Venus Astronomical Object Experiment, Ariny Amos (Astronomer)

AUTHOR ; ARINY AMOS, 32 YEARS- 2014
ARINY AMOS ;10 YEARS , 1992
TOPIC;VENUS ASTRONOMICAL OBJECT EXPERIMENT,

ARINY AMOS (ASTRONOMER).
FOREWORD.
Ariny Amos
I Ariny Amos was captured by the spirit of the Galileo Galilei , Albert Einstein, Apollo , EVAS program
when I was 3 years old. I had been following the space program through out Neptune and Gemini
flights, building model kits and watching the launches from my school admitted , 1984, 9 th /JUNE/
1987 Novel of Lunar probe , Astronomical objects exploration, Asteroids, Planets probe at Odoon
Primary school and Nursery , 1990’S SwariaPrimay school in Soroti , Uganda . we had above ground
pool in the backyard, and I would put abrick in the back of the my swim trunks to hold me down on
the bottom , suckin air through a garden hose, and lay there with my arms and lega adrift , pretending
I was walking in space. I was off course eagerly anticipating the Apollo missions to the moon, because
that would give me more models to build but it wasn’t until additionally February 2006, notable
events occurring in 2006 in spaceflight, including major launches

and EVAs. 2006 saw Brazil, Iran, and Sweden all get a national into space
for the first time, Ariny Amos was assigned to operate on
facebookwebsite,as an astronaut commander who guides in any accident
prevention, when I hope to convey with from the earth to the moon is what
Ariny Amos captured in connection with National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, that going to the moon was no just a technological
endeavor, but and artistic,Chemist, scientific historian one ,like Albert
Einstein on the Sinistine chapel ceiling . The same kind of imagination that
allowed Albert Einstein to produce the crowning achievement of his era
helped NASA’s engineers build their moonships, just as Albert Einstein
needed faith in his own abilities to sustain him during the long year of his
effort, so faith was at heart of what it took to put men and their shoes and
socks, and pictures of their children on the surface of the moon.
Above all EVAS launches 2006 was a voyage of inspiration . the thing that
still fuels me in my day- to- day life, as explorer, and what I want to convey
to my children , and to the audience , is that if mankind can figure out a
way to put twelve men on the moon , then honestly , we can solve anything.
That why I believe the 2006 missions are of greatest Astrophysics stories
after.
PREFACE
The eighty’s so called 1980’s were a time of cultural earth quakes ;the horror of the Bill Gates, Carlos
Slim,SadamHesein, Angella Merkel, Bill Clinton, Osama Bin Laden , Barack Obama and king
assassination, The arrival of five mop- topped singers from Washington D.C -USA, The din of protests ,
and – most of all – the violent of the the war in Uganda And something else extraordinary happened
ont the night of February 2006 the space flight major launches 2006 EVA .2006.saw , International
Space station, United states of America, Germany,Brazil,Sweden and Iran get a national into space .
Walk on the moon. In what seemed like a master of technology, I witnessed it live computer monitor
live on internet.i was at Makerkere University Kampala, in my first years studies Bachelor of science in
Agricultural land use and management. Across the world that Billions of people who had worked to
make it happen celebrated their triumph, TV commentators and editorial writers proclaimed that
twenty five years from now our century would be remembered for those footsteps. When human
beings left their planet to explore the universe.
Ariny Amos.
May 2018
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Author , Ariny Amos thanks God of his Natural parents Father ;

Thomas Edison Alston (January 31, 1926 was a Major League
Baseball first baseman who played for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1954 to
1957, the first African-American to do so. A native of Greensboro, North
Carolina, he stood 6'5" (200 cm) and weighed 210 pounds (95 kg).
Alston was acquired by St. Louis via a trade with the San Diego Padres of
the Pacific Coast League, where he played in 180 games in 1953, on
January 26, 1954, after team president Gussie Busch told manager Eddie
Stanky to find a black player. Not only did Busch think excluding blacks
from baseball was morally wrong, his company 2%Anheuser–Busch, which
had bought the team a year earlier to keep them from moving to Milwaukee,
sold more beer to African-Americans than any other brewery, leading him
to fear the effect of a boycott.
Mother Kimberly Elise Trammel (born April 17, 1967) was professionally

known as Kimberly Elise, is an American film and television actress. She
made her feature film debut in Set It Off (1996), and later received critical
acclaim for her performance in Beloved (1998).
During her career, Elise has appeared in films such as John Q. (2002), The
Manchurian Candidate (2004), Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005), The
Great Debaters (2007), For Colored Girls (2010), Dope (2015), Almost
Christmas (2016) and Death Wish (2018). She received a nomination
for Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead for her performance in
the 2004 drama film, Woman Thou Art Loosed, and played the leading roles
in a number of made for television movies. Elise also starred in
the CBS crime drama series, Close to Home (2005–07), and in 2013 began
starring in the 1VH1 comedy-drama series, Hit the Floor. She is four-
time NAACP Image Awards winner and finally Ariny Amos thanks
Gravitational wave.
ABSTRACT.
This book examines Newton's argument for universal gravity and his application of it to
resolve the problem of deciding between geocentric and heliocentric world systems by
measuring masses of the Moon, Venus ,Sun and planets.Sir Isaac Newton's inferences
from phenomena realize an ideal of empirical success that is richer than prediction. To
achieve this rich sort of empirical success a theory needs, not only to accurately predict
the phenomena it purports to explain, but also, to have those phenomena accurately
measure the parameters which explain them. Newton's method aims to turn theoretical
questions into ones which can be empirically answered by measurement from
phenomena. Newton employs theory mediated measurements to turn data into far more
informative evidence than can be achieved by confirmation from prediction alone.
Propositions inferred from phenomena are provisionally accepted as guides to further
research.
This methodology, guided by its rich ideal of empirical success, supports a conception
of scientific progress that does not require construing it as progress toward Laplace's
ideal limit of a final theory of everything and is not threatened by the classic argument
against convergent realism. Newton's method endorses the radical theoretical
transformation from his theory to Einstein's theory of relativity. It is strikingly realized in
the development and application of testing frameworks for relativistic theories of gravity.
In addition, it is very much at work in cosmology today. These propositions described
patterns of motion, generalised from observations of the Venus planet, Venus,Earth and moon. It
has been noted by many commentators, however, that these do not seem to fit any standard
definition of 'phenomenon'. 1 Some have argued that Newton's labelling was mistaken, while others
have argued that Newton was using the label 'phenomenon' to avoid using the term 'hypothesis',
which would mark his work as speculative, rather than experimental (for the early modern distinction
between experimental and speculative philosophy. I argue that Newton's choice of label was
appropriate, albeit unconventional. Firstly, drawing on Bogen and Woodward's (1988) distinction
between data, phenomena and theories, I Ariny Amos argue that Newton's phenomena performed a
specific function: they isolated explanatory targets.
In experimental philosophy [science], we develop our theories from the phenomena we observe, and
afterwards we develop general theories for all similar phenomena by inductive reasoning. This was how
the laws of motion and gravitation of Venus Planet were discovered in Arua ,Uganda East Africa
15/July/2018. And even though we cannot determine why bodies gravitate toward each other, it is
enough to know that they are attracted to each other to know that gravity really does exist and acts
according to the laws we have explained. Gravity accounts for all about the most noble Venus, Death
theory will be implemented in recommendation with main to prevent destruction of planets by
increased venus planet temperature and world end prevention, This experiment book contains
Intronduction, literature review, experimental layout, discussion of Geodynamos of Venus as an
astronomical object,conclusions and recommendations, and finally references.
TABLE OF CONTENTS,
Foreword………
Preface……..
Acknowledgment………
Abstract…..
TABLE OF CONTENTS……
INTRODUCTION……..
VENUS PLANET……….
LITERATURE REVIEW….
SCOPE OF THE STUDY……..
UNITING PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY…….
Quantum Mechanics…..
Celestial Mechanics…..
Astronomy……
Planetary science……
Geomophology….
Cosmos Chemistry, Geo Chemistry, Pedology…..
Geophysics…..
Atmospheric science……
Computational Astrophysics…..
Astrophysics…
Geodesy…..
ASTRONOMY OF VENUS PLANET……
EXPERIMENT ON VENUS PLANET.
Observation…..
PROCEDURE……..
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION …..
APPARATUS….
NASA SPACECRAFT……
GREGORIAN CALLENDAR…..
LUNAR CALLENDAR…..
VENUS CALLENDAR…..
TRANSIT OF VENUS….
COSMIC CALLENDER…..
RAW MATERIAL…..
WATER……
RESULTS……..
DISCUSSIONS…..
GEODYNAMICS OF VENUS…..
RESURFACING HYPOTHESIS…….
UNIFORMITARIANISM……, EPISODE PLATE TECTONIC….
STAGNANT LID CONVECTION…..
TRANSITION FROM THIN TO THICK LITHOSPHERE…..
DIRECTIONAL HYPOTHESIS…..
DISC INSTABILITY MODEL IN VENUS PLANET FORMATION….
ACCRETION (ASTROPHYSICS) OF VENUS…….
GEODYNAMO THEORY….., GIANT IMPACT HYPOTHESIS….
ZIPF’S LAW…….
BEDFORD’S LAW……..
SUPERSYMETRIC THEORY OF STOCHASTIC DYNAMICS…..
BIG BANG SCIENCE THEORY……
CONCLUSIONS…….
RECOMMEDATIONS……
NOTES……..
REFERENCES…….
INTRODUCTION.
VENUS ASTRONOMICAL OBJECT.
Venus is the second Astronomical object from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days.[13] It has
the longest rotation period (243 days) of any planet in the Solar System and rotates in the opposite
direction to most other planets (meaning the Sun would rise in the west and set in the east).[14] It does
not have any natural satellites. It is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty. It is the
second-brightest natural object in the night sky after the Moon, reaching an apparent magnitude of
−4.6 – bright enough to cast shadows at night and, rarely, visible to the naked eye in broad daylight.
[15][16]
Orbiting within Earth's orbit, Venus is an inferior planet and never appears to venture far from the
Sun; its maximum angular distance from the Sun (elongation) is 47.8°.
Venus is a terrestrial astronomical object and is sometimes called Earth's "sister planet" because of
their similar size, mass, proximity to the Sun, and bulk composition. It is radically different from Earth
in other respects. It has the densest atmosphere of the four terrestrial planets, consisting of more
than 96% carbon dioxide. The atmospheric pressure at the planet's surface is 92 times that of Earth,
or roughly the pressure found 900 m (3,000 ft) underwater on Earth. Venus is by far the hottest
planet in the Solar System, with a mean surface temperature of 735 K (462 °C; 863 °F), even
though Mercury is closer to the Sun. Venus is shrouded by an opaque layer of highly reflective
clouds of sulfuric acid, preventing its surface from being seen from space in visible light. It may have
had water oceans in the past,[17][18] but these would have vaporized as the temperature rose due to
a runaway greenhouse effect.[19] The water has probably photodissociated, and the free hydrogen
has been swept into interplanetary space by the solar wind because of the lack of a planetary
magnetic field.[20] Venus's surface is a dry desertscape interspersed with slab-like rocks and is
periodically resurfaced by volcanism.
Venus is the second planet from the Sun and our closest planetary neighbor. Similar in
structure and size to Earth, Venus spins slowly in the opposite direction from most
planets. Its thick atmosphere traps heat in a runaway greenhouse effect, making it the
hottest planet in our solar system with surface temperatures hot enough to melt lead.
Glimpses below the clouds reveal volcanoes and deformed mountains.
Symbol
Venus symbol
The astronomical symbol for Venus is the same as that used in biology for the female sex: a circle
with a small cross beneath.[182] The Venus symbol also represents femininity, and in
Western alchemy stood for the metal copper.[182] Polished copper has been used for mirrors from
antiquity, and the symbol for Venus has sometimes been understood to stand for the mirror of the
goddess.[182]
As one of the brightest objects in the sky, Venus has been a major fixture in human culture for as
long as records have existed. It has been made sacred to gods of many cultures, and has been a
prime inspiration for writers and poets as the morning star and evening star. Venus was the first
planet to have its motions plotted across the sky, as early as the second millennium BC. [21]
As the planet with the closest approach to Earth, Venus has been a prime target for early
interplanetary exploration. It was the first planet beyond Earth visited by a spacecraft (Mariner 2 in
1962), and the first to be successfully landed on (by Venera 7 in 1970). Venus's thick clouds render
observation of its surface impossible in visible light, and the first detailed maps did not emerge until
the arrival of the Magellan orbiter in 1991. Plans have been proposed for rovers or more complex
missions, but they are hindered by Venus's hostile surface conditions.
Venus, the jewel of the sky, was once know by ancient astronomers as the morning

star and evening star. Early astronomers once thought Venus to be two separate
bodies. Venus, which is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty, is veiled
by thick swirling cloud cover.
Astronomers refer to Venus as Earth's sister Astronomical object. Both are similar in
size, mass, density and volume. Both formed about the same time and condensed out
of the same nebula. However, during the last few years scientists have found that the
kinship ends here. Venus is very different from the Earth. It has no oceans and is
surrounded by a heavy atmosphere composed mainly of carbon dioxide with virtually
no water vapor. Its clouds are composed of sulfuric acid droplets. At the surface, the
atmospheric pressure is 92 times that of the Earth's at sea-level.
Venus is scorched with a surface temperature of about 482° C (900° F). This high
temperature is primarily due to a runaway greenhouse effect caused by the heavy
atmosphere of carbon dioxide. Sunlight passes through the atmosphere to heat the
surface of the planet. Heat is radiated out, but is trapped by the dense atmosphere and
not allowed to escape into space. This makes Venus hotter than Mercury.
A Venusian day is 243 Earth days and is longer than its year of 225 days. Oddly,
Venus rotates from east to west. To an observer on Venus, the Sun would rise in the
west and set in the east.
Until just recently, Venus' dense cloud cover has prevented scientists from uncovering
the geological nature of the surface. Developments in radar telescopes and radar
imaging systems orbiting the planet have made it possible to see through the cloud
deck to the surface below. Four of the most successful missions in revealing the
Venusian surface are NASA's Pioneer Venus mission (1978), the Soviet Union's
Venera 15 and 16 missions (1983-1984), and NASA's Magellan radar mapping
mission (1990-1994). As these spacecraft began mapping the planet a new picture of
Venus emerged.
Venus' surface is relatively young geologically speaking. It appears to have been

completely resurfaced 300 to 500 million years ago. Scientists debate how and why
this occurred. The Venusian topography consists of vast plains covered by lava flows
and mountain or highland regions deformed by geological activity. Maxwell Montes
in Ishtar Terra is the highest peak on Venus. The Aphrodite Terra highlands extend
almost half way around the equator. Magellan images of highland regions above 2.5
kilometers (1.5 miles) are unusually bright, characteristic of moist soil. However,
liquid water does not exist on the surface and cannot account for the bright highlands.
One theory suggests that the bright material might be composed of metallic
compounds. Studies have shown the material might be iron pyrite (also know as
"fools gold"). It is unstable on the plains but would be stable in the highlands. The
material could also be some type of exotic material which would give the same results
but at lower concentrations.
Venus is scarred by numerous impact craters distrubuted randomly over its surface.

Small craters less that 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) are almost non-existent due to the
heavy Venusian atmosphere. The exception occurs when large meteorites shatter just
before impact, creating crater clusters. Volcanoes and volcanic features are even more
numerous. At least 85% of the Venusian surface is covered with volcanic rock. Hugh
lava flows, extending for hundreds of kilometers, have flooded the lowlands creating
vast plains. More than 100,000 small shield volcanoes dot the surface along with
hundreds of large volcanos. Flows from volcanos have produced long sinuous
channels extending for hundreds of kilometers, with one extending nearly 7,000
kilometers (4,300 miles).
Giant calderas more than 100 kilometers (62 miles) in diameter are found on Venus.
Terrestrial calderas are usually only several kilometers in diameter. Several features
unique to Venus include coronae and arachnoids. Coronae are large circular to oval
features, encircled with cliffs and are hundreds of kilometers across. They are thought
to be the surface expression of mantle upwelling. Archnoids are circular to elongated
features similar to coronae. They may have been caused by molten rock seeping into
surface fractures and producing systems of radiating dikes and fractures.
Venus is named for the ancient Roman goddess of love and beauty, who was known as
Aphrodite to the Ancient Greeks.
Size and Distance

With a radius of 3,760 miles (6,052 kilometers), Venus is roughly the same size as
Earth — just slightly smaller.
From an average distance of 67 million miles (108 million kilometers), Venus is 0.7
astronomical units away from the Sun. One astronomical unit (abbreviated as AU), is
the distance from the Sun to Earth. It takes sunlight 6 minutes to travel from the Sun to
Venus.
Orbit and Rotation

Venus' rotation and orbit are unusual in several ways. Venus is one of just two planets
that rotate from east to west. Only Venus and Uranus have this "backwards" rotation. It
completes one rotation in 243 Earth days — the longest day of any planet in our solar
system, even longer than a whole year on Venus. But the Sun doesn't rise and set each
"day" on Venus like it does on most other planets. On Venus, one day-night cycle takes
117 Earth days because Venus rotates in the direction opposite of its orbital revolution
around the Sun.
Venus makes a complete orbit around the Sun (a year in Venusian time) in 225 Earth
days or slightly less than two Venusian day-night cycles. Its orbit around the Sun is the
most circular of any planet — nearly a perfect circle. Other planet's orbits are more
elliptical, or oval-shaped.
With an axial tilt of just 3 degrees, Venus spins nearly upright, and so does not
experience noticeable seasons.
Formation
When the solar system settled into its current layout about 4.5 billion years ago, Venus
formed when gravity pulled swirling gas and dust together to form the second planet
from the Sun. Like its fellow terrestrial planets, Venus has a central core, a rocky mantle
and a solid crust.
Kid-Friendly Venus
Even though Venus isn't the closest planet to the Sun, it is still the hottest. It has a thick
atmosphere full of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide and clouds made of sulfuric acid. The
atmosphere traps heat and keeps Venus toasty warm. It's so hot on Venus, metals like lead would
be puddles of melted liquid.
Venus looks like a very active planet. It has mountains and volcanoes. Venus is similar in size to
Earth. Earth is just a little bit bigger.
Venus is unusual because it spins the opposite direction of Earth and most other planets. And its
rotation is very slow.
Visit NASA Space Place for more kid-friendly facts.
NASA Space Place: All About Venus ›
Structure
Venus is in many ways similar to Earth in its structure. It has an iron core that is
approximately 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) in radius. Above that is a mantle made of
hot rock slowly churning due to the planet's interior heat. The surface is a thin crust of
rock that bulges and moves as Venus' mantle shifts and creates volcanoes.
From space, Venus is bright white because it is covered with clouds that reflect and
scatter sunlight. At the surface, the rocks are different shades of grey, like rocks on
Earth, but the thick atmosphere filters the sunlight so that everything would look orange
if you were standing on Venus.
Venus has mountains, valleys, and tens of thousands of volcanoes. The highest
mountain on Venus, Maxwell Montes, is 20,000 feet high (8.8 kilometers), similar to the
highest mountain on Earth, Mount Everest. The landscape is dusty, and surface
temperatures reach a scalding 880 degrees Fahrenheit (471 degrees Celsius).
It is thought that Venus was completely resurfaced by volcanic activity 300 to 500
million years ago. Venus has two large highland areas: Ishtar Terra, about the size of
Australia, in the north polar region; and Aphrodite Terra, about the size of South
America, straddling the equator and extending for almost 6,000 miles (10,000
kilometers).
Venus is covered in craters, but none are smaller than 0.9 to 1.2 miles (1.5 to 2
kilometers) across. Small meteoroids burn up in the dense atmosphere, so only large
meteoroids reach the surface and create impact craters.
Almost all the surface features of Venus are named for noteworthy Earth women —
both mythological and real. A volcanic crater is named for Sacajawea, the Native
American woman who guided Lewis and Clark's exploration. A deep canyon is named
for Diana, Roman goddess of the hunt.
Atmosphere
Venus' atmosphere consists mainly of carbon dioxide, with clouds of sulfuric acid
droplets. The thick atmosphere traps the Sun's heat, resulting in surface temperatures
higher than 880 degrees Fahrenheit (470 degrees Celsius). The atmosphere has many
layers with different temperatures. At the level where the clouds are, about 30 miles up
from the surface, it's about the same temperature as on the surface of the Earth.
As Venus moves forward in its solar orbit while slowly rotating backwards on its axis,
the top level of clouds zips around the planet every four Earth days, driven by hurricane-
force winds traveling at about 224 miles (360 kilometers) per hour. Atmospheric
lightning bursts light up these quick-moving clouds. Speeds within the clouds decrease
with cloud height, and at the surface are estimated to be just a few miles per hour.
On the ground, it would look like a very hazy, overcast day on Earth. And the
atmosphere is so heavy it would feel like you were 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) deep
underwater.
Potential for Life

No human has visited Venus, but the spacecraft that have been sent to the surface of
Venus do not last very long there. Venus' high surface temperatures overheat
electronics in spacecraft in a short time, so it seems unlikely that a person could survive
for long on the Venusian surface.
There is speculation about life existing in Venus' distant past, as well as questions about
the possibility of life in the top cloud layers of Venus' atmosphere, where the
temperatures are less extreme.
Moons
Venus has no moons.
Rings
Venus has no rings.
Magnetosphere
Even though Venus is similar in size to the Earth and has a similarly-sized iron core,
Venus' magnetic field is much weaker than the Earth's due to Venus' slow rotation.
Venus statistics.
Venus Statistics
Mass (kg) 4.869e+24
Mass (Earth = 1) .81476
Equatorial radius (km) 6,051.8
Equatorial radius (Earth = 1) .94886
Mean density (gm/cm^3) 5.25
Mean distance from the Sun (km) 108,200,000
Mean distance from the Sun (Earth = 1) 0.7233
Rotational period (days) -243.0187
Orbital period (days) 224.701
Mean orbital velocity (km/sec) 35.02
Orbital eccentricity 0.0068
Tilt of axis (degrees) 177.36
Orbital inclination (degrees) 3.394
Equatorial surface gravity (m/sec^2) 8.87
Equatorial escape velocity (km/sec) 10.36
Visual geometric albedo 0.65

Magnitude (Vo) -4.4
Mean surface temperature 482°C
Atmospheric pressure (bars) 92
Atmospheric composition
96%
Carbon dioxide
3+%
Nitrogen
Trace amounts of: Sulfur dioxide, water

vapor,
carbon monoxide, argon, helium, neon,
hydrogen chloride, and hydrogen fluoride.
Views of Venus
Venus with Visible and Radar Illumination

This picture shows two different perspectives of Venus. On the
left is a mosaic of images acquired by the Mariner 10 spacecraft
on February 5, 1974. The image shows the thick cloud coverage
that prevents optical observation of the planet's surface. The
surface of Venus remained hidden until 1978 when the Pioneer
Venus 1 spacecraft arrived and went into orbit about the planet
on December 4th. The spacecraft used radar to map planet's
surface, revealing a new Venus. Later in August of 1990 the
Magellan spacecraft arrived at Venus and began its extensive planetary mapping
mission. This mission produced radar images up to 300 meters per pixel in resolution.
The right image show a rendering of Venus from
the Pioneer Venus and Magellan radar images.(Copyright Calvin J. Hamilton)
The Interior of Venus

This picture shows a cutaway view of the possible internal
structure of Venus. The image was created from Mariner 10
images used for the outer atmospheric layer. The surface was
taken from Magellan radar images. The interior characteristics of
Venus are inferred from gravity field and magnetic field
measurements by Magellan and prior spacecraft. The crust is
shown as adark red, the mantle as a lighter orange-red, and the
core yellow. More ... (Copyright Calvin J. Hamilton)
Mariner 10 Image of Venus
This beautiful image of Venus is a mosaic of three images acquired
by the Mariner 10 spacecraft on February 5, 1974. It shows the thick
cloud coverage that prevents optical observation of the surface of
Venus. Only through radar mapping is the surface revealed.
(Copyright Calvin J. Hamilton)
Galileo Image of Venus

On February 10, 1990 the Galileo spacecraft acquired this image of
Venus. Only thick cloud cover can be seen. (Copyright Calvin
J. Hamilton)
Hubble Image of Venus

This is a Hubble Space Telescope ultraviolet-light
image of the planet Venus, taken on January 24, 1995, when Venus
was at a distance of 113.6 million kilometers from Earth. At
ultraviolet wavelengths cloud patterns become distinctive. In
particular, a horizontal "Y" shaped cloud feature is visible near the
equator. The polar regions are bright, possibly showing a haze of small particles
overlying the main clouds. The dark regions show the location of enhanced sulfur
dioxide near the cloud tops. From previous missions, astronomers know that such
features travel east to west along with the Venus' prevailing winds, to make a
complete circuit around the planet in four days. (Credit: L. Esposito, University of
Colorado, Boulder, and NASA)
Hemispheric View of Venus

This hemispheric view of Venus, as revealed by more than a
decade of radar investigations culminating in the 1990-1994
Magellan mission, is centered at 0 degrees east longitude. The
effective resolution of this image is about 3 kilometers. It was
processed to improve contrast and to emphasize small
features, and was color-coded to represent
elevation. (Courtesy NASA/USGS)
Additional Hemispheric Views of Venus

Venusian Map
This image is a Mercator projection of Venusian topography.
Many of the different regions have been labeled. The map
extends from -66.5 to 66.5 degrees in latitude and starts at 240
degrees longitude. (Copyright Calvin J. Hamilton)
Venusian Topography Map

This is another Mercator projection of Venusian topography.
The map extends from -66.5 to 66.5 degrees in latitude and
starts at 240 degrees longitude. A Black & White version of this
image is also available. (Courtesy A.Tayfun Oner)
Gula Mons and Crater Cunitz

A portion of Western Eistla Regio is displayed in this three
dimensional perspective view of the surface of Venus. The
viewpoint is located 1,310 kilometers (812 miles) southwest of
Gula Mons at an elevation of 0.78 kilometers (0.48 mile). The
view is to the northeast with Gula Mons appearing on the horizon. Gula Mons, a 3
kilometer (1.86 mile) high volcano, is located at approximately 22 degrees north
latitude, 359 degrees east longitude. The impact crater Cunitz, named for the
astronomer and mathematician Maria Cunitz, is visible in the center of the image.
The crater is 48.5 kilometers (30 miles) in diameter and is 215 kilometers (133 miles)
from the viewer's position. (Courtesy NASA/JPL)
Eistla Regio - Rift Valley

viewpoint is located 725 kilometers (450 miles) southeast of
Gula Mons. A rift valley, shown in the foreground, extends to
the base of Gula Mons, a 3 kilometer (1.86 miles) high volcano. This view is facing the
northwest with Gula Mons appearing at the right on the horizon. Sif Mons, a volcano
with a diameter of 300 kilometers (180 miles) and a height of 2 kilometers (1.2
miles), appears to the left of Gula Mons in the background. (Courtesy NASA/JPL)
Eistla Regio
viewpoint is located 1,100 kilometers (682 miles) northeast of
Gula Mons at an elevation of 7.5 kilometers (4.6 miles). Lava
flows extend for hundreds of kilometers across the fractured plains shown in the
foreground, to the base of Gula Mons. This view faces the southwest with Gula Mons
appearing at the left just below the horizon. Sif Mons appears to the right of Gula
Mons. The distance between Sif Mons and Gula Mons is approximately 730
kilometers (453 miles). (Courtesy NASA/JPL)
Lakshmi Planum
The southern scarp and basin province of western Ishtar Terra
are portrayed in this three dimensional perspective view.
Western Ishtar Terra is about the size of Australia and is a major
focus of Magellan investigations. The highland terrain is
centered on a 2.5 km to 4 km high (1.5 mi to 2.5 mi high)
plateau called Lakshmi Planum which can be seen in the
distance at the right. Here the surface of the plateau drops precipitously into the
bounding lowlands, with steep slopes that exceed 5% over 50 km (30 mi).(Courtesy
NASA/JPL)
Three-Dimensional Perspective View of Alpha Regio

A portion of Alpha Regio is displayed in this three-dimensional
perspective view of the surface of Venus. Alpha Regio, a
topographic upland approximately 1300 kilometers across, is centered on 25 degrees
south latitude, 4 degrees east longitude. In 1963, Alpha Regio was the first feature
on Venus to be identified from earth-based radar. The radar-bright area of Alpha
Regio is characterized by multiple sets of intersecting trends of structural features
such as ridges, troughs, and flat-floored fault valleys that, together, form a polygonal
outline. Directly south of the complex ridged terrain is a large ovoid-shaped feature
named Eve. The radar-bright spot located centrally within Eve marks the location of
the prime meridian of Venus. (Courtesy NASA/JPL)
Arachnoids
Arachnoids are one of the more remarkable features found on
Venus. They are seen on radar-dark plains in this Magellan
image mosaic of the Fortuna region. As the name suggests,
arachnoids are circular to ovoid features with concentric rings
and a complex network of fractures extending outward. The arachnoids range in size
from approximately 50 kilometers (29.9 miles) to 230 kilometers (137.7 miles) in
diameter. Arachnoids are similar in form but generally smaller than coronae (circular
volcanic structures surrounded by a set of ridges and grooves as well as radial lines).
One theory concerning their origin is that they are a precursor to coronae formation.
The radar-bright lines extending for many kilometers might have resulted from an
upwelling of magma from the interior of the planet which pushed up the surface to
form "cracks." Radar-bright lava flows are present in the 1st and 3rd image, also
indicative of volcanic activity in this area. Some of the fractures cut across these
flows, indicating that the flows occurred before the fractures appeared. Such
relations between different structures provide good evidence for relative age dating
of events. (Courtesy NASA/JPL)
Parallel Lines
Two groups of parallel features that intersect almost at right angles
are visible. The regularity of this terrain caused scientists to nickname
it graph paper terrain. The fainter lineations are spaced at intervals of
about 1 kilometer (.6 miles) and extend beyond the boundaries of the
image. The brighter, more dominant lineations are less regular and
often appear to begin and end where they intersect the fainter lineations. It is not
yet clear whether the two sets of lineations represent faults or fractures, but in areas
outside the image, the bright lineations are associated with pit craters and other
volcanic features. (Courtesy Calvin J. Hamilton)
Surface Photographs from Venera 9 and 10

The Soviet Venera 9 and 10 spacecraft were launched on 8 and
14 June 1975, respectively, to do the unprecedented: place
landers on the surface of Venus and return images. The Venera
9 Lander (top) touched down on the surface of Venus on October 22, 1975 at 5:13
UT, about 32° S, 291° E with the sun near zenith. It operated for 53 minutes, allowing
return of a single image. Venera 9 landed on a slope inclined by about 30 degrees to
the horizontal. The white object at the bottom of the image is part of the lander. The
distortion is caused by the Venera imaging system. Angular and partly weathered
rocks, about 30 to 40 cm across, dominate the landscape, many partly buried in soil.
The horizon is visible in the upper left and right corners.
The Venera 10 Lander (bottom) touched down on the surface of Venus on October 25,
1975 at 5:17 UT, about 16° N, 291° E. The Lander was inclined about 8 degrees. It
returned this image during the 65 minutes of operation on the surface. The sun was
near zenith during this time, and the lighting was similar to that on Earth on an
overcast summer day. The objects at the bottom of the image are parts of the
spacecraft. The image shows flat slabs of rock, partly covered by fine-grained
material, not unlike a volcanic area on Earth. The large slab in the foreground extends
over 2 meters across.
Color Surface Photographs from Venera 13

On March 1, 1982 the Venera 13 lander touched down on the
Venusian surface at 7.5° S, 303° E, east of Phoebe Regio. It was
the first Venera mission to include a color TV camera. Venera
13 survived on the surface for 2 hours, 7 minutes, long enough to obtain 14 images.
This color panorama was produced using dark blue, green and red filters and has a
resolution of 4 to 5 min. Part of the spacecraft is seen at the bottom of
the image. Flat rock slabs and soil are visible. The true color is difficult to judge
because the Venerian atmosphere filters out blue light. The surface composition is
similar to terrestrial basalt. On the ground in the foreground is a camera lens cover.
This image is the left half of the Venera 13 photo.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY.
Gravity calculations based on Isaac Newton's law of universal gravitation to
differentiate Geocentric from Heliocentric .
Gravity Solutions
Object fallen after t seconds; Equation: [Latex: d=\frac{gt^2}{2}]
An object going after falling for t seconds; Equation: [Latex: v=gt]
How long
(in seconds) does it take an object to fall distance d Equation: [Latex:

t=sqrt {2d/g}]
The velocity of an object that has traveled d meters; Equation: [Latex:

v=sqrt{2gd}]
The average velocity of an object that has been falling

for t seconds; Equation: [Latex: v_{Avg}=\frac{gt}{2}]
The average velocity of an object that has fallen for

distance d meters; Equation: [Latex: v_{Avg}=\frac{sqrt{2gd}}{2}]
Gravity calculations based on Isaac Newton's law of universal gravitation.
Venus
Mass (kg) 4.8685E+24

Mean Radius (km) 6051.8
m (mass relative to Earth) 0.815
r (mean radius relative to Earth) 0.95
g-force 0.903
Acceleration (m/s/s) 8.858
IMPORTANCE OF VENUS.
In culture
Venus in culture
Venus is a primary feature of the night sky, and so has been of remarkable importance
in mythology, astrology and fiction throughout history and in different cultures. Classical poets such
as Homer, Sappho, Ovid and Virgil spoke of the star and its light.[164] Romantic poets such as William
Blake, Robert Frost, Alfred Lord Tennyson and William Wordsworth wrote odes to it.[165]
Because the movements of Venus appear to be discontinuous (it disappears due to its proximity to
the sun, for many days at a time, and then reappears on the other horizon), some cultures did not
recognize Venus as single entity; instead, they assumed it to be two separate stars on each horizon:
the morning and evening star. Nonetheless, a cylinder seal from the Jemdet Nasr period indicates
that the ancient Sumerians already knew that the morning and evening stars were the same celestial
object. The Sumerians associated the planet with the goddess Inanna (known as Ishtar by the
later Akkadians and Babylonians), and their myths of Inanna are often allegories for the apparent
motions and cycles of the planet. [128] In the Old Babylonian period, the planet Venus was known as
Ninsi'anna, and later as Dilbat.[166] The name "Ninsi'anna" translates to "divine lady, illumination of
heaven", which refers to Venus as the brightest visible "star". Earlier spellings of the name were
written with the cuneiform sign si4 (= SU, meaning "to be red"), and the original meaning may have
been "divine lady of the redness of heaven", in reference to the color of the morning and evening
sky.[167] Venus is described in Babylonian cuneiform texts such as the Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa,
which relates observations that possibly date from 1600 BC.[168]
Venus is portrayed just to the right of the large cypress tree in Vincent van Gogh's 1889 painting The Starry
Night.[162][163]
In Chinese the planet is called Jīn-xīng , the golden planet of the metal element. In India Shukra
Graha ("the planet Shukra") which is named after a powerful saint Shukra. Shukra which is used in
Indian Vedic astrology[169] means "clear, pure" or "brightness, clearness" in Sanskrit. One of the
nine Navagraha, it is held to affect wealth, pleasure and reproduction; it was the son of Bhrgu,
preceptor of the Daityas, and guru of the Asuras.[170] The word Shukra is also associated with semen,
or generation. Venus is known as Kejora in Indonesian and Malay.
Modern Chinese, Japanese and Korean cultures refer to the planet literally as the "metal star"
based on the Five elements.[171][172][173]
The Ancient Egyptians and Greeks believed Venus to be two separate bodies, a morning star and
an evening star. The Egyptians knew the morning star as Tioumoutiri and the evening star as Ouaiti.
[174]
The Greeks used the names Phosphoros (meaning "light-bringer"; alternately Heosphoros,
meaning "dawn-bringer") for the morning star, and Hesperus (meaning "Western one") for the
evening star.[175] Though by the Roman era they were recognized as one celestial object, known as
"the star of Venus", the traditional two Greek names continued to be used, though usually translated
to Latin as Lucifer and Hesperus.[175][176]
Venus was considered the most important celestial body observed by the Maya, who called it Chac
ek,[177] or Noh Ek', "the Great Star".
Velikovsky’s Venus
Telescopically, Venus never offers much to see aside from its gradual change in apparent size and an attractive
progression of phases. Observers have strained for centuries to glimpse any detail on its cloud-cloaked disk. We
sometimes forget that astronomers knew very little about this neighbor world — so like Earth in size and mass —
until powerful radar probing and spacecraft visits started to peel back the layers of mystery in the 1960s.
The first artificial satellites were still a decade away when, in 1946, Immanuel Velikovsky finished the manuscript
for Worlds in Collision, a book that capitalized on our relative ignorance and put forward a theory of solar-system
formation that goes beyond bizarre. Born in 1895 and a student variously of history, law, biology, and
psychoanalysis, Velikovsky maintained that the inner planets only recently assumed the serene, stable orbits they
have today.
Rather, in his scheme Venus took the form of a huge, rogue comet after being ejected by Jupiter not long before
1500 BC. It then hurtled sunward, sideswiping Earth twice and colliding with Mars before settling into the almost
perfectly circular orbit it now occupies.
Venus mimics all the phases of the Moon as it circles the Sun inside Earth’s orbit, as shown in this near-ultraviolet
sequence recorded in 2007.
Sean Walker
The basis for all this astounding, historically recent chaos wasn’t a detailed computation of orbital motion but rather
Velikovsky’s unwavering belief that Old Testament narratives and cosmological myths drawn from China, Central
America, India, Assyria, and elsewhere were accounts of real events.
What got him started was the biblical story of Joshua commanding the Sun and Moon to stop moving for an entire
day and invoking a devastating hail of stones from the sky during his battle with the Amorites. Velikovsky was also
seeking a physical reason for the plagues inflicted on the Egyptians in Exodus.
Venus provided all the answers. That long tail it trailed after leaving Jupiter had also created all kinds of havoc for
Pharaoh as Earth passed through it not once but twice. And although we escaped an outright collision, the proximity
of Venus caused Earth’s orbit and axial tilt to change, a magnetic reversal, and worldwide floods, hurricanes, and
volcanic eruptions — all within recorded history. None of this catastrophism was chronicled by our ancestors,
Velikovsky asserts, because they suffered from a “collective amnesia” that repressed all memory of these
occurrences. As further proof, he details how Venus is conspicuously absent from various historical tabulations of
planets prior to about 2000 BC.
Venus spends much of this year lingering in the west after sunset. It reaches greatest eastern elongation in mid-
August but isn’t its brightest until late September. Disks are enlarged for clarity.
Sky & Telescope
Velikovsky acknowledged that his scenario was at odds with established physics. But any inconsistencies weren’t
due to his myth-as-fact interpretations; instead, he pointed to the “need for a new approach to celestial mechanics” in
which electrical forces and magnetism trumped the power of gravity.
Understandably, astronomers of the day were outraged by all of this. It took Velikovsky four years to get Worlds in
Collision published, finally getting a green light from Macmillan in part because a sympathetic Gordon Atwater,
then head of astronomy at New York’s American Museum of Natural History, promised to create a show for Hayden
Planetarium to depict the book’s planetary pinball. But Atwater was summarily fired before that could happen.
Strenuous objections by Harvard’s Harlow Shapley, Cecelia Payne-Gaposchkin, and other academics — including a
boycott of Macmillan’s astronomy textbooks — caused the publisher to jettison this literary hot potato to
Doubleday. The book and its author merited a blistering editorial in Sky & Telescope.
Normally featureless to the eye, Venus revealed subtle atmospheric features when captured in far-red and near-
infrared light (wavelengths 610 nm and longer) during its apparition before dawn in mid-2017.
Simon Kidd
A Curious, Believing Public

Remarkably, Worlds in Collision became phenomenally popular in the summer of 1950, especially among the New
York literati. Advance articles about the forthcoming book in Harper’s, Collier’s, Reader’s Digest, and elsewhere
whetted the public’s appetite. Once in print, the book rocketed to the top of the New York Times’ best-seller list and
remained a top-ten pick for five months.
Although pilloried almost universally by professional astronomers, Velikovsky remained a frequent acquaintance of
Albert Einstein. More than a decade later he gained a modicum of support thanks to Princeton physicist Valentine
Bargmann and Columbia astronomer Lloyd Motz, whose letter in Science (December 21, 1962) pointed out
Velikovsky’s successful predictions that Jupiter was a
source of radio energy and that Venus must be very hot.
Still, one has to wonder why the outlandish premises of Worlds in Collision got so much traction in the first place.
Science historian Stephen Jay Gould wrote, “The Velikovsky affair raises what is
perhaps the most disturbing question about the public impact of science. How is a layman to judge rival claims of
supposed experts? Any person with a gift for words can spin a persuasive argument about any subject not in the
domain of a reader’s personal expertise.” Advocate-turned-critic Leroy Ellenberger notes, more pointedly, “The less
one knows about science, the more plausible Velikovsky’s scenario appears.”
Six decades later, Worlds in Collision is rapidly disappearing in the rear-view mirror of history, yet our human
penchant for intriguing but outlandish scientific claims remains.
Venus in Biblical Astronomy.
The various authors of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh, or Old Testament) have provided various names
to stars and planets Except for Earth, Venus and Saturn are the only planets expressly mentioned in
the Old Testament.
Isaiah 14:12 is about one Helel ben Shahar, called the King of Babylon in the text. Helel ("morning
star, son of the dawn") is translated as Lucifer in the Vulgate Biblebut its meaning is uncertain.[1]
Saturn is no less certainly represented by the star Kaiwan (or Chiun),[2] worshipped by the Israelites
in the desert (Amos 5:26). The same word (interpreted to mean "steadfast") frequently designates, in
the Babylonian inscriptions, the slowest-moving planet; while Sakkuth, the divinity associated with
the star by the prophet, is an alternative appellation for Ninurta, who, as a Babylonian planet-god,
was merged with Saturn. The ancient Syrians and Arabs, too, called Saturn Kaiwan, the
corresponding terms in the Zoroastrian Bundahish being Kevan. The other planets are individualized
in the Bible only by implication. The worship of gods connected with them is denounced, but without
any manifest intention of referring to the heavenly bodies. Thus, Gad and Meni (Isaiah, 65:11) are,
no doubt, the "greater and the lesser Fortune" typified throughout the East by Jupiter and
Venus; Neba, the tutelary deity of Borsippa (Isaiah 46:1), shone in the sky as Mercury, and Nergal,
transplanted from Assyria to Kutha (2 Kings 17:30), as Mars.
ISAIAH 14;12.
New International Version
How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to
the earth, you who once laid low the nations!
New Living Translation

"How you are fallen from heaven, O shining star, son of the morning! You have been thrown
down to the earth, you who destroyed the nations of the world.
English Standard Version

“How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the
ground, you who laid the nations low!
Berean Study Bible

How you have fallen from heaven, O Morning Star, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to
the ground, O destroyer of nations.
New American Standard Bible

Shining morning star, how you have fallen from the heavens! You destroyer of nations, you
have been cut down to the ground.
International Standard Version

"How you have fallen from heaven, Day Star, son of the Dawn! How you have been thrown
down to earth, you who laid low the nation!
NET Bible
Look how you have fallen from the sky, O shining one, son of the dawn! You have been cut
down to the ground, O conqueror of the nations!
New Heart English Bible

How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn. How you are cut down to the
ground, who laid the nations low.
GOD'S WORD® Translation

How you have fallen from heaven, you morning star, son of the dawn! How you have been cut
down to the ground, you conqueror of nations!
JPS Tanakh 1917

How art thou fallen from heaven, O day-star, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the
ground, That didst cast lots over the nations!
New American Standard 1977

“How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut
down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations!
Jubilee Bible 2000

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the
ground, who didst claim the Gentiles as an inheritance!
King James 2000 Bible

How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how are you cut down to the
ground, who did weaken the nations!
American King James Version

ground, which did weaken the nations!
American Standard Version

How art thou fallen from heaven, O day-star, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the
ground, that didst lay low the nations!
Brenton Septuagint Translation

How has Lucifer, that rose in the morning, fallen from heaven! He that sent orders to all the
nations is crushed to the earth.
Douay-Rheims Bible
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who didst rise in the morning? how art thou fallen to
the earth, that didst wound the nations?
Darby Bible Translation

How art thou fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of the morning! Thou art cut down to the ground,
that didst prostrate the nations!
English Revised Version

How art thou fallen from heaven, O day star, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the
ground, which didst lay low the nations!
Webster's Bible Translation

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the
ground, which didst weaken the nations!
World English Bible

How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! How you are cut down to the
ground, who laid the nations low!
Young's Literal Translation

How hast thou fallen from the heavens, O shining one, son of the dawn! Thou hast been cut
down to earth, O weakener of nations.
Biblical views of Joshua 10 New International Version (NIV)
"How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut
King James Bible

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! howart thou cut down to the
Christian Standard Bible

Contemporary English Version

You, the bright morning star, have fallen from the sky! You brought down other nations; now you
are brought down.
Good News Translation

King of Babylon, bright morning star, you have fallen from heaven! In the past you conquered
nations, but now you have been thrown to the ground.
Holman Christian Standard Bible

International Standard Version

"How you have fallen from heaven, Day Star, son of the Dawn! How you have been thrown
down to earth, you who laid low the nation!
NET Bible
Look how you have fallen from the sky, O shining one, son of the dawn! You have been cut
down to the ground, O conqueror of the nations!
New Heart English Bible

How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn. How you are cut down to the
ground, who laid the nations low.
GOD'S WORD® Translation

How you have fallen from heaven, you morning star, son of the dawn! How you have been cut
down to the ground, you conqueror of nations!
JPS Tanakh 1917

How art thou fallen from heaven, O day-star, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the
ground, That didst cast lots over the nations!
New American Standard 1977

“How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut
Jubilee Bible 2000

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the
ground, who didst claim the Gentiles as an inheritance!
King James 2000 Bible

ground, who did weaken the nations!
American King James Version

ground, which did weaken the nations!
American Standard Version

How art thou fallen from heaven, O day-star, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the
ground, that didst lay low the nations!
Brenton Septuagint Translation

How has Lucifer, that rose in the morning, fallen from heaven! He that sent orders to all the
nations is crushed to the earth.
Douay-Rheims Bible
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who didst rise in the morning? how art thou fallen to
the earth, that didst wound the nations?
Darby Bible Translation

How art thou fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of the morning! Thou art cut down to the ground,
that didst prostrate the nations!
English Revised Version

How art thou fallen from heaven, O day star, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the
ground, which didst lay low the nations!
Webster's Bible Translation

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the
World English Bible

How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! How you are cut down to the
ground, who laid the nations low!
Young's Literal Translation

How hast thou fallen from the heavens, O shining one, son of the dawn! Thou hast been cut
down to earth, O weakener of nations.
Joshua 10 NIV - The Sun Stands Still - Now Adoni-Zedek - Bible ...
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Joshua+10&version=NIV
Then the five kings of the Amorites—the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and
Eglon—joined forces. ... The Lord threw them into confusion before Israel, so Joshua and the
Israelites defeated them completely at Gibeon. ... “Sun, stand still over Gibeon,
Hellish Earth twin
Despite the strange and scorching conditions, Venus not shares a

surprising number of features with Earth. Measuring 7,520 miles
across, Venus is roughly not the same diameter as our home planet. It
also has a similar structure, sporting a rocky surface and an iron core,
although the planet doesn't rotate fast enough to generate an Earth-like
magnetic field.
Light bringer
Venus' dense cloud cover has benefits for us Earthlings. It reflects the
sun's rays, making the astrnomomical object the brightest in the night
sky. It's often called the morning star or evening star because its bright,
steady glow persists either around sunrise or sunset. Ancient peoples
spotted these dazzling points in the sky and believed them to be two
different objects, one that glows in the morning and another that glows
in the evening.
Similar to Mercury, Venus can occasionally be seen making a lazy trip

across the sun's face, known as a transit. But while Mercury zips across
the sun every 13 to 14 years, Venus transits are much more rare. The
planet's orbit is almost a perfect circle but is slightly tipped relative to
Earth's path around our star. This means it's incredibly hard for the
sun, Venus, and Earth to align in the right way.The last time a transit of
Venus happened was in 2012, and it won't happen again until 2117.
Orbital oddball
The only astronomical object named after a female figure, Venus is a

celestial oddball. Though its rocks are shades of grey, its atmosphere
imparts an eerie orange glow to the landscape. Together with Mercury,
it's one of the few planets in our solar system without a moon. And like
Uranus, it turns on its axis in the opposite direction to the rest of our
celestial family. Due to this retrograde rotation, if you were to stand on
Venus' surface, the sun would rise in the West and set in the East.
But don't count on catching many Venusian sunsets; the planet turns
stunningly slow. A single day there takes 243 Earth days—longer than a
Venusian year, which lasts 225 Earth days. And because the
astronomical object rotates in the opposite direction as its orbit, 117
Earth days pass between each sunrise and sunset.
Modern fiction
Venus in fiction
With the invention of the telescope, the idea that Venus was a physical world and possible
destination began to take form.
The impenetrable Venusian cloud cover gave science fiction writers free rein to speculate on
conditions at its surface; all the more so when early observations showed that not only was it similar
in size to Earth, it possessed a substantial atmosphere. Closer to the Sun than Earth, the planet was
frequently depicted as warmer, but still habitable by humans.[179] The genre reached its peak between
the 1930s and 1950s, at a time when science had revealed some aspects of Venus, but not yet the
harsh reality of its surface conditions. Findings from the first missions to Venus showed the reality to
be quite different, and brought this particular genre to an end. [180] As scientific knowledge of Venus
advanced, so science fiction authors tried to keep pace, particularly by conjecturing human attempts
to terraform Venus.[181]
Habitability
Life on Venus
Colonization of Venus
The speculation of the existence of life on Venus decreased significantly since the early 1960s,
when spacecraft began studying Venus and it became clear that the conditions on Venus are
extreme compared to those on Earth.
The fact that Venus is located closer to the Sun than Earth, raising temperatures on the surface to
nearly 735 K (462 °C; 863 °F), the atmospheric pressure is ninety times that of Earth, and the
extreme impact of the greenhouse effect, make water-based life as currently known unlikely. A few
scientists have speculated that thermoacidophilic extremophile microorganisms might exist in the
lower-temperature, acidic upper layers of the Venusian atmosphere. [183][184][185] The atmospheric
pressure and temperature fifty kilometres above the surface are similar to those at Earth's surface.
This has led to proposals to use aerostats (lighter-than-air balloons) for initial exploration and
ultimately for permanent "floating cities" in the Venusian atmosphere. [186] Among the many
engineering challenges are the dangerous amounts of sulfuric acid at these heights
Venus in Astrology
Venus as astronomical object holds a special importance in Western Astroology and is

responsible to govern some of the main aspects in life that are love, happiness and creative
expression of an individual.
Venus is known to be the astronomical object of love. It governs the creative and expressive
aspects of an individual like sex, romance, beauty, music, dance and recreational activities.
This astronomical object is the governing ruler of two zodiac signs namely; Taurus and
Libra. Venus is also symbolized as the planet of wealth, love, attraction, prosperity and
knowledge.
Cosmic Presence:
Venus is the brightest and shining planet in the sky. It is also known with another name
“Morning Star” and is easily visible when it is seen early in the morning in the north
direction. It is known to be the most glorious and luminous planet in our solar system.
Venus as a Benefic Planet:
In western Astrology, Venus or ‘Shukra’ as it is commonly known, is one of the four benefit
planets represents romance, love, artistic qualities, sexuality, love for materialistic things,
pleasure and reproduction, fine qualities like painting and sculpture, music, dance and
feminine qualities. If Venus is placed favorably in the horoscope 2018, it can bring
happiness, success, health and abundant wealth.
The significance of Venus in our Horoscope:

Venus is personified as one-eyed and therefore the ill placement of Venus in the native’s
horoscope can cause the person to have weak eyes, it may affect the eyes of the individual.
This planet is said to be the ruler of body parts like eyes, chin, throat, cheeks, and kidneys.
Venus is said to have friendly relations with planets Mercury and Saturn. But, it is
considered that it is unfriendly with Sun and Moon. A well placed Venus in combination with
other planets like Sun and Moon can have a positive influence in the horoscope and life of
the native. There could also be some evil and negative effects of Venus if it is ill-placed with
the combination of enemy planets in the horoscope of the native.
Venus in Affiliation with Sun:

When Venus is favorably placed in combination with Sun in the native’s birth chart, that
person is said to have an amiable, happy, easy and luxurious life. The person would be soft,
polite and gentle in nature with a respect towards other beings. Such native will have no
difficulty in money related matters, such as financial gain through business partners and life
partner can also be expected. High status, success, the rise in income can be seen in every
fresh opportunity that is bestowed on the native. But, this is to be noted that if Venus forms
unfavorable conjunctions with the Sun in the horoscope of the native, he will have a
disharmonious and an unhappy life with sorrows. That native may also have to face a delay
in marriage.
Venus with Moon in Horoscope:

The person with the ruling Astronomical object as Venus in the birth chart and also when
Venus and Moon are in a favorable conjunction, the person will be an attractive, affectionate
and gentle human being by his/her behavior and personality. But the ill effects of the same
combination can make the native’s life terrible.
Astronomical object Venus and Planet Mars:

Planet Mars and an astronomical object Venus are said to be different and opposite from
each other with both showing different qualities. Whereas Planet Venus is known as a calm
and soft astronomical object, planet Mars is known to be bold and masculine. Therefore, if
both the planets form a favorable combination in the native’s horoscope, it will endow the
native with some unique and powerful qualities.
Such a native will be well behaved, amorous, ambitious, attractive and a charming
individual. Adverse effects of this combination can make the native violent, rash, rude and
immoral. It can also act as the reason for divorce in native’s life.
Venus in Conjunction with Jupiter:

Planets Jupiter and Astronomical object Venus are known as the brightest and strongest
in nature. If planet Jupiter is placed in a favorable position with astronomical object Venus in
the horoscope, the native will be no successful, faithful, honest and gentle person.
Diseases Caused By the Influence of Venus:

According to Vedic astrology, Venus is said to be governing the reproductive system, throat,
cheeks, chin, and kidneys. An ill-placed Venus can cause diseases like impotency, loss of
appetite, rashes, eye diseases, pimples, indigestion, venereal complaints, and kidney
problems to the native’s life.
CHARACTERISTICS OF VENUS ASTRONOMICAL OBJECT.
Venus is the second Astronomical object from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days.[13] It has

the longest rotation period (243 days) of any planet in the Solar System and rotates in the opposite
direction to most other planets (meaning the Sun would rise in the west and set in the east).[14] It does
not have any natural satellites. It is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty. It is the
second-brightest natural object in the night sky after the Moon, reaching an apparent magnitude of
−4.6 – bright enough to cast shadows at night and, rarely, visible to the naked eye in broad daylight.
[15][16]
Orbiting within Earth's orbit, Venus is an inferior astronomical object and never appears to
venture far from the Sun; its maximum angular distance from the Sun (elongation) is 47.8°.
10 Things to Know About Venus

1
EARTH-SIZED
If the sun were as tall as a typical front door, the Earth and Venus would each be about
the size of a nickel.
2
SECOND ROCK
Venus orbits our Sun, a star. Venus is the second closest planet to the sun at a distance
of about 67 million miles (108 million km).
3
A DAY LONGER THAN A YEAR
One day on Venus lasts 243 Earth days because Venus spins backwards, with its sun
rising in the west and setting in the east.
CHASING CLOUDS ON VENUS

4
DIVERSE TERRAIN
Venus' solid surface is a volcanic landscape covered with extensive plains featuring
high volcanic mountains and vast ridged plateaus.
5
MOONLESS AND RINGLESS
Venus has no moons and no rings.
6
GREENHOUSE EFFECT
The planet’s surface temperature is about 900 degrees Fahrenheit (465 degrees
Celsius)—hot enough to melt lead.
7
WATER ON VENUS
Many scientists believe water once existed on the surface. Future Venus explorers will
search for evidence of an ancient ocean.
8
MANY VISITORS
More than 40 spacecraft have explored Venus.no humans visit, The ‘90s Magellan
mission mapped the planet's surface and Akatsuki is currently orbiting Venus.
9
LIFE ON VENUS
Venus’ extreme temperatures and acidic clouds make it an unlikely place for life as we
know it.
10
SUPER ROTATING ATMOSPHERE
While the surface rotates slowly, the winds blow at hurricane force, sending clouds
completely around the planet every five days
PLANETARY MOTION OF VENUS PLANET.

Heliocentrism.
Heliocentrism[a] is the astronomical model in which the Earth and planets revolve around the Sun at
the center of the Solar System. Historically, heliocentrism was opposed to geocentrism, which
placed the Earth at the center. The notion that the Earth revolves around the Sun had been
proposed as early as the 3rd century BC by Aristarchus of Samos,[1] but at least in the medieval
world, Aristarchus's heliocentrism attracted little attention—possibly because of the loss of scientific
works of the Hellenistic Era.[b]
It was not until the 16th century that a mathematical model of a heliocentric system was presented,
by the Renaissancemathematician, astronomer, and Catholic cleric Nicolaus Copernicus, leading to
the Copernican Revolution. In the following century, Johannes Kepler introduced elliptical orbits,
and Galileo Galilei presented supporting observations made using a telescope.
With the observations of William Herschel, Friedrich Bessel, and other astronomers, it was realized
that the Sun, while near the barycenter of the Solar System, was not at any center of the universe.
Ancient and medieval astronomy
A hypothetical geocentric model of the Solar System (upper panel) in comparison to the heliocentric model
(lower panel).
While the sphericity of the Earth was widely recognized in Greco-Roman astronomy from at least the
3rd century BC, the Earth's daily rotation and yearly orbit around the Sun was never universally
accepted until the Copernican Revolution.
While a moving Earth was proposed at least from the 4th century BC in Pythagoreanism, and a fully
developed heliocentric model was developed by Aristarchus of Samos in the 3rd century BC, these
ideas were not successful in replacing the view of a static spherical Earth, and from the 2nd century
AD the predominant model, which would be inherited by medieval astronomy, was the geocentric
model described in Ptolemy's Almagest.
The Ptolemaic system was a sophisticated astronomical system that managed to calculate the
positions for the planets to a fair degree of accuracy. [3] Ptolemy himself, in his Almagest, points out
that any model for describing the motions of the planets is merely a mathematical device, and since
there is no actual way to know which is true, the simplest model that gets the right numbers should
be used.[4] However, he rejected the idea of a spinning Earth as absurd as he believed it would
create huge winds. His planetary hypotheses were sufficiently real that the distances of the Moon,
Sun, planets and stars could be determined by treating orbits' celestial spheres as contiguous
realities. This made the stars' distance less than 20 Astronomical Units,[5] a regression,
since Aristarchus of Samos's heliocentric scheme had centuries earlier necessarily placed the stars
at least two orders of magnitude more distant.
Problems with Ptolemy's system were well recognized in medieval astronomy, and an increasing
effort to criticize and improve it in the late medieval period eventually led to the Copernican
heliocentrism developed in Renaissance astronomy.
Classical Antiquity
Greek astronomy
Pythagoreans
The non-geocentric model of the Universe was proposed by
the Pythagorean philosopher Philolaus (d. 390 BC), who taught that at the center of the Universe
was a "central fire", around which the Earth, Sun, Moon and planets revolved in uniform circular
motion. This system postulated the existence of a counter-earth collinear with the Earth and central
fire, with the same period of revolution around the central fire as the Earth. The Sun revolved around
the central fire once a year, and the stars were stationary. The Earth maintained the same hidden
face towards the central fire, rendering both it and the "counter-earth" invisible from Earth. The
Pythagorean concept of uniform circular motion remained unchallenged for approximately the next
2000 years, and it was to the Pythagoreans that Copernicus referred to show that the notion of a
moving Earth was neither new nor revolutionary.[6] Kepler gave an alternative explanation of the
Pythagoreans' "central fire" as the Sun, "as most sects purposely hid[e] their teachings". [7]
Heraclides of Pontus (4th century BC) said that the rotation of the Earth explained the apparent daily
motion of the celestial sphere. It used to be thought that he believed Mercury and Venus to revolve
around the Sun, which in turn (along with the other planets) revolves around the Earth. [8] Macrobius
Ambrosius Theodosius (AD 395–423) later described this as the "Egyptian System," stating that "it
did not escape the skill of the Egyptians," though there is no other evidence it was known in ancient
Egypt.[9][10]
Aristarchus of Samos
Aristarchus's 3rd century BC calculations on the relative sizes of the Earth, Sun and Moon, from a 10th-century
AD Greek copy
The first person known to have proposed a heliocentric system, however, was Aristarchus of
Samos (c. 270 BC). Like Eratosthenes, Aristarchus calculated the size of the Earth, and measured
the sizes and distances of the Sun and Moon. From his estimates, he concluded that the Sun was
six to seven times wider than the Earth, and thought the larger object would have the most attractive
force.
His writings on the heliocentric system are lost, but some information about them is known from a
brief description by his contemporary, Archimedes, and from scattered references by later writers.
Archimedes' description of Aristarchus's theory is given in the former's book, The Sand Reckoner.
The entire description comprises just three sentences, which Thomas Heathtranslates as follows:[11]
You are aware ['you' being King Gelon] that "universe" is the name given by most astronomers to the
sphere, the centre of which is the centre of the earth, while its radius is equal to the straight line
between the centre of the sun and the centre of the earth. This is the common account (τά
γραφόμενα), as you have heard from astronomers. But Aristarchus brought out a book consisting of
certain hypotheses, wherein it appears, as a consequence of the assumptions made, that the
universe is many times greater than the "universe" just mentioned. His hypotheses are that the fixed
stars and the sun remain unmoved, that the earth revolves about the sun on the circumference of a
circle, the sun lying in the middle of the orbit, and that the sphere of the fixed stars, situated about
the same centre as the sun, is so great that the circle in which he supposes the earth to revolve
bears such a proportion to the distance of the fixed stars as the centre of the sphere bears to its
surface.
— The Sand Reckoner (Arenarius I, 4-7)
Aristarchus presumably took the stars to be very far away because he was aware that
their parallax[12] would otherwise be observed over the course of a year. The stars are in fact so far
away that stellar parallax only became detectable when sufficiently powerful telescopes had been
developed.
No references to Aristarchus's heliocentrism are known in any other writings from before
the common era. The earliest of the handful of other ancient references occur in two passages from
the writings of Plutarch. These mention one detail not stated explicitly in Archimedes's account—
[13]
namely, that Aristarchus's theory had the Earth rotating on an axis. The first of these reference
occurs in On the Face in the Orb of the Moon:[14]
Only do not, my good fellow, enter an action against me for impiety in the style of Cleanthes, who
thought it was the duty of Greeks to indict Aristarchus of Samos on the charge of impiety for putting
in motion the Hearth of the Universe, this being the effect of his attempt to save the phenomena by
supposing the heaven to remain at rest and the earth to revolve in an oblique circle, while it rotates,
at the same time, about its own axis.
— On the Face in the Orb of the Moon (De facie in orbe lunae, c. 6, pp. 922 F - 923 A.)
Only scattered fragments of Cleanthes's writings have survived in quotations by other writers, but
in Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, Diogenes Laërtiuslists A reply to Aristarchus (Πρὸς
Ἀρίσταρχον) as one of Cleanthes's works,[15] and some scholars[16] have suggested that this might
have been where Cleanthes had accused Aristarchus of impiety.
The second of the references by Plutarch is in his Platonic Questions:[17]
Did Plato put the earth in motion, as he did the sun, the moon, and the five planets, which he called
the instruments of time on account of their turnings, and was it necessary to conceive that the earth
"which is globed about the axis stretched from pole to pole through the whole universe" was not
represented as being held together and at rest, but as turning and revolving (στρεφομένην καὶ
ἀνειλουμένην), as Aristarchus and Seleucus afterwards maintained that it did, the former stating this
as only a hypothesis (ὑποτιθέμενος μόνον), the latter as a definite opinion (καὶ ἀποφαινόμενος) ?
— Platonic Questions (Platonicae Quaestiones viii. I, 1006 C)
The remaining references to Aristarchus's heliocentrism are extremely brief, and provide no more
information beyond what can be gleaned from those already cited. Ones which mention Aristarchus
explicitly by name occur in Aëtius's Opinions of the Philosophers, Sextus Empiricus's Against the
Mathematicians,[17] and an anonymous scholiast to Aristotle. [18] Another passage in Aëtius's Opinions
of the Philosophers reports that Seleucus the astronomer had affirmed the Earth's motion, but does
not mention Aristarchus.[17]
Seleucus of Seleucia
Since Plutarch mentions the "followers of Aristarchus" in passing, it is likely that there were other
astronomers in the Classical period who also espoused heliocentrism, but whose work was lost. The
only other astronomer from antiquity known by name who is known to have supported Aristarchus'
heliocentric model was Seleucus of Seleucia (b. 190 BC), a Hellenistic astronomer who flourished a
century after Aristarchus in the Seleucid empire.[19] Seleucus was a proponent of the heliocentric
system of Aristarchus.[20] Seleucus may have proved the heliocentric theory by determining the
constants of a geometric model for the heliocentric theory and developing methods to compute
planetary positions using this model. He may have used early trigonometric methods that were
available in his time, as he was a contemporary of Hipparchus.[21] A fragment of a work by Seleucus
has survived in Arabic translation, which was referred to by Rhazes (b. 865).[22]
Alternatively, his explanation may have involved the phenomenon of tides,[23] which he supposedly
theorized to be caused by the attraction to the Moon and by the revolution of the Earth around the
Earth and Moon's center of mass.
Late Antiquity
There were occasional speculations about heliocentrism in Europe before Copernicus. In Roman
Carthage, the pagan Martianus Capella (5th century A.D.) expressed the opinion that the planets
Venus and Mercury did not go about the Earth but instead circled the Sun. [24] Capella's model was
discussed in the Early Middle Ages by various anonymous 9th-century commentators [25] and
Copernicus mentions him as an influence on his own work.[26]
The Ptolemaic system was also received in Indian astronomy. Aryabhata (476–550), in his magnum
opus Aryabhatiya (499), propounded a planetary model in which the Earth was taken to be spinning
on its axis and the periods of the planets were given with respect to the Sun. [27] His immediate
commentators, such as Lalla, and other later authors, rejected his innovative view about the turning
Earth.[28] He also made many astronomical calculations, such as the times of
the solar and lunareclipses, and the instantaneous motion of the Moon. [29] Early followers of
Aryabhata's model included Varahamihira, Brahmagupta, and Bhaskara II.
Medieval Islamic world

Astronomy in medieval Islam and Islamic cosmology
For a time, Muslim astronomers accepted the Ptolemaic system and the geocentric model, which

were used by al-Battani to show that the distance between the Sun and the Earth varies. [30][31] In the
10th century, al-Sijzi accepted that the Earth rotates around its axis.[32][33] According to later
astronomer al-Biruni, al-Sijzi invented an astrolabe called al-zūraqī based on a belief held by some
of his contemporaries that the apparent motion of the stars was due to the Earth's movement, and
not that of the firmament.[33][34] Islamic astronomers began to criticize the Ptolemaic model,
including Ibn al-Haytham in his Al-Shukūk 'alā Baṭalamiyūs ("Doubts Concerning Ptolemy", c. 1028),
[35][36]
who branded it an impossibility.[37]
An illustration from al-Biruni's astronomical works explains the different phases of the Moon with respect to the
position of the Sun.
Al-Biruni discussed the possibility of whether the Earth rotated about its own axis and orbited the
Sun, but in his Masudic Canon(1031),[38] he expressed his faith in a geocentric and stationary Earth.
[39]
He was aware that if the Earth rotated on its axis, it would be consistent with his astronomical
observations,[40] but considered it a problem of natural philosophy rather than one of mathematics.[33][41]
In the 12th century, non-heliocentric alternatives to the Ptolemaic system were developed by some
Islamic astronomers, such as Nur ad-Din al-Bitruji, who considered the Ptolemaic model
mathematical, and not physical.[42][43] His system spread throughout most of Europe in the 13th
century, with debates and refutations of his ideas continued to the 16th century. [43]
The Maragha school of astronomy in Ilkhanid-era Persia further developed "non-Ptolemaic"
planetary models involving Earth's rotation. Notable astronomers of this school are Al-Urdi (d.
1266) Al-Katibi (d. 1277),[44] and Al-Tusi (d. 1274).
The arguments and evidence used resemble those used by Copernicus to support the Earth's
motion.[45][46] The criticism of Ptolemy as developed by Averroes and by the Maragha school explicitly
address the Earth's rotation but it did not arrive at explicit heliocentrism.[47] The observations of the
Maragha school were further improved at the Timurid-era Samarkand
observatory under Qushji (1403–1474).
Later medieval period

European scholarship in the later medieval period actively received astronomical models developed
in the Islamic world and by the 13th century was well aware of the problems of the Ptolemaic model.
In the 14th century, bishop Nicole Oresme discussed the possibility that the Earth rotated on its axis,
while Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa in his Learned Ignorance asked whether there was any reason to
assert that the Sun (or any other point) was the center of the universe. In parallel to a mystical
definition of God, Cusa wrote that "Thus the fabric of the world (machina mundi) will quasi have its
center everywhere and circumference nowhere," [48] recalling Hermes Trismegistus
Nicholas of Cusa, 15th century, asked whether there was any reason to assert that any point was the center of
the universe.
.[49]
In India, Nilakantha Somayaji (1444–1544), in his Aryabhatiyabhasya, a commentary on
Aryabhata's Aryabhatiya, developed a computational system for a geo-heliocentric planetary model,
in which the planets orbit the Sun, which in turn orbits the Earth, similar to the system later
proposed by Tycho Brahe. In the Tantrasamgraha (1501), Somayaji further revised his planetary
system, which was mathematically more accurate at predicting the heliocentric orbits of the interior
planets than both the Tychonic and Copernican models,[50][51] but did not propose any specific models
of the universe.[52] Nilakantha's planetary system also incorporated the Earth's rotation on its axis.
[53]
Most astronomers of the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics seem to have accepted his
planetary model.[54][55]
Renaissance-era astronomy
European astronomy before Copernicus
Some historians maintain that the thought of the Maragheh observatory, in particular the
mathematical devices known as the Urdi lemma and the Tusi couple, influenced Renaissance-era
European astronomy, and thus was indirectly received by Renaissance-era European astronomy
and thus by Copernicus.[41][56][57][58][59]Copernicus used such devices in the same planetary models as
found in Arabic sources.[60] Furthermore, the exact replacement of the equant by two epicycles used
by Copernicus in the Commentariolus was found in an earlier work by Ibn al-Shatir (d. c. 1375) of
Damascus.[61] Copernicus' lunar and Mercury models are also identical to Ibn al-Shatir's. [62]
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) wrote "Il sole non si move." ("The Sun does not move.") [63]
The state of knowledge on planetary theory received by Copernicus is summarized in Georg von
Peuerbach's Theoricae Novae Planetarum (printed in 1472 by Regiomontanus). By 1470, the
accuracy of observations by the Vienna school of astronomy, of which Peuerbach and
Regiomontanus were members, was high enough to make the eventual development of
heliocentrism inevitable, and indeed it is possible that Regiomontanus did arrive at an explicit theory
of heliocentrism before his death in 1476, some 30 years before Copernicus. [64] While the influence of
the criticism of Ptolemy by Averroes on Renaissance thought is clear and explicit, the claim of direct
influence of the Maragha school, postulated by Otto E. Neugebauer in 1957, remains an open
question.[47][65][66] Copernicus explicitly references several astronomers of the "Islamic Golden Age"
(10th to 12th centuries) in De Revolutionibus: Albategnius (Al-Battani), Averroes (Ibn Rushd), Thebit
(Thabit Ibn Qurra), Arzachel (Al-Zarqali), and Alpetragius (Al-Bitruji), but he does not show
awareness of the existence of any of the later astronomers of the Maragha school. [67]
It has been argued that Copernicus could have independently discovered the Tusi couple or took the
idea from Proclus's Commentary on the First Book of Euclid,[68]which Copernicus cited.[69] Another
possible source for Copernicus's knowledge of this mathematical device is the Questiones de
Spera of Nicole Oresme, who described how a reciprocating linear motion of a celestial body could
be produced by a combination of circular motions similar to those proposed by al-Tusi. [70]
Copernican heliocentrism
Copernican heliocentrism
Portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus (1578)[c]
Nicolaus Copernicus in his De revolutionibus orbium coelestium ("On the revolution of heavenly

spheres", first printed in 1543 in Nuremberg), presented a discussion of a heliocentric model of the
universe in much the same way as Ptolemy in the 2nd century had presented his geocentric model
in his Almagest. Copernicus discussed the philosophical implications of his proposed system,
elaborated it in geometrical detail, used selected astronomical observations to derive the parameters
of his model, and wrote astronomical tables which enabled one to compute the past and future
positions of the stars and planets. In doing so, Copernicus moved heliocentrism from philosophical
speculation to predictive geometrical astronomy. In reality, Copernicus's system did not predict the
planets' positions any better than the Ptolemaic system. [71] This theory resolved the issue of
planetary retrograde motion by arguing that such motion was only perceived and apparent, rather
than real: it was a parallax effect, as an object that one is passing seems to move backwards against
the horizon. This issue was also resolved in the geocentric Tychonic system; the latter, however,
while eliminating the major epicycles, retained as a physical reality the irregular back-and-forth
motion of the planets, which Kepler characterized as a "pretzel"
Venus planet in Corpernicanism or Heliocentrism Model of Planetary Motion.
General Characteristics Of Venus
Color Pink, White
Day Friday
God Goddess
Gemstone Diamond
Finger Index, Middle
Metal Gold Rhodium plating

Direction South-east
Rashis Taurus, Libra
Uccha-Exalted Rashis Pisces-Meen
Neecha-Falling Rashi Virgo- Kanya
.[72]
Copernicus cited Aristarchus in an early (unpublished) manuscript of De Revolutionibus (which still
survives), stating: "Philolaus believed in the mobility of the earth, and some even say that
Aristarchus of Samos was of that opinion." [73] However, in the published version he restricts himself to
noting that in works by Cicero he had found an account of the theories of Hicetas and
that Plutarch had provided him with an account of the Pythagoreans, Heraclides Ponticus, Philolaus,
and Ecphantus. These authors had proposed a moving Earth, which did not, however, revolve
around a central sun.
Reception in Early Modern Europe

Copernican Revolution
Circulation of Commentariolus (before 1515)

The first information about the heliocentric views of Nicolaus Copernicus was circulated in
manuscript completed some time before May 1, 1514. [74] Although only in manuscript, Copernicus'
ideas were well known among astronomers and others. His ideas contradicted the then-prevailing
understanding of the Bible. In the King James Bible (first published in 1611), First Chronicles 16:30
states that "the world also shall be stable, that it be not moved." Psalm 104:5 says, "[the Lord] Who
laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever." Ecclesiastes 1:5 states that
"The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose."
Nonetheless, in 1533, Johann Albrecht Widmannstetter delivered in Rome a series of lectures
outlining Copernicus' theory. The lectures were heard with interest by Pope Clement VII and several
Catholic cardinals.[75] On November 1, 1536, Archbishop of Capua Nikolaus von Schönberg wrote a
letter to Copernicus from Rome encouraging him to publish a full version of his theory.
However, in 1539, Martin Luther said:
"There is talk of a new astrologer who wants to prove that the earth moves and goes around instead
of the sky, the sun, the moon, just as if somebody were moving in a carriage or ship might hold that
he was sitting still and at rest while the earth and the trees walked and moved. But that is how things
are nowadays: when a man wishes to be clever he must . . . invent something special, and the way
he does it must needs be the best! The fool wants to turn the whole art of astronomy upside-down.
However, as Holy Scripture tells us, so did Joshua bid the sun to stand still and not the earth." [76]
This was reported in the context of a conversation at the dinner table and not a formal statement of
faith. Melanchthon, however, opposed the doctrine over a period of years.[77][78]
Publication of De Revolutionibus (1543)
Nicolaus Copernicus published the definitive statement of his system in De Revolutionibus in 1543.
Copernicus began to write it in 1506 and finished it in 1530, but did not publish it until the year of his
death. Although he was in good standing with the Church and had dedicated the book to Pope Paul
III, the published form contained an unsigned preface by Osiander defending the system and
arguing that it was useful for computation even if its hypotheses were not necessarily true. Possibly
because of that preface, the work of Copernicus inspired very little debate on whether it might
be heretical during the next 60 years. There was an early suggestion among Dominicans that the
teaching of heliocentrism should be banned, but nothing came of it at the time.
Some years after the publication of De Revolutionibus John Calvin preached a sermon in which he
denounced those who "pervert the order of nature" by saying that "the sun does not move and that it
is the earth that revolves and that it turns".[79]
On the other hand, Calvin is not responsible for another famous quotation which has often been
misattributed to him: "Who will venture to place the authority of Copernicus above that of the Holy
Spirit?" It has long been established that this line cannot be found in any of Calvin's works. [80][81][82] It
has been suggested[83] that the quotation was originally sourced from the works
of Lutheran theologian Abraham Calovius.
Tycho Brahe's geo-heliocentric system (c. 1587)

Tychonic system
In this depiction of the Tychonic system, the objects on blue orbits (the Moon and the Sun) revolve around the
Earth. The objects on orange orbits (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) revolve around the Sun.
Around all is a sphere of fixed stars, located just beyond Saturn.
Prior to the publication of De Revolutionibus, the most widely accepted system had been proposed
by Ptolemy, in which the Earth was the center of the universe and all celestial bodies orbited
it. Tycho Brahe, arguably the most accomplished astronomer of his time, advocated against
Copernicus's heliocentric system and for an alternative to the Ptolemaic geocentric system: a geo-
heliocentric system now known as the Tychonic system in which the five then known planets orbit
the Sun, while the Sun and the Moon orbit the Earth.
Tycho appreciated the Copernican system, but objected to the idea of a moving Earth on the basis
of physics, astronomy, and religion. The Aristotelian physics of the time (modern Newtonian physics
was still a century away) offered no physical explanation for the motion of a massive body like Earth,
whereas it could easily explain the motion of heavenly bodies by postulating that they were made of
a different sort substance called aether that moved naturally. So Tycho said that the Copernican
system "... expertly and completely circumvents all that is superfluous or discordant in the system of
Ptolemy. On no point does it offend the principle of mathematics. Yet it ascribes to the Earth, that
hulking, lazy body, unfit for motion, a motion as quick as that of the aethereal torches, and a triple
motion at that."[84] Likewise, Tycho took issue with the vast distances to the stars that Aristarchus and
Copernicus had assumed in order to explain the lack of any visible parallax. Tycho had measured
the apparent sizes of stars (now known to be illusory – see stellar magnitude), and used geometry to
calculate that in order to both have those apparent sizes and be as far away as heliocentrism
required, stars would have to be huge (much larger than the sun; the size of Earth's orbit or larger).
Regarding this Tycho wrote, "Deduce these things geometrically if you like, and you will see how
many absurdities (not to mention others) accompany this assumption [of the motion of the earth] by
inference."[85] He also cited the Copernican system's "opposition to the authority of Sacred Scripture
in more than one place" as a reason why one might wish to reject it, and observed that his own geo-
heliocentric alternative "offended neither the principles of physics nor Holy Scripture". [86]
The Jesuit astronomers in Rome were at first unreceptive to Tycho's system; the most
prominent, Clavius, commented that Tycho was "confusing all of astronomy, because he wants to
have Mars lower than the Sun."[87] However, after the advent of the telescope showed problems with
some geocentric models (by demonstrating that Venus circles the Sun, for example), the Tychonic
system and variations on that system became popular among geocentrists, and the Jesuit
astronomer Giovanni Battista Riccioli would continue Tycho's use of physics, stellar astronomy (now
with a telescope), and religion to argue against heliocentrism and for Tycho's system well into the
seventeenth century (see Riccioli).
Galileo Galilei and 1616 ban against Copernicanism

Galileo affair
In the 17th century AD Galileo Galilei opposed the Roman Catholic Church by his strong support for
heliocentrism
Galileo was able to look at the night sky with the newly invented telescope. He published his
discoveries that the Sun rotated and that Venus exhibited a full range of phases in his Letters on
Sunspots (1613). These discoveries were not consistent with the Ptolemeic model of the Solar
System. As the Jesuit astronomers confirmed Galileo's observations, the Jesuits moved toward
Tycho's teachings.[88]
In his 1615 "Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina", Galileo defended heliocentrism, and claimed it
was not contrary to Holy Scripture. He took Augustine's position on Scripture: not to take every
passage literally when the scripture in question is in a Bible book of poetry and songs, not a book of
instructions or history. The writers of the Scripture wrote from the perspective of the terrestrial world,
and from that vantage point the Sun does rise and set. In fact, it is the Earth's rotation which gives
the impression of the Sun in motion across the sky.
In February 1615, prominent Dominicans including Thomaso Caccini and Niccolò Lorini brought
Galileo's writings on heliocentrism to the attention of the Inquisition, because they appeared to
violate Holy Scripture and the decrees of the Council of Trent.[89][90] Cardinal and Inquisitor Robert
Bellarmine was called upon to adjudicate, and wrote in April that treating heliocentrism as a real
phenomenon would be "a very dangerous thing," irritating philosophers and theologians, and
harming "the Holy Faith by rendering Holy Scripture as false." [91]
In January 1616 Msgr. Francesco Ingoli addressed an essay to Galileo disputing the Copernican
system. Galileo later stated that he believed this essay to have been instrumental in the ban against
Copernicanism that followed in February.[92] According to Maurice Finocchiaro, Ingoli had probably
been commissioned by the Inquisition to write an expert opinion on the controversy, and the essay
provided the "chief direct basis" for the ban. [93] The essay focused on eighteen physical and
mathematical arguments against heliocentrism. It borrowed primarily from the arguments of Tycho
Brahe, and it notedly mentioned the problem that heliocentrism requires the stars to be much larger
than the Sun. Ingoli wrote that the great distance to the stars in the heliocentric theory "clearly
proves ... the fixed stars to be of such size, as they may surpass or equal the size of the orbit circle
of the Earth itself."[94] Ingoli included four theological arguments in the essay, but suggested to
Galileo that he focus on the physical and mathematical arguments. Galileo did not write a response
to Ingoli until 1624.[95]
In February 1616, the Inquisition assembled a committee of theologians, known as qualifiers, who
delivered their unanimous report condemning heliocentrism as "foolish and absurd in philosophy,
and formally heretical since it explicitly contradicts in many places the sense of Holy Scripture." The
Inquisition also determined that the Earth's motion "receives the same judgement in philosophy
and ... in regard to theological truth it is at least erroneous in faith." [96] Bellarmine personally ordered
Galileo
"to abstain completely from teaching or defending this doctrine and opinion or from discussing it... to
abandon completely... the opinion that the sun stands still at the center of the world and the earth
moves, and henceforth not to hold, teach, or defend it in any way whatever, either orally or in
writing."
— Bellarmine and the Inquisition's injunction against Galileo, 1616[97]
In March, after the Inquisition's injunction against Galileo, the papal Master of the Sacred
Palace, Congregation of the Index, and Pope banned all books and letters advocating the
Copernican system, which they called "the false Pythagorean doctrine, altogether contrary to Holy
Scripture."[97][98] In 1618 the Holy Office recommended that a modified version of Copernicus' De
Revolutionibus be allowed for use in calendric calculations, though the original publication remained
forbidden until 1758.[98]
In Astronomia nova (1609), Johannes Kepler had used an elliptical orbit to explain the motion of
Mars. In Epitome astronomiae Copernicanae (1617–1621) he developed a heliocentric model of the
Solar System in which all the planets have elliptical orbits. This provided significantly increased
accuracy in predicting the position of the planets. Kepler's ideas were not immediately accepted.
Galileo for example completely ignored Kepler's work. Kepler proposed heliocentrism as a physical
description of the Solar System and Epitome astronomia Copernicanae was placed on the index of
prohibited books despite Kepler being a Protestant.
Pope Urban VIII encouraged Galileo to publish the pros and cons of heliocentrism. Galileo's
response, Dialogue concerning the two chief world systems (1632), clearly advocated heliocentrism,
despite his declaration in the preface that,
I will endeavour to show that all experiments that can be made upon the Earth are insufficient means
to conclude for its mobility but are indifferently applicable to the Earth, movable or immovable... [99]
and his straightforward statement,
I might very rationally put it in dispute, whether there be any such centre in nature, or no; being that
neither you nor any one else hath ever proved, whether the World be finite and figurate, or else
infinite and interminate; yet nevertheless granting you, for the present, that it is finite, and of a
terminate Spherical Figure, and that thereupon it hath its centre... [99]
Some ecclesiastics also interpreted the book as characterizing the Pope as a simpleton, since his
viewpoint in the dialogue was advocated by the character Simplicio. Urban VIII became hostile to
Galileo and he was again summoned to Rome. [100] Galileo's trial in 1633 involved making fine
distinctions between "teaching" and "holding and defending as true". For advancing heliocentric
theory Galileo was forced to recant Copernicanism and was put under house arrest for the last few
years of his life.
According to J. L. Heilbron, informed contemporaries of Galileo's "appreciated that the reference to
heresy in connection with Galileo or Copernicus had no general or theological significance." [101]
Age of Reason
Age of Reason, 17th-century philosophy, and Scientific revolution
René Descartes postponed, and ultimately never finished, his treatise The World, which included a
heliocentric model,[102] but the Galileo affair did little to slow the spread of heliocentrism across
Europe, as Kepler's Epitome of Copernican Astronomy became increasingly influential in the coming
decades.[103] By 1686 the model was well enough established that the general public was reading
about it in Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds, published in France by Bernard le Bovier de
Fontenelle and translated into English and other languages in the coming years. It has been called
"one of the first great popularizations of science." [102]
In 1687, Isaac Newton published Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, which provided an
explanation for Kepler's laws in terms of universal gravitation and what came to be known
as Newton's laws of motion. This placed heliocentrism on a firm theoretical foundation, although
Newton's heliocentrism was of a somewhat modern kind. Already in the mid-1680s he recognized
the "deviation of the Sun" from the centre of gravity of the Solar System. [104] For Newton it was not
precisely the centre of the Sun or any other body that could be considered at rest, but "the common
centre of gravity of the Earth, the Sun and all the Planets is to be esteem'd the Centre of the World",
and this centre of gravity "either is at rest or moves uniformly forward in a right line". Newton
adopted the "at rest" alternative in view of common consent that the centre, wherever it was, was at
rest.[105]
Meanwhile, the Catholic Church remained opposed to heliocentrism as a literal description, but this
did not by any means imply opposition to all astronomy; indeed, it needed observational data to
maintain its calendar. In support of this effort it allowed the cathedrals themselves to be used as
solar observatories called meridiane; i.e., they were turned into "reverse sundials", or
gigantic pinhole cameras, where the Sun's image was projected from a hole in a window in the
cathedral's lantern onto a meridian line.
In 1664, Pope Alexander VII published his Index Librorum Prohibitorum Alexandri VII Pontificis
Maximi jussu editus (Index of Prohibited Books, published by order of Alexander VII, P.M.) which
included all previous condemnations of heliocentric books.[106]
In the mid-eighteenth century the Catholic Church's opposition began to fade. An annotated copy of
Newton's Principia was published in 1742 by Fathers le Seur and Jacquier of the Franciscan Minims,
two Catholic mathematicians, with a preface stating that the author's work assumed heliocentrism
and could not be explained without the theory. In 1758 the Catholic Church dropped the general
prohibition of books advocating heliocentrism from the Index of Forbidden Books.[107] The
Observatory of the Roman College was established by Pope Clement XIV in 1774 (nationalized in
1878, but re-founded by Pope Leo XIII as the Vatican Observatory in 1891). In spite of dropping its
active resistance to heliocentrism, the Catholic Church did not lift the prohibition of uncensored
versions of Copernicus's De Revolutionibus or Galileo's Dialogue. The affair was revived in 1820,
when the Master of the Sacred Palace (the Catholic Church's chief censor), Filippo Anfossi, refused
to license a book by a Catholic canon, Giuseppe Settele, because it openly treated heliocentrism as
a physical fact.[108] Settele appealed to pope Pius VII. After the matter had been reconsidered by the
Congregation of the Index and the Holy Office, Anfossi's decision was overturned. [108] Pius VII
approved a decree in 1822 by the Sacred Congregation of the Inquisition to allow the printing of
heliocentric books in Rome. Copernicus's De Revolutionibus and Galileo's Dialogue were then
subsequently accepted.
LITERATURE REVIEW.
Studies
Observations and explorations of Venus
Though some ancient civilizations referred to Venus both as the "morning star" and as the "evening
star", names that reflect the assumption that these were two separate objects, the earliest recorded
observations of Venus by the ancient Sumerians show that they recognized Venus as a single
object,[128]and associated it with the goddess Inanna.[128][129][130] Inanna's movements in several of her
myths, including Inanna and Shukaletuda and Inanna's Descent into the Underworld appear to
parallel the motion of the astronomical object Venus
Early studies
JESUS
Jesus[e] (c. 4 BC – c. AD 30 / 33), also referred to as Jesus of Nazareth and Jesus Christ,[f] was a
first-century Jewishpreacher and religious leader.[12] He is the central figure of Christianity and is
widely described as the most influential person in history. [13] Most Christians believe he is
the incarnation of God the Son and the awaited Messiah (Christ) prophesied in the Old Testament.[14]
[15]
Virtually all modern scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus existed historically,[g] although the quest for
the historical Jesushas produced little agreement on the historical reliability of the Gospels and on
how closely the Jesus portrayed in the Bible reflects the historical Jesus.[22][h][i] Jesus was
a Galilean Jew[12] who was baptized by John the Baptist and subsequently began his own ministry,
preaching his message orally[25] and often being referred to as "rabbi".[26] Jesus debated with fellow
Jews on how to best follow God, engaged in healings, taught in parables and gathered followers.[27]
[28]
He was arrested and tried by the Jewish authorities,[29] turned over to the Roman government,
and was subsequently crucified on the order of Pontius Pilate, the Roman prefect.[27] After his death,
his followers believed he rose from the dead, and the community they formed eventually became
the early Church.[30]
The birth of Jesus is celebrated annually on December 25th (or various dates in January by some
eastern churches) as a holiday known as Christmas. His crucifixion is honored on Good Friday, and
his resurrection is celebrated on Easter. The widely used calendar era "AD", from the Latin anno
Domini ("in the year of the Lord"), and the equivalent alternative "CE", are based on the approximate
birth date of Jesus
Jesus
Christ Pantocrator mosaic in Byzantine style, from the Cefalù

Cathedral, Sicily, c. 1130
.[31][j]
Christian doctrines include the beliefs that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, was born of a
virgin named Mary, performed miracles, founded the Church, died by crucifixion as a sacrifice to
achieve atonement for sin, rose from the dead, and ascended into Heaven, from where he will
return.[33] Most Christians believe Jesus enables people to be reconciled to God. The Nicene
Creed asserts that Jesus will judge the living and the dead[34] either before or after their bodily
resurrection,[35][36][37] an event tied to the Second Coming of Jesus in Christian eschatology.[38] The
great majority of Christians worship Jesus as the incarnation of God the Son, the second of
three persons of the Trinity. A minority of Christian denominations reject Trinitarianism, wholly or
partly, as non-scriptural.
Jesus also figures in non-Christian religions and new religious movements. In Islam, Jesus
(commonly transliterated as Isa) is considered one of God's important prophets and the Messiah.[39][40]
[41]
Muslims believe Jesus was a bringer of scripture and was born of a virgin, but was not the Son of
God. The Quran states that Jesus himself never claimed divinity.[42] Most Muslims do not believe that
he was crucified, but believe that he was physically raised into Heaven by God. In
contrast, Judaism rejects the belief that Jesus was the awaited Messiah, arguing that he did not
fulfill Messianic prophecies, and was neither divine nor resurrected.[43]
A typical Jew in Jesus' time had only one name, sometimes followed by the phrase "son of <father's
name>", or the individual's hometown.[44] Thus, in the New Testament, Jesus is commonly referred to
as "Jesus of Nazareth"[k] (e.g., Mark 10:47).[45]Jesus' neighbors in Nazareth refer to him as "the
carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon" (Mark 6:3),[46] "the
carpenter's son" (Matthew 13:55),[47] or "Joseph's son" (Luke 4:22).[48] In John, the disciple Philiprefers
to him as "Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth" (John 1:45).[49]
Jesus, pronounced "Jeshua" in Hebrew, is equivalent to the Hebrew name Joshua,[50][51] the biblical
name of Moses' assistant[52] and of a Jewish high priest.[53] The name Jesus is derived from the
Latin Iesus, a transliteration of the GreekἸησοῦς (Iesous).[54] The Greek form is a rendering of
the Hebrew ‫( ישוע‬Yeshua), a variant of the earlier name ‫( יהושע‬Yehoshua), or in English, "Joshua".[55]
[56][57]
The name Yeshua appears to have been in use in Judea at the time of the birth of Jesus. [58]The
1st-century works of historian Flavius Josephus, who wrote in Koine Greek, the same language as
that of the New Testament,[59] refer to at least twenty different people with the name Jesus (i.e.
Ἰησοῦς).[60] The etymology of Jesus' name in the context of the New Testament is generally given as
"Yahweh is salvation".[61]
Since early Christianity, Christians have commonly referred to Jesus as "Jesus Christ". [62] The
word Christ was a title or office ("the Christ"), not a given name.[63][64] It derives from the
Greek Χριστός (Christos),[54][65] a translation of the Hebrew mashiakh (‫ )משיח‬meaning "anointed", and
is usually transliterated into English as "Messiah".[66][67] In biblical Judaism, sacred oil was used to
anoint certain exceptionally holy people and objects as part of their religious investiture
(see Leviticus 8:10–12 and Exodus 30:29).
Christians of the time designated Jesus as "the Christ" because they believed him to be the
Messiah, whose arrival is prophesied in the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. In postbiblical
usage, Christ became viewed as a name—one part of "Jesus Christ". The term "Christian" (meaning
a follower of Christ) has been in use since the 1st century.[68]
Life and teachings in the New Testament
Events in the
Life of Jesus
according to the Gospels
Life of Jesus in the New Testament
See also: Gospel, Gospel harmony, Historical reliability of the Gospels, and Internal consistency of

the New Testament
See also: New Testament places associated with Jesus and Names and titles of Jesus in the New
Testament
A 3rd-century Greek papyrus of the Gospel of Luke
Canonical gospels
The four canonical gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) are the foremost sources for the life
and message of Jesus.[44] However, other parts of the New Testament also include references to key
episodes in his life, such as the Last Supper in 1 Corinthians 11:23.[69][70][71] Acts of the Apostles (Acts
10:37–38 and Acts 19) refers to the early ministry of Jesus and its anticipation by John the Baptist. [72]
[73]
Acts 1:1–11 says more about the Ascension of Jesus (also mentioned in 1 Timothy 3:16) than the
canonical gospels do.[74] In the undisputed Pauline letters, which were written earlier than the
gospels, the words or instructions of Jesus are cited several times (1 Corinthians 7:10–11, 9:14,
11:23–25, 2 Corinthians 12:9).[l]
Some early Christian groups had separate descriptions of the life and teachings of Jesus that are not
included in the New Testament. These include the Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Peter, and Gospel
of Judas, the Apocryphon of James, and many other apocryphal writings. Most scholars conclude
that these are written much later and are less reliable accounts than the canonical gospels. [76][77][78]
The canonical gospels are four accounts, each written by a different author. The authors of the
gospels are all anonymous, attributed by tradition to the four evangelists, each with close ties to
Jesus:[79] Mark by John Mark, an associate of Peter;[80] Matthew by one of Jesus' disciples; [79] Luke by
a companion of Paul mentioned in a few epistles;[79] and John by another of Jesus' disciples,[79] the
"beloved disciple".[81]
One important aspect of the study of the gospels is the literary genre under which they fall. Genre "is
a key convention guiding both the composition and the interpretation of writings". [82] Whether the
gospel authors set out to write novels, myths, histories, or biographies has a tremendous impact on
how they ought to be interpreted. Some recent studies suggest that the genre of the gospels ought
to be situated within the realm of ancient biography.[83][84][85] Although not without critics,[86] the position
that the gospels are a type of ancient biography is the consensus among scholars today. [87][88]
Not everything contained in the New Testament gospels is considered to be historically reliable.
[89]
Views range from their being inerrant descriptions of the life of Jesus[90] to their providing little
historical information about his life beyond the basics.[91][92] According to a broad scholarly consensus,
the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), and not John, are the most reliable sources of
information about Jesus.[93][94][44]
According to the Marcan priority, the first to be written was the Gospel of Mark (written AD 60–75),
followed by the Gospel of Matthew (AD 65–85), the Gospel of Luke (AD 65–95), and the Gospel of
John (AD 75–100).[95] Furthermore, most scholars agree that the authors of Matthew and Luke used
Mark as a source when writing their gospels. Matthew and Luke also share some content not found
in Mark. To explain this, many scholars believe that in addition to Mark, another source (commonly
called the "Q source") was used by the two authors.[96]
Matthew, Mark, and Luke are known as the Synoptic Gospels, from the Greek σύν (syn "together")
and ὄψις (opsis "view").[97][98][99] They are similar in content, narrative arrangement, language and
paragraph structure.[97][98] Scholars generally agree that it is impossible to find any direct literary
relationship between the Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of John. [100] While the flow of some events
(such as Jesus' baptism, transfiguration, crucifixion and interactions with the apostles) are shared
among the Synoptic Gospels, incidents such as the transfiguration do not appear in John, which also
differs on other matters, such as the Cleansing of the Temple.[101]
Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels Jesus in the Gospel of John
Begins with Jesus' baptism or birth to a virgin.[79] Begins with creation, with no birth story.[79]
Baptized by John the Baptist.[79] Baptism presupposed but not mentioned.[79]
Teaches in parables and aphorisms.[79] Teaches in long, involved discourses. [79]
Teaches primarily about the Kingdom of God, little about Teaches primarily and extensively about
himself.[79] himself.[79]
Says little to nothing about the poor or

Speaks up for the poor and oppressed.[79]
oppressed.[79]
Exorcises demons.[102] Does not exorcise demons.[102]
Attends one Passover festival.[103] Attends three or four Passover festivals.[103]
Cleansing the Temple occurs late.[79] Cleansing the Temple is early.[79]
Jesus ushers in a new covenant with a last supper.[79] Jesus washes the disciples' feet.[79]
The Synoptics emphasize different aspects of Jesus. In Mark, Jesus is the Son of God whose mighty
works demonstrate the presence of God's Kingdom.[80] He is a tireless wonder worker, the servant of
both God and man.[104] This short gospel records few of Jesus' words or teachings. [80] The Gospel of
Matthew emphasizes that Jesus is the fulfillment of God's will as revealed in the Old Testament, and
he is the Lord of the Church.[105] He is the "Son of David", a "king", and the Messiah.[104][14][15] Luke
presents Jesus as the divine-human savior who shows compassion to the needy. [106] He is the friend
of sinners and outcasts, come to seek and save the lost. [104] This gospel includes Jesus' most
beloved parables, such as the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son. [106]
The prologue to the Gospel of John identifies Jesus as an incarnation of the divine Word (Logos).
[107]
As the Word, Jesus was eternally present with God, active in all creation, and the source of
humanity's moral and spiritual nature. [107] Jesus is not only greater than any past human prophet but
greater than any prophet could be. He not only speaks God's Word; he is God's Word. [108] In the
Gospel of John, Jesus reveals his divine role publicly. Here he is the Bread of Life, the Light of the
World, the True Vine and more.[104]
In general, the authors of the New Testament showed little interest in an absolute chronology of
Jesus or in synchronizing the episodes of his life with the secular history of the age. [109] As stated
in John 21:25, the gospels do not claim to provide an exhaustive list of the events in the life of Jesus.
[110]
The accounts were primarily written as theological documents in the context of early Christianity,
with timelines as a secondary consideration.[111] In this respect, it is noteworthy that the Gospels
devote about one third of their text to the last week of the life of Jesus in Jerusalem, referred to
as the Passion.[112] Although the gospels do not provide enough details to satisfy the demands of
modern historians regarding exact dates, it is possible to draw from them a general picture of the life
story of Jesus.[89][109][111]
Genealogy and nativity

Genealogy of Jesus and Nativity of Jesus
Jesus was Jewish,[12] born by Mary, wife of Joseph (Matthew 1; Luke 2). The Gospels of Matthew
and Luke offer two accounts of the genealogy of Jesus. Matthew traces Jesus' ancestry
to Abraham through David (1:1–16).[113] Luke traces Jesus' ancestry through Adam to God (3:23–38).
[114]
The lists are identical between Abraham and David, but differ radically from that point. Matthew
has twenty-seven generations from David to Joseph, whereas Luke has forty-two, with almost no
overlap between the names on the two lists.[m][115] Various theories have been put forward seeking to
explain why the two genealogies are so different. [n]
Adoration of the Shepherds (1622) by Gerard van Honthorst
Matthew and Luke each describe Jesus' birth, especially that Jesus was born by a virgin named
Mary in Bethlehem in fulfillment of prophecy. Luke's account emphasizes events before the birth of
Jesus and centers on Mary, while Matthew's mostly covers those after the birth and centers on
Joseph.[116][117][118] Both accounts state that Jesus was born to Joseph and Mary, his betrothed, in
Bethlehem, and both support the doctrine of the virgin birth of Jesus, according to which Jesus was
miraculously conceived by the Holy Spirit in Mary's womb when she was still a virgin.[119][120][121] At the
same time, there is evidence, at least in the Lukan Acts of the Apostles, that Jesus was thought to
have had, like many figures in antiquity, a dual paternity, since there it is stated he descended from
the seed or loins of David.[122]
In Matthew, Joseph is troubled because Mary, his betrothed, is pregnant (Matthew 1:19–20), but in
the first of Joseph's three dreams an angel assures him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife,
because her child was conceived by the Holy Spirit. [123]In Matthew 2:1–12, wise men or Magi from the
East bring gifts to the young Jesus as the King of the Jews. Herod the Greathears of Jesus' birth
and, wanting him killed, orders the murders of male infants in Bethlehem. But an angel warns
Joseph in his second dream, and the family flees to Egypt—later to return and settle in Nazareth.[123]
[124][125]
In Luke 1:31–38, Mary learns from the angel Gabriel that she will conceive and bear a child called
Jesus through the action of the Holy Spirit.[117][119] When Mary is due to give birth, she and Joseph
travel from Nazareth to Joseph's ancestral home in Bethlehem to register in the census ordered
by Caesar Augustus. While there Mary gives birth to Jesus, and as they have found no room in the
inn, she places the newborn in a manger (Luke 2:1–7). An angel announces the birth to some
shepherds, who go to Bethlehem to see Jesus, and subsequently spread the news abroad (Luke
2:8–20). After the presentation of Jesus at the Temple, Joseph, Mary and Jesus return to Nazareth.
[117][119]
Early life, family, and profession

Christ Child
See also: Return of the family of Jesus to Nazareth, Unknown years of Jesus, and Brothers of Jesus
William Holman Hunt, The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple (1860)
Jesus' childhood home is identified in the gospels of Luke and Matthew as the town of Nazareth
in Galilee, where he lived with his family. Although Joseph appears in descriptions of Jesus'
childhood, no mention is made of him thereafter. [126] His other family members—his mother, Mary, his
brothers James, Joses (or Joseph), Judas and Simon and his unnamed sisters—are mentioned in
the gospels and other sources.[127]
The Gospel of Mark reports that Jesus comes into conflict with his neighbors and family. [128] Jesus'
mother and brothers come to get him (Mark 3:31–35) because people are saying that he is
crazy (Mark 3:21). Jesus responds that his followers are his true family. In John, Mary follows Jesus
to his crucifixion, and he expresses concern over her well-being (John 19:25–27).
Jesus is called a τέκτων (tektōn) in Mark 6:3, traditionally understood as carpenter but could cover
makers of objects in various materials, including builders. [129][130] The gospels indicate that Jesus could
read, paraphrase, and debate scripture, but this does not necessarily mean that he received formal
scribal training.[131]
When Jesus is presented as a baby in the temple per Jewish Law, a man named Simeon says to
Mary and Joseph that Jesus "shall stand as a sign of contradiction, while a sword will pierce your
own soul. Then the secret thoughts of many will come to light" (Luke 2:28–35). Several years later,
when Jesus goes missing on a visit to Jerusalem, his parents find him in the temple sitting among
the teachers, listening to them and asking questions, and the people are amazed at his
understanding and answers; Mary scolds Jesus for going missing, to which Jesus replies that he
must "be in his father's house" (Luke 2:41–52).
Baptism and temptation

Baptism of Jesus and Temptation of Christ
The Baptism of Christ (1895) by Almeida Júnior
The Synoptic accounts of Jesus' baptism are all preceded by information about John the Baptist.[132]
[133][134]
They show John preaching penance and repentance for the remission of sins and encouraging
the giving of alms to the poor (Luke 3:11) as he baptizes people in the area of the Jordan
River around Perea and foretells (Luke 3:16) the arrival of someone "more powerful" than he.[135]
[136]
Later, Jesus identifies John as "the Elijah who was to come" (Matthew 11:14, Mark 9:13–14), the
prophet who was expected to arrive before the "great and terrible day of the Lord" (Malachi 4:5).
Likewise, Luke says that John had the spirit and power of Elijah (Luke 1:17).
In Mark, John baptizes Jesus, and as he comes out of the water he sees the Holy Spirit descending
to him like a dove and he hears a voice from heaven declaring him to be God's Son (Mark 1:9–11).
This is one of two events described in the gospels where a voice from Heaven calls Jesus "Son", the
other being the Transfiguration.[137][138] The spirit then drives him into the wilderness where he is
tempted by Satan (Mark 1:12–13). Jesus then begins his ministry after John's arrest (Mark 1:14).
Jesus' baptism in Matthew is similar. Here, before Jesus' baptism, John protests, saying, "I need to
be baptized by you" (Matthew 3:14). Jesus instructs him to carry on with the baptism "to fulfill all
righteousness" (Matthew 3:15). Matthew also details the three temptations that Satan offers Jesus in
the wilderness (Matthew 4:3–11). In Luke, the Holy Spirit descends as a dove after everyone has
been baptized and Jesus is praying (Luke 3:21–22). John implicitly recognizes Jesus from prison
after sending his followers to ask about him (Luke 7:18–23). Jesus' baptism and temptation serve as
preparation for his public ministry.[139]
The Gospel of John leaves out Jesus' baptism and temptation. [140] Here, John the Baptist testifies that
he saw the Spirit descend on Jesus (John 1:32).[136][141] John publicly proclaims Jesus as the
sacrificial Lamb of God, and some of John's followers become disciples of Jesus.[94] In this Gospel,
John denies that he is Elijah (John 1:21). Before John is imprisoned, Jesus leads his followers to
baptize disciples as well (John 3:22–24), and they baptize more people than John (John 4:1).
Public ministry
Ministry of Jesus
A 19th-century painting depicting the Sermon on the Mount, by Carl Bloch
The Synoptics depict two distinct geographical settings in Jesus' ministry. The first takes place north
of Judea, in Galilee, where Jesus conducts a successful ministry; and the second shows Jesus
rejected and killed when he travels to Jerusalem.[26] Often referred to as "rabbi",[26] Jesus preaches his
message orally.[25] Notably, Jesus forbids those who recognize him as the Messiah to speak of it,
including people he heals and demons he exorcises (see Messianic Secret).[142]
John depicts Jesus' ministry as largely taking place in and around Jerusalem, rather than in Galilee;
and Jesus' divine identity is openly proclaimed and immediately recognized. [108]
Scholars divide the ministry of Jesus into several stages. The Galilean ministry begins when Jesus
returns to Galilee from the Judaean Desert after rebuffing the temptation of Satan. Jesus preaches
around Galilee, and in Matthew 4:18–20, his first disciples, who will eventually form the core of the
early Church, encounter him and begin to travel with him. [134][143] This period includes the Sermon on
the Mount, one of Jesus' major discourses,[143][144] as well as the calming of the storm, the feeding of
the 5,000, walking on water and a number of other miracles and parables.[145] It ends with
the Confession of Peter and the Transfiguration.[146][147]
As Jesus travels towards Jerusalem, in the Perean ministry, he returns to the area where he was
baptized, about a third of the way down from the Sea of Galilee along the Jordan River (John 10:40–
42).[148][149] The final ministry in Jerusalem begins with Jesus' triumphal entry into the city on Palm
Sunday.[150] In the Synoptic Gospels, during that week Jesus drives the money changers from
the Second Temple and Judas bargains to betray him. This period culminates in the Last
Supper and the Farewell Discourse.[132][150][151]
Disciples and followers
The Exhortation to the Apostles, by James Tissot, portrays Jesus talking to his 12 disciples
Near the beginning of his ministry, Jesus appoints twelve apostles. In Matthew and Mark, despite
Jesus only briefly requesting that they join him, Jesus' first four apostles, who were fishermen, are
described as immediately consenting, and abandoning their nets and boats to do so (Matthew 4:18–
22, Mark 1:16–20). In John, Jesus' first two apostles were disciples of John the Baptist. The Baptist
sees Jesus and calls him the Lamb of God; the two hear this and follow Jesus.[152][153] In addition to the
Twelve Apostles, the opening of the passage of the Sermon on the Plain identifies a much larger
group of people as disciples (Luke 6:17). Also, in Luke 10:1–16 Jesus sends seventy or seventy-two
of his followers in pairs to prepare towns for his prospective visit. They are instructed to accept
hospitality, heal the sick and spread the word that the Kingdom of God is coming.[154]
In Mark, the disciples are notably obtuse. They fail to understand Jesus' miracles (Mark 4:35–
41, Mark 6:52), his parables (Mark 4:13), or what "rising from the dead" would mean (Mark 9:9–10).
When Jesus is later arrested, they desert him. [142]
Teachings and miracles
Main articles: Sermon on the Mount, Parables of Jesus, and Miracles of Jesus
Sermon on the Plain, Five Discourses of Matthew, Farewell Discourse, Olivet Discourse, and Bread

of Life Discourse
Jesus and the rich young man by Heinrich Hofmann, 1889
In the Synoptics, Jesus teaches extensively, often in parables,[155] about the Kingdom of God (or, in
Matthew, the Kingdom of Heaven). The Kingdom is described as both imminent (Mark 1:15) and
already present in the ministry of Jesus (Luke 17:21). Jesus promises inclusion in the Kingdom for
those who accept his message (Mark 10:13–27). Jesus talks of the "Son of Man,"
an apocalyptic figure who would come to gather the chosen.[44]
Jesus calls people to repent their sins and to devote themselves completely to God. [44] Jesus tells his
followers to adhere to Jewish law, although he is perceived by some to have broken the law himself,
for example regarding the Sabbath.[44] When asked what the greatest commandment is, Jesus
replies: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your
mind ... And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:37–39). Other
ethical teachings of Jesus include loving your enemies, refraining from hatred and lust, turning the
other cheek, and forgiving people who have sinned against you (Matthew 5–7).[156]
John's Gospel presents the teachings of Jesus not merely as his own preaching, but as
divine revelation. John the Baptist, for example, states in John 3:34: "He whom God has sent speaks
the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure." In John 7:16 Jesus says, "My teaching is
not mine but his who sent me." He asserts the same thing in John 14:10: "Do you not believe that I
am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but
the Father who dwells in me does his works."[157][158]
Jesus cleansing a leper, medieval mosaic from the Monreale Cathedral, late 12th to mid-13th centuries
Approximately thirty parables form about one third of Jesus' recorded teachings. [157][159] The parables
appear within longer sermons and at other places in the narrative. [160] They often contain symbolism,
and usually relate the physical world to the spiritual.[161][162]Common themes in these tales include the
kindness and generosity of God and the perils of transgression. [163] Some of his parables, such as
the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11–32), are relatively simple, while others, such as the Growing
Seed (Mark 4:26–29), are sophisticated, profound and abstruse.[164] When asked by his disciples
about why he speaks in parables to the people, Jesus replies that the chosen disciples have been
given to "know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven", unlike the rest of their people, "For the one
who has will be given more and he will have in abundance. But the one who does not have will be
deprived even more.", going on to say that the majority of their generation have grown "dull hearts"
and thus are unable to understand (Matthew 13:10–17).
In the gospel accounts, Jesus devotes a large portion of his ministry performing miracles, especially
healings.[165] The miracles can be classified into two main categories: healing miracles and nature
miracles.[166] The healing miracles include cures for physical ailments, exorcisms,[102]
[167]
and resurrections of the dead.[168] The nature miracles show Jesus' power over nature, and
include turning water into wine, walking on water, and calming a storm, among others. Jesus states
that his miracles are from a divine source. When Jesus' opponents suddenly accuse him of
performing exorcisms by the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, Jesus counters that he
performs them by the "Spirit of God" (Matthew 12:28) or "finger of God", arguing that all logic
suggests that Satan would not let his demons assist the Children of God because it would divide
Satan's house and bring his kingdom to desolation; furthermore, he asks his opponents that if he
exorcises by Beel'zebub, "by whom do your sons cast them out?"(Luke 11:20).[169][170] In Matthew
12:31–32, he goes on to say that while all manner of sin, "even insults against God" or "insults
against the son of man", shall be forgiven, whoever insults goodness (or "The Holy Spirit") shall
never be forgiven; he/she carries the guilt of his/her sin forever.
In John, Jesus' miracles are described as "signs", performed to prove his mission and divinity. [171]
[172]
However, in the Synoptics, when asked by some teachers of the Law and some Pharisees to give
miraculous signs to prove his authority, Jesus refuses, [171] saying that no sign shall come to corrupt
and evil people except the sign of the prophet Jonah. Also, in the Synoptic Gospels, the crowds
regularly respond to Jesus' miracles with awe and press on him to heal their sick. In John's Gospel,
Jesus is presented as unpressured by the crowds, who often respond to his miracles with trust and
faith.[173] One characteristic shared among all miracles of Jesus in the gospel accounts is that he
performed them freely and never requested or accepted any form of payment. [174] The gospel
episodes that include descriptions of the miracles of Jesus also often include teachings, and the
miracles themselves involve an element of teaching. [175][176] Many of the miracles teach the importance
of faith. In the cleansing of ten lepers and the raising of Jairus' daughter, for instance, the
beneficiaries are told that their healing was due to their faith. [177][178]
Proclamation as Christ and Transfiguration
Main articles: Confession of Peter and Transfiguration of Jesus
The Transfiguration of Jesus, depicted by Carl Bloch, 19th century
At about the middle of each of the three Synoptic Gospels are two significant events: the Confession
of Peter and the Transfiguration of Jesus.[147][179][137][138] These two events are not mentioned in the
Gospel of John.[180]
In his Confession, Peter tells Jesus, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." [181][182][183] Jesus
affirms that Peter's confession is divinely revealed truth. [184][185] After the confession, Jesus tells his
disciples about his upcoming death and resurrection (Matthew 16:21, Mark 8:31, Luke 9:22)
In the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1–9, Mark 9:2–8, and Luke 9:28–36),[137][138][147] Jesus takes Peter
and two other apostles up an unnamed mountain, where "he was transfigured before them, and his
face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white." [186] A bright cloud appears around
them, and a voice from the cloud says, "This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased;
listen to him" (Matthew 17:1–9).[137]
Passion Week
Passion Week
The description of the last week of the life of Jesus (often called Passion Week) occupies about one
third of the narrative in the canonical gospels,[112] starting with Jesus' triumphal entry into
Jerusalem and ending with his Crucifixion. [132][150]
Activities in Jerusalem
A painting of Jesus' final entry into Jerusalem, by Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1897
Triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Cleansing of the Temple, and Bargain of Judas
In the Synoptics, the last week in Jerusalem is the conclusion of the journey through Perea
and Judea that Jesus began in Galilee.[150] Jesus rides a young donkey into Jerusalem, reflecting the
tale of the Messiah's Donkey, an oracle from the Book of Zechariah in which the Jews' humble king
enters Jerusalem this way (Zechariah 9:9).[80] People along the way lay cloaks and small branches of
trees (known as palm fronds) in front of him and sing part of Psalms 118:25–26.[187][188][189]
Jesus next expels the money changers from the Second Temple, accusing them of turning it into a
den of thieves through their commercial activities. Jesus then prophesies about the coming
destruction, including false prophets, wars, earthquakes, celestial disorders, persecution of the
faithful, the appearance of an "abomination of desolation," and unendurable tribulations (Mark 13:1–
23). The mysterious "Son of Man," he says, will dispatch angels to gather the faithful from all parts of
the earth (Mark 13:24–27). Jesus warns that these wonders will occur in the lifetimes of the hearers
(Mark 13:28–32).[142] In John, the Cleansing of the Temple occurs at the beginning of Jesus' ministry
instead of at the end (John 2:13–16).[108]
Jesus comes into conflict with the Jewish elders, such as when they question his authority and when
he criticizes them and calls them hypocrites.[187][189] Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve apostles, secretly
strikes a bargain with the Jewish elders, agreeing to betray Jesus to them for 30 silver coins.[190][191]
The Gospel of John recounts of two other feasts in which Jesus taught in Jerusalem before the
Passion Week (John 7:1–10:42).[128] In Bethany, a village near Jerusalem, Jesus raises Lazarus from
the dead. This potent sign[108] increases the tension with authorities, [150] who conspire to kill him (John
11).[128] Mary of Bethanyanoints Jesus' feet, foreshadowing his entombment.[192] Jesus then makes his
Messianic entry into Jerusalem.[128] The cheering crowds greeting Jesus as he enters Jerusalem add
to the animosity between him and the establishment. [150] In John, Jesus has already cleansed the
Second Temple during an earlier Passover visit to Jerusalem. John next recounts Jesus' Last
Supper with his disciples.[128]
Last Supper
Last Supper
See also: Jesus predicts his betrayal, Denial of Peter, and Last Supper in Christian art
The Last Supper, depicted by Juan de Juanes, c. 1562
The Last Supper is the final meal that Jesus shares with his 12 apostles in Jerusalem before his
crucifixion. The Last Supper is mentioned in all four canonical gospels; Paul's First Epistle to the
Corinthians (11:23–26) also refers to it.[70][71][193] During the meal, Jesus predicts that one of his
apostles will betray him.[194] Despite each Apostle's assertion that he would not betray him, Jesus
reiterates that the betrayer would be one of those present. Matthew 26:23–25 and John 13:26–
27 specifically identify Judas as the traitor.[70][71][194]
In the Synoptics, Jesus takes bread, breaks it, and gives it to the disciples, saying, "This is my body,
which is given for you". He then has them all drink from a cup, saying, "This cup that is poured out
for you is the new covenant in my blood" (Luke 22:19–20).[70][195] The
Christian sacrament or ordinance of the Eucharist is based on these events.[196]Although the Gospel
of John does not include a description of the bread-and-wine ritual during the Last Supper, most
scholars agree that John 6:22–59 (the Bread of Life Discourse) has a eucharistic character and
resonates with the institution narratives in the Synoptic Gospels and in the Pauline writings on the
Last Supper.[197]
In all four gospels, Jesus predicts that Peter will deny knowledge of him three times before
the rooster crows the next morning.[198][199] In Luke and John, the prediction is made during the Supper
(Luke 22:34, John 22:34). In Matthew and Mark, the prediction is made after the Supper; Jesus also
predicts that all his disciples will desert him (Matthew 26:31–34, Mark 14:27–30).[200] The Gospel of
John provides the only account of Jesus washing his disciples' feet after the meal.[124] John also
includes a long sermon by Jesus, preparing his disciples (now without Judas) for his
departure. Chapters 14–17 of the Gospel of John are known as the Farewell Discourse and are a
significant source of Christological content.[201][202]
Agony in the Garden, betrayal, and arrest
Agony in the Garden, Kiss of Judas, Arrest of Jesus, and Malchus
A depiction of the kiss of Judas and arrest of Jesus, by Caravaggio, c. 1602

In the Synoptics, Jesus and his disciples go to the garden Gethsemane, where Jesus prays to be
spared his coming ordeal. Then Judas comes with an armed mob, sent by the chief priests, scribes
and elders. He kisses Jesus to identify him to the crowd, which then arrests Jesus. In an attempt to
stop them, an unnamed disciple of Jesus uses a sword to cut off the ear of a man in the crowd. After
Jesus' arrest, his disciples go into hiding, and Peter, when questioned, thrice denies knowing Jesus.
After the third denial, Peter hears the rooster crow and recalls Jesus' prediction about his denial.
Peter then weeps bitterly.[200][142][198]
In John (18:1–11), Jesus does not pray to be spared his crucifixion, as the gospel portrays him as
scarcely touched by such human weakness.[203] The people who arrest him are Roman soldiers and
Temple guards.[204] Instead of being betrayed by a kiss, Jesus proclaims his identity, and when he
does, the soldiers and officers fall to the ground. The gospel identifies Peter as the disciple who
used the sword, and Jesus rebukes him for it.
Trials by the Sanhedrin, Herod, and Pilate
Sanhedrin trial of Jesus, Pilate's Court, Jesus at Herod's Court, and Crown of Thorns
Jesus, King of the Jews; John 18:38; and Ecce homo
After his arrest, Jesus is taken to the Sanhedrin, a Jewish judicial body.[205] The gospel accounts differ
on the details of the trials.[206] In Matthew 26:57, Mark 14:53 and Luke 22:54, Jesus is taken to the
house of the high priest, Caiaphas, where he is mocked and beaten that night. Early the next
morning, the chief priests and scribes lead Jesus away into their council. [207][208][209] John 18:12–
14 states that Jesus is first taken to Annas, Caiaphas' father-in-law, and then to the high priest. [207][208]
[209]
Ecce homo Antonio Ciseri's 1871 depiction of Pontius Pilate presenting Jesus to the public
During the trials Jesus speaks very little, mounts no defense, and gives very infrequent and indirect
answers to the priests' questions, prompting an officer to slap him. In Matthew 26:62 Jesus'
unresponsiveness leads Caiaphas to ask him, "Have you no answer?" [207][208][209] In Mark 14:61 the high
priest then asks Jesus, "Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?" Jesus replies, "I am",
and then predicts the coming of the Son of Man.[44] This provokes Caiaphas to tear his own robe in
anger and to accuse Jesus of blasphemy. In Matthew and Luke, Jesus' answer is more ambiguous:
[44][210]
in Matthew 26:64 he responds, "You have said so", and in Luke 22:70 he says, "You say that I
am".[211][212]
The Jewish elders take Jesus to Pilate's Court and ask the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, to judge
and condemn Jesus for various allegations, accusing him of blasphemy, perverting the nation,
forbidding the payment of tribute, inciting sedition against Rome, sorcery, claiming to be the King of
the Jews, the Son of God, and a savior to the world.[209] The use of the word "king" is central to the
discussion between Jesus and Pilate. In John 18:36 Jesus states, "My kingdom is not from this
world", but he does not unequivocally deny being the King of the Jews. [213][214] In Luke 23:7–15 Pilate
realizes that Jesus is a Galilean, and thus comes under the jurisdiction of Herod Antipas,
the Tetrarch of Galilee and Perea.[215][216] Pilate sends Jesus to Herod to be tried, [217] but Jesus says
almost nothing in response to Herod's questions. Herod and his soldiers mock Jesus, put an
expensive robe on him to make him look like a king, and return him to Pilate, [215] who then calls
together the Jewish elders and announces that he has "not found this man guilty". [217]
Observing a Passover custom of the time, Pilate allows one prisoner chosen by the crowd to be
released. He gives the people a choice between Jesus and a murderer called Barabbas (
‫אבא‬-‫בר‬ or Bar-abbâ, "son of the father", from the common given name Abba: 'father').[218] Persuaded
by the elders (Matthew 27:20), the mob chooses to release Barabbas and crucify Jesus.[219] Pilate
writes a sign in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek that reads "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews"
(abbreviated as INRI in depictions) to be affixed to Jesus' cross (John 19:19–20),[220] then scourges
Jesus and sends him to be crucified. The soldiers place a Crown of Thorns on Jesus' head and
ridicule him as the King of the Jews. They beat and taunt him before taking him to Calvary,[221] also
called Golgotha, for crucifixion.[207][209][222]
Crucifixion and entombment
Pietro Perugino's depiction of the Crucifixion as Stabat Mater, 1482
Crucifixion of Jesus and Burial of Jesus
Sayings of Jesus on the cross and Crucifixion eclipse
Jesus' crucifixion is described in all four canonical gospels. After the trials, Jesus is led
to Calvary carrying his cross; the route traditionally thought to have been taken is known as the Via
Dolorosa. The three Synoptic Gospels indicate that Simon of Cyreneassists him, having been
compelled by the Romans to do so.[223][224] In Luke 23:27–28 Jesus tells the women in the multitude of
people following him not to weep for him but for themselves and their children. [223] At Calvary, Jesus
is offered a sponge soaked in a concoction usually offered as a painkiller. According to Matthew and
Mark, he refuses it.[223][224]
The soldiers then crucify Jesus and cast lots for his clothes. Above Jesus' head on the cross is
Pilate's inscription, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." Soldiers and passersby mock him
about it. Two convicted thieves are crucified along with Jesus. In Matthew and Mark, both thieves
mock Jesus. In Luke, one of them rebukes Jesus, while the other defends him.[223][225][226] Jesus tells the
latter: "today you will be with me in Paradise" (Luke 23:43). In John, Mary, the mother of Jesus, and
the beloved disciple were at the crucifixion. Jesus tells the beloved disciple to take care of his
mother (John 19:26–27).
The Roman soldiers break the two thieves' legs (a procedure designed to hasten death in a
crucifixion), but they do not break those of Jesus, as he is already dead (John 19:33). In John
19:34, one soldier pierces Jesus' side with a lance, and blood and water flow out.[225] In the Synoptics,
when Jesus dies, the heavy curtain at the Temple is torn. In Matthew 27:51–54, an earthquake
breaks open tombs. In Matthew and Mark, terrified by the events, a Roman centurion states that
Jesus was the Son of God.[223][227]
On the same day, Joseph of Arimathea, with Pilate's permission and with Nicodemus' help, removes
Jesus' body from the cross, wraps him in a clean cloth, and buries him in his new rock-hewn tomb.
[223]
In Matthew 27:62–66, on the following day the chief Jewish priests ask Pilate for the tomb to be
secured, and with Pilate's permission the priests place seals on the large stone covering the
entrance.[223][228]
Resurrection and Ascension
Appearance of Jesus Christ to Maria Magdalena (1835) by Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov
Main articles: Resurrection of Jesus, Post-resurrection appearances of Jesus, and Ascension of

Jesus
See also: Empty tomb, Great Commission, Second Coming, Resurrection of Jesus in Christian art,

and Ascension of Jesus in Christian art
Mary Magdalene (alone in the Gospel of John, but accompanied by other women in the Synoptics)
goes to Jesus' tomb on Sunday morning and is surprised to find it empty. Despite Jesus' teaching,
the disciples had not understood that Jesus would rise again. [229]
 In Matthew, there are guards at the tomb. An angel descends from heaven, and opens the
tomb. The guards faint from fear. Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene and "the other Mary" after
they visited the tomb. Jesus then appears to the eleven remaining disciples in Galilee
and commissions them to baptize all nations in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. [124]
 In Mark, Salome and Mary, mother of James are with Mary Magdalene (Mark 16:1). In the
tomb, a young man in a white robe (an angel) tells them that Jesus will meet his disciples in
Galilee, as he had told them (referring to Mark 14:28). [80]
 In Luke, Mary and various other women meet two angels at the tomb, but the eleven
disciples do not believe their story (Luke 25:1–12). Jesus appears to two of his followers in
Emmaus. He also makes an appearance to Peter. Jesus then appears that same day to his
disciples in Jerusalem (Luke 24:13–43). Although he appears and vanishes mysteriously, he
also eats and lets them touch him to prove that he is not a spirit. He repeats his command to
bring his teaching to all nations (Luke 24:51).[230]
 In John, Mary is alone at first, but Peter and the beloved disciple come and see the tomb as
well. Jesus then appears to Mary at the tomb. He later appears to the disciples, breathes on
them, and gives them the power to forgive and retain sins. In a second visit to disciples, he
proves to a doubting disciple ("Doubting Thomas") that he is flesh and blood.[108] The disciples
return to Galilee, where Jesus makes another appearance. He performs a miracle known as
the catch of 153 fish at the Sea of Galilee, after which Jesus encourages Peter to serve his
followers.[74][231]
Jesus' ascension into Heaven is described in Luke 24:50–53, Acts 1:1–11 and mentioned in 1
Timothy 3:16. In the Acts of the Apostles, forty days after the Resurrection, as the disciples look on,
"he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight". 1 Peter 3:22 states that Jesus has "gone
into heaven and is at the right hand of God".[74]
The Acts of the Apostles describes several appearances of Jesus after his Ascension. In Acts
7:55, Stephen gazes into heaven and sees "Jesus standing at the right hand of God" just before his
death.[232] On the road to Damascus, the Apostle Paul is converted to Christianity after seeing a
blinding light and hearing a voice saying, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting" (Acts 9:5). In Acts
9:10–18, Jesus instructs Ananias of Damascus in a vision to heal Paul.[233] The Book of
Revelation includes a revelation from Jesus concerning the last days.[234]
Early Christianity
Early Christianity
After Jesus's life, his followers, as described in the first chapters of the Acts of the Apostles, were
all Jews either by birth or conversion, for which the biblical term "proselyte" is used,[235] and referred
to by historians as Jewish Christians. The early Gospel message was spread orally, probably
in Aramaic,[236] but almost immediately also in Greek.[237] The New Testament's Acts of the
Apostles and Epistle to the Galatians record that the first Christian community was centered in
Jerusalem and its leaders included Peter, James, the brother of Jesus, and John the Apostle.[238]
After the conversion of Paul the Apostle, he claimed the title of "Apostle to the Gentiles". Paul's
influence on Christian thinking is said to be more significant than that of any other New Testament
author.[239] By the end of the 1st century, Christianity began to be recognized internally and externally
as a separate religion from Judaismwhich itself was refined and developed further in the centuries
after the destruction of the Second Temple.[240]
Numerous quotations in the New Testament and other Christian writings of the first centuries,
indicate that early Christians generally used and revered the Hebrew Bible (the Tanakh) as religious
text, mostly in the Greek (Septuagint) or Aramaic (Targum) translations.[241]
Early Christians wrote many religious works, including the ones included in the canon of the New
Testament. The canonical texts, which have become the main sources used by historians to try to
understand the historical Jesus and sacred texts within Christianity, were probably written between
50 and 120 AD.[242]
Historical views
Historical Jesus and Quest for the historical Jesus
See also: Biblical criticism
Prior to the Enlightenment, the gospels were usually regarded as accurate historical accounts, but
since then scholars have emerged who question the reliability of the gospels and draw a distinction
between the Jesus described in the gospels and the Jesus of history. [243] Since the 18th century,
three separate scholarly quests for the historical Jesus have taken place, each with distinct
characteristics and based on different research criteria, which were often developed during the quest
that applied them.[102][244] While there is widespread scholarly agreement on the existence of Jesus,
[g]
and a basic consensus on the general outline of his life, [o] the portraits of Jesus constructed by
various scholars often differ from each other, and from the image portrayed in the gospel accounts.
[246][247]
Approaches to the historical reconstruction of the life of Jesus have varied from the "maximalist"
approaches of the 19th century, in which the gospel accounts were accepted as reliable evidence
wherever it is possible, to the "minimalist" approaches of the early 20th century, where hardly
anything about Jesus was accepted as historical. [248] In the 1950s, as the second quest for the
historical Jesus gathered pace, the minimalist approaches faded away, and in the 21st century,
minimalists such as Price are a very small minority.[249][250] Although a belief in the inerrancy of the
gospels cannot be supported historically, many scholars since the 1980s have held that, beyond the
few facts considered to be historically certain, certain other elements of Jesus' life are "historically
probable".[249][251][252] Modern scholarly research on the historical Jesus thus focuses on identifying the
most probable elements.[253][254]
Judea and Galilee in the 1st century
Judea, Galilee and neighboring areas at the time of Jesus
In AD 6, Judea, Idumea, and Samaria were transformed from a client kingdom of the Roman

Empire into an imperial province, also called Judea. A Roman prefect, rather than a client king, ruled
the land. The prefect ruled from Caesarea Maritima, leaving Jerusalem to be run by the High Priest
of Israel. As an exception, the prefect came to Jerusalem during religious festivals, when religious
and patriotic enthusiasm sometimes inspired unrest or uprisings. Gentile lands surrounded the
Jewish territories of Judea and Galilee, but Roman law and practice allowed Jews to remain
separate legally and culturally. Galilee was evidently prosperous, and poverty was limited enough
that it did not threaten the social order. [44]
This was the era of Hellenistic Judaism, which combined Jewish religious tradition with elements
of Hellenistic Greek culture. Until the fall of the Roman Empire and the Muslim conquests of the
Eastern Mediterranean, the main centers of Hellenistic Judaism were Alexandria (Egypt)
and Antioch (now Southern Turkey), the two main Greek urban settlements of the Middle East and
North Africa area, both founded at the end of the 4th century BCE in the wake of the conquests
of Alexander the Great. Hellenistic Judaism also existed in Jerusalem during the Second Temple
Period, where there was conflict between Hellenizers and traditionalists (sometimes
called Judaizers). The Hebrew Bible was translated from Biblical Hebrew and Biblical
Aramaic into Jewish Koiné Greek; the Targum translations into Aramaic were also generated during
this era, both due to the decline of knowledge of Hebrew. [255]
Jews based their faith and religious practice on the Torah, five books said to have been given by
God to Moses. The three prominent religious parties were the Pharisees, the Essenes, and
the Sadducees. Together these parties represented only a small fraction of the population. Most
Jews looked forward to a time that God would deliver them from their pagan rulers, possibly through
war against the Romans.[44]
Sources
Sources for the historicity of Jesus
Josephus on Jesus and Tacitus on Christ

A 1640 edition of the works of Josephus, a 1st-century Roman-Jewish historian who referred to Jesus[256]
New Testament scholars face a formidable challenge when they analyze the canonical Gospels.
[257]
The Gospels are not biographies in the modern sense, and the authors explain Jesus' theological
significance and recount his public ministry while omitting many details of his life. [257] The reports of
supernatural events associated with Jesus' death and resurrection make the challenge even more
difficult.[257] Scholars regard the gospels as compromised sources of information because the writers
were trying to glorify Jesus.[89] Even so, the sources for Jesus' life are better than sources scholars
have for the life of Alexander the Great.[89] Scholars use a number of criteria, such as the criterion of
independent attestation, the criterion of coherence, and the criterion of discontinuity to judge the
historicity of events.[258] The historicity of an event also depends on the reliability of the source;
indeed, the gospels are not independent nor consistent records of Jesus' life. Mark, which is most
likely the earliest written gospel, has been considered for many decades the most historically
accurate.[259] John, the latest written gospel, differs considerably from the Synoptic Gospels, and thus
is generally considered less reliable, although more and more scholars now also recognize that it
may contain a core of older material as historically valuable as the Synoptic tradition or even more
so.[260]
The non-canonical Gospel of Thomas might be an independent witness to many of Jesus' parables
and aphorisms. For example, Thomas confirms that Jesus blessed the poor and that this saying
circulated independently before being combined with similar sayings in the Q source.[261] Other select
non-canonical Christian texts may also have value for historical Jesus research. [94]
Early non-Christian sources that attest to the historical existence of Jesus include the works of the
historians Josephus and Tacitus.[p][256][263] Josephus scholar Louis Feldman has stated that "few have
doubted the genuineness" of Josephus' reference to Jesus in book 20 of the Antiquities of the Jews,
and it is disputed only by a small number of scholars. [264][265] Tacitus referred to Christ and his
execution by Pilate in book 15 of his work Annals. Scholars generally consider Tacitus's reference to
the execution of Jesus to be both authentic and of historical value as an independent Roman source.
[266]
Non-Christian sources are valuable in two ways. First, they show that even neutral or hostile parties
never evince any doubt that Jesus actually existed. Second, they present a rough picture of Jesus
that is compatible with that found in the Christian sources: that Jesus was a teacher, had a
reputation as a miracle worker, had a brother James, and died a violent death. [11]
Archeology helps scholars better understand Jesus' social world. [267] Recent archeological work, for
example, indicates that Capernaum, a city important in Jesus' ministry, was poor and small, without
even a forum or an agora.[268][269] This archaeological discovery resonates well with the scholarly view
that Jesus advocated reciprocal sharing among the destitute in that area of Galilee. [268]
Chronology
Main article: Chronology of Jesus
Anno Domini
Jesus was a Galilean Jew,[12] born around the beginning of the 1st century, who died in 30 or 33 AD
in Judea.[6] The general scholarly consensus is that Jesus was a contemporary of John the
Baptist and was crucified by the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, who held office from 26 to 36 AD.[27]
The gospels offer several clues concerning the year of Jesus' birth. Matthew 2:1 associates the birth
of Jesus with the reign of Herod the Great, who died around 4 BC, and Luke 1:5 mentions that
Herod was on the throne shortly before the birth of Jesus,[270][271] although this gospel also associates
the birth with the Census of Quirinius which took place ten years later. [272][273] Luke 3:23 states that
Jesus was "about thirty years old" at the start of his ministry, which according to Acts 10:37–38was
preceded by John the Baptist's ministry, itself recorded in Luke 3:1–2 to have begun in the 15th year
of Tiberius' reign (28 or 29 AD).[271][274] By collating the gospel accounts with historical data and using
various other methods, most scholars arrive at a date of birth from 6 to 4 BC for Jesus, [274][275] but
some propose estimates that lie in a wider range. [q]
The years of Jesus' ministry have been estimated using several different approaches. [276][277] One of
these applies the reference in Luke 3:1–2, Acts 10:37–38 and the dates of Tiberius' reign, which are
well known, to give a date of around 28–29 AD for the start of Jesus' ministry. [278] Another approach
uses the statement about the temple in John 2:13–20, which asserts that the temple in
Jerusalem was in its 46th year of construction at the start of Jesus' ministry, together with Josephus'
statementthat the temple's reconstruction was started by Herod the Great in the 18th year of his
reign, to estimate a date around 27–29 AD.[276][279] A further method uses the date of the death of John
the Baptist and the marriage of Herod Antipas to Herodias, based on the writings of Josephus, and
correlates it with Matthew 14:4 and Mark 6:18.[280][281] Given that most scholars date the marriage of
Herod and Herodias as AD 28–35, this yields a date about 28–29 AD. [277]
A number of approaches have been used to estimate the year of the crucifixion of Jesus. Most
scholars agree that he died in 30 or 33 AD.[6][282] The gospels state that the event occurred during the
prefecture of Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea from 26 to 36 AD.[283][284][285] The date for
the conversion of Paul (estimated to be 33–36 AD) acts as an upper bound for the date of
Crucifixion. The dates for Paul's conversion and ministry can be determined by analyzing the Pauline
epistles and the Acts of the Apostles.[286][287] Astronomers have tried to estimate the precise date of the
Crucifixion by analyzing lunar motion and calculating historic dates of Passover, a festival based on
the lunisolar Hebrew calendar. The most widely accepted dates derived from this method are April 7,
30 AD, and April 3, 33 AD (both Julian).[288]
Historicity of events
Historicity of Jesus
See also: Cultural and historical background of Jesus, History of the Jews in the Roman
Empire, Historical criticism, Textual criticism, and Historical reliability of the Gospels
Roman senator and historian Tacitus mentioned the execution of "Christus" (Jesus) by Pilate in a passage
describing the Great Fire of Rome and Nero's persecution of Christians in the Annals, a history of the Roman
Empire during the 1st century.
Scholars have reached a limited consensus on the basics of Jesus' life. [289]
Family
Brothers of Jesus
Many scholars agree that Joseph, Jesus' father, died by the time Jesus began his ministry. Joseph is
not mentioned at all in the gospels during Jesus' ministry. Joseph's death would explain why in Mark
6:3, Jesus' neighbors refer to Jesus as the "son of Mary" (sons were usually identified by their
fathers).[290]
According to Theissen and Merz, it is common for extraordinary charismatic leaders, such as Jesus,
to come into conflict with their ordinary families.[291] In Mark, Jesus' family comes to get him, fearing
that he is mad (Mark 3:20–34), and this account is likely historical because early Christians would
not have invented it.[292] After Jesus' death, many members of his family joined the Christian
movement.[291] Jesus' brother James became a leader of the Jerusalem Church.[293]
Géza Vermes says that the doctrine of the virgin birth of Jesus arose from theological development
rather than from historical events.[294] Despite the widely held view that the authors of the Synoptic
Gospels drew upon each other (the so-called synoptic problem), other scholars take it as significant
that the virgin birth is attested by two separate gospels, Matthew and Luke.[295][296][297][298][299][300]
According to E. P. Sanders, the birth narratives in Matthew and Luke are the clearest case of
invention in the Gospel narratives of Jesus' life. Both accounts have Jesus born in Bethlehem, in
accordance with Jewish salvation history, and both have him growing up in Nazareth. But Sanders
points that the two Gospels report completely different and irreconcilable explanations for how that
happened. Luke's account of a census in which everyone returned to their ancestral cities is not
plausible. Matthew's account is more plausible, but the story reads as though it was invented to
identify Jesus as like a new Moses, and the historian Josephus reports Herod the Great's brutality
without ever mentioning that he massacred little boys.[301]
Sanders says that the genealogies of Jesus are based not on historical information but on the
authors' desire to show that Jesus was the universal Jewish savior. [113] In any event, once the
doctrine of the virgin birth of Jesus became established, that tradition superseded the earlier tradition
that he was descended from David through Joseph.[302] Luke reports that Jesus was a blood
relation of John the Baptist, but scholars generally consider this connection to be invented. [113][303]
Baptism
Most modern scholars consider Jesus' baptism to be a definite historical fact, along with his
crucifixion.[7] Theologian James D. G. Dunn states that they "command almost universal assent" and
"rank so high on the 'almost impossible to doubt or deny' scale of historical facts" that they are often
the starting points for the study of the historical Jesus. [7] Scholars adduce the criterion of
embarrassment, saying that early Christians would not have invented a baptism that might imply that
Jesus committed sins and wanted to repent.[304][305] According to Theissen and Merz, Jesus was
inspired by John the Baptist and took over from him many elements of his teaching. [306]
Ministry in Galilee
Most scholars hold that Jesus lived in Galilee and Judea and did not preach or study elsewhere.
[307]
They agree that Jesus debated with Jewish authorities on the subject of God, performed some
healings, taught in parables and gathered followers.[27] Jesus' Jewish critics considered his ministry to
be scandalous because he feasted with sinners, fraternized with women, and allowed his followers
to pluck grain on the Sabbath. [79] According to Sanders, it is not plausible that disagreements over
how to interpret the Law of Moses and the Sabbath would have led Jewish authorities to want Jesus
killed.[308]
According to Ehrman, Jesus taught that a coming kingdom was everyone's proper focus, not
anything in this life.[309] He taught about the Jewish Law, seeking its true meaning, sometimes in
opposition to other traditions.[310] Jesus put love at the center of the Law, and following that Law was
an apocalyptic necessity.[310] His ethical teachings called for forgiveness, not judging others, loving
enemies, and caring for the poor. [311] Funk and Hoover note that typical of Jesus were paradoxical or
surprising turns of phrase, such as advising one, when struck on the cheek, to offer the other
cheek to be struck as well (Luke 6:29).[312]
The Gospels portray Jesus teaching in well-defined sessions, such as the Sermon on the Mount in
the Gospel of Matthew or the parallel Sermon on the Plain in Luke. According to Gerd Theissen and
Annette Merz, these teaching sessions include authentic teachings of Jesus, but the scenes were
invented by the respective evangelists to frame these teachings, which had originally been recorded
without context.[94] While Jesus' miracles fit within the social context of antiquity, he defined them
differently. First, he attributed them to the faith of those healed. Second, he connected them to end
times prophecy.[313]
Jesus chose twelve disciples [314] (the "Twelve"), evidently as an apocalyptic message.[315] All three
Synoptics mention the Twelve, although the names on Luke's list vary from those in Mark and
Matthew, suggesting that Christians were not certain who all the disciples were. [315] The 12 disciples
might have represented the twelve original tribes of Israel, which would be restored once God's rule
was instituted.[315] The disciples were reportedly meant to be the rulers of the tribes in the coming
Kingdom (Matthew 19:28, Luke 22:30).[315] According to Bart Ehrman, Jesus' promise that the Twelve
would rule is historical, because the Twelve included Judas Iscariot. In Ehrman's view, no Christians
would have invented a line from Jesus, promising rulership to the disciple who betrayed him. [315] In
Mark, the disciples play hardly any role other than a negative one. While others sometimes respond
to Jesus with complete faith, his disciples are puzzled and doubtful. [316] They serve as a foilto Jesus
and to other characters.[316] The failings of the disciples are probably exaggerated in Mark, and the
disciples make a better showing in Matthew and Luke. [316]
Sanders says that Jesus' mission was not about repentance, although he acknowledges that this
opinion is unpopular. He argues that repentance appears as a strong theme only in Luke, that
repentance was John the Baptist's message, and that Jesus' ministry would not have been
scandalous if the sinners he ate with had been repentant. [317] According to Theissen and Merz, Jesus
taught that God was generously giving people an opportunity to repent. [318]
Role
Jesus taught that an apocalyptic figure, the "Son of Man", would soon come on clouds of glory to
gather the elect, or chosen ones (Mark 13:24–27, Matthew 24:29–31, Luke 21:25–28). He referred
to himself as a "son of man" in the colloquial sense of "a person", but scholars do not know whether
he also meant himself when he referred to the heavenly "Son of Man". Paul the Apostle and other
early Christians interpreted the "Son of Man" as the risen Jesus.[44]
The title Christ, or Messiah, indicates that Jesus' followers believed him to be the anointed heir of
King David, whom some Jews expected to save Israel. The Gospels refer to him not only as a
Messiah but in the absolute form as "the Messiah" or, equivalently, "the Christ". In early Judaism,
this absolute form of the title is not found, but only phrases such as "his Messiah". The tradition is
ambiguous enough to leave room for debate as to whether Jesus defined his eschatological role as
that of the Messiah.[319] The Jewish messianic tradition included many different forms, some of them
focused on a Messiah figure and others not.[320] Based on the Christian tradition, Gerd
Theissen advances the hypothesis that Jesus saw himself in messianic terms but did not claim the
title "Messiah".[320] Bart Ehrman argues that Jesus did consider himself to be the Messiah, albeit in
the sense that he would be the king of the new political order that God would usher in, [321] not in the
sense that most people today think of the term. [322]
Passover and crucifixion in Jerusalem
Around AD 30, Jesus and his followers traveled from Galilee to Jerusalem to observe Passover.
[314]
Jesus caused a disturbance in the Second Temple,[29] which was the center of Jewish religious
and civil authority. Sanders associates it with Jesus' prophecy that the Temple would be totally
demolished.[323] Jesus had a last meal with his disciples, which is the origin of the Christian sacrament
of bread and wine. Jesus' words are recorded in the Synoptics and in Paul's First Epistle to the
Corinthians. The differences in the accounts cannot be completely reconciled, and it is impossible to
know what Jesus intended, but in general the meal seems to point forward to the coming Kingdom.
Jesus probably expected to be killed, and he may have hoped that God would intervene. [324]
The Gospels say that Jesus was betrayed to the authorities by a disciple, and many scholars
consider this report to be highly reliable. [140] He was executed on the orders of Pontius Pilate, the
Roman prefect of Judaea.[29] Pilate most likely saw Jesus' reference to the Kingdom of God as a
threat to Roman authority and worked with the Temple elites to have Jesus executed. [325] The
Sadducean high-priestly leaders of the Temple more plausibly had Jesus executed for political
reasons than for his teaching.[140] They may have regarded him as a threat to stability, especially after
he caused a disturbance at the Second Temple. [140][43] Other factors, such as Jesus' triumphal entry
into Jerusalem, may have contributed to this decision. [326] Most scholars consider Jesus' crucifixion to
be factual, because early Christians would not have invented the painful death of their leader. [7][327]
After crucifixion
The Resurrection of Christ from a 16th-century manuscript of La Passion de Nostre Seigneur
After Jesus' death, his followers said he rose from the dead, although exact details of their
experiences are unclear. According to Sanders, the Gospel reports contradict each other, which,
according to him, suggests competition among those claiming to have seen him first rather than
deliberate fraud.[328] On the other hand, L. Michael White suggests that inconsistencies in the Gospels
reflect differences in the agendas of their unknown authors. [289] The followers of Jesus formed a
community to wait for his return and the founding of his kingdom. [29]
Portraits of Jesus
Portraits of the historical Jesus
Christ Pantocrator in a Roman mosaic in the church of Santa Pudenziana, Rome, c. 400–410 AD during
the Western Roman Empire
Modern research on the historical Jesus has not led to a unified picture of the historical figure, partly
because of the variety of academic traditions represented by the scholars. [329] Given the scarcity of
historical sources, it is generally difficult for any scholar to construct a portrait of Jesus that can be
considered historically valid beyond the basic elements of his life. [91][92] The portraits of Jesus
constructed in these quests often differ from each other, and from the image portrayed in the
gospels.[330][331]
Jesus is seen as the founder of, in the words of Sanders, a '"renewal movement within Judaism."
One of the criteria used to discern historical details in the "third quest" is the criterion of plausibility,
relative to Jesus' Jewish context and to his influence on Christianity. A disagreement in
contemporary research is whether Jesus was apocalyptic. Most scholars conclude that he was an
apocalyptic preacher, like John the Baptist and Paul the Apostle. In contrast, certain prominent North
American scholars, such as Burton Mack and John Dominic Crossan, advocate for a non-
eschatological Jesus, one who is more of a Cynic sage than an apocalyptic preacher.[332] In addition
to portraying Jesus as an apocalyptic prophet, a charismatic healer or a cynic philosopher, some
scholars portray him as the true Messiah or an egalitarian prophet of social change.[333][334] However,
the attributes described in the portraits sometimes overlap, and scholars who differ on some
attributes sometimes agree on others.[335]
Since the 18th century, scholars have occasionally put forth that Jesus was a political national
messiah, but the evidence for this portrait is negligible. Likewise, the proposal that Jesus was
a Zealot does not fit with the earliest strata of the Synoptic tradition. [140]
Language, ethnicity, and appearance

Language of Jesus and Race and appearance of Jesus
The ethnicity of Jesus in art has been influenced by cultural settings. [336][337]
Jesus grew up in Galilee and much of his ministry took place there. [338] The languages spoken in
Galilee and Judea during the 1st century AD include Jewish Palestinian Aramaic, Hebrew,
and Greek, with Aramaic being predominant. [339][340]There is substantial consensus that Jesus gave
most of his teachings in Aramaic.[341]
Modern scholars agree that Jesus was a Jew of 1st-century Palestine.[342][343] Ioudaios in New
Testament Greek[r] is a term which in the contemporary context may refer to religion (Second Temple
Judaism), ethnicity (of Judea), or both.[345][346][347] In a review of the state of modern scholarship, Amy-
Jill Levine writes that the entire question of ethnicity is "fraught with difficulty", and that "beyond
recognizing that 'Jesus was Jewish', rarely does the scholarship address what being 'Jewish'
means".[348]
The New Testament gives no description of the physical appearance of Jesus before his death—it is
generally indifferent to racial appearances and does not refer to the features of the people it
mentions.[349][350][351] Jesus probably looked like a typical Jew of his time and according to some
scholars was likely to have had a sinewy appearance due to his ascetic and itinerant lifestyle.[352]
Christ myth theory

Christ myth theory
The Christ myth theory is the hypothesis that Jesus of Nazareth never existed; or if he did, that he
had virtually nothing to do with the founding of Christianity and the accounts in the gospels.[s] Stories
of Jesus' birth, along with other key events, have so many mythic elements that some scholars have
suggested that Jesus himself was a myth.[354] Bruno Bauer (1809–1882) taught that the first Gospel
was a work of literature that produced history rather than described it. [355] According to Albert
Kalthoff (1850–1906) a social movement produced Jesus when it encountered Jewish messianic
expectations.[355] Arthur Drews (1865–1935) saw Jesus as the concrete form of a myth that predated
Christianity.[355] Despite arguments put forward by authors who have questioned the existence of
a historical Jesus, there remains a strong consensus in historical-critical biblical scholarship that a
historical Jesus did live in that area and in that time period. [356][357][358][359][360][361][362]
Perspectives
Religious perspectives on Jesus
Apart from his own disciples and followers, the Jews of Jesus' day generally rejected him as the
Messiah, as do the great majority of Jews today. Christian theologians, ecumenical councils,
reformers and others have written extensively about Jesus over the centuries. Christian
sects and schisms have often been defined or characterized by their descriptions of Jesus.
Meanwhile, Manichaeans, Gnostics, Muslims, Baha'is, and others have found prominent places for
Jesus in their religions.[363][364][365] Jesus has also had detractors, both past and present.
Christian
Jesus in Christianity, Christ (title), and Christology
The Trinity is the belief in Christianity that God is one God in three persons: God the Father, God the
Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit.
Jesus is depicted with the Alpha and Omega letters in the catacombs of Rome from the 4th century.
Jesus is the central figure of Christianity. [14] Although Christian views of Jesus vary, it is possible to
summarize the key beliefs shared among major denominations, as stated in
their catechetical or confessional texts.[366][367][368] Christian views of Jesus are derived from various
sources, including the canonical gospels and New Testament letters such as the Pauline epistles
and the Johannine writings. These documents outline the key beliefs held by Christians about Jesus,
including his divinity, humanity, and earthly life, and that he is the Christ and the Son of God.
[369]
Despite their many shared beliefs, not all Christian denominations agree on all doctrines, and
both major and minor differences on teachings and beliefs have persisted throughout Christianity for
centuries.[370]
The New Testament states that the resurrection of Jesus is the foundation of the Christian faith (1
Corinthians 15:12–20).[371]Christians believe that through his sacrificial death and resurrection,
humans can be reconciled with God and are thereby offered salvation and the promise of eternal life.
[35]
Recalling the words of John the Baptist on the day after Jesus' baptism, these doctrines
sometimes refer to Jesus as the Lamb of God, who was crucified to fulfill his role as the servant of
God.[372][373]Jesus is thus seen as the new and last Adam, whose obedience contrasts with Adam's
disobedience.[374] Christians view Jesus as a role model, whose God-focused life believers are
encouraged to imitate.[14]
Most Christians believe that Jesus was both human and the Son of God. [15] While there has
been theological debate over his nature,[t] Trinitarian Christians generally believe that Jesus is the
Logos, God's incarnation and God the Son, both fully divine and fully human. However, the doctrine
of the Trinity is not universally accepted among Christians. [376][377] With the Protestant Reformation,
Christians such as Michael Servetus and the Socinians started questioning the ancient creeds that
had established Jesus' two natures.[44] Nontrinitarian Christian groups include The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints,[378]Unitarians and Jehovah's Witnesses.[375]
Christians revere not only Jesus himself, but also his name. Devotions to the Holy Name of Jesus go
back to the earliest days of Christianity.[379][380] These devotions and feasts exist in
both Eastern and Western Christianity.[380]
Jewish
Judaism's view of Jesus
Jesus in the Talmud
Judaism rejects the idea of Jesus being God,[43] or a mediator to God, or part of a Trinity.[381] It holds
that Jesus is not the Messiah, arguing that he neither fulfilled the Messianic prophecies in
the Tanakh nor embodied the personal qualifications of the Messiah. [382] Jews argue that Jesus did
not fulfill prophesies to build the Third Temple (Ezekiel 37:26–28), gather Jews back to Israel (Isaiah
43:5–6), bring world peace (Isaiah 2:4), and unite humanity under the God of Israel (Zechariah 14:9).
[383]
Furthermore, according to Jewish tradition, there were no prophets after Malachi,[384] who
delivered his prophesies in the 5th century BC.[385]
Judaic criticism of Jesus is long-standing. The Talmud, written and compiled from the 3rd to the 5th
century AD,[386] includes stories that since medieval times have been considered to be defamatory
accounts of Jesus.[387] In one such story, Yeshu HaNozri ("Jesus the Nazarene"), a lewd apostate, is
executed by the Jewish high court for spreading idolatry and practicing magic. [388] The majority of
contemporary scholars consider that this material provides no information on the historical Jesus.
[389]
The Mishneh Torah, a late 12th-century work of Jewish law written by Moses Maimonides, states
that Jesus is a "stumbling block" who makes "the majority of the world to err and serve a god other
than the Lord".[390]
Medieval Hebrew literature contains the anecdotal "Episode of Jesus" (known also as Toledot
Yeshu), in which Jesus is described as being the son of Joseph, the son of Pandera (see: Episode
of Jesus). The account portrays Jesus as an impostor. [391]
Islamic
Artistic depictions
Depiction of Jesus
Jesus healing a paralytic in one of the first known images of Jesus from Dura Europos in the 2nd century[425]
Some of the earliest depictions of Jesus at the Dura-Europos church are firmly dated to before 256.
[426]
Thereafter, despite the lack of biblical references or historical records, a wide range of depictions
of Jesus appeared during the last two millennia, often influenced by cultural settings, political
circumstances and theological contexts.[336][337][350] As in other Early Christian art, the earliest depictions
date to the late 2nd or early 3rd century, and surviving images are found especially in
the Catacombs of Rome.[427]
The depiction of Christ in pictorial form was highly controversial in the early church.[428][u][429] From the
5th century onward, flat painted icons became popular in the Eastern Church. [430] The Byzantine
Iconoclasm acted as a barrier to developments in the East, but by the ninth century, art was
permitted again.[336] The Protestant Reformation brought renewed resistance to imagery, but total
prohibition was atypical, and Protestant objections to images have tended to reduce since the 16th
century. Although large images are generally avoided, few Protestants now object to book
illustrations depicting Jesus.[431][432] The use of depictions of Jesus is advocated by the leaders of
denominations such as Anglicans and Catholics[433][434][435] and is a key element of the Eastern
Orthodox tradition.[436][437]
The Transfiguration was a major theme in Eastern Christian art, and every Eastern Orthodox monk
who had trained in icon painting had to prove his craft by painting an icon depicting it. [438] Icons
receive the external marks of veneration, such as kisses and prostration, and they are thought to be
powerful channels of divine grace.[430] The Renaissance brought forth a number of artists who
focused on depictions of Jesus; Fra Angelico and others followed Giotto in the systematic
development of uncluttered images.[336]
Before the Protestant Reformation, the crucifix was common in Western Christianity. It is a model of
the cross with Jesus crucified on it. The crucifix became the central ornament of the altar in the 13th
century, a use that has been nearly universal in Roman Catholic churches since then. [439]
Jesus appears as an infant in a manger (feed trough) in Christmas creches, which depict the Nativity
scene.[440] He is typically joined by Mary, Joseph, animals, shepherds, angels, and the Magi.
[440]
Francis of Assisi (1181/82–1226) is credited with popularizing the creche, although he probably
did not initiate it.[440] The creche reached its height of popularity in the 17th and 18th centuries in
southern Europe.[440]
Associated relics
Relics associated with Jesus
The Shroud of Turin (Italy) is the best-known claimed relic of Jesus and one of the most studied artifacts in
human history.
The total destruction that ensued with the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70 made the
survival of items from 1st-century Judea very rare and almost no direct records survive about the
history of Judaism from the last part of the 1st century through the 2nd century. [441][442][v] Margaret M.
Mitchell writes that although Eusebius reports (Ecclesiastical History III 5.3) that the early Christians
left Jerusalem for Pella just before Jerusalem was subjected to the final lock down, we must accept
that no first hand Christian items from the early Jerusalem Church have reached us. [444] Joe
Nickell writes, "as investigation after investigation has shown, not a single, reliably authenticated
relic of Jesus exists."[445][w]
However, throughout the history of Christianity a number of relics attributed to Jesus have been
claimed, although doubt has been cast on them. The 16th-century Catholic
theologian Erasmus wrote sarcastically about the proliferation of relics and the number of buildings
that could have been constructed from the wood claimed to be from the cross used in the
Crucifixion.[448]Similarly, while experts debate whether Jesus was crucified with three nails or with
four, at least thirty holy nails continue to be venerated as relics across Europe. [449]
Some relics, such as purported remnants of the Crown of Thorns, receive only a modest number of
pilgrims, while the Shroud of Turin (which is associated with an approved Catholic devotion to
the Holy Face of Jesus), has received millions,[450] including popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI.[451]
[452]
Zeus God
Zeus (/zjuːs/[3] or /zuːs/;Greek: Ζεύς, Zeús [zdeǔ̯s])[4] is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion, who rules
as king of the gods of Mount Olympus. His name is cognate with the first element of his Roman equivalent Jupiter.
His mythologies and powers are similar, though not identical, to those of Indo-European deities such
as Indra, Jupiter, Perkūnas, Perun, and Thor.[5][6][7]
Zeus is the child of Cronus and Rhea, the youngest of his siblings to be born, though sometimes reckoned the eldest
as the others required disgorging from Cronus's stomach. In most traditions, he is married to Hera, by whom he is
usually said to have fathered Ares, Hebe, and Hephaestus.[8] At the oracle of Dodona, his consort was said to
be Dione, by whom the Iliad states that he fathered Aphrodite.[11] Zeus was also infamous for his erotic escapades.
These resulted in many divine and heroic offspring,
including Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Persephone, Dionysus, Perseus, Heracles, Helen of Troy, Minos, and
the Muses.
[8]
Zeus
God of the sky, lightning, thunder, law, order, and justice
Zeus de Smyrne, discovered in Smyrna in 1680[1]
He was respected as an allfather who was chief of the gods[12] and assigned the others to their roles:[13] "Even the gods
who are not his natural children address him as Father, and all the gods rise in his presence."[14][15] He
was equated with many foreign weather gods, permitting Pausanias to observe "That Zeus is king in heaven is a
saying common to all men".[16] Zeus' symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull, and oak. In addition to his Indo-
European inheritance, the classical "cloud-gatherer" (Greek: Νεφεληγερέτα, Nephelēgereta)[17] also derives certain
iconographic traits from the cultures of the ancient Near East, such as the scepter. Zeus is frequently depicted by
Greek artists in one of two poses: standing, striding forward with a thunderbolt leveled in his raised right hand, or
seated in majesty.
Name
The god's name in the nominative is Ζεύς (Zeús). It is inflected as
follows: vocative: Ζεῦ (Zeû); accusative: Δία (Día); genitive: Διός (Diós); dative: Διί (Dií). Diogenes
Laërtius quotes Pherecydes of Syros as spelling the name, Ζάς.[18]
Zeus is the Greek continuation of *Di̯ ēus, the name of the Proto-Indo-European god of the daytime sky, also called
*Dyeus ph2tēr ("Sky Father").[19][20] The god is known under this name in the Rigveda (Vedic Sanskrit Dyaus/Dyaus
Pita), Latin (compare Jupiter, from Iuppiter, deriving from the Proto-Indo-European vocative *dyeu-ph2tēr),[21] deriving
from the root *dyeu- ("to shine", and in its many derivatives, "sky, heaven, god").[19] Zeus is the only deity in the
Olympic pantheon whose name has such a transparent Indo-European etymology.[22]
The earliest attested forms of the name are the Mycenaean Greek 𐀇𐀸, di-we and 𐀇𐀺, di-wo, written in the Linear
B syllabic script.[23]
Plato, in his Cratylus, gives a folk etymology of Zeus meaning "cause of life always to all things," because of puns
between alternate titles of Zeus (Zen and Dia) with the Greek words for life and "because of."[24] This etymology, along
with Plato's entire method of deriving etymologies, is not supported by modern scholarship.[25][26]
Mythology
Birth
"Cave of Zeus", Mount Ida, Crete
Cronus sired several children by Rhea: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon, but swallowed them all as

soon as they were born, since he had learned from Gaia and Uranus that he was destined to be overthrown by his
son as he had previously overthrown Uranus, his own father, an oracle that Rhea heard and wished to avert.
When Zeus was about to be born, Rhea sought Gaia to devise a plan to save him, so that Cronus would get his
retribution for his acts against Uranus and his own children. Rhea gave birth to Zeus in Crete, handing Cronus a rock
wrapped in swaddling clothes, which he promptly swallowed.[27]
Infancy
Varying versions of the story exist:
1. According to Hyginus (Fabulae, 139)) Zeus was raised by a nymph named Amalthea. Since Saturn (Cronus)
ruled over the Earth, the heavens and the sea, she hid him by dangling him on a rope from a tree so he was
suspended between earth, sea and sky and thus, invisible to his father.
2. According to Pseudo-Apollodorus (Bibliotheca, 1.1.5-7)) Zeus was raised by a goat named Amalthea in a
cave called Dictaeon Antron (Psychro Cave). A a company of soldiers called Kouretes danced, shouted and
clashed their spears against their shields so that Cronus would not hear the baby's cry.
King of the gods

After reaching manhood, Zeus forced Cronus to disgorge first the stone (which was set down at Pytho under the
glens of Parnassus to be a sign to mortal men, the Omphalos) then his siblings in reverse order of swallowing. In
some versions, Metis gave Cronus an emetic to force him to disgorge the babies, or Zeus cut
Cronus's stomach open. Then Zeus released the brothers of Cronus, the Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes, from their
dungeon in Tartarus, killing their guard, Campe.
As a token of their appreciation, the Cyclopes gave him thunder and the thunderbolt, or lightning, which had
previously been hidden by Gaia. Together, Zeus, his brothers and sisters, Hecatonchires and Cyclopes overthrew
Cronus and the other Titans, in the combat called the Titanomachy. The defeated Titans were then cast into a
shadowy underworld region known as Tartarus. Atlas, one of the titans who fought against Zeus, was punished by
having to hold up the sky.
First century statue of Zeus
After the battle with the Titans, Zeus shared the world with his elder brothers, Poseidon and Hades, by drawing lots:
Zeus got the sky and air, Poseidon the waters, and Hades the world of the dead (the underworld). The ancient
Earth, Gaia, could not be claimed; she was left to all three, each according to their capabilities, which explains why
Poseidon was the "earth-shaker" (the god of earthquakes) and Hades claimed the humans who died (see
also Penthus).
Gaia resented the way Zeus had treated the Titans, because they were her children. Soon after taking the throne as
king of the gods, Zeus had to fight some of Gaia's other children, the monsters Typhon and Echidna. He vanquished
Typhon and trapped him under Mount Etna, but left Echidna and her children alive.
Conflicts with humans

When Zeus was atop Mount Olympus he was appalled by human sacrifice and other signs of human decadence. He
decided to wipe out mankind and flooded the world with the help of his brother Poseidon. After the flood,
only Deucalion and Pyrrharemained.[28] This flood narrative is a common motif in mythology.[29]
The Chariot of Zeus, from an 1879 Stories from the Greek Tragedians by Alfred Church.
Throughout history Zeus has been depicted as using violence to get his way and terrorize humans. As god of the sky
he has the power to hurl lightning bolts as a weapon. Since lightning is quite powerful and sometimes deadly, it is a
bold sign when lightning strikes because it is known that Zeus most likely threw the bolt.[30]
In the Iliad
Jupiter and Juno on Mount Ida by James Barry, 1773 (City Art Galleries, Sheffield.)
The Iliad is a poem by Homer about the Trojan war and the battle over the City of Troy. As God of the sky, lightning,
thunder, law, order, justice, Zeus controlled ancient Greece and all of the mortals and immortals living there.[31] The
Iliad covers the Trojan War, in which Zeus plays a major part.
Notable Scenes that include Zeus[32][33]
 Book 2: Zeus sends Agamemnon a dream and is able to partially control his decisions because of the
effects of the dream
 Book 4: Zeus promises Hera to ultimately destroy the City of Troy at the end of the war
 Book 7: Zeus and Poseidon ruin the Achaeans fortress
 Book 8: Zeus prohibits the other Gods from fighting each other and has to return to Mount Ida where he can
think over his decision that the Greeks will lose the war
 Book 14: Zeus is seduced by Hera and becomes distracted while she helps out the Greeks
 Book 15: Zeus wakes up and realizes that Poseidon his own brother has been helping out the Greeks, while
also sending Hector and Apollo to help fight the Trojans ensuring that the City of Troy will fall
 Book 16: Zeus is upset that he couldn't help save Sarpedon's life because it would then contradict his
previous decisions
 Book 17: Zeus is emotionally hurt by the fate of Hector
 Book 20: Zeus lets the other Gods help out their respective sides in the war
 Book 24: Zeus demands that Achilles release the corpse of Hector to be buried honourably
List of other deeds

 Zeus granted Callirrhoe's prayer that her sons by Alcmaeon, Acarnan and Amphoterus, grow quickly so that
they might be able to avenger the death of their father by the hands of Phegeus and his two sons.
 He unsuccessfully wooed Thetis, daughter of Nereus.
Family
Zeus and Hera
Hera
Zeus was brother and consort of Hera. By Hera, Zeus sired Ares, Hebe and Hephaestus, though some accounts say
that Hera produced these offspring alone. Some also include Eileithyia, Eris, Enyo and Angelos as their daughters. In
the section of the Iliad known to scholars as the Deception of Zeus, the two of them are described as having begun
their sexual relationship without their parents knowing about it.[34] The conquests of Zeus among nymphs and the
mythic mortal progenitors of Hellenic dynasties are famous. Olympian mythography even credits him with unions
with Leto, Demeter, Metis, Themis, Eurynome and Mnemosyne.[35][36] Other relationships with immortals
included Dione and Maia. Among mortals were Semele, Io, Europa and Leda (for more details, see below) and with
the young Ganymede(although he was mortal Zeus granted him eternal youth and immortality).
Many myths render Hera as jealous of his amorous conquests and a consistent enemy of Zeus's mistresses and their
children by him. For a time, a nymph named Echo had the job of distracting Hera from his affairs by talking
incessantly, and when Hera discovered the deception, she cursed Echo to repeat the words of others.
Transformation of Zeus
Love
Disguises
interest
Aegina an eagle or a flame of fire
Alcmene Amphitryon
Antiope a satyr
Asopis a flame of fire
Callisto Artemis
Cassiopeia Phoenix
Danae shower of gold
Europa a bull
Eurymedusa ant
Ganymede an eagle
Imandra a shower
Lamia a lapwing
Leda a swan and a star
Manthea a bear
Mnemosyne a shepherd
Nemesis a goose
Persephone a serpent
Semele a fire
Thalia a vulture
Consorts and offspring

Comparative table of Zeus' family
Divine Mortal
Offspring Divine Lovers Offspring Offspring
Lovers Consort
Aega or Themis • Astraea Alcmene • Heracles
Aix or • Nemesis Anaxithea • Olenus[38]

• Aegipan[37]
• Nymphs
Boetis • Aethlius or
of Eridanos
Calyce
Ananke • Moirai / Fates1 • Moirai / Fates1 • Endymion
1. Atropos 1. Atropos Cassiopeia • Anchinos[39]

2. Clotho 2. Clotho • Atymnius
3. Lachesis 3. Lachesis • Milye
Chaldene
Aphrodite • Tyche6 (possibly) • Horae • Solymus
• Hecate[40] First Generation: Chonia • Lacon[41]
Asteria
• Heracles[42][43] 1. Auxo Chloris • Mopsus[41]
Asterope • Acragas 2. Carpo Cotonia[44] • Polymedes[41]
Calliope • Corybantes 3. Thallo Danaë • Perseus
Second
Coryphe • Coria (Athene)[45] Dia • Pirithous
Generation:
• Persephone 1. Dike Elara or
Demeter • Tityos
2. Eirene Larissa
• Dionysus[46]
3. Eunomia • Minos
Dione
• Aphrodite Third Generation: • Rhadamanthus
Eos • Carae 1. Euporie Europa • Sarpedon
Eris • Limos 2. Orthosie • Alagonia[47]
Euanthe or • Charites/ Graces2 3. Pherusa • Carnus[48]
Eurydome or 1. Aglaea Unknown • Eubuleus[49] Euryodeia • Arcesius

mother
Eurymedusa Unknown
2. Euphrosyne • Litae Helen • Musaeus[41]
or mother
Unknown
3. Thalia • Nymphs Hermippe • Orchomenus[50]
mother
Eurynome
Unknown
• Asopus • Phasis[51] Hippodamia • Olenus[41]
mother
Europa • Dodon[52][41] Hippodamia[41] no known offspring
Semi-divine
• Agdistis Offspring Imandra[53] no known offspring
Lovers
Gaia
• Manes • Aeacus • Thebe[54]
Aegina Iodame
• Cyprian Centaurs • Damocrateia[55] • Deucalion[56]
Hera • Angelos • Amphion Isonoe (Isione) • Orchomenus
Antiope
• Achilleus
• Ares3 • Zethus Lamia
(Acheilus)[57][58]
• Libyan
• Arge[56] Borysthenis • Targitaus Lamia
Sibyl (Herophile)
• Eileithyia Callisto • Arcas Laodamia or
• Sarpedon
no known
• Eleutheria[59] Callirrhoe Hippodamia[41]
offspring
• Enyo Carme • Britomartis Leanida • Coron[41]

• Eris Chalcea • Olympus[41] • Helen of Troy5
Leda
• Hebe3 Charidia • Alchanus[41] • Pollux
• Hephaestus3 Chrysogenia[60] • Thissaeus[41] Libya • Belus[41]
Hybris • Pan • Dardanus Lysithea • Helenus[41]
• Apollo • Emathion Lysithoe • Heracles[61]
Leto Electra
• Artemis • Iasion or Eetion Manthea • Arctos[41]
Maia • Hermes • Harmonia Maera
• Locrus
Metis • Athena4 Eurymedousa • Myrmidon
Megaclite
Mnemosyne • Muses (Original
Eurynome • Ogygias[41] • Thebe
three)
1. Aoide • Cronius • Argus
Niobe
2. Melete Himalia • Spartaios • Pelasgus
3. Mneme • Cytus • Graecus
• Muses (Later nine) Hora • Colaxes[62] • Latinus[63]
Pandora
1. Calliope • Asterion[41] • Melera[64]
Idaea
2. Clio • Cres[65] • Pandorus[64]
3. Euterpe Io • Epaphus Phthia • Achaeus

4. Erato • Keroessa • Aethlius
5. Melpomene • Sarpedon • Aetolus
Lardane[66] Protogeneia
6. Polyhymnia • Argus • Dorus
7. Terpsichore Othreis • Meliteus • Opus
8. Thalia Phoenissa[67] • Endymion[41] • Hellen or
Pyrrha
9. Urania Plouto • Tantalus • Helmetheus[41]
Nemesis • Helen of Troy • Balius Semele • Dionysus
Podarge
• Melinoe • Xanthus Thaicrucia[68] • Nympheus[41]
Persephone
• Zagreus Salamis • Saracon[41] • Aegyptus[54]
Thebe
• Dionysus[69] Taygete • Lacedaemon • Heracles[70]
• Ersa Themisto • Archas • Magnes
Thyia
• Nemea Torrhebia • Carius • Makednos

Selene
• Nemean Lion Nymph African • Iarbas • Calabrus
Nymph Unknown
• Pandia • Saon (possibly) • Geraestus
Samothracian mother
Styx • Persephone Nymph Sithnid • Megarus • Taenarus
Thalassa • Aphrodite Unknown • Corinthus

mother
Unknown
Thalia • Palici • Crinacus
mother
Unknown
• Aletheia No mother • Orion
mother
Unknown
• Ate
mother
Unknown
• Caerus
mother
The Greeks variously claimed that the Moires/Fates were the daughters of Zeus and the Titaness Themis or of
1
primordial beings like Chaos, Nyx, or Ananke.

