diff --git "a/wikipedia_8.txt" "b/wikipedia_8.txt" new file mode 100644--- /dev/null +++ "b/wikipedia_8.txt" @@ -0,0 +1,10000 @@ +Musicians + John Darnielle, musician from indie rock band The Mountain Goats; former Ames resident + Envy Corps, indie rock band + Leslie Hall, electronic rap musician/Gem Sweater collector, born in Ames in 1981 + Peter Schickele, musician, born in Ames in 1935 + Richie Hayward, drummer and founding member of the band Little Feat; former Ames resident and graduate of Ames High School + +Journalists + Robert Bartley, editorial page editor of The Wall Street Journal and a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient; raised in Ames and ISU graduate + Wally Bruner, ABC News journalist and television host + Michael Gartner, former president of NBC News; retired to own and publish the Ames Tribune + +Politicians + Ruth Bascom, Mayor of Eugene, Oregon + Edward Mezvinsky, former U.S. Congressman; father-in-law of Chelsea Clinton; raised in Ames + Bee Nguyen, former Georgia (U.S. state) state representative + Bob Walkup, Mayor of Tucson, Arizona + Lee Teng-hui, President of the Republic of China, ISU graduate + Henry A. Wallace, 11th United States Secretary of Agriculture, 10th United States Secretary of Commerce, and 33rd Vice President of the United States, ISU graduate; lived in Ames from 1892 - 1896 + +Sports + Harrison Barnes, NBA player, 2015 NBA champion, 2016 U.S. Olympic gold medalist, Ames HS graduate + Joe Burrow, NFL player, 2019 Heisman Trophy Award Winner, 2020 CFP National Championship Winner. Born in Ames, but grew up in The Plains, Ohio + Juan Sebastián Botero, soccer player + Doug McDermott, basketball player, Ames HS graduate + Kip Corrington, NFL player + Dick Gibbs, NBA player, Ames HS graduate + Terry Hoage, NFL player + Fred Hoiberg, retired NBA basketball player; raised in Ames, ISU graduate, former ISU basketball coach, former coach of the Chicago Bulls and current Nebraska men's basketball coach. + Cael Sanderson, U.S. Olympic gold medalist; undefeated, four-time NCAA wrestling champion; former ISU wrestling coach and alumnus + Herb Sies, pro football player and coach + Billy Sunday, evangelist and Major League Baseball player; born in Ames in 1863 + Fred Tisue, Olympian water polo player + +Scientists + George Washington Carver, inventor, Iowa State University alumnus and professor + Laurel Blair Salton Clark, astronaut, died on STS-107 + Charles W. "Chuck" Durham, civil engineer, philanthropist, civic leader, former CEO and chairman Emeritus of HDR, Inc.; raised in Ames + Lyle Goodhue, scientist, lived and studied here 1925–1934 + Frank Spedding, chemist, creator of the Ames Process during the Manhattan Project + Dan Shechtman, awarded 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "the discovery of quasicrystals"; Professor of Materials Science at Iowa State University (2004–present) and Associate at the Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory + George W. Snedecor, statistician, founder of first academic department of statistics in the United States at Iowa State University + +Writers and poets + Ann Cotten, poet, born in Ames, grew up in Vienna + Brian Evenson, author + Jane Espenson, writer and producer for television, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Star Trek: The Next Generation, grew up in Ames + Michelle Hoover, author, born in Ames + Meg Johnson, poet and dancer + Fern Kupfer, author + Joseph Geha, author + Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate; raised in Ames and ISU graduate + John Madson, freelance naturalist of tallgrass prairie ecosystems + Sara Paretsky, author of the V.I. Warshawski mysteries; born in Ames in 1947 + Jane Smiley, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist; former instructor at ISU (1981–1996); used ISU as the basis for her novel Moo + Neal Stephenson, author, grew up in Ames + Hugh Young, coauthor of University Physics textbook + Lincoln Peirce, cartoonist/writer of the Big Nate comics and books + +Other + Neva Morris, at her death (2010) second-oldest person in the world and oldest American aged 114 years; lived in Ames her entire life + Nate Staniforth, magician +Todd Snyder (fashion designer) + +Politics +From 1979 through 2011, Ames was the location of the Ames Straw Poll, which was held every August prior to a presidential election year in which the Republican presidential nomination was undecided (meaning there was no Republican president running for re-election—as in 2011, 2007, 1999, 1995, 1987, and 1979). The poll would gauge support for the various Republican candidates amongst attendees of a fundraising dinner benefiting the Iowa Republican Party. The straw poll was frequently seen by national media and party insiders as a first test of organizational strength in Iowa. In 2015, the straw poll was to be moved to nearby Boone before the Iowa Republican Party eventually decided to cancel it altogether. + +See also + + Ames process + North Grand Mall + Reiman Gardens + +References + +External links + +Official Ames City Website + Ames Campustown official site +The Main Street Cultural District + + +Cities in Iowa +Cities in Story County, Iowa +Populated places established in 1864 +1864 establishments in Iowa +Abalone ( or ; via Spanish , from Rumsen aulón) is a common name for any of a group of small to very large marine gastropod molluscs in the family Haliotidae. Other common names are ear shells, sea ears, and, rarely, muttonfish or muttonshells in parts of Australia, ormer in the UK, perlemoen in South Africa, and paua in New Zealand. Abalones are marine snails. Their taxonomy puts them in the family Haliotidae, which contains only one genus, Haliotis, which once contained six subgenera. These subgenera have become alternative representations of Haliotis. The number of species recognized worldwide ranges between 30 and 130 with over 230 species-level taxa described. The most comprehensive treatment of the family considers 56 species valid, with 18 additional subspecies. The shells of abalones have a low, open spiral structure, and are characterized by several open respiratory pores in a row near the shell's outer edge. The thick inner layer of the shell is composed of nacre (mother-of-pearl), which in many species is highly iridescent, giving rise to a range of strong, changeable colors which make the shells attractive to humans as decorative objects, jewelry, and as a source of colorful mother-of-pearl. +The flesh of abalones is widely considered to be a desirable food, and is consumed raw or cooked by a variety of cultures. + +Description + +Most abalone vary in size from (Haliotis pulcherrima) to . The largest species, Haliotis rufescens, reaches . + +The shell of abalones is convex, rounded to oval in shape, and may be highly arched or very flattened. The shell of the majority of species has a small, flat spire and two to three whorls. The last whorl, known as the body whorl, is auriform, meaning that the shell resembles an ear, giving rise to the common name "ear shell". Haliotis asinina has a somewhat different shape, as it is more elongated and distended. The shell of Haliotis cracherodii cracherodii is also unusual as it has an ovate form, is imperforate, shows an exserted spire, and has prickly ribs. + +A mantle cleft in the shell impresses a groove in the shell, in which are the row of holes characteristic of the genus. These holes are respiratory apertures for venting water from the gills and for releasing sperm and eggs into the water column. They make up what is known as the selenizone, which forms as the shell grows. This series of eight to 38 holes is near the anterior margin. Only a small number is generally open. The older holes are gradually sealed up as the shell grows and new holes form. Each species has a typical number of open holes, between four and 10, in the selenizone. An abalone has no operculum. The aperture of the shell is very wide and nacreous. + +The exterior of the shell is striated and dull. The color of the shell is very variable from species to species, which may reflect the animal's diet. The iridescent nacre that lines the inside of the shell varies in color from silvery white, to pink, red and green-red to deep blue, green to purple. + +The animal has fimbriated head lobes and side lobes that are fimbriated and cirrated. The radula has small median teeth, and the lateral teeth are single and beam-like. They have about 70 uncini, with denticulated hooks, the first four very large. The rounded foot is very large in comparison to most molluscs. The soft body is coiled around the columellar muscle, and its insertion, instead of being on the columella, is on the middle of the inner wall of the shell. The gills are symmetrical and both well developed. + +These snails cling solidly with their broad, muscular foot to rocky surfaces at sublittoral depths, although some species such as Haliotis cracherodii used to be common in the intertidal zone. Abalones reach maturity at a relatively small size. Their fecundity is high and increases with their size, laying from 10,000 to 11 million eggs at a time. The spermatozoa are filiform and pointed at one end, and the anterior end is a rounded head. + +Distribution + +The haliotid family has a worldwide distribution, along the coastal waters of every continent, except the Pacific coast of South America, the Atlantic coast of North America, the Arctic, and Antarctica. The majority of abalone species are found in cold waters, such as off the coasts of New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, Western North America, and Japan. + +Structure and properties of the shell +The shell of the abalone is exceptionally strong and is made of microscopic calcium carbonate tiles stacked like bricks. Between the layers of tiles is a clingy protein substance. When the abalone shell is struck, the tiles slide instead of shattering and the protein stretches to absorb the energy of the blow. Material scientists around the world are studying this tiled structure for insight into stronger ceramic products such as body armor. The dust created by grinding and cutting abalone shell is dangerous; appropriate safeguards must be taken to protect people from inhaling these particles. + +Diseases and pests +Abalones are subject to various diseases. The Victorian Department of Primary Industries said in 2007 that ganglioneuritis killed up to 90% of stock in affected regions. Abalone are also severe hemophiliacs, as their fluids will not clot in the case of a laceration or puncture wound. Members of the Spionidae of the polychaetes are known as pests of abalone. + +Human use +Abalone has been harvested worldwide for centuries as a source of food and decorative items. Abalone shells and associated materials, like their claw-like pearls and nacre, have been used as jewelry and for buttons, buckles, and inlay. These shells have been found in archaeological sites around the world, ranging from 100,000-year-old deposits at Blombos Cave in South Africa to historic Chinese abalone middens on California's Northern Channel Islands. For at least 12,000 years, abalones were harvested to such an extent around the Channel Islands that shells in the area decreased in size four thousand years ago. + +Farming + +Farming of abalone began in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Japan and China. Since the mid-1990s, there have been many increasingly successful endeavors to commercially farm abalone for the purpose of consumption. Overfishing and poaching have reduced wild populations to such an extent that farmed abalone now supplies most of the abalone meat consumed. The principal abalone farming regions are China, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea. Abalone is also farmed in Australia, Canada, Chile, France, Iceland, Ireland, Mexico, Namibia, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, and the United States. + +After trials in 2012, a commercial "sea ranch" was set up in Flinders Bay, Western Australia to raise abalone. The ranch is based on an artificial reef made up of 5,000 separate concrete abalone habitat units, which can host 400 abalone each. The reef is seeded with young abalone from an onshore hatchery. + +The abalone feed on seaweed that grows naturally on the habitats; the ecosystem enrichment of the bay also results in growing numbers of dhufish, pink snapper, wrasse, and Samson fish among other species. + +Consumption +Abalones have long been a valuable food source for humans in every area of the world where a species is abundant. The meat of this mollusc is considered a delicacy in certain parts of Latin America (particularly Chile), France, New Zealand, East Asia and Southeast Asia. In the Greater China region and among Overseas Chinese communities, abalone is commonly known as bao yu, and sometimes forms part of a Chinese banquet. In the same way as shark fin soup or bird's nest soup, abalone is considered a luxury item, and is traditionally reserved for special occasions such as weddings and other celebrations. + +As abalone became more popular and less common, the prices adjusted accordingly. In the 1920s, a restaurant-served portion of abalone, about 4 ounces, would cost (in inflation adjusted dollars) about US$7; by 2004, the price had risen to US$75. In the United States, prior to this time, abalone was predominantly eaten, gathered, and prepared by Chinese immigrants. Before that, abalone were collected to be eaten, and used for other purposes by Native American tribes. By 1900, laws were passed in California to outlaw the taking of abalone above the intertidal zone. This forced the Chinese out of the market and the Japanese perfected diving, with or without gear, to enter the market. Abalone started to become popular in the US after the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in 1915, which exhibited 365 varieties of fish with cooking demonstrations, and a 1,300-seat dining hall. + +In Japan, live and raw abalones are used in awabi sushi, or served steamed, salted, boiled, chopped, or simmered in soy sauce. Salted, fermented abalone entrails are the main component of tottsuru, a local dish from Honshū. Tottsuru is mainly enjoyed with sake. + +In South Korea, abalone is called Jeonbok (/juhn-bok/) and used in various recipes. Jeonbok porridge and pan-fried abalone steak with butter are popular but also commonly used in soups or ramyeon. + +In California, abalone meat can be found on pizza, sautéed with caramelized mango, or in steak form dusted with cracker meal and flour. + +Sport harvesting + +Australia +Tasmania supplies about 25% of the yearly world abalone harvest. Around 12,500 Tasmanians recreationally fish for blacklip and greenlip abalone. For blacklip abalone, the size limit varies between for the southern end of the state and for the northern end of the state. Greenlip abalones have a minimum size of , except for an area around Perkins Bay in the north of the state where the minimum size is . With a recreational abalone licence, the bag limit is 10 per day, with a total possession limit of 20. Scuba diving for abalone is allowed, and has a rich history in Australia. (Scuba diving for abalone in the states of New South Wales and Western Australia is illegal; a free-diving catch limit of two is allowed). + +Victoria has had an active abalone fishery since the late 1950s. The state is sectioned into three fishing zones, Eastern, Central and Western, with each fisher required a zone-allocated licence. Harvesting is performed by divers using surface-supplied air "hookah" systems operating from runabout-style, outboard-powered boats. While the diver seeks out colonies of abalone amongst the reef beds, the deckhand operates the boat, known as working "live" and stays above where the diver is working. Bags of abalone pried from the rocks are brought to the surface by the diver or by way of "shot line", where the deckhand drops a weighted rope for the catch bag to be connected then retrieved. Divers measure each abalone before removing from the reef and the deckhand remeasures each abalone and removes excess weed growth from the shell. Since 2002, the Victorian industry has seen a significant decline in catches, with the total allowable catch reduced from 1440 to 787 tonnes for the 2011/12 fishing year, due to dwindling stocks and most notably the abalone virus ganglioneuritis, which is fast-spreading and lethal to abalone stocks. + +United States + +Sport harvesting of red abalone is permitted with a California fishing license and an abalone stamp card. In 2008, the abalone card also came with a set of 24 tags. This was reduced to 18 abalone per year in 2014, and as of 2017 the limit has been reduced to 12, only nine of which may be taken south of Mendocino County. Legal-size abalone must be tagged immediately. Abalone may only be taken using breath-hold techniques or shorepicking; scuba diving for abalone is strictly prohibited. Taking of abalone is not permitted south of the mouth of San Francisco Bay. A size minimum of measured across the shell is in place. A person may be in possession of only three abalone at any given time. + +As of 2017, abalone season is May to October, excluding July. Transportation of abalone may only legally occur while the abalone is still attached in the shell. Sale of sport-obtained abalone is illegal, including the shell. Only red abalone may be taken, as black, white, pink, flat, green, and pinto abalone are protected by law. In 2018, The California Fish and Game Commission closed recreational abalone season due to dramatically declining populations. That year, they extended the moratorium to last through April 2021. + +An abalone diver is normally equipped with a thick wetsuit, including a hood, bootees, and gloves, and usually also a mask, snorkel, weight belt, abalone iron, and abalone gauge. Alternatively, the rock picker can feel underneath rocks at low tides for abalone. Abalone are mostly taken in depths from a few inches up to ; less common are freedivers who can work deeper than . Abalone are normally found on rocks near food sources such as kelp. An abalone iron is used to pry the abalone from the rock before it has time to fully clamp down. Divers dive from boats, kayaks, tube floats, or directly off the shore. + +The largest abalone recorded in California is , caught by John Pepper somewhere off the coast of San Mateo County in September 1993. + +The mollusc Concholepas concholepas is often sold in the United States under the name "Chilean abalone", though it is not an abalone, but a muricid. + +New Zealand + +In New Zealand, abalone is called paua (, from the Māori language). Haliotis iris (or blackfoot paua) is the ubiquitous New Zealand paua, the highly polished nacre of which is extremely popular as souvenirs with its striking blue, green, and purple iridescence. Haliotis australis and Haliotis virginea are also found in New Zealand waters, but are less popular than H. iris. + +Like all New Zealand shellfish, recreational harvesting of paua does not require a permit provided catch limits, size restrictions, and seasonal and local restrictions set by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) are followed. The legal recreational daily limit is 10 per diver, with a minimum shell length of for H. iris and for H. australis. In addition, no person may be in possession, even on land, of more than 20 paua or more than of paua meat at any one time. Paua can only be caught by free-diving; it is illegal to catch them using scuba gear. + +An extensive global black market exists in collecting and exporting abalone meat. This can be a particularly awkward problem where the right to harvest paua can be granted legally under Māori customary rights. When such permits to harvest are abused, it is frequently difficult to police. The limit is strictly enforced by roving Ministry for Primary Industries fishery officers with the backing of the New Zealand Police. Poaching is a major industry in New Zealand with many thousands being taken illegally, often undersized. Convictions have resulted in seizure of diving gear, boats, and motor vehicles and fines and in rare cases, imprisonment. + +South Africa +There are five species endemic to South Africa, namely H. parva, H. spadicea, H. queketti and H. speciosa. + +The largest abalone in South Africa, Haliotis midae, occurs along roughly two-thirds of the country's coastline. Abalone-diving has been a recreational activity for many years, but stocks are currently being threatened by illegal commercial harvesting. In South Africa, all persons harvesting this shellfish need permits that are issued annually, and no abalone may be harvested using scuba gear. + +For the last few years, however, no permits have been issued for collecting abalone, but commercial harvesting still continues as does illegal collection by syndicates. +In 2007, because of widespread poaching of abalone, the South African government listed abalone as an endangered species according to the CITES section III appendix, which requests member governments to monitor the trade in this species. This listing was removed from CITES in June 2010 by the South African government and South African abalone is no longer subject to CITES trade controls. Export permits are still required, however. +The abalone meat from South Africa is prohibited for sale in the country to help reduce poaching; however, much of the illegally harvested meat is sold in Asian countries. As of early 2008, the wholesale price for abalone meat was approximately US$40.00 per kilogram. There is an active trade in the shells, which sell for more than US$1,400 per tonne. + +Channel Islands, Brittany and Normandy +Ormers (Haliotis tuberculata) are considered a delicacy in the British Channel Islands as well as in adjacent areas of France, and are pursued with great alacrity by the locals. This, and a recent lethal bacterial disease, has led to a dramatic depletion in numbers since the latter half of the 19th century, and "ormering" is now strictly regulated to preserve stocks. The gathering of ormers is now restricted to a number of 'ormering tides', from 1 January to 30 April, which occur on the full or new moon and two days following. No ormers may be taken from the beach that are under in shell length. Gatherers are not allowed to wear wetsuits or even put their heads underwater. Any breach of these laws is a criminal offence and can lead to a fine of up to £5,000 or six months in prison. The demand for ormers is such that they led to the world's first underwater arrest, when Mr. Kempthorne-Leigh of Guernsey was arrested by a police officer in full diving gear when illegally diving for ormers. + +Decorative items + +The highly iridescent inner nacre layer of the shell of abalone has traditionally been used as a decorative item, in jewelry, buttons, and as inlay in furniture and musical instruments, such as on fret boards and binding of guitars. + +Indigenous use +Abalone has been an important staple in a number of Indigenous cultures around the world, specifically in Africa and on the Northwest American coast. The meat is a traditional food, and the shell is used to make ornaments; historically, the shells were also used as currency in some communities. + +Threat of extinction +Abalones are one of the many classes of organism threatened with extinction due to overfishing and the acidification of oceans from anthropogenic carbon dioxide, as reduced pH erodes their shells. In the 21st century, white, pink, and green abalone are on the United States federal endangered species list, and possible restoration sites have been proposed for the San Clemente Island and Santa Barbara Island areas. The possibility of farming abalone to be reintroduced into the wild has also been proposed, with these abalone having special tags to help track the population. + +Species + +The number of species that are recognized within the genus Haliotis has fluctuated over time, and depends on the source that is consulted. The number of recognized species range from 30 to 130. This list finds a compromise using the WoRMS database, plus some species that have been added, for a total of 57. The majority of abalone have not been rated for conservation status. Those that have been reviewed tend to show that the abalone in general is an animal that is declining in numbers, and will need protection throughout the globe. + +Synonyms + +See also + + List of delicacies + +Citations + +References + +Further reading + +External links + + + Abalone: Species Diversity + ABMAP: The Abalone Mapping Project + Abalone biology + Conchology + Hardy's Internet Guide to Marine Gastropods : Shell Catalog + book on crafting with Abalone Shell + Fisheries Western Australia – Abalone Fact Sheet + Imagemap of worldwide abalone distribution + Oman’s Abalone Harvest + Pro abalone diver, Mallacoota, Victoria (1967) + Tathra NSW(1961), Abalone (1963) + Fathom magazine "The Abalone Divers" Pages 43,44,45 (1972) + Abalone Healing Properties + + +Commercial molluscs +Extant Late Cretaceous first appearances +Organic gemstones +Mollusc common names + +de:Seeohren +ja:アワビ#人間との関わり +zh:鮑魚 +An abbess (Latin: abbatissa), also known as a mother superior, is the female superior of a community of Catholic nuns in an abbey. + +Description +In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Coptic and Anglican abbeys, the mode of election, position, rights, and authority of an abbess correspond generally with those of an abbot. She must be at least 40 years old and have been a nun for 10 years. The age requirement in the Catholic Church has evolved over time, ranging from 30 to 60. The requirement of 10 years as a nun is only eight in Catholicism. In the rare case of there not being a nun with the qualifications, the requirements may be lowered to 30 years of age and five of those in an "upright manner", as determined by the superior. A woman who is of illegitimate birth, is not a virgin, has undergone non-salutory public penance, is a widow, or is blind or deaf, is typically disqualified for the position, saving by permission of the Holy See. The office is elective, the choice being by the secret votes of the nuns belonging to the community. Like an abbot, after being confirmed in her office by the Holy See, an abbess is solemnly admitted to her office by a formal blessing, conferred by the bishop in whose territory the monastery is located, or by an abbot or another bishop with appropriate permission. Unlike the abbot, the abbess receives only the ring, the crosier, and a copy of the rule of the order. She does not receive a mitre as part of the ceremony. The abbess also traditionally adds a pectoral cross to the outside of her habit as a symbol of office, though she continues to wear a modified form of her religious habit or dress, as she is unordained—females cannot be ordained—and so does not vest or use choir dress in the liturgy. An abbess serves for life, except in Italy and some adjacent islands. + +Roles and responsibilities + +Abbesses are, like abbots, major superiors according to canon law, the equivalents of abbots or bishops (the ordained male members of the church hierarchy who have, by right of their own office, executive jurisdiction over a building, diocesan territory, or a communal or non-communal group of persons—juridical entities under church law). They receive the vows of the nuns of the abbey; they may admit candidates to their order's novitiate; they may send them to study; and they may send them to do pastoral or missionary, or to work or assist—to the extent allowed by canon and civil law—in the administration and ministry of a parish or diocese (these activities could be inside or outside the community's territory). They have full authority in its administration. + +However, there are significant limitations. + They may not administer the sacraments, whose celebration is reserved to bishops, priests, deacons (clerics), namely, those in Holy Orders. + They may make provision for an ordained cleric to help train and to admit some of their members, if needed, as altar servers, extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, or lectors—all ministries which are now open to the unordained. + They may not serve as a witness to a marriage except by special rescript. + They may not administer Penance (Reconciliation), Anointing of the Sick (Extreme Unction), or function as an ordained celebrant or concelebrant of the Mass (by virtue of their office and their training and institution, they may act, if the need arises, as altar servers, lectors, ushers, porters, or extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, and if need be, the Host). + They may preside over the Liturgy of the Hours which they are obliged to say with their community, speak on Scripture to their community, and give certain types of blessings not reserved to the clergy. On the other hand, they may not ordinarily preach a sermon or homily, nor read the Gospel during Mass. + As they do not receive episcopal ordination in the Catholic, Orthodox and Oriental Churches, they do not possess the ability to ordain others, nor do they exercise the authority they do possess under canon law over any territories outside of their monastery and its territory (though non-cloistered, non-contemplative female religious members who are based in a convent or monastery but who participate in external affairs may assist as needed by the diocesan bishop and local secular clergy and laity, in certain pastoral ministries and administrative and non-administrative functions not requiring ordained ministry or status as a male cleric in those churches or programs). + +There are exigent circumstances, where due to Apostolical privilege, certain Abbesses have been granted rights and responsibilities above the normal, such as the Abbess of the Cistercian Monastery of the Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas near Burgos, Spain. Also granted exceptional rights was the Abbess of the Cistercian order in Conversano Italy. She was granted the ability to appoint her own vicar-general, select and approve the confessors, along with the practice of receiving the public homage of her clergy. This practice continued until some of the duties were modified due to an appeal by the clergy to Rome. Finally in 1750, the public homage was abolished. + +During the Middle Ages (7th–10th centuries) in the Catholic Church, greater restrictions on abbesses' spiritual independence gained pace. Instruments of church authority, from papal bulls down to local sanctions, were increasingly used to restrict their freedom to dispense blessings, administer sacraments, including the veiling of nuns, and publicly read the gospels or preach. Such spiritual—and even temporal—authority had in earlier church history, largely been unremarkable. As Thomas Oestereich, contributor to the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), makes clear, abbesses' past spiritual authority was increasingly seen as the "usurpation" of corresponding priestly power, and a solely male privilege. He gives an example of the attitude toward such practice, from the 9th century, which persists in church administrative control into the modern era: + +Similarly, in 1210, Innocent III (died 1216) expressed his view of the Cistercian Abbesses of Burgos and Palencia in Spain, who preached and heard confessions of their own religious, characterizing these acts as "unheard of, most indecorous, and highly preposterous." + +History +Historically, in some Celtic monasteries, abbesses presided over joint-houses of monks and nuns, the most famous example being Saint Brigid of Kildare's leadership in the founding of the monastery at Kildare in Ireland. This custom accompanied Celtic monastic missions to France, Spain, and even to Rome itself. In 1115, Robert, the founder of Fontevraud Abbey near Chinon and Saumur, France, committed the government of the whole order, men as well as women, to a female superior. + +In Lutheran churches, the title of abbess () has in some cases survived (for example, in the ) to designate the heads of abbeys which since the Protestant Reformation have continued as monasteries or convents (). These positions continued, merely changing from Catholic to Lutheran. The first to make this change was the Abbey of Quedlinburg, whose last Catholic Abbess died in 1514. These are collegiate foundations, which provide a home and an income for unmarried ladies, generally of noble birth, called canonesses (), or more usually, or . The office of abbess is of considerable social dignity, and in the past, was sometimes filled by princesses of the reigning houses. Until the dissolution of Holy Roman Empire and mediatisation of smaller imperial fiefs by Napoleon, the evangelical Abbess of Quedlinburg was also per officio the head of that state. The last such ruling abbess was Sofia Albertina, Princess of Sweden. The abess Hildegard of Fraunmünster Abbey sat in the Imperial Diet among other princes of the Holy Roman Empire. The oldest women's abbey in Germany is St. Marienthal Abbey of Cistercian nuns, near Ostritz, established during the early 13th century. + +In the Hradčany of Prague is a Catholic institute whose mistress is titled an Abbess. It was founded in 1755 by the Empress Maria Theresa, and traditionally was responsible for the coronation of the Queen of Bohemia. The Abbess is required to be an Austrian Archduchess. + + it was estimated the Catholic Church had around 200 presiding abbesses. + +See also + List of abbots and abbesses of Kildare + Katharina von Zimmern (1478–1547), last abbess of the Fraumünster Abbey + Himmelkron Abbey + +Citations + +General and cited references + + + + + + + + +Catholic ecclesiastical titles +Christian religious occupations +Ecclesiastical titles +Religious leadership roles +The term abdominal surgery broadly covers surgical procedures that involve opening the abdomen (laparotomy). Surgery of each abdominal organ is dealt with separately in connection with the description of that organ (see stomach, kidney, liver, etc.) Diseases affecting the abdominal cavity are dealt with generally under their own names (e.g. appendicitis). + +Types +The most common abdominal surgeries are described below. + +Appendectomy: surgical opening of the abdominal cavity and removal of the appendix. Typically performed as definitive treatment for appendicitis, although sometimes the appendix is prophylactically removed incidental to another abdominal procedure. +Caesarean section (also known as C-section): a surgical procedure in which one or more incisions are made through a mother's abdomen (laparotomy) and uterus (hysterotomy) to deliver one or more babies, or, rarely, to remove a dead fetus. +Inguinal hernia surgery: the repair of an inguinal hernia. +Exploratory laparotomy: the opening of the abdominal cavity for direct examination of its contents; for example, to locate a source of bleeding or trauma. It may or may not be followed by repair or removal of the primary problem. +Laparoscopy: a minimally invasive approach to abdominal surgery where rigid tubes are inserted through small incisions into the abdominal cavity. The tubes allow introduction of a small camera, surgical instruments, and gases into the cavity for direct or indirect visualization and treatment of the abdomen. The abdomen is inflated with carbon dioxide gas to facilitate visualization and, often, a small video camera is used to show the procedure on a monitor in the operating room. The surgeon manipulates instruments within the abdominal cavity to perform procedures such as cholecystectomy (gallbladder removal), the most common laparoscopic procedure. The laparoscopic method speeds recovery time and reduces blood loss and infection as compared to the traditional "open" method. + +Complications +Complications of abdominal surgery include, but are not limited to: + Adhesions (also called scar tissue): complications of postoperative adhesion formation are frequent, they have a large negative effect on patients’ health, and increase workload in clinical practice + Bleeding + Infection + Paralytic ileus: short-term paralysis of the bowel + Perioperative mortality, any death occurring within 30 days after surgery + Shock + +Sterile technique, aseptic post-operative care, antibiotics, use of the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist, and vigilant post-operative monitoring greatly reduce the risk of these complications. Planned surgery performed under sterile conditions is much less risky than that performed under emergency or unsterile conditions. The contents of the bowel are unsterile, and thus leakage of bowel contents, as from trauma, substantially increases the risk of infection. + +Globally, there are few studies comparing perioperative mortality following abdominal surgery across different health systems. One major prospective study of 10,745 adult patients undergoing emergency laparotomy from 357 centres in 58 high-, middle-, and low-income countries found that mortality is three times higher in low- compared with high-HDI countries even when adjusted for prognostic factors. In this study the overall global mortality rate was 1.6 percent at 24 hours (high 1.1 percent, middle 1.9 percent, low 3.4 percent), increasing to 5.4 percent by 30 days (high 4.5 percent, middle 6.0 percent, low 8.6 percent). Of the 578 patients who died, 404 (69.9 percent) did so between 24 hours and 30 days following surgery (high 74.2 percent, middle 68.8 percent, low 60.5 percent). Patient safety factors were suggested to play an important role, with use of the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist associated with reduced mortality at 30 days. + +Taking a similar approach, a unique global study of 1,409 children undergoing emergency laparotomy from 253 centres in 43 countries showed that adjusted mortality in children following surgery may be as high as 7 times greater in low-HDI and middle-HDI countries compared with high-HDI countries, translating to 40 excess deaths per 1,000 procedures performed in these settings. Internationally, the most common operations performed were appendectomy, small bowel resection, pyloromyotomy and correction of intussusception. After adjustment for patient and hospital risk factors, child mortality at 30 days was significantly higher in low-HDI (adjusted OR 7.14 (95% CI 2.52 to 20.23)) and middle-HDI (4.42 (1.44 to 13.56)) countries compared with high-HDI countries. + +Absorption of drugs administered orally was shown to be significantly affected following abdominal surgery. + +There is low-certainty evidence that there is no difference between using scalpel and electrosurgery in infection rates during major abdominal surgeries. + +See also + +Abdominoplasty +ASA physical status classification system or perioperative physical fitness +Diabetes +General surgery +Laparotomy +Low-fiber/low-residue diet +Perioperative mortality + +References + +Surgical specialties +General surgery +Abduction may refer to: + +Media + +Film and television + "Abduction" (The Outer Limits), a 2001 television episode + "Abduction" (Death Note) a Japanese animation television series + "Abductions" (Totally Spies!), a 2002 episode of an animated television series + "The Abduction" (Alias), a 2002 television episode + "The Abduction" (Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman), a 1994 television episode + Abduction (1975 film), directed by Joseph Zito + Abduction (1997 film), directed by Takao Okawara + Abduction (2011 film), directed by John Singleton + Abduction (2019 film), directed by Ernie Barbarash + Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story, a 2005 American documentary film + The Abduction, a 1996 TV movie starring Victoria Principal and Robert Hays + +Literature + Abduction (novel), a 2000 novel by novelist Robin Cook + Abduction!, a 2004 novel by Peg Kehret + The Abduction, a 1987 novel (Norwegian title Bortførelsen), written in Norwegian by Mette Newth and translated into English by Steven T. Murray and Tiina Nunnally + The Abduction, a 1998 novel by J. Robert King + +Music + "Abduction", a 2005 song by Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson + Abduction, a music label run by members of Sun City Girls + +Of a person or people + Alien abduction, phenomenon of people reporting what they believe to be the real experience of being kidnapped by extraterrestrial beings + Bride kidnapping, a practice in which a man abducts the woman he wishes to marry + Child abduction, unauthorized removal of a minor from the custody of their guardians + Express kidnapping, abduction where a small immediate ransom is demanded + International child abduction, form of human trafficking + Kidnapping, unlawful confinement of a person against their will + Raptio, large scale abduction of women + Tiger kidnapping, taking a hostage to force a loved one or associate of the victim to do something + +Sciences + Abduction (anatomy), a type of movement which draws a structure or limb away from the median plane of the body + Abductive reasoning, a method of reasoning in logic + +See also + Abducted (disambiguation) + Abductor (disambiguation) +Abensberg () is a town in the Lower Bavarian district of Kelheim, in Bavaria, Germany, lying around southwest of Regensburg, east of Ingolstadt, northwest of Landshut and north of Munich. It is situated on the river Abens, a tributary of the Danube. + +Geography +The town lies on the Abens river, a tributary of the Danube, around eight kilometres from the river's source. The area around Abensberg is characterized by the narrow valley of the Danube, where the Weltenburg Abbey stands, the valley of the Altmühl in the north, a left tributary of the Danube, and the famous Hallertau hops-planting region in the south. The town is divided into the municipalities of Abensberg, Arnhofen, Holzharlanden, Hörlbach, Offenstetten, Pullach and Sandharland. + +Divisions +Since the administrative reforms in Bavaria in the 1970s, the town also encompasses the following Ortsteile: + In the town: Abensberg (main settlement), Aunkofen (civil parish), Badhaus (village) + To the east: Gaden (village), See (village), Offenstetten (civil parish) + To the north east: Arnhofen (civil parish), Baiern (village), Pullach (civil parish), Kleedorf (village) + To the north: Sandharlanden (civil parish), Holzharlanden (civil parish), Buchhof (small hamlet) + To the west: Schwaighausen (village), Schillhof (hamlet), Gilla (small hamlet) + To the south: Aumühle (small hamlet), Allersdorf (hamlet) + To the south east: Lehen (small hamlet), Mitterhörlbach (hamlet), Upper Hörlbach (village), Lower Hörlbach (hamlet) + +History +There had been settlement on this part of the Abens river since long before the High Middle Ages, dating back to Neolithic times. Of particular interest and national importance are the Neolithic flint mines at Arnhofen, where, around 7,000 years ago, Stone Age people made flint, which was fashioned into drills, blades and arrowheads, and was regarded as the steel of the Stone Age. Traces of over 20,000 individuals were found on this site. The modern history of Abensberg, which is often incorrectly compared with that of the third century Roman castra (military outpost) of Abusina, begins with Gebhard, who was the first to mention Abensberg as a town, in the middle of the 12th century. The earliest written reference to the town, under the name of Habensperch, came from this time, in around 1138. Gebhard was from the Babonen clan. + +In 1256, the castrum of Abensprech was first mentioned, and on 12 June 1348, Margrave Ludwig of Brandenburg, and his brother, Duke Stephen of Bavaria, raised Abensberg to the status of a city, giving it the right to operate lower courts, enclose itself with a wall and hold markets. The wall was built by Count Ulrich III of Abensberg. Some of the thirty-two round towers and eight turrets are still preserved to this day. + +In the Middle Ages, the people of Abensberg enjoyed a level of autonomy above their lord. They elected a city council, although only a small number of rich families were eligible for election. + +In around 1390, the Carmelite Monastery of Our Lady of Abensberg was founded by Count John II and his wife, Agnes. Although Abensberg was an autonomous city, it remained dependent on the powerful Dukes of Bavaria. The last Lord of Abensberg, Niclas, Graf von Abensberg, supposedly named after his godfather, Nicholas of Kues, a Catholic cardinal, was murdered in 1485 by Christopher, a Duke of Bavaria-Munich. The year before, Niclas had unchivalrously taken Christopher captive as he bathed before a tournament in Munich. Although Christopher renounced his claim for revenge, he lay in wait for Niclas in Freising. When the latter arrived, he was killed by Seitz von Frauenberg. He is buried in the former convent of Abensberg. + +Abensberg then lost its independence and became a part of the Duchy of Bavaria, and from then on was administered by a ducal official, the so-called caretaker. The castle of Abensberg was destroyed during the Thirty Years' War, although the city had bought a guarantee of protection from the Swedish general, Carl Gustaf Wrangel. During the War of the Spanish Succession emperor Leopold I, who had occupied Bavaria, granted the fief of Abensberg to count Ernst von Abensperg und Traun (1608–1668) from an Austrian noble family named Traun that now received the name of the former counts of Abensberg (who were believed to be distant relatives). After the occupation ended, he was however dispossessed. + +Johannes Aventinus (1477–1534) is the city's most famous son, the founder of the study of history in Bavaria. Aventinus, whose name was real name is Johann or Johannes Turmair (Aventinus being the Latin name of his birthplace) wrote the Annals of Bavaria, a valuable record of the early history of Germany and the first major written work on the subject. He is commemorated in the Walhalla temple, a monument near Regensburg to the distinguished figures of German history. Until 1800, Abensberg was a municipality belonging to the Straubing district of the Electorate of Bavaria. Abensberg also contained a magistrates' court. In the Battle of Abensberg on 19–20 April 1809, Napoleon gained a significant victory over the Austrians under Archduke Ludwig of Austria and General Johann von Hiller. + +Coat of arms + +The arms of the city are divided into two halves. On the left are the blue and white rhombuses of Bavaria, while the right half is split into two silver and black triangles. Two diagonally-crossed silver swords with golden handles rest on top. + +The town has had a coat of arms since 1338, that of the Counts of Abensberg. With the death of the last Count, Nicholas of Abensberg, in 1485, the estates fell to the Duchy of Bavaria-Munich, meaning that henceforth only the Bavarian coat of arms was ever used. + +On 31 December 1809, a decree of King Maximilian of Bavaria granted the city a new coat of arms, as a recognition of their (mainly humanitarian and logistic) services in the Battle of Abensberg the same year. The diagonally divided field in silver and black came from the old crest of the Counts of Abensberg, while the white and blue diamonds came from that of the House of Wittelsbach, the rulers of Bavaria. The swords recall the Battle of Abensberg. + +The district of Offenstetten previously possessed its own coat of arms. + +Twinning + Parga, Greece since 1986 + Lonigo, Italy since 1999 + +Economy and Infrastructure +The area around Abensberg, the so-called sand belt between Siegburg, Neustadt an der Donau, Abensberg and Langquaid, is used for the intensive farming of asparagus, due to the optimal soil condition and climate. 212 hectares of land can produce ninety-four asparagus plants. Abensberg asparagus enjoys a reputation among connoisseurs as a particular delicacy. In addition to asparagus, the production of hops plays a major role locally, the region having its own label, and there are still three independent breweries in the area. The town of Abensberg marks the start of the Deutsche Hopfenstraße (German Hops Road), a nickname given to the Bundesstraße 301, a German federal highway which runs through the heartland of Germany's hops-growing industry, ending in Freising. + +Transport +The Abensberg railway station is located on the Regensburg–Ingolstadt railway from Regensburg to Ingolstadt. The city can be reached via the A-93 Holledau-Regensburg road (exit Abensberg). Three Bundesstraße (German federal highways) cross south of Abensberg: B 16, B 299 and B 301. + +Public facilities + +Schools + +Abensberg has a Grundschule (primary school) and Hauptschule (open admission secondary school), and the Johann-Turmair-Realschule (secondary modern school). There is also a College of Agriculture and Home Economics. Since 2007, the Kelheim Berufsschule has had a campus in Abensberg, and outside the state sector is the St. Francis Vocational Training Centre, run by a Catholic youth organisation. + +Culture and sightseeing + +Theatre +In 2008, a former goods shed by the main railway station of Abensberg was converted into a theatre by local volunteers. The "Theater am Bahnhof" (Theatre at the Railway Station) is mostly used by the Theatergruppe Lampenfieber and was opened on 19 October 2008. + +Museums +Abensberg has a long tradition of museums. In the nineteenth century, Nicholas Stark und Peter Paul Dollinger began a collection based on local history. This collection and the collection of the Heimatverein (local history society) were united in 1963 into the Aventinus Museum, in the cloister of the former Carmelite monastery. On 7 July 2006, the new Town Museum of Abensberg was opened in the former duke's castle in the town. + +Kuchlbauer Brewery +Two blocks west of the Old Town is the Kuchlbauer Brewery and beer garden featuring the Kuchlbauer Tower, a colorful and unconventional observation tower designed by Viennese architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser. The brewery and tower are open to the public. + +Image gallery + +Missing memorial +Up until the 1950s, Abensberg and the surrounding villages contained a number of graves of victims of a Death March in the spring of 1945 from the Hersbruck sub-camp of the Dachau concentration camp, who were either murdered by the SS or died of exhaustion. They were originally buried where they died, but were later moved on the orders of the US military government to the cemeteries of their previous homes. At the cemetery in what is now the district of Pullach stood a memorial stone which was mentioned as recently as 1967, but which is no longer at the site. The suffering of ten unknown victims of the camp was recorded on the stone. + +Regular events +The Abensberger events calendar begins in February with the Faschingsgillamoos funfair, which reaches its high point on Mad Thursday. +There then follows the Frühjahrsmarkt (Spring market) two weeks before Easter, when all the shops in the town are permitted to open on Sunday (which is normally prohibited in Germany). + +The Bürgerfest is celebrated on the first weekend of July, when the palace gardens with their ancient walls are transformed into a medieval camp. +The Schlossgartenfest (Palace Garden Festival) takes place every year at the beginning of August. It is organised since 1977 by the Junge Union, the youth branch of Germany's two main conservative political parties, the CDU and CSU, and attracts all age groups from Abensberg and surrounding areas. +On the second Saturday in August, people can wander through the Night Market in the balmy Summer evening. +The Gillamoos, the oldest and largest funfair in the Hallertau opens on the Thursday before the first Sunday in September and runs until the Monday thereafter. It is the highlight of the year in Abensberg and is a celebration of the people of Abensberg and the surrounding area. +The Herbstmarkt (autumn market), another Sunday shopping day, is on the first weekend in October. +Since 1997, a series of cultural, art, music and entertainment events have taken place in November at various locations in the town, under the title, Novembernebel (November fog) +On Saint Nicholas Day (6 December), the Niklasmarkt (Nicholas Market) commemorates the Niklasspende, a medieval foundation for the poor. This heralds the beginning of Advent and the Christmas period. + +Notable residents + +Sons and daughters of the town +Johannes Aventinus (1477–1534): Bavarian historian +Stephan Agricola (1491–1547): Lutheran reformer +Joseph von Hazzi (1768–1845): Bavarian Privy Councillor +Uwe Brandl (born 1959): Mayor of Abensberg +Paul Smaczny: Music and film producer +Christian Lohr: Musician and producer +Stephan Ebn (born 1978): drummer and music producer +Richard Resch: Tenor, classical and opera singer + +People who have worked in the town +Wiguläus von Kreittmayr (1705–1790): by marriage Lord of Offenstetten and Hatzkofen +Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928–2000): artist and architect +Radu Ivan (born 1969): International Judo champion +Ole Bischof (born 1979): Olympic Judo champion + +See also + Battle of Abensberg occurred April 20, 1809. + Battle of Landshut occurred April 21, 1809. + Battle of Eckmühl occurred 21–22 April 1809. + Eckmühl + Landshut + +References + +External links + + Abensberger Impressionen - Old Images of Abensberg + +Spa towns in Germany +Kelheim (district) +Arminianism is a movement of Protestantism initiated in the early 17th century, based on the theological ideas of the Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius and his historic supporters known as Remonstrants. Dutch Arminianism was originally articulated in the Remonstrance (1610), a theological statement submitted to the States General of the Netherlands. This expressed an attempt to moderate the doctrines of Calvinism related to its interpretation of predestination. + +Classical Arminianism, to which Arminius is the main contributor, and Wesleyan Arminianism, to which John Wesley is the main contributor, are the two main schools of thought. Central Arminian beliefs are that God's preparing (prevenient) grace to regeneration is universal, and that God's justifying grace allowing regeneration is resistible. + +Many Christian denominations have been influenced by Arminian views, notably the Baptists in the 17th century, the Methodists in the 18th century, and the Pentecostals in the 20th century. + +History + +Precursor movements and theological influences +According to Roger E. Olson, Arminius’ beliefs, i.e. Arminianism, did not begin with him. Denominations such as the Waldensians and other groups prior to the Reformation have, similarly to Arminianism, affirmed that each person may choose the contingent response of either resisting God's grace or yielding to it. Anabaptist theologian Balthasar Hubmaier also promoted much the same view as Arminius nearly a century before him. The soteriological doctrines of Arminianism and Anabaptism are roughly equivalent. In particular, Mennonites have been historically Arminian whether they distinctly espoused the Arminian viewpoint or not, and rejected Calvinism soteriology. Anabaptist theology seems to have influenced Jacobus Arminius. At least, he was "sympathetic to the Anabaptist point of view, and Anabaptists were commonly in attendance on his preaching." Similarly, Arminius mentions Danish Lutheran theologian Niels Hemmingsen as holding the basic view of soteriology he held and he may have been influenced by Hemmingsen. + +Emergence of Arminianism + +Jacobus Arminius was a Dutch pastor and theologian in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. He was taught by Theodore Beza, Calvin's hand-picked successor, but after examination of the scriptures, he rejected his teacher's theology that it is God who unconditionally elects some for salvation. Instead Arminius proposed that the election of God was of believers, thereby making it conditional on faith. Arminius's views were challenged by the Dutch Calvinists, especially Franciscus Gomarus, but Arminius died before a national synod could occur. + +Arminius died before he could satisfy Holland's State General's request for a 14-page paper outlining his views. Arminius's followers replied in his stead crafting the Five articles of Remonstrance (1610), in which they express their points of divergence with the stricter Calvinism of the Belgic Confession. This is how Arminius's followers were called Remonstrants, and following a Counter Remonstrance in 1611, Gomarus' followers were called Counter-Remonstrants. + +After some political maneuvering, the Dutch Calvinists were able to convince Prince Maurice of Nassau to deal with the situation. Maurice systematically removed Arminian magistrates from office and called a national synod at Dordrecht. This Synod of Dort was open primarily to Dutch Calvinists (102 people), while the Arminians were excluded (13 people banned from voting), with Calvinist representatives from other countries (28 people), and in 1618 published a condemnation of Arminius and his followers as heretics. Part of this publication was the famous Five points of Calvinism in response to the five articles of Remonstrance. + +Arminians across Holland were removed from office, imprisoned, banished, and sworn to silence. Twelve years later Holland officially granted Arminianism protection as a religion, although animosity between Arminians and Calvinists continued. Most of the early Remonstrants followed a classical version of Arminianism. However, some of them such as Philipp van Limborch, moved in the direction of semi-Pelagianism and rationalism. + +Arminianism in the Church of England + +In England, the so-labelled Arminian doctrines were held, in substance, before and in parallel of Arminius. The Thirty-nine Articles of Religion (finalised in 1571), were sufficiently ambiguous that they were compatible with either Arminian or Calvinistic interpretations. Arminianism in the Church of England was fundamentally an expression of negation of Calvinism, and only some theologians held to classical Arminianism, but for the rest they were either semi-Pelagian or Pelagian. In this specific context, contemporary historians prefer to use the term "proto-Arminians" rather than "Arminians" to designate the leanings of divines who didn't follow classical Arminianism. English Arminianism was represented by Arminian Puritans such as John Goodwin or High Anglican Arminians such as Jeremy Taylor and Henry Hammond. Anglican Arminians of the 17th century such as William Laud fought Calvinist Puritans. They actually saw Arminianism in terms of a state church, idea that was completely alien to the views of Arminius. This position became particularly evident under the reign (1625–1649) of Charles I of England. Following the English Civil War (1642–1651) Charles II of England, who tolerated the Presbyterians, re-instituted Arminian thought in the Church of England. It was dominant there after the Restoration (1660) for some fifty years. + +Baptists +The debate between Calvin's followers and Arminius's followers is characteristic of post-Reformation church history. The emerging Baptist movement in 17th-century England, for example, was a microcosm of the historic debate between Calvinists and Arminians. The first Baptists—called "General Baptists" because of their confession of a "general" or unlimited atonement—were Arminians. The Baptist movement originated with Thomas Helwys, who left his mentor John Smyth (who had moved into shared belief and other distinctives of the Dutch Waterlander Mennonites of Amsterdam) and returned to London to start the first English Baptist Church in 1611. Later General Baptists such as John Griffith, Samuel Loveday, and Thomas Grantham defended a Reformed Arminian theology that reflected the Arminianism of Arminius. The General Baptists encapsulated their Arminian views in numerous confessions, the most influential of which was the Standard Confession of 1660. In the 1640s the Particular Baptists were formed, diverging strongly from Arminian doctrine and embracing the strong Calvinism of the Presbyterians and Independents. Their robust Calvinism was publicized in such confessions as the London Baptist Confession of 1644 and the Second London Confession of 1689. The London Confession of 1689 was later used by Calvinistic Baptists in America (called the Philadelphia Baptist Confession), whereas the Standard Confession of 1660 was used by the American heirs of the English General Baptists, who soon came to be known as Free Will Baptists. + +Methodists +This same dynamic between Arminianism and Calvinism can be seen in the heated discussions between friends and fellow Anglican ministers John Wesley and George Whitefield. Wesley was highly influenced by 17th-century English Arminianism and thinkers such as John Goodwin, Jeremy Taylor and Henry Hammond of the Anglican "Holy Living" school, and the Remonstrant Hugo Grotius. Wesley knew very little about the beliefs of Jacobus Arminius and arrived at his religious views independently of Arminius. Wesley acknowledged late in life, with the 1778 publication of a periodical titled The Arminian, that he and Arminius were in general agreement. Theology Professor W. Stephen Gunther concludes he was "a faithful representative" of Arminius' beliefs. Wesley was a champion of Arminian teachings, defending his soteriology in The Arminian and writing articles such as Predestination Calmly Considered. He defended Arminianism against charges of semi-Pelagianism, holding strongly to beliefs in original sin and total depravity. At the same time, Wesley attacked the determinism that he claimed characterized Calvinistic doctrines of unconditional election and reprobation and maintained a belief in the ability to lose salvation. Wesley also clarified the doctrine of prevenient grace and preached the ability of Christians to attain to perfection (fully mature, not "sinlessness"). His system of thought has become known as Wesleyan Arminianism, the foundations of which were laid by Wesley and his fellow preacher John William Fletcher. + +Pentecostals +Pentecostalism has its background in the activity of Charles Parham (1873–1929). Its origin as a movement was in the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles in 1906. This revival was led by William J. Seymour (1870–1922). Due to the Methodist and Holiness background of many early Pentecostal preachers, the Pentecostal churches usually possessed practices that arose from the Wesleyan Arminianism. During the 20th century, as Pentecostal churches began to settle and incorporate more standard forms, they started to formulate theology that was fully Arminian. Currently, the two largest Pentecostal denominations in the world, the Assemblies of God and the Pentecostal Church of God denominations, hold officially to Arminian views such as resistible grace, conditional election, or conditional security of the believer for the first. + +Current landscape + +Protestant denominations +Advocates of Arminianism find a home in many Protestant denominations, and sometimes other beliefs such as Calvinism exist within the same denomination. The Lutheran theological tradition bears certain similarities to Arminianism and there may be some Lutheran churches that are open to it. Faiths leaning at least in part in the Arminian direction include some of high-church Anglicanism. Anabaptist denominations, such as the Mennonites, Hutterites, Amish and Schwarzenau Brethren, adhere to Anabaptist theology, which espouses a soteriology that is similar to Arminianism "in some respects". Arminianism is found within the General Baptists, including the subset of General Baptists known as Free Will Baptists. The majority of Southern Baptists accept Arminianism, with an exception allowing for a doctrine of eternal security, though many see Calvinism as growing in acceptance. Certain proponents of Arminianism may be found within the Restoration movement in the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ. Additionally, it is found in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Arminianism (specifically Wesleyan–Arminian theology) is taught in the Methodist churches, inclusive of those denominations aligned with the holiness movement such as the Evangelical Methodist Church, Church of the Nazarene, the Free Methodist Church, the Wesleyan Church, and the Salvation Army. It is also found in a part of the Charismatics, including the Pentecostals. + +Scholarly support +The current scholarly support for Arminianism is varied: Among Baptist theologians, Roger E. Olson, F. Leroy Forlines, Robert Picirilli, and J. Matthew Pinson are four supporters of a return to the teachings of Arminius. Methodist theologian Thomas Oden, "Evangelical Methodists" Bible scholar Ben Witherington III, and Christian apologist David Pawson are generally Arminian in their theologies. Holiness movement theologians Henry Orton Wiley, Carl O. Bangs and J. Kenneth Grider can also be mentioned among recent proponents of Arminianism. Various other theologians or Bible scholars as B. J. Oropeza, Keith D. Stanglin, Craig S. Keener, Thomas H. McCall, and Grant R. Osborne can be mentioned as well. + +Theology + +Theological legacy +The original beliefs of Jacobus Arminius are commonly called Arminianism, but more broadly, the term may embrace the teachings of Simon Episcopius, Hugo Grotius, John Wesley, and others. Arminian theology usually falls into one of two groups: Classical Arminianism, drawn from the teaching of Jacobus Arminius, and Wesleyan Arminian, drawing primarily from Wesley. The two groups overlap substantially. + +In 529, at the Second Council of Orange, the question at hand was whether the doctrines of Augustine on God's providence were to be affirmed, or if semi-Pelagianism could be affirmed. Semi-Pelagianism was a moderate form of Pelagianism that teaches that the first step of salvation is by human will and not the grace of God. The determination of the Council could be considered "semi-Augustinian". It defined that faith, though a free act of man, resulted, even in its beginnings, from the grace of God, enlightening the human mind and enabling belief. This describes the operation of prevenient grace allowing the unregenerate to repent in faith. On the other hand, the Council of Orange condemned the Augustinian teaching of predestination to damnation. Since Arminianism is aligned with those characteristic semi-Augustinian views it has been seen by some as a reclamation of early church theological consensus. Moreover, Arminianism can also be seen as a soteriological diversification of Calvinism or more specifically, as a theological middle ground between Calvinism and semi-Pelagianism. + +Classical Arminianism + +Classical Arminianism is the theological system that was presented by Jacobus Arminius and maintained by some of the Remonstrants. Theologians as Forlines and Olson have referred to this system as "classical Arminianism", while others as Picirilli and Pinson prefer to term it "Reformation Arminianism" or "Reformed Arminianism". + +The teachings of Arminius held to Sola fide and Sola gratia of the Reformation, but they were distinct from particular teachings of Martin Luther, Huldrych Zwingli, John Calvin, and other Protestant Reformers. + +Classical Arminianism was originally articulated in the Five Articles of Remonstrance. "These points", note Keith D. Stanglin and Thomas H. McCall, "are consistent with the views of Arminius; indeed, some come verbatim from his Declaration of Sentiments." A list of beliefs of classical Arminianism is given below: + +God's providence and human free will +The majority Arminian view accepts classical theism, which states that God is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient. In that view, God's power, knowledge, and presence have no external limitations, that is, outside of his divine nature and character. + +Besides, Arminianism view on God's sovereignty is based on postulates stemming from God's character, especially as fully revealed in Jesus Christ. On the first hand, divine election must be defined in such a way that God is not in any case, and even in a secondary way, the author of evil. It would not correspond to the character of God. On the other hand, man's responsibility for evil must be absolutely preserved. Those two postulates require a specific way by which God chooses to manifest his sovereignty when interacting with his creatures: + +On one hand, it requires for God to operate according to a limited mode of providence. This means that God purposely exercises His sovereignty in ways that do not illustrate the full extent of his omnipotence. On the other hand, it requires for God's election to be a "predestination by foreknowledge". + +In that respect, God's foreknowledge reconciles with human free will in the following way: Human free will is limited by original sin, though God's prevenient grace restores to humanity the ability to accept God's call of salvation. God's foreknowledge of the future is exhaustive and complete, and therefore the future is certain and not contingent on human action. God does not determine the future, but He does know it. God's certainty and human contingency are compatible. + +Roger Olson expressed those defining ideas in a more practical way:""Arminianism," [...] is simply a term we use in theology for the view, held by some people before Arminius and many after him, that sinners who hear the gospel have the free will to accept or reject God’s offer of saving grace and that nobody is excluded by God from the possibility of salvation except those who freely exclude themselves. But true, historical, classical Arminianism includes the belief that this free will [to repent and believe unto salvation] is itself a gift of God through prevenient grace." + +Condition of humanity +Depravity is total: Arminius states "In this [fallen] state, the free will of man towards the true good is not only wounded, infirm, bent, and weakened; but it is also imprisoned, destroyed, and lost. And its powers are not only debilitated and useless unless they be assisted by grace, but it has no powers whatever except such as are excited by Divine grace." + +Extent and nature of the atonement +Atonement is intended for all: Jesus's death was for all people, Jesus draws all people to himself, and all people have opportunity for salvation through faith. + +Jesus's death satisfies God's justice: The penalty for the sins of the elect is paid in full through the crucifixion of Christ. Thus Christ's death atones for the sins of all, but requires faith to be effected. Arminius states that "Justification, when used for the act of a Judge, is either purely the imputation of righteousness through mercy [...] or that man is justified before God [...] according to the rigor of justice without any forgiveness." Stephen Ashby clarifies: "Arminius allowed for only two possible ways in which the sinner might be justified: (1) by our absolute and perfect adherence to the law, or (2) purely by God's imputation of Christ's righteousness." W. Stephen Gunter concurs that Arminius would not take a rigid position on the doctrine of imputed righteousness (the righteousness of Christ is imputed for righteousness of the believer). For Keith D. Stanglin and Thomas H. McCall, Arminius would not object to saying rather that "the righteousness of Christ is imputed to righteousness". Forlines put it this way: "On the condition of faith, we are placed in union with Christ. Based on that union, we receive His death and righteousness". + +Christ's atonement has a substitutionary effect which is limited only to the elect. Arminius held that God's justice was satisfied by penal substitution. Hugo Grotius taught that it was satisfied governmentally. According to Roger Olson, historical and contemporary Arminians have held to one of these views. + +Conversion of man +Grace is resistible: God takes initiative in the salvation process and his grace comes to all people. This grace (often called pre-regenerating or prevenient grace) acts on all people to convince them of the Gospel, draw them strongly towards salvation, and enable the possibility of sincere faith. Picirilli states that "indeed this grace is so close to regeneration that it inevitably leads to regeneration unless finally resisted." The offer of salvation through grace does not act irresistibly in a purely cause-effect, deterministic method but rather in an influence-and-response fashion that can be both freely accepted and freely denied. + +Man has a freed will to respond or resist: Free will is granted and limited by God's sovereignty, but God's sovereignty allows all men the choice to accept the Gospel of Jesus through faith, simultaneously allowing all men to resist. + +Conversion is synergistic: As Roger Olson put it: "[Arminius]' evangelical synergism reserves all the power, ability and efficacy in salvation to grace, but allows humans the God-granted ability to resist or not resist it. The only "contribution" humans make is nonresistance to grace." + +Election of man +Election is conditional: Arminius defined election as "the decree of God by which, of Himself, from eternity, He decreed to justify in Christ, believers, and to accept them unto eternal life." God alone determines who will be saved and his determination is that all who believe Jesus through faith will be justified. According to Arminius, "God regards no one in Christ unless they are engrafted in him by faith." + +God predestines the elect to a glorious future: Predestination is not the predetermination of who will believe, but rather the predetermination of the believer's future inheritance. The elect are therefore predestined to sonship through adoption, glorification, and eternal life. + +Preservation of man +Related to eschatological considerations, Jacobus Arminius and the first Remonstrants, including Simon Episcopius believed in everlasting fire where the wicked are thrown by God at judgment day. + +Preservation is conditional: All believers have full assurance of salvation with the condition that they remain in Christ. Salvation is conditioned on faith, therefore perseverance is also conditioned. Arminius believed the Scriptures taught that believers are graciously empowered by Christ and the Holy Spirit "to fight against Satan, sin, the world and their own flesh, and to gain the victory over these enemies." Furthermore, Christ and the Spirit are ever present to aid and assist believers through various temptations. But this security was not unconditional but conditional—"provided they [believers] stand prepared for the battle, implore his help, and be not wanting to themselves, Christ preserves them from falling." + +Possibility of apostasy +Arminius believed in the possibility for a believer to commit apostasy (i.e., desert Christ by cleaving again to this evil world, losing a good conscience, or by failing to hold on to sound doctrine). However, over the period of time Arminius wrote on this question, he sometimes expressed himself more cautiously out of consideration for the faith of his readers. For instance, Arminius declared in 1599 that this matter required further study in the Scriptures. Arminius said also in his "Declaration of Sentiments" (1607), "I never taught that a true believer can, either totally or finally fall away from the faith, and perish; yet I will not conceal, that there are passages of scripture which seem to me to wear this aspect; and those answers to them which I have been permitted to see, are not of such a kind as to approve themselves on all points to my understanding." + +But in his other writings he expressed certainty about the possibility of falling away: Arminius wrote in ca. 1602, that "a person who is being 'built' into the church of Christ may resist the continuation of this process". Concerning the believers he said "It may suffice to encourage them, if they know that no power or prudence can dislodge them from the rock, unless they of their own will forsake their position." He continued by saying that the covenant of God (Jeremiah 23) "does not contain in itself an impossibility of defection from God, but a promise of the gift of fear, whereby they shall be hindered from going away from God so long as that shall flourish in their hearts." He then taught that had King David died in his sins he would have been lost. In 1602, Arminius also wrote: "A believing member of Christ may become slothful, give place to sin, and gradually die altogether, ceasing to be a member". + +For Arminius, certain class of sin would cause a believer to fall, especially sin motivated by malice. In 1605 Arminius wrote: ��But it is possible for a believer to fall into a mortal sin, as is seen in David. Therefore he can fall at that moment in which if he were to die, he would be condemned". Stanglin, along with McCall, point out that Arminius clearly sets forth two paths to apostasy 1. "rejection", or 2. "malicious sinning". Oropeza concludes: "If there is any consistency in Arminius' position, he did not seem to deny the possibility of falling away". + +After the death of Arminius in 1609, his followers wrote a Remonstrance (1610) based quite literally on their leader's "Declaration of Sentiments" (1607) which expressed prudence on the possibility of apostasy. In particular, its fifth article expressed the necessity of further study on the possibility of apostasy. Sometime between 1610 and the official proceeding of the Synod of Dort (1618), the Remonstrants became fully persuaded in their minds that the Scriptures taught that a true believer was capable of falling away from faith and perishing eternally as an unbeliever. They formalized their views in "The Opinion of the Remonstrants" (1618) which was their official stand during the Synod of Dort. Picirilli remarks: "Ever since that early period, then, when the issue was being examined again, Arminians have taught that those who are truly saved need to be warned against apostasy as a real and possible danger." They later expressed this same view in the Remonstrant Confession (1621). + +Forgivability of apostasy +Stanglin points out that Arminius held that if the apostasy came from "malicious" sin, then it was forgivable. If it came from "rejection" it was not. Following Arminius, the Remonstrants believed that, though possible, apostasy was not in general irremediable. However, other classical Arminians as the Free Will Baptists have taught that apostasy is irremediable. + +Wesleyan Arminianism + +John Wesley thoroughly agreed with the vast majority of what Arminius himself taught. Wesleyan Arminianism is classical Arminianism with the addition of Wesleyan perfectionism. Here are mentioned some positions on specific issues within Wesleyan Arminianism: + +Nature of the atonement +Steven Harper proposed that Wesley's atonement is a hybrid of the penal substitution theory and the governmental theory. However, theologians as Robert Picirilli, Roger Olson and Darren Cushman Wood consider that the view of Wesley concerning atonement is by penal substitution. Wesleyan Arminians have historically adopted either penal or governmental theory of the atonement. + +Preservation and apostasy of man +Wesley fully accepted the Arminian view that genuine Christians could apostatize and lose their salvation, as his famous sermon "A Call to Backsliders" clearly demonstrates. Harper summarizes as follows: "the act of committing sin is not in itself ground for the loss of salvation [...] the loss of salvation is much more related to experiences that are profound and prolonged. Wesley sees two primary pathways that could result in a permanent fall from grace: unconfessed sin and the actual expression of apostasy." Wesley believed that such apostasy was not irremediable. When talking about those who have made "shipwreck" of their faith,(1 Tim 1:19) Wesley claims that "not one, or a hundred only, but I am persuaded, several thousands [...] innumerable are the instances [...] of those who had fallen but now stand upright." + +Christian perfection +One issue that typifies Wesleyan Arminianism is Christian perfection. According to Wesley's teaching, Christians could attain a state of practical perfection, meaning a lack of all voluntary sin by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, in this life. Christian perfection (or entire sanctification), according to Wesley, is "purity of intention, dedicating all the life to God" and "the mind which was in Christ, enabling us to walk as Christ walked." It is "loving God with all our heart, and our neighbor as ourselves". It is "a restoration not only to the favour, but likewise to the image of God," our "being filled with the fullness of God". Wesley was clear that Christian perfection did not imply perfection of bodily health or an infallibility of judgment. It also does not mean we no longer violate the will of God, for involuntary transgressions remain. Perfected Christians remain subject to temptation, and have continued need to pray for forgiveness and holiness. It is not an absolute perfection but a perfection in love. Furthermore, Wesley did not teach a salvation by perfection, but rather says that, "Even perfect holiness is acceptable to God only through Jesus Christ." + +Other variations + +Corporate view of election + +The majority Arminian view is that election is individual and based on God's foreknowledge of faith. According to the corporate election view, God never chose individuals to elect to salvation, but rather He chose to elect the believing church to salvation. Jesus was the only human ever elected and individuals must be "in Christ" through faith to be part of the elect. Corporate election draws support from a similar concept of corporate election found in the Old Testament and Jewish law. Identity stemmed from membership in a group more than individuality. + +Arminianism and other views + +Divergence with Pelagianism + +Pelagianism is a doctrine denying original sin and total depravity. No system of Arminianism founded on Arminius or Wesley denies original sin or total depravity; both Arminius and Wesley strongly affirmed that man's basic condition is one in which he cannot be righteous, understand God, or seek God. Arminius referred to Pelagianism as "the grand falsehood" and stated that he "must confess that I detest, from my heart, the consequences [of that theology]." David Pawson, a British pastor, decries this association as "libelous" when attributed to Arminius' or Wesley's doctrine. Indeed, most Arminians reject all accusations of Pelagianism. + +Divergence with semi-Pelagianism +Some schools of thought, notably semi-Pelagianism, which teaches that the first step of Salvation is by human will, are confused as being Arminian in nature. But classical Arminianism and Wesleyan Arminianism hold that the first step of Salvation is through the prevenient grace of God, though "the subsequent grace entails a cooperative relationship." + +Divergence with Calvinism +The two systems of Calvinism and Arminianism share both history and many doctrines, and the history of Christian theology. However, because of their differences over the doctrines of divine predestination and election, many people view these schools of thought as opposed to each other. The distinction is whether God desires to save all yet allows individuals to resist the grace offered (in the Arminian doctrine) or if God desires to save only some and grace is irresistible to those chosen (in the Calvinist doctrine). Many consider the theological differences to be crucial differences in doctrine, while others find them to be relatively minor. + +Similarities + Total depravity – Arminians agree with Calvinists over the doctrine of total depravity. The differences come in the understanding of how God remedies this human depravity. + +Differences + Nature of election – Arminians hold that election to eternal salvation has the condition of faith attached. The Calvinist doctrine of unconditional election states that salvation cannot be earned or achieved and is therefore not conditional upon any human effort, so faith is not a condition of salvation but the divinely apportioned means to it. In other words, Arminians believe that they owe their election to their faith, whereas Calvinists believe that they owe their faith to their election. + Nature of grace – Arminians believe that, through grace, God restores free will concerning salvation to all humanity, and each individual, therefore, is able either to accept the Gospel call through faith or resist it through unbelief. Calvinists hold that God's grace to enable salvation is given only to the elect and irresistibly leads to salvation. + Extent of the atonement – Arminians, along with four-point Calvinists or Amyraldians, hold to a universal atonement instead of the Calvinist doctrine that atonement is limited to the elect only. Both sides (with the exception of hyper-Calvinists) believe the invitation of the gospel is universal and "must be presented to everyone [they] can reach without any distinction." + Perseverance in faith – Arminians believe that future salvation and eternal life is secured in Christ and protected from all external forces but is conditional on remaining in Christ and can be lost through apostasy. Traditional Calvinists believe in the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, which says that because God chose some unto salvation and actually paid for their particular sins, he keeps them from apostasy and that those who do apostatize were never truly regenerated (that is, born again) or saved. Non-traditional Calvinists and other evangelicals advocate the similar but distinct doctrine of eternal security that teaches if a person was once saved, his or her salvation can never be in jeopardy, even if the person completely apostatizes. + +Divergence with open theism +The doctrine of open theism states that God is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient, but differs on the nature of the future. Open theists claim that the future is not completely determined (or "settled") because people have not made their free decisions yet. God therefore knows the future partially in possibilities (human free actions) rather than solely certainties (divinely determined events). Some Arminians, such as professor and theologian Robert Picirilli, reject the doctrine of open theism as a "deformed Arminianism". Joseph Dongell stated that "open theism actually moves beyond classical Arminianism towards process theology." There are also some Arminians, like Roger Olson, who believe Open theism to be an alternative view that a Christian can have. + +See also + Covenant theology + Salvation in Christianity + Grace in Christianity + Sovereignty of God in Christianity + Order of salvation + Substitutionary atonement + Satisfaction theory + Penal theory + Governmental theory + Justification + Free will in theology + Decisional regeneration + Synergism + Apostasy in Christianity + +Notes and references + +Sources + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + . + +Further reading + +External links + The Society of Evangelical Arminians + + +17th-century Calvinism +Calvinism in the Dutch Republic +Christian terminology +Christian theological movements +Jacobus Arminius +Methodism +Philosophy and thought in the Dutch Republic +Protestant theology +Seventh-day Adventist theology +The Alan Parsons Project were a British rock band active between 1975 and 1990, whose core membership consisted of producer, audio engineer, musician and composer Alan Parsons and singer, songwriter and pianist Eric Woolfson. They were accompanied by varying session musicians and some relatively consistent session players such as guitarist Ian Bairnson, arranger Andrew Powell, bassist and vocalist David Paton, drummer Stuart Elliott, and vocalists Lenny Zakatek and Chris Rainbow. Parsons and Woolfson shared writing credits on almost all of the Project's songs, with Parsons producing or co-producing all of the band's recordings. + +The Alan Parsons Project released eleven studio albums in its 15-year career, the most successful being I Robot (1977) and Eye in the Sky (1982). Many of their albums are conceptual in nature and focus on science fiction, supernatural, literary and sociological themes. Among the group's most popular songs are "I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You", "Games People Play", "Time", "Sirius"/"Eye in the Sky" and "Don't Answer Me". + +Career + +1974–1976: Formation and debut +Alan Parsons met Eric Woolfson in the canteen of Abbey Road Studios in the summer of 1974. Parsons was Assistant Engineer on the Beatles' albums Abbey Road (1969) and Let It Be (1970), engineered Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), and produced several acts for EMI Records. Woolfson, a songwriter and composer, was working as a session pianist while composing material for a concept album based on the work of Edgar Allan Poe. + +Woolfson's idea was to manage Alan and help his already successful production career. This was the start of their longstanding friendly business relationship. He managed Parsons' career as a producer and engineer through a string of successes, including Pilot, Steve Harley, Cockney Rebel, John Miles, Al Stewart, Ambrosia, and the Hollies. Woolfson came up with the idea of making an album based on developments in the film industry—the focal point of the films' promotion shifted from film stars to directors such as Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick. If the film industry was becoming a director's medium, Woolfson felt the music business might well become a producer's medium. + +Recalling his earlier Edgar Allan Poe material, Woolfson saw a way to combine his and Parsons's talents. Parsons produced and engineered songs written and composed by the two, and the first Alan Parsons Project was begun. The Project's first album, Tales of Mystery and Imagination (1976), released by 20th Century Fox Records and including major contributions by all members of Pilot and Ambrosia, was a success, reaching the Top 40 in the US Billboard 200 chart. The song "The Raven" featured lead vocals by the actor Leonard Whiting. According to the 2007 re-mastered album liner notes, this was the first rock song to use a vocoder, with Alan Parsons speaking lyrics through it, although others such as Bruce Haack pioneered this field in the previous decade. + +1977–1990: Mainstream success and final releases + +Arista Records then signed the Alan Parsons Project for further albums. Through the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Project's popularity continued to grow. However, the Project was always more popular in North America, Ibero-America, and Continental Europe than in Parsons' home country, never achieving a UK Top 40 single or Top 20 album. The singles "I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You", "Games People Play", "Damned If I Do", "Time" (the first single to feature Woolfson's lead vocal) and "Eye in the Sky" had a notable impact on the Billboard Hot 100. "Don't Answer Me" became the Project's last successful single in the United States; it reached the top 15 on the American charts in 1984. + +After those successes, however, the Project began to fade from view. There were fewer hit singles, and declining album sales. 1987's Gaudi was the Project's final release, though it had planned to record an album called Freudiana (1990) next. + +The musical Freudiana +Even though the studio version of Freudiana was produced by Parsons (and featured the regular Project session musicians, making it an 'unofficial' Project album), it was primarily Woolfson's idea to turn it into a musical. While Parsons pursued his own solo career and took many session players of the Project on the road for the first time in a successful worldwide tour, Woolfson went on to produce musical plays influenced by the Project's music. Freudiana, Gaudi, and Gambler were three musicals that included some Project songs like "Eye in the Sky", "Time", "Inside Looking Out", and "Limelight". The live music from Gambler was only distributed at the performance site in Mönchengladbach, Germany. + +The Sicilian Defence +In 1979, Parsons, Woolfson, and their record label Arista, had been stalled in contract renegotiations when the two submitted an all-instrumental album tentatively titled The Sicilian Defence, named after an aggressive opening move in chess, arguably to get out of their recording contract. Arista's refusal to release the album had two known effects: the negotiations led to a renewed contract, and the album was not released at that time. + +In interviews he gave before his death in 2009, Woolfson said he planned to release one track from the "Sicilian" album, which in 2008 appeared as a bonus track on a CD re-issue of the Eve album. Sometime later, after he had relocated the original tapes, Parsons reluctantly agreed to release the album and announced that it would finally be released on an upcoming Project box set called The Complete Albums Collection in 2014 for the first time as a bonus disc. + +Parsons' and Woolfson's solo careers +Parsons released titles under his name; these were Try Anything Once (1993), On Air (1996), The Time Machine (1999), A Valid Path (2004) and The Secret (2019). Meanwhile, Woolfson made concept albums titled Freudiana (1990), about Sigmund Freud's work on psychology, and Poe: More Tales of Mystery and Imagination (2003); this continued from the Alan Parsons Project's first album about Edgar Allan Poe's literature. + +Tales of Mystery and Imagination (1976) was re-mixed in 1987 for release on CD, and included narration by Orson Welles recorded in 1975, but delivered too late to be included on the original album. For the 2007 deluxe edition release, parts of this tape were used for the 1976 Griffith Park Planetarium launch of the original album, the 1987 remix, and various radio spots. All were included as bonus material. + +Sound +The band's sound is described as progressive rock, art rock, progressive pop, and soft rock. "Sirius" is their best-known and most-frequently heard of all Parsons/Woolfson songs. It was used as entrance music by various American sports teams, notably by the Chicago Bulls during their 1990s NBA dynasty. It was also used as the entrance theme for Ricky Steamboat in pro wrestling of the mid-1980s. In addition, "Sirius" is played in a variety of TV shows and movies including the BBC series Record Breakers, the episode "Vanishing Act" of The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and the 2009 film Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. + +Vocal duties were shared by guests to complement each song. In later years, Woolfson sang lead on many of the group's hits, including "Time", "Eye in the Sky", and "Don't Answer Me". The record company pressured Parsons to use Woolfson more, but Parsons preferred to use polished proficient singers; Woolfson admitted he was not in that category. In addition to Woolfson, vocalists Chris Rainbow, Lenny Zakatek, John Miles, David Paton, and Colin Blunstone are regulars. Other singers, such as Arthur Brown, Steve Harley, Gary Brooker, Dave Terry a.k.a. Elmer Gantry, Vitamin Z's Geoff Barradale, and Marmalade's Dean Ford, recorded only once or twice with the Project. Parsons sang lead on one song ("The Raven") through a vocoder and backing on a few others, including "To One in Paradise". Both of those songs appeared on Tales of Mystery and Imagination (1976). Parsons also sings a prominent counter melody on “Time”. + +A variety of session musicians worked with the Alan Parsons Project regularly, contributing to the recognizable style of a song despite the varied singer line-up. With Parsons and Woolfson, the studio band consisted of the group Pilot, with Ian Bairnson (guitar), David Paton (bass) and Stuart Tosh (drums). Pilot's keyboardist Billy Lyall contributed. From Pyramid (1978) onward, Tosh was replaced by Stuart Elliott of Cockney Rebel. Bairnson played on all albums, and Paton stayed almost until the end. Andrew Powell appeared as arranger of orchestra (and often choirs) on all albums except Vulture Culture (1985); he was composing the score of Richard Donner's film Ladyhawke (1985). This score was partly in the APP style, recorded by most of the APP regulars, and produced and engineered by Parsons. Powell composed some material for the first two Project albums. For Vulture Culture and later, Richard Cottle played as a regular contributor on synthesizers and saxophone. + +The Alan Parsons Project played live only once under that name during its original incarnation because Woolfson and Parsons held the roles of writing and production, and because of the technical difficulties of re-producing on stage the complex instrumentation used in the studio. In the 1990s, musical production evolved with the technology of digital samplers. The one occasion the band was introduced as 'The Alan Parsons Project' in a live performance was at The Night of the Proms in October 1990. The concerts featured all Project regulars except Woolfson, present behind the scenes, while Parsons stayed at the mixer except for the last song, when he played acoustic guitar. + +Since 1993, Alan Parsons continues to perform live as the Alan Parsons Live Project to be distinct from The Alan Parsons Project. The current line up consists of lead singer P.J. Olsson, guitarist Jeffrey Kollman, drummer Danny Thompson, keyboardist Tom Brooks, bass guitarist Guy Erez, vocalist and saxophonist Todd Cooper, and guitarist and vocalist Dan Tracey. In 2013, Alan Parsons Live Project played Colombia with a full choir and orchestra (the Medellin Philharmonic) as 'Alan Parsons Symphonic Project'. A 2-CD live set and a DVD version of this concert were released in May 2016. + +In Popular Culture +In Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me Dr. Evil devised a plan to turn the moon into a "Death Star" using a "laser" invented by Dr. Alan Parsons. He called this "The Alan Parsons Project". + +Members +Official members + Alan Parsons – production, engineering, programming, composition, vocals, keyboards, guitars (1975–1990) + Eric Woolfson – composition, lyrics, piano, keyboards, vocals, executive production (1975–1990; died 2009) + +Notable contributors + Andrew Powell – composition, keyboards, orchestral arrangements (1975–1996) + Philharmonia Orchestra + Ian Bairnson – guitars (1975–1990; died 2023) + David Pack – guitars (1976, 1993), vocals, keyboards (1993) + Richard Cottle – keyboards, saxophone (1984–1990) + David Paton – bass (1975–1986), vocals (1975–1986, 1990), acoustic guitar (1990) + Stuart Tosh – drums, percussion (1975–1977) + Stuart Elliott – drums, percussion (1977–1990) + Mel Collins – saxophone (1982–1984) + Geoff Barradale – vocals (1987) + Phil Kenzie – saxophone (1978) + Andy Kanavan - percussion (1993) + Dennis Clarke – saxophone (1980) + Colin Blunstone – vocals (1978–1984) + Gary Brooker – vocals (1985; died 2022) + Arthur Brown – vocals (1975) + Lesley Duncan – vocals (1979; died 2010) + Graham Dye – vocals (1985, 1998) + Dean Ford – vocals (1978; died 2018) + Dave Terry ("Elmer Gantry") – vocals (1980, 1982) + Jack Harris – vocals (1976–1978) + The Hollies – vocals + John Miles – vocals (1976, 1978, 1985, 1987, 1990; died 2021) + Chris Rainbow – vocals (1979–1990; died 2015) + Eric Stewart – vocals (1990, 1993) + Peter Straker – vocals (1977) + Clare Torry – vocals (1979) + Dave Townsend – vocals (1977, 1979) + Lenny Zakatek – vocals (1977–1987) + The English Chorale – choir (1976, 1977, 1982, 1987) + +Discography + + Tales of Mystery and Imagination (1976) + I Robot (1977) + Pyramid (1978) + Eve (1979) + The Turn of a Friendly Card (1980) + Eye in the Sky (1982) + Ammonia Avenue (1984) + Vulture Culture (1985) + Stereotomy (1985) + Gaudi (1987) + Freudiana (1990 – Austrian Original Cast Musical Soundtrack, virtually a solo Woolfson project) + The Sicilian Defence (2014, recorded in 1979) + +Related + The Philharmonia Orchestra Plays the Best of the Alan Parsons Project (1983 – orchestral album by Andrew Powell) + Ladyhawke (1985 – soundtrack by Powell, produced and engineered by Parsons) + +References + +External links + + www.The-Alan-Parsons-Project.com + The official Eric Woolfson website + + The Alan Parsons Project albums to be listened as stream at Spotify.com + + +British progressive rock groups +British soft rock music groups +Arista Records artists +Charisma Records artists +Progressive pop musicians +Soft rock duos +Male musical duos +In mathematics, the term "almost all" means "all but a negligible quantity". More precisely, if is a set, "almost all elements of " means "all elements of but those in a negligible subset of ". The meaning of "negligible" depends on the mathematical context; for instance, it can mean finite, countable, or null. + +In contrast, "almost no" means "a negligible quantity"; that is, "almost no elements of " means "a negligible quantity of elements of ". + +Meanings in different areas of mathematics + +Prevalent meaning + +Throughout mathematics, "almost all" is sometimes used to mean "all (elements of an infinite set) except for finitely many". This use occurs in philosophy as well. Similarly, "almost all" can mean "all (elements of an uncountable set) except for countably many". + +Examples: + Almost all positive integers are greater than 1012. + Almost all prime numbers are odd (2 is the only exception). + Almost all polyhedra are irregular (as there are only nine exceptions: the five platonic solids and the four Kepler–Poinsot polyhedra). + If P is a nonzero polynomial, then P(x) ≠ 0 for almost all x (if not all x). + +Meaning in measure theory + +When speaking about the reals, sometimes "almost all" can mean "all reals except for a null set". Similarly, if S is some set of reals, "almost all numbers in S" can mean "all numbers in S except for those in a null set". The real line can be thought of as a one-dimensional Euclidean space. In the more general case of an n-dimensional space (where n is a positive integer), these definitions can be generalised to "all points except for those in a null set" or "all points in S except for those in a null set" (this time, S is a set of points in the space). Even more generally, "almost all" is sometimes used in the sense of "almost everywhere" in measure theory, or in the closely related sense of "almost surely" in probability theory. + +Examples: + In a measure space, such as the real line, countable sets are null. The set of rational numbers is countable, so almost all real numbers are irrational. + Georg Cantor's first set theory article proved that the set of algebraic numbers is countable as well, so almost all reals are transcendental. + Almost all reals are normal. + The Cantor set is also null. Thus, almost all reals are not in it even though it is uncountable. + The derivative of the Cantor function is 0 for almost all numbers in the unit interval. It follows from the previous example because the Cantor function is locally constant, and thus has derivative 0 outside the Cantor set. + +Meaning in number theory + +In number theory, "almost all positive integers" can mean "the positive integers in a set whose natural density is 1". That is, if A is a set of positive integers, and if the proportion of positive integers in A below n (out of all positive integers below n) tends to 1 as n tends to infinity, then almost all positive integers are in A. + +More generally, let S be an infinite set of positive integers, such as the set of even positive numbers or the set of primes, if A is a subset of S, and if the proportion of elements of S below n that are in A (out of all elements of S below n) tends to 1 as n tends to infinity, then it can be said that almost all elements of S are in A. + +Examples: + The natural density of cofinite sets of positive integers is 1, so each of them contains almost all positive integers. + Almost all positive integers are composite. + Almost all even positive numbers can be expressed as the sum of two primes. + Almost all primes are isolated. Moreover, for every positive integer , almost all primes have prime gaps of more than both to their left and to their right; that is, there is no other prime between and . + +Meaning in graph theory +In graph theory, if A is a set of (finite labelled) graphs, it can be said to contain almost all graphs, if the proportion of graphs with n vertices that are in A tends to 1 as n tends to infinity. However, it is sometimes easier to work with probabilities, so the definition is reformulated as follows. The proportion of graphs with n vertices that are in A equals the probability that a random graph with n vertices (chosen with the uniform distribution) is in A, and choosing a graph in this way has the same outcome as generating a graph by flipping a coin for each pair of vertices to decide whether to connect them. Therefore, equivalently to the preceding definition, the set A contains almost all graphs if the probability that a coin-flip–generated graph with n vertices is in A tends to 1 as n tends to infinity. Sometimes, the latter definition is modified so that the graph is chosen randomly in some other way, where not all graphs with n vertices have the same probability, and those modified definitions are not always equivalent to the main one. + +The use of the term "almost all" in graph theory is not standard; the term "asymptotically almost surely" is more commonly used for this concept. + +Example: + Almost all graphs are asymmetric. + Almost all graphs have diameter 2. + +Meaning in topology +In topology and especially dynamical systems theory (including applications in economics), "almost all" of a topological space's points can mean "all of the space's points except for those in a meagre set". Some use a more limited definition, where a subset contains almost all of the space's points only if it contains some open dense set. + +Example: + Given an irreducible algebraic variety, the properties that hold for almost all points in the variety are exactly the generic properties. This is due to the fact that in an irreducible algebraic variety equipped with the Zariski topology, all nonempty open sets are dense. + +Meaning in algebra +In abstract algebra and mathematical logic, if U is an ultrafilter on a set X, "almost all elements of X" sometimes means "the elements of some element of U". For any partition of X into two disjoint sets, one of them will necessarily contain almost all elements of X. It is possible to think of the elements of a filter on X as containing almost all elements of X, even if it isn't an ultrafilter. + +Proofs + +See also + + Almost + Almost everywhere + Almost surely + +References + +Primary sources + +Secondary sources + +Mathematical terminology +Aromatic compounds, also known as "mono- and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons", are organic compounds containing one or more aromatic rings. The word "aromatic" originates from the past grouping of molecules based on odor, before their general chemical properties were understood. The current definition of aromatic compounds does not have any relation with their odor. + +Heteroarenes are closely related, since at least one carbon atom of CH group is replaced by one of the heteroatoms oxygen, nitrogen, or sulfur. Examples of non-benzene compounds with aromatic properties are furan, a heterocyclic compound with a five-membered ring that includes a single oxygen atom, and pyridine, a heterocyclic compound with a six-membered ring containing one nitrogen atom. Hydrocarbons without an aromatic ring are called aliphatic. Approximately half of compounds known in the year 2000 are described as aromatic to some extent. + +Aromatic compounds play key roles in the biochemistry of all living things. The four aromatic amino acids histidine, phenylalanine, tryptophan, and tyrosine each serve as one of the 20 basic building-blocks of proteins. Further, all 5 nucleotides (adenine, thymine, cytosine, guanine, and uracil) that make up the sequence of the genetic code in DNA and RNA are aromatic purines or pyrimidines. The molecule heme contains an aromatic system with 22 π-electrons. Chlorophyll also has a similar aromatic system. + +Aromatic compounds are important in industry. Key aromatic hydrocarbons of commercial interest are benzene, toluene, ortho-xylene and para-xylene. About 35 million tonnes are produced worldwide every year. They are extracted from complex mixtures obtained by the refining of oil or by distillation of coal tar, and are used to produce a range of important chemicals and polymers, including styrene, phenol, aniline, polyester and nylon. + +Benzene ring model + +Benzene, C6H6, is the least complex aromatic hydrocarbon, and it was the first one named as such. The nature of its bonding was first recognized by August Kekulé in the 19th century. Each carbon atom in the hexagonal cycle has four electrons to share. One goes to the hydrogen atom, and one to each of the two neighboring carbons. This leaves one electron to share with one of the two neighboring carbon atoms, thus creating a double bond with one carbon and leaving a single bond with the other, which is why some representations of the benzene molecule portray it as a hexagon with alternating single and double bonds. + +Other depictions of the structure portray the hexagon with a circle inside it, to indicate that the six electrons are floating around in delocalized molecular orbitals the size of the ring itself. This represents the equivalent nature of the six carbon-carbon bonds all of bond order 1.5; the equivalency is explained by resonance forms. The electrons are visualized as floating above and below the ring, with the electromagnetic fields they generate acting to keep the ring flat. + +General properties of aromatic hydrocarbons: + + They display aromaticity + The carbon-hydrogen ratio is high + They burn with a strong sooty yellow flame because of the high carbon–hydrogen ratio + They undergo electrophilic substitution reactions and nucleophilic aromatic substitutions + +The circle symbol for aromaticity was introduced by Sir Robert Robinson and his student James Armit in 1925 and popularized starting in 1959 by the Morrison & Boyd textbook on organic chemistry. The proper use of the symbol is debated: some publications use it to any cyclic π system, while others use it only for those π systems that obey Hückel's rule. Jensen argues that, in line with Robinson's original proposal, the use of the circle symbol should be limited to monocyclic 6 π-electron systems. In this way the circle symbol for a six-center six-electron bond can be compared to the Y symbol for a three-center two-electron bond. + +Reactions +Aromatic ring systems participate in many organic reactions. + +Aromatic substitution +In aromatic substitution one substituent on the arene ring, usually hydrogen, is replaced by another substituent. The two main types are electrophilic aromatic substitution, when the active reagent is an electrophile, and nucleophilic aromatic substitution, when the reagent is a nucleophile. In radical-nucleophilic aromatic substitution, the active reagent is a radical. An example of electrophilic aromatic substitution is the nitration of salicylic acid: + +Coupling reactions +In coupling reactions a metal catalyzes a coupling between two formal radical fragments. Common coupling reactions with arenes result in the formation of new carbon–carbon bonds e.g., alkylarenes, vinyl arenes, biraryls, new carbon–nitrogen bonds (anilines) or new carbon–oxygen bonds (aryloxy compounds). An example is a direct arylation of perfluorobenzenes + +Hydrogenation +Hydrogenation of arenes create saturated rings. The compound 1-naphthol is completely reduced to a mixture of decalin-ol isomers. + +The compound resorcinol, hydrogenated with Raney nickel in presence of aqueous sodium hydroxide forms an enolate which is alkylated with methyl iodide to 2-methyl-1,3-cyclohexandione: + +Cycloadditions +Cycloaddition reactions are not common. Unusual thermal Diels–Alder reactivity of arenes can be found in the Wagner-Jauregg reaction. Other photochemical cycloaddition reactions with alkenes occur through excimers. + +Dearomatization +In dearomatization reactions the aromaticity of the reactant is permanently lost. + +Benzene and derivatives of benzene +Benzene derivatives have from one to six substituents attached to the central benzene core. Examples of benzene compounds with just one substituent are phenol, which carries a hydroxyl group, and toluene with a methyl group. When there is more than one substituent present on the ring, their spatial relationship becomes important for which the arene substitution patterns ortho, meta, and para are devised. For example, three isomers exist for cresol because the methyl group and the hydroxyl group can be placed next to each other (ortho), one position removed from each other (meta), or two positions removed from each other (para). Xylenol has two methyl groups in addition to the hydroxyl group, and, for this structure, 6 isomers exist. + +The arene ring has the ability to stabilize charges. This is seen in, for example, phenol (C6H5–OH), which is acidic at the hydroxyl (OH), since a charge on this oxygen (alkoxide –O−) is partially delocalized into the benzene ring. + +Other monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbon +Other monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbon include Cyclotetradecaheptaene or Cyclooctadecanonaene. + +Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons + +Polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are aromatic hydrocarbons that consist of fused aromatic rings and do not contain heteroatoms or carry substituents. Naphthalene is the simplest example of a PAH. PAHs occur in oil, coal, and tar deposits, and are produced as byproducts of fuel burning (whether fossil fuel or biomass). As pollutants, they are of concern because some compounds have been identified as carcinogenic, mutagenic, and teratogenic. PAHs are also found in cooked foods. Studies have shown that high levels of PAHs are found, for example, in meat cooked at high temperatures such as grilling or barbecuing, and in smoked fish. + +They are also found in the interstellar medium, in comets, and in meteorites and are a candidate molecule to act as a basis for the earliest forms of life. In graphene the PAH motif is extended to large 2D sheets. + +See also + Aromatic substituents: Aryl, Aryloxy and Arenediyl + Asphaltene + Hydrodealkylation + Simple aromatic rings + Rhodium-platinum oxide, a catalyst used to hydrogenate aromatic compounds. + +References + +External links +An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. + +The concept of the abbey has developed over many centuries from the early monastic ways of religious men and women where they would live isolated from the lay community about them. Religious life in an abbey may be monastic. An abbey may be the home of an enclosed religious order or may be open to visitors. The layout of the church and associated buildings of an abbey often follows a set plan determined by the founding religious order. + +Abbeys are often self-sufficient while using any abundance of produce or skill to provide care to the poor and needy, refuge to the persecuted, or education to the young. Some abbeys offer accommodation to people who are seeking spiritual retreat. There are many famous abbeys across the Mediterranean Basin and Europe. + +Monastic origins of the abbey + +Ascetics and anchorites +The earliest known Christian monasteries were groups of huts built near the residence of a famous ascetic or other holy person. Disciples wished to be close to their holy man or woman in order to study their doctrine or imitate their way of life. + +In the earliest times of Christian monasticism, ascetics would live in social isolation but near a village church. They would subsist whilst donating any excess produce to the poor. However, increasing religious fervor about the ascetic's ways and or persecution of them would drive them further away from their community and further into solitude. For instance, the cells and huts of anchorites (religious recluses) have been found in the deserts of Egypt. + +In 312 AD, Anthony the Great retired to the Thebaid region of Egypt to escape the persecution of the Emperor Maximian. Anthony was the best known of the anchorites of his time due to his degree of austerity, sanctity and his powers of exorcism. The deeper he withdrew into the wilderness, the more numerous his disciples became. They refused to be separated from him and built their cells close to him. This became a first true monastic community. According to August Neander, Anthony inadvertently became the founder of a new mode of living in common, Coenobitism. + +Laurae and Coenobia + +At Tabennae on the Nile, in Upper Egypt, Saint Pachomius laid the foundations for the coenobitical life by arranging everything in an organized manner. He built several monasteries, each with about 1,600 separate cells laid out in lines. These cells formed an encampment where the monks slept and performed some of their manual tasks. There were nearby large halls such as the church, refectory, kitchen, infirmary, and guest house for the monk's common needs. An enclosure protecting all these buildings gave the settlement the appearance of a walled village. This layout, known as the laurae (lanes), became popular throughout Israel. + +As well as the "laurae", communities known as "caenobia" developed. These were monasteries where monks lived a common life together. The monks were not permitted to retire to the cells of a laurae before they had undergone a lengthy period of training. In time, this form of common life superseded that of the older laurae. + +In the late 300s AD, Palladius visited the Egyptian monasteries. He described three hundred members of the coenobium of Panopolis. There were fifteen tailors, seven smiths, four carpenters, twelve camel-drivers and fifteen tanners. These people were divided into subgroups, each with its own "oeconomus". A chief steward was at the head of the monastery. + +The produce of the monastery was brought to Alexandria for sale. The moneys raised were used to purchase stores for the monastery or were given away as charity. Twice in the year, the superiors of several coenobia met at the chief monastery, under the presidency of an "archimandrite" (the "chief of the fold" from the word, "miandra" (a sheepfold)) in order to make their reports. Chrysostom recorded the workings of a coenobia in the vicinity of Antioch in Syria. The monks lived in separate huts ("kalbbia") which formed a religious hamlet on the mountainside. They were subject to an abbot, and observed a common rule. + +Great Lavra, Mount Athos + +The layout of the monastic coenobium was influenced by a number of factors. These included a need for defence, economy of space, and convenience of access. The layout of buildings became compact and orderly. Larger buildings were erected and defence was provided by strong outside walls. Within the walls, the buildings were arranged around one or more open courts surrounded by cloisters. The usual arrangement for monasteries of the Eastern world is exemplified in the plan of the convent of the Great Lavra at Mount Athos. + +With reference to the diagram, right, the convent of the Great Lavra is enclosed within a strong and lofty blank stone wall. The area within the wall is between three and four acres (12,000 and 16,000 m2). The longer side is about in length. There is only one entrance, which is located on the north side (A), defended by three iron doors. Near the entrance is a large tower (M), a constant feature in the monasteries of the Levant (Eastern Mediterranean area). There is a small postern gate at L. + +The enceinte comprises two large open courts, surrounded with buildings connected with cloister galleries of wood or stone. The outer court, which is the larger by far, contains the granaries and storehouses (K), the kitchen (H) and other offices connected with the refectory (G). Immediately adjacent to the gateway is a two-storied guest-house, entered from a cloister (C). The inner court is surrounded by a cloister (EE) from which one enters the monks' cells (II). + +In the centre of this court stands the katholikon or conventual church, a square building with an apse of the cruciform domical Byzantine type, approached by a domed narthex. In front of the church stands a marble fountain (F), covered by a dome supported on columns. + +Opening from the western side of the cloister, but actually standing in the outer court, is the refectory (G), a large cruciform (cross shaped) building, about square, decorated within with frescoes of saints. At the upper end is a semicircular recess, similar to the triclinium of the Lateran Palace in Rome, in which is placed the seat of the hegumenos or abbot. This apartment is chiefly used as a meeting place, with the monks usually taking their meals in their separate cells. + +Adoption of the Roman villa plan + +Monasticism in the West began with the activities of Benedict of Nursia (born 480 AD). Near Nursia, a town in Perugia, Italy, a first abbey was established at Monte Cassino (529 AD). Between 520 and 700 AD, monasteries were built which were spacious and splendid. All the city states of Italy hosted a Benedictine convent as did the cities of England, France and Spain. By 1415 AD, the time of the Council of Constance, 15,070 Benedictine monasteries had been established. + +The early Benedictine monasteries, including the first at Monte Cassino, were constructed on the plan of the Roman villa. The layout of the Roman villa was quite consistent throughout the Roman Empire and where possible, the monks reused available villas in sound repair. This was done at Monte Cassino. + +However, over time, changes to the common villa lay out occurred. The monks required buildings which suited their religious and day-to-day activities. No overriding specification was demanded of the monks but the similarity of their needs resulted in uniformity of design of abbeys across Europe. Eventually, the buildings of a Benedictine abbey were built in a uniform lay out, modified where necessary, to accommodate local circumstances. + +Abbey of St Gall + +The plan of the Abbey of Saint Gall (719 AD) in what is now Switzerland indicates the general arrangement of a Benedictine monastery of its day. According to the architect Robert Willis (architect) (1800–1875) the Abbey's lay out is that of a town of individual houses with streets running between them. The abbey was planned in compliance with the Benedictine rule that, if possible, a monastery should be self-contained. For instance, there was a mill, a bakehouse, stables, and cattle stalls. In all, there were thirty-three separate structures; mostly one level wooden buildings. + +The Abbey church occupied the centre of a quadrangular area, about square. On the eastern side of the north transept of the church was the "scriptorium" or writing-room, with a library above. + +The church and nearby buildings ranged about the cloister, a court about which there was a covered arcade which allowed sheltered movement between the buildings. The nave of the church was on the north boundary of the cloister. + +On the east side of the cloister, on the ground floor, was the "pisalis" or "calefactory". This was a common room, warmed by flues beneath the floor. Above the common room was the dormitory. The dormitory opened onto the cloister and also onto the south transept of the church. This enabled the monks to attend nocturnal services. A passage at the other end of the dormitory lead to the "necessarium" (latrines). + +On the south side of the cloister was the refectory. The kitchen, at the west end of the refectory was accessed via an anteroom and a long passage. Nearby were the bake house, brew house and the sleeping-rooms of the servants. The upper story of the refectory was called the "vestiarium" (a room where the ordinary clothes of the monks were stored). + +On the western side of the cloister was another two-story building with a cellar on the ground floor and the larder and store-room on the upper floor. Between this building and the church was a parlour for receiving visitors. One door of the parlour led to the cloisters and the other led to the outer part of the Abbey. + +Against the outer wall of the church was a school and headmaster's house. The school consisted of a large schoolroom divided in the middle by a screen or partition, and surrounded by fourteen little rooms, the "dwellings of the scholars". The abbot's home was near the school. + +To the north of the church and to the right of the main entrance to the Abbey, was a residence for distinguished guests. To the left of the main entrance was a building to house poor travellers and pilgrims. There was also a building to receive visiting monks. These "hospitia" had a large common room or refectory surrounded by bed rooms. Each hospitium had its own brewhouse and bakehouse, and the building for more prestigious travellers had a kitchen and storeroom, with bedrooms for the guests' servants and stables for their horses. The monks of the Abbey lived in a house built against the north wall of the church. + +The whole of the southern and western areas of the Abbey were devoted to workshops, stables and farm-buildings including stables, ox-sheds, goatstables, piggeries, and sheep-folds, as well as the servants' and labourers' quarters. + +In the eastern part of the Abbey there was a group of buildings representing in layout, two complete miniature monasteries. That is, each had a covered cloister surrounded by the usual buildings such as the church, the refectory, the dormitory and so on. A detached building belonging to each contained a bathroom and a kitchen. + +One of the miniature complexes was called the "oblati". These were the buildings for the novices. The other complex was a hospital or infirmary for the care of sick monks. This infirmary complex included a physician's residence, a physic garden, a drug store, and a chamber for the critically ill. There was also a room for bloodletting and purging. The physic garden occupied the north east corner of the Abbey. + +In the southernmost area of the abbey was the workshop containing utilities for shoemakers, saddlers (or shoemakers, sellarii), cutlers and grinders, trencher-makers, tanners, curriers, fullers, smiths and goldsmiths. The tradesmen's living quarters were at the rear of the workshop. Here, there were also farm buildings, a large granary and threshing-floor, mills, and malthouse. At the south-east corner of the Abbey were hen and duck houses, a poultry-yard, and the dwelling of the keeper. Nearby was the kitchen garden which complemented the physic garden and a cemetery orchard. + +Every large monastery had priories. A priory was a smaller structure or entities which depended on the monastery. Some were small monasteries accommodating five or ten monks. Others were no more than a single building serving as residence or a farm offices. The outlying farming establishments belonging to the monastic foundations were known as "villae" or "granges". They were usually staffed by lay-brothers, sometimes under the supervision of a monk. + +Benedictine abbeys in England + +Many of today's cathedrals in England were originally Benedictine monasteries. These included Canterbury, Chester, Durham, Ely, Gloucester, Norwich, Peterborough, Rochester, Winchester, and Worcester. Shrewsbury Abbey in Shropshire was founded as a Benedictine monastery by the Normans in 1083. + +Westminster Abbey +Westminster Abbey was founded in the tenth century by Saint Dunstan who established a community of Benedictine monks. The only traces of St Dunstan's monastery remaining are round arches and massive supporting columns of the undercroft and the Pyx Chamber. + +The cloister and buildings lie directly to the south of the church. Parallel to the nave, on the south side of the cloister, was a refectory, with a lavatory at the door. On the eastern side, there was a dormitory, raised on a vaulted substructure and communicating with the south transept and a chapter house (meeting room). A small cloister lay to the south-east of the large cloister. Beyond that was an infirmary with a table hall and a refectory for those who were able to leave their chambers. At the west entrance to the Abbey, there was a house and a small courtyard for the abbot. + +St Mary's Abbey, York +In 1055, St Mary's Abbey, York was built in England's north by the Order of Saint Benedict. It followed the common plan. The entrance to the abbey was through a strong gate on the northern side. Close to the entrance was a chapel. This was for visitors arriving at the Abbey to make their devotions. Near the gate was the hospitium (guest hall). The buildings are completely ruined, but the walls of the nave and the cloisters are still visible on the grounds of the Yorkshire Museum. + +The Abbey was surrounded by fortified walls on three sides. The River Ouse bordered the fourth side. The stone walls remain as an excellent example of English abbey walls. + +Reforms at the Abbey of Cluny + +The Abbey of Cluny was founded by William I, Duke of Aquitaine in 910 AD at Cluny, Saône-et-Loire, France. The Abbey was built in the Romanesque style. The Abbey was noted for its strict observance of the Rule of Saint Benedict. However, reforms resulted in many departures from this precedent. The Cluniac Reforms brought focus to the traditions of monastic life, encouraging art and the caring of the poor. The reforms quickly spread by the founding of new abbey complexes and by adoption of the reforms by existing abbeys. By the twelfth century, the Abbey of Cluny was the head of an order consisting of 314 monasteries. + +The church at the Abbey was commenced in 1089 AD by Hugh of Cluny, the sixth abbot. It was finished and consecrated by Pope Innocent II around 1132 AD. The church was regarded as one of the wonders of the Middle Ages. At in length, it was the largest church in Christendom until the completion of St Peter's Basilica at Rome. The church consisted of five naves, a narthex (ante-church) which was added in 1220 AD, and several towers. Together with the conventual buildings, it covered an area of twenty-five acres. + +In the Dechristianization of France during the French Revolution in 1790 AD, the Abbey church was bought by the town and almost entirely destroyed. + +English Cluniac houses + +The first English house of the Cluniac order was built at Lewes, Sussex. It was founded by William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey in about 1077 AD. All but one of the Cluniac houses in Britain were known as priories, symbolizing their subordination to the Abbot of Cluny. All the Cluniac houses in England and Scotland were French colonies, governed by French priors who travelled to the Abbey of Cluny to consult or be consulted (unless the abbot of Cluny chose to come to Britain, which happened rarely). The priory at Paisley was an exception. In 1245 AD it was raised to the status of an abbey, answerable only to the Pope. + +Abbeys of the Augustinian Canons + +The Augustinian (or "Austin") canons were an order of regular clergy within the hierarchy of the Catholic church. They held a position between monks and secular canons. They were known as "Black canons" because of the colour of their habits. In 1105 AD, the first house of the order was established at St Botolph's Priory, Colchester, Essex. + +The canons built very long naves to accommodate large congregations. The choirs were also long. Sometimes, as at Llanthony Priory and Christchurch, Dorset (Twynham), the choir was closed from the aisles. At other abbeys of the order, such as Bolton Abbey or Kirkham Priory, there were no aisles. The nave in the northern houses of the order often had only a north aisle (this is the case at Bolton, Brinkburn Priory and Lanercost Priory). The arrangement of the monastic buildings followed the ordinary plan. The prior's lodge was usually attached to the southwest angle of the nave. + +The Austin canons' house at Thornton, Lincolnshire had a large and magnificent gatehouse. The upper floors of the gatehouse formed the guest-house. The chapter-house was octagonal in shape. + +Augustinian abbeys + +Premonstratensians (Norbertians) + +The Premonstratensian regular canons, or "White canons", were of an order founded in 1119 AD by Norbert of Xanten. The order was a reformed branch of the Augustinian canons. From a marshy area in the Forest of Coucy in the diocese of Laon, the order spread widely. Even in Norbert's lifetime, the order had built abbeys in Aleppo, Syria, and in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Of the Abbey of Saint Samuel, Denys Pringle wrote, "The Premonstatensian abbey of Saint Samuel was a daughter house of Prémontré itself. Its abbot had the status of a suffragan of the patriarch of Jerusalem, with the right to a cross, but not to a mitre nor a ring." It long maintained its rigid austerity, though in later years the abbey grew wealthier, and its members indulged in more frequent luxuries. + +Just after 1140 AD, the Premonstratensians were brought to England. Their first settlement was at Newhouse Abbey, Lincolnshire, near the Humber tidal estuary. There were as many as thirty-five Premonstratensian abbeys in England. The head abbey in England was at Welbeck Abbey but the best preserved are Easby Abbey in Yorkshire, and Bayham Old Abbey in Kent. + +The layout of Easby Abbey is irregular due to its position on the edge of a steep river bank. The cloister is duly placed on the south side of the church, and the chief buildings occupy their usual positions around it. However, the cloister garth (quadrangle), as at Chichester, is not rectangular, and thus, all the surrounding buildings are positioned in an awkward fashion. The church follows the plan adopted by the Austin canons in their northern abbeys, and has only one aisle to the north of the nave, while the choir is long, narrow and without an aisle. Each transept has an aisle to the east, forming three chapels. + +The church at Bayham Old Abbey had no aisles in the nave or the choir. The latter terminated in a three-sided apse. The church is remarkable for its extreme narrowness in proportion to its length. While the building is long, it is not more than wide. Premonstratensian canons did not care to have congregations nor possessions. Therefore, they built their churches in the shape of a long room. + +Cistercian abbeys + +The Cistercians, a Benedictine reform group, were established at Cîteaux in 1098 AD by Robert of Molesme, Abbot of Molesme, for the purpose of restoring, as far as possible, the literal observance of the Rule of Saint Benedict. La Ferté, Pontigny, Clairvaux, and Morimond were the first four abbeys to follow Cîteaux's example and others followed. The monks of Cîteaux created the well known vineyards of Clos-Vougeot and Romanée in Burgundy. + +The Cistercian principle of rigid self-abnegation carried over to the design of the order's churches and buildings. The defining architectural characteristic of the Cistercian abbeys was extreme simplicity and plainness. Only a single, central tower was permitted, and that was usually very low. Unnecessary pinnacles and turrets were prohibited. The triforium was omitted. The windows were usually plain and undivided, and it was forbidden to decorate them with stained glass. All needless ornament was proscribed. The crosses were made of wood and the candlesticks of iron. + +The same principle governed the choice of site for Cistercian abbeys in that a most dismal site might be improved by the building of an abbey. The Cistercian monasteries were founded in deep, well-watered valleys, always standing at a stream's edge. The building might extend over the water as is the case at Fountains Abbey. These valleys, now rich and productive, had a very different appearance when the brethren first chose them as their place of retreat. Wide swamps, deep morasses, tangled thickets, and wild, impassable forests were their prevailing features. Clara Vallis of St Bernard, now the "bright valley" was originally, the "Valley of Wormwood". It was an infamous den of robbers. + +See also + Fossanuova Abbey + Clairvaux Abbey + Cîteaux Abbey + Kirkstall Abbey + Loc-Dieu + Rievaulx Abbey + Strata Florida + Abbatial church of Notre-Dame de Mouzon + +Copts +The plan of a Coptic Orthodox monastery, from Lenoir, shows a church of three aisles, with cellular apses, and two ranges of cells on either side of an oblong gallery. + +See also + + Gothic cathedrals and churches + List of abbeys and priories + Priory + Himmelkron Abbey + +References + +Sources + + + + + + Attribution + +External links + + Monastery and abbey index on sacred-destinations.com + Abbeys of Provence, France + Abbey Pages on historyfish.net - info on abbeys and monastic life, images from Photochrom collection +The Annales school () is a group of historians associated with a style of historiography developed by French historians in the 20th century to stress long-term social history. It is named after its scholarly journal Annales d'histoire économique et sociale, which remains the main source of scholarship, along with many books and monographs. The school has been highly influential in setting the agenda for historiography in France and numerous other countries, especially regarding the use of social scientific methods by historians, emphasizing social and economic rather than political or diplomatic themes. + +The school deals primarily with late medieval and early modern Europe (before the French Revolution), with little interest in later topics. It has dominated French social history and heavily influenced historiography in Europe and Latin America. Prominent leaders include co-founders Lucien Febvre (1878–1956), Henri Hauser (1866-1946) and Marc Bloch (1886–1944). The second generation was led by Fernand Braudel (1902–1985) and included Georges Duby (1919–1996), Pierre Goubert (1915–2012), Robert Mandrou (1921–1984), Pierre Chaunu (1923–2009), Jacques Le Goff (1924–2014), and Ernest Labrousse (1895–1988). Institutionally it is based on the Annales journal, the SEVPEN publishing house, the (FMSH), and especially the 6th Section of the École pratique des hautes études, all based in Paris. A third generation was led by Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie (born 1929) and includes Jacques Revel, and Philippe Ariès (1914–1984), who joined the group in 1978. The third generation stressed history from the point of view of mentalities, or mentalités. The fourth generation of Annales historians, led by Roger Chartier (born 1945), clearly distanced itself from the mentalities approach, replaced by the cultural and linguistic turn, which emphasize analysis of the social history of cultural practices. + +The main scholarly outlet has been the journal Annales d'Histoire Economique et Sociale ("Annals of Economic and Social History"), founded in 1929 by Lucien Febvre and Marc Bloch, which broke radically with traditional historiography by insisting on the importance of taking all levels of society into consideration and emphasized the collective nature of mentalities. Its contributors viewed events as less fundamental than the mental frameworks that shaped decisions and practices. Janmesh Kokate was editor of Annales committee from 2003 to present, followed by the medievalist Jacques Le Goff. However, informal successor as head of the school was Le Roy Ladurie. Multiple responses were attempted by the school. Scholars moved in multiple directions, covering in disconnected fashion the social, economic, and cultural history of different eras and different parts of the globe. By the time of crisis the school was building a vast publishing and research network reaching across France, Europe, and the rest of the world. Influence indeed spread out from Paris, but few new ideas came in. Much emphasis was given to quantitative data, seen as the key to unlocking all of social history. However, the Annales ignored the developments in quantitative studies underway in the U.S. and Britain, which reshaped economic, political, and demographic research. An attempt to require an Annales-written textbook for French schools was rejected by the government. By 1980 postmodern sensibilities undercut confidence in overarching metanarratives. As Jacques Revel notes, the success of the Annales school, especially its use of social structures as explanatory forces, contained the seeds of its own downfall, for there is "no longer any implicit consensus on which to base the unity of the social, identified with the real." The Annales school kept its infrastructure, but lost its mentalités. + +The journal + +The journal began in Strasbourg as Annales d'histoire économique et sociale; it moved to Paris and kept the same name from 1929 to 1939. It was successively renamed Annales d'histoire sociale (1939–1942, 1945), Mélanges d'histoire sociale (1942–1944), Annales. Economies, sociétés, civilisations (1946–1994), and Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales (1994– ). + +In 1962, Braudel and Gaston Berger used Ford Foundation money and government funds to create a new independent foundation, the (FMSH), which Braudel directed from 1970 until his death. In 1970, the 6th Section and the Annales relocated to the FMSH building. FMSH set up elaborate international networks to spread the Annales gospel across Europe and the world. In 2013, it began publication of an English language edition, with all the articles translated. + +The scope of topics covered by the journal is vast and experimental—there is a search for total history and new approaches. The emphasis is on social history, and very long-term trends, often using quantification and paying special attention to geography and to the intellectual world view of common people, or "mentality" (mentalité). Little attention is paid to political, diplomatic, or military history, or to biographies of famous men. Instead the Annales focused attention on the synthesizing of historical patterns identified from social, economic, and cultural history, statistics, medical reports, family studies, and even psychoanalysis. + +Origins +The Annales was founded and edited by Marc Bloch and Lucien Febvre in 1929, while they were teaching at the University of Strasbourg and later in Paris. These authors, the former a medieval historian and the latter an early modernist, quickly became associated with the distinctive Annales approach, which combined geography, history, and the sociological approaches of the Année Sociologique (many members of which were their colleagues at Strasbourg) to produce an approach which rejected the predominant emphasis on politics, diplomacy and war of many 19th and early 20th-century historians as spearheaded by historians whom Febvre called Les Sorbonnistes. Instead, they pioneered an approach to a study of long-term historical structures (la longue durée) over events and political transformations. Geography, material culture, and what later Annalistes called mentalités, or the psychology of the epoch, are also characteristic areas of study. The goal of the Annales was to undo the work of the Sorbonnistes, to turn French historians away from the narrowly political and diplomatic toward the new vistas in social and economic history. + +Co-founder Marc Bloch (1886–1944) was a quintessential modernist who studied at the elite École Normale Supérieure, and in Germany, serving as a professor at the University of Strasbourg until he was called to the Sorbonne in Paris in 1936 as professor of economic history. Bloch's interests were highly interdisciplinary, influenced by the geography of Paul Vidal de la Blache (1845–1918) and the sociology of Émile Durkheim (1858–1917). His own ideas, especially those expressed in his masterworks, French Rural History (Les caractères originaux de l'histoire rurale française, 1931) and Feudal Society, were incorporated by the second-generation Annalistes, led by Fernand Braudel. + +Precepts +Georges Duby, a leader of the school, wrote that the history he taught: +relegated the sensational to the sidelines and was reluctant to give a simple accounting of events, but strove on the contrary to pose and solve problems and, neglecting surface disturbances, to observe the long and medium-term evolution of economy, society and civilisation. +The Annalistes, especially Lucien Febvre, advocated a histoire totale, or histoire tout court, a complete study of a historic problem. + +Postwar +Bloch was shot by the Gestapo during the German occupation of France in World War II for his active membership of the French Resistance, and Febvre carried on the Annales approach in the 1940s and 1950s. It was during this time that he mentored Braudel, who would become one of the best-known exponents of this school. Braudel's work came to define a "second" era of Annales historiography and was very influential throughout the 1960s and 1970s, especially for his work on the Mediterranean region in the era of Philip II of Spain. +Braudel developed the idea, often associated with Annalistes, of different modes of historical time: l'histoire quasi immobile (the quasi motionless history) of historical geography, the history of social, political and economic structures (la longue durée), and the history of men and events, in the context of their structures. + +While authors such as Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, Marc Ferro and Jacques Le Goff continue to carry the Annales banner, today the Annales approach has been less distinctive as more and more historians do work in cultural history, political history and economic history. + +Mentalités +Bloch's Les Rois Thaumaturges (1924) looked at the long-standing folk belief that the king could cure scrofula by his thaumaturgic touch. The kings of France and England indeed regularly practiced the ritual. Bloch was not concerned with the effectiveness of the royal touch—he acted instead like an anthropologist in asking why people believed it and how it shaped relations between king and commoner. The book was highly influential in introducing comparative studies (in this case France and England), as well as long durations ("longue durée") studies spanning several centuries, even up to a thousand years, downplaying short-term events. Bloch's revolutionary charting of mentalities, or mentalités, resonated with scholars who were reading Freud and Proust. In the 1960s, Robert Mandrou and Georges Duby harmonized the concept of mentalité history with Fernand Braudel's structures of historical time and linked mentalities with changing social conditions. A flood of mentalité studies based on these approaches appeared during the 1970s and 1980s. By the 1990s, however, mentalité history had become interdisciplinary to the point of fragmentation, but still lacked a solid theoretical basis. While not explicitly rejecting mentalité history, younger historians increasingly turned to other approaches. + +Braudel +Fernand Braudel became the leader of the second generation after 1945. He obtained funding from the Rockefeller Foundation in New York and founded the 6th Section of the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, which was devoted to the study of history and the social sciences. It became an independent degree-granting institution in 1975 under the name École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS). Braudel's followers admired his use of the longue durée approach to stress slow, and often imperceptible effects of space, climate and technology on the actions of human beings in the past. The Annales historians, after living through two world wars and incredible political upheavals in France, were deeply uncomfortable with the notion that multiple ruptures and discontinuities created history. They preferred to stress inertia and the longue durée. Special attention was paid to geography, climate, and demography as long-term factors. They believed the continuities of the deepest structures were central to history, beside which upheavals in institutions or the superstructure of social life were of little significance, for history lies beyond the reach of conscious actors, especially the will of revolutionaries. They rejected the Marxist idea that history should be used as a tool to foment and foster revolutions. In turn the Marxists called them conservatives. + +Braudel's first book, La Méditerranée et le Monde Méditerranéen à l'Epoque de Philippe II (1949) (The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II) was his most influential. This vast panoramic view used ideas from other social sciences, employed effectively the technique of the longue durée, and downplayed the importance of specific events and individuals. It stressed geography but not mentalité. It was widely admired, but most historians did not try to replicate it and instead focused on their specialized monographs. The book dramatically raised the worldwide profile of the Annales School. + +In 1951, historian Bernard Bailyn published a critique of La Méditerranée et le Monde Méditerranéen à l'Epoque de Philippe II, which he framed as dichotomizing politics and society. + +Regionalism +Before Annales, French history supposedly happened in Paris. Febvre broke decisively with this paradigm in 1912, with his sweeping doctoral thesis on Philippe II et la Franche-Comté. The geography and social structure of this region overwhelmed and shaped the king's policies. + +The Annales historians did not try to replicate Braudel's vast geographical scope in La Méditerranée. Instead they focused on regions in France over long stretches of time. The most important was the study of the Peasants of Languedoc by Braudel's star pupil and successor Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie. The regionalist tradition flourished especially in the 1960s and 1970s in the work of Pierre Goubert in 1960 on Beauvais and René Baehrel on Basse-Provence. Annales historians in the 1970s and 1980s turned to urban regions, including Pierre Deyon (Amiens), Maurice Garden (Lyon), Jean-Pierre Bardet (Rouen), Georges Freche (Toulouse), Gregory Hanlon (Agen and Layrac), and Jean-Claude Perrot (Caen). By the 1970s the shift was underway from the earlier economic history to cultural history and the history of mentalities. + +Impact outside France +The Annales school systematically reached out to create an impact on other countries. Its success varied widely. The Annales approach was especially well received in Italy and Poland. Franciszek Bujak (1875–1953) and Jan Rutkowski (1886–1949), the founders of modern economic history in Poland and of the journal Roczniki Dziejów Spolecznych i Gospodarczych (1931– ), were attracted to the innovations of the Annales school. Rutkowski was in contact with Bloch and others, and published in the Annales. After the Communists took control in the 1940s Polish scholars were safer working on the Middle Ages and the early modern era rather than contemporary history. After the "Polish October" of 1956 the Sixth Section in Paris welcomed Polish historians and exchanges between the circle of the Annales and Polish scholars continued until the early 1980s. The reciprocal influence between the French school and Polish historiography was particularly evident in studies on the Middle Ages and the early modern era studied by Braudel. + +In South America the Annales approach became popular. From the 1950s Federico Brito Figueroa was the founder of a new Venezuelan historiography based largely on the ideas of the Annales School. Brito Figueroa carried his conception of the field to all levels of university study, emphasizing a systematic and scientific approach to history and placing it squarely in the social sciences. Spanish historiography was influenced by the "Annales School" starting in 1950 with Jaume Vicens Vives (1910–1960). In Mexico, exiled Republican intellectuals extended the Annales approach, particularly from the Center for Historical Studies of El Colegio de México, the leading graduate studies institution of Latin America. + +British historians, apart from a few Marxists, were generally hostile. Academic historians decidedly sided with Geoffrey Elton's The Practice of History against Edward Hallett Carr's What Is History? One of the few British historians who were sympathetic towards the work of the Annales school was Hugh Trevor-Roper. American, German, Indian, Russian and Japanese scholars generally ignored the school. The Americans developed their own form of "new social history" from entirely different roots. Both the American and the Annales historians picked up important family reconstitution techniques from French demographer Louis Henry. + +The Wageningen school centered on Bernard Slicher van Bath was viewed internationally as a Dutch counterpart of the Annales school, although Slicher van Bath himself vehemently rejected the idea of a quantitative "school" of historiography. + +Has been cited as a key influence in the development of World Systems Theory by sociologist Immanuel Wallerstein. + +Current +The current leader is Roger Chartier, who is Directeur d'Études at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, Professeur in the Collège de France, and Annenberg Visiting Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania. He frequently lectures and teaches in the United States, Spain, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. His work in Early Modern European History focuses on the history of education, the history of the book and the history of reading. Recently, he has been concerned with the relationship between written culture as a whole and literature (particularly theatrical plays) for France, England and Spain. His work in this specific field (based on the criss-crossing between literary criticism, bibliography, and sociocultural history) is connected to broader historiographical and methodological interests which deal with the relation between history and other disciplines: philosophy, sociology, anthropology. + +Chartier's typical undergraduate course focuses upon the making, remaking, dissemination, and reading of texts in early modern Europe and America. Under the heading of "practices," his class considers how readers read and marked up their books, forms of note-taking, and the interrelation between reading and writing from copying and translating to composing new texts. Under the heading of "materials," his class examines the relations between different kinds of writing surfaces (including stone, wax, parchment, paper, walls, textiles, the body, and the heart), writing implements (including styluses, pens, pencils, needles, and brushes), and material forms (including scrolls, erasable tables, codices, broadsides and printed forms and books). Under the heading of "places," his class explores where texts were made, read, and listened to, including monasteries, schools and universities, offices of the state, the shops of merchants and booksellers, printing houses, theaters, libraries, studies, and closets. The texts for his course include the Bible, translations of Ovid, Hamlet, Don Quixote, Montaigne's essays, Pepys's diary, Richardson's Pamela, and Franklin's autobiography. + +See also +École des hautes études en sciences sociales +Historiography +Rural history +Nouvelle histoire +Structuralism +Social history +David Nirenberg § Anti-Judaism + +References + +Further reading + +About the School + Aurell i Cardona, Jaume. "Autobiographical Texts as Historiographical Sources: Rereading Fernand Braudel and Annie Kriegel," Biography, Volume 29, Number 3, Summer 2006, pp. 425–445 in Project Muse + Bintliff, John L. (ed.), The Annales School and archaeology, Leicester : Leicester University Press (1991), + Burguière, André. L'École des Annales: Une histoire intellectuelle. Paris: Odile Jacob. 