molecules marks the microbe for ingestion by phagocytes in a process called opsonization; these phagocytes are attracted by certain complement molecules generated in the complement cascade. Second, some complement system components form a membrane attack complex to assist antibodies to kill the bacterium directly (bacteriolysis). + +Activation of effector cells +To combat pathogens that replicate outside cells, antibodies bind to pathogens to link them together, causing them to agglutinate. Since an antibody has at least two paratopes, it can bind more than one antigen by binding identical epitopes carried on the surfaces of these antigens. By coating the pathogen, antibodies stimulate effector functions against the pathogen in cells that recognize their Fc region. + +Those cells that recognize coated pathogens have Fc receptors, which, as the name suggests, interact with the Fc region of IgA, IgG, and IgE antibodies. The engagement of a particular antibody with the Fc receptor on a particular cell triggers an effector function of that cell; phagocytes will phagocytose, mast cells and neutrophils will degranulate, natural killer cells will release cytokines and cytotoxic molecules; that will ultimately result in destruction of the invading microbe. The activation of natural killer cells by antibodies initiates a cytotoxic mechanism known as antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) – this process may explain the efficacy of monoclonal antibodies used in biological therapies against cancer. The Fc receptors are isotype-specific, which gives greater flexibility to the immune system, invoking only the appropriate immune mechanisms for distinct pathogens. + +Natural antibodies +Humans and higher primates also produce "natural antibodies" that are present in serum before viral infection. Natural antibodies have been defined as antibodies that are produced without any previous infection, vaccination, other foreign antigen exposure or passive immunization. These antibodies can activate the classical complement pathway leading to lysis of enveloped virus particles long before the adaptive immune response is activated. Many natural antibodies are directed against the disaccharide galactose α(1,3)-galactose (α-Gal), which is found as a terminal sugar on glycosylated cell surface proteins, and generated in response to production of this sugar by bacteria contained in the human gut. Rejection of xenotransplantated organs is thought to be, in part, the result of natural antibodies circulating in the serum of the recipient binding to α-Gal antigens expressed on the donor tissue. + +Immunoglobulin diversity +Virtually all microbes can trigger an antibody response. Successful recognition and eradication of many different types of microbes requires diversity among antibodies; their amino acid composition varies allowing them to interact with many different antigens. It has been estimated that humans generate about 10 billion different antibodies, each capable of binding a distinct epitope of an antigen. Although a huge repertoire of different antibodies is generated in a single individual, the number of genes available to make these proteins is limited by the size of the human genome. Several complex genetic mechanisms have evolved that allow vertebrate B cells to generate a diverse pool of antibodies from a relatively small number of antibody genes. + +Domain variability + +The chromosomal region that encodes an antibody is large and contains several distinct gene loci for each domain of the antibody—the chromosome region containing heavy chain genes (IGH@) is found on chromosome 14, and the loci containing lambda and kappa light chain genes (IGL@ and IGK@) are found on chromosomes 22 and 2 in humans. One of these domains is called the variable domain, which is present in each heavy and light chain of every antibody, but can differ in different antibodies generated from distinct B cells. Differences between the variable domains are located on three loops known as hypervariable regions (HV-1, HV-2 and HV-3) or complementarity-determining regions (CDR1, CDR2 and CDR3). CDRs are supported within the variable domains by conserved framework regions. The heavy chain locus contains about 65 different variable domain genes that all differ in their CDRs. Combining these genes with an array of genes for other domains of the antibody generates a large cavalry of antibodies with a high degree of variability. This combination is called V(D)J recombination discussed below. + +V(D)J recombination + +Somatic recombination of immunoglobulins, also known as V(D)J recombination, involves the generation of a unique immunoglobulin variable region. The variable region of each immunoglobulin heavy or light chain is encoded in several pieces—known as gene segments (subgenes). These segments are called variable (V), diversity (D) and joining (J) segments. V, D and J segments are found in Ig heavy chains, but only V and J segments are found in Ig light chains. Multiple copies of the V, D and J gene segments exist, and are tandemly arranged in the genomes of mammals. In the bone marrow, each developing B cell will assemble an immunoglobulin variable region by randomly selecting and combining one V, one D and one J gene segment (or one V and one J segment in the light chain). As there are multiple copies of each type of gene segment, and different combinations of gene segments can be used to generate each immunoglobulin variable region, this process generates a huge number of antibodies, each with different paratopes, and thus different antigen specificities. The rearrangement of several subgenes (i.e. V2 family) for lambda light chain immunoglobulin is coupled with the activation of microRNA miR-650, which further influences biology of B-cells. + +RAG proteins play an important role with V(D)J recombination in cutting DNA at a particular region. Without the presence of these proteins, V(D)J recombination would not occur. + +After a B cell produces a functional immunoglobulin gene during V(D)J recombination, it cannot express any other variable region (a process known as allelic exclusion) thus each B cell can produce antibodies containing only one kind of variable chain. + +Somatic hypermutation and affinity maturation + +Following activation with antigen, B cells begin to proliferate rapidly. In these rapidly dividing cells, the genes encoding the variable domains of the heavy and light chains undergo a high rate of point mutation, by a process called somatic hypermutation (SHM). SHM results in approximately one nucleotide change per variable gene, per cell division. As a consequence, any daughter B cells will acquire slight amino acid differences in the variable domains of their antibody chains. + +This serves to increase the diversity of the antibody pool and impacts the antibody's antigen-binding affinity. Some point mutations will result in the production of antibodies that have a weaker interaction (low affinity) with their antigen than the original antibody, and some mutations will generate antibodies with a stronger interaction (high affinity). B cells that express high affinity antibodies on their surface will receive a strong survival signal during interactions with other cells, whereas those with low affinity antibodies will not, and will die by apoptosis. Thus, B cells expressing antibodies with a higher affinity for the antigen will outcompete those with weaker affinities for function and survival allowing the average affinity of antibodies to increase over time. The process of generating antibodies with increased binding affinities is called affinity maturation. Affinity maturation occurs in mature B cells after V(D)J recombination, and is dependent on help from helper T cells. + +Class switching + +Isotype or class switching is a biological process occurring after activation of the B cell, which allows the cell to produce different classes of antibody (IgA, IgE, or IgG). The different classes of antibody, and thus effector functions, are defined by the constant (C) regions of the immunoglobulin heavy chain. Initially, naive B cells express only cell-surface IgM and IgD with identical antigen binding regions. Each isotype is adapted for a distinct function; therefore, after activation, an antibody with an IgG, IgA, or IgE effector function might be required to effectively eliminate an antigen. Class switching allows different daughter cells from the same activated B cell to produce antibodies of different isotypes. Only the constant region of the antibody heavy chain changes during class switching; the variable regions, and therefore antigen specificity, remain unchanged. Thus the progeny of a single B cell can produce antibodies, all specific for the same antigen, but with the ability to produce the effector function appropriate for each antigenic challenge. Class switching is triggered by cytokines; the isotype generated depends on which cytokines are present in the B cell environment. + +Class switching occurs in the heavy chain gene locus by a mechanism called class switch recombination (CSR). This mechanism relies on conserved nucleotide motifs, called switch (S) regions, found in DNA upstream of each constant region gene (except in the δ-chain). The DNA strand is broken by the activity of a series of enzymes at two selected S-regions. The variable domain exon is rejoined through a process called non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) to the desired constant region (γ, α or ε). This process results in an immunoglobulin gene that encodes an antibody of a different isotype. + +Specificity designations +An antibody can be called monospecific if it has specificity for the same antigen or epitope, or bispecific if they have affinity for two different antigens or two different epitopes on the same antigen. A group of antibodies can be called polyvalent (or unspecific) if they have affinity for various antigens or microorganisms. Intravenous immunoglobulin, if not otherwise noted, consists of a variety of different IgG (polyclonal IgG). In contrast, monoclonal antibodies are identical antibodies produced by a single B cell. + +Asymmetrical antibodies +Heterodimeric antibodies, which are also asymmetrical antibodies, allow for greater flexibility and new formats for attaching a variety of drugs to the antibody arms. One of the general formats for a heterodimeric antibody is the "knobs-into-holes" format. This format is specific to the heavy chain part of the constant region in antibodies. The "knobs" part is engineered by replacing a small amino acid with a larger one. It fits into the "hole", which is engineered by replacing a large amino acid with a smaller one. What connects the "knobs" to the "holes" are the disulfide bonds between each chain. The "knobs-into-holes" shape facilitates antibody dependent cell mediated cytotoxicity. Single chain variable fragments (scFv) are connected to the variable domain of the heavy and light chain via a short linker peptide. The linker is rich in glycine, which gives it more flexibility, and serine/threonine, which gives it specificity. Two different scFv fragments can be connected together, via a hinge region, to the constant domain of the heavy chain or the constant domain of the light chain. This gives the antibody bispecificity, allowing for the binding specificities of two different antigens. The "knobs-into-holes" format enhances heterodimer formation but does not suppress homodimer formation. + +To further improve the function of heterodimeric antibodies, many scientists are looking towards artificial constructs. Artificial antibodies are largely diverse protein motifs that use the functional strategy of the antibody molecule, but are not limited by the loop and framework structural constraints of the natural antibody. Being able to control the combinational design of the sequence and three-dimensional space could transcend the natural design and allow for the attachment of different combinations of drugs to the arms. + +Heterodimeric antibodies have a greater range in shapes they can take and the drugs that are attached to the arms do not have to be the same on each arm, allowing for different combinations of drugs to be used in cancer treatment. Pharmaceuticals are able to produce highly functional bispecific, and even multispecific, antibodies. The degree to which they can function is impressive given that such a change of shape from the natural form should lead to decreased functionality. + +History + +The first use of the term "antibody" occurred in a text by Paul Ehrlich. The term Antikörper (the German word for antibody) appears in the conclusion of his article "Experimental Studies on Immunity", published in October 1891, which states that, "if two substances give rise to two different Antikörper, then they themselves must be different". However, the term was not accepted immediately and several other terms for antibody were proposed; these included Immunkörper, Amboceptor, Zwischenkörper, substance sensibilisatrice, copula, Desmon, philocytase, fixateur, and Immunisin. The word antibody has formal analogy to the word antitoxin and a similar concept to Immunkörper (immune body in English). As such, the original construction of the word contains a logical flaw; the antitoxin is something directed against a toxin, while the antibody is a body directed against something. + +The study of antibodies began in 1890 when Emil von Behring and Kitasato Shibasaburō described antibody activity against diphtheria and tetanus toxins. Von Behring and Kitasato put forward the theory of humoral immunity, proposing that a mediator in serum could react with a foreign antigen. His idea prompted Paul Ehrlich to propose the side-chain theory for antibody and antigen interaction in 1897, when he hypothesized that receptors (described as "side-chains") on the surface of cells could bind specifically to toxins – in a "lock-and-key" interaction – and that this binding reaction is the trigger for the production of antibodies. Other researchers believed that antibodies existed freely in the blood and, in 1904, Almroth Wright suggested that soluble antibodies coated bacteria to label them for phagocytosis and killing; a process that he named opsoninization. + +In the 1920s, Michael Heidelberger and Oswald Avery observed that antigens could be precipitated by antibodies and went on to show that antibodies are made of protein. The biochemical properties of antigen-antibody-binding interactions were examined in more detail in the late 1930s by John Marrack. The next major advance was in the 1940s, when Linus Pauling confirmed the lock-and-key theory proposed by Ehrlich by showing that the interactions between antibodies and antigens depend more on their shape than their chemical composition. In 1948, Astrid Fagraeus discovered that B cells, in the form of plasma cells, were responsible for generating antibodies. + +Further work concentrated on characterizing the structures of the antibody proteins. A major advance in these structural studies was the discovery in the early 1960s by Gerald Edelman and Joseph Gally of the antibody light chain, and their realization that this protein is the same as the Bence-Jones protein described in 1845 by Henry Bence Jones. Edelman went on to discover that antibodies are composed of disulfide bond-linked heavy and light chains. Around the same time, antibody-binding (Fab) and antibody tail (Fc) regions of IgG were characterized by Rodney Porter. Together, these scientists deduced the structure and complete amino acid sequence of IgG, a feat for which they were jointly awarded the 1972 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The Fv fragment was prepared and characterized by David Givol. While most of these early studies focused on IgM and IgG, other immunoglobulin isotypes were identified in the 1960s: Thomas Tomasi discovered secretory antibody (IgA); David S. Rowe and John L. Fahey discovered IgD; and Kimishige Ishizaka and Teruko Ishizaka discovered IgE and showed it was a class of antibodies involved in allergic reactions. In a landmark series of experiments beginning in 1976, Susumu Tonegawa showed that genetic material can rearrange itself to form the vast array of available antibodies. + +Medical applications + +Disease diagnosis +Detection of particular antibodies is a very common form of medical diagnostics, and applications such as serology depend on these methods. For example, in biochemical assays for disease diagnosis, a titer of antibodies directed against Epstein-Barr virus or Lyme disease is estimated from the blood. If those antibodies are not present, either the person is not infected or the infection occurred a very long time ago, and the B cells generating these specific antibodies have naturally decayed. + +In clinical immunology, levels of individual classes of immunoglobulins are measured by nephelometry (or turbidimetry) to characterize the antibody profile of patient. Elevations in different classes of immunoglobulins are sometimes useful in determining the cause of liver damage in patients for whom the diagnosis is unclear. For example, elevated IgA indicates alcoholic cirrhosis, elevated IgM indicates viral hepatitis and primary biliary cirrhosis, while IgG is elevated in viral hepatitis, autoimmune hepatitis and cirrhosis. + +Autoimmune disorders can often be traced to antibodies that bind the body's own epitopes; many can be detected through blood tests. Antibodies directed against red blood cell surface antigens in immune mediated hemolytic anemia are detected with the Coombs test. The Coombs test is also used for antibody screening in blood transfusion preparation and also for antibody screening in antenatal women. + +Practically, several immunodiagnostic methods based on detection of complex antigen-antibody are used to diagnose infectious diseases, for example ELISA, immunofluorescence, Western blot, immunodiffusion, immunoelectrophoresis, and magnetic immunoassay. Antibodies raised against human chorionic gonadotropin are used in over the counter pregnancy tests. + +New dioxaborolane chemistry enables radioactive fluoride (18F) labeling of antibodies, which allows for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of cancer. + +Disease therapy +Targeted monoclonal antibody therapy is employed to treat diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, and many forms of cancer including non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, colorectal cancer, head and neck cancer and breast cancer. + +Some immune deficiencies, such as X-linked agammaglobulinemia and hypogammaglobulinemia, result in partial or complete lack of antibodies. These diseases are often treated by inducing a short-term form of immunity called passive immunity. Passive immunity is achieved through the transfer of ready-made antibodies in the form of human or animal serum, pooled immunoglobulin or monoclonal antibodies, into the affected individual. + +Prenatal therapy +Rh factor, also known as Rh D antigen, is an antigen found on red blood cells; individuals that are Rh-positive (Rh+) have this antigen on their red blood cells and individuals that are Rh-negative (Rh–) do not. During normal childbirth, delivery trauma or complications during pregnancy, blood from a fetus can enter the mother's system. In the case of an Rh-incompatible mother and child, consequential blood mixing may sensitize an Rh- mother to the Rh antigen on the blood cells of the Rh+ child, putting the remainder of the pregnancy, and any subsequent pregnancies, at risk for hemolytic disease of the newborn. + +Rho(D) immune globulin antibodies are specific for human RhD antigen. Anti-RhD antibodies are administered as part of a prenatal treatment regimen to prevent sensitization that may occur when a Rh-negative mother has a Rh-positive fetus. Treatment of a mother with Anti-RhD antibodies prior to and immediately after trauma and delivery destroys Rh antigen in the mother's system from the fetus. This occurs before the antigen can stimulate maternal B cells to "remember" Rh antigen by generating memory B cells. Therefore, her humoral immune system will not make anti-Rh antibodies, and will not attack the Rh antigens of the current or subsequent babies. Rho(D) Immune Globulin treatment prevents sensitization that can lead to Rh disease, but does not prevent or treat the underlying disease itself. + +Research applications + +Specific antibodies are produced by injecting an antigen into a mammal, such as a mouse, rat, rabbit, goat, sheep, or horse for large quantities of antibody. Blood isolated from these animals contains polyclonal antibodies—multiple antibodies that bind to the same antigen—in the serum, which can now be called antiserum. Antigens are also injected into chickens for generation of polyclonal antibodies in egg yolk. To obtain antibody that is specific for a single epitope of an antigen, antibody-secreting lymphocytes are isolated from the animal and immortalized by fusing them with a cancer cell line. The fused cells are called hybridomas, and will continually grow and secrete antibody in culture. Single hybridoma cells are isolated by dilution cloning to generate cell clones that all produce the same antibody; these antibodies are called monoclonal antibodies. Polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies are often purified using Protein A/G or antigen-affinity chromatography. + +In research, purified antibodies are used in many applications. Antibodies for research applications can be found directly from antibody suppliers, or through use of a specialist search engine. Research antibodies are most commonly used to identify and locate intracellular and extracellular proteins. Antibodies are used in flow cytometry to differentiate cell types by the proteins they express; different types of cells express different combinations of cluster of differentiation molecules on their surface, and produce different intracellular and secretable proteins. They are also used in immunoprecipitation to separate proteins and anything bound to them (co-immunoprecipitation) from other molecules in a cell lysate, in Western blot analyses to identify proteins separated by electrophoresis, and in immunohistochemistry or immunofluorescence to examine protein expression in tissue sections or to locate proteins within cells with the assistance of a microscope. Proteins can also be detected and quantified with antibodies, using ELISA and ELISpot techniques. + +Antibodies used in research are some of the most powerful, yet most problematic reagents with a tremendous number of factors that must be controlled in any experiment including cross reactivity, or the antibody recognizing multiple epitopes and affinity, which can vary widely depending on experimental conditions such as pH, solvent, state of tissue etc. Multiple attempts have been made to improve both the way that researchers validate antibodies and ways in which they report on antibodies. Researchers using antibodies in their work need to record them correctly in order to allow their research to be reproducible (and therefore tested, and qualified by other researchers). Less than half of research antibodies referenced in academic papers can be easily identified. Papers published in F1000 in 2014 and 2015 provide researchers with a guide for reporting research antibody use. The RRID paper, is co-published in 4 journals that implemented the RRIDs Standard for research resource citation, which draws data from the antibodyregistry.org as the source of antibody identifiers (see also group at Force11). + +Antibody regions can be used to further biomedical research by acting as a guide for drugs to reach their target. Several application involve using bacterial plasmids to tag plasmids with the Fc region of the antibody such as pFUSE-Fc plasmid. + +Regulations + +Production and testing +Traditionally, most antibodies are produced by hybridoma cell lines through immortalization of antibody-producing cells by chemically induced fusion with myeloma cells. In some cases, additional fusions with other lines have created "triomas" and "quadromas". The manufacturing process should be appropriately described and validated. Validation studies should at least include: + The demonstration that the process is able to produce in good quality (the process should be validated) + The efficiency of the antibody purification (all impurities and virus must be eliminated) + The characterization of purified antibody (physicochemical characterization, immunological properties, biological activities, contaminants, ...) + Determination of the virus clearance studies + +Before clinical trials + Product safety testing: Sterility (bacteria and fungi), in vitro and in vivo testing for adventitious viruses, murine retrovirus testing..., product safety data needed before the initiation of feasibility trials in serious or immediately life-threatening conditions, it serves to evaluate dangerous potential of the product. + Feasibility testing: These are pilot studies whose objectives include, among others, early characterization of safety and initial proof of concept in a small specific patient population (in vitro or in vivo testing). + +Preclinical studies + Testing cross-reactivity of antibody: to highlight unwanted interactions (toxicity) of antibodies with previously characterized tissues. This study can be performed in vitro (reactivity of the antibody or immunoconjugate should be determined with a quick-frozen adult tissues) or in vivo (with appropriates animal models). + Preclinical pharmacology and toxicity testing: preclinical safety testing of antibody is designed to identify possible toxicity in humans, to estimate the likelihood and severity of potential adverse events in humans, and to identify a safe starting dose and dose escalation, when possible. + Animal toxicity studies: Acute toxicity testing, repeat-dose toxicity testing, long-term toxicity testing + Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics testing: Use for determinate clinical dosages, antibody activities, evaluation of the potential clinical effects + +Structure prediction and computational antibody design +The importance of antibodies in health care and the biotechnology industry demands knowledge of their structures at high resolution. This information is used for protein engineering, modifying the antigen binding affinity, and identifying an epitope, of a given antibody. X-ray crystallography is one commonly used method for determining antibody structures. However, crystallizing an antibody is often laborious and time-consuming. Computational approaches provide a cheaper and faster alternative to crystallography, but their results are more equivocal, since they do not produce empirical structures. Online web servers such as Web Antibody Modeling (WAM) and Prediction of Immunoglobulin Structure (PIGS) enables computational modeling of antibody variable regions. Rosetta Antibody is a novel antibody FV region structure prediction server, which incorporates sophisticated techniques to minimize CDR loops and optimize the relative orientation of the light and heavy chains, as well as homology models that predict successful docking of antibodies with their unique antigen. However, describing an antibody's binding site using only one single static structure limits the understanding and characterization of the antibody's function and properties. To improve antibody structure prediction and to take the strongly correlated CDR loop and interface movements into account, antibody paratopes should be described as interconverting states in solution with varying probabilities. + +The ability to describe the antibody through binding affinity to the antigen is supplemented by information on antibody structure and amino acid sequences for the purpose of patent claims. Several methods have been presented for computational design of antibodies based on the structural bioinformatics studies of antibody CDRs. + +There are a variety of methods used to sequence an antibody including Edman degradation, cDNA, etc.; albeit one of the most common modern uses for peptide/protein identification is liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). High volume antibody sequencing methods require computational approaches for the data analysis, including de novo sequencing directly from tandem mass spectra and database search methods that use existing protein sequence databases. Many versions of shotgun protein sequencing are able to increase the coverage by utilizing CID/HCD/ETD fragmentation methods and other techniques, and they have achieved substantial progress in attempt to fully sequence proteins, especially antibodies. Other methods have assumed the existence of similar proteins, a known genome sequence, or combined top-down and bottom up approaches. Current technologies have the ability to assemble protein sequences with high accuracy by integrating de novo sequencing peptides, intensity, and positional confidence scores from database and homology searches. + +Antibody mimetic +Antibody mimetics are organic compounds, like antibodies, that can specifically bind antigens. They consist of artificial peptides or proteins, or aptamer-based nucleic acid molecules with a molar mass of about 3 to 20 kDa. Antibody fragments, such as Fab and nanobodies are not considered as antibody mimetics. Common advantages over antibodies are better solubility, tissue penetration, stability towards heat and enzymes, and comparatively low production costs. Antibody mimetics have being developed and commercialized as research, diagnostic and therapeutic agents. + +Binding antibody unit +BAU (binding antibody unit, often as BAU/mL) is a measurement unit defined by the WHO for the comparison of assays detecting the same class of immunoglobulins with the same specificity. + +See also + + Affimer + Anti-mitochondrial antibodies + Anti-nuclear antibodies + Antibody mimetic + Aptamer + Colostrum + ELISA + Humoral immunity + Immunology + Immunosuppressive drug + Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) + Magnetic immunoassay + Microantibody + Monoclonal antibody + Neutralizing antibody + Optimer Ligand + Secondary antibodies + Single-domain antibody + Slope spectroscopy + Synthetic antibody + Western blot normalization + +References + +External links + + Mike's Immunoglobulin Structure/Function Page at University of Cambridge + Antibodies as the PDB molecule of the month Discussion of the structure of antibodies at RCSB Protein Data Bank + A hundred years of antibody therapy History and applications of antibodies in the treatment of disease at University of Oxford + How Lymphocytes Produce Antibody from Cells Alive! + + +Glycoproteins +Immunology +Reagents for biochemistry +Pietro Alessandro Gaspare Scarlatti (2 May 1660 – 22 October 1725) was an Italian Baroque composer, known especially for his operas and chamber cantatas. He is considered the most important representative of the Neapolitan school of opera. + +Nicknamed by his contemporaries "the Italian Orpheus", he divided his career between Naples and Rome, where he received his training; a significant part of his works was composed for the papal city. He is often considered the founder of the Neapolitan school, although he has only been its most illustrious representative: his contribution, his originality and his influence were essential, as well as lasting, both in Italy and in Europe. + +Particularly known for his operas, he brought the Italian dramatic tradition to its maximum development, begun by Monteverdi at the beginning of 17th century and continued by Cesti, Cavalli, Carissimi, Legrenzi and Stradella, designing the final form of the Da capo aria, imitated throughout Europe. He was also the inventor of the Italian overture in three movements (which was of the highest importance in the development of the symphony), of the four-part sonata (progenitor of the modern string quartet), and of the technique of motivic development. He was a model for the musical theater of his time, as evoked by Händel's Italian works, deeply influenced by his theatrical music. Eclectic, Scarlatti also worked on all the other common genres of his time, from the sonata to the concerto grosso, from the motet to the mass, from the oratorio to the cantata, the latter being a genere in which he was an undisputed master. + +He was the father of two other composers, Domenico Scarlatti and Pietro Filippo Scarlatti. + +Life +Scarlatti was born in Palermo (or in Trapani), then part of the Kingdom of Sicily. + +He is generally said to have been a pupil of Giacomo Carissimi in Rome, and some theorize that he had some connection with northern Italy because his early works seem to show the influence of Stradella and Legrenzi. The production at Rome of his opera Gli equivoci nel sembiante (1679) gained him the support of Queen Christina of Sweden (who at the time was living in Rome), and he became her maestro di cappella. In February 1684 he became maestro di cappella to the viceroy of Naples, perhaps through the influence of his sister, an opera singer, who might have been the mistress of an influential Neapolitan noble. Here he produced a long series of operas, remarkable chiefly for their fluency and expressiveness, as well as other music for state occasions. + +In 1702 Scarlatti left Naples and did not return until the Spanish domination had been superseded by that of the Austrians. In the interval he enjoyed the patronage of Ferdinando de' Medici, for whose private theatre near Florence he composed operas, and of Cardinal Ottoboni, who made him his maestro di cappella, and procured him a similar post at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome in 1703. + +After visiting Venice and Urbino in 1707, Scarlatti took up his duties in Naples again in 1708, and remained there until 1717. By this time Naples seems to have become tired of his music; the Romans, however, appreciated it better, and it was at the Teatro Capranica in Rome that he produced some of his finest operas (Telemaco, 1718; Marco Attilio Regolò, 1719; La Griselda, 1721), as well as some noble specimens of church music, including a Messa di Santa Cecilia for chorus and orchestra, composed in honor of Saint Cecilia for Cardinal Francesco Acquaviva in 1721. His last work on a large scale appears to have been the unfinished Erminia serenata for the marriage of the prince of Stigliano in 1723. He died in Naples in 1725 and is entombed there at the church of Santa Maria di Montesanto. + +Scarlatti's music + +Scarlatti's music forms an important link between the early Baroque Italian vocal styles of the 17th century, with their centers in Florence, Venice and Rome, and the classical school of the 18th century. Scarlatti's style, however, is more than a transitional element in Western music; like most of his Naples colleagues he shows an almost modern understanding of the psychology of modulation and also frequently makes use of the ever-changing phrase lengths so typical of the Napoli school. + +His early operas—Gli equivoci nel sembiante 1679; L'honestà negli amori 1680, containing the famous aria "Già il sole dal Gange"; Il Pompeo 1683, containing the well-known airs "O cessate di piagarmi" and "Toglietemi la vita ancor," and others down to about 1685—retain the older cadences in their recitatives, and a considerable variety of neatly constructed forms in their charming little arias, accompanied sometimes by the string quartet, treated with careful elaboration, sometimes with the continuo alone. By 1686, he had definitely established the "Italian overture" form (second edition of Dal male il bene), and had abandoned the ground bass and the binary form air in two stanzas in favour of the ternary form or da capo type of air. His best operas of this period are La Rosaura (1690, printed by the Gesellschaft für Musikforschung), and Pirro e Demetrio (1694), in which occur the arias "Le Violette", and "Ben ti sta, traditor". + +From about 1697 onwards (La caduta del Decemviri), influenced partly perhaps by the style of Giovanni Bononcini and probably more by the taste of the viceregal court, his opera arias become more conventional and commonplace in rhythm, while his scoring is hasty and crude, yet not without brilliance (L'Eraclea, 1700), the oboes and trumpets being frequently used, and the violins often playing in unison. The operas composed for Ferdinando de' Medici are lost; they might have given a more favourable idea of his style as his correspondence with the prince shows that they were composed with a very sincere sense of inspiration. + +Mitridate Eupatore, accounted his masterpiece, composed for Venice in 1707, contains music far in advance of anything that Scarlatti had written for Naples, both in technique and in intellectual power. The later Neapolitan operas (L'amor volubile e tiranno 1709; La principessa fedele 1710; Tigrane, 1714, &c.) are showy and effective rather than profoundly emotional; the instrumentation marks a great advance on previous work, since the main duty of accompanying the voice is thrown upon the string quartet, the harpsichord being reserved exclusively for the noisy instrumental ritornelli. In his opera Teodora (1697) he originated the use of the orchestral ritornello. + +His last group of operas, composed for Rome, exhibit a deeper poetic feeling, a broad and dignified style of melody, a strong dramatic sense, especially in accompanied recitatives, a device which he himself had been the first to use as early as 1686 (Olimpia vendicata) and a much more modern style of orchestration, the horns appearing for the first time, and being treated with striking effect. + +Besides the operas, oratorios (Agar et Ismaele esiliati, 1684; La Maddalena, 1685; La Giuditta, 1693; Humanita e Lucifero, 1704; Christmas Oratorio, c. 1705; Cain, 1707; S. Filippo Neri, 1714; and others) and serenatas, which all exhibit a similar style, Scarlatti composed upwards of five hundred chamber-cantatas for solo voice. These represent the most intellectual type of chamber-music of their period, and it is to be regretted that they have remained almost entirely in manuscript, since a careful study of them is indispensable to anyone who wishes to form an adequate idea of Scarlatti's development. + +His few remaining Masses (the story of his having composed two hundred is hardly credible) and church music in general are comparatively unimportant, except the great Saint Cecilia Mass (1721), which is one of the first attempts at the style which reached its height in the great Masses of Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven. His instrumental music, though not without interest, is curiously antiquated as compared with his vocal works. + +Operas + +Recordings +Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Nicholas McGegan. (2016). La Gloria di Primavera. Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. Diana Moore, Suzana Ograjensek, Nicholas Phan, Clint van der Linde, Douglas Williams, Philharmonia Chorale. +Akademie für alte Musik Berlin, René Jacobs. (2007). Griselda. Harmonia Mundi HMC 901805.07. Dorothea Röschmann, Lawrence Zazzo, Veronica Cangemi, Bernarda Fink, Silvia Tro Santafé, Kobie van Rensburg. +Le Consert de l'Hostel Dieu. (2006). Il martirio di Sant'Orsola. Ligia digital: 0202176-07 +Le parlement de musique. (2005). La Giuditta. Ambronay editions: AMY004 +Ensemble Europa Galante. (2004). Oratorio per la Santissima Trinità. Virgin Classics: 5 45666 2 +Academia Bizantina. (2004). Il Giardino di Rose. Decca: 470 650-2 DSA. +Orqestra barocca di Sevilla . (2003). Colpa, Pentimento e Grazia. Harmonia Mundi: HMI 987045.46 +Seattle Baroque. (2001). Agar et Ismaele Esiliati. Centaur: CRC 2664 +Sedecia, re di Gerusalemme. 2000 . Gérard Lesne, Philippe Jaroussky, Virginie Pouchon, Mark Padmore, Peter Harvey, Il Seminario musicale. Virgin veritas, Erato +Capella Palatina. (2000). Davidis pugna et victoria. Agora: AG 249.1 +Akademie für alte Musik Berlin, René Jacobs. (1998). Il Primo Omicidio. Harmonia Mundi Fr. Dorothea Röschmann, Graciela Oddone, Richard Croft, René Jacobs, Bernarda Fink, Antonio Abete +Ensemble Europa Galante. (1995). Humanita e Lucifero. Opus 111: OPS 30–129 +Ensemble Europa Galante. (1993). La Maddalena. Opus 111: OPS 30–96 +Allesandro Stradella Consort. (1992). Cantata natalizia Abramo, il tuo sembiante. Nuova era: 7117 +I Musici. (1991). Concerto Grosso. Philips Classics Productions: 434 160-2 +I Musici. William Bennett (Flute), Lenore Smith (Flute), Bernard Soustrot (Trumpet), Hans Elhorst (Oboe). (1961). 12 Sinfonie di concerto grosso Philips Box 6769 066 [9500 959 & 9500 960 – 2 vinyl discs] +Emma Kirkby, soprano and Daniel Taylor, countertenor, with the Theatre of Early Music. (2005). Stabat Mater. ATMA Classique: ACD2 2237 +Francis Colpron, recorder, with Les Boréades. (2007). Concertos for flute. ATMA Classique: ACD2 2521 +Nederlands Kamerkoor, with Harry van der Kamp, conductor. (2008). Vespro della Beata Vergine for 5 voices and continuo. ATMA Classique: ACD2 2533 + +See also + Messa di Santa Cecilia + Il Martirio di Santa Cecilia + +References + +External links + + Associazione Domenico Scarlatti. Italian language (some material in English). + Free scores by Alessandro Scarlatti at the International Music Score Library Project + + The Madrigals of Alessandro Scarlatti: A lecture/recital by Garrick Comeaux and Consortium Carissimi, with Kelley Harness, 12 February 2009. University of Minnesota Institute for Advanced Studies. Audio and video available. + The partimenti of Alessandro Scarlatti (D-Hs M/A 251) + +1660 births +1725 deaths +17th-century Italian educators +18th-century Italian educators +Italian classical composers +18th-century Italian male musicians +Catholic liturgical composers +Classical composers of church music +Italian Baroque composers +Italian opera composers +Italian classical musicians +Italian male classical composers +Male opera composers +Neapolitan school composers +String quartet composers +17th-century Italian composers +18th-century Italian composers +Composers from Sicily +Musicians from Palermo + 01 +17th-century male musicians +Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC is a British manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Steered from 1947 by David Brown, it became associated with expensive grand touring cars in the 1950s and 1960s, and with the fictional character James Bond following his use of a DB5 model in the 1964 film Goldfinger. Their sports cars are regarded as a British cultural icon. Aston Martin has held a Royal Warrant as purveyor of motorcars to Charles III since 1982, and has over 160 car dealerships in 53 countries, making it a global automobile brand. The company is traded on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. In 2003 it received the Queen's Award for Enterprise for outstanding contribution to international trade. The company has survived seven bankruptcies throughout its history. + +The headquarters and main production of its sports cars and grand tourers are in a facility in Gaydon, Warwickshire, England, on the former site of RAF Gaydon, adjacent to the Jaguar Land Rover Gaydon Centre. The old facility in Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire is the present home of the Aston Martin Works classic car department, which focuses on heritage sales, service, spares and restoration operations. The factory in St Athan, Wales features three converted 'super-hangars' from MOD St Athan, and serves as the production site of Aston Martin's first-ever SUV, the DBX. Aston Martin plans on building electric vehicles on both its Gaydon and St Athan factories by 2025. + +Aston Martin has been involved in motorsport at various points in its history, mainly in sports car racing, and also in Formula One. The Aston Martin brand is increasingly being used, mostly through licensing, on other products including a submarine, real estate development, and aircraft. + +History + +Founding +Aston Martin was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. The two had joined forces as Bamford & Martin the previous year to sell cars made by Singer from premises in Callow Street, London where they also serviced GWK and Calthorpe vehicles. Martin raced specials at Aston Hill near Aston Clinton, and the pair decided to make their own vehicles. The first car to be named Aston Martin was created by Martin by fitting a four-cylinder Coventry-Simplex engine to the chassis of a 1908 Isotta Fraschini. + +They acquired premises at Henniker Mews in Kensington and produced their first car in March 1915. Production could not start because of the outbreak of the First World War, when Martin joined the Admiralty and Bamford joined the Army Service Corps. + +1918–1939: Interwar years + +After the war they found new premises at Abingdon Road, Kensington and designed a new car. Bamford left in 1920 and Bamford & Martin was revitalised with funding from Count Louis Zborowski. In 1922, Bamford & Martin produced cars to compete in the French Grand Prix, which went on to set world speed and endurance records at Brooklands. Three works Team Cars with 16-valve twin cam engines were built for racing and record-breaking: chassis number 1914, later developed as the Green Pea; chassis number 1915, the Razor Blade record car; and chassis number 1916, later developed as the Halford Special. + +Approximately 55 cars were built for sale in two configurations; long chassis and short chassis. Bamford & Martin went bankrupt in 1924 and was bought by Dorothea, Lady Charnwood, who put her son John Benson on the board. Bamford & Martin got into financial difficulty again in 1925 and Martin was forced to sell the company (Bamford had already left). + +Later that year, Bill Renwick, Augustus (Bert) Bertelli and investors including Lady Charnwood took control of the business. They renamed it Aston Martin Motors and moved it to the former Whitehead Aircraft Limited Hanworth works in Feltham. Renwick and Bertelli had been in partnership some years and had developed an overhead-cam four-cylinder engine using Renwick's patented combustion chamber design, which they had tested in an Enfield-Allday chassis. The only "Renwick and Bertelli" motor car made, it was known as "Buzzbox" and still survives. + +The pair had planned to sell their engine to motor manufacturers, but having heard that Aston Martin was no longer in production realised they could capitalise on its reputation to jump-start the production of a completely new car. + +Between 1926 and 1937 Bertelli was both technical director and designer of all new Aston Martins, since known as "Bertelli cars". They included the 1½-litre "T-type", "International", "Le Mans", "MKII" and its racing derivative, the "Ulster", and the 2-litre 15/98 and its racing derivative, the "Speed Model". Most were open two-seater sports cars bodied by Bert Bertelli's brother Enrico (Harry), with a small number of long-chassis four-seater tourers, dropheads and saloons also produced. + +Bertelli was a competent driver keen to race his cars, one of few owner/manufacturer/drivers. The "LM" team cars were very successful in national and international motor racing including at Le Mans. + +Financial problems reappeared in 1932. Aston Martin was rescued for a year by Lance Prideaux Brune before passing it on to Sir Arthur Sutherland. In 1936, Aston Martin decided to concentrate on road cars, producing just 700 until World War II halted work. Production shifted to aircraft components during the war. + +1947–1972: David Brown + +In 1947, old-established (1860) privately owned Huddersfield gear and machine tools manufacturer David Brown Limited bought Aston Martin, putting it under control of its Tractor Group. David Brown became Aston Martin's latest saviour. He also acquired Lagonda, without its factory, for its 2.6-litre W. O. Bentley-designed engine. Lagonda moved operations to Newport Pagnell and shared engines, resources and workshops. Aston Martin began to build the classic "DB" series of cars. + +In April 1950, they announced planned production of their Le Mans prototype to be called the DB2, followed by the DB2/4 in 1953, the DB2/4 MkII in 1955, the DB Mark III in 1957 and the Italian-styled 3.7 L DB4 in 1958. + +While these models helped Aston Martin establish a good racing pedigree, the DB4 stood out and yielded the famous DB5 in 1963. Aston stayed true to its grand touring style with the DB6 (1965–70), and DBS (1967–1972). + +The six-cylinder engines of these cars from 1954 up to 1965 were designed by Tadek Marek. + +1972–1975: William Willson + +Aston Martin was often financially troubled. In 1972, David Brown paid off all its debts, said to be £5 million or more, and handed it for £101 to Company Developments, a Birmingham-based investment bank consortium chaired by accountant William Willson. More detail on this period may be read at Willson's biography. The worldwide recession, lack of working capital and the difficulties of developing an engine to meet California's exhaust emission requirements – it stopped the company's US sales – again pulled Aston Martin into receivership at the end of 1974. The company had employed 460 workers when the manufacturing plant closed. + +1975–1981: Sprague and Curtis +The receiver sold the business in April 1975 for £1.05 million to North American businessman Peter Sprague of National Semiconductor, Toronto hotelier George Minden, and Jeremy Turner, a London businessman, who insisted to reporters that Aston Martin remained a British controlled business. Sprague later claimed he had fallen in love with the factory, not the cars, the workforce's craftsmanship dedication and intelligence. At this point, he and Minden had brought in investor Alan Curtis, a British office property developer, together with George Flather, a retired Sheffield steel magnate. + +Six months later, in September 1975, the factory – shut down the previous December – re-opened under its new owner as Aston Martin Lagonda Limited with 100 employees, and planned to lift staff to 250 by the end of 1975. In January 1976, AML revealed that it now held orders for 150 cars for the US, 100 for other markets and another 80 from a Japanese importing agency. At the Geneva Motor Show, Fred Hartley, managing director and sales director for 13 years before that, announced he had resigned over "differences in marketing policy". + +The new owners pushed Aston Martin into modernising its line, introducing the V8 Vantage in 1977, the convertible Volante in 1978, and the one-off Bulldog styled by William Towns in 1980. Towns also styled the futuristic new Lagonda saloon, based on the V8 model. + +Curtis, who had a 42% stake in Aston Martin, also brought about a change in direction from the usual customers who were Aston Martin fans, to successful young married businessmen. Prices had been increased by 25%. There was speculation that AML was about to buy Italian automobile manufacturer Lamborghini. At the end of the 1970s, there was widespread debate about running MG into the Aston Martin consortium. 85 Conservative MPs formed themselves into a pressure group to get British Leyland to release their grip and hand it over. CH Industrials plc (car components) bought a 10% share in AML. But in July 1980, blaming a recession, AML cut back their workforce of 450 by more than 20%, making those people redundant. + +1981–1987: Victor Gauntlett +In January 1981, there having been no satisfactory revival partners, Alan Curtis and Peter Sprague announced they had never intended to maintain a long-term financial stake in Aston Martin Lagonda and it was to be sold to Pace Petroleum's Victor Gauntlett. Sprague and Curtis pointed out that under their ownership AML finances had improved to where an offer for MG might have been feasible. + +Gauntlett bought a 12.5% stake in Aston Martin for £500,000 via Pace Petroleum in 1980, with Tim Hearley of CH Industrials taking a similar share. Pace and CHI took over as joint 50/50 owners at the beginning of 1981, with Gauntlett as executive chairman. Gauntlett also led the sales team, and after some development and publicity when the Lagonda became the world's fastest four-seater production car, was able to sell the car in Oman, Kuwait, and Qatar. In 1982, Aston Martin was granted a Royal Warrant of Appointment by the Prince of Wales. + +Understanding that it would take some time to develop new Aston Martin products, they created an engineering service subsidiary to develop automotive products for other companies. It was decided to use a trade name of Salmons & Son, their in-house coachbuilder, Tickford, which Aston Martin had bought in 1955. Tickford's name had been long associated with expensive high-quality carriages and cars along with their folding roofs. New products included a Tickford Austin Metro, a Tickford Ford Capri and even Tickford train interiors, particularly on the Jaguar XJS. Pace continued sponsoring racing events, and now sponsored all Aston Martin Owners Club events, taking a Tickford-engined Nimrod Group C car owned by AMOC President Viscount Downe, which came third in the Manufacturers Championship in both 1982 and 1983. It also finished seventh in the 1982 24 Hours of Le Mans race. However, sales of production cars were now at an all-time low of 30 cars produced in 1982. + +As trading became tighter in the petroleum market, and Aston Martin was requiring more time and money, Gauntlett agreed to sell Hays/Pace to the Kuwait Investment Office in September 1983. As Aston Martin required greater investment, he also agreed to sell his share holding to American importer and Greek shipping tycoon Peter Livanos, who invested via his joint venture with Nick and John Papanicolaou, ALL Inc. Gauntlett remained chairman of AML, 55% of the stake was owned by ALL, with Tickford a 50/50 venture between ALL and CHI. The uneasy relationship was ended when ALL exercised options to buy a larger share in AML; CHI's residual shares were exchanged for CHI's complete ownership of Tickford, which retained the development of existing Aston Martin projects. In 1984, Papanicolaou's Titan shipping business was in trouble so Livanos's father George bought out the Papanicolaou's shares in ALL, while Gauntlett again became a shareholder with a 25% holding in AML. The deal valued Aston Martin/AML at £2 million, the year it built its 10,000th car. + +Although as a result Aston Martin had to make 60 members of the workforce redundant, Gauntlett bought a stake in Italian styling house Zagato, and resurrected its collaboration with Aston Martin. In 1986, Gauntlett negotiated the return of the fictional British secret agent James Bond to Aston Martin. Cubby Broccoli had chosen to recast the character using actor Timothy Dalton, in an attempt to re-root the Bond-brand back to a more Sean Connery-like feel. Gauntlett supplied his personal pre-production Vantage for use in the filming of The Living Daylights, and sold a Volante to Broccoli for use at his home in America. Gauntlett turned down the role of a KGB colonel in the film, however: "I would have loved to have done it but really could not afford the time." + +1987–2007: Ford Motor Company +As Aston Martin needed funds to survive in the long term, Ford bought a 75% stake in the company in 1987, and bought the rest later. In May of that year, Victor Gauntlett and Prince Michael of Kent were staying at the home of Contessa Maggi, the wife of the founder of the original Mille Miglia, while watching the revival event. Another house guest was Walter Hayes, vice-president of Ford of Europe. Despite problems over the previous acquisition of AC Cars, Hayes saw the potential of the brand and the discussion resulted in Ford taking a share holding in September 1987. In 1988, having produced some 5,000 cars in 20 years, a revived economy and successful sales of limited edition Vantage, and 52 Volante Zagato coupés at £86,000 each; Aston Martin finally retired the ancient V8 and introduced the Virage range. + +Although Gauntlett was contractually to stay as chairman for two years, his racing interests took the company back into sports car racing in 1989 with limited European success. However, with engine rule changes for the 1990 season and the launch of the new Volante model, Ford provided the limited supply of Cosworth engines to the Jaguar cars racing team. As the entry-level DB7 would require a large engineering input, Ford agreed to take full control of Aston Martin, and Gauntlett handed over Aston Martin's chairmanship to Hayes in 1991. In 1992, the high-performance variant of the Virage called the Vantage was announced, and the following year Aston Martin renewed the DB range by announcing the DB7. + +By 1993, Ford had fully acquired the company after having built a stake in 1987. Ford placed Aston Martin in the Premier Automotive Group, invested in new manufacturing and ramped up production. In 1994, Ford opened a new factory at Banbury Road in Bloxham to manufacture the DB7. In 1995, Aston Martin produced a record 700 cars. Until the Ford era, cars had been produced by hand coachbuilding craft methods, such as the English wheel. During the mid 1990s, the Special Projects Group, a secretive unit with Works Service at Newport Pagnell, created an array of special coach-built vehicles for the Brunei royal family. In 1998, the 2,000th DB7 was built, and in 2002, the 6,000th, exceeding production of all of the previous DB series models. The DB7 range was revamped by the addition of more powerful V12 Vantage models in 1999, and in 2001, Aston Martin introduced the V12-engined flagship model called the Vanquish which succeeded the aging Virage (now called the V8 Coupé). + +At the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan in 2003, Aston Martin introduced the V8 Vantage concept car. Expected to have few changes before its introduction in 2005, the Vantage brought back the classic V8 engine to allow Aston Martin to compete in a larger market. 2003 also saw the opening of the Gaydon factory, the first purpose-built factory in Aston Martin's history. The facility is situated on a site of a former RAF V Bomber airbase, with an front building for offices, meeting rooms and customer reception, and a production building. Also introduced in 2003 was the DB9 coupé, which replaced the ten-year-old DB7. A convertible version of the DB9, the DB9 Volante, was introduced at the 2004 Detroit auto show. + +In October 2004, Aston Martin set up the dedicated Aston Martin Engine Plant (AMEP) within the Ford Germany Niehl, Cologne plant. With the capacity to produce up to 5,000 engines a year by 100 specially trained personnel, like traditional Aston Martin engine production from Newport Pagnell, assembly of each unit was entrusted to a single technician from a pool of 30, with V8 and V12 variants assembled in under 20 hours. By bringing engine production back to within Aston Martin, the promise was that Aston Martin would be able to produce small runs of higher performance variants' engines. This expanded engine capacity allowed the entry-level V8 Vantage sports car to enter production at the Gaydon factory in 2006, joining the DB9 and DB9 Volante. + +In December 2003, Aston Martin announced it would return to motor racing in 2005. A new division was created, called Aston Martin Racing, which became responsible, together with Prodrive, for the design, development, and management of the DBR9 program. The DBR9 competes in the GT class in sports car races, including the world-famous 24 Hours of Le Mans. + +In 2006, an internal audit led Ford to consider divesting itself of parts of its Premier Automotive Group. After suggestions of selling Jaguar Cars, Land Rover, or Volvo Cars were weighed, Ford announced in August 2006 it had engaged UBS AG to sell all or part of Aston Martin at auction. + +2007–2018: Private Limited Company +On 12 March 2007, a consortium led by Prodrive chairman David Richards purchased Aston Martin for £475 million (US$848 million). The group included American investment banker John Sinders and two Kuwaiti companies namely Investment Dar and Adeem Investment. Prodrive had no financial involvement in the deal. Ford kept a stake in Aston Martin valued at £40 million (US$70 million). + +To demonstrate the V8 Vantage's durability across hazardous terrain and promote the car in China, the first east–west crossing of the Asian Highway was undertaken between June and August 2007. A pair of Britons drove from Tokyo to Istanbul before joining the European motorway network for another to London. The promotion was so successful Aston Martin opened dealerships in Shanghai and Beijing within three months. + +On 19 July 2007, the Newport Pagnell plant rolled out the last of nearly 13,000 cars made there since 1955, a Vanquish S. The Tickford Street facility was converted and became the home of the Aston Martin Works classic car department which focuses on heritage sales, service, spares and restoration operations. UK production was subsequently concentrated on the facility in Gaydon on the former RAF V Bomber airbase. In March 2008, Aston Martin announced a partnership with Magna Steyr to outsource manufacture of over 2,000 cars annually to Graz, Austria, reassuringly stating: "The continuing growth and success of Aston Martin is based upon Gaydon as the focal point and heart of the business, with the design and engineering of all Aston Martin products continuing to be carried out there." + +More dealers in Europe and the new pair in China brought the total to 120 in 28 countries. On 1 September 2008, Aston Martin announced the revival of the Lagonda marque, proposing a concept car to be shown in 2009 to coincide with the brand's 100th anniversary. The first production cars were slated for production in 2012. In December 2008, Aston Martin announced it would cut its workforce from 1,850 to 1,250 due to the economic recession. + +The first four-door Rapide grand tourers rolled out of the Magna Steyr factory in Graz, Austria in 2010. The contract manufacturer provides dedicated facilities to ensure compliance with the exacting standards of Aston Martin and other marques, including Mercedes-Benz. Then CEO of the company, Ulrich Bez had publicly speculated about outsourcing all of Aston Martin's operations with the exception of marketing. In September 2011, it was announced that production of the Rapide would be returned to Gaydon in the second half of 2012, restoring all of the company's automobile manufacture there. + +Italian private equity fund Investindustrial signed a deal on 6 December 2012 to buy a 37.5% stake in Aston Martin, investing £150 million as a capital increase. This was confirmed by Aston Martin in a press release on 7 December 2012. David Richards left Aston Martin in 2013, returning to concentrate on Prodrive. + +In April 2013, it was reported that Bez would be leaving his role as the chief executive officer to take up a more ambassadorial position. On 2 September 2014, Aston Martin announced it had appointed the Nissan executive Andy Palmer as the new CEO with Bez retaining a position as non-executive chairman. As sales had been declining from 2015, Aston Martin sought new customers (particularly wealthy female buyers) with introducing concept cars like the DBX SUV along with track focused cars like the Vulcan. According to Palmer, the troubles started when sales of the DB9 failed to generate sufficient fund to develop next-generation models which led to a downward spiral of declining sales and profitability. + +Palmer outlined that the company plans to develop two new platforms, add a crossover, refresh its supercar lineup and leverage its technology alliance with Daimler as part of its six-year plan to make the 100-year-old British brand consistently profitable. He stated, "In the first century we went bankrupt seven times. The second century is about making sure that is not the case." In preparation for its next-generation of sports cars, the company invested £20 million ($33.4 million) to expand its manufacturing plant in Gaydon. The expansion at the Gaydon plant includes a new chassis and pilot build facility, as well as an extension of the parts and logistics storage area, and new offices. In total, Aston Martin will add approximately to the plant. + +In 2014, Aston Martin suffered a pre-tax loss of £72 million, almost triple of the amount of 2013 selling 3,500 cars during the year, well below the 7,300 cars sold in 2007 and 4,200 sold in 2013 respectively. In March 2014, Aston Martin issued "payment in kind" notes of US$165 million, at 10.25% interest, in addition to the £304 million of senior secured notes at 9.25% issued in 2011. Aston Martin also had to secure an additional investment of £200 million from its shareholders to fund development of new models. It was reported that Aston Martin's pre-tax losses for 2016 increased by 27% to £162.8 million, the sixth year it continued to suffer a loss. + +In 2016, the company selected a site in St Athan, South Wales for its new factory. The Welsh facility was unanimously chosen by Aston's board despite fierce competition from other locations as far afield as the Americas, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Europe, as well as two other sites in the UK, believed to be Bridgend and Birmingham. The facility featured three existing ‘super-hangars’ of MOD St Athan. Construction work of converting the hangars commenced in April 2017. Aston Martin returned to profit in 2017 after selling over 5,000 cars. The company made a pre-tax profit of £87 million compared with a £163 million loss in 2016. 2017 also marked the return of production of the Newport Pagnell facility ten years after it originally ceased. + +2013–present: Partnership with Mercedes-Benz Group +In December 2013, Aston Martin signed a deal with Mercedes-Benz Group (at the time known as Daimler) to supply the next generation of Aston Martin cars with Mercedes-AMG engines. Mercedes-AMG also was to supply Aston Martin with electrical systems. This technical partnership was intended to support Aston Martin's launch of a new generation of models that would incorporate new technology and engines. In exchange, Mercedes will get as much as 5% equity in Aston Martin and a non-voting seat on its board. The first model to sport the Mercedes-Benz technology was the DB11, announced at the 86th Geneva Motor Show in March 2016. It featured Mercedes-Benz electronics for the entertainment, navigation and other systems. It was also the first model to use Mercedes-AMG V8 engines. In October 2020, Mercedes confirmed it will increase its holding "in stages" from 5% to 20%. In return, Aston Martin will have access to Mercedes-Benz hybrid and electric drivetrain technologies for its future models. + +2018–present: Listed on the London Stock Exchange +After "completing a turnaround for the once perennially loss-making company that could now be valued at up to 5 billion pounds ($6.4 billion)," and now reporting a full-year pre-tax profit of £87 million (compared with a £163 million loss in 2016) Aston Martin in August 2018 announced plans to float the company at the London Stock Exchange as Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings plc. The company was the subject of an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange on 3 October 2018. In the same year, Aston Martin opened a new vehicle dynamics test and development centre at Silverstone's Stowe Circuit alongside a new HQ in London. In June 2019, the company opened its new factory in St Athan for the production of its first-ever SUV the DBX. The factory was finally completed and officially opened on 6 December 2019. When full production begins in the second quarter of 2020, around 600 people will be employed at the factory, rising to 750 when peak production is reached. + +On 31 January 2020 it was announced that Canadian billionaire and investor Lawrence Stroll was leading a consortium, Yew Tree Overseas Limited, who will pay £182 million in return for 16.7% stake in the company. The re-structuring includes a £318 million cash infusion through a new rights issue, generating a total of £500 million for the company. Stroll will also be named as chairman, replacing Penny Hughes. Swiss pharmaceutical magnate Ernesto Bertarelli and Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team principal and CEO Toto Wolff have also joined the consortium, acquiring 3.4% and 4.8% stakes, respectively. In March 2020, Stroll increased his stake in the company to 25%. + +On 26 May 2020, Aston Martin announced that Andy Palmer had stepped down as CEO. Tobias Moers of Mercedes-AMG will succeed him starting 1 August, with Keith Stanton as interim chief operating officer. In June 2020, the company announced that it cut out 500 jobs as a result of the poor sales, an outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. In March 2021, executive chairman Lawrence Stroll stated that the company plans on building electric vehicles by 2025. In May 2022, Aston Martin named 76-year old Amedeo Felisa as the new chief executive officer, replacing Tobias Moers. Roberto Fedeli was also announced as the new chief technical officer. + +In November 2020, a communications agency called Clarendon Communications published a report comparing the environmental impact of various powertrain options for cars. After the report received coverage from The Sunday Times and other publications, it emerged that the company had been set up in February that year and was registered under the name of Rebecca Stephens – the wife of James Stephens, who is the government affairs director of Aston Martin Lagonda. Citing a study by Polestar, the report stated that electric vehicles would need to be driven before they would have lower overall emissions than a petrol car. This statement was disputed by electric vehicle researcher Auke Hoekstra, who argued that the report underestimated the emissions from combustion engine vehicles and did not consider the emissions from creating petrol. According to him, a typical EV would need to drive 16,000–18,000 miles (25,700–30,000 km) in order to offset the emissions from manufacture. Bosch and a number of other companies were also involved with the report. + +In July 2022, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) will take a stake in the company through a £78 million equity placing as well as a £575 million separate rights issue, giving it two board seats in the company. After the rights issue, the Saudi fund will have a 16.7% stake in Aston Martin, behind the 18.3% holding by Stroll's Yew Tree consortium while the Mercedes-Benz Group will own 9.7%. In September 2022, Chinese automaker Geely acquired a 7.6% stake in the company. In December 2022, Stroll and the Yew Tree consortium increased their stake in the company to 28.29%. In May 2023, Geely increased its stake to 17%, becoming the third-largest shareholder after the Yew Tree consortium and the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund. + +In June 2023, Aston Martin signed an agreement with Lucid Motors after selecting it to help supply electric motors, powertrains, and battery systems for its upcoming range of fully electric cars. In return, Aston Martin will make cash payments and issue a 3.7percent stake in its company to Lucid, worth $232million in total. In October 2023, Aston Martin announced that it would compete in the FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA SportsCar Championship in 2025. + +Notable events +In August 2017, a 1956 Aston Martin DBR1/1 sold at a Sotheby's auction at the Pebble Beach, California Concours d'Elegance for US$22,550,000, which made it the most expensive British car ever sold at an auction, according to Sotheby's. +The car had previously been driven by Carroll Shelby and Stirling Moss. +Other notable Aston Martin models sold at an auction include a 1962 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato for US$14,300,000 in New York in 2015, +and a 1963 Aston Martin DP215 for US$21,455,000 in August 2018. + +Models + +Pre-war cars + + 1921–1925 Aston Martin Standard Sports + 1927–1932 Aston Martin First Series + 1929–1932 Aston Martin International + 1932–1932 Aston Martin International Le Mans + 1932–1934 Aston Martin Le Mans + 1933–1934 Aston Martin 12/50 Standard + 1934–1936 Aston Martin Mk II + 1934–1936 Aston Martin Ulster + 1936–1940 Aston Martin 2-litre Speed Models (23 built) The last 8 were fitted with C-type bodywork + 1937–1939 Aston Martin 15/98 + +Post-war cars + + 1948–1950 Aston Martin 2-Litre Sports (DB1) + 1950–1953 Aston Martin DB2 + 1953–1957 Aston Martin DB2/4 + 1957–1959 Aston Martin DB Mark III + 1958–1963 Aston Martin DB4 + 1961–1963 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato + 1963–1965 Aston Martin DB5 + 1965–1966 Aston Martin Short Chassis Volante + 1965–1969 Aston Martin DB6 + 1967–1972 Aston Martin DBS + 1969–1989 Aston Martin V8 + 1977–1989 Aston Martin V8 Vantage + 1986–1990 Aston Martin V8 Zagato + 1989–1996 Aston Martin Virage/Virage Volante + 1989–2000 Aston Martin Virage + 1993–2000 Aston Martin Vantage + 1996–2000 Aston Martin V8 Coupe/V8 Volante + 1993–2003 Aston Martin DB7/DB7 Vantage + 2001–2007 Aston Martin V12 Vanquish/Vanquish S + 2002–2003 Aston Martin DB7 Zagato + 2002–2004 Aston Martin DB AR1 + 2004–2016 Aston Martin DB9 + 2005–2018 Aston Martin V8 and V12 Vantage + 2007–2012 Aston Martin DBS V12 + 2009–2012 Aston Martin One-77 + 2010–2020 Aston Martin Rapide/Rapide S + 2011–2012 Aston Martin Virage/Virage Volante + 2011–2013 Aston Martin Cygnet, based on the Toyota iQ + 2012–2013 Aston Martin V12 Zagato + 2012–2018 Aston Martin Vanquish/Vanquish Volante + 2015–2016 Aston Martin Vulcan + 2016–present Aston Martin DB11 + 2018–present Aston Martin Vantage + 2018–present Aston Martin DBS Superleggera + 2020–present Aston Martin DBX + +Other + + 1944 Aston Martin Atom (concept) + 1961–1964 Lagonda Rapide + 1976–1989 Aston Martin Lagonda + 1980 Aston Martin Bulldog (concept) + 1993 Lagonda Vignale (concept) + 2001 Aston Martin Twenty Twenty (Italdesign concept) + 2007 Aston Martin V12 Vantage RS (concept) + 2007–2008 Aston Martin V8 Vantage N400 + 2009 Aston Martin Lagonda SUV (concept) + 2010 Aston Martin V12 Vantage Carbon Black Edition + 2010 Aston Martin DBS Carbon Black Edition + 2013 Aston Martin Rapide Bertone Jet 2+2 (concept) + 2013 Aston Martin CC100 Speedster (concept) + 2015 Aston Martin DB10 (concept) + 2015–2016 Lagonda Taraf + 2019 Aston Martin Vanquish Vision (concept) + 2019 Aston Martin DBS GT Zagato + 2020 Aston Martin V12 Speedster + 2021 Aston Martin Victor + 2022 Aston Martin DBR22 + 2023 Aston Martin Valour + +Current models + + Aston Martin DB11 + Aston Martin DBS Superleggera + Aston Martin DBX + Aston Martin Vantage + Aston Martin Valkyrie + +Upcoming models + + Aston Martin DB12 + Aston Martin Valhalla + +Gallery + +Brand expansion + +Since 2015, Aston Martin has sought to increase its appeal to women as a luxury lifestyle brand. A female advisory panel was established to adapt the design of the cars to the taste of women. In September 2016, a 37-foot-long Aston Martin speedboat was unveiled called the Aston Martin AM37 powerboat. In September 2017, Aston Martin announced that they had partnered with submarine building company Triton Submarines to build a submarine called Project Neptune. Aston Martin has collaborated with the luxury clothing company Hackett London to deliver items of clothing. In November 2017, Aston Martin unveiled a special limited edition bicycle after collaborating with bicycle manufacturer Storck. + +Aston Martin and global property developer G&G Business Developments are currently building a 66-storey luxury condominium tower called Aston Martin Residences at 300 Biscayne Boulevard Way in Miami, Florida, which is set for completion in 2021. + +In July 2018, Aston Martin unveiled the Volante Vision Concept, a luxury concept aircraft with vertical take-off and landing capabilities. Also in July, a Lego version of James Bond's DB5 car was put on sale and an Aston Martin-branded watch was released in collaboration with TAG Heuer. + +In October 2018, Aston Martin announced it was opening a design and brand studio in Shanghai. + +Motorsport + +Aston Martin is currently associated with two different racing organisations. The Aston Martin Formula One team which competes in the Formula One Championship and Aston Martin Racing which currently competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Both racing organisations use the Aston Martin brand, but are not directly owned by Aston Martin. The Aston Martin Formula One team is owned by major Aston Martin shareholder Lawrence Stroll and operated by his company AMR GP, while Aston Martin Racing is operated by racing company Prodrive as part of a partnership with Aston Martin. + +Formula One + +Aston Martin participated as a Formula One constructor in and entering six races over the two years but failing to score any points. In January 2020, it was announced that the Racing Point F1 Team is due to be rebranded as Aston Martin for the 2021 season, as a result of a funding investment led by Racing Point owner Lawrence Stroll. As part of the rebrand, the team switched their racing colour of BWT pink to a modern iteration of Aston Martin's British racing green. The Aston Martin AMR21 was unveiled in March 2021 and became Aston Martin's first Formula One car after a 61-year absence from the sport. + +Racing cars (post-war) + + Aston Martin DB3 (1950–1953) + Aston Martin DB3S (1953–1956) + Aston Martin DBR1 (1956–1959) + Aston Martin DBR2 (1957–1958) + Aston Martin DBR3 (1958) + Aston Martin DBR4 (1959) + Aston Martin DBR5 (1960) + Aston Martin DP212 (1962) + Aston Martin DP214 (1963) + Aston Martin DP215 (1963) + Aston Martin RHAM/1 (1976–1979) + Aston Martin AMR1 (1989) + Aston Martin AMR2 (never raced) + Aston Martin DBR9 (2005–2008) + Aston Martin DBRS9 (2005–2008) + Aston Martin V8 Vantage N24 (2006–2008) + Aston Martin V8 Vantage Rally GT (2006–2010) + Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2 (2008–2017) + Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4 (2008–2018) + Aston Martin DBR1-2 (2009) + Aston Martin AMR-One (2011) + Aston Martin Vantage GTE (2018–) + Aston Martin AMR21 (2021) + Aston Martin AMR22 (2022) + Aston Martin AMR23 (2023) + +Aston Martin-powered racing cars + + Cooper-Aston Martin (1963) + Lola T70-Aston Martin (1967) + Aston Martin DPLM (1980–1982) + Nimrod NRA/C2-Aston Martin (1982–1984) + Aston Martin EMKA C83/1 and C84/1 (1983–1985) + Cheetah G604-Aston Martin + Lola B08/60-Aston Martin (2008–) + +24 Hours of Le Mans finishes + +Sponsorships +Aston Martin sponsors 2. Bundesliga club 1860 Munich. + +See also + Aston Martin Heritage Trust Museum + Aston Martin Owners Club + List of car manufacturers of the United Kingdom + +References + +External links + + + + +1913 establishments in England +2018 initial public offerings +Automotive companies of England +British racecar constructors +British royal warrant holders +Car brands +Car manufacturers of the United Kingdom +Companies based in Warwickshire +Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange +English brands +Luxury motor vehicle manufacturers +Motor vehicle manufacturers of England +Premier Automotive Group +Sports car manufacturers +Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1913 +Albert Pike (December 29, 1809April 2, 1891) was an American author, poet, orator, editor, lawyer, jurist and Confederate States Army general who served as an associate justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court in exile from 1864 to 1865. He had previously served as a senior officer of the Confederate States Army, commanding the District of Indian Territory in the Trans-Mississippi Theater. A prominent member of the Freemasons, Pike served as the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council, Scottish Rite (Southern Jurisdiction, USA) from 1859 to 1891. + +Early life and education +Albert Pike was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 29, 1809, the son of Benjamin and Sarah (Andrews) Pike, and spent his childhood in Byfield and Newburyport, Massachusetts. His colonial ancestors settled the area in 1635, and included John Pike (1613–1688/1689), the founder of Woodbridge, New Jersey. He attended school in Newburyport and Framingham until he was 15. In August 1825, he passed entrance exams at Harvard University, though when the college requested payment of tuition fees for the first two years, he chose not to attend. He began a program of self-education, later becoming a schoolteacher in Gloucester, North Bedford, Fairhaven and Newburyport. + +Pike was an imposing figure; tall and with hair that reached his shoulders and a long beard. In 1831, he left Massachusetts to travel west, first stopping in Nashville, Tennessee, and later moving to St. Louis, Missouri. + +There he joined a hunting and trading expedition to Taos, New Mexico. En route his horse broke and ran, forcing Pike to walk the remaining to Taos. After this, he joined a trapping expedition to the Llano Estacado in New Mexico and Texas. Trapping was minimal and, after traveling about , half of it on foot, he finally arrived at Fort Smith, Arkansas. + +Career + +Settling in Arkansas in 1833, Pike taught in a school and wrote a series of articles for the Little Rock Arkansas Advocate under the pen name of "Casca." The articles were sufficiently well received for him to be asked to join the newspaper's staff. Under Pike's administration, the Advocate promoted the viewpoint of the Whig Party in a politically volatile and divided Arkansas in December 1832. After marrying Mary Ann Hamilton in 1834, he purchased the newspaper. + +He was the first reporter for the Arkansas Supreme Court. He wrote a book (published anonymously), titled The Arkansas Form Book, which was a guidebook for lawyers. Pike began to study law and was admitted to the bar in 1837, selling the Advocate the same year. (At least one source indicates that Pike read Kent and Blackstone and was admitted to the bar in 1834 by Superior Court judge Thomas J. Lacy, after a perfunctory examination.) He proved to be a highly effective lawyer, representing clients in courts at every level, which continued after he received permission to practice before the United States Supreme Court in 1849. + +He also made several contacts among the Native American tribes in the area. He specialized in claims on behalf of Native Americans against the federal government. In 1852, he represented the Creek Nation before the Supreme Court in a claim regarding ceded tribal land. In 1854 he advocated for the Choctaw and Chickasaw, although compensation later awarded to the tribes in 1856 and 1857 was insufficient. These relationships were to influence the course of his Civil War service. + +He also began a campaign of newspaper essays urging support for the construction of a transcontinental railroad extending from New Orleans to the Pacific coast, moving to New Orleans in 1853 and preparing to pass the state bar in furtherance of his campaign, and was ultimately able to secure a charter from the Louisiana State Legislature for a project, following which he returned to Little Rock in 1857. + +He joined the anti-Catholic Know Nothing Party at its founding, and, in the summer of 1854, helped introduce the party in Arkansas. He attended the national convention in 1856, but walked out when it failed to adopt a pro-slavery platform. In the lead-up to the Civil War, Pike signed a pamphlet which proposed expelling all free African Americans from Arkansas. It said that the "evil is the existence among us of a class of free colored persons". + +Additionally, Pike wrote on several legal subjects. He also continued writing poetry, a hobby he had begun in his youth in Massachusetts. His poems were highly regarded in his day, but are now mostly forgotten. Several volumes of his works were privately published posthumously by his daughter. In 1859, he received an honorary Master of Arts degree from Harvard. + +Poetry +As a young man of letters, Pike wrote poetry, and he continued to do so for the rest of his life. At 23, he published his first poem, "Hymns to the Gods." Later work was printed in literary journals such as Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine and local newspapers. His first collection of poetry, Prose Sketches and Poems Written in the Western Country, was published in 1834. He later gathered many of his poems and republished them in Hymns to the Gods and Other Poems (1872). After his death these were published again in Gen. Albert Pike's Poems (1900) and Lyrics and Love Songs (1916). + +The authorship of "The Old Canoe" was attributed to Pike. He was suggested as author because about the time of its publication, when it was going the rounds of the press, probably without any credit, a doggerel called "The Old Canoe" was composed about Pike by one of his political foes. The subject was a canoe in