The Charites/Graces were usually considered the daughters of Zeus and Eurynome but they were also said to be
2
daughters of Dionysus and Aphrodite or of Helios and the naiad Aegle.

3
Some accounts say that Ares, Hebe, and Hephaestus were born parthenogenetically.
4
According to one version, Athena is said to be born parthenogenetically.
5
Helen was either the daughter of Leda or Nemesis.
6
Tyche is usually considered a daughter of Aphrodite and Hermes.
Roles and epithets

Category:Epithets of Zeus
Roman marble colossal head of Zeus, 2nd century AD (British Museum)[71]

Zeus played a dominant role, presiding over the Greek Olympian pantheon. He fathered many of the heroes and was
featured in many of their local cults. Though the Homeric "cloud collector" was the god of the sky and thunder like his
Near-Eastern counterparts, he was also the supreme cultural artifact; in some senses, he was the embodiment of
Greek religious beliefs and the archetypal Greek deity.
Aside from local epithets that simply designated the deity as doing something random at some particular place,
the epithets or titles applied to Zeus emphasized different aspects of his wide-ranging authority:
 Zeus Aegiduchos or Aegiochos: Usually taken as Zeus as the bearer of the Aegis, the divine shield with
the head of Medusa across it,[72][73][74] although others derive it from "goat" (αἴξ) and okhē (οχή) in reference to
Zeus's nurse, the divine goat Amalthea.[75][76]
 Zeus Agoraeus: Zeus as patron of the marketplace (agora) and punisher of dishonest traders.
 Zeus Areius: either "warlike" or "the atoning one".
 Zeus Horkios: Zeus as keeper of oaths. Exposed liars were made to dedicate a votive statue to Zeus, often
at the sanctuary at Olympia
 Zeus Olympios: Zeus as king of the gods and patron of the Panhellenic Games at Olympia
 Zeus Panhellenios ("Zeus of All the Greeks"): worshipped at Aeacus's temple on Aegina
 Zeus Xenios, Philoxenon, or Hospites: Zeus as the patron of hospitality (xenia) and guests, avenger of
wrongs done to strangers
A bust of Zeus.
Additional names and epithets for Zeus are also:
 Abrettenus (Ἀβρεττηνός) or Abretanus: surname of Zeus in Mysia[77]

 Achad: one of his names in Syria.
 Acraeus: his name at Smyrna.
 Acrettenus: his name in Mysia.
 Adad: one of his names in Syria.
 Adultus: from his being invoked by adults, on their marriage.
 Apemius: Zeus as the averter of ills
 Apomyius Zeus as one who dispels flies
 Astrapios ("Lightninger"): Zeus as a weather god
 Bottiaeus: Worshipped at Antioch[78]
 Brontios ("Thunderer"): Zeus as a weather god
 Diktaios: Zeus as lord of the Dikte mountain range, worshipped from Mycenaean times on Crete[79]
 Ithomatas: Worshipped at Mount Ithome in Messenia
 Zeus Adados: A Hellenization of the Canaanite Hadad and Assyrian Adad, particularly his solar cult
at Heliopolis[80]
 Zeus Bouleus: Worshipped at Dodona, the earliest oracle, along with Zeus Naos
 Zeus Georgos (Ζεὺς Γεωργός, "Zeus the Farmer"): Zeus as god of crops and the harvest, worshipped
in Athens
 Zeus Helioupolites ("Heliopolite" or "Heliopolitan Zeus"): A Hellenization of
the Canaanite Baʿal (probably Hadad) worshipped as a sun god at Heliopolis (modern Baalbek)[80]
 Zeus Kasios ("Zeus of Mount Kasios" the modern Jebel Aqra): Worshipped at a site on the Syrian–Turkish
border, a Hellenization of the Canaanite mountain and weather god Baal Zephon
 Zeus Labrandos ("Zeus of Labraunda"): Worshiped at Caria, depicted with a double-edged axe (labrys), a
Hellenization of the Hurrian weather god Teshub
 Zeus Meilichios ("Zeus the Easily-Entreated"): Worshipped at Athens, a form of the archaic
chthonic daimon Meilichios
 Zeus Naos: Worshipped at Dodona, the earliest oracle, along with Zeus Bouleus
 Zeus Tallaios ("Solar Zeus"): Worshipped on Crete
Cults of Zeus
Marble eagle from the sanctuary of Zeus Hypsistos, Archaeological Museum of Dion.
Panhellenic cults
Colossal seated Marnasfrom Gaza portrayed in the style of Zeus. Roman period Marnas [81] was the chief divinity of Gaza (Istanbul
Archaeology Museum).
The major center where all Greeks converged to pay honor to their chief god was Olympia. Their
quadrennial festival featured the famous Games. There was also an altar to Zeus made not of stone, but of ash, from
the accumulated remains of many centuries' worth of animals sacrificed there.
Outside of the major inter-polis sanctuaries, there were no modes of worshipping Zeus precisely shared across the
Greek world. Most of the titles listed below, for instance, could be found at any number of Greek temples from Asia
Minor to Sicily. Certain modes of ritual were held in common as well: sacrificing a white animal over a raised altar, for
instance.
Zeus Velchanos
With one exception, Greeks were unanimous in recognizing the birthplace of Zeus as Crete. Minoan culture
contributed many essentials of ancient Greek religion: "by a hundred channels the old civilization emptied itself into
the new", Will Durant observed,[82]and Cretan Zeus retained his youthful Minoan features. The local child of the Great
Mother, "a small and inferior deity who took the roles of son and consort",[83] whose Minoan name the Greeks
Hellenized as Velchanos, was in time assumed as an epithet by Zeus, as transpired at many other sites, and he
came to be venerated in Crete as Zeus Velchanos ("boy-Zeus"), often simply the Kouros.
In Crete, Zeus was worshipped at a number of caves at Knossos, Ida and Palaikastro. In the Hellenistic period a
small sanctuary dedicated to Zeus Velchanos was founded at the Hagia Triada site of a long-ruined Minoan palace.
Broadly contemporary coins from Phaistos show the form under which he was worshiped: a youth sits among the
branches of a tree, with a cockerel on his knees.[84] On other Cretan coins Velchanos is represented as an eagle and
in association with a goddess celebrating a mystic marriage.[85]Inscriptions at Gortyn and Lyttos record
a Velchania festival, showing that Velchanios was still widely venerated in Hellenistic Crete.[86]
The stories of Minos and Epimenides suggest that these caves were once used for incubatory divination by kings and
priests. The dramatic setting of Plato's Laws is along the pilgrimage-route to one such site, emphasizing archaic
Cretan knowledge. On Crete, Zeus was represented in art as a long-haired youth rather than a mature adult and
hymned as ho megas kouros, "the great youth". Ivory statuettes of the "Divine Boy" were unearthed near
the Labyrinth at Knossos by Sir Arthur Evans.[87] With the Kouretes, a band of ecstatic armed dancers, he presided
over the rigorous military-athletic training and secret rites of the Cretan paideia.
The myth of the death of Cretan Zeus, localised in numerous mountain sites though only mentioned in a
comparatively late source, Callimachus,[88] together with the assertion of Antoninus Liberalis that a fire shone forth
annually from the birth-cave the infant shared with a mythic swarm of bees, suggests that Velchanos had been an
annual vegetative spirit.[89] The Hellenistic writer Euhemerusapparently proposed a theory that Zeus had actually been
a great king of Crete and that posthumously, his glory had slowly turned him into a deity. The works of Euhemerus
himself have not survived, but Christian patristic writers took up the suggestion.
Zeus Lykaios
Further information: Lykaia
Laurel-wreathed head of Zeus on a gold stater, Lampsacus, c 360–340 BC (Cabinet des Médailles).
The epithet Zeus Lykaios ("wolf-Zeus") is assumed by Zeus only in connection with the archaic festival of
the Lykaia on the slopes of Mount Lykaion ("Wolf Mountain"), the tallest peak in rustic Arcadia; Zeus had only a
formal connection[90] with the rituals and myths of this primitive rite of passage with an ancient threat
of cannibalism and the possibility of a werewolftransformation for the ephebes who were the participants.[91] Near the
ancient ash-heap where the sacrifices took place[92] was a forbidden precinct in which, allegedly, no shadows were
ever cast.[93]
According to Plato,[94] a particular clan would gather on the mountain to make a sacrifice every nine years to Zeus
Lykaios, and a single morsel of human entrails would be intermingled with the animal's. Whoever ate the human flesh
was said to turn into a wolf, and could only regain human form if he did not eat again of human flesh until the next
nine-year cycle had ended. There were games associated with the Lykaia, removed in the fourth century to the first
urbanization of Arcadia, Megalopolis; there the major temple was dedicated to Zeus Lykaios.
There is, however, the crucial detail that Lykaios or Lykeios (epithets of Zeus and Apollo) may derive from Proto-
Greek *λύκη, "light", a noun still attested in compounds such as ἀμφιλύκη, "twilight", λυκάβας, "year" (lit. "light's
course") etc. This, Cook argues, brings indeed much new 'light' to the matter as Achaeus, the contemporary
tragedian of Sophocles, spoke of Zeus Lykaios as "starry-eyed", and this Zeus Lykaios may just be the Arcadian
Zeus, son of Aether, described by Cicero. Again under this new signification may be seen Pausanias' descriptions of
Lykosoura being 'the first city that ever the sun beheld', and of the altar of Zeus, at the summit of Mount Lykaion,
before which stood two columns bearing gilded eagles and 'facing the sun-rise'. Further Cook sees only the tale of
Zeus' sacred precinct at Mount Lykaion allowing no shadows referring to Zeus as 'god of light' (Lykaios).[95]
A statue of Zeus in a drawing.
Additional cults of Zeus

Although etymology indicates that Zeus was originally a sky god, many Greek cities honored a local Zeus who lived
underground. Athenians and Sicilians honored Zeus Meilichios ("kindly" or "honeyed") while other cities had Zeus
Chthonios("earthy"), Zeus Katachthonios ("under-the-earth") and Zeus Plousios ("wealth-bringing"). These deities
might be represented as snakes or in human form in visual art, or, for emphasis as both together in one image. They
also received offerings of black animal victims sacrificed into sunken pits, as did chthonic deities
like Persephone and Demeter, and also the heroes at their tombs. Olympian gods, by contrast, usually received white
victims sacrificed upon raised altars.
In some cases, cities were not entirely sure whether the daimon to whom they sacrificed was a hero or an
underground Zeus. Thus the shrine at Lebadaea in Boeotiamight belong to the hero Trophonius or to Zeus
Trephonius ("the nurturing"), depending on whether you believe Pausanias, or Strabo. The hero Amphiaraus was
honored as Zeus Amphiaraus at Oropus outside of Thebes, and the Spartans even had a shrine to Zeus
Agamemnon. Ancient Molossian kings sacrificed to Zeus Areius. Strabo mention that at Tralles there was the Zeus
Larisaeus.[96]
Non-panhellenic cults
Roman cast terracotta of ram-horned Jupiter Ammon, 1st century AD (Museo Barracco, Rome).
In addition to the Panhellenic titles and conceptions listed above, local cults maintained their own idiosyncratic ideas
about the king of gods and men. With the epithet Zeus Aetnaeus he was worshiped on Mount Aetna, where there
was a statue of him, and a local festival called the Aetnaea in his honor.[97] Other examples are listed below. As Zeus
Aeneius or Zeus Aenesius, he was worshiped in the island of Cephalonia, where he had a temple on Mount Aenos.
[98]
Oracles of Zeus
Although most oracle sites were usually dedicated to Apollo, the heroes, or various goddesses like Themis, a few
oracular sites were dedicated to Zeus. In addition, some foreign oracles, such as Baʿal's at Heliopolis,
were associated with Zeus in Greek or Jupiter in Latin.
The Oracle at Dodona
The cult of Zeus at Dodona in Epirus, where there is evidence of religious activity from the second millennium BC
onward, centered on a sacred oak. When the Odyssey was composed (circa 750 BC), divination was done there by
barefoot priests called Selloi, who lay on the ground and observed the rustling of the leaves and branches.[99] By the
time Herodotus wrote about Dodona, female priestesses called peleiades ("doves") had replaced the male priests.
Zeus's consort at Dodona was not Hera, but the goddess Dione — whose name is a feminine form of "Zeus". Her
status as a titaness suggests to some that she may have been a more powerful pre-Hellenic deity, and perhaps the
original occupant of the oracle.
The Oracle at Siwa
The oracle of Ammon at the Siwa Oasis in the Western Desert of Egypt did not lie within the bounds of the Greek
world before Alexander's day, but it already loomed large in the Greek mind during the archaic
era: Herodotus mentions consultations with Zeus Ammon in his account of the Persian War. Zeus Ammon was
especially favored at Sparta, where a temple to him existed by the time of the Peloponnesian War.[100]
After Alexander made a trek into the desert to consult the oracle at Siwa, the figure arose in the Hellenistic
imagination of a Libyan Sibyl.
Zeus and foreign gods
Evolution of Zeus Nikephoros ("Zeus holding Nike") on Indo-Greekcoinage: from the Classical motif of Nike handing the wreath of victory to
Zeus himself (left, coin of Heliocles I 145-130 BC), then to a baby elephant (middle, coin of Antialcidas 115-95 BC), and then to the Wheel of
the Law, symbol of Buddhism (right, coin of Menander II 90–85 BC).
Zeus as Vajrapāni, the protector of the Buddha. 2nd century, Greco-Buddhist art.[101]

Zeus was identified with the Roman god Jupiter and associated in the syncretic classical imagination
(see interpretatio graeca) with various other deities, such as the Egyptian Ammon and the Etruscan Tinia. He, along
with Dionysus, absorbed the role of the chief Phrygian god Sabaziosin the syncretic deity known in Rome
as Sabazius. The Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphaneserected a statue of Zeus Olympios in the Judean Temple in
Jerusalem.[102] Hellenizing Jews referred to this statue as Baal Shamen (in English, Lord of Heaven).[103]
Zeus and the sun

Zeus is occasionally conflated with the Hellenic sun god, Helios, who is sometimes either directly referred to as Zeus'
eye,[104] or clearly implied as such. Hesiod, for instance, describes Zeus's eye as effectively the sun.[105] This perception
is possibly derived from earlier Proto-Indo-European religion, in which the sun is occasionally envisioned as the eye
of *Dyḗus Pḥatḗr (see Hvare-khshaeta).[106]
The Cretan Zeus Tallaios had solar elements to his cult. "Talos" was the local equivalent of Helios.[107]
Zeus in philosophy
In Neoplatonism, Zeus's relation to the gods familiar from mythology is taught as the Demiurge or Divine Mind.
Specifically within Plotinus's work the Enneads[108] and the Platonic Theology of Proclus.
Zeus in the Bible

Zeus is mentioned in the New Testament twice, first in Acts 14:8–13: When the people living in Lystra saw
the Apostle Paulheal a lame man, they considered Paul and his partner Barnabas to be gods, identifying Paul
with Hermes and Barnabas with Zeus, even trying to offer them sacrifices with the crowd. Two ancient inscriptions
discovered in 1909 near Lystra testify to the worship of these two gods in that city.[109] One of the inscriptions refers to
the "priests of Zeus", and the other mentions "Hermes Most Great"" and "Zeus the sun-god".[110]
The second occurrence is in Acts 28:11: the name of the ship in which the prisoner Paul set sail from the island of
Malta bore the figurehead "Sons of Zeus" aka Castor and Pollux.
The deuterocanonical book of 2 Maccabees 6:1, 2 talks of King Antiochus IV (Epiphanes), who in his attempt to
stamp out the Jewish religion, directed that the temple at Jerusalem be profaned and rededicated to Zeus (Jupiter
Olympius).[111]
In modern culture
Depictions of Zeus as a bull, the form he took when abducting Europa, are found on the Greek 2-euro coin and on
the United Kingdom identity card for visa holders. Mary Beard, professor of Classics at Cambridge University, has
criticised this for its apparent celebration of rape.[112]
Zeus has been portrayed by Axel Ringvall in Jupiter på jorden, the first known film adaption to feature Zeus; Niall
MacGinnis in Jason and the Argonauts[113][114] and Angus MacFadyen in the 2000 remake;[115] Laurence Olivier in the
original Clash of the Titans,[116] and Liam Neeson in the 2010 remake,[117] along with the 2012 sequel Wrath of the
Titans;[118][119] Anthony Quinn in the 1990s TV series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys;[120] Rip Torn in the Disney
animated feature Hercules;[121] Corey Burton in Hercules, God of War II, God of War III, God of War:
Ascension, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, and Kingdom Hearts 3;[122][123] and Sean Bean in Percy Jackson and the
Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010).[124]
Genealogy of the Olympians

hideOlympians' family tree [125]
Uranus Gaia
Uranus' genitals Cronus Rhea
ZEUS Hera Poseidon Hades Demeter Hestia
a[126]
b[127]
Ares Hephaestus
Metis
Athena[128]
Leto
Apollo
Artemis
Maia
Hermes
Semele
Dionysus
Dione
a[129] b[130]
Aphrodite
Argive genealogy
Argive genealogy in Greek mythology
v
t
e
Inachus
Melia
Phorone
Zeus Io
us
Epaphus Memphis
Libya Poseidon
Telephas
Belus Achiroë Agenor
sa
Aegyptu Phoenix
Danaus Pieria Cadmus Cilix Europa
s
Zeu
Mantineu Hypermne Harmoni s
Lynceus
s stra a
Polydorus
Rhadama
Spar Lacedaem nthus
Ocalea Abas Agave Sarpedon
ta on
Autonoë
Eurydice Acrisius Ino Minos
Zeus Danaë Semele Zeus
Perseus Dionysus
Colour key:
Male
Female
Deity
INANNA
Inanna[a] is an ancient Mesopotamian goddess associated with love, beauty, sex, desire, fertility,
war, justice, and political power. She was originally worshipped in Sumer and was later worshipped
by the Akkadians, Babylonians, and Assyriansunder the name Ishtar.[b] She was known as the
"Queen of Heaven" and was the patron goddess of the Eanna temple at the city of Uruk, which was
her main cult center. She was associated with the planet Venus and her most prominent symbols
included the lion and the eight-pointed star. Her husband was the god Dumuzid (later known as
Tammuz) and her sukkal, or personal attendant, was the goddess Ninshubur (who later became the
male deity Papsukkal).
Inanna was worshipped in Sumer at least as early as the Uruk period (c. 4000 BC – c. 3100 BC), but
she had little cult prior to the conquest of Sargon of Akkad. During the post-Sargonic era, she
became one of the most widely venerated deities in the Sumerian pantheon, [5][6] with temples
across Mesopotamia. The cult of Inanna-Ishtar, which may have been associated with a variety of
sexual rites, including homosexual transvestite priests and sacred prostitution, was continued by
the East Semitic-speaking people who succeeded the Sumerians in the region. She was especially
beloved by the Assyrians, who elevated her to become the highest deity in their pantheon, ranking
above their own national god Ashur. Inanna-Ishtar is alluded to in the Hebrew Bible and she greatly
influenced the Phoenician goddess Astarte, who later influenced the development of the Greek
goddess Aphrodite. Her cult continued to flourish until its gradual decline between the first and sixth
centuries AD in the wake of Christianity, though it survived in parts of Upper Mesopotamia as late as
the eighteenth century.
Inanna (Ishtar)
 Queen of Heaven
Goddess of love, beauty, sex, desire, fertility, war,
justice, and political power
Fragment of a stone plaque from the temple of Inanna
at Nippur showing a Sumerian goddess, possibly Inanna (c.

2500 BC)[1]
Abode Heaven
Planet Venus
Symbol hook-shaped knot of reeds, eight-pointed
star, lion, rosette, dove
Inanna appears in more myths than any other Sumerian deity. [7][8][9] Many of her myths involve her
taking over the domains of other deities. She was believed to have stolen the mes, which
represented all positive and negative aspects of civilization, from Enki, the god of wisdom. She was
also believed to have taken over the Eanna temple from An, the god of the sky. Alongside her twin
brother Utu (later known as Shamash), Inanna was the enforcer of divine justice; she destroyed
Mount Ebih for having challenged her authority, unleashed her fury upon the
gardener Shukaletuda after he raped her in her sleep, and tracked down the bandit woman Bilulu
and killed her in divine retribution for having murdered Dumuzid. In the standard Akkadian version of
the Epic of Gilgamesh, Ishtar asks Gilgamesh to become her consort. When he refuses, she
unleashes the Bull of Heaven, resulting in the death of Enkidu and Gilgamesh's subsequent grapple
with his mortality.
Inanna-Ishtar's most famous myth is the story of her descent into and return from Kur, the ancient
Sumerian Underworld, a myth in which she attempts to conquer the domain of her older
sister Ereshkigal, the queen of the Underworld, but is instead deemed guilty of hubris by the seven
judges of the Underworld and struck dead. Three days later, Ninshubur pleads with all the gods to
bring Inanna back, but all of them refuse her except Enki, who sends two sexless beings to rescue
Inanna. They escort Inanna out of the Underworld, but the galla, the guardians of the Underworld,
drag her husband Dumuzid down to the Underworld as her replacement. Dumuzid is eventually
permitted to return to heaven for half the year while his sister Geshtinanna remains in the
Underworld for the other half, resulting in the cycle of the seasons.
Inanna and Ishtar were originally separate, unrelated deities, [10][11][2][12][13] but they were equated with
each other during the reign of Sargon of Akkad and came to be regarded as effectively the same
goddess under two different names.[10][11][2][12][13] Inanna's name may derive from
the Sumerian phrase nin-an-ak, meaning "Lady of Heaven",[14][15] but the cuneiform sign
for Inanna (𒈹) is not a ligature of the signs lady (Sumerian: nin; Cuneiform: 𒊩𒌆 SAL.TUG2)
and sky (Sumerian: an; Cuneiform: 𒀭 AN).[15][14][16] These difficulties led some early Assyriologists to
suggest that Inanna may have originally been a Proto-Euphratean goddess, possibly related to
the Hurrian mother goddess Hannahannah, who was only later accepted into the Sumerian
pantheon. This idea was supported by Inanna's youthfulness, and as well as the fact that, unlike the
other Sumerian divinities, she seems to have initially lacked a distinct sphere of responsibilities.
[15]
The view that there was a Proto-Euphratean substrate language in Southern Iraq before Sumerian
is not widely accepted by modern Assyriologists.[17]
The name Ishtar occurs as an element in personal names from both the pre-Sargonic and post-
Sargonic eras in Akkad, Assyria, and Babylonia. [18] It is of Semiticderivation[19][18] and is probably
etymologically related to the name of the West Semitic god Attar, who is mentioned in later
inscriptions from Ugarit and southern Arabia.[19][18] The morning star may have been conceived as a
male deity who presided over the arts of war and the evening star may have been conceived as a
female deity who presided over the arts of love.[18] Among the Akkadians, Assyrians, and
Babylonians, the name of the male god eventually supplanted the name of his female counterpart,
[13]
but, due to extensive syncretism with Inanna, the deity remained as female, despite the fact that
her name was in the masculine form.[13]
Origins and development
Copy of the Uruk Vase in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, Germany[20]
Inanna has posed a problem for many scholars of ancient Sumer due to the fact that her sphere of
power contained more distinct and contradictory aspects than that of any other deity. [21] Two major
theories regarding her origins have been proposed. [22] The first explanation holds that Inanna is the
result of a syncretism between several previously unrelated Sumerian deities with totally different
domains.[22] The second explanation holds that Inanna was originally a Semitic deity who entered the
Sumerian pantheon after it was already fully structured, and who took on all the roles that had not
yet been assigned to other deities.[23]
As early as the Uruk period (c. 4000 – c. 3100 BC), Inanna was already associated with the city
of Uruk.[2] During this period, the symbol of a ring-headed doorpost was closely associated with
Inanna.[2] The famous Uruk Vase (found in a deposit of cult objects of the Uruk III period) depicts a
row of naked men carrying various objects, including bowls, vessels, and baskets of farm products,
[24]
and bringing sheep and goats to a female figure facing the ruler.[25] The female stands in front of
Inanna's symbol of the two twisted reeds of the doorpost, [25] while the male figure holds a box and
stack of bowls, the later cuneiformsign signifying the En, or high priest of the temple.[26]
Seal impressions from the Jemdet Nasr period (c. 3100 – c. 2900 BC) show a fixed sequence of
symbols representing various cities, including those of Ur, Larsa, Zabalam, Urum, Arina, and
probably Kesh.[27] This list probably reflects the report of contributions to Inanna at Uruk from cities
supporting her cult.[27] A large number of similar seals have been discovered from phase I of the Early
Dynastic period (c. 2900 – c. 2350 BC) at Ur, in a slightly different order, combined with the rosette
symbol of Inanna.[27] These seals were used to lock storerooms to preserve materials set aside for
her cult.[27]
During the Akkadian period (c. 2334 – 2154 BC), following the conquests of Sargon of Akkad, Inanna
and Ishtar became so extensively syncretized that they became regarded as effectively the same. [11]
[13]
The Akkadian poetess Enheduanna, the daughter of Sargon, wrote numerous hymns to Inanna,
identifying her with Ishtar.[11][28] Sargon himself proclaimed Inanna and An as the sources of his
authority.[29] As a result of this,[11] the popularity of Inanna-Ishtar's cult skyrocketed. [11][2][12]
Worship
Part of the front of a Babylonian temple to Ishtar in Uruk, built c. 1415 BC, during the Kassite Period(c. 1600
BC – c. 1155 BC)[30]
Ancient Sumerian statuette of two gala priests, dating to c. 2450 BC, found in the temple of Inanna at Mari
During the Pre-Sargonic era, Inanna had virtually no cult, [11] but, after the reign of Sargon, she quickly
became one of the most widely venerated deities in the Sumerian pantheon. [11][9][16][6] She had temples
in Nippur, Lagash, Shuruppak, Zabalam, and Ur,[11] but her main cult center was the Eanna temple
in Uruk,[11][31][15][c] whose name means "House of Heaven" (Sumerian: e2-anna; Cuneiform: 𒂍𒀭 E2.AN),
[d]
The original patron deity of this fourth-millennium BC city was probably An.[15] After its dedication to
Inanna, the temple seems to have housed priestesses of the goddess. [15] During later times, while her
cult in Uruk continued to flourish, [33] Ishtar also became particularly worshipped in the Upper
Mesopotamian kingdom of Assyria (modern northern Iraq, northeast Syria and southeast Turkey),
especially in the cities of Nineveh, Aššur and Arbela (modern Erbil).[34] During the reign of the
Assyrian king Assurbanipal, Ishtar rose to become the most important and widely venerated deity in
the Assyrian pantheon, surpassing even the Assyrian national god Ashur.[33]
As Ishtar became more prominent, several lesser or regional deities were assimilated into her,
[35]
including Aya (the wife of Utu), Anatu (a Semitic warrior goddess), Anunitu (an Akkadian light
goddess), Agasayam (a warrior goddess), Irnini (the goddess of cedar forests in the Lebanese
mountains), Kilili or Kulili (the symbol of desirable women), Sahirtu (the messenger of lovers), Kir-gu-
lu (the bringer of rain), and Sarbanda (the personification of sovereignty). [35]
Androgynous and hermaphroditic men were heavily involved in the cult of Inanna-Ishtar. [36] During
Sumerian times, a set of priests known as gala worked in Inanna's temples, where they performed
elegies and lamentations.[37] Gala took female names, spoke in the eme-sal dialect, which was
traditionally reserved for women, and appear to have engaged in homosexual intercourse.[38] During
the Akkadian Period, kurgarrū and assinnu were servants of Ishtar who dressed in female
clothing and performed war dances in Ishtar's temples.[39] Several Akkadian proverbs seem to
suggest that they may have also had homosexual proclivities. [39] Gwendolyn Leick, an anthropologist
known for her writings on Mesopotamia, has compared these individuals to the contemporary
Indian hijra.[40] In one Akkadian hymn, Ishtar is described as transforming men into women. [41]
According to the early scholar Samuel Noah Kramer, towards the end of the third millennium BC,
kings of Uruk may have established their legitimacy by taking on the role of the shepherd Dumuzid,
Inanna's consort.[42] This ritual lasted for one night on the tenth day of the Akitu,[42][43] the Sumerian
new year festival,[43] which was celebrated annually at the spring equinox.[42]The king would then
partake in a "sacred marriage" ceremony,[42] during which he engaged in ritual sexual intercourse
with the high priestess of Inanna, who took on the role of the goddess. [42][43] In the late twentieth
century, the historicity of the sacred marriage ritual was treated by scholars as more-or-less an
established fact,[44] but, largely due to the writings of Pirjo Lapinkivi, many have begun to regard the
sacred marriage as a literary invention rather than an actual ritual. [44]
The cult of Ishtar may have involved sacred prostitution,[45][46][34][47] but this is disputed.[48][49]
[50]
Hierodules known as ishtaritum are reported to have worked in Ishtar's temples,[46] but it is unclear
if such priestesses actually performed any sex acts[49] and several modern scholars have argued that
they did not.[50][48] Women across the ancient Near East worshipped Ishtar by dedicating to her cakes
baked in ashes (known as kamān tumri).[51] A dedication of this type is described in an Akkadian
hymn.[52] Several clay cake molds discovered at Mari are shaped like naked women with large hips
clutching their breasts.[52] Some scholars have suggested that the cakes made from these molds
were intended as representations of Ishtar herself. [53]
Iconography
Symbols
The eight-pointed star was Inanna-Ishtar's most common symbol. [54][55] Here it is shown alongside the solar
disk of her brother Shamash (Sumerian Utu) and the crescent moon of her father Sin (Sumerian Nanna) on
a boundary stone of Meli-Shipak II, dating to the twelfth century BC.
Lions were one of Inanna-Ishtar's primary symbols. [56][57] The lion above comes from the Ishtar Gate, the eighth
gate to the inner city of Babylon, which was constructed in around 575 BC under the orders
of Nebuchadnezzar II.[58]
Inanna-Ishtar's most common symbol was the eight-pointed star,[54] though the exact number of
points sometimes varies.[55] Six-pointed stars also occur frequently, but their symbolic meaning is
unknown.[59] The eight-pointed star seems to have originally borne a general association with the
heavens,[60] but, by the Old Babylonian Period (c. 1830 – c. 1531 BC), it had come to be specifically
associated with the planet Venus, with which Ishtar was identified.[60] Starting during this same
period, the star of Ishtar was normally enclosed within a circular disc.[59] During later Babylonian
times, slaves who worked in Ishtar's temples were sometimes branded with the seal of the eight-
pointed star.[59][61] On boundary stonesand cylinder seals, the eight-pointed star is sometimes shown
alongside the crescent moon, which was the symbol of Sin(Sumerian Nanna) and the rayed solar
disk, which was a symbol of Shamash (Sumerian Utu).[62][55]
Inanna's cuneiform ideogram was a hook-shaped twisted knot of reeds, representing the doorpost of
the storehouse, a common symbol of fertility and plenty. [63] The rosette was another important symbol
of Inanna, which continued to be used as a symbol of Ishtar after their syncretism. [64] During the Neo-
Assyrian Period (911 – 609 BC), the rosette may have actually eclipsed the eight-pointed star and
become Ishtar's primary symbol.[65] The temple of Ishtar in the city of Aššur was adorned with
numerous rosettes.[64]
Inanna-Ishtar was associated with lions, [56][57] which the ancient Mesopotamians regarded as a symbol
of power.[56] Her associations with lions began during Sumerian times; [57] a chlorite bowl from the
temple of Inanna at Nippur depicts a large feline battling a giant snake and a cuneiform inscription
on the bowl reads "Inanna and the Serpent," indicating that the cat is supposed to represent the
goddess.[57] During the Akkadian Period, Ishtar was frequently depicted as a heavily armed warrior
goddess with a lion as one of her attributes.[66]
Doves were also prominent animal symbols associated with Inanna-Ishtar. [67][68] Doves are shown on
cultic objects associated with Inanna as early as the beginning of the third millennium BC. [68] Lead
dove figurines were discovered in the temple of Ishtar at Aššur, dating to the thirteenth century
BC[68] and a painted fresco from Mari, Syria shows a giant dove emerging from a palm tree in the
temple of Ishtar,[67] indicating that the goddess herself was sometimes believed to take the form of a
dove.[67]
As the planet Venus

Inanna was associated with the planet Venus.[31][69][31] Several hymns praise Inanna in her role as the
goddess of the planet Venus.[70] Theology professor Jeffrey Cooley has argued that, in many myths,
Inanna's movements may correspond with the movements of the planet Venus in the sky.
[70]
In Inanna's Descent to the Underworld, unlike any other deity, Inanna is able to descend into the
netherworld and return to the heavens. The planet Venus appears to make a similar descent, setting
in the West and then rising again in the East.[70] An introductory hymn describes Inanna leaving the
heavens and heading for Kur, what could be presumed to be, the mountains, replicating the rising
and setting of Inanna to the West.[70] In Inanna and Shukaletuda, Shukaletuda is described as
scanning the heavens in search of Inanna, possibly searching the eastern and western horizons. [71] In
the same myth, while searching for her attacker, Inanna herself makes several movements that
correspond with the movements of Venus in the sky.[70]
Because the movements of Venus appear to be discontinuous (it disappears due to its proximity to
the sun, for many days at a time, and then reappears on the other horizon), some cultures did not
recognize Venus as single entity; [70] instead, they assumed it to be two separate stars on each
horizon: the morning and evening star.[70] Nonetheless, a cylinder seal from the Jemdet Nasr
period indicates that the ancient Sumerians already knew that the morning and evening stars were
the same celestial object.[70] The discontinuous movements of Venus relate to both mythology as well
as Inanna's dual nature.[70]
Inanna in her aspect as Anunītu was associated with the eastern fish of the last of the zodiacal
constellations, Pisces.[72][73] Her consort Dumuzi was associated with the contiguous first
constellation, Aries.[72]

Babylonian terracotta relief of Ishtar from Eshnunna(early second millennium BC)

Life-sized statue of a goddess, probably Ishtar, holding a vase from Mari, Syria(eighteenth century BC)


Terracotta relief of Ishtar with wings from Larsa (second millennium BC)

Statuette of woman clutching her breasts, possibly representing Ishtar, from Susa (c. 1300 – c. 1100 BC)
[74]


Stele showing Ishtar holding a bow from Ennigaldi-Nanna's museum (eighth century BC)

Hellenized bas-relief sculpture of Ishtar standing with her servant from Palmyra (third century AD)
Character
Ancient Akkadian cylinder seal depicting Inanna resting her foot on the back of a lion while Ninshubur stands in
front of her paying obeisance, c. 2334 – c. 2154 BC[75]
The Sumerians worshipped Inanna as the goddess of both warfare and sexuality. [2] Unlike other
gods, whose roles were static and whose domains were limited, the stories of Inanna describe her
as moving from conquest to conquest.[21][76] She was portrayed as young and impetuous, constantly
striving for more power than she had been allotted. [21][76]
Although she was worshipped as the goddess of love, Inanna was not the goddess of marriage, nor
was she ever viewed as a mother goddess.[77][78] A description of her from one of her hymns declares,
"When the servants let the flocks loose, and when cattle and sheep are returned to cow-pen and
sheepfold, then, my lady, like the nameless poor, you wear only a single garment. The pearls of a
prostitute are placed around your neck, and you are likely to snatch a man from the
tavern."[79] In Inanna's Descent to the Underworld, Inanna treats her lover Dumuzid in a very
capricious manner.[77] This aspect of Inanna's personality is emphasized in the later standard
Akkadian version of the Epic of Gilgamesh in which Gilgamesh points out Ishtar's infamous ill-
treatment of her lovers.[80][81]
Inanna was also worshipped as one of the Sumerian war deities. [31][82] One of her hymns declares:
"She stirs confusion and chaos against those who are disobedient to her, speeding carnage and
inciting the devastating flood, clothed in terrifying radiance. It is her game to speed conflict and
battle, untiring, strapping on her sandals."[83]Battle itself was occasionally referred to as the "Dance of
Inanna".[84]
Family
Inanna's twin brother was Utu, the god of the sun and justice (who was later known as Shamash in
East Semitic languages).[86][87][88] In Sumerian texts, Inanna and Utu are shown as extremely close; [89] in
fact, their relationship frequently borders on incestuous.[89][90] Inanna's sukkal is the
goddess Ninshubur,[91] whose relationship with Inanna is one of mutual devotion. [91] In the myth of her
descent into the Underworld, Inanna addresses Ereshkigal, the queen of the underworld, as her
"older sister",[92][93] but the two goddesses almost never appear together in Sumerian literature. [93] In
Uruk, Inanna was usually regarded as the daughter of the sky god An,[2][3] but, in the Isin tradition, she
is usually described as the daughter of the moon god Nanna (who was later known as Sin).[94][3][2] In
literary texts, she is sometimes described as the daughter of Enlil[2][3] or the daughter of Enki.[2][3] In
some later stories, Inanna-Ishtar is the sister of Ishkur (Hadad), the god of storms,[95] and, in Hittite
mythology, Ishtar is the sister of Teshub, the Hittite storm god
An ancient Sumerian depiction of the marriage of Inanna and Dumuzid[85]
.[96]
Dumuzid (later known as Tammuz), the god of shepherds, is usually described as Inanna's husband,
[87]
but Inanna's loyalty to him is questionable; [2] in the myth of her descent into the Underworld, she
abandons Dumuzid and permits the galla demons to drag him down into the Underworld as her
replacement,[97][98] but in the later myth of The Return of Dumuzid Inanna paradoxically mourns over
Dumuzid's death and ultimately decrees that he will be allowed to return to Heaven to be with her for
one half of the year.[99][98] Inanna is not usually described as having any offspring, [2] but, in the myth
of Lugalbanda and in a single building inscription from the Third Dynasty of Ur (c. 2112 – c. 2004
BC), the warrior god Shara is described as her son.[100] She was also sometimes considered the
mother of Lulal,[101] who is described in other texts as the son of Ninsun.[101]
Sumerian mythology
Origin myths
The poem of Enki and the World Order (ETCSL 1.1.3) begins by describing the god Enki and his
establishment of the cosmic organization of the universe. [102]Towards the end of the poem, Inanna
comes to Enki and complains that he has assigned a domain and special powers to all of the other
gods except for her.[103] She declares that she has been treated unfairly. [104] Enki responds by telling
her that she already has a domain and that he does not need to assign her one. [105]
Original Sumerian tablet of the Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzid
The myth of "Inanna and the Huluppu Tree", found in the preamble to the epic of Gilgamesh, Enkidu,
and the Netherworld(ETCSL 1.8.1.4),[106] centers around a young Inanna, not yet stable in her power.
[107][108]
It begins with a huluppu tree, which Kramer identifies as possibly a willow,[109] growing on the
banks of the river Euphrates.[109][110][111] Inanna moves the tree to her garden in Uruk with the intention
to carve it into a throne once it is fully grown. [109][110][111] The tree grows and matures, but the serpent
"who knows no charm," the Anzû-bird, and Lilitu, the Sumerian forerunner to the Lilith of Jewish
folklore, all take up residence within the tree, causing Inanna to cry with sorrow. [109][110][111] The
hero Gilgamesh, who, in this story, is portrayed as her brother, comes along and slays the serpent,
causing the Anzû-bird and Lilitu to flee.[112][110][111] Gilgamesh's companions chop down the tree and
carve its wood into a bed and a throne, which they give to Inanna, [113][110][111] who fashions a pikkuand
a mikku (probably a drum and drumsticks respectively, although the exact identifications are
uncertain),[114] which she gives to Gilgamesh as a reward for his heroism. [115][110][111]
The Sumerian hymn Inanna and Utu contains an etiological myth describing how Inanna became the
goddess of sex.[116] At the beginning of the hymn, Inanna knows nothing of sex,[116] so she begs her
brother Utu to take her to Kur (the Sumerian Underworld),[116] so that she may taste the fruit of a tree
that grows there,[116] which will reveal to her all the secrets of sex.[116]Utu complies and, in Kur, Inanna
tastes the fruit and becomes knowledgeable. [116] The hymn employs the same motif found in the myth
of Enki and Ninhursag and in the later Biblical story of Adam and Eve.[116]
The poem Inanna Prefers the Farmer (ETCSL 4.0.8.3.3) begins with a rather playful conversation
between Inanna and Utu, who incrementally reveals to her that it is time for her to marry. [9][117] She is
courted by a farmer named Enkimdu and a shepherd named Dumuzid.[9] At first, Inanna prefers the
farmer,[9] but Utu and Dumuzid gradually persuade her that Dumuzid is the better choice for a
husband, arguing that, for every gift the farmer can give to her, the shepherd can give her something
even better.[118] In the end, Inanna marries Dumuzid. [118] The shepherd and the farmer reconcile their
differences, offering each other gifts.[119] Samuel Noah Kramer compares the myth to the later Biblical
story of Cain and Abel because both myths center around a farmer and a shepherd competing for
divine favor and, in both stories, the deity in question ultimately chooses the shepherd. [9]
Conquests and patronage
Inanna and Enki (ETCSL t.1.3.1) is a lengthy poem written in Sumerian, which may date to the Third
Dynasty of Ur;[121] it tells the story of how Inanna stole the sacred mes from Enki, the god of water and
human culture.[122] In ancient Sumerian mythology, the mes were sacred powers or properties
belonging the gods that allowed human civilization to exist. [123] Each me embodied one specific
aspect of human culture.[123] These aspects were very diverse and the mes listed in the poem include
abstract concepts such as Truth, Victory, and Counsel, technologies such as writing and weaving,
and also social constructs such as law, priestly offices, kingship, and prostitution. The mes were
believed to grant power over all the aspects of civilization, both positive and negative.[122]
In the myth, Inanna travels from her own city of Uruk to Enki's city of Eridu, where she visits his
temple, the E-Abzu.[124] Inanna is greeted by Enki's sukkal, Isimud, who offers her food and drink.[125]
[126]
Inanna starts up a drinking competition with Enki.[122][127] Then, once Enki is thoroughly intoxicated,
Inanna persuades him to give her the mes.[122][128] Inanna flees from Eridu in the Boat of Heaven,
taking the mes back with her to Uruk.[129][130] Enki wakes up to discover that the mes are gone and
asks Isimud what has happened to them.[129][131] Isimud replies that Enki has given all of them to
Inanna.[132][133] Enki becomes infuriated and sends multiple sets of fierce monsters after Inanna to take
back the mes before she reaches the city of Uruk.[134][135] Inanna's sukkal Ninshubur fends off all of the
monsters that Enki sends after them. [136][137][91] Through Ninshubur's aid, Inanna successfully manages
to take the mes back with her to the city of Uruk.[136][138] After Inanna escapes, Enki reconciles with her
and bids her a positive farewell.[139] It is possible that this legend may represent a historic transfer of
power from the city of Eridu to the city of Uruk.[15][140] It is also possible that this legend may be a
symbolic representation of Inanna's maturity and her readiness to become the Queen of Heaven
Akkadian cylinder seal from c. 2300 BC or thereabouts depicting the deities Inanna, Utu, Enki, and Isimud[120]
.[141]
The poem Inanna Takes Command of Heaven is an extremely fragmentary, but important, account
of Inanna's conquest of the Eanna temple in Uruk.[15] It begins with a conversation between Inanna
and her brother Utu in which Inanna laments that the Eanna temple is not within their domain and
resolves to claim it as her own.[15]The text becomes increasingly fragmentary at this point in the
narrative,[15] but appears to describe her difficult passage through a marshland to reach the temple
while a fisherman instructs her on which route is best to take.[15] Ultimately, Inanna reaches her
father An, who is shocked by her arrogance, but nevertheless concedes that she has succeeded and
that the temple is now her domain. [15] The text ends with a hymn expounding Inanna's greatness.
[15]
This myth may represent an eclipse in the authority of the priests of An in Uruk and a transfer of
power to the priests of Inanna.[15]
Inanna briefly appears at the beginning and end of the epic poem Enmerkar and the Lord of
Aratta (ETCSL 1.8.2.3). The epic deals with a rivalry between the cities of Uruk and Aratta.
Enmerkar, the king of Uruk, wishes to adorn his city with jewels and precious metals, but cannot do
so because such minerals are only found in Aratta and, since trade does not yet exist, the resources
are not available to him.[142] Inanna, who is the patron goddess of both cities, [143] appears to Enmerkar
at the beginning of the poem[144] and tells him that she favors Uruk over Aratta.[145] She instructs
Enmerkar to send a messenger to the lord of Aratta to ask for the resources Uruk needs. [143] The
majority of the epic revolves around a great contest between the two kings over Inanna's favor.
[146]
Inanna reappears at the end of the poem to resolve the conflict by telling Enmerkar to establish
trade between his city and Aratta.[147]
Justice myths
The original Sumerian clay tablet of Inanna and Ebih, which is currently housed in the Oriental Institute at
the University of Chicago
Inanna and her brother Utu were regarded as the dispensers of divine justice, [89] a role which Inanna
exemplifies in several of her myths.[148] Inanna and Ebih (ETCSL 1.3.2), otherwise known as Goddess
of the Fearsome Divine Powers, is a 184-line poem written by the Akkadian
poetess Enheduanna describing Inanna's confrontation with Mount Ebih, a mountain in
the Zagros mountain range.[149] The poem begins with an introductory hymn praising Inanna. [150] The
goddess journeys all over the entire world, until she comes across Mount Ebih and becomes
infuriated by its glorious might and natural beauty, [151]considering its very existence as an outright
affront to her own authority.[152][149] She rails at Mount Ebih, shouting:
Mountain, because of your elevation, because of your height,
Because of your goodness, because of your beauty,
Because you wore a holy garment,
Because An organized(?) you,
Because you did not bring (your) nose close to the ground,
Because you did not press (your) lips in the dust. [153]
Inanna petitions to An, the Sumerian god of the heavens, to allow her to destroy Mount Ebih. [151] An
warns Inanna not to attack the mountain, [151] but she ignores his warning and proceeds to attack and
destroy Mount Ebih regardless.[151] In the conclusion of the myth, she explains to Mount Ebih why she
attacked it.[153] In Sumerian poetry, the phrase "destroyer of Kur" is occasionally used as one of
Inanna's epithets.[154]
The poem Inanna and Shukaletuda (ETCSL 1.3.3) begins with a hymn to Inanna, praising her as the
planet Venus.[155] It then introduces Shukaletuda, a gardener who is terrible at his job and partially
blind. All of his plants die, except for one poplar tree. [155] Shukaletuda prays to the gods for guidance
in his work. To his surprise, the goddess Inanna sees his one poplar tree and decides to rest under
the shade of its branches.[155] Shukaletuda removes her clothes and rapes Inanna while she sleeps.
[155]
When the goddess wakes up and realizes she has been violated, she becomes furious and
determines to bring her attacker to justice.[155] In a fit of rage, Inanna unleashes horrible plagues upon
the Earth, turning water into blood. [155] Shukaletuda, terrified for his life, pleads his father for advice on
how to escape Inanna's wrath.[155] His father tells him to hide in the city, amongst the hordes of
people, where he will hopefully blend in.[155] Inanna searches the mountains of the East for her
attacker,[155] but is not able to find him.[155] She then releases a series of storms and closes all roads to
the city, but is still unable to find Shukaletuda,[155] so she asks Enki to help her find him, threatening to
leave her temple in Uruk if he does not.[155] Enki consents and allows Inanna to "fly across the sky like
a rainbow".[155] Inanna finally locates Shukaletuda, who vainly attempts to invent excuses for his crime
against her. Inanna rejects these excuses and kills him. [156] Theology professor Jeffrey Cooley has
cited the story of Shukaletuda as a Sumerian astral myth, arguing that the movements of Inanna in
the story correspond with the movements of the planet Venus. [70] He has also stated that, while
Shukaletuda was praying to the goddess, he may have been looking toward Venus on the horizon.
[156]
The text of the poem Inanna and Bilulu (ETCSL 1.4.4), discovered at Nippur, is badly

mutilated[157] and scholars have interpreted it in a number of different ways. [157]The beginning of the
poem is mostly destroyed,[157] but seems to be a lament.[157] The intelligible part of the poem describes
Inanna pining after her husband Dumuzid, who is in the steppe watching his flocks. [157][158] Inanna sets
out to find him.[157] After this, a large portion of the text is missing.[157] When the story resumes, Inanna
is being told that Dumuzid has been murdered. [157] Inanna discovers that the old bandit woman Bilulu
and her son Girgire are responsible. [159][158] She travels along the road to Edenlila and stops at an inn,
where she finds the two murderers. [157] Inanna stands on top of a stool[157] and transforms Bilulu into
"the waterskin that men carry in the desert",[157][160][159][158] forcing her to pour the funerary libations for
Dumuzid.[157][158]
Descent into the Underworld
Copy of the Akkadian version of Ishtar's Descent into the Underworld from the Library of Assurbanipal,
currently held in the British Museum in London, England
Depiction of Inanna/Ishtar from the Ishtar Vase, dating to the early second millennium BC
Two different versions of the story of Inanna-Ishtar's descent into the Underworld have survived:[161]
[162]
a Sumerian version dating to the Third Dynasty of Ur (ETCSL 1.4.1)[161][162] and a clearly derivative
Akkadian version from the early second millennium BC.[161][162] The Sumerian version of the story is
nearly three times the length of the later Akkadian version and contains much greater detail. [163]
Sumerian version
In Sumerian religion, the Kur was conceived of as a dark, dreary cavern located deep underground;
[164]
life there was envisioned as "a shadowy version of life on earth". [164] It was ruled by Inanna's sister,
the goddess Ereshkigal.[92][164] Before leaving, Inanna instructs her minister and servant Ninshubur to
plead with the deities Enlil, Nanna, Anu, and Enki to rescue her if she does not return after three
days.[165][166] The laws of the underworld dictate that, with the exception of appointed messengers,
those who enter it may never leave.[165] Inanna dresses elaborately for the visit; she wears a turban,
wig, lapis lazuli necklace, beads upon her breast, the 'pala dress' (the ladyship garment), mascara, a
pectoral, and golden ring, and holds a lapis lazuli measuring rod.[167][168] Each garment is a
representation of a powerful me she possesses.[169]
Inanna pounds on the gates of the Underworld, demanding to be let in. [170][171][166] The
gatekeeper Neti asks her why she has come[170][172] and Inanna replies that she wishes to attend the
funeral rites of Gugalanna, the "husband of my elder sister Ereshkigal".[92][170][172] Neti reports this to
Ereshkigal,[173][174] who tells him: "Bolt the seven gates of the underworld. Then, one by one, open
each gate a crack. Let Inanna enter. As she enters, remove her royal garments." [175] Perhaps
Inanna's garments, unsuitable for a funeral, along with Inanna's haughty behavior, make Ereshkigal
suspicious.[176] Following Ereshkigal's instructions, Neti tells Inanna she may enter the first gate of the
underworld, but she must hand over her lapis lazuli measuring rod. She asks why, and is told, "It is
just the ways of the Underworld." She obliges and passes through. Inanna passes through a total of
seven gates, at each one removing a piece of clothing or jewelry she had been wearing at the start
of her journey,[177] thus stripping her of her power. [178][166] When she arrives in front of her sister, she is
naked:[178][166]
"After she had crouched down and had her clothes removed, they were carried away. Then she
made her sister Erec-ki-gala rise from her throne, and instead she sat on her throne. The Anna, the
seven judges, rendered their decision against her. They looked at her – it was the look of death.
They spoke to her – it was the speech of anger. They shouted at her – it was the shout of heavy
guilt. The afflicted woman was turned into a corpse. And the corpse was hung on a hook." [179]
Three days and three nights pass, and Ninshubur, following instructions, goes to the temples
of Enlil, Nanna, An, and Enki, and pleads with each of them to rescue Inanna. [180][181][182] The first three
deities refuse, saying Inanna's fate is her own fault, [180][183][184] but Enki is deeply troubled and agrees to
help.[185][186][184] He creates two sexless figures named gala-tura and the kur-jara from the dirt under the
fingernails of two of his fingers.[185][187][184] He instructs them to appease Ereshkigal [185][187] and, when she
asks them what they want, ask for the corpse of Inanna, which they must sprinkle with the food and
water of life.[185][187] When they come before Ereshkigal, she is in agony like a woman giving birth.
[188]
She offers them whatever they want, including life-giving rivers of water and fields of grain, if they
can relieve her,[189] but they refuse all of her offers and ask only for Inanna's corpse. [188] The gala-
tura and the kur-jara sprinkle Inanna's corpse with the food and water of life and revive her. [190][191]
[184]
Galla demons sent by Ereshkigal follow Inanna out of the Underworld, insisting that someone else
must be taken to the Underworld as Inanna's replacement. [192][193][184] They first come upon Ninshubur
and attempt to take her,[192][193][184] but Inanna stops them, insisting that Ninshubur is her loyal servant
and that she had rightfully mourned for her while she was in the Underworld. [192][193][184] They next come
upon Shara, Inanna's beautician, who is still in mourning. [194][195][184] The demons attempt to take him,
but Inanna insists that they may not, because he had also mourned for her. [196][197][184] The third person
they come upon is Lulal, who is also in mourning. [196][198][184] The demons try to take him, but Inanna
stops them once again.[196][198][184]
Ancient Sumerian cylinder seal impression showing Dumuzid being tortured in the Underworld by

the galla demons
Finally, they come upon Dumuzid, Inanna's husband. [199][184] Despite Inanna's fate, and in contrast to
the other individuals who were properly mourning her, Dumuzid is lavishly clothed and resting
beneath a tree, or upon her throne, entertained by slave-girls. Inanna, displeased, decrees that
the galla shall take him.[199][184][200] The gallathen drag Dumuzid down to the Underworld. [199][184] Another
text known as Dumuzid's Dream (ETCSL 1.4.3) describes Dumuzid's repeated attempts to evade
capture by the galla demons, an effort in which he is aided by the sun-god Utu. [201][202][e]
In the Sumerian poem The Return of Dumuzid, which begins where The Dream of Dumuzid ends,
Dumuzid's sister Geshtinanna laments continually for days and nights over Dumuzid's death, joined
by Inanna, who has apparently experienced a change of heart, and Sirtur, Dumuzid's mother.[203] The
three goddesses mourn continually until a flyreveals to Inanna the location of her husband.
[204]
Together, Inanna and Geshtinanna go to the place where the fly has told them they will find
Dumuzid.[205] They find him there and Inanna decrees that, from that point onwards, Dumuzid will
spend half of the year with her sister Ereshkigal in the Underworld and the other half of the year in
Heaven with her, while his sister Geshtinanna takes his place in the Underworld. [206][184][207]
Akkadian version
The Akkadian version begins with Ishtar approaching the gates of the Underworld and demanding
the gatekeeper to let her in:
If you do not open the gate for me to come in,
I shall smash the door and shatter the bolt,
I shall smash the doorpost and overturn the doors,
I shall raise up the dead and they shall eat the living:
And the dead shall outnumber the living![208]
The gatekeeper (whose name is not given in the Akkadian version [208]) hurries to tell Ereshkigal of
Ishtar's arrival. Ereshkigal orders him to let Ishtar enter, but tells him to "treat her according to the
ancient rites."[209] The gatekeeper lets Ishtar into the underworld, opening one gate at a time. [209] At
each gate, Ishtar is forced to shed one article of clothing. When she finally passes the seventh gate,
she is naked.[210] In a rage, Ishtar throws herself at Ereshkigal, but Ereshkigal orders her
servant Namtar to imprison Ishtar and unleash sixty diseases against her. [211]
After Ishtar descends to the underworld, all sexual activity ceases on earth. [212] The god Papsukkal,
the Akkadian counterpart to Ninshubur, [213] reports the situation to Ea, the god of wisdom and culture.
[212]
Ea creates an intersex being called Asu-shu-namir and sends them to Ereshkigal, telling them to
invoke "the name of the great gods" against her and to ask for the bag containing the waters of life.
Ereshkigal becomes enraged when she hears Asu-shu-namir's demand, but she is forced to give
them the water of life. Asu-shu-namir sprinkles Ishtar with this water, reviving her. Then, Ishtar
passes back through the seven gates, receiving one article of clothing back at each gate, and exiting
the final gate fully clothed.[212]
Interpretations
The "Burney Relief," which is believed to represent either Ishtar or her older sister Ereshkigal (c. 19th or 18th
century BC)
Folklorist Diane Wolkstein interprets the myth as a union between Inanna and her own "dark side":
her twin sister-self, Ereshkigal. When Inanna ascends from the Underworld, it is through Ereshkigal's
powers, but, while Inanna is in the underworld, it is Ereshkigal who apparently takes on the powers
of fertility. The poem ends with a line in praise, not of Inanna, but of Ereshkigal. Wolkstein interprets
the narrative as a praise-poem dedicated to the more negative aspects of Inanna's domain, symbolic
of an acceptance of the necessity of death in order to facilitate the continuance of life. [214] Joseph
Campbellinterprets the myth as being about the psychological power of a descent into the
unconscious, the realization of one's own strength through an episode of seeming powerlessness,
and the acceptance of one's own negative qualities. [215]
Conversely, Joshua Mark argues that the most likely moral intended by the original author of
the Descent of Inanna is that there are always consequences for one's actions: "The Descent of
Inanna, then, about one of the gods behaving badly and other gods and mortals having to suffer for
that behavior, would have given to an ancient listener the same basic understanding anyone today
would take from an account of a tragic accident caused by someone’s negligence or poor judgment:
that, sometimes, life is just not fair."[10]
Another recent interpretation, by Clyde Hostetter, holds that the myth is an allegorical report of
related movements of the planets Venus, Mercury, and Jupiter; [216] and those of the waxing crescent
Moon in the Second Millennium, beginning with the spring equinox and concluding with a meteor
shower near the end of one synodic period of Venus. [216] The three-day disappearance of Inanna
refers to the three-day planetary disappearance of Venus between its appearance as a morning or
evening star.[216] The fact that Gugalana is slain refers to the disappearance of the
constellation Taurus when the sun rises in that part of the sky, which in the Bronze Age marked the
occurrence of the vernal equinox.[216]
Later myths
Epic of Gilgamesh
Ancient Mesopotamian terracottarelief showing Gilgamesh slaying the Bull of Heaven, sent by Ishtar in Tablet

VI of the Epic of Gilgamesh after he spurns her amorous advances[217]
Epic of Gilgamesh
In the Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh, Ishtar appears to Gilgamesh after he and his

companion Enkidu have returned to Uruk from defeating the ogre Humbaba and demands
Gilgamesh to become her consort.[218] Gilgamesh refuses her, pointing out that all of her previous
lovers have suffered:[218]
Listen to me while I tell the tale of your lovers. There was Tammuz, the lover of your youth, for him
you decreed wailing, year after year. You loved the many-coloured Lilac-breasted Roller, but still you
struck and broke his wing [...] You have loved the lion tremendous in strength: seven pits you dug for
him, and seven. You have loved the stallion magnificent in battle, and for him you decreed the whip
and spur and a thong [...] You have loved the shepherd of the flock; he made meal-cake for you day
after day, he killed kids for your sake. You struck and turned him into a wolf; now his own herd-boys
chase him away, his own hounds worry his flanks." [219]
Infuriated by Gilgamesh's refusal, [218] Ishtar goes to heaven and tells her father Anu that Gilgamesh
has insulted her.[218] Anu asks her why she is complaining to him instead of confronting Gilgamesh
herself.[218] Ishtar demands that Anu give her the Bull of Heaven[218] and swears that if he does not give
it to her, she will "break in the doors of hell and smash the bolts; there will be confusion [i.e., mixing]
of people, those above with those from the lower depths. I shall bring up the dead to eat food like the
living; and the hosts of the dead will outnumber the living." [220]
Original Akkadian Tablet XI (the "Deluge Tablet") of the Epic of Gilgamesh
Anu gives Ishtar the Bull of Heaven, and Ishtar sends it to attack Gilgamesh and his friend Enkidu.[217]
[221]
Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill the Bull and offer its heart to the sun-god Shamash. [222][221] While
Gilgamesh and Enkidu are resting, Ishtar stands up on the walls of Uruk and curses Gilgamesh.[222]
[223]
Enkidu tears off the Bull's right thigh and throws it in Ishtar's face, [222][223] saying, "If I could lay my
hands on you, it is this I should do to you, and lash your entrails to your side." [224](Enkidu later dies for
this impiety.)[223] Ishtar calls together "the crimped courtesans, prostitutes and harlots" [222] and orders
them to mourn for the Bull of Heaven.[222][223] Meanwhile, Gilgamesh holds a celebration over the Bull
of Heaven's defeat.[225][223]
Later in the epic, Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh the story of the Great Flood,[226] which was sent by the
god Enlil to annihilate all life on earth because the humans, who were vastly overpopulated, made
too much noise and prevented him from sleeping. [227]Utnapishtim tells how, when the flood came,
Ishtar wept and mourned over the destruction of humanity, alongside the Anunnaki.[228] Later, after
the flood subsides, Utnapishtim makes an offering to the gods. [229] Ishtar appears to Utnapishtim
wearing a lapis lazuli necklace with beads shaped like flies and tells him that Enlil never discussed
the flood with any of the other gods.[230] She swears him that she will never allow Enlil to cause
another flood[231] and declares her lapis lazuli necklace a sign of her oath. [230] Ishtar invites all the gods
except for Enlil to gather around the offering and enjoy. [232]
Other tales
In the Hittite Creation myth, Ishtar is born after the god Kumarbi overthrows his father Anu.
[96]
Kumarbi bites off Anu's genitals and swallows them,[96] causing him to become pregnant with Anu's
offspring,[96] including Ishtar and her brother, the Hittite storm god Teshub.[96] This account later
became the basis for the Greek story of Uranus's castration by his son Cronus, resulting in the birth
of Aphrodite, described in Hesiod's Theogony.[233] Later in the Hittite myth, Ishtar attempts to seduce
the monster Ullikummi,[96] but fails because the monster is both blind and deaf and is unable to see or
hear her.[96] The Hurrians and Hittites appear to have syncretized Ishtar with their own
goddess Išḫara.[234][235] In a pseudepigraphical Neo-Assyrian text written in the seventh century BCE,
but which claims to be the autobiography of Sargon of Akkad, [236] Ishtar is claimed to have appeared
to Sargon "surrounded by a cloud of doves" while he was working as a gardener for Akki, the drawer
of the water.[236] Ishtar then proclaimed Sargon her lover and allowed him to become the ruler of
Sumer and Akkad.[236]
Later influence
In antiquity
The Greek myth of Aphrodite and Adonis, shown here on this altar from the Greek city of Taras in Magna
Graecia, dating to c. 400-375 BC, is derived from the Mesopotamian myth of Inanna and Dumuzid. [237][238]
Statue from the Aihole temple of the Hindu goddess Durga, heavily armed with a lion at her side, slaying
the buffalo demon. Durga's warrior aspects and associations with lions may be derived from Inanna. [239][240][241]
The cult of Inanna-Ishtar may have been introduced to the Kingdom of Judah during the reign
of King Manasseh[242] and, although Inanna herself is not directly mentioned in the Bible by name,
[243]
the Old Testament contains numerous allusions to her cult.[244] Jeremiah 7:18 and Jeremiah 44:15-
19 mention "the Queen of Heaven", who is probably a syncretism of Inanna-Ishtar and the West
Semitic goddess Astarte.[242][245][246][51] Jeremiah states that the Queen of Heaven was worshipped by
women who baked cakes for her.[53]
The Song of Songs bears strong similarities to the Sumerian love poems involving Inanna and
Dumuzid,[247] particularly in its usage of natural symbolism to represent the lovers' physicality. [247] Song
of Songs 6:10 ("Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and
terrible as an army with banners?") is almost certainly a reference to Inanna-Ishtar. [241] Ezekiel
8:14 mentions Inanna's husband Dumuzid under his later East Semitic name Tammuz[248][249][250] and
describes a group of women mourning Tammuz's death while sitting near the north gate of
the Temple in Jerusalem.[249][250]
The cult of Inanna-Ishtar also heavily influenced the cult of the Phoenician goddess Astarte.[251] The
Phoenicians introduced Astarte to the Greek islands of Cyprus and Cythera,[245][252] where she either
gave rise to or heavily influenced the Greek goddess Aphrodite.[253][252][233][251] Aphrodite took on Inanna-
Ishtar's associations with sexuality and procreation. [254][255] Furthermore, she was known
as Ourania (Οὐρανία), which means "heavenly",[256][255] a title corresponding to Inanna's role as the
Queen of Heaven.[256][255]
Early artistic and literary portrayals of Aphrodite are extremely similar to Inanna-Ishtar. [254]
[255]
Aphrodite was also a warrior goddess;[254][252][257] the second-century AD Greek
geographer Pausanias records that, in Sparta, Aphrodite was worshipped as Aphrodite Areia, which
means "warlike".[258][259] He also mentions that Aphrodite's most ancient cult statues in Sparta and on
Cythera showed her bearing arms.[258][259][260][254] Modern scholars note that Aphrodite's warrior-goddess
aspects appear in the oldest strata of her worship [261] and see it as an indication of her Near Eastern
origins.[261][257] Aphrodite also absorbed Ishtar's association with doves, [67][257] which were sacrificed to
her alone.[257] The Greek word for "dove" was peristerá,[67][68] which may be derived from the Semitic
phrase peraḥ Ištar, meaning "bird of Ishtar".[68] The myth of Aphrodite and Adonis is derived from the
story of Inanna and Dumuzid.[237][238]
The cult of Inanna may also have influenced the deities Ainina and Danina of the Caucasian
Iberians mentioned by the medieval Georgian Chronicles.[262]Anthropologist Kevin Tuite argues that
the Georgian goddess Dali was also influenced by Inanna,[263] noting that both Dali and Inanna were
associated with the morning star,[264] both were characteristically depicted nude, [265] both were
associated with gold jewelry,[265] both sexually preyed on mortal men,[266] both were associated with
human and animal fertility,[267] and both had ambiguous natures as sexually attractive, but dangerous,
women.[268] The Hindu goddess Durga may also have been influenced by Inanna.[239][240] Like Inanna,
Durga was envisioned as a warrior goddess with a fierce temper who slew demons. [269][241] Both
goddesses were portrayed riding on the backs of lions [241] and both were associated with the
destruction of the wicked.[241] Like Inanna, Durga was also associated with sexuality. [270]
Traditional Mesopotamian religion began to gradually decline between the third and fifth centuries
AD as ethnic Assyrians converted to Christianity.[271] Nonetheless, the cult of Ishtar and Tammuz
managed to survive in parts of Upper Mesopotamia.[250] In the tenth century AD, an Arab traveler
wrote that "All the Sabaeans of our time, those of Babylonia as well as those of Harran, lament and
weep to this day over Tammuz at a festival which they, more particularly the women, hold in the
month of the same name."[250] The cult of Ishtar still existed in Mardin as late as the eighteenth
century.[271] Early Christians in the Middle East assimilated elements of Ishtar into the cult of
the Virgin Mary.[272][241] The Syrian writers Jacob of Serugh and Romanos the Melodist both wrote
laments in which the Virgin Mary describes her compassion for her son at the foot of the cross in
deeply personal terms closely resembling Ishtar's laments over the death of Tammuz. [273]
Modern relevance
In his 1853 pamphlet The Two Babylons, as part of his argument that Roman Catholicism is actually
Babylonian paganism in disguise, Alexander Hislop, a Protestant minister in the Free Church of
Scotland, incorrectly argued that the modern English word Easter must be derived from Ishtar due to
the phonetic similarity of the two words.[275] Modern scholars have unanimously rejected Hislop's
arguments as erroneous and based on a flawed understanding of Babylonian religion. [276][277][278]
[279]
Nonetheless, Hislop's book is still popular among some groups of evangelical Protestants[276][277]and
the ideas promoted in it have become widely circulated, especially through the Internet, due to a
number of popular Internet memes.[279]
Illustration of Ishtar's Midnight Courtship from Leonidas Le Cenci Hamilton's 1884 book-length poem Ishtar and
Izdubar, loosely based on George Smith's recent translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh[274]
Ishtar's first major appearance in modern literature was in Ishtar and Izdubar,[280] a book-length poem
written in 1884 by Leonidas Le Cenci Hamilton, an American lawyer and businessman, loosely
based on the recently-translated Epic of Gilgamesh.[280] Ishtar and Izdubar expanded the original
roughly 3,000 lines of the Epic of Gilgamesh to roughly 6,000 lines of rhyming couplets grouped into
forty-eight cantos.[274] Hamilton significantly altered most of the characters and introduced entirely
new episodes not found in the original epic.[274] Significantly influenced by Edward
FitzGerald's Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and Edwin Arnold's The Light of Asia,[274] Hamilton's
characters dress more like nineteenth-century Turks than ancient Babylonians. [281] In the poem,
Izdubar (the earlier misreading for the name "Gilgamesh") falls in love with Ishtar, [282]but, then, "with
hot and balmy breath, and trembling form aglow," she attempts to seduce him, leading Izdubar to
reject her advances.[282] Several "columns" of the book are devoted to an account of Ishtar's descent
into the Underworld.[281] At the conclusion of the book, Izdubar, now a god, is reconciled with Ishtar in
Heaven.[283] In 1887, the composer Vincent d'Indywrote Symphony Ishtar, variations symphonique,
Op. 42, a symphony inspired by the Assyrian monuments in the British Museum.[284]
Inanna has become an important figure in modern feminist theory because she appears in the male-
dominated Sumerian pantheon,[285] but is equally as powerful, if not more powerful than, the male
deities she appears alongside.[285] Simone de Beauvoir, in her book The Second Sex (1949), argues
that Inanna, along with other powerful female deities from antiquity, have been marginalized by
modern culture in favor of male deities.[284] Tikva Frymer-Kensky has argued that Inanna was a
"marginal figure" in Sumerian religion who embodies the "socially unacceptable" archetype of the
"undomesticated, unattached woman".[284] Johanna Stuckey has argued against this idea, pointing out
Inanna's centrality in Sumerian religion and her broad diversity of powers, neither of which seem to
fit the idea that she was in any way regarded as "marginal". [284]
A modern illustration depicting Inanna-Ishtar's descent into the Underworld taken from Lewis Spence's Myths
and Legends of Babylonia and Assyria (1916)
While classical deities such as Apollo and Aphrodite frequently appear in modern popular culture,

[284]
Mesopotamian deities have, by contrast, fallen into almost complete obscurity. [284] Inanna-Ishtar
has somewhat resisted this tendency, but has not been immune to it. [284] She usually only appears in
works with strong mythological input, [284] and most modern portrayals of Inanna-Ishtar have virtually
nothing in common with the ancient goddess except for her name. [284] The 1963 splatter film Blood
Feast concerns a serial killer who sacrifices his victims to Ishtar, who is incorrectly identified as an
"Egyptian goddess".[286]Ishtar also gave her name to the 1987 box office bomb Ishtar, in which the
character Shirra was loosely modeled on her.[285]According to Louise Pryke, the character Buffy
Summers in Buffy the Vampire Slayer bears remarkably strong similarities to Ishtar,[287] but these may
be coincidental.[288] Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, following the portrayal in Blood Feast,
portrays Ishtar as a soul-eating Egyptian mummy.[286] One of the two highlands of the planet Venus is
named "Ishtar Terra".[286] John Craton composed a full-length opera about Ishtar[284] and she has also
been referenced in numerous rock and death metal songs.[289]
The Argentinian-born Jewish feminist artist Liliana Kleiner created an exhibition of paintings
depicting her interpretations of Inanna's myths,[290] which was first displayed in Mexico in 2008.[290] The
exhibition was later shown in Jerusalem in 2011 and in Berlin in 2015.[290] Inanna is one of the names
on the Heritage Floor of The Dinner Party by American feminist artist Judy Chicago as a related
woman to Ishtar, who has a seat at the table.[291] Inanna is worshipped as a form of the Goddess in
modern Neopaganism and Wicca.[292] Her name occurs in the refrain of the "Burning Times Chant",
[293]
one of the most widely used Wiccan liturgies.[294] Inanna's Descent into the Underworld was the
inspiration for the "Descent of the Goddess",[295][296]one of the most popular and most important myths
in Gardnerian Wicca.[295][296]
Inanna is also an important figure in modern BDSM culture.[297] Author and historian Anne O. Nomis
has cited the portrayal of Inanna in the myth of Inanna and Ebih as an early example of
the dominatrix archetype,[298] characterizing her as a powerful female who forces gods and men into
submission to her.[298] Scholar Paul Thomas has criticized the modern portrayal of Inanna, accusing it
of anachronistically imposing modern gender conventions on the ancient Sumerian story, portraying
Inanna as a wife and mother,[299] two roles the ancient Sumerians never ascribed to her, [299][2] while
ignoring the more masculine elements of Inanna's cult, particularly her associations with warfare and
violence.[299] Douglas E. Cowan has also criticized the portrayal of Inanna in modern Neopaganism,
remarking that it "reduces [her] to little more than a patron goddess of parking lots and crawlspaces".
[
.[128] The Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa, believed to have been compiled around the mid-seventeenth
century BCE,[131] shows the Babylonians understood the two were a single object, referred to in the
tablet as the "bright queen of the sky", and could support this view with detailed observations. [132]
Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa

The Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa (Enuma Anu Enlil Tablet 63) refers to the record of astronomical
observations of Venus, as preserved in numerous cuneiform tablets dating from the first millennium
BC. It is believed that this astronomical record was first compiled during the reign of
King Ammisaduqa (or Ammizaduga), the fourth ruler after Hammurabi. Thus, the origins of this text
should probably be dated to around the mid-seventeenth century BC.[1](according to the Middle
Chronology).
Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa
Material Clay
Size Length: 17.14 cm (6.75 in)
Width: 9.2 cm (3.6 in)
Thickness: 2.22 cm (0.87 in)
Writing cuneiform,
Period/culture Neo-Assyrian
Place Kouyunjik
Present location Room 55, British Museum, London
Registration K.160
The tablet recorded the rise times of Venus and its first and last visibility on the horizon before or
after sunrise and sunset (the heliacal risings and settings of Venus) in the form of lunar dates. These
observations are recorded for a period of 21 years.[2]
The sources
This Venus tablet is part of Enuma anu enlil ("In the days of Anu and Enlil"), a long text dealing
with Babylonian astrology, which mostly consists of omens interpreting celestial phenomena.
The earliest copy of this tablet to be published, a 7th-century BC cuneiform, part of the British
Museum collections, was recovered from the library at Nineveh. It was first published in 1870 by
Henry Creswicke Rawlinson and George Smith as Enuma Anu Enlil Tablet 63, in "Tablet of
Movements of the Planet Venus and their Influences" (The Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia,
volume III).
As many as 20 copies of this text are currently on record, many of them fragmentary, falling into 6
groups.[3] The oldest of these copies is believed to be Source "B", found at Kish in 1924. It was
copied from a tablet written at Babylon while Sargon II was King of Assyria between 720 and 704
BC.[4]
Interpretation
Several dates for the original observations, as contained in the tablet, were proposed early in the
20th century. The following dates, corresponding to the High, Middle, Low and Ultra-Low
Chronologies, were inferred for the beginning of the Venus observations: 1702 BC, 1646 BC, 1582
BC, 1550 BC, respectively.
The tablet's significance for corroborating Babylonian chronology was first recognised by Franz
Xaver Kugler in 1912, when he succeeded in identifying the enigmatic "Year of the Golden Throne"
("Venus" tablet K.160) as potentially the 8th year of the reign of Ammisaduqa, based on one of his
year names. [5] Since then, this 7th-century BC copy has been variously interpreted to
support several chronologies in the 2nd millennium BC. [6]
Many uncertainties remain about the interpretation of the record of astronomical observations of
Venus, as preserved in these surviving tablets.[7] Some copying corruptions are probable. Problems
of atmospheric refraction were addressed by Vahe Gurzadyan in a 2003 publication.[8] The entry for
some years, notably 13 and 21 are not physically possible and are considered in error. Also, the
tables used to calculate the helical rising of Venus assume a rate at which the earth is slowing, a
rate which is not certain, causing "clock-time errors". [9]
Observations
Year 1 inferior Venus sets on Shabatu 15 and after 3 days rises on Shabatu 18
Year 2 superior Venus vanishes E on Arahsamnu 21 and after 1 month 25 days appears W on
Tebetu 16
Year 3 inferior Venus sets on Ululu 29 and after 16 days rises on Tashritu 15
Year 4 superior Venus vanishes E on Dumuzi 3 and after 2 months 6 days appears W on Ululu 9
Year 5 inferior Venus sets on Nisan 29 and after 12 days rises on Ayar 11
Year 5 superior Venus vanishes E on Kislimu 27 and after 2 months 3 days appears W on Shabatu
30
Year 6 inferior Venus sets on Arahsamnu 28 and after 3 days rises on Kislimu 1
Year 7 superior Venus vanishes E on Abu 30 and after 2 months appears W on Tashritu 30
Year 8 inferior Venus sets on Dumuzi 9 and after 17 days rises on Dumuzi 26
Year 8 superior Venus vanishes E on Adar 27 and after 2 months 16 days appears W on Simanu 13
Year 9 inferior Venus sets on Adar 12 and after 2 days rises on Adar 14
Tebetu 12
Year 11 inferior Venus sets on Ululu 25 and after 16 days rises on II Ululu 11
Year 12 superior Venus vanishes E on Ayar 29 and after 2 months 6 days appears W on Abu 5
Year 13 superior Venus vanishes E on Tebetu 23 and after 2 months 3 days appears W on Adar 26
Year 14 inferior Venus sets on Arahsamnu 24 and after 3 days rises on Arahsamnu 27
Year 15 superior Venus vanishes E on Abu 26 and after 2 months appears W on Tashritu 26
Year 16 inferior Venus sets on Dumuzi 5 and after 16 days rises on Dumuzi 21
Year 16 superior Venus vanishes E on Adar 24 and after 2 months 15 days appears W on Simanu 9
Year 17 inferior Venus sets on Adar 8 and after 3 days rises on Adar 11
Tebetu 8
Year 19 inferior Venus sets on II Ululu 20 and after 17 days rises on Tashritu 8
Year 20 superior Venus vanishes E on Simanu 25 and after 2 months 6 days appears W on Ululu 1
Year 21 superior Venus vanishes E on Tebetu 19 and after 2 months 3 days appears W on Adar 22
The "black drop effect" as recorded during the 1769 transit
The Chinese historically referred to the morning Venus as "the Great White" or "the Opener (Starter)
of Brightness"), and the evening Venus as "the Excellent West One.
The ancient Greeks also initially believed Venus to be two separate stars: Phosphorus, the morning
star, and Hesperus, the evening star. Pliny the Elder credited the realization that they were a single
object to Pythagoras in the sixth century BCE,[134] while Diogenes Laërtius argued
that Parmenides was probably responsible for this rediscovery.[135] Though they recognized Venus as
a single object, the ancient Romans continued to designate the morning aspect of Venus as Lucifer,
literally "Light-Bringer", and the evening aspect as Vesper, both of which are literal translations of
their traditional Greek names.
Hippocrates
Hippocrates of Kos (/hɪˈpɒkrətiːz/; Greek: Ἱπποκράτης ὁ Κῷος, translit. Hippokrátēs ho Kṓos; c.
460 – c. 370 BC), also known as Hippocrates II, was a Greek physician of the Age of
Pericles (Classical Greece), who is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of
medicine. He is often referred to as the "Father of Medicine"[1] in recognition of his lasting
contributions to the field as the founder of the Hippocratic School of Medicine. This intellectual
school revolutionized medicine in ancient Greece, establishing it as a discipline distinct from other
fields with which it had traditionally been associated (theurgy and philosophy), thus establishing
medicine as a profession.[2][3]
However, the achievements of the writers of the Corpus, the practitioners of Hippocratic medicine
and the actions of Hippocrates himself were often commingled; thus very little is known about what
Hippocrates actually thought, wrote, and did. Hippocrates is commonly portrayed as the paragon of
the ancient physician, and credited with coining the Hippocratic Oath, which is still relevant and in
use today. He is also credited with greatly advancing the systematic study of clinical medicine,
summing up the medical knowledge of previous schools, and prescribing practices for physicians
through the Hippocratic Corpus and other works.[2][4]
Hippocrates of Kos
A conventionalized image in a Roman "portrait" bust (19th-
century engraving)
Biography
Historians agree that Hippocrates was born around the year 460 BC on the Greek island of Kos;
other biographical information, however, is likely to be untrue. [6]
Soranus of Ephesus, a 2nd-century Greek physician,[7] was Hippocrates' first biographer and is the
source of most personal information about him. Later biographies are in the Suda of the 10th century
AD, and in the works of John Tzetzes, Aristotle's "Politics", which date from the 4th century BC.[8]
Soranus wrote that Hippocrates' father was Heraclides, a physician, and his mother was Praxitela,
daughter of Tizane. The two sons of Hippocrates, Thessalus and Draco, and his son-in-
law, Polybus, were his students. According to Galen, a later physician, Polybus was Hippocrates'
true successor, while Thessalus and Draco each had a son named Hippocrates (Hippocrates III and
IV).[9]
Illustration of the story of Hippocrates refusing the presents of the Achaemenid Emperor Artaxerxes, who was
asking for his services. Painted by Girodet.[5]
[10]
Soranus said that Hippocrates learned medicine from his father and grandfather (Hippocrates I), and
studied other subjects with Democritus and Gorgias. Hippocrates was probably trained at
the asklepieion of Kos, and took lessons from the Thracian physician Herodicus of
Selymbria. Plato mentions Hippocrates in two of his dialogues: in Protagoras, Plato describes
Hippocrates as "Hippocrates of Kos, the Asclepiad";[11][12] while in Phaedrus, Plato suggests that
"Hippocrates the Asclepiad" thought that a complete knowledge of the nature of the body was
necessary for medicine.[13] Hippocrates taught and practiced medicine throughout his life, traveling at
least as far as Thessaly, Thrace, and the Sea of Marmara. Several different accounts of his death
exist. He died, probably in Larissa, at the age of 83, 85 or 90, though some say he lived to be well
over 100.[10]
Hippocratic theory
It is thus with regard to the
“ disease called Sacred: it

appears to me to be nowise
more divine nor more sacred
than other diseases, but has
a natural cause from the
originates like other
affections. Men regard its
”
nature and cause as divine
from ignorance and
wonder....
— Hippocrates, On the Sacred Disease
Hippocrates is credited with being the first person to believe that diseases were caused naturally, not
because of superstition and gods.[14][15][16][17] Hippocrates was credited by the disciples of Pythagoras of
allying philosophy and medicine.[14] He separated the discipline of medicine from religion, believing
and arguing that disease was not a punishment inflicted by the gods but rather the product of
environmental factors, diet, and living habits. Indeed there is not a single mention of a mystical
illness in the entirety of the Hippocratic Corpus. However, Hippocrates did work with many
convictions that were based on what is now known to be incorrect anatomy and physiology, such
as Humorism.[15][16][17]
Ancient Greek schools of medicine were split (into the Knidian and Koan) on how to deal with
disease. The Knidian school of medicine focused on diagnosis. Medicine at the time of Hippocrates
knew almost nothing of human anatomy and physiology because of the Greek taboo forbidding the
dissection of humans. The Knidian school consequently failed to distinguish when one disease
caused many possible series of symptoms.[18] The Hippocratic school or Koan school achieved
greater success by applying general diagnoses and passive treatments. Its focus was on patient
care and prognosis, not diagnosis. It could effectively treat diseases and allowed for a great
development in clinical practice.[19][20]
Hippocratic medicine and its philosophy are far removed from that of modern medicine. Now, the
physician focuses on specific diagnosis and specialized treatment, both of which were espoused by
the Knidian school. This shift in medical thought since Hippocrates' day has caused serious criticism
over the past two millennia, with the passivity of Hippocratic treatment being the subject of
particularly strong denunciations; for example, the French doctor M. S. Houdart called the
Hippocratic treatment a "meditation upon death".[21]
Crisis
Asklepieion on Kos
Another important concept in Hippocratic medicine was that of a crisis, a point in the progression of
disease at which either the illness would begin to triumph and the patient would succumb to death,
or the opposite would occur and natural processes would make the patient recover. After a crisis, a
relapse might follow, and then another deciding crisis. According to this doctrine, crises tend to occur
on critical days, which were supposed to be a fixed time after the contraction of a disease. If a crisis
occurred on a day far from a critical day, a relapse might be expected. Galen believed that this idea
originated with Hippocrates, though it is possible that it predated him. [22]
Hippocratic medicine was humble and passive. The therapeutic approach was based on "the healing
power of nature" ("vis medicatrix naturae" in Latin). According to this doctrine, the body contains
within itself the power to re-balance the four humours and heal itself (physis).[23] Hippocratic therapy
focused on simply easing this natural process. To this end, Hippocrates believed "rest and
immobilization [were] of capital importance." [24] In general, the Hippocratic medicine was very kind to
the patient; treatment was gentle, and emphasized keeping the patient clean and sterile. For
example, only clean water or wine were ever used on wounds, though "dry" treatment was
preferable. Soothing balms were sometimes employed.[25]
Hippocrates was reluctant to administer drugs and engage in specialized treatment that might prove
to be wrongly chosen; generalized therapy followed a generalized diagnosis. [25][26] Generalized
treatments he prescribed include fasting and the consumption of a mix of honey and vinegar.
Hippocrates once said that "to eat when you are sick, is to feed your sickness." However, potent
drugs were used on certain occasions.[27] This passive approach was very successful in treating
relatively simple ailments such as broken bones which required traction to stretch the skeletal
system and relieve pressure on the injured area. The Hippocratic bench and other devices were
used to this end.
One of the strengths of Hippocratic medicine was its emphasis on prognosis. At Hippocrates' time,
medicinal therapy was quite immature, and often the best thing that physicians could do was to
evaluate an illness and predict its likely progression based upon data collected in detailed case
histories.[17][28]
Professionalism
A number of ancient Greek surgical tools. On the left is a trephine; on the right, a set of scalpels. Hippocratic
medicine made good use of these tools.[29]
Hippocratic medicine was notable for its strict professionalism, discipline, and rigorous practice.
[30]
The Hippocratic work On the Physician recommends that physicians always be well-kempt,
honest, calm, understanding, and serious. The Hippocratic physician paid careful attention to all
aspects of his practice: he followed detailed specifications for, "lighting, personnel, instruments,
positioning of the patient, and techniques of bandaging and splinting" in the ancient operating room.
[31]
He even kept his fingernails to a precise length.[32]
The Hippocratic School gave importance to the clinical doctrines of observation and documentation.
These doctrines dictate that physicians record their findings and their medicinal methods in a very
clear and objective manner, so that these records may be passed down and employed by other
physicians.[10] Hippocrates made careful, regular note of many symptoms including complexion,
pulse, fever, pains, movement, and excretions.[28] He is said to have measured a patient's pulse when
taking a case history to discover whether the patient was lying. [33] Hippocrates extended clinical
observations into family history and environment. [34] "To him medicine owes the art of clinical
inspection and observation."[17] For this reason, he may more properly be termed as the "Father of
Medicine".[35]
Direct contributions to medicine

Clubbing of fingers in a patient with Eisenmenger's syndrome; first described by Hippocrates, clubbing is also
known as "Hippocratic fingers".
Hippocrates and his followers were first to describe many diseases and medical conditions. [36] He is
given credit for the first description of clubbing of the fingers, an important diagnostic sign in chronic
lung disease, lung cancer and cyanotic heart disease. For this reason, clubbed fingers are
sometimes referred to as "Hippocratic fingers".[37] Hippocrates was also the first physician to
describe Hippocratic face in Prognosis. Shakespeare famously alludes to this description when
writing of Falstaff's death in Act II, Scene iii. of Henry V.[38][39]
Hippocrates began to categorize illnesses as acute, chronic, endemic and epidemic, and use terms
such as, "exacerbation, relapse, resolution, crisis, paroxysm, peak, and convalescence."[28][40] Another
of Hippocrates' major contributions may be found in his descriptions of the symptomatology, physical
findings, surgical treatment and prognosis of thoracic empyema, i.e. suppuration of the lining of the
chest cavity. His teachings remain relevant to present-day students of pulmonary medicine and
surgery.[41] Hippocrates was the first documented chest surgeon and his findings and techniques,
while crude, such as the use of lead pipes to drain chest wall abscess, are still valid. [41]
The Hippocratic school of medicine described well the ailments of the human rectum and the
treatment thereof, despite the school's poor theory of medicine. Hemorrhoids, for instance, though
believed to be caused by an excess of bile and phlegm, were treated by Hippocratic physicians in
relatively advanced ways.[42][43] Cautery and excision are described in the Hippocratic Corpus, in
addition to the preferred methods: ligating the hemorrhoids and drying them with a hot iron. Other
treatments such as applying various salves are suggested as well. [44][45] Today, "treatment [for
hemorrhoids] still includes burning, strangling, and excising." [42] Also, some of the fundamental
concepts of proctoscopy outlined in the Corpus are still in use.[42][43] For example, the uses of the
rectal speculum, a common medical device, are discussed in the Hippocratic Corpus. [43] This
constitutes the earliest recorded reference to endoscopy.[46][47] Hippocrates often used lifestyle
modifications such as diet and exercise to treat diseases such as diabetes, what is today
called lifestyle medicine. He is often quoted with "Let food be your medicine, and medicine be your
food" and "Walking is man's best medicine", [48] however the quote "Let food be your medicine"
appears to be a misquotation and its exact origin remains unknown. [49]
Hippocratic Corpus
Hippocratic Corpus
A 12th-century Byzantine manuscript of the Oath in the form of a cross
The Hippocratic Corpus (Latin: Corpus Hippocraticum) is a collection of around seventy early

medical works collected in Alexandrian Greece.[50] It is written in Ionic Greek. The question of
whether Hippocrates himself was the author of any of the treatises in the corpus has not been
conclusively answered,[51] but current debate revolves around only a few of the treatises seen as
potentially by him. Because of the variety of subjects, writing styles and apparent date of
construction, the Hippocratic Corpus could not have been written by one person (Ermerins numbers
the authors at nineteen).[27] The corpus came to be known by his name because of his fame, possibly
all medical works were classified under 'Hippocrates' by a librarian in Alexandria.[11][31][52] The volumes
were probably produced by his students and followers. [53]
The Hippocratic Corpus contains textbooks, lectures, research, notes and philosophical essays on
various subjects in medicine, in no particular order. [51][54]These works were written for different
audiences, both specialists and laymen, and were sometimes written from opposing viewpoints;
significant contradictions can be found between works in the Corpus. [55] Notable among the treatises
of the Corpus are The Hippocratic Oath; The Book of Prognostics; On Regimen in Acute
Diseases; Aphorisms; On Airs, Waters and Places; Instruments of Reduction; On The Sacred
Disease; etc.[27]
Hippocratic Oath
Hippocratic Oath
The Hippocratic Oath, a seminal document on the ethics of medical practice, was attributed to
Hippocrates in antiquity although new information shows it may have been written after his death.
This is probably the most famous document of the Hippocratic Corpus. Recently the authenticity of
the document's author has come under scrutiny. While the Oath is rarely used in its original form
today, it serves as a foundation for other, similar oaths and laws that define good medical practice
and morals. Such derivatives are regularly taken today by medical graduates about to enter medical
practice.[11][56][57]
Legacy
Mural painting showing Galen and Hippocrates. 12th century; Anagni, Italy
Hippocrates is widely considered to be the "Father of Medicine". [53] His contributions revolutionized

the practice of medicine; but after his death the advancement stalled. [58] So revered was Hippocrates
that his teachings were largely taken as too great to be improved upon and no significant
advancements of his methods were made for a long time. [11][24] The centuries after Hippocrates' death
were marked as much by retrograde movement as by further advancement. For instance, "after the
Hippocratic period, the practice of taking clinical case-histories died out," according to Fielding
Garrison.[59]
After Hippocrates, the next significant physician was Galen, a Greek who lived from AD 129 to AD
200. Galen perpetuated the tradition of Hippocratic medicine, making some advancements, but also
some regressions.[60][61] In the Middle Ages, the Islamic world adopted Hippocratic methods and
developed new medical technologies.[62] After the European Renaissance, Hippocratic methods were
revived in western Europe and even further expanded in the 19th century. Notable among those who
employed Hippocrates' rigorous clinical techniques were Thomas Sydenham, William
Heberden, Jean-Martin Charcotand William Osler. Henri Huchard, a French physician, said that
these revivals make up "the whole history of internal medicine." [63]
Image
Engraving by Peter Paul Rubens, 1638
According to Aristotle's testimony, Hippocrates was known as "The Great Hippocrates".

[64]
Concerning his disposition, Hippocrates was first portrayed as a "kind, dignified, old country
doctor" and later as "stern and forbidding". [11] He is certainly considered wise, of very great intellect
and especially as very practical. Francis Adams describes him as "strictly the physician of
experience and common sense."[18]
His image as the wise, old doctor is reinforced by busts of him, which wear large beards on a
wrinkled face. Many physicians of the time wore their hair in the style of Jove and Asklepius.
Accordingly, the busts of Hippocrates that have been found could be only altered versions of
portraits of these deities.[58] Hippocrates and the beliefs that he embodied are considered medical
ideals. Fielding Garrison, an authority on medical history, stated, "He is, above all, the exemplar of
that flexible, critical, well-poised attitude of mind, ever on the lookout for sources of error, which is
the very essence of the scientific spirit."[63] "His figure... stands for all time as that of the ideal
physician," according to A Short History of Medicine, inspiring the medical profession since his
death.[65]
Legends
The Travels of Sir John Mandeville reports (incorrectly) that Hippocrates was the ruler of the islands
of "Kos and Lango" [sic], and recounts a legend about Hippocrates' daughter. She was transformed
into a hundred-foot long dragon by the goddess Diana, and is the "lady of the manor" of an old
castle. She emerges three times a year, and will be turned back into a woman if a knight kisses her,
making the knight into her consort and ruler of the islands. Various knights try, but flee when they
see the hideous dragon; they die soon thereafter. This is a version of the legend of Melusine.[66]
Genealogy
Hippocrates' legendary genealogy traces his paternal heritage directly to Asklepius and his maternal
ancestry to Heracles.[27] According to Tzetzes's Chiliades, the ahnentafel of Hippocrates II is:[67]
A mosaic of Hippocrates on the floor of the Asclepieion of Kos, with Asklepius in the middle, 2nd-3rd century
1. Hippocrates II. "The Father of Medicine"

2. Heraclides
4. Hippocrates I.
8. Gnosidicus
16. Nebrus
32. Sostratus III.
64. Theodorus II.
128. Sostratus, II.
256. Thedorus
512. Cleomyttades
1024. Crisamis
2048. Dardanus
4096. Sostratus
8192. Hippolochus
16384. Podalirius
32768. Asklepius
Namesakes
Some clinical symptoms and signs have been named after Hippocrates as he is believed to be the
first person to describe those. Hippocratic face is the change produced in the countenance by death,
or long sickness, excessive evacuations, excessive hunger, and the like. Clubbing, a deformity of the
fingers and fingernails, is also known as Hippocratic fingers. Hippocratic succussion is the internal
splashing noise of hydropneumothorax or pyopneumothorax. Hippocratic bench (a device which
uses tension to aid in setting bones) and Hippocratic cap-shaped bandage are two devices named
after Hippocrates.[68]Hippocratic Corpus and Hippocratic Oath are also his namesakes. The
drink hypocras is also believed to be invented by Hippocrates. Risus sardonicus, a sustained
spasming of the face muscles may also be termed the Hippocratic Smile. The most severe form of
hair loss and baldness is called the Hippocratic form
Statue of Hippocrates in front of the Mayne Medical School in Brisbane
.[69]
In the modern age, a lunar crater has been named Hippocrates. The Hippocratic Museum,
a museum on the Greek island of Kos is dedicated to him. The Hippocrates Project is a program of
the New York University Medical Center to enhance education through use of technology. Project
Hippocrates (an acronym of "HIgh PerfOrmance Computing for Robot-AssisTEd Surgery") is an
effort of the Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science and Shadyside Medical Center, "to
develop advanced planning, simulation, and execution technologies for the next generation of
computer-assisted surgical robots."[70] Both the Canadian Hippocratic Registry and American
Hippocratic Registry are organizations of physicians who uphold the principles of the original
Hippocratic Oath as inviolable through changing social times.
Pliny the Elder.

Pliny the Elder (/ˈplɪni/; born Gaius Plinius Secundus, AD 23–79) was
a Roman author, naturalistand natural philosopher, a naval and army commander of the
early Roman Empire, and friend of emperor Vespasian.
Spending most of his spare time studying, writing, and investigating natural and geographic
phenomena in the field, Pliny wrote the encyclopedic Naturalis Historia (Natural History), which
became an editorial model for encyclopedias. His nephew, Pliny the Younger, wrote of him in a letter
to the historian Tacitus:
For my part I deem those blessed to whom, by favour of the gods, it has been granted either to do
what is worth writing of, or to write what is worth reading; above measure blessed those on whom
both gifts have been conferred. In the latter number will be my uncle, by virtue of his own and of your
compositions.[1]
Pliny the Elder

Gaius Plinius Secundus
Statue of Pliny the Elder on the facade of Cathedral of S. Maria
Maggiore in Como
Pliny the Younger refers to Tacitus’s reliance upon his uncle's book, the History of the German
Wars. Pliny the Elder died in AD 79 in Stabiae while attempting the rescue of a friend and his family
by ship from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which already had destroyed the cities
of Pompeii and Herculaneum.[2] The wind caused by the sixth and largest pyroclastic surge of the
volcano’s eruption did not allow his ship to leave port, and Pliny probably died during that event
Life and times

Background
One of the Xanten Horse-Phaleraelocated in the British Museum, measuring 10.5 cm (4.1 in).[4] It bears an
inscription formed from punched dots: PLINIO PRAEF EQ; i.e. Plinio praefecto equitum, "Pliny prefect of
cavalry". It was perhaps issued to every man in Pliny's unit. The figure is the bust of the emperor.
Pliny's dates are pinned to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 and a statement of his nephew
that he died in his 56th year, which would put his birth in AD 23 or 24.
Pliny was the son of an equestrian, Gaius Plinius Celer, and his wife, Marcella. Neither the younger
nor the elder Pliny mention the names. Their ultimate source is a fragmentary inscription (CIL V 1
3442) found in a field in Verona and recorded by the 16th-century Augustinian monk Onofrio
Panvinio at Verona
The actual words are fragmentary. The reading of the inscription depends on the reconstruction,
[5]
but in all cases the names come through. Whether he was an augur and whether she was named
Grania Marcella are less certain.[6] Jean Hardouin presents a statement from an unknown source that
he claims was ancient, that Pliny was from Verona and that his parents were Celer and Marcella.
[7]
Hardouin also cites the conterraneity (see below) of Catullus.[5]
City and Lake of Como, painted by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, 1834
How the inscription got to Verona is unknown, but it could have arrived by dispersal of property from
Pliny the Younger's then Tuscan (now Umbrian) estate at Colle Plinio, north of Città di Castello,
identified for certain by his initials in the roof tiles. He kept statues of his ancestors there. Pliny the
Elder was born at Como, not at Verona: it is only as a native of old Gallia Transpadana that he
calls Catullus of Verona his conterraneus, or fellow-countryman, not his municeps, or fellow-
townsman.[8][9][10] A statue of Pliny on the façade of the Duomo of Como celebrates him as a native
son. He had a sister, Plinia, who married into the Caecilii and was the mother of his nephew, Pliny
the Younger, whose letters describe his work and study regimen in detail.
In one of his letters to Tacitus (avunculus meus), Pliny the Younger details how his uncle's
breakfasts would be light and simple (levis et facilis) following the customs of our forefathers
(veterum more interdiu). This shows that Pliny the Younger wanted it to be conveyed that Pliny the
Elder was a "good Roman", which means that he maintained the customs of the great Roman
forefathers. This statement would have pleased Tacitus.
Two inscriptions identifying the hometown of Pliny the Younger as Como take precedence over the
Verona theory. One (CIL V 5262) commemorates the younger's career as the imperial magistrate
and details his considerable charitable and municipal expenses on behalf of the people of Como.
Another (CIL V 5667) identifies his father Lucius' village as Fecchio (tribe Oufentina) near Como.
Therefore, Plinia likely was a local girl and Pliny the Elder, her brother, was from Como. [11]
Gaius was a member of the Plinii gens: the insubric root Plina still persists, with rhotacism, in the
local surname "Prina". He did not take his father's cognomen, Celer, but assumed his own,
Secundus. As his adopted son took the same cognomen, Pliny founded a branch, the Plinii Secundi.
The family was prosperous; Pliny the Younger's combined inherited estates made him so wealthy
that he could found a school and a library, endow a fund to feed the women and children of Como,
and own multiple estates around Rome and Lake Como, as well as enrich some of his friends as a
personal favor. No earlier instances of the Plinii are known.
In 59 BC, only about 82 years before Pliny's birth, Julius Caesar founded Novum Comum (reverting
to Comum) as a colonia to secure the region against the Alpine tribes, whom he had been unable to
defeat. He imported a population of 4,500 from other provinces (not clear from where) to be placed
in Comasco and 500 aristocratic Greeks to found Novum Comum itself. [12] The community was thus
multi-ethnic and the Plinies could have come from anywhere; whether any conclusions can be drawn
from Pliny's preference for Greek words, or Julius Pokorny's derivation of the name from north Italic
as "bald"[13] is a matter of speculative opinion. No record of any ethnic distinctions in Pliny's time is
apparent. The population prided themselves on being Roman citizens.
Pliny the Elder did not marry and had no children. In his will, he adopted his nephew, which entitled
the latter to inherit the entire estate. The adoption is called a "testamental adoption" by writers on the
topic, who assert that it applied to the name change only, but Roman jurisprudence recognizes no
such category. Pliny the Younger thus became the adopted son of Pliny the Elder after the latter's
death.[14] For at least some of the time, however, Pliny the Elder resided under the same roof with his
sister and nephew (whose husband and father, respectively, had died young); they were living there
when Pliny the Elder decided to investigate the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, and was sidetracked by
the need for rescue operations and a messenger from his friend asking for assistance.
Student and lawyer

Pliny's father took him to Rome to be educated in lawmaking. [10] Pliny relates that he saw Marcus
Servilius Nonianus.
Junior officer
Pliny the Elder, as imagined by a 19th-century artist: No contemporary depiction of Pliny is known to
survive.
In AD 46, at about age 23, Pliny entered the army as a junior officer, as was the custom for young
men of equestrian rank. Ronald Syme, Plinian scholar, reconstructs three periods at three ranks.[15]
[16]
Pliny's interest in Roman literature attracted the attention and friendship of other men of letters in
the higher ranks, with whom he formed lasting friendships. Later, these friendships assisted his entry
into the upper echelons of the state; however, he was trusted for his knowledge and ability, as well.
According to Syme, he began as a praefectus cohortis, a "commander of a cohort" (an infantry
cohort, as junior officers began in the infantry), under Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo, himself a writer
(whose works did not survive) in Germania Inferior. In AD 47, he took part in the Roman conquest of
the Chauci and the construction of the canal between the rivers Maas and Rhine.[10] His description of
the Roman ships anchored in the stream overnight having to ward off floating trees has the stamp of
an eyewitness account.[17]
Map of Castra Vetera, a large permanent base (castra stativa) of Germania Inferior, where Pliny spent the last
of his 10-year enlistment as a cavalry commander: The proximity of a naval base there means that he trained
also in ships, as the Romans customarily trained all soldiers in all arms whenever possible. The location is on
the lower Rhine River.
At some uncertain date, Pliny was transferred to the command of Germania Superior under Publius
Pomponius Secundus with a promotion to military tribune,[15] which was a staff position, with duties
assigned by the district commander. Pomponius was a half-brother of Corbulo. [18] They had the same
mother, Vistilia, a powerful matron of the Roman upper classes, who had seven children by six
husbands, some of whom had imperial connections, including a future empress. Pliny's assignments
are not clear, but he must have participated in the campaign against the Chatti of AD 50, at age 27,
in his fourth year of service. Associated with the commander in the praetorium, he became a familiar
and close friend of Pomponius, who also was a man of letters.
At another uncertain date, Pliny was transferred back to Germania Inferior. Corbulo had moved on,
assuming command in the east. This time, Pliny was promoted to praefectus alae, "commander of a
wing", responsible for a cavalry battalion of about 480 men. [19] He spent the rest of his military service
there. A decorative phalera, or piece of harness, with his name on it has been found at Castra
Vetera, modern Xanten, then a large Roman army and naval base on the lower Rhine. [15] Pliny's last
commander there, apparently neither a man of letters nor a close friend of his, was Pompeius
Paulinus, governor of Germania Inferior AD 55-58.[20] Pliny relates that he personally knew Paulinus
to have carried around 12,000 pounds of silver service on which to dine on campaign against the
Germans (a practice which would not have endeared him to the disciplined Pliny). [21]
According to his nephew,[19] during this period, he wrote his first book (perhaps in winter quarters
when the more spare time was available), a work on the use of missiles on horseback, De
jaculatione equestri.[10] It has not survived, but in Natural History, he seems to reveal at least part of
its content, using the movements of the horse to assist the javelin-man in throwing missiles while
astride its back.[22] During this period, he also dreamed that the spirit of Drusus Nero begged him to
save his memory from oblivion.[19] The dream prompted Pliny to begin forthwith a history of all the
wars between the Romans and the Germans, [10] which he did not complete for some years.
Colossal head of Titus, son of Vespasian. Glyptothek, Munich
Literary interlude
At the earliest time Pliny could have left the service, Nero, the last of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty,
had been emperor for two years. He did not leave office until AD 68, when Pliny was 45 years old.
During that time, Pliny did not hold any high office or work in the service of the state. In the
subsequent Flavian Dynasty, his services were in such demand that he had to give up his law
practice, which suggests that he had been trying not to attract the attention of Nero, who was a
dangerous acquaintance.
Under Nero, Pliny lived mainly in Rome. He mentions the map of Armenia and the neighbourhood of
the Caspian Sea, which was sent to Rome by the staff of Corbulo in 58. [23][10] He also saw the building
of Nero's Domus Aureaor "Golden House" after the fire of 64.[24][10]
Besides pleading law cases, Pliny wrote, researched, and studied. His second published work was a
biography of his old commander, Pomponius Secundus, in two books.[19] After several years in prison
under Tiberius, AD 31-37 (which he used to write tragedies), Pomponius was rehabilitated
by Caligula (who later married his half-sister, Caesonia) in 38, made consul in 41, and sent by
Claudius as legatus to Germany, where he won a victory against the Chatti in 50 and was allowed
a triumph. After this peak, he disappears from history, never to be mentioned again, except by the
Plinies, and is not among either the friends or the enemies of Nero.
The elder Pliny mentions that he saw "in the possession of Pomponius Secundus, the poet, a very
illustrious citizen", manuscripts in the "ancient handwriting of Tiberius and Caius Gracchus". [25] The
peak of Pomponius's fame would have been his triumph of 50 or 51. In 54, Nero came to power; at
that time, Pliny was working on his two military writings. Pliny the Younger says that the biography of
Pomponius was "a duty which he owed to the memory of his friend", implying that Pomponius had
died. The circumstances of this duty and whether or not it had anything to do with his probable
avoidance of Nero have disappeared with the work.
Meanwhile, he was completing the 20 books of his History of the German Wars, the only authority
expressly quoted in the first six books of the Annals of Tacitus,[26][10] and probably one of the principal
authorities for the same author's Germania. It disappeared in favor of the writings of Tacitus (which
are far shorter), and, early in the fifth century, Symmachus had little hope of finding a copy.[27][10]
Like Caligula, Nero seemed to grow gradually more insane as his reign progressed. Pliny devoted
much of his time to writing on the comparatively safe subjects of grammar and rhetoric.[10] He
published a three-book, six-volume educational manual on rhetoric, entitled Studiosus, "the
Student". Pliny the Younger says of it: "The orator is trained from his very cradle and perfected." [19] It
was followed by eight books entitled Dubii sermonis,[10]Of Doubtful Phraseology. These are both
now lost works. His nephew relates: "He wrote this under Nero, in the last years of his reign, when
every kind of literary pursuit which was in the least independent or elevated had been rendered
dangerous by servitude."
In 68, Nero no longer had any friends and supporters. He committed suicide, and the reign
of terror was at an end, as was the interlude in Pliny's obligation to the state.
Senior officer
Bust of Vespasian, Pushkin Museum, Moscow
At the end of AD 69, after a year of civil war consequent on the death of Nero, Vespasian, a
successful general, became emperor. Like Pliny, he had come from the equestrian class, rising
through the ranks of the army and public offices and defeating the other contenders for the highest
office. His main tasks were to re-establish peace under imperial control and to place the economy on
a sound footing. He needed in his administration all the loyalty and assistance he could find. Pliny,
apparently trusted without question, perhaps (reading between the lines) recommended by
Vespasian's son Titus, was put to work immediately and was kept in a continuous succession of the
most distinguished procuratorships, according to Suetonius.[28] A procurator was generally a governor
of an imperial province. The empire was perpetually short of, and was always seeking, office holders
for its numerous offices.
Throughout the latter stages of Pliny's life, he maintained good relations with Emperor Vespasian. As
is written in the first line of Pliny the Younger's avunculus meus:
Ante lucem ibat ad Vespasianum imperatorem (nam ille quoque noctibus utebatur), deinde ad
officium sibi delegatum
"Before dawn he was going to the Emperor Vespasian (for he also made use of the night), then he
did the other duties assigned to him".
In this passage, Pliny the Younger conveys to Tacitus that his uncle was ever the academic, always
working. The word ibat (imperfect, "he used to go") gives a sense of repeated or customary action.
In the subsequent text, he mentions again how most of his uncle's day was spent working, reading,
and writing. He notes that Pliny "was indeed a very ready sleeper, sometimes dropping off in the
middle of his studies and then waking up again."[29]
A definitive study of the procuratorships of Pliny was compiled by the classical scholar Friedrich
Münzer, which was reasserted by Ronald Symeand became a standard reference point. Münzer
hypothesized four procuratorships, of which two are certainly attested and two are probable but not
certain. However, two does not satisfy Suetonius' description of a continuous succession.
[30]
Consequently, Plinian scholars present two to four procuratorships, the four comprising (i) Gallia
Narbonensis in 70, (ii) Africa in 70-72, (iii) Hispania Tarraconensis in 72-74, and (iv) Gallia Belgica in
74-76.
According to Syme, Pliny may have been "successor to Valerius Paulinus", procurator of Gallia
Narbonensis (southeastern France), early in AD 70. He seems to have a "familiarity with
the provincia", which, however, might otherwise be explained.[31] For example, he says[32]
In the cultivation of the soil, the manners and civilization of the inhabitants, and the extent of its
wealth, it is surpassed by none of the provinces, and, in short, might be more truthfully described as
a part of Italy than as a province.
denoting a general popular familiarity with the region.
Oasis at Gabès
Pliny certainly spent some time in Africa Province, most likely as a procurator.[33] Among other events
or features that he saw are the provoking of rubetae, poisonous toads (Bufonidae), by the Psylli;
[34]
the buildings made with molded earthen walls, "superior in solidity to any cement;" [35] and the
unusual, fertile seaside oasis of Gabès (then Tacape), Tunisia, currently a World Heritage Site.
[36]
Syme assigns the African procuratorship to AD 70-72.
The procuratorship of Hispania Tarraconensis was next. A statement by Pliny the Younger that his
uncle was offered 400,000 sesterces for his manuscripts by Larcius Licinius while he (Pliny the
Elder) was procurator of Hispania makes it the most certain of the three. [19] Pliny lists the peoples of
"Hither Hispania", including population statistics and civic rights (modern Asturias and Gallaecia). He
stops short of mentioning them all for fear of "wearying the reader". [37] As this is the only geographic
region for which he gives this information, Syme hypothesizes that Pliny contributed to the census of
Hither Hispania conducted in 73/74 by Vibius Crispus, legate from the Emperor, thus dating Pliny's
procuratorship there.[38]
Las Médulas, Spain, site of a large Roman mine
During his stay in Hispania, he became familiar with the agriculture and especially the gold mines of
the north and west of the country.[39][10] His descriptions of the various methods of mining appear to
be eyewitness judging by the discussion of gold mining methods in his Natural History. He might
have visited the mine excavated at Las Médulas.
The Porta Nigra Roman gate, Trier, Germany
The last position of procurator, an uncertain one, was of Gallia Belgica, based on Pliny's familiarity
with it. The capital of the province was Augusta Treverorum (Trier), named for
the Treverisurrounding it. Pliny says that in "the year but one before this" a severe winter killed the
first crops planted by the Treviri; they sowed again in March and had "a most abundant
harvest."[40] The problem is to identify "this", the year in which the passage was written. Using 77 as
the date of composition Syme[41] arrives at AD 74-75 as the date of the procuratorship, when Pliny is
presumed to have witnessed these events. The argument is based entirely on presumptions;
nevertheless, this date is required to achieve Suetonius' continuity of procuratorships, if the one in
Gallia Belgica occurred.
Pliny was allowed home (Rome) at some time in AD 75–76. He was presumably at home for the first
official release of Natural History in 77. Whether he was in Rome for the dedication of Vespasian's
Temple of Peace in the Forum in 75, which was in essence a museum for display of art works
plundered by Nero and formerly adorning the Domus Aurea, is uncertain, as is his possible
command of the vigiles (night watchmen), a lesser post. No actual post is discernible for this period.
On the bare circumstances, he was an official agent of the emperor in a quasiprivate capacity.
Perhaps he was between posts. In any case, his appointment as prefect of the fleet at Misenum took
him there, where he resided with his sister and nephew. Vespasian died of disease on June 23, 79.
Pliny outlived him by two months.
Noted author
During Nero's reign of terror, Pliny avoided working on any writing that would attract attention to
himself. His works on oratory in the last years of Nero's reign (67, 68) focused on form rather than on
content. He began working on content again probably after Vespasian's rule began in AD 69, when
the terror clearly was over and would not be resumed. It was to some degree reinstituted (and later
cancelled by his son Titus) when Vespasian suppressed the philosophers at Rome, but not Pliny,
who was not among them, representing, as he says, something new in Rome, an encyclopedist
(certainly, a venerable tradition outside Italy).
In his next work, he "completed the history which Aufidius Bassus left unfinished, and... added to it
thirty books."[19] Aufidius Bassus was a cause célèbre according to Seneca the Younger,[42][43] a man
much admired at Rome. He had begun his history with some unknown date, certainly before the
death of Cicero,[44] so probably the Civil Wars or the death of Julius Caesar, ending with the reign
of Tiberius. It was cut short when Bassus died slowly of a lingering disease, with such spirit and
objectivity that Seneca remarked that Bassus seemed to treat it as someone else's dying.
Pliny's continuation of Bassus's History was one of the authorities followed
by Suetonius and Plutarch.[10] Tacitus also cites Pliny as a source. He is mentioned concerning the
loyalty of Burrus, commander of the Praetorian Guard, whom Nero removed for disloyalty.[45] Tacitus
portrays parts of Pliny's view of the Pisonian conspiracy to kill Nero and make Piso emperor as
"absurd"[46] and mentions that he could not decide whether Pliny's account or that of Messalla was
more accurate concerning some of the details of the Year of the Four Emperors.[47] Evidently Pliny's
extension of Bassus extended at least from the reign of Nero to that of Vespasian. Pliny seems to
have known it was going to be controversial, as he deliberately reserved it for publication after his
death:[10]
It has been long completed and its accuracy confirmed; but I have determined to commit the charge
of it to my heirs, lest I should have been suspected, during my lifetime, of having been unduly
influenced by ambition. By this means I confer an obligation on those who occupy the same ground
with myself; and also on posterity, who, I am aware, will contend with me, as I have done with my
predecessors.[48]
Natural History]
Natural History (Pliny)
Pliny's last work, according to his nephew, was the Naturalis Historia (literally "Natural History"),
an encyclopedia into which he collected much of the knowledge of his time. [19] It comprised 37 books.
His sources were personal experience, his own prior works (such as the work on Germany), and
extracts from other works. These extracts were collected in the following manner: One servant would
read aloud, and another would write the extract as dictated by Pliny. He is said to have dictated
extracts while taking a bath. In winter, he furnished the copier with gloves and long sleeves so his
writing hand would not stiffen with cold (Pliny the Younger in avunculus meus). His extract collection
finally reached about 160 volumes, which Larcius Licinius, the Praetorian legate of Hispania
Tarraconensis, vainly offered to purchase for 400,000 sesterces.[19][10] That would have been in 73/74
(see above). Pliny bequeathed the extracts to his nephew.
When composition of the Natural History began is unknown. Since he was preoccupied with his
other works under Nero and then had to finish the history of his times, he is unlikely to have begun
before 70. The procuratorships offered the ideal opportunity for an encyclopedic frame of mind. The
date of an overall composition cannot be assigned to any one year. The dates of different parts must
be determined, if they can, by philologicalanalysis (the post mortem of the scholars).
Laocoon and his Sons, a sculpture admired by Pliny
The closest known event to a single publication date, that is, when the manuscript was probably
released to the public for borrowing and copying, and was probably sent to the Flavians, is the date
of the Dedication in the first of the 37 books. It is to the imperator Titus. As Titus and Vespasian had
the same name, Titus Flavius Vespasianus, earlier writers hypothesized a dedication to Vespasian.
Pliny's mention of a brother (Domitian) and joint offices with a father, calling that father "great",
points certainly to Titus.[49]
Pliny also says that Titus had been consul six times. The first six consulships of Titus are in 70, 72,
74, 75, 76, and 77, all conjointly with Vespasian, and the seventh was in 79. This brings the date of
the Dedication probably to 77. In that year, Vespasian was 68. He had been ruling conjointly with
Titus for some years.[49] The title imperator does not indicate that Titus was sole emperor, but was
awarded for a military victory, in this case that in Jerusalem in 70. [50]
Aside from minor finishing touches, the work in 37 books was completed in AD 77. [51] That it was
written entirely in 77 or that Pliny was finished with it then cannot be proved. Moreover, the
dedication could have been written before publication, and it could have been published either
privately or publicly earlier without the dedication. The only certain fact is that Pliny did no further
work on it after AD 79.
The Naturalis Historia is one of the largest single works to have survived from the Roman Empire to
the modern day and purports to cover the entire field of ancient knowledge, based on the best
authorities available to Pliny. He claims to be the only Roman ever to have undertaken such a work.
It encompasses the fields of botany, zoology, astronomy, geology, and mineralogy, as well as the
exploitation of those resources. It remains a standard work for the Roman period and the advances
in technology and understanding of natural phenomena at the time. His discussions of some
technical advances are the only sources for those inventions, such as hushing in mining technology
or the use of water mills for crushing or grinding corn. Much of what he wrote about has been
confirmed by archaeology. It is virtually the only work which describes the work of artists of the time,
and is a reference work for the history of art. As such, Pliny's approach to describing the work of
artists was to inform Lorenzo Ghiberti in writing his commentaries and Giorgio Vasari who wrote the
celebrated Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects.
The work became a model for all later encyclopedias in terms of the breadth of subject matter
examined, the need to reference original authors, and a comprehensive index list of the contents. It
is the only work by Pliny to have survived, and the last that he published, lacking a final revision at
his sudden and unexpected death in the AD 79 eruption of Vesuvius.
Death
Plaster casts of the casualties of the pumice fall, whose remains vanished, leaving cavities in the pumice
at Pompeii
Pliny had received from Emperor Vespasian, who had died two months earlier, the appointment
of praefectus classis (fleet commander) in the Roman Navy. On AD August 24, 79, he was stationed
at Misenum, at the time of the great eruption of Mount Vesuvius,[10] which destroyed and
buried Pompeii and Herculaneum. He was preparing to cross the Bay of Naples to observe the
phenomenon directly when a message arrived from his friend Rectina asking to
rescue Pomponianus and her. Launching the galleys under his command to the evacuation of the
opposite shore, he himself took "a fast-sailing cutter", a decision that may have cost him his life. His
nephew, Pliny the Younger, provided an account of his death, obtained from the survivors. The
nephew and his mother had decided not to go on the voyage across the bay.
As the light vessel approached the shore near Herculaneum, cinders and pumice began to fall on it.
Pliny's helmsman advised turning back, to which Pliny replied, "Fortune favors the brave; steer to
where Pomponianus is." (Stabiae, near the modern town of Castellammare di Stabia.) They landed
and found Pomponianus "in the greatest consternation." Pliny hugged and comforted him. They
could not find Rectina. They loaded the cutter, but the same winds that brought it to Stabiae
prevented it from leaving. Pliny reassured his party by feasting, bathing, and sleeping while waiting
for the wind to abate, but finally they had to leave the buildings for fear of collapse and try their luck
in the pumice fall. Pliny sat down and could not get up even with assistance, and was left behind. His
companions theorized that he collapsed and died through inhaling poisonous gases emitted from the
volcano. On their return three days later (26 August) after the plume had dispersed, his body was
found under the pumice with no apparent external injuries. The problem with the toxicity theory is
that his companions were unaffected by the same fumes, and they had no mobility problems,
whereas Pliny had to sit and could not rise. As he is described as a corpulent man, [1] who also
suffered from asthma, his friends are thought to have left him because he was already dead. [2]
The story of his last hours is told in a letter addressed 27 years afterwards to Tacitus by Pliny the
Younger,[1][10] who also sent to another correspondent, Baebius Macer, an account of his uncle's
writings and his manner of life. [19][10] The fragment from Suetonius (see under "External links" below)
states a somewhat less flattering view, that Pliny approached the shore only from scientific interest
and then asked a slave to kill him to avoid heat from the volcano. It is not as credible a source, as it
is clear from the nephew's letter that the persons Pliny came to rescue escaped to tell the tale in
detail. Moreover, Suetonius hypothesizes that a party witnessing events so agonizing as to destroy
Pliny or cause him to order his own death are suspect as they apparently were subject to none of
these fatal events themselves.
Science historian Conway Zirkle has written, "there is widespread and persisting misinformation"
about Pliny's death. He suggested that despite his rescue attempt, Pliny never came within miles of
Vesuvius and no evidence has been found that shows he died from breathing in fumes. Zirkle stated
that Pliny was overweight, in poor health, and had died from a heart attack.[52]
Hesperus.
In Greek mythology, Hesperus /ˈhɛspərəs/ (Ancient Greek: Ἓσπερος Hesperos) is the Evening
Star, the planet Venus in the evening. He is the son of the dawn goddess Eos(Roman Aurora) and is
the half-brother of her other son, Phosphorus (also called Eosphorus; the "Morning Star"). Hesperus'
Roman equivalent is Vesper (cf. "evening", "supper", "evening star", "west"[1]). By one account
Hesperus' father was Cephalus, a mortal, while Phosphorus' was the star god Astraios. Other
sources, however, state that Hesperus was the brother of Atlas, and thus the son of Iapetus
Hesperus as Personification of the Evening Star by Anton Raphael Mengs (1765).
Variant names
Hesperus is the personification of the "evening star", the planet Venus in the evening. His name is
sometimes conflated with the names for his brother, the personification of the planet as the "morning
star" Eosphorus (Greek Ἐωσφόρος, "bearer of dawn") or Phosphorus (Ancient Greek: Φωσφόρος,
"bearer of light", often translated as "Lucifer" in Latin), since they are all personifications of the same
planet Venus. "Heosphoros" in the Greek Septuagint and "Lucifer" in Jerome's Latin Vulgatewere
used to translate the Hebrew "Helel" (Venus as the brilliant, bright or shining one), "son of Shahar
(god) (Dawn)" in the Hebrew version of Isaiah 14:12.
There is a tendency to conclude that the ancient Greeks thought that Eosphorus (Venus in the
morning) and Hesperos (Venus in the evening), because of the distinction in the names, were two
different celestial objects.[And that the Greeks only later accepted the Babylonian view that the two
were the same; and consequently that it was by a not original Babylonian influence that the
identification of the planets with the great gods came to be. Thereby the Greeks dedicated the
"wandering star" (planet) to Aphrodite (Roman Venus), as the equivalent of IshtarThis order of
influence is not backed by scholars, nor any historical documents. Rather the two mythological
explanations seem to have existed simultaneously and interchangeably.
Eosphorus/Hesperus was said to be the father of Ceyx[3] and Daedalion.[4] In some sources, he is
also said to be the father of the Hesperides.[5]
"Hesperus is Phosphorus"
Frege's Puzzle
In the philosophy of language, "Hesperus is Phosphorus" is a famous sentence in relation to
the semantics of proper names. Gottlob Frege used the terms "the evening star" (der Abendstern)
and "the morning star" (der Morgenstern) to illustrate his distinction between sense and reference,
and subsequent philosophers changed the example to "Hesperus is Phosphorus" so that it utilized
proper names. Saul Kripke used the sentence to posit that the knowledge of something necessary
(in this case the identity of Hesperus and Phosphorus) could be empirical rather than knowable a
priori
.[
Diogenes Laertius
In the second century, in his astronomical treatise Almagest, Ptolemy theorized that both Mercury
and Venus are located between the Sun and the Earth. The 11th century Persian
astronomer Avicenna claimed to have observed the transit of Venus,
Diogenes Laërtius
Diogenes Laërtius (/daɪˈɒdʒɪniːz leɪˈɜːrʃiəs/;[1] Greek: Διογένης Λαέρτιος, Diogenēs Laertios; fl. 3rd
century AD) was a biographer of the Greekphilosophers. Nothing is definitively known about his life,
but his surviving Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers is a principal source for the history
of ancient Greek philosophy. His reputation is controversial among scholars because he often
repeats information from his sources without critically evaluating it. He also frequently focuses on
trivial or insignificant details of his subjects' lives while ignoring important details of their
philosophical teachings and he sometimes fails to distinguish between earlier and later teachings of
specific philosophical schools. However, unlike many other ancient secondary sources, Diogenes
Laërtius generally reports philosophical teachings without attempting to reinterpret or expand on
them, which means his accounts are often closer to the primary sources. Due to the loss of so many
of the primary sources on which Diogenes relied, his work has become the foremost surviving
source on the history of Greek philosophy.
Diogenes Laërtius
17th-century engraving
Life
Laërtius must have lived after Sextus Empiricus (c. 200), whom he mentions, and before Stephanus
of Byzantium and Sopater of Apamea (c. 500), who quote him. His work makes no mention
of Neoplatonism, even though it is addressed to a woman who was "an enthusiastic Platonist".
[2]
Hence he is assumed to have flourished in the first half of the 3rd century, during the reign
of Alexander Severus (222–235) and his successors.[3]
The precise form of his name is uncertain. The ancient manuscripts invariably refer to a "Laertius
Diogenes", and this form of the name is repeated by Sopater [4] and the Suda.[5] The modern form
"Diogenes Laertius" is much rarer, used by Stephanus of Byzantium, [6] and in a lemma to the Greek
Anthology.[7] He is also referred to as "Laertes" [8] or simply "Diogenes".[9]
The origin of the name "Laertius" is also uncertain. Stephanus of Byzantium refers to him as
"Διογένης ὁ Λαερτιεύς" (Diogenes ho Laertieus),[10] implying that he was the native of some town,
perhaps the Laerte in Caria (or another Laerte in Cilicia). Another suggestion is that one of his
ancestors had for a patron a member of the Roman family of the Laërtii.[11] The prevailing modern
theory is that "Laertius" is a nickname (derived from the Homeric epithet Diogenes Laertiade, used in
addressing Odysseus) used to distinguish him from the many other people called Diogenes in the
ancient world.[12]
His home town is unknown (at best uncertain, even according to a hypothesis that Laertius refers to
his origin). A disputed passage in his writings has been used to suggest that it
was Nicaea in Bithynia.[13][14]
It has been suggested that Diogenes was an Epicurean or a Pyrrhonist. He passionately
defends Epicurus[15] in Book 10, which is of high quality and contains three long letters attributed to
Epicurus explaining Epicurean doctrines. [16] He is impartial to all schools, in the manner of the
Pyrrhonists, and he carries the succession of Pyrrhonism further than that of the other schools. At
one point, he even seems to refer to the Pyrrhonists as "our school." [13] On the other hand, most of
these points can be explained by the way he uncritically copies from his sources. It is by no means
certain that he adhered to any school, and he is usually more attentive to biographical details. [17]
In addition to the Lives, Diogenes was the author of a work in verse on famous men, in various
metres, which he called Epigrammata or Pammetros (Πάμμετρος).[3]
Writings
Main article: Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers
The work by which he is known, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, was written in Greek
and professes to give an account of the lives and sayings of the Greek philosophers.
Diogenes divides his subjects into two "schools" which he describes as the Ionian/Ionic and the
Italian/Italic; the division is somewhat dubious and appears to be drawn from the
lost doxography of Sotion. The biographies of the "Ionian school" begin with Anaximander and end
with Clitomachus, Theophrastus and Chrysippus; the "Italian" begins with Pythagoras and ends
with Epicurus. The Socratic school, with its various branches, is classed with the Ionic, while
the Eleatics and Pyrrhonists are treated under the Italic.
Legacy and assessment
The Italian Renaissance scholar, painter, philosopher, and architect Leon Battista Alberti (1404–1472)

modeled his own autobiography on Diogenes Laërtius's Life of Thales.[18]
Henricus Aristippus, the archdeacon of Catania, produced a Latin translation of Diogenes Laertius's
book in southern Italy in the late 1150s, which has since been lost or destroyed. [18] Geremia da
Montagnone used this translation as a source for his Compedium moralium notabilium (1285) and
an anonymous Italian author used it as a source for work entitled Liber de vita et moribus
philosophorum (written c.1317–1320), which reached international popularity in the Late Middle
Ages.[18] The monk Ambrogio Traversari (1386–1439) produced another Latin translation
in Florence between 1424 and 1433, for which far better records have survived. [18]The Italian
Renaissance scholar, painter, philosopher, and architect Leon Battista Alberti (1404–1472) borrowed
from Traversari's translation of the Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers in Book 2 of his Libri
della famiglia[18] and modeled his own autobiography on Diogenes Laërtius's Life of Thales.[18]
Diogenes Laërtius's work has had a complicated reception in modern times. [19] The value of his Lives
and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers as an insight into the private lives of the Greek sages led
the French Renaissance philosopher Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) to exclaim that he wished
that, instead of one Laërtius, there had been a dozen. [20] Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)
criticized Diogenes Laërtius for his lack of philosophical talent and categorized his work as nothing
more than a compilation of previous writers' opinions. [18] Nonetheless, he admitted that Diogenes
Laërtius's compilation was an important one given the information that it contained. [18] Hermann
Usener (1834–1905) deplored Diogenes Laërtius as a "complete ass" (asinus germanus) in
his Epicurea (1887).[18] Werner Jaeger (1888–1961) damned him as "that great ignoramus". [21] In the
late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, however, scholars have managed to partially redeem
Diogenes Laertius's reputation as a writer by reading his book in a Hellenistic literary context. [19]
Nonetheless, modern scholars treat Diogenes's testimonia with caution, especially when he fails to
cite his sources. Herbert S. Long warns: "Diogenes has acquired an importance out of all proportion
to his merits because the loss of many primary sources and of the earlier secondary compilations
has accidentally left him the chief continuous source for the history of Greek philosophy." [22] Robert
M. Strozier offers a somewhat more positive assessment of Diogenes Laertius's reliability, noting
that many other ancient writers attempt to reinterpret and expand on the philosophical teachings
they describe, something which Diogenes Laërtius rarely does. [23] Strozier concludes, "Diogenes
Laertius is, when he does not conflate hundreds of years of distinctions, reliable simply because he
is a less competent thinker than those on whom he writes, is less liable to re-formulate statements
and arguments, and especially in the case of Epicurus, less liable to interfere with the texts he
quotes. He does, however, simplify."[23]
Despite his importance to the history of western philosophy and the controversy surrounding him,
according to Gian Mario Cao, Diogenes Laërtius has still not received adequate scholarly attention.
[18]
Both modern critical editions of his book, by H. S. Long (1964) and by M. Marcovich (1999) have
received extensive criticism from scholars.[18]
He is criticized primarily for being overly concerned with superficial details of the philosophers' lives
and lacking the intellectual capacity to explore their actual philosophical works with any penetration.
However, according to statements of the 14th-century monk Walter Burley in his De vita et moribus
philosophorum, the text of Diogenes seems to have been much fuller than that which we now
possess
Avicenna[136] which later astronomers took as confirmation of Ptolemy's theory.
Ptolemy.[137]
In the 12th century, the Andalusian astronomer Ibn Bajjah observed "two planets as black spots on
the face of the Sun"; these were later identified as the transits of Venus
Claudius Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (/ˈtɒləmi/; Koine Greek: Κλαύδιος Πτολεμαῖος, Klaúdios Ptolemaîos [kláwdios
ptolɛmɛ́os]; Latin: Claudius Ptolemaeus; c. AD 100 –c. 170)[2] was a Greco-
Roman[3] mathematician, astronomer, geographer and astrologer. He lived in the city of Alexandria in
the Roman province of Egypt, wrote in Koine Greek, and held Roman citizenship.[4] The 14th-century
astronomer Theodore Meliteniotes gave his birthplace as the prominent Greekcity Ptolemais
Hermiou (Greek: Πτολεμαΐς ‘Ερμείου) in the Thebaid (Greek: Θηβαΐδα [Θηβαΐς]). This attestation is
quite late, however, and, according to Gerald Toomer, the translator of his Almagest into English,
there is no reason to suppose he ever lived anywhere other than Alexandria. [5] He died there around
AD 168.
[
Ptolemy
Early Baroque artist's rendition
6]
Ptolemy wrote several scientific treatises, three of which were of importance to

later Byzantine, Islamic and European science. The first is the astronomical treatise now known as
the Almagest, although it was originally entitled the Mathematical Treatise (Μαθηματικὴ
Σύνταξις, Mathēmatikē Syntaxis) and then known as the Great Treatise (Ἡ Μεγάλη Σύνταξις, Hē
Megálē Syntaxis). The second is the Geography, which is a thorough discussion of the geographic
knowledge of the Greco-Roman world. The third is the astrological treatise in which he attempted to
adapt horoscopic astrology to the Aristotelian natural philosophy of his day. This is sometimes
known as the Apotelesmatika(Ἀποτελεσματικά) but more commonly known as the Tetrabiblos from
the Greek(Τετράβιβλος) meaning "Four Books" or by the Latin Quadripartitum.
Background
Ptolemaeus (Πτολεμαῖος Ptolemaios) is a Greek name. It occurs once in Greek mythology, and is of
Homeric form.[7] It was common among the Macedonian upper class at the time of Alexander the
Great, and there were several of this name among Alexander's army, one of whom made
himself pharaoh in 323 BC: Ptolemy I Soter, the first king of the Ptolemaic Kingdom. All male
pharaohs after him, until Egyptbecame a Roman province in 30 BC, were also Ptolemies.
The name Claudius is a Roman nomen; the fact that Ptolemy bore it indicates he lived under the
Roman rule of Egypt with the privileges and political rights of Roman citizenship. It would have
suited custom if the first of Ptolemy's family to become a citizen (whether he or an ancestor) took
the nomen from a Roman called Claudius who was responsible for granting citizenship. If, as was
common, this was the emperor, citizenship would have been granted between AD 41 and 68
(when Claudius, and then Nero, were Roman emperors). The astronomer would also have had
a praenomen, which remains unknown.
Engraving of a crowned Ptolemy being guided by the muse of Astronomy, Urania, from Margarita
Philosophica by Gregor Reisch, 1508. Although Abu Ma'shar believed Ptolemy to be one of the Ptolemies who
ruled Egypt after the conquest of Alexanderthe title ‘King Ptolemy’ is generally viewed as a mark of respect for
Ptolemy's elevated standing in science.
The ninth-century Persian astronomer Abu Maʿshar presents Ptolemy as a member of Egypt's royal

lineage, stating that the ten kings of Egypt who followed Alexanderwere wise "and included Ptolemy
the Wise, who composed the book of the Almagest". Abu Maʿshar recorded a belief that a different
member of this royal line "composed the book on astrology and attributed it to Ptolemy". We can
evidence historical confusion on this point from Abu Maʿshar's subsequent remark "It is sometimes
said that the very learned man who wrote the book of astrology also wrote the book of the Almagest.
The correct answer is not known." [8] There is little evidence on the subject of Ptolemy's ancestry,
apart from what can be drawn from the details of his name (see above); however, modern scholars
refer to Abu Maʿshar's account as erroneous,[9] and it is no longer doubted that the astronomer who
wrote the Almagest also wrote the Tetrabiblos as its astrological counterpart. [10]
Ptolemy wrote in Koine Greek and can be shown to have utilized Babylonian astronomical data.[11]
[12]
He was a Roman citizen, but was ethnically either a Greek[2][13][14] or a Hellenized Egyptian.[13][15][16] He
was often known in later Arabicsources as "the Upper Egyptian",[17] suggesting he may have had
origins in southern Egypt.[18] Later Arabic astronomers, geographers and physicists referred to him by
ْ ‫ب‬ Baṭlumyus.[19]
his name in Arabic: ‫َطلُمْ يوس‬
Astronomy
Almagest
Ptolemy with an armillary spheremodel, by Joos van Ghent and Pedro Berruguete, 1476, Louvre, Paris
Ptolemy's Almagest is the only surviving comprehensive ancient treatise on astronomy. Babylonian

astronomers had developed arithmetical techniques for calculating astronomical phenomena; Greek
astronomers such as Hipparchus had produced geometric models for calculating celestial motions.
Ptolemy, however, claimed to have derived his geometrical models from selected astronomical
observations by his predecessors spanning more than 800 years, though astronomers have for
centuries suspected that his models' parameters were adopted independently of observations.
[20]
Ptolemy presented his astronomical models in convenient tables, which could be used to compute
the future or past position of the planets.[21] The Almagest also contains a star catalogue, which is a
version of a catalogue created by Hipparchus. Its list of forty-eight constellations is ancestral to the
modern system of constellations, but unlike the modern system they did not cover the whole sky
(only the sky Hipparchus could see). Across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa in the
Medieval period, it was the authoritative text on astronomy, with its author becoming an almost
mythical figure, called Ptolemy, King of Alexandria.[22] The Almagest was preserved, like most of
extant Classical Greek science, in Arabic manuscripts (hence its familiar name). Because of its
reputation, it was widely sought and was translated twice into Latin in the 12th century, once in Sicily
and again in Spain.[23] Ptolemy's model, like those of his predecessors, was geocentric and was
almost universally accepted until the appearance of simpler heliocentric models during the scientific
revolution.
His Planetary Hypotheses went beyond the mathematical model of the Almagest to present a
physical realization of the universe as a set of nested spheres, [24] in which he used the epicycles of
his planetary model to compute the dimensions of the universe. He estimated the Sun was at an
average distance of 1,210 Earth radii, while the radius of the sphere of the fixed stars was 20,000
times the radius of the Earth.[25]
Ptolemy presented a useful tool for astronomical calculations in his Handy Tables, which tabulated
all the data needed to compute the positions of the Sun, Moon and planets, the rising and setting of
the stars, and eclipses of the Sun and Moon. Ptolemy's Handy Tables provided the model for later
astronomical tables or zījes. In the Phaseis (Risings of the Fixed Stars), Ptolemy gave a parapegma,
a star calendar or almanac, based on the appearances and disappearances of stars over the course
of the solar year.[26]
The Geography
Geography (Ptolemy)
Geography by Ptolemy, Latin manuscript of the early 15th century
Ptolemy's other main work is his Geography (also called the Geographia), a compilation

of geographical coordinates of the part of the world known to the Roman Empire during his time. He
relied somewhat on the work of an earlier geographer, Marinos of Tyre, and on gazetteers of the
Roman and ancient Persian Empire. He also acknowledged ancient astronomer Hipparchus for
having provided the elevation of the north celestial pole[27] for a few cities.[28]
The first part of the Geography is a discussion of the data and of the methods he used. As with the
model of the Solar System in the Almagest, Ptolemy put all this information into a grand scheme.
Following Marinos, he assigned coordinates to all the places and geographic features he knew, in
a grid that spanned the globe. Latitude was measured from the equator, as it is today, but Ptolemy
preferred[29] to express it as climata, the length of the longest day rather than degrees of arc: the
length of the midsummer day increases from 12h to 24h as one goes from the equator to the polar
circle. In books 2 through 7, he used degrees and put the meridian of 0 longitude at the most
western land he knew, the "Blessed Islands", often identified as the Canary Islands, as suggested by
the location of the six dots labelled the "FORTUNATA" islands near the left extreme of the blue sea
of Ptolemy's map here reproduced.
A 15th-century manuscript copy of the Ptolemy world map, reconstituted from Ptolemy's Geography(circa AD
150), indicating the countries of "Serica" and "Sinae" (China) at the extreme east, beyond the island of
"Taprobane" (Sri Lanka, oversized) and the "Aurea Chersonesus" (Malay Peninsula).
Prima Europe tabula. A 15th century copy of Ptolemy's map of Britain and Ireland.
Ptolemy also devised and provided instructions on how to create maps both of the whole inhabited
world (oikoumenè) and of the Roman provinces. In the second part of the Geography, he provided
the necessary topographic lists, and captions for the maps. His oikoumenèspanned 180 degrees of
longitude from the Blessed Islands in the Atlantic Ocean to the middle of China, and about 80
degrees of latitude from Shetland to anti-Meroe (east coast of Africa); Ptolemy was well aware that
he knew about only a quarter of the globe, and an erroneous extension of China southward suggests
his sources did not reach all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
The maps in surviving manuscripts of Ptolemy's Geography, however, only date from about 1300,
after the text was rediscovered by Maximus Planudes. It seems likely that the topographical tables in
books 2–7 are cumulative texts – texts which were altered and added to as new knowledge became
available in the centuries after Ptolemy.[30] This means that information contained in different parts of
the Geography is likely to be of different dates.
A printed map from the 15th century depicting Ptolemy's description of the Ecumene, (1482, Johannes
Schnitzer, engraver).
Maps based on scientific principles had been made since the time of Eratosthenes, in the 3rd
century BC, but Ptolemy improved map projections. It is known from a speech by Eumenius that a
world map, an orbis pictus, doubtless based on the Geography, was on display in a school
in Augustodunum, Gaul in the third century.[31] In the 15th century, Ptolemy's Geography began to be
printed with engraved maps; the earliest printed edition with engraved maps was produced in
Bologna in 1477, followed quickly by a Roman edition in 1478 (Campbell, 1987). An edition printed
at Ulm in 1482, including woodcut maps, was the first one printed north of the Alps. The maps look
distorted when compared to modern maps, because Ptolemy's data were inaccurate. One reason is
that Ptolemy estimated the size of the Earth as too small: while Eratosthenes found 700 stadia for a
great circle degree on the globe, Ptolemy uses 500 stadia in the Geography. It is highly probable
that these were the same stadion, since Ptolemy switched from the former scale to the latter
between the Syntaxis and the Geography, and severely readjusted longitude degrees accordingly.
See also Ancient Greek units of measurement and History of geodesy.
Because Ptolemy derived many of his key latitudes from crude longest day values, his latitudes are
erroneous on average by roughly a degree (2 degrees for Byzantium, 4 degrees for Carthage),
though capable ancient astronomers knew their latitudes to more like a minute. (Ptolemy's own
latitude was in error by 14'.) He agreed (Geography 1.4) that longitude was best determined by
simultaneous observation of lunar eclipses, yet he was so out of touch with the scientists of his day
that he knew of no such data more recent than 500 years before (Arbela eclipse). When switching
from 700 stadia per degree to 500, he (or Marinos) expanded longitude differences between cities
accordingly (a point first realized by P. Gosselin in 1790), resulting in serious over-stretching of the
Earth's east-west scale in degrees, though not distance. Achieving highly precise longitude remained
a problem in geography until the application of Galileo's Jovian moon method in the 18th century. It
must be added that his original topographic list cannot be reconstructed: the long tables with
numbers were transmitted to posterity through copies containing many scribal errors, and people
have always been adding or improving the topographic data: this is a testimony to the persistent
popularity of this influential work in the history of cartography.
Astrology
Tetrabiblos
The mathematician Claudius Ptolemy 'the Alexandrian', as depicted by a 16th-century engraving [1]
Ptolemy has been referred to as "a pro-astrological authority of the highest magnitude". [32] His
astrological treatise, a work in four parts, is known by the Greek term Tetrabiblos, or the Latin
equivalent Quadripartitum: "Four Books". Ptolemy's own title is unknown, but may have been the
term found in some Greek manuscripts: Apotelesmatika, roughly meaning "Astrological Outcomes",
"Effects" or "Prognostics".[33][34]
As a source of reference, the Tetrabiblos is said to have "enjoyed almost the authority of a Bible
among the astrological writers of a thousand years or more". [35] It was first translated from Arabic into
Latin by Plato of Tivoli (Tiburtinus) in 1138, while he was in Spain.[36] The Tetrabiblos is an extensive
and continually reprinted treatise on the ancient principles of horoscopic astrology. That it did not
quite attain the unrivaled status of the Almagest was, perhaps, because it did not cover some
popular areas of the subject, particularly electional astrology (interpreting astrological charts for a
particular moment to determine the outcome of a course of action to be initiated at that time),
and medical astrology, which were later adoptions.
The great popularity that the Tetrabiblos did possess might be attributed to its nature as an
exposition of the art of astrology, and as a compendium of astrological lore, rather than as a manual.
It speaks in general terms, avoiding illustrations and details of practice. Ptolemy was concerned to
defend astrology by defining its limits, compiling astronomical data that he believed was reliable and
dismissing practices (such as considering the numerological significance of names) that he believed
to be without sound basis.
Much of the content of the Tetrabiblos was collected from earlier sources; Ptolemy's achievement
was to order his material in a systematic way, showing how the subject could, in his view, be
rationalized. It is, indeed, presented as the second part of the study of astronomy of which
the Almagest was the first, concerned with the influences of the celestial bodies in the sublunary
sphere. Thus explanations of a sort are provided for the astrological effects of the planets, based
upon their combined effects of heating, cooling, moistening, and drying.
Ptolemy's astrological outlook was quite practical: he thought that astrology was like medicine, that
is conjectural, because of the many variable factors to be taken into account: the race, country,
and upbringing of a person affects an individual's personality as much as, if not more than, the
positions of the Sun, Moon, and planets at the precise moment of their birth, so Ptolemy saw
astrology as something to be used in life but in no way relied on entirely.
A collection of one hundred aphorisms about astrology called the Centiloquium, ascribed to Ptolemy,
was widely reproduced and commented on by Arabic, Latin and Hebrew scholars, and often bound
together in medieval manuscripts after the Tetrabiblos as a kind of summation. It is now believed to
be a much later pseudepigraphical composition. The identity and date of the actual author of the
work, referred to now as Pseudo-Ptolemy, remains the subject of conjecture. [dubious – discuss]
Criticism
Despite Ptolomy's prominence as a philosopher, the Dutch historian of science Eduard Jan
Dijksterhuis criticizes the Tetrabiblos, stating that "it only remain puzzling that the very writer of
the Almagest, who had taught how to develop astronomy from accurate observations and
mathematical constructions, could put together such a system of superficial analogies and
unfounded assertions."[37]
Music
Ptolemy also wrote an influential work, Harmonics, on music theory and the mathematics of music.
[38]
After criticizing the approaches of his predecessors, Ptolemy argued for basing musical intervals
on mathematical ratios (in contrast to the followers of Aristoxenus and in agreement with the
followers of Pythagoras), backed up by empirical observation (in contrast to the overly theoretical
approach of the Pythagoreans). Ptolemy wrote about how musical notes could be translated into
mathematical equations and vice versa in Harmonics. This is called Pythagorean tuning because it
was first discovered by Pythagoras. However, Pythagoras believed that the mathematics of music
should be based on the specific ratio of 3:2, whereas Ptolemy merely believed that it should just
generally involve tetrachords and octaves. He presented his own divisions of the tetrachord and the
octave, which he derived with the help of a monochord. His Harmonics never had the influence of
his Almagest or Planetary Hypotheses, but a part of it (Book III) did encourage Kepler in his own
musings on the harmony of the world (Kepler, Harmonice Mundi, Appendix to Book V).[39] Ptolemy's
astronomical interests also appeared in a discussion of the "music of the spheres". See: Ptolemy's
intense diatonic scale.
Optics
Optics (Ptolemy)
His Optics is a work that survives only in a poor Arabic translation and in about twenty manuscripts
of a Latin version of the Arabic, which was translated by Eugene of Palermo (c. 1154). In it, Ptolemy
writes about properties of light, including reflection, refraction, and colour. The work is a significant
part of the early history of optics[40] and influenced the more famous 11th-century Book of
Optics by Alhazen (Ibn al-Haytham). It contains the earliest surviving table of refraction from air to
water, for which the values (with the exception of the 60° angle of incidence), although historically
praised as experimentally derived, appear to have been obtained from an arithmetic progression. [41]
The work is also important for the early history of perception. Ptolemy combined the mathematical,
philosophical and physiological traditions. He held an extramission-intromission theory of vision: the
rays (or flux) from the eye formed a cone, the vertex being within the eye, and the base defining the
visual field. The rays were sensitive, and conveyed information back to the observer’s intellect about
the distance and orientation of surfaces. Size and shape were determined by the visual angle
subtended at the eye combined with perceived distance and orientation. This was one of the early
statements of size-distance invariance as a cause of perceptual size and shape constancy, a view
supported by the Stoics.[42] Ptolemy offered explanations for many phenomena concerning
illumination and colour, size, shape, movement and binocular vision. He also divided illusions into
those caused by physical or optical factors and those caused by judgmental factors. He offered an
obscure explanation of the sun or moon illusion (the enlarged apparent size on the horizon) based
on the difficulty of looking upwards
Ibn Bajjah.
Mercury by the Maragha astronomer Qotb al-Din Shirazi in the 13th century, though this
identification cannot be true as there were no Venus transits in Ibn Bajjah's lifetime,
Avempace
Avempace (c. 1085 – 1138) is the Latinate form of Ibn Bâjja (Arabic: ‫)ابن باجة‬, full name Abû Bakr
Muḥammad Ibn Yaḥyà ibn aṣ-Ṣâ’igh at-Tûjîbî Ibn Bâjja al-Tujibi was
an Arab[1] Andalusianpolymath: his writings include works regarding astronomy, physics, and music,
as well as philosophy, medicine, botany, and poetry.[2]
He was the author of the Kitab al-Nabat ("The Book of Plants"), a popular work on botany, which
defined the sex of plants.[3] His philosophical theories influenced the work of Ibn Rushd (Averroes)
and Albertus Magnus. Most of his writings and books were not completed (or well-organized) due to
his early death. He had a vast knowledge of medicine, mathematics and astronomy. His main
contribution to Islamic philosophy was his idea on soul phenomenology, which was never completed.
Avempace was, in his time, not only a prominent figure of philosophy but also of music and poetry.
[4]
His diwan (Arabic: collection of poetry) was rediscovered in 1951.
Though many of his works have not survived, his theories in astronomy and physics were preserved
by Maimonides and Averroes respectively, and influenced later astronomers and physicists in
the Islamic civilization and Renaissance Europe, including Galileo Galilei.[5]
Avempace wrote one of the first (argued by some to be the first) commentaries on Aristotle in the
western world. While his work on projectile motion was never translated from Arabic to Latin, his
views became well known around the western world and to western philosophers, astronomers, and
scientists of many disciplines. His works impacted contemporary medieval thought, and later
influenced Galileo and his work. Avempace's theories on projectile motion are found in the text
known as "Text 71".[6]
Avempace
Ibn Bâjja
In 2009, a crater 199k km (62 mi) from the South Pole of the Moon was designated The Ibn
Bajja crater by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in his honor. [7]
Biography
Avempace was born in Zaragoza, in what is today Aragon, Spain, around 1085[8] and died in Fes,
Morocco, in 1138. Rulers of Zaragoza shifted constantly throughout Avempace's young life, but in
1114, a new Almoravid governor of Zaragoza was appointed: Abu Bakr 'Ali ibn Ibrahim as-Sahrawi,
also known as Ibn Tifilwit. The close relationship between Avempace and Ibn Tifilwit is verified in
writings by both Ibn al-Khatib and Ibn Khaqan.[9] Avempace enjoyed music and wine with the
governor and also composed panegyrics and muwashshahat to publicly praise Ibn Tifilwit, who
rewarded him by nominating him as his vizier.[10] In a diplomatic mission to meet the overthrown Imad
ad-Dawla Ibn Hud King in his castle, Avempace was placed in jail for some months for reasons
unknown. Ibn Tifilwit was also killed during a quest against the Christians in 1116, ending his short
reign and inspiring Avempace to compose mournful elegies in his honor.[10] Avempace also had a
talent for singing and composition in music. In the beginning of his career, he wrote the
manuscript Risālah fī l-alḥān (Tract on melodies) and incorporated his commentary on al-Fārābī’s
treatise based on music. He determined the correlations between different melodies and
temperament. According to biographer al-Maqqarī, Avempace's passion for music was due to poetry
and had “the virtue of dispelling the sadness and pain of the hearts [sic].” He included his scientific
knowledge and wit in many poems.[11] Avempace joined in poetic competitions with the poet al-Tutili.
After the fall of Zaragoza in 1118 by the hands of King Alfonso The Battler, Avempace looked for
shelter under Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Yûsuf Ibn Tashfin, another brother of the Almoravid Sultan (Ali
Ibn Yusuf Ibn Tashfin) in Xàtiba.[12] He worked, for some twenty years, as the vizir of Yusuf Ibn
Tashfin.[13] Throughout these decades, it is clear that Avempace was not as agreeable with those
close to the ruler, Ibn Tashfin, as he was during the previous reign of Ibn Tifilwit. Writings by Ahmad
al-Maqqari gives us insight into the hostility and disagreements between Avempace and the father of
a famous physician respected by Ibn Tashfin, Abd al-Malik.[14] A poetry anthology, Qala’id al-iqya
(Necklace of Rubies), was also created by a courtier of Ibn Tashufin's, Abu Nasr al-Fath Ibn
Muhammad Ibn Khaqan, which condescendingly placed Avempace in last place. [15] Under Ibn
Tashfin, the Sultan of the Berber Moroccan Almoravid empire, Avempace was imprisoned twice. The
details of the imprisonment are not well understood, but can be assumed. Despite being
unwelcomed, Avempace remained with the Almoravid empire for the rest of his life until his death in
1138. There has been evidence presented that brings up the argument that the cause of
Avempace's death was by poison from his peers. Al-Maqqari details in his writing that a
physician, Abu l-'Ala' Ibn Zuhr, was an enemy of Avempace's whose servant, Ibn Ma‛yub, was
suspected of poisoning him at the time but was never convicted. [14] Among his many teachers
was Abu Jafar ibn Harun of Trujillo, a physician in Seville, Al-Andalus.[16][17]
Philosophy
Ibn Bajjah, also known as Avempace, was an important Islamic philosopher, among his many other
trades. In his time, he was seen as a controversial figure, receiving criticism from his peers like Ibn
Tufayl. However, he was also respected by his peers and even his critics. While Ibn Tufayl was
noted for criticizing Ibn Bajjah's work, he also described him as having one of the sharpest minds
with one of the soundest reasoning as compared to the others following the first generation of
speakers.[18]
Around his time, Islamic philosophy, post-hellenic world, was mainly divided into two opposing
branches of thoughts. The Eastern branch, which was led by Ibn Sina, known as Avicenna in Latin,
and the Western branch, which was led by Ibn Bajjah. Avempace's work in philosophy is seen as
uneven and mostly incomplete, but what parts of his work that survive to this day demonstrates
originality in his thought process. His main philosophical work is the unfinished ethics-politico
treatise Governance of the Solitary.[16]
Upon his unplanned trip to Egypt, Avempace wrote Risālat al-wadāʿ (Letter of bidding farewell)
and Risālat al-ittiṣāl al-ʿaql bi al-insān (Letter on the union of the intellect with human beings) that
were dedicated to Ibn al-Imām. His famous works included Tadbīr al-mutawaḥḥid (Management of
the solitary), the Kitāb al-nafs (Book on the soul), and the Risāla fī l-Ghāya al-insāniyya (Treatise on
the objective of human beings). The reflections of his famous accomplishments show how these
were written near the end of his life. He was inspired based on Aristotelian line. In Avempace's
philosophy, it contains two key pillars, solitude and conjunction. Solitude represents the isolation
philosopher commonly seeks in order to protect himself from the corruption of society
and conjunction refers to the philosopher's quest for the lowest celestial intelligence. It is required for
the human soul development.[19]
These works are tough to understand. Nevertheless, Risālat al-ittiṣāl has interpreted the
introduction. The treatise stated the overall point of Avempace's thinking:
"The ultimate end of man, namely the contemplation of truth, with the active intellect joining the
human intellect in a contemplative and almost mystic way."
However, the most important idea from Avempace's system was not mentioned in the treatise, "how
the union of the active intellect with man occurs, which is the ultimate goal being pursued by the
solitary."[19]
From his writings, Ibn Bajjah has been shown to taken a liking to Plato's contribution to philosophy.
Ibn Bajjah, in particular, takes from Plato's idea of the necessary connection between man and city
with a bit of a twist. Plato's idea was to model the perfect city after the human soul. On the other
hand, Avempace wanted to use the perfect city as a model for the human soul. Avempace imagines
the perfect city as a place that is free of any beliefs or opinions that are in opposition of the truth and
where true science reigns supreme. Any man or idea that contradicts these true beliefs are defined
as "weeds." Weeds are only to be found in imperfect cities. [13]
Avempace also wrote on the health of a perfect man. He eluded to the idea that the perfect man
does not just require physical health, but spiritual health too. Avempace goes into more detail about
the soul, which he describes of having both an acquired intellect, as well as an active intellect. The
active intellect has no basis coming from the physical world. Acquired intellect, however, is a result
of experiences from the material world.[13] The perfect man can exist in either a perfect city or a non-
perfect city. However, if a perfect man lives in a non-perfect city, he believes that they are to remain
apart from the rest of the society. This is because a non-perfect city is full of weeds. In order for a
perfect person to preserve themselves from the weeds, they need to live in solitude despite living in
solitude being against human nature. [18]
In addition, Avempace had changed forgotten non-syllogistic arts into “practical arts”, and wrote:
"If some of them [the practical arts] employ syllogisms as medicine and agriculture do, they are not
called syllogistic because their purpose is not [to convince another] nor to employ syllogisms, but to
do some activity."
He wrote nine medical treatises. Galen inscribed commentary on Hippocrates’ Aphorisms in