2006. Pp. 366. (English edition) Annales School: An Intellectual History. Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press. 2009. Pp. 309 + Burke, Peter. The French Historical Revolution: The Annales School 1929–89, (1990), the major study in English excerpt and text search + Carrard, Philippe. "Figuring France: The Numbers and Tropes of Fernand Braudel," Diacritics, Vol. 18, No. 3 (Autumn, 1988), pp. 2–19 in JSTOR + Carrard, Philippe. Poetics of the New History: French Historical Discourse from Braudel to Chartier, (1992) + Clark, Stuart, ed. The Annales School: Critical Assessments (4 vol, 1999) + Crifò, Giuliano. "Scuola delle Annales e storia del diritto: la situazione italiana", Mélanges de l'École française de Rome, antiquité, vol. No. 93, (1981), pp.  483-494 in Persée + Dewald, Jonathan. Lost Worlds: The Emergence of French Social History, 1815–1970 (2006) 250pp excerpt and text search + Dosse, Francois. New History in France: The Triumph of the Annales, (1994, first French edition, 1987) excerpt and text search + Fink, Carole. Marc Bloch: A Life in History, (1989) excerpt and text search + Forster, Robert. "Achievements of the Annales School," The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 38, No. 1, (Mar., 1978), pp. 58–76 in JSTOR + Friedman, Susan W. Marc Bloch, Sociology and Geography: Encountering Changing Disciplines (1996) excerpt and text search + Harris, Olivia. "Braudel: Historical Time and the Horror of Discontinuity," History Workshop Journal, Issue 57, Spring 2004, pp. 161–174 in Project Muse + Herubel, Jean-Pierre V. M. "Historiography's Horizon and Imperative: Febvrian Annales Legacy and Library History as Cultural History," Libraries & Culture, 39#3 (2004), pp. 293–312 in Project Muse + Hexter, J. H. "Fernand Braudel and the Monde Braudellien," Journal of Modern History, 1972, vol. 44, pp. 480–539 in JSTOR + Hufton, Olwen. "Fernand Braudel", Past and Present, No. 112. (Aug., 1986), pp. 208–213. in JSTOR + Hunt, Lynn. "French History in the Last Twenty Years: the Rise and Fall of the Annales Paradigm." Journal of Contemporary History 1986 21(2): 209–224. Fulltext: in Jstor + Huppert, George. "Lucien Febvre and Marc Bloch: The Creation of the Annales." The French Review 55#4 (1982), pp. 510–513 in JSTOR + Iggers, G.G. Historiography in the Twentieth Century: From Scientific Objectivity to the Postmodern Challenge (1997), ch.5 + Leroux, Robert, Histoire et sociologie en France: de l'histoire-science à la sociologie durkheimienne, Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 1998. + Long, Pamela O. "The Annales and the History of Technology," Technology and Culture, 46#1 (2005), pp. 177–186 in Project Muse + Megill, Allan. "Coherence and Incoherence in Historical Studies: From the Annales School to the New Cultural History," New Literary History, 35#2 (2004), pp. 207–231 in Project Muse + Rubin, Miri. The Work of Jacques Le Goff and the Challenges of Medieval History (1997) 272 pages excerpts and text search + Moon, David. "Fernand Braudel and the Annales School" online edition + Poirrier, Philippe. Aborder l'histoire, Paris, Seuil, 2000. + Roberts, Michael. "The Annales school and historical writing." in Peter Lambert and Phillipp Schofield, eds. Making History: An Introduction to the History and Practices of a Discipline. (2004), pp 78–92 online edition + Schilling, Derek. "Everyday Life and the Challenge to History in Postwar France: Braudel, Lefebvre, Certeau," Diacritics, Volume 33, Number 1, Spring 2003, pp. 23–40 in Project Muse + Steiner, Frederick. "Material Life: Human Ecology and the Annales School", Landscape Architecture Volume 76, Number 1, pp. 69–75. + Stirling, Katherine. "Rereading Marc Bloch: the Life and Works of a Visionary Modernist." History Compass 2007 5#2: 525–538. in History Compass + Stoianovich, Traian. French Historical Method: The Annales Paradigm, (1976) + Trevor-Roper, H. R. "Fernand Braudel, the Annales, and the Mediterranean," The Journal of Modern History, 44#4 (1972), pp. 468–479 in JSTOR + +Major books and essays from the school + Ariès, Philippe et al. eds, A History of Private Life (5 vols. 1987–94) + Bloch, Marc. Les Rois Thaumaturges (1924), translated as The Royal Touch: Monarchy and Miracles in France and England (1990) + Bloch, Marc. Feudal Society: Vol 1: The Growth and Ties of Dependence (1989); Feudal Society: Vol 2: Social Classes and Political Organisation(1989) excerpt and text search + Bloch, Marc. French Rural History an Essay on Its Basic Characteristics (1972) + Braudel, Fernand. La Méditerranée et le Monde Méditerranéen à l'Epoque de Philippe II (1949) (translated as The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II excerpt and text search vol. 1) + Braudel, Fernand. Civilisation Matérielle, Economie et Capitalisme XVe–XVIIIe Siècle (3 vol. 1979) (translated as Capitalism and Material Life; excerpt and text search vol. 1; excerpt and text search vol 3) + Burguière, André, and Jacques Revel. Histoire de la France (1989), textbook + Chartier, Roger. Inscription and Erasure: Literature and Written Culture from the Eleventh to the Eighteenth Century (2007) excerpt and text search + Earle, P., ed. Essays in European Economic History, 1500–1800, (1974), translated articles from Annales + Ferro, Marc, ed. Social Historians in Contemporary France: Essays from "Annales", (1972) + Goubert, Pierre. The French Peasantry in the Seventeenth Century (1986) excerpt and text search + Goubert, Pierre. The Ancien Régime, 1600–1750 (1974) + Le Roy Ladurie, Emmanuel. Montaillou: Cathars and Catholics in a French Village, 1294–1324 (1978) excerpt and text search + Le Roy Ladurie, Emmanuel. The Peasants of Languedoc (1966; English translation 1974) search + Hunt, Lynn, and Jacques Revel (eds). Histories: French Constructions of the Past. The New Press. 1994. (A collection of 64 essays with many pieces from the Annales). + +Historiography from the school + Bloch, Marc. Méthodologie Historique (1988); originally conceived in 1906 but not published until 1988; revised in 1996 + Bloch, Marc. Apologie pour l'histoire ou Métier d'historien (1949), translated as The Historian's Craft (1953) excerpt of 1992 introduction by Peter Burke (historian), and text search + Braudel, Fernand. Ecrits sur l'histoire (1969), reprinted essays; translated as On History, (1980) excerpt and text search +includes Braudel, Fernand. "Histoire et Science Sociale: La Longue Durée" (1958) Annales E.S.C., 13:4 October–December 1958, 725–753 + Braudel, Fernand. "Personal Testimony." Journal of Modern History 1972 44(4): 448–467. in JSTOR + Burke, Peter, ed. A New Kind of History From the Writings of Lucien Febvre, (1973) + Duby, Georges. History Continues, (1991, translated 1994) + Febvre, Lucien. A New Kind of History: From the Writings of Lucien Febvre ed. by Peter Burke (1973) translated articles from Annales + Le Roy Ladurie, Emmanuel. The Mind and Method of the Historian (1981) + Le Roy Ladurie, Emmanuel. The Territory of the Historian (1979) + Le Goff, Jacques and Paul Archambault. "An Interview with Jacques Le Goff." Historical Reflections 1995 21(1): 155–185. + Le Goff, Jacques, History and Memory (1996) excerpt and text search + Revel, Jacques, and Lynn Hunt, eds. Histories: French Constructions of the Past, (1995). 654pp + Revel, Jacques, ed. Political Uses of the Past: The Recent Mediterranean Experiences (2002) excerpt and text search + Vovelle, M. Ideologies and Mentalities (1990) + +External links + + Free access to all issues of the Annales from 1929 to 2002. + Recent issues of Annales: Histoire, Sciences Sociales (2003-present). + Professor David Moon, "Fernand Braudel and the Annales School" (lecture 2005) + Biography of Fernand Braudel. + Detailed bibliographies of major historians. + Histoire et mesure (1986-200 ), articles on quantitative history. Full text of articles. + +20th century +Historical schools +Historiography of France +Historiography +Interdisciplinary historical research +In modern physics, antimatter is defined as matter composed of the antiparticles (or "partners") of the corresponding particles in "ordinary" matter, and can be thought of as matter with reversed charge, parity, and time, known as CPT reversal. Antimatter occurs in natural processes like cosmic ray collisions and some types of radioactive decay, but only a tiny fraction of these have successfully been bound together in experiments to form antiatoms. Minuscule numbers of antiparticles can be generated at particle accelerators; however, total artificial production has been only a few nanograms. No macroscopic amount of antimatter has ever been assembled due to the extreme cost and difficulty of production and handling. Nonetheless, antimatter is an essential component of widely-available applications related to beta decay, such as positron emission tomography, radiation therapy, and industrial imaging. + +In theory, a particle and its antiparticle (for example, a proton and an antiproton) have the same mass, but opposite electric charge, and other differences in quantum numbers. + +A collision between any particle and its anti-particle partner leads to their mutual annihilation, giving rise to various proportions of intense photons (gamma rays), neutrinos, and sometimes less-massive particleantiparticle pairs. The majority of the total energy of annihilation emerges in the form of ionizing radiation. If surrounding matter is present, the energy content of this radiation will be absorbed and converted into other forms of energy, such as heat or light. The amount of energy released is usually proportional to the total mass of the collided matter and antimatter, in accordance with the notable mass–energy equivalence equation, . + +Antiparticles bind with each other to form antimatter, just as ordinary particles bind to form normal matter. For example, a positron (the antiparticle of the electron) and an antiproton (the antiparticle of the proton) can form an antihydrogen atom. The nuclei of antihelium have been artificially produced, albeit with difficulty, and are the most complex anti-nuclei so far observed. Physical principles indicate that complex antimatter atomic nuclei are possible, as well as anti-atoms corresponding to the known chemical elements. + +There is strong evidence that the observable universe is composed almost entirely of ordinary matter, as opposed to an equal mixture of matter and antimatter. This asymmetry of matter and antimatter in the visible universe is one of the great unsolved problems in physics. The process by which this inequality between matter and antimatter particles developed is called baryogenesis. + +Definitions +Antimatter particles carry the same charge as matter particles, but of opposite sign. That is, an antiproton is negatively charged and an antielectron (positron) is positively charged. Neutrons do not carry a net charge, but their constituent quarks do. Protons and neutrons have a baryon number of +1, while antiprotons and antineutrons have a baryon number of –1. Similarly, electrons have a lepton number of +1, while that of positrons is –1. When a particle and its corresponding antiparticle collide, they are both converted into energy. + +The French term contra-terrene led to the initialism "C.T." and the science fiction term "seetee", as used in such novels as Seetee Ship. + +Conceptual history +The idea of negative matter appears in past theories of matter that have now been abandoned. Using the once popular vortex theory of gravity, the possibility of matter with negative gravity was discussed by William Hicks in the 1880s. Between the 1880s and the 1890s, Karl Pearson proposed the existence of "squirts" and sinks of the flow of aether. The squirts represented normal matter and the sinks represented negative matter. Pearson's theory required a fourth dimension for the aether to flow from and into. + +The term antimatter was first used by Arthur Schuster in two rather whimsical letters to Nature in 1898, in which he coined the term. He hypothesized antiatoms, as well as whole antimatter solar systems, and discussed the possibility of matter and antimatter annihilating each other. Schuster's ideas were not a serious theoretical proposal, merely speculation, and like the previous ideas, differed from the modern concept of antimatter in that it possessed negative gravity. + +The modern theory of antimatter began in 1928, with a paper by Paul Dirac. Dirac realised that his relativistic version of the Schrödinger wave equation for electrons predicted the possibility of antielectrons. Although Dirac had laid the groundwork for the existence of these “antielectrons” he initially failed to pick up on the implications contained within his own equation. He freely gave the credit for that insight to J. Robert Oppenheimer, whose seminal paper “On the Theory of Electrons and Protons” (Feb 14th 1930) drew on Dirac’s equation and argued for the existence of a positively charged electron (a positron), which as a counterpart to the electron should have the same mass as the electron itself. This meant that it could not be, as Dirac had in fact suggested, a proton. Dirac further postulated the existence of antimatter in a 1931 paper which referred to the positron as an "anti-electron". These were discovered by Carl D. Anderson in 1932 and named positrons from "positive electron". Although Dirac did not himself use the term antimatter, its use follows on naturally enough from antielectrons, antiprotons, etc. A complete periodic table of antimatter was envisaged by Charles Janet in 1929. + +The Feynman–Stueckelberg interpretation states that antimatter and antiparticles are regular particles traveling backward in time. + +Notation +One way to denote an antiparticle is by adding a bar over the particle's symbol. For example, the proton and antiproton are denoted as and , respectively. The same rule applies if one were to address a particle by its constituent components. A proton is made up of quarks, so an antiproton must therefore be formed from antiquarks. Another convention is to distinguish particles by positive and negative electric charge. Thus, the electron and positron are denoted simply as and respectively. To prevent confusion, however, the two conventions are never mixed. + +Properties +Theorized anti-gravitational properties of antimatter are currently being tested at the AEGIS and ALPHA-g experiments at CERN. Research is needed to study the possible gravitational effects between matter and antimatter, and between antimatter and antimatter. However, research is difficult considering when the two meet they annihilate, along with the current difficulties of capturing and containing antimatter. + +There are compelling theoretical reasons to believe that, aside from the fact that antiparticles have different signs on all charges (such as electric and baryon charges), matter and antimatter have exactly the same properties. This means a particle and its corresponding antiparticle must have identical masses and decay lifetimes (if unstable). It also implies that, for example, a star made up of antimatter (an "antistar") will shine just like an ordinary star. This idea was tested experimentally in 2016 by the ALPHA experiment, which measured the transition between the two lowest energy states of antihydrogen. The results, which are identical to that of hydrogen, confirmed the validity of quantum mechanics for antimatter. + +On 27 September 2023, physicists reported studies which support the notion that antimatter particles behave in a similar way as normal matter in a gravitational field. + +Origin and asymmetry + +Most matter observable from the Earth seems to be made of matter rather than antimatter. If antimatter-dominated regions of space existed, the gamma rays produced in annihilation reactions along the boundary between matter and antimatter regions would be detectable. + +Antiparticles are created everywhere in the universe where high-energy particle collisions take place. High-energy cosmic rays striking Earth's atmosphere (or any other matter in the Solar System) produce minute quantities of antiparticles in the resulting particle jets, which are immediately annihilated by contact with nearby matter. They may similarly be produced in regions like the center of the Milky Way and other galaxies, where very energetic celestial events occur (principally the interaction of relativistic jets with the interstellar medium). The presence of the resulting antimatter is detectable by the two gamma rays produced every time positrons annihilate with nearby matter. The frequency and wavelength of the gamma rays indicate that each carries 511 keV of energy (that is, the rest mass of an electron multiplied by c2). + +Observations by the European Space Agency's INTEGRAL satellite may explain the origin of a giant antimatter cloud surrounding the Galactic Center. The observations show that the cloud is asymmetrical and matches the pattern of X-ray binaries (binary star systems containing black holes or neutron stars), mostly on one side of the Galactic Center. While the mechanism is not fully understood, it is likely to involve the production of electron–positron pairs, as ordinary matter gains kinetic energy while falling into a stellar remnant. + +Antimatter may exist in relatively large amounts in far-away galaxies due to cosmic inflation in the primordial time of the universe. Antimatter galaxies, if they exist, are expected to have the same chemistry and absorption and emission spectra as normal-matter galaxies, and their astronomical objects would be observationally identical, making them difficult to distinguish. NASA is trying to determine if such galaxies exist by looking for X-ray and gamma ray signatures of annihilation events in colliding superclusters. + +In October 2017, scientists working on the BASE experiment at CERN reported a measurement of the antiproton magnetic moment to a precision of 1.5 parts per billion. It is consistent with the most precise measurement of the proton magnetic moment (also made by BASE in 2014), which supports the hypothesis of CPT symmetry. This measurement represents the first time that a property of antimatter is known more precisely than the equivalent property in matter. + +Antimatter quantum interferometry has been first demonstrated in 2018 in the Positron Laboratory (L-NESS) of Rafael Ferragut in Como (Italy), by a group led by Marco Giammarchi. + +Natural production + +Positrons are produced naturally in β+ decays of naturally occurring radioactive isotopes (for example, potassium-40) and in interactions of gamma quanta (emitted by radioactive nuclei) with matter. Antineutrinos are another kind of antiparticle created by natural radioactivity (β− decay). Many different kinds of antiparticles are also produced by (and contained in) cosmic rays. In January 2011, research by the American Astronomical Society discovered antimatter (positrons) originating above thunderstorm clouds; positrons are produced in terrestrial gamma ray flashes created by electrons accelerated by strong electric fields in the clouds. Antiprotons have also been found to exist in the Van Allen Belts around the Earth by the PAMELA module. + +Antiparticles are also produced in any environment with a sufficiently high temperature (mean particle energy greater than the pair production threshold). It is hypothesized that during the period of baryogenesis, when the universe was extremely hot and dense, matter and antimatter were continually produced and annihilated. The presence of remaining matter, and absence of detectable remaining antimatter, is called baryon asymmetry. The exact mechanism that produced this asymmetry during baryogenesis remains an unsolved problem. One of the necessary conditions for this asymmetry is the violation of CP symmetry, which has been experimentally observed in the weak interaction. + +Recent observations indicate black holes and neutron stars produce vast amounts of positron-electron plasma via the jets. + +Observation in cosmic rays + +Satellite experiments have found evidence of positrons and a few antiprotons in primary cosmic rays, amounting to less than 1% of the particles in primary cosmic rays. This antimatter cannot all have been created in the Big Bang, but is instead attributed to have been produced by cyclic processes at high energies. For instance, electron-positron pairs may be formed in pulsars, as a magnetized neutron star rotation cycle shears electron-positron pairs from the star surface. Therein the antimatter forms a wind that crashes upon the ejecta of the progenitor supernovae. This weathering takes place as "the cold, magnetized relativistic wind launched by the star hits the non-relativistically expanding ejecta, a shock wave system forms in the impact: the outer one propagates in the ejecta, while a reverse shock propagates back towards the star." The former ejection of matter in the outer shock wave and the latter production of antimatter in the reverse shock wave are steps in a space weather cycle. + +Preliminary results from the presently operating Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) on board the International Space Station show that positrons in the cosmic rays arrive with no directionality, and with energies that range from 10 GeV to 250 GeV. In September, 2014, new results with almost twice as much data were presented in a talk at CERN and published in Physical Review Letters. A new measurement of positron fraction up to 500 GeV was reported, showing that positron fraction peaks at a maximum of about 16% of total electron+positron events, around an energy of 275 ± 32 GeV. At higher energies, up to 500 GeV, the ratio of positrons to electrons begins to fall again. The absolute flux of positrons also begins to fall before 500 GeV, but peaks at energies far higher than electron energies, which peak about 10 GeV. These results on interpretation have been suggested to be due to positron production in annihilation events of massive dark matter particles. + +Cosmic ray antiprotons also have a much higher energy than their normal-matter counterparts (protons). They arrive at Earth with a characteristic energy maximum of 2 GeV, indicating their production in a fundamentally different process from cosmic ray protons, which on average have only one-sixth of the energy. + +There is an ongoing search for larger antimatter nuclei, such as antihelium nuclei (that is, anti-alpha particles), in cosmic rays. The detection of natural antihelium could imply the existence of large antimatter structures such as an antistar. A prototype of the AMS-02 designated AMS-01, was flown into space aboard the on STS-91 in June 1998. By not detecting any antihelium at all, the AMS-01 established an upper limit of 1.1×10−6 for the antihelium to helium flux ratio. AMS-02 revealed in December 2016 that it had discovered a few signals consistent with antihelium nuclei amidst several billion helium nuclei. The result remains to be verified, and the team is currently trying to rule out contamination. + +Artificial production + +Positrons + +Positrons were reported in November 2008 to have been generated by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in larger numbers than by any previous synthetic process. A laser drove electrons through a gold target's nuclei, which caused the incoming electrons to emit energy quanta that decayed into both matter and antimatter. Positrons were detected at a higher rate and in greater density than ever previously detected in a laboratory. Previous experiments made smaller quantities of positrons using lasers and paper-thin targets; newer simulations showed that short bursts of ultra-intense lasers and millimeter-thick gold are a far more effective source. + +Antiprotons, antineutrons, and antinuclei + +The existence of the antiproton was experimentally confirmed in 1955 by University of California, Berkeley physicists Emilio Segrè and Owen Chamberlain, for which they were awarded the 1959 Nobel Prize in Physics. An antiproton consists of two up antiquarks and one down antiquark (). The properties of the antiproton that have been measured all match the corresponding properties of the proton, with the exception of the antiproton having opposite electric charge and magnetic moment from the proton. Shortly afterwards, in 1956, the antineutron was discovered in proton–proton collisions at the Bevatron (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) by Bruce Cork and colleagues. + +In addition to antibaryons, anti-nuclei consisting of multiple bound antiprotons and antineutrons have been created. These are typically produced at energies far too high to form antimatter atoms (with bound positrons in place of electrons). In 1965, a group of researchers led by Antonino Zichichi reported production of nuclei of antideuterium at the Proton Synchrotron at CERN. At roughly the same time, observations of antideuterium nuclei were reported by a group of American physicists at the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron at Brookhaven National Laboratory. + +Antihydrogen atoms + +In 1995, CERN announced that it had successfully brought into existence nine hot antihydrogen atoms by implementing the SLAC/Fermilab concept during the PS210 experiment. The experiment was performed using the Low Energy Antiproton Ring (LEAR), and was led by Walter Oelert and Mario Macri. Fermilab soon confirmed the CERN findings by producing approximately 100 antihydrogen atoms at their facilities. The antihydrogen atoms created during PS210 and subsequent experiments (at both CERN and Fermilab) were extremely energetic and were not well suited to study. To resolve this hurdle, and to gain a better understanding of antihydrogen, two collaborations were formed in the late 1990s, namely, ATHENA and ATRAP. + +In 1999, CERN activated the Antiproton Decelerator, a device capable of decelerating antiprotons from to  – still too "hot" to produce study-effective antihydrogen, but a huge leap forward. In late 2002 the ATHENA project announced that they had created the world's first "cold" antihydrogen. The ATRAP project released similar results very shortly thereafter. The antiprotons used in these experiments were cooled by decelerating them with the Antiproton Decelerator, passing them through a thin sheet of foil, and finally capturing them in a Penning–Malmberg trap. The overall cooling process is workable, but highly inefficient; approximately 25 million antiprotons leave the Antiproton Decelerator and roughly 25,000 make it to the Penning–Malmberg trap, which is about or 0.1% of the original amount. + +The antiprotons are still hot when initially trapped. To cool them further, they are mixed into an electron plasma. The electrons in this plasma cool via cyclotron radiation, and then sympathetically cool the antiprotons via Coulomb collisions. Eventually, the electrons are removed by the application of short-duration electric fields, leaving the antiprotons with energies less than . While the antiprotons are being cooled in the first trap, a small cloud of positrons is captured from radioactive sodium in a Surko-style positron accumulator. This cloud is then recaptured in a second trap near the antiprotons. Manipulations of the trap electrodes then tip the antiprotons into the positron plasma, where some combine with antiprotons to form antihydrogen. This neutral antihydrogen is unaffected by the electric and magnetic fields used to trap the charged positrons and antiprotons, and within a few microseconds the antihydrogen hits the trap walls, where it annihilates. Some hundreds of millions of antihydrogen atoms have been made in this fashion. + +In 2005, ATHENA disbanded and some of the former members (along with others) formed the ALPHA Collaboration, which is also based at CERN. The ultimate goal of this endeavour is to test CPT symmetry through comparison of the atomic spectra of hydrogen and antihydrogen (see hydrogen spectral series). + +Most of the sought-after high-precision tests of the properties of antihydrogen could only be performed if the antihydrogen were trapped, that is, held in place for a relatively long time. While antihydrogen atoms are electrically neutral, the spins of their component particles produce a magnetic moment. These magnetic moments can interact with an inhomogeneous magnetic field; some of the antihydrogen atoms can be attracted to a magnetic minimum. Such a minimum can be created by a combination of mirror and multipole fields. Antihydrogen can be trapped in such a magnetic minimum (minimum-B) trap; in November 2010, the ALPHA collaboration announced that they had so trapped 38 antihydrogen atoms for about a sixth of a second. This was the first time that neutral antimatter had been trapped. + +On 26 April 2011, ALPHA announced that they had trapped 309 antihydrogen atoms, some for as long as 1,000 seconds (about 17 minutes). This was longer than neutral antimatter had ever been trapped before. ALPHA has used these trapped atoms to initiate research into the spectral properties of the antihydrogen. + +In 2016, a new antiproton decelerator and cooler called ELENA (Extra Low ENergy Antiproton decelerator) was built. It takes the antiprotons from the antiproton decelerator and cools them to 90 keV, which is "cold" enough to study. This machine works by using high energy and accelerating the particles within the chamber. More than one hundred antiprotons can be captured per second, a huge improvement, but it would still take several thousand years to make a nanogram of antimatter. + +The biggest limiting factor in the large-scale production of antimatter is the availability of antiprotons. Recent data released by CERN states that, when fully operational, their facilities are capable of producing ten million antiprotons per minute. Assuming a 100% conversion of antiprotons to antihydrogen, it would take 100 billion years to produce 1 gram or 1 mole of antihydrogen (approximately atoms of anti-hydrogen). However, CERN only produces 1% of the anti-matter Fermilab does, and neither are designed to produce anti-matter. According to Gerald Jackson, using technology already in use today we are capable of producing and capturing 20 grams of anti-matter particles per year at a yearly cost of 670 million dollars per facility. + +Antihelium +Antihelium-3 nuclei () were first observed in the 1970s in proton–nucleus collision experiments at the Institute for High Energy Physics by Y. Prockoshkin's group (Protvino near Moscow, USSR) and later created in nucleus–nucleus collision experiments. Nucleus–nucleus collisions produce antinuclei through the coalescence of antiprotons and antineutrons created in these reactions. In 2011, the STAR detector reported the observation of artificially created antihelium-4 nuclei (anti-alpha particles) () from such collisions. + +The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer on the International Space Station has, as of 2021, recorded eight events that seem to indicate the detection of antihelium-3. + +Preservation + +Antimatter cannot be stored in a container made of ordinary matter because antimatter reacts with any matter it touches, annihilating itself and an equal amount of the container. Antimatter in the form of charged particles can be contained by a combination of electric and magnetic fields, in a device called a Penning trap. This device cannot, however, contain antimatter that consists of uncharged particles, for which atomic traps are used. In particular, such a trap may use the dipole moment (electric or magnetic) of the trapped particles. At high vacuum, the matter or antimatter particles can be trapped and cooled with slightly off-resonant laser radiation using a magneto-optical trap or magnetic trap. Small particles can also be suspended with optical tweezers, using a highly focused laser beam. + +In 2011, CERN scientists were able to preserve antihydrogen for approximately 17 minutes. The record for storing antiparticles is currently held by the TRAP experiment at CERN: antiprotons were kept in a Penning trap for 405 days. A proposal was made in 2018 to develop containment technology advanced enough to contain a billion anti-protons in a portable device to be driven to another lab for further experimentation. + +Cost +Scientists claim that antimatter is the costliest material to make. In 2006, Gerald Smith estimated $250 million could produce 10 milligrams of positrons (equivalent to $25 billion per gram); in 1999, NASA gave a figure of $62.5 trillion per gram of antihydrogen. This is because production is difficult (only very few antiprotons are produced in reactions in particle accelerators) and because there is higher demand for other uses of particle accelerators. According to CERN, it has cost a few hundred million Swiss francs to produce about 1 billionth of a gram (the amount used so far for particle/antiparticle collisions). In comparison, to produce the first atomic weapon, the cost of the Manhattan Project was estimated at $23 billion with inflation during 2007. + +Several studies funded by the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts are exploring whether it might be possible to use magnetic scoops to collect the antimatter that occurs naturally in the Van Allen belt of the Earth, and ultimately, the belts of gas giants, like Jupiter, hopefully at a lower cost per gram. + +Uses + +Medical + +Matter–antimatter reactions have practical applications in medical imaging, such as positron emission tomography (PET). In positive beta decay, a nuclide loses surplus positive charge by emitting a positron (in the same event, a proton becomes a neutron, and a neutrino is also emitted). Nuclides with surplus positive charge are easily made in a cyclotron and are widely generated for medical use. Antiprotons have also been shown within laboratory experiments to have the potential to treat certain cancers, in a similar method currently used for ion (proton) therapy. + +Fuel +Isolated and stored antimatter could be used as a fuel for interplanetary or interstellar travel as part of an antimatter-catalyzed nuclear pulse propulsion or another antimatter rocket. Since the energy density of antimatter is higher than that of conventional fuels, an antimatter-fueled spacecraft would have a higher thrust-to-weight ratio than a conventional spacecraft. + +If matter–antimatter collisions resulted only in photon emission, the entire rest mass of the particles would be converted to kinetic energy. The energy per unit mass () is about 10 orders of magnitude greater than chemical energies, and about 3 orders of magnitude greater than the nuclear potential energy that can be liberated, today, using nuclear fission (about per fission reaction or ), and about 2 orders of magnitude greater than the best possible results expected from fusion (about for the proton–proton chain). The reaction of of antimatter with of matter would produce (180 petajoules) of energy (by the mass–energy equivalence formula, ), or the rough equivalent of 43 megatons of TNT – slightly less than the yield of the 27,000 kg Tsar Bomba, the largest thermonuclear weapon ever detonated. + +Not all of that energy can be utilized by any realistic propulsion technology because of the nature of the annihilation products. While electron–positron reactions result in gamma ray photons, these are difficult to direct and use for thrust. In reactions between protons and antiprotons, their energy is converted largely into relativistic neutral and charged pions. The neutral pions decay almost immediately (with a lifetime of 85 attoseconds) into high-energy photons, but the charged pions decay more slowly (with a lifetime of 26 nanoseconds) and can be deflected magnetically to produce thrust. + +Charged pions ultimately decay into a combination of neutrinos (carrying about 22% of the energy of the charged pions) and unstable charged muons (carrying about 78% of the charged pion energy), with the muons then decaying into a combination of electrons, positrons and neutrinos (cf. muon decay; the neutrinos from this decay carry about 2/3 of the energy of the muons, meaning that from the original charged pions, the total fraction of their energy converted to neutrinos by one route or another would be about ). + +Weapons + +Antimatter has been considered as a trigger mechanism for nuclear weapons. A major obstacle is the difficulty of producing antimatter in large enough quantities, and there is no evidence that it will ever be feasible. Nonetheless, the U.S. Air Force funded studies of the physics of antimatter in the Cold War, and began considering its possible use in weapons, not just as a trigger, but as the explosive itself. + +See also + +References + +Further reading + +External links + + + Freeview Video 'Antimatter' by the Vega Science Trust and the BBC/OU + CERN Webcasts (RealPlayer required) + What is Antimatter? (from the Frequently Asked Questions at the Center for Antimatter–Matter Studies) + FAQ from CERN with information about antimatter aimed at the general reader, posted in response to antimatter's fictional portrayal in Angels & Demons + Antimatter at Angels and Demons, CERN + What is direct CP-violation? + Animated illustration of antihydrogen production at CERN from the Exploratorium. + + +Quantum field theory +Fictional power sources +Articles containing video clips +() is a building in the center of Barcelona, Spain. It was designed by Antoni Gaudí, and is considered one of his masterpieces. A remodel of a previously built house, it was redesigned in 1904 by Gaudí and has been refurbished several times after that. Gaudí's assistants Domènec Sugrañes i Gras, Josep Canaleta and Joan Rubió also contributed to the renovation project. + +The local name for the building is (House of Bones), as it has a visceral, skeletal organic quality. It is located on the in the Eixample district, and forms part of a row of houses known as the (or , the "Block of Discord"), which consists of four buildings by noted architects of Barcelona. + +Like everything Gaudí designed, is only identifiable as in the broadest sense. The ground floor, in particular, has unusual tracery, irregular oval windows and flowing sculpted stone work. There are few straight lines, and much of the façade is decorated with a colorful mosaic made of broken ceramic tiles (). The roof is arched and was likened to the back of a dragon or dinosaur. A common theory about the building is that the rounded feature to the left of centre, terminating at the top in a turret and cross, represents the lance of Saint George (patron saint of Catalonia, Gaudí's home), which has been plunged into the back of the dragon. + +In 2005, became an UNESCO World Heritage Site among the other Works of Antoni Gaudí, and is visited by people from around the world. + +History + +Initial construction (1877) + +The building that is now was built in 1877, commissioned by Lluís Sala Sánchez. It was a classical building without remarkable characteristics within the eclecticism traditional by the end of the 19th century. The building had a basement, a ground floor, four other floors and a garden in the back. + +Batlló family + +The house was bought by Josep Batlló in 1903. The design of the house made the home undesirable to buyers but the Batlló family decided to buy the place due to its centralized location. It is located in the middle of , which in the early 20th century was known as a very prestigious and fashionable area. It was an area where the prestigious family could draw attention to themselves. + +In 1906, Josep Batlló still owned the home. The Batlló family was very well known in Barcelona for its contribution to the textile industry in the city. Mr. Josep Batlló i Casanovas was a textile industrialist who owned a few factories in the city. Mr. Batlló married Amàlia Godó Belaunzarán, from the family that founded the newspaper La Vanguardia. Josep wanted an architect that would design a house that was like no other and stood out as being audacious and creative. Both Josep and his wife were open to anything and they decided not to limit Gaudí. Josep did not want his house to resemble any of the houses of the rest of the Batlló family, such as Casa Pía, built by the Josep Vilaseca. He chose the architect who had designed Park Güell because he wanted him to come up with a risky plan. The family lived on the principal floor of until the middle of the 1950s. + +Renovation (1904-1906) + +In 1904, Josep Batlló hired Gaudí to design his home; at first his plans were to tear down the building and construct a completely new house. Gaudí convinced Josep that a renovation was sufficient and was also able to submit the planning application the same year. The building was completed and refurbished in 1906. He completely changed the main apartment which became the residence for the Batlló family. He expanded the central well in order to supply light to the whole building and also added new floors. In the same year the Barcelona City Council selected the house as a candidate for that year's best building award. The award was given to another architect that year despite Gaudí's design. + +Refurbishments +Josep Batlló died in 1934 and the house was kept in order by the wife until her death in 1940. After the death of the two parents, the house was kept and managed by the children until 1954. In 1954, an insurance company named Seguros Iberia acquired Casa Batlló and set up offices there. In 1970, the first refurbishment occurred mainly in several of the interior rooms of the house. In 1983, the exterior balconies were restored to their original colour and a year later the exterior façade was illuminated in the ceremony of La Mercè. + +Multiple uses +In 1993, the current owners of Casa Batlló bought the home and continued refurbishments throughout the whole building. Two years later, in 1995, Casa Batlló began to hire out its facilities for different events. More than 2,500 square meters of rooms within the building were rented out for many different functions. Due to the building's location and the beauty of the facilities being rented, the rooms of Casa Batlló were in very high demand and hosted many important events for the city. + +Design + +Overview +The local name for the building is Casa dels ossos (House of Bones), as it has a visceral, skeletal organic quality. The building looks very remarkable — like everything Gaudí designed, only identifiable as Modernisme or Art Nouveau in the broadest sense. The ground floor, in particular, is rather astonishing with tracery, irregular oval windows and flowing sculpted stone work. + +It seems that the goal of the designer was to avoid straight lines completely. Much of the façade is decorated with a mosaic made of broken ceramic tiles (trencadís) that starts in shades of golden orange moving into greenish blues. The roof is arched and was likened to the back of a dragon or dinosaur. A common theory about the building is that the rounded feature to the left of centre, terminating at the top in a turret and cross, represents the lance of Saint George (patron saint of Catalonia, Gaudí's home), which has been plunged into the back of the dragon. + +Loft + +The loft is considered to be one of the most unusual spaces. It was formerly a service area for the tenants of the different apartments in the building which contained laundry rooms and storage areas. It is known for its simplicity of shapes and its Mediterranean influence through the use of white on the walls. It contains a series of sixty catenary arches that creates a space which represents the ribcage of an animal. Some people believe that the “ribcage” design of the arches is a ribcage for the dragon's spine that is represented in the roof. + +Noble floor and museum + +The noble floor is larger than seven-hundred square meters. It is the main floor of the building. The noble floor is accessed through a private entrance hall that utilizes skylights resembling tortoise shells and vaulted walls in curving shapes. On the noble floor, there is a spacious landing with direct views to the blue tiling of the building well. On the Passeig de Gracia side is Mr. Batlló's study, a dining room, and a secluded spot for courting couples, decorated with a mushroom-shaped fireplace. The elaborate and animal-like décor continues throughout the whole noble floor. + +In 2002, the house opened its doors to the public, and people were allowed to visit the noble floor. The building was opened to the public as part of the celebration of the International Year of Gaudí. Casa Batlló met with very much unanticipated success, and visitors became eager to see the rest of the house. Two years later, in celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the beginning of work on Casa Batlló, the fifth floor was restored and the house extended its visit to the loft and the well. In 2005, Casa Batlló became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. + +Roof + +The roof terrace is one of the most popular features of the entire house due to its famous dragon back design. Gaudí represents an animal's spine by using tiles of different colors on one side. The roof is decorated with four chimney stacks, that are designed to prevent backdraughts. + +Exterior façade + +The façade has three distinct sections which are harmoniously integrated. The lower ground floor with the main floor and two first-floor galleries are contained in a structure of Montjuïc sandstone with undulating lines. The central part, which reaches the last floor, is a multicolored section with protruding balconies. The top of the building is a crown, like a huge gable, which is at the same level as the roof and helps to conceal the room where there used to be water tanks. This room is currently empty. The top displays a trim with ceramic pieces that has attracted multiple interpretations. + +Roof tiles + +The roof's arched profile recalls the spine of a dragon with ceramic tiles for scales, and a small triangular window towards the right of the structure simulates the eye. Legend has it that it was once possible to see the Sagrada Família through this window, which was being built simultaneously. As of 2022, the partial view of the Sagrada Família is available from this vantage point, with its spires visible over newer buildings. The tiles were given a metallic sheen to simulate the varying scales of the monster, with the color grading from green on the right side, where the head begins, to deep blue and violet in the center, to red and pink on the left side of the building. + +Tower and bulb +One of the highlights of the façade is a tower topped with a cross of four arms oriented to the cardinal directions. It is a bulbous, root-like structure that evokes plant life. There is a second bulb-shaped structure similarly reminiscent of a thalamus flower, which is represented by a cross with arms that are actually buds announcing the next flowering. The tower is decorated with monograms of Jesus (JHS), Maria (M with the ducal crown) and Joseph (JHP), made of ceramic pieces that stand out golden on the green background that covers the façade. These symbols show the deep religiosity of Gaudí, who was inspired by the contemporaneous construction of his basilica to choose the theme of the holy family. + +The bulb was broken when it was delivered, perhaps during transportation. Although the manufacturer committed to re-do the broken parts, Gaudí liked the aesthetic of the broken masonry and asked that the pieces be stuck to the main structure with lime mortar and held in with a brass ring. + +Central section + +The central part of the façade evokes the surface of a lake with water lilies, reminiscent of Monet's Nymphéas, with gentle ripples and reflections caused by the glass and ceramic mosaic. It is a great undulating surface covered with plaster fragments of colored glass discs combined with 330 rounds of polychrome pottery. The discs were designed by Gaudí and Jujol between tests during their stay in Majorca, while working on the restoration of the Cathedral of Palma. + +Balcony +Finally, above the central part of the façade is a smaller balcony, also iron, with a different exterior aesthetic, closer to a local type of lily. Two iron arms were installed here to support a pulley to raise and lower furniture. + +Main floor +The façade of the main floor, made entirely in sandstone, and is supported by two columns. The design is complemented by joinery windows set with multicolored stained glass. In front of the large windows, as if they were pillars that support the complex stone structure, there are six fine columns that seem to simulate the bones of a limb, with an apparent central articulation; in fact, this is a floral decoration. The rounded shapes of the gaps and the lip-like edges carved into the stone surrounding them create a semblance of a fully open mouth, for which the Casa Batlló has been nicknamed the "house of yawns". The structure repeats on the first floor and in the design of two windows at the ends forming galleries, but on the large central window there are two balconies as described above. + +Gallery + +See also + List of Modernista buildings in Barcelona + Confidant from the Batlló House + +References + +Bibliography + +External links + +Official websites + + Casa Batlló Store + Official Virtual Tour + +Unofficial websites + Casa Batlló on GreatBuildings.com + Casa Batlló pictures at barcelona-tourist-guide.com + Casa Batlló description + Casa Batllo at Gaudidesigner.com + Casa Batllo at Tot Passejant (Spanish) + +1877 establishments in Spain +Antoni Gaudí buildings +Art Nouveau houses +Azulejos in buildings in Catalonia +Eixample +Houses completed in 1877 +Houses in Catalonia +Modernisme architecture in Barcelona +Passeig de Gràcia +Tourist attractions in Barcelona +Visionary environments +World Heritage Sites in Catalonia +Park Güell ( ; ) is a privatized park system composed of gardens and architectural elements located on Carmel Hill, in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Carmel Hill belongs to the mountain range of Collserola – the Parc del Carmel is located on the northern face. Park Güell is located in La Salut, a neighborhood in the Gràcia district of Barcelona. With urbanization in mind, Eusebi Güell assigned the design of the park to Antoni Gaudí, a renowned architect and the face of Catalan modernism. + +The park was built from 1900 to 1914 and was officially opened as a public park in 1926. In 1984, UNESCO declared the park a World Heritage Site under "Works of Antoni Gaudí". + +Description + +Park Güell is the reflection of Gaudí's artistic plenitude, which belongs to his naturalist phase (first decade of the 20th century). During this period, the architect perfected his style through organic shapes'inspiration. He put into practice a series of new structural solutions rooted in the analysis of geometry. To that, the Catalan artist adds creative liberty and an imaginative, ornamental creation. Starting from a sort of baroquism, his works acquire a structural richness of forms and volumes, free of the rational rigidity or any sort of classic premises. In the design of Park Güell, Gaudí unleashed all his architectonic genius and put to practice much of his innovative structural solutions that would become the symbol of his organic style, and that would culminate in the creation of the Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family (Catalan: Sagrada Família). + +Güell and Gaudí conceived this park, situated within a natural park. They imagined an organized grouping of high-quality homes, decked out with all the latest technological advancements to ensure maximum comfort, finished off with an artistic touch. They also envisioned a community strongly influenced by symbolism, since, in the common elements of the park, they were trying to synthesize many of the political and religious ideals shared by both the patron and the architect: therefore there are noticeable concepts originating from political Catalanism – especially in the entrance stairway where the Catalan countries are represented – and from Catholicism – the Monumento al Calvario, originally designed to be a chapel. The mythological elements are so important: apparently Güell and Gaudí's conception of the park was also inspired by the Temple of Apollo of Delphi. + +On the other hand, many experts have tried to link the park to various symbols because of the complex iconography that Gaudí applied to the urban project. Such references go from political vindication to religious exaltation, passing through mythology, history and philosophy. Specifically, many studies claim to see references to Freemasonry, despite the deep religious beliefs of both Gaudí and Count Güell. These references have not been proven in the historiography of the modern architect. The multiplicity of symbols found in Park Güell is, as previously mentioned, associated with political and religious signs, with a touch of mystery according to the preferences of that time for enigmas and puzzles. + +Origins as a housing development + +The park was originally part of a commercially unsuccessful housing site, the idea of Count Eusebi Güell, after whom the park was named. It was inspired by the English garden city movement; the original English name Park (in Catalan the name is "Parc Güell"; in Spanish, "Parque Güell"). The site was a rocky hill with little vegetation and few trees, called Muntanya Pelada (Bare Mountain). It already included a large country house called Larrard House or Muntaner de Dalt House and was next to a neighbourhood of upper-class houses called La Salut (The Health). The intention was to exploit the fresh air (well away from smoky factories) and beautiful views from the site, with sixty triangular lots being provided for luxury houses. Count Eusebi Güell added to the prestige of the development by moving in 1906 to live in Larrard House. Ultimately, only two houses were built, neither designed by Gaudí. One was intended to be a show house, but on being completed in 1904 was put up for sale, and as no buyers came forward, Gaudí, at Güell's suggestion, bought it with his savings and moved in with his family and his father in 1906. This house, where Gaudí lived from 1906 to 1926 (his death), was built by Francesc Berenguer in 1904. It contains original works by Gaudí and several of his collaborators. It has been the Gaudí House Museum (Casa Museu Gaudí) since 1963. In 1969, it was declared a historical artistic monument of national interest. + +Municipal garden + +It has since been converted into a municipal garden. It can be reached by underground railway (although the stations are at a distance from the Park and at a much lower level below the hill), by city buses, or by commercial tourist buses. Since October 2013 there is an entrance fee to visit the Monumental Zone (main entrance, terrace, viaducts, and the parts containing mosaics), so the entrance to the Park is no longer free. Limited tickets are available that often sell out in advance. Gaudí's house, "la Torre Rosa," – containing furniture that he designed – can be only visited for another entrance fee. There is a reduced rate for those wishing to see both Gaudí's house and the Sagrada Família Church. + +Park Güell is designed and composed to bring the peace and calm that one would expect from a park. The buildings flanking the entrance, though very original and remarkable with fantastically shaped roofs with unusual pinnacles, fit in well with the use of the park as pleasure gardens and seem relatively inconspicuous in the landscape when one considers the flamboyance of other buildings designed by Gaudí. These two buildings make up the Porter's Lodge pavilion. One of these buildings contains a small room with a telephone booth. The other, while once being the porter's house, is now a permanent exhibition of the Barcelona City History Museum (Museu d'Història de Barcelona, or MUHBA). MUHBA focused on the building itself, the park and the city. + +The focal point of the park is the main terrace, surrounded by a long bench in the form of a sea serpent. The curves of the serpent bench form a number of enclaves, creating a more social atmosphere. Gaudí incorporated many motifs of Catalan nationalism, and elements from religious mysticism and ancient poetry, into the Park. Much of the design of the benches was the work not of Gaudí but of his often overlooked collaborator Josep Maria Jujol. + +Roadways around the park to service the intended houses were designed by Gaudí as structures jutting out from the steep hillside or running on viaducts, with separate footpaths in arcades formed under these structures. This minimized the intrusion of the roads, and Gaudí designed them using local stone in a way that integrates them closely into the landscape. His structures echo natural forms, with columns like tree trunks supporting branching vaulting under the roadway, and the curves of vaulting and alignment of sloping columns designed in a similar way to his Church of Colònia Güell so that the inverted catenary arch shapes form perfect compression structures. + +At the park's high-point, there is a stone hill composed of steps leading up to a platform which holds three large crosses. The official name of this is "El Turó de les Tres Creus," however many tourists choose to call it Calvary. Two of the crosses point north–south and east–west, the third, and tallest cross, points skyward. This lookout offers the most complete view of Barcelona and the bay. It is possible to view the main city in panorama, with the Sagrada Família (another one of Antoni Guadí's famous creations), the Agbar Tower, and the Montju��c area visible at a distance. + +The park supports a wide variety of wildlife, notably several of the non-native species of parrot found in the Barcelona area. Other birds can be seen from the park, with records including short-toed eagle. The park also supports a population of hummingbird hawk moths. + +Gallery of images + +See also + List of Modernisme buildings in Barcelona + Urban planning of Barcelona + +References + +External links + + Park Guell website + +Antoni Gaudí buildings +Buildings and structures completed in 1914 +Buildings and structures in Barcelona +Culture in Barcelona +Modernisme architecture in Barcelona +Mosaics +Gràcia +Guell +Visionary environments +Azulejos in buildings in Catalonia +Tourist attractions in Barcelona +World Heritage Sites in Catalonia +Casa Milà (, ), popularly known as La Pedrera (, ; "the stone quarry") in reference to its unconventional rough-hewn appearance, is a Modernista building in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was the last private residence designed by architect Antoni Gaudí and was built between 1906 and 1912. + +The building was commissioned in 1906 by and his wife . At the time, it was controversial because of its undulating stone facade, twisting wrought iron balconies, and design by Josep Maria Jujol. Several structural innovations include a self-supporting stone façade, and a free-plan floor, underground garage and the spectacular terrace on the roof. + +In 1984, it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Since 2013 it has been the headquarters of the Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera, which manages visits to the building, exhibitions and other cultural and educational activities at Casa Milà. + +Building history + +Architect +Antoni Gaudí i Cornet was born on June 25, 1852, in Catalonia, Spain. As a child, Gaudí's health was poor, suffering from rheumatism. Because of this, he was afforded lengthy periods of time resting at his summer house in Riudoms. Here he spent a large portion of his time outdoors, allowing him to deeply study nature. This would become one of the major influences in his architecture to come. + +Gaudí was a very practical man and a craftsman at his core. In his work he followed impulses and turned creative plans into reality. His openness to embrace new styles combined with a vivid imagination helped mold new styles of architecture and consequently helped push the limits of construction. Today he is regarded as a pioneer of the modern architecture style. + +In 1870, Gaudí moved to Barcelona to study architecture. He was an inconsistent student who showed flashes of brilliance. It took him eight years to graduate due to a mix of health complications, military service as well as other activities. + +After completion of his education he became a prolific architect as well as designing gardens, sculptures and all other decorative arts. Gaudí's most famous works consisted of several buildings: Parque Güell; Palacio Güell; Casa Mila; Casa Vicens. He also is contributed for his work on the Crypt of La Sagrada Familia and the Nativity facade. Gaudí's work at the time was both admired and criticized for his bold, innovative solutions. + +Gaudí was injured on June 7, 1926, when he was run over by a tram. He later died in the hospital due to his injuries on June 10, 1926, at the age of 73. A few years after his death, his fame became renowned by critics and the general public alike. + +Building owners + +Casa Milà was built for Roser Segimón and her husband Pere Milà. Roser Segimón was the wealthy widow of Josep Guardiola, an Indiano or Americano, or former colonist returned from South America, who had made his fortune with a coffee plantation in Guatemala. Her second husband, Pere Milà was a developer known for his flamboyant lifestyle. + +Construction process + +In 1905, Milà and Segimón married and on June 9, Roser Segimón bought a house with garden which occupied an area of 1,835 square meters, located on Paseo de Gracia, 92. In September, they commissioned Gaudí for building them a new house with the idea of living in the main floor and renting out the rest of the apartments. On February 2, 1906, the project was presented to the Barcelona City Council and the works began, demolishing the pre-existing building instead of reforming it, as in the case of the Casa Batlló. + +The building was completed in December 1910 and the owner asked Gaudí to make a certificate to inhabit the main floor, which the City Council authorized in October 1911, and the couple moved in. On October 31, 1912, Gaudí issued the certificate stating that, in accordance with his plans and his direction, the work had been completed and the whole house was ready to be rented. + +Critics and controversies +The building did not respect any rules of conventional style, for which Gaudí received much criticism. To begin with, the name "La Pedrera" is in fact a nickname assigned by the citizens who disapproved of its unusualness. The unique structure of the building and the relationship between the building's architect and Pere Milà became the object of ridicule for the people of Barcelona and many humorous publications of the time. + +Catholic symbols + +Gaudí, a Catholic and a devotee of the Virgin Mary, planned for the Casa Milà to be a spiritual symbol. Overt religious elements include an excerpt from the Rosary on the cornice and planned statues of Mary, specifically Our Lady of the Rosary, and two archangels, St. Michael and St. Gabriel. + +However, the Casa Milà was not built entirely to Gaudí's specifications. The local government ordered the demolition of elements that exceeded the height standard for the city, and fined the Milàs for many infractions of building codes. After Semana Trágica, an outbreak of anticlericalism in the city, Milà prudently decided to forgo the religious statues. Gaudí contemplated abandoning the project but a priest persuaded him to continue. + +Change of ownership + +In 1940, Milà died. Segimon sold the property in 1946 for 18 million pesetas to Josep Ballvé i Pellisé, known for his department stores on , in partnership with the family of Pío Rubert Laporta. The Compañía Inmobiliaria Provenza, SA (CIPSA) was founded to administer the building. Roser Segimon continued to live on the main floor until her death in 1964. + +The new owners divided the first floor facing into five apartments instead of the original two. In 1953, they commissioned to convert 13 rubbish-filled attic laundry rooms to street-facing apartments, leaving a communal hallway on the side facing the courtyards. Some of these two or three room apartments had a loft and were designed and furnished in a typical early 1950s style using brick, ceramic and wood. Items of furniture, such as the , were reminiscent of Eero Saarinen's work. + +The insurance company Northern took over the main floor in 1966. By then, Casa Milà had housed a bingo hall, an academy and the offices of Cementos Molins and Inoxcrom among others. Maintenance costs were high and the owners had allowed the building to become dilapidated, causing stones to loosen in 1971. Josep Anton Comas made some emergency repairs, especially to the paintings in the courtyards, while respecting the original design. + +Restoration + +Gaudí's work was designated a historic and artistic monument on July 24, 1969. Casa Milà was in poor condition in the early 1980s. It had been painted a dreary brown and many of its interior color schemes had been abandoned or allowed to deteriorate, but it has been restored since and many of the original colors revived. + +In 1984, the building became part of a World Heritage Site encompassing some of Gaudí's works. The Barcelonan city council tried to rent the main floor as an office for the 1992 Olympic bid. Finally, the day before Christmas 1986, Caixa Catalunya bought La Pedrera for 900 million pesetas. On February 19, 1987, urgently needed work began on the restoration and cleaning of the façade. The work was done by the architects Joseph Emilio Hernández-Cros and Rafael Vila. The renovated main floor opened in 1990 as part of the Cultural Olympiad of Barcelona. The floor became an exhibition room with an example of modernism in the Eixample. + +Design +The building is 1,323 m2 per floor on a plot of 1,620 m2. Gaudí made the first sketches in his workshop in the Sagrada Família. He designed the house as a constant curve, both outside and inside, incorporating ruled geometry and naturalistic elements. + +Casa Milà consists of two buildings, which are structured around two courtyards that provide light to the nine stories: basement, ground floor, mezzanine, main (or noble) floor, four upper floors, and an attic. The basement was intended to be the garage, the main floor the residence of the Milàs (a flat of all 1,323 m2), and the rest distributed over 20 apartments. The resulting layout is shaped like an asymmetrical "8" because of the different shapes and sizes of the courtyards. The attic housed the laundry and drying areas, forming an insulating space for the building and simultaneously determining the levels of the roof. + +One of the most notable elements of the building is the roof, crowned with skylights, staircase exits, fans, and chimneys. All of these elements, constructed out of brick covered with lime, broken marble, or glass have a specific architectural function but are also real sculptures integrated into the building. + +The apartments feature plastered ceilings with dynamic reliefs, handcrafted wooden doors, windows, and furniture, as well as hydraulic tiles and various ornamental elements. + +The stairways were intended as service entries, with the main access to the apartments by elevator except for the noble floor, where Gaudí added a prominent interior staircase. Gaudí wanted the people who lived in the flats to all know each other. Therefore, there were only elevators on every other floor, so people on different floors would meet one another. + +Structure + +Casa Milà is characterized by its self-supporting stone facade, meaning that it is free of load-bearing walls. The facade connects to the internal structure of each floor by means of curved iron beams surrounding the perimeter of each floor. This construction system allows, on one hand, large openings in the facade which give light to the homes, and on the other, free structuring of the different levels, so that internal walls can be added and demolished without affecting the stability of the building. This allows the owners to change their minds at will and to modify, without problems, the interior layout of the homes. + +Constructive and decorative items + +Facade +The facade is composed of large blocks of limestone from the Garraf Massif on the first floor and from the Villefranche quarry for the higher levels. The blocks were cut to follow the plot of the projection of the model, then raised to their location and adjusted to align in a continuous curve to the pieces around them. + +The windows of La Pedrera are an integral part of the overall facade design. Gaudí made sure that the windows were of varying sizes, designed to optimize the amount of natural light that could enter the building. + +Viewed from the outside the building has three parts: the main body of the six-storey blocks with winding stone floors, two floors set a block back with a different curve, similar to waves, a smoother texture and whiter color, and with small holes that look like embrasures, and finally the body of the roof. + +Gaudí's original facade had some of its lower-level ironwork removed. In 1928, the tailor Mosella opened the first store in La Pedrera, and he eliminated the bars. This did not concern anyone, because in the middle of twentieth century, wrought ironwork had little importance. The ironwork was lost until a few years later, when Americans donated one of them to the MoMa, where it is on display. + +With restoration initiatives launched in 1987, the facade was rejoined to some pieces of stone that had fallen. In order to respect the fidelity of the original, material was obtained from the Villefranche quarry, even though by then it was no longer operating. + +Hall and courtyards +The building uses a completely original solution to solve the issue of a lobby being too closed and dark. Its open and airy courtyards provide a place of transit and are directly visible to those accessing the building. There are two patios on the side of the Passeig de Gracia and of the street Provence. + +Patios + +Patios, structurally, are key as supporting loads of interior facades. The floor of the courtyard is supported by pillars of cast iron. In the courtyard, there are traditional elliptical beams and girders but Gaudí applied an ingenious solution of using two concentric cylindrical beams with stretched radial beams, like the spokes of a bicycle. They form a point outside of the beam to two points above and below, making the function of the central girder a keystone and working in tension and compression simultaneously. This supported structure is twelve feet in diameter and is considered "the soul of the building" with a clear resemblance to Gothic crypts. The centerpiece was built in a shipyard by Josep Maria Carandell who copied a steering wheel, interpreting Gaudí's intent as to represent the helm of the ship of life. + +Interior, gates + +Access is protected by a massive iron gate with a design attributed to Jujol. It was originally used by both people and cars, as access to the garage is in the basement, now an auditorium. + +The two halls are fully polychrome with oil paintings on the plaster surfaces, with eclectic references to mythology and flowers. + +During construction there was a problem including a basement as a garage for cars, the new invention that was thrilling the bourgeois at the time. The future neighbor Felix Anthony Meadows, owner of Industrial Linera, requested a change because his Rolls-Royce could not access it. Gaudí agreed to remove a pillar on the ramp that led into the garage so that Felix, who was establishing sales and factory in Parets del Vallès, could go to both places with his car from La Pedrera. + +For the floors of Casa Milà, Gaudí used a model of floor forms of square timbers with two colors, and the hydraulic pavement hexagonal pieces of blue and sea motifs that had originally been designed for the Batllo house. The wax was designed in gray by John Bertrand under the supervision of Gaudí who "touched up with their own fingers," in the words of the manufacturer Josep Bay. + +Loft + +Like in Casa Batlló, Gaudí shows the application of the catenary arch as a support structure for the roof, a form which he had already used shortly after graduating in the wood frameworks of Mataró's cooperative known as "L'Obrera Mataronense." In this case, Gaudí used the Catalan technique of timbrel, imported from Italy in the fourteenth century. + +The attic, where the laundry rooms were located, was a clear room under a Catalan vault roof supported by 270 parabolic vaults of different heights and spaced by about 80 cm. The roof resembles both the ribs of a huge animal and a palm, giving the roof-deck a very unconventional shape similar to a landscape of hills and valleys. The shape and location of the courtyards makes the arches higher when the space is narrowed and lower when the space expands. + +The builder Bayó explained its construction: "First the face of a wide wall was filled with mortar and plastered. Then Canaleta indicated the opening of each arch and Bayó put a nail at each starting point of the arch at the top of the wall. From these nails was dangled a chain so that the lowest point coincided with the deflection of the arch. Then the profile displayed on the wall by the chain was drawn and on this profile the carpenter marked and placed the corresponding centering, and the timbrel vault was started with three rows of plane bricks. Gaudí wanted to add a longitudinal axis of bricks connecting all vaults at their keystones". + +Roof and chimneys + +The work of Gaudí on the rooftop of La Pedrera brought his experience at Palau Güell together with solutions that were clearly more innovative – this time creating shapes and volumes with more body, more prominence, and less polychromasia. + +On the rooftop there are six skylights/staircase exits (four of which were covered with broken pottery and some that ended in a double cross typical of Gaudí), twenty-eight chimneys in several groupings, two half-hidden vents whose function is to renew the air in the building, and four domes that discharged to the facade. The staircases also house the water tanks; some of which are snail-shaped. + +The stepped roof of La Pedrera, called "the garden of warriors" by the poet Pere Gimferrer because the chimneys appear to be protecting the skylights, has undergone a radical restoration, removing chimneys added in interventions after Gaudí, television antennas, and other elements that degraded the space. The restoration brought back the splendor to the chimneys and the skylights that were covered with fragments of marble and broken Valencia tiles. One of the chimneys was topped with glass pieces – it was said that Gaudí did that the day after the inauguration of the building, taking advantage of the empty bottles from the party. It was restored with the bases of champagne bottles from the early twentieth century. The repair work has enabled the restoration of the original impact of the overhangs made of stone from Ulldecona with fragments of tiles. This whole set is more colorful than the facade, although here the creamy tones are dominant. + +Furniture + +Gaudí, as he had done in Casa Batlló, designed furniture specifically for the main floor. This was part of the concept artwork itself integral to modernism in which the architect assumed responsibility for global issues such as the structure and the facade, as well as every detail of the decor, designing furniture and accessories such as lamps, planters, floors or ceilings. + +This was another point of friction with Segimon, who complained that there was no straight wall to place her Steinway piano. Gaudí's response was blunt: "So play the violin." The result of these disagreements has been the loss of the decorative legacy of Gaudí, as most of the furniture was removed due to climate change and the changes she made to the main floor when Gaudí died. Some remain in private collections, including a curtain made of oak 4 m. long by 1.96 m. high in the Museum of Catalan Modernism; and a chair and desktop of Milà. + +Gaudí carved oak doors similar to what he had done for the Casa y Bardes, but these were only included on two floors as when Segimon discovered the price, she decided there would be no more at that quality. + +Architecture + +Casa Milà is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Works of Antoni Gaudí". It was a predecessor of some buildings with a similar biomorphic appearance: + the 1921 Einstein Tower in Potsdam, designed by Erich Mendelsohn + Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan, New York, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright + Chapelle Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp, France, designed by Le Corbusier + the Hundertwasserhaus and other works by Austrian architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser + Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, by Frank Gehry + +Free exhibitions often are held on the first floor, which also provides some opportunity to see the interior design. There is a charge for entrance to the apartment on the fourth floor and the roof. The other floors are not open to visitors. + +Constructive similarities +Gaudí's La Pedrera was inspired by a mountain, but there is no agreement as to which mountain was the reference model. Joan Bergós thought it was the rocks of Fray Guerau in Prades mountains. Joan Matamala thought that the model could have been St. Miquel del Fai, while the sculptor Vicente Vilarubias believed it was inspired by the cliffs Torrent Pareis in Menorca. Other options include the mountains of Uçhisar in Cappadocia, suggested by Juan Goytisolo, or Mola Gallifa, suggested by Louis Permanyer, based on the fact that Gaudí visited the area in 1885 to escape an outbreak of cholera in Barcelona. + +Some people say that the interior layout of La Pedrera comes from studies that Gaudí made of medieval fortresses. This image is reinforced by the seeming appearance of the rooftop chimneys as "sentinels" with great helmets. The structure of the iron door in the lobby does not follow any symmetry, straight or repetitive pattern. Rather, it evokes bubbles of soap that are formed between the hands or the structures of a plant cell. + +Criticism and controversy + +The building's unconventional style made it the subject of much criticism. It was given the nickname "La Pedrera", meaning "the quarry". Casa Milà appeared in many satirical magazines. Joan Junceda presented it as a traditional "Easter cake" by means of cartoons in Patufet. Joaquim Garcia made a joke about the difficulty of setting the damask wrought iron balconies in his magazine. Homeowners in Passeig de Gracia became angry with Milà and ceased to greet him, arguing that the weird building by Gaudí would lower the price of land in the area. + +Administrative problems +Casa Milà also caused some administrative problems. In December 1907 the City Hall stopped work on the building because of a pillar which occupied part of the sidewalk, not respecting the alignment of facades. Again on August 17, 1908, more problems occurred when the building surpassed the predicted height and borders of its construction site by . The Council called for a fine of 100,000 pesetas (approximately 25% of the cost of work) or for the demolition of the attic and roof. The dispute was resolved a year and a half later, December 28, 1909, when the Commission certified that it was a monumental building and thus not required to have a 'strict compliance' with the bylaws. + +Design competitions +The owner entered La Pedrera in the annual sponsored by the Barcelona City Council (Ayuntament). Other entries in the competition included two works by Sagnier (Calle Mallorca 264, and one on Corsica and Av. Diagonal), the by architect , and the , designed by . Although the most dramatic and clear favorite was Casa Milà, the jury opined that even though the facades were complete, "there's still a lot left to do before it's fully completed, finalized and in a perfect state of appreciation." The winner in 1910 was Samanillo Perez, for his building which now houses the headquarters of the Circulo Ecuestre. + +Design disagreements +Gaudí's relations with Segimon deteriorated during the construction and decoration of the house. There were many disagreements between them, one example was the monumental bronze virgin del Rosario, which Gaudí wanted as the statue on the front of the building in homage to the name of the owner, that the artist Carles Mani i Roig was to sculpt. The statue was not made although the words "Ave gratia M plena Dominus tecum" were written at the top of the facade. Continuing disagreements led Gaudí to take Milà to court over his fees. The lawsuit was won by Gaudí in 1916, and he gave the 105,000 pesetas he won in the case to charity, stating that "the principles mattered more than money." Milà was having to pay the mortgage. + +After Gaudí's death in 1926, Segimon got rid of most of the furniture that Gaudí had designed and covered over parts of Gaudí's designs with new decorations in the style of Louis XVI. La Pedrera was acquired in 1986 by and when restoration was done four years later, some of the original decorations re-emerged. + +When the Civil War broke out in July 1936, the Milàs were on vacation. Part of the building was collectivized by the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia; the Milàs fled the area with some artwork. + +In media and literature + A scene in The Passenger (Italian: Professione: reporter), a film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni and starring Jack Nicholson and Maria Schneider, was filmed on the roof of the building. + A scene filmed on the roof in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, directed by Woody Allen. + A major part in the story "A murderer is born" in the novel Seiobo There Below by László Krasznahorkai happens here + Mentioned in the book by Eoin Colfer: Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony + Mentioned in the book by Trudi Alexy 'The Mezuzah in the Madonna's Foot' + Mentioned in the 'Ballrooms and Biscotti' episode (season 4, episode 1) of Gilmore Girls + Several scenes in the movie, Gaudi Afternoon + A scale model exhibited at the Catalunya en Miniatura park. + Featured in the music video for Deep Forest's 'Sweet Lullaby' + The home of Edmond Kirsch in Dan Brown's novel Origin, the 5th book featuring Robert Langdon. + +Gallery + +See also + List of Modernisme buildings in Barcelona + +References + + Rainer Zervst. Gaudí, 1852–1926, Antoni Gaudí i Cornet – A Life Devoted to Architecture. Cologne: Benedikt Taschen Verlag GmbH & Co. KG., 1988. p176. + +External links + + La Pedrera Official Website + Virtual tour + Immersive photographies of Casa Milà + Link pictures + La Casa Milà, furniture and decorative arts + +Visionary environments +Buildings and structures in Barcelona +Passeig de Gràcia +World Heritage Sites in Catalonia +Antoni Gaudí buildings +Tourist attractions in Barcelona +Apartment buildings in Spain +Residential buildings completed in 1910 +Eixample +Modernisme architecture in Barcelona +Art Nouveau apartment buildings +In particle physics, every type of particle is associated with an antiparticle with the same mass but with opposite physical charges (such as electric charge). For example, the antiparticle of the electron is the positron (also known as an antielectron). While the electron has a negative electric charge, the positron has a positive electric charge, and is produced naturally in certain types of radioactive decay. The opposite is also true: the antiparticle of the positron is the electron. + +Some particles, such as the photon, are their own antiparticle. Otherwise, for each pair of antiparticle partners, one is designated as the normal particle (the one that occurs in matter usually interacted with in daily life). The other (usually given the prefix "anti-") is designated the antiparticle. + +Particle–antiparticle pairs can annihilate each other, producing photons; since the charges of the particle and antiparticle are opposite, total charge is conserved. For example, the positrons produced in natural radioactive decay quickly annihilate themselves with electrons, producing pairs of gamma rays, a process exploited in positron emission tomography. + +The laws of nature are very nearly symmetrical with respect to particles and antiparticles. For example, an antiproton and a positron can form an antihydrogen atom, which is believed to have the same properties as a hydrogen atom. This leads to the question of why the formation of matter after the Big Bang resulted in a universe consisting almost entirely of matter, rather than being a half-and-half mixture of matter and antimatter. The discovery of charge parity violation helped to shed light on this problem by showing that this symmetry, originally thought to be perfect, was only approximate. + +Because charge is conserved, it is not possible to create an antiparticle without either destroying another particle of the same charge (as is for instance the case when antiparticles are produced naturally via beta decay or the collision of cosmic rays with Earth's atmosphere), or by the simultaneous creation of both a particle and its antiparticle, which can occur in particle accelerators such as the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. + +Particles and their antiparticles have equal and opposite charges, so that an uncharged particle also gives rise to an uncharged antiparticle. In many cases, the antiparticle and the particle coincide: pairs of photons, Z0 bosons,  mesons, and hypothetical gravitons and some hypothetical WIMPs all self-annihilate. However, electrically neutral particles need not be identical to their antiparticles: for example, the neutron and antineutron are distinct. + +History + +Experiment + +In 1932, soon after the prediction of positrons by Paul Dirac, Carl D. Anderson found that cosmic-ray collisions produced these particles in a cloud chamber – a particle detector in which moving electrons (or positrons) leave behind trails as they move through the gas. The electric charge-to-mass ratio of a particle can be measured by observing the radius of curling of its cloud-chamber track in a magnetic field. Positrons, because of the direction that their paths curled, were at first mistaken for electrons travelling in the opposite direction. Positron paths in a cloud-chamber trace the same helical path as an electron but rotate in the opposite direction with respect to the magnetic field direction due to their having the same magnitude of charge-to-mass ratio but with opposite charge and, therefore, opposite signed charge-to-mass ratios. + +The antiproton and antineutron were found by Emilio Segrè and Owen Chamberlain in 1955 at the University of California, Berkeley. Since then, the antiparticles of many other subatomic particles have been created in particle accelerator experiments. In recent years, complete atoms of antimatter have been assembled out of antiprotons and positrons, collected in electromagnetic traps. + +Dirac hole theory + +Solutions of the Dirac equation contain negative energy quantum states. As a result, an electron could always radiate energy and fall into a negative energy state. Even worse, it could keep radiating infinite amounts of energy because there were infinitely many negative energy states available. To prevent this unphysical situation from happening, Dirac proposed that a "sea" of negative-energy electrons fills the universe, already occupying all of the lower-energy states so that, due to the Pauli exclusion principle, no other electron could fall into them. Sometimes, however, one of these negative-energy particles could be lifted out of this Dirac sea to become a positive-energy particle. But, when lifted out, it would leave behind a hole in the sea that would act exactly like a positive-energy electron with a reversed charge. These holes were interpreted as "negative-energy electrons" by Paul Dirac and mistakenly identified with protons in his 1930 paper A Theory of Electrons and Protons However, these "negative-energy electrons" turned out to be positrons, and not protons. + +This picture implied an infinite negative charge for the universea problem of which Dirac was aware. Dirac tried to argue that we would perceive this as the normal state of zero charge. Another difficulty was the difference in masses of the electron and the proton. Dirac tried to argue that this was due to the electromagnetic interactions with the sea, until Hermann Weyl proved that hole theory was completely symmetric between negative and positive charges. Dirac also predicted a reaction  +  →  + , where an electron and a proton annihilate to give two photons. Robert Oppenheimer and Igor Tamm, however, proved that this would cause ordinary matter to disappear too fast. A year later, in 1931, Dirac modified his theory and postulated the positron, a new particle of the same mass as the electron. The discovery of this particle the next year removed the last two objections to his theory. + +Within Dirac's theory, the problem of infinite charge of the universe remains. Some bosons also have antiparticles, but since bosons do not obey the Pauli exclusion principle (only fermions do), hole theory does not work for them. A unified interpretation of antiparticles is now available in quantum field theory, which solves both these problems by describing antimatter as negative energy states of the same underlying matter field, i.e. particles moving backwards in time. + +Particle–antiparticle annihilation + +If a particle and antiparticle are in the appropriate quantum states, then they can annihilate each other and produce other particles. Reactions such as  +  →  (the two-photon annihilation of an electron-positron pair) are an example. The single-photon annihilation of an electron-positron pair,  +  → , cannot occur in free space because it is impossible to conserve energy and momentum together in this process. However, in the Coulomb field of a nucleus the translational invariance is broken and single-photon annihilation may occur. The reverse reaction (in free space, without an atomic nucleus) is also impossible for this reason. In quantum field theory, this process is allowed only as an intermediate quantum state for times short enough that the violation of energy conservation can be accommodated by the uncertainty principle. This opens the way for virtual pair production or annihilation in which a one particle quantum state may fluctuate into a two particle state and back. These processes are important in the vacuum state and renormalization of a quantum field theory. It also opens the way for neutral particle mixing through processes such as the one pictured here, which is a complicated example of mass renormalization. + +Properties + +Quantum states of a particle and an antiparticle are interchanged by the combined application of charge conjugation , parity and time reversal . + and are linear, unitary operators, is antilinear and antiunitary, +. +If denotes the quantum state of a particle with momentum and spin whose component in the z-direction is , then one has + +where denotes the charge conjugate state, that is, the antiparticle. In particular a massive particle and its antiparticle transform under the same irreducible representation of the Poincaré group which means the antiparticle has the same mass and the same spin. + +If , and +can be defined separately on the particles and antiparticles, then + +where the proportionality sign indicates that there might be a phase on the right hand side. + +As anticommutes with the charges, , particle and antiparticle have opposite electric charges q and -q. + +Quantum field theory +This section draws upon the ideas, language and notation of canonical quantization of a quantum field theory. + +One may try to quantize an electron field without mixing the annihilation and creation operators by writing + +where we use the symbol k to denote the quantum numbers p and σ of the previous section and the sign of the energy, E(k), and ak denotes the corresponding annihilation operators. Of course, since we are dealing with fermions, we have to have the operators satisfy canonical anti-commutation relations. However, if one now writes down the Hamiltonian + +then one sees immediately that the expectation value of H need not be positive. This is because E(k) can have any sign whatsoever, and the combination of creation and annihilation operators has expectation value 1 or 0. + +So one has to introduce the charge conjugate antiparticle field, with its own creation and annihilation operators satisfying the relations + +where k has the same p, and opposite σ and sign of the energy. Then one can rewrite the field in the form + +where the first sum is over positive energy states and the second over those of negative energy. The energy becomes + +where E0 is an infinite negative constant. The vacuum state is defined as the state with no particle or antiparticle, i.e., and . Then the energy of the vacuum is exactly E0. Since all energies are measured relative to the vacuum, H is positive definite. Analysis of the properties of ak and bk shows that one is the annihilation operator for particles and the other for antiparticles. This is the case of a fermion. + +This approach is due to Vladimir Fock, Wendell Furry and Robert Oppenheimer. If one quantizes a real scalar field, then one finds that there is only one kind of annihilation operator; therefore, real scalar fields describe neutral bosons. Since complex scalar fields admit two different kinds of annihilation operators, which are related by conjugation, such fields describe charged bosons. + +Feynman–Stueckelberg interpretation + +By considering the propagation of the negative energy modes of the electron field backward in time, Ernst Stueckelberg reached a pictorial understanding of the fact that the particle and antiparticle have equal mass m and spin J but opposite charges q. This allowed him to rewrite perturbation theory precisely in the form of diagrams. Richard Feynman later gave an independent systematic derivation of these diagrams from a particle formalism, and they are now called Feynman diagrams. Each line of a diagram represents a particle propagating either backward or forward in time. In Feynman diagrams, anti-particles are shown traveling backwards in time relative to normal matter, and vice versa. This technique is the most widespread method of computing amplitudes in quantum field theory today. + +Since this picture was first developed by Stueckelberg, and acquired its modern form in Feynman's work, it is called the Feynman–Stueckelberg interpretation of antiparticles to honor both scientists. + +See also + + List of particles + Antimatter + Gravitational interaction of antimatter + Parity, charge conjugation, and time reversal symmetry + CP violations + Quantum field theory + Baryogenesis, baryon asymmetry, and Leptogenesis + One-electron universe + Paul Dirac + +Notes + +References + +External links + + Antimatter at CERN + +Subatomic particles +Quantum field theory +Antimatter +Particle physics +Kim Renard Nazel (born June 17, 1965), better known by his stage names Arabian Prince or Professor X, is an American rapper, record producer, and DJ. He was a founding member of N.W.A. + +Early life +Nazel was born in Compton, California to the son of Joseph "Skippy" Nazel Jr., an African-American author and radio talk show host. His musical background came from his mother, a piano teacher and classical musician. His family tried its best to shelter him, sending him to a Catholic school and keeping him busy with football to keep him away from the gangs. The younger Nazel got his first experience with making music at the radio station his father hosted his talk show on; Nazel used the radio station's equipment to put together mixtapes that he would sell at school. Nazel went on to graduate from Junípero Serra High School in nearby Gardena. + +Music career +Nazel took the stage name of DJ Prince and started selling mixtapes at school. While working at a luggage store at the Del Amo Mall, its owner, Sam Nassif, asked him to DJ a party at a community center. He kept performing there for several weekends and the success persuaded Nassif to invest even more in the place, renaming it "The Cave", where Nazel would continue to host for over three years and even after his N.W.A days. Nassif also funded DJ Prince's first record, "Strange Life". + +He changed his stage name when he was 15 years old at the Skateland USA, the same skating venue credited for launching N.W.A a few years later, due to a fan's suggestion. He said about his name: + +Arabian Prince started working with Bobby Jimmy & the Critters in 1984. He also produced the hit single and album for J.J. Fad, "Supersonic". + +In 1986, he was a founding member of N.W.A, but soon after fellow member Ice Cube came back from the Phoenix Institute of Technology in 1988, Arabian Prince left over royalty and contract disagreements. "I started off as a solo artist", he said, "so I was aware of what a royalty statement was. I knew that when these many records were sold, there is a quarterly statement. When you look at it, you can see how much money was paid and then share it. This was not the case. We were also never paid for touring." Eazy-E, Ice Cube and MC Ren remained as the main performers, DJ Yella was the turntablist and Dr. Dre was the main producer. + +After leaving N.W.A, Arabian Prince began a solo career. His first album, Brother Arab, was released in 1989 with the single "She's Got A Big Posse"; Where's My Bytches followed in 1993. + +In the mid-2000s, he started releasing music again, with his Professor X project on the Dutch label Clone Records. "I could not release the record under Arabian Prince", he said, "because I already had a single out, so I called myself Professor X on that record." In 2007, he performed as a DJ on the 2K Sports Holiday Bounce Tour with artists from the Stones Throw label. In 2008, Stones Throw released a compilation of his electro-rap material from the 1980s. One of his songs was included on the 2007 video game, College Hoops 2K8. + +In 2015, a biopic about N.W.A. titled Straight Outta Compton was released; however, Arabian Prince was not portrayed in the film. The following year, N.W.A. was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but again, Arabian Prince was not included nor mentioned. + +In 2018, Arabian Prince appeared on the AmeriKKKant album of industrial-metal band Ministry. He made a second appearance on Ministry's 2021 album Moral Hygiene. + +Other ventures +Aside from his music career, he worked in special effects, 3D animation and video games. + +Comments on Straight Outta Compton film +After the release of the N.W.A film, Straight Outta Compton, in 2015, Arabian Prince said to VladTV: "A lot of the scenes in real life, I was there—I'm just not there in the film, which I'm like, if you're gonna write me out of a movie, shoot some other scenes. Don't write scenes where I was there." Some of the pivotal scenes would be choosing the name for the band, the tour and the infamous Detroit concert. He also remembers himself as the main opposer to Jerry Heller about the royalties and the money, a role that in the film was instead given to Ice Cube. + +Discography + +Solo +Strange Life (Rapsur, 1984) + It Ain’t Tough (Rapsur, 1985) + Take You Home Girl / Innovator (Rapsur, 1985) + Situation Hot (Street Kut, 1986) + Freak City (Macola, 1986) + Professor X (Saga) (Techno Kut, 1989) +Brother Arab (Orpheus, 1989) +Where's My Bytches (Da Bozak, 1993) + Simple Planet / Beatdabeat (Stones Throw, 2008) + +Compilations +Situation Hot (Macola, 1990) +Innovative Life: The Anthology, 1984–1989 (Stones Throw, 2008) +Professor X (Clone, 2007/2008) + +With Bobby Jimmy and the Critters + Ugly Knuckle Butt (1985) + Roaches: The Beginning (1986) + Back and Proud (1987) + +With N.W.A +"Panic Zone" (single) (1987) +N.W.A. and the Posse (1987) +Straight Outta Compton (1988) + +References + +External links +Interview with Arabian Prince & Biography on westcoastpioneers +August 2008 Interview with L.A. Record +Arabian Prince RBMA lecture +Arabian Prince: What Happened After N.W.A. and the Posse? at Phoenix New Times +DJ Arabian Prince Interview at NAMM Oral History Library (2020) + +1964 births +Living people +African-American male rappers +American male rappers +Musicians from Compton, California +N.W.A members +Ruthless Records artists +20th-century American rappers +21st-century American rappers +American hip hop singers +African-American male singer-songwriters +20th-century African-American male singers +21st-century African-American male singers +Singer-songwriters from California +Special effects people + + +Events + +Pre-1600 + 461 – Roman Emperor Majorian is beheaded near the river Iria in north-west Italy following his arrest and deposition by the magister militum Ricimer. + 626 – The Avar and Slav armies leave the siege of Constantinople. + 768 – Pope Stephen III is elected to office, and quickly seeks Frankish protection against the Lombard threat, since the Byzantine Empire is no longer able to help. + 936 – Coronation of King Otto I of Germany. +1461 – The Ming dynasty Chinese military general Cao Qin stages a coup against the Tianshun Emperor. +1479 – Battle of Guinegate: French troops of King Louis XI were defeated by the Burgundians led by Archduke Maximilian of Habsburg. + +1601–1900 +1679 – The brigantine Le Griffon becomes the first ship to sail the upper Great Lakes of North America. +1714 – The Battle of Gangut: The first important victory of the Russian Navy. +1743 – The Treaty of Åbo ended the 1741–1743 Russo-Swedish War. +1782 – George Washington orders the creation of the Badge of Military Merit to honor soldiers wounded in battle. It is later renamed to the more poetic Purple Heart. +1786 – The first federal Indian Reservation is created by the United States. +1789 – The United States Department of War is established. +1791 – American troops destroy the Miami town of Kenapacomaqua near the site of present-day Logansport, Indiana in the Northwest Indian War. +1794 – U.S. President George Washington invokes the Militia Acts of 1792 to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania. +1819 – Simón Bolívar triumphs over Spain in the Battle of Boyacá. +1858 – The first Australian rules football match is played between Melbourne Grammar and Scotch College. +1890 – Anna Månsdotter, found guilty of the 1889 Yngsjö murder, became the last woman to be executed in Sweden. + +1901–present +1909 – Alice Huyler Ramsey and three friends become the first women to complete a transcontinental auto trip, taking 59 days to travel from New York, New York to San Francisco, California. +1927 – The Peace Bridge opens between Fort Erie, Ontario and Buffalo, New York. +1930 – The last confirmed lynching of black people in the Northern United States occurs in Marion, Indiana; two men, Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, are killed. +1933 – The Kingdom of Iraq slaughters over 3,000 Assyrians in the village of Simele. This date is recognized as Martyrs Day or National Day of Mourning by the Assyrian community in memory of the Simele massacre. +1942 – World War II: The Battle of Guadalcanal begins as the United States Marines initiate the first American offensive of the war with landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the Solomon Islands. +1944 – IBM dedicates the first program-controlled calculator, the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (known best as the Harvard Mark I). +1946 – The government of the Soviet Union presented a note to its Turkish counterparts which refuted the latter's sovereignty over the Turkish Straits, thus beginning the Turkish Straits crisis. +1947 – Thor Heyerdahl's balsa wood raft, the Kon-Tiki, smashes into the reef at Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands after a 101-day, journey across the Pacific Ocean in an attempt to prove that pre-historic peoples could have traveled from South America. + 1947 – The Bombay Municipal Corporation formally takes over the Bombay Electric Supply and Transport (BEST). +1959 – Explorer program: Explorer 6 launches from the Atlantic Missile Range in Cape Canaveral, Florida. +1960 – Ivory Coast becomes independent from France. +1962 – Canadian-born American pharmacologist Frances Oldham Kelsey is awarded the U.S. President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service for her refusal to authorize thalidomide. +1964 – Vietnam War: The U.S. Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution giving U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson broad war powers to deal with North Vietnamese attacks on American forces. +1969 – Richard Nixon appoints Luis R. Bruce, a Mohawk-Oglala Sioux and co-founder of the National Congress of American Indians, as the new commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. +1970 – California judge Harold Haley is taken hostage in his courtroom and killed during an effort to free George Jackson from police custody. +1974 – Philippe Petit performs a high wire act between the twin towers of the World Trade Center in the air. +1976 – Viking program: Viking 2 enters orbit around Mars. +1978 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter declares a federal emergency at Love Canal due to toxic waste that had been disposed of negligently. +1981 – The Washington Star ceases all operations after 128 years of publication. +1985 – Takao Doi, Mamoru Mohri and Chiaki Mukai are chosen to be Japan's first astronauts. +1987 – Cold War: Lynne Cox becomes the first person to swim from the United States to the Soviet Union, crossing the Bering Strait from Little Diomede Island in Alaska to Big Diomede in the Soviet Union. +1989 – U.S. Congressman Mickey Leland (D-TX) and 15 others die in a plane crash in Ethiopia. +1990 – First American soldiers arrive in Saudi Arabia as part of the Gulf War. +1993 – Ada Deer, a Menominee activist, is sworn in as the head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. +1995 – The Chilean government declares state of emergency in the southern half of the country in response to an event of intense, cold, wind, rain and snowfall known as the White Earthquake. +1997 – Space Shuttle Program: The Space Shuttle Discovery launches on STS-85 from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. + 1997 – Fine Air Flight 101 crashes after takeoff from Miami International Airport, killing five people. +1998 – Bombings at United States embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya kill approximately 212 people. +1999 – The Chechnya-based Islamic International Brigade invades neighboring Dagestan. +2007 – At AT&T Park, Barry Bonds hits his 756th career home run to surpass Hank Aaron's 33-year-old record. +2008 – The start of the Russo-Georgian War over the territory of South Ossetia. +2020 – Air India Express Flight 1344 overshoots the runway at Calicut International Airport in the Malappuram district of Kerala, India, and crashes, killing 21 of the 190 people on board. + +Births + +Pre-1600 + 317 – Constantius II, Roman emperor (d. 361) +1282 – Elizabeth of Rhuddlan (d. 1316) +1533 – Alonso de Ercilla, Spanish soldier and poet (d. 1595) +1560 – Elizabeth Báthory, Hungarian aristocrat and purported serial killer (d. 1614) +1571 – Thomas Lupo, English viol player and composer (d. 1627) +1574 – Robert Dudley, English explorer and cartographer (d. 1649) +1598 – Georg Stiernhielm, Swedish poet and linguist (d. 1672) + +1601–1900 +1613 – William Frederick, Prince of Nassau-Dietz, Dutch stadtholder (d. 1664) +1702 – Muhammad Shah, Mughal emperor of India (d. 1748) +1726 – James Bowdoin, American banker and politician, 2nd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1790) +1742 – Nathanael Greene, American general (d. 1786) +1751 – Wilhelmina of Prussia, Princess of Orange (d. 1820) + 1779 – Carl Ritter, German geographer and academic (d. 1859) +1826 – August Ahlqvist, Finnish professor, poet, scholar of the Finno-Ugric languages, author, and literary critic (d. 1889) +1844 – Auguste Michel-Lévy, French geologist and author (d. 1911) +1860 – Alan Leo, English astrologer and author (d. 1917) +1862 – Henri Le Sidaner, French painter (d. 1939) + 1862 – Victoria of Baden (d. 1931) +1867 – Emil Nolde, Danish-German painter and illustrator (d. 1956) +1868 – Ladislaus Bortkiewicz, Russian-German economist and statistician (d. 1931) + 1868 – Huntley Wright, English actor (d. 1941) +1869 – Mary Frances Winston, American mathematician (d. 1959) +1876 – Mata Hari, Dutch dancer and spy (d. 1917) +1879 – Johannes Kotze, South African cricketer (d. 1931) +1884 – Billie Burke, American actress and singer (d. 1970) + 1884 – Nikolai Triik, Estonian painter and illustrator (d. 1940) +1887 – Anna Elisabet Weirauch, German author and playwright (d. 1970) +1890 – Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, American author and activist (d. 1964) + +1901–present +1901 – Ann Harding, American actress and singer (d. 1981) +1903 – Louis Leakey, Kenyan-English palaeontologist and archaeologist (d. 1972) +1904 – Ralph Bunche, American political scientist, academic, and diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971) +1907 – Albert Kotin, Belarusian-American soldier and painter (d. 1980) +1910 – Freddie Slack, American pianist and bandleader (d. 1965) +1911 – István Bibó, Hungarian lawyer and politician (d. 1979) + 1911 – Nicholas Ray, American director and screenwriter (d. 1979) +1913 – George Van Eps, American guitarist (d. 1998) +1916 – Kermit Love, American actor, puppeteer, and costume designer (d. 2008) +1918 – C. Buddingh', Dutch poet and translator (d. 1985) + 1918 – Gordon Zahn, American sociologist and author (d. 2007) +1921 – Manitas de Plata, French guitarist (d. 2014) + 1921 – Karel Husa, Czech-American composer and conductor (d. 2016) +1924 – Kenneth Kendall, Indian-English journalist and actor (d. 2012) +1925 – Felice Bryant, American songwriter (d. 2003) +1926 – Stan Freberg, American puppeteer, voice actor, and singer (d. 2015) +1927 – Rocky Bridges, American baseball player and coach (d. 2015) + 1927 – Edwin Edwards, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 50th Governor of Louisiana (d. 2021) + 1927 – Art Houtteman, American baseball player and journalist (d. 2003) +1928 – Betsy Byars, American author and academic (d. 2020) + 1928 – Owen Luder, English architect, designed Tricorn Centre and Trinity Square (d. 2021) + 1928 – James Randi, Canadian-American stage magician and author (d. 2020) +1929 – Don Larsen, American baseball player (d. 2020) +1930 – Togrul Narimanbekov, Azerbaijani-French painter and academic (d. 2013) + 1930 – Veljo Tormis, Estonian composer and educator (d. 2017) +1931 – Jack Good, British television producer (d. 2017) + 1931 – Charles E. Rice, American scholar and author (d. 2015) +1932 – Abebe Bikila, Ethiopian runner (d. 1973) + 1932 – Edward Hardwicke, English actor (d. 2011) + 1932 – Rien Poortvliet, Dutch painter and illustrator (d. 1995) + 1932 – Maurice Rabb, Jr., American ophthalmologist and academic (d. 2005) +1933 – Eddie Firmani, South African footballer and manager + 1933 – Elinor Ostrom, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2012) + 1933 – Jerry Pournelle, American journalist and author (d. 2017) + 1933 – Alberto Romulo, Filipino politician and diplomat +1934 – Sándor Simó, Hungarian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2001) +1935 – Lee Corso, American college football coach and broadcaster + 1935 – Rahsaan Roland Kirk, American saxophonist and composer (d. 1977) +1937 – Zoltán Berczik, Hungarian table tennis player and coach (d. 2011) + 1937 – Don Wilson, English cricketer and coach (d. 2012) +1938 – Giorgetto Giugiaro, Italian automotive designer +1940 – Jean-Luc Dehaene, French-Belgian lawyer and politician, 63rd Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 2014) + 1940 – Uwe Nettelbeck, German record producer, journalist and film critic (d. 2007) +1941 – Matthew Evans, Baron Evans of Temple Guiting, English publisher and politician (d. 2016) +1942 – Garrison Keillor, American humorist, novelist, short story writer, and radio host + 1942 – Carlos Monzon, Argentinian boxer and actor (d. 1995) + 1942 – Caetano Veloso, Brazilian singer-songwriter, writer and producer + 1942 – Richard Sykes, English biochemist and academic + 1942 – B. J. Thomas, American singer (d. 2021) +1943 – Mohammed Badie, Egyptian religious leader + 1943 – Lana Cantrell, Australian singer-songwriter and lawyer + 1943 – Alain Corneau, French director and screenwriter (d. 2010) +1944 – John Glover, American actor + 1944 – Robert Mueller, American soldier and lawyer, 6th Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation +1945 – Kenny Ireland, Scottish actor and director (d. 2014) + 1945 – Alan Page, American football player and jurist +1947 – Franciscus Henri, Dutch-Australian singer-songwriter + 1947 – Sofia Rotaru, Ukrainian singer-songwriter, producer, and actress +1948 – Marty Appel, American businessman and author + 1948 – Greg Chappell, Australian cricketer and coach +1949 – Walid Jumblatt, Lebanese journalist and politician + 1949 – Matthew Parris, South African-English journalist and politician +1950 – Rodney Crowell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist + 1950 – Alan Keyes, American politician and diplomat, 16th Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs + 1950 – S. Thandayuthapani, Sri Lankan educator and politician +1952 – Caroline Aaron, American actress and producer + 1952 – Eamonn Darcy, Irish golfer + 1952 – Kees Kist, Dutch footballer + 1952 – Alexei Sayle, English comedian, actor, and author +1953 – Anne Fadiman, American journalist and author +1954 – Valery Gazzaev, Russian footballer, manager and politician + 1954 – Jonathan Pollard, Israeli spy + 1954 – Alan Reid, Scottish politician +1955 – Wayne Knight, American actor, comedian and voice actor + 1955 – Greg Nickels, American lawyer and politician, 51st Mayor of Seattle + 1955 – Vladimir Sorokin, Russian author and playwright +1957 – Daire Brehan, Irish journalist, lawyer, and actress (d. 2012) + 1957 – Alexander Dityatin, Russian gymnast and colonel +1958 – Russell Baze, Canadian-American jockey + 1958 – Bruce Dickinson, English singer-songwriter and guitarist + 1958 – Alberto Salazar, Cuban-American runner and coach +1959 – Koenraad Elst, Belgian orientalist and author + 1959 – Ali Shah, Zimbabwean cricketer and coach +1960 – David Duchovny, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter +1961 – Brian Conley, English actor and singer + 1961 – Yelena Davydova, Russian gymnast + 1961 – Walter Swinburn, English jockey and trainer (d. 2016) + 1961 – Carlos Vives, Colombian singer, songwriter, and actor +1962 – Alison Brown, American banjo player, songwriter, and producer +1963 – Paul Dunn, Australian rugby league player + 1963 – Nick Gillespie, American journalist and author + 1963 – Marcus Roberts, American pianist and educator +1964 – John Birmingham, English-Australian journalist and author + 1964 – Ian Dench, English guitarist and songwriter + 1964 – Peter Niven, Scottish jockey +1965 – Raul Malo, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer + 1965 – Elizabeth Manley, Canadian figure skater +1966 – David Cairns, Scottish laicised priest and politician, Minister of State for Scotland (d. 2011) + 1966 – Shobna Gulati, British actress + 1966 – Kristin Hersh, American singer-songwriter and guitarist + 1966 – Jimmy Wales, American-British entrepreneur, co-founder of Wikipedia +1967 – Jason Grimsley, American baseball player +1968 – Francesca Gregorini, Italian-American director and screenwriter + 1968 – Trevor Hendy, Australian surfer and coach + 1968 – Sophie Lee, Australian actress and author +1969 – Paul Lambert, Scottish footballer and manager + 1969 – Dana G. Peleg, Israeli writer and LGBT activist +1970 – Eric Namesnik, American swimmer (d. 2006) +1971 – Dominic Cork, England cricketer and sportscaster + 1971 – Rachel York, American actress and singer +1972 – Gerry Peñalosa, Filipino boxer and promoter +1973 – Mikhail Gorsheniov, Russian singer-songwriter (d. 2013) + 1973 – Danny Graves, Vietnamese-American baseball player + 1973 – Kevin Muscat, English-Australian footballer, coach, and manager +1974 – Chico Benymon, American actor + 1974 – Michael Shannon, American actor +1975 – Koray Candemir, Turkish singer-songwriter + 1975 – Gerard Denton, Australian cricketer + 1975 – Megan Gale, Australian model and actress + 1975 – Ray Hill, American football player (d. 2015) + 1975 – Rebecca Kleefisch, American journalist and politician, 44th Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin + 1975 – Édgar Rentería, Colombian baseball player + 1975 – Charlize Theron, South African actress +1976 – Dimitrios Eleftheropoulos, Greek footballer and manager + 1976 – Shane Lechler, American football player +1977 – Charlotte Ronson, English fashion designer + 1977 – Samantha Ronson, English singer-songwriter and DJ + 1977 – Justin Brooker, Rugby League Player +1978 – Alexandre Aja, French director, producer, and screenwriter + 1978 – Jamey Jasta, American singer-songwriter + 1978 – Mark McCammon, English-Barbadian footballer + 1978 – Cirroc Lofton, American actor +1979 – Eric Johnson, American actor, director, and screenwriter + 1979 – Miguel Llera, Spanish footballer + 1979 – Birgit Zotz, Austrian anthropologist and author +1980 – Carsten Busch, German footballer + 1980 – Aurélie Claudel, French model and actress + 1980 – Tácio Caetano Cruz Queiroz, Brazilian footballer + 1980 – Seiichiro Maki, Japanese footballer +1981 – David Testo, American soccer player + 1981 – Randy Wayne, American actor and producer +1982 – Ángeles Balbiani, Argentine actress and singer + 1982 – Abbie Cornish, Australian actress + 1982 – Juan Martín Hernández, Argentine rugby player + 1982 – Marquise Hill, American football player (d. 2007) + 1982 – Vassilis Spanoulis, Greek basketball player + 1982 – Martin Vučić, Macedonian singer and drummer +1983 – Christian Chávez, Mexican singer-songwriter and actor + 1983 – Murat Dalkılıç, Turkish singer-songwriter + 1983 – Danny, Portuguese footballer + 1983 – Andriy Hrivko, Ukrainian cyclist + 1983 – Mark Pettini, English cricketer and journalist +1984 – Stratos Perperoglou, Greek basketball player + 1984 – Tooba Siddiqui, Pakistani model and actress + 1984 – Yun Hyon-seok, South Korean poet and author (d. 2003) +1986 – Paul Biedermann, German swimmer + 1986 – Valter Birsa, Slovenian footballer + 1986 – Altaír Jarabo, Mexican model and actress + 1986 – Juan de la Rosa, Mexican boxer +1987 – Sidney Crosby, Canadian ice hockey player + 1987 – Mustapha Dumbuya, Sierra Leonean footballer + 1987 – Ryan Lavarnway, American baseball player + 1987 – Rouven Sattelmaier, German footballer +1988 – Jonathan Bernier, Canadian ice hockey player + 1988 – Mohamed Coulibaly, Senegalese footballer + 1988 – Anisa Mohammed, West Indian cricketer + 1988 – Melody Oliveria, American blogger + 1988 – Erik Pieters, Dutch footballer + 1988 – Beanie Wells, American football player +1989 – DeMar DeRozan, American basketball player +1990 – Josh Franceschi, English singer-songwriter +1991 – Luis Salom, Spanish motorcycle racer (d. 2016) + 1991 – Mitchell te Vrede, Dutch footballer + 1991 – Mike Trout, American baseball player +1992 – Adam Yates, English cyclist + 1992 – Simon Yates, English cyclist + 1992 – E. J. Tackett, American bowler + 1992 – Wout Weghorst, Dutch footballer +1993 – Francesca Eastwood, American actress and television personality + 1993 – Martti Nõmme, Estonian ski jumper + 1993 – Karol Zalewski, Polish sprinter +1997 – Matty Cash, Polish footballer + 1997 – Kyler Murray, American football player +1998 – Vladimir Barbu, Italian diver + 1998 – María Bazo, Peruvian windsurfer + 1998 – Jalen Hurts, American football player + +Deaths + +Pre-1600 + 461 – Majorian, Roman emperor (b. 420) +707 – Li Chongjun, Chinese prince +1028 – Alfonso V, king of León (b. 994) +1106 – Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1050) +1234 – Hugh Foliot, bishop of Hereford (b. c. 1155) +1272 – Richard Middleton, English Lord Chancellor +1296 – Heinrich II von Rotteneck, prince-bishop of Regensburg +1385 – Joan of Kent, mother of Richard II (b. 1328) +1485 – Alexander Stewart, duke of Albany (b. 1454) +1547 – Cajetan, Italian priest and saint (b. 1480) + +1601–1900 +1613 – Thomas Fleming, English judge and politician, Lord Chief Justice of England (b. 1544) +1616 – Vincenzo Scamozzi, Italian architect, designed Teatro Olimpico (b. 1548) +1632 – Robert de Vere, 19th Earl of Oxford, English soldier (b. 1575) +1635 – Friedrich Spee, German poet and academic (b. 1591) +1639 – Martin van den Hove, Dutch astronomer and mathematician (b. 1605) +1661 – Jin Shengtan, Chinese journalist and critic (b. 1608) +1787 – Francis Blackburne, English Anglican churchman and activist (b. 1705) +1817 – Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours, French economist and politician (b. 1739) +1834 – Joseph Marie Jacquard, French weaver and inventor, invented the Jacquard loom (b. 1752) +1848 – Jöns Jacob Berzelius, Swedish chemist and academic (b. 1779) +1855 – Mariano Arista, Mexican general and politician, 19th President of Mexico (b. 1802) +1864 – Li Xiucheng, Chinese field marshal (b. 1823) +1893 – Alfredo Catalani, Italian composer and academic (b. 1854) +1899 – Jacob Maris, Dutch painter and educator (b. 1837) +1900 – Wilhelm Liebknecht, German lawyer and politician (b. 1826) + +1901–present +1912 – François-Alphonse Forel, Swiss limnologist and academic (b. 1841) +1917 – Edwin Harris Dunning, South African-English commander and pilot (b. 1891) +1938 – Konstantin Stanislavski, Russian actor and director (b. 1863) +1941 – Rabindranath Tagore, Indian author, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1861) +1948 – Charles Bryant, English-American actor and director (b. 1879) +1953 – Abner Powell, American baseball player and manager (b. 1860) +1957 – Oliver Hardy, American actor, singer, and director (b. 1892) +1958 – Elizabeth Foreman Lewis, American author and educator (b. 1892) +1960 – Luis Ángel Firpo, Argentine boxer (b. 1894) +1963 – Ramon Vila Capdevila, last of the Spanish Maquis, holding out after the end of the Spanish Civil War (b. 1908) +1968 – Giovanni Bracco, Italian race car driver (b. 1908) +1969 – Jean Bastien, French professional footballer (b. 1915) + 1969 – Joseph Kosma, Hungarian-French composer (b. 1905) +1970 – Harold Haley, American lawyer and judge (b. 1904) + 1970 – Jonathan P. Jackson, American bodyguard and kidnapper (b. 1953) +1972 – Joi Lansing, American model, actress, and singer (b. 1929) +1973 – Jack Gregory, Australian cricketer (b. 1895) +1974 – Rosario Castellanos, Mexican poet and author (b. 1925) + 1974 – Sylvio Mantha, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1902) +1978 – Eddie Calvert, English trumpeter (b. 1922) +1981 – Gunnar Uusi, Estonian chess player (b. 1931) +1985 – Grayson Hall, American actress (b. 1922) +1987 – Camille Chamoun, Lebanese lawyer and politician, 7th President of Lebanon (b. 1900) +1989 – Mickey Leland, American lawyer and politician (b. 1944) +1994 – Larry Martyn, English actor (b. 1934) +1995 – Brigid Brophy, English author and critic (b. 1929) +2001 – Algirdas Lauritėnas, Lithuanian basketball player (b. 1932) +2003 – K. D. Arulpragasam, Sri Lankan zoologist and academic (b. 1931) + 2003 – Mickey McDermott, American baseball player and coach (b. 1929) +2004 – Red Adair, American firefighter (b. 1915) + 2004 – Colin Bibby, English ornithologist and academic (b. 1948) +2005 – Peter Jennings, Canadian-American journalist and author (b. 1938) +2005 – Ester Šimerová-Martinčeková, Slovak painter (b. 1909) +2006 – Mary Anderson Bain, American lawyer and politician (b. 1911) +2007 – Ernesto Alonso, Mexican actor, director, and producer (b. 1917) + 2007 – Angus Tait, New Zealand businessman, founded Tait Communications (b. 1919) +2008 – Bernie Brillstein, American talent agent and producer (b. 1931) + 2008 – Andrea Pininfarina, Italian engineer and businessman (b. 1957) +2009 – Louis E. Saavedra, American educator and politician, 48th Mayor of Albuquerque (b. 1933) + 2009 – Mike Seeger, American singer-songwriter (b. 1933) +2010 – John Nelder, English mathematician and statistician (b. 1924) +2011 – Mark Hatfield, American soldier, academic, and politician, 29th Governor of Oregon (b. 1922) + 2011 – Nancy Wake, New Zealand-English captain and spy (b. 1912) +2012 – Murtuz Alasgarov, Azerbaijani academic and politician, Speaker of the National Assembly of Azerbaijan (b. 1928) + 2012 – Judith Crist, American critic and academic (b. 1922) + 2012 – Vladimir Kobzev, Russian footballer and coach (b. 1959) + 2012 – Anna Piaggi, Italian journalist and author (b. 1931) + 2012 – Mayer Zald, American sociologist and academic (b. 1931) + 2012 – Dušan Zbavitel, Czech indologist and author (b. 1925) +2013 – Samuel G. Armistead, American linguist, historian, and academic (b. 1927) + 2013 – Almir Kayumov, Russian footballer (b. 1964) + 2013 – Anthony Pawson, English-Canadian biologist, chemist, and academic (b. 1952) + 2013 – Margaret Pellegrini, American actress and dancer (b. 1923) + 2013 – Meeli Truu, Estonian architect (b. 1946) + 2013 – Alexander Yagubkin, Russian boxer (b. 1961) +2014 – Víctor Fayad, Argentine lawyer and politician (b. 1955) + 2014 – Perry Moss, American football player and coach (b. 1926) + 2014 – Henry Stone, American record producer (b. 1921) +2015 – Manuel Contreras, Chilean general (b. 1929) + 2015 – Frances Oldham Kelsey, Canadian pharmacologist and physician (b. 1914) + 2015 – Louise Suggs, American golfer, co-founded LPGA (b. 1923) +2016 – Bryan Clauson, American racing driver (b. 1989) +2017 – Don Baylor, American baseball player (b. 1949) + 2017 – David Maslanka, American composer (b. 1943) +2018 – M. Karunanidhi, Indian politician, former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and prominent leader of Tamils (b. 1924) + 2018 – Stan Mikita, Slovak hockey player (b. 1940) +2019 – David Berman, American musician, singer, poet and cartoonist (b. 1967) +2020 – Lê Khả Phiêu, Vietnamese politician (b. 1931) +2021 – Markie Post, American actress (b. 1950) + 2021 – Trevor Moore, American comedian (b. 1980) +2022 – David McCullough, American historian and author (b. 1933) +2023 – William Friedkin, American film director (b. 1935) + +Holidays and observances + Assyrian Martyrs Day (Assyrian community) + Battle of Boyacá Day (Colombia) + Christian feast day: + Albert of Trapani + Cajetan of Thienna + Carpophorus and companions + Dometius of Persia + Donatus of Arezzo + Donatus of Besançon + Donatus of Muenstereifel + John Mason Neale and Catherine Winkworth (Episcopal Church (USA)) + Nantovinus + Pope Sixtus II + August 7 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) + Filseta (Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church) + Emancipation Day (Saint Kitts and Nevis) + Republic Day (Ivory Coast) + Youth Day (Kiribati) + National Purple Heart Day (United States) + +References + +External links + + + + + +Days of the year +August + + +Events + +Pre-1600 +685 BC – Spring and Autumn period: Battle of Qianshi: Upon the death of the previous Duke of Qi, Gongsun Wuzhi, Duke Zhuang of Lu sends an army into the Duchy of Qi to install the exiled Qi prince Gongzi Jiu as the new Duke of Qi — but is defeated at Qianshi by Jiu’s brother and rival claimant, the newly inaugurated Duke Huan of Qi. + 870 – Treaty of Meerssen: King Louis the German and his half-brother Charles the Bald partition the Middle Frankish Kingdom into two larger east and west divisions. +1220 – Sweden is defeated by Estonian tribes in the Battle of Lihula. +1264 – Mudéjar revolt: Muslim rebel forces took the Alcázar of Jerez de la Frontera after defeating the Castilian garrison. +1503 – King James IV of Scotland marries Margaret Tudor, daughter of King Henry VII of England at Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh, Scotland. +1509 – Krishnadeva Raya is crowned Emperor of Vijayanagara at Chittoor. +1576 – The cornerstone for Tycho Brahe's Uraniborg observatory is laid on the island of Hven. +1585 – John Davis enters Cumberland Sound in search of the Northwest Passage. +1588 – Anglo-Spanish War: Battle of Gravelines: The naval engagement ends, ending the Spanish Armada's attempt to invade England. + +1601–1900 +1647 – The Irish Confederate Wars and Wars of the Three Kingdoms: Battle of Dungan's Hill: English Parliamentary forces defeat Irish forces. +1648 – Mehmed IV (1648–1687) succeeds Ibrahim I (1640–1648) as Ottoman sultan. +1709 – Bartolomeu de Gusmão demonstrates the lifting power of hot air in an audience before the king of Portugal in Lisbon, Portugal. +1786 – Mont Blanc on the French-Italian border is climbed for the first time by Jacques Balmat and Dr. Michel-Gabriel Paccard. +1794 – Joseph Whidbey leads an expedition to search for the Northwest Passage near Juneau, Alaska. +1831 – Four hundred Shawnee people agree to relinquish their lands in Ohio in exchange for land west of the Mississippi River in the Treaty of Wapakoneta. +1844 – The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, headed by Brigham Young, is reaffirmed as the leading body of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). +1863 – American Civil War: Following his defeat in the Battle of Gettysburg, General Robert E. Lee sends a letter of resignation to Confederate President Jefferson Davis (which is refused upon receipt). + 1863 – Tennessee Military Governor Andrew Johnson frees his personal slaves in Greeneville, Tennessee despite them being exempt from the Emancipation Proclamation, now commemorated as Emancipation Day in the state. +1870 – The Republic of Ploiești, a failed Radical-Liberal rising against Domnitor Carol of Romania. +1876 – Thomas Edison receives a patent for his mimeograph. + +1901–present +1903 – Black Saturday occurs, killing 12 in a stadium collapse in Philadelphia. +1908 – Wilbur Wright makes his first flight at a racecourse at Le Mans, France. It is the Wright Brothers' first public flight. +1918 – World War I: The Battle of Amiens begins a string of almost continuous Allied victories with a push through the German front lines (Hundred Days Offensive). +1919 – The Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919 is signed. It establishes peaceful relations between Afghanistan and the UK, and confirms the Durand line as the mutual border. In return, the UK is no longer obligated to subsidize the Afghan government. +1929 – The German airship Graf Zeppelin begins a round-the-world flight. +1940 – The "Aufbau Ost" directive is signed by Wilhelm Keitel. +1942 – Quit India Movement is launched in India against the British rule in response to Mohandas Gandhi's call for swaraj or complete independence. +1945 – The London Charter is signed by France, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States, establishing the laws and procedures for the Nuremberg trials. +1946 – First flight of the Convair B-36, the world's first mass-produced nuclear weapon delivery vehicle, the heaviest mass-produced piston-engined aircraft, with the longest wingspan of any military aircraft, and the first bomber with intercontinental range. +1956 – Marcinelle mining disaster in Belgium. 