which he left Columbia, Tennessee, when a young man practicing law in that place. Pike told Senator Edward W. Carmack that he was not the author of "The Old Canoe," and could not imagine how he ever got the credit for it. The rightful author was Emily Rebecca Page. + +Freemasonry + +Pike first joined the fraternal Independent Order of Odd Fellows in 1840. He next joined a Masonic Lodge, where he became extremely active in the affairs of the organization. In 1859 he was elected Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite's Southern Jurisdiction. He remained Sovereign Grand Commander for the rest of his life, devoting a large amount of his time to developing the rituals of the order. + +He published a book called Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry in 1871, the first of several editions. This helped the Order grow during the nineteenth century. He also researched and wrote the seminal treatise Indo-Aryan Deities and Worship as Contained in the Rig-Veda. In the United States, Pike is still considered an eminent and influential Freemason, primarily in the Scottish Rite Southern Jurisdiction. + +Military service + +Mexican–American War +When the Mexican–American War started, Pike joined the Arkansas Mounted Infantry Regiment and was commissioned as a company commander with the rank of captain in June 1846. With his regiment, he fought in the Battle of Buena Vista. Pike was discharged in June 1847. He and his commander, Colonel John Selden Roane, had several differences of opinion. This situation led finally to an "inconclusive" duel between Pike and Roane on July 29, 1847, near Fort Smith, Arkansas. Although several shots were fired in the duel, nobody was injured, and the two were persuaded by their seconds to discontinue it. + +After the war, Pike returned to the practice of law, moving to New Orleans for a time beginning in 1853. He wrote another book, Maxims of the Roman Law and Some of the Ancient French Law, as Expounded and Applied in Doctrine and Jurisprudence. Although unpublished, this book increased his reputation among his associates in law. He returned to Arkansas in 1857, gaining some amount of prominence in the legal field. + +At the Southern Commercial Convention of 1854, Pike said the South should remain in the Union and seek equality with the North, but if the South "were forced into an inferior status, she would be better out of the Union than in it." His stand was that state's rights superseded national law and he supported the idea of a Southern secession. This stand is made clear in his pamphlet of 1861, "State or Province, Bond or Free?" + +American Civil War +In 1861, Pike penned the lyrics to "Dixie to Arms!" At the beginning of the war, Pike was appointed as Confederate envoy to Native American nations. In this capacity he negotiated several treaties, one of the most important being with Cherokee chief John Ross, which was concluded in 1861. At the time, Ross agreed to support the Confederacy, which promised the tribes a Native American state if it won the war. Ross later changed his mind and left Indian Territory, but the succeeding Cherokee government maintained the alliance. + +Pike was commissioned as a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army on November 22, 1861, and given a command in the Indian Territory. With Brig. Gen. Ben McCulloch, Pike trained three Confederate regiments of Indian cavalry, most of whom belonged to the "civilized tribes", whose loyalty to the Confederacy was variable. Although initially victorious at the Battle of Pea Ridge (Elkhorn Tavern) in March 1862, Pike's unit was defeated later in a counterattack, after falling into disarray. When Pike was ordered in May 1862 to send troops to Arkansas, he resigned in protest. As in the previous war, Pike came into conflict with his superior officers, at one time drafting a letter to Jefferson Davis complaining about his direct superior. + +After Pea Ridge, it was alleged that Pike's Native American troops had scalped soldiers in the field. The single incident of scalping was, however, done by a Native American acting on his own. Official records submitted to the Headquarters Department of Indian territory reveal that Pike "regarded [the incident] with horror" and that he was personally "angry and disgusted." He also filed a report in which he said it caused him the "utmost pain and regret." + +Maj. Gen. Thomas C. Hindman charged Pike with mishandling of money and material, ordering his arrest. The incident arose when Hindman, who had declared martial law in Arkansas, ordered Pike to turn over weapons and Native American Indian treaty funds. Pike thought the action was illegal and refused. Both these charges were later found to be considerably lacking in evidence; nevertheless Pike, facing arrest, escaped into the hills of Arkansas, submitting his resignation from the Confederate States Army on July 12, 1862. He was arrested on November 3 on charges of insubordination and treason, and held briefly in Warren, Texas. His resignation was accepted on November 11, and he was allowed to return to Arkansas. + +As Union troops advanced toward the state capital in September 1863, the State Supreme Court retreated to Washington, Arkansas, which was made the new Confederate state capital. Associate Justice Hulbert F. Fairchild resigned because the new location was too far from his family, and Pike was appointed as his replacement. + +In the wake of the war, Pike moved to New York City, then for a short time to Canada. On June 24, 1865, Pike applied to President Andrew Johnson for a pardon, disowning his earlier interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. He said he now planned "to pursue the arts of peace, to practice my profession, to live among my books, and to labour to benefit my fellows and my race by other than political courses". President Johnson pardoned him on April 23, 1866. + +Later life and death +During the Arkansas political conflict known as the Brooks-Baxter War, Pike was one of the lawyers to speak on behalf of Elisha Baxter. + +Pike died on April 2, 1891, in at the Scottish Rite Temple of the Supreme Council in Washington DC, at the age of 81, and was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery, despite the fact that he had left instructions for his body to be cremated. In 1944, his remains were moved to the House of the Temple, headquarters of the Southern Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite. The House of the Temple contains numerous memorials and artifacts related to Pike, including his personal library. + +Legacy +A memorial to Pike was erected in 1901 in the Judiciary Square neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The location was appropriate considering that Pike had sued the government to secure Native American rights. The statue portrayed him as a private citizen and Freemason. He was the only former Confederate military officer with an outdoor statue in Washington, D.C., and in 2019 Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton called for its removal. On June 19, 2020, protestors tore down the statue and set it ablaze, in connection with the George Floyd protests because of Pike's association with the Confederacy and of his alleged association with the Ku Klux Klan. + +The Albert Pike Memorial Temple is an historic Masonic lodge in Little Rock, Arkansas; the structure is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. + +Albert Pike Highway was an auto trail that extended more than from Hot Springs, Arkansas, to Colorado Springs, Colorado, crossing the Ozark Mountains and passing through Fort Smith, Muskogee, Tulsa, Dodge City, La Junta and Pueblo. + +Controversies + +Masonic Baptism +In 1865, Pike publicly performed a ceremony of Masonic baptism in New York City. The ceremony was greeted with skepticism by many American Masons including Albert Mackey, but was based on older European Masonic baptism ceremonies that began in the 1820s. However, some, like the New York Times, reacted positively to the ceremony describing it as "interesting" and "novel." In the ritual, six children were baptized by Pike with water and consecrated oil. + +Racism +In the aftermath of the Civil War, as former Confederates found themselves barred from the ballot box, Pike remained deeply opposed to black suffrage, insisting that "the white race, and that race alone, shall govern this country. It is the only one that is fit to govern, and it is the only one that shall." + +Regarding membership in the Freemasons, Pike is quoted as saying, "Prince Hall Lodge was as regular a Lodge as any Lodge created by competent authority. It had a perfect right to establish other Lodges and make itself a Mother Lodge. I am not inclined to meddle in the matter. I took my obligations from white men, not from negroes. When I have to accept negroes as brothers or leave masonry, I shall leave it. Better let the thing drift." + +His attitudes towards African-Americans may have changed towards the end of his life. A 1945 letter written by Willard W. Allen, the Sovereign Grand Commander of the United Supreme Council, S.J. Prince Hall Affiliation noted that "what practically all Masonic scholars know very well, viz., that in the closing years of General Pike's Masonic career, he became a very staunch friend of Negro Masonry." Pike had become a personal friend of Thornton A. Jackson, Supreme Grand Commander of the United Supreme Council, Southern Jurisdiction, Prince Hall Affiliation and even gifted to Thornton his complete set of rituals for Prince Hall Scottish Rite Masonry to use. + +Alleged Membership in the Ku Klux Klan +Pike first wrote about the Klan in an April 16, 1868 editorial in the Memphis Daily Appeal, indicating that his main problems lay not with its aims, but with its methods and leadership. Later in this editorial, he proposed "one great Order of Southern Brotherhood", a secret society which would have been a larger and more centrally organized version of the Klan: "If it were in our power, if it could be effected, we would unite every white man in the South, who is opposed to negro suffrage, into one great Order of Southern Brotherhood, with an organization complete, active, vigorous, in which a few should execute the concentrated will of all, and whose very existence should be concealed from all but its members." + +The US Congress investigated the KKK in 1871 and Pike's name is not mentioned in those records. However only volume 13 of the Report of the Joint Select Committee deals with the Klan in Arkansas, and only a handful of members are named in the report. Similarly, in his testimony before Congress, the founder of the Ku Klux Klan, Nathan Bedford Forrest was likewise evasive about the organization's membership rolls. At first, he claimed he could "not recall" the names of any members, later noting that he did not wish to answer any questions about who might or might not be a member. Ultimately, the full membership rosters of the original Ku Klan Klan are poorly known by historians. + +However, histories of the Ku Klux Klan published in the early 20th century, before the Klan's 1915 rebirth, identify Pike as a high-ranking official of the order. In 1905's Ku Klux Klan: Its Origin, Growth and Disbandment, the author Walter Lynwood Fleming, lists Pike as the Klan's "chief judicial officer". Susan Lawrence Davis, whose father was a founding member of the Klan in Alabama, writes in her sympathetic account titled Authentic History: Ku Klux Klan, 1865–1877, published in 1924, that Pike was personally chosen by Nathan Bedford Forrest to serve as the Klan's "Chief Judicial Officer" and to head the Klan in Arkansas as "Grand Dragon of that Realm." In 1939's Invisible Empire: The Story of the Ku Klux Klan, 1866–1871, Stanley Horn, who served as president of the Tennessee Historical Society, also reports that Forrest appointed Pike to lead the Klan in Arkansas and credits him with a surge of local Klan activity in April 1868. Horn says that a pro-Klan poem, "Death's Brigade", is attributed to Pike. Southern Agrarian poet John Gould Fletcher, who grew up in Little Rock in a house that Pike built, also believed Pike was the poem's author. + +When the Ku Klux Klan was revived in 1915, there even existed an Albert Pike Klan, a local chapter of the organization based in Illinois. + +It was not until 1971 that Allen W. Trelease published White Terror: The Ku Klux Klan Conspiracy and Southern Reconstruction, and first cast doubt on Pike's KKK membership as, according to Trelease, the offices that Pike allegedly held are not mentioned in "The Prescript", the Klan constitution. However, the office of Grand Dragon, which Davis claims Pike once held, is explicitly mentioned in the 1867 Klan constitution. + +Walter Lee Brown in his 1997 biography of Pike, likewise asserts that Pike was not a member of the Klan. Brown claims the work of Davis, Fleming, and Brown are "unreliable histories", but offers no further evidence other than citing Trelease. + +Selected books + Indo-Aryan Deities and Worship as Contained in the Rig-Veda (1872) + Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite (1872) + Book of the Words (1874) + Reprints of Old Rituals (1879) + Esoterika (1887) + +See also + List of Arkansas adjutants general + List of Confederate States Army generals + List of Freemasons + List of people from Boston + List of people from Little Rock, Arkansas + +Footnotes + +References + +Further reading + +External links + + + Albert Pike at Freemasonry.network + Albert Pike and Lucifer at Freemasonry and the World (albertpike.wordpress.com) + Albert Pike and Masonic Lodge Symbols at Allfreemasonry.com + Albert Pike's Philosophy at Masonicinfo.com + "Everybody's Dixie" by Albert Pike at Civilwarpoetry.org + + + +1809 births +1891 deaths +19th-century American educators +19th-century American Episcopalians +19th-century American judges +19th-century American lawyers +19th-century American male writers +19th-century American newspaper editors +19th-century American non-fiction writers +19th-century occultists +19th-century United States Army personnel +Activists from Arkansas +Adjutants General of Arkansas +American duellists +American Freemasons +American lawyers admitted to the practice of law by reading law +American military personnel of the Mexican–American War +American militia officers +American people of English descent +American political journalists +American slave owners +Arkansas Democrats +Arkansas Know Nothings +Arkansas lawyers +Arkansas Whigs +Burials at Oak Hill Cemetery (Washington, D.C.) +Confederate States Army brigadier generals +Confederate States of America diplomats +Deaths from digestive disease +Editors of Arkansas newspapers +Episcopalians from Massachusetts +Exiled politicians +Justices of the Arkansas Supreme Court +Lawyers from Little Rock, Arkansas +Lawyers from Washington, D.C. +Northern-born Confederates +People of Arkansas in the American Civil War +Recipients of American presidential pardons +Schoolteachers from Massachusetts +Writers from Arkansas +People charged with treason +Prisoners and detainees of the Confederate States of America +Neo-Confederates +ALF Tales is a 30-minute Saturday morning animated series that aired on NBC from September 10, 1988, to December 9, 1989. The show is a spin-off of ALF: The Animated Series which featured characters from that series playing various characters from fairy tales. The fairy tale parody was usually altered for comedic effect in a manner akin to Jay Ward's "Fractured Fairy Tales". + +The episodes were performed in the style of a resident theater company or ensemble cast where Gordon and Rhonda would take the leading male and female roles, and the other characters were cast according to their characteristics. + +Many stories spoof a film genre, such as the "Cinderella" episode which is presented like an Elvis Presley film. Some episodes featured a "fourth wall" effect where Gordon is backstage preparing for the episode, and Rob Cowan would appear drawn as a TV executive (who introduced himself as "Roger Cowan, network executive") who tries to brief Gordon on how to improve this episode. For instance Cowan once told Gordon who was readying for a medieval themed episode that "less than 2% of our audience lives in the Dark Ages". + +Cast +Paul Fusco – ALF (Gordon Shumway)/Rick Fusterman +Tabitha St. Germain (as Paulina Gillis) – Augie/Rhonda +Peggy Mahon – Flo +Thick Wilson – Larson Petty/Bob +Dan Hennessey – Sloop +Rob Cowan – Skip +Ellen-Ray Hennessy – Stella the Waitress +Noam Zylberman – Curtis (1988) +Michael Fantini – Curtis (1989) + +Episodes + +Season 1 (1988–89) + +Season 2 (1989) + +Home media +The first seven episodes were released on DVD on May 30, 2006, in Region 1 from Lionsgate Home Entertainment in a single-disc release entitled ALF and The Beanstalk and Other Classic Fairy Tales. + +See also +List of animated spinoffs from prime time shows + +References + +External links + + +ALF (TV series) +1980s American animated television series +1980s American comic science fiction television series +1988 American television series debuts +1989 American television series endings +American animated television spin-offs +American children's animated comic science fiction television series +Animated television series about extraterrestrial life +English-language television shows +NBC original programming +Television series by DIC Entertainment +Television series by Lorimar Television +Television series by Saban Entertainment +Television series created by Paul Fusco +Television series created by Tom Patchett +Television shows based on fairy tales +Television series by Lorimar-Telepictures +Abdul Rashid Dostum ( ; ; Uzbek Latin: , Uzbek Cyrillic: , ; born 25 March 1954) is an Afghan exiled politician, former Marshal in the Afghan National Army, founder and leader of the political party Junbish-e Milli. Dostum was a major army commander in the communist government during the Soviet–Afghan War, and in 2001 was the key indigenous ally to U.S. Special Forces and the CIA during the campaign to topple the Taliban government. He is one of the most powerful warlords since the beginning of the Afghan wars, known for siding with winners during different wars. Dostum has also referred to as a Kingmaker due to his significant role in Afghan politics. + +An ethnic Uzbek from a peasant family in Jawzjan province, Dostum joined the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) as a teenager before enlisting in the Afghan National Army and training as a paratrooper, serving in his native region around Sheberghan. Soon with the start of the Soviet–Afghan War, Dostum commanded a KHAD militia and eventually gained a reputation, often defeating mujahideen commanders in northern Afghanistan and even persuading some to defect to the communist cause. Much of the country's north was in strong government control as a result. He achieved several promotions in the army and was honored as a "Hero of Afghanistan" by President Mohammed Najibullah in 1988. By this time he was commanding up to 45,000 troops in the region under his responsibility. + +Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Dostum played a central role in the collapse of Najibullah's government by "defecting" to the mujahideen; the division-sized loyal forces he commanded in the north became an independent paramilitary of his newly founded party called Junbish-e Milli. He allied with Ahmad Shah Massoud and together they captured Kabul, before another civil war loomed. Initially supporting the new government of Burhanuddin Rabbani, he switched sides in 1994 by allying with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, but he backed Rabbani again by 1996. During this time he remained in control of the country's north which functioned as a relatively stable proto-state, but remained a loose partner of Massoud in the Northern Alliance. A year later, Mazar-i-Sharif was overrun by his former aide Abdul Malik Pahlawan, resulting in a battle in which he regained control. In 1998, the city was overrun by the Taliban and Dostum fled the country until returning to Afghanistan in 2001, joining the Northern Alliance forces after the US invasion and leading his loyal faction in the Fall of Mazar-i-Sharif. + +After the fall of the Taliban, he joined interim president Hamid Karzai's administration as Deputy Defense Minister and later served as chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Afghan Army, a role often viewed as ceremonial. His militia feuded with forces loyal to general Atta Muhammad Nur. Dostum was a candidate in the 2004 elections, and was an ally of victorious Karzai in the 2009 elections. From 2011, he was part of the leadership council of the National Front of Afghanistan along with Ahmad Zia Massoud and Mohammad Mohaqiq. He served as Vice President of Afghanistan in Ashraf Ghani's administration from 2014 to 2020. In 2020 he promoted to marshal rank in after a political agreement between Ghani and former Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah. + +Dostum is a controversial figure in Afghanistan. He is seen as a capable and fierce military leader and remains wildly popular among the Uzbek community in the country; Many of his supporters call him "Pasha" (پاشا), an honorable Uzbek/Turkic term. However he has also been widely accused of committing atrocities and war crimes, most notoriously the suffocation of up to 1,000 Taliban fighters in the Dasht-i-Leili massacre and he was widely feared among the populace. In 2018, the International Criminal Court (ICC) was reported to be considering launching an inquiry into whether Dostum had engaged in war crimes in Afghanistan. + +Early life + +Dostum was born in 1954 in Khwaja Du Koh near Sheberghan in Jowzjan province, Afghanistan. Coming from an impoverished ethnic Uzbek family, he received a very basic traditional education as he was forced to drop out of school at a young age. From there, he took up work in the village's major gas fields. + +Career +Dostum began working in 1970 in a state-owned gas refinery in Sheberghan, participating in union politics, as the new government started to arm the staff of the workers in the oil and gas refineries. The reason for this was to create "groups for the defense of the revolution". Because of the new communist ideas entering Afghanistan in the 1970s, he enlisted in the Afghan National Army in 1978. Dostum received his basic military training in Jalalabad. His squadron was deployed in the rural areas around Sheberghan, under the auspices of the Ministry of National Security. + +As a Parcham member of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), he was exiled by the purge of the party's Khalqist leaders, living in Peshawar, Pakistan for a while. After the Soviet invasion (Operation Storm-333) and installation of Babrak Karmal as head of state, Dostum returned to Afghanistan where he started commanding a local pro-government militia in his native Jawzjan Province. + +Soviet–Afghan War + +By the mid-1980s, he commanded around 20,000 militia men and controlled the northern provinces of Afghanistan. While the unit recruited throughout Jowzjan and had a relatively broad base, many of its early troops and commanders came from Dostum's home village. He left the army after the purge of Parchamites, but returned after the Soviet occupation began. + +During the Soviet–Afghan War, Dostum was commanding a militia battalion to fight and rout mujahideen forces; he had been appointed an officer due to prior military experience. This eventually became a regiment and later became incorporated into the defense forces as the 53rd Infantry Division. Dostum and his new division reported directly to President Mohammad Najibullah. Later on he became the commander of the military unit 374 in Jowzjan. He defended the Soviet-backed Afghan government against the mujahideen forces throughout the 1980s. While he was only a regional commander, he had largely raised his forces by himself. The Jowzjani militia Dostum controlled was one of the few in the country which was able to be deployed outside its own region. They were deployed in Kandahar in 1988 when Soviet forces were withdrawing from Afghanistan. + +Due to his efforts in the army, Dostum was awarded the title "Hero of the Republic of Afghanistan" by President Najibullah. + +Civil war and northern Afghanistan autonomous state + +Dostum's men would become an important force in the fall of Kabul in 1992, with Dostum deciding to defect from Najibullah and allying himself with opposition commanders Ahmad Shah Massoud and Sayed Jafar Naderi, the head of the Isma'ili community, and together they captured the capital city. With the help of fellow defectors Mohammad Nabi Azimi and Abdul Wakil, his forces entered Kabul by air in the afternoon of 14 April. He and Massoud fought in a coalition against Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Massoud and Dostum's forces joined to defend Kabul against Hekmatyar. Some 4,000–5,000 of his troops, units of his Sheberghan-based 53rd Division and Balkh-based Guards Division, garrisoning Bala Hissar fort, Maranjan Hill and Khwaja Rawash Airport, where they stopped Najibullah from entering to flee. + +Dostum then left Kabul for his northern stronghold Mazar-i-Sharif, where he ruled, in effect, an independent region (or 'proto-state'), often referred as the Northern Autonomous Zone. He printed his own Afghan currency, ran a small airline named Balkh Air, and formed relations with countries like Uzbekistan effectively creating his own proto-state with an army of up to 40,000 men, and with tanks supplied by Uzbekistan and Russia. While the rest of the country was in chaos, his region remained prosperous and functional, and it won him the support from people of all ethnic groups. Many people fled to his territory to escape the violence and fundamentalism imposed by the Taliban later on. In 1994, Dostum allied himself with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar against the government of Burhanuddin Rabbani and Ahmad Shah Massoud, but in 1995 sided with the government again. + +Taliban era + +Following the rise of the Taliban and their capture of Kabul, Dostum aligned himself with the Northern Alliance (United Front) against the Taliban. The Northern Alliance was assembled in late 1996 by Dostum, Massoud and Karim Khalili against the Taliban. At this point he is said to have had a force of some 50,000 men supported by both aircraft and tanks. + +Much like other Northern Alliance leaders, Dostum also faced infighting within his group and was later forced to surrender his power to General Abdul Malik Pahlawan. Malik entered into secret negotiations with the Taliban, who promised to respect his authority over much of northern Afghanistan, in exchange for the apprehension of Ismail Khan, one of their enemies. Accordingly, on 25 May 1997, Malik arrested Khan, handed him over and let the Taliban enter Mazar-e-Sharif, giving them control over most of northern Afghanistan. Because of this, Dostum was forced to flee to Turkey. However, Malik soon realized that the Taliban were not sincere with their promises as he saw his men being disarmed. He then rejoined the Northern Alliance, and turned against his erstwhile allies, driving them from Mazar-e-Sharif. In October 1997, Dostum returned from exile and retook charge. After Dostum briefly regained control of Mazar-e-Sharif, the Taliban returned in 1998 and he again fled to Turkey. + +Operation Enduring Freedom + +Dostum returned to Afghanistan in May 2001 to open up a new front before the U.S.-led campaign against the Taliban joined him, along with Commander Massoud, Ismail Khan and Mohammad Mohaqiq. On 17 October 2001, the CIA's eight-man Team Alpha, including Johnny Micheal Spann landed in the Dar-e-Suf to link up with Dostum. Three days later, the 12 members of Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) 595 landed to join forces with Dostum and Team Alpha. Dostum, the Tajik commander Atta Muhammad Nur and their American allies defeated Taliban forces and recaptured Mazar-i-Sharif on 10 November 2001. + +On 24 November 2001, 15,000 Taliban soldiers were due to surrender after the Siege of Kunduz to American and Northern Alliance forces. Instead, 400 Al-Qaeda prisoners arrived just outside Mazar-i-Sharif. After they surrendered to Dostum, they were transferred to the 19th century garrison fortress, Qala-i-Jangi. The next day, while being questioned by CIA officers Spann and David Tyson, they used concealed weapons to revolt, triggering what became the Battle of Qala-i-Jangi against the guards. The uprising was finally brought under control after six days. + +Dasht-i-Leili massacre + +Dostum has been accused by Western journalists of responsibility for the suffocating or otherwise killing of Taliban prisoners in December 2001, with the number of victims estimated as 2,000. In 2009, Dostum denied the accusations and US President Obama ordered an investigation into the massacre. + +Karzai administration + +In the aftermath of Taliban's removal from northern Afghanistan, forces loyal to Dostum frequently clashed with Tajik forces loyal to Atta Muhammad Nur. Atta's men kidnapped and killed a number of Dostum's men, and constantly agitated to gain control of Mazar-e-Sharif. Through the political mediations of the Karzai administration, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the United Nations, the Dostum-Atta feud gradually declined, leading to their alignment in a new political party. + +Dostum served as deputy defense minister the early period of the Karzai administration. On 20 May 2003, Dostum narrowly escaped an assassination attempt. He was often residing outside Afghanistan, mainly in Turkey. In February 2008, he was suspended after the apparent kidnapping and torture of a political rival. + +Time in Turkey +Some media reports in 2008 stated earlier that Dostum was "seeking political asylum" in Turkey while others said he was exiled. One Turkish media outlet said Dostum was visiting after flying there with then Turkey's Foreign Minister Ali Babacan during a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). + +On 16 August 2009, Dostum was asked to return from exile to Afghanistan to support President Hamid Karzai in his bid for re-election. He later flew by helicopter to his northern stronghold of Sheberghan, where he was greeted by thousands of his supporters in the local stadium. He subsequently made overtures to the United States, promising he could "destroy the Taliban and al Qaeda" if supported by the U.S., saying that "the U.S. needs strong friends like Dostum." + +Ghani administration + +On 7 October 2013, the day after filing his nomination for the 2014 general elections as running mate of Ashraf Ghani, Dostum issued a press statement that some news media were willing to welcome as "apologies": "Many mistakes were made during the civil war (…) It is time we apologize to the Afghan people who were sacrificed due to our negative policies (…) I apologize to the people who suffered from the violence and civil war (…)". + +Dostum was directly chosen as First Vice President of Afghanistan in the April–June 2014 Afghan presidential election, next to Ashraf Ghani as president and Sarwar Danish as second vice president. + +In July 2016, Human Rights Watch accused Abdul Rashid Dostum's National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan of killing, abusing and looting civilians in the northern Faryab Province during June. Militia forces loyal to Dostum stated that the civilians they targeted – at least 13 killed and 32 wounded – were supporters of the Taliban. + +In November 2016, at a buzkashi match, he punched his political rival Ahmad Ischi, and then his bodyguards beat Ischi. In 2017, he was accused of having Ischi kidnapped in that incident and raped with a gun on camera during a five-day detention, claims that Dostum denies but that nevertheless forced him into exile in Turkey. + +On 26 July 2018, he narrowly escaped a suicide bombing by ISIL-KP as he returned to Afghanistan at Kabul airport. Just after Dostum's convoy departed the airport, an attacker armed with a suicide vest bombed a crowd of several hundred people celebrating his return at the entrance to the airport. The attack killed 14 and injured 50, including civilians and armed security. + +On 30 March 2019, Dostum again escaped an expected assassination attempt while traveling from Mazar-e-Sharif to Jawzjan Province, though two of his bodyguards were killed. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, the second in eight months. + +On 11 August 2021 during the Taliban's nationwide offensive, Dostum, along with Atta Muhammad Nur, led the government's defence of the city of Mazar-i-Sharif. Three days later, they fled across Hairatan to Uzbekistan. Atta Nur claimed that they were forced to flee due to a "conspiracy". Both men later pled allegiance to the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, the remaining remnants of the collapsed Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Dostum, Atta, Yunus Qanuni, Abdul Rasul Sayyaf and some other political figures formed the Supreme Council of National Resistance of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in opposition to the new Taliban regime in October 2021. + +Political and social views +Dostum is considered to be liberal and somewhat leftist. Being ethnic Uzbek, he has worked on the battlefield with leaders from all other major ethnic groups, Hazaras, Tajiks and Pashtuns. When Dostum was ruling his northern Afghanistan proto-state before the Taliban took over in 1998, women were able to go about unveiled, girls were allowed to go to school and study at the University of Balkh, cinemas showed Indian films, music played on television, and Russian vodka and German beer were openly available: activities which were all banned by the Taliban. + +He viewed the ISAF forces attempt to crush the Taliban as ineffective and has gone on record saying in 2007 that he could mop up the Taliban "in six months" if allowed to raise a 10,000 strong army of Afghan veterans. As of 2007, senior Afghan government officials did not trust Dostum as they were concerned that he might be secretly rearming his forces. + +Personal life +Dostum is more than tall and has been described as "beefy". He generally favors to wear a camouflage Soviet style military uniform, and has had a trademark bushy moustache. + +Dostum was married to a woman named Khadija. According to Brian Glyn Williams, Khadija had an accidental death in the 1990s which broke Dostum as he "really loved his wife". Dostum eventually remarried after Khadija's death. + +He named one of his sons Mustafa Kamal, after the founder of the modern Turkish republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Dostum has spent a considerable amount of time in Turkey, and some of his family reside there. + +Dostum is known to drink alcohol, a rarity in Afghanistan, and apparently a fan of Russian vodka. He reportedly suffered from diabetes. In 2014 when he became vice president, Dostum reportedly gave up drinking for healthy meals and morning jogs. + +In popular culture + Navid Negahban portrays Dostum in the 2018 film 12 Strong. + Dostum appears as a playing card in the board game A Distant Plain. + +See also + + Abdul Jabar Qahraman + Afghan Civil War (1989–1992) + Afghan Civil War (1992–1996) + +References + +Bibliography + +External links + + General Abdul Rashid Dostum's official website + Article on Abdul Rashid Dostum on Islamic Republic Of Afghanistan (.com) + BBC online profile + Biography about Dostum + CNN Presents: House of War + Afghanistan Mass Grave: The Dasht-e Leili War Crimes Investigation + As possible Afghan war-crimes evidence removed, U.S. silent + Obama Calls for Probe into 2001 Massacre of Suspected Taliban POWs by US-Backed Afghan Warlord – video by Democracy Now! + Eyewitness account from National Geographic war reporter Robert Young Pelton + +1954 births +Living people +Afghan military personnel +Vice presidents of Afghanistan +Afghan warlords +Afghanistan conflict (1978–present) +People of the Soviet–Afghan War +Afghan communists +National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan politicians +People from Jowzjan Province +Afghan expatriates in Turkey +Afghan exiles +Afghan expatriates in Pakistan +People of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan +Islamic State of Afghanistan +20th-century Afghan politicians +Afghan Uzbek politicians +Afghan military officers +Marshals +Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the southern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state with an area of and the tenth-most populous state with 49,577,103 inhabitants. It has shared borders with Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and the Bay of Bengal. It has the second-longest coastline in India at about . After existence as Andhra State and unified Andhra Pradesh, the state took its present form on 2 June 2014, when the new state of Telangana was formed through bifurcation. Amaravati is the capital of the state, with the largest city being Visakhapatnam. Water sharing disputes and asset division with Telangana are not yet resolved. Telugu, one of the classical languages of India used by the majority of people, is the first official language. + +As per the 8th century BCE Rigvedic text Aitareya Brahmana, the Andhras left North India off the banks of the Yamuna river and migrated to South India. In the third century BCE, Andhra was a vassal kingdom of Ashoka of the Mauryan Empire. After his death, it became powerful and extended its empire to the whole Maratha country and beyond under the rule of the Satavahana dynasty. After that, the major rulers included the Pallavas, Eastern Chalukyas, Kakatiyas, Vijayanagara Empire, Qutb Shahi dynasty, Nizam dynasty, East India Company, and British Raj. + +The Eastern Ghats are a major dividing line separating coastal plains and peneplains. The coastal plains are part of Coastal Andhra. These are mostly delta regions formed by the Krishna, Godavari, and Penna rivers. Peneplains are part of Rayaaseema. 60% of the population is engaged in agriculture and related activities. Rice is the state's major food crop and staple food. The state contributes 10% of total fish production and over 70% of shrimp production in India. Industry sectors such as food products, non-metallic minerals, textiles, and pharmaceuticals are the top employment providers. The automotive sector accounts for 10% of India's auto exports. The state has about one-third of India's limestone reserves, large deposits of baryte and galaxy granite, and reserves of oil and natural gas. Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), known as Sriharikota Range (SHAR), at the barrier island of Sriharikota in Tirupati district, is the satellite launching station of India. + +Some of the unique products from the state are Banaganapalle mangoes, Bandar laddu, Kondaplli toys, Tirupati laddu, and saris made in Dharmavaram and Machilipatnam. Kuchipudi is the official dance form. Many composers of Carnatic music, like Annamacharya, Kshetrayya, and Tyagaraja, were from this region. The Tirumala Venkateswara temple near Tirupati is the most visited Hindu religious place in the world. The state is home to a variety of other pilgrimage centres and natural attractions. + +Etymology +According to the Sanskrit text Aitareya Brahmana (800–500 BCE), a group of people named Andhras left North India off the banks of the Yamuna and settled in South India. The Satavahanas were mentioned by the names Andhra, Andhrara-jateeya, and Andhrabhrtya in the Puranic literature. They did not refer to themselves as Andhra in any of their coins or inscriptions; it is possible that they were termed as Andhras because of their ethnicity or because their territory included the Andhra region. + +History + +Early and medieval history + +The Assaka mahajanapada, one of the sixteen Vedic mahajanapadas, included Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Telangana. Archaeological evidence from places such as Bhattiprolu, Amaravati, Dharanikota, and Vaddamanu suggests that the Andhra region was part of the Mauryan empire. Amaravati might have been a regional centre under Mauryan rule. After the death of Emperor Ashoka, Mauryan rule weakened around 200 BCE and was replaced by several smaller kingdoms in the Andhra region. One of the earliest examples of the Brahmi script, the progenitor of several scripts, including Telugu, comes from Bhattiprolu, where the script was used on an urn containing the relics of Buddha. + +The Satavahana dynasty dominated the Deccan plateau from the 1st century BCE to the 3rd century CE. It had trade relations with the Roman Empire. The later Satavahanas made Dharanikota, near Amaravati, their capital. According to the Buddhists, Nagarjuna, the philosopher of Mahayana, lived in this region. The Andhra Ikshvakus, with their capital at Vijayapuri, succeeded the Satavahanas in the Krishna River valley in the latter half of the 2nd century. The Salankayanas were an ancient dynasty that ruled the Andhra region between Godavari and Krishna with their capital at Vengi (modern Pedavegi) from 300 to 440 CE. Telugu Cholas ruled present-day Rayalaseema from the fifth to the eleventh centuries from Cuddapa and Jammalamadugu. The Telugu inscription of Erikal Mutturaju Dhananjaya Varma, known as Erragudipadu , was engraved in 575 CE in the present Kadapa district. It is the earliest written record in Telugu. + +The Vishnukundinas were the first dynasty in the fifth and sixth centuries to hold sway over most of Andhra Pradesh, Kalinga, and parts of Telangana. The Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi, whose dynasty lasted for around five hundred years from the 7th century until 1130 CE, eventually merged with the Chola dynasty. They continued to rule under the protection of the Chola dynasty until 1189 CE. At the request of King Rajaraja Narendra, Nannaya, considered the first Telugu poet, took up the translation of the Mahabharata into Telugu in 1025 CE. + +Kakatiyas ruled this region and Telangana for nearly two hundred years between the 12th and 14th centuries. They were defeated by the Delhi Sultanate. Musunuri Nayaks and Bahamani Sultanate took over when Delhi Sultanate became weak. The Reddi kingdom ruled parts of this region in the early 14th century. They constructed Kondaveedu Fort and Kondapalli Fort. After their rule, Gajpathis and Bahmani sultans ruled this region in succession before this region, along with most of present-day Andhra Pradesh, became part of the Vijayanagar empire. + +The Vijayanagara empire originated on the Deccan plateau in the early 14th century. It was established in 1336 by Harihara Raya I and his brother Bukka Raya I of the Sangama dynasty, who served as treasury officers of the Kakatiyas of Warangal. During their rule, the Pemmasani Nayaks controlled parts of Andhra Pradesh and had large mercenary armies that were the vanguard of the empire in the 16th century. The empire's patronage enabled fine arts and literature to reach new heights in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, and Sanskrit, while Carnatic music evolved into its current form. The Lepakshi group of monuments built during this period have mural paintings of the Vijayanagara kings, Dravidian art, and inscriptions. These are put on the tentative list of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. + +Modern history + +Following the defeat of the Vijayanagara empire, the Qutb Shahi dynasty held sway over Andhra Pradesh. This region passed under the rule of the Nizams under the Mughal Empire. Soon, Nizam established himself as the sovereign ruler. In 1611, an English trading post by the name of "East India Company" was established in Masulipatinam on India's east coast. In the early nineteenth century, Northern Circars was ceded to the British East India Company and became part of its Madras Presidency. Eventually, this region emerged as the Coastal Andhra region, the northern parts of which were later known as Uttarandhra. Later, the Nizam ceded five territories to the British, which eventually became the Rayalaseema region. The local chieftains, known as Poligars, revolted in 1800 against the company's rule, which was suppressed by the company. +Raja Viziaram Raz (Vijayaram Raj) established a sovereign kingdom by claiming independence from the Kingdom of Jeypore in 1711. It formed alliances with the French and British East India Companies to conquer the neighbouring principalities of Bobbili, Kurupam, Paralakhemundi, and the kingdom of Jeypore. It fell out with the British and, as a result, was attacked and defeated in the battle of Padmanabham. It was annexed as a tributary estate like other principalities and remained so until their accession to the Indian Union in 1949. + +Following the Indian rebellion of 1857, the British crown ruled this region, until India became independent in 1947. The No Tax Campaign in Chirala and Perala in 1919, led by Duggirala Gopalakrishnayya, the Rampa Revolt led by Alluri Sitarama Raju in 1921, and the Salt Satyagraha in Dendulur in 1930 are some of the protests against British rule. Tanguturi Prakasam was arrested and jailed for more than three years for participating in the Quit India movement of 1942. He served as prime minister of the Madras presidency in 1946–47. + +Dowleswaram Barrage, built in 1850 by Arthur Cotton, brought unused lands in the Godavari river basin into cultivation and transformed the economy of the region. Charles Philip Brown did pioneering work in transforming Telugu to the print era and introduced Vemana poems to English readers. Kandukuri Veeresalingam is considered the father of the Telugu Renaissance Movement, as he encouraged the education of women and the remarriage of widows and fought against child marriage and the dowry system. Gurajada Apparao, a pioneering playwright who used spoken dialect, wrote the play Kanyasulkam in 1892. It is considered the greatest play in the Telugu language. + +Post-independence + +In an effort to gain an independent state based on linguistic identity and to protect the interests of the Telugu-speaking people of Madras State, Potti Sreeramulu fasted to death in 1952. The Telugu-speaking area of Andhra State was carved out of Madras State on 1 October 1953, with Kurnool as its capital city. Tanguturi Prakasam became the first chief minister. On the basis of the Gentlemen's Agreement of 1956, the States Reorganisation Act created Andhra Pradesh by merging the neighbouring Telugu-speaking areas of the Hyderabad State with Hyderabad as the capital on 1 November 1956. + +The Indian National Congress (INC) ruled the state from 1956 to 1982. Neelam Sanjiva Reddy became the first chief minister. Among Congress chief ministers, P. V. Narasimha Rao is known for implementing land reforms and land ceiling acts and securing reservation for lower castes in politics. In 1983, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) won the state elections, and N. T. Rama Rao became the chief minister of the state for the first time after launching his party just nine months earlier. This broke the long-time single-party monopoly enjoyed by the INC. He transformed the sub-district administration by forming mandals in place of earlier taluks, removing hereditary village heads, and appointing non-hereditary village revenue assistants. Nara Chandrababu Naidu, Rao's son-in-law, came to power in 1995 with the backing of a majority of the MLAs. He introduced e-governance by launching e-Seva centres in 2001 for paperless and speedy delivery of government services. He is credited with transforming Hyderabad into an IT hub by providing incentives for tech companies to set up centres. In 2004, Congress returned to power with a new chief ministerial face, YS Rajashekara Reddy, better known as YSR. The main emphasis during Reddy's tenure was on social welfare schemes such as free electricity for farmers, health insurance, tuition fee reimbursement for the poor, and the national rural employment guarantee scheme. He was elected chief minister again but was killed in a helicopter crash that occurred in September 2009. + +During its 58 years as a unified state, the state weathered separatist movements from Telangana (1969) and Andhra (1972) successfully. A new party called Telangana Rashtra Samithi, formed in April 2001 by Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao (KCR), reignited the Telanganga movement. When the central government decided to initiate the process to form an independent Telangana in December 2009, Samaikyandhra movement to keep the state united took shape. The agitations continued for nearly 5 years, with the Telangana side harping on the marginalisation of food culture, language, and unequal economic development and the Samaikyandhra movement focusing on the shared culture, language, customs, and historical unity of Telugu-speaking regions. The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act bill was passed by the parliament of India for the formation of the Telangana state, comprising ten districts, despite opposition by the state legislature. The new state of Telangana came into existence on 2 June 2014 after approval from the president of India, with the residual state continuing as Andhra Pradesh. + +In the final elections held in the unified state in 2014, the TDP got a mandate in its favour, defeating its nearest rival, the YSR Congress Party, a breakaway faction of the Congress founded by Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, son of former Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy. N. Chandrababu Naidu, the chief of the TDP, became the chief minister on 8 June 2014. In 2017, the government of Andhra Pradesh began operating from its new greenfield capital, Amaravati, for which 33,000 acres were acquired from farmers through an innovative land pooling scheme. Interstate issues with Telangana relating to the division of assets of public sector institutions and organisations of the united state and the division of river waters are not yet resolved. + +Geography + +The state is bordered by Telangana to the north and west, Chhattisgarh and Orissa to the north, the Bay of Bengal to the east, Tamil Nadu to the south, and Karnataka to the west. Yanam district, an enclave of Puducherry, is in the state bordering Kakinada district. It has a coastline of around , which makes it the second-longest coastline in the nation. + +The Eastern Ghats are a major dividing line separating coastal plains and peneplains in the state's geography. The Eastern Coastal Plains comprise the area of coastal districts up to the Eastern Ghats as their border along the Bay of Bengal, with variable width. These are, for the most part, delta regions formed by the Krishna, Godavari, and Penna rivers. Most of the coastal plains are put to intensive agricultural use. The Eastern Ghats are discontinuous, and individual sections have local names. The ghats become more pronounced towards the south and extreme north of the coast. These consist of the Papikonda range, the Simhachal hill range, the Yarada hills, the Nallamala Hills, the Papi hills, the Seshachala hills, and the Horsley hills. The Kadapa Basin, formed by two arching branches of the Eastern Ghats, is a mineral-rich area. Peneplains, part of Rayalaseema, slope towards the east, with the Eastern Ghats as their eastern border. + +Flora and fauna + +The total forest cover of the state is , amounting to 18.28% of the total area. The Eastern Ghats region is home to dense tropical forests, while the vegetation becomes sparse as the ghats give way to the peneplains, where shrub vegetation is more common. The vegetation found in the state is largely of dry deciduous types, with a mixture of teak, Terminalia, Dalbergia, Pterocarpus, Anogeissus, etc. The state possesses some rare and endemic plants like Cycas beddomei, Pterocarpus santalinus, Terminalia pallida, Syzygium alternifolium, Shorea talura, Shorea tumburgia, Psilotum nudum, etc. Coringa is an example of mangrove forests and salt-tolerant forest ecosystems near the sea. The area of these forests is , accounting for about 9% of the local forest area of the state. + +The diversity of fauna includes tigers, leopards, Dholess, black bucks, cheetals, sambars, sea turtles, and a number of birds and reptiles. The estuaries of the Godavari and Krishna rivers support rich mangrove forests with fishing cats and otters as keystone species. The state has many sanctuaries and national parks, such as Coringa, Nagarjunsagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve, Kolleru Bird Sanctuary, and Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary. + +Mineral resources + +The state, with its varied geological formations, contains a variety of industrial minerals and building stones. It is listed at the top of the list of mica deposits in India. Minerals found in the state include limestone, manganese, asbestos, iron ore, ball clay, fire clay, gold, diamonds, graphite, dolomite, quartz, tungsten, steatitic, feldspar, and silica sand. It has reserves of oil and natural gas. It has about one-third of India's limestone reserves and is known for large exclusive deposits of baryte and galaxy granite. The largest reserves of uranium are in Tummalapalli village, Vemula mandal, of YSR district. + +Climate +The climate varies considerably, depending on the geographical region. Summers last from March to June. In the coastal plain, the summer temperatures are generally higher than in the rest of the state, with temperatures ranging between . July to September is the season for tropical rains from the southwest monsoon. During October to December, low-pressure systems and tropical cyclones form in the Bay of Bengal along with the northeast monsoon, bringing rains to the southern and coastal regions of the state. November to February are the winter months. Since the state has a long coastal belt, the winters are not very cold. The range of winter temperatures is generally . Lambasingi in Visakhapatnam district is nicknamed the "Kashmir of Andhra Pradesh" as its temperature ranges from . The normal rainfall for the state is , and the actual rainfall for June 2020–May 2021 was . + +Demographics + +Based on the 2011 Census of India, the population of Andhra Pradesh is 49,577,103, with a density of . 70.53% of the population is rural, and 29.47% is urban. The state has 17.08% Scheduled Caste and 5.53% Scheduled Tribe populations. Children in the age group of 0–6 years number 5,222,384, constituting 10.6% of the total population. Among them, 2,686,453 are boys and 2,535,931 are girls. Adults in the age group of 18–23 account for 5,815,865 (2,921,284 males, 2,894,581 females). + +The state has a sex ratio of 997 females per 1000 males, higher than the national average of 926 per 1000. The literacy rate in the state stands at 67.35%. Erstwhile West Godavari district has the highest literacy rate of 74.32%, and erstwhile Vizianagaram district has the least with 58.89%. The state ranks 27th of all Indian states in the Human Development Index (HDI) scores for the year 2018. , there are 39,984,868 voters (19,759,489 males, 20,221,455 females, and 3,924 third-gender voters). Kurnool district has the maximum number of voters at 1,942,233, while ASR district has the minimum at 729,085. + +Telugu is the first official language, and Urdu is the second official language of the state. Telugu is the mother tongue of nearly 90% of the population. Rajahmundry is the cultural capital of Andhra Pradesh, as the Telugu language has roots from this region. Urdu, spoken by about 6% of the population, was a second official language in fifteen districts of united Andhra Pradesh and was made the second official language on 17 June 2022. + +Tamil, Kannada, and Odia are spoken in the border areas. Lambadi, Koya, Savara, Konda, Gadaba, and a number of other languages are spoken by the Scheduled Tribes of the state. 19% of the population aged 12+ years has the ability to read and understand English, as per the IRS Q4 2019 survey. + +According to the 2011 census, the major religious groups in the state are Hindus (90.89%), Muslims (7.30%), and Christians (1.38%). + +The National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) 2019–21 data provides an insight into the economic and health status of households. 85% of households in the state have pucca houses. 76% of households (59% urban, 83% rural) own a house. Almost all houses have an electricity connection. 84% of households use clean fuel for cooking. 22% have piped water. 85% of all households (urban areas 97%, rural areas 80%) have access to a toilet facility. Almost all urban households (96%) and most rural households (89%) use a mobile phone. 96% of households use bank or post office savings accounts. 97% of childbirths during 2014–2019 happened in a health facility. The state health insurance scheme (Dr. YSR Arogya Sri), the employee health scheme, the (RSBY), the employees' state insurance scheme (ESIS), and the central government health scheme cover 70% of households with at least one member covered. + +Administrative divisions + +Andhra Pradesh comprises two regions, namely Kostaandhra (Coastal Andhra) and Rayalaseema. The northern part of Coastal Andhra is sometimes mentioned separately as Uttaraandhra, particularly after the bifurcation to raise voice against underdevelopment. + +Districts + +The state is further divided into 26 districts, with Uttarandhra comprising 6 districts, Kostaandhra comprising 12 districts, and Rayalaseema comprising 8 districts. These districts are made up of 76 revenue divisions, 679 mandals and 13,324 village panchayats as part of the administrative organisation. + +Uttaraandhra: + + Alluri Sitharama Raju + Anakapalli + Parvathipuram Manyam + Srikakulam + Visakhapatnam + Vizianagaram + +Kostaandhra: + + Bapatla + Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Konaseema + East Godavari + Eluru + Guntur + Kakinada + Krishna + NTR + Palnadu + Prakasam + Sri Potti Sriramulu Nellore + West Godavari + +Rayalaseema: + + Anantapur + Annamayya + Chittoor + YSR + Kurnool + Nandyal + Sri Sathya Sai + Tirupati + +Cities and towns +There are 123 urban local bodies, comprising 17 municipal corporations, 79 municipalities, and 27 nagar panchyats, in the state. The urban population is 149 million as per the 2011 census. There are two cities with more than one million inhabitants, namely Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada. + +Economy + +GSDP at current prices for the year 2022–23 is estimated at (advanced estimates) against (first revised estimates) for the year 2021–22. The share of agriculture's contribution to the GSDP is at 36.19%, while industry is at 23.36%, and services are at 40.45%. The state posted a record growth of 7.02% at constant prices (2011–12) against the country's growth of 7%. GDP per capita is estimated at . AP achieved an overall 4th rank in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) India Report for the year 2020–21, with a first rank in SDG-7 (affordable energy) and a second rank in SDG-14 (life below water). + +In 2014–15, the first year after bifurcation, the state ranked eighth in GSDP at current prices, which stood at . It recorded 12.03% growth compared to the previous fiscal, which was . + +Agriculture + +The agricultural economy comprises agriculture, livestock, poultry farming, and fisheries. Four important rivers in India, the Godavari, Krishna, Penna, and Tungabhadra, flow through the state and provide irrigation. 60% of the population is engaged in agriculture and related activities. Rice is the state's major food crop and staple food. The state has three agricultural export zones: the undivided Chittoor district for mango pulp and vegetables, the undivided Krishna district for mangoes, and the undivided Guntur district for chillies. Besides rice, farmers grow jowar, bajra, maize, minor millet, many varieties of pulses, oil seeds, sugarcane, cotton, chilli pepper, mango, and tobacco. Crops used for vegetable oil production, such as sunflower and peanuts, are popular. + +The state contributes 10% of total fish production and over 70% of shrimp production in India. The geographical location of the state allows marine fishing as well as inland fish production. The most exported marine products include Vannamei shrimp. + +Industries + +As per the annual survey of industries 2019–20, the number of factories was 12,582 with 681,224 employees. The top 4 employment providers are food products (25.48%), non-metallic minerals (11.26%), textiles (9.35%), and pharmaceuticals (8.68%). Gross value added (GVA) contributed by the industrial sector is , of which food products (18.95%), pharmaceuticals (17.01%), and non-metallic minerals (16.25%) are the top 3 contributors. From a district perspective, the top three districts were undivided Visakhapatnam, Chittoor, and Krishna. + +The defence administered Hindustan Shipyard Limited built the first ship in India in 1948. Sri City, located in Tirupati district, is an integrated business city that is home to several multinational companies. The state has 36 big auto players, such as Ashok Leyland, Hero Motors, Isuzu Motors India, and Kia Motors, with investments of over US$2.8 billion. It accounts for 10% of India's auto exports. + +Industrial minerals, dimensional stones, building materials, and sand are the main minerals. The mining sector contributed in revenue to the state during 2021–22. Ravva Block, in the shallow offshore area of the Krishna Godavari Basin, had produced nearly 311 million barrels of crude oil and 385 billion cubic feet of natural gas since its initial production in March 1994. The state accounts for 2.7% of crude oil production in India, with 827.8 thousand metric tonnes from its Krishna Godavari basin. 809 million metric standard cubic metres of natural gas are produced from onshore sites, which accounts for 2.4% of India's production. + +Services + +The value of information technology exports from the state in 2021–22 was , which is 0.14% of the IT exports from India. Exports have remained below 2% in the past five years. + +The state is ranked third in domestic tourist footfalls for the year 2021, with 93.2 million domestic tourists, which amounts to 13.8% of all domestic tourists in India. A major share of the tourists visit temples in Tirupati, Vijayawada, and Srisailam. + +Government and politics + +The legislative assembly is the lower house of the state with 175 members, and the legislative council is the upper house with 58 members. In the Parliament of India, the state has 11 seats in the Rajya Sabha and 25 seats in the Lok Sabha. There are a total of 175 assembly constituencies in the state. + +In the 2019 elections, Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, leader of the YSR Congress Party, became the chief minister with a resounding mandate by winning 151 out of 175 seats. + +Government revenue and expenditure +For 2021–22, total receipts of the Andhra Pradesh government were , inclusive of of loans. States' own tax revenue was . The top three sources of non-tax revenue are state goods and services tax (GST) (), sales tax/value added tax (VAT) (), and state excise (). The government earned a revenue of from 2.574 million transactions for registration services. Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur, and Tirupati are the top contributors to the revenue. + +The government's total expenditure was ₹1,91,594 crore, which includes debt repayment of ₹13,920 crore. The fiscal deficit was ₹25,013 crore, which was 2.1% of the GSDP. Revenue expenditure was ₹1,59,163 crore and capital expenditure was ₹16,373 crore. Welfare expenditures got the maximum share. Education accounted for ₹25,796 crore, energy ₹10,852 crore, and irrigation ₹7,027 crore. + +Outstanding debt was ₹3.89 lakh crore, an increase of almost ₹40,000 crore compared to the previous year. This accounts for 32.4 per cent of the GSDP. The outstanding guarantee estimate was ₹1,38,875 crore, of which ₹38,473 are for the power sector, which equals 12% of GSDP. + +Amaravati protests + +In August 2020, the Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly passed the Andhra Pradesh decentralisation and inclusive development of all regions act. It provided for limiting Amaravati as legislative capital while naming Vizag as executive capital and Kurnool as judicial capital. The events leading to this decision resulted in widespread and continuing protests by the farmers of Amaravati. The act has been challenged in the Andhra Pradesh High Court, which ordered to maintain status quo until the court completes its hearing. The government, led by Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, withdrew the act when the High Court hearing reached the final stage. The chief minister said that his government would bring a better and more complete bill. The protesters under the banner of Amaravati Parirakshana Samithi (APS) and the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Amaravati received support from all the political parties barring the ruling YCP when they held their long marches across the state seeking support for their agitation. + +On 3 March 2022, the High Court ruled that the government could not abandon the development of Amaravati as the capital city after farmers parted with 33,000 acres of land against the agreement with Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) to develop it as the capital city and ₹15,000 crore was sunk in it over development expenditure. It asked the government to develop Amaravati within six months. When the government appealed to the Supreme Court, it got a stay on the judgement regarding developing the city within six months. The Supreme Court is set to hear it in December 2023, following its decision on 11 July 2023. + +Interstate disputes + +Assets division with Telangana +There are 91 institutions under schedule IX with assets of ₹1.42 lakh crore, 142 institutions under schedule X with assets of ₹24,018.53 crore, and another 12 institutions not mentioned in the act with assets of ₹1,759 crore, which are to be split between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana following the bifurcation. An expert committee headed by Sheela Bhide gave a recommendation for bifurcation of 89 out of the 91 schedule IX institutions. Telangana selectively accepted the recommendations, while Andhra Pradesh is asking for their acceptance in total. The division of the RTC headquarters and the Deccan Infrastructure and Landholdings Limited (DIL) with huge land parcels has become contentious. Despite several meetings of the trilateral dispute resolution committees, no progress was made. The Andhra Pradesh government filed a suit in the Supreme Court. + +Krishna river water sharing dispute + +Andhra Pradesh and Telangana continue to dispute the water share of the Krishna River. In 1969, the Bachawat tribunal for the allocation of water shares among the riparian states allocated 811 tmcft of water to Andhra Pradesh. The Andhra Pradesh government of that time split it in a 512:299 tmcft ratio between Andhra Pradesh (including the basin area of Rayalaseema) and Telangana, respectively. It was based on the utilisation facilities established at that time. Though the tribunal recommended the use of the Tungabhadra Dam (a part of the Krishna Basin) to provide water to the drought-prone Mahabubnagar area of Telangana, this was not implemented. The bifurcation act advised the formation of the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) and the Godavari River Management Board (GRMB) for resolving disputes between the new states. In 2015, the two states agreed to share water in the 66:34 (AP:Telangana) ratio as an interim arrangement in a meeting with the central water ministry, which is to be reviewed every year. This practice continued without further review. Telangana filed a suit in the Supreme Court for a 70% share. Following the assurance of the formation of a tribunal to resolve the issue, Telangana withdrew its suit. The centre has yet to form the tribunal. + +Godavari water sharing dispute + +Andhra Pradesh got 1172.78 tmcft of Godavari water. Telangana is utilising 433 tmcft for its completed projects, while Andhra Pradesh's share is 739 tmcft. The Andhra Pradesh government has opposed Telangana submitting a detailed project report for additional utilisation through new or upgraded projects such as Kaleswaram, Tupakulagudem, Sitarama, Mukteswaram, and Modikunta lift irrigation projects. + +Five villages near Bhadrachalam +The 1.50-metre increase in the height of the Polavaram coffer dam to 44 metres raised the suspicion that it led to flooding of Bhadrachalam and nearby villages in Telangana along the Godavari river in 2022. Three mandals that were originally part of Andhra State were transferred back to Andhra Pradesh, excluding Bhadrachalam town, to support the Polavaram project, as those areas are likely to be submerged. Telangana would like to take back five villages on the river banks for ease of movement of its government machinery to provide rehabilitation support to its other villages beyond them, to which the Andhra Pradesh government is objecting. + +Infrastructure + +Transport + +Roads + +The state has a total major road network of . This comprises of national highways, of state highways, and of major district roads. NH 16, with a highway network of around in the state, is a part of the Golden Quadrilateral project undertaken by the National Highways Development Project. The proposed Anantapuram–Amaravati Expressway is changed to Anantapur–Guntur national highway 544D, with implementation expected to begin in January 2023. + +1.828 million transport vehicles and 13.7 million non-transport vehicles are registered in the state. In the transport category, 0.98 million are goods carriages, constituting 53.61%; 0.66 million are auto rickshaws, constituting 36.21%; and 0.109 million are cabs, constituting 5.96%. In the non-transport category, 12.2 million are motorcycles, constituting 89.5%, and 1.067 million are four-wheelers, constituting 7.29%. The integrated road accident database project, an initiative of the Ministry Of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) is under implementation in the state. Construction of the Institute of Driver Training and Research Facilities at Darsi, Praksam district, and Dhone, Nandyal district, in partnership with Maruti Suzuki and Ashok Leyland, respectively, is in progress. Automation of driving test tracks in nine district capitals is expected to be completed by 31 March 2023. + +The state government-owned Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) is the public bus transport provider. It is split into 129 depots across four zones. It has a fleet strength of 11,098 buses and a staff count of 49,544. It operates 1.11 billion kilometres and serves 3.68 million passengers daily. Pandit Nehru Bus Station (PNBS) in Vijayawada is the second-largest bus terminal in Asia. + +Railways + +Andhra Pradesh has a total broad-gauge railway route of . The rail density of the state is 24.36 km per 1000 square kilometres. The railway network in Andhra Pradesh is under the South Central Railway, East Coast Railway, and South Western Railway zones. + +During 2014–2022, 350 km of new lines were constructed at a rate of 44 km per year in Andhra Pradesh under the South Central Railway division. The rate of construction was only 2 km per year in the preceding five years. The Nadikudi–Srikalahasti line of 308.70 km sanctioned at a budget of in 2011–12 as a joint project of the centre and state is progressing slowly, with only phase 1 of 46 km between New Piduguralla station and Savalyapuram completed in 2021–22. + +There are three A1 and 23 A-category railway stations in the state, as per the assessment in 2017. has been declared the cleanest railway station in the country, as per the assessment in 2018. The railway station in Shimiliguda was the first highest broad gauge railway station in the country in terms of altitude. + +A new railway zone South Coast Railway Zone (SCoR), with headquarters in Visakhapatnam, was announced as the newest railway zone of the Indian Railways in 2019, but is yet to be implemented . + +Airports + +Visakhapatnam Airport, NTR Amaravati international Airport, and Tirupati Airport are international airports in the state. The state has three domestic airports, namely Rajahmundry airport, Kadapa airport, and Kurnool airport. A privately owned airport for emergency flights and chartered flights is at Puttaparthi. + +Sea ports + +The state has one major port at Visakhapatnam under the administrative control of the central government and 15 notified ports, including three captive ports, under the control of the state government. The other famous ports are Krishnapatnam Port, Gangavaram Port, and Kakinada Port. Gangavaram port is a deep seaport that can accommodate ocean liners up to 200,000–250,000 DWT. + +Communication + +The AP statewide area network (APSWAN) connects 2,164 offices of state administration at 668 locations down to the level of mandal headquarters. The network supports both data and video communications. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and the National Knowledge Network (NKN) link district headquarters with state headquarters with a bandwidth of 34 Mbit/s. Mandal headquarters are connected with a bandwidth of 8 Mbit/s. + +Andhra Pradesh State FiberNet Limited (APSFNL) operates an optical fibre network. This provides internet connectivity, telephony, and Internet protocol television (IPTV) with fibre to private and corporate users in Andhra Pradesh. + +Water +The state has 40 major and medium rivers and 40,000 minor irrigation sources. Godavari, Krishna, and Pennar are the major rivers. The total cultivable area is 19.904 million acres. Major, medium, and minor irrigation projects irrigate 10.311 million acres. The Polavaram project under construction suffered setbacks with damage to its diaphragm wall during the 2022 floods. The Veligonda project is likely to be commissioned by September 2023. The Annamayya project, washed away in the 2021 floods, is set to be redesigned at a cost of 787 crore. + +Power + +Thermal, hydel and renewable power plants supply power to the state. The installed capacity share of the state in the public sector generating stations was 7,245 MW. Private sector installed capacity was 9,370 MW, which includes independent power producer capacity of 1,961 MW. The total installed capacity was 16,615 MW. Peak power demand for the state in 2021–22 was 12,032 MW and per capita consumption was 1,285 kilowatt hours. The energy consumed is 68972 million units. + +Healthcare +The government is spending 7.3% of the state budget on healthcare, compared to an average of 4 to 4.5 per cent overall in the country. The 108 service provides fast emergency management services by shifting patients to a nearby healthcare facility. The 104 service provides health care services at the doorstep of villages through mobile medical units that visit at least once a month. + +All the poor families are covered by the free state health insurance scheme called Arogyasri up to a limit of . The services are provided in government and private hospitals under the network. During 2014–2018, though the nominal mean claim amount of Arogyasri beneficiaries went up significantly, it decreased after accounting for inflation. Mortality rates have significantly decreased, which indicates better outcomes are being achieved at a lower cost. + +Education + +Primary and secondary school education is imparted by government-aided and private schools, managed and regulated by the School Education Department of the state. There are urban, rural, and residential schools. As per the child info and school information report (2018–19), there were a total of students enrolled in schools. students have appeared for the April 2023 Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exam in the regular stream. The overall pass percentage was 72.26%, with 100% in 933 schools. In March–April 2023, 379,758 students appeared for intermediate second-year examinations. 272,001 candidates, amounting to 71%, were declared passed. + +The state initiated education reforms in 2020 by creating six types of schools: satellite foundation schools (pre-primary), foundational schools (pre-primary – class II), foundational school plus (pre-primary – class V), pre-high school (class III – class VII/VIII), high school (class III – class X), and high school plus (class III – class XII). The transition to English-medium education in all government schools started in the academic year 2020–2021 and is expected to reach completion by 2024–25. 1000 government schools are affiliated to the CBSE in the years 2022–23 as an initial step, and the bilingual text book scheme was adopted to ease the transition. The state government is going ahead with the English medium based on the parents survey despite protests and court cases. The state initiative is being funded in part by a loan from the World Bank to the tune of $250 million over 2021–2026 through the "Supporting Andhra's Learning Transformation" (SALT) project to improve the learning outcomes of children up to class II level. + +There were 510 industrial training institutes (ITI) in the year 2020–21 in Andhra Pradesh, with 82 under government management and 417 under private management. The total available seats in 2021 were 93,280, out of which 48.90% were filled. 10,053 students completed ITI education in the year 2020. + +There are 169 government-aided degree colleges and 55 private-aided degree colleges in the state. 66 government colleges and 48 private-aided colleges have valid NAAC grades. There are 85 government-aided and 175 private polytechnic colleges with a sanctioned strength of 75,906 students. The AP State Council of Higher Education organises various entrance tests for different streams and conducts counselling for admissions. The AP State Skill Development Corporation is set up to support skill development and placement for the educated. + +There are a total of 36 universities, which comprise 3 central universities, 23 state public universities, 6 state private universities, and 4 deemed universities. Andhra University is the oldest of the universities in the state, established in 1926. The government established Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies (RGUKT) in 2008 to cater to the education needs of the rural youth of Andhra Pradesh. Dr. Y.S.R University of Health Sciences oversees medical education in 348 affiliated colleges spanning the entire range from traditional medicine to modern medicine. The public universities, including the legacy universities such as Andhra, Sri Venkateswara, and Nagarjuna, are suffering from a severe fund crunch and staff shortage, managing with only 20% of sanctioned full-time staff. The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education for the age group 18–23 for the state is at 35.2% for the year 2019–20, which compares favourably with the GER for all of India at 27.1%. With a female GER of 35.3 and a male GER of 38.2, the Gender Parity Index is 0.84. The corresponding ratio for India is 1.01. + +Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation University (KL College of Engineering) bagged the 50th rank, while Andhra University in Visakhapatnam bagged the 76th rank in the overall category of India rankings for 2023 as per the National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF) of the Union Ministry of Education. 2,478 institutions, including 242 institutions from the state, participated in the ranking. + +Andhra Pradesh has 2,510 public libraries, including 4 regional libraries and 13 district central libraries under government management. Saraswata Niketanam at Vetapalem in Bapatla district, one of the oldest libraries established under private management in 1918, is losing its attraction as the Internet spreads. The government is planning to develop digital libraries at the village panchayat level. + +Science and technology + + there are 190 science and technology organisations in Andhra Pradesh, including 12 central labs and research institutions. Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), known as Sriharikota Range (SHAR), on the barrier island of Sriharikota in Tirupati district, is a satellite launching station operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation. It is India's primary orbital launch site. India's lunar orbiter Chandrayaan-1 was launched from the centre on 22 October 2008. + +Some notable scientists + +Yellapragada Subba Rao, a pioneering biochemist hailing from the state, discovered the function of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) as an energy source in the cell and developed drugs for cancer and filariasis. Yelavarthy Nayudamma, a chemical engineer, worked extensively for the Central Leather Research Institute in Chennai and rose to become the director general of the Center for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India. C. R. Rao is an Indian-American mathematician and statistician and an alumnus of Andhra University. His work on statistics influenced various sciences. + +Media + +The total number of registered newspapers and periodicals in the state for the years 2020–21 was 5,798. There were 1,645 dailies, 817 weeklies, 2,431 monthlies, and 623 fortnightlies. 787 Telugu dailies had a circulation of 9,911,005. 