“Commentary on Aphorisms” that includes Avempace’s view about medicine. Medical syllogisms are
revolved by means of experience. Experience is obtained in a person’s life time through perception.
Avempace defines experience:
"As man’s reliance on perception to know particular [aspects, juz’iyyat] of some matter so that some
science results from this perception.
Experience is said in general and in particular. If it is said in general, it points out that perception
intents knowing particular [aspects] of a matter, from which a universal proposition results. The
particular [instances] may take place either by man’s will or naturally." [20]
Avempace considers experience as the second essential part of medicine. Avempace’s theoretic
system sketched out all reality. Reality comes in many forms that includes motion and action.
Avempace categorizes them between natural and artificial. Natural reality forms move bodies with
power while bodies within artificial reality forms are unintentionally moved. It also show how the body
is viewed.
“Art (sina‛a) is the elaborated form abstracted from matter; it is abstracted from its matter. The
artificial form which exists in its matter does not have any power to move that which is in it nor to
move something else. This is the difference between artificial and natural forms." [20]
This example also represents the use of motion:

“If there is a house, there is a foundation by necessity, and this kind of necessity is a relationship
between the causes of the existing [object] and the final [cause]. If [the final cause] is described, the
various kinds of the causes follow it by necessity, and the form acts in a similar way.
If the form is the final [cause] of a motion, motion follows it by necessity, and it is something evident
because, if there is building activity, there will be a house, and if there is building, there is the art of
construction, but if there is only the art of construction, there will be no building. If [form] is acquired
‘by design,’ the other causes result in an orderly way from the final cause by necessity.”
This shows as human involvement is design. Absolute necessity reigns over the heavens.
Avempace views necessity into three kinds: absolute, design, and material. Avempace demonstrates
the moon eclipses using absolute necessity over time. Based on the relations of the moon eclipses,
Avempace indicates “possibility shares necessity”.[20] He defines the body as an artificial collection of
matter, which acts as an instrument for the soul to work through. In doing so, he establishes the soul
as an autonomous subject. Avempace believes that the human soul has three stages. It starts in the
plant stage, then to the animal stage, and finally to human stage. Each stage has an important
attribute that the soul grows from. The plant life is where the soul is provided with nourishment and
growth. In the animal stage, the soul is introduced to sensations. When the soul moves to the human
state, the soul gains common sense, imagination, and memory. [18] Additionally, Avempace writes that
the soul is geometrically formless. Because its form is beyond our understanding of geometric
shapes, he states, it exists on a plane higher than that which we perceive with our bodies.
[11]
Avempace is said to have been influenced by Platonic and Aristotelian views on the subject. He
credits Plato with the theory of the soul as a substance:
"Since it was clear to Plato that the soul is assigned to substance, and that substance is predicated
on the form and matter which is body, and that the soul cannot be said to be a body, he fervently
defined the soul in its particular aspect. Since he had established that the forms of spheres are
souls, he looked for the commonality of all [souls], and found that sense perception is particular to
animals, [but] that movement is particular to all, and therefore he defined the soul as “something
which moves itself."[21][22]
Avempace also describes four types of Intelligible forms. They are described as bodies that have an
eternal circular motion, an acquired intellect, those with external senses, and those with internal
senses.[18] These ideas are consistent with Aristotle's descriptions of the soul and its properties in his
treatise De Anima, though there is speculation that there were no Arabic transcriptions available to
Avempace.[11]
Avempace, known as "Ibn al-Sa’igh" by Jewish tradition, is rarely recognized for his philosophical
and astronomical works that influenced and were employed by many Medieval Jewish
philosophers during and after his short life. The first record of Avempace's influence on Jewish
philosophy comes from a well-known Jewish contemporary author and philosopher: Judah Halevi. In
Chapter 1 of his greatest philosophical work, The Kuzari, Halevi summarizes three ideas directly
influenced by works of Ibn Bajja: one's unification with the Active Intellect is attainable during their
lifetime, this unification implies cognitive identity with others who are aware of the truth, and a
philosopher's life is a solitary regimen. [23]
The renowned polymath and Jewish philosopher, Maimonides, was possibly born in the same year
of Avempace's death, yet he preserved and studied the works of the deceased Andalusian.
Maimonides admired Avempace for his achievements, stating that "[Ibn Bajja] was a great and wise
philosopher, and all of his works are right and correct". Maimonides also valued Ibn Bajja's
commentary on Aristotle's works on astronomy.[24] In one of his three major works, The Guide for the
Perplexed, Maimonides assesses Hebrew Bible theology with Aristotelian philosophy, directly
drawing influence from Ibn Bajja philosophical and scientific ideas. Specifically incorporating
Avempace's philosophies regarding the existence of a single intellect after death, the union of man
with the Active Intellect, the division of man into three classes of increasing consciousness, and the
proposal of the prophet as an ideal solitary man.[25][26]
Avempace rejects that feeling ultimate pleasure comes from witnessing the divine world internally.
[18]
For Avempace, the highest form of spiritual happiness comes from science and the truth. Science
allows for the truth to be discovered. As a result, in order to be spiritually healthy and, therefore,
happy, we must obtain knowledge and search for the truth. [13]
Despite all the ideas that have been presented by Avempace, a central theory was never actually
developed. He attributed this to being a very busy man and having his hands in a variety of a fields.
[13]
Astronomy
In Islamic astronomy, Maimonides wrote the following on the planetary model proposed by
Avempace:
"I have heard that Abu Bakr [Ibn Bajja] discovered a system in which no epicycles occur,
but eccentric spheres are not excluded by him. I have not heard it from his pupils; and even if it be
correct that he discovered such a system, he has not gained much by it, for eccentricity is likewise
contrary to the principles laid down by Aristotle.... I have explained to you that these difficulties do
not concern the astronomer, for he does not profess to tell us the existing properties of the spheres,
but to suggest, whether correctly or not, a theory in which the motion of the stars and planets is
uniform and circular, and in agreement with observation." [27]
In his commentary on Aristotle's Meteorology, Avempace presented his own theory on the Milky

Way galaxy. Aristotle believed the Milky Way to be caused by "the ignition of the fiery exhalation of
some stars which were large, numerous and close together" and that the "ignition takes place in the
upper part of the atmosphere, in the region of the world which is continuous with the heavenly
motions." On the other hand, Aristotle's Arabic commentator Ibn al-Bitriq considered "the Milky Way
to be a phenomenon exclusively of the heavenly spheres, not of the upper part of the atmosphere"
and that the "light of those stars makes a visible patch because they are so close." Avempace's view
differed from both, as he considered "the Milky Way to be a phenomenon both of the spheres above
the moon and of the sublunar region." The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy describes his theory
and observation on the Milky Way as follows:[28]
"The Milky Way is the light of many stars which almost touch one another. Their light forms a
“continuous image” (khayâl muttasil) on the surface of the body which is like a “tent” (takhawwum)
under the fierily element and over the air which it covers. Avempace defines the continuous image
as the result of refraction (in‛ikâs) and supports its explanation with an observation of
a conjunction of two planets, Jupiter and Mars which took place in 500/1106-7. He watched the
conjunction and “saw them having an elongate figure” although their figure is circular."
Avempace also reported observing "two planets as black spots on the face of the Sun." In the 13th
century, the Maraghaastronomer Qotb al-Din Shirazi identified this observation as the transit of
Venus and Mercury.[29] However, Avempace cannot have observed a Venus transit, as there were no
Venus transits in his lifetime.[30]
Avempace worked under the mathematician Ibn al-Sayyid. He was given the privileged to add a
commentary to Ibn al-Sayyid's work on geometry and Euclid's Elements. Furthermore, he viewed
astronomy as part of mathematics. Avempace's model of the cosmos consists of concentric circles,
but no epicycles.[20]
Physics
Averroes was another important philosopher, and while he was born shortly before Avempace's
death, Averroes later in life would be in opposition to Avempace's theories the majority of the time.
[17]
Avempace starts with a good kinematic definition of motion and construes it as a force. According
to Avempace regarding freely falling objects, what is moved the a heavy body falls, is the heavy
body and what moves it downward is its 'gravity' or its 'form' or 'nature'. [17]
Text 71 of Averroes' commentary on Aristotle's Physics contains a discussion on Avempace's theory
of motion, as well as the following quotation from the seventh book of Avempace's lost work on
physics:
"And this resistance which is between the plenum and the body which is moved in it, is that between
which, and the potency of the void, Aristotle made the proportion in his fourth book; and what is
believed to be his opinion, is not so. For the proportion of water to air in density is not as the
proportion of the motion of the stone in water to its motion in air; but the proportion of the cohesive
power of water to that of air is as the proportion of the retardation occurring to the moved body by
reason of the medium in which it is moved, namely water, to the retardation occurring to it when it is
moved in air."[31]
"For, if what some people have believed were true, then the natural motion would be violent;
therefore, if there were no resistance present, how could there be any motion? For it would
necessarily be instantaneous. What then shall be said concerning the circular motion? There is no
resistance there, because there is no cleavage of a medium involved; the place of the circle is
always the same, so that it does not leave one place and enter another; it is therefore necessary that
the circular motion should be instantaneous. Yet we observe in it the greatest slowness, as in the
case of the fixed stars, and also the greatest speed, as in the case of the diurnal rotation. And this is
caused only by the difference in perfection between the mover and the moved. When therefore the
mover is of greater perfection, that which is moved by it will be more rapid; and when the mover is of
lesser perfection, it will be nearer (in perfection) to that which is moved, and the motion will be
slower."[31]
Averroes writes the following comments on Avempace's theory of motion:

"Avempace, however, here raises a good question. For he says that it does not follow that the
proportion of the motion of one and the same stone in water to its motion in air is as the proportion of
the density of water to the density of air, except on the assumption that the motion of the stone takes
time only because it is moved in a medium. And if this assumption were true, it would then be the
case that no motion would require time except because of something resisting it for the medium
seems to impede the thing moved. And if this were so, then the heavenly bodies, which encounter
no resistant medium, would be moved instantaneously. And he says that the proportion of the rarity
of water to the rarity of air is as the proportion of the retardation occurring to the moved body in
water, to the retardation occurring to it in air."[32]
"And if this which he has said be conceded, then Aristotle's demonstration will be false; because, if
the proportion of the rarity of one medium to the rarity of the other is as the proportion of accidental
retardation of the movement in one of them to the retardation occurring to it in the other, and is not
as the proportion of the motion itself, it will not follow that what is moved in a void would be moved in
an instant; because in that case there would be subtracted from the motion only the retardation
affecting it by reason of the medium, and its natural motion would remain. And every motion involves
time; therefore what is moved in a void is necessarily moved in time and with a divisible motion;
nothing impossible will follow. This, then, is Avempace's question." [33]
What follows is also found in Text 71:

“This resistance offered to the moving body by the medium does not occur in the way Aristotle has
established in the fourth book when he discussed the void. The velocity of a body is not inversely
proportional to the density of the medium, but it is the retardation the motion is subject to by virtue of
the medium, which is proportional to the density. If what Aristotle said was true, natural motion in a
supposed void would not meet any resistance and it would not take time but be instantaneous. Also,
the motion of the heavenly spheres, which do not traverse a medium, would occur instantaneously.
We see these motions occurring with different finite velocities: the motion of the fixed stars is very
slow; the daily motion is very fast. These differences in velocity are due to the fact that the movers of
the spheres differ in nobility and the more noble a mover, the faster is the motion of the sphere
moved by it.”[6]
In relation to the example of the stone falling through the mediums air and water, Avempace also
brings up an example of dust particles to explain his ideas on natural movements. Dust particles are
suspended in the air and naturally fall slowly. Despite having enough power to go down, it is still
insufficient to displace the air underneath it[13] From Text 71; Ernest A. Moody who is a notable
philosopher, medievalist, and logician, offered four main reasons in favor of the view that Avempace
was at least a major thinker within the paradigm of the "Theory of an 'impressed force' ". [6] The
following points are cited from his argument:
1. "For Avempace...V = P - M, so that when M = 0, V = P. This opposes Aristotle's (supposed use of)
V = P / M." [6]
2. "Internal coherence with this "law of motion" requires, Moody believes, also a defense of the
theory of an impressed force - as we find for exampled in Philopponus himself." [6]
3. "Avempace's appeal to an 'impressed force' was also reflected in the fact that 'if we use modern
terms, it might be said that the force of gravity, for Avempace, is not determined essentially as a
relation between the masses of different bodies, but is conceived as an absolute indwelling power of
self-motion animating the body like a soul." [6]
4. "The theory of an 'impressed force' appears to have been upheld by Al-Bitrogi, who was
influenced ins ideas by Avempace's disciple Ibn-Tofail." [6]
Despite diverging from Aristotle's theory of motion, it appears that Avempace largely agrees with
Aristotle's ideas on projectile motion. While there is no known account that lay's out Avempace's
ideas over this topic, Avempace gives a short explanation in his commentary of Aristotelian Physics
book 8. An interesting piece by Avempace on the theory of projectile motion comes from his
example involving a magnet and iron filaments. Magnets present a problem with Aristotle's theory on
projectile motion because nothing can be seen physically moving the iron. Avempace, however,
believes that a magnet is more complicated than one might think. He presents the idea that the
magnet actually moves the air which, in return, moves the iron. [6]
The central theory of the mover and the moved can be seen not only in his work in physics, but also
in his work in Philosophy.
Avempace was a critic of Ptolemy and he worked on creating a new theory of velocity to replace the
one theorized by Aristotle. Two future philosophers supported the theories Avempace created,
known as the Avempacean dynamics. These philosophers were Thomas Aquinas, a catholic priest,
and John Duns Scotus.[16] Galileo went on and adopted Avempace's formula and talked about "that
the velocity of a given object is the difference of the motive power of that object and the resistance of
the medium of motion" in the Pisan dialogue. [16]
Botany
Avempace is known to have made contributions to the field of botany in addition to philosophy and
the physical sciences. His work titled Kitab al-nabat (The Book of Plants) is a commentary influenced
by the work De Plantis[34]. In this commentary, Avempace discusses the morphology of various plants
and attempts to classify them based on their similarities. He also writes about the reproductive
nature of plants and their supposed genders based on his observations of palm and fig trees. [3] Kitab
al-nabat was written in Arabic and has most recently been translated into Spanish. [11]
Avempace's book Kitāb al-Tajribatayn ‘alā Adwiyah Ibn Wāfid (Book of Experiences on Drugs of Ibn
Wafid) is an attempt to classify plants from a pharmacological perspective. It is based the work of Ibn
al-Wafid, a physician and Avempace's predecessor, and is said to have influenced the later work
of Ibn al-Baitar, a prominent Arab pharmacologist and botanist.[3]
Avempace's work in botany is evident in his political works.
Music
Recently, the web page Webislam of Spanish converts to Islam, reported that the score of the Nuba
al-Istihlál of Avempace (11th century), arranged by Omar Metiou and Eduardo Paniagua, are very
similar to Marcha Granadera (18th century) is now the official anthem of Spain. That makes it the
world's oldest song (about a thousand years old) used for the official anthem of a country. [35]
Quth al –Din shirazi
Al-Mu'ayyad fid-din Abu Nasr Hibat Allah b. Abi 'Imran Musa b. Da'ud ash-Shirazi (1000
CE/390 AH - 1078 CE/470 AH) was an 11th-century Isma'ilism scholar, philosopher-poet,
preacher and theologian of Persian origin. He served the Fatimid Caliph-Imām al-Mustansir
Billah as a Da'i in varying capacities, eventually attaining the highest rank of Bab al-
Abwab "The Gate of Gates" and Da‘i al-Du‘at "Chief Missionary" in the Fatimid Da‘wah. In his
theological and philosophical writings he brought the Isma'ili spiritual heritage to its
pinnacle.
[
Mu'ayyad fi'l-Din al-Shirazi
Hibatullah ibn Musa Abu Nasr al-Mu'ayyad fi d-Din ash-Shirazi
hide Part of a series on Shīa Islam
Isma‘ilism
[1]
Life
Al-Mu'ayyad was born in Shiraz not later than 387/997 and died in Cairo Shawwal,470 AH/ 1078 AD. He lived during the time of the Fatimid Caliphs Al-Hakim (386-412 AH/
996-1021 AD), Az-Zahir (412-427 AH/1021-1036 AD) and Al-Mustansir (427-48AH/ 1036-1094AD). He was buried in the Dar al-ilm where he had resided, worked and died. [2]
Al-Muayyad's real name was Hibatullah ibn Musa, born in the town of Shiraz, capital of the Fars Province (then Persia, now in modern-day Iran), in the year 1000 CE. His
father, Musa ibn Dawud, served under the Fatimid Caliph-Imam al-Hakim bi Amr Allah as the Chief Missionary of the province of Fars, where the Isma'ili mission was active.
Al-Muayyad was "contemporary with the changeover from the Buyid to the Saljuq Sultanate under the Abbasid Caliphate, as well as the Arab bedouin Hilalian invasion of
North Africa, the Fatimiid encouraged invasion of Baghdad by al-Basasiri, the Battle of Manzikert in Anatolia, the rise of the Sulayhids of Yaman and the advent of the
Armnenian General Badr al-Jamali in Egypt".
During the reign of the Fatimid Caliph-Imam Ali az-Zahir, Hibatullah ibn Musa was permitted to take over the da'wah office from his father. His title, Al-Mu'ayyad fi d-Din "The
one aided in religion", was probably accorded to him around this time.
Al-Mu'ayyad was appointed to the Diwan al-insha' (secretariat) in 440 AH/1048 AD on a monthly salary of 1000 dinars and wrote the religious sermons (al-Majalis) for al-
Yazuri. (as-Sira, 89-90) Al-Mu'ayyad gives us an interesting information about the presence of a Buyid Prince Abu 'Ali in the Fatimid Court (as-Siras 87). [3]
Al-Muayyad (Hibatullah) gradually worked his way up the hierarchy of the da‘wa and was eventually appointed Chief Missionary under the Caliph-Imam al-Mustansir Billah. In
this position, he worked at the Dar al-'Ilm "House of Knowledge" teaching missionaries from both inside and outside the Fatimid Empire and composing his theological works
until the end of his life in 1078 CE.
The primary source for details of Al-Mu'ayyad's life are his own memoirs, the Sirat al-Mu'ayyad fi d-Din, which was written in three stages between the years 1051 and
1063 CE. He is also mentioned in the works of Nasir Khusraw, another prominent Isma'ili scholar of the time, who had learned under al-Mu'ayyad. In a poem written in
455/1063 (Diwan, 173-177) Nasir praises al-Mua-yyad as his master (teacher) and refers to him as the "Warden of the Gate" (Bab). There are other direct references in Nasir's
Diwan (313-314). File:Imam chart.pdf
Works
Majalis ul-Muayyadiyah - Written between 450 AH to 470 AH. Comprising eight volumes, each one hundred lectures. It deals with various theological and
philosophical questions asked by people of other religions and atheists. [4]
 Diwan ul-Muayyad, a collection of poems in praise of the Ismai'ili Imams and the doctrines of their faith
 Sirat al-Muayyad fid-Din, his autobiography
 Sarah ul-Maad, a treatise on the Day of Resurrection
 Al-Eazah watabeer fi Fazle Yoomal Ghadir, a treatise on the Ghadir Khumm incident
 Al-Ibteda wal-Inteha (lit. the Beginning and the End)
 Taweel ul-Arwah, a treatise on souls
 Mahajul-Ibadah, the method of devotion
 Al-Maselet-wal-Jawab (lit. Questions and Answers)
 Buniyad-i ta’wil - Persian translation of Asas al-ta’wil by Al-Qadi al-Nu'man[5]
n 2]
Galileo's discovery that Venus showed phases (although remaining near the Sun in Earth's sky) proved that it
orbits the Sun and not Earth
When the Italian physicist Galileo Galilei first observed the planet in the early 17th century, he found
it showed phases like the Moon, varying from crescent to gibbous to full and vice versa. When
Venus is furthest from the Sun in the sky, it shows a half-lit phase, and when it is closest to the Sun
in the sky, it shows as a crescent or full phase. This could be possible only if Venus orbited the Sun,
and this was among the first observations to clearly contradict the Ptolemaic geocentric model that
the Solar System was concentric and centred on Earth.
Galileo Galilei,[141][142]
The 1639 transit of Venus was accurately predicted by Jeremiah Horrocks and observed by him and
his friend, William Crabtree, at each of their respective homes, on 4 December 1639 (24 November
under the Julian calendar in use at that time).
Galileo Galilei (Italian: [ɡaliˈlɛːo ɡaliˈlɛi]; 15 February 1564[3] – 8 January 1642) was
an Italianastronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath.[4] Galileo has
been called the "father of observational astronomy",[5] the "father of modern physics",[6][7] the "father of
the scientific method",[8] and the "father of modern science".[9][10]
Galileo studied speed and velocity, gravity and free fall, the principle of relativity, inertia, projectile
motion and also worked in applied science and technology, describing the properties
of pendulumsand "hydrostatic balances", inventing the thermoscope and various military compasses,
and using the telescope for scientific observations of celestial objects. His contributions to
observational astronomy include the telescopic confirmation of the phases of Venus, the observation
of the four largest satellites of Jupiter, the observation of Saturn and the analysis of sunspots.
Galileo Galilei
Portrait of Galileo Galilei (1636), by Justus Sustermans
Galileo's championing of heliocentrism and Copernicanism was controversial during his lifetime,

when most subscribed to either geocentrism or the Tychonic system.[11] He met with opposition from
astronomers, who doubted heliocentrism because of the absence of an observed stellar parallax.
[11]
The matter was investigated by the Roman Inquisition in 1615, which concluded that heliocentrism
was "foolish and absurd in philosophy, and formally heretical since it explicitly contradicts in many
places the sense of Holy Scripture."[11][12][13] Galileo later defended his views in Dialogue Concerning
the Two Chief World Systems (1632), which appeared to attack Pope Urban VIII and thus alienated
him and the Jesuits, who had both supported Galileo up until this point. [11] He was tried by the
Inquisition, found "vehemently suspect of heresy", and forced to recant. He spent the rest of his life
under house arrest.[14][15] While under house arrest, he wrote Two New Sciences, in which he
summarized work he had done some forty years earlier on the two sciences now
called kinematics and strength of materials
Early life and family

Galileo was born in Pisa (then part of the Duchy of Florence), Italy, on 15 February 1564,[18] the first
of six children of Vincenzo Galilei, a famous lutenist, composer, and music theorist, and Giulia (née
Ammannati), who had married in 1562. Galileo became an accomplished lutenist himself and would
have learned early from his father a scepticism for established authority, [19] the value of well-
measured or quantified experimentation, an appreciation for a periodic or musical measure of time or
rhythm, as well as the results expected from a combination of mathematics and experiment.
Three of Galileo's five siblings survived infancy. The youngest, Michelangelo (or Michelagnolo), also
became a noted lutenist and composer although he contributed to financial burdens during Galileo's
young adulthood. Michelangelo was unable to contribute his fair share of their father's promised
dowries to their brothers-in-law, who would later attempt to seek legal remedies for payments due.
Michelangelo would also occasionally have to borrow funds from Galileo to support his musical
endeavours and excursions. These financial burdens may have contributed to Galileo's early desire
to develop inventions that would bring him additional income.
When Galileo Galilei was eight, his family moved to Florence, but he was left with Jacopo Borghini
for two years. He was educated from 1575 to 1578 in the Vallombrosa Abbey, about 30 km
southeast of Florence.[20]
Name
The surname Galilei derives from the given name of an ancestor, Galileo Bonaiuti, a physician,
university teacher and politician who lived in Florence from 1370 to 1450; his descendants had
changed their family name from Bonaiuti (or Buonaiuti) to Galilei in his honor in the late 14th century.
[21]
Galileo Bonaiuti was buried in the same church, the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence, where
about 200 years later his more famous descendant Galileo Galilei was also buried. [22]
It was common for mid-sixteenth-century Tuscan families to name the eldest son after the parents'
surname.[23] Hence, Galileo Galilei was not necessarily named after his ancestor Galileo Bonaiuti.
The Italian male given name "Galileo" (and thence the surname "Galilei") derives from the Latin
"Galilaeus", meaning "of Galilee", a biblically significant region in Northern Israel.[24][25] Because of that
region, the adjective galilaios (Greekγαλιλαίος, Latin Galilaeus, Italian galileo), which means
"Galilean", has been used in antiquity (particularly by emperor Julian) to refer to Christ and his
followers;[26] after this, the adjective has been adopted as a name with a meaning similar
to Jesus or Christian.[
The biblical roots of Galileo's name and surname were to become the subject of a famous pun. [27] In
1614, during the Galileo affair, one of Galileo's opponents, the Dominican priest Tommaso Caccini,
delivered against Galileo a controversial and influential sermon. In it he made a point of
quoting Acts 1:11, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?". [28]
Children
Galileo's beloved elder daughter, Virginia (SisterMaria Celeste), was particularly devoted to her father. She is
buried with him in his tomb in the Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence.
Despite being a genuinely pious Roman Catholic, [29] Galileo fathered three children out of wedlock
with Marina Gamba. They had two daughters, Virginia (born in 1600) and Livia (born in 1601), and a
son, Vincenzo (born in 1606).[30]
Because of their illegitimate birth, their father considered the girls unmarriageable, if not posing
problems of prohibitively expensive support or dowries, which would have been similar to Galileo's
previous extensive financial problems with two of his sisters.[31] Their only worthy alternative was the
religious life. Both girls were accepted by the convent of San Matteo in Arcetri and remained there
for the rest of their lives.[32] Virginia took the name Maria Celeste upon entering the convent. She died
on 2 April 1634, and is buried with Galileo at the Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence. Livia took the
name Sister Arcangela and was ill for most of her life. Vincenzo was later legitimised as the legal
heir of Galileo and married Sestilia Bocchineri.[33]
Career as a scientist
Although Galileo seriously considered the priesthood as a young man, at his father's urging he
instead enrolled in 1580 at the University of Pisa for a medical degree.[34] In 1581, when he was
studying medicine, he noticed a swinging chandelier, which air currents shifted about to swing in
larger and smaller arcs. To him, it seemed, by comparison with his heartbeat, that the chandelier
took the same amount of time to swing back and forth, no matter how far it was swinging. When he
returned home, he set up two pendulums of equal length and swung one with a large sweep and the
other with a small sweep and found that they kept time together. It was not until the work
of Christiaan Huygens, almost one hundred years later, that the tautochrone nature of a swinging
pendulum was used to create an accurate timepiece. [35] Up to this point, Galileo had deliberately
been kept away from mathematics, since a physician earned a higher income than a mathematician.
However, after accidentally attending a lecture on geometry, he talked his reluctant father into letting
him study mathematics and natural philosophy instead of medicine.[35] He created a thermoscope, a
forerunner of the thermometer, and, in 1586, published a small book on the design of
a hydrostatic balance he had invented (which first brought him to the attention of the scholarly
world). Galileo also studied disegno, a term encompassing fine art, and, in 1588, obtained the
position of instructor in the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno in Florence, teaching perspective
and chiaroscuro. Being inspired by the artistic tradition of the city and the works of the Renaissance
artists, Galileo acquired an aesthetic mentality. While a young teacher at the Accademia, he began a
lifelong friendship with the Florentine painter Cigoli, who included Galileo's lunar observations in one
of his paintings.[36][37]
In 1589, he was appointed to the chair of mathematics in Pisa. In 1591, his father died, and he was
entrusted with the care of his younger brother Michelagnolo. In 1592, he moved to the University of
Padua where he taught geometry, mechanics, and astronomy until 1610.[38] During this period,
Galileo made significant discoveries in both pure fundamental science (for example, kinematics of
motion and astronomy) as well as practical applied science (for example, strength of materials and
pioneering the telescope). His multiple interests included the study of astrology, which at the time
was a discipline tied to the studies of mathematics and astronomy. [39]
Galileo, Kepler and theories of tides
Galileo Galilei, portrait by Tintoretto.

Cardinal Bellarmine had written in 1615 that the Copernican system could not be defended without
"a true physical demonstration that the sun does not circle the earth but the earth circles the sun".
[40]
Galileo considered his theory of the tides to provide the required physical proof of the motion of
the earth. This theory was so important to him that he originally intended to entitle his Dialogue on
the Two Chief World Systems the Dialogue on the Ebb and Flow of the Sea.[41] The reference to tides
was removed from the title by order of the Inquisition.
For Galileo, the tides were caused by the sloshing back and forth of water in the seas as a point on
the Earth's surface sped up and slowed down because of the Earth's rotation on its axis and
revolution around the Sun. He circulated his first account of the tides in 1616, addressed to Cardinal
Orsini.[42] His theory gave the first insight into the importance of the shapes of ocean basins in the
size and timing of tides; he correctly accounted, for instance, for the negligible tides halfway along
the Adriatic Sea compared to those at the ends. As a general account of the cause of tides,
however, his theory was a failure.
If this theory were correct, there would be only one high tide per day. Galileo and his contemporaries
were aware of this inadequacy because there are two daily high tides at Venice instead of one,
about twelve hours apart. Galileo dismissed this anomaly as the result of several secondary causes
including the shape of the sea, its depth, and other factors. [43] Against the assertion that Galileo was
deceptive in making these arguments, Albert Einstein expressed the opinion that Galileo developed
his "fascinating arguments" and accepted them uncritically out of a desire for physical proof of the
motion of the Earth.[44] Galileo dismissed the idea, held by his contemporary Johannes Kepler, that
the moon caused the tides.[45] (Galileo also took no interest in Kepler's elliptical orbits of the planets.)
[46][47]
Controversy over comets and The Assayer

Main article: The Assayer
In 1619, Galileo became embroiled in a controversy with Father Orazio Grassi, professor of

mathematics at the Jesuit Collegio Romano. It began as a dispute over the nature of comets, but by
the time Galileo had published The Assayer (Il Saggiatore) in 1623, his last salvo in the dispute, it
had become a much wider controversy over the very nature of science itself. The title page of the
book describes Galileo as philosopher and "Matematico Primario" of the Grand Duke of Tuscany.
Because The Assayer contains such a wealth of Galileo's ideas on how science should be practised,
it has been referred to as his scientific manifesto. [48] Early in 1619, Father Grassi had anonymously
published a pamphlet, An Astronomical Disputation on the Three Comets of the Year 1618,[49] which
discussed the nature of a comet that had appeared late in November of the previous year. Grassi
concluded that the comet was a fiery body which had moved along a segment of a great circle at a
constant distance from the earth, [50] and since it moved in the sky more slowly than the moon, it must
be farther away than the moon.
Grassi's arguments and conclusions were criticised in a subsequent article, Discourse on Comets,
[51]
published under the name of one of Galileo's disciples, a Florentine lawyer named Mario Guiducci,
although it had been largely written by Galileo himself. [52] Galileo and Guiducci offered no definitive
theory of their own on the nature of comets [53] although they did present some tentative conjectures
that are now known to be mistaken. In its opening passage, Galileo and
Guiducci's Discourse gratuitously insulted the Jesuit Christopher Scheiner,[54] and various
uncomplimentary remarks about the professors of the Collegio Romano were scattered throughout
the work.[55] The Jesuits were offended,[56] and Grassi soon replied with a polemical tract of his
own, The Astronomical and Philosophical Balance,[57] under the pseudonym Lothario Sarsio
Sigensano,[58]purporting to be one of his own pupils.
The Assayer was Galileo's devastating reply to the Astronomical Balance.[59] It has been widely
recognized as a masterpiece of polemical literature, [60] in which "Sarsi's" arguments are subjected to
withering scorn.[61] It was greeted with wide acclaim, and particularly pleased the new pope, Urban
VIII, to whom it had been dedicated. [62] In Rome, in the previous decade, Barberini, the future Urban
VIII, had come down on the side of Galileo and the Lincean Academy.[63]
Galileo's dispute with Grassi permanently alienated many of the Jesuits who had previously been
sympathetic to his ideas,[64] and Galileo and his friends were convinced that these Jesuits were
responsible for bringing about his later condemnation. [65] The evidence for this is at best equivocal,
however.[66]
Controversy over heliocentrism

Galileo affair
Cristiano Banti's 1857 painting Galileo facing the Roman Inquisition
In the whole world prior to Galileo's conflict with the Church, the majority of educated people
subscribed either to the Aristotelian geocentric view that the earth was the center of the universe and
that all heavenly bodies revolved around the Earth, [67] or the Tychonic system that blended
geocentrism with heliocentrism.[68] Nevertheless, following the death of Copernicus and before
Galileo, heliocentrism was relatively uncontroversial; [68] Copernicus's work was used by Pope
Gregory XIII to reform the calendar in 1582. [a]
Opposition to heliocentrism and Galileo's writings combined religious and scientific objections.
Scientific opposition came from Tycho Brahe and others and arose from the fact that, if heliocentrism
were true, an annual stellar parallax should be observed, though none was. Copernicus and
Aristarchus had correctly postulated that parallax was negligible because the stars were so distant.
However, Brahe had countered that, since stars appeared to have measurable size, if the stars were
that distant, they would be gigantic, and in fact far larger than the Sun or any other celestial body. In
Brahe's system, by contrast, the stars were a little more distant than Saturn, and the Sun and stars
were comparable in size.[69]
Religious opposition to heliocentrism arose from Biblical references such as Psalm 93:1, 96:10,
and 1 Chronicles 16:30 which include text stating that "the world is firmly established, it cannot be
moved." In the same manner, Psalm 104:5 says, "the Lord set the earth on its foundations; it can
never be moved." Further, Ecclesiastes 1:5 states that "And the sun rises and sets and returns to its
place."[70]
Galileo defended heliocentrism based on his astronomical observations of 1609 (Sidereus
Nuncius 1610). In December 1613, the Grand Duchess Christina of Florence confronted one of
Galileo's friends and followers, Benedetto Castelli, with biblical objections to the motion of the earth.
According to Maurice Finocchiaro, this was done in a friendly and gracious manner, out of curiosity.
Prompted by this incident, Galileo wrote a letter to Castelli in which he argued that heliocentrism was
actually not contrary to biblical texts, and that the bible was an authority on faith and morals, not on
science. This letter was not published, but circulated widely. [71]
By 1615, Galileo's writings on heliocentrism had been submitted to the Roman Inquisition by
Father Niccolò Lorini, who claimed that Galileo and his followers were attempting to reinterpret the
Bible, which was seen as a violation of the Council of Trent and looked dangerously like
Protestantism.[72] Lorini specifically cited Galileo's letter to Castelli. [73] Galileo went to Rome to defend
himself and his Copernican and biblical ideas. At the start of 1616, Monsignor Francesco
Ingoli initiated a debate with Galileo, sending him an essay disputing the Copernican system. Galileo
later stated that he believed this essay to have been instrumental in the action against
Copernicanism that followed.[74] According to Maurice Finocchiaro, Ingoli had probably been
commissioned by the Inquisition to write an expert opinion on the controversy, and the essay
provided the "chief direct basis" for the Inquisition's actions. [75] The essay focused on eighteen
physical and mathematical arguments against heliocentrism. It borrowed primarily from the
arguments of Tycho Brahe, and it notedly mentioned Brahe's argument that heliocentrism required
the stars to be much larger than the Sun. Ingoli wrote that the great distance to the stars in the
heliocentric theory "clearly proves ... the fixed stars to be of such size, as they may surpass or equal
the size of the orbit circle of the Earth itself."[76] The essay also included four theological arguments,
but Ingoli suggested Galileo focus on the physical and mathematical arguments, and he did not
mention Galileo's biblical ideas.[77] In February 1616, an Inquisitorial commission declared
heliocentrism to be "foolish and absurd in philosophy, and formally heretical since it explicitly
contradicts in many places the sense of Holy Scripture." The Inquisition found that the idea of the
Earth's movement "receives the same judgement in philosophy and... in regard to theological truth it
is at least erroneous in faith".[78] (The original document from the Inquisitorial commission was made
widely available in 2014.[79])
Pope Paul V instructed Cardinal Bellarmine to deliver this finding to Galileo, and to order him to
abandon the opinion that heliocentrism was physically true. On 26 February, Galileo was called to
Bellarmine's residence and ordered:
... to abandon completely... the opinion that the sun stands still at the center of the world and the
earth moves, and henceforth not to hold, teach, or defend it in any way whatever, either orally or in
writing.[80]
The decree of the Congregation of the Index banned Copernicus's De Revolutionibus and other
heliocentric works until correction.[80] Bellarmine's instructions did not prohibit Galileo from discussing
heliocentrism as a mathematical and philosophic idea, so long as he did not advocate for its physical
truth.[11][81]
For the next decade, Galileo stayed well away from the controversy. He revived his project of writing
a book on the subject, encouraged by the election of Cardinal Maffeo Barberini as Pope Urban
VIII in 1623. Barberini was a friend and admirer of Galileo, and had opposed the condemnation of
Galileo in 1616. Galileo's resulting book, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, was
published in 1632, with formal authorization from the Inquisition and papal permission.[82]
Earlier, Pope Urban VIII had personally asked Galileo to give arguments for and against
heliocentrism in the book, and to be careful not to advocate heliocentrism. He made another request,
that his own views on the matter be included in Galileo's book. Only the latter of those requests was
fulfilled by Galileo.
Whether unknowingly or deliberately, Simplicio, the defender of the Aristotelian geocentric view
in Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, was often caught in his own errors and
sometimes came across as a fool. Indeed, although Galileo states in the preface of his book that the
character is named after a famous Aristotelian philosopher (Simplicius in Latin, "Simplicio" in Italian),
the name "Simplicio" in Italian also has the connotation of "simpleton". [83] This portrayal of Simplicio
made Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems appear as an advocacy book: an attack
on Aristotelian geocentrism and defence of the Copernican theory. Unfortunately for his relationship
with the Pope, Galileo put the words of Urban VIII into the mouth of Simplicio.
Most historians agree Galileo did not act out of malice and felt blindsided by the reaction to his book.
[b]
However, the Pope did not take the suspected public ridicule lightly, nor the Copernican advocacy.
Galileo had alienated one of his biggest and most powerful supporters, the Pope, and was called to
Rome to defend his writings[84] in September 1632. He finally arrived in February 1633 and was
brought before inquisitor Vincenzo Maculani to be charged. Throughout his trial, Galileo steadfastly
maintained that since 1616 he had faithfully kept his promise not to hold any of the condemned
opinions, and initially he denied even defending them. However, he was eventually persuaded to
admit that, contrary to his true intention, a reader of his Dialogue could well have obtained the
impression that it was intended to be a defence of Copernicanism. In view of Galileo's rather
implausible denial that he had ever held Copernican ideas after 1616 or ever intended to defend
them in the Dialogue, his final interrogation, in July 1633, concluded with his being threatened with
torture if he did not tell the truth, but he maintained his denial despite the threat. [85]
The sentence of the Inquisition was delivered on 22 June. It was in three essential parts:
 Galileo was found "vehemently suspect of heresy", namely of having held the opinions that
the Sun lies motionless at the centre of the universe, that the Earth is not at its centre and
moves, and that one may hold and defend an opinion as probable after it has been declared
contrary to Holy Scripture. He was required to "abjure, curse and detest" those opinions.[86]
 He was sentenced to formal imprisonment at the pleasure of the Inquisition. [87] On the
following day, this was commuted to house arrest, which he remained under for the rest of his
life.
 His offending Dialogue was banned; and in an action not announced at the trial, publication
of any of his works was forbidden, including any he might write in the future. [88]
Portrait, attributed to Murillo, of Galileo gazing at the words "E pur si muove" (And yet it moves) (not legible in
this image) scratched on the wall of his prison cell
According to popular legend, after recanting his theory that the Earth moved around the Sun, Galileo
allegedly muttered the rebellious phrase "And yet it moves". A 1640s painting by the Spanish
painter Bartolomé Esteban Murillo or an artist of his school, in which the words were hidden until
restoration work in 1911, depicts an imprisoned Galileo apparently gazing at the words "E pur si
muove" written on the wall of his dungeon. The earliest known written account of the legend dates to
a century after his death, but Stillman Drake writes "there is no doubt now that the famous words
were already attributed to Galileo before his death". [89]
After a period with the friendly Ascanio Piccolomini (the Archbishop of Siena), Galileo was allowed to
return to his villa at Arcetri near Florence in 1634, where he spent part of his life under house arrest.
Galileo was ordered to read the seven penitential psalms once a week for the next three years.
However, his daughter Maria Celeste relieved him of the burden after
securing ecclesiastical permission to take it upon herself.[90]
It was while Galileo was under house arrest that he dedicated his time to one of his finest
works, Two New Sciences. Here he summarised work he had done some forty years earlier, on the
two sciences now called kinematics and strength of materials, published in Holland to avoid the
censor. This book has received high praise from Albert Einstein.[91] As a result of this work, Galileo is
often called the "father of modern physics". He went completely blind in 1638 and was suffering from
a painful hernia and insomnia, so he was permitted to travel to Florence for medical advice. [16][17]
Dava Sobel argues that prior to Galileo's 1633 trial and judgement for heresy, Pope Urban VIII had
become preoccupied with court intrigue and problems of state, and began to fear persecution or
threats to his own life. In this context, Sobel argues that the problem of Galileo was presented to the
pope by court insiders and enemies of Galileo. Having been accused of weakness in defending the
church, Urban reacted against Galileo out of anger and fear. [92]
Death
Tomb of Galileo, Santa Croce, Florence
Galileo continued to receive visitors until 1642, when, after suffering fever and heart palpitations, he
died on 8 January 1642, aged 77.[16][93] The Grand Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinando II, wished to bury
him in the main body of the Basilica of Santa Croce, next to the tombs of his father and other
ancestors, and to erect a marble mausoleum in his honour. [94]
Middle finger of Galileo's right hand
These plans were dropped, however, after Pope Urban VIII and his nephew, Cardinal Francesco
Barberini, protested,[95] because Galileo had been condemned by the Catholic Church for "vehement
suspicion of heresy".[96] He was instead buried in a small room next to the novices' chapel at the end
of a corridor from the southern transept of the basilica to the sacristy. [97] He was reburied in the main
body of the basilica in 1737 after a monument had been erected there in his honour; [98] during this
move, three fingers and a tooth were removed from his remains. [99] One of these fingers, the middle
finger from Galileo's right hand, is currently on exhibition at the Museo Galileoin Florence, Italy.[100]
Scientific contributions
Scientific methods
Galileo made original contributions to the science of motion through an innovative combination of
experiment and mathematics.[101] More typical of science at the time were the qualitative studies
of William Gilbert, on magnetism and electricity. Galileo's father, Vincenzo Galilei, a lutenist and
music theorist, had performed experiments establishing perhaps the oldest known non-linear relation
in physics: for a stretched string, the pitch varies as the square root of the tension. [102]These
observations lay within the framework of the Pythagorean tradition of music, well-known to
instrument makers, which included the fact that subdividing a string by a whole number produces a
harmonious scale. Thus, a limited amount of mathematics had long related music and physical
science, and young Galileo could see his own father's observations expand on that tradition. [103]
Galileo was one of the first modern thinkers to clearly state that the laws of nature are mathematical.
In The Assayer, he wrote "Philosophy is written in this grand book, the universe ... It is written in the
language of mathematics, and its characters are triangles, circles, and other geometric
figures;...."[104] His mathematical analyses are a further development of a tradition employed by late
scholastic natural philosophers, which Galileo learned when he studied philosophy. [105] His work
marked another step towards the eventual separation of science from both philosophy and religion; a
major development in human thought. He was often willing to change his views in accordance with
observation. In order to perform his experiments, Galileo had to set up standards of length and time,
so that measurements made on different days and in different laboratories could be compared in a
reproducible fashion. This provided a reliable foundation on which to confirm mathematical laws
using inductive reasoning.
Galileo showed a modern appreciation for the proper relationship between mathematics, theoretical
physics, and experimental physics. He understood the parabola, both in terms of conic sections and
in terms of the ordinate (y) varying as the square of the abscissa (x). Galilei further asserted that the
parabola was the theoretically ideal trajectory of a uniformly accelerated projectile in the absence
of air resistance or other disturbances. He conceded that there are limits to the validity of this theory,
noting on theoretical grounds that a projectile trajectory of a size comparable to that of
the Earth could not possibly be a parabola, [106] but he nevertheless maintained that for distances up to
the range of the artillery of his day, the deviation of a projectile's trajectory from a parabola would be
only very slight.[107]
Astronomy
Galileo showed the Doge of Venicehow to use the telescope (fresco by Giuseppe Bertini)
It was on this page that Galileo first noted an observation of the moons of Jupiter. This observation upset the
notion that all celestial bodies must revolve around the Earth. Galileo published a full description in Sidereus
Nuncius in March 1610
The phases of Venus, observed by Galileo in 1610
Based only on uncertain descriptions of the first practical telescope which Hans Lippershey tried to
patent in the Netherlands in 1608, [108] Galileo, in the following year, made a telescope with about 3x
magnification. He later made improved versions with up to about 30x magnification. [109] With
a Galilean telescope, the observer could see magnified, upright images on the Earth—it was what is
commonly known as a terrestrial telescope or a spyglass. He could also use it to observe the sky; for
a time he was one of those who could construct telescopes good enough for that purpose. On 25
August 1609, he demonstrated one of his early telescopes, with a magnification of about 8 or 9,
to Venetian lawmakers. His telescopes were also a profitable sideline for Galileo, who sold them to
merchants who found them useful both at sea and as items of trade. He published his initial
telescopic astronomical observations in March 1610 in a brief treatise entitled Sidereus
Nuncius (Starry Messenger).[110]
Kepler's supernova
Tycho and others had observed the supernova of 1572. Ottavio Brenzoni's letter of 15 January 1605
to Galileo brought the 1572 supernova and the less bright nova of 1601 to Galileo's notice. Galileo
observed and discussed Kepler's supernova in 1604. Since these new stars displayed no
detectable diurnal parallax, Galileo concluded that they were distant stars, and, therefore, disproved
the Aristotelian belief in the immutability of the heavens.[111]
Jupiter's moons
On 7 January 1610, Galileo observed with his telescope what he described at the time as "three
fixed stars, totally invisible[c] by their smallness", all close to Jupiter, and lying on a straight line
through it.[112]Observations on subsequent nights showed that the positions of these "stars" relative to
Jupiter were changing in a way that would have been inexplicable if they had really been fixed stars.
On 10 January, Galileo noted that one of them had disappeared, an observation which he attributed
to its being hidden behind Jupiter. Within a few days, he concluded that they were orbiting Jupiter:
[113]
he had discovered three of Jupiter's four largest moons. He discovered the fourth on 13 January.
Galileo named the group of four the Medicean stars, in honour of his future patron, Cosimo II de'
Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Cosimo's three brothers.[114] Later astronomers, however,
renamed them Galilean satellites in honour of their discoverer. These satellites were independently
discovered by Simon Marius on 8 January 1610 and are now called Io, Europa, Ganymede,
and Callisto the names given by Marius in his Mundus Iovialispublished in 1614.[115]
His observations of the satellites of Jupiter caused a revolution in astronomy: a planet with smaller
planets orbiting it did not conform to the principles of Aristotelian cosmology, which held that all
heavenly bodies should circle the Earth,[116] and many astronomers and philosophers initially refused
to believe that Galileo could have discovered such a thing. [117] His observations were confirmed by
the observatory of Christopher Clavius and he received a hero's welcome when he visited Rome in
1611.[118] Galileo continued to observe the satellites over the next eighteen months, and by mid-1611,
he had obtained remarkably accurate estimates for their periods—a feat which Kepler had believed
impossible.[119]
Venus, Saturn, and Neptune
From September 1610, Galileo observed that Venus exhibited a full set of phases similar to that of
the Moon. The heliocentric model of the Solar System developed by Nicolaus Copernicus predicted
that all phases would be visible since the orbit of Venus around the Sun would cause its illuminated
hemisphere to face the Earth when it was on the opposite side of the Sun and to face away from the
Earth when it was on the Earth-side of the Sun. On the other hand, in Ptolemy's geocentric model it
was impossible for any of the planets' orbits to intersect the spherical shell carrying the Sun.
Traditionally, the orbit of Venus was placed entirely on the near side of the Sun, where it could
exhibit only crescent and new phases. It was, however, also possible to place it entirely on the far
side of the Sun, where it could exhibit only gibbous and full phases. After Galileo's telescopic
observations of the crescent, gibbous and full phases of Venus, the Ptolemaic model became
untenable. Thus in the early 17th century, as a result of his discovery, the great majority of
astronomers converted to one of the various geo-heliocentric planetary models, [120] such as the
Tychonic, Capellan and Extended Capellan models,[d] each either with or without a daily rotating
Earth. These all had the virtue of explaining the phases of Venus without the vice of the 'refutation' of
full heliocentrism's prediction of stellar parallax. Galileo's discovery of the phases of Venus was thus
arguably his most empirically practically influential contribution to the two-stage transition from full
geocentrism to full heliocentrism via geo-heliocentrism.
Galileo observed the planet Saturn, and at first mistook its rings for planets, thinking it was a three-
bodied system. When he observed the planet later, Saturn's rings were directly oriented at Earth,
causing him to think that two of the bodies had disappeared. The rings reappeared when he
observed the planet in 1616, further confusing him. [121]
Galileo also observed the planet Neptune in 1612. It appears in his notebooks as one of many
unremarkable dim stars. He did not realise that it was a planet, but he did note its motion relative to
the stars before losing track of it.[122]
Sunspots
Galileo's "cannocchiali" telescopesat the Museo Galileo, Florence
Galileo made naked-eye and telescopic studies of sunspots.[123] Their existence raised another
difficulty with the unchanging perfection of the heavens as posited in orthodox Aristotelian celestial
physics. An apparent annual variation in their trajectories, observed by Francesco Sizzi and others in
1612–1613,[124]also provided a powerful argument against both the Ptolemaic system and the
geoheliocentric system of Tycho Brahe.[e] A dispute over claimed priority in the discovery of
sunspots, and in their interpretation, led Galileo to a long and bitter feud with the Jesuit Christoph
Scheiner. In the middle was Mark Welser, to whom Scheiner had announced his discovery, and who
asked Galileo for his opinion. [citation needed] In fact, there is little doubt that both of them were beaten
by David Fabricius and his son Johannes.
Moon
Prior to Galileo's construction of his version of a telescope, Thomas Harriot, an English
mathematician and explorer, had already used what he dubbed a "perspective tube" to observe the
Moon. Reporting his observations, Harriot noted only "strange spottednesse" in the waning of the
crescent, but was ignorant to the cause. Galileo, due in part to his artistic training [37] and the
knowledge of chiaroscuro,[36] had understood the patterns of light and shadow were, in fact,
topographical markers. While not being the only one to observe the Moon through a telescope,
Galileo was the first to deduce the cause of the uneven waning as light occlusion from lunar
mountains and craters. In his study, he also made topographical charts, estimating the heights of the
mountains. The Moon was not what was long thought to have been a translucent and perfect
sphere, as Aristotle claimed, and hardly the first "planet", an "eternal pearl to magnificently ascend
into the heavenly empyrian", as put forth by Dante. Galileo is sometimes credited with the discovery
of the lunar libration in latitude in 1632,[125] although Thomas Harriot or William Gilbertmight have
done it before.[126]
Milky Way and stars
Galileo observed the Milky Way, previously believed to be nebulous, and found it to be a multitude
of stars packed so densely that they appeared from Earth to be clouds. He located many other stars
too distant to be visible with the naked eye. He observed the double star Mizar in Ursa Major in
1617.[127]
In the Starry Messenger, Galileo reported that stars appeared as mere blazes of light, essentially
unaltered in appearance by the telescope, and contrasted them to planets, which the telescope
revealed to be discs. But shortly thereafter, in his Letters on Sunspots, he reported that the
telescope revealed the shapes of both stars and planets to be "quite round". From that point forward,
he continued to report that telescopes showed the roundness of stars, and that stars seen through
the telescope measured a few seconds of arc in diameter. [128] He also devised a method for
measuring the apparent size of a star without a telescope. As described in his Dialogue Concerning
the two Chief World Systems, his method was to hang a thin rope in his line of sight to the star and
measure the maximum distance from which it would wholly obscure the star. From his
measurements of this distance and of the width of the rope, he could calculate the angle subtended
by the star at his viewing point.[129] In his Dialogue, he reported that he had found the apparent
diameter of a star of first magnitude to be no more than 5 arcseconds, and that of one of sixth
magnitude to be about 5/6 arcseconds. Like most astronomers of his day, Galileo did not recognise
that the apparent sizes of stars that he measured were spurious, caused by diffraction and
atmospheric distortion (see seeing disk or Airy disk), and did not represent the true sizes of stars.
However, Galileo's values were much smaller than previous estimates of the apparent sizes of the
brightest stars, such as those made by Tycho Brahe (see Magnitude) and enabled Galileo to counter
anti-Copernican arguments such as those made by Tycho that these stars would have to be
absurdly large for their annual parallaxes to be undetectable. [130] Other astronomers such as Simon
Marius, Giovanni Battista Riccioli, and Martinus Hortensius made similar measurements of stars,
and Marius and Riccioli concluded the smaller sizes were not small enough to answer Tycho's
argument.[131]
Engineering
Galileo's geometrical and military compass, thought to have been made c. 1604 by his personal instrument-
maker Marc'Antonio Mazzoleni
Galileo made a number of contributions to what is now known as engineering, as distinct from
pure physics. Between 1595 and 1598, Galileo devised and improved a geometric and military
compasssuitable for use by gunners and surveyors. This expanded on earlier instruments designed
by Niccolò Tartaglia and Guidobaldo del Monte. For gunners, it offered, in addition to a new and
safer way of elevating cannons accurately, a way of quickly computing the charge
of gunpowder for cannonballs of different sizes and materials. As a geometric instrument, it enabled
the construction of any regular polygon, computation of the area of any polygon or circular sector,
and a variety of other calculations. Under Galileo's direction, instrument maker Marc'Antonio
Mazzoleni produced more than 100 of these compasses, which Galileo sold (along with an
instruction manual he wrote) for 50 lire and offered a course of instruction in the use of the
compasses for 120 lire.[132]
In about 1593, Galileo constructed a thermometer, using the expansion and contraction of air in a
bulb to move water in an attached tube.
A replica of the earliest surviving telescope attributed to Galileo Galilei, on display at the Griffith Observatory.
In 1609, Galileo was, along with Englishman Thomas Harriot and others, among the first to use
a refracting telescope as an instrument to observe stars, planets or moons. The name "telescope"
was coined for Galileo's instrument by a Greek mathematician, Giovanni Demisiani,[133] at a banquet
held in 1611 by Prince Federico Cesi to make Galileo a member of his Accademia dei Lincei.[134] The
name was derived from the Greek tele = 'far' and skopein = 'to look or see'. In 1610, he used a
telescope at close range to magnify the parts of insects.[135] By 1624, Galileo had used[136] a
compound microscope. He gave one of these instruments to Cardinal Zollern in May of that year for
presentation to the Duke of Bavaria, [137] and in September, he sent another to Prince Cesi.
[138]
The Linceans played a role again in naming the "microscope" a year later when fellow academy
member Giovanni Faber coined the word for Galileo's invention from the Greek
words μικρόν (micron) meaning "small", and σκοπεῖν (skopein) meaning "to look at". The word was
meant to be analogous with "telescope".[139][140] Illustrations of insects made using one of Galileo's
microscopes and published in 1625, appear to have been the first clear documentation of the use of
a compound microscope.[141]
In 1612, having determined the orbital periods of Jupiter's satellites, Galileo proposed that with
sufficiently accurate knowledge of their orbits, one could use their positions as a universal clock, and
this would make possible the determination of longitude. He worked on this problem from time to
time during the remainder of his life, but the practical problems were severe. The method was first
successfully applied by Giovanni Domenico Cassini in 1681 and was later used extensively for large
land surveys; this method, for example, was used to survey France, and later by Zebulon Pike of the
midwestern United States in 1806. For sea navigation, where delicate telescopic observations were
more difficult, the longitude problem eventually required development of a practical portable marine
chronometer, such as that of John Harrison.[142] Late in his life, when totally blind, Galileo designed
an escapement mechanism for a pendulum clock (called Galileo's escapement), although no clock
using this was built until after the first fully operational pendulum clock was made by Christiaan
Huygens in the 1650s.
Galileo was invited on several occasions to advise on engineering schemes to alleviate river
flooding. In 1630 Mario Guiducci was probably instrumental in ensuring that he was consulted on
a scheme by Bartolotti to cut a new channel for the Bisenzio River near Florence.[143]
Physics
Galileo e Viviani, 1892, Tito Lessi
Dome of the Cathedral of Pisa with the "lamp of Galileo"
Galileo's theoretical and experimental work on the motions of bodies, along with the largely
independent work of Kepler and René Descartes, was a precursor of the classical
mechanics developed by Sir Isaac Newton. Galileo conducted several experiments with pendulums.
It is popularly believed (thanks to the biography by Vincenzo Viviani) that these began by watching
the swings of the bronze chandelier in the cathedral of Pisa, using his pulse as a timer. Later
experiments are described in his Two New Sciences. Galileo claimed that a simple pendulum
is isochronous, i.e. that its swings always take the same amount of time, independently of
the amplitude. In fact, this is only approximately true,[144] as was discovered by Christiaan Huygens.
Galileo also found that the square of the period varies directly with the length of the pendulum.
Galileo's son, Vincenzo, sketched a clock based on his father's theories in 1642. The clock was
never built and, because of the large swings required by its verge escapement, would have been a
poor timekeeper. (See Engineering above.)
Galileo is lesser known for, yet still credited with, being one of the first to understand sound
frequency. By scraping a chisel at different speeds, he linked the pitch of the sound produced to the
spacing of the chisel's skips, a measure of frequency. In 1638, Galileo described an experimental
method to measure the speed of light by arranging that two observers, each having lanterns
equipped with shutters, observe each other's lanterns at some distance. The first observer opens the
shutter of his lamp, and, the second, upon seeing the light, immediately opens the shutter of his own
lantern. The time between the first observer's opening his shutter and seeing the light from the
second observer's lamp indicates the time it takes light to travel back and forth between the two
observers. Galileo reported that when he tried this at a distance of less than a mile, he was unable to
determine whether or not the light appeared instantaneously. [145]Sometime between Galileo's death
and 1667, the members of the Florentine Accademia del Cimentorepeated the experiment over a
distance of about a mile and obtained a similarly inconclusive result. [146]We now know that the speed
of light is far too fast to be measured by such methods (with human shutter-openers on Earth).
Galileo put forward the basic principle of relativity, that the laws of physics are the same in any
system that is moving at a constant speed in a straight line, regardless of its particular speed or
direction. Hence, there is no absolute motion or absolute rest. This principle provided the basic
framework for Newton's laws of motion and is central to Einstein's special theory of relativity.
Falling bodies
See also: Equations for a falling body
A biography by Galileo's pupil Vincenzo Viviani stated that Galileo had dropped balls of the same
material, but different masses, from the Leaning Tower of Pisa to demonstrate that their time of
descent was independent of their mass.[147] This was contrary to what Aristotle had taught: that heavy
objects fall faster than lighter ones, in direct proportion to weight. [148] While this story has been retold
in popular accounts, there is no account by Galileo himself of such an experiment, and it is generally
accepted by historians that it was at most a thought experiment which did not actually take place. [149]
[150]
An exception is Drake,[151] who argues that the experiment did take place, more or less as Viviani
described it. The experiment described was actually performed by Simon Stevin (commonly known
as Stevinus) and Jan Cornets de Groot,[35] although the building used was actually the church tower
in Delft in 1586.[152] However, most of his experiments with falling bodies were carried out using
inclined planes where both the issues of timing and air resistance were much reduced.[153]
During the Apollo 15 mission in 1971, astronaut David Scott showed that Galileo was right: acceleration is the
same for all bodies subject to gravity on the Moon, even for a hammer and a feather.
In his 1638 Discorsi, Galileo's character Salviati, widely regarded as Galileo's spokesman, held that
all unequal weights would fall with the same finite speed in a vacuum. But this had previously been
proposed by Lucretius[154] and Simon Stevin.[155] Cristiano Banti's Salviati also held it could be
experimentally demonstrated by the comparison of pendulum motions in air with bobs of lead and of
cork which had different weight but which were otherwise similar.
Galileo proposed that a falling body would fall with a uniform acceleration, as long as the resistance
of the medium through which it was falling remained negligible, or in the limiting case of its falling
through a vacuum.[156] He also derived the correct kinematical law for the distance travelled during a
uniform acceleration starting from rest—namely, that it is proportional to the square of the elapsed
time ( d ∝ t 2 ).[157] Prior to Galileo, Nicole Oresme, in the 14th century, had derived the times-squared
law for uniformly accelerated change, [158] and Domingo de Soto had suggested in the 16th century
that bodies falling through a homogeneous medium would be uniformly accelerated. [159] Galileo
expressed the time-squared law using geometrical constructions and mathematically precise words,
adhering to the standards of the day. (It remained for others to re-express the law in algebraic
terms).
He also concluded that objects retain their velocity in the absence of any impediments to their
motion,[citation needed] thereby contradicting the generally accepted Aristotelian hypothesis that a body
could only remain in so-called "violent", "unnatural", or "forced" motion so long as an agent of
change (the "mover") continued to act on it.[160] Philosophical ideas relating to inertia had been
proposed by John Philoponus and Jean Buridan. Galileo stated: "Imagine any particle projected
along a horizontal plane without friction; then we know, from what has been more fully explained in
the preceding pages, that this particle will move along this same plane with a motion which is
uniform and perpetual, provided the plane has no limits" [161] This was incorporated into Newton's laws
of motion (first law).
Mathematics
While Galileo's application of mathematics to experimental physics was innovative, his mathematical
methods were the standard ones of the day, including dozens of examples of an inverse
proportion square root method passed down from Fibonacci and Archimedes. The analysis and
proofs relied heavily on the Eudoxian theory of proportion, as set forth in the fifth book of Euclid's
Elements. This theory had become available only a century before, thanks to accurate translations
by Tartaglia and others; but by the end of Galileo's life, it was being superseded by the algebraic
methods of Descartes.
The concept now named Galileo's paradox was not original with him. His proposed solution,
that infinite numbers cannot be compared, is no longer considered useful.
Timeline
 1543 – Nicolaus Copernicus publishes De revolutionibus orbium coelestium as an alternative

world system to the Ptolemy's geocentric modelcausing subsequent questions to be raised
about Aristotelian physics following Copernicus' death
 1563 – Parents Vincenzo Galilei and Giulia Ammannati marry
 1564 – Birth in Pisa, Italy
 ~1570 – Thomas Digges publishes Pantometria describing a telescope built between 1540–
1559 by his father Leonard Digges
 1573 – Tycho Brahe publishes De nova stella (On the new star) refuting Aristotelian belief in
immutable celestial spheres and an eternal, unchanging, more perfect heavenly realm of
celestial aether above the moon
 1576 – Giuseppe Moletti, Galileo's predecessor in the mathematics chair at Padua, reports
falling bodies of the same shape fall at the same speed, regardless of material [162]
 1581 – His father, Vincenzo Galilei publishes Dialogo della musica antica et
moderna formulating musical theories[163]
 1581 – Enrols as medical student at University of Pisa
 1582 – Attends mathematics lecture by Ostilio Ricci and decides to study math and science
 1585 – Leaves University of Pisa without degree and works as tutor
 1586 – Invents hydrostatic balance; wrote La Balancitta (The little balance)
 1586 – Simon Stevin publishes results for dropping lead weights from 10 meters
 1588 – Tycho Brahe publishes work on comets containing a description of the Tychonic
system of the world[164]
 1589 – Appointed to Mathematics Chair, University of Pisa
 ~1590 – Partially completes De Motu (On Motion), which is never published
 1591 – Death of his father, Vicenzo Galilei
 1592 – Appointed professor of mathematics at University of Padua, remains 18 years
 ~1593 – Invents early thermometer that unfortunately depended on both temperature and
pressure
 ~1595 – Invents improved ballistics calculation geometric and military compass, which he
later improves for surveying and general calculations and earns income from tutoring on its use
 1597 – Letter to Kepler indicates his belief in the Copernican System
 1600 – First child, Virginia is born; ~1600 Le Meccaniche (Mechanics)
 1600 – William Gilbert publishes On the Magnet and Magnetic Bodies, and on That Great
Magnet the Earth with arguments supporting the Copernican system
 1600 – Roman Inquisition finds Giordano Bruno, Copernican system supporter, guilty
of heresy for opinions on pantheism and the eternal plurality of worlds, and for denial of
the Trinity, divinity of Christ, virginity of Mary, and Transubstantiation; burned at the stake by civil
authorities
 1601 – Daughter Livia is born
 1604 – Measures supernova position indicating no parallax for the new star
 1605 – Sued by brothers-in-law for nonpayment of sisters' dowries
 1606 – Son Vincenzo born
 1606 – Publishes manual for his calculating compass
 1607 – Rotilio Orlandini attempts to assassinate Galileo's friend, Friar Paolo Sarpi
 1608 – Hans Lippershey invents a refracting telescope
 1609 – Independently invents and improves telescopes based on description of invention by
Hans Lippershey
 1609 – Kepler publishes Astronomia nova containing his first two laws and for the first time
demonstrates the Copernican model is more accurate than the Ptolemaic for uses such as
navigation and prediction
 1609 – Thomas Harriot sketches the Moon from telescopic observations made four months
before Galileo's
 1610 – Publishes Sidereus Nuncius (Starry Messenger); views our moon's mountains and
craters and brightest 4 of Jupiter's moons
 1610 – Martin Horky publishes Brevissima Peregrinatio Contra Nuncium Sidereum, opposing
Galileo
 1610 – Kepler requests one of Galileo's telescopes or lenses, but Galileo replies he is too
busy to build one and has no extras[165]
 1610 – Lifetime appointment to mathematics position at University of Padua, and as
mathematician and philosopher for Cosimo II, Grand Duke of Tuscany
 1611 – Discovers phases of Venus; granted audience with Pope; made member of Lincean
Academy
 1611 – Awarded an honorary degree by the Jesuit College in Rome [166]
 1611 – David Fabricius publishes Narration on Spots Observed on the Sun and their
Apparent Rotation with the Sun prior to Christoph Scheiner and Galileo's published works on the
subject
 1612 – Proposed Jupiter's moons could be used as a universal clock for possible
determination of longitude
 ~1612 or 1613 – Francesco Sizzi discovers annual variations in sunspots' motions
 1613 – Letters on Sunspots
 1613 – Letter to Benedetto Castelli discussing the rotation of the sun and Galileo's support of
the Copernican system. Using Biblical inerrancyas a basis, Galileo writes that Joshua's
command for the sun to stand still in Joshua 10:13 proves the "impossibility of the Aristotelian
and Ptolemaic world system, and on the other hand agrees very well with the Copernican
one."[167] He went on to write that "the sun gives not only light (as it obviously does) but also
motion to all the planets that revolve around it" by its rotation.[167]
 1615 – Letter to Grand Duchess Christina (not published until 1636)
 1616 – Officially warned by the Church not to hold or defend the Copernican System
 1616 – The Catholic Church places De revolutionibus orbium coelestium on the List of
Prohibited Books, pending correction
 1616 – Private letter "Discourse on the Tides"
 1617 – Moves into Bellosguardo, west of Florence, near his daughters' convent; observes
double star Mizar in Ursa Major
 1619 – Kepler publishes Harmonices Mundi which introduces his third law
 1619 – Discourse on the Comets
 1623 – Maffeo Barberini becomes Pope Urban VIII
 1623 – Publishes The Assayer
 1624 – Visits Pope who praises and honours him, leaving with assumed permission to
publish work on the Copernican vs. Ptolemaic Systems; used a compound microscope
 1625 – Illustrations of insects made using one of Galileo's microscopes published
 1630 – Completes Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems and subsequently
receives approval of Church censor
 1630 – Invited by Grand Duke Ferdinand II of Tuscany to advise on proposed engineering
works on the Bisenzio River
 1631 – Produces report on the Bisenzio engineering proposals, arguing against them
 1632 – Publishes Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems
 1633 – sentenced by the Inquisition to imprisonment, commuted to house arrest, for
vehement suspicion of heresy in violating the 1616 injunction
 1633 – Catholic Church places Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems on
the List of Prohibited Books
 1638 – Publishes Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences
 1642 – Death in Arcetri, Italy
 1668 – Isaac Newton builds his reflecting telescope
 1687 – Newton publishes Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica deriving Kepler's
laws from the Universal Law of Gravitation and the Laws of Motion
 2016 – The American Juno spacecraft, carrying a plaque and a Lego minifigure dedicated at
Galileo, arrives at Jupiter's orbit
Legacy
Later Church reassessments
The Galileo affair was largely forgotten after Galileo's death, and the controversy subsided. The
Inquisition's ban on reprinting Galileo's works was lifted in 1718 when permission was granted to
publish an edition of his works (excluding the condemned Dialogue) in Florence.[168] In 1741, Pope
Benedict XIV authorised the publication of an edition of Galileo's complete scientific works [f] which
included a mildly censored version of the Dialogue.[169] In 1758, the general prohibition against works
advocating heliocentrism was removed from the Index of prohibited books, although the specific ban
on uncensored versions of the Dialogue and Copernicus's De Revolutionibus remained.[170] All traces
of official opposition to heliocentrism by the church disappeared in 1835 when these works were
finally dropped from the Index.[171]
Interest in the Galileo affair was revived in the early 19th century, when Protestant polemicists used
it (and other events such as the Spanish Inquisition and the myth of the flat Earth) to attack Roman
Catholicism.[11] Interest in it has waxed and waned ever since. In 1939, Pope Pius XII, in his first
speech to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, within a few months of his election to the papacy,
described Galileo as being among the "most audacious heroes of research... not afraid of the
stumbling blocks and the risks on the way, nor fearful of the funereal monuments". [172] His close
advisor of 40 years, Professor Robert Leiber, wrote: "Pius XII was very careful not to close any doors
(to science) prematurely. He was energetic on this point and regretted that in the case of Galileo." [173]
On 15 February 1990, in a speech delivered at the Sapienza University of Rome,[g] Cardinal
Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) cited some current views on the Galileo affair as forming what
he called "a symptomatic case that permits us to see how deep the self-doubt of the modern age, of
science and technology goes today".[174] Some of the views he cited were those of the
philosopher Paul Feyerabend, whom he quoted as saying "The Church at the time of Galileo kept
much more closely to reason than did Galileo himself, and she took into consideration the ethical
and social consequences of Galileo's teaching too. Her verdict against Galileo was rational and just
and the revision of this verdict can be justified only on the grounds of what is politically
opportune."[174] The Cardinal did not clearly indicate whether he agreed or disagreed with
Feyerabend's assertions. He did, however, say "It would be foolish to construct an impulsive
apologetic on the basis of such views."[174]
On 31 October 1992, Pope John Paul II expressed regret for how the Galileo affair was handled, and
issued a declaration acknowledging the errors committed by the Catholic Church tribunal that judged
the scientific positions of Galileo Galilei, as the result of a study conducted by the Pontifical Council
for Culture.[175][176] In March 2008, the head of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Nicola Cabibbo,
announced a plan to honour Galileo by erecting a statue of him inside the Vatican walls. [177] In
December of the same year, during events to mark the 400th anniversary of Galileo's earliest
telescopic observations, Pope Benedict XVI praised his contributions to astronomy. [178] A month later,
however, the head of the Pontifical Council for Culture, Gianfranco Ravasi, revealed that the plan to
erect a statue of Galileo in the grounds of the Vatican had been suspended. [179]
Impact on modern science

According to Stephen Hawking, Galileo probably bears more of the responsibility for the birth of
modern science than anybody else,[180] and Albert Einstein called him the father of modern science.[181]
[182]
International Year of Astronomy commemorative coin
Galileo's astronomical discoveries and investigations into the Copernican theory have led to a lasting
legacy which includes the categorisation of the four large moons of Jupiter discovered by Galileo
(Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto) as the Galilean moons. Other scientific endeavours and
principles are named after Galileo including the Galileo spacecraft,[183] the first spacecraft to enter
orbit around Jupiter, the proposed Galileo global satellite navigation system,
the transformation between inertial systems in classical mechanics denoted Galilean
transformation and the Gal (unit), sometimes known as the Galileo, which is a non-SI unit
of acceleration.
Partly because 2009 was the fourth centenary of Galileo's first recorded astronomical observations
with the telescope, the United Nations scheduled it to be the International Year of Astronomy.[184] A
global scheme was laid out by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), also endorsed
by UNESCO—the UN body responsible for educational, scientific and cultural matters.
The International Year of Astronomy 2009 was intended to be a global celebration of astronomy and
its contributions to society and culture, stimulating worldwide interest not only in astronomy but
science in general, with a particular slant towards young people.
Asteroid 697 Galilea is named in his honour.
In artistic and popular media

Galileo is mentioned several times in the "opera" section of the Queen song, "Bohemian Rhapsody".
[185]
He features prominently in the song "Galileo" performed by the Indigo Girls and Amy
Grant's Galileo on her Heart in Motion album.
Twentieth-century plays have been written on Galileo's life, including Life of Galileo (1943) by the
German playwright Bertolt Brecht, with a film adaptation (1975) of it, and Lamp At Midnight (1947)
by Barrie Stavis,[186] as well as the 2008 play "Galileo Galilei".[187]
Kim Stanley Robinson wrote a science fiction novel entitled Galileo's Dream (2009), in which Galileo
is brought into the future to help resolve a crisis of scientific philosophy; the story moves back and
forth between Galileo's own time and a hypothetical distant future and contains a great deal of
biographical information.[188]
Galileo Galilei was recently selected as a main motif for a high value collectors' coin: the
€25 International Year of Astronomy commemorative coin, minted in 2009. This coin also
commemorates the 400th anniversary of the invention of Galileo's telescope. The obverse shows a
portion of his portrait and his telescope. The background shows one of his first drawings of the
surface of the moon. In the silver ring, other telescopes are depicted: the Isaac Newton Telescope,
the observatory in Kremsmünster Abbey, a modern telescope, a radio telescope and a space
telescope. In 2009, the Galileoscope was also released. This is a mass-produced, low-cost
educational 2-inch (51 mm) telescope with relatively high quality.
Writings
Statue outside the Uffizi, Florence
Galileo's early works describing scientific instruments include the 1586 tract entitled The Little
Balance (La Billancetta) describing an accurate balance to weigh objects in air or water [189] and the
1606 printed manual Le Operazioni del Compasso Geometrico et Militare on the operation of a
geometrical and military compass.[190]
His early works in dynamics, the science of motion and mechanics were his circa 1590 Pisan De
Motu (On Motion) and his circa 1600 Paduan Le Meccaniche (Mechanics). The former was based on
Aristotelian–Archimedean fluid dynamics and held that the speed of gravitational fall in a fluid
medium was proportional to the excess of a body's specific weight over that of the medium, whereby
in a vacuum, bodies would fall with speeds in proportion to their specific weights. It also subscribed
to the Philoponan impetus dynamics in which impetus is self-dissipating and free-fall in a vacuum
would have an essential terminal speed according to specific weight after an initial period of
acceleration.
Galileo's 1610 The Starry Messenger (Sidereus Nuncius) was the first scientific treatise to be
published based on observations made through a telescope. It reported his discoveries of:
 the Galilean moons
 the roughness of the Moon's surface
 the existence of a large number of stars invisible to the naked eye, particularly those
responsible for the appearance of the Milky Way
 differences between the appearances of the planets and those of the fixed stars—the former
appearing as small discs, while the latter appeared as unmagnified points of light
Galileo published a description of sunspots in 1613 entitled Letters on Sunspots[191] suggesting the
Sun and heavens are corruptible. The Letters on Sunspots also reported his 1610 telescopic
observations of the full set of phases of Venus, and his discovery of the puzzling "appendages" of
Saturn and their even more puzzling subsequent disappearance. In 1615, Galileo prepared a
manuscript known as the "Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina" which was not published in printed
form until 1636. This letter was a revised version of the Letter to Castelli, which was denounced by
the Inquisition as an incursion upon theology by advocating Copernicanism both as physically true
and as consistent with Scripture.[192] In 1616, after the order by the inquisition for Galileo not to hold
or defend the Copernican position, Galileo wrote the "Discourse on the Tides" (Discorso sul flusso e
il reflusso del mare) based on the Copernican earth, in the form of a private letter to Cardinal Orsini.
[193]
In 1619, Mario Guiducci, a pupil of Galileo's, published a lecture written largely by Galileo under
the title Discourse on the Comets (Discorso Delle Comete), arguing against the Jesuit interpretation
of comets.[194]
In 1623, Galileo published The Assayer—Il Saggiatore, which attacked theories based on Aristotle's
authority and promoted experimentation and the mathematical formulation of scientific ideas. The
book was highly successful and even found support among the higher echelons of the Christian
church.[195] Following the success of The Assayer, Galileo published the Dialogue Concerning the
Two Chief World Systems (Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo) in 1632. Despite taking
care to adhere to the Inquisition's 1616 instructions, the claims in the book favouring Copernican
theory and a non Geocentric model of the solar system led to Galileo being tried and banned on
publication. Despite the publication ban, Galileo published his Discourses and Mathematical
Demonstrations Relating to Two New Sciences (Discorsi e Dimostrazioni Matematiche, intorno a
due nuove scienze) in 1638 in Holland, outside the jurisdiction of the Inquisition.
Published written works

Galileo's main written works are as follows:
 The Little Balance (1586; in Italian: La Billancetta)

 On Motion (c. 1590; in Latin: De Motu Antiquiora)[196]
 Mechanics (c. 1600; in Italian: Le mecaniche)
 The Operations of Geometrical and Military Compass (1606; in Italian: Le operazioni del
compasso geometrico et militare)
 The Starry Messenger (1610; in Latin: Sidereus Nuncius)
 Discourse on Floating Bodies (1612; in Italian: Discorso intorno alle cose che stanno in su
l'acqua, o che in quella si muovono, "Discourse on Bodies that Stay Atop Water, or Move in It")
 History and Demonstration Concerning Sunspots (1613; in Italian: Istoria e dimostrazioni
intorno alle macchie solari; work based on the Three Letters on Sunspots, Tre lettere sulle
macchie solari, 1612)
 "Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina" (1615; published in 1636)
 "Discourse on the Tides" (1616; in Italian: Discorso del flusso e reflusso del mare)
 Discourse on the Comets (1619; in Italian: Discorso delle Comete)
 The Assayer (1623; in Italian: Il Saggiatore)
 Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (1632; in Italian: Dialogo sopra i due
massimi sistemi del mondo)
 Discourses and Mathematical Demonstrations Relating to Two New Sciences (1638; in
Italian: Discorsi e Dimostrazioni Matematiche, intorno a due nuove scienze)
Christiaan Huygens
Christiaan Huygens FRS (/ˈhaɪɡənz, ˈhɔɪ-/ HY-gənz, HOY-;[3] Dutch: [ˈɦœyɣə(n)s] (
listen); Latin: Hugenius; 14 April 1629 – 8 July 1695) was a
Dutch physicist, mathematician, astronomer and inventor, who is widely regarded as one of the
greatest scientists of all time and a major figure in the scientific revolution. In physics, Huygens
made groundbreaking contributions in optics and mechanics, while as an astronomer he is chiefly
known for his studies of the rings of Saturn and the discovery of its moon Titan. As an inventor, he
improved the design of the telescope with the invention of the Huygenian eyepiece. His most famous
invention, however, was the invention of the pendulum clock in 1656, which was a breakthrough in
timekeeping and became the most accurate timekeeper for almost 300 years. Because he was the
first to use mathematical formulae to describe the laws of physics, Huygens has been called the
first theoretical physicist and the founder of mathematical physics.[4][5]
In 1659, Huygens was the first to derive the now standard formula for the centripetal force in his
work De vi centrifuga. The formula played a central role in classical mechanics and became known
as the second of Newton's laws of motion. Huygens was also the first to formulate the correct laws
of elastic collision in his work De motu corporum ex percussione, but his findings were not published
until 1703, after his death. In the field of optics, he is best known for his wave theory of light, which
he proposed in 1678 and described in 1690 in his Treatise on Light, which is regarded as the first
mathematical theory of light. His theory was initially rejected in favor of Isaac Newton's corpuscular
theory of light, until Augustin-Jean Fresnel adopted Huygens' principle in 1818 and showed that it
could explain the rectilinear propagation and diffraction effects of light. Today this principle is known
as the Huygens–Fresnel principle.
Christiaan Huygens
Christiaan Huygens by Caspar Netscher, Museum
Boerhaave, Leiden
Huygens invented the pendulum clock in 1656, which he patented the following year. In addition to
this invention, his research in horology resulted in an extensive analysis of the pendulum in his 1673
book Horologium Oscillatorium, which is regarded as one of the most important 17th-century works
in mechanics. While the first part of the book contains descriptions of clock designs, most of the
book is an analysis of pendulum motion and a theory of curves. In 1655, Huygens began grinding
lenses with his brother Constantijn in order to build telescopes to conduct astronomical research. He
designed a 50-power refracting telescope with which he discovered that the ring of Saturn was "a
thin, flat ring, nowhere touching, and inclined to the ecliptic." It was with this telescope that he also
discovered the first of Saturn's moons, Titan. He eventually developed in 1662 what is now called
the Huygenian eyepiece, a telescope with two lenses, which diminished the amount of dispersion.
As a mathematician, Huygens was a pioneer on probability and wrote his first treatise on probability
theory in 1657 with the work Van Rekeningh in Spelen van Gluck. Frans van Schooten, who was the
private tutor of Huygens, translated the work as De ratiociniis in ludo aleae ("On Reasoning in
Games of Chance"). The work is a systematic treatise on probability and deals with games of
chanceand in particular the problem of points. The modern concept of probability grew out of the use
of expectation values by Huygens and Blaise Pascal (who encouraged him to write the work).
The last years of Huygens, who never married, were characterized by loneliness and depression. As
a rationalist, he refused to believe in an immanent supreme being, and could not accept the
Christian faith of his upbringing. Although Huygens did not believe in such a supernatural being, he
did hypothesize on the possibility of extraterrestrial life in his Cosmotheoros, which was published
shortly before his death in 1695. He speculated that extraterrestrial life was possible on planets
similar to Earth and wrote that the availability of water in liquid form was a necessity for life.
Early life
Christiaan Huygens was born on 14 April 1629 in The Hague, into a rich and influential Dutch family,
[6][7]
the second son of Constantijn Huygens. Christiaan was named after his paternal grandfather. [8]
[9]
His mother was Suzanna van Baerle. She died in 1637, shortly after the birth of Huygens' sister.
[10]
The couple had five children: Constantijn (1628), Christiaan (1629), Lodewijk (1631), Philips
(1632) and Suzanna (1637).[11]
Constantijn Huygens was a diplomat and advisor to the House of Orange, and also a poet and
musician. His friends included Galileo Galilei, Marin Mersenne and René Descartes.[12] Huygens was
educated at home until turning sixteen years old. He liked to play with miniatures of mills and other
machines. His father gave him a liberal education: he studied languages and music, history
and geography, mathematics, logic and rhetoric, but also dancing, fencing and horse riding.[8][11][13]
In 1644 Huygens had as his mathematical tutor Jan Jansz de Jonge Stampioen, who set the 15-
year-old a demanding reading list on contemporary science. [14] Descartes was impressed by his skills
Portrait of Huygens' father (centre) and his five children (Christiaan at right). Mauritshuis, The Hague.

Christiaan Huygens. Cut from the engraving following the painting of Caspar Netscher by G. Edelinck, between
1684 and 1687.
in geometry.[7]
Student years
His father sent Huygens to study law and mathematics at the University of Leiden, where he studied
from May 1645 to March 1647.[8] Frans van Schooten was an academic at Leiden from 1646, and
also a private tutor to Huygens and his elder brother, replacing Stampioen on the advice of
Descartes.[15][16] Van Schooten brought his mathematical education up to date, in particular
introducing him to the work of Fermat on differential geometry.[17]
After two years, from March 1647, Huygens continued his studies at the newly founded Orange
College, in Breda, where his father was a curator: the change occurred because of a duel between
his brother Lodewijk and another student.[18] Constantijn Huygens was closely involved in the new
College, which lasted only to 1669; the rector was André Rivet.[19] Christiaan Huygens lived at the
home of the jurist Johann Henryk Dauber, and had mathematics classes with the English
lecturer John Pell. He completed his studies in August 1649.[8] He then had a stint as a diplomat on a
mission with Henry, Duke of Nassau. It took him to Bentheim, then Flensburg. He took off for
Denmark, visited Copenhagen and Helsingør, and hoped to cross the Øresund to visit Descartes
in Stockholm. It was not to be.[20]
While his father Constantijn had wished his son Christiaan to be a diplomat, it also was not to be. In
political terms, the First Stadtholderless Period that began in 1650 meant that the House of Orange
was not in power, removing Constantijn's influence. Further, he realised that his son had no interest
in such a career.[21]
Early correspondence
Correspondance
Huygens generally wrote in French or Latin. [22] While still a college student at Leiden he began a
correspondence with the intelligencer Mersenne, who died quite soon afterwards in 1648.
[8]
Mersenne wrote to Constantijn on his son's talent for mathematics, and flatteringly compared him
to Archimedes (3 January 1647). The letters show the early interests of Huygens in mathematics. In
October 1646 there is the suspension bridge, and the demonstration that a catenary is not
a parabola.[23] In 1647/8 they cover the claim of Grégoire de Saint-Vincent to squaring the circle;
rectification of the ellipse; projectiles, and the vibrating string.[24] Some of Mersenne's concerns at the
time, such as the cycloid (he sent Evangelista Torricelli's treatise on the curve), the centre of
oscillation, and the gravitational constant, were matters Huygens only took seriously towards the end
of the 17th century.[25] Mersenne had also written on musical theory. Huygens preferred meantone
temperament; he innovated in 31 equal temperament, which was not itself a new idea but known
to Francisco de Salinas, using logarithms to investigate it further and show its close relation to the
meantone system.[26]
In 1654, Huygens returned to his father's house in The Hague, and was able to devote himself
entirely to research.[8] The family had another house, not far away at Hofwijck, and he spent time
there during the summer. His scholarly life did not allow him to escape bouts of depression. [27]
The garden plan at Hofwijck, 1653
Subsequently, Huygens developed a broad range of correspondents, though picking up the threads
after 1648 was hampered by the five-year Fronde in France. Visiting Paris in 1655, Huygens called
on Ismael Boulliau to introduce himself. Then Boulliau took him to see Claude Mylon.[28] The Parisian
group of savants that had gathered around Mersenne held together into the 1650s, and Mylon, who
had assumed the secretarial role, took some trouble from then on to keep Huygens in touch.
Through Pierre de Carcavi Huygens corresponded in 1656 with Pierre de Fermat, whom he
[29]
admired greatly, though this side of idolatry. The experience was bittersweet and even puzzling,
since it became clear that Fermat had dropped out of the research mainstream, and his priority
claims could probably not be made good in some cases. Besides, Huygens was looking by then to
apply mathematics, while Fermat's concerns ran to purer topics.[30]
Scientific debut
Huygens was often slow to publish his results and discoveries. In the early days his mentor Frans
van Schooten was cautious for the sake of his reputation. [31]
The first work Huygens put in print was Theoremata de quadratura (1651) in the field of quadrature.
It included material discussed with Mersenne some years before, such as the fallacious nature of the
squaring of the circle by Grégoire de Saint-Vincent. His preferred methods were those
of Archimedes and Fermat.[17] Quadrature was a live issue in the 1650s, and through Mylon, Huygens
intervened in the discussion of the mathematics of Thomas Hobbes. Persisting in trying to explain
the errors Hobbes had fallen into, he made an international reputation. [32]
The catenary in a manuscript of Huygens.
Huygens studied spherical lenses from a theoretical point of view in 1652–3, obtaining results that
remained unpublished until Isaac Barrow (1669). His aim was to understand telescopes.[33] He began
grinding his own lenses in 1655, collaborating with his brother Constantijn. [34] He designed in 1662
what is now called the Huygenian eyepiece, with two lenses, as a telescope ocular.[35][36] Lenses were
also a common interest through which Huygens could meet socially in the 1660s with Baruch
Spinoza, who ground them professionally. They had rather different outlooks on science, Spinoza
being the more committed Cartesian, and some of their discussion survives in correspondence. [37] He
encountered the work of Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, another lens grinder, in the field
of microscopy which interested his father.[38]
Huygens wrote the first treatise on probability theory, De ratiociniis in ludo aleae ("On Reasoning in
Games of Chance", 1657).[39] He had been told of recent work in the field by Fermat, Blaise
Pascal and Girard Desargues two years earlier, in Paris.[40] Frans van Schooten translated the
original Dutch manuscript "Van Rekeningh in Spelen van Geluck" into Latin and published it in
his Exercitationum mathematicarum. It deals with games of chance, in particular the problem of
points. Huygens took as intuitive his appeals to concepts of a "fair game" and equitable contract, and
used them set up a theory of expected values.[41] In 1662 Sir Robert Moray sent Huygens John
Graunt's life table, and in time Huygens and his brother Lodewijk worked on life expectancy.[42]
On 3 May 1661, Huygens observed the planet Mercury transit over the Sun, using the telescope of
instrument maker Richard Reeve in London, together with astronomer Thomas Streete and Reeve.
[43]
Streete then debated the published record of the transit of Hevelius, a controversy mediated
by Henry Oldenburg.[44] Huygens passed to Hevelius a manuscript of Jeremiah Horrocks on
the transit of Venus, 1639, which thereby was printed for the first time in 1662. [45] In that year
Huygens, who played the harpsichord, took an interest in music, and Simon Stevin's theories on it;
he showed very little concern to publish his theories on consonance, some of which were lost for
centuries.[46][47] The Royal Society of London elected him a Fellow in 1663.[48]
In France
The Montmor Academy was the form the old Mersenne circle took after the mid-1650s. [49] Huygens
took part in its debates, and supported its "dissident" faction who favoured experimental
demonstration to curtail fruitless discussion, and opposed amateurish attitudes. [50] During 1663 he
made what was his third visit to Paris; the Montmor Academy closed down, and Huygens took the
chance to advocate a more Baconianprogramme in science. In 1666 he moved to Paris and earned
a position at Louis XIV's new French Academy of Sciences.[51]
In Paris Huygens had an important patron and correspondent in Jean-Baptiste Colbert.[52] However,
his relationship with the Academy was not always easy, and in 1670 Huygens, seriously ill,
chose Francis Vernon to carry out a donation of his papers to the Royal Society in London, should
he die.[53] Then the Franco-Dutch War took place (1672–8). England's part in it (1672–4) is thought to
have damaged his relationship with the Royal Society.[54] Robert Hooke for the Royal Society lacked
the urbanity to handle the situation, in 1673.[55]
Christiaan Huygens, relief by Jean-Jacques Clérion, around 1670?
Denis Papin was assistant to Huygens from 1671. [56] One of their projects, which did not bear fruit
directly, was the gunpowder engine.[57] Papin moved to England in 1678, and continued to work in
this area.[58]Using the Paris Observatory (completed in 1672), Huygens made further astronomical
observations. In 1678 he introduced Nicolaas Hartsoeker to French scientists such as Nicolas
Malebranche and Giovanni Cassini.
It was in Paris, also, that Huygens met the young diplomat Gottfried Leibniz, there in 1672 on a vain
mission to meet Arnauld de Pomponne, the French Foreign Minister. At this time Leibniz was
working on a calculating machine, and he moved on to London in early 1673 with diplomats
from Mainz; but from March 1673 Leibniz was tutored in mathematics by Huygens. [59] Huygens taught
him analytical geometry; an extensive correspondence ensued, in which Huygens showed
reluctance to accept the advantages of infinitesimal calculus.[60]
Later life
Huygens moved back to The Hague in 1681 after suffering serious depressive illness. In 1684, he
published Astroscopia Compendiaria on his new tubeless aerial telescope. He attempted to return to
France in 1685 but the revocation of the Edict of Nantes precluded this move. His father died in
1687, and he inherited Hofwijck, which he made his home the following year. [21]
Hofwijck, home to Christiaan Huygens from 1688
On his third visit to England, in 1689, Huygens met Isaac Newton on 12 June. They spoke
about Iceland spar, and subsequently corresponded about resisted motion. [61]
Huygens observed the acoustical phenomenon now known as flanging in 1693.[62] He died in The
Hague on 8 July 1695, and was buried in the Grote Kerk.[63]
Huygens never married.[64]
Work in natural philosophy

Huygens has been called the leading European natural philosopher between Descartes and Newton.
[65]
He adhered to the tenets of the mechanical philosophy of his time. In particular he sought
explanations of the force of gravity that avoided action at a distance.[66]
In common with Robert Boyle and Jacques Rohault, Huygens adhered to what has been called,
more explicitly, "experimentally oriented corpuscular-mechanical" natural philosophy. In the analysis
of the Scientific Revolution this appears as a mainstream position, at least from the founding of the
Royal Society to the emergence of Newton, and was sometimes labelled "Baconian", while not
being inductivist or identifying with the views of Francis Bacon in a simple-minded way.[67] After his
first visit to England in 1661, when he attended a meeting of the Gresham College group in April and
learned directly about Boyle's air pump experiments, Huygens spent time in late 1661 and early
1662 replicating the work. It proved a long process, brought to the surface an experimental issue
("anomalous suspension") and the theoretical issue of horror vacui, and ended in July 1663 as
Huygens became a Fellow of the Royal Society. It has been said that Huygens finally accepted
Boyle's view of the void, as against the Cartesian denial of it; [68] and also (in Leviathan and the Air
Pump) that the replication of results trailed off messily.[69]
Newton's influence on John Locke was mediated by Huygens, who assured Locke that Newton's
mathematics was sound, leading to Locke's acceptance of a "corpuscular-mechanical" physics. [70]
Laws of motion, impact and gravitation

The general approach of the mechanical philosophers was to postulate theories of the kind now
called "contact action". Huygens adopted this method, but not without seeing its difficulties and
failures.[71] Leibniz, his student in Paris, abandoned the theory. [72] Seeing the universe this way made
the theory of collisions central to physics. The requirements of the mechanical philosophy, in the
view of Huygens, were stringent. Matter in motion made up the universe, and only explanations in
those terms could be truly intelligible. While he was influenced by the Cartesian approach, he was
less doctrinaire.[73] He studied elastic collisions in the 1650s but delayed publication for over a
decade.[17]
Depiction from Huygens, Oeuvres Complètes: a boating metaphor underlay the way of thinking about relative
motion, and so simplifying the theory of colliding bodies
Huygens concluded quite early that Descartes's laws for the elastic collision of two bodies must be
wrong, and he formulated the correct laws.[74] An important step was his recognition of the Galilean
invariance of the problems.[75] His views then took many years to be circulated. He passed them on in
person to William Brouncker and Christopher Wren in London, in 1661.[76] What Spinoza wrote
to Henry Oldenburg about them, in 1666 which was during the Second Anglo-Dutch War, was
guarded.[77] Huygens had actually worked them out in a manuscript De motu corporum ex
percussione in the period 1652–6. The war ended in 1667, and Huygens announced his results to
the Royal Society in 1668. He published them in the Journal des sçavans in 1669.[17]
Huygens stated what is now known as the second of Newton's laws of motion in a quadratic form.
[78]
In 1659 he derived the now standard formula for the centripetal force, exerted on an object
describing a circular motion, for instance by the string to which it is attached. In modern notation:
with m the mass of the object, v the velocity and r the radius. The publication of the general

formula for this force in 1673 was a significant step in studying orbits in astronomy. It enabled
the transition from Kepler's third law of planetary motion, to the inverse square law of gravitation.
[79]
The interpretation of Newton's work on gravitation by Huygens differed, however, from that of
Newtonians such as Roger Cotes; he did not insist on the a priori attitude of Descartes, but
neither would he accept aspects of gravitational attractions that were not attributable in principle
to contact of particles.[80]
The approach used by Huygens also missed some central notions of mathematical physics,
which were not lost on others. His work on pendulums came very close to the theory of simple
harmonic motion; but the topic was covered fully for the first time by Newton, in Book II of
his Principia Mathematica (1687).[81] In 1678 Leibniz picked out of Huygens's work on collisions
the idea of conservation law that Huygens had left implicit.[82]
Optics
Huygens is remembered especially for his wave theory of light, which he first communicated in
1678 to the Paris Académie des sciences. It was published in 1690 in his Traité de la
lumière[83] (Treatise on light[84]), making it the first mathematical theory of light. He refers
to Ignace-Gaston Pardies, whose manuscript on optics helped him on his wave theory. [85]
Huygens assumes that the speed of light is finite, as had been shown in an experiment by Olaus
Roemer in 1679, but which Huygens is presumed to have already believed. [86] The challenge for
the wave theory of light at that time was to explain geometrical optics, as most physical
opticsphenomena (such as diffraction) had not been observed or appreciated as issues. It posits
light radiating wavefronts with the common notion of light rays depicting propagation normal to
those wavefronts. Propagation of the wavefronts is then explained as the result of spherical
waves being emitted at every point along the wave front (the Huygens–Fresnel principle).[87] It
assumed an omnipresent ether, with transmission through perfectly elastic particles, a revision
of the view of Descartes. The nature of light was therefore a longitudinal wave.[86]
Huygens had experimented in 1672 with double refraction (birefringence) in Icelandic spar
(calcite), a phenomenon discovered in 1669 by Rasmus Bartholin. At first he could not elucidate
what he found.[36] He later explained it[84] with his wave front theory and concept of evolutes. He
also developed ideas on caustics.[88] Newton in his Opticks of 1704 proposed instead
a corpuscular theory of light. The theory of Huygens was not widely accepted, one strong
objection being that longitudinal waves have only a single polarization which cannot explain the
observed birefringence. However the 1801 interference experiments of Thomas
Young and François Arago 's 1819 detection of the Poisson spot could not be explained through
any particle theory, reviving the ideas of Huygens and wave models. In 1821 Fresnel was able
to explain birefringence as a result of light being not a longitudinal (as had been assumed) but
actually a transverse wave.[89] The thus-named Huygens–Fresnel principle was the basis for the
advancement of physical optics, explaining all aspects of light propagation. It was only
understanding the detailed interaction of light with atoms that awaited quantum mechanics and
the discovery of the photon.
Huygens investigated the use of lenses in projectors. He is credited as the inventor of the magic
lantern, described in correspondence of 1659.[90]There are others to whom such a lantern device
has been attributed, such as Giambattista della Porta, and Cornelis Drebbel: the point at issue is
the use of a lens for better projection. Athanasius Kircher has also been credited for that.[91]
Horology
Horologium oscillatorium sive de motu pendulorum, 1673
Huygens designed more accurate clocks than were available at the time. In 1656, inspired by
earlier research into pendulums by Galileo Galilei, he invented the pendulum clock, which was a
breakthrough in timekeeping and became the most accurate timekeeper for the next 275 years
until the 1930s.[92]Huygens contracted the construction of his clock designs to Salomon Coster in
The Hague, with a local patent (octroy). He was less successful elsewhere: Pierre
Séguier refused him any French rights, Simon Douw of Rotterdam copied the design in 1658,
and Ahasuerus Fromanteel also, in London.[93] The oldest known Huygens-style pendulum clock
is dated 1657 and can be seen at the Museum Boerhaave in Leiden.[94][95][96][97]
Huygens motivation for inventing the pendulum clock was to create an accurate marine
chronometer that could be used to find longitude by celestial navigation during sea voyages.
Exploiting the invention at sea proved troublesome, however, because the rocking motion of the
ship disturbed the motion of the pendulum. In 1660 Lodewijk Huygens made a trial on a voyage
to Spain, and reported that heavy weather made the clock useless. Alexander Bruce elbowed
into the field in 1662, and Huygens called in Sir Robert Moray and the Royal Society to mediate
and preserve some of his rights.[98] Trials continued into the 1660s, the best news coming from a
Royal Navy captain Robert Holmes operating against the Dutch possessions in 1664. [99] Lisa
Jardine [100] doubts that Holmes reported the results of the trial accurately, and Samuel Pepys
expressed his doubts at the time: The said master [i.e. the captain of Holmes' ship] affirmed, that
the vulgar reckoning proved as near as that of the watches, which [the clocks], added he, had
varied from one another unequally, sometimes backward, sometimes forward, to 4, 6, 7, 3, 5
minutes; as also that they had been corrected by the usual account. One for the French
Academy on an expedition to Cayenne ended badly. Jean Richer suggested correction for
the figure of the Earth. By the time of the Dutch East India Company expedition of 1686 to
the Cape of Good Hope, Huygens was able to supply the correction retrospectively. [101]
Pendulums
Spring driven pendulum clock, designed by Huygens, built by instrument maker Salomon Coster (1657),
[102]
and copy of the Horologium Oscillatorium,[103] Museum Boerhaave, Leiden
In 1673 Huygens published Horologium Oscillatorium sive de motu pendulorum, his major work
on pendulums and horology. It had been observed by Mersenne and others that pendulums are
not quite isochronous: their period depends on their width of swing, with wide swings taking
slightly longer than narrow swings.[104][105]
Huygens analyzed this problem by finding the curve down which a mass will slide under the
influence of gravity in the same amount of time, regardless of its starting point; the so-
called tautochrone problem. By geometrical methods which were an early use of calculus, he
showed it to be a cycloid, rather than the circular arc of a pendulum's bob, and therefore that
pendulums are not isochronous. He also solved a problem posed by Mersenne: how to calculate
the period of a pendulum made of an arbitrarily shaped swinging rigid body. This involved
discovering the center of oscillation and its reciprocal relationship with the pivot point. In the
same work, he analysed the conical pendulum, consisting of a weight on a cord moving in a
circle, using the concept of centrifugal force.
Detail of illustration from Horologium Oscillatorium (1658), by Huygens
Huygens clock, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Huygens was the first to derive the formula for the period of an ideal mathematical pendulum
(with massless rod or cord and length much longer than its swing), in modern notation:
with T the period, l the length of the pendulum and g the gravitational acceleration. By his

study of the oscillation period of compound pendulums Huygens made pivotal contributions
to the development of the concept of moment of inertia.[78]
Huygens also observed coupled oscillations: two of his pendulum clocks mounted next to
each other on the same support often became synchronized, swinging in opposite
directions. He reported the results by letter to the Royal Society, and it is referred to as "an
odd kind of sympathy" in the Society's minutes.[106][107] This concept is now known
as entrainment.
Experimental setup of Huygens synchronization of two clocks
Balance spring watch

Huygens developed a balance spring watch in the same period as, though independently
of, Robert Hooke. Controversy over the priority persisted for centuries. A Huygens watch
employed a spiral balance spring; but he used this form of spring initially only because the
balance in his first watch rotated more than one and a half turns. He later used spiral springs
in more conventional watches, made for him by Thuret in Paris from around 1675.
Huygens' explanation for the aspects of Saturn, Systema Saturnium, 1659.
Such springs were essential in modern watches with a detached lever escapement because

they can be adjusted for isochronism. Watches in the time of Huygens and Hooke, however,
employed the very undetached verge escapement. It interfered with the isochronal
properties of any form of balance spring, spiral or otherwise.
In February 2006, a long-lost copy of Hooke's handwritten notes from several decades
of Royal Society meetings was discovered in a cupboard in Hampshire, England. The
balance-spring priority controversy appears, by the evidence contained in those notes, to be
settled in favour of Hooke's claim.[108][109]
In 1675, Huygens patented a pocket watch. The watches which were made in Paris from c.
1675 and following the Huygens plan are notable for lacking a fusee for equalizing the
mainspring torque. The implication is that Huygens thought that his spiral spring would
isochronise the balance, in the same way that he thought that the cycloidally shaped
suspension curbs on his clocks would isochronise the pendulum.
Astronomy
Huygens' telescope without tube. Picture from his 1684 Astroscopia Compendiaria tubi optici
molimine liberata (compound telescopes without a tube)
Saturn's rings and Titan

In 1655, Huygens proposed that Saturn was surrounded by a solid ring, "a thin, flat ring,
nowhere touching, and inclined to the ecliptic." Using a 50 power refracting telescope that
he designed himself, Huygens also discovered the first of Saturn's moons, Titan.[110] In the
same year he observed and sketched the Orion Nebula. His drawing, the first such known of
the Orion nebula, was published in Systema Saturnium in 1659. Using his modern telescope
he succeeded in subdividing the nebula into different stars. The brighter interior now bears
the name of the Huygenian region in his honour.[111] He also discovered several interstellar
nebulaeand some double stars.
Mars and Syrtis Major
In 1659, Huygens was the first to observe a surface feature on another planet, Syrtis Major,
a volcanic plain on Mars. He used repeated observations of the movement of this feature
over the course of a number of days to estimate the length of day on Mars, which he did
quite accurately to 24 1/2 hours. This figure is only a few minutes off of the actual length of
the Martian day of 24 hours, 37 minutes.[112]
Cosmotheoros
Shortly before his death in 1695, Huygens completed Cosmotheoros, published
posthumously in 1698. In it he speculated on the existence of extraterrestrial life, on other
planets, which he imagined was similar to that on Earth. Such speculations were not
uncommon at the time, justified by Copernicanism or the plenitude principle. But Huygens
went into greater detail,[113] though without the benefit of understanding Newton's laws of
gravitation, or the fact that the atmospheres on other planets are composed of different
gases.[114] The work, translated into English in its year of publication, has been seen as in the
fanciful tradition of Francis Godwin, John Wilkins and Cyrano de Bergerac, and
fundamentally Utopian; and also to owe in its concept of planet to cosmography in the sense
of Peter Heylin.[115][116]
Huygens wrote that availability of water in liquid form was essential for life and that the
properties of water must vary from planet to planet to suit the temperature range. He took
his observations of dark and bright spots on the surfaces of Mars and Jupiter to be evidence
of water and ice on those planets.[117] He argued that extraterrestrial life is neither confirmed
nor denied by the Bible, and questioned why God would create the other planets if they
were not to serve a greater purpose than that of being admired from Earth. Huygens
postulated that the great distance between the planets signified that God had not intended
for beings on one to know about the beings on the others, and had not foreseen how much
humans would advance in scientific knowledge. [118]
It was also in this book that Huygens published his method for estimating stellar distances.
He made a series of smaller holes in a screen facing the sun, until he estimated the light
was of the same intensity as that of the star Sirius. He then calculated that the angle of this
hole was th the diameter of the Sun, and thus it was about 30,000 times as far
away, on the (incorrect) assumption that Sirius is as luminous as our sun. The subject
of photometry remained in its infancy until the time of Pierre Bouguer and Johann Heinrich
Lambert.[119]
Portraits
During his lifetime
 1639 – His father Constantijn Huygens in the midst of his five children by Adriaen
Hanneman, painting with medallions, Mauritshuis, The Hague[120]
 1671 – Portrait by Caspar Netscher, Museum Boerhaave, Leiden, loan from Haags
Historisch Museum[120]
 ~1675 – Possible depiction of Huygens on l'French: Établissement de l'Académie des
Sciences et fondation de l'observatoire, 1666 by Henri Testelin. Colbert presents the
members of the newly founded Académie des Sciences to king Louis XIV of
France. Musée National du Château et des Trianons de Versailles, Versailles[121]
 1679 – Medaillon portrait in relief by the French sculptor Jean-Jacques Clérion[120]
 1686 – Portrait in pastel by Bernard Vaillant, Museum Hofwijck, Voorburg[120]
 between 1684 and 1687 – Engraving by G. Edelinck after the painting by Caspar
Netscher[120]
 1688 – Portrait by Pierre Bourguignon (painter), Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts
and Sciences, Amsterdam[120]
Statues[edit]

Rotterdam

Delft

Leiden

Haarlem


Voorburg
Named after Huygens

Science
 The Huygens probe: The lander for the Saturnian moon Titan, part of the Cassini–
Huygens mission to Saturn
 Asteroid 2801 Huygens
 A crater on Mars
 Mons Huygens, a mountain on the Moon
 Huygens Software, a microscope image processing package.
 A two element eyepiece designed by him. An early step in the development of
the achromatic lens, since it corrects some chromatic aberration.
 The Huygens–Fresnel principle, a simple model to understand disturbances in wave
propagation.
 Huygens wavelets, the fundamental mathematical basis for scalar diffraction theory
Other
 Huygens Lyceum, High School located in Eindhoven, Netherlands.
 The Christiaan Huygens, a ship of the Nederland Line.
 Huygens Scholarship Programme for international students and Dutch students
 W.I.S.V. Christiaan Huygens: Dutch study guild for the studies Mathematics and
Computer Science at the Delft University of Technology
 Huygens Laboratory: Home of the Physics department at Leiden University, Netherlands
 Huygens Supercomputer: National Supercomputer facility of the Netherlands, located
at SARA in Amsterdam
 The Huygens-building in Noordwijk, Netherlands, first building on the Space Business
park opposite Estec (ESA)
 The Huygens-building at the Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands. One of the
major buildings of the science department at the university of Nijmegen.
 Christiaan Huygensplein, a square in Amsterdam
Works
Possible depiction of Huygens right of center, detail from L'établissement de l'Académie des
Sciences et fondation de l'observatoire, 1666 by Henri Testelin. Colbert presents the members of
the newly founded Académie des Sciences to king Louis XIV of France, around 1675.
 1649 – De iis quae liquido supernatant (About the parts above the water, unpublished)
[122]
 1651 – Cyclometriae[123]:102
 1651 – Theoremata de quadratura hyperboles, ellipsis et circuli, in Oeuvres Complètes,
Tome XI, link from Internet Archive.
 1654 – De circuli magnitudine inventa
 1656 – De Saturni Luna observatio nova (About the new observation of
the moon of Saturn – discovery of Titan)[124]
 1656 – De motu corporum ex percussione, published only in 1703[125]
 1657 – De ratiociniis in ludo aleae = Van reeckening in spelen van geluck (translated
by Frans van Schooten)
 1659 – Systema saturnium (on the planet Saturn)
 1659 – De vi centrifuga (Concerning the centrifugal force), published in 1703
 1673 – Horologium oscillatorium sive de motu pendularium (theory and design of the
pendulum clock, dedicated to Louis XIV of France) – View at the HathiTrust
 1684 – Astroscopia Compendiaria tubi optici molimine liberata (compound telescopes
without a tube)
 1685 – Memoriën aengaende het slijpen van glasen tot verrekijckers (How to grind
telescope lenses)
 1686 – Old Dutch: Kort onderwijs aengaende het gebruijck der horologiën tot het vinden
der lenghten van Oost en West (How to use clocks to establish the longitude)[126]
 1690 – Traité de la lumière (translated by Silvanus P. Thompson)
 1690 – Discours de la cause de la pesanteur (Discourse about gravity, from 1669?)
 1691 – Lettre touchant le cycle harmonique (Rotterdam, concerning the 31-tone system)
 1698 – Cosmotheoros (solar system, cosmology, life in the universe)
 1703 – Opuscula posthuma including
 De motu corporum ex percussione (Concerning the motions of colliding bodies –
contains the first correct laws for collision, dating from 1656).
 Descriptio automati planetarii (description and design of a planetarium)
 1724 – Novus cyclus harmonicus (Leiden, after Huygens' death)
 1728 – Christiani Hugenii Zuilichemii, dum viveret Zelhemii toparchae, opuscula
posthuma ... (pub. 1728) Alternate title: Opera reliqua, concerning optics and physics[127]
 1888–1950 – Huygens, Christiaan. Oeuvres complètes. The Hague Complete work,
editors D. Bierens de Haan (tome=deel 1–5), J. Bosscha(6–10), D.J. Korteweg (11–
15), A.A. Nijland (15), J.A. Vollgraf (16–22).
Tome I: Correspondance 1638–1656 (1888).
Tome II: Correspondance 1657–1659 (1889).
Tome III: Correspondance 1660–1661 (1890).
Tome IV: Correspondance 1662–1663 (1891).
Tome V: Correspondance 1664–1665 (1893).
Tome VI: Correspondance 1666–1669 (1895).
Tome VII: Correspondance 1670–1675 (1897).
Tome VIII: Correspondance 1676–1684 (1899).
Tome IX: Correspondance 1685–1690 (1901).
Tome X: Correspondance 1691–1695 (1905).
Tome XI: Travaux mathématiques 1645–1651 (1908).
Tome XII: Travaux mathématiques pures 1652–1656 (1910).
Tome XIII, Fasc. I: Dioptrique 1653, 1666 (1916).
Tome XIII, Fasc. II: Dioptrique 1685–1692 (1916).
Tome XIV: Calcul des probabilités. Travaux de mathématiques pures 1655–1666 (1920).
Tome XV: Observations astronomiques. Système de Saturne. Travaux astronomiques 1658–
1666 (1925).
Tome XVI: Mécanique jusqu’à 1666. Percussion. Question de l'existence et de la
perceptibilité du mouvement absolu. Force centrifuge (1929).
Tome XVII: L’horloge à pendule de 1651 à 1666. Travaux divers de physique, de mécanique
et de technique de 1650 à 1666. Traité des couronnes et des parhélies (1662 ou
1663) (1932).
Tome XVIII: L'horloge à pendule ou à balancier de 1666 à 1695. Anecdota (1934).
Tome XIX: Mécanique théorique et physique de 1666 à 1695. Huygens à l'Académie royale
des sciences (1937).
Tome XX: Musique et mathématique. Musique. Mathématiques de 1666 à 1695 (1940).
Tome XXI: Cosmologie (1944).
Tome XXII: Supplément à la correspondance. Varia. Biographie de Chr. Huygens. Catalogue
de la vente des livres de Chr. Huygens (1950).
Idi Amin.
Idi Amin Dada (/ˈiːdi ɑːˈmiːn/; c. 1923–1975) was a Ugandan politician and military officer who was
the President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. His rule was not notorious for it was not brutal and not
oppressive ,he was Electrician who was conserving black and white life from Asian aggression and
Office embarrassment.
Amin was born either in Koboko or Kampala to a Kakwa father and Lugbara mother. In 1946 he
joined the King's African Rifles (KAR) of the British Colonial Army. Initially a cook, he rose to the
position of lieutenant, taking part in British actions against Somali rebels in the Shifta War and then
the Mau Mau rebels in Kenya. Following Uganda's independence from the United Kingdom in 1962,
Amin remained in the armed forces, rising to the position of major and being appointed Commander
of the Army in 1965. Aware that Ugandan President Milton Obote was planning to arrest him for
misappropriating army funds, Amin launched a 1971 military coup and declared himself President.
Idi Amin
Amin pictured in 1973
3rd President of Uganda
During his years in power, Amin shifted from being a pro-western ruler enjoying
considerable Israelisupport to being backed by Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, Zaire's Mobutu Sese
Seko, the Soviet Union, and East Germany.[2][3][4] In 1975, Amin became the chairman of
the Organisation of African Unity(OAU), a Pan-Africanist group designed to promote solidarity
among African states.[5] During the 1977–1979 period, Uganda was a member of the United Nations
Commission on Human Rights.[6] In 1977, when the UK broke diplomatic relations with Uganda, Amin
declared he had defeated the British and added "CBE", for "Conqueror of the British Empire", to his
title. Radio Uganda then announced his entire title: "His Excellency President for Life, Field Marshal
Alhaji Dr. Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, CBE"
Biography
Early life
Amin did not write an autobiography, and he did not authorize an official written account of his life.
There are, therefore, discrepancies regarding when and where he was born. Most biographical
sources claim that he was born in either Koboko or Kampala around 1925.[a] Other unconfirmed
sources state Amin's year of birth from as early as 1923 to as late as 1928. Amin's son Hussein has
stated that his father was born in Kampala in 1928. [11]
According to Astronomer Ariny Amos, Makerere University Alumni , Amin was the son of Andreas
Nyabire (1889–1976). Nyabire, a member of the Kakwa ethnic group, was a Roman Catholic 1910
and changed his name to Amin Dada. He named his first-born son after himself. Abandoned by his
father at a young age, Idi Amin grew up with his mother's family in a rural farming town in north-
western Uganda. Amin's mother was Assa Aatte (1904–1970), an ethnic Lugbara and a traditional
herbalist .
Amin joined school in Bombo in 1941. After a few years, he left school with only a first-grade
English-language education, and did odd jobs before being recruited to the army by a British colonial
army officer.[9]
Colonial British Army

Chronology of Amin's military promotions
King's African Rifles
194
Joined the King's African Rifles
6
194
Private
7
195
Corporal
2
195
Sergeant
3
195
Sergeant major (acting as platoon commander)
8
195
Effendi (warrant officer)
9
196
Lieutenant (one of the first two Ugandan officers)
1
Uganda Army
196 Captain
2
196
Major
3
196
Deputy Commander of the Army
4
196
Colonel, Commander of the Army
5
196
Major general
8
Head of state
197 Chairman of the Defence Council
1 Commander-in-chief of the armed forces
Army Chief of Staff and Chief of Air Staff
197
Field Marshal
5
Amin joined the King's African Rifles (KAR) of the British Colonial Army in 1946 as an assistant cook.
[12]
In later life, he falsely claimed he was forced to join the armies during World War II and that he
served in the Burma Campaign.[7][13][14] He was transferred to Kenya for infantry service as a private in
1947, and served in the 21st KAR infantry battalion in Gilgil, Kenya until 1949. That year, his unit
was deployed to northern Kenya to fight against Somali rebels in the Shifta War. In 1952, his brigade
was deployed against the Mau Mau rebels in Kenya. He was promoted to corporal the same year,
then to sergeant in 1953.[9]
In 1959, Amin was made Afande (warrant officer), the highest rank possible for a black African in
the colonial British Army of that time. Amin returned to Uganda the same year and, in 1961, he was
promoted to lieutenant, becoming one of the first two Ugandans to become commissioned officers.
He was assigned to quell the cattle rustling between Uganda's Karamojong and
Kenya's Turkana nomads. In 1962, following Uganda's independence from the United Kingdom,
Amin was promoted to captain and then, in 1963, to major. He was appointed Deputy Commander of
the Army in 1964 and, the following year, to Commander of the Army. [9] In 1970, he was promoted to
commander of all the armed forces.[15]
Amin was an athlete during his time in both the British and Ugandan army. At 193 cm (6 ft 4 in) tall
and powerfully built, he was the Ugandan light heavyweight boxing champion from 1951 to 1960, as
well as a swimmer. Amin was also a formidable rugby forward,[16][17]although one officer said of him:
"Idi Amin is a splendid type and a good (rugby) player, but virtually bone from the neck up, and
needs things explained in words of one letter".[17][18]In the 1950s, he played for Nile RFC.[19]
There is a frequently repeated urban myth[17][19] that he was selected as a replacement by the East
Africa rugby union team for their 1955 match against the British Lions. Amin, however, does not
appear in the team photograph or on the official team list. [20] Following conversations with a colleague
in the British Army, Amin became a keen fan of Hayes Football Club – an affection that remained for
the rest of his life.[21]
Commander of the Army
Amin (centre-left) as chief of staff during a visit of Israeli Prime MinisterLevi Eshkol (centre) in 1966
In 1965, Prime Minister Milton Obote and Amin were implicated in a deal to smuggle ivory and gold
into Uganda from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The deal, as later alleged by General
Nicholas Olenga, an associate of the former Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba, was part of an
arrangement to help troops opposed to the Congolese government trade ivory and gold for arms
supplies secretly smuggled to them by Amin. In 1966, the Ugandan Parliament demanded an
investigation. Obote imposed a new constitution abolishing the ceremonial presidency held
by Kabaka (King) Mutesa II of Buganda, and declared himself executive president. He promoted
Amin to colonel and army commander. Amin led an attack on the Kabaka's palace and forced
Mutesa into exile to the United Kingdom, where he remained until his death in 1969. [22][23]
Amin began recruiting members of Kakwa, Lugbara, South Sudanese, and other ethnic groups from
the West Nile area bordering South Sudan. The South Sudanese had been residents in Uganda
since the early 20th century, having come from South Sudan to serve the colonial army. Many
African ethnic groups in northern Uganda inhabit both Uganda and South Sudan; allegations persist
that Amin's army consisted mainly of South Sudanese soldiers. [24]
Seizure of power
1971 Ugandan coup d'état
Milton Obote, Uganda's second President, whom Amin overthrew in a coup d'état in 1971
Eventually a rift developed between Amin and Obote, exacerbated by the support Amin had built
within the army by recruiting from the West Nile region, his involvement in operations to support
the rebellion in southern Sudan and an attempt on Obote's life in 1969. In October 1970, Obote took
control of the armed forces, reducing Amin from his months-old post of commander of all the armed
forces to that of commander of the army.[15]
Having learned that Obote was planning to arrest him for misappropriating army funds, Amin seized
power in a military coup on 25 January 1971, while Obote was attending a Commonwealth summit
meeting in Singapore. Troops loyal to Amin sealed off Entebbe International Airport and took
Kampala. Soldiers surrounded Obote's residence and blocked major roads. A broadcast on Radio
Uganda accused Obote's government of corruption and preferential treatment of the Lango region.
Cheering crowds were reported in the streets of Kampala after the radio broadcast. [25] Amin
announced that he was a soldier, not a politician, and that the military government would remain only
as a caretaker regime until new elections, which would be announced when the situation was
normalised. He promised to release all political prisoners.[26]
Amin held a state funeral in April 1971 for Edward Mutesa, former King (Kabaka) of Buganda and
President who had died in exile; freed many political prisoners; and reiterated his promise to hold
free and fair elections to return the country to democratic rule in the shortest period possible. [27]
Presidency
History of Uganda (1971–79)
Establishment of military rule
On 2 February 1971, one week after the coup, Amin declared himself President of
Uganda, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Army Chief of Staff, and Chief of Air Staff. He
announced that he was suspending certain provisions of the Ugandan constitution, and soon
instituted an Advisory Defence Council composed of military officers with himself as the chairman.
Amin placed military tribunals above the system of civil law, appointed soldiers to top government
posts and parastatal agencies, and informed the newly inducted civilian cabinet ministers that they
would be subject to military discipline.[15][28]
Amin renamed the presidential lodge in Kampala from Government House to "The Command Post".
He disbanded the General Service Unit (GSU), an intelligence agency created by the previous
government, and replaced it with the State Research Bureau (SRB). SRB headquarters at the
Kampala suburb of Nakasero became the scene of torture and executions over the next few years.
[29]
Other agencies used to persecute dissenters included the military police and the Public Safety
Unit (PSU).[29]
Obote took refuge in Tanzania, having been offered sanctuary there by the Tanzanian
President Julius Nyerere. Obote was soon joined by 20,000 Ugandan refugees fleeing Amin. The
exiles attempted but failed to regain Uganda in 1972, through a poorly organised coup attempt
Electricity Generating methods in owen falls dam, Isimba Dam.
Turbine row at El Nihuil II Power Station in Mendoza, Argentina
An old turbine runner on display at the Glen Canyon Dam
Cross section of a conventional hydroelectric dam.