262 coal miners, including a substantial number of Italian migrant workers, were killed in one of the largest mining accidents in Belgian history. +1963 – Great Train Robbery: In England, a gang of 15 train robbers steal £2.6 million in bank notes. + 1963 – The Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), the current ruling party of Zimbabwe, is formed by a split from the Zimbabwe African People's Union. +1967 – The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is founded by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. +1969 – At a zebra crossing in London, photographer Iain Macmillan takes the iconic photo that becomes the cover image of the Beatles' album Abbey Road. +1973 – Kim Dae-jung, a South Korean politician and later president of South Korea, is kidnapped. +1974 – President Richard Nixon, in a nationwide television address, announces his resignation from the office of the President of the United States effective noon the next day. +1988 – The 8888 Uprising begins in Rangoon (Yangon), Burma (Myanmar). Led by students, hundreds of thousands join in nationwide protests against the one-party regime. On September 18, the demonstrations end in a military crackdown, killing thousands. + 1988 – The first night baseball game in the history of Chicago's Wrigley Field (game was rained out in the fourth inning). +1989 – Space Shuttle program: STS-28 Mission: Space Shuttle Columbia takes off on a secret five-day military mission. +1990 – Iraq occupies Kuwait and the state is annexed to Iraq. This would lead to the Gulf War shortly afterward. +1991 – The Warsaw radio mast, then the tallest construction ever built, collapses. +1993 – The 7.8 Guam earthquake shakes the island with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), causing around $250 million in damage and injuring up to 71 people. +1998 – Iranian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan is raided by Taliban leading to the deaths of ten Iranian diplomats and a journalist. +2000 – Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley is raised to the surface after 136 years on the ocean floor and 30 years after its discovery by undersea explorer E. Lee Spence. +2001 – Albanian rebels ambush a convoy of the Army of the Republic of Macedonia near Tetovo, killing 10 soldiers. +2004 – A tour bus belonging to the Dave Matthews Band dumps approximately 800 pounds of human waste onto a boat full of passengers. +2007 – An EF2 tornado touches down in Kings County and Richmond County, New York, the most powerful tornado in New York to date and the first in Brooklyn since 1889. +2008 – A EuroCity express train en route from Kraków, Poland to Prague, Czech Republic strikes a part of a motorway bridge that had fallen onto the railroad track near Studénka railway station in the Czech Republic and derails, killing eight people and injuring 64 others. + 2008 – The 29th modern summer Olympic Games took place in Beijing, China until August 24. +2010 – China Floods: A mudslide in Zhugqu County, Gansu, China, kills more than 1,400 people. +2013 – A suicide bombing at a funeral in the Pakistani city of Quetta kills at least 31 people. +2015 – Eight people are killed in a shooting in Harris County, Texas. +2016 – Terrorists attack a government hospital in Quetta, Pakistan with a suicide blast and shooting, killing between 70 and 94 people, and injuring around 130 others. +2019 – An explosion at the State Central Navy Testing Range in Nyonoksa, Russia, kills five people. +2022 – The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) executes a search warrant at former president Donald Trump's residence in Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, Florida. +2023 – 2023 Hawaii wildfires: 17,000 acres of land are burned and at least 98 people are killed, with 31 others missing, when a series of wildfires break out on the island of Maui in Hawaii. + +Births + +Pre-1600 + 422 – Casper, ruler of the Maya city of Palenque +1079 – Emperor Horikawa of Japan (d. 1107) +1170 – Saint Dominic, founder of the Dominicans (d. 1221) +1306 – Rudolf II, Duke of Bavaria (d. 1353) +1492 – Matteo Tafuri, Italian alchemist (d. 1582) +1518 – Conrad Lycosthenes, French-German scholar and author (d. 1561) +1558 – George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland, English noble (d. 1605) + +1601–1900 +1605 – Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, English lawyer and politician, Governor of Newfoundland (d. 1675) +1640 – Amalia Catharina, German poet and composer (d. 1697) +1646 – Godfrey Kneller, German-English painter (d. 1723) +1673 – John Ker, Scottish spy (d. 1726) +1693 – Laurent Belissen, French composer (d. 1762) +1694 – Francis Hutcheson, Irish philosopher and academic (d. 1746) +1709 – Hermann Anton Gelinek, German-Italian monk and violinist (d. 1779) +1720 – Carl Fredrik Pechlin, Swedish general and politician (d. 1796) +1754 – Hipólito Ruiz López, Spanish botanist (d. 1816) +1758 – Friedrich Georg Weitsch, German painter (d. 1828) +1790 – Ferenc Kölcsey, Hungarian poet, critic, and politician (d. 1838) +1807 – Emilie Flygare-Carlén, Swedish author (d. 1892) +1814 – Esther Hobart Morris, American suffragette and judge (d. 1902) +1822 – George Stoneman, Jr., United States Army cavalry officer (d. 1894) +1839 – Nelson A. Miles, American general (d. 1925) +1851 – George Turner, Australian politician, 18th Premier of Victoria (d. 1916) +1856 – Thomas Anstey Guthrie, English journalist and author (d. 1934) +1857 – Cécile Chaminade, French pianist and composer (d. 1944) +1863 – Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, American painter (d. 1930) +1866 – Matthew Henson, American explorer (d. 1955) +1874 – Albert Stanley, 1st Baron Ashfield, English businessman and politician, President of the Board of Trade (d. 1948) +1875 – Arthur Bernardes, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 12th President of Brazil (d. 1955) +1876 – Varghese Payyappilly Palakkappilly, Indian-Syrian priest, founded the Sisters of the Destitute (d. 1929) +1879 – Bob Smith, American physician and surgeon, co-founded Alcoholics Anonymous (d. 1950) + 1879 – Emiliano Zapata, Mexican general and politician (d. 1919) +1880 – Earle Page, Australian lawyer, academic, and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1961) +1881 – Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist, German field marshal (d. 1954) +1882 – Ladislas Starevich, Russian-French animator, screenwriter, and cinematographer (d. 1965) +1884 – Sara Teasdale, American poet and educator (d. 1933) +1889 – Hans Egede Budtz, Danish actor (d. 1968) + 1889 – Jack Ryder, Australian cricketer (d. 1977) +1891 – Adolf Busch, German violinist and composer (d. 1952) +1896 – Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, American author and academic (d. 1953) +1898 – Marguerite Bise, French chef (d. 1965) + +1901–present +1901 – Ernest Lawrence, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958) +1902 – Paul Dirac, English-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1984) +1904 – Achille Varzi, Italian racing driver (d. 1948) +1905 – André Jolivet, French composer (d. 1974) +1907 – Benny Carter, American saxophonist, trumpet player, and composer (d. 2003) +1908 – Arthur Goldberg, American jurist and politician, 6th United States Ambassador to the United Nations (d. 1990) +1909 – Charles Lyttelton, 10th Viscount Cobham, English cricketer and politician, 9th Governor-General of New Zealand (d. 1977) + 1909 – Jack Renshaw, Australian politician, 31st Premier of New South Wales (d. 1987) + 1909 – Bill Voce, England cricketer and coach (d. 1984) +1910 – Jimmy Murphy, Welsh-English footballer and manager (d. 1989) + 1910 – Sylvia Sidney, American actress (d. 1999) +1911 – Rosetta LeNoire, American actress (d. 2002) +1915 – James Elliott, American runner and coach (d. 1981) +1919 – Dino De Laurentiis, Italian actor and producer (d. 2010) + 1919 – John David Wilson, English animator and producer (d. 2013) +1920 – Leo Chiosso, Italian songwriter and producer (d. 2006) + 1920 – Jimmy Witherspoon, American jump blues singer (d. 1997) +1921 – William Asher, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012) + 1921 – Webb Pierce, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1991) + 1921 – Esther Williams, American swimmer and actress (d. 2013) +1922 – Rory Calhoun, American actor (d. 1999) + 1922 – Rudi Gernreich, Austrian-American fashion designer, created the Monokini (d. 1985) + 1922 – Gertrude Himmelfarb, American historian, author, and academic (d. 2019) + 1922 – Károly Reich, Hungarian illustrator (d. 1988) +1925 – Alija Izetbegović, Bosnian lawyer and politician, 1st President of Bosnia and Herzegovina (d. 2003) + 1925 – Aziz Sattar, Malaysian actor, comedian, singer and director (d. 2014) +1926 – Richard Anderson, American actor and producer (d. 2017) +1927 – Johnny Temple, American baseball player and coach (d. 1994) + 1927 – Maia Wojciechowska, Polish-American author (d. 2002) +1928 – Don Burrows, Australian saxophonist, clarinet player, and flute player (d. 2020) +1929 – Larisa Bogoraz, Russian linguist and activist (d. 2004) + 1929 – Luis García Meza Tejada, Bolivian general and politician, 68th President of Bolivia (d. 2018) + 1929 – Ronnie Biggs, English criminal (d. 2013) +1930 – Terry Nation, Welsh-American author and screenwriter (d. 1997) + 1930 – Jerry Tarkanian, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015) +1931 – Roger Penrose, English physicist, mathematician, and philosopher, Nobel Prize laureate +1932 – Mel Tillis, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2017) +1933 – Joe Tex, American soul singer-songwriter (d. 1982) +1934 – Sarat Pujari, Indian actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2014) +1935 – Donald P. Bellisario, American director, producer, and screenwriter + 1935 – John Laws, Papua New Guinean-Australian singer and radio host +1936 – Frank Howard, American baseball player and manager (d. 2023) + 1936 – Jan Pieńkowski, Polish-English author and illustrator (d. 2022) +1937 – Dustin Hoffman, American actor and director + 1937 – Sheila Varian, American horse breeder (d. 2016) + 1937 – Cornelis Vreeswijk, Dutch-Swedish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (d. 1987) +1938 – Jack Baldwin, English chemist and academic (d. 2020) + 1938 – Jacques Hétu, Canadian composer and educator (d. 2010) + 1938 – Connie Stevens, American actress and businesswoman +1939 – Jana Andrsová, Czech actress and ballerina + 1939 – Viorica Viscopoleanu, Romanian long jumper + 1939 – Alexander Watson, American diplomat, United States Ambassador to Peru +1940 – Dilip Sardesai, Indian cricketer (d. 2007) + 1940 – Dennis Tito, American engineer and businessman, founded Wilshire Associates +1942 – James Blanchard, American diplomat and politician, 45th Governor of Michigan + 1942 – Dennis Canavan, Scottish educator and politician + 1942 – John Gustafson, English singer-songwriter and bass player (d. 2014) + 1942 – Vardo Rumessen, Estonian pianist and musicologist (d. 2015) +1944 – John C. Holmes, American film actor (d. 1988) + 1944 – Michael Johnson, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2017) + 1944 – John Renbourn, English-Scottish guitarist and songwriter (d. 2015) + 1944 – Simon Taylor, English journalist and author +1946 – Joe Bethancourt, American singer-songwriter (d. 2014) +1947 – Ken Dryden, Canadian ice hockey player, lawyer, and politician + 1947 – Larry Wilcox, American actor, director, and producer +1948 – Svetlana Savitskaya, Russian engineer and astronaut + 1948 – Margaret Urban Walker, American philosopher +1949 – Terry Burnham, American actress + 1949 – Keith Carradine, American actor + 1949 – Ricardo Londoño, Colombian racing driver (d. 2009) +1950 – Willie Hall, American drummer and producer + 1950 – Ken Kutaragi, Japanese businessman, created PlayStation +1951 – Martin Brest, American director, producer, and screenwriter + 1951 – Phil Carlson, Australian cricketer (d. 2022) + 1951 – Mohamed Morsi, Egyptian engineer, academic, and politician, 5th President of Egypt (d. 2019) + 1951 – Mamoru Oshii, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter + 1951 – Randy Shilts, American journalist and author (d. 1994) + 1951 – Louis van Gaal, Dutch footballer and manager +1952 – Anton Fig, South African-American drummer + 1952 – Jostein Gaarder, Norwegian author + 1952 – Doug Melvin, Canadian baseball player and manager + 1952 – Robin Quivers, American nurse, radio host/personality, and author + 1952 – Sudhakar Rao, Indian cricketer +1953 – Nigel Mansell, English racing driver + 1953 – Don Most, American actor and singer +1954 – Nick Holtam, English bishop +1955 – Diddú, Icelandic singer-songwriter + 1955 – Herbert Prohaska, Austrian footballer and manager + 1955 – Michael Roe, Irish racing driver +1956 – Chris Foreman, English singer-songwriter and guitarist + 1956 – David Grant, English singer + 1956 – Cecilia Roth, Argentinian actress +1957 – Dennis Drew, American keyboard player +1958 – Deborah Norville, American journalist +1959 – Caroline Ansink, Dutch flute player, composer, and educator +1960 – Mustafa Balbay, Turkish journalist and politician + 1960 – Ulrich Maly, German politician, 16th Mayor of Nuremberg +1961 – The Edge, British-Irish musician, singer and songwriter + 1961 – Daniel House, American bass player and producer + 1961 – Ron Klain, American lawyer and politician, White House Chief of Staff + 1961 – Bruce Matthews, American football player and coach + 1961 – Rikki Rockett, American glam rock drummer +1962 – Kool Moe Dee, American musician, singer and actor +1963 – Hur Jin-ho, South Korean director and screenwriter + 1963 – Ron Karkovice, American baseball player and manager + 1963 – Emi Shinohara, Japanese voice actress and singer + 1963 – Jon Turteltaub, American director and producer + 1963 – Stephen Walkom, Canadian ice hockey player, referee, and manager +1964 – Anastasia M. Ashman, American blogger and author + 1964 – Giuseppe Conte, Prime Minister of Italy + 1964 – Scott Sandelin, American ice hockey player and coach + 1964 – Paul Taylor, English cricketer +1965 – Angus Fraser, English cricketer, manager, and journalist + 1965 – Kate Langbroek, Australian talk show host +1966 – Chris Eubank, English boxer + 1966 – John Hudek, American baseball player and coach +1967 – Marcelo Balboa, American soccer player, coach, and sportscaster +1968 – Yvie Burnett, Scottish soprano + 1968 – Aldo Calderón van Dyke, Honduran journalist (d. 2013) + 1968 – Abey Kuruvilla, Indian cricketer and coach + 1968 – Huey Morgan, American singer-songwriter and guitarist +1969 – Monika Tsõganova, Estonian chess player + 1969 – Faye Wong, Chinese singer-songwriter and actress +1970 – Trev Alberts, American football player and journalist + 1970 – Ben G. Davis, English chemist and academic + 1970 – José Francisco Molina, Spanish footballer and manager + 1970 – Chester Williams, South African rugby player and coach (d. 2019) +1971 – Johnny Balentina, Dutch baseball player +1972 – Joely Collins, Canadian actress and producer + 1972 – Andrea de Rossi, Italian rugby player and coach + 1972 – Axel Merckx, Belgian cyclist + 1972 – Steven Tweed, Scottish footballer and manager +1973 – Shane Lee, Australian cricketer and guitarist + 1973 – Gert Olesk, Estonian footballer and manager + 1973 – Scott Stapp, American singer-songwriter and producer + 1973 – Mark Wills, American singer-songwriter + 1973 – Ilka Agricola, German mathematician +1974 – Manjul Bhargava, Canadian-American mathematician and academic + 1974 – Scott D'Amore, Canadian wrestler and manager + 1974 – Brian Harvey, English singer-songwriter + 1974 – Andy Priaulx, Guernseyan racing driver +1975 – Mick Moss, English singer-songwriter +1976 – JC Chasez, American singer and dancer + 1976 – Drew Lachey, American singer and actor +1977 – Lindsay Sloane, American actress + 1977 – Darren Manzella, American sergeant (d. 2013) + 1977 – Rocky Thompson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach + 1977 – Nicolas Vogondy, French cyclist + 1977 – Mohammad Wasim, Pakistani cricketer +1978 – Alan Maybury, Irish footballer and coach + 1978 – Louis Saha, French footballer + 1978 – Miho Shiraishi, Japanese actress +1979 – Richard Harwood, English cellist + 1979 – Rashard Lewis, American basketball player + 1979 – Richard Lyons, Northern Irish racing driver +1980 – Shayna Baszler, American mixed martial artist and wrestler + 1980 – Craig Breslow, American baseball pitcher and executive + 1980 – Jack Cassel, American baseball player + 1980 – Denisse Guerrero, Mexican singer-songwriter + 1980 – Sabine Klaschka, German tennis player + 1980 – Diego Markwell, Dutch baseball player + 1980 – Pat Noonan, American soccer player + 1980 – Michael Urie, American actor, director, and producer +1981 – Vanessa Amorosi, Australian singer-songwriter + 1981 – Roger Federer, Swiss tennis player + 1981 – Meagan Good, American actress and producer + 1981 – Harel Skaat, Israeli singer-songwriter +1982 – David Florence, English canoe racer + 1982 – Ross Ohlendorf, American baseball player +1983 – Guy Burnet, English actor and producer + 1983 – Willie Tonga, Australian rugby league player +1984 – Kirk Broadfoot, Scottish footballer + 1984 – Norbert Michelisz, Hungarian racing driver + 1984 – Martrez Milner, American football player +1985 – Toby Flood, English rugby player + 1985 – Ryan Koolwijk, Dutch footballer + 1985 – James Morgan, Welsh actor and producer + 1985 – Brett Ratliff, American football player + 1985 – Anita Włodarczyk, Polish track and field athlete +1986 – Kateryna Bondarenko, Ukrainian tennis player + 1986 – Jackie Cruz, Dominican-American actress and singer + 1986 – Pierre Garçon, American football player + 1986 – Chris Pressley, American football player +1987 – Pierre Boulanger, French actor + 1987 – Katie Leung, Scottish actress + 1987 – Tatjana Maria, German tennis player +1988 – Princess Beatrice, British royal + 1988 – Danilo Gallinari, Italian basketball player + 1988 – Rinku Singh, Indian baseball player and wrestler + 1988 – Laura Slade Wiggins, American actress and singer +1989 – Ken Baumann, American actor and author + 1989 – Anthony Rizzo, American baseball player + 1989 – Hannah Miley, English-Scottish swimmer + 1989 – Prajakta Mali, Indian actress +1990 – Vladimír Darida, Czech footballer + 1990 – Parker Kligerman, American race car driver + 1990 – Aleksandra Szwed, Polish actress and singer + 1990 – Kane Williamson, New Zealand cricket captain +1991 – Yandy Díaz, Cuban baseball player + 1991 – Nélson Oliveira, Portuguese footballer + 1991 – Tyrone Peachey, Australian rugby league player + 1991 – Joël Matip, Cameroonian footballer +1992 – Josip Drmić, Swiss footballer + 1992 – Casey Cott, American actor +1998 – Shawn Mendes, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist + 1998 – Ryan Garcia, American boxer +2000 – Félix Auger-Aliassime, Canadian tennis player + +Deaths + +Pre-1600 +117 – Trajan, Roman emperor (b. 53) + 753 – Hildegar, bishop of Cologne + 869 – Lothair II, Frankish king (b. 835) + 998 – Seo Hui, Korean politician and diplomat (b. 942) +1002 – Almanzor, chief minister and de facto ruler of Córdoba +1171 – Henry of Blois, bishop of Winchester (b. 1111) +1303 – Henry of Castile the Senator, Spanish nobleman (b. 1230) +1533 – Lucas van Leyden, Dutch artist (b. 1494) +1555 – Oronce Finé, French mathematician and cartographer (b. 1494) +1588 – Alonso Sánchez Coello, Spanish painter (b. 1532) + +1601–1900 +1604 – Horio Tadauji, Japanese daimyō (b. 1578) +1616 – Cornelis Ketel, Dutch painter (b. 1548) +1631 – Konstantinas Sirvydas, Lithuanian priest, lexicographer, and academic (b. 1579) +1684 – George Booth, 1st Baron Delamer, English politician (b. 1622) +1724 – Christoph Ludwig Agricola, German painter (b. 1665) +1747 – Madeleine de Verchères, Canadian raid leader (b. 1678) +1746 – Francis Hutcheson, Irish philosopher (b. 1694) +1759 – Carl Heinrich Graun, German tenor and composer (b. 1704) +1827 – George Canning, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1770) +1828 – Carl Peter Thunberg, Swedish botanist and psychologist (b. 1743) +1858 – Marie-Claire Heureuse Félicité Bonheur, Haitian Empress (b. 1758) +1863 – Angus MacAskill, Scottish-Canadian giant (b. 1825) +1879 – Immanuel Hermann Fichte, German philosopher and academic (b. 1797) +1887 – Alexander William Doniphan, American colonel, lawyer, and politician (b. 1808) +1897 – Jacob Burckhardt, Swiss historian and academic (b. 1818) +1898 – Eugène Boudin, French painter (b. 1824) + +1901–present +1902 – James Tissot, French painter and illustrator (b. 1836) + 1902 – John Henry Twachtman, American painter and academic (b. 1853) +1909 – Mary MacKillop, Australian nun and saint, co-founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart (b. 1842) +1911 – William P. Frye, American lawyer and politician (b. 1830) +1920 – Eduard Birnbaum, Polish-born German cantor (b. 1855) +1921 – Juhani Aho, Finnish journalist and author (b. 1861) +1928 – Stjepan Radić, Croatian politician (b. 1871) +1930 – Launceston Elliot, Scottish wrestler and weightlifter (b. 1874) +1934 – Wilbert Robinson, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1863) +1937 – Jimmie Guthrie, Scottish motorcycle racer (b. 1897) +1940 – Johnny Dodds, American clarinet player and saxophonist (b. 1892) +1944 – Erwin von Witzleben, German field marshal (b. 1881) + 1944 – Michael Wittmann, German commander (b. 1914) +1950 – Fergus McMaster, Australian businessman, founded Qantas (b. 1879) +1959 – Albert Namatjira, Australian painter (b. 1902) +1965 – Shirley Jackson, American novelist and short story writer (b. 1916) +1969 – Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer, German biologist and eugenicist (b. 1896) +1971 – Freddie Spencer Chapman, English lieutenant (b. 1907) +1973 – Vilhelm Moberg, Swedish historian and author (b. 1898) +1974 – Elisabeth Abegg, German anti-Nazi resistance fighter (b. 1882) +1975 – Cannonball Adderley, American saxophonist (b. 1928) +1979 – Nicholas Monsarrat, English lieutenant and author (b. 1910) +1980 – Paul Triquet, Canadian general, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1910) +1981 – Thomas McElwee, Irish republican, PIRA volunteer and Hunger Striker (b. 1957) +1982 – Eric Brandon, English racing driver and businessman (b. 1920) +1984 – Richard Deacon, American actor (b. 1921) + 1984 – Ellen Raskin, American author and illustrator (b. 1928) +1985 – Louise Brooks, American actress (b. 1906) +1987 – Danilo Blanuša, Croatian mathematician and physicist (b. 1903) +1988 – Félix Leclerc, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1914) + 1988 – Alan Napier, English actor (b. 1903) +1991 – James Irwin, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1930) +1992 – Abu al-Qasim al-Khoei, Iranian religious leader and scholar (b. 1899) +1996 – Nevill Francis Mott, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905) + 1996 – Jüri Randviir, Estonian chess player and journalist (b. 1927) +1998 – Mahmoud Saremi, Iranian journalist (b. 1968) +2003 – Dirk Hoogendam, Dutch-German SS officer (b. 1922) + 2003 – Falaba Issa Traoré, Malian director and playwright (b. 1930) +2004 – Leon Golub, American painter and academic (b. 1922) + 2004 – Fay Wray, Canadian-American actress (b. 1907) +2005 – Barbara Bel Geddes, American actress (b. 1922) + 2005 – Ahmed Deedat, South African missionary and author (b. 1918) + 2005 – John H. Johnson, American publisher, founded the Johnson Publishing Company (b. 1918) + 2005 – Gene Mauch, American baseball player and manager (b. 1925) + 2005 – Dean Rockwell, American commander, wrestler, and coach (b. 1912) + 2005 – Monica Sjöö, Swedish-English painter (b. 1938) +2007 – Ma Lik, Chinese journalist and politician (b. 1952) + 2007 – Melville Shavelson, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1917) +2008 – Orville Moody, American golfer (b. 1933) +2009 – Daniel Jarque, Spanish footballer (b. 1983) +2010 – Patricia Neal, American actress (b. 1926) +2012 – Fay Ajzenberg-Selove, German-American physicist and academic (b. 1926) + 2012 – Ruth Etchells, English poet and academic (b. 1931) + 2012 – Surya Lesmana, Indonesian footballer and manager (b. 1944) + 2012 – Kurt Maetzig, German director and screenwriter (b. 1911) +2013 – Karen Black, American actress (b. 1939) + 2013 – Johannes Bluyssen, Dutch bishop (b. 1926) + 2013 – Fernando Castro Pacheco, Mexican painter, engraver, and illustrator (b. 1918) + 2013 – Igor Kurnosov, Russian chess player (b. 1985) + 2013 – Regina Resnik, American soprano and actress (b. 1922) +2014 – Menahem Golan, Israeli director and producer (b. 1929) + 2014 – Charles Keating, English-American actor (b. 1941) + 2014 – Leonardo Legaspi, Filipino archbishop (b. 1935) + 2014 – Peter Sculthorpe, Australian composer and conductor (b. 1929) + 2014 – Red Wilson, American football and baseball player (b. 1929) +2015 – Sean Price, American rapper (b. 1972) + 2015 – Gus Mortson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1925) +2017 – Glen Campbell, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (b. 1936) +2018 – Nicholas Bett, Kenyan track and field athlete (b. 1990) +2020 – Gabriel Ochoa Uribe, Colombian football player and manager (b. 1929) + 2020 – Alfredo Lim, former Philippine senator and Mayor of Manila (b. 1929) +2021 – Bill Davis, Canadian politician, 18th premier of Ontario (b. 1929) +2022 – Olivia Newton-John, English-Australian singer-songwriter and actress (b. 1948) +2023 – Rodriguez, American singer and songwriter (b. 1942) + +Holidays and observances + Ceasefire Day (end of Iran–Iraq War) (Iraqi Kurdistan) +Christian Feast Day: + Altmann of Passau + Cyriacus + Dominic de Guzmán, founder of the Dominican Order. + Four Crowned Martyrs + Largus + Mary MacKillop + Saint Smaragdus (and companions) + Severus of Vienne + August 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) + Father's Day or Bā bā Day (爸爸節), Bā Bā is Mandarin for "father" and "8-8", or August 8. (Mongolia, Taiwan) + Happiness Happens Day + International Cat Day + Namesday of the Queen (Sweden) + Nane Nane Day (Tanzania) + Signal Troops Day (Ukraine) + +References + +External links + + + + + +Days of the year +August + + +Events + +Pre-1600 +1457 BC – Battle of Megido - the first battle to have been recorded in what is accepted as relatively reliable detail. +69 – Defeated by Vitellius' troops at Bedriacum, Otho commits suicide. +73 – Masada, a Jewish fortress, falls to the Romans after several months of siege, ending the First Jewish–Roman War. +1346 – Stefan Dušan, "the Mighty", is crowned Emperor of the Serbs at Skopje, his empire occupying much of the Balkans. +1520 – The Revolt of the Comuneros begins in Spain against the rule of Charles V. +1582 – Spanish conquistador Hernando de Lerma founds the settlement of Salta, Argentina. + +1601–1900 +1746 – The Battle of Culloden is fought between the French-supported Jacobites and the British Hanoverian forces commanded by William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, in Scotland. After the battle many highland traditions were banned and the Highlands of Scotland were cleared of inhabitants. +1780 – Franz Friedrich Wilhelm von Fürstenberg founds the University of Münster. +1799 – French Revolutionary Wars: The Battle of Mount Tabor: Napoleon drives Ottoman Turks across the River Jordan near Acre. +1818 – The United States Senate ratifies the Rush–Bagot Treaty, limiting naval armaments on the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain. + 1838 – The French Army captures Veracruz in the Pastry War. +1847 – Shooting of a Māori by an English sailor results in the opening of the Wanganui Campaign of the New Zealand Wars. +1853 – The Great Indian Peninsula Railway opens the first passenger rail in India, from Bori Bunder to Thane. +1858 – The Wernerian Natural History Society, a former Scottish learned society, is dissolved. +1862 – American Civil War: Battle at Lee's Mills in Virginia. + 1862 – American Civil War: The District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act, a bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia, becomes law. +1863 – American Civil War: During the Vicksburg Campaign, gunboats commanded by acting Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter run downriver past Confederate artillery batteries at Vicksburg. +1878 – The Senate of the Grand Duchy of Finland issued a declaration establishing a city of Kotka on the southern part islands from the old Kymi parish. +1881 – In Dodge City, Kansas, Bat Masterson fights his last gun battle. + +1901–present +1908 – Natural Bridges National Monument is established in Utah. +1910 – The oldest existing indoor ice hockey arena still used for the sport in the 21st century, Boston Arena, opens for the first time. +1912 – Harriet Quimby becomes the first woman to fly an airplane across the English Channel. +1917 – Russian Revolution: Vladimir Lenin returns to Petrograd, Russia, from exile in Switzerland. +1919 – Mohandas Gandhi organizes a day of "prayer and fasting" in response to the killing of Indian protesters in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre by the British colonial troops three days earlier. + 1919 – Polish–Lithuanian War: The Polish Army launches the Vilna offensive to capture Vilnius in modern Lithuania. +1922 – The Treaty of Rapallo, pursuant to which Germany and the Soviet Union re-establish diplomatic relations, is signed. +1925 – During the Communist St Nedelya Church assault in Sofia, Bulgaria, 150 are killed and 500 are wounded. +1941 – World War II: The Italian-German Tarigo convoy is attacked and destroyed by British ships. + 1941 – World War II: The Nazi-affiliated Ustaše is put in charge of the Independent State of Croatia by the Axis powers after Operation 25 is effected. +1942 – King George VI awarded the George Cross to the people of Malta in appreciation of their heroism. +1943 – Albert Hofmann accidentally discovers the hallucinogenic effects of the research drug LSD. He intentionally takes the drug three days later on April 19. +1944 – World War II: Allied forces start bombing Belgrade, killing about 1,100 people. This bombing fell on the Orthodox Christian Easter. +1945 – World War II: The Red Army begins the final assault on German forces around Berlin, with nearly one million troops fighting in the Battle of the Seelow Heights. + 1945 – The United States Army liberates Nazi Sonderlager (high security) prisoner-of-war camp Oflag IV-C (better known as Colditz). + 1945 – More than 7,000 die when the German transport ship Goya is sunk by a Soviet submarine. +1947 – An explosion on board a freighter in port causes the city of Texas City, Texas, to catch fire, killing almost 600. + 1947 – Bernard Baruch first applies the term "Cold War" to describe the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union. +1948 – The Organization of European Economic Co-operation is formed. +1961 – In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares that he is a Marxist–Leninist and that Cuba is going to adopt Communism. +1963 – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. pens his Letter from Birmingham Jail while incarcerated in Birmingham, Alabama for protesting against segregation. +1972 – Apollo program: The launch of Apollo 16 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. +2001 – India and Bangladesh begin a five-day border conflict, but are unable to resolve the disputes about their border. +2003 – The Treaty of Accession is signed in Athens admitting ten new member states to the European Union. +2007 – Virginia Tech shooting: Seung-Hui Cho guns down 32 people and injures 17 before committing suicide. +2008 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in the Baze v. Rees decision that execution by lethal injection does not violate the Eighth Amendment ban against cruel and unusual punishment. +2012 – The trial for Anders Behring Breivik, the perpetrator of the 2011 Norway attacks, begins in Oslo, Norway. + 2012 – The Pulitzer Prize winners were announced, it was the first time since 1977 that no book won the Fiction Prize. +2013 – A 7.8-magnitude earthquake strikes Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran, killing at least 35 people and injuring 117 others. + 2013 – The 2013 Baga massacre is started when Boko Haram militants engage government soldiers in Baga. +2014 – The South Korean ferry MV Sewol capsizes and sinks near Jindo Island, killing 304 passengers and crew and leading to widespread criticism of the South Korean government, media, and shipping authorities. +2016 – Ecuador's worst earthquake in nearly 40 years kills 676 and injures 6,274. +2018 – The New York Times and the New Yorker win the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for breaking news of the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse scandal. + +Births + +Pre-1600 +1488 – Jungjong of Joseon (d. 1544) +1495 – Petrus Apianus, German mathematician and astronomer (d. 1557) +1516 – Tabinshwehti, Burmese king (d. 1550) +1569 – John Davies, English poet and lawyer (d. 1626) + +1601–1900 +1635 – Frans van Mieris the Elder, Dutch painter (d. 1681) +1646 – Jules Hardouin-Mansart, French architect, designed the Château de Dampierre and Grand Trianon (probable; d. 1708) +1660 – Hans Sloane, Irish-English physician and academic (d. 1753) +1661 – Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, English poet and politician, First Lord of the Treasury (d. 1715) +1682 – John Hadley, English mathematician, invented the octant (d. 1744) +1697 – Johann Gottlieb Görner, German organist and composer (d. 1778) +1728 – Joseph Black, French-Scottish physician and chemist (d. 1799) +1730 – Henry Clinton, English general and politician (d. 1795) +1755 – Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, French painter (d. 1842) +1786 – John Franklin, English admiral and politician, fourth Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land (d. 1847) +1800 – George Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan, English field marshal and politician (d. 1888) +1808 – Caleb Blood Smith, American journalist, lawyer, and politician, sixth United States Secretary of the Interior (d. 1864) +1821 – Ford Madox Brown, French-English soldier and painter (d. 1893) +1823 – Gotthold Eisenstein, German mathematician and academic (d. 1852) +1826 – Sir James Corry, 1st Baronet, British politician (d. 1891) +1827 – Octave Crémazie, Canadian poet and bookseller (d. 1879) +1839 – Antonio Starabba, Marchese di Rudinì, Italian politician, 12th Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1908) +1834 – Charles Lennox Richardson, English merchant (d. 1862) +1844 – Anatole France, French journalist, novelist, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1924) +1847 – Hans Auer, Swiss-Austrian architect, designed the Federal Palace of Switzerland (d. 1906) +1848 – Kandukuri Veeresalingam, Indian author and activist (d. 1919) +1851 – Ponnambalam Ramanathan, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, third Solicitor General of Sri Lanka (d. 1930) +1864 – Rose Talbot Bullard, American medical doctor and professor (d. 1915) +1865 – Harry Chauvel, Australian general (d. 1945) +1866 – José de Diego, Puerto Rican journalist, lawyer, and politician (d. 1918) +1867 – Wilbur Wright, American inventor (d. 1912) +1871 – John Millington Synge, Irish author, poet, and playwright (d. 1909) +1874 – Jōtarō Watanabe, Japanese general (d. 1936) +1878 – R. E. Foster, English cricketer and footballer (d. 1914) +1882 – Seth Bingham, American organist and composer (d. 1972) +1884 – Ronald Barnes, 3rd Baron Gorell, English cricketer, journalist, and politician (d. 1963) +1885 – Leó Weiner, Hungarian composer and educator (d. 1960) +1886 – Michalis Dorizas, Greek-American football player and javelin thrower (d. 1957) + 1886 – Ernst Thälmann, German politician (d. 1944) +1888 – Billy Minter, English footballer and manager (d. 1940) +1889 – Charlie Chaplin, English actor, director, producer, screenwriter, and composer (d. 1977) +1890 – Fred Root, English cricketer and umpire (d. 1954) + 1890 – Gertrude Chandler Warner, American author and educator (d. 1979) +1891 – Dorothy P. Lathrop, American author and illustrator (d. 1980) +1892 – Dora Richter, German transgender woman and the first known person to undergo complete male-to-female gender-affirming surgery (d. unknown) + 1892 – Howard Mumford Jones, American author, critic, and academic (d. 1980) +1893 – Germaine Guèvremont, Canadian journalist and author (d. 1968) + 1893 – John Norton, American hurdler (d. 1979) +1895 – Ove Arup, English-Danish engineer and businessman, founded Arup (d. 1988) +1896 – Robert Henry Best, American journalist (d. 1952) + 1896 – Árpád Weisz, Hungarian footballer (d. 1944) +1899 – Osman Achmatowicz, Polish chemist and academic (d. 1988) +1900 – Polly Adler, Russian-American madam and author (d. 1962) + +1901–present +1903 – Paul Waner, American baseball player and manager (d. 1965) +1904 – Fifi D'Orsay, Canadian-American vaudevillian, actress, and singer (d. 1983) +1905 – Frits Philips, Dutch businessman (d. 2005) +1907 – Joseph-Armand Bombardier, Canadian inventor and businessman, founded Bombardier Inc. (d. 1964) + 1907 – August Eigruber, Austrian-German politician (d. 1947) +1908 – Ellis Marsalis, Sr., American businessman and activist (d. 2004) + 1908 – Ray Ventura, French jazz bandleader (d. 1979) +1910 – Berton Roueché, American journalist and author (d. 1994) +1911 – Guy Burgess, English-Russian spy (d. 1963) +1914 – John Hodiak, American actor (d. 1955) + 1915 – Robert Speck, Canadian politician, first Mayor of Mississauga (d. 1972) +1916 – Behçet Necatigil, Turkish author, poet, and translator (d. 1979) +1917 – Victoria Eugenia Fernández de Córdoba, 18th Duchess of Medinaceli (d. 2013) + 1917 – Barry Nelson, American actor (d. 2007) +1918 – Hsuan Hua, Chinese-American monk and author (d. 1995) + 1918 – Juozas Kazickas, Lithuanian-American businessman and philanthropist (d. 2014) + 1918 – Spike Milligan, Irish actor, comedian, and writer (d. 2002) +1919 – Merce Cunningham, American dancer and choreographer (d. 2009) + 1919 – Nilla Pizzi, Italian singer (d. 2011) + 1919 – Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, Mexican architect, designed the Tijuana Cultural Center and National Museum of Anthropology (d. 2013) + 1919 – Thomas Willmore, English geometer and academic (d. 2005) +1920 – Ananda Dassanayake, Sri Lankan politician (d. 2012) + 1920 – Prince George Valdemar of Denmark (d. 1986) +1921 – Arlin Adams, American lawyer and judge (d. 2015) + 1921 – Wolfgang Leonhard, German historian and author (d. 2014) + 1921 – Peter Ustinov, English actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2004) +1922 – Kingsley Amis, English novelist, poet, and critic (d. 1995) + 1922 – Lawrence N. Guarino, American colonel (d. 2014) + 1922 – Leo Tindemans, Belgian politician, 43rd Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 2014) +1923 – Warren Barker, American composer (d. 2006) + 1923 – Arch A. Moore Jr., American sergeant, lawyer, and politician, 28th Governor of West Virginia (d. 2015) +1924 – John Harvey-Jones, English academic and businessman (d. 2008) + 1924 – Henry Mancini, American composer and conductor (d. 1994) + 1924 – Madanjeet Singh, Indian diplomat, author, and philanthropist (d. 2013) +1926 – Pierre Fabre, French pharmacist, founded Laboratoires Pierre Fabre (d. 2013) +1927 – Edie Adams, American actress and singer (d. 2008) + 1927 – Pope Benedict XVI (d. 2022) + 1927 – Rolf Schult, German actor (d. 2013) +1928 – Night Train Lane, American football player (d. 2002) +1929 – Roy Hamilton, American singer (d. 1969) + 1929 – Ralph Slatyer, Australian biologist and ecologist (d. 2012) + 1929 – Ed Townsend, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2003) +1930 – Doug Beasy, Australian footballer and educator (d. 2013) + 1930 – Herbie Mann, American flute player and composer (d. 2003) +1932 – Maury Meyers, American lawyer and politician (d. 2014) +1933 – Marcos Alonso Imaz, Spanish footballer (d. 2012) + 1933 – Joan Bakewell, English journalist and author + 1933 – Perry Botkin Jr., American composer, arranger and musician (d. 2021) + 1933 – Vera Krepkina, Russian long jumper (d. 2023) + 1933 – Ike Pappas, American journalist and actor (d. 2008) +1934 – Vince Hill, English singer-songwriter (d. 2023) + 1934 – Robert Stigwood, Australian producer and manager (d. 2016) + 1934 – Barrie Unsworth, Australian politician, 36th Premier of New South Wales + 1934 – Vicar, Chilean cartoonist (d. 2012) +1935 – Marcel Carrière, Canadian director and screenwriter + 1935 – Sarah Kirsch, German poet and author (d. 2013) + 1935 – Lennart Risberg, Swedish boxer (d. 2013) + 1935 – Dominique Venner, French journalist and historian (d. 2013) + 1935 – Bobby Vinton, American singer +1936 – Vadim Kuzmin, Russian physicist and academic (d. 2015) +1937 – Gert Potgieter, South African hurdler and coach + 1937 – George Steele, American wrestler and actor (d. 2017) +1938 – Rich Rollins, American baseball player + 1938 – Gordon Wilson, Scottish lawyer and politician (d. 2017) +1939 – John Amabile, American football player and coach (d. 2012) + 1939 – Dusty Springfield, English singer and record producer (d. 1999) +1940 – Benoît Bouchard, Canadian academic and politician, 18th Canadian Minister of Transport + 1940 – David Holford, Barbadian cricketer + 1940 – Queen Margrethe II of Denmark + 1940 – Joan Snyder, American painter + 1940 – Thomas Stonor, 7th Baron Camoys, English banker and politician, Lord Chamberlain of the United Kingdom +1941 – Allan Segal, American director and producer (d. 2012) +1942 – Jim Lonborg, American baseball pitcher + 1942 – Sir Frank Williams, English businessman, founded the Williams F1 Racing Team (d. 2021) +1943 – Petro Tyschtschenko, Austrian-German businessman + 1943 – John Watkins, Australian cricketer +1945 – Tom Allen, American lawyer and politician +1946 – Margot Adler, American journalist and author (d. 2014) + 1946 – Ernst Bakker, Dutch politician (d. 2014) + 1946 – Johnnie Lewis, Liberian lawyer and politician, 18th Chief Justice of Liberia (d. 2015) + 1946 – R. Carlos Nakai, American flute player +1947 – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, American basketball player and coach + 1947 – Gerry Rafferty, Scottish singer-songwriter (d. 2011) +1948 – Reg Alcock, Canadian businessman and politician, 17th Canadian President of the Treasury Board (d. 2011) +1950 – David Graf, American actor (d. 2001) + 1950 – Colleen Hewett, Australian singer and actress +1951 – Ioan Mihai Cochinescu, Romanian author and photographer +1952 – Bill Belichick, American football player and coach + 1952 – Michel Blanc, French actor and director + 1952 – Esther Roth-Shahamorov, Israeli sprinter and hurdler + 1952 – Billy West, American voice actor, singer-songwriter, and comedian +1953 – Peter Garrett, Australian singer-songwriter and politician + 1953 – Jay O. Sanders, American actor +1954 – Ellen Barkin, American actress + 1954 – John Bowe, Australian racing driver + 1954 – Mike Zuke, Canadian ice hockey player +1955 – Bruce Bochy, American baseball player and manager + 1955 – Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg +1956 – David M. Brown, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2003) + 1956 – T Lavitz, American keyboard player, composer, and producer (d. 2010) + 1956 – Lise-Marie Morerod, Swiss skier +1957 – Patricia De Martelaere, Belgian philosopher, author, and academic (d. 2009) +1958 – Tim Flach, English photographer and director + 1958 – Ulf Wakenius, Swedish guitarist +1959 – Alison Ramsay, English-Scottish field hockey player and lawyer +1960 – Wahab Akbar, Filipino politician (d. 2007) + 1960 – Rafael Benítez, Spanish footballer and manager + 1960 – Pierre Littbarski, German footballer and manager +1961 – Jarbom Gamlin, Indian lawyer and politician, seventh Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh (d. 2014) +1962 – Anna Dello Russo, Italian journalist +1963 – Saleem Malik, Pakistani cricketer + 1963 – Jimmy Osmond, American singer +1964 – David Kohan, American screenwriter and producer + 1964 – Dave Pirner, American singer, songwriter and producer + 1964 – Esbjörn Svensson, Swedish pianist (d. 2008) +1965 – Yves-François Blanchet, Canadian politician + 1965 – Jon Cryer, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter + 1965 – Martin Lawrence, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter +1966 – Jarle Vespestad, Norwegian drummer +1968 – Vickie Guerrero, American wrestler and manager + 1968 – Rüdiger Stenzel, German runner +1969 – Patrik Järbyn, Swedish skier + 1969 – Fernando Viña, American baseball player and sportscaster +1970 – Dero Goi, German singer-songwriter and drummer + 1970 – Walt Williams, American basketball player +1971 – Cameron Blades, Australian rugby player + 1971 – Selena, American singer-songwriter, actress, and fashion designer (d. 1995) + 1971 – Seigo Yamamoto, Japanese racing driver + 1971 – Natasha Zvereva, Belarusian tennis player +1972 – Conchita Martínez, Spanish-American tennis player + 1972 – Tracy K. Smith, American poet and educator +1973 – Akon, Senegalese-American singer, rapper and songwriter + 1973 – Charlotta Sörenstam, Swedish golfer + 1973 – Teddy Cobeña, Spanish-Ecuadorian expressionist and representational sculptor +1976 – Lukas Haas, American actor and musician + 1976 – Kelli O'Hara, American actress and singer +1977 – Freddie Ljungberg, Swedish footballer +1979 – Christijan Albers, Dutch racing driver + 1979 – Lars Börgeling, German pole vaulter + 1979 – Daniel Browne, New Zealand rugby player +1981 – Anestis Agritis, Greek footballer + 1981 – Maya Dunietz, Israeli singer-songwriter and pianist + 1981 – Matthieu Proulx, Canadian football player +1982 – Gina Carano, American mixed martial artist and actress + 1982 – Boris Diaw, French basketball player + 1982 – Jonathan Vilma, American football player +1983 – Marié Digby, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress + 1983 – Cat Osterman, American softball player +1984 – Teddy Blass, American composer and producer + 1984 – Claire Foy, English actress + 1984 – Tucker Fredricks, American speed skater + 1984 – Paweł Kieszek, Polish footballer + 1984 – Kerron Stewart, Jamaican sprinter +1985 – Luol Deng, Sudanese-English basketball player + 1985 – Nate Diaz, American mixed martial artist + 1985 – Brendon Leonard, New Zealand rugby player + 1985 – Taye Taiwo, Nigerian footballer +1986 – Shinji Okazaki, Japanese footballer + 1986 – Peter Regin, Danish ice hockey player + 1986 – Epke Zonderland, Dutch gymnast +1987 – Cenk Akyol, Turkish basketball player + 1987 – Aaron Lennon, English international footballer +1988 – Kyle Okposo, American ice hockey player +1990 – Reggie Jackson, American basketball player + 1990 – Vangelis Mantzaris, Greek basketball player + 1990 – Tony McQuay, American sprinter +1991 – Nolan Arenado, American baseball player + 1991 – Kim Kyung-jung, South Korean footballer +1993 – Chance the Rapper, American rapper + 1993 – Mirai Nagasu, Japanese-American figure skater +1996 – Anya Taylor-Joy, Argentine-British actress + 1996 – Taylor Townsend, American tennis player +2002 – Sadie Sink, American actress + +Deaths + +Pre-1600 +AD 69 – Otho, Roman emperor (b. AD 32) + 665 – Fructuosus of Braga, French archbishop and saint +1090 – Sikelgaita, duchess of Apulia (b. c. 1040) +1113 – Sviatopolk II of Kiev (b. 1050) +1118 – Adelaide del Vasto, regent of Sicily, mother of Roger II of Sicily, queen of Baldwin I of Jerusalem +1198 – Frederick I, Duke of Austria (b. 1175) +1234 – Richard Marshal, 3rd Earl of Pembroke (b. 1191) +1375 – John Hastings, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, English nobleman and soldier (b. 1347) +1496 – Charles II, Duke of Savoy (b. 1489) +1587 – Anne Seymour, Duchess of Somerset (b. 1497) + +1601–1900 +1640 – Countess Charlotte Flandrina of Nassau (b. 1579) +1645 – Tobias Hume, Scottish soldier, viol player, and composer (b. 1569) +1687 – George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, English poet and politician, Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire (b. 1628) +1689 – Aphra Behn, English author and playwright (b. 1640) +1742 – Stefano Benedetto Pallavicino, Italian poet and translator (b. 1672) +1756 – Jacques Cassini, French astronomer (b. 1677) +1783 – Christian Mayer, Czech astronomer and educator (b. 1719) +1788 – Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, French mathematician, cosmologist, and author (b. 1707) +1828 – Francisco Goya, Spanish-French painter and illustrator (b. 1746) +1846 – Domenico Dragonetti, Italian bassist and composer (b. 1763) +1850 – Marie Tussaud, French-English sculptor, founded the Madame Tussauds Wax Museum (b. 1761) +1859 – Alexis de Tocqueville, French historian and philosopher, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1805) +1879 – Bernadette Soubirous, French nun and saint (b. 1844) +1888 – Zygmunt Florenty Wróblewski, Polish physicist and chemist (b. 1845) +1899 – Emilio Jacinto, Filipino journalist and activist (b. 1875) + +1901–present +1904 – Maximilian Kronberger, German poet and author (b. 1888) + 1904 – Samuel Smiles, Scottish-English author (b. 1812) +1914 – George William Hill, American astronomer and mathematician (b. 1838) +1915 – Nelson W. Aldrich, American businessman and politician (b. 1841) +1925 – Stefan Nerezov, Bulgarian general (b. 1867) +1928 – Henry Birks, Canadian businessman, founded Henry Birks and Sons (b. 1840) + 1928 – Roman Steinberg, Estonian wrestler (b. 1900) +1930 – José Carlos Mariátegui, Peruvian journalist, philosopher, and activist (b. 1894) +1935 – Panait Istrati, Romanian journalist and author (b. 1884) +1937 – Jay Johnson Morrow, American military engineer and politician, third Governor of the Panama Canal Zone (b. 1870) +1938 – Steve Bloomer, English footballer and manager (b. 1874) +1940 – Tony D'Arcy, Irish Republican died while on hunger strike (b. 1908) +1941 – Josiah Stamp, 1st Baron Stamp, English economist and civil servant (b. 1880) +1942 – Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (b. 1878) + 1942 – Denis St. George Daly, Irish polo player (b. 1862) +1946 – Arthur Chevrolet, Swiss-American race car driver and engineer (b. 1884) +1947 – Rudolf Höss, German SS officer (b. 1900) +1950 – Eduard Oja, Estonian composer, conductor, and critic (b. 1905) + 1950 – Anders Peter Nielsen, Danish target shooter (b. 1867) +1955 – David Kirkwood, Scottish engineer and politician (b. 1872) +1958 – Rosalind Franklin, English biophysicist and academic (b. 1920) +1960 – Mihály Fekete, Hungarian actor, screenwriter and film director (b. 1884) +1961 – Carl Hovland, American psychologist and academic (b. 1912) +1965 – Francis Balfour, English soldier and colonial administrator (b. 1884) +1965 – Sydney Chaplin, English actor, comedian, brother of Charlie Chaplin (b. 1885) +1966 – Eric Lambert, Australian author (b. 1918) +1968 – Fay Bainter, American actress (b. 1893) + 1968 – Edna Ferber, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (b. 1885) +1969 – Hem Vejakorn, Thai illustrator and painter (b. 1904) +1970 – Richard Neutra, Austrian-American architect, designed the Los Angeles County Hall of Records (b. 1892) + 1970 – Péter Veres, Hungarian politician, Hungarian Minister of Defence (b. 1897) +1972 – Yasunari Kawabata, Japanese novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899) + 1972 – Frank O'Connor, Australian public servant (b. 1894) +1973 – István Kertész, Hungarian conductor and educator (b. 1929) +1978 – Lucius D. Clay, American officer and military governor in occupied Germany (b. 1898) +1980 – Morris Stoloff, American composer (b. 1898) +1985 – Scott Brady, American actor (b. 1924) +1988 – Khalil al-Wazir, Palestinian commander, founded Fatah (b. 1935) + 1988 – Youri Egorov, Russian pianist (b. 1954) +1989 – Jocko Conlan, American baseball player and umpire (b. 1899) + 1989 – Kaoru Ishikawa Japanese author and educator (b. 1915) + 1989 – Miles Lawrence, English cricketer (b. 1940) +1989 – Hakkı Yeten, Turkish footballer, manager and president (b. 1910) +1991 – David Lean, English director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1908) +1992 – Neville Brand, American actor (b. 1920) + 1992 – Alexandru Nicolschi, Romanian spy and activist (b. 1915) + 1992 – Andy Russell, American singer and actor (b. 1919) +1994 – Paul-Émilien Dalpé, Canadian labor unionist (b. 1919) + 1994 – Ralph Ellison, American novelist and critic (b. 1913) +1996 – Lucille Bremer, American actress and dancer (b. 1917) +1997 – Esmeralda Arboleda Cadavid, Colombian politician (b. 1921) + 1997 – Roland Topor, French actor, director, and painter (b. 1938) +1998 – Alberto Calderón, Argentinian-American mathematician and academic (b. 1920) + 1998 – Fred Davis, English snooker player (b. 1913) + 1998 – Marie-Louise Meilleur, Canadian super-centenarian (b. 1880) +1999 – Skip Spence, Canadian-American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1946) +2001 – Robert Osterloh, American actor (b. 1918) + 2001 – Michael Ritchie, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1938) + 2001 – Alec Stock, English footballer and manager (b. 1917) +2002 – Billy Ayre, English footballer and manager (b. 1952) + 2002 – Ruth Fertel, American businesswoman, founded Ruth's Chris Steak House (b. 1927) + 2002 – Robert Urich, American actor (b. 1946) +2003 – Graham Jarvis, Canadian actor (b. 1930) + 2003 – Graham Stuart Thomas, English horticulturalist and author (b. 1909) +2005 – Kay Walsh, English actress, singer, and dancer (b. 1911) +2007 – Frank Bateson, New Zealand astronomer (b. 1909) + 2007 – Gaétan Duchesne, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1962) + 2007 – Maria Lenk, Brazilian swimmer (b. 1915) + 2007 – Chandrabose Suthaharan, Sri Lankan journalist +2008 – Edward Norton Lorenz, American mathematician and meteorologist (b. 1917) +2010 – Rasim Delić, Bosnian general and convicted war criminal (b. 1949) + 2010 – Daryl Gates, American police officer, created the D.A.R.E. Program (b. 1926) +2011 – Gerry Alexander, Jamaican cricketer and veterinarian (b. 1928) + 2011 – Allan Blakeney, Canadian scholar and politician, tenth Premier of Saskatchewan (b. 1925) + 2011 – Sol Saks, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1910) +2012 – Sári Barabás, Hungarian soprano (b. 1914) + 2012 – Marian Biskup, Polish author and academic (b. 1922) + 2012 – Alan Hacker, English clarinet player and conductor (b. 1938) + 2012 – George Kunda, Zambian lawyer and politician, 11th Vice-President of Zambia (b. 1956) + 2012 – Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller, Danish businessman (b. 1913) + 2012 – Carlo Petrini, Italian footballer and coach (b. 1948) +2013 – Charles Bruzon, Gibraltarian politician (b. 1938) + 2013 – Ali Kafi, Algerian politician (b. 1928) + 2013 – Siegfried Ludwig, Austrian politician, 18th Governor of Lower Austria (b. 1926) + 2013 – Pentti Lund, Finnish-Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1925) + 2013 – George Beverly Shea, Canadian-American singer-songwriter (b. 1909) + 2013 – Pat Summerall, American football player and sportscaster (b. 1930) + 2013 – Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, Mexican architect, designed the Tijuana Cultural Center and National Museum of Anthropology (b. 1919) +2014 – Gyude Bryant, Liberian businessman and politician (b. 1949) + 2014 – Aulis Rytkönen, Finnish footballer and manager (b. 1929) + 2014 – Ernst Florian Winter, Austrian-American historian and political scientist (b. 1923) +2015 – Valery Belousov, Russian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1948) + 2015 – Stanislav Gross, Czech lawyer and politician, fifth Prime Minister of the Czech Republic (b. 1969) +2018 – Harry Anderson, American actor and magician (b. 1952) +2021 – Andrew Peacock, Australian politician (b. 1939) + 2021 – Helen McCrory, British actress (b. 1968) + 2021 – Liam Scarlett, British choreographer (b. 1986) + 2021 – John Dawes, Welsh rugby union player (b. 1940) + +Holidays and observances +Christian feast day: +Benedict Joseph Labre +Bernadette Soubirous +Drogo +Engratia +Fructuosus of Braga +Isabella Gilmore (Church of England) +Martyrs of Zaragoza +Molly Brant (Konwatsijayenni) (Anglican Church of Canada, Episcopal Church) +Turibius of Astorga +April 16 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) +Birthday of José de Diego (Puerto Rico, United States) +Birthday of Queen Margrethe II (Denmark) +Emancipation Day (Washington, D.C., United States) +Memorial Day for the Victims of the Holocaust (Hungary) +National Healthcare Decisions Day (United States) +Remembrance of Chemical Attack on Balisan and Sheikh Wasan (Iraqi Kurdistan) +World Voice Day + +References + +External links + + BBC: On This Day + + Historical Events on April 16 + +Days of the year +April +In mathematics, the associative property is a property of some binary operations, which means that rearranging the parentheses in an expression will not change the result. In propositional logic, associativity is a valid rule of replacement for expressions in logical proofs. + +Within an expression containing two or more occurrences in a row of the same associative operator, the order in which the operations are performed does not matter as long as the sequence of the operands is not changed. That is (after rewriting the expression with parentheses and in infix notation if necessary), rearranging the parentheses in such an expression will not change its value. Consider the following equations: + +Even though the parentheses were rearranged on each line, the values of the expressions were not altered. Since this holds true when performing addition and multiplication on any real numbers, it can be said that "addition and multiplication of real numbers are associative operations". + +Associativity is not the same as commutativity, which addresses whether the order of two operands affects the result. For example, the order does not matter in the multiplication of real numbers, that is, , so we say that the multiplication of real numbers is a commutative operation. However, operations such as function composition and matrix multiplication are associative, but not (generally) commutative. + +Associative operations are abundant in mathematics; in fact, many algebraic structures (such as semigroups and categories) explicitly require their binary operations to be associative. + +However, many important and interesting operations are non-associative; some examples include subtraction, exponentiation, and the vector cross product. In contrast to the theoretical properties of real numbers, the addition of floating point numbers in computer science is not associative, and the choice of how to associate an expression can have a significant effect on rounding error. + +Definition + +Formally, a binary operation on a set is called associative if it satisfies the associative law: + +Here, ∗ is used to replace the symbol of the operation, which may be any symbol, and even the absence of symbol (juxtaposition) as for multiplication. + +The associative law can also be expressed in functional notation thus: . + +Generalized associative law + +If a binary operation is associative, repeated application of the operation produces the same result regardless of how valid pairs of parentheses are inserted in the expression. This is called the generalized associative law. For instance, a product of four elements may be written, without changing the order of the factors, in five possible ways: + +If the product operation is associative, the generalized associative law says that all these expressions will yield the same result. So unless the expression with omitted parentheses already has a different meaning (see below), the parentheses can be considered unnecessary and "the" product can be written unambiguously as + +As the number of elements increases, the number of possible ways to insert parentheses grows quickly, but they remain unnecessary for disambiguation. + +An example where this does not work is the logical biconditional . It is associative; thus, is equivalent to , but most commonly means , which is not equivalent. + +Examples + +Some examples of associative operations include the following. + +Propositional logic + +Rule of replacement +In standard truth-functional propositional logic, association, or associativity are two valid rules of replacement. The rules allow one to move parentheses in logical expressions in logical proofs. The rules (using logical connectives notation) are: + +and + +where "" is a metalogical symbol representing "can be replaced in a proof with". + +Truth functional connectives +Associativity is a property of some logical connectives of truth-functional propositional logic. The following logical equivalences demonstrate that associativity is a property of particular connectives. The following (and their converses, since is commutative) are truth-functional tautologies. + +Associativity of disjunction + +Associativity of conjunction + +Associativity of equivalence + +Joint denial is an example of a truth functional connective that is not associative. + +Non-associative operation +A binary operation on a set S that does not satisfy the associative law is called non-associative. Symbolically, + +For such an operation the order of evaluation does matter. For example: + Subtraction + + Division + + Exponentiation + + Vector cross product + +Also although addition is associative for finite sums, it is not associative inside infinite sums (series). For example, + +whereas + +Some non-associative operations are fundamental in mathematics. They appear often as the multiplication in structures called non-associative algebras, which have also an addition and a scalar multiplication. Examples are the octonions and Lie algebras. In Lie algebras, the multiplication satisfies Jacobi identity instead of the associative law; this allows abstracting the algebraic nature of infinitesimal transformations. + +Other examples are quasigroup, quasifield, non-associative ring, and commutative non-associative magmas. + +Nonassociativity of floating point calculation + +In mathematics, addition and multiplication of real numbers is associative. By contrast, in computer science, the addition and multiplication of floating point numbers is not associative, as rounding errors are introduced when dissimilar-sized values are joined together. + +To illustrate this, consider a floating point representation with a 4-bit mantissa: + +Even though most computers compute with 24 or 53 bits of mantissa, this is an important source of rounding error, and approaches such as the Kahan summation algorithm are ways to minimise the errors. It can be especially problematic in parallel computing. + +Notation for non-associative operations + +In general, parentheses must be used to indicate the order of evaluation if a non-associative operation appears more than once in an expression (unless the notation specifies the order in another way, like ). However, mathematicians agree on a particular order of evaluation for several common non-associative operations. This is simply a notational convention to avoid parentheses. + +A left-associative operation is a non-associative operation that is conventionally evaluated from left to right, i.e., + +while a right-associative operation is conventionally evaluated from right to left: + +Both left-associative and right-associative operations occur. Left-associative operations include the following: + Subtraction and division of real numbers + + Function application + +This notation can be motivated by the currying isomorphism, which enables partial application. + +Right-associative operations include the following: + Exponentiation of real numbers in superscript notation +Exponentiation is commonly used with brackets or right-associatively because a repeated left-associative exponentiation operation is of little use. Repeated powers would mostly be rewritten with multiplication: +Formatted correctly, the superscript inherently behaves as a set of parentheses; e.g. in the expression the addition is performed before the exponentiation despite there being no explicit parentheses wrapped around it. Thus given an expression such as , the full exponent of the base is evaluated first. However, in some contexts, especially in handwriting, the difference between , and can be hard to see. In such a case, right-associativity is usually implied. + Function definition + +Using right-associative notation for these operations can be motivated by the Curry–Howard correspondence and by the currying isomorphism. + +Non-associative operations for which no conventional evaluation order is defined include the following. + Exponentiation of real numbers in infix notation + + Knuth's up-arrow operators + + Taking the cross product of three vectors + + Taking the pairwise average of real numbers + + Taking the relative complement of sets +.(Compare material nonimplication in logic.) + +History + +William Rowan Hamilton seems to have coined the term "associative property" around 1844, a time when he was contemplating the non-associative algebra of the octonions he had learned about from John T. Graves. + +See also + + Light's associativity test + Telescoping series, the use of addition associativity for cancelling terms in an infinite series + A semigroup is a set with an associative binary operation. + Commutativity and distributivity are two other frequently discussed properties of binary operations. + Power associativity, alternativity, flexibility and N-ary associativity are weak forms of associativity. + Moufang identities also provide a weak form of associativity. + +References + +Properties of binary operations +Elementary algebra +Functional analysis +Rules of inference +The Apache Software Foundation ( ; ASF) is an American nonprofit corporation (classified as a 501(c)(3) organization in the United States) to support a number of open-source software projects. The ASF was formed from a group of developers of the Apache HTTP Server, and incorporated on March 25, 1999. it includes approximately 1000 members. + +The Apache Software Foundation is a decentralized open source community of developers. The software they produce is distributed under the terms of the Apache License, a permissive open-source license for free and open-source software (FOSS). The Apache projects are characterized by a collaborative, consensus-based development process and an open and pragmatic software license, which is to say that it allows developers, who receive the software freely, to redistribute it under non-free terms. Each project is managed by a self-selected team of technical experts who are active contributors to the project. The ASF is a meritocracy, implying that membership of the foundation is granted only to volunteers who have actively contributed to Apache projects. The ASF is considered a second-generation open-source organization, in that commercial support is provided without the risk of platform lock-in. + +Among the ASF's objectives are: to provide legal protection to volunteers working on Apache projects, and to prevent the "Apache" brand name from being used by other organizations without permission. + +The ASF also holds several ApacheCon conferences each year, highlighting Apache projects and related technology. + +History +The history of the Apache Software Foundation is linked to the Apache HTTP Server, development beginning in February 1993. A group of eight developers started working on enhancing the NCSA HTTPd daemon. They came to be known as the Apache Group. On March 25, 1999, the Apache Software Foundation was formed. The first official meeting of the Apache Software Foundation was held on April 13, 1999. The initial members of the Apache Software Foundation consisted of the Apache Group: Brian Behlendorf, Ken Coar, Miguel Gonzales, Mark Cox, Lars Eilebrecht, Ralf S. Engelschall, Roy T. Fielding, Dean Gaudet, Ben Hyde, Jim Jagielski, Alexei Kosut, Martin Kraemer, Ben Laurie, Doug MacEachern, Aram Mirzadeh, Sameer Parekh, Cliff Skolnick, Marc Slemko, William (Bill) Stoddard, Paul Sutton, Randy Terbush and Dirk-Willem van Gulik. After a series of additional meetings to elect board members and resolve other legal matters regarding incorporation, the effective incorporation date of the Apache Software Foundation was set to June 1, 1999. + +Co-founder Brian Behlendorf states how the name 'Apache' was chosen: "I suggested the name Apache partly because the web technologies at the time that were launching were being called cyber this or spider that or something on those themes and I was like we need something a little more interesting, a little more romantic, not to be a cultural appropriator or anything like that, I had just seen a documentary about Geronimo and the last days of a Native American tribe called the Apaches, right, who succumbed to the invasion from the West, from the United States, and they were the last tribe to give up their territory and for me that almost romantically represented what I felt we were doing with this web-server project..." + +Projects + +Apache divides its software development activities into separate semi-autonomous areas called "top-level projects" (formally known as a "Project Management Committee" in the bylaws), some of which have a number of sub-projects. Unlike some other organizations that host FOSS projects, before a project is hosted at Apache it has to be licensed to the ASF with a grant or contributor agreement. In this way, the ASF gains the necessary intellectual property rights for the development and distribution of all its projects. + +Board of directors +The Board of Directors of The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) is responsible for management and oversight of the business and affairs of the corporation in accordance with the Bylaws. This includes management of the corporate assets (funds, intellectual property, trademarks, and support equipment), appointment of a President and corporate officers managing the core operations of the ASF, and allocation of corporate resources for the benefit of Apache projects. Technical decision-making authority for every Apache project is assigned to their independent project management committee; the participants in each project provide direction, not the board. +The board is elected annually by the ASF membership. + +Since March 17, 2021, the board of directors has been: + + Bertrand Delacretaz + Roy T. Fielding + Sharan Foga + Justin Mclean + Sam Ruby + Craig L. Russell + Roman Shaposhnik + Sander Striker + Sheng Wu + +See also + + List of Apache Software Foundation projects + Apache Attic + Apache Incubator + Log4Shell + CNCF + Linux Foundation + +Notes + +Further reading + Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything (2006); Don Tapscott, Anthony D. Williams. + +External links + + + ApacheCon website +“Trillions and Trillions Served” Feature documentary by the Apache Software Foundation detailing its history and impact on the open-source software community (2020) + +1999 establishments in Maryland +501(c)(3) organizations + +Free and open-source software organizations +Non-profit organizations based in Maryland +Software companies established in 1999 +The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which made discrimination based on race, religion, sex, national origin, and other characteristics illegal, and later sexual orientation and gender identity. In addition, unlike the Civil Rights Act, the ADA also requires covered employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities, and imposes accessibility requirements on public accommodations. + +In 1986, the National Council on Disability had recommended the enactment of an Americans with Disabilities Act and drafted the first version of the bill which was introduced in the House and Senate in 1988. A broad bipartisan coalition of legislators supported the ADA, while the bill was opposed by business interests (who argued the bill imposed costs on business) and conservative evangelicals (who opposed protection for individuals with HIV). The final version of the bill was signed into law on July 26, 1990, by President George H. W. Bush. It was later amended in 2008 and signed by President George W. Bush with changes effective as of January 1, 2009. + +Disabilities included + +ADA disabilities include both mental and physical medical conditions. A condition does not need to be severe or permanent to be a disability. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission regulations provide a list of conditions that should easily be concluded to be disabilities: amputation, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, bipolar disorder, blindness, cancer, cerebral palsy, deafness, diabetes, epilepsy, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), intellectual disability (formerly termed mental retardation), major depressive disorder, mobility impairments (often requiring a wheelchair), multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and schizophrenia. Other mental or physical health conditions also may be disabilities, depending on what the individual's symptoms would be in the absence of "mitigating measures" (medication, therapy, assistive devices, or other means of restoring function), during an "active episode" of the condition (if the condition is episodic). + +Certain specific conditions that are widely considered anti-social, or tend to result in illegal activity, such as kleptomania, pedophilia, exhibitionism, voyeurism, etc. are excluded under the definition of "disability" in order to prevent abuse of the statute's purpose. Additionally, sexual orientation is no longer considered a disorder and is also excluded under the definition of "disability". However, in 2022, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit stated that the ADA covers individuals with gender dysphoria, which may aid transgender people in accessing legal protections they otherwise may be unable to. + +Titles + +Title I—employment + See also US labor law and . + +The ADA states that a "covered entity" shall not discriminate against "a qualified individual with a disability". This applies to job application procedures, hiring, advancement and discharge of employees, job training, and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment. "Covered entities" include employers with 15 or more employees, as well as employment agencies, labor organizations, and joint labor-management committees. There are strict limitations on when a covered entity can ask job applicants or employees disability-related questions or require them to undergo medical examination, and all medical information must be kept confidential. + +Prohibited discrimination may include, among other things, firing or refusing to hire someone based on a real or perceived disability, segregation, and harassment based on a disability. Covered entities are also required to provide reasonable accommodations to job applicants and employees with disabilities. A reasonable accommodation is a change in the way things are typically done that the person needs because of a disability, and can include, among other things, special equipment that allows the person to perform the job, scheduling changes, and changes to the way work assignments are chosen or communicated. An employer is not required to provide an accommodation that would involve undue hardship (excessive difficulty or expense), and the individual who receives the accommodation must still perform the essential functions of the job and meet the normal performance requirements. An employee or applicant who currently engages in the illegal use of drugs is not considered qualified when a covered entity takes adverse action based on such use. + +Part of Title I was found unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court as it pertains to states in the case of Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama v. Garrett as violating the sovereign immunity rights of the several states as specified by the Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Court determined that state employees cannot sue their employer for violating ADA rules. State employees can, however, file complaints at the Department of Justice or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, who can sue on their behalf. + +Title II—public entities (and public transportation) + +Title II prohibits disability discrimination by all public entities at the local level, e.g., school district, municipal, city, or county, and at state level. Public entities must comply with Title II regulations by the U.S. Department of Justice. These regulations cover access to all programs and services offered by the entity. Access includes physical access described in the ADA Standards for Accessible Design and programmatic access that might be obstructed by discriminatory policies or procedures of the entity. + +Title II applies to public transportation provided by public entities through regulations by the U.S. Department of Transportation. It includes the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak), along with all other commuter authorities. This section requires the provision of paratransit services by public entities that provide fixed-route services. ADA also sets minimum requirements for space layout in order to facilitate wheelchair securement on public transport. + +Title II also applies to all state and local public housing, housing assistance, and housing referrals. The Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity is charged with enforcing this provision. + +Title III—public accommodations (and commercial facilities) + +Under Title III, no individual may be discriminated against on the basis of disability with regards to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, or accommodations of any place of public accommodation by any person who owns, leases, or operates a place of public accommodation. Public accommodations include most places of lodging (such as inns and hotels), recreation, transportation, education, and dining, along with stores, care providers, and places of public displays. + +Under Title III of the ADA, all new construction (construction, modification or alterations) after the effective date of the ADA (approximately July 1992) must be fully compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) found in the Code of Federal Regulations at 28 C.F.R., Part 36, Appendix A. + +Title III also has applications to existing facilities. One of the definitions of "discrimination" under Title III of the ADA is a "failure to remove" architectural barriers in existing facilities. See . This means that even facilities that have not been modified or altered in any way after the ADA was passed still have obligations. The standard is whether "removing barriers" (typically defined as bringing a condition into compliance with the ADAAG) is "readily achievable", defined as "...easily accomplished without much difficulty or expense". + +The statutory definition of "readily achievable" calls for a balancing test between the cost of the proposed "fix" and the wherewithal of the business and/or owners of the business. Thus, what might be "readily achievable" for a sophisticated and financially capable corporation might not be readily achievable for a small or local business. + +There are exceptions to this title; many private clubs and religious organizations may not be bound by Title III. With regard to historic properties (those properties that are listed or that are eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, or properties designated as historic under state or local law), those facilities must still comply with the provisions of Title III of the ADA to the "maximum extent feasible" but if following the usual standards would "threaten to destroy the historic significance of a feature of the building" then alternative standards may be used. + +Under 2010 revisions of Department of Justice regulations, newly constructed or altered swimming pools, wading pools, and spas must have an accessible means of entrance and exit to pools for disabled people. However, the requirement is conditioned on whether providing access through a fixed lift is "readily achievable". Other requirements exist, based on pool size, include providing a certain number of accessible means of entry and exit, which are outlined in Section 242 of the standards. However, businesses are free to consider the differences in the application of the rules depending on whether the pool is new or altered, or whether the swimming pool was in existence before the effective date of the new rule. Full compliance may not be required for existing facilities; Section 242 and 1009 of the 2010 Standards outline such exceptions. + +Service animals +The ADA provides explicit coverage for service animals. Guidelines have been developed not only to protect persons with disabilities but also to indemnify businesses from damages related to granting access to service animals on their premises. Businesses are allowed to ask if the animal is a service animal and ask what tasks it is trained to perform, but they are not allowed to ask the service animal to perform the task nor ask for a special ID of the animal. They cannot ask what the person's disabilities are. A person with a disability cannot be removed from the premises unless either of two things happen: the animal is out of control and its owner cannot get it under control (e.g. a dog barking uncontrollably in a restaurant), or the animal is a direct threat to people's health and safety. Allergies and fear of animals would not be considered a threat to people's health and safety, so it would not be a valid reason to deny access to people with service animals. Businesses that prepare or serve food must allow service animals and their owners on the premises even if state or local health laws otherwise prohibit animals on the premises. In this case, businesses that prepare or serve food are not required to provide care or food for service animals, nor do they have to provide a designated area for the service animal to relieve itself. Lastly, people that require service dogs cannot be charged an extra fee for their service dog or be treated unfairly, for example, being isolated from people at a restaurant. People with disabilities cannot be treated as "less than" other customers. However, if a business normally charges for damages caused by the person to property, the customer with a disability will be charged for their service animal's damages to the property. + +Auxiliary aids + +The ADA provides explicit coverage for auxiliary aids. + +Auxiliary aids and services are items, equipment or services that assist in effective communication between a person who has a hearing, vision or speech disability and a person who does not. + +ADA says that a public accommodation shall take those steps that may be necessary to ensure that no individual with a disability is excluded, denied services, segregated or otherwise treated differently than other individuals because of the absence of auxiliary aids and services, unless the public accommodation can demonstrate that taking those steps would fundamentally alter the nature of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations being offered or would result in an undue burden, i.e., significant difficulty or expense. The term "auxiliary aids and services" includes: + + Qualified interpreters on-site or through video remote interpreting (VRI) services; notetakers; real-time computer-aided transcription services; written materials; exchange of written notes; telephone handset amplifiers; assistive listening devices; assistive listening systems; telephones compatible with hearing aids; closed caption decoders; open and closed captioning, including real-time captioning; voice, text, and video-based telecommunications products and systems, including text telephones (TTYs), videophones, and captioned telephones, or equally effective telecommunications devices; videotext displays; accessible electronic and information technology; or other effective methods of making aurally delivered information available to individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing; + Qualified readers; taped texts; audio recordings; Brailled materials and displays; screen reader software; magnification software; optical readers; secondary auditory programs (SAP); large print materials; accessible electronic and information technology; or other effective methods of making visually delivered materials available to individuals who are blind or have low vision; + Acquisition or modification of equipment or devices; and + Other similar services and actions. + +Captions are considered one type of auxiliary aid. Since the passage of the ADA, the use of captioning has expanded. Entertainment, educational, informational, and training materials are captioned for deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences at the time they are produced and distributed. The Television Decoder Circuitry Act of 1990 requires that all televisions larger than 13 inches sold in the United States after July 1993 have a special built-in decoder that enables viewers to watch closed-captioned programming. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 directs the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to adopt rules requiring closed captioning of most television programming. The FCC's rules on closed captioning became effective January 1, 1998. + +Title IV—telecommunications +Title IV of the ADA amended the landmark Communications Act of 1934 primarily by adding section . This section requires that all telecommunications companies in the U.S. take steps to ensure functionally equivalent services for consumers with disabilities, notably those who are deaf or hard of hearing and those with speech impairments. When Title IV took effect in the early 1990s, it led to the installation of public teletypewriter (TTY) machines and other TDD (telecommunications devices for the deaf). Title IV also led to the creation, in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, of what was then called dual-party relay services and now are known as Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS), such as STS relay. Today, many TRS-mediated calls are made over the Internet by consumers who use broadband connections. Some are Video Relay Service (VRS) calls, while others are text calls. In either variation, communication assistants translate between the signed or typed words of a consumer and the spoken words of others. In 2006, according to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), VRS calls averaged two million minutes a month. + +Title V—miscellaneous provisions + +Title V includes technical provisions. It discusses, for example, the fact that nothing in the ADA amends, overrides or cancels anything in Section 504. Additionally, Title V includes an anti-retaliation or coercion provision. The Technical Assistance Manual for the ADA explains this provision: + +History +The ADA has roots in Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. + +Drafting + +In 1986, the National Council on Disability (NCD), an independent federal agency, issued a report, Towards Independence, in which the Council examined incentives and disincentives in federal laws towards increasing the independence and full integration of people with disabilities into U.S. society. Among the disincentives to independence the Council identified was the existence of large remaining gaps in civil rights coverage for people with disabilities in the United States. A principal conclusion of the report was to recommend the adoption of comprehensive civil rights legislation, which became the ADA. + +The idea of federal legislation enhancing and extending civil rights legislation to millions of Americans with disabilities gained bipartisan support in late 1988 and early 1989. In early 1989 both Congress and the newly inaugurated Bush White House worked separately, then jointly, to write legislation capable of expanding civil rights without imposing undue harm or costs on those already in compliance with existing rules and laws. + +Lobbying + +Over the years, key activists and advocates played an important role in lobbying members of the U.S. Congress to develop and pass the ADA, including Justin Whitlock Dart Jr., Patrisha Wright and others. + +Ms. Wright is known as "the General" for her work in coordinating the campaign to enact the ADA. She is widely considered the main force behind the campaign lobbying for the ADA. + +Support and opposition + +Support +Senator Bob Dole was a supporter and advocate for the bill. + +About the importance of making employment opportunities inclusive, Shirley Davis, director of global diversity and inclusion at the Society for Human Resource Management, said: "People with disabilities represent a critical talent pool that is underserved and underutilized". + +Opposition from religious groups +Conservative evangelicals opposed the ADA because the legislation protected individuals with HIV, which they associated with homosexuality. + +The debate over the Americans with Disabilities Act led some religious groups to take opposite positions. The Association of Christian Schools International opposed the ADA in its original form, primarily because the ADA labeled religious institutions "public accommodations" and thus would have required churches to make costly structural changes to ensure access for all. The cost argument advanced by ACSI and others prevailed in keeping religious institutions from being labeled as "public accommodations". Church groups such as the National Association of Evangelicals testified against the ADA's Title I employment provisions on grounds of religious liberty. The NAE believed the regulation of the internal employment of churches was "... an improper intrusion [of] the federal government." + +Opposition from business interests +Many companies and corporations, and business groups, opposed the Americans with Disabilities Act, arguing that the legislation would impose costs on businesses. Testifying before Congress, Greyhound Bus Lines stated that the act had the potential to "deprive millions of people of affordable intercity public transportation and thousands of rural communities of their only link to the outside world." The US Chamber of Commerce argued that the costs of the ADA would be "enormous" and have "a disastrous impact on many small businesses struggling to survive." The National Federation of Independent Businesses, an organization that lobbies for small businesses, called the ADA "a disaster for small business". Pro-business conservative commentators joined in opposition, writing that the Americans with Disabilities Act was "an expensive headache to millions" that would not necessarily improve the lives of people with disabilities. + +"Capitol Crawl" +Shortly before the act was passed, disability rights activists with physical disabilities coalesced in front of the Capitol Building, shed their crutches, wheelchairs, powerchairs and other assistive devices, and immediately proceeded to crawl and pull their bodies up all 100 of the Capitol's front steps, without warning. As the activists did so, many of them chanted "ADA now", and "Vote, Now". Some activists who remained at the bottom of the steps held signs and yelled words of encouragement at the "Capitol Crawlers". Jennifer Keelan, a second grader with cerebral palsy, was videotaped as she pulled herself up the steps, using mostly her hands and arms, saying "I'll take all night if I have to." This direct action is reported to have "inconvenienced" several senators and to have pushed them to approve the act. While there are those who do not attribute much overall importance to this action, the "Capitol Crawl" of 1990 is seen by some present-day disability activists in the United States as a central act for encouraging the ADA into law. + +Final passage + +Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) authored what became the final bill and was its chief sponsor in the Senate. Harkin delivered part of his introduction speech in sign language, saying it was so his deaf brother could understand. + +George H. W. Bush, on signing the measure on July 26, 1990, said: + +ADA Amendments Act, 2008 +The ADA defines a covered disability as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a history of having such an impairment, or being regarded as having such an impairment. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was charged with interpreting the 1990 law with regard to discrimination in employment. The EEOC developed regulations limiting an individual's impairment to one that "severely or significantly restricts" a major life activity. The ADAAA directed the EEOC to amend its regulations and replace "severely or significantly" with "substantially limits", a more lenient standard. + +On September 25, 2008, President George W. Bush signed the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA) into law. The amendment broadened the definition of "disability", thereby extending the ADA's protections to a greater number of people. The ADAAA also added to the ADA examples of "major life activities" including, but not limited to, "caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, seeing, hearing, eating, sleeping, walking, standing, lifting, bending, speaking, breathing, learning, reading, concentrating, thinking, communicating, and working" as well as the operation of several specified major bodily functions. The act overturned a 1999 US Supreme Court case that held that an employee was not disabled if the impairment could be corrected by mitigating measures; it specifically provides that such impairment must be determined without considering such ameliorative measures. It also overturned the court restriction that an impairment that substantially limits one major life activity must also limit others to be considered a disability. +In 2008, the United States House Committee on Education and Labor stated that the amendment "makes it absolutely clear that the ADA is intended to provide broad coverage to protect anyone who faces discrimination on the basis of disability." Thus the ADAAA led to broader coverage of impaired employees. + +Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, 2019 +In October 2019, the Supreme Court declined to resolve a circuit split as to whether websites are covered by the ADA. The Court turned down an appeal from Domino's Pizza and let stand a U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling which held that the Americans With Disabilities Act protects access not just to brick-and-mortar public accommodations, but also to the websites and apps of those businesses. + +Impact +The ADA led to significant improvements in terms of access to public services, accessibility in the built environment, and societal understanding of disability. + +Accessibility + +Employment + +Between 1991 (after the enactment of the ADA) and 1995, the employment rate of men with disabilities dropped by 7.8% regardless of age, educational level, or type of disability, with the most affected being young, less-educated and intellectually disabled men. While no causal link between the ADA and that trend has been definitively identified, some researchers have characterized the ADA as ineffectual and argued that it caused this decline by raising the cost of doing business for employers, who quietly avoid hiring people with disabilities for fear of lawsuit. To these employers, hiring people with disabilities became too expensive as they had to spend extra on assistive technology. + +In 2001, for men of all working ages and women under 40, Current Population Survey data showed a sharp drop in the employment of disabled workers, leading at least two economists to attribute the cause to the Act. By contrast, a study in 2003 found that while the Act may have led to short term reactions by employers, in the long term, there were either positive or neutral consequences for wages and employment. In 2005, the rate of employment among disabled people increased to 45% of the population of disabled people. + +Societal attitudes + +"Professional plaintiffs" +Since enforcement of the act began in July 1992, it has quickly become a major component of employment law. The ADA allows private plaintiffs to receive only injunctive relief (a court order requiring the public accommodation to remedy violations of the accessibility regulations) and attorneys' fees, and does not provide monetary rewards to private plaintiffs who sue non-compliant businesses. Unless a state law, such as the California Unruh Civil Rights Act, provides for monetary damages to private plaintiffs, persons with disabilities do not obtain direct financial benefits from suing businesses that violate the ADA. + +The attorneys' fees provision of Title III does provide incentive for lawyers to specialize and engage in serial ADA litigation, but a disabled plaintiff does not obtain a financial reward from attorneys' fees unless they act as their own attorney, or as mentioned above, a disabled plaintiff resides in a state that provides for minimum compensation and court fees in lawsuits. Moreover, there may be a benefit to these private attorneys general who identify and compel the correction of illegal conditions: they may increase the number of public accommodations accessible to persons with disabilities. "Civil rights law depends heavily on private enforcement. Moreover, the inclusion of penalties and damages is the driving force that facilitates voluntary compliance with the ADA." Courts have noted: + +However, in states that have enacted laws that allow private individuals to win monetary awards from non-compliant businesses (as of 2008, these include California, Florida, Hawaii, and Illinois), "professional plaintiffs" are typically found. At least one of these plaintiffs in California has been barred by courts from filing lawsuits unless he receives prior court permission. Through the end of fiscal year 1998, 86% of the 106,988 ADA charges filed with and resolved by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, were either dropped or investigated and dismissed by EEOC but not without imposing opportunity costs and legal fees on employers. + +Case law + +There have been some notable cases regarding the ADA. For example, a major hotel room marketer (Hotels.com) with their business presence on the Internet was sued because their customers with disabilities could not reserve hotel rooms through their website without substantial extra efforts that persons without disabilities were not required to perform. Such lawsuits represent a major potential expansion of the ADA in that they (known as "bricks vs. clicks"), seek to expand the ADA's authority to cyberspace, where entities may not have actual physical facilities that are required to comply. + +Green v. State of California +Green v. State of California, No. S137770 (Cal. August 23, 2007) was a case in which the majority of the Supreme Court in California was faced with deciding whether the employee suing the state is required to prove they are able to perform "essential" job duties, regardless of whether or not there was "reasonable accommodation", or if the employer must prove the person suing was unable to do so. The court ruled the burden was on the employee, not the employer, and reversed a disputed decision by the courts. Plaintiff attorney David Greenberg brought forth considerations of the concept that, even in the state of California, employers do not have to employ a worker who is unable to perform "essential job functions" with "reasonable accommodation". Forcing employers to do so "would defy logic and establish a poor public policy in employment matters." + +National Federation of the Blind v. Target Corporation + +National Federation of the Blind v. Target Corp. was a case where a major retailer, Target Corp., was sued because their web designers failed to design its website to enable persons with low or no vision to use it. + +Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama v. Garrett + +Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama v. Garrett was a United States Supreme Court case about Congress's enforcement powers under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. It decided that Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act was unconstitutional insofar as it allowed private citizens to sue states for money damages. + +Barden v. The City of Sacramento + +Barden v. The City of Sacramento, filed in March 1999, claimed that the City of Sacramento failed to comply with the ADA when, while making public street improvements, it did not bring its sidewalks into compliance with the ADA. Certain issues were resolved in Federal Court. One issue, whether sidewalks were covered by the ADA, was appealed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that sidewalks were a "program" under ADA and must be made accessible to persons with disabilities. The ruling was later appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which refused to hear the case, letting stand the ruling of the 9th Circuit Court. + +Bates v. United Parcel Service, Inc + +Bates v. United Parcel Service, Inc (UPS; begun in 1999) was the first equal opportunity employment class action brought on behalf of Deaf and Hard of Hearing (d/Deaf/HoH) workers throughout the country concerning workplace discrimination. It established legal precedence for d/Deaf/HoH Employees and Customers to be fully covered under the ADA. Key findings included + UPS failed to address communication barriers and to ensure equal conditions and opportunities for deaf employees; + Deaf employees were routinely excluded from workplace information, denied opportunities for promotion, and exposed to unsafe conditions due to lack of accommodations by UPS; + UPS also lacked a system to alert these employees as to emergencies, such as fires or chemical spills, to ensure that they would safely evacuate their facility; and + UPS had no policy to ensure that deaf applicants and employees actually received effective communication in the workplace. +The outcome was that UPS agreed to pay a $5.8 million award and agreed to a comprehensive accommodations program that was implemented in their facilities throughout the country. + +Spector v. Norwegian Cruise Line Ltd. + +Spector v. Norwegian Cruise Line Ltd. was a case that was decided by the United States Supreme Court in 2005. The defendant argued that as a vessel flying the flag of a foreign nation it was exempt from the requirements of the ADA. This argument was accepted by a federal court in Florida and, subsequently, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. However, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the ruling of the lower courts on the basis that Norwegian Cruise Lines was a business headquartered in the United States whose clients were predominantly Americans and, more importantly, operated out of port facilities throughout the United States. + +Olmstead v. L.C. + +Olmstead v. L.C. was a case before the United States Supreme Court in 1999. The two plaintiffs, Lois Curtis and E.W., were institutionalized in Georgia for diagnosed "mental retardation" and schizophrenia. Clinical assessments by the state determined that the plaintiffs could be appropriately treated in a community setting rather than the state institution. The plaintiffs sued the state of Georgia and the institution for being inappropriately treated and housed in the institutional setting rather than being treated in one of the state's community-based treatment facilities. + +The Supreme Court decided under Title II of the ADA that mental illness is a form of disability and therefore covered under the ADA, and that unjustified institutional isolation of a person with a disability is a form of discrimination because it "...perpetuates unwarranted assumptions that persons so isolated are incapable or unworthy of participating in community life." The court added, "Confinement in an institution severely diminishes the everyday life activities of individuals, including family relations, social contacts, work options, economic independence, educational advancement, and cultural enrichment." + +Therefore, under Title II no person with a disability can be unjustly excluded from participation in or be denied the benefits of services, programs or activities of any public entity. + +Michigan Paralyzed Veterans of America v. The University of Michigan + +Michigan Paralyzed Veterans of America v. The University of Michigan was a case filed before The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan Southern Division. It was filed on behalf of the Michigan Paralyzed Veterans of America against University of Michigan – Michigan Stadium claiming that Michigan Stadium violated the Americans with Disabilities Act in its $226-million renovation by failing to add enough seats for disabled fans or accommodate the needs for disabled restrooms, concessions and parking. Additionally, the distribution of the accessible seating was at issue, with nearly all the seats being provided in the end-zone areas. The U.S. Department of Justice assisted in the suit filed by attorney Richard Bernstein of The Law Offices of Sam Bernstein in Farmington Hills, Michigan, which was settled in March 2008. The settlement required the stadium to add 329 wheelchair seats throughout the stadium by 2010, and an additional 135 accessible seats in clubhouses to go along with the existing 88 wheelchair seats. This case was significant because it set a precedent for the uniform distribution of accessible seating and gave the DOJ the opportunity to clarify previously unclear rules. The agreement now is a blueprint for all stadiums and other public facilities regarding accessibility. + +Paralyzed Veterans of America v. Ellerbe Becket Architects and Engineers + +One of the first major ADA lawsuits, Paralyzed Veterans of America v. Ellerbe Becket Architects and Engineers (PVA 1996) was focused on the wheelchair accessibility of a stadium project that was still in the design phase, MCI Center (now known as Capital One Arena) in Washington, D.C. Previous to this case, which was filed only five years after the ADA was passed, the DOJ was unable or unwilling to provide clarification on the distribution requirements for accessible wheelchair locations in large assembly spaces. While Section 4.33.3 of ADAAG makes reference to lines of sight, no specific reference is made to seeing over standing patrons. The MCI Center, designed by Ellerbe Becket Architects & Engineers, was designed with too few wheelchair and companion seats, and the ones that were included did not provide sight lines that would enable the wheelchair user to view the playing area while the spectators in front of them were standing. This case and another related case established precedent on seat distribution and sight lines issues for ADA enforcement that continues to present day. + +Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc. v. Williams + +Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc. v. Williams, was a case in which the Supreme Court interpreted the meaning of the phrase "substantially impairs" as used in the Americans with Disabilities Act. It reversed a Sixth Court of Appeals decision to grant a partial summary judgment in favor of the respondent, Ella Williams, that qualified her inability to perform manual job-related tasks as a disability. The Court held that the "major life activity" definition in evaluating the performance of manual tasks focuses the inquiry on whether Williams was unable to perform a range of tasks central to most people in carrying out the activities of daily living. The issue is not whether Williams was unable to perform her specific job tasks. Therefore, the determination of whether an impairment rises to the level of a disability is not limited to activities in the workplace solely, but rather to manual tasks in life in general. When the Supreme Court applied this standard, it found that the Court of Appeals had incorrectly determined the presence of a disability because it relied solely on her inability to perform specific manual work tasks, which was insufficient in proving the presence of a disability. The Court of Appeals should have taken into account the evidence presented that Williams retained the ability to do personal tasks and household chores, such activities being the nature of tasks most people do in their daily lives, and placed too much emphasis on her job disability. Since the evidence showed that Williams was performing normal daily tasks, it ruled that the Court of Appeals erred when it found that Williams was disabled. This ruling has since been invalidated by the ADAAA. In fact, Congress explicitly cited Toyota v. Williams in the text of the ADAAA itself as one of its driving influences for passing the ADAAA. + +US Airways, Inc. v. Barnett + +US Airways, Inc. v. Barnett was decided by the US Supreme Court in 2002. This case held that even requests for accommodation that might seem reasonable on their face, e.g., a transfer to a different position, can be rendered unreasonable because it would require a violation of the company's seniority system. While the court held that, in general, a violation of a seniority system renders an otherwise reasonable accommodation unreasonable, a plaintiff can present evidence that, despite the seniority system, the accommodation is reasonable in the specific case at hand, e.g., the plaintiff could offer evidence that the seniority system is so often disregarded that another exception would not make a difference. + +Importantly, the court held that the defendant need not provide proof that this particular application of the seniority system should prevail, and that, once the defendant showed that the accommodation violated the seniority system, it fell to Barnett to show it was nevertheless reasonable. + +In this case, Barnett was a US Airways employee who injured his back, rendering him physically unable to perform his cargo-handling job. Invoking seniority, he transferred to a less-demanding mailroom job, but this position later became open to seniority-based bidding and was bid on by more senior employees. Barnett requested the accommodation of being allowed to stay on in the less-demanding mailroom job. US Airways denied his request, and he lost his job. + +The Supreme Court decision invalidated both the approach of the district court, which found that the mere presence and importance of the seniority system was enough to warrant a summary judgment in favor of US Airways, as well as the circuit court's approach that interpreted 'reasonable accommodation' as 'effective accommodation.' + +Access Now v. Southwest Airlines + +Access Now, Inc. v. Southwest Airlines Co. was a 2002 case where the District Court decided that the website of Southwest Airlines was not in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, because the ADA is concerned with things with a physical existence and thus cannot be applied to cyberspace. Judge Patricia A. Seitz found that the "virtual ticket counter" of the website was a virtual construct, and hence not a "public place of accommodation". As such, "To expand the ADA to cover 'virtual' spaces would be to create new rights without well-defined standards." + +Ouellette v. Viacom International Inc. + +Ouellette v. Viacom International Inc. (2011) held that a mere online presence does not subject a website to the ADA guidelines. Thus Myspace and YouTube were not liable for a dyslexic man's inability to navigate the site regardless of how impressive the "online theater" is. + +Authors Guild v. HathiTrust + +Authors Guild v. HathiTrust was a case in which the District Court decided that the HathiTrust digital library was a transformative, fair use of copyrighted works, making a large number of written text available to those with print disability. + +Zamora-Quezada v. HealthTexas Medical Group +Zamora-Quezada v. HealthTexas Medical Group (begun in 1998) was the first time this act was used against HMOs when a novel lawsuit was filed by Texas attorney Robert Provan against five HMOs for their practice of revoking the contracts of doctors treating disabled patients. In 1999, these HMOs sought to dismiss Provan's lawsuit, but a federal court ruled against them, and the case was settled out of court. Many decisions relating to Provan's unique lawsuit against these HMOs have been cited in other court cases since. + +Campbell v. General Dynamics Government Systems Corp. + +Campbell v. General Dynamics Government Systems Corp. (2005) concerned the enforceability of a mandatory arbitration agreement, contained in a dispute resolution policy linked to an e-mailed company-wide announcement, insofar as it applies to employment discrimination claims brought under the Americans with Disabilities Act. + +Tennessee v. Lane + +Tennessee v. Lane, 541 U.S. 509 (2004), was a case in the Supreme Court of the United States involving Congress's enforcement powers under section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment. George Lane was unable to walk after a 1997 car accident in which he was accused of driving on the wrong side of the road. A woman was killed in the crash, and Lane faced misdemeanor charges of reckless driving. The suit was brought about because he was denied access to appear in criminal court because the courthouse had no elevator, even though the court was willing to carry him up the stairs and then willing to move the hearing to the first floor. He refused, citing he wanted to be treated as any other citizen, and was subsequently charged with failure to appear, after appearing at a previous hearing where he dragged himself up the stairs. The court ruled that Congress did have enough evidence that disabled people were being denied those fundamental rights that are protected by the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and had the enforcement powers under section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment. It further ruled that "reasonable accommodations" mandated by the ADA were not unduly burdensome and disproportionate to the harm. + +Gender dysphoria +In 2022, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit stated that the ADA covers individuals with gender dysphoria, which may aid transgender people in accessing legal protections they otherwise may be unable to. + +See also + +References + +Further reading + + Bush, George H. W., Remarks of President George Bush at the Signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Available online at Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. + Davis, Lennard J. Enabling Acts. The Hidden Story of How the Americans with Disabilities Act Gave the Largest US Minority Its Rights. Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 2015. + + Fielder, J. F. Mental Disabilities and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Westport, CT: Quorum Books, 2004. + Hamilton Krieger, Linda, ed., Backlash Against the ADA: Reinterpreting Disability Rights Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2003. + Johnson, Mary. (2000). Make Them Go Away: Clint Eastwood, Christopher Reeve & the Case Against Disability Rights. Louisville, KY: The Advocado Press. + Mayer, Arlene. (1992). The History of the Americans with Disabilities Act: A Movement Perspective. Available online at the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund website + O'Brien, Ruth, ed. Voices from the Edge: Narratives about the Americans with Disabilities Act. New York: Oxford, 2004. + Pletcher, David and Ashlee Russeau-Pletcher. History of the Civil Rights Movement for the Physically Disabled + Schall, Carol M. (Jun 1998). The Americans with Disabilities Act—Are We Keeping Our Promise? An Analysis of the Effect of the ADA on the Employment of Persons with Disabilities. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, v10 n3 pp. 191–203. + Schwochau, Susan & Blanck, Peter David. The Economics of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Part III: Does the ADA Disable the Disabled? Berkeley Journal of Employment & Labor Law [Vol. 21:271] + Switzer, Jacqueline Vaughn. Disabled Rights: American Disability Policy and the Fight for Equality. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2003. + Weber, Mark C. Disability Harassment. New York: NYU Press, 2007. + +External links + + + Department of Labor ADA page + Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ADA page + As codified in 42 U.S.C. chapter 126 of the United States Code from the US House of Representatives + As codified in 42 U.S.C. chapter 126 of the United States Code from the LII + Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (PDF/details) as amended in the GPO Statute Compilations collection + Family Network on Disabilities FNDUSA.ORG—Florida Parent Training and Information Center funded by DOED Offices of Special Education Programs (OSEP) + Lainey Feingold's Global Law and Policy: United States – federal (national) + + +101st United States Congress +1990 in American law +Anti-discrimination law in the United States +Civil rights in the United States +Disability in law +United States federal civil rights legislation +United States federal disability legislation +The Apple Computer 1 (Apple-1), later known predominantly as the Apple I, is an 8-bit motherboard-only personal computer designed by Steve Wozniak and released by the Apple Computer Company (now Apple Inc.) in 1976. The company was initially formed to sell the Apple Iits first product and would later become the world's largest technology company. The idea of starting a company and selling the computer came from Wozniak's friend and Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. + +To finance its development, Wozniak and Jobs sold some of their possessions for a few hundred dollars. Wozniak demonstrated the first prototype in July 1976 at the Homebrew Computer Club in Palo Alto, California, impressing an early computer retailer. After securing an order for 50 computers, Jobs was able to order the parts on credit and deliver the first Apple products after ten days. + +The Apple I was one of the first computers available that used the inexpensive MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor. An expansion included a BASIC interpreter, allowing users to utilize BASIC at home instead of at institutions with mainframe computers, greatly lowering the entry cost for computing with BASIC. + +Production was discontinued on September 30, 1977, after the June 10, 1977 introduction of its successor, the Apple II, which Byte magazine referred to as part of the "1977 Trinity" of personal computing (along with the PET 2001 from Commodore Business Machines and the TRS-80 Model I from Tandy Corporation). As relatively few computers were made before they were discontinued, coupled with their status as Apple's first product, surviving Apple I units are now displayed in computer museums. + +History + +Development + +In 1975, Steve Wozniak started attending meetings of the Homebrew Computer Club, which was a major source of inspiration for him. New microcomputers such as the Altair 8800 and the IMSAI 8080 inspired Wozniak to build a microprocessor into his video terminal circuit to make a complete computer. At the time the only microcomputer CPUs generally available were the $179 Intel 8080 (), and the $170 Motorola 6800 (). Wozniak preferred the 6800, but both were out of his price range. So he watched, and learned, and designed computers on paper, waiting for the day he could afford a CPU. + +When MOS Technology released its $20 () 6502 chip in 1976, Wozniak wrote a version of BASIC for it, then began to design a computer for it to run on. The 6502 was designed by the same people who designed the 6800, as many in Silicon Valley left employers to form their own companies. Wozniak's earlier 6800 paper-computer needed only minor changes to run on the new chip. + +By March 1, 1976, Wozniak completed the basic design of his computer. Wozniak originally offered the design to HP while working there, but was denied by the company on five occasions. When he demonstrated his computer at the Homebrew Computer Club, his friend and fellow club regular Steve Jobs was immediately interested in its commercial potential. Wozniak intended to share schematics of the machine for free, but Jobs advised him to start a business together and sell bare printed circuit boards for the computer. Wozniak, at first skeptical, was later convinced by Jobs that even if they were not successful they could at least say to their grandchildren that they had had their own company. To raise the money they needed to build the first batch of the circuit boards, Wozniak sold his HP scientific calculator while Jobs sold his Volkswagen van. + +After the company was formed, Jobs and Wozniak made one last trip to the Homebrew Computer Club to give a presentation of the fully assembled "Apple Computer A". Paul Terrell, who was starting a new computer shop in Mountain View, California, called the Byte Shop, saw the presentation and was impressed by the machine. Terrell told Jobs that he would order 50 units of the Apple I and pay $500 () each on delivery, but only if they came fully assembledhe was not interested in buying bare printed circuit boards with no components. + +Jobs took the purchase order from the Byte Shop to national electronic parts distributor Cramer Electronics, and ordered the components needed. When asked by the credit manager how he would pay for the parts, Jobs replied, "I have this purchase order from the Byte Shop chain of computer stores for 50 of my computers and the payment terms are COD. If you give me the parts on net 30-day terms I can build and deliver the computers in that time frame, collect my money from Terrell at the Byte Shop and pay you." + +To verify the purchase order, the credit manager called Paul Terrell, who assured him if the computers showed up, Jobs would have more than enough money for the parts order. The two Steves and their small crew spent day and night building and testing the computers, and delivered to Terrell on time. Terrell was surprised to receive a batch of assembled circuit boards, as he had expected complete computers with a case, monitor and keyboard. Nonetheless, he kept his word and paid the two Steves the money promised. + +Announcement and sales + +The Apple I went on sale in July 1976 at a price of . Wozniak later said he had no idea about the relation between the number and the mark of the beast, and that he came up with the price because he liked "repeating digits" and because it was a one-third markup on the wholesale price. Jobs had managed to get the inventory into the nation's first four storefront microcomputer retailers: Byte Shop (Palo Alto, California), itty bitty machine company (Evanston, Illinois), Data Domain (Bloomington, Indiana), and Computer Mart (New York City). + +The first unit produced was used in a high school math class, and donated to Liza Loop's public-access computer center. About 200 units were produced, and all but 25 were sold within nine or ten months. + +In April 1977, the price was dropped to . It continued to be sold through August 1977, despite the introduction of the Apple II in April 1977, which began shipping in June of that year. In October 1977, the Apple I was officially discontinued and removed from Apple's price list. As Wozniak was the only person who could answer most customer support questions about the computer, the company offered Apple I owners discounts and trade-ins for Apple IIs to persuade them to return their computers. These recovered boards were then destroyed by Apple, contributing to their later rarity. + +Both Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak have stated that Apple did not assign serial numbers to the Apple l. Several boards have been found with numbered stickers affixed to them, which appear to be inspection stickers from the PCB manufacturer/assembler. A batch of boards is known to have numbers hand-written in black permanent marker on the back; these usually appear as "01-00##". As of January 2022, 29 Apple-1s with a serial number are known. The highest known number is . Two original Apple-1s have been analyzed by PSA, Los Angeles, concluding the serial numbers had been hand-written by Steve Jobs. + +Hardware + +Wozniak's design originally used a Motorola 6800 processor, which cost $175, but when MOS Technology introduced the much cheaper 6502 microprocessor ($25) he switched. The Apple I CPU ran at , a fraction () of the NTSC color carrier which simplified video circuitry. Memory used the new 4-Kbit DRAM chips, and was , expandable to on board, or externally. The board was designed to use the next generation of 16-Kbit memory chips when they became available. An optional $75 plug-in cassette interface card allowed users to store programs on ordinary audio cassette tapes. A BASIC interpreter, originally written by Wozniak, was provided that let users easily write programs and play simple games. An onboard AC power supply was included. + +Video +The Apple I's built-in computer terminal circuitry with TV composite output used shift register memory and a character generator. + +All one needed was a television set and a ASCII keyboard. The Apple I did not come with a case. It was either used as-is or some chose to build custom (mostly wooden) cases. Competing machines such as the Altair 8800 generally were programmed with front-mounted toggle switches and used indicator lights (red LEDs, most commonly) for output, and had to be extended with separate hardware to allow connection to a computer terminal or a teletypewriter machine. This made the Apple I, along with earlier introduced Sphere 1 and other hobbyist microcomputers, an innovative machine for its day. + +The computer used a Signetics 2513 64×8×5 Character Generator, capable of displaying uppercase characters, numbers and basic punctuation and math symbols with a 5x8 pixel font: + +Apple Cassette Interface expansion + +A cassette interface was available in the form of an optional add-on for the Apple I's expansion slot. A cassette deck plugged in to the expansion's phone connector ports could be written to and read from as a form of removable storage. + +The expansion came with a free cassette tape with an Apple BASIC interpreter, and other software tapes were supplied "at minimal cost" including ported video games such as Hamurabi, Lunar Lander and Star Trek. + +It is possible to save and play back recorded software using an iPod or other portable media player in place of a cassette deck. + +Conservation + +Only about 200 Apple I boards were produced, and the whereabouts of 62 to 82 are known. After the success of the Apple II, and of Apple broadly, the Apple I was recognized as an important historical computer; according to the 1986 Apple IIe Owner's Guide, an Apple I was worth "between $10,000 and $15,000" and a board was reportedly sold for $50,000 in 1999. + +In November 2010, an Apple I with a cache of original documents and packaging sold for £133,250 ($210,000) at Christie's auction house in London. The documents included the return label showing Steve Jobs's parents' address, a personally typed and signed letter from Jobs (answering technical questions about the computer), and the invoice (listing "Steven" as the salesman). The computer was brought to Polytechnic University of Turin for restoration. + +In October 2014 the Henry Ford Museum purchased an Apple I at a Bonhams auction for . The sale included the keyboard, monitor, cassette decks and a manual. In 2017, an Apple I removed from Steve Jobs's office in 1985 by Apple quality control engineer Don Hutmacher was placed on display at Living Computers: Museum + Labs. + +On May 30, 2015, an elderly woman reportedly dropped off boxes of electronics for disposal at an electronics recycling center in the Silicon Valley of Northern California. Included in the electronics (removed from her garage after the death of her husband) was an original Apple I computer, which the recycling firm sold for . When a discarded item is sold, it is the company's practice to give 50% of the proceeds to the original owner, but the woman has not been identified. + +Apple I computers with original documents and memorabilia have frequently been auctioned for over $300,000 throughout the 2010s and 2020s. The production prototype for the Apple I survives in a badly damaged state and was itself auctioned in 2022 for $677,196. + +Emulation + +Several Apple I clones and replicas have been released in recent years. These are created by hobbyists and marketed to the hobbyist/collector community. Availability is usually limited to small runs in response to demand. + +Emulation software for the Apple I has been written for modern home computers and for web browsers. It has also been emulated on 1980s era computers including the SAM Coupé and Commodore 64. + +See also + Computer museum + History of computer science + History of computing + KIM-1 + +Notes + +References + +Citations + +Sources + + + Owad, Tom (2005). Apple I Replica Creation: Back to the Garage . Rockland, Mass.: Syngress Publishing. . + Price, Rob (1987). So Far: The First Ten Years of a Vision. Cupertino, Calif.: Apple Computer. . + +External links + + Apple I Computer specifications + Bugbook Computer Museum blog. Apple 1 display. + Apple I Owners Club + Apple I Operational Manual (browse) + German making-of article to recreate the Apple I Operational Manual + Apple I project on www.sbprojects.com + Apple 1 Computer Registry + Macintosh Prehistory: The Apple I + John Calande III blog – Building the Apple I clone, including corrections on the early history of Apple Computer +Apple 1 | Cameron's Closet – includes display of the Apple 1's character set on real hardware, compared to on most emulators + +Computer-related introductions in 1976 +Apple II family +Apple Inc. hardware +Early microcomputers +6502-based home computers +Products and services discontinued in 1977 +Discontinued Apple Inc. products +Steve Jobs +Apatosaurus (; meaning "deceptive lizard") is a genus of herbivorous sauropod dinosaur that lived in North America during the Late Jurassic period. Othniel Charles Marsh described and named the first-known species, A. ajax, in 1877, and a second species, A. louisae, was discovered and named by William H. Holland in 1916. Apatosaurus lived about 152 to 151 million years ago (mya), during the late Kimmeridgian to early Tithonian age, and are now known from fossils in the Morrison Formation of modern-day Colorado, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Utah in the United States. Apatosaurus had an average length of , and an average mass of . A few specimens indicate a maximum length of 11–30% greater than average and a mass of approximately . + +The cervical vertebrae of Apatosaurus are less elongated and more heavily constructed than those of Diplodocus, a diplodocid like Apatosaurus, and the bones of the leg are much stockier despite being longer, implying that Apatosaurus was a more robust animal. The tail was held above the ground during normal locomotion. Apatosaurus had a single claw on each forelimb and three on each hindlimb. The Apatosaurus skull, long thought to be similar to Camarasaurus, is much more similar to that of Diplodocus. Apatosaurus was a generalized browser that likely held its head elevated. To lighten its vertebrae, Apatosaurus had air sacs that made the bones internally full of holes. Like that of other diplodocids, its tail may have been used as a whip to create loud noises, or, as more recently suggested, as a sensory organ. + +The skull of Apatosaurus was confused with that of Camarasaurus and Brachiosaurus until 1909, when the holotype of A. louisae was found, and a complete skull just a few meters away from the front of the neck. Henry Fairfield Osborn disagreed with this association, and went on to mount a skeleton of Apatosaurus with a Camarasaurus skull cast. Apatosaurus skeletons were mounted with speculative skull casts until 1970, when McIntosh showed that more robust skulls assigned to Diplodocus were more likely from Apatosaurus. + +Apatosaurus is a genus in the family Diplodocidae. It is one of the more basal genera, with only Amphicoelias and possibly a new, unnamed genus more primitive. Although the subfamily Apatosaurinae was named in 1929, the group was not used validly until an extensive 2015 study. Only Brontosaurus is also in the subfamily, with the other genera being considered synonyms or reclassified as diplodocines. Brontosaurus has long been considered a junior synonym of Apatosaurus; its type species was reclassified as A.excelsus in 1903. A 2015 study concluded that Brontosaurus is a valid genus of sauropod distinct from Apatosaurus, but not all paleontologists agree with this division. As it existed in North America during the late Jurassic, Apatosaurus would have lived alongside dinosaurs such as Allosaurus, Camarasaurus, Diplodocus, and Stegosaurus. + +Description + +Apatosaurus was a large, long-necked, quadrupedal animal with a long, whip-like tail. Its forelimbs were slightly shorter than its hindlimbs. Most size estimates are based on specimen CM3018, the type specimen of A.louisae, reaching in length and in body mass. A 2015 study that estimated the mass of volumetric models of Dreadnoughtus, Apatosaurus, and Giraffatitan estimates CM3018 at , similar in mass to Dreadnoughtus. Some specimens of A.ajax (such as OMNH1670) represent individuals 1130% longer, suggesting masses twice that of CM3018 or , potentially rivaling the largest titanosaurs. However, the upper size estimate of OMNH1670 is likely an exaggeration, with the size estimates revised in 2020 at in length and in body mass based on volumetric analysis. + +The skull is small in relation to the size of the animal. The jaws are lined with spatulate (chisel-like) teeth suited to an herbivorous diet. The snout of Apatosaurus and similar diplodocoids is squared, with only Nigersaurus having a squarer skull. The braincase of Apatosaurus is well preserved in specimen BYU17096, which also preserved much of the skeleton. A phylogenetic analysis found that the braincase had a morphology similar to those of other diplodocoids. Some skulls of Apatosaurus have been found still in articulation with their teeth. Those teeth that have the enamel surface exposed do not show any scratches on the surface; instead, they display a sugary texture and little wear. + +Like those of other sauropods, the neck vertebrae are deeply bifurcated; they carried neural spines with a large trough in the middle, resulting in a wide, deep neck. The vertebral formula for the holotype of A.louisae is 15cervicals, 10dorsals, 5sacrals, and 82caudals. The caudal vertebra number may vary, even within species. The cervical vertebrae of Apatosaurus and Brontosaurus are stouter and more robust than those of other diplodocids and were found to be most similar to Camarasaurus by Charles Whitney Gilmore. In addition, they support cervical ribs that extend farther towards the ground than in diplodocines, and have vertebrae and ribs that are narrower towards the top of the neck, making the neck nearly triangular in cross-section. In Apatosaurus louisae, the atlas-axis complex of the first cervicals is nearly fused. The dorsal ribs are not fused or tightly attached to their vertebrae and are instead loosely articulated. Apatosaurus has ten dorsal ribs on either side of the body. The large neck was filled with an extensive system of weight-saving air sacs. Apatosaurus, like its close relative Supersaurus, has tall neural spines, which make up more than half the height of the individual bones of its vertebrae. The shape of the tail is unusual for a diplodocid; it is comparatively slender because of the rapidly decreasing height of the vertebral spines with increasing distance from the hips. Apatosaurus also had very long ribs compared to most other diplodocids, giving it an unusually deep chest. As in other diplodocids, the tail transformed into a whip-like structure towards the end. + +The limb bones are also very robust. Within Apatosaurinae, the scapula of Apatosaurus louisae is intermediate in morphology between those of A.ajax and Brontosaurus excelsus. The arm bones are stout, so the humerus of Apatosaurus resembles that of Camarasaurus, as well as Brontosaurus. However, the humeri of Brontosaurus and A.ajax are more similar to each other than they are to A.louisae. In 1936, Charles Gilmore noted that previous reconstructions of Apatosaurus forelimbs erroneously proposed that the radius and ulna could cross; in life they would have remained parallel. Apatosaurus had a single large claw on each forelimb, a feature shared by all sauropods more derived than Shunosaurus. The first three toes had claws on each hindlimb. The phalangeal formula is 2-1-1-1-1, meaning the innermost finger (phalanx) on the forelimb has two bones and the next has one. The single manual claw bone (ungual) is slightly curved and squarely truncated on the anterior end. The pelvic girdle includes the robust ilia, and the fused (co-ossified) pubes and ischia. The femora of Apatosaurus are very stout and represent some of the most robust femora of any member of Sauropoda. The tibia and fibula bones are different from the slender bones of Diplodocus but are nearly indistinguishable from those of Camarasaurus. The fibula is longer and slenderer than the tibia. The foot of Apatosaurus has three claws on the innermost digits; the digit formula is 3-4-5-3-2. The first metatarsal is the stoutest, a feature shared among diplodocids. + +Discovery and species + +Initial discovery + +The first Apatosaurus fossils were discovered by Arthur Lakes, a local miner, and his friend Henry C. Beckwith in the spring of 1877 in Morrison, a town in the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Jefferson County, Colorado. Arthur Lakes wrote to Othniel Charles Marsh, Professor of Paleontology at Yale University, and Edward Drinker Cope, paleontologist based in Philadelphia, about the discovery until eventually collecting several fossils and sending them to both paleontologists. Marsh named Atlantosaurus montanus based on some of the fossils sent and hired Lakes to collect the rest of the material at Morrison and send it to Yale, while Cope attempted to hire Lakes as well but was rejected. One of the best specimens collected by Lakes in 1877 was a well preserved partial postcranial skeleton, including many vertebrae, and a partial braincase (YPM VP 1860), which was sent to Marsh and named Apatosaurus ajax in November 1877. The composite term Apatosaurus comes from the Greek words ()/ () meaning "deception"/"deceptive", and () meaning "lizard"; thus, "deceptive lizard". Marsh gave it this name based on the chevron bones, which are dissimilar to those of other dinosaurs; instead, the chevron bones of Apatosaurus showed similarities with those of mosasaurs, most likely that of the representative species Mosasaurus. By the end of excavations at Lakes' quarry in Morrison, several partial specimens of Apatosaurus had been collected, but only the type specimen of A. ajax can be confidently referred to the species. + +During excavation and transportation, the bones of the holotype skeleton were mixed with those of another Apatosaurine individual originally described as Atlantosaurus immanis; as a consequence, some elements cannot be ascribed to either specimen with confidence. Marsh distinguished the new genus Apatosaurus from Atlantosaurus on the basis of the number of sacral vertebrae, with Apatosaurus possessing three and Atlantosaurus four. Recent research shows that traits usually used to distinguish taxa at this time were actually widespread across several taxa, causing many of the taxa named to be invalid, like Atlantosaurus. Two years later, Marsh announced the discovery of a larger and more complete specimen (YPM VP 1980) from Como Bluff, Wyoming, he gave this specimen the name Brontosaurus excelsus. Also at Como Bluff, the Hubbell brothers working for Edward Drinker Cope collected a tibia, fibula, scapula, and several caudal vertebrae along with other fragments belonging to Apatosaurus in 1877–78 at Cope's Quarry 5 at the site. Later in 1884, Othniel Marsh named Diplodocus lacustris based on a chimeric partial dentary, snout, and several teeth collected by Lakes in 1877 at Morrison. In 2013, it was suggested that the dentary of D. lacustris and its teeth were actually from Apatosaurus ajax based on its proximity to the type braincase of A. ajax. All specimens currently considered Apatosaurus were from the Morrison Formation, the location of the excavations of Marsh and Cope. + +Second Dinosaur Rush and skull issue +After the end of the Bone Wars, many major institutions in the eastern United States were inspired by the depictions and finds by Marsh and Cope to assemble their own dinosaur fossil collections. The competition to mount the first sauropod skeleton specifically was the most intense, with the American Museum of Natural History, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, and Field Museum of Natural History all sending expeditions to the west to find the most complete sauropod specimen, bring it back to the home institution, and mount it in their fossil halls. The American Museum of Natural History was the first to launch an expedition, finding a well preserved skeleton (AMNH 460), which is occasionally assigned to Apatosaurus, is considered nearly complete; only the head, feet, and sections of the tail are missing, and it was the first sauropod skeleton mounted. The specimen was found north of Medicine Bow, Wyoming, in 1898 by Walter Granger, and took the entire summer to extract. To complete the mount, sauropod feet that were discovered at the same quarry and a tail fashioned to appear as Marsh believed it shouldbut which had too few vertebraewere added. In addition, a sculpted model of what the museum thought the skull of this massive creature might look like was made. This was not a delicate skull like that of Diplodocuswhich was later found to be more accuratebut was based on "the biggest, thickest, strongest skull bones, lower jaws and tooth crowns from three different quarries". These skulls were likely those of Camarasaurus, the only other sauropod for which good skull material was known at the time. The mount construction was overseen by Adam Hermann, who failed to find Apatosaurus skulls. Hermann was forced to sculpt a stand-in skull by hand. Osborn said in a publication that the skull was "largely conjectural and based on that of Morosaurus" (now Camarasaurus). +In 1903, Elmer Riggs published a study that described a well-preserved skeleton of a diplodocid from the Grand River Valley near Fruita, Colorado, Field Museum of Natural History specimen P25112. Riggs thought that the deposits were similar in age to those of the Como Bluff in Wyoming from which Marsh had described Brontosaurus. Most of the skeleton was found, and after comparison with both Brontosaurus and Apatosaurus ajax, Riggs realized that the holotype of A.ajax was immature, and thus the features distinguishing the genera were not valid. Since Apatosaurus was the earlier name, Brontosaurus should be considered a junior synonym of Apatosaurus. Because of this, Riggs recombined Brontosaurus excelsus as Apatosaurus excelsus. Based on comparisons with other species proposed to belong to Apatosaurus, Riggs also determined that the Field Columbian Museum specimen was likely most similar to A.excelsus. + +Despite Riggs' publication, Henry Fairfield Osborn, who was a strong opponent of Marsh and his taxa, labeled the Apatosaurus mount of the American Museum of Natural History Brontosaurus. Because of this decision the name Brontosaurus was commonly used outside of scientific literature for what Riggs considered Apatosaurus, and the museum's popularity meant that Brontosaurus became one of the best known dinosaurs, even though it was invalid throughout nearly all of the 20th and early 21st centuries. + +It was not until 1909 that an Apatosaurus skull was found during the first expedition, led by Earl Douglass, to what would become known as the Carnegie Quarry at Dinosaur National Monument. The skull was found a short distance from a skeleton (specimen CM3018) identified as the new species Apatosaurus louisae, named after Louise Carnegie, wife of Andrew Carnegie, who funded field research to find complete dinosaur skeletons in the American West. The skull was designated CM11162; it was very similar to the skull of Diplodocus. Another smaller skeleton of A.louisae was found nearby CM11162 and CM3018. The skull was accepted as belonging to the Apatosaurus specimen by Douglass and Carnegie Museum director William H. Holland, although other scientistsmost notably Osbornrejected this identification. Holland defended his view in 1914 in an address to the Paleontological Society of America, yet he left the Carnegie Museum mount headless. While some thought Holland was attempting to avoid conflict with Osborn, others suspected Holland was waiting until an articulated skull and neck were found to confirm the association of the skull and skeleton. After Holland's death in 1934, museum staff placed a cast of a Camarasaurus skull on the mount. + +While most other museums were using cast or sculpted Camarasaurus skulls on Apatosaurus mounts, the Yale Peabody Museum decided to sculpt a skull based on the lower jaw of a Camarasaurus, with the cranium based on Marsh's 1891 illustration of the skull. The skull also included forward-pointing nasalssomething unusual for any dinosaurand fenestrae differing from both the drawing and other skulls. + +No Apatosaurus skull was mentioned in literature until the 1970s when John Stanton McIntosh and David Berman redescribed the skulls of Diplodocus and Apatosaurus. They found that though he never published his opinion, Holland was almost certainly correct, that Apatosaurus had a Diplodocus-like skull. According to them, many skulls long thought to pertain to Diplodocus might instead be those of Apatosaurus. They reassigned multiple skulls to Apatosaurus based on associated and closely associated vertebrae. Even though they supported Holland, it was noted that Apatosaurus might have possessed a Camarasaurus-like skull, based on a disarticulated Camarasaurus-like tooth found at the precise site where an Apatosaurus specimen was found years before. On October20, 1979, after the publications by McIntosh and Berman, the first true skull of Apatosaurus was mounted on a skeleton in a museum, that of the Carnegie. In 1998, it was suggested that the Felch Quarry skull that Marsh had included in his 1896 skeletal restoration instead belonged to Brachiosaurus. + +Recent discoveries and reassesment +In 2011, the first specimen of Apatosaurus where a skull was found articulated with its cervical vertebrae was described. This specimen, CMCVP7180, was found to differ in both skull and neck features from A.louisae, but shared many features of the cervical vertebrae with A.ajax. Another well-preserved skull is Brigham Young University specimen 17096, a well-preserved skull and skeleton, with a preserved braincase. The specimen was found in Cactus Park Quarry in western Colorado. In 2013, Matthew Mossbrucker and several other authors published an abstract that described a premaxilla and maxilla from Lakes' original quarry in Morrison and referred the material to Apatosaurus ajax. + +Almost all modern paleontologists agreed with Riggs that the two dinosaurs should be classified together in a single genus. According to the rules of the ICZN (which governs the scientific names of animals), the name Apatosaurus, having been published first, has priority as the official name; Brontosaurus was considered a junior synonym and was therefore long discarded from formal use. Despite this, at least one paleontologistRobert T. Bakkerargued in the 1990s that A.ajax and A.excelsus were in fact sufficiently distinct for the latter to merit a separate genus. + +In 2015, Emanuel Tschopp, Octávio Mateus, and Roger Benson released a paper on diplodocoid systematics, and proposed that genera could be diagnosed by thirteen differing characters, and species separated based on six. The minimum number for generic separation was chosen based on the fact that A.ajax and A.louisae differ in twelve characters, and Diplodocus carnegiei and D.hallorum differ in eleven characters. Thus, thirteen characters were chosen to validate the separation of genera. The six differing features for specific separation were chosen by counting the number of differing features in separate specimens generally agreed to represent one species, with only one differing character in D.carnegiei and A.louisae, but five differing features in B.excelsus. Therefore, Tschopp etal. argued that Apatosaurus excelsus, originally classified as Brontosaurus excelsus, had enough morphological differences from other species of Apatosaurus that it warranted being reclassified as a separate genus again. The conclusion was based on a comparison of 477 morphological characteristics across 81 different dinosaur individuals. Among the many notable differences are the widerand presumably strongerneck of Apatosaurus species compared to B.excelsus. Other species previously assigned to Apatosaurus, such as Elosaurus parvus and Eobrontosaurus yahnahpin were also reclassified as Brontosaurus. Some features proposed to separate Brontosaurus from Apatosaurus include: posterior dorsal vertebrae with the centrum longer than wide; the scapula rear to the acromial edge and the distal blade being excavated; the acromial edge of the distal scapular blade bearing a rounded expansion; and the ratio of the proximodistal length to transverse breadth of the astragalus 0.55 or greater. Sauropod expert Michael D'Emic pointed out that the criteria chosen were to an extent arbitrary and that they would require abandoning the name Brontosaurus again if newer analyses obtained different results. Mammal paleontologist Donald Prothero criticized the mass media reaction to this study as superficial and premature, concluding that he would keep "Brontosaurus" in quotes and not treat the name as a valid genus. + +Valid species + +Many species of Apatosaurus have been designated from scant material. Marsh named as many species as he could, which resulted in many being based upon fragmentary and indistinguishable remains. In 2005, Paul Upchurch and colleagues published a study that analyzed the species and specimen relationships of Apatosaurus. They found that A.louisae was the most basal species, followed by FMNHP25112, and then a polytomy of A.ajax, A.parvus, and A.excelsus. Their analysis was revised and expanded with many additional diplodocid specimens in 2015, which resolved the relationships of Apatosaurus slightly differently, and also supported separating Brontosaurus from Apatosaurus. + +Apatosaurus ajax was named by Marsh in 1877 after Ajax, a hero from Greek mythology. Marsh designated the incomplete, juvenile skeleton YPM1860 as its holotype. The species is less studied than Brontosaurus and A.louisae, especially because of the incomplete nature of the holotype. In 2005, many specimens in addition to the holotype were found assignable to A.ajax, YPM1840, NSMT-PV 20375, YPM1861, and AMNH460. The specimens date from the late Kimmeridgian to the early Tithonian ages. In 2015, only the A.ajax holotype YPM1860 assigned to the species, with AMNH460 found either to be within Brontosaurus, or potentially its own taxon. However, YPM1861 and NSMT-PV 20375 only differed in a few characteristics, and cannot be distinguished specifically or generically from A.ajax. YPM1861 is the holotype of "Atlantosaurus" immanis, which means it might be a junior synonym of A.ajax. +Apatosaurus louisae was named by Holland in 1916, being first known from a partial skeleton that was found in Utah. The holotype is CM3018, with referred specimens including CM3378, CM11162, and LACM52844. The former two consist of a vertebral column; the latter two consist of a skull and a nearly complete skeleton, respectively. Apatosaurus louisae specimens all come from the late Kimmeridgian of Dinosaur National Monument. In 2015, Tschopp etal. found the type specimen of Apatosaurus laticollis to nest closely with CM3018, meaning the former is likely a junior synonym of A.louisae. + +The cladogram below is the result of an analysis by Tschopp, Mateus, and Benson (2015). The authors analyzed most diplodocid type specimens separately to deduce which specimen belonged to which species and genus. + +Reassigned species + + Apatosaurus grandis was named in 1877 by Marsh in the article that described A.ajax. It was briefly described, figured, and diagnosed. Marsh later mentioned it was only provisionally assigned to Apatosaurus when he reassigned it to his new genus Morosaurus in 1878. Since Morosaurus has been considered a synonym of Camarasaurus, C.grandis is the oldest-named species of the latter genus. + Apatosaurus excelsus was the original type species of Brontosaurus, first named by Marsh in 1879. Elmer Riggs reclassified Brontosaurus as a synonym of Apatosaurus in 1903, transferring the species B.excelsus to A.excelsus. In 2015, Tschopp, Mateus, and Benson argued that the species was distinct enough to be placed in its own genus, so they reclassified it back into Brontosaurus. + Apatosaurus parvus, first described from a juvenile specimen as Elosaurus in 1902 by Peterson and Gilmore, was reassigned to Apatosaurus in 1994, and then to Brontosaurus in 2015. Many other, more mature specimens were assigned to it following the 2015 study. + Apatosaurus minimus was originally described as a specimen of Brontosaurus sp. in 1904 by Osborn. In 1917, Henry Mook named it as its own species, A.minimus, for a pair of ilia and their sacrum. In 2012, Mike P. Taylor and Matt J. Wedel published a short abstract describing the material of A. minimus, finding it hard to place among either Diplodocoidea or Macronaria. While it was placed with Saltasaurus in a phylogenetic analysis, it was thought to represent instead some form with convergent features from many groups. The study of Tschopp etal. did find that a camarasaurid position for the taxon was supported, but noted that the position of the taxon was found to be highly variable and there was no clearly more likely position. + Apatosaurus alenquerensis was named in 1957 by Albert-Félix de Lapparent and Georges Zbyweski. It was based on post cranial material from Portugal. In 1990, this material was reassigned to Camarasaurus, but in 1998 it was given its own genus, Lourinhasaurus. This was further supported by the findings of Tschopp etal. in 2015, where Lourinhasaurus was found to be sister to Camarasaurus and other camarasaurids. + Apatosaurus yahnahpin was named by James Filla and Patrick Redman in 1994. Bakker made A.yahnahpin the type species of a new genus, Eobrontosaurus in 1998, and Tschopp reclassified it as Brontosaurus yahnahpin in 2015. + +Classification + +Apatosaurus is a member of the family Diplodocidae, a clade of gigantic sauropod dinosaurs. The family includes some of the longest creatures ever to walk the earth, including Diplodocus, Supersaurus, and Barosaurus. Apatosaurus is sometimes classified in the subfamily Apatosaurinae, which may also include Suuwassea, Supersaurus, and Brontosaurus. Othniel Charles Marsh described Apatosaurus as allied to Atlantosaurus within the now-defunct group Atlantosauridae. In 1878, Marsh raised his family to the rank of suborder, including Apatosaurus, Atlantosaurus, Morosaurus (=Camarasaurus) and Diplodocus. He classified this group within Sauropoda, a group he erected in the same study. In 1903, Elmer S. Riggs said the name Sauropoda would be a junior synonym of earlier names; he grouped Apatosaurus within Opisthocoelia. Sauropoda is still used as the group name. In 2011, John Whitlock published a study that placed Apatosaurus a more basal diplodocid, sometimes less basal than Supersaurus. + +Cladogram of the Diplodocidae after Tschopp, Mateus, and Benson (2015). + +Paleobiology + +It was believed throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries that sauropods like Apatosaurus were too massive to support their own weight on dry land. It was theorized that they lived partly submerged in water, perhaps in swamps. More recent findings do not support this; sauropods are now thought to have been fully terrestrial animals. A study of diplodocid snouts showed that the square snout, large proportion of pits, and fine, subparallel scratches of the teeth of Apatosaurus suggests it was a ground-height, nonselective browser. It may have eaten ferns, cycadeoids, seed ferns, horsetails, and algae. Stevens and Parish (2005) speculate that these sauropods fed from riverbanks on submerged water plants. + +A 2015 study of the necks of Apatosaurus and Brontosaurus found many differences between them and other diplodocids, and that these variations may have shown that the necks of Apatosaurus and Brontosaurus were used for intraspecific combat. Various uses for the single claw on the forelimb of sauropods have been proposed. One suggestion is that they were used for defense, but their shape and size make this unlikely. It was also possible they were for feeding, but the most probable use for the claw was grasping objects such as tree trunks when rearing. + +Trackways of sauropods like Apatosaurus show that they may have had a range of around per day, and that they could potentially have reached a top speed of per hour. The slow locomotion of sauropods may be due to their minimal muscling, or to recoil after strides. A trackway of a juvenile has led some to believe that they were capable of bipedalism, though this is disputed. + +Neck posture + +Diplodocids like Apatosaurus are often portrayed with their necks held high up in the air, allowing them to browse on tall trees. Some studies state diplodocid necks were less flexible than previously believed, because the structure of the neck vertebrae would not have allowed the neck to bend far upward, and that sauropods like Apatosaurus were adapted to low browsing or ground feeding. + +Other studies by Taylor find that all tetrapods appear to hold their necks at the maximum possible vertical extension when in a normal, alert posture; they argue the same would hold true for sauropods barring any unknown, unique characteristics that set the soft tissue anatomy of their necks apart from that of other animals. Apatosaurus, like Diplodocus, would have held its neck angled upward with the head pointing downward in a resting posture. Kent Stevens and Michael Parrish (1999 and 2005) state Apatosaurus had a great feeding range; its neck could bend into a U-shape laterally. The neck's range of movement would have also allowed the head to feed at the level of the feet. + +Matthew Cobley et al. (2013) dispute this, finding that large muscles and cartilage would have limited movement of the neck. They state the feeding ranges for sauropods like Diplodocus were smaller than previously believed, and the animals may have had to move their whole bodies around to better access areas where they could browse vegetation. As such, they might have spent more time foraging to meet their minimum energy needs. The conclusions of Cobley etal. are disputed by Taylor, who analyzed the amount and positioning of intervertebral cartilage to determine the flexibility of the neck of Apatosaurus and Diplodocus. He found that the neck of Apatosaurus was very flexible. + +Physiology + +Given the large body mass and long neck of sauropods like Apatosaurus, physiologists have encountered problems determining how these animals breathed. Beginning with the assumption that, like crocodilians, Apatosaurus did not have a diaphragm, the dead-space volume (the amount of unused air remaining in the mouth, trachea, and air tubes after each breath) has been estimated at about for a specimen. Paladino calculates its tidal volume (the amount of air moved in or out during a single breath) at with an avian respiratory system, if mammalian, and if reptilian. + +On this basis, its respiratory system would likely have been parabronchi, with multiple pulmonary air sacs as in avian lungs, and a flow-through lung. An avian respiratory system would need a lung volume of about compared with a mammalian requirement of , which would exceed the space available. The overall thoracic volume of Apatosaurus has been estimated at , allowing for a , four-chambered heart and a lung capacity. That would allow about for the necessary tissue. Evidence for the avian system in Apatosaurus and other sauropods is also present in the pneumaticity of the vertebrae. Though this plays a role in reducing the weight of the animal, Wedel (2003) states they are also likely connected to air sacs, as in birds. + +James Spotila et al. (1991) concludes that the large body size of sauropods would have made them unable to maintain high metabolic rates because they would not have been able to release enough heat. They assumed sauropods had a reptilian respiratory system. Wedel says that an avian system would have allowed it to dump more heat. Some scientists state that the heart would have had trouble sustaining sufficient blood pressure to oxygenate the brain. Others suggest that the near-horizontal posture of the head and neck would have eliminated the problem of supplying blood to the brain because it would not have been elevated. + +James Farlow (1987) calculates that an Apatosaurus-sized dinosaur about would have possessed of fermentation contents. Assuming Apatosaurus had an avian respiratory system and a reptilian resting-metabolism, Frank Paladino etal. (1997) estimate the animal would have needed to consume only about of water per day. + +Growth + +A 1999 microscopic study of Apatosaurus and Brontosaurus bones concluded the animals grew rapidly when young and reached near-adult sizes in about 10years. In 2008, a study on the growth rates of sauropods was published by Thomas Lehman and Holly Woodward. They said that by using growth lines and length-to-mass ratios, Apatosaurus would have grown to 25t (25 long tons; 28 short tons) in 15years, with growth peaking at in a single year. An alternative method, using limb length and body mass, found Apatosaurus grew per year, and reached its full mass before it was about 70years old. These estimates have been called unreliable because the calculation methods are not sound; old growth lines would have been obliterated by bone remodelling. One of the first identified growth factors of Apatosaurus was the number of sacral vertebrae, which increased to five by the time of the creature's maturity. This was first noted in 1903 and again in 1936. + +Long-bone histology enables researchers to estimate the age that a specific individual reached. A study by Eva Griebeler etal. (2013) examined long-bone histological data and concluded the Apatosaurus sp.SMA0014 weighed , reached sexual maturity at 21years, and died aged 28. The same growth model indicated Apatosaurus sp.BYU 601–17328 weighed , reached sexual maturity at 19years, and died aged 31. + +Juveniles +Compared with most sauropods, a relatively large amount of juvenile material is known from Apatosaurus. Multiple specimens in the OMNH are from juveniles of an undetermined species of Apatosaurus; this material includes partial shoulder and pelvic girdles, some vertebrae, and limb bones. OMNH juvenile material is from at least two different age groups and based on overlapping bones likely comes from more than three individuals. The specimens exhibit features that distinguish Apatosaurus from its relatives, and thus likely belong to the genus. Juvenile sauropods tend to have proportionally shorter necks and tails, and a more pronounced forelimb-hindlimb disparity than found in adult sauropods. + +Tail + +An article published in 1997 reported research of the mechanics of Apatosaurus tails by Nathan Myhrvold and paleontologist Philip J. Currie. Myhrvold carried out a computer simulation of the tail, which in diplodocids like Apatosaurus was a very long, tapering structure resembling a bullwhip. This computer modeling suggested diplodocids were capable of producing a whiplike cracking sound of over 200 decibels, comparable to the volume of a cannon being fired. + +A pathology has been identified on the tail of Apatosaurus, caused by a growth defect. Two caudal vertebrae are seamlessly fused along the entire articulating surface of the bone, including the arches of the neural spines. This defect might have been caused by the lack or inhibition of the substance that forms intervertebral disks or joints. It has been proposed that the whips could have been used in combat and defense, but the tails of diplodocids were quite light and narrow compared to Shunosaurus and mamenchisaurids, and thus to injure another animal with the tail would severely injure the tail itself. More recently, Baron (2020) considers the use of the tail as a bullwhip unlikely because of the potentially catastrophic muscle and skeletal damage such speeds could cause on the large and heavy tail. Instead, he proposes that the tails might have been used as a tactile organ to keep in touch with the individuals behind and on the sides in a group while migrating, which could have augmented cohesion and allowed communication among individuals while limiting more energetically demanding activities like stopping to search for dispersed individuals, turning to visually check on individuals behind, or communicating vocally. + +Paleoecology + +The Morrison Formation is a sequence of shallow marine and alluvial sediments which, according to radiometric dating, dates from between 156.3mya at its base, and 146.8mya at the top, placing it in the late Oxfordian, Kimmeridgian, and early Tithonian stages of the Late Jurassic period. This formation is interpreted as originating in a locally semiarid environment with distinct wet and dry seasons. The Morrison Basin, where dinosaurs lived, stretched from New Mexico to Alberta and Saskatchewan; it was formed when the precursors to the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains started pushing up to the west. The deposits from their east-facing drainage basins were carried by streams and rivers and deposited in swampy lowlands, lakes, river channels, and floodplains. This formation is similar in age to the Lourinhã Formation in Portugal and the Tendaguru Formation in Tanzania. + +Apatosaurus was the second most common sauropod in the Morrison Formation ecosystem, after Camarasaurus. Apatosaurus may have been more solitary than other Morrison Formation dinosaurs. Fossils of the genus have only been found in the upper levels of the formation. Those of Apatosaurus ajax are known exclusively from the upper Brushy Basin Member, about 152–151 mya. A.louisae fossils are rare, known only from one site in the upper Brushy Basin Member; they date to the late Kimmeridgian stage, about 151mya. Additional Apatosaurus remains are known from similarly aged or slightly younger rocks, but they have not been identified as any particular species, and thus may instead belong to Brontosaurus. + +The Morrison Formation records a time when the local environment was dominated by gigantic sauropod dinosaurs. Dinosaurs known from the Morrison Formation include the theropods Allosaurus, Ceratosaurus, Ornitholestes, Saurophaganax, and Torvosaurus; the sauropods Brontosaurus, Brachiosaurus, Camarasaurus, and Diplodocus; and the ornithischians Camptosaurus, Dryosaurus, and Stegosaurus. Apatosaurus is commonly found at the same sites as Allosaurus, Camarasaurus, Diplodocus, and Stegosaurus. Allosaurus accounted for 70–75% of theropod specimens and was at the top trophic level of the Morrison food web. Many of the dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation are of the same genera as those seen in Portuguese rocks of the Lourinhã Formationmainly Allosaurus, Ceratosaurus, and Torvosaurusor have a close counterpartBrachiosaurus and Lusotitan, Camptosaurus and Draconyx, and Apatosaurus and Dinheirosaurus. Other vertebrates that are known to have shared this paleo-environment include ray-finned fishes, frogs, salamanders, turtles, sphenodonts, lizards, terrestrial and aquatic crocodylomorphs, and several species of pterosaur. Shells of bivalves and aquatic snails are also common. The flora of the period has been evidenced in fossils of green algae, fungi, mosses, horsetails, cycads, ginkgoes, and several families of conifers. Vegetation varied from river-lining forests of tree ferns with fern understory (gallery forests), to fern savannas with occasional trees such as the Araucaria-like conifer Brachyphyllum. + +References + +External links + + + Batuman, Elif. Brontosaurus Rising (April 2015), The New Yorker + Krystek, Lee. "Whatever Happened to the Brontosaurus?" UnMuseum (Museum of Unnatural Mystery), 2002. + Taylor, Mike. "Why is 'Brontosaurus' now called Apatosaurus?" MikeTaylor.org.uk, June 28, 2004. + +Dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation +Fossil taxa described in 1877 +Late Jurassic dinosaurs of North America +Paleontology in Colorado +Paleontology in Wyoming +Taxa named by Othniel Charles Marsh +Apatosaurinae +Allosaurus () is an extinct genus of large carnosaurian theropod dinosaur that lived 155 to 145 million years ago during the Late Jurassic period (Kimmeridgian to late Tithonian ages). The name "Allosaurus" means "different lizard", alluding to its unique (at the time of its discovery) concave vertebrae. It is derived from the Greek words () ("different", "strange", or "other") and () ("lizard" or "reptile"). The first fossil remains that could definitively be ascribed to this genus were described in 1877 by famed paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh. As one of the first well-known theropod dinosaurs, it has long attracted attention outside of paleontological circles. + +Allosaurus was a large bipedal predator for its time. Its skull was light, robust, and equipped with dozens of sharp, serrated teeth. It averaged in length for A. fragilis, with the largest specimens estimated as being long. Relative to the large and powerful legs, its three-fingered hands were small and the body was balanced by a long, muscular tail. It is classified as an allosaurid, a type of carnosaurian theropod dinosaur. + +The genus has a very complicated taxonomy and includes at least three valid species, the best known of which is A. fragilis. The bulk of Allosaurus remains have come from North America's Morrison Formation, with material also known from the Lourinhã Formation in Portugal. It was known for over half of the 20th century as Antrodemus, but a study of the abundant remains from the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry returned the name "Allosaurus" to prominence and established it as one of the best-known dinosaurs. + +As the most abundant large predator of the Morrison Formation, Allosaurus was at the top of the food chain and probably preyed on contemporaneous large herbivorous dinosaurs, with the possibility of hunting other predators. Potential prey included ornithopods, stegosaurids, and sauropods. Some paleontologists interpret Allosaurus as having had cooperative social behavior and hunting in packs, while others believe individuals may have been aggressive toward each other and that congregations of this genus are the result of lone individuals feeding on the same carcasses. + +Discovery and history + +Early discoveries and research + +The discovery and early study of Allosaurus is complicated by the multiplicity of names coined during the Bone Wars of the late 19th century. The first described fossil in this history was a bone obtained secondhand by Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden in 1869. It came from Middle Park, near Granby, Colorado, probably from Morrison Formation rocks. The locals had identified such bones as "petrified horse hoofs". Hayden sent his specimen to Joseph Leidy, who identified it as half of a tail vertebra and tentatively assigned it to the European dinosaur genus Poekilopleuron as Poicilopleuron valens. He later decided it deserved its own genus, Antrodemus. + +Allosaurus itself is based on YPM 1930, a small collection of fragmentary bones including parts of three vertebrae, a rib fragment, a tooth, a toe bone, and (most useful for later discussions) the shaft of the right humerus (upper arm). Othniel Charles Marsh gave these remains the formal name Allosaurus fragilis in 1877. Allosaurus comes from the Greek words /, meaning "strange" or "different", and /, meaning "lizard" or "reptile". It was named 'different lizard' because its vertebrae were different from those of other dinosaurs known at the time of its discovery. The species epithet fragilis is Latin for "fragile", referring to lightening features in the vertebrae. The bones were collected from the Morrison Formation of Garden Park, north of Cañon City. O. C. Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope, who were in scientific competition with each other, went on to coin several other genera based on similarly sparse material that would later figure in the taxonomy of Allosaurus. These include Marsh's Creosaurus and Labrosaurus, as well as Cope's Epanterias. + +In their haste, Cope and Marsh did not always follow up on their discoveries (or, more commonly, those made by their subordinates). For example, after the discovery by Benjamin Mudge of the type specimen of Allosaurus in Colorado, Marsh elected to concentrate work in Wyoming. When work resumed at Garden Park in 1883, M. P. Felch found an almost complete Allosaurus and several partial skeletons. In addition, one of Cope's collectors, H. F. Hubbell, found a specimen in the Como Bluff area of Wyoming in 1879, but apparently did not mention its completeness and Cope never unpacked it. Upon unpacking it in 1903 (several years after Cope had died), it was found to be one of the most complete theropod specimens then known and the skeleton, now cataloged as AMNH 5753, was put on public view in 1908. This is the well-known mount poised over a partial Apatosaurus skeleton as if scavenging it, illustrated as such in a painting by Charles R. Knight. Although notable as the first free-standing mount of a theropod dinosaur and often illustrated and photographed, it has never been scientifically described. + +The multiplicity of early names complicated later research, with the situation compounded by the terse descriptions provided by Marsh and Cope. Even at the time, authors such as Samuel Wendell Williston suggested that too many names had been coined. For example, Williston pointed out in 1901 that Marsh had never been able to adequately distinguish Allosaurus from Creosaurus. The most influential early attempt to sort out the convoluted situation was produced by Charles W. Gilmore in 1920. He came to the conclusion that the tail vertebra named Antrodemus by Leidy was indistinguishable from those of Allosaurus and that Antrodemus should be the preferred name because, as the older name, it had priority. Antrodemus became the accepted name for this familiar genus for over 50 years, until James Henry Madsen published on the Cleveland-Lloyd specimens and concluded that Allosaurus should be used because Antrodemus was based on material with poor, if any, diagnostic features and locality information. For example, the geological formation that the single bone of Antrodemus came from is unknown. "Antrodemus" has been used informally for convenience when distinguishing between the skull Gilmore restored and the composite skull restored by Madsen. + +Cleveland-Lloyd discoveries + +Although sporadic work at what became known as the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry in Emery County, Utah, had taken place as early as 1927 and the fossil site itself described by William L. Stokes in 1945, major operations did not begin there until 1960. Under a cooperative effort involving nearly 40 institutions, thousands of bones were recovered between 1960 and 1965, led by James Henry Madsen. The quarry is notable for the predominance of Allosaurus remains, the condition of the specimens, and the lack of scientific resolution on how it came to be. The majority of bones belong to the large theropod Allosaurus fragilis (it is estimated that the remains of at least 46 A. fragilis have been found there, out of at a minimum 73 dinosaurs) and the fossils found there are disarticulated and well-mixed. Nearly a dozen scientific papers have been written on the taphonomy of the site, suggesting numerous mutually exclusive explanations for how it may have formed. Suggestions have ranged from animals getting stuck in a bog, becoming trapped in deep mud, falling victim to drought-induced mortality around a waterhole, and getting trapped in a spring-fed pond or seep. Regardless of the actual cause, the great quantity of well-preserved Allosaurus remains has allowed this genus to be known in great detail, making it among the best-known of all theropods. Skeletal remains from the quarry pertain to individuals of almost all ages and sizes, from less than to long, and the disarticulation is an advantage for describing bones usually found fused. Due to being one of Utah's two fossil quarries where numerous Allosaurus specimens have been discovered, Allosaurus was designated as the state fossil of Utah in 1988. + +Recent work: 1980s–present +The period since Madsen's monograph has been marked by a great expansion in studies dealing with topics concerning Allosaurus in life (paleobiological and paleoecological topics). Such studies have covered topics including skeletal variation, growth, skull construction, hunting methods, the brain, and the possibility of gregarious living and parental care. Reanalysis of old material (particularly of large 'allosaur' specimens), new discoveries in Portugal, and several very complete new specimens have also contributed to the growing knowledge base. + +"Big Al" and "Big Al II" + +In 1991, "Big Al" (MOR 693), a 95% complete, partially articulated specimen of Allosaurus was discovered, measuring about 8 meters (about 26 ft) long. MOR 693 was excavated near Shell, Wyoming, by a joint Museum of the Rockies and University of Wyoming Geological Museum team. This skeleton was discovered by a Swiss team, led by Kirby Siber. Chure and Loewen in 2020 identified the individual as a representative of the species Allosaurus jimmadseni. In 1996, the same team discovered a second Allosaurus, "Big Al II". This specimen, the best preserved skeleton of its kind to date, is also referred to Allosaurus jimmadseni. + +The completeness, preservation, and scientific importance of this skeleton gave "Big Al" its name. The individual itself was below the average size for Allosaurus fragilis, as it was a subadult estimated at only 87% grown. The specimen was described by Breithaupt in 1996. Nineteen of its bones were broken or showed signs of serious infection, which may have contributed to "Big Al's" death. Pathologic bones included five ribs, five vertebrae, and four bones of the feet. Several of its damaged bones showed signs of osteomyelitis, a severe bone infection. A particular problem for the living animal was infection and trauma to the right foot that probably affected movement and may have also predisposed the other foot to injury because of a change in gait. "Big Al" had an infection on the first phalanx on the third toe that was afflicted by an involucrum. The infection was long-lived, perhaps up to six months. “Big Al II” is also known to have multiple injuries. + +Species + +Six species of Allosaurus have been named: A. amplus, A. atrox, A. europaeus, the type species A. fragilis, A. jimmadseni and A. lucasi. Among these, Daniel Chure and Mark Loewen in 2020 only recognized the species A. fragilis, A. europaeus, and the newly-named A. jimmadseni as being valid species. However, A. europaeus does not show any unique characters compared to the North American species, so a reevaluation of its validity is required. + +A. fragilis is the type species and was named by Marsh in 1877. It is known from the remains of at least 60 individuals, all found in the Kimmeridgian–Tithonian Upper Jurassic-age Morrison Formation of the United States, spread across Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. Details of the humerus (upper arm) of A. fragilis have been used as diagnostic among Morrison theropods, but A. jimmadseni indicates that this is no longer the case at the species level. + +A. jimmadseni has been scientifically described based on two nearly complete skeletons. The first specimen to wear the identification was unearthed in Dinosaur National Monument in northeastern Utah, with the original "Big Al" individual subsequently recognized as belonging to the same species. This species differs from A. fragilis in several anatomical details, including a jugal (cheekbone) with a straight lower margin. Fossils are confined to the Salt Wash Member of the Morrison Formation, with A. fragilis only found in the higher Brushy Basin Member. + +A. fragilis, A. jimmadseni, A. amplus, and A. lucasi are all known from remains discovered in the Kimmeridgian–Tithonian Upper Jurassic-age Morrison Formation of the United States, spread across Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. A. fragilis is regarded as the most common, known from the remains of at least 60 individuals. For a while in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was common to recognize A. fragilis as the short-snouted species, with the long-snouted taxon being A. atrox. However, subsequent analysis of specimens from the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry, Como Bluff, and Dry Mesa Quarry showed that the differences seen in the Morrison Formation material could be attributed to individual variation. A study of skull elements from the Cleveland-Lloyd site found wide variation between individuals, calling into question previous species-level distinctions based on such features as the shape of the lacrimal horns and the proposed differentiation of A. jimmadseni based on the shape of the jugal. A. europaeus was found in the Kimmeridgian-age Porto Novo Member of the Lourinhã Formation, but it may be the same as A. fragilis. + +Allosaurus material from Portugal was first reported in 1999 on the basis of MHNUL/AND.001, a partial skeleton including a quadrate, vertebrae, ribs, gastralia, chevrons, part of the hips, and legs. This specimen was assigned to A. fragilis, but the subsequent discovery of a partial skull and neck (ML 415) near Lourinhã, in the Kimmeridgian-age Porto Novo Member of the Lourinhã Formation, spurred the naming of the new species as A. europaeus by Octávio Mateus and colleagues. The species appeared earlier in the Jurassic than A. fragilis and differs from other species of Allosaurus in cranial details. However, more material may show it to be A. fragilis, as originally described. + +The issue of species and potential synonyms is complicated by the type specimen of Allosaurus fragilis (YPM 1930) being extremely fragmentary, consisting of a few incomplete vertebrae, limb fragments, rib fragments, and a single tooth. Because of this, several scientists have interpreted the type specimen as potentially dubious, meaning the genus Allosaurus itself or at least the species A. fragilis would be a nomen dubium ("dubious name", based on a specimen too incomplete to compare to other specimens or to classify). To address this situation, Gregory S. Paul and Kenneth Carpenter (2010) submitted a petition to the ICZN to have the name "A. fragilis" officially transferred to the more complete specimen USNM4734 (as a neotype). + +Synonyms + +Creosaurus, Epanterias, and Labrosaurus are regarded as junior synonyms of Allosaurus. Most of the species that are regarded as synonyms of A. fragilis, or that were misassigned to the genus, are obscure and based on very scrappy remains. One exception is Labrosaurus ferox, named in 1884 by Marsh for an oddly formed partial lower jaw, with a prominent gap in the tooth row at the tip of the jaw, and a rear section greatly expanded and turned down. Later researchers suggested that the bone was pathologic, showing an injury to the living animal, and that part of the unusual form of the rear of the bone was due to plaster reconstruction. It is now regarded as an example of A. fragilis. + +In his 1988 book, Predatory Dinosaurs of the World, the freelance artist & author Gregory S. Paul proposed that A. fragilis had tall pointed horns and a slender build compared to a postulated second species A. atrox, as well as not being a different sex due to rarity. Allosaurus atrox was originally named by Marsh in 1878 as the type species of its own genus, Creosaurus, and is based on YPM 1890, an assortment of bones that includes a couple of pieces of the skull, portions of nine tail vertebrae, two hip vertebrae, an ilium, and ankle and foot bones. Although the idea of two common Morrison allosaur species was followed in some semi-technical and popular works, the 2000 thesis on Allosauridae noted that Charles Gilmore mistakenly reconstructed USNM 4734 as having a shorter skull than the specimens referred by Paul to atrox, refuting supposed differences between USNM 4734 and putative A. atrox specimens like DINO 2560, AMNH 600, and AMNH 666. + +"Allosaurus agilis", seen in Zittel, 1887, and Osborn, 1912, is a typographical error for A. fragilis. "Allosaurus ferox" is a typographical error by Marsh for A. fragilis in a figure caption for the partial skull YPM 1893 and YPM 1893 has been treated as a specimen of A fragilis. Likewise, "Labrosaurus fragilis" is a typographical error by Marsh (1896) for Labrosaurus ferox. "A. whitei" is a nomen nudum coined by Pickering in 1996 for the complete Allosaurus specimens that Paul referred to A. atrox. + +"Madsenius" was coined by David Lambert in 1990, being based on remains from Dinosaur National Monument assigned to Allosaurus or Creosaurus (a synonym of Allosaurus), and was to be described by paleontologist Robert Bakker as "Madsenius trux". However, "Madsenius" is now seen as yet another synonym of Allosaurus because Bakker's action was predicated upon the false assumption of USNM 4734 being distinct from long-snouted Allosaurus due to errors in Gilmore's 1920 reconstruction of USNM 4734. + +"Wyomingraptor" was informally coined by Bakker for allosaurid remains from the Morrison Formation of the Late Jurassic. The remains unearthed are labeled as Allosaurus and are housed in the Tate Geological Museum. However, there has been no official description of the remains and "Wyomingraptor" has been dismissed as a nomen nudum, with the remains referable to Allosaurus. + +Formerly assigned species and fossils + +Several species initially classified within or referred to Allosaurus do not belong within the genus. A. medius was named by Marsh in 1888 for various specimens from the Early Cretaceous Arundel Formation of Maryland, although most of the remains were removed by Richard Swann Lull to the new ornithopod species Dryosaurus grandis, except for a tooth. It was transferred to Antrodemus by Oliver Hay in 1902, but Hay later clarified that this was an inexplicable error on his part. Gilmore considered the tooth nondiagnostic but transferred it to Dryptosaurus, as D. medius. The referral was not accepted in the most recent review of basal tetanurans, and Allosaurus medius was simply listed as a dubious species of theropod. It may be closely related to Acrocanthosaurus. + +Allosaurus valens is a new combination for Antrodemus valens used by Friedrich von Huene in 1932; Antrodemus valens itself may also pertain to Allosaurus fragilis, as Gilmore suggested in 1920. + +A. lucaris, another Marsh name, was given to a partial skeleton in 1878. He later decided it warranted its own genus, Labrosaurus, but this has not been accepted, and A. lucaris is also regarded as another specimen of A. fragilis. Allosaurus lucaris, is known mostly from vertebrae, sharing characters with Allosaurus. Paul and Carpenter stated that the type specimen of this species, YPM 1931, was from a younger age than Allosaurus, and might represent a different genus. However, they found that the specimen was undiagnostic, and thus A. lucaris was a nomen dubium. + +Allosaurus sibiricus was described in 1914 by A. N. Riabinin on the basis of a bone, later identified as a partial fourth metatarsal, from the Early Cretaceous of Buryatia, Russia. It was transferred to Chilantaisaurus in 1990, but is now considered a nomen dubium indeterminate beyond Theropoda. + +Allosaurus meriani was a new combination by George Olshevsky for Megalosaurus meriani Greppin, 1870, based on a tooth from the Late Jurassic of Switzerland. However, a recent overview of Ceratosaurus included it in Ceratosaurus sp. + +Apatodon mirus, based on a scrap of vertebra Marsh first thought to be a mammalian jaw, has been listed as a synonym of Allosaurus fragilis. However, it was considered indeterminate beyond Dinosauria by Chure, and Mickey Mortimer believes that the synonymy of Apatodon with Allosaurus was due to correspondence to Ralph Molnar by John McIntosh, whereby the latter reportedly found a paper saying that Othniel Charles Marsh admitted that the Apatodon holotype was actually an allosaurid dorsal vertebra. + +A. amplexus was named by Gregory S. Paul for giant Morrison allosaur remains, and included in his conception Saurophagus maximus (later Saurophaganax). A. amplexus was originally coined by Cope in 1878 as the type species of his new genus Epanterias, and is based on what is now AMNH 5767, parts of three vertebrae, a coracoid, and a metatarsal. Following Paul's work, this species has been accepted as a synonym of A. fragilis. A 2010 study by Paul and Kenneth Carpenter, however, indicates that Epanterias is temporally younger than the A. fragilis type specimen, so it is a separate species at minimum. + +A. maximus was a new combination by David K. Smith for Chure's Saurophaganax maximus, a taxon created by Chure in 1995 for giant allosaurid remains from the Morrison of Oklahoma. These remains had been known as Saurophagus, but that name was already in use, leading Chure to propose a substitute. Smith, in his 1998 analysis of variation, concluded that S. maximus was not different enough from Allosaurus to be a separate genus, but did warrant its own species, A. maximus. This reassignment was rejected in a review of basal tetanurans. + +There are also several species left over from the synonymizations of Creosaurus and Labrosaurus with Allosaurus. Creosaurus potens was named by Lull in 1911 for a vertebra from the Early Cretaceous of Maryland. It is now regarded as a dubious theropod. Labrosaurus stechowi, described in 1920 by Janensch based on isolated Ceratosaurus-like teeth from the Tendaguru beds of Tanzania, was listed by Donald F. Glut as a species of Allosaurus, is now considered a dubious ceratosaurian related to Ceratosaurus. L. sulcatus, named by Marsh in 1896 for a Morrison theropod tooth, which like L. stechowi is now regarded as a dubious Ceratosaurus-like ceratosaur. + +A. tendagurensis was named in 1925 by Werner Janensch for a partial shin (MB.R.3620) found in the Kimmeridgian-age Tendaguru Formation in Mtwara, Tanzania. Although tabulated as a tentatively valid species of Allosaurus in the second edition of the Dinosauria, subsequent studies place it as indeterminate beyond Tetanurae, either a carcharodontosaurian or megalosaurid. Although obscure, it was a large theropod, possibly around 10 meters long (33 ft) and 2.5 metric tons (2.8 short tons) in weight. + +Kurzanov and colleagues in 2003 designated six teeth from Siberia as Allosaurus sp. (meaning the authors found the specimens to be most like those of Allosaurus, but did not or could not assign a species to them). They were reclassified as an indeterminate theropod. Also, reports of Allosaurus in Shanxi, China go back to at least 1982. These were interpreted as Torvosaurus remains in 2012. + +An astragalus (ankle bone) thought to belong to a species of Allosaurus was found at Cape Paterson, Victoria in Early Cretaceous beds in southeastern Australia. It was thought to provide evidence that Australia was a refugium for animals that had gone extinct elsewhere. This identification was challenged by Samuel Welles, who thought it more resembled that of an ornithomimid, but the original authors defended their identification. With fifteen years of new specimens and research to look at, Daniel Chure reexamined the bone and found that it was not Allosaurus, but could represent an allosauroid. Similarly, Yoichi Azuma and Phil Currie, in their description of Fukuiraptor, noted that the bone closely resembled that of their new genus. This specimen is sometimes referred to as "Allosaurus robustus", an informal museum name. It likely belonged to something similar to Australovenator, although one study considered it to belong to an abelisaur. + +Description + +Allosaurus was a typical large theropod, having a massive skull on a short neck, a long, slightly sloping tail, and reduced forelimbs. Allosaurus fragilis, the best-known species, had an average length of and mass of , with the largest definitive Allosaurus specimen (AMNH 680) estimated at long, with an estimated weight of . In his 1976 monograph on Allosaurus, James H. Madsen mentioned a range of bone sizes which he interpreted to show a maximum length of . As with dinosaurs in general, weight estimates are debatable, and since 1980 have ranged between , , and approximately for modal adult weight (not maximum). John Foster, a specialist on the Morrison Formation, suggests that is reasonable for large adults of A. fragilis, but that is a closer estimate for individuals represented by the average-sized thigh bones he has measured. Using the subadult specimen nicknamed "Big Al", since assigned to the species Allosaurus jimmadseni, researchers using computer modelling arrived at a best estimate of for the individual, but by varying parameters they found a range from approximately to approximately . A. europaeus has been measured up to in length and in body mass. + +Several gigantic specimens have been attributed to Allosaurus, but may in fact belong to other genera. The closely related genus Saurophaganax (OMNH 1708) reached perhaps in length, and its single species has sometimes been included in the genus Allosaurus as Allosaurus maximus, though recent studies support it as a separate genus. Another potential specimen of Allosaurus, once assigned to the genus Epanterias (AMNH 5767), may have measured in length. A more recent discovery is a partial skeleton from the Peterson Quarry in Morrison rocks of New Mexico; this large allosaurid may be another individual of Saurophaganax. + +David K. Smith, examining Allosaurus fossils by quarry, found that the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry (Utah) specimens are generally smaller than those from Como Bluff (Wyoming) or Brigham Young University's Dry Mesa Quarry (Colorado), but the shapes of the bones themselves did not vary between the sites. A later study by Smith incorporating Garden Park (Colorado) and Dinosaur National Monument (Utah) specimens found no justification for multiple species based on skeletal variation; skull variation was most common and was gradational, suggesting individual variation was responsible. Further work on size-related variation again found no consistent differences, although the Dry Mesa material tended to clump together on the basis of the astragalus, an ankle bone. Kenneth Carpenter, using skull elements from the Cleveland-Lloyd site, found wide variation between individuals, calling into question previous species-level distinctions based on such features as the shape of the horns, and the proposed differentiation of A. jimmadseni based on the shape of the jugal. A study published by Motani et al., in 2020 suggests that Allosaurus was also sexually dimorphic in the width of the femur's head against its length. + +Skull + +The skull and teeth of Allosaurus were modestly proportioned for a theropod of its size. Paleontologist Gregory S. Paul gives a length of for a skull belonging to an individual he estimates at long. Each premaxilla (the bones that formed the tip of the snout) held five teeth with D-shaped cross-sections, and each maxilla (the main tooth-bearing bones in the upper jaw) had between 14 and 17 teeth; the number of teeth does not exactly correspond to the size of the bone. Each dentary (the tooth-bearing bone of the lower jaw) had between 14 and 17 teeth, with an average count of 16. The teeth became shorter, narrower, and more curved toward the back of the skull. All of the teeth had saw-like edges. They were shed easily, and were replaced continually, making them common fossils. Its skull was light, robust and equipped with dozens of sharp, serrated teeth. + +The skull had a pair of horns above and in front of the eyes. These horns were composed of extensions of the lacrimal bones, and varied in shape and size. There were also lower paired ridges running along the top edges of the nasal bones that led into the horns. The horns were probably covered in a keratin sheath and may have had a variety of functions, including acting as sunshades for the eyes, being used for display, and being used in combat against other members of the same species (although they were fragile). There was a ridge along the back of the skull roof for muscle attachment, as is also seen in tyrannosaurids. + +Inside the lacrimal bones were depressions that may have held glands, such as salt glands. Within the maxillae were sinuses that were better developed than those of more basal theropods such as Ceratosaurus and Marshosaurus; they may have been related to the sense of smell, perhaps holding something like Jacobson's organs. The roof of the braincase was thin, perhaps to improve thermoregulation for the brain. The skull and lower jaws had joints that permitted motion within these units. In the lower jaws, the bones of the front and back halves loosely articulated, permitting the jaws to bow outward and increasing the animal's gape. The braincase and frontals may also have had a joint. + +Postcranial skeleton + +Allosaurus had nine vertebrae in the neck, 14 in the back, and five in the sacrum supporting the hips. The number of tail vertebrae is unknown and varied with individual size; James Madsen estimated about 50, while Gregory S. Paul considered that to be too many and suggested 45 or less. There were hollow spaces in the neck and anterior back vertebrae. Such spaces, which are also found in modern theropods (that is, the birds), are interpreted as having held air sacs used in respiration. The rib cage was broad, giving it a barrel chest, especially in comparison to less derived theropods like Ceratosaurus. Allosaurus had gastralia (belly ribs), but these are not common findings, and they may have ossified poorly. In one published case, the gastralia show evidence of injury during life. A furcula (wishbone) was also present, but has only been recognized since 1996; in some cases furculae were confused with gastralia. The ilium, the main hip bone, was massive, and the pubic bone had a prominent foot that may have been used for both muscle attachment and as a prop for resting the body on the ground. Madsen noted that in about half of the individuals from the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry, independent of size, the pubes had not fused to each other at their foot ends. He suggested that this was a sexual characteristic, with females lacking fused bones to make egg-laying easier. This proposal has not attracted further attention, however. + +The forelimbs of Allosaurus were short in comparison to the hindlimbs (only about 35% the length of the hindlimbs in adults) and had three fingers per hand, tipped with large, strongly curved and pointed claws. The arms were powerful, and the forearm was somewhat shorter than the upper arm (1:1.2 ulna/humerus ratio). The wrist had a version of the semilunate carpal also found in more derived theropods like maniraptorans. Of the three fingers, the innermost (or thumb) was the largest, and diverged from the others. The phalangeal formula is 2-3-4-0-0, meaning that the innermost finger (phalange) has two bones, the next has three, and the third finger has four. The legs were not as long or suited for speed as those of tyrannosaurids, and the claws of the toes were less developed and more hoof-like than those of earlier theropods. Each foot had three weight-bearing toes and an inner dewclaw, which Madsen suggested could have been used for grasping in juveniles. There was also what is interpreted as the splint-like remnant of a fifth (outermost) metatarsal, perhaps used as a lever between the Achilles tendon and foot. + +Skin +Skin impressions from Allosaurus have been described. One impression, from a juvenile specimen, measures 30 cm² and is associated with the anterior dorsal ribs/pectoral region. The impression shows small scales measuring 1–3 mm in diameter. A large skin impression from the "Big Al Two" specimen, associated with the base of the tail, measures 20 cm x 20 cm, and shows large scales measuring up to 2 cm in diameter. However it has been noted that these scales are more similar to those of sauropods, and due to the presence of non-theropod remains associated with the tail of "Big Al Two" there is a possibility that this skin impression is not from Allosaurus. + +Another Allosaurus fossil feature a skin impression from the mandible, showing scales measuring 1–2 mm in diameter. The same fossil also preserves skin impressions from the ventral side of the neck, showing broad scutes. A small skin impression from an Allosaurus skull has been reported, but never described. + +Classification +Allosaurus was an allosaurid, a member of a family of large theropods within the larger group Carnosauria. The family name Allosauridae was created for this genus in 1878 by Othniel Charles Marsh, but the term was largely unused until the 1970s in favor of Megalosauridae, another family of large theropods that eventually became a wastebasket taxon. This, along with the use of Antrodemus for Allosaurus during the same period, is a point that needs to be remembered when searching for information on Allosaurus in publications that predate James Madsen's 1976 monograph. Major publications using the name "Megalosauridae" instead of "Allosauridae" include Gilmore, 1920, von Huene, 1926, Romer, 1956 and 1966, Steel, 1970, and Walker, 1964. + +Following the publication of Madsen's influential monograph, Allosauridae became the preferred family assignment, but it too was not strongly defined. Semi-technical works used Allosauridae for a variety of large theropods, usually those that were larger and better-known than megalosaurids. Typical theropods that were thought to be related to Allosaurus included Indosaurus, Piatnitzkysaurus, Piveteausaurus, Yangchuanosaurus, Acrocanthosaurus, Chilantaisaurus, Compsosuchus, Stokesosaurus, and Szechuanosaurus. Given modern knowledge of theropod diversity and the advent of cladistic study of evolutionary relationships, none of these theropods is now recognized as an allosaurid, although several, like Acrocanthosaurus and Yangchuanosaurus, are members of closely related families. + +Below is a cladogram based on the analysis of Benson et al. in 2010. + +Allosauridae is one of four families in Allosauroidea; the other three are Neovenatoridae, Carcharodontosauridae and Sinraptoridae. Allosauridae has at times been proposed as ancestral to the Tyrannosauridae (which would make it paraphyletic), one example being Gregory S. Paul's Predatory Dinosaurs of the World, but this has been rejected, with tyrannosaurids identified as members of a separate branch of theropods, the Coelurosauria. Allosauridae is the smallest of the carnosaur families, with only Saurophaganax and a currently unnamed French allosauroid accepted as possible valid genera besides Allosaurus in the most recent review. Another genus, Epanterias, is a potential valid member, but it and Saurophaganax may turn out to be large examples of Allosaurus. Recent reviews have kept the genus Saurophaganax and included Epanterias with Allosaurus. + +Paleobiology + +Life history + +The wealth of Allosaurus fossils, from nearly all ages of individuals, allows scientists to study how the animal grew and how long its lifespan may have been. Remains may reach as far back in the lifespan as eggs—crushed eggs from Colorado have been suggested as those of Allosaurus. Based on histological analysis of limb bones, bone deposition appears to stop at around 22 to 28 years, which is comparable to that of other large theropods like Tyrannosaurus. From the same analysis, its maximum growth appears to have been at age 15, with an estimated growth rate of about 150 kilograms (330 lb) per year. + +Medullary bone tissue (endosteally derived, ephemeral, mineralization located inside the medulla of the long bones in gravid female birds) has been reported in at least one Allosaurus specimen, a shin bone from the Cleveland-Lloyd Quarry. Today, this bone tissue is only formed in female birds that are laying eggs, as it is used to supply calcium to shells. Its presence in the Allosaurus individual has been used to establish sex and show it had reached reproductive age. However, other studies have called into question some cases of medullary bone in dinosaurs, including this Allosaurus individual. Data from extant birds suggested that the medullary bone in this Allosaurus individual may have been the result of a bone pathology instead. However, with the confirmation of medullary tissue indicating sex in a specimen of Tyrannosaurus, it may be possible to ascertain whether or not the Allosaurus in question was indeed female. + +The discovery of a juvenile specimen with a nearly complete hindlimb shows that the legs were relatively longer in juveniles, and the lower segments of the leg (shin and foot) were relatively longer than the thigh. These differences suggest that younger Allosaurus were faster and had different hunting strategies than adults, perhaps chasing small prey as juveniles, then becoming ambush hunters of large prey upon adulthood. The thigh bone became thicker and wider during growth, and the cross-section less circular, as muscle attachments shifted, muscles became shorter, and the growth of the leg slowed. These changes imply that juvenile legs has less predictable stresses compared with adults, which would have moved with more regular forward progression. Conversely, the skull bones appear to have generally grown isometrically, increasing in size without changing in proportion. + +Feeding + +Many paleontologists accept Allosaurus as an active predator of large animals. There is dramatic evidence for allosaur attacks on Stegosaurus, including an Allosaurus tail vertebra with a partially healed puncture wound that fits a Stegosaurus tail spike, and a Stegosaurus neck plate with a U-shaped wound that correlates well with an Allosaurus snout. Sauropods seem to be likely candidates as both live prey and as objects of scavenging, based on the presence of scrapings on sauropod bones fitting allosaur teeth well and the presence of shed allosaur teeth with sauropod bones. However, as Gregory Paul noted in 1988, Allosaurus was probably not a predator of fully grown sauropods, unless it hunted in packs, as it had a modestly sized skull and relatively small teeth, and was greatly outweighed by contemporaneous sauropods. Another possibility is that it preferred to hunt juveniles instead of fully grown adults. Research in the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century may have found other solutions to this question. Robert T. Bakker, comparing Allosaurus to Cenozoic saber-toothed carnivorous mammals, found similar adaptations, such as a reduction of jaw muscles and increase in neck muscles, and the ability to open the jaws extremely wide. Although Allosaurus did not have saber teeth, Bakker suggested another mode of attack that would have used such neck and jaw adaptations: the short teeth in effect became small serrations on a saw-like cutting edge running the length of the upper jaw, which would have been driven into prey. This type of jaw would permit slashing attacks against much larger prey, with the goal of weakening the victim. + +Similar conclusions were drawn by another study using finite element analysis on an Allosaurus skull. According to their biomechanical analysis, the skull was very strong but had a relatively small bite force. By using jaw muscles only, it could produce a bite force of 805 to 8,724 N, but the skull could withstand nearly 55,500 N of vertical force against the tooth row. The authors suggested that Allosaurus used its skull like a machete against prey, attacking open-mouthed, slashing flesh with its teeth, and tearing it away without splintering bones, unlike Tyrannosaurus, which is thought to have been capable of damaging bones. They also suggested that the architecture of the skull could have permitted the use of different strategies against different prey; the skull was light enough to allow attacks on smaller and more agile ornithopods, but strong enough for high-impact ambush attacks against larger prey like stegosaurids and sauropods. Their interpretations were challenged by other researchers, who found no modern analogues to a hatchet attack and considered it more likely that the skull was strong to compensate for its open construction when absorbing the stresses from struggling prey. The original authors noted that Allosaurus itself has no modern equivalent, that the tooth row is well-suited to such an attack, and that articulations in the skull cited by their detractors as problematic actually helped protect the palate and lessen stress. Another possibility for handling large prey is that theropods like Allosaurus were "flesh grazers" which could take bites of flesh out of living sauropods that were sufficient to sustain the predator so it would not have needed to expend the effort to kill the prey outright. This strategy would also potentially have allowed the prey to recover and be fed upon in a similar way later. An additional suggestion notes that ornithopods were the most common available dinosaurian prey, and that allosaurs may have subdued them by using an attack similar to that of modern big cats: grasping the prey with their forelimbs, and then making multiple bites on the throat to crush the trachea. This is compatible with other evidence that the forelimbs were strong and capable of restraining prey. Studies done by Stephen Lautenschager et al. from the University of Bristol also indicate Allosaurus could open its jaws quite wide and sustain considerable muscle force. When compared with Tyrannosaurus and the therizinosaurid Erlikosaurus in the same study, it was found that Allosaurus had a wider gape than either; the animal was capable of opening its jaws to a 92-degree angle at maximum. The findings also indicate that large carnivorous dinosaurs, like modern carnivores, had wider jaw gapes than herbivores. + +A biomechanical study published in 2013 by Eric Snively and colleagues found that Allosaurus had an unusually low attachment point on the skull for the longissimus capitis superficialis neck muscle compared to other theropods such as Tyrannosaurus. This would have allowed the animal to make rapid and forceful vertical movements with the skull. The authors found that vertical strikes as proposed by Bakker and Rayfield are consistent with the animal's capabilities. They also found that the animal probably processed carcasses by vertical movements in a similar manner to falcons, such as kestrels: the animal could have gripped prey with the skull and feet, then pulled back and up to remove flesh. This differs from the prey-handling envisioned for tyrannosaurids, which probably tore flesh with lateral shakes of the skull, similar to crocodilians. In addition, Allosaurus was able to "move its head and neck around relatively rapidly and with considerable control", at the cost of power. + +Other aspects of feeding include the eyes, arms, and legs. The shape of the skull of Allosaurus limited potential binocular vision to 20° of width, slightly less than that of modern crocodilians. As with crocodilians, this may have been enough to judge prey distance and time attacks. The arms, compared with those of other theropods, were suited for both grasping prey at a distance or clutching it close, and the articulation of the claws suggests that they could have been used to hook things. Finally, the top speed of Allosaurus has been estimated at 30 to 55 kilometers per hour (19 to 34 miles per hour). + +A paper on the cranio-dental morphology of Allosaurus and how it worked has deemed the hatchet jaw attack unlikely, reinterpreting the unusually wide gape as an adaptation to allow Allosaurus to deliver a muscle-driven bite to large prey, with the weaker jaw muscles being a trade-off to allow for the widened gape. + +Social behavior + +It has been speculated since the 1970s that Allosaurus preyed on sauropods and other large dinosaurs by hunting in groups. +Such a depiction is common in semitechnical and popular dinosaur literature. Robert T. Bakker has extended social behavior to parental care, and has interpreted shed allosaur teeth and chewed bones of large prey animals as evidence that adult allosaurs brought food to lairs for their young to eat until they were grown, and prevented other carnivores from scavenging on the food. However, there is actually little evidence of gregarious behavior in theropods, and social interactions with members of the same species would have included antagonistic encounters, as shown by injuries to gastralia and bite wounds to skulls (the pathologic lower jaw named Labrosaurus ferox is one such possible example). Such head-biting may have been a way to establish dominance in a pack or to settle territorial disputes. + +Although Allosaurus may have hunted in packs, it has been argued that Allosaurus and other theropods had largely aggressive interactions instead of cooperative interactions with other members of their own species. The study in question noted that cooperative hunting of prey much larger than an individual predator, as is commonly inferred for theropod dinosaurs, is rare among vertebrates in general, and modern diapsid carnivores (including lizards, crocodiles, and birds) rarely cooperate to hunt in such a way. Instead, they are typically territorial and will kill and cannibalize intruders of the same species, and will also do the same to smaller individuals that attempt to eat before they do when aggregated at feeding sites. According to this interpretation, the accumulation of remains of multiple Allosaurus individuals at the same site; e.g., in the Cleveland–Lloyd Quarry, are not due to pack hunting, but to the fact that Allosaurus individuals were drawn together to feed on other disabled or dead allosaurs, and were sometimes killed in the process. This could explain the high proportion of juvenile and subadult allosaurs present, as juveniles and subadults are disproportionally killed at modern group feeding sites of animals like crocodiles and Komodo dragons. The same interpretation applies to Bakker's lair sites. There is some evidence for cannibalism in Allosaurus, including Allosaurus shed teeth found among rib fragments, possible tooth marks on a shoulder blade, and cannibalized allosaur skeletons among the bones at Bakker's lair sites. + +Brain and senses + +The brain of Allosaurus, as interpreted from spiral CT scanning of an endocast, was more consistent with crocodilian brains than those of the other living archosaurs, birds. The structure of the vestibular apparatus indicates that the skull was held nearly horizontal, as opposed to strongly tipped up or down. The structure of the inner ear was like that of a crocodilian, and so Allosaurus probably could have heard lower frequencies best, and would have had trouble with subtle sounds. The olfactory bulbs were large and seem to have been well suited for detecting odors, although the area for evaluating smells was relatively small. + +Paleopathology + +In 2001, Bruce Rothschild and others published a study examining evidence for stress fractures and tendon avulsions in theropod dinosaurs and the implications for their behavior. Since stress fractures are caused by repeated trauma rather than singular events they are more likely to be caused by the behavior of the animal than other kinds of injury. Stress fractures and tendon avulsions occurring in the forelimb have special behavioral significance since while injuries to the feet could be caused by running or migration, resistant prey items are the most probable source of injuries to the hand. Allosaurus was one of only two theropods examined in the study to exhibit a tendon avulsion, and in both cases the avulsion occurred on the forelimb. When the researchers looked for stress fractures, they found that Allosaurus had a significantly greater number of stress fractures than Albertosaurus, Ornithomimus or Archaeornithomimus. Of the 47 hand bones the researchers studied, three were found to contain stress fractures. Of the feet, 281 bones were studied and 17 were found to have stress fractures. The stress fractures in the foot bones "were distributed to the proximal phalanges" and occurred across all three weight-bearing toes in "statistically indistinguishable" numbers. Since the lower end of the third metatarsal would have contacted the ground first while an allosaur was running, it would have borne the most stress. If the allosaurs' stress fractures were caused by damage accumulating while walking or running this bone should have experience more stress fractures than the others. The lack of such a bias in the examined Allosaurus fossils indicates an origin for the stress fractures from a source other than running. The authors conclude that these fractures occurred during interaction with prey, like an allosaur trying to hold struggling prey with its feet. The abundance of stress fractures and avulsion injuries in Allosaurus provide evidence for "very active" predation-based rather than scavenging diets. + +The left scapula and fibula of an Allosaurus fragilis specimen catalogued as USNM 4734 are both pathological, both probably due to healed fractures. The specimen USNM 8367 preserved several pathological gastralia which preserve evidence of healed fractures near their middle. Some of the fractures were poorly healed and "formed pseudoarthroses". A specimen with a fractured rib was recovered from the Cleveland-Lloyd Quarry. Another specimen had fractured ribs and fused vertebrae near the end of the tail. An apparent subadult male Allosaurus fragilis was reported to have extensive pathologies, with a total of fourteen separate injuries. The specimen MOR 693 had pathologies on five ribs, the sixth neck vertebra, the third, eighth, and thirteenth back vertebrae, the second tail vertebra and its chevron, the gastralia right scapula, manual phalanx I left ilium metatarsals III and V, the first phalanx of the third toe and the third phalanx of the second. The ilium had "a large hole...caused by a blow from above". The near end of the first phalanx of the third toe was afflicted by an involucrum. + +Other pathologies reported in Allosaurus include: + Willow breaks in two ribs + Healed fractures in the humerus and radius + Distortion of joint surfaces in the foot, possibly due to osteoarthritis or developmental issues + Osteopetrosis along the endosteal surface of a tibia. + Distortions of the joint surfaces of the tail vertebrae, possibly due to osetoarthritis or developmental issues + "[E]xtensive 'neoplastic' ankylosis of caudals", possibly due to physical trauma, as well as the fusion of chevrons to centra + Coossification of vertebral centra near the end of the tail + Amputation of a chevron and foot bone, both possibly a result of bites + "[E]xtensive exostoses" in the first phalanx of the third toe + Lesions similar to those caused by osteomyelitis in two scapulae + Bone spurs in a premaxilla, ungual, and two metacarpals + Exostosis in a pedal phalanx possibly attributable to an infectious disease + A metacarpal with a round depressed fracture + +Paleoecology + +Allosaurus was the most common large theropod in the vast tract of Western American fossil-bearing rock known as the Morrison Formation, accounting for 70 to 75% of theropod specimens, and as such was at the top trophic level of the Morrison food chain. The Morrison Formation is interpreted as a semiarid environment with distinct wet and dry seasons, and flat floodplains. Vegetation varied from river-lining forests of conifers, tree ferns, and ferns (gallery forests), to fern savannas with occasional trees such as the Araucaria-like conifer Brachyphyllum. + +The Morrison Formation has been a rich fossil hunting ground. The flora of the period has been revealed by fossils of green algae, fungi, mosses, horsetails, ferns, cycads, ginkgoes, and several families of conifers. Animal fossils discovered include bivalves, snails, ray-finned fishes, frogs, salamanders, turtles, sphenodonts, lizards, terrestrial and aquatic crocodylomorphs, several species of pterosaur, numerous dinosaur species, and early mammals such as docodonts, multituberculates, symmetrodonts, and triconodonts. Dinosaurs known from the Morrison include the theropods Ceratosaurus, Ornitholestes, Tanycolagreus, and Torvosaurus, the sauropods Haplocanthosaurus, Camarasaurus, Cathetosaurus, Brachiosaurus, Suuwassea, Apatosaurus, Brontosaurus, Barosaurus, Diplodocus, Supersaurus, Amphicoelias, and Maraapunisaurus, and the ornithischians Camptosaurus, Dryosaurus, and Stegosaurus. Allosaurus is commonly found at the same sites as Apatosaurus, Camarasaurus, Diplodocus, and Stegosaurus. The Late Jurassic formations of Portugal where Allosaurus is present are interpreted as having been similar to the Morrison, but with a stronger marine influence. Many of the dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation are the same genera as those seen in Portuguese rocks (mainly Allosaurus, Ceratosaurus, Torvosaurus, and Stegosaurus), or have a close counterpart (Brachiosaurus and Lusotitan, Camptosaurus and Draconyx). + +Allosaurus coexisted with fellow large theropods Ceratosaurus and Torvosaurus in both the United States and Portugal. The three appear to have had different ecological niches, based on anatomy and the location of fossils. Ceratosaurus and Torvosaurus may have preferred to be active around waterways, and had lower, thinner bodies that would have given them an advantage in forest and underbrush terrains, whereas Allosaurus was more compact, with longer legs, faster but less maneuverable, and seems to have preferred dry floodplains. Ceratosaurus, better known than Torvosaurus, differed noticeably from Allosaurus in functional anatomy by having a taller, narrower skull with large, broad teeth. Allosaurus was itself a potential food item to other carnivores, as illustrated by an Allosaurus pubic foot marked by the teeth of another theropod, probably Ceratosaurus or Torvosaurus. The location of the bone in the body (along the bottom margin of the torso and partially shielded by the legs), and the fact that it was among the most massive in the skeleton, indicates that the Allosaurus was being scavenged. +A bone assemblage in the Upper Jurassic Mygatt-Moore Quarry preserves an unusually high occurrence of theropod bite marks, most of which can be attributed to Allosaurus and Ceratosaurus, while others could have been made by Saurophaganax or Torvosaurus given the size of the striations. While the position of the bite marks on the herbivorous dinosaurs is consistent with predation or early access to remains, bite marks found on Allosaurus material suggest scavenging, either from the other theropods or from another Allosaurus. The unusually high concentration of theropod bite marks compared to other assemblages could be explained either by a more complete utilization of resources during a dry season by theropods, or by a collecting bias in other localities. + +References + +External links + + Specimens, discussion, and references pertaining to Allosaurus fragilis at The Theropod Database + Utah State Fossil, Allosaurus , from Pioneer: Utah's Online Library + Restoration of MOR 693 ("Big Al") and muscle and organ restoration at Scott Hartman's Skeletal Drawing website + List of the many possible Allosaurus species... + + +Late Jurassic genus first appearances +Late Jurassic genus extinctions +Late Jurassic dinosaurs of Europe +Jurassic Portugal +Fossils of Portugal +Lourinhã Formation +Late Jurassic dinosaurs of North America +Dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation +Paleontology in Colorado +Paleontology in Wyoming +Paleontology in Utah +Fossil taxa described in 1877 +Taxa named by Othniel Charles Marsh +Apex predators +The AK-47, officially known as the Avtomat Kalashnikova (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is a gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov, it is the originating firearm of the Kalashnikov (or "AK") family of rifles. After more than seven decades since its creation, the AK-47 model and its variants remain one of the most popular and widely used firearms in the world. + +Design work on the AK-47 began in 1945. It was presented for official military trials in 1947, and, in 1948, the fixed-stock version was introduced into active service for selected units of the Soviet Army. In early 1949, the AK was officially accepted by the Soviet Armed Forces and used by the majority of the member states of the Warsaw Pact. + +The model and its variants owe their global popularity to their reliability under harsh conditions, low production cost (compared to contemporary weapons), availability in virtually every geographic region, and ease of use. The AK has been manufactured in many countries and has seen service with armed forces as well as irregular forces and insurgencies throughout the world. , "of the estimated 500 million firearms worldwide, approximately 100 million belong to the Kalashnikov family, three-quarters of which are AK-47s". The model is the basis for the development of many other types of individual, crew-served, and specialized firearms. + +History + +Origins +During World War II, the Sturmgewehr 44 rifle used by German forces made a deep impression on their Soviet counterparts. The select-fire rifle was chambered for a new intermediate cartridge, the 7.92×33mm Kurz, and combined the firepower of a submachine gun with the range and accuracy of a rifle. On 15 July 1943, an earlier model of the Sturmgewehr was demonstrated before the People's Commissariat of Arms of the USSR. The Soviets were impressed with the weapon and immediately set about developing an intermediate caliber fully automatic rifle of their own, to replace the PPSh-41 submachine guns and outdated Mosin–Nagant bolt-action rifles that armed most of the Soviet Army. + +The Soviets soon developed the 7.62×39mm M43 cartridge, used in the semi-automatic SKS carbine and the RPD light machine gun. Shortly after World War II, the Soviets developed the AK-47 rifle, which quickly replaced the SKS in Soviet service. Introduced in 1959, the AKM is a lighter stamped steel version and the most ubiquitous variant of the entire AK series of firearms. In the 1960s, the Soviets introduced the RPK light machine gun, an AK-type weapon with a stronger receiver, a longer heavy barrel, and a bipod, that eventually replaced the RPD light machine gun. + +Concept +Mikhail Kalashnikov began his career as a weapon designer in 1941 while recuperating from a shoulder wound that he received during the Battle of Bryansk. Kalashnikov himself stated..."I was in the hospital, and a soldier in the bed beside me asked: 'Why do our soldiers have only one rifle for two or three of our men when the Germans have automatics?' So I designed one. I was a soldier, and I created a machine gun for a soldier. It was called an Avtomat Kalashnikova, the automatic weapon of Kalashnikov—AK—and it carried the year of its first manufacture, 1947." + +The AK-47 is best described as a hybrid of previous rifle technology innovations. "Kalashnikov decided to design an automatic rifle combining the best features of the American M1 Garand and the German StG 44." Kalashnikov's team had access to these weapons and did not need to "reinvent the wheel". Kalashnikov himself observed: "A lot of Russian Army soldiers ask me how one can become a constructor, and how new weaponry is designed. These are very difficult questions. Each designer seems to have his own paths, his own successes and failures. But one thing is clear: before attempting to create something new, it is vital to have a good appreciation of everything that already exists in this field. I myself have had many experiences confirming this to be so." + +Some claimed that Kalashnikov copied designs like Bulkin's TKB-415 or Simonov's AVS-31. + +Early designs +Kalashnikov started work on a submachine gun design in 1942 and light machine gun design in 1943. Early in 1944, Kalashnikov was given some 7.62×39mm M43 cartridges and informed that other designers were working on weapons for this new Soviet small-arms cartridge. It was suggested that a new weapon might well lead to greater things. He then undertook work on the new rifle. In 1944, he entered a design competition with this new 7.62×39mm, semi-automatic, gas-operated, long-stroke piston carbine, strongly influenced by the American M1 Garand. The new rifle was in the same class as the SKS-45 carbine, with a fixed magazine and gas tube above the barrel. However, the new Kalashnikov design lost out to a Simonov design. + +In 1946, a new design competition was initiated to develop a new rifle. Kalashnikov submitted a gas-operated rifle with a short-stroke gas piston above the barrel, a breechblock mechanism similar to his 1944 carbine, and a curved 30-round magazine. Kalashnikov's rifles, the AK-1 (with a milled receiver) and AK-2 (with a stamped receiver) proved to be reliable weapons and were accepted to a second round of competition along with other designs. + +These prototypes (also known as the AK-46) had a rotary bolt, a two-part receiver with separate trigger unit housing, dual controls (separate safety and fire selector switches), and a non-reciprocating charging handle located on the left side of the weapon. This design had many similarities to the StG 44. In late 1946, as the rifles were being tested, one of Kalashnikov's assistants, Aleksandr Zaitsev, suggested a major redesign to improve reliability. At first, Kalashnikov was reluctant, given that their rifle had already fared better than its competitors. Eventually, however, Zaitsev managed to persuade Kalashnikov. + +In November 1947, the new prototypes (AK-47s) were completed. The rifle used a long-stroke gas piston above the barrel. The upper and lower receivers were combined into a single receiver. The selector and safety were combined into a single control lever/dust cover on the right side of the rifle. And, the bolt handle was simply attached to the bolt carrier. This simplified the design and production of the rifle. The first army trial series began in early 1948. The new rifle proved to be reliable under a wide range of conditions and possessed convenient handling characteristics. In 1949, it was adopted by the Soviet Army as the "7.62 mm Kalashnikov rifle (AK)". + +Further development + +There were many difficulties during the initial phase of production. The first production models had stamped sheet metal receivers with a milled trunnion and butt stock insert and a stamped body. Difficulties were encountered in welding the guide and ejector rails, causing high rejection rates. Instead of halting production, a heavy machined receiver was substituted for the sheet metal receiver. Even though production of these milled rifles started in 1951, they were officially referred to as AK-49, based on the date their development started, but they are widely known in the collectors' and current commercial market as "Type 2 AK-47". This was a more costly process, but the use of machined receivers accelerated production as tooling and labor for the earlier Mosin–Nagant rifle's machined receiver were easily adapted. Partly because of these problems, the Soviets were not able to distribute large numbers of the new rifles to soldiers until 1956. During this time, production of the interim SKS rifle continued. + +Once the manufacturing difficulties of non-milled receivers had been overcome, a redesigned version designated the AKM (M for "modernized" or "upgraded"; in Russian: []) was introduced in 1959. This new model used a stamped sheet metal receiver and featured a slanted muzzle brake on the end of the barrel to compensate for muzzle rise under recoil. In addition, a hammer retarder was added to prevent the weapon from firing out of battery (without the bolt being fully closed), during rapid or fully automatic fire. This is also sometimes referred to as a "cyclic rate reducer", or simply "rate reducer", as it also has the effect of reducing the number of rounds fired per minute during fully automatic fire. The rifle was also roughly one-third lighter than the previous model. + +Most licensed and unlicensed productions of the Kalashnikov assault rifle abroad were of the AKM variant, partially due to the much easier production of the stamped receiver. This model is the most commonly encountered, having been produced in much greater quantities. All rifles based on the Kalashnikov design are often colloquially referred to as "AK-47s" in the West and some parts of Asia, although this is only correct when applied to rifles based on the original three receiver types. In most former Eastern Bloc countries, the weapon is known simply as the "Kalashnikov" or "AK". The differences between the milled and stamped receivers includes the use of rivets rather than welds on the stamped receiver, as well as the placement of a small dimple above the magazine well for stabilization of the magazine. + +Replacement +In 1974, the Soviets began replacing their AK-47 and AKM rifles with a newer design, the AK-74, which uses 5.45×39mm ammunition. This new rifle and cartridge had only started to be manufactured in Eastern European nations when the Soviet Union collapsed, drastically slowing the production of the AK-74 and other weapons of the former Soviet bloc. + +Design +The AK-47 was designed to be a simple, reliable fully automatic rifle that could be manufactured quickly and cheaply, using mass production methods that were state of the art in the Soviet Union during the late 1940s. The AK-47 uses a long-stroke gas system generally associated with high reliability in adverse conditions. The large gas piston, generous clearance between moving parts, and tapered cartridge case design allow the gun to endure large amounts of foreign matter and fouling without failing to cycle. + +Cartridge + +The AK fires the 7.62×39mm cartridge with a muzzle velocity of . +The cartridge weight is , and the projectile weight is . The original Soviet M43 bullets are 123-grain boat-tail bullets with a copper-plated steel jacket, a large steel core, and some lead between the core and the jacket. The AK has excellent penetration when shooting through heavy foliage, walls, or a common vehicle's metal body and into an opponent attempting to use these things as cover. The 7.62×39mm M43 projectile does not generally fragment when striking an opponent and has an unusual tendency to remain intact even after making contact with bone. The 7.62×39mm round produces significant wounding in cases where the bullet tumbles (yaws) in tissue, but produces relatively minor wounds in cases where the bullet exits before beginning to yaw. In the absence of yaw, the M43 round can pencil through tissue with relatively little injury. + +Most, if not all, of the 7.62×39mm ammunition found today is of the upgraded M67 variety. This variety deleted the steel insert, shifting the center of gravity rearward, and allowing the projectile to destabilize (or yaw) at about , nearly earlier in tissue than the M43 round. This change also reduces penetration in ballistic gelatin to ~ for the newer M67 round versus ~ for the older M43 round. However, the wounding potential of M67 is mostly limited to the small permanent wound channel the bullet itself makes, especially when the bullet yaws. + +Operating mechanism + +To fire, the operator inserts a loaded magazine, pulls back and releases the charging handle, and then pulls the trigger. In semi-automatic, the firearm fires only once, requiring the trigger to be released and depressed again for the next shot. In fully automatic, the rifle continues to fire automatically cycling fresh rounds into the chamber until the magazine is exhausted or pressure is released from the trigger. After ignition of the cartridge primer and propellant, rapidly expanding propellant gases are diverted into the gas cylinder above the barrel through a vent near the muzzle. The build-up of gases inside the gas cylinder drives the long-stroke piston and bolt carrier rearward and a cam guide machined into the underside of the bolt carrier, along with an ejector spur on the bolt carrier rail guide, rotates the bolt approximately 35° and unlocks it from the barrel extension via a camming pin on the bolt. The moving assembly has about of free travel, which creates a delay between the initial recoil impulse of the piston and the bolt unlocking sequence, allowing gas pressures to drop to a safe level before the seal between the chamber and the bolt is broken. The AK-47 does not have a gas valve; excess gases are ventilated through a series of radial ports in the gas cylinder. Unlike many other rifle platforms, such as the AR-15 platform, the Kalashnikov platform bolt locking lugs are chamfered allowing for primary extraction upon bolt rotation which aids reliable feeding and extraction, albeit not with that much force due to the short distance the bolt carrier travels before acting on the locking lug. The Kalashnikov platform then uses an extractor claw to eject the spent cartridge case. + +Barrel + +The rifle received a barrel with a chrome-lined bore and four right-hand grooves at a 240 mm (1 in 9.45 in) or 31.5 calibers rifling twist rate. The gas block contains a gas channel that is installed at a slanted angle with the bore axis. The muzzle is threaded for the installation of various muzzle devices such as a muzzle brake or a blank-firing adaptor. + +Gas block +The gas block of the AK-47 features a cleaning rod capture or sling loop. Gas relief ports that alleviate gas pressure are placed horizontally in a row on the gas cylinder. + +Fire selector + +The fire selector is a large lever located on the right side of the rifle; it acts as a dust cover and prevents the charging handle from being pulled fully to the rear when it is on safe. It is operated by the shooter's right fore-fingers and has three settings: safe (up), full-auto (center), and semi-auto (down). The reason for this is that a soldier under stress will push the selector lever down with considerable force, bypassing the full-auto stage and setting the rifle to semi-auto. To set the AK-47 to full-auto requires the deliberate action of centering the selector lever. To operate the fire selector lever, right-handed shooters have to briefly remove their right hand from the pistol grip, which is ergonomically sub-optimal. Some AK-type rifles also have a more traditional selector lever on the left side of the receiver, just above the pistol grip. This lever is operated by the shooter's right thumb and has three settings: safe (forward), full-auto (center), and semi-auto (backward). + +Sights + +The AK-47 uses a notched rear tangent iron sight calibrated in increments from . The front sight is a post adjustable for elevation in the field. Horizontal adjustment requires a special drift tool and is done by the armory before the issue or if the need arises by an armorer after the issue. The sight line elements are approximately over the bore axis. The "point-blank range" battle zero setting "П" standing for постоянная (constant) on the 7.62×39mm AK-47 rear tangent sight element corresponds to a zero. These settings mirror the Mosin–Nagant and SKS rifles, which the AK-47 replaced. For the AK-47 combined with service cartridges, the 300 m battle zero setting limits the apparent "bullet rise" within approximately relative to the line of sight. Soldiers are instructed to fire at any target within this range by simply placing the sights on the center of mass (the belt buckle, according to Russian and former Soviet doctrine) of the enemy target. Any errors in range estimation are tactically irrelevant, as a well-aimed shot will hit the torso of the enemy soldier. Some AK-type rifles have a front sight with a flip-up luminous dot that is calibrated at , for improved night fighting. + +Furniture +The AK-47 was originally equipped with a buttstock, handguard, and an upper heat guard made from solid wood. With the introduction of the Type 3 receiver the buttstock, lower handguard, and upper heat guard were manufactured from birch plywood laminates. Such engineered woods are stronger and resist warping better than the conventional one-piece patterns, do not require lengthy maturing, and are cheaper. The wooden furniture was finished with the Russian amber shellac finishing process. AKS and AKMS models featured a downward-folding metal butt-stock similar to that of the German MP40 submachine-gun, for use in the restricted space in the BMP infantry combat vehicle, as well as by paratroops. All 100 series AKs use plastic furniture with side-folding stocks. + +Magazines + +The standard magazine capacity is 30 rounds. There are also 10, 20, and 40-round box magazines, as well as 75-round drum magazines. + +The AK-47's standard 30-round magazines have a pronounced curve that allows them to smoothly feed ammunition into the chamber. Their heavy steel construction combined with "feed-lips" (the surfaces at the top of the magazine that control the angle at which the cartridge enters the chamber) machined from a single steel billet makes them highly resistant to damage. These magazines are so strong that "Soldiers have been known to use their mags as hammers, and even bottle openers". This contributes to the AK-47 magazine being more reliable but makes it heavier than U.S. and NATO magazines. + +The early slab-sided steel AK-47 30-round detachable box magazines had sheet-metal bodies and weighed empty. The later steel AKM 30-round magazines had lighter sheet-metal bodies with prominent reinforcing ribs weighing empty. To further reduce weight, a lightweight magazine with an aluminum body with a prominent reinforcing waffle rib pattern weighing empty was developed for the AKM that proved to be too fragile, and the small issued amount of these magazines were quickly withdrawn from service. As a replacement steel-reinforced 30-round plastic 7.62×39mm box magazines were introduced. These rust-colored magazines weigh empty and are often mistakenly identified as being made of Bakelite (a phenolic resin), but were fabricated from two parts of AG-S4 molding compound (a glass-reinforced phenol-formaldehyde binder impregnated composite), assembled using an epoxy resin adhesive. Noted for their durability, these magazines did however compromise the rifle's camouflage and lacked the small horizontal reinforcing ribs running down both sides of the magazine body near the front that were added on all later plastic magazine generations. A second-generation steel-reinforced dark-brown (color shades vary from maroon to plum to near black) 30-round 7.62×39mm magazine was introduced in the early 1980s, fabricated from ABS plastic. The third generation steel-reinforced 30-round 7.62×39mm magazine is similar to the second generation, but is darker colored and has a matte non-reflective surface finish. The current issue is a steel-reinforced matte true black non- reflective surface finished 7.62×39mm 30-round magazine, fabricated from ABS plastic weighing empty. + +Early steel AK-47 magazines are long; the later ribbed steel AKM and newer plastic 7.62×39mm magazines are about shorter. + +The transition from steel to mainly plastic magazines yields a significant weight reduction and allows a soldier to carry more ammunition for the same weight. + +All 7.62×39mm AK magazines are backward compatible with older AK variants. + +10.12 kg (22.3 lb) is the maximum amount of ammo that the average soldier can comfortably carry. It also allows for the best comparison of the three most common 7.62×39mm AK magazines. + +Most Yugoslavian and some East German AK magazines were made with cartridge followers that hold the bolt open when empty; however, most AK magazine followers allow the bolt to close when the magazine is empty. + +Accessories + +Accessories supplied with the rifle include a long 6H3 bayonet featuring a long spear point blade. The AK-47 bayonet is installed by slipping the diameter muzzle ring around the muzzle and latching the handle down on the bayonet lug under the front sight base. + +All current model AKM rifles can mount under-barrel 40 mm grenade launchers such as the GP-25 and its variants, which can fire up to 20 rounds per minute and have an effective range of up to 400 meters. The main grenade is the VOG-25 (VOG-25M) fragmentation grenade which has a 6 m (9 m) (20 ft (30 ft)) lethality radius. The VOG-25P/VOG-25PM ("jumping") variant explodes above the ground. + +The AK-47 can also mount a (rarely used) cup-type grenade launcher, the Kalashnikov grenade launcher that fires standard RGD-5 Soviet hand grenades. The maximum effective range is approximately 150 meters. This launcher can also be used to launch tear gas and riot control grenades. + +All current AKs (100 series) and some older models have side rails for mounting a variety of scopes and sighting devices, such as the PSO-1 Optical Sniper Sight. The side rails allow for the removal and remounting of optical accessories without interfering with the zeroing of the optic. However, the 100 series side folding stocks cannot be folded with the optics mounted. + +Characteristics + +Service life +The AK-47 and its variants have been and are made in dozens of countries, with "quality ranging from finely engineered weapons to pieces of questionable workmanship." As a result, the AK-47 has a service/system life of approximately 6,000, to 10,000, to 15,000 rounds. The AK-47 was designed to be a cheap, simple, easy-to-manufacture rifle, perfectly matching Soviet military doctrine that treats equipment and weapons as disposable items. As units are often deployed without adequate logistical support and dependent on "battlefield cannibalization" for resupply, it is more cost-effective to replace rather than repair weapons. + +The AK-47 has small parts and springs that need to be replaced every few thousand rounds. However, "Every time it is disassembled beyond the field stripping stage, it will take some time for some parts to regain their fit, and some parts may tend to shake loose and fall out when firing the weapon. Some parts of the AK-47 line are riveted together. Repairing these can be quite a hassle since the end of the rivet has to be ground off and a new one set after the part is replaced." + +Variants + + Early variants (7.62×39mm) + Issue of 1948/49: Type 1: The very earliest models, stamped sheet metal receivers, are now very rare. + Issue of 1951: Type 2: Has a milled receiver. The barrel and chamber are chrome-plated to resist corrosion. + Issue of 1954/55: Type 3: Lightened, milled receiver variant. Rifle weight is . + AKS (AKS-47): Type 1, 2, or 3 receivers: Featured a downward-folding metal stock similar to that of the MP 40 produced in Nazi Germany, for use in the restricted space in the BMP infantry combat vehicle, as well as by paratroops. + AKN (AKSN): Night scope rail. + + Modernized (7.62×39mm) + AKM: A simplified, lighter version of the AK-47; the Type 4 receiver is made from stamped and riveted sheet metal. A slanted muzzle device was added to counterclimb in automatic fire. The rifle weight is due to the lighter receiver. This is the most ubiquitous variant of the AK-47. + AKMS: Under-folding stock version of the AKM intended for airborne troops. + AKMN (AKMSN): Night scope rail. + AKML (AKMSL): Slotted flash suppressor and night scope rail. + RPK: Hand-held machine gun version with longer barrel and bipod. The variants—RPKS, RPKN (RPKSN), RPKL (RPKSL)—mirror AKM variants. The "S" variants have a side-folding wooden stock. + +Foreign Variants (7.62×39mm) + Type 56: Chinese assault rifle based on the . Still in production primarily for export markets. + +For the further developed AK models, see Kalashnikov rifles. + +Production + +Manufacturing countries of AK-47 and its variants in alphabetical order. + +A private company Kalashnikov Concern (formerly Izhmash) from Russia has repeatedly claimed that the majority of foreign manufacturers are producing AK-type rifles without proper licensing. + +Accuracy potential + +US military method +The AK-47's accuracy is generally sufficient to hit an adult male torso out to about , though even experts firing from prone or bench rest positions at this range were observed to have difficulty placing ten consecutive rounds on target. Later designs did not significantly improve the rifle's accuracy. An AK can fire a 10-shot group of at , and at The newer stamped-steel receiver AKM models, while more rugged and less prone to metal fatigue, are less accurate than the forged/milled receivers of their predecessors: the milled AK-47s are capable of shooting groups at , whereas the stamped AKMs are capable of shooting groups at . + +The best shooters can hit a man-sized target at within five shots (firing from a prone or bench rest position) or ten shots (standing). + +The single-shot hit-probability on the NATO E-type Silhouette Target (a human upper body half and head silhouette) of the AK-47 and the later developed AK-74, M16A1, and M16A2 rifles were measured by the US military under ideal proving ground conditions in the 1980s as follows: + +Under worst field exercise circumstances, the hit probabilities for all the tested rifles were drastically reduced, from 34% at 50m down to 3–4% at 600m with no significant differences between weapons at each range. + +Russian method +The following table represents the Russian circular error probable method for determining accuracy, which involves drawing two circles on the target, one for the maximum vertical dispersion of hits and one for the maximum horizontal dispersion of hits. They then disregard the hits on the outer part of the target and only count half of the hits (50% or R50) on the inner part of the circles. This significantly reduces the overall diameter of the groups. They then use both the vertical and horizontal measurements of the reduced groups to measure accuracy. When the R50 results are doubled, the hit probability increases to 93.7%. + + R50 means the closest 50 percent of the shot group will all be within a circle of the mentioned diameter. + +The vertical and horizontal mean (R50) deviations with service ammunition at for AK platforms are. + +Users + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + : Type 56 variant. + + + + + + : Used by pro-Russian separatists + + + + + + + + : EKAM: The counter-terrorist unit of the Hellenic Police. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + : Used by pro-Russian separatists + + + + + + + + + : Type 58 variant. + + – Locally made as well as being in service with the Army + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Used by Thahan Phran + +Former users + : MPi-K (AK-47) and MPi-KM (AKM). + + : Replaced by the AKM in 1959 and the AK-74 in 1974. + : Replaced by the AKM and AK-74. +: Captured from PAVN and Vietcong + +Illicit trade + +Throughout the world, the AK and its variants are commonly used by governments, revolutionaries, terrorists, criminals, and civilians alike. In some countries, such as Somalia, Rwanda, Mozambique, Congo, and Tanzania, the prices for Black Market AKs are between $30 and $125 per weapon and prices have fallen in the last few decades due to mass counterfeiting. In Kenya, "an AK-47 fetches five head of cattle (about 10,000 Kenya shillings or 100 U.S. dollars) when offered for barter, but costs almost half that price when cash is paid". There are places around the world where AK-type weapons can be purchased on the black market "for as little as $6, or traded for a chicken or a sack of grain". + +The AK-47 has also spawned a cottage industry of sorts and has been copied and manufactured (one gun at a time) in small shops around the world (see Khyber Pass Copy). The estimated numbers of AK-type weapons vary greatly. The Small Arms Survey suggests that "between 70 and 100 million of these weapons have been produced since 1947". The World Bank estimates that out of the 500 million total firearms available worldwide, 100 million are of the Kalashnikov family, and 75 million are AK-47s. Because AK-type weapons have been made in many countries, often illicitly, it is impossible to know how many exist. + +Conflicts + +The AK-47 has been used in the following conflicts: + +1950s + Hungarian Revolution (1956) + Vietnam War (1955–1975) + Laotian Civil War (1959–1975) + +1960s + Congo Crisis (1960–1965) + Portuguese Colonial War (1961–1974) + Rhodesian Bush War (1964–1979) + The Troubles (late 1960s–1998) + Communist insurgency in Thailand (1965–1983) + South African Border War (1966–1990) + India-China clashes (1967) + Cambodian Civil War (1968–1975) + Communist insurgency in Malaysia (1968–1989) + +1970s + Yom Kippur War (1973) + Ethiopian Civil War (1974–1991) + Western Sahara War (1975–1991) + Cambodian–Vietnamese War (1978–1989) + Chadian–Libyan War (1978–1987) + Soviet–Afghan War (1979–1989) + +1980s + Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988) + Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir (1988–present) + Sri Lankan Civil War (1983–2009) + United States invasion of Grenada (1983) + Lord's Resistance Army insurgency (1987–present) + +1990s + Tuareg rebellion (1990–1995) + Gulf War (1990–1991) + Somali Civil War (1991–present) + Yugoslav Wars (1991–2001) + Burundian Civil War (1993–2005) + Republic of the Congo Civil War (1997–1999) + Kargil War (1999) + +2000s + + War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) + Iraq War (2003–2011) + South Thailand insurgency (2004–present) +Mexican drug war (2006–present) + +2010s + Libyan Civil War (2011) + Syrian civil war (2011–present) + Iraqi insurgency (2011–2013) + Central African Republic Civil War (2012–present) + Russo-Ukrainian War (2014–present) + +2020s + Second Nagorno-Karabakh War (2020) + Tigray War (2020–2022) + Russian invasion of Ukraine (2022–present) + +Cultural influence and impact + +During the Cold War, the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China, as well as United States and other NATO nations supplied arms and technical knowledge to numerous countries and rebel forces around the world. During this time the Western countries used relatively expensive automatic rifles, such as the FN FAL, the HK G3, the M14, and the M16. In contrast, the Russians and Chinese used the AK-47; its low production cost and ease of manufacture allow them to make AKs in vast numbers. + +In the pro-communist states, the AK-47 became a symbol of the Third World revolution. They were utilized in the Cambodian Civil War and the Cambodian–Vietnamese War. During the 1980s, the Soviet Union became the principal arms dealer to countries embargoed by Western nations, including Middle Eastern nations such as Libya and Syria, which welcomed Soviet Union backing against Israel. After the fall of the Soviet Union, AK-47s were sold both openly and on the black market to any group with cash, including drug cartels and dictatorial states, and more recently they have been seen in the hands of Islamic groups such as Al-Qaeda, ISIL, and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Iraq, and FARC, Ejército de Liberación Nacional guerrillas in Colombia. + +In Russia, the Kalashnikov is a tremendous source of national pride. "The family of the inventor of the world's most famous rifle, Mikhail Kalashnikov, has authorized German engineering company MMI to use the well-known Kalashnikov name on a variety of not-so-deadly goods." In recent years, Kalashnikov Vodka has been marketed with souvenir bottles in the shape of the AK-47 Kalashnikov. There are also Kalashnikov watches, umbrellas, and knives. + +The Kalashnikov Museum (also called the AK-47 museum) opened on 4 November 2004 in Izhevsk, Udmurt Republic. This city is in the Ural Region of Russia. The museum chronicles the biography of General Kalashnikov and documents the invention of the AK-47. The museum complex of Kalashnikov's small arms, a series of halls, and multimedia exhibitions are devoted to the evolution of the AK-47 rifle and attracts 10,000 monthly visitors. Nadezhda Vechtomova, the museum director, stated in an interview that the purpose of the museum is to honor the ingenuity of the inventor and the hard work of the employees and to "separate the weapon as a weapon of murder from the people who are producing it and to tell its history in our country". + +On 19 September 2017 a monument of Kalashnikov was unveiled in central Moscow. A protester, later detained by police, attempted to unfurl a banner reading "a creator of weapons is a creator of death". + +The proliferation of this weapon is reflected by more than just numbers. The AK-47 is included on the flag of Mozambique and its emblem, an acknowledgment that the country gained its independence in large part through the effective use of their AK-47s. It is also found in the coats of arms of East Timor, Zimbabwe and the revolution era Burkina Faso, as well as in the flags of Hezbollah, Syrian Resistance, FARC-EP, the New People's Army, TKP/TIKKO and the International Revolutionary People's Guerrilla Forces. + +U.S. and Western Europe countries frequently associate the AK-47 with their enemies; both Cold War era and present-day. For example, Western works of fiction (movies, television, novels, video games) often portray criminals, gang members, insurgents, and terrorists using AK-47s as the weapon of choice. Conversely, throughout the developing world, the AK-47 can be positively attributed with revolutionaries against foreign occupation, imperialism, or colonialism. + +In Ireland the AK-47 is associated with The Troubles due to its extensive use by republican paramilitaries during this period. In 2013, a decommissioned AK-47 was included in the A History of Ireland in 100 Objects collection. + +The AK-47 made an appearance in U.S. popular culture as a recurring focus in the Nicolas Cage film Lord of War (2005). Numerous monologues in the movie focus on the weapon, and its effects on global conflict and the gun running market. + +In Iraq and Afghanistan, private military company contractors from the U.K. and other countries used the AK-47 and its variants along with Western firearms such as the AR-15. + +In 2006, the Colombian musician and peace activist César López devised the escopetarra, an AK converted into a guitar. One sold for US$17,000 in a fundraiser held to benefit the victims of anti-personnel mines, while another was exhibited at the United Nations' Conference on Disarmament. + +In Mexico, the AK-47 is known as "Cuerno de Chivo" (literally "Goat's Horn") because of its curved magazine design. It is one of the weapons of choice of Mexican drug cartels. It is sometimes mentioned in Mexican folk music lyrics. + +Gallery + +See also + Comparison of the AK-47 and M16 + AK-12 + PK machine gun + Draco + +Notes + +References + +Bibliography + +Further reading + +Ружье. Оружие и амуниция, 1999/3, pp. 18–21 has an article about the AK-47 prototypes. + An article rejecting some of the alternative theories as to the authorship of the AK-47. + An article comparing the internals of the StG 44 and AK-47. + Transcription of the commission report on the testing round from the summer of 1947; no winner was selected at this point, but the commission held Kalashnikov's, Dementiev's and Bulkin's designs as most closely satisfying TTT number 3131. + Report/letter on the final round of testing, 27 December 1947, declaring Kalashnikov's design the winner. + Articles on the 1948 military trials. + +External links + +US Army Operator's Manual for the AK-47 Assault Rifle + + & + +Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1947 +7.62×39mm assault rifles +Infantry weapons of the Cold War +Rifles of the Cold War +Kalashnikov derivatives +Assault rifles of the Soviet Union +Kalashnikov Concern products +The Atanasoff–Berry computer (ABC) was the first automatic electronic digital computer. Limited by the technology of the day, and execution, the device has remained somewhat obscure. The ABC's priority is debated among historians of computer technology, because it was neither programmable, nor Turing-complete. Conventionally, the ABC would be considered the first electronic ALU (arithmetic logic unit) which is integrated into every modern processor's design. + +Its unique contribution was to make computing faster by being the first to use vacuum tubes to do the arithmetic calculations. Prior to this, slower electro-mechanical methods were used by Konrad Zuse's Z1 computer, and the simultaneously developed Harvard Mark I. The first electronic, programmable, digital machine, the Colossus computer from 1943 to 1945, used similar tube-based technology as ABC. + +Overview +Conceived in 1937, the machine was built by Iowa State College mathematics and physics professor John Vincent Atanasoff with the help of graduate student Clifford Berry. It was designed only to solve systems of linear equations and was successfully tested in 1942. However, its intermediate result storage mechanism, a paper card writer/reader, was not perfected, and when John Vincent Atanasoff left Iowa State College for World War II assignments, work on the machine was discontinued. The ABC pioneered important elements of modern computing, including binary arithmetic and electronic switching elements, but its special-purpose nature and lack of a changeable, stored program distinguish it from modern computers. The computer was designated an IEEE Milestone in 1990. + +Atanasoff and Berry's computer work was not widely known until it was rediscovered in the 1960s, amid patent disputes over the first instance of an electronic computer. At that time ENIAC, that had been created by John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert, was considered to be the first computer in the modern sense, but in 1973 a U.S. District Court invalidated the ENIAC patent and concluded that the ENIAC inventors had derived the subject matter of the electronic digital computer from Atanasoff. When, in the mid-1970s, the secrecy surrounding the British World War II development of the Colossus computers that pre-dated ENIAC, was lifted and Colossus was described at a conference in Los Alamos, New Mexico, in June 1976, John Mauchly and Konrad Zuse were reported to have been astonished. + +Design and construction + +According to Atanasoff's account, several key principles of the Atanasoff–Berry computer were conceived in a sudden insight after a long nighttime drive to Rock Island, Illinois, during the winter of 1937–38. The ABC innovations included electronic computation, binary arithmetic, parallel processing, regenerative capacitor memory, and a separation of memory and computing functions. The mechanical and logic design was worked out by Atanasoff over the next year. A grant application to build a proof of concept prototype was submitted in March 1939 to the Agronomy department, which was also interested in speeding up computation for economic and research analysis. $5,000 of further funding () to complete the machine came from the nonprofit Research Corporation of New York City. + +The ABC was built by Atanasoff and Berry in the basement of the physics building at Iowa State College during 1939–1942. The initial funds were released in September, and the 11-tube prototype was first demonstrated in October 1939. A December demonstration prompted a grant for construction of the full-scale machine. The ABC was built and tested over the next two years. A January 15, 1941, story in the Des Moines Register announced the ABC as "an electrical computing machine" with more than 300 vacuum tubes that would "compute complicated algebraic equations" (but gave no precise technical description of the computer). The system weighed more than . It contained approximately of wire, 280 dual-triode vacuum tubes, 31 thyratrons, and was about the size of a desk. + +It was not programmable, which distinguishes it from more general machines of the same era, such as Konrad Zuse's 1941 Z3 (or earlier iterations) and the Colossus computers of 1943–1945. Nor did it implement the stored-program architecture, first implemented in the Manchester Baby of 1948, required for fully general-purpose practical computing machines. + +The machine was, however, the first to implement: +Using vacuum tubes, rather than wheels, ratchets, mechanical switches, or telephone relays, allowing for greater speed than previous computers +Using capacitors for memory, rather than mechanical components, allowing for greater speed and density + +The memory of the Atanasoff–Berry computer was a system called regenerative capacitor memory, which consisted of a pair of drums, each containing 1600 capacitors that rotated on a common shaft once per second. The capacitors on each drum were organized into 32 "bands" of 50 (30 active bands and two spares in case a capacitor failed), giving the machine a speed of 30 additions/subtractions per second. Data was represented as 50-bit binary fixed-point numbers. The electronics of the memory and arithmetic units could store and operate on 60 such numbers at a time (3000 bits). + +The alternating current power-line frequency of 60 Hz was the primary clock rate for the lowest-level operations. + +The arithmetic logic functions were fully electronic, implemented with vacuum tubes. The family of logic gates ranged from inverters to two- and three-input gates. The input and output levels and operating voltages were compatible between the different gates. Each gate consisted of one inverting vacuum-tube amplifier, preceded by a resistor divider input network that defined the logical function. The control logic functions, which only needed to operate once per drum rotation and therefore did not require electronic speed, were electromechanical, implemented with relays. + +The ALU operated on only one bit of each number at a time; it kept the carry/borrow bit in a capacitor for use in the next AC cycle. + +Although the Atanasoff–Berry computer was an important step up from earlier calculating machines, it was not able to run entirely automatically through an entire problem. An operator was needed to operate the control switches to set up its functions, much like the electro-mechanical calculators and unit record equipment of the time. Selection of the operation to be performed, reading, writing, converting to or from binary to decimal, or reducing a set of equations was made by front-panel switches and, in some cases, jumpers. + +There were two forms of input and output: primary user input and output and an intermediate results output and input. The intermediate results storage allowed operation on problems too large to be handled entirely within the electronic memory. (The largest problem that could be solved without the use of the intermediate output and input was two simultaneous equations, a trivial problem.) + +Intermediate results were binary, written onto paper sheets by electrostatically modifying the resistance at 1500 locations to represent 30 of the 50-bit numbers (one equation). Each sheet could be written or read in one second. The reliability of the system was limited to about 1 error in 100,000 calculations by these units, primarily attributed to lack of control of the sheets' material characteristics. In retrospect, a solution could have been to add a parity bit to each number as written. This problem was not solved by the time Atanasoff left the university for war-related work. + +Primary user input was decimal, via standard IBM 80-column punched cards, and output was decimal, via a front-panel display. + +Function +The ABC was designed for a specific purpose the solution of systems of simultaneous linear equations. It could handle systems with up to 29 equations, a difficult problem for the time. Problems of this scale were becoming common in physics, the department in which John Atanasoff worked. The machine could be fed two linear equations with up to 29 variables and a constant term and eliminate one of the variables. This process would be repeated manually for each of the equations, which would result in a system of equations with one fewer variable. Then the whole process would be repeated to eliminate another variable. + +George W. Snedecor, the head of Iowa State's Statistics Department, was very likely the first user of an electronic digital computer to solve real-world mathematics problems. He submitted many of these problems to Atanasoff. + +Patent dispute +On June 26, 1947, J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly were the first to file for patent on a digital computing device (ENIAC), much to the surprise of Atanasoff. The ABC had been examined by John Mauchly in June 1941, and Isaac Auerbach, a former student of Mauchly's, alleged that it influenced his later work on ENIAC, although Mauchly denied this. The ENIAC patent did not issue until 1964, and by 1967 Honeywell sued Sperry Rand in an attempt to break the ENIAC patents, arguing that the ABC constituted prior art. The United States District Court for the District of Minnesota released its judgement on October 19, 1973, finding in Honeywell v. Sperry Rand that the ENIAC patent was a derivative of John Atanasoff's invention. + +Campbell-Kelly and Aspray conclude: + +The case was legally resolved on October 19, 1973, when U.S. District Judge Earl R. Larson held the ENIAC patent invalid, ruling that the ENIAC derived many basic ideas from the Atanasoff–Berry computer. Judge Larson explicitly stated: + +Herman Goldstine, one of the original developers of ENIAC wrote: + +Replica +The original ABC was eventually dismantled in 1948, when the university converted the basement to classrooms, and all of its pieces except for one memory drum were discarded. + +In 1997, a team of researchers led by Dr. Delwyn Bluhm and John Gustafson from Ames Laboratory (located on the Iowa State University campus) finished building a working replica of the Atanasoff–Berry computer at a cost of $350,000 (equivalent to $ in ). The replica ABC was on display in the first floor lobby of the Durham Center for Computation and Communication at Iowa State University and was subsequently exhibited at the Computer History Museum. + +See also + History of computing hardware + List of vacuum-tube computers + Mikhail Kravchuk + +References + +Bibliography + +External links +The Birth of the ABC +Reconstruction of the ABC, 1994-1997 +John Gustafson, Reconstruction of the Atanasoff-Berry Computer +The ENIAC patent trial +Honeywell v. Sperry Rand Records, 1846-1973, Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota. +The Atanasoff-Berry Computer In Operation (YouTube) + +1940s computers +One-of-a-kind computers +Vacuum tube computers +Computer-related introductions in 1942 +Early computers +Iowa State University +Serial computers +The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S latitude), and has an average height of about . The Andes extend from north to south through seven South American countries: Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. + +Along their length, the Andes are split into several ranges, separated by intermediate depressions. The Andes are the location of several high plateaus—some of which host major cities such as Quito, Bogotá, Cali, Arequipa, Medellín, Bucaramanga, Sucre, Mérida, El Alto and La Paz. The Altiplano Plateau is the world's second-highest after the Tibetan Plateau. These ranges are in turn grouped into three major divisions based on climate: the Tropical Andes, the Dry Andes, and the Wet Andes. + +The Andes Mountains are the highest mountain range outside Asia. The highest mountain outside Asia, Argentina's Aconcagua, rises to an elevation of about above sea level. The peak of Chimborazo in the Ecuadorian Andes is farther from the Earth's center than any other location on the Earth's surface, due to the equatorial bulge resulting from the Earth's rotation. The world's highest volcanoes are in the Andes, including Ojos del Salado on the Chile-Argentina border, which rises to . + +The Andes are also part of the American Cordillera, a chain of mountain ranges (cordillera) that consists of an almost continuous sequence of mountain ranges that form the western "backbone" of the Americas and Antarctica. + +Etymology +The etymology of the word Andes has been debated. The majority consensus is that it derives from the Quechua word 'east' as in Antisuyu (Quechua for 'east region'), one of the four regions of the Inca Empire. + +The term cordillera comes from the Spanish word cordel 'rope' and is used as a descriptive name for several contiguous sections of the Andes, as well as the entire Andean range, and the combined mountain chain along the western part of the North and South American continents. + +Geography + +The Andes can be divided into three sections: + The Southern Andes in Argentina and Chile, south of Llullaillaco. + The Central Andes in Peru and Bolivia. + The Northern Andes in Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador. In the northern part of the Andes, the separate Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta range is often treated as part of the Northern Andes. + +The Leeward Antilles islands Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao, which lie in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Venezuela, were formerly thought to represent the submerged peaks of the extreme northern edge of the Andes range, but ongoing geological studies indicate that such a simplification does not do justice to the complex tectonic boundary between the South American and Caribbean plates. + +Geology + +The Andes are a Mesozoic–Tertiary orogenic belt of mountains along the Pacific Ring of Fire, a zone of volcanic activity that encompasses the Pacific rim of the Americas as well as the Asia-Pacific region. The Andes are the result of tectonic plate processes, caused by the subduction of oceanic crust beneath the South American Plate as the Nazca Plate and South American Plate converge. These processes were accelerated by the effects of climate. As the uplift of the Andes created a rain shadow on the western fringes of Chile, ocean currents and prevailing winds carried moisture away from the Chilean coast. This caused some areas of the subduction zone to be sediment starved, causing excess friction and an increased rate of compressed coastal uplift. The main cause of the rise of the Andes is the compression of the western rim of the South American Plate due to the subduction of the Nazca Plate and the Antarctic Plate. To the east, the Andes range is bounded by several sedimentary basins, such as Orinoco, Amazon Basin, Madre de Dios and Gran Chaco, that separate the Andes from the ancient cratons in eastern South America. In the south, the Andes share a long boundary with the former Patagonia Terrane. To the west, the Andes end at the Pacific Ocean, although the Peru-Chile trench can be considered their ultimate western limit. From a geographical approach, the Andes are considered to have their western boundaries marked by the appearance of coastal lowlands and less rugged topography. The Andes Mountains also contain large quantities of iron ore located in many mountains within the range. + +The Andean orogen has a series of bends or oroclines. The Bolivian Orocline is a seaward concave bending in the coast of South America and the Andes Mountains at about 18° S. At this point, the orientation of the Andes turns from Northwest in Peru to South in Chile and Argentina. The Andean segment north and south of the Orocline have been rotated 15° to 20° counter-clockwise and clockwise respectively. The Bolivian Orocline area overlaps with the area of the maximum width of the Altiplano Plateau and according to Isacks (1988) the Orocline is related to crustal shortening. The specific point at 18° S where the coastline bends is known as the "Arica Elbow". Further south lies the Maipo Orocline a more subtle Orocline between 30° S and 38°S with a seaward-concave break in trend at 33° S. Near the southern tip of the Andes lies the Patagonian Orocline. + +Orogeny + +The western rim of the South American Plate has been the place of several pre-Andean orogenies since at least the late Proterozoic and early Paleozoic, when several terranes and microcontinents collided and amalgamated with the ancient cratons of eastern South America, by then the South American part of Gondwana. + +The formation of the modern Andes began with the events of the Triassic when Pangaea began the break up that resulted in developing several rifts. The development continued through the Jurassic Period. It was during the Cretaceous Period that the Andes began to take their present form, by the uplifting, faulting and folding of sedimentary and metamorphic rocks of the ancient cratons to the east. The rise of the Andes has not been constant, as different regions have had different degrees of tectonic stress, uplift, and erosion. + +Tectonic forces above the subduction zone along the entire west coast of South America where the Nazca Plate and a part of the Antarctic Plate are sliding beneath the South American Plate continue to produce an ongoing orogenic event resulting in minor to major earthquakes and volcanic eruptions to this day. In the extreme south, a major transform fault separates Tierra del Fuego from the small Scotia Plate. Across the wide Drake Passage lie the mountains of the Antarctic Peninsula south of the Scotia Plate which appear to be a continuation of the Andes chain. + +The far east regions of the Andes experience a series of changes resulting from the Andean orogeny. Parts of the Sunsás Orogen in Amazonian craton disappeared from the surface of the earth being overridden by the Andes. +The Sierras de Córdoba, where the effects of the ancient Pampean orogeny can be observed, owe their modern uplift and relief to the Andean orogeny in the Tertiary. Further south in southern Patagonia the onset of the Andean orogeny caused the Magallanes Basin to evolve from being an extensional back-arc basin in the Mesozoic to being a compressional foreland basin in the Cenozoic. + +Volcanism + +The Andes range has many active volcanoes distributed in four volcanic zones separated by areas of inactivity. The Andean volcanism is a result of the subduction of the Nazca Plate and Antarctic Plate underneath the South American Plate. The belt is subdivided into four main volcanic zones that are separated from each other by volcanic gaps. The volcanoes of the belt are diverse in terms of activity style, products and morphology. While some differences can be explained by which volcanic zone a volcano belongs to, there are significant differences inside volcanic zones and even between neighbouring volcanoes. Despite being a typical location for calc-alkalic and subduction volcanism, the Andean Volcanic Belt has a large range of volcano-tectonic settings, such as rift systems and extensional zones, transpressional faults, subduction of mid-ocean ridges and seamount chains apart from a large range of crustal thicknesses and magma ascent paths, and different amount of crustal assimilations. + +Ore deposits and evaporates +The Andes Mountains host large ore and salt deposits and some of their eastern fold and thrust belts act as traps for commercially exploitable amounts of hydrocarbons. In the forelands of the Atacama Desert some of the largest porphyry copper mineralizations occur making Chile and Peru the first- and second-largest exporters of copper in the world. Porphyry copper in the western slopes of the Andes has been generated by hydrothermal fluids (mostly water) during the cooling of plutons or volcanic systems. The porphyry mineralization further benefited from the dry climate that let them largely out of the disturbing actions of meteoric water. The dry climate in the central western Andes has also led to the creation of extensive saltpeter deposits which were extensively mined until the invention of synthetic nitrates. Yet another result of the dry climate are the salars of Atacama and Uyuni, the former being the largest source of lithium today and the latter the world's largest reserve of the element. Early Mesozoic and Neogene plutonism in Bolivia's Cordillera Central created the Bolivian tin belt as well as the famous, now mostly depleted, deposits of Cerro Rico de Potosí. + +History + +The Andes Mountains, initially inhabited by hunter-gatherers, experienced the development of agriculture and the rise of politically centralised civilizations, which culminated in the establishment of the century-long Inca Empire. This all changed in the 16th century, when the Spanish conquistadors colonized the mountains in advance of the mining economy. + +In the tide of anti-imperialist nationalism, the Andes became the scene of a series of independence wars in the 19th century when rebel forces swept through the region to overthrow Spanish colonial rule. Since then, many former Spanish territories have become five independent Andean states. + +Climate and hydrology + +The climate in the Andes varies greatly depending on latitude, altitude, and proximity to the sea. Temperature, atmospheric pressure and humidity decrease in higher elevations. The southern section is rainy and cool, the central section is dry. The northern Andes are typically rainy and warm, with an average temperature of in Colombia. The climate is known to change drastically in rather short distances. Rainforests exist just kilometres away from the snow-covered peak of Cotopaxi. The mountains have a large effect on the temperatures of nearby areas. The snow line depends on the location. It is at between in the tropical Ecuadorian, Colombian, Venezuelan, and northern Peruvian Andes, rising to in the drier mountains of southern Peru south to northern Chile south to about 30°S before descending to on Aconcagua at 32°S, at 40°S, at 50°S, and only in Tierra del Fuego at 55°S; from 50°S, several of the larger glaciers descend to sea level. + +The Andes of Chile and Argentina can be divided into two climatic and glaciological zones: the Dry Andes and the Wet Andes. Since the Dry Andes extend from the latitudes of the Atacama Desert to the area of the Maule River, precipitation is more sporadic and there are strong temperature oscillations. The line of equilibrium may shift drastically over short periods of time, leaving a whole glacier in the ablation area or in the accumulation area. + +In the high Andes of Central Chile and Mendoza Province, rock glaciers are larger and more common than glaciers; this is due to the high exposure to solar radiation. In these regions glaciers occur typically at higher altitudes than rock glaciers. The lowest active rock glacier occur at 900 m a.s.l. in Aconcagua. + +Though precipitation increases with height, there are semiarid conditions in the nearly highest mountains of the Andes. This dry steppe climate is considered to be typical of the subtropical position at 32–34° S. The valley bottoms have no woods, just dwarf scrub. The largest glaciers, for example, the Plomo Glacier and the Horcones Glaciers, do not even reach in length and have only insignificant ice thickness. At glacial times, however, c. 20,000 years ago, the glaciers were over ten times longer. On the east side of this section of the Mendozina Andes, they flowed down to and on the west side to about above sea level. The massifs of Cerro Aconcagua (), Cerro Tupungato () and Nevado Juncal () are tens of kilometres away from each other and were connected by a joint ice stream network. The Andes' dendritic glacier arms, i.e. components of valley glaciers, were up to long, over thick and overspanned a vertical distance of . The climatic glacier snowline (ELA) was lowered from to at glacial times. + +Flora + +The Andean region cuts across several natural and floristic regions, due to its extension, from Caribbean Venezuela to cold, windy and wet Cape Horn passing through the hyperarid Atacama Desert. Rainforests and tropical dry forests used to encircle much of the northern Andes but are now greatly diminished, especially in the Chocó and inter-Andean valleys of Colombia. Opposite of the humid Andean slopes are the relatively dry Andean slopes in most of western Peru, Chile and Argentina. Along with several Interandean Valles, they are typically dominated by deciduous woodland, shrub and xeric vegetation, reaching the extreme in the slopes near the virtually lifeless Atacama Desert. + +About 30,000 species of vascular plants live in the Andes, with roughly half being endemic to the region, surpassing the diversity of any other hotspot. The small tree Cinchona pubescens, a source of quinine which is used to treat malaria, is found widely in the Andes as far south as Bolivia. Other important crops that originated from the Andes are tobacco and potatoes. The high-altitude Polylepis forests and woodlands are found in the Andean areas of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Chile. These trees, by locals referred to as Queñua, Yagual and other names, can be found at altitudes of above sea level. It remains unclear if the patchy distribution of these forests and woodlands is natural, or the result of clearing which began during the Incan period. Regardless, in modern times the clearance has accelerated, and the trees are now considered to be highly endangered, with some believing that as little as 10% of the original woodland remains. + +Fauna + +The Andes are rich in fauna: With almost 1,000 species, of which roughly 2/3 are endemic to the region, the Andes are the most important region in the world for amphibians. +The diversity of animals in the Andes is high, with almost 600 species of mammals (13% endemic), more than 1,700 species of birds (about 1/3 endemic), more than 600 species of reptile (about 45% endemic), and almost 400 species of fish (about 1/3 endemic). + +The vicuña and guanaco can be found living in the Altiplano, while the closely related domesticated llama and alpaca are widely kept by locals as pack animals and for their meat and wool. The crepuscular (active during dawn and dusk) chinchillas, two threatened members of the rodent order, inhabit the Andes' alpine regions. The Andean condor, the largest bird of its kind in the Western Hemisphere, occurs throughout much of the Andes but generally in very low densities. Other animals found in the relatively open habitats of the high Andes include the huemul, cougar, foxes in the genus Pseudalopex, and, for birds, certain species of tinamous (notably members of the genus Nothoprocta), Andean goose, giant coot, flamingos (mainly associated with hypersaline lakes), lesser rhea, Andean flicker, diademed sandpiper-plover, miners, sierra-finches and diuca-finches. + +Lake Titicaca hosts several endemics, among them the highly endangered Titicaca flightless grebe and Titicaca water frog. A few species of hummingbirds, notably some hillstars, can be seen at altitudes above , but far higher diversities can be found at lower altitudes, especially in the humid Andean forests ("cloud forests") growing on slopes in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and far northwestern Argentina. These forest-types, which includes the Yungas and parts of the Chocó, are very rich in flora and fauna, although few large mammals exist, exceptions being the threatened mountain tapir, spectacled bear and yellow-tailed woolly monkey. + +Birds of humid Andean forests include mountain toucans, quetzals and the Andean cock-of-the-rock, while mixed species flocks dominated by tanagers and furnariids commonly are seen – in contrast to several vocal but typically cryptic species of wrens, tapaculos and antpittas. + +A number of species such as the royal cinclodes and white-browed tit-spinetail are associated with Polylepis, and consequently also threatened. + +Human activity + +The Andes Mountains form a north-south axis of cultural influences. A long series of cultural development culminated in the expansion of the Inca civilization and Inca Empire in the central Andes during the 15th century. The Incas formed this civilization through imperialistic militarism as well as careful and meticulous governmental management. The government sponsored the construction of aqueducts and roads in addition to preexisting installations. Some of these constructions are still in existence today. + +Devastated by European diseases and by civil war, the Incas were defeated in 1532 by an alliance composed of tens of thousands of allies from nations they had subjugated (e.g. Huancas, Chachapoyas, Cañaris) and a small army of 180 Spaniards led by Francisco Pizarro. One of the few Inca sites the Spanish never found in their conquest was Machu Picchu, which lay hidden on a peak on the eastern edge of the Andes where they descend to the Amazon. The main surviving languages of the Andean peoples are those of the Quechua and Aymara language families. Woodbine Parish and Joseph Barclay Pentland surveyed a large part of the Bolivian Andes from 1826 to 1827. + +Cities + +In modern times, the largest cities in the Andes are Bogotá, with a metropolitan population of over ten million, and Santiago, Medellín, Cali, and Quito. Lima is a coastal city adjacent to the Andes and is the largest city of all Andean countries. It is the seat of the Andean Community of Nations. + +La Paz, Bolivia's seat of government, is the highest capital city in the world, at an elevation of approximately . Parts of the La Paz conurbation, including the city of El Alto, extend up to . + +Other cities in or near the Andes include Bariloche, Catamarca, Jujuy, Mendoza, Salta, San Juan, Tucumán, and Ushuaia in Argentina; Calama and Rancagua in Chile; Cochabamba, Oruro, Potosí, Sucre, Sacaba, Tarija, and Yacuiba in Bolivia; Arequipa, Cajamarca, Cusco, Huancayo, Huánuco, Huaraz, Juliaca, and Puno in Peru; Ambato, Cuenca, Ibarra, Latacunga, Loja, Riobamba and Tulcán in Ecuador; Armenia, Cúcuta, Bucaramanga, Duitama, Ibagué, Ipiales, Manizales, Palmira, Pasto, Pereira, Popayán, Sogamoso, Tunja, and Villavicencio in Colombia; and Barquisimeto, La Grita, Mérida, San Cristóbal, Tovar, Trujillo, and Valera in Venezuela. The cities of Caracas, Valencia, and Maracay are in the Venezuelan Coastal Range, which is a debatable extension of the Andes at the northern extremity of South America. + +Transportation + +Cities and large towns are connected with asphalt-paved roads, while smaller towns are often connected by dirt roads, which may require a four-wheel-drive vehicle. + +The rough terrain has historically put the costs of building highways and railroads that cross the Andes out of reach of most neighboring countries, even with modern civil engineering practices. For example, the main crossover of the Andes between Argentina and Chile is still accomplished through the Paso Internacional Los Libertadores. Only recently the ends of some highways that came rather close to one another from the east and the west have been connected. Much of the transportation of passengers is done via aircraft. + +However, there is one railroad that connects Chile with Peru via the Andes, and there are others that make the same connection via southern Bolivia. See railroad maps of that region. + +There are multiple highways in Bolivia that cross the Andes. Some of these were built during a period of war between Bolivia and Paraguay, in order to transport Bolivian troops and their supplies to the war front in the lowlands of southeastern Bolivia and western Paraguay. + +For decades, Chile claimed ownership of land on the eastern side of the Andes. However, these claims were given up in about 1870 during the War of the Pacific between Chile and the allied Bolivia and Peru, in a diplomatic deal to keep Peru out of the war. The Chilean Army and Chilean Navy defeated the combined forces of Bolivia and Peru, and Chile took over Bolivia's only province on the Pacific Coast, some land from Peru that was returned to Peru decades later. Bolivia has been a completely landlocked country ever since. It mostly uses seaports in eastern Argentina and Uruguay for international trade because its diplomatic relations with Chile have been suspended since 1978. + +Because of the tortuous terrain in places, villages and towns in the mountains—to which travel via motorized vehicles is of little use—are still located in the high Andes of Chile, Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador. Locally, the relatives of the camel, the llama, and the alpaca continue to carry out important uses as pack animals, but this use has generally diminished in modern times. Donkeys, mules, and horses are also useful. + +Agriculture + +The ancient peoples of the Andes such as the Incas have practiced irrigation techniques for over 6,000 years. Because of the mountain slopes, terracing has been a common practice. Terracing, however, was only extensively employed after Incan imperial expansions to fuel their expanding realm. The potato holds a very important role as an internally consumed staple crop. Maize was also an important crop for these people, and was used for the production of chicha, important to Andean native people. Currently, tobacco, cotton and coffee are the main export crops. Coca, despite eradication programmes in some countries, remains an important crop for legal local use in a mildly stimulating herbal tea, and, both controversially and illegally, for the production of cocaine. + +Irrigation + +In unirrigated land, pasture is the most common type of land use. In the rainy season (summer), part of the rangeland is used for cropping (mainly potatoes, barley, broad beans and wheat). + +Irrigation is helpful in advancing the sowing data of the summer crops which guarantees an early yield in the period of food shortage. Also, by early sowing, maize can be cultivated higher up in the mountains (up to ). In addition, it makes cropping in the dry season (winter) possible and allows the cultivation of frost-resistant vegetable crops like onion and carrot. + +Mining + +The Andes rose to fame for their mineral wealth during the Spanish conquest of South America. Although Andean Amerindian peoples crafted ceremonial jewelry of gold and other metals, the mineralizations of the Andes were first mined on a large scale after the Spanish arrival. Potosí in present-day Bolivia and Cerro de Pasco in Peru were among the principal mines of the Spanish Empire in the New World. Río de la Plata and Argentina derive their names from the silver of Potosí. + +Currently, mining in the Andes of Chile and Peru places these countries as the first and second major producers of copper in the world. Peru also contains the 4th largest goldmine in the world: the Yanacocha. The Bolivian Andes produce principally tin although historically silver mining had a huge impact on the economy of 17th-century Europe. + +There is a long history of mining in the Andes, from the Spanish silver mines in Potosí in the 16th century to the vast current porphyry copper deposits of Chuquicamata and Escondida in Chile and Toquepala in Peru. Other metals including iron, gold, and tin in addition to non-metallic resources are important. The Andes have a vast supply of lithium; Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile have the three largest reserves in the world respectively. + +Peaks + +This list contains some of the major peaks in the Andes mountain range. The highest peak is Aconcagua of Argentina (see below). + +Argentina + + Aconcagua, + Cerro Bonete, + Galán, + Mercedario, + Pissis, + +The border between Argentina and Chile + + Cerro Bayo, + Cerro Fitz Roy, or 3,405 m, Patagonia, also known as Cerro Chaltén + Cerro Escorial, + Cordón del Azufre, + Falso Azufre, + Incahuasi, + Lastarria, + Llullaillaco, + Maipo, + Marmolejo, + Ojos del Salado, + Olca, + Sierra Nevada de Lagunas Bravas, + Socompa, + Nevado Tres Cruces, (south summit) (III Region) + Tronador, + Tupungato, + Nacimiento, + +Bolivia + + Janq'u Uma, + Cabaraya, + Chacaltaya, + Wayna Potosí, + Illampu, + Illimani, + Laram Q'awa, + Macizo de Pacuni, + Nevado Anallajsi, + Nevado Sajama, + Patilla Pata, + Tata Sabaya, + +Border between Bolivia and Chile + + Acotango, + Michincha, + Iru Phutunqu, + Licancabur, + Olca, + Parinacota, + Paruma, + Pomerape, + +Chile + + Monte San Valentin, + Cerro Paine Grande, + Cerro Macá, c. + Monte Darwin, c. + Volcan Hudson, c. + Cerro Castillo Dynevor, c. + Mount Tarn, c. + Polleras, c. + Acamarachi, c. + +Colombia + + Nevado del Huila, + Nevado del Ruiz, + Nevado del Tolima, + Pico Pan de Azúcar, + Ritacuba Negro, + Nevado del Cumbal, + Cerro Negro de Mayasquer, + Ritacuba Blanco, + Nevado del Quindío, + Puracé, + Santa Isabel, + Doña Juana, + Galeras, + Azufral, + +Ecuador + + Antisana, + Cayambe, + Chiles, + Chimborazo, + Corazón, + Cotopaxi, + El Altar, + Illiniza, + Pichincha, + Quilotoa, + Reventador, + Sangay, + Tungurahua, + +Peru + + Alpamayo, + Artesonraju, + Carnicero, + Chumpe, + Coropuna, + El Misti, + El Toro, + Huandoy, + Huascarán, + Jirishanca, + Pumasillo, + Rasac, + Rondoy, + Sarapo, + Salcantay, + Seria Norte, + Siula Grande, + Huaytapallana, + Yerupaja, + Yerupaja Chico, + +Venezuela + + Pico Bolívar, + Pico Humboldt, + Pico Bonpland, + Pico La Concha, + Pico Piedras Blancas, + Pico El Águila, + Pico El Toro + Pico El León + Pico Mucuñuque + +See also + + Andean Geology—a scientific journal + Andesite line + Apu (god) + Mountain passes of the Andes + List of mountain ranges + +Notes + +References + + + Biggar, J. (2005). The Andes: A Guide For Climbers. 3rd. edition. Andes: Kirkcudbrightshire. + de Roy, T. (2005). The Andes: As the Condor Flies. Firefly books: Richmond Hill. + Fjeldså, J. & N. Krabbe (1990). The Birds of the High Andes. Zoological Museum, University of Copenhagen: + Fjeldså, J. & M. Kessler (1996). Conserving the biological diversity of Polylepis woodlands of the highlands on Peru and Bolivia, a contribution to sustainable natural resource management in the Andes. NORDECO: Copenhagen. + +Bibliography + +External links + + University of Arizona: Andes geology + Blueplanetbiomes.org: Climate and animal life of the Andes + Discover-peru.org: Regions and Microclimates in the Andes + Peaklist.org: Complete list of mountains in South America with an elevation at/above + + +Mountain ranges of South America + +Regions of South America +Physiographic divisions +Ancylopoda is a group of browsing, herbivorous, mammals in the Perissodactyla that show long, curved and cleft claws. Morphological evidence indicates the Ancylopoda diverged from the tapirs, rhinoceroses and horses (Euperissodactyla) after the Brontotheria; however, earlier authorities such as Osborn sometimes considered the Ancylopoda to be outside Perissodactyla or, as was popular more recently, to be related to Brontotheriidae. + +Macrotherium, which is typically from the middle Miocene of Sansan, in Gers, France, may indicate a distinct genus. Limb-bones resembling those of Macrotherium, but relatively stouter, have been described from the Pliocene beds of Attica and Samos as Ancylotherium. In the Americas, the names Morothorium and Moropus have been applied to similar bones, in the belief that they indicated Xenarthrans. Macrotherium magnum must have been an animal of about nine feet in length. + +References + +Chalicotheres +Eocene first appearances +Pleistocene extinctions +An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin , which itself comes from the Greek (). + +Anchors can either be temporary or permanent. Permanent anchors are used in the creation of a mooring, and are rarely moved; a specialist service is normally needed to move or maintain them. Vessels carry one or more temporary anchors, which may be of different designs and weights. + +A sea anchor is a drag device, not in contact with the seabed, used to minimise drift of a vessel relative to the water. A drogue is a drag device used to slow or help steer a vessel running before a storm in a following or overtaking sea, or when crossing a bar in a breaking sea. + +Overview + +Anchors achieve holding power either by "hooking" into the seabed, or weight, or a combination of the two. Permanent moorings use large masses (commonly a block or slab of concrete) resting on the seabed. Semi-permanent mooring anchors (such as mushroom anchors) and large ship's anchors derive a significant portion of their holding power from their weight, while also hooking or embedding in the bottom. Modern anchors for smaller vessels have metal flukes that hook on to rocks on the bottom or bury themselves in soft seabed. + +The vessel is attached to the anchor by the rode (also called a cable or a warp). It can be made of rope, chain or a combination of rope and chain. The ratio of the length of rode to the water depth is known as the scope (see below). + +Holding ground +Holding ground is the area of sea floor that holds an anchor, and thus the attached ship or boat. Different types of anchor are designed to hold in different types of holding ground. Some bottom materials hold better than others; for instance, hard sand holds well, shell holds poorly. Holding ground may be fouled with obstacles. An anchorage location may be chosen for its holding ground. In poor holding ground, only the weight of an anchor matters; in good holding ground, it is able to dig in, and the holding power can be significantly higher. + +History + +Evolution of the anchor + +The earliest anchors were probably rocks, and many rock anchors have been found dating from at least the Bronze Age. Pre-European Maori waka (canoes) used one or more hollowed stones, tied with flax ropes, as anchors. Many modern moorings still rely on a large rock as the primary element of their design. However, using pure weight to resist the forces of a storm works well only as a permanent mooring; a large enough rock would be nearly impossible to move to a new location. + +The ancient Greeks used baskets of stones, large sacks filled with sand, and wooden logs filled with lead. According to Apollonius Rhodius and Stephen of Byzantium, anchors were formed of stone, and Athenaeus states that they were also sometimes made of wood. Such anchors held the vessel merely by their weight and by their friction along the bottom. + +Fluked anchors + +Iron was afterwards introduced for the construction of anchors, and an improvement was made by forming them with teeth, or "flukes", to fasten themselves into the bottom. This is the iconic anchor shape most familiar to non-sailors. + +This form has been used since antiquity. The Roman Nemi ships of the 1st century AD used this form. The Viking Ladby ship (probably 10th century) used a fluked anchor of this type, made of iron, which would have had a wooden stock mounted perpendicular to the shank and flukes to make the flukes contact the bottom at a suitable angle to hook or penetrate. + +Admiralty anchor + +The Admiralty Pattern anchor, or simply "Admiralty", also known as a "Fisherman", consists of a central shank with a ring or shackle for attaching the rode (the rope, chain, or cable connecting the ship and the anchor). At the other end of the shank there are two arms, carrying the flukes, while the stock is mounted to the shackle end, at ninety degrees to the arms. When the anchor lands on the bottom, it generally falls over with the arms parallel to the seabed. As a strain comes onto the rope, the stock digs into the bottom, canting the anchor until one of the flukes catches and digs into the bottom. + +The Admiralty Anchor is an entirely independent reinvention of a classical design, as seen in one of the Nemi ship anchors. This basic design remained unchanged for centuries, with the most significant changes being to the overall proportions, and a move from stocks made of wood to iron stocks in the late 1830s and early 1840s. + +Since one fluke always protrudes up from the set anchor, there is a great tendency of the rode to foul the anchor as the vessel swings due to wind or current shifts. When this happens, the anchor may be pulled out of the bottom, and in some cases may need to be hauled up to be re-set. In the mid-19th century, numerous modifications were attempted to alleviate these problems, as well as improve holding power, including one-armed mooring anchors. The most successful of these patent anchors, the Trotman Anchor, introduced a pivot at the centre of the crown where the arms join the shank, allowing the "idle" upper arm to fold against the shank. When deployed the lower arm may fold against the shank tilting the tip of the fluke upwards, so each fluke has a tripping palm at its base, to hook on the bottom as the folded arm drags along the seabed, which unfolds the downward oriented arm until the tip of the fluke can engage the bottom. + +Handling and storage of these anchors requires special equipment and procedures. Once the anchor is hauled up to the hawsepipe, the ring end is hoisted up to the end of a timber projecting from the bow known as the cathead. The crown of the anchor is then hauled up with a heavy tackle until one fluke can be hooked over the rail. This is known as "catting and fishing" the anchor. Before dropping the anchor, the fishing process is reversed, and the anchor is dropped from the end of the cathead. + +Stockless anchor + +The stockless anchor, patented in England in 1821, represented the first significant departure in anchor design in centuries. Although their holding-power-to-weight ratio is significantly lower than admiralty pattern anchors, their ease of handling and stowage aboard large ships led to almost universal adoption. In contrast to the elaborate stowage procedures for earlier anchors, stockless anchors are simply hauled up until they rest with the shank inside the hawsepipes, and the flukes against the hull (or inside a recess in the hull). + +While there are numerous variations, stockless anchors consist of a set of heavy flukes connected by a pivot or ball and socket joint to a shank. Cast into the crown of the anchor is a set of tripping palms, projections that drag on the bottom, forcing the main flukes to dig in. + +Small boat anchors +Until the mid-20th century, anchors for smaller vessels were either scaled-down versions of admiralty anchors, or simple grapnels. As new designs with greater holding-power-to-weight ratios were sought, a great variety of anchor designs has emerged. Many of these designs are still under patent, and other types are best known by their original trademarked names. + +Grapnel anchor / drag + +A traditional design, the grapnel is merely a shank (no stock) with four or more tines, also known as a drag. It has a benefit in that, no matter how it reaches the bottom, one or more tines are aimed to set. In coral, or rock, it is often able to set quickly by hooking into the structure, but may be more difficult to retrieve. A grapnel is often quite light, and may have additional uses as a tool to recover gear lost overboard. Its weight also makes it relatively easy to move and carry, however its shape is generally not compact and it may be awkward to stow unless a collapsing model is used. + +Grapnels rarely have enough fluke area to develop much hold in sand, clay, or mud. It is not unknown for the anchor to foul on its own rode, or to foul the tines with refuse from the bottom, preventing it from digging in. On the other hand, it is quite possible for this anchor to find such a good hook that, without a trip line from the crown, it is impossible to retrieve. + +Herreshoff anchor +Designed by yacht designer L. Francis Herreshoff, this is essentially the same pattern as an admiralty anchor, albeit with small diamond-shaped flukes or palms. The novelty of the design lay in the means by which it could be broken down into three pieces for stowage. In use, it still presents all the issues of the admiralty pattern anchor. + +Northill anchor +Originally designed as a lightweight anchor for seaplanes, this design consists of two plough-like blades mounted to a shank, with a folding stock crossing through the crown of the anchor. + +CQR plough anchor + +Many manufacturers produce a plough-type anchor, so-named after its resemblance to an agricultural plough. All such anchors are copied from the original CQR (Coastal Quick Release, or Clyde Quick Release, later rebranded as 'secure' by Lewmar), a 1933 design patented in the UK by mathematician Geoffrey Ingram Taylor. + +Plough anchors stow conveniently in a roller at the bow, and have been popular with cruising sailors and private boaters. Ploughs can be moderately good in all types of seafloor, though not exceptional in any. Contrary to popular belief, the CQR's hinged shank is not to allow the anchor to turn with direction changes rather than breaking out, but actually to prevent the shank's weight from disrupting the fluke's orientation while setting. The hinge can wear out and may trap a sailor's fingers. Some later plough anchors have a rigid shank, such as the Lewmar's "Delta". + +A plough anchor has a fundamental flaw: like its namesake, the agricultural plough, it digs in but then tends to break out back to the surface. Plough anchors sometimes have difficulty setting at all, and instead skip across the seafloor. By contrast, modern efficient anchors tend to be "scoop" types that dig ever deeper. + +Delta anchor +The Delta anchor was derived from the CQR. It was patented by Philip McCarron, James Stewart, and Gordon Lyall of British marine manufacturer Simpson-Lawrence Ltd in 1992. It was designed as an advance over the anchors used for floating systems such as oil rigs. It retains the weighted tip of the CQR but has a much higher fluke area to weight ratio than its predecessor. The designers also eliminated the sometimes troublesome hinge. It is a plough anchor with a rigid, arched shank. It is described as self-launching because it can be dropped from a bow roller simply by paying out the rode, without manual assistance. This is an oft copied design with the European Brake and Australian Sarca Excel being two of the more notable ones. Although it is a plough type anchor, it sets and holds reasonably well in hard bottoms. + +Danforth anchor + +American Richard Danforth invented the Danforth Anchor in the 1940s for use aboard landing craft. It uses a stock at the crown to which two large flat triangular flukes are attached. The stock is hinged so the flukes can orient toward the bottom (and on some designs may be adjusted for an optimal angle depending on the bottom type). Tripping palms at the crown act to tip the flukes into the seabed. The design is a burying variety, and once well set can develop high resistance. Its lightweight and compact flat design make it easy to retrieve and relatively easy to store; some anchor rollers and hawsepipes can accommodate a fluke-style anchor. + +A Danforth does not usually penetrate or hold in gravel or weeds. In boulders and coral it may hold by acting as a hook. If there is much current, or if the vessel is moving while dropping the anchor, it may "kite" or "skate" over the bottom due to the large fluke area acting as a sail or wing. + +The FOB HP anchor designed in Brittany in the 1970s is a Danforth variant designed to give increased holding through its use of rounded flukes setting at a 30° angle. + +The Fortress is an American aluminum alloy Danforth variant that can be disassembled for storage and it features an adjustable 32° and 45° shank/fluke angle to improve holding capability in common sea bottoms such as hard sand and soft mud. This anchor performed well in a 1989 US Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) test and in an August 2014 holding power test that was conducted in the soft mud bottoms of the Chesapeake Bay. + +Bruce or claw anchor + +This claw-shaped anchor was designed by Peter Bruce from Scotland in the 1970s. Bruce gained his early reputation from the production of large-scale commercial anchors for ships and fixed installations such as oil rigs. It was later scaled down for small boats, and copies of this popular design abound. The Bruce and its copies, known generically as "claw type anchors", have been adopted on smaller boats (partly because they stow easily on a bow roller) but they are most effective in larger sizes. Claw anchors are quite popular on charter fleets as they have a high chance to set on the first try in many bottoms. They have the reputation of not breaking out with tide or wind changes, instead slowly turning in the bottom to align with the force. + +Bruce anchors can have difficulty penetrating weedy bottoms and grass. They offer a fairly low holding-power-to-weight ratio and generally have to be oversized to compete with newer types. + +Scoop type anchors +Three time circumnavigator German Rolf Kaczirek invented the Bügel Anker in the 1980s. Kaczirek wanted an anchor that was self-righting without necessitating a ballasted tip. Instead, he added a roll bar and switched out the plough share for a flat blade design. As none of the innovations of this anchor were patented, copies of it abound. + +Alain Poiraud of France introduced the scoop type anchor in 1996. Similar in design to the Bügel anchor, Poiraud's design features a concave fluke shaped like the blade of a shovel, with a shank attached parallel to the fluke, and the load applied toward the digging end. It is designed to dig into the bottom like a shovel, and dig deeper as more pressure is applied. The common challenge with all the scoop type anchors is that they set so well, they can be difficult to weigh. + Bügelanker, or Wasi: This German-designed bow anchor has a sharp tip for penetrating weed, and features a roll-bar that allows the correct setting attitude to be achieved without the need for extra weight to be inserted into the tip. + + Spade: This is a French design that has proven successful since 1996. It features a demountable shank (hollow in some instances) and the choice of galvanized steel, stainless steel, or aluminium construction, which means a lighter and more easily stowable anchor. The geometry also makes this anchor self stowing on a single roller. + + Rocna: This New Zealand spade design, available in galvanised or stainless steel, has been produced since 2004. It has a roll-bar (similar to that of the Bügel), a large spade-like fluke area, and a sharp toe for penetrating weed and grass. The Rocna sets quickly and holds well. + +Mantus: This is claimed to be a fast setting anchor with high holding power. It is designed as an all round anchor capable of setting even in challenging bottoms such as hard sand/clay bottoms and grass. The shank is made out of a high tensile steel capable of withstanding high loads. It is similar in design to the Rocna but has a larger and wider roll-bar that reduces the risk of fouling and increases the angle of the fluke that results in improved penetration in some bottoms. + + Ultra: This is an innovative spade design that dispenses with a roll-bar. Made primarily of stainless steel, its main arm is hollow, while the fluke tip has lead within it. It is similar in appearance to the Spade anchor. + +Vulcan: A recent sibling to the Rocna, this anchor performs similarly but does not have a roll-bar. Instead the Vulcan has patented design features such as the "V-bulb" and the "Roll Palm" that allow it to dig in deeply. The Vulcan was designed primarily for sailors who had difficulties accommodating the roll-bar Rocna on their bow. Peter Smith (originator of the Rocna) designed it specifically for larger powerboats. Both Vulcans and Rocnas are available in galvanised steel, or in stainless steel. The Vulcan is similar in appearance to the Spade anchor. + +Knox Anchor: This is produced in Scotland and was invented by Professor John Knox. It has a divided concave large area fluke arrangement and a shank in high tensile steel. A roll bar similar to the Rocna gives fast setting and a holding power of about 40 times anchor weight. + +Other temporary anchors + Mud weight: Consists of a blunt heavy weight, usually cast iron or cast lead, that sinks into the mud and resist lateral movement. It is suitable only for soft silt bottoms and in mild conditions. Sizes range between 5 and 20 kg for small craft. Various designs exist and many are home produced from lead or improvised with heavy objects. This is a commonly used method on the Norfolk Broads in England. +Bulwagga: This is a unique design featuring three flukes instead of the usual two. It has performed well in tests by independent sources such as American boating magazine Practical Sailor. + +Permanent anchors +These are used where the vessel is permanently or semi-permanently sited, for example in the case of lightvessels or channel marker buoys. The anchor needs to hold the vessel in all weathers, including the most severe storm, but needs to be lifted only occasionally, at most – for example, only if the vessel is to be towed into port for maintenance. An alternative to using an anchor under these circumstances, especially if the anchor need never be lifted at all, may be to use a pile that is driven into the seabed. + +Permanent anchors come in a wide range of types and have no standard form. A slab of rock with an iron staple in it to attach a chain to would serve the purpose, as would any dense object of appropriate weight (for instance, an engine block). Modern moorings may be anchored by augers, which look and act like oversized screws drilled into the seabed, or by barbed metal beams pounded in (or even driven in with explosives) like pilings, or by a variety of other non-mass means of getting a grip on the bottom. One method of building a mooring is to use three or more conventional anchors laid out with short lengths of chain attached to a swivel, so no matter which direction the vessel moves, one or more anchors are aligned to resist the force. + +Mushroom + +The mushroom anchor is suitable where the seabed is composed of silt or fine sand. It was invented by Robert Stevenson, for use by an 82-ton converted fishing boat, Pharos, which was used as a lightvessel between 1807 and 1810 near to Bell Rock whilst the lighthouse was being constructed. It was equipped with a 1.5-ton example. + +It is shaped like an inverted mushroom, the head becoming buried in the silt. A counterweight is often provided at the other end of the shank to lay it down before it becomes buried. + +A mushroom anchor normally sinks in the silt to the point where it has displaced its own weight in bottom material, thus greatly increasing its holding power. These anchors are suitable only for a silt or mud bottom, since they rely upon suction and cohesion of the bottom material, which rocky or coarse sand bottoms lack. The holding power of this anchor is at best about twice its weight until it becomes buried, when it can be as much as ten times its weight. They are available in sizes from about 5 kg up to several tons. + +Deadweight +A deadweight is an anchor that relies solely on being a heavy weight. It is usually just a large block of concrete or stone at the end of the chain. Its holding power is defined by its weight underwater (i.e., taking its buoyancy into account) regardless of the type of seabed, although suction can increase this if it becomes buried. Consequently, deadweight anchors are used where mushroom anchors are unsuitable, for example in rock, gravel or coarse sand. An advantage of a deadweight anchor over a mushroom is that if it does drag, it continues to provide its original holding force. The disadvantage of using deadweight anchors in conditions where a mushroom anchor could be used is that it needs to be around ten times the weight of the equivalent mushroom anchor. + +Auger +Auger anchors can be used to anchor permanent moorings, floating docks, fish farms, etc. These anchors, which have one or more slightly pitched self-drilling threads, must be screwed into the seabed with the use of a tool, so require access to the bottom, either at low tide or by use of a diver. Hence they can be difficult to install in deep water without special equipment. + +Weight for weight, augers have a higher holding than other permanent designs, and so can be cheap and relatively easily installed, although difficult to set in extremely soft mud. + +High-holding-types +There is a need in the oil-and-gas industry to resist large anchoring forces when laying pipelines and for drilling vessels. These anchors are installed and removed using a support tug and pennant/pendant wire. Some examples are the Stevin range supplied by Vrijhof Ankers. Large plate anchors such as the Stevmanta are used for permanent moorings. + +Anchoring gear + +The elements of anchoring gear include the anchor, the cable (also called a rode), the method of attaching the two together, the method of attaching the cable to the ship, charts, and a method of learning the depth of the water. + +Vessels may carry a number of anchors: bower anchors are the main anchors used by a vessel and normally carried at the bow of the vessel. A kedge anchor is a light anchor used for warping an anchor, also known as kedging, or more commonly on yachts for mooring quickly or in benign conditions. A stream anchor, which is usually heavier than a kedge anchor, can be used for kedging or warping in addition to temporary mooring and restraining stern movement in tidal conditions or in waters where vessel movement needs to be restricted, such as rivers and channels. + +Charts are vital to good anchoring. Knowing the location of potential dangers, as well as being useful in estimating the effects of weather and tide in the anchorage, is essential in choosing a good place to drop the hook. One can get by without referring to charts, but they are an important tool and a part of good anchoring gear, and a skilled mariner would not choose to anchor without them. + +Anchor rode +The anchor rode (or "cable" or "warp") that connects the anchor to the vessel is usually made up of chain, rope, or a combination of those. Large ships use only chain rode. Smaller craft might use a rope/chain combination or an all chain rode. All rodes should have some chain; chain is heavy but it resists abrasion from coral, sharp rocks, or shellfish beds, whereas a rope warp is susceptible to abrasion and can fail in a short time when stretched against an abrasive surface. The weight of the chain also helps keep the direction of pull on the anchor closer to horizontal, which improves holding, and absorbs part of snubbing loads. Where weight is not an issue, a heavier chain provides better holding by forming a catenary curve through the water and resting as much of its length on the bottom as would not be lifted by tension of the mooring load. Any changes to the tension are accommodated by additional chain being lifted or settling on the bottom, and this absorbs shock loads until the chain is straight, at which point the full load is taken by the anchor. Additional dissipation of shock loads can be achieved by fitting a snubber between the chain and a bollard or cleat on deck. This also reduces shock loads on the deck fittings, and the vessel usually lies more comfortably and quietly. + +Being strong and elastic, nylon rope is the most suitable as an anchor rode. Polyester (terylene) is stronger but less elastic than nylon. Both materials sink, so they avoid fouling other craft in crowded anchorages and do not absorb much water. Neither breaks down quickly in sunlight. Elasticity helps absorb shock loading, but causes faster abrasive wear when the rope stretches over an abrasive surface, like a coral bottom or a poorly designed chock. Polypropylene ("polyprop") is not suited to rodes because it floats and is much weaker than nylon, being barely stronger than natural fibres. Some grades of polypropylene break down in sunlight and become hard, weak, and unpleasant to handle. Natural fibres such as manila or hemp are still used in developing nations but absorb a lot of water, are relatively weak, and rot, although they do give good handling grip and are often relatively cheap. Ropes that have little or no elasticity are not suitable as anchor rodes. Elasticity is partly a function of the fibre material and partly of the rope structure. + +All anchors should have chain at least equal to the boat's length. Some skippers prefer an all chain warp for greater security on coral or sharp edged rock bottoms. The chain should be shackled to the warp through a steel eye or spliced to the chain using a chain splice. The shackle pin should be securely wired or moused. Either galvanized or stainless steel is suitable for eyes and shackles, galvanised steel being the stronger of the two. Some skippers prefer to add a swivel to the rode. There is a school of thought that says these should not be connected to the anchor itself, but should be somewhere in the chain. However, most skippers connect the swivel directly to the anchor. + +Scope +Scope is the ratio of length of the rode to the depth of the water measured from the highest point (usually the anchor roller or bow chock) to the seabed, making allowance for the highest expected tide. The function of this ratio is to ensure that the pull on the anchor is unlikely to break it out of the bottom if it is embedded, or lift it off a hard bottom, either of which is likely to result in the anchor dragging. A large scope induces a load that is nearly horizontal. + +In moderate conditions the ratio of rode to water depth should be 4:1 – where there is sufficient swing-room, a greater scope is always better. In rougher conditions it should be up to twice this with the extra length giving more stretch and a smaller angle to the bottom to resist the anchor breaking out. For example, if the water is deep, and the anchor roller is above the water, then the 'depth' is 9 meters (~30 feet). The amount of rode to let our in moderate conditions is thus 36 meters (120 feet). (For this reason it is important to have a reliable and accurate method of measuring the depth of water.) + +When using a rope rode, there is a simple way to estimate the scope: The ratio of bow height of the rode to length of rode above the water while lying back hard on the anchor is the same or less than the scope ratio. The basis for this is simple geometry (Intercept Theorem): The ratio between two sides of a triangle stays the same regardless of the size of the triangle as long as the angles do not change. + +Generally, the rode should be between 5 and 10 times the depth to the seabed, giving a scope of 5:1 or 10:1; the larger the number, the shallower the angle is between the cable and the seafloor, and the less upwards force is acting on the anchor. A 10:1 scope gives the greatest holding power, but also allows for much more drifting due to the longer amount of cable paid out. Anchoring with sufficient scope and/or heavy chain rode brings the direction of strain close to parallel with the seabed. This is particularly important for light, modern anchors designed to bury in the bottom, where scopes of 5:1 to 7:1 are common, whereas heavy anchors and moorings can use a scope of 3:1, or less. Some modern anchors, such as the Ultra holds with a scope of 3:1; but, unless the anchorage is crowded, a longer scope always reduces shock stresses. + +Anchoring techniques + +The basic anchoring consists of determining the location, dropping the anchor, laying out the scope, setting the hook, and assessing where the vessel ends up. The ship seeks a location that is sufficiently protected; has suitable holding ground, enough depth at low tide and enough room for the boat to swing. + +The location to drop the anchor should be approached from down wind or down current, whichever is stronger. As the chosen spot is approached, the vessel should be stopped or even beginning to drift back. The anchor should initially be lowered quickly but under control until it is on the bottom (see anchor windlass). The vessel should continue to drift back, and the cable should be veered out under control (slowly) so it is relatively straight. + +Once the desired scope is laid out, the vessel should be gently forced astern, usually using the auxiliary motor but possibly by backing a sail. A hand on the anchor line may telegraph a series of jerks and jolts, indicating the anchor is dragging, or a smooth tension indicative of digging in. As the anchor begins to dig in and resist backward force, the engine may be throttled up to get a thorough set. If the anchor continues to drag, or sets after having dragged too far, it should be retrieved and moved back to the desired position (or another location chosen.) + +There are techniques of anchoring to limit the swing of a vessel if the anchorage has limited room: + +Using an anchor weight, kellet or sentinel +Lowering a concentrated, heavy weight down the anchor line – rope or chain – directly in front of the bow to the seabed behaves like a heavy chain rode and lowers the angle of pull on the anchor. If the weight is suspended off the seabed it acts as a spring or shock absorber to dampen the sudden actions that are normally transmitted to the anchor and can cause it to dislodge and drag. In light conditions, a kellet reduces the swing of the vessel considerably. In heavier conditions these effects disappear as the rode becomes straightened and the weight ineffective. Known as an "anchor chum weight" or "angel" in the UK. + +Forked moor +Using two anchors set approximately 45° apart, or wider angles up to 90°, from the bow is a strong mooring for facing into strong winds. To set anchors in this way, first one anchor is set in the normal fashion. Then, taking in on the first cable as the boat is motored into the wind and letting slack while drifting back, a second anchor is set approximately a half-scope away from the first on a line perpendicular to the wind. After this second anchor is set, the scope on the first is taken up until the vessel is lying between the two anchors and the load is taken equally on each cable. +This moor also to some degree limits the range of a vessel's swing to a narrower oval. Care should be taken that other vessels do not swing down on the boat due to the limited swing range. + +Bow and stern +(Not to be mistaken with the Bahamian moor, below.) In the bow and stern technique, an anchor is set off each the bow and the stern, which can severely limit a vessel's swing range and also align it to steady wind, current or wave conditions. One method of accomplishing this moor is to set a bow anchor normally, then drop back to the limit of the bow cable (or to double the desired scope, e.g. 8:1 if the eventual scope should be 4:1, 10:1 if the eventual scope should be 5:1, etc.) to lower a stern anchor. By taking up on the bow cable the stern anchor can be set. After both anchors are set, tension is taken up on both cables to limit the swing or to align the vessel. + +Bahamian moor +Similar to the above, a Bahamian moor is used to sharply limit the swing range of a vessel, but allows it to swing to a current. One of the primary characteristics of this technique is the use of a swivel as follows: the first anchor is set normally, and the vessel drops back to the limit of anchor cable. A second anchor is attached to the end of the anchor cable, and is dropped and set. A swivel is attached to the middle of the anchor cable, and the vessel connected to that. + +The vessel now swings in the middle of two anchors, which is acceptable in strong reversing currents, but a wind perpendicular to the current may break out the anchors, as they are not aligned for this load. + +Backing an anchor +Also known as tandem anchoring, in this technique two anchors are deployed in line with each other, on the same rode. With the foremost anchor reducing the load on the aft-most, this technique can develop great holding power and may be appropriate in "ultimate storm" circumstances. It does not limit swinging range, and might not be suitable in some circumstances. There are complications, and the technique requires careful preparation and a level of skill and experience above that required for a single anchor. + +Kedging + +Kedging or warping is a technique for moving or turning a ship by using a relatively light anchor. + +In yachts, a kedge anchor is an anchor carried in addition to the main, or bower anchors, and usually stowed aft. Every yacht should carry at least two anchors – the main or bower anchor and a second lighter kedge anchor. It is used occasionally when it is necessary to limit the turning circle as the yacht swings when it is anchored, such as in a narrow river or a deep pool in an otherwise shallow area. Kedge anchors are sometimes used to recover vessels that have run aground. + +For ships, a kedge may be dropped while a ship is underway, or carried out in a suitable direction by a tender or ship's boat to enable the ship to be winched off if aground or swung into a particular heading, or even to be held steady against a tidal or other stream. + +Historically, it was of particular relevance to sailing warships that used them to outmaneuver opponents when the wind had dropped but might be used by any vessel in confined, shoal water to place it in a more desirable position, provided she had enough manpower . + +Club hauling +Club hauling is an archaic technique. When a vessel is in a narrow channel or on a lee shore so that there is no room to tack the vessel in a conventional manner, an anchor attached to the lee quarter may be dropped from the lee bow. This is deployed when the vessel is head to wind and has lost headway. As the vessel gathers sternway the strain on the cable pivots the vessel around what is now the weather quarter turning the vessel onto the other tack. The anchor is then normally cut away (the ship's momentum prevents recovery without aborting the maneuver). + +Weighing anchor +Since all anchors that embed themselves in the bottom require the strain to be along the seabed, anchors can be broken out of the bottom by shortening the rope until the vessel is directly above the anchor; at this point the anchor chain is "up and down", in naval parlance. If necessary, motoring slowly around the location of the anchor also helps dislodge it. Anchors are sometimes fitted with a trip line attached to the crown, by which they can be unhooked from rocks, coral, chain, or other underwater hazards. + +The term aweigh describes an anchor when it is hanging on the rope and is not resting on the bottom. This is linked to the term to weigh anchor, meaning to lift the anchor from the sea bed, allowing the ship or boat to move. An anchor is described as aweigh when it has been broken out of the bottom and is being hauled up to be stowed. Aweigh should not be confused with under way, which describes a vessel that is not moored to a dock or anchored, whether or not the vessel is moving through the water. Aweigh is also often confused with away, which is incorrect. + +Anchor as symbol + +An anchor frequently appears on the flags and coats of arms of institutions involved with the sea, both naval and commercial, as well as of port cities and seacoast regions and provinces in various countries. There also exists in heraldry the "Anchored Cross", or Mariner's Cross, a stylized cross in the shape of an anchor. The symbol can be used to signify 'fresh start' or 'hope'. The New Testament refers to the Christian's hope as "an anchor of the soul". The Mariner's Cross is also referred to as St. Clement's Cross, in reference to the way this saint was killed (being tied to an anchor and thrown from a boat into the Black Sea in 102). Anchored crosses are occasionally a feature of coats of arms in which context they are referred to by the heraldic terms anchry or ancre. + +In 1887, the Delta Gamma Fraternity adopted the anchor as its badge to signify hope. + +The Unicode anchor (Miscellaneous Symbols) is represented by: ⚓. + +See also + + +"Anchors Aweigh", United States Navy marching song + +References + +Bibliography + Blackwell, Alex & Daria; Happy Hooking – the Art of Anchoring, 2008, 2011, 2019 White Seahorse; + Edwards, Fred; Sailing as a Second Language: An illustrated dictionary, 1988 Highmark Publishing; + Hinz, Earl R.; The Complete Book of Anchoring and Mooring, Rev. 2d ed., 1986, 1994, 2001 Cornell Maritime Press; + Hiscock, Eric C.; Cruising Under Sail, second edition, 1965 Oxford University Press; + Pardey, Lin and Larry; The Capable Cruiser; 1995 Pardey Books/Paradise Cay Publications; + Rousmaniere, John; The Annapolis Book of Seamanship, 1983, 1989 Simon and Schuster; + Smith, Everrett; Cruising World's Guide to Seamanship: Hold me tight, 1992 New York Times Sports/Leisure Magazines + +Further reading + William N. Brady (1864). The Kedge-anchor; Or, Young Sailors' Assistant. +First published as The Naval Apprentice's Kedge Anchor. New York, Taylor and Clement, 1841.