103 English dailies had a circulation of 1,646,453. Eenadu, Sakshi, and Andhra Jyothi are the top 3 Telugu daily newspapers widely published in Andhra Pradesh in terms of circulation and the top 3 Telugu news sites. BBC Telugu News was launched on 2 October 2017. Several privately owned news media outlets are considered biased towards specific political parties in the state. + +There were 10 general entertainment channels, 23 news channels, 2 health channels, 6 religious channels, 2 other channels, and 2 cable distribution channels, for a total of 45 channels empanelled by the Andhra Pradesh Information and Public Relations Department. All India Radio has several channels operating from several locations in the state. Red FM operates from four locations. + +Culture + +Andhra Pradesh has 17 geographical indications in the categories of agriculture, handicrafts, foodstuffs, and textiles as per the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999. Some of the GI products are Banaganapalle mangoes, Bandar laddu, Kondapalli toys, Tirupati laddu, and saris made in Dharmavaram and Machilipatnam. + +Handicrafts + +Machilipatnam and Srikalahasti Kalamkari are the two unique textile art forms practised in India. There are other notable handicrafts present in the state, like the soft limestone idol carvings of Durgi. Etikoppaka in Visakhapatnam district is notable for its lac industry, which produces lacquered wooden toys. + +Literature + +Nannayya, Tikkana, and Yerrapragada form the trinity who translated the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata into Telugu. Nannayya wrote the first treatise on Telugu grammar, called Andhra Shabda Chintamani in Sanskrit. Pothana translated Sri Bhagavatam into Telugu as Andhra Maha Bhagavatamu. Vemana was an Indian philosopher. He wrote Telugu poems using simple language and native idioms on a variety of subjects, including yoga, wisdom, and morality. Potuluri Veerabrahmendhra swami, a clairvoyant and social reformer, wrote Kalagnanam, a book of predictions written in the 16th century. + +Telugu literature after Kandukuri Veeresalingam is termed Adhunika Telugu Sahityam (modern Telugu literature). He is known as Gadya Tikkana and was the author of the Telugu social novel Satyavati Charitam. Viswanatha Satyanarayana was conferred the Jnanpith Award. Sri Sri brought new forms of expressionism into Telugu literature. + +Festivals + +Sankranti is the major harvest festival celebrated across the state. It is celebrated for four days in the second week of January. On Bhogi, the day before Makara Sankranti, people throw old items into bonfires. Children are showered with jujube as a symbol of protection from evil. Sweet meats made of rice flour and sesame seeds called Arisalu are enjoyed. Next day, women and young girls make elaborate geometric patterns called Rangoli before the entrance to the house and decorate them with flowers. Children fly kites. On the subsequent two days, Kanuma and Mukkanuma, people feed cattle and offer prayers for a good harvest. The first day of Telugu New Year Ugadi which occurs during March/April is also a special festival with preparation and sharing of pickle (pachhadi) made from raw mangoes, neem flowers, pepper powder, jaggery and tamarind. Tasting this pickle which is mix of different tastes teaches the importance of taking positive/negative life experiences in one's stride. Celebrations end with the recitation of the coming year's astrological predictions called Panchanga sravanam. Vijaya Dasami known commonly as Dussera and Deepavali, the festival of lights are other major Hindu festivals. + +Eid is celebrated with special prayers. + +Rottela Panduga is celebrated at Bara Shaheed Dargah in Nellore with participation across religious lines. + +Dance, music, and cinema + +Kuchipudi, the cultural dance recognised as the official dance form of the state of Andhra Pradesh, originated in the village of Kuchipudi in Krishna district. Many composers of Carnatic music like Annamacharya, Kshetrayya, Tyagaraja, and Bhadrachala Ramadas were of Telugu descent. Modern Carnatic music composers and singers like Ghantasala and M. Balamuralikrishna are of Telugu descent. The Telugu film industry hosted many music composers and playback singers, such as S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, P. Susheela, S. Janaki, and P. B. Sreenivas. Folk songs are very important and popular in the many rural areas of the state. Forms such as the Burra katha and Poli are still performed today. Harikathaa Kalakshepam (or Harikatha) involves the narration of a story, intermingled with various songs relating to the story. Harikatha was originated in Andhra Pradesh. Burra katha is an oral storytelling technique in which the topic is either a Hindu mythological story or a contemporary social issue. Rangasthalam is an Indian theatre in the Telugu language, based predominantly in Andhra Pradesh. Gurajada Apparao wrote the play Kanyasulkam in 1892, which is often considered the greatest play in the Telugu language. C. Pullaiah is cited as the father of the Telugu theatre movement. + +Andhra Pradesh State Film, Television & Theatre Development Corporation offers incentives to promote the industry. The government is asking the film industry to make Vizag its hub. The Telugu film industry (known as "Tollywood"), which produces 300 films annually, is primarily based in Hyderabad, though several films are shot in Vizag. Film producer D. Ramanaidu holds a Guinness record for the most films produced by a person. In the years 2005, 2006, and 2008, the Telugu film industry produced the largest number of films in India, exceeding the number of films produced in Bollywood. "Naatu Naatu" from the film RRR became the first song from an Indian film to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, as well as the first song from an Asian film to win the former. + +Cuisine + +Andhra meals are combinations of spicy, tangy, and sweet flavours. Chillies, which are abundantly produced in Andhra Pradesh, and curry leaves are used copiously in most preparations of curries and chutneys. Various types of Pappu are made using lentils in combination with tomatoes, spinach, gongura, ridge gourd, etc. Apart from curries, pulusu, a stew made using tamarind juice in combination with vegetables, sea food, chicken, mutton, etc., is popular. Pachchadi, a paste usually made with a combination of groundnuts, fried vegetables, and chillies, is a must in a meal. Pickles made using mangoes, gooseberries, lemons, etc. are enjoyed in combination with Pappu. Buttermilk and yoghurt mixed with rice and eaten towards the end of the meal soothe the body, especially after eating spicy food items earlier. Ariselu, Burelu, Laddu, and Pootharekulu are some of the sweets made for special festivals and occasions. + +Tourism + +Some of the popular religious pilgrim destinations include Tirumala Venkateswara temple at Tirupati, Srikalahasti temple, Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha temple, Simhachalam, Shahi Jamia Masjid in Adoni, Gunadala Church in Vijayawada, and Buddhist centres at Amaravati and Nagarjuna Konda. Tirumala Venkateswara temple is the world's most visited Hindu temple, with footfalls of 30,000–40,000 daily and about 75,000 on New Year's Eve. The region is home to a variety of other pilgrimage centres, such as the Pancharama Kshetras, Mallikarjuna Jyotirlinga, Kanaka Durga Temple and Kodanda Rama Temple. + +The state has several beaches in its coastal districts, such as Rushikonda, Mypadu, Suryalanka, etc.; caves such as Borra Caves; Indian rock-cut architecture depicting Undavalli Caves; and the country's second-longest cave system, the Belum Caves. The valleys and hills include Araku Valley, Horsley Hills, Papi Hills, and Gandikota Gorge. Arma Konda, located in Visakhapatnam district, is the highest peak in the Eastern Ghats. + +Museums + +The state has 32 museums, which feature a varied collection of ancient sculptures, paintings, idols, weapons, cutlery, inscriptions, and religious artefacts. The Amaravati Archaeological Museum has several archaeological artefacts. Visakha Museum and Telugu Samskruthika Niketanam in Visakhapatnam display historical artefacts of the pre-independence era. Bapu Museum in Vijayawada displays a large collection of artefacts. Advanced projection mapping with graphic, animation, and laser displays is used to tell the history of Kondapalli Fort, utilising the irregular landscapes, ruins, and buildings present in the fort as a screen. It was launched in 2019. + +The Archaeological Survey of India identified 135 centrally protected monuments in the state of Andhra Pradesh. These include the reconstructed monuments at Anupu and Nagarjunakonda. + +Sports + +The Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh is the governing body that looks after the infrastructure development, coaching, and administration of sports promotion schemes. Dr. YSR Sports School, with classes for grades 4–10 and a focus on tapping rural sports talent, was established in Putlampalli, YSR district, in December 2006. + +The ACA-VDCA stadium in Visakhapatnam hosted ODI, T20I, and IPL matches. Andhra Pradesh secured 16 medals at the 36th National Games held in 2022. It was ranked twenty-first in the competition. It won the most medals in athletics. Two silvers and one bronze were won in weightlifting. + +Karnam Malleswari is the first female Indian to win an Olympic medal. Pullela Gopichand is a former Indian badminton player. He won the All England Open Badminton Championships in 2001, becoming the second Indian to win after Prakash Padukone. Srikanth Kidambi, a badminton player, is the first Indian to reach the world championships final in 2021 in the men's singles and win a silver medal. + +See also + +Outline of Andhra Pradesh + +Notes + +References + +Bibliography + +External links + +Government + +General information + + + + +South India +States and union territories of India +States and territories established in 1956 +1956 establishments in India +Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) is a parallel expansion card standard, designed for attaching a video card to a computer system to assist in the acceleration of 3D computer graphics. It was originally designed as a successor to PCI-type connections for video cards. Since 2004, AGP was progressively phased out in favor of PCI Express (PCIe), which is serial, as opposed to parallel; by mid-2008, PCI Express cards dominated the market and only a few AGP models were available, with GPU manufacturers and add-in board partners eventually dropping support for the interface in favor of PCI Express. + +Advantages over PCI +AGP is a superset of the PCI standard, designed to overcome PCI's limitations in serving the requirements of the era's high-performance graphics cards. + +The primary advantage of AGP is that it doesn't share the PCI bus, providing a dedicated, point-to-point pathway between the expansion slot(s) and the motherboard chipset. The direct connection also allows for higher clock speeds. + +The second major change is the use of split transactions, wherein the address and data phases are separated. The card may send many address phases so the host can process them in order, avoiding any long delays caused by the bus being idle during read operations. + +Third, PCI bus handshaking is simplified. Unlike PCI bus transactions whose length is negotiated on a cycle-by-cycle basis using the FRAME# and STOP# signals, AGP transfers are always a multiple of 8 bytes long, with the total length included in the request. Further, rather than using the IRDY# and TRDY# signals for each word, data is transferred in blocks of four clock cycles (32 words at AGP 8× speed), and pauses are allowed only between blocks. + +Finally, AGP allows (mandatory only in AGP 3.0) sideband addressing, meaning that the address and data buses are separated so the address phase does not use the main address/data (AD) lines at all. This is done by adding an extra 8-bit "SideBand Address" bus over which the graphics controller can issue new AGP requests while other AGP data is flowing over the main 32 address/data (AD) lines. This results in improved overall AGP data throughput. + +This great improvement in memory read performance makes it practical for an AGP card to read textures directly from system RAM, while a PCI graphics card must copy it from system RAM to the card's video memory. System memory is made available using the graphics address remapping table (GART), which apportions main memory as needed for texture storage. The maximum amount of system memory available to AGP is defined as the AGP aperture. + +History + +The AGP slot first appeared on x86-compatible system boards based on Socket 7 Intel P5 Pentium and Slot 1 P6 Pentium II processors. Intel introduced AGP support with the i440LX Slot 1 chipset on August 26, 1997, and a flood of products followed from all the major system board vendors. + +The first Socket 7 chipsets to support AGP were the VIA Apollo VP3, SiS 5591/5592, and the ALI Aladdin V. Intel never released an AGP-equipped Socket 7 chipset. FIC demonstrated the first Socket 7 AGP system board in November 1997 as the FIC PA-2012 based on the VIA Apollo VP3 chipset, followed very quickly by the EPoX P55-VP3 also based on the VIA VP3 chipset which was first to market. + +Early video chipsets featuring AGP support included the Rendition Vérité V2200, 3dfx Voodoo Banshee, Nvidia RIVA 128, 3Dlabs PERMEDIA 2, Intel i740, ATI Rage series, Matrox Millennium II, and S3 ViRGE GX/2. Some early AGP boards used graphics processors built around PCI and were simply bridged to AGP. This resulted in the cards benefiting little from the new bus, with the only improvement used being the 66 MHz bus clock, with its resulting doubled bandwidth over PCI, and bus exclusivity. Intel's i740 was explicitly designed to exploit the new AGP feature set; in fact it was designed to texture only from AGP memory, making PCI versions of the board difficult to implement (local board RAM had to emulate AGP memory.) + +Microsoft first introduced AGP support into Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2 (OSR2 version 1111 or 950B) via the USB SUPPLEMENT to OSR2 patch. After applying the patch the Windows 95 system became Windows 95 version 4.00.950 B. The first Windows NT-based operating system to receive AGP support was Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 3, introduced in 1997. Linux support for AGP enhanced fast data transfers was first added in 1999 with the implementation of the AGPgart kernel module. + +Later use +With the increasing adoption of PCIe, graphics cards manufacturers continued to produce AGP cards as the standard became obsolete. As GPUs began to be designed to connect to PCIe, an additional PCIe-to-AGP bridge-chip was required to create an AGP-compatible graphics card. The inclusion of a bridge, and the need for a separate AGP card design, incurred additional board costs. + +The GeForce 6600 and ATI Radeon X800 XL, released during 2004–2005, were the first bridged cards. In 2009 AGP cards from Nvidia had a ceiling of the GeForce 7 Series. In 2011 DirectX 10-capable AGP cards from AMD vendors (Club 3D, HIS, Sapphire, Jaton, Visiontek, Diamond, etc.) included the Radeon HD 2400, 3450, 3650, 3850, 4350, 4650, and 4670. The HD 5000 AGP series mentioned in the AMD Catalyst software was never available. There were many problems with the AMD Catalyst 11.2 - 11.6 AGP hotfix drivers under Windows 7 with the HD 4000 series AGP video cards; use of 10.12 or 11.1 AGP hotfix drivers is the recommended workaround. Several of the vendors listed above make available past versions of the AGP drivers. + +By 2010, no new motherboard chipsets supported AGP and few new motherboards had AGP slots, however some continued to be produced with older AGP-supporting chipsets. + +In 2016, Windows 10 version 1607 dropped support for AGP. Possible future removal of support for AGP from open source Linux kernel drivers was considered in 2020. + +Versions + +Intel released "AGP specification 1.0" in 1997. It specified 3.3 V signals and 1× and 2× speeds. Specification 2.0 documented 1.5 V signaling, which could be used at 1×, 2× and the additional 4× speed and 3.0 added 0.8 V signaling, which could be operated at 4× and 8× speeds. (1× and 2× speeds are physically possible, but were not specified.) + +Available versions are listed in the adjacent table. + +AGP version 3.5 is only publicly mentioned by Microsoft under Universal Accelerated Graphics Port (UAGP), which specifies mandatory supports of extra registers once marked optional under AGP 3.0. Upgraded registers include PCISTS, CAPPTR, NCAPID, AGPSTAT, AGPCMD, NISTAT, NICMD. New required registers include APBASELO, APBASEHI, AGPCTRL, APSIZE, NEPG, GARTLO, GARTHI. + +There are various physical interfaces (connectors); see the Compatibility section. + +Official extensions + +AGP Pro +An official extension for cards that required more electrical power, with a longer slot with additional pins for that purpose. AGP Pro cards were usually workstation-class cards used to accelerate professional computer-aided design applications employed in the fields of architecture, machining, engineering, simulations, and similar fields. + +64-bit AGP +A 64-bit channel was once proposed as an optional standard for AGP 3.0 in draft documents, but it was dropped in the final version of the standard. + +The standard allows 64-bit transfer for AGP8× reads, writes, and fast writes; 32-bit transfer for PCI operations. + +Unofficial variations +A number of non-standard variations of the AGP interface have been produced by manufacturers. + +Internal AGP interface +Ultra-AGP, Ultra-AGPII It is an internal AGP interface standard used by SiS for the north bridge controllers with integrated graphics. The original version supports same bandwidth as AGP 8×, while Ultra-AGPII has maximum 3.2GB/s bandwidth. + +PCI-based AGP ports +AGP Express Not a true AGP interface, but allows an AGP card to be connected over the legacy PCI bus on a PCI Express motherboard. It is a technology used on motherboards made by ECS, intended to allow an existing AGP card to be used in a new motherboard instead of requiring a PCIe card to be obtained (since the introduction of PCIe graphics cards few motherboards provide AGP slots). An "AGP Express" slot is basically a PCI slot (with twice the electrical power) with an AGP connector. It offers backward compatibility with AGP cards, but provides incomplete support (some AGP cards do not work with AGP Express) and reduced performance—the card is forced to use the shared PCI bus at its lower bandwidth, rather than having exclusive use of the faster AGP. +AGI The ASRock Graphics Interface (AGI) is a proprietary variant of the Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) standard. Its purpose is to provide AGP-support for ASRock motherboards that use chipsets lacking native AGP support. However, it is not fully compatible with AGP, and several video card chipsets are known not to be supported. +AGX The EPoX Advanced Graphics eXtended (AGX) is another proprietary AGP variant with the same advantages and disadvantages as AGI. User manuals recommend not using AGP 8× ATI cards with AGX slots. +XGP The Biostar Xtreme Graphics Port is another AGP variant, also with the same advantages and disadvantages as AGI and AGX. + +PCIe based AGP ports +AGR The Advanced Graphics Riser is a variation of the AGP port used in some PCIe motherboards made by MSI to offer limited backwards compatibility with AGP. It is, effectively, a modified PCIe slot allowing for performance comparable to an AGP 4×/8× slot, but does not support all AGP cards; the manufacturer published a list of some cards and chipsets that work with the modified slot. + +Compatibility + +AGP cards are backward and forward compatible within limits. 1.5 V-only keyed cards will not go into 3.3 V slots and vice versa, though "Universal" cards exist which will fit into either type of slot. There are also unkeyed "Universal" slots that will accept either type of card. When an AGP Universal card is plugged-into an AGP Universal slot, only the 1.5 V portion of the card is used. Some cards, like Nvidia's GeForce 6 series (except the 6200) or ATI's Radeon X800 series, only have keys for 1.5 V to prevent them from being installed in older mainboards without 1.5 V support. Some of the last modern cards with 3.3 V support were: + the Nvidia GeForce FX series (FX 5200, FX 5500, FX 5700, some FX 5800, FX 5900 and some FX 5950) + certain GeForce 6 Series and 7 series (few cards were made with 3.3v support except for 6200 where 3.3v support was common) + some GeForce 6200/6600/6800 and GeForce 7300/7600/7800/7900/7950 cards (really uncommon compared to their AGP 1.5v only versions) + the ATI Radeon 9500/9700/9800 (R300/R350) (but not 9600/9800 (R360/RV360)). + +AGP Pro cards will not fit into standard slots, but standard AGP cards will work in a Pro slot. Motherboards equipped with a Universal AGP Pro slot will accept a 1.5 V or 3.3 V card in either the AGP Pro or standard AGP configuration, a Universal AGP card, or a Universal AGP Pro card. + +Some cards incorrectly have dual notches, and some motherboards incorrectly have fully open slots, allowing a card to be plugged into a slot that does not support the correct signaling voltage, which may damage card or motherboard. Some incorrectly designed older 3.3 V cards have the 1.5 V key. + +There are some proprietary systems incompatible with standard AGP; for example, Apple Power Macintosh computers with the Apple Display Connector (ADC) have an extra connector which delivers power to the attached display. Some cards designed to work with a specific CPU architecture (e.g., PC, Apple) may not work with others due to firmware issues. + +Mark Allen of Playtools.com made the following comments regarding Practical AGP Compatibility for AGP 3.0 and AGP 2.0: + +Power consumption + +Actual power supplied by an AGP slot depends upon the card used. The maximum current drawn from the various rails is given in the specifications for the various versions. For example, if maximum current is drawn from all supplies and all voltages are at their specified upper limits, an AGP 3.0 slot can supply up to 48.25 watts; this figure can be used to specify a power supply conservatively, but in practice a card is unlikely ever to draw more than 40 W from the slot, with many using less. AGP Pro provides additional power up to 110 W. Many AGP cards had additional power connectors to supply them with more power than the slot could provide. + +Protocol +An AGP bus is a superset of a 66 MHz conventional PCI bus and, immediately after reset, follows the same protocol. The card must act as a PCI target, and optionally may act as a PCI master. (AGP 2.0 added a "fast writes" extension which allows PCI writes from the motherboard to the card to transfer data at higher speed.) + +After the card is initialized using PCI transactions, AGP transactions are permitted. For these, the card is always the AGP master and the motherboard is always the AGP target. The card queues multiple requests which correspond to the PCI address phase, and the motherboard schedules the corresponding data phases later. An important part of initialization is telling the card the maximum number of outstanding AGP requests which may be queued at a given time. + +AGP requests are similar to PCI memory read and write requests, but use a different encoding on command lines C/BE[3:0] and are always 8-byte aligned; their starting address and length are always multiples of 8 bytes (64 bits). The three low-order bits of the address are used instead to communicate the length of the request. + +Whenever the PCI GNT# signal is asserted, granting the bus to the card, three additional status bits ST[2:0] indicate the type of transfer to be performed next. If the bits are 0xx, a previously queued AGP transaction's data is to be transferred; if the three bits are 111, the card may begin a PCI transaction or (if sideband addressing is not in use) queue a request in-band using PIPE#. + +AGP command codes +Like PCI, each AGP transaction begins with an address phase, communicating an address and 4-bit command code. The possible commands are different from PCI, however: + + 000p Read + Read 8×(AD[2:0]+1) = 8, 16, 24, ..., 64 bytes. The least significant bit p is 0 for low-priority, 1 for high. + 001x (reserved): + 010p Write + Write 8×(AD[2:0]+1) = 8–64 bytes. + 011x (reserved): + 100p Long read + Read 32×(AD[2:0]+1) = 32, 64, 96, ..., 256 bytes. This is the same as a read request, but the length is multiplied by four. + 1010 Flush + Force previously written data to memory, for synchronization. This acts as a low-priority read, taking a queue slot and returning 8 bytes of random data to indicate completion. The address and length supplied with this command are ignored. + 1011 (reserved): + 1100 Fence + This acts as a memory fence, requiring that all earlier AGP requests complete before any following requests. Ordinarily, for increased performance, AGP uses a very weak consistency model, and allows a later write to pass an earlier read. (E.g. after sending "write 1, write 2, read, write 3, write 4" requests, all to the same address, the read may return any value from 2 to 4. Only returning 1 is forbidden, as writes must complete before following reads.) This operation does not require any queue slots. + 1101 Dual address cycle + When making a request to an address above 232, this is used to indicate that a second address cycle will follow with additional address bits. This operates like a regular PCI dual address cycle; it is accompanied by the low-order 32 bits of the address (and the length), and the following cycle includes the high 32 address bits and the desired command. The two cycles make one request, and take only one slot in the request queue. This request code is not used with side-band addressing. + 111x (reserved): + +AGP 3.0 dropped high-priority requests and the long read commands, as they were little used. It also mandated side-band addressing, thus dropping the dual address cycle, leaving only four request types: low-priority read (0000), low-priority write (0100), flush (1010) and fence (1100). + +In-band AGP requests using PIPE# +To queue a request in-band, the card must request the bus using the standard PCI REQ# signal, and receive GNT# plus bus status ST[2:0] equal to 111. Then, instead of asserting FRAME# to begin a PCI transaction, the card asserts the PIPE# signal while driving the AGP command, address, and length on the C/BE[3:0], AD[31:3] and AD[2:0] lines, respectively. (If the address is 64 bits, a dual address cycle similar to PCI is used.) For every cycle that PIPE# is asserted, the card sends another request without waiting for acknowledgement from the motherboard, up to the configured maximum queue depth. The last cycle is marked by deasserting REQ#, and PIPE# is deasserted on the following idle cycle. + +Side-band AGP requests using SBA[7:0] +If side-band addressing is supported and configured, the PIPE# signal is not used. (And the signal is re-used for another purpose in the AGP 3.0 protocol, which requires side-band addressing.) Instead, requests are broken into 16-bit pieces which are sent as two bytes across the SBA bus. There is no need for the card to ask permission from the motherboard; a new request may be sent at any time as long as the number of outstanding requests is within the configured maximum queue depth. The possible values are: + + 0aaa aaaa aaaa alll + Queue a request with the given low-order address bits A[14:3] and length 8×(L[2:0]+1). The command and high-order bits are as previously specified. Any number of requests may be queued by sending only this pattern, as long as the command and higher address bits remain the same. + 10cc ccra aaaa aaaa + Use command C[3:0] and address bits A[23:15] for future requests. (Bit R is reserved.) This does not queue a request, but sets values that will be used in all future queued requests. + 110r aaaa aaaa aaaa + Use address bits A[35:24] for future requests. + 1110 aaaa aaaa aaaa + Use address bits A[47:36] for future requests. + 1111 0xxx, 1111 10xx, 1111 110x + Reserved, do not use. + 1111 1110 + Synchronization pattern used when starting the SBA bus after an idle period. + 1111 1111 + No operation; no request. At AGP 1× speed, this may be sent as a single byte and a following 16-bit side-band request started one cycle later. At AGP 2× and higher speeds, all side-band requests, including this NOP, are 16 bits long. + +Sideband address bytes are sent at the same rate as data transfers, up to 8× the 66 MHz basic bus clock. Sideband addressing has the advantage that it mostly eliminates the need for turnaround cycles on the AD bus between transfers, in the usual case when read operations greatly outnumber writes. + +AGP responses +While asserting GNT#, the motherboard may instead indicate via the ST bits that a data phase for a queued request will be performed next. There are four queues: two priorities (low- and high-priority) for each of reads and writes, and each is processed in order. Obviously, the motherboard will attempt to complete high-priority requests first, but there is no limit on the number of low-priority responses which may be delivered while the high-priority request is processed. + +For each cycle when the GNT# is asserted and the status bits have the value 00p, a read response of the indicated priority is scheduled to be returned. At the next available opportunity (typically the next clock cycle), the motherboard will assert TRDY# (target ready) and begin transferring the response to the oldest request in the indicated read queue. (Other PCI bus signals like FRAME#, DEVSEL# and IRDY# remain deasserted.) Up to four clock cycles worth of data (16 bytes at AGP 1× or 128 bytes at AGP 8×) are transferred without waiting for acknowledgement from the card. If the response is longer than that, both the card and motherboard must indicate their ability to continue on the third cycle by asserting IRDY# (initiator ready) and TRDY#, respectively. If either one does not, wait states will be inserted until two cycles after they both do. (The value of IRDY# and TRDY# at other times is irrelevant and they are usually deasserted.) + +The C/BE# byte enable lines may be ignored during read responses, but are held asserted (all bytes valid) by the motherboard. + +The card may also assert the RBF# (read buffer full) signal to indicate that it is temporarily unable to receive more low-priority read responses. The motherboard will refrain from scheduling any more low-priority read responses. The card must still be able to receive the end of the current response, and the first four-cycle block of the following one if scheduled, plus any high-priority responses it has requested. + +For each cycle when GNT# is asserted and the status bits have the value 01p, write data is scheduled to be sent across the bus. At the next available opportunity (typically the next clock cycle), the card will assert IRDY# (initiator ready) and begin transferring the data portion of the oldest request in the indicated write queue. If the data is longer than four clock cycles, the motherboard will indicate its ability to continue by asserting TRDY# on the third cycle. Unlike reads, there is no provision for the card to delay the write; if it didn't have the data ready to send, it shouldn't have queued the request. + +The C/BE# lines are used with write data, and may be used by the card to select which bytes should be written to memory. + +The multiplier in AGP 2×, 4× and 8× indicates the number of data transfers across the bus during each 66 MHz clock cycle. Such transfers use source synchronous clocking with a "strobe" signal (AD_STB[0], AD_STB[1], and SB_STB) generated by the data source. AGP 4× adds complementary strobe signals. + +Because AGP transactions may be as short as two transfers, at AGP 4× and 8× speeds it is possible for a request to complete in the middle of a clock cycle. In such a case, the cycle is padded with dummy data transfers (with the C/BE# byte enable lines held deasserted). + +Connector pinout +The AGP connector contains almost all PCI signals, plus several additions. The connector has 66 contacts on each side, although 4 are removed for each keying notch. Pin 1 is closest to the I/O bracket, and the B and A sides are as in the table, looking down at the motherboard connector. + +Contacts are spaced at 1 mm intervals, however they are arranged in two staggered vertical rows so that there is 2 mm space between pins in each row. Odd-numbered A-side contacts, and even-numbered B-side contacts are in the lower row (1.0 to 3.5 mm from the card edge). The others are in the upper row (3.7 to 6.0 mm from the card edge). + +PCI signals omitted are: + The −12 V supply + The third and fourth interrupt requests (INTC#, INTD#) + The JTAG pins (TRST#, TCK, TMS, TDI, TDO) + The SMBus pins (SMBCLK, SMBDAT) + The IDSEL pin; an AGP card connects AD[16] to IDSEL internally + The 64-bit extension (REQ64#, ACK64#) and 66 MHz (M66EN) pins + The LOCK# pin for locked transaction support + +Signals added are: + Data strobes AD_STB[1:0] (and AD_STB[1:0]# in AGP 2.0) + The sideband address bus SBA[7:0] and SB_STB (and SB_STB# in AGP 2.0) + The ST[2:0] status signals + USB+ and USB− (and OVERCNT# in AGP 2.0) + The PIPE# signal (removed in AGP 3.0 for 0.8 V signaling) + The RBF# signal + The TYPEDET#, Vregcg and Vreggc pins (AGP 2.0 for 1.5V signaling) + The DBI_HI and DBI_LO signals (AGP 3.0 for 0.8 V signaling only) + The GC_DET# and MB_DET# pins (AGP 3.0 for 0.8V signaling) + The WBF# signal (AGP 3.0 fast write extension) + +See also + List of device bandwidths + Serial Digital Video Out for ADD DVI adapter cards + AGP Inline Memory Module + +Notes + +References + +External links + + Archived AGP Implementors Forum + AGP specifications: 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, Pro 1.0, Pro 1.1a + AGP Compatibility For Sticklers + AGP pinout + AGP expansion slots + AGP compatibility (with pictures) + PCI Specifications Documents contains AGP specs. + Universal Accelerated Graphics Port (UAGP) + How Stuff Works - AGP + A discussion from 2003 of what AGP aperture is, how it works, and how much memory should be allocated to it. + +Macintosh internals +IBM PC compatibles +Intel graphics +Motherboard expansion slot +Peripheral Component Interconnect +Andreas Aagesen (5 August 1826 – 26 October 1879) was a Danish jurist. + +Biography +Aagesen was educated for the law at Christianshavn and Copenhagen, and interrupted his studies in 1848 to take part in the First Schleswig War, in which he served as the leader of a reserve battalion. + +In 1855 Aagesen became a professor of jurisprudence at the University of Copenhagen. In 1870 he was appointed a member of the commission for drawing up a maritime and commercial code, and the navigation law of 1882 is mainly his work. In 1879 he was elected a member of the Landsting (one of two chambers of the Danish Parliament, the Rigsdagen); but it is as a teacher at the university that he won his reputation. Aagesen was Carl Christian Hall's successor as lecturer on Roman law at the university, and in this department his research was epoch-making. + +Bibliography +Among his numerous juridical works may be mentioned: +Bidrag til Læren om Overdragelse af Ejendomsret, Bemærkinger om Rettigheder over Ting (Copenhagen, 1866, 1871–1872); +Fortegnelse over Retssamlinger, Retslitteratur i Danmark, Norge, Sverige (Copenhagen, 1876). + +Notes + +References +Attribution + This source cites: +Johan Henrik Deuntzer, Dansk biografisk leksikon, vol. i. (Copenhagen, 1887) (online); +Samlede Skrifter, edited by F. C. Bornemann (Copenhagen, 1883) + +External links + Obituary + +1826 births +1879 deaths +Danish jurists +Members of the Landsting (Denmark) +Academic staff of the University of Copenhagen +19th-century Danish military officers +Rectors of the University of Copenhagen +Aalen () is a former Free Imperial City located in the eastern part of the German state of Baden-Württemberg, about east of Stuttgart and north of Ulm. It is the seat of the Ostalbkreis district and is its largest town. It is also the largest town in the Ostwürttemberg region. Since 1956, Aalen has had the status of Große Kreisstadt (major district town). It is noted for its many half-timbered houses constructed from the 16th century through the 18th century. + +With an area of 146.63 km2, Aalen is ranked 7th in Baden-Württemberg and 2nd within the Government Region of Stuttgart, after Stuttgart. With a population of about 66,000, Aalen is the 15th most-populated settlement in Baden-Württemberg. + +Geography + +Situation + +Aalen is situated on the upper reaches of the river Kocher, at the foot of the Swabian Jura which lies to the south and south-east, and close to the hilly landscapes of the Ellwangen Hills to the north and the Welland to the north-west. + +The west of Aalen's territory is on the foreland of the eastern Swabian Jura, and the north and north-west is on the Swabian-Franconian Forest, both being part of the Swabian Keuper-Lias Plains. The south-west is part of the Albuch, the east is part of the Härtsfeld, these two both being parts of the Swabian Jura. + +The Kocher enters the town's territory from Oberkochen to the south, crosses the district of Unterkochen, then enters the town centre, where the Aal flows into it. The Aal is a small river located only within the town's territory. Next, the Kocher crosses the district of Wasseralfingen, then leaves the town for Hüttlingen. Rivers originating near Aalen are the Rems (near Essingen, west of Aalen) and the Jagst (near Unterschneidheim, east of Aalen), both being tributaries of the Neckar, just like the Kocher. + +The elevation in the centre of the market square is relative to Normalhöhennull. The territory's lowest point is at the Lein river near Rodamsdörfle, the highest point is the Grünberg's peak near Unterkochen at . + +Geology +Aalen's territory ranges over all lithostratigraphic groups of the South German Jurassic: Aalen's south and the Flexner massif are on top of the White Jurassic, the town centre is on the Brown Jurassic, and a part of Wasseralfingen is on the Black Jurassic. As a result, the town advertises itself as a "Geologist's Mecca". + +Most parts of the territory are on the Opalinuston-Formation (Opalinum Clay Formation) of the Aalenian subdivision of the Jurassic Period, which is named after Aalen. On the Sandberg, the Schnaitberg and the Schradenberg hills, all in the west of Aalen, the Eisensandstein (Iron Sandstone) formation emerges to the surface. On the other hills of the city, sands (Goldshöfer Sande), gravel and residual rubble prevail. +The historic centre of Aalen and the other areas in the Kocher valley are founded completely on holocenic floodplain loam (Auelehm) and riverbed gravel that have filled in the valley. + +Most parts of Dewangen and Fachsenfeld are founded on formations of Jurensismergel (Jurensis Marl), Posidonienschiefer (cf. Posidonia Shale), Amaltheenton (Amalthean Clay), Numismalismergel (Numismalis Marl) and Obtususton (Obtusus Clay, named after Asteroceras obtusum ammonites) moving from south to north, all belonging to the Jurassic and being rich in fossils. They are at last followed by the Trossingen Formation already belonging to the Late Triassic. + +Until 1939 iron ore was mined on the Braunenberg hill. (see Tiefer Stollen section). + +Extent of the borough +The maximum extent of the town's territory amounts to in a north–south dimension and in an east–west dimension. The area is , which includes 42.2% agriculturally used area and 37.7% of forest. 11.5% are built up or vacant, 6.4% is used by traffic infrastructure. Sporting and recreation grounds and parks comprise 1% , other areas 1.1% . + +Boroughs + +Aalen's territory consists of the town centre (Kernstadt) and the municipalities +merged from between 1938 (Unterrombach) and 1975 (Wasseralfingen, see mergings section). +The municipalities merged in the course of the latest municipal reform of the 1970s are also called Stadtbezirke (quarters or districts), and are Ortschaften ("settlements") in terms of Baden-Württemberg's Gemeindeordnung (municipal code), which means, each of them has its own council elected by its respective residents (Ortschaftsrat) and is presided by a spokesperson (Ortsvorsteher). + +The town centre itself and the merged former municipalities consist of numerous villages (Teilorte), mostly separated by open ground from each other and having their own independent and long-standing history. Some however have been created as planned communities, which were given proper names, but no well-defined borders. + +List of villages: + +Spatial planning +Aalen forms a Mittelzentrum ("medium-level centre") within the Ostwürttemberg region. Its designated catchment area includes the following municipalities of the central and eastern Ostalbkreis district: Abtsgmünd, Bopfingen, Essingen, Hüttlingen, Kirchheim am Ries, Lauchheim, Neresheim, Oberkochen, Riesbürg and Westhausen, and is interwoven with the catchment area of Nördlingen, situated in Bavaria, east of Aalen. + +Climate +As Aalen's territory sprawls on escarpments of the Swabian Jura, on the Albuch and the Härtsfeld landscapes, and its elevation has a range of , the climate varies from district to district. + +The weather station the following data originate from is located between the town centre and Wasseralfingen at about and has been in operation since 1991. + +The sunshine duration is about 1800 hours per year, which averages 4.93 hours per day. So Aalen is above the German average of 1550 hours per year. However, with 167 days of precipitation, Aalen's region also ranks above the German average of 138. The annual rainfall is , about the average within Baden-Württemberg. +The annual mean temperature is . Here Aalen ranks above the German average of and the Baden-Württemberg average of . + +History + +Civic history + +First settlements +Numerous remains of early civilization have been found in the area. Tools made of flint and traces of Mesolithic human settlement dated between the 8th and 5th millennium BC were found on several sites on the margins of the Kocher and Jagst valleys. On the Schloßbaufeld plateau (appr. ), situated behind Kocherburg castle near Unterkochen, a hill-top settlement was found, with the core being dated to the Bronze Age. In the Appenwang forest near Wasseralfingen, in Goldshöfe, and in Ebnat, tumuli of the Hallstatt culture were found. In Aalen and Wasseralfingen, gold and silver coins left by the Celts were found. The Celts were responsible for the fortifications in the Schloßbaufeld settlement consisting of sectional embankments and a stone wall. Also, Near Heisenberg (Wasseralfingen), a Celtic nemeton has been identified; however, it is no longer readily apparent. + +Roman era + +After abandoning the Alb Limes (a limes generally following the ridgeline of the Swabian Jura) around 150 AD, Aalen's territory became part of the Roman Empire, in direct vicinity of the then newly erected Rhaetian Limes. The Romans erected a castrum to house the cavalry unit Ala II Flavia milliaria; its remains are known today as Kastell Aalen ("Aalen Roman fort"). The site is west of today's town centre at the bottom of the Schillerhöhe hill. With about 1,000 horsemen and nearly as many grooms, it was the largest fort of auxiliaries along the Rhaetian Limes. There were Civilian settlements adjacent along the south and the east. Around 260 AD, the Romans gave up the fort as they withdrew their presence in unoccupied Germania back to the Rhine and Danube rivers, and the Alamanni took over the region. Based on 3rd- and 4th-century coins found, the civilian settlement continued to exist for the time being. However, there is no evidence of continued civilization between the Roman era and the Middle Ages. + +Foundation +Based on discovery of alamannic graves, archaeologists have established the 7th century as the origination of Aalen. In the northern and western walls of St. John's church, which is located directly adjacent to the eastern gate of the Roman fort, Roman stones were incorporated. The building that exists today probably dates to the 9th century. + +The first mention of Aalen was in 839, when emperor Louis the Pious reportedly permitted the Fulda monastery to exchange land with the Hammerstadt village, then known as Hamarstat. +Aalen itself was first mentioned in an inventory list of Ellwangen Abbey, dated ca. 1136, as the village Alon, along with a lower nobleman named Conrad of Aalen. This nobleman probably had his ancestral castle at a site south of today's town centre and was subject first to Ellwangen abbey, later to the House of Hohenstaufen, and eventually to the House of Oettingen. 1426 was the last time a member of that house was mentioned in connection with Aalen. +Documents, from the Middle Ages, indicate that the town of Aalen was founded by the Hohenstaufen some time between 1241 and 1246, but at a different location than the earlier village, which was supposedly destroyed in 1388 during the war between the Alliance of Swabian Cities and the Dukes of Bavaria. +Later, it is documented that the counts of Oettingen ruled the town in 1340. They are reported to have pawned the town to Count Eberhard II and subsequently to the House of Württemberg in 1358 or 1359 in exchange for an amount of money. + +Imperial City + +Designation as Imperial City +During the war against Württemberg, Emperor Charles IV took the town without a fight after a siege. On 3 December 1360, he declared Aalen an Imperial City, that is, a city or town responsible only to the emperor, a status that made it a quasi-sovereign city-state and that it kept until 1803. In 1377, Aalen joined the Alliance of Swabian Cities, and in 1385, the term civitas appears in the town's seal for the first time. In 1398, Aalen was granted the right to hold markets, and in 1401 Aalen obtained proper jurisdiction. + +The oldest artistic representation of Aalen was made in 1528. It was made as the basis of a lawsuit between the town and the Counts of Oettingen at the Reichskammergericht in Speyer. It shows Aalen surrounded by walls, towers, and double moats. The layout of the moats, which had an embankment built between them, is recognizable by the present streets named Nördlicher, Östlicher, Südlicher and Westlicher Stadtgraben (Northern, Eastern, Southern and Western Moat respectively). The wall was about tall, 1518 single paces () long and enclosed an area of . During its early years, the town had two town gates: The Upper or Ellwangen Gate in the east, and St. Martin's gate in the south; however due to frequent floods, St. Martin's gate was bricked up in the 14th century and replaced by the Lower or Gmünd Gate built in the west before 1400. Later, several minor side gates were added. The central street market took place on the Wettegasse (today called Marktplatz, "market square") and the Reichsstädter Straße. So the market district stretched from one gate to the other, however in Aalen it was not straight, but with a 90-degree curve between southern (St. Martin's) gate and eastern (Ellwangen) gate. + +Around 1500, the civic graveyard was relocated from the town church to St. John's Church, and in 1514, the Vierundzwanziger ("Group of 24") was the first assembly constituted by the citizens. + +Reformation +Delegated by Württemberg's Duke Louis III, on 28 June 1575, nearly 30 years after Martin Luther's death, Jakob Andreae, professor and chancellor of the University of Tübingen, arrived in Aalen. The sermon he gave the following day convinced the mayor, the council, and the citizens to adopt the Reformation in the town. Andreae stayed in Aalen for four weeks to help with the change. This brought along enormous changes, as the council forbade the Roman Catholic priests to celebrate masses and give sermons. However, after victories of the imperial armies at the beginning of the Thirty Years' War, the Prince-Provostry of Ellwangen, which still held the right of patronage in Aalen, were able to temporarily bring Catholicism back to Aalen; however after the military successes of the Protestant Union, Protestant church practices were instituted again. + +Fire of 1634 +On the night of 5 September 1634, two ensigns of the army of Bernard of Saxe-Weimar who were fighting with the Swedes and retreating after the Battle of Nördlingen set fire to two powder carriages, to prevent the war material to fall into Croatian hands and to prevent their advance. The result was a conflagration, that some say destroyed portions of the town. There are differing stories regarding this fire. According to 17th-century accounts, the church and all the buildings, except of the Schwörturm tower, were casualties of the fire, and only nine families survived. 19th century research by Hermann Bauer, Lutheran pastor and local historian, discovered that the 17th-century account is exaggerated, but he does agree that the town church and buildings in a "rather large" semicircle around it were destroyed. The fire also destroyed the town archive housed in an addition to the church, with all of its documents. After the fire, soldiers of both armies went through the town looting. It took nearly 100 years for the town to reach its population of 2,000. + +French troops marched through Aalen in 1688 during the Nine Years' War; however, unlike other places, they left without leaving severe damages. The French came through again in 1702 during the War of the Spanish Succession and in 1741 during the War of the Austrian Succession, the latter also caused imperial troops to move through in 1743. + +The town church's tower collapsed in 1765, presumably because proper building techniques were not utilized during the reconstruction after the fire of 1634. The collapsing tower struck two children of the tower watchman who died of their injuries, and destroyed the nave, leaving only the altar cross intact. The remaining walls had to be knocked down due to the damage. Reconstruction began the same year, creating the building that exists today. + +On 22 November 1749, the so-called Aalen protocol regulating the cohabitation of Lutherans and Roman Catholics in the jointly ruled territory of Oberkochen was signed in Aalen by the Duchy of Württemberg and the Prince-Provostry of Ellwangen. Aalen had been chosen because of its neutral status as a Free Imperial City. + +Napoleonic era and end of the Imperial City of Aalen + +During the War of the First Coalition (1796), Aalen was looted. The War of the Second Coalition concluded in 1801 with the signing of the Treaty of Lunéville, which led to the German Mediatisation of 1803 that assigned most Imperial Cities to the neighbouring principalities. Aalen was assigned to the Electorate of Württemberg, which later became the Kingdom of Württemberg, and became seat of the District ("Oberamt") of Aalen. During the War of the Third Coalition, on 6 October 1805, Napoleon Bonaparte arrived in Aalen, with an army of 40,000. This event, along with Bavarian and Austrian troops moving in some days later, caused miseries that according to the town clerk "no feather could describe". + +In 1811, the municipality of Unterrombach was formed out of some villages previously belonging to Aalen, some to the Barons of Wöllwarth, and the eastern villages were assigned to the municipality of Unterkochen. + +In the age of the Napoleonic wars, the town walls were no longer of use, and in the 18th century, with the maintenance of walls, gates and towers becoming more neglected Finally, due to the fact that the funds were lacking, starting in 1800, most towers were demolished, the other buildings followed soon. + +Industrial revolution + +Before the industrial revolution, Aalen's economy was shaped by its rural setting. Many citizens were pursuing farming besides their craft, such as tanning. In the mid 19th century, there were twelve tanneries in Aalen, due to the proximity of Ulm, an important sales market. Other crafts that added to the economy were weaving mills, which produced linen and woolen goods, and baking of sweet pastry and gingerbread. + +In Aalen, industrialisation was a slow process. The first major increase was in the 1840s, when three factories for nails and some other factories emerged. It was the link with the railway network, by the opening of the Rems Railway from Cannstatt to Wasseralfingen in 1861, that brought more industry to Aalen, along with the royal steel mill (later Schwäbische Hüttenwerke) in Wasseralfingen. The Rems Railway's extension to Nördlingen in 1863, the opening of the Brenz Railway in 1864 and of the Upper Jagst Railway in 1866 turned Aalen into a railway hub. Furthermore, between 1901 and its shutdown in 1972, the Härtsfeld Railway connected Aalen with Dillingen an der Donau via Neresheim. Part of becoming a rail hub entailed more jobs based on the rail industry. These included, a maintenance facility, a roundhouse, an administrative office, two track maintenance shops, and a freight station with an industrial branch line. This helped shape Aalen into what today's historians call a "railwayman's town". Starting in 1866, the utilities in town all began to be upgraded. Starting with the Aalen gasworks which were opened and gas lighting was introduced. Then in 1870, a modern water supply system was started and in 1912 the mains electricity. Finally, in 1935, the first electrically powered street lights were installed. + +To fight housing shortage during and immediately after World War I, the town set up barracks settlement areas at the Schlauch and Alter Turnplatz grounds. In spite of the industry being crippled by the Great Depression of 1929, the public baths at the Hirschbach creek where modernized, extended and re-opened in 1931. + +Nazi era +In the federal election of 1932, the Nazi Party performed below average in Aalen with 25.8% of votes compared to 33.1% on the national level, thus finishing second to the Centre Party which had 26.6% (11.9% nationwide) of the votes, and ahead of the Social Democratic Party of Germany with 19.8% (20.4%). However, the March 1933 federal elections showed that the sentiment had changed as the Nazi Party received 34.1% (still below German average 43.9% nationwide), but by far the leading vote-getter in Aalen, followed by the Centre party at 26.6% (11.3% nationwide) and the Social Democrats 18.6% (18.3% nationwide). + +The democratically elected mayor Friedrich Schwarz remained in office until the Nazis removed him from office, in 1934, and replaced him by chairman of the Nazi Party town council head and brewery owner Karl Barth. Karl Barth was a provisional mayor until the more permanent solution of Karl Schübel. In August 1934, the Nazi consumer fair Braune Messe ("brown fair") was held in Aalen. + +During Nazi rule in Germany, there were many military offices constructed in Aalen, starting with, in 1936, a military district riding and driving school for Wehrkreis V. The Nazis also built an army replenishment office (Heeresverpflegungsamt), a branch arsenal office (Heeresnebenzeugamt) and a branch army ammunitions institute (Heeresnebenmunitionsanstalt). + +Starting in 1935, mergers of neighbouring towns began. In 1938, the Oberamt was transformed into the Landkreis of Aalen and the municipality of Unterrombach was disbanded. Its territory was mostly added to Aalen, with the exception of Hammerstadt, which was added to the municipality of Dewangen. Forst, Rauental and Vogelsang were added to Essingen (in 1952 the entire former municipality of Unterrombach was merged into Aalen, with the exception of Forst, which is part of Essingen until present). + +In September 1944, the Wiesendorf concentration camp, a subcamp of Natzweiler-Struthof, was constructed nearby. It was designated for between 200 and 300 prisoners who were utilized for forced labor in industrial businesses nearby. Until the camp's dissolution in February 1945, 60 prisoners died. Between 1946 and 1957, the camp buildings were torn down; however, its foundations are still in place in house Moltkestraße 44/46. Also, there were several other labour camps which existed where prisoners of war along with women and men from occupied countries occupied by Germany were pooled. The prisoners at these other camps had to work for the arms industry in major businesses like Schwäbische Hüttenwerke and the Alfing Keßler machine factory. + +In the civic hospital, the deaconesses on duty were gradually replaced by National Socialist People's Welfare nurses. Nazi eugenics led to compulsory sterilization of some 200 persons there. + +Fortunately, Aalen avoided most of the combat activity during World War II. It was only during the last weeks of the war that Aalen became a target of air warfare, which led to the destruction and severe damage of parts of the town, the train station, and other railway installations. A series of air attacks lasting for more than three weeks reached its peak on 17 April 1945, when United States Army Air Forces planes bombed the branch arsenal office and the train station. During this raid, 59 people were killed, more than half of them buried by debris, and more than 500 lost their homes. Also, 33 residential buildings, 12 other buildings and 2 bridges were destroyed, and 163 buildings, including 2 churches, were damaged. Five days later, the Nazi rulers of Aalen were unseated by the US forces. + +Post-war era +Aalen became part of the State of Baden-Württemberg, upon its creation in 1952. Then, with the Baden-Württemberg territorial reform of 1973, the District of Aalen was merged into the Ostalbkreis district. Subsequently, Aalen became seat of that district, and in 1975, the town's borough attained its present size (see below). + +The population of Aalen exceeded the limit of 20,000, which was the requirement for to gain the status of Große Kreisstadt ("major district town") in 1946. On 1 August 1947, Aalen was declared Unmittelbare Kreisstadt ("immediate district town"), and with the creation of the Gemeindeordnung (municipal code) of Baden-Württemberg on 1 April 1956, it was declared Große Kreisstadt. + +Religions +On 31 December 2008, 51.1 percent of Aalen were members of the Catholic Church, 23.9 percent were members of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church. About 25 percent belong to other or no religious community or gave no information. The district of Waldhausen was the district with the highest percentage of Roman Catholic inhabitants at 75.6 percent, and the central district was the one with the highest percentage of Evangelical-Lutheran inhabitants at 25.6 percent, as well as those claiming no religious preference at 32.5 percent. + +Protestantism +Aalen's population originally was subject to the jus patronatus of Ellwangen Abbey, and thus subject to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Augsburg. + +With the assistance of the Duke of Württemberg, in 1575, the reformation was implemented in Aalen. Subsequently, Aalen has been a predominantly Protestant town for centuries, with the exception of the years from 1628 until 1632 (see reformation section). Being an Imperial City, Aalen could govern its clerical matters on its own, so Clerics, organists and choir masters were direct subjects to the council, which thus exerted bishop-like power. There was even a proper hymn book for Aalen. After the transition to Württemberg, in 1803, Aalen became seat of a deanery, with the dean church being the Town Church (with the building constructed from 1765 to 1767 and existing until present). Another popular church is St. John's Church, located on the cemetery and refurbished in 1561. + +As Aalen's population grew in the 20th century, more parishes were founded: St. Mark's parish with its church building of 1967 and St. Martin's parish with its church of 1974. In the borough of Unterrombach, Aalen had implemented the reformation as well, but the community remained a chapel-of-ease of Aalen. A proper church, the Christ Church, was erected in 1912 and a proper parish was established in 1947. In Fachsenfeld, the ruling family of Woellwarth resp. of Leinroden implemented the reformation. A parish church was built in 1591, however with an influx of Catholics in the 18th century, a Catholic majority was established. The other districts of present-day Aalen remained mostly catholic after the reformation, however Wasseralfingen established a Lutheran parish in 1891 and a church, St. Magdalene's Church, in 1893. In Unterkochen, after World War II, a parish was established and a church was built in 1960. All four parishes belong to the deanery of Aalen within the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Württemberg. Furthermore, in Aalen there are Old Pietistic communities. + +Catholicism + +The few Catholics of today's central district were covered by the parish of Unterkochen until the 19th century, a situation which continued for some years even after completion of St. Mary's Church in 1868, which was constructed by Georg Morlok. However, in 1872 Aalen got its proper parish again, and in 1913, a second Catholic church, Salvator's Church, was completed, and in 1969 the Holy Cross Church was also finished. In 1963, a second parish was set up, and in 1972 it got a new Church, the new St. Mary's Church, which has been erected in place of the old St. Mary's church, which had been torn down in 1968. Another church of the second parish was St. Augustine's Church, which was completed in 1970. Finally, in 1976 and 1988, St. Elizabeth's Church and St. Thomas' Church were completed. Furthermore, in 1963, the St. Michael pastoral care office was built. + +Hofherrnweiler has its own Catholic church, St. Boniface's, since 1904. The villages of Dewangen, Ebnat, Hofen, Waldhausen and Wasseralfingen had remained Catholic after reformation, so old parishes and churches persist there. The Assumption of Mary Church in Dewangen has an early Gothic tower and a newly built nave (1875). Mary's Immaculate Conception Church in Ebnat was constructed in 1723; however the church was first mentioned in 1298. + +Hofen's Saint George's Church is a fortified church, whose current nave was built between 1762 and 1775. Alongside the church, the Late Gothic St. Odile's Chapel is standing, whose entrance has the year 1462 engraved upon it. Foundations of prior buildings have been dated to the 11th and 13th century. + +St. Mary's Church of Unterkochen was first mentioned in 1248, and has served the Catholics of Aalen for a long time. Waldhausen's parish church of St. Nicholas was built between 1699 and 1716. Wasseralfingen at first was a chapel of ease for Hofen, but has since had its own chapel, St. Stephen, built. It was presumably built in 1353 and remodeled in 1832. In 1834, a proper parish was established, which built a new St. Stephen's Church. This new building utilized the Romanesque Revival architecture style and was built between 1881 and 1883, and has since remained the parish's landmark. Also, Fachsenfeld received its own church, named Sacred Heart in 1895. All Catholic parishes within Aalen are today incorporated into four pastoral care units within the Ostalb Deanery of the Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart; however these units also comprise some parishes outside of Aalen. Pastoral Care Unit two comprises the parishes of Essingen, Dewangen and Fachsenfeld, unit four comprises Hofen and Wasseralfingen, unit five comprises both parishes of Aalen's centre and Hofherrnweiler, unit five comprises Waldhausen, Ebnat, Oberkochen and Unterkochen. + +Other Christian communities +In addition to the two major religions within Aalen, there are also free churches and other communities, including the United Methodist Church, the Baptists, the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the New Apostolic Church. + +Other religions +Until the late 19th century, no Jews were documented within Aalen. In 1886 there were four Jews were living in Aalen, a number that rose to ten in 1900, fell to seven in 1905, and remained so until 1925. Upon the Nazis' rise to power in 1933, seven Jews, including two children, lived in Aalen. During the Kristallnacht in 1938, the vitrines of the three Jewish shops in the town were smashed and their proprietors imprisoned for several weeks. After their release, most Aalen Jews emigrated. The last Jews of Aalen, Fanny Kahn, was forcibly resettled to Oberdorf am Ipf, which had a large Jewish community. Today, a street of Aalen is named after her. The Jew Max Pfeffer returned from Brussels to Aalen in 1948 to continue his shop, but emigrated to Italy in 1967. + +In Aalen, there is an Islamic Ditib community, which maintains the D.I.T.I.B. Mosque of Aalen (Central Mosque) located at Ulmer Straße. The mosque's construction started on 30 August 2008. The Islamist Millî Görüş organisation maintains the Fatih Mosque, as well at Ulmer Straße. + +Mergings +The present-day make up of Aalen was created on 21 June 1975 by the unification of the cities of Aalen and Wasseralfingen, with the initial name of Aalen-Wasseralfingen. This annexation made Aalen's territory one third larger than its prior size. On 1 July 1975, the name Aalen was revived. Prior to this merger, the town of Aalen had already annexed the following municipalities: + 1938: Unterrombach + 1 January 1970: Waldhausen + 1 July 1972: Ebnat + 1 January 1973: Dewangen, Fachsenfeld (including the village of Hangendenbach, which was transferred from Abtsgmünd in 1954) and Unterkochen. The merging of Dewangen nearly doubled the territory of Aalen. + +Population's progression and structure + +During the Middle Ages and the early modern period, Aalen was just a small town with a few hundred inhabitants. The population grew slowly due to numerous wars, famines and epidemics. It was the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century where Aalen's growth accelerated. Whereas in 1803, only 1,932 people inhabited the town, in 1905 it had already increased to 10,442. The number continued to rise and reached 15,890 in 1939. + +The influx of refugees and ethnic Germans from Germany's former eastern territories after World War II pushed the population to 31,814 in 1961. The merger with Wasseralfingen on 21 June 1975 added 14,597 persons and resulted in a total population of 65,165 people. On 30 June 2005, the population, which was officially determined by the Statistical Office of Baden-Württemberg, was 67,125. + +The following overview shows how the population figures of the borough were ascertained. Until 1823, the figures are mostly estimates, thereafter census results or official updates by the state statistical office. Starting in 1871, the figures were determined by non-uniform method of tabulation using extrapolation. + +¹ Census result + +On 31 December 2008, Aalen had precisely 66,058 inhabitants, of which 33,579 were female and 32,479 were male. The average age of Aalen's inhabitants rose from 40.5 years in 2000 to 42.4 in 2008. Within the borough, 6,312 foreigners resided, which is 9.56 percent. Of them, the largest percentage are from Turkey (38 percent of all foreigners), the second largest group are from Italy (13 percent), followed by Croatians (6 percent) and Serbs (5 percent). + +The number of married residents fell from 32,948 in 1996 to 31,357 in 2007, while the number of divorced residents rose in the same period from 2,625 to 3,859. The number of single residents slightly increased between 1996 and 2004 from 25,902 to 26,268 and fell slightly until 2007 to 26,147. The number of widowed residents fell from 5,036 in 1996 to 4,783 in 2007. + +Politics +Aalen has arranged a municipal association with Essingen and Hüttlingen. + +Council +Since the local election of 25 May 2014, the town council consists of 51 representatives having a term of five years. The seats are distributed as follows on parties and groups (changes refer to the second last election of 2004): + +Mayors +Since 1374, the mayor and the council maintain the government of the town. In the 16th century, the town had two, sometimes three mayors, and in 1552, the council had 13 members. Later, the head of the administration was reorganized several times. In the Württemberg era, the mayor's title was initially called Bürgermeister, then from 1819 it was Schultheiß, and since 1947 it is Oberbürgermeister. The mayor is elected for a term of eight years, and he is chairman and a voting member of the council. He has one deputy with the official title of Erster Bürgermeister ("first mayor") and one with the official title of Bürgermeister ("mayor"). + +Heads of town in Aalen since 1802 + 1802–: Theodor Betzler + 1812–1819: Ludwig Hölder + 1819–1829: Theodor Betzler + 1829: Palm + 1829–1848: Philipp Ehmann + 1848–1873: Gustav Oesterlein + 1873–1900: Julius Bausch + 1900–1902: Paul Maier + 1903–1934: Friedrich Schwarz + 1935–1945: Karl Schübel (NSDAP) + 1945–1950: Otto Balluff + 1950–1975: Karl Schübel (independent) + 1976–2005: Ulrich Pfeifle (SPD) + 2005–2013: Martin Gerlach (independent) + 2013–2021: Thilo Rentschler (SPD) + 2021–: Frederick Brütting (SPD) + +Coat of arms and flag + +Aalen's coat of arms depicts a black eagle with a red tongue on golden background, having a red shield on its breast with a bent silver eel on it. Eagle and eel were first acknowledged as Aalen's heraldic animals in the seal of 1385, with the eagle representing the town's imperial immediacy. After the territorial reform, it was bestowed again by the Administrative District of Stuttgart on 16 November 1976. + +The coat of arms' blazon reads: "In gold, the black imperial eagle, with a red breast shield applied to it, therein a bent silver eel" (In Gold der schwarze Reichsadler, belegt mit einem roten Brustschild, darin ein gekrümmter silberner Aal). + +Aalen's flag is striped in red and white and contains the coat of arms. + +The origin of the town's name is uncertain. Matthäus Merian (1593–1650) presumed the name to originate from its location at the Kocher river, where "frequently eels are caught", while Aal is German for "eel". Other explanations point to Aalen as the garrison of an ala during the Roman empire, respectively to an abridgement of the Roman name "Aquileia" as a potential name of the Roman fort, a name that nearby Heidenheim an der Brenz bore as well. Another interpretation points to a Celtic word aa meaning "water". + +Godparenthood +On the occasion of the 1980 Reichsstädter Tage, Aalen took over godparenthood for the more than 3000 ethnic Germans displaced from the Wischau linguistic enclave. 972 of them settled in Aalen in 1946. The "Wischau Linguistic Enclave Society" (Gemeinschaft Wischauer Sprachinsel) regularly organises commemorative meetings in Aalen. Their traditional costumes are stored in the Old Town Hall. + +Municipal finances +According to the 2007 municipal poll by the Baden-Württemberg chapter of the German Taxpayers Federation, municipal tax revenues totalling to 54,755 million Euros (2006) resp. 62,148 million Euros (2007) face the following debts: + 2006 total: 109.9 million Euros debts (64.639 million of the finance department and 48.508 million of the municipal enterprises and fund assets) + 2007 total: 114.5 million Euros debts (69.448 million of the finance department and 45.052 million of the municipal enterprises and fund assets) + +Twin towns – sister cities + +Aalen is twinned with: + Saint-Lô, France (1978) + Christchurch, United Kingdom (1981) + Tatabánya, Hungary (1987) + Antakya, Turkey (1995); initiated by Ismail Demirtas, who emigrated in 1962 from Turkey to Aalen and was social adviser for foreign employees + Cervia, Italy (2011) + Vilankulo, Mozambique (2018) + +The "Twin Towns Society of Aalen" (Städtepartnerschaftsverein Aalen e. V.) promotes friendly relations between Aalen and its twin towns, which comprises mutual exchanges of sports and cultural clubs, schools and other civic institutions. On the occasion of the Reichsstädter Tage, from 11 until 13 September 2009 the first conference of twin towns was held. + +Culture and sights + +Theatre +The Theater der Stadt Aalen theatre was founded in 1991 and stages 400 to 500 performances a year. + +Schubart Literary Award +The town endowed the "Schubart Literary Award" (Schubart-Literaturpreis) in 1955 in tribute to Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart, who spent his childhood and youth in Aalen. It is one of the earliest literary awards in Baden-Württemberg and is awarded biennially to German-language writers whose work coincide with Schubart's "liberal and enlightened reasoning". It is compensated with 12,000 Euros. + +Music +Founded in 1958, the "Music School of the Town of Aalen" today has about 1,500 students taught by 27 music instructors in 30 subjects. In 1977, a symphony orchestra was founded in Aalen, which today is called Aalener Sinfonieorchester, and consists mostly of instructors and students of the music school. It performs three public concerts annually: The "New Year's Concert" in January, the "Symphony Concert" in July and a "Christmas Concert" in December. Beyond that, music festivals regularly take place in Aalen, like the Aalen Jazzfest. + +The Aalen volunteer fire department has had a marching band since 1952, whose roots date back to 1883. In 1959, the band received its first glockenspiel from TV host Peter Frankenfeld on the occasion of a TV appearance. + +A famous German rapper, designer and singer, that goes under the name of Cro, was born in Aalen and lived his early years here. + +Arts +The Kunstverein Aalen was founded in 1983 as a non-profit art association and today is located in the Old Town Hall. +The institution with more than 400 members focuses on solo and group exhibitions by international artists. It belongs to the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutscher Kunstvereine (ADKV), an umbrella organization for non-profit art associations. + +Museums and memorial sites + +Museums + +In the central district of Aalen, there are two museums: The "Aalen Limes Museum" (Limesmuseum Aalen) is located at the place of the largest Roman cavalry fort north of the Alps until about 200 AD. It opened in 1964. The museum exhibits numerous objects from the Roman era. The ruins of the cavalry fort located beside the museum is open to museum visitors. Every other year, a Roman festival is held in the area of the museum (see below). + +In the Geological-Paleontological Museum located in the historic town hall, there are more than 1500 fossils from the Swabian Jura, including ammonites, ichthyosaurs and corals, displayed. + +In the Waldhausen district the Heimatstüble museum of local history has an exhibition on agriculture and rural living. + +In the Wasseralfingen district, there are two more museums: The Museum Wasseralfingen comprises a local history exhibition and an art gallery including works of Hermann Plock, Helmut Schuster and Sieger Köder. Also, the stove plate collection of the Schwäbische Hüttenwerke steel mill is exhibited, with artists, modellers and the production sequence of a cast plate from design to final product being presented. + +Memorial sites + +There is memorial stone at the Schillerlinde tree above Wasseralfingen's ore pit dedicated to four prisoners of the subcamp of Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp killed there. Also in Wasseralfingen, in the cemetery a memorial with the Polish inscription "To the victims of Hitler" which commemorates the deceased forced labourers buried there. + +In 1954, on the Schillerhöhe hill the town erected a bell tower as a memorial to Aalen's victims of both world wars and to the displacement of ethnic Germans. The tower was planned by Emil Leo, the bell was endowed by Carl Schneider. The tower is open on request. Every evening at 18:45 (before 2003: at 19:45), the memorial's bell rings. + +Buildings + +Churches + +The town centre is dominated by the Evangelical-Lutheran St. Nicholas' Church in the heart of the pedestrian area. The church, in its present shape being built between 1765 and 1767, is the only major Late Baroque building in Aalen and is the main church of the Evangelical-Lutheran parish of Aalen. + +St. John's Church is located inside of St. John's cemetery in the western centre. The building presumably is from the 9th century and thus is one of Württemberg's oldest existing churches. The interior features frescos from the early 13th century. + +For other churches in Aalen, see the Religions section. + +Historic Town Hall with "Spy" + +The Historic Town Hall was originally built in the 14th century. After the fire of 1634, it was re-constructed in 1636. This building received a clock from Lauterburg, and the Imperial City of Nuremberg donated a Carillon. It features a figurine of the "Spy of Aalen" and historically displayed other figurines, however the latter ones were lost by a fire in 1884. Since then, the Spy resides inside the reconstructed tower and has become a symbol of the town. The building was used as the town hall until 1907. Since 1977, the Geological-Paleontological Museum resides in the Historic Town Hall. + +According to legend, the citizens of Aalen owe the "Spy of Aalen" (Spion von Aalen) their town having been spared from destruction by the emperor's army: + +The Imperial City of Aalen was once in quarrel with the emperor, and his army was shortly before the gates to take the town. The people of Aalen got scared and thus dispatched their "most cunning" one out into the enemy's camp to spy out the strength of their troops. Without any digression, he went straight into the middle of the enemy camp, which inescapably led to him being seized and presented to the emperor. When the emperor asked him what he had lost here, he answered in Swabian German: "Don't frighten, high lords, I just want to peek how many cannons and other war things you've got, since I am the spy of Aalen". The emperor laughed upon such a blatancy and acted naïvety, steered him all through the camp and then sent him back home. Soon the emperor withdrew with his army as he thought a town such wise guys reside in deserved being spared. + +Old Town Hall +The earliest record of the Old Town Hall was in 1575. Its outside wall features the oldest known coat of arms, which is of 1664. Until 1851, the building also housed the Krone-Post hotel, which coincided with being a station of the Thurn und Taxis postal company. It has housed many notable persons. Thus the so-called "Napoleon Window" with its "N" painted on reminds of the stay of French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte in 1805. According to legend, he rammed his head so hard it bled on this window, when he was startled by the noise of his soldiers ridiculing the "Spy of Aalen". The building was used as Aalen's town hall from 1907 until 1975. Today it houses a cabaret café and the stage of the Theatre of the Town of Aalen. The town has adopted the Wischau Linguistic Enclave Society due to their godparenthood and stores their traditional costumes in the building. + +Bürgerspital +The Bürgerspital ("Civic Asylum") is a timber-frame house erected on Spritzenhausplatz ("Fire Engine House Square") in 1702. Until 1873, it was used as civic hospital, then, later as a retirement home. After a comprehensive renovation in 1980 it was turned into a senior citizen's community centre. + +Limes-Thermen +On a slope of the Langert mountain, south of the town, the Limes-Thermen ("Limes Thermae") hot springs are located. They were built in ancient Roman style and opened in 1985. The health spa is supplied with water about . + +Market square +The market square is the historic hub of Aalen and runs along about from the town hall in the south to the Historic Town Hall and the Old Town Hall in the north, where it empties into Radgasse alley. Since 1809, it is site of the weekly market on Wednesday and Saturday. About in front of the Reichsstädter Brunnen fountain at the town hall, the coats of arms of Aalen, its twinned cities and of the Wischau linguistic enclave are paved into the street as mosaic. + +Market fountain + +In 1705, for the water supply of Aalen a well casing was erected at the northern point of the market square, in front of the Historic Town Hall. It was a present of duke Eberhard Louis. The fountain bore a statue of emperor Joseph I., who was enthroned in 1705 and in 1707 renewed Aalen's Imperial City privileges. The fountain was supplied via a wooden pipe. Excessive water was dissipated through ditches branched from Kocher river. When in the early 1870s Aalen's water network was constructed, the fountain was replaced by a smaller fountain about distant. In 1975, the old market fountain was re-erected in baroque style. It bears a replica of the emperor's statue, with the original statue exhibited in the new town hall's lobby. The cast iron casing plates depict the 1718 coat of arms of the Duchy of Württemberg and the coats of arms of Aalen and of the merged municipalities. + +Reichsstädter Brunnen +The Reichsstädter Brunnen fountain ("Imperial Civic Fountain") is located in front of the town hall at the southern point of the market square. It was created by sculptor Fritz Nuss in 1977 to commemorate Aalen's time as an Imperial City (1360–1803). On its circumference is a frieze showing bronze figurines illustrating the town's history. + +Radgasse +The Radgasse ("Wheel Alley") features Aalen's oldest façade. Originally a small pond was on its side. The buildings were erected between 1659 and 1662 for peasants with citizenry privileges and renovated in the mid-1980s. The namesake for the alley was the "Wheel" tavern, which was to be found at the site of today's address Radgasse 15. + +Tiefer Stollen + +The former iron ore pit Wilhelm at Braunenberg hill was converted into the Tiefer Stollen tourist mine in order to remind of the old-day miners' efforts and to maintain it as a memorial of early industrialisation in the Aalen area. It has a mining museum open for visitors, and a mine railway takes visitors deep into the mountain. The Town of Aalen, a sponsorship association, and many citizens volunteered several thousand hours of labour to put the mine into its current state. As far as possible, things were left in the original state. In 1989, a sanitary gallery was established where respiratory diseases are treated within rest cures. Thus the Aalen village of Röthard, where the gallery is located, was awarded the title of "Place with sanitary gallery service" in 2004. + +Observatory +The Aalen Observatory was built in 1969 as school observatory for the Schubart Gymnasium. In 2001, it was converted to a public observatory. Since then, it has been managed by the Astronomische Arbeitsgemeinschaft Aalen ("Aalen Astronomical Society"). It is located on Schillerhöhe hill and features two refractive telescopes. They were manufactured by Carl Zeiss AG which has its headquarters in nearby Oberkochen and operates a manufacturing works in Aalen (see below). In the observatory, guided tours and lectures are held regularly. + +Windpark Waldhausen + +The Windpark Waldhausen wind farm began operations in early 2007. It consists of seven REpower MM92 wind turbines with a nameplate capacity of 2 MW each. The hub height of each wind turbine is , with a rotor diameter of . + +Aalbäumle observation tower + +The tall Aalbäumle observation tower is built atop Langert mountain. This popular hiking destination was built in 1898 and was remodelled in 1992. It features a good view over Aalen and the Welland region, up to the Rosenstein mountain and Ellwangen. Beneath the tower, an adventure playground and a cabin is located. A flag on the tower signals whether the cabin's restaurant is open. + +Natural monuments +The Baden-Württemberg State Institute for Environment, Measurements and Natural Conservation has laid out six protected landscapes in Aalen (the Swabian Jura escarpment between Lautern and Aalen with adjacent territories, the Swabian Jura escarpment between Unterkochen and Baiershofen, the Hilllands around Hofen, the Kugeltal and Ebnater Tal valleys with parts of Heiligental valley and adjacent territories, Laubachtal valley and Lower Lein Valley with side valleys), two sanctuary forests (Glashütte and Kocher Origin), 65 extensive natural monuments, 30 individual natural monuments and the following two protected areas: + +The large Dellenhäule protected area between Aalen's Waldhausen district and Neresheim's Elchingen district, created in 1969, is a sheep pasture with juniper and wood pasture of old willow oaks. + +The large Goldshöfer Sande protected area was established in 2000 and is situated between Aalen's Hofen district and Hüttlingen. The sands on the hill originated from the Early Pleistocene are of geological importance, and the various grove structures offer habitat to severely endangered bird species. + +Sports + +The football team, VfR Aalen, was founded in 1921 and played in the 2nd German League between 2012 and 2015, after which they were relegated to 3. Liga. Its playing venue is the Scholz-Arena situated in the west of the town, which bore the name Städtisches Waldstadion Aalen ("Civic Forest Stadium of Aalen") until 2008. From 1939 until 1945, the VfR played in the Gauliga Württemberg, then one of several parallel top-ranking soccer leagues of Germany. + +The KSV Aalen wrestles in the Wrestling Federal League. It was German champion in team wrestling in 2010. Its predecessor, the KSV Germania Aalen disbanded in 2005, was German champion eight times and runner-up five times since 1976. Another Aalen club, the TSV Dewangen, wrestled in the Federal League until 2009. + +Two American sports, American Football and Baseball, are pursued by the MTV Aalen. Volleyball has been gaining in popularity in Aalen for years. The first men's team of DJK Aalen accomplished qualification for regional league in the season of 2008/09. + +The Ostalb ski lifts are located south of the town centre, at the northern slope of the Swabian Jura. The skiing area comprises two platter lifts that have a vertical rise of , with two runs with lengths of and a beginners' run. + +Regular events + +Reichsstädter Tage +Since 1975, Reichsstädter Tage ("Imperial City days") festival is held annually in the town centre on the second weekend in September. It is deemed the largest festival of the Ostwürttemberg region, and is associated with a shopping Sunday in accordance with the code. The festival is also attended by delegations from the twinned cities. On the town hall square, on Sunday an ecumenical service is held. + +Roman Festival +The international Roman Festival (Römertage) are held biannially on the site of the former Roman fort and the modern Limes museum. The festival's ninth event in 2008 was attended by around 11,000 people. + +Aalen Jazz Festival +Annually during the second week of November, the Aalen Jazz Festival brings known and unknown artists to Aalen. It has already featured musicians like Miles Davis, B. B. King, Ray Charles, David Murray, McCoy Tyner, Al Jarreau, Esbjörn Svensson and Albert Mangelsdorff. The festival is complemented by individual concerts in spring and summer, and, including the individual concerts, comprises around 25 concerts with a total of about 13,000 visitors. + +Economy and infrastructure +In 2008 there were 30,008 employees liable to social insurance living in Aalen. 