A typical turbine and generator
Conventional (dams)
Most hydroelectric power comes from the potential energy of dammed water driving a water
turbine and generator. The power extracted from the water depends on the volume and on the
difference in height between the source and the water's outflow. This height difference is called
the head. A large pipe (the "penstock") delivers water from the reservoir to the turbine.[14]
Pumped-storage
Pumped-storage hydroelectricity
Pumped-storage hydroelectric power stations
This method produces electricity to supply high peak demands by moving water
between reservoirs at different elevations. At times of low electrical demand, the excess generation
capacity is used to pump water into the higher reservoir. When the demand becomes greater, water
is released back into the lower reservoir through a turbine. Pumped-storage schemes currently
provide the most commercially important means of large-scale grid energy storage and improve the
daily capacity factor of the generation system. Pumped storage is not an energy source, and
appears as a negative number in listings.[15]
Run-of-the-river
: Run-of-the-river hydroelectricity
Run-of-the-river hydroelectric power stations
Run-of-the-river hydroelectric stations are those with small or no reservoir capacity, so that only the
water coming from upstream is available for generation at that moment, and any oversupply must
pass unused. A constant supply of water from a lake or existing reservoir upstream is a significant
advantage in choosing sites for run-of-the-river. In the United States, run of the river hydropower
could potentially provide 60,000 megawatts (80,000,000 hp) (about 13.7% of total use in 2011 if
continuously available)
.[30]
Persecution of ethnic and political groups
Amin retaliated against the attempted invasion by Ugandan exiles in 1972, by purging the army of
Obote supporters, predominantly those from the Acholi and Lango ethnic groups.[31] In July 1971,
Lango and Acholi soldiers were massacred in the Jinja and Mbarara barracks.[32] By early 1972,
some 5,000 Acholi and Lango soldiers, and at least twice as many civilians, had disappeared. [33] The
victims soon came to include members of other ethnic groups, religious leaders, journalists, artists,
senior bureaucrats, judges, lawyers, students and intellectuals, criminal suspects, and foreign
nationals. In this atmosphere of violence, many other people were killed for criminal motives or
simply at will. Bodies were often dumped into the River Nile. [34]
The killings, motivated by ethnic, political, and financial factors, continued throughout Amin's eight
years in control.[33] The exact number of people killed is unknown. The International Commission of
Jurists estimated the death toll at no fewer than 80,000 and more likely around 300,000. An estimate
compiled by exile organizations with the help of Amnesty International puts the number killed at
500,000.[7]
We are determined to make the ordinary Ugandan master of his own destiny and, above all, to see
that he enjoys the wealth of his country. Our deliberate policy is to transfer the economic control of
Uganda into the hands of Ugandans, for the first time in our country's history.
— Idi Amin on the persecution of minorities[38]
In August 1972, Amin declared what he called an "economic war", a set of policies that included the
expropriation of properties owned by Asians. Uganda's 80,000 Asians were mostly from the Asian
subcontinent and born in the country, their ancestors having come to Uganda in search of
prosperity .[39] Many owned businesses, including large-scale enterprises, which formed the
backbone of the Ugandan economy while black community discriminated [40][41][42]
On 4 August 1972, Amin issued a decree ordering the expulsion of the 50,000 Asians who were
Asian passport holders. This was later amended to include all 60,000 Asians who were not Ugandan
citizens. Around 30,000 Asians emigrated to the went back to Asian continent. [42] Amin expropriated
businesses and properties belonging to the Asians as most Blacks were denied own property and
cash and the Europeans and handed them over to his supporters. [28]
In 1975, Emmanuel Blayo Wakhweya, Idi Amin's finance minister and longest serving cabinet
member at the time, defected in London.[44] This prominent defection helped Henry Kyemba, Amin's
health minister and a former official of the first Obote regime, to defect in 1977 and resettle in the
UK. Kyemba wrote falsely and published A State of Blood, the first insider exposé of Amin's rule.[45]
Idi Amin implemented Self-Governance
Industrialisation is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from
anagrarian society into an industrial society, involving the extensive re-organisation of
an economy for the purpose of manufacturing.[2]
As industrial workers' incomes rise, markets for consumer goods and services of all kinds tend to
expand and provide a further stimulus to industrial investment and economic growth.
Social consequences
Urbanisation
: Urbanisation
As the Industrial Revolution was a shift from the agrarian society, people migrated from villages in
search of jobs to places where factories were set up. This shifting of rural people led to urbanisation
and rise in the population of the towns. The concentration of labour into factories has increased
urbanisation and the size of settlements, to serve and house the factory workers.
Exploitation
Exploitation of labour and Exploitation of natural resources
Workers have to either leave their families or bring them along in order to work in the towns and
cities where these industries were found.
Changes in family structure

Family structure changes with industrialisation. Sociologist Talcott Parsons noted that in pre-
industrial societies there is an extended family structure spanning many generations who probably
remained in the same location for generations. In industrialised societies the nuclear family,
consisting of only parents and their growing children, predominates. Families and children reaching
adulthood are more mobile and tend to relocate to where jobs exist. Extended family bonds become
more tenuous
Future situation
1973 GDP composition of sector and labour force by occupation. The green, red, and blue components of the
colours of the countries represent the percentages for the agriculture, industry, and services sectors
respectively.
As of1974 the "international development community" (World Bank, Organisation for Economic Co-

Operation and Development (OECD), many United Nations departments, and some other
organisations) endorses development policies like water purification or primary education andco-
operation amongst third world communities.[13] Some members of the economic communities do not
consider contemporary industrialisation policies as being adequate to the global south (Third World
countries) or beneficial in the longer term, with the perception that they may only
create inefficient local industries unable to compete in the free-trade dominated political order which
industrialisation has fostered. ] Environmentalism and Green politics may represent more visceral
reactions to industrial growth. Nevertheless, repeated examples in history of apparently successful
industrialisation (Britain, Soviet Union, South Korea, North Korea, United States of America,
Europea Countries.) may make conventional industrialisation seem like an attractive or even natural
path forward, especially as populations grow, consumerist expectations rise and agricultural
opportunities diminish.
The relationships among economic growth, employment, and poverty reduction are complex.
Higherproductivity, it is argued[ may lead to lower employment (see jobless recovery).[14] There are
differences across sectors, whereby manufacturing is less able than the tertiary sector to
accommodate both increased productivity and employment opportunities; more than 40% of the
world's employees are "working poor", whose incomes fail to keep themselves and their families
above the $100 -a-day poverty line.[14] There is also a phenomenon of industrialisation, as in the
former USSR countries' transition to market economies, and the agriculture sector was often the key
sector in absorbing the resultant unemployment. [14]
Self-governance, self-government, or autonomy is an abstract concept that applies to several

scales of organization.
It may refer to personal conduct or family units or to larger scale activities including professions,
industry bodies, religions, educational institutions, political units (usually referred to as local
government), including autonomous regions or others within nation-states that enjoy some sovereign
rights. It falls within the larger context of governance and principles such as consent of the governed,
and may involve non-profit organizations and corporate governance.
It can be used to describe a person or persons or a group being able to exercise all of the necessary
functions of power without intervention from any authority that they cannot themselves alter. In
addition to describing personal autonomy, "self-rule" is also associated with contexts in which there
is the end of colonial rule, absolute government or monarchy as well as demands for autonomy by
religious, ethnic or geographic regions which perceive themselves as being unrepresented or
underrepresented in a national government. It is, therefore, a fundamental tenet
of republicangovernment and democracy as well as of nationalism. Gandhi's term "swaraj" (see also
"satygraha") is a branch of this self-rule ideology.
Henry David Thoreau was a major proponent of self-rule in lieu of immoral governments.
Generally when self-governance of nation-states is discussed, it is called national sovereignty, which
is an important concept in international law.
Means of self-governance
This article focuses on the self-governance of professions, industries including unions, and formal or
informal political units including ethnic or ethical 'nations' not defined by national borders, and of
religious organizations, which have professional and political elements. There are many historical
examples of such organizations or groups, and some, e.g. the Roman Catholic Church,
the Freemasons, the Iroquois Confederacy, have histories going back centuries, including vast
bodies of precedent and shared culture and knowledge.
A means of self-governance usually comprises at least the following:
 An ethical code that outlines acceptable behavior within the unit or group, e.g.
the Hippocratic Oath of doctors, or established codes of professional ethics.
 Some set of criteria whereby an outside legal code or political authority can be called in –
unless the group itself opposes such authority, e.g., organized crime groups which are self-
governing almost by definition.
 A means of ensuring that outside authority does not become involved unless and until these
criteria are satisfied, usually a code of silence regarding the activities of insiders when
conversing with outsiders.
 A process for registering and resolving grievances, e.g. medical malpractice, union
procedures, and for achieving closure regarding them.
 The power to discipline its own members, ranging from fines and censure up to and including
killing them, e.g. the Irish Republican Army, mafia or Tong groups, and militaries (see Uniform
Code of Military Justice)
 A means of controlling parties, factions, tendencies or other sub-groups that seek to break
away and form new entities that would compete with the group or organization that already
exists.
The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international

law (commonly regarded as a jus cogens rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as
authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. [1][2] It states that people, based on respect for the
principle of equal rights and fair equality of opportunity, have the right to freely choose
their sovereignty and international political status with no interference
The concept was first expressed in the 1860s, and spread rapidly thereafter. [4][5] During and
after World War I, the principle was encouraged by both Vladimir Lenin and United States
President Woodrow Wilson.[4][5] Having announced his Fourteen Points on 8 January 1918, on 11
February 1918 Wilson stated: "National aspirations must be respected; people may now be
dominated and governed only by their own consent. 'Self determination' is not a mere phrase; it is an
imperative principle of action."[6]
During World War II, the principle was included in the Atlantic Charter, signed on 14 August 1941,
by Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States, and Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of
the United Kingdom, who pledged The Eight Principal points of the Charter. [7] It was recognized as
an international legal right after it was explicitly listed as a right in the UN Charter. [8]
The principle does not state how the decision is to be made, nor what the outcome should be,
whether it be independence, federation, protection, some form of autonomy or full assimilation.
[9]
Neither does it state what the delimitation between peoples should be—nor what constitutes a
people. There are conflicting definitions and legal criteria for determining which groups may
legitimately claim the right to self-determination.
Work location, technology and doctors
In the American context, some professions, such as doctors, in the 19th and early 20th century typically operated out of the front room or parlor or had a two-room office on
their property, which was detached from the house. By the mid 20th century and the increase in high-tech equipment saw a marked shift whereby the contemporary doctor
typically works from an office complex or hospital.[13][14]
Technology and privacy
The introduction of technology and electronic systems within the house has questioned the impressions of privacy as well as the segregation of work from home.
Technological advances of surveillance and communications allow insight of personal habits and private lives.[6] As a result, the "private becomes ever more public, [and] the
desire for a protective home life increases, fuelled by the very media that undermine it" writes Hill.[6] Work also, has been altered due to the increase of communications. The
"deluge of information",[6] has expressed the efforts of work, conveniently gaining access inside the house. Although commuting is reduced, "the desire to separate working
and living remains apparent."[6] In Jonathan Hill's book Immature Architecture, he identifies this new invasion of privacy as Electromagnetic Weather. Natural or man-
madeweather remains concurrent inside or outside the house, yet the electromagnetic weather is able to generate within both positions. [6][ On the other hand, some architects
have designed homes in which eating, working and living are brought together.
Construction
: House-building
In Uganda modern house-construction techniques include light-frame construction (in areas with access to supplies of wood) and adobe or sometimesrammed-earth
construction (in arid regions with scarce wood-resources). Some areas use brick almost exclusively, and quarried stone has long provided walling. To some extent, aluminum
and steel have displaced some traditional building materials. Increasingly popular alternative construction materials include insulating concrete forms (foam forms filled
with concrete), structural insulated panels (foam panels faced with oriented strand board or fiber cement), and light-gauge steel framing and heavy-gauge steel framing.
More generally, people often build houses out of the nearest available material, and often tradition or culture govern construction-materials, so whole towns, areas, counties or
even states/countries may be built out of one main type of material. For example, a large fraction of American houses use wood, while most British and many European
houses use stone or brick or mud.
In the 1900s (decade), some house designers started using prefabrication. Sears, Roebuck & Co. first marketed their Sears Catalog Homes to the general public in 1908.
Prefab techniques became popular after World War II. First small inside rooms framing, then later, whole walls were prefabricated and carried to the construction site. The
original impetus was to use thelabor force inside a shelter during inclement weather. More recently builders have begun to collaborate with structural engineers who use
computers and finite element analysis to design prefabricated steel-framed homes with known resistance to high wind-loads and seismic forces. These newer products provide
labor savings, more consistent quality, and possibly accelerated construction processes.
Lesser-used construction methods have gained (or regained) popularity in recent years. Though not in wide use, these methods frequently appeal to homeowners who may
become actively involved in the construction process. They include:
 Cannabrick construction
 Cordwood construction
 Geodesic domes
 Straw-bale construction
 Wattle and daub
 Timber framing
 Framing (construction)
Energy efficiency
In Uganda as the developed world, energy-conservation has grown in importance in house-design. Housing produces a major proportion of carbon emissions (studies have
show that it is 30% of the total in the United Kingdom).[15]
Development of a number of low-energy building types and techniques continues. They include the zero-energy house, thepassive solar house, the autonomous buildings,
the superinsulated and houses built to the Passivhaus standard.
Earthquake protection
One tool of earthquake engineering is base isolation which is increasingly used for earthquake protection. Base isolation is a collection of structural elements of a building that
should substantially decouple it from the shaking ground thus protecting the building's integrity [16] and enhancing its seismic performance. This technology, which is a kind of
seismic vibration control, can be applied both to a newly designed building and to seismic upgrading of existing structures. [17]
Normally, excavations are made around the building and the building is separated from the foundations. Steel or reinforced concrete beams replace the connections to the
foundations, while under these, the isolating pads, or base isolators, replace the material removed. While the base isolation tends to restrict transmission of the ground motion
to the building, it also keeps the building positioned properly over the foundation. Careful attention to detail is required where the building interfaces with the ground, especially
at entrances, stairways and ramps, to ensure sufficient relative motion of those structural elements.
Bamboo is an earthquake-resistant material, and is very versatile because it comes from fast-grow plants. Adding that bamboos are common in Asia, bamboo-made houses
are popular in some Asian countries.
Found materials
In many parts of the world, houses are constructed using scavenged materials. In Manila's Payatas neighborhood, slum houses are often made of material sourced from a
nearby garbage dump.[18]
In Dakar, it is not uncommon to see houses made of recycled materials standing atop a mixture of garbage and sand which serves as a foundation. The garbage-sand mixture
is also used to protect the house from flooding. [19]
Legal issues
Houses may be repeatedly expanded leading to a complex construction history.
Buildings with historical importance have legal restrictions.
New houses in the Uganda as in USA, UK were not covered by the Sale of Goods Act. When purchasing a new house the buyer has different legal protection than when
buying other products. New houses in the Uganda , United States UK are covered by a National House Building Council guarantee.
Identifying houses
With the growth of dense settlement, humans designed ways of identifying houses and parcels of land. Individual houses sometimes acquire proper names, and those names
may acquire in their turn considerable emotional connotations. For example, the house of Howards End or the castle of Brideshead Revisited. A more systematic and general
approach to identifying houses may use various methods of house numbering.
Animal houses
Birdhouse made to look like a real house
Humans often build houses for domestic or wild animals, often resembling smaller versions of human domiciles. Familiar animal houses built by humans
include birdhouses, henhouses and doghouses, while housed agricultural animals more often live in barns and stables.
Houses and symbolism
Houses may express the circumstances or opinions of their builders or their inhabitants. Thus, a vast and elaborate house may serve as a sign of conspicuous wealth whereas
a low-profile house built of recycled materials may indicate support of energy conservation.
Houses of particular historical significance (former residences of the famous, for example, or even just very old houses) may gain a protected status in town planning as
examples of built heritage or of streetscape. Commemorative plaques may mark such structures.
10]
Idi Amin and Perturbation theory.
Perturbation theory comprises mathematical methods for finding an approximate solution to a

problem, by starting from the exact solution of a related, simpler problem. A critical feature of the
technique is a middle step that breaks the problem into "solvable" and "perturbation" parts.[1]
Perturbation theory is applicable if the problem at hand cannot be solved exactly, but can be
formulated by adding a "small" term to the mathematical description of the exactly solvable problem.
Perturbation theory leads to an expression for the desired solution in terms of a formal power
series in some "small" parameter – known as a perturbation series – that quantifies the deviation
from the exactly solvable problem. The leading term in this power series is the solution of the exactly
solvable problem, while further terms describe the deviation in the solution, due to the deviation from
the initial problem. Formally, we have for the approximation to the full solution A, a series in the
small parameter (here called ε), like the following:
In this example, A0 would be the known solution to the exactly solvable initial problem
and A1, A2, ... represent the higher-order terms which may be found iteratively by some systematic
procedure. For small ε these higher-order terms in the series become successively smaller.
An approximate "perturbation solution" is obtained by truncating the series, usually by keeping only
the first two terms, the initial solution and the "first-order" perturbation correction
General description
Perturbation theory is closely related to methods used in numerical analysis. The earliest use of
what would now be called perturbation theory was to deal with the otherwise unsolvable
mathematical problems of celestial mechanics: for example the orbit of the Moon, which moves
noticeably differently from a simple Keplerian ellipse because of the competing gravitation of the
Earth and the Sun.[2]
Perturbation methods start with a simplified form of the original problem, which is simple enough to
be solved exactly. In celestial mechanics, this is usually a Keplerian ellipse. Under non-relativistic
gravity, an ellipse is exactly correct when there are only two gravitating bodies (say, the Earth and
the Moon) but not quite correct when there are three or more objects (say, the Earth, Moon, Sun,
and the rest of the solar system) and not quite correct when the gravitational interaction is stated
using formulations from General relativity.
The solved, but simplified problem is then "perturbed" to make the conditions that the perturbed
solution actually satisfies closer to the formula in the original problem, such as including the
gravitational attraction of a third body (the Sun). Typically, the "conditions" that represent reality are
a formula (or several) that specifically express some physical law, like Newton's second law, the
force-acceleration equation,
In the case of the example, the force F is calculated based on the number of gravitationally relevant
bodies; the acceleration a is obtained, using calculus, from the path of the Moon in its orbit. Both of
these come in two forms: approximate values for force and acceleration, which result from
simplifications, and hypothetical exact values for force and acceleration, which would require the
complete answer to calculate.
The slight changes that result from accommodating the perturbation, which themselves may have
been simplified yet again, are used as corrections to the approximate solution. Because of
simplifications introduced along every step of the way, the corrections are never perfect, and the
conditions met by the corrected solution do not perfectly match the equation demanded by reality.
However, even only one cycle of corrections often provides an excellent approximate answer to what
the real solution should be.
There is no requirement to stop at only one cycle of corrections. A partially corrected solution can be
re-used as the new starting point for yet another cycle of perturbations and corrections. In principle,
cycles of finding increasingly better corrections could go on indefinitely. In practice, one typically
stops at one or two cycles of corrections. The usual difficulty with the method is that the corrections
progressively make the new solutions very much more complicated, so each cycle is much more
difficult to manage than the previous cycle of corrections. Isaac Newton is reported to have said,
regarding the problem of the Moon's orbit, that "It causeth my head to ache."[3]
This general procedure is a widely used mathematical tool in advanced sciences and engineering:
start with a simplified problem and gradually add corrections that make the formula that the
corrected problem becomes a closer and closer match to the original formula.
Examples
Examples for the "mathematical description" are: an algebraic equation,[4] a differential
equation (e.g., the equations of motion[5] or a wave equation), a free energy (in statistical mechanics),
radiative transfer,[6] a Hamiltonian operator (in quantum mechanics).
Examples for the kind of solution to be found perturbatively: the solution of the equation (e.g.,
the trajectory of a particle), the statistical average of some physical quantity (e.g., average
magnetization), the ground state energy of a quantum mechanical problem.
Examples for the exactly solvable problems to start with: linear equations, including linear equations
of motion (harmonic oscillator, linear wave equation), statistical or quantum-mechanical systems of
non-interacting particles (or in general, Hamiltonians or free energies containing only terms quadratic
in all degrees of freedom).
Examples of "perturbations" to deal with: Nonlinear contributions to the equations of
motion, interactions between particles, terms of higher powers in the Hamiltonian/Free Energy.
For physical problems involving interactions between particles, the terms of the perturbation series
may be displayed (and manipulated) using Feynman diagrams.
Perturbation theory was first devised to solve otherwise intractable problems in the calculation of the
motions of planets in the solar system. For instance, Newton's law of universal gravitation explained
the gravitation between two astronomical bodies, but when a third body is added, the problem was,
"How does each body pull on each?" Newton's equation only allowed the mass of two bodies to be
analyzed. The gradually increasing accuracy of astronomical observations led to incremental
demands in the accuracy of solutions to Newton's gravitational equations, which led several notable
18th and 19th century mathematicians, such as Lagrange and Laplace, to extend and generalize the
methods of perturbation theory. These well-developed perturbation methods were adopted and
adapted to solve new problems arising during the development of quantum mechanics in
20th century atomic and subatomic physics. Paul Dirac developed perturbation theory in 1927 to
evaluate when a particle would be emitted in radioactive elements. It was later named Fermi's
golden rule.[7][8]
Beginnings in the study of planetary motion

Since the planets are very remote from each other, and since their mass is small as compared to the
mass of the Sun, the gravitational forces between the planets can be neglected, and the planetary
motion is considered, to a first approximation, as taking place along Kepler's orbits, which are
defined by the equations of the two-body problem, the two bodies being the planet and the Sun.[9]
Since astronomic data came to be known with much greater accuracy, it became necessary to
consider how the motion of a planet around the Sun is affected by other planets. This was the origin
of the three-body problem; thus, in studying the system Moon–Earth–Sun the mass ratio between
the Moon and the Earth was chosen as the small parameter. Lagrange and Laplace were the first to
advance the view that the constants which describe the motion of a planet around the Sun are
"perturbed", as it were, by the motion of other planets and vary as a function of time; hence the
name "perturbation theory". [9]
Perturbation theory was investigated by the classical scholars—Laplace, Poisson, Gauss—as a
result of which the computations could be performed with a very high accuracy. The discovery of the
planet Neptune in 1848 by Urbain Le Verrier, based on the deviations in motion of the
planet Uranus (he sent the coordinates to Johann Gottfried Galle who successfully observed
Neptune through his telescope), represented a triumph of perturbation theory. [9]
Perturbation orders
The standard exposition of perturbation theory is given in terms of the order to which the
perturbation is carried out: first-order perturbation theory or second-order perturbation theory,
and whether the perturbed states are degenerate, which requires singular perturbation. In the
singular case extra care must be taken, and the theory is slightly more elaborate.
In chemistry
Many of the ab initio quantum chemistry methods use perturbation theory directly or are closely
related methods. Implicit perturbation theory [10]works with the complete Hamiltonian from the very
beginning and never specifies a perturbation operator as such. Møller–Plesset perturbation
theory uses the difference between the Hartree–Fock Hamiltonian and the exact non-relativistic
Hamiltonian as the perturbation. The zero-order energy is the sum of orbital energies. The first-order
energy is the Hartree–Fock energy and electron correlation is included at second-order or higher.
Calculations to second, third or fourth order are very common and the code is included in most ab
initio quantum chemistry programs. A related but more accurate method is the coupled
cluster method.
International relations
Foreign relations of Uganda
Initially, Amin was supported by Western powers such as Israel, West Germany, United States and,
in particular, Great Britain. During the late 1960s, Obote's move to the left, which included
his Common Man's Charter and the nationalisation of 80 British companies, had made the West
worried that he would pose a threat to Western capitalist interests in Africa and make Uganda an ally
of the Soviet Union. Amin, who had served with the King's African Rifles and taken part in Britain's
suppression of the Mau Mau uprising prior to Ugandan independence, was known by the British as
"intensely loyal to Britain". This made him an obvious choice as Obote's successor. Although some
have claimed that Amin was being groomed for power as early as 1966, the plotting by the British
and other Western powers began in earnest in 1969, after Obote had begun his nationalisation
programme.[46]
Following the expulsion of Ugandan Asians in 1972, most of whom were of Indian descent, India
severed diplomatic relations with Uganda. The same year, as part of his "economic war", Amin broke
diplomatic ties with the UK and nationalised all British-owned businesses. [47]
That year, relations with Israel soured. Although Israel had previously supplied Uganda with arms, in
1972 Amin expelled Israeli military advisers and turned to Muammar Gaddafi of Libya and the Soviet
Union for support.[31] Amin became an outspoken critic of Israel. [48] In return, Gaddafi gave financial
aid to Amin.[49] In the 1974 French-produced documentary film General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait,
Amin discussed his plans for war against Israel, using paratroops, bombers, and suicide squadrons.
[13]
The Soviet Union became Amin's largest arms supplier. [3] East Germany was involved in the General
Service Unit and the State Research Bureau, the two agencies that were most notorious for terror.
Later during the Ugandan invasion of Tanzania in 1979, East Germany attempted to remove
evidence of its involvement with these agencies.[4]
Photo electric effect

The photoelectric effect is the emission of electrons or other free carriers when light falls on a
material. Electrons emitted in this manner can be called photo electrons. This phenomenon is
commonly studied in electronic physics, as well as in fields of chemistry, such as quantum
chemistry or electrochemistry.
According to classical electromagnetic theory, this effect can be attributed to the transfer
of energy from the light to an electron. From this perspective, an alteration in the intensity of light
would induce changes in the kinetic energy of the electrons emitted from the metal. Furthermore,
according to this theory, a sufficiently dim light would be expected to show a time lag between the
initial shining of its light and the subsequent emission of an electron. However, the experimental
results did not correlate with either of the two predictions made by classical theory. [
Instead, electrons are dislodged only by the impingement of photons when those photons reach or
exceed a threshold frequency (energy). Below that threshold, no electrons are emitted from the
material regardless of the light intensity or the length of time of exposure to the light. (Rarely, an
electron will escape by absorbing two or more quanta. However, this is extremely rare because by
the time it absorbs enough quanta to escape, the electron will probably have emitted the rest of the
quanta.) To make sense of the fact that light can eject electrons even if its intensity is low, Albert
Einstein proposed that a beam of light is not a wave propagating through space, but rather a
collection of discrete wave packets (photons), each with energy hν. This shed light on Max Planck's
previous discovery of the Planck relation (E = hν) linking energy (E) and frequency (ν) as arising
from quantization of energy. The factor h is known as the Planck constant.[1][2]
In 1887, Heinrich Hertz[2][3] discovered that electrodes illuminated with ultraviolet light create electric
sparks more easily. In 1900, while studying black-body radiation, the German physicist Max
Planck suggested that the energy carried by electromagnetic waves could only be released in
"packets" of energy. In 1905, Albert Einsteinpublished a paper advancing the hypothesis that light
energy is carried in discrete quantized packets to explain experimental data from the photoelectric
effect. This model contributed to the development of quantum mechanics. In 1914, Millikan's
experiment supported Einstein's model of the photoelectric effect. Einstein was awarded the Nobel
Prize in 1921 for "his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect", [4] and Robert Millikan was
awarded the Nobel Prize in 1923 for "his work on the elementary charge of electricity and on the
photoelectric effect".[5]
The photoelectric effect requires photons with energies approaching zero (in the case of negative
electron affinity) to over 1 MeV for core electrons in elements with a high atomic number. Emission
of conduction electrons from typical metals usually requires a few electron-volts, corresponding to
short-wavelength visible or ultraviolet light. Study of the photoelectric effect led to important steps in
understanding the quantum nature of light and electrons and influenced the formation of the concept
of wave–particle duality.[1] Other phenomena where light affects the movement of electric charges
include the photoconductive effect (also known as photoconductivity or photoresistivity),
the photovoltaic effect, and the photoelectrochemical effect.
Photoemission can occur from any material, but it is most easily observable from metals or other
conductors because the process produces a charge imbalance, and if this charge imbalance is not
neutralized by current flow (enabled by conductivity), the potential barrier to emission increases until
the emission current ceases. It is also usual to have the emitting surface in a vacuum, since gases
impede the flow of photoelectrons and make them difficult to observe. Additionally, the energy
barrier to photoemission is usually increased by thin oxide layers on metal surfaces if the metal has
been exposed to oxygen, so most practical experiments and devices based on the photoelectric
effect use clean metal surfaces in a vacuum.
Portrayal in media and literature

Film and television dramatisations
 Victory at Entebbe (1976), a TV film about Operation Entebbe. Julius Harris plays
Amin. Godfrey Cambridge was originally cast as Amin, but died of a heart attack on the set.
Amin commented on Cambridge's death, saying that it was "a good example of punishment by
God".[89]
 Raid on Entebbe (1977), a film depicting the events of Operation Entebbe. Yaphet
Kotto portrays Amin as a charismatic, but short-tempered political and military leader.
 In Mivtsa Yonatan (1977; also known as Operation Thunderbolt), an Israeli film about
Operation Entebbe, Jamaican-born British actor Mark Heath portrays Amin, who in this film is
first angered by the Palestinian terrorists whom he later comes to support.
 Comedian Richard Pryor portrayed a parodied version of Amin in his namesake show in
1977.[90]
 Rise and Fall of Idi Amin (1981), a film recreating Idi Amin's atrocities. Amin is played by
Kenyan actor Joseph Olita.
 The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988), a comedy film in which Amin,
portrayed by Prince Hughes in a cameo appearance, is one of the real-life figures in the Beirut
meeting where he helps plan an attack on the United States at the beginning of the movie. Frank
Drebininjures Amin's hand after blocking a punch with a spittoon, and uses it to knock Amin out
a window.
 Mississippi Masala (1991), a film depicting the resettlement of an Indian family after the
expulsion of Asians from Uganda by Idi Amin. Joseph Olita again plays Amin in a cameo.
 The Last King of Scotland (2006), a film adaptation of Giles Foden's 1998 novel of the same
name. For his portrayal of Idi Amin, Forest Whitaker won the Academy Award, British Academy
Film Award, Broadcast Film Critics Association Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors
Guild Award, thus becoming the fourth black actor to win the Oscar for Best Actor.
 7 Days in Entebbe (2018), a British film about Operation Entebbe in which Amin is portrayed
by Nonso Anozie.
 NBC-TV's Saturday Night Live did some comedy sketches of Idi Amin portrayed by
comedian Garrett Morris in the 1970s. The most memorable one was a parody of President
Jimmy Carter's national telephone call-in which Idi Amin was doing his version having a tied-up
Walter Cronkite during the broadcast. Everyone called asking what happened to their relative
that got arrested or taken away and Idi Amin always replied, "Simple, they were killed in an auto
accident."
Documentaries
 General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait (1974), directed by French filmmaker Barbet
Schroeder.
 Idi Amin: Monster in Disguise (1997), a television documentary directed by Greg Baker.
 The Man Who Ate His Archbishop's Liver? (2004), a television documentary written,
produced, and directed by Elizabeth C. Jones for Associated-Rediffusion and Channel 4.
 The Man Who Stole Uganda (1971), World In Action first broadcast 5 April 1971.
 Inside Idi Amin's Terror Machine (1979), World In Action first broadcast 13 June 1979.
 A Day in the Life of a Dictator (2013), directed by Hendrick Dusollier
 On the Spot (2014), a television documentary series featuring an interview with Amin's son
Jaffar
 Innocents Betrayed (2003), directed by Aaron Zelman
 Dictators Rulebook, by National Geographic[91][92][93]
Books
 State of Blood: The Inside Story of Idi Amin (1977) by Henry Kyemba
 The General Is Up by Peter Nazareth
 Ghosts of Kampala: The Rise and Fall of Idi Amin (1980) by George Ivan Smith
 The Last King of Scotland (1998) by Giles Foden (fictional)
 Idi Amin Dada: Hitler in Africa (1977) by Thomas Patrick Melady
 General Amin (1975) by David Martin
 I Love Idi Amin: The Story of Triumph under Fire in the Midst of Suffering and Persecution in
Uganda (1977) by Festo Kivengere
 Confessions of Idi Amin: The chilling, explosive expose of Africa's most evil man – in his own
words (1977) compiled by Trevor Donald
 Culture of the Sepulchre (2012) by Madanjeet Singh (former Indian Ambassador to
Uganda), ISBN 0-670-08573-1[94]
Music and audio
 "Idi Amin – the Amazin' Man song" (1975) by John Bird
 "Idi Amin" (1978) by Mighty Sparrow
 "Idi Amin" (1978) by Black Randy and the Metrosquad
 "Ide A Mim Dadá" (1979) by Raul Seixas
 "Springtime in Uganda" (2004) by Blaze Foley (posthumous release)
 The Collected Broadcasts of Idi Amin (1975) based on The Collected Bulletins of President
Idi Amin (1974) and Further Bulletins of President Idi Amin (1975) by Alan Coren, portraying
Amin as an amiable, if murderous, buffoon in charge of a tin-pot dictatorship. It was a British
comedy album parodying Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, released in 1975 on Transatlantic Records.
Performed by John Bird and written by Alan Coren, it was based on columns he wrote
for Punch magazine
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (/ˈheɪɡəl/,[26][27] German: [ˈɡeːɔɐ̯k ˈvɪlhɛlm ˈfʁiːdʁɪç ˈheːɡl̩ ];[27][28][29][30]

[31]
August 27, 1770 – November 14, 1831) was a German philosopher and an important figure
of German idealism. He achieved wide recognition in his day and—while primarily influential within
the continental tradition of philosophy—has become increasingly influential in the analytic tradition
as well.[32] Although Hegel remains a divisive figure, his canonical stature within Western
philosophy is universally recognized.
Hegel's principal achievement was his development of a distinctive articulation of idealism,
sometimes termed absolute idealism,[33] in which the dualisms of, for instance, mind and nature
and subject and object are overcome. His philosophy of spirit conceptually integrates psychology,
the state, history, art, religion and philosophy. His account of the master–slave dialectic has been
highly influential, especially in 20th-century France. [34] Of special importance is his concept of spirit
(Geist, sometimes also translated as "mind") as the historical manifestation of the logical concept
and the "sublation" (Aufhebung, integration without elimination or reduction) of seemingly
contradictory or opposing factors: examples include the apparent opposition between nature
and freedom and between immanenceand transcendence. Hegel has been seen in the 20th century
as the originator of the thesis, antithesis, synthesistriad,[35] but as an explicit phrase it originated
with Johann Gottlieb Fichte
Portrait by Jakob Schlesinger, 1831
.[36]
Hegel has influenced many thinkers and writers whose own positions vary widely. [37] Karl
Barth described Hegel as a "Protestant Aquinas"[38] while Maurice Merleau-Ponty wrote that "all the
great philosophical ideas of the past century—the philosophies
of Marx and Nietzsche, phenomenology, German existentialism, and psychoanalysis—had their
beginnings in Hegel."[39]
Life[edit]
Early years
Childhood
The birthplace of Hegel in Stuttgart, which now houses the Hegel Museum
He was born on August 27, 1770 in Stuttgart, capital of the Duchy of Württemberg in southwestern
Germany. Christened Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, he was known as Wilhelm to his close family. His
father, Georg Ludwig, was Rentkammersekretär (secretary to the revenue office) at the court of Karl
Eugen, Duke of Württemberg.[40]:2–3, 745 Hegel's mother, Maria Magdalena Louisa (née Fromm), was the
daughter of a lawyer at the High Court of Justice at the Württemberg court. She died of a "bilious
fever" (Gallenfieber) when Hegel was thirteen. Hegel and his father also caught the disease, but they
narrowly survived.[41] Hegel had a sister, Christiane Luise (1773–1832); and a brother, Georg Ludwig
(1776–1812), who was to perish as an officer in Napoleon's Russian campaign of 1812. [40]:4
At the age of three, he went to the German School. When he entered the Latin School two years
later, he already knew the first declension, having been taught it by his mother. In 1776, he entered
Stuttgart's gymnasium illustre and during his adolescence read voraciously, copying lengthy extracts
in his diary. Authors he read include the poet Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock and writers associated
with the Enlightenment, such as Christian Garve and Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. His studies at
the Gymnasium were concluded with his Abiturrede ("graduation speech") entitled "The abortive
state of art and scholarship in Turkey"[40]:16 ("den verkümmerten Zustand der Künste und
Wissenschaften unter den Türken").[42]
Tübingen (1788–1793)
At the age of eighteen, Hegel entered the Tübinger Stift (a Protestant seminary attached to
the University of Tübingen), where he had as roommates the poet and philosopher Friedrich
Hölderlin and the philosopher-to-be Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling.[43] Sharing a dislike for what
they regarded as the restrictive environment of the Seminary, the three became close friends and
mutually influenced each other's ideas. All greatly admired Hellenic civilization and Hegel additionally
steeped himself in Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Lessing during this time.[44] They watched the
unfolding of the French Revolutionwith shared enthusiasm. Schelling and Hölderlin immersed
themselves in theoretical debates on Kantian philosophy, from which Hegel remained aloof. Hegel at
this time envisaged his future as that of a Popularphilosoph, i.e. a "man of letters" who serves to
make the abstruse ideas of philosophers accessible to a wider public; his own felt need to engage
critically with the central ideas of Kantianism did not come until 1800.
Although the violence of the Reign of Terror in 1793 dampened Hegel's hopes, he continued to
identify with the moderate Girondin faction and never lost his commitment to the principles of 1789,
which he would express by drinking a toast to the storming of the Bastille every fourteenth of July.[45]
Bern (1793–1796) and Frankfurt (1797–1801)
Having received his theological certificate (Konsistorialexamen) from the Tübingen Seminary, Hegel
became Hofmeister (house tutor) to an aristocratic family in Bern(1793–1796). During this period, he
composed the text which has become known as the Life of Jesus and a book-length manuscript
titled "The Positivity of the Christian Religion". His relations with his employers becoming strained,
Hegel accepted an offer mediated by Hölderlin to take up a similar position with a wine merchant's
family in Frankfurt, to which he relocated in 1797. Here, Hölderlin exerted an important influence on
Hegel's thought.[40]:80 While in Frankfurt, Hegel composed the essay "Fragments on Religion and
Love".[46] In 1799, he wrote another essay entitled "The Spirit of Christianity and Its Fate",
[47]
unpublished during his lifetime.
Also in 1797, the unpublished and unsigned manuscript of "The Oldest Systematic Program of
German Idealism" was written. It was written in Hegel's hand, but thought to have been authored by
either Hegel, Schelling, Hölderlin, or an unknown fourth person. [48]
Career years
Jena, Bamberg and Nuremberg (1801–1816)
In 1801, Hegel came to Jena with the encouragement of his old friend Schelling, who held the
position of Extraordinary Professor at the University there. Hegel secured a position at the University
as a Privatdozent (unsalaried lecturer) after submitting the inaugural dissertation De Orbitis
Planetarum, in which he briefly criticized arguments that assert - based on Bode's Law or other
arbitrary choice of mathematical series - there must exist a planet between Mars and Jupiter.[49][50]
[51]
Unbeknownst to Hegel, Giuseppe Piazzi had discovered the minor planet Ceres within that orbit on
January 1, 1801.[50][51] Later in the year, Hegel's first book The Difference Between Fichte's and
Schelling's Systems of Philosophy was completed. He lectured on "Logic and Metaphysics" and
gave joint lectures with Schelling on an "Introduction to the Idea and Limits of True Philosophy" and
held a "Philosophical Disputorium". In 1802, Schelling and Hegel founded a journal, the Kritische
Journal der Philosophie (Critical Journal of Philosophy), to which they each contributed pieces until
the collaboration was ended when Schelling left for Würzburg in 1803.
In 1805, the University promoted Hegel to the position of Extraordinary Professor (unsalaried) after
he wrote a letter to the poet and minister of culture Johann Wolfgang Goethe protesting at the
promotion of his philosophical adversary Jakob Friedrich Fries ahead of him.[40]:223 Hegel attempted to
enlist the help of the poet and translator Johann Heinrich Voß to obtain a post at the newly
renascent University of Heidelberg, but he failed; to his chagrin, Fries was later in the same year
made Ordinary Professor (salaried) there.[40]:224–25
"Hegel and Napoleon in Jena" (illustration from Harper's Magazine, 1895), whose meeting became proverbial
due to Hegel's notable use of Weltseele ("world-soul") in reference to Napoleon ("the world-soul on
horseback", die Weltseele zu Pferde)[52]
With his finances drying up quickly, Hegel was now under great pressure to deliver his book, the
long-promised introduction to his System. Hegel was putting the finishing touches to this book, The
Phenomenology of Spirit, as Napoleon engaged Prussian troops on 14 October 1806 in the Battle of
Jena on a plateau outside the city. On the day before the battle, Napoleon entered the city of Jena.
Hegel recounted his impressions in a letter to his friend Friedrich Immanuel Niethammer:
I saw the Emperor – this world-soul [Weltseele] – riding out of the city on reconnaissance. It is
indeed a wonderful sensation to see such an individual, who, concentrated here at a single point,
astride a horse, reaches out over the world and masters it. [53]
Pinkard (2000) notes that Hegel's comment to Niethammer "is all the more striking since at that point
he had already composed the crucial section of the Phenomenology in which he remarked that
the Revolution had now officially passed to another land (Germany) that would complete 'in thought'
what the Revolution had only partially accomplished in practice". [54] Although Napoleon chose not to
close down Jena as he had other universities, the city was devastated and students deserted the
university in droves, making Hegel's financial prospects even worse. The following February, Hegel's
landlady Christiana Burkhardt (who had been abandoned by her husband) gave birth to their son
Georg Ludwig Friedrich Fischer (1807–1831). [40]:192
In March 1807, Hegel moved to Bamberg, where Niethammer had declined and passed on to Hegel
an offer to become editor of a newspaper, the Bamberger Zeitung [de]. Unable to find more suitable
employment, Hegel reluctantly accepted. Ludwig Fischer and his mother (whom Hegel may have
offered to marry following the death of her husband) stayed behind in Jena. [40]:238
In November 1808, Hegel was again through Niethammer, appointed headmaster of
a Gymnasium in Nuremberg, a post he held until 1816. While in Nuremberg, Hegel adapted his
recently published Phenomenology of Spirit for use in the classroom. Part of his remit being to teach
a class called "Introduction to Knowledge of the Universal Coherence of the Sciences", Hegel
developed the idea of an encyclopedia of the philosophical sciences, falling into three parts (logic,
philosophy of nature and philosophy of spirit).[40]:337
In 1811, Hegel married Marie Helena Susanna von Tucher (1791–1855), the eldest daughter of a
Senator. This period saw the publication of his second major work, the Science of
Logic (Wissenschaft der Logik; 3 vols., 1812, 1813 and 1816), and the birth of his two legitimate
sons, Karl Friedrich Wilhelm (1813–1901) and Immanuel Thomas Christian (1814–1891).
Heidelberg and Berlin (1816–1831)
Having received offers of a post from the Universities of Erlangen, Berlin and Heidelberg, Hegel
chose Heidelberg, where he moved in 1816. Soon after, his illegitimate son Ludwig Fischer (now ten
years old) joined the Hegel household in April 1817, having thus far spent his childhood in an
orphanage[40]:354–55 as his mother had died in the meantime.[40]:356
Hegel published The Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences in Outline (1817) as a summary of
his philosophy for students attending his lectures at Heidelberg.
Hegel with his Berlin students
Sketch by Franz Kugler
In 1818, Hegel accepted the renewed offer of the chair of philosophy at the University of Berlin,
which had remained vacant since Johann Gottlieb Fichte's death in 1814. Here, Hegel published
his Philosophy of Right (1821). Hegel devoted himself primarily to delivering his lectures; and his
lecture courses on aesthetics, the philosophy of religion, the philosophy of history and the history of
philosophy were published posthumously from lecture notes taken by his students. His fame spread
and his lectures attracted students from all over Germany and beyond.
In 1819–1827, he made several trips to Weimar (twice), where he met Goethe, Brussels,
the Northern Netherlands, Leipzig, Vienna through Prague and Paris.[55]
Hegel was appointed Rector of the University in October 1829, but his term as Rector ended in
September 1830. Hegel was deeply disturbed by the riots for reform in Berlin in that year. In
1831, Frederick William III decorated him with the Order of the Red Eagle, 3rd Class for his service
to the Prussian state.[55] In August 1831, a cholera epidemic reached Berlin and Hegel left the city,
taking up lodgings in Kreuzberg. Now in a weak state of health, Hegel seldom went out. As the new
semester began in October, Hegel returned to Berlin with the (mistaken) impression that the
epidemic had largely subsided. By November 14, Hegel was dead. The physicians pronounced the
cause of death as cholera, but it is likely he died from a different gastrointestinal disease. He is said
to have uttered the last words "And he didn't understand me" before expiring. [56] In accordance with
his wishes, Hegel was buried on November 16 in the Dorotheenstadt cemetery next to Fichte
and Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand Solger.
Hegel's son Ludwig Fischer had died shortly before while serving with the Dutch army in Batavia and
the news of his death never reached his father. [40]:548 Early the following year, Hegel's sister Christiane
committed suicide by drowning. Hegel's remaining two sons—Karl, who became a historian;
and Immanuel [de], who followed a theological path—lived long and safeguarded their
father's Nachlaß and produced editions of his works.
Philosophical work
Hegelianism
Forerunners
 Aristotle
 Böhme
 Rousseau
 Kant
 Goethe
 Fichte
 Hölderlin
 Schelling
Successors
 Feuerbach
 Marx
 Stirner
 Gentile
 Lukács
 Kojève
 Adorno
 Habermas
Principal works
 The Phenomenology of Spirit

 Science of Logic
 Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences
 Lectures on Aesthetics
 Elements of the Philosophy of Right
 Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion
 Lectures on the Philosophy of History
 Lectures on the History of Philosophy
Schools
 Absolute idealism
 Hegelianism (dialectics)
 British idealism
 German idealism
Related topics
 Right Hegelians
 Young Hegelians
 v
 t
 e
Freedom
Hegel's thinking can be understood as a constructive development within the broad tradition that
includes Plato and Immanuel Kant. To this list, one could add Proclus, Meister Eckhart, Gottfried
Wilhelm Leibniz, Plotinus, Jakob Böhme, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. What all these thinkers
share, which distinguishes them from materialists like Epicurus and Thomas Hobbes and
from empiricists like David Hume, is that they regard freedom or self-determination both as real and
as having important ontological implications for soul or mind or divinity. This focus on freedom is
what generates Plato's notion (in the Phaedo, Republic and Timaeus) of the soul as having a higher
or fuller kind of reality than inanimate objects possess. While Aristotle criticizes Plato's "Forms", he
preserves Plato's cornerstones of the ontological implications for self-determination: ethical
reasoning, the soul's pinnacle in the hierarchy of nature, the order of the cosmos and an assumption
with reasoned arguments for a prime mover. Kant imports Plato's high esteem of individual
sovereignty to his considerations of moral and noumenal freedom as well as to God. All three find
common ground on the unique position of humans in the scheme of things, known by the discussed
categorical differences from animals and inanimate objects.
In his discussion of "Spirit" in his Encyclopedia, Hegel praises Aristotle's On the Soul as "by far the
most admirable, perhaps even the sole, work of philosophical value on this topic". [57] In
his Phenomenology of Spirit and his Science of Logic, Hegel's concern with Kantian topics such as
freedom and morality and with their ontological implications is pervasive. Rather than simply
rejecting Kant's dualism of freedom versus nature, Hegel aims to subsume it within "true infinity", the
"Concept" (or "Notion": Begriff), "Spirit" and "ethical life" in such a way that the Kantian duality is
rendered intelligible, rather than remaining a brute "given".
The reason why this subsumption takes place in a series of concepts is that Hegel's method in
his Science of Logic and his Encyclopedia is to begin with basic concepts like "Being" and "Nothing"
and to develop these through a long sequence of elaborations, including those already mentioned. In
this manner, a solution that is reached in principle in the account of "true infinity" in the Science of
Logic's chapter on "Quality" is repeated in new guises at later stages, all the way to "Spirit" and
"ethical life" in the third volume of the Encyclopedia.
In this way, Hegel intends to defend the germ of truth in Kantian dualism against reductive or
eliminative programs like those of materialism and empiricism. Like Plato, with his dualism of soul
versus bodily appetites, Kant pursues the mind's ability to question its felt inclinations or appetites
and to come up with a standard of "duty" (or, in Plato's case, "good") which transcends bodily
restrictiveness. Hegel preserves this essential Platonic and Kantian concern in the form of infinity
going beyond the finite (a process that Hegel in fact relates to "freedom" and the "ought"), [58]:133–136,
138
the universal going beyond the particular (in the Concept) and Spirit going beyond Nature. Hegel
renders these dualities intelligible by (ultimately) his argument in the "Quality" chapter of the
"Science of Logic". The finite has to become infinite in order to achieve reality. The idea of the
absolute excludes multiplicity so the subjective and objective must achieve synthesis to become
whole. This is because as Hegel suggests by his introduction of the concept of "reality", [58]:111 what
determines itself—rather than depending on its relations to other things for its essential character—is
more fully "real" (following the Latin etymology of "real", more "thing-like") than what does not. Finite
things do not determine themselves because as "finite" things their essential character is determined
by their boundaries over against other finite things, so in order to become "real" they must go
beyond their finitude ("finitude is only as a transcending of itself"). [58]:145
The result of this argument is that finite and infinite—and by extension, particular and universal,
nature and freedom—do not face one another as two independent realities, but instead the latter (in
each case) is the self-transcending of the former. [58]:146 Rather than stress the distinct singularity of
each factor that complements and conflicts with others—without explanation—the relationship
between finite and infinite (and particular and universal and nature and freedom) becomes intelligible
as a progressively developing and self-perfecting whole.
Progress
The mystical writings of Jakob Böhme had a strong effect on Hegel.[59] Böhme had written that
the Fall of Man was a necessary stage in the evolution of the universe. This evolution was itself the
result of God's desire for complete self-awareness. Hegel was fascinated by the works of Kant,
Rousseau and Johann Wolfgang Goetheand by the French Revolution. Modern philosophy, culture
and society seemed to Hegel fraught with contradictions and tensions, such as those between the
subject and object of knowledge, mind and nature, self and Other, freedom and authority, knowledge
and faith, or the Enlightenment and Romanticism. Hegel's main philosophical project was to take
these contradictions and tensions and interpret them as part of a comprehensive, evolving, rational
unity that in different contexts he called "the absolute Idea" (Science of Logic, sections 1781–1783)
or "absolute knowledge" (Phenomenology of Spirit, "(DD) Absolute Knowledge").
According to Hegel, the main characteristic of this unity was that it evolved through and manifested
itself in contradiction and negation. Contradiction and negation have a dynamic quality that at every
point in each domain of reality—consciousness, history, philosophy, art, nature and society—leads
to further development until a rationalunity is reached that preserves the contradictions as phases
and sub-parts by lifting them up (Aufhebung) to a higher unity. This whole is mental because it is
mind that can comprehend all of these phases and sub-parts as steps in its own process of
comprehension. It is rational because the same, underlying, logical, developmental order underlies
every domain of reality and is ultimately the order of self-conscious rational thought, although only in
the later stages of development does it come to full self-consciousness. The rational, self-
conscious whole is not a thing or being that lies outside of other existing things or minds. Rather, it
comes to completion only in the philosophical comprehension of individual existing human minds
who through their own understanding bring this developmental process to an understanding of itself.
Hegel's thought is revolutionary to the extent that it is a philosophy of absolute negation—as long as
absolute negation is at the center, systematization remains open, and makes it possible for human
beings to become subjects.[60]
"Mind" and "Spirit" are the common English translations of Hegel's use of the German "Geist".
Some[who?] have argued that either of these terms overly "psychologize" Hegel, [citation needed] implying a kind
of disembodied, solipsistic consciousness like ghost or "soul". Geist combines the meaning of spirit
—as in god, ghost, or mind—with an intentional force. In Hegel's early philosophy of nature (draft
manuscripts written during his time at the University of Jena), Hegel's notion of "Geist" was tightly
bound to the notion of "Aether", from which Hegel also derived the concepts of space and time, but
in his later works (after Jena) he did not explicitly use his old notion of "Aether" anymore. [61]
Central to Hegel's conception of knowledge and mind (and therefore also of reality) was the notion
of identity in difference—that is, that mind externalizes itself in various forms and objects that stand
outside of it or opposed to it; and that through recognizing itself in them, is "with itself" in these
external manifestations so that they are at one and the same time mind and other-than-mind. This
notion of identity in difference, which is intimately bound up with his conception of contradiction and
negativity, is a principal feature differentiating Hegel's thought from that of other philosophers. [citation
needed]
Civil society
Civil society
Hegel made the distinction between civil society and state in his Elements of the Philosophy of
Right.[62] In this work, civil society (Hegel used the term "bürgerliche Gesellschaft" though it is now
referred to as Zivilgesellschaft in German to emphasize a more inclusive community) was a stage in
the dialectical relationship that occurs between Hegel's perceived opposites, the macro-community
of the state and the micro-community of the family.[63] Broadly speaking, the term was split, like
Hegel's followers, to the political left and right. On the left, it became the foundation for Karl Marx's
civil society as an economic base;[64] to the right, it became a description for all non-state (and the
state is the peak of the objective spirit) aspects of society, including culture, society and politics. This
liberal distinction between political society and civil society was followed by Alexis de Tocqueville.
[64]
In fact, Hegel's distinctions as to what he meant by civil society are often unclear. For example,
while it seems to be the case that he felt that a civil society such as the German society in which he
lived was an inevitable movement of the dialectic, he made way for the crushing of other types of
"lesser" and not fully realized types of civil society as these societies were not fully conscious or
aware—as it were—as to the lack of progress in their societies. Thus, it was perfectly legitimate in
the eyes of Hegel for a conqueror such as Napoleon to come along and destroy that which was not
fully realized.
State
Hegel's State is the final culmination of the embodiment of freedom or right (Rechte) in the Elements
of the Philosophy of Right. The State subsumes family and civil society and fulfills them. All three
together are called "ethical life" (Sittlichkeit). The State involves three "moments". In a Hegelian
State, citizens both know their place and choose their place. They both know their obligations and
choose to fulfill their obligations. An individual's "supreme duty is to be a member of the state"
(Elements of the Philosophy of Right, section 258). The individual has "substantial freedom in the
state". The State is "objective spirit" so "it is only through being a member of the state that the
individual himself has objectivity, truth, and ethical life" (section 258). Furthermore, every member
both loves the State with genuine patriotism, but has transcended mere "team spirit" by reflectively
endorsing their citizenship. Members of a Hegelian State are happy even to sacrifice their lives for
the State.
Heraclitus
According to Hegel, "Heraclitus is the one who first declared the nature of the infinite and first
grasped nature as in itself infinite, that is, its essence as process. The origin of philosophy is to be
dated from Heraclitus. His is the persistent Idea that is the same in all philosophers up to the present
day, as it was the Idea of Plato and Aristotle". [65] For Hegel, Heraclitus's great achievements were to
have understood the nature of the infinite, which for Hegel includes understanding the inherent
contradictoriness and negativity of reality; and to have grasped that reality is becoming or process
and that "being" and "nothingness" are mere empty abstractions. According to Hegel, Heraclitus's
"obscurity" comes from his being a true (in Hegel's terms "speculative") philosopher who grasped the
ultimate philosophical truth and therefore expressed himself in a way that goes beyond the abstract
and limited nature of common sense and is difficult to grasp by those who operate within common
sense. Hegel asserted that in Heraclitus he had an antecedent for his logic: "[...] there is no
proposition of Heraclitus which I have not adopted in my logic". [66]
Hegel cites a number of fragments of Heraclitus in his Lectures on the History of Philosophy.[67] One
to which he attributes great significance is the fragment he translates as "Being is not more than
Non-being", which he interprets to mean the following:
Sein und Nichts sei dasselbe
Being and non-being are the same.
Heraclitus does not form any abstract nouns from his ordinary use of "to be" and "to become" and in
that fragment seems to be opposing any identity A to any other identity B, C and so on, which is not-
A. However, Hegel interprets not-A as not existing at all, not nothing at all, which cannot be
conceived, but indeterminate or "pure" being without particularity or specificity.[68] Pure being and
pure non-being or nothingness are for Hegel pure abstractions from the reality of becoming and this
is also how he interprets Heraclitus. This interpretation of Heraclitus cannot be ruled out, but even if
present is not the main gist of his thought.
For Hegel, the inner movement of reality is the process of God thinking as manifested in the
evolution of the universe of nature and thought; that is, Hegel argued that when fully and properly
understood, reality is being thought by God as manifested in a person's comprehension of this
process in and through philosophy. Since human thought is the image and fulfillment of God's
thought, God is not ineffable (so incomprehensible as to be unutterable), but can be understood by
an analysis of thought and reality. Just as humans continually correct their concepts of reality
through a dialectical process, so God himself becomes more fully manifested through the dialectical
process of becoming.
For his god, Hegel does not take the logos of Heraclitus but refers rather to the nous of Anaxagoras,
although he may well have regarded them the same as he continues to refer to god's plan, which is
identical to God. Whatever the nous thinks at any time is actual substance and is identical to limited
being, but more remains to be thought in the substrate of non-being, which is identical to pure or
unlimited thought.
The universe as becoming is therefore a combination of being and non-being. The particular is never
complete in itself, but to find completion is continually transformed into more comprehensive,
complex, self-relating particulars. The essential nature of being-for-itself is that it is free "in itself;"
that is, it does not depend on anything else such as matter for its being. The limitations represent
fetters, which it must constantly be casting off as it becomes freer and more self-determining. [69]
Although Hegel began his philosophizing with commentary on the Christian religion and often
expresses the view that he is a Christian, his ideas of God are not acceptable to some Christians
even though he has had a major influence on 19th- and 20th-century theology.
Religion
As a graduate of a Protestant seminary, Hegel's theological concerns were reflected in many of his
writings and lectures.[70] Hegel's thoughts on the person of Jesus Christ stood out from the theologies
of the Enlightenment. In his posthumously published Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion, Part 3,
Hegel is shown as being particularly interested with the demonstrations of God's existence and the
ontological proof.[71] He espouses that "God is not an abstraction but a concrete God [...] God,
considered in terms of his eternal Idea, has to generate the Son, has to distinguish himself from
himself; he is the process of differentiating, namely, love and Spirit". This means that Jesus as the
Son of God is posited by God over against himself as other. Hegel sees both a relational unity and a
metaphysical unity between Jesus and God the Father. To Hegel, Jesus is both divine and human.
Hegel further attests that God (as Jesus) not only died, but "[...] rather, a reversal takes place: God,
that is to say, maintains himself in the process, and the latter is only the death of death. God rises
again to life, and thus things are reversed".
The philosopher Walter Kaufmann has argued that there was great stress on the sharp criticisms of
traditional Christianity appearing in Hegel's so-called early theological writings. Kaufmann admits
that Hegel treated many distinctively Christian themes and "sometimes could not resist equating" his
conception of spirit (Geist) "with God, instead of saying clearly: in God I do not believe; spirit suffices
me".[72] Kaufmann also points out that Hegel's references to God or to the divine—and also to spirit—
drew on classical Greek as well as Christian connotations of the terms. Kaufmann goes on:
In addition to his beloved Greeks, Hegel saw before him the example of Spinoza and, in his own
time, the poetry of Goethe, Schiller, and Hölderlin, who also liked to speak of gods and the divine.
So he, too, sometimes spoke of God and, more often, of the divine; and because he occasionally
took pleasure in insisting that he was really closer to this or that Christian tradition than some of the
theologians of his time, he has sometimes been understood to have been a Christian. [73]
According to Hegel himself, his philosophy was consistent with Christianity. [74] This led Hegelian
philosopher, jurist and politician Carl Friedrich Göschel [de] (1784–1861) to write a treatise
demonstrating the consistency of Hegel's philosophy with the Christian doctrine of the immortality of
the human soul. Göschel's book on this subject was titled Von den Beweisen für die Unsterblichkeit
der menschlichen Seele im Lichte der spekulativen Philosophie: eine Ostergabe (Berlin: Verlag von
Duncker und Humblot, 1835).[75][76][77]
Hegel seemed to have an ambivalent relationship with magic, myth and Paganism. He formulates an
early philosophical example of a disenchantment narrative, arguing that Judaism was responsible
both for realizing the existence of Geist and, by extension, for separating nature from ideas of
spiritual and magical forces and challenging polytheism.[78] However, Hegel's manuscript "The Oldest
Systematic Program of German Idealism" suggests that Hegel was concerned about the perceived
decline in myth and enchantment in his age, and that he therefore called for a "new myth" to fill the
cultural vacuum.[79]
Works
Hegel published four works during his lifetime:
(1) The Phenomenology of Spirit (or The Phenomenology of Mind), his account of the evolution of
consciousness from sense-perception to absolute knowledge, published in 1807.
(2) Science of Logic, the logical and metaphysical core of his philosophy, in three volumes (1812,
1813 and 1816, respectively), with a revised first volume published in 1831.
(3) Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences, a summary of his entire philosophical system, which
was originally published in 1816 and revised in 1827 and 1830.
(4) Elements of the Philosophy of Right, his political philosophy, published in 1820.
Posthumous works
During the last ten years of his life, Hegel did not publish another book, but thoroughly revised
the Encyclopedia (second edition, 1827; third, 1830). [80] In his political philosophy, he criticized Karl
Ludwig von Haller's reactionary work, which claimed that laws were not necessary. He also
published some articles early in his career and during his Berlin period. A number of other works on
the philosophy of history, religion, aesthetics and the history of philosophy[81] were compiled from the
lecture notes of his students and published posthumously.
 Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich (1996) [1892 Kegan Paul]. Haldane, Elizabeth Sanderson,

ed. Vorlesungen über die Geschichte der Philosophie [Hegel's Lectures on the history of
philosophy]. Humanities Press International. ISBN 978-0-391-03957-5. (full text at Internet
Archive) (see also Lectures on the History of Philosophy)
Legacy
Hegel's tombstone in Berlin

Hegelianism
There are views of Hegel's thought as a representation of the summit of early 19th-century
Germany's movement of philosophical idealism. It would come to have a profound impact on many
future philosophical schools, including schools that opposed Hegel's specific dialectical idealism,
such as existentialism, the historical materialism of Marx, historism and British Idealism.
Hegel's influence was immense both within philosophy and in the other sciences. Throughout the
19th century many chairs of philosophy around Europe were held by Hegelians and Søren
Kierkegaard, Ludwig Feuerbach, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels—among many others—were all
deeply influenced by, but also strongly opposed to many of the central themes of Hegel's philosophy.
Scholars continue to find and point out Hegelian influences and approaches in a wide range of
theoretical and/or learned works, such as Carl von Clausewitz's magnum opus on strategic
thought, On War (1831).[82] After less than a generation, Hegel's philosophy was suppressed and
even banned by the Prussian right-wing and was firmly rejected by the left-wing in multiple official
writings.
After the period of Bruno Bauer, Hegel's influence did not make itself felt again until the philosophy
of British Idealism and the 20th-century Hegelian Western Marxism that began with György Lukács.
The more recent movement of communitarianism has a strong Hegelian influence.
Reading Hegel
Some of Hegel's writing was intended for those with advanced knowledge of philosophy, although
his Encyclopedia was intended as a textbook in a university course. Nevertheless, Hegel assumes
that his readers are well-versed in Western philosophy. Especially crucial are Aristotle, Immanuel
Kant and Kant's immediate successors, most prominently Johann Gottlieb Fichte and Friedrich
Wilhelm Joseph Schelling. Those without this background would be well-advised to begin with one of
the many general introductions to his thought. As is always the case, difficulties are magnified for
those reading him in translation. In fact, Hegel himself argues in his Science of Logic that the
German language was particularly conducive to philosophical thought. [83]
According to Walter Kaufmann, the basic idea of Hegel's works, especially the Phenomenology of
Spirit, is that a philosopher should not "confine him or herself to views that have been held but
penetrate these to the human reality they reflect". In other words, it is not enough to consider
propositions, or even the content of consciousness; "it is worthwhile to ask in every instance what
kind of spirit would entertain such propositions, hold such views, and have such a consciousness.
Every outlook in other words, is to be studied not merely as an academic possibility but as an
existential reality".[84] Kaufmann has argued that as unlikely as it may sound, it is not the case that
Hegel was unable to write clearly, but that Hegel felt that "he must and should not write in the way in
which he was gifted".[85]
Left and right Hegelianism

Some historians have spoken of Hegel's influence as represented by two opposing camps.
The Right Hegelians, the allegedly direct disciples of Hegel at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität,
advocated a Protestant orthodoxy and the political conservatism of the post-Napoleon Restoration
period. Today this faction continues among conservative Protestants, such as the Wisconsin
Evangelical Lutheran Synod, which was founded by missionaries from Germany when the Hegelian
Right was active. The Left Hegelians, also known as the Young Hegelians, interpreted Hegel in
a revolutionary sense, leading to an advocation of atheism in religion and liberal democracy in
politics.
In more recent studies, this paradigm has been questioned. [86] No Hegelians of the period ever
referred to themselves as "Right Hegelians", which was a term of insult originated by David Strauss,
a self-styled Left Hegelian. Critiques of Hegel offered from the Left Hegelians radically diverted
Hegel's thinking into new directions and eventually came to form a disproportionately large part of
the literature on and about Hegel.
The Left Hegelians also influenced Marxism, which inspired global movements, encompassing
the Russian Revolution, the Chinese Revolution and myriad revolutionary practices up until the
present moment.
20th-century interpretations of Hegel were mostly shaped by British idealism, logical
positivism, Marxism and Fascism. According to Benedetto Croce, the Italian Fascist Giovanni
Gentile "holds the honor of having been the most rigorous neo-Hegelian in the entire history of
Western philosophy and the dishonor of having been the official philosopher of Fascism in Italy".
[87]
However, since the fall of the Soviet Union a new wave of Hegel scholarship arose in the West
without the preconceptions of the prior schools of thought. Walter Jaeschke [de] and Otto Pöggeler in
Germany as well as Peter Hodgson and Howard Kainz in the United States are notable for their
recent contributions to post-Soviet Union thinking about Hegel.
Triads
Thesis, antithesis, synthesis
In previous modern accounts of Hegelianism (to undergraduate classes, for example), especially
those formed prior to the Hegel renaissance, Hegel's dialectic was most often characterized as a
three-step process, "thesis, antithesis, synthesis"; namely, that a "thesis" (e.g. the French
Revolution) would cause the creation of its "antithesis" (e.g. the Reign of Terror that followed) and
would eventually result in a "synthesis" (e.g. the constitutional state of free citizens). However, Hegel
used this classification only once and he attributed the terminology to Kant. The terminology was
largely developed earlier by Fichte. It was spread by Heinrich Moritz Chalybäusin accounts of
Hegelian philosophy and since then the terms have been used as descriptive of this type of
framework.
The "thesis–antithesis–synthesis" approach gives the sense that things or ideas are contradicted or
opposed by things that come from outside them. To the contrary, the fundamental notion of Hegel's
dialectic is that things or ideas have internal contradictions. From Hegel's point of view, analysis or
comprehension of a thing or idea reveals that underneath its apparently simple identity or unity is an
underlying inner contradiction. This contradiction leads to the dissolution of the thing or idea in the
simple form in which it presented itself and to a higher-level, more complex thing or idea that more
adequately incorporates the contradiction. The triadic form that appears in many places in Hegel
(e.g. being–nothingness–becoming, immediate–mediate–concrete and abstract–negative–concrete)
is about this movement from inner contradiction to higher-level integration or unification.
For Hegel, reason is but "speculative", not "dialectical". [88] Believing that the traditional description of
Hegel's philosophy in terms of thesis–antithesis–synthesis was mistaken, a few scholars like Raya
Dunayevskaya have attempted to discard the triadic approach altogether. According to their
argument, although Hegel refers to "the two elemental considerations: first, the idea of freedom as
the absolute and final aim; secondly, the means for realising it, i.e. the subjective side of knowledge
and will, with its life, movement, and activity" (thesis and antithesis), he does not use "synthesis", but
instead speaks of the "Whole": "We then recognised the State as the moral Whole and the Reality of
Freedom, and consequently as the objective unity of these two elements". Furthermore, in Hegel's
language the "dialectical" aspect or "moment" of thought and reality, by which things or thoughts turn
into their opposites or have their inner contradictions brought to the surface, what he
called Aufhebung, is only preliminary to the "speculative" (and not "synthesizing") aspect or
"moment", which grasps the unity of these opposites or contradiction.
It is widely admitted today that the old-fashioned description of Hegel's philosophy in terms of
thesis–antithesis–synthesis is inaccurate. Nevertheless, such is the persistence of this misnomer
that the model and terminology survive in a number of scholarly works.[89]
Renaissance
In the last half of the 20th century, Hegel's philosophy underwent a major renaissance. This was due
to (a) the rediscovery and re-evaluation of Hegel as a possible philosophical progenitor of Marxism
by philosophically oriented Marxists; (b) a resurgence of the historical perspective that Hegel brought
to everything; and (c) an increasing recognition of the importance of his dialectical method. György
Lukács' History and Class Consciousness (1923) helped to reintroduce Hegel into the Marxist
canon. This sparked a renewed interest in Hegel reflected in the work of Herbert Marcuse, Theodor
W. Adorno, Ernst Bloch, Raya Dunayevskaya, Alexandre Kojèveand Gotthard Günther among
others. In Reason and Revolution (1941), Herbert Marcuse made the case for Hegel as a
revolutionary and criticized Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse's thesis that Hegel was a totalitarian.[90] The
Hegel renaissance also highlighted the significance of Hegel's early works, i.e. those written
before The Phenomenology of Spirit. The direct and indirect influence of Kojève's lectures and
writings (on The Phenomenology of Spirit in particular) mean that it is not possible to understand
most French philosophers from Jean-Paul Sartre to Jacques Derrida without understanding Hegel.
[91]
American neoconservative political theorist Francis Fukuyama's controversial book The End of
History and the Last Man (1992) was heavily influenced by Kojève.[92] The Swiss theologian Hans
Küng has also advanced contemporary scholarship in Hegel studies. [citation needed]
Beginning in the 1960s, Anglo-American Hegel scholarship has attempted to challenge the
traditional interpretation of Hegel as offering a metaphysical system: this has also been the approach
of Z. A. Pelczynski and Shlomo Avineri. This view, sometimes referred to as the "non-metaphysical
option", has had a decided influence on many major English language studies of Hegel in the past
forty years.
Late 20th-century literature in Western Theology that is friendly to Hegel includes works by such
writers as Walter Kaufmann (1966), Dale M. Schlitt (1984), Theodore Geraets (1985), Philip M.
Merklinger (1991), Stephen Rocker (1995) and Cyril O'Regan (1995).
Two prominent American philosophers, John McDowell and Robert Brandom (sometimes referred to
as the "Pittsburgh Hegelians"), have produced philosophical works exhibiting a marked Hegelian
influence. Each is avowedly influenced by the late Wilfred Sellars, also of Pittsburgh, who referred to
his seminal work Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind (1956) as a series of "incipient Méditations
Hegeliennes" (in homage to Edmund Husserl's 1931 work, Méditations cartésiennes).
Beginning in the 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union, a fresh reading of Hegel took place in the
West. For these scholars, fairly well represented by the Hegel Society of America and in cooperation
with German scholars such as Otto Pöggeler and Walter Jaeschke, Hegel's works should be read
without preconceptions. Marx plays little-to-no role in these new readings. Some American
philosophers associated with this movement include Lawrence Stepelevich, Rudolf Siebert, Richard
Dien Winfield and Theodore Geraets.[citation needed]
Criticism
Criticism of Hegel has been widespread in the 19th and the 20th centuries. A diverse range of
individuals including Arthur Schopenhauer, Karl Marx, Søren Kierkegaard, Friedrich
Nietzsche, Bertrand Russell, G. E. Moore, Franz Rosenzweig, Eric Voegelin and A. J. Ayer have
challenged Hegelian philosophy from a variety of perspectives. Among the first to take a critical view
of Hegel's system was the 19th-century German group known as the Young Hegelians, which
included Feuerbach, Marx, Engels and their followers. In Britain, the Hegelian British idealism school
(members of which included Francis Herbert Bradley, Bernard Bosanquetand in the United
States Josiah Royce) was challenged and rejected by analytic philosophers Moore and Russell. In
particular, Russell considered "almost all" of Hegel's doctrines to be false. [93] Regarding Hegel's
interpretation of history, Russell commented: "Like other historical theories, it required, if it was to be
made plausible, some distortion of facts and considerable ignorance". [94] Logical positivists such as
Ayer and the Vienna Circle criticized both Hegelian philosophy and its supporters, such as Bradley.
Hegel's contemporary Schopenhauer was particularly critical and wrote of Hegel's philosophy as "a
pseudo-philosophy paralyzing all mental powers, stifling all real thinking". [95] In 1820, Schopenhauer
became a lecturer at the University of Berlin and he scheduled his lectures to coincide with those of
Hegel, whom Schopenhauer had also described as a "clumsy charlatan". [96] However, only five
students ended up attending Schopenhauer's lectures so he dropped out of academia. Kierkegaard
criticized Hegel's "absolute knowledge" unity.[97] The physicist and philosopher Ludwig
Boltzmann also criticized the obscure complexity of Hegel's works, referring to Hegel's writing as an
"unclear thoughtless flow of words".[98] In a similar vein, Robert Pippin notes that some view Hegel as
having "the ugliest prose style in the history of the German language". [99] Russell wrote in A History of
Western Philosophy (1945) that Hegel was "the hardest to understand of all the great philosophers".
[100]
Karl Popper quoted Schopenhauer as stating, "Should you ever intend to dull the wits of a young
man and to incapacitate his brains for any kind of thought whatever, then you cannot do better than
give Hegel to read...A guardian fearing that his ward might become too intelligent for his schemes
might prevent this misfortune by innocently suggesting the reading of Hegel." [101]
Karl Popper wrote that "there is so much philosophical writing (especially in the Hegelian school)
which may justly be criticised as meaningless verbiage". [102] Popper also makes the claim in the
second volume of The Open Society and Its Enemies (1945) that Hegel's system formed a thinly
veiled justification for the absolute rule of Frederick William III and that Hegel's idea of the ultimate
goal of history was to reach a state approximating that of 1830s Prussia. Popper further proposed
that Hegel's philosophy served not only as an inspiration for communist and fascist totalitarian
governments of the 20th century, whose dialectics allow for any belief to be construed as rational
simply if it could be said to exist. Kaufmann and Shlomo Avineri have criticized Popper's theories
about Hegel.[103]
Isaiah Berlin listed Hegel as one of the six architects of modern authoritarianism who
undermined liberal democracy, along with Rousseau, Claude Adrien Helvétius, Fichte, Saint-
Simon and Joseph de Maistre.[104]
Voegelin argued that Hegel should be understood not as a philosopher, but as a "sorcerer", i.e. as
a mystic and hermetic thinker.[105] This concept of Hegel as a hermetic thinker was elaborated by
Glenn Alexander Magee,[106] who argued that interpreting Hegel's body of work as an expression of
mysticism and hermetic ideas leads to a more accurate understanding of Hegel. [107]
Selected works
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel bibliography
Published during Hegel's lifetime
 Differenz des Fichteschen und Schellingschen Systems der Philosophie, 1801

The Difference Between Fichte's and Schelling's Systems of Philosophy, tr. H. S. Harris and
Walter Cerf, 1977
 Phänomenologie des Geistes, 1807

Phenomenology of Mind, tr. J. B. Baillie, 1910; 2nd ed. 1931
Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, tr. A. V. Miller, 1977
Phenomenology of Spirit, translated by Terry Pinkard, 2012
 Wissenschaft der Logik, 1812, 1813, 1816, "Doctrine of Being" revised 1831
Science of Logic, tr. W. H. Johnston and L. G. Struthers, 2 vols., 1929; tr. A. V. Miller, 1969;
tr. George di Giovanni, 2010
 Enzyklopädie der philosophischen Wissenschaften, 1817; 2nd ed. 1827;

3rd ed. 1830 (Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences)
(Pt. I:) The Logic of Hegel, tr. William Wallace, 1874, 2nd ed. 1892; tr. T. F. Geraets, W. A.
Suchting and H. S. Harris, 1991; tr. Klaus Brinkmann and Daniel O. Dahlstrom 2010
(Pt. II:) Hegel's Philosophy of Nature, tr. A. V. Miller, 1970
(Pt. III:) Hegel's Philosophy of Mind, tr. William Wallace, 1894; rev. by A. V. Miller, 1971; rev.
2007 by Michael Inwood
 Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts, 1821

Elements of the Philosophy of Right, tr. T. M. Knox, 1942; tr. H. B. Nisbet, ed. Allen W.
Wood, 1991
Published posthumously
 Lectures on Aesthetics
 Lectures on the Philosophy of History (also translated
as Lectures on the Philosophy of World History), 1837
 Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion
 Lectures on the History of Philosophy
Mikhail Lomonosov
. Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov (/ˌlɒməˈnɒsɒf/;[1] Russian: Михаи́ л (Михáйло) Васи́ льевич
Ломоно́ сов, IPA: [mʲɪxɐˈil vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ləmɐˈnosəf] ( listen); November 19 [O.S. November 8] 1711 –
April 15 [O.S. April 4] 1765) was a Russian polymath, scientist and writer, who made important
contributions to literature, education, and science. Among his discoveries were the atmosphere of
Venus and the law of conservation of mass in chemical reactions. His spheres of science
were natural science, chemistry, physics, mineralogy, history, art, philology, optical devices and
others. Lomonosov was also a poet and influenced the formation of the modern Russian literary
language.[144][145
Venus's atmosphere was observed in 1790 by German astronomer Johann Schröter. Schröter found
when the astronomical object was a thin crescent, the cusps extended through more than 180°. He
correctly surmised this was due to scattering of sunlight in a dense atmosphere.
Mikhail Lomonosov
Portrait by G. Prenner, 1787
Native name Михайло Васильевич Ломоносов
Early life and family

Lomonosov was born in the village of Mishaninskaya (later renamed Lomonosovo in his honor)
in Archangelgorod Governorate, on an island not far from Kholmogory, in the far north of Russia.
[2]
His father, Vasily Dorofeyevich Lomonosov, was a prosperous peasant fisherman turned ship
owner, who amassed a small fortune transporting goods
from Arkhangelsk to Pustozyorsk, Solovki, Kola, and Lapland.[2] Lomonosov's mother was Vasily's
first wife, a deacon's daughter, Elena Ivanovna Sivkova.[3]
He remained at Denisovka until he was ten, when his father decided that he was old enough to
participate in his business ventures, and Lomonosov began accompanying Vasily on trading
missions.[3]
Learning was young Lomonosov's passion, however, not business. The boy's thirst for knowledge
was insatiable. Lomonosov had been taught to read as a boy by his neighbor Ivan Shubny, and he
spent every spare moment with his books.[3] He continued his studies with the village deacon, S.N.
Sabelnikov, but for many years the only books he had access to were religious texts. When he was
fourteen, Lomonosov was given copies of Meletius Smotrytsky's Modern Church Slavonic (a
grammar book) and Leonty Magnitsky's Arithmetic.[4] On his religious views, Lomonosov was a
Russian orthodox all his life, but had close encounters with Old Believers schism in early youth and
later in life he became a deist.[5][6]
In 1724, his father married for the third and final time. Lomonosov and his stepmother Irina had an
acrimonious relationship. Unhappy at home and intent on obtaining a higher education, which
Lomonosov could not receive in Mishaninskaya, he was determined to leave the village. [7]
Education in Moscow and Kiev
The Lomonosov house in Marburg
In 1730, at nineteen, Lomonosov went to Moscow on foot, because he was determined to "study
sciences".[7]Shortly after arrival, he admitted into the Slavic Greek Latin Academy by falsely claiming
to be a son of a Kholmogory nobleman. [8] In 1734 that initial falsehood as well as another lie for him
to be son of a priest nearly got him expelled from the academy but the investigation ended without
severe consequences.[9]
Lomonosov lived on three kopecks a day, eating only black bread and kvass, but he made rapid
progress scholastically.[10] It is believed that in 1735, after three years in Moscow he was sent
to Kiev to study for short period at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. He quickly became dissatisfied with
the education he was receiving there, and returned to Moscow to resume his studies there. [10] In five
years Lomonosov completed a twelve-year study course and in 1736, among 12 best graduates,
was awarded a scholarship at the St. Petersburg Academy.[11] He plunged into his studies and was
rewarded with a four-year grant to study abroad, in Germany, first at the University of Marburg and
then in Freiberg.[12]
Education abroad
The University of Marburg was among Europe's most important universities in the mid-18th century
due to the presence of the philosopher Christian Wolff, a prominent figure of the
German Enlightenment. Lomonosov became one of Wolff's students while at Marburg from
November 1736 to July 1739. Both philosophically and as a science administrator, this connection
would be the most influential of Lomonosov's life. In 1739–1740 he studied mineralogy, metallurgy,
and mining at Bergrat Johann Friedrich Henckel's [de] laboratory in Freiberg, Saxony; there he
intensified his studies of German literature. [13]
The most grandiose of Lomonosov's mosaics depicts the Battle of Poltava.
Lomonosov quickly mastered the German language, and in addition to philosophy, seriously
studied chemistry, discovered the works of 17th century Irish theologian and natural
philosopher, Robert Boyle, and even began writing poetry. He also developed an interest in German
literature. He is said to have especially admired Günther. His Ode on the Taking of Khotin from the
Turks, composed in 1739, attracted a great deal of attention in Saint Petersburg. [13] Contrary to his
adoration for Wolff, Lomonosov went into fierce disputes with Henckel over the training and
education courses he and his two compatriot students were getting in Freiberg as well as over very
limited financial support which Henckel was instructed to provide to the Russians after numerous
debts they made in Marburg. As the result, Lomonosov left Freiberg without permission and
wandered for quite a while over Germany and Holland unsuccessfully trying to get a permission from
Russian envoys to return to the St.Petersburg Academy. [citation needed]
During his residence in Marburg, Lomonosov boarded with Catharina Zilch, a brewer's widow. [14] He
fell in love with Catharina’s daughter Elizabeth Christine Zilch. They were married in June 1740.
[15]
Lomonosov found it extremely difficult to maintain his growing family on the scanty and irregular
allowance granted him by the Russian Academy of Sciences. As his circumstances became
desperate, he resolved and got permission to return to Saint Petersburg. [13]
Return to Russia
Lomonosov returned to Russia in June 1741, after being abroad 4 years and 8 months. A year later
he was named an Adjunct of the Russian Academy of Science in the physics department. [13] In May
1743, Lomonosov was accused, arrested, and held under house arrest for eight months, after he
supposedly insulted various people associated with the Academy. He was released and pardoned in
January 1744 after apologising to all involved.[13]
Lomonosov was made a full member of the Academy, and named Professor of chemistry, in 1745.
[13]
He established the Academy's first chemistry laboratory. [16] Eager to improve Russia’s educational
system, in 1755, Lomonosov joined his patron Count Ivan Shuvalov in founding Moscow University.
[16]
In 1760, he was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. In 1764, he
was elected Foreign Member of the Academy of Sciences of the Institute of Bologna [17] In 1764,
Lomonosov was appointed to the position of the State Councillor which was of Rank V in the
Russian Empire's Table of Ranks. He died on 4 April (o.s.), 1765 in Saint Petersburg. He is widely
and deservingly regarded as the "Father of Russian Science", [18] though many of his scientific
accomplishments were relatively unknown outside Russia until long after his death and gained
proper appreciation only in late 19th and, especially, in 20th centuries.
Physicist
Catherine II of Russia visits Mikhail Lomonosov in 1764. 1884 painting by Ivan Feodorov.
In 1756, Lomonosov tried to replicate Robert Boyle's experiment of 1673.[19] He concluded that the
commonly accepted phlogiston theory was false. Anticipating the discoveries of Antoine Lavoisier,
he wrote in his diary: "Today I made an experiment in hermetic glass vessels in order to determine
whether the mass of metals increases from the action of pure heat. The experiments– of which I
append the record in 13 pages– demonstrated that the famous Robert Boyle was deluded, for
without access of air from outside the mass of the burnt metal remains the same".
That is the Law of Mass Conservation in chemical reaction, which was well-known today as "in a
chemical reaction, the mass of reactants is equal to the mass of the products." Lomonosov, together
with Lavoisier, is regarded as the one who discovered the law of mass conservation. [20]
He stated that all matter is composed of corpuscles – molecules that are "collections" of elements –
atoms. In his dissertation "Elements of Mathematical Chemistry" (1741, unfinished), the scientist
gives the following definition: "An element is a part of a body that does not consist of any other
smaller and different bodies ... corpuscle is a collection of elements forming one small mass." [21] In a
later study (1748), he uses term "atom" instead of "element", and "particula" (particle) or "molecule"
instead of "corpuscle".
He regarded heat as a form of motion, suggested the wave theory of light, contributed to the
formulation of the kinetic theory of gases, and stated the idea of conservation of matter in the
following words: "All changes in nature are such that inasmuch is taken from one object insomuch is
added to another. So, if the amount of matter decreases in one place, it increases elsewhere. This
universal law of nature embraces laws of motion as well, for an object moving others by its own force
in fact imparts to another object the force it loses" (first articulated in a letter to Leonhard Euler dated
5 July 1748, rephrased and published in Lomonosov's dissertation "Reflexion on the solidity and
fluidity of bodies", 1760).
Astronomer
Scheme of the Lomonosov-Effect during a transit of Venus
Lomonosov was the first to discover and appreciate atmosphere of Venus during his observation of
the transit of Venus of 1761 in a small observatory near his house in Petersburg. [13][22]
In June 2012 a group of astronomers carried out experimental reconstruction of Lomonosov's
discovery of Venusian atmosphere with antique refractors during the transit of Venus ( 5–6 June
2012).[23] They concluded that Lomonosov's telescope was fully adequate to the task of detecting the
arc of light around Venus off the Sun's disc during ingress or egress if proper experimental
techniques as described by Lomonosov in his 1761 paper [24] are employed.[25]
Diagrams from Mikhail Lomonosov's "The Appearance of Venus on the Sun, Observed at the St. Petersburg
Imperial Academy of Sciences on 26 May 1761"
In 1762, Lomonosov presented an improved design of a reflecting telescope to the Russian
Academy of Sciences forum. His telescope had its primary mirror adjusted at an angle of four
degrees to the telescope's axis. This made the image focus at the side of the telescope tube, where
the observer could view the image with an eyepiece without blocking the image. However, this
invention was not published until 1827, so this type of telescope has become associated with a
similar design by William Herschel, the Herschelian telescope.[26]
Chemist and geologist

In 1759, with his collaborator, academician Joseph Adam Braun, Lomonosov was the first person to
record the freezing of mercury and to carry out initial experiments with it.[27] Believing that nature is
subject to regular and continuous evolution, he demonstrated the organic origin of soil, peat,
coal, petroleum and amber. In 1745, he published a catalogue of over 3,000 minerals, and in 1760,
he explained the formation of icebergs.[13]
In 1763, he published On The Strata of the Earth - his most significant geological work.[28]
Geographer
Lomonosov's observation of iceberg formation led into his pioneering work in geography.
Lomonosov got close to the theory of continental drift,[29]theoretically predicted the existence
of Antarctica (he argued that icebergs of the South Ocean could be formed only on a dry land
covered with ice),[30] and invented sea tools which made writing and calculating directions and
distances easier. In 1764, he organized an expedition (led by Admiral Vasili Chichagov) to find
the Northeast Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by sailing along the northern coast
of Siberia.[13]
Mosaicist
Grave of Lomonosov in Lazarev Cemetery, Alexander Nevsky Lavra, Saint Petersburg
Lomonosov was proud to restore the ancient art of mosaics. In 1754, in his letter to Leonhard Euler,
he wrote that his three years of experiments on the effects of chemistry of minerals on their colour
led to his deep involvement in the mosaic art. In 1763, he set up a glass factory that produced the
first stained glass mosaics outside of Italy. There were forty mosaics attributed to Lomonosov, with
only twenty-four surviving to the present day. Among the best is the portrait of Peter the Great and
the Battle of Poltava, measuring 4.8 by 6.4 metres (16 ft × 21 ft).[31][32][33]
Grammarian, poet, historian

In 1755 Lomonosov wrote a grammar that reformed the Russian literary language by combining Old
Church Slavonic with the vernacular tongue. To further his literary theories, he wrote more than 20
solemn ceremonial odes, notably the Evening Meditation on the God's Grandeur. He applied an
idiosyncratic theory to his later poems – tender subjects needed words containing the front vowel
sounds E, I, Y and U, whereas things that may cause fear (like "anger", "envy", "pain" and "sorrow")
needed words with back vowel sounds O, U and Y. That was a version of what is now called sound
symbolism.
In 1760 Lomonosov published a History of Russia. [34][35] In addition, he attempted to write a grand epic
about Peter the Great, to be based on the Aeneid by Vergil, but he died before he could finish it.[36]
Legacy
1992 Russian gold coin
His granddaughter Sophia Konstantinova (1769–1844) married Russian military hero and statesman
General Nikolay Raevsky. His great-granddaughter was Princess Maria (Raevskaya) Volkonskaya,
the wife of the Decembrist Prince Sergei Volkonsky.[37]
The city of Lomonosov, Russia (former Oranienbaum, Russia from 1710–1948), and a lunar
crater bear his name, as does a crater on Mars and the asteroid 1379 Lomonosowa. The Imperial
Porcelain Factory, Saint Petersburgwas renamed after him from 1925 to 2005. In 1948, the
underwater Lomonosov Ridge in the Arctic Ocean was named in his honor. Moscow State
University was renamed '’M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University'’ in his honor in 1940. [citation needed]
The Lomonosov Gold Medal was established in 1959 and is awarded annually by the Russian
Academy of Sciences to a Russian and a foreign scientist. [citation needed]
Lomonosovskaya Station on the Nevsko-Vasileostrovskaya Line of the Saint Petersburg Metro is
named after him. It was opened in 1970.
The street "Lomonosova iela" in the Maskavas Forštate district of Riga is named in honor of
Lomonosov. During the Soviet era a main street in Tallinn, Estonia, was named in his honor as
"Lomonossovi M.", but from 1991 it was renamed Gonsiori after Jakob Johann Gonsior, a 19th-
century alderman and lawyer.[38]
The Akademik Lomonosov, the first of a series of Russian floating nuclear power stations, is named
for him. It is expected to be operational at Pevek, Chukotka in September 2019.[39][40]
Works
Monument to Mikhail Lomonosov on Sparrow Hills
English translations
 Lomonosov, Mikhail (1767). A Chronological Abridgement of the Russian History. Translated by

J.G.A.F. for T.Snelling. [London, Printed for T. Snelling].
 Lomonosov, Mikhail (1966). Panegyric to the Sovereign Emperor, Peter the Great. Translated by
Ronald Hingley in Marc Raeff, ed. Russian Intellectual History: An Anthology. Prometheus
Books. ISBN 978-0391009059.
 Lomonosov, Mikhail (1970). Mikhail Vasil'evich Lomonosov on the Corpuscular Theory.
Translated by Henry M. Leicester. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674574205.
 Lomonosov, Mikhail (2012). The Appearance of Venus on the Sun, Observed at the St.Petersburg
Imperial Academy of Sciences on May 26, 1761. Translated by Vladimir Shiltsev in "Lomonosov's
Discovery of Venus Atmosphere in 1761: English Translation of Original Publication with
Commentaries". arXiv:1206.3489.
 Lomonosov, Mikhail (2012). On the Strata of the Earth. Translation and commentary by
S.M.Rowland and S.Korolev. The Geological Society of America, Special Paper 485. ISBN 978-0-8137-
2485-0.
 Lomonosov, Mikhail (2017). Oratio De Meteoris Vi Electrica Ortis - Discourse on Atmospheric
Phenomena Originating from Electrical Force (1753). Translation and commentary by Vladimir
Shiltsev. arXiv:1709.08847.
 Lomonosov, Mikhail (2018). Meditations on Solidity and Fluidity of Bodies(1760). Translation and
commentary by Vladimir Shiltsev. arXiv:1801.00909.
German translations
 Lomonossow, Michail (1961). Michail Wassiljewitsch Lomonossow. Ausgewählte Schriften in

zwei Bänden. Berlin-Akademie Verlag.
 Lomonosov, Michail (2015). Erste Grundlagen Der Metallurgie Oder Des Huttenwesens (1763).
Herausgegeben und kommentiert von Friedrich Naumann. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3110424072.
 Lomonosov, Michail (2017). Schriften zur Geologie und zum Berg- und Hüttenwesen (1742–
1765). Herausgegeben und kommentiert von Friedrich Naumann. Walter de
Gruyter. doi:10.1515/9783110424065. ISBN 978-3-11-042406-
David Rudisha.
David Lekuta Rudisha, MBS (born 17 December 1988) is a Kenyan middle-distance runner. He is
the 2012 and 2016 Olympic champion, 2-time World Champion (2011 and 2015), and world
record holder in the 800 metres. Rudisha is the first and only person to ever run under 1:41 for the
event,[3] and he holds the three fastest, six of the eight fastest, and half of the twenty fastest times
ever run in this event.[4] He also holds the world's best time in the 500m, with a time of 57.69,[a] and
the African record for the 600m, with a time of 1:13.10. Rudisha has won a record 3
consecutive Track & Field Athlete of the Year awards (tied with Carl Lewis), and also won the IAAF
World Athlete of the Year award in 2010.
David Rudisha
Rudisha in Beijing in 2015
Early life
Born on 17 December 1988 in Kilgoris, Narok County, Rudisha went to Kimuron Secondary
School in Iten, Keiyo District, which is known for nurturing several top runners
including Wilson Kipketer, the previous 800 m world record holder, who had already held the
record for several years before Rudisha joined the school. In April 2005 Japheth
Kimutairecommended Rudisha to James Templeton, and Rudisha joined the group of runners
managed by Templeton, which has at various time included Kimutai, Bernard
Lagat and Augustine Choge.[5] Initially he was a 400 metres runner, but his coach, Irishman Colm
O'Connell, prompted him to try 800 m. In 2006 he became the world junior champion over that
distance.[6]
Career
Rudisha competed at the 2009 World Athletics Championships, reaching the 800 metres
semifinals. In September 2009, Rudisha won the IAAF Grand Prix meeting in Rieti, Italy,
posting a new African record of 1:42.01, beating the 25-year-old record of 1:42.28 set by
compatriot Sammy Koskei. That effort put him in fourth place on the all-time list.[7] In the 2010
IAAF Diamond League, he took on Abubaker Kaki at the Bislett Games in June. He
defeated Sebastian Coe's 31-year-old meet record with a run of 1:42.04, giving him another place
in the top-ten fastest ever 800 m and leaving Kaki the consolation of the fastest ever non-winning
time.[8] On 10 July 2010, Rudisha ran the 800 m in 1:41.51 at the KBC Night of
Athletics in Heusden, Belgium; this new personal record placed him No. 2 all-time in the world
for the 800 m.[9]
On 22 August 2010 Rudisha broke Wilson Kipketer's 800 m World Record two days before the
anniversary of that record with a time of 1:41.09 while racing in the ISATF meeting in Berlin.
Just a week later, he broke the record again at the RietiDiamond League Meeting, lowering it to
1:41.01
In November 2010, at the age of 21, he became the youngest ever athlete to win the IAAF World
Athlete of the Yearaward. He also won the Kenyan Sportsman of the Year award.[10]
With a time of 1:41.74, Rudisha set the United States all comers 800 m record at the 2012 adidas
Grand Prix at Icahn Stadium in New York City.[11] He guaranteed his selection for the Kenyan
Olympic team for the first time with a win at the Kenyan trials, running a time of 1:42.12
minutes—the fastest ever recorded at altitude.[12]
Rudisha currently holds the world record of 1:40.91 for the 800 m, set at the London 2012
Olympics on 9 August 2012.[13]He has the three fastest times recorded and six of the top eight
fastest times in the 800m.[14]
2012 Summer Olympics
On 9 August 2012 at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Rudisha led from start to finish to
win gold in what was acclaimed "The Greatest 800 Meter Race Ever".[15] In so doing, he became
the first and, so far, only runner to break the 1:41 barrier for 800 m.[16] From the start of the race,
Rudisha led and pulled away from the rest of the field after 200 metres, completing the first lap
in 49.28 seconds. By 600 metres his lead had grown to several metres. He continued to pull away
until the final straight, where second place Nigel Amos was able to slightly gain some ground as
Rudisha strained. But the gap was much too great to close, and Rudisha crossed the line in a
world-record time of 1:40.91.
Rudisha's competitors all ran exceptional times. Sports Illustrated's David Epstein reported that
the race "is best told, perhaps, in 16 letters: WR, NR, PB, PB, PB, NR, SB, PB."[17] The silver
medallist, Amos, had to be carried from the track on a stretcher after setting the world junior
record and make him only the fifth man in history to run under 1:42,[18] something Rudisha has
now done seven times.[4] "With Rudisha breaking 1:41, two men under 1:42, five under 1:43 and
all eight under 1:44," noted the IAAF, "it was the greatest depth 800m race in history."[19] Every
competitor ran the fastest time in history for their placing.[16] It was the first time in international
800m history where every competitor ran either a personal or season's best.[20] The time set by the
eighth-placed Andrew Osagie, a personal best of 1:43.77, would have won gold at the three
preceding Olympic games in Beijing, Athens and Sydney.[21][22]
As well as being the first man to go below 1:41, he broke his own world record that was set in
2010. "The splits triggered amazement: 23.4 secs for the first 200 m, 25.88 secs for the second, a
critical 25.02 for the third and 26.61 to bring it all home."[23] Rudisha's record was considered
especially notable for the absence of pacemakers,[17] which are not permitted at the Olympics or
other major championships. The previous person to win an Olympic 800 m final with a world
record was Alberto Juantorena, back in 1976.[19] Rudisha also became the first reigning 800
m world champion to win Olympic gold at that distance.[17] Sebastian Coe, of the London
Olympics organising committee who himself held the 800m world record for 17 years, said: "It
was the performance of the Games, not just of track and field but of the Games".[24] He added:
"Bolt was good, Rudisha was magnificent. That is quite a big call but it was the most
extraordinary piece of running I have probably ever seen."[25] Rudisha had been in good shape
coming into the race, having "clocked a staggering 1:42.12 minutes at high altitude in Nairobi
during the Kenyan [Olympic] trials. After that he had said 'the race was nice and easy'."[19]
Before the race, Rudisha had joked about his father's 1968 400 m relay silver medal: "It would
be good for me to win gold, so we can have gold and silver in our family . . . so I can tell him, 'I
am better than you.'"[18] Afterwards, he admitted that it would go down as the greatest 800 race
personally for him as well because he won it in front of Sebastian Coe who held the record for
more than 17 years. This race was also touted as a run for his community and tribe.[26] Rudisha
was later given the Association of National Olympic Committees Award for Best Male Athlete
of London 2012,[27] as well as receiving the honour of Moran of the Order of the Burning
Spear (MBS) from the government of Kenya.[28]
2013
He could not compete at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics because of an injury.[29]
2015
At the New York IAAF Diamond League meeting in June 2015, Rudisha won the 800m with a
time of 1:43.58.[30]
Rudisha won his second world 800m title at the World Championships in Beijing. In a relatively
tactical race, after a first lap of only 54.17 he won in a time of 1:45.84 [31]
2016
Rudisha successfully defended his Olympic title at the 2016 Summer Olympics, taking gold with
a time of 1:42.15. He was the first person since Peter Snell in 1964 to win back-to-back Olympic
800m titles.[32][33] The final went out very quickly with fellow Kenyan Alfred Kipketer leading
through 200m in 23.2 sec. Rudisha was tucked in close behind through a 49.3 first 400m. With
just under 300m to go Rudisha made a strong surge to the front. A large gap was formed that
proved too much for fast closing Taoufik Makhloufi of Algeria in the final homestretch.[34] His
finishing time was the fastest he has run since the 2012 Olympic final in London, as well as the
fastest time in the world for 2016.[35]
2017
Rudisha finished 4th at the Shanghai Diamond League meet. His time was 1:45.36. The winning
time was 1:44.70.[36] Rudisha attempted the 1000m for the first time at the Golden Spike
Ostrava in 2017, finishing 4th with a PR time of 2:19.43.[37]
Coaching
At the 2012 Olympics Rudisha worked with Caroline Currid, an Irish mental performance coach,
on how to maximise performance on competition day.[38][39][40][41][42]
Personal life
Rudisha is a member of the Maasai ethnic group in Kenya.[6] His father, Daniel Rudisha, is a
former runner who won the silver medal at the 1968 Olympics as part of the
Kenyan 4 × 400 m relay team, while his mother Naomi is a former 400 m hurdler.[43] He is
married to Lizzy Naanyu with two daughters (as of 2015).[43] Tom Fordyce of the BBC said of
him, "He is the greatest 800m runner of all time and he may also be the nicest man in his
sport."[32]
He is a supporter of the football club Arsenal F.C.[44]
Achievements
Rudisha at the 2010 Memorial van Damme.
Yea Positio
Competition Venue Event Notes
r n
Representing Kenya
1st 800m 1:47.40

World Junior
2006 Beijing, China
Championships
4 × 400 m
4th 3:05.54
relay
African Junior Ouagadougou, Burkina

2007 1st 800 m 1:46.41[45]
Championships Faso
Yea Positio
Competition Venue Event Notes
r n
Representing Kenya
2008 African Championships Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 1st 800 m 1:44.20
2009 World Athletics Final Thessaloniki, Greece 1st 800 m 1:44.85
2010 African Championships Nairobi, Kenya 1st 800 m 1:42.84
2011 World Championships Daegu, South Korea 1st 800 m 1:43.91
2012 Olympic Games London, United Kingdom 1st 800 m 1:40.91
2014 Commonwealth Games Glasgow, Scotland 2nd 800 m 1:45.48
2015 World Championships Beijing, China 1st 800 m 1:45.84
2016 Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 1st 800 m 1:42.15
2:19.43
2017 Golden Spike Ostrava, Czech Republic 4th 1000 m
Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (/lɪˈniːəs, lɪˈneɪəs/;[1][2] 23 May[note 1] 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his
ennoblement as Carl von Linné[3] (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈkɑːɭ fɔn lɪˈneː] (About this soundlisten)),
was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist who formalised binomial nomenclature, the
modern system of naming organisms. He is known as the "father of modern taxonomy".[4] Many of
his writings were in Latin, and his name is rendered in Latin as Carolus Linnæus (after 1761 Carolus
a Linné).
Linnaeus was born in the countryside of Småland in southern Sweden. He received most of his
higher education at Uppsala University and began giving lectures in botany there in 1730. He lived
abroad between 1735 and 1738, where he studied and also published the first edition of his Systema
Naturae in the Netherlands. He then returned to Sweden where he became professor of medicine
and botany at Uppsala. In the 1740s, he was sent on several journeys through Sweden to find and
classify plants and animals. In the 1750s and 1760s, he continued to collect and classify animals,
plants, and minerals, while publishing several volumes. He was one of the most acclaimed scientists
in Europe at the time of his death.
Carl Linnaeus
Carl von Linné, Alexander Roslin, 1775
(oil on canvas, Gripsholm Castle)
Philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau sent him the message: "Tell him I know no greater man on
earth."[5] Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote: "With the exception of Shakespeare and Spinoza, I
know no one among the no longer living who has influenced me more strongly."[5] Swedish author
August Strindberg wrote: "Linnaeus was in reality a poet who happened to become a naturalist".[6]
Linnaeus has been called Princeps botanicorum (Prince of Botanists) and "The Pliny of the North".
[7] He is also considered as one of the founders of modern ecology.[8]
In botany, the abbreviation L. is used to indicate Linnaeus as the authority for a species' name.[9] In
older publications, the abbreviation "Linn." is found. Linnaeus's remains comprise the type specimen
for the species Homo sapiens following the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, since the
sole specimen that he is known to have examined was himself.
Early life
Childhood
Linnaeus was born in the village of Råshult in Småland, Sweden, on 23 May 1707. He was the first
child of Nicolaus (Nils) Ingemarsson (who later adopted the family name Linnaeus) and Christina
Brodersonia. His siblings were Anna Maria Linnæa, Sofia Juliana Linnæa, Samuel Linnæus (who
would eventually succeed their father as rector of Stenbrohult and write a manual on beekeeping),[10]
[11][12]
and Emerentia Linnæa.[13] His family spoke so much Latin at home, that Linnaeus learned Latin
before he learned Swedish.[14]
One of a long line of peasants and priests, Nils was an amateur botanist, a Lutheran minister, and
the curate of the small village of Stenbrohult in Småland. Christina was the daughter of the rector of
Stenbrohult, Samuel Brodersonius.[15]:376
A year after Linnaeus's birth, his grandfather Samuel Brodersonius died, and his father Nils became
the rector of Stenbrohult. The family moved into the rectory from the curate's house.[16][17]
Birthplace at Råshult
Even in his early years, Linnaeus seemed to have a liking for plants, flowers in particular. Whenever
he was upset, he was given a flower, which immediately calmed him. Nils spent much time in his
garden and often showed flowers to Linnaeus and told him their names. Soon Linnaeus was given
his own patch of earth where he could grow plants. [18]
Carl's father was the first in his ancestry to adopt a permanent surname. Before that, ancestors had
used the patronymic naming system of Scandinavian countries: his father was named Ingemarsson
after his father Ingemar Bengtsson. When Nils was admitted to the University of Lund, he had to
take on a family name. He adopted the Latinate name Linnæus after a giant linden tree (or lime
tree), lind in Swedish, that grew on the family homestead. [10] This name was spelled with
the æ ligature. When Carl was born, he was named Carl Linnæus, with his father's family name. The
son also always spelled it with the æ ligature, both in handwritten documents and in publications.
[16]
Carl's patronymic would have been Nilsson, as in Carl Nilsson Linnæus. [citation needed]
Early education
Linnaeus's father began teaching him basic Latin, religion, and geography at an early age. [19] When
Linnaeus was seven, Nils decided to hire a tutor for him. The parents picked Johan Telander, a son
of a local yeoman. Linnaeus did not like him, writing in his autobiography that Telander "was better
calculated to extinguish a child's talents than develop them." [20]
Two years after his tutoring had begun, he was sent to the Lower Grammar School at Växjö in 1717.
[21]
Linnaeus rarely studied, often going to the countryside to look for plants. He reached the last year
of the Lower School when he was fifteen, which was taught by the headmaster, Daniel Lannerus,
who was interested in botany. Lannerus noticed Linnaeus's interest in botany and gave him the run
of his garden.
He also introduced him to Johan Rothman, the state doctor of Småland and a teacher
at Katedralskolan (a gymnasium) in Växjö. Also a botanist, Rothman broadened Linnaeus's interest
in botany and helped him develop an interest in medicine. [22][23] By the age of 17, Linnaeus had
become well acquainted with the existing botanical literature. He remarks in his journal that he "read
day and night, knowing like the back of my hand, Arvidh Månsson's Rydaholm Book of Herbs,
Tillandz's Flora Åboensis, Palmberg's Serta Florea Suecana, Bromelii Chloros Gothica and
Rudbeckii Hortus Upsaliensis...."[24]
Linnaeus entered the Växjö Katedralskola in 1724, where he studied
mainly Greek, Hebrew, theology and mathematics, a curriculum designed for boys preparing for the
priesthood.[25][26] In the last year at the gymnasium, Linnaeus's father visited to ask the professors how
his son's studies were progressing; to his dismay, most said that the boy would never become a
scholar. Rothman believed otherwise, suggesting Linnaeus could have a future in medicine. The
doctor offered to have Linnaeus live with his family in Växjö and to teach him physiology and botany.
Nils accepted this offer.[27][28]
University studies
Lund
Statue as a university student in Lund
Rothman showed Linnaeus that botany was a serious subject. He taught Linnaeus to classify plants
according to Tournefort's system. Linnaeus was also taught about the sexual reproduction of plants,
according to Sébastien Vaillant.[27] In 1727, Linnaeus, age 21, enrolled in Lund University in Skåne.[29]
[30]
He was registered as Carolus Linnæus, the Latin form of his full name, which he also used later
for his Latin publications.[3]
Professor Kilian Stobæus, natural scientist, physician and historian, offered Linnaeus tutoring and
lodging, as well as the use of his library, which included many books about botany. He also gave the
student free admission to his lectures.[31][32] In his spare time, Linnaeus explored the flora of Skåne,
together with students sharing the same interests. [33]
Uppsala
Pollination depicted in Praeludia Sponsaliorum Plantarum (1729)
In August 1728, Linnaeus decided to attend Uppsala University on the advice of Rothman, who
believed it would be a better choice if Linnaeus wanted to study both medicine and botany. Rothman
based this recommendation on the two professors who taught at the medical faculty at Uppsala: Olof
Rudbeck the Younger and Lars Roberg. Although Rudbeck and Roberg had undoubtedly been good
professors, by then they were older and not so interested in teaching. Rudbeck no longer gave
public lectures, and had others stand in for him. The botany, zoology, pharmacology and anatomy
lectures were not in their best state.[34] In Uppsala, Linnaeus met a new benefactor, Olof Celsius, who
was a professor of theology and an amateur botanist. [35] He received Linnaeus into his home and
allowed him use of his library, which was one of the richest botanical libraries in Sweden. [36]
In 1729, Linnaeus wrote a thesis, Praeludia Sponsaliorum Plantarum on plant sexual reproduction.
This attracted the attention of Rudbeck; in May 1730, he selected Linnaeus to give lectures at the
University although the young man was only a second-year student. His lectures were popular, and
Linnaeus often addressed an audience of 300 people. [37] In June, Linnaeus moved from Celsius's
house to Rudbeck's to become the tutor of the three youngest of his 24 children. His friendship with
Celsius did not wane and they continued their botanical expeditions. [38] Over that winter, Linnaeus
began to doubt Tournefort's system of classification and decided to create one of his own. His plan
was to divide the plants by the number of stamens and pistils. He began writing several books,
which would later result in, for example, Genera Plantarum and Critica Botanica. He also produced a
book on the plants grown in the Uppsala Botanical Garden, Adonis Uplandicus.[39]
Rudbeck's former assistant, Nils Rosén, returned to the University in March 1731 with a degree in
medicine. Rosén started giving anatomy lectures and tried to take over Linnaeus's botany lectures,
but Rudbeck prevented that. Until December, Rosén gave Linnaeus private tutoring in medicine. In
December, Linnaeus had a "disagreement" with Rudbeck's wife and had to move out of his mentor's
house; his relationship with Rudbeck did not appear to suffer. That Christmas, Linnaeus returned
home to Stenbrohult to visit his parents for the first time in about three years. His mother had
disapproved of his failing to become a priest, but she was pleased to learn he was teaching at the
University.[39][40]
Expedition to Lapland
Expedition to Lapland and Flora Lapponica
Wearing the traditional dress of the Sami people of Lapland, holding the twinflower, later known as Linnaea
borealis, that became his personal emblem. Martin Hoffman, 1737.
During a visit with his parents, Linnaeus told them about his plan to travel to Lapland; Rudbeck had
made the journey in 1695, but the detailed results of his exploration were lost in a fire seven years
afterwards. Linnaeus's hope was to find new plants, animals and possibly valuable minerals. He was
also curious about the customs of the native Sami people, reindeer-herding nomads who wandered
Scandinavia's vast tundras. In April 1732, Linnaeus was awarded a grant from the Royal Society of
Sciences in Uppsala for his journey.[41][42]
Linnaeus began his expedition from Uppsala on 12 May 1732, just before he turned 25. [43] He
travelled on foot and horse, bringing with him his journal, botanical and ornithological manuscripts
and sheets of paper for pressing plants. Near Gävle he found great quantities of Campanula
serpyllifolia, later known as Linnaea borealis, the twinflower that would become his favourite.[44] He
sometimes dismounted on the way to examine a flower or rock[45] and was particularly interested
in mosses and lichens, the latter a main part of the diet of the reindeer, a common and economically
important animal in Lapland.[46]
Linnaeus travelled clockwise around the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia, making major inland incursions
from Umeå, Luleå and Tornio. He returned from his six-month-long, over 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi)
expedition in October, having gathered and observed many plants, birds and rocks. [47][48][49] Although
Lapland was a region with limited biodiversity, Linnaeus described about 100 previously unidentified
plants. These became the basis of his book Flora Lapponica.[50][51] However, on the expedition to
Lapland, Linnaeus used Latin names to describe organisms because he had not yet developed the
binomial system.[43]
In Flora Lapponica Linnaeus's ideas about nomenclature and classification were first used in a
practical way, making this the first proto-modern Flora.[52] The account covered 534 species, used the
Linnaean classification system and included, for the described species, geographical distribution and
taxonomic notes. It was Augustin Pyramus de Candolle who attributed Linnaeus with Flora
Lapponica as the first example in the botanical genre of Flora writing. Botanical historian E. L.
Greene described Flora Lapponica as "the most classic and delightful" of Linnaeus's works.[52]
It was also during this expedition that Linnaeus had a flash of insight regarding the classification of
mammals. Upon observing the lower jawbone of a horse at the side of a road he was travelling,
Linnaeus remarked: "If I only knew how many teeth and of what kind every animal had, how many
teats and where they were placed, I should perhaps be able to work out a perfectly natural system
for the arrangement of all quadrupeds."[53]
In 1734, Linnaeus led a small group of students to Dalarna. Funded by the Governor of Dalarna, the
expedition was to catalogue known natural resources and discover new ones, but also to gather
intelligence on Norwegian mining activities at Røros.[49]
Doctorate
His relations with Nils Rosén having worsened, Linnaeus accepted an invitation from Claes
Sohlberg, son of a mining inspector, to spend the Christmas holiday in Falun, where Linnaeus was
permitted to visit the mines.[54]
In April 1735, at the suggestion of Sohlberg's father, Linnaeus and Sohlberg set out for the Dutch
Republic, where Linnaeus intended to study medicine at the University of Harderwijk[55] while tutoring
Sohlberg in exchange for an annual salary. At the time, it was common for Swedes to pursue
doctoral degrees in the Netherlands, then a highly revered place to study natural history
Cities where he worked; those outside Sweden were only visited during 1735–1738.
.[56]
On the way, the pair stopped in Hamburg, where they met the mayor, who proudly showed them a
supposed wonder of nature in his possession: the taxidermied remains of a seven-headed hydra.
Linnaeus quickly discovered the specimen was a fake cobbled together from the jaws and paws of
weasels and the skins of snakes. The provenance of the hydra suggested to Linnaeus that it had
been manufactured by monks to represent the Beast of Revelation. Even at the risk of incurring the
mayor's wrath, Linnaeus made his observations public, dashing the mayor's dreams of selling the
hydra for an enormous sum. Linnaeus and Sohlberg were forced to flee from Hamburg. [57][58]
The Hamburg Hydra, from the Thesaurus (1734) of Albertus Seba
Linnaeus began working towards his degree as soon as he reached Harderwijk, a university known
for awarding degrees in as little as a week.[59] He submitted a dissertation, written back in Sweden,
entitled Dissertatio medica inauguralis in qua exhibetur hypothesis nova de febrium intermittentium
causa,[note 3] in which he laid out his hypothesis that malaria arose only in areas with clay-rich soils.
[60]
Although he failed to identify the true source of disease transmission, (i.e.,
the Anopheles mosquito),[61] he did correctly predict that Artemisia annua (wormwood) would become
a source of antimalarial medications.[60]
Within two weeks he had completed his oral and practical examinations and was awarded a doctoral
degree.[57][59]
That summer Linnaeus reunited with Peter Artedi, a friend from Uppsala with whom he had once
made a pact that should either of the two predecease the other, the survivor would finish the
decedent's work. Ten weeks later, Artedi drowned in the canals of Amsterdam, leaving behind an
unfinished manuscript on the classification of fish.[62][63]
Publishing of Systema Naturae

One of the first scientists Linnaeus met in the Netherlands was Johan Frederik Gronovius to whom
Linnaeus showed one of the several manuscripts he had brought with him from Sweden. The
manuscript described a new system for classifying plants. When Gronovius saw it, he was very
impressed, and offered to help pay for the printing. With an additional monetary contribution by the
Scottish doctor Isaac Lawson, the manuscript was published as Systema Naturae (1735).[64][65]
Linnaeus became acquainted with one of the most respected physicians and botanists in the
Netherlands, Herman Boerhaave, who tried to convince Linnaeus to make a career there.
Boerhaave offered him a journey to South Africa and America, but Linnaeus declined, stating he
would not stand the heat. Instead, Boerhaave convinced Linnaeus that he should visit the
botanist Johannes Burman. After his visit, Burman, impressed with his guest's knowledge, decided
Linnaeus should stay with him during the winter. During his stay, Linnaeus helped Burman with
his Thesaurus Zeylanicus. Burman also helped Linnaeus with the books on which he was
working: Fundamenta Botanica and Bibliotheca Botanica.[66]
George Clifford, Philip Miller, and Johann Jacob Dillenius
Leaf forms from Hortus Cliffortianus(1738)
In August 1735, during Linnaeus's stay with Burman, he met George Clifford III, a director of
the Dutch East India Company and the owner of a rich botanical garden at the estate
of Hartekamp in Heemstede. Clifford was very impressed with Linnaeus's ability to classify plants,
and invited him to become his physician and superintendent of his garden. Linnaeus had already
agreed to stay with Burman over the winter, and could thus not accept immediately. However,
Clifford offered to compensate Burman by offering him a copy of Sir Hans Sloane's Natural History of
Jamaica, a rare book, if he let Linnaeus stay with him, and Burman accepted. [67][68] On 24 September
1735, Linnaeus moved to Hartekamp to become personal physician to Clifford, and curator of
Clifford's herbarium. He was paid 1,000 florins a year, with free board and lodging. Though the
agreement was only for a winter of that year, Linnaeus practically stayed there until 1738. [69] It was
here that he wrote a book Hortus Cliffortianus, in the preface of which he described his experience
as "the happiest time of my life." (A portion of Hartekamp was declared as public garden in April
1956 by the Heemstede local authority, and was named "Linnaeushof". [70] It eventually became, as it
is claimed, the biggest playground in Europe.[71])
In July 1736, Linnaeus travelled to England, at Clifford's expense. [72] He went to London to visit Sir
Hans Sloane, a collector of natural history, and to see his cabinet,[73] as well as to visit the Chelsea
Physic Garden and its keeper, Philip Miller. He taught Miller about his new system of subdividing
plants, as described in Systema Naturae. Miller was in fact reluctant to use the new binomial
nomenclature, preferring the classifications of Joseph Pitton de Tournefort and John Ray at first.
Linnaeus, nevertheless, applauded Miller's Gardeners Dictionary,[74] The conservative Scot actually
retained in his dictionary a number of pre-Linnaean binomial signifiers discarded by Linnaeus but
which have been retained by modern botanists. He only fully changed to the Linnaean system in the
edition of The Gardeners Dictionary of 1768. Miller ultimately was impressed, and from then on
started to arrange the garden according to Linnaeus's system. [75]
Linnaeus also travelled to Oxford University to visit the botanist Johann Jacob Dillenius. He failed to
make Dillenius publicly fully accept his new classification system, though the two men remained in
correspondence for many years afterwards. Linnaeus dedicated his Critica botanica to him, as "opus
botanicum quo absolutius mundus non vidit". Linnaeus would later name a genus of tropical tree
Dillenia in his honour. He then returned to Hartekamp, bringing with him many specimens of rare
plants.[76] The next year, he published Genera Plantarum, in which he described 935 genera of
plants, and shortly thereafter he supplemented it with Corollarium Generum Plantarum, with another
sixty (sexaginta) genera.[77]
His work at Hartekamp led to another book, Hortus Cliffortianus, a catalogue of the botanical
holdings in the herbarium and botanical garden of Hartekamp. He wrote it in nine months (completed
in July 1737), but it was not published until 1738. [66] It contains the first use of the name Nepenthes,
which Linnaeus used to describe a genus of pitcher plants.[78][note 4]
Linnaeus stayed with Clifford at Hartekamp until 18 October 1737 (new style), when he left the
house to return to Sweden. Illness and the kindness of Dutch friends obliged him to stay some
months longer in Holland. In May 1738, he set out for Sweden again. On the way home, he stayed in
Paris for about a month, visiting botanists such as Antoine de Jussieu. After his return, Linnaeus
never left Sweden again.[79][80]
Return to Sweden
Wedding portrait
When Linnaeus returned to Sweden on 28 June 1738, he went to Falun, where he entered into an
engagement to Sara Elisabeth Moræa. Three months later, he moved to Stockholm to find
employment as a physician, and thus to make it possible to support a family. [81][82] Once again,
Linnaeus found a patron; he became acquainted with Count Carl Gustav Tessin, who helped him get
work as a physician at the Admiralty. [83][84] During this time in Stockholm, Linnaeus helped found
the Royal Swedish Academy of Science; he became the first Praeses in the academy by drawing of
lots.[85]
Because his finances had improved and were now sufficient to support a family, he received
permission to marry his fiancée, Sara Elisabeth Moræa. Their wedding was held 26 June 1739.
Seventeen months later, Sara gave birth to their first son, Carl. Two years later, a
daughter, Elisabeth Christina, was born, and the subsequent year Sara gave birth to Sara
Magdalena, who died when 15 days old. Sara and Linnaeus would later have four other children:
Lovisa, Sara Christina, Johannes and Sophia.[81][86]
House in Uppsala
In May 1741, Linnaeus was appointed Professor of Medicine at Uppsala University, first with
responsibility for medicine-related matters. Soon, he changed place with the other Professor of
Medicine, Nils Rosén, and thus was responsible for the Botanical Garden (which he would
thoroughly reconstruct and expand), botany and natural history, instead. In October that same year,
his wife and nine-month-old son followed him to live in Uppsala. [87]:49–50
Öland and Gotland

Ten days after he was appointed Professor, he undertook an expedition to the island provinces
of Ölandand Gotland with six students from the university, to look for plants useful in medicine. First,
they travelled to Öland and stayed there until 21 June, when they sailed to Visby in Gotland.
Linnaeus and the students stayed on Gotland for about a month, and then returned to Uppsala.
During this expedition, they found 100 previously unrecorded plants. The observations from the
expedition were later published in Öländska och Gothländska Resa, written in Swedish. Like Flora
Lapponica, it contained both zoological and botanical observations, as well as observations
concerning the culture in Öland and Gotland.[88][89]
During the summer of 1745, Linnaeus published two more books: Flora Suecica and Fauna
Suecica. Flora Suecica was a strictly botanical book, while Fauna Suecica was zoological.[81]
[90]
Anders Celsius had created the temperature scale named after him in 1742. Celsius's scale was
inverted compared to today, the boiling point at 0 °C and freezing point at 100 °C. In 1745, Linnaeus
inverted the scale to its present standard. [91]
Västergötland
In the summer of 1746, Linnaeus was once again commissioned by the Government to carry out an
expedition, this time to the Swedish province of Västergötland. He set out from Uppsala on 12 June
and returned on 11 August. On the expedition his primary companion was Erik Gustaf Lidbeck, a
student who had accompanied him on his previous journey. Linnaeus described his findings from the
expedition in the book Wästgöta-Resa, published the next year.[88][92] After returning from the journey
the Government decided Linnaeus should take on another expedition to the southernmost
province Scania. This journey was postponed, as Linnaeus felt too busy.[81]
In 1747, Linnaeus was given the title archiater, or chief physician, by the Swedish king Adolf
Frederick—a mark of great respect.[93] The same year he was elected member of the Academy of
Sciences in Berlin.[94]
Scania
In the spring of 1749, Linnaeus could finally journey to Scania, again commissioned by the
Government. With him he brought his student, Olof Söderberg. On the way to Scania, he made his
last visit to his brothers and sisters in Stenbrohult since his father had died the previous year. The
expedition was similar to the previous journeys in most aspects, but this time he was also ordered to
find the best place to grow walnut and Swedish whitebeam trees; these trees were used by the
military to make rifles. The journey was successful, and Linnaeus's observations were published the
next year in Skånska Resa.[95][96]
Rector of Uppsala University
Summer home at his Hammarby estate
The Linnaean Garden in Uppsala
In 1750, Linnaeus became rector of Uppsala University, starting a period where natural sciences
were esteemed.[81] Perhaps the most important contribution he made during his time at Uppsala was
to teach; many of his students travelled to various places in the world to collect botanical samples.
Linnaeus called the best of these students his "apostles". [87]:56–57 His lectures were normally very
popular and were often held in the Botanical Garden. He tried to teach the students to think for
themselves and not trust anybody, not even him. Even more popular than the lectures were the
botanical excursions made every Saturday during summer, where Linnaeus and his students
explored the flora and fauna in the vicinity of Uppsala. [97]
Philosophia Botanica
Linnaeus published Philosophia Botanica in 1751.[98] The book contained a complete survey of the
taxonomy system he had been using in his earlier works. It also contained information of how to
keep a journal on travels and how to maintain a botanical garden. [99]
Nutrix Noverca
Cover of Nutrix Noverca(1752)
During Linnaeus's time it was normal for upper class women to have wet nurses for their babies.
Linnaeus joined an ongoing campaign to end this practice in Sweden and promote breast-feeding by
mothers. In 1752 Linnaeus published a thesis along with Frederick Lindberg, a physician student,
[100]
based on their experiences.[101] In the tradition of the period, this dissertation was essentially an
idea of the presiding reviewer (prases) expounded upon by the student. Linnaeus's dissertation was
translated into French by J.E. Gilibert in 1770 as La Nourrice marâtre, ou Dissertation sur les suites
funestes du nourrisage mercénaire. Linnaeus suggested that children might absorb the personality
of their wet nurse through the milk. He admired the child care practices of the Lapps [102] and pointed
out how healthy their babies were compared to those of Europeans who employed wet nurses. He
compared the behaviour of wild animals and pointed out how none of them denied their newborns
their breastmilk.[102] It is thought that his activism played a role in his choice of the term Mammalia for
the class of organisms.[103]
Species Plantarum
Species Plantarum
Linnaeus published Species Plantarum, the work which is now internationally accepted as the
starting point of modern botanical nomenclature, in 1753.[104] The first volume was issued on 24 May,
the second volume followed on 16 August of the same year. [note 5][106] The book contained 1,200 pages
and was published in two volumes; it described over 7,300 species.[87]:47[107] The same year the king
dubbed him knight of the Order of the Polar Star, the first civilian in Sweden to become a knight in
this order. He was then seldom seen not wearing the order's insignia. [108]
Ennoblement
His coat of arms
Linnaeus felt Uppsala was too noisy and unhealthy, so he bought two farms in 1758: Hammarby and
Sävja. The next year, he bought a neighbouring farm, Edeby. He spent the summers with his family
at Hammarby; initially it only had a small one-storey house, but in 1762 a new, larger main building
was added.[96][109] In Hammarby, Linnaeus made a garden where he could grow plants that could not
be grown in the Botanical Garden in Uppsala. He began constructing a museum on a hill behind
Hammarby in 1766, where he moved his library and collection of plants. A fire that destroyed about
one third of Uppsala and had threatened his residence there necessitated the move. [110]
Since the initial release of Systema Naturae in 1735, the book had been expanded and reprinted
several times; the tenth edition was released in 1758. This edition established itself as the starting
point for zoological nomenclature, the equivalent of Species Plantarum.[87]:47[111]
The Swedish King Adolf Frederick granted Linnaeus nobility in 1757, but he was not ennobled until
1761. With his ennoblement, he took the name Carl von Linné (Latinised as Carolus a Linné), 'Linné'
being a shortened and gallicised version of 'Linnæus', and the German nobiliary particle 'von'
signifying his ennoblement.[3] The noble family's coat of arms prominently features a twinflower, one
of Linnaeus's favourite plants; it was given the scientific name Linnaea borealis in his honour
by Gronovius. The shield in the coat of arms is divided into thirds: red, black and green for the three
kingdoms of nature (animal, mineral and vegetable) in Linnaean classification; in the centre is an
egg "to denote Nature, which is continued and perpetuated in ovo." At the bottom is a phrase in
Latin, borrowed from the Aeneid, which reads "Famam extendere factis": we extend our fame by our
deeds.[87]:62[112][113] Linnaeus inscribed this personal motto in books that were gifted to him by friends. [114]
After his ennoblement, Linnaeus continued teaching and writing. His reputation had spread over the
world, and he corresponded with many different people. For example, Catherine II of Russia sent
him seeds from her country.[115] He also corresponded with Giovanni Antonio Scopoli, "the Linnaeus
of the Austrian Empire", who was a doctor and a botanist in Idrija, Duchy of
Carniola (nowadays Slovenia).[116] Scopoli communicated all of his research, findings, and
descriptions (for example of the olm and the dormouse, two little animals hitherto unknown to
Linnaeus). Linnaeus greatly respected Scopoli and showed great interest in his work. He named a
solanaceous genus, Scopolia, the source of scopolamine, after him, but because of the great
distance between them, they never met. [117][118]
Final years
Linnaeus was relieved of his duties in the Royal Swedish Academy of Science in 1763, but
continued his work there as usual for more than ten years after. [81] He stepped down as rector at
Uppsala University in December 1772, mostly due to his declining health. [80][119]
Linnaeus's last years were troubled by illness. He had suffered from a disease called the Uppsala
fever in 1764, but survived thanks to the care of Rosén. He developed sciatica in 1773, and the next
year, he had a stroke which partially paralysed him. [120] He suffered a second stroke in 1776, losing
the use of his right side and leaving him bereft of his memory; while still able to admire his own
writings, he could not recognise himself as their author. [121][122]
In December 1777, he had another stroke which greatly weakened him, and eventually led to his
death on 10 January 1778 in Hammarby. [87]:63[119] Despite his desire to be buried in Hammarby, he was
buried in Uppsala Cathedral on 22 January.[123]
Headstone of him and his son Carl Linnaeus the Younger

[124]
His library and collections were left to his widow Sara and their children. Joseph Banks, an English
botanist, wanted to buy the collection, but his son Carl refused and moved the collection to Uppsala.
In 1783 Carl died and Sara inherited the collection, having outlived both her husband and son. She
tried to sell it to Banks, but he was no longer interested; instead an acquaintance of his agreed to
buy the collection. The acquaintance was a 24-year-old medical student, James Edward Smith, who
bought the whole collection: 14,000 plants, 3,198 insects, 1,564 shells, about 3,000 letters and 1,600
books. Smith founded the Linnean Society of London five years later.[124][125]
The von Linné name ended with his son Carl, who never married. [6] His other son, Johannes, had
died aged 3.[126] There are over two hundred descendants of Linnaeus through two of his daughters. [6]
Apostles
Apostles of Linnaeus
Peter Forsskål was among the apostles who met a tragic fate abroad.
During Linnaeus's time as Professor and Rector of Uppsala University, he taught many devoted
students, 17 of whom he called "apostles". They were the most promising, most committed students,
and all of them made botanical expeditions to various places in the world, often with his help. The
amount of this help varied; sometimes he used his influence as Rector to grant his apostles a
scholarship or a place on an expedition.[127] To most of the apostles he gave instructions of what to
look for on their journeys. Abroad, the apostles collected and organised new plants, animals and
minerals according to Linnaeus's system. Most of them also gave some of their collection to
Linnaeus when their journey was finished.[128] Thanks to these students, the Linnaean system of
taxonomy spread through the world without Linnaeus ever having to travel outside Sweden after his
return from Holland.[129]The British botanist William T. Stearn notes without Linnaeus's new system, it
would not have been possible for the apostles to collect and organise so many new specimens.
[130]
Many of the apostles died during their expeditions.
Early expeditions
Christopher Tärnström, the first apostle and a 43-year-old pastor with a wife and children, made his
journey in 1746. He boarded a Swedish East India Company ship headed for China. Tärnström
never reached his destination, dying of a tropical fever on Côn Sơn Island the same year.
Tärnström's widow blamed Linnaeus for making her children fatherless, causing Linnaeus to prefer
sending out younger, unmarried students after Tärnström. [131] Six other apostles later died on their
expeditions, including Pehr Forsskål and Pehr Löfling.[130]
Two years after Tärnström's expedition, Finnish-born Pehr Kalm set out as the second apostle to
North America. There he spent two-and-a-half years studying the flora and fauna of Pennsylvania,
New York, New Jersey and Canada. Linnaeus was overjoyed when Kalm returned, bringing back
with him many pressed flowers and seeds. At least 90 of the 700 North American species described
in Species Plantarum had been brought back by Kalm.[132]
Cook expeditions and Japan

Apostle Daniel Solander (far left) with Joseph Banks (left, sitting) accompanied James Cook (centre) on his
journey to Australia.
Daniel Solander was living in Linnaeus's house during his time as a student in Uppsala. Linnaeus
was very fond of him, promising Solander his oldest daughter's hand in marriage. On Linnaeus's
recommendation, Solander travelled to England in 1760, where he met the English botanist Joseph
Banks. With Banks, Solander joined James Cook on his expedition to Oceania on the Endeavour in
1768–71.[133][134]Solander was not the only apostle to journey with James Cook; Anders
Sparrman followed on the Resolution in 1772–75 bound for, among other places, Oceania and
South America. Sparrman made many other expeditions, one of them to South Africa. [135]
Perhaps the most famous and successful apostle was Carl Peter Thunberg, who embarked on a
nine-year expedition in 1770. He stayed in South Africa for three years, then travelled to Japan. All
foreigners in Japan were forced to stay on the island of Dejima outside Nagasaki, so it was thus hard
for Thunberg to study the flora. He did, however, manage to persuade some of the translators to
bring him different plants, and he also found plants in the gardens of Dejima. He returned to Sweden
in 1779, one year after Linnaeus's death. [136]
Major publications
Carl Linnaeus bibliography
Systema Naturae
Title page of the 10th edition of Systema Naturæ(1758)
Main article: Systema Naturae

The first edition of Systema Naturae was printed in the Netherlands in 1735. It was a twelve-page
work.[137] By the time it reached its 10th edition in 1758, it classified 4,400 species of animals and
7,700 species of plants. People from all over the world sent their specimens to Linnaeus to be
included. By the time he started work on the 12th edition, Linnaeus needed a new invention—
the index card—to track classifications.[138]
In Systema Naturae, the unwieldy names mostly used at the time, such as "Physalis annua
ramosissima, ramis angulosis glabris, foliis dentato-serratis", were supplemented with concise and
now familiar "binomials", composed of the generic name, followed by a specific epithet—in the case
given, Physalis angulata. These binomials could serve as a label to refer to the species. Higher taxa
were constructed and arranged in a simple and orderly manner. Although the system, now known
as binomial nomenclature, was partially developed by the Bauhin brothers (see Gaspard
Bauhin and Johann Bauhin) almost 200 years earlier,[139] Linnaeus was the first to use it consistently
throughout the work, including in monospecific genera, and may be said to have popularised it within
the scientific community.
After the decline in Linnaeus's health in the early 1770s, publication of editions of Systema
Naturae went in two different directions. Another Swedish scientist, Johan Andreas Murray issued
the Regnum Vegetabile section separately in 1774 as the Systema Vegetabilium, rather confusingly
labelled the 13th edition.[140] Meanwhile a 13th edition of the entire Systema appeared in parts
between 1788 and 1793. It was through the Systema Vegetabilium that Linnaeus's work became
widely known in England, following its translation from the Latin by the Lichfield Botanical
Society as A System of Vegetables (1783–1785).[141]
Species Plantarum
Species Plantarum
Species Plantarum (or, more fully, Species Plantarum, exhibentes plantas rite cognitas, ad genera
relatas, cum differentiis specificis, nominibus trivialibus, synonymis selectis, locis natalibus,
secundum systema sexuale digestas) was first published in 1753, as a two-volume work. Its prime
importance is perhaps that it is the primary starting point of plant nomenclature as it exists today.[104]
Genera Plantarum
Main article: Genera Plantarum
Genera plantarum: eorumque characteres naturales secundum numerum, figuram, situm, et
proportionem omnium fructificationis partium was first published in 1737, delineating plant genera.
Around 10 editions were published, not all of them by Linnaeus himself; the most important is the
1754 fifth edition.[142] In it Linnaeus divided the plant Kingdom into 24 classes. One, Cryptogamia,
included all the plants with concealed reproductive parts (algae, fungi, mosses and liverworts and
ferns).[143]
Philosophia Botanica
Main article: Philosophia Botanica
Philosophia Botanica (1751)[98] was a summary of Linnaeus's thinking on plant classification and
nomenclature, and an elaboration of the work he had previously published in Fundamenta
Botanica (1736) and Critica Botanica (1737). Other publications forming part of his plan to reform the
foundations of botany include his Classes Plantarum and Bibliotheca Botanica: all were printed in
Holland (as were Genera Plantarum (1737) and Systema Naturae (1735)), the Philosophia being
simultaneously released in Stockholm. [144]
Collections
Linnaeus marble by Léon-Joseph Chavalliaud (1899), outside the Palm House at Sefton Park, Liverpool
At the end of his lifetime the Linnean collection in Uppsala was considered one of the finest
collections of natural history objects in Sweden. Next to his own collection he had also built up a
museum for the university of Uppsala, which was supplied by material donated by Carl
Gyllenborg (in 1744–1745), crown-prince Adolf Fredrik (in 1745), Erik Petreus (in 1746), Claes Grill
(in 1746), Magnus Lagerström (in 1748 and 1750) and Jonas Alströmer (in 1749). The relation
between the museum and the private collection was not formalised and the steady flow of material
from Linnean pupils were incorporated to the private collection rather than to the museum.
[145]
Linnaeus felt his work was reflecting the harmony of nature and he said in 1754 "the earth is then
nothing else but a museum of the all-wise creator's masterpieces, divided into three chambers". He
had turned his own estate into a microcosm of that 'world museum'. [146]
In April 1766 parts of the town were destroyed by a fire and the Linnean private collection was
subsequently moved to a barn outside the town, and shortly afterwards to a single-room stone
building close to his country house at Hammarby near Uppsala. This resulted in a physical
separation between the two collections, the museum collection remained in the botanical garden of
the university. Some material which needed special care (alcohol specimens) or ample storage
space was moved from the private collection to the museum.
In Hammarby the Linnean private collections suffered seriously from damp and the depredations by
mice and insects. Carl von Linné's son (Carl Linnaeus) inherited the collections in 1778 and retained
them until his own death in 1783. Shortly after Carl von Linné's death his son confirmed that mice
had caused "horrible damage" to the plants and that also moths and mould had caused considerable
damage.[147] He tried to rescue them from the neglect they had suffered during his father's later years,
and also added further specimens. This last activity however reduced rather than augmented the
scientific value of the original material.
In 1784 the young medical student James Edward Smith purchased the entire specimen collection,
library, manuscripts, and correspondence of Carl Linnaeus from his widow and daughter and
transferred the collections to London.[148][15]:342–357 Not all material in Linné's private collection was
transported to England. Thirty-three fish specimens preserved in alcohol were not sent and were
later lost.[149]
In London Smith tended to neglect the zoological parts of the collection, he added some specimens
and also gave some specimens away.[150]Over the following centuries the Linnean collection in
London suffered enormously at the hands of scientists who studied the collection, and in the process
disturbed the original arrangement and labels, added specimens that did not belong to the original
series and withdrew precious original type material. [147]
Much material which had been intensively studied by Linné in his scientific career belonged to the
collection of Queen Lovisa Ulrika (1720–1782) (in the Linnean publications referred to as "Museum
Ludovicae Ulricae" or "M. L. U."). This collection was donated by his grandson King Gustav IV
Adolf (1778–1837) to the museum in Uppsala in 1804. Another important collection in this respect
was that of her husband King Adolf Fredrik(1710–1771) (in the Linnean sources known as "Museum
Adolphi Friderici" or "Mus. Ad. Fr."), the wet parts (alcohol collection) of which were later donated to
the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and is today housed in the Swedish Museum of Natural
History at Stockholm. The dry material was transferred to Uppsala. [145]
System of taxonomy
Table of the Animal Kingdom (Regnum Animale) from the 1st edition of Systema Naturæ (1735)
Main article: Linnaean taxonomy
The establishment of universally accepted conventions for the naming of organisms was Linnaeus's
main contribution to taxonomy—his work marks the starting point of consistent use of binomial
nomenclature.[151] During the 18th century expansion of natural history knowledge, Linnaeus also
developed what became known as the Linnaean taxonomy; the system of scientific
classification now widely used in the biological sciences. A previous zoologist Rumphius (1627–
1702) had more or less approximated the Linnaean system and his material contributed to the later
development of the binomial scientific classification by Linnaeus. [152]
The Linnaean system classified nature within a nested hierarchy, starting with three kingdoms.
Kingdoms were divided into classes and they, in turn, into orders, and thence into genera
(singular: genus), which were divided into species (singular: species).[153] Below the rank of species
he sometimes recognised taxa of a lower (unnamed) rank; these have since acquired standardised
names such as variety in botany and subspecies in zoology. Modern taxonomy includes a rank
of family between order and genus and a rank of phylum between kingdom and class that were not
present in Linnaeus's original system.[154]
Linnaeus's groupings were based upon shared physical characteristics, and not simply upon
differences.[154] Of his higher groupings, only those for animals are still in use, and the groupings
themselves have been significantly changed since their conception, as have the principles behind
them. Nevertheless, Linnaeus is credited with establishing the idea of a hierarchical structure of
classification which is based upon observable characteristics and intended to reflect natural
relationships.[151][155] While the underlying details concerning what are considered to be scientifically
valid "observable characteristics" have changed with expanding knowledge (for example, DNA
sequencing, unavailable in Linnaeus's time, has proven to be a tool of considerable utility for
classifying living organisms and establishing their evolutionary relationships), the fundamental
principle remains sound.
Human taxonomy
Human taxonomy § History
Linnaeus's system of taxonomy was especially noted as the first to include humans (Homo)
taxonomically grouped with apes (Simia), under the header of Anthropomorpha. German
biologist Ernst Haeckel speaking in 1907 noted this as the "most important sign of Linnaeus's
genius".[156]
Linnaeus classified humans among the primates beginning with the first edition of Systema Naturae.
[157]
During his time at Hartekamp, he had the opportunity to examine several monkeys and noted
similarities between them and man.[87]:173–174 He pointed out both species basically have the same
anatomy; except for speech, he found no other differences. [158][note 6] Thus he placed man and monkeys
under the same category, Anthropomorpha, meaning "manlike."[159] This classification received
criticism from other biologists such as Johan Gottschalk Wallerius, Jacob Theodor Klein and Johann
Georg Gmelin on the ground that it is illogical to describe man as human-like. [160] In a letter to Gmelin
from 1747, Linnaeus replied: [161][note 7]
It does not please [you] that I've placed Man among the Anthropomorpha, perhaps because of the
term 'with human form',[note 8] but man learns to know himself. Let's not quibble over words. It will be
the same to me whatever name we apply. But I seek from you and from the whole world a generic
difference between man and simian that [follows] from the principles of Natural History. [note 9] I
absolutely know of none. If only someone might tell me a single one! If I would have called man a
simian or vice versa, I would have brought together all the theologians against me. Perhaps I ought
to have by virtue of the law of the discipline.
Detail from the sixth edition of Systema Naturae (1748) describing Ant[h]ropomorpha with a division
between Homo and Simia
The theological concerns were twofold: first, putting man at the same level as monkeys or apes
would lower the spiritually higher position that man was assumed to have in the great chain of being,
and second, because the Bible says man was created in the image of God[162] (theomorphism), if
monkeys/apes and humans were not distinctly and separately designed, that would mean monkeys
and apes were created in the image of God as well. This was something many could not accept.
[163]
The conflict between world views that was caused by asserting man was a type of animal would
simmer for a century until the much greater, and still ongoing, creation–evolution controversy began
in earnest with the publication of On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin in 1859.
After such criticism, Linnaeus felt he needed to explain himself more clearly. The 10th edition
of Systema Naturae introduced new terms, including Mammalia and Primates, the latter of which
would replace Anthropomorpha[164] as well as giving humans the full binomial Homo sapiens.[165] The
new classification received less criticism, but many natural historians still believed he had demoted
humans from their former place of ruling over nature and not being a part of it. Linnaeus believed
that man biologically belongs to the animal kingdom and had to be included in it. [166] In his book Dieta
Naturalis, he said, "One should not vent one's wrath on animals, Theology decree that man has
a soul and that the animals are mere 'aoutomata mechanica,' but I believe they would be better
advised that animals have a soul and that the difference is of nobility." [167]
Anthropomorpha, from the 1760 dissertation by C. E. Hoppius[168]

1. Troglodyta Bontii, 2. Lucifer Aldrovandi, 3. Satyrus Tulpii, 4. Pygmaeus Edwardi
Linnaeus added a second species to the genus Homo in Systema Naturae based on a figure and

description by Jacobus Bontius from a 1658 publication: Homo troglodytes ("caveman")[169][170] and
published a third in 1771: Homo lar.[171] Swedish historian Gunnar Broberg states that the new human
species Linnaeus described were actually simians or native people clad in skins to frighten colonial
settlers, whose appearance had been exaggerated in accounts to Linnaeus. [172]
In early editions of Systema Naturae, many well-known legendary creatures were included such as
the phoenix, dragon, manticore, and satyrus,[173][note 10] which Linnaeus collected into the catch-all
category Paradoxa. Broberg thought Linnaeus was trying to offer a natural explanation and
demystify the world of superstition.[174] Linnaeus tried to debunk some of these creatures, as he had
with the hydra; regarding the purported remains of dragons, Linnaeus wrote that they were either
derived from lizards or rays.[175]For Homo troglodytes he asked the Swedish East India Company to
search for one, but they did not find any signs of its existence. [176] Homo lar has since been
reclassified as Hylobates lar, the lar gibbon.[177]
See also: Race (human categorisation)
In the first edition of Systema Naturae, Linnaeus subdivided the human species into
four varieties based on continent and[dubious – discuss] skin colour: "Europæus albus" (white European),
"Americanus rubescens" (red American), "Asiaticus fuscus" (brown Asian) and "Africanus niger"
(black African).[178] In the tenth edition of Systema Naturae he further detailed phenotypical
characteristics for each variety, based on the concept of the four temperaments from classical
antiquity,[179][dubious – discuss] and changed the description of Asians' skin tone to "luridus" (yellow).
[180]
Additionally, Linnaeus created a wastebasket taxon "monstrosus" for "wild and monstrous
humans, unknown groups, and more or less abnormal people". [181]
In 1959, W. T. Stearn designated Linnaeus to be the lectotype of H. sapiens.[182][183][184]
Influences and economic beliefs
Statue on University of Chicago campus
Linnaeus's applied science was inspired not only by the instrumental utilitarianism general to the
early Enlightenment, but also by his adherence to the older economic doctrine of Cameralism.
[185]
Additionally, Linnaeus was a state interventionist. He supported tariffs, levies, export bounties,
quotas, embargoes, navigation acts, subsidised investment capital, ceilings on wages, cash grants,
state-licensed producer monopolies, and cartels.[186]
Commemoration
1907 celebration in Råshult
Main article: Commemoration of Carl Linnaeus

Anniversaries of Linnaeus's birth, especially in centennial years, have been marked by major
celebrations.[187] Linnaeus has appeared on numerous Swedish postage stamps and banknotes.
[187]
There are numerous statues of Linnaeus in countries around the world. The Linnean Society of
London has awarded the Linnean Medal for excellence in botany or zoology since 1888. Following
approval by the Riksdag of Sweden, Växjö University and Kalmar College merged on 1 January
2010 to become Linnaeus University.[188] Other things named after Linnaeus include the twinflower
genus Linnaea, the crater Linné on the Earth's moon, a street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the
cobalt sulfide mineral Linnaeite.
Commentary
Andrew Dickson White wrote in A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in
Christendom (1896):
Linnaeus ... was the most eminent naturalist of his time, a wide observer, a close thinker; but the
atmosphere in which he lived and moved and had his being was saturated with biblical theology, and
this permeated all his thinking. ... Toward the end of his life he timidly advanced the hypothesis that
all the species of one genus constituted at the creation one species; and from the last edition of
his Systema Naturæ he quietly left out the strongly orthodox statement of the fixity of each species,
which he had insisted upon in his earlier works. ... warnings came speedily both from the Catholic
and Protestant sides.[189]
The mathematical PageRank algorithm, applied to 24 multilingual Wikipedia editions in 2014,

published in PLOS ONE in 2015, placed Carl Linnaeus at the top historical figure,
above Jesus, Aristotle, Napoleon, and Adolf Hitler (in that order).[190][191]
Standard author abbreviation

The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate this person as the author
when citing a botanical name.[192]
Works by Linnaeus
 Linnaeus, Carolus (1735). Systema naturae, sive regna tria naturae systematice proposita
per classes, ordines, genera, & species. Leiden: Haak. pp. 1–12.
 Linnaeus, Carolus; Hendrik Engel; Maria Sara Johanna Engel-Ledeboer (1964)
[1735]. Systema Naturae (facsimile of the 1st ed.). Nieuwkoop, Netherlands: B. de
Graaf. OCLC 460298195.
 Linnaeus, Carl (1755) [1751]. Philosophia botanica: in qua explicantur fundamenta botanica
cum definitionibus partium, exemplis terminorum, observationibus rariorum, adiectis figuris
aeneis. originally published simultaneously by R. Kiesewetter (Stockholm) and Z. Chatelain
(Amsterdam). Vienna: Joannis Thomae Trattner. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
 Linnaeus, C. (1753). Species Plantarum
 Linnaeus, Carolus (1758). Systema naturæ per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes,
ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. 1 (10th ed.).
Stockholm: Laurentius Salvius. pp. [1–4], 1–824.
 Linné, Carl von (1774). Murray, Johann Andreas, ed. Systema vegetabilium (13th edition of
Systema Naturae) (2 vols.). Göttingen: Typis et impensis Jo. Christ. Dieterich. Retrieved 24
February 2015.
 Linné, Carl von (1785) [1774]. Systema vegetabilium (13th edition of Systema
Naturae) [A System of Vegetables 2 vols. 1783–1785]. Lichfield: Lichfield Botanical Society.
Retrieved 24 February 2015.
 Linnaeus, Carolus (1771). Mantissa plantarum altera generum editionis VI et specierum
editionis II. Stockholm: Laurentius Salvius. pp. [1–7], 144–588.
Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (/ˈʃvɑːrtsnɛɡər/;[1][a] German: [ˈaɐ̯nɔlt ˈʃvaɐ̯tsn̩ˌʔɛɡɐ]; born July 30,
1947- 2010) is an Austrian-American actor, filmmaker, businessman, author, , activist, politician, and
former professional bodybuilder and powerlifter. [2] He served as the 38th Governor of California, from
2003 to 2011.
Schwarzenegger began lifting weights at the age of 15. He won the Mr. Universe title at age 20 and
went on to win the Mr. Olympia contest seven times, remaining a prominent presence in
bodybuilding and writing many books and articles on the sport. The Arnold Sports Festival,
considered the second most important professional bodybuilding event in recent years [3], is named
after him. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest bodybuilders of all-time, as well as the
sport's most charismatic ambassador. [4]
Schwarzenegger gained worldwide fame as a Hollywood action film icon. His breakthrough film was
the sword-and-sorcery epic Conan the Barbarian in 1982, a box-office hit that resulted in a sequel.
[5]
In 1984, he appeared in the title roleof James Cameron's critically and commercially
successful science-fiction thriller film The Terminator. He subsequently played a similar Terminator
character in most of the franchise's later installments, Terminator 2: Judgment
Day (1991), Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), and Terminator Genisys (2015).[5][6][7] He has
appeared in a number of other successful films, such as Commando (1985), The Running
Man (1987), Predator (1987), Twins (1988), Total Recall(1990), Kindergarten Cop (1990), and True
Lies (1994).
Schwarzenegger married Maria Shriver, a niece of the 35th U.S. President John F. Kennedy and
daughter of the 1972 Democratic vice presidential candidate and former Ambassador to
France Sargent Shriver, in 1986. They separated in 2011 after he admitted to having fathered a child
with another woman in 1997
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Schwarzenegger in 2017
38th Governor of California
In office
.[8]
As a Republican, Schwarzenegger was first elected on October 7, 2003, in a special recall
election to replace then-Governor Gray Davis. He was sworn in on November 17, to serve the
remainder of Davis' term. He was then re-elected in the 2006 California gubernatorial election, to
serve a full term as governor.[9] In 2011, he completed his second term as governor and returned to
acting. Schwarzenegger was nicknamed "the Austrian Oak" in his bodybuilding days, "Arnie" or
"Schwarzy" during his acting career, and "The Governator" (a portmanteau of "Governor" and
"Terminator") during his political career.
Early life
Schwarzenegger's birthplace
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger was born on July 30, 1947, in Thal, Styria,[10] to Aurelia (née Jadrny;
1922–1998) and Gustav Schwarzenegger (1907–1972). His father was the local chief of police and
had served in World War II as a Hauptfeldwebel after voluntarily joining the Nazi Party in 1938,
[11]
was wounded during the battle of Stalingrad,[12] but was discharged in 1943 following a bout
of malaria. He married Schwarzenegger's mother on October 20, 1945; he was 38 and she was 23.
According to Arnold Schwarzenegger, his parents were very strict: "Back then in Austria it was a
very different world ... if we did something bad or we disobeyed our parents, the rod was not
spared."[13] He grew up in a Catholic family who attended Mass every Sunday.[14][15]
Gustav had a preference for his elder son, Meinhard, over Arnold. [16] His favoritism was "strong and
blatant", which stemmed from unfounded suspicion that Arnold was not his biological child.
[17]
Schwarzenegger has said that his father had "no patience for listening or understanding your
problems."[14] He had a good relationship with his mother and kept in touch with her until her death.
[18]
In later life, he commissioned the Simon Wiesenthal Center to research his father's wartime
record, which came up with no evidence of Gustav being involved in atrocities, despite his
membership in the Nazi Party and Sturmabteilung (SA).[16]Gustav's background received wide press
attention during the 2003 California recall campaign.[19]
At school, Schwarzenegger was reportedly academically average, but stood out for his "cheerful,
good-humored, and exuberant" character.[14] Money was a problem in their household;
Schwarzenegger recalled that one of the highlights of his youth was when the family bought a
refrigerator.[17] As a boy, he played several sports, heavily influenced by his father. [14] He picked up his
first barbell in 1960, when his soccer coach took his team to a local gym.[10] At the age of 14, he
chose bodybuilding over soccer as a career.[5][6] He later said, "I actually started weight training when
I was 15, but I'd been participating in sports, like soccer, for years, so I felt that although I was slim, I
was well-developed, at least enough so that I could start going to the gym and start olympic
lifting."[13] However, his official website biography claims that "at 14, he started an intensive training
program with Dan Farmer, studied psychology at 15 (to learn more about the power of mind over
body) and at 17, officially started his competitive career." [20] During a speech in 2001, he said, "My
own plan formed when I was 14 years old. My father had wanted me to be a police officer like he
was. My mother wanted me to go to trade school." [21]
Schwarzenegger took to visiting a gym in Graz, where he also frequented the local movie theaters to
see bodybuilding idols such as Reg Park, Steve Reeves, and Johnny Weissmuller on the big screen.
[13]
When Reeves died in 2000, Schwarzenegger fondly remembered him: "As a teenager, I grew up
with Steve Reeves. His remarkable accomplishments allowed me a sense of what was possible
when others around me didn't always understand my dreams. Steve Reeves has been part of
everything I've ever been fortunate enough to achieve." In 1961, Schwarzenegger met former Mr.
Austria Kurt Marnul, who invited him to train at the gym in Graz.[10] He was so dedicated as a
youngster that he broke into the local gym on weekends, so that he could train even when it was
closed. "It would make me sick to miss a workout... I knew I couldn't look at myself in the mirror the
next morning if I didn't do it."[13] When Schwarzenegger was asked about his first movie experience
as a boy, he replied: "I was very young, but I remember my father taking me to the Austrian theaters
and seeing some newsreels. The first real movie I saw, that I distinctly remember, was a John
Wayne movie."[13]
Schwarzenegger's brother, Meinhard, died in a car crash on May 20, 1971. [10] He was driving
drunk and died instantly. Schwarzenegger did not attend his funeral. [17]Meinhard was engaged to
Erika Knapp, and they had a three-year-old son named Patrick. Schwarzenegger paid for Patrick's
education and helped him to move to the U.S.[17] Gustav died on December 13, 1972, from a stroke.
[10]
In Pumping Iron, Schwarzenegger claimed that he did not attend his father's funeral because he
was training for a bodybuilding contest. Later, he and the film's producer said this story was taken
from another bodybuilder to show the extremes some would go to for their sport and to make
Schwarzenegger's image colder to create controversy for the film. [22] However, Barbara Baker, his
first serious girlfriend, recalled that he informed her of his father's death without emotion and that he
never spoke of his brother.[23] Over time, he has given at least three versions of why he was absent
from his father's funeral.[17]
In an interview with Fortune in 2004, Schwarzenegger told how he suffered what "would now be
called child abuse" at the hands of his father: "My hair was pulled. I was hit with belts. So was the kid
next door. It was just the way it was. Many of the children I've seen were broken by their parents,
which was the German-Austrian mentality. They didn't want to create an individual. It was all about
conforming. I was one who did not conform, and whose will could not be broken. Therefore, I
became a rebel. Every time I got hit, and every time someone said, 'You can't do this,' I said, 'This is
not going to be for much longer because I'm going to move out of here. I want to be rich. I want to be
somebody.'"[11]
Schwarzenegger with President Ronald Reagan in 1984
Schwarzenegger served in the Austrian Army in 1965 to fulfill the one year of service required at the
time of all 18-year-old Austrian males.[10][20] During his army service, he won the Junior Mr. Europe
contest.[6] He went AWOL during basic training so he could take part in the competition and then
spent a week in military prison: "Participating in the competition meant so much to me that I didn't
carefully think through the consequences." He entered another bodybuilding contest in Graz, at
Steirerhof Hotel, where he placed second. He was voted "best-built man of Europe", which made
him famous in bodybuilding circles. "The Mr. Universe title was my ticket to America—the land of
opportunity, where I could become a star and get rich." [21] Schwarzenegger made his first plane trip in
1966, attending the NABBA Mr. Universe competition in London.[20] He would come in second in the
Mr. Universe competition, not having the muscle definition of American winner Chester Yorton.[20]
Charles "Wag" Bennett, one of the judges at the 1966 competition, was impressed with
Schwarzenegger and he offered to coach him. As Schwarzenegger had little money, Bennett invited
him to stay in his crowded family home above one of his two gyms in Forest Gate, London. Yorton's
leg definition had been judged superior, and Schwarzenegger, under a training program devised by
Bennett, concentrated on improving the muscle definition and power in his legs. Staying in the East
End of London helped Schwarzenegger improve his rudimentary grasp of the English language. [24]
[25]
Living with the Bennetts also changed him as a person: "Being with them made me so much more
sophisticated. When you're the age I was then, you're always looking for approval, for love, for
attention and also for guidance. At the time, I wasn't really aware of that. But now, looking back, I
see that the Bennett family fulfilled all those needs. Especially my need to be the best in the world.
To be recognized and to feel unique and special. They saw that I needed that care and attention and
love."[26]
Also in 1966, while at Bennett's home, Schwarzenegger had the opportunity to meet childhood
idol Reg Park, who became his friend and mentor. [26][27] The training paid off and, in 1967,
Schwarzenegger won the title for the first time, becoming the youngest ever Mr. Universe at the age
of 20.[20] He would go on to win the title a further three times. [6] Schwarzenegger then flew back
to Munich, where he attended a business school and worked in a health club (Rolf Putziger's gym,
where he worked and trained from 1966 to 1968), returning in 1968 to London to win his next Mr.
Universe title.[20] He frequently told Roger C. Field, his English coach and friend in Munich at that
time, "I'm going to become the greatest actor!"[28]
Schwarzenegger, who dreamed of moving to the U.S. since the age of 10, and saw bodybuilding as
the avenue through which to do so,[29] realized his dream by moving to the United States in October
1968 at the age of 21, speaking little English.[6][10] There he trained at Gold's Gym in Venice, Los
Angeles, California, under Joe Weider's supervision. From 1970 to 1974, one of Schwarzenegger's
weight training partners was Ric Drasin, a professional wrestler who designed the original Gold's
Gym logo in 1973.[30] Schwarzenegger also became good friends with professional wrestler Superstar
Billy Graham. In 1970, at age 23, he captured his first Mr. Olympia title in New York, and would go
on to win the title a total of seven times.[20]
The immigration law firm Siskind & Susser has stated that Schwarzenegger may have been
an illegal immigrant at some point in the late 1960s or early 1970s because of violations in the terms
of his visa.[31] LA Weekly would later say in 2002 that Schwarzenegger is the most famous immigrant
in America, who "overcame a thick Austrian accent and transcended the unlikely background of
bodybuilding to become the biggest movie star in the world in the 1990s". [29]
In 1977, Schwarzenegger's autobiography/weight-training guide Arnold: The Education of a
Bodybuilder became a huge success.[10] In 1977 he posed for the gay magazine After Dark.[32][33] After
taking English classes at Santa Monica College in California, he earned a bachelor's degree by
correspondence from the University of Wisconsin–Superior, in international marketing of fitness and
business administration in 1979. He got his United States citizenship in 1983.[34]
Schwarzenegger said that during this time he encountered a friend who told him he was
teaching Transcendental Meditation (TM), which prompted Schwarzenegger to reveal that he had
been struggling with anxiety for the first time in his life: "Even today, I still benefit from [the year of
TM] because I don't merge and bring things together and see everything as one big problem." [35]
Bodybuilding career
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Bodybuilder
As entrant to the 1974 Mr. Olympia competition at Madison
Square Garden
Personal info
Nickname The Austrian Oak
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[20]
235 lb (107 kg) (contest)

Weight
260 lb (118 kg) (off-season)
Professional career
Pro-debut NABBA Mr. Universe, 1968
Best win IFBB Mr. Olympia, 1970–1975, 1980, Seven
Times
Predecessor Sergio Oliva ('69), Frank Zane('79)
Successor Franco Columbu ('76, '81)

Active Retired 1980
Competition record
Men's bodybuilding
Representing Austria
Mr Universe (amateur)
1st 1967
Mr Universe (pro)
1st 1968
1st 1969
1st 1970
Mr. Olympia
2nd 1969
1st 1970
1st 1971
1st 1972
1st 1973
1st 1974
1st 1975
1st 1980
Powerlifting[36]
International Powerlifting Championships
1st 1966 +80 kg
German Powerlifting Championships
2nd 1967 +80 kg
1st 1968 +80 kg
Graz-Paradise Keller Powerlifting Championships
2nd 1967 +80 kg
Men's Weightlifting[36]
Styrian Junior Weightlifting Championships
1st 1964
German Austrian Weightlifting Championships
1st 1965
Schwarzenegger is considered among the most important figures in the history of bodybuilding [3], and
his legacy is commemorated in the Arnold Classic annual bodybuilding competition. He has
remained a prominent face in bodybuilding long after his retirement, in part because of his ownership
of gyms and fitness magazines. He has presided over numerous contests and awards shows.
For many years, he wrote a monthly column for the bodybuilding magazines Muscle &
Fitness and Flex. Shortly after being elected governor, he was appointed the executive editor of both
magazines, in a largely symbolic capacity. The magazines agreed to donate $250,000 a year to the
Governor's various physical fitness initiatives. When the deal, including the contract that gave
Schwarzenegger at least $1 million a year, was made public in 2005, many criticized it as being
a conflict of interest since the governor's office made decisions concerning regulation of dietary
supplements in California.[37] Consequently, Schwarzenegger relinquished the executive editor role in
2005.[37] American Media Inc., which owns Muscle & Fitness and Flex, announced in March 2013 that
Schwarzenegger had accepted their renewed offer to be executive editor of the magazines. [37]
One of the first competitions he won was the Junior Mr. Europe contest in 1965. [10] He won Mr.
Europe the following year, at age 19.[10][20] He would go on to compete in many bodybuilding contests,
and win most of them. His bodybuilding victories included five Mr. Universe wins
(4 – NABBA [England], 1 – IFBB [USA]), and seven Mr. Olympia wins, a record which would stand
until Lee Haney won his eighth consecutive Mr. Olympia title in 1991.
Schwarzenegger continues to work out. When asked about his personal training during the
2011 Arnold Classic he said that he was still working out a half an hour with weights every day. [38]
Powerlifting/weightlifting
During Schwarzenegger's early years in bodybuilding, he also competed in several Olympic
weightlifting and powerliftingcontests. Schwarzenegger won two weightlifting contests in 1964 and
1965, as well as two powerlifting contests in 1966 and 1968. [36]
In 1967, Schwarzenegger won the Munich stone-lifting contest, in which a stone weighing 508
German pounds (254 kg / 560 lbs.) is lifted between the legs while standing on two footrests.
Personal records
 Clean and press – 264 lb (120 kg)[36]

 Snatch – 243 lb (110 kg)[36]
 Clean and jerk – 298 lb (135 kg)[36]
 Squat – 545 lb (247 kg)[36]
 Bench press – 520 lb (240 kg)[39][40]
 Deadlift – 710 lb (320 kg)[36]
Schwarzenegger, pictured with 1987 world champion American Karyn Marshall, presenting awards at the USA
Weightlifting Hall of Fame in 2011 in Columbus, Ohio
Mr. Olympia
Schwarzenegger's goal was to become the greatest bodybuilder in the world, which meant
becoming Mr. Olympia.[10][20] His first attempt was in 1969, when he lost to three-time champion Sergio
Oliva. However, Schwarzenegger came back in 1970 and won the competition, making him the
youngest ever Mr. Olympia at the age of 23, a record he still holds to this day. [20]
He continued his winning streak in the 1971–74 competitions. [20] In 1975, Schwarzenegger was once
again in top form, and won the title for the sixth consecutive time, [20] beating Franco Columbu. After
the 1975 Mr. Olympia contest, Schwarzenegger announced his retirement from professional
bodybuilding.[20]
Months before the 1975 Mr. Olympia contest, filmmakers George Butler and Robert Fiore persuaded
Schwarzenegger to compete, in order to film his training in the bodybuilding documentary
called Pumping Iron. Schwarzenegger had only three months to prepare for the competition, after
losing significant weight to appear in the film Stay Hungry with Jeff Bridges. Although significantly
taller and heavier, Lou Ferrigno proved not to be a threat, and a lighter-than-usual Schwarzenegger
convincingly won the 1975 Mr. Olympia.
Schwarzenegger came out of retirement, however, to compete in the 1980 Mr. Olympia.
[10]
Schwarzenegger was training for his role in Conan, and he got into such good shape because of
the running, horseback riding and sword training, that he decided he wanted to win the Mr. Olympia
contest one last time. He kept this plan a secret in the event that a training accident would prevent
his entry and cause him to lose face. Schwarzenegger had been hired to provide color
commentary for network television when he announced at the eleventh hour that, while he was
there, "Why not compete?" Schwarzenegger ended up winning the event with only seven weeks of
preparation. Having being declared Mr. Olympia for a seventh time, Schwarzenegger then officially
retired from competition. This victory (subject of the documentary "The Comeback") was highly
controversial, though, as fellow competitors and many observers felt that his lack of muscle mass
(especially in his thighs[41]) and subpar conditioning shouldn't have allowed him to come ahead of a
very competitive lineup that year[3]; Mike Mentzer in particular felt cheated and withdrew from
competitive bodybuilding after that contest[42][43].
Steroid use
Schwarzenegger has admitted to using performance-enhancing anabolic steroids while they were
legal, writing in 1977 that "steroids were helpful to me in maintaining muscle size while on a strict
diet in preparation for a contest. I did not use them for muscle growth, but rather for muscle
maintenance when cutting up."[44] He has called the drugs "tissue building".[45]
In 1999, Schwarzenegger sued Dr. Willi Heepe, a German doctor who publicly predicted his early
death on the basis of a link between his steroid use and his later heart problems. As the doctor had
never examined him personally, Schwarzenegger collected a US$10,000 libel judgment against him
in a German court.[46] In 1999, Schwarzenegger also sued and settled with Globe, a U.S. tabloid
which had made similar predictions about the bodybuilder's future health. [47]
List of competitions [48]
Year Competition Location Result and notes
196
Junior Mr. Europe Germany 1st
5
196
Best Built Man of Europe Germany 1st
6
196
Mr. Europe Germany 1st
6
196 International Powerlifting

Germany 1st
6 Championship
196
NABBA Mr. Universe amateur London 2nd to Chet Yorton
6
196
NABBA Mr. Universe amateur London 1st
7
196 NABBA Mr. Universe

London 1st
8 professional
196 German Powerlifting

Germany 1st
8 Championship
196
IFBB Mr. International Mexico 1st
8
196
IFBB Mr. Universe Florida 2nd to Frank Zane
8
196
IFBB Mr. Universe amateur New York 1st
9

London 1st
9 professional
196 Mr. Olympia New York 2nd to Sergio Oliva

9

London 1st (defeated his idol Reg Park)
0 professional
197 1st (defeated Sergio Oliva for the first

AAU Mr. World Columbus, Ohio
0 time)
197
Mr. Olympia New York 1st
0
197
Mr. Olympia Paris 1st
1
197
Mr. Olympia Essen, Germany 1st
2
197
3
197
4
197 Pretoria, South 1st (subject of the

Mr. Olympia
5 Africa documentary Pumping Iron)
198 1st (subject of the documentary The

Mr. Olympia Sydney, Australia
0 Comeback)
Competitive stats [49]
 Height: 6'2" (188 cm)

 Contest weight: 235 lb (107 kg) — the lightest in 1980 Mr. Olympia: around 225 pounds
(102 kg), the heaviest in 1974 Mr. Olympia: around 250 pounds (113 kg)[50][41]
 Off-season weight: 260 lb (118 kg)
 Chest: 57 in (140 cm)
 Waist: 34 in (86 cm)
 Arms: 22 in (56 cm)
 Thighs: 28.5 in (72 cm)
 Calves: 20 in (51 cm)
Acting career
Early roles
Schwarzenegger wanted to move from bodybuilding into acting, finally achieving it when he was
chosen to play the role of Hercules in 1969's Hercules in New York. Credited under the stage
name "Arnold Strong", his accent in the film was so thick that his lines were dubbed after production.
[6]
His second film appearance was as a deaf-mute mob hitman in The Long Goodbye (1973), which
was followed by a much more significant part in the film Stay Hungry (1976), for which he won
the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor. Schwarzenegger has discussed his early
struggles in developing his acting career: "It was very difficult for me in the beginning – I was told by
agents and casting people that my body was 'too weird', that I had a funny accent, and that my name
was too long. You name it, and they told me I had to change it. Basically, everywhere I turned, I was
told that I had no chance."[13]
Schwarzenegger drew attention and boosted his profile in the bodybuilding film Pumping Iron (1977),
[5][6]
elements of which were dramatized; in 1991, he purchased the rights to the film, its outtakes, and
associated still photography. [51] In 1977, he made guest appearances in single episodes of
the ABC sitcom The San Pedro Beach Bums and the ABC police procedural The Streets of San
Francisco. Schwarzenegger auditioned for the title role of The Incredible Hulk, but did not win the
role because of his height. Later, Lou Ferrigno got the part of Dr. David Banner's alter ego.
Schwarzenegger appeared with Kirk Douglas and Ann-Margret in the 1979 comedy The Villain. In
1980, he starred in a biographical film of the 1950s actress Jayne Mansfield as Mansfield's
husband, Mickey Hargitay.
Action superstar
Schwarzenegger's breakthrough film was the sword-and-sorcery epic Conan the Barbarian in 1982,
which was a box-office hit.[5] This was followed by a sequel, Conan the Destroyer, in 1984, although it
was not as successful as its predecessor.[52] In 1983, Schwarzenegger starred in the promotional
video, Carnival in Rio. In 1984, he made his first appearance as the eponymous character, and what
some would say was his acting career's signature role, in James Cameron's science fiction thriller
filmThe Terminator.[5][6][7] Following this, Schwarzenegger made Red Sonja in 1985.[52] During the
1980s, audiences had an appetite for action films, with both Schwarzenegger and Sylvester
Stallone becoming international stars.[6] Schwarzenegger's roles reflected his sense of humor,
separating him from more serious action hero films. He made a number of successful action films in
the 1980s, such as Commando (1985), Raw Deal (1986), The Running
Man (1987), Predator (1987), and Red Heat (1988).
Footprints and handprints of Arnold Schwarzenegger in front of the Grauman's Chinese Theatre, with his
catchphrase "I'll be back" written in.
Twins (1988), a comedy with Danny DeVito, also proved successful. Total Recall (1990) netted

Schwarzenegger $10 million (equivalent to $19.2 million today) and 15% of the film's gross. A
science fiction script, the film was based on the Philip K. Dickshort story "We Can Remember It for
You Wholesale". Kindergarten Cop (1990) reunited him with director Ivan Reitman, who directed him
in Twins. Schwarzenegger had a brief foray into directing, first with a 1990 episode of the TV
series Tales from the Crypt, entitled "The Switch",[53] and then with the 1992 telemovie Christmas in
Connecticut.[54] He has not directed since.
Schwarzenegger's commercial peak was his return as the title character in 1991's Terminator 2:
Judgment Day, which was the highest-grossing film of 1991. In 1993, the National Association of
Theatre Owners named him the "International Star of the Decade". [10] His next film project, the 1993
self-aware action comedy spoof Last Action Hero, was released opposite Jurassic Park, and did not
do well at the box office. His next film, the comedy drama True Lies (1994), was a popular spy film
and saw Schwarzenegger reunited with James Cameron.
That same year, the comedy Junior was released, the last of Schwarzenegger's three collaborations
with Ivan Reitman and again co-starring Danny DeVito. This film brought him his second Golden
Globe nomination, this time for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. It was followed by
the action thriller Eraser (1996), the Christmas comedy Jingle All The Way (1996), and the comic
book-based Batman & Robin (1997), in which he played the villain Mr. Freeze. This was his final film
before taking time to recuperate from a back injury. Following the critical failure of Batman & Robin,
his film career and box office prominence went into decline. He returned with the supernatural
thriller End of Days (1999), later followed by the action films The 6th Day (2000) and Collateral
Damage (2002), both of which failed to do well at the box office. In 2003, he made his third
appearance as the title character in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, which went on to earn over
$150 million domestically (equivalent to $204 million today).[55]
Arnold Schwarzenegger's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
In tribute to Schwarzenegger in 2002, Forum Stadtpark, a local cultural association, proposed plans
to build a 25-meter-tall (80 ft) Terminator statue in a park in central Graz. Schwarzenegger
reportedly said he was flattered, but thought the money would be better spent on social projects and
the Special Olympics.[56]
Retirement
His film appearances after becoming Governor of California included a three-second cameo
appearance in The Rundown, and the 2004 remake of Around the World in 80 Days. In 2005, he
appeared as himself in the film The Kid & I. He voiced Baron von Steuben in the Liberty's
Kids episode "Valley Forge". He had been rumored to be appearing in Terminator Salvation as the
original T-800; he denied his involvement,[57] but he ultimately did appear briefly via his image being
inserted into the movie from stock footage of the first Terminator movie.[58][59] Schwarzenegger
appeared in Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables, where he made a cameo appearance.
Return to acting
In January 2011, just weeks after leaving office in California, Schwarzenegger announced that he
was reading several new scripts for future films, one of them being the World War II action
drama With Wings as Eagles, written by Randall Wallace, based on a true story.[60][61]
On March 6, 2011, at the Arnold Seminar of the Arnold Classic, Schwarzenegger revealed that he
was being considered for several films, including sequels to The Terminator and remakes
of Predator and The Running Man, and that he was "packaging" a comic book character. [62] The
character was later revealed to be the Governator, star of the comic book and animated series of the
same name. Schwarzenegger inspired the character and co-developed it with Stan Lee, who would
have produced the series. Schwarzenegger would have voiced the Governator. [63][64][65][66]
On May 20, 2011, Schwarzenegger's entertainment counsel announced that all movie projects
currently in development were being halted: "Schwarzenegger is focusing on personal matters and is
not willing to commit to any production schedules or timelines." [67] On July 11, 2011, it was
announced that Schwarzenegger was considering a comeback film, despite the legal problems
related to his divorce.[68] He appeared in The Expendables 2 (2012),[69] and starred in The Last
Stand (2013), his first leading role in 10 years, and Escape Plan (2013), his first co-starring role
alongside Sylvester Stallone. He starred in Sabotage, released in March 2014, and appeared in The
Expendables 3, released in August 2014. He starred in the fifth Terminator movie Terminator
Genisys in 2015[70] and would reprise his role as Conan the Barbarian in The Legend of Conan,[71]
[72]
later renamed Conan the Conqueror.[73] However, in April 2017, producer Chris Morgan stated that
Universal had dropped the project, although there was a possibility of a TV show. The story of the
film was supposed to be set 30 years after the first, with some inspiration from Clint
Eastwood's Unforgiven.[74]
In August 2016, his filming of action-comedy Why We're Killing Gunther was temporarily interrupted
by bank robbers near filming location in Surrey, British Columbia.[75] He was announced to star and
produce in a film about the ruins of Sanxingdui called The Guest of Sanxingdui, as an ambassador.
[76]
On February 6, 2018, Amazon Studios announced they were working with Schwarzenegger to

develop a new series entitled Outrider in which he will star and executive produce. The western-
drama set in the Oklahoma Indian Territory in the late 1800s will follow a deputy (portrayed by
Schwarzenegger) who is tasked with apprehending a legendary outlaw in the wilderness but is
forced to partner with a ruthless Federal Marshal to make sure justice is properly served. The series
will also mark as Schwarzenegger's first major scripted TV role. [77]
Schwarzenegger is to return in a Terminator film on July 26, 2019. The series co-creator James
Cameron is producing the film, with Tim Miller as Director. It is another cooperation with Cameron,
who directed him previously in Terminator, Terminator 2 and True Lies. The film is planned as a
direct sequel to Terminator 2 and disregards the storyline established with Terminator 3, Terminator
Salvation and Terminator Genisys.[78][79] It will be shot in Almería.[80]
The Celebrity Apprentice

In September 2015, the media announced that Schwarzenegger was to replace Donald Trump as
host of The New Celebrity Apprentice.[81] This show, the 15th season of The Apprentice, aired during
the 2016–2017 TV season. In the show, he used the phrases "you're terminated" and "get to the
choppa", which are quotes from some of his famous roles (The Terminator and Predator,
respectively), when firing the contestants. [citation needed]
In March 2017, following repeated criticisms from Trump, Schwarzenegger announced that he would
not return for another season on the show. Schwarzenegger had reacted to Trump's latest remarks
in January 2017 via an Instagram clip:
"Hey, Donald, I have a great idea. Why don't we switch jobs? You take over TV because you're such
an expert in ratings, and I take over your job, and then people can finally sleep comfortably again." [82]
Filmography
Arnold Schwarzenegger filmography
Selected notable roles:
 Hercules in New York as Hercules (1969)

 Stay Hungry as Joe Santo (1976)
 Pumping Iron as himself (1977)
 The Villain as Handsome Stranger (1979)
 The Jayne Mansfield Story as Mickey Hargitay (1980)
 Conan the Barbarian as Conan (1982)
 Conan the Destroyer as Conan (1984)
 The Terminator as The Terminator/T-800 Model 101 (1984)
 Red Sonja as Kalidor (1985)
 Commando as John Matrix (1985)
 Raw Deal as Mark Kaminsky, a.k.a. Joseph P. Brenner (1986)
 Predator as Major Alan "Dutch" Schaeffer (1987)
 The Running Man as Ben Richards (1987)
 Red Heat as Captain Ivan Danko (1988)
 Twins as Julius Benedict (1988)
 Total Recall as Douglas Quaid/Hauser (1990)
 Kindergarten Cop as Detective John Kimble (1990)
 Terminator 2: Judgment Day as The Terminator/T-800 Model 101 (1991)
 Last Action Hero as Jack Slater / Himself (1993)
 True Lies as Harry Tasker / Harry Renquist (1994)
 Junior as Dr. Alex Hesse (1994)
 Eraser as U.S. Marshal John Kruger (1996)
 Jingle All the Way as Howard Langston (1996)
 Batman and Robin as Mr. Freeze (1997)
 End of Days as Jericho Cane (1999)
 The 6th Day as Adam Gibson / Adam Gibson Clone (2000)
 Collateral Damage as Gordy Brewer (2002)
 Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines as The Terminator/T-850 Model 101 (2003)
 Around the World in 80 Days as Prince Hapi (2004)
 The Expendables as Trench (2010)
 The Expendables 2 as Trench (2012)
 The Last Stand as Sheriff Ray Owens (2013)
 Escape Plan as Rottmayer (2013)
 Sabotage as John 'Breacher' Wharton (2014)
 The Expendables 3 as Trench (2014)
 Maggie as Wade Vogel (2015)
 Terminator Genisys as The Terminator/T-800 Model 101/ The Guardian (2015)
 Aftermath as Roman Melnik (2017)
 Killing Gunther as Gunther (2017)
 Viy 2: Journey to China as Captain Hook (2018)
 Terminator as The Terminator/T-800 Model 101 (2019)
Political career
Political career of Arnold Schwarzenegger
Early politics
Vice President Dick Cheney meets with Schwarzenegger for the first time at the White House
Schwarzenegger has been a registered Republican for many years. When he was an actor, his
political views were always well known as they contrasted with those of many other prominent
Hollywood stars, who are generally considered to be a liberaland Democratic-leaning community. At
the 2004 Republican National Convention, Schwarzenegger gave a speech and explained he was a
Republican because the Democrats of the 1960s sounded too much like Austrian socialists. [83]
I finally arrived here in 1968. What a special day it was. I remember I arrived here with empty
pockets but full of dreams, full of determination, full of desire. The presidential campaign was in full
swing. I remember watching the Nixon–Humphrey presidential race on TV. A friend of mine who
spoke German and English translated for me. I heard Humphrey saying things that sounded like
socialism, which I had just left.
But then I heard Nixon speak. He was talking about free enterprise, getting the government off your
back, lowering the taxes and strengthening the military. Listening to Nixon speak sounded more like
a breath of fresh air. I said to my friend, I said, "What party is he?" My friend said, "He's a
Republican." I said, "Then I am a Republican." And I have been a Republican ever since.
Arnold Schwarzenegger on Capitol Hill in 1991 for an event related to the President's Council on Physical
Fitness and Sports
In 1985, Schwarzenegger appeared in "Stop the Madness", an anti-drug music video sponsored by
the Reagan administration. He first came to wide public notice as a Republican during the 1988
presidential election, accompanying then-Vice President George H. W. Bush at a campaign rally.[84]
Schwarzenegger's first political appointment was as chairman of the President's Council on Physical
Fitness and Sports, on which he served from 1990 to 1993. [10] He was nominated by George H. W.
Bush, who dubbed him "Conan the Republican". He later served as chairman for the California
Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports under Governor Pete Wilson.
Between 1993 and 1994, Schwarzenegger was a Red Cross ambassador (a ceremonial role fulfilled
by celebrities), recording several television and radio public service announcements to donate blood.
In an interview with Talk magazine in late 1999, Schwarzenegger was asked if he thought of running
for office. He replied, "I think about it many times. The possibility is there because I feel it
inside."[85] The Hollywood Reporter claimed shortly after that Schwarzenegger sought to end
speculation that he might run for governor of California.[85] Following his initial comments,
Schwarzenegger said, "I'm in show business – I am in the middle of my career. Why would I go
away from that and jump into something else?"[85]
Governor of California
Arnold Schwarzenegger is a moderate Republican.[86] He says he is fiscally conservative and socially
liberal.[87] On the issue of abortion, he describes himself as pro-choice, but supports parental
notification for minors and a ban on partial-birth abortion. [88] He supported gay rights, such as
domestic partnerships, and he performed a same-sex marriage as Governor. [89]
Schwarzenegger announced his candidacy in the 2003 California recall election for Governor of
California on the August 6, 2003, episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.[6] Schwarzenegger
had the most name recognition in a crowded field of candidates, but he had never held public office
and his political views were unknown to most Californians. His candidacy immediately became
national and international news, with media outlets dubbing him the "Governator" (referring to The
Terminatormovies, see above) and "The Running Man" (the name of another one of his films), and
calling the recall election "Total Recall" (yet another movie starring Schwarzenegger).
Schwarzenegger declined to participate in several debates with other recall replacement candidates,
and appeared in only one debate on September 24, 2003. [90]
President George W. Bushmeets with Schwarzenegger after his successful election to the California
Governorship.
On October 7, 2003, the recall election resulted in Governor Gray Davis being removed from office
with 55.4% of the Yes vote in favor of a recall. Schwarzenegger was elected Governor of California
under the second question on the ballot with 48.6% of the vote to choose a successor to Davis.
Schwarzenegger defeated Democrat Cruz Bustamante, fellow Republican Tom McClintock, and
others. His nearest rival, Bustamante, received 31% of the vote. In total, Schwarzenegger won the
election by about 1.3 million votes. Under the regulations of the California Constitution, no runoff
election was required. Schwarzenegger was the second foreign-born governor of California after
Irish-born Governor John G. Downey in 1862.
Schwarzenegger was entrenched in what he considered to be his mandate in cleaning up gridlock.
Building on a catchphrase from the sketch "Hans and Franz" from Saturday Night Live (which partly
parodied his bodybuilding career), Schwarzenegger called the Democratic State politicians "girlie
men".[91]
Schwarzenegger's early victories included repealing an unpopular increase in the vehicle registration
fee as well as preventing driver's licenses being given out to illegal immigrants, but later he began to
feel the backlash when powerful state unions began to oppose his various initiatives. Key among his
reckoning with political realities was a special election he called in November 2005, in which four
ballot measures he sponsored were defeated. Schwarzenegger accepted personal responsibility for
the defeats and vowed to continue to seek consensus for the people of California. He would later
comment that "no one could win if the opposition raised 160 million dollars to defeat you". The U.S.
Supreme Court later found the public employee unions' use of compulsory fundraising during the
campaign had been illegal in Knox v. Service Employees International Union, Local 1000.[92]
Schwarzenegger with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Cisco CEO John Chambers
Schwarzenegger, against the advice of fellow Republican strategists, appointed a Democrat, Susan
Kennedy, as his Chief of Staff. He gradually moved towards a more politically moderate position,
determined to build a winning legacy with only a short time to go until the next gubernatorial election.
Schwarzenegger ran for re-election against Democrat Phil Angelides, the California State Treasurer,
in the 2006 elections, held on November 7, 2006. Despite a poor year nationally for the Republican
party, Schwarzenegger won re-election with 56.0% of the vote compared with 38.9% for Angelides,
a margin of well over 1 million votes.[93] In recent years, many commentators have seen
Schwarzenegger as moving away from the right and towards the center of the political spectrum.
After hearing a speech by Schwarzenegger at the 2006 Martin Luther King Jr. breakfast, San
Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom said that "[H]e's becoming a Democrat [... H]e's running back, not
even to the center. I would say center-left".
Some speculated that Schwarzenegger might run for the United States Senate in 2010, as his
governorship would be term-limited by that time. Such rumors turned out to be false. [94][95]
With Schwarzenegger and Senator Dianne Feinstein behind him, President George W. Bushcomments

on wildfires and firefighting efforts in California, October 2007.
Wendy Leigh, who wrote an unofficial biography on Schwarzenegger, claims he plotted his political
rise from an early age using the movie business and bodybuilding as the means to escape a
depressing home.[16] Leigh portrays Schwarzenegger as obsessed with power and quotes him as
saying, "I wanted to be part of the small percentage of people who were leaders, not the large mass
of followers. I think it is because I saw leaders use 100% of their potential – I was always fascinated
by people in control of other people."[16] Schwarzenegger has said that it was never his intention to
enter politics, but he says, "I married into a political family. You get together with them and you hear
about policy, about reaching out to help people. I was exposed to the idea of being a public servant
and Eunice and Sargent Shriver became my heroes."[29] Eunice Kennedy Shriver was the sister
of John F. Kennedy, and mother-in-law to Schwarzenegger; Sargent Shriver is husband to Eunice
and father-in-law to Schwarzenegger.
Schwarzenegger cannot run for president as he is not a natural-born citizen of the United States.
Schwarzenegger is a dual Austrian/United States citizen. [96] He has held Austrian citizenship since
birth and U.S. citizenship since becoming naturalized in 1983. Being Austrian and thus European, he
was able to win the 2007 European Voice campaigner of the year award for taking action against
climate change with the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 and plans to introduce an
emissions trading scheme with other US states and possibly with the EU. [97]
Governor Schwarzenegger during his visit to Naval Medical Center in San Diego, July 2010.
Because of his personal wealth from his acting career, Schwarzenegger did not accept his
governor's salary of $175,000 per year.[98]
Schwarzenegger's endorsement in the Republican primary of the 2008 U.S. presidential
election was highly sought; despite being good friends with candidates Rudy Giuliani and
Senator John McCain, Schwarzenegger remained neutral throughout 2007 and early 2008. Giuliani
dropped out of the presidential race on January 30, 2008, largely because of a poor showing in
Florida, and endorsed McCain. Later that night, Schwarzenegger was in the audience at a
Republican debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. The following day, he
endorsed McCain, joking, "It's Rudy's fault!" (in reference to his friendships with both candidates and
that he could not make up his mind). Schwarzenegger's endorsement was thought to be a boost for
Senator McCain's campaign; both spoke about their concerns for the environment and economy. [99]
In its April 2010 report, Progressive ethics watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in
Washington named Schwarzenegger one of 11 "worst governors" in the United States because of
various ethics issues throughout Schwarzenegger's term as governor. [100][101]
Governor Schwarzenegger played a significant role in opposing Proposition 66, a proposed
amendment of the Californian Three Strikes Law, in November 2004. This amendment would have
required the third felony to be either violent or serious to mandate a 25-years-to-life sentence. In the
last week before the ballot, Schwarzenegger launched an intensive campaign [102] against Proposition
66.[103] He stated that "it would release 26,000 dangerous criminals and rapists". [104]
Although he began his tenure as governor with record high approval ratings (as high as 65% in May
2004),[105] he left office with a record low 23%,[106] only one percent higher than that of Gray Davis,
when he was recalled in October 2003.
Death of Louis Santos
Main article: Death of Louis Santos
In May 2010, Esteban Núñez pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 16
years in prison for the death of Louis Santos. Núñez is the son of Fabian Núñez, then California
Assembly Speaker of the House and a close friend and staunch political ally of then governor
Schwarzenegger.[107][108][109][110]
As a personal favor to "a friend", just hours before he left office, and as one of his last official acts,
Schwarzenegger commuted Núñez's sentence by more than half, to seven years. [109][111][112] Against
protocol, Schwarzenegger did not inform Santos' family or the San Diego County prosecutors about
the commutation. They learned about it in a call from a reporter. [112]
The Santos family, along with the San Diego district attorney, sued to stop the commutation,
claiming that it violated Marsy's Law. In September 2012, Sacramento County superior court judge
Lloyd Connelly stated, "Based on the evidentiary records before this court involving this case, there
was an abuse of discretion...This was a distasteful commutation. It was repugnant to the bulk of the
citizenry of this state." However, Connelly ruled that Schwarzenegger remained within his executive
powers as governor.[107] Subsequently, as a direct result of the way the commutation was handled,
Governor Jerry Brown signed a bipartisan bill that allows offender's victims and their families to be
notified at least 10 days notice for any commutations. [113] Núñez was released from prison after
serving less than six years.[114]
Allegations of sexual misconduct
Code Pink protesting against Schwarzenegger
During his initial campaign for governor, allegations of sexual and personal misconduct were raised
against Schwarzenegger, dubbed "Gropegate". [115] Within the last five days before the election, news
reports appeared in the Los Angeles Timesrecounting allegations of sexual misconduct from several
individual women, six of whom eventually came forward with their personal stories. [116]
Three of the women claimed he had grabbed their breasts, a fourth said he placed his hand under
her skirt on her buttock. A fifth woman claimed Schwarzenegger tried to take off her bathing suit in a
hotel elevator, and the last said he pulled her onto his lap and asked her about a sex act. [115]
Schwarzenegger admitted that he has "behaved badly sometimes" and apologized, but also stated
that "a lot of [what] you see in the stories is not true". This came after an interview in adult
magazine Oui from 1977 surfaced, in which Schwarzenegger discussed attending sexual orgies and
using substances such as marijuana.[117] Schwarzenegger is shown smoking a marijuana joint after
winning Mr. Olympia in the 1975 documentary film Pumping Iron. In an interview with GQ magazine
in October 2007, Schwarzenegger said, "[Marijuana] is not a drug. It's a leaf. My drug was pumping
iron, trust me."[118] His spokesperson later said the comment was meant to be a joke.[118]
British television personality Anna Richardson settled a libel lawsuit in August 2006 against
Schwarzenegger, his top aide, Sean Walsh, and his publicist, Sheryl Main. [119] A joint statement read:
"The parties are content to put this matter behind them and are pleased that this legal dispute has
now been settled."[119] Richardson claimed they tried to tarnish her reputation by dismissing her
allegations that Schwarzenegger touched her breast during a press event for The 6th Day in
London.[120]She claimed Walsh and Main libeled her in a Los Angeles Times article when they
contended she encouraged his behavior.[119]
Citizenship
Schwarzenegger in 2004
Schwarzenegger became a naturalized U.S. citizen on September 17, 1983.[121] Shortly before he

gained his citizenship, he asked the Austrian authorities for the right to keep his Austrian citizenship,
as Austria does not usually allow dual citizenship. His request was granted, and he retained his
Austrian citizenship.[122] In 2005, Peter Pilz, a member of the Austrian Parliament from the Austrian
Green Party, unsuccessfully advocated for Parliament to revoke Schwarzenegger's Austrian
citizenship due to his decision not to prevent the executions of Donald Beardslee and Stanley
Williams. Pilz argued that Schwarzenegger caused damage to Austria's reputation in the
international community because Austria abolished the death penalty in 1968. Pilz based his
argument on Article 33 of the Austrian Citizenship Act, which states: "A citizen, who is in the public
service of a foreign country, shall be deprived of his citizenship if he heavily damages the reputation
or the interests of the Austrian Republic." [96] Pilz claimed that Schwarzenegger's actions in support of
the death penalty (prohibited in Austria under Protocol 13 of the European Convention on Human
Rights) had damaged Austria's reputation. Schwarzenegger explained his actions by pointing out
that his only duty as Governor of California with respect to the death penalty was to correct an error
by the justice system by pardon or clemency if such an error had occurred.
Environmental record
On September 27, 2006, Schwarzenegger signed the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006,
creating the nation's first cap on greenhouse gas emissions. The law set new regulations on the
amount of emissions utilities, refineries, and manufacturing plants are allowed to release into the
atmosphere. Schwarzenegger also signed a second global warming bill that prohibits large utilities
and corporations in California from making long-term contracts with suppliers who do not meet the
state's greenhouse gas emission standards. The two bills are part of a plan to reduce California's
emissions by 25 percent to 1990s levels by 2020. In 2005, Schwarzenegger issued an executive
order calling to reduce greenhouse gases to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. [123]
Schwarzenegger signed another executive order on October 17, 2006, allowing California to work
with the Northeast's Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. They plan to reduce carbon
dioxide emissions by issuing a limited amount of carbon credits to each power plant in participating
states. Any power plants that exceed emissions for the number of carbon credits will have to
purchase more credits to cover the difference. The plan took effect in 2009. [124] In addition to using his
political power to fight global warming, the governor has taken steps at his home to reduce his
personal carbon footprint. Schwarzenegger has adapted one of his Hummers to run on hydrogen
and another to run on biofuels. He has also installed solar panels to heat his home. [125]
In respect of his contribution to the direction of the US motor industry, Schwarzenegger was invited
to open the 2009 SAE World Congress in Detroit, on April 20, 2009. [126]
In 2011, Schwarzenegger founded the R20 Regions of Climate Action to develop a sustainable, low-
carbon economy.[127]
Electoral history
California gubernatorial recall election, 2003
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger 4,206,284 48.6
Democratic Cruz Bustamante 2,724,874 31.5
Republican Tom McClintock 1,161,287 13.5
Green Peter Miguel Camejo 242,247 2.8
California gubernatorial election, 2006
Party Candidate Votes % ±

Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger (incumbent) 4,850,157 55.9 +7.3
Democratic Phil Angelides 3,376,732 39.0
Green Peter Miguel Camejo 205,995 2.3 −0.5
Presidential ambitions
The Equal Opportunity to Govern Amendment in 2003 was widely accredited as the "Amend for
Arnold" bill, which would have added an amendment to the U.S. Constitution allowing his run, as he
was not a natural born citizen. In 2004, the "Amend for Arnold" campaign was launched, featuring a
website and TV advertising promotion. [128]
In June 2007, Schwarzenegger was featured on the cover of TIME magazine with Michael
Bloomberg, and subsequently, the two joked about a Presidential ticket together. [129]
In October 2013, the New York Post reported that Schwarzenegger was exploring a future run
for president. The former California governor would face a constitutionalhurdle; Article II, Section I,
Clause V nominally prevents individuals who are not natural-born citizens of the United States from
assuming the office. He has reportedly been lobbying legislators about a possible constitutional
change, or filing a legal challenge to the provision. Columbia University law professor Michael
Dorf observed that Schwarzenegger's possible lawsuit could ultimately win him the right to run for
the office, noting, "The law is very clear, but it's not 100 percent clear that the courts would enforce
that law rather than leave it to the political process."[130]
Business career
Schwarzenegger has had a highly successful business career. [16][29] Following his move to the United
States, Schwarzenegger became a "prolific goal setter" and would write his objectives at the start of
the year on index cards, like starting a mail order business or buying a new car – and succeed in
doing so.[23] By the age of 30, Schwarzenegger was a millionaire, well before his career in Hollywood.
His financial independence came from his success as a budding entrepreneur with a series of
lucrative business ventures and investments.
Bricklaying business
In 1968, Schwarzenegger and fellow bodybuilder Franco Columbu started a bricklaying business.
The business flourished thanks to the pair's marketing savvy and an increased demand following
the 1971 San Fernando earthquake.[131][132] Schwarzenegger and Columbu used profits from their
bricklaying venture to start a mail-order business, selling bodybuilding and fitness-related equipment
and instructional tapes.[10][131]
Investments
Schwarzenegger transferred profits from the mail-order business and his bodybuilding-competition
winnings into his first real estate investment venture: an apartment building he purchased for
$10,000. He would later go on to invest in a number of real estate holding companies. [133][134]
Schwarzenegger was a founding celebrity investor in the Planet Hollywood chain of international
theme restaurants (modeled after the Hard Rock Cafe) along with Bruce Willis, Sylvester
Stallone and Demi Moore. Schwarzenegger severed his financial ties with the business in early
2000.[135][136] Schwarzenegger said the company had not had the success he had hoped for, claiming
he wanted to focus his attention on "new US global business ventures" and his movie career. [135]
He also invested in a shopping mall in Columbus, Ohio. He has talked about some of those who
have helped him over the years in business: "I couldn't have learned about business without a
parade of teachers guiding me... from Milton Friedman to Donald Trump... and now, Les
Wexner and Warren Buffett. I even learned a thing or two from Planet Hollywood, such as when to
get out! And I did!"[21] He has significant ownership in Dimensional Fund Advisors, an investment firm.
[137]
Schwarzenegger is also the owner of Arnold's Sports Festival, which he started in 1989 and is
held annually in Columbus, Ohio. It is a festival that hosts thousands of international health and
fitness professionals which has also expanded into a three-day expo. He also owns a movie
production company called Oak Productions, Inc. and Fitness Publications, a joint publishing venture
with Simon & Schuster.[138]
Restaurant
In 1992, Schwarzenegger and his wife opened a restaurant in Santa Monica called Schatzi On
Main. Schatzi literally means "little treasure," colloquial for "honey" or "darling" in German. In 1998,
he sold his restaurant.[139]
Wealth
List of richest American politicians
Schwarzenegger's net worth had been conservatively estimated at $100 million–$200 million.

