Canon

Canon may refer to:

Places

Religion

The Canon (Natalie Angier book)

The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science is a book written by American science author Natalie Angier.

Overview

The Canon presents a summary of some of the different areas of science, as well as extensive descriptions of, and interviews with, contemporary scientists who work in these fields. Angier’s tenet is that an understanding of the basics of major areas of science can assist with providing a means by which to understand current scientific issues, and that this process should be fun. In her Introduction, Angier writes:

Angier included quotes from the scientists she interviewed throughout her descriptions of different scientific topics in an attempt to show how scientists experience and think about their work, and why they do it.

Scientists Interviewed

To obtain material for The Canon, Angier interviewed a number of scientists, professors, and other science professionals, and incorporated their stories and quotes into her work. She asked them questions such as, "What does it mean to think scientifically?" and "What should nonspecialist nonchildren know about science, and how should they know it, and what is this thing called fun?" Most of these scientists are presently active in their field of research. In addition, many of these scientists have extensive bodies of work listed in detail elsewhere. The below list links the science professionals who Angier interviewed for The Canon with additional details relating to their work:

The Canon (Podcast)

The Canon is a weekly audio podcast which began airing on November 3, 2014 on Wolfpop. Each week Devin Faraci, of Birth.Movies.Death., and Amy Nicholson, of LA Weekly, discuss films they believe to be worthy of The Canon. The Canon is a list of films that the audience votes to decide whether it is one of "the greatest films of all time", similar to the Western Canon. Sometimes versus episodes happen, typically with some connecting quality between the two films, e.g. Star Wars versus The Empire Strikes Back.

Format

At the beginning of the podcast Devin Faraci and Amy Nicholson tell whether last weeks film was voted to be added to the The Canon. They then introduce the film of the week typically with some background information and a brief bit on the film. For the rest of the podcast Devin and Amy discuss whether the film should be in the The Canon, typically the hosts pick opposite positions on it being added. After the podcast, listeners can go and vote on the film being in The Canon on The Canon forum.

Canon Inc.

Canon Inc. (キャノン株式会社, Kyanon Kabushiki-gaisha) is a Japanese multinational corporation specialized in the manufacture of imaging and optical products, including cameras, camcorders, photocopiers, steppers, computer printers and medical equipment. Its headquarters are located in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan.

Canon has a primary listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the TOPIX index. It has a secondary listing on the New York Stock Exchange. At the beginning of 2015, Canon was the tenth largest public company in Japan when measured by market capitalization.

Name

The company was originally named Seikikōgaku kenkyūsho (jpn. 精機光学研究所, Precision Optical Industry Co. Ltd.). In 1934 it produced the Kwanon, a prototype for Japan’s first-ever 35 mm camera with a focal plane based shutter. In 1947 the company name was changed to Canon Camera Co., Inc., shortened to Canon Inc. in 1969. The name Canon comes from Buddhist bodhisattva Guan Yin (観音, Kannon in Japanese), previously transliterated as Kuanyin, Kwannon, or Kwanon in English.

Canon (fiction)

In fiction, canon is the material accepted as officially part of the story in an individual universe of that story. It is often contrasted with, or used as the basis for, works of fan fiction. The alternative terms mythology, timeline, and continuity are often used, with the former being especially to refer to a richly detailed fictional canon requiring a large degree of suspension of disbelief (e.g. an entire imaginary world and history), while the latter two typically refer to a single arc where all events are directly connected chronologically.

Origin

The use of the word "canon" in reference to a set of texts derives from Biblical canon, the set of books regarded as scripture, as contrasted with non-canonical Apocrypha. The term was first used by analogy in the context of fiction to refer to the Sherlock Holmes stories and novels, written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Ronald Knox used the term in a 1911 essay "Studies in the Literature of Sherlock Holmes" to distinguish Doyle's works from subsequent pastiches by other authors. It has subsequently been applied to many media franchises. Among these are science fiction and fantasy franchises such as Star Trek, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Halo, Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, Mass Effect, BioShock, Doctor Who, Middle-earth, A Song of Ice and Fire, the Narnia series, the The Dark Tower books, and Dinotopia, in which many stories have been told in different media, some of which may contradict or appear to contradict each other.

Canon (music)

In music, a canon is a contrapuntal compositional technique or texture that employs a melody with one or more imitations of the melody played after a given duration (e.g., quarter rest, one measure, etc.). The initial melody is called the leader (or dux), while the imitative melody, which is played in a different voice, is called the follower (or comes). The follower must imitate the leader, either as an exact replication of its rhythms and intervals or some transformation thereof (see "Types of canon", below). Repeating canons in which all voices are musically identical are called rounds—"Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and "Frère Jacques" being widely known examples. An example of a classical strict canon is the Minuet of Haydn's String Quartet in D Minor, Op. 76, No. 2 (White 1976, 66).

Accompanied canon is a canon accompanied by one or more additional independent parts which do not take part in imitating the melody.

History