13,946 (46.5 percent) were employed in the manufacturing sector, 4,715 (15.7 percent) in commerce, catering, hotels and transport, and 11,306 (37.7 percent) in other services. Annually 16,000 employees commute to work, with about 9,000 living in the town and commuting out. + +Altogether in Aalen there are about 4,700 business enterprises, 1,100 of them being registered in the trade register. The others comprise 2,865 small enterprises and 701 craft enterprises. + +In Aalen, metalworking is the predominant industry, along with machine-building. Other industries include optics, paper, information technology, chemicals, textiles, medical instruments, pharmaceuticals, and food. + +Notable enterprises include SHW Automotive (originating from the former Schwäbische Hüttenwerke steel mills and a mill of 1671 in Wasseralfingen), the Alfing Kessler engineering works, the precision tools manufacturer MAPAL Dr. Kress, the snow chain manufacturer RUD Ketten Rieger & Dietz and its subsidiary Erlau, the Gesenkschmiede Schneider forging die smithery, the SDZ Druck und Medien media company, the Papierfabrik Palm paper mill, the alarm system manufacturer Telenot, the laser show provider LOBO electronic and the textile finisher Lindenfarb, which all have their seat in Aalen. A branch in Aalen is maintained by optical systems manufacturer Carl Zeiss headquartered in nearby Oberkochen. + +Transport + +Rail +Aalen station is a regional railway hub on the Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt–Nördlingen railway from Stuttgart and , the Aalen–Ulm railway from Ulm and the Goldshöfe–Crailsheim railway to Crailsheim. Until 1972, the Härtsfeld Railway connected Aalen with Dillingen an der Donau via Neresheim. Other railway stations within the town limits are Hofen (b Aalen), Unterkochen, Wasseralfingen and Goldshöfe station. The Aalen-Erlau stop situated in the south is no longer operational. + +Aalen station is served at two-hour intervals by trains of Intercity line 61 Karlsruhe–Stuttgart–Aalen–Nuremberg. For regional rail travel, Aalen is served by various lines of the Interregio-Express, Regional-Express and Regionalbahn categories. Since the beginning of 2019, the British company Go-Ahead took over the regional railway business of DB Regio in the region surrounding Aalen. The town also operates the Aalen industrial railway (Industriebahn Aalen), which carries about 250 carloads per year. + +Bus +Aalen also is a regional hub in the bus network of OstalbMobil, the transport network of the district Aalen is in. The bus lines are operated and serviced by regional companies like OVA and RBS RegioBus Stuttgart. + +Street +The junctions of Aalen/Westhausen and Aalen/Oberkochen connect Aalen with the Autobahn A7 (Würzburg–Füssen). Federal roads (Bundesstraßen) connecting with Aalen are B 19 (Würzburg–Ulm), B 29 (Waiblingen–Nördlingen) and B 290 (Tauberbischofsheim–Westhausen). The Schwäbische Dichterstraße ("Swabian Poets' Route") tourist route established in 1977/78 leads through Aalen. + +Several bus lines operate within the borough. The Omnibus-Verkehr Aalen company is one of the few in Germany that use double-decker buses, it has done so since 1966. A district-wide fare system, OstalbMobil, has been in effect since 2007. + +Air transport +Stuttgart Airport, offering international connections, is about away, the travel time by train is about 100 Minutes. At Aalen-Heidenheim Airport, located south-east of Aalen, small aircraft are permitted. Gliding airfields nearby are in Heubach and Bartholomä. + +Bicycle +Bicycle routes stretching through Aalen are the Deutscher Limes-Radweg ("German Limes Bicycle Route") and the Kocher-Jagst Bicycle Route. + +Public facilities +Aalen houses an Amtsgericht (local district court), chambers of the Stuttgart Labour Court, a notary's office, a tax office and an employment agency. It is the seat of the Ostalbkreis district office, of the Aalen Deanery of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church and of the Ostalb deanery of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart. + +The Stuttgart administrative court, the Stuttgart Labour Court and the Ulm Social Welfare Court are in charge for Aalen. + +Aalen had a civic hospital, which resided in the Bürgerspital building until 1873, then in a building at Alte Heidenheimer Straße. In 1942, the hospital was taken over by the district. The district hospital at the present site of Kälblesrain, known today as Ostalb-Klinikum, was opened in 1955. + +Media +The first local newspaper, Der Bote von Aalen ("The Herald of Aalen"), has been published on Wednesdays and Saturdays since 1837. + +Currently, local newspapers published in Aalen are the Schwäbische Post, which obtains its supra-regional pages from the Ulm-based Südwestpresse, and the Aalener Nachrichten (erstwhile Aalener Volkszeitung), a local edition of Schwäbische Zeitung in Leutkirch im Allgäu. + +Two of Germany's biggest Lesezirkels (magazine rental services) are headquartered in Aalen: Brabandt LZ Plus Media and Lesezirkel Portal. + +Regional event magazines are Xaver, åla, ålakultur. + +The commercial broadcasters Radio Ton and Radio 7 have studios in Aalen. + +Education +A Latin school was first recorded in Aalen in 1447; it was remodeled in 1616 and also later in various buildings that were all situated near the town church, and continued up through the 19th century. In the course of the reformation, a "German school" was established in tandem, being a predecessor of the latter Volksschule school type. In 1860, the Ritterschule was built as a Volksschule for girls; the building today houses the Pestalozzischule. In 1866, a new building was erected for the Latin school and for the Realschule established in 1840. This building, later known as the Alte Gewerbeschule, was torn down in 1975 to free up land for the new town hall. In 1912, the Parkschule building was opened. It was designed by Paul Bonatz and today houses the Schubart-Gymnasium. + +The biggest educational institution in the town is the Hochschule Aalen, which was founded in 1962 and focuses on engineering and economics. It is attended by 5000 students on five campuses and employs 129 professors and 130 other lecturers. + +The town provides three Gymnasiums, four Realschulen, two Förderschulen (special schools), six combined Grundschulen and Hauptschulen and eight standalone Grundschulen. The Ostalbkreis district provides three vocational schools and three additional special schools. Finally, six non-state schools of various types exist. + +The German Esperanto Library (German: Deutsche Esperanto-Bibliothek, Esperanto: Germana Esperanto-Biblioteko) has been located in the building of the town library since 1989. + +TV and radio transmission tower +The Südwestrundfunk broadcasting company operates the Aalen transmission tower on the Braunenberg hill. The tower was erected in 1956, it is tall and made of reinforced concrete. + +Things named after Aalen +The following vehicles are named "Aalen": + The Lufthansa Boeing 737-500 D-ABJF + The Deutsche Bahn ICE 3 Tz309 (since 2 June 2008) + +Notable people + +Honorary citizens + Ruland Ayßlinger, composer + Erwin Rommel (1891–1944), Field Marshal of World War II, grew up in Aalen + Paul Edel + Wilhelm Jakob Schweiker (1859–1927), founder of the Aalen Historical Society (Geschichts- und Altertumsverein Aalen) and name giver of the Wilhelm Jakob Schweiker Award + Ulrich Pfeifle, Mayor of Aalen from 1976 until 2005 + +Persons born in Aalen + + Johann Christoph von Westerstetten (1563–1637), Bishop of Eichstätt and counter-reformer + Karl Joseph von Hefele (1809–1893), Roman Catholic theologian, clerical historian and bishop + Karl Wahl (1892–1981), Gauleiter of Swabia, Obergruppenführer + + Kurt Jooss (1901–1979), born in Wasseralfingen; dancer, choreographer and dance educator + August Zehender (1903–1945), SS Brigade Commander and Major General of the Waffen-SS + Paul Buck (1911–2006), piano teacher + Bruno Heck (1917–1989), politician of the CDU, former minister of the federal government and CDU secretary general + Hermann Bausinger (1926-2021), cultural scientist +Alfred Bachofer (born 1942), former Lord Mayor of Nürtingen +Walter Adams (born 1945 in Wasseralfingen), middle-distance runner +Ivo Holzinger (born 1948), politician (SPD), Lord Mayor of Memmingen (since 1980) +Werner Sobek (born 1953), architect and structural engineer +Ludwig Leinhos (born 1956), major general of the Bundesluftwaffe +Bernd Hitzler (born 1957), politician, (CDU), Member of Landtag +Martin Gerlach (born 1965), independent politician, mayor of Aalen (2005-2013) +Thomas Zander (born 1967), wrestler, winner of Olympic silver medal and world champion (1994) +Carl-Uwe Steeb (born 1967), retired tennis player +Katrin Bauerfeind (born 1982), radio and TV-presenter +Manuel Fischer (born 1989), footballer +Patrick Funk (born 1990), footballer +Cro (born 1990), Carlo Waibel, singer + +Other + + Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart (1739–1791), poet, organ player, composer and journalist; lived in Aalen as a child and adolescent + Rudolf Duala Manga Bell (1873–1914), King of Duala and resistance leader in the German colony of Kamerun, lived in Aalen from 1891 until 1896. + Georg Elser (1903–1945), opponent of Nazism, worked in 1923 as an apprentice carpenter in Aalen. + Werner Bickelhaupt (born 1939), football coach, lives in Aalen since 2004. + Gerhard Thiele (born 1953 in Heidenheim), physicist and former astronaut, attended school in Aalen. + Andreas Beck (born 1987 in Kemerovo/Soviet Union), German footballer, grew up in Aalen. + +Notes + +References + +Further reading + +External links + + Town of Aalen's website + Geographical information system of the town of Aalen (in German) + +Towns in Baden-Württemberg +Ostalbkreis +150s establishments in the Roman Empire +260s disestablishments in the Roman Empire +Populated places established in the 7th century +7th-century establishments in Germany +States and territories established in 1360 +1360s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire +1360 establishments in Europe +States and territories disestablished in the 1800s +1803 disestablishments in the Holy Roman Empire +Free imperial cities +Württemberg +Holocaust locations in Germany +Alois Alzheimer ( , , ; 14 June 1864 – 19 December 1915) was a German psychiatrist and neuropathologist and a colleague of Emil Kraepelin. Alzheimer is credited with identifying the first published case of "presenile dementia", which Kraepelin would later identify as Alzheimer's disease. + +Early life and education + +Alzheimer was born in Marktbreit, Bavaria, on 14 June 1864, the son of Anna Johanna Barbara Sabina and Eduard Román Alzheimer. His father served in the office of notary public in the family's hometown. + +The Alzheimers moved to Aschaffenburg when Alois was still young in order to give their children an opportunity to attend the Royal Humanistic Gymnasium. After graduating with Abitur in 1883, Alzheimer studied medicine at University of Berlin, University of Tübingen, and University of Würzburg. In his final year at university, he was a member of a fencing fraternity, and even received a fine for disturbing the peace while out with his team. In 1887, Alois Alzheimer graduated from Würzburg as Doctor of Medicine. + +Career +The following year, he spent five months assisting mentally ill women before he took an office in the city mental asylum in Frankfurt, the Städtische Anstalt für Irre und Epileptische (Asylum for Lunatics and Epileptics). , a noted psychiatrist, was the dean of the asylum. Another neurologist, Franz Nissl, began to work in the same asylum with Alzheimer. Together, they conducted research on the pathology of the nervous system, specifically the normal and pathological anatomy of the cerebral cortex. Alzheimer was the co-founder and co-publisher of the journal Zeitschrift für die gesamte Neurologie und Psychiatrie, though he never wrote a book that he could call his own. + +While at the Frankfurt asylum, Alzheimer also met Emil Kraepelin, one of the best-known German psychiatrists of the time. Kraepelin became a mentor to Alzheimer, and the two worked very closely for the next several years. When Kraepelin moved to Munich to work at the Royal Psychiatric Hospital in 1903, he invited Alzheimer to join him. + +At the time, Kraepelin was doing clinical research on psychosis in senile patients; Alzheimer, on the other hand, was more interested in the lab work of senile illnesses. The two men would face many challenges involving the politics of the psychiatric community. For example, both formal and informal arrangements would be made among psychiatrists at asylums and universities to receive cadavers. + +In 1904, Alzheimer completed his habilitation at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, where he was appointed as a professor in 1908. Afterwards, he left Munich for the Silesian Friedrich Wilhelm University in Breslau in 1912, where he accepted a post as professor of psychiatry and director of the Neurologic and Psychiatric Institute. His health deteriorated shortly after his arrival so that he was hospitalized. Alzheimer died three years later. + +Auguste Deter +In 1901, Alzheimer observed a patient at the Frankfurt asylum named Auguste Deter. The 51-year-old patient had strange behavioral symptoms, including a loss of short-term memory; she became his obsession over the coming years. Auguste Deter was a victim of the politics of the time in the psychiatric community; the Frankfurt asylum was too expensive for her husband. Herr Deter made several requests to have his wife moved to a less expensive facility, but Alzheimer intervened in these requests. Frau Deter, as she was known, remained at the Frankfurt asylum, where Alzheimer had made a deal to receive her records and brain upon her death, paying for the remainder of her stay in return. + +On 8 April 1906, Frau Deter died, and Alzheimer had her medical records and brain brought to Munich where he was working in Kraepelin's laboratory. With two Italian physicians, he used the newly developed Bielschowsky stain to identify amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. These brain anomalies would become identifiers of what later became known as Alzheimer's disease. + +Findings + +Alzheimer discussed his findings on the brain pathology and symptoms of presenile dementia publicly on 3November 1906, at the Tübingen meeting of the Southwest German Psychiatrists. The attendees at this lecture seemed uninterested in what he had to say. The lecturer that followed Alzheimer was to speak on the topic of "compulsive masturbation", which the audience of 88 individuals was so eagerly awaiting that they sent Alzheimer away without any questions or comments on his discovery of the pathology of a type of senile dementia. + +Following the lecture, Alzheimer published a short paper summarizing his lecture; in 1907 he wrote a longer paper detailing the disease and his findings. The disease would not become known as Alzheimer's disease until 1910, when Kraepelin named it so in the chapter on "Presenile and Senile Dementia" in the 8th edition of his Handbook of Psychiatry. By 1911, his description of the disease was being used by European physicians to diagnose patients in the US. + +Contemporaries +American Solomon Carter Fuller gave a report similar to that of Alzheimer at a lecture five months before Alzheimer. Oskar Fischer was a fellow German psychiatrist, 12 years Alzheimer's junior, who reported 12 cases of senile dementia in 1907 around the time that Alzheimer published his short paper summarizing his lecture. + +Alzheimer and Fischer had different interpretations of the disease, but owing to Alzheimer's short life, they never had the opportunity to meet and discuss their ideas. + +Among the doctors trained by Alois Alzheimer and Emil Kraepelin at Munich in the beginning of the 20th century were the Spanish neuropathologists Nicolás Achúcarro and Gonzalo Rodríguez Lafora, two distinguished disciples of Santiago Ramón y Cajal and members of the Spanish Neurological School. Alzheimer recommended the young and brilliant Nicolás Achúcarro to organize the neuropathological service at the Government Hospital for the Insane, at Washington D.C. (current, NIH), and after two years of work, he was substituted by Gonzalo Rodríguez Lafora. + +Other interests +Alzheimer was known for having a variety of medical interests including vascular diseases of the brain, early dementia, brain tumors, forensic psychiatry and epilepsy. Alzheimer was a leading specialist in histopathology in Europe. His colleagues knew him to be a dedicated professor and cigar smoker. + +Personal life and death + +In 1894, Alzheimer married Cecilie Simonette Nathalie Geisenheimer, with whom he had three children. Geisenheimer died in 1901. + +In August 1912, Alzheimer fell ill on the train on his way to the University of Breslau, where he had been appointed professor of psychiatry in July 1912. Most probably he had a streptococcal infection and subsequent rheumatic fever leading to valvular heart disease, heart failure and kidney failure. He did not recover completely from this illness. + +He died of heart failure on 19 December 1915 at age 51, in Breslau, Silesia (present-day Wrocław, Poland). He was buried on 23 December 1915 next to his wife at the Frankfurt Main Cemetery. + +Critics and rediscovery +In the early 1990s, critics began to question Alzheimer's findings and form their own hypotheses based on Alzheimer's notes and papers. Amaducci and colleagues hypothesized that Auguste Deter had metachromatic leukodystrophy, a rare condition in which accumulations of fats affect the cells that produce myelin. Claire O'Brien, meanwhile, hypothesized that Auguste Deter actually had a vascular dementing disease. + +See also + Gaetano Perusini + German inventors and discoverers + +References + +External links + + + Alzheimer's: 100 years on + Alois Alzheimer's Biography, International Brain Research Organization + Bibliography of secondary sources on Alois Alzheimer and Alzheimer's disease, selected from peer-reviewed journals + Graeber Manuel B. "Alois Alzheimer (1864–1915)", International Brain Research Organization + +1864 births +1915 deaths +People from Marktbreit +Physicians from the Kingdom of Bavaria +German neuroscientists +German Roman Catholics +Alzheimer's disease +German psychiatrists +Burials at Frankfurt Main Cemetery +Academic staff of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich +Academic staff of the University of Breslau +Humboldt University of Berlin alumni +University of Tübingen alumni +University of Würzburg alumni +Aedile ( ; , from , "temple edifice") was an elected office of the Roman Republic. Based in Rome, the aediles were responsible for maintenance of public buildings () and regulation of public festivals. They also had powers to enforce public order and duties to ensure the city of Rome was well supplied and its civil infrastructure well maintained, akin to modern local government. + +There were two pairs of aediles: the first were the "plebeian aediles" (Latin aediles plebis) and possession of this office was limited to plebeians; the other two were "curule aediles" (Latin aediles curules), open to both plebeians and patricians, in alternating years. An aedilis curulis was classified as a magister curulis. + +The office of the aedilis was generally held by young men intending to follow the cursus honorum to high political office, traditionally after their quaestorship but before their praetorship. It was not a compulsory part of the cursus, and hence a former quaestor could be elected to the praetorship without having held the position of aedile. However, it was an advantageous position to hold because it demonstrated the aspiring politician's commitment to public service, as well as giving him the opportunity to hold public festivals and games, an excellent way to increase his name recognition and popularity. + +History of the office + +Plebeian aediles +The plebeian aediles were created in the same year as the tribune of the plebs (494 BC). Originally intended as assistants to the tribunes, they guarded the rights of the plebeians with respect to their headquarters, the Temple of Ceres. Subsequently, they assumed responsibility for maintenance of the city's buildings as a whole. Their duties at first were simply ministerial. They were the assistants to the tribunes in whatever matters that the tribunes might entrust to them, although most matters with which they were entrusted were of minimal importance. + +Around 446 BC, they were given the authority to care for the decrees of the Senate. When a senatus consultum was passed, it would be transcribed into a document and deposited in the public treasury, the Aerarium. They were given this power because the consuls, who had held this power before, arbitrarily suppressed and altered the documents. They also maintained the acts of the Plebeian Council (People's Assembly), the "plebiscites". Plebiscites, once passed, were also transcribed into a physical document for storage. While their powers grew over time, it is not always easy to distinguish the difference between their powers, and those of the censors. Occasionally, if a censor was unable to carry out one of his tasks, an aedile would perform the task instead. + +Curule aediles +According to Livy (vi. 42), after the passing of the Licinian rogations in 367 BC, an extra day was added to the Roman games; the plebeian aediles refused to bear the additional expense, whereupon the patricians offered to undertake it, on condition that they were admitted to the aedileship. The plebeians accepted the offer, and accordingly two curule aediles were appointed—at first from the patricians alone, then from patricians and plebeians in turn, lastly, from either—at the Tribal Assembly under the presidency of the consul. Curule aediles, as formal magistrates, held certain honors that plebeian aediles (who were not technically magistrates), did not hold. + +Besides having the right to sit on a curule seat (sella curulis) and to wear a toga praetexta, the curule aediles also held the power to issue edicts (jus edicendi). These edicts often pertained to matters such as the regulation of the public markets, or what we might call "economic regulation". Livy suggests, perhaps incorrectly, that both curule as well as plebeian Aediles were sacrosanct. Although the curule aediles always ranked higher than the plebeian, their functions gradually approximated and became practically identical. Within five days after the beginning of their terms, the four aediles (two plebeian, two curule) were required to determine, by lot or by agreement among themselves, what parts of the city each should hold jurisdiction over. + +Differences between the two +There was a distinction between the two sets of aediles when it came to public festivals. Some festivals were plebeian in nature, and thus were under the superintendence of plebeian aediles. Other festivals were supervised exclusively by the curule aediles, and it was often with these festivals that the aediles would spend lavishly. This was often done to secure voters' support in future elections. Because aediles were not reimbursed for public expenditures, most individuals seeking the office were independently wealthy. Since this office was a stepping stone to higher office and the Senate, it helped to ensure that only wealthy individuals (mostly landowners) would win election to high office. These extravagant expenditures began shortly after the end of Second Punic War, and increased as the spoils returned from Rome's new eastern conquests. Even the decadence of the emperors rarely surpassed that of the aediles under the Republic, as could have been seen during Julius Caesar's aedileship. + +Election to the office +Plebeian aediles and Curule aediles were elected by the Tribal Assembly. Since the plebeian aediles were elected by the plebeians rather than by all of the people of Rome (plebeians as well as patricians), they were not technically magistrates. Before the passage of the Lex Villia Annalis, individuals could run for the aedileship by the time they turned twenty-seven. After the passage of this law in 180 BC, a higher age was set, probably thirty-six. By the 1st century BC, aediles were elected in July, and took office on the first day in January. + +Powers of the office +Cicero (Legg. iii. 3, 7) divides these functions under three heads: + +(1) Care of the city: +the repair and preservation of temples, sewers and aqueducts; street cleansing and paving; regulations regarding traffic, dangerous animals and dilapidated buildings; precautions against fire; superintendence of baths and taverns; enforcement of sumptuary laws; punishment of gamblers and usurers; the care of public morals generally, including the prevention of foreign superstitions and the registration of meretrices. They also punished those who had too large a share of the ager publicus, or kept too many cattle on the state pastures. + +(2) Care of provisions: +investigation of the quality of the articles supplied and the correctness of weights and measures; the purchase of grain for disposal at a low price in case of necessity. + +(3) Care of the games: +superintendence and organization of the public games, as well as of those given by themselves and private individuals (e.g., at funerals) at their own expense. +Ambitious persons often spent enormous sums in this manner to win the popular favor with a view to official advancement. + +Under the Empire +In 44 BC, Julius Caesar added two plebeian aediles called cereales, whose special duty was the care of the cereal (grain) supply. Under Augustus the office lost much of its importance, its judicial functions and the care of the games being transferred to the praetor, while its city responsibilities were limited by the appointment of an urban prefect. Augustus took for himself its powers over various religious duties. By stripping it of its powers over temples, he effectively destroyed the office, by taking from it its original function. After this point, few people were willing to hold such a powerless office, and Augustus was even known to compel individuals into holding the office. He accomplished this by randomly selecting former tribunes and quaestors for the office. Future emperors would continue to dilute the power of the office by transferring its powers to newly created offices. However, the office did retain some powers over licentiousness and disorder, in particular over the baths and brothels, as well as the registration of prostitutes. In the 3rd century, it disappeared altogether. + +Under the Empire, Roman colonies and cities often had officials with powers similar to those of the republican aediles, although their powers widely varied. It seems as though they were usually chosen annually. + +Modern day +Today in Portugal the county mayor can still be referred to as edil (e.g. 'O edil de Coimbra', meaning 'the mayor of Coimbra'), a way of reference used also in Brazil and in Romania for any mayors (ex. 'Edil al Bucureștiului', meaning 'mayor of Bucharest'). In Spain (and Latin America) the members of municipal councils are called concejales or ediles. + +Shakespeare +In his play Coriolanus, Shakespeare references the aediles. However, they are minor characters, and their chief role is to serve as policemen. + +See also + + Aetheling + Agoranomi + Constitution of the Roman Republic + Ethel + +References + +Books + +Cursus honorum +Ancient Roman occupations +Ancient Roman titles +American Airlines is a major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the largest airline in the world when measured by scheduled passengers carried and revenue passenger mile. American, together with its regional partners and affiliates, operates an extensive international and domestic network with almost 6,800 flights per day to nearly 350 destinations in 48 countries. American Airlines is a founding member of the Oneworld alliance. Regional service is operated by independent and subsidiary carriers under the brand name American Eagle. + +American Airlines and American Eagle operate out of 10 hubs, with Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) being its largest. The airline handles more than 200 million passengers annually with an average of more than 500,000 passengers daily. As of 2022, the company employs 129,700 staff members. + +History + +American Airlines was started in 1930 via a union of more than eighty small airlines. The two organizations from which American Airlines was originated were Robertson Aircraft Corporation and Colonial Air Transport. The former was first created in Missouri in 1921, with both being merged in 1929 into holding company The Aviation Corporation. This, in turn, was made in 1930 into an operating company and rebranded as American Airways. In 1934, when new laws and attrition of mail contracts forced many airlines to reorganize, the corporation redid its routes into a connected system and was renamed American Airlines. The airline fully developed its international business between 1970 and 2000. It purchased Trans World Airlines in 2001. + +American had a direct role in the development of the Douglas DC-3, which resulted from a marathon telephone call from American Airlines CEO C. R. Smith to Douglas Aircraft Company founder Donald Wills Douglas Sr., when Smith persuaded a reluctant Douglas to design a sleeper aircraft based on the DC-2 to replace American's Curtiss Condor II biplanes. (The existing DC-2's cabin was wide, too narrow for side-by-side berths.) Douglas agreed to go ahead with development only after Smith informed him of American's intention to purchase 20 aircraft. The prototype DST (Douglas Sleeper Transport) first flew on December 17, 1935, the 32nd anniversary of the Wright Brothers' flight at Kitty Hawk. Its cabin was wide, and a version with 21 seats instead of the 14–16 sleeping berths of the DST was given the designation DC-3. There was no prototype DC-3; the first DC-3 built followed seven DSTs off the production line and was delivered to American Airlines. American Airlines inaugurated passenger service on June 26, 1936, with simultaneous flights from Newark, New Jersey, and Chicago, Illinois. + +American also had a direct role in the development of the DC-10, which resulted from a specification from American Airlines to manufacturers in 1966 to offer a widebody aircraft that was smaller than the Boeing 747, but capable of flying similar long-range routes from airports with shorter runways. McDonnell Douglas responded with the DC-10 trijet shortly after the two companies' merger. On February 19, 1968, the president of American Airlines, George A. Spater, and James S. McDonnell of McDonnell Douglas announced American's intention to acquire the DC-10. American Airlines ordered 25 DC-10s in its first order. The DC-10 made its first flight on August 29, 1970, and received its type certificate from the FAA on July 29, 1971. On August 5, 1971, the DC-10 entered commercial service with American Airlines on a round trip flight between Los Angeles and Chicago. + +In 2011, due to a downturn in the airline industry, American Airlines' parent company, the AMR Corporation, filed for bankruptcy protection. In 2013, American Airlines merged with US Airways but kept the American Airlines name, as it was the better-recognized brand internationally; the combination of the two airlines resulted in the creation of the largest airline in the United States, and ultimately the world. + +Destinations and hubs + +Destinations + +As of July 2022, American Airlines flies to 269 domestic destinations and 81 international destinations in 58 countries (as of August 2022) in five continents. + +Hubs + +American currently operates ten hubs. + Charlotte – American's hub for the southeastern United States and secondary Caribbean gateway. Its operations in Concourse E are the largest regional flight operation in the world. American has about 91% of the market share at CLT, making it the largest carrier at the airport. It is a former US Airways hub. + Chicago–O'Hare – American's hub for the Midwest. American has about 35% of the market share at O'Hare, making it the airport's second largest airline after United. + Dallas/Fort Worth – American's hub for the southern United States and largest hub overall. American currently has about 87% of the market share at DFW, making it the largest carrier at the airport. American's corporate headquarters are also in Fort Worth near the airport. DFW serves as American's primary Transpacific hub, primary gateway to Mexico and its secondary gateway to Latin America. + Los Angeles – American's hub for the West Coast and secondary transpacific gateway. Though American has increasingly reduced its network out of Los Angeles, citing many long-haul international routes as unprofitable, it still maintains a handful of transatlantic and transpacific flights. + Miami – American's primary Latin American and Caribbean hub. American has about 68% of the market share in Miami, making it the largest airline at the airport. + New York–JFK – American's primary transatlantic hub, while including other select flights to South America and Asia. Mostly serves destinations with a lot of business traffic. American has about 12% of the market share at JFK, making it the third largest carrier at the airport behind Delta and JetBlue. + New York–LaGuardia – American's second New York hub. + Philadelphia – American's primary Northeast domestic hub and secondary transatlantic hub, primarily for London, Paris, and leisure destinations in Western and Southern Europe. American has about 70% of the market share at PHL, making it the airport's largest airline. Another former US Airways hub. + Phoenix–Sky Harbor – American's Rocky Mountain hub. Currently American has about 33% of the market share at PHX, making it the airport's second-largest airline. Former US Airways hub. + Washington–Reagan – American's hub for the capital of the United States. American has about 49% of the market share at DCA, making it the largest carrier at the airport. Former US Airways hub. + +Alliance and codeshare agreements +American Airlines is a member of the Oneworld alliance and has codeshares with the following airlines: + + Aer Lingus + Air Tahiti Nui + Alaska Airlines + Cape Air + Cathay Pacific + China Southern Airlines + El Al + Fiji Airways + Gol Transportes Aéreos + Hawaiian Airlines + IndiGo + JetSmart + Jetstar + Jetstar Japan + Level + Korean Air + Malaysia Airlines + Qatar Airways + Royal Air Maroc + Royal Jordanian + Seaborne Airlines + Silver Airways + SriLankan Airlines + Vueling + +Joint ventures +In addition to the above codeshares, American Airlines has entered into joint ventures with the following airlines: + British Airways + Finnair + Iberia + Japan Airlines + Qantas + +Fleet + +As of January 2023, American Airlines operates the largest commercial fleet in the world, comprising 933 aircraft from both Boeing and Airbus, with an additional 161 planned or on order. + +Over 80% of American's aircraft are narrow-bodies, mainly Airbus A320 series and the Boeing 737-800. It is the largest A320 series aircraft operator in the world, as well as the largest operator of the A319 and A321 variants. It is the fourth-largest operator of 737 family aircraft and second-largest operator of the 737-800 variant. + +American's wide-body aircraft are all Boeing airliners. It is the third-largest operator of the Boeing 787 series and the sixth-largest operator of the Boeing 777 series. + +American exclusively ordered Boeing aircraft throughout the 2000s. This strategy shifted on July 20, 2011, when American announced the largest combined aircraft order in history for 460 narrow-body jets including 260 aircraft from the Airbus A320 series. Additional Airbus aircraft joined the fleet in 2013 during the US Airways merger, which operated a nearly all Airbus fleet. + +On August 16, 2022, American announced that a deal had been confirmed with Boom Supersonic to purchase at least 20 of their Overture supersonic airliners and potentially up to 60 in total. + +American Airlines operates aircraft maintenance and repair bases at the Charlotte, Chicago O'Hare, Dallas–Fort Worth, Pittsburgh, and Tulsa airports. + +Only American's widebody planes and its specially-configured Airbus A321T feature seatback entertainment. All other A321 and all Boeing 737 planes were retrofitted with their "Oasis" configuration. While this configuration adds larger overhead bins, it also added more seats, reduced legroom and seat padding, and removed seatback entertainment, which has drawn ire from some travelers. + +Cabins + +Flagship First + +Flagship First is American's international and transcontinental first class product. It is offered only on Boeing 777-300ERs and select Airbus A321s which American designates "A321T". The seats are fully lie-flat and offer direct aisle access with only one on each side of the aisle in each row. As with the airline's other premium cabins, Flagship First offers wider food and beverage options, larger seats, and lounge access at certain airports. American offers domestic Flagship First service on transcontinental routes between New York–JFK and Los Angeles, New York–JFK and San Francisco, New York-JFK and Santa Ana, Boston and Los Angeles, and Miami and Los Angeles, as well as on the standard domestic route between New York-JFK and Boston. The airline will debut new Flagship Suite® premium seats and a revamped aircraft interior for its long-haul fleet with fresh deliveries of its Airbus A321XLR and Boeing 787-9 aircraft, beginning in 2024. + +Flagship Business + +Flagship Business is American's international and transcontinental business class product. It is offered on all Boeing 777-200ERs, Boeing 777-300ERs, Boeing 787-8s, and Boeing 787-9s, as well as select Airbus A321s. All Flagship Business seats are fully lie-flat. The amenities in Flagship Business include complimentary alcoholic/non-alcoholic beverages, multi-course meals, and lounge access. + +Domestic first class + +First class is offered on all domestically configured aircraft. Seats range from in width and have of pitch. Dining options include complementary alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages on all flights as well as standard economy snack offerings, enhanced snack basket selections on flights over , and meals on flights or longer. + +Premium Economy is American's economy plus product. It is offered on all widebody aircraft. The cabin debuted on the airline's Boeing 787-9s in late 2016 and is also available on Boeing 777-200s and -300s, and Boeing 787-8s. Premium Economy seats are wider than seats in the main cabin (American's economy cabin) and provide more amenities: Premium Economy customers get two free checked bags, priority boarding, and enhanced food and drink service including free alcohol. This product made American Airlines the first U.S. carrier to offer a four-cabin aircraft. + +Main Cabin Extra is American's enhanced economy product. It is available on all of the mainline fleet and American Eagle aircraft. Main Cabin Extra seats include greater pitch than is available in main cabin, along with free alcoholic beverages and boarding one group ahead of main cabin. American retained Main Cabin Extra when the new Premium Economy product entered service in late 2016. + +Main Cabin + +Main Cabin (economy class) is American's economy product and is found on all mainline and regional aircraft in its fleet. Seats range from in width and have of pitch. American markets a number of rows within the main cabin immediately behind Main Cabin Extra as "Main Cabin Preferred", which require an extra charge to select for those without status. + +American Airlines marketed increased legroom in economy class as "More Room Throughout Coach", also referred to as "MRTC", starting in February 2000. Two rows of economy class seats were removed on domestic narrowbody aircraft, resulting in more than half of all standard economy seats having a pitch of or more. Amid financial losses, this scheme was discontinued in 2004. + +On many routes, American also offers Basic Economy, the airline's lowest main cabin fare. Basic Economy consists of a Main Cabin ticket with numerous restrictions including waiting until check-in for a seat assignment, no upgrades or refunds, and boarding in the last group. Originally Basic Economy passengers could only carry a personal item, but American later revised their Basic Economy policies to allow for a carry-on bag. + +In May 2017, American announced it would be adding more seats to some of its Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets and reducing overall legroom in the basic economy class. The last three rows were to lose , going from the current . The remainder of the main cabin was to have of legroom. This "Project Oasis" seating configuration has since been expanded to all 737 MAX 8s as well as standard Boeing 737-800 and non-transcontinental Airbus A321 jets. New Airbus A321neo jets have been delivered with the same configuration. This configuration has been considered unpopular with passengers, especially American's frequent flyers, as the new seats have less padding, less legroom, and no seatback entertainment. + +Reward programs + +AAdvantage + +AAdvantage is the frequent flyer program for American Airlines. It was launched on May 1, 1981, and it remains the largest frequent flyer program with over 115 million members as of 2021. Miles accumulated in the program allow members to redeem tickets, upgrade service class, or obtain free or discounted car rentals, hotel stays, merchandise, or other products and services through partners. The most active members, based on the accumulation of Loyalty Points with American Airlines, are designated AAdvantage Gold, AAdvantage Platinum, AAdvantage Platinum Pro, and AAdvantage Executive Platinum elite members, with privileges such as separate check-in, priority upgrade, and standby processing, or free upgrades. AAdvantage status correspond with Oneworld status levels allowing elites to receive reciprocal benefits from American's oneworld partner airlines. + +AAdvantage co-branded credit cards are also available and offer other benefits. The cards are issued by CitiCards, a subsidiary of Citigroup, Barclaycard, and Bilt card in the United States, by several banks including Butterfield Bank and Scotiabank in the Caribbean, and by Banco Santander in Brazil. + +AAdvantage allows one-way redemption, starting at 7,500 miles. + +Admirals Club +The Admirals Club was conceived by AA president C.R. Smith as a marketing promotion shortly after he was made an honorary Texas Ranger. Inspired by the Kentucky colonels and other honorary title designations, Smith decided to make particularly valued passengers "admirals" of the "Flagship fleet" (AA called its aircraft "Flagships" at the time). The list of admirals included many celebrities, politicians, and other VIPs, as well as more "ordinary" customers who had been particularly loyal to the airline. + +There was no physical Admirals Club until shortly after the opening of LaGuardia Airport. During the airport's construction, New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia had an upper-level lounge set aside for press conferences and business meetings. At one such press conference, he noted that the entire terminal was being offered for lease to airline tenants; after a reporter asked whether the lounge would be leased as well, LaGuardia replied that it would, and a vice president of AA immediately offered to lease the premises. The airline then procured a liquor license and began operating the lounge as the "Admirals Club" in 1939. + +The second Admirals Club opened at Washington National Airport. Because it was illegal to sell alcohol in Virginia at the time, the club contained refrigerators for the use of its members, so they could store their liquor at the airport. For many years, membership in the Admirals Club (and most other airline lounges) was by the airline's invitation. After a passenger sued for discrimination, the club switched to a paid membership program in 1974. + +Flagship Lounge +Though affiliated with the Admirals Club and staffed by many of the same employees, the Flagship Lounge is a separate lounge specifically designed for customers flying in first class and business class on international flights and transcontinental domestic flights. + +Corporate affairs + +Business trends +The key trends for American Airlines are (as of the financial year ending 31 December): + +Ownership and structure +American Airlines, Inc., is publicly traded through its parent company, American Airlines Group Inc., under NASDAQ: AAL , with a market capitalization of about $12 billion as of 2019, and is included in the S&P 500 index. + +American Eagle is a network of six regional carriers that operate under a codeshare and service agreement with American, operating flights to destinations in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, and Mexico. Three of these carriers are independent and three are subsidiaries of American Airlines Group: Envoy Air Inc., Piedmont Airlines, Inc., and PSA Airlines Inc. + +Headquarters + +American Airlines is headquartered across several buildings in Fort Worth, Texas that it calls the "Robert L. Crandall Campus" in honor of former president and CEO Robert Crandall. The square-foot, five-building office complex called was designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects. The campus is located on 300 acres, adjacent to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, American's fortress hub. + +Before it was headquartered in Texas, American Airlines was headquartered at 633 Third Avenue in the Murray Hill area of Midtown Manhattan, New York City. In 1979, American moved its headquarters to a site at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, which affected up to 1,300 jobs. Mayor of New York City Ed Koch described the move as a "betrayal" of New York City. American moved to two leased office buildings in Grand Prairie, Texas. On January 17, 1983, the airline finished moving into a $150 million ($ when adjusted for inflation), facility in Fort Worth; $147 million (about $ when adjusted for inflation) in Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport bonds financed the headquarters. The airline began leasing the facility from the airport, which owns the facility. Following the merger of US Airways and American Airlines, the new company consolidated its corporate headquarters in Fort Worth, abandoning the US Airways headquarters in Phoenix, AZ. + +As of 2015, American Airlines is the corporation with the largest presence in Fort Worth. + +In 2015, American announced that it would build a new headquarters in Fort Worth. Groundbreaking began in the spring of 2016 and occupancy completed in September 2019. The airline plans to house 5,000 new workers in the building. + +It will be located on a property adjacent to the airline's flight academy and conference and training center, west of Texas State Highway 360, west from the current headquarters. The airline will lease a total of from Dallas–Fort Worth International Airport and this area will include the headquarters. Construction of the new headquarters began after the demolition of the Sabre facility, previously on the site. + +The airline considered developing a new headquarters in Irving, Texas, on the old Texas Stadium site, before deciding to keep the headquarters in Fort Worth. + +Corporate identity + +Logo +In 1931, Goodrich Murphy, an American employee, designed the AA logo as an entry in a logo contest. The eagle in the logo was copied from a Scottish hotel brochure. The logo was redesigned by Massimo Vignelli in 1967. Thirty years later, in 1997, American Airlines was able to make its logo Internet-compatible by buying the domain AA.com. AA is also American's two-letter IATA airline designator. + +On January 17, 2013, American launched a new rebranding and marketing campaign with FutureBrand dubbed, "A New American". This included a new logo, which includes elements of the 1967 logo. + +American Airlines faced difficulty obtaining copyright registration for their 2013 logo. On June 3, 2016, American Airlines sought to register it with the United States Copyright Office, but in October of that year, the Copyright Office ruled that the logo was ineligible for copyright protection, as it did not pass the threshold of originality, and was thus in the public domain. American requested that the Copyright Office reconsider, but on January 8, 2018, the Copyright Office affirmed its initial determination. After American Airlines submitted additional materials, the Copyright Office reversed its decision on December 7, 2018, and ruled that the logo contained enough creativity to merit copyright protection. + +Aircraft livery +American's early liveries varied widely, but a common livery was adopted in the 1930s, featuring an eagle painted on the fuselage. The eagle became a symbol of the company and inspired the name of American Eagle Airlines. Propeller aircraft featured an international orange lightning bolt running down the length of the fuselage, which was replaced by a simpler orange stripe with the introduction of jets. + +In the late 1960s, American commissioned designer Massimo Vignelli to develop a new livery. The original design called for a red, white, and blue stripe on the fuselage, and a simple "AA" logo, without an eagle, on the tail; instead, Vignelli created a highly stylized eagle, which remained the company's logo until January 16, 2013. + +On January 17, 2013, American unveiled a new livery. Before then, American had been the only major U.S. airline to leave most of its aircraft surfaces unpainted. This was because C. R. Smith would not say he liked painted aircraft and refused to use any liveries that involved painting the entire plane. Robert "Bob" Crandall later justified the distinctive natural metal finish by noting that less paint reduced the aircraft's weight, thus saving on fuel costs. + +In January 2013, American launched a new rebranding and marketing campaign dubbed, "The New American". In addition to a new logo, American Airlines introduced a new livery for its fleet. The airline calls the new livery and branding "a clean and modern update". The current design features an abstract American flag on the tail, along with a silver-painted fuselage, as a throw-back to the old livery. The new design was painted by Leading Edge Aviation Services in California. Doug Parker, the incoming CEO indicated that the new livery could be short-lived, stating that "maybe we need to do something slightly different than that ... The only reason this is an issue now is that they just did it right in the middle, which kind of makes it confusing, so that gives us an opportunity, actually, to decide if we are going to do something different because we have so many airplanes to paint". The current logo and livery have had mixed criticism, with Design Shack editor Joshua Johnson writing that they "boldly and proudly communicate the concepts of American pride and freedom wrapped into a shape that instantly makes you think about an airplane", and AskThePilot.com author Patrick Smith describing the logo as 'a linoleum knife poking through a shower curtain'. Later in January 2013, Bloomberg asked the designer of the 1968 American Airlines logo (Massimo Vignelli) on his opinion over the rebranding. + +In the end, American let their employees decide the new livery's fate. On an internal website for employees, American posted two options, one the new livery and one a modified version of the old livery. All of the American Airlines Group employees (including US Airways and other affiliates) were able to vote. American ultimately decided to keep the new look. Parker announced that American would keep a US Airways and America West heritage aircraft in the fleet, with plans to add a heritage TWA aircraft and a heritage American plane with the old livery. As of September 2019, American has heritage aircraft for Piedmont, PSA, America West, US Airways, Reno Air, TWA, and AirCal in their fleet. They also have two AA branded heritage 737-800 aircraft, an AstroJet N905NN, and the polished aluminum livery used from 1967 to 2013, N921NN. + +Customer Service + +American, both before and after the merger with US Airways, has consistently performed poorly in rankings. The Wall Street Journal's annual airline rankings have ranked American as the worst or second-worst U.S. carrier for ten of the past twelve years, and in the bottom three of U.S. Airlines for at least the past twelve years. The airline has persistently performed poorly in the areas of losing checked luggage and bumping passengers due to oversold flights. + +Worker relations +The main representatives of key groups of employees are: + The Allied Pilots Association is an in-house union which represents the nearly 15,000 American Airlines pilots; it was created in 1963 after the pilots left the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA). However the majority of American Eagle pilots are ALPA members. + The Association of Professional Flight Attendants represents American Airlines flight attendants, including former USAirways flight attendants. + Flight attendants at wholly owned regional carriers (Envoy, Piedmont, and PSA) are all represented by Association of Flight Attendants – Communications Workers of America (AFA-CWA). US Airways flight attendants were active members of AFA-CWA before the merger, and they are honorary lifetime members. AFA-CWA is the largest flight attendant union in the industry. + The Transport Workers Union-International Association of Machinists alliance (TWU-IAM) represents the majority of American Airlines employed fleet service agents, mechanics, and other ground workers. + American's customer service and gate employees belong to the Communications Workers of America/International Brotherhood of Teamsters Passenger Service Association. + +Concerns and conflicts + +Environmental violations +Between October 1993 to July 1998, American Airlines was repeatedly cited for using high-sulfur fuel in motor vehicles at 10 major airports around the country, a violation of the Clean Air Act. + +Lifetime AAirpass + +Since 1981, as a means of creating revenue in a period of loss-making, American Airlines had offered a lifetime pass of unlimited travel, for the initial cost of $250,000. This entitled the pass holder to fly anywhere in the world. Twenty-eight were sold. However, after some time, the airline realized they were making losses on the tickets, with the ticketholders costing them up to $1 million each. Ticketholders were booking large numbers of flights with some ticketholders flying interstate for lunch or flying to London multiple times a month. AA raised the cost of the lifetime pass to $3 million, and then finally stopped offering it in 2003. AA then used litigation to cancel two of the lifetime offers, saying the passes "had been terminated due to fraudulent activity". + +Cabin fume events + In 1988, on American Airlines Flight 132's approach into Nashville, flight attendants notified the cockpit that there was smoke in the cabin. The flight crew in the cockpit ignored the warning, as on a prior flight, a fume event had occurred due to a problem with the auxiliary power unit. However, the smoke on Flight 132 was caused by improperly packaged hazardous materials. According to the NTSB inquiry, the cockpit crew persistently refused to acknowledge that there was a serious threat to the aircraft or the passengers, even after they were told that the floor was becoming soft and passengers had to be reseated. As a result, the aircraft was not evacuated immediately on landing, exposing the crew and passengers to the threat of smoke and fire longer than necessary. + On April 11, 2007, toxic smoke and oil fumes leaked into the aircraft cabin as American Airlines Flight 843 taxied to the gate. A flight attendant who was present in the cabin subsequently filed a lawsuit against Boeing, stating that she was diagnosed with neurotoxic disorder due to her exposure to the fumes, which caused her to experience memory loss, tremors, and severe headaches. She settled with the company in 2011. + In 2009, Mike Holland, deputy chairman for radiation and environmental issues at the Allied Pilots Association and an American Airlines pilot, said that the pilot union had started alerting pilots of the danger of contaminated bleed air, including contacting crew members that the union thinks were exposed to contamination based on maintenance records and pilot logs. + In a January 2017 incident on American Airlines Flight 1896, seven flight attendants were hospitalized after a strange odor was detected in the cabin. The Airbus A330 involved subsequently underwent a "thorough maintenance inspection", having been involved in three fume events in three months. + In August 2018, American Airlines flight attendants picketed in front of the Fort Worth company headquarters over a change in sick day policy, complaining that exposure to ill passengers, toxic uniforms, toxic cabin air, radiation exposure, and other issues were causing them to be sick. + In January 2019, two pilots and three flight attendants on Flight 1897 from Philadelphia to Fort Lauderdale were hospitalized following complaints of a strange odor. + +Discrimination complaints +On October 24, 2017, the NAACP issued a travel advisory for American Airlines urging African Americans to "exercise caution" when traveling with the airline. The NAACP issued the advisory after four incidents. In one incident, a black woman was moved from first class to coach while her white traveling companion was allowed to remain in first class. In another incident, a black man was forced to give up his seats after being confronted by two unruly white passengers. According to the NAACP, while they did receive complaints on other airlines, most of their complaints in the year before their advisory were on American Airlines. In July 2018, the NAACP lifted their travel advisory saying that American has made improvements to mitigate discrimination and unsafe treatment of African Americans. + +Accidents and incidents + +As of March 2019, the airline has had almost sixty aircraft hull losses, beginning with the crash of an American Airways Ford 5-AT-C Trimotor in August 1931. Of these most were propeller driven aircraft, including three Lockheed L-188 Electra turboprop aircraft (of which one, the crash in 1959 of Flight 320, resulted in fatalities). The two accidents with the highest fatalities in both the airline's and U.S. aviation history were Flight 191 in 1979 and Flight 587 in 2001. + +Out of the 17 hijackings of American Airlines flights, two aircraft were hijacked and destroyed in the September 11 attacks: Flight 11 crashed into the north facade of the North Tower of the World Trade Center, and Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon; both were bound for LAX from Boston Logan International Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport respectively. +Other accidents include the Flight 383 engine failure and fire in 2016. There were two training flight accidents in which the crew were killed and six that resulted in no fatalities. Another four jet aircraft have been written off due to incidents while they were parked between flights or while undergoing maintenance. + +Carbon footprint +American Airlines reported total CO2e emissions (direct and indirect) for the twelve months ending December 31, 2020, at 20,092 Kt (-21,347 /-51.5% y-o-y). The company aims to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. + +See also + AAirpass + Air transportation in the United States + List of airlines of the United States + List of airports in the United States + U.S. Airways, which merged with American Airlines in 2013 + +Notes and references + Notes + + References + +Further reading + +External links + + Official American Airlines Vacations website + + +1934 establishments in the United States +Airlines based in Texas +Airlines established in 1934 +Airlines for America members +American Airlines Group +American companies established in 1934 +Aviation in Arizona +Companies based in Fort Worth, Texas +Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2011 +Antidepressants are a class of medications used to treat major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, chronic pain, and addiction. + +Common side effects of antidepressants include dry mouth, weight gain, dizziness, headaches, akathisia, sexual dysfunction, and emotional blunting. There is an increased risk of suicidal thinking and behavior when taken by children, adolescents, and young adults. Discontinuation syndrome, which resembles recurrent depression in the case of the SSRI class, may occur after stopping the intake of any antidepressant, having effects which may be permanent and irreversible. + +Research regarding the effectiveness of antidepressants for depression in adults is controversial and has found both benefits and drawbacks. Meanwhile, evidence of benefit in children and adolescents is unclear, even though antidepressant use has considerably increased in children and adolescents in the 2000s. While a 2018 study found that the 21 most commonly prescribed antidepressant medications were slightly more effective than placebos for the short-term (acute) treatments of adults with major depressive disorder, other research has found that the placebo effect may account for most or all of the drugs' observed efficacy. + +Research on the effectiveness of antidepressants is generally done on people who have severe symptoms, a population that exhibits much weaker placebo responses, meaning that the results may not be extrapolated to the general population that has not (or has not yet) been diagnosed with anxiety or depression. + +Medical uses +Antidepressants are prescribed to treat major depressive disorder (MDD), anxiety disorders, chronic pain, and some addictions. Antidepressants are often used in combination with one another. + +Despite its longstanding prominence in pharmaceutical advertising, the idea that low serotonin levels cause depression is not supported by scientific evidence. Proponents of the monoamine hypothesis of depression recommend choosing an antidepressant which impacts the most prominent symptoms. Under this practice, for example, a person with MDD who is also anxious or irritable would be treated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, while a person suffering from loss of energy and enjoyment of life would take a norepinephrine–dopamine reuptake inhibitor. + +Major depressive disorder +The UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)'s 2022 guidelines indicate that antidepressants should not be routinely used for the initial treatment of mild depression, "unless that is the person's preference". The guidelines recommended that antidepressant treatment be considered: + + For people with a history of moderate or severe depression. + For people with mild depression that has been present for an extended period. + As a first-line treatment for moderate to severe depression. + As a second-line treatment for mild depression that persists after other interventions. + +The guidelines further note that in most cases, antidepressants should be used in combination with psychosocial interventions and should be continued for at least six months to reduce the risk of relapse and that SSRIs are typically better tolerated than other antidepressants. + +American Psychiatric Association (APA) treatment guidelines recommend that initial treatment be individually tailored based on factors including the severity of symptoms, co-existing disorders, prior treatment experience, and the person's preference. Options may include antidepressants, psychotherapy, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), or light therapy. The APA recommends antidepressant medication as an initial treatment choice in people with mild, moderate, or severe major depression, and that should be given to all people with severe depression unless ECT is planned. + +Reviews of antidepressants generally find that they benefit adults with depression. On the other hand, some contend that most studies on antidepressant medication are confounded by several biases: the lack of an active placebo, which means that many people in the placebo arm of a double-blind study may deduce that they are not getting any true treatment, thus destroying double-blindness; a short follow up after termination of treatment; non-systematic recording of adverse effects; very strict exclusion criteria in samples of patients; studies being paid for by the industry; selective publication of results. This means that the small beneficial effects that are found may not be statistically significant. + +Among the 21 most commonly prescribed antidepressants, the most effective and well-tolerated are escitalopram, paroxetine, sertraline, agomelatine, and mirtazapine. For children and adolescents with moderate to severe depressive disorder, some evidence suggests fluoxetine (either with or without cognitive behavioral therapy) is the best treatment, but more research is needed to be certain. Sertraline, escitalopram, and duloxetine may also help reduce symptoms. + +A 2023 systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials of antidepressants for major depressive disorder found that the medications provided only small or doubtful benefits in terms of quality of life. Likewise, a 2022 systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials of antidepressants for major depressive disorder in children and adolescents found small improvements in quality of life. Quality of life as an outcome measure is often selectively reported in trials of antidepressants. + +Anxiety disorders +For children and adolescents, fluvoxamine is effective in treating a range of anxiety disorders. Fluoxetine, sertraline, and paroxetine can also help with managing various forms of anxiety in children and adolescents. + +Meta-analyses of published and unpublished trials have found that antidepressants have a placebo-subtracted effect size (standardized mean difference or SMD) in the treatment of anxiety disorders of around 0.3, which equates to a small improvement and is roughly the same magnitude of benefit as their effectiveness in the treatment of depression. The effect size (SMD) for improvement with placebo in trials of antidepressants for anxiety disorders is approximately 1.0, which is a large improvement in terms of effect size definitions. In relation to this, most of the benefit of antidepressants for anxiety disorders is attributable to placebo responses rather than to the effects of the antidepressants themselves. + +Generalized anxiety disorder +Antidepressants are recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) that has failed to respond to conservative measures such as education and self-help activities. GAD is a common disorder in which the central feature is excessively worrying about numerous events. Key symptoms include excessive anxiety about events and issues going on around them and difficulty controlling worrisome thoughts that persists for at least 6 months. + +Antidepressants provide a modest to moderate reduction in anxiety in GAD. The efficacy of different antidepressants is similar. + +Social anxiety disorder +Some antidepressants are used as a treatment for social anxiety disorder, but their efficacy is not entirely convincing, as only a small proportion of antidepressants showed some effectiveness for this condition. Paroxetine was the first drug to be FDA-approved for this disorder. Its efficacy is considered beneficial, although not everyone responds favorably to the drug. Sertraline and fluvoxamine extended-release were later approved for it as well, while escitalopram is used off-label with acceptable efficiency. However, there is not enough evidence to support Citalopram for treating social anxiety disorder, and fluoxetine was no better than a placebo in clinical trials. SSRIs are used as a first-line treatment for social anxiety, but they do not work for everyone. One alternative would be venlafaxine, an SNRI, which has shown benefits for social phobia in five clinical trials against a placebo, while the other SNRIs are not considered particularly useful for this disorder as many of them did not undergo testing for it. , it is unclear if duloxetine and desvenlafaxine can provide benefits for people with social anxiety. However, another class of antidepressants called MAOIs are considered effective for social anxiety, but they come with many unwanted side effects and are rarely used. Phenelzine was shown to be a good treatment option, but its use is limited by dietary restrictions. Moclobemide is a RIMA and showed mixed results, but still received approval in some European countries for social anxiety disorder. TCA antidepressants, such as clomipramine and imipramine, are not considered effective for this anxiety disorder in particular. This leaves out SSRIs such as paroxetine, sertraline, and fluvoxamine CR as acceptable and tolerated treatment options for this disorder. + +Obsessive–compulsive disorder +SSRIs are a second-line treatment for adult obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) with mild functional impairment, and a first-line treatment for those with moderate or severe impairment. + +In children, SSRIs are considered as a second-line therapy in those with moderate-to-severe impairment, with close monitoring for psychiatric adverse effects. Sertraline and fluoxetine are effective in treating OCD for children and adolescents. + +Clomipramine, a TCA drug, is considered effective and useful for OCD. However, it is used as a second-line treatment because it is less well-tolerated than SSRIs. Despite this, it has not shown superiority to fluvoxamine in trials. All SSRIs can be used effectively for OCD. SNRI use may also be attempted, though no SNRIs have been approved for the treatment of OCD. Despite these treatment options, many patients remain symptomatic after initiating the medication, and less than half achieve remission. + +Placebo responses are a large component of the benefit of antidepressants in the treatment of depression and anxiety. However, placebo responses with antidepressants are lower in magnitude in the treatment of OCD compared to depression and anxiety. A 2019 meta-analysis found placebo improvement effect sizes (SMD) of about 1.2 for depression, 1.0 for anxiety disorders, and 0.6 for OCD with antidepressants. + +Post–traumatic stress disorder +Antidepressants are one of the treatment options for PTSD. However, their efficacy is not well established. Paroxetine and sertraline have been FDA approved for the treatment of PTSD. Paroxetine has slightly higher response and remission rates than sertraline for this condition. However, neither drug is considered very helpful for a broad patient demographic. Fluoxetine and venlafaxine are used off-label. Fluoxetine has produced unsatisfactory mixed results. Venlafaxine showed response rates of 78%, which is significantly higher than what paroxetine and sertraline achieved. However, it did not address as many symptoms of PTSD as paroxetine and sertraline, in part due to the fact that venlafaxine is an SNRI. This class of drugs inhibits the reuptake of norepinephrine, which may cause anxiety in some patients. Fluvoxamine, escitalopram, and citalopram were not well-tested for this disorder. MAOIs, while some of them may be helpful, are not used much because of their unwanted side effects. This leaves paroxetine and sertraline as acceptable treatment options for some people, although more effective antidepressants are needed. + +Panic disorder +Panic disorder is treated relatively well with medications compared to other disorders. Several classes of antidepressants have shown efficacy for this disorder, with SSRIs and SNRIs used first-line. Paroxetine, sertraline, and fluoxetine are FDA-approved for panic disorder, while fluvoxamine, escitalopram, and citalopram are also considered effective for them. SNRI venlafaxine is also approved for this condition. Unlike social anxiety and PTSD, some TCAs antidepressants, like clomipramine and imipramine, have shown efficacy for panic disorder. Moreover, the MAOI phenelzine is also considered useful. Panic disorder has many drugs for its treatment. However, the starting dose must be lower than the one used for major depressive disorder because people have reported an increase in anxiety as a result of starting the medication. In conclusion, while panic disorder's treatment options seem acceptable and useful for this condition, many people are still symptomatic after treatment with residual symptoms. + +Eating disorders +Antidepressants are recommended as an alternative or additional first step to self-help programs in the treatment of bulimia nervosa. SSRIs (fluoxetine in particular) are preferred over other antidepressants due to their acceptability, tolerability, and superior reduction of symptoms in short-term trials. Long-term efficacy remains poorly characterized. Bupropion is not recommended for the treatment of eating disorders, due to an increased risk of seizure. + +Similar recommendations apply to binge eating disorder. SSRIs provide short-term reductions in binge eating behavior, but have not been associated with significant weight loss. + +Clinical trials have generated mostly negative results for the use of SSRIs in the treatment of anorexia nervosa. Treatment guidelines from the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommend against the use of SSRIs in this disorder. Those from the American Psychiatric Association (APA) note that SSRIs confer no advantage regarding weight gain, but may be used for the treatment of co-existing depressive, anxiety, or obsessive–compulsive disorders. + +Pain + +Fibromyalgia +A 2012 meta-analysis concluded that antidepressant treatment favorably affects pain, health-related quality of life, depression, and sleep in fibromyalgia syndrome. Tricyclics appear to be the most effective class, with moderate effects on pain and sleep, and small effects on fatigue and health-related quality of life. The fraction of people experiencing a 30% pain reduction on tricyclics was 48%, versus 28% on placebo. For SSRIs and SNRIs, the fractions of people experiencing a 30% pain reduction were 36% (20% in the placebo comparator arms) and 42% (32% in the corresponding placebo comparator arms) respectively. Discontinuation of treatment due to side effects was common. Antidepressants including amitriptyline, fluoxetine, duloxetine, milnacipran, moclobemide, and pirlindole are recommended by the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) for the treatment of fibromyalgia based on "limited evidence". + +Neuropathic pain +A 2014 meta-analysis from the Cochrane Collaboration found the antidepressant duloxetine to be effective for the treatment of pain resulting from diabetic neuropathy. The same group reviewed data for amitriptyline in the treatment of neuropathic pain and found limited useful randomized clinical trial data. They concluded that the long history of successful use in the community for the treatment of fibromyalgia and neuropathic pain justified its continued use. The group was concerned about the potential overestimation of the amount of pain relief provided by amitriptyline, and highlighted that only a small number of people will experience significant pain relief by taking this medication. + +Other uses +Antidepressants may be modestly helpful for treating people who have both depression and alcohol dependence, however, the evidence supporting this association is of low quality. Bupropion is used to help people stop smoking. Antidepressants are also used to control some symptoms of narcolepsy. Antidepressants may be used to relieve pain in people with active rheumatoid arthritis. However, further research is required. Antidepressants have been shown to be superior to placebo in treating depression in individuals with physical illness, although reporting bias may have exaggerated this finding. + +Limitations and strategies +Among individuals treated with a given antidepressant, between 30% and 50% do not show a response. Approximately one-third of people achieve a full remission, one-third experience a response, and one-third are non-responders. Partial remission is characterized by the presence of poorly defined residual symptoms. These symptoms typically include depressed mood, anxiety, sleep disturbance, fatigue, and diminished interest or pleasure. It is currently unclear which factors predict partial remission. However, it is clear that residual symptoms are powerful predictors of relapse, with relapse rates three to six times higher in people with residual symptoms than in those, who experience full remission. In addition, antidepressant drugs tend to lose efficacy throughout long-term maintenance therapy. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, less than one-third of Americans taking one antidepressant medication have seen a mental health professional in the previous year. Several strategies are used in clinical practice to try to overcome these limits and variations. They include switching medication, augmentation, and combination. + +There is controversy amongst researchers regarding the efficacy and risk-benefit ratio of antidepressants. Although antidepressants consistently out-perform a placebo in meta-analyses, the difference is modest and it is not clear that their statistical superiority results in clinical efficacy. The aggregate effect of antidepressants typically results in changes below the threshold of clinical significance on depression rating scales. Proponents of antidepressants counter that the most common scale, the HDRS, is not suitable for assessing drug action, that the threshold for clinical significance is arbitrary, and that antidepressants consistently result in significantly raised scores on the mood item of the scale. Assessments of antidepressants using alternative, more sensitive scales, such as the MADRS, do not result in marked difference from the HDRS and likewise only find a marginal clinical benefit. Another hypothesis proposed to explain the poor performance of antidepressants in clinical trials is a high treatment response heterogeneity. Some patients, that differ strongly in their response to antidepressants, could influence the average response, while the heterogeneity could itself be obscured by the averaging. Studies have not supported this hypothesis, but it is very difficult to measure treatment effect heterogeneity. Poor and complex clinical trial design might also account for the small effects seen for antidepressants. The randomized controlled trials used to approve drugs are short, and may not capture the full effect of antidepressants. Additionally, the placebo effect might be inflated in these trials by frequent clinical consultation, lowering the comparative performance of antidepressants. Critics agree that current clinical trials are poorly-designed, which limits the knowledge on antidepressant. More naturalistic studies, such as STAR*D, have produced results, which suggest that antidepressants may be less effective in clinical practice than in randomized controlled trials. + +Critics of antidepressants maintain that the superiority of antidepressants over placebo is the result of systemic flaws in clinical trials and the research literature. Trials conducted with industry involvement tend to produce more favorable results, and accordingly many of the trials included in meta-analyses are at high risk of bias. Additionally, meta-analyses co-authored by industry employees find more favorable results for antidepressants. The results of antidepressant trials are significantly more likely to be published if they are favorable, and unfavorable results are very often left unpublished or misreported, a phenomenon called publication bias or selective publication. Although this issue has diminished with time, it remains an obstacle to accurately assessing the efficacy of antidepressants. Misreporting of clinical trial outcomes and of serious adverse events, such as suicide, is common. Ghostwriting of antidepressant trials is widespread, a practice in which prominent researchers, or so-called key opinion leaders, attach their names to studies actually written by pharmaceutical company employees or consultants. A particular concern is that the psychoactive effects of antidepressants may lead to the unblinding of participants or researchers, enhancing the placebo effect and biasing results. Some have therefore maintained that antidepressants may only be active placebos. When these and other flaws in the research literature are not taken into account, meta-analyses may find inflated results on the basis of poor evidence. + +Critics contend that antidepressants have not been proven sufficiently effective by RCTs or in clinical practice and that the widespread use of antidepressants is not evidence-based. They also note that adverse effects, including withdrawal difficulties, are likely underreported, skewing clinicians' ability to make risk-benefit judgements. Accordingly, they believe antidepressants are overused, particularly for non-severe depression and conditions in which they are not indicated. Critics charge that the widespread use and public acceptance of antidepressants is the result of pharmaceutical advertising, research manipulation, and misinformation. + +Current mainstream psychiatric opinion recognizes the limitations of antidepressants but recommends their use in adults with more severe depression as a first-line treatment. + +Switching antidepressants + +The American Psychiatric Association 2000 Practice Guideline advises that where no response is achieved within the following six to eight weeks of treatment with an antidepressant, switch to an antidepressant in the same class, and then to a different class. A 2006 meta-analysis review found wide variation in the findings of prior studies: for people who had failed to respond to an SSRI antidepressant, between 12% and 86% showed a response to a new drug. However, the more antidepressants an individual had previously tried, the less likely they were to benefit from a new antidepressant trial. However, a later meta-analysis found no difference between switching to a new drug and staying on the old medication: although 34% of treatment-resistant people responded when switched to the new drug, 40% responded without being switched. + +Augmentation and combination +For a partial response, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) guidelines suggest augmentation or adding a drug from a different class. These include lithium and thyroid augmentation, dopamine agonists, sex steroids, NRIs, glucocorticoid-specific agents, or the newer anticonvulsants. + +A combination strategy involves adding another antidepressant, usually from a different class to affect other mechanisms. Although this may be used in clinical practice, there is little evidence for the relative efficacy or adverse effects of this strategy. Other tests conducted include the use of psychostimulants as an augmentation therapy. Several studies have shown the efficacy of combining modafinil for treatment-resistant people. It has been used to help combat SSRI-associated fatigue. + +Long-term use and stopping +The effects of antidepressants typically do not continue once the course of medication ends. This results in a high rate of relapse. In 2003, a meta-analysis found that 18% of people who had responded to an antidepressant relapsed while still taking it, compared to 41% whose antidepressant was switched for a placebo. + +A gradual loss of therapeutic benefit occurs in a minority of people during the course of treatment. A strategy involving the use of pharmacotherapy in the treatment of the acute episode, followed by psychotherapy in its residual phase, has been suggested by some studies. For patients who wish to stop their antidepressants, engaging in brief psychological interventions such as Preventive Cognitive Therapy or mindfulness-based cognitive therapy while tapering down has been found to diminish the risk for relapse. + +Adverse effects +Antidepressants can cause various adverse effects, depending on the individual and the drug in question. + +Almost any medication involved with serotonin regulation has the potential to cause serotonin toxicity (also known as serotonin syndrome) — an excess of serotonin that can induce mania, restlessness, agitation, emotional lability, insomnia, and confusion as its primary symptoms. Although the condition is serious, it is not particularly common, generally only appearing at high doses or while on other medications. Assuming proper medical intervention has been taken (within about 24 hours) it is rarely fatal. Antidepressants appear to increase the risk of diabetes by about 1.3-fold. + +MAOIs tend to have pronounced (sometimes fatal) interactions with a wide variety of medications and over-the-counter drugs. If taken with foods that contain very high levels of tyramine (e.g., mature cheese, cured meats, or yeast extracts), they may cause a potentially lethal hypertensive crisis. At lower doses, the person may only experience a headache due to an increase in blood pressure. + +In response to these adverse effects, a different type of MAOI, the class of reversible inhibitor of monoamine oxidase A (RIMA), has been developed. The primary advantage of RIMAs is that they do not require the person to follow a special diet while being purportedly effective as SSRIs and tricyclics in treating depressive disorders. + +Tricyclics and SSRI can cause the so-called drug-induced QT prolongation, especially in older adults; this condition can degenerate into a specific type of abnormal heart rhythm called Torsades de points, which can potentially lead to sudden cardiac arrest. + +Some antidepressants are also believed to increase thoughts of suicidal ideation. + +Antidepressants have been associated with an increased risk of dementia in older adults. + +Pregnancy +SSRI use in pregnancy has been associated with a variety of risks with varying degrees of proof of causation. As depression is independently associated with negative pregnancy outcomes, determining the extent to which observed associations between antidepressant use and specific adverse outcomes reflect a causative relationship has been difficult in some cases. In other cases, the attribution of adverse outcomes to antidepressant exposure seems fairly clear. + +SSRI use in pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of spontaneous abortion of about 1.7-fold, and is associated with preterm birth and low birth weight. + +A systematic review of the risk of major birth defects in antidepressant-exposed pregnancies found a small increase (3% to 24%) in the risk of major malformations and a risk of cardiovascular birth defects that did not differ from non-exposed pregnancies. A study of fluoxetine-exposed pregnancies found a 12% increase in the risk of major malformations that did not reach statistical significance. Other studies have found an increased risk of cardiovascular birth defects among depressed mothers not undergoing SSRI treatment, suggesting the possibility of ascertainment bias, e.g. that worried mothers may pursue more aggressive testing of their infants. Another study found no increase in cardiovascular birth defects and a 27% increased risk of major malformations in SSRI exposed pregnancies. The FDA advises for the risk of birth defects with the use of paroxetine and the MAOI should be avoided. + +A 2013 systematic review and meta-analysis found that antidepressant use during pregnancy was statistically significantly associated with some pregnancy outcomes, such as gestational age and preterm birth, but not with other outcomes. The same review cautioned that because differences between the exposed and unexposed groups were small, it was doubtful whether they were clinically significant. + +A neonate (infant less than 28 days old) may experience a withdrawal syndrome from abrupt discontinuation of the antidepressant at birth. Antidepressants can be present in varying amounts in breast milk, but their effects on infants are currently unknown. + +Moreover, SSRIs inhibit nitric oxide synthesis, which plays an important role in setting the vascular tone. Several studies have pointed to an increased risk of prematurity associated with SSRI use, and this association may be due to an increased risk of pre-eclampsia during pregnancy. + +Antidepressant-induced mania +Another possible problem with antidepressants is the chance of antidepressant-induced mania or hypomania in people with or without a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. Many cases of bipolar depression are very similar to those of unipolar depression. Therefore, the person can be misdiagnosed with unipolar depression and be given antidepressants. Studies have shown that antidepressant-induced mania can occur in 20–40% of people with bipolar disorder. For bipolar depression, antidepressants (most frequently SSRIs) can exacerbate or trigger symptoms of hypomania and mania. Bupropion has been associated with a lower risk of mood switch than other antidepressants. + +Suicide + +Studies have shown that the use of antidepressants is correlated with an increased risk of suicidal behavior and thinking (suicidality) in those aged under 25 years old. This problem has been serious enough to warrant government intervention by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to warn of the increased risk of suicidality during antidepressant treatment. According to the FDA, the heightened risk of suicidality occurs within the first one to two months of treatment. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) places the excess risk in the "early stages of treatment". A meta-analysis suggests that the relationship between antidepressant use and suicidal behavior or thoughts is age-dependent. Compared with placebo, the use of antidepressants is associated with an increase in suicidal behavior or thoughts among those 25 years old or younger (OR=1.62). A review of RCTs and epidemiological studies by Healy and Whitaker found an increase in suicidal acts by a factor of 2.4. There is no effect or possibly a mild protective effect among those aged 25 to 64 (OR=0.79). Antidepressant treatment has a protective effect against suicidality among those aged 65 and over (OR=0.37). + +Sexual dysfunction +Sexual side effects are also common with SSRIs, such as loss of sexual drive, failure to reach orgasm, and erectile dysfunction. Although usually reversible, these sexual side-effects can, in rare cases, continue after the drug has been completely withdrawn. + +In a study of 1,022 outpatients, overall sexual dysfunction with all antidepressants averaged 59.1% with SSRI values between 57% and 73%, mirtazapine 24%, nefazodone 8%, amineptine 7%, and moclobemide 4%. Moclobemide, a selective reversible MAO-A inhibitor, does not cause sexual dysfunction and can lead to an improvement in all aspects of sexual function. + +Biochemical mechanisms suggested as causative include increased serotonin, particularly affecting 5-HT2 and 5-HT3 receptors; decreased dopamine; decreased norepinephrine; blockade of cholinergic and α1adrenergic receptors; inhibition of nitric oxide synthetase; and elevation of prolactin levels. Mirtazapine is reported to have fewer sexual side effects, most likely because it antagonizes 5-HT2 and 5-HT3 receptors and may, in some cases, reverse sexual dysfunction induced by SSRIs by the same mechanism. + +Bupropion, a weak NDRI and nicotinic antagonist, may be useful in treating reduced libido as a result of SSRI treatment. + +Emotional blunting +Certain antidepressants may cause emotional blunting, characterized by a reduced intensity of both positive and negative emotions as well as symptoms of apathy, indifference, and amotivation. It may be experienced as either beneficial or detrimental depending on the situation. This side effect has been particularly associated with serotonergic antidepressants like SSRIs and SNRIs but may be less with atypical antidepressants like bupropion, agomelatine, and vortioxetine. Higher doses of antidepressants seem to be more likely to produce emotional blunting than lower doses. Emotional blunting can be decreased by reducing dosage, discontinuing the medication, or switching to a different antidepressant that may have less propensity for causing this side effect. + +Changes in weight +Changes in appetite or weight are common among antidepressants but are largely drug-dependent and related to which neurotransmitters they affect. Mirtazapine and paroxetine, for example, may be associated with weight gain and/or increased appetite, while others (such as bupropion and venlafaxine) achieve the opposite effect. + +The antihistaminic properties of certain TCA- and TeCA-class antidepressants have been shown to contribute to the common side effects of increased appetite and weight gain associated with these classes of medication. + +Bone loss +A 2021 nationwide cohort study in South Korea observed a link between SSRI use and bone loss, particularly in recent users. The study also stressed the need of further research to better understand these effects. A 2012 review found that SSRIs along with tricyclic antidepressants were associated with a significant increase in the risk of osteoporotic fractures, peaking in the months after initiation, and moving back towards baseline during the year after treatment was stopped. These effects exhibited a dose–response relationship within SSRIs which varied between different drugs of that class. A 2018 meta-analysis of 11 small studies found a reduction in bone density of the lumbar spine in SSRI users which affected older people the most. + +Risk of death +A 2017 meta-analysis found that antidepressants were associated with a significantly increased risk of death (+33%) and new cardiovascular complications (+14%) in the general population. Conversely, risks were not greater in people with existing cardiovascular disease. + +Discontinuation syndrome + +Antidepressant discontinuation syndrome, also called antidepressant withdrawal syndrome, is a condition that can occur following the interruption, reduction, or discontinuation of antidepressant medication. The symptoms may include flu-like symptoms, trouble sleeping, nausea, poor balance, sensory changes, and anxiety. The problem usually begins within three days and may last for several months. Rarely psychosis may occur. + +A discontinuation syndrome can occur after stopping any antidepressant including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), and tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs). The risk is greater among those who have taken the medication for longer and when the medication in question has a short half-life. The underlying reason for its occurrence is unclear. The diagnosis is based on the symptoms. + +Methods of prevention include gradually decreasing the dose among those who wish to stop, though it is possible for symptoms to occur with tapering. Treatment may include restarting the medication and slowly decreasing the dose. People may also be switched to the long-acting antidepressant fluoxetine, which can then be gradually decreased. + +Approximately 20–50% of people who suddenly stop an antidepressant develop an antidepressant discontinuation syndrome. The condition is generally not serious. Though about half of people with symptoms describe them as severe. Some restart antidepressants due to the severity of the symptoms. + +Pharmacology + +Antidepressants act via a large number of different mechanisms of action. This includes serotonin reuptake inhibition (SSRIs, SNRIs, TCAs, vilazodone, vortioxetine), norepinephrine reuptake inhibition (NRIs, SNRIs, TCAs), dopamine reuptake inhibition (bupropion, amineptine, nomifensine), direct modulation of monoamine receptors (vilazodone, vortioxetine, SARIs, agomelatine, TCAs, TeCAs, antipsychotics), monoamine oxidase inhibition (MAOIs), and NMDA receptor antagonism (ketamine, esketamine, dextromethorphan), among others (e.g., brexanolone, tianeptine). Some antidepressants also have additional actions, like sigma receptor modulation (certain SSRIs, TCAs, dextromethorphan) and antagonism of histamine H1 and muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (TCAs, TeCAs). + +The earliest and most widely known scientific theory of antidepressant action is the monoamine hypothesis, which can be traced back to the 1950s and 1960s. This theory states that depression is due to an imbalance, most often a deficiency, of the monoamine neurotransmitters, namely serotonin, norepinephrine, and/or dopamine. However, serotonin in particular has been implicated, as in the serotonin hypothesis of depression. The monoamine hypothesis was originally proposed based on observations that reserpine, a drug which depletes the monoamine neurotransmitters, produced depressive effects in people, and that certain hydrazine antituberculosis agents like iproniazid, which prevent the breakdown of monoamine neurotransmitters, produced apparent antidepressant effects. Most currently marketed antidepressants, which are monoaminergic in their actions, are theoretically consistent with the monoamine hypothesis. Despite the widespread nature of the monoamine hypothesis, it has a number of limitations: for one, all monoaminergic antidepressants have a delayed onset of action of at least a week; and secondly, many people with depression do not respond to monoaminergic antidepressants. A number of alternative hypotheses have been proposed, including hypotheses involving glutamate, neurogenesis, epigenetics, cortisol hypersecretion, and inflammation, among others. + +In 2022, a major systematic umbrella review by Joanna Moncrieff and colleagues showed that the serotonin theory of depression was not supported by evidence from a wide variety of areas. The authors concluded that there is no association between serotonin and depression, and that there is no evidence that strongly supports the theory that depression is caused by low serotonin activity or concentrations. Other literature had described the lack of support for the theory previously. In many of the expert responses to the review, it was stated that the monoamine hypothesis had already long been abandoned by psychiatry. This is in spite of about 90% of the general public in Western countries believing the theory to be true and many in the field of psychiatry continuing to promote the theory up to recent times. In addition to the serotonin umbrella review, reviews have found that reserpine, a drug that depletes the monoamine neurotransmitters—including serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine—shows no consistent evidence of producing depressive effects. Instead, findings of reserpine and mood are highly mixed, with similar proportions of studies finding that it has no influence on mood, produces depressive effects, or actually has antidepressant effects. In relation to this, the general monoamine hypothesis, as opposed to only the serotonin theory of depression, likewise does not appear to be well-supported by evidence. + +The serotonin and monoamine hypotheses of depression have been heavily promoted by the pharmaceutical industry (e.g., in advertisements) and by the psychiatric profession at large despite the lack of evidence in support of them. In the case of the pharmaceutical industry, this can be attributed to obvious financial incentives, with the theory creating a bias against non-pharmacological treatments for depression. + +An alternative theory for antidepressant action proposed by certain academics such as Irving Kirsch and Joanna Moncrieff is that they work largely or entirely via placebo mechanisms. This is supported by meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials of antidepressants for depression, which consistently show that placebo groups in trials improve about 80 to 90% as much as antidepressant groups on average and that antidepressants are only marginally more effective for depression than placebos. The difference between antidepressants and placebo corresponds to an effect size (SMD) of about 0.3, which in turn equates to about a 2- to 3-point additional improvement on the 0–52-point (HRSD) and 0–60-point (MADRS) depression rating scales used in trials. Differences in effectiveness between different antidepressants are small and not clinically meaningful. The small advantage of antidepressants over placebo is often statistically significant and is the basis for their regulatory approval, but is sufficiently modest that its clinical significance is doubtful. Moreover, the small advantage of antidepressants over placebo may simply be a methodological artifact caused by unblinding due to the psychoactive effects and side effects of antidepressants, in turn resulting in enhanced placebo effects and apparent antidepressant efficacy. Placebos have been found to modify the activity of several brain regions and to increase levels of dopamine and endogenous opioids in the reward pathways. It has been argued by Kirsch that although antidepressants may be used efficaciously for depression as active placebos, they are limited by significant pharmacological side effects and risks, and therefore non-pharmacological therapies, such as psychotherapy and lifestyle changes, which can have similar efficacy to antidepressants but do not have their adverse effects, ought to be preferred as treatments in people with depression. + +The placebo response, or the improvement in scores in the placebo group in clinical trials, is not only due to the placebo effect, but is also due to other phenomena such as spontaneous remission and regression to the mean. Depression tends to have an episodic course, with people eventually recovering even with no medical intervention, and people tend to seek treatment, as well as enroll in clinical trials, when they are feeling their worst. In meta-analyses of trials of depression therapies, Kirsch estimated based on improvement in untreated waiting-list controls that spontaneous remission and regression to the mean only account for about 25% of the improvement in depression scores with antidepressant therapy. However, another academic, Michael P. Hengartner, has argued and presented evidence that spontaneous remission and regression to the mean might actually account for most of the improvement in depression scores with antidepressants, and that the substantial placebo effect observed in clinical trials might largely be a methodological artifact. This suggests that antidepressants may be associated with much less genuine treatment benefit, whether due to the placebo effect or to the antidepressant itself, than has been traditionally assumed. + +Types + +Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors + +Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are believed to increase the extracellular level of the neurotransmitter serotonin by limiting its reabsorption into the presynaptic cell, increasing the level of serotonin in the synaptic cleft available to bind to the postsynaptic receptor. They have varying degrees of selectivity for the other monoamine transporters, with pure SSRIs having only weak affinity for the norepinephrine and dopamine transporters. + +SSRIs are the most widely prescribed antidepressants in many countries. The efficacy of SSRIs in mild or moderate cases of depression has been disputed. + +Serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors + +Serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) are potent inhibitors of the reuptake of serotonin and norepinephrine. These neurotransmitters are known to play an important role in mood. SNRIs can be contrasted with the more widely used selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which act mostly upon serotonin alone. + +The human serotonin transporter (SERT) and norepinephrine transporter (NET) are membrane proteins that are responsible for the reuptake of serotonin and norepinephrine. Balanced dual inhibition of monoamine reuptake may offer advantages over other antidepressants drugs by treating a wider range of symptoms. + +SNRIs are sometimes also used to treat anxiety disorders, obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), chronic neuropathic pain, and fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS), and for the relief of menopausal symptoms. + +Serotonin modulators and stimulators +Serotonin modulator and stimulators (SMSs), sometimes referred to more simply as "serotonin modulators", are a type of drug with a multimodal action specific to the serotonin neurotransmitter system. To be precise, SMSs simultaneously modulate one or more serotonin receptors and inhibit the reuptake of serotonin. The term was coined in reference to the mechanism of action of the serotonergic antidepressant vortioxetine, which acts as a serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SRI), a partial agonist of the 5-HT1A receptor, and antagonist of the 5-HT3 and 5-HT7 receptors. However, it can also technically be applied to vilazodone, which is an antidepressant as well and acts as an SRI and 5-HT1A receptor partial agonist. + +An alternative term is serotonin partial agonist/reuptake inhibitor (SPARI), which can be applied only to vilazodone. + +Serotonin antagonists and reuptake inhibitors +Serotonin antagonist and reuptake inhibitors (SARIs) while mainly used as antidepressants are also anxiolytics and hypnotics. They act by antagonizing serotonin receptors such as 5-HT2A and inhibiting the reuptake of serotonin, norepinephrine, and/or dopamine. Additionally, most also act as α1-adrenergic receptor antagonists. The majority of the currently marketed SARIs belong to the phenylpiperazine class of compounds. They include trazodone and nefazodone. + +Tricyclic antidepressants +The majority of the tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) act primarily as serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) by blocking the serotonin transporter (SERT) and the norepinephrine transporter (NET), respectively, which results in an elevation of the synaptic concentrations of these neurotransmitters, and therefore an enhancement of neurotransmission. Notably, with the sole exception of amineptine, the TCAs have weak affinity for the dopamine transporter (DAT), and therefore have low efficacy as dopamine reuptake inhibitors (DRIs). + +Although TCAs are sometimes prescribed for depressive disorders, they have been largely replaced in clinical use in most parts of the world by newer antidepressants such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (NRIs). Adverse effects have been found to be of a similar level between TCAs and SSRIs. + +Tetracyclic antidepressants +Tetracyclic antidepressants (TeCAs) are a class of antidepressants that were first introduced in the 1970s. They are named after their chemical structure, which contains four rings of atoms, and are closely related to tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs), which contain three rings of atoms. + +Monoamine oxidase inhibitors +Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) are chemicals that inhibit the activity of the monoamine oxidase enzyme family. They have a long history of use as medications prescribed for the treatment of depression. They are particularly effective in treating atypical depression. They are also used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease and several other disorders. + +Because of potentially lethal dietary and drug interactions, MAOIs have historically been reserved as a last line of treatment, used only when other classes of antidepressant drugs (for example selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and tricyclic antidepressants) have failed. + +MAOIs have been found to be effective in the treatment of panic disorder with agoraphobia, social phobia, atypical depression or mixed anxiety and depression, bulimia, and post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as borderline personality disorder. MAOIs appear to be particularly effective in the management of bipolar depression according to a retrospective-analysis. There are reports of MAOI efficacy in obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), trichotillomania, dysmorphophobia, and avoidant personality disorder, but these reports are from uncontrolled case reports. + +MAOIs can also be used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease by targeting MAO-B in particular (therefore affecting dopaminergic neurons), as well as providing an alternative for migraine prophylaxis. Inhibition of both MAO-A and MAO-B is used in the treatment of clinical depression and anxiety disorders. + +NMDA receptor antagonists +NMDA receptor antagonists like ketamine and esketamine are rapid-acting antidepressants and seem to work via blockade of the ionotropic glutamate NMDA receptor. Other NMDA antagonists may also play a role in treating depression. The combination medication dextromethorphan/bupropion (Auvelity), which contains the NMDA receptor antagonist dextromethorphan, was approved in the United States in 2022 for treating major depressive disorder. + +Others +See the list of antidepressants and management of depression for other drugs that are not specifically characterized. + +Adjuncts +Adjunct medications are an umbrella category of substances that increase the potency or "enhance" antidepressants. They work by affecting variables very close to the antidepressant, sometimes affecting a completely different mechanism of action. This may be attempted when depression treatments have not been successful in the past. + +Common types of adjunct medication techniques generally fall into the following categories: + + Two or more antidepressants taken together + From the same class (affecting the same area of the brain, often at a much higher level) + From different classes (affecting multiple parts of the brain not covered simultaneously by either drug alone) + An antipsychotic combined with an antidepressant, particularly atypical antipsychotics such as aripiprazole (Abilify), quetiapine (Seroquel), olanzapine (Zyprexa), and risperidone (Risperdal). +It is unknown if undergoing psychological therapy at the same time as taking anti-depressants enhances the anti-depressive effect of the medication. + +Less common adjuncts +Lithium has been used to augment antidepressant therapy in those who have failed to respond to antidepressants alone. Furthermore, Lithium dramatically decreases the suicide risk in recurrent depression. There is some evidence for the addition of a thyroid hormone, triiodothyronine, in patients with normal thyroid function. + +Psychopharmacologists have also tried adding a stimulant, in particular, D-amphetamine. However, the use of stimulants in cases of treatment-resistant depression is relatively controversial. A review article published in 2007 found psychostimulants may be effective in treatment-resistant depression with concomitant antidepressant therapy, but a more certain conclusion could not be drawn due to substantial deficiencies in the studies available for consideration, and the somewhat contradictory nature of their results. + +History + +The idea of an antidepressant, at least if melancholy is thought synonymous with the depression, is at least since the publication of the 1599 pamphlet A pil to purge melancholie or, A preprative to a pvrgation: or, Topping, copping, and capping: take either or whether: or, Mash them, and squash them, and dash them, and diddle come derrie come daw them, all together.., after to this Thomas d'Urfey's Wit and Mirth: Or Pills to Purge Melancholy, the title of a large collection of songs, was published between 1698 and 1720. + +Before the 1950s, opioids and amphetamines were commonly used as antidepressants. Their use was later restricted due to their addictive nature and side effects. Extracts from the herb St John's wort have been used as a "nerve tonic" to alleviate depression. + +St John's wort fell out of favor in most countries through the 19th and 20th centuries, except in Germany, where Hypericum extracts were eventually licensed, packaged, and prescribed. Small-scale efficacy trials were carried out in the 1970s and 1980s, and attention grew in the 1990s following a meta-analysis. It remains an over-the-counter drug (OTC) supplement in most countries. Lead contamination associated with its usage has been seen as concerning, as lead levels in women in the United States taking St. John's wort are elevated by about 20% on average. Research continues to investigate its active component hyperforin, and to further understand its mode of action. + +Isoniazid, iproniazid, and imipramine +In 1951, Irving Selikoff and Edward H. Robitzek, working out of Sea View Hospital on Staten Island, began clinical trials on two new anti-tuberculosis agents developed by Hoffman-LaRoche, isoniazid, and iproniazid. Only patients with a poor prognosis were initially treated. Nevertheless, their condition improved dramatically. Selikoff and Robitzek noted "a subtle general stimulation ... the patients exhibited renewed vigor and indeed this occasionally served to introduce disciplinary problems." The promise of a cure for tuberculosis in the Sea View Hospital trials was excitedly discussed in the mainstream press. + +In 1952, learning of the stimulating side effects of isoniazid, the Cincinnati psychiatrist Max Lurie tried it on his patients. In the following year, he and Harry Salzer reported that isoniazid improved depression in two-thirds of their patients, so they then coined the term antidepressant to refer to its action. A similar incident took place in Paris, where Jean Delay, head of psychiatry at Sainte-Anne Hospital, heard of this effect from his pulmonology colleagues at Cochin Hospital. In 1952 (before Lurie and Salzer), Delay, with the resident Jean-Francois Buisson, reported the positive effect of isoniazid on depressed patients. The mode of antidepressant action of isoniazid is still unclear. It is speculated that its effect is due to the inhibition of diamine oxidase, coupled with a weak inhibition of monoamine oxidase A. + +Selikoff and Robitzek also experimented with another anti-tuberculosis drug, iproniazid; it showed a greater psychostimulant effect, but more pronounced toxicity. Later, Jackson Smith, Gordon Kamman, George E. Crane, and Frank Ayd, described the psychiatric applications of iproniazid. Ernst Zeller found iproniazid to be a potent monoamine oxidase inhibitor. Nevertheless, iproniazid remained relatively obscure until Nathan S. Kline, the influential head of research at Rockland State Hospital, began to popularize it in the medical and popular press as a "psychic energizer". Roche put a significant marketing effort behind iproniazid. Its sales grew until it was recalled in 1961, due to reports of lethal hepatotoxicity. + +The antidepressant effect of a tricyclic, a three-ringed compound, was first discovered in 1957 by Roland Kuhn in a Swiss psychiatric hospital. Antihistamine derivatives were used to treat surgical shock and later as neuroleptics. Although in 1955, reserpine was shown to be more effective than a placebo in alleviating anxious depression, neuroleptics were being developed as sedatives and antipsychotics. + +Attempting to improve the effectiveness of chlorpromazine, Kuhn in conjunction with the Geigy Pharmaceutical Company discovered the compound "G 22355", later renamed imipramine. Imipramine had a beneficial effect on patients with depression who showed mental and motor retardation. Kuhn described his new compound as a "thymoleptic" "taking hold of the emotions," in contrast with neuroleptics, "taking hold of the nerves" in 1955–56. These gradually became established, resulting in the patent and manufacture in the US in 1951 by Häfliger and SchinderA. + +Antidepressants became prescription drugs in the 1950s. It was estimated that no more than fifty to one hundred individuals per million had the kind of depression that these new drugs would treat, and pharmaceutical companies were not enthusiastic about marketing for this small market. Sales through the 1960s remained poor compared to the sales of tranquilizers, which were being marketed for different uses. Imipramine remained in common use and numerous successors were introduced. The use of monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOI) increased after the development and introduction of "reversible" forms affecting only the MAO-A subtype of inhibitors, making this drug safer to use. + +By the 1960s, it was thought that the mode of action of tricyclics was to inhibit norepinephrine reuptake. However, norepinephrine reuptake became associated with stimulating effects. Later tricyclics were thought to affect serotonin as proposed in 1969 by Carlsson and Lindqvist as well as Lapin and Oxenkrug. + +Second-generation antidepressants + +Researchers began a process of rational drug design to isolate antihistamine-derived compounds that would selectively target these systems. The first such compound to be patented was zimelidine in 1971, while the first released clinically was indalpine. Fluoxetine was approved for commercial use by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1988, becoming the first blockbuster SSRI. Fluoxetine was developed at Eli Lilly and Company in the early 1970s by Bryan Molloy, Klaus Schmiegel, David T. Wong, and others. SSRIs became known as "novel antidepressants" along with other newer drugs such as SNRIs and NRIs with various selective effects. + +Rapid-acting antidepressants +Esketamine (brand name Spravato), the first rapid-acting antidepressant to be approved for clinical treatment of depression, was introduced for this indication in March 2019 in the United States. + +Research +A 2016 randomized controlled trial evaluated the rapid antidepressant effects of the psychedelic Ayahuasca in treatment-resistant depression with a positive outcome. In 2018, the FDA granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation for psilocybin-assisted therapy for treatment-resistant depression and in 2019, the FDA granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation for psilocybin therapy treating major depressive disorder. + +Publication bias and aged research +A 2018 systematic review published in The Lancet comparing the efficacy of 21 different first and second generation antidepressants found that antidepressant drugs tended to perform better and cause less adverse events when they were novel or experimental treatments compared to when they were evaluated again years later. Unpublished data was also associated with smaller positive effect sizes. However, the review did not find evidence of bias associated with industry funded research. + +Society and culture + +Prescription trends + +United Kingdom +In the UK, figures reported in 2010 indicated that the number of antidepressants prescribed by the National Health Service (NHS) almost doubled over a decade. Further analysis published in 2014 showed that number of antidepressants dispensed annually in the community went up by 25 million in the 14 years between 1998 and 2012, rising from 15 million to 40 million. Nearly 50% of this rise occurred in the four years after the 2008 banking crash, during which time the annual increase in prescriptions rose from 6.7% to 8.5%. These sources also suggest that aside from the recession, other factors that may influence changes in prescribing rates may include: improvements in diagnosis, a reduction of the stigma surrounding mental health, broader prescribing trends, GP characteristics, geographical location, and housing status. Another factor that may contribute to increasing consumption of antidepressants is the fact that these medications now are used for other conditions including social anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. + +Between 2005 and 2017, the number of adolescents (12 to 17 years) in England who were prescribed antidepressants has doubled. On the other hand, antidepressant prescriptions for children aged 5–11 in England decreased between 1999 and 2017. From April 2015, prescriptions increased for both age groups (for people aged 0 to 17) and peaked during the first COVID lockdown in March 2020. + +According to National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines, antidepressants for children and adolescents with depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) should be prescribed together with therapy and after being assessed by a child and adolescent psychiatrist. However, between 2006 and 2017, only 1 in 4 of 12–17 year-olds who were prescribed an SSRI by their GP had seen a specialist psychiatrist and 1 in 6 has seen a pediatrician. Half of these prescriptions were for depression and 16% for anxiety, the latter not being licensed for treatment with antidepressants. Among the suggested possible reasons why GPs are not following the guidelines are the difficulties of accessing talking therapies, long waiting lists, and the urgency of treatment. According to some researchers, strict adherence to treatment guidelines would limit access to effective medication for young people with mental health problems. + +United States +In the United States, antidepressants were the most commonly prescribed medication in 2013. Of the estimated 16 million "long term" (over 24 months) users, roughly 70 percent are female. , about 16.5% of white people in the United States took antidepressants compared with 5.6% of black people in the United States. + +United States: The most commonly prescribed antidepressants in the US retail market in 2010 were: + +Netherlands: In the Netherlands, paroxetine is the most prescribed antidepressant, followed by amitriptyline, citalopram and venlafaxine. + +Adherence + +, worldwide, 30% to 60% of people did not follow their practitioner's instructions about taking their antidepressants, and in the US, it appeared that around 50% of people did not take their antidepressants as directed by their practitioner. + +When people fail to take their antidepressants, there is a greater risk that the drug will not help, that symptoms get worse, that they miss work or are less productive at work, and that the person may be hospitalized. + +Social science perspective +Some academics have highlighted the need to examine the use of antidepressants and other medical treatments in cross-cultural terms, because various cultures prescribe and observe different manifestations, symptoms, meanings, and associations of depression and other medical conditions within their populations. These cross-cultural discrepancies, it has been argued, then have implications on the perceived efficacy and use of antidepressants and other strategies in the treatment of depression in these different cultures. In India, antidepressants are largely seen as tools to combat marginality, promising the individual the ability to reintegrate into society through their use—a view and association not observed in the West. + +Environmental impacts +Because most antidepressants function by inhibiting the reuptake of neurotransmitters serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine these drugs can interfere with natural neurotransmitter levels in other organisms impacted by indirect exposure. Antidepressants fluoxetine and sertraline have been detected in aquatic organisms residing in effluent-dominated streams. The presence of antidepressants in surface waters and aquatic organisms has caused concern because ecotoxicological effects on aquatic organisms due to fluoxetine exposure have been demonstrated. + +Coral reef fish have been demonstrated to modulate aggressive behavior through serotonin. Artificially increasing serotonin levels in crustaceans can temporarily reverse social status and turn subordinates into aggressive and territorial dominant males. + +Exposure to Fluoxetine has been demonstrated to increase serotonergic activity in fish, subsequently reducing aggressive behavior. Perinatal exposure to Fluoxetine at relevant environmental concentrations has been shown to lead to significant modifications of memory processing in 1-month-old cuttlefish. This impairment may disadvantage cuttlefish and decrease their survival. Somewhat less than 10% of orally administered Fluoxetine is excreted from humans unchanged or as glucuronide. + +See also + + Management of depression + Depression in childhood and adolescence + Antidepressants in Japan + Atypical antidepressant + Depression and natural therapies + List of investigational antidepressants + +References + +Further reading + +External links + + +Major depressive disorder +Drug classes defined by psychological effects +The Auger effect (; ) or Auger−Meitner effect is a physical phenomenon in which the filling of an inner-shell vacancy of an atom is accompanied by the emission of an electron from the same atom. When a core electron is removed, leaving a vacancy, an electron from a higher energy level may fall into the vacancy, resulting in a release of energy. For light atoms (Z<12), this energy is most often transferred to a valence electron which is subsequently ejected from the atom. This second ejected electron is called an Auger electron. For heavier atomic nuclei, the release of the energy in the form of an emitted photon becomes gradually more probable. + +Effect +Upon ejection, the kinetic energy of the Auger electron corresponds to the difference between the energy of the initial electronic transition into the vacancy and the ionization energy for the electron shell from which the Auger electron was ejected. These energy levels depend on the type of atom and the chemical environment in which the atom was located. + +Auger electron spectroscopy involves the emission of Auger electrons by bombarding a sample with either X-rays or energetic electrons and measures the intensity of Auger electrons that result as a function of the Auger electron energy. The resulting spectra can be used to determine the identity of the emitting atoms and some information about their environment. + +Auger recombination is a similar Auger effect which occurs in semiconductors. An electron and electron hole (electron-hole pair) can recombine giving up their energy to an electron in the conduction band, increasing its energy. The reverse effect is known as impact ionization. + +The Auger effect can impact biological molecules such as DNA. Following the K-shell ionization of the component atoms of DNA, Auger electrons are ejected leading to damage of its sugar-phosphate backbone. + +Discovery +The Auger emission process was observed and published in 1922 by Lise Meitner, an Austrian-Swedish physicist, as a side effect in her competitive search for the nuclear beta electrons with the British physicist Charles Drummond Ellis. + +The French physicist Pierre Victor Auger independently discovered it in 1923 upon analysis of a Wilson cloud chamber experiment and it became the central part of his PhD work. High-energy X-rays were applied to ionize gas particles and observe photoelectric electrons. The observation of electron tracks that were independent of the frequency of the incident photon suggested a mechanism for electron ionization that was caused from an internal conversion of energy from a radiationless transition. Further investigation, and theoretical work using elementary quantum mechanics and transition rate/transition probability calculations, showed that the effect was a radiationless effect more than an internal conversion effect. + +See also +Auger therapy +Charge carrier generation and recombination +Characteristic X-ray +Coster–Kronig transition +Electron capture +Radiative Auger effect + +References + +Atomic physics +Foundational quantum physics +Electron spectroscopy +was a Japanese entrepreneur and co-founder of Sony along with Masaru Ibuka. + +Early life +Akio Morita was born in Nagoya. Morita's family was involved in sake, miso and soy sauce production in the village of Kosugaya (currently a part of Tokoname City) on the western coast of Chita Peninsula in Aichi Prefecture since 1665. He was the oldest of four siblings and his father Kyuzaemon trained him as a child to take over the family business. Akio, however, found his true calling in mathematics and physics, and in 1944 he graduated from Osaka Imperial University with a degree in physics. He was later commissioned as a sub-lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Navy, and served in World War II. During his service, Morita met his future business partner Masaru Ibuka at a study group for developing infrared-guided bomb (Ke-Go) in the Navy's Wartime Research Committee. + +Sony +In September 1945, Ibuka founded a radio repair shop in the bombed out Shirokiya Department Store in Nihonbashi, Tokyo. Morita saw a newspaper article about Ibuka's new venture and, after some correspondence, chose to join him in Tokyo. With funding from Morita's father, they co-founded Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation, the forerunner of Sony Corporation) in 1946 with about 20 employees and initial capital of ¥190,000. + +In 1949, the company developed magnetic recording tape and, in 1950, sold the first tape recorder in Japan. Ibuka was instrumental in securing the licensing of transistor technology from Bell Labs to Sony in the 1950s, thus making Sony one of the first companies to apply transistor technology to non-military uses. In 1957, the company produced a pocket-sized radio (the first to be fully transistorized), and in 1958, Morita and Ibuka decided to rename their company Sony Corporation (derived from "sonus"—–Latin for "sound"—–and "sonny", a then-common American expression). Morita was an advocate for all the products made by Sony. However, since the radio was slightly too big to fit in a shirt pocket, Morita made his employees wear shirts with slightly larger pockets to give the radio a "pocket sized" appearance. + +Morita founded Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, currently abbreviated as SCA) in 1960. In the process, he was struck by the mobility of employees between American companies, which was unheard of in Japan at that time. When he returned to Japan, he encouraged experienced, middle-aged employees of other companies to reevaluate their careers and consider joining Sony. The company filled many positions in this manner, and inspired other Japanese companies to do the same. In 1961, Sony Corporation was the first Japanese company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange, in the form of American depositary receipts (ADRs). + +In March 1968, Morita set up a joint venture in Japan between Sony and CBS Records, with him as president, to manufacture "software" for Sony's hardware. + +Morita became president of Sony in 1971, taking over from Ibuka who had served from 1950 to 1971. In 1975, Sony released the first Betamax home videocassette recorder, a year before the VHS format came out. + +Ibuka retired in 1976 and Morita was named chairman of the company. In 1979, the Walkman was introduced, making it one of the world's first portable music players and in 1982, Sony launched the world's first compact disc player, the Sony CDP-101, with a compact disc (CD) itself, a new data storage format Sony and Philips co-developed. In that year, a 3.5-inch floppy disk structure was introduced by Sony and it soon became the defacto standard. In 1984, Sony launched the Discman series which extended their Walkman brand to portable CD products. + +Under the vision of Morita, the company aggressively expanded into new businesses. Part of its motivation for doing so was the pursuit of "convergence", linking film, music and digital electronics. Twenty years after setting up a joint venture with CBS Records in Japan, Sony bought CBS Records Group which consisted of Columbia Records, Epic Records and other CBS labels. In 1989, they acquired Columbia Pictures Entertainment (Columbia Pictures, TriStar Pictures and others). + +Norio Ohga, who had joined the company in the 1950s after sending Morita a letter denouncing the poor quality of the company's tape recorders, succeeded Morita as chief executive officer in 1989. + +Morita suffered a cerebral hemorrhage in 1993 while playing tennis and on November 25, 1994, stepped down as Sony chairman to be succeeded by Ohga. + +Other affiliations +Morita was vice chairman of the Japan Business Federation (Japan Federation of Economic Organizations), and was a member of the Japan-U.S. Economic Relations Group, also known as the "Wise Men's Group". He helped General Motors with their acquisition of an interest in Isuzu Motors in 1972. He was the third Japanese chairman of the Trilateral Commission. His amateur radio call sign is JP1DPJ. + +Publications +In 1966, Morita wrote a book called Gakureki Muyō Ron (学歴無用論, Never Mind School Records), where he stresses that school records are not important to success or one's business skills. In 1986, Morita wrote an autobiography titled Made in Japan. He co-authored the 1991 book The Japan That Can Say No with politician Shintaro Ishihara, where they criticized American business practices and encouraged Japanese to take a more independent role in business and foreign affairs. (Actually, Morita had no intention to criticize American practices at that time.) The book was translated into English and caused controversy in the United States, and Morita later had his chapters removed from the English version and distanced himself from the book. + +Awards and honours +In 1972, Morita received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. Morita was awarded the Albert Medal by the United Kingdom's Royal Society of Arts in 1982, the first Japanese to receive the honor. Two years later, he received the prestigious Legion of Honour, and in 1991, was awarded the First Class Order of the Sacred Treasure from the Emperor of Japan. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1992 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1993. That same year, he was awarded an honorary British knighthood (KBE). Morita received the International Distinguished Entrepreneur Award from the University of Manitoba in 1987. In 1998, he was the only Asian person on Time magazine's list of the 20 most influential business people of the 20th century as part of their Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century. He was posthumously awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun in 1999. In 2003, Anaheim University's Graduate School of Business was renamed the Akio Morita School of Business in his honor. The Morita family's support for the program led to the growth of the Anaheim University Akio Morita School of Business in Tokyo, Japan. + +Television commercials +American Express (1984) + +Death +Morita, who loved to play golf and tennis and to watch movies when rainy, suffered a stroke in 1993, during a game of tennis. The stroke weakened him and left him in a wheelchair. On November 25, 1994, he stepped down as Sony chairman. On October 3, 1999, Morita died of pneumonia at the age of 78 in a Tokyo hospital, where he had been admitted since August 1999. + +References + +Further reading +Morita, Akio. Made in Japan (New York: Dutton, 1986, ) +Morita, Akio. Never Mind School Records (1966) ( in Japanese) +Morita, Akio (Co-Author) and Shintaro Ishihara. The Japan That Can Say No (Simon & Schuster, 1991, , in Japanese) +List of books authored by Akio Morita at WorldCat + +External links + +Akio Morita Library +Time magazine, AKIO MORITA: Guru Of Gadgets +Time Asia, Time 100: Akio Morita +Sony Biographical notes +PBS notes +Full Biography at World of Biography +Akio Morita Facts + The Morita Family(in Japanese) + + + + +1921 births +1999 deaths +Honorary Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire +20th-century Japanese businesspeople +Japanese company founders +Imperial Japanese Navy personnel of World War II +Recipients of the Legion of Honour +Recipients of the Order of the Sacred Treasure +People from Nagoya +Businesspeople from Tokyo +Sony people +Osaka University alumni +International Emmy Directorate Award +Imperial Japanese Navy officers +Japanese industrialists +Deaths from pneumonia in Japan +Members of the American Philosophical Society +An anode is an electrode of a polarized electrical device through which conventional current enters the device. This contrasts with a cathode, an electrode of the device through which conventional current leaves the device. A common mnemonic is ACID, for "anode current into device". The direction of conventional current (the flow of positive charges) in a circuit is opposite to the direction of electron flow, so (negatively charged) electrons flow from the anode of a galvanic cell, into an outside or external circuit connected to the cell. For example, the end of a household battery marked with a "+" is the cathode (while discharging). + +In both a galvanic cell and an electrolytic cell, the anode is the electrode at which the oxidation reaction occurs. In a galvanic cell the anode is the wire or plate having excess negative charge as a result of the oxidation reaction. In an electrolytic cell, the anode is the wire or plate upon which excess positive charge is imposed. As a result of this, anions will tend to move towards the anode where they will undergo oxidation. + +Historically, the anode of a galvanic cell was also known as the zincode because it was usually composed of zinc. + +Charge flow +The terms anode and cathode are not defined by the voltage polarity of electrodes but the direction of current through the electrode. An anode is an electrode of a device through which conventional current (positive charge) flows into the device from an external circuit, while a cathode is an electrode through which conventional current flows out of the device. If the current through the electrodes reverses direction, as occurs for example in a rechargeable battery when it is being charged, the roles of the electrodes as anode and cathode are reversed. + +Conventional current depends not only on the direction the charge carriers move, but also the carriers' electric charge. The currents outside the device are usually carried by electrons in a metal conductor. Since electrons have a negative charge, the direction of electron flow is opposite to the direction of conventional current. Consequently, electrons leave the device through the anode and enter the device through the cathode. + +The definition of anode and cathode is different for electrical devices such as diodes and vacuum tubes where the electrode naming is fixed and does not depend on the actual charge flow (current). These devices usually allow substantial current flow in one direction but negligible current in the other direction. Therefore, the electrodes are named based on the direction of this "forward" current. In a diode the anode is the terminal through which current enters and the cathode is the terminal through which current leaves, when the diode is forward biased. The names of the electrodes do not change in cases where reverse current flows through the device. Similarly, in a vacuum tube only one electrode can emit electrons into the evacuated tube due to being heated by a filament, so electrons can only enter the device from the external circuit through the heated electrode. Therefore, this electrode is permanently named the cathode, and the electrode through which the electrons exit the tube is named the anode. + +Examples + +The polarity of voltage on an anode with respect to an associated cathode varies depending on the device type and on its operating mode. In the following examples, the anode is negative in a device that provides power, and positive in a device that consumes power: + +In a discharging battery or galvanic cell (diagram on left), the anode is the negative terminal: it is where conventional current flows into the cell. This inward current is carried externally by electrons moving outwards. + +In a recharging battery, or an electrolytic cell, the anode is the positive terminal imposed by an external source of potential difference. The current through a recharging battery is opposite to the direction of current during discharge; in other words, the electrode which was the cathode during battery discharge becomes the anode while the battery is recharging. + +In battery engineering, it is common to designate one electrode of a rechargeable battery the anode and the other the cathode according to the roles the electrodes play when the battery is discharged. This is despite the fact that the roles are reversed when the battery is charged. When this is done, "anode" simply designates the negative terminal of the battery and "cathode" designates the positive terminal. + +In a diode, the anode is the terminal represented by the tail of the arrow symbol (flat side of the triangle), where conventional current flows into the device. Note the electrode naming for diodes is always based on the direction of the forward current (that of the arrow, in which the current flows "most easily"), even for types such as Zener diodes or solar cells where the current of interest is the reverse current. + +In vacuum tubes or gas-filled tubes, the anode is the terminal where current enters the tube. + +Etymology +The word was coined in 1834 from the Greek ἄνοδος (anodos), 'ascent', by William Whewell, who had been consulted by Michael Faraday over some new names needed to complete a paper on the recently discovered process of electrolysis. In that paper Faraday explained that when an electrolytic cell is oriented so that electric current traverses the "decomposing body" (electrolyte) in a direction "from East to West, or, which will strengthen this help to the memory, that in which the sun appears to move", the anode is where the current enters the electrolyte, on the East side: "ano upwards, odos a way; the way which the sun rises". + +The use of 'East' to mean the 'in' direction (actually 'in' → 'East' → 'sunrise' → 'up') may appear contrived. Previously, as related in the first reference cited above, Faraday had used the more straightforward term "eisode" (the doorway where the current enters). His motivation for changing it to something meaning 'the East electrode' (other candidates had been "eastode", "oriode" and "anatolode") was to make it immune to a possible later change in the direction convention for current, whose exact nature was not known at the time. The reference he used to this effect was the Earth's magnetic field direction, which at that time was believed to be invariant. He fundamentally defined his arbitrary orientation for the cell as being that in which the internal current would run parallel to and in the same direction as a hypothetical magnetizing current loop around the local line of latitude which would induce a magnetic dipole field oriented like the Earth's. This made the internal current East to West as previously mentioned, but in the event of a later convention change it would have become West to East, so that the East electrode would not have been the 'way in' any more. Therefore, "eisode" would have become inappropriate, whereas "anode" meaning 'East electrode' would have remained correct with respect to the unchanged direction of the actual phenomenon underlying the current, then unknown but, he thought, unambiguously defined by the magnetic reference. In retrospect the name change was unfortunate, not only because the Greek roots alone do not reveal the anode's function any more, but more importantly because as we now know, the Earth's magnetic field direction on which the "anode" term is based is subject to reversals whereas the current direction convention on which the "eisode" term was based has no reason to change in the future. + +Since the later discovery of the electron, an easier to remember and more durably correct technically although historically false, etymology has been suggested: anode, from the Greek anodos, 'way up', 'the way (up) out of the cell (or other device) for electrons'. + +Electrolytic anode +In electrochemistry, the anode is where oxidation occurs and is the positive polarity contact in an electrolytic cell. At the anode, anions (negative ions) are forced by the electrical potential to react chemically and give off electrons (oxidation) which then flow up and into the driving circuit. Mnemonics: LEO Red Cat (Loss of Electrons is Oxidation, Reduction occurs at the Cathode), or AnOx Red Cat (Anode Oxidation, Reduction Cathode), or OIL RIG (Oxidation is Loss, Reduction is Gain of electrons), or Roman Catholic and Orthodox (Reduction – Cathode, anode – Oxidation), or LEO the lion says GER (Losing electrons is Oxidation, Gaining electrons is Reduction). + +This process is widely used in metals refining. For example, in copper refining, copper anodes, an intermediate product from the furnaces, are electrolysed in an appropriate solution (such as sulfuric acid) to yield high purity (99.99%) cathodes. Copper cathodes produced using this method are also described as electrolytic copper. + +Historically, when non-reactive anodes were desired for electrolysis, graphite (called plumbago in Faraday's time) or platinum were chosen. They were found to be some of the least reactive materials for anodes. Platinum erodes very slowly compared to other materials, and graphite crumbles and can produce carbon dioxide in aqueous solutions but otherwise does not participate in the reaction. + +Battery or galvanic cell anode + +In a battery or galvanic cell, the anode is the negative electrode from which electrons flow out towards the external part of the circuit. Internally the positively charged cations are flowing away from the anode (even though it is negative and therefore would be expected to attract them, this is due to electrode potential relative to the electrolyte solution being different for the anode and cathode metal/electrolyte systems); but, external to the cell in the circuit, electrons are being pushed out through the negative contact and thus through the circuit by the voltage potential as would be expected. Note: in a galvanic cell, contrary to what occurs in an electrolytic cell, no anions flow to the anode, the internal current being entirely accounted for by the cations flowing away from it (cf drawing). + +Battery manufacturers may regard the negative electrode as the anode, particularly in their technical literature. Though technically incorrect, it does resolve the problem of which electrode is the anode in a secondary (or rechargeable) cell. Using the traditional definition, the anode switches ends between charge and discharge cycles. + +Vacuum tube anode + +In electronic vacuum devices such as a cathode-ray tube, the anode is the positively charged electron collector. In a tube, the anode is a charged positive plate that collects the electrons emitted by the cathode through electric attraction. It also accelerates the flow of these electrons. + +Diode anode + +In a semiconductor diode, the anode is the P-doped layer which initially supplies holes to the junction. In the junction region, the holes supplied by the anode combine with electrons supplied from the N-doped region, creating a depleted zone. As the P-doped layer supplies holes to the depleted region, negative dopant ions are left behind in the P-doped layer ('P' for positive charge-carrier ions). This creates a base negative charge on the anode. When a positive voltage is applied to anode of the diode from the circuit, more holes are able to be transferred to the depleted region, and this causes the diode to become conductive, allowing current to flow through the circuit. The terms anode and cathode should not be applied to a Zener diode, since it allows flow in either direction, depending on the polarity of the applied potential (i.e. voltage). + +Sacrificial anode + +In cathodic protection, a metal anode that is more reactive to the corrosive environment than the metal system to be protected is electrically linked to the protected system. As a result, the metal anode partially corrodes or dissolves instead of the metal system. As an example, an iron or steel ship's hull may be protected by a zinc sacrificial anode, which will dissolve into the seawater and prevent the hull from being corroded. Sacrificial anodes are particularly needed for systems where a static charge is generated by the action of flowing liquids, such as pipelines and watercraft. Sacrificial anodes are also generally used in tank-type water heaters. + +In 1824 to reduce the impact of this destructive electrolytic action on ships hulls, their fastenings and underwater equipment, the scientist-engineer Humphry Davy developed the first and still most widely used marine electrolysis protection system. Davy installed sacrificial anodes made from a more electrically reactive (less noble) metal attached to the vessel hull and electrically connected to form a cathodic protection circuit. + +A less obvious example of this type of protection is the process of galvanising iron. This process coats iron structures (such as fencing) with a coating of zinc metal. As long as the zinc remains intact, the iron is protected from the effects of corrosion. Inevitably, the zinc coating becomes breached, either by cracking or physical damage. Once this occurs, corrosive elements act as an electrolyte and the zinc/iron combination as electrodes. The resultant current ensures that the zinc coating is sacrificed but that the base iron does not corrode. Such a coating can protect an iron structure for a few decades, but once the protecting coating is consumed, the iron rapidly corrodes. + +If, conversely, tin is used to coat steel, when a breach of the coating occurs it actually accelerates oxidation of the iron. + +Impressed current anode +Another cathodic protection is used on the impressed current anode. It is made from titanium and covered with mixed metal oxide. Unlike the sacrificial anode rod, the impressed current anode does not sacrifice its structure. This technology uses an external current provided by a DC source to create the cathodic protection. Impressed current anodes are used in larger structures like pipelines, boats, and water heaters. + +Related antonym +The opposite of an anode is a cathode. When the current through the device is reversed, the electrodes switch functions, so the anode becomes the cathode and the cathode becomes anode, as long as the reversed current is applied. The exception is diodes where electrode naming is always based on the forward current direction. + +See also + Anodizing + Galvanic anode + Gas-filled tube + Primary cell + Redox (reduction–oxidation) + +References + +External links + The Cathode Ray Tube site + How to define anode and cathode + Valence Technologies Inc. battery education page + Cathodic Protection Technical Library + +Electrodes +Analog television is the original television technology that uses analog signals to transmit video and audio. In an analog television broadcast, the brightness, colors and sound are represented by amplitude, phase and frequency of an analog signal. + +Analog signals vary over a continuous range of possible values which means that electronic noise and interference may be introduced. Thus with analog, a moderately weak signal becomes snowy and subject to interference. In contrast, picture quality from a digital television (DTV) signal remains good until the signal level drops below a threshold where reception is no longer possible or becomes intermittent. + +Analog television may be wireless (terrestrial television and satellite television) or can be distributed over a cable network as cable television. + +All broadcast television systems used analog signals before the arrival of DTV. Motivated by the lower bandwidth requirements of compressed digital signals, beginning in the 2000s, a digital television transition is proceeding in most countries of the world, with different deadlines for the cessation of analog broadcasts. Several countries have made the switch already, with the remaining countries still in progress mostly in Africa and Asia. + +Development + +The earliest systems of analog television were mechanical television systems that used spinning disks with patterns of holes punched into the disc to scan an image. A similar disk reconstructed the image at the receiver. Synchronization of the receiver disc rotation was handled through sync pulses broadcast with the image information. Camera systems used similar spinning discs and required intensely bright illumination of the subject for the light detector to work. The reproduced images from these mechanical systems were dim, very low resolution and flickered severely. + +Analog television did not begin in earnest as an industry until the development of the cathode-ray tube (CRT), which uses a focused electron beam to trace lines across a phosphor coated surface. The electron beam could be swept across the screen much faster than any mechanical disc system, allowing for more closely spaced scan lines and much higher image resolution. Also, far less maintenance was required of an all-electronic system compared to a mechanical spinning disc system. All-electronic systems became popular with households after World War II. + +Standards + +Broadcasters of analog television encode their signal using different systems. The official systems of transmission were defined by the ITU in 1961 as: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, K, K1, L, M and N. These systems determine the number of scan lines, frame rate, channel width, video bandwidth, video-audio separation, and so on. A color encoding scheme (NTSC, PAL, or SECAM) could be added to the base monochrome signal. Using RF modulation the signal is then modulated onto a very high frequency (VHF) or ultra high frequency (UHF) carrier wave. Each frame of a television image is composed of scan lines drawn on the screen. The lines are of varying brightness; the whole set of lines is drawn quickly enough that the human eye perceives it as one image. The process repeats and next sequential frame is displayed, allowing the depiction of motion. The analog television signal contains timing and synchronization information so that the receiver can reconstruct a two-dimensional moving image from a one-dimensional time-varying signal. + +The first commercial television systems were black-and-white; the beginning of color television was in the 1950s. + +A practical television system needs to take luminance, chrominance (in a color system), synchronization (horizontal and vertical), and audio signals, and broadcast them over a radio transmission. The transmission system must include a means of television channel selection. + +Analog broadcast television systems come in a variety of frame rates and resolutions. Further differences exist in the frequency and modulation of the audio carrier. The monochrome combinations still existing in the 1950s were standardized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as capital letters A through N. When color television was introduced, the chrominance information was added to the monochrome signals in a way that black and white televisions ignore. In this way backward compatibility was achieved. + +There are three standards for the way the additional color information can be encoded and transmitted. The first was the American NTSC system. The European and Australian PAL and the French and former Soviet Union SECAM standards were developed later and attempt to cure certain defects of the NTSC system. PAL's color encoding is similar to the NTSC systems. SECAM, though, uses a different modulation approach than PAL or NTSC. PAL had a late evolution called PALplus, allowing widescreen broadcasts while remaining fully compatible with existing PAL equipment. + +In principle, all three color encoding systems can be used with any scan line/frame rate combination. Therefore, in order to describe a given signal completely, it's necessary to quote the color system plus the broadcast standard as a capital letter. For example, the United States, Canada, Mexico and South Korea use NTSC-M, Japan uses NTSC-J, the UK uses PAL-I, France uses SECAM-L, much of Western Europe and Australia use PAL-B/G, most of Eastern Europe uses SECAM-D/K or PAL-D/K and so on. + +Not all of the possible combinations exist. NTSC is only used with system M, even though there were experiments with NTSC-A (405 line) in the UK and NTSC-N (625 line) in part of South America. PAL is used with a variety of 625-line standards (B, G, D, K, I, N) but also with the North American 525-line standard, accordingly named PAL-M. Likewise, SECAM is used with a variety of 625-line standards. + +For this reason, many people refer to any 625/25 type signal as PAL and to any 525/30 signal as NTSC, even when referring to digital signals; for example, on DVD-Video, which does not contain any analog color encoding, and thus no PAL or NTSC signals at all. + +Although a number of different broadcast television systems are in use worldwide, the same principles of operation apply. + +Displaying an image + +A cathode-ray tube (CRT) television displays an image by scanning a beam of electrons across the screen in a pattern of horizontal lines known as a raster. At the end of each line, the beam returns to the start of the next line; at the end of the last line, the beam returns to the beginning of the first line at the top of the screen. As it passes each point, the intensity of the beam is varied, varying the luminance of that point. A color television system is similar except there are three beams that scan together and an additional signal known as chrominance controls the color of the spot. + +When analog television was developed, no affordable technology for storing video signals existed; the luminance signal had to be generated and transmitted at the same time at which it is displayed on the CRT. It was therefore essential to keep the raster scanning in the camera (or other device for producing the signal) in exact synchronization with the scanning in the television. + +The physics of the CRT require that a finite time interval be allowed for the spot to move back to the start of the next line (horizontal retrace) or the start of the screen (vertical retrace). The timing of the luminance signal must allow for this. + +The human eye has a characteristic called phi phenomenon. Quickly displaying successive scan images creates the illusion of smooth motion. Flickering of the image can be partially solved using a long persistence phosphor coating on the CRT so that successive images fade slowly. However, slow phosphor has the negative side-effect of causing image smearing and blurring when there is rapid on-screen motion occurring. + +The maximum frame rate depends on the bandwidth of the electronics and the transmission system, and the number of horizontal scan lines in the image. A frame rate of 25 or 30 hertz is a satisfactory compromise, while the process of interlacing two video fields of the picture per frame is used to build the image. This process doubles the apparent number of video frames per second and further reduces flicker and other defects in transmission. + +Receiving signals +The television system for each country will specify a number of television channels within the UHF or VHF frequency ranges. A channel actually consists of two signals: the picture information is transmitted using amplitude modulation on one carrier frequency, and the sound is transmitted with frequency modulation at a frequency at a fixed offset (typically 4.5 to 6 MHz) from the picture signal. + +The channel frequencies chosen represent a compromise between allowing enough bandwidth for video (and hence satisfactory picture resolution), and allowing enough channels to be packed into the available frequency band. In practice a technique called vestigial sideband is used to reduce the channel spacing, which would be nearly twice the video bandwidth if pure AM was used. + +Signal reception is invariably done via a superheterodyne receiver: the first stage is a tuner which selects a television channel and frequency-shifts it to a fixed intermediate frequency (IF). The signal amplifier performs amplification to the IF stages from the microvolt range to fractions of a volt. + +Extracting the sound +At this point the IF signal consists of a video carrier signal at one frequency and the sound carrier at a fixed offset in frequency. A demodulator recovers the video signal. Also at the output of the same demodulator is a new frequency modulated sound carrier at the offset frequency. In some sets made before 1948, this was filtered out, and the sound IF of about 22 MHz was sent to an FM demodulator to recover the basic sound signal. In newer sets, this new carrier at the offset frequency was allowed to remain as intercarrier sound, and it was sent to an FM demodulator to recover the basic sound signal. One particular advantage of intercarrier sound is that when the front panel fine tuning knob is adjusted, the sound carrier frequency does not change with the tuning, but stays at the above-mentioned offset frequency. Consequently, it is easier to tune the picture without losing the sound. + +So the FM sound carrier is then demodulated, amplified, and used to drive a loudspeaker. Until the advent of the NICAM and MTS systems, television sound transmissions were monophonic. + +Structure of a video signal +The video carrier is demodulated to give a composite video signal containing luminance, chrominance and synchronization signals. The result is identical to the composite video format used by analog video devices such as VCRs or CCTV cameras. To ensure good linearity and thus fidelity, consistent with affordable manufacturing costs of transmitters and receivers, the video carrier is never modulated to the extent that it is shut off altogether. When intercarrier sound was introduced later in 1948, not completely shutting off the carrier had the side effect of allowing intercarrier sound to be economically implemented. + +Each line of the displayed image is transmitted using a signal as shown above. The same basic format (with minor differences mainly related to timing and the encoding of color) is used for PAL, NTSC, and SECAM television systems. A monochrome signal is identical to a color one, with the exception that the elements shown in color in the diagram (the colorburst, and the chrominance signal) are not present. + +The front porch is a brief (about 1.5 microsecond) period inserted between the end of each transmitted line of picture and the leading edge of the next line's sync pulse. Its purpose was to allow voltage levels to stabilise in older televisions, preventing interference between picture lines. The front porch is the first component of the horizontal blanking interval which also contains the horizontal sync pulse and the back porch. + +The back porch is the portion of each scan line between the end (rising edge) of the horizontal sync pulse and the start of active video. It is used to restore the black level (300 mV) reference in analog video. In signal processing terms, it compensates for the fall time and settling time following the sync pulse. + +In color television systems such as PAL and NTSC, this period also includes the colorburst signal. In the SECAM system, it contains the reference subcarrier for each consecutive color difference signal in order to set the zero-color reference. + +In some professional systems, particularly satellite links between locations, the digital audio is embedded within the line sync pulses of the video signal, to save the cost of renting a second channel. The name for this proprietary system is Sound-in-Syncs. + +Monochrome video signal extraction +The luminance component of a composite video signal varies between 0 V and approximately 0.7 V above the black level. In the NTSC system, there is a blanking signal level used during the front porch and back porch, and a black signal level 75 mV above it; in PAL and SECAM these are identical. + +In a monochrome receiver, the luminance signal is amplified to drive the control grid in the electron gun of the CRT. This changes the intensity of the electron beam and therefore the brightness of the spot being scanned. Brightness and contrast controls determine the DC shift and amplification, respectively. + +Color video signal extraction + +U and V signals +A color signal conveys picture information for each of the red, green, and blue components of an image. However, these are not simply transmitted as three separate signals, because: such a signal would not be compatible with monochrome receivers, an important consideration when color broadcasting was first introduced. It would also occupy three times the bandwidth of existing television, requiring a decrease in the number of television channels available. + +Instead, the RGB signals are converted into YUV form, where the Y signal represents the luminance of the colors in the image. Because the rendering of colors in this way is the goal of both monochrome film and television systems, the Y signal is ideal for transmission as the luminance signal. This ensures a monochrome receiver will display a correct picture in black and white, where a given color is reproduced by a shade of gray that correctly reflects how light or dark the original color is. + +The U and V signals are color difference signals. The U signal is the difference between the B signal and the Y signal, also known as B minus Y (B-Y), and the V signal is the difference between the R signal and the Y signal, also known as R minus Y (R-Y). The U signal then represents how purplish-blue or its complementary color, yellowish-green, the color is, and the V signal how purplish-red or it's complementary, greenish-cyan, it is. The advantage of this scheme is that the U and V signals are zero when the picture has no color content. Since the human eye is more sensitive to detail in luminance than in color, the U and V signals can be transmitted with reduced bandwidth with acceptable results. + +In the receiver, a single demodulator can extract an additive combination of U plus V. An example is the X demodulator used in the X/Z demodulation system. In that same system, a second demodulator, the Z demodulator, also extracts an additive combination of U plus V, but in a different ratio. The X and Z color difference signals are further matrixed into three color difference signals, (R-Y), (B-Y), and (G-Y). The combinations of usually two, but sometimes three demodulators were: + +In the end, further matrixing of the above color-difference signals c through f yielded the three color-difference signals, (R-Y), (B-Y), and (G-Y). + +The R, G, and B signals in the receiver needed for the display device (CRT, Plasma display, or LCD display) are electronically derived by matrixing as follows: R is the additive combination of (R-Y) with Y, G is the additive combination of (G-Y) with Y, and B is the additive combination of (B-Y) with Y. All of this is accomplished electronically. It can be seen that in the combining process, the low-resolution portion of the Y signals cancel out, leaving R, G, and B signals able to render a low-resolution image in full color. However, the higher resolution portions of the Y signals do not cancel out, and so are equally present in R, G, and B, producing the higher-resolution image detail in monochrome, although it appears to the human eye as a full-color and full-resolution picture. + +NTSC and PAL systems + +In the NTSC and PAL color systems, U and V are transmitted by using quadrature amplitude modulation of a subcarrier. This kind of modulation applies two independent signals to one subcarrier, with the idea that both signals will be recovered independently at the receiving end. For NTSC, the subcarrier is at 3.58 MHz. For the PAL system it is at 4.43 MHz. The subcarrier itself is not included in the modulated signal (suppressed carrier), it is the subcarrier sidebands that carry the U and V information. The usual reason for using suppressed carrier is that it saves on transmitter power. In this application a more important advantage is that the color signal disappears entirely in black and white scenes. The subcarrier is within the bandwidth of the main luminance signal and consequently can cause undesirable artifacts on the picture, all the more noticeable in black and white receivers. + +A small sample of the subcarrier, the colorburst, is included in the horizontal blanking portion, which is not visible on the screen. This is necessary to give the receiver a phase reference for the modulated signal. Under quadrature amplitude modulation the modulated chrominance signal changes phase as compared to its subcarrier and also changes amplitude. The chrominance amplitude (when considered together with the Y signal) represents the approximate saturation of a color, and the chrominance phase against the subcarrier reference approximately represents the hue of the color. For particular test colors found in the test color bar pattern, exact amplitudes and phases are sometimes defined for test and troubleshooting purposes only. + +Due to the nature of the quadrature amplitude modulation process that created the chrominance signal, at certain times, the signal represents only the U signal, and 70 nanoseconds (NTSC) later, it represents only the V signal. About 70 nanoseconds later still, -U, and another 70 nanoseconds, -V. So to extract U, a synchronous demodulator is utilized, which uses the subcarrier to briefly gate the chroma every 280 nanoseconds, so that the output is only a train of discrete pulses, each having an amplitude that is the same as the original U signal at the corresponding time. In effect, these pulses are discrete-time analog samples of the U signal. The pulses are then low-pass filtered so that the original analog continuous-time U signal is recovered. For V, a 90-degree shifted subcarrier briefly gates the chroma signal every 280 nanoseconds, and the rest of the process is identical to that used for the U signal. + +Gating at any other time than those times mentioned above will yield an additive mixture of any two of U, V, -U, or -V. One of these off-axis (that is, of the U and V axis) gating methods is called I/Q demodulation. Another much more popular off-axis scheme was the X/Z demodulation system. Further matrixing recovered the original U and V signals. This scheme was actually the most popular demodulator scheme throughout