--The Kedge-anchor; 3rd ed. New York, 1848.--6th ed. New York, 1852.--9th ed. New York, 1857. + +External links + + Anchor Tests: Soft Sand Over Hard Sand—Practical-Sailor + The Big Anchor Project + Anchor comparison + +Heraldic charges +Nautical terminology +Sailboat components +Sailing ship components +Ship anchors +Watercraft components +Weights +Anbar (, ,) also known by its original ancient name, Peroz-Shapur, was an ancient and medieval town in central Iraq. It played a role in the Roman–Persian Wars of the 3rd–4th centuries, and briefly became the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate before the founding of Baghdad in 762. It remained a moderately prosperous town through the 10th century, but quickly declined thereafter. As a local administrative centre, it survived until the 14th century, but was later abandoned. + +Its ruins are near modern Fallujah. The city gives its name to the Al-Anbar Governorate. + +History + +Origins + +The city is located on the left bank of the Middle Euphrates, at the junction with the Nahr Isa canal, the first of the navigable canals that link the Euphrates to the River Tigris to the east. The origins of the city are unknown, but ancient, perhaps dating to the Babylonian era and even earlier: the local artificial mound of Tell Aswad dates to . + +Sasanian period +The town was originally known as Misiche (Greek: ), Mesiche (), or Massice ( mšyk; mšyk). As a major crossing point of the Euphrates, and occupying the northernmost point of the complex irrigation network of the Sawad, the town was of considerable strategic significance. As the western gate to central Mesopotamia, it was fortified by the Sasanian ruler Shapur I () to shield his capital, Ctesiphon, from the Roman Empire. After his decisive defeat of the Roman emperor Gordian III at the Battle of Misiche in 244, Shapur renamed the town to Peroz-Shapur (Pērōz-Šāpūr or Pērōz-Šābuhr, from , meaning "victorious Shapur"; in ; in ). It became known as Pirisapora or Bersabora () to the Greeks and Romans. + +The city was fortified by a double wall, possibly through the use of Roman prisoner labour; it was sacked and burned after an agreement with its garrison in March 363 by the Roman emperor Julian during his invasion of the Sasanian Empire. It was rebuilt by Shapur II. By 420, it is attested as a bishopric, both for the Church of the East and for the Syriac Orthodox Church. The town's garrison was Persian, but it also contained sizeable Arab and Jewish populations. Anbar was adjacent or identical to the Babylonian Jewish center of Nehardea (), and lies a short distance from the present-day town of Fallujah, formerly the Babylonian Jewish center of Pumbedita (). + +Islamic period +The city fell to the Rashidun Caliphate in July 633, after a fiercely fought siege. When Ali ibn Abi Talib (r. 656–661) passed through the city, he was warmly welcomed by ninety-thousand Jews who then lived there, and he "received them with great friendliness." + +The Arabs retained the name (Fīrūz Shābūr) for the surrounding district, but the town itself became known as Anbar (Middle Persian word for "granary" or "storehouse") from the granaries in its citadel, a name that had appeared already during the 6th century. According to Baladhuri, the third mosque to be built in Iraq was erected in the city by Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas. Ibn Abi Waqqas initially considered Anbar as a candidate for the location of one of the first Muslim garrison towns, but the fever and fleas endemic in the area persuaded him otherwise. + +According to medieval Arabic sources, most of the inhabitants of the town migrated north to found the city of Hdatta south of Mosul. The famous governor al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf cleared the canals of the city. + +Abu'l-Abbas as-Saffah (), the founder of the Abbasid Caliphate, made it his capital in 752, constructing a new town half a farsakh () to the north for his Khurasani troops. There he died and was buried at the palace he had built. His successor, al-Mansur (), remained in the city until the founding of Baghdad in 762. The Abbasids also dug the great Nahr Isa canal to the south of the city, which carried water and commerce east to Baghdad. The Nahr al-Saqlawiyya or Nahr al-Qarma canal, which branches off from the Euphrates to the west of the city, is sometimes erroneously held to be the Nahr Isa, but it is more likely that it is to be identified with the pre-Islamic Nahr al-Rufayl. + +It continued to be a place of much importance throughout the Abbasid period. Caliph Harun al-Rashid () stayed at the town in 799 and in 803. The town's prosperity was founded on agricultural activities, but also on trade between Iraq and Syria. The town was still prosperous in the early 9th century, but the decline of Abbasid authority during the later 9th century exposed it to Bedouin attacks in 882 and 899. In 927, the Qarmatians under Abu Tahir al-Jannabi sacked the city during their invasion of Iraq, and the devastation was compounded by another Bedouin attack two years later. The town's decline accelerated after that: while the early 10th-century geographer Istakhri still calls the town modest but populous, with the ruins of the buildings of as-Saffah still visible, Ibn Hawqal and al-Maqdisi, who wrote a generation later, attest to its decline, and the diminution of its population. + +The town was sacked again in 1262 by the Mongols under Kerboka. The Ilkhanids retained Anbar as an administrative centre, a role it retained until the first half of the 14th century; the Ilkhanid minister Shams al-Din Juvayni had a canal dug from the city to Najaf, and the city was surrounded by a wall of sun-dried bricks. + +Ecclesiastical history +Anbar used to host an Assyrian community from the fifth century: the town was the seat of a bishopric of the Church of the East. The names of fourteen of its bishops of the period 486–1074 are known, three of whom became Chaldean Patriarchs of Babylon. + Narses + Simeon + Salibazachi + Paul + Theodosius + John + Enos 890 + Elias + Jaballaha + Sebarjesus + Elias II + Unnamed bishop + Mundar + Maris + Zacharias + +Titular see +Anbar is listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see of the Chaldean Catholic Church, established as titular bishopric in 1980. + +It has had the following incumbents: + Titular Archbishop Stéphane Katchou (1980.10.03 – 1981.11.10), as Coadjutor Archeparch of Bassorah of the Chaldeans (Iraq) (1980.10.03 – 1981.11.10) + Titular Bishop Ibrahim Namo Ibrahim (1982.01.11 – 1985.08.03), as Apostolic Exarch in the United States of America (1982.01.11 – 1985.08.03) + Titular Bishop Shlemon Warduni (since 2001.01.12), Curial Bishop of the Chaldean Catholic Church + +Today +It is now entirely deserted, occupied only by mounds of ruins, whose great number indicate the city's former importance. Its ruins are northwest of Fallujah, with a circumference of some . The remains include traces of the late medieval wall, a square fortification, and the early Islamic mosque. + +Citations + +General sources + + + + + + + GCatholic, with titular incumbent biography links + +Al Anbar Governorate +Dioceses of the Church of the East +Eastern Catholic titular sees +Former populated places in Iraq +Medieval Iraq +Abbasid Caliphate +Capitals in Asia +Archaeological sites in Iraq +Anazarbus, also known as Justinopolis (, medieval Ain Zarba; modern Anavarza; ), was an ancient Cilician city. Under the late Roman Empire, it was the capital of Cilicia Secunda. Roman emperor Justinian I rebuilt the city in 527 after a strong earthquake hit it. It was destroyed in 1374 by the forces of the Mamluk Empire, after their conquest of Cilician Armenia. + +Location +It was situated in Anatolia in modern Turkey, in the present Çukurova (or classical Aleian plain) about 15 km west of the main stream of the present Ceyhan River (or classical Pyramus river) and near its tributary the Sempas Su. + +A lofty isolated ridge formed its acropolis. Though some of the masonry in the ruins is certainly pre-Roman, the Suda's identification of it with Cyinda, famous as a treasure city in the wars of Eumenes of Cardia, cannot be accepted in the face of Strabo's express location of Cyinda in western Cilicia. + +History +According to the Suda, the original name of the place was Cyinda or Kyinda or Quinda (); and that it was next called Diocaesarea (Διοκαισάρεια). A city in Cilicia called Kundu rebelled against the Assyrian king Esarhaddon in 7th century BC, but it's unclear if there is a connection. At least it's known a city called Anazarbus (Ἀνάζαρβος) and Anazarba (Ἀνάζαρβα) and Anazarbon (Ἀνάζαρβον), situated on the river Pyramus, existed in the first century BC and was a part of the small client-kingdom of Tarcondimotus I until it was annexed by Rome. How the city obtained the name is a matter of conjecture. According to Stephanus of Byzantium, after the city was destroyed by an earthquake, the emperor Nerva sent thither one Anazarbus, a man of senatorial rank, who rebuilt the city, and gave to it his own name. This account cannot be accurate, as Valesius remarks, for it was called Anazarbus in Pliny's time. Dioscorides is called a native of Anazarbus; but the period of Dioscorides is not certain. It was also the home of the poet Oppian. Its later name was Caesarea ad Anazarbum, and there are many medals of the place in which it is both named Anazarbus and Caesarea at or under Anazarbus. On the division of Cilicia it became the chief place of the Roman province of Cilicia Secunda, with the title of Metropolis. Early in the sixth century, in the reign of Eastern Roman emperor Justin I, it was named Justinopolis or Ioustinoupolis (Ἰουστινούπολις). The city suffered from an earthquake in 526 and was rebuilt by Justinian I and renamed Justinianopolis or Ioustinianoupolis (Ἰουστινιανούπολις); but the old name persisted, and when Thoros I, king of Lesser Armenia, made it his capital early in the 12th century, it was known as Anazarva. + +Its great natural strength and situation, not far from the mouth of the Sis pass, and near the great road which debouched from the Cilician Gates, made Anazarbus play a considerable part in the struggles between the Eastern Roman Empire and the early Muslim invaders. It had been rebuilt by Harun al-Rashid in 796, refortified at great expense by the Hamdanid Sayf al-Dawla (mid-10th century) and again destroyed in 962 by Nikephoros II Phokas. In the 11th century it was again a major fortress, comparable to Tarsos and Marash, and belonged to the realm of Philaretos Brachamios before it was captured around 1084 by the Seljuk Turks. In late 1097 or early 1098 it was captured by the armies of the First Crusade and after the conquest of Antioch it was incorporated into Bohemond of Taranto's Principality of Antioch. +The site briefly exchanged hands between the Byzantine Empire and Armenians, until it was formally part of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. Anazarbus was one of a chain of Armenian fortifications stretching through Cilicia. The castle of Sis (modern Kozan, Adana) lies to the north while Tumlu Castle and Yilankale are to the south, and the fortresses of Amouda and Sarvandikar are to the east. The Mamluk Empire of Egypt finally destroyed the city in 1374. + +Remains + +The Crusaders are probably responsible for the construction of an impressive donjon atop the center of the outcrop. Most of the remaining fortifications, including the curtain walls, massive horseshoe-shaped towers, undercrofts, cisterns, and free-standing structures date from the Armenian periods of occupation, which began with the arrival of the Rubenid Baron T‛oros I, . Within the fortress are two Armenian chapels and the magnificent (but severely damaged) three-aisle church built by T‛oros I to celebrate his conquests. The church was once surrounded by a continuous, well-executed dedicatory inscription in Armenian. + +The present wall of the lower city is of late construction. It encloses a mass of ruins conspicuous in which are a fine triumphal arch, the colonnades of two streets, a gymnasium, etc. A stadium and a theatre lie outside the walls to the south. The remains of the acropolis fortifications are very interesting, including roads and ditches hewn in the rock. There are no notable structures in the upper town. For picturesqueness the site is not equaled in Cilicia, and it is worthwhile to trace the three fine aqueducts to their sources. A necropolis on the escarpment to the south of the curtain wall can also be seen complete with signs of illegal modern excavations. + +A modest Turkish farming village (Dilekkaya) lies to the southwest of the ancient city. A small outdoor museum with some of the artifacts collected in the area can be viewed for a small fee. Also nearby are some beautiful mosaics discovered in a farmers field. + +A visit in December 2002 showed that the three aqueducts mentioned above have been nearly completely destroyed. Only small, isolated sections are left standing with the largest portion lying in a pile of rubble that stretches the length of where the aqueducts once stood. A powerful earthquake that struck the area in 1945 is thought to be responsible for the destruction. + +In 2013, excavations uncovered the first known colonnaded double-lane road of the ancient world, 34 meters wide and 2700 meters long, also uncovered the ruins of a church and a bathhouse. + +In 2017, archaeologists discovered a limestone statue of the goddess Hygieia and the god Eros. The statue is thought to date to the third or fourth century B.C. + +Ecclesiastical history +Anazarbus was the capital and so also from 553 (the date of the Second Council of Constantinople) the metropolitan see of the Late Roman province of Cilicia Secunda. + +In the 4th century, one of the bishops of Anazarbus was Athanasius, a "consistent expounder of the theology of Arius." His theological opponent, Athanasius of Alexandria, in De Synodis 17, 1 refers to Anazarbus as Ναζαρβῶν. + +Maximin of Anazarbus attended the Council of Chalcedon. + +A 6th century Notitia Episcopatuum indicates that it had as suffragan sees Epiphania, Alexandria Minor, Irenopolis, Flavias, Castabala and Aegeae. Rhosus was also subject to Anazarbus, but after the 6th century was made exempt, and Mopsuestia was raised to the rank of autocephalous metropolitan see, though without suffragans. + +Latin Catholic titular see +The titular archbishopric was revived in the 18th century as a see of the Latin Catholic church, Anazarbus. + +It is vacant, having had the following incumbents, generally of the highest (Metropolitan) rank, with an episcopal (lowest rank) exception: + Titular Archbishop Giuseppe Maria Saporiti (1726.04.08 – 1743.12.02) + Titular Bishop Isidro Alfonso Cavanillas (1753.04.09 – 1755.05.12) + Titular Archbishop Gerolamo Formagliari (1760.07.21 – 1781) + Titular Archbishop Romain-Frédéric Gallard (1839.02.21 – 1839.09.28) + Titular Archbishop Andon Bedros Hassoun (1842.06.07 – 1846.08.02), as Coadjutor Archeparch of Istanbul of the Armenians (Turkey) (1842.06.07 – 1846.08.02), succeeded as Archeparch of Istanbul of the Armenians (Turkey) (1846.08.02 – 1866.09.14), later Patriarch of Cilicia of the Armenians (Lebanon) ([1866.09.14] 1867.07.12 – 1881.06), created Cardinal-Priest of Ss. Vitale, Valeria, Gervasio e Protasio (1880.12.16 – 1884.02.28) + Titular Archbishop Giorgio Labella, Friars Minor (O.F.M.) (1847.06.04 – 1860.10.27) + Titular Archbishop Charles Petre Eyre (1868.12.03 – 1878.03.15) + Titular Archbishop John Baptist Salpointe (1884.04.22 – 1885.08.18) + Titular Archbishop Michael Logue (1887.04.19 – 1887.12.03) (later Cardinal)* + Titular Archbishop François Laurencin (1888.06.01 – 1892.12.18) + Titular Archbishop Joaquín Larraín Gandarillas (1893.06.15 – 1897.09.26) + Titular Archbishop Raimondo Ingheo (1907.12.16 – 1911.07.08) + Titular Archbishop Cláudio José Gonçalves Ponce de Leon, Lazarists (C.M.) (1912.01.09 – 1924.05.26) + Titular Archbishop Raymund Netzhammer, Benedictine Order(] O.S.B.) (1924.07.14 – 1945.09.18) + Titular Archbishop Michele Akras (1945.10.27 – 1947.02.05) + Titular Archbishop Heinrich Döring (ハインリヒ・デーリング), S.J. (1948.01.15 – 1951.12.17) + Titular Archbishop Joseph-Marie Le Gouaze (1955.06.24 – 1964.07.31) + +Armenian Catholic titular see +In the 19th century, an Armenian Catholic titular bishopric of Anazarbus (of the Armenians) (Anazarbus degli Armeni in Curiate Italian) was established. + +It was a suppressed in 1933, having had a single incumbent, of the intermediary (archiepiscopal) rank : + Titular Archbishop Avedis Arpiarian (1898.04.05 – 1911.08.27), previously Eparch of Kharput of the Armenians (1890.09.23 – 1898.04.05); later Eparch of Marasc of the Armenians (1911.08.27 – 1928.06.29), Auxiliary Eparch of the patriarchate Cilicia of the Armenians (Lebanon) (1928.06.29 – 1931.10.17), Armenian Catholic Patriarch of Cilicia (Lebanon) ([1931.10.17] 1933.03.13 – 1937.10.26) + +Notable locals + Pedanius Dioscorides (1st century) Greek physician, pharmacologist and botanist + St. Domnina of Anazarbus + St. Theodula of Anazarbus + +See also + Diocese of Alexandretta + +References + +Citations + +General references + +External links + GCatholic Latin titular see + GCatholic Armenian Catholic former titular see + Carefully documented photographic survey and plan of Anazarbus Castle + +Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey +Former populated places in Cilicia +Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia +Catholic titular sees in Asia +Eastern Catholic titular sees +History of Adana Province +Roman towns and cities in Turkey +Tourist attractions in Adana Province +World Heritage Tentative List for Turkey +Defunct dioceses of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople +Populated places in ancient Cilicia +An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word anagram itself can be rearranged into nag a ram; which is an Easter egg in Google when searching for the word "anagram"; the word binary-into brainy and the word adobe-into abode. + +The original word or phrase is known as the subject of the anagram. Any word or phrase that exactly reproduces the letters in another order is an anagram. Someone who creates anagrams may be called an "anagrammatist", and the goal of a serious or skilled anagrammatist is to produce anagrams that reflect or comment on their subject. + +Examples + +Anagrams may be created as a commentary on the subject. They may be a parody, a criticism or satire. For example: + "New York Times" = "monkeys write" + "Church of Scientology" = "rich-chosen goofy cult" + "McDonald's restaurants" = "Uncle Sam's standard rot" + "coronavirus" = "carnivorous" + "She Sells Sanctuary" = "Santa; shy, less cruel" or "Satan; cruel, less shy" + +An anagram may also be a synonym of the original word. For example: + "evil" = "vile" + "a gentleman" = "elegant man" + "eleven plus two" = "twelve plus one" + +An anagram that has a meaning opposed to that of the original word or phrase is called an "antigram". For example: + "restful" = "fluster" + "cheater" = "teacher" + "funeral" = "real fun" + "adultery" = "true lady" + "forty five" = "over fifty" + "Santa" = "Satan" + +They can sometimes change from a proper noun or personal name into an appropriate sentence: + "William Shakespeare" = "I am a weakish speller" + "Madam Curie" = "Radium came" + "George Bush" = "He bugs Gore" + "Tom Marvolo Riddle" = "I am Lord Voldemort" + +They can change part of speech, such as the adjective "silent" to the verb "listen". + +"Anagrams" itself can be anagrammatized as "Ars magna" (Latin, 'the great art'). + +History + +Anagrams can be traced back to the time of the ancient Greeks, and were used to find the hidden and mystical meaning in names. +They were popular throughout Europe during the Middle Ages, for example with the poet and composer Guillaume de Machaut. They are said to date back at least to the Greek poet Lycophron, in the third century BCE; but this relies on an account of Lycophron given by John Tzetzes in the 12th century. + +In the Talmudic and Midrashic literature, anagrams were used to interpret the Hebrew Bible, notably by Eleazar of Modi'im. Later, Kabbalists took this up with enthusiasm, calling anagrams temurah. + +Anagrams in Latin were considered witty over many centuries. Est vir qui adest, explained below, was cited as the example in Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language. They became hugely popular in the early modern period, especially in Germany. + +Any historical material on anagrams must always be interpreted in terms of the assumptions and spellings that were current for the language in question. In particular, spelling in English only slowly became fixed. There were attempts to regulate anagram formation, an important one in English being that of George Puttenham's Of the Anagram or Posy Transposed in The Art of English Poesie (1589). + +Influence of Latin +As a literary game when Latin was the common property of the literate, Latin anagrams were prominent. Two examples are the change of Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum (Latin: Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord [is] with you) into Virgo serena, pia, munda et immaculata (Latin: Serene virgin, pious, clean and spotless), and the anagrammatic answer to Pilate's question, Quid est veritas? (Latin: What is truth?), namely, Est vir qui adest (Latin: It is the man who is here). The origins of these are not documented. + +Latin continued to influence letter values (such as I = J, U = V and W = VV). There was an ongoing tradition of allowing anagrams to be "perfect" if the letters were all used once, but allowing for these interchanges. This can be seen in a popular Latin anagram against the Jesuits: Societas Jesu turned into Vitiosa seces (Latin: Cut off the wicked things). Puttenham, in the time of Elizabeth I, wished to start from Elissabet Anglorum Regina (Latin: Elizabeth Queen of the English), to obtain Multa regnabis ense gloria (Latin: By thy sword shalt thou reign in great renown); he explains carefully that H is "a note of aspiration only and no letter", and that Z in Greek or Hebrew is a mere SS. The rules were not completely fixed in the 17th century. William Camden in his Remains commented, singling out some letters—Æ, K, W, and Z—not found in the classical Roman alphabet: + +Early modern period +When it comes to the 17th century and anagrams in English or other languages, there is a great deal of documented evidence of learned interest. The lawyer Thomas Egerton was praised through the anagram gestat honorem ('he carries honor'); the physician George Ent took the anagrammatic motto genio surget ('he rises through spirit/genius'), which requires his first name as Georgius. James I's courtiers discovered in "James Stuart" "a just master", and converted "Charles James Stuart" into "Claims Arthur's seat" (even at that point in time, the letters I and J were more-or-less interchangeable). Walter Quin, tutor to the future Charles I, worked hard on multilingual anagrams on the name of father James. A notorious murder scandal, the Overbury case, threw up two imperfect anagrams that were aided by typically loose spelling and were recorded by Simonds D'Ewes: "Francis Howard" (for Frances Carr, Countess of Somerset, her maiden name spelled in a variant) became "Car findes a whore", with the letters E hardly counted, and the victim Thomas Overbury, as "Thomas Overburie", was written as "O! O! a busie murther" (an old form of "murder"), with a V counted as U. + +William Drummond of Hawthornden, in an essay On the Character of a Perfect Anagram, tried to lay down rules for permissible substitutions (such as S standing for Z) and letter omissions. William Camden provided a definition of "Anagrammatisme" as "a dissolution of a name truly written into his letters, as his elements, and a new connection of it by artificial transposition, without addition, subtraction or change of any letter, into different words, making some perfect sense appliable (i.e., applicable) to the person named." Dryden in MacFlecknoe disdainfully called the pastime the "torturing of one poor word ten thousand ways". + +"Eleanor Audeley", wife of Sir John Davies, is said to have been brought before the High Commission in 1634 for extravagances, stimulated by the discovery that her name could be transposed to "Reveale, O Daniel", and to have been laughed out of court by another anagram submitted by Sir John Lambe, the dean of the Arches, "Dame Eleanor Davies", "Never soe mad a ladie". + +An example from France was a flattering anagram for Cardinal Richelieu, comparing him to Hercules or at least one of his hands (Hercules being a kingly symbol), where Armand de Richelieu became Ardue main d'Hercule ("difficult hand of Hercules"). + +Modern period +Examples from the 19th century are the transposition of "Horatio Nelson" into Honor est a Nilo (Latin: Honor is from the Nile); and of "Florence Nightingale" into "Flit on, cheering angel". The Victorian love of anagramming as recreation is alluded to by the mathematician Augustus De Morgan using his own name as an example; "Great Gun, do us a sum!" is attributed to his son William De Morgan, but a family friend John Thomas Graves was prolific, and a manuscript with over 2,800 has been preserved. + +With the advent of surrealism as a poetic movement, anagrams regained the artistic respect they had had in the Baroque period. The German poet Unica Zürn, who made extensive use of anagram techniques, came to regard obsession with anagrams as a "dangerous fever", because it created isolation of the author. The surrealist leader André Breton coined the anagram Avida Dollars for Salvador Dalí, to tarnish his reputation by the implication of commercialism. + +Applications +While anagramming is certainly a recreation first, there are ways in which anagrams are put to use, and these can be more serious, or at least not quite frivolous and formless. For example, psychologists use anagram-oriented tests, often called "anagram solution tasks", to assess the implicit memory of young adults and adults alike. + +Establishment of priority +Natural philosophers (astronomers and others) of the 17th century transposed their discoveries into Latin anagrams, to establish their priority. In this way they laid claim to new discoveries before their results were ready for publication. + +Galileo used for (Latin: I have observed the most distant planet to have a triple form) for discovering the rings of Saturn in 1610. Galileo announced his discovery that Venus had phases like the Moon in the form (Latin: These immature ones have already been read in vain by me -oy), that is, when rearranged, (Latin: The Mother of Loves [= Venus] imitates the figures of Cynthia [= the moon]). In both cases, Johannes Kepler had solved the anagrams incorrectly, assuming they were talking about the Moons of Mars () and a red spot on Jupiter (), respectively. By coincidence, he turned out to be right about the actual objects existing. + +In 1656, Christiaan Huygens, using a better telescope than those available to Galileo, figured that Galileo's earlier observations of Saturn actually meant it had a ring (Galileo's tools were only sufficient to see it as bumps) and, like Galileo, had published an anagram, . Upon confirming his observations, three years later he revealed it to mean (Latin: It [Saturn] is surrounded by a thin, flat, ring, nowhere touching, inclined to the ecliptic). + +When Robert Hooke discovered Hooke's law in 1660, he first published it in anagram form, , for (Latin: as the extension, so the force). + +Pseudonyms +Anagrams are connected to pseudonyms, by the fact that they may conceal or reveal, or operate somewhere in between like a mask that can establish identity. For example, Jim Morrison used an anagram of his name in the Doors song "L.A. Woman", calling himself "Mr. Mojo Risin'". The use of anagrams and fabricated personal names may be to circumvent restrictions on the use of real names, as happened in the 18th century when Edward Cave wanted to get around restrictions imposed on the reporting of the House of Commons. In a genre such as farce or parody, anagrams as names may be used for pointed and satiric effect. + +Pseudonyms adopted by authors are sometimes transposed forms of their names; thus "Calvinus" becomes "Alcuinus" (here V = U) or "François Rabelais" = "Alcofribas Nasier". The name "Voltaire" of François Marie Arouet fits this pattern, and is allowed to be an anagram of "Arouet, l[e] j[eune]" (U = V, J = I) that is, "Arouet the younger". Other examples include: + "Damon Albarn" = "Dan Abnormal" + "Dave Barry" = "Ray Adverb" + "Arrigo Boito" = "Tobia Gorrio" + "Buckethead" = "Death Cube K" + "Daniel Clowes" = "Enid Coleslaw" + "Siobhán Donaghy" = "Shanghai Nobody" + "Glen Duncan" = "Declan Gunn" + "(Theodor) Geisel" = "(Theo) Le Sieg" + "Edward Gorey" = "Ogdred Weary", = "Regera Dowdy" or = "E. G. Deadworry" (and others) + "Anna Madrigal" = "A man and a girl" + "Ted Morgan" = "(Sanche) de Gramont" + "Lorin Morgan-Richards" = "Marcil d'Hirson Garron" + "Vladimir Nabokov" = "Vivian Darkbloom", = "Vivian Bloodmark", = "Blavdak Vinomori", or = "Dorian Vivalkomb" + +Several of these are "imperfect anagrams", letters having been left out in some cases for the sake of easy pronunciation. + +Titles +Anagrams used for titles afford scope for some types of wit. Examples: + Homer Hickam's book Rocket Boys was adapted into the 1999 film October Sky. + The tapes for the revival of the BBC show Doctor Who were labeled with the anagram Torchwood, which later went on to be used as the name for a spin-off show. In multi-episode shows, the program occasionally substitutes the anagram of an actor's name for the actual name to prevent revealing the true identity of the role (for instance, The Master) being played by the actor. + The New Wave band Missing Persons' best-selling album was called Spring Session M. + Hip-hop artist MF Doom recorded a 2004 album called Mm..Food. + Brian Eno's album Before and After Science includes a song entitled "King's Lead Hat", an anagram of "Talking Heads", a band Eno has worked with. + Juan Maria Solare's piano ballad "Jura ser anomalía" (literally "he/she swears to be an anomaly") is an anagram of the composer's full name. His composition for English horn titled "A Dot in Time" is an anagram of "Meditation", which describes the piece. The title of his piano piece that is a homage to Claude Debussy is "Seduce Us Badly". + Bill Evans's overdubbed piano elegy for fellow jazz pianist Sonny Clark is titled "N.Y.C.'s No Lark", and another composition, "Re: Person I Knew" is a tribute to his producer, Orrin Keepnews. + The title of Imogen Heap's album iMegaphone is an anagram of her name. + Progressive rock group Rush published a song on their 1989 album Presto titled "Anagram (for Mongo)" that makes use of anagrams in every line of the song. + The title of the fifth album by American rock band Interpol, El Pintor, is an anagram of the band's name and also Spanish for "the painter". + Many of the song titles on Aphex Twin's ...I Care Because You Do are anagrams of either "Aphex Twin", "The Aphex Twin", or "Richard D. James". + In Disney's 1964 film Mary Poppins, Dick Van Dyke played Mr. Dawes Sr. as the anagram of his name, Navckid Keyd. In the credits, the words unscrambled themselves to reveal his name. + The title of King Crimson's 1982 song Thela Hun Ginjeet is an anagram of "heat in the jungle". + Two albums released in 2022 by Australian rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard titled "Made in Timeland" and "Laminated Denim". + +Coincidences +In Hebrew, the name "Gernot Zippe" (גרנוט ציפה), the inventor of the Zippe-type centrifuge, is an anagram of the word "centrifuge" (צנטריפוגה). + +The sentence "Name is Anu Garg", referring to anagrammer and founder of wordsmith.org Anu Garg, can be rearranged to spell "Anagram genius". + +Games and puzzles + +Anagrams are in themselves a recreational activity, but they also make up part of many other games, puzzles and game shows. The Jumble is a puzzle found in many newspapers in the United States requiring the unscrambling of letters to find the solution. Cryptic crossword puzzles frequently use anagrammatic clues, usually indicating that they are anagrams by the inclusion of a descriptive term like "confused" or "in disarray". An example would be Businessman burst into tears (9 letters). The solution, stationer, is an anagram of into tears, the letters of which have burst out of their original arrangement to form the name of a type of businessman. + +Numerous other games and contests involve some element of anagram formation as a basic skill. Some examples: + In Anagrams, players flip tiles over one at a time and race to take words. They can "steal" each other's words by rearranging the letters and extending the words. + In a version of Scrabble called Clabbers, the name itself is an anagram of Scrabble. Tiles may be placed in any order on the board as long as they anagram to a valid word. + On the British game show Countdown, contestants are given 30 seconds to make the longest word from nine random letters. + In Boggle, players make constrained words from a grid of sixteen random letters, by joining adjacent cubes. + On the British game show BrainTeaser, contestants are shown a word broken into randomly arranged segments and must announce the whole word. At the end of the game there is a "Pyramid" which starts with a three-letter word. A letter appears in the line below to which the player must add the existing letters to find a solution. The pattern continues until the player reaches the final eight-letter anagram. The player wins the game by solving all the anagrams within the allotted time. + In Bananagrams, players place tiles from a pool into crossword-style word arrangements in a race to see who can finish the pool of tiles first. + +Ciphers +Multiple anagramming is a technique used to solve some kinds of cryptograms, such as a permutation cipher, a transposition cipher, and the Jefferson disk. Solutions may be computationally found using a Jumble algorithm. + +Methods of construction +Sometimes, it is possible to "see" anagrams in words, unaided by tools, though the more letters involved the more difficult this becomes. The difficulty is that for a word of different letters, there are (factorial of ) different permutations and so different anagrams of the word. Anagram dictionaries can also be used. Computer programs, known as "anagram search", "anagram servers", "anagram solvers", offer a much faster route to creating anagrams, and a large number of these programs are available on the Internet. Some programs use the Anatree algorithm to compute anagrams efficiently. + +The program or server carries out an exhaustive search of a database of words, to produce a list containing every possible combination of words or phrases from the input word or phrase using a jumble algorithm. Some programs (such as Lexpert) restrict to one-word answers. Many anagram servers (for example, The Words Oracle) can control the search results, by excluding or including certain words, limiting the number or length of words in each anagram, or limiting the number of results. Anagram solvers are often banned from online anagram games. The disadvantage of computer anagram solvers, especially when applied to multi-word anagrams, is their poor understanding of the meaning of the words they are manipulating. They usually cannot filter out meaningful or appropriate anagrams from large numbers of nonsensical word combinations. Some servers attempt to improve on this using statistical techniques that try to combine only words that appear together often. This approach provides only limited success since it fails to recognize ironic and humorous combinations. + +Some anagrammatists indicate the method they used. Anagrams constructed without the aid of a computer are noted as having been done "manually" or "by hand"; those made by utilizing a computer may be noted "by machine" or "by computer", or may indicate the name of the computer program (using Anagram Genius). + +There are also a few "natural" instances: English words unconsciously created by switching letters around. The French chaise longue ("long chair") became the American "chaise lounge" by metathesis (transposition of letters and/or sounds). It has also been speculated that the English "curd" comes from the Latin crudus ("raw"). Similarly, the ancient English word for bird was "brid". + +Notable anagrammatists +The French king Louis XIII had a man named Thomas Billon appointed as his Royal Anagrammatist with an annual salary of 1200 pounds. Among contemporary anagrammers, Anu Garg, created an Internet Anagram Server in 1994 together with the satirical anagram-based newspaper The Anagram Times. Mike Keith has anagrammed the complete text of Moby Dick. He, along with Richard Brodie, has published The Anagrammed Bible that includes anagrammed version of many books of the Bible. Popular television personality Dick Cavett is known for his anagrams of famous celebrities such as Alec Guinness and Spiro Agnew. + +Anagram animation + +An animated anagram displays the letters of a word or phrase moving into their new positions. + +See also + + Acronym + Ambigram + Anagrammatic poem + Anagrams, a board game + Ananym + Blanagram + Constrained writing + Isogram + Letter bank + Lipogram + List of geographic anagrams and ananyms + List of taxa named by anagrams + London Underground anagram map + Palindrome + Pangram + Rebus + Sator Square + Spoonerism + Tautonym + Word play + +References + +Further reading + Henry Benjamin Wheatley. Of Anagrams: A Monograph Treating of Their History from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time. Williams & Norgate, 1862. + Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics. Greenwood Periodicals et al., 1968–. . + Howard W. Bergerson. Palindromes and Anagrams. Dover Publications, 1973. . + +External links + + AnagramThis - An ad-free online anagram creator +The Anadyr (; Yukaghir: Онандырь; ) is a river in the far northeast of Siberia which flows into the Gulf of Anadyr of the Bering Sea and drains much of the interior of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. Its basin corresponds to the Anadyrsky District of Chukotka. + +Geography +The Anadyr is long and has a basin of . It is frozen from October to late May and has a maximum flow in June with the snowmelt. It is navigable in small boats for about to near Markovo. West of Markovo it is in the Anadyr Highlands (moderate mountains and valleys with a few trees) and east of Markovo it moves into the Anadyr Lowlands (very flat treeless tundra with lakes and bogs). The drop from Markovo to the sea is less than . + +It rises at about 67°N latitude and 171°E longitude in the Anadyr Highlands, near the headwaters of the Maly Anyuy, flows southwest receiving the waters of the rivers Yablon and Yeropol, turns east around the Shchuchy Range and passes Markvovo and the old site of Anadyrsk, turns north and east and receives the Mayn from the south, thereby encircling the Lebediny Zakaznik, turns northeast to receive the Belaya from the north in the Parapol-Belsky Lowlands, then past Ust-Belaya it turns southeast into the Anadyr Lowlands past the Ust-Tanyurer Zakaznik and receives the Tanyurer from the north. At Lake Krasnoye, it turns east and flows into the Onemen Bay of the Anadyr Estuary. If the Onemen Bay is considered part of the river, it also receives the Velikaya from the south and the Kanchalan from the north. Other important tributaries are the Yablon, Yeropol and Mamolina from the right and the Chineyveyem and Ubiyenka from the left. + +Its basin is surrounded by the Amguema and Palyavaam basins to the north, the Bolshoy Anyuy, Oloy and Kolyma basins to the northwest, and the Penzhina basin to the southwest. + +History +In 1648, Semyon Dezhnev reached the mouth of the Anadyr after being shipwrecked on the coast. In 1649, he went upriver and built winter quarters at Anadyrsk. For the next 100 years, the Anadyr was the main route from the Arctic to the Pacific and Kamchatka. In the 18th century, the Anadyr was described by the polar explorer Dmitry Laptev. + +Ecology +The country through which it passes is thinly populated, and is dominated by tundra, with a rich variety of plant life. Much of the region's landscapes are dominated by rugged mountains. For nine months of the year the ground is covered with snow, and the frozen rivers become navigable roads. George Kennan, an American working on the Western Union Telegraph Expedition in the late 1860s, found that dog sled travel on the lower Anadyr was limited by lack of firewood. + +Reindeer, upon which the local inhabitants subsisted, were once found in considerable numbers, but the domestic reindeer population has collapsed dramatically since the reorganization and privatization of state-run collective farms beginning in 1992. As herds of domestic reindeer have declined, herds of wild caribou have increased. + +There are ten species of salmon inhabiting the Anadyr river basin. Every year, on the last Sunday in April, there is an ice fishing competition in the frozen estuarine waters of the Anadyr's mouth. This festival is locally known as Korfest. + +The area is a summering place for a number of migratory birds including brent geese, Eurasian wigeons, and the pintails of California. + +See also + Operation Anadyr + +Sources + +Footnotes + +Notes + +References + +External links + "Tourist and environmental information" Chukotka Autonomous Okrug website, in English + "Russia Far East: Anadyr River" Wild Salmon Center + Anadyr River Watershed + "Snezhnoye: a village on the Anadyr' River" + +Rivers of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug +Drainage basins of the Bering Sea +André-Marie Ampère (, , ; 20 January 177510 June 1836) was a French physicist and mathematician who was one of the founders of the science of classical electromagnetism, which he referred to as "electrodynamics". He is also the inventor of numerous applications, such as the solenoid (a term coined by him) and the electrical telegraph. As an autodidact, Ampère was a member of the French Academy of Sciences and professor at the École polytechnique and the Collège de France. + +The SI unit of measurement of electric current, the ampere, is named after him. His name is also one of the 72 names inscribed on the Eiffel Tower. + +Early life +André-Marie Ampère was born on 20 January 1775 to Jean-Jacques Ampère, a prosperous businessman, and Jeanne Antoinette Desutières-Sarcey Ampère, during the height of the French Enlightenment. He spent his childhood and adolescence at the family property at Poleymieux-au-Mont-d'Or near Lyon. Jean-Jacques Ampère, a successful merchant, was an admirer of the philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, whose theories of education (as outlined in his treatise Émile) were the basis of Ampère's education. Rousseau believed that young boys should avoid formal schooling and pursue instead a "direct education from nature." Ampère's father actualized this ideal by allowing his son to educate himself within the walls of his well-stocked library. French Enlightenment masterpieces such as Georges-Louis Leclerc, comte de Buffon's Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière (begun in 1749) and Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert's Encyclopédie (volumes added between 1751 and 1772) thus became Ampère's schoolmasters. The young Ampère, however, soon resumed his Latin lessons, which enabled him to master the works of Leonhard Euler and Daniel Bernoulli. + +French Revolution +In addition, Ampère used his access to the latest books to begin teaching himself advanced mathematics at age 12. In later life Ampère claimed that he knew as much about mathematics and science when he was eighteen as ever he knew, but as a polymath, his reading embraced history, travels, poetry, philosophy, and the natural sciences. His mother was a devout Catholic, so Ampère was also initiated into the Catholic faith along with Enlightenment science. The French Revolution (1789–99) that began during his youth was also influential: Ampère's father was called into public service by the new revolutionary government, becoming a justice of the peace in a small town near Lyon. When the Jacobin faction seized control of the Revolutionary government in 1792, his father Jean-Jacques Ampère resisted the new political tides, and he was guillotined on 24 November 1793, as part of the Jacobin purges of the period. + +In 1796, Ampère met Julie Carron and, in 1799, they were married. Ampère took his first regular job in 1799 as a mathematics teacher, which gave him the financial security to marry Carron and father his first child, Jean-Jacques (named after his father), the next year. (Jean-Jacques Ampère eventually achieved his own fame as a scholar of languages.) Ampère's maturation corresponded with the transition to the Napoleonic regime in France, and the young father and teacher found new opportunities for success within the technocratic structures favoured by the new French First Consul. In 1802, Ampère was appointed a professor of physics and chemistry at the École Centrale in Bourg-en-Bresse, leaving his ailing wife and infant son Jean-Jacques Antoine Ampère in Lyon. He used his time in Bourg to research mathematics, producing Considérations sur la théorie mathématique du jeu (1802; "Considerations on the Mathematical Theory of Games"), a treatise on mathematical probability that he sent to the Paris Academy of Sciences in 1803. + +Teaching career + +After the death of his wife in July 1803, Ampère moved to Paris, where he began a tutoring post at the new École Polytechnique in 1804. Despite his lack of formal qualifications, Ampère was appointed a professor of mathematics at the school in 1809. As well as holding positions at this school until 1828, in 1819 and 1820 Ampère offered courses in philosophy and astronomy, respectively, at the University of Paris, and in 1824 he was elected to the prestigious chair in experimental physics at the Collège de France. In 1814, Ampère was invited to join the class of mathematicians in the new Institut Impérial, the umbrella under which the reformed state Academy of Sciences would sit. + +Ampère engaged in a diverse array of scientific inquiries during the years leading up to his election to the academy—writing papers and engaging in topics from mathematics and philosophy to chemistry and astronomy, which was customary among the leading scientific intellectuals of the day. Ampère claimed that "at eighteen years he found three culminating points in his life, his First Communion, the reading of Antoine Leonard Thomas's "Eulogy of Descartes", and the Taking of the Bastille. On the day of his wife's death he wrote two verses from the Psalms, and the prayer, 'O Lord, God of Mercy, unite me in Heaven with those whom you have permitted me to love on earth.' In times of duress he would take refuge in the reading of the Bible and the Fathers of the Church." + +A lay Catholic, he took for a time into his family the young student Frédéric Ozanam (1813–1853), one of the founders of the Conference of Charity, later known as the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul. Ozanam would much later be beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1998. Through Ampère, Ozanam had contact with leaders of the neo-Catholic movement, such as François-René de Chateaubriand, Jean-Baptiste Henri Lacordaire, and Charles Forbes René de Montalembert. + +Work in electromagnetism + +In September 1820, Ampère's friend and eventual eulogist François Arago showed the members of the French Academy of Sciences the surprising discovery by Danish physicist Hans Christian Ørsted that a magnetic needle is deflected by an adjacent electric current. Ampère began developing a mathematical and physical theory to understand the relationship between electricity and magnetism. Furthering Ørsted's experimental work, Ampère showed that two parallel wires carrying electric currents attract or repel each other, depending on whether the currents flow in the same or opposite directions, respectively - this laid the foundation of electrodynamics. He also applied mathematics in generalizing physical laws from these experimental results. The most important of these was the principle that came to be called Ampère's law, which states that the mutual action of two lengths of current-carrying wire is proportional to their lengths and to the intensities of their currents. Ampère also applied this same principle to magnetism, showing the harmony between his law and French physicist Charles Augustin de Coulomb's law of electric action. Ampère's devotion to, and skill with, experimental techniques anchored his science within the emerging fields of experimental physics. + +Ampère also provided a physical understanding of the electromagnetic relationship, theorizing the existence of an "electrodynamic molecule" (the forerunner of the idea of the electron) that served as the component element of both electricity and magnetism. Using this physical explanation of electromagnetic motion, Ampère developed a physical account of electromagnetic phenomena that was both empirically demonstrable and mathematically predictive. Almost 100 years later, in 1915, Albert Einstein together with Wander Johannes de Haas made the proof of the correctness of Ampère's hypothesis through the Einstein–de Haas effect. In 1827, Ampère published his magnum opus, Mémoire sur la théorie mathématique des phénomènes électrodynamiques uniquement déduite de l'experience (Memoir on the Mathematical Theory of Electrodynamic Phenomena, Uniquely Deduced from Experience), the work that coined the name of his new science, electrodynamics, and became known ever after as its founding treatise. + +In 1827, Ampère was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society and in 1828, a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science. Probably the highest recognition came from James Clerk Maxwell, who in his Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism named Ampère "the Newton of electricity". + +Honours + 8.10.1825: Member of the Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium. + +Legacy +An international convention, signed at the 1881 International Exposition of Electricity, established the ampere as one of the standard units of electrical measurement, in recognition of his contribution to the creation of modern electrical science and along with the coulomb, volt, ohm, watt and farad, which are named, respectively, after Ampère's contemporaries Charles-Augustin de Coulomb of France, Alessandro Volta of Italy, Georg Ohm of Germany, James Watt of Scotland and Michael Faraday of England. Ampère's name is one of the 72 names inscribed on the Eiffel Tower. + +Many streets and squares are named after Ampère, as are schools, a Lyon metro station, a graphics processing unit microarchitecture, a mountain on the moon and an electric ferry in Norway. + +Writings + Considérations sur la théorie mathématique du jeu, Perisse, Lyon Paris 1802, online lesen im Internet-Archiv + + + + + + + + +Partial translations: + Magie, W.M. (1963). A Source Book in Physics. Harvard: Cambridge MA. pp. 446–460. + . +Complete translations: + +References + +Further reading + + + (EPUB) + +External links + + Ampère and the history of electricity – a French-language, edited by CNRS, site with Ampère's correspondence (full text and critical edition with links to manuscripts pictures, more than 1000 letters), an Ampère bibliography, experiments, and 3D simulations + Ampère Museum – a French-language site from the museum in Poleymieux-au-Mont-d'or, near Lyon, France + Ampere's Electronics Includes complete English translation of Theory of Electrodynamic Phenomena + "Société des Amis d'André-Marie Ampère", a French society dedicated to maintain the memory of André-Marie Ampère and in charge of the Ampère Museum. + + + Catholic Encyclopedia on André Marie Ampère + Electrical units history. + +1775 births +1836 deaths +Scientists from Lyon +Electrostatics +19th-century French physicists +People associated with electricity +Independent scientists +French Roman Catholics +Academic staff of the Collège de France +Foreign Members of the Royal Society +Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh +Members of the French Academy of Sciences +Members of the Royal Academy of Belgium +Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences +Honorary members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences +Burials at Montmartre Cemetery +Magneticians +Academic staff of École Polytechnique +Ammonia is an inorganic chemical compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . A stable binary hydride and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinct pungent smell. Biologically, it is a common nitrogenous waste, and it contributes significantly to the nutritional needs of terrestrial organisms by serving as a precursor to fertilisers. Around 70% of ammonia produced industrially is used to make fertilisers in various forms and composition, such as urea and diammonium phosphate. Ammonia in pure form is also applied directly into the soil. + +Ammonia, either directly or indirectly, is also a building block for the synthesis of many pharmaceutical products and is used in many commercial cleaning products. It is mainly collected by downward displacement of both air and water. + +Although common in nature—both terrestrially and in the outer planets of the Solar System—and in wide use, ammonia is both caustic and hazardous in its concentrated form. In many countries it is classified as an extremely hazardous substance, and is subject to strict reporting requirements by facilities that produce, store, or use it in significant quantities. + +The global industrial production of ammonia in 2021 was 235 million tonnes. Industrial ammonia is sold either as ammonia liquor (usually 28% ammonia in water) or as pressurised or refrigerated anhydrous liquid ammonia transported in tank cars or cylinders. + +For fundamental reasons, the production of ammonia from the elements hydrogen and nitrogen is difficult, requiring high pressures and high temperatures. The Haber process that enabled industrial production was invented at the beginning of the 20th century, revolutionizing agriculture. + + boils at at a pressure of one atmosphere, so the liquid must be stored under pressure or at low temperature. Household ammonia or ammonium hydroxide is a solution of in water. The concentration of such solutions is measured in units of the Baumé scale (density), with 26 degrees Baumé (about 30% of ammonia by weight at ) being the typical high-concentration commercial product. + +Etymology +Pliny, in Book XXXI of his Natural History, refers to a salt named hammoniacum, so called because of its proximity to the nearby Temple of Jupiter Amun (Greek Ἄμμων Ammon) in the Roman province of Cyrenaica. However, the description Pliny gives of the salt does not conform to the properties of ammonium chloride. According to Herbert Hoover's commentary in his English translation of Georgius Agricola's De re metallica, it is likely to have been common sea salt. In any case, that salt ultimately gave ammonia and ammonium compounds their name. + +Natural occurrence +Ammonia is a chemical found in trace quantities on Earth, being produced from nitrogenous animal and vegetable matter. Ammonia and ammonium salts are also found in small quantities in rainwater, whereas ammonium chloride (sal ammoniac), and ammonium sulfate are found in volcanic districts. Crystals of ammonium bicarbonate have been found in Patagonia guano. + +Ammonia is also found throughout the Solar System on Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, among other places: on smaller, icy bodies such as Pluto, ammonia can act as a geologically important antifreeze, as a mixture of water and ammonia can have a melting point as low as if the ammonia concentration is high enough and thus allow such bodies to retain internal oceans and active geology at a far lower temperature than would be possible with water alone. Substances containing ammonia, or those that are similar to it, are called ammoniacal. + +Properties + +Ammonia is a colourless gas with a characteristically pungent smell. It is lighter than air, its density being 0.589 times that of air. It is easily liquefied due to the strong hydrogen bonding between molecules. Gaseous ammonia turns to a colourless liquid, which boils at , and freezes to colourless crystals at . Little data is available at very high temperatures and pressures, such as supercritical conditions. + +Solid +The crystal symmetry is cubic, Pearson symbol cP16, space group P213 No.198, lattice constant 0.5125 nm. + +Liquid +Liquid ammonia possesses strong ionising powers reflecting its high ε of 22. Liquid ammonia has a very high standard enthalpy change of vapourization (23.35 kJ/mol; for comparison, water's is 40.65 kJ/mol, methane 8.19 kJ/mol and phosphine 14.6 kJ/mol) and can therefore be used in laboratories in uninsulated vessels without additional refrigeration. See liquid ammonia as a solvent. + +Solvent properties +Ammonia readily dissolves in water. In an aqueous solution, it can be expelled by boiling. The aqueous solution of ammonia is basic. The maximum concentration of ammonia in water (a saturated solution) has a density of 0.880 g/cm3 and is often known as '.880 ammonia'. + +Table of thermal and physical properties of saturated liquid ammonia: + +Table of thermal and physical properties of ammonia () at atmospheric pressure: + +Decomposition +At high temperature and in the presence of a suitable catalyst or in a pressurised vessel with constant volume and high temperature (e.g. ), ammonia is decomposed into its constituent elements. Decomposition of ammonia is a slightly endothermic process requiring 23 kJ/mol (5.5 kcal/mol) of ammonia, and yields hydrogen and nitrogen gas. Ammonia can also be used as a source of hydrogen for acid fuel cells if the unreacted ammonia can be removed. Ruthenium and platinum catalysts were found to be the most active, whereas supported Ni catalysts were less active. + +Structure + +The ammonia molecule has a trigonal pyramidal shape as predicted by the valence shell electron pair repulsion theory (VSEPR theory) with an experimentally determined bond angle of 106.7°. The central nitrogen atom has five outer electrons with an additional electron from each hydrogen atom. This gives a total of eight electrons, or four electron pairs that are arranged tetrahedrally. Three of these electron pairs are used as bond pairs, which leaves one lone pair of electrons. The lone pair repels more strongly than bond pairs; therefore, the bond angle is not 109.5°, as expected for a regular tetrahedral arrangement, but 106.8°. This shape gives the molecule a dipole moment and makes it polar. The molecule's polarity, and especially its ability to form hydrogen bonds, makes ammonia highly miscible with water. The lone pair makes ammonia a base, a proton acceptor. Ammonia is moderately basic; a 1.0 M aqueous solution has a pH of 11.6, and if a strong acid is added to such a solution until the solution is neutral (), 99.4% of the ammonia molecules are protonated. Temperature and salinity also affect the proportion of ammonium . The latter has the shape of a regular tetrahedron and is isoelectronic with methane. + +The ammonia molecule readily undergoes nitrogen inversion at room temperature; a useful analogy is an umbrella turning itself inside out in a strong wind. The energy barrier to this inversion is 24.7 kJ/mol, and the resonance frequency is 23.79 GHz, corresponding to microwave radiation of a wavelength of 1.260 cm. The absorption at this frequency was the first microwave spectrum to be observed and was used in the first maser. + +Amphotericity +One of the most characteristic properties of ammonia is its basicity. Ammonia is considered to be a weak base. It combines with acids to form ammonium salts; thus, with hydrochloric acid it forms ammonium chloride (sal ammoniac); with nitric acid, ammonium nitrate, etc. Perfectly dry ammonia gas will not combine with perfectly dry hydrogen chloride gas; moisture is necessary to bring about the reaction. + +As a demonstration experiment under air with ambient moisture, opened bottles of concentrated ammonia and hydrochloric acid solutions produce a cloud of ammonium chloride, which seems to appear 'out of nothing' as the salt aerosol forms where the two diffusing clouds of reagents meet between the two bottles. + + +The salts produced by the action of ammonia on acids are known as the ammonium salts and all contain the ammonium ion (). + +Although ammonia is well known as a weak base, it can also act as an extremely weak acid. It is a protic substance and is capable of formation of amides (which contain the ion). For example, lithium dissolves in liquid ammonia to give a blue solution (solvated electron) of lithium amide: + +Self-dissociation +Like water, liquid ammonia undergoes molecular autoionisation to form its acid and base conjugates: + + +Ammonia often functions as a weak base, so it has some buffering ability. Shifts in pH will cause more or fewer ammonium cations () and amide anions () to be present in solution. At standard pressure and temperature, + K = = 10−30. + +Combustion + +Ammonia does not burn readily or sustain combustion, except under narrow fuel-to-air mixtures of 15–25% air by volume. When mixed with oxygen, it burns with a pale yellowish-green flame. Ignition occurs when chlorine is passed into ammonia, forming nitrogen and hydrogen chloride; if chlorine is present in excess, then the highly explosive nitrogen trichloride () is also formed. + +The combustion of ammonia to form nitrogen and water is exothermic: + , ΔH°r = −1267.20 kJ (or −316.8 kJ/mol if expressed per mol of ) + +The standard enthalpy change of combustion, ΔH°c, expressed per mole of ammonia and with condensation of the water formed, is −382.81 kJ/mol. Dinitrogen is the thermodynamic product of combustion: all nitrogen oxides are unstable with respect to and , which is the principle behind the catalytic converter. Nitrogen oxides can be formed as kinetic products in the presence of appropriate catalysts, a reaction of great industrial importance in the production of nitric acid: + + +A subsequent reaction leads to : + + +The combustion of ammonia in air is very difficult in the absence of a catalyst (such as platinum gauze or warm chromium(III) oxide), due to the relatively low heat of combustion, a lower laminar burning velocity, high auto-ignition temperature, high heat of vapourization, and a narrow flammability range. However, recent studies have shown that efficient and stable combustion of ammonia can be achieved using swirl combustors, thereby rekindling research interest in ammonia as a fuel for thermal power production. The flammable range of ammonia in dry air is 15.15–27.35% and in 100% relative humidity air is 15.95–26.55%. For studying the kinetics of ammonia combustion, knowledge of a detailed reliable reaction mechanism is required, but this has been challenging to obtain. + +Formation of other compounds +Ammonia is a direct or indirect precursor to most manufactured nitrogen-containing compounds. + +In organic chemistry, ammonia can act as a nucleophile in substitution reactions. Amines can be formed by the reaction of ammonia with alkyl halides or with alcohols. The resulting − group is also nucleophilic so secondary and tertiary amines are often formed. When such multiple substitution is not desired, an excess of ammonia helps minimise it. For example, methylamine is prepared by the reaction of ammonia with chloromethane or with methanol. In both cases, dimethylamine and trimethylamine are co-produced. Ethanolamine is prepared by a ring-opening reaction with ethylene oxide, and when the reaction is allowed to go further it produces diethanolamine and triethanolamine. The reaction of ammonia with 2-bromopropanoic acid has been used to prepare racemic alanine in 70% yield. + +Amides can be prepared by the reaction of ammonia with carboxylic acid derivatives. For example, ammonia reacts with formic acid (HCOOH) to yield formamide () when heated. Acyl chlorides are the most reactive, but the ammonia must be present in at least a twofold excess to neutralise the hydrogen chloride formed. Esters and anhydrides also react with ammonia to form amides. Ammonium salts of carboxylic acids can be dehydrated to amides by heating to 150–200 °C as long as no thermally sensitive groups are present. + +The hydrogen in ammonia is susceptible to replacement by a myriad of substituents. When dry ammonia gas is heated with metallic sodium it converts to sodamide, . With chlorine, monochloramine is formed. + +Pentavalent ammonia is known as λ5-amine, nitrogen pentahydride, or more commonly, ammonium hydride . This crystalline solid is only stable under high pressure and decomposes back into trivalent ammonia (λ3-amine) and hydrogen gas at normal conditions. This substance was once investigated as a possible solid rocket fuel in 1966. + +Ammonia as a ligand + +Ammonia can act as a ligand in transition metal complexes. It is a pure σ-donor, in the middle of the spectrochemical series, and shows intermediate hard–soft behaviour (see also ECW model). Its relative donor strength toward a series of acids, versus other Lewis bases, can be illustrated by C-B plots. For historical reasons, ammonia is named ammine in the nomenclature of coordination compounds. Some notable ammine complexes include tetraamminediaquacopper(II) (), a dark blue complex formed by adding ammonia to a solution of copper(II) salts. Tetraamminediaquacopper(II) hydroxide is known as Schweizer's reagent, and has the remarkable ability to dissolve cellulose. Diamminesilver(I) () is the active species in Tollens' reagent. Formation of this complex can also help to distinguish between precipitates of the different silver halides: silver chloride (AgCl) is soluble in dilute (2 M) ammonia solution, silver bromide (AgBr) is only soluble in concentrated ammonia solution, whereas silver iodide (AgI) is insoluble in aqueous ammonia. + +Ammine complexes of chromium(III) were known in the late 19th century, and formed the basis of Alfred Werner's revolutionary theory on the structure of coordination compounds. Werner noted only two isomers (fac- and mer-) of the complex could be formed, and concluded the ligands must be arranged around the metal ion at the vertices of an octahedron. This proposal has since been confirmed by X-ray crystallography. + +An ammine ligand bound to a metal ion is markedly more acidic than a free ammonia molecule, although deprotonation in aqueous solution is still rare. One example is the reaction of mercury(II) chloride with ammonia (Calomel reaction) where the resulting mercuric amidochloride is highly insoluble. + + +Ammonia forms 1:1 adducts with a variety of Lewis acids such as , phenol, and . Ammonia is a hard base (HSAB theory) and its E & C parameters are EB = 2.31 and CB = 2.04. Its relative donor strength toward a series of acids, versus other Lewis bases, can be illustrated by C-B plots. + +Detection and determination + +Ammonia in solution + +Ammonia and ammonium salts can be readily detected, in very minute traces, by the addition of Nessler's solution, which gives a distinct yellow colouration in the presence of the slightest trace of ammonia or ammonium salts. The amount of ammonia in ammonium salts can be estimated quantitatively by distillation of the salts with sodium (NaOH) or potassium hydroxide (KOH), the ammonia evolved being absorbed in a known volume of standard sulfuric acid and the excess of acid then determined volumetrically; or the ammonia may be absorbed in hydrochloric acid and the ammonium chloride so formed precipitated as ammonium hexachloroplatinate, . + +Gaseous ammonia +Sulfur sticks are burnt to detect small leaks in industrial ammonia refrigeration systems. Larger quantities can be detected by warming the salts with a caustic alkali or with quicklime, when the characteristic smell of ammonia will be at once apparent. Ammonia is an irritant and irritation increases with concentration; the permissible exposure limit is 25 ppm, and lethal above 500 ppm. Higher concentrations are hardly detected by conventional detectors, the type of detector is chosen according to the sensitivity required (e.g. semiconductor, catalytic, electrochemical). Holographic sensors have been proposed for detecting concentrations up to 12.5% in volume. + +Ammoniacal nitrogen (NH3–N) +Ammoniacal nitrogen (NH3–N) is a measure commonly used for testing the quantity of ammonium ions, derived naturally from ammonia, and returned to ammonia via organic processes, in water or waste liquids. It is a measure used mainly for quantifying values in waste treatment and water purification systems, as well as a measure of the health of natural and man-made water reserves. It is measured in units of mg/L (milligram per litre). + +History + +The ancient Greek historian Herodotus mentioned that there were outcrops of salt in an area of Libya that was inhabited by a people called the 'Ammonians' (now the Siwa oasis in northwestern Egypt, where salt lakes still exist). The Greek geographer Strabo also mentioned the salt from this region. However, the ancient authors Dioscorides, Apicius, Arrian, Synesius, and Aëtius of Amida described this salt as forming clear crystals that could be used for cooking and that were essentially rock salt. Hammoniacus sal appears in the writings of Pliny, although it is not known whether the term is identical with the more modern sal ammoniac (ammonium chloride). + +The fermentation of urine by bacteria produces a solution of ammonia; hence fermented urine was used in Classical Antiquity to wash cloth and clothing, to remove hair from hides in preparation for tanning, to serve as a mordant in dying cloth, and to remove rust from iron. It was also used by ancient dentists to wash teeth. + +In the form of sal ammoniac (نشادر, nushadir), ammonia was important to the Muslim alchemists. It was mentioned in the Book of Stones, likely written in the 9th century and attributed to Jābir ibn Hayyān. It was also important to the European alchemists of the 13th century, being mentioned by Albertus Magnus. It was also used by dyers in the Middle Ages in the form of fermented urine to alter the colour of vegetable dyes. In the 15th century, Basilius Valentinus showed that ammonia could be obtained by the action of alkalis on sal ammoniac. At a later period, when sal ammoniac was obtained by distilling the hooves and horns of oxen and neutralizing the resulting carbonate with hydrochloric acid, the name 'spirit of hartshorn' was applied to ammonia. + +Gaseous ammonia was first isolated by Joseph Black in 1756 by reacting sal ammoniac (ammonium chloride) with calcined magnesia (magnesium oxide). It was isolated again by Peter Woulfe in 1767, by Carl Wilhelm Scheele in 1770 and by Joseph Priestley in 1773 and was termed by him 'alkaline air'. Eleven years later in 1785, Claude Louis Berthollet ascertained its composition. + +The Haber–Bosch process to produce ammonia from the nitrogen in the air was developed by Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch in 1909 and patented in 1910. It was first used on an industrial scale in Germany during World War I, following the allied blockade that cut off the supply of nitrates from Chile. The ammonia was used to produce explosives to sustain war efforts. + +Before the availability of natural gas, hydrogen as a precursor to ammonia production was produced via the electrolysis of water or using the chloralkali process. + +With the advent of the steel industry in the 20th century, ammonia became a byproduct of the production of coking coal. + +Applications + +Solvent + +Liquid ammonia is the best-known and most widely studied nonaqueous ionising solvent. Its most conspicuous property is its ability to dissolve alkali metals to form highly coloured, electrically conductive solutions containing solvated electrons. Apart from these remarkable solutions, much of the chemistry in liquid ammonia can be classified by analogy with related reactions in aqueous solutions. Comparison of the physical properties of with those of water shows has the lower melting point, boiling point, density, viscosity, dielectric constant and electrical conductivity; this is due at least in part to the weaker hydrogen bonding in and because such bonding cannot form cross-linked networks, since each molecule has only one lone pair of electrons compared with two for each molecule. The ionic self-dissociation constant of liquid at −50 °C is about 10−33. + +Solubility of salts + +Liquid ammonia is an ionising solvent, although less so than water, and dissolves a range of ionic compounds, including many nitrates, nitrites, cyanides, thiocyanates, metal cyclopentadienyl complexes and metal bis(trimethylsilyl)amides. Most ammonium salts are soluble and act as acids in liquid ammonia solutions. The solubility of halide salts increases from fluoride to iodide. A saturated solution of ammonium nitrate (Divers' solution, named after Edward Divers) contains 0.83 mol solute per mole of ammonia and has a vapour pressure of less than 1 bar even at . + +Solutions of metals + +Liquid ammonia will dissolve all of the alkali metals and other electropositive metals such as Ca, Sr, Ba, Eu and Yb (also Mg using an electrolytic process). At low concentrations (<0.06 mol/L), deep blue solutions are formed: these contain metal cations and solvated electrons, free electrons that are surrounded by a cage of ammonia molecules. + +These solutions are very useful as strong reducing agents. At higher concentrations, the solutions are metallic in appearance and in electrical conductivity. At low temperatures, the two types of solution can coexist as immiscible phases. + +Redox properties of liquid ammonia + +The range of thermodynamic stability of liquid ammonia solutions is very narrow, as the potential for oxidation to dinitrogen, E° (), is only +0.04 V. In practice, both oxidation to dinitrogen and reduction to dihydrogen are slow. This is particularly true of reducing solutions: the solutions of the alkali metals mentioned above are stable for several days, slowly decomposing to the metal amide and dihydrogen. Most studies involving liquid ammonia solutions are done in reducing conditions; although oxidation of liquid ammonia is usually slow, there is still a risk of explosion, particularly if transition metal ions are present as possible catalysts. + +Fertiliser +In the US , approximately 88% of ammonia was used as fertilisers either as its salts, solutions or anhydrously. When applied to soil, it helps provide increased yields of crops such as maize and wheat. 30% of agricultural nitrogen applied in the US is in the form of anhydrous ammonia, and worldwide, 110 million tonnes are applied each year. + +Precursor to nitrogenous compounds +Ammonia is directly or indirectly the precursor to most nitrogen-containing compounds. Virtually all synthetic nitrogen compounds are derived from ammonia. An important derivative is nitric acid. This key material is generated via the Ostwald process by oxidation of ammonia with air over a platinum catalyst at , ≈9 atm. Nitric oxide is an intermediate in this conversion: + +Nitric acid is used for the production of fertilisers, explosives and many organonitrogen compounds. + +Ammonia is also used to make the following compounds: + Hydrazine, in the Olin Raschig process and the peroxide process + Hydrogen cyanide, in the BMA process and the Andrussow process + Hydroxylamine and ammonium carbonate, in the Raschig process + Phenol, in the Raschig–Hooker process + Urea, in the Bosch–Meiser urea process and in Wöhler synthesis + Amino acids, using Strecker amino-acid synthesis + Acrylonitrile, in the Sohio process + +Ammonia can also be used to make compounds in reactions that are not specifically named. Examples of such compounds include ammonium perchlorate, ammonium nitrate, formamide, dinitrogen tetroxide, alprazolam, ethanolamine, ethyl carbamate, hexamethylenetetramine and ammonium bicarbonate. + +Cleansing agent + +Household 'ammonia' is a solution of in water, and is used as a general purpose cleaner for many surfaces. Because ammonia results in a relatively streak-free shine, one of its most common uses is to clean glass, porcelain, and stainless steel. It is also frequently used for cleaning ovens and for soaking items to loosen baked-on grime. Household ammonia ranges in concentration by weight from 5% to 10% ammonia. US manufacturers of cleaning products are required to provide the product's material safety data sheet that lists the concentration used. + +Solutions of ammonia (5–10% by weight) are used as household cleaners, particularly for glass. These solutions are irritating to the eyes and mucous membranes (respiratory and digestive tracts), and to a lesser extent the skin. Experts advise that caution be used to ensure the chemical is not mixed into any liquid containing bleach, due to the danger of forming toxic chloramine gas. Mixing with chlorine-containing products or strong oxidants, such as household bleach, can generate toxic chloramine fumes. + +Experts also warn not to use ammonia-based cleaners (such as glass or window cleaners) on car touchscreens, due to the risk of damage to the screen's anti-glare and anti-fingerprint coatings. + +Fermentation +Solutions of ammonia ranging from 16% to 25% are used in the fermentation industry as a source of nitrogen for microorganisms and to adjust pH during fermentation. + +Antimicrobial agent for food products +As early as in 1895, it was known that ammonia was 'strongly antiseptic ... it requires 1.4 grams per litre to preserve beef tea (broth).' In one study, anhydrous ammonia destroyed 99.999% of zoonotic bacteria in three types of animal feed, but not silage. Anhydrous ammonia is currently used commercially to reduce or eliminate microbial contamination of beef. +Lean finely textured beef (popularly known as 'pink slime') in the beef industry is made from fatty beef trimmings (c. 50–70% fat) by removing the fat using heat and centrifugation, then treating it with ammonia to kill E. coli. The process was deemed effective and safe by the US Department of Agriculture based on a study that found that the treatment reduces E. coli to undetectable levels. There have been safety concerns about the process as well as consumer complaints about the taste and smell of ammonia-treated beef. + +Fuel + +Ammonia has been used as fuel, and is a proposed alternative to fossil fuels and hydrogen in the future. + +Compared to hydrogen, ammonia is easier to store. Compared to hydrogen as a fuel, ammonia is much more energy efficient, and could be produced, stored and delivered at a much lower cost than hydrogen, which must be kept compressed or as a cryogenic liquid. The raw energy density of liquid ammonia is 11.5 MJ/L, which is about a third that of diesel. + +Ammonia can be converted back to hydrogen to be used to power hydrogen fuel cells, or it may be used directly within high-temperature solid oxide direct ammonia fuel cells to provide efficient power sources that do not emit greenhouse gases. Ammonia to hydrogen conversion can be achieved through the sodium amide process or the catalytic decomposition of ammonia using solid catalysts. + +Ammonia engines or ammonia motors, using ammonia as a working fluid, have been proposed and occasionally used. The principle is similar to that used in a fireless locomotive, but with ammonia as the working fluid, instead of steam or compressed air. Ammonia engines were used experimentally in the 19th century by Goldsworthy Gurney in the UK and the St. Charles Avenue Streetcar line in New Orleans in the 1870s and 1880s, and during World War II ammonia was used to power buses in Belgium. + +Ammonia is sometimes proposed as a practical alternative to fossil fuel for internal combustion engines. However, ammonia cannot be easily used in existing Otto cycle engines because of its very narrow flammability range. Despite this, several tests have been run. Its high octane rating of 120 and low flame temperature allows the use of high compression ratios without a penalty of high production. Since ammonia contains no carbon, its combustion cannot produce carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, or soot. + +Ammonia production currently creates 1.8% of global emissions. 'Green ammonia' is ammonia produced by using green hydrogen (hydrogen produced by electrolysis), whereas 'blue ammonia' is ammonia produced using blue hydrogen (hydrogen produced by steam methane reforming where the carbon dioxide has been captured and stored). + +Rocket engines have also been fueled by ammonia. The Reaction Motors XLR99 rocket engine that powered the hypersonic research aircraft used liquid ammonia. Although not as powerful as other fuels, it left no soot in the reusable rocket engine, and its density approximately matches the density of the oxidiser, liquid oxygen, which simplified the aircraft's design. + +In early August 2018, scientists from Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) announced the success of developing a process to release hydrogen from ammonia and harvest that at ultra-high purity as a fuel for cars. This uses a special membrane. Two demonstration fuel cell vehicles have the technology, a Hyundai Nexo and Toyota Mirai. + +In 2020, Saudi Arabia shipped 40 metric tons of liquid 'blue ammonia' to Japan for use as a fuel. It was produced as a by-product by petrochemical industries, and can be burned without giving off greenhouse gases. Its energy density by volume is nearly double that of liquid hydrogen. If the process of creating it can be scaled up via purely renewable resources, producing green ammonia, it could make a major difference in avoiding climate change. The company ACWA Power and the city of Neom have announced the construction of a green hydrogen and ammonia plant in 2020. + +Green ammonia is considered as a potential fuel for future container ships. In 2020, the companies DSME and MAN Energy Solutions announced the construction of an ammonia-based ship, DSME plans to commercialize it by 2025. The use of ammonia as a potential alternative fuel for aircraft jet engines is also being explored. + +Japan intends to implement a plan to develop ammonia co-firing technology that can increase the use of ammonia in power generation, as part of efforts to assist domestic and other Asian utilities to accelerate their transition to carbon neutrality. +In October 2021, the first International Conference on Fuel Ammonia (ICFA2021) was held. + +In June 2022, IHI Corporation succeeded in reducing greenhouse gases by over 99% during combustion of liquid ammonia in a 2,000-kilowatt-class gas turbine achieving truly -free power generation. +In July 2022, Quad nations of Japan, the U.S., Australia and India agreed to promote technological development for clean-burning hydrogen and ammonia as fuels at the security grouping's first energy meeting. , however, significant amounts of are produced. Nitrous oxide may also be a problem. + +Other + +Remediation of gaseous emissions +Ammonia is used to scrub from the burning of fossil fuels, and the resulting product is converted to ammonium sulfate for use as fertiliser. Ammonia neutralises the nitrogen oxide () pollutants emitted by diesel engines. This technology, called SCR (selective catalytic reduction), relies on a vanadia-based catalyst. + +Ammonia may be used to mitigate gaseous spills of phosgene. + +As a hydrogen carrier +Due to its attributes, being liquid at ambient temperature under its own vapour pressure and having high volumetric and gravimetric energy density, ammonia is considered a suitable carrier for hydrogen, and may be cheaper than direct transport of liquid hydrogen. + +Refrigeration – R717 +Because of ammonia's vapourization properties, it is a useful refrigerant. It was commonly used before the popularisation of chlorofluorocarbons (Freons). Anhydrous ammonia is widely used in industrial refrigeration applications and hockey rinks because of its high energy efficiency and low cost. It suffers from the disadvantage of toxicity, and requiring corrosion resistant components, which restricts its domestic and small-scale use. Along with its use in modern vapour-compression refrigeration it is used in a mixture along with hydrogen and water in absorption refrigerators. The Kalina cycle, which is of growing importance to geothermal power plants, depends on the wide boiling range of the ammonia–water mixture. Ammonia coolant is also used in the S1 radiator aboard the International Space Station in two loops that are used to regulate the internal temperature and enable temperature-dependent experiments. + +The potential importance of ammonia as a refrigerant has increased with the discovery that vented CFCs and HFCs are extremely potent and stable greenhouse gases. + +Stimulant + +Ammonia, as the vapour released by smelling salts, has found significant use as a respiratory stimulant. Ammonia is commonly used in the illegal manufacture of methamphetamine through a Birch reduction. The Birch method of making methamphetamine is dangerous because the alkali metal and liquid ammonia are both extremely reactive, and the temperature of liquid ammonia makes it susceptible to explosive boiling when reactants are added. + +Textile +Liquid ammonia is used for treatment of cotton materials, giving properties like mercerisation, using alkalis. In particular, it is used for prewashing of wool. + +Lifting gas +At standard temperature and pressure, ammonia is less dense than atmosphere and has approximately 45–48% of the lifting power of hydrogen or helium. Ammonia has sometimes been used to fill balloons as a lifting gas. Because of its relatively high boiling point (compared to helium and hydrogen), ammonia could potentially be refrigerated and liquefied aboard an airship to reduce lift and add ballast (and returned to a gas to add lift and reduce ballast). + +Fuming + +Ammonia has been used to darken quartersawn white oak in Arts & Crafts and Mission-style furniture. Ammonia fumes react with the natural tannins in the wood and cause it to change colour. + +Safety + +The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has set a 15-minute exposure limit for gaseous ammonia of 35 ppm by volume in the environmental air and an 8-hour exposure limit of 25 ppm by volume. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recently reduced the IDLH (Immediately Dangerous to Life and Health, the level to which a healthy worker can be exposed for 30 minutes without suffering irreversible health effects) from 500 to 300 based on recent more conservative interpretations of original research in 1943. Other organisations have varying exposure levels. US Navy Standards [U.S. Bureau of Ships 1962] maximum allowable concentrations (MACs): for continuous exposure (60 days) is 25 ppm; for exposure of 1 hour is 400 ppm. + +Ammonia vapour has a sharp, irritating, pungent odor that acts as a warning of potentially dangerous exposure. The average odor threshold is 5 ppm, well below any danger or damage. Exposure to very high concentrations of gaseous ammonia can result in lung damage and death. Ammonia is regulated in the US as a non-flammable gas, but it meets the definition of a material that is toxic by inhalation and requires a hazardous safety permit when transported in quantities greater than . + +Liquid ammonia is dangerous because it is hygroscopic and because it can cause caustic burns. See for more information. + +Toxicity +The toxicity of ammonia solutions does not usually cause problems for humans and other mammals, as a specific mechanism exists to prevent its build-up in the bloodstream. Ammonia is converted to carbamoyl phosphate by the enzyme carbamoyl phosphate synthetase, and then enters the urea cycle to be either incorporated into amino acids or excreted in the urine. Fish and amphibians lack this mechanism, as they can usually eliminate ammonia from their bodies by direct excretion. Ammonia even at dilute concentrations is highly toxic to aquatic animals, and for this reason it is classified as dangerous for the environment. Atmospheric ammonia plays a key role in the formation of fine particulate matter. + +Ammonia is a constituent of tobacco smoke. + +Coking wastewater +Ammonia is present in coking wastewater streams, as a liquid by-product of the production of coke from coal. In some cases, the ammonia is discharged to the marine environment where it acts as a pollutant. The Whyalla steelworks in South Australia is one example of a coke-producing facility that discharges ammonia into marine waters. + +Aquaculture +Ammonia toxicity is believed to be a cause of otherwise unexplained losses in fish hatcheries. Excess ammonia may accumulate and cause alteration of metabolism or increases in the body pH of the exposed organism. Tolerance varies among fish species. At lower concentrations, around 0.05 mg/L, un-ionised ammonia is harmful to fish species and can result in poor growth and feed conversion rates, reduced fecundity and fertility and increase stress and susceptibility to bacterial infections and diseases. Exposed to excess ammonia, fish may suffer loss of equilibrium, hyper-excitability, increased respiratory activity and oxygen uptake and increased heart rate. At concentrations exceeding 2.0 mg/L, ammonia causes gill and tissue damage, extreme lethargy, convulsions, coma, and death. Experiments have shown that the lethal concentration for a variety of fish species ranges from 0.2 to 2.0 mg/L. + +During winter, when reduced feeds are administered to aquaculture stock, ammonia levels can be higher. Lower ambient temperatures reduce the rate of algal photosynthesis so less ammonia is removed by any algae present. Within an aquaculture environment, especially at large scale, there is no fast-acting remedy to elevated ammonia levels. Prevention rather than correction is recommended to reduce harm to farmed fish and in open water systems, the surrounding environment. + +Storage information +Similar to propane, anhydrous ammonia boils below room temperature when at atmospheric pressure. A storage vessel capable of is suitable to contain the liquid. Ammonia is used in numerous different industrial applications requiring carbon or stainless steel storage vessels. Ammonia with at least 0.2% by weight water content is not corrosive to carbon steel. carbon steel construction storage tanks with 0.2% by weight or more of water could last more than 50 years in service. Experts warn that ammonium compounds not be allowed to come in contact with bases (unless in an intended and contained reaction), as dangerous quantities of ammonia gas could be released. + +Laboratory + +The hazards of ammonia solutions depend on the concentration: 'dilute' ammonia solutions are usually 5–10% by weight (< 5.62 mol/L); 'concentrated' solutions are usually prepared at >25% by weight. A 25% (by weight) solution has a density of 0.907 g/cm3, and a solution that has a lower density will be more concentrated. The European Union classification of ammonia solutions is given in the table. + +The ammonia vapour from concentrated ammonia solutions is severely irritating to the eyes and the respiratory tract, and experts warn that these solutions only be handled in a fume hood. Saturated ('0.880' – see ) solutions can develop a significant pressure inside a closed bottle in warm weather, and experts also warn that the bottle be opened with care. This is not usually a problem for 25% ('0.900') solutions. + +Experts warn that ammonia solutions not be mixed with halogens, as toxic and/or explosive products are formed. Experts also warn that prolonged contact of ammonia solutions with silver, mercury or iodide salts can also lead to explosive products: such mixtures are often formed in qualitative inorganic analysis, and that it needs to be lightly acidified but not concentrated (<6% w/v) before disposal once the test is completed. + +Laboratory use of anhydrous ammonia (gas or liquid) + +Anhydrous ammonia is classified as toxic (T) and dangerous for the environment (N). The gas is flammable (autoignition temperature: 651 °C) and can form explosive mixtures with air (16–25%). The permissible exposure limit (PEL) in the United States is 50 ppm (35 mg/m3), while the IDLH concentration is estimated at 300 ppm. Repeated exposure to ammonia lowers the sensitivity to the smell of the gas: normally the odour is detectable at concentrations of less than 50 ppm, but desensitised individuals may not detect it even at concentrations of 100 ppm. Anhydrous ammonia corrodes copper- and zinc-containing alloys, which makes brass fittings not appropriate for handling the gas. Liquid ammonia can also attack rubber and certain plastics. + +Ammonia reacts violently with the halogens. Nitrogen triiodide, a primary high explosive, is formed when ammonia comes in contact with iodine. Ammonia causes the explosive polymerisation of ethylene oxide. It also forms explosive fulminating compounds with compounds of gold, silver, mercury, germanium or tellurium, and with stibine. Violent reactions have also been reported with acetaldehyde, hypochlorite solutions, potassium ferricyanide and peroxides. + +Production + +Ammonia has one of the highest rates of production of any inorganic chemical. Production is sometimes expressed in terms of 'fixed nitrogen'. Global production was estimated as being 160 million tonnes in 2020 (147 tons of fixed nitrogen). China accounted for 26.5% of that, followed by Russia at 11.0%, the United States at 9.5%, and India at 8.3%. + +Before the start of World War I, most ammonia was obtained by the dry distillation of nitrogenous vegetable and animal waste products, including camel dung, where it was distilled by the reduction of nitrous acid and nitrites with hydrogen; in addition, it was produced by the distillation of coal, and also by the decomposition of ammonium salts by alkaline hydroxides such as quicklime: + + +For small scale laboratory synthesis, one can heat urea and calcium hydroxide: + +Haber–Bosch + +Electrochemical +Ammonia can be synthesized electrochemically. The only required inputs are sources of nitrogen (potentially atmospheric) and hydrogen (water), allowing generation at the point of use. The availability of renewable energy creates the possibility of zero emission production. + +'Green Ammonia' is a name for ammonia produced from hydrogen that is in turn produced from carbon-free sources such as electrolysis of water. Ammonia from this source can be used as a liquid fuel with zero contribution to global climate change. + +Another electrochemical synthesis mode involves the reductive formation of lithium nitride, which can be protonated to ammonia, given a proton source. Ethanol has been used as such a source, although it may degrade. The first use of this chemistry was reported in 1930, where lithium solutions in ethanol were used to produce ammonia at pressures of up to 1000 bar. In 1994, Tsuneto et al. used lithium electrodeposition in tetrahydrofuran to synthesize ammonia at more moderate pressures with reasonable Faradaic efficiency. Other studies have since used the ethanol–tetrahydrofuran system for electrochemical ammonia synthesis. In 2019, Lazouski et al. proposed a mechanism to explain observed ammonia formation kinetics. + +In 2020, Lazouski et al. developed a solvent-agnostic gas diffusion electrode to improve nitrogen transport to the reactive lithium. The study observed production rates of up to 30 ± 5 nmol/s/cm2 and Faradaic efficiencies of up to 47.5 ± 4% at ambient temperature and 1 bar pressure. + +In 2021, Suryanto et al. replaced ethanol with a tetraalkyl phosphonium salt. This cation can stably undergo deprotonation–reprotonation cycles, while it enhances the medium's ionic conductivity. The study observed production rates of 53 ± 1 nmol/s/cm2 at 69 ± 1% faradaic efficiency experiments under 0.5-bar hydrogen and 19.5-bar nitrogen partial pressure at ambient temperature. + +Role in biological systems and human disease + +Ammonia is both a metabolic waste and a metabolic input throughout the biosphere. It is an important source of nitrogen for living systems. Although atmospheric nitrogen abounds (more than 75%), few living creatures are capable of using atmospheric nitrogen in its diatomic form, gas. Therefore, nitrogen fixation is required for the synthesis of amino acids, which are the building blocks of protein. Some plants rely on ammonia and other nitrogenous wastes incorporated into the soil by decaying matter. Others, such as nitrogen-fixing legumes, benefit from symbiotic relationships with rhizobia bacteria that create ammonia from atmospheric nitrogen. + +In humans, inhaling ammonia in high concentrations can be fatal. Exposure to ammonia can cause headaches, edema, impaired memory, seizures and coma as it is neurotoxic in nature. + +Biosynthesis +In certain organisms, ammonia is produced from atmospheric nitrogen by enzymes called nitrogenases. The overall process is called nitrogen fixation. Intense effort has been directed toward understanding the mechanism of biological nitrogen fixation. The scientific interest in this problem is motivated by the unusual structure of the active site of the enzyme, which consists of an ensemble. + +Ammonia is also a metabolic product of amino acid deamination catalyzed by enzymes such as glutamate dehydrogenase 1. Ammonia excretion is common in aquatic animals. In humans, it is quickly converted to urea (by liver), which is much less toxic, particularly less basic. This urea is a major component of the dry weight of urine. Most reptiles, birds, insects, and snails excrete uric acid solely as nitrogenous waste. + +Physiology +Ammonia plays a role in both normal and abnormal animal physiology. It is biosynthesised through normal amino acid metabolism and is toxic in high concentrations. The liver converts ammonia to urea through a series of reactions known as the urea cycle. Liver dysfunction, such as that seen in cirrhosis, may lead to elevated amounts of ammonia in the blood (hyperammonemia). Likewise, defects in the enzymes responsible for the urea cycle, such as ornithine transcarbamylase, lead to hyperammonemia. Hyperammonemia contributes to the confusion and coma of hepatic encephalopathy, as well as the neurologic disease common in people with urea cycle defects and organic acidurias. + +Ammonia is important for normal animal acid/base balance. After formation of ammonium from glutamine, α-ketoglutarate may be degraded to produce two bicarbonate ions, which are then available as buffers for dietary acids. Ammonium is excreted in the urine, resulting in net acid loss. Ammonia may itself diffuse across the renal tubules, combine with a hydrogen ion, and thus allow for further acid excretion. + +Excretion + +Ammonium ions are a toxic waste product of metabolism in animals. In fish and aquatic invertebrates, it is excreted directly into the water. In mammals, sharks, and amphibians, it is converted in the urea cycle to urea, which is less toxic and can be stored more efficiently. In birds, reptiles, and terrestrial snails, metabolic ammonium is converted into uric acid, which is solid and can therefore be excreted with minimal water loss. + +Beyond Earth + +Ammonia has been detected in the atmospheres of the giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, along with other gases such as methane, hydrogen, and helium. The interior of Saturn may include frozen ammonia crystals. It is found on Deimos and Phobos – the two moons of Mars. + +Interstellar space +Ammonia was first detected in interstellar space in 1968, based on microwave emissions from the direction of the galactic core. This was the first polyatomic molecule to be so detected. +The sensitivity of the molecule to a broad range of excitations and the ease with which it can be observed in a number of regions has made ammonia one of the most important molecules for studies of molecular clouds. The relative intensity of the ammonia lines can be used to measure the temperature of the emitting medium. + +The following isotopic species of ammonia have been detected: , , , , and . The detection of triply deuterated ammonia was considered a surprise as deuterium is relatively scarce. It is thought that the low-temperature conditions allow this molecule to survive and accumulate. + +Since its interstellar discovery, has proved to be an invaluable spectroscopic tool in the study of the interstellar medium. With a large number of transitions sensitive to a wide range of excitation conditions, has been widely astronomically detected – its detection has been reported in hundreds of journal articles. Listed below is a sample of journal articles that highlights the range of detectors that have been used to identify ammonia. + +The study of interstellar ammonia has been important to a number of areas of research in the last few decades. Some of these are delineated below and primarily involve using ammonia as an interstellar thermometer. + +Interstellar formation mechanisms +The interstellar abundance for ammonia has been measured for a variety of environments. The []/[] ratio has been estimated to range from 10−7 in small dark clouds up to 10−5 in the dense core of the Orion molecular cloud complex. Although a total of 18 total production routes have been proposed, the principal formation mechanism for interstellar is the reaction: + + +The rate constant, k, of this reaction depends on the temperature of the environment, with a value of at 10 K. The rate constant was calculated from the formula . For the primary formation reaction, and . Assuming an abundance of and an electron abundance of 10−7 typical of molecular clouds, the formation will proceed at a rate of in a molecular cloud of total density . + +All other proposed formation reactions have rate constants of between two and 13 orders of magnitude smaller, making their contribution to the abundance of ammonia relatively insignificant. As an example of the minor contribution other formation reactions play, the reaction: + +has a rate constant of 2.2. Assuming densities of 105 and []/[] ratio of 10−7, this reaction proceeds at a rate of 2.2, more than three orders of magnitude slower than the primary reaction above. + +Some of the other possible formation reactions are: + +Interstellar destruction mechanisms +There are 113 total proposed reactions leading to the destruction of . Of these, 39 were tabulated in extensive tables of the chemistry among C, N and O compounds. A review of interstellar ammonia cites the following reactions as the principal dissociation mechanisms: + +with rate constants of 4.39×10−9 and 2.2×10−9, respectively. The above equations (, ) run at a rate of 8.8×10−9 and 4.4×10−13, respectively. These calculations assumed the given rate constants and abundances of []/[] = 10−5, []/[] = 2×10−5, []/[] = 2×10−9, and total densities of n = 105, typical of cold, dense, molecular clouds. Clearly, between these two primary reactions, equation () is the dominant destruction reaction, with a rate ≈10,000 times faster than equation (). This is due to the relatively high abundance of . + +Single antenna detections +Radio observations of from the Effelsberg 100-m Radio Telescope reveal that the ammonia line is separated into two components – a background ridge and an unresolved core. The background corresponds well with the locations previously detected CO. The 25 m Chilbolton telescope in England detected radio signatures of ammonia in H II regions, HNH2O masers, H–H objects, and other objects associated with star formation. A comparison of emission line widths indicates that turbulent or systematic velocities do not increase in the central cores of molecular clouds. + +Microwave radiation from ammonia was observed in several galactic objects including W3(OH), Orion A, W43, W51, and five sources in the galactic centre. The high detection rate indicates that this is a common molecule in the interstellar medium and that high-density regions are common in the galaxy. + +Interferometric studies +VLA observations of in seven regions with high-velocity gaseous outflows revealed condensations of less than 0.1 pc in L1551, S140, and Cepheus A. Three individual condensations were detected in Cepheus A, one of them with a highly elongated shape. They may play an important role in creating the bipolar outflow in the region. + +Extragalactic ammonia was imaged using the VLA in IC 342. The hot gas has temperatures above 70 K, which was inferred from ammonia line ratios and appears to be closely associated with the innermost portions of the nuclear bar seen in CO. was also monitored by VLA toward a sample of four galactic ultracompact HII regions: G9.62+0.19, G10.47+0.03, G29.96-0.02, and G31.41+0.31. Based upon temperature and density diagnostics, it is concluded that in general such clumps are probably the sites of massive star formation in an early evolutionary phase prior to the development of an ultracompact HII region. + +Infrared detections +Absorption at 2.97 micrometres due to solid ammonia was recorded from interstellar grains in the Becklin–Neugebauer Object and probably in NGC 2264-IR as well. This detection helped explain the physical shape of previously poorly understood and related ice absorption lines. + +A spectrum of the disk of Jupiter was obtained from the Kuiper Airborne Observatory, covering the 100 to 300 cm−1 spectral range. Analysis of the spectrum provides information on global mean properties of ammonia gas and an ammonia ice haze. + +A total of 149 dark cloud positions were surveyed for evidence of 'dense cores' by using the (J,K) = (1,1) rotating inversion line of NH3. In general, the cores are not spherically shaped, with aspect ratios ranging from 1.1 to 4.4. It is also found that cores with stars have broader lines than cores without stars. + +Ammonia has been detected in the Draco Nebula and in one or possibly two molecular clouds, which are associated with the high-latitude galactic infrared cirrus. The finding is significant because they may represent the birthplaces for the Population I metallicity B-type stars in the galactic halo that could have been borne in the galactic disk. + +Observations of nearby dark clouds +By balancing and stimulated emission with spontaneous emission, it is possible to construct a relation between excitation temperature and density. Moreover, since the transitional levels of ammonia can be approximated by a 2-level system at low temperatures, this calculation is fairly simple. This premise can be applied to dark clouds, regions suspected of having extremely low temperatures and possible sites for future star formation. Detections of ammonia in dark clouds show very narrow linesindicative not only of low temperatures, but also of a low level of inner-cloud turbulence. Line ratio calculations provide a measurement of cloud temperature that is independent of previous CO observations. The ammonia observations were consistent with CO measurements of rotation temperatures of ≈10 K. With this, densities can be determined, and have been calculated to range between 104 and 105 cm−3 in dark clouds. Mapping of gives typical clouds sizes of 0.1 pc and masses near 1 solar mass. These cold, dense cores are the sites of future star formation. + +UC HII regions +Ultra-compact HII regions are among the best tracers of high-mass star formation. The dense material surrounding UCHII regions is likely primarily molecular. Since a complete study of massive star formation necessarily involves the cloud from which the star formed, ammonia is an invaluable tool in understanding this surrounding molecular material. Since this molecular material can be spatially resolved, it is possible to constrain the heating/ionising sources, temperatures, masses, and sizes of the regions. Doppler-shifted velocity components allow for the separation of distinct regions of molecular gas that can trace outflows and hot cores originating from forming stars. + +Extragalactic detection +Ammonia has been detected in external galaxies, and by simultaneously measuring several lines, it is possible to directly measure the gas temperature in these galaxies. Line ratios imply that gas temperatures are warm (≈50 K), originating from dense clouds with sizes of tens of parsecs. This picture is consistent with the picture within our Milky Way galaxyhot dense molecular cores form around newly forming stars embedded in larger clouds of molecular material on the scale of several hundred parsecs (giant molecular clouds; GMCs). + +See also + +Notes + +References + +Works cited + +Further reading + +External links + + International Chemical Safety Card 0414 (anhydrous ammonia), ilo.org. + International Chemical Safety Card 0215 (aqueous solutions), ilo.org. + + + Emergency Response to Ammonia Fertiliser Releases (Spills) for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.ammoniaspills.org + National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health – Ammonia Page, cdc.gov + NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards – Ammonia, cdc.gov + Ammonia, video + + + +Bases (chemistry) +Foul-smelling chemicals +Gaseous signaling molecules +Household chemicals +Industrial gases +Inorganic solvents +Nitrogen cycle +Nitrogen hydrides +Nitrogen(−III) compounds +Refrigerants +Toxicology +Amethyst is a violet variety of quartz. The name comes from the Koine Greek αμέθυστος amethystos from α- a-, "not" and μεθύσκω (Ancient Greek) / μεθώ (Modern Greek), "intoxicate", a reference to the belief that the stone protected its owner from drunkenness. Ancient Greeks wore amethyst and carved drinking vessels from it in the belief that it would prevent intoxication. + +Amethyst, a semiprecious stone, is often used in jewelry. + +Structure +Amethyst is a purple variety of quartz (SiO2) and owes its violet color to irradiation, impurities of iron (Fe3+) and in some cases other transition metals, and the presence of other trace elements, which result in complex crystal lattice substitutions. The irradiation causes the iron Fe3+ ions that replace Si in the lattice to lose an electron and form a [FeO4]0 color center. Amethyst is a three-dimensional network of tetrahedra where the silicon atoms are in the center and are surrounded by four oxygen atoms located at the vertices of a tetrahedron. This structure is quite rigid and results in quartz's hardness and resistance to weathering. The hardness of the mineral is the same as quartz, thus making it suitable for use in jewelry. + +Hue and tone +Amethyst occurs in primary hues from a light lavender or pale violet to a deep purple. Amethyst may exhibit one or both secondary hues, red and blue. High-quality amethyst can be found in Siberia, Sri Lanka, Brazil, Uruguay, and the Far East. The ideal grade, called "Deep Siberian", has a primary purple hue of around 75–80%, with 15–20% blue and (depending on the light source) red secondary hues. "Rose de France" is defined by its markedly light shade of the purple, reminiscent of a lavender/lilac shade. These pale colors were once considered undesirable, but have recently become popular due to intensive marketing. + +Green quartz is sometimes incorrectly called green amethyst; this is a misnomer and not an appropriate name for the material, as the proper terminology is prasiolite. Other names for green quartz are vermarine or lime citrine. + +Amethyst frequently shows color zoning, with the most intense color typically found at the crystal terminations. One of a gem cutter’s tasks is to make a finished product with even color. Sometimes, only a thin layer of a natural, uncut amethyst is violet colored, or the color is very uneven. The uncut gem may have only a small portion that is suitable for faceting. + +The color of amethyst has been demonstrated to result from substitution by irradiation of trivalent iron (Fe3+) for silicon in the structure, in the presence of trace elements of large ionic radius, and to a certain extent, the amethyst color can naturally result from displacement of transition elements even if the iron concentration is low. Natural amethyst is dichroic in reddish violet and bluish violet, but when heated, turns yellow-orange, yellow-brown, or dark brownish and may resemble citrine, but loses its dichroism, unlike genuine citrine. When partially heated, amethyst can result in ametrine. + +Amethyst can fade in tone if overexposed to light sources, and can be artificially darkened with adequate irradiation. It does not fluoresce under either short-wave or long-wave UV light. + +Geographic distribution +Amethyst is found in many locations around the world. Between 2000 and 2010, the greatest production was from Marabá and Pau d'Arco, Pará, and the Paraná Basin, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil; Sandoval, Santa Cruz, Bolivia; Artigas, Uruguay; Kalomo, Zambia; and Thunder Bay, Ontario. Lesser amounts are found in many other locations in Africa, Brazil, Spain, Argentina, Russia, Afghanistan, South Korea, Mexico, and the United States.Amethyst is produced in abundance in the state of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil where it occurs in large geodes within volcanic rocks. Many of the hollow agates of southwestern Brazil and Uruguay contain a crop of amethyst crystals in the interior. Artigas, Uruguay and neighboring Brazilian state Rio Grande do Sul are large world producers, with lesser quantities mined in Minas Gerais and Bahia states. + +The largest amethyst geode found to date was the Empress of Uruguay, found in Artigas, Uruguay in 2007. It stands at a height of 3.27 meters, lays open along its length, and weighs 2.5 tons. + +Amethyst is also found and mined in South Korea. The large opencast amethyst vein at Maissau, Lower Austria, was historically important, but is no longer included among significant producers. Much fine amethyst comes from Russia, especially near Mursinka in the Ekaterinburg district, where it occurs in drusy cavities in granitic rocks. Amethyst was historically mined in many localities in south India, though these are no longer significant producers. One of the largest global amethyst producers is Zambia in southern Africa, with an annual production around 1000 tons. + +Amethyst occurs at many localities in the United States. The most important production is at Four Peaks, Gila and Maricopa Counties, Arizona, and Jackson's Crossroads, Wilkes County, Georgia. + +Smaller occurrences have been reported in the Red Feather Lakes, near Fort Collins, Colorado; Amethyst Mountain, Texas; Yellowstone National Park; Delaware County, Pennsylvania; Haywood County, North Carolina; Deer Hill and Stow, Maine, and in the Lake Superior region of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. + +Amethyst is relatively common in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Nova Scotia. The largest amethyst mine in North America is located in Thunder Bay, Ontario. + +Amethyst is the official state gemstone of South Carolina. Several South Carolina amethysts are on display at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. + +History + +Amethyst was used as a gemstone by the ancient Egyptians and was largely employed in antiquity for intaglio engraved gems. + +The ancient Greeks believed amethyst gems could prevent intoxication, while medieval European soldiers wore amethyst amulets as protection in battle in the belief that amethysts heal people and keep them cool-headed. Beads of amethyst were found in Anglo-Saxon graves in England. Anglican bishops wear an episcopal ring often set with an amethyst, an allusion to the description of the Apostles as "not drunk" at Pentecost in Acts 2:15. + +A large geode, or "amethyst-grotto", from near Santa Cruz in southern Brazil was presented at a 1902 exhibition in Düsseldorf, Germany. + +The meaning of amethyst varies from time to time and culture, which is why amethyst has different meanings in Feng Shui and focuses on increasing wealth. In ancient China, it was also used as a powerful tool to remove negative energies and drive away the hazards of daily life. + +Synthetic amethyst +Synthetic (laboratory-grown) amethyst is produced by a synthesis method called hydrothermal growth, which grows the crystals inside a high-pressure autoclave. + +Synthetic amethyst is made to imitate the best quality amethyst. Its chemical and physical properties are the same as those of natural amethyst, and it cannot be differentiated with absolute certainty without advanced gemmological testing (which is often cost-prohibitive). One test based on "Brazil law twinning" (a form of quartz twinning where right- and left-hand quartz structures are combined in a single crystal) can be used to identify most synthetic amethyst rather easily. Synthesizing twinned amethyst is possible, but this type is not available in large quantities in the market. + +Treated amethyst is produced by gamma ray, X-ray, or electron-beam irradiation of clear quartz (rock crystal), which has been first doped with ferric impurities. Exposure to heat partially cancels the irradiation effects and amethyst generally becomes yellow or even green. Much of the citrine, cairngorm, or yellow quartz of jewelry is said to be merely "burnt amethyst". + +Cultural history + +Ancient Greece + +The Greek word amethystos may be translated as "not drunken", from Greek a-, "not" + , "intoxicated". Amethyst was considered to be a strong antidote against drunkenness, which is why wine goblets were often carved from it. In his poem "L'Amethyste, ou les Amours de Bacchus et d'Amethyste" (Amethyst or the loves of Bacchus and Amethyste), the French poet Rémy Belleau (1528–1577) invented a myth in which Bacchus, the god of intoxication, of wine, and grapes was pursuing a maiden named Amethyste, who refused his affections. Amethyste prayed to the gods to remain chaste, a prayer which the chaste goddess Diana answered, transforming her into a white stone. Humbled by Amethyste's desire to remain chaste, Bacchus poured wine over the stone as an offering, dyeing the crystals purple. + +Variations of the story include that Dionysus had been insulted by a mortal and swore to slay the next mortal who crossed his path, creating fierce tigers to carry out his wrath. The mortal turned out to be a beautiful young woman, Amethystos, who was on her way to pay tribute to Artemis. Her life was spared by Artemis, who transformed the maiden into a statue of pure crystalline quartz to protect her from the brutal claws. Dionysus wept tears of wine in remorse for his action at the sight of the beautiful statue. The god's tears then stained the quartz purple. + +This myth and its variations are not found in classical sources. However, the goddess Rhea does present Dionysus with an amethyst stone to preserve the wine-drinker's sanity in historical text. + +Other cultural associations +Tibetans consider amethyst sacred to the Buddha and make prayer beads from it. Amethyst is considered the birthstone of February. In the Middle Ages, it was considered a symbol of royalty and used to decorate English regalia. In the Old World, amethyst was considered one of the cardinal gems, in that it was one of the five gemstones considered precious above all others, until large deposits were found in Brazil. + +Value + +Until the 18th century, amethyst was included in the cardinal, or most valuable, gemstones (along with diamond, sapphire, ruby, and emerald), but since the discovery of extensive deposits in locations such as Brazil, it has lost most of its value. It is now considered a semiprecious stone. + +Collectors look for depth of color, possibly with red flashes if cut conventionally. As amethyst is readily available in large structures, the value of the gem is not primarily defined by carat weight. This is different from most gemstones, since the carat weight typically exponentially increases the value of the stone. The biggest factor in the value of amethyst is the color displayed. + +The highest-grade amethyst (called "Deep Russian") is exceptionally rare. When one is found, its value is dependent on the demand of collectors. The highest-grade sapphires or rubies are still orders of magnitude more expensive than amethyst. + +Handling and care +The most suitable setting for gem amethyst is a prong or a bezel setting. The channel method must be used with caution. + +Amethyst has a good hardness, and handling it with proper care will prevent any damage to the stone. Amethyst is sensitive to strong heat and may lose or change its colour when exposed to prolonged heat or light. Polishing the stone or cleaning it by ultrasonic or steamer must be done with caution. + +See also +Ametrine +List of minerals +Specimen Ridge + +References + +Kostov, R. I. 1992. Amethyst. A Geological-Mineralogical and Gemmological Essay. Union of Scientists in Bulgaria, Sofia, 249 p. (in Bulgarian with English abstract) + +Lieber, W. 1994. Amethyst. Geschichte, Eigenschaften, Fundorte. Christian Weise Verlag, München, 188 S. + +External links + +Quartz gemstones +Provincial symbols of Ontario +Trigonal minerals +Minerals in space group 152 or 154 +Albertosaurus (; meaning "Alberta lizard") is a genus of large tyrannosaurid theropod dinosaur that lived in northwestern North America during the early to middle Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous period, about 71 million years ago. The type species, A. sarcophagus, was apparently restricted in range to the modern-day Canadian province of Alberta, after which the genus is named, although an indeterminate species ("cf. Albertosaurus sp.") has been discovered in the Corral de Enmedio and Packard Formations of Mexico. Scientists disagree on the content of the genus and some recognize Gorgosaurus libratus as a second species. + +As a tyrannosaurid, Albertosaurus was a bipedal predator with short arms, two-fingered hands, and a massive head with dozens of large, sharp teeth, a strong sense of smell, powerful binocular vision, and a bone crushing bite force. It may have even been the apex predator in its local ecosystem. While Albertosaurus was certainly large for a theropod, it was still much smaller than its larger and more famous relative Tyrannosaurus rex, growing up to in length and weighing . + +Since the first discovery in 1884, fossils of more than 30 individuals have been recovered that provide scientists with a more detailed knowledge of Albertosaurus anatomy than what is available for most other tyrannosaurids. The discovery of 26 individuals in one particular site provides evidence of gregarious behavior and allows for studies of ontogeny and population biology. These are near impossible with lesser-known dinosaurs because their remains are rarer and more fragmentary when compared to those of Albertosaurus. + +History of discovery + +Naming + +Albertosaurus was named by Henry Fairfield Osborn in a one-page note at the end of his 1905 description of Tyrannosaurus rex. Its namesake is Alberta, the Canadian province established the very same year where the first remains were found. The generic name also incorporates the Greek word /sauros, meaning "lizard", which is the most common suffix in dinosaur names. The type species is Albertosaurus sarcophagus and the specific name is derived from the Ancient Greek term σαρκοφάγος (), meaning "flesh-eating", and having the same etymology as the funeral container with which it shares its name, which is a combination of the Greek words σαρξ/ ("flesh") and / ("to eat"). More than 30 specimens of all ages are known to science. + +Early discoveries + +The type specimen is a partial skull collected on June 9, 1884 from an outcrop of the Horseshoe Canyon Formation alongside the Red Deer River in Alberta. It was recovered by an expedition of the Geological Survey of Canada, led by the famous geologist Joseph Burr Tyrrell. Due to a lack of specialised equipment, the almost complete skull could only be partially secured. In 1889, Tyrrell's colleague Thomas Chesmer Weston found an incomplete smaller skull associated with some skeletal material at a location nearby. The two skulls were assigned to the preexisting species Laelaps incrassatus by Edward Drinker Cope in 1892. Although the name Laelaps was preoccupied by a genus of mite and had been changed to Dryptosaurus in 1877 by Othniel Charles Marsh, Cope stubbornly refused to recognize the new name created by his archrival. However, Lawrence Lambe used the name Dryptosaurus incrassatus instead of Laelaps incrassatus when he described the remains in detail in 1903 and 1904, which was a combination first coined by Oliver Perry Hay in 1902. + +Shortly later, Osborn pointed out that D. incrassatus was based on generic tyrannosaurid teeth, so the two Horseshoe Canyon skulls could not be confidently referred to that species. The Horseshoe Canyon skulls also differed markedly from the remains of D. aquilunguis, type species of Dryptosaurus, so Osborn gave them the new name Albertosaurus sarcophagus in 1905. He did not describe the remains in any great detail, citing Lambe's complete description the year before. Both specimens, the holotype CMN 5600 and the paratype CMN 5601, are stored in the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa. By the early twenty-first century, some concerns had arisen that, due to the damaged state of the holotype, Albertosaurus might be a nomen dubium that could only be used for the type specimen itself because other fossils could not reliably be assigned to it. However, in 2010, Thomas Carr established that the holotype, the paratype, and comparable later finds all shared a single common unique trait, or autapomorphy. The possession of an enlarged pneumatic opening in the back rim of the side of the palatine bone proves that Albertosaurus is a valid taxon. + +Dry Island bone bed + +On August 11, 1910, American paleontologist Barnum Brown discovered the remains of a large group of Albertosaurus at another quarry alongside the Red Deer River. Because of the large number of bones and the limited time available, Brown's party did not collect every specimen, but made sure to collect remains from all of the individuals that they could identify in the bone bed. Among the bones deposited in the American Museum of Natural History collections in New York City are seven sets of right metatarsals, along with two isolated toe bones that did not match any of the metatarsals in size. This indicated the presence of at least nine individuals in the quarry. Palaeontologist Philip J. Currie of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology rediscovered the bonebed in 1997 and resumed fieldwork at the site, which is now located inside Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park. Further excavation from 1997 to 2005 turned up the remains of 13 more individuals of various ages, including a diminutive two-year-old and a very old individual estimated at over long. None of these individuals are known from complete skeletons and most are represented by remains in both museums. Excavations continued until 2008, when the minimum number of individuals present had been established at 12 (on the basis of preserved elements that occur only once in a skeleton) and at 26 if mirrored elements were counted when differing in size due to ontogeny. A total of 1,128 Albertosaurus bones had been secured, which is the largest concentration of large theropod fossils known from the Cretaceous. + +Other discoveries + +In 1911, Barnum Brown, during the second year of the American Museum of Natural History’s operations in Alberta, uncovered a fragmentary partial Albertosaurus skull at the Red Deer River near Tolman Bridge (specimen AMNH 5222). + +William Parks described a new species in 1928, Albertosaurus arctunguis, based on a partial skeleton lacking a skull that was excavated by Gus Lindblad and Ralph Hornell near the Red Deer River in 1923, but this species has been considered identical to A. sarcophagus since 1970. Parks' specimen (ROM 807) is housed in the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. + +No Albertosaurus fossils were found from 1926–1972, but there has been an increase in findings since then. Apart from the Dry Island bonebed, six more skulls and skeletons have since been discovered in Alberta and are housed in various Canadian museums. Specimen RTMP 81.010.001 was found in 1978 by amateur paleontologist Maurice Stefanuk. RTMP 85.098.001 was found by Stefanuk on June 16, 1985. RTMP 86.64.001 was found in December of 1985. RTMP 86.205.001 was found in 1986. RTMP 97.058.0001 was found in 1996 and then there is CMN 11315. Unfortunately, none of these skeletons were found with complete skulls. Fossils have also been reported from the American states of Montana, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Missouri, but they are doubted to be from A. sarcophagus and may not even belong to the genus Albertosaurus. + +Two specimens from "cf Albertosaurus ".sp" have been found in Mexico (Packard Formation and Corral de Enmedio Formation). + +Gorgosaurus libratus + +In 1913, paleontologist Charles H. Sternberg recovered another tyrannosaurid skeleton from the slightly older Dinosaur Park Formation in Alberta. Lawrence Lambe named this dinosaur Gorgosaurus libratus in 1914. Other specimens were later found in Alberta and the US state of Montana. Finding no significant differences to separate the two taxa (due mostly to a lack of good Albertosaurus skull material), Dale Russell declared the name Gorgosaurus a junior synonym of Albertosaurus, which had been named first, and G. libratus was renamed Albertosaurus libratus in 1970. A species distinction was maintained because of the age difference. The addition extended the temporal range of the genus Albertosaurus earlier by several million years and its geographic range southwards by hundreds of kilometres. + +In 2003, Philip J. Currie, benefiting from much more extensive finds and a general increase in anatomical knowledge of theropods, compared several tyrannosaurid skulls and came to the conclusion that the two species are more distinct than previously thought. As the two species are sister taxa, they are more closely related to each other than to any other species of tyrannosaurid. Recognizing this, Currie nevertheless recommended that Albertosaurus and Gorgosaurus be kept as separate genera, as he concluded that they were no more similar than Daspletosaurus and Tyrannosaurus, which are almost always separated. In addition to this, several albertosaurine specimens have been recovered from Alaska and New Mexico. Currie suggested that the Albertosaurus-Gorgosaurus situation may be clarified once these are fully described. Most authors have followed Currie's recommendation, but some have not. + +Other species +In 1930, Anatoly Nikolaevich Riabinin named Albertosaurus pericolosus based on a tooth from China that probably belonged to Tarbosaurus. In 1932, Friedrich von Huene renamed Dryptosaurus incrassatus, not considered a nomen dubium by him, to Albertosaurus incrassatus. Because he had identified Gorgosaurus with Albertosaurus, in 1970, Russell also renamed Gorgosaurus sternbergi (Matthew & Brown 1922) into Albertosaurus sternbergi and Gorgosaurus lancensis (Gilmore 1946) into Albertosaurus lancensis. The former species is today seen as a juvenile form of Gorgosaurus libratus and the latter is seen as either identical to Tyrannosaurus or representing a separate genus, Nanotyrannus. In 1988, Gregory S. Paul based Albertosaurus megagracilis on a small tyrannosaurid skeleton, specimen LACM 28345, from the Hell Creek Formation of Montana. It was renamed Dinotyrannus in 1995, but is now thought to represent a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex. Also in 1988, Paul renamed Alectrosaurus olseni (Gilmore 1933) into Albertosaurus olseni, but this has found no general acceptance. In 1989, Gorgosaurus novojilovi (Maleev 1955) was renamed by Bryn Mader and Robert Bradley as Albertosaurus novojilovi. + +On two occasions, species based on valid Albertosaurus material were reassigned to a different genus, Deinodon. In 1922, William Diller Matthew renamed A. sarcophagus into Deinodon sarcophagus. In 1939, German paleontologist Oskar Kuhn renamed A. arctunguis into Deinodon arctunguis. + +Description + +Albertosaurus was a fairly