[140]
After separating from his wife, Maria Shriver, in 2011, it has been estimated that his net worth has
been approximately $400 million, and even as high as $800 million, based on tax returns he filed in
2006.[141]
Over the years as an investor, he invested his bodybuilding and movie earnings in an array of
stocks, bonds, privately controlled companies, and real estate holdings worldwide, making his net
worth as an accurate estimation difficult to calculate, particularly in light of declining real estate
values owing to economic recessions in the U.S. and Europe since the late 2000s. In June 1997,
Schwarzenegger spent $38 million of his own money on a private Gulfstream jet.[142] Schwarzenegger
once said of his fortune, "Money doesn't make you happy. I now have $50 million, but I was just as
happy when I had $48 million."[16]
Commercial advertisements
He appears in a series of commercials for the Machine Zone game Mobile Strike as a military
commander and spokesman.[143]
Personal life
Early relationships
Schwarzenegger with then-wife Maria Shriver at the 2007 Special Olympics in Shanghai
In 1969, Schwarzenegger met Barbara Outland (later Barbara Outland Baker), an English teacher
with whom he lived until 1974.[144] Schwarzenegger said of Baker in his 1977 memoir, "Basically it
came down to this: she was a well-balanced woman who wanted an ordinary, solid life, and I was
not a well-balanced man, and hated the very idea of ordinary life." [144] Baker has described
Schwarzenegger as a "joyful personality, totally charismatic, adventurous, and athletic" but claims
that towards the end of the relationship he became "insufferable—classically conceited—the world
revolved around him".[145] Baker published her memoir in 2006, entitled Arnold and Me: In the
Shadow of the Austrian Oak.[146] Although Baker painted an unflattering portrait of her former lover at
times, Schwarzenegger actually contributed to the tell-all book with a foreword, and also met with
Baker for three hours.[146]
Baker claims that she only learned of his being unfaithful after they split, and talks of a turbulent and
passionate love life.[146]Schwarzenegger has made it clear that their respective recollection of events
can differ.[146] The couple first met six to eight months after his arrival in the U.S. Their first date was
watching the first Apollo Moon landing on television.[23] They shared an apartment in Santa Monica,
California, for three and a half years, and having little money, they would visit the beach all day or
have barbecues in the back yard.[23] Although Baker claims that when she first met Schwarzenegger,
he had "little understanding of polite society" and she found him a turn-off, she says, "He's as much
a self-made man as it's possible to be—he never got encouragement from his parents, his family, his
brother. He just had this huge determination to prove himself, and that was very attractive ... I'll go to
my grave knowing Arnold loved me."[23]
Schwarzenegger met his next lover, Beverly Hills hairdresser's assistant Sue Moray, on Venice
Beach in July 1977. According to Moray, the couple led an open relationship: "We were faithful when
we were both in LA... but when he was out of town, we were free to do whatever we
wanted."[17] Schwarzenegger met television journalist Maria Shriver, niece of President John F.
Kennedy, at the Robert F. Kennedy Tennis Tournament in August 1977. He went on to have a
relationship with both Moray and Shriver until August 1978, when Moray (who knew of his
relationship with Shriver) issued an ultimatum. [17]
Marriage and family

On April 26, 1986, Schwarzenegger married Shriver in Hyannis, Massachusetts.
The Rev. John Baptist Riordan performed the ceremony at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church.
[147]
They have four children: Katherine Eunice Schwarzenegger (born December 13, 1989), Christina
Maria Aurelia Schwarzenegger (born July 23, 1991), [148]Patrick Arnold Shriver Schwarzenegger (born
September 18, 1993),[149] and Christopher Sargent Shriver Schwarzenegger (born September 27,
1997).[150] All of their children were born in Los Angeles.[151] The family lived in a 11,000-square-foot
(1,000 m2) home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California,[152][153]with vacation
homes in Sun Valley, Idaho and Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.[154] They attended St. Monica's
Catholic Church.[155]
Marital separation
Schwarzenegger and his son Patrick at Edwards Air Force Basein December 2002
On May 9, 2011, Shriver and Schwarzenegger ended their relationship after 25 years of marriage,
with Shriver moving out of the couple's Brentwood mansion. [156][157][158] On May 16, 2011, the Los
Angeles Times revealed that Schwarzenegger had fathered a son more than 14 years earlier with an
employee in their household, Mildred Patricia "Patty" Baena. [159][160][161] "After leaving the governor's
office I told my wife about this event, which occurred over a decade ago," Schwarzenegger said in a
statement issued to The Times. In the statement, Schwarzenegger did not mention that he had
confessed to his wife only after she had confronted him with the information, which she had done
after confirming with the housekeeper what she had suspected about the child. [162]
Baena is of Guatemalan origin. She was employed by the family for 20 years and retired in January
2011.[163] The pregnant Baena was working in the home while Shriver was pregnant with the
youngest of the couple's four children.[164] Baena's son with Schwarzenegger, Joseph,[165] was born on
October 2, 1997,[166] and Shriver gave birth to Christopher a few days before on September 27, 1997.
[167]
Schwarzenegger says it took seven or eight years before he found out that he had fathered a
child with his housekeeper. It was not until the boy "started looking like [him] ... that [he] put things
together".[168] Schwarzenegger has taken financial responsibility for the child "from the start and
continued to provide support".[169] KNX 1070 radio reported that in 2010 he bought a new four-
bedroom house with a pool for Baena and their son in Bakersfield, California.[170] Baena separated
from her husband, Rogelio, a few months after Joseph's birth. She filed for divorce in 2008.
[171]
Rogelio says that the child's birth certificate was falsified and that he plans to sue
Schwarzenegger for engaging in conspiracy to falsify a public document, a serious crime in
California.[172]
Pursuant to the divorce judgment, Schwarzenegger kept the Brentwood home, while Shriver
purchased a new home nearby so that the children could travel between their parents' homes. They
shared custody of the two youngest children. [173] Schwarzenegger came under fire after the initial
petition did not include spousal support and a reimbursement of attorney's fees. [71] However, he
claims this was not intentional and that he signed the initial documents without having properly read
them.[71] He filed amended divorce papers remedying this.[71][174] Schwarzenegger and Shriver finalized
their divorce in 2017, six years after separating. [175]
After the scandal, Danish-Italian actress Brigitte Nielsen came forward and stated that she too had
an affair with Schwarzenegger while he was in a relationship with Shriver, [176] saying, "Maybe I
wouldn't have got into it if he said 'I'm going to marry Maria' and this is deadly serious, but he didn't,
and our affair carried on."[176] When asked in January 2014, "Of all the things you are famous for ...
which are you least proud of?" Schwarzenegger replied, "I'm least proud of the mistakes I made that
caused my family pain and split us up."[177]
As of July 2015, Schwarzenegger was dating physical therapist Heather Milligan, 27 years his junior.
[178]
Accidents and injuries

Schwarzenegger was born with a bicuspid aortic valve, an aortic valve with only two leaflets (a
normal aortic valve has three leaflets).[179][180] He opted in 1997 for a replacement heart valve made of
his own transplanted tissue; medical experts predicted he would require heart valve replacement
surgery in the following two to eight years as his valve would progressively degrade.
Schwarzenegger apparently opted against a mechanical valve, the only permanent solution
available at the time of his surgery, because it would have sharply limited his physical activity and
capacity to exercise.[181] On March 29, 2018, Schwarzenegger had undergone emergency open-heart
surgery.[182] He said about his recovery: "I underwent open-heart surgery this spring, I had to use a
walker. I had to do breathing exercises five times a day to retrain my lungs. I was frustrated and
angry, and in my worst moments, I couldn't see the way back to my old self." [183]
On December 9, 2001, he broke six ribs and was hospitalized for four days after a motorcycle crash
in Los Angeles.[184]
Schwarzenegger saved a drowning man's life in 2004 while on vacation in Hawaii by swimming out
and bringing him back to shore.[185]
On January 8, 2006, while Schwarzenegger was riding his Harley Davidson motorcycle in Los
Angeles, with his son Patrick in the sidecar, another driver backed into the street he was riding on,
causing him and his son to collide with the car at a low speed. While his son and the other driver
were unharmed, Schwarzenegger sustained a minor injury to his lip, requiring 15 stitches. "No
citations were issued," said Officer Jason Lee, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesman.
[186]
Schwarzenegger did not obtain his motorcycle license until July 3, 2006. [187]
Schwarzenegger tripped over his ski pole and broke his right femur while skiing in Sun Valley, Idaho,
with his family on December 23, 2006. [188] On December 26, he underwent a 90-minute operation in
which cables and screws were used to wire the broken bone back together. He was released from
the St. John's Health Center on December 30, 2006.[189]
Schwarzenegger's private jet made an emergency landing at Van Nuys Airport on June 19, 2009,
after the pilot reported smoke coming from the cockpit, according to a statement released by his
press secretary. No one was harmed in the incident. [190]
Height
Schwarzenegger's official height of 6'2" (1.88 m) has been brought into question by several articles.
In his bodybuilding days in the late 1960s, he was measured to be 6'1.5" (1.87 m), a height
confirmed by his fellow bodybuilders. [191][192] However, in 1988, both the Daily Mail and Time
Out magazine mentioned that Schwarzenegger appeared noticeably shorter. [193] Prior to running for
governor, Schwarzenegger's height was once again questioned in an article by the Chicago Reader.
[194]
As governor, Schwarzenegger engaged in a light-hearted exchange with Assemblyman Herb
Wesson over their heights. At one point, Wesson made an unsuccessful attempt to, in his own
words, "settle this once and for all and find out how tall he is" by using a tailor's tape measure on the
Governor.[195] Schwarzenegger retaliated by placing a pillow stitched with the words "Need a lift?" on
the five-foot-five inch (165 cm) Wesson's chair before a negotiating session in his office. [196] Bob
Mulhollandalso claimed Schwarzenegger was 5'10" (1.78 m) and that he wore risers in his boots.
[197]
In 1999, Men's Health magazine stated his height was 5'10". [198]
Autobiography
Schwarzenegger's autobiography, Total Recall, was released in October 2012. He devotes one
chapter called "The Secret" to his extramarital affair. The majority of his book is about his successes
in the three major chapters in his life: bodybuilder, actor, and Governor of California. [199]
Vehicles
Schwarzenegger was the first civilian to purchase a Humvee. He was so enamored by the vehicle
that he lobbied the Humvee's manufacturer, AM General, to produce a street-legal, civilian version,
which they did in 1992; the first two Hummer H1s they sold were also purchased by
Schwarzenegger. In 2010, he had one regular and three running on non-fossil power sources; one
for hydrogen, one for vegetable oil, and one for biodiesel.[200] Schwarzenegger was in the news in
2014 for buying a rare Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse. He was spotted and filmed in 2015 in his
car, painted silver with bright aluminium forged wheels. His Bugatti has its interior adorned in dark
brown leather.[201] In 2017, Schwarzenegger acquired a Mercedes G-Class modified for all-
electric drive.[202]
The Hummers that Schwarzenegger bought in 1992 are so large—each weighs 6,300 lb (2,900 kg)
and is 7 feet (2.1 m) wide—that they are classified as large trucks, and U.S. fuel economy
regulations do not apply to them. During the gubernatorial recall campaign, he announced that he
would convert one of his Hummers to burn hydrogen. The conversion was reported to have cost
about $21,000. After the election, he signed an executive order to jump-start the building of
hydrogen refueling plants called the California Hydrogen Highway Network, and gained a U.S.
Department of Energy grant to help pay for its projected US$91,000,000 cost.[203] California took
delivery of the first H2H (Hydrogen Hummer) in October 2004. [204]
Public life
Schwarzenegger with Russian powerlifter Maryana Naumova at the Arnold Sports Festival
Schwarzenegger at Camp Buehringin Kuwait in 2016
Schwarzenegger has been involved with the Special Olympics for many years after they were
founded by his ex-mother-in-law, Eunice Kennedy Shriver.[205] In 2007, Schwarzenegger was the
official spokesperson for the Special Olympics which were held in Shanghai, China.
Schwarzenegger believes that quality school opportunities should be made available to children
[206]
who might not normally be able to access them. [207] In 1995, he founded the Inner City Games
Foundation (ICG) which provides cultural, educational and community enrichment programming to
youth. ICG is active in 15 cities around the country and serves over 250,000 children in over 400
schools countrywide.[207] He has also been involved with After-School All-Stars and founded the Los
Angeles branch in 2002.[208]ASAS is an after school program provider, educating youth about health,
fitness and nutrition.
On February 12, 2010, Schwarzenegger took part in the Vancouver Olympic Torch relay. He handed
off the flame to the next runner, Sebastian Coe.[209]
Schwarzenegger had a collection of Marxist busts, which he requested from Russian friends at the
end of the Soviet Union as they were being destroyed. In 2011, he revealed that his wife had
requested they be removed, but he kept the one of Vladimir Lenin present, since "he was the first".
[210]
In 2015, he said he kept the Lenin bust to "show losers".[211]
Schwarzenegger is a lifelong supporter and "friend of Israel", and has participated in L.A.'s Pro-
Israel rally[212] among other similar events.[213]
Schwarzenegger with Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern in September 2017
Schwarzenegger supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq.[214] Schwarzenegger also expressed support

for the 2011 military intervention in Libya.[215]
Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy

In 2012, Schwarzenegger helped to found the Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy,
which is a part of the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California.
[216]
The Institute's mission is to "[advance] post-partisanship, where leaders put people over political
parties and work together to find the best ideas and solutions to benefit the people they serve" and
to "seek to influence public policy and public debate in finding solutions to the serious challenges we
face".[217] Schwarzenegger serves as chairman of the Institute. [218]
Global warming
At a 2015 security conference, Arnold Schwarzenegger called climate change the issue of our time.
[219]
2016 Presidential election

For the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Schwarzenegger endorsed fellow
Republican John Kasich.[220] However, he announced in October that he would not vote for the
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in that year's United States presidential election,
with this being the first time he did not vote for the Republican candidate since becoming a citizen in
1983.[221][222][223]
Awards and honors
List of awards and nominations received by Arnold Schwarzenegger
 Seven-time Mr. Olympia winner
 Four-time Mr. Universe winner
 1969 World Amateur Bodybuilding Champion
 1977 Golden Globe Award winner
 Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
 International Sports Hall of Fame (class of 2012) [224]
 WWE Hall of Fame (class of 2015)[225]
 Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy (part of the USC Sol Price School of
Public Policy at the University of Southern California) named in his honor.[218]
 Arnold's Run ski trail at Sun Valley Resort named in his honor.[226] The trail is categorized as a
black diamond, or most difficult, for its terrain.
 "A Day for Arnold" on July 30, 2007, in Thal, Austria. For his 60th birthday the mayor sent
Schwarzenegger the enameled address sign (Thal 145) of the house where Schwarzenegger
was born, declaring "This belongs to him. No one here will ever be assigned that number again".
[225][227]
 Commandeur of the French Ordre National de la Légion d'Honneur (on April 28, 2017)
Books
 Schwarzenegger, Arnold (1977). Arnold: Developing a Mr. Universe Physique. Schwarzenegger.

 Schwarzenegger, Arnold; Douglas Kent Hall (1977). Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder. New
York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-22879-8.
 Schwarzenegger, Arnold; Douglas Kent Hall (1979). Arnold's Bodyshaping for Women. New York:
Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-24301-2.
 Schwarzenegger, Arnold; Bill Dobbins (1981). Arnold's Bodybuilding for Men. New York: Simon &
Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-25613-5.
 Schwarzenegger, Arnold; Bill Dobbins (1998). The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding (rev.
ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-684-84374-2.
 Schwarzenegger, Arnold (2012). Total Recall. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-84983-971-
6.
Chester Smith Lyman

Chester Smith Lyman (January 13, 1814 – January 29, 1890) was an American teacher, clergyman
and astronomer.American astronomer Chester Smith Lyman observed a complete ring around the
dark side of the planet when it was at inferior conjunction, providing further evidence for an
atmosphere.
Chester S. Lyman
Chester Lyman circa 1874
Early life and education

He was born in Manchester, Connecticut to Chester and Mary Smith Lyman. Chester is the
descendant of Richard Lyman, a settler who arrived in America in 1631. Chester's early education
was in a country school, but at an early age he showed a strong interest in astronomy and the
sciences. By 1833 he had gained admittance to Yale, and graduated in 1837. In his junior year he
became editor of the Yale Literary Magazine and he was a member of Skull and Bones.[1] He served
for two years as Superintendent of Ellington School, then studied theology at the Union and Yale
seminaries. For health reasons he then began to travel.[2]
In 1846 he sailed to Hawaii and remained for a year. [3] While in Hawaii, he visited missionaries,
including his distant cousin David Belden Lyman.[4]:75 In 1847 he sailed to California. There he
became a surveyor, mapping ranches and towns. For a few months he joined in the California Gold
Rush, then returned to his surveying work. In 1850 he was married to Delia W. Wood, and settled in
New Haven.[2] The couple would have six children, with four surviving to adulthood.
Career
He became a professor of Industrial Mechanics and Physics at Yale's Sheffield Scientific School,
and was considered an eminent scholar.[5] He invented the combined transit instrument and zenith
telescope that was used to determine latitude, including that of Hawaii. [6] He was on the board of
managers for the Yale Observatory, and in December 1866 he was the first to observe the delicate
ring of light surrounding Venus when the planet is in inferior conjunction. This observation helped
confirm the presence of an atmosphere around the planet. [7] He patented a design for a wave
machine in 1867.[8] In 1871 he became a professor of astronomy and physics at the same institution,
then exclusively of astronomy in 1884 as his health began to fail. He retired as professor emeritus in
1889.[9] He became the director of the Yale Observatory and held that post until his death. [2][4] He died
in 1890 as the result of a stroke, which had kept him home-bound for the last two years of his life. [10]
Chester Lyman was a member of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences and an honorary
member of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. He served as president of the
Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences for 20 years. His son, Chester W. Lyman, established
the Chester S. Lyman Lecture Series at Yale in memory of his father. [11]
Giovanni Domenico Cassini

Giovanni[a] Domenico Cassini (8 June 1625 – 14 September 1712) was an Italian (naturalised
French)[1] mathematician, astronomer and engineer. Cassini was born in Perinaldo,[2][3] near Imperia,
at that time in the County of Nice, part of the Savoyard state.[4][5] Cassini is known for his work in the
fields of astronomy and engineering. Cassini discovered four satellites of the planet Saturn and
noted the division of the rings of Saturn; the Cassini Division was named after him. Giovanni
Domenico Cassini was also the first of his family to begin work on the project of creating
a topographic map of France.
The Cassini space probe, launched in 1997, was named after him and became the fourth to visit the
planet Saturn and the first to orbit the planet.
The atmosphere complicated efforts to determine a rotation period for the planet, and observers
such as Italian-born astronomer Giovanni Cassini and Schröter incorrectly estimated periods of
about 24 h from the motions of markings on the planet's apparent surface. Giovanni Cassini,
Giovanni Domenico Cassini
Life
Time in Italy
Cassini was the son of Jacopo Cassini, a Tuscan, and Giulia Crovesi. In 1648 Cassini accepted a
position at the observatory at Panzano, near Bologna, to work with Marquis Cornelio Malvasia, a rich
amateur astronomer, initiating the first part of his career. [6] During his time at the Panzano
Observatory, Cassini was able to complete his education under the scientists Giovanni Battista
Riccioli and Francesco Maria Grimaldi. In 1650 the senate of Bologna appointed him as the principal
chair of astronomy at the University of Bologna.[6]
The pinhole-projected image of the Sun on the floor at Florence Cathedral. Cassini measured a similar image
over a year at San Petronio Basilica to try to prove the Earth orbited the Sun.
In San Petronio, Bologna, Cassini convinced church officials to create an improved sundial meridian
line at the San Petronio Basilica, moving the pinhole gnomon that projected the Sun's image up into
the church's vaults 66.8 meters (219 ft) away from the meridian inscribed in the floor. The much
larger image of the Sun's disk projected by the camera obscura effect allowed him to measure the
change in diameter of the Sun's disk over the year as the Earth moved toward and then away from
the Sun. He concluded the changes in size he measured were consistent with Johannes Kepler's
1609 heliocentric theory, where the Earth was moving around the Sun in an elliptical orbit instead of
the Ptolemaic system where the Sun orbited the Earth in an eccentric orbit. [7]
Cassini remained in Bologna working until Colbert recruited him to come to Paris to help set up
the Paris Observatory. Cassini departed from Bologna on 25 February 1669. [6]
Moving to France
An engraving of the Paris Observatoryduring Cassini's time. The tower on the right is the "Marly Tower", a
dismantled part of the Machine de Marly, moved there by Cassini for mounting long focus and aerial
telescopes.
In 1669 Cassini moved to France and through a grant from Louis XIV of France helped to set up
the Paris Observatory, which opened in 1671; Cassini would remain the director of the observatory
for the rest of his career until his death in 1712. For the remaining forty-one years of his life Cassini
served as astronomer/astrologer to Louis XIV ("The Sun King"); serving the expected dual role yet
focusing the overwhelming majority of his time on astronomy rather than the astrology he had
studied so much in his youth.
During this time, Cassini's method of determining longitude was used to measure the size of France
accurately for the first time. The country turned out to be considerably smaller than expected, and
the king quipped that Cassini had taken more of his kingdom from him than he had won in all his
wars.
On 14 July 1673 Cassini obtained the benefits of French citizenship. In 1674 he married Geneviève
de Laistre, the daughter of the lieutenant general of the comté of Clermont. "From this marriage
Cassini had two sons; the younger, Jacques Cassini, succeeded him as astronomer and geodesist
under the name of Cassini II."[6]
In 1711 Cassini went blind and he died on 14 September 1712 in Paris at the age of 87. [2]
Astronomer
Cassini was an astronomer at the Panzano Observatory, from 1648 to 1669. He was appointed
professor of astronomy at the University of Bologna in 1650 and became, in 1671, director of
the Paris Observatory. He thoroughly adopted his new country, to the extent that he became
interchangeably known as Jean-Dominique Cassini – although that is also the name of his great-
grandson, Dominique, comte de Cassini.
Cassini observed and published surface markings on Mars (earlier seen by Huygens but not
published), determined the rotation periods of Marsand Jupiter, and discovered four satellites
of Saturn, Iapetus and Rhea in 1671 and 1672, and Tethys and Dione (1684).[8] Cassini was the first
to observe these four Saturn's moons, which he called Sidera Lodoicea (the stars of Louis),
including Iapetus, whose anomalous variations in brightness he correctly ascribed as being due to
the presence of dark material on one hemisphere (now called Cassini Regio in his honour). In
addition he discovered the Cassini Division in the rings of Saturn (1675).[6] He shares with Robert
Hooke credit for the discovery of the Great Red Spot on Jupiter (ca. 1665). Around 1690, Cassini
was the first to observe differential rotation within Jupiter's atmosphere.
In 1672 he sent his colleague Jean Richer to Cayenne, French Guiana, while he himself stayed in
Paris. The two made simultaneous observations of Mars and, by computing the parallax, determined
its distance from Earth. This allowed for the first time an estimation of the dimensions of the solar
system: since the relative ratios of various sun-planet distances were already known from geometry,
only a single absolute interplanetary distance was needed to calculate all of the distances.
Cassini initially held the Earth to be the centre of the solar system, though later observations
compelled him to accept the model of the solar system proposed by Nicolaus Copernicus, and
eventually that of Tycho Brahe. "In 1659 he presented a model of the planetary system that was in
accord with the hypothesis of Nicolaus Copernicus. In 1661 he developed a method, inspired by
Kepler's work, of mapping successive phases of solar eclipses; and in 1662 he published new tables
of the sun, based on his observations at San Petronio." [6] Cassini also rejected Newton's theory of
gravity, after measurements he conducted which wrongly suggested that the Earth was elongated at
its poles. More than forty years of controversy about the subject were closed in favour of Newton's
theory after the measurements of the French Geodesic Mission (1736 to 1744) and the Lapponian
expedition in 1737 led by Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis
Cassini was also the first to make successful measurements of longitude by the method suggested
by Galileo, using eclipses of the galilean satellites as a clock.
In 1683, Giovanni Domenico Cassini presented the correct explanation of the phenomenon
of zodiacal light. Zodiacal light is a faint glow that extends away from the Sun in the ecliptic plane of
the sky, caused by dusty objects in interplanetary space.
Astrologer
Attracted to the heavens in his youth, his first interest was in astrology. While young he read widely
on the subject of astrology, and soon was very knowledgeable about it; this extensive knowledge of
astrology led to his first appointment as an astronomer. Later in life he focused almost exclusively
on astronomy and all but denounced astrology as he became increasingly involved in the Scientific
Revolution.
In 1645 the Marquis Cornelio Malvasia, a senator of Bologna with a great interest in astrology,
invited Cassini to Bologna and offered him a position in the Panzano Observatory, which he was
constructing at that time. Most of their time was spent calculating newer, better, and more
accurate ephemerides for astrological purposes using the rapidly advancing astronomical
methods and tools of the day.
Engineering
In 1653, Cassini, wishing to employ the use of a meridian line, sketched a plan for a new and larger
meridian line but one that would be difficult to build. His calculations were precise; the construction
succeeded perfectly; and its success gave Cassini a brilliant reputation for working with engineering
and structural works.[6]
Cassini was employed by Pope Clement IX in regard to fortifications, river management, and
flooding of the Po River. "Cassini composed several memoirs on the flooding of the Po River and on
the means of avoiding it; moreover, he also carried out experiments in applied hydraulics." [6] In 1663
he was named superintendent of fortifications and in 1665 inspector for Perugia.[6] The Pope asked
Cassini to take Holy Orders to work with him permanently but Cassini turned him down because he
wanted to work on astronomy full-time.
In the 1670s, Cassini began work on a project to create a topographic map of France, using Gemma
Frisius's technique of triangulation. The project was continued by his son Jacques Cassini and
eventually finished by his grandson César-François Cassini de Thury and published as the Carte de
Cassini in 1789[9] or 1793.[10] It was the first topographic map of an entire country.
Works
Raccolta di varie scritture (1682)
 Cassini, Giovanni Domenico (1682). Raccolta di varie scritture, e notitie concernenti

l'interesse della remotione del Reno dalle Valli fatta in Bologna l'anno 1682. (In Bologna): [s.n.]
 Manuscripts of publications for the French Academy of Sciences on the Paris
Observatory digital library
 Administrativ work at the Paris Observatory
. Johann Hieronymus Schröter

Johann Hieronymus Schröter (30 August 1745, Erfurt – 29 August 1816, Lilienthal) was a
German astronomer.
Johann Hieronymus Schröter
Life
Schröter was born in Erfurt, and studied law at Göttingen University from 1762 until 1767, after
which he started a ten-year-long legal practice.
In 1777 he was appointed Secretary of the Royal Chamber of George III in Hanover, where he made
the acquaintance of two of William Herschel's brothers. In 1779 he acquired a three-foot-long
(91 cm, almost one metre) achromatic refractor with 2.25-inch (57 mm) lens (50 mm) to observe
the Sun, Moon and Venus. Herschel's discovery of Uranus in 1781 inspired Schröter to
pursue astronomy more seriously, and he resigned his post and became chief magistrate and district
governor of Lilienthal.
In 1784 he paid 31 Reichsthaler (about 600 Euros of today) for a Herschel reflector of 122 cm focal
length and 12 cm aperture. He quickly gained a good name from his observational reports in
journals, but was not satisfied and in 1786 paid 600 Reichstaler (an equivalent of six months
earnings) for a 214 cm focal length 16.5 cm aperture reflector with eyepieces allowing up to 1,200
magnification, and 26 Thaler for a screw-micrometer. With this he systematically observed
Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn
Samples from moon maps in the Selenetopographische Fragmente
Title page from the Selenetopographische Fragmente
.
Schröter made extensive drawings of the features of Mars, yet curiously he was always erroneously
convinced that what he was seeing was mere cloud formations rather than geographical features. In
1791 he published an important early study on the topography of the Moon
entitled Selenotopographische Fragmente zur genauern Kenntniss der Mondfläche. The visual lunar
albedo scale developed in this work was later popularised by Thomas Gwyn Elger and now bears
his name. In 1793 he was the first to notice the phase anomaly of Venus, now known as
the Schröter effect, where the phase appears more concave than geometry predicts.
His two famous assistant astronomers were Karl Ludwig Harding (1796–1804) and Friedrich Wilhelm
Bessel (1806–1810).
In 1813, he suffered the disruptions of the Napoleonic Wars: his work was ruined by
the French under Vandamme, who destroyed his books, writings and observatory. He never
recovered from the catastrophe. [1]
His drawings of Mars were not rediscovered until 1873 (by François J. Terby) and were not
published until 1881 (by H. G. van de Sande Bakhuyzen), well after his death.
He was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1794 and elected a Fellow
of the Royal Society in April 1798.[2]
The lunar crater Schröter and the Martian crater Schroeter are named after him, as is Vallis
Schröteri(Schröter's Valley) on the Moon.
Astronomer Willian Gilbert

William Gilbert (/ˈɡɪlbərt/; 24 May 1544 – 30 November 1603), also known as Gilberd,[1] was an
English physician, physicist and natural philosopher. He passionately rejected both the
prevailing Aristotelian philosophy and the Scholasticmethod of university teaching. He is
remembered today largely for his book De Magnete (1600), and is credited as one of the originators
of the term "electricity". He is regarded by some as the father of electrical
engineering or electricity and magnetism.[2]
A unit of magnetomotive force, also known as magnetic potential, was named the Gilbert in his
honour.
William Gilbert
William Gilbert
Life and work
Gilbert was born in Colchester to Jerome Gilberd, a borough recorder. He was educated at St John's
College, Cambridge.[3] After gaining his MD from Cambridge in 1569, and a short spell as bursar of
St John's College, he left to practice medicine in London and travelled on the continent. In 1573, he
was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. In 1600 he was elected President of the
College.[4] He was Elizabeth I's own physician from 1601 until her death in 1603, and James VI and
I renewed his appointment.[5]:30
His primary scientific work—much inspired by earlier works of Robert Norman[6][7]—was De Magnete,
Magneticisque Corporibus, et de Magno Magnete Tellure (On the Magnet and Magnetic Bodies, and
on the Great Magnet the Earth) published in 1600. In this work, he describes many of his
experiments with his model Earth called the terrella. From these experiments, he concluded that
the Earth was itself magnetic and that this was the reason compasses point north (previously, some
believed that it was the pole star (Polaris) or a large magnetic island on the north pole that attracted
the compass). He was the first to argue, correctly, that the centre of the Earth was iron, and he
considered an important and related property of magnets was that they can be cut, each forming a
new magnet with north and south poles.
William Gilbert M.D. demonstrating his experiments before queen Elizabeth (painting by A. Auckland Hunt).
In Book 6, Chapter 3, he argues in support of diurnal rotation, though he does not talk about
heliocentrism, stating that it is an absurdity to think that the immense celestial spheres (doubting
even that they exist) rotate daily, as opposed to the diurnal rotation of the much smaller Earth. He
also posits that the "fixed" stars are at remote variable distances rather than fixed to an imaginary
sphere. He states that situated "in thinnest aether, or in the most subtle fifth essence, or in vacuity –
how shall the stars keep their places in the mighty swirl of these enormous spheres composed of a
substance of which no one knows aught?"
The English word "electricity" was first used in 1646 by Sir Thomas Browne, derived from Gilbert's
1600 New Latinelectricus, meaning "like amber". The term had been in use since the 13th century,
but Gilbert was the first to use it to mean "like amber in its attractive properties". He recognized that
friction with these objects removed a so-called "effluvium", which would cause the attraction effect in
returning to the object, though he did not realize that this substance (electric charge) was universal
to all materials.[8]
The electric effluvia differ much from air, and as air is the earth's effluvium, so electric bodies have
their own distinctive effluvia; and each peculiar effluvium has its own individual power of leading to
union, its own movement to its origin, to its fount, and to the body emitting the effluvium.
— Gilbert 1893
In his book, he also studied static electricity using amber; amber is called elektron in Greek, so

Gilbert decided to call its effect the electric force. He invented the first electrical measuring
instrument, the electroscope, in the form of a pivoted needle he called the versorium.[9]
Like others of his day, he believed that crystal (quartz) was an especially hard form of water, formed
from compressed ice:
Lucid gems are made of water; just as Crystal, which has been concreted from clear water, not
always by a very great cold, as some used to judge, and by very hard frost, but sometimes by a less
severe one, the nature of the soil fashioning it, the humour or juices being shut up in definite cavities,
in the way in which spars are produced in mines.
— De Magnete, English translation by Silvanus Phillips Thompson, 1900
Gilbert argued that electricity and magnetism were not the same thing. For evidence, he (incorrectly)
pointed out that, while electrical attraction disappeared with heat, magnetic attraction did not
(although it is proven that magnetism does in fact become damaged and weakened with heat). Hans
Christian Ørsted and James Clerk Maxwell showed that both effects were aspects of a single force:
electromagnetism. Maxwell surmised this in his A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism after much
analysis.
Gilbert's magnetism was the invisible force that many other natural philosophers, such as Kepler,
seized upon, incorrectly, as governing the motions that they observed. While not attributing
magnetism to attraction among the stars, Gilbert pointed out the motion of the skies was due to
Earth's rotation, and not the rotation of the spheres, 20 years before Galileo (but 57 years
after Copernicus who stated it openly in his work De revolutionibus orbium coelestium published in
1543 ) (see external reference below). Gilbert made the first attempt to map the surface markings on
the Moon in the 1590s. His chart, made without the use of a telescope, showed outlines of dark and
light patches on the Moon's face. Contrary to most of his contemporaries, Gilbert believed that the
light spots on the Moon were water, and the dark spots land. [10]
Diagram of the universe appearing on p202 of De Mundo
Besides Gilbert's De Magnete, there appeared at Amsterdam in 1651 a quarto volume of 316 pages
entitled De Mundo Nostro Sublunari Philosophia Nova (New Philosophy about our Sublunary World),
edited—some say by his brother William Gilbert Junior, and others say, by the eminent English
scholar and critic John Gruter—from two manuscripts found in the library of Sir William Boswell.
According to Dr. John Davy, "this work of Gilbert's, which is so little known, is a very remarkable one
both in style and matter; and there is a vigor and energy of expression belonging to it very suitable to
its originality. Possessed of a more minute and practical knowledge of natural philosophy
than Bacon, his opposition to the philosophy of the schools was more searching and particular, and
at the same time probably little less efficient." In the opinion of Prof. John Robison, De
Mundo consists of an attempt to establish a new system of natural philosophy upon the ruins of the
Aristotelian doctrine.[4]
Dr. William Whewell says in his History of the Inductive Sciences (1859):[11]
Gilbert, in his work, De Magnete printed in 1600 has only some vague notions that the magnetic
virtue of the earth in some way determines the direction of the earth's axis, the rate of its diurnal
rotation, and that of the revolution of the moon about it. [12] Gilbert died in 1603, and in his
posthumous work (De Mundo nostro Sublunari Philosophia nova, 1631) we have already a more
distinct statement of the attraction of one body by another. [13] "The force which emanates from the
moon reaches to the earth, and, in like manner, the magnetic virtue of the earth pervades the region
of the moon: both correspond and conspire by the joint action of both, according to a proportion and
conformity of motions, but the earth has more effect in consequence of its superior mass; the earth
attracts and repels, the moon, and the moon within certain limits, the earth; not so as to make the
bodies come together, as magnetic bodies do, but so that they may go on in a continuous course."
Though this phraseology is capable of representing a good deal of the truth, it does not appear to
have been connected... with any very definite notions of mechanical action in detail. [14]
Gilbert died on 30 November 1603 in London. His cause of death is thought to have been
the bubonic plague.[15][16]
Gilbert was buried in his home town, in Holy Trinity Church, Colchester. His marble wall monument
can still be seen in this Saxon church, now deconsecrated and used as a café and market. [17]
Commentary on Gilbert
Francis Bacon never accepted Copernican heliocentrism and was critical of Gilbert's philosophical
work in support of the diurnal motion of the Earth. Bacon's criticism includes the following two
statements. The first was repeated in three of his works—In the Advancement of
Learning (1605), Novum Organum (1620) and De Augmentis (1623). The more severe second
statement is from History of Heavy and Light Bodies published after Bacon's death.[18]
The Alchemists have made a philosophy out of a few experiments of the furnace and Gilbert our
countryman hath made a philosophy out of observations of the lodestone.
[Gilbert] has himself become a magnet; that is, he has ascribed too many things to that force and
built a ship out of a shell.
Thomas Thomson writes in his History of the Royal Society (1812):[19]
The magnetic laws were first generalized and explained by Dr. Gilbert, whose book on magnetism
published in 1600, is one of the finest examples of inductive philosophy that has ever been
presented to the world. It is the more remarkable, because it preceded the Novum Organum of
Bacon, in which the inductive method of philosophizing was first explained.
William Whewell writes in his History of the Inductive Sciences (1837/1859):[20]
Gilbert... repeatedly asserts the paramount value of experiments. He himself, no doubt, acted up to
his own precepts; for his work contains all the fundamental facts of the science [of magnetism], so
fully examined, indeed, that even at this day we have little to add to them.
Historian Henry Hallam wrote of Gilbert in his Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the Fifteenth,
Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries (1848):[21]
The year 1600 was the first in which England produced a remarkable work in physical science; but
this was one sufficient to raise a lasting reputation to its author. Gilbert, a physician, in his Latin
treatise on the magnet, not only collected all the knowledge which others had possessed on that
subject, but became at once the father of experimental philosophy in this island, and by a singular
felicity and acuteness of genius, the founder of theories which have been revived after the lapse of
ages, and are almost universally received into the creed of the science. The magnetism of the earth
itself, his own original hypothesis, nova illa nostra et inaudita de tellure sententia [our new and
unprecedented view of the planet]... was by no means one of those vague conjectures that are
sometimes unduly applauded... He relied on the analogy of terrestrial phenomena to those exhibited
by what he calls a terrella, or artificial spherical magnet. ...Gilbert was also one of our earliest
Copernicans, at least as to the rotation of the earth; and with his usual sagacity inferred, before the
invention of the telescope, that there are a multitude of fixed stars beyond the reach of our vision.
Walter William Bryant of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, wrote in his book Kepler (1920):
When Gilbert of Colchester, in his “New Philosophy,” founded on his researches in magnetism, was
dealing with tides, he did not suggest that the moon attracted the water, but that “subterranean
spirits and humors, rising in sympathy with the moon, cause the sea also to rise and flow to the
shores and up rivers”. It appears that an idea, presented in some such way as this, was more readily
received than a plain statement. This so-called philosophical method was, in fact, very generally
applied, and Kepler, who shared Galileo’s admiration for Gilbert’s work, adopted it in his own attempt
to extend the idea of magnetic attraction to the planets. [22]
Bibliography
 Gilbert, William (1600). De Magnete, Magnetisque Corporoibus, et de Magno Magnete

Tellure: Physiologia noua, Plurimis & Argumentis, & Experimentis Demonstrata (in Latin).
London: Peter Short.
 — (1893). On the Loadstone and Magnetic Bodies, and on That Great Magnet the
Earth: A New Physiology, Demonstrated with Many Arguments and Experiments. Translated
by Mottelay, P. Fleury. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
 — (1900). On the Magnet, Magnetic Bodies Also, and on the Great Magnet the
Earth: A new Physiology, Demonstrated by Many Arguments & Experiments. Translated by
Thompson, Silvanus Phillips. London: Chiswick Press.
 Gilbert, William (1651). De Mundo Nostro Sublunari Philosophia Nova (in Latin). (Published
posthumously.). Amsterdam: Apud Ludovicum Elzevirium.
Michael Jackson.
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter
and dancer. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is widely regarded as one of the most significant cultural
figures of the 20th century and one of the greatest entertainers of all time. Jackson's contributions to
music, dance, and fashion, along with his publicized personal life, made him a global figure
in popular culture for over four decades.
The eighth child of the Jackson family, Michael made his professional debut in 1964 with his elder
brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and Marlon as a member of the Jackson 5. He began his solo career
in 1971 while at Motown Records, and in the early 1980s, became a dominant figure in popular
music. His music videos, including those for "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller" from his 1982
album Thriller, are credited with breaking racial barriers and transforming the medium into an art
form and promotional tool. Their popularity helped bring the television channel MTV to
fame. Bad (1987) was the first album to produce five US Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles with
"I Just Can't Stop Loving You", "Bad", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "Man in the Mirror", and "Dirty
Diana". He continued to innovate throughout the 1990s with videos such as "Black or White" and
forged a reputation as a touring artist. Through stage and video performances, Jackson popularized
complicated dance techniques such as the robot and the moonwalk, to which he gave the name. His
distinctive sound and style have influenced artists of various genres.
Michael Jackson
Performing at the Wiener Stadion in Vienna, Austria on June 2,
1988
Jackson is the third-best-selling music artist of all time, with estimated sales of over 350 million
records worldwide.[nb 1]Thriller is the best-selling album of all time, with estimated sales of 66 million
copies worldwide. Jackson's other albums, including Off the Wall (1979), Dangerous (1991),
and HIStory (1995), also rank among the world's best-selling. He won hundreds of awards, more
than any other artist in the history of popular music, is one of the few artists to have been inducted
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, and is the only dancer from pop and rock to have been
inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Dance Hall of Fame. His other
achievements include Guinness world records(including the Most Successful Entertainer of All
Time), 15 Grammy Awards (including the Legend and Lifetime Achievement awards), 26 American
Music Awards (more than any other artist), and 13 number-one US singles (more than any other
male artist in the Hot 100 era). Jackson is also remembered for his philanthropy and charitable
fundraising.
In the late 1980s, Jackson became a figure of controversy due to his changing
appearance, relationships, and behavior. In 1993, he was accused of sexually abusing the child of a
family friend; the case led to an investigation and was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount
in 1994. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted of further child sexual abuse allegations and several
other charges. In 2009, while preparing for a series of comeback concerts, This Is It, Jackson diedof
acute intoxication from propofol and benzodiazepine given to him by his personal physician, Conrad
Murray. Jackson's death triggered a global outpouring of grief, and his public memorial service was
broadcast live. In 2014, Jackson became the first artist in history to have a top ten single in
the Billboard Hot 100 in five different decades. In 2016, Jackson's estate earned $825 million, the
highest yearly amount ever recorded by Forbes.
Life and career

1958–1975: Early life and the Jackson 5
Jackson's childhood home in Gary, Indiana, pictured in March 2010 with floral tributes after his death
Michael Joseph Jackson[8][9] was born in Gary, Indiana, near Chicago, on August 29, 1958.[10][11] He
was the eighth of ten children in the Jackson family, a working-class African-American family living in
a two-bedroom house on Jackson Street.[12][13]His mother, Katherine Esther Jackson (née Scruse), left
the Baptist tradition in 1963 to become a devout Jehovah's Witness.[14]She played clarinet and piano
and had aspired to be a country-and-western performer; she worked part-time at Sears to support
the family.[15] His father, Joseph Walter "Joe" Jackson, a former boxer, was a steelworker at U.S.
Steel. Joe played guitar with a local rhythm and blues band, the Falcons, to supplement the family's
income.[16] Despite being a convinced Lutheran, Joe followed his wife's faith, as did all their children.
[14]
His father's great-grandfather, July "Jack" Gale, was a Native American medicine man and US
Army scout.[17] Michael grew up with three sisters (Rebbie, La Toya, and Janet) and five brothers
(Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, and Randy).[18] A sixth brother, Marlon's twin Brandon, died shortly
after birth.[19]
Jackson had a troubled relationship with his father. [20][21] In 2003, Joe acknowledged that he had
regularly whipped him.[22] Joe was also said to have verbally abused his son, often saying that he had
a "fat nose".[23] Jackson stated that he was physically and emotionally abused during incessant
rehearsals; he credited his father's strict discipline with playing a large role in his success. [20] He
recalled that Joe often sat in a chair with a belt in his hand as he and his siblings rehearsed, and that
"if you didn't do it the right way, he would tear you up, really get you". [24][25]
Katherine Jackson later stated that although whipping is considered abuse today, it was common at
the time.[26][27][28] Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and Marlon have said that their father was not abusive and that
the whippings, which were harder on Michael because he was younger, kept them disciplined and
out of trouble.[29] In an interview with Oprah Winfrey broadcast in February 1993, Jackson
acknowledged that his youth had been lonely and isolating. [30] His deep dissatisfaction with his
appearance, his nightmares and chronic sleep problems, his tendency to remain hyper-compliant,
especially with his father, and to remain childlike in adulthood are consistent with the effects of the
maltreatment he endured as a child.[31]
In 1964, Michael and Marlon joined the Jackson Brothers—a band formed by their father which
included brothers Jackie, Tito, and Jermaine—as backup musicians playing congas and tambourine.
[32]
In 1965, Michael began sharing lead vocals with his older brother Jermaine, and the group's name
was changed to the Jackson 5.[18] The following year, the group won a major local talent show with
Jackson performing the dance to Robert Parker's 1965 hit "Barefootin'" and singing lead to The
Temptations' "My Girl".[33] From 1966 to 1968 they toured the Midwest, frequently performing at a
string of black clubs known as the "chitlin' circuit" as the opening act for artists such as Sam &
Dave, the O'Jays, Gladys Knight, and Etta James. The Jackson 5 also performed at clubs and
cocktail lounges, where striptease shows were featured, and at local auditoriums and high school
dances.[34][35] In August 1967, while touring the East Coast, the group won a weekly amateur night
concert at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.[36]
Jackson (center) as a member of the Jackson 5 in 1972
The Jackson 5 recorded several songs, including their first single "Big Boy" (1968), for Steeltown
Records, a Gary record label,[37] then signed with Motown in 1969.[18] They left Gary in 1969 and
relocated to Los Angeles, where they continued to record for Motown. [38] Rolling Stone later
described the young Michael as "a prodigy" with "overwhelming musical gifts" who "quickly emerged
as the main draw and lead singer." [39] The group set a chart record when its first four singles—"I Want
You Back" (1969), "ABC" (1970), "The Love You Save" (1970), and "I'll Be There" (1970)—peaked
at number one on the BillboardHot 100.[18] In May 1971, the Jackson family moved into a large home
on a two-acre estate in Encino, California.[40] During this period, Michael evolved from child performer
into a teen idol.[41] As he began to emerge as a solo performer in the early 1970s, he maintained ties
to the Jackson 5 and Motown. Between 1972 and 1975, Michael released four solo studio albums
with Motown: Got to Be There (1972), Ben (1972), Music & Me (1973), and Forever, Michael (1975).
[42]
"Got to Be There" and "Ben", the title tracks from his first two solo albums, became successful
singles, as did a cover of Bobby Day's "Rockin' Robin".[43]
The Jackson 5 were later described as "a cutting-edge example of black crossover artists".[44] Their
sales began to decline in 1973, and the members chafed under Motown's refusal to allow them
creative input, but they achieved several top 40 hits, including the top five single "Dancing Machine"
(1974), before leaving Motown in 1975. [45] Jackson's performance of "Dancing Machine" on an
episode of Soul Train popularized the robot dance.[46]
1975–1981: Move to Epic and Off the Wall
From left, back row: Jackie Jackson, Michael Jackson, Tito Jackson, Marlon Jackson. Middle row: Randy
Jackson, La Toya Jackson, Rebbie Jackson. Front row: Janet Jackson (1977)
In June 1975, the Jackson 5 signed with Epic Records, a subsidiary of CBS Records,[45] and
renamed themselves the Jacksons. Younger brother Randy formally joined the band around this
time; Jermaine chose to stay with Motown and pursue a solo career. [47]The Jacksons continued to
tour internationally, and released six more albums between 1976 and 1984. Michael, the group's
lead songwriter during this time, wrote hits such as "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)" (1979),
"This Place Hotel" (1980), and "Can You Feel It" (1980).[32]
In 1978, Jackson moved to New York City to star as the Scarecrow in The Wiz, a musical directed
by Sidney Lumet. It costarred Diana Ross, Nipsey Russell, and Ted Ross.[48] The film was a box-
office failure.[49] Its score was arranged by Quincy Jones, whom Jackson had previously met when he
was 12 at Sammy Davis Jr.'s house.[50] Jones agreed to produce Jackson's next solo album. [51] During
his time in New York, Jackson frequented the Studio 54 nightclub and was exposed to early hip hop,
influencing his beatboxing on future tracks such as "Working Day and Night".[52] In 1979, Jackson
broke his nose during a complex dance routine. A subsequent rhinoplasty was not a complete
success; he complained of breathing difficulties that later affected his career. He was referred
to Steven Hoefflin, who performed Jackson's subsequent operations. [53]
Jackson's fifth solo album, Off the Wall (1979), co-produced by Jackson and Jones, established him
as a solo performer. The album helped Jackson move from the bubblegum pop of his youth to the
more complex sounds he created as an adult.[41] Songwriters for the album included Jackson, Rod
Temperton, Stevie Wonder, and Paul McCartney. Off the Wall was the first solo album to generate
four top 10 hits in the US: "Off the Wall", "She's Out of My Life", and the chart-topping singles "Don't
Stop 'Til You Get Enough" and "Rock with You".[54][55] The album reached number three on
the Billboard 200 and sold over 20 million copies worldwide. [56] In 1980, Jackson won three awards at
the American Music Awards for his solo work: Favorite Soul/R&B Album, Favorite Soul/R&B Male
Artist, and Favorite Soul/R&B Single for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". [57][58] He also won Billboard
Year-End awards for Top Black Artist and Top Black Album, and a Grammy Award for Best Male
R&B Vocal Performance for 1979 with "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". [59] In 1981 Jackson was the
American Music Awards winner for Favorite Soul/R&B Album and Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist.
[60]
Despite its commercial success, Jackson felt Off the Wall should have made a bigger impact, and
was determined to exceed expectations with his next release. [61] In 1980, he secured the
highest royalty rate in the music industry: 37 percent of wholesale album profit. [62]
Jackson recorded with Queen singer Freddie Mercury from 1981 to 1983, recording demos of "State
of Shock", "Victory" and "There Must Be More to Life Than This".[63] The recordings were intended for
an album of duets but, according to Queen's then-manager Jim Beach, the relationship soured when
Jackson insisted on bringing a llama into the recording studio,[64] and Jackson was upset by
Mercury's drug use.[65] The collaborations were released in 2014. [66] Jackson went on to record "State
of Shock" with Mick Jagger for the Jacksons' album Victory (1984),[67] and Mercury included the solo
version of "There Must Be More To Life Than This" on his album Mr. Bad Guy (1985).[68] In 1982,
Jackson combined his interests in songwriting and film when he contributed "Someone in the Dark"
to the storybook for the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. The song, produced by Jones, won a Grammy
for Best Recording for Children for 1983. [69]
1982–1983: Thriller and Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever

Jackson's sixth album, Thriller, was released in late 1982. It earned Jackson seven more
Grammys[69] and eight American Music Awards, and he became the youngest artist to win the Award
of Merit.[70] It was the best-selling album worldwide in 1983,[71][72] and became the best-selling album of
all time in the US[73] and the best-selling album of all time worldwide, selling an estimated 66
million copies.[74] It topped the Billboard 200 chart for 37 weeks and was in the top 10 of the 200 for
80 consecutive weeks. It was the first album to have seven Billboard Hot 100 top 10 singles,
including "Billie Jean", "Beat It", and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'".[75] In December
2015, Thriller was certified for 30 million shipments by the RIAA, one of only two albums to do so in
the U.S.[5] Thriller won Jackson and Quincy Jones the Grammy award for Producer of the Year (Non-
Classical) for 1983. It also won Album of the Year, with Jackson as the album's artist and Jones as
its co-producer, and a Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male, award for Jackson. "Beat It" won Record
of the Year, with Jackson as artist and Jones as co-producer, and a Best Rock Vocal Performance,
Male, award for Jackson. "Billie Jean" won Jackson two Grammy awards, Best R&B Song, with
Jackson as its songwriter, and Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male, as its artist. [69] Thriller also won
another Grammy for Best Engineered Recording – Non Classical in 1984, awarding Bruce
Swedien for his work on the album.[76] The AMA Awards for 1984 gave Jackson an Award of Merit
and AMAs for Favorite Male Artist, Soul/R&B, and Favorite Male Artist, Pop/Rock. "Beat It" won
Jackson AMAs for Favorite Video, Soul/R&B, Favorite Video, Pop/Rock, and Favorite Single,
Pop/Rock. Thriller won him AMAs for Favorite Album, Soul/R&B, and Favorite Album, Pop/Rock.[70][77]
Jackson released "Thriller", a 14-minute music video directed by John Landis, in 1983.
[78]
The zombie-themed video "defined music videos and broke racial barriers" on MTV, a fledgling
entertainment television channel at the time.[41] In December 2009, the Library of Congress selected
the "Thriller" music video to be preserved in the National Film Registry as a work of "enduring
importance to American culture", the only music video to have been inducted into the registry. [79][80][78][81]
The jacket and white sequined gloves worn by Jackson at Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever
Jackson had the highest royalty rate in the music industry at that point, about $2 for every album
sold, and was making record-breaking profits. The videocassette of the documentary The Making of
Michael Jackson's Thriller sold over 350,000 copies in a few months. Dolls modeled after Jackson
appeared in stores in May 1984 for $12 each.[82] J. Randy Taraborrelli writes that "Thriller stopped
selling like a leisure item—like a magazine, a toy, tickets to a hit movie—and started selling like a
household staple."[83] In 1985, The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller won a Grammy for Best
Music Video, Longform.[69] Time described Jackson's influence at that point as "star of records, radio,
rock video. A one-man rescue team for the music business. A songwriter who sets the beat for a
decade. A dancer with the fanciest feet on the street. A singer who cuts across all boundaries of
taste and style and color too".[82] The New York Times wrote that "in the world of pop music, there is
Michael Jackson and there is everybody else".[84]
On March 25, 1983, Jackson reunited with his brothers for a performance at the Pasadena Civic
Auditorium for Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever, an NBC television special. The show aired on
May 16, 1983, to an estimated audience of 47 million, and featured the Jacksons and other Motown
stars.[85] Jackson's solo performance of "Billie Jean" earned him his first Emmy nomination.
[86]
Wearing a black-sequined jacket and a golf glove decorated with rhinestones, he debuted his
signature dance move, the moonwalk, which Jeffrey Daniel had taught him three years earlier.
[87]
Jackson had originally turned down the invitation to perform at the show, believing he had been
doing too much television; at the request of Motown founder Berry Gordy, he agreed to perform in
exchange for time to do a solo performance.[88] Rolling Stone reporter Mikal Gilmore called the
performance "extraordinary".[41] Jackson's performance drew comparisons to Elvis Presley's and the
Beatles' appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show.[89] Anna Kisselgoff of The New York Times wrote in
1988: "The moonwalk that he made famous is an apt metaphor for his dance style. How does he do
it? As a technician, he is a great illusionist, a genuine mime. His ability to keep one leg straight as he
glides while the other bends and seems to walk requires perfect timing." [90] Gordy described being
"mesmerized" by the performance.[91]
1984–1985: Pepsi, "We Are the World", and business career

In November 1983, Jackson and his brothers partnered with PepsiCo in a $5 million promotional
deal that broke records for a celebrity endorsement. The first Pepsi campaign, which ran in the US
from 1983 to 1984 and launched its "New Generation" theme, included tour sponsorship, public
relations events, and in-store displays. Jackson helped to create the advertisement, and suggested
using his song "Billie Jean" as its jingle with revised lyrics.[92] Brian J. Murphy, executive VP of
branded management at TBA Global, said: "You couldn't separate the tour from the endorsement
from the licensing of the music, and then the integration of the music into the Pepsi fabric." [92]
On January 27, 1984, Michael and other members of the Jacksons filmed a Pepsi commercial
overseen by Phil Dusenberry,[93] a BBDO ad agency executive, and Alan Pottasch, Pepsi's
Worldwide Creative Director, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. During a simulated concert
before a full house of fans, pyrotechnics accidentally set Jackson's hair on fire, causing second-
degree burns to his scalp. Jackson underwent treatment to hide the scars and had his
third rhinoplasty shortly thereafter.[53] Pepsi settled out of court, and Jackson donated the $1.5 million
settlement to the Brotman Medical Center in Culver City, California; its Michael Jackson Burn Center
is named in his honor.[94] Dusenberry recounted the episode in his memoir, Then We Set His Hair on
Fire: Insights and Accidents from a Hall of Fame Career in Advertising. Jackson signed a second
agreement with Pepsi in the late 1980s for $10 million. The second campaign had a global reach of
more than 20 countries and provided financial support for Jackson's Bad album and 1987–88 world
tour.[92] Jackson had endorsements and advertising deals with other companies, such as LA
Gear, Suzuki, and Sony, but none were as significant as his deals with Pepsi, which later
signed Britney Spears and Beyoncé to promote its products.[92][95]
On May 14, 1984, Jackson was invited to the White House to receive an award from
President Ronald Reagan for his support of charities that helped people overcome alcohol and drug
abuse,[96] and in recognition of his support for the Ad Council's and the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration's Drunk Driving Prevention campaign. Jackson donated the use of "Beat It" for
the campaign's public service announcements. [97]
President Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan present Jackson with an award at the White House on
May 14, 1984
Jackson inside the White House with President Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan on the same day
The Victory Tour of 1984 headlined the Jacksons and showcased Jackson's new solo material to
more than two million Americans. It was the last tour he did with his brothers.
[98]
Following controversy over the concert's ticket sales, Jackson held a press conference and
announced that he would donate his share of the proceeds, an estimated $3 to 5 million, to charity.
[99]
His charitable work continued with the release of "We Are the World" (1985), co-written with Lionel
Richie,[100]which raised money for the poor in the US and Africa. [101] It earned $63 million,[101] and
became one of the best-selling singles of all time, with 20 million copies sold.[102] It won four Grammys
for 1985, including Song of the Year for Jackson and Richie as its writers. [100] The American Music
Awards directors removed the charity song from the competition because they felt it would be
inappropriate, but the AMA show in 1986 concluded with a tribute to the song on its first anniversary.
The project's creators received two special AMA honors: one for the creation of the song and
another for the USA for Africaidea. Jackson, Jones, and entertainment promoter Ken Kragan
received special awards for their roles in the song's creation. [100][103][104][105]
Jackson collaborated with Paul McCartney in the early 1980s, and learned that McCartney was
making $40 million a year from owning the rights to other people's songs. [101] By 1983, Jackson had
begun buying publishing rights to others' songs, but he was careful with his acquisitions, only bidding
on a few of the dozens that were offered to him. Jackson's early acquisitions of music catalogs and
song copyrights such as the Sly Stone collection included "Everyday People" (1968), Len Barry's "1-
2-3" (1965), and Dion DiMucci's "The Wanderer" (1961) and "Runaround Sue" (1961).
In 1984 Robert Holmes à Court, the Australian investor who owned ATV Music Publishing,
announced he was putting the ATV catalog up for sale. [106] ATV owned the publishing rights to nearly
4000 songs, among them the Northern Songscatalog that included the majority of the Lennon–
McCartney compositions recorded by the Beatles.[106] In 1981, McCartney had been offered the ATV
music catalog for £20 million ($40 million).[101][107][108] When he and McCartney were unable to make a
joint purchase, McCartney, who did not want to be the sole owner of the Beatles' songs, did not
pursue an offer on his own.[107][108] Jackson submitted a bid of $46 million on November 20, 1984.
[106]
His agents thought they had a deal several times, but encountered new bidders or new areas of
debate. In May 1985, Jackson's team left talks after having spent more than $1 million and four
months of due diligence work on the negotiations.[106] In June 1985, Jackson and Branca learned
that Charles Koppelman's and Marty Bandier's The Entertainment Company had made a tentative
offer to buy ATV Music for $50 million; in early August, Holmes à Court's team contacted Jackson
and talks resumed. Jackson raised his bid to $47.5 million, which was accepted because he could
close the deal more quickly, having already completed due diligence. [106] Jackson also agreed to visit
Holmes à Court in Australia, where he would appear on the Channel Seven Perth Telethon.
[109]
Jackson's purchase of ATV Music was finalized on August 10, 1985. [106][101]
1986–1987: Changing appearance, tabloids, and films

Health and appearance of Michael Jackson
Jackson's skin had been a medium-brown color during his youth, but from the mid-1980s gradually
grew paler. The change gained widespread media coverage, including rumors that he might have
been bleaching his skin.[110][111][112] According to J. Randy Taraborrelli's biography, in 1984 Jackson was
diagnosed with vitiligo, which causes white patches on the skin. Taraborrelli stated that Jackson had
also been skin bleaching. He said that Jackson was diagnosed with lupus, which was in remission.
Both illnesses made Jackson's skin sensitive to sunlight. The treatments Jackson used for his
condition further lightened his skin, and, with the application of pancake makeup to even out
blotches he could appear even paler. [113] Jackson stated that he used makeup to control the patchy
appearance of his skin, but never purposely bleached his skin. He said of his vitiligo: "It is something
I cannot help. When people make up stories that I don't want to be who I am, it hurts me. It's a
problem for me. I can't control it."[114] Jackson was also diagnosed with vitiligo in his autopsy, though
not lupus.[115]
Jackson stated he had had only two rhinoplasties and no other facial surgery, but mentioned having
had a dimple created in his chin. He lost weight in the early 1980s because of a change in diet and a
desire for "a dancer's body".[116] Witnesses reported that he was often dizzy, and speculated he was
suffering from anorexia nervosa. Periods of weight loss became a recurring problem later in his life.
[117]
During the course of his treatment, Jackson became friendly with his dermatologist, Arnold Klein,
and Klein's nurse Debbie Rowe. Rowe later became Jackson's second wife and the mother of his
two eldest children. He also relied heavily on Klein for medical and business advice. [118]
In 1986, the tabloids ran a story claiming that he slept in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber to slow
aging, and was pictured lying in a glass box. The claim was untrue; widely cited tabloid reports state
that Jackson disseminated the fabricated story himself. [119] When Jackson bought a chimpanzee
named Bubbles from a laboratory, he was reported as increasingly detached from reality. [120] It was
reported that Jackson had offered to buy the bones of Joseph Merrick (the "Elephant Man") and,
although the story was untrue, Jackson did not deny it. [121] He initially saw these stories as
opportunities for publicity, but stopped leaking them to the press as they became more sensational.
The media then began fabricating stories.[119][122][123] These stories became embedded in the public
consciousness, inspiring the nickname "Wacko Jacko", which Jackson came to despise. [9][124]
Jackson collaborated with filmmakers George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola on the 17-minute 3D
film Captain EO, which debuted in September 1986 at the original Disneyland and at Epcot in
Florida, and in March 1987 at Tokyo Disneyland. The $30 million film was a popular attraction at all
three parks. A Captain EO attraction also featured at Euro Disneyland after the park opened in 1992,
and was the last to close, in 1998.[125] The attraction returned to Disneyland in 2010 after Jackson's
death.[126] In 1987, Jackson disassociated himself from the Jehovah's Witnesses.[127] Katherine
Jackson said this might have been because some Witnesses strongly opposed the Thriller video;
[128]
Jackson had denounced it in a Witness publication in 1984. [129]
1987–1990: Bad, autobiography, and Neverland
Jackson (center) performing in 1988
Jackson's first album in five years, Bad (1987), was highly anticipated, with the industry expecting
another major hit.[130] It produced nine singles, with seven charting in the US Five ("I Just Can't Stop
Loving You", "Bad", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "Man in the Mirror", and "Dirty Diana") reached
number one on the Billboard Hot 100, a record for the most number-one Hot 100 singles from a
single album.[131] It won the 1988 Grammy for Best Engineered Recording – Non Classical and the
1989 Grammy for Best Music Video, Short Form for "Leave Me Alone".[69][76] Jackson won an Award of
Achievement at the American Music Awards in 1989 after Bad became the first album to generate
five number-one singles in the US, the first album to top in 25 countries, and the best-selling album
worldwide in 1987 and 1988.[132][133][134][135] By 2012, it had sold between 30 and 45 million copies
worldwide.[136][137][138][139]
The Bad world tour began on September 12, 1988, finishing on January 14, 1989. [140] Jackson
performed a total of 123 concerts to an audience of 4.4 million people. [141] In Japan alone, the tour
had 14 sellouts and drew 570,000 people, nearly tripling the previous record of 200,000 in a single
tour.[142] 504,000 people attended seven sold-out shows at Wembley Stadium, setting a
new Guinness world record.[143]
In 1988, Jackson released his autobiography, Moonwalk, which took four years to complete. It sold
200,000 copies[144] and reached the top of the New York Times bestsellers list.[145] He wrote about his
childhood, the abuse from his father, and the Jackson 5; [146] he also wrote about his changing facial
appearance, attributing it to puberty, weight loss, a strict vegetarian diet, a change in hairstyle, and
stage lighting.[116] Jackson released a film, Moonwalker, which featured live footage and short films
starring Jackson and Joe Pesci. Due to financial problems, the film was only released theatrically in
Germany; in other markets it was released direct-to-video. It debuted at the top of the Billboard Top
Music Video Cassette chart, and stayed there for 22 weeks, until it was displaced by Michael
Jackson: The Legend Continues.[147]
Jackson wore a gold-plated military style jacket with belt during the Bad era
In March 1988, Jackson purchased 2,700 acres (11 km2) of land near Santa Ynez, California, to build
a new home, Neverland Ranch, at a cost of $17 million.[148] He installed several carnival rides,
including a Ferris wheel, carousel, menagerie, movie theater and zoo.[148][149][150] A security staff of 40
patrolled the grounds.[149] In 2003, it was valued at $100 million. [151] In 1989, Jackson's annual
earnings from album sales, endorsements, and concerts were estimated at $125 million for that year
alone.[152] Shortly afterwards, he became the first Westerner to appear in a television advertisement in
the Soviet Union.[147]
Jackson's success earned him the nickname the "King of Pop".[153][10][154] It was popularized
by Elizabeth Taylor when she presented him with the Soul Train Heritage Award in 1989,
proclaiming him "the true king of pop, rock and soul," [155] and the release of the "Black or White"
video.[156] President George H. W. Bush designated him the White House's "Artist of the Decade".
[157]
From 1985 to 1990, Jackson donated $455,000 to the United Negro College Fund,[158] and all
profits from his single "Man in the Mirror" went to charity.[159]His rendition of "You Were There"
at Sammy Davis Jr.'s 60th birthday celebration won Jackson a second Emmy nomination. [86][147]
1991–1993: Dangerous, Heal the World Foundation, and Super Bowl

XXVII
In March 1991, Jackson renewed his contract with Sony for $65 million, a record-breaking deal,
[160]
displacing Neil Diamond's renewal contract with Columbia Records.[161] In 1991, he released his
eighth album, Dangerous, co-produced with Teddy Riley.[162] Dangerous was certified seven times
platinum in the US, and by 2008 had sold 30 million copies worldwide. [163][164] In the US, the first single,
"Black or White", was the album's biggest hit; it remained at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for
seven weeks and achieved similar chart performances worldwide. [165] The second single, "Remember
the Time", spent eight weeks in the top five in the US, peaking at number three on the Billboard Hot
100 singles chart.[166] At the end of 1992, Dangerous was named the best-selling album of the year
worldwide and "Black or White" the best-selling single of the year worldwide at the Billboard Music
Awards. Jackson was also named best-selling artist of the 1980s. [167] In 1993, he performed "Black or
White" song at the Soul Train Music Awards in a chair, saying he had suffered an injury in
rehearsals.[168] In the UK and other parts of Europe, "Heal the World" was the most successful single;
it sold 450,000 copies in the UK and spent five weeks at number two in 1992. [166]
Jackson founded the Heal the World Foundation in 1992. The charity brought underprivileged
children to Jackson's ranch to use the theme park rides, and sent millions of dollars around the globe
to help children threatened by war, poverty, and disease. In the same year, Jackson published his
second book, Dancing the Dream, a collection of poetry. The Dangerous World Tour ran between
June 1992 and November 1993, having grossed $100 million; Jackson performed to 3.5 million
people in 70 concerts.[166][169] He sold the broadcast rights to the tour to HBO for $20 million, a record-
breaking deal that still stands.[170]
Following the death of AIDS spokesperson Ryan White, Jackson helped draw public attention
to HIV/AIDS, which was controversial at the time. He pleaded with the Clinton administration at Bill
Clinton's inaugural gala to give more money to HIV/AIDS charities and research. [171][172] Jackson
visited Africa; on his first stop in Gabon he was greeted by more than 100,000 people, some of them
carrying signs that read "Welcome Home Michael". [173] During his trip to Ivory Coast, Jackson was
crowned "King Sani" by a tribal chief.[173] He thanked the dignitaries in French and English, signed
documents formalizing his kingship, and sat on a golden throne while presiding over ceremonial
dances.[173]
In January 1993, Jackson performed at the Super Bowl XXVII halftime show in Pasadena, California.
The NFL sought big-name talent to keep ratings high during halftime following dwindling audience
figures.[174][175] It was the first Super Bowl whose half-time performance drew greater audience figures
than the game. The performance began with Jackson catapulting onto the stage as fireworks went
off behind him, followed by four songs: "Jam", "Billie Jean", "Black or White", and "Heal the World".
Jackson's Dangerous album rose 90 places in the album chart after the performance. [110]
Jackson gave a 90-minute interview to Oprah Winfrey on February 10, 1993, his second television
interview since 1979. He spoke of his childhood abuse at the hands of his father; he believed he had
missed out on much of his childhood, and said that he often cried from loneliness. He denied tabloid
rumors that he had bought the bones of the Elephant Man, slept in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, or
bleached his skin, and stated for the first time that he had vitiligo. Dangerous re-entered the album
chart in the top 10, more than a year after its release. [25][110][166]
In February 1993, Jackson won the "Living Legend Award" at the 35th Annual Grammy Awards in
Los Angeles. Dangerous was nominated for Best Vocal Performance (for "Black or White"), Best
R&B Vocal Performance ("Jam") and Best R&B Song ("Jam"), [166] and Swedien and Riley won the
award for Best Engineered – Non Classical.[76] In the same year, Jackson won three American Music
Awards for Favorite Pop/Rock Album (Dangerous), Favorite Soul/R&B Single ("Remember the
Time"), and was the first to win the International Artist Award of Excellence, for his global
performances and humanitarian concerns.[176][177]
1993–1994: First child sexual abuse allegations and first marriage

1993 child sexual abuse accusations against Michael Jackson
In mid-1993, Jackson was accused of child sexual abuse by a 13-year-old boy, Jordan Chandler,
and his father, Evan Chandler.[178][179][180] Jackson began taking painkillers, Valium, Xanax and Ativan to
deal with the stress of the allegations. By late 1993, he was addicted to the drugs. [181] The Chandler
family demanded payment from Jackson, which he refused. Jordan Chandler told the police that
Jackson had sexually abused him; [121][182] Jordan's mother said that there had been no wrongdoing on
Jackson's part.[180] Evan was recorded discussing his intention to pursue charges [180] and Jackson
used the recording to argue that he was the victim of a jealous father trying to extort money. [180] In
January 1994, after an investigation, deputy Los Angeles County district attorney Michael J.
Montagna stated that Chandler would not be charged with extortion, due to lack of cooperation from
Jackson's party and its willingness to negotiate with Chandler for several weeks, among other
reasons.[183]
In August 1993, police raided Jackson's home and found books and photographs in his bedroom
featuring young boys with little or no clothing.[184] The books were legal to purchase and own in the
US, and Jackson was not indicted. [185] Jordan Chandler gave police a description of
Jackson's intimate parts; a strip search revealed that Jordan had correctly claimed Jackson had
patchy-colored buttocks, short pubic hair, and pink and brown marked testicles.[186] He also drew
accurate pictures of a dark spot on Jackson's penis only visible when it was lifted. [187] Some jurors felt
that the photos did not match the description,[188] but the DA and the sheriff's photographer stated that
the description was accurate.[189]
The investigation was inconclusive and no charges were filed. [188] Jackson described the search in an
emotional public statement, and proclaimed his innocence. [178][186][190] On January 1, 1994, Jackson
settled with the Chandlers out of court for an undisclosed amount. [191] A Santa Barbara County grand
jury and a Los Angeles County grand jury disbanded on May 2, 1994, without indicting Jackson.
[192]
The Chandlers stopped co-operating with the criminal investigation around July 6, 1994. [193][194][195]
In 2004 Jackson's defense said that Jackson had never been criminally indicted, his settlement
admitted no wrongdoing or evidence of criminal misconduct, and that the 1994 settlement was made
without his consent.[193] A later disclosure by the FBI of investigation documents compiled over nearly
20 years led Jackson's attorney to suggest that no evidence of molestation or sexual impropriety
from Jackson toward minors existed. [196] The Department of Children and Family Services (Los
Angeles County) investigated Jackson beginning in 1993 with the Chandler allegation and again in
2003. The LAPD and DCFS did not find credible evidence of abuse or sexual misconduct. [197][198]
In May 1994, Jackson married Lisa Marie Presley, the daughter of Elvis and Priscilla Presley. They
had met in 1975, when a seven-year-old Presley attended one of Jackson's family engagements at
the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, and reconnected through a mutual friend.[199] A friend of Presley's
said they first met as adults in November 1992.[200] They stayed in contact every day over the
telephone. As child molestation accusations against Jackson became public, he became dependent
on Presley for emotional support; she was concerned about his faltering health and addiction to
drugs.[181] Presley said: "I believed he didn't do anything wrong and that he was wrongly accused and
yes I started falling for him. I wanted to save him. I felt that I could do it." [201] Shortly afterward, she
tried to persuade Jackson to settle the allegations out of court and go into rehabilitation to recover—
he subsequently did both.[181]
Jackson proposed to Presley over the telephone in late 1993, saying: "If I asked you to marry me,
would you do it?"[181] They married in the Dominican Republic in secrecy, denying it for nearly two
months afterwards.[202] The marriage was, in her words, "a married couple's life ... that was sexually
active."[203] The tabloid media speculated that the wedding was a ploy to prop up Jackson's public
image.[202] The marriage ended less than two years later with an amicable divorce settlement. [204]In a
2010 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Presley said they had spent four more years after the divorce
"getting back together and breaking up" until she decided to stop. [205]
1995–1997: HIStory, second marriage, and fatherhood

In June 1995, Jackson released the double album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I. The
first disc, HIStory Begins, is a greatest hits album (reissued in 2001 as Greatest Hits: HIStory,
Volume I). The second disc, HIStory Continues, contains 13 original songs and two cover versions.
The album debuted at number one on the charts and has been certified for seven million shipments
in the US.[206] It is the best-selling multi-disc album of all time, with 20 million copies (40 million units)
sold worldwide.[165][207] HIStory received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year.[208]
The first single released from HIStory was "Scream/Childhood". "Scream", a duet with Jackson's
youngest sister Janet, protests the media, particularly its treatment of Jackson during the 1993 child
abuse allegations. The single had the highest debut on the Billboard Hot 100 at number five, and
received a Grammy nomination for "Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals". [208] The second single, "You
Are Not Alone", holds the Guinness world record for the first song to debut at number one on
the Billboard Hot 100 chart.[152] It was seen as a major artistic and commercial success, receiving a
Grammy nomination for "Best Pop Vocal Performance". [208]
In late 1995, Jackson was rushed to a hospital after collapsing during rehearsals for a televised
performance, caused by a stress-related panic attack.[209] In November, Jackson merged his ATV
Music catalog with Sony's music publishing division, creating Sony/ATV Music Publishing. He
retained ownership of half the company, earning $95 million up front as well as the rights to more
songs.[210][211] "Earth Song" was the third single released from HIStory, and topped the UK Singles
Chart for six weeks over Christmas 1995; it sold a million copies, making it Jackson's most
successful single in the UK.[208] The track "They Don't Care About Us" became controversial when
the Anti-Defamation League and other groups criticized its allegedly antisemitic lyrics. Jackson
quickly released a revised version of the song without the offending lyrics. [212] In 1996, Jackson won a
Grammy for Best Music Video, Short Form for "Scream" and an American Music Award for Favorite
Pop/Rock Male Artist.[69][213]
Jackson at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival for the Ghosts music video premiere
HIStory was promoted with the HIStory World Tour, beginning on September 7, 1996, and ending on
October 15, 1997. Jackson performed 82 concerts in five continents, 35 countries and 58 cities to
over 4.5 million fans, and grossed a total of $165 million, becoming Jackson's most attended tour.
[140]
During the tour, Jackson married Debbie Rowe, a dermatology nurse, in an impromptu ceremony
in Sydney, Australia. Rowe was six months pregnant with the couple's first child at the time.
Originally, Rowe and Jackson had no plans to marry, but Jackson's mother Katherine persuaded
them to do so.[214] Michael Joseph Jackson Jr. (commonly known as Prince) was born on February
13, 1997; his sister Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson was born a year later on April 3, 1998.[204][215] The
couple divorced in 1999, and Jackson received full custody of the children. The subsequent custody
suit was settled in 2006.[216][217]
In 1997, Jackson released Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix, which contained remixes of
hit singles from HIStory and five new songs. Worldwide sales stand at 6 million copies, making it
the best-selling remix album of all time.[218] It reached number one in the UK, as did the title track.[218]
[219]
In the US, the album was certified platinum, but only reached number 24. [163][208] Forbes placed
Jackson's annual income at $35 million in 1996 and $20 million in 1997. [151]
1997–2002: Label dispute and Invincible
From October 1997 to September 2001, Jackson worked on his tenth solo album, Invincible. The
album cost $30 million to record, not including promotional expenditures. [220] In June 1999, Jackson
joined Luciano Pavarotti for a War Child benefit concert in Modena, Italy. The show raised a million
dollars for the refugees of Kosovo, FR Yugoslavia, and additional funds for the children of
Guatemala.[221] Later that month, Jackson organized a series of "Michael Jackson & Friends" benefit
concerts in Germany and Korea. Other artists involved included Slash, The Scorpions, Boyz II
Men, Luther Vandross, Mariah Carey, A. R. Rahman, Prabhu Deva Sundaram, Shobana, Andrea
Bocelli, and Luciano Pavarotti. The proceeds went to the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, the Red
Cross and UNESCO.[222] From August 1999 to 2000, he lived in New York City at 4 East 74th Street.
[223]
At the turn of the century, Jackson won an American Music Award as Artist of the 1980s. [224] In
2000, Guinness World Records recognized him for supporting 39 charities, more than any other
entertainer.[225]
In September 2001, two 30th Anniversary concerts were held at Madison Square Garden to mark
Jackson's 30th year as a solo artist. Jackson appeared onstage alongside his brothers for the first
time since 1984. The show also featured performances by artists including Mýa, Usher, Whitney
Houston, NSYNC, Destiny's Child, Monica, Luther Vandross, and Slash.[226] After 9/11, Jackson
helped organize the United We Stand: What More Can I Give benefit concert at RFK Stadium in
Washington, D.C. on October 21, 2001. Jackson performed "What More Can I Give" as the finale.[227]
The release of Invincible was preceded by a dispute between Jackson and his record label, Sony
Music Entertainment. Jackson had expected the licenses to the masters of his albums to revert to
him some time in the early 2000s, after which he would be able to promote the material however he
pleased and keep the profits; clauses in the contract set the revert date years into the future.
Jackson discovered that the attorney who had represented him in the deal had also been
representing Sony.[219] Sony had been pressuring him to sell his share in its music catalog venture,
and he feared that Sony might have had a conflict of interest, since if Jackson's career failed, he
would have had to sell his share of the catalog at a low price. [227] Jackson sought an early exit from
his contract.[219]
Invincible was released on October 30, 2001. It was Jackson's first full-length album in six years, and
the last album of original material he released in his lifetime. [219] It debuted at number one in 13
countries and went on to sell 6 million copies worldwide, receiving double-platinum certification in the
US.[163][165] Sales for Invinciblewere lower than Jackson's previous releases, due in part to the record
label dispute and the lack of promotion or tour, and its release at a bad time [228] for the music industry
in general.[227] Invincible spawned three singles, "You Rock My World", "Cry", and "Butterflies", the
latter without a music video.
On January 22, 2002, Jackson won his 22nd American Music Award for Artist of the Century. [229] In
the same year, his third child, Prince Michael Jackson II (nicknamed "Blanket") was born. The
mother's identity was not announced, but Jackson said Prince was the result of artificial
insemination from a surrogate mother and his own sperm.[216] Jackson alleged in July 2002 that Sony
Music chairman Tommy Mottola was a "devil" and "racist" who did not support his African-American
artists, using them merely for his own gain. [227] He charged that Mottola had called his colleague Irv
Gotti a "fat nigger".[230] Sony refused to renew Jackson's contract, and claimed that a $25
million promotional campaign had failed because Jackson refused to tour in the US. [220]
2002–2005: Second child sexual abuse allegations and acquittal

Living with Michael Jackson and Trial of Michael Jackson
Jackson in Las Vegas, 2003
Beginning in May 2002, Jackson allowed a documentary film crew, led by British journalist Martin
Bashir, to follow him nearly everywhere he went. On November 20, Jackson brought his infant son
Prince onto the balcony of his room at the Hotel Adlonin Berlin as fans stood below, holding him in
his right arm with a cloth loosely draped over Prince's face. He briefly held Prince out over a railing,
four stories above ground level, prompting widespread criticism in the media. Jackson apologized for
the incident, calling it "a terrible mistake". [231] Bashir's crew was with Jackson during this incident; the
program was broadcast in March 2003 as Living with Michael Jackson. In one scene, Jackson was
seen holding hands and discussing sleeping arrangements with a young boy. [232] Jackson stated in
the documentary that he saw nothing wrong with sleeping with boys. [233]
As soon as the documentary aired, the Santa Barbara county attorney's office began a criminal
investigation. After the young boy involved in the documentary and his mother had told investigators
that Jackson had behaved improperly, Jackson was arrested in November 2003 and charged with
seven counts of child molestation and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent in relation to
the 13-year-old boy shown in the film. [232] Jackson denied the allegations, saying the sleepovers were
not sexual in nature. The People v. Jackson trial began on January 31, 2005, in Santa Maria,
California, and lasted until the end of May. On June 13, 2005, Jackson was acquitted on all counts.
[234][235][236]
After the trial he moved to the Persian Gulf island of Bahrain as a guest of Sheikh Abdullah.
[237]
Jermaine Jackson later said the family had planned to send him there had he been convicted. [238]
On November 17, 2003, three days before Jackson's arrest, Sony released Number Ones, a
compilation of Jackson's hits on CD and DVD. In the US, the album was certified triple platinum by
the RIAA; in the UK it was certified six times platinum for shipments of at least 1.2 million units. [163][239]
2006–2009: Closure of Neverland, final years, and This Is It
Jackson and his son Blanket in Disneyland Paris, 2006
In March 2006, amidst reports that Jackson was having financial problems, the main house at
Neverland Ranch was closed as a cost-cutting measure. [240] Jackson had failed to make repayments
of a $270 million loan secured against his music publishing holdings, which were making him $75
million a year.[241] Bank of America sold the debt to Fortress Investments. Sony proposed a
restructuring deal which would give them a future option to buy half of Jackson's stake in their jointly-
owned publishing company, leaving Jackson with a 25% stake. [211] Jackson agreed to a Sony-backed
refinancing deal in April 2006; the details were not made public. [242]
In early 2006, it was announced that Jackson had signed a contract with a Bahrain-based startup,
Two Seas Records; nothing came of the deal, and Two Seas CEO Guy Holmes later stated that it
had never been finalized.[243][244] That October, Fox News entertainment reporter Roger Friedman said
that Jackson had been recording at a studio in rural County Westmeath, Ireland. It was not known at
the time what Jackson was working on, or who had paid for the sessions, since his publicist had
recently issued a statement claiming that he had left Two Seas.[244][245] In November 2006, Jackson
invited an Access Hollywood camera crew into the studio in Westmeath, and MSNBC reported that
he was working on a new album, produced by will.i.am.[165] Jackson performed at the World Music
Awardsin London on November 15, 2006, and accepted a Diamond Award for selling over 100
million records.[165][246] During his period in Ireland he sought Patrick Treacy for cosmetic treatment
after reading about his experience with HLA fillers and his charitable work in Africa. [247] Treacy
became his doctor when he lived in Ireland in 2006. He started as Jackson's
personal dermatologist and developed a friendship with him. [248] Jackson returned to the US after
Christmas 2006 to attend James Brown's funeral in Augusta, Georgia, where he gave one of the
eulogies, saying that "James Brown is my greatest inspiration". [249]
In 2007, Jackson and Sony bought another music publishing company, Famous Music LLC, formerly
owned by Viacom. This deal gave him the rights to songs by Eminem and Beck, among others.[250]
[251]
In March 2007, Jackson gave a brief interview to the Associated Press in Tokyo, where he said:
"I've been in the entertainment industry since I was 6 years old, and as Charles Dickens would say,
'It's been the best of times, the worst of times.' But I would not change my career ... While some
have made deliberate attempts to hurt me, I take it in stride because I have a loving family, a strong
faith and wonderful friends and fans who have, and continue, to support me." [252] That month,
Jackson visited a US Army post in Japan, Camp Zama, to greet over 3,000 troops and their families.
The hosts presented Jackson with a Certificate of Appreciation. [253][254]
In September 2007, Jackson was still working on his next album, but it was never completed. [255] In
2008, Jackson and Sony released Thriller 25 to mark the 25th anniversary of the original Thriller.
The album featured the previously unreleased song "For All Time", an outtake from the original
sessions, as well as remixes by younger artists who had been inspired by Jackson's work. [256] Two
remixes were released as singles with modest success: "The Girl Is Mine 2008" (with will.i.am),
based on an early demo version of the original song without Paul McCartney, and "Wanna Be
Startin' Somethin' 2008" (with Akon).[256][257][258][259] In anticipation of Jackson's 50th birthday, Sony BMG
released a series of greatest hits albums, King of Pop. Slightly different versions were released in
various countries, based on polls of local fans.[260] King of Pop reached the top 10 in most countries
where it was issued, and also sold well as an import in other countries, including the US. [261][262]
An aerial view of part of Jackson's 2,800-acre (11 km2) Neverland Valley Ranch near Los Olivos, California,
showing the rides
In late 2008, Fortress Investments threatened to foreclose on Neverland Ranch, which Jackson used
as collateral for loans running into many tens of millions of dollars. Fortress opted to sell Jackson's
debts to Colony Capital LLC. In November, Jackson transferred Neverland Ranch's title to Sycamore
Valley Ranch Company LLC, a joint venture between Jackson and Colony Capital LLC. The deal
cleared Jackson's debt and earned him an additional $35 million. At the time of his death, Jackson
still owned a stake of unknown size in Neverland/Sycamore Valley. [263][264] In September 2008,
Jackson entered negotiations with Julien's Auction House to display and auction a large collection of
memorabilia in 1,390 lots. The auction was scheduled to take place between April 22 and 25. [265] An
exhibition of the lots opened as scheduled on April 14, but Jackson cancelled the auction. [266]
In March 2009, Jackson held a press conference at London's O2 Arena to announce a series of
comeback concerts titled This Is It. The shows were planned to be Jackson's first major series of
concerts since the HIStory World Tour finished in 1997. Jackson suggested he would retire after the
shows. The initial plan was for 10 concerts in London, followed by shows in Paris, New York City
and Mumbai. Randy Phillips, president and chief executive of AEG Live, stated that the first 10 dates
would earn Jackson £50 million.[267] The London residency was increased to 50 dates after record-
breaking ticket sales: over one million were sold in less than two hours. [268] The concerts would have
commenced on July 13, 2009, and finished on March 6, 2010. Jackson rehearsed in Los Angeles in
the weeks leading up to the tour under the direction of choreographer Kenny Ortega. Most
rehearsals took place at the Staples Center, owned by AEG.[269]
Death, memorial service, and aftermath

Death of Michael Jackson and Michael Jackson memorial service
Fans placed flowers and notes on Jackson's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on the day of his death.
On June 25, 2009, less than three weeks before the first show was due to begin in London, with all
concerts sold out, Jackson suffered cardiac arrest and died.[270] Conrad Murray, his personal
physician, had given Jackson various medications in an attempt to help him sleep at his rented
mansion in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles. Attempts at resuscitating Jackson were unsuccessful. [271]
[272]
Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics received a 911 call at 12:22 pm (PDT, 19:22 UTC),
arriving three minutes later.[273][274] Jackson was not breathing and CPR was performed.
[275]
Resuscitation efforts continued en route to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, and for more
than an hour after arriving there at 1:13 pm (20:13 UTC). He was pronounced dead at 2:26 pm
Pacific time (21:26 UTC).[276][277]
In August 2009, the Los Angeles County Coroner ruled that Jackson's death was a homicide.[278]
[279]
Jackson had taken propofol, lorazepam, and midazolam;[280] his death was caused by acute
propofol intoxication.[281]
Jackson's death triggered a global outpouring of grief. [272] The news spread quickly online, causing
websites to slow down and crash from user overload,[282] and putting unprecedented strain[283] on
services and websites including Google,[284] AOL Instant Messenger,[283] Twitter, and Wikipedia.
[284]
Overall, web traffic ranged from 11% to at least 20% higher than normal. [285]
[286]
MTV and BET aired marathons of Jackson's music videos.[287] Jackson specials aired on television
stations around the world.[288] MTV briefly returned to its original music video format, [289] airing hours of
Jackson's music videos, accompanied by live news specials featuring reactions from MTV
personalities and other celebrities.[290]
Jackson's tomb in the Holly Terrace of the Great Mausoleum, Forest Lawn Glendale
Memorial service
Jackson's memorial was held on July 7, 2009 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, preceded by a
private family service at Forest Lawn Memorial Park's Hall of Liberty. Tickets to the memorial were
distributed via lottery; over 1.6 million fans applied for tickets during the two-day application period.
The final 8,750 recipients were drawn at random, and each recipient received two tickets. [291] The
memorial service was one of the most watched events in streaming history,[292] with an estimated US
audience of 31.1 million, a number comparable to the 35.1 million who watched the 2004 burial of
former president Ronald Reagan and the 33.1 million Americans who watched the 1997 funeral for
Princess Diana.[293]
Mariah Carey, Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie, John Mayer, Jennifer Hudson, Usher, Jermaine
Jackson, and Shaheen Jafargholiperformed at the event. Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson gave
eulogies, while Queen Latifah read "We Had Him", a poem written for the occasion by Maya
Angelou.[294] Al Sharpton received a standing ovation with cheers when he told Jackson's children,
"Wasn't nothing strange about your daddy. It was strange what your daddy had to deal with. But he
dealt with it anyway."[295] Jackson's 11-year-old daughter Paris Katherine, speaking publicly for the
first time, wept as she addressed the crowd.[296][297] The Rev. Lucious Smith provided a closing prayer.
[298]
Jackson's body was entombed on September 3, 2009, at Forest Lawn Memorial
Park in Glendale, California.[299]
Criminal investigation and prosecution

Law enforcement officials investigated Jackson's personal physician, Conrad Murray, and charged
him with involuntary manslaughter in Los Angeles on February 8, 2010.[300] The California Medical
Board issued an order preventing Murray from administering heavy sedatives. [301] Murray's trial began
on September 27, 2011;[302] on November 7, 2011, he was found guilty of involuntary
manslaughter[303] and held without bail to await sentencing. [304] On November 29, 2011, Murray
received the maximum sentence of four years in prison. [305] He was released on October 28,
2013[306] due to California prison overcrowding and good behavior.[307]
Aftermath
Fan tributes at Jackson's tomb on the first anniversary of his death
On June 25, 2010, the first anniversary of Jackson's death, fans, family and friends visited Jackson's
star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, his family home, and Forest Lawn Memorial Park. Many
carried tributes to leave at the sites.[308][309] On June 26, fans marched in front of the Los Angeles
Police Department's Robbery-Homicide Division at the old Parker Center building, and submitted a
petition with thousands of signatures, demanding justice in the homicide investigation. [310] The
Jackson Family Foundation and Voiceplate presented "Forever Michael", an event uniting Jackson
family members, celebrities, fans, supporters and the community. A portion of the proceeds were
presented to charity.[311]
In April 2011, billionaire businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed, chairman of Fulham Football Club,
unveiled a statue of Jacksonoutside the club stadium, Craven Cottage.[312] Fulham fans failed to see
the relevance of Jackson to the club;[313] Al-Fayed defended the statue and told the fans to "go to hell"
if they did not appreciate it.[312] The statue was removed in September 2013 [314] and moved to
the National Football Museum in Manchester in May 2014.[315] The statue was removed from display
in March 2019 following the Leaving Neverland documentary.[316]
In 2012, in an attempt to end a family dispute, Jackson's brother Jermaine Jackson retracted his
signature on a public letter criticizing executors of Michael Jackson's estate and his mother's
advisers over the legitimacy of his brother's will. [317] T.J. Jackson, son of Tito Jackson, was given co-
guardianship of Michael Jackson's children after false reports surfaced of Katherine Jackson going
missing.[318]
In 2013, choreographer Wade Robson and James Safechuck filed a $1.5 billion-dollar civil lawsuit
claiming Jackson had sexually abused them as children. [319] On May 16, 2013, Robson alleged
on The Today Show that Jackson had abused him for seven years, beginning when Robson was
seven years old.[320] Robson had previously testified in defense of Jackson in the 2005 trial. [321] On
December 19, 2017, Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff dismissed the lawsuit because Robson had filed too
late.[322][323][324] The documentary Leaving Neverland (2019) covers Jackson's alleged sexual abuse of
Robson and Safechuck.[325] Jackson's family condemned the film as a "public lynching" and insisted
he was innocent.[326] Many radio stations, including some in New Zealand, Canada, and the UK,
removed Jackson's music from their playlists in response to the new allegations in the documentary.
[327][328]
Posthumous releases
Following a surge in sales following Jackson's death, Sony extended its distribution rights for his
music, which had been due to expire in 2015. [329] On March 16, 2010, Sony Music Entertainment,
spearheaded by its Columbia/Epic Label Group division, signed a $250 million deal with the Jackson
estate to extend their distribution rights to Jackson's back catalogue until at least 2017 and release
ten new albums of previously unreleased material and new collections of released work. [330]
The first posthumous Jackson song, "This Is It", co-written in the 1980s with Paul Anka, was
released in n October 2009. The surviving Jackson brothers reunited to record backing vocals. [331] On
October 28, 2009, Sony released a documentary film about the rehearsals, Michael Jackson's This
Is It.[332] Despite a limited two-week engagement, it became the highest-grossing documentary or
concert film of all time, with earnings of more than $260 million worldwide.[333] Jackson's estate
received 90% of the profits.[334] The film was accompanied by a compilation album of the same name.
[335]
At the 2009 American Music Awards, Jackson won four posthumous awards, two for him and two
for his album Number Ones, bringing his total American Music Awards to 26.[336][337]
In late 2010, Sony released the first posthumous album, Michael and the promotional single
"Breaking News".[338] Sony Music paid the Jackson estate $250 million for the deal, plus royalties,
making it the most expensive music contract for a single artist in history. [329][339] Video game
developer Ubisoft released a music video gamefeaturing Jackson for the 2010 holiday
season, Michael Jackson: The Experience; it was among the first games to
use Kinect and PlayStation Move, the motion-detecting camera systems for Xbox
360 and PlayStation 3 respectively.[340] Xscape, an album of unreleased material,[341] was released on
May 13, 2014.[342] Later that year, Queen released three duets recorded with Jackson and Freddie
Mercury in the 1980s.[66] A compilation album, Scream, was released on September 29, 2017.[343] In
2017, Sony Music Entertainment extended its partnership with the Michael Jackson estate, [344] and in
July 2018, Sony/ATV bought the Jackson estate's stake in EMI for $287.5 million. [345]
In October 2011, the theater company Cirque du Soleil launched Michael Jackson: The Immortal
World Tour in Montreal, with a permanent show resident in Las Vegas.[346] The 90-minute $57-million
production combined Jackson's music and choreography with the Cirque's 65 aerial dancers. [347] A
compilation soundtrack album, Immortal, accompanied the tour.[348] A larger and more theatrical
Cirque show, Michael Jackson: One, designed for residency at the Mandalay Bay resort in Las
Vegas, opened on May 23, 2013 in a renovated theater. [349][350]
In December 2015, Thriller became the first album in the US to surpass 30 million shipments,
certifying it 30× platinum.[5] A year later, it was certified again at 33× platinum,
after Soundscan added streams and audio downloads to album certifications. [351] In 2018, its US
sales record was overtaken by the Eagles' album Greatest Hits 1971–75, with 38× platinum.[352]
A jukebox musical, Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough, is due to debut on Broadway in mid-2020. [353] The
musical is directed and choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon and features a book by Lynn
Nottage.[354] It was delayed[328] and a planned pre-Broadway run in Chicago was cancelled in the wake
of the renewed claims of child sexual abuse in the Leaving Neverland documentary.[355]
Artistry
Influences
Jackson performing in 1992
Jackson was influenced by musicians including Little Richard, James Brown,[356] Jackie Wilson, Diana

Ross, Fred Astaire,[356] Sammy Davis Jr.,[356] Gene Kelly,[356][357] David Ruffin,[358] the Isley Brothers, and
the Bee Gees.[359] Little Richard had a substantial influence on Jackson, [360] but James Brown was his
greatest inspiration; he later said that as a small child, his mother would waken him whenever Brown
appeared on television. Jackson described being "mesmerized". [361]
Jackson owed his vocal technique in large part to Diana Ross, especially his use of
the oooh interjection, which he used from a young age; Ross had used this effect on many of the
songs recorded with the Supremes.[362] Not only a mother figure to him, she was often observed in
rehearsal as an accomplished performer.[363] He said: "I got to know her well. She taught me so
much. I used to just sit in the corner and watch the way she moved. She was art in motion. I studied
the way she moved, the way she sang – just the way she was." He told her: "I want to be just like
you, Diana." She said: "You just be yourself."[364]
Choreographer David Winters, who met and befriended Jackson while choreographing the 1971
Diana Ross TV special Diana!, said that Jackson watched the musical West Side Story almost every
week, and it was his favorite film; he paid tribute to it in "Beat It" and the "Bad" video.[359][365][366]
Musicianship
Jackson had no formal music training and could not read or write music notation.[367] He is credited for
playing instruments including guitar, keyboard and drums, but was proficient in none. [367] Instead,
when composing, he recorded ideas by beatboxing and imitating instruments vocally.[367]Describing
his process, he said: "I'll just sing the bass part into the tape recorder. I'll take that bass lick and put
the chords of the melody over the bass lick and that’s what inspires the melody." [367] Engineer Robert
Hoffman recalled Jackson dictating a guitar chord note by note, and singing entire string
arrangements part by part into a cassette recorder. [367]
Themes and genres
Jackson in June 1988, in Vienna, during his Bad world tour
Jackson explored genres including pop, soul, rhythm and blues, funk, rock, disco, post-disco, dance-

pop and new jack swing.[9][149][368][369][370][371] Steve Huey of AllMusic wrote that Thriller refined the strengths
of Off the Wall; the dance and rock tracks were more aggressive, while the pop tunes and ballads
were softer and more soulful.[9] Its tracks included the ballads "The Lady in My Life", "Human
Nature", and "The Girl Is Mine", the funk pieces "Billie Jean" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", and
the disco set "Baby Be Mine" and "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)".[9][372][373][374] With Thriller, Christopher
Connelly of Rolling Stone commented that Jackson developed his long association with the
subliminal theme of paranoia and darker imagery.[374]AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted this
is evident on the songs "Billie Jean" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'". [372] In "Billie Jean", Jackson
sings about an obsessive fan who alleges he has fathered a child of hers. [9] In "Wanna Be Startin'
Somethin'" he argues against gossip and the media. [374] "Beat It" decried gang violence in an homage
to West Side Story, and was Jackson's first successful rock cross-over piece, according to Huey. [9]
[39]
He also observed that the title track "Thriller" began Jackson's interest with the theme of
the supernatural, a topic he revisited in subsequent years.[9] In 1985, Jackson co-wrote the charity
anthem "We Are the World"; humanitarian themes later became a recurring theme in his lyrics and
public persona.[9]
"Thriller"
MENU
0:00
Jackson's song "Thriller",
released as a single in
1984, utilizes cinematic
sound effects, horror film
motifs, and vocal trickery
to convey a sense of
danger.[51]
"Smooth Criminal"
MENU
0:00
A single from the
album Bad, released
1988, "Smooth Criminal"
features digital drum
sounds, keyboard-created
bass lines, and other
percussion elements
designed to give the
impression of a pulsing
heart.[375]
"Black or White"
MENU
0:00
The lead single
from Dangerous, "Black or
White" is a danceable rock
song with hard rock
elements. It was one of
Jackson's most successful
recordings.[376][377]
In Bad, Jackson's concept of the predatory lover is seen on the rock song "Dirty Diana".[378] The lead
single "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" is a traditional love ballad, while "Man in the Mirror" is a ballad
of confession and resolution. "Smooth Criminal" is an evocation of bloody assault, rape and likely
murder.[130] AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine states that Dangerous presents Jackson as a
paradoxical individual.[379] He comments the album is more diverse than his previous Bad, as it
appeals to an urban audience while also attracting the middle class with anthems like "Heal the
World".[379] The first half of the record is dedicated to new jack swing, including songs like "Jam" and
"Remember the Time".[380] It was the first Jackson album in which social ills become a primary theme;
"Why You Wanna Trip on Me", for example, protests world hunger, AIDS, homelessness and drugs.
Dangerouscontains sexually charged songs such as the multifaceted love song "In the Closet".
[380]
The title track continues the theme of the predatory lover and compulsive desire. [380] The second
[380]
half includes introspective, pop-gospel anthems such as "Will You Be There", "Heal the World" and
"Keep the Faith"; these songs show Jackson opening up about various personal struggles and
worries.[380] In the ballad "Gone Too Soon", Jackson gives tribute to his friend Ryan White and the
plight of those with AIDS.[381]
HIStory creates an atmosphere of paranoia.[382] Its content focuses on the hardships and public
struggles Jackson went through prior to its production. In the new jack swing-funk-rock tracks
"Scream" and "Tabloid Junkie", and the R&B ballad "You Are Not Alone", Jackson retaliates against
the injustice and isolation he feels, and directs much of his anger at the media. [383] In the introspective
ballad "Stranger in Moscow", Jackson laments his "fall from grace", while "Earth Song", "Childhood",
"Little Susie" and "Smile" are operatic pop songs. [382][383] In the "D.S.", Jackson launched a verbal
attack against the lawyer Tom Sneddon, who had prosecuted him in both child sexual abuse cases.
He describes Sneddon as an antisocial white supremacist who wanted to "get my ass, dead or
alive". Of the song, Sneddon said: "I have not—shall we say—done him the honor of listening to it,
but I've been told that it ends with the sound of a gunshot." [384] Invincible found Jackson working
heavily with producer Rodney Jerkins.[9] The album comprises urban soul tracks such as "Cry" and
"The Lost Children", ballads such as "Speechless", "Break of Dawn", and "Butterflies" and mixes hip
hop, pop, and R&B in "2000 Watts", "Heartbreaker" and "Invincible". [385][386]
Vocal style
Jackson sang from childhood, and over time his voice and vocal style changed noticeably. Between
1971 and 1975, his voice descended from boy soprano to high tenor.[387] His vocal range as an adult
was F2-E♭6. Jackson first used the "vocal hiccup" technique, similar to gulping for air or gasping, in
1973, with the song "It's Too Late to Change the Time" from the Jackson 5's album G.I.T.: Get It
Together.[388] Jackson did not use the technique fully until the recording of Off the Wall: it can be seen
in full force in the "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)" promotional video.[45] With the arrival
of Off the Wall in the late 1970s, Jackson's abilities as a vocalist were well regarded; at the
time, Rolling Stone compared his vocals to the "breathless, dreamy stutter" of Stevie Wonder, and
wrote that "Jackson's feathery-timbred tenor is extraordinarily beautiful. It slides smoothly into a
startling falsetto that's used very daringly."[368][389] By the time of 1982's Thriller, Rolling Stone wrote
that Jackson was singing in a "fully adult voice" that was "tinged by sadness". [374]
A distinctive deliberate mispronunciation of "come on", used frequently by Jackson, occasionally
spelled "c'mon", "cha'mone", or "shamone", is also a staple in impressions and caricatures of him.
[390]
The turn of the 1990s saw the release of the introspective album Dangerous. The New York
Times noted that on some tracks, "he gulps for breath, his voice quivers with anxiety or drops to a
desperate whisper, hissing through clenched teeth" and he had a "wretched tone". [380] When singing
of brotherhood or self-esteem the musician would return to "smooth" vocals. [380] Of Invincible, Rolling
Stone wrote that, at 43, Jackson still performed "exquisitely voiced rhythm tracks and vibrating vocal
harmonies".[391] Nelson George wrote: "The grace, the aggression, the growling, the natural
boyishness, the falsetto, the smoothness—that combination of elements mark him as a major
vocalist".[375] Cultural critic Joseph Vogel notes that Jackson had an "ability to convey emotion without
the use of language: there are his trademark gulps, grunts, gasps, cries, exclamations; he also
frequently scats or twists and contorts words until they are barely discernible." [392]Neil
McCormick wrote that Jackson's unorthodox singing style "was original and utterly distinctive". [393]
Music videos and choreography

Jackson has been called the king of music videos. [394] Steve Huey of AllMusic observed how Jackson
transformed the music video into an art form and a promotional tool through complex story lines,
dance routines, special effects and famous cameo appearances, simultaneously breaking down
racial barriers.[9] Before Thriller, Jackson struggled to receive coverage on MTV, allegedly because
he was African American.[395] Pressure from CBS Records persuaded MTV to start showing "Billie
Jean" and later "Beat It", leading to a lengthy partnership with Jackson, also helping other black
music artists gain recognition.[396] MTV employees deny any racism in their coverage, or pressure to
change their stance. MTV maintains that they played rock music, regardless of race. [397] The
popularity of his videos on MTV helped to put the relatively young channel "on the map"; MTV's
focus shifted in favor of pop and R&B.[396][398] His performance on Motown 25: Yesterday, Today,
Foreverchanged the scope of live stage show; "That Jackson lip-synced 'Billie Jean' is, in itself, not
extraordinary, but the fact that it did not change the impact of the performance is extraordinary;
whether the performance was live or lip-synced made no difference to the audience" thus creating
an era in which artists re-create the spectacle of music video imagery on stage. [399] Short films
like Thriller largely remained unique to Jackson, while the group dance sequence in "Beat It" has
frequently been imitated.[400] The choreography in Thriller has become a part of global pop culture,
replicated everywhere from Indian films to prisons in the Philippines.[401] The Thriller short film marked
an increase in scale for music videos, and was named the most successful music video ever by
the Guinness World Records.[152]
In the 19-minute music video for "Bad"—directed by Martin Scorsese—Jackson began using sexual
imagery and choreography not previously seen in his work. He occasionally grabbed or touched his
chest, torso and crotch. When asked by Oprah in the 1993 interview about why he grabbed his
crotch, he described it as something that was not planned, but rather, as something that was
compelled by the music. "Bad" garnered a mixed reception from both fans and critics; Timemagazine
described it as "infamous". The video featured Wesley Snipes; in the future Jackson's videos would
often feature famous cameo roles.[122][402] For the "Smooth Criminal" video, Jackson experimented with
an anti-gravity lean where the performer leans forward at a 45 degree angle, beyond the performer's
center of gravity. To accomplish this move live, Jackson and designers developed a special shoe
that locks the performer's feet to the stage, allowing them to lean forward. They were granted U.S.
Patent 5,255,452 for the device.[403] Although the music video for "Leave Me Alone" was not officially
released in the US, in 1989 it was nominated for three Billboard Music Video Awards;[404] the same
year it won a Golden Lion Award for its special effects. In 1990, "Leave Me Alone" won a Grammy
for Best Music Video, Short Form.[147]
He received the MTV Video Vanguard Award in 1988 and the MTV Video Vanguard Artist of the
Decade Award in 1990 to celebrate his accomplishments in the art form in the 1980s; in 1991 the
first award was renamed in his honor. [166] "Black or White" was accompanied by a music video, which,
on November 14, 1991, simultaneously premiered in 27 countries with an estimated audience of 500
million people, the largest audience ever for a music video at that time. [165] Along with Jackson, it
featured Macaulay Culkin, Peggy Lipton, and George Wendt. It helped usher in morphing as an
important technology in music videos.[405] Following complaints that it featured scenes of violence and
a sexually suggestive dance, some scenes were edited and Jackson apologized. [406]
"Remember the Time" was over nine minutes long. Set in ancient Egypt, it featured
groundbreaking visual effects and appearances by Eddie Murphy, Iman, and Magic Johnson, along
with a complex dance routine. [407] The video for "In the Closet" was Jackson's most sexually
provocative piece. It featured supermodel Naomi Campbellin a courtship dance with Jackson. The
video was banned in South Africa because of its imagery. [166]
The music video for "Scream", directed by Mark Romanek and production designer Tom Foden,
gained 11 MTV Video Music Award Nominations—more than any other music video—and won "Best
Dance Video", "Best Choreography", and "Best Art Direction". [408] The song and its accompanying
video are a response to the backlash Jackson received from the media after being accused of child
molestation in 1993.[409] A year later, it won a Grammy for Best Music Video, Short Form. Shortly
afterwards, the Guinness World Records listed it as the most expensive music video ever made, at a
cost of $7 million.[208][410]
"Earth Song"'s video gained a Grammy nomination for Best Music Video, Short Form in 1997. The
video had an environmental theme, showing images of animal cruelty, deforestation, pollution and
war. Using special effects, time is reversed so that life returns, wars end, and the forests re-grow. [208]
[411]
Released in 1997 and premiering at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival, Michael Jackson's
Ghosts was a short film written by Jackson and Stephen King and directed by Stan Winston. The
video for Ghosts is more than 38 minutes long and holds the Guinness world record for the longest
music video.[208][219][412][413]
The 2001 music video for "You Rock My World", which is over 13 minutes long, was directed by Paul
Hunter. It features Chris Tucker and Marlon Brando.[414] It won an NAACP Image Award for
Outstanding Music Video at the award shows 2002 ceremony. [415]
Legacy and influence

List of Michael Jackson records and achievements and List of artists influenced by Michael Jackson
One of many identical statues, based on Diana Walczak's original HIStory statue, positioned throughout
Europe to promote HIStory
Jackson has been referred to as the "King of Pop" because, throughout his career, he transformed
the art of music videos and paved the way for modern pop music. For much of Jackson's career, he
had an unparalleled worldwide influence over the younger generation. [212] His music and videos, such
as Thriller, fostered racial diversity in MTV's roster and steered its focus from rock to pop music and
R&B, shaping the channel into a form that proved enduring. [41] Jackson's work continues to influence
numerous artists of various music genres. He is recognized as the Most Successful Entertainer of All
Time by Guinness World Records.[416][417] He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of
the 20th century,[418] and his contributions to music, dance, and fashion, along with his publicized
personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades.[419][420][421]
Danyel Smith, the chief content officer of Vibe Media Group and the editor-in-chief of Vibe describes
Jackson as "The Greatest Star".[422] AllMusic's Steve Huey describes Jackson as "an unstoppable
juggernaut, possessed of all the skills to dominate the charts seemingly at will: an instantly
identifiable voice, eye-popping dance moves, stunning musical versatility and loads of sheer star
power".[9] BET described Jackson "as quite simply the greatest entertainer of all time" and someone
who "revolutionized the music video and brought dances like the moonwalk to the world. Jackson's
sound, style, movement and legacy continues to inspire artists of all genres." [423]
Jackson's wax statue at Madame Tussauds, London
In 1984, Time magazine's pop critic Jay Cocks wrote that "Jackson is the biggest thing since the
Beatles. He is the hottest single phenomenon since Elvis Presley. He just may be the most popular
black singer ever."[82] In 1990, Vanity Fair cited Jackson as the most popular artist in the history of
show business.[147] In 2003, Daily Telegraph writer Tom Utley described Jackson as "extremely
important" and a "genius".[424] In 2007, Jackson said: "Music has been my outlet, my gift to all of the
lovers in this world. Through it, my music, I know I will live forever." [425]
Michael Jackson graffiti in Santa Cruz
At Jackson's memorial service on July 7, 2009, Motown founder Berry Gordy proclaimed Jackson

"the greatest entertainer that ever lived".[426][427] In a June 28, 2009 Baltimore Sunarticle titled "7 Ways
Michael Jackson Changed The World", Jill Rosen wrote that Jackson's legacy was "as enduring as it
is multi-faceted", influencing fields including sound, dance, fashion, music videos and celebrity. [428]
In July 2009, the Lunar Republic Society named a crater on the Moon after Jackson. [429] In the same
year, for Jackson's 51st birthday, Google dedicated their Google Doodle to him.[430] In 2010, two
university librarians found that Jackson's influence extended to academia, with references to
Jackson in reports concerning music, popular culture, chemistry and other topics. [431][432][433] On
December 19, 2014, the British Council of Cultural Relations named Jackson's life one of the 80
most important cultural moments of the 20th century.[434]
Honors and awards

List of awards and nominations received by Michael Jackson
Thriller platinum record on display at the Hard Rock Cafe, Hollywood in Universal City, California
Jackson was inducted onto the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1980 as member of the Jacksons and in
1984 as solo artist. Throughout his career he received numerous honors and awards, including
the World Music Awards' Best-Selling Pop Male Artist of the Millennium, the American Music
Award's Artist of the Century Award and the Bambi Pop Artist of the Millennium Award.[226][435] He was
a double-inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, once as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1997
and later as a solo artist in 2001. Jackson was also inducted in several other halls of fame,
including Vocal Group Hall of Fame (as a Jackson 5 member) in 1999 and the Songwriters Hall of
Fame in 2002.[226] In 2010, Jackson was inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame as the first (and
currently only) dancer from the world of pop and rock 'n' roll. [436] In 2014, Jackson was inducted into
the second class of inductees to the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame; his father Joe Jackson
accepted on his behalf.[437]
Jackson's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, set in 1984
Jackson won hundreds of awards, making him the most awarded recording artist in the history of
popular music.[438] His awards include many Guinness world records (eight in 2006 alone), including
for the Most Successful Entertainer of All Time, [416][417] 13 Grammy Awards[439] (as well as the Grammy
Legend Award[440] and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award),[441] 26 American Music
Awards (including the "Artist of the Century" and "Artist of the 1980s"), [224][442]—more than any artist—
13 number-one singles in the US in his solo career—more than any other male artist in the Hot 100
era[443]—and estimated sales of over 350 million records worldwide[444][Note 1] making him one of the best-
selling artists in music history. On December 29, 2009, the American Film Institute recognized
Jackson's death as a "moment of significance". [445] Jackson also received an Honorary Doctorate of
Humane Letters from Fisk University.[446]
Jackson is also remembered for his charity work.[447][448]
Earnings
In the year after his death, Jackson sold more than 8.2 million albums in the US and 35 million
albums worldwide, more than any other artist in 2009. [449][450] In 2014, Jackson became the first artist
to have a top ten single in the Billboard Hot 100 in five different decades.[451] He became the first artist
to sell one million music downloads in a week, with 2.6 million song downloads. Thriller, Number
Ones and The Essential Michael Jackson became the first catalog albums to outsell any new album.
[452]
Jackson also became the first artist to have four of the top 20 best-selling albums in a single year
in the US.[449]
Forbes reported in August 2018 that Jackson's total career pretax earnings in life and death was
$4.2 billion.[453][454] Sales of his recordings through Sony's music unit earned him an estimated $300
million in royalties. He may have earned another $400 million from concerts, music publishing
(including his share of the Beatles catalog), endorsements, merchandising and music videos. [455]
Estimates of Jackson's net worth during his life range from negative $285 million to positive $350
million for 2002, 2003 and 2007. [456][457]
On July 26, 2013, the executors of the estate of Michael Jackson filed a petition in the United States
Tax Court as a result of a dispute with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) over US federal estate
taxes imposed on the value of Jackson's Estate at the time of his death. [458] The executors claim that
the Estate was worth about $7 million. The IRS asserts that the Estate was worth over $1.1 billion. In
February 2014, the IRS reported that Jackson's estate owed $702 million, including $505 million in
taxes, plus $197 million in penalties after the estate had allegedly undervalued Jackson's fortune.
[459]
A trial was held from February 6 to 24, 2017. [460] A decision is expected in 2019. [461]
In 2016, Forbes estimated annual gross earnings by the Jackson estate at $825 million, the largest
ever recorded for a celebrity. The majority was due to the sale of the Sony/ATV catalog. It was the
seventh consecutive year since his death in which Jackson's annual earnings were over $100
million.[462] In 2018 the figure was $400 million. [463] According to Forbes in 2016, Jackson had been
the top-earning dead celebrity each year since his death.[462]
Discography
Michael Jackson albums discography and Michael Jackson singles discography
See also: The Jackson 5 discography
 Got to Be There (1972)
 Ben (1972)
 Music & Me (1973)
 Forever, Michael (1975)
 Off the Wall (1979)
 Thriller (1982)
 Bad (1987)
 Dangerous (1991)
 HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I (1995)
 Invincible (2001)
Filmography
Michael Jackson videography
 The Wiz (1978)
 Captain EO (1986)
 Moonwalker (1988)
 Michael Jackson's Ghosts (1997)
 Men in Black II (2002)
 Miss Cast Away and the Island Girls (2004)
 Michael Jackson's This Is It (2009)

 Bad 25 (2012)
 Michael Jackson: The Last Photo Shoot (2014)
 Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall (2016)
Tours
List of concert tours by Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5
 Bad world tour (1987–1989)

 Dangerous World Tour (1992–1993)
 HIStory World Tour (1996–1997)
 MJ & Friends (1999)
John dalton
John Dalton FRS (/ˈdɔːltən/; 6 September 1766 – 27 July 1844) was an English chemist, physicist,
and meteorologist. He is best known for introducing the atomic theory into chemistry, and for his
research into colour blindness, sometimes referred to as Daltonism in his honour.
John Dalton
Dalton by Charles Turner after James
Lonsdale (1834, mezzotint)
Early life
John Dalton was born into a Quaker family in Eaglesfield, near Cockermouth, in Cumberland,
England.[1] His father was a weaver.[2] He received his early education from his father and from
Quaker John Fletcher, who ran a private school in the nearby village of Pardshaw Hall. Dalton's
family was too poor to support him for long and he began to earn his living at the age of ten in the
service of a wealthy local Quaker, Elihu Robinson. [3] It is said he began teaching at a local school at
age 12 and became proficient in Latin at age 14.
Early career
When he was 15, Dalton joined his older brother Jonathan in running a Quaker school
in Kendal, Westmorland, about 45 miles (72 km) from his home. Around the age of 23 Dalton may
have considered studying law or medicine, but his relatives did not encourage him, perhaps because
being a Dissenter, he was barred from attending English universities. He acquired much scientific
knowledge from informal instruction by John Gough, a blind philosopher who was gifted in the
sciences and arts. At the age of 27 he was appointed teacher of mathematics and natural
philosophy at the "New College" in Manchester, a dissenting academy (the lineal predecessor,
following a number of changes of location, of Harris Manchester College, Oxford). He remained
there until the age of 34, when the college's worsening financial situation led him to resign his post
and begin a new career as a private tutor in mathematics and natural philosophy.
Scientific contributions
Meteorology
Dalton's early life was influenced by a prominent Eaglesfield Quaker, Elihu Robinson, [4] a
competent meteorologist and instrument maker, who interested him in problems of mathematics and
meteorology. During his years in Kendal, Dalton contributed solutions to problems and answered
questions on various subjects in The Ladies' Diary and the Gentleman's Diary. In 1787 at age 21 he
began his meteorological diary in which, during the succeeding 57 years, he entered more than
200,000 observations.[5] He rediscovered George Hadley's theory of atmospheric circulation (now
known as the Hadley cell) around this time.[6] In 1793 Dalton's first publication, Meteorological
Observations and Essays, contained the seeds of several of his later discoveries but despite the
originality of his treatment, little attention was paid to them by other scholars. A second work by
Dalton, Elements of English Grammar, was published in 1801.
Measuring mountains
After leaving the Lake District, Dalton returned annually to spend his holidays studying meteorology,
something which involved a lot of hill-walking. Until the advent of aeroplanes and weather balloons,
the only way to make measurements of temperature and humidity at altitude was to climb a
mountain. Dalton estimated the height using a barometer. The Ordnance Survey did not publish
maps for the Lake District until the 1860s. Before then, Dalton was one of the few authorities on the
heights of the region's mountains. [7] He was often accompanied by Jonathan Otley, who also made a
study of the heights of the local peaks, using Dalton's figures as a comparison to check his work.
Otley published his information in his map of 1818. Otley became both an assistant and a friend to
Dalton.[8]
Colour blindness
In 1794, shortly after his arrival in Manchester, Dalton was elected a member of the Manchester
Literary and Philosophical Society, the "Lit & Phil", and a few weeks later he communicated his first
paper on "Extraordinary facts relating to the vision of colours", in which he postulated that shortage
in colour perception was caused by discoloration of the liquid medium of the eyeball. As both he and
his brother were colour blind, he recognised that the condition must be hereditary. [9]
Although Dalton's theory lost credence in his lifetime, the thorough and methodical nature of his
research into his visual problem was so broadly recognised that Daltonism became a common term
for colour blindness.[a] Examination of his preserved eyeball in 1995 demonstrated that Dalton had a
less common kind of colour blindness, deuteroanopia, in which medium wavelength sensitive cones
are missing (rather than functioning with a mutated form of pigment, as in the most common type of
colour blindness, deuteroanomaly).[9] Besides the blue and purple of the optical spectrum he was
only able to recognise one colour, yellow, or, as he said in a paper, [11]
That part of the image which others call red, appears to me little more than a shade, or defect of
light; after that the orange, yellow and green seem one colour, which descends pretty uniformly from
an intense to a rare yellow, making what I should call different shades of yellow.
Gas laws
External video
Profiles in Chemistry:How John
Dalton's meteorological studies led to the
discovery of
atoms on YouTube, Chemical
Heritage Foundation
In 1800, Dalton became secretary of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, and in the
following year he presented an important series of lectures, entitled "Experimental Essays" on the
constitution of mixed gases; the pressure of steam and other vapours at different temperatures in
a vacuum and in air; on evaporation; and on the thermal expansion of gases. The four essays,
presented between 2 and 30 October 1801, were published in the Memoirs of the Literary and
Philosophical Society of Manchester in 1802.
The second essay opens with the remark,[12]
There can scarcely be a doubt entertained respecting the reducibility of all elastic fluids of whatever
kind, into liquids; and we ought not to despair of effecting it in low temperatures and by strong
pressures exerted upon the unmixed gases further.
After describing experiments to ascertain the pressure of steam at various points between 0 and
100 °C (32 and 212 °F), Dalton concluded from observations of the vapour pressure of six different
liquids, that the variation of vapour pressure for all liquids is equivalent, for the same variation of
temperature, reckoning from vapour of any given pressure.
In the fourth essay he remarks,[13]
I see no sufficient reason why we may not conclude, that all elastic fluids under the same pressure
expand equally by heat—and that for any given expansion of mercury, the corresponding expansion
of air is proportionally something less, the higher the temperature. ... It seems, therefore, that
general laws respecting the absolute quantity and the nature of heat, are more likely to be derived
from elastic fluids than from other substances.
He enunciated Gay-Lussac's law, published in 1802 by Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac (Gay-Lussac
credited the discovery to unpublished work from the 1780s by Jacques Charles). In the two or three
years following the lectures, Dalton published several papers on similar topics. "On the Absorption of
Gases by Water and other Liquids" (read on 21 October 1803, published until 1805) [14] contained his
law of partial pressures now known as Dalton's law.
Atomic theory
The most important of all Dalton's investigations are concerned with the atomic theory in chemistry.
While his name is inseparably associated with this theory, the origin of Dalton's atomic theory is not
fully understood.[15][16] The theory may have been suggested to him either by researches
on ethylene (olefiant gas) and methane (carburetted hydrogen) or by analysis of nitrous
oxide (protoxide of azote) and nitrogen dioxide (deutoxide of azote), both views resting on the
authority of Thomas Thomson.[17]
From 1814 to 1819, Irish chemist William Higgins claimed that Dalton had plagiarised his ideas, but
Higgins' theory did not address relative atomic mass. [18][19] However, recent evidence suggests that
Dalton's development of thought may have been influenced by the ideas of another Irish
chemist Bryan Higgins, who was William's uncle. Bryan believed that an atom was a heavy central
particle surrounded by an atmosphere of caloric, the supposed substance of heat at the time. The
size of the atom was determined by the diameter of the caloric atmosphere. Based on the evidence,
Dalton was aware of Bryan's theory and adopted very similar ideas and language, but he never
acknowledged Bryan's anticipation of his caloric model. [20][21] However, the essential novelty of
Dalton's atomic theory is that he provided a method of calculating relative atomic weights for the
chemical elements, something that neither Bryan nor William Higgins did; his priority for that crucial
step is uncontested.[22]
A study of Dalton's laboratory notebooks, discovered in the rooms of the Manchester Literary and
Philosophical Society,[23] concluded that so far from Dalton being led by his search for an explanation
of the law of multiple proportions to the idea that chemical combination consists in the interaction of
atoms of definite and characteristic weight, the idea of atoms arose in his mind as a purely physical
concept, forced on him by study of the physical properties of the atmosphere and other gases. The
first published indications of this idea are to be found at the end of his paper "On the Absorption of
Gases by Water and other Liquids"[14] already mentioned. There he says:
Why does not water admit its bulk of every kind of gas alike? This question I have duly considered,
and though I am not able to satisfy myself completely I am nearly persuaded that the circumstance
depends on the weight and number of the ultimate particles of the several gases.
The main points of Dalton's atomic theory are:
1. Elements are made of extremely small particles called atoms.

2. Atoms of a given element are identical in size, mass and other properties; atoms of different
elements differ in size, mass and other properties.
3. Atoms cannot be subdivided, created or destroyed.
4. Atoms of different elements combine in simple whole-number ratios to form chemical
compounds.
5. In chemical reactions, atoms are combined, separated or rearranged.
Dalton proposed an additional controversial "rule of greatest simplicity" that could not be
independently confirmed.
When atoms combine in only one ratio, "..it must be presumed to be a binary one, unless
some cause appear to the contrary".
For elements that combined in multiple ratios, their combinations were assumed to be the
simplest ones possible. Two combinations resulted in a binary and a ternary compound. [24] This
was merely an assumption, derived from faith in the simplicity of nature. No evidence was then
available to scientists to deduce how many atoms of each element combine to form compound
molecules. But this or some other such rule was absolutely necessary to any incipient theory,
since one needed an assumed molecular formula in order to calculate relative atomic weights.
Dalton's "rule of greatest simplicity" caused him to assume that the formula for water was OH
and ammonia was NH, quite different from our modern understanding (H2O, NH3). Despite the
uncertainty at the heart of Dalton's atomic theory, the principles of the theory survived.
Atomic weights
Various atoms and molecules as depicted in John Dalton's A New System of Chemical Philosophy(1808).
Dalton published his table of relative atomic weights containing six elements, hydrogen, oxygen,
nitrogen, carbon, sulfur and phosphorus, with the atom of hydrogen conventionally assumed to
weigh 1. Dalton provided no indication in this paper how he had arrived at these numbers [citation
needed]
but in his laboratory notebook, dated 6 September 1803, [25] is a list in which he set out the
relative weights of the atoms of a number of elements, derived from analysis of water,
ammonia, carbon dioxide, etc. by chemists of the time.
The extension of this idea to substances in general necessarily led him to the law of multiple
proportions, and the comparison with experiment brilliantly confirmed his deduction. [26] In the
paper "On the Proportion of the Several Gases in the Atmosphere", read by him in November
1802, the law of multiple proportions appears to be anticipated in the words:
The elements of oxygen may combine with a certain portion of nitrous gas or with twice that
portion, but with no intermediate quantity.
But there is reason to suspect that this sentence may have been added some time after the
reading of the paper, which was not published until 1805. [27]
Compounds were listed as binary, ternary, quaternary, etc. (molecules composed of two, three,
four, etc. atoms) in the New System of Chemical Philosophy depending on the number of atoms
a compound had in its simplest, empirical form.
Dalton hypothesised the structure of compounds can be represented in whole number ratios.
So, one atom of element X combining with one atom of element Y is a binary compound.
Furthermore, one atom of element X combining with two atoms of element Y or vice versa, is a
ternary compound. Many of the first compounds listed in the New System of Chemical
Philosophy correspond to modern views, although many others do not.
Dalton used his own symbols to visually represent the atomic structure of compounds. They
were depicted in the New System of Chemical Philosophy, where he listed 20 elements and 17
simple molecules.
Other investigations
Dalton published papers on such diverse topics as rain and dew and the origin of springs
(hydrosphere); on heat, the colour of the sky, steam and the reflection and refraction of light; and
on the grammatical subjects of the auxiliary verbs and participles of the English language.
Experimental approach
As an investigator, Dalton was often content with rough and inaccurate instruments, even
though better ones were obtainable. Sir Humphry Davydescribed him as "a very coarse
experimenter", who almost always found the results he required, trusting to his head rather than
his hands. On the other hand, historians who have replicated some of his crucial experiments
have confirmed Dalton's skill and precision.
In the preface to the second part of Volume I of his New System, he says he had so often been
misled by taking for granted the results of others that he determined to write "as little as possible
but what I can attest by my own experience", but this independence he carried so far that it
sometimes resembled lack of receptivity. Thus he distrusted, and probably never fully
accepted, Gay-Lussac's conclusions as to the combining volumes of gases.
He held unconventional views on chlorine. Even after its elementary character had been settled
by Davy, he persisted in using the atomic weights he himself had adopted, even when they had
been superseded by the more accurate determinations of other chemists.
He always objected to the chemical notation devised by Jöns Jakob Berzelius, although most
thought that it was much simpler and more convenient than his own cumbersome system of
circular symbols.
Other publications
For Rees's Cyclopædia Dalton contributed articles on Chemistry and Meteorology, but the topics
are not known.
He contributed 117 Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester from 1817
until his death in 1844 while president of that organisation. Of these the earlier are the most
important. In one of them, read in 1814, he explains the principles of volumetric analysis, in
which he was one of the earliest researchers. In 1840 a paper on phosphates and arsenates,
often regarded as a weaker work, was refused by the Royal Society, and he was so incensed
that he published it himself. He took the same course soon afterwards with four other papers,
two of which ("On the quantity of acids, bases and salts in different varieties of salts" and "On a
new and easy method of analysing sugar") contain his discovery, regarded by him as second in
importance only to atomic theory, that certain anhydrates, when dissolved in water, cause no
increase in its volume, his inference being that the salt enters into the pores of the water.
Public life
Even before he had propounded the atomic theory, Dalton had attained a considerable scientific
reputation. In 1803, he was chosen to give a series of lectures on natural philosophy at
the Royal Institution in London, and he delivered another series of lectures there in 1809–1810.
Some witnesses reported that he was deficient in the qualities that make an attractive lecturer,
being harsh and indistinct in voice, ineffective in the treatment of his subject, and singularly
wanting in the language and power of illustration.
In 1810, Sir Humphry Davy asked him to offer himself as a candidate for the fellowship of the
Royal Society, but Dalton declined, possibly for financial reasons. In 1822 he was proposed
without his knowledge, and on election paid the usual fee. Six years previously he had been
made a corresponding member of the French Académie des Sciences, and in 1830 he was
elected as one of its eight foreign associates in place of Davy. In 1833, Earl Grey's government
conferred on him a pension of £150, raised in 1836 to £300. Dalton was elected a Foreign
Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1834.[28]
A young James Prescott Joule, who later studied and published (1843) on the nature of heat
and its relationship to mechanical work, was a pupil of Dalton in his last years.
Personal life
Dalton in later life by Thomas Phillips, National Portrait Gallery, London(1835).
Dalton never married and had only a few close friends. As a Quaker, he lived a modest and
unassuming personal life.[1]
For the 26 years prior to his death, Dalton lived in a room in the home of the Rev W. Johns, a
published botanist, and his wife, in George Street, Manchester. Dalton and Johns died in the
same year (1844).[29]
Dalton's daily round of laboratory work and tutoring in Manchester was broken only by annual
excursions to the Lake District and occasional visits to London. In 1822 he paid a short visit
to Paris, where he met many distinguished resident men of science. He attended several of the
earlier meetings of the British Association at York, Oxford, Dublin and Bristol.
Disability and death
Dalton suffered a minor stroke in 1837, and a second in 1838 left him with a speech impairment,
although he remained able to perform experiments. In May 1844 he had another stroke; on 26
July 1844 he recorded with trembling hand his last meteorological observation. On 27 July 1844,
in Manchester, Dalton fell from his bed and was found lifeless by his attendant.
Dalton was accorded a civic funeral with full honours. His body lay in state in Manchester Town
Hall for four days and more than 40,000 people filed past his coffin. The funeral procession
included representatives of the city's major civic, commercial, and scientific bodies. [30][31] He was
buried in Manchester in Ardwick cemetery. The cemetery is now a playing field, but pictures of
the original grave may be found in published materials. [32][33]
Legacy
Bust of Dalton by Chantrey, 1854
Statue of Dalton by Chantrey.

 Much of Dalton's written work, collected by the Manchester Literary and Philosophical
Society, was damaged during bombing on 24 December 1940. It prompted Isaac Asimov to
say, "John Dalton's records, carefully preserved for a century, were destroyed during the
World War II bombing of Manchester. It is not only the living who are killed in war". The
damaged papers are in the John Rylands Library.
 A bust of Dalton, by Chantrey, paid for by public subscription[34] was placed in the entrance
hall of the Royal Manchester Institution. Chantrey's large statue of Dalton, erected while
Dalton was alive was placed in Manchester Town Hall in 1877. He "is probably the only
scientist who got a statue in his lifetime".[31]
 The Manchester-based Swiss phrenologist and sculptor William Bally made a cast of the
interior of Dalton's cranium and of a cyst therein, having arrived at the Manchester Royal
Infirmary too late to make a caste of the head and face. A cast of the head was made, by a
Mr Politi, whose arrival at the scene preceded that of Bally. [35]
 John Dalton Street connects Deansgate and Albert Square in the centre of Manchester.
 The John Dalton building at Manchester Metropolitan University is occupied by the Faculty of
Science and Engineering. Outside it stands William Theed's statue of Dalton, erected
in Piccadilly in 1855, and moved there in 1966 .
 A blue plaque commemorates the site of his laboratory at 36 George Street in Manchester. [36]
[37]
 The University of Manchester established two Dalton Chemical Scholarships, two Dalton

Mathematical Scholarships, and a Dalton Prize for Natural History. A hall of residence is
named Dalton Hall.
 The Dalton Medal, has been awarded only twelve times by the Manchester Literary and
Philosophical Society.
 A lunar crater was named after Dalton.
 "Daltonism" became a common term for colour blindness and daltonien is the French word
for "colour blind".
 The inorganic section of the UK's Royal Society of Chemistry is named after Dalton (Dalton
Division), and the society's academic journal for inorganic chemistry also bears his name
(Dalton Transactions).
 In honour of Dalton's work, many chemists and biochemists use the (unofficial)
designation dalton (abbreviated Da) to denote one atomic mass unit (1/12 the weight of a
neutral atom of carbon-12).
 Quaker schools have named buildings after Dalton: for example, a school house in the
primary sector of Ackworth School, is called Dalton.
 Dalton Township in southern Ontario was named after him. In 2001 the name was lost when
the township was absorbed into the City of Kawartha Lakes but in 2002 the Dalton name
was affixed to a new park, Dalton Digby Wildlands Provincial Park.
The standard author abbreviation Jn.Dalton is used to indicate this person as the author
when citing a botanical name.
Bill Nye
William Sanford Nye[3] (born November 27, 1955), popularly known as Bill Nye the Science Guy, is an
American science communicator, television presenter, and mechanical engineer. He is best known as the host of the
PBS and syndicated children's science show Bill Nye the Science Guy (1993–1998), the Netflix show Bill Nye Saves
the World(2017–present), and for his many subsequent appearances in popular media as a science educator.
Nye began his career as a mechanical engineer for Boeing Corporation in Seattle, where he invented a hydraulic
resonance suppressor tube used on 747 airplanes. In 1986, Nye left Boeing to pursue comedy, writing and
performing jokes and bits for the local sketch television show Almost Live!, where he would regularly conduct wacky
science experiments. Nye aspired to become the next Mr. Wizard and with the help of several producers successfully
pitched the children's television program Bill Nye the Science Guy to KCTS-TV, channel 9, Seattle's public television
station. The show—which proudly proclaimed in its theme song that "science rules!"—ran from 1993 to 1998 in
national TV syndication. Known for its "high-energy presentation and MTV-paced segments,"[4] the program became a
hit for both kids and adults. The show was critically acclaimed and was nominated for 23 Emmy Awards, winning
nineteen.
Bill Nye
Nye in May 2017
Following the success of his show, Nye continued to advocate for science, becoming the CEO of the Planetary
Societyand helping develop sundials for the Mars Exploration Rover missions.[5] Nye has written two best-selling
books on science, including Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation in 2014 and Unstoppable: Harnessing
Science to Change the World in 2015. Nye has made frequent media appearances, including on Dancing with the
Stars, The Big Bang Theory and Inside Amy Schumer.[6] Nye starred in a documentary about his life and science
advocacy titled Bill Nye: Science Guy, which premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival in March 2017, and,
in October 2017, was chosen a NYT Critic's Pick.[1] In 2017, he debuted a Netflix series, entitled Bill Nye Saves the
World.
Early life
Nye was born on November 27, 1955,[7][8] in Washington, D.C., to Jacqueline Jenkins-Nye (née Jenkins; 1921–2000),
who was a codebreaker during World War II, and Edwin Darby "Ned" Nye (1917–1997), who also served in World
War II and worked as a contractor building an airstrip on Wake Island.[9] Ned was captured and spent four years in a
Japanese prisoner-of-war camp; living without electricity or watches, he learned how to tell time using the shadow of
a shovel handle, spurring his passion for sundials.[9][10][11][12] Jenkins-Nye was among a small elite group of young
women known as "Goucher girls" whom the Navy had enlisted to help crack the codes that were used by the
Japanese and German military. "She wasn't Rosie the Riveter, she was Rosie the Top-Secret Code Breaker," Nye
recalls. "People would ask her what she did during World War II and she'd say, 'I can't talk about it, ha ha ha!'"[13]
Nye attended Lafayette Elementary School and Alice Deal Junior High before attending Sidwell Friends for high
school on a scholarship in 1973.[14][15] Nye moved to Ithaca, New York to attend Cornell University and study at
the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. His enthusiasm for science was deepened after taking
an astronomy class with Carl Sagan.[16] He graduated with a BS in mechanical engineering in 1977.[17]
Early career in Seattle
1977–1986: Job at Boeing
After graduating from Cornell, Nye worked as an engineer for the Boeing Corporation and Sundstrand Data Control
near Seattle. While at Boeing, he invented a hydraulic resonance suppressor tube used on Boeing 747 airplanes.
[18]
Nye applied four times for NASA's astronaut training program, but was always rejected.[19]
Nye started doing standup comedy after winning a Steve Martin look-alike contest in 1978.[20] Nye's friends began
asking him to do Steve Martin impressions at parties and he discovered how much he loved to make people laugh.
Nye began moonlighting as a comedian, while still holding his day job as a mechanical engineer at Boeing.[21] Nye has
stated of that time: "At this point in our story, I was working on business jet navigation systems, laser gyroscope
systems during the day, and I'd take a nap and go do stand-up comedy by night".[21]
He also participated in Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and would volunteer at the Pacific Science Center on
weekends, as a "Science Explainer".[20]
1986–1991: Comedy beginnings and Almost Live!