the 1960s. + +The above process uses the subcarrier. But as previously mentioned, it was deleted before transmission, and only the chroma is transmitted. Therefore, the receiver must reconstitute the subcarrier. For this purpose, a short burst of the subcarrier, known as the colorburst, is transmitted during the back porch (re-trace blanking period) of each scan line. A subcarrier oscillator in the receiver locks onto this signal (see phase-locked loop) to achieve a phase reference, resulting in the oscillator producing the reconstituted subcarrier. + +NTSC uses this process unmodified. Unfortunately, this often results in poor color reproduction due to phase errors in the received signal, caused sometimes by multipath, but mostly by poor implementation at the studio end. With the advent of solid-state receivers, cable TV, and digital studio equipment for conversion to an over-the-air analog signal, these NTSC problems have been largely fixed, leaving operator error at the studio end as the sole color rendition weakness of the NTSC system. In any case, the PAL D (delay) system mostly corrects these kinds of errors by reversing the phase of the signal on each successive line, and averaging the results over pairs of lines. This process is achieved by the use of a 1H (where H = horizontal scan frequency) duration delay line. Phase shift errors between successive lines are therefore canceled out and the wanted signal amplitude is increased when the two in-phase (coincident) signals are re-combined. + +NTSC is more spectrum efficient than PAL, giving more picture detail for a given bandwidth. This is because sophisticated comb filters in receivers are more effective with NTSC's 4 color frame sequence compared to PAL's 8-field sequence. However, in the end, the larger channel width of most PAL systems in Europe still gives PAL systems the edge in transmitting more picture detail. + +SECAM system +In the SECAM television system, U and V are transmitted on alternate lines, using simple frequency modulation of two different color subcarriers. + +In some analog color CRT displays, starting in 1956, the brightness control signal (luminance) is fed to the cathode connections of the electron guns, and the color difference signals (chrominance signals) are fed to the control grids connections. This simple CRT matrix mixing technique was replaced in later solid state designs of signal processing with the original matrixing method used in the 1954 and 1955 color TV receivers. + +Synchronization +Synchronizing pulses added to the video signal at the end of every scan line and video frame ensure that the sweep oscillators in the receiver remain locked in step with the transmitted signal so that the image can be reconstructed on the receiver screen. + +A sync separator circuit detects the sync voltage levels and sorts the pulses into horizontal and vertical sync. + +Horizontal synchronization +The horizontal sync pulse, separates the scan lines. The horizontal sync signal is a single short pulse that indicates the start of every line. The rest of the scan line follows, with the signal ranging from 0.3 V (black) to 1 V (white), until the next horizontal or vertical synchronization pulse. + +The format of the horizontal sync pulse varies. In the 525-line NTSC system it is a 4.85 μs pulse at 0 V. In the 625-line PAL system the pulse is 4.7 μs at 0 V. This is lower than the amplitude of any video signal (blacker than black) so it can be detected by the level-sensitive sync separator circuit of the receiver. + +Two-timing intervals are defined – the front porch between the end of the displayed video and the start of the sync pulse, and the back porch after the sync pulse and before the displayed video. These and the sync pulse itself are called the horizontal blanking (or retrace) interval and represent the time that the electron beam in the CRT is returning to the start of the next display line. + +Vertical synchronization + +Vertical synchronization separates the video fields. In PAL and NTSC, the vertical sync pulse occurs within the vertical blanking interval. The vertical sync pulses are made by prolonging the length of horizontal sync pulses through almost the entire length of the scan line. + +The vertical sync signal is a series of much longer pulses, indicating the start of a new field. The sync pulses occupy the whole line interval of a number of lines at the beginning and end of a scan; no picture information is transmitted during vertical retrace. The pulse sequence is designed to allow horizontal sync to continue during vertical retrace; it also indicates whether each field represents even or odd lines in interlaced systems (depending on whether it begins at the start of a horizontal line, or midway through). + +The format of such a signal in 525-line NTSC is: + pre-equalizing pulses (6 to start scanning odd lines, 5 to start scanning even lines) + long-sync pulses (5 pulses) + post-equalizing pulses (5 to start scanning odd lines, 4 to start scanning even lines) + +Each pre- or post-equalizing pulse consists of half a scan line of black signal: 2 μs at 0 V, followed by 30 μs at 0.3 V. Each long sync pulse consists of an equalizing pulse with timings inverted: 30 μs at 0  V, followed by 2 μs at 0.3  V. + +In video production and computer graphics, changes to the image are often performed during the vertical blanking interval to avoid visible discontinuity of the image. If this image in the framebuffer is updated with a new image while the display is being refreshed, the display shows a mishmash of both frames, producing page tearing partway down the image. + +Horizontal and vertical hold +The sweep (or deflection) oscillators were designed to run without a signal from the television station (or VCR, computer, or other composite video source). This allows the television receiver to display a raster and to allow an image to be presented during antenna placement. With sufficient signal strength, the receiver's sync separator circuit would split timebase pulses from the incoming video and use them to reset the horizontal and vertical oscillators at the appropriate time to synchronize with the signal from the station. + +The free-running oscillation of the horizontal circuit is especially critical, as the horizontal deflection circuits typically power the flyback transformer (which provides acceleration potential for the CRT) as well as the filaments for the high voltage rectifier tube and sometimes the filament(s) of the CRT itself. Without the operation of the horizontal oscillator and output stages in these television receivers, there would be no illumination of the CRT's face. + +The lack of precision timing components in early equipment meant that the timebase circuits occasionally needed manual adjustment. If their free-run frequencies were too far from the actual line and field rates, the circuits would not be able to follow the incoming sync signals. Loss of horizontal synchronization usually resulted in an unwatchable picture; loss of vertical synchronization would produce an image rolling up or down the screen. + +Older analog television receivers often provide manual controls to adjust horizontal and vertical timing. The adjustment takes the form of horizontal hold and vertical hold controls, usually on the front panel along with other common controls. These adjust the free-run frequencies of the corresponding timebase oscillators. + +A slowly rolling vertical picture demonstrates that the vertical oscillator is nearly synchronized with the television station but is not locking to it, often due to a weak signal or a failure in the sync separator stage not resetting the oscillator. + +Horizontal sync errors cause the image to be torn diagonally and repeated across the screen as if it were wrapped around a screw or a barber's pole; the greater the error, the more copies of the image will be seen at once wrapped around the barber pole. + +By the early 1980s the efficacy of the synchronization circuits, plus the inherent stability of the sets' oscillators, had been improved to the point where these controls were no longer necessary. Integrated Circuits which eliminated the horizontal hold control were starting to appear as early as 1969. + +The final generations of analog television receivers used IC-based designs where the receiver's timebases were derived from accurate crystal oscillators. With these sets, adjustment of the free-running frequency of either sweep oscillator was unnecessary and unavailable. + +Horizontal and vertical hold controls were rarely used in CRT-based computer monitors, as the quality and consistency of components were quite high by the advent of the computer age, but might be found on some composite monitors used with the 1970s–80s home or personal computers. + +Other technical information + +Components of a television system + +The tuner is the object which, with the aid of an antenna, isolates the television signals received over the air. There are two types of tuners in analog television, VHF and UHF tuners. The VHF tuner selects the VHF television frequency. This consists of a 4 MHz video bandwidth and a 2 MHz audio bandwidth. It then amplifies the signal and converts it to a 45.75 MHz Intermediate Frequency (IF) amplitude-modulated video and a 41.25 MHz IF frequency-modulated audio carrier. + +The IF amplifiers are centered at 44 MHz for optimal frequency transference of the audio and video carriers. Like radio, television has automatic gain control (AGC). This controls the gain of the IF amplifier stages and the tuner. + +The video amp and output amplifier is implemented using a pentode or a power transistor. The filter and demodulator separates the 45.75 MHz video from the 41.25 MHz audio then it simply uses a diode to detect the video signal. After the video detector, the video is amplified and sent to the sync separator and then to the picture tube. + +The audio signal goes to a 4.5 MHz amplifier. This amplifier prepares the signal for the 4.5Mhz detector. It then goes through a 4.5 MHz IF transformer to the detector. In television, there are 2 ways of detecting FM signals. One way is by the ratio detector. This is simple but very hard to align. The next is a relatively simple detector. This is the quadrature detector. It was invented in 1954. The first tube designed for this purpose was the 6BN6 type. It is easy to align and simple in circuitry. It was such a good design that it is still being used today in the Integrated circuit form. After the detector, it goes to the audio amplifier. + +The next part is the sync separator and clipper. From the detected video signal, this circuit extracts and conditions signals that the horizontal and vertical oscillators can use to keep in sync with the video. It also forms the AGC voltage, as previously stated. + +The horizontal and vertical oscillators form the raster on the CRT. They are driven by the sync separator. There are many ways to create these oscillators. The earliest is the thyratron oscillator. Although it is known to drift, it makes a perfect sawtooth wave. This sawtooth wave is so good that no linearity control is needed. This oscillator was designed for the electrostatic deflection CRTs but also found some use in electromagnetically deflected CRTs. The next oscillator developed was the blocking oscillator which uses a transformer to create a sawtooth wave. This was only used for a brief time period and never was very popular. Finally the multivibrator was probably the most successful. It needed more adjustment than the other oscillators, but it is very simple and effective. This oscillator was so popular that it was used from the early 1950s until today. + +Two oscillator amplifiers are neede. The vertical amplifier directly drives the yoke. Since it operates at 50 or 60 Hz and drives an electromagnet, it is similar to an audio amplifier. Because of the rapid deflection required, the horizontal oscillator requires a high-power flyback transformer driven by a high-powered tube or transistor. Additional windings on this flyback transformer typically power other parts of the system. + +Sync separator + +Image synchronization is achieved by transmitting negative-going pulses. The horizontal sync signal is a single short pulse that indicates the start of every line. Two-timing intervals are defined – the front porch between the end of the displayed video and the start of the sync pulse, and the back porch after the sync pulse and before the displayed video. These and the sync pulse itself are called the horizontal blanking (or retrace) interval and represent the time that the electron beam in the CRT is returning to the start of the next display line. + +The vertical sync signal is a series of much longer pulses, indicating the start of a new field. The vertical sync pulses occupy the whole of line interval of a number of lines at the beginning and end of a scan; no picture information is transmitted during vertical retrace. The pulse sequence is designed to allow horizontal sync to continue during vertical retrace. + +In the television receiver, a sync separator circuit detects the sync voltage levels and sorts the pulses into horizontal and vertical sync. + +Loss of horizontal synchronization usually resulted in an unwatchable picture; loss of vertical synchronization would produce an image rolling up or down the screen. + +Counting sync pulses, a video line selector picks a selected line from a TV signal, used for teletext, on-screen displays, station identification logos as well as in the industry when cameras were used as a sensor. + +Timebase circuits + +In an analog receiver with a CRT display sync pulses are fed to horizontal and vertical timebase circuits (commonly called "sweep circuits" in the United States), each consisting of an oscillator and an amplifier. These generate modified sawtooth and parabola current waveforms to scan the electron beam in a linear way. The waveform shapes are necessary to make up for the distance variations from the electron beam source and the screen surface. The oscillators are designed to free-run at frequencies very close to the field and line rates, but the sync pulses cause them to reset at the beginning of each scan line or field, resulting in the necessary synchronization of the beam sweep with the originating signal. The output waveforms from the timebase amplifiers are fed to the horizontal and vertical deflection coils wrapped around the CRT tube. These coils produce magnetic fields proportional to the changing current, and these deflect the electron beam across the screen. + +In the 1950s, the power for these circuits was derived directly from the mains supply. A simple circuit consisted of a series voltage dropper resistance and a rectifier valve (tube) or semiconductor diode. This avoided the cost of a large high voltage mains supply (50 or 60 Hz) transformer. This type of circuit was used for the thermionic valve (vacuum tube) technology. It was inefficient and produced a lot of heat which led to premature failures in the circuitry. Although failure was common, it was easily repairable. + +In the 1960s, semiconductor technology was introduced into timebase circuits. During the late 1960s in the UK, synchronous (with the scan line rate) power generation was introduced into solid state receiver designs. These had very complex circuits in which faults were difficult to trace, but had very efficient use of power. + +In the early 1970s AC mains (50 or 60 Hz), and line timebase (15,625 Hz), thyristor based switching circuits were introduced. In the UK use of the simple (50  Hz) types of power, circuits were discontinued. The reason for design changes arose from the electricity supply contamination problems arising from EMI, and supply loading issues due to energy being taken from only the positive half cycle of the mains supply waveform. + +CRT flyback power supply + +Most of the receiver's circuitry (at least in transistor- or IC-based designs) operates from a comparatively low-voltage DC power supply. However, the anode connection for a cathode-ray tube requires a very high voltage (typically 10–30 kV) for correct operation. + +This voltage is not directly produced by the main power supply circuitry; instead, the receiver makes use of the circuitry used for horizontal scanning. Direct current (DC), is switched through the line output transformer, and alternating current (AC) is induced into the scan coils. At the end of each horizontal scan line the magnetic field, which has built up in both transformer and scan coils by the current, is a source of latent electromagnetic energy. This stored collapsing magnetic field energy can be captured. The reverse flow, short duration, (about 10% of the line scan time) current from both the line output transformer and the horizontal scan coil is discharged again into the primary winding of the flyback transformer by the use of a rectifier which blocks this negative reverse emf. A small value capacitor is connected across the scan switching device. This tunes the circuit inductances to resonate at a much higher frequency. This slows down (lengthens) the flyback time from the extremely rapid decay rate that would result if they were electrically isolated during this short period. One of the secondary windings on the flyback transformer then feeds this brief high-voltage pulse to a Cockcroft–Walton generator design voltage multiplier. This produces the required EHT supply. A flyback converter is a power supply circuit operating on similar principles. + +A typical modern design incorporates the flyback transformer and rectifier circuitry into a single unit with a captive output lead, (known as a diode split line output transformer or an Integrated High Voltage Transformer (IHVT)), so that all high-voltage parts are enclosed. Earlier designs used a separate line output transformer and a well-insulated high voltage multiplier unit. The high frequency (15 kHz or so) of the horizontal scanning allows reasonably small components to be used. + +Transition to digital + +In many countries, over-the-air broadcast television of analog audio and analog video signals has been discontinued, to allow the re-use of the television broadcast radio spectrum for other services such as datacasting and subchannels. + +The first country to make a wholesale switch to digital over-the-air (terrestrial television) broadcasting was Luxembourg in 2006, followed later in 2006 by the Netherlands; in 2007 by Finland, Andorra, Sweden and Switzerland; in 2008 by Belgium (Flanders) and Germany; in 2009 by the United States (high power stations), southern Canada, the Isle of Man, Norway, and Denmark. In 2010, Belgium (Wallonia), Spain, Wales, Latvia, Estonia, the Channel Islands, San Marino, Croatia, and Slovenia; in 2011 Israel, Austria, Monaco, Cyprus, Japan (excluding Miyagi, Iwate, and Fukushima prefectures), Malta and France; in 2012 the Czech Republic, Arab World, Taiwan, Portugal, Japan (including Miyagi, Iwate, and Fukushima prefectures), Serbia, Italy, Canada, Mauritius, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Gibraltar, and South Korea; in 2013, the Republic of Macedonia, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Australia, and New Zealand, completed the transition. The United Kingdom made the transition to digital television between 2008 and 2012, with the exception of Whitehaven, which made the switch over in 2007. The first digital TV-only area in the United Kingdom was Ferryside in Carmarthenshire. + +The Digital television transition in the United States for high-powered transmission was completed on 12 June 2009, the date that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) set. Almost two million households could no longer watch television because they had not prepared for the transition. The switchover had been delayed by the DTV Delay Act. While the majority of the viewers of over-the-air broadcast television in the U.S. watch full-power stations (which number about 1800), there are three other categories of television stations in the U.S.: low-power broadcasting stations, class A stations, and television translator stations. They were given later deadlines. In broadcasting, the United States influences southern Canada and northern Mexico because those areas are covered by television stations in the U.S. + +In Japan, the switch to digital began in northeastern Ishikawa Prefecture on 24 July 2010 and ended in 43 of the country's 47 prefectures (including the rest of Ishikawa) on 24 July 2011, but in Fukushima, Iwate, and Miyagi prefectures, the conversion was delayed to 31 March 2012, due to complications from the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and its related nuclear accidents. + +In Canada, most of the larger cities turned off analog broadcasts on 31 August 2011. + +China had scheduled to end analog broadcasting between 2015 and 2018. + +Brazil switched to digital television on 2 December 2007 in its major cities. It is estimated that Brazil will end analog broadcasting in 2023. + +In Malaysia, the Malaysian Communications & Multimedia Commission (MCMC) advertised for tender bids to be submitted in the third quarter of 2009 for the 470 through 742  MHz UHF allocation, to enable Malaysia's broadcast system to move into DTV. The new broadcast band allocation would result in Malaysia's having to build an infrastructure for all broadcasters, using a single digital terrestrial transmission/television broadcast (DTTB) channel. Large portions of Malaysia are covered by television broadcasts from Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, and Indonesia (from Borneo and Batam). Starting from 1 November 2019, all regions in Malaysia were no longer using the analog system after the states of Sabah and Sarawak finally turned it off on 31 October 2019. + +In Singapore, digital television under DVB-T2 began on 16 December 2013. The switchover was delayed many times until analog TV was switched off at midnight on 2 January 2019. + +In the Philippines, the National Telecommunications Commission required all broadcasting companies to end analog broadcasting on 31 December 2015 at 11:59 p.m. Due to delay of the release of the implementing rules and regulations for digital television broadcast, the target date was moved to 2020. Full digital broadcast is expected in 2021 and all of the analog TV services should be shut down by the end of 2023. + +In the Russian Federation, the Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting Network (RTRS) disabled analog broadcasting of federal channels in five stages, shutting down broadcasting in multiple federal subjects at each stage. The first region to have analog broadcasting disabled was Tver Oblast on 3 December 2018, and the switchover was completed on 14 October 2019. During the transition, DVB-T2 receivers and monetary compensations for purchasing of terrestrial or satellite digital TV reception equipment were provided to disabled people, World War II veterans, certain categories of retirees and households with income per member below living wage. + +See also + + Amateur television + Narrow-bandwidth television + Overscan + Slow-scan television + Terrestrial television + Television transmitter + Vertical blanking interval + Field (video) + Video frame + Glossary of video terms + +Notes + +References + +External links + + Video signal measurement and generation + Television synchronisation + Video broadcast standard frequencies and country listings + EDN magazine describing design of a 1958 transistorised television receiver + Designing the color television signal in the early 1950s as described by two engineers working directly with the NTSC + +Television technology +Television terminology + + +Events + +Pre-1600 + 491 – Flavius Anastasius becomes Byzantine emperor, with the name of Anastasius I. +1241 – Batu Khan defeats Béla IV of Hungary at the Battle of Mohi. +1512 – War of the League of Cambrai: Franco-Ferrarese forces led by Gaston de Foix and Alfonso I d'Este win the Battle of Ravenna against the Papal-Spanish forces. +1544 – Italian War of 1542–46: A French army defeats Habsburg forces at the Battle of Ceresole, but fails to exploit its victory. + +1601–1900 +1689 – William III and Mary II are crowned as joint sovereigns of Great Britain on the same day that the Scottish Parliament concurs with the English decision of 12 February. +1713 – France and Great Britain sign the Treaty of Utrecht, bringing an end to the War of the Spanish Succession (Queen Anne's War). Britain accepts Philip V as King of Spain, while Philip renounces any claim to the French throne. +1727 – Premiere of Johann Sebastian Bach's St Matthew Passion BWV 244b at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, Electorate of Saxony (now Germany). +1809 – Battle of the Basque Roads: Admiral Lord Gambier fails to support Captain Lord Cochrane, leading to an incomplete British victory over the French fleet. +1814 – The Treaty of Fontainebleau ends the War of the Sixth Coalition against Napoleon Bonaparte, and forces him to abdicate unconditionally for the first time. +1856 – Second Battle of Rivas: Juan Santamaría burns down the hostel where William Walker's filibusters are holed up. +1868 – Former shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu surrenders Edo Castle to Imperial forces, marking the end of the Tokugawa shogunate. +1876 – The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks is organized. +1881 – Spelman College is founded in Atlanta, Georgia as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, an institute of higher education for African-American women. + +1901–present +1908 – , the last armored cruiser to be built by the Imperial German Navy, is launched. +1909 – The city of Tel Aviv is founded. +1921 – Emir Abdullah establishes the first centralised government in the newly created British protectorate of Transjordan. +1935 – Stresa Front: opening of the conference between the British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, the Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini and the French Minister for Foreign Affairs Pierre Laval to condemn the German violations of the Treaty of Versailles. +1945 – World War II: American forces liberate the Buchenwald concentration camp. +1951 – Korean War: President Truman relieves Douglas MacArthur of the command of American forces in Korea and Japan. + 1951 – The Stone of Scone, the stone upon which Scottish monarchs were traditionally crowned, is found on the site of the altar of Arbroath Abbey. It had been taken by Scottish nationalist students from its place in Westminster Abbey. +1952 – Bolivian National Revolution: Rebels take over Palacio Quemado. + 1952 – Pan Am Flight 526A ditches near San Juan-Isla Grande Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, after experiencing an engine failure, killing 52 people. +1955 – The Air India Kashmir Princess is bombed and crashes in a failed assassination attempt on Zhou Enlai by the Kuomintang. +1957 – United Kingdom agrees to Singaporean self-rule. +1961 – The trial of Adolf Eichmann begins in Jerusalem. +1963 – Pope John XXIII issues Pacem in terris, the first encyclical addressed to all Christians instead of only Catholics, and which described the conditions for world peace in human terms. +1964 – Brazilian Marshal Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco is elected president by the National Congress. +1965 – The Palm Sunday tornado outbreak of 1965: Fifty-one tornadoes hit in six Midwestern states, killing 256 people. +1968 – President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968, prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing. + 1968 – Assassination attempt on Rudi Dutschke, leader of the German student movement. +1970 – Apollo Program: Apollo 13 is launched. +1976 – The Apple I is created. +1977 – London Transport's Silver Jubilee AEC Routemaster buses are launched. +1979 – Ugandan dictator Idi Amin is deposed. +1981 – A massive riot in Brixton, south London results in almost 300 police injuries and 65 serious civilian injuries. +1986 – FBI Miami Shootout: A gun battle in broad daylight in Dade County, Florida between two bank/armored car robbers and pursuing FBI agents. During the firefight, FBI agents Jerry L. Dove and Benjamin P. Grogan were killed, while five other agents were wounded. As a result, the popular .40 S&W cartridge was developed. +1987 – The London Agreement is secretly signed between Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Shimon Peres and King Hussein of Jordan. +1990 – Customs officers in Middlesbrough, England, seize what they believe to be the barrel of a massive gun on a ship bound for Iraq. +1993 – Four hundred fifty prisoners rioted at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio, and continued to do so for ten days, citing grievances related to prison conditions, as well as the forced vaccination of Nation of Islam prisoners (for tuberculosis) against their religious beliefs. +2001 – The detained crew of a United States EP-3E aircraft that landed in Hainan, China after a collision with a J-8 fighter, is released. +2002 – The Ghriba synagogue bombing by al-Qaeda kills 21 in Tunisia. + 2002 – Over two hundred thousand people march in Caracas towards the presidential palace to demand the resignation of President Hugo Chávez. Nineteen protesters are killed. +2006 – Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announces Iran's claim to have successfully enriched uranium. +2007 – Algiers bombings: Two bombings in Algiers kill 33 people and wound a further 222 others. +2011 – An explosion in the Minsk Metro, Belarus kills 15 people and injures 204 others. +2012 – A pair of great earthquakes occur in the Wharton Basin west of Sumatra in Indonesia. The maximum Mercalli intensity of this strike-slip doublet earthquake is VII (Very strong). Ten are killed, twelve are injured, and a non-destructive tsunami is observed on the island of Nias. +2018 – An Ilyushin Il-76 which was owned and operated by the Algerian Air Force crashes near Boufarik, Algeria, killing 257. +2021 – Twenty year old Daunte Wright is shot and killed in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota by officer Kimberly Potter, sparking protests in the city, when the officer allegedly mistakes her own gun for her taser. +2023 – During the Pazigyi massacre, an airstrike conducted by the Myanmar Air Force kills at least 100 villagers in Pazigyi, Sagaing Region. + +Births + +Pre-1600 +145 – Septimius Severus, Roman emperor (probable; d. 211) +1184 – William of Winchester, Lord of Lüneburg (d. 1213) +1348 – Andronikos IV Palaiologos, Byzantine Emperor (d. 1385) +1357 – John I of Portugal (d. 1433) +1370 – Frederick I, Elector of Saxony (d. 1428) +1374 – Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March, heir to the throne of England (d. 1398) +1493 – George I, Duke of Pomerania (d. 1531) +1591 – Bartholomeus Strobel, Silezian painter (d. 1650) +1592 – John Eliot, English lawyer and politician (d. 1632) + +1601–1900 +1644 – Marie Jeanne Baptiste of Savoy-Nemours, Duchess of Savoy (d. 1724) +1658 – James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton, Scottish peer (d. 1712) +1683 – Jean-Joseph Mouret, French composer and conductor (d. 1738) +1715 – John Alcock, English organist and composer (d. 1806) +1721 – David Zeisberger, Czech-American clergyman and missionary (d. 1808) +1722 – Christopher Smart, English actor, playwright, and poet (d. 1771) +1749 – Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, French miniaturist and portrait painter (d. 1803) +1755 – James Parkinson, English surgeon, geologist, and paleontologist (d. 1824) +1770 – George Canning, Irish-English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1827) +1794 – Edward Everett, English-American educator and politician, 15th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1865) +1798 – Macedonio Melloni, Italian physicist and academic (d. 1854) +1819 – Charles Hallé, German-English pianist and conductor (d. 1895) +1825 – Ferdinand Lassalle, German philosopher and jurist (d. 1864) +1827 – Jyotirao Phule, Indian scholar, philosopher, and activist (d. 1890) +1830 – John Douglas, English architect (d. 1911) +1854 – Hugh Massie, Australian cricketer (d. 1938) +1856 – Arthur Shrewsbury, English cricketer and rugby player (d. 1903) +1859 – Stefanos Thomopoulos, Greek historian and author (d. 1939) +1862 – William Wallace Campbell, American astronomer and academic (d. 1938) + 1862 – Charles Evans Hughes, American lawyer and politician, 44th United States Secretary of State (d. 1948) +1864 – Johanna Elberskirchen, German author and activist (d. 1943) +1866 – Bernard O'Dowd, Australian journalist, author, and poet (d. 1953) +1867 – Mark Keppel, American educator (d. 1928) +1869 – Gustav Vigeland, Norwegian sculptor, designed the Nobel Peace Prize medal (d. 1943) +1871 – Gyula Kellner, Hungarian runner (d. 1940) +1872 – Aleksandër Stavre Drenova, Albanian poet, rilindas and author of national anthem of Albania (d. 1947) +1873 – Edward Lawson, English soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1955) +1876 – Paul Henry, Irish painter (d. 1958) + 1876 – Ivane Javakhishvili, Georgian historian and academic (d. 1940) +1879 – Bernhard Schmidt, Estonian-German astronomer and optician (d. 1935) +1887 – Jamini Roy, Indian painter (d. 1972) +1893 – Dean Acheson, American lawyer and politician, 51st United States Secretary of State (d. 1971) +1896 – Léo-Paul Desrosiers, Canadian journalist and author (d. 1967) +1899 – Percy Lavon Julian, African-American chemist and academic (d. 1975) +1900 – Sándor Márai, Hungarian journalist and author (d. 1989) + +1901–present +1903 – Misuzu Kaneko, Japanese poet (d. 1930) +1904 – K. L. Saigal, Indian singer and actor (d. 1947) +1905 – Attila József, Hungarian poet and educator (d. 1937) +1906 – Dale Messick, American author and illustrator (d. 2005) +1907 – Paul Douglas, American actor (d. 1959) +1908 – Jane Bolin, American lawyer and judge (d. 2007) + 1908 – Masaru Ibuka, Japanese businessman, co-founded Sony (d. 1997) + 1908 – Dan Maskell, English tennis player and sportscaster (d. 1992) + 1908 – Leo Rosten, Polish-American author and academic (d. 1997) +1910 – António de Spínola, Portuguese general and politician, 14th President of Portugal (d. 1996) +1912 – John Levy, American bassist and businessman (d. 2012) +1913 – Oleg Cassini, French-American fashion designer (d. 2006) +1914 – Norman McLaren, Scottish-Canadian animator, director, and producer (d. 1987) + 1914 – Robert Stanfield, Canadian economist, lawyer, and politician, 17th Premier of Nova Scotia (d. 2003) + 1914 – Dorothy Lewis Bernstein, American mathematician (d. 1988) +1916 – Alberto Ginastera, Argentinian pianist and composer (d. 1983) + 1916 – Howard W. Koch, American director and producer (d. 2001) +1917 – David Westheimer, American soldier, journalist, and author (d. 2005) +1918 – Richard Wainwright, English soldier and politician (d. 2003) +1919 – Raymond Carr, English historian and academic (d. 2015) +1920 – Emilio Colombo, Italian lawyer and politician, 40th Prime Minister of Italy (d. 2013) + 1920 – William Royer, American soldier and politician (d. 2013) +1921 – Jim Hearn, American baseball player (d. 1998) + 1921 – Jack Rayner, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 2008) +1922 – Arved Viirlaid, Estonian-Canadian soldier and author (d. 2015) +1923 – George J. Maloof, Sr., American businessman (d. 1980) +1924 – Mohammad Naseem, Pakistani-English activist and politician (d. 2014) +1925 – Yuriy Lituyev, Russian hurdler and commander (d. 2000) + 1925 – Viola Liuzzo, American civil rights activist (d. 1965) + 1925 – Viktor Masing, Estonian botanist and ecologist (d. 2001) + 1925 – Pierre Péladeau, Canadian businessman, founded Quebecor (d. 1997) +1926 – David Manker Abshire, American commander and diplomat, United States Permanent Representative to NATO (d. 2014) + 1926 – Victor Bouchard, Canadian pianist and composer (d. 2011) + 1926 – Karl Rebane, Estonian physicist and academic (d. 2007) +1927 – Lokesh Chandra, Indian historian +1928 – Ethel Kennedy, American philanthropist + 1928 – Edwin Pope, American journalist and author (d. 2017) + 1928 – Tommy Tycho, Hungarian-Australian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 2013) +1930 – Nicholas F. Brady, American businessman and politician, 68th United States Secretary of the Treasury + 1930 – Walter Krüger, German javelin thrower (d. 2018) + 1930 – Anton LaVey, American occultist, founded the Church of Satan (d. 1997) +1931 – Lewis Jones, Welsh rugby player and coach +1932 – Joel Grey, American actor, singer, and dancer +1933 – Tony Brown, American journalist and academic +1934 – Mark Strand, Canadian-born American poet, essayist, and translator (d. 2014) + 1934 – Ron Pember, English actor, director and playwright (d. 2022) +1935 – Richard Berry, American singer-songwriter (d. 1997) +1936 – Brian Noble, English bishop (d. 2019) +1937 – Jill Gascoine, English actress and author (d. 2020) +1938 – Gerry Baker, American soccer player and manager (d. 2013) + 1938 – Michael Deaver, American politician, Deputy White House Chief of Staff (d. 2007) + 1938 – Reatha King, American chemist and businesswoman +1939 – Luther Johnson, American singer and guitarist (d. 2022) + 1939 – Louise Lasser, American actress +1940 – Col Firmin, Australian politician (d. 2013) + 1940 – Władysław Komar, Polish shot putter and actor (d. 1998) +1941 – Ellen Goodman, American journalist and author + 1941 – Shirley Stelfox, English actress (d. 2015) +1942 – Anatoly Berezovoy, Russian colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2014) + 1942 – Hattie Gossett, American writer + 1942 – James Underwood, English pathologist and academic +1943 – John Montagu, 11th Earl of Sandwich, English businessman and politician + 1943 – Harley Race, American wrestler and trainer (d. 2019) +1944 – Peter Barfuß, German footballer + 1944 – John Milius, American director, producer, and screenwriter +1945 – John Krebs, Baron Krebs, English zoologist and academic +1946 – Chris Burden, American sculptor, illustrator, and academic (d. 2015) + 1946 – Bob Harris, English journalist and radio host +1947 – Lev Bulat, Ukrainian-Russian physicist and academic (d. 2016) + 1947 – Uli Edel, German director and screenwriter + 1947 – Frank Mantooth, American pianist and composer (d. 2004) + 1947 – Peter Riegert, American actor, screenwriter and film director + 1947 – Michael T. Wright, English engineer and academic (d. 2015) +1949 – Bernd Eichinger, German director and producer (d. 2011) +1950 – Bill Irwin, American actor and clown +1951 – Paul Fox, English singer and guitarist (d. 2007) +1952 – Nancy Honeytree, American singer and guitarist + 1952 – Indira Samarasekera, Sri Lankan engineer and academic + 1952 – Peter Windsor, English-Australian journalist and sportscaster +1953 – Guy Verhofstadt, Belgian politician, 47th Prime Minister of Belgium + 1953 – Andrew Wiles, English mathematician and academic +1954 – Abdullah Atalar, Turkish engineer and academic + 1954 – Aleksandr Averin, Azerbaijani cyclist and coach + 1954 – Francis Lickerish, English guitarist and composer + 1954 – David Perrett, Scottish psychologist and academic + 1954 – Ian Redmond, English biologist and conservationist + 1954 – Willie Royster, American baseball player (d. 2015) +1955 – Kevin Brady, American lawyer and politician + 1955 – Michael Callen, American singer-songwriter and AIDS activist (d. 1993) + 1955 – Micheal Ray Richardson, American basketball player and coach +1958 – Stuart Adamson, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2001) + 1958 – Lyudmila Kondratyeva, Russian sprinter +1959 – Pierre Lacroix, Canadian ice hockey player + 1959 – Ana María Polo, Cuban-American lawyer and judge + 1959 – Zahid Maleque, Bangladeshi politician +1960 – Jeremy Clarkson, English journalist and television presenter +1961 – Vincent Gallo, American actor, director, producer, and musician + 1961 – Doug Hopkins, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 1993) + 1961 – Nobuaki Kakuda, Japanese martial artist +1962 – Franck Ducheix, French fencer + 1962 – Mark Lawson, English journalist and author +1963 – Billy Bowden, New Zealand cricketer and umpire + 1963 – Waldemar Fornalik, Polish footballer and manager + 1963 – Elizabeth Smylie, Australian tennis player + 1963 – Eleni Tsaligopoulou, Greek singer +1964 – Steve Azar, American singer-songwriter and guitarist + 1964 – John Cryer, English journalist and politician + 1964 – Johann Sebastian Paetsch, American cellist + 1964 – Bret Saberhagen, American baseball player and coach + 1964 – Patrick Sang, Kenyan runner +1966 – Steve Scarsone, American baseball player and manager + 1966 – Shin Seung-hun, South Korean singer-songwriter + 1966 – Lisa Stansfield, English singer-songwriter and actress +1968 – Sergei Lukyanenko, Kazakh-Russian journalist and author +1969 – Cerys Matthews, Welsh singer-songwriter + 1969 – Dustin Rhodes, American wrestler + 1969 – Michael von Grünigen, Swiss skier +1970 – Trevor Linden, Canadian ice hockey player and manager + 1970 – Whigfield, Danish singer and songwriter +1971 – Oliver Riedel, German bass player +1972 – Balls Mahoney, American wrestler (d. 2016) + 1972 – Allan Théo, French singer + 1972 – Jason Varitek, American baseball player and manager + 1972 – Jennifer Esposito, American actress and writer +1973 – Olivier Magne, French rugby player +1974 – Àlex Corretja, Spanish tennis player and coach + 1974 – Ashot Danielyan, Armenian weightlifter + 1974 – David Jassy, Swedish singer-songwriter and producer + 1974 – Tom Thacker, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer + 1974 – Trot Nixon, American baseball player and sportscaster +1976 – Kelvim Escobar, Venezuelan baseball player + 1976 – Kotomitsuki Keiji, Japanese sumo wrestler +1977 – Ivonne Teichmann, German runner +1978 – Josh Hancock, American baseball player (d. 2007) +1979 – Malcolm Christie, English footballer + 1979 – Sebastien Grainger, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist + 1979 – Michel Riesen, Swiss ice hockey player + 1979 – Josh Server, American actor +1980 – Keiji Tamada, Japanese footballer + 1980 – Mark Teixeira, American baseball player +1981 – Alessandra Ambrosio, Brazilian model + 1981 – Alexandre Burrows, Canadian ice hockey player + 1981 – Luis Flores, Dominican basketball player + 1981 – Veronica Pyke, Australian cricketer +1982 – Ian Bell, English cricketer + 1982 – Peeter Kümmel, Estonian skier +1983 – Jennifer Heil, Canadian skier + 1983 – Rubén Palazuelos, Spanish footballer + 1983 – Nicky Pastorelli, Dutch race car driver +1984 – Kelli Garner, American actress + 1984 – Nikola Karabatić, French handball player +1985 – Pablo Hernández Domínguez, Spanish footballer + 1985 – Will Minson, Australian footballer +1986 – Sarodj Bertin, Haitian model and human rights lawyer + 1986 – Lena Schöneborn, German pentathlete +1987 – Joss Stone, English singer-songwriter and actress + 1987 – Lights, Canadian singer-songwriter +1988 – Leland Irving, Canadian ice hockey player + 1989 – Torrin Lawrence, American sprinter (d. 2014) +1990 – Dimitrios Anastasopoulos, Greek footballer + 1990 – Thulani Serero, South African footballer +1991 – Thiago Alcântara, Spanish footballer + 1991 – Brennan Poole, American racing driver +1996 – Dele Alli, English international footballer +2000 – Milly Alcock, Australian actress +2001 – Manuel Ugarte, Uruguayan footballer + +Deaths + +Pre-1600 + 618 – Yang Guang, Chinese emperor of the Sui Dynasty (b. 569) + 678 – Donus, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 610) + 924 – Herman I, chancellor and archbishop of Cologne +1034 – Romanos III Argyros, Byzantine emperor (b. 968) +1077 – Anawrahta, king of Burma and founder of the Pagan Empire (b. 1014) +1079 – Stanislaus of Szczepanów, bishop of Kraków (b. 1030) +1165 – Stephen IV, king of Hungary and Croatia +1240 – Llywelyn the Great, Welsh prince (b. 1172) +1349 – Ramadan ibn Alauddin, first known Muslim from Korea +1447 – Henry Beaufort, Cardinal, Lord Chancellor of England (b. 1377) +1512 – Gaston de Foix, French military commander (b. 1489) +1554 – Thomas Wyatt the Younger, English rebel leader (b. 1521) +1587 – Thomas Bromley, English lord chancellor (b. 1530) + +1601–1900 +1609 – John Lumley, 1st Baron Lumley, English noble (b. 1533) +1612 – Emanuel van Meteren, Flemish historian and author (b. 1535) + 1612 – Edward Wightman, English minister and martyr (b. 1566) +1626 – Marino Ghetaldi, Ragusan mathematician and physicist (b. 1568) +1712 – Richard Simon, French priest and critic (b. 1638) +1723 – John Robinson, English bishop and diplomat (b. 1650) +1783 – Nikita Ivanovich Panin, Polish-Russian politician, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1718) +1798 – Karl Wilhelm Ramler, German poet and academic (b. 1725) +1856 – Juan Santamaría, Costa Rican soldier (b. 1831) +1861 – Francisco González Bocanegra, Mexican poet and composer (b. 1824) +1873 – Edward Canby, American general (b. 1817) +1890 – David de Jahacob Lopez Cardozo, Dutch Talmudist (b. 1808) + 1890 – Joseph Merrick, English man with severe deformities (b. 1862) +1894 – Constantin Lipsius, German architect and theorist (b. 1832) +1895 – Julius Lothar Meyer, German chemist (b. 1830) + +1901–present +1902 – Wade Hampton III, Confederate general and politician, 77th Governor of South Carolina (b. 1818) +1903 – Gemma Galgani, Italian mystic and saint (b. 1878) +1906 – James Anthony Bailey, American businessman, co-founded Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (b. 1847) + 1906 – Francis Pharcellus Church, American journalist and publisher, co-founded Armed Forces Journal and The Galaxy Magazine (b. 1839) +1908 – Henry Bird, English chess player and author (b. 1829) +1916 – Richard Harding Davis, American journalist and author (b. 1864) +1918 – Otto Wagner, Austrian architect and urban planner (b. 1841) +1926 – Luther Burbank, American botanist and academic (b. 1849) +1939 – Kurtdereli Mehmet, Turkish wrestler (b. 1864) +1953 – Kid Nichols, American baseball player and manager (b. 1869) +1954 – Paul Specht, American violinist and bandleader (b. 1895) +1958 – Konstantin Yuon, Russian painter and educator (b. 1875) +1960 – Rosa Grünberg, Swedish actress (b. 1878) +1962 – Ukichiro Nakaya, Japanese physicist and academic (b. 1900) + 1962 – George Poage, American hurdler and educator (b. 1880) +1967 – Thomas Farrell, American general (b. 1891) + 1967 – Donald Sangster, Jamaican lawyer and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Jamaica (b. 1911) +1970 – Cathy O'Donnell, American actress (b. 1923) + 1970 – John O'Hara, American novelist and short story writer (b. 1905) +1974 – Ernst Ziegler, German actor (b. 1894) +1977 – Jacques Prévert, French poet and screenwriter (b. 1900) + 1977 – Phanishwar Nath 'Renu', Indian author and activist (b. 1921) +1980 – Ümit Kaftancıoğlu, Turkish journalist and producer (b. 1935) +1981 – Caroline Gordon, American author and critic (b. 1895) +1983 – Dolores del Río, Mexican actress (b. 1904) +1984 – Edgar V. Saks, Estonian historian and politician, Estonian Minister of Education (b. 1910) +1985 – Bunny Ahearne, Irish-born English businessman (b. 1900) + 1985 – John Gilroy, English artist and illustrator (b. 1898) + 1985 – Enver Hoxha, Albanian educator and politician, 21st Prime Minister of Albania (b. 1908) +1987 – Erskine Caldwell, American novelist and short story writer (b. 1903) + 1987 – Primo Levi, Italian chemist and author (b. 1919) +1990 – Harold Ballard, Canadian businessman (b. 1903) +1991 – Walker Cooper, American baseball player and manager (b. 1915) + 1991 – Bruno Hoffmann. German glass harp player (b. 1913) +1992 – James Brown, American actor and singer (b. 1920) + 1992 – Eve Merriam, American author and poet (b. 1916) + 1992 – Alejandro Obregón, Colombian painter, sculptor, and engraver (b. 1920) +1996 – Jessica Dubroff, American pilot (b. 1988) +1997 – Muriel McQueen Fergusson, Canadian lawyer and politician, Canadian Speaker of the Senate (b. 1899) + 1997 – Wang Xiaobo, contemporary Chinese novelist and essayist (b. 1952) +1999 – William H. Armstrong, American author and educator (b. 1911) +2000 – Diana Darvey, English actress, singer and dancer (b. 1945) +2001 – Harry Secombe, Welsh-English actor (b. 1921) +2003 – Cecil Howard Green, English-American geophysicist and businessman, founded Texas Instruments (b. 1900) +2005 – André François, Romanian-French cartoonist, painter, and sculptor (b. 1915) + 2005 – Lucien Laurent, French footballer and coach (b. 1907) +2006 – June Pointer, American singer (b. 1953) + 2006 – DeShaun Holton, American rapper and actor (b. 1973) +2007 – Roscoe Lee Browne, American actor and director (b. 1922) + 2007 – Loïc Leferme, French diver (b. 1970) + 2007 – Janet McDonald, American lawyer and author (b. 1954) + 2007 – Ronald Speirs, Scottish-American colonel (b. 1920) + 2007 – Kurt Vonnegut, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (b. 1922) +2008 – Merlin German, American sergeant (b. 1985) +2009 – Gerda Gilboe, Danish actress and singer (b. 1914) + 2009 – Vishnu Prabhakar, Indian author and playwright (b. 1912) + 2009 – Corín Tellado, Spanish author (b. 1927) +2010 – Julia Tsenova, Bulgarian pianist and composer (b. 1948) +2011 – Larry Sweeney, American wrestler and manager (b. 1981) +2012 – Ahmed Ben Bella, Algerian soldier and politician, 1st President of Algeria (b. 1916) + 2012 – Roger Caron, Canadian criminal and author (b. 1938) + 2012 – Tippy Dye, American basketball player and coach (b. 1915) + 2012 – Hal McKusick, American saxophonist, clarinet player, and flute player (b. 1924) + 2012 – Agustin Roman, American bishop (b. 1928) +2013 – Don Blackman, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (b. 1953) + 2013 – Sue Draheim, American fiddler (b.1949) + 2013 – Grady Hatton, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1922) + 2013 – Thomas Hemsley, English actor and singer (b. 1927) + 2013 – Hilary Koprowski, Polish-American virologist and immunologist (b. 1916) + 2013 – Gilles Marchal, French singer-songwriter (b. 1944) + 2013 – Maria Tallchief, American ballerina (b. 1925) + 2013 – Clorindo Testa, Italian-Argentinian architect (b. 1923) + 2013 – Jonathan Winters, American comedian, actor and screenwriter (b. 1925) +2014 – Rolf Brem, Swiss sculptor and illustrator (b. 1926) + 2014 – Edna Doré, English actress (b. 1921) + 2014 – Bill Henry, American baseball player (b. 1927) + 2014 – Lou Hudson, American basketball player and sportscaster (b. 1944) + 2014 – Myer S. Kripke, American rabbi and scholar (b. 1914) + 2014 – Sergey Nepobedimy, Russian engineer (b. 1921) + 2014 – Jesse Winchester, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1944) +2015 – Jimmy Gunn, American football player (b. 1948) + 2015 – Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, Bangladeshi journalist and politician (b. 1952) + 2015 – François Maspero, French journalist and author (b. 1932) + 2015 – Hanut Singh, Indian general (b. 1933) + 2015 – Tekena Tamuno, Nigerian historian and academic (b. 1932) +2017 – J. Geils, American singer and guitarist (b. 1946) + 2017 – Mark Wainberg, Canadian researcher and HIV/AIDS activist (b. 1945) +2020 – John Horton Conway, English mathematician (b. 1937) + +Holidays and observances +Christian feast day: +Antipas of Pergamum (Greek Orthodox Church) +Barsanuphius +Gemma Galgani +Godeberta +Guthlac of Crowland +George Selwyn (Anglicanism) +Stanislaus of Szczepanów +April 11 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) +Juan Santamaría Day, anniversary of his death in the Second Battle of Rivas. (Costa Rica) +International Louie Louie Day +World Parkinson's Day + +References + +External links + + BBC: On This Day + + Historical Events on April 11 + +Days of the year +April +Adhesive, also known as glue, cement, mucilage, or paste, is any non-metallic substance applied to one or both surfaces of two separate items that binds them together and resists their separation. + +The use of adhesives offers certain advantages over other binding techniques such as sewing, mechanical fastenings, or welding. These include the ability to bind different materials together, the more efficient distribution of stress across a joint, the cost-effectiveness of an easily mechanized process, and greater flexibility in design. Disadvantages of adhesive use include decreased stability at high temperatures, relative weakness in bonding large objects with a small bonding surface area, and greater difficulty in separating objects during testing. Adhesives are typically organized by the method of adhesion followed by reactive or non-reactive, a term which refers to whether the adhesive chemically reacts in order to harden. Alternatively, they can be organized either by their starting physical phase or whether their raw stock is of natural or synthetic origin. + +Adhesives may be found naturally or produced synthetically. The earliest human use of adhesive-like substances was approximately 200,000 years ago, when Neanderthals produced tar from the dry distillation of birch bark for use in binding stone tools to wooden handles. The first references to adhesives in literature appeared in approximately 2000 BC. The Greeks and Romans made great contributions to the development of adhesives. In Europe, glue was not widely used until the period AD 1500–1700. From then until the 1900s increases in adhesive use and discovery were relatively gradual. Only since the 20th century has the development of synthetic adhesives accelerated rapidly, and innovation in the field continues to the present. + +History + +Evidence of the earliest known use of adhesives was discovered in central Italy when two stone flakes partially covered with birch-bark tar and a third uncovered stone from the Middle Pleistocene era (circa 200,000 years ago) were found. This is thought to be the oldest discovered human use of tar-hafted stones. + +The birch-bark-tar adhesive is a simple, one-component adhesive. A study from 2019 showed that birch tar production can be a very simple process—merely involving the burning of birch bark near smooth vertical surfaces in open air conditions. Although sticky enough, plant-based adhesives are brittle and vulnerable to environmental conditions. The first use of compound adhesives was discovered in Sibudu, South Africa. Here, 70,000-year-old stone segments that were once inserted in axe hafts were discovered covered with an adhesive composed of plant gum and red ochre (natural iron oxide) as adding ochre to plant gum produces a stronger product and protects the gum from disintegrating under wet conditions. The ability to produce stronger adhesives allowed middle Stone Age humans to attach stone segments to sticks in greater variations, which led to the development of new tools. + +More recent examples of adhesive use by prehistoric humans have been found at the burial sites of ancient tribes. Archaeologists studying the sites found that approximately 6,000 years ago the tribesmen had buried their dead together with food found in broken clay pots repaired with tree resins. Another investigation by archaeologists uncovered the use of bituminous cements to fasten ivory eyeballs to statues in Babylonian temples dating to approximately 4000 BC. + +In 2000, a paper revealed the discovery of a 5,200-year-old man nicknamed the "Tyrolean Iceman" or "Ötzi", who was preserved in a glacier near the Austria-Italy border. Several of his belongings were found with him including two arrows with flint arrowheads and a copper hatchet, each with evidence of organic glue used to connect the stone or metal parts to the wooden shafts. The glue was analyzed as pitch, which requires the heating of tar during its production. The retrieval of this tar requires a transformation of birch bark by means of heat, in a process known as pyrolysis. + +The first references to adhesives in literature appeared in approximately 2000 BC. Further historical records of adhesive use are found from the period spanning 1500–1000 BC. Artifacts from this period include paintings depicting wood gluing operations and a casket made of wood and glue in King Tutankhamun's tomb. Other ancient Egyptian artifacts employ animal glue for bonding or lamination. Such lamination of wood for bows and furniture is thought to have extended their life and was accomplished using casein (milk protein)-based glues. The ancient Egyptians also developed starch-based pastes for the bonding of papyrus to clothing and a plaster of Paris-like material made of calcined gypsum. + +From AD 1 to 500 the Greeks and Romans made great contributions to the development of adhesives. Wood veneering and marquetry were developed, the production of animal and fish glues refined, and other materials utilized. Egg-based pastes were used to bond gold leaves, and incorporated various natural ingredients such as blood, bone, hide, milk, cheese, vegetables, and grains. The Greeks began the use of slaked lime as mortar while the Romans furthered mortar development by mixing lime with volcanic ash and sand. This material, known as pozzolanic cement, was used in the construction of the Roman Colosseum and Pantheon. The Romans were also the first people known to have used tar and beeswax as caulk and sealant between the wooden planks of their boats and ships. + +In Central Asia, the rise of the Mongols in approximately AD 1000 can be partially attributed to the good range and power of the bows of Genghis Khan's hordes. These bows were made of a bamboo core, with horn on the belly (facing towards the archer) and sinew on the back, bound together with animal glue. + +In Europe, glue fell into disuse until the period AD 1500–1700. At this time, world-renowned cabinet and furniture makers such as Thomas Chippendale and Duncan Phyfe began to use adhesives to hold their products together. In 1690, the first commercial glue plant was established in The Netherlands. This plant produced glues from animal hides. In 1750, the first British glue patent was issued for fish glue. The following decades of the next century witnessed the manufacture of casein glues in German and Swiss factories. In 1876, the first U.S. patent (number 183,024) was issued to the Ross brothers for the production of casein glue. + +The first U.S. postage stamps used starch-based adhesives when issued in 1847. The first US patent (number 61,991) on dextrin (a starch derivative) adhesive was issued in 1867. + +Natural rubber was first used as material for adhesives starting in 1830, which marked the starting point of the modern adhesive. In 1862, a British patent (number 3288) was issued for the plating of metal with brass by electrodeposition to obtain a stronger bond to rubber. The development of the automobile and the need for rubber shock mounts required stronger and more durable bonds of rubber and metal. This spurred the development of cyclized rubber treated in strong acids. By 1927, this process was used to produce solvent-based thermoplastic rubber cements for metal to rubber bonding. + +Natural rubber-based sticky adhesives were first used on a backing by Henry Day (US Patent 3,965) in 1845. Later these kinds of adhesives were used in cloth backed surgical and electric tapes. By 1925, the pressure-sensitive tape industry was born. +Today, sticky notes, Scotch Tape, and other tapes are examples of pressure-sensitive adhesives (PSA). + +A key step in the development of synthetic plastics was the introduction of a thermoset plastic known as Bakelite phenolic in 1910. Within two years, phenolic resin was applied to plywood as a coating varnish. In the early 1930s, phenolics gained importance as adhesive resins. + +The 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s witnessed great advances in the development and production of new plastics and resins due to the First and Second World Wars. These advances greatly improved the development of adhesives by allowing the use of newly developed materials that exhibited a variety of properties. With changing needs and ever evolving technology, the development of new synthetic adhesives continues to the present. However, due to their low cost, natural adhesives are still more commonly used. + +Types + +Adhesives are typically organized by the method of adhesion. These are then organized into reactive and non-reactive adhesives, which refers to whether the adhesive chemically reacts in order to harden. Alternatively they can be organized by whether the raw stock is of natural, or synthetic origin, or by their starting physical phase. + +By reactiveness + +Non-reactive + +Drying +There are two types of adhesives that harden by drying: solvent-based adhesives and polymer dispersion adhesives, also known as emulsion adhesives. Solvent-based adhesives are a mixture of ingredients (typically polymers) dissolved in a solvent. White glue, contact adhesives and rubber cements are members of the drying adhesive family. As the solvent evaporates, the adhesive hardens. Depending on the chemical composition of the adhesive, they will adhere to different materials to greater or lesser degrees. + +Polymer dispersion adhesives are milky-white dispersions often based on polyvinyl acetate (PVAc). They are used extensively in the woodworking and packaging industries. They are also used with fabrics and fabric-based components, and in engineered products such as loudspeaker cones. + +Pressure-sensitive + +Pressure-sensitive adhesives (PSA) form a bond by the application of light pressure to marry the adhesive with the adherend. They are designed to have a balance between flow and resistance to flow. The bond forms because the adhesive is soft enough to flow (i.e., "wet") to the adherend. The bond has strength because the adhesive is hard enough to resist flow when stress is applied to the bond. Once the adhesive and the adherend are in close proximity, molecular interactions, such as van der Waals forces, become involved in the bond, contributing significantly to its ultimate strength. + +PSAs are designed for either permanent or removable applications. Examples of permanent applications include safety labels for power equipment, foil tape for HVAC duct work, automotive interior trim assembly, and sound/vibration damping films. Some high performance permanent PSAs exhibit high adhesion values and can support kilograms of weight per square centimeter of contact area, even at elevated temperatures. Permanent PSAs may initially be removable (for example to recover mislabeled goods) and build adhesion to a permanent bond after several hours or days. + +Removable adhesives are designed to form a temporary bond, and ideally can be removed after months or years without leaving residue on the adherend. Removable adhesives are used in applications such as surface protection films, masking tapes, bookmark and note papers, barcode labels, price marking labels, promotional graphics materials, and for skin contact (wound care dressings, EKG electrodes, athletic tape, analgesic and transdermal drug patches, etc.). Some removable adhesives are designed to repeatedly stick and unstick. They have low adhesion, and generally cannot support much weight. Pressure-sensitive adhesive is used in Post-it notes. + +Pressure-sensitive adhesives are manufactured with either a liquid carrier or in 100% solid form. Articles are made from liquid PSAs by coating the adhesive and drying off the solvent or water carrier. They may be further heated to initiate a cross-linking reaction and increase molecular weight. 100% solid PSAs may be low viscosity polymers that are coated and then reacted with radiation to increase molecular weight and form the adhesive, or they may be high viscosity materials that are heated to reduce viscosity enough to allow coating, and then cooled to their final form. Major raw material for PSA's are acrylate-based polymers. + +Contact + +Contact adhesives are used in strong bonds with high shear-resistance like laminates, such as bonding Formica to a wooden counter, and in footwear, as in attaching outsoles to uppers. Natural rubber and polychloroprene (Neoprene) are commonly used contact adhesives. Both of these elastomers undergo strain crystallization. + +Contact adhesives must be applied to both surfaces and allowed some time to dry before the two surfaces are pushed together. Some contact adhesives require as long as 24 hours to dry before the surfaces are to be held together. Once the surfaces are pushed together, the bond forms very quickly. It is usually not necessary to apply pressure for a long time, so there is less need for clamps. + +Hot + +Hot adhesives, also known as hot melt adhesives, are thermoplastics applied in molten form (in the 65–180 °C range) which solidify on cooling to form strong bonds between a wide range of materials. Ethylene-vinyl acetate-based hot-melts are particularly popular for crafts because of their ease of use and the wide range of common materials they can join. A glue gun (shown at right) is one method of applying hot adhesives. The glue gun melts the solid adhesive, then allows the liquid to pass through its barrel onto the material, where it solidifies. + +Thermoplastic glue may have been invented around 1940 by Procter & Gamble as a solution to the problem that water-based adhesives, commonly used in packaging at that time, failed in humid climates, causing packages to open. However, water-based adhesives are still of strong interest as they typically do not contain volatile solvents. + +Reactive + +Anaerobic +Anaerobic adhesives cure when in contact with metal, in the absence of oxygen. They work well in a close-fitting space, as when used as a Thread-locking fluid. + +Multi-part +Multi-component adhesives harden by mixing two or more components which chemically react. This reaction causes polymers to cross-link into acrylates, urethanes, and epoxies . + +There are several commercial combinations of multi-component adhesives in use in industry. Some of these combinations are: + Polyester resin & polyurethane resin + Polyols & polyurethane resin + Acrylic polymers & polyurethane resins + +The individual components of a multi-component adhesive are not adhesive by nature. The individual components react with each other after being mixed and show full adhesion only on curing. The multi-component resins can be either solvent-based or solvent-less. The solvents present in the adhesives are a medium for the polyester or the polyurethane resin. The solvent is dried during the curing process. + +Pre-mixed and frozen adhesives +Pre-mixed and frozen adhesives (PMFs) are adhesives that are mixed, deaerated, packaged, and frozen. As it is necessary for PMFs to remain frozen before use, once they are frozen at −80 °C they are shipped with dry ice and are required to be stored at or below −40 °C. PMF adhesives eliminate mixing mistakes by the end user and reduce exposure of curing agents that can contain irritants or toxins. PMFs were introduced commercially in the 1960s and are commonly used in aerospace and defense. + +One-part +One-part adhesives harden via a chemical reaction with an external energy source, such as radiation, heat, and moisture. + +Ultraviolet (UV) light curing adhesives, also known as light curing materials (LCM), have become popular within the manufacturing sector due to their rapid curing time and strong bond strength. Light curing adhesives can cure in as little as one second and many formulations can bond dissimilar substrates (materials) and withstand harsh temperatures. These qualities make UV curing adhesives essential to the manufacturing of items in many industrial markets such as electronics, telecommunications, medical, aerospace, glass, and optical. Unlike traditional adhesives, UV light curing adhesives not only bond materials together but they can also be used to seal and coat products. They are generally acrylic-based. + +Heat curing adhesives consist of a pre-made mixture of two or more components. When heat is applied the components react and cross-link. This type of adhesive includes thermoset epoxies, urethanes, and polyimides. + +Moisture curing adhesives cure when they react with moisture present on the substrate surface or in the air. This type of adhesive includes cyanoacrylates and urethanes. + +By origin + +Natural +Natural adhesives are made from organic sources such as vegetable starch (dextrin), natural resins, or animals (e.g. the milk protein casein and hide-based animal glues). These are often referred to as bioadhesives. + +One example is a simple paste made by cooking flour in water. Starch-based adhesives are used in corrugated board and paper sack production, paper tube winding, and wallpaper adhesives. Casein glue is mainly used to adhere glass bottle labels. Animal glues have traditionally been used in bookbinding, wood joining, and many other areas but now are largely replaced by synthetic glues except in specialist applications like the production and repair of stringed instruments. Albumen made from the protein component of blood has been used in the plywood industry. Masonite, a wood hardboard, was originally bonded using natural wood lignin, an organic polymer, though most modern particle boards such as MDF use synthetic thermosetting resins. + +Synthetic +Synthetic adhesives are made out of organic compounds. Many are based on elastomers, thermoplastics, emulsions, and thermosets. Examples of thermosetting adhesives are: epoxy, polyurethane, cyanoacrylate and acrylic polymers. The first commercially produced synthetic adhesive was Karlsons Klister in the 1920s. + +Application +Applicators of different adhesives are designed according to the adhesive being used and the size of the area to which the adhesive will be applied. The adhesive is applied to either one or both of the materials being bonded. The pieces are aligned and pressure is added to aid in adhesion and rid the bond of air bubbles. + +Common ways of applying an adhesive include brushes, rollers, using films or pellets, spray guns and applicator guns (e.g., caulk gun). All of these can be used manually or automated as part of a machine. + +Mechanisms of adhesion + +For an adhesive to be effective it must have three main properties. Firstly, it must be able to wet the base material. Wetting is the ability of a liquid to maintain contact with a solid surface. It must also increase in strength after application, and finally it must be able to transmit load between the two surfaces/substrates being adhered. + +Adhesion, the attachment between adhesive and substrate may occur either by mechanical means, in which the adhesive works its way into small pores of the substrate, or by one of several chemical mechanisms. The strength of adhesion depends on many factors, including the means by which it occurs. + +In some cases, an actual chemical bond occurs between adhesive and substrate. In others, electrostatic forces, as in static electricity, hold the substances together. A third mechanism involves the van der Waals forces that develop between molecules. A fourth means involves the moisture-aided diffusion of the glue into the substrate, followed by hardening. + +Methods to improve adhesion +The quality of adhesive bonding depends strongly on the ability of the adhesive to efficiently cover (wet) the substrate area. This happens when the surface energy of the substrate is greater than the surface energy of the adhesive. However, high-strength adhesives have high surface energy. Thus, they bond poorly to low-surface-energy polymers or other materials. To solve this problem, surface treatment can be used to increase the surface energy as a preparation step before adhesive bonding. Importantly, surface preparation provides a reproducible surface allowing consistent bonding results. The commonly used surface activation techniques include plasma activation, flame treatment and wet chemistry priming. + +Failure + +There are several factors that could contribute to the failure of two adhered surfaces. Sunlight and heat may weaken the adhesive. Solvents can deteriorate or dissolve adhesive. Physical stresses may also cause the separation of surfaces. When subjected to loading, debonding may occur at different locations in the adhesive joint. The major fracture types are the following: + +Cohesive fracture +Cohesive fracture is obtained if a crack propagates in the bulk polymer which constitutes the adhesive. In this case the surfaces of both adherends after debonding will be covered by fractured adhesive. The crack may propagate in the center of the layer or near an interface. For this last case, the cohesive fracture can be said to be "cohesive near the interface". + +Adhesive fracture +Adhesive fracture (sometimes referred to as interfacial fracture) is when debonding occurs between the adhesive and the adherend. In most cases, the occurrence of adhesive fracture for a given adhesive goes along with smaller fracture toughness. + +Other types of fracture +Other types of fracture include: + The mixed type, which occurs if the crack propagates at some spots in a cohesive and in others in an interfacial manner. Mixed fracture surfaces can be characterised by a certain percentage of adhesive and cohesive areas. + The alternating crack path type which occurs if the cracks jump from one interface to the other. This type of fracture appears in the presence of tensile pre-stresses in the adhesive layer. + Fracture can also occur in the adherend if the adhesive is tougher than the adherend. In this case, the adhesive remains intact and is still bonded to one substrate and remnants of the other. For example, when one removes a price label, the adhesive usually remains on the label and the surface. This is cohesive failure. If, however, a layer of paper remains stuck to the surface, the adhesive has not failed. Another example is when someone tries to pull apart Oreo cookies and all the filling remains on one side; this is an adhesive failure, rather than a cohesive failure. + +Design of adhesive joints + +As a general design rule, the material properties of the object need to be greater than the forces anticipated during its use. (i.e. geometry, loads, etc.). The engineering work will consist of having a good model to evaluate the function. For most adhesive joints, this can be achieved using fracture mechanics. Concepts such as the stress concentration factor and the strain energy release rate can be used to predict failure. In such models, the behavior of the adhesive layer itself is neglected and only the adherents are considered. + +Failure will also very much depend on the opening mode of the joint. + Mode I is an opening or tensile mode where the loadings are normal to the crack. + Mode II is a sliding or in-plane shear mode where the crack surfaces slide over one another in direction perpendicular to the leading edge of the crack. This is typically the mode for which the adhesive exhibits the highest resistance to fracture. + Mode III is a tearing or antiplane shear mode. + +As the loads are usually fixed, an acceptable design will result from combination of a material selection procedure and geometry modifications, if possible. In adhesively bonded structures, the global geometry and loads are fixed by structural considerations and the design procedure focuses on the material properties of the adhesive and on local changes on the geometry. + +Increasing the joint resistance is usually obtained by designing its geometry so that: + The bonded zone is large + It is mainly loaded in mode II + Stable crack propagation will follow the appearance of a local failure. + +Shelf life +Some glues and adhesives have a limited shelf life. Shelf life is dependent on multiple factors, the foremost of which being temperature. Adhesives may lose their effectiveness at high temperatures, as well as become increasingly stiff. Other factors affecting shelf life include exposure to oxygen or water vapor. + +See also + + Impact glue + +References + +Bibliography + + Kinloch, Anthony J. (1987). Adhesion and Adhesives: Science and Technology. London: Chapman and Hall. + +External links + + Educational portal on adhesives and sealants + RoyMech: The theory of adhesive bonding + 3M's Adhesive & Tapes Classification + Database of adhesives for attaching different materials + + +Visual arts materials +1750 introductions +Packaging materials +Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins (born 31 December 1937) is a Welsh actor, director, and producer. One of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actors, he is known for his performances on the screen and stage. Hopkins has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, four BAFTA Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Laurence Olivier Award. He has also received the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2005 and the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement in 2008. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to drama in 1993. + +After graduating from the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in 1957, Hopkins trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. He was then spotted by Laurence Olivier, who invited him to join the Royal National Theatre in 1965. Productions at the National included King Lear (his favourite Shakespeare play), Coriolanus, Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra. In 1985, he received great acclaim and a Laurence Olivier Award for his performance in the David Hare play Pravda. His last stage play was a West End production of M. Butterfly in 1989. + +Hopkins early film roles include The Lion in Winter (1968), A Bridge Too Far (1977), and The Elephant Man (1980). He won two Academy Awards for Best Actor for playing Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and an octogenarian with dementia in The Father (2020), becoming the oldest Best Actor Oscar winner for the latter. His other Oscar-nominated films include The Remains of the Day (1993), Nixon (1995), Amistad (1997), and The Two Popes (2019). Other notable films include 84 Charing Cross Road (1987), Howards End (1992), Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), Shadowlands (1993), Legends of the Fall (1994), The Mask of Zorro (1998), and the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Thor franchise (2011–2017). + +For his work on television, Hopkins received a British Academy Television Award for Best Actor for his performance in War and Peace (1972). He won two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series for The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case (1976) and The Bunker (1981). Other notable projects include the BBC film The Dresser (2015), PBS's King Lear (2018), and the HBO series Westworld (2016–2018). + +Early life and education +Philip Anthony Hopkins was born in the Margam district of Port Talbot on 31 December 1937, the son of Annie Muriel (née Yeates) and baker Richard Arthur Hopkins. One of his grandfathers was from Wiltshire, England. He stated his father's working-class values have always underscored his life, "Whenever I get a feeling that I may be special or different, I think of my father and I remember his hands – his hardened, broken hands." His school days were unproductive; he would rather immerse himself in art, such as painting and drawing, or playing the piano than attend to his studies. In 1949, to instil discipline, his parents insisted he attend Jones' West Monmouth Boys' School in Pontypool. He remained there for five terms and was then educated at Cowbridge Grammar School in the Vale of Glamorgan. In an interview in 2002, he stated, "I was a poor learner, which left me open to ridicule and gave me an inferiority complex. I grew up absolutely convinced I was stupid." + +Hopkins was inspired by fellow Welsh actor Richard Burton, whom he met at the age of 15. He later called Burton "very gracious, very nice" but elaborated, "I don't know where everyone gets the idea we were good friends. I suppose it's because we are both Welsh and grew up near the same town. For the record, I didn't really know him at all." He enrolled at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff, from which he graduated in 1957. He next met Burton in 1975 as Burton prepared to take over Hopkins's role as the psychiatrist in Peter Shaffer's Equus, with Hopkins stating, "He was a phenomenal actor. So was Peter O'Toole – they were wonderful, larger-than-life characters." After two years of his national service between 1958 and 1960, which he served in the British Army, Hopkins moved to London to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. + +Acting career + +1960–1979: National Theatre and film debut + +Hopkins made his first professional stage appearance in the Palace Theatre, Swansea, in 1960 with Swansea Little Theatre's production of Have a Cigarette. In 1965, after several years in repertory, he was spotted by Laurence Olivier, who invited him to join the Royal National Theatre in London. Hopkins became Olivier's understudy, and filled in when Olivier was struck with appendicitis during a 1967 production of August Strindberg's The Dance of Death. Olivier later noted in his memoir, Confessions of an Actor, that, "A new young actor in the company of exceptional promise named Anthony Hopkins was understudying me and walked away with the part of Edgar like a cat with a mouse between its teeth." Up until that night, Hopkins was always nervous prior to going on stage. This has since changed, and Hopkins quoted his mentor as saying: "He [Olivier] said: 'Remember: nerves is [sic] vanity – you're wondering what people think of you; to hell with them, just jump off the edge'. It was great advice." + +He made his small-screen debut in a 1967 BBC broadcast of A Flea in Her Ear. His first starring role in a film came in 1964 in Changes, a short directed by Drewe Henley, written and produced by James Scott and co-starring Jacqueline Pearce. In 1968, Hopkins got his break in The Lion in Winter playing Richard the Lionheart, a performance which saw him nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Hopkins portrayed Charles Dickens in the BBC television film The Great Inimitable Mr. Dickens in 1970, and Pierre Bezukhov in the BBC's mini series War and Peace (1972), receiving the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor for his performance in the latter. Making a name for himself as a screen actor, he appeared in Frank Pierson's neo-noir action thriller The Looking Glass War (1970), and Étienne Périer's When Eight Bells Toll (1971). The first of five collaborations with director Richard Attenborough, in 1972 Hopkins starred as British politician David Lloyd George in Young Winston, and in 1977 he played British Army officer John Frost in Attenborough's World War II-set film A Bridge Too Far. + +In 1973 he again portrayed David Lloyd George in the BBC miniseries The Edwardians which aired in the US in 1974 on Masterpiece Theatre. Hopkins starred in a film adaptation of the Henrik Ibsen play A Doll's House (1973) alongside Claire Bloom, Ralph Richardson, Denholm Elliott, and Edith Evans. He then appeared in the comedy The Girl from Petrovka (1974) with Goldie Hawn and Hal Holbrook and also starred in the Richard Lester suspense film Juggernaut opposite Richard Harris and Omar Sharif. In October 1974, Hopkins played the psychologist Dysart in the original Broadway production of Sir Peter Shaffer's play Equus, starring opposite Peter Firth. For this performance, he received the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play for the 1974–75 season. In 1978 he starred in the sequel to National Velvet (1944), entitled International Velvet with Tatum O'Neal, Christopher Plummer, which was directed by Bryan Forbes. In 1978 he also starred in Attenborough's psychological horror film Magic about a demonic ventriloquist's puppet with Gene Siskel adding it as one of the best films of the year. In 1979, Hopkins appeared as Prospero in a production of The Tempest held at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. + +1980–1989: Rise to prominence + +In 1980, he starred in David Lynch's The Elephant Man as the English doctor Sir Frederick Treves, who attends to Joseph Merrick (portrayed by John Hurt), a severely deformed man in 19th century London. The film received critical praise and attention from critics and received eight Academy Award nominations including for Best Picture. That year he also starred opposite Shirley MacLaine in A Change of Seasons and famously didn't get along with MacLaine, adding "she was the most obnoxious actress I have ever worked with." The film was an immense box office and critical failure. In 1981, he starred in the CBS television film The Bunker portraying Adolf Hitler during weeks in and around his underground bunker in Berlin before and during the Battle of Berlin. John O'Connor praised Hopkins in his New York Times review: "The portrait becomes all the more riveting through an extraordinarily powerful performance from Anthony Hopkins. His Hitler is mad, often contemptible, but always understandable. Part of the problem, perhaps, is that the monster becomes a little too understandable. He is not made sympathetic, exactly, but he is given decidedly pathetic dimensions, making him just that much more acceptable as a dramatic and historical character." For his performance he received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie. That same year he starred as Paul the Apostle opposite Robert Foxworth as Saint Peter in the biblical drama and miniseries Peter and Paul (1981). + +In 1983, Hopkins also became a company member of The Mirror Theater Ltd's Repertory Company. In 1984, he portrayed Deeley in Harold Pinter's play Old Times at the Roundabout Theatre in New York. In 1984, he starred opposite Mel Gibson in The Bounty as William Bligh, captain of the Royal Navy ship , in a more accurate retelling of the mutiny on the Bounty. The following year he starred as Quasimodo in the CBS television film The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1982). The film also starred Derek Jacobi, David Suchet, Tim Pigott-Smith, Nigel Hawthorne, and John Gielgud. He also starred in Strangers and Brothers (1984), Arch of Triumph (1984), Guilty Conscience (1985), Mussolini and I (1985), and The Tenth Man (1988). In 1985, Hopkins starred opposite Colin Firth in the Arthur Schnitzler play The Lonely Road at The Old Vic in London. That same year, he featured as Lambert Le Roux in the National Theatre production of Pravda in Sir David Hare and Howard Brenton's satirical play on the British newspaper industry in the Thatcher era. Receiving acclaim for his performance, Hopkins won the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement. Frank Rich in his New York Times review wrote, "Mr. Hopkins creates a memorable image of a perversely brilliant modern-day barbarian." + +In 1986, he starred in David Hare's production of King Lear, Hopkins's favourite Shakespeare play, at the National Theatre. The next year, he starred as Antony in the National Theatre production of Antony and Cleopatra opposite Judi Dench, and in 1989, Hopkins made his last appearance on stage in a West End production of M. Butterfly. "It was a torment", he claimed in a later interview. Of a matinee where nobody laughed, there was, he said "not a titter". When the lights came up, the cast realised the entire audience was Japanese. "Oh God," he recalled, "You'd go to your dressing room and someone would pop their head round the door and say, 'Coffee? Tea?' And I'd think, 'An open razor, please.'" In 1989 he starred as Abel Magwitch in the miniseries Great Expectations which was broadcast on ITV in the UK and The Disney Channel in the US. The adaptation of the Dickens' novel also starred Jean Simmons and John Rhys-Davies. He received his fourth Primetime Emmy Award nomination, this time for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie. + +1990–1998: Stardom and acclaim + +Hopkins won acclaim among critics and audiences as the cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1991, with Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling, who also won for Best Actress. The film won Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, and Hopkins also picked up his first BAFTA for Best Actor. Hopkins reprised his role as Lecter twice; in Ridley Scott's Hannibal (2001), and Red Dragon (2002). His original portrayal of the character in The Silence of the Lambs has been labelled by the AFI as the number-one film villain. Director Jonathan Demme wanted a British actor for the role, with Jodie Foster stating, "Lecter is a manipulator and has a way of using language to keep people at bay. You wanted to see that Shakespearean monster." At the time he was offered the role, Hopkins was making a return to the London stage, performing in M. Butterfly. He had come back to Britain after living for a number of years in Hollywood, having all but given up on a career there, saying, "Well that part of my life's over; it's a chapter closed. I suppose I'll just have to settle for being a respectable actor poncing around the West End and doing respectable BBC work for the rest of my life." + +Hopkins reprised the role, returning to the iconic villain in adaptations of the first three of the Lecter novels by Thomas Harris. The author was reportedly pleased with Hopkins's portrayal of his antagonist. However, Hopkins stated that Red Dragon (2002) would feature his final performance as the character and that he would not reprise even a narrative role in the latest addition to the series, Hannibal Rising (2007). The following year, After winning the Oscar for Silence of the Lambs, Hopkins was featured in Mark Joffe's film Spotswood and the science fiction film Freejack and also played supporting roles as Charlie Chaplin's biographer in Richard Attenborough's biographical drama Chaplin (1992) and Professor Van Helsing in Francis Ford Coppola's horror adaptation Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992). + +In 1992, Hopkins starred in Merchant-Ivory's period film based on the E. M. Forster novel Howards End. Hopkins acted alongside Emma Thompson and Helena Bonham Carter where he played the cold businessman Henry Wilcox. The film received enormous critical acclaim, with critic Leonard Maltin calling it "extraordinarily good on every level." The following year, Hopkins reunited with Merchant-Ivory and Emma Thompson in The Remains of the Day (1993), a film set in 1950s post-war Britain based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. David Hunter of The Hollywood Reporter praised Hopkins' performance describing it as "colossal" and a "tour de force". The film was ranked by the British Film Institute as the 64th greatest British film of the 20th century. Starring as the butler Stevens, Hopkins named it among his favourite films. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance and received the BAFTA Award for Best Actor. + +Hopkins portrayed Oxford academic C. S. Lewis in the 1993 British biographical film Shadowlands, for which he was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Actor. Also that year he acted opposite Isabella Rossellini in the drama The Innocent (1993) which was adapted from the Ian McEwan novel of the same name. During this period, Hopkins had the chance to work with Bart the Bear in two films: Legends of the Fall (1994) and The Edge (1997). According to trainer, Lynn Seus, "Tony Hopkins was absolutely brilliant with Bart...He acknowledged and respected him like a fellow actor. He would spend hours just looking at Bart and admiring him. He did so many of his own scenes with Bart." Hopkins was Britain's highest paid performer in 1998, starring in The Mask of Zorro and Meet Joe Black, and also agreed to reprise his role as Dr Hannibal Lecter for a fee of £15 million. + +2000–2014: Established actor + +In 2000, Hopkins narrated Ron Howard's live action remake of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. He then reprised the role of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs (1991) sequel simply entitled Hannibal (2001). Director Ridley Scott and actress Julianne Moore replaced Jonathan Demme and Jodie Foster who declined to participate in the sequel. Hopkins, who previously starred with Moore in Surviving Picasso (1996), agreed to do the role approving of the script. In the book, Lecter uses bandages to disguise himself as a plastic surgery patient. This was left out of the film because Scott and Hopkins agreed to leave the face alone. Hopkins said: "It's as if he's making a statement—'catch me if you can'. With his big hat, he's so obvious that nobody thinks he's Hannibal Lecter. I've always thought he's a very elegant man, a Renaissance man.": + +In the film, Lecter is first seen in Florence "as the classical Lecter, lecturing and being smooth", according to Hopkins. When the film moves to the U.S., Hopkins changed his appearance by building up muscle and cropping his hair short "to make him like a mercenary, that he would be so fit and so strong that he could just snap somebody in two if they got ... in his way". The film broke international box office records receiving $351 million. but received mixed reviews from critics. Hopkins starred in the third film in the series Red Dragon (2002) alongside Ralph Fiennes, Edward Norton, Harvey Keitel, Emily Watson, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. The film received favourable reviews and was a box office hit. + +In 2003, Hopkins received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Hopkins stated that his role as Burt Munro, whom he portrayed in his 2005 film The World's Fastest Indian, was his favourite. He also asserted that Munro was the easiest role that he had played because both men have a similar outlook on life. In 2006, Hopkins was the recipient of the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement. In 2008, he received the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award, the highest award the British Film Academy can bestow. In a 2003 poll conducted by Channel 4 Hopkins was ranked seventh on their list of the 100 Greatest Movie Stars. + +On 24 February 2010, it was announced that Hopkins had been cast in The Rite, which was released on 28 January 2011. He played a priest who is "an expert in exorcisms and whose methods are not necessarily traditional". Hopkins, an agnostic who is quoted as saying "I don't know what I believe, myself personally", reportedly wrote a line—"Some days I don't know if I believe in God or Santa Claus or Tinkerbell"—into his character to identify with it. In 2011, Hopkins has said, "what I enjoy is uncertainty. ... I don't know. You don't know." On 21 September 2011, Peter R. de Vries cast Hopkins in the role of the Heineken owner Freddy Heineken, in the film about his kidnapping. Kidnapping Freddy Heineken, was released in 2015. + +Hopkins portrayed Odin, the Allfather or "king" of Asgard, in the 2011 film adaptation of Marvel Comics' Thor and would go on to reprise his role as Odin in Thor: The Dark World in 2013, and again in 2017's Thor: Ragnarok. Hopkins portrayed Alfred Hitchcock in Sacha Gervasi's biopic Hitchcock alongside Helen Mirren who played Hitchcock's wife, Alma Reville. The film focuses on the film of Psycho and that which followed. He starred in the comedy action film Red 2 (2013) as the main antagonist Edward Bailey. In 2014, he portrayed Methuselah in Darren Aronofsky's Noah. Hopkins played Autobot ally Sir Edmund Burton in Transformers: The Last Knight, which was released in June 2017. + +2015–present: Career resurgence +In October 2015, Hopkins appeared as Sir in a BBC Two production of Ronald Harwood's The Dresser, alongside Ian McKellen, Edward Fox and Emily Watson. The Dresser is set in a London theatre during the Blitz, where an aging actor-manager, Sir, prepares for his starring role in King Lear with the help of his devoted dresser, Norman. Hopkins described his role as Sir as "the highlight of my life. It was a chance to work with the actors I had run away from. To play another actor is fun because you know the ins and outs of their thinking – especially with someone like Sir, who is a diabolically insecure, egotistical man." He spoke again on the impact the role had on him in 2018, "When I was at the Royal National Theatre all those years ago, I knew I had something in me, but I didn't have the discipline. I had a Welsh temperament and didn't have that 'fitting in' mechanism. I would fight, I would rebel. I thought, 'Well, I don't belong here.' And for almost 50 years afterwards, I felt that edge of, 'I don't belong anywhere, I'm a loner.' But in The Dresser, when Ian [McKellen] responded, it was wonderful. We got on so well and I suddenly felt at home, as though that lack of belonging was all in my imagination, all in my vanity". + +Beginning in October 2016, Hopkins starred as Robert Ford in the HBO sci-fi series Westworld where he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for his performance. Hopkins starred as Lear in the 2018 television film King Lear acting alongside Emma Thompson, Florence Pugh, and Jim Broadbent which was broadcast on BBC Two on 28 May 2018. Hopkins received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for his performance. Vulture stated the film "capture[d] the heart of the classic Shakespeare tragedy" and described Hopkins' performance as "devastating". + +In 2019, Hopkins portrayed Pope Benedict XVI opposite Jonathan Pryce as Pope Francis in Fernando Meirelles's The Two Popes. He stated, "The great treasure was working with – apart from [director] Meirelles – Pryce. We're both from Wales. He's from the north, and I'm from the south". The film is set in the Vatican City in the aftermath of the Vatican leaks scandal and follows Pope Benedict XVI as he attempts to convince Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio to reconsider his decision to resign as an archbishop as he confides his own intentions to abdicate the papacy. In August 2019, the film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival to critical acclaim. The film started streaming on 20 December 2019, by Netflix. The performances of Pryce and Hopkins, as well as McCarten's screenplay, received high praise from critics, and all three men received nominations for their work at the Academy Awards, Golden Globes and British Academy Film Awards. + +In 2020, Hopkins played a man struggling with Alzheimer's disease in The Father. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival where it received critical acclaim, with many critics praising Hopkins's performance and calling him a standout and Oscar frontrunner. The film also stars Olivia Colman as his daughter. It is based on a Tony Award nominated play Le Père by Florian Zeller, who also directed the film. The Father was released on 18 December 2020 by Sony Pictures Classics. In a Q&A at the Telluride Film Festival Hopkins praised both Colman and Zeller saying comparing the working experience saying it "might've been the highlight of my life". Hopkins mentioned how lucky he's been over the past five years working with Ian McKellen in The Dresser, Emma Thompson in King Lear, and Jonathan Pryce in The Two Popes. Hopkins won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance in The Father, making it his fourth BAFTA and his third for Best Actor. He also won a second Academy Award for Best Actor for his role, becoming the oldest person to win an acting Oscar. Hopkins did not attend the Oscars ceremony, but accepted the award in a video posted on social media, from Wales, the following day, saying: "Here I am in my homeland in Wales. And at 83 years of age, I did not expect to get this award. I really didn't and am very grateful to the Academy and thank you." He also paid tribute to fellow nominee Chadwick Boseman, who had died the previous year. + +In 2022 he acted in James Gray's semi-autobiographical coming of age drama Armageddon Time (2023). Hopkins starred alongside Jeremy Strong and Anne Hathaway. Hopkins received positive reviews for his turn as a kindly elderly grandfather. A.O. Scott of The New York Times wrote, "Hopkins finds the essential grit hiding underneath the twinkle". That same year he reunited with Florian Zeller, acting in The Son (2022) alongside Hugh Jackman. Hopkins is set to star as Nicholas Winton in the drama film One Life and Sigmund Freud in Freud's Last Session. Hopkins was cast in the upcoming Netflix science fiction film Rebel Moon directed by Zack Snyder. + +Composing + +Single + +In a 2012 interview, Hopkins stated, "I've been composing music all my life and if I'd been clever enough at school I would like to have gone to music college. As it was I had to settle for being an actor." In 1986, he released a single called "Distant Star", which peaked at No. 75 in the UK Singles Chart. In 2007, he announced he would retire temporarily from the screen to tour around the world. Hopkins has also written music for the concert hall, in collaboration with Stephen Barton as orchestrator. These compositions include The Masque of Time, given its world premiere with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in October 2008, and Schizoid Salsa. + +Albums +On 31 October 2011, André Rieu released an album including a waltz which Hopkins had composed in 1964, at the age of 26. Hopkins had never heard his composition, "And the Waltz Goes On", before it was premiered by Rieu's orchestra in Vienna; Rieu's album was given the same name as Hopkins's piece. + +In January 2012, Hopkins released an album of classical music, entitled Composer, performed by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and released on CD via the UK radio station Classic FM. The album consists of nine of his original works and film scores, with one of the pieces titled "Margam" in tribute to his home town near Port Talbot in Wales. + +Directing +In 1990, Hopkins directed a film about his Welsh compatriot, poet Dylan Thomas, titled Dylan Thomas: Return Journey, which was his directing debut for the screen. In the same year, as part of the restoration process for the Stanley Kubrick film Spartacus, Hopkins was approached to re-record lines from a scene that was being added back to the film; this scene featured Laurence Olivier and Tony Curtis, with Hopkins recommended by Olivier's widow, Joan Plowright to perform her late husband's part thanks to his talent for mimicry. + +In 1995, he directed August, an adaptation of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya set in Wales. His first screenplay, an experimental drama called Slipstream, which he also directed and scored, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007. In 1997, Hopkins narrated the BBC natural documentary series, Killing for a Living, which showed predatory behaviour in nature. He narrated episode 1 through 3 before being replaced by John Shrapnel. + +Reception and acting style + +Hopkins is renowned for his preparation for roles. He indicated in interviews that once he has committed to a project, he will go over his lines as many times as is needed (sometimes upwards of 200) until the lines sound natural to him, so that he can "do it without thinking". This leads to an almost casual style of delivery that belies the amount of groundwork done beforehand. While it can allow for some careful improvisation, it has also brought him into conflict with the occasional director who departs from the script or demands what the actor views as an excessive number of takes. Hopkins has stated that after he is finished with a scene, he simply discards the lines, not remembering them later on. This is unlike others who usually remember their lines from a film, even years later. + +In the mid-1970s, he started a collaboration with Richard Attenborough who called him "the greatest actor of his generation". Attenborough, who directed Hopkins on five occasions, found himself going to great lengths during the filming of Shadowlands (1993) to accommodate the differing approaches of his two stars (Hopkins and Debra Winger), who shared many scenes. Whereas Hopkins preferred the spontaneity of a fresh take and liked to keep rehearsals to a minimum, Winger rehearsed continuously. To allow for this, Attenborough stood in for Hopkins during Winger's rehearsals, only bringing him in for the last one before a take. The director praised Hopkins for "this extraordinary ability to make you believe when you hear him that it is the very first time he has ever said that line. It's an incredible gift." + +Renowned for his ability to remember lines, Hopkins keeps his memory supple by learning things by heart such as poetry and Shakespeare. In Steven Spielberg's Amistad (1997), Hopkins astounded the crew with his memorisation of a seven-page courtroom speech, delivering it in one go. An overawed Spielberg could not bring himself to call Hopkins "Tony" and insisted on addressing him as Sir Anthony throughout the shoot. + +In a 2016 interview with the Radio Times, Hopkins spoke of his ability to frighten people since he was a boy growing up in Port Talbot, Wales. "I don't know why but I've always known what scares people. When I was a kid I'd tell the girls around the street the story about Dracula and I'd go 'th-th-th' (the sucking noise which he reproduced in The Silence of the Lambs). As a result, they'd run away screaming." He recalled going through the script of Silence of the Lambs for the first time with fellow cast members. "I didn't know what they were going to make of it but I'd prepared it—my first line to Jodie Foster was: 'Good morning. You're one of Jack Crawford's aren't you?' Everyone froze. There was a silence. Then one of the producers said, 'Holy crap, don't change a thing'." On Hopkins's approach to playing villains, Miranda Sawyer in The Guardian writes, "When he portrays deliberately scary people, he plays them quietly, emphasising their sinister control." + +Hopkins is a well-known mimic, adept at turning his native Welsh accent into whatever is required by a character. In the 1991 restoration of Spartacus, he recreated the voice of his late mentor Laurence Olivier in a scene for which the soundtrack had been lost. His interview on the 1998 relaunch edition of the British television talk show Parkinson featured an impersonation of comedian Tommy Cooper. Hopkins has said acting "like a submarine" has helped him to deliver credible performances in his thrillers. He said, "It's very difficult for an actor to avoid, you want to show a bit. But I think the less one shows the better." + +Acting credits + +Awards, honours and legacy + +Hopkins was appointed a CBE in 1987 and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for "services to the arts" at Buckingham Palace in 1993. In 1988, he was awarded an honorary D.Litt. degree and in 1992 received an honorary fellowship from the University of Wales, Lampeter. He was made a freeman of his home town, Port Talbot, in 1996. + +Hopkins has also been honored with various lifetime achievement awards for his work in film and television. In 2006, Gwyneth Paltrow presented him with the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award. In 2008, Richard Attenborough presented Hopkins with the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Hopkins has also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2003. In 2021, Hopkins won the Oscar for the Best Actor for The Father. He became the oldest nominee and winner of the award. + +Personal life + +Hopkins resides in Malibu, California. He had moved to the United States once before, during the late 1970s, to pursue his film career, but returned to London in the late 1980s. However, he decided to return to the US following his 1990s success. Retaining his British citizenship, he became a naturalised American citizen on 12 April 2000, with Hopkins stating: "I have dual citizenship; it just so happens I live in America". + +Hopkins has been married three times. He was married to actress Petronella Barker from 1966 to 1972, Jennifer Lynton from 1973 to 2002, and Stella Arroyave since 2003. Hopkins met Arroyave, a Colombian-born antiques dealer in the early 2000s, and he credits her with helping him overcome his feelings of depression at the time. On Christmas Eve 2013, he celebrated his 10th wedding anniversary by having a blessing at a private service at St Davids Cathedral in St Davids. He has a daughter from his first marriage. The two are estranged; when asked if he had any grandchildren, he said, "I don't have any idea. People break up. Families split and, you know, 'Get on with your life.' People make choices. I don't care one way or the other." + +Hopkins previously suffered from alcoholism; he has stayed sober since he stopped drinking just after Christmas 1975. He said, "I made that quantum leap when I asked for help. I just found something and a woman talked to me and she said, just trust in God. And I said, well, why not?" When asked, "Did you literally pray?" Hopkins responded: "No, I didn't. I think because I asked for help, which is a form of prayer." In January 2020, when asked if he was still agnostic, he responded, "Agnosticism is a bit strange. An agnostic doubts and atheism denies. I'm not a holy Joe; I'm just an old sinner like everyone else. I do believe more than ever now that there is a vast area of our own lives that we know nothing about. As I get older, I can cry at the drop of a hat because the wonderful, terrible passion of life is so short. I have to believe there's something bigger than me. I'm just a microbe. That, for me, is the biggest feeling of relief – acknowledging that I am really nothing. I'm compelled to say, whoever's running the show, thank you very much." + +Hopkins quit smoking using the Allen Carr method. In 2008, he embarked on a weight loss programme, and by 2010, he had lost 5st 10 lb (80 lb or 36 kg). In January 2017, in an interview with The Desert Sun, Hopkins said that he had been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome three years earlier, but that he was "high end". In 2020, he said that "it's a great gift, actually". He has a pet cat named Niblo, which he adopted in Budapest. Hopkins eschews meat and prefers a pescatarian diet. He is a fan of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses, and once remarked in an interview how he would love to appear in the series. Writer John Sullivan saw the interview, and with Hopkins in mind created the character Danny Driscoll, a local villain. However, filming of the new series coincided with the filming of The Silence of the Lambs, making Hopkins unavailable. The role instead went to Roy Marsden. + +Philanthropy + +Hopkins has offered his support to various charities and appeals, notably becoming President of the National Trust's Snowdonia Appeal, raising funds for the preservation of Snowdonia National Park in north Wales. In 1998 he donated £1 million towards the £3 million needed to aid the Trust's efforts in purchasing parts of Snowdon. Prior to the campaign, Hopkins wrote Anthony Hopkins' Snowdonia, which was published in 1995. Due to his contributions to Snowdonia, in addition to his film career, in 2004 Hopkins was named among the 100 Welsh Heroes in a Welsh poll. + +Hopkins has been a patron of the YMCA centre in his home town of Port Talbot, South Wales, for more than 20 years, having first joined the YMCA in the 1950s. He supports other various philanthropic groups. He was a Guest of Honour at a Gala Fundraiser for Women in Recovery, Inc., a Venice, California-based non-profit organisation offering rehabilitation assistance to women in recovery from substance abuse. He is also a volunteer teacher at the Ruskin School of Acting in Santa Monica, California. Hopkins served as the Honorary Patron of The New Heritage Theatre Company in Boise, Idaho from 1997 to 2007, participating in fundraising and marketing efforts for the repertory theatre. + +Hopkins contributed toward the refurbishment of a £2.3 million wing at his alma mater, the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff, named the Anthony Hopkins Centre. It opened in 1999. + +Hopkins is a prominent member of the environmental protection group Greenpeace and as of early 2008 featured in a television advertisement campaign, voicing concerns about whaling in Japan. He has also been a patron of RAPt (Rehabilitation for Addicted Prisoners Trust) since its early days and in 1992 helped open their first intensive drug and alcohol rehabilitation unit at Downview (HM Prison), a women's prison in Surrey, England. + +Hopkins is an admirer of the late Welsh comedian Tommy Cooper. On 23 February 2008, as patron of the Tommy Cooper Society, he unveiled a commemorative statue in the entertainer's home town of Caerphilly. For the ceremony, he donned Cooper's trademark fez and performed a comic routine. + +See also + List of oldest and youngest Academy Award winners and nominees +List of British Academy Award nominees and winners + List of actors with Academy Awards nominations + List of actors with two or more Academy Award nominations in acting categories + List of actors with two or more Academy Awards in acting categories + +References + +External links + + + + + + + +1937 births +Living people +20th-century Welsh male actors +21st-century Welsh male actors +Actors awarded knighthoods +Actors with autism +Alumni of RADA +Alumni of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama +American people of Welsh descent +BAFTA fellows +Best Actor Academy Award winners +Best Actor BAFTA Award winners +Best Actor BAFTA Award (television) winners +British actors with disabilities +British expatriate male actors in the United States +Cecil B. DeMille Award Golden Globe winners +Commanders of the Order of the British Empire +Cool Cymru +Critics' Circle Theatre Award winners +David di Donatello winners +Drama Desk Award winners +Honorary Members of the Royal Academy of Music +Knights Bachelor +Laurence Olivier Award winners +Outstanding Performance by a Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie Primetime Emmy Award winners +People educated at Cowbridge Grammar School +People educated at West Monmouth School +People from Port Talbot +People with Asperger syndrome +Welsh expatriates in the United States +Welsh male film actors +Welsh male Shakespearean actors +Welsh male stage actors +Welsh male television actors +Welsh people with disabilities +Ardal O'Hanlon () is an Irish comedian, actor, and author. He played Father Dougal McGuire in Father Ted (1995–1998), George Sunday/Thermoman in My Hero (2000–2006), and DI Jack Mooney in Death in Paradise (2017–2020). His novel The Talk of the Town was published in 1998. + +Early life +O'Hanlon was born in Carrickmacross, County Monaghan, the son of Fianna Fáil TD and physician Rory O'Hanlon and Teresa (née Ward). He is the third of six children, and has three brothers and two sisters. + +O'Hanlon was schooled in Blackrock College in Dublin and graduated, in 1987, from the National Institute for Higher Education, Dublin (now Dublin City University), with a degree in communications studies. + +Career +Together with Kevin Gildea and Barry Murphy, O'Hanlon founded the International Comedy Cellar, upstairs in the International Bar on Dublin's South Wicklow Street. Dublin had no comedy scene at the time. As a stand up, O'Hanlon won the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year competition in 1994. For a time he was the presenter of The Stand Up Show. + +He was spotted by Graham Linehan, who was to cast him as Father Dougal McGuire in Father Ted (1995–98). During filming, O’Hanlon went to buy shoes. Still being in costume, the seller thought he was a real priest and offered the footwear for free. In 1995 he received the Top TV Comedy Newcomer at the British Comedy Awards for this role. In 1995, he appeared (as Father Dougal) in a Channel 4 ident ("Hello, you're watching ... television"), and during Comic Relief on BBC1. This was followed by the award-winning short comedy film Flying Saucer Rock'n'Roll. In a 2019 interview, O'Hanlon admitted that he had attempted to distance himself from Father Ted once the show had finished. + +O'Hanlon moved into straight acting alongside Emma Fielding and Beth Goddard in the ITV comedy-drama Big Bad World, which aired for two series in summer 1999 and winter 2001. He also played a minor role in The Butcher Boy as Joe's (Francie's best friend) father, and appeared in an episode of the original Whose Line is it Anyway?. + +In 2000, O'Hanlon starred in the comedy series My Hero, in which he played a very naive superhero from the planet Ultron. His character juggled world-saving heroics with life in suburbia. He stayed in the role until the first episode of series 6 in July 2006, when he was replaced by James Dreyfus during the same episode. + +O'Hanlon also provided the voice of the lead character in the three Christmas television cartoon specials of Robbie the Reindeer. He appeared in the 2005 BBC One sitcom Blessed, written by Ben Elton; at the 2005 British Comedy Awards, it was publicly slated by Jonathan Ross, albeit in jest. Towards the end of 2005, he played an eccentric Scottish character, Coconut Tam, in the family based film, The Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby. He has also appeared on radio, including an appearance on Quote... Unquote on BBC Radio 4 on 18 July 2011. Appropriately, one of his questions concerned a quotation from Father Ted. In 2015, he appeared as incompetent angel Smallbone in the sitcom The Best Laid Plans, on the same channel. + +In 2006, O'Hanlon wrote and presented an RTÉ television series called Leagues Apart, which saw him investigate the biggest and most passionate football rivalries in a number of European countries. Included were Roma vs Lazio in Italy, Barcelona vs Real Madrid in Spain, and Galatasaray vs Fenerbahce in Turkey. He followed this with another RTÉ show, So You Want To Be Taoiseach? in 2007. It was a political series in which O'Hanlon gave tongue-in-cheek advice on how to go about becoming Taoiseach of Ireland. + +He appeared in the Doctor Who episode "Gridlock", broadcast on 14 April 2007, in which he played a catlike creature named Thomas Kincade Brannigan. O'Hanlon appears in series 3 of the TV show Skins, playing Naomi Campbell (Lily Loveless)'s politics teacher named Kieran, who attempted to kiss her. He then went on to form a relationship with Naomi's mother (Olivia Colman). O'Hanlon plays the lead role in Irish comedy television programme Val Falvey, TD on RTÉ One. In 2012, he performed in the Edinburgh Fringe. + +In February 2011, O'Hanlon returned to the Gate Theatre, Dublin starring in the Irish premiere of Christopher Hampton's translation of Yasmina Reza's God of Carnage, alongside Maura Tierney. Later that year, he appeared in the comedy panel show Argumental. + +O'Hanlon has written a novel, The Talk of the Town (known in the United States as Knick Knack Paddy Whack), which was published in 1998. The novel is about a teenage boy, Patrick Scully, and his friends. + +In February 2015 he officially launched the 2015 Sky Cat Laughs Comedy Festival, which took place in Kilkenny from 28 May–1 June. In 2015 he played the role of Peter the Milkman in the Sky One sitcom After Hours. + +On 2 February 2017, it was announced he would play the lead role in the BBC crime drama Death in Paradise taking the role of DI Jack Mooney following Kris Marshall's departure the same day. He announced his intention to leave the series in early 2020 and was replaced by Ralf Little. + +On 25 November 2021, it was announced that he would participate in series 13 of Taskmaster. He finished in 4th place ahead of Judi Love. + +Personal life +O'Hanlon met his wife Melanie as a teenager. They have three children. He is a supporter of Leeds United. + +Filmography + +Awards + +References + +External links + + + Ardal O'Hanlon on comedycv.co.uk + Ardal O'Hanlon in Melbourne at The Australian Ireland Fund charity event + +Living people +Year of birth missing (living people) +20th-century Irish comedians +21st-century Irish comedians +Alumni of Dublin City University +Father Ted +Irish humorists +Irish male comedians +Irish male stage actors +Irish male television actors +20th-century Irish novelists +Irish stand-up comedians +People educated at Blackrock College +People from Carrickmacross +Irish male novelists +Actors from County Monaghan +20th-century Irish male writers +Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., commonly abbreviated as AMD, is an American multinational semiconductor company based in Santa Clara, California, that develops computer processors and related technologies for business and consumer markets. + +The company was founded in 1969 by Jerry Sanders and a group of other technology professionals. AMD's early products were primarily memory chips and other components for computers. The company later expanded into the microprocessor market, competing with Intel, its main rival in the industry. In the early 2000s, AMD experienced significant growth and success, thanks in part to its strong position in the PC market and the success of its Athlon and Opteron processors. However, the company faced challenges in the late 2000s and early 2010s, as it struggled to keep up with Intel in the race to produce faster and more powerful processors. In the late 2010s, AMD regained some of its market share thanks to the success of its Ryzen processors which are now widely regarded as superior to Intel products in business applications including cloud applications. AMD's processors are used in a wide range of computing devices, including personal computers, servers, laptops, and gaming consoles. While it initially manufactured its own processors, the company later outsourced its manufacturing, a practice known as going fabless, after GlobalFoundries was spun off in 2009. + +AMD's main products include microprocessors, motherboard chipsets, embedded processors, graphics processors, and FPGAs for servers, workstations, personal computers, and embedded system applications. The company has also expanded into new markets, such as the data center and gaming markets, and has announced plans to enter the high-performance computing market. + +History + +First twelve years +Advanced Micro Devices was formally incorporated by Jerry Sanders, along with seven of his colleagues from Fairchild Semiconductor, on May 1, 1969. Sanders, an electrical engineer who was the director of marketing at Fairchild, had, like many Fairchild executives, grown frustrated with the increasing lack of support, opportunity, and flexibility within the company. He later decided to leave to start his own semiconductor company, following the footsteps of Robert Noyce (developer of the first silicon integrated circuit at Fairchild in 1959) and Gordon Moore, who together founded the semiconductor company Intel in July 1968. + +In September 1969, AMD moved from its temporary location in Santa Clara to Sunnyvale, California. To immediately secure a customer base, AMD initially became a second source supplier of microchips designed by Fairchild and National Semiconductor. AMD first focused on producing logic chips. The company guaranteed quality control to United States Military Standard, an advantage in the early computer industry since unreliability in microchips was a distinct problem that customers – including computer manufacturers, the telecommunications industry, and instrument manufacturers – wanted to avoid. + +In November 1969, the company manufactured its first product: the Am9300, a 4-bit MSI shift register, which began selling in 1970. Also in 1970, AMD produced its first proprietary product, the Am2501 logic counter, which was highly successful. Its bestselling product in 1971 was the Am2505, the fastest multiplier available. + +In 1971, AMD entered the RAM chip market, beginning with the Am3101, a 64-bit bipolar RAM. That year AMD also greatly increased the sales volume of its linear integrated circuits, and by year-end the company's total annual sales reached US$4.6 million. + +AMD went public in September 1972. The company was a second source for Intel MOS/LSI circuits by 1973, with products such as Am14/1506 and Am14/1507, dual 100-bit dynamic shift registers. By 1975, AMD was producing 212 products – of which 49 were proprietary, including the Am9102 (a static N-channel 1024-bit RAM) and three low-power Schottky MSI circuits: Am25LS07, Am25LS08, and Am25LS09. + +Intel had created the first microprocessor, its 4-bit 4004, in 1971. By 1975, AMD entered the microprocessor market with the Am9080, a reverse-engineered clone of the Intel 8080, and the Am2900 bit-slice microprocessor family. When Intel began installing microcode in its microprocessors in 1976, it entered into a cross-licensing agreement with AMD, which was granted a copyright license to the microcode in its microprocessors and peripherals, effective October 1976. + +In 1977, AMD entered into a joint venture with Siemens, a German engineering conglomerate wishing to enhance its technology expertise and enter the American market. Siemens purchased 20% of AMD's stock, giving the company an infusion of cash to increase its product lines. The two companies also jointly established Advanced Micro Computers (AMC), located in Silicon Valley and in Germany, allowing AMD to enter the microcomputer development and manufacturing field, in particular based on AMD's second-source Zilog Z8000 microprocessors. When the two companies' vision for Advanced Micro Computers diverged, AMD bought out Siemens' stake in the American division in 1979. AMD closed Advanced Micro Computers in late 1981 after switching focus to manufacturing second-source Intel x86 microprocessors. + +Total sales in fiscal year 1978 topped $100 million, and in 1979, AMD debuted on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1979, production also began on AMD's new semiconductor fabrication plant in Austin, Texas; the company already had overseas assembly facilities in Penang and Manila, and began construction on a fabrication plant in San Antonio in 1981. In 1980, AMD began supplying semiconductor products for telecommunications, an industry undergoing rapid expansion and innovation. + +Technology exchange agreement with Intel +Intel had introduced the first x86 microprocessors in 1978. In 1981, IBM created its PC, and wanted Intel's x86 processors, but only under the condition that Intel also provide a second-source manufacturer for its patented x86 microprocessors. Intel and AMD entered into a 10-year technology exchange agreement, first signed in October 1981 and formally executed in February 1982. The terms of the agreement were that each company could acquire the right to become a second-source manufacturer of semiconductor products developed by the other; that is, each party could "earn" the right to manufacture and sell a product developed by the other, if agreed to, by exchanging the manufacturing rights to a product of equivalent technical complexity. The technical information and licenses needed to make and sell a part would be exchanged for a royalty to the developing company. The 1982 agreement also extended the 1976 AMD–Intel cross-licensing agreement through 1995. The agreement included the right to invoke arbitration of disagreements, and after five years the right of either party to end the agreement with one year's notice. The main result of the 1982 agreement was that AMD became a second-source manufacturer of Intel's x86 microprocessors and related chips, and Intel provided AMD with database tapes for its 8086, 80186, and 80286 chips. However, in the event of a bankruptcy or takeover of AMD, the cross-licensing agreement would be effectively canceled. + +Beginning in 1982, AMD began volume-producing second-source Intel-licensed 8086, 8088, 80186, and 80188 processors, and by 1984, its own Am286 clone of Intel's 80286 processor, for the rapidly growing market of IBM PCs and IBM clones. It also continued its successful concentration on proprietary bipolar chips. + +The company continued to spend greatly on research and development, and created the world's first 512K EPROM in 1984. That year, AMD was listed in the book The 100 Best Companies to Work for in America, and later made the Fortune 500 list for the first time in 1985. + +By mid-1985, the microchip market experienced a severe downturn, mainly due to long-term aggressive trade practices (dumping) from Japan, but also due to a crowded and non-innovative chip market in the United States. AMD rode out the mid-1980s crisis by aggressively innovating and modernizing, devising the Liberty Chip program of designing and manufacturing one new chip or chipset per week for 52 weeks in fiscal year 1986, and by heavily lobbying the U.S. government until sanctions and restrictions were put in place to prevent predatory Japanese pricing. During this time, AMD withdrew from the DRAM market, and made some headway into the CMOS market, which it had lagged in entering, having focused instead on bipolar chips. + +AMD had some success in the mid-1980s with the AMD7910 and AMD7911 "World Chip" FSK modem, one of the first multi-standard devices that covered both Bell and CCITT tones at up to 1200 baud half duplex or 300/300 full duplex. Beginning in 1986, AMD embraced the perceived shift toward RISC with their own AMD Am29000 (29k) processor; the 29k survived as an embedded processor. The company also increased its EPROM memory market share in the late 1980s. Throughout the 1980s, AMD was a second-source supplier of Intel x86 processors. In 1991, it introduced its own 386-compatible Am386, an AMD-designed chip. Creating its own chips, AMD began to compete directly with Intel. + +AMD had a large, successful flash memory business, even during the dotcom bust. In 2003, to divest some manufacturing and aid its overall cash flow, which was under duress from aggressive microprocessor competition from Intel, AMD spun off its flash memory business and manufacturing into Spansion, a joint venture with Fujitsu, which had been co-manufacturing flash memory with AMD since 1993. In December 2005, AMD divested itself of Spansion to focus on the microprocessor market, and Spansion went public in an IPO. + +Acquisition of ATI, spin-off of GlobalFoundries, and acquisition of Xilinx +On July 24, 2006, AMD announced its acquisition of the Canadian 3D graphics card company ATI Technologies. AMD paid $4.3 billion and 58 million shares of its capital stock, for a total of approximately $5.4 billion. The transaction was completed on October 25, 2006. On August 30, 2010, AMD announced that it would retire the ATI brand name for its graphics chipsets in favor of the AMD brand name. + +In October 2008, AMD announced plans to spin off manufacturing operations in the form of GlobalFoundries Inc., a multibillion-dollar joint venture with Advanced Technology Investment Co., an investment company formed by the government of Abu Dhabi. The partnership and spin-off gave AMD an infusion of cash and allowed it to focus solely on chip design. To assure the Abu Dhabi investors of the new venture's success, AMD's CEO Hector Ruiz stepped down in July 2008, while remaining executive chairman, in preparation for becoming chairman of GlobalFoundries in March 2009. President and COO Dirk Meyer became AMD's CEO. Recessionary losses necessitated AMD cutting 1,100 jobs in 2009. + +In August 2011, AMD announced that former Lenovo executive Rory Read would be joining the company as CEO, replacing Meyer. In November 2011, AMD announced plans to lay off more than 10% (1,400) of its employees from across all divisions worldwide. In October 2012, it announced plans to lay off an additional 15% of its workforce to reduce costs in the face of declining sales revenue. + +AMD acquired the low-power server manufacturer SeaMicro in early 2012, with an eye to bringing out an Arm64 server chip. + +On October 8, 2014, AMD announced that Rory Read had stepped down after three years as president and chief executive officer. He was succeeded by Lisa Su, a key lieutenant who had been serving as chief operating officer since June. + +On October 16, 2014, AMD announced a new restructuring plan along with its Q3 results. Effective July 1, 2014, AMD reorganized into two business groups: Computing and Graphics, which primarily includes desktop and notebook processors and chipsets, discrete GPUs, and professional graphics; and Enterprise, Embedded, and Semi-Custom, which primarily includes server and embedded processors, dense servers, semi-custom SoC products (including solutions for gaming consoles), engineering services, and royalties. As part of this restructuring, AMD announced that 7% of its global workforce would be laid off by the end of 2014. + +After the GlobalFoundries spin-off and subsequent layoffs, AMD was left with significant vacant space at 1 AMD Place, its aging Sunnyvale headquarters office complex. In August 2016, AMD's 47 years in Sunnyvale came to a close when it signed a lease with the Irvine Company for a new 220,000 sq. ft. headquarters building in Santa Clara. AMD's new location at Santa Clara Square faces the headquarters of archrival Intel across the Bayshore Freeway and San Tomas Aquino Creek. Around the same time, AMD also agreed to sell 1 AMD Place to the Irvine Company. In April 2019, the Irvine Company secured approval from the Sunnyvale City Council of its plans to demolish 1 AMD Place and redevelop the entire 32-acre site into townhomes and apartments. + +In October 2020, AMD announced that it was acquiring Xilinx in an all-stock transaction. The acquisition was completed in February 2022, with an estimated acquisition price of $50 billion. + +In October 2023, AMD acquired an open-source AI software provider, Nod.ai, to bolster its AI software ecosystem. + +List of CEOs + +Products + +CPUs and APUs + +IBM PC and the x86 architecture + +In February 1982, AMD signed a contract with Intel, becoming a licensed second-source manufacturer of 8086 and 8088 processors. IBM wanted to use the Intel 8088 in its IBM PC, but its policy at the time was to require at least two sources for its chips. AMD later produced the Am286 under the same arrangement. In 1984, Intel internally decided to no longer cooperate with AMD in supplying product information to shore up its advantage in the marketplace, and delayed and eventually refused to convey the technical details of the Intel 80386. In 1987, AMD invoked arbitration over the issue, and Intel reacted by canceling the 1982 technological-exchange agreement altogether. After three years of testimony, AMD eventually won in arbitration in 1992, but Intel disputed this decision. Another long legal dispute followed, ending in 1994 when the Supreme Court of California sided with the arbitrator and AMD. + +In 1990, Intel countersued AMD, renegotiating AMD's right to use derivatives of Intel's microcode for its cloned processors. In the face of uncertainty during the legal dispute, AMD was forced to develop clean room designed versions of Intel code for its x386 and x486 processors, the former long after Intel had released its own x386 in 1985. In March 1991, AMD released the Am386, its clone of the Intel 386 processor. By October of the same year it had sold one million units. + +In 1993, AMD introduced the first of the Am486 family of processors, which proved popular with a large number of original equipment manufacturers, including Compaq, which signed an exclusive agreement using the Am486. The Am5x86, another Am486-based processor, was released in November 1995, and continued AMD's success as a fast, cost-effective processor. + +Finally, in an agreement effective 1996, AMD received the rights to the microcode in Intel's x386 and x486 processor families, but not the rights to the microcode in the following generations of processors. + +K5, K6, Athlon, Duron, and Sempron + +AMD's first in-house x86 processor was the K5, launched in 1996. The "K" in its name was a reference to Kryptonite, the only substance known to harm comic book character Superman. This itself was a reference to Intel's hegemony over the market, i.e., an anthropomorphization of them as Superman. The number "5" was a reference to the fifth generation of x86 processors; rival Intel had previously introduced its line of fifth-generation x86 processors as Pentium because the U.S. Trademark and Patent Office had ruled that mere numbers could not be trademarked. + +In 1996, AMD purchased NexGen, specifically for the rights to their Nx series of x86-compatible processors. AMD gave the NexGen design team their own building, left them alone, and gave them time and money to rework the Nx686. The result was the K6 processor, introduced in 1997. Although it was based on Socket 7, variants such as K6-III/450 were faster than Intel's Pentium II (sixth-generation processor). + +The K7 was AMD's seventh-generation x86 processor, making its debut under the brand name Athlon on June 23, 1999. Unlike previous AMD processors, it could not be used on the same motherboards as Intel's, due to licensing issues surrounding Intel's Slot 1 connector, and instead used a Slot A connector, referenced to the Alpha processor bus. The Duron was a lower-cost and limited version of the Athlon (64KB instead of 256KB L2 cache) in a 462-pin socketed PGA (socket A) or soldered directly onto the motherboard. Sempron was released as a lower-cost Athlon XP, replacing Duron in the socket A PGA era. It has since been migrated upward to all new sockets, up to AM3. + +On October 9, 2001, the Athlon XP was released. On February 10, 2003, the Athlon XP with 512KB L2 Cache was released. + +Athlon 64, Opteron and Phenom + +The K8 was a major revision of the K7 architecture, with the most notable features being the addition of a 64-bit extension to the x86 instruction set (called x86-64, AMD64, or x64), the incorporation of an on-chip memory controller, and the implementation of an extremely high-performance point-to-point interconnect called HyperTransport, as part of the Direct Connect Architecture. The technology was initially launched as the Opteron server-oriented processor on April 22, 2003. Shortly thereafter, it was incorporated into a product for desktop PCs, branded Athlon 64. + +On April 21, 2005, AMD released the first dual-core Opteron, an x86-based server CPU. A month later, it released the Athlon 64 X2, the first desktop-based dual-core processor family. In May 2007, AMD abandoned the string "64" in its dual-core desktop product branding, becoming Athlon X2, downplaying the significance of 64-bit computing in its processors. Further updates involved improvements to the microarchitecture, and a shift of the target market from mainstream desktop systems to value dual-core desktop systems. In 2008, AMD started to release dual-core Sempron processors exclusively in China, branded as the Sempron 2000 series, with lower HyperTransport speed and smaller L2 cache. AMD completed its dual-core product portfolio for each market segment. + +In September 2007, AMD released the first server Opteron K10 processors, followed in November by the Phenom processor for desktop. K10 processors came in dual-core, triple-core, and quad-core versions, with all cores on a single die. AMD released a new platform codenamed "Spider", which used the new Phenom processor, as well as an R770 GPU and a 790 GX/FX chipset from the AMD 700 chipset series. However, AMD built the Spider at 65nm, which was uncompetitive with Intel's smaller and more power-efficient 45nm. + +In January 2009, AMD released a new processor line dubbed Phenom II, a refresh of the original Phenom built using the 45 nm process. AMD's new platform, codenamed "Dragon", used the new Phenom II processor, and an ATI R770 GPU from the R700 GPU family, as well as a 790 GX/FX chipset from the AMD 700 chipset series. The Phenom II came in dual-core, triple-core and quad-core variants, all using the same die, with cores disabled for the triple-core and dual-core versions. The Phenom II resolved issues that the original Phenom had, including a low clock speed, a small L3 cache, and a Cool'n'Quiet bug that decreased performance. The Phenom II cost less but was not performance-competitive with Intel's mid-to-high-range Core 2 Quads. The Phenom II also enhanced its predecessor's memory controller, allowing it to use DDR3 in a new native socket AM3, while maintaining backward compatibility with AM2+, the socket used for the Phenom, and allowing the use of the DDR2 memory that was used with the platform. + +In April 2010, AMD released a new Phenom II Hexa-core (6-core) processor codenamed "Thuban". This was a totally new die based on the hexa-core "Istanbul" Opteron processor. It included AMD's "turbo core" technology, which allows the processor to automatically switch from 6 cores to 3 faster cores when more pure speed is needed. + +The Magny Cours and Lisbon server parts were released in 2010. The Magny Cours part came in 8 to 12 cores and the Lisbon part in 4 and 6 core parts. Magny Cours is focused on performance while the Lisbon part is focused on high performance per watt. Magny Cours is an MCM (multi-chip module) with two hexa-core "Istanbul" Opteron parts. This will use a new socket G34 for dual and quad-socket processors and thus will be marketed as Opteron 61xx series processors. Lisbon uses socket C32 certified for dual-socket use or single socket use only and thus will be marketed as Opteron 41xx processors. Both will be built on a 45 nm SOI process. + +Fusion becomes the AMD APU + +Following AMD's 2006 acquisition of Canadian graphics company ATI Technologies, an initiative codenamed Fusion was announced to integrate a CPU and GPU together on some of AMD's microprocessors, including a built in PCI Express link to accommodate separate PCI Express peripherals, eliminating the northbridge chip from the motherboard. The initiative intended to move some of the processing originally done on the CPU (e.g. floating-point unit operations) to the GPU, which is better optimized for some calculations. The Fusion was later renamed the AMD APU (Accelerated Processing Unit). + +Llano was AMD's first APU built for laptops. Llano was the second APU released, targeted at the mainstream market. It incorporated a CPU and GPU on the same die, as well as northbridge functions, and used "Socket FM1" with DDR3 memory. The CPU part of the processor was based on the Phenom II "Deneb" processor. AMD suffered an unexpected decrease in revenue based on production problems for the Llano. More AMD APUs for laptops running Windows 7 and Windows 8 OS are being used commonly. These include AMD's price-point APUs, the E1 and E2, and their mainstream competitors with Intel's Core i-series: The Vision A- series, the A standing for accelerated. These range from the lower-performance A4 chipset to the A6, A8, and A10. These all incorporate next-generation Radeon graphics cards, with the A4 utilizing the base Radeon HD chip and the rest using a Radeon R4 graphics card, with the exception of the highest-model A10 (A10-7300) which uses an R6 graphics card. + +New microarchitectures + +High-power, high-performance Bulldozer cores + +Bulldozer was AMD's microarchitecture codename for server and desktop AMD FX processors, first released on October 12, 2011. This family 15h microarchitecture is the successor to the family 10h (K10) microarchitecture design. Bulldozer was a clean-sheet design, not a development of earlier processors. The core was specifically aimed at 10–125 W TDP computing products. AMD claimed dramatic performance-per-watt efficiency improvements in high-performance computing (HPC) applications with Bulldozer cores. While hopes were high that Bulldozer would bring AMD to be performance-competitive with Intel once more, most benchmarks were disappointing. In some cases the new Bulldozer products were slower than the K10 models they were built to replace. + +The Piledriver microarchitecture was the 2012 successor to Bulldozer, increasing clock speeds and performance relative to its predecessor. Piledriver would be released in AMD FX, APU, and Opteron product lines. Piledriver was subsequently followed by the Steamroller microarchitecture in 2013. Used exclusively in AMD's APUs, Steamroller focused on greater parallelism. + +In 2015, the Excavator microarchitecture replaced Piledriver. Expected to be the last microarchitecture of the Bulldozer series, Excavator focused on improved power efficiency. + +Low-power Cat cores + +The Bobcat microarchitecture was revealed during a speech from AMD executive vice-president Henri Richard in Computex 2007 and was put into production during the first quarter of 2011. Based on the difficulty competing in the x86 market with a single core optimized for the 10–100 W range, AMD had developed a simpler core with a target range of 1–10 watts. In addition, it was believed that the core could migrate into the hand-held space if the power consumption can be reduced to less than 1 W. + +Jaguar is a microarchitecture codename for Bobcat's successor, released in 2013, that is used in various APUs from AMD aimed at the low-power/low-cost market. Jaguar and its derivates would go on to be used in the custom APUs of the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 Pro, Xbox One S, and Xbox One X. Jaguar would be later followed by the Puma microarchitecture in 2014. + +ARM architecture-based designs +In 2012, AMD announced it was working on ARM products, both as a semi-custom product and server product. The initial server product was announced as the Opteron A1100 in 2014, an 8-core Cortex-A57 based ARMv8-A SoC, and was expected to be followed by an APU incorporating a Graphics Core Next GPU. However, the Opteron A1100 was not released until 2016, with the delay attributed to adding software support. The A1100 was also criticized for not having support from major vendors upon its release. + +In 2014, AMD also announced the K12 custom core for release in 2016. While being ARMv8-A instruction set architecture compliant, the K12 was expected to be entirely custom-designed, targeting the server, embedded, and semi-custom markets. While ARM architecture development continued, products based on K12 were subsequently delayed with no release planned. Development of AMD's x86-based Zen microarchitecture was preferred. + +Zen-based CPUs and APUs + +Zen is a new architecture for x86-64 based Ryzen series of CPUs and APUs, introduced in 2017 by AMD and built from the ground up by a team led by Jim Keller, beginning with his arrival in 2012, and taping out before his departure in September 2015. One of AMD's primary goals with Zen was an IPC increase of at least 40%, however in February 2017 AMD announced that they had actually achieved a 52% increase. Processors made on the Zen architecture are built on the 14 nm FinFET node and have a renewed focus on single-core performance and HSA compatibility. Previous processors from AMD were either built in the 32 nm process ("Bulldozer" and "Piledriver" CPUs) or the 28 nm process ("Steamroller" and "Excavator" APUs). Because of this, Zen is much more energy efficient. The Zen architecture is the first to encompass CPUs and APUs from AMD built for a single socket (Socket AM4). Also new for this architecture is the implementation of simultaneous multithreading (SMT) technology, something Intel has had for years on some of their processors with their proprietary hyper-threading implementation of SMT. This is a departure from the "Clustered MultiThreading" design introduced with the Bulldozer architecture. Zen also has support for DDR4 memory. AMD released the Zen-based high-end Ryzen 7 "Summit Ridge" series CPUs on March 2, 2017, mid-range Ryzen 5 series CPUs on April 11, 2017, and entry level Ryzen 3 series CPUs on July 27, 2017. AMD later released the Epyc line of Zen derived server processors for 1P and 2P systems. In October 2017, AMD released Zen-based APUs as Ryzen Mobile, incorporating Vega graphics cores. In January 2018 AMD has announced their new lineup plans, with Ryzen 2. AMD launched CPUs with the 12nm Zen+ microarchitecture in April 2018, following up with the 7nm Zen 2 microarchitecture in June 2019, including an update to the Epyc line with new processors using the Zen 2 microarchitecture in August 2019, and Zen 3 slated for release in Q3 2020. As of 2019, AMD's Ryzen processors were reported to outsell Intel's consumer desktop processors. At CES 2020 AMD announced their Ryzen Mobile 4000, as the first 7 nm x86 mobile processor, the first 7 nm 8-core (also 16-thread) high-performance mobile processor, and the first 8-core (also 16-thread) processor for ultrathin laptops. This generation is still based on the Zen 2 architecture. In October 2020, AMD announced new processors based on the Zen 3 architecture. On PassMark's Single thread performance test the Ryzen 5 5600x bested all other CPUs besides the Ryzen 9 5950X. In August 2022, AMD announced their initial lineup of CPUs based on the new Zen 4 architecture. + +The Steam Deck, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S all use chips based on the Zen 2 microarchitecture, with proprietary tweaks and different configurations in each system's implementation than AMD sells in its own commercially available APUs. + +Graphics products and GPUs + +ATI prior to AMD acquisition + +Radeon within AMD + +In 2008, the ATI division of AMD released the TeraScale microarchitecture implementing a unified shader model. This design replaced the previous fixed-function hardware of previous graphics cards with multipurpose, programmable shaders. Initially released as part of the GPU for the Xbox 360, this technology would go on to be used in Radeon branded HD 2000 parts. Three generations of TeraScale would be designed and used in parts from 2008 to 2014. + +Combined GPU and CPU divisions +In a 2009 restructuring, AMD merged the CPU and GPU divisions to support the company's APUs, which fused both graphics and general purpose processing. In 2011, AMD released the successor to TeraScale, Graphics Core Next (GCN). This new microarchitecture emphasized GPGPU compute capability in addition to graphics processing, with a particular aim of supporting heterogeneous computing on AMD's APUs. GCN's reduced instruction set ISA allowed for significantly increased compute capability over TeraScale's very long instruction word ISA. Since GCN's introduction with the HD 7970, five generations of the GCN architecture have been produced from 2008 through at least 2017. + +Radeon Technologies Group +In September 2015, AMD separated the graphics technology division of the company into an independent internal unit called the Radeon Technologies Group (RTG) headed by Raja Koduri. This gave the graphics division of AMD autonomy in product design and marketing. The RTG then went on to create and release the Polaris and Vega microarchitectures released in 2016 and 2017, respectively. In particular the Vega, or fifth generation GCN, microarchitecture includes a number of major revisions to improve performance and compute capabilities. + +In November 2017, Raja Koduri left RTG and CEO and President Lisa Su took his position. In January 2018, it was reported that two industry veterans joined RTG, namely Mike Rayfield as senior vice president and general manager of RTG, and David Wang as senior vice president of engineering for RTG. In January 2020, AMD announced that its second generation RDNA graphics architecture was in development, with the aim of competing with the Nvidia RTX graphics products for performance leadership. In October 2020, AMD announced their new RX 6000 series series GPUs, their first high-end product based on RDNA2 and capable of handling ray-tracing natively, aiming to challenge Nvidia's RTX 3000 GPUs. + +Semi-custom and game console products +In 2012, AMD's then CEO Rory Read began a program to offer semi-custom designs. Rather than AMD simply designing and offering a single product, potential customers could work with AMD to design a custom chip based on AMD's intellectual property. Customers pay a non-recurring engineering fee for design and development, and a purchase price for the resulting semi-custom products. In particular, AMD noted their unique position of offering both x86 and graphics intellectual property. These semi-custom designs would have design wins as the APUs in the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and the subsequent PlayStation 4 Pro, Xbox One S, Xbox One X, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5. Financially, these semi-custom products would represent a majority of the company's revenue in 2016. In November 2017, AMD and Intel announced that Intel would market a product combining in a single package an Intel Core CPU, a semi-custom AMD Radeon GPU, and HBM2 memory. + +Other hardware + +AMD motherboard chipsets + +Before the launch of Athlon 64 processors in 2003, AMD designed chipsets for their processors spanning the K6 and K7 processor generations. The chipsets include the AMD-640, AMD-751, and the AMD-761 chipsets. The situation changed in 2003 with the release of Athlon 64 processors, and AMD chose not to further design its own chipsets for its desktop processors while opening the desktop platform to allow other firms to design chipsets. This was the "Open Platform Management Architecture" with ATI, VIA and SiS developing their own chipset for Athlon 64 processors and later Athlon 64 X2 and Athlon 64 FX processors, including the Quad FX platform chipset from Nvidia. + +The initiative went further with the release of Opteron server processors as AMD stopped the design of server chipsets in 2004 after releasing the AMD-8111 chipset, and again opened the server platform for firms to develop chipsets for Opteron processors. As of today, Nvidia and Broadcom are the sole designing firms of server chipsets for Opteron processors. + +As the company completed the acquisition of ATI Technologies in 2006, the firm gained the ATI design team for chipsets which previously designed the Radeon Xpress 200 and the Radeon Xpress 3200 chipsets. AMD then renamed the chipsets for AMD processors under AMD branding (for instance, the CrossFire Xpress 3200 chipset was renamed as AMD 580X CrossFire chipset). In February 2007, AMD announced the first AMD-branded chipset since 2004 with the release of the AMD 690G chipset (previously under the development codename RS690), targeted at mainstream IGP computing. It was the industry's first to implement a HDMI 1.2 port on motherboards, shipping for more than a million units. While ATI had aimed at releasing an Intel IGP chipset, the plan was scrapped and the inventories of Radeon Xpress 1250 (codenamed RS600, sold under ATI brand) was sold to two OEMs, Abit and ASRock. Although AMD stated the firm would still produce Intel chipsets, Intel had not granted the license of FSB to ATI. + +On November 15, 2007, AMD announced a new chipset series portfolio, the AMD 7-Series chipsets, covering from the enthusiast multi-graphics segment to the value IGP segment, to replace the AMD 480/570/580 chipsets and AMD 690 series chipsets, marking AMD's first enthusiast multi-graphics chipset. Discrete graphics chipsets were launched on November 15, 2007, as part of the codenamed Spider desktop platform, and IGP chipsets were launched at a later time in spring 2008 as part of the codenamed Cartwheel platform. + +AMD returned to the server chipsets market with the AMD 800S series server chipsets. It includes support for up to six SATA 6.0 Gbit/s ports, the C6 power state, which is featured in Fusion processors and AHCI 1.2 with SATA FIS–based switching support. This is a chipset family supporting Phenom processors and Quad FX enthusiast platform (890FX), IGP (890GX). + +With the advent of AMD's APUs in 2011, traditional northbridge features such as the connection to graphics and the PCI Express controller were incorporated into the APU die. Accordingly, APUs were connected to a single chip chipset, renamed the Fusion Controller Hub (FCH), which primarily provided southbridge functionality. + +AMD released new chipsets in 2017 to support the release of their new Ryzen products. As the Zen microarchitecture already includes much of the northbridge connectivity, the AM4-based chipsets primarily varied in the number of additional PCI Express lanes, USB connections, and SATA connections available. These AM4 chipsets were designed in conjunction with ASMedia. + +Embedded products + +Embedded CPUs + +In the early 1990s, AMD began marketing a series of embedded System-on-a-chip (SoC) called AMD Élan, starting with the SC300 and SC310. Both combines a 32-Bit, Am386SX, low-voltage 25 MHz or 33 MHz CPU with memory controller, PC/AT peripheral controllers, real-time clock, PLL clock generators and ISA bus interface. The SC300 integrates in addition two PC card slots and a CGA-compatible LCD controller. They were followed in 1996 by the SC4xx types. Now supporting VESA Local Bus and using the Am486 with up to 100 MHz clock speed. A SC450 with 33 MHze.g. was used in the Nokia 9000 Communicator. In 1999 the SC520 was announced. Using an Am586 with 100 MHz or 133 MHz and supporting SDRAM and PCI it was the latest member of the series. + +In February 2002, AMD acquired Alchemy Semiconductor for its Alchemy line of MIPS processors for the hand-held and portable media player markets. On June 13, 2006, AMD officially announced that the line was to be transferred to Raza Microelectronics, Inc., a designer of MIPS processors for embedded applications. + +In August 2003, AMD also purchased the Geode business which was originally the Cyrix MediaGX from National Semiconductor to augment its existing line of embedded x86 processor products. During the second quarter of 2004, it launched new low-power Geode NX processors based on the K7 Thoroughbred architecture with speeds of fanless processors and , and processor with fan, of TDP 25 W. This technology is used in a variety of embedded systems (Casino slot machines and customer kiosks for instance), several UMPC designs in Asia markets, as well as the OLPC XO-1 computer, an inexpensive laptop computer intended to be distributed to children in developing countries around the world. The Geode LX processor was announced in 2005 and is said will continue to be available through 2015. + +AMD has also introduced 64-bit processors into its embedded product line starting with the AMD Opteron processor. Leveraging the high throughput enabled through HyperTransport and the Direct Connect Architecture these server-class processors have been targeted at high-end telecom and storage applications. In 2007, AMD added the AMD Athlon, AMD Turion, and Mobile AMD Sempron processors to its embedded product line. Leveraging the same 64-bit instruction set and Direct Connect Architecture as the AMD Opteron but at lower power levels, these processors were well suited to a variety of traditional embedded applications. Throughout 2007 and into 2008, AMD has continued to add both single-core Mobile AMD Sempron and AMD Athlon processors and dual-core AMD Athlon X2 and AMD Turion processors to its embedded product line and now offers embedded 64-bit solutions starting with 8 W TDP Mobile AMD Sempron and AMD Athlon processors for fan-less designs up to multi-processor systems leveraging multi-core AMD Opteron processors all supporting longer than standard availability. + +The ATI acquisition in 2006 included the Imageon and Xilleon product lines. In late 2008, the entire handheld division was sold off to Qualcomm, who have since produced the Adreno series. Also in 2008, the Xilleon division was sold to Broadcom. + +In April 2007, AMD announced the release of the M690T integrated graphics chipset for embedded designs. This enabled AMD to offer complete processor and chipset solutions targeted at embedded applications requiring high-performance 3D and video such as emerging digital signage, kiosk, and Point of Sale applications. The M690T was followed by the M690E specifically for embedded applications which removed the TV output, which required Macrovision licensing for OEMs, and enabled native support for dual TMDS outputs, enabling dual independent DVI interfaces. + +In January 2011, AMD announced the AMD Embedded G-Series Accelerated Processing Unit. This was the first APU for embedded applications. These were followed by updates in 2013 and 2016. + +In May 2012, AMD Announced the AMD Embedded R-Series Accelerated Processing Unit. This family of products incorporates the Bulldozer CPU architecture, and Discrete-class Radeon HD 7000G Series graphics. This was followed by a system on a chip (SoC) version in 2015 which offered a faster CPU and faster graphics, with support for DDR4 SDRAM memory. + +Embedded graphics +AMD builds graphic processors for use in embedded systems. They can be found in anything from casinos to healthcare, with a large portion of products being used in industrial machines. These products include a complete graphics processing device in a compact multi-chip module including RAM and the GPU. ATI began offering embedded GPUs with the E2400 in 2008. Since that time AMD has released regular updates to their embedded GPU lineup in 2009, 2011, 2015, and 2016; reflecting improvements in their GPU technology. + +Current product lines + +CPU and APU products +AMD's portfolio of CPUs and APUs + Athlon – brand of entry level CPUs (Excavator) and APUs (Ryzen) + A-series – Excavator-class consumer desktop and laptop APUs + G-series – Excavator- and Jaguar-class low-power embedded APUs + Ryzen – brand of consumer CPUs and APUs + Ryzen Threadripper – brand of prosumer/professional CPUs + R-series – Excavator class high-performance embedded APUs + Epyc – brand of server CPUs + Opteron – brand of microserver APUs + +Graphics products +AMD's portfolio of dedicated graphics processors +Radeon – brand for consumer line of graphics cards; the brand name originated with ATI. + Mobility Radeon offers power-optimized versions of Radeon graphics chips for use in laptops. +Radeon Pro – Workstation graphics card brand. Successor to the FirePro brand. + Radeon Instinct – brand of server and workstation targeted machine learning and GPGPU products + +Radeon-branded products + +RAM + +In 2011, AMD began selling Radeon branded DDR3 SDRAM to support the higher bandwidth needs of AMD's APUs. While the RAM is sold by AMD, it was manufactured by Patriot Memory and VisionTek. This was later followed by higher speeds of gaming oriented DDR3 memory in 2013. Radeon branded DDR4 SDRAM memory was released in 2015, despite no AMD CPUs or APUs supporting DDR4 at the time. AMD noted in 2017 that these products are "mostly distributed in Eastern Europe" and that it continues to be active in the business. + +Solid-state drives +AMD announced in 2014 it would sell Radeon branded solid-state drives manufactured by OCZ with capacities up to 480 GB and using the SATA interface. + +Technologies + +CPU hardware + technologies found in AMD CPU/APU and other products include: + HyperTransport – a high-bandwidth, low-latency system bus used in AMD's CPU and APU products + Infinity Fabric – a derivative of HyperTransport used as the communication bus in AMD's Zen microarchitecture + +Graphics hardware + technologies found in AMD GPU products include: + AMD Eyefinity – facilitates multi-monitor setup of up to 6 monitors per graphics card + AMD FreeSync – display synchronization based on the VESA Adaptive Sync standard + AMD TrueAudio – acceleration of audio calculations + AMD XConnect – allows the use of External GPU enclosures through Thunderbolt 3 + AMD CrossFire – multi-GPU technology allowing the simultaneous use of multiple GPUs + Unified Video Decoder (UVD) – acceleration of video decompression (decoding) + Video Coding Engine (VCE) – acceleration of video compression (encoding) + +Software +AMD has made considerable efforts towards opening its software tools above the firmware level in the past decade. + +For the following mentions, software not expressely stated free can be assumed to be proprietary. + +Distribution +AMD Radeon Software is the default channel for official software distribution from AMD. It includes both free and proprietary software components, and supports both Microsoft Windows and Linux. + +Software by type + +CPU + AOCC is AMD's optimizing proprietary C/C++ compiler based on LLVM and available for Linux. + AMDuProf is AMD's CPU performance and Power profiling tool suite, available for Linux and Windows. + AMD has also taken an active part in developing coreboot, an open-source project aimed at replacing the proprietary BIOS firmware. This cooperation ceased in 2013, but AMD has indicated recently that it is considering releasing source code so that Ryzen can be compatible with coreboot in the future. + +GPU + +Most notable public AMD software is on the GPU side. + +AMD has opened both its graphic and compute stacks: + GPUOpen is AMD's graphics stack, which includes for example FidelityFX Super Resolution. + ROCm (Radeon Open Compute platform) is AMD's compute stack for machine learning and high-performance computing, based on the LLVM compiler technologies. Under the ROCm project, AMDgpu is AMD's open source device driver supporting the GCN and following architectures, available for Linux. This latter driver component is used both by the graphics and compute stacks. + +Misc + AMD conducts open research on heterogeneous computing. + Other AMD software includes the AMD Core Math Library, and open-source software including the AMD Performance Library. + AMD contributes to open source projects, including working with Sun Microsystems to enhance OpenSolaris and Sun xVM on the AMD platform. AMD also maintains its own Open64 compiler distribution and contributes its changes back to the community. + In 2008, AMD released the low-level programming specifications for its GPUs, and works with the X.Org Foundation to develop drivers for AMD graphics cards. + Extensions for software parallelism (xSP), aimed at speeding up programs to enable multi-threaded and multi-core processing, announced in Technology Analyst Day 2007. One of the initiatives being discussed since August 2007 is the Light Weight Profiling (LWP), providing internal hardware monitor with runtimes, to observe information about executing process and help the re-design of software to be optimized with multi-core and even multi-threaded programs. Another one is the extension of Streaming SIMD Extension (SSE) instruction set, the SSE5. + Codenamed SIMFIRE – interoperability testing tool for the Desktop and mobile Architecture for System Hardware (DASH) open architecture. + +Production and fabrication + +Previously, AMD produced its chips at company-owned semiconductor foundries. AMD pursued a strategy of collaboration with other semiconductor manufacturers IBM and Motorola to co-develop production technologies. AMD's founder Jerry Sanders termed this the "Virtual Gorilla" strategy to compete with Intel's significantly greater investments in fabrication. + +In 2008, AMD spun off its chip foundries into an independent company named GlobalFoundries. This breakup of the company was attributed to the increasing costs of each process node. The Emirate of Abu Dhabi purchased the newly created company through its subsidiary Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC), purchasing the final stake from AMD in 2009. + +With the spin-off of its foundries, AMD became a fabless semiconductor manufacturer, designing products to be produced at for-hire foundries. Part of the GlobalFoundries spin-off included an agreement with AMD to produce some number of products at GlobalFoundries. Both prior to the spin-off and after AMD has pursued production with other foundries including TSMC and Samsung. It has been argued that this would reduce risk for AMD by decreasing dependence on any one foundry which has caused issues in the past. + +In 2018, AMD started shifting the production of their CPUs and GPUs to TSMC, following GlobalFoundries' announcement that they were halting development of their 7 nm process. AMD revised their wafer purchase requirement with GlobalFoundries in 2019, allowing AMD to freely choose foundries for 7 nm nodes and below, while maintaining purchase agreements for 12 nm and above through 2021. + +Corporate affairs + +Partnerships +AMD uses strategic industry partnerships to further its business interests as well as to rival Intel's dominance and resources: + + A partnership between AMD and Alpha Processor Inc. developed HyperTransport, a point-to-point interconnect standard which was turned over to an industry standards body for finalization. It is now used in modern motherboards that are compatible with AMD processors. + AMD also formed a strategic partnership with IBM, under which AMD gained silicon on insulator (SOI) manufacturing technology, and detailed advice on 90 nm implementation. AMD announced that the partnership would extend to 2011 for 32 nm and 22 nm fabrication-related technologies. + To facilitate processor distribution and sales, AMD is loosely partnered with end-user companies, such as HP, Dell, Asus, Acer, and Microsoft. + In 1993, AMD established a 50–50 partnership with Fujitsu called FASL, and merged into a new company called FASL LLC in 2003. The joint venture went public under the name Spansion and ticker symbol SPSN in December 2005, with AMD shares dropping 37%. AMD no longer directly participates in the Flash memory devices market now as AMD entered into a non-competition agreement on December 21, 2005, with Fujitsu and Spansion, pursuant to which it agreed not to directly or indirectly engage in a business that manufactures or supplies standalone semiconductor devices (including single-chip, multiple-chip or system devices) containing only Flash memory. + On May 18, 2006, Dell announced that it would roll out new servers based on AMD's Opteron chips by year's end, thus ending