large bipedal predator, but smaller than Tarbosaurus and Tyrannosaurus rex. Typical Albertosaurus adults measured up to long and weighed between in body mass. + +Albertosaurus shared a similar body appearance with all other tyrannosaurids, Gorgosaurus in particular. Typical for a theropod, Albertosaurus was bipedal and balanced its large, heavy head and torso with a long, muscular tail. However, tyrannosaurid forelimbs were extremely small for their body size and retained only two functional fingers, the second being longer than the first. The legs were long and ended in a four-toed foot on which the first toe, the hallux, was very short and did not reach the ground. The third toe was longer than the rest. Albertosaurus may have been able to reach walking speeds of 14–21 km/hour (8–13 mi/hour). At least for the younger individuals, a high running speed is plausible. + +Two skin impressions from Albertosaurus are known and both show scales. One patch is found associated with some gastralic ribs and the impression of a long, unknown bone, indicating that the patch is from the belly. The scales are pebbly and gradually become larger and somewhat hexagonal in shape. Also preserved are two larger feature scales, placed 4.5 cm apart from each other, making Albertosaurus, along with Carnotaurus, the only known theropods with preserved feature scales. Another skin impression is from an unknown part of the body. These scales are small, diamond-shaped, and arranged in rows. + +Skull and teeth + +The massive skull of Albertosaurus, which was perched on a muscular, short, S-shaped neck, was about long in the largest adults. Wide openings in the skull, called fenestrae, provided space for muscle attachment sites and sensory organs that reduced its overall weight. Its long jaws contained, both sides combined, 58 or more banana-shaped teeth. Larger tyrannosaurids possessed fewer teeth, but Gorgosaurus had 62. Unlike most theropods, Albertosaurus and other tyrannosaurids were heterodont, with teeth of different forms depending on their position in the mouth. The premaxillary teeth at the tip of the upper jaw, four per side, were much smaller than the rest, more closely packed, and D-shaped in cross section. Like with Tyrannosaurus rex, the maxillary (cheek) teeth of Albertosaurus were adapted in general form to resist lateral forces exerted by a struggling prey animal. The bite force of Albertosaurus was less formidable, however, with the maximum force, by the back teeth, reaching 3,413 Newtons. Above the eyes were short bony crests that may have been brightly coloured in life and possibly used, by males in particular, in courtship to attract a mate. + +In 2001, William Abler observed that Albertosaurus tooth serrations resemble a crack in the tooth ending in a round void called an ampulla. Tyrannosaurid teeth were used as holdfasts for pulling flesh off a body, so when a tyrannosaur pulled back on a piece of meat, the tension could cause a purely crack-like serration to spread through the tooth. However, the presence of the ampulla distributed these forces over a larger surface area and lessened the risk of damage to the tooth under strain. The presence of incisions ending in voids has parallels in human engineering. Guitar makers use incisions ending in voids to, as Abler describes, "impart alternating regions of flexibility and rigidity" to wood that they work on. The use of a drill to create an "ampulla" of sorts and prevent the propagation of cracks through material is also used to protect aircraft surfaces. Abler demonstrated that a plexiglass bar with incisions called "kerfs" and drilled holes was more than 25% stronger than one with only regularly placed incisions. Unlike tyrannosaurs, more ancient predators, like phytosaurs and Dimetrodon, had no adaptations to prevent the crack-like serrations of their teeth from spreading when subjected to the forces of feeding. + +Classification and systematics +Albertosaurus is a member of the theropod family Tyrannosauridae, specifically the subfamily Albertosaurinae. Its closest relative is the slightly older Gorgosaurus libratus (sometimes called Albertosaurus libratus; see below). These two species are the only described albertosaurines, but other undescribed species may exist. Thomas Holtz found Appalachiosaurus to be an albertosaurine in 2004, but his more recent unpublished work places it as a basal eotyrannosaurian just outside of Tyrannosauridae, in agreement with other authors. + +The other major subfamily of tyrannosaurids is Tyrannosaurinae, which includes members like Daspletosaurus, Tarbosaurus, and Tyrannosaurus. Compared with the more robust tyrannosaurines, albertosaurines had slender builds, with proportionately smaller skulls and longer bones of the lower legs (tibia) and feet (metatarsals and phalanges). + +Below is the cladogram of Tyrannosauridae based on the phylogenetic analysis conducted by Loewen et al. in 2013. + +Palaeobiology + +Growth pattern + +Most age categories of Albertosaurus are represented in the fossil record. Using bone histology, the age of an individual animal at the time of death can often be determined, allowing growth rates to be estimated and compared with other species. The youngest known Albertosaurus is a two-year-old discovered in the Dry Island bonebed, which would have weighed about 50 kilograms (110 lb) and measured slightly more than long. The specimen from the same quarry is 28 years old, the oldest and largest one known. When specimens of intermediate age and size are plotted on a graph, an S-shaped growth curve results, with the most rapid growth occurring in a four-year period ending around the sixteenth year of life, a pattern also seen in other tyrannosaurids. The growth rate during this phase was per year, based on an adult weighing 1.3 tonnes. Other studies have suggested higher adult weights, which would affect the magnitude of the growth rate, but not the overall pattern. Tyrannosaurids similar in size to Albertosaurus had similar growth rates, although the much larger Tyrannosaurus rex grew at almost five times this rate ( per year) at its peak. The end of the rapid growth phase suggests the onset of sexual maturity in Albertosaurus, although growth continued at a slower rate throughout the animals' lives. Sexual maturation while still actively growing appears to be a shared trait among small and large dinosaurs, as well as in large mammals like humans and elephants. This pattern of relatively early sexual maturation differs strikingly from the pattern in birds, which delay their sexual maturity until after they have finished growing. + +During growth, thickening of the tooth morphology changed so much that, had the association of young and adult skeletons on the Dry Island bonebed not proven that they belonged to the same taxon, the teeth of juveniles would likely have been identified by statistical analysis as those of a different species. + +Life history + +Most known Albertosaurus individuals were aged 14 years or older at the time of death. Juvenile animals are rarely fossilized for several reasons, mainly preservation bias, where the smaller bones of younger animals were less likely to be preserved by fossilization than the larger bones of adults, and collection bias, where smaller fossils are less likely to be noticed by collectors in the field. Young Albertosaurus are relatively large for juvenile animals, but their remains are still rare in the fossil record when compared to adults. It has been suggested that this phenomenon is a consequence of life history, rather than bias, and that fossils of juvenile Albertosaurus are rare because they simply did not die as often as adults did. + +A hypothesis of Albertosaurus life history postulates that hatchlings died in large numbers, but have not been preserved in the fossil record because of their small size and fragile construction. After just two years, juveniles were larger than any other predator in the region, aside from adult Albertosaurus, and more fleet-footed than most of their prey animals. This resulted in a dramatic decrease in their mortality rate and a corresponding rarity of fossil remains. Mortality rates doubled at age twelve, perhaps the result of the physiological demands of the rapid growth phase, and then doubled again with the onset of sexual maturity between the ages of fourteen and sixteen. This elevated mortality rate continued throughout adulthood, perhaps due to the high physiological demands of procreation, including stress and injuries received during intraspecific competition for mates and resources, and the eventual, ever-increasing effects of senescence. The higher mortality rate in adults may explain their more common preservation. Very large animals were rare because few individuals survived long enough to attain such size. High infant mortality rates, followed by reduced mortality among juveniles and a sudden increase in mortality after sexual maturity, with very few animals reaching maximum size, is a pattern observed in many modern large mammals, including elephants, African buffalo, and rhinoceros. The same pattern is also seen in other tyrannosaurids. The comparison with modern animals and other tyrannosaurids lends support to this life history hypothesis, but bias in the fossil record may still play a large role, especially since more than two-thirds of all Albertosaurus specimens are known from the exact same locality. + +Pack behaviour + +The Dry Island bonebed discovered by Barnum Brown and his crew contains the remains of 26 Albertosaurus, the most individuals found in one locality of any large Cretaceous theropod and the second-most of any large theropod dinosaur behind the Allosaurus assemblage at the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry in Utah. The group seems to be composed of one very old adult, eight adults between 17 and 23 years old, seven sub-adults undergoing their rapid growth phases at between 12 and 16 years old, and six juveniles between the ages of 2 and 11 years old that had not yet reached the growth phase. + +The near-absence of herbivore remains and the similar state of preservation common to the many individuals at the Albertosaurus bonebed quarry led Currie to conclude that the locality was not a predator trap, such as the La Brea Tar Pits in California, and that all of the preserved animals died at the same time. Currie claims this as evidence of pack behavior. Other scientists are skeptical, observing that the animals may have been driven together by a drought, flood, or other reasons. + +There is plentiful evidence for gregarious behaviour among herbivorous dinosaurs, including ceratopsians and hadrosaurs. However, only rarely are so many dinosaurian predators found at the same site. Small theropods, like Deinonychus and Coelophysis, have been found in aggregations, as have larger predators, such as Allosaurus and Mapusaurus. There is some evidence of gregarious behaviour in other tyrannosaurids as well, as fragmentary remains of smaller individuals were found alongside "Sue", the Tyrannosaurus mounted in the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, and a bonebed in the Two Medicine Formation of Montana contains at least three specimens of Daspletosaurus preserved alongside several hadrosaurs. These findings may corroborate the evidence for social behaviour in Albertosaurus, although some or all of the above localities may represent temporary or unnatural aggregations. Others have speculated that, instead of social groups, at least some of these finds represent Komodo dragon-like mobbing of carcasses, where aggressive competition leads to some of the predators being killed and even cannibalized. + +Currie has also speculated on the pack-hunting habits of Albertosaurus. The leg proportions of the smaller individuals were comparable to those of ornithomimids, which were probably among the fastest dinosaurs. Younger Albertosaurus were probably equally fleet-footed or at least faster than their prey. Currie hypothesized that the younger members of the pack may have been responsible for driving their prey towards the adults, who were larger and more powerful, but also slower. Juveniles may also have had different lifestyles than adults, filling predator niches between the enormous adults and the smaller contemporaneous theropods, the largest of which were two orders of magnitude smaller than adult Albertosaurus in mass. A similar situation is observed in modern Komodo dragons, with hatchlings beginning life as small insectivores before growing to become the dominant predators on their islands. However, as the preservation of behaviour in the fossil record is exceedingly rare, these ideas cannot readily be tested. In 2010, Currie, though still favouring the hunting pack hypothesis, admitted that the concentration could have been brought about by other causes, such as a slowly rising water level during an extended flood. + +Palaeopathology + +In 2009, researchers hypothesized that smooth-edged holes found in the fossil jaws of tyrannosaurid dinosaurs, such as Albertosaurus, were caused by a parasite similar to Trichomonas gallinae, which infects birds. They suggested that tyrannosaurids transmitted the infection by biting each other and that the infection impaired their ability to eat. + +In 2001, Bruce Rothschild and others published a study examining evidence for stress fractures and tendon avulsions in theropod dinosaurs and the implications for their behavior. They found that only one of the 319 Albertosaurus foot bones checked for stress fractures actually had them and none of the four hand bones did. The scientists found that stress fractures were "significantly" less common in Albertosaurus than in the carnosaur Allosaurus. ROM 807, the holotype of A. arctunguis (now referred to A. sarcophagus), had a deep hole in the iliac blade, although the describer of the species did not recognize this as pathological. The specimen also contains some exostosis on the fourth left metatarsal. In 1970, two of the five Albertosaurus sarcophagus specimens with humeri were reported by Dale Russel as having pathological damage to them. + +In 2010, the health of the Dry Island Albertosaurus assembly was reported upon. Most specimens showed no sign of disease. On three phalanges of the foot, strange bony spurs that consisted of abnormal ossifications of the tendons, so-called enthesophytes, were present, but their cause is unknown. Two ribs and a belly-rib showed signs of breaking and healing. One adult specimen had a left lower jaw showing a puncture wound and both healed and unhealed bite marks. The low number of abnormalities compares favourably with the health condition of a Majungasaurus population of which it was established, in 2007, that 19% of individuals showed bone pathologies. + +Palaeoecology + +Most fossils of Albertosaurus sarcophagus are known from the upper Horseshoe Canyon Formation in Alberta. These younger units of this geologic formation date to the early Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous period, about 70 to 68 million years ago. Immediately below this formation is the Bearpaw Shale, a marine formation representing a section of the Western Interior Seaway. The Inland Sea was receding as the climate cooled and sea levels subsided towards the end of the Cretaceous, thus exposing land that had previously been underwater. It was not a smooth process, however, and the seaway would periodically rise to cover parts of the region throughout Horseshoe Canyon before finally receding altogether in the years after. Due to the changing sea levels, many different environments are represented in the Horseshoe Canyon Formation, including offshore and near-shore marine habitats and coastal habitats, such as lagoons, estuaries, and tidal flats. Numerous coal seams represent ancient peat swamps. Like most of the other vertebrate fossils from the formation, Albertosaurus remains are found in deposits laid down in the deltas and floodplains of large rivers during the later half of Horseshoe Canyon times. + +The fauna of the Horseshoe Canyon Formation is well-known, as vertebrate fossils, including those of dinosaurs, are very common. Sharks, rays, sturgeons, bowfins, gars, and the gar-like Aspidorhynchus made up the fish fauna. Mammals included multituberculates and the marsupial Didelphodon. The saltwater plesiosaur Leurospondylus has been found in marine sediments in the Horseshoe Canyon, while freshwater environments were populated by turtles, Champsosaurus, and crocodilians like Leidyosuchus and Stangerochampsa. Dinosaurs dominate the fauna, especially hadrosaurs, which make up half of all dinosaurs known. These include the genera Edmontosaurus, Saurolophus, and Hypacrosaurus. Ceratopsians and ornithomimids were also very common, together making up another third of the known fauna. Along with much rarer ankylosaurians and pachycephalosaurs, all of these animals would have been prey for a diverse array of carnivorous theropods, including troodontids, dromaeosaurids, and caenagnathids. Intermingled with the Albertosaurus remains of the Dry Island bonebed, the bones of the small theropod Albertonykus were found. Adult Albertosaurus were the apex predators in their environment, with intermediate niches possibly filled by juvenile Albertosaurus. + +See also + Timeline of tyrannosaur research + +References + +External links + + +Late Cretaceous dinosaurs of North America +Tyrannosaurids +Fossil taxa described in 1905 +Taxa named by Henry Fairfield Osborn +Maastrichtian life +Paleontology in Alberta +Maastrichtian genus first appearances +Maastrichtian genus extinctions +Horseshoe Canyon fauna +In computer programming, assembly language (alternatively assembler language or symbolic machine code), often referred to simply as assembly and commonly abbreviated as ASM or asm, is any low-level programming language with a very strong correspondence between the instructions in the language and the architecture's machine code instructions. Assembly language usually has one statement per machine instruction (1:1), but constants, comments, assembler directives, symbolic labels of, e.g., memory locations, registers, and macros are generally also supported. + +The first assembly code in which a language is used to represent machine code instructions is found in Kathleen and Andrew Donald Booth's 1947 work, Coding for A.R.C.. Assembly code is converted into executable machine code by a utility program referred to as an assembler. The term "assembler" is generally attributed to Wilkes, Wheeler and Gill in their 1951 book The Preparation of Programs for an Electronic Digital Computer, who, however, used the term to mean "a program that assembles another program consisting of several sections into a single program". The conversion process is referred to as assembly, as in assembling the source code. The computational step when an assembler is processing a program is called assembly time. + +Because assembly depends on the machine code instructions, each assembly language is specific to a particular computer architecture. + +Sometimes there is more than one assembler for the same architecture, and sometimes an assembler is specific to an operating system or to particular operating systems. Most assembly languages do not provide specific syntax for operating system calls, and most assembly languages can be used universally with any operating system, as the language provides access to all the real capabilities of the processor, upon which all system call mechanisms ultimately rest. In contrast to assembly languages, most high-level programming languages are generally portable across multiple architectures but require interpreting or compiling, much more complicated tasks than assembling. + +In the first decades of computing, it was commonplace for both systems programming and application programming to take place entirely in assembly language. While still irreplaceable for some purposes, the majority of programming is now conducted in higher-level interpreted and compiled languages. In "No Silver Bullet", Fred Brooks summarised the effects of the switch away from assembly language programming: "Surely the most powerful stroke for software productivity, reliability, and simplicity has been the progressive use of high-level languages for programming. Most observers credit that development with at least a factor of five in productivity, and with concomitant gains in reliability, simplicity, and comprehensibility." + +Today, it is typical to use small amounts of assembly language code within larger systems implemented in a higher-level language, for performance reasons or to interact directly with hardware in ways unsupported by the higher-level language. For instance, just under 2% of version 4.9 of the Linux kernel source code is written in assembly; more than 97% is written in C. + +Assembly language syntax +Assembly language uses a mnemonic to represent, e.g., each low-level machine instruction or opcode, each directive, typically also each architectural register, flag, etc. Some of the mnemonics may be built in and some user defined. Many operations require one or more operands in order to form a complete instruction. Most assemblers permit named constants, registers, and labels for program and memory locations, and can calculate expressions for operands. Thus, programmers are freed from tedious repetitive calculations and assembler programs are much more readable than machine code. Depending on the architecture, these elements may also be combined for specific instructions or addressing modes using offsets or other data as well as fixed addresses. Many assemblers offer additional mechanisms to facilitate program development, to control the assembly process, and to aid debugging. + +Some are column oriented, with specific fields in specific columns; this was very common for machines using punched cards in the 1950s and early 1960s. Some assemblers have free-form syntax, with fields separated by delimiters, e.g., punctuation, white space. Some assemblers are hybrid, with, e.g., labels, in a specific column and other fields separated by delimiters; this became more common than column oriented syntax in the 1960s. + +Terminology + A macro assembler is an assembler that includes a macroinstruction facility so that (parameterized) assembly language text can be represented by a name, and that name can be used to insert the expanded text into other code. + Open code refers to any assembler input outside of a macro definition. + A cross assembler (see also cross compiler) is an assembler that is run on a computer or operating system (the host system) of a different type from the system on which the resulting code is to run (the target system). Cross-assembling facilitates the development of programs for systems that do not have the resources to support software development, such as an embedded system or a microcontroller. In such a case, the resulting object code must be transferred to the target system, via read-only memory (ROM, EPROM, etc.), a programmer (when the read-only memory is integrated in the device, as in microcontrollers), or a data link using either an exact bit-by-bit copy of the object code or a text-based representation of that code (such as Intel hex or Motorola S-record). + A high-level assembler is a program that provides language abstractions more often associated with high-level languages, such as advanced control structures (IF/THEN/ELSE, DO CASE, etc.) and high-level abstract data types, including structures/records, unions, classes, and sets. + A microassembler is a program that helps prepare a microprogram, called firmware, to control the low level operation of a computer. + A meta-assembler is "a program that accepts the syntactic and semantic description of an assembly language, and generates an assembler for that language", or that accepts an assembler source file along with such a description and assembles the source file in accordance with that description. "Meta-Symbol" assemblers for the SDS 9 Series and SDS Sigma series of computers are meta-assemblers. Sperry Univac also provided a Meta-Assembler for the UNIVAC 1100/2200 series. + inline assembler (or embedded assembler) is assembler code contained within a high-level language program. This is most often used in systems programs which need direct access to the hardware. + +Key concepts + +Assembler +An assembler program creates object code by translating combinations of mnemonics and syntax for operations and addressing modes into their numerical equivalents. This representation typically includes an operation code ("opcode") as well as other control bits and data. The assembler also calculates constant expressions and resolves symbolic names for memory locations and other entities. The use of symbolic references is a key feature of assemblers, saving tedious calculations and manual address updates after program modifications. Most assemblers also include macro facilities for performing textual substitution – e.g., to generate common short sequences of instructions as inline, instead of called subroutines. + +Some assemblers may also be able to perform some simple types of instruction set-specific optimizations. One concrete example of this may be the ubiquitous x86 assemblers from various vendors. Called jump-sizing, most of them are able to perform jump-instruction replacements (long jumps replaced by short or relative jumps) in any number of passes, on request. Others may even do simple rearrangement or insertion of instructions, such as some assemblers for RISC architectures that can help optimize a sensible instruction scheduling to exploit the CPU pipeline as efficiently as possible. + +Assemblers have been available since the 1950s, as the first step above machine language and before high-level programming languages such as Fortran, Algol, COBOL and Lisp. There have also been several classes of translators and semi-automatic code generators with properties similar to both assembly and high-level languages, with Speedcode as perhaps one of the better-known examples. + +There may be several assemblers with different syntax for a particular CPU or instruction set architecture. For instance, an instruction to add memory data to a register in a x86-family processor might be add eax,[ebx], in original Intel syntax, whereas this would be written addl (%ebx),%eax in the AT&T syntax used by the GNU Assembler. Despite different appearances, different syntactic forms generally generate the same numeric machine code. A single assembler may also have different modes in order to support variations in syntactic forms as well as their exact semantic interpretations (such as FASM-syntax, TASM-syntax, ideal mode, etc., in the special case of x86 assembly programming). + +Number of passes +There are two types of assemblers based on how many passes through the source are needed (how many times the assembler reads the source) to produce the object file. + One-pass assemblers process the source code once. For symbols used before they are defined, the assembler will emit "errata" after the eventual definition, telling the linker or the loader to patch the locations where the as yet undefined symbols had been used. + Multi-pass assemblers create a table with all symbols and their values in the first passes, then use the table in later passes to generate code. +In both cases, the assembler must be able to determine the size of each instruction on the initial passes in order to calculate the addresses of subsequent symbols. This means that if the size of an operation referring to an operand defined later depends on the type or distance of the operand, the assembler will make a pessimistic estimate when first encountering the operation, and if necessary, pad it with one or more +"no-operation" instructions in a later pass or the errata. In an assembler with peephole optimization, addresses may be recalculated between passes to allow replacing pessimistic code with code tailored to the exact distance from the target. + +The original reason for the use of one-pass assemblers was memory size and speed of assembly – often a second pass would require storing the symbol table in memory (to handle forward references), rewinding and rereading the program source on tape, or rereading a deck of cards or punched paper tape. Later computers with much larger memories (especially disc storage), had the space to perform all necessary processing without such re-reading. The advantage of the multi-pass assembler is that the absence of errata makes the linking process (or the program load if the assembler directly produces executable code) faster. + +Example: in the following code snippet, a one-pass assembler would be able to determine the address of the backward reference BKWD when assembling statement S2, but would not be able to determine the address of the forward reference FWD when assembling the branch statement S1; indeed, FWD may be undefined. A two-pass assembler would determine both addresses in pass 1, so they would be known when generating code in pass 2. + B + ... + EQU * + ... + EQU * + ... + B + +High-level assemblers +More sophisticated high-level assemblers provide language abstractions such as: + High-level procedure/function declarations and invocations + Advanced control structures (IF/THEN/ELSE, SWITCH) + High-level abstract data types, including structures/records, unions, classes, and sets + Sophisticated macro processing (although available on ordinary assemblers since the late 1950s for, e.g., the IBM 700 series and IBM 7000 series, and since the 1960s for IBM System/360 (S/360), amongst other machines) + Object-oriented programming features such as classes, objects, abstraction, polymorphism, and inheritance +See Language design below for more details. + +Assembly language +A program written in assembly language consists of a series of mnemonic processor instructions and meta-statements (known variously as declarative operations, directives, pseudo-instructions, pseudo-operations and pseudo-ops), comments and data. Assembly language instructions usually consist of an opcode mnemonic followed by an operand, which might be a list of data, arguments or parameters. Some instructions may be "implied", which means the data upon which the instruction operates is implicitly defined by the instruction itself—such an instruction does not take an operand. The resulting statement is translated by an assembler into machine language instructions that can be loaded into memory and executed. + +For example, the instruction below tells an x86/IA-32 processor to move an immediate 8-bit value into a register. The binary code for this instruction is 10110 followed by a 3-bit identifier for which register to use. The identifier for the AL register is 000, so the following machine code loads the AL register with the data 01100001. + 10110000 01100001 +This binary computer code can be made more human-readable by expressing it in hexadecimal as follows. + B0 61 +Here, B0 means 'Move a copy of the following value into AL, and 61 is a hexadecimal representation of the value 01100001, which is 97 in decimal. Assembly language for the 8086 family provides the mnemonic MOV (an abbreviation of move) for instructions such as this, so the machine code above can be written as follows in assembly language, complete with an explanatory comment if required, after the semicolon. This is much easier to read and to remember. +MOV AL, 61h ; Load AL with 97 decimal (61 hex) + +In some assembly languages (including this one) the same mnemonic, such as MOV, may be used for a family of related instructions for loading, copying and moving data, whether these are immediate values, values in registers, or memory locations pointed to by values in registers or by immediate (a.k.a. direct) addresses. Other assemblers may use separate opcode mnemonics such as L for "move memory to register", ST for "move register to memory", LR for "move register to register", MVI for "move immediate operand to memory", etc. + +If the same mnemonic is used for different instructions, that means that the mnemonic corresponds to several different binary instruction codes, excluding data (e.g. the 61h in this example), depending on the operands that follow the mnemonic. For example, for the x86/IA-32 CPUs, the Intel assembly language syntax MOV AL, AH represents an instruction that moves the contents of register AH into register AL. The hexadecimal form of this instruction is: + 88 E0 +The first byte, 88h, identifies a move between a byte-sized register and either another register or memory, and the second byte, E0h, is encoded (with three bit-fields) to specify that both operands are registers, the source is AH, and the destination is AL. + +In a case like this where the same mnemonic can represent more than one binary instruction, the assembler determines which instruction to generate by examining the operands. In the first example, the operand 61h is a valid hexadecimal numeric constant and is not a valid register name, so only the B0 instruction can be applicable. In the second example, the operand AH is a valid register name and not a valid numeric constant (hexadecimal, decimal, octal, or binary), so only the 88 instruction can be applicable. + +Assembly languages are always designed so that this sort of lack of ambiguity is universally enforced by their syntax. For example, in the Intel x86 assembly language, a hexadecimal constant must start with a numeral digit, so that the hexadecimal number 'A' (equal to decimal ten) would be written as 0Ah or 0AH, not AH, specifically so that it cannot appear to be the name of register AH. (The same rule also prevents ambiguity with the names of registers BH, CH, and DH, as well as with any user-defined symbol that ends with the letter H and otherwise contains only characters that are hexadecimal digits, such as the word "BEACH".) + +Returning to the original example, while the x86 opcode 10110000 (B0) copies an 8-bit value into the AL register, 10110001 (B1) moves it into CL and 10110010 (B2) does so into DL. Assembly language examples for these follow. +MOV AL, 1h ; Load AL with immediate value 1 +MOV CL, 2h ; Load CL with immediate value 2 +MOV DL, 3h ; Load DL with immediate value 3 +The syntax of MOV can also be more complex as the following examples show. +MOV EAX, [EBX] ; Move the 4 bytes in memory at the address contained in EBX into EAX +MOV [ESI+EAX], CL ; Move the contents of CL into the byte at address ESI+EAX +MOV DS, DX ; Move the contents of DX into segment register DS + +In each case, the MOV mnemonic is translated directly into one of the opcodes 88-8C, 8E, A0-A3, B0-BF, C6 or C7 by an assembler, and the programmer normally does not have to know or remember which. + +Transforming assembly language into machine code is the job of an assembler, and the reverse can at least partially be achieved by a disassembler. Unlike high-level languages, there is a one-to-one correspondence between many simple assembly statements and machine language instructions. However, in some cases, an assembler may provide pseudoinstructions (essentially macros) which expand into several machine language instructions to provide commonly needed functionality. For example, for a machine that lacks a "branch if greater or equal" instruction, an assembler may provide a pseudoinstruction that expands to the machine's "set if less than" and "branch if zero (on the result of the set instruction)". Most full-featured assemblers also provide a rich macro language (discussed below) which is used by vendors and programmers to generate more complex code and data sequences. Since the information about pseudoinstructions and macros defined in the assembler environment is not present in the object program, a disassembler cannot reconstruct the macro and pseudoinstruction invocations but can only disassemble the actual machine instructions that the assembler generated from those abstract assembly-language entities. Likewise, since comments in the assembly language source file are ignored by the assembler and have no effect on the object code it generates, a disassembler is always completely unable to recover source comments. + +Each computer architecture has its own machine language. Computers differ in the number and type of operations they support, in the different sizes and numbers of registers, and in the representations of data in storage. While most general-purpose computers are able to carry out essentially the same functionality, the ways they do so differ; the corresponding assembly languages reflect these differences. + +Multiple sets of mnemonics or assembly-language syntax may exist for a single instruction set, typically instantiated in different assembler programs. In these cases, the most popular one is usually that supplied by the CPU manufacturer and used in its documentation. + +Two examples of CPUs that have two different sets of mnemonics are the Intel 8080 family and the Intel 8086/8088. Because Intel claimed copyright on its assembly language mnemonics (on each page of their documentation published in the 1970s and early 1980s, at least), some companies that independently produced CPUs compatible with Intel instruction sets invented their own mnemonics. The Zilog Z80 CPU, an enhancement of the Intel 8080A, supports all the 8080A instructions plus many more; Zilog invented an entirely new assembly language, not only for the new instructions but also for all of the 8080A instructions. For example, where Intel uses the mnemonics MOV, MVI, LDA, STA, LXI, LDAX, STAX, LHLD, and SHLD for various data transfer instructions, the Z80 assembly language uses the mnemonic LD for all of them. A similar case is the NEC V20 and V30 CPUs, enhanced copies of the Intel 8086 and 8088, respectively. Like Zilog with the Z80, NEC invented new mnemonics for all of the 8086 and 8088 instructions, to avoid accusations of infringement of Intel's copyright. (It is questionable whether such copyrights can be valid, and later CPU companies such as AMD and Cyrix republished Intel's x86/IA-32 instruction mnemonics exactly with neither permission nor legal penalty.) It is doubtful whether in practice many people who programmed the V20 and V30 actually wrote in NEC's assembly language rather than Intel's; since any two assembly languages for the same instruction set architecture are isomorphic (somewhat like English and Pig Latin), there is no requirement to use a manufacturer's own published assembly language with that manufacturer's products. + +Language design + +Basic elements +There is a large degree of diversity in the way the authors of assemblers categorize statements and in the nomenclature that they use. In particular, some describe anything other than a machine mnemonic or extended mnemonic as a pseudo-operation (pseudo-op). A typical assembly language consists of 3 types of instruction statements that are used to define program operations: + + Opcode mnemonics + Data definitions + Assembly directives + +Opcode mnemonics and extended mnemonics +Instructions (statements) in assembly language are generally very simple, unlike those in high-level languages. Generally, a mnemonic is a symbolic name for a single executable machine language instruction (an opcode), and there is at least one opcode mnemonic defined for each machine language instruction. Each instruction typically consists of an operation or opcode plus zero or more operands. Most instructions refer to a single value or a pair of values. Operands can be immediate (value coded in the instruction itself), registers specified in the instruction or implied, or the addresses of data located elsewhere in storage. This is determined by the underlying processor architecture: the assembler merely reflects how this architecture works. Extended mnemonics are often used to specify a combination of an opcode with a specific operand, e.g., the System/360 assemblers use as an extended mnemonic for with a mask of 15 and ("NO OPeration" – do nothing for one step) for with a mask of 0. + +Extended mnemonics are often used to support specialized uses of instructions, often for purposes not obvious from the instruction name. For example, many CPU's do not have an explicit NOP instruction, but do have instructions that can be used for the purpose. In 8086 CPUs the instruction is used for , with being a pseudo-opcode to encode the instruction . Some disassemblers recognize this and will decode the instruction as . Similarly, IBM assemblers for System/360 and System/370 use the extended mnemonics and for and with zero masks. For the SPARC architecture, these are known as synthetic instructions. + +Some assemblers also support simple built-in macro-instructions that generate two or more machine instructions. For instance, with some Z80 assemblers the instruction is recognized to generate followed by . These are sometimes known as pseudo-opcodes. + +Mnemonics are arbitrary symbols; in 1985 the IEEE published Standard 694 for a uniform set of mnemonics to be used by all assemblers. The standard has since been withdrawn. + +Data directives +There are instructions used to define data elements to hold data and variables. They define the type of data, the length and the alignment of data. These instructions can also define whether the data is available to outside programs (programs assembled separately) or only to the program in which the data section is defined. Some assemblers classify these as pseudo-ops. + +Assembly directives +Assembly directives, also called pseudo-opcodes, pseudo-operations or pseudo-ops, are commands given to an assembler "directing it to perform operations other than assembling instructions". Directives affect how the assembler operates and "may affect the object code, the symbol table, the listing file, and the values of internal assembler parameters". Sometimes the term pseudo-opcode is reserved for directives that generate object code, such as those that generate data. + +The names of pseudo-ops often start with a dot to distinguish them from machine instructions. Pseudo-ops can make the assembly of the program dependent on parameters input by a programmer, so that one program can be assembled in different ways, perhaps for different applications. Or, a pseudo-op can be used to manipulate presentation of a program to make it easier to read and maintain. Another common use of pseudo-ops is to reserve storage areas for run-time data and optionally initialize their contents to known values. + +Symbolic assemblers let programmers associate arbitrary names (labels or symbols) with memory locations and various constants. Usually, every constant and variable is given a name so instructions can reference those locations by name, thus promoting self-documenting code. In executable code, the name of each subroutine is associated with its entry point, so any calls to a subroutine can use its name. Inside subroutines, GOTO destinations are given labels. Some assemblers support local symbols which are often lexically distinct from normal symbols (e.g., the use of "10$" as a GOTO destination). + +Some assemblers, such as NASM, provide flexible symbol management, letting programmers manage different namespaces, automatically calculate offsets within data structures, and assign labels that refer to literal values or the result of simple computations performed by the assembler. Labels can also be used to initialize constants and variables with relocatable addresses. + +Assembly languages, like most other computer languages, allow comments to be added to program source code that will be ignored during assembly. Judicious commenting is essential in assembly language programs, as the meaning and purpose of a sequence of binary machine instructions can be difficult to determine. The "raw" (uncommented) assembly language generated by compilers or disassemblers is quite difficult to read when changes must be made. + +Macros +Many assemblers support predefined macros, and others support programmer-defined (and repeatedly re-definable) macros involving sequences of text lines in which variables and constants are embedded. The macro definition is most commonly a mixture of assembler statements, e.g., directives, symbolic machine instructions, and templates for assembler statements. This sequence of text lines may include opcodes or directives. Once a macro has been defined its name may be used in place of a mnemonic. When the assembler processes such a statement, it replaces the statement with the text lines associated with that macro, then processes them as if they existed in the source code file (including, in some assemblers, expansion of any macros existing in the replacement text). Macros in this sense date to IBM autocoders of the 1950s. + +Macro assemblers typically have directives to, e.g., define macros, define variables, set variables to the result of an arithmetic, logical or string expression, iterate, conditionally generate code. Some of those directives may be restricted to use within a macro definition, e.g., MEXIT in HLASM, while others may be permitted within open code (outside macro definitions), e.g., AIF and COPY in HLASM. + +In assembly language, the term "macro" represents a more comprehensive concept than it does in some other contexts, such as the pre-processor in the C programming language, where its #define directive typically is used to create short single line macros. Assembler macro instructions, like macros in PL/I and some other languages, can be lengthy "programs" by themselves, executed by interpretation by the assembler during assembly. + +Since macros can have 'short' names but expand to several or indeed many lines of code, they can be used to make assembly language programs appear to be far shorter, requiring fewer lines of source code, as with higher level languages. They can also be used to add higher levels of structure to assembly programs, optionally introduce embedded debugging code via parameters and other similar features. + +Macro assemblers often allow macros to take parameters. Some assemblers include quite sophisticated macro languages, incorporating such high-level language elements as optional parameters, symbolic variables, conditionals, string manipulation, and arithmetic operations, all usable during the execution of a given macro, and allowing macros to save context or exchange information. Thus a macro might generate numerous assembly language instructions or data definitions, based on the macro arguments. This could be used to generate record-style data structures or "unrolled" loops, for example, or could generate entire algorithms based on complex parameters. For instance, a "sort" macro could accept the specification of a complex sort key and generate code crafted for that specific key, not needing the run-time tests that would be required for a general procedure interpreting the specification. An organization using assembly language that has been heavily extended using such a macro suite can be considered to be working in a higher-level language since such programmers are not working with a computer's lowest-level conceptual elements. Underlining this point, macros were used to implement an early virtual machine in SNOBOL4 (1967), which was written in the SNOBOL Implementation Language (SIL), an assembly language for a virtual machine. The target machine would translate this to its native code using a macro assembler. This allowed a high degree of portability for the time. + +Macros were used to customize large scale software systems for specific customers in the mainframe era and were also used by customer personnel to satisfy their employers' needs by making specific versions of manufacturer operating systems. This was done, for example, by systems programmers working with IBM's Conversational Monitor System / Virtual Machine (VM/CMS) and with IBM's "real time transaction processing" add-ons, Customer Information Control System CICS, and ACP/TPF, the airline/financial system that began in the 1970s and still runs many large computer reservation systems (CRS) and credit card systems today. + +It is also possible to use solely the macro processing abilities of an assembler to generate code written in completely different languages, for example, to generate a version of a program in COBOL using a pure macro assembler program containing lines of COBOL code inside assembly time operators instructing the assembler to generate arbitrary code. IBM OS/360 uses macros to perform system generation. The user specifies options by coding a series of assembler macros. Assembling these macros generates a job stream to build the system, including job control language and utility control statements. + +This is because, as was realized in the 1960s, the concept of "macro processing" is independent of the concept of "assembly", the former being in modern terms more word processing, text processing, than generating object code. The concept of macro processing appeared, and appears, in the C programming language, which supports "preprocessor instructions" to set variables, and make conditional tests on their values. Unlike certain previous macro processors inside assemblers, the C preprocessor is not Turing-complete because it lacks the ability to either loop or "go to", the latter allowing programs to loop. + +Despite the power of macro processing, it fell into disuse in many high level languages (major exceptions being C, C++ and PL/I) while remaining a perennial for assemblers. + +Macro parameter substitution is strictly by name: at macro processing time, the value of a parameter is textually substituted for its name. The most famous class of bugs resulting was the use of a parameter that itself was an expression and not a simple name when the macro writer expected a name. In the macro: + + foo: macro a + load a*b + +the intention was that the caller would provide the name of a variable, and the "global" variable or constant b would be used to multiply "a". If foo is called with the parameter a-c, the macro expansion of load a-c*b occurs. To avoid any possible ambiguity, users of macro processors can parenthesize formal parameters inside macro definitions, or callers can parenthesize the input parameters. + +Support for structured programming + +Packages of macros have been written providing structured programming elements to encode execution flow. The earliest example of this approach was in the Concept-14 macro set, originally proposed by Harlan Mills (March 1970), and implemented by Marvin Kessler at IBM's Federal Systems Division, which provided IF/ELSE/ENDIF and similar control flow blocks for OS/360 assembler programs. This was a way to reduce or eliminate the use of GOTO operations in assembly code, one of the main factors causing spaghetti code in assembly language. This approach was widely accepted in the early 1980s (the latter days of large-scale assembly language use). IBM's High Level Assembler Toolkit includes such a macro package. + +A curious design was A-Natural, a "stream-oriented" assembler for 8080/Z80, processors from Whitesmiths Ltd. (developers of the Unix-like Idris operating system, and what was reported to be the first commercial C compiler). The language was classified as an assembler because it worked with raw machine elements such as opcodes, registers, and memory references; but it incorporated an expression syntax to indicate execution order. Parentheses and other special symbols, along with block-oriented structured programming constructs, controlled the sequence of the generated instructions. A-natural was built as the object language of a C compiler, rather than for hand-coding, but its logical syntax won some fans. + +There has been little apparent demand for more sophisticated assemblers since the decline of large-scale assembly language development. In spite of that, they are still being developed and applied in cases where resource constraints or peculiarities in the target system's architecture prevent the effective use of higher-level languages. + +Assemblers with a strong macro engine allow structured programming via macros, such as the switch macro provided with the Masm32 package (this code is a complete program): + +include \masm32\include\masm32rt.inc ; use the Masm32 library + +.code +demomain: + REPEAT 20 + switch rv(nrandom, 9) ; generate a number between 0 and 8 + mov ecx, 7 + case 0 + print "case 0" + case ecx ; in contrast to most other programming languages, + print "case 7" ; the Masm32 switch allows "variable cases" + case 1 .. 3 + .if eax==1 + print "case 1" + .elseif eax==2 + print "case 2" + .else + print "cases 1 to 3: other" + .endif + case 4, 6, 8 + print "cases 4, 6 or 8" + default + mov ebx, 19 ; print 20 stars + .Repeat + print "*" + dec ebx + .Until Sign? ; loop until the sign flag is set + endsw + print chr$(13, 10) + ENDM + exit +end demomain + +Use of assembly language + +Historical perspective +Assembly languages were not available at the time when the stored-program computer was introduced. Kathleen Booth "is credited with inventing assembly language" based on theoretical work she began in 1947, while working on the ARC2 at Birkbeck, University of London following consultation by Andrew Booth (later her husband) with mathematician John von Neumann and physicist Herman Goldstine at the Institute for Advanced Study. + +In late 1948, the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC) had an assembler (named "initial orders") integrated into its bootstrap program. It used one-letter mnemonics developed by David Wheeler, who is credited by the IEEE Computer Society as the creator of the first "assembler". Reports on the EDSAC introduced the term "assembly" for the process of combining fields into an instruction word. SOAP (Symbolic Optimal Assembly Program) was an assembly language for the IBM 650 computer written by Stan Poley in 1955. + +Assembly languages eliminate much of the error-prone, tedious, and time-consuming first-generation programming needed with the earliest computers, freeing programmers from tedium such as remembering numeric codes and calculating addresses. They were once widely used for all sorts of programming. However, by the late 1950s, their use had largely been supplanted by higher-level languages, in the search for improved programming productivity. Today, assembly language is still used for direct hardware manipulation, access to specialized processor instructions, or to address critical performance issues. Typical uses are device drivers, low-level embedded systems, and real-time systems (see ). + +Numerous programs have been written entirely in assembly language. The Burroughs MCP (1961) was the first computer for which an operating system was not developed entirely in assembly language; it was written in Executive Systems Problem Oriented Language (ESPOL), an Algol dialect. Many commercial applications were written in assembly language as well, including a large amount of the IBM mainframe software written by large corporations. COBOL, FORTRAN and some PL/I eventually displaced much of this work, although a number of large organizations retained assembly-language application infrastructures well into the 1990s. + +Assembly language has long been the primary development language for 8-bit home computers such Atari 8-bit family, Apple II, MSX, ZX Spectrum, and Commodore 64. Interpreted BASIC dialects on these systems offer insufficient execution speed and insufficient facilities to take full advantage of the available hardware. These systems have severe resource constraints, idiosyncratic memory and display architectures, and provide limited system services. There are also few high-level language compilers suitable for microcomputer use. Similarly, assembly language is the default choice for 8-bit consoles such as the Atari 2600 and Nintendo Entertainment System. + +Key software for IBM PC compatibles was written in assembly language, such as MS-DOS, Turbo Pascal, and the Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet. As computer speed grew exponentially, assembly language became a tool for speeding up parts of programs, such as the rendering of Doom, rather than a dominant development language. In the 1990s, assembly language was used to get performance out of systems such as the Sega Saturn and as the primary language for arcade hardware based on the TMS34010 integrated CPU/GPU such as Mortal Kombat and NBA Jam. + +Current usage +There has been debate over the usefulness and performance of assembly language relative to high-level languages. + +Although assembly language has specific niche uses where it is important (see below), there are other tools for optimization. + +, the TIOBE index of programming language popularity ranks assembly language at 11, ahead of Visual Basic, for example. Assembler can be used to optimize for speed or optimize for size. In the case of speed optimization, modern optimizing compilers are claimed to render high-level languages into code that can run as fast as hand-written assembly, despite the counter-examples that can be found. The complexity of modern processors and memory sub-systems makes effective optimization increasingly difficult for compilers, as well as for assembly programmers. Moreover, increasing processor performance has meant that most CPUs sit idle most of the time, with delays caused by predictable bottlenecks such as cache misses, I/O operations and paging. This has made raw code execution speed a non-issue for many programmers. + +There are some situations in which developers might choose to use assembly language: + + Writing code for systems with that have limited high-level language options such as the Atari 2600, Commodore 64, and graphing calculators. Programs for these computers of the 1970s and 1980s are often written in the context of demoscene or retrogaming subcultures. + Code that must interact directly with the hardware, for example in device drivers and interrupt handlers. + In an embedded processor or DSP, high-repetition interrupts require the shortest number of cycles per interrupt, such as an interrupt that occurs 1000 or 10000 times a second. + Programs that need to use processor-specific instructions not implemented in a compiler. A common example is the bitwise rotation instruction at the core of many encryption algorithms, as well as querying the parity of a byte or the 4-bit carry of an addition. + A stand-alone executable of compact size is required that must execute without recourse to the run-time components or libraries associated with a high-level language. Examples have included firmware for telephones, automobile fuel and ignition systems, air-conditioning control systems, security systems, and sensors. + Programs with performance-sensitive inner loops, where assembly language provides optimization opportunities that are difficult to achieve in a high-level language. For example, linear algebra with BLAS or discrete cosine transformation (e.g. SIMD assembly version from x264). + Programs that create vectorized functions for programs in higher-level languages such as C. In the higher-level language this is sometimes aided by compiler intrinsic functions which map directly to SIMD mnemonics, but nevertheless result in a one-to-one assembly conversion specific for the given vector processor. + Real-time programs such as simulations, flight navigation systems, and medical equipment. For example, in a fly-by-wire system, telemetry must be interpreted and acted upon within strict time constraints. Such systems must eliminate sources of unpredictable delays, which may be created by (some) interpreted languages, automatic garbage collection, paging operations, or preemptive multitasking. However, some higher-level languages incorporate run-time components and operating system interfaces that can introduce such delays. Choosing assembly or lower-level languages for such systems gives programmers greater visibility and control over processing details. + Cryptographic algorithms that must always take strictly the same time to execute, preventing timing attacks. + Video encoders and decoders such as rav1e (an encoder for AV1) and dav1d (the reference decoder for AV1) contain assembly to leverage AVX2 and ARM Neon instructions when available. + Modify and extend legacy code written for IBM mainframe computers. + Situations where complete control over the environment is required, in extremely high-security situations where nothing can be taken for granted. + Computer viruses, bootloaders, certain device drivers, or other items very close to the hardware or low-level operating system. + Instruction set simulators for monitoring, tracing and debugging where additional overhead is kept to a minimum. + Situations where no high-level language exists, on a new or specialized processor for which no cross compiler is available. + Reverse engineering and modifying program files such as: + existing binaries that may or may not have originally been written in a high-level language, for example when trying to recreate programs for which source code is not available or has been lost, or cracking copy protection of proprietary software. + Video games (also termed ROM hacking), which is possible via several methods. The most widely employed method is altering program code at the assembly language level. + +Assembly language is still taught in most computer science and electronic engineering programs. Although few programmers today regularly work with assembly language as a tool, the underlying concepts remain important. Such fundamental topics as binary arithmetic, memory allocation, stack processing, character set encoding, interrupt processing, and compiler design would be hard to study in detail without a grasp of how a computer operates at the hardware level. Since a computer's behavior is fundamentally defined by its instruction set, the logical way to learn such concepts is to study an assembly language. Most modern computers have similar instruction sets. Therefore, studying a single assembly language is sufficient to learn: I) the basic concepts; II) to recognize situations where the use of assembly language might be appropriate; and III) to see how efficient executable code can be created from high-level languages. + +Typical applications + Assembly language is typically used in a system's boot code, the low-level code that initializes and tests the system hardware prior to booting the operating system and is often stored in ROM. (BIOS on IBM-compatible PC systems and CP/M is an example.) + Assembly language is often used for low-level code, for instance for operating system kernels, which cannot rely on the availability of pre-existing system calls and must indeed implement them for the particular processor architecture on which the system will be running. + Some compilers translate high-level languages into assembly first before fully compiling, allowing the assembly code to be viewed for debugging and optimization purposes. + Some compilers for relatively low-level languages, such as Pascal or C, allow the programmer to embed assembly language directly in the source code (so called inline assembly). Programs using such facilities can then construct abstractions using different assembly language on each hardware platform. The system's portable code can then use these processor-specific components through a uniform interface. + Assembly language is useful in reverse engineering. Many programs are distributed only in machine code form which is straightforward to translate into assembly language by a disassembler, but more difficult to translate into a higher-level language through a decompiler. Tools such as the Interactive Disassembler make extensive use of disassembly for such a purpose. This technique is used by hackers to crack commercial software, and competitors to produce software with similar results from competing companies. + Assembly language is used to enhance speed of execution, especially in early personal computers with limited processing power and RAM. + Assemblers can be used to generate blocks of data, with no high-level language overhead, from formatted and commented source code, to be used by other code. + +See also + + Compiler + Comparison of assemblers + Disassembler + Hexadecimal + Instruction set architecture + Little man computer – an educational computer model with a base-10 assembly language + Nibble + Typed assembly language + +Notes + +References + +Further reading + + + (2+xiv+270+6 pages) + + + + + + + + + + + ("An online book full of helpful ASM info, tutorials and code examples" by the ASM Community, archived at the internet archive.) + +External links + + + Unix Assembly Language Programming + Linux Assembly + PPR: Learning Assembly Language + NASM – The Netwide Assembler BSD-licensed x86 assembler + Assembly Language Programming Examples + Authoring Windows Applications In Assembly Language + Assembly Optimization Tips by Mark Larson + +Assembly language +Computer-related introductions in 1949 +Embedded systems +Low-level programming languages +Programming language implementation +Programming languages created in 1949 +In the ancient Greek myths, ambrosia (, ) is the food or drink of the Greek gods, and is often depicted as conferring longevity or immortality upon whoever consumed it. It was brought to the gods in Olympus by doves and served either by Hebe or by Ganymede at the heavenly feast. + +Ancient art sometimes depicted ambrosia as distributed by the nymph named Ambrosia, a nurse of Dionysus. + +Definition + +Ambrosia is very closely related to the gods' other form of sustenance, nectar. The two terms may not have originally been distinguished; though in Homer's poems nectar is usually the drink and ambrosia the food of the gods; it was with ambrosia that Hera "cleansed all defilement from her lovely flesh", and with ambrosia Athena prepared Penelope in her sleep, so that when she appeared for the final time before her suitors, the effects of years had been stripped away, and they were inflamed with passion at the sight of her. On the other hand, in Alcman, nectar is the food, and in Sappho and Anaxandrides, ambrosia is the drink. A character in Aristophanes' Knights says, "I dreamed the goddess poured ambrosia over your head—out of a ladle." Both descriptions could be correct, as ambrosia could be a liquid considered a food (such as honey). + +The consumption of ambrosia was typically reserved for divine beings. Upon his assumption into immortality on Olympus, Heracles is given ambrosia by Athena, while the hero Tydeus is denied the same thing when the goddess discovers him eating human brains. In one version of the myth of Tantalus, part of Tantalus' crime is that after tasting ambrosia himself, he attempts to steal some to give to other mortals. Those who consume ambrosia typically have ichor, not blood, in their veins. + +Both nectar and ambrosia are fragrant, and may be used as perfume: in the Odyssey Menelaus and his men are disguised as seals in untanned seal skins, "and the deadly smell of the seal skins vexed us sore; but the goddess saved us; she brought ambrosia and put it under our nostrils." Homer speaks of ambrosial raiment, ambrosial locks of hair, even the gods' ambrosial sandals. + +Among later writers, ambrosia has been so often used with generic meanings of "delightful liquid" that such late writers as Athenaeus, Paulus and Dioscurides employ it as a technical term in contexts of cookery, medicine, and botany. Pliny used the term in connection with different plants, as did early herbalists. + +Additionally, some modern ethnomycologists, such as Danny Staples, identify ambrosia with the hallucinogenic mushroom Amanita muscaria: "it was the food of the gods, their ambrosia, and nectar was the pressed sap of its juices", Staples asserts. + +W. H. Roscher thinks that both nectar and ambrosia were kinds of honey, in which case their power of conferring immortality would be due to the supposed healing and cleansing powers of honey, and because fermented honey (mead) preceded wine as an entheogen in the Aegean world; on some Minoan seals, goddesses were represented with bee faces (compare Merope and Melissa). + +Etymology +The concept of an immortality drink is attested in at least two ancient Indo-European languages: Greek and Sanskrit. The Greek ἀμβροσία (ambrosia) is semantically linked to the Sanskrit (amṛta) as both words denote a drink or food that gods use to achieve immortality. The two words appear to be derived from the same Indo-European form *ṇ-mṛ-tós, "un-dying" (n-: negative prefix from which the prefix a- in both Greek and Sanskrit are derived; mṛ: zero grade of *mer-, "to die"; and -to-: adjectival suffix). A semantically similar etymology exists for nectar, the beverage of the gods (Greek: νέκταρ néktar) presumed to be a compound of the PIE roots *nek-, "death", and -*tar, "overcoming". + +Other examples in mythology + + In one version of the story of the birth of Achilles, Thetis anoints the infant with ambrosia and passes the child through the fire to make him immortal but Peleus, appalled, stops her, leaving only his heel unimmortalised (Argonautica 4.869–879). + In the Iliad xvi, Apollo washes the black blood from the corpse of Sarpedon and anoints it with ambrosia, readying it for its dreamlike return to Sarpedon's native Lycia. Similarly, Thetis anoints the corpse of Patroclus in order to preserve it. Ambrosia and nectar are depicted as unguents (xiv. 170; xix. 38). + In the Odyssey, Calypso is described as having "spread a table with ambrosia and set it by Hermes, and mixed the rosy-red nectar." It is ambiguous whether he means the ambrosia itself is rosy-red, or if he is describing a rosy-red nectar Hermes drinks along with the ambrosia. Later, Circe mentions to Odysseus that a flock of doves are the bringers of ambrosia to Olympus. + In the Odyssey (ix.345–359), Polyphemus likens the wine given to him by Odysseus to ambrosia and nectar. + One of the impieties of Tantalus, according to Pindar, was that he offered to his guests the ambrosia of the Deathless Ones, a theft akin to that of Prometheus, Karl Kerenyi noted (in Heroes of the Greeks). + In the Homeric hymn to Aphrodite, the goddess uses "ambrosial bridal oil that she had ready perfumed." + In the story of Eros and Psyche as told by Apuleius, Psyche is given ambrosia upon her completion of the quests set by Aphrodite and her acceptance on Olympus. After she partakes, she and Eros are wed as gods. + In the Aeneid, Aeneas encounters his mother in an alternate, or illusory form. When she became her godly form "Her hair's ambrosia breathed a holy fragrance." + +Ambrosia (nymph) + +Lycurgus, king of Thrace, forbade the cult of Dionysus, whom he drove from Thrace, and attacked the gods' entourage when they celebrated the god. Among them was Ambrosia, who turned herself into a grapevine to hide from his wrath. Dionysus, enraged by the king's actions, drove him mad. In his fit of insanity he killed his son, whom he mistook for a stock of ivy, and then himself. + +See also + Elixir of life, a potion sought by alchemy to produce immortality + Ichor, blood of the Greek gods, related to ambrosia + Iðunn's apples in Norse mythology + Manna, food given by God to the Israelites + Peaches of Immortality in Chinese mythology + Pill of Immortality + Silphium + Soma and Haoma, a ritual drink of importance among the early Vedic peoples and Indo-Iranians. + +References + +Sources + Clay, Jenny Strauss, "Immortal and ageless forever", The Classical Journal 77.2 (December 1981:pp. 112–117). + Ruck, Carl A.P. and Danny Staples, The World of Classical Myth 1994, p. 26 et seq. + Wright, F. A., "The Food of the Gods", The Classical Review 31.1, (February 1917:4–6). + +External links + + +Ancient Greek cuisine +Fictional food and drink +Mount Olympus +Mythological medicines and drugs +Mythological food and drink +Immortality +Thetis +Achilles +Ambrose of Milan (; 4 April 397), venerated as Saint Ambrose, was a theologian and statesman who served as Bishop of Milan from 374 to 397. He expressed himself prominently as a public figure, fiercely promoting Roman Christianity against Arianism and paganism. He left a substantial collection of writings, of which the best known include the ethical commentary De officiis ministrorum (377–391), and the exegetical (386–390). His preachings, his actions and his literary works, in addition to his innovative musical hymnography, made him one of the most influential ecclesiastical figures of the 4th century. + +Ambrose was serving as the Roman governor of Aemilia-Liguria in Milan when he was unexpectedly made Bishop of Milan in 374 by popular acclamation. As bishop, he took a firm position against Arianism and attempted to mediate the conflict between the emperors Theodosius I and Magnus Maximus. Tradition credits Ambrose with developing an antiphonal chant, known as Ambrosian chant, and for composing the "Te Deum" hymn, though modern scholars now reject both of these attributions. Ambrose's authorship on at least four hymns, including the well-known "Veni redemptor gentium", is secure; they form the core of the Ambrosian hymns, which includes others that are sometimes attributed to him. He also had notable influence on Augustine of Hippo (354–430), whom he helped convert to Christianity. + +Western Christianity identified Ambrose as one of its four traditional Doctors of the Church. He is considered a saint by the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, and various Lutheran denominations, and venerated as the patron saint of Milan and beekeepers. + +Background and career + +Legends about Ambrose had spread through the empire long before his biography was written, making it difficult for modern historians to understand his true character and fairly place his behavior within the context of antiquity. Most agree he was the personification of his era. This would make Ambrose a genuinely spiritual man who spoke up and defended his faith against opponents, an aristocrat who retained many of the attitudes and practices of a Roman governor, and also an ascetic who served the poor. + +Early life + +Ambrose was born into a Roman Christian family in the year 339. Ambrose himself wrote that he was 53 years old in his letter number 49, which has been dated to 392. He began life in Augusta Trevorum (modern Trier) the capital of the Roman province of Gallia Belgica in what was then northeastern Gaul and is now in the Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. Scholars disagree on who exactly his father was. His father is sometimes identified with Aurelius Ambrosius, a praetorian prefect of Gaul; but some scholars identify his father as an official named Uranius who received an imperial constitution dated 3 February 339 (addressed in a brief extract from one of the three emperors ruling in 339, Constantine II, Constantius II, or Constans, in the Codex Theodosianus, book XI.5). What does seem certain is that Ambrose was born in Trier and his father was either the praetorian prefect or part of his administration. + +A legend about Ambrose as an infant recounts that a swarm of bees settled on his face while he lay in his cradle, leaving behind a drop of honey. His father is said to have considered this a sign of his future eloquence and honeyed tongue. Bees and beehives often appear in the saint's symbology. + +Ambrose' mother was a woman of intellect and piety. It was probable that she was a member of the Roman family Aurelii Symmachi, which would make Ambrose a cousin of the orator Quintus Aurelius Symmachus. The family had produced one martyr (the virgin Soteris) in its history. Ambrose was the youngest of three children. His siblings were Satyrus, the subject of Ambrose's De excessu fratris Satyri, and Marcellina, who made a profession of virginity sometime between 352 and 355; Pope Liberius himself conferred the veil upon her. Both Ambrose's siblings also became venerated as saints. + +Some time early in the life of Ambrose, his father died. At an unknown later date, his mother fled Trier with her three children, and the family moved to Rome. There Ambrose studied literature, law, and rhetoric. He then followed in his father's footsteps and entered public service. Praetorian Prefect Sextus Claudius Petronius Probus first gave him a place as a judicial councillor, +and then in about 372 made him governor of the province of Liguria and Emilia, with headquarters at Milan. + +Bishop of Milan +In 374 the bishop of Milan, Auxentius, an Arian, died, and the Arians challenged the succession. Ambrose went to the church where the election was to take place to prevent an uproar which seemed probable in this crisis. His address was interrupted by a call, "Ambrose, bishop!", which was taken up by the whole assembly. + +Ambrose, though known to be Nicene Christian in belief, was considered acceptable to Arians due to the charity he had shown concerning their beliefs. At first he energetically refused the office of bishop, for which he felt he was in no way prepared: Ambrose was a relatively new Christian who was not yet baptized nor formally trained in theology. Ambrose fled to a colleague's home, seeking to hide. Upon receiving a letter from the Emperor Gratian praising the appropriateness of Rome appointing individuals worthy of holy positions, Ambrose's host gave him up. Within a week, he was baptized, ordained and duly consecrated as the new bishop of Milan. This was the first time in the West that a member of the upper class of high officials had accepted the office of bishop. + +As bishop, he immediately adopted an ascetic lifestyle, apportioned his money to the poor, donating all of his land, making only provision for his sister Marcellina. This raised his standing even further; it was his popularity with the people that gave him considerable political leverage throughout his career. Upon the unexpected appointment of Ambrose to the episcopate, his brother Satyrus resigned a prefecture in order to move to Milan, where he took over managing the diocese's temporal affairs. + +Arianism +Arius (died 336) was a Christian priest who asserted (around the year 300) that God the Father must have created the Son, making the Son a lesser being who was not eternal and of a different "essence" than God the Father. This Christology, though contrary to tradition, quickly spread through Egypt and Libya and other Roman provinces. Bishops engaged in "wordy warfare", and the people divided into parties, sometimes demonstrating in the streets in support of one side or the other. + +Arianism appealed to many high-level leaders and clergy in both the Western and Eastern empires. Although the western Emperor Gratian () supported orthodoxy, his younger half brother Valentinian II, who became his colleague in the empire in 375, adhered to the Arian creed. Ambrose sought to refute Arian propositions theologically, but Ambrose did not sway the young prince's position. In the East, Emperor Theodosius I () likewise professed the Nicene creed; but there were many adherents of Arianism throughout his dominions, especially among the higher clergy. + +In this state of religious ferment, two leaders of the Arians, bishops Palladius of Ratiaria and Secundianus of Singidunum, confident of numbers, prevailed upon Gratian to call a general council from all parts of the empire. This request appeared so equitable that Gratian complied without hesitation. However, Ambrose feared the consequences and prevailed upon the emperor to have the matter determined by a council of the Western bishops. Accordingly, a synod composed of thirty-two bishops was held at Aquileia in the year 381. Ambrose was elected president and Palladius, being called upon to defend his opinions, declined. A vote was then taken and Palladius and his associate Secundianus were deposed from their episcopal offices. + +Ambrose struggled with Arianism for over half of his term in the episcopate. Ecclesiastical unity was important to the church, but it was no less important to the state, and as a Roman, Ambrose felt strongly about that. Judaism was more attractive for those seeking conversion than previous scholars have realized, and pagans were still in the majority. Conflict over heresies loomed large in an age of religious ferment comparable to the Reformation of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Orthodox Christianity was determining how to define itself as it faced multiple challenges on both a theological and a practical level, and Ambrose exercised crucial influence at a crucial time. + +Imperial relations +Ambrose had good relations and varying levels of influence with the Roman emperors Gratian, Valentinian II and Theodosius I, but exactly how much influence, what kind of influence, and in what ways, when, has been debated in the scholarship of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. + +Gratian +It has long been convention to see Gratian and Ambrose as having a personal friendship, putting Ambrose in the dominant role of spiritual guide, but modern scholars now find this view hard to support from the sources. The ancient Christian historian Sozomen () is the only ancient source that shows Ambrose and Gratian together in any personal interaction. In that interaction, Sozomen relates that, in the last year of Gratian's reign, Ambrose crashed Gratian's private hunting-party in order to appeal on behalf of a pagan senator sentenced to die. After years of acquaintance, this indicates that Ambrose could not take for granted that Gratian would see him, so instead, Ambrose had to resort to such maneuverings to make his appeal. + +Gratian was personally devout long before meeting Ambrose. Modern scholarship indicates Gratian's religious policies do not evidence capitulation to Ambrose more than they evidence Gratian's own views. Gratian's devotion did lead Ambrose to write a large number of books and letters of theology and spiritual commentary dedicated to the emperor. The sheer volume of these writings and the effusive praise they contain has led many historians to conclude that Gratian was dominated by Ambrose, and it was that dominance that produced Gratian's anti-pagan actions. McLynn asserts that effusive praises were common in everyone's correspondence with the crown. He adds that Gratian's actions were determined by the constraints of the system as much as "by his own initiatives or Ambrose's influence". + +McLynn asserts that the largest influence on Gratian's policy was the profound change in political circumstances produced by the Battle of Adrianople in 378. Gratian had become involved in fighting the Goths the previous year and had been on his way to the Balkans when his uncle and the "cream of the eastern army" were destroyed at Adrianople. Gratian withdrew to Sirmium and set up his court there. Several rival groups, including the Arians, sought to secure benefits from the government at Sirmium. In an Arian attempt to undermine Ambrose, whom Gratian had not yet met, Gratian was "warned" that Ambrose' faith was suspect. Gratian took steps to investigate by writing to Ambrose and asking him to explain his faith. + +Ambrose and Gratian first met, after this, in 379 during a visit to Milan. The bishop made a good impression on Gratian and his court, which was pervasively Christian and aristocratic – much like Ambrose himself. The emperor returned to Milan in 380 to find that Ambrose had complied with his request for a statement of his faith – in two volumes – known as De Fide: a statement of orthodoxy and of Ambrose' political theology, as well as a polemic against the Arian heresy – intended for public discussion. The emperor had not asked to be instructed by Ambrose, and in De Fide Ambrose states this clearly. Nor was he asked to refute the Arians. He was asked to justify his own position, but in the end, he did all three. + +It seems that by 382 Ambrose had replaced Ausonius to become a major influence in Gratian's court. Ambrose had not yet become the "conscience" of kings he would in the later 380s, but he did speak out against reinstating the Altar of Victory. In 382, Gratian was the first to divert public financial subsidies that had previously supported Rome's cults. Before that year, contributions in support of the ancient customs had continued unchallenged by the state. + +Valentinian II +The childless Gratian had treated his younger brother Valentinian II like a son. Ambrose, on the other hand, had incurred the lasting enmity of Valentinian II's mother, the Empress Justina, in the winter of 379 by helping to appoint a Nicene bishop in Sirmium. Not long after this, Valentinian II, his mother, and the court left Sirmium; Sirmium had come under Theodosius' control, so they went to Milan which was ruled by Gratian. + +In 383 Gratian was assassinated at Lyon, in Gaul (France) by Magnus Maximus. Valentinian was twelve years old, and the assassination left his mother, Justina, in a position of something akin to a regent. In 385 (or 386) the emperor Valentinian II and his mother Justina, along with a considerable number of clergy, the laity, and the military, professed Arianism. Conflict between Ambrose and Justina soon followed. + +The Arians demanded that Valentinian allocate to them two churches in Milan: one in the city (the Basilica of the Apostles), the other in the suburbs (St Victor's). Ambrose refused to surrender the churches. He answered by saying that "What belongs to God, is outside the emperor's power." In this, Ambrose called on an ancient Roman principle: a temple set apart to a god became the property of that god. Ambrose now applied this ancient legal principle to the Christian churches, seeing the bishop, as a divine representative, as guardian of his god's property. + +Subsequently, while Ambrose was performing the Liturgy of the Hours in the basilica, the prefect of the city came to persuade him to give it up to the Arians. Ambrose again refused. Certain deans (officers of the court) were sent to take possession of the basilica by hanging upon it imperial escutcheons. Instead, soldiers from the ranks the emperor had placed around the basilica began pouring into the church, assuring Ambrose of their fidelity. The escutcheons outside the church were removed, and legend says the children tore them to shreds. + +Ambrose refused to surrender the basilica, and sent sharp answers back to his emperor: "If you demand my person, I am ready to submit: carry me to prison or to death, I will not resist; but I will never betray the church of Christ. I will not call upon the people to succour me; I will die at the foot of the altar rather than desert it. The tumult of the people I will not encourage: but God alone can appease it." By Thursday, the emperor gave in, bitterly responding: "Soon, if Ambrose gives the orders, you will be sending me to him in chains." + +In 386, Justina and Valentinian II received the Arian bishop Auxentius the younger, and Ambrose was again ordered to hand over a church in Milan for Arian usage. Ambrose and his congregation barricaded themselves inside the church, and again the imperial order was rescinded. There was an attempted kidnapping, and another attempt to arrest him and to force him to leave the city. Several accusations were made, but unlike in the case of John Chrysostom, no formal charges were brought. The emperor certainly had the power to do so, and probably did not solely because of Ambrose' popularity with the people and what they might do. + +When Magnus Maximus usurped power in Gaul (383) and was considering a descent upon Italy, Valentinian sent Ambrose to dissuade him, and the embassy was successful (384). A second, later embassy was unsuccessful. Magnus Maximus entered Italy (386-387) and Milan was taken. Justina and her son fled, but Ambrose remained, and had the plate of the church melted for the relief of the poor. + +Theodosius + +While Ambrose was writing De Fide, Theodosius published his own statement of faith in 381 in an edict establishing Nicene Catholic Christianity as the only legitimate version of the Christian faith. There is unanimity amongst scholars that this represents the emperor's own beliefs. The aftermath of the death (378) of Valens (Emperor in the East from 364 to 378) had left many questions for the church unresolved, and Theodosius' edict can be seen as an effort to begin addressing those questions. Theodosius' natural generosity was tempered by his pressing need to establish himself and to publicly assert his personal piety. + +On 28 February 380, Theodosius issued the Edict of Thessalonica, a decree addressed to the city of Constantinople, determining that only Christians who did not support Arian views were catholic and could have their places of worship officially recognized as "churches". The Edict opposed Arianism, and attempted to establish unity in Christianity and to suppress heresy. German ancient historian writes that the Edict of Thessalonica was neither anti-pagan nor antisemitic; it did not declare Christianity to be the official religion of the empire; and it gave no advantage to Christians over other faiths. + +Liebeschuetz and Hill indicate that it was not until after 388, during Theodosius' stay in Milan following the defeat of Maximus in 388, that Theodosius and Ambrose first met. + +After the Massacre of Thessalonica in 390, Theodosius made an act of public penance at Ambrose's behest. Ambrose was away from court during the events at Thessalonica, but after being informed of them, he wrote Theodosius a letter. In that still existing letter, Ambrose presses for a semi-public demonstration of penitence from the emperor, telling him that, as his bishop, he will not give Theodosius communion until it is done. Wolf Liebeschuetz says "Theodosius duly complied and came to church without his imperial robes, until Christmas, when Ambrose openly admitted him to communion". + +Formerly, some scholars credited Ambrose with having an undue influence over the Emperor Theodosius I, from this period forward, prompting him toward major anti-pagan legislation beginning in February of 391. However, this interpretation has been heavily disputed since the late-twentieth century. McLynn argues that Theodosius's anti-pagan legislation was too limited in scope for it to be of interest to the bishop. The fabled encounter at the door of the cathedral in Milan, with Ambrose as the mitred prelate braced, blocking Theodosius from entering, which has sometimes been seen as evidence of Ambrose' dominance over Theodosius, has been debunked by modern historians as "a pious fiction". There was no encounter at the church door. The story is a product of the imagination of Theodoret, a historian of the fifth century who wrote of the events of 390 "using his own ideology to fill the gaps in the historical record". + +The twenty-first century view is that Ambrose was "not a power behind the throne". The two men did not meet each other frequently, and documents that reveal the relationship between the two are less about personal friendship than they are about negotiations between two formidable leaders of the powerful institutions they represent: the Roman State and the Italian Church. Cameron says there is no evidence that Ambrose was a significant influence on the emperor. + +For centuries after his death, Theodosius was regarded as a champion of Christian orthodoxy who decisively stamped out paganism. This view was recorded by Theodoret, who is recognized as an unreliable historian, in the century following their deaths. Theodosius's predecessors Constantine (), Constantius (), and Valens had all been semi-Arians. Therefore, it fell to the orthodox Theodosius to receive from Christian literary tradition most of the credit for the final triumph of Christianity. Modern scholars see this as an interpretation of history by orthodox Christian writers more than as a representation of actual history. The view of a pious Theodosius submitting meekly to the authority of the church, represented by Ambrose, is part of the myth that evolved within a generation of their deaths. + +Later years and death + +In April 393 Arbogast (magister militum of the West) and his puppet Emperor Eugenius marched into Italy to consolidate their position in regard to Theodosius I and his son, Honorius, whom Theodosius had appointed Augustus to govern the western portion of the empire. Arbogast and Eugenius courted Ambrose's support by very obliging letters; but before they arrived at Milan, he had retired to Bologna, where he assisted at the translation of the relics of Saints Vitalis and Agricola. From there he went to Florence, where he remained until Eugenius withdrew from Milan to meet Theodosius in the Battle of the Frigidus in early September 394. + +Soon after acquiring the undisputed possession of the Roman Empire, Theodosius died at Milan in 395, and Ambrose gave the eulogy. Two years later (4 April 397) Ambrose also died. He was succeeded as bishop of Milan by Simplician. Ambrose's body may still be viewed in the church of Saint Ambrogio in Milan, where it has been continuously venerated – along with the bodies identified in his time as being those of Saints Gervase and Protase. + +Ambrose is remembered in the calendar of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church on 7 December, and is also honored in the Church of England and in the Episcopal Church on 7 December. + +Character +In 1960, Neil B. McLynn wrote a complex study of Ambrose that focused on his politics and intended to "demonstrate that Ambrose viewed community as a means to acquire personal political power". Subsequent studies of how Ambrose handled his episcopal responsibilities, his Nicene theology and his dealings with the Arians in his episcopate, his pastoral care, his commitment to community, and his personal asceticism, have mitigated this view. + +All of Ambrose' writings are works of advocacy of his religion, and even his political views and actions were closely related to his religion. He was rarely, if ever, concerned about simply recording what had happened; he did not write to reveal his inner thoughts and struggles; he wrote to advocate for his God. Boniface Ramsey writes that it is difficult "not to posit a deep spirituality in a man" who wrote on the mystical meanings of the Song of Songs and wrote many extraordinary hymns. In spite of an abiding spirituality, Ambrose had a generally straightforward manner, and a practical rather than a speculative tendency in his thinking. De Officiis is a utilitarian guide for his clergy in their daily ministry in the Milanese church rather than "an intellectual tour de force". + +Christian faith in the third century developed the monastic life-style which subsequently spread into the rest of Roman society in a general practice of virginity, voluntary poverty and self-denial for religious reasons. This life-style was embraced by many new converts, including Ambrose, even though they did not become actual monks. + +The bishops of this era had heavy administrative responsibilities, and Ambrose was also sometimes occupied with imperial affairs, but he still fulfilled his primary responsibility to care for the well-being of his flock. He preached and celebrated the Eucharist multiple times a week, sometimes daily, dealt directly with the needs of the poor, as well as widows and orphans, "virgins" (nuns), and his own clergy. He replied to letters personally, practiced hospitality, and made himself available to the people. + +Ambrose had the ability to maintain good relationships with all kinds of people. Local church practices varied quite a bit from place to place at this time, and as the bishop, Ambrose could have required that everyone adapt to his way of doing things. It was his place to keep the churches as united as possible in both ritual and belief. Instead, he respected local customs, adapting himself to whatever practices prevailed, instructing his mother to do the same. As bishop, Ambrose undertook many different labors in an effort to unite people and "provide some stability during a period of religious, political, military, and social upheavals and transformations". + +Brown says Ambrose "had the makings of a faction fighter". While he got along well with most people, Ambrose was not averse to conflict and even opposed emperors with a fearlessness born of self-confidence and a clear conscience and not from any belief he would not suffer for his decisions. Having begun his life as a Roman aristocrat and a governor, it is clear that Ambrose retained the attitude and practice of Roman governance even after becoming a bishop. + +His acts and writings show he was quite clear about the limits of imperial power over the church's internal affairs including doctrine, moral teaching, and governance. He wrote to Valentinian: "In matters of faith bishops are the judges of Christian emperors, not emperors of bishops." (Epistle 21.4). He also famously told to the Arian bishop chosen by the emperor, "The emperor is in the church, not over the church." (Sermon Against Auxentius, 36). Ambrose's acts and writings "created a sort of model which was to remain valid in the Latin West for the relations of the Church and the Christian State. Both powers stood in a basically positive relationship to each other, but the innermost sphere of the Church's life--faith, the moral order, ecclesiastical discipline--remained withdrawn from the State's influence." + +Ambrose was also well aware of the limits of his power. At the height of his career as a venerable, respected and well loved bishop in 396, imperial agents marched into his church, pushing past him and his clergy who had crowded the altar to protect a political suspect from arrest, and dragged the man from the church in front of Ambrose who could do nothing to stop it. "When it came to the central functions of the Roman state, even the vivid Ambrose was a lightweight". + +Attitude towards Jews +The most notorious example of Ambrose's anti-Jewish animus occurred in 388, when Emperor Theodosius I was informed that a crowd of Christians had retaliated against the local Jewish community by destroying the synagogue at Callinicum on the Euphrates. The synagogue most likely existed within the fortified town to service the soldiers serving there, and Theodosius ordered that the offenders be punished, and that the synagogue be rebuilt at the expense of the bishop. Ambrose wrote to the emperor arguing against this, basing his argument on two assertions: first, if the bishop obeyed the order, it would be a betrayal of his faith. Second, if the bishop instead refused to obey the order, he would become a martyr and create a scandal for the emperor. Ambrose, referring to a prior incident where Magnus Maximus issued an edict censuring Christians in Rome for burning down a Jewish synagogue, warned Theodosius that the people in turn exclaimed "the emperor has become a Jew", implying Theodosius would receive the same lack of support from the people. Theodosius rescinded the order concerning the bishop. + +That was not enough for Ambrose, and when Theodosius next visited Milan, Ambrose confronted him directly in an effort to get the emperor to drop the entire case. McLynn argues that Ambrose failed to win the emperor's sympathy and was mostly excluded from his counsels thereafter. The Callinicum affair was not an isolated incident. Generally speaking, Ambrose presents a strong anti-Jewish polemic. While McLynn says this makes Ambrose look like a bully and a bigot to modern eyes, scholars also agree Ambrose' attitudes toward the Jews cannot be fairly summarized in one sentence, as not all of Ambrose' attitudes toward Jews were negative. + +Ambrose makes extensive and appreciative use of the works of Philo of Alexandria – a Jew – in Ambrose' own writings, treating Philo as one of the "faithful interpreters of the Scriptures". Philo was an educated man of some standing and a prolific writer during the era of Second Temple Judaism. Forty–three of his treatises have been preserved, and these by Christians, rather than Jews. Philo became foundational in forming the Christian literary view on the six days of creation through Basil's Hexaemeron. Eusebius, the Cappadocian Fathers, and Didymus the Blind appropriated material from Philo as well, but none did so more than Ambrose. As a result of this extensive referencing, Philo was accepted into the Christian tradition as an honorary Church Father. "In fact, one Byzantine catena even refers to him as 'Bishop Philo'. This high regard for Philo even led to a number of legends of his conversion to Christianity, although this assertion stands on very dubious evidence". Ambrose also used Josephus, Maccabees, and other Jewish sources for his writings. He praises some individual Jews. Ambrose tended to write negatively of all non-Nicenes as if they were all one category. This served a rhetorical purpose in his writing and should be considered accordingly. + +Attitude towards pagans + +Modern scholarship indicates paganism was a lesser concern than heresy for Christians in the fourth and fifth centuries, which was the case for Ambrose, but it was still a concern. Writings of this period were commonly hostile and often contemptuous toward a paganism Christianity saw as already defeated in Heaven. The great Christian writers of the third to fifth centuries attempted to discredit continuation in these "defeated practices" by searching pagan writings, "particularly those of Varro, for everything that could be regarded by Christian standards as repulsive and irreligious." Ambrose' work reflects this triumphalism.{{efn|These Christian sources have had great influence on perceptions of this period by creating an impression of overt and continuous conflict that has been assumed on an empire-wide scale, while archaeological evidence indicates that, outside of violent rhetoric, the decline of paganism away from the imperial court was relatively non-confrontational.{{sfnm|Trombley|2001|1loc=Vol I|1pp=166-168|Trombley|2001|2loc=Vol II|2pp=335-336}}}} + +Throughout his time in the episcopate, Ambrose was active in his opposition to any state sponsorship of pagan cults. When Gratian ordered the Altar of Victory to be removed, it roused the aristocracy of Rome to send a delegation to the emperor to appeal the decision, but Pope Damasus I got the Christian senators to petition against it, and Ambrose blocked the delegates from getting an audience with the emperor. Under Valentinian II, an effort was made to restore the Altar of Victory to its ancient station in the hall of the Roman Senate and to again provide support for the seven Vestal Virgins. The pagan party was led by the refined senator Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, who used all his prodigious skill and artistry to create a marvelous document full of the maiestas populi Romani. Hans Lietzmann writes that "Pagans and Christians alike were stirred by the solemn earnestness of an admonition which called all men of goodwill to the aid of a glorious history, to render all worthy honor to a world that was fading away". + +Then Ambrose wrote Valentinian II a letter asserting that the emperor was a soldier of God, not simply a personal believer but one bound by his position to serve the faith; under no circumstances could he agree to something that would promote the worship of idols. Ambrose held up the example of Valentinian's brother, Gratian, reminding Valentinian that the commandment of God must take precedence. The bishop's intervention led to the failure of Symmachus' appeal. + +In 389, Ambrose intervened against a pagan senatorial delegation who wished to see the emperor Theodosius I. Although Theodosius refused their requests, he was irritated at the bishop's presumption and refused to see him for several days. Later, Ambrose wrote a letter to the emperor Eugenius complaining that some gifts the latter had bestowed on pagan senators could be used for funding pagan cults. + + Theology + +Ambrose joins Augustine, Jerome, and Gregory the Great as one of the Latin Doctors of the Church. Theologians compare him with Hilary, who they claim fell short of Ambrose's administrative excellence but demonstrated greater theological ability. He succeeded as a theologian despite his juridical training and his comparatively late handling of biblical and doctrinal subjects. + +Ambrose's intense episcopal consciousness furthered the growing doctrine of the Church and its sacerdotal ministry, while the prevalent asceticism of the day, continuing the Stoic and Ciceronian training of his youth, enabled him to promulgate a lofty standard of Christian ethics. Thus we have the De officiis ministrorum, De viduis, De virginitate and De paenitentia. + +Ambrose displayed a kind of liturgical flexibility that kept in mind that liturgy was a tool to serve people in worshiping God, and ought not to become a rigid entity that is invariable from place to place. His advice to Augustine of Hippo on this point was to follow local liturgical custom. "When I am at Rome, I fast on a Saturday; when I am at Milan, I do not. Follow the custom of the church where you are." Thus Ambrose refused to be drawn into a false conflict over which particular local church had the "right" liturgical form where there was no substantial problem. His advice has remained in the English language as the saying, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." + +One interpretation of Ambrose's writings is that he was a Christian universalist. It has been noted that Ambrose's theology was significantly influenced by that of Origen and Didymus the Blind, two other early Christian universalists. One quotation cited in favor of this belief is: + +One could interpret this passage as being another example of the mainstream Christian belief in a general resurrection (that both those in Heaven and in Hell undergo a bodily resurrection), or an allusion to purgatory (that some destined for Heaven must first undergo a phase of purification). Several other works by Ambrose clearly teach the mainstream view of salvation. For example: "The Jews feared to believe in manhood taken up into God, and therefore have lost the grace of redemption, because they reject that on which salvation depends." + + Giving to the poor +In De Officiis, the most influential of his surviving works, and one of the most important texts of patristic literature, he reveals his views connecting justice and generosity by asserting these practices are of mutual benefit to the participants. Ambrose draws heavily on Cicero and the biblical book of Genesis for this concept of mutual inter-dependence in society. In the bishop's view, it is concern for one another's interests that binds society together. Ambrose asserts that avarice leads to a breakdown in this mutuality, therefore avarice leads to a breakdown in society itself. In the late 380s, the bishop took the lead in opposing the greed of the elite landowners in Milan by starting a series of pointed sermons directed at his wealthy constituents on the need for the rich to care for the poor. + +Some scholars have suggested Ambrose' endeavors to lead his people as both a Roman and a Christian caused him to strive for what a modern context would describe as a type of communism or socialism. He was not just interested in the church but was also interested in the condition of contemporary Italian society. Ambrose considered the poor not a distinct group of outsiders, but a part of a united people to be stood with in solidarity. Giving to the poor was not to be considered an act of generosity towards the fringes of society but a repayment of resources that God had originally bestowed on everyone equally and that the rich had usurped. He defines justice as providing for the poor whom he describes as our "brothers and sisters" because they "share our common humanity". + +Mariology +The theological treatises of Ambrose of Milan would come to influence Popes Damasus, Siricius and Leo XIII. Central to Ambrose is the virginity of Mary and her role as Mother of God. + The virgin birth is worthy of God. Which human birth would have been more worthy of God, than the one in which the Immaculate Son of God maintained the purity of his immaculate origin while becoming human? + We confess that Christ the Lord was born from a virgin, and therefore we reject the natural order of things. Because she conceived not from a man but from the Holy Spirit. + Christ is not divided but one. If we adore him as the Son of God, we do not deny his birth from the virgin. ... But nobody shall extend this to Mary. Mary was the temple of God but not God in the temple. Therefore, only the one who was in the temple can be worshiped. + Yes, truly blessed for having surpassed the priest (Zechariah). While the priest denied, the Virgin rectified the error. No wonder that the Lord, wishing to rescue the world, began his work with Mary. Thus she, through whom salvation was being prepared for all people, would be the first to receive the promised fruit of salvation. + +Ambrose viewed celibacy as superior to marriage and saw Mary as the model of virginity. + + Augustine +Ambrose studied theology with Simplician, a presbyter of Rome. Using his excellent knowledge of Greek, which was then rare in the West, Ambrose studied the Old Testament and Greek authors like Philo, Origen, Athanasius, and Basil of Caesarea, with whom he was also exchanging letters. Ambrose became a famous rhetorician whom Augustine came to hear speak. Augustine wrote in his Confessions that Faustus, the Manichean rhetorician, was a more impressive speaker, but the content of Ambrose's sermons began to affect Augustine's faith. Augustine sought guidance from Ambrose, and again records in his Confessions that Ambrose was too busy to answer his questions. In a passage of Augustine's Confessions in which Augustine wonders why he could not share his burden with Ambrose, he comments: "Ambrose himself I esteemed a happy man, as the world counted happiness, because great personages held him in honor. Only his celibacy appeared to me a painful burden." Simplician regularly met with Augustine, however, and Augustine writes of Simplician's "fatherly affection" for him. It was Simplician who introduced Augustine to Christian Neoplatonism. It is commonly understood in the Christian Tradition that Ambrose baptized Augustine. + +In this same passage of Augustine's Confessions is an anecdote which bears on the history of reading: + +This is a celebrated passage in modern scholarly discussion. The practice of reading to oneself without vocalizing the text was less common in antiquity than it has since become. In a culture that set a high value on oratory and public performances of all kinds, in which the production of books was very labor-intensive, the majority of the population was illiterate, and where those with the leisure to enjoy literary works also had slaves to read for them, written texts were more likely to be seen as scripts for recitation than as vehicles of silent reflection. However, there is also evidence that silent reading did occur in antiquity and that it was not generally regarded as unusual. + + Music + +Ambrose's writings extend past literature and into music, where he was an important innovator in early Christian hymnography. His contributions include the "successful invention of Christian Latin hymnody", while the hymnologist Guido Maria Dreves designated him to be "The Father of church hymnody". He was not the first to write Latin hymns; the Bishop Hilary of Poitiers had done so a few decades before. However, the hymns of Hilary are thought to have been largely inaccessible because of their complexity and length. Only fragments of hymns from Hilary's Liber hymnorum exist, making those of Ambrose the earliest extant complete Latin hymns. The assembling of Ambrose's surviving oeuvre remains controversial; the almost immediate popularity of his style quickly prompted imitations, some which may even date from his lifetime. There are four hymns for which Ambrose's authorship is universally accepted, as they are attributed to him by Augustine: + + "Aeterne rerum conditor" + "Deus creator omnium" + "Iam surgit hora tertia" + "Veni redemptor gentium" (also known as "Intende qui regis Israel") + +Each of these hymns has eight four-line stanzas and is written in strict iambic tetrameter (that is 4 × 2 syllables, each iamb being two syllables). Marked by dignified simplicity, they served as a fruitful model for later times. Scholars such as the theologian Brian P. Dunkle have argued for the authenticity of as many as thirteen other hymns, while the musicologist James McKinnon contends that further attributions could include "perhaps some ten others". Ambrose is traditionally credited but not actually known to have composed any of the repertory of Ambrosian chant also known simply as "antiphonal chant", a method of chanting where one side of the choir alternately responds to the other. However, Ambrosian chant was named in his honor due to his contributions to the music of the Church. With Augustine, Ambrose was traditionally credited with composing the hymn "Te Deum". Since the hymnologist Guido Maria Dreves in 1893, however, scholars have dismissed this attribution. + + Writings + +Source: All works are originally in Latin. Following each is where it may be found in a standard compilation of Ambrose's writings. His first work was probably De paradiso (377–378). Most have approximate dates, and works such as De Helia et ieiunio (377–391), Expositio evangelii secundum Lucam (377–389) and De officiis ministrorum (377–391) have been given a wide variety of datings by scholars. His best known work is probably De officiis ministrorum (377–391), while the (386–390) and De obitu Theodosii (395) are among his most noted works. In matters of exegesis he is, like Hilary, an Alexandrian. In dogma he follows Basil of Caesarea and other Greek authors, but nevertheless gives a distinctly Western cast to the speculations of which he treats. This is particularly manifest in the weightier emphasis which he lays upon human sin and divine grace, and in the place which he assigns to faith in the individual Christian life. There has been debate on the attribution of some writings: for example De mysteriis is usually attributed to Ambrose, while the related De sacramentis is written in a different style with some silent disagreements, so there is less consensus over its author. + +Exegesis + (; ; ) + (; ; ) + (; ; ) + (; ) + (; ) + (; ; ) + (; ; ) + (; ; ) + (; ; ) + (; ; ) + (; ; ) + (; ) + () + (; ) + (; ; ) + (; ) + (; ) + (; ) + () + (; ; ) + +Moral and ascetical commentary + () + + () + () + () + () + +Dogmatic writings + (; ) + (; ; ) + (; ; ) + ; ) + (; ; ) + + (; ) + () + (fragmented; ) + +Sermons + (; ; ) + (; ; ) + (; ; ) + () + +Others + 91 letters + Ambrosiaster or the "pseudo-Ambrose" is a brief commentary on Paul's Epistles, which was long attributed to Ambrose. + +Editions + +The history of the editions of the works of St. Ambrose is a long one. Erasmus edited them in four tomes at Basle (1527). A valuable Roman edition was brought out in 1580, in five volumes, the result of many years' labour; it was begun by Sixtus V, while yet the monk Felice Peretti. Prefixed to it is the life of St. Ambrose composed by Baronius for his Annales Ecclesiastici. The excellent Maurist edition of du Frische and Le Nourry appeared at Paris (1686–90) in two folio volumes; it was twice reprinted at Venice (1748–51, and 1781–82). The latest edition of the writings of St. Ambrose is that of Paolo Angelo Ballerini (Milan, 1878) in six folio volumes. + + Standard editions + Based on the Maurist edition published in Paris by Jacques Du Frische and Denis-Nicolas Le Nourry. + + Based on the Maurist edition published in Paris by Jacques Du Frische and Denis-Nicolas Le Nourry. + + + +Latin + Hexameron, De paradiso, De Cain, De Noe, De Abraham, De Isaac, De bono mortis – ed. C. Schenkl 1896, Vol. 32/1 (In Latin) + De Iacob, De Ioseph, De patriarchis, De fuga saeculi, De interpellatione Iob et David, De apologia prophetae David, De Helia, De Nabuthae, De Tobia – ed. C. Schenkl 1897, Vol. 32/2 + Expositio evangelii secundum Lucam – ed. C. Schenkl 1902, Vol. 32/4 + Expositio de psalmo CXVIII – ed. M. Petschenig 1913, Vol. 62; editio altera supplementis aucta – cur. M. Zelzer 1999 + Explanatio super psalmos XII – ed. M. Petschenig 1919, Vol. 64; editio altera supplementis aucta – cur. M. Zelzer 1999 + Explanatio symboli, De sacramentis, De mysteriis, De paenitentia, De excessu fratris Satyri, De obitu Valentiniani, De obitu Theodosii – ed. Otto Faller 1955, Vol. 73 + De fide ad Gratianum Augustum – ed. Otto Faller 1962, Vol. 78 + De spiritu sancto, De incarnationis dominicae sacramento – ed. Otto Faller 1964, Vol. 79 + Epistulae et acta – ed. Otto Faller (Vol. 82/1: lib. 1–6, 1968); Otto Faller, M. Zelzer ( Vol. 82/2: lib. 7–9, 1982); M. Zelzer ( Vol. 82/3: lib. 10, epp. extra collectionem. gesta concilii Aquileiensis, 1990); Indices et addenda – comp. M. Zelzer, 1996, Vol. 82/4 + +English + H. Wace and P. Schaff, eds, A Select Library of Nicene and Post–Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, 2nd ser., x [Contains translations of De Officiis (under the title De Officiis Ministrorum), De Spiritu Sancto (On the Holy Spirit), De excessu fratris Satyri (On the Decease of His Brother Satyrus), Exposition of the Christian Faith, De mysteriis (Concerning Mysteries), De paenitentia (Concerning Repentance), De virginibus (Concerning Virgins), De viduis (Concerning Widows), and a selection of letters] + St. Ambrose "On the mysteries" and the treatise on the sacraments by an unknown author, translated by T Thompson, (London: SPCK, 1919) [translations of De sacramentis and De mysteriis; rev edn published 1950] + S. Ambrosii De Nabuthae: a commentary, translated by Martin McGuire, (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America, 1927) [translation of On Naboth] + S. Ambrosii De Helia et ieiunio: a commentary, with an introduction and translation, Sister Mary Joseph Aloysius Buck, (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America, 1929) [translation of On Elijah and Fasting] + S. Ambrosii De Tobia: a commentary, with an introduction and translation, Lois Miles Zucker, (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America, 1933) [translation of On Tobit] + Funeral orations, translated by LP McCauley et al., Fathers of the Church vol 22, (New York: Fathers of the Church, Inc., 1953) [by Gregory of Nazianzus and Ambrose], + Letters, translated by Mary Melchior Beyenka, Fathers of the Church, vol 26, (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America, 1954) [Translation of letters 1–91] + Saint Ambrose on the sacraments, edited by Henry Chadwick, Studies in Eucharistic faith and practice 5, (London: AR Mowbray, 1960) + Hexameron, Paradise, and Cain and Abel, translated by John J Savage, Fathers of the Church, vol 42, (New York: Fathers of the Church, 1961) [contains translations of Hexameron, De paradise, and De Cain et Abel] + Saint Ambrose: theological and dogmatic works, translated by Roy J. Deferrari, Fathers of the church vol 44, (Washington: Catholic University of American Press, 1963) [Contains translations of The mysteries, (De mysteriis) The holy spirit, (De Spiritu Sancto), The sacrament of the incarnation of Our Lord, (De incarnationis Dominicae sacramento), and The sacraments] + Seven exegetical works, translated by Michael McHugh, Fathers of the Church, vol 65, (Washington: Catholic University of America Press, 1972) [Contains translations of Isaac, or the soul, (De Isaac vel anima), Death as a good, (De bono mortis), Jacob and the happy life, (De Iacob et vita beata), Joseph, (De Ioseph), The patriarchs, (De patriarchis), Flight from the world, (De fuga saeculi), The prayer of Job and David, (De interpellatione Iob et David).] + Homilies of Saint Ambrose on Psalm 118, translated by Íde Ní Riain, (Dublin: Halcyon Press, 1998) [translation of part of Explanatio psalmorum] + Ambrosian hymns, translated by Charles Kraszewski, (Lehman, PA: Libella Veritatis, 1999) + Commentary of Saint Ambrose on twelve psalms, translated by Íde M. Ní Riain, (Dublin: Halcyon Press, 2000) [translations of Explanatio psalmorum on Psalms 1, 35–40, 43, 45, 47–49] + On Abraham, translated by Theodosia Tomkinson, (Etna, CA: Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies, 2000) [translation of De Abraham] + De officiis, edited with an introduction, translation, and commentary by Ivor J Davidson, 2 vols, (Oxford: OUP, 2001) [contains both Latin and English text] + Commentary of Saint Ambrose on the Gospel according to Saint Luke, translated by Íde M. Ní Riain, (Dublin: Halcyon, 2001) [translation of Expositio evangelii secundum Lucam] + Ambrose of Milan: political letters and speeches, translated with an introduction and notes by JHWG Liebschuetz, (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2005) [contains Book Ten of Ambrose's Letters, including the oration on the death of Theodosius I; Letters outside the Collection (Epistulae extra collectionem); Letter 30 to Magnus Maximus; The oration on the death of Valentinian II (De obitu Valentiniani).] + +Several of Ambrose's works have recently been published in the bilingual Latin-German Fontes Christiani series (currently edited by Brepols). + + See also + + Ambrosian hymnography + Ambrosian Liturgy and Rite + Saint Ambrose Basilica, Milan + Church Fathers + St. Ambrose Cathedral, Linares + Saint Ambrose University, Davenport, Iowa + Ambrose University College, Calgary, Alberta + + References + Notes + +Citations + + Works cited + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Further reading + + + + + + + + + + External links + + + + + Christian Classics Ethereal Library, Works of Ambrose of Milan + Hymni Ambrosii (Latin) + EarlyChurch.org.uk Extensive bibliography + Ambrose's works: text, concordances and frequency list + Ambrose at The Online Library of Liberty'' + Opera Omnia + Ambrose in Anglo-Saxon England, with Pseudo-Ambrose and Ambrosiaster, Contributions to Sources of Anglo-Saxon Literary Culture, by Dabney Anderson Bankert, Jessica Wegmann, and Charles D. Wright. + "Saint Ambrose" at the Christian Iconography website + Forum about the "ambrosian rite" + "Of St. Ambrose" from the Caxton translation of the Golden Legend + Augustine's account of the penitence of Theodosius +Works of Santo Ambrósio at the National Library of Portugal + +Ambrosius +340s births +Year of birth unknown +397 deaths +4th-century Italian bishops +4th-century Christian saints +4th-century Christian theologians +4th-century Gallo-Roman people +4th-century writers in Latin +4th-century philosophers +4th-century Romans +Bishops of Milan +Burials at the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio +Catholic Mariology +Catholic philosophers +Christian ethicists +Christian hymnwriters +Church Fathers +Doctors of the Church +Gallo-Roman saints +Hymnographers +Insects in religion +Letter writers in Latin +People from Trier +Roman Empire hymnwriters +Ancient Roman poets +Anglican saints +Religion in Lombardy +Ambracia (; , occasionally , Ampracia) was a city of ancient Greece on the site of modern Arta. It was founded by the Corinthians in 625 BC and was situated about from the Ambracian Gulf, on a bend of the navigable river Arachthos (or Aratthus), in the midst of a fertile wooded plain. + +History +Ambracia was founded between 650 and 625 BC by Gorgus, son of the Corinthian tyrant Cypselus, at which time its economy was based on farmlands, fishing, timber for shipbuilding, and the exportation of the produce of Epirus. After the expulsion of Gorgus's son Periander its government developed into a strong democracy. The early policy of Ambracia was determined by its loyalty to Corinth (for which it probably served as an entrepot in the Epirus trade), and its consequent aversion to Corcyra (as Ambracia participated on the Corinthian side at the Battle of Sybota, which took place in 433 BC between the rebellious Corinthian colony of Corcyra (modern Corfu) and Corinth). + +Ambraciot politics featured many frontier disputes with the Amphilochians and Acarnanians. Hence it took a prominent part in the Peloponnesian War until the crushing defeat at Idomene (426), which crippled its resources. + +In the 4th century BC it continued its traditional policy, but in 338 was besieged by Philip II of Macedon. With the assistance of Corinth and Athens, it escaped complete domination at Philip's hands, but was nevertheless forced to accept a Macedonian garrison. In 294 BC, after forty-three years of semi-autonomy under Macedonian suzerainty, Ambracia was given by the son of Cassander to Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, who made it his capital, and adorned it with palace, temples and theatres. In the wars of Philip V of Macedon and the Epirotes against the Aetolian League (220–205) Ambracia passed from one alliance to the other, but ultimately joined the latter confederacy. During the struggle of the Aetolians against Rome, it stood a stubborn siege, including the first known use of poison gas against the Romans' siege tunnels. + +Ambracia was captured and plundered by Marcus Fulvius Nobilior in 189 BC, after which it was declared by Rome a "free city", and gradually fell into insignificance. The foundation by Augustus of Nicopolis, into which the remaining inhabitants were drafted, left the site desolate. In Byzantine times a new settlement took its place under the name of Arta. Some fragmentary walls of large, well-dressed blocks near this latter town indicate the early prosperity of Ambracia. + +Ambraciotes + +Artists +Epigonus of Ambracia, 6th BC musician +Nicocles, auletes +Hippasus, tragic actor +Epicrates of Ambracia, c. 4th BC comic poet + +Athletes +Sophron, Stadion Olympics 432 BC +Tlasimachus, Tethrippon and Synoris Olympics 296 BC +Andromachus, Stadion Olympics 60 BC + +Various +Silanus of Ambracia, 5th BC seer +Cleombrotus of Ambracia, student of Plato + +See also +List of cities in ancient Epirus +List of ancient Greek cities + +References + +Attribution: + +Cities in ancient Epirus +Populated places established in the 7th century BC +Corinthian colonies +Former populated places in Greece +Populated places in ancient Acarnania +Populated places in ancient Epirus +Pyrrhus of Epirus +Archaeological sites in Epirus (region) +Arta, Greece +Amber is fossilized tree resin that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects. Amber is used in jewelry and has been used as a healing agent in folk medicine. + +There are five classes of amber, defined on the basis of their chemical constituents. Because it originates as a soft, sticky tree resin, amber sometimes contains animal and plant material as inclusions. Amber occurring in coal seams is also called resinite, and the term ambrite is applied to that found specifically within New Zealand coal seams. + +Etymology +The English word amber derives from Arabic (ultimately from Middle Persian ambar) via Middle Latin ambar and Middle French ambre. The word referred to what is now known as ambergris (ambre gris or "grey amber"), a solid waxy substance derived from the sperm whale. The word, in its sense of "ambergris," was adopted in Middle English in the 14th century. + +In the Romance languages, the sense of the word was extended to Baltic amber (fossil resin) from as early as the late 13th century. At first called white or yellow amber (ambre jaune), this meaning was adopted in English by the early 15th century. As the use of ambergris waned, this became the main sense of the word. + +The two substances ("yellow amber" and "grey amber") conceivably became associated or confused because they both were found washed up on beaches. Ambergris is less dense than water and floats, whereas amber is too dense to float, though less dense than stone. + +The classical names for amber, Latin electrum and Ancient Greek (ēlektron), are connected to a term ἠλέκτωρ (ēlektōr) meaning "beaming Sun". According to myth, when Phaëton son of Helios (the Sun) was killed, his mourning sisters became poplar trees, and their tears became elektron, amber. The word elektron gave rise to the words electric, electricity, and their relatives because of amber's ability to bear a charge of static electricity. + +Pliny the Elder says that the German name of amber was glæsum, "for which reason the Romans, when Germanicus commanded the fleet in those parts, gave to one of these islands the name of Glæsaria, which by the barbarians was known as Austeravia". This is confirmed by the recorded Old High German word glas and by the Old English word glær for "amber" (compare glass). In Middle Low German, amber was known as berne-, barn-, börnstēn (with etymological roots related to "burn" and to "stone"). The Low German term became dominant also in High German by the 18th century, thus modern German Bernstein besides Dutch barnsteen. In the Baltic languages, the Lithuanian term for amber is gintaras and the Latvian dzintars. These words, and the Slavic jantar and Hungarian gyanta ('resin'), are thought to originate from Phoenician jainitar ("sea-resin"). + +History +Theophrastus discussed amber in the 4th century BCE, as did Pytheas (), whose work "On the Ocean" is lost, but was referenced by Pliny, according to whose Natural History: + +Earlier Pliny says that Pytheas refers to a large island—three days' sail from the Scythian coast and called Balcia by Xenophon of Lampsacus (author of a fanciful travel book in Greek)—as Basilia—a name generally equated with Abalus. Given the presence of amber, the island could have been Heligoland, Zealand, the shores of Gdańsk Bay, the Sambia Peninsula or the Curonian Lagoon, which were historically the richest sources of amber in northern Europe. It is assumed that there were well-established trade routes for amber connecting the Baltic with the Mediterranean (known as the "Amber Road"). Pliny states explicitly that the Germans exported amber to Pannonia, from where the Veneti distributed it onwards. + +The ancient Italic peoples of southern Italy used to work amber; the National Archaeological Museum of Siritide (Museo Archeologico Nazionale della Siritide) at Policoro in the province of Matera (Basilicata) displays important surviving examples. It has been suggested that amber used in antiquity, as at Mycenae and in the prehistory of the Mediterranean, came from deposits in Sicily. + +Pliny also cites the opinion of Nicias ( 470–413 BCE), according to whom amber Besides the fanciful explanations according to which amber is "produced by the Sun", Pliny cites opinions that are well aware of its origin in tree resin, citing the native Latin name of succinum (sūcinum, from sucus "juice"). In Book 37, section XI of Natural History, Pliny wrote: + +He also states that amber is also found in Egypt and India, and he even refers to the electrostatic properties of amber, by saying that "in Syria the women make the whorls of their spindles of this substance, and give it the name of harpax [from ἁρπάζω, "to drag"] from the circumstance that it attracts leaves towards it, chaff, and the light fringe of tissues". + +Amber has a long history of use in China, with the first written record from 200 BCE. Early in the 19th century, the first reports of amber found in North America came from discoveries in New Jersey along Crosswicks Creek near Trenton, at Camden, and near Woodbury. + +Composition and formation +Amber is heterogeneous in composition, but consists of several resinous more or less soluble in alcohol, ether and chloroform, associated with an insoluble bituminous substance. Amber is a macromolecule by free radical polymerization of several precursors in the labdane family, e.g. communic acid, cummunol, and biformene. These labdanes are diterpenes (C20H32) and trienes, equipping the organic skeleton with three alkene groups for polymerization. As amber matures over the years, more polymerization takes place as well as isomerization reactions, crosslinking and cyclization. + +Most amber has a hardness between 2.0 and 2.5 on the Mohs scale, a refractive index of 1.5–1.6, a specific gravity between 1.06 and 1.10, and a melting point of 250–300 °C. Heated above , amber decomposes, yielding an oil of amber, and leaves a black residue which is known as "amber colophony", or "amber pitch"; when dissolved in oil of turpentine or in linseed oil this forms "amber varnish" or "amber lac". + +Molecular polymerization, resulting from high pressures and temperatures produced by overlying sediment, transforms the resin first into copal. Sustained heat and pressure drives off terpenes and results in the formation of amber. For this to happen, the resin must be resistant to decay. Many trees produce resin, but in the majority of cases this deposit is broken down by physical and biological processes. Exposure to sunlight, rain, microorganisms, and extreme temperatures tends to disintegrate the resin. For the resin to survive long enough to become amber, it must be resistant to such forces or be produced under conditions that exclude them. Fossil resins from Europe fall into two categories, the Baltic ambers and another that resembles the Agathis group. Fossil resins from the Americas and Africa are closely related to the modern genus Hymenaea, while Baltic ambers are thought to be fossil resins from plants of the family Sciadopityaceae that once lived in north Europe. +The abnormal development of resin in living trees (succinosis) can result in the formation of amber. Impurities are quite often present, especially when the resin has dropped onto the ground, so the material may be useless except for varnish-making. Such impure amber is called firniss. Such inclusion of other substances can cause the amber to have an unexpected color. Pyrites may give a bluish color. Bony amber owes its cloudy opacity to numerous tiny bubbles inside the resin. However, so-called black amber is really a kind of jet. In darkly clouded and even opaque amber, inclusions can be imaged using high-energy, high-contrast, high-resolution X-rays. + +Extraction and processing + +Distribution and mining + +Amber is globally distributed, mainly in rocks of Cretaceous age or younger. Historically, the coast west of Königsberg in Prussia was the world's leading source of amber. The first mentions of amber deposits there date back to the 12th century. Juodkrantė in Lithuania was established in the mid. 19 century as a mining town of amber. About 90% of the world's extractable amber is still located in that area, which was transferred to the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic of the USSR in 1946, becoming the Kaliningrad Oblast. + +Pieces of amber torn from the seafloor are cast up by the waves and collected by hand, dredging, or diving. Elsewhere, amber is mined, both in open works and underground galleries. Then nodules of blue earth have to be removed and an opaque crust must be cleaned off, which can be done in revolving barrels containing sand and water. Erosion removes this crust from sea-worn amber. Dominican amber is mined through bell pitting, which is dangerous because of the risk of tunnel collapse. + +An important source of amber is Kachin State in northern Myanmar, which has been a major source of amber in China for at least 1,800 years. Contemporary mining of this deposit has attracted attention for unsafe working conditions and its role in funding internal conflict in the country. Amber from the Rivne Oblast of Ukraine, referred to as Rivne amber, is mined illegally by organised crime groups, who deforest the surrounding areas and pump water into the sediments to extract the amber, causing severe environmental deterioration. + +Treatment +The Vienna amber factories, which use pale amber to manufacture pipes and other smoking tools, turn it on a lathe and polish it with whitening and water or with rotten stone and oil. The final luster is given by polishing with flannel. + +When gradually heated in an oil bath, amber "becomes soft and flexible. Two pieces of amber may be united by smearing the surfaces with linseed oil, heating them, and then pressing them together while hot. Cloudy amber may be clarified in an oil bath, as the oil fills the numerous pores that cause the turbidity. Small fragments, formerly thrown away or used only for varnish are now used on a large scale in the formation of "ambroid" or "pressed amber". The pieces are carefully heated with exclusion of air and then compressed into a uniform mass by intense hydraulic pressure, the softened amber being forced through holes in a metal plate. The product is extensively used for the production of cheap jewelry and articles for smoking. This pressed amber yields brilliant interference colors in polarized light." + +Amber has often been imitated by other resins like copal and kauri gum, as well as by celluloid and even glass. Baltic amber is sometimes colored artificially but also called "true amber". + +Appearance + +Amber occurs in a range of different colors. As well as the usual yellow-orange-brown that is associated with the color "amber", amber can range from a whitish color through a pale lemon yellow, to brown and almost black. Other uncommon colors include red amber (sometimes known as "cherry amber"), green amber, and even blue amber, which is rare and highly sought after. + +Yellow amber is a hard fossil resin from evergreen trees, and despite the name it can be translucent, yellow, orange, or brown colored. Known to the Iranians by the Pahlavi compound word kah-ruba (from kah "straw" plus rubay "attract, snatch", referring to its electrical properties), which entered Arabic as kahraba' or kahraba (which later became the Arabic word for electricity, كهرباء kahrabā), it too was called amber in Europe (Old French and Middle English ambre). Found along the southern shore of the Baltic Sea, yellow amber reached the Middle East and western Europe via trade. Its coastal acquisition may have been one reason yellow amber came to be designated by the same term as ambergris. Moreover, like ambergris, the resin could be burned as an incense. The resin's most popular use was, however, for ornamentation—easily cut and polished, it could be transformed into beautiful jewelry. Much of the most highly prized amber is transparent, in contrast to the very common cloudy amber and opaque amber. Opaque amber contains numerous minute bubbles. This kind of amber is known as "bony amber". + +Although all Dominican amber is fluorescent, the rarest Dominican amber is blue amber. It turns blue in natural sunlight and any other partially or wholly ultraviolet light source. In long-wave UV light it has a very strong reflection, almost white. Only about is found per year, which makes it valuable and expensive. + +Sometimes amber retains the form of drops and stalactites, just as it exuded from the ducts and receptacles of the injured trees. It is thought that, in addition to exuding onto the surface of the tree, amber resin also originally flowed into hollow cavities or cracks within trees, thereby leading to the development of large lumps of amber of irregular form. + +Classification +Amber can be classified into several forms. Most fundamentally, there are two types of plant resin with the potential for fossilization. Terpenoids, produced by conifers and angiosperms, consist of ring structures formed of isoprene (C5H8) units. Phenolic resins are today only produced by angiosperms, and tend to serve functional uses. The extinct medullosans produced a third type of resin, which is often found as amber within their veins. The composition of resins is highly variable; each species produces a unique blend of chemicals which can be identified by the use of pyrolysis–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The overall chemical and structural composition is used to divide ambers into five classes. There is also a separate classification of amber gemstones, according to the way of production. + +Class I +This class is by far the most abundant. It comprises labdatriene carboxylic acids such as communic or ozic acids. It is further split into three sub-classes. Classes Ia and Ib utilize regular labdanoid diterpenes (e.g. communic acid, communol, biformenes), while Ic uses enantio labdanoids (ozic acid, ozol, enantio biformenes). + +Class Ia includes Succinite (= 'normal' Baltic amber) and Glessite. They have a communic acid base, and they also include much succinic acid. Baltic amber yields on dry distillation succinic acid, the proportion varying from about 3% to 8%, and being greatest in the pale opaque or bony varieties. The aromatic and irritating fumes emitted by burning amber are mainly from this acid. Baltic amber is distinguished by its yield of succinic acid, hence the name succinite. Succinite has a hardness between 2 and 3, which is greater than many other fossil resins. Its specific gravity varies from 1.05 to 1.10. It can be distinguished from other ambers via infrared spectroscopy through a specific carbonyl absorption peak. Infrared spectroscopy can detect the relative age of an amber sample. Succinic acid may not be an original component of amber but rather a degradation product of abietic acid. + +Class Ib ambers are based on communic acid; however, they lack succinic acid. + +Class Ic is mainly based on enantio-labdatrienonic acids, such as ozic and zanzibaric acids. Its most familiar representative is Dominican amber,. which is mostly transparent and often contains a higher number of fossil inclusions. This has enabled the detailed reconstruction of the ecosystem of a long-vanished tropical forest. Resin from the extinct species Hymenaea protera is the source of Dominican amber and probably of most amber found in the tropics. It is not "succinite" but "retinite". + +Class II +These ambers are formed from resins with a sesquiterpenoid base, such as cadinene. + +Class III +These ambers are polystyrenes. + +Class IV +Class IV is something of a catch-all: its ambers are not polymerized, but mainly consist of cedrene-based sesquiterpenoids. + +Class V +Class V resins are considered to be produced by a pine or pine relative. They comprise a mixture of diterpinoid resins and n-alkyl compounds. Their main variety is Highgate copalite. + +Geological record + +The oldest amber recovered dates to the late Carboniferous period (). Its chemical composition makes it difficult to match the amber to its producers – it is most similar to the resins produced by flowering plants; however, there are no flowering plant fossils known from before the Cretaceous, and they were not common until the Late Cretaceous. Amber becomes abundant long after the Carboniferous, in the Early Cretaceous, , when it is found in association with insects. The oldest amber with arthropod inclusions comes from the Late Triassic (late Carnian 230 Ma) of Italy, where four microscopic (0.2–0.1 mm) mites, Triasacarus, Ampezzoa, Minyacarus and Cheirolepidoptus, and a poorly preserved nematoceran fly were found in millimetre-sized droplets of amber. The oldest amber with significant numbers of arthropod inclusions comes from Lebanon. This amber, referred to as Lebanese amber, is roughly 125–135 million years old, is considered of high scientific value, providing evidence of some of the oldest sampled ecosystems. + +In Lebanon, more than 450 outcrops of Lower Cretaceous amber were discovered by Dany Azar, a Lebanese paleontologist and entomologist. Among these outcrops, 20 have yielded biological inclusions comprising the oldest representatives of several recent families of terrestrial arthropods. Even older Jurassic amber has been found recently in Lebanon as well. Many remarkable insects and spiders were recently discovered in the amber of Jordan including the oldest zorapterans, clerid beetles, umenocoleid roaches, and achiliid planthoppers. + +Burmese amber from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar is the only commercially exploited Cretaceous amber. Uranium–lead dating of zircon crystals associated with the deposit have given an estimated depositional age of approximately 99 million years ago. Over 1,300 species have been described from the amber, with over 300 in 2019 alone. + +Baltic amber is found as irregular nodules in marine glauconitic sand, known as blue earth, occurring in Upper Eocene strata of Sambia in Prussia. It appears to have been partly derived from older Eocene deposits and it occurs also as a derivative phase in later formations, such as glacial drift. Relics of an abundant flora occur as inclusions trapped within the amber while the resin was yet fresh, suggesting relations with the flora of eastern Asia and the southern part of North America. Heinrich Göppert named the common amber-yielding pine of the Baltic forests Pinites succiniter, but as the wood does not seem to differ from that of the existing genus it has been also called Pinus succinifera. It is improbable that the production of amber was limited to a single species; and indeed a large number of conifers belonging to different genera are represented in the amber-flora. + +Paleontological significance + +Amber is a unique preservational mode, preserving otherwise unfossilizable parts of organisms; as such it is helpful in the reconstruction of ecosystems as well as organisms; the chemical composition of the resin, however, is of limited utility in reconstructing the phylogenetic affinity of the resin producer. Amber sometimes contains animals or plant matter that became caught in the resin as it was secreted. Insects, spiders and even their webs, annelids, frogs, crustaceans, bacteria and amoebae, marine microfossils, wood, flowers and fruit, hair, feathers and other small organisms have been recovered in Cretaceous ambers (deposited c. ). + +The preservation of prehistoric organisms in amber forms a key plot point in Michael Crichton's 1990 novel Jurassic Park and the 1993 movie adaptation by Steven Spielberg. In the story, scientists are able to extract the preserved blood of dinosaurs from prehistoric mosquitoes trapped in amber, from which they genetically clone living dinosaurs. Scientifically this is as yet impossible, since no amber with fossilized mosquitoes has ever yielded preserved blood. Amber is, however, conducive to preserving DNA, since it dehydrates and thus stabilizes organisms trapped inside. One projection in 1999 estimated that DNA trapped in amber could last up to 100 million years, far beyond most estimates of around 1 million years in the most ideal conditions, although a later 2013 study was unable to extract DNA from insects trapped in much more recent Holocene copal. In 1938, 12-year-old David Attenborough (brother of Richard who played John Hammond in Jurassic Park) was given a piece of amber containing prehistoric creatures from his adoptive sister; it would be the focus of his 2004 BBC documentary The Amber Time Machine. + +Use + +Amber has been used since prehistory (Solutrean) in the manufacture of jewelry and ornaments, and also in folk medicine. + +Jewelry + +Amber has been used as jewelry since the Stone Age, from 13,000 years ago. Amber ornaments have been found in Mycenaean tombs and elsewhere across Europe. To this day it is used in the manufacture of smoking and glassblowing mouthpieces. Amber's place in culture and tradition lends it a tourism value; Palanga Amber Museum is dedicated to the fossilized resin. + +Historical medicinal uses +Amber has long been used in folk medicine for its purported healing properties. Amber and extracts were used from the time of Hippocrates in ancient Greece for a wide variety of treatments through the Middle Ages and up until the early twentieth century. Traditional Chinese medicine uses amber to "tranquilize the mind". + +Amber necklaces are a traditional European remedy for colic or teething pain with purported analgesic properties of succinic acid, although there is no evidence that this is an effective remedy or delivery method. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the FDA have warned strongly against their use, as they present both a choking and a strangulation hazard. + +Scent of amber and amber perfumery + +In ancient China, it was customary to burn amber during large festivities. If amber is heated under the right conditions, oil of amber is produced, and in past times this was combined carefully with nitric acid to create "artificial musk" – a resin with a peculiar musky odor. Although when burned, amber does give off a characteristic "pinewood" fragrance, modern products, such as perfume, do not normally use actual amber because fossilized amber produces very little scent. In perfumery, scents referred to as "amber" are often created and patented to emulate the opulent golden warmth of the fossil. + +The scent of amber was originally derived from emulating the scent of ambergris and/or the plant resin labdanum, but since sperm whales are endangered, the scent of amber is now largely derived from labdanum. The term "amber" is loosely used to describe a scent that is warm, musky, rich and honey-like, and also somewhat earthy. Benzoin is usually part of the recipe. Vanilla and cloves are sometimes used to enhance the aroma. "Amber" perfumes may be created using combinations of labdanum, benzoin resin, copal (a type of tree resin used in incense manufacture), vanilla, Dammara resin and/or synthetic materials. + +In Arab Muslim tradition, popular scents include amber, jasmine, musk and oud (agarwood). + +Imitation substances + +Young resins used as imitations: + Kauri resin from Agathis australis trees in New Zealand. + The copals (subfossil resins). The African and American (Colombia) copals from Leguminosae trees family (genus Hymenaea). Amber of the Dominican or Mexican type (Class I of fossil resins). Copals from Manilia (Indonesia) and from New Zealand from trees of the genus Agathis (family Araucariaceae) + Other fossil resins: burmite in Burma, rumenite in Romania, and simetite in Sicily. + Other natural resins — cellulose or chitin, etc. + +Plastics used as imitations: + Stained glass (inorganic material) and other ceramic materials + Celluloid + Cellulose nitrate (first obtained in 1833) — a product of treatment of cellulose with nitration mixture. + Acetylcellulose (not in the use at present) + Galalith or "artificial horn" (condensation product of casein and formaldehyde), other trade names: Alladinite, Erinoid, Lactoid. + Casein — a conjugated protein forming from the casein precursor – caseinogen. + Resolane (phenolic resins or phenoplasts, not in the use at present) + Bakelite resine (resol, phenolic resins), product from Africa are known under the misleading name "African amber". + Carbamide resins — melamine, formaldehyde and urea-formaldehyde resins. + Epoxy novolac (phenolic resins), unofficial name "antique amber", not in the use at present + Polyesters (Polish amber imitation) with styrene. For example, unsaturated polyester resins (polymals) are produced by Chemical Industrial Works "Organika" in Sarzyna, Poland; estomal are produced by Laminopol firm. Polybern or sticked amber is artificial resins the curled chips are obtained, whereas in the case of amber – small scraps. "African amber" (polyester, synacryl is then probably other name of the same resine) are produced by Reichhold firm; Styresol trade mark or alkid resin (used in Russia, Reichhold, Inc. patent, 1948. + Polyethylene + Epoxy resins + Polystyrene and polystyrene-like polymers (vinyl polymers). + The resins of acrylic type (vinyl polymers), especially polymethyl methacrylate PMMA (trade mark Plexiglass, metaplex). + +See also + Ammolite + List of types of amber + Petrified wood + Pearl + Poly(methyl methacrylate) + Precious coral + +References + +Bibliography + +External links + +Farlang many full text historical references on Amber Theophrastus, George Frederick Kunz, and special on Baltic amber. + IPS Publications on amber inclusions International Paleoentomological Society: Scientific Articles on amber and its inclusions + Webmineral on Amber Physical properties and mineralogical information + Mindat Amber Image and locality information on amber + NY Times 40 million year old extinct bee in Dominican amber + + +Fossil resins +Amorphous solids +Traditional medicine +Amalaric (; Spanish and Portuguese: Amalarico; 502–531) was king of the Visigoths from 522 until his assassination. He was a son of king Alaric II and his first wife Theodegotha, daughter of Theodoric the Great. + +Biography +When Alaric II was killed while fighting Clovis I, king of the Franks, in the Battle of Vouillé (507), his kingdom fell into disarray. "More serious than the destruction of the Gothic army," writes Herwig Wolfram, "than the loss of both Aquitanian provinces and the capital of Toulose, was the death of the king." Alaric had made no provision for a successor, and although he had two sons, one was of age but illegitimate and the other, Amalaric, the offspring of a legal marriage but still a child. Amalaric was carried for safety into Spain, which country and Provence were thenceforth ruled by his maternal grandfather, Theodoric the Great, acting through his vice-regent, an Ostrogothic nobleman named Theudis. The older son, Gesalec, was chosen as king but his reign was disastrous. King Theodoric of the Ostrogoths sent an army, led by his sword-bearer Theudis, against Gesalec, ostensibly on behalf of Amalaric; Gesalec fled to Africa. The Ostrogoths then drove back the Franks and their Burgundian allies, regaining possession of "the south of Novempopulana, Rodez, probably even Albi, and even Toulose". Following the 511 death of Clovis, Theodoric negotiated a peace with Clovis' successors, securing Visigothic control of the southernmost portion of Gaul for the rest of the existence of their kingdom. + +In 522, the young Amalaric was proclaimed king, and four years later, on Theodoric's death, he assumed full royal power, although relinquishing Provence to his cousin Athalaric. His kingdom was faced with a Frankish threat from the north; according to Peter Heather, this was his motivation for marrying Chrotilda, the daughter of Clovis. However, this was not successful, for according to Gregory of Tours, Amalaric pressured her to forsake Orthodoxy and convert to Arian Christianity, at one point beating her until she bled; she sent to her brother Childebert I, king of Paris, a towel stained with her own blood. It is worth noting Ian Wood's advice that although Gregory provides the fullest information for this period, where it touches Merovingian affairs, he often "allowed his religious bias to determine his interpretation of the events." Peter Heather agrees with Wood's implication in this instance: "I doubt that this is the full story, but the effects of Frankish intervention are clear enough." + +Childebert defeated the Visigothic army and took Narbonne. Amalaric fled south to Barcelona, where according to Isidore of Seville, he was assassinated by his own men. According to Peter Heather, Theodoric's former governor Theudis was implicated in Amalaric's murder, "and was certainly its prime beneficiary." As for Chrotilda, in Gregory's words, she died on the journey home "by some ill chance". Childebert had her body brought to Paris where she was buried alongside her father Clovis. + +Notes + +External links + +Further reading +Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Chapter 39 + +502 births +531 deaths +Balt dynasty +Assassinated Gothic people +6th-century murdered monarchs +6th-century Visigothic monarchs +Year of birth unknown +The alphorn or alpenhorn or alpine horn is a labrophone, consisting of a straight several-meter-long wooden natural horn of conical bore, with a wooden cup-shaped mouthpiece. Traditionally the Alphorn was made of one single piece, or two parts at most, of the wood of a red pine tree. Sometimes the trees would bend from the weight of snow in winter, and this caused them to have the larger and bent mouthpiece at their ends. Modern Alphorns are sometimes made from three distinct parts that can be attached together: this is to make them easier to transport by car, or even to carry them by hand, and today they are more frequently made from the wood of a spruce tree or fir tree. The alphorn is used by mountain dwellers in the Swiss Alps. Similar wooden horns were used for communication in most mountainous regions of Europe, from the Alps to the Carpathians. Alphorns are today used as musical instruments. + +History + +For a long time, scholars believed that the alphorn had been derived from the Roman-Etruscan lituus, because of their resemblance in shape, and because of the word liti, meaning Alphorn in the dialect of Obwalden. There is no documented evidence for this theory however, and also the word liti was probably borrowed from 16th–18th century writings in Latin, where the word lituus could describe various wind instruments, such as the horn, the crumhorn, or the cornett. Swiss naturalist Conrad Gesner used the words lituum alpinum for the first known detailed description of the alphorn in his De raris et admirandis herbis in 1555. The oldest known document using the German word Alphorn is a page from a 1527 account book from the former Cistercian abbey of St. Urban near Pfaffnau, mentioning the payment of two Batzen to an itinerant alphorn player from the Valais. + +17th–19th century collections of alpine myths and legends suggest that alphorn-like instruments had frequently been used as signal instruments in village communities in ancient times, sometimes instead of church bells. Surviving artifacts, dating back to as far as around 1400, include wooden labrophones in their stretched form, like the alphorn, or coiled versions, such as the Büchel and the Allgäuisches Waldhorn or Ackerhorn. The alphorn's exact origins remain indeterminate, and the ubiquity of horn-like signal instruments in valleys throughout Europe may indicate a long history of cross influences regarding their construction and usage. + +Construction and qualities + +The alphorn is carved from solid softwood, generally spruce but sometimes pine. In former times, the alphorn maker would find a tree bent at the base in the shape of an alphorn, but modern makers piece the wood together at the base. A cup-shaped mouthpiece carved out of a block of hard wood is added and the instrument is complete. + +An alphorn made at Rigi-Kulm, Schwyz, and now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, measures in length and has a straight tube. The Swiss alphorn varies in shape according to the locality, being curved near the bell in the Bernese Oberland. Michael Praetorius mentions an alphorn-like instrument under the name of Hölzern Trummet (wooden trumpet) in Syntagma Musicum (Wittenberg, 1615–1619; Pl. VIII). + +The alphorn has no lateral openings and therefore gives the pure natural harmonic series of the open pipe. The notes of the natural harmonic series overlap with, but do not exactly correspond to, the notes of the familiar chromatic scale in standard Western equal temperament. Most prominently within the alphorn's range, the 7th and 11th harmonics are particularly noticeable, because they fall between adjacent notes in the chromatic scale. + +Accomplished alphornists often command a range of nearly three octaves, consisting of the 2nd through the 16th notes of the harmonic series. The availability of the higher tones is due in part to the relatively small diameter of the bore of the mouthpiece and tubing in relation to the overall length of the horn. + +The well-known "Ranz des Vaches" (score; audio) is a traditional Swiss melody often heard on the alphorn. The song describes the time of bringing the cows to the high country at milk making time. Rossini introduced the "Ranz des Vaches" into his masterpiece William Tell, along with many other melodies scattered throughout the opera in vocal and instrumental parts that are well-suited to the alphorn. Brahms wrote to Clara Schumann that the inspiration for the dramatic entry of the horn in the introduction to the last movement of his First Symphony was an alphorn melody he heard while vacationing in the Rigi area of Switzerland. For Clara's birthday in 1868 Brahms sent her a greeting that was to be sung with the melody. + +Music for alphorn + +Among music composed for the alphorn: + +Concerto Grosso No. 1 (2013) for four alphorns and orchestra by Georg Friedrich Haas +Sinfonia pastorale for corno pastoriccio in G (alphorn) and string orchestra (1755) by Leopold Mozart +Concerto for alphorn and orchestra (1970) by Jean Daetwyler +Concerto No. 2 for alphorn (with flute, string orchestra and percussion) (1983) by Daetwyler +Dialogue with Nature for alphorn, flute, and orchestra by Daetwyler +Super Alpen King for three alphorns and orchestra by Ghislain Muller (2001) VSP orkestra / Arkady Shilkloper, Renaud Leipp +Concertino rustico (1977) by Ferenc Farkas +Begegnung for three alphorns and concert band, by Kurt Gable. +Säumerweg-Blues (audio played by Kurt Ott) among many compositions by Hans-Jürg Sommer, Alphorn Musik +Messe for alphorn and choir by Franz Schüssele Alphorn-Center + Erbauliche Studie für 12 Alphörner in Abwesenheit von Bergen by Mathias Rüegg (1998) +Wolf Music: Tapio for alphorn and echoing instruments (2003) by R. Murray Schafer +Le Berger fantaisiste for three alphorns and orchestra by Ghislain Muller, Arkady Shilkloper, Renaud Leipp, Serge Haessler, VSP orkestra (2001) +Bob Downes & The Alphorn Brothers (2015) by Bob Downes Open Music (CD rec. 2004) + Concerto for alphorn in F and orchestra by Daniel Schnyder (2004) + Matterhorn (a prelude for alphorn and wind orchestra) by Robert Litton (2013) + Alpine Trail for alphorn and orchestra by Arkady Shilkloper + Lai nair for alphorn and contrabass by John Wolf Brennan (2015) + Der Bergschuh for alphorn and marching band by Daniel Schnyder + Crested Butte Mountain for alphorn and wind band (or brass sextet, strings, or horn septet) by Arkady Shilkloper + Robin for alphorn and wind band (big band) by Arkady Shilkloper + Fanfare for four alphorns by Arkady Shilkloper + +In popular culture +The alphorn is prominently featured in advertisements for Ricola cough drops, which are manufactured in Laufen, Switzerland +Brief scene in Rammstein's "Dicke Titten". + +See also +Bucium, a type of alphorn used by mountain dwellers in Romania +Didgeridoo, an instrument of Aboriginal Australian origins, traditionally made from a hollowed out eucalyptus tree trunk +Erke, a similar instrument of Argentine Northwest +Kuhreihen, a type of melody played on an alphorn +Tiba, wind instrument made of wood or metal that originates in the Grisons canton; it was used by shepherds on alpine meadows in the Alps +Tibetan horn, long trumpet or horn used in Tibetan Buddhist and Mongolian buddhist ceremonies +Trembita, a Ukrainian alpine horn made of wood +Trutruca, wind instrument played mainly amongst the Mapuche people of Chile and Argentina; produces a sound that is loud and severe, with few tonal variations + +References + +Further reading + Bachmann-Geiser, Brigitte, Das Alphorn: Vom Lock- zum Rockinstrument. Paul Haupt, Berne, 1999. + Franz Schüssele, Alphorn und Hirtenhorn in Europa, book and CD with 63 sound samples available at Alphorn-Center, + +External links + + Third Annual North American Alphorn Retreat + Alphorn in concert Concert and composition contest taking place annually in Oensingen, Canton Solothurn, Switzerland + International Alphorn Festival at Nendaz, Canton Valais, Switzerland + VSP orkestra & Arkady Shilkloper alphorn jazz & improvisations, composer / arranger : Ghislain Muller, Arkady Shilkloper, Pascal Beck + +National symbols of Switzerland +Swiss musical instruments +Natural horns and trumpets +An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by possessing an army aviation component. Within a national military force, the word army may also mean a field army. + +In some countries, such as France and China, the term "army", especially in its plural form "armies", has the broader meaning of armed forces as a whole, while retaining the colloquial sense of land forces. To differentiate the colloquial army from the formal concept of military force, the term is qualified, for example in France the land force is called , meaning Land Army, and the air and space force is called , meaning Air and Space Army. The naval force, although not using the term "army", is also included in the broad sense of the term "armies" — thus the French Navy is an integral component of the collective French Armies (French Armed Forces) under the Ministry of the Armies. A similar pattern is seen in China, with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) being the overall military, the land force being the PLA Ground Force, and so forth for the PLA Air Force, the PLA Navy, and other branches. + +By convention, irregular military is understood in contrast to regular armies which grew slowly from personal bodyguards or elite militia. Regular in this case refers to standardized doctrines, uniforms, organizations, etc. Regular military can also refer to full-time status (standing army), versus reserve or part-time personnel. Other distinctions may separate statutory forces (established under laws such as the National Defence Act), from de facto "non-statutory" forces such as some guerrilla and revolutionary armies. Armies may also be expeditionary (designed for overseas or international deployment) or fencible (designed for – or restricted to – homeland defence). + +Structure +Armies are always divided into various specialties, according to the mission, role, and training of individual units, and sometimes individual soldiers within a unit. + +Some of the groupings common to all armies include the following: +Infantry +Armoured corps +Artillery corps +Signal corps +Special forces +Military police +Medical corps + +History + +India +India's armies were among the first in the world. In the first recorded battle, the Battle of the Ten Kings, a Hindu Aryan king named Sudas defeated an alliance of ten kings and their supportive chieftains. During the Iron Age, the Maurya and Nanda Empires had the largest armies in the world, the peak being approximately over 600,000 Infantry, 30,000 Cavalry, 8,000 War-Chariots and 9,000 War Elephants not including tributary state allies. In the Gupta age, large armies of longbowmen were recruited to fight off invading horse archer armies. Elephants, pikemen and cavalry were other featured troops. + +China + +The states of China raised armies for at least 1000 years before the Spring and Autumn Annals. By the Warring States period, the crossbow had been perfected enough to become a military secret, with bronze bolts that could pierce any armor. Thus any political power of a state rested on the armies and their organization. China underwent political consolidation of the states of Han (韓), Wei (魏), Chu (楚), Yan (燕), Zhao (趙) and Qi (齊), until by 221 BCE, Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇帝), the first emperor of the Qin dynasty, attained absolute power. This first emperor of China could command the creation of a Terracotta Army to guard his tomb in the city of Xi'an (西安), as well as a realignment of the Great Wall of China to strengthen his empire against insurrection, invasion and incursion. + +Sun Tzu's The Art of War remains one of China's Seven Military Classics, even though it is two thousand years old. Since no political figure could exist without an army, measures were taken to ensure only the most capable leaders could control the armies. Civil bureaucracies (士大夫) arose to control the productive power of the states, and their military power. + +Sparta + +The Spartan Army was one of the earliest known professional armies. Boys were sent to a barracks at the age of seven or eight to train for becoming a soldier. At the age of thirty, they were released from the barracks and allowed to marry and have a family. After that, men devoted their lives to war until their retirement at the age of 60. The Spartan Army was largely composed of hoplites, equipped with arms and armor nearly identical to each other. Each hoplite bore the Spartan emblem and a scarlet uniform. The main pieces of this armor were a round shield, a spear and a helmet. + +Ancient Rome + +The Roman Army had its origins in the citizen army of the Republic, which was staffed by citizens serving mandatory duty for Rome. Conscription remained the main method through which Rome mustered forces until the end of the Republic. The army eventually became a professional organization largely of citizens, who would served continuously for 25 years before being discharged. + +The Romans were also noted for making use of auxiliary troops, non-Romans who served with the legions and filled roles that the traditional Roman military could not fill effectively, such as light skirmish troops and heavy cavalry. After their service in the army they were made citizens of Rome and then their children were citizens also. They were also given land and money to settle in Rome. In the Late Roman Empire, these auxiliary troops, along with foreign mercenaries, became the core of the Roman Army; moreover, by the time of the Late Roman Empire tribes such as the Visigoths were paid to serve as mercenaries. + +Medieval Europe + +In the earliest Middle Ages it was the obligation of every aristocrat to respond to the call to battle with his own equipment, archers, and infantry. This decentralized system was necessary due to the social order of the time, but could lead to motley forces with variable training, equipment and abilities. The more resources the noble had access to, the better his troops would be. + +Initially, the words "knight" and "noble" were used interchangeably as there was not generally a distinction between them. While the nobility did fight upon horseback, they were also supported by lower class citizens – and mercenaries and criminals – whose only purpose was participating in warfare because, most often than not, they held brief employment during their lord's engagement. As the Middle Ages progressed and feudalism developed in a legitimate social and economic system, knights started to develop into their own class with a minor caveat: they were still in debt to their lord. No longer primarily driven by economic need, the newly established vassal class were, instead, driven by fealty and chivalry. + +As central governments grew in power, a return to the citizen armies of the classical period also began, as central levies of the peasantry began to be the central recruiting tool. England was one of the most centralized states in the Middle Ages, and the armies that fought in the Hundred Years' War were, predominantly, composed of paid professionals. + +In theory, every Englishman had an obligation to serve for forty days. Forty days was not long enough for a campaign, especially one on the continent. + +Thus the scutage was introduced, whereby most Englishmen paid to escape their service and this money was used to create a permanent army. However, almost all high medieval armies in Europe were composed of a great deal of paid core troops, and there was a large mercenary market in Europe from at least the early 12th century. + +As the Middle Ages progressed in Italy, Italian cities began to rely mostly on mercenaries to do their fighting rather than the militias that had dominated the early and high medieval period in this region. These would be groups of career soldiers who would be paid a set rate. Mercenaries tended to be effective soldiers, especially in combination with standing forces, but in Italy they came to dominate the armies of the city states. This made them considerably less reliable than a standing army. Mercenary-on-mercenary warfare in Italy also led to relatively bloodless campaigns which relied as much on maneuver as on battles. + +In 1439 the French legislature, known as the Estates General (French: états généraux), passed laws that restricted military recruitment and training to the king alone. There was a new tax to be raised known as the taille that was to provide funding for a new Royal army. The mercenary companies were given a choice of either joining the Royal army as compagnies d'ordonnance on a permanent basis, or being hunted down and destroyed if they refused. France gained a total standing army of around 6,000 men, which was sent out to gradually eliminate the remaining mercenaries who insisted on operating on their own. The new standing army had a more disciplined and professional approach to warfare than its predecessors. The reforms of the 1440s, eventually led to the French victory at Castillon in 1453, and the conclusion of the Hundred Years' War. By 1450 the companies were divided into the field army, known as the grande ordonnance and the garrison force known as the petite ordonnance. + +Early modern + +First nation states lacked the funds needed to maintain standing forces, so they tended to hire mercenaries to serve in their armies during wartime. Such mercenaries typically formed at the ends of periods of conflict, when men-at-arms were no longer needed by their respective governments. + +The veteran soldiers thus looked for other forms of employment, often becoming mercenaries. Free Companies would often specialize in forms of combat that required longer periods of training that was not available in the form of a mobilized militia. + +As late as the 1650s, most troops were mercenaries. However, after the 17th century, most states invested in better disciplined and more politically reliable permanent troops. For a time mercenaries became important as trainers and administrators, but soon these tasks were also taken by the state. The massive size of these armies required a large supporting force of administrators. + +The newly centralized states were forced to set up vast organized bureaucracies to manage these armies, which some historians argue is the basis of the modern bureaucratic state. The combination of increased taxes and increased centralization of government functions caused a series of revolts across Europe such as the Fronde in France and the English Civil War. + +In many countries, the resolution of this conflict was the rise of absolute monarchy. Only in England and the Netherlands did representative government evolve as an alternative. From the late 17th century, states learned how to finance wars through long term low interest loans from national banking institutions. The first state to master this process was the Dutch Republic. This transformation in the armies of Europe had great social impact. The defense of the state now rested on the commoners, not on the aristocrats. + +However, aristocrats continued to monopolize the officer corps of almost all early modern armies, including their high command. Moreover, popular revolts almost always failed unless they had the support and patronage of the noble or gentry classes. The new armies, because of their vast expense, were also dependent on taxation and the commercial classes who also began to demand a greater role in society. The great commercial powers of the Dutch and English matched much larger states in military might. + +As any man could be quickly trained in the use of a musket, it became far easier to form massive armies. The inaccuracy of the weapons necessitated large groups of massed soldiers. This led to a rapid swelling of the size of armies. For the first time huge masses of the population could enter combat, rather than just the highly skilled professionals. + +It has been argued that the drawing of men from across the nation into an organized corps helped breed national unity and patriotism, and during this period the modern notion of the nation state was born. However, this would only become apparent after the French Revolutionary Wars. At this time, the levée en masse and conscription would become the defining paradigm of modern warfare. + +Before then, however, most national armies were in fact composed of many nationalities. In Spain armies were recruited from all the Spanish European territories including Spain, Italy, Wallonia (Walloon Guards) and Germany. The French recruited some soldiers from Germany, Switzerland as well as from Piedmont. Britain recruited Hessian and Hanovrian troops until the late 18th century. Irish Catholics made careers for themselves in the armies of many Catholic European states. + +Prior to the English Civil War in England, the monarch maintained a personal bodyguard of Yeomen of the Guard and the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms, or "gentlemen pensioners", and a few locally raised companies to garrison important places such as Berwick on Tweed or Portsmouth (or Calais before it was recaptured by France in 1558). + +Troops for foreign expeditions were raised upon an ad hoc basis. Noblemen and professional regular soldiers were commissioned by the monarch to supply troops, raising their quotas by indenture from a variety of sources. On January 26, 1661 Charles II issued the Royal Warrant that created the genesis of what would become the British Army, although the Scottish and English Armies would remain two separate organizations until the unification of England and Scotland in 1707. The small force was represented by only a few regiments. + +After the American Revolutionary War the Continental Army was quickly disbanded as part of the Americans' distrust of standing armies, and irregular state militias became the sole ground army of the United States, with the exception of one battery of artillery guarding West Point's arsenal. Then First American Regiment was established in 1784. However, because of continuing conflict with Native Americans, it was soon realized that it was necessary to field a trained standing army. The first of these, the Legion of the United States, was established in 1791. + +Until 1733 the common soldiers of Prussian Army consisted largely of peasantry recruited or impressed from Brandenburg–Prussia, leading many to flee to neighboring countries. To halt this trend, Frederick William I divided Prussia into regimental cantons. Every youth was required to serve as a soldier in these recruitment districts for three months each year; this met agrarian needs and added extra troops to bolster the regular ranks. + +Russian tsars before Peter I of Russia maintained professional hereditary musketeer corps (streltsy in Russian) that were highly unreliable and undisciplined. In times of war the armed forces were augmented by peasants. Peter I introduced a modern regular army built on German model, but with a new aspect: officers not necessarily from nobility, as talented commoners were given promotions that eventually included a noble title at the attainment of an officer's rank. Conscription of peasants and townspeople was based on quota system, per settlement. Initially it was based on the number of households, later it was based on the population numbers. The term of service in the 18th century was for life. In 1793 it was reduced to 25 years. In 1834 it was reduced to 20 years plus 5 years in reserve and in 1855 to 12 years plus 3 years of reserve. + +The first Ottoman standing army were Janissaries. They replaced forces that mostly comprised tribal warriors (ghazis) whose loyalty and morale could not always be trusted. The first Janissary units were formed from prisoners of war and slaves, probably as a result of the sultan taking his traditional one-fifth share of his army's booty in kind rather than cash. + +From the 1380s onwards, their ranks were filled under the devşirme system, where feudal dues were paid by service to the sultan. The "recruits" were mostly Christian youths, reminiscent of mamluks. + +China organized the Manchu people into the Eight Banner system in the early 17th century. Defected Ming armies formed the Green Standard Army. These troops enlisted voluntarily and for long terms of service. + +Late modern + +Conscription allowed the French Republic to form the Grande Armée, what Napoleon Bonaparte called "the nation in arms", which successfully battled European professional armies. + +Conscription, particularly when the conscripts are being sent to foreign wars that do not directly affect the security of the nation, has historically been highly politically contentious in democracies. + +In developed nations, the increasing emphasis on technological firepower and better-trained fighting forces, make mass conscription unlikely in the foreseeable future. + +Russia, as well as many other nations, retains mainly a conscript army. There is also a very rare citizen army as used in Switzerland (see Military of Switzerland). + +Field army + +A particular army can be named or numbered to distinguish it from military land forces in general. For example, the First United States Army and the Army of Northern Virginia. In the British Army it is normal to spell out the ordinal number of an army (e.g. First Army), whereas lower formations use figures (e.g. 1st Division). + +Armies (as well as army groups and theaters) are large formations which vary significantly between armed forces in size, composition, and scope of responsibility. + +In the Soviet Red Army and the Soviet Air Force, "Armies" could vary in size, but were subordinate to an Army Group-sized "front" in wartime. In peacetime, a Soviet army was usually subordinate to a military district. Viktor Suvorov's Inside the Soviet Army describes how Cold War era Soviet military districts were actually composed of a front headquarters and a military district headquarters co-located for administration and deception ('maskirovika') reasons. + +Formations + +In many countries, especially in Europe or North America, armies are often subdivided as follows: + +See also + Lists of armies + List of armies by country + List of army units called Guards + List of numbered armies + List of countries by number of military and paramilitary personnel + Military organization + Paramilitary + +References + +External links + + + +Types of military forces +The family Alligatoridae of crocodylians includes alligators, caimans and their extinct relatives. + +Phylogeny + +The superfamily Alligatoroidea includes all crocodilians (fossil and extant) that are more closely related to the American alligator than to either the Nile crocodile or the gharial. This is a stem-based definition for alligators, and is more inclusive than the crown group Alligatoridae. As a crown group, Alligatoridae only includes the last common ancestor of all extant (living) alligators, caimans, and their descendants (living or extinct), whereas Alligatoroidea, as a stem-based group, also includes more basal extinct alligator ancestors that are more closely related to living alligators than to crocodiles or gavialids. When considering only living taxa (neontology), this makes Alligatoroidea and Alligatoridae redundant. + +The simplified cladogram below shows Alligatoridae's relationships to other extant (living) crocodilians. + +The below detailed cladogram shows one proposal for the internal relationships within Alligatoridae (although the exact alligatoroid phylogeny is still disputed). + +Evolution +The superfamily Alligatoroidea is thought to have split from the crocodile-gharial lineage in the late Cretaceous, about 87 million years ago. Leidyosuchus of Alberta is the earliest known genus. Fossil alligatoroids have been found throughout Eurasia as land bridges across both the North Atlantic and the Bering Strait have connected North America to Eurasia during the Cretaceous, Paleogene, and Neogene periods. Alligators and caimans split in North America during the early Tertiary or late Cretaceous (about 53 million to about 65 million years ago) and the latter reached South America by the Paleogene, before the closure of the Isthmus of Panama during the Neogene period. The Chinese alligator split from the American alligator about 33 million years ago and likely descended from a lineage that crossed the Bering land bridge during the Neogene. The modern American alligator is well represented in the fossil record of the Pleistocene. The alligator's full mitochondrial genome was sequenced in the 1990s. The full genome, published in 2014, suggests that the alligator evolved much more slowly than mammals and birds. + +True alligators +The lineage including alligators proper (Alligatorinae) occurs in the fluvial deposits of the age of the Upper Chalk in Europe, where they did not die out until the Pliocene age. The true alligators are today represented by two species, A. mississippiensis in the southeastern United States, which can grow to 15.6 ft (4.6 m) and weigh 1000 lbs(453 kg), with unverified sizes of up to 19.2 ft(5.9 m). And the small A. sinensis in the Yangtze River, China, which grows to an average of 5 ft (1.5 m). Their name derives from the Spanish el lagarto, which means "the lizard". + +Caimans + +In Central and South America, the alligator family is represented by six species of the subfamily Caimaninae, which differ from the alligator by the absence of a bony septum between the nostrils, and having ventral armour composed of overlapping bony scutes, each of which is formed of two parts united by a suture. Besides the three species in Caiman, the smooth-fronted caimans in genus Paleosuchus and the black caiman in Melanosuchus are described. Caimans tend to be more agile and crocodile-like in their movements, and have longer, sharper teeth than alligators. + +C. crocodilus, the spectacled caiman, has the widest distribution, from southern Mexico to the northern half of Argentina, and grows to a modest size of about . The largest is the near-threatened Melanosuchus niger, the jacaré-açu or large or black caiman of the Amazon River basin. Black caimans grow to , with the unverified size of up to . The black caiman and American alligator are the only members of the alligator family that pose the same danger to humans as the larger species of the crocodile family. + +Although caimans have not been studied in depth, scientists have learned their mating cycles (previously thought to be spontaneous or year-round) are linked to the rainfall cycles and the river levels, which increases chances of survival for their offspring. + +Taxonomy +† = extinct + + Family Alligatoridae + Subfamily Alligatorinae + Genus Alligator + † Alligator hailensis + † Alligator mcgrewi + † Alligator mefferdi + Alligator mississippiensis, American alligator + † Alligator olseni + † Alligator prenasalis + Alligator sinensis, Chinese alligator + † Alligator thomsoni + Genus † Allognathosuchus + Genus † Arambourgia + Genus † Ceratosuchus + Genus † Chrysochampsa + Genus † Eoalligator + Genus † Hassiacosuchus + Genus † Krabisuchus + Genus † Navajosuchus? + Genus † Procaimanoidea + Genus † Wannaganosuchus + Subfamily Caimaninae + Genus † Acresuchus + Genus † Bottosaurus + Genus Caiman + † Caiman brevirostris + Caiman crocodilus, Spectacled caiman + Caiman latirostris, Broad-snouted caiman + † Caiman lutescans + † Caiman venezuelensis + † Caiman wannlangstoni + Caiman yacare, Yacare caiman + Genus † Centenariosuchus + Genus † Chinatichampsus + Genus † Culebrasuchus + Genus † Eocaiman + Genus † Globidentosuchus + Genus † Gnatusuchus + Genus † Kuttanacaiman + Genus Melanosuchus + † Melanosuchus fisheri + Melanosuchus niger, Black caiman + Genus † Mourasuchus + Genus † Necrosuchus + Genus † Orthogenysuchus + Genus Paleosuchus + Paleosuchus palpebrosus, Cuvier's dwarf caiman + Paleosuchus trigonatus, Smooth-fronted caiman + Genus † Protocaiman + Genus † Purussaurus + Genus † Tsoabichi + +References + +External links +"Crocodilians: Natural History & Conservation" crocodilian.com +"Family Alligatoridae Gray 1844 (alligator)", fossilworks.org. + + +Taxa named by John Edward Gray +Reptile families +Extant Campanian first appearances +Alders are trees comprising the genus Alnus in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus comprises about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few species extending into Central America, as well as the northern and southern Andes. + +Description + +With a few exceptions, alders are deciduous, and the leaves are alternate, simple, and serrated. The flowers are catkins with elongate male catkins on the same plant as shorter female catkins, often before leaves appear; they are mainly wind-pollinated, but also visited by bees to a small extent. These trees differ from the birches (Betula, another genus in the family) in that the female catkins are woody and do not disintegrate at maturity, opening to release the seeds in a similar manner to many conifer cones. + +The largest species are red alder (A. rubra) on the west coast of North America, and black alder (A. glutinosa), native to most of Europe and widely introduced elsewhere, both reaching over . By contrast, the widespread Alnus alnobetula (green alder) is rarely more than a shrub. + +Taxonomy + +Classification + +The genus is divided into three subgenera: + +Subgenus Alnus +Trees with stalked shoot buds, male and female catkins produced in autumn (fall) but stay closed over winter, pollinating in late winter or early spring, about 15–25 species, including: + + Alnus acuminata Kunth – Andean alder, aliso. Mexico, Central and South America. + subsp. acuminata Kunth + subsp. arguta (Schltdl.) Furlow + subsp. glabrata (Fernald) Furlow + Alnus cordata (Loisel.) Duby – Italian alder. Italy, Corsica. + Alnus cremastogyne Burkill – China. + Alnus firma Siebold & Zucc. – Kyūshū Island in Japan + Alnus glutinosa (L.) Gaertn. – black alder. Europe, Central Asia. + subsp. barbata (C.A.Mey.) Yalt. + subsp. glutinosa (L.) Gaertn. + subsp. incisa (Willd.) Regel + subsp. laciniata (Willd.) Regel + Alnus hirsuta (Spach) Rupr. – Manchurian alder. Japan, Korea, Manchuria, Siberia, Russian Far East + + Alnus incana (L.) Moench + subsp. incana (L.) Moench – speckled alder or grey alder. Eurasia, North America + subsp. kolaensis (Orlova) Á.Löve & D.Löve + subsp. rugosa (Du Roi) R.T.Clausen + subsp. tenuifolia (Nutt.) Breitung + Alnus japonica (Thunb.) Steud. – Japanese alder, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, eastern China, Russian Far East + Alnus jorullensis Kunth – Mexican alder. Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras. + subsp. lutea Furlow + subsp. jorullensis Kunth + Alnus lusitanica Vít, Douda, & Mandák - Spain, Portugal, Morocco + Alnus matsumurae Callier – Honshū Island in Japan + Alnus nepalensis D.Don – Nepalese alder. Himalayas, Tibet, Yunnan, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand. + Alnus oblongifolia Torr. – Arizona alder. Arizona, New Mexico, Sonora, Chihuahua + Alnus orientalis Decne. – Oriental alder. Southern Turkey, northwest Syria, Cyprus, Lebanon, Iran + Alnus rhombifolia Nutt. – white alder. California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana + Alnus rohlenae Vít, Douda, & Mandák - Western Balkans + Alnus rubra Bong. – red alder. Alaska, Yukon, British Columbia, California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana. + + Alnus serrulata (Aiton) Willd. – hazel alder, tag alder or smooth alder. Eastern North America + Alnus subcordata C.A.Mey. – Caucasian alder. Caucasus, Iran + Alnus tenuifolia Nutt. – thinleaf or mountain alder. Northwestern North America + Alnus trabeculosa Hand.-Mazz. – China, Japan + +Subgenus Clethropsis +Trees or shrubs with stalked shoot buds, male and female catkins produced in autumn (fall) and expanding and pollinating then, three species: + Alnus formosana (Burkill) Makino – Formosan alder. Taiwan + Alnus maritima (Marshall) Muhl. ex Nutt. – seaside alder. United States (Georgia, Delaware, Maryland, Oklahoma). + Alnus nitida (Spach) Endl. – Himalayan alder. Western Himalaya, Pakistan, India, Nepal. + +Subgenus Alnobetula +Shrubs with shoot buds not stalked, male and female catkins produced in late spring (after leaves appear) and expanding and pollinating then, one to four species: + + Alnus alnobetula (Ehrh.) K.Koch + subsp. alnobetula (Ehrh.) K.Koch + subsp. crispa (Aiton) Raus + subsp. fruticosa (Rupr.) Raus + subsp. sinuata (Regel) Raus + subsp. suaveolens (Req.) Lambinon & Kerguélen + Alnus firma Siebold & Zucc. - Kyushu (Japan) + Alnus mandshurica (Callier) Hand.-Mazz. – Russian Far East, northeastern China, Korea + Alnus maximowiczii Callier – Japan, Korea, Russian Far East + Alnus pendula Matsum. - Honshu and Hokkaido (Japan) + Alnus sieboldiana Matsum. - Honshu, Shikoku, and Suwanose-jima (Japan) + +Not assigned to a subgenus + Alnus fauriei H.Lév. & Vaniot – Honshu Island in Japan + Alnus ferdinandi-coburgii C.K.Schneid. – southern China + Alnus glutipes (Jarm. ex Czerpek) Vorosch. + Alnus hakkodensis Hayashi – Honshu Island in Japan + Alnus henryi C.K.Schneid. – Taiwan + Alnus lanata Duthie ex Bean – Sichuan Province in China + Alnus mairei H.Lév. – Yunnan Province in China + Alnus paniculata Nakai – Korea + Alnus serrulatoides Callier – Japan + Alnus vermicularis Nakai – Korea + +Species names with uncertain taxonomic status +The status of the following species is unresolved: + + Alnus balatonialis Borbás + Alnus cuneata Geyer ex Walp. + Alnus dimitrovii Jordanov & Kitanov + Alnus djavanshirii H.Zare – Iran + Alnus dolichocarpa H.Zare, Amini & Assadi – Iran + Alnus figerti Callier + Alnus frangula L. ex Huth + Alnus gigantea Nakai + Alnus glandulosa Sarg. + Alnus henedae Sugim. + Alnus hybrida Rchb. + Alnus laciniata Ehrh. + Alnus lobata Nyman + Alnus microphylla Arv.-Touv. + Alnus obtusifolia Mert. ex Regel + Alnus oxyacantha Lavalle + Alnus subrotunda Desf. + Alnus vilmoriana Lebas + Alnus washingtonia Wetzel + +Hybrids +The following hybrids have been described: + Alnus × elliptica Req.—Italy. (A. cordata × A. glutinosa) + Alnus × fallacina Callier—Ohio, New York State, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine. (A. incana subsp. rugosa × A. serrulata) + Alnus × hanedae Suyinata—Japan. (A. firma × A. sieboldiana) + Alnus × hosoii Mizush.—Japan. (A. maximowiczii × A. pendula) + Alnus × mayrii Callier—Russian Far East, Japan. (A. hirsuta × A. japonica) + Alnus × peculiaris Hiyama—Kyūshū Island in Japan. (A. firma × A. pendula) + Alnus × pubescens Tausch.—Northern and central Europe. (A. glutinosa × A. incana) + Alnus × suginoi Sugim.—Japan. + +The status of the following hybrids is unresolved: + + Alnus × aschersoniana Callier + Alnus × koehnei Callier + Alnus × ljungeri Murai + Alnus × purpusii Callier + Alnus × silesiaca Fiek + Alnus × spaethii Callier (A. japonica × A. subcordata) + +Fossils + †Alnus heterodonta (Newberry) Meyer & Manchester 1987 – Oligocene fossil, Oregon + +Phylogeny +The oldest fossil pollen that can be identified as Alnus is from northern Bohemia, dating to the late Paleocene, around 58 million years ago. + +Etymology +The common name alder evolved from the Old English word alor, which in turn is derived from Proto-Germanic root aliso. The generic name Alnus is the equivalent Latin name, from whence French aulne and Spanish Alamo (Spanish term for "poplar"). + +Ecology +Alders are commonly found near streams, rivers, and wetlands. Sometimes where the prevalence of alders is particularly prominent these are called alder carrs. In the Pacific Northwest of North America, the white alder (Alnus rhombifolia) unlike other northwest alders, has an affinity for warm, dry climates, where it grows along watercourses, such as along the lower Columbia River east of the Cascades and the Snake River, including Hells Canyon. + +Alder leaves and sometimes catkins are used as food by numerous butterflies and moths. + +A. glutinosa and A. viridis are classed as environmental weeds in New Zealand. Alder leaves and especially the roots are important to the ecosystem because they enrich the soil with nitrogen and other nutrients. + +Nitrogen fixation and succession of woodland species + +Alder is particularly noted for its important symbiotic relationship with Frankia alni, an actinomycete, filamentous, nitrogen-fixing bacterium. This bacterium is found in root nodules, which may be as large as a human fist, with many small lobes, and light brown in colour. The bacterium absorbs nitrogen from the air and makes it available to the tree. Alder, in turn, provides the bacterium with sugars, which it produces through photosynthesis. As a result of this mutually beneficial relationship, alder improves the fertility of the soil where it grows, and as a pioneer species, it helps provide additional nitrogen for the successional species to follow. + +Because of its abundance, red alder delivers large amounts of nitrogen to enrich forest soils. Red alder stands have been found to supply between of nitrogen annually to the soil. From Alaska to Oregon, Alnus viridis subsp. sinuata (A. sinuata, Sitka Alder or Slide Alder), characteristically pioneer fresh, gravelly sites at the foot of retreating glaciers. Studies show that Sitka alder, a more shrubby variety of alder, adds nitrogen to the soil at an average rate of per year, helping convert the sterile glacial terrain to soil capable of supporting a conifer forest. Alders are common among the first species to colonize disturbed areas from floods, windstorms, fires, landslides, etc. Alder groves often serve as natural firebreaks since these broad-leaved trees are much less flammable than conifers. Their foliage and leaf litter does not carry a fire well, and their thin bark is sufficiently resistant to protect them from light surface fires. In addition, the light weight of alder seedsnumbering allows for easy dispersal by the wind. Although it outgrows coastal Douglas-fir for the first 25 years, it is very shade intolerant and seldom lives more than 100 years. Red alder is the Pacific Northwest's largest alder and the most plentiful and commercially important broad-leaved tree in the coastal Northwest. Groves of red alder in diameter intermingle with young Douglas-fir forests west of the Cascades, attaining a maximum height of in about sixty years and then are afflicted by heart rot. Alders largely help create conditions favorable for giant conifers that replace them. + +Parasites +Alder roots are parasitized by northern groundcone. + +Uses + +The catkins of some alder species have a degree of edibility, and may be rich in protein. Reported to have a bitter and unpleasant taste, they are more useful for survival purposes. The wood of certain alder species is often used to smoke various food items such as coffee, salmon, and other seafood. + +Most of the pilings that form the foundation of Venice were made from alder trees. + +Alder bark contains the anti-inflammatory salicin, which is metabolized into salicylic acid in the body. Some Native American cultures use red alder bark (Alnus rubra) to treat poison oak, insect bites, and skin irritations. Blackfeet Indians have traditionally used an infusion made from the bark of red alder to treat lymphatic disorders and tuberculosis. Recent clinical studies have verified that red alder contains betulin and lupeol, compounds shown to be effective against a variety of tumors. + +The inner bark of the alder, as well as red osier dogwood, or chokecherry, is used by some Indigenous peoples of the Americas in smoking mixtures, known as kinnikinnick, to improve the taste of the bearberry leaf. + +Alder is illustrated in the coat of arms for the Austrian town of Grossarl. + +Electric guitars, most notably those manufactured by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, have been built with alder bodies since the 1950s. Alder is appreciated for its tone that is claimed to be tight and evenly balanced, especially when compared to mahogany, and has been adopted by many electric guitar manufacturers. + +As a hardwood, alder is used in making furniture, cabinets, and other woodworking products. + +Alder bark and wood (like oak and sweet chestnut) contain tannin and are traditionally used to tan leather. + +A red dye can also be extracted from the outer bark, and a yellow dye from the inner bark. + +Culture +Ermanno Olmi's movie The Tree of Wooden Clogs (L' Albero Degli Zoccoli, 1978) refers in its title to alder, typically used to make clogs as in this movie's plot. + +References + +Further reading + +External links + + Flora Europaea: Alnus + Flora of Bolivia: Alnus + Flora of China: Alnus + Flora of North America: Alnus + Flora of Pakistan: Alnus + + +Taxa named by Philip Miller +Amos Bronson Alcott (; November 29, 1799 – March 4, 1888) was an American teacher, writer, philosopher, and reformer. As an educator, Alcott pioneered new ways of interacting with young students, focusing on a conversational style, and avoided traditional punishment. He hoped to perfect the human spirit and, to that end, advocated a plant-based diet. He was also an abolitionist and an advocate for women's rights. + +Born in Wolcott, Connecticut, in 1799, Alcott had only minimal formal schooling before attempting a career as a traveling salesman. Worried that the itinerant life might have a negative impact on his soul, he turned to teaching. His innovative methods, however, were controversial, and he rarely stayed in one place very long. His most well-known teaching position was at the Temple School in Boston. His experience there was turned into two books: Records of a School and Conversations with Children on the Gospels. Alcott became friends with Ralph Waldo Emerson and became a major figure in transcendentalism. His writings on behalf of that movement, however, are heavily criticized for being incoherent. Based on his ideas for human perfection, Alcott founded Fruitlands, a transcendentalist experiment in community living. The project failed after seven months. Alcott and his family struggled financially for most of his life. Nevertheless, he continued focusing on educational projects and opened a new school at the end of his life in 1879. He died in 1888. + +Alcott married Abby May in 1830, and they had four surviving children, all daughters. Their second was Louisa May, who fictionalized her experience with the family in her novel Little Women in 1868. + +Life and work + +Early life +A native New Englander, Amos Bronson Alcott was born in Wolcott, Connecticut (then recently renamed from "Farmingbury") on November 29, 1799. His parents were Joseph Chatfield Alcott and Anna Bronson Alcott. The family home was in an area known as Spindle Hill, and his father, Joseph Alcox, traced his ancestry to colonial-era settlers in eastern Massachusetts. The family originally spelled their name "Alcock", later changed to "Alcocke" then "Alcox". Amos Bronson, the oldest of eight children, later changed the spelling to "Alcott" and dropped his first name. +At age six, young Bronson began his formal education in a one-room schoolhouse in the center of town but learned how to read at home with the help of his mother. The school taught only reading, writing, and spelling, and he left this school at the age of 10. At age 13, his uncle, Reverend Tillotson Bronson, invited Alcott into his home in Cheshire, Connecticut, to be educated and prepared for college. Bronson gave it up after only a month and was self-educated from then on. He was not particularly social and his only close friend was his neighbor and second cousin William Alcott, with whom he shared books and ideas. Bronson Alcott later reflected on his childhood at Spindle Hill: "It kept me pure ... I dwelt amidst the hills ... God spoke to me while I walked the fields." Starting at age 15, he worked for clockmaker Seth Thomas in the nearby town of Plymouth. + +At age 17, Alcott passed the exam for a teaching certificate but had trouble finding work as a teacher. Instead, he left home and became a traveling salesman in the American South, peddling books and merchandise. He hoped the job would earn him enough money to support his parents, "to make their cares, and burdens less ... and get them free from debt", though he soon spent most of his earnings on a new suit. At first, he thought it an acceptable occupation but soon worried about his spiritual well-being. In March 1823, Alcott wrote to his brother: "Peddling is a hard place to serve God, but a capital one to serve Mammon." Near the end of his life, he fictionalized this experience in his book, New Connecticut, originally circulated only among friends before its publication in 1881. + +Early career and marriage +By the summer of 1823, Alcott returned to Connecticut in debt to his father, who had bailed him out after his last two unsuccessful sales trips. He took a job as a schoolteacher in Cheshire with the help of his Uncle Tillotson. He quickly set about reforming the school. He added backs to the benches on which students sat, improved lighting and heating, de-emphasized rote learning, and provided individual slates to each student—paid for by himself. Alcott had been influenced by educational philosophy of the Swiss pedagogue Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi and even renamed his school "The Cheshire Pestalozzi School". + +His style attracted the attention of Samuel Joseph May, who introduced Alcott to his sister Abby May. She called him, "an intelligent, philosophic, modest man" and found his views on education "very attractive". Locals in Cheshire were less supportive and became suspicious of his methods. Many students left and were enrolled in the local common school or a recently reopened private school for boys. On November 6, 1827, Alcott started teaching in Bristol, Connecticut, still using the same methods he used in Cheshire, but opposition from the community surfaced quickly; he was unemployed by March 1828. He moved to Boston on April 24, 1828, and was immediately impressed, referring to the city as a place "where the light of the sun of righteousness has risen". He opened the Salem Street Infant School two months later on June 23. Abby May applied as his teaching assistant; instead, the couple were engaged, without consent of the family. They were married at King's Chapel on May 22, 1830; he was 30 years old and she was 29. Her brother conducted the ceremony and a modest reception followed at her father's house. After their marriage the Alcotts moved to 12 Franklin Street in Boston, a boarding house run by a Mrs. Newall. Around this time, Alcott also first expressed his public disdain for slavery. In November 1830, he and William Lloyd Garrison founded what he later called a "preliminary Anti-Slavery Society", though he differed from Garrison as a nonresistant. Alcott became a member of the Boston Vigilance Committee. + +Attendance at Alcott's school was falling when a wealthy Quaker named Reuben Haines III proposed that he and educator William Russell start a new school in Pennsylvania, associated with the Germantown Academy. Alcott accepted and he and his newly pregnant wife set forth on December 14. The school was established in Germantown and the Alcotts were offered a rent-free home by Haines. Alcott and Russell were initially concerned that the area would not be conducive to their progressive approach to education and considered establishing the school in nearby Philadelphia instead. Unsuccessful, they went back to Germantown, though the rent-free home was no longer available and the Alcotts instead had to rent rooms in a boarding-house. It was there that their first child, a daughter they named Anna Bronson Alcott, was born on March 16, 1831, after 36 hours of labor. By the fall of that year, their benefactor Haines died suddenly and the Alcotts again suffered financial difficulty. "We hardly earn the bread", wrote Abby May to her brother, "[and] the butter we have to think about." + +The couple's only son was born on April 6, 1839, but lived only a few minutes. The mother recorded: "Gave birth to a fine boy full grown perfectly formed but not living". It was in Germantown that the couple's second daughter was born. Louisa May Alcott was born on her father's birthday, November 29, 1832, at a half-hour past midnight. Bronson described her as "a very fine healthful child, much more so than Anna was at birth". The Germantown school, however, was faltering; soon only eight pupils remained. Their benefactor Haines died before Louisa's birth. He had helped recruit students and even paid tuition for some of them. As Abby wrote, his death "has prostrated all our hopes here". On April 10, 1833, the family moved to Philadelphia, where Alcott ran a day school. As usual, Alcott's methods were controversial; a former student later referred to him as "the most eccentric man who ever took on himself to train and form the youthful mind". Alcott began to believe Boston was the best place for his ideas to flourish. He contacted theologian William Ellery Channing for support. Channing approved of Alcott's methods and promised to help find students to enroll, including his daughter Mary. Channing also secured aid from Justice Lemuel Shaw and Boston mayor Josiah Quincy Jr. + +Experimental educator +On September 22, 1834, Alcott opened a school of about 30 students, mostly from wealthy families. It was named the Temple School because classes were held at the Masonic Temple on Tremont Street in Boston. His assistant was Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, later replaced by Margaret Fuller. Mary Peabody Mann served as a French instructor for a time. The school was briefly famous, and then infamous, because of Alcott's method of "discarding text-books and teaching by conversation", his questioning attitude toward the Bible, and his reception of "a colored girl" into his classes. + +Before 1830, primary and secondary teaching of writing consisted of rote drills in grammar, spelling, vocabulary, penmanship and transcription of adult texts. In that decade, however, progressive reformers such as Alcott, influenced by Pestalozzi, Friedrich Fröbel, and Johann Friedrich Herbart, began to advocate compositions based on students' own experiences. These reformers opposed beginning instruction with rules and preferred to have students learn to write by expressing their personal understanding of the events of their lives. + +Alcott sought to develop instruction on the basis of self-analysis, with an emphasis on conversation and questioning rather than lecturing and drill. A similar interest in instructive conversation was shared by Abby May who, describing her idea of a family "post office" set up to curb potential domestic tension, said "I thought it would afford a daily opportunity for the children, indeed all of us, to interchange thought and sentiment". + +Alongside writing and reading, Alcott gave lessons in "spiritual culture", which included interpretation of the Gospels, and advocated object teaching in writing instruction. He even went so far as to decorate his schoolroom with visual elements he thought would inspire learning: paintings, books, comfortable furniture, and busts or portraits of Plato, Socrates, Jesus, and William Ellery Channing. + +During this time, the Alcotts had another child. Born on June 24, 1835, she was named Elizabeth Peabody Alcott in honor of the teaching assistant at the Temple School. By age three, however, her mother changed her name to Elizabeth Sewall Alcott, after her own mother, perhaps because of the recent rupture between Bronson Alcott and Elizabeth Palmer Peabody. + +In July 1835, Peabody published her account as an assistant to the Temple School as Record of a School: Exemplifying the General Principles of Spiritual Culture. While working on a second book, Alcott and Peabody had a falling out and Conversations with Children on the Gospels was prepared with help from Peabody's sister Sophia, published at the end of December 1836. Alcott's methods were not well received; many found his conversations on the Gospels close to blasphemous. For example, he asked students to question if Biblical miracles were literal and suggested that all people are part of God. In the Boston Daily Advertiser, Nathan Hale criticized Alcott's "flippant and off hand conversation" about serious topics from the Virgin birth of Jesus to circumcision. Joseph T. Buckingham called Alcott "either insane or half-witted" and "an ignorant and presuming charlatan". The book did not sell well; a Boston lawyer bought 750 copies to use as waste paper. + +The Temple School was widely denounced in the press. Reverend James Freeman Clarke was one of Alcott's few supporters and defended him against the harsh response from Boston periodicals. Alcott was rejected by most public opinion and, by the summer of 1837, he had only 11 students left and no assistant after Margaret Fuller moved to Providence, Rhode Island. The controversy had caused many parents to remove their children and, as the school closed, Alcott became increasingly financially desperate. Remaining steadfast to his pedagogy, a forerunner of progressive and democratic schooling, he alienated parents in a later "parlor school" by admitting an African American child to the class, whom he then refused to expel in the face of protests. + +Transcendentalist +Beginning in 1836, Alcott's membership in the Transcendental Club put him in the company of such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Orestes Brownson and Theodore Parker. He became a member at the club's second meeting and hosted its third. A biographer of Emerson described the group as "the occasional meetings of a changing body of liberal thinkers, agreeing in nothing but their liberality". Frederic Henry Hedge wrote similarly that "[t]here was no club in the strict sense ... only occasional meetings of like-minded men and women". Alcott preferred the term "Symposium" for their group. + +In late April 1840, Alcott moved to the town of Concord urged by Emerson. He rented a home for $50 a year within walking distance of Emerson's house. He named it Dove Cottage. A supporter of his philosophies, Emerson offered to help Alcott with his writing. This proved a difficult task. For example, after several revisions of the essay "Psyche" (Alcott's account of how he educated his daughters), Emerson deemed it unpublishable. Alcott also wrote a series patterned after the work of German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe which was published in the Transcendentalists' journal, The Dial. Emerson had written to Margaret Fuller, then editor, that Alcott's so-called "Orphic Sayings" might "pass muster & even pass for just & great", but they were widely mocked as silly and unintelligible. Fuller herself disliked them, but did not want to hurt Alcott's feelings. The following example appeared in the first issue: + +With financial support from Emerson, and leaving his family in the care of his brother Junius, Alcott departed Concord for a visit to England on May 8, 1842. There he met admirers Charles Lane and Henry C. Wright, supporters of Alcott House, an experimental school outside London based on Alcott's Temple School methods. The two men followed Alcott back to the United States and, in an early communitarian experiment, Lane and his son moved in with the Alcotts. + +Persuaded in part by Lane's abolitionist views, Alcott took a stand against President Tyler's plan to annex Texas as a slave territory and refused to pay his poll tax. Abby May wrote in her journal on January 17, 1843, "A day of some excitement, as Mr. Alcott refused to pay his town tax ... After waiting some time to be committed [to jail], he was told it was paid by a friend. Thus we were spared the affliction of his absence and the triumph of suffering for his principles." The incident inspired Henry David Thoreau, whose similar protest against the $1.50 poll tax led to a night in jail and his essay "Civil Disobedience". + +Fruitlands + +Lane and Alcott collaborated on a major expansion of their educational theories into a Utopian society. Alcott, however, was still in debt and could not purchase the land needed for their planned community. In a letter, Lane wrote, "I do not see anyone to act the money part but myself." In May 1843, he purchased a farm in Harvard, Massachusetts. Up front, he paid $1,500 of the total $1,800 value of the property; the rest was meant to be paid by the Alcotts over a two-year period. They moved to the farm on June 1 and optimistically named it "Fruitlands" despite only ten old apple trees on the property. In July, Alcott announced their plans in The Dial: "We have made an arrangement with the proprietor of an estate of about a hundred acres, which liberates this tract from human ownership". + +Their goal was to regain Eden, to find the formula for agriculture, diet, and reproduction that would provide the perfect way for the individual to live "in harmony with nature, the animal world, his fellows, himself, [and] his creator". In order to achieve this, they removed themselves from the economy as much as possible and lived independently, styling themselves a "consociate family". Unlike a similar project named Brook Farm, the participants at Fruitlands avoided interaction with other local communities. At first scorning animal labor as exploitative, they found human spadework insufficient to their needs and eventually allowed some cattle to be "enslaved". They banned coffee, tea, alcoholic drinks, milk, and warm bathwater. As Alcott had published earlier, "Our wine is water, — flesh, bread; — drugs, fruits." One member, Samuel Bower, "gave the community the reputation of refusing to eat potatoes because instead of aspiring toward the sky they grew downward in the earth", For clothing, they prohibited leather, because animals were killed for it, as well as cotton, silk, and wool, because they were products of slave labor. Alcott had high expectations, but was often away, attempting to recruit more members when the community most needed him. + +The experimental community was never successful, partly because most of the land was not arable. Alcott lamented, "None of us were prepared to actualize practically the ideal life of which we dreamed. So we fell apart". Its founders were often away as well; in the middle of harvesting, they left for a lecture tour through Providence, Rhode Island, New York City, and New Haven, Connecticut. In its seven months, only 13 people joined, included the Alcotts and Lanes. Other than Abby May and her daughters, only one other woman joined, Ann Page. One rumor is that Page was asked to leave after eating a fish tail with a neighbor. Lane believed Alcott had misled him into thinking enough people would join the enterprise and developed a strong dislike for the nuclear family. He quit the project and moved to a nearby Shaker family with his son. After Lane's departure, Alcott fell into a depression and could not speak or eat for three days. Abby May thought Lane purposely sabotaged her family. She wrote to her brother, "All Mr. Lane's efforts have been to disunite us. But Mr. Alcott's ... paternal instincts were too strong for him." When the final payment on the farm was owed, Sam May refused to cover his brother-in-law's debts, as he often did, possibly at Abby May's suggestion. The experiment failed, the Alcotts had to leave Fruitlands. + +The members of the Alcott family were not happy with their Fruitlands experience. At one point, Abby May threatened that she and their daughters would move elsewhere, leaving Bronson behind. Louisa May Alcott, who was ten years old at the time, later wrote of the experience in Transcendental Wild Oats (1873): "The band of brothers began by spading garden and field; but a few days of it lessened their ardor amazingly." + +Return to Concord + +In January 1844, Alcott moved his family to Still River, a village within Harvard but, on March 1, 1845, the family returned to Concord to live in a home they named "The Hillside" (later renamed "The Wayside" by Nathaniel Hawthorne). Both Emerson and Sam May assisted in securing the home for the Alcotts. While living in the home, Louisa began writing in earnest and was given her own room. She later said her years at the home "were the happiest years" of her life; many of the incidents in her novel Little Women (1868) are based on this period. Alcott renovated the property, moving a barn and painting the home a rusty olive color, as well as tending to over six acres of land. On May 23, 1845, Abby May was granted a sum from her father's estate which was put into a trust fund, granting minor financial security. That summer, Bronson Alcott let Henry David Thoreau borrow his ax to prepare his home at Walden Pond. + +The Alcotts hosted a steady stream of visitors at The Hillside, including fugitive slaves, which they hosted in secret as a station of the Underground Railroad. Alcott's opposition to slavery also fueled his opposition to the Mexican–American War which began in 1846. He considered the war a blatant attempt to extend slavery and asked if the country was made up of "a people bent on conquest, on getting the golden treasures of Mexico into our hands, and of subjugating foreign peoples?" + +In 1848, Abby May insisted they leave Concord, which she called "cold, heartless, brainless, soulless". The Alcott family put The Hillside up for rent and moved to Boston. There, next door to Peabody's book store on West Street, Bronson Alcott hosted a series based on the "Conversations" model by Margaret Fuller called "A Course on the Conversations on Man—his History, Resources, and Expectations". Participants, both men and women, were charged three dollars to attend or five dollars for all seven lectures. In March 1853, Alcott was invited to teach fifteen students at Harvard Divinity School in an extracurricular, non-credit course. + +Alcott and his family moved back to Concord after 1857, where he and his family lived in the Orchard House until 1877. In 1860, Alcott was named superintendent of Concord Schools. + +Civil War years and beyond + +Alcott voted in a presidential election for the first time in 1860. In his journal for November 6, 1860, he wrote: "At Town House, and cast my vote for Lincoln and the Republican candidates generally—the first vote I ever cast for a President and State officers." Alcott was an abolitionist and a friend of the more radical William Lloyd Garrison. He had attended a rally led by Wendell Phillips on behalf of 17-year-old Thomas Sims, a fugitive slave on trial in Boston. Alcott was one of several who attempted to storm the courthouse; when gunshots were heard, he was the only one who stood his ground, though the effort was unsuccessful. He had also stood his ground in a protest against the trial of Anthony Burns. A group had broken down the door of the Boston courthouse but guards beat them back. Alcott stood forward and asked the leader of the group, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, "Why are we not within?" He then walked calmly into the courthouse, was threatened with a gun, and turned back, "but without hastening a step", according to Higginson. + +In 1862, Louisa moved to Washington, D.C. to volunteer as a nurse. On January 14, 1863, the Alcotts received a telegram that Louisa was sick; Bronson immediately went to bring her home, briefly meeting Abraham Lincoln while there. Louisa turned her experience into the book Hospital Sketches. Her father wrote of it, "I see nothing in the way of a good appreciation of Louisa's merits as a woman and a writer." + +Henry David Thoreau died on May 6, 1862, likely from an illness he caught from Alcott two years earlier. +At Emerson's request, Alcott helped arrange Thoreau's funeral, which was held at First Parish Sanctuary in Concord, despite Thoreau having disavowed membership in the church when he was in his early twenties. Emerson wrote a eulogy, and Alcott helped plan the preparations. Only two years later, neighbor Nathaniel Hawthorne died as well. Alcott served as a pallbearer along with Louis Agassiz, James T. Fields, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and others. With Hawthorne's death, Alcott worried that few of the Concord notables remained. He recorded in his journal: "Fair figures one by one are fading from sight." The next year, Lincoln was assassinated, which Alcott called "appalling news". + +In 1868, Alcott met with publisher Thomas Niles, an admirer of Hospital Sketches. Alcott asked Niles if he would publish a book of short stories by his daughter; instead, he suggested she write a book about girls. Louisa May was not interested initially but agreed to try. "They want a book of 200 pages or more", Alcott told his daughter. The result was Little Women, published later that year. The book, which fictionalized the Alcott family during the girls' coming-of-age years, recast the father figure as a chaplain, away from home at the front in the Civil War. + +Alcott spoke, as opportunity arose, before the "lyceums" then common in various parts of the United States, or addressed groups of hearers as they invited him. These "conversations" as he called them, were more or less informal talks on a great range of topics, spiritual, aesthetic and practical, in which he emphasized the ideas of the school of American Transcendentalists led by Emerson, who was always his supporter and discreet admirer. He often discussed Platonic philosophy, the illumination of the mind and soul by direct communion with Spirit; upon the spiritual and poetic monitions of external nature; and upon the benefit to man of a serene mood and a simple way of life. + +Final years + +Alcott's published books, all from late in his life, include Tablets (1868), Concord Days (1872), New Connecticut (1881), and Sonnets and Canzonets (1882). Louisa May attended to her father's needs in his final years. She purchased a house for her sister Anna which had been the last home of Henry David Thoreau, now known as the Thoreau-Alcott House. Louisa and her parents moved in with Anna as well. + +After the death of his wife Abby May on November 25, 1877, Alcott never returned to Orchard House, too heartbroken to live there. He and Louisa May collaborated on a memoir and went over her papers, letters, and journals. "My heart bleeds with the memories of those days", he wrote, "and even long years, of cheerless anxiety and hopeless dependence." Louisa noted her father had become "restless with his anchor gone". They gave up on the memoir project and Louisa burned many of her mother's papers. + +On January 19, 1879, Alcott and Franklin Benjamin Sanborn wrote a prospectus for a new school which they distributed to potentially interested people throughout the country. The result was the Concord School of Philosophy and Literature, which held its first session in 1879 in Alcott's study in the Orchard House. In 1880 the school moved to the Hillside Chapel, a building next to the house, where he held conversations and, over the course of successive summers, as he entered his eighties, invited others to give lectures on themes in philosophy, religion and letters. The school, considered one of the first formal adult education centers in America, was also attended by foreign scholars. It continued for nine years. + +In April 1882, Alcott's friend and benefactor Ralph Waldo Emerson was sick and bedridden. After visiting him, Alcott wrote, "Concord will be shorn of its human splendor when he withdraws behind the cloud." Emerson died the next day. Alcott himself moved out of Concord for his final years, settling at 10 Louisburg Square in Boston beginning in 1885. + +As he was bedridden at the end of his life, Alcott's daughter Louisa May came to visit him at Louisburg on March 1, 1888. He said to her, "I am going up. Come with me." She responded, "I wish I could." He died three days later on March 4; Louisa May died only two days after her father. + +Beliefs +Alcott was fundamentally and philosophically opposed to corporal punishment as a means of disciplining his students. Instead, beginning at the Temple School, he would appoint a daily student superintendent. When that student observed an infraction, he or she reported it to the rest of the class and, as a whole, they deliberated on punishment. At times, Alcott offered his own hand for an offending student to strike, saying that any failing was the teacher's responsibility. The shame and guilt this method induced, he believed, was far superior to the fear instilled by corporal punishment; when he used physical "correction" he required that the students be unanimously in support of its application, even including the student to be punished. + +The most detailed discussion of his theories on education is in an essay, "Observations on the Principles and Methods of Infant Instruction". Alcott believed that early education must draw out "unpremeditated thoughts and feelings of the child" and emphasized that infancy should primarily focus on enjoyment. He noted that learning was not about the acquisition of facts but the development of a reflective state of mind. + +Alcott's ideas as an educator were controversial. Writer Harriet Martineau, for example, wrote dubiously that, "the master presupposes his little pupils possessed of all truth; and that his business is to bring it out into expression". Even so, his ideas helped to found one of the first adult education centers in America, and provided the foundation for future generations of liberal education. Many of Alcott's educational principles are still used in classrooms today, including "teach by encouragement", art education, music education, acting exercises, learning through experience, risk-taking in the classroom, tolerance in schools, physical education/recess, and early childhood education. The teachings of William Ellery Channing a few years earlier had also laid the groundwork for the work of most of the Concord Transcendentalists. + +The Concord School of Philosophy, which closed following Alcott's death in 1888, was reopened almost 90 years later in the 1970s. It has continued functioning with a Summer Conversational Series in its original building at Orchard House, now run by the Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association. + +While many of Alcott's ideas continue to be perceived as being on the liberal/radical edge, they are still common themes in society, including vegetarian/veganism, sustainable living, and temperance/self-control. Alcott described his sustenance as a "Pythagorean diet": Meat, eggs, butter, cheese, and milk were excluded and drinking was confined to well water. Alcott believed that diet held the key to human perfection and connected physical well-being to mental improvement. He further viewed a perfection of nature to the spirit and, in a sense, predicted modern environmentalism by condemning pollution and encouraging humankind's role in sustaining ecology. + +Criticism + +Alcott's philosophical teachings have been criticized as inconsistent, hazy or abrupt. He formulated no system of philosophy, and shows the influence of Plato, German mysticism, and Immanuel Kant as filtered through the writings of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Margaret Fuller referred to Alcott as "a philosopher of the balmy times of ancient Greece—a man whom the worldlings of Boston hold in as much horror as the worldlings of Athens held Socrates." In his later years, Alcott related a story from his boyhood: during a total solar eclipse, he threw rocks at the sky until he fell and dislocated his shoulder. He reflected that the event was a prophecy that he would be "tilting at the sun and always catching the fall". + +Like Emerson, Alcott was always optimistic, idealistic, and individualistic in thinking. Writer James Russell Lowell referred to Alcott in his poem "Studies for Two Heads" as "an angel with clipped wings". Even so, Emerson noted that Alcott's brilliant conversational ability did not translate into good writing. "When he sits down to write," Emerson wrote, "all his genius leaves him; he gives you the shells and throws away the kernel of his thought." His "Orphic Sayings", published in The Dial, became famous for their hilarity as dense, pretentious, and meaningless. In New York, for example, The Knickerbocker published a parody titled "Gastric Sayings" in November 1840. A writer for the Boston Post referred to Alcott's "Orphic Sayings" as "a train of fifteen railroad cars with one passenger". + +Modern critics often fault Alcott for not being able to financially support his family. Alcott himself worried about his own prospects as a young man, once writing to his mother that he was "still at my old trade—hoping." Alcott held his principles above his and his family's well-being. Shortly before his marriage, for example, his future father-in-law Colonel Joseph May helped him find a job teaching at a school in Boston run by the Society of Free Enquirers, followers of Robert Owen, for a lucrative $1,000 to $1,200 annual salary. He refused it because he did not agree with their beliefs, writing, "I shall have nothing to do with them." + +From the other perspective, the Alcotts created an environment which produced two famous daughters in different fields in a time when women were not commonly encouraged to have independent careers. + +Works + Observations on the Principles and Methods of Infant Instruction (1830) + The Doctrine and Discipline of Human Culture (1836) + Conversations with Children on the Gospels (Volume I, 1836) + Conversations with Children on the Gospels (Volume II, 1837) + Tablets (1868) + Concord Days (1872) + Table-Talk (1877) + New Connecticut: An Autobiographical Poem (1887; first edition privately printed in 1882) + Sonnets and Canzonets (1882) + Ralph Waldo Emerson, Philosopher and Seer: An Estimate of His Character and Genius in Prose and Verse (1882) + The Journals of Bronson Alcott (1966) + +References + +Notes + +Sources + +External links + + + +Amos Bronson Alcott Network +Alcott biography on American Transcendentalism Web +Alcott at Perspectives in American Literature +Bronson Alcott: A glimpse at our vegetarian heritage, by Karen Iacobbo +Guide to Books from the library of Amos Bronson Alcott at Houghton Library, Harvard University +Guide to Amos Bronson Alcott papers at Houghton Library, Harvard University + +1799 births +1888 deaths +19th-century American educators +19th-century American philosophers +Alcott family +Abolitionists from Boston +American people of English descent +Philosophers from Connecticut +Philosophers from Massachusetts +Schoolteachers from Massachusetts +American tax resisters +American veganism activists +American women's rights activists +Feminist philosophers +Founders of utopian communities +Male feminists +Massachusetts Republicans +Members of the Transcendental Club +People from Concord, Massachusetts +People from Harvard, Massachusetts +People from Wolcott, Connecticut +Sonneteers +Tea critics +Underground Railroad people +Arachnophobia is a specific phobia brought about by the irrational fear of spiders and other arachnids such as scorpions and ticks. The word Arachnophobia comes from the Greek words arachne and phobia. + +Signs and symptoms +People with arachnophobia tend to feel uneasy in any area they believe could harbour spiders or that has visible signs of their presence, such as webs. If arachnophobes see a spider, they may not enter the general vicinity until they have overcome the panic attack that is often associated with their phobia. Some people scream, cry, have emotional outbursts, experience trouble breathing, sweat and experience increased heart rates when they come in contact with an area near spiders or their webs. In some extreme cases, even a picture, a toy, or a realistic drawing of a spider can trigger intense fear. + +Reasons +Arachnophobia may be an exaggerated form of an instinctive response that helped early humans to survive or a cultural phenomenon that is most common in predominantly European societies. + +Evolutionary + +An evolutionary reason for the phobia remains unresolved. One view, especially held in evolutionary psychology, is that the presence of venomous spiders led to the evolution of a fear of spiders, or made acquisition of a fear of spiders especially easy. Like all traits, there is variability in the intensity of fear of spiders, and those with more intense fears are classified as phobic. Being relatively small, spiders do not fit the usual criterion for a threat in the animal kingdom where size is a factor, but they can have medically significant venom and/or cause skin irritation with their setae. However, a phobia is an irrational fear as opposed to a rational fear. + +By ensuring that their surroundings were free from spiders, arachnophobes would have had a reduced risk of being bitten in ancestral environments, giving them a slight advantage over non-arachnophobes in terms of survival. However, having a disproportionate fear of spiders in comparison to other, potentially dangerous creatures present during Homo sapiens environment of evolutionary adaptiveness may have had drawbacks. + +In The Handbook of the Emotions (1993), psychologist Arne Öhman studied pairing an unconditioned stimulus with evolutionarily-relevant fear-response neutral stimuli (snakes and spiders) versus evolutionarily-irrelevant fear-response neutral stimuli (mushrooms, flowers, physical representation of polyhedra, firearms, and electrical outlets) on human subjects and found that ophidiophobia (fear of snakes) and arachnophobia required only one pairing to develop a conditioned response while mycophobia, anthophobia, phobias of physical representations of polyhedra, firearms, and electrical outlets required multiple pairings and went extinct without continued conditioning while the conditioned ophidiophobia and arachnophobia were permanent. + +Psychiatrist Randolph M. Nesse notes that while conditioned fear responses to evolutionarily novel dangerous objects such as electrical outlets is possible, the conditioning is slower because such cues have no prewired connection to fear, noting further that despite the emphasis of the risks of speeding and drunk driving in driver's education, it alone does not provide reliable protection against traffic collisions and that nearly one-quarter of all deaths in 2014 of people aged 15 to 24 in the United States were in traffic collisions. Nesse, psychiatrist Isaac Marks, and evolutionary biologist George C. Williams have noted that people with systematically deficient responses to various adaptive phobias (e.g. arachnophobia, ophidiophobia, basophobia) are more temperamentally careless and more likely to receive unintentional injuries that are potentially fatal and have proposed that such deficient phobia should be classified as "hypophobia'" due to its selfish genetic consequences. + +A 2001 study found that people could detect images of spiders among images of flowers and mushrooms more quickly than they could detect images of flowers or mushrooms among images of spiders. The researchers suggested that this was because fast response to spiders was more relevant to human evolution. + +Cultural +An alternative view is that the dangers, such as from spiders, are overrated and not sufficient to influence evolution. Instead, inheriting phobias would have restrictive and debilitating effects upon survival, rather than being an aid. For some communities, such as in Papua New Guinea and Cambodia, spiders are included in traditional foods. This suggests arachnophobia may, at least in part, be a cultural, rather than genetic trait. + +Stories about spiders in the media often contain errors and use sensationalistic vocabulary, which could contribute to the fear of spiders. + +Treatments +The fear of spiders can be treated by any of the general techniques suggested for specific phobias. The first line of treatment is systematic desensitization – also known as exposure therapy. Before engaging in systematic desensitization, it is common to train the individual with arachnophobia in relaxation techniques, which will help keep the patient calm. Systematic desensitization can be done in vivo (with live spiders) or by getting the individual to imagine situations involving spiders, then modelling interaction with spiders for the person affected and eventually interacting with real spiders. This technique can be effective in just one session, although it generally takes more time. + +Recent advances in technology have enabled the use of virtual or augmented reality spiders for use in therapy. These techniques have proven to be effective. It has been suggested that exposure to short clips from the Spider-Man movies may help to reduce an individual's arachnophobia. + +Epidemiology +Arachnophobia affects 3.5 to 6.1 percent of the global population. + +See also + Apiphobia, fear of bees + Entomophobia, fear of insects + Myrmecophobia, fear of ants + +References + +External links + +National Geographic: "Fear of Snakes, Spiders Rooted in Evolution, Study Finds" + +Zoophobias +Arachnids and humans +Spiders and humans +Alabaster is a mineral and a soft rock used for carvings and as a source of plaster powder. Archaeologists, geologists, and the stone industry have different definitions and usages for the word alabaster. In archaeology, the term alabaster is a category of objects and artefacts made from the varieties of two different minerals: (i) the fine-grained, massive type of gypsum, and (ii) the fine-grained, banded type of calcite. + +In geology, gypsum is a type of alabaster that chemically is a hydrous sulfate of calcium, whereas calcite is a carbonate of calcium. As types of alabaster, gypsum and calcite have similar properties, such as light color, translucence, and soft stones that can be carved and sculpted; thus the historical use and application of alabaster for the production of carved, decorative artefacts and objets d’art. Calcite alabaster also is known as: onyx-marble, Egyptian alabaster, and Oriental alabaster, which terms usually describe either a compact, banded travertine stone or a stalagmitic limestone colored with swirling bands of cream and brown. + +In general, ancient alabaster is calcite in the wider Middle East, including Egypt and Mesopotamia, while it is gypsum in medieval Europe. Modern alabaster is most likely calcite but may be either. Both are easy to work and slightly soluble in water. They have been used for making a variety of indoor artwork and carving, as they will not survive long outdoors. + +The two kinds are readily distinguished by their different hardnesses: gypsum alabaster (Mohs hardness 1.5 to 2) is so soft that a fingernail scratches it, while calcite (Mohs hardness 3) cannot be scratched in this way but yields to a knife. Moreover, calcite alabaster, being a carbonate, effervesces when treated with hydrochloric acid, while gypsum alabaster remains almost unaffected. + +Etymology + +The English word "alabaster" was borrowed from Old French , in turn derived from Latin , and that from Greek () or (). The Greek words denoted a vase of alabaster. + +The name may be derived further from ancient Egyptian , which refers to vessels of the Egyptian goddess Bast. She was represented as a lioness and frequently depicted as such in figures placed atop these alabaster vessels. Ancient Roman authors Pliny the Elder and Ptolemy wrote that the stone used for ointment jars called alabastra came from a region of Egypt known as Alabastron or Alabastrites. + +Properties and usability +The purest alabaster is a snow-white material of fine uniform grain, but it often is associated with an oxide of iron, which produces brown clouding and veining in the stone. The coarser varieties of gypsum alabaster are converted by calcination into plaster of Paris, and are sometimes known as "plaster stone". + +The softness of alabaster enables it to be carved readily into elaborate forms, but its solubility in water renders it unsuitable for outdoor work. If alabaster with a smooth, polished surface is washed with dishwashing liquid, it will become rough, dull and whiter, losing most of its translucency and lustre. The finer kinds of alabaster are employed largely as an ornamental stone, especially for ecclesiastical decoration and for the rails of staircases and halls. + +Modern processing + +Working techniques +Alabaster is mined and then sold in blocks to alabaster workshops. There they are cut to the needed size ("squaring"), and then are processed in different techniques: turned on a lathe for round shapes, carved into three-dimensional sculptures, chiselled to produce low relief figures or decoration; and then given an elaborate finish that reveals its transparency, colour, and texture. + +Marble imitation +In order to diminish the translucency of the alabaster and to produce an opacity suggestive of true marble, the statues are immersed in a bath of water and heated gradually—nearly to the boiling point—an operation requiring great care, because if the temperature is not regulated carefully, the stone acquires a dead-white, chalky appearance. The effect of heating appears to be a partial dehydration of the gypsum. If properly treated, it very closely resembles true marble and is known as "marmo di Castellina". + +Dyeing +Alabaster is a porous stone and can be "dyed" into any colour or shade, a technique used for centuries. For this the stone needs to be fully immersed in various pigmentary solutions and heated to a specific temperature. The technique can be used to disguise alabaster. In this way a very misleading imitation of coral that is called "alabaster coral" is produced. + +Types, occurrence, history + +Typically only one type is sculpted in any particular cultural environment, but sometimes both have been worked to make similar pieces in the same place and time. This was the case with small flasks of the alabastron type made in Cyprus from the Bronze Age into the Classical period. + +Window panels +When cut in thin sheets, alabaster is translucent enough to be used for small windows. It was used for this purpose in Byzantine churches and later in medieval ones, especially in Italy. Large sheets of Aragonese gypsum alabaster are used extensively in the contemporary Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, which was dedicated in 2002 by the Los Angeles, California, Archdiocese. The cathedral incorporates special cooling to prevent the panes from overheating and turning opaque. The ancients used the calcite type, while the modern Los Angeles cathedral is using gypsum alabaster. There are also multiple examples of alabaster windows in ordinary village churches and monasteries in northern Spain. + +Calcite alabaster + +Calcite alabaster, harder than the gypsum variety, was the kind primarily used in ancient Egypt and the wider Middle East (but not Assyrian palace reliefs), and is also used in modern times. It is found as either a stalagmitic deposit from the floor and walls of limestone caverns, or as a kind of travertine, similarly deposited in springs of calcareous water. Its deposition in successive layers gives rise to the banded appearance that the marble often shows on cross-section, from which its name is derived: onyx-marble or alabaster-onyx, or sometimes simply (and wrongly) as onyx. + +Egypt and the Middle East +Egyptian alabaster has been worked extensively near Suez and Assiut. + +This stone variety is the "alabaster" of the ancient Egyptians and Bible and is often termed Oriental alabaster, since the early examples came from the Far East. The Greek name alabastrites is said to be derived from the town of Alabastron in Egypt, where the stone was quarried. The locality probably owed its name to the mineral; the origin of the mineral name is obscure (though see above). + +The "Oriental" alabaster was highly esteemed for making small perfume bottles or ointment vases called alabastra; the vessel name has been suggested as a possible source of the mineral name. In Egypt, craftsmen used alabaster for canopic jars and various other sacred and sepulchral objects. The sarcophagus of Seti I, found in his tomb near Thebes, is on display in Sir John Soane's Museum, London; it is carved in a single block of translucent calcite alabaster from Alabastron. + +Algerian onyx-marble has been quarried largely in the province of Oran. + +Calcite alabaster was quarried in ancient Israel in the cave known today as the Twins Cave near Beit Shemesh. Herod used this alabaster for baths in his palaces. + +North America +In Mexico, there are famous deposits of a delicate green variety at La Pedrara, in the district of Tecali, near Puebla. Onyx-marble occurs also in the district of Tehuacán and at several localities in the US including California, Arizona, Utah, Colorado and Virginia. + +Gypsum alabaster +Gypsum alabaster is the softer of the two varieties, the other being calcite alabaster. It was used primarily in medieval Europe, and is also used in modern times. + +Ancient and Classical Near East + +"Mosul marble" is a kind of gypsum alabaster found in the north of modern Iraq, which was used for the Assyrian palace reliefs of the 9th to 7th centuries BC; these are the largest type of alabaster sculptures to have been regularly made. The relief is very low and the carving detailed, but large rooms were lined with continuous compositions on slabs around high. The Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal and military Lachish reliefs, both 7th century and in the British Museum, are some of the best known. + +Gypsum alabaster was widely used for small sculpture for indoor use in the ancient world, especially in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. Fine detail could be obtained in a material with an attractive finish without iron or steel tools. Alabaster was used for vessels dedicated for use in the cult of the deity Bast in the culture of the ancient Egyptians, and thousands of gypsum alabaster artifacts dating to the late 4th millennium BC also have been found in Tell Brak (present day Nagar), in Syria. + +In Mesopotamia, gypsum alabaster was the material of choice for figures of deities and devotees in temples, as in a figure believed to represent the deity Abu dating to the first half of the 3rd millennium BC and currently kept in New York. + +Aragon, Spain + +Much of the world's alabaster extraction is performed in the centre of the Ebro Valley in Aragon, Spain, which has the world's largest known exploitable deposits. According to a brochure published by the Aragon government, alabaster has elsewhere either been depleted, or its extraction is so difficult that it has almost been abandoned or is carried out at a very high cost. There are two separate sites in Aragon, both are located in Tertiary basins. The most important site is the Fuentes-Azaila area, in the Tertiary Ebro Basin. The other is the Calatayud-Teruel Basin, which divides the Iberian Range in two main sectors (NW and SE). + +The abundance of Aragonese alabaster was crucial for its use in architecture, sculpture and decoration. There is no record of likely use by pre-Roman cultures, so perhaps the first ones to use alabaster in Aragon were the Romans, who produced vessels from alabaster following the Greek and Egyptian models. It seems that since the reconstruction of the Roman Wall in Zaragoza in the 3rd century AD with alabaster, the use of this material became common in building for centuries. Muslim Saraqusta (today, Zaragoza) was also called "Medina Albaida", the White City, due to the appearance of its alabaster walls and palaces, which stood out among gardens, groves and orchards by the Ebro and Huerva Rivers. + +The oldest remains in the Aljafería Palace, together with other interesting elements like capitals, reliefs and inscriptions, were made using alabaster, but it was during the artistic and economic blossoming of the Renaissance that Aragonese alabaster reached its golden age. In the 16th century sculptors in Aragon chose alabaster for their best works. They were adept at exploiting its lighting qualities and generally speaking the finished art pieces retained their natural color. + +Volterra (Tuscany) + +In Europe, the centre of the alabaster trade today is Florence, Italy. Tuscan alabaster occurs in nodular masses embedded in limestone, interstratified with marls of Miocene and Pliocene age. The mineral is worked largely by means of underground galleries, in the district of Volterra. Several varieties are recognized—veined, spotted, clouded, agatiform, and others. The finest kind, obtained principally from Castellina, is sent to Florence for figure-sculpture, while the common kinds are carved locally, into vases, lights, and various ornamental objects. These items are objects of extensive trade, especially in Florence, Pisa, and Livorno. + +In the 3rd century BC the Etruscans used the alabaster of Tuscany from the area of modern-day Volterra to produce funeral urns, possibly taught by Greek artists. During the Middle Ages the craft of alabaster was almost completely forgotten. A revival started in the mid-16th century, and until the beginning of the 17th century alabaster work was strictly artistic and did not expand to form a large industry. + +In the 17th and 18th centuries production of artistic, high-quality Renaissance-style artifacts stopped altogether, being replaced by less sophisticated, cheaper items better suited for large-scale production and commerce. The new industry prospered, but the reduced need of skilled craftsmen left only few still working. The 19th century brought a boom to the industry, largely due to the "traveling artisans" who went and offered their wares to the palaces of Europe, as well as to America and the East. + +In the 19th century new processing technology was also introduced, allowing for the production of custom-made, unique pieces, as well as the combination of alabaster with other materials. Apart from the newly developed craft, artistic work became again possible, chiefly by Volterran sculptor Albino Funaioli. After a short slump, the industry was revived again by the sale of mass-produced mannerist Expressionist sculptures, and was further enhanced in the 1920s by a new branch creating ceiling and wall lamps in the Art Deco style and culminating in the participation at the 1925 International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts from Paris. Important names from the evolution of alabaster use after World War II are Volterran Umberto Borgna, the "first alabaster designer", and later on the architect and industrial designer Angelo Mangiarotti. + +England and Wales + +Gypsum alabaster is a common mineral, which occurs in England in the Keuper marls of the Midlands, especially at Chellaston in Derbyshire, at Fauld in Staffordshire, and near Newark in Nottinghamshire. Deposits at all of these localities have been worked extensively. + +In the 14th and 15th centuries its carving into small statues and sets of relief panels for altarpieces was a valuable local industry in Nottingham, as well as a major English export. These were usually painted, or partly painted. It was also used for the effigies, often life size, on tomb monuments, as the typical recumbent position suited the material's lack of strength, and it was cheaper and easier to work than good marble. After the English Reformation the making of altarpiece sets was discontinued, but funerary monument work in reliefs and statues continued. + +Besides examples of these carvings still in Britain (especially at the Nottingham Castle Museum, British Museum, and Victoria and Albert Museum), trade in mineral alabaster (rather than just the antiques trade) has scattered examples in the material that may be found as far afield as the Musée de Cluny, Spain, and Scandinavia. + +Alabaster also is found, although in smaller quantity, at Watchet in Somerset, near Penarth in Glamorganshire, and elsewhere. In Cumbria it occurs largely in the New Red rocks, but at a lower geological horizon. The alabaster of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire is found in thick nodular beds or "floors" in spheroidal masses known as "balls" or "bowls" and in smaller lenticular masses termed "cakes". At Chellaston, where the local alabaster is known as "Patrick", it has been worked into ornaments under the name of "Derbyshire spar"―a term more properly applied to fluorspar. + +Black alabaster + +Black alabaster is a rare anhydrite form of the gypsum-based mineral. This black form is found in only three veins in the world, one each in United States, Italy, and China. + +Alabaster Caverns State Park, near Freedom, Oklahoma, is home to a natural gypsum cave in which much of the gypsum is in the form of alabaster. There are several types of alabaster found at the site, including pink, white, and the rare black alabaster. + +Gallery + +Ancient and Classical Near East + +European Middle Ages + +Modern + +See also + +Mineralogy + – mineral consisting of calcium carbonate (); archaeologists and stone trade professionals, unlike mineralogists, call one variety of calcite "alabaster" + – mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate (); alabaster is one of its varieties + – a mineral closely related to gypsum + – the main inorganic compound () of gypsum + – translucent sheets of marble or alabaster used during the Early Middle Ages for windows instead of glass + +Window and roof panels +Chronological list of examples: + – 5th century, Ravenna + – 6th century, Ravenna + – mainly 13th–14th century, Valencia, Spain; the lantern of the octagonal crossing tower + – 14th-century, Orvieto, Umbria, central Italy + – 17th century, Rome; alabaster window by Bernini (1598–1680) used to create a "spotlight" + – 1924, Jerusalem, architect: Antonio Barluzzi. Windows fitted with dyed alabaster panels. + – 1924, Mount Tabor, architect: Antonio Barluzzi. Alabaster roofing was attempted. + +References + +Further reading + Harrell J.A. (1990), "Misuse of the term 'alabaster' in Egyptology", Göttinger Miszellen, 119, pp. 37–42. + Mackintosh-Smith T. (1999), "Moonglow from Underground". Aramco World May–June 1999. + +External links + + More about alabaster and travertine, brief guide explaining the confusing, different use of the same terms by geologists, archaeologists and the stone trade. Oxford University Museum of Natural History, 2012 +Alabaster Craftmanship in Volterra + + + +Calcium minerals +Carbonate minerals +Sulfate minerals +Minerals +Stone (material) +Sculpture materials +Bastet +Ahab (; Aḫâbbu [a-ḫa-ab-bu]; Achaáb; ) was the seventh king of Israel, the son and successor of King Omri and the husband of Jezebel of Sidon, according to the Hebrew Bible. The Hebrew Bible presents Ahab as a wicked king, particularly for condoning Jezebel's influence on religious policies and his principal role behind Naboth's arbitrary execution. + +The existence of Ahab is historically supported outside the Bible. Shalmaneser III of Assyria documented in 853 BC that he defeated an alliance of a dozen kings in the Battle of Qarqar; one of these was Ahab. He is also mentioned on the inscriptions of the Mesha Stele. + +Ahab became king of Israel in the thirty-eighth year of King Asa of Judah, and reigned for twenty-two years, according to 1 Kings. William F. Albright dated his reign to 869–850 BC, while Edwin R. Thiele offered the dates 874–853 BC. Most recently, Michael Coogan has dated Ahab's reign to 871–852 BC. + +Reign +King Omri, Ahab's father and founder of the short-lived Omri dynasty, seems to have been a successful military leader; he is reported in the text of the Moabite Mesha Stele to have "oppressed Moab for many days." During Ahab's reign, Moab, which had been conquered by his father, remained tributary. Ahab was allied by marriage with Jehoshaphat, who was king of Judah. Only with Aram-Damascus is he believed to have had strained relations, though the two kingdoms also shared an alliance for some years. + +Ahab married Jezebel, the daughter of the King of Tyre. tells the story of Ahab and Jezebel, and indicates that Jezebel was a dominant influence on Ahab, persuading him to abandon Yahweh and establish the religion of Baal in Israel. Ahab lived in Samaria, the royal capital established by Omri, and built a temple and altar to Baal there. These actions were said to have led to severe consequences for Israel, including a drought that lasted for several years and Jezebel's fanatical religious persecution of the prophets of Yahweh, which Ahab condoned. His reputation was so negative that in 1 Kings 16:34, the author attributed to his reign the deaths of Abiram and Segub, the sons of Hiel of Bethel, caused by their father's invocation of Joshua's curse several centuries before. + +According to , war later erupted between Ahab and king Hadadezer of Aram-Damascus (which the Bible refers to as "Ben-Hadad II") and that Ahab was able to defeat and capture him; however, soon after that, a peace treaty was made between the two and alliance between Israel and Aram-Damascus was formed. + +Battle of Qarqar +The Battle of Qarqar is mentioned in extra-biblical records, and was perhaps at Apamea, where Shalmaneser III of Assyria fought a great confederation of princes from Cilicia, Northern Syria, Israel, Ammon, and the tribes of the Syrian desert (853 BCE), including Arabs, Ahab the Israelite (A-ha-ab-bu matSir-'a-la-a-a) and Hadadezer (Adad-'idri). + +Ahab's contribution was estimated at 2000 chariots and 10,000 men. In reality, however, the number of chariots in Ahab's forces was probably closer to a number in the hundreds (based upon archaeological excavations of the area and the foundations of stables that have been found). If, however, the numbers are referring to allies, they could possibly include forces from Tyre, Judah, Edom, and Moab. The Assyrian king claimed a victory, but his immediate return and subsequent expeditions in 849 BC and 846 BC against a similar but unspecified coalition seem to show that he met with no lasting success. + +Jezreel has been identified as Ahab's fortified chariot and cavalry base. + +Ahab and the prophets +In the Biblical text, Ahab has five important encounters with prophets: +The first encounter is with Elijah, who predicts a drought because of Ahab's sins. Because of this, Ahab refers to him as "the troubler of Israel" (1 Kings 18:17). This encounter ends with Elijah's victory over the prophets of Baal in a contest held for the sake of Ahab and the Israelites, to bring them into repentance. +The second encounter is between Ahab and an unnamed prophet in . +The third is again between Ahab and an unnamed prophet who condemns Ahab for his actions in a battle that had just taken place. +The fourth is when Elijah confronts Ahab over his role in the unjust execution of Naboth and usurpation of the latter's ancestral vineyard. Upon the prophet's remonstration ("Hast thou killed and also taken possession?"), Ahab sincerely repented, which God relays to Elijah. +The fifth encounter is with Micaiah, the prophet who, when asked for advice to recapturing Ramoth-Gilead, sarcastically assures Ahab that he will be successful. Micaiah ultimately tells him the truth of God's plan to kill Ahab in battle, due to his reliance on the false prophets, who were empowered by a deceiving spirit. + +Death of Ahab + +After some years, Ahab with Jehoshaphat of Judah went to recover Ramoth-Gilead from the Arameans. During this battle, Ahab disguised himself, but he was mortally wounded by an unaimed arrow. The Hebrew Bible says that dogs licked his blood, according to the prophecy of Elijah. But the Septuagint adds that pigs also licked his blood, symbolically making him unclean to the Israelites, who abstained from pork. Ahab was succeeded by his sons, Ahaziah and Jehoram. + +Jezebel's death, however, was more dramatic than Ahab's. As recorded in , Jehu had his servants throw Jezebel out of a window, causing her death. The dogs ate Jezebel's body, leaving nothing but her skull, her feet, and the palms of her hands, as prophesied by Elijah. + +Legacy +1 Kings 16:29 through 22:40 contains the narrative of Ahab's reign. His reign was slightly more emphasized upon than the previous kings, due to his blatant trivialization of the "sins of Jeroboam", which the previous kings of Israel were plagued by, and his subsequent marriage with a pagan princess, the nationwide institution of Baal worship, the persecution of Yahweh's prophets and Naboth's shocking murder. These offenses and atrocities stirred up populist resentment from figures such as Elijah and Micaiah. Indeed, he is referred to by the author of Kings as being "more evil than all the kings before him". + +Nonetheless, there were achievements that the author took note of, including his ability to fortify numerous Israelite cities and build an ivory palace. Adherents of the Yahwist religion found their principal champion in Elijah. His denunciation of the royal dynasty of Israel and his emphatic insistence on the worship of Yahweh and Yahweh alone, illustrated by the contest between Yahweh and Baal on Mount Carmel, form the keynote to a period that culminated in the accession of Jehu, an event in which Elijah's chosen disciple Elisha was the leading figure and the Omride Dynasty was brutally defeated. + +In Rabbinic literature +Ahab was one of the three or four wicked kings of Israel singled out by tradition as being excluded from the future world of bliss (Sanh. x. 2; Tosef., Sanh. xii. 11). Midrash Konen places him in the fifth department of Gehenna, as having the heathen under his charge. Though held up as a warning to sinners, Ahab is also described as displaying noble traits of character (Sanh. 102b; Yer. Sanh. xi. 29b). Talmudic literature represents him as an enthusiastic idolater who left no hilltop in the Land of Israel without an idol before which he bowed, and to which he or his wife, Jezebel, brought his weight in gold as a daily offering. So defiant in his apostasy was he that he had inscribed on all the doors of the city of Samaria the words, "Ahab hath abjured the living God of Israel." Nevertheless, he paid great respect to the representatives of learning, "to the Torah given in twenty-two letters," for which reason he was permitted to reign for twenty-two successive years. He generously supported the students of the Law out of his royal treasury, in consequence of which half his sins were forgiven him. A type of worldliness (Ber. 61b), the Crœsus of his time, he was, according to ancient tradition (Meg. 11a), ruler over the whole world. Two hundred and thirty subject kings had initiated a rebellion; but he brought their sons as hostages to Samaria and Jerusalem. All the latter turned from idolaters into worshipers of the God of Israel (Tanna debe Eliyahu, i. 9). Each of his seventy sons had an ivory palace built for him. Since, however, it was Ahab's idolatrous wife who was the chief instigator of his crimes (B. M. 59a), some of the ancient teachers gave him the same position in the world to come as a sinner who had repented (Sanh. 104b, Num. R. xiv). Like Manasseh, he was made a type of repentance (I Kings, xxi. 29). Accordingly, he is described as undergoing fasts and penances for a long time; praying thrice a day to God for forgiveness, until his prayer was heard (PirḲe R. El. xliii). Hence, the name of Ahab in the list of wicked kings was changed to Ahaz (Yer. Sanh. x. 28b; Tanna debe Eliyahu Rabba ix, Zuṭṭa xxiv.). + +Pseudo-Epiphanius ("Opera," ii. 245) makes Micah an Ephraimite. Confounding him with Micaiah, son of Imlah, he states that Micah, for his inauspicious prophecy, was killed by order of Ahab through being thrown from a precipice, and was buried at Morathi (Maroth?; Mic. i. 12), near the cemetery of Enakim (Ένακεὶμ Septuagint rendering of ; ib. i. 10). According to "Gelilot Ereẓ Yisrael" (quoted in "Seder ha-Dorot," i. 118, Warsaw, 1889), Micah was buried in Chesil, a town in southern Judah (Josh. xv. 30). Naboth's soul was the lying spirit that was permitted to deceive Ahab to his death. + +In popular culture +Ahab is portrayed by Eduard Franz in the film Sins of Jezebel (1953). He is also the namesake of Captain Ahab in Moby Dick by Herman Melville. + +See also +List of biblical figures identified in extra-biblical sources + +Explanatory notes + +Citations + +General and cited references + +External links + + +850s BC deaths +9th-century BC Kings of Israel +Deaths by arrow wounds +Monarchs killed in action +Omrides +Year of birth unknown +In the realm of electronic technology, ASIC stands for application-specific integrated circuit, an integrated circuit customized for a specific task. + +ASIC may also refer to: + Accreditation Service for International Colleges, an educational accreditation agency in the UK + Acid-sensing ion channels, a protein family + Air and Space Interoperability Council , former name of the Air Force Interoperability Council + Arfoire Syndicate of International Crime, the antagonist group in the video game Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2 + ASIC programming language, a dialect of BASIC + Associated Signature Containers (ASiC), specifies the use of container structures to bind together one or more signed objects with either advanced electronic signatures or time-stamp tokens into one single digital container + Association Scientifique Internationale pour le Café, a scientific organization based in France + Australian Securities & Investments Commission, Australia's corporate regulator + Aviation Security Identification Card, an Australian identification card + +See also + Asics, an athletic equipment company +Dasyproctidae is a family of large South American rodents, comprising the agoutis and acouchis. Their fur is a reddish or dark colour above, with a paler underside. They are herbivorous, often feeding on ripe fruit that falls from trees. They live in burrows, and, like squirrels, will bury some of their food for later use. + +Dasyproctids exist in Central and South America, which are the tropical parts of the New World. The fossil record of this family can be traced back to the Late Oligocene (Deseadan in the SALMA classification). + +As with all rodents, members of this family have incisors, pre-molars, and molars, but no canines. The cheek teeth are hypsodont and flat-crowned. + +Classification +Fossil taxa follow McKenna and Bell, with modifications following Kramarz. + + Family Dasyproctidae + Genus †Alloiomys + Genus †Australoprocta + Genus †Branisamys + Genus †Incamys + Genus †Neoreomys + Genus †Megastus + Genus †Palmiramys + Genus Dasyprocta + Azara's agouti, D. azarae + Coiban agouti, D. coibae + Crested agouti, D. cristata + Black agouti, D. fuliginosa + Orinoco agouti, D. guamara + Kalinowski's agouti, D. kalinowskii + Red-rumped agouti, D. leporina + Mexican agouti, D. mexicana + Black-rumped agouti, D. prymnolopha + Central American agouti, D. punctata + Ruatan Island agouti, D. ruatanica + Genus Myoprocta + Green acouchi, M. pratti + Red acouchi, M. acouchy + +The pacas (genus Cuniculus) are placed by some authorities in Dasyproctidae, but molecular studies have demonstrated they do not form a monophyletic group. + +References + +External links + Central American agouti at Smithsonian + Dasyproctidae at Animaldiversity.org + 2014 - Figueira et al. - Carrion consumption by Dasyprocta leporina (Rodentia: Dasyproctidae) and a review of meat use by agoutis + + +Hystricognath rodents +Rodent families +Extant Chattian first appearances +Mammals described in 1825 +Algol , designated Beta Persei (β Persei, abbreviated Beta Per, β Per), known colloquially as the Demon Star, is a bright multiple star in the constellation of Perseus and one of the first non-nova variable stars to be discovered. + +Algol is a three-star system, consisting of Beta Persei Aa1, Aa2, and Ab – in which the hot luminous primary β Persei Aa1 and the larger, but cooler and fainter, β Persei Aa2 regularly pass in front of each other, causing eclipses. Thus Algol's magnitude is usually near-constant at 2.1, but regularly dips to 3.4 every 2.86 days during the roughly 10-hour-long partial eclipses. The secondary eclipse when the brighter primary star occults the fainter secondary is very shallow and can only be detected photoelectrically. + +Algol gives its name to its class of eclipsing variable, known as Algol variables. + +Observation history + +An ancient Egyptian calendar of lucky and unlucky days composed some 3,200 years ago is said to be the oldest historical documentation of the discovery of Algol. + +The association of Algol with a demon-like creature (Gorgon in the Greek tradition, ghoul in the Arabic tradition) suggests that its variability was known long before the 17th century, but there is still no indisputable evidence for this. The Arabic astronomer al-Sufi said nothing about any variability of the star in his Book of Fixed Stars published c.964. + +The variability of Algol was noted in 1667 by Italian astronomer Geminiano Montanari, but the periodic nature of its variations in brightness was not recognized until more than a century later, when the British amateur astronomer John Goodricke also proposed a mechanism for the star's variability. In May 1783, he presented his findings to the Royal Society, suggesting that the periodic variability was caused by a dark body passing in front of the star (or else that the star itself has a darker region that is periodically turned toward the Earth). For his report he was awarded the Copley Medal. + +In 1881, the Harvard astronomer Edward Charles Pickering presented evidence that Algol was actually an eclipsing binary. This was confirmed a few years later, in 1889, when the Potsdam astronomer Hermann Carl Vogel found periodic doppler shifts in the spectrum of Algol, inferring variations in the radial velocity of this binary system. Thus Algol became one of the first known spectroscopic binaries. Joel Stebbins at the University of Illinois Observatory used an early selenium cell photometer to produce the first-ever photoelectric study of a variable star. The light curve revealed the second minimum and the reflection effect between the two stars. +Some difficulties in explaining the observed spectroscopic features led to the conjecture that a third star may be present in the system; four decades later this conjecture was found to be correct. + +System + +Algol is a multiple-star system with three confirmed and two suspected stellar components. From the point of view of the Earth, Algol Aa1 and Algol Aa2 form an eclipsing binary because their orbital plane contains the line of sight to the Earth. The eclipsing binary pair is separated by only 0.062 astronomical units (au) from each other, whereas the third star in the system (Algol Ab) is at an average distance of 2.69 au from the pair, and the mutual orbital period of the trio is 681 Earth days. The total mass of the system is about 5.8 solar masses, and the mass ratios of Aa1, Aa2, and Ab are about 4.5 to 1 to 2. + +The three components of the bright triple star used to be, and still sometimes are, referred to as β Per A, B, and C. The Washington Double Star Catalog lists them as Aa1, Aa2, and Ab, with two very faint stars B and C about one arcmin distant. A further five faint stars are also listed as companions. + +The close pair consists of a B8 main sequence star and a much less massive K0 subgiant, which is highly distorted by the more massive star. These two orbit every 2.9 days and undergo the eclipses that cause Algol to vary in brightness. The third star orbits these two every 680 days and is an A or F-type main sequence star. It has been classified as an Am star, but this is now considered doubtful. + +Studies of Algol led to the Algol paradox in the theory of stellar evolution: although components of a binary star form at the same time, and massive stars evolve much faster than the less massive stars, the more massive component Algol Aa1 is still in the main sequence, but the less massive Algol Aa2 is a subgiant star at a later evolutionary stage. The paradox can be solved by mass transfer: when the more massive star became a subgiant, it filled its Roche lobe, and most of the mass was transferred to the other star, which is still in the main sequence. In some binaries similar to Algol, a gas flow can be seen. The gas flow between the primary and secondary stars in Algol has been imaged using Doppler Tomography. + +This system also exhibits x-ray and radio wave flares. The x-ray flares are thought to be caused by the magnetic fields of the A and B components interacting with the mass transfer. The radio-wave flares might be created by magnetic cycles similar to those of sunspots, but because the magnetic fields of these stars are up to ten times stronger than the field of the Sun, these radio flares are more powerful and more persistent. The secondary component was identified as the radio emitting source in Algol using Very-long-baseline interferometry by Lestrade and co-authors. + +Magnetic activity cycles in the chromospherically active secondary component induce changes in its radius of gyration that have been linked to recurrent orbital period variations on the order of  ≈  via the Applegate mechanism. Mass transfer between the components is small in the Algol system but could be a significant source of period change in other Algol-type binaries. + +Algol is about 92.8 light-years from the Sun, but about 7.3 million years ago it passed within 9.8 light-years of the Solar System and its apparent magnitude was about −2.5, which is considerably brighter than the star Sirius is today. Because the total mass of the Algol system is about 5.8 solar masses, at the closest approach this might have given enough gravity to perturb the Oort cloud of the Solar System somewhat and hence increase the number of comets entering the inner Solar System. However, the actual increase in net cometary collisions is thought to have been quite small. + +Names + +Beta Persei is the star's Bayer designation. The name Algol derives from Arabic raʾs al-ghūl : head (raʾs) of the ogre (al-ghūl) (see "ghoul"). The English name Demon Star was taken from the Arabic name. In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN's first bulletin of July 2016 included a table of the first two batches of names approved by the WGSN; which included Algol for this star. It is so entered on the IAU Catalog of Star Names. + +In Hebrew folklore, Algol was called Rōsh ha Sāṭān or "Satan's Head", as stated by Edmund Chilmead, who called it "Divels head" or Rosch hassatan. A Latin name for Algol from the 16th century was Caput Larvae or "the Spectre's Head". Hipparchus and Pliny made this a separate, though connected, constellation. + +In Chinese, (), meaning Mausoleum, refers to an asterism consisting of β Persei, 9 Persei, τ Persei, ι Persei, κ Persei, ρ Persei, 16 Persei and 12 Persei. Consequently, the Chinese name for β Persei itself is (, English: The Fifth Star of Mausoleum.). According to R.H. Allen the star bore the grim name of Tseih She (), meaning "Piled up Corpses" but this appears to be a misidentification, and Dié Shī is correctly π Persei, which is inside the Mausoleum. + +Cultural significance + +Historically, the star has received a strong association with bloody violence across a wide variety of cultures. In the Tetrabiblos, the 2nd-century astrological text of the Alexandrian astronomer Ptolemy, Algol is referred to as "the Gorgon of Perseus" and associated with death by decapitation: a theme which mirrors the myth of the hero Perseus's victory over the snake-haired Gorgon Medusa. In the astrology of fixed stars, Algol is considered one of the unluckiest stars in the sky, and was listed as one of the 15 Behenian stars. + +See also + Jaana Toivari-Viitala, egyptologist who contributed to understanding Ancient Egypt and the star + +References + +External links + + + + + + +Algol variables +Persei, Beta +B-type main-sequence stars +Persei, 26 +019356 +014576 +K-type subgiants +Perseus (constellation) +Algol +Triple star systems +Astronomical objects known since antiquity +0936 +BD+40 0673 +Am stars +F-type main-sequence stars +"Amazing Grace" is a Christian hymn published in 1779 with words written in 1772 by English Anglican clergyman and poet John Newton (1725–1807). It is an immensely popular hymn, particularly in the United States, where it is used for both religious and secular purposes. + +Newton wrote the words from personal experience; he grew up without any particular religious conviction, but his life's path was formed by a variety of twists and coincidences that were often put into motion by others' reactions to what they took as his recalcitrant insubordination. He was pressed into service with the Royal Navy, and after leaving the service, he became involved in the Atlantic slave trade. In 1748, a violent storm battered his vessel off the coast of County Donegal, Ireland, so severely that he called out to God for mercy. While this moment marked his spiritual conversion, he continued slave trading until 1754 or 1755, when he ended his seafaring altogether. Newton began studying Christian theology and later became an abolitionist. + +Ordained in the Church of England in 1764, Newton became the curate of Olney, Buckinghamshire, where he began to write hymns with poet William Cowper. "Amazing Grace" was written to illustrate a sermon on New Year's Day of 1773. It is unknown if there was any music accompanying the verses; it may have been chanted by the congregation. It debuted in print in 1779 in Newton's and Cowper's Olney Hymns, but settled into relative obscurity in England. In the United States, "Amazing Grace" became a popular song used by Baptist and Methodist preachers as part of their evangelizing, especially in the American South, during the Second Great Awakening of the early 19th century. It has been associated with more than 20 melodies. In 1835, American composer William Walker set it to the tune known as "New Britain" in a shape note format; this is the version most frequently sung today. + +With the message that forgiveness and redemption are possible regardless of sins committed and that the soul can be delivered from despair through the mercy of God, "Amazing Grace" is one of the most recognisable songs in the English-speaking world. American historian Gilbert Chase writes that it is "without a doubt the most famous of all the folk hymns" and Jonathan Aitken, a Newton biographer, estimates that the song is performed about 10 million times annually. + +It has had particular influence in folk music, and has become an emblematic black spiritual. Its universal message has been a significant factor in its crossover into secular music. "Amazing Grace" became newly popular during the 1960s revival of American folk music, and it has been recorded thousands of times during and since the 20th century. + +John Newton's conversion + +According to the Dictionary of American Hymnology, "Amazing Grace" is John Newton's spiritual autobiography in verse. + +In 1725, Newton was born in Wapping, a district in London near the Thames. His father was a shipping merchant who was brought up as a Catholic but had Protestant sympathies, and his mother was a devout Independent, unaffiliated with the Anglican Church. She had intended Newton to become a clergyman, but she died of tuberculosis when he was six years old. For the next few years, while his father was at sea Newton was raised by his emotionally distant stepmother. He was also sent to boarding school, where he was mistreated. At the age of eleven, he joined his father on a ship as an apprentice; his seagoing career would be marked by headstrong disobedience. + +As a youth, Newton began a pattern of coming very close to death, examining his relationship with God, then relapsing into bad habits. As a sailor, he denounced his faith after being influenced by a shipmate who discussed with him Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times, a book by the Third Earl of Shaftesbury. In a series of letters Newton later wrote, "Like an unwary sailor who quits his port just before a rising storm, I renounced the hopes and comforts of the Gospel at the very time when every other comfort was about to fail me." His disobedience caused him to be pressed into the Royal Navy, and he took advantage of opportunities to overstay his leave. + +He deserted the navy to visit Mary "Polly" Catlett, a family friend with whom he had fallen in love. After enduring humiliation for deserting, he was traded as crew to a slave ship. + +He began a career in slave trading. + + +Newton often openly mocked the captain by creating obscene poems and songs about him, which became so popular that the crew began to join in. His disagreements with several colleagues resulted in his being starved almost to death, imprisoned while at sea, and chained like the slaves they carried. He was himself enslaved by the Sherbro and forced to work on a plantation in Sierra Leone near the Sherbro River. After several months he came to think of Sierra Leone as his home, but his father intervened after Newton sent him a letter describing his circumstances, and crew from another ship happened to find him. Newton claimed the only reason he left Sierra Leone was because of Polly. + +While aboard the ship Greyhound, Newton gained notoriety as being one of the most profane men the captain had ever met. In a culture where sailors habitually swore, Newton was admonished several times for not only using the worst words the captain had ever heard, but creating new ones to exceed the limits of verbal debauchery. In March 1748, while the Greyhound was in the North Atlantic, a violent storm came upon the ship that was so rough it swept overboard a crew member who was standing where Newton had been moments before. After hours of the crew emptying water from the ship and expecting to be capsized, Newton and another mate tied themselves to the ship's pump to keep from being washed overboard, working for several hours. After proposing the measure to the captain, Newton had turned and said, "If this will not do, then Lord have mercy upon us!" Newton rested briefly before returning to the deck to steer for the next eleven hours. During his time at the wheel, he pondered his divine challenge. + +About two weeks later, the battered ship and starving crew landed in Lough Swilly, Ireland. For several weeks before the storm, Newton had been reading The Christian's Pattern, a summary of the 15th-century The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis. The memory of his own "Lord have mercy upon us!" uttered during a moment of desperation in the storm did not leave him; he began to ask if he was worthy of God's mercy or in any way redeemable. Not only had he neglected his faith but directly opposed it, mocking others who showed theirs, deriding and denouncing God as a myth. He came to believe that God had sent him a profound message and had begun to work through him. + +Newton's conversion was not immediate, but he contacted Polly's family and announced his intention to marry her. Her parents were hesitant as he was known to be unreliable and impetuous. They knew he was profane too but allowed him to write to Polly, and he set to begin to submit to authority for her sake. He sought a place on a slave ship bound for Africa, and Newton and his crewmates participated in most of the same activities he had written about before; the only immorality from which he was able to free himself was profanity. After a severe illness his resolve was renewed, yet he retained the same attitude towards slavery as was held by his contemporaries. Newton continued in the slave trade through several voyages where he sailed the coasts of Africa, now as a captain, and procured slaves being offered for sale in larger ports, transporting them to North America. + +In between voyages, he married Polly in 1750, and he found it more difficult to leave her at the beginning of each trip. After three shipping voyages in the slave trade, Newton was promised a position as ship's captain with cargo unrelated to slavery. But at the age of thirty, he collapsed and never sailed again. + +Olney curate + +Working as a customs agent in Liverpool starting in 1756, Newton began to teach himself Latin, Greek, and theology. He and Polly immersed themselves in the church community, and Newton's passion was so impressive that his friends suggested he become a priest in the Church of England. He was turned down by John Gilbert, Archbishop of York, in 1758, ostensibly for having no university degree, although the more likely reasons were his leanings toward evangelism and tendency to socialise with Methodists. Newton continued his devotions, and after being encouraged by a friend, he wrote about his experiences in the slave trade and his conversion. William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth, impressed with his story, sponsored Newton for ordination by John Green, Bishop of Lincoln, and offered him the curacy of Olney, Buckinghamshire, in 1764. + +Olney Hymns + +Olney was a village of about 2,500 residents whose main industry was making lace by hand. The people were mostly illiterate and many of them were poor. Newton's preaching was unique in that he shared many of his own experiences from the pulpit; many clergy preached from a distance, not admitting any intimacy with temptation or sin. He was involved in his parishioners' lives and was much loved, although his writing and delivery were sometimes unpolished. But his devotion and conviction were apparent and forceful, and he often said his mission was to "break a hard heart and to heal a broken heart". He struck a friendship with William Cowper, a gifted writer who had failed at a career in law and suffered bouts of insanity, attempting suicide several times. Cowper enjoyed Olney and Newton's company; he was also new to Olney and had gone through a spiritual conversion similar to Newton's. Together, their effect on the local congregation was impressive. In 1768, they found it necessary to start a weekly prayer meeting to meet the needs of an increasing number of parishioners. They also began writing lessons for children. + +Partly from Cowper's literary influence, and partly because learned vicars were expected to write verses, Newton began to try his hand at hymns, which had become popular through the language, made plain for common people to understand. Several prolific hymn writers were at their most productive in the 18th century, including Isaac Watts whose hymns Newton had grown up hearing and Charles Wesley, with whom Newton was familiar. Wesley's brother John, the eventual founder of the Methodist Church, had encouraged Newton to go into the clergy. Watts was a pioneer in English hymn writing, basing his work after the Psalms. The most prevalent hymns by Watts and others were written in the common meter in 8.6.8.6: the first line is eight syllables and the second is six. + +Newton and Cowper attempted to present a poem or hymn for each prayer meeting. The lyrics to "Amazing Grace" were written in late 1772 and probably used in a prayer meeting for the first time on 1 January 1773. A collection of the poems Newton and Cowper had written for use in services at Olney was bound and published anonymously in 1779 under the title Olney Hymns. Newton contributed 280 of the 348 texts in Olney Hymns; "1 Chronicles 17:16–17, Faith's Review and Expectation" was the title of the poem with the first line "Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)". + +Critical analysis +The general impact of Olney Hymns was immediate and it became a widely popular tool for evangelicals in Britain for many years. Scholars appreciated Cowper's poetry somewhat more than Newton's plaintive and plain language, expressing his forceful personality. The most prevalent themes in the verses written by Newton in Olney Hymns are faith in salvation, wonder at God's grace, his love for Jesus, and his cheerful exclamations of the joy he found in his faith. As a reflection of Newton's connection to his parishioners, he wrote many of the hymns in first person, admitting his own experience with sin. Bruce Hindmarsh in Sing Them Over Again To Me: Hymns and Hymnbooks in America considers "Amazing Grace" an excellent example of Newton's testimonial style afforded by the use of this perspective. Several of Newton's hymns were recognised as great work ("Amazing Grace" was not among them), while others seem to have been included to fill in when Cowper was unable to write. Jonathan Aitken calls Newton, specifically referring to "Amazing Grace", an "unashamedly middlebrow lyricist writing for a lowbrow congregation", noting that only twenty-one of the nearly 150 words used in all six verses have more than one syllable. + +William Phipps in the Anglican Theological Review and author James Basker have interpreted the first stanza of "Amazing Grace" as evidence of Newton's realisation that his participation in the slave trade was his wretchedness, perhaps representing a wider common understanding of Newton's motivations. Newton joined forces with William Wilberforce, the British Member of Parliament who led the Parliamentarian campaign to abolish the slave trade in the British Empire, culminating in the Slave Trade Act 1807. But Newton did not become an ardent and outspoken abolitionist until after he left Olney in the 1780s; he is not known to have connected writing the hymn known as "Amazing Grace" to anti-slavery sentiments. + +The lyrics in Olney Hymns were arranged by their association to the Biblical verses that would be used by Newton and Cowper in their prayer meetings, and did not address any political objective. For Newton, the beginning of the year was a time to reflect on one's spiritual progress. At the same time he completed a diary which has since been lost that he had begun 17 years before, two years after he quit sailing. The last entry of 1772 was a recounting of how much he had changed since then. + +The title ascribed to the hymn, "1 Chronicles 17:16–17", refers to David's reaction to the prophet Nathan telling him that God intends to maintain his family line forever. Some Christians interpret this as a prediction that Jesus Christ, as a descendant of David, was promised by God as the salvation for all people. Newton's sermon on that January day in 1773 focused on the necessity to express one's gratitude for God's guidance, that God is involved in the daily lives of Christians though they may not be aware of it, and that patience for deliverance from the daily trials of life is warranted when the glories of eternity await. Newton saw himself a sinner like David who had been chosen, perhaps undeservedly, and was humbled by it. According to Newton, unconverted sinners were "blinded by the god of this world" until "mercy came to us not only undeserved but undesired ... our hearts endeavored to shut him out till he overcame us by the power of his grace." + +The New Testament served as the basis for many of the lyrics of "Amazing Grace". The first verse, for example, can be traced to the story of the Prodigal Son. In the Gospel of Luke the father says, "For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost, and is found". The story of Jesus healing a blind man who tells the Pharisees that he can now see is told in the Gospel of John. Newton used the words "I was blind but now I see" and declared "Oh to grace how great a debtor!" in his letters and diary entries as early as 1752. The effect of the lyrical arrangement, according to Bruce Hindmarsh, allows an instant release of energy in the exclamation "Amazing grace!", to be followed by a qualifying reply in "how sweet the sound". In An Annotated Anthology of Hymns, Newton's use of an exclamation at the beginning of his verse is called "crude but effective" in an overall composition that "suggest(s) a forceful, if simple, statement of faith". Grace is recalled three times in the following verse, culminating in Newton's most personal story of his conversion, underscoring the use of his personal testimony with his parishioners. + +The sermon preached by Newton was his last of those that William Cowper heard in Olney, since Cowper's mental instability returned shortly thereafter. One author suggests Newton may have had his friend in mind, employing the themes of assurance and deliverance from despair for Cowper's benefit. + +Dissemination + +More than 60 of Newton and Cowper's hymns were republished in other British hymnals and magazines, but "Amazing Grace" was not, appearing only once in a 1780 hymnal sponsored by the Countess of Huntingdon. Scholar John Julian commented in his 1892 A Dictionary of Hymnology that outside of the United States, the song was unknown and it was "far from being a good example of Newton's finest work". Between 1789 and 1799, four variations of Newton's hymn were published in the US in Baptist, Dutch Reformed, and Congregationalist hymnodies; by 1830 Presbyterians and Methodists also included Newton's verses in their hymnals. + +Although it had its roots in England, "Amazing Grace" became an integral part of the Christian tapestry in the United States. The greatest influences in the 19th century that propelled "Amazing Grace" to spread across the US and become a staple of religious services in many denominations and regions were the Second Great Awakening and the development of shape note singing communities. A tremendous religious movement swept the US in the early 19th century, marked by the growth and popularity of churches and religious revivals that got their start on the frontier in Kentucky and Tennessee. Unprecedented gatherings of thousands of people attended camp meetings where they came to experience salvation; preaching was fiery and focused on saving the sinner from temptation and backsliding. Religion was stripped of ornament and ceremony, and made as plain and simple as possible; sermons and songs often used repetition to get across to a rural population of poor and mostly uneducated people the necessity of turning away from sin. Witnessing and testifying became an integral component to these meetings, where a congregation member or stranger would rise and recount his turn from a sinful life to one of piety and peace. "Amazing Grace" was one of many hymns that punctuated fervent sermons, although the contemporary style used a refrain, borrowed from other hymns, that employed simplicity and repetition such as: + +Simultaneously, an unrelated movement of communal singing was established throughout the South and Western states. A format of teaching music to illiterate people appeared in 1800. It used four sounds to symbolise the basic scale: fa-sol-la-fa-sol-la-mi-fa. Each sound was accompanied by a specifically shaped note and thus became known as shape note singing. The method was simple to learn and teach, so schools were established throughout the South and West. Communities would come together for an entire day of singing in a large building where they sat in four distinct areas surrounding an open space, one member directing the group as a whole. Other groups would sing outside, on benches set up in a square. Preachers used shape note hymns to teach people on the frontier and to raise the emotion of camp meetings. Most of the music was Christian, but the purpose of communal singing was not primarily spiritual. Communities either could not afford music accompaniment or rejected it out of a Calvinistic sense of simplicity, so the songs were sung a cappella. + +"New Britain" tune + +When originally used in Olney, it is unknown what music, if any, accompanied the verses written by John Newton. Contemporary hymnbooks did not contain music and were simply small books of religious poetry. The first known instance of Newton's lines joined to music was in A Companion to the Countess of Huntingdon's Hymns (London, 1808), where it is set to the tune "Hephzibah" by English composer John Jenkins Husband. Common meter hymns were interchangeable with a variety of tunes; more than twenty musical settings of "Amazing Grace" circulated with varying popularity until 1835, when American composer William Walker assigned Newton's words to a traditional song named "New Britain". This was an amalgamation of two melodies ("Gallaher" and "St. Mary"), first published in the Columbian Harmony by Charles H. Spilman and Benjamin Shaw (Cincinnati, 1829). Spilman and Shaw, both students at Kentucky's Centre College, compiled their tunebook both for public worship and revivals, to satisfy "the wants of the Church in her triumphal march". Most of the tunes had been previously published, but "Gallaher" and "St. Mary" had not. As neither tune is attributed and both show elements of oral transmission, scholars can only speculate that they are possibly of British origin. A manuscript from 1828 by Lucius Chapin, a famous hymn writer of that time, contains a tune very close to "St. Mary", but that does not mean that he wrote it. + +"Amazing Grace", with the words written by Newton and joined with "New Britain", the melody most currently associated with it, appeared for the first time in Walker's shape note tunebook Southern Harmony in 1847. It was, according to author Steve Turner, a "marriage made in heaven ... The music behind 'amazing' had a sense of awe to it. The music behind 'grace' sounded graceful. There was a rise at the point of confession, as though the author was stepping out into the open and making a bold declaration, but a corresponding fall when admitting his blindness." Walker's collection was enormously popular, selling about 600,000 copies all over the US when the total population was just over 20 million. Another shape note tunebook named The Sacred Harp (1844) by Georgia residents Benjamin Franklin White and Elisha J. King became widely influential and continues to be used. + +Another verse was first recorded in Harriet Beecher Stowe's immensely influential 1852 anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. Three verses were emblematically sung by Tom in his hour of deepest crisis. He sings the sixth and fifth verses in that order, and Stowe included another verse, not written by Newton, that had been passed down orally in African-American communities for at least 50 years. It was one of between 50 and 70 verses of a song titled "Jerusalem, My Happy Home", which was first published in a 1790 book called A Collection of Sacred Ballads: + +"Amazing Grace" came to be an emblem of a Christian movement and a symbol of the US itself as the country was involved in a great political experiment, attempting to employ democracy as a means of government. Shape-note singing communities, with all the members sitting around an open center, each song employing a different song leader, illustrated this in practice. Simultaneously, the US began to expand westward into previously unexplored territory that was often wilderness. The "dangers, toils, and snares" of Newton's lyrics had both literal and figurative meanings for Americans. This became poignantly true during the most serious test of American cohesion in the U.S. Civil War (1861–1865). "Amazing Grace", set to "New Britain", was included in two hymnals distributed to soldiers. With death so real and imminent, religious services in the military became commonplace. The hymn was translated into other languages as well: while on the Trail of Tears, the Cherokee sang Christian hymns as a way of coping with the ongoing tragedy, and a version of the song by Samuel Worcester that had been translated into the Cherokee language became very popular. + +Urban revival +Although "Amazing Grace" set to "New Britain" was popular, other versions existed regionally. Primitive Baptists in the Appalachian region often used "New Britain" with other hymns, and sometimes sing the words of "Amazing Grace" to other folk songs, including titles such as "In the Pines", "Pisgah", "Primrose", and "Evan", as all are able to be sung in common meter, of which the majority of their repertoire consists. In the late 19th century, Newton's verses were sung to a tune named "Arlington" as frequently as to "New Britain" for a time. + +Two musical arrangers named Dwight Moody and Ira Sankey heralded another religious revival in the cities of the US and Europe, giving the song international exposure. Moody's preaching and Sankey's musical gifts were significant; their arrangements were the forerunners of gospel music, and churches all over the US were eager to acquire them. Moody and Sankey began publishing their compositions in 1875, and "Amazing Grace" appeared three times with three different melodies, but they were the first to give it its title; hymns were typically published using the incipits (first line of the lyrics), or the name of the tune such as "New Britain". Publisher Edwin Othello Excell gave the version of "Amazing Grace" set to "New Britain" immense popularity by publishing it in a series of hymnals that were used in urban churches. Excell altered some of Walker's music, making it more contemporary and European, giving "New Britain" some distance from its rural folk-music origins. Excell's version was more palatable for a growing urban middle class and arranged for larger church choirs. Several editions featuring Newton's first three stanzas and the verse previously included by Harriet Beecher Stowe in Uncle Tom's Cabin were published by Excell between 1900 and 1910. His version of "Amazing Grace" became the standard form of the song in American churches. + +Recorded versions + +With the advent of recorded music and radio, "Amazing Grace" began to cross over from primarily a gospel standard to secular audiences. The ability to record combined with the marketing of records to specific audiences allowed "Amazing Grace" to take on thousands of different forms in the 20th century. Where Edwin Othello Excell sought to make the singing of "Amazing Grace" uniform throughout thousands of churches, records allowed artists to improvise with the words and music specific to each audience. AllMusic lists over 1,000 recordings – including re-releases and compilations – as of 2019. Its first recording is an a cappella version from 1922 by the Sacred Harp Choir. + +It was included from 1926 to 1930 in Okeh Records' catalogue, which typically concentrated strongly on blues and jazz. Demand was high for black gospel recordings of the song by H. R. Tomlin and J. M. Gates. A poignant sense of nostalgia accompanied the recordings of several gospel and blues singers in the 1940s and 1950s who used the song to remember their grandparents, traditions, and family roots. It was recorded with musical accompaniment for the first time in 1930 by Fiddlin' John Carson, although to another folk hymn named "At the Cross", not to "New Britain". "Amazing Grace" is emblematic of several kinds of folk music styles, often used as the standard example to illustrate such musical techniques as lining out and call and response, that have been practised in both black and white folk music. + +Mahalia Jackson's 1947 version received significant radio airplay, and as her popularity grew throughout the 1950s and 1960s, she often sang it at public events such as concerts at Carnegie Hall. Author James Basker states that the song has been employed by African Americans as the "paradigmatic Negro spiritual" because it expresses the joy felt at being delivered from slavery and worldly miseries. Anthony Heilbut, author of The Gospel Sound, states that the "dangers, toils, and snares" of Newton's words are a "universal testimony" of the African American experience. During the civil rights movement and opposition to the Vietnam War, the song took on a political tone. Mahalia Jackson employed "Amazing Grace" for Civil Rights marchers, writing that she used it "to give magical protection a charm to ward off danger, an incantation to the angels of heaven to descend ... I was not sure the magic worked outside the church walls ... in the open air of Mississippi. But I wasn't taking any chances." Folk singer Judy Collins, who knew the song before she could remember learning it, witnessed Fannie Lou Hamer leading marchers in Mississippi in 1964, singing "Amazing Grace". Collins also considered it a talisman of sorts, and saw its equal emotional impact on the marchers, witnesses, and law enforcement who opposed the civil rights demonstrators. According to fellow folk singer Joan Baez, it was one of the most requested songs from her audiences, but she never realised its origin as a hymn; by the time she was singing it in the 1960s she said it had "developed a life of its own". It even made an appearance at the Woodstock Music Festival in 1969 during Arlo Guthrie's performance. + +Collins decided to record it in the late 1960s amid an atmosphere of counterculture introspection; she was part of an encounter group that ended a contentious meeting by singing "Amazing Grace" as it was the only song to which all the members knew the words. Her producer was present and suggested she include a version of it on her 1970 album Whales & Nightingales. Collins, who had a history of alcohol abuse, claimed that the song was able to "pull her through" to recovery. It was recorded in St. Paul's, the chapel at Columbia University, chosen for the acoustics. She chose an a cappella arrangement that was close to Edwin Othello Excell's, accompanied by a chorus of amateur singers who were friends of hers. Collins connected it to the Vietnam War, to which she objected: "I didn't know what else to do about the war in Vietnam. I had marched, I had voted, I had gone to jail on political actions and worked for the candidates I believed in. The war was still raging. There was nothing left to do, I thought ... but sing 'Amazing Grace'." Gradually and unexpectedly, the song began to be played on the radio, and then be requested. It rose to number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100, remaining on the charts for 15 weeks, as if, she wrote, her fans had been "waiting to embrace it". In the UK, it charted 8 times between 1970 and 1972, peaking at number 5 and spending a total of 75 weeks on popular music charts. Her rendition also reached number 5 in New Zealand and number 12 in Ireland in 1971. + +In 1972, the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, the senior Scottish regiment of the British Army, recorded an instrumental version featuring a bagpipe soloist accompanied by a pipe band. The tempo of their arrangement was slowed to allow for the bagpipes, but it was based on Collins's: it began with a bagpipe solo introduction similar to her lone voice, then it was accompanied by the band of bagpipes and horns, whereas in her version she is backed up by a chorus. It became an international hit, spending five weeks at number-one in the UK Singles Chart, topping the RPM national singles chart in Canada for three weeks, and also peaking at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US. It is also a controversial instrumental, as it combined pipes with a military band. The Pipe Major of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards was summoned to Edinburgh Castle and chastised for demeaning the bagpipes. + +Aretha Franklin and Rod Stewart also recorded "Amazing Grace" around the same time, and both of their renditions were popular. All four versions were marketed to distinct types of audiences, thereby assuring its place as a pop song. Johnny Cash recorded it on his 1975 album Sings Precious Memories, dedicating it to his older brother Jack, who had been killed in a mill accident when they were boys in Dyess, Arkansas. Cash and his family sang it to themselves while they worked in the cotton fields following Jack's death. Cash often included the song when he toured prisons, saying "For the three minutes that song is going on, everybody is free. It just frees the spirit and frees the person." + +The U.S. Library of Congress has a collection of 3,000 versions of and songs inspired by "Amazing Grace", some of which were first-time recordings by folklorists Alan and John Lomax, a father and son team who in 1932 travelled thousands of miles across the southern states of the US to capture the different regional styles of the song. More contemporary renditions include samples from such popular artists as Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers (1963), the Byrds (1970), Elvis Presley (1971), Skeeter Davis (1972), Mighty Clouds of Joy (1972), Amazing Rhythm Aces (1975), Willie Nelson (1976) and the Lemonheads (1992). + +In American popular culture + +"Amazing Grace" is an icon in American culture that has been used for a variety of secular purposes and marketing campaigns. It is referenced in the 2006 film Amazing Grace, which highlights Newton's influence on the leading British abolitionist William Wilberforce, in the film biography of Newton, Newton's Grace, and the 2014 film Freedom which tells the story of Newton's composition of the hymn. + +Since 1954, when an organ instrumental of "New Britain" became a best-seller, "Amazing Grace" has been associated with funerals and memorial services. The hymn has become a song that inspires hope in the wake of tragedy, becoming a sort of "spiritual national anthem" according to authors Mary Rourke and Emily Gwathmey. For example, President Barack Obama recited and later sang the hymn at the memorial service for Clementa Pinckney, who was one of the nine victims of the Charleston church shooting in 2015. + +Modern interpretations + +In recent years, the words of the hymn have been changed in some religious publications to downplay a sense of imposed self-loathing by its singers. The second line, "That saved a wretch like me!" has been rewritten as "That saved and strengthened me", "save a soul like me", or "that saved and set me free". Kathleen Norris in her book Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith characterises this transformation of the original words as "wretched English" making the line that replaces the original "laughably bland". Part of the reason for this change has been the altered interpretations of what wretchedness and grace means. Newton's Calvinistic view of redemption and divine grace formed his perspective that he considered himself a sinner so vile that he was unable to change his life or be redeemed without God's help. Yet his lyrical subtlety, in Steve Turner's opinion, leaves the hymn's meaning open to a variety of Christian and non-Christian interpretations. "Wretch" also represents a period in Newton's life when he saw himself outcast and miserable, as he was when he was enslaved in Sierra Leone; his own arrogance was matched by how far he had fallen in his life. + +Due to its immense popularity and iconic nature, the meaning behind the words of "Amazing Grace" has become as individual as the singer or listener. Bruce Hindmarsh suggests that the secular popularity of "Amazing Grace" is due to the absence of any mention of God in the lyrics until the fourth verse (by Excell's version, the fourth verse begins "When we've been there ten thousand years"), and that the song represents the ability of humanity to transform itself instead of a transformation taking place at the hands of God. "Grace", however, had a clearer meaning to John Newton, as he used the word to represent God or the power of God. + +The transformative power of the song was investigated by journalist Bill Moyers in a documentary released in 1990. Moyers was inspired to focus on the song's power after watching a performance at Lincoln Center, where the audience consisted of Christians and non-Christians, and he noticed that it had an equal impact on everybody in attendance, unifying them. James Basker also acknowledged this force when he explained why he chose "Amazing Grace" to represent a collection of anti-slavery poetry: "there is a transformative power that is applicable ... : the transformation of sin and sorrow into grace, of suffering into beauty, of alienation into empathy and connection, of the unspeakable into imaginative literature." + +Moyers interviewed Collins, Cash, opera singer Jessye Norman, Appalachian folk musician Jean Ritchie and her family, white Sacred Harp singers in Georgia, black Sacred Harp singers in Alabama, and a prison choir at the Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville. Collins, Cash, and Norman were unable to discern if the power of the song came from the music or the lyrics. Norman, who once notably sang it at the end of a large outdoor rock concert for Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday, stated, "I don't know whether it's the text I don't know whether we're talking about the lyrics when we say that it touches so many people or whether it's that tune that everybody knows." A prisoner interviewed by Moyers explained his literal interpretation of the second verse: "'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved" by saying that the fear became immediately real to him when he realised he may never get his life in order, compounded by the loneliness and restriction in prison. Gospel singer Marion Williams summed up its effect: "That's a song that gets to everybody". + +The Dictionary of American Hymnology claims it is included in more than a thousand published hymnals, and recommends its use for "occasions of worship when we need to confess with joy that we are saved by God's grace alone; as a hymn of response to forgiveness of sin or as an assurance of pardon; as a confession of faith or after the sermon". + +Notes + +References + +Citations + +Sources + + Aitken, Jonathan (2007). John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace, Crossway Books. + Basker, James (2002). Amazing Grace: An Anthology of Poems About Slavery, 1660–1810, Yale University Press. + Benson, Louis (1915). The English Hymn: Its Development and Use in Worship, The Presbyterian Board of Publication, Philadelphia. + Bradley, Ian (ed.)