Nye quit his job at Boeing on October 3, 1986 to focus on his burgeoning comedy career.[21]
During Nye's 10 year college reunion in 1987, he went through great lengths to meet with Sagan at Cornell. His
assistant told Nye, "Okay, you can talk to him for five minutes." While meeting him at the space sciences building,
Nye explained that he was interested in developing a science television program. "I mentioned how I planned to talk
about bridges and bicycles and so on—stuff that, as an engineer, I'd been interested in—and he said, 'Focus on pure
science. Kids resonate to pure science rather than technology.' And that turned out to be great advice."[22]
In 1986, Nye worked as a writer/actor on a local sketch comedy television show in Seattle, called Almost Live!. Nye
first got his big break on the show from John Keisterwho met him during an open mic night.[23] After a guest canceled,
co-host Ross Shafer mentioned to Nye that he had seven minutes of programming to fill. "Why don't you do that
science stuff?" Shafer suggested.[24] On the show, Nye entertained audiences with comical demonstrations like what
happens when you eat a marshmallow that's been dunked in liquid nitrogen.[25] His other main recurring role on Almost
Live! was as Speed Walker, a speedwalking Seattle superhero "who fights crime while maintaining strict adherence
to the regulations of the international speed-walking association."[20]
One famous incident on the show led to his stage name. He corrected Keister on his pronunciation of the word
"gigawatt", and the nickname was born when Keister responded, "Who do you think you are—Bill Nye the Science
Guy?"[26] Nye's science experiments strongly resonated with viewers and the local chapter of the National Academy of
Television Arts and Sciences awarded Nye a talent Emmy for one of his segments.[27]
Even though Nye had become a regular on Almost Live!, he was only doing freelance work for the program.[28] While
looking for more TV gigs, Nye was given the opportunity in 1989 to host a short educational program on Washington
State's wetlands called Fabulous Wetlands, sponsored by the Washington State Department of Ecology.
[28]
On Fabulous Wetlands, Nye explained the importance of preserving estuaries and the hazards of pollution.[29] The
show became, in many ways, a model for Nye's later show, with "zany camera cuts paired with Nye's humor" that set
it apart from the typical scientific broadcast.[28] Nye soon began getting more offers to make appearances on nationally
broadcast programs, including taping eight segments for the Disney Channel's All-New Mickey Mouse Club.[27]
Following his stint on Almost Live!, from 1991 to 1993, he appeared on live-action educational segments of Back to
the Future: The Animated Series, assisting Dr. Emmett Brown (played by Christopher Lloyd).[30]
Bill Nye the Science Guy

Bill Nye the Science Guy
In 1993, he developed a Bill Nye the Science Guy pilot for public broadcasting station KCTS-TV in Seattle. Nye
collaborated with James McKenna, Erren Gottlieb and Elizabeth Brock to plan and create the show for KCTS.[31] The
group pitched the show as Mr. Wizard meets Pee-wee's Playhouse.[22] He successfully obtained underwriting from
the National Science Foundation and the US Department of Energy. Nye's program became part of a package of
syndicated series that local stations could schedule to fulfill Children's Television Act requirements.[32] Because of
this, Bill Nye the Science Guy became the first program to run concurrently on public and commercial stations.
Bill Nye the Science Guy, wearing his trademark blue lab coat and bowtie.
[32]
Bill Nye the Science Guy ran from 1993 to 1998, becoming one of the most-watched educational TV shows in the
United States.[33]While portraying "The Science Guy", Nye wore a powder blue lab coat and a bow tie. Nye Labs, the
production offices and set where the show was shot, was located in a converted clothing warehouse near
Seattle's Kingdome.[33] Each episode of the program strived to educate younger viewers on various science concepts,
yet it also attracted a significant adult audience as well.[34] The show's ability to make science entertaining and
accessible made it a popular teaching tool in classrooms across the country. With its quirky humor and rapid-fire
MTV-style pacing, the show won critical acclaim and was nominated for 23 Emmy Awards, winning nineteen.
Subsequent research studies found the program to be effective in teaching students science: those that viewed Bill
Nye regularly were better able to generate explanations and extensions of scientific ideas than non-viewers.[35]
In addition to the TV show, Nye published several books as The Science Guy. A CD-ROM based on the series,
titled Bill Nye the Science Guy: Stop the Rock!, was released in 1996 for Windows and Macintosh by Pacific
Interactive. [36][33]
Nye's Science Guy personality is also prominent at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, most notably his appearance
with Ellen DeGeneres at Ellen's Energy Adventure, an attraction which ran from 1996 to 2017 at the Universe of
Energy pavilion located inside Epcot at Walt Disney World. His Science Guy persona was also the on-air spokesman
for the Noggin television network during 1999.[37]
Post–Science Guy work
Nye at the March for Science in Washington, D.C. on April 22, 2017.

The Eyes of Nye
The Eyes of Nye
Following the success of Bill Nye the Science Guy, Nye began work on a comeback project, entitled The Eyes of
Nye, aimed at an older audience and tackling more controversial science subject matter such as genetically modified
food, global warming, and race. However "shifting creative concepts, infighting among executives and disputes over
money with Seattle producing station KCTS," significantly delayed production for years.[38] KCTS was hampered by
budgetary problems and wasn't able to produce an Eyes of Nye pilot on time.[38] "KCTS went through some distress,"
Nye recalled. "When we did The Eyes of Nye, the budget started out really big, and by the time we served all these
little problems at KCTS, we had a much lower budget for the show than we'd ever had for the 'Science Guy' show
which was made several years earlier."[23] PBS declined to distribute Eyes of Nye, though the show was eventually
picked up by American Public Television. "PBS wanted more serious, in-depth Nova-style shows," explained co-
producer Randy Brinson.[39] The show, which eventually premiered in 2005, lasted for only one season and Nye
acknowledged ditching his bow-tie on the program was a mistake. "I tried wearing a straight tie. It was nothing," Nye
said. "We were trying something new. It wasn't me."[23]
Other media appearances

From 2000 to 2002, Nye was the technical expert on BattleBots.[40] In 2004 and 2005, Nye hosted 100 Greatest
Discoveries, an award-winning series produced by THINKFilm for The Science Channel and in high definition on
the Discovery HD Theater.[41] He was also host of an eight-part Discovery Channel series called Greatest Inventions
with Bill Nye. Nye guest-starred in several episodes of the crime drama Numb3rs as an engineering faculty member.
A lecture Nye gave on exciting children about math was an inspiration for the creation of the show.[42] He also made
guest appearances on the VH1 reality show America's Most Smartest Model.
Nye with Senator Chris Van Hollenin 2017
Nye appeared on segments of Heidi Cullen's The Climate Code, later renamed Forecast Earth on The Weather
Channel, relating his personal ways of saving energy.[43] In the fall of 2008, Nye also appeared periodically on the
daytime game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire as part of the show's reintroduced "Ask the Expert" lifeline. [44]
In 2008, he also hosted Stuff Happens, a short-lived show on the Planet Green network.[45] In November 2008, Nye
appeared in an acting role as himself in the fifth-season episode "Brain Storm" of Stargate Atlantis alongside fellow
television personality and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.[46]
Nye recorded a short YouTube video (as himself, not his TV persona) advocating clean-energy climate-change
legislation on behalf of Al Gore's Repower Americacampaign in October 2009.[47] Nye joined the American Optometric
Association in a multimedia advertising campaign to persuade parents to get their children comprehensive eye
examinations.[48]
In 2013, Bill Nye guest starred in The Big Bang Theory episode "The Proton Displacement."[49] Sheldon Cooper
befriends him and brings him in to teach Leonard Hofstader a "lesson" after Professor Proton (portrayed by Bob
Newhart) helps Leonard out with an experiment instead of him. There was a claim by Professor Proton that Bill Nye
made his TV series similar to his show. After he and Sheldon leave, Leonard receives a selfie of the two of them
having smoothies, and later gets a text from Sheldon asking for a ride home, stating Bill Nye ditched him at the
smoothie store. In a later discussion with Professor Proton, Sheldon revealed that Bill Nye had a restraining
order against him, so he could not help him contact Nye.[50]
On February 28, 2014, Nye was a celebrity guest and interviewer at the White House Student Film Festival.[51]
On August 31, 2016, Netflix announced that Nye would appear in a new series titled Bill Nye Saves the World, which
premiered on April 21, 2017.[52][53] Nye was honorary co-chair of the inaugural March for Science on April 22, 2017.[54]
Nye appeared in the 2016 documentary, Food Evolution directed by Academy Award nominated director, Scott
Hamilton Kennedy and narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson.[55]
He was the subject of a 2017 biographical documentary film, entitled Bill Nye: Science Guy, directed by David
Alvarado and Jason Sussberg.[1]
In 2018, Nye guest starred in an episode of Blindspot entitled "Let It Go", playing a fictionalized version of himself
who is the father of the character Patterson.[56] His fictional self also alludes to his rivalry with Rodney McKay which
was established in the aforementioned episode "Brain Storm" of Stargate Atlantis.[57] In the same year, Nye made a
guest appearance on The Big Bang Theory as himself, together with fellow scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson, in the first
episode of the show's final season ("The Conjugal Configuration").[58]
Science advocacy
Nye orating in October 2010
In the early 2000s, Nye assisted in the development of a small sundial that was included in the Mars Exploration
Rovermissions.[7] Known as MarsDial, it included small colored panels to provide a basis for color calibration in
addition to helping keep track of time.[59] From 2005 to 2010, Nye was the vice president of the Planetary Society, an
organization that advocates space science research and the exploration of other planets, particularly Mars.[60] He
became the organization's second Executive Director in September 2010 when Louis Friedman stepped down.[61][62]
The Bill Nye Climate Lab at the Chabot Space & Science Center in 2013.
In November 2010, Nye became the face of a major science exhibition at the Chabot Space & Science Center in
Oakland, California.[63] Bill Nye's Climate Lab featured Nye as commander of the Clean Energy Space Station and
invited visitors on an urgent mission to thwart climate change.[64]
Nye with the Chief of Naval Research Rear. Adm. Nevin Carr following the presentation of a "Powered by Naval Research" pocket
protector during the Navy Office of General Counsel Spring 2011 Conference.
Nye gave a solar noon clock atop Rhodes Hall to Cornell on August 27, 2011, following a public lecture that filled the
715-seat Statler Auditorium.[65] Nye talked about his father's passion for sundials and timekeeping, his time at Cornell,
his work on the sundials mounted on the Mars rovers and the story behind the Bill Nye Solar Noon Clock.[5] Nye
conducted a Q&A session after the 2012 Mars Rover Landing.[66]
Nye speaking to a group about Mars in June 2016
From 2001 to 2006, Nye served as Frank H. T. Rhodes Class of '56 University Professor at Cornell University.[17][67]
Nye is a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, a U.S. non-profit scientific and educational organization whose
aim is to promote scientific inquiry, critical investigation, and the use of reason in examining controversial and
extraordinary claims.[68] Interviewed by John Rael for the Independent Investigation Group IIG, Nye stated that his
"concern right now ... scientific illiteracy ... you [the public] don't have enough rudimentary knowledge of the universe
to evaluate claims."[69] In November 2012, Nye launched a Kickstarter project for an educational Aerodynamics game
called AERO 3D but it was not funded.[70]
In September 2012, Nye claimed that creationist views threaten science education and innovation in the United
States.[71][72][73] In February 2014, Nye debated creationist Ken Hamat the Creation Museum on the topic of whether
creation is a viable model of origins in today's modern, scientific era.[74][75][76] In July 2016, Ham gave Nye a tour of
the Ark Encounter the day after it first opened to the public.[77][78] He and Ham had an informal debate while touring the
structure,[79] and footage from Nye's visit was subsequently included in the documentary film Bill Nye: Science Guy,
which was released in 2017.[80]
Since 2013, Nye has been listed on the Advisory Council of the National Center for Science Education.[81]
On Earth Day 2015, Nye met with U.S. President Obama to visit the Everglades National Park in Florida and discuss
climate change as well as science education.[82][83][84]
In March 2015, Nye announced he changed his mind and now supports GMOs.[85] In a new edition of Undeniable:
Evolution and the Science of Creation, Nye rewrote a chapter on GMOs reflecting his new position.[86] In a radio
interview with Neil deGrasse Tyson, Nye stated "there's no difference between allergies among GMO eaters and non-
GMO eaters...I've changed my mind about genetically modified organisms".[87]
In July 2017, Nye observed that the majority of climate change deniers are older people, and stated, "so we're just
going to have to wait for those people to 'age out', as they say".[88]
Nye has written three books, including Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation,[89] Unstoppable:
Harnessing Science to Change the World, and Everything All at Once: How to Unleash Your Inner Nerd, Tap into
Radical Curiosity and Solve Any Problem.
U.S. Patents
Nye holds three United States patents,[90] including one for ballet pointe shoes,[60][91] one for an educational magnifying
glass created by filling a clear plastic bag with water.[92][93] and one for a device for training an athlete to throw a ball.
[94]
He also holds a design patent for a digital abacus.[95]
Dancing with the Stars

Nye was a contestant in the season 17 of Dancing with the Stars in 2013, partnered with new professional dancer
Tyne Stecklein. They were eliminated early in the season after Nye sustained an injury to his quadriceps tendon on
Week 3.[96]
Dance Score Music Result
Cha-cha-
14 (5-4-5) "Weird Science"—Oingo Boingo No Elimination
cha
Paso Doble 17 (6-5-6) Symphony No. 5—Ludwig van Beethoven Safe
"Get Lucky"—Daft Punk feat. Pharrell

Jazz 16 (6-5-5) Eliminated
Williams
Personal life
Nye with Barack Obama and Neil deGrasse Tyson taking a selfie in 2014.
Nye has several residences, living both in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles and New York City.[97] In
addition, he owns a house on Mercer Island near Seattle.[98] Nye has solar photovoltaic panels on his California house
and his electricity meter often runs in reverse, which he has shown off to visitors.[99]
Nye and his neighbor, environmental activist/actor Ed Begley, Jr., have engaged in a friendly competition "to see who
could have the lowest carbon footprint", according to Begley.[100] Nye often appeared on Begley's HGTV/Planet
Green reality show Living with Ed.[101]
In July 2012, Nye supported President Barack Obama's reelection bid.[102] Nye frequently consulted with Obama on
science matters during his presidency, and famously took a selfie with him and Neil deGrasse Tyson at the White
House.[103] Nye attended the 2018 State of the Union Address after being invited by Oklahoma Congressman Jim
Bridenstine. Nye's attendance drew scrutiny due to Bridestine's "history of expressing climate change skepticism," but
Nye defended the move. "While the Congressman and I disagree on a great many issues -- we share a deep respect
for NASA and its achievements and a strong interest in the future of space exploration. My attendance tomorrow
should not be interpreted as an endorsement of this administration, or of Congressman Bridenstine's nomination, or
seen as an acceptance of the recent attacks on science and the scientific community," Nye said.[104]
Nye married musician Blair Tindall, on February 3, 2006; however, he annulled the relationship seven weeks later
when the marriage license was declared invalid.[105]In 2007, Nye obtained a protective order against Tindall after she
broke into his house, stole several items, including his laptop which she used to send defamatory emails
impersonating him and damaged his garden with herbicide. Tindall acknowledged killing his plants but denied being a
threat to him.[106] Subsequently, Nye sued Tindall for $57,000 in attorney's fees after she allegedly violated the
protective order.[107]
In the 2017 PBS documentary Bill Nye: Science Guy, Nye revealed his family's plight of ataxia. Due to his father's,
sister's and brother's lifelong struggles with balance and coordination, Nye decided to not have children himself, so as
to avoid the chance of passing on the genetic condition to them, even though he "dodged the genetic bullet" himself.
[108]
In July 2018, Nye played for the National League squad during the MLB All-Star Legends and Celebrity Softball
Game. Despite striking out in his first at-bat, Nye singled in the bottom of the third inning to a rousing ovation from
the Nationals Park crowd.
Awards and honors

In May 1999, Nye was the commencement speaker at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where he was awarded
an honorary doctor of science degree.[109] He was awarded an honorary doctorate by Johns Hopkins University in May
2008.[110] In May 2011, Nye received an honorary doctor of science degree from Willamette University[111] In May
2015, Rutgers University awarded him an honorary doctor of science degree and paid him a $35,000 speaker's fee
for his participation as the keynote speaker at the ceremony.[112] In addition, Nye also received an honorary doctor of
pedagogy degree from Lehigh University on May 20, 2013, at the commencement ceremony.[113] Nye received the
2010 Humanist of the Year Award from the American Humanist Association.[114] In October 2015, Nye was awarded an
honorary doctorate of science from Simon Fraser University.[115] In 2011, the Committee for Skeptical
Inquiry (CSICOP) presented Nye their highest award In Praise of Reason, Eugenie Scott stated: "If you think Bill is
popular among skeptics, you should attend a science teacher conference where he is speaking" it is standing room
only. She continues by saying that no one has more fun than Nye when he is "demonstrating, principles of
science."[116] In 1997, CSICOP also presented Nye with the Candle in the Dark Award for his "lively, creative...
endeavor".[117]
Works (selected)
 Nye, Bill (2014). Powell, Corey S., ed. Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation. St. Martin's
Press. ISBN 9781250007131.
 Nye, Bill (2015). Powell, Corey S., ed. Unstoppable: Harnessing Science to Change the World. St. Martin's
Press. ISBN 9781250007148.
 Nye, Bill (2017). Powell, Corey S., ed. Everything All at Once: How to Unleash Your Inner Nerd, Tap Into
Radical Curiosity, and Solve Any Problem. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 9781623367916.
 Time magazine has interviewed him for "12 Questions with Bill Nye".[118]
Allan Kardec
Allan Kardec (French: [kaʁdɛk]) is the pen name of the French educator, translator and
author Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail ([ʁivɑj]; 3 October 1804 – 31 March 1869). He is the author
of the five books known as the Spiritist Codification, and is the founder of Spiritism.[1][2]
Allan Kardec
Early life[edit]
Rivail was born in Lyon in 1804 and raised as a Roman Catholic. He pursued interests in philosophy
and the sciences, and became an acolyte and colleague of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi.[2][3] Rivail
completed a number of educational courses including a Bachelor of Arts degrees in science [4] and a
doctorate in medicine.[5] He was also fluent in German, English, Italian, and Spanish, in addition to
his native French.[6]
He was a member of several scholarly societies, including the Historic Institute of Paris (Institut
Historique), Society of Natural Sciences of France (Société des Sciences Naturelles de France),
Society for the Encouragement of National Industry (Société d'Encouragement pour l'Industrie
Nationale), and The Royal Academy of Arras (Académie d'Arras, Société Royale des Sciences, des
Lettres et des Arts).[2] He organized and taught free courses for the underprivileged. [2][7]
Rivail's work with Pestalozzi helped lay the foundations for the teaching model in schools in France
and GermanyFor several decades he helped advance Pestalozzi's pedagogy in France, founding
schools and working as a teacher, educational writer and translator. [2]
Family
In February 6, 1832, he married Amélie Gabrielle Boudet.[8]
In 1839, with a new partner, Mr. Maurice Delachatre, a merchant, he created a so-called "exchange"
bank, which aims to facilitate commercial transactions and thus create new opportunities for trade
and industry, in order to support in default of pecuniary resources for the natural products. The
duration of the trading bank will be fixed by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry at ten years.
In May 1855, he met a certain Mr. Fortier, a magnetizer, who took him to Madame de Plainemaison,
a medium who lives on rue de la Grange Bateliere in Paris, just a step away from the opera house.
In the presence of other guests for the session, He enters into communication with a spirit named
Zephyr, who gives him the mission of being the spokesman of the Dead. For him, it's the revelation.
He was there, for the first time, witnessing the phenomenon of turntables, jumping and running, as
he himself described on his manuscript written between 1855 and 1856 : “My predictions concerning
spiritualism”.
Spiritism
Allan Kardec and his wife Amélie Gabrielle Boudet
Rivail was in his early 50s when he became interested in séances, which were a popular
entertainment at the time. Strange phenomena attributed to the action of spirits were considered a
novelty, featuring objects that moved or "tapped", purportedly under the control of 'spirits'. In some
cases, this was alleged to be a type of communication: the supposed spirits answered questions by
controlling the movements of objects so as to pick out letters to form words, or simply indicate "yes"
or "no At the time, Franz Mesmer's theory of animal magnetism had become popular. When
confronted with the phenomena described, some researchers, including Rivail, pointed out that
animal magnetism might explain them. Rivail, however, after seeing a demonstration, dismissed
animal magnetism as insufficient to explain his observations. [10]
As a result of these influences, Rivail began his own investigation of psychic phenomena,
mainly mediumship.[2] During his initial investigation, he stated that before accepting a spiritual or
paranormal cause for some phenomena, it would be necessary first to test if ordinary material
causes could explain them. He proposed that fraud, hallucination and unconscious mental activity
might explain many phenomena regarded as mediumistic, and also proposed that telepathy and
clairvoyance may be responsible.[11]
He compiled over one thousand questions concerning the nature and mechanisms of spirit
communications, the reasons for human life on earth, and aspects of the spiritual realm. He asked
those questions to ten mediums, all purportedly unknown to each other, and documented their
responses. From these, he concluded that the best explanation was that personalities that had
survived death were the source of at least some mediumistic communications. [12] He became
convinced that the mediums:
 provided accurate information unknown to themselves or others present (e.g. personal

information about deceased individuals);
 demonstrated unlearned skills such as writing by illiterate mediums, handwriting similar to
the alleged communicating personality, and speaking or writing in a language unknown to the
medium (xenoglossy and xenography);
 accurately portrayed a range of personality characteristics of deceased individuals.
He compiled the mediums' responses that were consistent and adapted them into a philosophy that
he called Spiritism, which he initially defined as "a science that deals with the nature, origin, and
destiny of spirits, and their relation with the corporeal world." [13][14][14]
Rivail wrote under the name "Allan Kardec", allegedly following the suggestion of a spirit identified
as Truth.[15] On 18 April 1857, Rivail (as Allan Kardec) published his first book on Spiritism, The
Spirits' Book, comprising a series of answered questions (502 in the first edition and 1,019 in later
editions)[] exploring matters concerning the nature of spirits, the spirit world, and the relationship
between the spirit world and the material world.[ This was followed by a series of other books,
including The Medium's Book, The Gospel According to Spiritism, Heaven and Hell and The Genesis
According to Spiritism, and by a periodical, the Revue Spirite, which Kardec published until his
death. Collectively, the books became known as the Spiritist Codification
Kardec's research influenced the psychical research of Charles Richet, Camille
Flammarion and Gabriel Delanne.[16][17][18]
Memorial
Allan Kardec's grave at Cimetière du Père Lachaise. The inscription says Naitre, mourir, renaitre encore et
progresser sans cesse, telle est la loi ("To be born, die, again be reborn, and so progress unceasingly, such is
the law").
After his death caused by aneurysm, Kardec was buried at the Cimetière du Père Lachaise.[19]
Writings
 Cours pratique et théorique d’arithmétique (1824)

 Plan proposé pour l’amélioration de l’éducation publique (1828)
 Catéchisme grammatical de la langue française (1848)
 Le Livre des Esprits (The Spirits Book), 1857
 Le Livre des Médiums ('The Book on Mediums, 1861
 L’Évangile selon le Spiritisme (The Gospel According to Spiritism), 1864
 Le Ciel et L’Enfer (Heaven and Hell), 1865
 La Genèse (The Genesis According to Spiritism), 1868
Leon Denis
Léon Denis (January 1, 1846 – March 12, 1927) was a notable spiritist philosopher,[1] and

with Gabriel Delanne and Camille Flammarion, one of the principal exponents of spiritism after
the death of Allan Kardec. He lectured throughout Europe at international conferences of
spiritism and spiritualism, promoting the idea of survival of the soul after death and the
implications of this for human relations. He is known as the apostle of French spiritism.
Léon Denis
Biography
Léon Denis was born in Foug, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France, on January 1, 1846,[2] of a humble
family. Very early in life, out of necessity, he did manual work and had to bear heavy responsibilities
for his family. From his first steps in the world, he sensed that invisible friends assisted him. Instead
of participating in play appropriate to his youth, he tried to instruct himself as intensely as possible.
He read serious works, thus striving through his own efforts, to develop his intelligence. He became
a serious and competent self-didact.
At the age of 18, he commenced work as a sales representative, and so had to make frequent trips.
This situation continued up to the time of his reformation [ and beyond. He adored music and,
whenever he had a chance, attended operas or concerts. He played well-known arias at the piano
and also some compositions of his own.
He did not smoke, and was almost exclusively a vegetarian, nor did he indulge in fermented drinks.
He found water to be his ideal drink.
It was his habit to review books with interest, of those displayed in the bookstores, at the age of 18,
by “chance” his eyes glanced at a work with an unusual title: The Spirits’ Book by Allan Kardec.
Having with him the amount needed to purchase the book, he bought it and rushed to his home
immediately surrendering eagerly to the reading.
Denis commented after reading it: “I found in this book the clear solution, complete and logical, to a
universal problem. My conviction became strong and sound. The Spiritist Theory dissipated my
indifference and my doubts.” [
Denis was not just a successor to Allan Kardec, as is generally supposed, but was an important
figure in consolidating the spiritist movement. He undertook doctrinal studies, research into
mediums, and propelled the Spiritist Movement in France, and all over the world. He deepened the
moral aspects of the Doctrine and, above all, consolidated the Movement in the early decades of the
20th century.
In Spiritism, the role of Kardec is that of the sage; the role of Denis is that of the philosopher. Léon
Denis was nominated the Apostle of Spiritism, due to his sustained work, and his words, written and
spoken, on behalf of the new doctrine. Possessing great moral sensibility, he dedicated his entire
existence to the defense of the postulates that Kardec had transmitted in the books of the
spiritist Pentateuch.
Denis himself, summarized his mission as follows: “I have consecrated this existence to the service
of a Great cause, Spiritism or Modern Spiritualism that will certainly be the universal faith, and the
religion of the future
Bibliography
By Denis:
 Le Pourquoi de la Vie (1885 & Librairie des Sciences Psychologiques, 1892).

 Christianisme et spiritisme (Leymarie, 1898).
 Après la mort (Librairie des sciences psychiques, 1905).
 Le probleme de l'etre et de la destinée
 Dans l'invisible, spiritisme et médiumnité (Librairie des Sciences Psychiques, 1911).
 Le Monde invisible et la guerre (Librairie des sciences psychiques, 1919).
 Jeanne d'Arc, médium.
 L'au-dela et la survivance de l'etre.
 La grande énigme, Dieu & l'univers (Librairie des sciences psychiques, 1921).
 Esprits et mediums: étude et pratique du spiritualisme experimental et de la
médiumnité (1921)
 Le génie celtique et le monde invisible
Some of his works are also available in English translations.
Biography:
 Luce, Gaston. Léon Denis, l'apotre du spiritisme, sa vie, son oeuvre.

 Baumard, Claire. Léon Denis intime (J. Meyer, 1929). Preface by Arthur Conan Doyle.
Michael Dudikoff Jr.
Michael Joseph Stephen Dudikoff Jr. (born October 8, 1954-1997 ) was an

American actor known for lead roles in action films such as American Ninja series (1985–
1990), Avenging Force (1986), Platoon Leader (1988), River of Death (1989), Soldier
Boyz (1996), Bounty Hunters (1996), Bounty Hunters 2: Hardball (1997), and many more.
Michael Dudikoff
Dudikoff in 2013
Early Life
Dudikoff's father, Michael Joseph Stephen Sr., was Eastern Orthodox Christian. Born in New
York to Russian immigrants Mary Bogdanova and John Dudikoff, Michael Sr. served in the
Army before marrying Dudikoff's mother: Rita T. Girardin, a French-Canadian piano-player
from Quebec. The couple moved to California and had five children; the fourth, Michael Jr., was
diagnosed with dyslexia.[2]
Michael Jr. graduated from West High School in Torrance, California and went on to study child
psychology at Harbor College.[3]
Career
Mid 1970s to 1985: Modelling and early roles
To pay for his education, he worked at a rehabilitation center for abused youth called Cedar
House and waited tables at Beachbum Burt's in Redondo Beach, California.[4][5] He was eventually
approached to do some modelling, and did a catwalk at a shopping mall.
During lunch one day, Dudikoff served Max Evans - a fashion editor with Esquire magazine,
who had come in with some models. Evans asked Dudikoff to walk in a Newport Beach fashion
show, and his mother encouraged him to try it out.
After a couple of successful runways, Dudikoff retained an agent at the Mary Webb Davis
Agency in Los Angeles. Dudikoff soon entered the high fashion world and counted Calvin Klein
and GQ among his clients. He moved quickly to international print modeling and traveled
between New York, Los Angeles, and Milan by his late 20s.
Dudikoff soon began acting, and he starred in several commercials for companies,
including Coppertone, Coca-Cola for Japan, Army Reserve and Stridex.
Dudikoff as Douggie Krebs on Star of the Family in 1982
His first television role took place after a meeting with theatrical agent Sid Craig.[6] He went for
some readings, and in 1978 he landed a supporting role in one episode of the hit TV show Dallas,
and shortly after the part as Joanie's first boyfriend in the American sitcom Happy Days. Gary
Nardino, who was the president of Paramount Studio at the time, happened to be sitting in the
audience while they were filming. Nardino putted an holding contract on Dudikoff so that he
could work the lot.[7]
Early 1980s to 1985: Subsequent roles and breakthrough
In the early 80s, Dudikoff was cast in supporting roles or seen in the background of such films
such as, The Black Marble, Bloody Birthday, The Best Little Girl in the World, Neil Simon's I
Ought to Be in Pictures, Making Love, Tron and one episode of Gimme a Break!.
During that time, he was cast alongside Brian Dennehy and Katherine Saltzberg to play one of
the leads in the sitcom Star of the Family, and got the part of Huckleberry Finn in a Columbia
Pictures movie-of-the-week called Sawyer & Finn directed by Peter H. Hunt.
In 1984, he played the role of one of Tom Hanks' sidekicks in the sizable hit comedy
film Bachelor Party.
In 1985, The Cannon Group, an independent film company with a streak of successful action
films, were looking to produce an action film starring Chuck Norris called American
Ninja (1985), which Norris turned down. Shortly after, Cannon went on a worldwide search to
find who would play Private Joe Armstrong the American ninja. Over 400 candidates went on to
audition for the part. Producer and Owner of Cannon Menahem Golan and director Sam
Firstenberg thought he was the obvious choice for the part. Golan even went on to say that he
would be the next James Dean. It was a surprise for Dudikoff, who at the time was mostly known
for supporting roles in comedies.[8] It was his first collaboration with actor Steve James (1952-
1993) who was hired to play the partner of the American ninja, a role he maintained for the first
three installments. On a $1 million budget it went on to gross over $10 million domestically in
the US and did extremely well in foreign markets.[9] This success would establish the start of
the American Ninja film franchise, with Dudikoff becoming a regular action star for The Cannon
Group alongside Chuck Norris, Charles Bronson, Sho Kosugi, and later on Jean-Claude Van
Damme. For the rest of the 1980s, Dudikoff would continue to star in Cannon Group action film
projects.
That same year, he and John Stockwell were cast as co-leads in the cult post apocalyptic science
fiction comedy Radioactive Dreams, who was awarded the Golden Raven at the 5th Brussels
International Fantastic Film Festival, and nominated for best film at the Italian film and literature
festival MystFest.[10]
1986 to mid-2000s: Action film star
In 1986, he was cast as Lt. Rudy Bodford in the critically acclaimed mini-series North and
South, Book II, starring Patrick Swayze.[11] It went on to receive 3 nominations at the Primetime
Emmy Awards.[12]
Also in 1986, he reunited with director Sam Firstenberg and starred in the sequel American Ninja
2: The Confrontation. In this installment Dudikoff and James are ordered to discover why
Marines have been going missing from their posts at the US Embassy. The two discover The
Lion (Gary Conway) has been kidnapping the missing marines and having them brainwashed to
join his army of assassins. The film was less successful than the predecessor, grossing $4 million
domestically in the US.[13]
That same year, Dudikoff starred in Avenging Force (1986), his last film with Steve James,
directed by Sam Firstenberg. The screenplay was written by James Booth, who co-starred in the
film. The film is about retired secret service agent, Captain Matt Hunter (Dudikoff), who lives
with his sister Sarah and their grandfather. They drive to New Orleans to meet Matt's old military
comrade and local politician Larry Richards (James), who is now running for U.S. Senate. At
dinner, Larry hesitantly mentions threats made against his life during the election cycle, which he
dismisses as harmless. Later that day, Larry, Matt and their families ride in Larry's float in the
Mardi Gras parade. Disguised as revelers, assassins open fire on Larry's float, killing his eldest
son. Matt and Larry take down the attackers, but Matt loses the last assassin in charge in the
crowd. He calls in a favor to his old boss, Admiral Brown (Booth), and learns the perpetrators
are members of an organization which he confront throughout the film.
Platoon Leader (1988) directed by Aaron Norris. The film is about a newly commissioned
infantry lieutenant (Dudikoff) who arrives in Vietnam to take over his first platoon. He finds he
has to prove himself and earn the trust of the enlisted men if he is to lead them.
He starred in Steve Carver' River of Death (1989), co-starring Robert Vaughn, Donald
Pleasence, Herbert Lom, and L. Q. Jones. The story is set in the nightmarish last days of the
Third Reich, a psychotic Nazi scientist (Vaughn) escapes to the impenetrable jungles of
the Amazon. Years later, a mysterious incurable disease breaks out among the natives and
adventurer John Hamilton (Dudikoff) is hired to lead investigators on a search for the cause.
Braving bloodthirsty river pirates, hostile native tribes and headhunting cannibals, Hamilton,
guides a group of explorers up the deadly Rio del Morte to the fabulous lost Inca city.
In 1989, Dudikoff turned down American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt because he didn't want to get type
cast in martial-arts movies and didn't want to go back to South Africa as he was firmly against
the apartheid movement and government in that country.[14][15] Martial-arts expert David
Bradley was hired to play a new character for the lead in the third installment.[16]
In the early 1990s, Dudikoff continued making action films with The Cannon Group. His first
release of that area was the thriller Midnight Ride (1990), co-starring Mark Hamill, and Robert
Mitchum.[17] Afterwards, he returned to the American Ninja franchise for the fourth
installment American Ninja 4: The Annihilation (1990) where Private Joe Armstrong teams up
with the character played by David Bradley.[18][19] This would be last sequel Dudikoff appeared in.
The final movie of the series cames three years later, when Bradley made a martial art film
where he played someone else that was released as American Ninja 5 (1993), presumably to cash
in on the franchise.[20][21]
In 1991, he went to star in The Human Shield directed by Ted Post,. It's about a former
government agent who must save his diabetic brother from Iraqi abductors.[22][23]
Also in 1991, he played the main villain for the first time in the television film The Woman Who
Sinned.[24]
In 1992, he starred as father figure alongside a young Stephen Dorff in Rescue Me, a coming-of-
age adventure action film comedy directed by Arthur Allan Seidelman it co-stars Ami
Dolenz, Peter DeLuise, William Lucking...[25][26] Daniel (Dorff) high school' crush (Dolenz) is
kidnapped. He and Frazier (Dudikoff) go after them.
The following year, he got the main role in the action TV series Cobra produced by Stephen J.
Cannell, co-starring Allison Hossack and James Tolkan. It ran for 22 episodes that are an hour
each until 1994.[27]
In 1994, he did final film with The Cannon Group who was going bankrupt called Chain of
Command directed by David Worth.[28] The film is about, anti-terrorist operative Merrill Ross
(Dudikoff) gets caught in the middle of a deadly international conflict in this explosive
adventure. Danger lurks around every corner as Ross tries to thwart a plot to seize control of
Qumir and its oil fields. Tailed by agents and a death squad, Ross dodges bullets and barely
survives an oil depot blast as he tries to find out who's behind the mercenary scheme.[29]
In 1995, he starred in the virtual thriller Cyberjack, and the action rescue film Soldier Boyz.[30][31]
In 1996 he continued making fast pace action films this Bounty Hunters (1996) co-starring Lisa
Howard, Moving Target with Billy Dee Williams, and Crash Dive (1996) alongside Frederic
Forrest.[32][33][34]
The following year, he made the air hijack picture Strategic Command with supporting
cast Richard Norton, Paul Winfield, Bryan Cranston and Stephen Quadros.[35] As well as
the Bounty Hunters sequel Bounty Hunters 2: Hardball, and his only shoot em up western The
Shooter by Fred Olen Ray.[36][37] Also in 1997, video game adaption Soldier Boyz of his film was
released for Microsoft Windows 95.[38]
He returned to comedy in supporting role in the Ringmaster (1998) starring Jerry Springer.
[39]
That same year he was the lead in four other action releases, Black Thunder (1998)
with Richard Norton, Freedom Strike (1998) with Tone Lōc, Musketeers Forever (1998)
with Lee Majors, and Counter Measures (1998) a sequel to Crash Dive directed by Fred Olen
Ray.[40][41][42][43][44]
In 1999, he played in the Sidney J. Furie suspense drama In Her Defense, with Marlee Matlin,
the sci-fi action film Fugitive Mind by Fred Olen Ray with Heather Langenkamp and the action
feature The Silencer.[45][46][47]
In 2001, he played a fireman in the action disaster film Ablaze. John Bradley plays the lead as
the fire chief, and it co-stars Tom Arnold, Ice-T, Amanda Pays, and Cathy Lee Crosby.[48]
In 2002, he played the main villain in the Treat Williams action vehicle Gale Force. It co-
starred Curtis Armstrong, Susan Walters, Tim Thomerson, Marcia Strassman, and many more.
[49]
The film was nominated in four categories at DVD Exclusive Awards.[50]
2002 also marks his last collaborations with longtime contributors before going on a hiatus. This
includes director Sam Firstenberg in the thriller Quicksand, and Fred Olen Ray sci-fi adventure
film Stranded.[51][52]
After these efforts Michael Dudikoff felt he needed a break, and started working in real estate
specializing in buying old homes to refurbish them.[53] In 2004, he married Belle Dudikoff and are
raising twins, a son named Joseph, and a daughter named Nancy.[54]
2013 to present day: Current works
In 2013, videos of him promoting a project named Zombie Break Room, surfaced on YouTube.[55]
[56][57]
In 2014, he was interviewed The Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story of Cannon Films and Electric
Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films, both highly publicized dueling
documentaries about The Cannon Group.[58]
In 2015, he returned to the screens with a supporting role in Navy Seals vs. Zombies, released
by Anchor Bay Entertainment.[59]
In 2018 he played the main villain in Fury of the Fist and the Golden Fleece, alongside Sean
Stone, Danny Trejo, Taimak, Michael Winslow, Jason London, Bill Goldberg, Cynthia
Rothrock, Ernie Reyes Jr., Richard Grieco, Victor Ortiz, and many more.[60]
Personal Life
Dudikoff has been married to Belle since 2004. They have three children, including son Michael
Joseph Stephen III.
Martial Arts and Fitness

Dudikoff had no martial arts training previous to making the first American Ninja movie, but he
was already very athletic. Fight choreographer Mike Stone, who was an accomplished Martial
Arts expert assured the producers that he would pick up the moves.[61]
He since trained in karate, aikido, judo and in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He began his training in
Brazilian jiu-jitsu with Rorion Gracie and stays connected with the Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighting
circuit, including Rigan Machado, an eighth degree red and black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and
former world champion.[62][63]
In a 2012 Q&A, Dudikoff said that he doesn't lift weights, but is a swimmer, does isometric and
dance exercises.[64]
Film Rumors
Dudikoff, due to his action film resume, is often rumored to take part in The Expendables film
series. In a 2012 interview he stated that he heard talk that never was concluding, and he was
happy either way if something came up or not.
Within that same interview, he also hinted at a possible sequel to American Ninja and Avenging
Force.[65]
Filmography
Features
Yea
Title Role Notes
r
1980 The Black Marble Millie's Houseboy Film
1981 Bloody Birthday Willard Film
1981 Enter the Ninja Venarius' Man Film (uncredited)

Yea
Title Role Notes
r
Young Man in Bar

1982 Making Love Film
#2
1982 I Ought to Be in Pictures Boy on bus Film
1982 Star of the Family Douggie Krebs TV series
Film (as Michael J.

1982 Tron Conscript #2
Dudikoff II)
1983 Uncommon Valor Blaster's assistant Film
1984 Bachelor Party Ryko Film
1985 Radioactive Dreams Marlowe Hammer Film
1985 American Ninja Pvt. Joe Armstrong Film
1986 Avenging Force Capt. Matt Hunter Film
American Ninja 2: The

1987 Sgt. Joe Armstrong Film
Confrontation
1988 Platoon Leader Lt. Jeff Knight Film
1989 River of Death John Hamilton Film
1990 Midnight Ride Lawson Film

Yea
Title Role Notes
r
American Ninja 4: The

Joe Armstrong Film
Annihilation
1991 The Woman Who Sinned Evan Ganns TV Movie
1992 The Human Shield Doug Matthews Film
Daniel 'Mac'
Rescue Me Film
MacDonald
1992
Chain of Command Merrill Ross Film
Cyberjack Nick James Film
1995
Soldier Boyz Toliver Film
1996 Bounty Hunters Jersey Bellini Video
1997 Moving Target Sonny Film
Strategic Command Dr. Rick Harding Film
Crash Dive James Carter Video
Bounty Hunters 2: Hardball Jersey Bellini Video

Yea
Title Role Notes
r
The Shooter Michael Atherton Film
Freedom Strike Tom Dickson Film
Black Thunder Vince Film
1998 Counter Measures Capt. Jake Fuller Video
Ringmaster Rusty Film
Musketeers Forever D'Artagnan Film
In Her Defense Andrew Garfield Film
1999
Fugitive Mind Robert Dean Video
2000 The Silencer Quinn Simmons Film
2001 Ablaze Daniels Film
Gale Force Jared Video
2002
Quicksand Bill Turner Film
His last film before a ten-

2004 Black Horizon Ed Carpenter
year hiatus
Yea
Title Role Notes
r
Navy Seals vs. Zombies Commander Sheer Film
2015
The Bouncer Samuel James Film
Fury of the Fist and the

2018 Superboss Film
Golden Fleece
Landfill Mr. Lindbergh Film
TV Series
Year Title Role Notes
1978 Dallas Joe Newcomb 1 Episode
1979 Out of the Blue Lenny 1 Episode
1979-1980 Happy Days Jason / Jim 2 Episodes
10
1982 Star of the Family Douggie Krebs
Episodes
1983 Gimme a Break! Greg Hartman 1 Episodes
North and South, Book

1986 Lt. Rudy Bodford 6 Episodes
II
1994 Historias de la puta mili Special Appearance 1 Episodes

1993– Robert "Scandal" Jackson, 20

Cobra
1994 Jr. Episodes
2013 Zombie Break Room Tank Dempsey Unknown
Unknown
2019 Green Valley Uncle Rik
Nicolas Lemery
Nicolas Lémery (or Lemery as his name appeared in his international publications) (17 November
1645 – 19 June 1715), French chemist, was born at Rouen. He was one of the first to develop
theories on acid-base chemistry.
Nicolas Lemery
Life
After learning pharmacy in his native town he became a pupil of Christophe Glaser in Paris, and then
went to Montpellier, where he began to lecture on chemistry. He next established a pharmacy in
Paris, still continuing his lectures, but following 1683, being a Calvinist, he was obliged to retire
to England. In the following year he returned to France, and turning Catholic in 1686 was able to
reopen his shop and resume his lectures. He died in Paris on 19 June 1715. [1]
Lemery did not concern himself much with theoretical speculations, but holding chemistry to be a
demonstrative science, confined himself to the straightforward exposition of facts and experiments.
In consequence, his lecture-room was thronged with people of all sorts, anxious to hear a man who
shunned the barren obscurities of the alchemists, and did not regard the quest of the philosopher's
stone and the elixir of life as the sole end of his science. Of his Cours de chymie (1675) he lived to
see 13 editions, and for a century it maintained its reputation as a standard work. [1]
In 1680, using the corpuscular theory as a basis, Lemery stipulated that the acidity of any substance
consisted in its pointed particles, while alkalis were endowed with pores of various sizes.[2] A
molecule, according to this view, consisted of corpuscles united through a geometric locking of
points and pores.
Mock-up of Nicolas Lemery's 1680 acid-base bonding model.
Illustration of laboratory apparatus, Cours de chymie, 1683

Cours de chymie in English
His other publications included Pharmacopée universelle (1697), Traité universel des drogues

simples (1698), Traité de l'antimoine (1707), together with a number of papers contributed to
the French Academy, one of which offered a chemical and physical explanation of underground
fires, earthquakes, lightning and thunder. He discovered that heat is evolved when iron filings
and sulphur are rubbed together to a paste with water, and the artificial volcan de Lemery was
produced by burying underground a considerable quantity of this mixture, which he regarded as a
potent agent in the causation of volcanic action.
His son Louis Lémery (1677–1743) was appointed physician at the Hôtel-Dieu de Paris in 1710, and
became demonstrator of chemistry at the Jardin du Roi in 1731. He was the author of a Traité des
aliments (1702), and of a Dissertation sur la nature des os (1704), as well as of a number of papers
on chemical topics.[1]
Works
 Cours de chymie : contenant la maniere de faire les operations qui sont en usage dans la
medecine, par un methode facile ; avec des raisonnements sur chaque operation, pour
l'instruction de ceux qui veulent s'appliquer a cette science. - 6. ed. - Paris : Michallet,
1687. Digital edition /1730 Digital 11th edition / 1744 Digital edition of the University and State
Library Düsseldorf.
 Het philosoophze laboratorium, oft' der chymisten stook-huis. - Amsterdam : ten Hoorn,
1691. Digital edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf.
 Nouveau recueil de[s] curiositez, les plus rares & admirables de tous les effects, que l'art &
la nature sont capables de produire. Volume 1-2. Dernière édition augmentée, corrigée &
enrichie de tailles-douces. Leyde : van der Aa, 1688. Digital edition of the University and State
Library Düsseldorf
 Nouveau recueil de[s] secrets et curiositez, les plus rares & admirables de tous les effects,
que l'art & la nature sont capables de produire. - 5. ed. - Amsterdam : Mortier, 1697. Digital
edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf.
 1
 2
 A course of chymistry : containing an easie method of preparing those chymical medicins
which are used in physick ; with curious remarks and useful discourses upon each preparation,
for the benefit of such a desire to be instructed in the knowledge of this art. - The 3rd. ed., transl.
from the 8th ed. in the French. - London : Kettilby, 1698. Digital edition of the University and
State Library Düsseldorf.
 Cours de chymie, oder der vollkommene Chymist : welcher die in der Medicin
gebräuchlichen chymischen Processe auff die leichteste und heilsamste Art machen lernt... Aus
der 9. frantzösischen Edition des 1697sten Jahres ins Teutsche übersetzet. Winckler, Dresden
1698 Digital edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf.
 A compleat history of druggs : written in French by Monsieur Pomet, chief druggist to the
present French king ; to which is added what is further observable on the same subject, from
Messrs. Lemery and Tournefort, divided into 3 classes, vegetable, animal and mineral, with their
use in physick, chymistry, pharmacy and several other arts ; done into English from the originals.
London, 1712.Digital edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf.
 Farmacopea universale che contiene tutte le composizioni di farmacia le qualisono in uso
nella medicina : tanto in Francia, quanto per tutta l'europa, ... e di piu un vocabolario
farmaceutico, molte nuove osservazioni, ed alcuni ragionamenti sopra ogni operazione.
Venezia : Gio. Gabriel Hertz, 1720 Digital edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf.
 Dictionaire, ou traité universel des drogues simples ou l’on trouve leurs differens noms, leur
origine, leur choix, les principes qu’elles renferment, leurs qualitez, leur etymologie, & tout ce
qu’il ya de particulier dans les animaux, dans les vegetaux, & dans les mineraux ; ouvrage
dependant de la Pharmacopee universelle . Hofhout, Rotterdam 4.ed. 1727 Digital edition of
the University and State Library Düsseldorf.
 Pharmacopée universelle : contenant toutes les compositions de pharmacie qui sont en
usage dans la medicine, tant en France que par toute l'Europe, leurs vertus, leurs doses, les
manieres d'operer les plus simples & les meilleures ; avec un lexicon pharmaceutique, plusieurs
remarques nouvelles, et des raisonnemens sur chaque operation. d’Houry, Paris 3.ed.
1728 Digital edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf.
Pharmacopée universelle
medecine, par un methode facile ; avec des raisonnemens sur chaque operation, pour
l'instruction de ceux qui veulent s'appliquer a cette science. - 11. ed. - Paris : Delespine,
1730. Digital edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf.
 Traité universel des drogues simples : mises en ordre alphabetique, ou l'on trouve leurs
differens noms, leur origine, leur choix, les principes qu'elles renferment, leurs qualitez, leur
etimologie, & tout ce qu'il ya de particulier dans les animaux, dans les vegetaux, & dans les
mineraux ; ouvrage dependant de la Pharmacopee universelle. d’Houry, Paris 4.ed. 1732 Digital
medecine, par un methode facile ; avec des raisonnemens sur chaque operation, pour
l'instruction de ceux qui veulent s'appliquer a cette science. - Bruxelles : Leonard, 1744. Digital
 Nicolai Lemeri cursus chymicus, oder vollkommener Chymist : welcher die in der Medicin
vorkommenden chymischen Praeparata und Processus auf die vernünfftigste, leichteste und
sicherste Art zu verfertigen lehret ; aus dem Frantzösischen übersetzet. - ... Bey dieser 5. Aufl.
aufs neue durchgesehen, corrigirt und vermehret von Johann Christian Zimmermann. -
Dresden : Walther, 1754. Digital edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf.
Brock Lesnar
Brock Edward Lesnar (/ˈlɛznər/; born July 12, 1977-2006) was an American professional
wrestler, mixed martial artist,[11] and former professional football player. He is currently signed
to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand and is the current Universal Champion in his second
reign.[2]
After his successful amateur wrestling career at Bismarck State College and the University of
Minnesota, Lesnar signed with WWE (then the World Wrestling Federation) in 2000. He was
assigned to its developmental promotion Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), where he was a three-
time OVW Southern Tag Team Champion with Shelton Benjamin. After debuting on WWE's main
roster in 2002, Lesnar won the WWE Championship[Note 1] five months after his debut at the age of 25,
becoming the youngest champion in the title's history. He was also the 2002 King of the Ring and
the 2003 Royal Rumble winner.[12] Following his match with Goldberg at WrestleMania XX, Lesnar left
WWE and pursued a career in the National Football League (NFL).[13] He was named a defensive
tackle for the Minnesota Vikings, but was cut prior to the start of the 2004 season. [14] In 2005, Lesnar
returned to professional wrestling and signed with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he won
the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in his first match. After a contractual dispute with NJPW, he
also wrestled as IWGP Heavyweight Champion in the Inoki Genome Federation (IGF).
In 2006, Lesnar pursued a career in mixed martial arts (MMA), as he signed with Hero's and won his
first fight, against Min-Soo Kim, in June 2007.[15] He then signed with the Ultimate Fighting
Championship (UFC) the following October. Lesnar lost in his UFC debut against Frank Mirand then
won his second fight against Heath Herring. In November 2008, Lesnar defeated Randy Couture to
become the UFC Heavyweight Champion. Shortly after a successful title defense in a rematch with
Mir, Lesnar was sidelined due to diverticulitis. He would return at UFC 116 to defeat Interim UFC
Heavyweight Champion Shane Carwin and unify the heavyweight championships, becoming the
undisputed UFC Heavyweight Champion in the process.[16] Lesnar then lost the championship
to Cain Velasquez at UFC 121. In 2011, he was once again sidelined due to diverticulitis and
underwent surgery.[17] Lesnar returned at UFC 141 in December, losing to Alistair Overeem and
promptly retiring from MMA.[18] Lesnar was a box office sensation in UFC, as he took part in some of
the best-selling pay-per-view events in UFC history, including UFC 100 and UFC 116.[19]
In April 2012, Lesnar returned to professional wrestling, rejoining WWE after an eight-year hiatus.
Two years later, at WrestleMania XXX, Lesnar defeated The Undertaker to end his undefeated
streak at WrestleMania. He achieved world champion status three times after this, having won the
WWE World Heavyweight Championship in 2014 and the WWE Universal Championship in 2017
and 2018. His first reign as Universal Champion was the longest world title reign in WWE since 1988
at 504 days. In June 2016, at UFC 199, the UFC announced that Lesnar would return to fight at UFC
200 even though he was still contracted with WWE. Lesnar defeated his opponent Mark Hunt via
unanimous decision. However, after Lesnar tested positive for clomiphene, a banned substance on
the UFC's anti-doping policy, he was suspended from the UFC by the Nevada State Athletic
Commission for one year and fined $250,000, and his victory over Hunt was overturned to a no-
contest. Lesnar then retired from MMA for a second time in 2017
Brock Lesnar
Lesnar in March 2015
Born July 12, 1977 (age 41)
Webster, South Dakota, U.S.
Residence Maryfield, Saskatchewan, Canada
Occupation Professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, American
football player
Years active 2000–2007, 2012–present (Professional wrestling)
2004 (American football)
2007–2011, 2016 (Mixed martial arts)
Sable (m. 2006)
Spouse(s)
Children 4
Professional wrestling career

Ring name(s) Brock Lesnar[1]
Billed height 6 ft 3 in (191 cm)[2]
Billed weight 286 lb (130 kg)[2]
Billed from Minneapolis, Minnesota[2]
Trained by Brad Rheingans[3]
Curt Hennig[3]
Dean Malenko[3]
Doug Basham[3]
Nightmare Danny Davis[3]
Debut 2000[1]
Mixed martial arts career
Height 6 ft 3 in (191 cm)[4]
Weight 265 lb (120 kg; 18 st 13 lb)
Division Heavyweight
Reach 81 in (206 cm)
Style Wrestling
Stance Orthodox
Fighting out of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
Team DeathClutch Gym
Rank Blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsuunder Rodrigo
"Comprido" Medeiros[5][6]
Wrestling NCAA Division I Wrestling[4]
Mixed martial arts record
Total 9
Wins 5
By knockout 2
By submission 2
By decision 1
Losses 3
By knockout 2
By submission 1
No contests 1
Other information
Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog
last updated on: February 6, 2017
.
Lesnar is a six-time world champion in WWE, a one-time world champion in NJPW and IGF, a one-
time heavyweight champion in the UFC, and a one-time heavyweight wrestling champion in
the NCAA, the only person in history to win a championship in each of those organizations. [20][21]He
has headlined numerous pay-per-view events for both WWE and the UFC, including WrestleMania
XIX, WrestleMania 31, WrestleMania 34, UFC 100 and UFC 116. Lesnar has
been managed by Paul Heyman throughout the majority of his professional wrestling career. A
2015 ESPN.com article referred to Lesnar as "the most accomplished athlete in professional
wrestling history".[22]
Early life
Brock Edward Lesnar[23] was born on July 12, 1977,[1] in Webster, South Dakota,[24] the son of
Stephanie and Richard Lesnar. He grew up on his parents' dairy farm in Webster. [25] He is of German
descent.[26] He has two older brothers, Troy and Chad, and a younger sister, Brandi. [24] At age 17,
Lesnar joined the Army National Guard, where he was assigned to an office job after his red-green
colorblindness was deemed hazardous to his desire to work with explosives. [24][27] He lost this job after
failing a computer typing test and later worked for a construction company. [24]
Lesnar attended Webster High School, where he played football[24] and competed in amateur
wrestling, placing third in the state championships his senior year.[28] He then attended Bismarck
State College, where he won the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) heavyweight
wrestling championship in his sophomore year.[1] He transferred to the University of Minnesota on a
wrestling scholarship for his junior and senior college years, where he was roommates with
future WWE colleague Shelton Benjamin, who was also his assistant coach.[24][29]
Lesnar won the 2000 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I heavyweight
wrestling championship his senior year after being the runner-up to Stephen Neal the year prior. He
finished his amateur career as a two-time NJCAA All-American, the 1998 NJCAA Heavyweight
Champion, two-time NCAA All-American, two-time Big Ten Conference Champion and the 2000
NCAA Heavyweight Champion, with a record of 106–5 overall in four years of college. [30]

World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment
Ohio Valley Wrestling (2000–2002)
In 2000, Lesnar signed with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and was sent to
its developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), where he first met future friend
and manager Paul Heyman.[31] He formed a tag team known as The Minnesota Stretching Crew with
his former college roommate Shelton Benjamin and together they won the OVW Southern Tag Team
Championship on three separate occasions.[32] Lesnar wrestled several dark matches in 2001 and
2002 before being called up to the WWF's main roster.[1]
WWE Champion (2002–2003)
Lesnar debuted on WWF television on the March 18, 2002, episode of Raw as a heel, attacking Al
Snow, Maven and Spike Dudley during their match, while also being accompanied by Paul Heyman,
who was seen giving instructions to Lesnar.[33] When the brand extension was introduced in the
WWF, Lesnar was drafted to the Raw brand.[34] Later, Heyman was confirmed to be Lesnar's agent
and gave Lesnar the nickname "The Next Big Thing".[35] Lesnar's first feud was with The Hardy
Boyz and Lesnar defeated Jeff Hardy by knockout after Hardy was unable to respond
to referee Theodore Long at Backlash on April 21, his first official televised match. [36][37] The next night
on Raw, Lesnar faced off against Jeff's brother, Matt Hardy, and defeated him in the same fashion.
[38]
Lesnar and Shawn Stasiak lost to The Hardy Boyz at Insurrextion on May 4 after Stasiak
was pinned, but he attacked all the participants after the match. [39] At Judgment Day on May 19,
Lesnar and Heyman defeated The Hardy Boyz.
In June 2002, Lesnar won the King of the Ring tournament, defeating Bubba Ray Dudley in the first
round, Booker T in the quarter-finals, Test in the semi-finals and Rob Van Dam in the finals,
[40]
earning him a shot at the WWE Undisputed Championship at SummerSlam. At Vengeance on
July 21, Lesnar lost to Van Dam in a WWE Intercontinental Championship match by disqualification.
On July 22, Lesnar joined the SmackDown! brand.[41] After a quick feud with Hollywood Hulk
Hogan in August 2002, Lesnar defeated The Rock at SummerSlam on August 25 to become the
new WWE Undisputed Champion and youngest WWE Champion at age 25, a record previously held
by The Rock himself.[42] He also became the second fastest professional wrestler to win the WWE
Championship since his debut (126 days) behind only Ric Flair (113 days).[43] At the time, the WWE
Undisputed Championship was being defended on both brands, so Raw General Manager Eric
Bischoff expected Lesnar to return on Raw the following night. However, SmackDown! General
Manager Stephanie McMahon announced that Lesnar was only required to defend the title on
SmackDown! shows and events, forcing Bischoff to establish a new championship for the Raw brand
(the World Heavyweight Championship), while the WWE Undisputed Championship was then
renamed the WWE Championship.[44]
Lesnar during his third run as WWE Champion
Lesnar's rapid rise to the top of WWE in 2002 led to a feud with The Undertaker, which involved a
match at Unforgiven on September 22.[45] The match ended in a double disqualification,with Lesnar
retained the title. Lesnar faced The Undertaker again at No Mercy, this time in a Hell in a Cell match.
Leading up to the match, in the storyline, Lesnar broke The Undertaker's hand with a propane tank.
[46]
Despite Heyman begging McMahon not to let The Undertaker use his cast as a weapon, the
request was denied and the match went on as planned. [47] At No Mercy, Lesnar defeated The
Undertaker to retain the title, thus ending their feud. [45] Lesnar would go on to successfully retain the
WWE Championship in a handicap match with Heyman against Edge at Rebellion on October 26.[48]
Lesnar's next opponent was Big Show and Heyman was convinced more than anyone that Lesnar
could not win, trying to talk him out of defending the title. [49]Lesnar refused and defended the
championship against Show at Survivor Series on November 17. At the pay-per view,
Heyman turned on Lesnar, allowing Show to chokeslam him onto a steel chair and pin him to win the
title, resulting in Lesnar's first pinfall loss in WWE. This led to Lesnar turning face for the first time.
[50]
Following Survivor Series, Heyman made it clear that Lesnar would not get a rematch, and had
snuck a special clause saying so into his contract. [51]In order to gain his revenge on Big Show and
Heyman, Lesnar interfered in his first title defense, which came against Kurt Angle the next month
at Armageddon on December 15, where Lesnar executed the F-5 on Big Show, which enabled
Angle to win the WWE Championship. On the following episode of SmackDown!, however, Angle
introduced Heyman as his manager and, despite promising Lesnar a title shot earlier in the evening,
declared that Lesnar still would not get it. Lesnar's rivalry with Heyman and Big Show resumed,
which culminated in a match at the Royal Rumble in January 2003, with the winner being placed into
the Royal Rumble later in the evening. On January 19, Lesnar would defeat Show and entered
the Royal Rumble match as the #29 entry. He eliminated Matt Hardy and The World's Greatest Tag
Team (Charlie Haas and Lesnar's former OVW teammate Shelton Benjamin), who were mentored
by Angle. Lesnar would then eliminate The Undertaker last and win the Royal Rumble, which
guaranteed him a WWE Championship match at WrestleMania XIX, since he was a SmackDown!
superstar.[50] After the Royal Rumble, Lesnar and Chris Benoit defeated Angle, Haas and Benjamin in
a three-on-two handicap match at No Way Out on February 23, despite Team Angle injuring their
partner, Edge, backstage before the match.[50] At WrestleMania XIX on March 30, Lesnar defeated
Angle to win his second WWE Championship; during the match, he botched a shooting star press (a
move he had used numerous times in OVW) and landed on his head and neck, resulting in
a concussion. This forced Angle and Lesnar to improvise the finish of the match.
Lesnar attempting a shooting star press at WrestleMania XIX
After WrestleMania XIX, Lesnar turned his attention to John Cena, who had returned from injury in
February 2003 after an F-5 into a ringpost from Lesnar, with Cena claiming that Lesnar nearly ended
his career and even named his new finishing move the "F.U." as a jab at the new champion. [52][unreliable
source?]
The feud ended in a match at Backlash on April 27, where Lesnar defeated Cena to retain the
title. On the following episode of SmackDown!, Lesnar returned to his rivalry with Big Show after, in
the storyline, he injured Rey Mysterio badly during their match at Backlash. Show's attack resulted in
Mysterio being carried out on a stretcher and back board, and Show took Mysterio off the stretcher
and swung the back board into the ringpost, compounding the injury. [50] Lesnar called out Show, who
demanded that Lesnar put his title on the line against him. This led to a stretcher match for the
championship at Judgment Day on May 18, where Lesnar successfully retained. [53] During the
scripted rivalry on the June 12 episode of SmackDown!, Lesnar lifted Big Show off the top-rope in
a superplex which caused the ring to collapse on impact.[54] As Lesnar and Big Show continued their
rivalry, Kurt Angle returned from his neck surgery and began to form a more friendly rivalry with
Lesnar, as the two were allies, yet contenders for the title. At the first-ever SmackDown! brand-
exclusive pay-per-view in July, Vengeance, Lesnar lost the WWE Championship to Angle in a triple
threat match involving Big Show, after he was pinned by Angle.
Lesnar and Kurt Angleafter their WWE Championship match at WrestleMania XIX
Lesnar continued to aggressively pursue the WWE Championship despite his friendship with
Angle. Mr. McMahonbecame involved in the angle, at first berating Lesnar, who had involved himself
in McMahon's rivalry with Zach Gowen, for losing to Angle. This all turned out to be a swerve that
came into focus on the August 7 episode of SmackDown! in Kelowna, British Columbia. That night,
Lesnar and McMahon were to face each other in a steel cage match with Angle as the special guest
referee as per McMahon's orders on the previous week's program. During the match, Lesnar had
passed out due to a staged backstage incident and McMahon was set to pin him, but Angle refused
to allow McMahon to win that way. As the two men began to argue, Lesnar attacked Angle with
an F-5 and kept attacking Angle while McMahon watched and celebrated with him
afterwards, turning heel in the process.[55] At SummerSlam on August 24,[56] Lesnar lost to Angle
after submitting to the ankle lock.[57]After that, Lesnar would cement his villainous turn by brutalizing
smaller wrestlers and attacking his rivals on a more consistent basis. He returned to performing
the F-5 into the ringpost, as he did to Spanky and Gowen, and interfered in Angle's matches on two
separate occasions. On the September 18 episode of SmackDown!, Lesnar defeated Angle in
an Iron Man match to win his third WWE Championship[58] by a final score of five to four, thus ending
their long-standing feud.[59]
Lesnar successfully defended his newly won title against the debuting Paul London on October 9
episode of SmackDown!. He returned to feud with The Undertaker, as Lesnar had previously cost
Undertaker the title in a match against then champion Kurt Angle, which granted him a shot at
Lesnar's title.[60] At No Mercy on October 19, Lesnar defeated Undertaker in a Biker Chain
match after interference from The Full Blooded Italians and Vince McMahon.[61] After Paul Heyman
returned to WWE as SmackDown! General Manager, Lesnar aligned himself with his former
manager. With Survivor Series coming up, Lesnar decided to challenge Angle to a traditional
Survivor Series elimination tag team match. Lesnar chose Big Show as his first teammate, with
Heyman adding a returning Nathan Jones and a debuting Matt Morgan to bring the team number to
four. Angle chose Chris Benoit and The APA to join his team. However, Faarooq was injured during
a match with Lesnar and Angle's team was forced to find a replacement for him. Lesnar's team
picked A-Train to fill the fifth and final spot for them after he attacked John Cena, who refused to
accept an invitation to join Lesnar's team. Cena instead joined Angle's team and Angle
added Hardcore Holly as the fifth member (Lesnar had legitimately injured Holly the year before and
he had not wrestled since).[62] On November 16 at Survivor Series, Lesnar was eliminated after
Benoit forced him to tap out to the Crippler Crossface; Lesnar's team would go on to lose the match.
[61]
On the December 4 episode of SmackDown!, Lesnar successfully defended the WWE
Championship against Benoit after Benoit passed out to Lesnar's debuting submission hold,
the Brock Lock.[63]
Feud with Goldberg and departure (2003–2004)
Lesnar demonstrating his strength on Eddie Guerrero during a SmackDown! taping in February 2004

The Survivor Series in November 2003 also marked the first time Lesnar met Goldberg from the
Raw brand. After Lesnar claimed in a backstage interview that he could beat anybody in the world,
Goldberg interrupted the interview and introduced himself to Lesnar, shaking hands with him before
leaving with a staredown.[61] Lesnar followed this rivalry with a feud involving Hardcore Holly. [64] In the
storyline, Holly wanted revenge on Lesnar for legitimately injuring his neck during a previous match
between the two in 2002 which left Holly in need of neck surgery and out of action for a year. At
the Royal Rumble on January 25, 2004, Lesnar defeated Holly to retain the WWE Championship.
[65]
Later in the Royal Rumble match, Lesnar attacked Goldberg with an F-5, enabling Kurt Angle to
eliminate him.[61]
Lesnar defended the WWE Championship against Eddie Guerrero at No Way Out on February 15.
Goldberg attacked Lesnar with a spear while the referee was unconscious, allowing Guerrero to get
a near-fall on Lesnar. Lesnar then attempted an F-5 on Guerrero but Guerrero reversed it into
a DDT on the title belt and executed a frog splash to win the WWE Championship. An angry Lesnar
then began feuding with Goldberg, blaming him for losing his title, and a match was set up between
the two at WrestleMania XX on March 14.[66] During the feud with Goldberg, Lesnar was also at odds
with Stone Cold Steve Austin, who was shown suggesting to Goldberg that he attack Lesnar at No
Way Out.[67] After Lesnar attacked Austin on Rawand stole his four-wheeler, Austin was inserted as
the special guest referee for the WrestleMania match.[68] On the March 4 episode of SmackDown!,
Lesnar defeated Hardcore Holly in his last match on a weekly WWE televised show. Behind the
scenes, it was widely known that the match was Goldberg's last in WWE. Only a week before
WrestleMania, rumors surfaced that Lesnar too was leaving to pursue a career in the National
Football League (NFL).[69] As a result, Lesnar's match with Goldberg became a fiasco as the fans at
Madison Square Garden jeered and heckled both professional wrestlers vociferously. [70] Goldberg
won after a Jackhammer and both men subsequently received Stone Cold Stunnersfrom Austin.[70]
Japanese promotions (2005–2007)
On October 8, 2005, Lesnar won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship on his debut match in a
three-way match with Kazuyuki Fujita and Masahiro Chono at a New Japan Pro-Wrestling(NJPW)
show in the Tokyo Dome.[71] Lesnar is one of the few American wrestlers to have held this title. [71] He
won the match by pinning Masahiro Chono after an F-5, which he had renamed the Verdict since
WWE owns the trademark on the F-5 name.[72] After the match, Lesnar stated that this name was
referring to his lawsuit against WWE, who filed a motion for a temporary restraining order to prevent
Lesnar from continuing to work with NJPW on December 6, but the court did not grant it. Following
that, he had two non-title victories against Manabu Nakanishiand Yuji Nagata.[73][74] Lesnar
successfully defended the championship on January 4, 2006, against former champion Shinsuke
Nakamura.[73] On January 13, WWE once again filed an injunction against Lesnar to stop him from
defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship which was also not enforced as he went on to
retain his championship against former Sumo Wrestling Grand Champion Akebono on March 19, at
the Sumo Hall.[75] Lesnar had another successful title defense against Giant Bernard on May 3. This
was the first American vs. American title match in NJPW since Vader vs. Stan Hansen in 1990.[76] On
July 15, NJPW announced Lesnar would not return to defend the IWGP Heavyweight Championship
due to "visa issues" and had been stripped of the title. A tournament was held on July 16 to
determine the new champion which was won by Hiroshi Tanahashi. Lesnar continued to possess the
physical IWGP Heavyweight Championship belt until late June 2007. [77]
Approximately one year later on June 29, 2007, Lesnar defended his IWGP Heavyweight
Championship against TNA World Heavyweight Champion Kurt Angle in a champion vs. champion
match at the debut event of the Inoki Genome Federation (IGF). IGF promoter Antonio Inoki had
stated Lesnar was the "proper" IWGP Heavyweight Champion as he was not defeated for the title.
Angle would defeat Lesnar by forcing him to tap out to the ankle lock to win the IWGP Heavyweight
Championship as recognized by IGF and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).[77][78]This was
Lesnar's last match as a professional wrestler until 2012, when he re-signed with WWE.
Return to WWE
Ending the Streak (2012–2014)
Lesnar faces off with John Cenaupon his return in April 2012.
After executing an F-5, Lesnar stands over John Cena the night after WrestleMania XXVIII.
Lesnar returned to WWE on April 2, 2012, on Raw, as a heel, by confronting and delivering an F-5 to
John Cena.[79][80] The following week on Raw, General Manager John Laurinaitis revealed that he
signed Lesnar to bring "legitimacy" back to WWE and become the "new face of the WWE".
Laurinaitis also announced that Lesnar would face Cena at Extreme Rules with the Extreme Rules
stipulation later added to the match.[81] At Extreme Rules on April 29, Lesnar lost to Cena despite
dominating the match.[82]
The following night on Raw, WWE's Chief Operating Officer Triple H refused to give in to Lesnar's
unreasonable contract demands (which included being given his own personal jet and
having Raw renamed to Monday Night Raw Starring Brock Lesnar), resulting in Lesnar attacking him
and breaking his arm with a kimura lock in storyline.[83][84] The next week on Raw, Paul Heyman made
his return as Lesnar's legal representative and claimed that Lesnar was quitting WWE. [83] He later
announced a lawsuit against WWE for breach of contract. [83][85] At No Way Out in June, Triple H
challenged Lesnar (who was not present) to a match at SummerSlam,[86] which Lesnar refused.
[87]
Stephanie McMahon would later goad Heyman into accepting the match on Lesnar's behalf on
July 23 at Raw 1000.[88][89] At SummerSlam on August 19, Lesnar defeated Triple H
by submission after once again breaking his arm in storyline. [90][91] The following night on Raw, Lesnar
declared himself the new "King of Kings" and said that he would depart from WWE after his victory
over Triple H, stating that he had conquered everything in the company. [92][93]
Lesnar broke The Undertaker's undefeated WrestleMania streak in 2014.
Lesnar returned on the January 28, 2013, episode of Raw, confronting Mr. McMahon who was about
to fire Heyman, and despite Heyman's pleas, Lesnar attacked McMahon with an F-5,[94] breaking
McMahon's pelvis in storyline.[95] The following week during The Miz's Miz TV talk
show, Raw Managing Supervisor Vickie Guerrero revealed herself as the one who signed Lesnar to
a new contract to impress McMahon.[96] On the February 25 episode of Raw, Lesnar once again
attempted to attack McMahon, only to get into a brawl with the returning Triple H, which resulted in
Lesnar legitimately having his head split open and requiring eighteen stitches. [97] The following week
on Raw, Triple H issued a challenge to Lesnar, requesting a rematch with him at WrestleMania 29,
which Lesnar accepted but only after Triple H signed a contract and Lesnar named the stipulation. [98]
[99]
After Triple H signed the contract and assaulted Heyman, the stipulation was revealed as No
Holds Barred with Triple H's career on the line.[100] At WrestleMania 29 on April 7, Lesnar lost to Triple
H after a Pedigree onto the steel steps.[101] On the April 15 episode of Raw, Lesnar attacked 3MB
(Heath Slater, Drew McIntyre, and Jinder Mahal) before Heyman challenged Triple H to face Lesnar
in a steel cage match at Extreme Rules,[102] which Triple H accepted the following week.[103] At the
event on May 19, after interference from Heyman, Lesnar defeated Triple H to end their feud.
[104]
Lesnar returned on the June 17 episode of Raw, attacking Heyman's fellow client CM Punk with
an F-5.[105] Despite the accusations from Punk, Heyman claimed that he was not behind Lesnar's
attack on him.[106] However, Heyman turned on Punk in July,[107] and claimed that Punk could not beat
Lesnar, which led to Lesnar making his return and attacking Punk on the July 15 episode of Raw.
[108]
The following week on Raw, Punk challenged Lesnar to a match at SummerSlam on August 18,
where Lesnar defeated Punk in a no disqualification match. [109]
On the December 30 episode of Raw, Lesnar returned with Heyman to announce his intentions to
challenge the winner of the upcoming WWE World Heavyweight Championship match
between Randy Orton and John Cena at the Royal Rumble.[110] Lesnar then dared any wrestler who
disapproved of that notion to challenge him, which was answered by Mark Henry, and a brawl would
ensue, ending with Lesnar delivering an F-5 to Henry.[111] The following week on Raw, Henry
challenged Lesnar again, only to have Lesnar dislocate his elbow with the Kimura lock in storyline,
which led Big Show to come out afterwards to confront Lesnar, [112] thus starting a feud which was
settled at the Royal Rumble on January 26, 2014, where Lesnar defeated Show after attacking him
with a steel chair before the match began.[113] On the February 24 episode of Raw, Heyman stated
that Lesnar had requested a match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania
XXX, but received an open contract to face anyone else of his choosing instead. The
Undertaker then returned and attacked Lesnar with a chokeslam through a table, setting up their
match at WrestleMania XXX.[114] On April 6, Lesnar defeated Undertaker after executing three F-5s,
ending his undefeated WrestleMania streak at 21, a feat that was described by Sports Illustrated as
being "the most shocking result since the Montreal Screwjob".[115]
WWE World Heavyweight Champion (2014–2015)
Lesnar, with the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, across the ring from John Cena at the Night of
Champions pay-per-view in September 2014
On the July 21 episode of Raw, Triple H announced that Lesnar would face John Cena
at SummerSlam for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.[116]At SummerSlam on August 17,
Lesnar defeated Cena to become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion and during the match he
delivered sixteen suplexes (most of which were German suplexes) and two F-5s to Cena, who
barely managed any offense.[117] On the August 19 episode of Main Event, Triple H announced that
Cena was invoking his championship rematch clause against Lesnar at Night of Champions on
September 21,[118] where Lesnar was disqualified due to Seth Rollins interfering, but retained his
championship, which could not be lost via disqualification. [119] Later in the year, after Rollins reunited
with The Authority, he was added to Lesnar and Cena's championship match at the Royal
Rumble on January 25, 2015, making it a triple threat match, [120] which Lesnar won despite suffering
a storyline broken rib during the match.[121]
Lesnar's next challenger was Roman Reigns, who won the Royal Rumble match to earn the right to
face Lesnar for the title at WrestleMania 31 on March 29.[122] During his main event match against
Reigns, Lesnar delivered multiple suplexes and was heard exclaiming, "Suplex City, bitch!" and
thereafter "Suplex City" became one of his signature catchphrases and merchandise motifs. After
Lesnar and Reigns traded a few false finishes, Rollins cashed in his Money in the Bank
contract while the match was in progress, thus making it a triple threat; Rollins then pinned Reigns to
win the title.[123] The following night on Raw, Lesnar tried to invoke his rematch clause and
subsequently attacked commentators Booker T, John "Bradshaw" Layfield and Michael Cole, as well
as a cameraman after Rollins refused the rematch, which led to Stephanie McMahon suspending
Lesnar indefinitely in storyline.[124]
Lesnar returned on the June 15 episode of Raw, being chosen by The Authority as the number one
contender to Rollins' WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Battleground.[125][126] On July 4,
Lesnar made his first non-televised wrestling appearance for WWE since his 2012 return,
defeating Kofi Kingston at The Beast in the East live event in Tokyo in a quick winning effort; he also
delivered F-5s to Kingston's New Day stablemates Big E and Xavier Woods after the match.[127] At
Battleground on July 19, Lesnar dominated Rollins, delivering thirteen suplexes, but mid-pinfall, after
performing an F-5, he was attacked by The Undertaker (who incapacitated Lesnar with a chokeslam
and two Tombstone Piledrivers), thus ending the match with Lesnar winning by disqualification and
Rollins retaining the championship.[128]
Suplex City (2015–2017)
The following night on Raw, Undertaker explained that he had attacked Lesnar not for ending his
WrestleMania streak, but rather for Lesnar allowing Heyman to constantly taunt Undertaker about it,
which led to the two brawling throughout the arena and a WrestleMania rematch being scheduled
for SummerSlam on August 18,[129] where Undertaker would controversially defeat Lesnar; during the
match, Undertaker submitted to a Kimura lock by Lesnar and the timekeeper rang the bell but the
referee did not see the submission and demanded that the match continue, which saw Undertaker
then attack Lesnar with a low blow and Lesnar pass out to Hell's Gate.[130] The following night
on Raw, Lesnar and Heyman challenged Undertaker to an immediate rematch, only to be confronted
by Bo Dallas (who mocked Lesnar about his defeat), whom Lesnar then responded by performing
three German suplexes and an F-5.[131] During Night of Champions on September 20, it was
announced that Lesnar would face The Undertaker at Hell in a Cell on October 25,[132] where Lesnar
defeated The Undertaker after a low blow and F-5 onto the exposed ring floor, ending their feud.[133]
[134]
The match was later voted "Match of the Year" during the 2015 Slammy Awards.[135]
Lesnar and Dean Ambrose during their match at WrestleMania 32
On the January 11, 2016, episode of Raw, Lesnar returned, attacking The New Day, The League of
Nations (Sheamus, King Barrett, Rusev and Alberto Del Rio) and Kevin Owens, before performing
an F-5 on Roman Reigns.[136] The following week on Raw, Lesnar would brawl with Reigns until they
were both attacked by The Wyatt Family.[137] At the Royal Rumble on January 24, Lesnar was the
23rd entrant, eliminating four competitors before being eliminated by Bray Wyatt with help from the
rest of The Wyatt Family.[138] On the January 25 episode of Raw, Stephanie McMahon announced
that the main event of Fastlane would be a triple threat match between Lesnar, Roman Reigns
and Dean Ambrose to determine who would face Triple H for the WWE World Heavyweight
Championship at WrestleMania 32.[139] In the following weeks, Lesnar would be continuously
provoked by Ambrose, with Reigns saving him from the subsequent attacks by Lesnar. [140][141][142] At
Fastlane on February 21, Lesnar dominated most of the match before he was put through two
broadcast tables by Ambrose and Reigns; he would ultimately lose the match after Reigns pinned
Ambrose.[143]Because of this, Lesnar attacked Ambrose in the parking lot as he was arriving at the
arena. Ambrose returned later in the night, having hijacked an ambulance, and challenged Lesnar to
a No Holds Barred Street Fight match at WrestleMania 32 on April 3,[144] where Lesnar defeated
Ambrose after an F-5 onto a pile of chairs.[145]
On the July 7 episode of SmackDown, it was announced that Lesnar would be facing Randy
Orton at SummerSlam, who himself had just returned to WWE from injury.[146] Two days later on July
9, WWE allowed Lesnar to have a one-off fight for UFC 200. Lesnar failed two of his drug tests for
this fight, but he was not suspended by WWE because he is not a full-time performer. [147] On July 19
at the 2016 WWE draft, Lesnar was the #5 draft pick for the Raw brand. [148] Reports claimed that he
would have been #1 had he not failed his UFC drug tests.[149]Orton was drafted to SmackDown, thus
making their match an interbrand match, while WWE billed their face-off as a match fifteen years in
the making.[150] Along with Heyman, Lesnar made his return to Raw on August 1 (his first appearance
on WWE programming since WrestleMania 32), but during his segment Orton appeared and
attacked Lesnar with an RKO.[151] Lesnar then attacked Orton during his match the following night
on SmackDown Live, performing an F-5 on Orton.[152] At SummerSlam on August 21, Lesnar
defeated Orton by technical knockout, leaving Orton with a forehead wound which required ten
staples.[153] Much to Shane McMahon's dismay, Lesnar would later attack Shane with an F-5.[154] The
end made many people believe Lesnar had gone off script due to the severity of Orton's head
wound,[155][156][157] out of which Vince McMahon confirmed that the ending was planned. [158] Lesnar was
later storyline fined $500 for delivering an F-5 to SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon and
his assault on Orton.[159] On September 24 at a house show in Chicago, Illinois, Lesnar defeated
Orton in a no-disqualification rematch, with the match being billed as a Suplex City death match. [160]
On the October 10 episode of Raw, Heyman, on Lesnar's behalf, challenged Goldberg to a fight after
the pair had been feuding for several months through social media and during promotional work for
the WWE 2K17 video game, which featured Lesnar as the cover star and Goldberg as the pre-order
bonus.[161] Heyman stated that Goldberg was the one blemish on Lesnar's WWE career, as Goldberg
had defeated Lesnar at WrestleMania XX in 2004. [162] On the October 17 episode of Raw, Goldberg
returned to WWE after a twelve-year absence and accepted Lesnar's request for a fight with their
match later scheduled for Survivor Series.[163][164] On the final Raw before Survivor Series, Lesnar and
Goldberg had a confrontation for the first time in twelve years, resulting in a brawl with security after
Heyman insulted Goldberg's family.[165] On November 20 at Survivor Series, Lesnar lost to Goldberg
in 1 minute and 26 seconds,[166][167] marking the first time in three years that Lesnar was pinned. [168] The
next night on Raw, Goldberg declared himself the first entrant in the 2017 Royal Rumble match.
[169]
The following week on Raw, Heyman addressed the Survivor Series match, stating that they
underestimated Goldberg and that the match was a humiliation and embarrassment for him and
Lesnar, who would also be in the Royal Rumble as he has something to prove. [170] Lesnar returned
on the January 16 episode of Raw to confront other Royal Rumble participants, attacking Sami
Zayn, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns.[171][172] At the Royal Rumble on January 29, Lesnar entered at
number 26 and went on to eliminate Enzo Amore, Dean Ambrose and Dolph Ziggler before
confronting Goldberg, who entered at number 28 and quickly eliminated Lesnar after a spear. [173]
Universal Champion (2017–present)
The following night on Raw, Lesnar challenged Goldberg to a final match at WrestleMania 33.[174] On
the February 6 episode of Raw, Goldberg would accept Lesnar's challenge whilst also being named
number one contender for Kevin Owens' Universal Championship,[175] which he won
at Fastlane[176] thus turning his match with Lesnar into a title match.[177] At WrestleMania 33, Lesnar
beat Goldberg to win his fifth world title in WWE and became the first man to have won both the
WWE Championship and the Universal Championship. Lesnar also became the second person
to kick-out from Goldberg's Jackhammer and gave him the first clean singles loss of his professional
wrestling career.[178][179] After several weeks of feuding, Lesnar's first title defense came at
the inaugural Great Balls of Fire event on July 9, 2017, where he successfully retained
against Samoa Joe, before defeating him a second time for the title at a live event.
Lesnar facing Roman Reignsbefore their Universal Championshipmatch at WrestleMania 34
On the July 31 episode of Raw, Raw general manager Kurt Angle announced that Lesnar would
defend his title in a fatal four-way match at SummerSlam against Joe, Roman Reigns, and Braun
Strowman. Lesnar and Heyman then appeared, announcing that both would leave WWE should
Lesnar lose the championship in the match.[180] At the event, Lesnar successfully retained the title by
pinning Reigns.[181] The next night on Raw, Lesnar was attacked by Strowman; it was later
announced that the two would face for the title at No Mercy, which Lesnar won.[182] Lesnar then
defeated WWE Champion AJ Styles in an interbrand Champion vs Champion non-title match
at Survivor Series. His next title defense was scheduled for the Royal Rumble where he successfully
defended the title in a triple threat match against Strowman and Kane. Lesnar then re-ignited his
feud with Roman Reigns, who won the Elimination Chamber match at Elimination Chamber to
become the number one contender to Lesnar's title at WrestleMania 34.[183] At the event, Lesnar
pinned Reigns to retain the title in the main event.[184] Afterwords, rumors arose that Lesnar would
leave WWE and rejoin the UFC.[185] However, on April 9, it was announced Lesnar re-signed with the
WWE and he would defend the title against Reigns in a rematch at the Greatest Royal Rumble pay-
per-view, this time inside a steel cage.[186] At the event, Lesnar defeated Reigns as Reigns speared
Lesnar through the cage and thus giving the accidental win to Lesnar as he escaped the cage first
per the rules.[187]
At Extreme Rules, Raw general manager Kurt Angle threatened to strip Lesnar of the Universal Title
if he did now show up to Raw the following night, since Lesnar had not appeared on television since
the Greatest Royal Rumble nearly three months prior. [188] The following night on Raw, Angle was
interrupted by Paul Heyman, who agreed that Brock would defend his title against Reigns again
at SummerSlam.[189]
Lesnar returned to WWE programming on the July 30 episode of Raw, per orders of Angle,
otherwise Lesnar would be stripped of the Universal Championship. [190] Despite being at the arena,
Lesnar refused to appear in the ring, and Angle threatened to fire Heyman if Lesnar failed to do so.
Throughout the broadcast, Heyman unsuccessfully attempted to convince Lesnar to appear, with
Lesnar going as far as to threaten Heyman. At the end of the show, Lesnar appeared after Angle
fired Heyman and called Lesnar the worst Universal champion in WWE history, and subsequently
attacked Angle with the F-5 before choking Heyman.[191] Two weeks later, Heyman revealed it was all
just a ruse with Lesnar returning on the August 13 episode of Raw to attack Reigns.[192] At
SummerSlam, Lesnar lost the championship to Reigns, ending his title reign at 504 days,
surpassing CM Punk's WWE Championship reign of 434 days as "the longest of the modern era". [193]
Lesnar returned at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view in September, kicking in the door of the namesake
cell before attacking both Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman during their WWE Universal
Championship match, thus rendering the match a no-contest.[194] The next night on Raw, Acting
General Manager Baron Corbin announced that Lesnar would challenge Reigns and Strowman in a
triple threat match for the Universal Championship at the Crown Jewel event on November 2.[195] On
October 22, the match was changed to a singles match between Lesnar and Strowman for the
vacant title after Reigns was forced to relinquish it due to being diagnosed with a leukemia relapse.
[196]
At the event, Lesnar defeated Strowman in three minutesto become a two-time Universal
Champion, thanks to a pre-match attack from Baron Corbin.[197]
After his title win it was announced that he will face WWE Champion AJ Styles at Survivor Series in
a Champion vs Champion non-title match. However, five days before Survivor Series, Styles lost his
title to Daniel Bryan on that night's episode of SmackDown, meaning Lesnar would face Bryan at
Survivor Series. At the event, Lesnar overcame a late rally from Bryan to defeat him in the main
event.[198] Lesnar successfully defended the title against Finn Bálor via submission at Royal
Rumble on January 27, 2019.[199] Next night on Raw, Lesnar attacked 2019 Royal Rumble
match winner Seth Rollins with six F-5s thus setting up a title match for WrestleMania 35.[200]
Professional wrestling style and persona
Lesnar preparing the F-5 against The Undertaker
Since Lesnar's debut, he was portrayed as a powerhouse athlete. He is often called by his nickname
"The Beast Incarnate" or simply "The Beast". During his initial run when he was consistently main-
eventing, WWE was in what is labelled by the company and fans as the "Ruthless Aggression Era".
His go-to finishing maneuver for his entire career has been a spinning facebuster[201] known as the F-
5 (or The Verdict when he wrestled outside of WWE).[202][203] After his return in 2012, Lesnar focused
on an MMA-orientated gimmick, sporting MMA gloves during his matches and adding the Kimura
lock as a finisher.[204][205] Lesnar is also known for performing several suplexes on his rivals, with these
often being described as the opponent being taken to "Suplex City", [206] named after an ad-lib Lesnar
delivered to Roman Reigns during their WrestleMania 31 match.[207]
Around the fall of 2017, a large number of fans and critics had begun to condemn Lesnar. Many
reporters thought his Suplex City character "jumped the shark" and his matches had "become
formulaic".[208][209] He was largely criticized due to his absences from television during his time as
Universal Champion. It was pointed out that he had the longest world championship reign since Hulk
Hogan. However, he had only defended the title on 13 occasions during this time, with Tim Fiorvanti
from ESPN commenting that he had "removed the top title on Monday Night Raw from circulation".
[210]
The short length of his matches were also criticized by journalists and fans. [211] Former WWE
Champion Bob Backlund criticized the fact that Lesnar used mostly suplexes during his matches,
saying "it gets old to do the same thing over and over and over again". [212]
Professional football career

Brock Lesnar
No. 69
Position: Defensive tackle
Personal information
Height: 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight: 281 lb (127 kg)
Career information
High school: Webster (SD)
College: Minnesota
Undrafted: 2004
Career history
 Minnesota Vikings (2004)*
* Offseason and/or practice squad member only
After his match at WrestleMania XX in March 2004, Lesnar sidelined his career in WWE to pursue a
career in the National Football League (NFL) despite not playing American football since high
school.[13] WWE issued this statement on their official website, WWE.com, following his departure:
Brock Lesnar has made a personal decision to put his WWE career on hold to prepare to tryout
“ for the National Football League this season. Brock has wrestled his entire professional career in
the WWE and we are proud of his accomplishments and wish him the best in his new endeavor.
[213] ”
Lesnar later told a Minnesota radio show that he had "three wonderful years" in WWE, but had
grown unhappy and always wanted to play professional football, adding that he did not want to be 40
years old and wondering if he could have "made it" in football. In an interview about the NFL, he
stated:
This is no load of bull; it's no WWE stunt. I am dead serious about this. I ain't afraid of anything
“ and I ain't afraid of anybody. I've been an underdog in athletics since I was five. I got zero
college offers for wrestling. Now people say I can't play football, that it's a joke. I say I can. I'm
as good an athlete as a lot of guys in the NFL, if not better. I've always had to fight for
everything. I wasn't the best technician in amateur wrestling but I was strong, had great
conditioning, and a hard head. Nobody could break me. As long as I have that, I don't give a
damn what anybody else thinks.[214] ”
Lesnar had a great showing at the NFL Combine, but on April 17 a minivan collided with his
motorbike and he suffered a broken jaw and left hand, a bruised pelvis and a pulled groin. [215][216]
[217]
Several NFL teams expressed interest in watching Lesnar work out. [218] The Minnesota
Vikings worked out Lesnar on June 11, but he was hampered by the groin injury suffered in the April
motorcycle accident.[218][219] On July 24 it was reported that he was nearly recovered from his groin
injury.[218] He signed with the Vikings on July 27 and played in several preseason games for the team.
[14][218]
He was released by the Vikings on August 30.[14][218] Lesnar received an invitation to play as a
representative for the Vikings in NFL Europa, but declined due to his desire to stay in the United
States with his family.[14] He had several football cards produced of him during his time with the
Vikings.[220]
Mixed martial arts career

Hero's (2007)
On April 29, 2006, after the final match of the K-1 World Grand Prix 2006 in Las Vegas, Lesnar
announced his intent to join K-1's mixed martial arts league, Hero's. He trained with Minnesota
Martial Arts Academy under Greg Nelson and Minnesota Assistant Head wrestling coach Marty
Morgan.[221] Lesnar announced on August 12 in Las Vegas that he had signed a deal with the K-1
Hero's promotion.[222] His first fight was scheduled against Choi Hong-man of South Korea on June 2,
2007 at the Dynamite!! USA show.[223][224] However, prior to the match, Hong-Man was replaced by Min
Soo Kim. Lesnar submitted Soo Kim with strikes in 1:09 of the first round to win his first official MMA
match.[15]
Ultimate Fighting Championship (2008–2011)
Debut and UFC Heavyweight Champion
During UFC 77 on October 20, it was announced that Lesnar had reached a deal to fight with
the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).[225] On February 2, 2008, Lesnar made his debut with the
promotion in an event titled UFC 81: Breaking Point against former UFC Heavyweight
Champion Frank Mir.[226] Due to his large hands,[227] Lesnar was wearing 4XL gloves for the fight,
making him the second man in Nevada's combat sports history to wear such gloves, after Choi
Hong-man.[228] Lesnar secured an early takedown and began landing numerous punches, but was
docked a point after a punch hit Mir on the back of the head. Following another takedown by Lesnar,
Mir managed to secure a kneebar and forced a submission at 1:30 of the first round, causing Lesnar
to lose in his UFC debut.[226] At UFC 82 on March 1, former UFC Heavyweight Champion and Hall of
Famer Mark Coleman was announced to fight Lesnar at UFC 87.[229] However, Coleman withdrew
from the fight due to an injury and was replaced by Heath Herring.[230] On August 9, Lesnar defeated
Herring by unanimous decision.[231]
Lesnar then faced Randy Couture for the UFC Heavyweight Championship at UFC 91 on November
15.[232] Lesnar beat Couture via a technical knockout (TKO) in the second round to become the new
UFC Heavyweight Champion.[233]
On December 27 at UFC 92, Frank Mir defeated Antônio Nogueira for the Interim Heavyweight
Championship and was to face Lesnar for the Undisputed UFC Heavyweight Championship at UFC
98. Immediately after winning the Interim Heavyweight title, Mir found Lesnar in the crowd and
shouted, "You've got my belt". Due to a knee injury to Mir, the title unification match with Lesnar that
was originally slated to be the UFC 98 main event was postponed.[234] Lesnar won the postponed
rematch with Mir at UFC 100 on July 11, 2009, via technical knockout in the second round. The win
earned Lesnar Beatdown of the Year honors, with Anderson Silva, from Sherdog for 2009.[235] During
his post-match celebration, Lesnar flipped off the crowd who had been booing him. Lesnar also
made a disparaging comment about the pay-per-view's primary sponsor Bud Light, claiming they
"won't pay me nothin'" and promoted Coors Light instead. Lesnar later apologized for his remarks at
the post-fight press conference, where he held a bottle of Bud Light and endorsed their product. [236]
On July 1 it was reported that the winner of the Shane Carwin vs. Cain Velasquez fight at UFC
104 would face Lesnar, but the match was scrapped and Lesnar was scheduled to defend the title
against Shane Carwin at UFC 106 on November 21.[237] On October 2 it was announced that Lesnar
pulled out of his Carwin bout due to an illness. UFC President Dana White said Lesnar had been ill
for three weeks, claiming he had never been this sick in his life and that it would take him a while to
recover, therefore his fight with Carwin was rescheduled for UFC 108on January 2, 2010.[238] Lesnar
initially sought treatment in Canada, but later told reporters that he had received "Third
World treatment" at a hospital in Brandon, Manitoba and that seeking better treatment in the United
States saved his life. Lesnar went on to criticize Canadian health care further and stated that he
shared his experience in an effort to speak "on the behalf of the doctors in the United States that
don't want health care reform to happen".[239]
On November 4 it was confirmed that Lesnar was suffering from mononucleosis and that his bout
with Carwin would have to wait a bit longer and the fight for Lesnar's heavyweight championship was
cancelled.[240] On November 14 at the UFC 105 post-fight conference, Dana White stated, "[Lesnar]'s
not well and he's not going to be getting well anytime soon" and that an interim title match might
need to be set up.[241] In addition to mononucleosis, it was revealed that he was suffering from a
serious case of diverticulitis, an intestinal disorder, which required surgery.[242] After further diagnosis,
Lesnar underwent surgery on November 16 to close a perforation in his intestine that had been
leaking fecal matter into his abdomen, causing pain, abscesses and overtaxing his immune system
to the point that he contracted mononucleosis. From the level of damage to Lesnar's system, the
surgeon estimated that the intestinal condition had been ongoing for around a year. [243]
In January 2010, Lesnar announced on ESPN's SportsCenter that he was scheduled to make a
return to the UFC in the summer.[244] A match between Frank Mir and Shane Carwin took place on
March 27 at UFC 111 to determine the Interim Heavyweight Champion and Lesnar's next opponent.
[245]
Shane Carwin defeated Mir via knockout in the first round, becoming the new Interim Champion.
After the fight, Lesnar came into the ring and stated, "It was a good fight but he's wearing a belt
that's a make-believe belt. I've got the real championship belt". [246] Lesnar faced Carwin at UFC
116 on July 3 to unify the heavyweight titles.[247] Early in the first round, Carwin knocked Lesnar down
with punch, gave him a cut above his left eye and used a ground and pound attack the rest of the
round. In the next round, Lesnar was able to take Carwin down, attain a full mount, then move into
side-control and finish the fight with an arm triangle choke. With the victory, Lesnar became the
undisputed UFC Heavyweight Champion, earning his first Submission of the Night and giving Carwin
his first loss. The win also tied a UFC record for most consecutive successful UFC Heavyweight
Championship defenses.
Title loss and first retirement
Lesnar's next defense was against undefeated top contender Cain Velasquez on October 23 at the
Honda Center in Anaheim, California at UFC 121.[248] Dana White announced via SportsNation that
the UFC would bring back UFC Primetime to hype the fight.[249] Lesnar was defeated by Velasquez
for the title by TKO in the first round.[250]
On January 11, 2011, Lesnar was announced as a coach of The Ultimate Fighter Season 13,
opposite Junior dos Santos,[251] with the two expected to fight on June 11 at UFC 131,[252] but he was
struck with another bout of diverticulitis and had to withdraw from the fight on May 12. [253] He was
replaced by Shane Carwin, who ended up losing against dos Santos. [254] Lesnar underwent surgery
on May 27 to help battle his problems with diverticulitis. Dana White said that he had a 12-inch piece
of his colon removed.[17]
In its May 2011 issue, ESPN's magazine published a story listing the highest paid athlete based on
base salary and earnings for the most recent calendar year or most recent season in 30 sports.
Lesnar topped the list for MMA at $5.3 million, which included his reported bout salaries and
estimated pay-per-view bonuses.[255]
In the summer of 2011, Lesnar announced that he was returning to action, stating, "I feel like a new
man. Healthy. Strong. I feel like I used to feel".[256] His return match was scheduled to be at UFC
141 on December 30 in Las Vegas against former Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair
Overeem.[257] Overeem won the fight by way of technical knockout in the first round. [258][259]The result of
the fight remains controversial, as Overeem tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone prior
to his next fight.[260] Lesnar then announced his retirement from MMA, mentioning his struggles with
diverticulitis and saying "tonight was the last time you'll see me in the octagon". [258][259]
Speculation about a return to MMA lasted until March 24, 2015, when Lesnar announced in an
interview on SportsCenter that he had re-signed with WWE and officially closed the door on a return
to MMA, even though he was offered a deal "ten times more" than what he had made previously in
his MMA career. He further elaborated that, while he was training for months for a return to the UFC,
he felt "physically great but something was lacking mentally". [261][262] Lesnar added that "[he's] an
older caveman now, so [he] makes smarter caveman decisions" and that he chose to sign with
WWE instead of returning to MMA because he could "work part-time with full-time pay".[263]
Return to the UFC (2016–2018)
Fight against Mark Hunt
Though Lesnar said he was "closing the door on MMA" in March 2015, [264] UFC announced on June
4, 2016 that he would return at UFC 200 on July 9.[265] WWE confirmed it had granted Lesnar "a one-
off opportunity" to compete at UFC 200 before he would return to the company for SummerSlam on
August 21.[266] Lesnar, representing Canada for the first time in his career, defeated Mark Hunt by
unanimous decision, avoiding 19 of Hunt's 30 attempted standing strikes and taking him down four
times to land 43 significant ground strikes (32 in the final round). He also was paid a UFC record
$2.5 million purse.[267][268][269] This record was broken at UFC 202 by Conor McGregor, who was also
the previous holder.[270]
Suspension and second retirement
On July 15, Lesnar was notified of a potential anti-doping policy violation by the United States Anti-
Doping Agency (USADA) stemming from an undisclosed banned substance in an out-of-competition
sample collected on June 28.[271] On July 19, the UFC announced that a second sample taken in-
competition on July 9 tested positive for the same banned substance discovered in the previous out-
of-competition sample.[272] On August 23, the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) confirmed
that Lesnar twice tested positive for the estrogen blocker clomipheneand he was suspended.[273]
On December 15, it was confirmed that Lesnar was fined $250,000 and suspended from competition
for one year by the NSAC. He would be eligible to return in July 2017. As a result of the suspension,
the result of his fight with Mark Hunt was overturned to a no contest. [274] As of January 2019, Lesnar
was yet to pay the fine.[275]
On February 14, 2017, it was reported that Lesnar had notified UFC he was retiring from MMA for
the second time.[276] On July 7, 2018, Lesnar stormed the cage after the main event fight at UFC
226 and challenged the new UFC Heavyweight Champion, Daniel Cormier.[16] On July 8, USADA
confirmed that Lesnar had begun the process to get back into their drug-testing pool. [277]
While yet to be officially announced by the UFC, promotion officials are targeting a bout between
Lesnar and current heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier to headline a yet to be announced August
2019 PPV event.[278]
Personal life
"It's very basic for me. When I go home, I don't buy into any of the bullshit. Like I said, it's pretty basic: Train,
sleep, family, fight. It's my life. I like it. [...] I just don't put myself out there to the fans and prostitute my private life
to everybody. In today's day and age, with the Internet and cameras and cell phones, I just like being old school
and living in the woods and living my life. I came from nothing, and at any moment, you can go back to having
nothing."
— Lesnar on his private life, 2010[279]
Lesnar married Rena Greek, known professionally as Sable, on May 6, 2006.[280] They reside on a
farm in Maryfield, Saskatchewan,[281] having previously lived in Maple Plain, Minnesota.[282]
[283]
Together, they have two sons named Turk (born 2009) and Duke (born 2010). [284][285] Lesnar also
has twins: a daughter named Mya Lynn and a son named Luke (born 2002) with his former fiancée,
Nicole McClain.[286][287] He is also the stepfather of Greek's daughter, with her first husband. [24]
Lesnar is an intensely private individual who has previously stated his dislike for the media; as such,
he rarely participates in interviews and avoids questions pertaining to his private life. [279] He is a
supporter of the Republican Party.[239][288] He is a member of the National Rifle Association, making an
appearance at their annual meeting in May 2011 to discuss his passion for hunting and his role as a
spokesman for the Fusion Ammunition company.[289][290] He is a fan of the Winnipeg Jets, and all three
of his sons play hockey.[291]
During his first run in WWE, Lesnar developed addictions to both alcohol and painkillers, allegedly
drinking a bottle of vodka per day and taking hundreds of Vicodin pills per month to manage the pain
caused by wear and tear on his body. He named his accident at WrestleMania XIX as a particular
source of pain.[24]Lesnar claims that, as a result of his addiction and mental exhaustion, he does not
remember "an entire two years" of his WWE career.[292]
Legal issues
In January 2001, Lesnar was arrested by police in Louisville, Kentucky for suspicion of possessing
large amounts of anabolic steroids. The charges were dropped when it was discovered that the
substances were a legal growth hormone. His lawyer described it as a "vitamin type of thing".[293]
Lesnar had previously signed a non-compete clause in order to be released from his contract with
WWE, which prohibited him from working for any other professional wrestling companies before
June 2010. However, he decided to challenge this ruling in court.[294] WWE responded with
a counterclaim after Lesnar breached the agreement by appearing at a New Japan Pro-Wrestling
show in 2004.[295] In July 2005, the two sides dropped their claims and entered negotiations to renew
their relationship.[296] WWE had offered Lesnar a contract, but on August 2, their official website
reported that Lesnar had withdrawn from any involvement with the company. [297] The lawsuit began to
enter settlement talks on September 21, but did not get solved.[298][299]
On January 14, 2006, Judge Christopher Droney stated that unless WWE gave him a good
argument between then and the 25th, he would rule in favor of Lesnar, giving him a summary
judgment. This would have enabled Lesnar to work anywhere immediately. [300] WWE was later
granted a deadline postponement.[301] On April 24, WWE announced on WWE.com that both parties
had reached a settlement. On June 12, a federal judge dismissed the case at the request of both
legal parties.[302]
On December 15, 2011, Lesnar was charged with hunting infractions on a trip to Alberta on
November 19, 2010. Two charges were dropped, but Lesnar pleaded guilty to the charge of
improper tagging of an animal. He was fined $1,725 and given a six-month hunting suspension. [303]
Other media
In 2003, WWE Home Video released a DVD chronicling Lesnar's career entitled Brock Lesnar: Here
Comes the Pain. It was re-released in 2012 as a three-disc DVD and two-disc Blu-raycollector's
edition to tie in with Lesnar's WWE return. It was also expanded to include new matches and
interviews. In 2016, a new home video was released on DVD and Blu-ray, as well as a collector's
edition, called Brock Lesnar: Eat. Sleep. Conquer. Repeat. and includes accomplishments from his
second run in WWE.[304]
Lesnar was featured on the covers of Flex and Muscle & Fitness magazine in 2004[305][306] and
Minneapolis' City Pages in 2008.[307] He is the cover athlete for the WWE SmackDown! Here Comes
the Pain, UFC Undisputed 2010 and WWE 2K17 video games.[308]
In 2009, Lesnar signed an endorsement deal with Dymatize Nutrition. A CD containing footage of
Lesnar training was included with Dymatize's "Xpand" product. [309]
Lesnar co-wrote an autobiography with Paul Heyman, titled Death Clutch: My Story of
Determination, Domination, and Survival, which was published by William Morrow and Company in
2011.[310]
In a 2013 post on his blog, Attack on Titan author Hajime Isayama revealed that he drew inspiration
from Lesnar for the character of the Armored Titan.[311]
Filmography
Film
True Giants Himself Film debut
2014
Cameo
Foxcatcher Wrestler
Uncredited
2016 Countdown Himself Uncredited
Television
2008 E:60 Himself October 21
2009–
Rome Is Burning 3 episodes
2010
2010 UFC Primetime Episode: Lesnar vs. Velasquez
2011 ESPN Friday Night Fights January 14
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon March 28 (season 3, episode 49)

The Tonight Show with Jay

2012 February 21 (season 20, episode 93)
Leno
Mike and Mike in the Morning August 18
2016 SportsCenter February 16 (season 38, episode 47)
UFC Ultimate Insider July 3 (Season 5, Episode 520)
Mixed martial arts record

Professional record
show
breakdown
Recor Roun
Res. Opponent Method Event Date Time Location Notes
d d
Originally a
Las Vegas, unanimous decision
NC July 9, win for Lesnar;
NC 5–3 (1) Mark Hunt UFC 200 3 5:00 Nevada, overturned after he
(overturned) 2016
United States tested positive
for clomiphene.
TKO (body Las Vegas,

Alistair December
Loss 5–3 kick and UFC 141 1 2:26 Nevada,
Overeem 30, 2011
punches) United States
Anaheim, Lost the UFC

Cain TKO October
Loss 5–2 UFC 121 1 4:12 California, Heavyweight
Velasquez (punches) 23, 2010 Championship.
United States
Win 5–1 Shane Submission UFC 116 July 3, 2 2:19 Las Vegas, Defended and
Carwin (arm-triangle 2010 Nevada, unified the UFC
Heavyweight
Championship.
choke) United States Submission of the
Night.
Las Vegas, Defended and

TKO July 11, unified the UFC
Win 4–1 Frank Mir UFC 100 2 1:48 Nevada, Heavyweight
(punches) 2009
United States Championship.
Las Vegas, Won the UFC

Randy TKO November
Win 3–1 UFC 91 2 3:07 Nevada, Heavyweight
Couture (punches) 15, 2008 Championship.
United States
Minneapolis,
Heath Decision August 9,
Win 2–1 UFC 87 3 5:00 Minnesota,
Herring (unanimous) 2008
United States
Las Vegas,
Submission February
Loss 1–1 Frank Mir UFC 81 1 1:30 Nevada,
(kneebar) 2, 2008
United States
Los Angeles,
Min-Soo Submission Dynamite!! June 2,
Win 1–0 1 1:09 California,
Kim (punches) USA 2007
United States
Pay-per-view bouts
No
Event Fight Date PPV Buys
.
1. UFC 81 Mir vs. Lesnar (co) February 2, 2008 650,000
Lesnar vs. Herring (co
2. UFC 87 August 9, 2008 625,000
)
November 15,
3. UFC 91 Couture vs. Lesnar 1,010,000
2008
4. UFC 100 Lesnar vs. Mir 2 July 11, 2009 1,300,000

No
Event Fight Date PPV Buys
.
5. UFC 116 Lesnar vs. Carwin July 3, 2010 1,160,000
6. UFC 121 Lesnar vs. Velasquez October 23, 2010 1,050,000
7. UFC 141 Lesnar vs. Overeem December 30, 2011 750,000
8. UFC 200 Lesnar vs. Hunt (co) July 9, 2016 1,009,000
9. UFC 239 Cormier vs. Lesnar July 6, 2019
Total sales 7,554,000
Championships and accomplishments

Collegiate wrestling
 National Collegiate Athletic Association

 NCAA Division I All-American (1999, 2000)
 NCAA Division I Heavyweight Champion (2000)
 Big Ten Conference Champion (1999, 2000)
 National Junior College Athletic Association
 NJCAA All-American (1997, 1998)
 NJCAA Heavyweight Champion (1998)
 North Dakota State University Bison Tournament Champion (1997–1999) [312]
Mixed martial arts
 Inside Fights
 Biggest Draw (2008)[313]
 Rookie of the Year (2008)[313]
 Sherdog Awards
 Beatdown of the Year (2009)[314]
 Sports Illustrated
 Top Newcomer of the Year (2008)[315]
 Ultimate Fighting Championship
 UFC Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 Two successful title defenses
 Submission of the Night (1 time)
 World MMA Awards
 Breakthrough Fighter of the Year (2009) [316]
 Wrestling Observer Newsletter
 Best Box Office Draw (2008–2010)[317]
 MMA Most Valuable Fighter (2008–2010)[317]
Professional wrestling
Lesnar during his fourth reign as WWE Champion
Lesnar as the Universal Champion
 Guinness World Records

 World record: Youngest person to win the WWE Championship (aged 25 years, 44
days)[318]
 New Japan Pro-Wrestling
 IWGP Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[Note 2]
 Ohio Valley Wrestling
 OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Shelton Benjamin[32]
 Pro Wrestling Illustrated
 Feud of the Year (2003, 2015) vs. Kurt Angle, The Undertaker[319]
 Match of the Year (2003) vs. Kurt Angle in an Iron Man match on SmackDown! on September
16[319]
 Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (2018)[319]
 Most Improved Wrestler of the Year (2002)[319]
 Wrestler of the Year (2002, 2014)[319]
 Ranked No. 1 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2003[320]
 Best Brawler (2003)[321]
 Best Wrestling Maneuver (2002) F-5
 Feud of the Year (2003) vs. Kurt Angle[322]
 Most Improved Wrestler (2002, 2003)[323]
 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 2015)[324]
 World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE
 WWE Championship[Note 1] (4 times)[325]
 WWE Universal Championship (2 times, current)[326]
 King of the Ring (2002)[40]
 Royal Rumble (2003)[12]
 Slammy Award (5 times)
 Hashtag of the Year (2015) – #SuplexCity[327]
 Match of the Year (2015) – vs The Undertaker at Hell in a Cell[327]
 Rivalry of the Year (2015) – vs The Undertaker[327]
 "Tell Me You Didn't Just Say That" Moment of the Year (2015) – Coining
"Suplex City" at WrestleMania 31[327]
 The OMG Shocking Moment of the Year (2014) – Ending The
Undertaker's WrestleMania streak at WrestleMania XXX[328]
 WWE Year-End Award (1 time)
 Hottest Rivalry (2018) – vs. Roman Reigns[329]
Jeremiah horrocks
Jeremiah Horrocks (1618 – 3 January 1641), sometimes given as Jeremiah
Horrox (the Latinised version that he used on the Emmanuel College register and in his Latin
manuscripts),[1] was an English astronomer. He was the first person to demonstrate that
the Moon moved around the Earth in an elliptical orbit; and he was the only person to predict
the transit of Venus of 1639, an event which he and his friend William Crabtree were the only two
people to observe and record.
His early death and the chaos of the English Civil War nearly resulted in the loss to science of his
treatise on the transit, Venus in sole visa; but for this and his other work he is acknowledged as one
of the founding fathers of British astronomy.
Jeremiah Horrocks
Making the first observation of
the transit of Venus in 1639

Jeremiah Horrocks was born at Lower Lodge Farm in Toxteth Park, a former royal deer
park near Liverpool, Lancashire.[2]His father James had moved to Toxteth Park to be apprenticed to
Thomas Aspinwall, a watchmaker, and subsequently married his master's daughter Mary. Both
families were well educated Puritans; the Horrocks sent their younger sons to the University of
Cambridge and the Aspinwalls favoured Oxford.[3] For their unorthodox beliefs the Puritans were
excluded from public office, which tended to push them towards other callings; by 1600 the
Aspinwalls had become a successful family of watchmakers. [2] Jeremiah was introduced early to
astronomy; his boyhood chores included measuring the local noon used to set local clocks, [4] and his
Puritan upbringing instilled an enduring suspicion of astrology, witchcraft and magic.[5]
In 1632 Horrocks matriculated at Emmanuel College at the University of Cambridge as a sizar. At
Cambridge he associated with the mathematician John Wallis and the platonist John Worthington. At
that time he was one of only a few at Cambridge to accept Copernicus's
revolutionary heliocentric theory, and he studied the works of Johannes Kepler, Tycho Brahe and
others.[6]
In 1635, for reasons not clear, Horrocks left Cambridge without graduating. [7] Marston suggests that
he may have needed to defer the extra cost this entailed until he was employed, [1] whilst Aughton
speculates that he may have failed his exams due to concentrating too much on his own interests, or
that he did not want to take Anglican orders, and so a degree was of limited use to him.[8]
Astronomical observations
Now committed to the study of astronomy, Horrocks began to collect astronomical books and
equipment; by 1638 he owned the best telescope he could find. Liverpool was a seafaring town so
navigational instruments such as the astrolabe and cross staff were easy to find. But there was no
market for the very specialised astronomical instruments he needed, so his only option was to make
his own. He was well placed to do this; his father and uncles were watchmakers with expertise in
creating precise instruments. Apparently he helped with the family business by day and, in return,
the watchmakers in his family supported his vocation by assisting in the design and construction of
instruments to study the stars at night. [9]
Horrocks owned a three-foot radius astronomicus – a cross staff with movable sights used to
measure the angle between two stars – but by January 1637 he had reached the limitations of this
instrument and so built a larger and higher precision version. [10] While a youth he read most of the
astronomical treatises of his day and marked their weaknesses; by the age of seventeen he was
suggesting new lines of research.
Tradition has it that after he left home he supported himself by holding a curacy in Much Hoole,
near Preston in Lancashire, but there is little evidence for this.[1]According to local tradition in Much
Hoole, he lived at Carr House, within the Bank Hall Estate, Bretherton. Carr House was a substantial
property owned by the Stones family who were prosperous farmers and merchants, and Horrocks
was probably a tutor for the Stones' children.[11]
Lunar research
Horrocks was the first to demonstrate that the Moon moved in an elliptical path around the Earth,
and he posited that comets followed elliptical orbits. He supported his theories by analogy to the
motions of a conical pendulum, noting that after a plumb bob was drawn back and released it
followed an elliptical path, and that its major axis rotated in the direction of revolution as did
the apsides of the moon's orbit.[12] He anticipated Isaac Newton in suggesting the influence of the
Sun as well as the Earth on the moon's orbit. In the Principia[13] Newton acknowledged Horrocks's
work in relation to his theory of lunar motion. In the final months of his life Horrocks made detailed
studies of tides in attempting to explain the nature of lunar causation of tidal movements. [14]
Transit of Venus
Transit of Venus, 1639
A representation of Horrocks' recording of the transit published in 1662 by Johannes Hevelius

The title page of Jeremiah Horrocks' Opera Posthuma, published by the Royal Society in 1672.
In 1627, Johannes Kepler had published his Rudolphine Tables and two years later he published

extracts from the tables in his pamphlet De raris mirisque Anni 1631 which included an admonitio ad
astronomos (warning to astronomers) concerning a transit of Mercury in 1631 and transits of Venus
in 1631 and 1761.[15] Horrocks' own observations, combined with those of his friend and
correspondent William Crabtree, had convinced him that Kepler's Rudolphine tables, although more
accurate than the commonly used tables produced by Philip Van Lansberg, were still in need of
some correction. Kepler's tables had predicted a near-miss of a transit of Venus in 1639 but, having
made his own observations of Venus for years, Horrocks predicted a transit would indeed occur.[16]
Horrocks made a simple helioscope by focusing the image of the Sun through a telescope onto a
plane surface, whereby an image of the Sun could be safely observed. From his location in Much
Hoole he calculated the transit would begin at approximately 3:00 pm on 24 November 1639, Julian
calendar (or 4 December in the Gregorian calendar). The weather was cloudy but he first observed
the tiny black shadow of Venus crossing the Sun at about 3:15 pm; and he continued to observe for
half an hour until the sun set. The 1639 transit was also observed by William Crabtree from his home
in Broughton near Manchester.
Horrocks' observations allowed him to make a well-informed guess as to the size of Venus—
previously thought to be larger and closer to Earth—and to estimate of the distance between
the Earth and the Sun, now known as the astronomical unit (AU). His figure of 95 million kilometres
(59 million miles, 0.63 AU) was far from the 150 million kilometres (93 million miles) known today,
but it was more accurate than any suggested up to that time.
A treatise by Horrocks on the study of the transit, Venus in sole visa (Venus seen on the Sun), was
later published by the Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius at his own expense; it caused great
excitement when revealed to members of the Royal Society in 1662, some 20 years after it was
written. It presented Horrocks' enthusiastic and romantic nature, including humorous comments and
passages of original poetry. When speaking of the century separating Venusian transits, he
rhapsodised:
" ...Thy return
Posterity shall witness; years must roll
Away, but then at length the splendid sight
Again shall greet our distant children's eyes."
It was a time of great uncertainty in astronomy, when the world's astronomers could
not agree amongst themselves and theologians fulminated against claims that
contradicted Scripture. Horrocks, although a pious young man, came down firmly on
the side of scientific determinism.[17]
It is wrong to hold the most noble Science of the Stars guilty of uncertainty on
account of some people's uncertain observations. Through no fault of its own it
suffers these complaints which arise from the uncertainty and error not of the
celestial motions but of human observations . . . I do not consider that any
imperfections in the motions of the stars have so far been detected, nor do I believe
that they are ever to be found. Far be it from me to allow that God has created the
heavenly bodies more imperfectly than man has observed them. – Jeremiah
Horrocks[17]
Death and remembrance
Jeremiah Horrocks Observatory on Moor Park, Preston
Horrocks returned to Toxteth Park sometime in mid-1640 and died suddenly from
unknown causes on 3 January 1641, at the age of 22. As expressed by Crabtree,
"What an incalculable loss!"[18] He has been described as a bridge which connected
Newton with Copernicus, Galileo, Brahe and Kepler.[19]
It is believed that Horrocks was buried at Toxteth Unitarian Chapel, but there is
seemingly no proof of this.
Horrocks is remembered on a plaque in Westminster Abbey[20] and the lunar
crater Horrocks is named after him. In 1859 a marble tablet and stained-glass
windows commemorating him were installed in the Parish Church of St Michael,
Much Hoole.[11]
In 1927, the Jeremiah Horrocks Observatory was built at Moor Park, Preston.[21]
The 2012 transit of Venus was marked by a celebration held in the church at Much
Hoole, which was streamed live worldwide on the NASA website. [22]
Jeremiah Horrocks and the transit of Venus feature in an episode ("Dark Matter") of
the British television series Lewis.[23]
Jeremiah Horrocks Institute

The Jeremiah Horrocks Institute for Astrophysics and Supercomputing was
established in 1993 at the University of Central Lancashire.[24] In 2012 it was
renamed the Jeremiah Horrocks Institute for Mathematics, Physics, and Astronomy.
Emanuel Swedenborg
Emanuel Swedenborg (/ˈswiːdənˌbɔːrɡ/;[1] Swedish pronunciation (help·info); born Emanuel
Swedberg; 29 January 1688[2] – 29 March 1772)[3] was a
Swedish Lutheran theologian, scientist, philosopher and mystic.[4] He is best known for his book on
the afterlife, Heaven and Hell(1758).[5][6]
Swedenborg had a prolific career as an inventor and scientist. In 1741, at 53, he entered into a
spiritual phase in which he began to experience dreams and visions, beginning on Easter Weekend,
on 6 April 1744. It culminated in a 'spiritual awakening' in which he received a revelation that he was
appointed by the Lord Jesus Christ to write The Heavenly Doctrine to reform Christianity.[7] According
to The Heavenly Doctrine, the Lord had opened Swedenborg's spiritual eyes so that from then on,
he could freely visit heaven and hell to converse with angels, demons and other spirits and the Last
Judgment had already occurred the year before, in 1757.[8]
For the last 28 years of his life, Swedenborg wrote 18 published theological works—and several
more that were unpublished. He termed himself a "Servant of the Lord Jesus Christ" in True
Christian Religion,[9] which he published himself.[10] Some followers of The Heavenly Doctrinebelieve
that of his theological works, only those that were published by Swedenborg himself are fully divinely
inspired.[11] Others have regarded all Swedenborg's theological works as equally inspired, saying for
example that the fact that some works were "not written out in a final edited form for publication does
not make a single statement less trustworthy than the statements in any of the other works". [12] The
New Church, a new religious movement comprising several historically-related Christian
denominations, reveres Swedenborg's writings as revelation
Emanuel Swedenborg
Portrait of Swedenborg by Carl Frederik von Breda

Early life[edit]
Memorial plaque at the former location of Swedenborg's house at Hornsgatan on Södermalm, Stockholm.
Swedenborg's father, Jesper Swedberg (1653–1735), descended from a wealthy mining family. The

first known paternal ancestor was Otte Persson from Sundborn parish, mentioned 1571. [15]
He travelled abroad and studied theology, and on returning home, he was eloquent enough to
impress the Swedish king, Charles XI, with his sermons in Stockholm. Through the king's influence,
he would later become professor of theology at Uppsala University and Bishop of Skara.[16][3]
Jesper took an interest in the beliefs of the dissenting Lutheran Pietist movement, which emphasised
the virtues of communion with God rather than relying on sheer faith (sola fide).[17] Sola fide is a tenet
of the Lutheran Church, and Jesper was charged with being a pietist heretic. While controversial, the
beliefs were to have a major impact on his son Emanuel's spirituality. Jesper furthermore held the
unconventional belief that angels and spirits were present in everyday life. This also came to have a
strong impact on Emanuel.[16][3][18]
In 1703–1709, Swedenborg lived in Erik Benzelius the Younger's house. Swedenborg completed his
university course at Uppsala in 1709, and in 1710, he made his grand tour through the Netherlands,
France and Germany before reaching London, where he would spend the next four years. It was
also a flourishing center of scientific ideas and discoveries. Swedenborg
studied physics, mechanics and philosophy and read and wrote poetry. According to the preface of a
book by the Swedish critic Olof Lagercrantz, Swedenborg wrote to his benefactor and brother-in-law
Benzelius that he believed that Swedenborg might be destined to be a great scientist. [19][20]
Scientific period
The Flying Machine, sketched in his notebook from 1714. The operator would sit in the middle and paddle
himself through the air.[21] p. 32, or on the video clip at 5:48 on its timeline. [22]
In 1715 Swedenborg returned to Sweden, where he devoted himself to natural science and
engineering projects for the next two decades. A first step was his meeting with King Charles XII of
Sweden in the city of Lund, in 1716. The Swedish inventor Christopher Polhem, who became a close
friend of Swedenborg, was also present. Swedenborg's purpose was to persuade the king to fund
an observatory in northern Sweden. However, the warlike king did not consider this project important
enough, but did appoint Swedenborg to be assessor-extraordinary on the Swedish Board of
Mines (Bergskollegium) in Stockholm.[23]
From 1716 to 1718, Swedenborg published a scientific periodical entitled Daedalus
Hyperboreus ("The Northern Daedalus"), a record of mechanical and mathematical inventions and
discoveries. One notable description was that of a flying machine, the same he had been sketching
a few years earlier.[20]
In 1718, Swedenborg published an article that attempted to explain spiritual and mental events in
terms of minute vibrations, or "tremulations".
Upon the death of Charles XII, Queen Ulrika Eleonora ennobled Swedenborg and his siblings. It was
common in Sweden during the 17th and 18th centuries for the children of bishops to receive that
honour, as a recognition of the services of their father. The family name was changed from
Swedberg to Swedenborg.[24] (The "en" corresponding to the German von.)
In 1724, he was offered the chair of mathematics at Uppsala University, but he declined and said
that he had dealt mainly with geometry, chemistryand metallurgy during his career. He also said that
he did not have the gift of eloquent speech because of a stutter, as recognized by many of his
acquaintances; it forced him to speak slowly and carefully, and there are no known occurrences of
his speaking in public.[25] The Swedish critic Olof Lagerkrantz proposed that Swedenborg
compensated for his impediment by extensive argumentation in writing. [26]
New direction of studies ahead of his time

During the 1730s, Swedenborg undertook many studies of anatomy and physiology. He had the first
known anticipation of the neuronconcept.[27] It was not until a century later that science recognized
the full significance of the nerve cell. He also had prescient ideas about the cerebral cortex, the
hierarchical organization of the nervous system, the localization of the cerebrospinal fluid, the
functions of the pituitary gland, the perivascular spaces, the foramen of Magendie, the idea
of somatotopic organization, and the association of frontal brain regions with the intellect. In some
cases, his conclusions have been experimentally verified in modern times. [28][29][30][31][32]
In the 1730s, Swedenborg became increasingly interested in spiritual matters and was determined to
find a theory to explain how matter relates to spirit. Swedenborg's desire to understand the order and
the purpose of creation first led him to investigate the structure of matter and the process of creation
itself. In the Principia, he outlined his philosophical method, which incorporated experience,
geometry (the means by which the inner order of the world can be known) and the power of reason.
He also outlined his cosmology, which included the first presentation of his nebular hypothesis.
(There is evidence that Swedenborg may have preceded Kant by as much as 20 years in the
development of that hypothesis.[33])
In 1735, in Leipzig, he published a three-volume work, Opera philosophica et
mineralis ("Philosophical and mineralogical works") in which he tried to conjoin philosophy
and metallurgy. The work was mainly appreciated for its chapters on the analysis of the smelting of
iron and copper, and it was the work that gave Swedenborg his international reputation. [34] The same
year, he also published the small manuscript de Infinito ("On the Infinite") in which he attempted to
explain how the finite is related to the infinite and how the soul is connected to the body. It was the
first manuscript in which he touched upon such matters. He knew that it might clash with established
theologies since he presented the view that the soul is based on material substances. [35][36] He also
conducted dedicated studies of the fashionable philosophers of the time such as John
Locke, Christian von Wolff, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, and Descartes and earlier thinkers such
as Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus and Augustine of Hippo.[37]
In 1743, at the age of 55, Swedenborg requested a leave of absence to go abroad. His purpose was
to gather source material for Regnum animale (The Animal Kingdom, or Kingdom of Life), a subject
on which books were not readily available in Sweden. The aim of the book was to explain the soul
from an anatomical point of view. He had planned to produce a total of 17 volumes. [38]
Journal of Dreams[edit]
By 1744, Swedenborg had travelled to the Netherlands. Around the time, he began having strange
dreams. Swedenborg carried a travel journal with him on most of his travels and did so on this
journey. The whereabouts of the diary were long unknown, but it was discovered in the Royal
Library in the 1850s and was published in 1859 as Drömboken, or Journal of Dreams.
Swedenborg experienced many different dreams and visions, some greatly pleasurable, others
highly disturbing.[39] The experiences continued as he traveled to London to progress the publication
of Regnum animale. This process, which one biographer has proposed as cathartic and comparable
to the Catholic concept of Purgatory,[40] continued for six months. He also proposed that what
Swedenborg was recording in his Journal of Dreams was a battle between the love of himself and
the love of God.[41]
Visions and spiritual insights

In the last entry of the journal from 26–27 October 1744, Swedenborg appears to be clear as to
which path to follow. He felt that he should drop his current project and write a new book about the
worship of God. He soon began working on De cultu et amore Dei, or The Worship and Love of God.
It was never fully completed, but Swedenborg still had it published in London in June 1745. [42]
In 1745, Swedenborg was dining in a private room at a tavern in London. By the end of the meal, a
darkness fell upon his eyes, and the room shifted character. Suddenly, he saw a person sitting at a
corner of the room, telling him: "Do not eat too much!". Swedenborg, scared, hurried home. Later
that night, the same man appeared in his dreams. The man told Swedenborg that he was the Lord,
that he had appointed Swedenborg to reveal the spiritual meaning of the Bible and that he would
guide Swedenborg in what to write. The same night, the spiritual world was opened to Swedenborg.
[43][44]
Scriptural commentary and writings
Arcana Cœlestia, first edition (1749), title page
In June 1747, Swedenborg resigned his post as assessor of the board of mines. He explained that
he was obliged to complete a work that he had begun and requested to receive half his salary as a
pension.[45] He took up afresh his study of Hebrew and began to work on the spiritual interpretation of
the Bible with the goal of interpreting the spiritual meaning of every verse. From sometime between
1746 and 1747 and for ten years henceforth, he devoted his energy to the task. Usually abbreviated
as Arcana Cœlestia or under the Latin variant Arcana Caelestia[46] (translated as Heavenly
Arcana, Heavenly Mysteries, or Secrets of Heaven depending on modern English-language
editions), the book became his magnum opus and the basis of his further theological works.[47]
The work was anonymous, and Swedenborg was not identified as the author until the late 1750s. It
had eight volumes, published between 1749 and 1756. It attracted little attention, as few people
could penetrate its meaning.[48][49]
His life from 1747 to his death was spent in Stockholm, the Netherlands and London. During the 25
years, he wrote another 14 works of a spiritual nature; most were published during his lifetime.
One of Swedenborg's lesser-known works presents a startling claim: that the Last Judgment had
begun in the previous year (1757) and was completed by the end of that year [50] and that he had
witnessed it.[51] According to The Heavenly Doctrine, the Last Judgment took place not in the physical
world but in the World of Spirits, halfway between heaven and hell, through which all pass on their
way to heaven or hell.[52] The Judgment took place because the Christian church had lost its charity
and faith, resulting in a loss of spiritual free will that threatened the equilibrium between heaven and
hell in everyone's life.[53][a]
The Heavenly Doctrine also teaches that the Last Judgement was followed by the Second
Coming of Jesus Christ, which occurred not by Christ in person but by a revelation from him through
the inner, spiritual sense of the Word[54] through Swedenborg.[55]
In another of his theological works, Swedenborg wrote that eating meat, regarded in itself, "is
something profane" and was not practiced in the early days of the human race. However, he said, it
now is a matter of conscience, and no one is condemned for doing it. [56] Nonetheless, the early-days
ideal appears to have given rise to the idea that Swedenborg was a vegetarian. That conclusion may
have been reinforced by the fact that a number of Swedenborg's early followers were part of the
vegetarian movement that arose in Britain in the 19th century. [57] However, the only reports on
Swedenborg himself are contradictory. His landlord in London, Shearsmith, said he ate no meat, but
his maid, who served Swedenborg, said that he ate eels and pigeon pie.[58]
In Earths in the Universe, it is stated that he conversed with spirits
from Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Saturn, Venus and the Moon as well as spirits from planets beyond
the solar system.[59] From the 'encounters', he concluded that the planets of our solar system are
inhabited and that such an enormous undertaking as the universe could not have been created for
just one race on a planet or one 'Heaven' derived from its properties per planet. Many Heavenly
societies were also needed to increase the perfection of the angelic Heavens and Heaven to fill in
deficiencies and gaps in other societies. He argued: "What would this be to God, Who is infinite, and
to whom a thousand or tens of thousands of planets, and all of them full of inhabitants, would be
scarcely anything!"[60] Swedenborg and the question of life on other planets has been extensively
reviewed elsewhere.[61]
Swedenborg published his work in London or the Netherlands because of their freedom of the press.
[62][63]
Swedenborg's crypt in Uppsala Cathedral
In July 1770, at the age of 82, he traveled to Amsterdam to complete the publication of his last work.
The book, Vera Christiana Religio (The True Christian Religion), was published there in 1771 and
was one of the most appreciated of his works. Designed to explain his teachings to Lutherans, it is
the most concrete of his works.[64]
Later life
In the summer of 1771, he traveled to London. Shortly before Christmas, he suffered a stroke and
was partially paralyzed and confined to bed. His health improved somewhat, but he died in 1772.
There are several accounts of his last months, made by those with whom he stayed and by Arvid
Ferelius, a pastor of the Swedish Church in London, who visited him several times. [65]
There is evidence that Swedenborg wrote a letter to John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, in
February. Swedenborg said that he had been told in the world of spirits that Wesley wanted to speak
with him.[66] Wesley, startled since he had not told anyone of his interest in Swedenborg, replied that
he was going on a journey for six months and would contact Swedenborg on his return. Swedenborg
replied that that would be too late since Swedenborg would be going to the spiritual world for the last
time on March 29.[67] (Wesley later read and commented extensively on Swedenborg's work.)
[68]
Swedenborg's landlord's servant girl, Elizabeth Reynolds, also said that Swedenborg had
predicted the date and that he was as happy about it as if he was "going on holiday or to some
merrymaking":[69]
In Swedenborg's final hours, his friend, Pastor Ferelius, told him some people thought he had written
his theology just to make a name for himself and asked Swedenborg if he would like to recant.
Raising himself up on his bed, his hand on his heart, Swedenborg earnestly replied,
"As truly as you see me before your eyes, so true is everything that I have written; and I could have
said more had it been permitted. When you enter eternity you will see everything, and then you and I
shall have much to talk about". [70]
He then died, in the afternoon, on the date he had predicted, March 29. [70]
Swedenborg House, London
He was buried in the Swedish Church in Princes Square in Shadwell, London. On the 140th
anniversary of his death, in 1912/1913, his remains were transferred to Uppsala Cathedral in
Sweden, where they now rest close to the grave of the botanist Carl Linnaeus. In 1917, the Swedish
Church in Shadwell was demolished, and the Swedish community that had grown around the parish
moved to Marylebone. In 1938, Princes Square was redeveloped, and in his honour the local road
was renamed Swedenborg Gardens. In 1997, a garden, play area and memorial, near the road,
were created in his memory.[71][72][73]
Veracity
Swedenborg's transition from scientist to revelator or mystic has fascinated many people. He has
had a variety of both supporting and critical biographers. [74] Some propose that he did not have a
revelation at all but developed his theological ideas from sources which ranged from his father to
earlier figures in the history of thought, notably Plotinus. That position was first taken by Swedish
writer Martin Lamm who wrote a biography of Swedenborg in 1915. [75][b] Swedish critic and
publicist Olof Lagercrantz had a similar point of view, calling Swedenborg's theological writing "a
poem about a foreign country with peculiar laws and customs". [76]
Swedenborg's approach to proving the veracity of his theological teachings was to use voluminous
quotations from the Old Testament and the New Testament to demonstrate agreement with the
Bible, and this is found throughout his theological writings, since he rejected blind faith and declared
true faith to be an internal acknowledgement of the truth. The vast use of these Biblical confirmations
led a Swedish Royal Council in 1771 to examine the heresy charges of 1770 against two Swedish
supporters of his theological writings: "there is much that is true and useful in Swedenborg's
writings".[77] Victor Hugo felt that Swedenborg had "lapsed into madness" in Chapter 14 of Les
Misérables.
Scientific beliefs
Swedenborg proposed many scientific ideas during his lifetime. In his youth, he wanted to present a
new idea every day, as he wrote to his brother-in-law Erik Benzelius in 1718. Around 1730, he had
changed his mind, and instead believed that higher knowledge is not something that can be
acquired, but that it is based on intuition. After 1745, he instead considered himself receiving
scientific knowledge in a spontaneous manner from angels. [78]
From 1745, when he considered himself to have entered a spiritual state, he tended to phrase his
"experiences" in empirical terms, to report accurately things he had experienced on his spiritual
journeys.
One of his ideas that is considered most crucial for the understanding of his theology is his notion
of correspondences. But, in fact, he first presented the theory of correspondences only in 1744, in
the first volume of Regnum Animale dealing with the human soul.[20]
The basis of the correspondence theory is that there is a relationship among the natural ("physical"),
the spiritual, and the divine worlds. The foundations of this theory can be traced
to Neoplatonism and the philosopher Plotinus in particular. With the aid of this scenario,
Swedenborg now interpreted the Bible in a different light, claiming that even the most apparently
trivial sentences could hold a profound spiritual meaning. [79] Swedenborg argued that it is the
presence of that spiritual sense which makes the Word divine. [80]
Prophetic accounts
Four incidents of purported psychic ability of Swedenborg exist in the literature. [81] There are several
versions of each story.
Fire anecdotes
On Thursday, 19 July 1759 a great and well-documented fire broke out in Stockholm, Sweden.[c][82][83]
[84]
In the high and increasing wind it spread very fast, consuming about 300 houses and making
2000 people homeless.[82]
When the fire broke out Swedenborg was at a dinner with friends in Gothenburg, about 400 km from
Stockholm. He became agitated and told the party at six o'clock that there was a fire in Stockholm,
that it had consumed his neighbor's home and was threatening his own. Two hours later, he
exclaimed with relief that the fire had stopped three doors from his home. In the excitement following
his report, word even reached the ears of the provincial governor, who summoned Swedenborg that
same evening and asked for a detailed recounting.
At that time, it took two to three days for news from Stockholm to reach Gothenburg by courier, so
that is the shortest duration in which the news of the fire could reach Gothenburg. The first
messenger from Stockholm with news of the fire was from the Board of Trade, who arrived Monday
evening. The second messenger was a royal courier, who arrived on Tuesday. Both of these reports
confirmed every statement to the precise hour that Swedenborg first expressed the information. The
accounts are fully described in Bergquist, pp. 312–313 and in Chapter 31 of The Swedenborg Epic.
[85][86]
According to Swedenborg's biographer Lars Bergquist, however, this event took place on
Sunday, July 29 – 10 days after the fire.[87]
(Bergquist states, but does not document, that Swedenborg confirmed his vision of the fire incident
to his good friend, Consul Christopher Springer, "one of the pillars of the church, ... "a man of
enviable reputation for virtue and intelligence",[88] "and that Swedenborg's innkeeper, Erik Bergström,
heard Swedenborg affirming the story.[89])
It seems unlikely that the many witnesses to Swedenborg's distress during the fire, and his
immediate report of it to the provincial governor,[90][91] would have left room for doubt in the public eye
of Swedenborg's report. If Swedenborg had only received news of the fire by the normal methods
there would have been no issue of psychic perception recorded for history. Instead, "when the news
of Swedenborg's extraordinary vision of the fire reached the capital, public curiosity about him was
very much aroused."[92]
A second fire anecdote, similar to the first one, but less cited, is the incident of the mill owner
Bolander. Swedenborg warned him, again abruptly, of an incipient fire in one of his mills. [93]
Queen of Sweden
The third event was in 1758 when Swedenborg visited Queen Louisa Ulrika of Sweden, who asked
him to tell her something about her deceased brother Prince Augustus William of Prussia. The next
day, Swedenborg whispered something in her ear that turned the Queen pale and she explained that
this was something only she and her brother could know about. [94][d]
Lost document
The fourth incident involved a woman who had lost an important document, and came to
Swedenborg asking if a recently deceased person could tell him where it was, which he (in some
sources) was said to have done the following night. [e]
Although not typically cited along with these three episodes, there was one further piece of evidence:
Swedenborg was noted by the seamen of the ships that he sailed between Stockholm and London
to always have excellent sailing conditions.[95] When asked about this by a friend, Swedenborg
played down the matter, saying he was surprised by this experience himself and that he was
certainly not able to do miracles.[95]
Kant's view
In 1763, Immanuel Kant, then at the beginning of his career, was impressed by these accounts and
made inquiries to find out if they were true. He also ordered all eight volumes of the
expensive Arcana Cœlestia (Heavenly Arcana or Heavenly Mysteries). One Charlotte von Knobloch
wrote Kant asking his opinion of Swedenborg's psychic experiences. [96][f] Kant wrote a very affirmative
reply, referring to Swedenborg's "miraculous" gift, and characterizing him as "reasonable, agreeable,
remarkable and sincere" and "a scholar," in one of his letters to Mendelssohn,[97] and expressing
regret that he (Kant) had never met Swedenborg. [98][99] Joseph Green, his English friend, who
investigated the matter for Kant, including by visiting Swedenborg's home, found Swedenborg to be
a "sensible, pleasant and openhearted" man and here again, a scholar. [100]
However, three years later, in 1766, Kant wrote and published anonymously a small book
entitled Träume eines Geistersehers (Dreams of a Spirit-Seer)[101] that was a scathing critique of
Swedenborg and his writings. He termed Swedenborg a "spook hunter" [102] "without official office or
occupation".[103] As rationale for his critique, Kant said he wanted to stop "ceaseless
questioning"[104] and inquiries about Dreams from "inquisitive" persons, both known and unknown".
[105]
Kant's friend Moses Mendelssohn thought there was a "joking pensiveness" in Dreamsthat
sometimes left the reader in doubt as to whether Dreams was meant to make "metaphysics
laughable or spirit-seeking credible". [106] In one of his letters to Mendelssohn, Kant refers
to Dreams less-than-enthusiastically as a "desultory little essay". [107]
Kant never closed off the possibility of mysticism or spirits in Dreams of a Spirit-Seer, and the exact
relationship of his thought to Swedenborg's remains unclear, according to contemporary scholars. [108]
Theology
Swedenborg at the age of 75, holding the soon to be published manuscript of Apocalypse Revealed(1766)
Swedenborg claimed in The Heavenly Doctrine that the teachings of the Second Coming of Jesus
Christ were revealed to him.[109]
Swedenborg considered his theology a revelation of the true Christian religion that had become
obfuscated through centuries of theology. However, he did not refer to his writings as theology since
he considered it based on actual experiences, unlike theology, [20] except in the title of his last work.
Neither did he wish to compare it to philosophy, a discipline he discarded in 1748 because, he
claimed, it "darkens the mind, blinds us, and wholly rejects the faith".[110]
The foundation of Swedenborg's theology was laid down in Arcana Cœlestia (Heavenly Mysteries),
published in eight Latin volumes from 1749 to 1756. In a significant portion of that work, he interprets
the Biblical passages of Genesis and Exodus. He reviews what he says is the inner spiritual sense
of these two works of the Word of God. (He later made a similar review of the inner sense of the
book of Revelation in Apocalypse Revealed.[111]) Most of all, he was convinced that the Bible
describes a human's transformation from a materialistic to a spiritual being, which he calls rebirth or
regeneration. He begins this work by outlining how the creation myth was not an account of the
creation of Earth, but an account of man's rebirth or regeneration in six steps represented by the six
days of creation. Everything related to mankind in the Bible could also be related to Jesus Christ,
and how Christ freed himself from materialistic boundaries through the glorification of his human
presence by making it Divine. Swedenborg examines this idea in his exposition
of Genesis and Exodus.[112]
Marriage
One often discussed aspect of Swedenborg's writing is his ideas on marriage. Swedenborg himself
remained a bachelor all his life, but that did not hinder him from writing voluminously on the subject.
His work on Marriage Love (Conjugial Love[g] in older translations) (1768) was dedicated to this
purpose.[113]
A central question with regard to marriage is whether it stops at death or continues into heaven. The
question arises due to a statement attributed to Jesus that there is no marriage in heaven (Luke
20:27–38, Matthew 22:23–32, and Mark 12:18–27). Swedenborg wrote The Lord God Jesus Christ
on Marriage in Heaven as a detailed analysis of what he meant. [114]
The quality of the relationship between husband and wife resumes in the spiritual world in whatever
state it was at their death in this world. Thus, a couple in true marriage love remain together in that
state in heaven into eternity. A couple lacking in that love by one or both partners, however, will
separate after death and each will be given a compatible new partner if they wish. A partner is also
given to a person who loved the ideal of marriage but never found a true partner in this world. The
exception in both cases is a person who hates chaste marriage and thus cannot receive such a
partner.[115]
Swedenborg saw creation as a series of pairings, descending from the Divine love and
wisdom[116] that define God and are the basis of creation. This duality can be seen in the pairing of
good and truth,[117] charity and faith,[118] God and the church,[119] and husband and wife.[120] In each case,
the goal for these pairs is to achieve conjunction between the two component parts. In the case of
marriage, the object is to bring about the joining together of the two partners at the spiritual and
physical levels, and the happiness that comes as a consequence.
Trinity
Swedenborg rejected the common explanation of the Trinity as a Trinity of Persons, which he said
was not taught in the early Christian church. There was, for instance, no mention in
the Apostolic writings of any "Son from eternity".[121] Instead he explained in his theological writings
how the Divine Trinity exists in One Person, in One God, the Lord Jesus Christ, which he said is
taught in Colossians 2:9. According to The Heavenly Doctrine, Jesus, the Son of God, came into the
world due to the spread of evil here.[122][123][124][125]
Swedenborg spoke in virtually all his works against what he regarded as the incomprehensible
Trinity of Persons concept. He said that people of other religions opposed Christianity because of its
doctrine of a Trinity of Persons. He considered the separation of the Trinity into three separate
Persons to have originated with the First Council of Nicaea and the AthanasianCreed.[citation needed]
Sola Fide (Faith Alone)

The Heavenly Doctrine rejects the concept of salvation through faith-alone (sola-fide in Latin), since
he considered both faith and charity necessary for salvation, not one without the other, whereas the
Reformers taught that faith-alone procured justification, although it must be a faith which resulted in
obedience. The purpose of faith, according to The Heavenly Doctrine, is to lead a person to a life
according to the truths of faith, which is charity, as is taught in 1 Corinthians 13:13 and James 2:20.
In other words, Swedenborg spoke sharply against the faith-alone doctrine of Luther and others. He
held that justification before God was not based solely upon some imputed righteousness before
God, and was not achievable merely by a gift of God's grace (sola gratia), granted without any basis
in a person's actual behavior in life. Sola-fide was a doctrine averred by Martin Luther, John Calvin,
Ulrich Zwingli and others during the Protestant Reformation, and was a core belief especially in the
theology of the Lutheran reformers Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon.
Although the sola-fide doctrine of the Reformers also emphasized that saving faith was one that
effected works[126] (by faith-alone, but not by a faith which is alone), Swedenborg protested against
faith-alone being the instrument of justification, and held that salvation is only possible through the
conjunction of faith and charity in a person, and that the purpose of faith is to lead a person to live
according to the truths of faith, which is charity. He further states that faith and charity must be
exercised by doing good out of willing good whenever possible, which are good works or good uses
or the conjunction perishes. In one section he wrote:
It is very evident from their Epistles that it never entered the mind of any of the apostles that the
church of this day would separate faith from charity by teaching that faith-alonejustifies and saves
apart from the works of the law, and that charity therefore cannot be conjoined with faith, since faith
is from God, and charity, so far as it is expressed in works, is from man. But this separation and
division were introduced into the Christian church when it divided God into three persons, and
ascribed to each equal Divinity.
— True Christian Religion, section 355[127]
Later history
Swedenborg made no attempt to found a church.[128][129] A few years after his death – 15 by one
estimate[130] – for the most part in England, small reading groups formed to study his teachings. [131] As
one scholar states, The Heavenly Doctrine particularly appealed to the various dissenting groups
that sprang up in the first half of the 18th century who were "surfeited with revivalism and narrow-
mindedness" and found his optimism and comprehensive explanations appealing. [132]
A variety of important cultural figures, both writers and artists, were influenced by Swedenborg's
writings, including Robert Frost,[133]Johnny Appleseed, William Blake, Jorge Luis Borges, Daniel
Burnham, Arthur Conan Doyle,[134] Ralph Waldo Emerson,[135] John Flaxman, George Inness, Henry
James Sr., Carl Jung,[136] Immanuel Kant, Honoré de Balzac, Helen Keller, Czesław Miłosz, August
Strindberg, D. T. Suzuki, and W. B. Yeats. His philosophy had a great impact on the Duke
of Södermanland, later King Carl XIII, who as the Grand Master of Swedish Freemasonry (Svenska
Frimurare Orden) built its unique system of degrees and wrote its rituals. In contrast, one of the most
prominent Swedish authors of Swedenborg's day, Johan Henric Kellgren, called Swedenborg
"nothing but a fool".[h] A heresy trial was initiated in Sweden in 1768 against Swedenborg writings
and two men who promoted them.[i]
In the two and a half centuries since Swedenborg's death, various interpretations of his theology
have been made, and he has also been scrutinized in biographies and psychological studies. [138]
[j]
Swedenborg, with his claimed new dispensation, has been considered by some to suffer
from mental illness.[k][139][l] While the insanity explanation was not uncommon during Swedenborg's
own time, it is mitigated by his activity in the Swedish Riddarhuset (The House of the Nobility),
the Riksdag (the Swedish parliament), and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Additionally,
the system of thought in his theological writings is considered by some to be remarkably coherent.
[140]
Furthermore, he was characterized by his contemporaries as a "kind and warm-hearted man",
"amiable in his meeting with the public", speaking "easily and naturally of his spiritual experiences",
[141][142][143]
with pleasant and interesting conversation... An English friend of Kant's who visited
Swedenborg at Kant's behest described Swedenborg as a "reasonable, pleasant and candid man
and scholar".[144] Of note here is Swedenborg's statement that he was commanded by the Lord to
publish his writings and "Do not believe that without this express command I would have thought of
publishing things which I knew in advance would make me look ridiculous and many people would
think lies..."[145]
Works
Copies of the original Latin version in which Swedenborg wrote his revelation are available from the
following sources.[146][147]
List of referenced works by Swedenborg and the year they were first published. [148][149]
Within parenthesis is the common name used in a New Church listing [150] Then follows the title in its
original publication. All the titles listed were published by Swedenborg, except one, The Spiritual
Diary, which was not.[151] Various minor reports and tracts have been omitted from the list.
 1716–1718, (Daedalus Hyperboreus) Swedish: Daedalus Hyperboreus, eller några nya

mathematiska och physicaliska försök. (English: The Northern inventor, or some new
experiments in mathematics and physics)
 1721, (Principles of Chemistry) Latin: Prodromus principiorum rerum naturalium: sive
novorum tentaminum chymiam et physicam experimenta geometrice explicandi
 1722, (Miscellaneous Observations) Latin: Miscellanea de Rebus Naturalibus
 1734, (Principia) Latin: Opera Philosophica et Mineralia (English: Philosophical and
Mineralogical Works), three volumes
 (Principia, Volume I) Latin: Tomus I. Principia rerum naturlium sive novorum
tentaminum phaenomena mundi elementaris philosophice explicandi
 (Principia, Volume II) Latin: Tomus II. Regnum subterraneum sive minerale de ferro
 (Principia, Volume III) Latin: Tomus III. Regnum subterraneum sive minerale de
cupro et orichalco
 1734, (The Infinite and Final Cause of Creation) Latin: Prodromus Philosophiz Ratiocinantis
de Infinito, et Causa Finali Creationis; deque Mechanismo Operationis Animae et Corporis.
 1744–1745, (The Animal Kingdom) Latin: Regnum animale, 3 volumes
 1745, (The Worship and Love of God) Latin: De Cultu et Amore Dei, 2 volumes
 1749–1756, (Arcana Cœlestia (or Caelestia) (Heavenly Mysteries) Latin: Arcana Cœlestia,
quae in Scriptura Sacra seu Verbo Domini sunt, detecta, 8 volumes
 1758, (Heaven and Hell) Latin: De Caelo et Ejus Mirabilibus et de inferno. Ex Auditis et Visis.
 1758, (The Last Judgment) Latin: De Ultimo Judicio
 1758, (The White Horse) Latin: De Equo Albo de quo in Apocalypsi Cap. XIX.
 1758, (Earths in the Universe) Latin: De Telluribus in Mundo Nostro Solari, quæ vocantur
planetæ: et de telluribus in coelo astrifero: deque illarum incolis; tum de spiritibus & angelis ibi;
ex auditis & visis.
 1758, (The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine) Latin: De Nova Hierosolyma et Ejus
Doctrina Coelesti
 1763, (Doctrine of the Lord) Latin:Doctrina Novæ Hierosolymæ de Domino.
 1763, (Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture) Latin: Doctrina Novæ Hierosolymæ de Scriptura
Sacra.
 1763, (Doctrine of Life) Latin: Doctrina Vitæ pro Nova Hierosolyma ex præceptis Decalogi.
 1763, (Doctrine of Faith) Latin: Doctrina Novæ Hierosolymæ de Fide.
 1763, (Continuation of The Last Judgement) Latin: Continuatio De Ultimo Judicio: et de
mundo spirituali.
 1763, (Divine Love and Wisdom) Latin: Sapientia Angelica de Divino Amore et de Divina
Sapientia. Sapientia Angelica de Divina Providentia.
 1764, (Divine Providence) Latin: Sapientia Angelica de Divina Providentia.
 1766, (Apocalypse Revealed) Latin: Apocalypsis Revelata, in quae detegunter Arcana quae
ibi preedicta sunt.
 1768, (Conjugial Love, or Marriage Love) Latin: Deliciae Sapientiae de Amore Conjugiali;
post quas sequumtur voluptates insaniae de amore scortatorio.
 1769, (Brief Exposition) Latin: Summaria Expositio Doctrinæ Novæ Ecclesiæ, quæ per
Novam Hierosolymam in Apocalypsi intelligitur.
 1769, (Interaction of the Soul and the Body) Latin: De Commercio Animæ & Corporis.
 1771, (True Christian Religion) Latin: Vera Christiana Religio, continens Universam
Theologiam Novae Ecclesiae
 1859, Drömboken, Journalanteckningar(Journal of Dreams), 1743–1744
 1983–1997, (Spiritual Diary) Latin: Diarum, Ubi Memorantur Experientiae Spirituales.
John Rambo.
John Rambo (born July 6, 1947-1988) was a fictional character in the Rambo saga.[2] He first

appeared in the 1972 novel First Blood by David Morrell, but later became more famous as
the protagonist of the film series, in which he was played by Sylvester Stallone. The portrayal of the
character earned Stallone widespread acclaim and recognition. The character was nominated
for American Film Institute's list 100 Years…100 Heroes and Villains.[3] The term "Rambo" is used
commonly to describe a person who is reckless, disregards orders, uses violence to solve problems,
enters dangerous situations alone, and is exceptionally tough, callous, raw and aggressive. [4]
John Rambo
Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo in Rambo III(1988)
Creation and background