an exclusive relationship with Intel. In September 2006, Dell began offering AMD Athlon X2 chips in their desktop lineup. + In June 2011, HP announced new business and consumer notebooks equipped with the latest versions of AMD APUsaccelerated processing units. AMD will power HP's Intel-based business notebooks as well. + In the spring of 2013, AMD announced that it would be powering all three major next-generation consoles. The Xbox One and Sony PlayStation 4 are both powered by a custom-built AMD APU, and the Nintendo Wii U is powered by an AMD GPU. According to AMD, having their processors in all three of these consoles will greatly assist developers with cross-platform development to competing consoles and PCs as well as increased support for their products across the board. + AMD has entered into an agreement with Hindustan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (HSMC) for the production of AMD products in India. + AMD is a founding member of the HSA Foundation which aims to ease the use of a Heterogeneous System Architecture. A Heterogeneous System Architecture is intended to use both central processing units and graphics processors to complete computational tasks. + AMD announced in 2016 that it was creating a joint venture to produce x86 server chips for the Chinese market. +On May 7, 2019, it was reported that the U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Cray Inc., are working in collaboration with AMD to develop the Frontier exascale supercomputer. Featuring the AMD Epyc CPUs and Radeon GPUs, the supercomputer is set to produce more than 1.5 exaflops (peak double-precision) in computing performance. It is expected to debut sometime in 2021. +On March 5, 2020, it was announced that the U.S. Department of Energy, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and HPE are working in collaboration with AMD to develop the El Capitan exascale supercomputer. Featuring the AMD Epyc CPUs and Radeon GPUs, the supercomputer is set to produce more than 2 exaflops (peak double-precision) in computing performance. It is expected to debut in 2023. + In the summer of 2020, it was reported that AMD would be powering the next-generation console offerings from Microsoft and Sony. + On November 8, 2021, AMD announced a partnership with Meta to make the chips used in the Metaverse. + In January 2022, AMD partnered with Samsung to develop a mobile processor to be used in future products. The processor was named Exynos 2022 and works with the AMD RDNA 2 architecture. + +Litigation with Intel + +AMD has a long history of litigation with former (and current) partner and x86 creator Intel. + In 1986, Intel broke an agreement it had with AMD to allow them to produce Intel's microchips for IBM; AMD filed for arbitration in 1987 and the arbitrator decided in AMD's favor in 1992. Intel disputed this, and the case ended up in the Supreme Court of California. In 1994, that court upheld the arbitrator's decision and awarded damages for breach of contract. + In 1990, Intel brought a copyright infringement action alleging illegal use of its 287 microcode. The case ended in 1994 with a jury finding for AMD and its right to use Intel's microcode in its microprocessors through the 486 generation. + In 1997, Intel filed suit against AMD and Cyrix Corp. for misuse of the term MMX. AMD and Intel settled, with AMD acknowledging MMX as a trademark owned by Intel, and with Intel granting AMD rights to market the AMD K6 MMX processor. + In 2005, following an investigation, the Japan Federal Trade Commission found Intel guilty of a number of violations. On June 27, 2005, AMD won an antitrust suit against Intel in Japan, and on the same day, AMD filed a broad antitrust complaint against Intel in the U.S. Federal District Court in Delaware. The complaint alleges systematic use of secret rebates, special discounts, threats, and other means used by Intel to lock AMD processors out of the global market. Since the start of this action, the court has issued subpoenas to major computer manufacturers including Acer, Dell, Lenovo, HP and Toshiba. + In November 2009, Intel agreed to pay AMD $1.25bn and renew a five-year patent cross-licensing agreement as part of a deal to settle all outstanding legal disputes between them. + +Guinness World Record achievement + On August 31, 2011, in Austin, Texas, AMD achieved a Guinness World Record for the "Highest frequency of a computer processor": 8.429 GHz. The company ran an 8-core FX-8150 processor with only one active module (two cores), and cooled with liquid helium. The previous record was 8.308 GHz, with an Intel Celeron 352 (one core). + On November 1, 2011, geek.com reported that Andre Yang, an overclocker from Taiwan, used an FX-8150 to set another record: 8.461 GHz. + On November 19, 2012, Andre Yang used an FX-8350 to set another record: 8.794 GHz. + +Acquisitions, mergers and investments + +Corporate social responsibility + In its 2012 report on progress relating to conflict minerals, the Enough Project rated AMD the fifth most progressive of 24 consumer electronics companies. + +Other initiatives + 50x15, digital inclusion, with targeted 50% of world population to be connected through Internet via affordable computers by the year of 2015. + The Green Grid, founded by AMD together with other founders, such as IBM, Sun and Microsoft, to seek lower power consumption for grids. + +See also + Bill Gaede + List of AMD processors + List of AMD accelerated processing units + List of AMD graphics processing units + List of AMD chipsets + List of ATI chipsets + 3DNow! + Cool'n'Quiet + PowerNow! + +Notes + +References + Rodengen, Jeffrey L. The Spirit of AMD: Advanced Micro Devices. Write Stuff, 1998. + Ruiz, Hector. Slingshot: AMD's Fight to Free an Industry from the Ruthless Grip of Intel. Greenleaf Book Group, 2013. + +External links + + + + + + + +1969 establishments in California +1970s initial public offerings +American companies established in 1969 +Fabless semiconductor companies +Companies based in Santa Clara, California +Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange +Companies listed on the Nasdaq +Companies in the Nasdaq-100 +Computer companies of the United States +Computer companies established in 1969 +Electronics companies established in 1969 +Graphics hardware companies +HSA Foundation founding members +Manufacturing companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area +Motherboard companies +Semiconductor companies of the United States +Superfund sites in California +Technology companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area +Technology companies established in 1969 +Albrecht Dürer (; ; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528), sometimes spelled in English as Durer, was a German painter, printmaker, and theorist of the German Renaissance. Born in Nuremberg, Dürer established his reputation and influence across Europe in his twenties due to his high-quality woodcut prints. He was in contact with the major Italian artists of his time, including Raphael, Giovanni Bellini, and Leonardo da Vinci, and from 1512 was patronized by Emperor Maximilian I. + +Dürer's vast body of work includes engravings, his preferred technique in his later prints, altarpieces, portraits and self-portraits, watercolours and books. The woodcuts series are more Gothic than the rest of his work. His well-known engravings include the three Meisterstiche (master prints) Knight, Death and the Devil (1513), Saint Jerome in his Study (1514), and Melencolia I (1514). His watercolours mark him as one of the first European landscape artists, while his woodcuts revolutionised the potential of that medium. + +Dürer's introduction of classical motifs into Northern art, through his knowledge of Italian artists and German humanists, has secured his reputation as one of the most important figures of the Northern Renaissance. This is reinforced by his theoretical treatises, which involve principles of mathematics, perspective, and ideal proportions. + +Biography + +Early life (1471–1490) + +Dürer was born on 21 May 1471, the third child and second son of Albrecht Dürer the Elder and Barbara Holper, who married in 1467 and had eighteen children together. Albrecht Dürer the Elder (originally Albrecht Ajtósi) was a successful goldsmith who by 1455 had moved to Nuremberg from Ajtós, near Gyula in Hungary. He married Holper, his master's daughter, when he himself qualified as a master. One of Albrecht's brothers, Hans Dürer, was also a painter and trained under him. Her mother had some roots in Hungary to, Kinga Öllinger was born in Sopron. Another of Albrecht's brothers, Endres Dürer, took over their father's business and was a master goldsmith. The German name "Dürer" is a translation from the Hungarian, "Ajtósi". Initially, it was "Türer", meaning doormaker, which is "ajtós" in Hungarian (from "ajtó", meaning door). A door is featured in the coat-of-arms the family acquired. Albrecht Dürer the Younger later changed "Türer", his father's diction of the family's surname, to "Dürer", to adapt to the local Nuremberg dialect. + +Dürer's godfather Anton Koberger left goldsmithing to become a printer and publisher in the year of Dürer's birth. He became the most successful publisher in Germany, eventually owning twenty-four printing-presses and a number of offices in Germany and abroad. Koberger's most famous publication was the Nuremberg Chronicle, published in 1493 in German and Latin editions. It contained an unprecedented 1,809 woodcut illustrations (albeit with many repeated uses of the same block) by the Wolgemut workshop. Dürer may have worked on some of these, as the work on the project began while he was with Wolgemut. + +Because Dürer left autobiographical writings and was widely known by his mid-twenties, his life is well documented in several sources. After a few years of school, Dürer learned the basics of goldsmithing and drawing from his father. Though his father wanted him to continue his training as a goldsmith, he showed such a precocious talent in drawing that he started as an apprentice to Michael Wolgemut at the age of fifteen in 1486. A self-portrait, a drawing in silverpoint, is dated 1484 (Albertina, Vienna) "when I was a child", as his later inscription says. The drawing is one of the earliest surviving children's drawings of any kind, and, as Dürer's Opus One, has helped define his oeuvre as deriving from, and always linked to, himself. Wolgemut was the leading artist in Nuremberg at the time, with a large workshop producing a variety of works of art, in particular woodcuts for books. Nuremberg was then an important and prosperous city, a centre for publishing and many luxury trades. It had strong links with Italy, especially Venice, a relatively short distance across the Alps. + +Wanderjahre and marriage (1490–1494) + +After completing his apprenticeship, Dürer followed the common German custom of taking Wanderjahre—in effect gap years—in which the apprentice learned skills from artists in other areas; Dürer was to spend about four years away. He left in 1490, possibly to work under Martin Schongauer, the leading engraver of Northern Europe, but who died shortly before Dürer's arrival at Colmar in 1492. It is unclear where Dürer travelled in the intervening period, though it is likely that he went to Frankfurt and the Netherlands. In Colmar, Dürer was welcomed by Schongauer's brothers, the goldsmiths Caspar and Paul and the painter Ludwig. Later that year, Dürer travelled to Basel to stay with another brother of Martin Schongauer, the goldsmith Georg. In 1493 Dürer went to Strasbourg, where he would have experienced the sculpture of Nikolaus Gerhaert. Dürer's first painted self-portrait (now in the Louvre) was painted at this time, probably to be sent back to his fiancée in Nuremberg. + +Very soon after his return to Nuremberg, on 7 July 1494, at the age of 23, Dürer was married to Agnes Frey following an arrangement made during his absence. Agnes was the daughter of a prominent brass worker (and amateur harpist) in the city. However, no children resulted from the marriage, and with Albrecht the Dürer name died out. The marriage between Agnes and Albrecht was not a generally happy one, as indicated by the letters of Dürer in which he quipped to Willibald Pirckheimer in an extremely rough tone about his wife. He called her an "old crow" and made other vulgar remarks. Pirckheimer also made no secret of his antipathy towards Agnes, describing her as a miserly shrew with a bitter tongue, who helped cause Dürer's death at a young age. It has been hypothesized by many scholars that Albrecht was bisexual or homosexual, due to the recurrence of homoerotic themes in his works (e.g. The Men's Bath), and the nature of his correspondence with close friends. + +First journey to Italy (1494–1495) + +Within three months of his marriage, Dürer left for Italy, alone, perhaps stimulated by an outbreak of plague in Nuremberg. He made watercolour sketches as he traveled over the Alps. Some have survived and others may be deduced from accurate landscapes of real places in his later work, for example his engraving Nemesis. + +In Italy, he went to Venice to study its more advanced artistic world. Through Wolgemut's tutelage, Dürer had learned how to make prints in drypoint and design woodcuts in the German style, based on the works of Schongauer and the Housebook Master. He also would have had access to some Italian works in Germany, but the two visits he made to Italy had an enormous influence on him. He wrote that Giovanni Bellini was the oldest and still the best of the artists in Venice. His drawings and engravings show the influence of others, notably Antonio del Pollaiuolo, with his interest in the proportions of the body; Lorenzo di Credi; and Andrea Mantegna, whose work he produced copies of while training. Dürer probably also visited Padua and Mantua on this trip. + +Return to Nuremberg (1495–1505) + +On his return to Nuremberg in 1495, Dürer opened his own workshop (being married was a requirement for this). Over the next five years, his style increasingly integrated Italian influences into underlying Northern forms. Arguably his best works in the first years of the workshop were his woodcut prints, mostly religious, but including secular scenes such as The Men's Bath House (). These were larger and more finely cut than the great majority of German woodcuts hitherto, and far more complex and balanced in composition. + +It is now thought unlikely that Dürer cut any of the woodblocks himself; this task would have been performed by a specialist craftsman. However, his training in Wolgemut's studio, which made many carved and painted altarpieces and both designed and cut woodblocks for woodcut, evidently gave him great understanding of what the technique could be made to produce, and how to work with block cutters. Dürer either drew his design directly onto the woodblock itself, or glued a paper drawing to the block. Either way, his drawings were destroyed during the cutting of the block. + +His series of sixteen designs for the Apocalypse is dated 1498, as is his engraving of St. Michael Fighting the Dragon. He made the first seven scenes of the Great Passion in the same year, and a little later, a series of eleven on the Holy Family and saints. The Seven Sorrows Polyptych, commissioned by Frederick III of Saxony in 1496, was executed by Dürer and his assistants c. 1500. In 1502, Dürer's father died. Around 1503–1505 Dürer produced the first 17 of a set illustrating the Life of the Virgin, which he did not finish for some years. Neither these nor the Great Passion were published as sets until several years later, but prints were sold individually in considerable numbers. + +During the same period Dürer trained himself in the difficult art of using the burin to make engravings. It is possible he had begun learning this skill during his early training with his father, as it was also an essential skill of the goldsmith. In 1496 he executed the Prodigal Son, which the Italian Renaissance art historian Giorgio Vasari singled out for praise some decades later, noting its Germanic quality. He was soon producing some spectacular and original images, notably Nemesis (1502), The Sea Monster (1498), and Saint Eustace (), with a highly detailed landscape background and animals. His landscapes of this period, such as Pond in the Woods and Willow Mill, are quite different from his earlier watercolours. There is a much greater emphasis on capturing atmosphere, rather than depicting topography. He made a number of Madonnas, single religious figures, and small scenes with comic peasant figures. Prints are highly portable and these works made Dürer famous throughout the main artistic centres of Europe within a very few years. + +The Venetian artist Jacopo de' Barbari, whom Dürer had met in Venice, visited Nuremberg in 1500, and Dürer said that he learned much about the new developments in perspective, anatomy, and proportion from him. De' Barbari was unwilling to explain everything he knew, so Dürer began his own studies, which would become a lifelong preoccupation. A series of extant drawings show Dürer's experiments in human proportion, leading to the famous engraving of Adam and Eve (1504), which shows his subtlety while using the burin in the texturing of flesh surfaces. This is the only existing engraving signed with his full name. + +Dürer created large numbers of preparatory drawings, especially for his paintings and engravings, and many survive, most famously the Betende Hände (Praying Hands) from circa 1508, a study for an apostle in the Heller altarpiece. He continued to make images in watercolour and bodycolour (usually combined), including a number of still lifes of meadow sections or animals, including his Young Hare (1502) and the Great Piece of Turf (1503). + +Second journey to Italy (1505–1507) +In Italy, he returned to painting, at first producing a series of works executed in tempera on linen. These include portraits and altarpieces, notably, the Paumgartner altarpiece and the Adoration of the Magi. In early 1506, he returned to Venice and stayed there until the spring of 1507. By this time Dürer's engravings had attained great popularity and were being copied. In Venice he was given a valuable commission from the emigrant German community for the church of San Bartolomeo. This was the altar-piece known as the Adoration of the Virgin or the Feast of Rose Garlands. It includes portraits of members of Venice's German community, but shows a strong Italian influence. It was later acquired by the Emperor Rudolf II and taken to Prague. + +Nuremberg and the masterworks (1507–1520) +Despite the regard in which he was held by the Venetians, Dürer returned to Nuremberg by mid-1507, remaining in Germany until 1520. His reputation had spread throughout Europe and he was on friendly terms and in communication with most of the major artists including Raphael. + +Between 1507 and 1511 Dürer worked on some of his most celebrated paintings: Adam and Eve (1507), Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand (1508, for Frederick of Saxony), Virgin with the Iris (1508), the altarpiece Assumption of the Virgin (1509, for Jacob Heller of Frankfurt), and Adoration of the Trinity (1511, for Matthaeus Landauer). During this period he also completed two woodcut series, the Great Passion and the Life of the Virgin, both published in 1511 together with a second edition of the Apocalypse series. The post-Venetian woodcuts show Dürer's development of chiaroscuro modelling effects, creating a mid-tone throughout the print to which the highlights and shadows can be contrasted. + +Other works from this period include the thirty-seven Little Passion woodcuts, first published in 1511, and a set of fifteen small engravings on the same theme in 1512. Complaining that painting did not make enough money to justify the time spent when compared to his prints, he produced no paintings from 1513 to 1516. In 1513 and 1514 Dürer created his three most famous engravings: Knight, Death and the Devil (1513, probably based on Erasmus's Handbook of a Christian Knight), St. Jerome in His Study, and the much-debated Melencolia I (both 1514, the year Dürer's mother died). Further outstanding pen and ink drawings of Dürer's period of art work of 1513 were drafts for his friend Pirckheimer. These drafts were later used to design Lusterweibchen chandeliers, combining an antler with a wooden sculpture. + +In 1515, he created his woodcut of a Rhinoceros which had arrived in Lisbon from a written description and sketch by another artist, without ever seeing the animal himself. An image of the Indian rhinoceros, the image has such force that it remains one of his best-known and was still used in some German school science text-books as late as last century. In the years leading to 1520 he produced a wide range of works, including the woodblocks for the first western printed star charts in 1515 and portraits in tempera on linen in 1516. His only experiments with etching came in this period, producing five between 1515–1516 and a sixth in 1518; a technique he may have abandoned as unsuited to his aesthetic of methodical, classical form. + +Patronage of Maximilian I + +From 1512, Maximilian I became Dürer's major patron. He commissioned The Triumphal Arch, a vast work printed from 192 separate blocks, the symbolism of which is partly informed by Pirckheimer's translation of Horapollo's Hieroglyphica. The design program and explanations were devised by Johannes Stabius, the architectural design by the master builder and court-painter Jörg Kölderer and the woodcutting itself by Hieronymous Andreae, with Dürer as designer-in-chief. The Arch was followed by The Triumphal Procession, the program of which was worked out in 1512 by Marx Treitz-Saurwein and includes woodcuts by Albrecht Altdorfer and Hans Springinklee, as well as Dürer. + +Dürer worked with pen on the marginal images for an edition of the Emperor's printed Prayer-Book; these were quite unknown until facsimiles were published in 1808 as part of the first book published in lithography. Dürer's work on the book was halted for an unknown reason, and the decoration was continued by artists including Lucas Cranach the Elder and Hans Baldung. Dürer also made several portraits of the Emperor, including one shortly before Maximilian's death in 1519. + +Maximilian was a very cash-strapped prince who sometimes failed to pay, yet turned out to be Dürer's most important patron. In his court, artists and learned men were respected, which was not common at that time (later, Dürer commented that in Germany, as a non-noble, he was treated as a parasite). Pirckheimer (who he met in 1495, before entering the service of Maximilian) was also an important personage in the court and great cultural patron, who had a strong influence on Dürer as his tutor in classical knowledge and humanistic critical methodology, as well as collaborator. In Maximilian's court, Dürer also collaborated with a great number of other brilliant artists and scholars of the time who became his friends, like Johannes Stabius, Konrad Peutinger, Conrad Celtes, and Hans Tscherte (an imperial architect). + +Dürer manifested a strong pride in his ability, as a prince of his profession. One day, the emperor, trying to show Dürer an idea, tried to sketch with the charcoal himself, but always broke it. Dürer took the charcoal from Maximilian's hand, finished the drawing and told him: "This is my scepter." + +In another occasion, Maximilian noticed that the ladder Dürer used was too short and unstable, thus told a noble to hold it for him. The noble refused, saying that it was beneath him to serve a non-noble. Maximilian then came to hold the ladder himself, and told the noble that he could make a noble out of a peasant any day, but he could not make an artist like Dürer out of a noble. + +This story and a 1849 painting depicting it by have become relevant recently. This nineteenth-century painting shows Dürer painting a mural at St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna. Apparently, this reflects a seventeenth-century "artists' legend" about the previously mentioned encounter (in which the emperor held the ladder) – that this encounter corresponds with the period Dürer was working on the Viennese murals. In 2020, during restoration work, art connoisseurs discovered a piece of handwriting now attributed to Dürer, suggesting that the Nuremberg master had actually participated in creating the murals at St. Stephen's Cathedral. In the recent 2022 Dürer exhibition in Nuremberg (in which the drawing technique is also traced and connected to Dürer's other works), the identity of the commissioner is discussed. Now the painting of Siegert (and the legend associated with it) is used as evidence to suggest that this was Maximilian. Dürer is historically recorded to have entered the emperor's service in 1511, and the mural's date is calculated to be around 1505, but it is possible they have known and worked with each other earlier than 1511. + +Cartographic and astronomical works +Dürer's exploration of space led to a relationship and cooperation with the court astronomer Johannes Stabius. Stabius also often acted as Dürer's and Maximilian's go-between for their financial problems. + +In 1515 Dürer and Stabius created the first world map projected on a solid geometric sphere. Also in 1515, Stabius, Dürer and the astronomer Konrad Heinfogel produced the first planispheres of both southern and northerns hemispheres, as well as the first printed celestial maps, which prompted the revival of interest in the field of uranometry throughout Europe. + +Journey to the Netherlands (1520–1521) + +Maximilian's death came at a time when Dürer was concerned he was losing "my sight and freedom of hand" (perhaps caused by arthritis) and increasingly affected by the writings of Martin Luther. In July 1520 Dürer made his fourth and last major journey, to renew the Imperial pension Maximilian had given him and to secure the patronage of the new emperor, Charles V, who was to be crowned at Aachen. Dürer journeyed with his wife and her maid via the Rhine to Cologne and then to Antwerp, where he was well received and produced numerous drawings in silverpoint, chalk and charcoal. In addition to attending the coronation, he visited Cologne (where he admired the painting of Stefan Lochner), Nijmegen, 's-Hertogenbosch, Bruges (where he saw Michelangelo's Madonna of Bruges), Ghent (where he admired van Eyck's Ghent altarpiece), and Zeeland. + +Dürer took a large stock of prints with him and wrote in his diary to whom he gave, exchanged or sold them, and for how much. This provides rare information of the monetary value placed on prints at this time. Unlike paintings, their sale was very rarely documented. While providing valuable documentary evidence, Dürer's Netherlandish diary also reveals that the trip was not a profitable one. For example, Dürer offered his last portrait of Maximilian to his daughter, Margaret of Austria, but eventually traded the picture for some white cloth after Margaret disliked the portrait and declined to accept it. During this trip he also met Bernard van Orley, Jan Provoost, Gerard Horenbout, Jean Mone, Joachim Patinir and Tommaso Vincidor, though he did not, it seems, meet Quentin Matsys. + +Having secured his pension, Dürer returned home in July 1521, having caught an undetermined illness, which afflicted him for the rest of his life, and greatly reduced his rate of work. + +Final years, Nuremberg (1521–1528) + +On his return to Nuremberg, Dürer worked on a number of grand projects with religious themes, including a crucifixion scene and a Sacra conversazione, though neither was completed. This may have been due in part to his declining health, but perhaps also because of the time he gave to the preparation of his theoretical works on geometry and perspective, the proportions of men and horses, and fortification. + +However, one consequence of this shift in emphasis was that during the last years of his life, Dürer produced comparatively little as an artist. In painting, there was only a portrait of Hieronymus Holtzschuher, a Madonna and Child (1526), Salvator Mundi (1526), and two panels showing St. John with St. Peter in background and St. Paul with St. Mark in the background. This last great work, the Four Apostles, was given by Dürer to the City of Nuremberg—although he was given 100 guilders in return. + +As for engravings, Dürer's work was restricted to portraits and illustrations for his treatise. The portraits include Cardinal-Elector Albert of Mainz; Frederick the Wise, elector of Saxony; the humanist scholar Willibald Pirckheimer; Philipp Melanchthon, and Erasmus of Rotterdam. For those of the Cardinal, Melanchthon, and Dürer's final major work, a drawn portrait of the Nuremberg patrician Ulrich Starck, Dürer depicted the sitters in profile. + +Despite complaining of his lack of a formal classical education, Dürer was greatly interested in intellectual matters and learned much from his boyhood friend Willibald Pirckheimer, whom he no doubt consulted on the content of many of his images. He also derived great satisfaction from his friendships and correspondence with Erasmus and other scholars. Dürer succeeded in producing two books during his lifetime. The Four Books on Measurement were published at Nuremberg in 1525 and was the first book for adults on mathematics in German, as well as being cited later by Galileo and Kepler. The other, a work on city fortifications, was published in 1527. The Four Books on Human Proportion were published posthumously, shortly after his death in 1528. + +Dürer died in Nuremberg at the age of 56, leaving an estate valued at 6,874 florins – a considerable sum. He is buried in the Johannisfriedhof cemetery. His large house (purchased in 1509 from the heirs of the astronomer Bernhard Walther), where his workshop was located and where his widow lived until her death in 1539, remains a prominent Nuremberg landmark. + +Dürer and the Reformation + +Dürer's writings suggest that he may have been sympathetic to Luther's ideas, though it is unclear if he ever left the Catholic Church. Dürer wrote of his desire to draw Luther in his diary in 1520: "And God help me that I may go to Dr. Martin Luther; thus I intend to make a portrait of him with great care and engrave him on a copper plate to create a lasting memorial of the Christian man who helped me overcome so many difficulties." In a letter to Nicholas Kratzer in 1524, Dürer wrote, "because of our Christian faith we have to stand in scorn and danger, for we are reviled and called heretics". Most tellingly, Pirckheimer wrote in a letter to Johann Tscherte in 1530: "I confess that in the beginning I believed in Luther, like our Albert of blessed memory ... but as anyone can see, the situation has become worse." Dürer may even have contributed to the Nuremberg City Council's mandating Lutheran sermons and services in March 1525. Notably, Dürer had contacts with various reformers, such as Zwingli, Andreas Karlstadt, Melanchthon, Erasmus and Cornelius Grapheus from whom Dürer received Luther's Babylonian Captivity in 1520. Yet Erasmus and C. Grapheus are better said to be Catholic change agents. Also, from 1525, "the year that saw the peak and collapse of the Peasants' War, the artist can be seen to distance himself somewhat from the [Lutheran] movement..." + +Dürer's later works have also been claimed to show Protestant sympathies. His 1523 The Last Supper woodcut has often been understood to have an evangelical theme, focusing as it does on Christ espousing the Gospel, as well as the inclusion of the Eucharistic cup, an expression of Protestant utraquism, although this interpretation has been questioned. The delaying of the engraving of St Philip, completed in 1523 but not distributed until 1526, may have been due to Dürer's uneasiness with images of saints; even if Dürer was not an iconoclast, in his last years he evaluated and questioned the role of art in religion. + +Legacy and influence + +Dürer exerted a huge influence on the artists of succeeding generations, especially in printmaking, the medium through which his contemporaries mostly experienced his art, as his paintings were predominantly in private collections located in only a few cities. His success in spreading his reputation across Europe through prints was undoubtedly an inspiration for major artists such as Raphael, Titian, and Parmigianino, all of whom collaborated with printmakers to promote and distribute their work. + +His engravings seem to have had an intimidating effect upon his German successors; the "Little Masters" who attempted few large engravings but continued Dürer's themes in small, rather cramped compositions. Lucas van Leyden was the only Northern European engraver to successfully continue to produce large engravings in the first third of the 16th century. The generation of Italian engravers who trained in the shadow of Dürer all either directly copied parts of his landscape backgrounds (Giulio Campagnola, Giovanni Battista Palumba, Benedetto Montagna and Cristofano Robetta), or whole prints (Marcantonio Raimondi and Agostino Veneziano). However, Dürer's influence became less dominant after 1515, when Marcantonio perfected his new engraving style, which in turn travelled over the Alps to also dominate Northern engraving. + +In painting, Dürer had relatively little influence in Italy, where probably only his altarpiece in Venice was seen, and his German successors were less effective in blending German and Italian styles. His intense and self-dramatizing self-portraits have continued to have a strong influence up to the present, especially on painters in the 19th and 20th century who desired a more dramatic portrait style. Dürer has never fallen from critical favour, and there have been significant revivals of interest in his works in Germany in the Dürer Renaissance of about 1570 to 1630, in the early nineteenth century, and in German nationalism from 1870 to 1945. + +The Lutheran Church commemorates Dürer annually on 6 April, along with Michelangelo, Lucas Cranach the Elder and Hans Burgkmair. + +Theoretical works +In all his theoretical works, in order to communicate his theories in the German language rather than in Latin, Dürer used graphic expressions based on a vernacular, craftsmen's language. For example, "Schneckenlinie" ("snail-line") was his term for a spiral form. Thus, Dürer contributed to the expansion in German prose which Luther had begun with his translation of the Bible. + +Four Books on Measurement + +Dürer's work on geometry is called the Four Books on Measurement (Underweysung der Messung mit dem Zirckel und Richtscheyt or Instructions for Measuring with Compass and Ruler). The first book focuses on linear geometry. Dürer's geometric constructions include helices, conchoids and epicycloids. He also draws on Apollonius, and Johannes Werner's 'Libellus super viginti duobus elementis conicis' of 1522. + +The second book moves onto two-dimensional geometry, i.e. the construction of regular polygons. Here Dürer favours the methods of Ptolemy over Euclid. The third book applies these principles of geometry to architecture, engineering and typography. In architecture Dürer cites Vitruvius but elaborates his own classical designs and columns. In typography, Dürer depicts the geometric construction of the Latin alphabet, relying on Italian precedent. However, his construction of the Gothic alphabet is based upon an entirely different modular system. The fourth book completes the progression of the first and second by moving to three-dimensional forms and the construction of polyhedra. Here Dürer discusses the five Platonic solids, as well as seven Archimedean semi-regular solids, as well as several of his own invention. + +Four Books on Human Proportion + +Dürer's work on human proportions is called the Four Books on Human Proportion (Vier Bücher von Menschlicher Proportion) of 1528. The first book was mainly composed by 1512/13 and completed by 1523, showing five differently constructed types of both male and female figures, all parts of the body expressed in fractions of the total height. Dürer based these constructions on both Vitruvius and empirical observations of "two to three hundred living persons", in his own words. The second book includes eight further types, broken down not into fractions but an Albertian system, which Dürer probably learned from Francesco di Giorgio's of 1525. In the third book, Dürer gives principles by which the proportions of the figures can be modified, including the mathematical simulation of convex and concave mirrors; here Dürer also deals with human physiognomy. The fourth book is devoted to the theory of movement. + +Appended to the last book, however, is a self-contained essay on aesthetics, which Dürer worked on between 1512 and 1528, and it is here that we learn of his theories concerning 'ideal beauty'. Dürer rejected Alberti's concept of an objective beauty, proposing a relativist notion of beauty based on variety. Nonetheless, Dürer still believed that truth was hidden within nature, and that there were rules which ordered beauty, even though he found it difficult to define the criteria for such a code. In 1512/13 his three criteria were function ('Nutz'), naïve approval ('Wohlgefallen') and the happy medium ('Mittelmass'). However, unlike Alberti and Leonardo, Dürer was most troubled by understanding not just the abstract notions of beauty but also as to how an artist can create beautiful images. Between 1512 and the final draft in 1528, Dürer's belief developed from an understanding of human creativity as spontaneous or inspired to a concept of 'selective inward synthesis'. In other words, that an artist builds on a wealth of visual experiences in order to imagine beautiful things. Dürer's belief in the abilities of a single artist over inspiration prompted him to assert that "one man may sketch something with his pen on half a sheet of paper in one day, or may cut it into a tiny piece of wood with his little iron, and it turns out to be better and more artistic than another's work at which its author labours with the utmost diligence for a whole year". + +Book on Fortification +In 1527, Dürer also published Various Lessons on the Fortification of Cities, Castles, and Localities (Etliche Underricht zu Befestigung der Stett, Schloss und Flecken). It was printed in Nuremberg, probably by Hieronymus Andreae and reprinted in 1603 by Johan Janssenn in Arnhem. In 1535 it was also translated into Latin as On Cities, Forts, and Castles, Designed and Strengthened by Several Manners: Presented for the Most Necessary Accommodation of War (De vrbibus, arcibus, castellisque condendis, ac muniendis rationes aliquot : praesenti bellorum necessitati accommodatissimae), published by Christian Wechel (Wecheli/Wechelus) in Paris. + +The work is less proscriptively theoretical than his other works, and was soon overshadowed by the Italian theory of polygonal fortification (the trace italienne – see Bastion fort), though his designs seem to have had some influence in the eastern German lands and up into the Baltic region. + +Fencing +Dürer created many sketches and woodcuts of soldiers and knights over the course of his life. His most significant martial works, however, were made in 1512 as part of his efforts to secure the patronage of Maximilian I. Using existing manuscripts from the Nuremberg Group as his reference, his workshop produced the extensive Οπλοδιδασκαλια sive Armorvm Tractandorvm Meditatio Alberti Dvreri ("Weapon Training, or Albrecht Dürer's Meditation on the Handling of Weapons", MS 26-232). Another manuscript based on the Nuremberg texts as well as one of Hans Talhoffer's works, the untitled Berlin Picture Book (Libr.Pict.A.83), is also thought to have originated in his workshop around this time. These sketches and watercolors show the same careful attention to detail and human proportion as Dürer's other work, and his illustrations of grappling, long sword, dagger, and messer are among the highest-quality in any fencing manual. + +Gallery + +List of works + List of paintings by Albrecht Dürer + List of engravings by Albrecht Dürer + List of woodcuts by Albrecht Dürer + +References + +Notes + +Citations + +Sources +Bartrum, Giulia. Albrecht Dürer and his Legacy. London: British Museum Press, 2002. + Brand Philip, Lotte; Anzelewsky, Fedja. "The Portrait Diptych of Dürer's parents". Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art, Volume 10, No. 1, 1978–79. 5–18 +Brion, Marcel. Dürer. London: Thames and Hudson, 1960 +Harbison, Craig. "Dürer and the Reformation: The Problem of the Re-dating of the St. Philip Engraving". The Art Bulletin, Vol. 58, No. 3, 368–373. September 1976 +Koerner, Joseph Leo. The Moment of Self-Portraiture in German Renaissance Art. Chicago/London: University of Chicago Press, 1993. +Landau David; Parshall, Peter. The Renaissance Print. Yale, 1996. +Panofsky, Erwin. The Life and Art of Albrecht Dürer. NJ: Princeton, 1945. +Price, David Hotchkiss. Albrecht Dürer's Renaissance: Humanism, Reformation and the Art of Faith. Michigan, 2003. . +Strauss, Walter L. (ed.). The Complete Engravings, Etchings and Drypoints of Albrecht Durer. Mineola NY: Dover Publications, 1973. +Borchert, Till-Holger. Van Eyck to Dürer: The Influence of Early Netherlandish painting on European Art, 1430–1530. London: Thames & Hudson, 2011. +Wolf, Norbert. Albrecht Dürer. Taschen, 2010. + +Further reading +Campbell Hutchison, Jane. Albrecht Dürer: A Biography. Princeton University Press, 1990. +Demele, Christine. Dürers Nacktheit – Das Weimarer Selbstbildnis. Rhema Verlag, Münster 2012, +Dürer, Albrecht (translated by R.T. Nichol from the Latin text), Of the Just Shaping of Letters, Dover Publications. +Hart, Vaughan. 'Navel Gazing. On Albrecht Dürer's Adam and Eve (1504)', The International Journal of Arts Theory and History, 2016, vol.12.1 pp. 1–10 https://doi.org/10.18848/2326-9960/CGP/v12i01/1-10 +Korolija Fontana-Giusti, Gordana. "The Unconscious and Space: Venice and the work of Albrecht Dürer", in Architecture and the Unconscious, eds. J. Hendrix and L.Holm, Farnham Surrey: Ashgate, 2016. pp. 27–44, . +Wilhelm, Kurth (ed.). The Complete Woodcuts of Albrecht Durer, Dover Publications, 2000. + +External links + + +The Strange World of Albrecht Dürer at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. 14 November 2010 – 13 March 2011 +Dürer Prints Close-up. Made to accompany The Strange World of Albrecht Dürer at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. 14 November 2010 – 13 March 2011 +Albrecht Dürer: Vier Bücher von menschlicher Proportion (Nuremberg, 1528). Selected pages scanned from the original work. Historical Anatomies on the Web. US National Library of Medicine. + + + "Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528)". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art + + Albrecht Durer, Exhibition, Albertina, Vienna. 20 September 2019 – 6 January 2020 + + +1471 births +1528 deaths +15th-century engravers +15th-century German painters +16th-century engravers +16th-century German painters +Animal artists +Artist authors +Artists from Nuremberg +Catholic decorative artists +Catholic engravers +Catholic painters +German draughtsmen +German engravers +German Lutherans +German male painters +German people of Hungarian descent +German printmakers +German Renaissance painters +German Roman Catholics +Heraldic artists +Manuscript illuminators +Mathematical artists +People celebrated in the Lutheran liturgical calendar +Renaissance engravers +Woodcut designers +Australian rules football, also called Australian football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by kicking the oval ball between the central goal posts (worth six points), or between a central and outer post (worth one point, otherwise known as a "behind"). + +During general play, players may position themselves anywhere on the field and use any part of their bodies to move the ball. The primary methods are kicking, handballing and running with the ball. There are rules on how the ball can be handled; for example, players running with the ball must intermittently bounce or touch it on the ground. Throwing the ball is not allowed, and players must not get caught holding the ball. A distinctive feature of the game is the mark, where players anywhere on the field who catch the ball from a kick (with specific conditions) are awarded unimpeded possession. Possession of the ball is in dispute at all times except when a free kick or mark is paid. Players can tackle using their hands or use their whole body to obstruct opponents. Dangerous physical contact (such as pushing an opponent in the back), interference when marking, and deliberately slowing the play are discouraged with free kicks, distance penalties, or suspension for a certain number of matches depending on the severity of the infringement. The game features frequent physical contests, spectacular marking, fast movement of both players and the ball, and high scoring. + +The sport's origins can be traced to football matches played in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1858, inspired by English public school football games. Seeking to develop a game more suited to adults and Australian conditions, the Melbourne Football Club published the first laws of Australian football in May 1859. + +Australian football has the highest spectator attendance and television viewership of all sports in Australia, while the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's only fully professional competition, is the nation's wealthiest sporting body. The AFL Grand Final, held annually at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, is the second-highest-attended club championship event in the world. The sport is also played at amateur level in many countries and in several variations. Its rules are governed by the AFL Commission with the advice of the AFL's Laws of the Game Committee. + +Name + +Australian rules football is known by several nicknames, including Aussie rules, football and footy. In some regions, the Australian Football League markets the game as AFL after itself. + +History + +Origins + +Primitive forms of football were played sporadically in the Australian colonies in the first half of the 19th century. Compared to cricket and horse racing, football was considered a mere "amusement" by colonists at the time, and while little is known about these early one-off games, evidence does not support a causal link with Australian football. In Melbourne, Victoria, in 1858, in a move that would help to shape Australian football in its formative years, private schools (then termed "public schools" in accordance with nomenclature in England) began organising football games inspired by precedents at English public schools. The earliest match, held on 15 June, was between Melbourne Grammar and St Kilda Grammar. + +On 10 July 1858, the Melbourne-based Bell's Life in Victoria and Sporting Chronicle published a letter by Tom Wills, captain of the Victoria cricket team, calling for the formation of a "foot-ball club" with a "code of laws" to keep cricketers fit during winter. Born in Australia, Wills played a nascent form of rugby football whilst a pupil at Rugby School in England, and returned to his homeland a star athlete and cricketer. Two weeks later, Wills' friend, cricketer Jerry Bryant, posted an advertisement for a scratch match at the Richmond Paddock adjoining the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). This was the first of several "kickabouts" held that year involving members of the Melbourne Cricket Club, including Wills, Bryant, W. J. Hammersley and J. B. Thompson. Trees were used as goalposts and play typically lasted an entire afternoon. Without an agreed-upon code of laws, some players were guided by rules they had learned in the British Isles, "others by no rules at all". Another milestone in 1858 was a 40-a-side match played under experimental rules between Melbourne Grammar and Scotch College, held at the Richmond Paddock. Umpired by Wills and teacher John Macadam, it began on 7 August and continued over two subsequent Saturdays, ending in a draw with each side kicking one goal. It is commemorated with a statue outside the MCG, and the two schools have since competed annually in the Cordner–Eggleston Cup, the world's oldest continuous football competition. + +Since the 1920s, it has been suggested that Australian football may have been derived from the Irish sport of Gaelic football. However, there is no archival evidence in favour of a Gaelic influence, and the style of play shared between the two modern codes appeared in Australia long before the Irish game evolved in a similar direction. Another theory, first proposed in 1983, posits that Wills, having grown up amongst Aboriginals in Victoria, may have seen or played the Aboriginal ball game of Marn Grook, and incorporated some of its features into early Australian football. There is only circumstantial evidence that he knew of the game, and according to biographer Greg de Moore's research, Wills was "almost solely influenced by his experience at Rugby School". + +First rules + +A loosely organised Melbourne side, captained by Wills, played against other football enthusiasts in the winter and spring of 1858. The following year, on 14 May, the Melbourne Football Club was officially established, making it one of the world's oldest football clubs. Three days later, Wills, Hammersley, Thompson and teacher Thomas H. Smith met near the MCG at the Parade Hotel, owned by Bryant, and drafted ten rules: "The Rules of the Melbourne Football Club". These are the laws from which Australian football evolved. The club aimed to create a simple code suited to the hard playing surfaces around Melbourne, and to eliminate the roughest aspects of English school games—such as "hacking" (shin-kicking) in Rugby School football—to reduce the risk of injuries to working men. In another significant departure from English public school football, the Melbourne rules omitted any offside law. "The new code was as much a reaction against the school games as influenced by them", writes Mark Pennings. The rules were distributed throughout the colony; Thompson in particular did much to promote the new code in his capacity as a journalist. + +Early competition in Victoria + +Following Melbourne's lead, Geelong and Melbourne University also formed football clubs in 1859. While many early Victorian teams participated in one-off matches, most had not yet formed clubs for regular competition. A South Yarra club devised its own rules. To ensure the supremacy of the Melbourne rules, the first-club level competition in Australia, the Caledonian Society's Challenge Cup (1861–64), stipulated that only the Melbourne rules were to be used. This law was reinforced by the Athletic Sports Committee (ASC), which ran a variation of the Challenge Cup in 1865–66. With input from other clubs, the rules underwent several minor revisions, establishing a uniform code known as "Victorian rules". In 1866, the "first distinctively Victorian rule", the running bounce, was formalised at a meeting of club delegates chaired by H. C. A. Harrison, an influential pioneer who took up football in 1859 at the invitation of Wills, his cousin. + +The game around this time was defensive and low-scoring, played low to the ground in congested rugby-style scrimmages. The typical match was a 20-per-side affair, played with a ball that was roughly spherical, and lasted until a team scored two goals. The shape of the playing field was not standardised; matches often took place in rough, tree-spotted public parks, most notably the Richmond Paddock (Yarra Park), known colloquially as the Melbourne Football Ground. Wills argued that the turf of cricket fields would benefit from being trampled upon by footballers in winter, and, as early as 1859, football was allowed on the MCG. However, cricket authorities frequently prohibited football on their grounds until the 1870s, when they saw an opportunity to capitalise on the sport's growing popularity. Football gradually adapted to an oval-shaped field, and most grounds in Victoria expanded to accommodate the dual purpose—a situation that continues to this day. + +Spread to other colonies + +Football became organised in South Australia in 1860 with the formation of the Adelaide Football Club, the oldest football club in Australia outside Victoria. It devised its own rules, and, along with other Adelaide-based clubs, played a variety of codes until 1876, when they uniformly adopted most of the Victorian rules, with South Australian football pioneer Charles Kingston noting their similarity to "the old Adelaide rules". Similarly, Tasmanian clubs quarrelled over different rules until they adopted a slightly modified version of the Victorian game in 1879. The South Australian Football Association (SAFA), the sport's first governing body, formed on 30 April 1877, firmly establishing Victorian rules as the preferred code in that colony. The Victorian Football Association (VFA) formed the following month. + +Clubs began touring the colonies in the late 1870s, and in 1879 the first intercolonial match took place in Melbourne between Victoria and South Australia. In order to standardise the sport across Australia, delegates representing the football associations of South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Queensland met in 1883 and updated the code. New rules such as holding the ball led to a "golden era" of fast, long-kicking and high-marking football in the 1880s, a time which also saw players such as George Coulthard achieve superstardom, as well as the rise of professionalism, particularly in Victoria and Western Australia, where the code took hold during a series of gold rushes. Likewise when New Zealand experienced a gold rush, the sport arrived with a rapid influx of Australian miners. Now known as Australian rules or Australasian rules, the sport became the first football code to develop mass spectator appeal, attracting world record attendances for sports viewing and gaining a reputation as "the people's game". + +Australian rules football reached Queensland and New South Wales as early as 1866; the sport experienced a period of dominance in the former, and in the latter, several regions remain strongholds of Australian rules, such as the Riverina. However, by the late 1880s, rugby football had become the dominant code in both colonies, as well as in New Zealand. This shift was largely due to rugby's spread with British migration, regional rivalries and the lack of strong local governing bodies. In the case of Sydney, denial of access to grounds, the influence of university headmasters from Britain who favoured rugby, and the loss of players to other codes inhibited the game's growth. + +Emergence of the VFL +In 1896, delegates from six of the wealthiest VFA clubs—Carlton, Essendon, Fitzroy, Geelong, Melbourne and South Melbourne—met to discuss the formation of a breakaway professional competition. Later joined by Collingwood and St Kilda, the clubs formed the Victorian Football League (VFL), which held its inaugural season in 1897. The VFL's popularity grew rapidly as it made several innovations, such as instituting a finals system, reducing teams from 20 to 18 players, and introducing the behind as a score. Richmond and University joined the VFL in 1908, and by 1925, with the addition of Hawthorn, Footscray and North Melbourne, it had become the preeminent league in the country and would take a leading role in many aspects of the sport. + +Interstate football and the World Wars + +The time around the federation of the Australian colonies in 1901 saw Australian rules undergo a revival in New South Wales, New Zealand and Queensland. In 1903, both the Queensland Australian Football League and the NSW Australian Football Association were established, and in New Zealand, as it moved towards becoming a dominion, leagues were also established in the major cities. This renewed popularity helped encourage the formation of the Australasian Football Council, which in 1908 in Melbourne staged the first national interstate competition, the Jubilee Australasian Football Carnival, with teams representing each state and New Zealand. + +The game was also established early on in the new territories. In the new national capital Canberra both soccer and rugby had a head start, but following the first matches in 1911, Australian rules football in the Australian Capital Territory became a major participation sport. By 1981 it had become much neglected and quickly lagged behind the other football codes. Australian rules football in the Northern Territory began shortly after the outbreak of the war in 1916 with the first match in Darwin. The game went on to become the most popular sport in the Territory and build the highest participation rate for the sport nationally. + +Both World War I and World War II had a devastating effect on Australian football and on Australian sport in general. While scratch matches were played by Australian "diggers" in remote locations around the world, the game lost many of its great players to wartime service. Some clubs and competitions never fully recovered. Between 1914 and 1915, a proposed hybrid code of Australian football and rugby league, the predominant code of football in New South Wales and Queensland, was trialled without success. In Queensland, the state league went into recess for the duration of the war. VFL club University left the league and went into recess due to severe casualties. The WAFL lost two clubs and the SANFL was suspended for one year in 1916 due to heavy club losses. The Anzac Day match, the annual game between Essendon and Collingwood on Anzac Day, is one example of how the war continues to be remembered in the football community. + +The role of the Australian National Football Council (ANFC) was primarily to govern the game at a national level and to facilitate interstate representative and club competition. In 1968, the ANFC revived the Championship of Australia, a competition first held in 1888 between the premiers of the VFA and SAFA. Although clubs from other states were at times invited, the final was almost always between the premiers from the two strongest state competitions of the time—South Australia and Victoria—with Adelaide hosting most of the matches at the request of the SAFA/SANFL. The last match took place in 1976, with North Adelaide being the last non-Victorian winner in 1972. Between 1976 and 1987, the ANFC, and later the Australian Football Championships (AFC) ran a night series, which invited clubs and representative sides from around the country to participate in a knock-out tournament parallel to the premiership seasons, which Victorian sides still dominated. + +With the lack of international competition, state representative matches were regarded with great importance. Due in part to the VFL poaching talent from other states, Victoria dominated interstate matches for three-quarters of a century. State of Origin rules, introduced in 1977, stipulated that rather than representing the state of their adopted club, players would return to play for the state they were first recruited in. This instantly broke Victoria's stranglehold over state titles and Western Australia and South Australia began to win more of their games against Victoria. Both New South Wales and Tasmania scored surprise victories at home against Victoria in 1990. + +Towards a national league + +The term "Barassi Line", named after VFL star Ron Barassi, was coined by scholar Ian Turner in 1978 to describe the "fictitious geographical barrier" separating the rugby-following parts of New South Wales and Queensland from the rest of the country, where Australian football reigned. It became a reference point for the expansion of Australian football and for establishing a national league. + +The way the game was played had changed dramatically due to innovative coaching tactics, with the phasing out of many of the game's kicking styles and the increasing use of handball; while presentation was influenced by television. + +In 1982, in a move that heralded big changes within the sport, one of the original VFL clubs, South Melbourne, relocated to Sydney and became known as the Sydney Swans. In the late 1980s, due to the poor financial standing of many of the Victorian clubs, and a similar situation existing in Western Australia in the sport, the VFL pursued a more national competition. Two more non-Victorian clubs, West Coast and Brisbane, joined the league in 1987 generating more than $8 million in license revenue for the Victorian clubs and increasing broadcast revenues which helped the Victorian clubs survive. In their early years, the Sydney and Brisbane clubs struggled both on and off-field because the substantial TV revenues they generated by playing on a Sunday went to the VFL. To protect these revenues the VFL granted significant draft concessions and financial aid to keep the expansion clubs competitive. + +The VFL changed its name to the Australian Football League (AFL) for the 1990 season, and over the next decade, three non-Victorian clubs gained entry: Adelaide (1991), Fremantle (1995) and the SANFL's Port Adelaide (1997), the only pre-existing club outside Victoria to join the league. In 2011 and 2012, respectively, two new non-Victorian clubs were added to the competition: Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney. The AFL, currently with 18 member clubs, is the sport's elite competition and most powerful body. Following the emergence of the AFL, state leagues were quickly relegated to a second-tier status. The VFA merged with the former VFL reserves competition in 1998, adopting the VFL name. State of Origin also declined in importance, especially after an increasing number of player withdrawals. The AFL turned its focus to the annual International Rules Series against Ireland in 1998 before abolishing State of Origin the following year. State and territorial leagues still contest interstate matches, as do AFL Women players. + +Although a Tasmanian AFL bid is ongoing, the AFL's focus has been on expanding into markets outside Australian football's traditional heartlands in order to maximise its broadcast revenue. The AFL regularly schedules pre-season exhibition matches in all Australian states and territories as part of the Regional Challenge. The AFL signalled further attempts at expansion in the 2010s by hosting home-and-away matches in New Zealand, followed by China. + +Laws of the game + +Field + +Australian rules football playing fields have no fixed dimensions but at senior level are typically between long and wide wing-to-wing. The field, like the ball, is oval-shaped, and in Australia, cricket grounds are often used. No more than 18 players of each team (or, in AFL Women's, 16 players) are permitted to be on the field at any time. + +Up to four interchange (reserve) players may be swapped for those on the field at any time during the game. In Australian rules terminology, these players wait for substitution "on the bench"—an area with a row of seats on the sideline. Players must interchange through a designated interchange "gate" with strict penalties for having too many players from one team on the field. In addition, some leagues have each team designate one player as a substitute who can be used to make a single permanent exchange of players during a game. + +There is no offside rule nor are there set positions in the rules; unlike many other forms of football, players from both teams may disperse across the whole field before the start of play. However, a typical on-field structure consists of six forwards, six defenders or "backmen" and six midfielders, usually two wingmen, one centre and three followers, including a ruckman, ruck-rover and rover. Only four players from each team are allowed within the centre square () at every centre bounce, which occurs at the commencement of each quarter, and to restart the game after a goal is scored. There are also other rules pertaining to allowed player positions during set plays (that is, after a mark or free kick) and during kick-ins following the scoring of a behind. + +Match duration +A game consists of four quarters and a timekeeper officiates their duration. At the professional level, each quarter consists of 20 minutes of play, with the clock being stopped for instances such as scores, the ball going out of bounds or at the umpire's discretion, e.g. for serious injury. Lower grades of competition might employ shorter quarters of play. The umpire signals time-off to stop the clock for various reasons, such as the player in possession being tackled into stagnant play. Time resumes when the umpire signals time-on or when the ball is brought into play. Stoppages cause quarters to extend approximately 5–10 minutes beyond the 20 minutes of play. 6 minutes of rest is allowed before the second and fourth quarters, and 20 minutes of rest is allowed at half-time. + +The official game clock is available only to the timekeeper(s), and is not displayed to the players, umpires or spectators. The only public knowledge of game time is when the timekeeper sounds a siren at the start and end of each quarter. Coaching staff may monitor the game time themselves and convey information to players via on-field trainers or substitute players. Broadcasters usually display an approximation of the official game time for television audiences, although some will now show the exact time remaining in a quarter. + +General play + +Games are officiated by umpires. Before the game, the winner of a coin toss determines which directions the teams will play to begin. Australian football begins after the first siren, when the umpire bounces the ball on the ground (or throws it into the air if the condition of the ground is poor), and the two ruckmen (typically the tallest players from each team) battle for the ball in the air on its way back down. This is known as the ball-up. Certain disputes during play may also be settled with a ball-up from the point of contention. If the ball is kicked or hit from a ball-up or boundary throw-in over the boundary line or into a behind post without the ball bouncing, a free kick is paid for out of bounds on the full. A free kick is also paid if the ball is deemed by the umpire to have been deliberately carried or directed out of bounds. If the ball travels out of bounds in any other circumstances (for example, contested play results in the ball being knocked out of bounds) a boundary umpire will stand with his back to the infield and return the ball into play with a throw-in, a high backwards toss back into the field of play. + +The ball can be propelled in any direction by way of a foot, clenched fist (called a handball or handpass) or open-hand tap but it cannot be thrown under any circumstances. Once a player takes possession of the ball he must dispose of it by either kicking or handballing it. Any other method of disposal is illegal and will result in a free kick to the opposing team. This is usually called "incorrect disposal", "dropping the ball" or "throwing". If the ball is not in the possession of one player it can be moved on with any part of the body. + +A player may run with the ball, but it must be bounced or touched on the ground at least once every . Opposition players may bump or tackle the player to obtain the ball and, when tackled, the player must dispose of the ball cleanly or risk being penalised for holding the ball unless the umpire rules no prior opportunity for disposal. The ball carrier may only be tackled between the shoulders and knees. If the opposition player forcefully contacts a player in the back while performing a tackle, the opposition player will be penalised for a push in the back. If the opposition tackles the player with possession below the knees (a low tackle or a trip) or above the shoulders (a high tackle), the team with possession of the football gets a free kick. + +If a player takes possession of the ball that has travelled more than from another player's kick, by way of a catch, it is claimed as a mark (meaning that the game stops while he prepares to kick from the point at which he marked). Alternatively, he may choose to "play on" forfeiting the set shot in the hope of pressing an advantage for his team (rather than allowing the opposition to reposition while he prepares for the free kick). Once a player has chosen to play on, normal play resumes and the player who took the mark is again able to be tackled. + +There are different styles of kicking depending on how the ball is held in the hand. The most common style of kicking seen in today's game, principally because of its superior accuracy, is the drop punt, where the ball is dropped from the hands down, almost to the ground, to be kicked so that the ball rotates in a reverse end over end motion as it travels through the air. Other commonly used kicks are the torpedo punt (also known as the spiral, barrel, or screw punt), where the ball is held flatter at an angle across the body, which makes the ball spin around its long axis in the air, resulting in extra distance (similar to the traditional motion of an American football punt), and the checkside punt or "banana", kicked across the ball with the outside of the foot used to curve the ball (towards the right if kicked off the right foot) towards targets that are on an angle. There is also the "snap", which is almost the same as a checkside punt except that it is kicked off the inside of the foot and curves in the opposite direction. It is also possible to kick the ball so that it bounces along the ground. This is known as a "grubber". Grubbers can bounce in a straight line, or curve to the left or right. + +Apart from free kicks, marks or when the ball is in the possession of an umpire for a ball up or throw in, the ball is always in dispute and any player from either side can take possession of the ball. + +Scoring + +A goal, worth 6 points, is scored when the football is propelled through the goal posts at any height (including above the height of the posts) by way of a kick from the attacking team. It may fly through "on the full" (without touching the ground) or bounce through, but must not have been touched, on the way, by any player from either team or a goalpost. A goal cannot be scored from the foot of an opposition (defending) player. + +A behind, worth 1 point, is scored when the ball passes between a goal post and a behind post at any height, or if the ball hits a goal post, or if any player sends the ball between the goal posts by touching it with any part of the body other than a foot or lower leg. A behind is also awarded to the attacking team if the ball touches any part of an opposition player, including a foot, before passing between the goal posts. When an opposition player deliberately scores a behind for the attacking team (generally as a last resort to ensure that a goal is not scored) this is termed a rushed behind. As of the 2009 AFL season, a free kick is awarded against any player who deliberately rushes a behind. + +The goal umpire signals a goal with two hands pointed forward at elbow height, or a behind with one hand. Both goal umpires then wave flags above their heads to communicate this information to the scorers. The team that has scored the most points at the end of play wins the game. If the scores are level on points at the end of play, then the game is a draw; extra time applies only during finals matches in some competitions. + +As an example of a score report, consider a match between and with the former as the home team. Sydney's score of 17 goals and 5 behinds equates to 107 points. Geelong's score of 10 goals and 17 behinds equates to a 77-point tally. Sydney wins the match by a margin of 30 points. Such a result would be written as: + +" 17.5 (107) defeated 10.17 (77). + +And spoken as: + +"Sydney, seventeen-five, one hundred and seven, defeated Geelong ten-seventeen, seventy-seven". + +Additionally, it can be said that: + +"Sydney defeated Geelong by 30 points". + +The home team is typically listed first and the visiting side is listed second. The scoreline is written with respect to the home side. + +For example, won in successive weeks, once as the home side and once as the visiting side. These would be written out thus: + +" 23.20 (158) defeated 8.14 (62)." + +" 17.13 (115) defeated by 18.10 (118)." + +A draw would be written as: + +" 10.8 (68) drew with 10.8 (68)". + +Structure and competitions +The football season proper is from March to August (early autumn to late winter in Australia) with finals being held in September and October. In the tropics, the game is sometimes played in the wet season (October to March). + +The AFL is recognised by the Australian Sports Commission as being the National Sporting Organisation for Australian Football. There are also seven state/territory-based organisations in Australia, all of which are affiliated with the AFL. These state leagues hold annual semi-professional club competitions, with some also overseeing more than one league. Local semi-professional or amateur organisations and competitions are often affiliated to their state organisations. + +The AFL is the de facto world governing body for Australian football. There are also a number of affiliated organisations governing amateur clubs and competitions around the world. + +For almost all Australian football club competitions, the aim is to win the Premiership. The premiership is typically decided by a finals series. The teams that occupy the highest positions on the ladder after the home-and-away season play off in a "semi-knockout" finals series, culminating in a single Grand Final match to determine the premiers. Between four and eight teams contest a finals series, typically using the AFL final eight system or a variation of the McIntyre system. The team which finishes first on the ladder after the home-and-away season is referred to as a "minor premier", but this usually holds little stand-alone significance, other than receiving a better draw in the finals. + +Many metropolitan leagues have several tiered divisions, with promotion of the lower division premiers and relegation of the upper division's last placed team at the end of each year. At present, none of the top level national or state level leagues in Australia utilise this structure. + +Women and Australian football + +The high level of interest shown by women in Australian football is considered unique among the world's football codes. It was the case in the 19th century, as it is in modern times, that women made up approximately half of total attendances at Australian football matches—a far greater proportion than, for example, the estimated 10 per cent of women that comprise British soccer crowds. This has been attributed in part to the egalitarian character of Australian football's early years in public parks where women could mingle freely and support the game in various ways. + +In terms of participation, there are occasional 19th-century references to women playing the sport, but it was not until the 1910s that the first organised women's teams and competitions appeared. Women's state leagues emerged in the 1980s, and in 2013, the AFL announced plans to establish a nationally televised women's competition. Amidst a surge in viewing interest and participation in women's football, the AFL pushed the founding date of the competition, named AFL Women's, to 2017. Eight AFL clubs won licences to field sides in its inaugural season. By the seventh season, which began in August 2022, all 18 clubs fielded a women's side. + +Variations and related sports + +Many related games have emerged from Australian football, mainly with variations of contact to encourage greater participation. These include Auskick (played by children aged between 5 and 12), kick-to-kick (and its variants end-to-end footy and marks up), rec footy, 9-a-side footy, masters Australian football, handball and longest-kick competitions. Players outside Australia sometimes engage in related games adapted to available fields, like metro footy (played on gridiron fields) and Samoa rules (played on rugby fields). One such prominent example in use since 2018 is AFLX, a shortened variation of the game with seven players a side, played on a soccer-sized pitch. + +International rules football + + +The similarities between Australian football and the Irish sport of Gaelic football have allowed for the creation of a hybrid code known as international rules football. The first international rules matches were contested in Ireland during the 1967 Australian Football World Tour. Since then, various sets of compromise rules have been trialed, and in 1984 the International Rules Series commenced with national representative sides selected by Australia's state leagues (later by the AFL) and the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). The competition became an annual event in 1998, but was postponed indefinitely in 2007 when the GAA pulled out due to Australia's severe and aggressive style of play. It resumed in Australia in 2008 under new rules to protect the player with the ball. + +Global reach + +Australian rules football was played outside Australasia as early as 1888 when Australians studying at Edinburgh University and London University formed teams and competed in London. By the early 20th century, the game had spread with the Australian diaspora to South Africa, the United States and other parts of the Anglosphere; however this growth went into rapid decline following World War I. After World War II, the sport experienced growth in the Pacific region, particularly in Papua New Guinea and Nauru, where Australian football is now the national sport. + +Today, the sport is played at an amateur level in various countries throughout the world. 23 countries have participated in the International Cup and 9 countries have participated in the AFL Europe Championship with both competitions prohibiting Australian players. Over 20 countries have either affiliation or working agreements with the AFL. There have been many VFL/AFL players who were born outside Australia, an increasing number of which have been recruited through initiatives and, more recently, international scholarship programs. Many of these players have been Irish, as interest in recruiting talented Gaelic footballers dates back to the start of the Irish experiment in the 1960s. Irish players have since become not just starters for their clubs but also leading their competitions (Jim Stynes) and winning premierships (Tadhg Kennelly, Ailish Considine). + +Most of the current amateur clubs and leagues in existence have developed since the 1980s, when leagues began to be established in North America, Europe and Asia. The sport developed a cult following in the United States when matches were broadcast on the fledgling ESPN network in the 1980s. As the size of the Australian diaspora has increased, so has the number of clubs outside Australia. This expansion has been further aided by multiculturalism and assisted by exhibition matches as well as exposure generated through players who have converted to and from other football codes. In Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, and the United States there are many thousands of players. + +A fan of the sport since attending school in Geelong, King Charles is the Patron of AFL Europe. In 2013, participation across AFL Europe's 21 member nations was more than 5,000 players, the majority of which are European nationals rather than Australian expats. The sport also has a growing presence in India. + +The AFL became the de facto governing body when it pushed for the closure of the International Australian Football Council in 2002. The International Cup, held triennially since 2002, is the highest level of international competition. + +Although Australian rules football has not yet been a full sport at the Olympic Games or Commonwealth Games, when Melbourne hosted the 1956 Summer Olympics, which included the MCG being the main stadium, Australian rules football was chosen as the native sport to be demonstrated as per International Olympic Committee rules. On 7 December, the sport was demonstrated as an exhibition match at the MCG between a team of VFL and VFA amateurs and a team of VAFA amateurs (professionals were excluded due to the Olympics' strict amateurism policy at the time). The Duke of Edinburgh was among the spectators for the match, which the VAFA won by 12.9 (81) to 8.7 (55). In addition, when Brisbane hosted the 1982 Commonwealth Games, the sport was also demonstrated at the Gabba with a rematch on 6 October of that year's VFL Grand Final with Richmond winning by 28.16 (184) to Carlton's 26.10 (166). + +Cultural impact and popularity + +Australian football is a sport rich in tradition and Australian cultural references, especially surrounding the rituals of gameday for players, officials and supporters. + +Australian football has attracted more overall interest among Australians than any other football code, and, when compared with all sports throughout the nation, has consistently ranked first in the winter reports, and third behind cricket and swimming in summer. Over 1,057,572 fans were paying members of AFL clubs in 2019. The 2021 AFL Grand Final was the year's most-watched television broadcast in Australia, with an in-home audience of up to 4.11 million. + +In 2019, there were 1,716,276 registered participants in Australia including 586,422 females (34 per cent of the overall total) and more than 177,000 registered outside Australia including 79,000 females (45 per cent of the overall total). + +In the arts and popular culture + +Australian football has inspired many literary works, from poems by C. J. Dennis and Peter Goldsworthy, to the fiction of Frank Hardy and Kerry Greenwood. Historians Manning Clarke and Geoffrey Blainey have also written extensively on the sport. Slang within Australian football has impacted Australian English more broadly, with a number of expressions taking on new meanings in non-sporting contexts, e.g., to "get a guernsey" is to gain recognition or approval, while "shirt-fronting" someone is to accost them. + +In 1889, Australian impressionist painter Arthur Streeton captured football games en plein air for the 9 by 5 Impression Exhibition, titling one work The National Game. Paintings by Sidney Nolan (Footballer, 1946) and John Brack (Three of the Players, 1953) helped to establish Australian football as a serious subject for modernists, and many Aboriginal artists have explored the game, often fusing it with the mythology of their region. In cartooning, WEG's VFL/AFL premiership posters—inaugurated in 1954—have achieved iconic status among Australian football fans. Australian football statues can be found throughout the country, some based on famous photographs, among them Haydn Bunton Sr.'s leap, Jack Dyer's charge and Nicky Winmar lifting his jumper. In the 1980s, a group of postmodern architects based in Melbourne began incorporating references to Australian football into their buildings, an example being Building 8 by Edmond and Corrigan. + +Dance sequences based on Australian football feature heavily in Robert Helpmann's 1964 ballet The Display, his first and most famous work for the Australian Ballet. The game has also inspired well-known plays such as And the Big Men Fly (1963) by Alan Hopgood and David Williamson's The Club (1977), which was adapted into a 1980 film, directed by Bruce Beresford. Mike Brady's 1979 hit "Up There Cazaly" is considered an Australian football anthem, and references to the sport can be found in works by popular musicians, from singer-songwriter Paul Kelly to the alternative rock band TISM. Many Australian football video games have been released, most notably the AFL series. + +Australian Football Hall of Fame + +For the centenary of the VFL/AFL in 1996, the Australian Football Hall of Fame was established. That year, 136 significant figures across the various competitions were inducted into the Hall of Fame. An additional 115 inductees have been added since the creation of the Hall of Fame, resulting in a total number of 251 inductees. + +In addition to the Hall of Fame, select members are chosen to receive the elite Legend status. Due to restrictions limiting the number of Legend status players to 10% of the total number of Hall of Fame inductees, there are currently 25 players with the status in the Hall of Fame. + +See also + + Australian rules football attendance records + Australian rules football positions + List of Australian rules football clubs + List of Australian rules football rivalries + List of Australian rules football terms + +References + +Citations + +Sources + +Books + +Journal and conference articles +