(1989). The Book of Hymns, The Overlook Press. + Brown, Tony; Kutner, Jon; Warwick, Neil (2000). Complete Book of the British Charts: Singles & Albums, Omnibus. + Bruner, Kurt; Ware, Jim (2007). Finding God in the Story of Amazing Grace, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. + Chase, Gilbert (1987). America's Music, From the Pilgrims to the Present, McGraw-Hill. + Collins, Judy (1998). Singing Lessons: A Memoir of Love, Loss, Hope, and Healing , Pocket Books. + Duvall, Deborah (2000). Tahlequah and the Cherokee Nation, Arcadia Publishing. + Julian, John (ed.)(1892). A Dictionary of Hymnology, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. + Martin, Bernard (1950). John Newton: A Biography, William Heineman, Ltd., London. + Martin, Bernard and Spurrell, Mark, (eds.)(1962). The Journal of a Slave Trader (John Newton), The Epworth Press, London. + Newton, John (1811). Thoughts Upon the African Slave Trade, Samuel Whiting and Co., London. + Newton, John (1824). The Works of the Rev. John Newton Late Rector of the United Parishes of St. Mary Woolnoth and St. Mary Woolchurch Haw, London: Volume 1, Nathan Whiting, London. + Noll, Mark A.; Blumhofer, Edith L. (eds.) (2006). Sing Them Over Again to Me: Hymns and Hymnbooks in America, University of Alabama Press. + Norris, Kathleen (1999). Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith, Riverhead. + Patterson, Beverly Bush (1995). The Sound of the Dove: Singing in Appalachian Primitive Baptist Churches, University of Illinois Press. + Porter, Jennifer; McLaren, Darcee (eds.)(1999). Star Trek and Sacred Ground: Explorations of Star Trek, Religion, and American Culture, State University of New York Press, + Rourke, Mary; Gwathmey, Emily (1996). Amazing Grace in America: Our Spiritual National Anthem, Angel City Press. + Stowe, Harriet Beecher (1899). Uncle Tom's Cabin, or Life Among the Lowly, R. F. Fenno & Company, New York City. + Swiderski, Richard (1996). The Metamorphosis of English: Versions of Other Languages, Greenwood Publishing Group. + Turner, Steve (2002). Amazing Grace: The Story of America's Most Beloved Song, HarperCollins. + Watson, J. R. (ed.)(2002). An Annotated Anthology of Hymns, Oxford University Press. + Whitburn, Joel (2003). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 1955–2002, Record Research, Inc. + +External links + Amazing Grace at Hymnary.org + The Amazing Grace + U.S. Library of Congress Amazing Grace collection + Cowper & Newton Museum in Olney, England + Amazing Grace: Some Early Tunes Anthology of the American Hymn-Tune Repertory + Amazing Grace: The story behind the song and its connection to Lough Swilly + +1772 songs +18th-century hymns +1970 singles +1971 singles +1972 singles +2007 singles +Elvis Presley songs +English Christian hymns +English patriotic songs +Funerary and memorial compositions +Gospel songs +Hymns by John Newton +Irish Singles Chart number-one singles +Joan Baez songs +Number-one singles in Australia +Number-one singles in South Africa +Okeh Records singles +RPM Top Singles number-one singles +UK Singles Chart number-one singles +United States National Recording Registry recordings +AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo! Inc. + +The service traces its history to an online service known as PlayNET. PlayNET licensed its software to Quantum Link (Q-Link), that went online in November 1985. A new IBM PC client was launched in 1988, and eventually renamed as America Online in 1989. AOL grew to become the largest online service, displacing established players like CompuServe and The Source. By 1995, AOL had about three million active users. + +AOL was one of the early pioneers of the Internet in the early-1990s, and the most recognized brand on the web in the United States. It originally provided a dial-up service to millions of Americans, pioneered instant messaging, and in 1993 began adding internet access. In 1998, AOL purchased Netscape for US$4.2 billion. In 2001, at the height of its popularity, it purchased the media conglomerate Time Warner in the largest merger in U.S. history. AOL rapidly shrank thereafter, partly due to the decline of dial-up and rise of broadband. AOL was eventually spun off from Time Warner in 2009, with Tim Armstrong appointed the new CEO. Under his leadership, the company invested in media brands and advertising technologies. + +On June 23, 2015, AOL was acquired by Verizon Communications for $4.4 billion. On May 3, 2021, Verizon announced it would sell Yahoo and AOL to private equity firm Apollo Global Management for $5 billion. On September 1, 2021, AOL became part of the new Yahoo! Inc. + +History + +1983–1991: early years +AOL began in 1983, as a short-lived venture called Control Video Corporation (CVC), founded by William von Meister. Its sole product was an online service called GameLine for the Atari 2600 video game console, after von Meister's idea of buying music on demand was rejected by Warner Bros. Subscribers bought a modem from the company for $49.95 and paid a one-time $15 setup fee. GameLine permitted subscribers to temporarily download games and keep track of high scores, at a cost of $1 per game. The telephone disconnected and the downloaded game would remain in GameLine's Master Module and playable until the user turned off the console or downloaded another game. + +In January 1983, Steve Case was hired as a marketing consultant for Control Video on the recommendation of his brother, investment banker Dan Case. In May 1983, Jim Kimsey became a manufacturing consultant for Control Video, which was near bankruptcy. Kimsey was brought in by his West Point friend Frank Caufield, an investor in the company. In early 1985, von Meister left the company. + +On May 24, 1985, Quantum Computer Services, an online services company, was founded by Kimsey from the remnants of Control Video, with Kimsey as chief executive officer, and Marc Seriff as chief technology officer. The technical team consisted of Seriff, Tom Ralston, Ray Heinrich, Steve Trus, Ken Huntsman, Janet Hunter, Dave Brown, Craig Dykstra, Doug Coward, and Mike Ficco. In 1987, Case was promoted again to executive vice-president. Kimsey soon began to groom Case to take over the role of CEO, which he did when Kimsey retired in 1991. + +Kimsey changed the company's strategy, and in 1985, launched a dedicated online service for Commodore 64 and 128 computers, originally called Quantum Link ("Q-Link" for short). The Quantum Link software was based on software licensed from PlayNet, Inc, (founded in 1983 by Howard Goldberg and Dave Panzl). The service was different from other online services as it used the computing power of the Commodore 64 and the Apple II rather than just a "dumb" terminal. It passed tokens back and forth and provided a fixed price service tailored for home users. In May 1988, Quantum and Apple launched AppleLink Personal Edition for Apple II and Macintosh computers. In August 1988, Quantum launched PC Link, a service for IBM-compatible PCs developed in a joint venture with the Tandy Corporation. After the company parted ways with Apple in October 1989, Quantum changed the service's name to America Online. Case promoted and sold AOL as the online service for people unfamiliar with computers, in contrast to CompuServe, which was well established in the technical community. + +From the beginning, AOL included online games in its mix of products; many classic and casual games were included in the original PlayNet software system. the company introduced many innovative online interactive titles and games, including: + Graphical chat environments Habitat (1986–1988) from LucasArts. + The first online interactive fiction series QuantumLink Serial by Tracy Reed (1988). + Quantum Space, the first fully automated play-by-mail game (1989–1991). + +1991–2006: Internet age, Time Warner merger + +In February 1991, AOL for DOS was launched using a GeoWorks interface; it was followed a year later by AOL for Windows. This coincided with growth in pay-based online services, like Prodigy, CompuServe, and GEnie. 1991 also saw the introduction of an original Dungeons & Dragons title called Neverwinter Nights from Stormfront Studios; which was one of the first Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games to depict the adventure with graphics instead of text. + +During the early 1990s, the average subscription lasted for about 25 months and accounted for $350 in total revenue. Advertisements invited modem owners to "Try America Online FREE", promising free software and trial membership. AOL discontinued Q-Link and PC Link in late 1994. In September 1993, AOL added Usenet access to its features. This is commonly referred to as the "Eternal September", as Usenet's cycle of new users was previously dominated by smaller numbers of college and university freshmen gaining access in September and taking a few weeks to acclimate. This also coincided with a new "carpet bombing" marketing campaign by CMO Jan Brandt to distribute as many free trial AOL trial disks as possible through nonconventional distribution partners. At one point, 50% of the CDs produced worldwide had an AOL logo. AOL quickly surpassed GEnie, and by the mid-1990s, it passed Prodigy (which for several years allowed AOL advertising) and CompuServe. In November 1994, AOL purchased Booklink for its web browser, to give its users web access. In 1996, AOL replaced Booklink with a browser based on Internet Explorer, allegedly in exchange for inclusion of AOL in Windows. + +AOL launched services with the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers, National Geographic, the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, Pearson, Scholastic, ASCD, NSBA, NCTE, Discovery Networks, Turner Education Services (CNN Newsroom), NPR, The Princeton Review, Stanley Kaplan, Barron's, Highlights for Kids, the U.S. Department of Education, and many other education providers. AOL offered the first real-time homework help service (the Teacher Pager—1990; prior to this, AOL provided homework help bulletin boards), the first service by children, for children (Kids Only Online, 1991), the first online service for parents (the Parents Information Network, 1991), the first online courses (1988), the first omnibus service for teachers (the Teachers' Information Network, 1990), the first online exhibit (Library of Congress, 1991), the first parental controls, and many other online education firsts. + +AOL purchased search engine WebCrawler in 1995, but sold it to Excite the following year; the deal made Excite the sole search and directory service on AOL. After the deal closed in March 1997, AOL launched its own branded search engine, based on Excite, called NetFind. This was renamed to AOL Search in 1999. + +AOL charged its users an hourly fee until December 1996, when the company changed to a flat monthly rate of $19.95. During this time, AOL connections were flooded with users trying to connect, and many canceled their accounts due to constant busy signals. A commercial was made featuring Steve Case telling people AOL was working day and night to fix the problem. Within three years, AOL's user base grew to 10 million people. In 1995, AOL was headquartered at 8619 Westwood Center Drive in the Tysons Corner CDP in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, near the Town of Vienna. + +AOL was quickly running out of room in October 1996 for its network at the Fairfax County campus. In mid-1996, AOL moved to 22000 AOL Way in Dulles, unincorporated Loudoun County, Virginia to provide room for future growth. In a five-year landmark agreement with the most popular operating system, AOL was bundled with Windows software. + +On March 31, 1996, the short-lived eWorld was purchased by AOL. In 1997, about half of all U.S. homes with Internet access had it through AOL. During this time, AOL's content channels, under Jason Seiken, including News, Sports, and Entertainment, experienced their greatest growth as AOL become the dominant online service internationally with more than 34 million subscribers. In November 1998, AOL announced it would acquire Netscape, best known for their web browser, in a major $4.2 billion deal. The deal closed on March 17, 1999. Another large acquisition in December 1999 was that of MapQuest, for $1.1 billion. + +In January 2000, as new broadband technologies were being rolled out around the New York City metropolitan area and elsewhere across the U.S., AOL and Time Warner announced plans to merge, forming AOL Time Warner, Inc. The terms of the deal called for AOL shareholders to own 55% of the new, combined company. The deal closed on January 11, 2001. The new company was led by executives from AOL, SBI, and Time Warner. Gerald Levin, who had served as CEO of Time Warner, was CEO of the new company. Steve Case served as chairman, J. Michael Kelly (from AOL) was the chief financial officer, Robert W. Pittman (from AOL) and Dick Parsons (from Time Warner) served as co-chief operating officers. In 2002, Jonathan Miller became CEO of AOL. The following year, AOL Time Warner dropped the "AOL" from its name. It was the largest merger in history when completed with the combined value of the companies at $360 billion. This value fell sharply, to as low as $120 billion, as markets repriced AOL's valuation as a pure internet firm more modestly when combined with the traditional media and cable business. This status did not last long, and the company's value rose again within three months. By the end of that year, the tide had turned against "pure" internet companies, with many collapsing under falling stock prices, and even the strongest companies in the field losing up to 75% of their market value. The decline continued though 2001, but even with the losses, AOL was among the internet giants that continued to outperform brick and mortar companies. + +In 2004, along with the launch of AOL 9.0 Optimized, AOL also made available the option of personalized greetings which would enable the user to hear his or her name while accessing basic functions and mail alerts, or while logging in or out. In 2005, AOL broadcast the Live 8 concert live over the Internet, and thousands of users downloaded clips of the concert over the following months. In late 2005, AOL released AOL Safety & Security Center, a bundle of McAfee Antivirus, CA anti-spyware, and proprietary firewall and phishing protection software. News reports in late 2005 identified companies such as Yahoo!, Microsoft, and Google as candidates for turning AOL into a joint venture. Those plans were abandoned when it was revealed on December 20, 2005, that Google would purchase a 5% share of AOL for $1 billion. + +2006–2009: rebranding and decline + +On April 3, 2006, AOL announced that it would retire the full name America Online. The official name of the service became AOL, and the full name of the Time Warner subdivision became AOL LLC. On June 8, 2006, AOL offered a new program called AOL Active Security Monitor, a diagnostic tool to monitor and rate PC security status, and recommended additional security software from AOL or Download.com. Two months later, AOL released AOL Active Virus Shield, a free product developed by Kaspersky Lab, that did not require an AOL account, only an internet email address. The ISP side of AOL UK was bought by Carphone Warehouse in October 2006 to take advantage of its 100,000 LLU customers, making Carphone Warehouse the largest LLU provider in the UK. + +In August 2006, AOL announced that it would offer email accounts and software previously available only to its paying customers, provided that users accessed AOL or AOL.com through an access method not owned by AOL (otherwise known as "third party transit", "bring your own access" or "BYOA"). The move was designed to reduce costs associated with the "walled garden" business model by reducing usage of AOL-owned access points and shifting members with high-speed internet access from client-based usage to the more lucrative advertising provider AOL.com. The change from paid to free access was also designed to slow the rate at which members canceled their accounts and defected to Microsoft Hotmail, Yahoo! or other free email providers. The other free services included: + AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) + AOL Video, which featured professional content and allowed users to upload videos. + AOL Local, comprising its CityGuide, Yellow Pages and Local Search services to help users find local information like restaurants, local events, and directory listings. + AOL News + AOL My eAddress, a custom domain name for email addresses. These email accounts could be accessed in a manner similar to those of other AOL and AIM email accounts. + Xdrive, which allowed users to back up files over the Internet. It was acquired by AOL on August 4, 2005, and closed on December 31, 2008. It offered a free 5 GB account (free online file storage) to anyone with an AOL screenname. Xdrive also provided remote backup services and 50 GB of storage for $9.95 per month. + +Also in August, AOL informed its U.S. customers of an increase in the price of its dial-up access to $25.90. The increase was part of an effort to migrate the service's remaining dial-up users to broadband, as the increased price was the same as that of its monthly DSL access. However, AOL subsequently began offering unlimited dial-up access for $9.95 a month. + +On November 16, 2006, Randy Falco succeeded Jonathan Miller as CEO. In December 2006, AOL closed its last remaining call center in the United States, "taking the America out of America Online," according to industry pundits. Service centers based in India and the Philippines continue to provide customer support and technical assistance to subscribers. + +On September 17, 2007, AOL announced the relocation of one of its corporate headquarters from Dulles, Virginia to New York City and the combination of its advertising units into a new subsidiary called Platform A. This action followed several advertising acquisitions, most notably Advertising.com, and highlighted the company's new focus on advertising-driven business models. AOL management stressed that "significant operations" would remain in Dulles, which included the company's access services and modem banks. + +In October 2007, AOL announced the relocation of its other headquarters from Loudoun County, Virginia to New York City, while continuing to operate its Virginia offices. As part of the move to New York and the restructuring of responsibilities at the Dulles headquarters complex after the Reston move, Falco announced on October 15, 2007, plans to lay off 2,000 employees worldwide by the end of 2007, beginning "immediately." The result was a layoff of approximately 40% of AOL's employees. Most compensation packages associated with the October 2007 layoffs included a minimum of 120 days of severance pay, 60 of which were offered in lieu of the 60-day advance notice requirement by provisions of the 1988 federal WARN Act. + +By November 2007, AOL's customer base had been reduced to 10.1 million subscribers, slightly more than the number of subscribers of Comcast and AT&T Yahoo!. According to Falco, as of December 2007, the conversion rate of accounts from paid access to free access was more than 80%. + +On January 3, 2008, AOL announced the closing of its Reston, Virginia data center, which was sold to CRG West. On February 6, Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes announced that Time Warner would divide AOL's internet-access and advertising businesses, with the possibility of later selling the internet-access division. + +On March 13, 2008, AOL purchased the social networking site Bebo for $850 million (£417 million). On July 25, AOL announced that it was shuttering Xdrive, AOL Pictures and BlueString to save on costs and focus on its core advertising business. AOL Pictures was closed on December 31. On October 31, AOL Hometown (a web-hosting service for the websites of AOL customers) and the AOL Journal blog hosting service were eliminated. + +2009–2015: As a digital media company + +On March 12, 2009, Tim Armstrong, formerly with Google, was named chairman and CEO of AOL. On May 28, Time Warner announced that it would position AOL as an independent company after Google's shares ceased at the end of the fiscal year. On November 23, AOL unveiled a new brand identity with the wordmark "Aol." superimposed onto canvases created by commissioned artists. The new identity, designed by Wolff Olins, was integrated with all of AOL's services on December 10, the date upon which AOL traded independently for the first time since the Time Warner merger on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AOL. + +On April 6, 2010, AOL announced plans to shutter or sell Bebo. On June 16, the property was sold to Criterion Capital Partners for an undisclosed amount, believed to be approximately $10 million. In December, AIM eliminated access to AOL chat rooms, noting a marked decline in usage in recent months. + +Under Armstrong's leadership, AOL followed a new business direction marked by a series of acquisitions. It announced the acquisition of Patch Media, a network of community-specific news and information sites focused on towns and communities. On September 28, 2010, at the San Francisco TechCrunch Disrupt Conference, AOL signed an agreement to acquire TechCrunch. On December 12, 2010, AOL acquired about.me, a personal profile and identity platform, four days after the platform's public launch. + +On January 31, 2011, AOL announced the acquisition of European video distribution network goviral. In March 2011, AOL acquired HuffPost for $315 million. Shortly after the acquisition was announced, Huffington Post co-founder Arianna Huffington replaced AOL content chief David Eun, assuming the role of president and editor-in-chief of the AOL Huffington Post Media Group. On March 10, AOL announced that it would cut approximately 900 workers following the HuffPost acquisition. + +On September 14, 2011, AOL formed a strategic ad-selling partnership with two of its largest competitors, Yahoo and Microsoft. The three companies would begin selling inventory on each others' sites. The strategy was designed to help the companies compete with Google and advertising networks. + +On February 28, 2012, AOL partnered with PBS to launch MAKERS, a digital documentary series focusing on high-achieving women in industries perceived as male-dominated such as war, comedy, space, business, Hollywood and politics. Subjects for MAKERS episodes have included Oprah Winfrey, Hillary Clinton, Sheryl Sandberg, Martha Stewart, Indra Nooyi, Lena Dunham and Ellen DeGeneres. + +On March 15, 2012, AOL announced the acquisition of Hipster, a mobile photo-sharing app, for an undisclosed amount. On April 9, 2012, AOL announced a deal to sell 800 patents to Microsoft for $1.056 billion. The deal included a perpetual license for AOL to use the patents. + +In April, AOL took several steps to expand its ability to generate revenue through online video advertising. The company announced that it would offer gross rating point (GRP) guarantee for online video, mirroring the television-ratings system and guaranteeing audience delivery for online-video advertising campaigns bought across its properties. This announcement came just days before the Digital Content NewFront (DCNF) a two-week event held by AOL, Google, Hulu, Microsoft, Vevo and Yahoo to showcase the participating sites' digital video offerings. The DCNF was conducted in advance of the traditional television upfronts in the hope of diverting more advertising money into the digital space. On April 24, the company launched the AOL On network, a single website for its video output. + +In February 2013, AOL reported its fourth quarter revenue of $599.5 million, its first growth in quarterly revenue in eight years. + +In August 2013, Armstrong announced that Patch Media would scale back or sell hundreds of its local news sites. Not long afterward, layoffs began, with up to 500 out of 1,100 positions initially impacted. On January 15, 2014, Patch Media was spun off, and majority ownership was held by Hale Global. By the end of 2014, AOL controlled 0.74% of the global advertising market, well behind industry leader Google's 31.4%. + +On January 23, 2014, AOL acquired Gravity, a software startup that tracked users' online behavior and tailored ads and content based on their interests, for $83 million. The deal, which included approximately 40 Gravity employees and the company's personalization technology, was Armstrong's fourth-largest deal since taking command in 2009. Later that year, AOL acquired Vidible, a company that developed technology to help websites run video content from other publishers, and help video publishers sell their content to these websites. The deal, which was announced December 1, 2014, was reportedly worth roughly $50 million. + +On July 16, 2014, AOL earned an Emmy nomination for the AOL original series The Future Starts Here in the News and Documentary category. This came days after AOL earned its first Primetime Emmy Award nomination and win for Park Bench with Steve Buscemi in the Outstanding Short Form Variety Series. Created and hosted by Tiffany Shlain, the series focused on humans' relationship with technology and featured episodes such as "The Future of Our Species," "Why We Love Robots" and "A Case for Optimism." + +2015–2021: division of Verizon + +On May 12, 2015, Verizon announced plans to buy AOL for $50 per share in a deal valued at $4.4 billion. The transaction was completed on June 23. Armstrong, who continued to lead the firm following regulatory approval, called the deal the logical next step for AOL. "If you look forward five years, you're going to be in a space where there are going to be massive, global-scale networks, and there's no better partner for us to go forward with than Verizon." he said. "It's really not about selling the company today. It's about setting up for the next five to 10 years." + +Analyst David Bank said he thought the deal made sense for Verizon. The deal will broaden Verizon's advertising sales platforms and increase its video production ability through websites such as HuffPost, TechCrunch, and Engadget. However, Craig Moffett said it was unlikely the deal would make a big difference to Verizon's bottom line. AOL had about two million dial-up subscribers at the time of the buyout. The announcement caused AOL's stock price to rise 17%, while Verizon's stock price dropped slightly. + +Shortly before the Verizon purchase, on April 14, 2015, AOL launched ONE by AOL, a digital marketing programmatic platform that unifies buying channels and audience management platforms to track and optimize campaigns over multiple screens. Later that year, on September 15, AOL expanded the product with ONE by AOL: Creative, which is geared towards creative and media agencies to similarly connect marketing and ad distribution efforts. + +On May 8, 2015, AOL reported its first-quarter revenue of $625.1 million, $483.5 million of which came from advertising and related operations, marking a 7% increase from Q1 2014. Over that year, the AOL Platforms division saw a 21% increase in revenue, but a drop in adjusted OIBDA due to increased investments in the company's video and programmatic platforms. + +On June 29, 2015, AOL announced a deal with Microsoft to take over the majority of its digital advertising business. Under the pact, as many as 1,200 Microsoft employees involved with the business will be transferred to AOL, and the company will take over the sale of display, video, and mobile ads on various Microsoft platforms in nine countries, including Brazil, Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Additionally, Google Search will be replaced on AOL properties with Bing—which will display advertising sold by Microsoft. Both advertising deals are subject to affiliate marketing revenue sharing. + +On July 22, 2015, AOL received two News and Documentary Emmy nominations, one for MAKERS in the Outstanding Historical Programming category, and the other for True Trans With Laura Jane Grace, which documented the story of Laura Jane Grace, a transgender musician best known as the founder, lead singer, songwriter and guitarist of the punk rock band Against Me!, and her decision to come out publicly and overall transition experience. + +On September 3, 2015, AOL agreed to buy Millennial Media for $238 million. On October 23, 2015, AOL completed the acquisition. + +On October 1, 2015, Go90, a free ad-supported mobile video service aimed at young adult and teen viewers that Verizon owns and AOL oversees and operates launched its content publicly after months of beta testing. The initial launch line-up included content from Comedy Central, HuffPost, Nerdist News, Univision News, Vice, ESPN and MTV. + +On April 20, 2016, AOL acquired virtual reality studio RYOT to bring immersive 360 degree video and VR content to HuffPost's global audience across desktop, mobile, and apps. + +In July 2016, Verizon Communications announced its intent to purchase the core internet business of Yahoo!. Verizon merged AOL with Yahoo into a new company called "Oath Inc.", which in January 2019 rebranded itself as Verizon Media. + +In April 2018, Oath Inc. sold Moviefone to MoviePass Parent Helios and Matheson Analytics. + +In November 2020 the Huffington Post was sold to BuzzFeed in a stock deal. + +2021–present: Apollo Global Management +On May 3, 2021, Verizon announced it would sell 90 percent of its Verizon Media division to Apollo Global Management for $5 billion. The division became the second incarnation of Yahoo! Inc. + +Products and services + +Content + +As of September 1, 2021, the following media brands became subsidiary of AOL's parent Yahoo Inc. + Engadget + Autoblog + TechCrunch + Built by Girls + +AOL's content contributors consists of over 20,000 bloggers, including politicians, celebrities, academics, and policy experts, who contribute on a wide range of topics making news. + +In addition to mobile-optimized web experiences, AOL produces mobile applications for existing AOL properties like Autoblog, Engadget, The Huffington Post, TechCrunch, and products such as Alto, Pip, and Vivv. + +Advertising +AOL has a global portfolio of media brands and advertising services across mobile, desktop, and TV. Services include brand integration and sponsorships through its in-house branded content arm, Partner Studio by AOL, as well as data and programmatic offerings through ad technology stack, ONE by AOL. + +AOL acquired a number of businesses and technologies help to form ONE by AOL. These acquisitions included AdapTV in 2013 and Convertro, Precision Demand, and Vidible in 2014. ONE by AOL is further broken down into ONE by AOL for Publishers (formerly Vidible, AOL On Network and Be On for Publishers) and ONE by AOL for Advertisers, each of which have several sub-platforms. + +On September 10, 2018, AOL's parent company Oath consolidated BrightRoll, One by AOL and Yahoo Gemini to 'simplify' adtech service by launching a single advertising proposition dubbed Oath Ad Platforms, now Yahoo! Ad Tech. + +Membership +AOL offers a range of integrated products and properties including communication tools, mobile apps and services and subscription packages. + +In 2017, before the discontinuation of AIM, "billions of messages" were sent "daily" on it and AOL's other chat services. + Dial-up Internet access – While 2.1 million people still used AOL's dial-up service as recently as 2015, only a few thousand were still subscribed as of 2021. + AOL Mail – AOL Mail is AOL's proprietary email client. It is fully integrated with AIM and links to news headlines on AOL content sites. + AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) – was AOL's proprietary instant-messaging tool. It was released in 1997. It lost market share to competition in the instant messenger market such as Google Chat, Facebook Messenger, and Skype. It also included a video-chat service, AV by AIM. On December 15, 2017, AOL discontinued AIM. + AOL Plans – AOL Plans offers three online safety and assistance tools: ID protection, data security and a general online technical assistance service. + +AOL Desktop + +AOL Desktop is an internet suite produced by AOL from 2007 that integrates a web browser, a media player and an instant messenger client. Version 10.X was based on AOL OpenRide, it is an upgrade from such. The macOS version is based on WebKit. + +AOL Desktop version 10.X was different from previous AOL browsers and AOL Desktop versions. Its features are focused on web browsing as well as email. For instance, one does not have to sign into AOL in order to use it as a regular browser. In addition, non-AOL email accounts can be accessed through it. Primary buttons include "MAIL", "IM", and several shortcuts to various web pages. The first two require users to sign in, but the shortcuts to web pages can be used without authentication. AOL Desktop version 10.X was late marked as unsupported in favor of supporting the AOL Desktop 9.X versions. + +Version 9.8 was released, replacing the Internet Explorer components of the internet browser with CEF (Chromium Embedded Framework) to give users an improved web browsing experience closer to that of Chrome. + +Version 11 of AOL Desktop, was a total rewrite but maintained a similar user interface to the previous 9.8.X series of releases. + +In 2017, a new paid version called AOL Desktop Gold was released, available for $4.99 per month after trial. It replaced the previous free version. After the shutdown of AIM in 2017, AOL's original chat rooms continued to be accessible through AOL Desktop Gold, and some rooms remained active during peak hours. That chat system was shut down on December 15, 2020. + +In addition to AOL Desktop, the company also offered a browser toolbar Mozilla plug-in, AOL Toolbar, for several web browsers that provided quick access to AOL services. The toolbar was available from 2007 until 2018. + +Criticism + +In its earlier incarnation as a "walled garden" community and service provider, AOL received criticism for its community policies, terms of service, and customer service. Prior to 2006, AOL was known for its direct mailing of CD-ROMs and 3.5-inch floppy disks containing its software. The disks were distributed in large numbers; at one point, half of the CDs manufactured worldwide had AOL logos on them. The marketing tactic was criticized for its environmental cost, and AOL CDs were recognized as PC Worlds most annoying tech product. + +Community leaders +AOL used a system of volunteers to moderate its chat rooms, forums and user communities. The program dated back to AOL's early days, when it charged by the hour for access and one of its highest billing services was chat. AOL provided free access to community leaders in exchange for moderating the chat rooms, and this effectively made chat very cheap to operate, and more lucrative than AOL's other services of the era. There were 33,000 community leaders in 1996. All community leaders received hours of training and underwent a probationary period. While most community leaders moderated chat rooms, some ran AOL communities and controlled their layout and design, with as much as 90% of AOL's content being created or overseen by community managers until 1996. + +By 1996, ISPs were beginning to charge flat rates for unlimited access, which they could do at a profit because they only provided internet access. Even though AOL would lose money with such a pricing scheme, it was forced by market conditions to offer unlimited access in October 1996. In order to return to profitability, AOL rapidly shifted its focus from content creation to advertising, resulting in less of a need to carefully moderate every forum and chat room to keep users willing to pay by the minute to remain connected. + +After unlimited access, AOL considered scrapping the program entirely, but continued it with a reduced number of community leaders, with scaled-back roles in creating content. Although community leaders continued to receive free access, after 1996 they were motivated more by the prestige of the position and the access to moderator tools and restricted areas within AOL. By 1999, there were over 15,000 volunteers in the program. + +In May 1999, two former volunteers filed a class-action lawsuit alleging AOL violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by treating volunteers like employees. Volunteers had to apply for the position, commit to working for at least three to four hours a week, fill out timecards and sign a non-disclosure agreement. On July 22, AOL ended its youth corps, which consisted of 350 underage community leaders. At this time, the United States Department of Labor began an investigation into the program, but it came to no conclusions about AOL's practices. + +AOL ended its community leader program on June 8, 2005. The class action lawsuit dragged on for years, even after AOL ended the program and AOL declined as a major internet company. In 2010, AOL finally agreed to settle the lawsuit for $15 million. The community leader program was found to be an example of co-production in a 2009 article in International Journal of Cultural Studies. + +Billing disputes +AOL has faced a number of lawsuits over claims that it has been slow to stop billing customers after their accounts have been canceled, either by the company or the user. In addition, AOL changed its method of calculating used minutes in response to a class action lawsuit. Previously, AOL would add 15 seconds to the time a user was connected to the service and round up to the next whole minute (thus, a person who used the service for 12 minutes and 46 seconds would be charged for 14 minutes). AOL claimed this was to account for sign on/sign off time, but because this practice was not made known to its customers, the plaintiffs won (some also pointed out that signing on and off did not always take 15 seconds, especially when connecting via another ISP). AOL disclosed its connection-time calculation methods to all of its customers and credited them with extra free hours. In addition, the AOL software would notify the user of exactly how long they were connected and how many minutes they were being charged. + +AOL was sued by the Ohio Attorney General in October 2003 for improper billing practices. The case was settled on June 8, 2005. AOL agreed to resolve any consumer complaints filed with the Ohio AG's office. In December 2006, AOL agreed to provide restitution to Florida consumers to settle the case filed against them by the Florida Attorney General. + +Account cancellation +Many customers complained that AOL personnel ignored their demands to cancel service and stop billing. In response to approximately 300 consumer complaints, the New York Attorney General's office began an inquiry of AOL's customer service policies. The investigation revealed that the company had an elaborate scheme for rewarding employees who purported to retain or "save" subscribers who had called to cancel their Internet service. In many instances, such retention was done against subscribers' wishes, or without their consent. Under the scheme, customer service personnel received bonuses worth tens of thousands of dollars if they could successfully dissuade or "save" half of the people who called to cancel service. For several years, AOL had instituted minimum retention or "save" percentages, which consumer representatives were expected to meet. These bonuses, and the minimum "save" rates accompanying them, had the effect of employees not honoring cancellations, or otherwise making cancellation unduly difficult for consumers. + +On August 24, 2005, America Online agreed to pay $1.25 million to the state of New York and reformed its customer service procedures. Under the agreement, AOL would no longer require its customer service representatives to meet a minimum quota for customer retention in order to receive a bonus. However the agreement only covered people in the state of New York. + +On June 13, 2006, Vincent Ferrari documented his account cancellation phone call in a blog post, stating he had switched to broadband years earlier. In the recorded phone call, the AOL representative refused to cancel the account unless the 30-year-old Ferrari explained why AOL hours were still being recorded on it. Ferrari insisted that AOL software was not even installed on the computer. When Ferrari demanded that the account be canceled regardless, the AOL representative asked to speak with Ferrari's father, for whom the account had been set up. The conversation was aired on CNBC. When CNBC reporters tried to have an account on AOL cancelled, they were hung up on immediately and it ultimately took more than 45 minutes to cancel the account. + +On July 19, 2006, AOL's entire retention manual was released on the Internet. On August 3, 2006, Time Warner announced that the company would be dissolving AOL's retention centers due to its profits hinging on $1 billion in cost cuts. The company estimated that it would lose more than six million subscribers over the following year. + +Direct marketing of disks + +Prior to 2006, AOL often sent unsolicited mass direct mail of 3" floppy disks and CD-ROMs containing their software. They were the most frequent user of this marketing tactic, and received criticism for the environmental cost of the campaign. According to PC World, in the 1990s "you couldn't open a magazine (PC World included) or your mailbox without an AOL disk falling out of it". + +The mass distribution of these disks was seen as wasteful by the public and led to protest groups. One such was No More AOL CDs, a web-based effort by two IT workers to collect one million disks with the intent to return the disks to AOL. The website was started in August 2001, and an estimated 410,176 CDs were collected by August 2007 when the project was shut down. + +Software +In 2000, AOL was served with an $8 billion lawsuit alleging that its AOL 5.0 software caused significant difficulties for users attempting to use third-party Internet service providers. The lawsuit sought damages of up to $1000 for each user that had downloaded the software cited at the time of the lawsuit. AOL later agreed to a settlement of $15 million, without admission of wrongdoing. The AOL software then was given a feature called AOL Dialer, or AOL Connect on . This feature allowed users to connect to the ISP without running the full interface. This allowed users to use only the applications they wish to use, especially if they do not favor the AOL Browser. + +AOL 9.0 was once identified by Stopbadware as being under investigation for installing additional software without disclosure, and modifying browser preferences, toolbars, and icons. However, as of the release of AOL 9.0 VR (Vista Ready) on January 26, 2007, it was no longer considered badware due to changes AOL made in the software. + +Usenet newsgroups +When AOL gave clients access to Usenet in 1993, they hid at least one newsgroup in standard list view: alt.aol-sucks. AOL did list the newsgroup in the alternative description view, but changed the description to "Flames and complaints about America Online". With AOL clients swarming Usenet newsgroups, the old, existing user base started to develop a strong distaste for both AOL and its clients, referring to the new state of affairs as Eternal September. + +AOL discontinued access to Usenet on June 25, 2005. No official details were provided as to the cause of decommissioning Usenet access, except providing users the suggestion to access Usenet services from a third-party, Google Groups. AOL then provided community-based message boards in lieu of Usenet. + +Terms of Service (TOS) +AOL has a detailed set of guidelines and expectations for users on their service, known as the Terms of Service (TOS, also known as Conditions of Service, or COS in the UK). It is separated into three different sections: Member Agreement, Community Guidelines and Privacy Policy. All three agreements are presented to users at time of registration and digital acceptance is achieved when they access the AOL service. During the period when volunteer chat room hosts and board monitors were used, chat room hosts were given a brief online training session and test on Terms of Service violations. + +There have been many complaints over rules that govern an AOL user's conduct. Some users disagree with the TOS, citing the guidelines are too strict to follow coupled with the fact the TOS may change without users being made aware. A considerable cause for this was likely due to alleged censorship of user-generated content during the earlier years of growth for AOL. + +Certified email +In early 2005, AOL stated its intention to implement a certified email system called Goodmail, which will allow companies to send email to users with whom they have pre-existing business relationships, with a visual indication that the email is from a trusted source and without the risk that the email messages might be blocked or stripped by spam filters. + +This decision drew fire from MoveOn, which characterized the program as an "email tax", and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which characterized it as a shakedown of non-profits. A website called Dearaol.com was launched, with an online petition and a blog that garnered hundreds of signatures from people and organizations expressing their opposition to AOL's use of Goodmail. + +Esther Dyson defended the move in an editorial in The New York Times, saying "I hope Goodmail succeeds, and that it has lots of competition. I also think it and its competitors will eventually transform into services that more directly serve the interests of mail recipients. Instead of the fees going to Goodmail and AOL, they will also be shared with the individual recipients." + +Tim Lee of the Technology Liberation Front posted an article that questioned the Electronic Frontier Foundation's adopting a confrontational posture when dealing with private companies. Lee's article cited a series of discussions on Declan McCullagh's Politechbot mailing list on this subject between the EFF's Danny O'Brien and antispammer Suresh Ramasubramanian, who has also compared the EFF's tactics in opposing Goodmail to tactics used by Republican political strategist Karl Rove. SpamAssassin developer Justin Mason posted some criticism of the EFF's and Moveon's "going overboard" in their opposition to the scheme. + +The dearaol.com campaign lost momentum and disappeared, with the last post to the now defunct dearaol.com blog—"AOL starts the shakedown" being made on May 9, 2006. + +Comcast, who also used the service, announced on its website that Goodmail had ceased operations and as of February 4, 2011, they no longer used the service. + +Search data + +On August 4, 2006, AOL released a compressed text file on one of its websites containing 20 million search keywords for over 650,000 users over a 3-month period between March 1, 2006 and May 31, intended for research purposes. AOL pulled the file from public access by August 7, but not before its wide distribution on the Internet by others. Derivative research, titled A Picture of Search was published by authors Pass, Chowdhury and Torgeson for The First International Conference on Scalable Information Systems. + +The data were used by websites such as AOLstalker for entertainment purposes, where users of AOLstalker are encouraged to judge AOL clients based on the humorousness of personal details revealed by search behavior. + +User list exposure +In 2003, Jason Smathers, an AOL employee, was convicted of stealing America Online's 92 million screen names and selling them to a known spammer. Smathers pled guilty to conspiracy charges in 2005. Smathers pled guilty to violations of the US CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. He was sentenced in August 2005 to 15 months in prison; the sentencing judge also recommended Smathers be forced to pay $84,000 in restitution, triple the $28,000 that he sold the addresses for. + +AOL's Computer Checkup "scareware" +On February 27, 2012, a class action lawsuit was filed against Support.com, Inc. and partner AOL, Inc. The lawsuit alleged Support.com and AOL's Computer Checkup "scareware" (which uses software developed by Support.com) misrepresented that their software programs would identify and resolve a host of technical problems with computers, offered to perform a free "scan," which often found problems with users' computers. The companies then offered to sell software—for which AOL allegedly charged $4.99 a month and Support.com $29—to remedy those problems. Both AOL, Inc. and Support.com, Inc. settled on May 30, 2013, for $8.5 million. This included $25.00 to each valid class member and $100,000 each to Consumer Watchdog and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley wrote: "Distributing a portion of the [funds] to Consumer Watchdog will meet the interests of the silent class members because the organization will use the funds to help protect consumers across the nation from being subject to the types of fraudulent and misleading conduct that is alleged here," and "EFF's mission includes a strong consumer protection component, especially in regards to online protection." + +AOL continues to market Computer Checkup. + +NSA PRISM program +Following media reports about PRISM, NSA's massive electronic surveillance program, in June 2013, several technology companies were identified as participants, including AOL. According to leaks of said program, AOL joined the PRISM program in 2011. + +Hosting of user profiles changed, then discontinued +At one time, most AOL users had an online "profile" hosted by the AOL Hometown service. When AOL Hometown was discontinued, users had to create a new profile on Bebo. This was an unsuccessful attempt to create a social network that would compete with Facebook. When the value of Bebo decreased to a tiny fraction of the $850 million AOL paid for it, users were forced to recreate their profiles yet again, on a new service called AOL Lifestream. + +AOL took the decision to shut down Lifestream on February 24, 2017, and gave users one month's notice to save photos and videos that had been uploaded to Lifestream. Following the shutdown, AOL no longer provides any option for hosting user profiles. + +During the Hometown/Bebo/Lifestream era, another user's profile could be displayed by clicking the "Buddy Info" button in the AOL Desktop software. After the shutdown of Lifestream, this was no longer supported, but opened to the AIM home page (www.aim.com), which also became defunct, redirecting to AOL's home page. + +See also + + Adrian Lamo – Inside-AOL.com + AOHell + Comparison of webmail providers + David Shing + Dot-com bubble + List of acquisitions by AOL + List of S&P 400 companies + Live365 + Truveo + +References + +External links + + + + +1983 establishments in the United States +2015 mergers and acquisitions +Companies based in Dulles, Virginia +Companies based in New York City +Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange +Companies in the PRISM network +Former WarnerMedia subsidiaries +Internet properties established in 1983 +Internet properties established in 2009 +Internet service providers of the United States +Internet services supporting OpenID +Pre–World Wide Web online services +Telecommunications companies established in 1983 +Telecommunications companies established in 2009 +Yahoo! +Web portals +Web service providers +The terms (AD) and before Christ (BC) are used to label or number years in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The term is Medieval Latin and means "in the year of the Lord" but is often presented using "our Lord" instead of "the Lord", taken from the full original phrase "anno Domini nostri Jesu Christi", which translates to "in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ". The form "BC" is specific to English, and equivalent abbreviations are used in other languages: the Latin form, rarely used in English, is (ACN) or (AC). + +This calendar era is based on the traditionally reckoned year of the conception or birth of Jesus, AD counting years from the start of this epoch and BC denoting years before the start of the era. There is no year zero in this scheme; thus the year AD 1 immediately follows the year 1 BC. This dating system was devised in 525 by Dionysius Exiguus but was not widely used until the 9th century. + +Traditionally, English follows Latin usage by placing the "AD" abbreviation before the year number, though it is also found after the year. In contrast, "BC" is always placed after the year number (for example: AD 70, but 70 BC), which preserves syntactic order. The abbreviation "AD" is also widely used after the number of a century or millennium, as in "fourth century AD" or "second millennium AD" (although conservative usage formerly rejected such expressions). Since "BC" is the English abbreviation for Before Christ, it is sometimes incorrectly concluded that AD means After Death (i.e., after the death of Jesus), which would mean that the approximately 33 years commonly associated with the life of Jesus would be included in neither the BC nor the AD time scales. + +Terminology that is viewed by some as being more neutral and inclusive of non-Christian people is to call this the Current or Common Era (abbreviated as CE), with the preceding years referred to as Before the Common or Current Era (BCE). Astronomical year numbering and ISO 8601 avoid words or abbreviations related to Christianity, but use the same numbers for AD years (but not for BC years in the case of astronomical years; e.g., 1 BC is year 0, 45 BC is year −44). + +History +The Anno Domini dating system was devised in 525 by Dionysius Exiguus to enumerate years in his Easter table. His system was to replace the Diocletian era that had been used in older Easter tables, as he did not wish to continue the memory of a tyrant who persecuted Christians. The last year of the old table, Diocletian Anno Martyrium 247, was immediately followed by the first year of his table, Anno Domini 532. When Dionysius devised his table, Julian calendar years were identified by naming the consuls who held office that year— Dionysius himself stated that the "present year" was "the consulship of Probus Junior", which was 525 years "since the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ". Thus, Dionysius implied that Jesus' incarnation occurred 525 years earlier, without stating the specific year during which his birth or conception occurred. "However, nowhere in his exposition of his table does Dionysius relate his epoch to any other dating system, whether consulate, Olympiad, year of the world, or regnal year of Augustus; much less does he explain or justify the underlying date." + +Bonnie J. Blackburn and Leofranc Holford-Strevens briefly present arguments for 2 BC, 1 BC, or AD 1 as the year Dionysius intended for the Nativity or incarnation. Among the sources of confusion are: + In modern times, incarnation is synonymous with the conception, but some ancient writers, such as Bede, considered incarnation to be synonymous with the Nativity. + The civil or consular year began on 1 January, but the Diocletian year began on 29 August (30 August in the year before a Julian leap year). + There were inaccuracies in the lists of consuls. + There were confused summations of emperors' regnal years. + +It is not known how Dionysius established the year of Jesus's birth. Two major theories are that Dionysius based his calculation on the Gospel of Luke, which states that Jesus was "about thirty years old" shortly after "the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar", and hence subtracted thirty years from that date, or that Dionysius counted back 532 years from the first year of his new table. +It has also been speculated by Georges Declercq that Dionysius' desire to replace Diocletian years with a calendar based on the incarnation of Christ was intended to prevent people from believing the imminent end of the world. At the time, it was believed by some that the resurrection of the dead and end of the world would occur 500 years after the birth of Jesus. The old Anno Mundi calendar theoretically commenced with the creation of the world based on information in the Old Testament. It was believed that, based on the Anno Mundi calendar, Jesus was born in the year 5500 (5500 years after the world was created) with the year 6000 of the Anno Mundi calendar marking the end of the world. Anno Mundi 6000 (approximately AD 500) was thus equated with the end of the world but this date had already passed in the time of Dionysius. +The "Historia Brittonum" attributed to Nennius written in the 9th century makes extensive use of the Anno Passionis (AP) dating system which was in common use as well as the newer AD dating system. The AP dating system took its start from 'The Year of The Passion'. It is generally accepted by experts there is a 27-year difference between AP and AD reference. + +Popularization +The Anglo-Saxon historian Bede, who was familiar with the work of Dionysius Exiguus, used Anno Domini dating in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, which he completed in AD 731. In the History he also used the Latin phrase ante [...] incarnationis dominicae tempus anno sexagesimo ("in the sixtieth year before the time of the Lord's incarnation"), which is equivalent to the English "before Christ", to identify years before the first year of this era. Both Dionysius and Bede regarded Anno Domini as beginning at the incarnation of Jesus Christ, but "the distinction between Incarnation and Nativity was not drawn until the late 9th century, when in some places the Incarnation epoch was identified with Christ's conception, i. e., the Annunciation on March 25" ("Annunciation style" dating). + +On the continent of Europe, Anno Domini was introduced as the era of choice of the Carolingian Renaissance by the English cleric and scholar Alcuin in the late eighth century. Its endorsement by Emperor Charlemagne and his successors popularizing the use of the epoch and spreading it throughout the Carolingian Empire ultimately lies at the core of the system's prevalence. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, popes continued to date documents according to regnal years for some time, but usage of AD gradually became more common in Catholic countries from the 11th to the 14th centuries. In 1422, Portugal became the last Western European country to switch to the system begun by Dionysius. Eastern Orthodox countries only began to adopt AD instead of the Byzantine calendar in 1700 when Russia did so, with others adopting it in the 19th and 20th centuries. + +Although Anno Domini was in widespread use by the 9th century, the term "Before Christ" (or its equivalent) did not become common until much later. Bede used the expression "anno [...] ante incarnationem Dominicam" (in the year before the incarnation of the Lord) twice. "Anno ante Christi nativitatem" (in the year before the birth of Christ) is found in 1474 in a work by a German monk. In 1627, the French Jesuit theologian Denis Pétau (Dionysius Petavius in Latin), with his work De doctrina temporum, popularized the usage ante Christum (Latin for "Before Christ") to mark years prior to AD. + +New year + +When the reckoning from Jesus' incarnation began replacing the previous dating systems in western Europe, various people chose different Christian feast days to begin the year: Christmas, Annunciation, or Easter. Thus, depending on the time and place, the year number changed on different days in the year, which created slightly different styles in chronology: + From 25 March 753 AUC (today in 1 BC), i.e., notionally from the incarnation of Jesus. That first "Annunciation style" appeared in Arles at the end of the 9th century then spread to Burgundy and northern Italy. It was not commonly used and was called calculus pisanus since it was adopted in Pisa and survived there until 1750. + From 25 December 753 AUC (today in 1 BC), i.e., notionally from the birth of Jesus. It was called "Nativity style" and had been spread by Bede together with the Anno Domini in the early Middle Ages. That reckoning of the Year of Grace from Christmas was used in France, England and most of western Europe (except Spain) until the 12th century (when it was replaced by Annunciation style) and in Germany until the second quarter of the 13th century. + From 25 March 754 AUC (today in AD 1). That second "Annunciation style" may have originated in Fleury Abbey in the early 11th century, but it was spread by the Cistercians. Florence adopted that style in opposition to that of Pisa, so it got the name of calculus florentinus. It soon spread in France and also in England where it became common in the late 12th century and lasted until 1752. + From Easter, starting in 754 AUC (AD 1). That mos gallicanus (French custom) bound to a moveable feast was introduced in France by king Philip Augustus (r. 1180–1223), maybe to establish a new style in the provinces reconquered from England. However, it never spread beyond the ruling élite. +With these various styles, the same day could, in some cases, be dated in 1099, 1100 or 1101. + +Birth date of Jesus + +The date of birth of Jesus of Nazareth is not stated in the gospels or in any secular text, but most scholars assume a date of birth between 6 BC and 4 BC. The historical evidence is too fragmentary to allow a definitive dating, but the date is estimated through two different approaches—one by analyzing references to known historical events mentioned in the Nativity accounts in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew and the second by working backwards from the estimation of the start of the ministry of Jesus. + +Other Christian and European eras + +During the first six centuries of what would come to be known as the Christian era, European countries used various systems to count years. Systems in use included consular dating, imperial regnal year dating, and Creation dating. + +Although the last non-imperial consul, Basilius, was appointed in 541 by Emperor Justinian I, later emperors through to Constans II (641–668) were appointed consuls on the first of January after their accession. All of these emperors, except Justinian, used imperial post-consular years for the years of their reign, along with their regnal years. Long unused, this practice was not formally abolished until Novell XCIV of the law code of Leo VI did so in 888. + +Another calculation had been developed by the Alexandrian monk Annianus around the year AD 400, placing the Annunciation on 25 March AD 9 (Julian)—eight to ten years after the date that Dionysius was to imply. Although this incarnation was popular during the early centuries of the Byzantine Empire, years numbered from it, an Era of Incarnation, were exclusively used and are still used in Ethiopia. This accounts for the seven- or eight-year discrepancy between the Gregorian and Ethiopian calendars. Byzantine chroniclers like Maximus the Confessor, George Syncellus, and Theophanes dated their years from Annianus' creation of the world. This era, called Anno Mundi, "year of the world" (abbreviated AM), by modern scholars, began its first year on 25 March 5492 BC. Later Byzantine chroniclers used Anno Mundi years from 1 September 5509 BC, the Byzantine Era. No single Anno Mundi epoch was dominant throughout the Christian world. Eusebius of Caesarea in his Chronicle used an era beginning with the birth of Abraham, dated in 2016 BC (AD 1 = 2017 Anno Abrahami). + +Spain and Portugal continued to date by the Spanish Era (also called Era of the Caesars), which began counting from 38 BC, well into the Middle Ages. In 1422, Portugal became the last Catholic country to adopt the Anno Domini system. + +The Era of Martyrs, which numbered years from the accession of Diocletian in 284, who launched the most severe persecution of Christians, was used by the Church of Alexandria and is still used, officially, by the Coptic Orthodox and Coptic Catholic churches. It was also used by the Ethiopian and Eritrean churches. Another system was to date from the crucifixion of Jesus, which as early as Hippolytus and Tertullian was believed to have occurred in the consulate of the Gemini (AD 29), which appears in some medieval manuscripts. + +CE and BCE + +Alternative names for the Anno Domini era include vulgaris aerae (found 1615 in Latin), +"Vulgar Era" (in English, as early as 1635), +"Christian Era" (in English, in 1652), +"Common Era" (in English, 1708), +and "Current Era". +Since 1856, the alternative abbreviations CE and BCE (sometimes written C.E. and B.C.E.) are sometimes used in place of AD and BC. + +The "Common/Current Era" ("CE") terminology is often preferred by those who desire a term that does not explicitly make religious references but still uses the same estimated date of Christ's birth as the dividing point. +For example, Cunningham and Starr (1998) write that "B.C.E./C.E. […] do not presuppose faith in Christ and hence are more appropriate for interfaith dialog than the conventional B.C./A.D." Upon its foundation, the Republic of China adopted the Minguo Era but used the Western calendar for international purposes. The translated term was (). Later, in 1949, the People's Republic of China adopted () for all purposes domestic and foreign. + +No year zero: start and end of a century + +In the AD year numbering system, whether applied to the Julian or Gregorian calendars, AD 1 is immediately preceded by 1 BC, with nothing in between them (there was no year zero). There are debates as to whether a new decade, century, or millennium begins on a year ending in zero or one. + +For computational reasons, astronomical year numbering and the ISO 8601 standard designate years so that AD 1 = year 1, 1 BC = year 0, 2 BC = year −1, etc. In common usage, ancient dates are expressed in the Julian calendar, but ISO 8601 uses the Gregorian calendar and astronomers may use a variety of time scales depending on the application. Thus dates using the year 0 or negative years may require further investigation before being converted to BC or AD. + +See also + Before Present + Holocene calendar + +Notes + +References + +Citations + +Sources + + + + Bede. (731). Historiam ecclesiasticam gentis Anglorum . Retrieved 2007-12-07. + + + Corrected reprinting of original 1999 edition. + + (despite beginning with 2, it is English) + Declercq, G. "Dionysius Exiguus and the Introduction of the Christian Era". Sacris Erudiri 41 (2002): 165–246. An annotated version of part of Anno Domini. + Doggett. (1992). "Calendars" (Ch. 12), in P. Kenneth Seidelmann (Ed.) Explanatory supplement to the astronomical almanac. Sausalito, CA: University Science Books. . + Patrick, J. (1908). "General Chronology" . In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved 2008-07-16 from New Advent: Catholic Encyclopedia: General Chronology + +External links + + Calendar Converter + +6th-century Christianity +Calendar eras +Christian terminology +Chronology +Latin religious words and phrases +Timelines of Christianity +AV, Av or A.V. may refer to: + +Arts and entertainment + The abbreviation of audiovisual, possessing both a sound and a visual component + A.V. (film), a 2005 Hong Kong film directed by Pang Ho-Cheung + Adult video, an alternative name/synonym of a pornographic film + AV The Hunt, a 2020 Turkish thriller film directed by Emre Akay + +Businesses and organizations + America Votes, an American 501(c)4 organization that promotes progressive causes + Ambulance Victoria, an ambulance service operated in the Australian state of Victoria + Anonymous for the Voiceless, a grassroots animal rights organization specializing in street activism + Aston Villa F.C., an English professional football club + AV Akademikerverlag GmbH & Co. KG an imprint of the German group VDM Publishing (now OmniScriptum) + Avaya, a technology company formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange with symbol "AV" + Avianca (IATA airline code AV) + Aviva, British insurance company, listed on the New York Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange as "AV" + AeroVironment, manufacturer of unmanned military aircraft and systems + Amusement Vision, the former name of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio + +People + Av or Avrum Gross (1936–2018), American lawyer and Attorney General of Alaska + Av or Avrom Isaacs (1926–2016), Canadian art dealer + Av Westin (1929–2022), American television producer + +Places + Anguilla (FIPS country code and obsolete NATO diagram AV) + Antelope Valley, a valley in Southern California + Province of Avellino, a province of Italy + +Science and technology + +Anatomy and medicine + Aerobic vaginitis, vaginal infection associated with overgrowth of aerobic bacteria + Arteriovenous (disambiguation) + Atrioventricular (disambiguation) + +Electronics and computing + Access violation, a computer software error + Age verification, system for checking a user's age + Antivirus software, used to prevent, detect and remove malicious software + Audio and video connector, a cable between two devices + Analog video + AV Linux, a Linux-based operating system + +Fluid dynamics + Annular velocity, speed of the drilling fluid's movement in a column called an annulus in oil wells + Apparent viscosity, shear stress divided by shear rate + +Vehicles + AV (cyclecar), a British cyclecar manufactured between 1919 and 1924 + Bavarian A V, an 1853 steam locomotive model + AV, the designation for seaplane tender in the United States Navy's ship classification system + Autonomous vehicles + +Other uses in science and technology + A-type main-sequence star, in astronomy, abbreviated A V + Aperture value mode, setting on photo cameras that allows to choose a specific aperture value + +Other uses + Alternative vote, an electoral system used to elect a single winner from a field of more than two candidates + Approval voting, a non-ranking vote system + Authorised Version of the Bible (also known as King James Version) + Av, a month in the Hebrew calendar + av, the Avar language's ISO 639-1 code + Av. or Ave, an abbreviation for Avenue (landscape) + Ꜹ or AV from Latin aurum (avrvm), a numismatic abbreviation for "gold" + A.V., the putative mark of ébéniste Adam Weisweiler + Aviation, abbreviated Av in military use + Andhra Vidyalaya College, aka A. V. College, a school in Hyderabad, India + +See also + 2023 AV, an asteroid that passed closed to the Earth in 2023 + A5 (disambiguation) + α5 (disambiguation) + AV idol, a type of Japanese porn star + + + +Masculine given names +Hypocorisms +Alcuin of York (; ; 735 – 19 May 804) – also called Ealhwine, Alhwin, or Alchoin – was a scholar, clergyman, poet, and teacher from York, Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student of Archbishop Ecgbert at York. At the invitation of Charlemagne, he became a leading scholar and teacher at the Carolingian court, where he remained a figure in the 780s and 790s. Before that, he was also a court chancellor in Aachen. "The most learned man anywhere to be found", according to Einhard's Life of Charlemagne (–833), he is considered among the most important intellectual architects of the Carolingian Renaissance. Among his pupils were many of the dominant intellectuals of the Carolingian era. + +During this period, he perfected Carolingian minuscule, an easily read manuscript hand using a mixture of upper- and lower-case letters. Latin paleography in the eighth century leaves little room for a single origin of the script, and sources contradict his importance as no proof has been found of his direct involvement in the creation of the script. Carolingian minuscule was already in use before Alcuin arrived in Francia. Most likely he was responsible for copying and preserving the script while at the same time restoring the purity of the form. + +Alcuin wrote many theological and dogmatic treatises, as well as a few grammatical works and a number of poems. In 796, he was made abbot of Marmoutier Abbey, in Tours, where he remained until his death. + +Biography + +Background + +Alcuin was born in Northumbria, presumably sometime in the 730s. Virtually nothing is known of his parents, family background, or origin. In common hagiographical fashion, the Vita Alcuini asserts that Alcuin was "of noble English stock", and this statement has usually been accepted by scholars. Alcuin's own work only mentions such collateral kinsmen as Wilgils, father of the missionary saint Willibrord; and Beornrad (also spelled Beornred), abbot of Echternach and bishop of Sens. Willibrord, Alcuin and Beornrad were all related by blood. + +In his Life of St Willibrord, Alcuin writes that Wilgils, called a paterfamilias, had founded an oratory and church at the mouth of the Humber, which had fallen into Alcuin's possession by inheritance. Because in early Anglo-Latin writing paterfamilias ("head of a family, householder") usually referred to a ("churl"), Donald A. Bullough suggests that Alcuin's family was of ("churlish") status: i.e., free but subordinate to a noble lord, and that Alcuin and other members of his family rose to prominence through beneficial connections with the aristocracy. If so, Alcuin's origins may lie in the southern part of what was formerly known as Deira. + +York +The young Alcuin came to the cathedral church of York during the golden age of Archbishop Ecgbert and his brother, the Northumbrian King Eadberht. Ecgbert had been a disciple of the Venerable Bede, who urged him to raise York to an archbishopric. King Eadberht and Archbishop Ecgbert oversaw the re-energising and reorganisation of the English church, with an emphasis on reforming the clergy and on the tradition of learning that Bede had begun. Ecgbert was devoted to Alcuin, who thrived under his tutelage. + +The York school was renowned as a centre of learning in the liberal arts, literature, and science, as well as in religious matters. From here, Alcuin drew inspiration for the school he would lead at the Frankish court. He revived the school with the trivium and quadrivium disciplines, writing a codex on the trivium, while his student Hraban wrote one on the quadrivium. + +Alcuin graduated to become a teacher during the 750s. His ascendancy to the headship of the York school, the ancestor of St Peter's School, began after Aelbert became Archbishop of York in 767. Around the same time, Alcuin became a deacon in the church. He was never ordained a priest. Though no real evidence shows that he took monastic vows, he lived as if he had. + +In 781, King Elfwald sent Alcuin to Rome to petition the pope for official confirmation of York's status as an archbishopric and to confirm the election of the new archbishop, Eanbald I. On his way home, he met Charlemagne (whom he had met once before), this time in the Italian city of Parma. + +Charlemagne + +Alcuin's intellectual curiosity allowed him to be reluctantly persuaded to join Charlemagne's court. He joined an illustrious group of scholars whom Charlemagne had gathered around him, the mainsprings of the Carolingian Renaissance: Peter of Pisa, Paulinus of Aquileia, Rado, and Abbot Fulrad. Alcuin would later write, "the Lord was calling me to the service of King Charles". + +Alcuin became master of the Palace School of Charlemagne in Aachen () in 782. It had been founded by the king's ancestors as a place for the education of the royal children (mostly in manners and the ways of the court). However, Charlemagne wanted to include the liberal arts, and most importantly, the study of religion. From 782 to 790, Alcuin taught Charlemagne himself, his sons Pepin and Louis, as well as young men sent to be educated at court, and the young clerics attached to the palace chapel. Bringing with him from York his assistants Pyttel, Sigewulf, and Joseph, Alcuin revolutionised the educational standards of the Palace School, introducing Charlemagne to the liberal arts and creating a personalised atmosphere of scholarship and learning, to the extent that the institution came to be known as the 'school of Master Albinus'. + +In this role as adviser, he took issue with the emperor's policy of forcing pagans to be baptised on pain of death, arguing, "Faith is a free act of the will, not a forced act. We must appeal to the conscience, not compel it by violence. You can force people to be baptised, but you cannot force them to believe." His arguments seem to have prevailed – Charlemagne abolished the death penalty for paganism in 797. + +Charlemagne gathered the best men of every land in his court, and became far more than just the king at the centre. It seems that he made many of these men his closest friends and counsellors. They referred to him as 'David', a reference to the Biblical king David. Alcuin soon found himself on intimate terms with Charlemagne and the other men at court, where pupils and masters were known by affectionate and jesting nicknames. Alcuin himself was known as 'Albinus' or 'Flaccus'. While at Aachen, Alcuin bestowed pet names upon his pupils – derived mainly from Virgil's Eclogues. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, "He loved Charlemagne and enjoyed the king's esteem, but his letters reveal that his fear of him was as great as his love." + +After the death of Pope Adrian I, Alcuin was commissioned by Charlemagne to compose an epitaph for Adrian. The epitaph was inscribed on black stone quarried at Aachen and carried to Rome where it was set over Adrian's tomb in the south transept of St Peter's basilica just before Charlemagne's coronation in the basilica on Christmas Day 800. + +Return to Northumbria and back to Francia +In 790, Alcuin returned from the court of Charlemagne to England, to which he had remained attached. He dwelt there for some time, but Charlemagne then invited him back to help in the fight against the Adoptionist heresy, which was at that time making great progress in Toledo, the old capital of the Visigoths and still a major city for the Christians under Islamic rule in Spain. He is believed to have had contacts with Beatus of Liébana, from the Kingdom of Asturias, who fought against Adoptionism. At the Council of Frankfurt in 794, Alcuin upheld the orthodox doctrine against the views expressed by Felix of Urgel, an heresiarch according to the Catholic Encyclopaedia. Having failed during his stay in Northumbria to influence King Æthelred in the conduct of his reign, Alcuin never returned home. + +He was back at Charlemagne's court by at least mid-792, writing a series of letters to Æthelred, to Hygbald, Bishop of Lindisfarne, and to Æthelhard, Archbishop of Canterbury in the succeeding months, dealing with the Viking attack on Lindisfarne in July 793. These letters and Alcuin's poem on the subject, , provide the only significant contemporary account of these events. In his description of the Viking attack, he wrote: "Never before has such terror appeared in Britain. Behold the church of St Cuthbert, splattered with the blood of God's priests, robbed of its ornaments." + +Tours and death + +In 796, Alcuin was in his 60s. He hoped to be free from court duties and upon the death of Abbot Itherius of Saint Martin at Tours, Charlemagne put Marmoutier Abbey into Alcuin's care, with the understanding that he should be available if the king ever needed his counsel. There, he encouraged the work of the monks on the beautiful Carolingian minuscule script, ancestor of modern Roman typefaces. + +Alcuin died on 19 May 804, some 10 years before the emperor, and was buried at St. Martin's Church under an epitaph that partly read: + +The majority of details on Alcuin's life come from his letters and poems. Also, autobiographical sections are in Alcuin's poem on York and in the Vita Alcuini, a hagiography written for him at Ferrières in the 820s, possibly based in part on the memories of Sigwulf, one of Alcuin's pupils. + +Carolingian Renaissance figure and legacy + +Mathematician + +The collection of mathematical and logical word problems entitled Propositiones ad acuendos juvenes ("Problems to Sharpen Youths") is sometimes attributed to Alcuin. In a 799 letter to Charlemagne, the scholar claimed to have sent "certain figures of arithmetic for the joy of cleverness", which some scholars have identified with the Propositiones. + +The text contains about 53 mathematical word problems (with solutions), in no particular pedagogical order. Among the most famous of these problems are: four that involve river crossings, including the problem of three anxious brothers, each of whom has an unmarried sister whom he cannot leave alone with either of the other men lest she be defiled (Problem 17); the problem of the wolf, goat, and cabbage (Problem 18); and the problem of "the two adults and two children where the children weigh half as much as the adults" (Problem 19). Alcuin's sequence is the solution to one of the problems of that book. + +Literary influence +Alcuin made the abbey school into a model of excellence and many students flocked to it. He had many manuscripts copied using outstandingly beautiful calligraphy, the Carolingian minuscule based on round and legible uncial letters. He wrote many letters to his English friends, to Arno, bishop of Salzburg and above all to Charlemagne. These letters (of which 311 are extant) are filled mainly with pious meditations, but they form an important source of information as to the literary and social conditions of the time and are the most reliable authority for the history of humanism during the Carolingian age. Alcuin trained the numerous monks of the abbey in piety, and in the midst of these pursuits, he died. + +Alcuin is the most prominent figure of the Carolingian Renaissance, in which three main periods have been distinguished: in the first of these, up to the arrival of Alcuin at the court, the Italians occupy a central place; in the second, Alcuin and the English are dominant; in the third (from 804), the influence of Theodulf the Visigoth is preponderant. + +Alcuin also developed manuals used in his educational work – a grammar and works on rhetoric and dialectics. These are written in the form of a dialogue, and in two of them the interlocutors are Charlemagne and Alcuin. He wrote several theological treatises: a De fide Trinitatis, and commentaries on the Bible. Alcuin is credited with inventing the first known question mark, though it did not resemble the modern symbol. + +Alcuin transmitted to the Franks the knowledge of Latin culture, which had existed in Anglo-Saxon England. A number of his works still exist. Besides some graceful epistles in the style of Venantius Fortunatus, he wrote some long poems, and notably he is the author of a history (in verse) of the church at York, Versus de patribus, regibus et sanctis Eboracensis ecclesiae. At the same time, he is noted for making one of the only explicit comments on Old English poetry surviving from the early Middle Ages, in a letter to one Speratus, the bishop of an unnamed English see (possibly Unwona of Leicester): ("Let God's words be read at the episcopal dinner-table. It is right that a reader should be heard, not a harpist, patristic discourse, not pagan song. What has Ingeld to do with Christ?"). + +Use of homoerotic language in writings +Historian John Boswell cited Alcuin's writings as demonstrating a personal outpouring of his internalized homosexual feelings. Others agree that Alcuin at times "comes perilously close to communicating openly his same-sex desires." According to David Clark, passages in some of Alcuin's writings can be seen to display homosocial desire, even possibly homoerotic imagery. However, he argues that it is not possible to necessarily determine whether they were the result of an outward expression of erotic feelings on the part of Alcuin. + +The interpretation of homosexual desire has been disputed by Allen Frantzen, who identifies Alcuin's language with that of medieval Christian amicitia or friendship. Douglas Dales and Rowan Williams say "the use of language drawn [by Alcuin] from the Song of Songs transforms apparently erotic language into something within Christian friendship – 'an ordained affection. + +Alcuin was also a close friend of Charlemagne's sister Gisela, Abbess of Chelles, and he hailed her as "a noble sister in the bond of sweet love". He wrote to Charlemagne's daughters Rotrude and Bertha, "the devotion of my heart specially tends towards you both because of the familiarity and dedication you have shown me". He dedicated the last two books of his commentary on John's gospel to them both. + +Despite inconclusive evidence of Alcuin's personal passions, he was clear in his own writings that the men of Sodom had been punished with fire for "sinning against nature with men" – a view consistent with Church teaching. Such sins, argued Alcuin, were therefore more serious than lustful acts with women, for which the earth was cleansed and revivified by the water of the Flood, and merit to be "withered by flames unto eternal barrenness". + +Legacy +Alcuin is honored in the Church of England and in the Episcopal Church on 20 May the first available day after the day of his death (as Dunstan is celebrated on 19 May). + +Alcuin College, one of the colleges of the University of York, is named after him. In January 2020, Alcuin was the subject of the BBC Radio 4 programme In Our Time. + +Selected works +For a complete census of Alcuin's works, see Marie-Hélène Jullien and Françoise Perelman, eds., Clavis scriptorum latinorum medii aevi: Auctores Galliae 735–987. Tomus II: Alcuinus. Turnhout: Brepols, 1999. + +Poetry + Carmina, ed. Ernst Dümmler, MGH Poetae Latini aevi Carolini I. Berlin: Weidmann, 1881. 160–351. + Godman, Peter, tr., Poetry of the Carolingian Renaissance. Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1985. 118–149. + Stella, Francesco, tr., comm., La poesia carolingia, Firenze: Le Lettere, 1995, pp. 94–96, 152–61, 266–67, 302–307, 364–371, 399–404, 455–457, 474–477, 503–507. + Isbell, Harold, tr.. The Last Poets of Imperial Rome. Baltimore: Penguin, 1971. + Poem on York, Versus de patribus, regibus et sanctis Euboricensis ecclesiae, ed. and tr. Peter Godman, The Bishops, Kings, and Saints of York. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982. + De clade Lindisfarnensis monasterii, "On the destruction of the monastery of Lindisfarne" (Carmen 9, ed. Dümmler, pp. 229–235). + +Letters +Of Alcuin's letters, over 310 have survived. + Epistolae, ed. Ernst Dümmler, MGH Epistolae IV.2. Berlin: Weidmann, 1895. 1–493. + Jaffé, Philipp, Ernst Dümmler, and W. Wattenbach, eds. Monumenta Alcuiniana. Berlin: Weidmann, 1873. 132–897. + Chase, Colin, ed. Two Alcuin Letter-books. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1975. + Allott, Stephen, tr. Alcuin of York, c. AD 732 to 804. His life and letters. York: William Sessions, 1974. + Sturgeon, Thomas G., tr. The Letters of Alcuin: Part One, the Aachen Period (762–796). Harvard University PhD thesis, 1953. + +Didactic works + Ars grammatica. PL 101: 854–902. + De orthographia, ed. H. Keil, Grammatici Latini VII, 1880. 295–312; ed. Sandra Bruni, Alcuino de orthographia. Florence: SISMEL, 1997. + De dialectica. PL 101: 950–976. + Disputatio regalis et nobilissimi juvenis Pippini cum Albino scholastico "Dialogue of Pepin, the Most Noble and Royal Youth, with the Teacher Albinus", ed. L. W. Daly and W. Suchier, Altercatio Hadriani Augusti et Epicteti Philosophi. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1939. 134–146; ed. Wilhelm Wilmanns, "Disputatio regalis et nobilissimi juvenis Pippini cum Albino scholastico". Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum 14 (1869): 530–555, 562. + Disputatio de rhetorica et de virtutibus sapientissimi regis Carli et Albini magistri, ed. and tr. Wilbur Samuel Howell, The Rhetoric of Alcuin and Charlemagne. New York: Russell and Russell, 1965 (1941); ed. C. Halm, Rhetorici Latini Minores. Leipzig: Teubner, 1863. 523–550. + De virtutibus et vitiis (moral treatise dedicated to Count Wido of Brittany, 799–800). PL 101: 613–638 (transcript available online). A new critical edition is being prepared for the Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Medievalis. + De animae ratione (ad Eulaliam virginem) (written for Gundrada, Charlemagne's cousin). PL 101: 639–650. + De Cursu et Saltu Lunae ac Bissexto, astronomical treatise. PL 101: 979–1002. + (?) Propositiones ad acuendos iuvenes, ed. Menso Folkerts, "Die alteste mathematische Aufgabensammlung in lateinischer Sprache: Die Alkuin zugeschriebenen Propositiones ad acuendos iuvenes; Überlieferung, Inhalt, Kritische Edition", in idem, Essays on Early Medieval Mathematics: The Latin Tradition. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003. + +Theology + Compendium in Canticum Canticorum: Alcuino, Commento al Cantico dei cantici – con i commenti anonimi Vox ecclesie e Vox antique ecclesie, ed. Rossana Guglielmetti, Firenze, SISMEL 2004 + Quaestiones in Genesim. PL 100: 515–566. + De Fide Sanctae Trinitatis et de Incarnatione Christi; Quaestiones de Sancta Trinitate, ed. E. Knibbs and E. Ann Matter (Corpus Christianorum – Continuatio Mediaevalis 249: Brepols, 2012) + +Hagiography + Vita II Vedastis episcopi Atrebatensis. Revision of the earlier Vita Vedastis by Jonas of Bobbio. Patrologia Latina 101: 663–682. + Vita Richarii confessoris Centulensis. Revision of an earlier anonymous life. MGH Scriptores Rerum Merovingicarum 4: 381–401. + Vita Willibrordi archiepiscopi Traiectensis, ed. W. Levison, Passiones vitaeque sanctorum aevi Merovingici. MGH Scriptores Rerum Merovingicarum 7: 81–141. + +See also + + Propositiones ad Acuendos Juvenes + Carolingian art + Carolingian Empire + Category: Carolingian period + Correctory + Codex Vindobonensis 795 + +References + +Notes + +Citations + +Sources + + + Allott, Stephen. Alcuin of York, his life and letters + + + + + + + secondary ammonium () > tertiary ammonium (R3NH+). Small aliphatic amines display significant solubility in many solvents, whereas those with large substituents are lipophilic. Aromatic amines, such as aniline, have their lone pair electrons conjugated into the benzene ring, thus their tendency to engage in hydrogen bonding is diminished. Their boiling points are high and their solubility in water is low. + +Spectroscopic identification +Typically the presence of an amine functional group is deduced by a combination of techniques, including mass spectrometry as well as NMR and IR spectroscopies. 1H NMR signals for amines disappear upon treatment of the sample with D2O. In their infrared spectrum primary amines exhibit two N-H bands, whereas secondary amines exhibit only one. + +Structure + +Alkyl amines + +Alkyl amines characteristically feature tetrahedral nitrogen centers. C-N-C and C-N-H angles approach the idealized angle of 109°. C-N distances are slightly shorter than C-C distances. The energy barrier for the nitrogen inversion of the stereocenter is about 7 kcal/mol for a trialkylamine. The interconversion has been compared to the inversion of an open umbrella into a strong wind. + +Amines of the type NHRR' and NRR′R″ are chiral: the nitrogen center bears four substituents counting the lone pair. Because of the low barrier to inversion, amines of the type NHRR' cannot be obtained in optical purity. For chiral tertiary amines, NRR′R″ can only be resolved when the R, R', and R″ groups are constrained in cyclic structures such as N-substituted aziridines (quaternary ammonium salts are resolvable). + +Aromatic amines +In aromatic amines ("anilines"), nitrogen is often nearly planar owing to conjugation of the lone pair with the aryl substituent. The C-N distance is correspondingly shorter. In aniline, the C-N distance is the same as the C-C distances. + +Basicity +Like ammonia, amines are bases. Compared to alkali metal hydroxides, amines are weaker (see table for examples of conjugate acid Ka values). + +The basicity of amines depends on: + The electronic properties of the substituents (alkyl groups enhance the basicity, aryl groups diminish it). + The degree of solvation of the protonated amine, which includes steric hindrance by the groups on nitrogen. + +Electronic effects +Owing to inductive effects, the basicity of an amine might be expected to increase with the number of alkyl groups on the amine. Correlations are complicated owing to the effects of solvation which are opposite the trends for inductive effects. Solvation effects also dominate the basicity of aromatic amines (anilines). For anilines, the lone pair of electrons on nitrogen delocalizes into the ring, resulting in decreased basicity. Substituents on the aromatic ring, and their positions relative to the amino group, also affect basicity as seen in the table. + +Solvation effects +Solvation significantly affects the basicity of amines. N-H groups strongly interact with water, especially in ammonium ions. Consequently, the basicity of ammonia is enhanced by 1011 by solvation. The intrinsic basicity of amines, i.e. the situation where solvation is unimportant, has been evaluated in the gas phase. In the gas phase, amines exhibit the basicities predicted from the electron-releasing effects of the organic substituents. Thus tertiary amines are more basic than secondary amines, which are more basic than primary amines, and finally ammonia is least basic. The order of pKb's (basicities in water) does not follow this order. Similarly aniline is more basic than ammonia in the gas phase, but ten thousand times less so in aqueous solution. + +In aprotic polar solvents such as DMSO, DMF, and acetonitrile the energy of solvation is not as high as in protic polar solvents like water and methanol. For this reason, the basicity of amines in these aprotic solvents is almost solely governed by the electronic effects. + +Synthesis + +From alcohols +Industrially significant alkyl amines are prepared from ammonia by alkylation with alcohols: +ROH + NH3 -> RNH2 + H2O + +From alkyl and aryl halides +Unlike the reaction of amines with alcohols the reaction of amines and ammonia with alkyl halides is used for synthesis in the laboratory: +RX + 2 R'NH2 -> RR'NH + [RR'NH2]X +In such reactions, which are more useful for alkyl iodides and bromides, the degree of alkylation is difficult to control such that one obtains mixtures of primary, secondary, and tertiary amines, as well as quaternary ammonium salts. + +Selectivity can be improved via the Delépine reaction, although this is rarely employed on an industrial scale. Selectivity is also assured in the Gabriel synthesis, which involves organohalide reacting with potassium phthalimide. + +Aryl halides are much less reactive toward amines and for that reason are more controllable. A popular way to prepare aryl amines is the Buchwald-Hartwig reaction. + +From alkenes +Disubstituted alkenes react with HCN in the presence of strong acids to give formamides, which can be decarbonylated. This method, the Ritter reaction, is used industrially to produce tertiary amines such a tert-octylamine. + +Hydroamination of alkenes is also widely practiced. The reaction is catalyzed by zeolite-based solid acids. + +Reductive routes +Via the process of hydrogenation, unsaturated N-containing functional groups are reduced to amines using hydrogen in the presence of a nickel catalyst. Suitable groups include nitriles, azides, imines including oximes, amides, and nitro. In the case of nitriles, reactions are sensitive to acidic or alkaline conditions, which can cause hydrolysis of the group. is more commonly employed for the reduction of these same groups on the laboratory scale. + +Many amines are produced from aldehydes and ketones via reductive amination, which can either proceed catalytically or stoichiometrically. + +Aniline () and its derivatives are prepared by reduction of the nitroaromatics. In industry, hydrogen is the preferred reductant, whereas, in the laboratory, tin and iron are often employed. + +Specialized methods +Many methods exist for the preparation of amines, many of these methods being rather specialized. + +Reactions + +Alkylation, acylation, and sulfonation, etc. +Aside from their basicity, the dominant reactivity of amines is their nucleophilicity. Most primary amines are good ligands for metal ions to give coordination complexes. Amines are alkylated by alkyl halides. Acyl chlorides and acid anhydrides react with primary and secondary amines to form amides (the "Schotten–Baumann reaction"). + +Similarly, with sulfonyl chlorides, one obtains sulfonamides. This transformation, known as the Hinsberg reaction, is a chemical test for the presence of amines. + +Because amines are basic, they neutralize acids to form the corresponding ammonium salts . When formed from carboxylic acids and primary and secondary amines, these salts thermally dehydrate to form the corresponding amides. + +Amines undergo sulfamation upon treatment with sulfur trioxide or sources thereof: +R2NH + SO3 -> R2NSO3H + +Acid-base reactions +Alkyl amines protonate near pH=7 to give alkylammonium derivative. + +Diazotization +Amines reacts with nitrous acid to give diazonium salts. The alkyl diazonium salts are of little importance because they are too unstable. The most important members are derivatives of aromatic amines such as aniline ("phenylamine") (A = aryl or naphthyl): +ANH2 + HNO2 + HX -> AN2+ + X- + 2 H2O + +Anilines and naphthylamines form more stable diazonium salts, which can be isolated in the crystalline form. Diazonium salts undergo a variety of useful transformations involving replacement of the group with anions. For example, cuprous cyanide gives the corresponding nitriles: + +AN2+ + Y- -> AY + N2 + +Aryldiazonium couple with electron-rich aromatic compounds such as a phenol to form azo compounds. Such reactions are widely applied to the production of dyes. + +Conversion to imines +Imine formation is an important reaction. Primary amines react with ketones and aldehydes to form imines. In the case of formaldehyde (R'  H), these products typically exist as cyclic trimers. + RNH2 + R'_2C=O -> R'_2C=NR + H2O +Reduction of these imines gives secondary amines: +R'_2C=NR + H2 -> R'_2CH-NHR + +Similarly, secondary amines react with ketones and aldehydes to form enamines: + R2NH + R'(R''CH2)C=O -> R''CH=C(NR2)R' + H2O + +Overview +An overview of the reactions of amines is given below: + +Biological activity +Amines are ubiquitous in biology. The breakdown of amino acids releases amines, famously in the case of decaying fish which smell of trimethylamine. Many neurotransmitters are amines, including epinephrine, norepinephrine, dopamine, serotonin, and histamine. Protonated amino groups () are the most common positively charged moieties in proteins, specifically in the amino acid lysine. The anionic polymer DNA is typically bound to various amine-rich proteins. Additionally, the terminal charged primary ammonium on lysine forms salt bridges with carboxylate groups of other amino acids in polypeptides, which is one of the primary influences on the three-dimensional structures of proteins. + +Amine hormones +Hormones derived from the modification of amino acids are referred to as amine hormones. Typically, the original structure of the amino acid is modified such that a –COOH, or carboxyl, group is removed, whereas the −NH+3, or amine, group remains. Amine hormones are synthesized from the amino acids tryptophan or tyrosine. + +Application of amines + +Dyes +Primary aromatic amines are used as a starting material for the manufacture of azo dyes. It reacts with nitrous acid to form diazonium salt, which can undergo coupling reaction to form an azo compound. As azo-compounds are highly coloured, they are widely used in dyeing industries, such as: + + Methyl orange + Direct brown 138 + Sunset yellow FCF + Ponceau + +Drugs +Most drugs and drug candidates contain amine functional groups: + Chlorpheniramine is an antihistamine that helps to relieve allergic disorders due to cold, hay fever, itchy skin, insect bites and stings. + Chlorpromazine is a tranquilizer that sedates without inducing sleep. It is used to relieve anxiety, excitement, restlessness or even mental disorder. + Ephedrine and phenylephrine, as amine hydrochlorides, are used as decongestants. + Amphetamine, methamphetamine, and methcathinone are psychostimulant amines that are listed as controlled substances by the US DEA. + Thioridazine, an antipsychotic drug, is an amide which is believed to exhibit its antipsychotic effects, in part, due to its effects on other amides. + Amitriptyline, imipramine, lofepramine and clomipramine are tricyclic antidepressants and tertiary amines. + Nortriptyline, desipramine, and amoxapine are tricyclic antidepressants and secondary amines. (The tricyclics are grouped by the nature of the final amino group on the side chain.) + Substituted tryptamines and phenethylamines are key basic structures for a large variety of psychedelic drugs. + Opiate analgesics such as morphine, codeine, and heroin are tertiary amines. + +Gas treatment +Aqueous monoethanolamine (MEA), diglycolamine (DGA), diethanolamine (DEA), diisopropanolamine (DIPA) and methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) are widely used industrially for removing carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) from natural gas and refinery process streams. They may also be used to remove CO2 from combustion gases and flue gases and may have potential for abatement of greenhouse gases. Related processes are known as sweetening. + +Epoxy resin curing agents +Amines are often used as epoxy resin curing agents. These include dimethylethylamine, cyclohexylamine, and a variety of diamines such as 4,4 -diaminodicyclohexylmethane. Multifunctional amines such as tetraethylenepentamine and triethylenetetramine are also widely used in this capacity. The reaction proceeds by the lone pair of electrons on the amine nitrogen attacking the outermost carbon on the oxirane ring of the epoxy resin. This relieves ring strain on the epoxide and is the driving force of the reaction. + +Safety +Low molecular weight simple amines, such as ethylamine, are only weakly toxic with between 100 and 1000 mg/kg. They are skin irritants, especially as some are easily absorbed through the skin. Amines are a broad class of compounds, and more complex members of the class can be extremely bioactive, for example strychnine. + +See also + Acid-base extraction + Amine value + Amine gas treating + Ammine + Biogenic amine + Ligand isomerism + Official naming rules for amines as determined by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) + +References + +Further reading + +External links + + Synthesis of amines + Factsheet, amines in food + + +Functional groups + + +Events + +Pre-1600 + 801 – An earthquake in the Central Apennines hits Rome and Spoleto, damaging the basilica of San Paolo Fuori le Mura. +1091 – Battle of Levounion: The Pechenegs are defeated by Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. +1429 – Joan of Arc arrives to relieve the Siege of Orléans. +1483 – Gran Canaria, the main island of the Canary Islands, is conquered by the Kingdom of Castile. +1521 – Swedish War of Liberation: Swedish troops defeat a Danish force in the Battle of Västerås. + +1601–1900 +1760 – French forces commence the siege of Quebec which is held by the British. +1770 – James Cook arrives in Australia at Botany Bay, which he names. +1781 – American Revolutionary War: British and French ships clash in the Battle of Fort Royal off the coast of Martinique. +1826 – The galaxy Centaurus A or NGC 5128 is discovered by James Dunlop. +1861 – Maryland in the American Civil War: Maryland's House of Delegates votes not to secede from the Union. +1862 – American Civil War: The Capture of New Orleans by Union forces under David Farragut. +1864 – Theta Xi fraternity is founded at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the only fraternity to be founded during the American Civil War. + +1901–present +1903 – A landslide kills 70 people in Frank, in the District of Alberta, Canada. +1910 – The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the People's Budget, the first budget in British history with the expressed intent of redistributing wealth among the British public. +1911 – Tsinghua University, one of mainland China's leading universities, is founded. +1916 – World War I: The UK's 6th Indian Division surrenders to Ottoman Forces at the Siege of Kut in one of the largest surrenders of British forces up to that point. + 1916 – Easter Rising: After six days of fighting, Irish rebel leaders surrender to British forces in Dublin, bringing the Easter Rising to an end. +1945 – World War II: The Surrender of Caserta is signed by the commander of German forces in Italy. + 1945 – World War II: Airdrops of food begin over German-occupied regions of the Netherlands. + 1945 – World War II: Adolf Hitler marries his longtime partner Eva Braun in a Berlin bunker and designates Admiral Karl Dönitz as his successor. + 1945 – Dachau concentration camp is liberated by United States troops. +1946 – The International Military Tribunal for the Far East convenes and indicts former Prime Minister of Japan Hideki Tojo and 28 former Japanese leaders for war crimes. +1952 – Pan Am Flight 202 crashes into the Amazon basin near Carolina, Maranhão, Brazil, killing 50 people. +1953 – The first U.S. experimental 3D television broadcast shows an episode of Space Patrol on Los Angeles ABC affiliate KECA-TV. +1967 – After refusing induction into the United States Army the previous day, Muhammad Ali is stripped of his boxing title. +1970 – Vietnam War: United States and South Vietnamese forces invade Cambodia to hunt Viet Cong. +1974 – Watergate scandal: United States President Richard Nixon announces the release of edited transcripts of White House tape recordings relating to the scandal. +1975 – Vietnam War: Operation Frequent Wind: The U.S. begins to evacuate U.S. citizens from Saigon before an expected North Vietnamese takeover. U.S. involvement in the war comes to an end. + 1975 – Vietnam War: The North Vietnamese army completes its capture of all parts of South Vietnam-held Trường Sa Islands. +1986 – A fire at the Central library of the Los Angeles Public Library damages or destroys 400,000 books and other items. +1986 – The United States Navy aircraft carrier becomes the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to transit the Suez Canal, navigating from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea to relieve the . +1991 – A cyclone strikes the Chittagong district of southeastern Bangladesh with winds of around , killing at least 138,000 people and leaving as many as ten million homeless. + 1991 – The 7.0 Racha earthquake affects Georgia with a maximum MSK intensity of IX (Destructive), killing 270 people. +1992 – Riots in Los Angeles begin, following the acquittal of police officers charged with excessive force in the beating of Rodney King. Over the next three days 63 people are killed and hundreds of buildings are destroyed. +1997 – The Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993 enters into force, outlawing the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons by its signatories. +2004 – The final Oldsmobile is built in Lansing, Michigan, ending 107 years of vehicle production. +2011 – The Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton takes place at Westminster Abbey in London. +2013 – A powerful explosion occurs in an office building in Prague, believed to have been caused by natural gas, and injures 43 people. + 2013 – National Airlines Flight 102, a Boeing 747-400 freighter aircraft, crashes during takeoff from Bagram Airfield in Parwan Province, Afghanistan, killing seven people. +2015 – A baseball game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago White Sox sets the all-time low attendance mark for Major League Baseball. Zero fans were in attendance for the game, as the stadium was officially closed to the public due to the 2015 Baltimore protests. + +Births + +Pre-1600 +1469 – William II, Landgrave of Hesse (d. 1509) +1587 – Sophie of Saxony, Duchess of Pomerania (d. 1635) + +1601–1900 +1636 – Esaias Reusner, German lute player and composer (d. 1679) +1665 – James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde, Irish general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1745) +1667 – John Arbuthnot, Scottish-English physician and polymath (d. 1735) +1727 – Jean-Georges Noverre, French actor and dancer (d. 1810) +1745 – Oliver Ellsworth, American lawyer and politician, 3rd Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1807) +1758 – Georg Carl von Döbeln, Swedish general (d. 1820) +1762 – Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, French general and politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 1833) +1780 – Charles Nodier, French librarian and author (d. 1844) +1783 – David Cox, English landscape painter (d. 1859) +1784 – Samuel Turell Armstrong, American publisher and politician, 14th Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1850) +1810 – Thomas Adolphus Trollope, English journalist and author (d. 1892) +1818 – Alexander II of Russia (d. 1881) +1837 – Georges Ernest Boulanger, French general and politician, French Minister of War (d. 1891) +1842 – Carl Millöcker, Austrian composer and conductor (d. 1899) +1847 – Joachim Andersen, Danish flautist, composer and conductor (d. 1907) +1848 – Raja Ravi Varma, Indian painter and academic (d. 1906) +1854 – Henri Poincaré, French mathematician, physicist and engineer (d. 1912) +1863 – Constantine P. Cavafy, Egyptian-Greek journalist and poet (d. 1933) + 1863 – William Randolph Hearst, American publisher and politician, founded the Hearst Corporation (d. 1951) + 1863 – Maria Teresia Ledóchowska, Austrian nun and missionary (d. 1922) +1872 – Harry Payne Whitney, American businessman and lawyer (d. 1930) + 1872 – Forest Ray Moulton, American astronomer and academic (d. 1952) +1875 – Rafael Sabatini, Italian-English novelist and short story writer (d. 1950) +1879 – Thomas Beecham, English conductor (d. 1961) +1880 – Adolf Chybiński, Polish historian, musicologist and academic (d. 1952) +1882 – Auguste Herbin, French painter (d. 1960) + 1882 – Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman, Dutch printer, typographer, and Nazi resister (d. 1945) +1885 – Egon Erwin Kisch, Czech journalist and author (d. 1948) +1887 – Robert Cushman Murphy, American ornithologist (d. 1973) +1888 – Michael Heidelberger, American immunologist (d. 1991) +1891 – Edward Wilfred Taylor, British businessman (d. 1980) +1893 – Harold Urey, American chemist and astronomer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1981) +1894 – Marietta Blau, Austrian physicist and academic (d. 1970) +1895 – Vladimir Propp, Russian scholar and critic (d. 1970) + 1895 – Malcolm Sargent, English organist, composer and conductor (d. 1967) +1898 – E. J. Bowen, British physical chemist (d. 1980) +1899 – Duke Ellington, American pianist, composer and bandleader (d. 1974) + 1899 – Mary Petty, American illustrator (d. 1976) +1900 – Amelia Best, Australian politician (d. 1979) + +1901–present +1901 – Hirohito, Japanese emperor (d. 1989) +1907 – Fred Zinnemann, Austrian-American director and producer (d. 1997) +1908 – Jack Williamson, American author and academic (d. 2006) +1909 – Tom Ewell, American actor (d. 1994) +1912 – Richard Carlson, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1977) +1915 – Henry H. Barschall, German-American physicist and academic (d. 1997) +1917 – Maya Deren, Ukrainian-American director, poet, and photographer (d. 1961) + 1917 – Celeste Holm, American actress and singer (d. 2012) +1918 – George Allen, American football player and coach (d. 1990) +1919 – Gérard Oury, French actor, director and screenwriter (d. 2006) +1920 – Edward Blishen, English author and radio host (d. 1996) + 1920 – Harold Shapero, American composer (d. 2013) +1922 – Parren Mitchell, American politician (d. 2007) + 1922 – Toots Thielemans, Belgian guitarist and harmonica player (d. 2016) +1923 – Irvin Kershner, American actor, director and producer (d. 2010) +1924 – Zizi Jeanmaire, French ballerina and actress (d. 2020) +1925 – John Compton, Saint Lucian lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Saint Lucia (d. 2007) + 1925 – Iwao Takamoto, American animator, director, and producer (d. 2007) +1926 – Elmer Kelton, American journalist and author (d. 2009) +1927 – Dorothy Manley, English sprinter (d. 2021) + 1927 – Bill Slater, English footballer (d. 2018) +1928 – Carl Gardner, American singer (d. 2011) + 1928 – Heinz Wolff, German-English physiologist, engineer, and academic (d. 2017) +1929 – Walter Kempowski, German author and academic (d. 2007) + 1929 – Peter Sculthorpe, Australian composer and conductor (d. 2014) + 1929 – April Stevens, American singer (d. 2023) + 1929 – Maurice Strong, Canadian businessman and diplomat (d. 2015) + 1929 – Jeremy Thorpe, English lawyer and politician (d. 2014) +1930 – Jean Rochefort, French actor and director (d. 2017) +1931 – Frank Auerbach, British-German painter + 1931 – Lonnie Donegan, Scottish-English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2002) + 1931 – Chris Pearson, Canadian politician, 1st Premier of Yukon (d. 2014) +1932 – David Tindle, English painter and educator + 1932 – Dmitry Zaikin, Soviet pilot and cosmonaut instructor (d. 2013) +1933 – Ed Charles, American baseball player and coach (d. 2018) + 1933 – Rod McKuen, American singer-songwriter and poet (d. 2015) + 1933 – Willie Nelson, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer and actor +1934 – Luis Aparicio, Venezuelan-American baseball player + 1934 – Pedro Pires, Cape Verdean politician, 3rd President of Cape Verde +1935 – Otis Rush, American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2018) +1936 – Adolfo Nicolás, Spanish priest, 13th Superior General of the Society of Jesus (d. 2020) + 1936 – Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild, English banker and philanthropist +1937 – Jill Paton Walsh, English author (d. 2020) +1938 – Steven Bach, American writer, businessman and educator (d. 2009) + 1938 – Bernie Madoff, American businessman, financier and convicted felon (d. 2021) +1939 – Klaus Rinke, German contemporary artist +1940 – George Adams, American musician (d. 1992) + 1940 – Peter Diamond, American economist +1941 – Hanne Darboven, German painter (d. 2009) +1942 – Dick Chrysler, American politician + 1942 – Rennie Fritchie, Baroness Fritchie, English civil servant and academic +1943 – Duane Allen, American country singer + 1943 – Brenda Dean, Baroness Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde, English union leader and politician (d. 2018) + 1943 – Ruth Deech, Baroness Deech, English lawyer and academic +1944 – Francis Lee, English footballer and businessman (d. 2023) +1945 – Hugh Hopper, English bass guitarist (d. 2009) + 1945 – Catherine Lara, French singer-songwriter and violinist + 1945 – Tammi Terrell, American soul singer-songwriter (d. 1970) +1946 – Rodney Frelinghuysen, American politician and lobbyist +1947 – Tommy James, American singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer + 1947 – Johnny Miller, American golfer and sportscaster + 1947 – Jim Ryun, American runner and politician +1948 – Edith Brown Clement, American judge +1950 – Paul Holmes, New Zealand journalist (d. 2013) + 1950 – Phillip Noyce, Australian director and producer + 1950 – Debbie Stabenow, American social worker and politician +1951 – Dale Earnhardt, American race car driver (d. 2001) + 1951 – Jon Stanhope, Australian politician +1952 – Geraldine Doogue, Australian journalist and television host + 1952 – Nora Dunn, American actress and comedian + 1952 – Bob McClure, American baseball player and coach + 1952 – Dave Valentin, American flautist (d. 2017) + 1953 – Bill Drummond, Brittish musician +1954 – Mo Brooks, American attorney and politician + 1954 – Jerry Seinfeld, American comedian, actor and producer +1955 – Leslie Jordan, American actor, comedian, writer and singer (d. 2022) + 1955 – Kate Mulgrew, American actress +1957 – Daniel Day-Lewis, British-Irish actor + 1957 – Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa, Samoan politician, 7th Prime Minister of Samoa + 1957 – Joseph Morelle, American politician +1958 – Kevin Moore, English footballer (d. 2013) + 1958 – Michelle Pfeiffer, American actress + 1958 – Eve Plumb, American actress +1960 – Robert J. Sawyer, Canadian author and academic +1962 – Polly Samson, English novelist, lyricist and journalist +1963 – Mike Babcock, Canadian ice hockey player and coach +1964 – Federico Castelluccio, Italian-American actor, director, producer and screenwriter +1965 – Michel Bussi, French geographer, author, and academic + 1965 – Amy Krouse Rosenthal, American author (d. 2017) +1966 – Christian Tetzlaff, German violinist +1968 – Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, Croatian politician and diplomat, 4th President of Croatia +1969 – Paul Adelstein, American actor and writer +1970 – Andre Agassi, American tennis player + 1970 – Uma Thurman, American actress +1975 – Garrison Starr, American singer-songwriter and producer + 1975 – April Telek, Canadian actress +1976 – Micol Ostow, American author, editor and educator + 1976 – God Shammgod, American basketball player and coach +1977 – Zuzana Hejdová, Czech tennis player + 1977 – Claus Jensen, Danish international footballer and manager + 1977 – David Sullivan, American film and television actor +1978 – Bob Bryan, American tennis player + 1978 – Mike Bryan, American tennis player + 1978 – Javier Colon, American singer-songwriter and musician + 1978 – Tyler Labine, Canadian actor and comedian +1979 – Lee Dong-gook, South Korean footballer + 1979 – Jo O'Meara, English pop singer +1980 – Bre Blair, Canadian actress +1981 – George McCartney, Northern Irish footballer +1983 – Megan Boone, American actress + 1983 – Jay Cutler, American football player + 1983 – Sam Jones III, American actor +1984 – Kirby Cote, Canadian swimmer + 1984 – Lina Krasnoroutskaya, Russian tennis player +1986 – Byun Yo-han, South Korean actor + 1986 – Lee Chae-young, South Korean actress +1987 – Rob Atkinson, English footballer + 1987 – Sara Errani, Italian tennis player + 1987 – Andre Russell, Jamaican cricketer +1988 – Alfred Hui, Hong Kong singer + 1988 – Taoufik Makhloufi, Algerian athlete + 1988 – Jonathan Toews, Canadian ice hockey player + 1988 – Younha, South Korean singer-songwriter and record producer +1989 – Candace Owens, American political commentator and activist +1990 – James Faulkner, Australian cricketer + 1990 – Chris Johnson, American basketball player +1991 – Adam Smith, English footballer + 1991 – Jung Hye-sung, South Korean actress + 1991 – Misaki Doi, Japanese tennis player +1992 – Alina Rosenberg, German paralympic equestrian +1994 – Christina Shakovets, German tennis player +1996 – Katherine Langford, Australian actress +1998 – Kimberly Birrell, Australian tennis player + 1998 – Mallory Pugh, American soccer player +2002 – Sinja Kraus, Austrian tennis player +2007 – Infanta Sofía of Spain, Spanish princess + +Deaths + +Pre-1600 +1109 – Hugh of Cluny, French abbot (b. 1024) +1380 – Catherine of Siena, Italian mystic, philosopher and saint (b. 1347) +1594 – Thomas Cooper, English bishop, lexicographer, and theologian (b. 1517) + +1601–1900 +1630 – Agrippa d'Aubigné, French soldier and poet (b. 1552) +1658 – John Cleveland, English poet and author (b. 1613) +1676 – Michiel de Ruyter, Dutch admiral (b. 1607) +1707 – George Farquhar, Irish-English actor and playwright (b. 1678) +1768 – Georg Brandt, Swedish chemist and mineralogist (b. 1694) +1776 – Edward Wortley Montagu, English explorer and author (b. 1713) +1833 – William Babington, Anglo-Irish physician and mineralogist (b. 1756) +1848 – Chester Ashley, American politician (b. 1790) +1854 – Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey, English field marshal and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1768) + +1901–present +1903 – Godfrey Carter, Australian businessman and politician, 39th Mayor of Melbourne (b. 1830) + 1903 – Paul Du Chaillu, French-American anthropologist and zoologist (b. 1835) +1905 – Ignacio Cervantes, Cuban pianist and composer (b. 1847) +1916 – Jørgen Pedersen Gram, Danish mathematician and academic (b. 1850) +1917 – Florence Farr, British actress, composer and director (b. 1860) +1922 – Richard Croker, Irish American political boss (b. 1843) +1924 – Ernest Fox Nichols, American educator and physicist (b. 1869) +1925 – Ralph Delahaye Paine, American journalist and author (b. 1871) +1933 – Clay Stone Briggs, American politician (b. 1876) + 1933 – Constantine P. Cavafy, Greek poet and journalist (b. 1863) +1935 – Leroy Carr, American singer, songwriter and pianist (b. 1905) +1937 – William Gillette, American actor and playwright (b. 1853) +1943 – Joseph Achron, Russian composer and violinist (b. 1886) + 1943 – Ricardo Viñes, Spanish pianist (b. 1875) +1944 – Billy Bitzer, American cinematographer (b. 1872) + 1944 – Pyotr Stolyarsky, Soviet violinist (b. 1871) +1947 – Irving Fisher, American economist and statistician (b. 1867) +1951 – Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian-English philosopher and academic (b. 1889) + 1956 – Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb, German field marshal (b. 1876) +1959 – Kenneth Anderson, English soldier and Governor of Gibraltar (b. 1891) +1966 – William Eccles, English physicist and engineer (b. 1875) + 1966 – Paula Strasberg, American actress and acting coach (b. 1909) +1967 – J. B. Lenoir, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1929) +1968 – Lin Zhao, Chinese dissident (b. 1932) +1978 – Theo Helfrich, German race car driver (b. 1913) +1979 – Muhsin Ertuğrul, Turkish actor and director (b. 1892) + 1979 – Hardie Gramatky, American author and illustrator (b. 1907) +1980 – Alfred Hitchcock, English-American director and producer (b. 1899) +1982 – Raymond Bussières, French actor, producer and screenwriter (b. 1907) +1992 – Mae Clarke, American actress (b. 1910) +1993 – Michael Gordon, American actor and director (b. 1909) + 1993 – Mick Ronson, English guitarist, songwriter and producer (b. 1946) +1997 – Mike Royko, American journalist and author (b. 1932) +2000 – Phạm Văn Đồng, Vietnamese lieutenant and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Vietnam (b. 1906) +2001 – Arthur B. C. Walker Jr., American physicist and academic (b. 1936) +2002 – Bob Akin, American race car driver and journalist (b. 1936) +2003 – Janko Bobetko, Croatian Army general and Chief of the General Staff (b. 1919) +2004 – John Henniker-Major, British diplomat and civil servant (b. 1916) +2005 – William J. Bell, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1927) + 2005 – Louis Leithold, American mathematician and academic (b. 1924) +2006 – John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian-American economist and diplomat, United States Ambassador to India (b. 1908) +2007 – Josh Hancock, American baseball player (b. 1978) + 2007 – Dick Motz, New Zealand cricketer and rugby player (b. 1940) + 2007 – Ivica Račan, Croatian politician, 7th Prime Minister of Croatia (b. 1944) +2008 – Gordon Bradley, English-American footballer (b. 1933) + 2008 – Albert Hofmann, Swiss chemist and academic (b. 1906) +2010 – Avigdor Arikha, French-Israeli artist, printmaker and art historian (b. 1929) +2011 – Siamak Pourzand, Iranian journalist and critic (b. 1931) + 2011 – Joanna Russ, American writer, academic and radical feminist (b. 1937) +2012 – Shukri Ghanem, Libyan politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Libya (b. 1942) + 2012 – Joel Goldsmith, American composer and conductor (b. 1957) + 2012 – Roland Moreno. French engineer, invented the smart card (b. 1945) + 2012 – Kenny Roberts, American singer-songwriter (b. 1926) +2013 – Alex Elisala, New Zealand-Australian rugby player (b. 1992) + 2013 – Pesah Grupper, Israeli politician, 13th Israel Minister of Agriculture (b. 1924) + 2013 – John La Montaine, American pianist and composer (b. 1920) + 2013 – Kevin Moore, English footballer (b. 1958) + 2013 – Marianna Zachariadi, Greek pole vaulter (b. 1990) +2014 – Iveta Bartošová, Czech singer and actress (b. 1966) + 2014 – Al Feldstein, American author and illustrator (b. 1925) + 2014 – Bob Hoskins, English actor (b. 1942) +2015 – François Michelin, French businessman (b. 1926) + 2015 – Jean Nidetch, American businesswoman, co-founded Weight Watchers (b. 1923) + 2015 – Calvin Peete, American golfer (b. 1943) + 2015 – Dan Walker, American lawyer and politician, 36th Governor of Illinois (b. 1922) +2016 – Renato Corona, Filipino lawyer and jurist, 23rd Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines (b. 1948) +2017 – R. Vidyasagar Rao, Indian bureaucrat and activist (b. 1939) +2018 – Luis García Meza, Bolivian general, 57th President of Bolivia (b. 1929) + 2018 – Michael Martin, British politician (b. 1945) +2019 – Josef Šural, Czech footballer (b. 1990) +2020 – Irrfan Khan, Indian actor (b. 1967) + 2020 – Guido Münch, Mexican astronomer and astrophysicist (b. 1921) +2021 – Cate Haste, English author (b. 1945) +2022 – Joanna Barnes, American actress and writer (b. 1934) +2023 – Padma Desai, Indian-American development economist (b. 1931) + +Holidays and observances + Christian feast day: + Catherine of Siena (Catholic, Lutheran and Anglican Church) + Hugh of Cluny + Robert of Molesme + Wilfrid II + April 29 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) + Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare (United Nations) + International Dance Day (UNESCO) + Shōwa Day, traditionally the start of the Golden Week holiday period, which is April 29 and May 3–5. (Japan) + +References + +External links + + BBC: On This Day + + Historical Events on April 29 + +Days of the year +April + + +Events + +Pre-1600 +74 BC – A group of officials, led by the Western Han minister Huo Guang, present articles of impeachment against the new emperor, Liu He, to the imperial regent, Empress Dowager Shangguan. +29 BC – Octavian holds the second of three consecutive triumphs in Rome to celebrate the victory over the Dalmatian tribes. +1040 – King Duncan I is killed in battle against his first cousin and rival Macbeth. The latter succeeds him as King of Scotland. +1183 – Taira no Munemori and the Taira clan take the young Emperor Antoku and the three sacred treasures and flee to western Japan to escape pursuit by the Minamoto clan. +1264 – After tricking the Venetian galley fleet into sailing east to the Levant, the Genoese capture an entire Venetian trade convoy at the Battle of Saseno. +1352 – War of the Breton Succession: Anglo-Bretons defeat the French in the Battle of Mauron. +1370 – Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, grants city privileges to Karlovy Vary. +1385 – Portuguese Crisis of 1383–85: Battle of Aljubarrota: Portuguese forces commanded by John I of Portugal defeat the Castilian army of John I of Castile. +1592 – The first sighting of the Falkland Islands by John Davis. +1598 – Nine Years' War: Battle of the Yellow Ford: Irish forces under Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, defeat an English expeditionary force under Henry Bagenal. + +1601–1900 +1720 – The Spanish military Villasur expedition is defeated by Pawnee and Otoe warriors near present-day Columbus, Nebraska. +1784 – Russian colonization of North America: Awa’uq Massacre: The Russian fur trader Grigory Shelikhov storms a Kodiak Island Alutiit refuge rock on Sitkalidak Island, killing 500+ Alutiit. +1790 – The Treaty of Wereloe ended the 1788–1790 Russo-Swedish War. +1791 – Slaves from plantations in Saint-Domingue hold a Vodou ceremony led by houngan Dutty Boukman at Bois Caïman, marking the start of the Haitian Revolution. +1814 – A cease fire agreement, called the Convention of Moss, ended the Swedish–Norwegian War. +1816 – The United Kingdom formally annexes the Tristan da Cunha archipelago, administering the islands from the Cape Colony in South Africa. +1842 – American Indian Wars: Second Seminole War ends, with the Seminoles forced from Florida. +1848 – Oregon Territory is organized by act of Congress. +1880 – Construction of Cologne Cathedral, the most famous landmark in Cologne, Germany, is completed. +1885 – Japan's first patent is issued to the inventor of a rust-proof paint. +1893 – France becomes the first country to introduce motor vehicle registration. +1900 – Battle of Peking: The Eight-Nation Alliance occupies Beijing, China, in a campaign to end the bloody Boxer Rebellion in China. + +1901–present +1901 – The first claimed powered flight, by Gustave Whitehead in his Number 21. +1914 – World War I: Start of the Battle of Lorraine, an unsuccessful French offensive. +1917 – World War I: The Republic of China, which had heretofore been shipping labourers to Europe to assist in the war effort, officially declares war on the Central Powers, although it will continue to send to Europe labourers instead of combatants for the remaining duration of the war. +1920 – The 1920 Summer Olympics, having started four months earlier, officially open in Antwerp, Belgium, with the newly-adopted Olympic flag and the Olympic oath being raised and taken at the Opening Ceremony for the first time in Olympic history. +1921 – Tannu Uriankhai, later Tuvan People's Republic is established as a completely independent country (which is supported by Soviet Russia). +1933 – Loggers cause a forest fire in the Coast Range of Oregon, later known as the first forest fire of the Tillamook Burn; destroying of land. +1935 – Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act, creating a government pension system for the retired. +1936 – Rainey Bethea is hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky in the last known public execution in the United States. +1941 – World War II: Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt sign the Atlantic Charter of war stating postwar aims. +1947 – Pakistan gains independence from the British Empire. +1959 – Founding and first official meeting of the American Football League. +1967 – UK Marine Broadcasting Offences Act declares participation in offshore pirate radio illegal. +1969 – The Troubles: British troops are deployed in Northern Ireland as political and sectarian violence breaks out, marking the start of the 37-year Operation Banner. +1971 – Bahrain declares independence from Britain. +1972 – An Ilyushin Il-62 airliner crashes near Königs Wusterhausen, East Germany killing 156 people. +1980 – Lech Wałęsa leads strikes at the Gdańsk, Poland shipyards. +1994 – Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, also known as "Carlos the Jackal", is captured. +1996 – Greek Cypriot refugee Solomos Solomou is shot and killed by a Turkish security officer while trying to climb a flagpole in order to remove a Turkish flag from its mast in the United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus. +2003 – A widescale power blackout affects the northeast United States and Canada. +2005 – Helios Airways Flight 522, en route from Larnaca, Cyprus to Prague, Czech Republic via Athens, crashes in the hills near Grammatiko, Greece, killing 121 passengers and crew. +2006 – Lebanon War: A ceasefire takes effect three days after the United Nations Security Council’s approval of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, formally ending hostilities between Lebanon and Israel. +2006 – Sri Lankan Civil War: Sixty-one schoolgirls killed in Chencholai bombing by Sri Lankan Air Force air strike. +2007 – The Kahtaniya bombings kills at least 500 people. +2013 – Egypt declares a state of emergency as security forces kill hundreds of demonstrators supporting former president Mohamed Morsi. + 2013 – UPS Airlines Flight 1354 crashes short of the runway at Birmingham–Shuttlesworth International Airport, killing both crew members on board. +2015 – The U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba re-opens after 54 years of being closed when Cuba–United States relations were broken off. +2021 – A magnitude 7.2 earthquake strikes southwestern Haiti, killing at least 2,248 people and causing a humanitarian crisis. +2022 – An explosion destroys a market in Armenia, killing six people and injuring dozens. +2023 – Former U.S. President Donald Trump is charged in Georgia along with 18 others in attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election in that state, his fourth indictment of 2023. + +Births + +Pre-1600 +1479 – Catherine of York (d. 1527) +1499 – John de Vere, 14th Earl of Oxford, English politician (d. 1526) +1502 – Pieter Coecke van Aelst, Flemish painter (d. 1550) +1530 – Giambattista Benedetti, Italian mathematician and physicist (d. 1590) +1552 – Paolo Sarpi, Italian writer (d. 1623) +1599 – Méric Casaubon, Swiss-English scholar and author (d. 1671) + +1601–1900 +1642 – Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1723) +1653 – Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle, English colonel and politician, Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica (d. 1688) +1688 – Frederick William I of Prussia (d. 1740) +1714 – Claude Joseph Vernet, French painter (d. 1789) +1738 – Leopold Hofmann, Austrian composer and conductor (d. 1793) +1742 – Pope Pius VII (d. 1823) +1758 – Carle Vernet, French painter and lithographer (d. 1836) +1777 – Hans Christian Ørsted, Danish physicist and chemist (d. 1851) +1802 – Letitia Elizabeth Landon, English poet and novelist (d. 1838) +1814 – Charlotte Fowler Wells, American phrenologist and publisher (d. 1901) +1817 – Alexander H. Bailey, American lawyer, judge, and politician (d. 1874) +1840 – Richard von Krafft-Ebing, German-Austrian psychologist and author (d. 1902) +1847 – Robert Comtesse, Swiss lawyer and politician (d. 1922) +1848 – Margaret Lindsay Huggins, Anglo-Irish astronomer and author (d. 1915) +1851 – Doc Holliday, American dentist and gambler (d. 1887) +1860 – Ernest Thompson Seton, American author, artist, and naturalist (d. 1946) +1863 – Ernest Thayer, American poet and author (d. 1940) +1865 – Guido Castelnuovo, Italian mathematician and academic (d. 1952) +1866 – Charles Jean de la Vallée-Poussin, Belgian mathematician and academic (d. 1962) +1867 – Cupid Childs, American baseball player (d. 1912) + 1867 – John Galsworthy, English novelist and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1933) +1871 – Guangxu Emperor of China (d. 1908) +1875 – Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, Russian-Lithuanian painter and illustrator (d. 1957) +1876 – Alexander I of Serbia (d. 1903) +1881 – Francis Ford, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1953) +1883 – Ernest Everett Just, American biologist and academic (d. 1941) +1886 – Arthur Jeffrey Dempster, Canadian-American physicist and academic (d. 1950) +1889 – Otto Tief, Estonian lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Estonia (d. 1976) +1890 – Bruno Tesch, German chemist and businessman (d. 1946) +1892 – Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, English pianist, composer, and critic (d. 1988) +1894 – Frank Burge, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 1958) +1895 – Jack Gregory, Australian cricketer (d. 1973) + 1895 – Amaza Lee Meredith, American architect (d. 1984) +1896 – Albert Ball, English fighter pilot (d. 1917) + 1896 – Theodor Luts, Estonian director and cinematographer (d. 1980) +1900 – Margret Boveri, German journalist (d. 1975) + +1901–present +1910 – Nüzhet Gökdoğan, Turkish astronomer and mathematician (d. 2003) + 1910 – Willy Ronis, French photographer (d. 2009) + 1910 – Pierre Schaeffer, French composer and producer (d. 1995) +1912 – Frank Oppenheimer, American physicist and academic (d. 1985) +1913 – Hector Crawford, Australian director and producer (d. 1991) + 1913 – Paul Dean, American baseball player (d. 1981) +1914 – Herman Branson, American physicist, chemist, and academic (d. 1995) +1915 – B. A. Santamaria, Australian political activist and publisher (d. 1998) +1916 – Frank and John Craighead, American naturalists (twins, Frank d. 2001, John d. 2016) + 1916 – Wellington Mara, American businessman (d. 2005) +1923 – Alice Ghostley, American actress (d. 2007) +1924 – Sverre Fehn, Norwegian architect, designed the Hedmark Museum (d. 2009) + 1924 – Georges Prêtre, French conductor (d. 2017) +1925 – Russell Baker, American critic and essayist (d. 2019) +1926 – René Goscinny, French author and illustrator (d. 1977) + 1926 – Buddy Greco, American singer and pianist (d. 2017) +1928 – Lina Wertmüller, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 2021) +1929 – Giacomo Capuzzi, Italian Roman Catholic prelate, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lodi from 1989 to 2005 (d. 2021). + 1929 – Dick Tiger, Nigerian boxer (d. 1971) +1930 – Arthur Latham, British politician and Member of Parliament (d. 2016) + 1930 – Earl Weaver, American baseball player and manager (d. 2013) +1931 – Frederic Raphael, American journalist, author, and screenwriter +1932 – Lee Hoffman, American author (d. 2007) +1933 – Richard R. Ernst, Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2021) +1935 – John Brodie, American football player +1938 – Bennie Muller, Dutch footballer +1941 – David Crosby, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2023) + 1941 – Connie Smith, American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist +1942 – Willie Dunn, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2013)