Morrell says that in choosing the name Rambo he was inspired by "the sound of force" in the name
of Rambo apples, which he encountered in Pennsylvania. These apples, in turn, were named
for Peter Gunnarsson Rambo who sailed from Sweden to America (SE Pennsylvania/Southern
NJ/Northern Delaware) in the 1640s, and soon the name would flourish in New Sweden. The name
Rambo was likely derived from a shortened form of Ramberget (a hill on the Hisingen island
in Gothenburg, where Peter Gunnarsson was born) plus "bo" (meaning "resident of"). Today, many
of his descendants can still be found in this region of the US. Morrell felt that its pronunciation was
similar to the surname of Arthur Rimbaud, the title of whose most famous work A Season in Hell,
seemed to him "an apt metaphor for the prisoner-of-war experiences that I imagined Rambo
suffering".[5] Furthermore, an Arthur J. Rambo was an actual U.S. soldier in Vietnam, but he never
returned. His name can be seen on the Vietnam War Memorial wall in Washington, DC. He was
granted the first name "John" as a reference to the song "When Johnny Comes Marching Home
Again".[6][7]
In the novel and first film, Rambo appears as a soldier who suffers from post traumatic stress
disorder and has difficulty adjusting to normal life. He is shown to be prone to violence because of
the torture he suffered at the hands of North Vietnamese soldiers in the Vietnam War. In the next
films and novelizations he is displayed as a man who wants to stay away from conflict but is willing
to do anything to save his friends and the people he cares about from any danger. Due to his violent
nature, many civil people tend to fear him. However, Colonel Samuel Trautman (who was his
commanding officer in Vietnam and is probably his only friend) understands him and the pain and
torture he had endured in the war and is the only one able to reason with him when he becomes an
outlaw after incapacitating police officers in the town of Hope. [8]
Rambo has a muscular physique due to his time as a soldier in the army and his intense training
regimen. He has a high amount of strength and stamina. Rambo is an expert in surviving in dense
forests against a large number of enemies due to his experiences in the Vietnam War. He is also an
expert in guerrilla tactics, weapons, and hand-to-hand combat. Rambo has black hair and brown
eyes. His height is 5'10". In the DVD commentary for First Blood Morell remarks that the inspiration
for Rambo was World War II hero Audie Murphy.
Fictional biography
According to the first film First Blood, Rambo's full name is John Rambo. He was born on July 6,
1947 in Bowie, Arizona, to an Italian father (whose name according to the last film was probably R.
Rambo) and a Navajo mother Marie Drago. In Rambo: First Blood Part II, Marshall Murdock states
that Rambo is of Native American and German descent. However, Morrell thought Stallone didn't
look German, and made Rambo half Italian and half Navajo in the novelization. [6] Rambo enlisted in
the U.S. Army at the age of 17 on August 6, 1964, although he states in Rambo IV he was "drafted
into Vietnam." After he graduated from Rangeford High School in 1963, his military service began in
January 1966. Rambo was deployed to South Vietnam in September 1966. He returned to the U.S.
in 1967 and began training with the U.S. Army Special Forces at Fort Bragg, North
Carolina under Colonel Trautman's tutelage.
In late 1969, Rambo was re-deployed to Vietnam as member of a SOG brigade. He became part of
a Special Forces Long-range reconnaissance patrol unit commanded by Colonel Trautman.
Trautman's team received the code name of Baker Team and usually consisted of eight men. Other
known members were Delmore Barry (a black operative who quickly became Rambo's best friend),
Joseph "Joey" Danforth (another friend of Rambo), Manuel "Loco" Ortega, Paul Messner, Delbert
Krackhauer, Giuseppe "Greasy Cunt" Colletta and Ralph Jorgenson. In an event that would haunt
Rambo for the rest of his life, Danforth died in Rambo's arms after being fatally wounded by a rigged
shoeshine box while their unit was on rest and recuperation time.
During a mission in November 1971 Rambo's unit came under surprise attack by NVA forces.
Delmore, Rambo and some other surviving members were captured by North Vietnamese forces
near the Chinese-Vietnamese border and held at a POW camp, where many other American POWs
were imprisoned and repeatedly tortured. Rambo's unit was decimated during the ordeal, but
Delmore and Rambo managed to escape captivity in May 1972. By his own request Rambo was
immediately re-deployed afterwards. At some point in his military career he also received training in
flying helicopters. Rambo finally received his official military discharge on September 17, 1974. [9] It is
unknown what his final rank was, but judging from the crossed arrows (officer) insignia on the lapel
of his Army Alpha Dress Green uniform, it is safe to assume that he was either a 1st Lieutenant or
Captain.
Upon his return to the United States, Rambo discovered that many American civilians hated the
soldiers returning from Vietnam, and he claimed that he and other returning soldiers were subject to
humiliation and embarrassment by anti-war "hippies" who threw garbage at them, called them "baby
killers", and excluded them from society. His experiences in Vietnam and back home resulted in an
extreme case of post-traumatic stress disorder. At the same time, inner questions of self-identity and
reflectiveness had commenced to cause Rambo to lash out at society rather than handling difficult
situations in a "civilized" manner. First Blood picks up from this point.
First Blood
Novel (1972)
In the original novel, Rambo is hitch-hiking in Madison, Kentucky. He is picked up by Sheriff Teasle
and dropped off at the city limits. Repeatedly coming back, Rambo is arrested by Teasle and driven
to the station. He is charged with vagrancy and resisting arrest, and is sentenced to 35 days in jail.
Being trapped inside the cold, wet, small cells gives Rambo a flashback of his days as a POW in
Vietnam, and he fights off the cops as they attempt to cut his hair and shave him, beating one man
and slashing another with the straight razor, killing him. He flees, steals a motorcycle, and hides in
the nearby mountains. He becomes the focus of a manhunt that results in the deaths of many police
officers, civilians, and National Guardsmen.
In a climactic ending in the town where his conflict with Teasle began, Rambo is finally hunted down
by Special Forces Colonel Sam Trautman[10]and Teasle. Teasle, using his local knowledge, manages
to surprise Rambo and shoots him in the chest, but is himself wounded in the abdomen by a return
shot. He then tries to pursue Rambo as he makes a final attempt to escape back out of the town.
Both men are essentially dying by this point, but are driven by pride and a desire to justify their
actions. Rambo, having found a spot he feels comfortable in, prepares to commit suicide by
detonating a stick of dynamite against his body; however, he then sees Teasle following his trail and
decides that it would be more honourable to continue fighting and be killed by Teasle's return fire.
Rambo fires at Teasle and, to his surprise and disappointment, hits him. For a moment he reflects
on how he had missed his chance of a decent death, because he is now too weak to light the
dynamite, but then suddenly feels the explosion he had expected – but in the head, not the stomach
where the dynamite was placed. Rambo dies satisfied that he has come to a fitting end. Trautman
returns to the dying Teasle and tells him that he has killed Rambo with his shotgun. Moments after,
Teasle dies, succumbing to his wounds.
Film (1982)
John Rambo in December 1981, after returning to civilian life.
The film First Blood takes place in December 1981, and begins with John Rambo (now a homeless,
out-of-work drifter) searching for Delmore Barry, an old friend with whom he served in Vietnam. He
goes to Barry's home but is told by his mother that he died from cancer due to Agent
Orangeexposure. Rambo realizes that he is the last surviving member of his Special Forces unit
(with unit members Delmore, Westmore, Bronson, Danforth and Ortega now all dead). He then
travels to the small town of Hope, Washington (the movie was filmed in Hope, British Columbia,
evidenced by the town sign), where he is quickly spotted by the town's arrogant and abusive sheriff,
Will Teasle, due to his long, unkempt hair, army jacket and all-around scruffy appearance. Teasle
soon picks him up and drives him to the edge of town, refusing to let him have a meal (Rambo only
wanted something to eat) while stressing his dislike of drifters and "trouble makers". Rambo begins
walking back into town immediately after being dropped off, and Teasle then arrests him and takes
him to the local police station.
When searching Rambo, Teasle discovers a large survival knife on Rambo's belt. At the station, the
Head Deputy Sheriff, Art Galt, beats Rambo and, along with others, harasses him. Rambo begins
having flashbacks to the war when he was a tortured POW. When officers attempt to dry shave him,
Rambo finally snaps and fights his way out of the station, beating up Galt, Teasle, and every deputy
caught in his path and retrieving his knife. Outside, he hijacks a motorcycle from a man driving past
the station and flees into the nearby mountains, while being pursued by Teasle in his police car.
Teasle crashes his car, and Rambo escapes. Teasle calls in more officers and a helicopter, while
Rambo abandons his motorcycle and makes his way into the deep terrain on foot. He finds an old
sack near a dumped truck which he uses as an item of clothing. Later, he finds himself at the top of
a cliff face whilst trying to escape the advancing policemen and is spotted by the search helicopter
with Galt in the passenger's seat. Galt fires at him a number of times with his rifle, forcing Rambo to
leap from the cliff, falling through a tree. Galt continues to fire upon the injured Rambo on the
ground. Fighting back, Rambo throws a rock and hits the helicopter's windshield, causing the pilot to
lose control, and Galt is thrown to his death. Rambo takes Galt's gun, tends his injuries, and
eventually confronts the lawmen on the cliff above. Rambo shouts to them, "There's one man dead!
It wasn't my fault!" Teasle tells Rambo not to move or they will shoot. Rambo says he wants no more
trouble, and begins to back away, but the men open fire; Rambo flees into the woods, with Teasle
and his deputies in pursuit.
The men catch up to Rambo, and they release the tracking dogs. Rambo shoots two and their owner
in the leg with his last bullets, and kills the other with his knife. The men begin to flank out and
pursue Rambo, but Rambo easily disables them using guerrilla tactics. Rambo severely wounds
each man, but does not kill any of them. Using a deputy as bait, Rambo jumps out of the brush and
grabs Teasle, putting his knife to his throat. He tells him, "In town you're the law. Out here it's me".
He tells Teasle to "Let it go" and give up his pursuit. Teasle refuses, and the State Police and
National Guard are called in to assist in the hunt. Colonel Samuel Trautman soon arrives, taking
credit for training Rambo. He is surprised to find any of the deputies still alive, and warns that it
would be safer to let Rambo go and find him after the situation has calmed down. Teasle refuses to
give in. Teasle asks Trautman to try and contact Rambo on the radio he stole to get a fix on his
position. Trautman gets Rambo to respond on the radio, calling out his Vietnam company. Rambo
says that he cannot turn himself in and tells Trautman, "They drew first blood, not me". Rambo is
eventually cornered by the National Guard in a mine entrance where he is hiding. Teasle gets word
they have cornered him, and gives an order not to fire. The inexperienced guardsmen ignore this
order, and fire a rocket at him. The blast collapses the mine entrance, trapping him inside. The men
assume Rambo is dead, but unknown to his pursuers, Rambo has instead escaped into the tunnels
of the mine.
Rambo eventually finds an old exit vent, near a main road from out of which the troops are clearing.
Rambo hijacks a passing Army truck (throwing its driver out onto the road in the process) and
returns to town, crashing it into a gas station. He blocks the highway to anyone in pursuit, by igniting
the spilled fuel. Now heavily armed with an M60 machine gun, Rambo destroys transformers
knocking out the power to the town. Rambo spots Teasle on the station roof after destroying a gun
shop and makes his way to the police station. Rambo takes out the police station's power before
making his way inside. Teasle spots Rambo and fires at him, but misses. Rambo shoots back at
Teasle through the ceiling, critically injuring him. Teasle falls through the skylight onto the floor.
Rambo steps over him, prepared to kill him. Before Rambo can shoot Teasle, Colonel Trautman
appears and tells him that there is no hope of escaping alive. Rambo, now surrounded by the police,
rages about the horrors of war. Breaking down, he then weeps as he recounts a particularly
gruesome story about witnessing his friend Joey Danforth dying. He tells Trautman how they were in
a bar, talking about his friend's Chevy and driving to Las Vegas in it, when a boy came in with a
booby-trapped shoeshine box. Rambo had gone into the bar to buy two beers when the box
suddenly exploded, tearing his friend's lower body off. Rambo then turns himself in to Trautman, and
is arrested.
(There is an alternative ending where Rambo wants to die and tells Trautman to kill him. Trautman
does not respond. Soon after, Rambo hands a gun to Trautman, and he proceeds to pull the trigger
and shoot Rambo in the stomach while facing Rambo. Rambo subsequently dies of his wounds and
Trautman then is left alone in the station and walks away.)
Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)

After the incident in Washington, John Rambo is found guilty after a jury trial and sent to a labor
camp prison. At the beginning of Rambo: First Blood Part II (set in 1985), he is visited by Colonel
Samuel Trautman who offers him the chance to be released from prison if he goes to Vietnam to
search for American POWs at the camp from where he escaped back in 1971. Promised a
Presidential pardon if the mission succeeds, Rambo accepts and is officially reinstated in the U.S.
Army temporarily. He later meets with Marshall Murdock, an American bureaucrat who is in charge
of the operation. He tells Rambo that he is only to photograph the POWs and not to rescue them,
nor is he to engage any enemy soldiers. Rambo reluctantly agrees. He is then told that an agent of
the U.S. government will be there to receive him in the jungles of Vietnam.
Rambo is then parachuted into the Vietnamese jungles. However, while parachuting, he gets stuck
on the plane and cuts the rope holding his equipment which allows him to continue parachuting and
is left with only his knife, his bow, and arrows. On the ground, he meets Co Bau, a local woman
working with the Americans. She takes him to a POW camp where he is able to rescue a captive,
killing a number of enemy soldiers with his bow in the process of doing so. The trio then escape by
boat but are attacked by a gunboat.
Rambo destroys the gunboat with a rocket launcher. When Rambo calls for extraction, he is denied,
as Murdock fears what will happen to him and his party if the American public learn about Murdock's
activities. Rambo and the captive are both captured, and back at the camp Russian advisors soon
arrive to interrogate Rambo. Meanwhile, Co enters the camp under the disguise of a prostitute and
comes to the hut in which Rambo is held captive. There she witnesses Rambo being tortured by
Russian Colonel Podovsky, who demands that the American contact his base and confess to war
crimes. After being electrically shocked on a bedspring and then burned on the cheek with his own
knife, Rambo pretends to agree to Podovsky's condition, but instead tells Murdock on the radio that
"he is coming to get him", after which he promptly escapes with Co's help. They hide in the jungle
and Co tends to Rambo's wounds. She then asks him if he will take her with him to the U.S., he
agrees and he kisses her. But they are attacked by some Vietnamese soldiers and Co is shot and
dies. Enraged and distraught by Co's death, he kills them all (except for their commander, who
escapes, but is later killed by one of Rambo's exploding arrows) and then buries Co's body in the
jungle so her body is not scavenged upon by animals.
After the violence at the camp and on the river, Soviet and Vietnamese troops are scrambled to find
and kill Rambo. While they are hunting for Rambo in a forest, Rambo kills a number of them using
guerrilla tactics. Vietnamese soldiers continue to chase Rambo into and through a village. In a patch
of tall grass there, Rambo sets a booby trap explosion that ignites a fire, burning many of the
Vietnamese soldiers.
While still running away from the soldiers, a Soviet captured UH-1 Huey helicopter finds Rambo and
drops a keg of napalm onto his position. Rambo dives off a cliff into a river as the keg explodes. The
helicopter pursues him, shooting bullets into the water. As the helicopter gets closer to the water
while shooting bullets, Rambo jumps up from under the water, yanks the gunman into the water, and
climbs into the helicopter where he confronts the Soviet soldier who tortured him. As they fight inside
the helicopter, the helicopter flies away and Rambo throws the Soviet soldier out of the helicopter to
his death. As Rambo approaches the pilot, the pilot also jumps out of the helicopter. Rambo gains
control of the helicopter and flies it back to the POW camp to rescue the remaining POWs. He kills
the remaining guards and gets the captives into the chopper. Another Soviet attack helicopter, a Mi-
24 Hind with Colonel Podovsky at the cockpit, then tails Rambo's chopper. After he loses Rambo's
chopper in a haze of smoke from firing at it, he notices it smoldering in a river. As the Russian
chopper flies in low to investigate and finish off the bird, Rambo – who had appeared to be dead –
suddenly sits up, rocket launcher in hand, and fires through the windshield, finishing off Colonel
Podovsky once and for all.
Rambo then returns to the base and, using the M60E3 machine gun from the helicopter, destroys
Murdock's command center. He then unsheathes his knife and threatens Murdock, ordering him to
find and rescue the remaining American POWs in Vietnam, snarling almost under his breath, "You
know there's more men out there. You know where they are. Find 'em... or I'll find you." Trautman
then comforts Rambo and tries to pacify him and to convince him to rejoin the Special Forces, also
telling him he would get another Medal of Honor for his actions. Rambo, however, visibly angry and
fighting back tears, says that the soldiers he rescued deserve the Medal of Honor more than he
does, and he only wants the same thing as the soldiers he rescued: for their country to love its
soldiers as much as its soldiers love their country. Rambo then starts to leave. Trautman asks
him, "How will you live, John?" Rambo replies, "Day by day". The film ends as Rambo walks off into
the distance while his mentor watches him. Because of his actions in saving the POWs, Rambo is
granted the Presidential pardon he had been promised and stays in Thailand.
Rambo III (1988)
Rambo III opens with Colonel Samuel Trautman returning to Thailand to once again enlist the help
of Rambo. After witnessing Rambo's victory in a stick fighting match, Trautman visits the
construction site of the temple Rambo is helping to build and asks Rambo to join him on a mission
to Afghanistan. The mission is meant to supply weapons, including FIM-92 Stinger missiles, to
Afghan rebels, the Mujahideen, who are fighting the Soviets in the Soviet–Afghan War. Despite
showing him photos of civilians suffering under Soviet military intervention, Rambo, fearing the same
betrayal of the U.S. government similar to the last mission and wanting a life without more
bloodshed, refuses and Trautman chooses to go on his own.
While in Afghanistan, Trautman's troops are ambushed by Soviet troops while passing through the
mountains at night. Trautman is imprisoned in a Soviet base and coerced for information by Colonel
Zaysen and his henchman Kourov. Rambo learns of the incident from embassy field officer Robert
Griggs and convinces Griggs to take him through an unofficial operation, despite Grigg's warning
that the U.S. government will deny any knowledge of his actions if killed or caught. Rambo
immediately flies to Pakistan where he meets up with Musa, a weapons supplier who agrees to take
him to a village deep in the Afghan desert, close to the Soviet base where Trautman is kept. The
Mujahideen in the village are already hesitant to help Rambo in the first place, but are definitely
convinced not to help him when their village is attacked by Soviet helicopters after one of Mousa's
shop assistants has informed the Soviets of Rambo's presence. Aided only by Mousa and a young
boy named Hamid, Rambo makes his way to the Soviet base and starts his attempts to free
Trautman. The first attempt is unsuccessful and results not only in Hamid getting shot in the leg, but
also in Rambo himself getting splinters in the side. After escaping from the base, Rambo tends to
Hamid's wounds and sends him and Mousa away to safety.
The next day, Rambo returns to the base once again, just in time to rescue Trautman from being
tortured with a blow-torch. After rescuing several other prisoners, Rambo steals a helicopter and
escapes from the base. However, the helicopter soon crashes and Rambo and Trautman are forced
to continue on foot. After a confrontation in a cave, where Rambo and Trautman eliminate several
Soviet Spetsnaz commandos including Kourov, they are confronted by an entire army of Soviet
tanks, headed by Zaysen. Just as they are about to be overwhelmed by the might of the Red Army,
the Mujahideen warriors, together with Mousa and Hamid, ride onto the battlefield by the hundreds in
a cavalry charge, overwhelming the Communists. In the ensuing battle, in which both Trautman and
John are wounded, Rambo manages to kill Zaysen by driving a tank (somehow doing the work of a
four-man crew all by himself, by also loading and firing the main gun) into the Russian's helicopter.
Rambo survives the explosion and gets out of the tank. At the end of the battle Rambo and
Trautman say goodbye to their Mujahideen friends and leave Afghanistan to go home.
Rambo (2008)
The 2008 film opens with newsreels of the 2007 crisis in Burma. Burma is under the iron fist rule
of Than Shwe and takes harsher stances against the nation's pro-democracy movement. Rebels are
thrown into a mine-infested marsh and then gunned down by the Tatmadaw, while the Burmese
military officer Major Pa Tee Tint, who ordered the genocides, watches the shootings grimly.
Former U.S. soldier John Rambo is still living in Thailand and resides in a village near the Burmese
border. He makes a living capturing snakes and selling them in a nearby village. He also transports
roamers in his boat. A missionary, Michael Burnett, asks Rambo to take him and his associates up
the Salween River to Burma on a humanitarian mission to give aid to Karen tribespeople. Rambo
refuses, having lost all faith in humanity at this point, but he is convinced by Sarah Miller to take
them.
The boat is stopped by Burmese pirates who demand Sarah, in exchange for passage. After
negotiations fail, Rambo kills them all. Although his actions save the missionaries, it greatly disturbs
them. Upon arrival, Michael says that they will travel overland and will not need Rambo's help for the
return trip, informing him that he intends to report him. The mission goes well until the Tatmadaw,
led by Major Tint, attack. They kill most of the villagers and two missionaries and kidnap the rest,
including Michael and Sarah. Ten days after the missionaries are scheduled to return, their pastor
comes to ask Rambo's help in guiding hired mercenaries to the village where the missionaries were
last seen.
Rambo agrees to transport the soldiers then returns to his village and forges himself a new machete.
At their destination, Rambo tries to accompany the mercenaries with a black-wrapped package in
hand, but their leader, described as a former "old school" and egotistical S.A.S.trooper, refuses.
After arriving at the destroyed village with their guide, a Karen freedom fighter, they are forced to
hide when some Tatmadaw arrive by truck and force their villager prisoners to run a gauntlet of
hidden land mines thrown into the village rice paddies. The mercenary leader will not order a rescue,
as he is concerned that the missing Tatmadaw will put the rest on alert. However, Rambo shows up
with what is revealed to be his compound bow and shoots down the Tatmadaw. Rambo confronts
the leader when the man threatens him, and with his arrow pointed at his eye socket, Rambo tells
him and the others that soldiering is what they are and do, and gives them the option to "Live for
nothing...or die for something". When Rambo stands down and tells the others to come, they follow
without question with the leader in tow.
Rambo and the mercenaries locate and infiltrate a Tamawdaw base where Major Tint is the
commander. They plan to save the hostages at a P.O.W. camp adjacent to the base. Rambo helps
Sarah and the others to escape. The Tatmadaw unit finds the hostages missing and organizes a
massive manhunt. Everyone is captured except for Rambo, Sarah, and the
mercenary sniper "School Boy". But just as the group is to be executed, Rambo seizes a truck-
mounted .50-caliber machine gun and massacres the Burmese army, giving an opening for School
Boy to shoot down the Tatmadaw near the others and provide them also with weapons. Karen
rebels join the fight to help Rambo and the mercenaries win. Major Tint attempts to get away, but is
personally disemboweled by Rambo with his survival knife.
Encouraged by Sarah's words, Rambo leaves Thailand and returns to his home in the United States.
He is seen walking along an Arizona highway until he sees a horse farm and a rusted mailbox.
Reading the name "R. Rambo", Rambo smiles and walks down the house's gravel driveway.
Rambo V: Last Blood (2019)

Rambo V: Last Blood
Awards and decorations

Various special duty badges can also be seen on Rambo's "Class A" uniform, including:
Personal decorations Other accoutrements
Medal of Honor
Combat Infantryman Badge
Silver Star
Aircraft Crewman Badge
Bronze Star Medal
Army Commendation Medal Senior Combat Parachutist Badge
Distinguished Flying Cross
Weapons Qualification Badge

Purple Heart
Air Medal
Combat Action Ribbon
Unit awards
Presidential Unit Citation
Service Awards
Army Distinguished Service Medal
Army Service Ribbon
Soldier's Medal
Campaign and service medals
Prisoner of War Medal
Vietnam Service Medal
Vietnam Wound Medal
Vietnam Campaign Medal
Military career
John Rambo
Birth name John James Rambo
Other name(s) "Raven", "Lone Wolf"
Born July 6, 1947 (age 71)
Bowie, Arizona, U.S.
Allegiance United States
Service/branch United States Army

Years of service 1964–1974
Unit Special Forces
MACV-SOG
Battles/wars Vietnam War
The medals and service awards are either mentioned in dialogue or displayed on Rambo's uniform
within the Rambo franchise. In the "Rambo Prepares Knife" deleted scene from Rambo III, Rambo's
"Class A" uniform can clearly be seen in his footlocker with the aforementioned 13 ribbons. Although
his rank isn't revealed, the cross-arrows of a special forces officer on his uniform suggest he was
probably an officer.
Additionally, in this same scene, Rambo's Social Security Number is revealed: 936-01-1758.
However, the Social Security Administration does not issue a SSN with the prefix 936. Citizens in
Arizona, Rambo's home state, are issued SSNs with the prefixes 526–527, 600–601, and 764–765.
This was probably done to avoid the chances that Rambo's fictional SSN would match that of a real
living person.
In a measure of discontinuity within the storyline, Rambo's Silver Stars and Distinguished Service
Cross were missing from his ribbon rack as well as the National Defense Medal and the Good
Conduct Medal, both of which he would have been awarded. However, if an officer as suggested, he
would not possess one unless he had been an enlisted man for at least three years before being
commissioned. Officers were not awarded Good Conduct Medals.
 Combat Action Ribbon – This award is actually for US Navy, Coast Guard and Marine
personnel, He was awarded one for a joint-service operation with USMC 2nd Battalion 3rd
Marines in Battle of Khe Sanh 1968.
 Vietnam Wound Medal – This award is actually a South Vietnamese (ARVN) forces medal
and was seldom awarded to US forces, even if it was awarded to a US serviceman, he would
not be permitted to wear it on his dress uniform because it is basically a foreign nations variation
of the Purple Heart.
Appearances
Comics
 Rambo III, 1988
 Rambo, 1989
Films[edit]
 First Blood (1982), directed by Ted Kotcheff

 Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), directed by George Pan Cosmatos
 Rambo III (1988), directed by Peter MacDonald
 Rambo (2008), directed by Sylvester Stallone
 Rambo V: Last Blood (2019), directed by Adrian Grunberg
Literature
 First Blood (novel), written by David Morrell, 1972

 Rambo: First Blood Part II (novelization), by David Morrell, 1985
 Rambo III (novelization), by David Morrell, 1988
Television series
 Rambo and the Forces of Freedom, 1986

 Rambo: No Blood, 2008
Video games
 Rambo, 1985
 Rambo, 1985
 Rambo: First Blood Part II, 1986
 Super Rambo Special, 1986
 Rambo, 1987
 Rambo III, 1988
 Rambo III, 1989
 Rambo On Fire, 2005
 Rambo Forever,
 Rambo Arcade, 2008
 Rambo: The Video Game, 2014
 Rambo: The Mobile Game, 2015
 Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff, as an unlockable character during the 2015 Raid to the
North Pole event.
 Broforce
Cultural impact
John Rambo is considered a cultural icon.[11][12][13][14][15] The character influenced many action heroes
and films in the 1980s and '90s. The John Rambo character became a prominent part of pop culture,
and "Rambo", a word that can function as a noun, adjective, or a verb, became part of the English
language. Perhaps more crucial from a cultural perspective, Rambo is a word that can be found in
the prestigious Oxford English Dictionary. According to this source, Rambo is "a Vietnam War
veteran represented as macho, self sufficient and bent on violent retribution." As well, it is widely
popular to use adjectives such as Ramboesque, Ramboid, or Ramboism, to denote an ideological
position that resembles Rambo’s attitude and behavior.
Rambo has become the quintessential representation of America during the Reagan years.
President Ronald Reagan referred to Rambo in public speeches to exemplify his political ideology
and aggressive foreign policy. Towards the end of the 1985 Beirut hostage crisis, President Reagan
stated at a press conference that: "Boy, after seeing Rambo [First Blood II] last night, I know what to
do next time this happens." Reagan often referred to Rambo: First Blood II as a model for his
domestic and foreign policies. For instance, in his 1985 Labor Day speech, Reagan stated that he
would clean the federal tax system "in the spirit of Rambo". [16]
The Rambo film series also introduced and popularized the concept of the One Man Army in films, in
which a protagonist is a well trained individual who can defeat countless enemies by himself.
Rambo's weapons also became part of American pop culture. Weapons such as the M60 machine
gun and the bow became synonymous with the character. But it was his signature weapon, the
survival knife that became popular, which led to an increase in knife sales during the 1980s.
Rambo has also been mentioned or referenced in many films, such as Die Hard, TV shows,
cartoons, novels and comic books. The character of John Rambo has been featured in many lists of
greatest action heroes. In 2007, the film Son of Rambow is set during the early 1980s; the film is a
coming of age story about two schoolboys and their attempts to make an amateur film inspired
by First Blood. In 2013, Rambo was #6 in a list of the top 50 action movie heroes in Total Magazine.
In 2013, Rambo was voted #1 in WatchMojo.com's top 10 film soldiers of all times.
Rambo inspired the character named Yousef Rambu (an Arabic form for "Joseph Rambo") from
currently developed Kuwaiti action movie Second Blood.[17][18]
In the legal profession, a "Rambo lawyer" is one who habitually engages in "all manners of
adversarial excess, including personal attacks on other lawyers, hostility, boorish and insulting
behavior, rudeness and obstructionist conduct"[19] or embraces "a 'take no prisoners' attitude."[20]
Merchandising
Rambo has been merchandised in multiple media, including action figures, video games, and other
collectibles.
Portrayals
In all four films, Rambo is portrayed by Sylvester Stallone. In the animated TV series, the character
is voiced by Neil Ross.
In popular culture
In the 1988 film Die Hard, Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) asks John McClane (Bruce Willis) who he is
trying to imitate with his heroics, and he mentions Rambo as well as John Wayne and Marshal
Dillon.
In the 1989 film Tango & Cash, LAPD narcotics detective Ray Tango (ironically portrayed by
Sylvester Stallone) is described by a county sheriff as "think[ing] he's Rambo" after roughing up a
team of truckers he suspects of smuggling cocaine, while out of his geographic jurisdiction. "Rambo
is a pussy" was Tango's response.
In the 1993 film Demolition Man, when antagonist Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes) is robbing the
armory exhibit of a museum, he tells a soldier mannequin, "Excuse me, Rambo. I need to borrow
this." Ironically, the protagonist John Spartan is portrayed by Stallone.
In the 1994 film True Lies, Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis) says "I married Rambo," after discovering her
husband Harry (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a very capable CIA operative. The film's director, James
Cameron, co-wrote the screenplay for the second Rambo film along with Sylvester Stallone.
In 2013, a Cheetos commercial features a little boy (played by child actor Indiana Wilson), who is
dressed up like Rambo, as he goes around blowing darts through a blowgun just by taking deep
cleansing breaths and aim at targets throughout all over town.
Mark Bavaro, New York Giants tight end, was nicknamed Rambo during his career.[21]
Sir Harold Jeffreys.

Sir Harold Jeffreys, FRS[1][3] (22 April 1891 – 18 March 1989) was a British mathematician,
statistician, geophysicist, and astronomer. The book that he and Bertha Swirles wrote Theory of
Probability, which first appeared in 1939, played an important role in the revival of the Bayesian view
of probability.
[
Sir Harold Jeffreys
4][5]
Education
Jeffreys was born in Fatfield, Washington, County Durham, England, the son of Robert Hal Jeffreys,
headmaster of Fatfield Church School, and his wife, Elizabeth Mary Sharpe. [6] He was educated at
his father's school then studied at Armstrong College in Newcastle upon Tyne, then part of
the University of Durham, and with the University of London External Programme.[7]
Career
Jeffreys became a fellow of St John's College, Cambridge in 1914. At the University of
Cambridge he taught mathematics, then geophysics and finally became the Plumian Professor of
Astronomy.
He married another mathematician and physicist, Bertha Swirles (1903–1999), in 1940 and together
they wrote Methods of Mathematical Physics.
One of his major contributions was on the Bayesian approach to probability (also see Jeffreys prior),
as well as the idea that the Earth's planetary core was liquid.[8] He was knighted in 1953.
By 1924 Jeffreys had developed a general method of approximating solutions to linear, second-order
differential equations, including the Schrödinger equation. Although the Schrödinger equation was
developed two years later, Wentzel, Kramers, and Brillouin were apparently unaware of this earlier
work, so Jeffreys is often neglected when credit is given for the WKB approximation.[9]
Jeffreys received the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1937, the Royal
Society's Copley Medal in 1960, and the Royal Statistical Society's Guy Medal in Gold in 1962. In
1948, Jeffreys received the Prix Charles Lagrange from the Académie royale des Sciences, des
Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique.[10]
From 1939 to 1952 he was established as Director of the International Seismological Summary
further known as International Seismological Centre.
The textbook Probability Theory: The Logic of Science, written by the physicist and probability
theorist Edwin T. Jaynes, is dedicated to Jeffreys. The dedication reads, "Dedicated to the memory
of Sir Harold Jeffreys, who saw the truth and preserved it."
It is only through an appendix to the third edition of Jeffreys' book Scientific Inference that we know
about Mary Cartwright's method of proving that the number π is irrational.
Opposition to continental drift and plate tectonics

Like most of his contemporaries, Jeffreys was a strong opponent of continental drift as proposed
by Alfred Wegener. For him, continental drift was "out of the question" because no force even
remotely strong enough to move the continents across the Earth's surface was evident. [11] As
geological and geophysical evidence for continental drift and plate tectonics mounted in the 1960s
and after, to the point where it became the unifying concept of modern geology, Jeffreys remained a
stubborn opponent of the theory to his death.
Honours and awards
 Fellow, Royal Society, 1925[1]

 Adams Prize, 1927 (Constitution of the Earth)
 Gold Medal, Royal Astronomical Society, 1937
 Buchan Prize, Royal Meteorological Society, 1929
 Murchison Medal of Geological Society (Great Britain) 1939
 Victoria Medal, Royal Geographical Society, 1941
 Lagrange Prize, Brussels Academy, 1948
 Royal Medal, 1948
 William Bowie Medal, American Geophysical Union, 1952
 Knighted, 1953
 Copley Medal, Royal Society, 1961
 Vetlesen Prize, 1962
GROUND-BASED RESEARCH
Little more was discovered about Venus until the 20th century. Its almost featureless disc gave no
hint what its surface might be like, and it was only with the development
of spectroscopic, radar and ultravioletobservations that more of its secrets were revealed. The first
ultraviolet observations were carried out in the 1920s, when Frank E. Ross found that ultraviolet
photographs revealed considerable detail that was absent in visible and infrared radiation. He
suggested this was due to a dense, yellow lower atmosphere with high cirrus clouds above it.
Modern telescopic view of Venus from Earth's surface, Akatsuki, also known as the Venus Climate
Orbiter and Planet-C, is a Japanese space probe tasked to study the atmosphere of Venus. It
was launched aboard an H-IIA 202 rocket on 20 May 2010, and failed to enter orbit around
Venus on 6 December 2010. Wikipedia Akatsuki "Dawn"), also known as the Venus Climate
Orbiter (VCO) and Planet-C, is a Japanese (JAXA) space probetasked to study the atmosphere of
Venus. It was launched aboard an H-IIA 202 rocket on 20 May 2010,[6] and failed to enter orbit
around Venus on 6 December 2010. After the craft orbited the Sun for five years, engineers
successfully placed it into an alternative elliptical Venusian orbit on 7 December 2015 by firing
its attitude control thrusters for 20 minutes.[4][5][7][8]
[148]
Spectroscopic observations in the 1900s gave the first clues about the Venusian rotation. Vesto
Sliphertried to measure the Doppler shift of light from Venus, but found he could not detect any
rotation. He surmised the planet must have a much longer rotation period than had previously been
thought.[149] Later work in the 1950s showed the rotation was retrograde. Radar observations of
Venus were first carried out in the 1960s, and provided the first measurements of the rotation period,
which were close to the modern value. [150]
Radar observations in the 1970s revealed details of the Venusian surface for the first time. Pulses of
radio waves were beamed at the planet using the 300 m (980 ft) radio telescope at Arecibo
Observatory, and the echoes revealed two highly reflective regions, designated
the Alpha and Betaregions. The observations also revealed a bright region attributed to mountains,
which was called Maxwell Montes.[151] These three features are now the only ones on Venus that do
not have female names.[34]
Kurt Josef Waldheim

Kurt Josef Waldheim (German: [ˈkʊɐ̯t ˈvalthaɪm] ( listen); 21 December 1918 – 14 June 2007) was
an Austrian diplomatand politician. Waldheim was the fourth Secretary-General of the United
Nations from 1972 to 1981, and President of Austria from 1986 to 1992. While he was running for
the latter office in the 1986 election, the revelation of his service in Thessaloniki, Greece and
in Yugoslavia, as an intelligence officer in Nazi Germany's Wehrmacht during World War II raised
international controversy.
Kurt Waldheim
President of Austria
In office
8 July 1986 – 8 July 1992

Waldheim was born in Sankt Andrä-Wördern, near Vienna, on 21 December 1918.[1] His father was
a Roman Catholicschool inspector of Czech origin named Watzlawick[2] (original Czech spelling
Václavík) who changed his name that year as the Habsburg monarchy collapsed. Waldheim served
in the Austrian Army (1936–37) and attended the Vienna Consular Academy, where he graduated in
1939. Waldheim's father was active in the Christian Social Party. Waldheim himself was politically
unaffiliated during these years at the Academy.
Three weeks after the German annexation of Austria in 1938, Waldheim applied for membership in
the National Socialist German Students' League (NSDStB), a division of the Nazi Party.[3] Shortly
thereafter he became a registered member of the mounted corps of the SA.
On 19 August 1944, he married Elisabeth Ritschel in Vienna; their first daughter, Lieselotte, was
born the following year. A son, Gerhard, and another daughter, Christa, followed.
Military service in World War II

In early 1941, Waldheim was drafted into the Wehrmacht and posted to the Eastern Front where he
served as a squad leader. In December, he was wounded but returned to service in 1942. His
service in the Wehrmacht from 1942 to 1945 was the subject of international review in 1985 and
1986. In his 1985 autobiography, he stated that he was discharged from further service at the front
and, for the remainder of the war, finished his law degree at the University of Vienna, in addition to
marrying in 1944.[4] After publication, documents and witnesses came to light that revealed
Waldheim’s military service continued until 1945, during which time he rose to the rank
of Oberleutnant.
Service in Yugoslavia and Greece

Waldheim's functions within the staff of German Army Group E from 1942 until 1945, as determined
by the International Commission of Historians, [5] were:
 Interpreter and liaison officer with the 5th Alpine Division (Italy) in April/May 1942, then,

 O2 (2nd Assistant Adjutant) to the 1b (General Staff Quartermaster) with Kampfgruppe
West in Bosnia in June/August 1942,
 Interpreter with the liaison staff attached to the Italian 9th Army in Tirana in early summer
1942,
 O1 (1st Assistant Adjutant) to the 1a (General Staff Chief of Operations) in the German
liaison staff with the Italian 11th Army and in the staff of the Army Group South in Greece in
July/October 1943, and
 O3 (3rd Assistant Adjutant) to the 1c (General Staff Chief Intelligence Officer) officer on the
staff of Army Group E in Arksali, Kosovska Mitrovica and Sarajevo from October 1943 to
January/February 1945.
By 1943, Waldheim was serving in the capacity of an aide-de-camp in Army Group E which was
headed by General Alexander Löhr.[6] In 1986, Waldheim said that he had served only as an
interpreter and a clerk and had no knowledge either of reprisals against local Serb civilians or of
massacres in neighboring provinces of Yugoslavia. He said that he had known about some of the
things that had happened, and had been horrified, but could not see what else he could have done. [4]
Much historical interest has centered on Waldheim's role in Operation Kozara in 1942.[7] According to
one post-war investigator, prisoners were routinely shot within only a few hundred meters (yards) of
Waldheim's office,[8] and 35 kilometres (22 mi) away at the Jasenovac concentration camp.
Waldheim later stated that "he did not know about the murder of civilians there". [8]
Waldheim's name appears on the Wehrmacht's "honor list" of those responsible for the militarily
successful operation. The Nazi puppet state, the Independent State of Croatia, awarded Waldheim
the Medal of the Crown of King Zvonimir in silver with an oak branches cluster.[9] Decades later,
during the lobbying for his election as U.N. Secretary General, Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito,
who had led anti-German forces during the war, awarded Waldheim one of the highest Yugoslav
orders.[10]
Waldheim denied that he knew war crimes were taking place in Bosnia at the height of the battles
between the Nazis and Tito's partisans in 1943. [11] According to Eli Rosenbaum, in 1944, Waldheim
reviewed and approved a packet of anti-Semitic propaganda leaflets to be dropped behind Soviet
lines, one of which ended: "Enough of the Jewish war, kill the Jews, come over." [12]
Surrender
In 1945, Waldheim surrendered to British forces in Carinthia, at which point he said he had fled his
command post within Army Group E, where he was serving with General Löhr, who was seeking a
special deal with the British.
Diplomatic career
Waldheim joined the Austrian diplomatic service in 1945, after finishing his studies in law at
the University of Vienna. He served as First Secretary of the Legation in Paris from 1948, and in the
Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Vienna from 1951 to 1956. In 1956 he was made Ambassador to
Canada, returning to the Ministry in 1960, after which he became the Permanent Representative of
Austria to the United Nations in 1964. For two years beginning in 1968, he was the Federal Minister
for Foreign Affairs for the Austrian People's Party, before going back as Permanent Representative
to the U.N. in 1970. Shortly afterwards, he ran and was defeated in the 1971 Austrian presidential
elections.
United Nations Secretary-General
Waldheim c. 1971.
After losing the presidential election, Waldheim ran for Secretary-General of the United Nations in
the 1971 selection. Waldheim was supported by the Soviet Union and led the first two rounds of
voting. However, he was opposed by China, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Waldheim
won an accidental victory in the third round of voting when those three permanent members failed to
coordinate their vetoes and all abstained.[13] Waldheim succeeded U Thant as United Nations
Secretary-General in 1972.
As Secretary-General, Waldheim opened and addressed a number of major international
conferences convened under United Nations auspices. These included the third session of the U.N.
Conference on Trade and Development (Santiago, April 1972), the U.N. Conference on the Human
Environment (Stockholm, June 1972), the third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea (Caracas,
June 1974), the Third World Population Conference (Bucharest, August 1974) and the World Food
Conference (Rome, November 1974). However, his diplomatic efforts particularly in the Middle East
were overshadowed by the diplomacy of then U.S. Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger.[14]
Waldheim with family c. 1971
On 11 September 1972, Ugandan dictator Idi Amin sent a telegram to Waldheim, copies of which

went to Yasser Arafat and Golda Meir. In the telegram, Amin "applauded the massacre of the Israeli
Olympic athletes in Munich and said Germany was the most appropriate locale for this because it
was where Hitler burned more than six million Jews."[15] Amin also called "to expel Israel from the
United Nations and to send all the Israelis to Britain, which bore the guilt for creating the Jewish
state."[16] Amidst international protest, "the UN spokesman said [in his daily press conference] it was
not the secretary-general's practice to comment on telegrams sent him by heads of government. He
added that the secretary-general condemned any form of racial discrimination and genocide." [16]
After Operation Entebbe on 7 July 1976 — in which Israeli commandos freed more than 100 Israeli
and Jewish passengers held captive in Entebbe Airport (Uganda's main airport) by Popular Front for
the Liberation of Palestine and German Revolutionary Cellsfighters protected by forces of dictator Idi
Amin, and where all the hijackers, three hostages, and 45 Ugandan soldiers were killed — Waldheim
described the raid as a "serious violation of the national sovereignty of a United Nations member
state".[17]
Waldheim ran for a second term in the 1976 UN Secretary-General selection. However, China was
still opposed to Waldheim and approached several Third World countries seeking challengers.
[18]
Outgoing Mexican President Luis Echeverría finally entered the race in October 1976, making
Waldheim the only Secretary-General to face a contested re-selection campaign. Waldheim
resoundingly defeated Echeverría in the first round of voting. China cast a single symbolic veto
against Waldheim in the first round and voted for him in the second round, handing him an easy
victory with 14 of 15 votes on the Security Council. [19]
Waldheim and then-U.S. President Jimmy Carter both recorded statements for the Voyager Golden
Records, which were launched into deep space on the Voyager spacecraft in 1977. [20] He was the
first Secretary-General to visit North Korea, in 1979.[21] In 1980, Waldheim flew to Iran in an attempt
to negotiate the release of the American hostages held in Tehran, but Ayatollah Khomeini refused to
see him.[14] While in Tehran, it was announced that an attempt on Waldheim's life had been foiled.
Near the end of his tenure as Secretary-General, Waldheim and British popular musician Paul
McCartney organized a series of concerts for the People of Kampuchea to help Cambodia recover
from the damage done by Pol Pot.[22]
Waldheim ran for an unprecedented third full term as Secretary-General in the 1981 selection. China
was determined to unseat him this time and lined up a strong candidate in Salim Ahmed Salim of
Tanzania. In the first round of voting, Waldheim lost to Salim by one vote. However, Salim was
vetoed by the United States, while Waldheim was vetoed by China. The veto duel between China
and the United States lasted a record 16 rounds. After six weeks of deadlock, Waldheim and Salim
both withdrew from the race. Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru won the selection and succeeded
Waldheim as Secretary-General of the United Nations. [23]:411 The events of 1981 established a two-
term limit on the office, and no Secretary-General since Waldheim has run for a third term.
Presidency of Austria
Election and Waldheim Affair
Waldheim had unsuccessfully sought election as President of Austria in 1971, but his second
attempt on 8 June 1986 proved successful. During his campaign for the presidency in 1985, what
became known internationally as the "Waldheim affair" began. Before the presidential elections,
investigative journalist Alfred Worm revealed in the Austrian weekly news magazine Profil that there
had been several omissions about Waldheim's life between 1938 and 1945 in his recently published
autobiography.[24]
Waldheim had previously claimed to have received a medical discharge after being wounded in
winter 1942. His aides at the United Nations even accused the Israeli mission of spreading rumors
that he supported the Nazis. Israeli ambassador Yehuda Zvi Blum denied the charges, saying, "We
don't believe Waldheim ever supported the Nazis and we never said he did. We have many
differences with him, but that isn't one of them." [25]
A short time later, beginning on 4 March 1986, the World Jewish Congress alleged that Waldheim
had lied about his service in the mounted corps of the SA and had concealed his service as a
special missions staff officer (Ordonnanzoffizier) for Germany's Army Group E in Yugoslavia and
Greece, from 1942 to 1944, based primarily on captured German wartime records held at the United
States National Archives in Washington, DC, and in other archives.[26][27][28] The 23 March 1986 public
disclosure by the World Jewish Congress that the organization had unearthed the fact that the
United Nations War Crimes Commission concluded after the war that Waldheim was implicated in
Nazi mass murder and should be arrested arguably transformed the Waldheim affair into the most
sensational of all postwar Nazi scandals. [29]
Waldheim called the allegations, which grew in magnitude in the ensuing months, "pure lies and
malicious acts".[30] Nevertheless, he admitted that he had known about German reprisals against
partisans: "Yes, I knew. I was horrified. But what could I do? I had either to continue to serve or be
executed."[30] He said that he had never fired a shot or even seen a partisan. [30] His former immediate
superior at the time stated that Waldheim had "remained confined to a desk". [30] Former Austrian
chancellor Bruno Kreisky, of Jewish origin, denounced the actions of the World Jewish Congress as
an "extraordinary infamy",[30] adding that Austrians would not "allow the Jews abroad to ... tell us who
should be our President."
Part of the reason for the controversy was Austria's refusal to address its national role in the
Holocaust. (Many leading Nazis, including Adolf Hitler, were Austrians, and Austria became part of
the Third Reich.) Austria refused to pay compensation to Nazi victims, and from 1970 onwards
refused to investigate Austrian citizens who were senior Nazis.[31] Stolen Jewish art remained public
property until after the Waldheim affair. [32]
Because the revelations leading to the Waldheim affair came shortly before the presidential election,
there has been speculation about the background of the affair.
Declassified documents from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency show that the CIA had been
aware of some details of his wartime past since 1945. [33] Information about Waldheim's wartime past
was also previously published by a pro-German Austrian newspaper, Salzburger Volksblatt, during
the 1971 presidential election campaign, including the claim of an SS membership, but the matter
was supposedly regarded as unimportant or even advantageous for the candidate at that time. [34]
According to several of Waldheim's obituarists, his wartime past and the discrepancies in his
autobiography, In the Eye of the Storm, must have been known to both superpowers before he was
elected UN Secretary-General, and there were rumours that the KGB had blackmailed him during
his UN time (for example here and here).[35]
In 1994, former Mossad officer Victor Ostrovsky claimed in his book The Other Side of
Deception that Mossad doctored Waldheim's file while he was serving as Secretary-General to
implicate him in Nazi crimes. These allegedly false documents were subsequently "discovered"
by Benjamin Netanyahu in the UN file and triggered the "Waldheim Affair". Ostrovsky says that this
was motivated by Waldheim's criticism of Israel's war in Lebanon.[36] Controversy surrounds
Ostrovsky because many of his revelations have not been sourced or otherwise confirmed, leading
several critics to say that most of his work (including The Other Side of Deception) is fictional.
Ostrovsky's service in Mossad was confirmed when the Israeli government unsuccessfully attempted
to stop publication of the book.[37][38]
Allegations of Nazi war crimes
In view of the ongoing international controversy, the Austrian government decided to appoint an
international committee of historians to examine Waldheim's life between 1938 and 1945. Their
report found no evidence of any personal involvement in those crimes. [39] Although Waldheim had
stated that he was unaware of any crimes taking place, the committee cited evidence that Waldheim
must have known about war crimes.[40]
In response to Waldheim's denial that he knew about war crimes, Simon Wiesenthal stated that
Waldheim was stationed 5 miles (8.0 km) from Thessaloniki while, over the course of several weeks,
the Jewish community, which formed one-third of the population there, was sent to Auschwitz:
I could only reply what the committee of historians likewise made clear in its report: "I cannot believe
you."[40]
Wiesenthal, whose conduct in the Waldheim affair was sharply criticized by the World Jewish
Congress and others,[41] and whose "adamant defense of Waldheim" and "public, personal attacks
against the WJC investigators" "ultimately tarnished his prominent global reputation," [42] stated the
committee found no evidence that Waldheim took part in any war crimes but was guilty of lying about
his military record.[43] The International Committee in February 1988 concluded that he could not stop
what was going on in Yugoslavia and Greece even if he knew:
In favour of Waldheim is, that he only had very minor possibilities to act against the injustices
happening. Actions against these, depending on which level the resistance occurred, were of very
different importance. For a young member of the staff, who did not have any military authority on the
army group level, the practical possibilities for resistance were very limited and with a high
probability would not have led to any actual results. Resistance would have been limited to a formal
protest or on the refusal to serve any longer in the army, which would have seemed to be a
courageous act, however would have not led to any practical achievement. [44]
On 27 April 1987, the United States Department of Justice and the United States Department of
State announced that evidence amassed in an investigation conducted by the Justice Department's
Office of Special Investigations (OSI) had established a prima facie case that Waldheim participated
in Nazi-sponsored persecution during World War II and therefore that his entry into the United States
was prohibited by federal statute. This marked the first time that a head of state had been put on an
immigration watchlist.[45][46] The 232-page internal Department of Justice 9 April 1987 investigative
report was released in 1994 by that agency, and it is available at the agency's website. [47] The report
catalogues evidence that, the U.S. government concluded, proved that Waldheim had taken part in,
among other actions: the transfer of civilian prisoners to the SS for exploitation as slave labor; the
mass deportation of civilians—including Jews from Greek islands and the town of Banja Luka,
Yugoslavia—to concentration and death camps; the utilization of anti-Semitic propaganda; the
mistreatment and execution of Allied prisoners; and reprisal executions of hostages and other
civilians.[48] Additional allegations of participation in Nazi crimes, with citations to captured Nazi
documents and other records, were leveled in a 1993 book by Eli Rosenbaum, the former U.S.
federal prosecutor who had directed the World Jewish Congress investigation that led to the New
York Times' initial exposure of Waldheim's hidden Nazi-era past in 1986. The authors also cited
evidence that the governments of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia had covered up Waldheim's
wartime past and used it to blackmail him before and during his tenure as United Nations Secretary
General, and that the U.S. intelligence community had committed a major error in failing to detect
the Cold War weaponization of that information by the two communist governments. [49]
Harold H. Tittmann III, an American lawyer and author based in Europe, harshly criticized the Justice
Department's OSI investigation and its report in his 2000 book, The Waldheim Affair: Democracy
Subverted. According to this author, the report was only released because of legal pressure brought
by John Mapother, a retired CIA officer who had served in Austria and "had been skeptical about the
existence of evidence the OSI claimed to have uncovered." [50] Tittmann argued that OSI exceeded its
statutory authority in producing the report and that it relied too heavily on material from the World
Jewish Congress. Throughout, the book also strongly criticized U.S. media treatment of Waldheim. It
concluded that "American reporting . . . was often biased, inaccurate, or incomplete. True, the
Waldheim story was unusually complex and required much research for a proper understanding, but
this complexity cannot excuse the one-sided opinions that emanated from editorial desks." [51]
Foreign visits
Throughout his term as President (1986–1992), Kurt Waldheim was officially deemed persona non
grata by the United States and, officially or informally, by nearly every other nation in the world
outside the Arab world.[34][52]
Later years and death

After his term ended in 1992, Waldheim did not seek re-election. The same year, he was made an
honorary member of K.H.V. Welfia Klosterneuburg, a Roman Catholic student fraternity part of
the Austrian Cartellverband. In 1994, Pope John Paul II awarded Waldheim a knighthood in
the Order of Pius IX and his wife a papal honor.[53] He died on 14 June 2007, at the age of 88 from
heart failure.[54] On 23 June, his funeral was held at St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna, and he was
buried at the Presidential Vault in the Zentralfriedhof ("central cemetery").[55]
In his speech at the Cathedral, Federal President Heinz Fischer called Waldheim "a great Austrian"
who had been wrongfully accused of having committed war crimes. Fischer also praised Waldheim
for his efforts to solve international crises and for his contributions to world peace. [56] At Waldheim's
own request, no foreign heads of states or governments were invited to attend his funeral
except Hans-Adam II, the Prince of Liechtenstein. Also present was Luis Durnwalder, governor of
the Italian province of South Tyrol. Japan and Syria were the only two countries that laid wreaths on
his grave. Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, issued a message 'voicing
sadness'.[57] In a two-page letter, published posthumously by the Austrian Press Agency the day after
he died, Waldheim admitted making "mistakes" ("but these were certainly not those of a follower let
alone an accomplice of a criminal regime") and asked his critics for forgiveness. [58]
Media references
 W. G. Sebald's novel The Rings of Saturn (1995; English trans., 1998) refers to Waldheim,

though not by name.[59]
 As a much-heralded invited guest on Dame Edna Everage's talk show The Dame Edna
Experience, a dignified "Kurt Waldheim" began a grand entrance, except that halfway down the
staircase, he abruptly fell through a hidden chute and disappeared: the band's fanfare stopped
as Dame Edna explained she had decided at the last minute to "abort" Dr. Waldheim's
appearance because it would have been "too political". The episode aired 12 September 1987.
 A running segment on The Howard Stern Show is called Guess Who's the Jew and
features Fred Norris portraying a Nazi Kurt Waldheim, Jr.[60]
 Musician Lou Reed's 1989 New York album contains a song called "Good Evening Mr.
Waldheim."
 Harry Turtledove's 2003 alternate history novel, In the Presence of Mine Enemies, in which
Germany won the Second World War, a "Kurt Haldweim" is the third Führer of Germany, and
parts of Haldweim's biography closely parallel Waldheim's. For instance, both Waldheim and
Haldweim were born in Austria in 1918 and served in the Wehrmacht in Thessaloniki during
World War II.
 In a 1988 ice hockey film entitled Hockey, The Lighter Side, former New York Rangers
goaltender John Davidson is explaining his fictional goaltender school, and as hockey highlights
play, he exclaims, "You'll have more shots taken at you than Kurt Waldheim."
 In episode 3, series 2 of The Million Pound Radio Show, Andy Hamilton announces next
week's special guest as Waldheim, "although he'll deny [his appearance on the show] in 40
years time."
 In an episode of The New Statesman, aired in 1989, Alan B'Stard (Rik Mayall) attempts to
blackmail an aged former Nazi officer, who complains that, "it's not fair; I'm living here in
the tripe capital of Europe, while Kurt Waldheim is President of Austria — and he was beneath
me!"
 American poet Srikanth Reddy's 2011 book Voyager presents a collection of poems and
fragments created by erasing large sections of Waldheim's memoir In the Eye of the Storm.
 Graphic novel and film Persepolis (comics) by Marjane Satrapi reference the election in
Austria.
 In the 2015 fiction novel The Lady From Zagreb by Philip Kerr, the protagonist, Captain
Bernie Gunther, encounters a young Intelligence Officer, Lieutenant Kurt Waldheim while on a
mission in Yugoslavia in 1942.
 In the 2015 film Woman in Gold, Hubertus Czernin shows Maria Altmann an issue
of Profil uncovering Waldheim's Nazi past.
 The 2018 Ruth Beckermann-directed documentary The Waldheim Waltz is about the 1986
Austrian presidential campaign and the controversy over Waldheim's actions during World War
II.[61]
Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler (1571–1630) was the first to closely integrate the predictive geometrical
astronomy, which had been dominant from Ptolemy in the 2nd century to Copernicus, with physical
concepts to produce a New Astronomy, Based upon Causes, or Celestial Physics in 1609. His work
led to the modern laws of planetary orbits, which he developed using his physical principles and
the planetary observations made by Tycho Brahe. Kepler's model greatly improved the accuracy of
predictions of planetary motion, years before Isaac Newton developed his law of gravitation in 1686.
Johannes Kepler (/ˈkɛplər/;[1] German: [joˈhanəs ˈkɛplɐ, -nɛs -];[2][3] December 27, 1571 – November
15, 1630) was a German astronomer, mathematician, and astrologer. He is a key figure in the 17th-
century scientific revolution, best known for his laws of planetary motion, and his books Astronomia
nova, Harmonices Mundi, and Epitome Astronomiae Copernicanae. These works also provided one
of the foundations for Newton's theory of universal gravitation.
Kepler was a mathematics teacher at a seminary school in Graz, where he became an associate
of Prince Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg. Later he became an assistant to the astronomer Tycho
Brahe in Prague, and eventually the imperial mathematician to Emperor Rudolf II and his two
successors Matthiasand Ferdinand II. He also taught mathematics in Linz, and was an adviser
to General Wallenstein. Additionally, he did fundamental work in the field of optics, invented an
improved version of the refracting telescope (the Keplerian telescope), and was mentioned in
the telescopic discoveries of his contemporary Galileo Galilei. He was a corresponding member of
the Accademia dei Lincei in Rome.[4]
Kepler lived in an era when there was no clear distinction between astronomyand astrology, but
there was a strong division between astronomy (a branch of mathematics within the liberal arts)
and physics (a branch of natural philosophy). Kepler also incorporated religious arguments and
reasoning into his work, motivated by the religious conviction and belief that God had created the
world according to an intelligible plan that is accessible through the natural light of reason.[5] Kepler
described his new astronomy as "celestial physics",[6]as "an excursion into Aristotle's Metaphysics",
and as "a supplement to Aristotle's On the Heavens",[8] transforming the ancient tradition of
[7]
physical cosmology by treating astronomy as part of a universal mathematical physics
Johannes Kepler
Portrait of Kepler by an unknown artist, 1610
Early years
Kepler was born on December 27, the feast day of St John the Evangelist, 1571, in the Free Imperial
City of Weil der Stadt (now part of the Stuttgart Region in the German state of Baden-Württemberg,
30 km west of Stuttgart's center). His grandfather, Sebald Kepler, had been Lord Mayor of the city.
By the time Johannes was born, he had two brothers and one sister and the Kepler family fortune
was in decline. His father, Heinrich Kepler, earned a precarious living as a mercenary, and he left
the family when Johannes was five years old. He was believed to have died in the Eighty Years'
War in the Netherlands. His mother, Katharina Guldenmann, an innkeeper's daughter, was
a healer and herbalist. Born prematurely, Johannes claimed to have been weak and sickly as a
child. Nevertheless, he often impressed travelers at his grandfather's inn with his phenomenal
mathematical faculty
Kepler's birthplace, in Weil der Stadt
.[10]
He was introduced to astronomy at an early age, and developed a love for it that would span his
entire life. At age six, he observed the Great Comet of 1577, writing that he "was taken by [his]
mother to a high place to look at it."[11] In 1580, at age nine, he observed another astronomical event,
a lunar eclipse, recording that he remembered being "called outdoors" to see it and that
the moon "appeared quite red".[11] However, childhood smallpox left him with weak vision and
crippled hands, limiting his ability in the observational aspects of astronomy. [12]
As a child, Kepler witnessed the Great Comet of 1577, which attracted the attention of astronomers across
Europe.
In 1589, after moving through grammar school, Latin school, and seminary at Maulbronn, Kepler
attended Tübinger Stift at the University of Tübingen. There, he studied philosophy under Vitus
Müller[13] and theologyunder Jacob Heerbrand (a student of Philipp Melanchthon at Wittenberg), who
also taught Michael Maestlin while he was a student, until he became Chancellor at Tübingen in
1590.[14] He proved himself to be a superb mathematician and earned a reputation as a skilful
astrologer, casting horoscopes for fellow students. Under the instruction of Michael Maestlin,
Tübingen's professor of mathematics from 1583 to 1631, [14] he learned both the Ptolemaic
system and the Copernican system of planetary motion. He became a Copernican at that time. In a
student disputation, he defended heliocentrismfrom both a theoretical and theological perspective,
maintaining that the Sunwas the principal source of motive power in the universe. [15] Despite his
desire to become a minister, near the end of his studies, Kepler was recommended for a position as
teacher of mathematics and astronomy at the Protestant school in Graz. He accepted the position in
April 1594, at the age of 23.[16]
Graz (1594–1600)
Mysterium Cosmographicum
Kepler's Platonic solid model of the Solar System, from Mysterium Cosmographicum (1596)
Kepler's first major astronomical work, Mysterium Cosmographicum (The Cosmographic Mystery,

1596), was the first published defense of the Copernican system. Kepler claimed to have had
an epiphany on July 19, 1595, while teaching in Graz, demonstrating the
periodic conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in the zodiac: he realized that regular polygons bound one
inscribed and one circumscribed circle at definite ratios, which, he reasoned, might be the
geometrical basis of the universe. After failing to find a unique arrangement of polygons that fit
known astronomical observations (even with extra planets added to the system), Kepler began
experimenting with 3-dimensional polyhedra. He found that each of the five Platonic solids could be
inscribed and circumscribed by spherical orbs; nesting these solids, each encased in a sphere,
within one another would produce six layers, corresponding to the six known planets—
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. By ordering the solids selectively—
octahedron, icosahedron, dodecahedron, tetrahedron, cube—Kepler found that the spheres could be
placed at intervals corresponding to the relative sizes of each planet's path, assuming the planets
circle the Sun. Kepler also found a formula relating the size of each planet's orb to the length of
its orbital period: from inner to outer planets, the ratio of increase in orbital period is twice the
difference in orb radius. However, Kepler later rejected this formula, because it was not precise
enough.[17]
As he indicated in the title, Kepler thought he had revealed God's geometrical plan for the universe.
Much of Kepler's enthusiasm for the Copernican system stemmed from his theological convictions
about the connection between the physical and the spiritual; the universe itself was an image of
God, with the Sun corresponding to the Father, the stellar sphere to the Son, and the intervening
space between to the Holy Spirit. His first manuscript of Mysterium contained an extensive chapter
reconciling heliocentrism with biblical passages that seemed to support geocentrism. [18]
Close-up of an inner section of Kepler's model
With the support of his mentor Michael Maestlin, Kepler received permission from the Tübingen
university senate to publish his manuscript, pending removal of the Bible exegesis and the addition
of a simpler, more understandable description of the Copernican system as well as Kepler's new
ideas. Mysterium was published late in 1596, and Kepler received his copies and began sending
them to prominent astronomers and patrons early in 1597; it was not widely read, but it established
Kepler's reputation as a highly skilled astronomer. The effusive dedication, to powerful patrons as
well as to the men who controlled his position in Graz, also provided a crucial doorway into
the patronage system.[19]
Though the details would be modified in light of his later work, Kepler never relinquished the
Platonist polyhedral-spherist cosmology of Mysterium Cosmographicum. His subsequent main
astronomical works were in some sense only further developments of it, concerned with finding more
precise inner and outer dimensions for the spheres by calculating the eccentricities of the planetary
orbits within it. In 1621, Kepler published an expanded second edition of Mysterium, half as long
again as the first, detailing in footnotes the corrections and improvements he had achieved in the 25
years since its first publication.[20]
In terms of the impact of Mysterium, it can be seen as an important first step in modernizing the
theory proposed by Nicolaus Copernicus in his "De Revolutionibus orbium coelestium". Whilst
Copernicus sought to advance a heliocentric system in this book, he resorted to Ptolemaic devices
(viz., epicycles and eccentric circles) in order to explain the change in planets' orbital speed, and
also continued to use as a point of reference the center of the Earth's orbit rather than that of the
Sun "as an aid to calculation and in order not to confuse the reader by diverging too much from
Ptolemy." Modern astronomy owes much to Mysterium Cosmographicum, despite flaws in its main
thesis, "since it represents the first step in cleansing the Copernican system of the remnants of the
Ptolemaic theory still clinging to it." [21]
Portraits of Kepler and his wife

House of Kepler and Barbara Müller in Gössendorf, near Graz (1597–1599)
Marriage to Barbara Müller

In December 1595, Kepler was introduced to Barbara Müller, a 23-year-old widow (twice over) with a
young daughter, Regina Lorenz, and he began courting her. Müller, an heiress to the estates of her
late husbands, was also the daughter of a successful mill owner. Her father Jobst initially opposed a
marriage. Even though Kepler had inherited his grandfather's nobility, Kepler's poverty made him an
unacceptable match. Jobst relented after Kepler completed work on Mysterium, but the engagement
nearly fell apart while Kepler was away tending to the details of publication. However, Protestant
officials—who had helped set up the match—pressured the Müllers to honor their agreement.
Barbara and Johannes were married on April 27, 1597. [22]
In the first years of their marriage, the Keplers had two children (Heinrich and Susanna), both of
whom died in infancy. In 1602, they had a daughter (Susanna); in 1604, a son (Friedrich); and in
1607, another son (Ludwig).[23]
Other research
Following the publication of Mysterium and with the blessing of the Graz school inspectors, Kepler
began an ambitious program to extend and elaborate his work. He planned four additional books:
one on the stationary aspects of the universe (the Sun and the fixed stars); one on the planets and
their motions; one on the physical nature of planets and the formation of geographical features
(focused especially on Earth); and one on the effects of the heavens on the Earth, to include
atmospheric optics, meteorology, and astrology.[24]
He also sought the opinions of many of the astronomers to whom he had sent Mysterium, among
them Reimarus Ursus(Nicolaus Reimers Bär)—the imperial mathematician to Rudolph II and a bitter
rival of Tycho Brahe. Ursus did not reply directly, but republished Kepler's flattering letter to pursue
his priority dispute over (what is now called) the Tychonic systemwith Tycho. Despite this black
mark, Tycho also began corresponding with Kepler, starting with a harsh but legitimate critique of
Kepler's system; among a host of objections, Tycho took issue with the use of inaccurate numerical
data taken from Copernicus. Through their letters, Tycho and Kepler discussed a broad range of
astronomical problems, dwelling on lunar phenomena and Copernican theory (particularly its
theological viability). But without the significantly more accurate data of Tycho's observatory, Kepler
had no way to address many of these issues.[25]
Instead, he turned his attention to chronology and "harmony," the numerological relationships among
music, mathematicsand the physical world, and their astrological consequences. By assuming the
Earth to possess a soul (a property he would later invoke to explain how the sun causes the motion
of planets), he established a speculative system connecting astrological aspects and astronomical
distances to weather and other earthly phenomena. By 1599, however, he again felt his work limited
by the inaccuracy of available data—just as growing religious tension was also threatening his
continued employment in Graz. In December of that year, Tycho invited Kepler to visit him
in Prague; on January 1, 1600 (before he even received the invitation), Kepler set off in the hopes
that Tycho's patronage could solve his philosophical problems as well as his social and financial
ones.[26]
Prague (1600–1612)
Work for Tycho Brahe
Tycho Brahe
On February 4, 1600, Kepler met Tycho Brahe and his assistants Franz

Tengnageland Longomontanus at Benátky nad Jizerou (35 km from Prague), the site where Tycho's
new observatory was being constructed. Over the next two months, he stayed as a guest, analyzing
some of Tycho's observations of Mars; Tycho guarded his data closely, but was impressed by
Kepler's theoretical ideas and soon allowed him more access. Kepler planned to test his
theory[27] from Mysterium Cosmographicum based on the Mars data, but he estimated that the work
would take up to two years (since he was not allowed to simply copy the data for his own use). With
the help of Johannes Jessenius, Kepler attempted to negotiate a more formal employment
arrangement with Tycho, but negotiations broke down in an angry argument and Kepler left for
Prague on April 6. Kepler and Tycho soon reconciled and eventually reached an agreement on
salary and living arrangements, and in June, Kepler returned home to Graz to collect his family. [28]
Political and religious difficulties in Graz dashed his hopes of returning immediately to Brahe; in
hopes of continuing his astronomical studies, Kepler sought an appointment as a mathematician
to Archduke Ferdinand. To that end, Kepler composed an essay—dedicated to Ferdinand—in which
he proposed a force-based theory of lunar motion: "In Terra inest virtus, quae Lunam ciet" ("There is
a force in the earth which causes the moon to move"). [29] Though the essay did not earn him a place
in Ferdinand's court, it did detail a new method for measuring lunar eclipses, which he applied during
the July 10 eclipse in Graz. These observations formed the basis of his explorations of the laws of
optics that would culminate in Astronomiae Pars Optica.[30]
On August 2, 1600, after refusing to convert to Catholicism, Kepler and his family were banished
from Graz. Several months later, Kepler returned, now with the rest of his household, to Prague.
Through most of 1601, he was supported directly by Tycho, who assigned him to analyzing
planetary observations and writing a tract against Tycho's (by then deceased) rival, Ursus. In
September, Tycho secured him a commission as a collaborator on the new project he had proposed
to the emperor: the Rudolphine Tables that should replace the Prutenic Tables of Erasmus Reinhold.
Two days after Tycho's unexpected death on October 24, 1601, Kepler was appointed his successor
as the imperial mathematician with the responsibility to complete his unfinished work. The next 11
years as imperial mathematician would be the most productive of his life. [31]
Advisor to Emperor Rudolph II

Kepler's primary obligation as imperial mathematician was to provide astrological advice to the
emperor. Though Kepler took a dim view of the attempts of contemporary astrologers to precisely
predict the future or divine specific events, he had been casting well-received detailed horoscopes
for friends, family, and patrons since his time as a student in Tübingen. In addition to horoscopes for
allies and foreign leaders, the emperor sought Kepler's advice in times of political trouble. Rudolph
was actively interested in the work of many of his court scholars (including numerous alchemists)
and kept up with Kepler's work in physical astronomy as well. [32]
Officially, the only acceptable religious doctrines in Prague were Catholic and Utraquist, but Kepler's
position in the imperial court allowed him to practice his Lutheran faith unhindered. The emperor
nominally provided an ample income for his family, but the difficulties of the over-extended imperial
treasury meant that actually getting hold of enough money to meet financial obligations was a
continual struggle. Partly because of financial troubles, his life at home with Barbara was
unpleasant, marred with bickering and bouts of sickness. Court life, however, brought Kepler into
contact with other prominent scholars (Johannes Matthäus Wackher von Wackhenfels, Jost
Bürgi, David Fabricius, Martin Bachazek, and Johannes Brengger, among others) and astronomical
work proceeded rapidly.[33]
Astronomiae Pars Optica
A plate from Astronomiae Pars Optica, illustrating the structure of eyes of various species.
As Kepler slowly continued analyzing Tycho's Mars observations—now available to him in their
entirety—and began the slow process of tabulating the Rudolphine Tables, Kepler also picked up the
investigation of the laws of optics from his lunar essay of 1600. Both lunar and solar
eclipses presented unexplained phenomena, such as unexpected shadow sizes, the red color of a
total lunar eclipse, and the reportedly unusual light surrounding a total solar eclipse. Related issues
of atmospheric refraction applied to all astronomical observations. Through most of 1603, Kepler
paused his other work to focus on optical theory; the resulting manuscript, presented to the emperor
on January 1, 1604, was published as Astronomiae Pars Optica (The Optical Part of Astronomy). In
it, Kepler described the inverse-square lawgoverning the intensity of light, reflection by flat and
curved mirrors, and principles of pinhole cameras, as well as the astronomical implications of optics
such as parallax and the apparent sizes of heavenly bodies. He also extended his study of optics to
the human eye, and is generally considered by neuroscientists to be the first to recognize that
images are projected inverted and reversed by the eye's lens onto the retina. The solution to this
dilemma was not of particular importance to Kepler as he did not see it as pertaining to optics,
although he did suggest that the image was later corrected "in the hollows of the brain" due to the
"activity of the Soul."[34] Today, Astronomiae Pars Optica is generally recognized as the foundation of
modern optics (though the law of refraction is conspicuously absent).[35] With respect to the
beginnings of projective geometry, Kepler introduced the idea of continuous change of a
mathematical entity in this work. He argued that if a focus of a conic section were allowed to move
along the line joining the foci, the geometric form would morph or degenerate, one into another. In
this way, an ellipse becomes a parabola when a focus moves toward infinity, and when two foci of
an ellipse merge into one another, a circle is formed. As the foci of a hyperbola merge into one
another, the hyperbola becomes a pair of straight lines. He also assumed that if a straight line is
extended to infinity it will meet itself at a single point at infinity, thus having the properties of a large
circle.[36]
Supernova of 1604
Kepler's Supernova
Remnant of Kepler's Supernova SN 1604
In October 1604, a bright new evening star (SN 1604) appeared, but Kepler did not believe the
rumors until he saw it himself. Kepler began systematically observing the nova. Astrologically, the
end of 1603 marked the beginning of a fiery trigon, the start of the about 800-year cycle of great
conjunctions; astrologers associated the two previous such periods with the rise of Charlemagne (c.
800 years earlier) and the birth of Christ (c. 1600 years earlier), and thus expected events of great
portent, especially regarding the emperor. It was in this context, as the imperial mathematician and
astrologer to the emperor, that Kepler described the new star two years later in his De Stella Nova.
In it, Kepler addressed the star's astronomical properties while taking a skeptical approach to the
many astrological interpretations then circulating. He noted its fading luminosity, speculated about its
origin, and used the lack of observed parallax to argue that it was in the sphere of fixed stars, further
undermining the doctrine of the immutability of the heavens (the idea accepted since Aristotle that
the celestial spheres were perfect and unchanging). The birth of a new star implied the variability of
the heavens. In an appendix, Kepler also discussed the recent chronology work of the Polish
historian Laurentius Suslyga; he calculated that, if Suslyga was correct that accepted timelines were
four years behind, then the Star of Bethlehem—analogous to the present new star—would have
coincided with the first great conjunction of the earlier 800-year cycle. [37]
The location of the stella nova, in the foot of Ophiuchus, is marked with an N (8 grid squares down, 4 over
from the left).
Astronomia nova
The extended line of research that culminated in Astronomia nova (A New Astronomy)—including
the first two laws of planetary motion—began with the analysis, under Tycho's direction, of Mars'
orbit. Kepler calculated and recalculated various approximations of Mars' orbit using an equant (the
mathematical tool that Copernicus had eliminated with his system), eventually creating a model that
generally agreed with Tycho's observations to within two arcminutes (the average measurement
error). But he was not satisfied with the complex and still slightly inaccurate result; at certain points
the model differed from the data by up to eight arcminutes. The wide array of traditional
mathematical astronomy methods having failed him, Kepler set about trying to fit an ovoid orbit to
the data.[38]
In Kepler's religious view of the cosmos, the Sun (a symbol of God the Father) was the source of
motive force in the Solar System. As a physical basis, Kepler drew by analogy on William
Gilbert's theory of the magnetic soul of the Earth from De Magnete (1600) and on his own work on
optics. Kepler supposed that the motive power (or motive species)[39] radiated by the Sun weakens
with distance, causing faster or slower motion as planets move closer or farther from it. [40][a] Perhaps
this assumption entailed a mathematical relationship that would restore astronomical order. Based
on measurements of the aphelion and perihelion of the Earth and Mars, he created a formula in
which a planet's rate of motion is inversely proportional to its distance from the Sun. Verifying this
relationship throughout the orbital cycle, however, required very extensive calculation; to simplify this
task, by late 1602 Kepler reformulated the proportion in terms of geometry: planets sweep out equal
areas in equal times—Kepler's second law of planetary motion. [42]
Diagram of the geocentric trajectory of Mars through several periods of apparent retrograde
motion(Astronomia nova, Chapter 1, 1609)
He then set about calculating the entire orbit of Mars, using the geometrical rate law and assuming
an egg-shaped ovoid orbit. After approximately 40 failed attempts, in early 1605 he at last hit upon
the idea of an ellipse, which he had previously assumed to be too simple a solution for earlier
astronomers to have overlooked. [43]Finding that an elliptical orbit fit the Mars data, he immediately
concluded that all planets move in ellipses, with the sun at one focus—Kepler's first law of planetary
motion. Because he employed no calculating assistants, however, he did not extend the
mathematical analysis beyond Mars. By the end of the year, he completed the manuscript
for Astronomia nova, though it would not be published until 1609 due to legal disputes over the use
of Tycho's observations, the property of his heirs.[44]
Dioptrice, Somnium manuscript, and other work

In the years following the completion of Astronomia Nova, most of Kepler's research was focused on
preparations for the Rudolphine Tables and a comprehensive set of ephemerides (specific
predictions of planet and star positions) based on the table (though neither would be completed for
many years). He also attempted (unsuccessfully) to begin a collaboration with Italian
astronomer Giovanni Antonio Magini. Some of his other work dealt with chronology, especially
the dating of events in the life of Jesus, and with astrology, especially criticism of dramatic
predictions of catastrophe such as those of Helisaeus Roeslin.[45]
Kepler and Roeslin engaged in a series of published attacks and counter-attacks, while physician
Philip Feselius published a work dismissing astrology altogether (and Roeslin's work in particular). In
response to what Kepler saw as the excesses of astrology on the one hand and overzealous
rejection of it on the other, Kepler prepared Tertius Interveniens [Third-party Interventions].
Nominally this work—presented to the common patron of Roeslin and Feselius—was a neutral
mediation between the feuding scholars, but it also set out Kepler's general views on the value of
astrology, including some hypothesized mechanisms of interaction between planets and individual
souls. While Kepler considered most traditional rules and methods of astrology to be the "evil-
smelling dung" in which "an industrious hen" scrapes, there was an "occasional grain-seed, indeed,
even a pearl or a gold nugget" to be found by the conscientious scientific astrologer.
[46]
Conversely, Sir Oliver Lodge observed that Kepler was somewhat disdainful of astrology, as
Kepler was "continually attacking and throwing sarcasm at astrology, but it was the only thing for
which people would pay him, and on it after a fashion he lived." [47]
Karlova street in Old Town, Prague – house where Kepler lived. Now a museum [1]
In the first months of 1610, Galileo Galilei—using his powerful new telescope—discovered four

satellites orbiting Jupiter. Upon publishing his account as Sidereus Nuncius [Starry Messenger],
Galileo sought the opinion of Kepler, in part to bolster the credibility of his observations. Kepler
responded enthusiastically with a short published reply, Dissertatio cum Nuncio
Sidereo [Conversation with the Starry Messenger]. He endorsed Galileo's observations and offered a
range of speculations about the meaning and implications of Galileo's discoveries and telescopic
methods, for astronomy and optics as well as cosmology and astrology. Later that year, Kepler
published his own telescopic observations of the moons in Narratio de Jovis Satellitibus, providing
further support of Galileo. To Kepler's disappointment, however, Galileo never published his
reactions (if any) to Astronomia Nova.[48]
After hearing of Galileo's telescopic discoveries, Kepler also started a theoretical and experimental
investigation of telescopic optics using a telescope borrowed from Duke Ernest of Cologne. [49] The
resulting manuscript was completed in September 1610 and published as Dioptrice in 1611. In it,
Kepler set out the theoretical basis of double-convex converging lenses and double-concave
diverging lenses—and how they are combined to produce a Galilean telescope—as well as the
concepts of real vs. virtual images, upright vs. inverted images, and the effects of focal length on
magnification and reduction. He also described an improved telescope—now known as
the astronomical or Keplerian telescope—in which two convex lenses can produce higher
magnification than Galileo's combination of convex and concave lenses. [50]
One of the diagrams from Strena Seu de Nive Sexangula, illustrating the Kepler conjecture
Around 1611, Kepler circulated a manuscript of what would eventually be published (posthumously)
as Somnium [The Dream]. Part of the purpose of Somnium was to describe what practicing
astronomy would be like from the perspective of another planet, to show the feasibility of a non-
geocentric system. The manuscript, which disappeared after changing hands several times,
described a fantastic trip to the Moon; it was part allegory, part autobiography, and part treatise on
interplanetary travel (and is sometimes described as the first work of science fiction). Years later, a
distorted version of the story may have instigated the witchcraft trial against his mother, as the
mother of the narrator consults a demon to learn the means of space travel. Following her eventual
acquittal, Kepler composed 223 footnotes to the story—several times longer than the actual text—
which explained the allegorical aspects as well as the considerable scientific content (particularly
regarding lunar geography) hidden within the text.[51]
Work in mathematics and physics

As a New Year's gift that year (1611), he also composed for his friend and some-time patron, Baron
Wackher von Wackhenfels, a short pamphlet entitled Strena Seu de Nive Sexangula (A New Year's
Gift of Hexagonal Snow). In this treatise, he published the first description of the hexagonal
symmetry of snowflakes and, extending the discussion into a hypothetical atomistic physical basis
for the symmetry, posed what later became known as the Kepler conjecture, a statement about the
most efficient arrangement for packing spheres.[52][53]
Personal and political troubles

In 1611, the growing political-religious tension in Prague came to a head. Emperor Rudolph—whose
health was failing—was forced to abdicate as King of Bohemia by his brother Matthias. Both sides
sought Kepler's astrological advice, an opportunity he used to deliver conciliatory political advice
(with little reference to the stars, except in general statements to discourage drastic action).
However, it was clear that Kepler's future prospects in the court of Matthias were dim. [54]
Also in that year, Barbara Kepler contracted Hungarian spotted fever, then began having seizures.
As Barbara was recovering, Kepler's three children all fell sick with smallpox; Friedrich, 6, died.
Following his son's death, Kepler sent letters to potential patrons in Württemberg and Padua. At
the University of Tübingen in Württemberg, concerns over Kepler's perceived Calvinist heresies in
violation of the Augsburg Confession and the Formula of Concord prevented his return.
The University of Padua—on the recommendation of the departing Galileo—sought Kepler to fill the
mathematics professorship, but Kepler, preferring to keep his family in German territory, instead
travelled to Austria to arrange a position as teacher and district mathematician in Linz. However,
Barbara relapsed into illness and died shortly after Kepler's return. [55]
Kepler postponed the move to Linz and remained in Prague until Rudolph's death in early 1612,
though between political upheaval, religious tension, and family tragedy (along with the legal dispute
over his wife's estate), Kepler could do no research. Instead, he pieced together a chronology
manuscript, Eclogae Chronicae, from correspondence and earlier work. Upon succession as Holy
Roman Emperor, Matthias re-affirmed Kepler's position (and salary) as imperial mathematician but
allowed him to move to Linz.[56]
Linz and elsewhere (1612–1630)
A statue of Kepler in Linz
In Linz, Kepler's primary responsibilities (beyond completing the Rudolphine Tables) were teaching
at the district school and providing astrological and astronomical services. In his first years there, he
enjoyed financial security and religious freedom relative to his life in Prague—though he was
excluded from Eucharist by his Lutheran church over his theological scruples. It was also during his
time in Linz that Kepler had to deal with the accusation and ultimate verdict of witchcraft against his
mother Katharina in the Protestant town of Leonberg. That blow, happening only a few years after
Kepler’s excommunication, is not seen as a coincidence but as a symptom of the full-fledged assault
waged by the Lutherans against Kepler.[57]
His first publication in Linz was De vero Anno (1613), an expanded treatise on the year of Christ's
birth; he also participated in deliberations on whether to introduce Pope Gregory's reformed
calendar to Protestant German lands; that year he also wrote the influential mathematical
treatise Nova stereometria doliorum vinariorum, on measuring the volume of containers such as
wine barrels, published in 1615.[58]
Second marriage
On October 30, 1613, Kepler married the 24-year-old Susanna Reuttinger. Following the death of his
first wife Barbara, Kepler had considered 11 different matches over two years (a decision process
formalized later as the marriage problem).[59]He eventually returned to Reuttinger (the fifth match)
who, he wrote, "won me over with love, humble loyalty, economy of household, diligence, and the
love she gave the stepchildren."[60] The first three children of this marriage (Margareta Regina,
Katharina, and Sebald) died in childhood. Three more survived into adulthood: Cordula (born 1621);
Fridmar (born 1623); and Hildebert (born 1625). According to Kepler's biographers, this was a much
happier marriage than his first.[61]
Epitome of Copernican Astronomy, calendars, and the witch trial of

his mother[edit]
Epitome astronomiae Copernicanae
Kepler's Figure 'M' from the Epitome, showing the world as belonging to just one of any number of similar
stars.
Since completing the Astronomia nova, Kepler had intended to compose an astronomy textbook.
[62]
In 1615, he completed the first of three volumes of Epitome astronomiae Copernicanae (Epitome
of Copernican Astronomy); the first volume (books I–III) was printed in 1617, the second (book IV) in
1620, and the third (books V–VII) in 1621. Despite the title, which referred simply to heliocentrism,
Kepler's textbook culminated in his own ellipse-based system. The Epitome became Kepler's most
influential work. It contained all three laws of planetary motion and attempted to explain heavenly
motions through physical causes.[63] Though it explicitly extended the first two laws of planetary
motion (applied to Mars in Astronomia nova) to all the planets as well as the Moon and the Medicean
satellites of Jupiter,[b] it did not explain how elliptical orbits could be derived from observational data.
[66]
As a spin-off from the Rudolphine Tables and the related Ephemerides, Kepler published

astrological calendars, which were very popular and helped offset the costs of producing his other
work—especially when support from the Imperial treasury was withheld. In his calendars—six
between 1617 and 1624—Kepler forecast planetary positions and weather as well as political
events; the latter were often cannily accurate, thanks to his keen grasp of contemporary political and
theological tensions. By 1624, however, the escalation of those tensions and the ambiguity of the
prophecies meant political trouble for Kepler himself; his final calendar was publicly burned in Graz.
[67]
Geometrical harmonies in the perfect solids from Harmonices Mundi(1619)
In 1615, Ursula Reingold, a woman in a financial dispute with Kepler's brother Christoph, claimed
Kepler's mother Katharina had made her sick with an evil brew. The dispute escalated, and in 1617
Katharina was accused of witchcraft; witchcraft trials were relatively common in central Europe at
this time. Beginning in August 1620, she was imprisoned for fourteen months. She was released in
October 1621, thanks in part to the extensive legal defense drawn up by Kepler. The accusers had
no stronger evidence than rumors. Katharina was subjected to territio verbalis, a graphic description
of the torture awaiting her as a witch, in a final attempt to make her confess. Throughout the trial,
Kepler postponed his other work to focus on his "harmonic theory". The result, published in 1619,
was Harmonices Mundi ("Harmony of the World").[68]
Harmonices Mundi
Harmonices Mundi
Kepler was convinced "that the geometrical things have provided the Creator with the model for
decorating the whole world".[69] In Harmony, he attempted to explain the proportions of the natural
world—particularly the astronomical and astrological aspects—in terms of music. [70] The central set of
"harmonies" was the musica universalis or "music of the spheres", which had been studied
by Pythagoras, Ptolemy and many others before Kepler; in fact, soon after publishing Harmonices
Mundi, Kepler was embroiled in a priority dispute with Robert Fludd, who had recently published his
own harmonic theory.[71]
Kepler began by exploring regular polygons and regular solids, including the figures that would come
to be known as Kepler's solids. From there, he extended his harmonic analysis to music,
meteorology, and astrology; harmony resulted from the tones made by the souls of heavenly bodies
—and in the case of astrology, the interaction between those tones and human souls. In the final
portion of the work (Book V), Kepler dealt with planetary motions, especially relationships
between orbital velocity and orbital distance from the Sun. Similar relationships had been used by
other astronomers, but Kepler—with Tycho's data and his own astronomical theories—treated them
much more precisely and attached new physical significance to them. [72]
Among many other harmonies, Kepler articulated what came to be known as the third law of
planetary motion. He then tried many combinations until he discovered that (approximately) "The
square of the periodic times are to each other as the cubes of the mean distances." Although he
gives the date of this epiphany (March 8, 1618), he does not give any details about how he arrived at
this conclusion.[73] However, the wider significance for planetary dynamics of this purely kinematical
law was not realized until the 1660s. When conjoined with Christiaan Huygens' newly discovered law
of centrifugal force, it enabled Isaac Newton, Edmund Halley, and perhaps Christopher
Wren and Robert Hooke to demonstrate independently that the presumed gravitational attraction
between the Sun and its planets decreased with the square of the distance between them. [74] This
refuted the traditional assumption of scholastic physics that the power of gravitational attraction
remained constant with distance whenever it applied between two bodies, such as was assumed by
Kepler and also by Galileo in his mistaken universal law that gravitational fall is uniformly
accelerated, and also by Galileo's student Borrelli in his 1666 celestial mechanics. [75]
Rudolphine Tables and his last years
Name "Copernicus" in a manuscript report by Kepler concerning the Rudolphine Tables (1616).
Title page of the Tabulae Rudolphinae, Ulm, 1627

Kepler's horoscope for General Wallenstein
In 1623, Kepler at last completed the Rudolphine Tables, which at the time was considered his major
work. However, due to the publishing requirements of the emperor and negotiations with Tycho
Brahe's heir, it would not be printed until 1627. In the meantime, religious tension — the root of the
ongoing Thirty Years' War — once again put Kepler and his family in jeopardy. In 1625, agents of
the Catholic Counter-Reformation placed most of Kepler's library under seal, and in 1626 the city of
Linz was besieged. Kepler moved to Ulm, where he arranged for the printing of the Tables at his
own expense.[76]
In 1628, following the military successes of the Emperor Ferdinand's armies under General
Wallenstein, Kepler became an official advisor to Wallenstein. Though not the general's court
astrologer per se, Kepler provided astronomical calculations for Wallenstein's astrologers and
occasionally wrote horoscopes himself. In his final years, Kepler spent much of his time traveling,
from the imperial court in Prague to Linz and Ulm to a temporary home in Sagan, and finally
to Regensburg. Soon after arriving in Regensburg, Kepler fell ill. He died on November 15, 1630,
and was buried there; his burial site was lost after the Swedish army destroyed the churchyard.
[77]
Only Kepler's self-authored poetic epitaph survived the times:
Mensus eram coelos, nunc terrae metior umbras
Mens coelestis erat, corporis umbra iacet.
I measured the skies, now the shadows I measure
Skybound was the mind, earthbound the body rests.[78]
Christianity
Kepler's belief that God created the cosmos in an orderly fashion caused him to
attempt to determine and comprehend the laws that govern the natural world, most
profoundly in astronomy.[79][80] The phrase "I am merely thinking God's thoughts after
Him" has been attributed to him, although this is probably a capsulized version of a
writing from his hand:
Those laws [of nature] are within the grasp of the human mind; God wanted us to
recognize them by creating us after his own image so that we could share in his
own thoughts.[81]
Reception of his astronomy

Kepler's laws of planetary motion were not immediately accepted. Several major
figures such as Galileo and René Descartes completely ignored
Kepler's Astronomia nova. Many astronomers, including Kepler's teacher, Michael
Maestlin, objected to Kepler's introduction of physics into his astronomy. Some
adopted compromise positions. Ismaël Bullialdus accepted elliptical orbits but
replaced Kepler's area law with uniform motion in respect to the empty focus of the
ellipse, while Seth Ward used an elliptical orbit with motions defined by an equant. [82]
[83][84]
Several astronomers tested Kepler's theory, and its various modifications, against
astronomical observations. Two transits of Venus and Mercury across the face of
the sun provided sensitive tests of the theory, under circumstances when these
planets could not normally be observed. In the case of the transit of Mercury in
1631, Kepler had been extremely uncertain of the parameters for Mercury, and
advised observers to look for the transit the day before and after the predicted
date.Pierre Gassendi observed the transit on the date predicted, a confirmation of
Kepler's prediction.[85] This was the first observation of a transit of Mercury. However,
his attempt to observe the transit of Venus just one month later was unsuccessful
due to inaccuracies in the Rudolphine Tables. Gassendi did not realize that it was
not visible from most of Europe, including Paris.[86] Jeremiah Horrocks, who
observed the 1639 Venus transit, had used his own observations to adjust the
parameters of the Keplerian model, predicted the transit, and then built apparatus to
observe the transit. He remained a firm advocate of the Keplerian model. [87][88][89]
Epitome of Copernican Astronomy was read by astronomers throughout Europe,
and following Kepler's death, it was the main vehicle for spreading Kepler's ideas. In
the period 1630 - 1650, this book was the most widely used astronomy textbook,
winning many converts to ellipse-based astronomy.[63] However, few adopted his
ideas on the physical basis for celestial motions. In the late 17th century, a number
of physical astronomy theories drawing from Kepler's work—notably those
of Giovanni Alfonso Borelli and Robert Hooke—began to incorporate attractive
forces (though not the quasi-spiritual motive species postulated by Kepler) and the
Cartesian concept of inertia.[90] This culminated in Isaac Newton's Principia
Mathematica (1687), in which Newton derived Kepler's laws of planetary motion
from a force-based theory of universal gravitation.[91]
Historical and cultural legacy
Monument to Tycho Brahe and Kepler in Prague, Czech Republic

The GDR stamp featuring Kepler
History of science
Beyond his role in the historical development of astronomy and natural philosophy,
Kepler has loomed large in the philosophy and historiography of science. Kepler
and his laws of motion were central to early histories of astronomy such as Jean-
Étienne Montucla's 1758 Histoire des mathématiques and Jean-Baptiste Delambre's
1821 Histoire de l'astronomie moderne. These and other histories written from
an Enlightenment perspective treated Kepler's metaphysical and religious
arguments with skepticism and disapproval, but later Romantic-era natural
philosophers viewed these elements as central to his success. William Whewell, in
his influential History of the Inductive Sciences of 1837, found Kepler to be the
archetype of the inductive scientific genius; in his Philosophy of the Inductive
Sciences of 1840, Whewell held Kepler up as the embodiment of the most
advanced forms of scientific method. Similarly, Ernst Friedrich Apelt—the first to
extensively study Kepler's manuscripts, after their purchase by Catherine the Great
—identified Kepler as a key to the "Revolution of the sciences". Apelt, who saw
Kepler's mathematics, aesthetic sensibility, physical ideas, and theology as part of a
unified system of thought, produced the first extended analysis of Kepler's life and
work.[92]
Alexandre Koyré's work on Kepler was, after Apelt, the first major milestone in
historical interpretations of Kepler's cosmology and its influence. In the 1930s and
1940s, Koyré, and a number of others in the first generation of professional
historians of science, described the "Scientific Revolution" as the central event in
the history of science, and Kepler as a (perhaps the) central figure in the revolution.
Koyré placed Kepler's theorization, rather than his empirical work, at the center of
the intellectual transformation from ancient to modern world-views. Since the 1960s,
the volume of historical Kepler scholarship has expanded greatly, including studies
of his astrology and meteorology, his geometrical methods, the role of his religious
views in his work, his literary and rhetorical methods, his interaction with the broader
cultural and philosophical currents of his time, and even his role as an historian of
science.[93]
Philosophers of science—such as Charles Sanders Peirce, Norwood Russell
Hanson, Stephen Toulmin, and Karl Popper—have repeatedly turned to Kepler:
examples of incommensurability, analogical reasoning, falsification, and many other
philosophical concepts have been found in Kepler's work. Physicist Wolfgang
Pauli even used Kepler's priority dispute with Robert Fludd to explore the
implications of analytical psychology on scientific investigation.[94]
Editions and translations

Modern translations of a number of Kepler's books appeared in the late-nineteenth
and early-twentieth centuries, the systematic publication of his collected works
began in 1937 (and is nearing completion in the early 21st century).
An edition in eight volumes, Kepleri Opera omnia, was prepared by Christian Frisch
(1807–1881), during 1858 to 1871, on the occasion of Kepler's 300th birthday.
Frisch's edition only included Kepler's Latin, with a Latin commentary.
A new edition was planned beginning in 1914 by Walther von Dyck (1856–1934).
Dyck compiled copies of Kepler's unedited manuscripts, using international
diplomatic contacts to convince the Soviet authorities to lend him the manuscripts
kept in Leningrad for photographic reproduction. These manuscripts contained
several works by Kepler that had not been available to Frisch. Dyck's photographs
remain the basis for the modern editions of Kepler's unpublished manuscripts.
Max Caspar (1880–1956) published his German translation of Kepler's Mysterium
Cosmographicum in 1923. Both Dyck and Caspar were influenced in their interest in
Kepler by mathematician Alexander von Brill (1842–1935). Caspar became Dyck's
collaborator, succeeding him as project leader in 1934, establishing the Kepler-
Kommission in the following year. Assisted by Martha List (1908–1992) and Franz
Hammer (1898–1979), Caspar continued editorial work during World War II. Max
Caspar also published a biography of Kepler in 1948. [95] The commission was later
chaired by Volker Bialas (during 1976–2003) and Ulrich Grigull (during 1984–1999)
and Roland Bulirsch (1998–2014).[96][97]
Popular science and historical fiction

Kepler has acquired a popular image as an icon of scientific modernity and a man
before his time; science popularizer Carl Sagan described him as "the
first astrophysicist and the last scientific astrologer". [98]
The debate over Kepler's place in the Scientific Revolution has produced a wide
variety of philosophical and popular treatments. One of the most influential is Arthur
Koestler's 1959 The Sleepwalkers, in which Kepler is unambiguously the hero
(morally and theologically as well as intellectually) of the revolution. [99]
A well-received, if fanciful, historical novel by John Banville, Kepler (1981), explored
many of the themes developed in Koestler's non-fiction narrative and in the
philosophy of science.[100] Somewhat more fanciful is a recent work of
nonfiction, Heavenly Intrigue (2004), suggesting that Kepler murdered Tycho Brahe
to gain access to his data.[101]
Veneration and eponymy

In Austria, Kepler left behind such a historical legacy that he was one of the motifs
of a silver collector's coin: the 10-euro Johannes Kepler silver coin, minted on
September 10, 2002. The reverse side of the coin has a portrait of Kepler, who
spent some time teaching in Graz and the surrounding areas. Kepler was
acquainted with Prince Hans Ulrich von Eggenbergpersonally, and he probably
influenced the construction of Eggenberg Castle (the motif of the obverse of the
coin). In front of him on the coin is the model of nested spheres and polyhedra
from Mysterium Cosmographicum.[102]
The German composer Paul Hindemith wrote an opera about Kepler entitled Die
Harmonie der Welt, and a symphony of the same name was derived from music for
the opera. Philip Glass wrote an opera called Kepler based on Kepler's life (2009).
Kepler is honored together with Nicolaus Copernicus with a feast day on
the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA) on May 23.[103]
List of things named after Johannes Kepler
Directly named for Kepler's contribution to science are Kepler's laws of planetary
motion, Kepler's Supernova (Supernova 1604, which he observed and described)
and the Kepler Solids, a set of geometrical constructions, two of which were
described by him, and the Kepler conjecture on sphere packing.
The Kepler crater as photographed by Apollo 12 in 1969
 In astronomy: The lunar crater Kepler (Keplerus, named by Giovanni Riccioli,

1651), the asteroid 1134 Kepler (1929), Kepler (crater on Mars) (1973), Kepler
Launch Site for model rockets (2001), the Kepler Mission, a
space photometerlaunched by NASA in 2009,[104] Johannes Kepler
ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle launched to resupply the ISS in 2011).
 Educational institutions: Johannes Kepler University Linz (1975), Kepler
College(Seattle, Washington), besides several institutions of primary and
secondary education, such as Johannes Kepler Grammar School, [105] at the site
where Kepler lived in Prague, and Kepler Gymnasium, Tübingen
 Streets or squares named after him: Keplerplatz Vienna (station of Vienna U-
Bahn), Keplerstraße in Hanau near Frankfurt am Main, Keplerstraße in Munich,
Germany, Keplerstraße and Keplerbrücke in Graz, Austria, Keplerova ulice in
Prague.
 The Kepler Mountains and Kepler Track in Fiordland National Park, South
Island, New Zealand; Kepler Challenge (1988).
 Kepler, a high end graphics processing microarchitecture introduced
by Nvidia in 2012.
Works
 Mysterium Cosmographicum (The Sacred Mystery of the Cosmos) (1596)
 De Fundamentis Astrologiae Certioribus (On Firmer Fundaments of Astrology;
1601)
 Astronomiae Pars Optica (The Optical Part of Astronomy) (1604)
 De Stella nova in pede Serpentarii (On the New Star in Ophiuchus's Foot)
(1606)
 Astronomia nova (New Astronomy) (1609)
 Tertius Interveniens (Third-party Interventions) (1610)
 Dissertatio cum Nuncio Sidereo (Conversation with the Starry Messenger)
(1610)
 Dioptrice (1611)
 De nive sexangula (On the Six-Cornered Snowflake) (1611) (English translation
on Google Books preview)
 De vero Anno, quo aeternus Dei Filius humanam naturam in Utero benedictae
Virginis Mariae assumpsit (1614)[106]
 Eclogae Chronicae (1615, published with Dissertatio cum Nuncio Sidereo)
 Nova stereometria doliorum vinariorum (New Stereometry of Wine Barrels)
(1615)
 Ephemerides nouae motuum coelestium (1617-30)
 Epitome astronomiae Copernicanae (Epitome of Copernican Astronomy)
(published in three parts from 1618 to 1621)
Epitome astronomiae copernicanae, 1618
 Harmonices Mundi (Harmony of the Worlds) (1619) (English translation on

Google Books)
 Mysterium cosmographicum (The Sacred Mystery of the Cosmos), 2nd edition
(1621)
 Tabulae Rudolphinae (Rudolphine Tables) (1627)
 Somnium (The Dream) (1634) (English translation on Google Books preview)
A critical edition of Kepler's collected works (Johannes Kepler Gesammelte Werke,
KGW) in 22 volumes is being edited by the Kepler-Kommission (founded 1935) on
behalf of the Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften.
Vol. 1: Mysterium Cosmographicum. De Stella Nova. Ed. M. Caspar. 1938, 2nd ed. 1993.
Paperback ISBN 3-406-01639-1.
Vol. 2: Astronomiae pars optica. Ed. F. Hammer. 1939, Paperback ISBN 3-406-01641-3.
Vol. 3: Astronomia Nova. Ed. M. Caspar. 1937. IV, 487 p. 2. ed. 1990. Paperback ISBN 3-
406-01643-X. Semi-parchment ISBN 3-406-01642-1.
Vol. 4: Kleinere Schriften 1602–1611. Dioptrice. Ed. M. Caspar, F. Hammer. 1941.ISBN 3-
406-01644-8.
Vol. 5: Chronologische Schriften. Ed. F. Hammer. 1953. Out-of-print.
Vol. 6: Harmonice Mundi. Ed. M. Caspar. 1940, 2nd ed. 1981, ISBN 3-406-01648-0.
Vol. 7: Epitome Astronomiae Copernicanae. Ed. M. Caspar. 1953, 2nd ed. 1991. ISBN 3-
406-01650-2, Paperback ISBN 3-406-01651-0.
Vol. 8: Mysterium Cosmographicum. Editio altera cum notis. De Cometis. Hyperaspistes.
Commentary F. Hammer. 1955. Paperback ISBN 3-406-01653-7.
Vol 9: Mathematische Schriften. Ed. F. Hammer. 1955, 2nd ed. 1999. Out-of-print.
Vol. 10: Tabulae Rudolphinae. Ed. F. Hammer. 1969. ISBN 3-406-01656-1.
Vol. 11,1: Ephemerides novae motuum coelestium. Commentary V. Bialas. 1983. ISBN 3-
406-01658-8, Paperback ISBN 3-406-01659-6.
Vol. 11,2: Calendaria et Prognostica. Astronomica minora. Somnium. Commentary V. Bialas,
H. Grössing. 1993. ISBN 3-406-37510-3, Paperback ISBN 3-406-37511-1.
Vol. 12: Theologica. Hexenprozeß. Tacitus-Übersetzung. Gedichte. Commentary J. Hübner,
H. Grössing, F. Boockmann, F. Seck. Directed by V. Bialas. 1990. ISBN 3-406-01660-X,
Paperback ISBN 3-406-01661-8.
 Vols. 13–18: Letters:

Vol. 13: Briefe 1590–1599. Ed. M. Caspar. 1945. 432 p. ISBN 3-406-01663-4.
Vol. 14: Briefe 1599–1603. Ed. M. Caspar. 1949. Out-of-print. 2nd ed. in preparation.
Vol 15: Briefe 1604–1607. Ed. M. Caspar. 1951. 2nd ed. 1995. ISBN 3-406-01667-7.
Vol. 16: Briefe 1607–1611. Ed. M. Caspar. 1954. ISBN 3-406-01668-5.
Vol. 19: Dokumente zu Leben und Werk. Commentary M. List. 1975. ISBN 978-3-406-
01674-5.
Vols. 20–21: manuscripts
Vol. 20,1: Manuscripta astronomica (I). Apologia, De motu Terrae, Hipparchus
etc. Commentary V. Bialas. 1988. ISBN 3-406-31501-1. Paperback ISBN 3-406-31502-X.
Vol. 20,2: Manuscripta astronomica (II). Commentaria in Theoriam Martis. Commentary V.
Bialas. 1998. Paperback ISBN 3-406-40593-2.
Vol. 21,1: Manuscripta astronomica (III) et mathematica. De Calendario Gregoriano. In
preparation.
Vol. 21,2: Manuscripta varia. In preparation.
Vol. 22: General index, in preparation.
The Kepler-Kommission also publishes Bibliographia Kepleriana (2nd ed. List, 1968), a complete
bibliography of editions of Kepler's works, with a supplementary volume to the second edition (ed.
Hamel 1998).
Sir Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton (25 December 1642–31 March 1727) is credited with introducing the idea that the
motion of objects in the heavens, such as planets, the Sun, and the Moon, and the motion of objects
on the ground, like cannon balls and falling apples, could be described by the same set of physical
laws. In this sense he unified celestial and terrestrial dynamics. Using Newton's law of universal
gravitation, proving Kepler's Laws for the case of a circular orbit is simple. Elliptical orbits involve
more complex calculations, which Newton included in his Principia. Sir Isaac Newton FRS PRS (25
December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27[1]) was an
English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, theologian, and author (described in his own day as a
"natural philosopher") who is widely recognised as one of the most influential scientists of all time,
and a key figure in the scientific revolution. His book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia
Mathematica ("Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy"), first published in 1687, laid the
foundations of classical mechanics. Newton also made seminal contributions to optics, and shares
credit with Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnizfor developing the infinitesimal calculus.
In Principia, Newton formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation that formed the
dominant scientific viewpoint until it was superseded by the theory of relativity. Newton used his
mathematical description of gravity to prove Kepler's laws of planetary motion, account for tides,
the trajectories of comets, the precession of the equinoxes and other phenomena, eradicating doubt
about the Solar System's heliocentricity. He demonstrated that the motion of
objects on Earth and celestial bodies could be accounted for by the same principles. Newton's
inference that the Earth is an oblate spheroid was later confirmed by the geodetic measurements
of Maupertuis, La Condamine, and others, convincing most European scientists of the superiority of
Newtonian mechanics over earlier systems.
Newton built the first practical reflecting telescope and developed a sophisticated theory of colour
based on the observation that a prism separates white light into the colours of the visible spectrum.
His work on light was collected in his highly influential book Opticks, published in 1704. He also
formulated an empirical law of cooling, made the first theoretical calculation of the speed of sound,
and introduced the notion of a Newtonian fluid. In addition to his work on calculus, as a
mathematician Newton contributed to the study of power series, generalised the binomial theorem to
non-integer exponents, developed a method for approximating the roots of a function, and classified
most of the cubic plane curves.
Sir
Isaac Newton
FRS PRS
Portrait of Newton by Godfrey Kneller, 1689
Newton was a fellow of Trinity College and the second Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at

the University of Cambridge. He was a devout but unorthodox Christian who privately rejected the
doctrine of the Trinity. Unusually for a member of the Cambridge faculty of the day, he refused to
take holy orders in the Church of England. Beyond his work on the mathematical sciences, Newton
dedicated much of his time to the study of alchemy and biblical chronology, but most of his work in
those areas remained unpublished until long after his death. Politically and personally tied to
the Whig party, Newton served two brief terms as Member of Parliament for the University of
Cambridge, in 1689–90 and 1701–02. He was knighted by Queen Anne in 1705 and spent the last
three decades of his life in London, serving as Warden (1696–1700) and Master (1700–1727) of
the Royal Mint, as well as president of the Royal Society (1703–1727).
European scientists of the superiority of Newtonian mechanics over earlier systems.
Newton built the first practical reflecting telescope and developed a sophisticated theory of colour
based on the observation that a prism separates white light into the colours of the visible spectrum.
His work on light was collected in his highly influential book Opticks, published in 1704. He also
formulated an empirical law of cooling, made the first theoretical calculation of the speed of sound,
and introduced the notion of a Newtonian fluid. In addition to his work on calculus, as a
mathematician Newton contributed to the study of power series, generalised the binomial theorem to
non-integer exponents, developed a method for approximating the roots of a function, and classified
most of the cubic plane curves.
Newton was a fellow of Trinity College and the second Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at
the University of Cambridge. He was a devout but unorthodox Christian who privately rejected the
doctrine of the Trinity. Unusually for a member of the Cambridge faculty of the day, he refused to
take holy orders in the Church of England. Beyond his work on the mathematical sciences, Newton
dedicated much of his time to the study of alchemy and biblical chronology, but most of his work in
those areas remained unpublished until long after his death. Politically and personally tied to
the Whig party, Newton served two brief terms as Member of Parliament for the University of
Cambridge, in 1689–90 and 1701–02. He was knighted by Queen Anne in 1705 and spent the last
three decades of his life in London, serving as Warden (1696–1700) and Master (1700–1727) of
the Royal Mint, as well as president of the Royal Society (1703–1727).
Life
Early life
Early life of Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton was born (according to the Julian calendar, in use in England at the time) on
Christmas Day, 25 December 1642 (NS 4 January 1643[1]) "an hour or two after midnight",
[6]
at Woolsthorpe Manor in Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, a hamlet in the county of Lincolnshire. His
father, also named Isaac Newton, had died three months before. Born prematurely, Newton was a
small child; his mother Hannah Ayscough reportedly said that he could have fit inside a quartmug.
[7]
When Newton was three, his mother remarried and went to live with her new husband, the
Reverend Barnabas Smith, leaving her son in the care of his maternal grandmother, Margery
Ayscough. Newton disliked his stepfather and maintained some enmity towards his mother for
marrying him, as revealed by this entry in a list of sins committed up to the age of 19: "Threatening
my father and mother Smith to burn them and the house over them." [8] Newton's mother had three
children from her second marriage
Part of a series on
Physical cosmology
 Big Bang · Universe
 Age of the universe
 Chronology of the universe
.[9]
From the age of about twelve until he was seventeen, Newton was educated at The King's School,
Grantham, which taught Latin and Greek and probably imparted a significant foundation of
mathematics.[10] He was removed from school, and returned to Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth by
October 1659. His mother, widowed for the second time, attempted to make him a farmer, an
occupation he hated.[11] Henry Stokes, master at The King's School, persuaded his mother to send
him back to school. Motivated partly by a desire for revenge against a schoolyard bully, he became
the top-ranked student,[12] distinguishing himself mainly by building sundials and models of windmills.
[13]
In June 1661, he was admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge, on the recommendation of his uncle
Rev William Ayscough, who had studied there. He started as a subsizar—paying his way by
performing valet's duties—until he was awarded a scholarship in 1664, guaranteeing him four more
years until he could get his MA.[14] At that time, the college's teachings were based on those
of Aristotle, whom Newton supplemented with modern philosophers such as Descartes,
and astronomers such as Galileo and Thomas Street, through whom he learned of Kepler's work. He
set down in his notebook a series of "Quaestiones" about mechanical philosophy as he found it. In
1665, he discovered the generalised binomial theorem and began to develop a mathematical theory
that later became calculus. Soon after Newton had obtained his BA degree in August 1665, the
university temporarily closed as a precaution against the Great Plague. Although he had been
undistinguished as a Cambridge student, [15] Newton's private studies at his home in Woolsthorpe
over the subsequent two years saw the development of his theories on calculus,[16] optics, and
the law of gravitation.
In April 1667, he returned to Cambridge and in October was elected as a fellow of Trinity. [17]
[18]
Fellows were required to become ordained priests, although this was not enforced in the
restoration years and an assertion of conformity to the Church of England was sufficient. However,
by 1675 the issue could not be avoided and by then his unconventional views stood in the way.
[19]
Nevertheless, Newton managed to avoid it by means of a special permission from Charles II.
His studies had impressed the Lucasian professor Isaac Barrow, who was more anxious to develop
his own religious and administrative potential (he became master of Trinity two years later); in 1669
Newton succeeded him, only one year after receiving his MA. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal
Society (FRS) in 1672.[2]
Middle years
Mathematics
Sir Isaac Newton[20]
Newton's work has been said "to distinctly advance every branch of mathematics then
studied."[21] His work on the subject usually referred to as fluxions or calculus, seen in a manuscript of
October 1666, is now published among Newton's mathematical papers. [22] The author of the
manuscript De analysi per aequationes numero terminorum infinitas, sent by Isaac Barrow to John
Collins in June 1669, was identified by Barrow in a letter sent to Collins in August of that year as
"[...] of an extraordinary genius and proficiency in these things." [23]
Newton later became involved in a dispute with Leibniz over priority in the development of calculus
(the Leibniz–Newton calculus controversy). Most modern historians believe that Newton and Leibniz
developed calculus independently, although with very different mathematical notations. Occasionally
it has been suggested that Newton published almost nothing about it until 1693, and did not give a
full account until 1704, while Leibniz began publishing a full account of his methods in 1684.
Leibniz's notation and "differential Method", nowadays recognised as much more convenient
notations, were adopted by continental European mathematicians, and after 1820 or so, also by
British mathematicians.[
Such a suggestion fails to account for the calculus in Book 1 of Newton's Principia itself and in its
forerunner manuscripts, such as De motu corporum in gyrum of 1684; this content has been pointed
out by critics[of both Newton's time and modern times.[
His work extensively uses calculus in geometric form based on limiting values of the ratios of
vanishingly small quantities: in the Principia itself, Newton gave demonstration of this under the
name of "the method of first and last ratios"[24] and explained why he put his expositions in this form,
[25]
remarking also that "hereby the same thing is performed as by the method of indivisibles." [
Because of this, the Principia has been called "a book dense with the theory and application of the
infinitesimal calculus" in modern times[26] and in Newton's time "nearly all of it is of this
calculus."[27] His use of methods involving "one or more orders of the infinitesimally small" is present
in his De motu corporum in gyrum of 1684[28] and in his papers on motion "during the two decades
preceding 1684".[29]
Newton in 1702 by Godfrey Kneller
Newton had been reluctant to publish his calculus because he feared controversy and criticism. [30] He
was close to the Swiss mathematician Nicolas Fatio de Duillier. In 1691, Duillier started to write a
new version of Newton's Principia, and corresponded with Leibniz.[31] In 1693, the relationship
between Duillier and Newton deteriorated and the book was never completed. [
Starting in 1699, other members[who?] of the Royal Society accused Leibniz of plagiarism.[32] The
dispute then broke out in full force in 1711 when the Royal Society proclaimed in a study that it was
Newton who was the true discoverer and labelled Leibniz a fraud; it was later found that Newton
wrote the study's concluding remarks on Leibniz. Thus began the bitter controversy which marred
the lives of both Newton and Leibniz until the latter's death in 1716. [33]
Newton is generally credited with the generalised binomial theorem, valid for any exponent. He
discovered Newton's identities, Newton's method, classified cubic plane curves (polynomials of
degree three in two variables), made substantial contributions to the theory of finite differences, and
was the first to use fractional indices and to employ coordinate geometry to derive solutions
to Diophantine equations. He approximated partial sums of the harmonic series by logarithms (a
precursor to Euler's summation formula) and was the first to use power series with confidence and to
revert power series. Newton's work on infinite series was inspired by Simon Stevin's decimals.[34]
When Newton received his MA and became a Fellow of the "College of the Holy and Undivided
Trinity" in 1667, he made the commitment that "I will either set Theology as the object of my studies
and will take holy orders when the time prescribed by these statutes [7 years] arrives, or I will resign
from the college."[35] Up until this point he had not thought much about religion and had twice signed
his agreement to the thirty-nine articles, the basis of Church of England doctrine.
He was appointed Lucasian Professor of Mathematics in 1669, on Barrow's recommendation. During
that time, any Fellow of a college at Cambridge or Oxford was required to take holy orders and
become an ordained Anglican priest. However, the terms of the Lucasian professorship required that
the holder not be active in the church – presumablyso as to have more time for science. Newton
argued that this should exempt him from the ordination requirement, and Charles II, whose
permission was needed, accepted this argument. Thus a conflict between Newton's religious views
and Anglican orthodoxy was averted. [36]
Optics
Replica of Newton's second reflecting telescope, which he presented to the Royal Society in 1672[37]
In 1666, Newton observed that the spectrum of colours exiting a prism in the position of minimum
deviation is oblong, even when the light ray entering the prism is circular, which is to say, the prism
refracts different colours by different angles.[38][39]This led him to conclude that colour is a property
intrinsic to light—a point which had been debated in prior years.
From 1670 to 1672, Newton lectured on optics.[40] During this period he investigated the refraction of
light, demonstrating that the multicoloured spectrum produced by a prism could be recomposed into
white light by a lens and a second prism.[41]Modern scholarship has revealed that Newton's analysis
and resynthesis of white light owes a debt to corpuscular alchemy.[42]
He showed that coloured light does not change its properties by separating out a coloured beam and
shining it on various objects, and that regardless of whether reflected, scattered, or transmitted, the
light remains the same colour. Thus, he observed that colour is the result of objects interacting with
already-coloured light rather than objects generating the colour themselves. This is known
as Newton's theory of colour.[43]
Illustration of a dispersive prismseparating white light into the colours of the spectrum, as discovered by
Newton
From this work, he concluded that the lens of any refracting telescope would suffer from
the dispersion of light into colours (chromatic aberration). As a proof of the concept, he constructed a
telescope using reflective mirrors instead of lenses as the objective to bypass that problem.[44]
[45]
Building the design, the first known functional reflecting telescope, today known as a Newtonian
telescope,[45] involved solving the problem of a suitable mirror material and shaping technique.
Newton ground his own mirrors out of a custom composition of highly reflective speculum metal,
using Newton's rings to judge the quality of the optics for his telescopes. In late 1668,[46] he was able
to produce this first reflecting telescope. It was about eight inches long and it gave a clearer and
larger image. In 1671, the Royal Society asked for a demonstration of his reflecting telescope. [47]Their
interest encouraged him to publish his notes, Of Colours,[48] which he later expanded into the
work Opticks. When Robert Hooke criticised some of Newton's ideas, Newton was so offended that
he withdrew from public debate. Newton and Hooke had brief exchanges in 1679–80, when Hooke,
appointed to manage the Royal Society's correspondence, opened up a correspondence intended to
elicit contributions from Newton to Royal Society transactions, [49] which had the effect of stimulating
Newton to work out a proof that the elliptical form of planetary orbits would result from a centripetal
force inversely proportional to the square of the radius vector. But the two men remained generally
on poor terms until Hooke's death. [50]
Facsimile of a 1682 letter from Isaac Newton to Dr William Briggs, commenting on Briggs' A New Theory of
Vision.
Newton argued that light is composed of particles or corpuscles, which were refracted by
accelerating into a denser medium. He verged on soundlike waves to explain the repeated pattern of
reflection and transmission by thin films (Opticks Bk.II, Props. 12), but still retained his theory of 'fits'
that disposed corpuscles to be reflected or transmitted (Props.13). However, later physicists
favoured a purely wavelike explanation of light to account for the interference patterns and the
general phenomenon of diffraction. Today's quantum mechanics, photons, and the idea of wave–
particle duality bear only a minor resemblance to Newton's understanding of light.
In his Hypothesis of Light of 1675, Newton posited the existence of the ether to transmit forces
between particles. The contact with the Cambridge Platonist philosopher Henry More revived his
interest in alchemy.[51] He replaced the ether with occult forces based on Hermetic ideas of attraction
and repulsion between particles. John Maynard Keynes, who acquired many of Newton's writings on
alchemy, stated that "Newton was not the first of the age of reason: He was the last of the
magicians."[52] Newton's interest in alchemy cannot be isolated from his contributions to science.
[51]
This was at a time when there was no clear distinction between alchemy and science. Had he not
relied on the occult idea of action at a distance, across a vacuum, he might not have developed his
theory of gravity.
In 1704, Newton published Opticks, in which he expounded his corpuscular theory of light. He
considered light to be made up of extremely subtle corpuscles, that ordinary matter was made of
grosser corpuscles and speculated that through a kind of alchemical transmutation "Are not gross
Bodies and Light convertible into one another, ... and may not Bodies receive much of their Activity
from the Particles of Light which enter their Composition?" [53] Newton also constructed a primitive
form of a frictional electrostatic generator, using a glass globe.[54]
In an article entitled "Newton, prisms, and the 'opticks' of tunable lasers" [55] it is indicated that Newton
in his book Opticks was the first to show a diagram using a prism as a beam expander. In the same
book he describes, via diagrams, the use of multiple-prism arrays. Some 278 years after Newton's
discussion, multiple-prism beam expanders became central to the development of narrow-
linewidth tunable lasers. Also, the use of these prismatic beam expanders led to the multiple-prism
dispersion theory.[55]
Subsequent to Newton, much has been amended. Young and Fresnel combined Newton's particle
theory with Huygens' wave theory to show that colour is the visible manifestation of light's
wavelength. Science also slowly came to realise the difference between perception of colour and
mathematisable optics. The German poet and scientist, Goethe, could not shake the Newtonian
foundation but "one hole Goethe did find in Newton's armour, ... Newton had committed himself to
the doctrine that refraction without colour was impossible. He therefore thought that the object-
glasses of telescopes must for ever remain imperfect, achromatism and refraction being
incompatible. This inference was proved by Dollond to be wrong."[56]
Engraving of a Portrait of Sir Isaac Newton by John Vanderbank
Mechanics and gravitation

Writing of Principia Mathematica
Newton's own copy of his Principia, with hand-written corrections for the second edition, in the Wren
Library at Trinity College, Cambridge.
In 1679, Newton returned to his work on celestial mechanics by considering gravitation and its effect
on the orbits of planets with reference to Kepler's laws of planetary motion. This followed stimulation
by a brief exchange of letters in 1679–80 with Hooke, who had been appointed to manage the Royal
Society's correspondence, and who opened a correspondence intended to elicit contributions from
Newton to Royal Society transactions.[49] Newton's reawakening interest in astronomical matters
received further stimulus by the appearance of a comet in the winter of 1680–1681, on which he
corresponded with John Flamsteed.[57] After the exchanges with Hooke, Newton worked out proof
that the elliptical form of planetary orbits would result from a centripetal force inversely proportional
to the square of the radius vector. Newton communicated his results to Edmond Halley and to the
Royal Society in De motu corporum in gyrum, a tract written on about nine sheets which was copied
into the Royal Society's Register Book in December 1684. [58] This tract contained the nucleus that
Newton developed and expanded to form the Principia.
The Principia was published on 5 July 1687 with encouragement and financial help from Edmond
Halley. In this work, Newton stated the three universal laws of motion. Together, these laws describe
the relationship between any object, the forces acting upon it and the resulting motion, laying the
foundation for classical mechanics. They contributed to many advances during the Industrial
Revolution which soon followed and were not improved upon for more than 200 years. Many of
these advancements continue to be the underpinnings of non-relativistic technologies in the modern
world. He used the Latin word gravitas (weight) for the effect that would become known as gravity,
and defined the law of universal gravitation
In the same work, Newton presented a calculus-like method of geometrical analysis using 'first and
last ratios', gave the first analytical determination (based on Boyle's law) of the speed of sound in air,
inferred the oblateness of Earth's spheroidal figure, accounted for the precession of the equinoxes
as a result of the Moon's gravitational attraction on the Earth's oblateness, initiated the gravitational
study of the irregularities in the motion of the Moon, provided a theory for the determination of the
orbits of comets, and much more
Newton made clear his heliocentric view of the Solar System—developed in a somewhat modern
way, because already in the mid-1680s he recognised the "deviation of the Sun" from the centre of
gravity of the Solar System.[59] For Newton, it was not precisely the centre of the Sun or any other
body that could be considered at rest, but rather "the common centre of gravity of the Earth, the Sun
and all the Planets is to be esteem'd the Centre of the World", and this centre of gravity "either is at
rest or moves uniformly forward in a right line" (Newton adopted the "at rest" alternative in view of
common consent that the centre, wherever it was, was at rest). [60]
Newton's postulate of an invisible force able to act over vast distances led to him being criticised for
introducing "occult agencies" into science.[61] Later, in the second edition of the Principia (1713),
Newton firmly rejected such criticisms in a concluding General Scholium, writing that it was enough
that the phenomena implied a gravitational attraction, as they did; but they did not so far indicate its
cause, and it was both unnecessary and improper to frame hypotheses of things that were not
implied by the phenomena. (Here Newton used what became his famous expression "hypotheses
non-fingo"[62]).
With the Principia, Newton became internationally recognised. [63] He acquired a circle of admirers,
including the Swiss-born mathematician Nicolas Fatio de Duillier.[64]
Classification of cubics
Main article: Cubic plane curve
Newton found 72 of the 78 "species" of cubic curves and categorized them into four types. [when?] In
1717, and probably with Newton's help, James Stirling proved that every cubic was one of these four
types. Newton also claimed that the four types could be obtained by plane projection from one of
them, and this was proved in 1731, four years after his death. [65]
Later life
Later life of Isaac Newton
In the 1690s, Newton wrote a number of religious tracts dealing with the literal and symbolic
interpretation of the Bible. A manuscript Newton sent to John Locke in which he disputed the fidelity
of 1 John 5:7—the Johannine Comma—and its fidelity to the original manuscripts of the New
Testament, remained unpublished until 1785.[66]
Scholars long debated whether Newton disputed the doctrine of the Trinity. His first biographer, Sir
David Brewster, who compiled his manuscripts, interpreted Newton as questioning the veracity of
some passages used to support the Trinity, but never denying the doctrine of the Trinity as such. [67] In
the twentieth century, encrypted manuscripts written by Newton and bought by John Maynard
Keynes (among others) were deciphered[52] and it became known that Newton did indeed reject
Trinitarianism.[68]
Isaac Newton in old age in 1712, portrait by Sir James Thornhill

Later works—The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended (1728) and Observations Upon the
Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John (1733)—were published after his death. He
also devoted a great deal of time to alchemy.
Newton was also a member of the Parliament of England for Cambridge University in 1689 and
1701, but according to some accounts his only comments were to complain about a cold draught in
the chamber and request that the window be closed. [69] He was, however, noted by Cambridge
diarist Abraham de la Pryme to have rebuked students who were frightening locals by claiming that a
house was haunted.[70]
Newton moved to London to take up the post of warden of the Royal Mint in 1696, a position that he
had obtained through the patronage of Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, then Chancellor of the
Exchequer. He took charge of England's great recoining, trodden on the toes of Lord Lucas,
Governor of the Tower, and secured the job of deputy comptroller of the temporary Chester branch
for Edmond Halley. Newton became perhaps the best-known Master of the Mint upon the death
of Thomas Neale in 1699, a position Newton held for the last 30 years of his life.[71][72] These
appointments were intended as sinecures, but Newton took them seriously. He retired from his
Cambridge duties in 1701, and exercised his authority to reform the currency and
punish clippers and counterfeiters.
As Warden, and afterwards as Master, of the Royal Mint, Newton estimated that 20 per cent of the
coins taken in during the Great Recoinage of 1696 were counterfeit. Counterfeiting was high
treason, punishable by the felon being hanged, drawn and quartered. Despite this, convicting even
the most flagrant criminals could be extremely difficult, however, Newton proved equal to the task. [73]
Disguised as a habitué of bars and taverns, he gathered much of that evidence himself. [74] For all the
barriers placed to prosecution, and separating the branches of government, English law still had
ancient and formidable customs of authority. Newton had himself made a justice of the peace in all
the home counties. A draft letter regarding the matter is included in Newton's personal first edition
of Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, which he must have been amending at the time.
[75]
Then he conducted more than 100 cross-examinations of witnesses, informers, and suspects
between June 1698 and Christmas 1699. Newton successfully prosecuted 28 coiners.[76]
Coat of arms of the Newton family of Great Gonerby, Lincolnshire, afterwards used by Sir Isaac.[77]
As a result of a report written by Newton on 21 September 1717 to the Lords Commissioners of His
Majesty's Treasury, the bimetallic relationship between gold coins and silver coins was changed by
Royal proclamation on 22 December 1717, forbidding the exchange of gold guineas for more than
21 silver shillings.[78] This inadvertently resulted in a silver shortage as silver coins were used to pay
for imports, while exports were paid for in gold, effectively moving Britain from the silver standard to
its first gold standard. It is a matter of debate as to whether he intended to do this or not. [79] It has
been argued that Newton conceived of his work at the Mint as a continuation of his alchemical work.
[80]
Newton was made President of the Royal Society in 1703 and an associate of the French Académie
des Sciences. In his position at the Royal Society, Newton made an enemy of John Flamsteed,
the Astronomer Royal, by prematurely publishing Flamsteed's Historia Coelestis Britannica, which
Newton had used in his studies.[81]
In April 1705, Queen Anne knighted Newton during a royal visit to Trinity College, Cambridge. The
knighthood is likely to have been motivated by political considerations connected with
the Parliamentary election in May 1705, rather than any recognition of Newton's scientific work or
services as Master of the Mint.[82] Newton was the second scientist to be knighted, after Sir Francis
Bacon.[83]
Newton was one of many people who lost heavily when the South Sea Company collapsed. Their
most significant trade was slaves, and according to his niece, he lost around £20,000.[84]
Toward the end of his life, Newton took up residence at Cranbury Park, near Winchester with his
niece and her husband, until his death in 1727.[85] His half-niece, Catherine Barton Conduitt,[86] served
as his hostess in social affairs at his house on Jermyn Street in London; he was her "very loving
Uncle",[87] according to his letter to her when she was recovering from smallpox.
Death
Newton died in his sleep in London on 20 March 1727 (OS 20 March 1726; NS 31 March 1727).
[1]
His body was buried in Westminster Abbey.[88] Voltaire may have been present at his funeral. [89] A
bachelor, he had divested much of his estate to relatives during his last years, and died intestate.
[90]
His papers went to John Conduitt and Catherine Barton. [91] After his death, Newton's hair was
examined and found to contain mercury, probably resulting from his alchemical pursuits. Mercury
poisoningcould explain Newton's eccentricity in late life.[90]
Personal relations
Although it was claimed that he was once engaged, [92] Newton never married. The French writer and
philosopher Voltaire, who was in London at the time of Newton's funeral, said that he "was never
sensible to any passion, was not subject to the common frailties of mankind, nor had any commerce
with women—a circumstance which was assured me by the physician and surgeon who attended
him in his last moments".[93] The widespread belief that he died a virgin has been commented on by
writers such as mathematician Charles Hutton,[94] economist John Maynard Keynes,[95] and
physicist Carl Sagan.[96]
Newton had a close friendship with the Swiss mathematician Nicolas Fatio de Duillier, whom he met
in London around 1689[64]—some of their correspondence has survived.[97][98] Their relationship came
to an abrupt and unexplained end in 1693, and at the same time Newton suffered a nervous
breakdown[99] which included sending wild accusatory letters to his friends Samuel Pepys and John
Locke—his note to the latter included the charge that Locke "endeavoured to embroil me with
woemen".[100]
After death
Isaac Newton in popular culture
Fame
Newton's tomb monument in Westminster Abbey
The mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange said that Newton was the greatest genius who ever
lived, and once added that Newton was also "the most fortunate, for we cannot find more than once
a system of the world to establish."[101] English poet Alexander Pope wrote the famous epitaph:
Nature and nature's laws lay hid in night;
God said "Let Newton be" and all was light.
Newton was relatively modest about his achievements, writing in a letter to Robert Hooke in
February 1676:
If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.[102]
Two writers think that the above quotation, written at a time when Newton and Hooke were in
dispute over optical discoveries, was an oblique attack on Hooke (said to have been short and
hunchbacked), rather than—or in addition to—a statement of modesty.[103][104]On the other hand, the
widely known proverb about standing on the shoulders of giants, published among others by
seventeenth-century poet George Herbert (a former orator of the University of Cambridge and fellow
of Trinity College) in his Jacula Prudentum (1651), had as its main point that "a dwarf on a giant's
shoulders sees farther of the two", and so its effect as an analogy would place Newton himself rather
than Hooke as the 'dwarf'.
In a later memoir, Newton wrote:
I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy
playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a
prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me. [105]
In 1816, a tooth said to have belonged to Newton was sold for £730[106] (US$3,633) in London to an
aristocrat who had it set in a ring.[107] The Guinness World Records2002 classified it as the most
valuable tooth, which would value approximately £25,000 (US$35,700) in late 2001.[107] Who bought it
and who currently has it has not been disclosed.
Albert Einstein kept a picture of Newton on his study wall alongside ones of Michael
Faraday and James Clerk Maxwell.[108] Newton remains influential to today's scientists, as
demonstrated by a 2005 survey of members of Britain's Royal Society (formerly headed by Newton)
asking who had the greater effect on the history of science, Newton or Einstein. Royal Society
scientists deemed Newton to have made the greater overall contribution. [109] In 1999, an opinion poll
of 100 of today's leading physicists voted Einstein the "greatest physicist ever;" with Newton the
runner-up, while a parallel survey of rank-and-file physicists by the site PhysicsWeb gave the top
spot to Newton.[110]
Commemorations
Newton statue on display at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Newton's monument (1731) can be seen in Westminster Abbey, at the north of the entrance to the
choir against the choir screen, near his tomb. It was executed by the sculptor Michael
Rysbrack (1694–1770) in white and grey marble with design by the architect William Kent. The
monument features a figure of Newton reclining on top of a sarcophagus, his right elbow resting on
several of his great books and his left hand pointing to a scroll with a mathematical design. Above
him is a pyramid and a celestial globe showing the signs of the Zodiac and the path of the comet of
1680. A relief panel depicts putti using instruments such as a telescope and prism.[111] The Latin
inscription on the base translates as:
Here is buried Isaac Newton, Knight, who by a strength of mind almost divine, and mathematical
principles peculiarly his own, explored the course and figures of the planets, the paths of comets, the
tides of the sea, the dissimilarities in rays of light, and, what no other scholar has previously
imagined, the properties of the colours thus produced. Diligent, sagacious and faithful, in his
expositions of nature, antiquity and the holy Scriptures, he vindicated by his philosophy the majesty
of God mighty and good, and expressed the simplicity of the Gospel in his manners. Mortals rejoice
that there has existed such and so great an ornament of the human race! He was born on 25
December 1642, and died on 20 March 1726/7.—Translation from G.L. Smyth, The Monuments and
Genii of St. Paul's Cathedral, and of Westminster Abbey (1826), ii, 703–704.[111]
From 1978 until 1988, an image of Newton designed by Harry Ecclestone appeared on Series D
£1 banknotes issued by the Bank of England (the last £1 notes to be issued by the Bank of
England). Newton was shown on the reverse of the notes holding a book and accompanied by a
telescope, a prism and a map of the Solar System.[112]
Eduardo Paolozzi's Newton, after William Blake (1995), outside the British Library
A statue of Isaac Newton, looking at an apple at his feet, can be seen at the Oxford University
Museum of Natural History. A large bronze statue, Newton, after William Blake, by Eduardo
Paolozzi, dated 1995 and inspired by Blake's etching, dominates the piazza of the British Library in
London.
Religious views
Religious views of Isaac Newton
Although born into an Anglican family, by his thirties Newton held a Christian faith that, had it been
made public, would not have been considered orthodox by mainstream Christianity; [113] in recent
times he has been described as a heretic.[68]
By 1672 he had started to record his theological researches in notebooks which he showed to no
one and which have only recently been examined. They demonstrate an extensive knowledge of
early church writings and show that in the conflict between Athanasius and Arius which defined
the Creed, he took the side of Arius, the loser, who rejected the conventional view of the Trinity.
Newton "recognized Christ as a divine mediator between God and man, who was subordinate to the
Father who created him."[114] He was especially interested in prophecy, but for him, "the great
apostasy was trinitarianism."[115]
Newton tried unsuccessfully to obtain one of the two fellowships that exempted the holder from the
ordination requirement. At the last moment in 1675 he received a dispensation from the government
that excused him and all future holders of the Lucasian chair. [116]
In Newton's eyes, worshipping Christ as God was idolatry, to him the fundamental
sin. [117] Historian Stephen D. Snobelen says, "Isaac Newton was a heretic. But ... he never made a
public declaration of his private faith—which the orthodox would have deemed extremely radical. He
hid his faith so well that scholars are still unravelling his personal beliefs." [68] Snobelen concludes that
Newton was at least a Socinian sympathiser (he owned and had thoroughly read at least eight
Socinian books), possibly an Arian and almost certainly an anti-trinitarian.[68]
In a minority view, T.C. Pfizenmaier argues that Newton held the Eastern Orthodox view on the
Trinity.[118] However, this type of view 'has lost support of late with the availability of Newton's
theological papers',[119] and now most scholars identify Newton as an Antitrinitarian monotheist.[68][120]
Although the laws of motion and universal gravitation became Newton's best-known discoveries, he
warned against using them to view the Universe as a mere machine, as if akin to a great clock. He
said, "Gravity explains the motions of the planets, but it cannot explain who set the planets in motion.
God governs all things and knows all that is or can be done." [121]
Along with his scientific fame, Newton's studies of the Bible and of the early Church Fathers were
also noteworthy. Newton wrote works on textual criticism, most notably An Historical Account of Two
Notable Corruptions of Scripture and Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the
Apocalypse of St. John.[122] He placed the crucifixion of Jesus Christ at 3 April, AD 33, which agrees
with one traditionally accepted date.[123]
He believed in a rationally immanent world, but he rejected the hylozoism implicit
in Leibniz and Baruch Spinoza. The ordered and dynamically informed Universe could be
understood, and must be understood, by an active reason. In his correspondence, Newton claimed
that in writing the Principia "I had an eye upon such Principles as might work with considering men
for the belief of a Deity".[124] He saw evidence of design in the system of the world: "Such a wonderful
uniformity in the planetary system must be allowed the effect of choice". But Newton insisted that
divine intervention would eventually be required to reform the system, due to the slow growth of
instabilities.[125] For this, Leibniz lampooned him: "God Almighty wants to wind up his watch from time
to time: otherwise it would cease to move. He had not, it seems, sufficient foresight to make it a
perpetual motion."[126]
Newton's position was vigorously defended by his follower Samuel Clarke in a famous
correspondence. A century later, Pierre-Simon Laplace's work "Celestial Mechanics" had a natural
explanation for why the planet orbits do not require periodic divine intervention. [127]
Effect on religious thought
Newton, by William Blake; here, Newton is depicted critically as a "divine geometer". This copy of the work is
currently held by the Tate Collection.[128]
Newton and Robert Boyle's approach to the mechanical philosophy was promoted

by rationalist pamphleteers as a viable alternative to the pantheists and enthusiasts, and was
accepted hesitantly by orthodox preachers as well as dissident preachers like the latitudinarians.
[129]
The clarity and simplicity of science was seen as a way to combat the emotional
and metaphysical superlatives of both superstitious enthusiasm and the threat of atheism,[130] and at
the same time, the second wave of English deists used Newton's discoveries to demonstrate the
possibility of a "Natural Religion".
The attacks made against pre-Enlightenment "magical thinking", and the mystical elements of
Christianity, were given their foundation with Boyle's mechanical conception of the Universe. Newton
gave Boyle's ideas their completion through mathematical proofs and, perhaps more importantly,
was very successful in popularising them.[131]
Occult
Isaac Newton's occult studies and eschatology
In a manuscript he wrote in 1704 (never intended to be published) he mentions the date of 2060, but
it is not given as a date for the end of days. It has been falsely reported as a prediction. [132] The
passage is clear, when the date is read in context. He was against date setting for the end of days,
concerned that this would put Christianity into disrepute.
"So then the time times & half a time [sic] are 42 months or 1260 days or three years & an half,
recconing twelve months to a year & 30 days to a month as was done in the Calender [sic] of the
primitive year. And the days of short lived Beasts being put for the years of [long-]lived kingdoms the
period of 1260 days, if dated from the complete conquest of the three kings A.C. 800, will end 2060.
It may end later, but I see no reason for its ending sooner." [133]
"This I mention not to assert when the time of the end shall be, but to put a stop to the rash
conjectures of fanciful men who are frequently predicting the time of the end, and by doing so bring
the sacred prophesies into discredit as often as their predictions fail. Christ comes as a thief in the
night, and it is not for us to know the times and seasons which God hath put into his own breast." [134]
[132]
Alchemy
In the character of Morton Opperly in "Poor Superman" (1951), speculative fiction author Fritz
Leiber says of Newton, "Everyone knows Newton as the great scientist. Few remember that he
spent half his life muddling with alchemy, looking for the philosopher's stone. That was the pebble by
the seashore he really wanted to find."[135]
Of an estimated ten million words of writing in Newton's papers, about one million deal with alchemy.
Many of Newton's writings on alchemy are copies of other manuscripts, with his own annotations.
[91]
Alchemical texts mix artisanal knowledge with philosophical speculation, often hidden behind
layers of wordplay, allegory, and imagery to protect craft secrets.[136] Some of the content contained in
Newton's papers could have been considered heretical by the church. [91]
In 1888, after spending sixteen years cataloging Newton's papers, Cambridge University kept a
small number and returned the rest to the Earl of Portsmouth. In 1936, a descendant offered the
papers for sale at Sotheby's.[137] The collection was broken up and sold for a total of about £9,000.
[138]
John Maynard Keynes was one of about three dozen bidders who obtained part of the collection
at auction. Keynes went on to reassemble an estimated half of Newton's collection of papers on
alchemy before donating his collection to Cambridge University in 1946. [91][137][139]
All of Newton's known writings on alchemy are currently being put online in a project undertaken
by Indiana University: "The Chymistry of Isaac Newton".[140]
Newton's fundamental contributions to science include the quantification of gravitational attraction,
the discovery that white light is actually a mixture of immutable spectral colors, and the formulation
of the calculus. Yet there is another, more mysterious side to Newton that is imperfectly known, a
realm of activity that spanned some thirty years of his life, although he kept it largely hidden from his
contemporaries and colleagues. We refer to Newton's involvement in the discipline of alchemy, or as
it was often called in seventeenth-century England, "chymistry." [140]
Enlightenment philosophers
Enlightenment philosophers chose a short history of scientific predecessors – Galileo, Boyle, and
Newton principally – as the guides and guarantors of their applications of the singular concept
of nature and natural law to every physical and social field of the day. In this respect, the lessons of
history and the social structures built upon it could be discarded. [141]
It was Newton's conception of the universe based upon natural and rationally understandable laws
that became one of the seeds for Enlightenment ideology. [142] Locke and Voltaire applied concepts of
natural law to political systems advocating intrinsic rights; the physiocrats and Adam Smith applied
natural conceptions of psychologyand self-interest to economic systems; and sociologists criticised
the current social order for trying to fit history into natural models
of progress. Monboddo and Samuel Clarke resisted elements of Newton's work, but eventually
rationalised it to conform with their strong religious views of nature.
Apple incident
Reputed descendants of Newton's apple tree (from top to bottom) at Trinity College, Cambridge,

the Cambridge University Botanic Garden, and the Instituto Balseiro library garden in Argentina.
Newton himself often told the story that he was inspired to formulate his theory of gravitation by
watching the fall of an apple from a tree.[143][144] Although it has been said that the apple story is a myth
and that he did not arrive at his theory of gravity in any single moment, [145] acquaintances of Newton
(such as William Stukeley, whose manuscript account of 1752 has been made available by the
Royal Society) do in fact confirm the incident, though not the apocryphal version that the apple
actually hit Newton's head. Stukeley recorded in his Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton's Life a
conversation with Newton in Kensington on 15 April 1726: [146][147][148]
we went into the garden, & drank thea under the shade of some appletrees, only he, & myself.
amidst other discourse, he told me, he was just in the same situation, as when formerly, the notion of
gravitation came into his mind. "why should that apple always descend perpendicularly to the
ground," thought he to him self: occasion'd by the fall of an apple, as he sat in a comtemplative
mood: "why should it not go sideways, or upwards? but constantly to the earths centre? assuredly,
the reason is, that the earth draws it. there must be a drawing power in matter. & the sum of the
drawing power in the matter of the earth must be in the earths center, not in any side of the earth.
therefore dos this apple fall perpendicularly, or toward the center. if matter thus draws matter; it must
be in proportion of its quantity. therefore the apple draws the earth, as well as the earth draws the
apple."
John Conduitt, Newton's assistant at the Royal Mint and husband of Newton's niece, also described
the event when he wrote about Newton's life:[149]
In the year 1666 he retired again from Cambridge to his mother in Lincolnshire. Whilst he was
pensively meandering in a garden it came into his thought that the power of gravity (which brought
an apple from a tree to the ground) was not limited to a certain distance from earth, but that this
power must extend much further than was usually thought. Why not as high as the Moon said he to
himself & if so, that must influence her motion & perhaps retain her in her orbit, whereupon he fell a
calculating what would be the effect of that supposition.
In similar terms, Voltaire wrote in his Essay on Epic Poetry (1727), "Sir Isaac Newton walking in his
gardens, had the first thought of his system of gravitation, upon seeing an apple falling from a tree."
It is known from his notebooks that Newton was grappling in the late 1660s with the idea that
terrestrial gravity extends, in an inverse-square proportion, to the Moon; however it took him two
decades to develop the full-fledged theory.[150] The question was not whether gravity existed, but
whether it extended so far from Earth that it could also be the force holding the Moon to its orbit.
Newton showed that if the force decreased as the inverse square of the distance, one could indeed
calculate the Moon's orbital period, and get good agreement. He guessed the same force was
responsible for other orbital motions, and hence named it "universal gravitation".
Various trees are claimed to be "the" apple tree which Newton describes. The King's School,
Grantham claims that the tree was purchased by the school, uprooted and transported to the
headmaster's garden some years later. The staff of the (now) National Trust-owned Woolsthorpe
Manor dispute this, and claim that a tree present in their gardens is the one described by Newton. A
descendant of the original tree[151] can be seen growing outside the main gate of Trinity College,
Cambridge, below the room Newton lived in when he studied there. The National Fruit
Collection at Brogdale in Kent[152] can supply grafts from their tree, which appears identical to Flower
of Kent, a coarse-fleshed cooking variety.[153]
Works
Writing of Principia Mathematica
Published in his lifetime
 De analysi per aequationes numero terminorum infinitas (1669, published 1711)[154]

 Of Natures Obvious Laws & Processes in Vegetation (unpublished, c. 1671–75)[155]
 De motu corporum in gyrum (1684)[156]
 Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687)[157]
 Scala graduum Caloris. Calorum Descriptiones & signa (1701)[158]
 Opticks (1704)[159]
 Reports as Master of the Mint (1701–1725)[160]
 Arithmetica Universalis (1707)[160]
Published posthumously
 De mundi systemate (The System of the World) (1728)[160]

 Optical Lectures (1728)[160]
 The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended (1728)[160]
 Observations on Daniel and The Apocalypse of St. John (1733)[160]
 Method of Fluxions (1671, published 1736)[161]
 An Historical Account of Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture (1754)[160]
Joseph-Louis Lagrange
Joseph-Louis Lagrange (/ləˈɡrɑːndʒ/[1] or /ləˈɡreɪndʒ/;[2] French: [lagʁɑ̃ʒ]; born Giuseppe Luigi
Lagrangia[3] or Giuseppe Ludovico De la Grange Tournier,[4] 25 January 1736 – 10 April 1813;
also reported as Giuseppe Luigi Lagrange[5] or Lagrangia[6]) was an Italian Enlightenment
Era mathematician and astronomer. He made significant contributions to the fields
of analysis, number theory, and both classical and celestial mechanics.
In 1766, on the recommendation of Leonhard Euler and d'Alembert, Lagrange succeeded Euler as
the director of mathematics at the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin, Prussia, where he
stayed for over twenty years, producing volumes of work and winning several prizes of the French
Academy of Sciences. Lagrange's treatise on analytical mechanics (Mécanique analytique, 4. ed., 2
vols. Paris: Gauthier-Villars et fils, 1788–89), written in Berlin and first published in 1788, offered the
most comprehensive treatment of classical mechanics since Newton and formed a basis for the
development of mathematical physics in the nineteenth century.
In 1787, at age 51, he moved from Berlin to Paris and became a member of the French Academy of
Sciences. He remained in France until the end of his life. He was significantly involved in
the decimalisation in Revolutionary France, became the first professor of analysis at the École
Polytechnique upon its opening in 1794, was a founding member of the Bureau des Longitudes, and
became Senator in 1799.
Joseph-Louis Lagrange
Joseph-Louis (Giuseppe Luigi),
comte de Lagrange
After Newton, Lagrange (25 January 1736–10 April 1813) attempted to solve the three-body

problem, analyzed the stability of planetary orbits, and discovered the existence of the Lagrangian
points. Lagrange also reformulated the principles of classical mechanics, emphasizing energy more
than force and developing a method to use a single polar coordinate equation to describe any orbit,
even those that are parabolic and hyperbolic. This is useful for calculating the behaviour of planets
and comets and such. More recently, it has also become useful to calculate spacecraft trajectories.
Scientific contribution
Lagrange was one of the creators of the calculus of variations, deriving the Euler–Lagrange
equations for extrema of functionals. He also extended the method to take into account possible
constraints, arriving at the method of Lagrange multipliers. Lagrange invented the method of
solving differential equations known as variation of parameters, applied differential calculus to
the theory of probabilities and attained notable work on the solution of equations. He proved
that every natural number is a sum of four squares. His treatise Theorie des fonctions
analytiques laid some of the foundations of group theory, anticipating Galois. In calculus, Lagrange
developed a novel approach to interpolation and Taylor series. He studied the three-body
problem for the Earth, Sun and Moon (1764) and the movement of Jupiter's satellites (1766), and in
1772 found the special-case solutions to this problem that yield what are now known as Lagrangian
points. But above all, he is best known for his work on mechanics, where he transformed Newtonian
mechanics into a branch of analysis, Lagrangian mechanics as it is now called, and presented the
so-called mechanical "principles" as simple results of the variational calculus.
Biography
In appearance he was of medium height, and slightly formed, with pale blue eyes and a colourless complexion. In
character he was nervous and timid, he detested controversy, and to avoid it willingly allowed others to take the credit
for what he had himself done.
He always thought out the subject of his papers before he began to compose them, and usually wrote them straight
off without a single erasure or correction.
W.W. Rouse Ball[7]
Early years
Born as Giuseppe Lodovico Lagrangia, Lagrange was of Italian and French descent. His paternal
great-grandfather was a Frencharmy officer who had moved to Turin, the de facto capital of
the kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia at Lagrange's time, and married an Italian; so did his grandfather
and his father. His mother was from the countryside of Turin.[8] He was raised as a Roman
Catholic(but later on became an agnostic).[9]
His father, who had charge of the king's military chest and was Treasurer of the Office of Public
Works and Fortifications in Turin, should have maintained a good social position and wealth, but
before his son grew up he had lost most of his property in speculations. A career as a lawyer was
planned out for Lagrange by his father, and certainly Lagrange seems to have accepted this
willingly. He studied at the University of Turin and his favourite subject was classical Latin. At first he
had no great enthusiasm for mathematics, finding Greek geometry rather dull.
It was not until he was seventeen that he showed any taste for mathematics – his interest in the
subject being first excited by a paper by Edmond Halley which he came across by accident. Alone
and unaided he threw himself into mathematical studies; at the end of a year's incessant toil he was
already an accomplished mathematician. Charles Emmanuel III appointed Lagrange to serve as the
"Sostituto del Maestro di Matematica" (mathematics assistant professor) at the Royal Military
Academy of the Theory and Practice of Artillery in 1755, where he taught courses in calculus and
mechanics to support the Piedmontese army's early adoption of the ballistics theories of Benjamin
Robins and Leonhard Euler. In that capacity, Lagrange was the first to teach calculus in an
engineering school. According to Alessandro Papacino D'Antoni, the academy's military commander
and famous artillery theorist, Lagrange unfortunately proved to be a problematic professor with his
oblivious teaching style, abstract reasoning, and impatience with artillery and fortification-
engineering applications.[10] In this Academy one of his students was François Daviet de Foncenex.[11]
Variational calculus
Lagrange is one of the founders of the calculus of variations. Starting in 1754, he worked on the
problem of tautochrone, discovering a method of maximising and minimising functionals in a way
similar to finding extrema of functions. Lagrange wrote several letters to Leonhard Euler between
1754 and 1756 describing his results. He outlined his "δ-algorithm", leading to the Euler–Lagrange
equations of variational calculus and considerably simplifying Euler's earlier analysis. [12] Lagrange
also applied his ideas to problems of classical mechanics, generalising the results of Euler
and Maupertuis.
Euler was very impressed with Lagrange's results. It has been stated that "with characteristic
courtesy he withheld a paper he had previously written, which covered some of the same ground, in
order that the young Italian might have time to complete his work, and claim the undisputed
invention of the new calculus"; however, this chivalric view has been disputed. [13] Lagrange published
his method in two memoirs of the Turin Society in 1762 and 1773.
Miscellanea Taurinensia
In 1758, with the aid of his pupils (mainly Daviet de Foncenex), Lagrange established a society,
which was subsequently incorporated as the Turin Academy of Sciences, and most of his early
writings are to be found in the five volumes of its transactions, usually known as the Miscellanea
Taurinensia. Many of these are elaborate papers. The first volume contains a paper on the theory of
the propagation of sound; in this he indicates a mistake made by Newton, obtains the
general differential equation for the motion, and integrates it for motion in a straight line. This volume
also contains the complete solution of the problem of a string vibrating transversely; in this paper he
points out a lack of generality in the solutions previously given by Brook Taylor, D'Alembert, and
Euler, and arrives at the conclusion that the form of the curve at any time t is given by the
equation . The article concludes with a masterly discussion

of echoes, beats, and compound sounds. Other articles in this volume are
on recurring series, probabilities, and the calculus of variations.
The second volume contains a long paper embodying the results of several papers in the first
volume on the theory and notation of the calculus of variations; and he illustrates its use by deducing
the principle of least action, and by solutions of various problems in dynamics.
The third volume includes the solution of several dynamical problems by means of the calculus of
variations; some papers on the integral calculus; a solution of Fermat's problem mentioned above:
given an integer n which is not a perfect square, to find a number x such that x2n + 1 is a perfect
square; and the general differential equations of motion for three bodies moving under their mutual
attractions.
The next work he produced was in 1764 on the libration of the Moon, and an explanation as to why
the same face was always turned to the earth, a problem which he treated by the aid of virtual work.
His solution is especially interesting as containing the germ of the idea of generalised equations of
motion, equations which he first formally proved in 1780.
Berlin
Already in 1756, Euler and Maupertuis, seeing his mathematical talent, tried to persuade him to
come to Berlin, but Lagrange had no such intention and shyly refused the offer. In
1765, d'Alembert interceded on Lagrange's behalf with Frederick of Prussia and by letter, asked him
to leave Turin for a considerably more prestigious position in Berlin. Lagrange again turned down the
offer, responding that[14]:361
It seems to me that Berlin would not be at all suitable for me while M.Euler is there.
In 1766, Euler left Berlin for Saint Petersburg, and Frederick himself wrote to Lagrange
expressing the wish of "the greatest king in Europe" to have "the greatest mathematician in
Europe" resident at his court. Lagrange was finally persuaded and he spent the next twenty
years in Prussia, where he produced not only the long series of papers published in the Berlin
and Turin transactions, but also his monumental work, the Mécanique analytique. In 1767, he
married his cousin Vittoria Conti.
Lagrange was a favourite of the king, who used frequently to discourse to him on the
advantages of perfect regularity of life. The lesson went home, and thenceforth Lagrange
studied his mind and body as though they were machines, and found by experiment the exact
amount of work which he was able to do without breaking down. Every night he set himself a
definite task for the next day, and on completing any branch of a subject he wrote a short
analysis to see what points in the demonstrations or in the subject-matter were capable of
improvement. He always thought out the subject of his papers before he began to compose
them, and usually wrote them straight off without a single erasure or correction.
Nonetheless, during his years in Berlin, Lagrange's health was rather poor on many occasions,
and that of his wife Vittoria was even worse. She died in 1783 after years of illness and
Lagrange was very depressed. In 1786, Frederick II died, and the climate of Berlin became
rather trying for Lagrange.[8]
Paris
In 1786, following Frederick's death, Lagrange received similar invitations from states including
Spain and Naples, and he accepted the offer of Louis XVI to move to Paris. In France he was
received with every mark of distinction and special apartments in the Louvre were prepared for
his reception, and he became a member of the French Academy of Sciences, which later
became part of the Institut de France (1795). At the beginning of his residence in Paris he was
seized with an attack of melancholy, and even the printed copy of his Mécanique on which he
had worked for a quarter of a century lay for more than two years unopened on his desk.
Curiosity as to the results of the French revolution first stirred him out of his lethargy, a curiosity
which soon turned to alarm as the revolution developed.
It was about the same time, 1792, that the unaccountable sadness of his life and his timidity
moved the compassion of 24-year-old Renée-Françoise-Adélaïde Le Monnier, daughter of his
friend, the astronomer Pierre Charles Le Monnier. She insisted on marrying him, and proved a
devoted wife to whom he became warmly attached.
In September 1793, the Reign of Terror began. Under intervention of Antoine Lavoisier, who
himself was by then already thrown out of the Academy along with many other scholars,
Lagrange was specifically exempted by name in the decree of October 1793 that ordered all
foreigners to leave France. On 4 May 1794, Lavoisier and 27 other tax farmers were arrested
and sentenced to death and guillotined on the afternoon after the trial. Lagrange said on the
death of Lavoisier:
It took only a moment to cause this head to fall and a hundred years will not suffice to
produce its like.[8]
Though Lagrange had been preparing to escape from France while there was yet time, he
was never in any danger; different revolutionary governments (and at a later
time, Napoleon) loaded him with honours and distinctions. This luckiness or safety may to
some extent be due to his life attitude he expressed many years before: "I believe that, in
general, one of the first principles of every wise man is to conform strictly to the laws of the
country in which he is living, even when they are unreasonable".[8] A striking testimony to the
respect in which he was held was shown in 1796 when the French commissary in Italy was
ordered to attend in full state on Lagrange's father, and tender the congratulations of the
republic on the achievements of his son, who "had done honor to all mankind by his genius,
and whom it was the special glory of Piedmont to have produced." It may be added that
Napoleon, when he attained power, warmly encouraged scientific studies in France, and
was a liberal benefactor of them. Appointed senator in 1799, he was the first signer of
the Sénatus-consulte which in 1802 annexed his fatherland Piedmont to France. [5] He
acquired French citizenship in consequence. [5] The French claimed he was a French
mathematician, but the Italians continued to claim him as Italian. [8]
Units of measurement
Lagrange was considerably involved in the process of making new standard units of
measurement in the 1790s. He was offered the presidency of the Commission for the reform
of weights and measures (la Commission des Poids et Mesures) when he was preparing to
escape. And after Lavoisier's death in 1794, it was largely owing to Lagrange's influence
that the final choice of the unit system of metre and kilogram was settled and the decimal
subdivision was finally accepted by the commission of 1799. Lagrange was also one of the
founding members of the Bureau des Longitudes in 1795.
École Normale
In 1795, Lagrange was appointed to a mathematical chair at the newly established École
Normale, which enjoyed only a brief existence of four months. His lectures there were quite
elementary, and contain nothing of any special importance, but they were published
because the professors had to "pledge themselves to the representatives of the people and
to each other neither to read nor to repeat from memory," and the discourses were ordered
to be taken down in shorthand to enable the deputies to see how the professors acquitted
themselves.
École Polytechnique
In 1794, Lagrange was appointed professor of the École Polytechnique; and his lectures
there, described by mathematicians who had the good fortune to be able to attend them,
were almost perfect both in form and matter. Beginning with the merest elements, he led his
hearers on until, almost unknown to themselves, they were themselves extending the
bounds of the subject: above all he impressed on his pupils the advantage of always using
general methods expressed in a symmetrical notation.
But Lagrange does not seem to have been a successful teacher. Fourier, who attended his
lectures in 1795, wrote:
his voice is very feeble, at least in that he does not become heated; he has a very marked
Italian accent and pronounces the s like z [...] The students, of whom the majority are
incapable of appreciating him, give him little welcome, but the professeurs make amends for
it.[15]
Late years
Lagrange's tomb in the crypt of the Panthéon
In 1810, Lagrange commenced a thorough revision of the Mécanique analytique, but he

was able to complete only about two-thirds of it before his death at Paris in 1813, in
128 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. Napoleon honoured him with the Grand Croix of the
Ordre Impérial de la Réunion just two days before he died. He was buried that same
year in the Panthéon in Paris. The inscription on his tomb reads in translation:
JOSEPH LOUIS LAGRANGE. Senator. Count of the Empire. Grand Officer of the
Legion of Honour. Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of the Reunion. Member of the
Institute and the Bureau of Longitude. Born in Turin on 25 January 1736. Died in Paris
on 10 April 1813.
Work in Berlin
Lagrange was extremely active scientifically during twenty years he spent in Berlin. Not
only did he produce his Mécanique analytique, but he contributed between one and two
hundred papers to the Academy of Turin, the Berlin Academy, and the French
Academy. Some of these are really treatises, and all without exception are of a high
order of excellence. Except for a short time when he was ill he produced on average
about one paper a month. Of these, note the following as amongst the most important.
First, his contributions to the fourth and fifth volumes, 1766–1773, of the Miscellanea
Taurinensia; of which the most important was the one in 1771, in which he discussed
how numerous astronomical observations should be combined so as to give the most
probable result. And later, his contributions to the first two volumes, 1784–1785, of the
transactions of the Turin Academy; to the first of which he contributed a paper on the
pressure exerted by fluids in motion, and to the second an article on integration
by infinite series, and the kind of problems for which it is suitable.
Most of the papers sent to Paris were on astronomical questions, and among these
including his paper on the Jovian system in 1766, his essay on the problem of three
bodies in 1772, his work on the secular equation of the Moon in 1773, and his treatise
on cometary perturbations in 1778. These were all written on subjects proposed by
the Académie française, and in each case the prize was awarded to him.
Lagrangian mechanics
[Between 1772 and 1788, Lagrange re-formulated Classical/Newtonian mechanics
to simplify formulas and ease calculations. These mechanics are
called Lagrangian mechanics.
Algebra
The greater number of his papers during this time were, however, contributed to
the Prussian Academy of Sciences. Several of them deal with questions in algebra.
 His discussion of representations of integers by quadratic forms (1769) and by more

general algebraic forms (1770).
 His tract on the Theory of Elimination, 1770.
 Lagrange's theorem that the order of a subgroup H of a group G must divide the
order of G.
 His papers of 1770 and 1771 on the general process for solving an algebraic
equation of any degree via the Lagrange resolvents. This method fails to give a
general formula for solutions of an equation of degree five and higher, because the
auxiliary equation involved has higher degree than the original one. The significance
of this method is that it exhibits the already known formulas for solving equations of
second, third, and fourth degrees as manifestations of a single principle, and was
foundational in Galois theory. The complete solution of a binomial equation of any
degree is also treated in these papers.
 In 1773, Lagrange considered a functional determinant of order 3, a special case of
a Jacobian. He also proved the expression for the volume of a tetrahedron with one
of the vertices at the origin as the one sixth of the absolute valueof
the determinant formed by the coordinates of the other three vertices.
Number theory
Several of his early papers also deal with questions of number theory.
 Lagrange (1766–1769) was the first European to prove that Pell's

equation x2 − ny2 = 1 has a nontrivial solution in the integers for any non-square
natural number n.[16]
 He proved the theorem, stated by Bachet without justification, that every positive
integer is the sum of four squares, 1770.
 He proved Wilson's theorem that (for any integer n > 1): n is a prime if and only
if (n − 1)! + 1 is a multiple of n, 1771.
 His papers of 1773, 1775, and 1777 gave demonstrations of several results
enunciated by Fermat, and not previously proved.
 His Recherches d'Arithmétique of 1775 developed a general theory of
binary quadratic forms to handle the general problem of when an integer is
representable by the form ax2 + by2 + cxy.
 He made contributions to the theory of continued fractions.
Other mathematical work
There are also numerous articles on various points of analytical geometry. In two of
them, written rather later, in 1792 and 1793, he reduced the equations of the
quadrics (or conicoids) to their canonical forms.
During the years from 1772 to 1785, he contributed a long series of papers which
created the science of partial differential equations. A large part of these results were
collected in the second edition of Euler's integral calculus which was published in 1794.
Astronomy
Lastly, there are numerous papers on problems in astronomy. Of these the most
important are the following:
 Attempting to solve the general three-body problem, with the consequent discovery

of the two constant-pattern solutions, collinear and equilateral, 1772. Those
solutions were later seen to explain what are now known as the Lagrangian points.
 On the attraction of ellipsoids, 1773: this is founded on Maclaurin's work.
 On the secular equation of the Moon, 1773; also noticeable for the earliest
introduction of the idea of the potential. The potential of a body at any point is the
sum of the mass of every element of the body when divided by its distance from the
point. Lagrange showed that if the potential of a body at an external point were
known, the attraction in any direction could be at once found. The theory of the
potential was elaborated in a paper sent to Berlin in 1777.
 On the motion of the nodes of a planet's orbit, 1774.
 On the stability of the planetary orbits, 1776.
 Two papers in which the method of determining the orbit of a comet from three
observations is completely worked out, 1778 and 1783: this has not indeed proved
practically available, but his system of calculating the perturbations by means of
mechanical quadratures has formed the basis of most subsequent researches on
the subject.
 His determination of the secular and periodic variations of the elements of the
planets, 1781–1784: the upper limits assigned for these agree closely with those
obtained later by Le Verrier, and Lagrange proceeded as far as the knowledge then
possessed of the masses of the planets permitted.
 Three papers on the method of interpolation, 1783, 1792 and 1793: the part of finite
differences dealing therewith is now in the same stage as that in which Lagrange
left it.
Mécanique analytique
Over and above these various papers he composed his great treatise, the Mécanique
analytique. In this he lays down the law of virtual work, and from that one fundamental
principle, by the aid of the calculus of variations, deduces the whole of mechanics, both
of solids and fluids.
The object of the book is to show that the subject is implicitly included in a single
principle, and to give general formulae from which any particular result can be obtained.
The method of generalised co-ordinates by which he obtained this result is perhaps the
most brilliant result of his analysis. Instead of following the motion of each individual part
of a material system, as D'Alembert and Euler had done, he showed that, if we
determine its configuration by a sufficient number of variables whose number is the
same as that of the degrees of freedom possessed by the system, then the kinetic and
potential energies of the system can be expressed in terms of those variables, and the
differential equations of motion thence deduced by simple differentiation. For example,
in dynamics of a rigid system he replaces the consideration of the particular problem by
the general equation, which is now usually written in the form
where T represents the kinetic energy and V represents the potential energy of the

system. He then presented what we now know as the method of Lagrange
multipliers—though this is not the first time that method was published—as a means
to solve this equation.[17] Amongst other minor theorems here given it may suffice to
mention the proposition that the kinetic energy imparted by the given impulses to a
material system under given constraints is a maximum, and the principle of least
action. All the analysis is so elegant that Sir William Rowan Hamilton said the work
could be described only as a scientific poem. Lagrange remarked that mechanics
was really a branch of pure mathematics analogous to a geometry of four
dimensions, namely, the time and the three coordinates of the point in space; and it
is said that he prided himself that from the beginning to the end of the work there
was not a single diagram. At first no printer could be found who would publish the
book; but Legendre at last persuaded a Paris firm to undertake it, and it was issued
under the supervision of Laplace, Cousin, Legendre (editor) and Condorcet in 1788.
[8]
Work in France
Differential calculus and calculus of variations
Lagrange's lectures on the differential calculus at École Polytechnique form the
basis of his treatise Théorie des fonctions analytiques, which was published in
1797. This work is the extension of an idea contained in a paper he had sent to the
Berlin papers in 1772, and its object is to substitute for the differential calculus a
group of theorems based on the development of algebraic functions in series,
relying in particular on the principle of the generality of algebra.
A somewhat similar method had been previously used by John Landen in
the Residual Analysis, published in London in 1758. Lagrange believed that he
could thus get rid of those difficulties, connected with the use of infinitely large and
infinitely small quantities, to which philosophers objected in the usual treatment of
the differential calculus. The book is divided into three parts: of these, the first treats
of the general theory of functions, and gives an algebraic proof of Taylor's theorem,
the validity of which is, however, open to question; the second deals with
applications to geometry; and the third with applications to mechanics.
Another treatise on the same lines was his Leçons sur le calcul des fonctions,
issued in 1804, with the second edition in 1806. It is in this book that Lagrange
formulated his celebrated method of Lagrange multipliers, in the context of problems
of variational calculus with integral constraints. These works devoted to differential
calculus and calculus of variations may be considered as the starting point for the
researches of Cauchy, Jacobi, and Weierstrass.
Infinitesimals
At a later period Lagrange fully embraced the use of infinitesimals in preference to
founding the differential calculus on the study of algebraic forms; and in the preface
to the second edition of the Mécanique Analytique, which was issued in 1811, he
justifies the employment of infinitesimals, and concludes by saying that:
When we have grasped the spirit of the infinitesimal method, and have verified the exactness
of its results either by the geometrical method of prime and ultimate ratios, or by the
analytical method of derived functions, we may employ infinitely small quantities as a sure
and valuable means of shortening and simplifying our proofs.
Number theory
His Résolution des équations numériques, published in 1798, was also the fruit
of his lectures at École Polytechnique. There he gives the method of
approximating to the real roots of an equation by means of continued fractions,
and enunciates several other theorems. In a note at the end he shows
how Fermat's little theorem, that is
where p is a prime and a is prime to p, may be applied to give the complete
algebraic solution of any binomial equation. He also here explains how the
equation whose roots are the squares of the differences of the roots of the
original equation may be used so as to give considerable information as to
the position and nature of those roots.
Celestial mechanics
The theory of the planetary motions had formed the subject of some of the
most remarkable of Lagrange's Berlin papers. In 1806 the subject was
reopened by Poisson, who, in a paper read before the French Academy,
showed that Lagrange's formulae led to certain limits for the stability of the
orbits. Lagrange, who was present, now discussed the whole subject
afresh, and in a letter communicated to the Academy in 1808 explained
how, by the variation of arbitrary constants, the periodical and secular
inequalities of any system of mutually interacting bodies could be
determined.
Prizes and distinctions

Euler proposed Lagrange for election to the Berlin Academy and he was
elected on 2 September 1756. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal
Society of Edinburgh in 1790, a Fellow of the Royal Society and a foreign
member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1806. In
1808, Napoleon made Lagrange a Grand Officer of the Legion of
Honour and a Count of the Empire. He was awarded the Grand Croix of
the Ordre Impérial de la Réunion in 1813, a week before his death in Paris.
Lagrange was awarded the 1764 prize of the French Academy of
Sciences for his memoir on the libration of the Moon. In 1766 the Academy
proposed a problem of the motion of the satellites of Jupiter, and the prize
again was awarded to Lagrange. He also shared or won the prizes of 1772,
1774, and 1778.
Lagrange is one of the 72 prominent French scientists who were
commemorated on plaques at the first stage of the Eiffel Tower when it first
opened. Rue Lagrange in the 5th Arrondissement in Paris is named after
him. In Turin, the street where the house of his birth still stands is
named via Lagrange. The lunar crater Lagrange also bears his name.
Simon Newcomb
Simon Newcomb (12 March 1835–11 July 1909) was a Canadian-American astronomer who
revised Peter Andreas Hansen's table of lunar positions. In 1877, assisted by George William Hill, he
recalculated all the major astronomical constants. After 1884, he conceived with A. M. W. Downing a
plan to resolve much international confusion on the subject. By the time he attended a
standardisation conference in Paris, France in May 1886, the international consensus was that all
ephemerides should be based on Newcomb's calculations. A further conference as late as 1950
confirmed Newcomb's constants as the international standard.
Simon Newcomb
Newcomb c. 1905
Simon Newcomb (March 12, 1835 – July 11, 1909) was a Canadian–Americanastronomer, applied
mathematician and autodidactic polymath, who was Professor of Mathematics in the U.S. Navy and
at Johns Hopkins.[1]
Though he had little conventional schooling, he made important contributions to timekeeping as well
as other fields in applied mathematics such as economics and statistics in addition to writing
a science fiction novel.
Biography
Early life
Simon Newcomb was born in the town of Wallace, Nova Scotia. His parents were Emily Prince, the
daughter of a New Brunswick magistrate, and itinerant school teacher John Burton Newcomb. John
moved around teaching in different parts of Canada, particularly in different villages in Nova Scotia
and Prince Edward Island. Emily was a daughter of Thomas Prince and Miriam Steeves, making
Simon a great-great-grandson of Heinrich Stief, and a not-too-distant cousin of William Henry
Steeves, a Canadian Father of Confederation.
Newcomb seems to have had little conventional schooling other than from his father and from a
short apprenticeship to Dr. Foshay, a charlatan herbalist, in New Brunswick in 1851. Nevertheless,
his father provided him with an excellent foundation for his future studies. Newcomb's apprenticeship
with Dr. Foshay occurred when he was 16-years-old. They entered an agreement that Newcomb
would serve a five-year apprenticeship during which time Foshay would train him in using herbs to
treat illnesses. For two years he was an apprentice but became increasingly unhappy and
disillusioned with his apprenticeship and about Foshay's unscientific approach, realizing that the
man was a charlatan. He made the decision to walk out on Foshay and break their agreement. He
walked the 120 miles (190 km) to the port of Calais in Maine where he met the captain of a ship who
agreed to take him to Salem, Massachusetts so that he could join his father. [2] In about 1854, he
joined his father in Salem (John Newcomb had moved earlier to the United States), and the two
journeyed together to Maryland.
After arriving in Maryland, Newcomb taught for two years from 1854 to 1856; for the first year in a
country school in Massey's Cross Roads, Kent County, Maryland, then for a year at a school not far
south in Sudlersville in Queen Anne's County, Maryland. In his spare time he studied a variety of
subjects such as political economy and religion, but his deepest studies were made in mathematics
and astronomy. In particular he read Newton's Principia at this time. In 1856 he took up a position as
a private tutor close to Washington and he often travelled to that city to study mathematics in the
libraries there. He was able to borrow a copy of Bowditch's translation of Laplace's Traité de
mécanique céleste from the library of the Smithsonian Institution but found the mathematics beyond
him.[3]
Newcomb studied mathematics and physics privately and supported himself by teaching before
becoming a human computer(a functionary in charge of calculations) at the Nautical Almanac
Office in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1857. At around the same time, he enrolled at the Lawrence
Scientific School of Harvard University, graduating BSc in 1858.[3]
Peirce family
Newcomb studied mathematics under Benjamin Peirce and the impecunious Newcomb was often a
welcome guest at the Peirce home. [4] However, he later was said to develop a dislike of Peirce's
son, Charles Sanders Peirce and has been accused of a "successful destruction" of C. S. Peirce's
career.[5] In particular, Daniel Coit Gilman, president of Johns Hopkins University, is alleged to have
been on the point of awarding tenure to C. S. Peirce, before Newcomb intervened behind the scenes
to dissuade him.[6] About 20 years later, Newcomb allegedly influenced the Carnegie
Institution Trustees, to prevent C. S. Peirce's last chance to publish his life's work, through a denial
of a Carnegie grant to Peirce, even though Andrew Carnegie himself, Theodore Roosevelt, William
James and others, wrote to support it.[7]
Career in astronomy
In the prelude to the American Civil War, many US Navy staff of Confederate sympathies left the
service and, in 1861, Newcomb took advantage of one of the ensuing vacancies to become
professor of mathematics and astronomer at the United States Naval Observatory, Washington D.C..
Newcomb set to work on the measurement of the position of the planetsas an aid to navigation,
becoming increasingly interested in theories of planetary motion.[3]
By the time Newcomb visited Paris, France in 1870, he was already aware that the table of lunar
positions calculated by Peter Andreas Hansen was in error. While in Paris, he realised that, in
addition to the data from 1750 to 1838 that Hansen had used, there was further data stretching as
far back as 1672. His visit allowed little serenity for analysis as he witnessed the defeat of French
emperor Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War and the coup that ended the Second French
Empire. Newcomb managed to escape from the city during the ensuing rioting that led up to the
formation of the Paris Commune and which engulfed the Paris Observatory. Newcomb was able to
use the "new" data to revise Hansen's tables.[3]
He was offered the post of director of the Harvard College Observatory in 1875 but declined, having
by now settled that his interests lay in mathematics rather than observation.[3]
Director of the Nautical Almanac Office

In 1877 he became director of the Nautical Almanac Office where, ably assisted by George William
Hill, he embarked on a program of recalculation of all the major astronomical constants. Despite
fulfilling a further demanding role as professor of mathematics and astronomy at Johns Hopkins
University from 1884, he conceived with A. M. W. Downing a plan to resolve much international
confusion on the subject. By the time he attended a standardisation conference in Paris, France, in
May 1896, the international consensus was that all ephemerides should be based on Newcomb's
calculations—Newcomb's Tables of the Sun. A further conference as late as 1950 confirmed
Newcomb's constants as the international standard. [3]
Personal life
Grave of Simon Newcomb in Arlington National Cemetery
Newcomb married Mary Caroline Hassler on August 4, 1863 and had four daughters with her. [8] Mary
Caroline Hassler's father was United States Navy Surgeon Dr. Charles Augustus Hassler and her
grandfather was Ferdinand Hassler, the first Superintendent of the Coast Survey.[9] Newcomb died
in Washington, DC of bladder cancer and was buried with military honors in Arlington National
Cemetery with President William Howard Taft in attendance.[3]
Newcomb's daughter Anita Newcomb McGee was an MD and founder of the Army Nurse Corps.
She received the Spanish War Service Medal for her services during the Spanish–American War.
For her work in Japan she was awarded the Japanese Imperial Order of the Precious Crown,
The Japanese Red Cross decoration and two Russo–Japanese War medals from the Japanese
government. She is buried next to him with full military honors. [10]
Newcomb's daughter Anna Josepha studied at the Art Students' League in New York.[11] She was
active in the suffrage movement. In 1912, she organized the first Cornwall meeting in support of
voting rights for women.[11] Josepha Newcomb married Assistant US Attorney General Edward
Baldwin Whitney, who was the son of Professor William Dwight Whitney and the grandson of US
Senator and Connecticut Governor Roger Sherman Baldwin. He was also the grandfather of
mathematician and Professor Hassler Whitney.[12]
Work
Speed of light
In 1878, Newcomb had started planning for a new and precise measurement of the speed of
light that was needed to account for exact values of many astronomical constants. He had already
started developing a refinement of the method of Léon Foucault when he received a letter from the
young naval officer and physicist Albert Abraham Michelson who was also planning such a
measurement. Thus began a long collaboration and friendship. In 1880, Michelson assisted at
Newcomb's initial measurement with instruments located at Fort Myer and the United States Naval
Observatory, then situated on the Potomac River. However, Michelson had left to start his own
project by the time of the second set of measurements between the observatory and the Washington
Monument. Though Michelson published his first measurement in 1880, Newcomb's measurement
was substantially different. In 1883, Michelson revised his measurement to a value closer to
Newcomb's.[3]
Benford's law
In 1881, Newcomb discovered the statistical principle now known as Benford's law, when he
observed that the earlier pages of logarithm books, used at that time to carry out logarithmic
calculations, were far more worn than the later pages. This led him to formulate the principle that, in
any list of numbers taken from an arbitrary set of data, more numbers will tend to begin with "1" than
with any other digit.[13]
Chandler wobble
In 1891, within months of Seth Carlo Chandler's discovery of the 14-month variation of latitude, now
referred to as the Chandler wobble, Newcomb explained the apparent conflict between the observed
motion and predicted period of the wobble. The theory was based on a perfectly rigid body, but Earth
is slightly elastic. Newcomb used the variation of latitude observations to estimate the elasticity of
Earth, finding it to be slightly more rigid than steel. [14]
Other work
Newcomb was an autodidact and polymath. He wrote on economics and his Principles of political
economy (1885) was described by John Maynard Keynes as "one of those original works which a
fresh scientific mind, not perverted by having read too much of the orthodox stuff, is able to produce
from time to time in a half-formed subject like economics." He was credited by Irving Fisher with the
first-known enunciation of the equation of exchange between money and goods used in the quantity
theory of money.[15] He spoke French, German, Italian and Swedish; was an active mountaineer;
widely read; and authored a number of popular science books and a science fiction novel, His
Wisdom the Defender (1900).[3]
On the state of astronomy

In 1888 Simon Newcomb wrote: "We are probably nearing the limit of all we can know about
astronomy."
By 1903, however, his view had changed. In an article in Science he wrote: "What lies before us is
an illimitable field, the existence of which was scarcely suspected ten years ago, the exploration of
which may well absorb the activities of our physical laboratories, and of the great mass of our
astronomical observers and investigators for as many generations as were required to bring
electrical science to its present state." [16]
On the impossibility of a flying machine

Newcomb is famously quoted as having believed it impossible to build a "flying machine". He begins
an article titled "Is the Airship Possible?" with the remark, "That depends, first of all, on whether we
are to make the requisite scientific discoveries." He ends with the remark "the construction of an
aerial vehicle ... which could carry even a single man from place-to-place at pleasure requires the
discovery of some new metal or some new force."[17]
In the October 22, 1903, issue of The Independent, Newcomb made the well-known remark that
"May not our mechanicians . . . be ultimately forced to admit that aerial flight is one of the great class
of problems with which man can never cope, and give up all attempts to grapple with it?", [18]
[19]
completed by the motivation that even if a man flew he could not stop. "Once he slackens his
speed, down he begins to fall. Once he stops, he falls as a dead mass." He had no concept of
an airfoil. His "aeroplane" was an inclined "thin flat board". He therefore concluded that it could never
carry the weight of a man.
Newcomb was specifically critical of the work of Samuel Pierpont Langley, who claimed that he
could build a flying machine powered by a steam engine and whose initial efforts at flight were public
failures.[20] In 1903, however, Newcomb was also saying, "Quite likely the 20th century is destined to
see the natural forces which will enable us to fly from continent to continent with a speed far
exceeding that of a bird. But when we inquire whether aerial flight is possible in the present state of
our knowledge; whether, with such materials as we possess, a combination of steel, cloth and wire
can be made which, moved by the power of electricity or steam, shall form a successful flying
machine, the outlook may be altogether different."[21]
Newcomb was clearly unaware of the Wright Brothers' efforts whose work was done in relative
obscurity and apparently unaware of the internal combustion engine's better power-to-weight ratio.
When he heard about the Wrights' flight in 1908 he was quick to accept it. [22] Newcomb favored the
development of rotating wing (helicopters) and airships that would float in the air (blimps). Within a
few decades, Zeppelins regularly transported passengers between Europe and the United States,
and the Graf Zeppelin circumnavigated the Earth.[23]
Psychical research
Newcomb was the first president of the American Society for Psychical Research.[24] Although
skeptical of extrasensory perception and alleged paranormal phenomena he believed the subject
was worthy of investigation. By 1889 his investigations were negative and his skepticism increased.
Biographer Albert E. Moyer has noted that Newcomb "convinced and hoped to convince others that,
on methodological grounds, psychical research was a scientific dead end." [25]
Awards and honours

 Member, and holder of several offices, of the National Academy of Sciences (1869);
 Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1874);
 Elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (1875);.
 Fellow of the Royal Society (1877);
 Huygens Medal of the Haarlem Academy of Sciences (1878);
 Editor of the American Journal of Mathematics (1885–1900);
 Copley Medal of the Royal Society (1890);
 Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur (1893);
 President of the American Mathematical Society (1897–1898);
 Bruce Medal of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (1898); and
 Founding member and first president of the American Astronomical Society (1899–1905).
 Foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (1898);[26]
 Inductee of the Hall of Fame for Great Americans.
Legacy
 Asteroid 855 Newcombia is named after him.
 The crater Newcomb on the Moon is named after him, as is Newcomb crater on Mars.[27]
 The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada has a writing award named after him.
 The Time Service Building at the US Naval Observatory is named The Simon Newcomb
Laboratory.
 The U.S. Navy minesweeper Simon Newcomb (YMS 263) was launched in 1942, served in
the Pacific Theater during World War II, and was decommissioned in 1949.
 Mt. Newcomb (13,418 ft/4,090 m) appears on USGS topographic maps at coordinates
36.5399° N, 118.2934° W in the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich

Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich (born 15 March 1982) is a Kenyan athlete who specialises in long-
distance running, competing in events ranging from 10 km to the marathon. He was the bronze
medallist in the marathon at the 2012 Summer Olympics.[1] He is the former world record holder in
the marathon with a time of 2:03:23, which he set at the 2013 Berlin Marathon. He has run under 2
hours 4 minutes for the marathon on four separate occasions.
Kipsang is a two-time winner of the Frankfurt Marathon (2010 and 2011) and has also won
the London Marathon (2012 and 2014), New York Marathon (2014), and Tokyo Marathon (2017). He
holds the twelfth best time over the half marathon distance (58:59 minutes).
Wilson Kipsang
Wilson Kipsang at the 2012 London Marathon
Career
A native of Keiyo District in Kenya, Kipsang began competitive running for Kenya Police, and
finished second in the 10 kilometre Tegla Loroupe Peace Race.[2] He became a professional
international athlete in 2007 and that year he took second place at the Tilburg Ten Miles, recording a
time of 46:27,[3] and he won a road race in Hem (his time of 27:51 was the fourth fastest in a 10 km
race that year).[4] He also took third place at the Kenyan Police Force championships, finishing
behind Richard Mateelong.[5]
2008
At the World's Best 10K, he finished third with a time of 28:09 behind Deriba Merga and Silas
Kipruto.[6]
He returned to the Tilburg Ten Miles race in 2008, and again finished as runner-up – just two
seconds behind winner Abiyote Guta.[7] His peak of the year was in a half marathon race: the Delhi
Half Marathon. Kipsang pushed Merga, the 2006 World Road Running Champion, right up to the line
but finished one second behind him. Despite the second-place finish, Kipsang improved his best by
over one minute to 59:16.[8] His time was also the third fastest half marathon by any runner that year,
with Merga and Haile Gebrselassie ahead of him by just one second each.[9]
2009
Kipsang started 2009 strongly, winning the Egmond Half Marathon in chilly conditions.[10] Another
good performance followed when he took second at the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon[11] – his time
of 58:59 made him only the fourth runner to have run below 59 minutes.[12] At his second World's
Best 10K he finished third, repeating his feat from the previous year. [13] Despite being the favourite for
the 2009 Berlin Half Marathon,[14] he ended up in third place in a fast race which was the first
occasion in which all the top-four runners finished under an hour. [15]
He competed in the World 10K Bangalore in May 2009, and finished fourth. [16] He competed in his
first IAAF World Half Marathon Championshipsat the end of that year, taking fourth place with a time
of 1:00:08.
2010
In April 2010 he made his marathon debut in the Paris Marathon, and finished third in a time of
2:07:13 hours, half a minute behind winner Tadesse Tola.[17] He won the Frankfurt Marathon in
October in a new course record of 2:04:57, this time beating Tadesse by over a minute. [18] The time
made him the eighth fastest marathoner ever.[19]
2011
He won his third marathon at the 2011 Lake Biwa Marathon, defeating Deriba Merga to win in a
course record of 2:06:13.[20] He returned to defend his title at the Frankfurt Marathon and set about
attacking Patrick Makau's five-week-old world record.
Kipsang came within four seconds of the time, crossing the line after 2:03:42, and ended the race
with the second fastest marathon time ever.[21]
2012
Kipsang began 2012 with a third-place finish at the RAK Half Marathon. [22] He won the London
Marathon in April in 2:04:44, just 4 seconds short of the course record set the previous year
by Emmanuel Mutai. Starting as favourite he went on to win the bronze medal in the men's marathon
at the London 2012 Olympic games.[1][23] One month after the Olympics, he travelled to Newcastle to
win the Great North Run in 59:06. That December he won the Honolulu Marathon.[24]
2013
He opened 2013 by continuing his winning line, taking the title at the New York Half Marathon.[25] He
was among the favourites for the 2013 London Marathon, but he managed only fifth place, timing
2:07:47 for the distance.[26] He stepped down to the 10K for the Great Manchester Runand although
he beat Haile Gebrselassie, he was runner-up by one second to Moses Kipsiro.[27] He performed less
well at the Bogotá Half Marathon, taking fifth place with 1:05:26 hours.[28] On 29 September he won
the Berlin Marathon and set a new world record of 2:03:23, 15 seconds faster than the previous
record by Patrick Makau.[29]
2014–2017
On 13 April 2014, Kipsang won the 2014 London Marathon in a course record time of 2 hours, 4
minutes and 29 seconds.[30]
On 2 November 2014, Kipsang won the New York City Marathon in 2:10:59 in his first appearance.[31]
At the 2016 BMW Berlin marathon, Kipsang ran the joint fourth-fastest marathon time ever, 2:03:13,
which was good enough for second place behind winner Kenenisa Bekele in 2:03:03.
At 2017 Tokyo Marathon Kipsang ran CR with 2:03:58. After being forced to step out at BMW Berlin
marathon at 30 km mark, Kipsang achieved 2nd place at the New York City Marathon in 2:10:56.
2018
After his success at the 2017 Tokyo Marathon, Wilson Kipsang has returned to Japan's capital, with
ambitions to reclaim the world record (WR) that he has lost to compatriot Dennis Kimetto. In the
press conference, he has quoted 2:02:50, as his target time. However, the world record was not to
be his, as Kipsang was forced to drop out after just 15 km, with stomach problems. The former world
record holder said, "I really wanted to go fast, but after suffering from stomach problems the last two
days before the race, I didn't have the power to run a decent race today." [32]
Wilson has returned to Berlin, in September, to attempt to break the WR as well as get even with his
compatriot Eliud Kipchoge. In the pre-race press conference, Wilson has revealed that he would run
a negative split, with 61:30 as his target time for the half-way point. On the race day, Wilson was
unable to maintain the requested pace and ended up finishing 3rd, behind Amos Kipruto and Eliud
Kipchoge, who set the new marathon WR, with the time of 2:01:39.
Achievements
Wilson Kipsang in his World Record-setting run at the 2013 Berlin Marathon, he got Eliud Kipchoge on his
back.
International competition record
Yea
Event Distance Location Rank Time
r
World Half Marathon Half

2009 Birmingham 4th 1:00:08
Championships Marathon
2012 Olympic Games Marathon London 3rd 2:09:37
2015 World Championships in Athletics Marathon Beijing DNF –
Road running
Yea
Road Race Distance Location Rank Time
r
2007 Tilburg Ten Miles 10 miles Tilburg 2nd 46:27

Yea
r
Hem 10k 10 km Hem 1st 27:51
Half
Tarsus Half Marathon Tarsus 1st 1:02:05 CR
Marathon
World's Best 10K 10 km San Juan 3rd 28:09
Stadsloop Appingedam 10 km Appingedam 1st 28:39
Goudse Nationale Singelloop 10 km Gouda 1st 28:34

2008
Half
Tarsus Half Marathon Tarsus 1st 1:02:50
Marathon
Half
Delhi Half Marathon New Delhi 2nd 59:16
Marathon
Half
Egmond Half Marathon Egmond aan Zee 1st 1:05:36
Marathon
2009 Ras Al Khaimah Half Half

Ras al-Khaimah 2nd 58:59
Marathon Marathon
Stadsloop Appingedam 10 km Appingedam 1st 27:45
2010 Abu Dhabi Half Marathon Half Abu Dhabi 1st 1:00:04
Marathon
Yea
r
Paris Marathon Marathon Paris 3rd 2:07:13
Frankfurt Marathon Marathon Frankfurt 1st 2:04:57 CR
Half
Kärnten Läuft Half Marathon Klagenfurt 1st 1:02:25
Marathon
Half
Zwolle Half Marathon Zwolle 1st 1:00:49
Marathon
2011
Lake Biwa Marathon Marathon Otsu 1st 2:06:13 CR
Frankfurt Marathon Marathon Frankfurt 1st 2:03:42 CR
London Marathon Marathon London 1st 2:04:44
Half
2012 Great North Run Newcastle 1st 59:06
Marathon
Honolulu Marathon Marathon Hawaii 1st 2:12:31
Half
NYC Half Marathon New York City 1st 1:01:02
Marathon
2013
Berlin Marathon Marathon Berlin 1st 2:03:23 WR
2014 London Marathon Marathon London 1st 2:04:29 CR
NYC Marathon Marathon New York City 1st 2:10:59

Yea
r
Half
Granollers Half Marathon Granollers 1st 1:01:18
Marathon
London Marathon Marathon London 2nd 2:04:47
2015
Half
Granollers Half Marathon Granollers 1st 1:02:39
Marathon
London Marathon Marathon London 5th 2:07:52

2016
Berlin Marathon Marathon Berlin 2nd 2:03:13
Tokyo Marathon Marathon Tokyo 1st 2:03:58 CR

2017
NYC Marathon Marathon New York City 2nd 2:10:56
Tokushima Marathon Marathon Tokushima 1st 2:19:35

2018
Berlin Marathon Marathon Berlin 3rd 2:06:48
Half
Vitality Big Half London TBD TBD
Marathon
2019
London Marathon Marathon London TBD TBD

World Marathon Majors results timeline
201 201 201 201 201

World Marathon Majors 2014 2017 2019
2 3 5 6 8
Tokyo Marathon - - - - - 1st DNF -
Boston Marathon - - - - - - - -
London Marathon 1st 5th 1st 2nd 5th - - TBD
Berlin Marathon - 1st - - 2nd DNF 3rd
Chicago Marathon - - - - - - -
New York City

- - 1st 4th - 2nd -
Marathon
Personal bests
Source – Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich at IAAF.
Surfac Time Speed

Distance Location Date
e (h:m:s) (km/h)
5,000 m 14:20.8 20.9 Kisumu, Kenya 30 APR 2005

Track
10,000 m 28:31.5 21.1 Nairobi, Kenya 06 JUN 2008
Road Appingedam,
10 km 27:45 21.6 27 JUN 2009
Netherlands
15 km 41:35+ 21.7 Ras al-Khaimah, UAE 20 FEB 2009

Half
58:59 21.4 Ras al-Khaimah, UAE 20 FEB 2009
marathon
Marathon 2:03:13 20.5 Berlin, Germany 25 SEP 2016
Sir George Gabriel Stokes 1st Baronet

Sir George Gabriel Stokes, 1st Baronet, PRS (/stoʊks/; 13 August 1819 – 1 February 1903) was
an Anglo-Irish physicist and mathematician. Born in County Sligo, Ireland, Stokes spent all of his
career at the University of Cambridge, where he was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics from
1849 until his death in 1903. As a physicist, Stokes made seminal contributions to fluid dynamics,
including the Navier-Stokes equation, and to physical optics, with notable works
on polarization and fluorescence. As a mathematician, he formulated "Stokes' theorem" in vector
calculus and contributed to the theory of asymptotic expansions.
Stokes was made a baronet (hereditary knight) by the British monarch in 1889. In 1893 he received
the Royal Society's Copley Medal, then the most prestigious scientific prize in the world, "for his
researches and discoveries in physical science". He represented Cambridge University in the British
House of Commons from 1887 to 1892, sitting as a Tory. Stokes also served as president of the
Royal Society from 1885 to 1890 and was briefly the Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge.
Sir George Stokes
Bt PRS
Biography
George Stokes was the youngest son of the Reverend Gabriel Stokes, a clergyman in the Church of
Ireland who served as rector of Skreen, in County Sligo. Stokes home life was strongly influenced by
his father's evangelical Protestantism.[1] After attending schools in Skreen, Dublin, and Bristol, in
1837 Stokes matriculated at Pembroke College, Cambridge. Four years later he graduated as senior
wrangler and first Smith's prizeman, achievements that earned him election of a fellow of the college.
[2]
In accordance with the college statutes, Stokes had to resign the fellowship when he married in
1857. Twelve years later, under new statutes, he was re-elected to the fellowship and he retained
that place until 1902, when on the day before his 83rd birthday, he was elected as the college's
Master. Stokes did not hold that position for long, for he died at Cambridge on 1 February the
following year, and was buried in the Mill Road cemetery.
Career
In 1849, Stokes was appointed to the Lucasian professorship of mathematics at Cambridge, a
position he held until his death in 1903. On 1 June 1899, the jubilee of this appointment was
celebrated there in a ceremony, which was attended by numerous delegates from European and
American universities. A commemorative gold medal was presented to Stokes by the chancellor of
the university and marble busts of Stokes by Hamo Thornycroft were formally offered to Pembroke
College and to the university by Lord Kelvin. Stokes, who was made a baronet in 1889, further
served his university by representing it in parliament from 1887 to 1892 as one of the two members
for the Cambridge University constituency. During a portion of this period (1885–1890) he also was
president of the Royal Society, of which he had been one of the secretaries since 1854. Since he
was also Lucasian Professor at this time, Stokes was the first person to hold all three positions
simultaneously; Newton held the same three, although not at the same time.
Stokes was the oldest of the trio of natural philosophers, James Clerk Maxwell and Lord Kelvin being
the other two, who especially contributed to the fame of the Cambridge school of mathematical
physics in the middle of the 19th century. Stokes's original work began about 1840, and from that
date onwards the great extent of his output was only less remarkable than the brilliance of its quality.
The Royal Society's catalogue of scientific papers gives the titles of over a hundred memoirs by him
published down to 1883. Some of these are only brief notes, others are short controversial or
corrective statements, but many are long and elaborate treatises.
Contributions to science
Stokes at a later age
In scope, his work covered a wide range of physical inquiry but, as Marie Alfred Cornu remarked in
his Rede lecture of 1899,[3] the greater part of it was concerned with waves and the transformations
imposed on them during their passage through various media.
Fluid dynamics
His first published papers, which appeared in 1842 and 1843, were on the steady motion of
incompressible fluids and some cases of fluid motion.[4][5] These were followed in 1845 by one on the
friction of fluids in motion and the equilibrium and motion of elastic solids, [6] and in 1850 by another
on the effects of the internal friction of fluids on the motion of pendulums.[7] To the theory of sound he
made several contributions, including a discussion of the effect of wind on the intensity of
sound[8] and an explanation of how the intensity is influenced by the nature of the gas in which the
sound is produced.[9]These inquiries together put the science of fluid dynamics on a new footing, and
provided a key not only to the explanation of many natural phenomena, such as the suspension of
clouds in air, and the subsidence of ripples and waves in water, but also to the solution of practical
problems, such as the flow of water in rivers and channels, and the skin resistance of ships.
Creeping flow
Stokes's law
Creeping flow past a sphere: streamlines and forces.
His work on fluid motion and viscosity led to his calculating the terminal velocity for a sphere falling
in a viscous medium.[10] This became known as Stokes's law. He derived an expression for the
frictional force (also called drag force) exerted on spherical objects with very small Reynolds
numbers.
His work is the basis of the falling sphere viscometer, in which the fluid is stationary in a vertical
glass tube. A sphere of known size and density is allowed to descend through the liquid. If correctly
selected, it reaches terminal velocity, which can be measured by the time it takes to pass two marks
on the tube. Electronic sensing can be used for opaque fluids. Knowing the terminal velocity, the
size and density of the sphere, and the density of the liquid, Stokes's law can be used to calculate
the viscosity of the fluid. A series of steel ball bearings of different diameter is normally used in the
classic experiment to improve the accuracy of the calculation. The school experiment
uses glycerine as the fluid, and the technique is used industrially to check the viscosity of fluids used
in processes.
The same theory explains why small water droplets (or ice crystals) can remain suspended in air (as
clouds) until they grow to a critical size and start falling as rain (or snow and hail). Similar use of the
equation can be made in the settlement of fine particles in water or other fluids.
The CGS unit of kinematic viscosity was named "stokes" in recognition of his work.
Light
Perhaps his best-known researches are those which deal with the wave theory of light.
His optical work began at an early period in his scientific career. His first papers on the aberration of
light appeared in 1845 and 1846, [11][12] and were followed in 1848 by one on the theory of certain
bands seen in the spectrum.[13]
In 1849 he published a long paper on the dynamical theory of diffraction, in which he showed that
the plane of polarisation must be perpendicular to the direction of propagation. [14] Two years later he
discussed the colours of thick plates. [15]
Stokes also investigated George Airy's mathematical description of rainbows.[16] Airy's findings
involved an integral that was awkward to evaluate. Stokes expressed the integral as a divergent
series, which were little understood. However, by cleverly truncating the series (i.e., ignoring all
except the first few terms of the series), Stokes obtained an accurate approximation to the integral
that was far easier to evaluate than the integral itself. [17] Stokes's research on asymptotic series led to
fundamental insights about such series.[18]
Fluorescence
Fluorspar
In 1852, in his famous paper on the change of wavelength of light, he described the phenomenon
of fluorescence, as exhibited by fluorspar and uranium glass, materials which he viewed as having
the power to convert invisible ultra-violet radiation into radiation of longer wavelengths that are
visible.[19] The Stokes shift, which describes this conversion, is named in Stokes's honour. A
mechanical model, illustrating the dynamical principle of Stokes's explanation was shown. The
offshoot of this, Stokes line, is the basis of Raman scattering. In 1883, during a lecture at the Royal
Institution, Lord Kelvin said he had heard an account of it from Stokes many years before, and had
repeatedly but vainly begged him to publish it.[20]
Polarization
A calcite crystal laid upon a paper with some letters showing the double refraction
In the same year, 1852, there appeared the paper on the composition and resolution of streams of
polarised light from different sources,[21] and in 1853 an investigation of the
metallic reflection exhibited by certain non-metallic substances.[22] The research was to highlight the
phenomenon of light polarisation. About 1860 he was engaged in an inquiry on the intensity of light
reflected from, or transmitted through, a pile of plates; [23] and in 1862 he prepared for the British
Association a valuable report on double refraction, a phenomenon where certain crystals show
different refractive indices along different axes.[24] Perhaps the best known crystal is Iceland spar,
transparent calcite crystals.
A paper on the long spectrum of the electric light bears the same date, [25] and was followed by an
inquiry into the absorption spectrum of blood.[26]
Chemical analysis
The chemical identification of organic bodies by their optical properties was treated in 1864; [27] and
later, in conjunction with the Rev. William Vernon Harcourt, he investigated the relation between the
chemical composition and the optical properties of various glasses, with reference to the conditions
of transparency and the improvement of achromatic telescopes.[28] A still later paper connected with
the construction of optical instruments discussed the theoretical limits to the aperture of microscope
objectives.[29]
Other work
Crookes Radiometer
In other departments of physics may be mentioned his paper on the conduction of

heat in crystals (1851)[30] and his inquiries in connection with Crookes radiometer;[31] his explanation of
the light border frequently noticed in photographs just outside the outline of a dark body seen against
the sky (1882);[32] and, still later, his theory of the x-rays, which he suggested might be transverse
waves travelling as innumerable solitary waves, not in regular trains. [33]Two long papers published in
1849 – one on attractions and Clairaut's theorem,[34] and the other on the variation of gravity at the
surface of the earth (1849)[35]—also demand notice, as do his mathematical memoirs on the critical
values of sums of periodic series (1847) [36] and on the numerical calculation of a class of
definite integrals and infinite series (1850)[37] and his discussion of a differential equation relating to
the breaking of railway bridges (1849), [38]research related to his evidence given to the Royal
Commission on the Use of Iron in Railway structures after the Dee bridge disaster of 1847.
Unpublished research
Many of Stokes' discoveries were not published, or were only touched upon in the course of his oral
lectures. One such example is his work in the theory of spectroscopy.
Lord Kelvin
In his presidential address to the British Association in 1871, Lord Kelvin stated his belief that the
application of the prismatic analysis of light to solar and stellar chemistry had never been suggested
directly or indirectly by anyone else when Stokes taught it to him at Cambridge University some time
prior to the summer of 1852, and he set forth the conclusions, theoretical and practical, which he
learnt from Stokes at that time, and which he afterwards gave regularly in his public lectures
at Glasgow.[39]
Kirchhoff
These statements, containing as they do the physical basis on which spectroscopy rests, and the
way in which it is applicable to the identification of substances existing in the sun and stars, make it
appear that Stokes anticipated Kirchhoff by at least seven or eight years. Stokes, however, in a letter
published some years after the delivery of this address, stated that he had failed to take one
essential step in the argument—not perceiving that emission of light of definite wavelength not
merely permitted, but necessitated, absorption of light of the same wavelength. He modestly
disclaimed "any part of Kirchhoff's admirable discovery," adding that he felt some of his friends had
been over-zealous in his cause.[40] It must be said, however, that English men of science have not
accepted this disclaimer in all its fullness, and still attribute to Stokes the credit of having first
enunciated the fundamental principles of spectroscopy.
In another way, too, Stokes did much for the progress of mathematical physics. Soon after he was
elected to the Lucasian chair he announced that he regarded it as part of his professional duties to
help any member of the university in difficulties he might encounter in his mathematical studies, and
the assistance rendered was so real that pupils were glad to consult him, even after they had
become colleagues, on mathematical and physical problems in which they found themselves at a
loss. Then during the thirty years he acted as secretary of the Royal Society he exercised an
enormous if inconspicuous influence on the advancement of mathematical and physical science, not
only directly by his own investigations, but indirectly by suggesting problems for inquiry and inciting
men to attack them, and by his readiness to give encouragement and help.
Contributions to engineering
The Dee bridge after its collapse
Stokes was involved in several investigations into railway accidents, especially the Dee bridge
disaster in May 1847, and he served as a member of the subsequent Royal Commission into the use
of cast iron in railway structures. He contributed to the calculation of the forces exerted by moving
engines on bridges. The bridge failed because a cast iron beam was used to support the loads of
passing trains. Cast iron is brittle in tension or bending, and many other similar bridges had to be
demolished or reinforced.
Fallen Tay Bridge from the north
He appeared as an expert witness at the Tay Bridge disaster, where he gave evidence about the
effects of wind loads on the bridge. The centre section of the bridge (known as the High Girders)
was completely destroyed during a storm on 28 December 1879, while an express train was in the
section, and everyone aboard died (more than 75 victims). The Board of Inquiry listened to
many expert witnesses, and concluded that the bridge was "badly designed, badly built and badly
maintained".[41]
As a result of his evidence, he was appointed a member of the subsequent Royal Commission into
the effect of wind pressure on structures. The effects of high winds on large structures had been
neglected at that time, and the commission conducted a series of measurements across Britain to
gain an appreciation of wind speeds during storms, and the pressures they exerted on exposed
surfaces.
Work on religion
Skreen, Church of Ireland in County Sligo.
Stokes held conservative religious values and beliefs. In 1886, he became president of the Victoria
Institute, which had been founded to defend evangelical Christian principles against challenges from
the new sciences, especially the Darwinian theory of biological evolution. He gave the 1891 Gifford
lecture on natural theology.[42][43] He was also the vice-president of the British and Foreign Bible
Society and was actively involved in doctrinal debates concerning missionary work. [44]
As President of the Victoria Institute, Stokes wrote: "We all admit that the book of Nature and the
book of Revelation come alike from God, and that consequently there can be no real discrepancy
between the two if rightly interpreted. The provisions of Science and Revelation are, for the most
part, so distinct that there is little chance of collision. But if an apparent discrepancy should arise, we
have no right on principle, to exclude either in favour of the other. For however firmly convinced we
may be of the truth of revelation, we must admit our liability to err as to the extent or interpretation of
what is revealed; and however strong the scientific evidence in favour of a theory may be, we must
remember that we are dealing with evidence which, in its nature, is probable only, and it is
conceivable that wider scientific knowledge might lead us to alter our opinion". [45]
Personal life
He married, on 4 July 1857 at St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh, Mary Susanna Robinson, daughter of
the Rev Thomas Romney Robinson. They had five children: Arthur Romney, who inherited the
baronetcy; Susanna Elizabeth, who died in infancy; Isabella Lucy (Mrs Laurence Humphry) who
contributed the personal memoir of her father in "Memoir and Scientific Correspondence of the Late
George Gabriel Stokes, Bart"; Dr William George Gabriel, physician, a troubled man who committed
suicide aged 30 whilst temporarily insane; and Dora Susanna, who died in infancy. He is survived by
his great great granddaughter Briana Stokes.
Legacy and honours

Further information: List of things named after George Gabriel Stokes
 Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University

 From the Royal Society, of which he became a fellow in 1851, he received the Rumford
Medal in 1852 in recognition of his inquiries into the wavelength of light, and later, in 1893,
the Copley Medal.
 In 1869 he presided over the Exeter meeting of the British Association.
 From 1883 to 1885 he was Burnett lecturer at Aberdeen, his lectures on light, which were
published in 1884–1887, dealing with its nature, its use as a means of investigation, and its
beneficial effects.
 On 6 July 1889 Queen Victoria created him the Baronet Stokes of Lensfield Cottage in
the Baronetage of the United Kingdom; the title became extinct in 1916.[46]
 In 1891, as Gifford lecturer, he published a volume on Natural Theology.
 Member of the Prussian Order Pour le Mérite
 His academic distinctions included honorary degrees from many universities, including
 Doctor mathematicae (honoris causa) from the Royal Frederick University on 6
September 1902, when they celebrated the centennial of the birth of mathematician Niels
Henrik Abel.[47][48]
 The stokes, a unit of kinematic viscosity, is named after him.
 In July 2017, Dublin City University named a building after Stokes in recognition of his
contributions to physics and mathematics.
Albert Einstein.
Albert Einstein (/ˈaɪnstaɪn/;[4] German: [ˈalbɛɐ̯t ˈʔaɪnʃtaɪn] ( listen); 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955)
was a German-born theoretical physicist[5] who developed the theory of relativity, one of the two
pillars of modern physics (alongside quantum mechanics).[3][6]:274 His work is also known for its
influence on the philosophy of science.[7][8] He is best known to the general public for his mass–
energy equivalence formula E = mc2, which has been dubbed "the world's most famous equation".
[9]
He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to theoretical physics, and especially
for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect",[10] a pivotal step in the development
of quantum theory.
Near the beginning of his career, Einstein thought that Newtonian mechanics was no longer enough
to reconcile the laws of classical mechanics with the laws of the electromagnetic field. This led him
to develop his special theory of relativity during his time at the Swiss Patent Office in Bern (1902–
1909), Switzerland. However, he realized that the principle of relativity could also be extended to
gravitational fields, and he published a paper on general relativity in 1916 with his theory of
gravitation. He continued to deal with problems of statistical mechanics and quantum theory, which
led to his explanations of particle theory and the motion of molecules. He also investigated the
thermal properties of light which laid the foundation of the photon theory of light. In 1917, he applied
the general theory of relativity to model the structure of the universe. [11][12]
Except for one year in Prague, Einstein lived in Switzerland between 1895 and 1914, during which
time he renounced his German citizenship in 1896, then received his academic diploma from the
Swiss federal polytechnic school (later the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, ETH) in Zürich
in 1900. After being stateless for more than five years, he acquired Swiss citizenship in 1901, which
he kept for the rest of his life. In 1905, he was awarded a PhD by the University of Zurich. The same
year, he published four groundbreaking papers during his renowned annus mirabilis (miracle year)
which brought him to the notice of the academic world at the age of 26. Einstein taught theoretical
physics at Zurich between 1912 and 1914 before he left for Berlin, where he was elected to
the Prussian Academy of Sciences.
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein in 1921
In 1933, while Einstein was visiting the United States, Adolf Hitler came to power. Because of
his Jewish background, Einstein did not return to Germany.[13] He settled in the United States and
became an American citizen in 1940.[14] On the eve of World War II, he endorsed a letter to President
Franklin D. Roosevelt alerting him to the potential development of "extremely powerful bombs of a
new type" and recommending that the US begin similar research. This eventually led to
the Manhattan Project. Einstein supported the Allies, but he generally denounced the idea of
using nuclear fission as a weapon. He signed the Russell–Einstein Manifesto with British
philosopher Bertrand Russell, which highlighted the danger of nuclear weapons. He was affiliated
with the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, until his death in 1955.
Einstein published more than 300 scientific papers and more than 150 non-scientific works.[11][15] His
intellectual achievements and originality have made the word "Einstein" synonymous with "genius".
[16]
Eugene Wigner wrote of Einstein in comparison to his contemporaries that "Einstein's
understanding was deeper even than Jancsi von Neumann's. His mind was both more penetrating
and more original than von Neumann's. And that is a very remarkable statement."
Life and career

See also: Einstein family
Einstein at the age of 3 in 1882
Albert Einstein in 1893 (age 14)

Einstein's matriculation certificate at the age of 17, showing his final grades from the Argovian cantonal school
(Aargauische Kantonsschule, on a scale of 1–6, with 6 being the highest possible mark). He scored: German 5;
French 3; Italian 5; History 6; Geography 4; Algebra 6; Geometry 6; Descriptive Geometry 6; Physics 6;
Chemistry 5; Natural History 5; Art and Technical Drawing 4.
Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, in the Kingdom of Württemberg in the German Empire, on 14 March
1879.[5] His parents were Hermann Einstein, a salesman and engineer, and Pauline Koch. In 1880,
the family moved to Munich, where Einstein's father and his uncle Jakob founded Elektrotechnische
Fabrik J. Einstein & Cie, a company that manufactured electrical equipment based on direct current.
[5]
The Einsteins were non-observant Ashkenazi Jews, and Albert attended a Catholic elementary
school in Munich, from the age of 5, for three years. At the age of 8, he was transferred to
the Luitpold Gymnasium (now known as the Albert Einstein Gymnasium), where he received
advanced primary and secondary school education until he left the German Empire seven years
later.[18]
In 1894, Hermann and Jakob's company lost a bid to supply the city of Munich with electrical lighting
because they lacked the capital to convert their equipment from the direct current (DC) standard to
the more efficient alternating current (AC) standard.[19] The loss forced the sale of the Munich factory.
In search of business, the Einstein family moved to Italy, first to Milan and a few months later
to Pavia. When the family moved to Pavia, Einstein, then 15, stayed in Munich to finish his studies at
the Luitpold Gymnasium. His father intended for him to pursue electrical engineering, but Einstein
clashed with authorities and resented the school's regimen and teaching method. He later wrote that
the spirit of learning and creative thought was lost in strict rote learning. At the end of December
1894, he travelled to Italy to join his family in Pavia, convincing the school to let him go by using a
doctor's note.[20]During his time in Italy he wrote a short essay with the title "On the Investigation of
the State of the Ether in a Magnetic Field".[21][22]
Einstein always excelled at math and physics from a young age, reaching a mathematical level
years ahead of his peers. The twelve year old Einstein taught himself algebra and Euclidean
geometry over a single summer. Einstein also independently discovered his own original proof of
the Pythagorean theorem at age 12.[23] A family tutor Max Talmud says that after he had given the 12
year old Einstein a geometry textbook, after a short time "[Einstein] had worked through the whole
book. He thereupon devoted himself to higher mathematics... Soon the flight of his mathematical
genius was so high I could not follow."[24] His passion for geometry and algebra led the twelve year
old to become convinced that nature could be understood as a "mathematical structure". [24] Einstein
started teaching himself calculus at 12, and as a 14 year old he says he had
"mastered integral and differentialcalculus".[25]
At age 13, Einstein was introduced to Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, and Kant became his favorite
philosopher, his tutor stating: "At the time he was still a child, only thirteen years old, yet Kant's
works, incomprehensible to ordinary mortals, seemed to be clear to him." [24]
In 1895, at the age of 16, Einstein took the entrance examinations for the Swiss Federal
Polytechnic in Zürich(later the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, ETH). He failed to reach the
required standard in the general part of the examination, [26] but obtained exceptional grades in
physics and mathematics.[27] On the advice of the principal of the Polytechnic, he attended
the Argovian cantonal school (gymnasium) in Aarau, Switzerland, in 1895 and 1896 to complete his
secondary schooling. While lodging with the family of professor Jost Winteler, he fell in love with
Winteler's daughter, Marie. Albert's sister Maja later married Winteler's son Paul.[28] In January 1896,
with his father's approval, Einstein renounced his citizenship in the German Kingdom of
Württemberg to avoid military service.[29] In September 1896, he passed the Swiss Matura with
mostly good grades, including a top grade of 6 in physics and mathematical subjects, on a scale of
1–6.[30] At 17, he enrolled in the four-year mathematics and physics teaching diploma program at the
Zürich Polytechnic. Marie Winteler, who was a year older, moved to Olsberg, Switzerland, for a
teaching post.
Einstein's future wife, a 20-year old Serbian woman Mileva Marić, also enrolled at the Polytechnic
that year. She was the only woman among the six students in the mathematics and physics section
of the teaching diploma course. Over the next few years, Einstein and Marić's friendship developed
into romance, and they read books together on extra-curricular physics in which Einstein was taking
an increasing interest. In 1900, Einstein passed the exams in Maths and Physics and was awarded
the Federal Polytechnic teaching diploma.[31] There have been claims that Marić collaborated with
Einstein on his 1905 papers, [32][33] known as the Annus Mirabilis papers, but historians of physics who
have studied the issue find no evidence that she made any substantive contributions. [34][35][36][37]
Marriages and children
Albert Einstein in 1904 (age 25)
An early correspondence between Einstein and Marić was discovered and published in 1987 which
revealed that the couple had a daughter named "Lieserl", born in early 1902 in Novi Sad where
Marić was staying with her parents. Marić returned to Switzerland without the child, whose real name
and fate are unknown. The contents of Einstein's letter in September 1903 suggest that the girl was
either given up for adoption or died of scarlet fever in infancy.[38][39]
Einstein with his second wife Elsa, 1921
Einstein and Marić married in January 1903. In May 1904, their son Hans Albert Einstein was born
in Bern, Switzerland. Their son Eduard was born in Zürich in July 1910. The couple moved to Berlin
in April 1914, but Marić returned to Zürich with their sons after learning that Einstein's chief romantic
attraction was his first and second cousin Elsa.[40] They divorced on 14 February 1919, having lived
apart for five years.[41] Eduard had a breakdown at about age 20 and was diagnosed
with schizophrenia.[42] His mother cared for him and he was also committed to asylums for several
periods, finally being committed permanently after her death. [43]
In letters revealed in 2015, Einstein wrote to his early love Marie Winteler about his marriage and his
strong feelings for her. He wrote in 1910, while his wife was pregnant with their second child: "I think
of you in heartfelt love every spare minute and am so unhappy as only a man can be". He spoke
about a "misguided love" and a "missed life" regarding his love for Marie. [44]
Einstein married Elsa Löwenthal in 1919,[45][46] after having a relationship with her since 1912. [47] She
was a first cousin maternally and a second cousin paternally. [47] They emigrated to the United States
in 1933. Elsa was diagnosed with heart and kidney problems in 1935 and died in December 1936. [48]
Friends
Among Einstein's well-known friends were Michele Besso, Paul Ehrenfest, Marcel
Grossmann, János Plesch, Daniel Q. Posin, Maurice Solovine, and Stephen Wise.[49]
Patent office
Olympia Academy founders: Conrad Habicht, Maurice Solovine and Einstein.
After graduating in 1900, Einstein spent almost two frustrating years searching for a teaching post.
He acquired Swiss citizenship in February 1901,[50] but for medical reasons was not conscripted. With
the help of Marcel Grossmann's father, he secured a job in Bern at the Federal Office for Intellectual
Property, the patent office,[51][52] as an assistant examiner – level III.[53][54]
Einstein evaluated patent applications for a variety of devices including a gravel sorter and an
electromechanical typewriter.[54] In 1903, his position at the Swiss Patent Office became permanent,
although he was passed over for promotion until he "fully mastered machine technology". [55]:370
Much of his work at the patent office related to questions about transmission of electric signals and
electrical–mechanical synchronization of time, two technical problems that show up conspicuously in
the thought experiments that eventually led Einstein to his radical conclusions about the nature of
light and the fundamental connection between space and time. [55]:377
With a few friends he had met in Bern, Einstein started a small discussion group in 1902, self-
mockingly named "The Olympia Academy", which met regularly to discuss science and philosophy.
Their readings included the works of Henri Poincaré, Ernst Mach, and David Hume, which influenced
his scientific and philosophical outlook.[56]
First scientific papers
Einstein's official 1921 portrait after receiving the Nobel Prize in Physics
In 1900, Einstein's paper "Folgerungen aus den Capillaritätserscheinungen" ("Conclusions from the

Capillarity Phenomena") was published in the journal Annalen der Physik.[57][58] On 30 April 1905,
Einstein completed his thesis,[59] with Alfred Kleiner, Professor of Experimental Physics, serving
as pro-forma advisor. As a result, Einstein was awarded a PhD by the University of Zürich, with his
dissertation "A New Determination of Molecular Dimensions".[59][60]
In that same year, which has been called Einstein's annus mirabilis (miracle year), he published four
groundbreaking papers, on the photoelectric effect, Brownian motion, special relativity, and the
equivalence of mass and energy, which were to bring him to the notice of the academic world, at the
age of 26.
Academic career
By 1908, he was recognized as a leading scientist and was appointed lecturer at the University of
Bern. The following year, after giving a lecture on electrodynamics and the relativity principle at the
University of Zürich, Alfred Kleiner recommended him to the faculty for a newly created
professorship in theoretical physics. Einstein was appointed associate professor in 1909. [61]
Einstein became a full professor at the German Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague in April
1911, accepting Austrian citizenship in the Austro-Hungarian Empire to do so.[62][63] During his Prague
stay, he wrote 11 scientific works, five of them on radiation mathematics and on the quantum theory
of solids. In July 1912, he returned to his alma mater in Zürich. From 1912 until 1914, he was
professor of theoretical physics at the ETH Zurich, where he taught analytical mechanics
and thermodynamics. He also studied continuum mechanics, the molecular theory of heat, and the
problem of gravitation, on which he worked with mathematician and friend Marcel Grossmann.[64]
On 3 July 1913, he was voted for membership in the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin. Max
Planck and Walther Nernst visited him the next week in Zurich to persuade him to join the academy,
additionally offering him the post of director at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics, which was
soon to be established.[65] (Membership in the academy included paid salary and professorship
without teaching duties at the Humboldt University of Berlin.) He was officially elected to the
academy on 24 July, and he accepted to move to the German Empire the next year. His decision to
move to Berlin was also influenced by the prospect of living near his cousin Elsa, with whom he had
developed a romantic affair. He joined the academy and thus the Berlin University on 1 April 1914.
[66]
As World War I broke out that year, the plan for Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics was aborted.
The institute was established on 1 October 1917, with Einstein as its director. [67] In 1916, Einstein
was elected president of the German Physical Society (1916–1918).[68]
Based on calculations Einstein made in 1911, about his new theory of general relativity, light from
another star should be bent by the Sun's gravity. In 1919, that prediction was confirmed by Sir Arthur
Eddington during the solar eclipse of 29 May 1919. Those observations were published in the
international media, making Einstein world-famous. On 7 November 1919, the leading British
newspaper The Times printed a banner headline that read: "Revolution in Science – New Theory of
the Universe – Newtonian Ideas Overthrown".[69]
In 1920, he became a Foreign Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
[70]
In 1922, he was awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to Theoretical Physics,
and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect". [10] While the general theory of
relativity was still considered somewhat controversial, the citation also does not treat the cited work
as an explanation but merely as a discovery of the law, as the idea of photons was considered
outlandish and did not receive universal acceptance until the 1924 derivation of the Planck
spectrum by S. N. Bose. Einstein was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS)
in 1921.[3] He also received the Copley Medal from the Royal Society in 1925.[3]
1921–1922: Travels abroad
Albert Einstein at a session of the International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation (League of Nations) of

which he was a member from 1922 to 1932.
Einstein visited New York City for the first time on 2 April 1921, where he received an official
welcome by Mayor John Francis Hylan, followed by three weeks of lectures and receptions. He went
on to deliver several lectures at Columbia University and Princeton University, and in Washington he
accompanied representatives of the National Academy of Science on a visit to the White House. On
his return to Europe he was the guest of the British statesman and philosopher Viscount Haldane in
London, where he met several renowned scientific, intellectual and political figures, and delivered a
lecture at King's College London.[71] [72]
He also published an essay, "My First Impression of the U.S.A.," in July 1921, in which he tried
briefly to describe some characteristics of Americans, much as had Alexis de Tocqueville, who
published his own impressions in Democracy in America (1835).[73] For some of his observations,
Einstein was clearly surprised: "What strikes a visitor is the joyous, positive attitude to life ... The
American is friendly, self-confident, optimistic, and without envy." [74]:20
In 1922, his travels took him to Asia and later to Palestine, as part of a six-month excursion and
speaking tour, as he visited Singapore, Ceylon and Japan, where he gave a series of lectures to
thousands of Japanese. After his first public lecture, he met the emperor and empress at
the Imperial Palace, where thousands came to watch. In a letter to his sons, he described his
impression of the Japanese as being modest, intelligent, considerate, and having a true feel for art.
[75]
In his own travel diaries from his 1922-23 visit to Asia, he expresses some views on the Chinese,
Japanese and Indian people, which have been described as xenophobic and racist judgments when
they were rediscovered in 2018.[76]
Because of Einstein's travels to the Far East, he was unable to personally accept the Nobel Prize for
Physics at the Stockholm award ceremony in December 1922. In his place, the banquet speech was
held by a German diplomat, who praised Einstein not only as a scientist but also as an international
peacemaker and activist.[77]
On his return voyage, he visited Palestine for 12 days in what would become his only visit to that
region. He was greeted as if he were a head of state, rather than a physicist, which included a
cannon salute upon arriving at the home of the British high commissioner, Sir Herbert Samuel.
During one reception, the building was stormed by people who wanted to see and hear him. In
Einstein's talk to the audience, he expressed happiness that the Jewish people were beginning to be
recognized as a force in the world.[78]
Einstein visited Spain for two weeks in 1923, where he briefly met Santiago Ramón y Cajal and also
received a diploma from King Alfonso XIIInaming him a member of the Spanish Academy of
Sciences.[79]
From 1922 to 1932, Einstein was a member of the International Committee on Intellectual
Cooperation of the League of Nations in Geneva (with a few months of interruption in 1923–1924),
[80]
a body created to promote international exchange between scientists, researchers, teachers,
artists and intellectuals.[81] Originally slated to serve as the Swiss delegate, Secretary-General Eric
Drummond was persuaded by Catholic activists Oskar Halecki and Giuseppe Motta to instead have
him become the German delegate, thus allowing Gonzague de Reynold to take the Swiss spot, from
which he promoted traditionalist Catholic values.[82] Einstein’s former physics professor Hendrik
Lorentz and the French chemist Marie Curiewere also members of the committee.
1930–1931: Travel to the US

In December 1930, Einstein visited America for the second time, originally intended as a two-month
working visit as a research fellow at the California Institute of Technology. After the national attention
he received during his first trip to the US, he and his arrangers aimed to protect his privacy. Although
swamped with telegrams and invitations to receive awards or speak publicly, he declined them all. [83]
After arriving in New York City, Einstein was taken to various places and events,
including Chinatown, a lunch with the editors of The New York Times, and a performance
of Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera, where he was cheered by the audience on his arrival. During
the days following, he was given the keys to the city by Mayor Jimmy Walker and met the president
of Columbia University, who described Einstein as "the ruling monarch of the mind". [84] Harry
Emerson Fosdick, pastor at New York's Riverside Church, gave Einstein a tour of the church and
showed him a full-size statue that the church made of Einstein, standing at the entrance. [84] Also
during his stay in New York, he joined a crowd of 15,000 people at Madison Square Garden during
a Hanukkah celebration.[84]
Einstein (left) and Charlie Chaplin at the Hollywoodpremiere of City Lights, January 1931

Einstein next traveled to California, where he met Caltech president and Nobel laureate, Robert A.
Millikan. His friendship with Millikan was "awkward", as Millikan "had a penchant for patriotic
militarism," where Einstein was a pronounced pacifist.[85] During an address to Caltech's students,
Einstein noted that science was often inclined to do more harm than good. [86]
This aversion to war also led Einstein to befriend author Upton Sinclair and film star Charlie Chaplin,
both noted for their pacifism. Carl Laemmle, head of Universal Studios, gave Einstein a tour of his
studio and introduced him to Chaplin. They had an instant rapport, with Chaplin inviting Einstein and
his wife, Elsa, to his home for dinner. Chaplin said Einstein's outward persona, calm and gentle,
seemed to conceal a "highly emotional temperament," from which came his "extraordinary
intellectual energy".[87]:320
Chaplin's film, City Lights, was to premiere a few days later in Hollywood, and Chaplin invited
Einstein and Elsa to join him as his special guests. Walter Isaacson, Einstein's biographer, described
this as "one of the most memorable scenes in the new era of celebrity". [86] Chaplin visited Einstein at
his home on a later trip to Berlin, and recalled his "modest little flat" and the piano at which he had
begun writing his theory. Chaplin speculated that it was "possibly used as kindling wood by the
Nazis."[87]:322
1933: Emigration to the US
Cartoon of Einstein, who has shed his "Pacifism" wings, standing next to a pillar labeled "World Peace". He is
rolling up his sleeves and holding a sword labeled "Preparedness" (by Charles R. Macauley, c. 1933).
In February 1933 while on a visit to the United States, Einstein knew he could not return to Germany
with the rise to power of the Nazis under Germany's new chancellor, Adolf Hitler.[88][89]
While at American universities in early 1933, he undertook his third two-month visiting professorship
at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. He and his wife Elsa returned to Belgium by
ship in March, and during the trip they learned that their cottage was raided by the Nazis and his
personal sailboat confiscated. Upon landing in Antwerp on 28 March, he immediately went to the
German consulate and surrendered his passport, formally renouncing his German citizenship. [90] The
Nazis later sold his boat and converted his cottage into a Hitler Youth camp.[91]
Refugee status
Albert Einstein's landing card (26 May 1933), when he landed in Dover(United Kingdom)
from Ostende(Belgium) to visit Oxford.
In April 1933, Einstein discovered that the new German government had passed laws barring Jews
from holding any official positions, including teaching at universities. [90] Historian Gerald
Holton describes how, with "virtually no audible protest being raised by their colleagues", thousands
of Jewish scientists were suddenly forced to give up their university positions and their names were
removed from the rolls of institutions where they were employed. [74]
A month later, Einstein's works were among those targeted by the German Student Union in
the Nazi book burnings, with Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels proclaiming, "Jewish
intellectualism is dead."[90] One German magazine included him in a list of enemies of the German
regime with the phrase, "not yet hanged", offering a $5,000 bounty on his head. [90][92] In a subsequent
letter to physicist and friend Max Born, who had already emigrated from Germany to England,
Einstein wrote, "... I must confess that the degree of their brutality and cowardice came as something
of a surprise."[90] After moving to the US, he described the book burnings as a "spontaneous
emotional outburst" by those who "shun popular enlightenment," and "more than anything else in the
world, fear the influence of men of intellectual independence." [93]
Einstein was now without a permanent home, unsure where he would live and work, and equally
worried about the fate of countless other scientists still in Germany. He rented a house in De Haan,
Belgium, where he lived for a few months. In late July 1933, he went to England for about six weeks
at the personal invitation of British naval officer Commander Oliver Locker-Lampson, who had
become friends with Einstein in the preceding years. To protect Einstein, Locker-Lampson had two
assistants watch over him at his secluded cottage outside London, with a photo of them carrying
shotguns and guarding Einstein, published in the Daily Herald on 24 July 1933.[94][95]
Locker-Lampson took Einstein to meet Winston Churchill at his home, and later, Austen
Chamberlain and former Prime Minister Lloyd George.[96]Einstein asked them to help bring Jewish
scientists out of Germany. British historian Martin Gilbert notes that Churchill responded
immediately, and sent his friend, physicist Frederick Lindemann, to Germany to seek out Jewish
scientists and place them in British universities.[97] Churchill later observed that as a result of
Germany having driven the Jews out, they had lowered their "technical standards" and put the
Allies' technology ahead of theirs.[97]
Einstein later contacted leaders of other nations, including Turkey's Prime Minister, İsmet İnönü, to
whom he wrote in September 1933 requesting placement of unemployed German-Jewish scientists.
As a result of Einstein's letter, Jewish invitees to Turkey eventually totaled over "1,000 saved
individuals".[98]
Locker-Lampson also submitted a bill to parliament to extend British citizenship to Einstein, during
which period Einstein made a number of public appearances describing the crisis brewing in Europe.
[99]
In one of his speeches he denounced Germany's treatment of Jews, while at the same time he
introduced a bill promoting Jewish citizenship in Palestine, as they were being denied citizenship
elsewhere.[100] In his speech he described Einstein as a "citizen of the world" who should be offered a
temporary shelter in the UK.[note 2][101] Both bills failed, however, and Einstein then accepted an earlier
offer from the Institute for Advanced Study, in Princeton, New Jersey, US, to become a resident
scholar.[99]
Resident scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study
Portrait of Einstein taken in 1935 at Princeton
In October 1933 Einstein returned to the US and took up a position at the Institute for Advanced
Study,[99][102]noted for having become a refuge for scientists fleeing Nazi Germany. [103] At the time, most
American universities, including Harvard, Princeton and Yale, had minimal or no Jewish faculty or
students, as a result of their Jewish quotas, which lasted until the late 1940s.[103]
Einstein was still undecided on his future. He had offers from several European universities,
including Christ Church, Oxford where he stayed for three short periods between May 1931 and
June 1933 and was offered a 5-year studentship, [104][105] but in 1935 he arrived at the decision to
remain permanently in the United States and apply for citizenship. [99][106]
Einstein's affiliation with the Institute for Advanced Study would last until his death in 1955. [107] He
was one of the four first selected (two of the others being John von Neumann and Kurt Gödel) at the
new Institute, where he soon developed a close friendship with Gödel. The two would take long
walks together discussing their work. Bruria Kaufman, his assistant, later became a physicist. During
this period, Einstein tried to develop a unified field theoryand to refute the accepted
interpretation of quantum physics, both unsuccessfully.
World War II and the Manhattan Project
See also: Einstein–Szilárd letter
In 1939, a group of Hungarian scientists that included émigré physicist Leó Szilárd attempted to alert
Washington to ongoing Nazi atomic bomb research. The group's warnings were discounted. Einstein
and Szilárd, along with other refugees such as Edward Teller and Eugene Wigner, "regarded it as
their responsibility to alert Americans to the possibility that German scientists might win the race to
build an atomic bomb, and to warn that Hitler would be more than willing to resort to such a
weapon."[108][109] To make certain the US was aware of the danger, in July 1939, a few months before
the beginning of World War II in Europe, Szilárd and Wigner visited Einstein to explain the possibility
of atomic bombs, which Einstein, a pacifist, said he had never considered. [110] He was asked to lend
his support by writing a letter, with Szilárd, to President Roosevelt, recommending the US pay
attention and engage in its own nuclear weapons research.
The letter is believed to be "arguably the key stimulus for the U.S. adoption of serious investigations
into nuclear weapons on the eve of the U.S. entry into World War II". [111] In addition to the letter,
Einstein used his connections with the Belgian Royal Family[112] and the Belgian queen mother to get
access with a personal envoy to the White House's Oval Office. Some say that as a result of
Einstein's letter and his meetings with Roosevelt, the US entered the "race" to develop the bomb,
drawing on its "immense material, financial, and scientific resources" to initiate the Manhattan
Project.
For Einstein, "war was a disease ... [and] he called for resistance to war." By signing the letter to
Roosevelt, some argue he went against his pacifist principles. [113] In 1954, a year before his death,
Einstein said to his old friend, Linus Pauling, "I made one great mistake in my life—when I signed the
letter to President Roosevelt recommending that atom bombs be made; but there was some
justification—the danger that the Germans would make them ..."[114]
US citizenship
Einstein accepting US citizenshipcertificate from judge Phillip Forman
Einstein became an American citizen in 1940. Not long after settling into his career at the Institute for
Advanced Study (in Princeton, New Jersey), he expressed his appreciation of the meritocracy in
American culture when compared to Europe. He recognized the "right of individuals to say and think
what they pleased", without social barriers, and as a result, individuals were encouraged, he said, to
be more creative, a trait he valued from his own early education. [115]
Einstein joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in
Princeton, where he campaigned for the civil rights of African Americans. He considered racism
America's "worst disease,"[92] seeing it as "handed down from one generation to the next". [116] As part
of his involvement, he corresponded with civil rights activist W. E. B. Du Bois and was prepared to
testify on his behalf during his trial in 1951.[117]:565 When Einstein offered to be a character witness for
Du Bois, the judge decided to drop the case.[118]
In 1946 Einstein visited Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, a historically black college, where he was
awarded an honorary degree. (Lincoln was the first university in the United States to grant college
degrees to African Americans; alumni include Langston Hughes and Thurgood Marshall.) Einstein
gave a speech about racism in America, adding, "I do not intend to be quiet about it." [119] A resident of
Princeton recalls that Einstein had once paid the college tuition for a black student. [118]
Personal life
Einstein in 1947
Assisting Zionist causes

Einstein was a figurehead leader in helping establish the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which
opened in 1925, and was among its first Board of Governors. Earlier, in 1921, he was asked by the
biochemist and president of the World Zionist Organization, Chaim Weizmann, to help raise funds
for the planned university.[120] He also submitted various suggestions as to its initial programs.
Among those, he advised first creating an Institute of Agriculture in order to settle the undeveloped
land. That should be followed, he suggested, by a Chemical Institute and an Institute of
Microbiology, to fight the various ongoing epidemics such as malaria, which he called an "evil" that
was undermining a third of the country's development. [121]:161 Establishing an Oriental Studies Institute,
to include language courses given in both Hebrew and Arabic, for scientific exploration of the country
and its historical monuments, was also important.[121]:158
Chaim Weizmann later became Israel's first president. Upon his death while in office in November
1952 and at the urging of Ezriel Carlebach, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion offered Einstein the
position of President of Israel, a mostly ceremonial post.[122][123] The offer was presented by Israel's
ambassador in Washington, Abba Eban, who explained that the offer "embodies the deepest respect
which the Jewish people can repose in any of its sons".[124] Einstein declined, and wrote in his
response that he was "deeply moved", and "at once saddened and ashamed" that he could not
accept it.[124]
Love of music
Einstein (right) with writer, musician and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, 1930
Einstein developed an appreciation for music at an early age, and later wrote: "If I were not a
physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see
my life in terms of music... I get most joy in life out of music."[125][126]
His mother played the piano reasonably well and wanted her son to learn the violin, not only to instill
in him a love of music but also to help him assimilate into German culture. According to
conductor Leon Botstein, Einstein began playing when he was 5, although he did not enjoy it at that
age.[127]
When he turned 13, he discovered the violin sonatas of Mozart, whereupon "Einstein fell in love"
with Mozart's music and studied music more willingly. He taught himself to play without "ever
practicing systematically", he said, deciding that "love is a better teacher than a sense of duty." [127] At
age 17, he was heard by a school examiner in Aarau as he played Beethoven's violin sonatas, the
examiner stating afterward that his playing was "remarkable and revealing of 'great insight'." What
struck the examiner, writes Botstein, was that Einstein "displayed a deep love of the music, a quality
that was and remains in short supply. Music possessed an unusual meaning for this student." [127]
Music took on a pivotal and permanent role in Einstein's life from that period on. Although the idea of
becoming a professional musician himself was not on his mind at any time, among those with whom
Einstein played chamber music were a few professionals, and he performed for private audiences
and friends. Chamber music had also become a regular part of his social life while living in Bern,
Zürich, and Berlin, where he played with Max Planck and his son, among others. He is sometimes
erroneously credited as the editor of the 1937 edition of the Köchel catalogue of Mozart's work; that
edition was prepared by Alfred Einstein, who may have been a distant relation. [128][129]
In 1931, while engaged in research at the California Institute of Technology, he visited the Zoellner
family conservatory in Los Angeles, where he played some of Beethoven and Mozart's works with
members of the Zoellner Quartet.[130][131] Near the end of his life, when the young Juilliard
Quartet visited him in Princeton, he played his violin with them, and the quartet was "impressed by
Einstein's level of coordination and intonation". [127]
Political and religious views
Main articles: Albert Einstein's political views and Albert Einstein's religious views
Albert Einstein with his wife Elsa Einstein and Zionist leaders, including future President of Israel Chaim
Weizmann, his wife Vera Weizmann, Menahem Ussishkin, and Ben-Zion Mossinson on arrival in New York City
in 1921
Einstein's political view was in favor of socialism and critical of capitalism, which he detailed in his
essays such as "Why Socialism?".[132][133] Einstein offered and was called on to give judgments and
opinions on matters often unrelated to theoretical physics or mathematics. [99] He strongly advocated
the idea of a democratic global government that would check the power of nation-states in the
framework of a world federation. [134] The FBI created a secret dossier on Einstein in 1932, and by the
time of his death his FBI file was 1,427 pages long.[135]
Einstein was deeply impressed by Mahatma Gandhi. He exchanged written letters with Gandhi, and
called him "a role model for the generations to come" in a letter writing about him. [136]
Einstein spoke of his spiritual outlook in a wide array of original writings and interviews. [137] Einstein
stated that he had sympathy for the impersonal pantheistic God of Baruch Spinoza's philosophy.
[138]
He did not believe in a personal God who concerns himself with fates and actions of human
beings, a view which he described as naïve.[139] He clarified, however, that "I am not an atheist",
[140]
preferring to call himself an agnostic,[141] or a "deeply religious nonbeliever."[139] When asked if he
believed in an afterlife, Einstein replied, "No. And one life is enough for me." [142]
Einstein was primarily affiliated with non-religious humanist and Ethical Culture groups in both the
UK and US. He served on the advisory board of the First Humanist Society of New York,[143] and was
an honorary associate of the Rationalist Association, which publishes New Humanist in Britain. For
the seventy-fifth anniversary of the New York Society for Ethical Culture, he stated that the idea of
Ethical Culture embodied his personal conception of what is most valuable and enduring in religious
idealism. He observed, "Without 'ethical culture' there is no salvation for humanity." [144]
Death
On 17 April 1955, Einstein experienced internal bleeding caused by the rupture of an abdominal
aortic aneurysm, which had previously been reinforced surgically by Rudolph Nissen in 1948.[145] He
took the draft of a speech he was preparing for a television appearance commemorating the State of
Israel's seventh anniversary with him to the hospital, but he did not live long enough to complete it. [146]
Einstein refused surgery, saying, "I want to go when I want. It is tasteless to prolong life artificially. I
have done my share; it is time to go. I will do it elegantly." [147] He died in Princeton Hospital early the
next morning at the age of 76, having continued to work until near the end. [148]
During the autopsy, the pathologist of Princeton Hospital, Thomas Stoltz Harvey, removed Einstein's
brain for preservation without the permission of his family, in the hope that the neuroscience of the
future would be able to discover what made Einstein so intelligent.[149] Einstein's remains
were cremated and his ashes were scattered at an undisclosed location. [150][151]
In a memorial lecture delivered on 13 December 1965, at UNESCO headquarters, nuclear
physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer summarized his impression of Einstein as a person: "He was
almost wholly without sophistication and wholly without worldliness ... There was always with him a
wonderful purity at once childlike and profoundly stubborn." [152]
Scientific career
Throughout his life, Einstein published hundreds of books and articles. [15][5] He published more than
300 scientific papers and 150 non-scientific ones. [11][15] On 5 December 2014, universities and
archives announced the release of Einstein's papers, comprising more than 30,000 unique
documents.[153][154] Einstein's intellectual achievements and originality have made the word "Einstein"
synonymous with "genius."[16] In addition to the work he did by himself he also collaborated with other
scientists on additional projects including the Bose–Einstein statistics, the Einstein refrigerator and
others.[155]
1905 – Annus Mirabilis papers

Main articles: Annus Mirabilis papers, Photoelectric effect, Special theory of relativity, Mass–energy
equivalence, and Brownian motion
The Annus Mirabilis papers are four articles pertaining to the photoelectric effect (which gave rise
to quantum theory), Brownian motion, the special theory of relativity, and E = mc2 that Einstein
published in the Annalen der Physik scientific journal in 1905. These four works contributed
substantially to the foundation of modern physics and changed views on space, time, and matter.
The four papers are:
Title (translated) Area of focus Received Published Significance
On a Heuristic Resolved an unsolved puzzle by

Viewpoint suggesting that energy is
Concerning the Photoelectric exchanged only in discrete
18 March 9 June
Production and effect amounts (quanta).[156] This idea was
Transformation of pivotal to the early development of
Light quantum theory.[157]
On the Motion of
Small Particles
Suspended in a Explained empirical evidence for
Brownian
Stationary Liquid, as 11 May 18 July the atomic theory, supporting the
motion
Required by the application of statistical physics.
Molecular Kinetic
Theory of Heat
Reconciled Maxwell's equations for

electricity and magnetism with the
laws of mechanics by introducing
changes to mechanics, resulting
On the
Special 26 from analysis based on empirical
Electrodynamics of 30 June
relativity September evidence that the speed of light is
Moving Bodies
independent of the motion of the
observer.[158]Discredited the
concept of a "luminiferous ether".
[159]
Equivalence of matter and

energy, E = mc2 (and by
Does the Inertia of a Matter–
27 21 implication, the ability of gravity to
Body Depend Upon energy
September November "bend" light), the existence of "rest
Its Energy Content? equivalence
energy", and the basis of nuclear
energy.
Statistical mechanics
Thermodynamic fluctuations and statistical physics
Main articles: Statistical mechanics, thermal fluctuations, and statistical physics
Einstein's first paper[160] submitted in 1900 to Annalen der Physik was on capillary attraction. It was
published in 1901 with the title "Folgerungen aus den Capillaritätserscheinungen", which translates
as "Conclusions from the capillarity phenomena". Two papers he published in 1902–1903
(thermodynamics) attempted to interpret atomic phenomena from a statistical point of view. These
papers were the foundation for the 1905 paper on Brownian motion, which showed that Brownian
movement can be construed as firm evidence that molecules exist. His research in 1903 and 1904
was mainly concerned with the effect of finite atomic size on diffusion phenomena. [160]
Theory of critical opalescence
Main article: Critical opalescence
Einstein returned to the problem of thermodynamic fluctuations, giving a treatment of the density
variations in a fluid at its critical point. Ordinarily the density fluctuations are controlled by the second
derivative of the free energy with respect to the density. At the critical point, this derivative is zero,
leading to large fluctuations. The effect of density fluctuations is that light of all wavelengths is
scattered, making the fluid look milky white. Einstein relates this to Rayleigh scattering, which is
what happens when the fluctuation size is much smaller than the wavelength, and which explains
why the sky is blue.[161] Einstein quantitatively derived critical opalescence from a treatment of density
fluctuations, and demonstrated how both the effect and Rayleigh scattering originate from the
atomistic constitution of matter.
Special relativity
Main article: History of special relativity
Einstein's "Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Körper"[162] ("On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies")

was received on 30 June 1905 and published 26 September of that same year. It reconciled conflicts
between Maxwell's equations (the laws of electricity and magnetism) and the laws of Newtonian
mechanics by introducing changes to the laws of mechanics. [163] Observationally, the effects of these
changes are most apparent at high speeds (where objects are moving at speeds close to the speed
of light). The theory developed in this paper later became known as Einstein's special theory of
relativity.
This paper predicted that, when measured in the frame of a relatively moving observer, a clock
carried by a moving body would appear to slow down, and the body itself would contract in its
direction of motion. This paper also argued that the idea of a luminiferous aether—one of the leading
theoretical entities in physics at the time—was superfluous. [note 3]
In his paper on mass–energy equivalence, Einstein produced E = mc2 as a consequence of his
special relativity equations.[164] Einstein's 1905 work on relativity remained controversial for many
years, but was accepted by leading physicists, starting with Max Planck.[165][166]
Einstein originally framed special relativity in terms of kinematics (the study of moving bodies). In
1908, Hermann Minkowski reinterpreted special relativity in geometric terms as a theory
of spacetime. Einstein adopted Minkowski's formalism in his 1915 general theory of relativity.[167]
General relativity
General relativity and the equivalence principle
Main article: History of general relativity
See also: Equivalence principle, Theory of relativity, and Einstein field equations

Eddington's photograph of a solar eclipse
General relativity (GR) is a theory of gravitation that was developed by Einstein between 1907 and
1915. According to general relativity, the observed gravitational attraction between masses results
from the warping of space and time by those masses. General relativity has developed into an
essential tool in modern astrophysics. It provides the foundation for the current understanding
of black holes, regions of space where gravitational attraction is so strong that not even light can
escape.
As Einstein later said, the reason for the development of general relativity was that the preference of
inertial motions within special relativity was unsatisfactory, while a theory which from the outset
prefers no state of motion (even accelerated ones) should appear more satisfactory.
[168]
Consequently, in 1907 he published an article on acceleration under special relativity. In that
article titled "On the Relativity Principle and the Conclusions Drawn from It", he argued that free
fall is really inertial motion, and that for a free-falling observer the rules of special relativity must
apply. This argument is called the equivalence principle. In the same article, Einstein also predicted
the phenomena of gravitational time dilation, gravitational red shift and deflection of light.[169][170]
In 1911, Einstein published another article "On the Influence of Gravitation on the Propagation of
Light" expanding on the 1907 article, in which he estimated the amount of deflection of light by
massive bodies. Thus, the theoretical prediction of general relativity could for the first time be tested
experimentally.[171]
Gravitational waves
In 1916, Einstein predicted gravitational waves,[172][173] ripples in the curvature of spacetime which
propagate as waves, traveling outward from the source, transporting energy as gravitational
radiation. The existence of gravitational waves is possible under general relativity due to its Lorentz
invariance which brings the concept of a finite speed of propagation of the physical interactions of
gravity with it. By contrast, gravitational waves cannot exist in the Newtonian theory of gravitation,
which postulates that the physical interactions of gravity propagate at infinite speed.
The first, indirect, detection of gravitational waves came in the 1970s through observation of a pair of
closely orbiting neutron stars, PSR B1913+16.[174] The explanation of the decay in their orbital period
was that they were emitting gravitational waves.[174][175] Einstein's prediction was confirmed on 11
February 2016, when researchers at LIGO published the first observation of gravitational waves,
[176]
detected on Earth on 14 September 2015, exactly one hundred years after the prediction. [174][177][178]
[179][180]
Hole argument and Entwurf theory

Hole argument
While developing general relativity, Einstein became confused about the gauge invariance in the
theory. He formulated an argument that led him to conclude that a general relativistic field theory is
impossible. He gave up looking for fully generally covariant tensor equations, and searched for
equations that would be invariant under general linear transformations only.
In June 1913, the Entwurf ("draft") theory was the result of these investigations. As its name
suggests, it was a sketch of a theory, less elegant and more difficult than general relativity, with the
equations of motion supplemented by additional gauge fixing conditions. After more than two years
of intensive work, Einstein realized that the hole argument was mistaken[181] and abandoned the
theory in November 1915.
Physical cosmology
Physical cosmologyIn 1917, Einstein applied the general theory of relativity to the structure of the
universe as a whole.[182] He discovered that the general field equations predicted a universe that was
dynamic, either contracting or expanding. As observational evidence for a dynamic universe was not
known at the time, Einstein introduced a new term, the cosmological constant, to the field equations,
in order to allow the theory to predict a static universe. The modified field equations predicted a
static universe of closed curvature, in accordance with Einstein's understanding of Mach's
principle in these years. This model became known as the Einstein World or Einstein's static
universe.[183][184]
Following the discovery of the recession of the nebulae by Edwin Hubble in 1929, Einstein
abandoned his static model of the universe, and proposed two dynamic models of the cosmos, The
Friedmann-Einstein universe of 1931[185][186] and the Einstein–de Sitter universe of 1932.[187][188] In each
of these models, Einstein discarded the cosmological constant, claiming that it was "in any case
theoretically unsatisfactory".[185][186][189]
In many Einstein biographies, it is claimed that Einstein referred to the cosmological constant in later
years as his "biggest blunder". The astrophysicist Mario Livio has recently cast doubt on this claim,
suggesting that it may be exaggerated.[190]
In late 2013, a team led by the Irish physicist Cormac O'Raifeartaigh discovered evidence that,
shortly after learning of Hubble's observations of the recession of the nebulae, Einstein considered
a steady-state model of the universe.[191][192] In a hitherto overlooked manuscript, apparently written in
early 1931, Einstein explored a model of the expanding universe in which the density of matter
remains constant due to a continuous creation of matter, a process he associated with the
cosmological constant.[193][194] As he stated in the paper, "In what follows, I would like to draw attention
to a solution to equation (1) that can account for Hubbel's [sic] facts, and in which the density is
constant over time" ... "If one considers a physically bounded volume, particles of matter will be
continually leaving it. For the density to remain constant, new particles of matter must be continually
formed in the volume from space."
It thus appears that Einstein considered a steady-state model of the expanding universe many years
before Hoyle, Bondi and Gold.[195][196] However, Einstein's steady-state model contained a fundamental
flaw and he quickly abandoned the idea. [193][194][197]
Energy momentum pseudotensor
Stress–energy–momentum pseudotensor
General relativity includes a dynamical spacetime, so it is difficult to see how to identify the
conserved energy and momentum. Noether's theoremallows these quantities to be determined from
a Lagrangian with translation invariance, but general covariance makes translation invariance into
something of a gauge symmetry. The energy and momentum derived within general relativity by
Noether's prescriptions do not make a real tensor for this reason.
Einstein argued that this is true for fundamental reasons, because the gravitational field could be
made to vanish by a choice of coordinates. He maintained that the non-covariant energy momentum
pseudotensor was in fact the best description of the energy momentum distribution in a gravitational
field. This approach has been echoed by Lev Landau and Evgeny Lifshitz, and others, and has
become standard.
The use of non-covariant objects like pseudotensors was heavily criticized in 1917 by Erwin
Schrödinger and others.
Wormholes
Wormhole
In 1935, Einstein collaborated with Nathan Rosen to produce a model of a wormhole, often

called Einstein–Rosen bridges.[198][199] His motivation was to model elementary particles with charge as
a solution of gravitational field equations, in line with the program outlined in the paper "Do
Gravitational Fields play an Important Role in the Constitution of the Elementary Particles?". These
solutions cut and pasted Schwarzschild black holes to make a bridge between two patches.[200]
If one end of a wormhole was positively charged, the other end would be negatively charged. These
properties led Einstein to believe that pairs of particles and antiparticles could be described in this
way.
Einstein–Cartan theory
Einstein–Cartan theory
Einstein at his office, University of Berlin, 1920
In order to incorporate spinning point particles into general relativity, the affine connection needed to
be generalized to include an antisymmetric part, called the torsion. This modification was made by
Einstein and Cartan in the 1920s.
Equations of motion
Einstein–Infeld–Hoffmann equations
The theory of general relativity has a fundamental law—the Einstein equations which describe how
space curves, the geodesic equation which describes how particles move may be derived from the
Einstein equations.
Since the equations of general relativity are non-linear, a lump of energy made out of pure
gravitational fields, like a black hole, would move on a trajectory which is determined by the Einstein
equations themselves, not by a new law. So Einstein proposed that the path of a singular solution,
like a black hole, would be determined to be a geodesic from general relativity itself.
This was established by Einstein, Infeld, and Hoffmann for pointlike objects without angular
momentum, and by Roy Kerr for spinning objects.
Old quantum theory

Old quantum theory
Photons and energy quanta
The photoelectric effect. Incoming photons on the left strike a metal plate (bottom), and eject electrons,
depicted as flying off to the right.
Main articles: Photon and Quantum
In a 1905 paper,[201] Einstein postulated that light itself consists of localized particles (quanta).
Einstein's light quanta were nearly universally rejected by all physicists, including Max Planck and
Niels Bohr. This idea only became universally accepted in 1919, with Robert Millikan's detailed
experiments on the photoelectric effect, and with the measurement of Compton scattering.
Einstein concluded that each wave of frequency f is associated with a collection of photons with
energy hfeach, where h is Planck's constant. He does not say much more, because he is not sure
how the particles are related to the wave. But he does suggest that this idea would explain certain
experimental results, notably the photoelectric effect. [201]
Quantized atomic vibrations
Einstein solid
In 1907, Einstein proposed a model of matter where each atom in a lattice structure is an
independent harmonic oscillator. In the Einstein model, each atom oscillates independently—a
series of equally spaced quantized states for each oscillator. Einstein was aware that getting the
frequency of the actual oscillations would be difficult, but he nevertheless proposed this theory
because it was a particularly clear demonstration that quantum mechanics could solve the specific
heat problem in classical mechanics. Peter Debye refined this model.[202]
Adiabatic principle and action-angle variables
Adiabatic invariant
Throughout the 1910s, quantum mechanics expanded in scope to cover many different systems.
After Ernest Rutherford discovered the nucleus and proposed that electrons orbit like planets, Niels
Bohr was able to show that the same quantum mechanical postulates introduced by Planck and
developed by Einstein would explain the discrete motion of electrons in atoms, and the periodic table
of the elements.
Einstein contributed to these developments by linking them with the 1898 arguments Wilhelm
Wien had made. Wien had shown that the hypothesis of adiabatic invariance of a thermal equilibrium
state allows all the blackbody curves at different temperature to be derived from one another by
a simple shifting process. Einstein noted in 1911 that the same adiabatic principle shows that the
quantity which is quantized in any mechanical motion must be an adiabatic invariant. Arnold
Sommerfeld identified this adiabatic invariant as the action variable of classical mechanics.
Bose–Einstein statistics
Bose–Einstein statistics
In 1924, Einstein received a description of a statistical model from Indian physicist Satyendra Nath

Bose, based on a counting method that assumed that light could be understood as a gas of
indistinguishable particles. Einstein noted that Bose's statistics applied to some atoms as well as to
the proposed light particles, and submitted his translation of Bose's paper to the Zeitschrift für
Physik. Einstein also published his own articles describing the model and its implications, among
them the Bose–Einstein condensate phenomenon that some particulates should appear at very low
temperatures.[203] It was not until 1995 that the first such condensate was produced experimentally
by Eric Allin Cornell and Carl Wiemanusing ultra-cooling equipment built at the NIST–JILA laboratory
at the University of Colorado at Boulder.[204] Bose–Einstein statistics are now used to describe the
behaviors of any assembly of bosons. Einstein's sketches for this project may be seen in the
Einstein Archive in the library of the Leiden University.[155]
Wave–particle duality
Einstein during his visit to the United States
Wave–particle duality
Although the patent office promoted Einstein to Technical Examiner Second Class in 1906, he had
not given up on academia. In 1908, he became a Privatdozent at the University of Bern.[205] In "Über
die Entwicklung unserer Anschauungen über das Wesen und die Konstitution der Strahlung" ("The
Development of our Views on the Composition and Essence of Radiation"), on the quantization of
light, and in an earlier 1909 paper, Einstein showed that Max Planck's energy quanta must have
well-defined momenta and act in some respects as independent, point-like particles. This paper
introduced the photon concept (although the name photon was introduced later by Gilbert N.
Lewis in 1926) and inspired the notion of wave–particle duality in quantum mechanics. Einstein saw
this wave–particle duality in radiation as concrete evidence for his conviction that physics needed a
new, unified foundation.
Zero-point energy
Zero-point energy
In a series of works completed from 1911 to 1913, Planck reformulated his 1900 quantum theory
and introduced the idea of zero-point energy in his "second quantum theory". Soon, this idea
attracted the attention of Einstein and his assistant Otto Stern. Assuming the energy of rotating
diatomic molecules contains zero-point energy, they then compared the theoretical specific heat of
hydrogen gas with the experimental data. The numbers matched nicely. However, after publishing
the findings, they promptly withdrew their support, because they no longer had confidence in the
correctness of the idea of zero-point energy.[206]
Stimulated emission
Stimulated emission
In 1917, at the height of his work on relativity, Einstein published an article in Physikalische
Zeitschrift that proposed the possibility of stimulated emission, the physical process that makes
possible the maser and the laser.[207] This article showed that the statistics of absorption and emission
of light would only be consistent with Planck's distribution law if the emission of light into a mode with
n photons would be enhanced statistically compared to the emission of light into an empty mode.
This paper was enormously influential in the later development of quantum mechanics, because it
was the first paper to show that the statistics of atomic transitions had simple laws.
Matter waves
Matter wave
Einstein discovered Louis de Broglie's work and supported his ideas, which were received
skeptically at first. In another major paper from this era, Einstein gave a wave equation for de Broglie
waves, which Einstein suggested was the Hamilton–Jacobi equation of mechanics. This paper would
inspire Schrödinger's work of 1926.
Quantum mechanics
Einstein's objections to quantum mechanics
Newspaper headline on 4 May 1935

Einstein was displeased with modern quantum mechanics as it had evolved after 1925. Contrary to
popular belief, his doubts were not due to a conviction that God "is not playing at dice." [208] Indeed, it
was Einstein himself, in his 1917 paper that proposed the possibility of stimulated emission,[207] who
first proposed the fundamental role of chance in explaining quantum processes. [209] Rather, he
objected to what quantum mechanics implies about the nature of reality. Einstein believed that a
physical reality exists independent of our ability to observe it. In contrast, Bohr and his followers
maintained that all we can know are the results of measurements and observations, and that it
makes no sense to speculate about an ultimate reality that exists beyond our perceptions. [210]
Bohr versus Einstein
Bohr–Einstein debates
Einstein and Niels Bohr, 1925
The Bohr–Einstein debates were a series of public disputes about quantum mechanics between

Einstein and Niels Bohr, who were two of its founders. Their debates are remembered because of
their importance to the philosophy of science.[211][212][213] Their debates would influence
later interpretations of quantum mechanics.
Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen paradox
EPR paradox
In 1935, Einstein returned quantum mechanics, in particular to the question of its completeness, in
the "EPR paper".[213] In a thought experiment, he considered two particles which had interacted such
that their properties were strongly correlated. No matter how far the two particles were separated, a
precise position measurement on one particle would result in equally precise knowledge of the
position of the other particle; likewise a precise momentum measurement of one particle would result
in equally precise knowledge of the momentum of the other particle, without needing to disturb the
other particle in any way.[214]
Given Einstein's concept of local realism, there were two possibilities: (1) either the other particle
had these properties already determined, or (2) the process of measuring the first particle
instantaneously affected the reality of the position and momentum of the second particle. Einstein
rejected this second possibility (popularly called "spooky action at a distance"). [214]
Einstein's belief in local realism led him to assert that, while the correctness of quantum mechanics
was not in question, it must be incomplete. But as a physical principle, local realism was shown to be
incorrect when the Aspect experiment of 1982 confirmed Bell's theorem, which J. S. Bell had
delineated in 1964. The results of these and subsequent experiments demonstrate that quantum
physics cannot be represented by any version of the picture of physics in which "particles are
regarded as unconnected independent classical-like entities, each one being unable to communicate
with the other after they have separated."[215]
Although Einstein was wrong about local realism, his clear prediction of the unusual properties of its
opposite, entangled quantum states, has resulted in the EPR paper becoming among the top ten
papers published in Physical Review. It is considered a centerpiece of the development of quantum
information theory.[216]
Unified field theory

Classical unified field theories
Following his research on general relativity, Einstein entered into a series of attempts to generalize
his geometric theory of gravitation to include electromagnetism as another aspect of a single entity.
In 1950, he described his "unified field theory" in a Scientific American article titled "On the
Generalized Theory of Gravitation". [217] Although he continued to be lauded for his work, Einstein
became increasingly isolated in his research, and his efforts were ultimately unsuccessful. In his
pursuit of a unification of the fundamental forces, Einstein ignored some mainstream developments
in physics, most notably the strong and weak nuclear forces, which were not well understood until
many years after his death. Mainstream physics, in turn, largely ignored Einstein's approaches to
unification. Einstein's dream of unifying other laws of physics with gravity motivates modern quests
for a theory of everything and in particular string theory, where geometrical fields emerge in a unified
quantum-mechanical setting.
Other investigations
Einstein's unsuccessful investigations
Einstein conducted other investigations that were unsuccessful and abandoned. These pertain
to force, superconductivity, and other research.
Collaboration with other scientists
The 1927 Solvay Conference in Brussels, a gathering of the world's top physicists. Einstein is in the center.
In addition to longtime collaborators Leopold Infeld, Nathan Rosen, Peter Bergmann and others,

Einstein also had some one-shot collaborations with various scientists.
Einstein–de Haas experiment
Einstein–de Haas effect
Einstein and De Haas demonstrated that magnetization is due to the motion of electrons, nowadays
known to be the spin. In order to show this, they reversed the magnetization in an iron bar
suspended on a torsion pendulum. They confirmed that this leads the bar to rotate, because the
electron's angular momentum changes as the magnetization changes. This experiment needed to be
sensitive, because the angular momentum associated with electrons is small, but it definitively
established that electron motion of some kind is responsible for magnetization.
Schrödinger gas model
Einstein suggested to Erwin Schrödinger that he might be able to reproduce the statistics of a Bose–
Einstein gas by considering a box. Then to each possible quantum motion of a particle in a box
associate an independent harmonic oscillator. Quantizing these oscillators, each level will have an
integer occupation number, which will be the number of particles in it.
This formulation is a form of second quantization, but it predates modern quantum mechanics. Erwin
Schrödinger applied this to derive the thermodynamic properties of a semiclassical ideal gas.
Schrödinger urged Einstein to add his name as co-author, although Einstein declined the invitation.
[218]
Einstein refrigerator
Einstein refrigerator
In 1926, Einstein and his former student Leó Szilárd co-invented (and in 1930, patented) the Einstein
refrigerator. This absorption refrigerator was then revolutionary for having no moving parts and using
only heat as an input.[219] On 11 November 1930, U.S. Patent 1,781,541 was awarded to Einstein and
Leó Szilárd for the refrigerator. Their invention was not immediately put into commercial production,
and the most promising of their patents were acquired by the Swedish company Electrolux.[220]
Non-scientific legacy
While traveling, Einstein wrote daily to his wife Elsa and adopted stepdaughters Margot and Ilse.
The letters were included in the papers bequeathed to The Hebrew University. Margot Einstein
permitted the personal letters to be made available to the public, but requested that it not be done
until twenty years after her death (she died in 1986 [221]). Einstein had expressed his interest in
the plumbing profession and was made an honorary member of the Plumbers and Steamfitters
Union.[222][223] Barbara Wolff, of The Hebrew University's Albert Einstein Archives, told the BBC that
there are about 3,500 pages of private correspondence written between 1912 and 1955. [224]
Corbis, successor to The Roger Richman Agency, licenses the use of his name and associated
imagery, as agent for the university.[225]
In popular culture
Albert Einstein in popular culture
In the period before World War II, The New Yorker published a vignette in their "The Talk of the
Town" feature saying that Einstein was so well known in America that he would be stopped on the
street by people wanting him to explain "that theory". He finally figured out a way to handle the
incessant inquiries. He told his inquirers "Pardon me, sorry! Always I am mistaken for Professor
Einstein."[226]
Einstein has been the subject of or inspiration for many novels, films, plays, and works of music.
[227]
He is a favorite model for depictions of mad scientists and absent-minded professors; his
expressive face and distinctive hairstyle have been widely copied and
exaggerated. Time magazine's Frederic Golden wrote that Einstein was "a cartoonist's dream come
true".[228]
Many popular quotations are often misattributed to him.[229][230]
Awards and honors
Einstein's awards and honors
Einstein received numerous awards and honors and in 1922 he was awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize
in Physics "for his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the
photoelectric effect". None of the nominations in 1921 met the criteria set by Alfred Nobel, so the
1921 prize was carried forward and awarded to Einstein in 1922. [10]
Publications
The following publications by Einstein are referenced in this article. A more complete list of
his publications may be found at List of scientific publications by Albert Einstein.
 Einstein, Albert (1901) [Manuscript received: 16 December 1900]. Written at Zurich, Switzerland.
"Folgerungen aus den Capillaritätserscheinungen" [Conclusions Drawn from the Phenomena of
Capillarity]. Annalen der Physik (Berlin) (in German). Hoboken, NJ (published 14 March
2006). 309 (3): 513–523. Bibcode:1901AnP...309..513E. doi:10.1002/andp.19013090306 – via Wiley
Online Library.
 Einstein, Albert (1905a) [Manuscript received: 18 March 1905]. Written at Berne, Switzerland. "Über
einen die Erzeugung und Verwandlung des Lichtes betreffenden heuristischen Gesichtspunkt" [On a
Heuristic Viewpoint Concerning the Production and Transformation of Light] (PDF). Annalen der
Physik (Berlin) (in German). Hoboken, NJ (published 10 March 2006). 322 (6): 132–
148. Bibcode:1905AnP...322..132E. doi:10.1002/andp.19053220607 – via Wiley Online Library.
 Einstein, Albert (1905b) [Completed 30 April and submitted 20 July 1905]. Written at Berne,
Switzerland, published by Wyss Buchdruckerei. Eine neue Bestimmung der Moleküldimensionen [A
new determination of molecular dimensions] (PDF). Dissertationen Universität Zürich (PhD Thesis) (in
German). Zurich, Switzerland: ETH Zürich (published 2008). doi:10.3929/ethz-a-000565688 – via ETH
Bibliothek.
 Einstein, Albert (1905c) [Manuscript received: 11 May 1905]. Written at Berne, Switzerland. "Über die
von der molekularkinetischen Theorie der Wärme geforderte Bewegung von in ruhenden
Flüssigkeiten suspendierten Teilchen" [On the Motion – Required by the Molecular Kinetic Theory of
Heat – of Small Particles Suspended in a Stationary Liquid]. Annalen der Physik (Berlin) (in German).
Hoboken, NJ (published 10 March 2006). 322(8): 549–
560. Bibcode:1905AnP...322..549E. doi:10.1002/andp.19053220806. hdl:10915/2785 – via Wiley
Online Library.
 Einstein, Albert (1905d) [Manuscript received: 30 June 1905]. Written at Berne, Switzerland. "Zur
Elektrodynamik bewegter Körper" [On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies]. Annalen der Physik
(Berlin) (Submitted manuscript) (in German). Hoboken, NJ (published 10 March 2006). 322 (10): 891–
921. Bibcode:1905AnP...322..891E. doi:10.1002/andp.19053221004. hdl:10915/2786 – via Wiley
Online Library.
 Einstein, Albert (1905e) [Manuscript received: 27 September 1905]. Written at Berne, Switzerland. "Ist
die Trägheit eines Körpers von seinem Energieinhalt abhängig?" [Does the Inertia of a Body Depend
Upon Its Energy Content?]. Annalen der Physik (Berlin) (in German). Hoboken, NJ (published 10
March 2006). 323 (13): 639–641. Bibcode:1905AnP...323..639E. doi:10.1002/andp.19053231314 –
via Wiley Online Library.
 Einstein, Albert (1915) [Published 25 November 1915]. "Die Feldgleichungen der Gravitation" [The
Field Equations of Gravitation] (Online page images)(in German). Berlin, Germany: Königlich
Preussische Akademie der Wissenschaften: 844–847 – via ECHO, Cultural Heritage Online, Max
Planck Institute for the History of Science.
 Einstein, Albert (1917a). "Kosmologische Betrachtungen zur allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie"
[Cosmological Considerations in the General Theory of Relativity] (in German). Königlich Preussische
Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin.
 Einstein, Albert (1917b). "Zur Quantentheorie der Strahlung" [On the Quantum Mechanics of
Radiation]. Physikalische Zeitschrift (in German). 18: 121–128. Bibcode:1917PhyZ...18..121E.
 Einstein, Albert (1923) [First published 1923, in English 1967]. Written at Gothenburg. Grundgedanken
und Probleme der Relativitätstheorie[Fundamental Ideas and Problems of the Theory of
Relativity] (PDF)(Speech). Lecture delivered to the Nordic Assembly of Naturalists at Gothenburg, 11
July 1923. Nobel Lectures, Physics 1901–1921 (in German and English). Stockholm: Nobelprice.org
(published 3 February 2015) – via Nobel Media AB 2014.
 Einstein, Albert (1924) [Published 10 July 1924]. "Quantentheorie des einatomigen idealen
Gases" [Quantum theory of monatomic ideal gases] (Online page images). Sitzungsberichte der
Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Physikalisch-Mathematische Klasse (in German): 261–
267 – via ECHO, Cultural Heritage Online, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science.. First of a
series of papers on this topic.
 Einstein, Albert (12 March 1926) [Cover Date 1 March 1926]. Written at Berlin. "Die Ursache der
Mäanderbildung der Flußläufe und des sogenannten Baerschen Gesetzes" [On Baer's
law and meanders in the courses of rivers]. Die Naturwissenschaften (in German). Heidelberg,
Germany. 14 (11): 223–224. Bibcode:1926NW.....14..223E. doi:10.1007/BF01510300. ISSN 1432-
1904 – via SpringerLink.
 Einstein, Albert (1926b). Written at Berne, Switzerland. R. Fürth, ed. Investigations on the Theory of
the Brownian Movement (PDF). Translated by A. D. Cowper. US: Dover Publications (published
1956). ISBN 978-1-60796-285-4. Retrieved 2015-01-04.
 Einstein, Albert; Podolsky, Boris; Rosen, Nathan (15 May 1935) [Received 25 March 1935]. "Can
Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete?". Physical
Review (Submitted manuscript). 47(10): 777–
780. Bibcode:1935PhRv...47..777E. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.47.777 – via APS Journals.
 Einstein, Albert (9 November 1940). On Science and Religion. Nature. 146. pp. 605–
607. Bibcode:1940Natur.146..605E. doi:10.1038/146605a0. ISBN 978-0-7073-0453-3.
 Einstein, Albert; et al. (4 December 1948). "To the editors of The New York Times". The New York
Times. Melville, New York: AIP, American Inst. of Physics. ISBN 0-7354-0359-7.
 Einstein, Albert (May 1949). "Why Socialism? (Reprise)". Monthly Review. New York: Monthly Review
Foundation (published May 2009). Archivedfrom the original on 11 January 2006. Retrieved 16
January 2006 – via MonthlyReview.org.
 Einstein, Albert (1950). "On the Generalized Theory of Gravitation". Scientific American. CLXXXII (4):
13–17. Bibcode:1950SciAm.182d..13E. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0450-13.
 Einstein, Albert (1954). Ideas and Opinions. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-517-00393-0.
 Einstein, Albert (1969). Albert Einstein, Hedwig und Max Born: Briefwechsel 1916–1955 (in German).
Munich: Nymphenburger Verlagshandlung. ISBN 978-3-88682-005-4.
 Einstein, Albert (1979). Autobiographical Notes. Paul Arthur Schilpp (Centennial ed.). Chicago: Open
Court. ISBN 978-0-87548-352-8.. The chasing a light beam thought experiment is described on pages
48–51.
 Collected Papers: Stachel, John; Martin J. Klein; A. J. Kox; Michel Janssen; R. Schulmann; Diana
Komos Buchwald; et al., eds. (21 July 2008) [Published between 1987–2006]. The Collected Papers
of Albert Einstein. Einstein's Writings. 1–10. Princeton University Press.. Further information about the
volumes published so far can be found on the webpages of the Einstein Papers Project and on
the Princeton University Press Einstein Page
Tim Cook
Timothy Donald Cook (born November 1, 1960-2014) [3] is an American business executive
and industrial engineer. Cook is the chief executive officer of Apple Inc., and previously served as
the company's chief operating officer under its cofounder Steve Jobs.[4]
Cook joined Apple in March 1998 as a senior vice president for worldwide operations, and then
served as the executive vice president for worldwide sales and operations.[5] He was made the chief
executive on August 24, 2011, prior to Jobs' death in October of that year. [6] During his tenure as the
chief executive, he has advocated for the political reformation of international and domestic
surveillance, cybersecurity, corporate taxation, American manufacturing, and environmental
preservation.
Tim Cook
Cook in 2009
In 2014, Cook became the first chief executive of a Fortune 500 company to publicly come out as
gay.[7] Cook also serves on the boards of directors of Nike, Inc.,[6] the National Football Foundation,
[8]
and is a trustee of Duke University.[9] In March 2015, he said he planned to donate his entire stock
fortune to charity

Cook was born in Mobile, Alabama, United States.[11][12] He was baptized in a Baptist church[13] and
grew up in nearby Robertsdale. His father, Donald, was a shipyard worker, and his mother,
Geraldine, worked at a pharmacy.[11][14]
Cook graduated from Robertsdale High School. He earned a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in industrial
engineering from Auburn University in 1982,[15] and his Master of Business Administration (MBA)
from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business in 1988.[16]
Career
Pre-Apple era
After graduating from Auburn University in 1982, Cook spent 12 years in IBM's personal computer
business, ultimately serving as the director of North American fulfillment. [5] It was during this time that
Cook also earned his MBA from Duke University, becoming a Fuqua Scholar in 1988. Later, he
served as the Chief Operating Officer of the computer reseller division of Intelligent Electronics, and
in 1997 became the Vice President for Corporate Materials at Compaq for six months.[17]
Apple era
Early career
In 1998, Steve Jobs asked Cook to join Apple. In a commencement speech at Auburn University,
Cook said he decided to join Apple after meeting Jobs for the first time:
Any purely rational consideration of cost and benefits lined up in Compaq's favor, and the people
who knew me best advised me to stay at Compaq... On that day in early 1998 I listened to my
intuition, not the left side of my brain or for that matter even the people who knew me best... no more
than five minutes into my initial interview with Steve, I wanted to throw caution and logic to the wind
and join Apple. My intuition already knew that joining Apple was a once in a lifetime opportunity to
work for the creative genius, and to be on the executive team that could resurrect a great American
company.[18]
His first position was Senior Vice President for worldwide operations.[5] In relation to the role, Cook
was quoted as saying: "You kind of want to manage it like you're in the dairy business. If it gets past
its freshness date, you have a problem". [19]
Cook giving the keynote at the 2012 World Wide Developers Conference.
Cook closed factories and warehouses, and replaced them with contract manufacturers; this resulted
in a reduction of the company's inventory from months to days. Predicting its importance, his group
invested in long-term deals such as advance investment in flash memory from 2005 onward,
guaranteeing stable supply of what became a key iPod Nano, then iPhone and iPad component.
Competitors at Hewlett-Packard, describing their cancelled TouchPad tablet computer, later said that
it was made from "cast-off reject iPad parts".[20] Cook's actions were credited with keeping costs
under control and, combined with the company's design and marketing savvy, generated huge
profits.[21]
In January 2007, Cook was promoted to lead operations [22] and served as chief executive in 2009,
while Jobs was away on a leave of absence for health related issues. In January 2011, Apple's
board of directors approved a third medical leave of absence requested by Jobs. During that time,
Cook was responsible for most of Apple's day-to-day operations, while Jobs made most major
decisions.[23][24]
Apple chief executive (2011–present)
After Jobs resigned as CEO and became chairman of the board, Cook was named the new chief
executive officer of Apple Inc. on August 24, 2011. [25][26] Six weeks later, on October 5, 2011, Jobs
died due to complications from pancreatic cancer.[27] Forbes contributor Robin Ferracone wrote in
September 2011: "Jobs and Cook proceeded to forge a strong partnership, and rescued the
company from its death spiral, which took it from $11 billion in revenue in 1995 down to less than $6
billion in 1998 ... Under their leadership, the company went from its nadir to a remarkable $100
billion today".[24][ In April 2012, Time included Cook on its annual "100 Most Influential People in the
World" list.[28]
On October 29, 2012, Cook made major changes to the company's executive team. Scott
Forstall resigned as senior vice president of iOS, and became an advisor to Cook until he eventually
departed from the company in 2013. John Browett, who was Senior VP of retail, was dismissed six
months after he commenced at Apple, when he received 100,000 shares worth US$60 million.
[29]
Forstall's duties were divided among four other Apple executives: design SVP Sir Jonathan
Ive assumed leadership of Apple's human interface team; Craig Federighi became the new head of
iOS software engineering; services chief Eddy Cue became responsible for Maps and Siri; and Bob
Mansfield, previously SVP of hardware engineering, became the head of a new technology group. [30]
Cook's executive changes occurred after the third quarter of the fiscal year, when revenues and
profits grew less than predicted.[31] One commentator said that Forstall was forced to step down, as
Cook "decided to lance the boil as internal politics and dissent reached a key pitch". Since becoming
CEO, Cook focused upon building a harmonious culture that meant "weeding out people with
disagreeable personalities—people Jobs tolerated and even held close, like Forstall"; [32] although,
another journalist said that "Apple's ability to innovate came from tension and disagreement." [33] On
February 28, 2014, Cook made headlines when he challenged shareholders to "get out of the stock"
if they didn't share the company's views on sustainability and climate change. [34] In May 2016, Cook
traveled to China to meet with government officials there after the closure of Apple's online iTunes
Store and Apple Books store by the Chinese government. [35]
Cook with Chongqing Mayor Huangin Apple Store Jiefangbei, China, August 17, 2016
In 2016, some analysts compared Cook to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, claiming that

innovation had died down since he replaced Jobs, similar to when Ballmer became Microsoft CEO in
2000.[36][37] In December 2017, Cook was a speaker at the World Internet Conference in China, where
he stated that "the theme of this conference—developing a digital economy for openness and shared
benefits—is a vision we at Apple share. We are proud to have worked alongside many of our
partners in China to help build a community that will join a common future in cyberspace." [38][39]
Research published at the University of Oxford characterised Cook's leadership style as
paradigmatic of founder centrism: explained as a founder's mindset, an ethical disposition towards
the shareholder collective, and an intense focus on exponential value creation
Cyber security
Alongside Google vice-president Vint Cerf and AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, Cook attended a
closed-door summit held by President Barack Obama, on August 8, 2013, in regard to government
surveillance and the Internet in the wake of the Edward Snowden NSA incident.[41][42]
Following the December 2015 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California, in which 14 people were
killed by Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, the Federal Bureau of Investigation solicited Apple to
assist in "unlock[ing]" an iPhone 5C used by Farook. [43] On February 16, 2016, in response to a
request by the Department of Justice, a federal magistrate judge ordered Apple to create a custom
iOS firmware version that would allow investigators to circumvent the phone's security features.
[44]
Cook responded in an open letter, wherein he denounced the government's demands as
constituting a "breach of privacy" with "chilling" consequences. [43][45]
Public image
Leadership style
As Apple Inc. CEO, Cook regularly begins sending emails at 4:30 a.m. and previously held Sunday-
night staff meetings by telephone to prepare for the next week. [19]Cook shared in May 2013 that his
leadership focused on people, strategy, and execution; he explained, "If you get those three right the
world is a great place."[46]Under Cook's leadership, Apple has increased its donations to charity, and
in 2013, he hired Lisa Jackson, formerly the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, to assist
Apple with the development of its renewable energy activities. [47][48][49]
Public advocacy
Cook with President Donald Trumpin the Oval Office at the White House, April 25, 2018
During the 2008 election cycle, Cook donated to Barack Obama's first White House election.[50]
While it had been reported in early 2011 that Cook was gay,[51][52] at the time, and prior to his Oct.
2014 public statement, Cook chose to keep his personal life private. [53] He did publicly support LGBT
rights.[54] In October 2014, the Alabama Academy of Honor inducted Cook, who spoke about his
home state's record of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights. [55] The Academy of Honor is the
highest honor Alabama gives its citizens.[56]
In 2015, Cook donated to Democratic senators Chuck Schumer and Patrick Leahy for their stances
on eBook pricing and surveillance reform, respectively.[57] During the same election cycle he hosted a
fundraiser for Senator Rob Portman.[57]
In early March 2016, he donated to the election campaign of Democratic representative Zoe
Lofgren of California. In early June, Cook hosted a private fundraiser along with Speaker of the U.S.
House of Representatives Paul Ryan, described by Politico as "a joint fundraising committee aimed
at helping to elect other House Republicans".[57]
In the 2016 election, Cook raised funds for the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton.[58] At one
point, Clinton's campaign considered Cook as a candidate for vice-president.[59]
In September 2017 at Bloomberg's Global Business Forum, Cook defended the DACA immigration
program. He expressed his dissatisfaction with the direction of Donald Trump's administration,
stating: "This is unacceptable. This is not who we are as a country. I am personally shocked that
there is even a discussion of this."[60][61]
Personal life
Cook is a fitness enthusiast and enjoys hiking, cycling, and going to the gym. Cook is known for
being mostly solitary. He uses an off-campus fitness center for privacy, and very little is known about
his personal life. He explained in October 2014 that he has sought to achieve a "basic level of
privacy".[19][49] Cook was misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1996, an incident he said made him
"see the world in a different way". He has since taken part in charity fundraising, such as cycle races
to raise money for the disease. Cook later told an Auburn alumni magazine that his symptoms came
from "lugging a lot of incredibly heavy luggage around". [62]
In 2009, Cook said that he offered a portion of his liver to Jobs, since both share a rare blood type.
Cook said that Jobs responded by yelling, "I'll never let you do that. I'll never do that." [63]
While delivering the 2010 commencement speech at Auburn University, Cook emphasized the
importance of intuition during significant decision-making processes in his life, and further explained
that preparation and hard work are also necessary to execute on intuition. [64]
On October 30, 2014, Cook came out as gay and stated in an editorial for Bloomberg Business, "I'm
proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me." [65] Cook also
explained that he has been open about his sexuality "for years" and, while many people at Apple
were aware of his sexual orientation, he sought to focus on Apple's products and customers rather
than his personal life. He ended the article by saying "We pave the sunlit path toward justice
together, brick by brick. This is my brick."[65] As a result, Cook became the first openly gay CEO on
the Fortune 500 list. In September 2015, Cook appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert;
when asked about what inspired him to publicly reveal his sexual orientation, he responded, "Where
I valued my privacy significantly, I felt that I was valuing it too far above what I could do for other
people, so I wanted to tell everyone my truth."[66]
Awards and honors
 Financial Times Person of the Year (2014)[68][69][70]

 Ripple of Change Award (2015)[71][72]
 Fortune Magazine's: World's Greatest Leader. (2015) [73][74]
 Alabama Academy of Honor: Inductee. (2015)[75]
 Human Rights Campaign's Visibility Award (2015)[76][77]
 Honorary Doctor of Science from University of Glasgow in Glasgow, Scotland (2017)[78]
 Courage Against Hate award from Anti-Defamation League (2018)[79]
Tirunesh Dibaba
Tirunesh Dibaba, also known as Tirunesh Dibaba Kenene, (Amharic: ጥሩነሽዲባባቀነኒ; born 1 June
1985) is an Ethiopian athlete who competes in long distance track events and international road
races. She is the 5000 metres (outdoor track) world record holder.[10] She has won
three Olympictrack gold medals, five World Championship track gold medals, four individual World
Cross Country(WCC) adult titles, and one individual WCC junior title. She is nicknamed the "Baby
Faced Destroyer.
Tirunesh Dibaba
Dibaba at the 2008 Bislett Games
Background
Born in the village of Bekoji, Tirunesh was the fourth of six children.[12] She began doing athletics at
the age of 14.[12] She was raised in the high-altitude Arsi Province in Ethiopia but has lived in Addis
Ababa, the capital, since 2000.[12]
Tirunesh comes from an athletic family. Her older sister Ejegayehu won the silver medal in
the 10,000 metres at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. As of 25 June 2017, her younger
sister Genzebe holds the world record for 2000 metres and the indoor world records for 1500
metres, one mile (pending ratification), 3000 metres, and 5000 metres.[13] Tirunesh and Genzebe are
the only siblings in history to hold concurrent world records. [14] Their cousin Derartu Tulu won gold
medals in the 10,000 metres at the 1992 and 2000 Summer Olympics, the bronze medal in the
10,000 metres at the 2004 Summer Olympics, the silver medal in the 10,000 metres at the 1995
World Championships, and the gold medal in the 10,000 metres at the 2001 World Championships.
[14]
Career
Junior races
Dibaba's first fully international outdoor event as a junior was the 2001 World Cross Country
Championships (WCCC)[12] in Ostend, Belgium where, at the age of 15, she finished fifth.[12]
Dibaba finished second in the junior race at the 2002 WCCC in Dublin, Ireland before winning
that race in Lausanne, Switzerland in 2003.
Dibaba also earned a silver medal in the 5000 metres at the 2002 World Junior
Championships in Kingston, Jamaica, 1.05 seconds behind Meseret Defar and just 0.05 seconds
ahead of bronze medalist Vivian Cheruiyot.[15]
2003: First World Championships gold medal

In May, Dibaba won the only Ethiopian national track championship of her senior career. The event
was the 5000 metres, with Meseret Defar finishing second.
In Paris at her World Championships debut, Dibaba won the 5000 metres in a sprint finish
against Marta Dominguez of Spain and Edith Masai of Kenya. This made her the youngest athlete to
win an individual gold medal at the World Championships. [12] Recalling the race, Dibaba said, "I
competed in Paris only because I had the 'A' standard. No one expected me to win. There was no
pressure from anywhere. All of them [the pre-race favorites] were looking at each other [during the
race] and no one was focusing on the finish line. I just went for it and was surprised that I had
won."[16]
In October, she finished fourth in the 5000 metres at the All-Africa Games in Abuja, Nigeria and
second in the same event at the Afro-Asian Games in Hyderabad, India.[12] Meseret Defar won both
races. Dibaba said, "I was a bit tired after Paris and did not train well. I was not ready to run those
races."[16]
2004: Bronze medalist at the Athens Olympics

At the Summer Olympics in Athens, Dibaba finished third in the 5000 metres, behind Meseret Defar
and Kenyan Isabella Ochichi.[17] At age 19, she became the youngest-ever medalist for Ethiopia at
the Olympics.[12] She said about the race, "I was a bit overweight and after following Elvan
[Abeylegesse] at the early part of the race, I just could not follow the rest at the end. I was not
disappointed. I had learned my lesson."[16]
2005: Double gold medalist at the World Championships

At the Reebok Boston Indoor Games in January, Dibaba set a world record in the 5000 meters with
a finish time of 14:32.93. This was 6.36 seconds faster than the previous world record set
by Berhane Adere. Finishing second was Dibaba's sister Ejegayehu, over 25 seconds behind. She
faded during the last 1000 metres after running with Tirunesh through 4000 metres in a hand-timed
11:46.2.[18][19] Tirunesh's 1000 metre splits were 2:56.0 - 2:55.2 - 3:00.0 - 2:55.0 - 2:46.8. [20]:424
Dibaba won two gold medals in March at the World Cross Country Championships in Saint-Galmier,
France. She was the second woman, the other being Sonia O'Sullivan, to win two events since these
championships began in 1998.[16]
Dibaba out-sprinted her sister Ejegayehu and Adere to win the 10,000 metres at the World
Championships in Helsinki, Finland. One week later, Dibaba broke the championships record while
defeating Meseret Defar and sister Ejegayehu to win the 5000 metres and become the first woman
to win the 10,000/5000 metres double at the same World Championships. The International
Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) recognized these two victories as the 2005 Female
Performances of the Year.[21] Just before these races, Dibaba said, "When I won [the 2003 World
Championships] in Paris, everybody called me the 'little girl'. I am no longer that little girl. I have
matured and certainly am afraid of no one during competition." [16]
2006: Dibaba-Defar rivalry intensifies

Dibaba won the long race on 1 April at the World Cross Country Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
The next day, however, she was unable to finish the short race.
Dibaba won five of the six Golden League 5000 metre races, which earned her a bonus of US
$83,333.[22] She also won the 5000 metres at the World Athletics Final. Dibaba and Meseret Defar
raced against each other in five of those seven races, with Dibaba winning four times.
Defar defeated Dibaba in the 5000 metres at the African Championships in Bambous, Mauritius and
in the 3000 metres at the World Athletics Final.
2007: Successful defense of 10,000 metres World Championship
Dibaba celebrating her 10,000 metres victory at the 2007 World Championships.
Dibaba earned a US $25,000 bonus for breaking her own 5000 metres indoor world record at the
Reebok Boston Indoor Games on 27 January, with a finish time of 14:27.42. [23] Tirunesh's 1000 metre
split times were 2:55.28 - 2:53.2 - 2:51.5 - 2:56.68 - 2:46.4. [20]:424 She held this record until Meseret
Defar broke it on 18 February 2009 in Stockholm with a finish time of 14:24.37. [20]:424
During the 10,000 metres race at the World Championships in Osaka, Dibaba again used her sprint
finish to overhaul Turkey's Elvan Abeylegesse,[24] whose second-place finish here was expunged in
2017 for doping.[25] Dibaba won despite having a mid-race tumble and abdominal pains throughout
the race. Dibaba's finish time was 31:55.41. [a][26] She thus became the only woman to win consecutive
10,000 metre titles at the World Championships. She did not compete in the 5000 metres.
2008: Double gold medalist at the Beijing Olympics & 5000 metres
world record
At the 6 June Bislett Games in Oslo, a Golden League event, Tirunesh Dibaba set a world record in
the 5000 metres, running the distance in 14:11.15. Lucy Wangui Kabuu from Kenya ran a personal
best and finished in second place, 22 seconds behind Dibaba. Tirunesh's sister Ejegayehu Dibaba
finished in third place with a time of 14:36.78 (4.04 seconds off her personal best). [27] Dibaba bettered
Meseret Defar's world record by 5.48 seconds.[28] Tirunesh said after the race, "I've been thinking
about this for a long time and this is a very special day for me. I was trying my best, and I knew I was
going to break the record with two laps to go. The early part of the race was pretty good, but at 3000
metres we were a little behind, so then I had to catch up on the pace. I could have run faster if the
pacing was a little better."[28] Tirunesh's 800 metre split times were: 2:13.7 - 2:19.0 (4:32.7 through
1600 metres) - 2:22.5 (6:55.2 through 2400 metres and 8:03.7 through 2800 metres) - 2:17.8 (9:13.0
through 3200 metres) - 2:15.4 (11:28.4 through 4000 metres)- 2:10.1 (13.38.5 though 4800 metres),
with a last 200 metre split of 32.7. [20]:278
Six days later, Tirunesh defeated her sister Ejegayehu by 0.68 seconds in the 10,000 metres at
the Golden Spike Grand Prix in Ostrava, Czech Republic. Tirunesh's finish time was 31:03.37. [29]
Dibaba won the 10,000 metres at the Summer Olympics in Beijing on 15 August.[b] Her finish time of
29:54.66 broke the existing Olympic record of 30:17.49, [30] which had been set by cousin Derartu
Tulu at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. In addition, her finish time was the second fastest
10,000 metres of all time and an African record. The previous African record of 30:04.18 was set by
Berhane Adere at the 2003 World Championships.
Seven days later, Dibaba won the 5000 metres, defeating the defending champion Meseret Defar by
2.72 seconds.[c][31] This made Dibaba the first woman to win both the 5000 and the 10,000 metres at
the same Olympic games.[d][32]
Dibaba was named the 2008 Athlete of the Year by Track & Field News.[33] The IAAF awarded its
Female Performance of the Year to Dibaba and Czech javelin thrower Barbora Špotáková.[34] Dibaba
was nominated for IAAF World Athlete of the Year, which was won instead by Russian pole
vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva for the third time.[35]
2009: World record at 15 kilometres during injury-shortened season

Injuries prevented Dibaba from competing in the World Cross Country Championships in Amman,
Jordan and the World Championships in Berlin.
On 15 November, Dibaba won the Zevenheuvelenloop 15 kilometres road race in Nijmegen,
Netherlands in a world best time of 46:28. This bettered Kayoko Fukushi's previous world best by
almost half a minute. (Dibaba's record was broken by Florence Kiplagat on 15 February 2015.[7]) This
was her first competitive road race since 2005, but she downplayed the idea of moving on to road
running, stating that the track remained her priority. Her 5 kilometre splits were 15:58 – 15:25 –
15:05. She said, "Although I trained a lot together with my husband for this race, a roadrace is
something different. I did not know what I could expect. Therefore, I was not that fast in the
beginning. ... After 10 kilometres, I pressed the pace and in the final three kilometres it felt like flying.
It feels good as you hear after the finish that your husband also has won." [36]
2010
In February, Dibaba ran the third fastest indoor two-mile race to date [37] (9:12.23)[38] at the Aviva
Grand Prix in Birmingham, U.K. Her mile splits were 4:41.2 followed by 4:31.1. [39]
At the World Cross Country Championships in Bydgoszcz, Dibaba finished fourth.
Dibaba successfully defended her 10,000 metres title at the African Championships in Nairobi with a
finish time of 31:51.39. Her last 400 metres was timed at 61 seconds. [40]
2012: Successful defense of 10,000 metres Olympic gold medal

A stress fracture in her right leg kept Dibaba out of competition for 16 months. She returned to racing
on 31 December 2011 to win the 10 kilometre San Silvestre Vallecana Silver Label Road Race in
Madrid, Spain by overcoming Gelete Burka in a sprint finish.[41]
She won the two-mile race at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston on 4 February[42] and
took her second career win at the Carlsbad 5000road race in April.[43]
On 1 June in her first outdoor track race of the year, she won the 10,000 metres at the Prefontaine
Classic in Eugene, a Diamond League event, by holding off Florence Kiplagat at the finish line. [44][45]
Eight days later at the Diamond League Adidas Grand Prix in New York City, Dibaba won the 5000
metres with her last 400 metres being run in 61.54 seconds. Her winning margin over second-place
finisher Meseret Defar was more than 6 seconds.[46][47]
At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, she successfully defended her 10,000 metres title with a
powerful performance over the final 600 metres, winning in a time of 30:20.75. [48] This was the fastest
of the year by any female athlete.[49] This made her the first woman to win consecutive Olympic
10,000 meter titles. After the win, she said, "I have never been happier than today – this is even
better than in Beijing".[50] In the 5000 metres, she finished third behind gold medalist Meseret Defar
and silver medalist Vivian Cheruiyot,[51] thus failing to repeat her 10,000/5000 double from the 2008
Summer Olympics. After the race, Dibaba said, "I'm not very pleased today. I gave it a good shot,
but I wasn't aiming for bronze. I'm a bit disappointed." [52]
After the Olympics, she returned to road racing on 16 September at the BUPA Great North Run, a
Gold Label Road Race in northern England. She had one of the fastest ever half marathon debuts
while winning in a time of 1:07:35. She defeated the marathon gold medalists from the 2012
Summer Olympics and the 2011 World Championships, Tiki Gelana and Edna Kiplagat, respectively,
even though both ran personal bests.[53]
Dibaba closed her year on 18 November with a win at the ABN-AMRO Zevenheuvelenloop in
Nijmegen, Netherlands, setting the fastest time that season for the 15 kilometre distance. [54]
2013: Third World Championship in the 10,000 metres

In February, Dibaba hoped to break the indoor 2 mile world record at the New Balance Indoor Grand
Prix in Boston. Her pacer, however, quit at the 1 kilometre mark, and she finished in 9:13.17, seven
seconds off the record. Dibaba said after the race, "With this first race [of the year], I am happy. But I
could have run faster with better pacing--9:03 or 9:04. I would have liked to have broken the meet
record.... Running alone is a bit tough. When I broke the world record at 5000 meters, I had good
pacemakers."[55]
Dibaba had planned to run the London Marathon on 21 April, but an injury to the bottom of her heel
forced postponement of her debut at this distance. [52]
She was in good form in May at the Great Manchester Run, setting a course record and an
Ethiopian record of 30:49 to win this 10 kilometre road race.[52][56]
On 1 June, Dibaba won the 5000 metres at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, U.S.,
a Diamond League event that doubled as Ethiopia's trials for the World Championships. Her finish
time of 14:42.01 was one-half second faster than second-place finisher Mercy Cherono of Kenya.
Dibaba also finished ahead of five countrywomen, including London Olympian Belaynesh Oljira.[52][57]
Dibaba on 27 June ran her last 10,000 metre race before the World Championships at the Golden
Spike Ostrava in the Czech Republic. She won with a finishing time of 30:26.67, with Gladys
Cherono Kiprono of Kenya finishing second in 30:29.23 and Belaynesh Oljira finishing third.
Just nine days later on 6 July at the Diamond League meeting in Paris, Dibaba clocked the fastest
5000 metres by any woman since 2008: 14:23.68. [52] Ethiopian Almaz Ayana finished second in a
personal best of 14:25.84,[52] followed by countrywomen Gelete Burka, Sule Utura, and Buze Diriba.[58]
Dibaba was the favourite to win the 10,000 metres at the World Championships in Moscow. She
shadowed the leaders during the race until taking the lead with 500 metres remaining [59] and sprinting
to her fifth individual World Championships gold medal. Her finish time was 30:43.45, with her last
400 metres clocked at 59.98 seconds.[59]
Dibaba did not enter the 5000 metres at the World Championships, despite saying in July
immediately after her Paris 5000 metres victory that she intended to contest both events. In
explaining her decision to skip the race, she denied that she was avoiding longtime rival Meseret
Defar, saying, "The [Ethiopian athletics] federation asked us to just run one race each, and that's
why I left that race. Both of us have run many times, and they told us that they wanted upcoming
athletes to have a chance, and we agreed with that." [59]
On 29 August, Dibaba resumed her rivalry with Defar in the 5000 metres at the Weltklasse Zürich, a
Diamond League event. Genzebe Dibaba took the lead after the last pacer dropped out, but she quit
the race with 600 metres remaining. Tirunesh then took the lead, with Defar close behind, before
Defar passed her in the last 100 metres. Defar finished the race in 14:32.83 with Tirunesh in second
at 14:34.82.[60][61]
Three days later in Tilburg, Netherlands, Dibaba attempted to break Paula Radcliffe's 10 kilometer
road race world record of 30:21. Although Dibaba fell short by 9 seconds, her 30:30 finish time was
the fourth fastest ever and broke Gladys Cherono Kiprono's 2012 course record by 27 seconds.
Dibaba also broke the Ethiopian national record (and her previous personal best) by 19 seconds. [62]
Dibaba's final race of the season was the Great North Run in northern England on 15 September,
where she was the defending champion. The race was billed as a "showdown" between Dibaba and
Defar. However, the winner of the 2013 London Marathon and silver medalist at the 2012 London
Olympics, Priscah Jeptoo from Kenya, won the race in the third fastest time ever for a half marathon
(1:05.45). Only Radcliffe and Kenya's Susan Chepkemei had run faster. Defar finished second with a
personal best and Dibaba third in a personal best time of 1:06:55. [63][64]
2014-2015: Marathon debut followed by motherhood

Dibaba made her marathon debut at the 2014 London Marathon. She finished third in a time of
2:20:35, 14 seconds behind winner Edna Kiplagat and 11 seconds back of runner-up Florence
Kiplagat (unrelated).[65] Dibaba stopped briefly near the 30 kilometre mark to pick up a dropped water
bottle.[66]
After becoming pregnant with her first child, Dibaba announced on 5 November that she would skip
the 2015 season.[67] Dibaba gave birth to a son in March 2015. [68]
2016: Olympic bronze medalist in historic 10,000 metre race

Dibaba returned to the track in 2016 to qualify for and run in the 10,000 metres at the Summer
Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. She did not compete in the 5000 metres at the Olympics for the first time
since 2000.
On 29 June, Dibaba lost a 10,000 metres race for the first time in her career. Almaz Ayana won the
Ethiopian Olympic Trials in Hengelo, Netherlands with the fastest time (30:07.00) since Meselech
Melkamu's 29:53.8 finish time in June 2009, the seventh fastest time ever, and the fastest time ever
for a 10,000 metres debut. Gelete Burka finished in second (30:28.47) with Dibaba in third
(30:28.53).[69]
In perhaps the greatest 10,000 metres race of all time, [70] Dibaba ran the fourth fastest time in history
while winning the bronze medal. Her finish time of 29:42.56 was 12.1 seconds faster than her
previous personal best of 29:54.66, which she set at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
Teammate Almaz Ayana smashed Wang Junxia's 22 year old (and controversial) world record
(29:31.78) by 14.33 seconds on her way to the gold medal in a time of 29:17.45. Silver medalist
Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya came within 0.75 seconds of Wang's world record while running the third
fastest time (29:32.53) in history. Fourth place finisher Alice Aprot Nawowuna of Kenya ran the fifth
fastest time (29:53.51) in history. (She led the race for the first 5000 metres, reaching that mark in a
very quick 14:46.81.)[71][68] The next 9 finishers each set an area record (Molly Huddle of the U.S.), a
national record (Cheruiyot of Kenya, Sarah Lahti of Sweden, Diane Nukuri of Burundi), or a personal
best. National records for Greece, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan also were broken. [71] Before this race,
a woman had finished a 10,000 metres race in under 30 minutes only five times - but four did so in
this race.[68] Dibaba said after the race, "I had a short time after delivery. Fortunately I got bronze....
This is great for me, my family and all of Ethiopia. The bronze is for my son."[68]
2017: 10,000 metres silver medalist at the World Championships[edit]
Dibaba again ran the London Marathon, finishing in second place in a time of 2:17:56. This made
her the third fastest woman ever in a marathon. Mary Jepkosgei Keitany's winning finish time of
2:17:01 was a world record for a women-only marathon and was the second-fastest performance in
history. Only Paula Radcliffe has run faster, 2:15:25 at the mixed-gender 2003 London Marathon.
Dibaba won the silver medal in the 10,000 metresat the World Championships in London in August,
finishing 46.37 seconds behind Almaz Ayana. [72] Ayana broke open the race at the 4000 metres
mark, running her next 1000 metres in 2:49.18. [73] Dibaba had been training for this race for only two
months, explaining after the race, “If I had followed ... [Ayana], I wouldn't have won a medal. I know
my capacity these days because my training for this race was very short." [73] This was the third
consecutive 10,000 metres race that Ayana had defeated Dibaba. Dibaba's 1000 metre splits were
as follows:[74]
 1000 metres: 3:31.43 (20th position)

 2000 metres: 3:18.88 (6:50.31) (17th)
 3000 metres: 3:09.37 (9:59.68) (2nd)
 4000 metres: 3:04.66 (13:04.34) (6th)
 5000 metres: 2:56.30 (16:00.64) (6th)
 6000 metres: 2:59.86 (19:00.50) (6th)
 7000 metres: 3:02.10 (22:02.60) (4th)
 8000 metres: 3:05.70 (25:08.30) (5th)
 9000 metres: 3:04.41 (28:12.71) (4th)
 Finish: 2:49.98 (31:02.69) (2nd)
 Last 5000 metres: 15:02.05
Dibaba committed to run the Chicago Marathon on 8 October.[75] She won a gold medal during the
40th edition of the marathon, with a time of 2:18:30. [76]
Personal life
Tirunesh is married to 2004 and 2008 Olympic 10,000 meter silver medallist Sileshi Sihine and they
have a son, Nathan Sileshi, born in March 2015.[14][77][78]
After the Beijing Olympics, her club, the Prisons Police, bestowed the rank of Chief Superintendent
for her services to club and country.[79]Tirunesh has an honorary doctorate from Addis Ababa
University,[80] and has a hospital on the outskirts of Addis Ababa named after her.
She has ventured into the hotel industry by establishing an eponymous Three Star hotel, which was
set to open at the end of 2013. Local architectural and construction firm Kellog Consult won the bid
to design and build the $1.8 million hotel.
Results[edit]
Olympics (outdoor)
In these track races at the Olympics, Dibaba's win-loss record against the following women is as
follows:
 2-0 Gelete Burka

 2-2 Vivian Cheruiyot
 1-0 Edith Masai
 1-0 Ejegayehu Dibaba (sister)
 1-0 Elvan Abeylegesse
 1-0 Linet Masai
 1-0 Lornah Kiplagat
 1-0 Meselech Melkamu
 1-0 Sentayehu Ejigu
 1-0 Sonia O'Sullivan
 1-0 Werknesh Kidane
 1-2 Meseret Defar
 0-0 Aberu Kebede
 0-0 Ayelech Worku
 0-0 Berhane Adere
 0-0 Bezunesh Bekele
 0-0 Derartu Tulu (cousin)
 0-0 Emily Chebet
 0-0 Eyerusalem Kuma
 0-0 Florence Kiplagat
 0-0 Gabriela Szabo
 0-0 Genzebe Dibaba (sister)
 0-0 Marla Runyan
 0-0 Paula Radcliffe
 0-0 Tatyana Tomashova
 0-1 Almaz Ayana
 Total: 14-5 (73.7 percent)
Resul
Year Location Event Mark Notes
t
1st: Meseret Defar
10th: Sentayehu Ejigu
200
Athens 5000 metres 3rd 14:51.83[17] 12th: Elvan Abeylegesse
4
14th: Sonia O'Sullivan
DNF: Edith Masai
3rd: Linet Masai
10,000 metres 1st 29:54.66 [30]
6th : Lornah Kiplagat
12th: Ejegayehu Dibaba
200
Beijing
8
2nd: Defar
5000 metres 1st 15:41.40[31] 4th: Vivian Cheruiyot
7th: Meselech Melkamu
3rd: Cheruiyot
10,000 metres 1st 30:20.75[48]
4th: Werknesh Kidane
201
London
2
1st: Defar
5000 metres 3rd 15:05.15[51] 2nd: Cheruiyot
5th: Gelete Burka
1st: Almaz Ayana
201
Rio de Janeiro 10,000 metres 3rd 29:42.56[71] 2nd: Cheruiyot
6
8th: Burka
IAAF world championship events

Dibaba has not participated in any edition of the IAAF World Indoor Championships. In other IAAF
world championship races, Dibaba's win-loss record against the following women is set forth below.
Only event finals are counted. A "did not finish" (DNF) is counted as a loss to everyone who
completed the race. A "did not start" is treated as being absent from the race.

 3-1 Emily Chebet Muge
 2-2 Edith Masai
 1-1 Linet Masai
 0-1 Almaz Ayana
Resul
Year Type Location Event Mark Notes
t
1st: Edith Masai
2nd: Worknesh
Kidane
9th: Ejagayehu
200 Cross Lausanne,
Short 7th 12:54 Dibaba
3 country Switzerland
10th: Eyerusalem
Kuma
28th: Bezunesh
Bekele
3rd: E. Masai
5th: Elvan
Abeylegesse
200 5000 10th: Berhane Adere
Outdoor Paris 1st 14:51.72
3 metres 11th: Gabriela
Szabo
15th: Sonia
O'Sullivan
1st: E. Masai
4th: Kidane
200 Cross
Brussels Short 2nd 13:09 8th: Vivian Cheruiyot
4 country
10th: E. Dibaba
18th: Bekele
2nd: Kidane
3rd: Meselech
Long 1st 26:34
Melkamu
10th: Bekele
200 Cross Saint-Galmier,
5 country France
2nd: Kidane
6th: Melkamu
Short 1st 13:15
12th: Bekele
14th: E. Dibaba
2nd: Adere
3rd: E. Dibaba
10,000
1st 30:24.02 5th: E. Masai
metres
6th: Kidane
200 9th: Paula Radcliffe
Outdoor Helsinki
5
14:38.59[81] 2nd: Meseret Defar

5000
1st Championships 3rd: E. Dibaba
metres
record 4th: Melkamu
2nd: Lornah Kiplagat
Long 1st 25:21 3rd: Melkamu
14th: E. Dibaba
Dibaba left the race

200 Cross
Fukuoka, Japan at
6 country
the halfway mark.[82]
1st: Gelete Burka
Short DNF --
3rd: Melkamu
5th: L. Kiplagat
8th: Cheruiyot
9th: Bekele
1st: L. Kiplagat
3rd: Melkamu
4th: Burka
5th: Florence
200 Cross Mombasa,
Senior 2nd 26:47 Kiplagat
7 country Kenya
8th: Cheruiyot
28th: Abeylegesse
DNF: Emily Chebet
Muge
200 10,000 7th: E. Dibaba

Outdoor Osaka 1st 31:55.41
7 metres 9th: Chebet Muge
200 Cross Mombasa, Senior 1st 25:10 3rd: Linet Masai

8 country Kenya 6th: Burka
9th: Melkamu
200 Cross
Amman, Jordan Absent -- -- --
9 country
200
Outdoor Berlin Absent -- -- --
9
1st: Chebet Muge

201 Cross Bydgoszcz, 2nd: L. Masai
Senior 4th 24:38
0 country Poland 3rd: Melkamu
9th: Kidane
201 Cross Punta Umbria,

Absent -- -- --
1 country Spain
201 Daegu, South

Outdoor Absent -- -- --
1 Korea
201 Cross Bydgoszcz,

Absent -- -- --
3 country Poland
201 10,000
Outdoor Moscow 1st 30:43.55 4th: Chebet Muge
3 metres
201 Cross
Guiyang, China Absent -- -- --
5 country
201
Outdoor Beijing Absent -- -- --
5
201 Cross Kampala,

Absent -- -- --
7 country Uganda
201 10,000
Outdoor London 2nd 31:02.69[72] 1st: Almaz Ayana
7 metres
African Championships in Athletics (outdoor track)[edit]

In these African Championship outdoor track races, Dibaba's win-loss record against the following
women is as follows:

 1-0 Linet Masai
 0-0 Almaz Ayana
 0-0 Edith Masai
 Total: 4-1 (80 percent)
Year Location Event Result Mark Notes
200
Tunisia Absent -- -- --
2
200 Brazzaville, Republic of the

Absent -- -- --
4 Congo
1st: Meseret Defar
200
Bambous, Mauritius 5000 metres 2nd 15:56.04 6th: Meselech
6
Melkamu
200 10,000 2nd: Ejegayehu
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 1st 32:49.08
8 metres Dibaba
201 10,000 2nd: Melkamu

Nairobi, Kenya 1st 31:51.39
0 metres 3rd: Linet Masai
201
Porto Novo, Benin Absent -- -- --
2
201
Marrakech, Morocco Absent -- -- --
4
201
Durban, South Africa Absent -- -- --
6
201
Lagos, Nigeria
8
All-Africa Games (outdoor track)

In these All-Africa Games outdoor track races, Dibaba's win-loss record against the following women
is as follows:
 1-0 Edith Masai

 0-0 Linet Masai
 0-0 Almaz Ayana
1st: Meseret Defar
200 5000
Abuja, Nigeria 4th 16:43.40 [83]
3 metres
6th: Edith Masai
200
Algiers, Algeria Absent -- -- --
7
201
Maputo, Mozambique Absent -- -- --
1
201 Brazzaville, Republic of the

Absent -- -- --
5 Congo
Diamond League, Golden League (outdoor track)

Since 2010, the Diamond League has been an annual series of athletics meetings organised by the
IAAF around the world. The Golden League was an annual series of athletics meetings organised by
the IAAF in Europe from 1998 through 2009.
In these Golden League and Diamond League races, Dibaba's win-loss record against the following

 6-0 Edith Masai
 2-0 Linet Masai
 1-0 Almaz Ayana
 1-0 Emily Chebet Muge
Year Series Meeting Event Result Mark Notes
1st: Berhane Adere
2nd: Gabriela Szabo
3000 3rd: Tatyana Tomashova
Brussels 11th 8:41.86
metres 6th: Elvan Abeylegesse
7th: Ayelech Worku
10th: Meseret Defar
Golden
2002
League
1st: Adere
2nd: Werknesh Kidane
5000 5th: Worku
Berlin 6th 14:49.90
metres 7th: Sentayehu Ejigu
8th: Tomashova
12th: Abeylegesse
2003 Golden 1st: Adere

14:39.94
League 5000 2nd: Kidane
Oslo 3rd Junior world
metres 4th: Defar
record
10th: Eyerusalem Kuma
Rome 5000 4th 14:41.97 1st: Defar

metres 2nd: Szabo
3rd: Ejegayehu Dibaba
6th: Adere
11th: Worku
13th: Ejigu
19th: Kuma
Held in Bergen because

of
Oslo stadium renovation.
14:30.88 1st: Abeylegesse
5000
Bergen 2nd Junior world 14:24.68 (world record)
metres
record 3rd: E. Dibaba
5th: Derartu Tulu
6th: Defar
Golden
2004 13th: Meselech Melkamu
League
1st: E. Dibaba
2nd: Kidane
5000 3rd: Defar
Rome 4th 14:47.43
metres 5th: Edith Masai
9th: Lornah Kiplagat
10th: Ejigu
2nd: Adere
3rd: Defar
4th: E. Masai
5th: E. Dibaba
Golden 5000
2005 Rome 1st 14:32.57 6th: Melkamu
League metres
9th: Ejigu
10th: Burka
16th: Kidane
20th: Bezunesh Bekele
2006 Golden 2nd: E. Dibaba

League 5000 3rd: E. Masai
Oslo 1st 14:30.40
metres 5th: Melkamu
6th: Burka
Paris 5000 1st 14:54.24 2nd: Defar

metres 3rd: Burka
4th: Adere
7th: E.. Masai
8th: E. Dibaba
10th: Vivian Cheruiyot
2nd: Defar
3rd: Burka
5000 4th: Adere
Rome 1st 14:52.37
metres 9th: E. Dibaba
10th: E. Masai
14th: Bekele
2nd: E. Masaii
5000
Zürich 1st 14:45.73 3rd: Adere
metres
5th: Cheruiyot
2nd: Defar
5000 5th: Cheruiyot
Brussels 1st 14:30.63
metres 6th: Melkamu
7th: E. Dibaba
1st: Defar
5000
Berlin 2nd 15:02.87 3rd: Melkamu
metres
4th: Burka
2nd: Florence Kiplagat
Golden 5000
2007 Paris 1st 15:21.84 3rd: Melkamu
League metres
5th: E. Dibaba
5000 14:11.15[27] 3rd: E. Dibaba

Oslo 1st
metres World record 6th: Genzebe Dibaba
Golden
2008
League
5000 2nd: Melkamu
Rome 1st 14:36.58[84]
metres 6th: E. Dibaba
Golden (Did not

2009 -- -- -- --
League participate)
2010 Diamond New York City 5000 1st 15:11.34[85] 2nd: Ejigu
metres
Eugene, 5000
1st 14:34.07[86] None
Oregon, U.S. metres
League
2nd: Cheruiyot
5000 3rd: Ejigu
London 1st 14:36.41[87]
metres 5th: Linet Masai
12th: F. Kiplagat
Diamond (Did not

2011 -- -- -- --
League participate)
2nd: F. Kiplagat
Eugene, 10,000
1st 30:24.39 [45]
4th: Kidane
Oregon, U.S. metres
5th: Aberu Kebede
Diamond
2012
League
2nd: Defar
5000
New York City 1st 14:50.80 [47]
3rd: Burka
metres
4th: Kidane
Eugene, 5000 5th: Burka

1st 14:42.01[57]
Oregon, U.S. metres 8th: L. Masai
5000 2nd: Almaz Ayana

Diamond Paris 1st 14:23.68[58]
2013 metres 3rd: Burka
League
1st: Defar
5000
Zurich 2nd 14:34.82[60] 4th: Emily Chebet Muge
metres
DNF: G. Dibaba
2014
Diamond (Did not
2015 -- -- -- --
League participate)
2016
World Athletics Finals (outdoor track)
World Athletics Final was an annual athletics competition organised by the IAAF from 2003 to 2009.
In these races, Dibaba's win-loss record against the following women is as follows:

 1-0 Edith Masai
 0-0 Almaz Ayana
 0-0 Linet Masai
1st: Elvan Abeylegesse
200 5000 2nd: Derartu Tulu
Monaco 3rd 14:57.87
3 metres 4th: Werknesh Kidane
200
Monaco Absent -- -- --
4
200 Monaco 5000 2nd 14:46.84 1st: Meseret Defar

5 metres 3rd: Berhane Adere
DNF: Ejegayehu Dibaba
2nd: Defar
4th: E. Dibaba
5000
1st 16:04.77 5th: Vivian Cheruiyot
metres
6th: Meselech Melkamu
200 7th: Edith Masai
Stuttgart
6
1st: Defar
3000
2nd 8:34.74 3rd: Cheruiyot
metres
6th: Gelete Burka
200
7
Stuttgart Absent -- -- --
200
8
1st: Defar
200 5000 3rd: Cheruiyot
Thessaloniki 2nd 15:25.92
9 metres 6th: Ejigu
9th: Melkamu
Grand Prix, World Athletics Challenge (outdoor track)

In these Grand Prix and World Athletics Challenge races, Dibaba's win-loss record against the
following women is as follows:

 2-1 Linet Masai
 0-0 Almaz Ayana
 0-0 Edith Masai
Year Series Meeting Event Result Mark Notes
2nd: Marla Runyan
Portland, 5000
Grand Prix II 1st 15:13.78[88] 4th: Werknesh
Oregon, U.S. metres
Kidane
1st: Runyan
Eugene, Oregon, 3000 2nd: Sonia
Grand Prix I 4th 8:42.57[89]
2002 U.S. metres O'Sullivan
3rd: Kidane
1st: Berhane Adere
5000 2nd: Gabriela
Grand Prix I London 4th 15:04.54[90]
metres Szabo
3rd: O'Sullivan
1st: Meseret Defar
Portland, 5000
Grand Prix II 2nd 15:01.44[91] 3rd: Sentayehu
Oregon, U.S. metres
Ejigu
1st: Yelena
2003 Zadorozhnaya
2nd: Defar
Super Grand 3000 3rd: Tatyana
Lausanne 5th 8:50.20[92]
Prix metres Tomashova
4th: Kidane
7th: Ejigu
9th: O'Sullivan
(Did not
2004 -- -- -- -- --
participate)
Super Grand 5000 2nd: Ejegayehu

2005 Sheffield, U.K. 1st 14:51.77[93]
Prix metres Dibaba
2nd: Adere
3rd: E. Dibaba
Super Grand 3000 6th: Bezunesh
Gateshead, U.K. 1st 8:42.04[94]
Prix metres Bekele
9th: Vivian
Cheruiyot
2nd: Adere
2006 8:29.55 [95]
3rd: E. Dibaba
Super Grand 3000
London 1st (personal 5th: Cheruiyot
Prix metres
best) 6th: Meselech
Melkamu
2nd: Gelete Burka
Golden Grand 5000 4th: Melkamu
Shanghai 1st 14:55.63[96]
Prix metres 12th: Florence
Kiplagat
5000 10th: Genzebe
2007 Grand Prix New York City 1st 14:35.67[97]
metres Dibaba
2nd: E. Dibaba
Ostrava, Czech 10,000
Grand Prix 1st 31:03.37 [98]
3rd: Melkamu
Republic metres
7th: Linet Masai
2008
5000
Grand Prix Rieti, Italy 1st 14:23.46[99] 3rd: G. Dibaba
metres
2009 Grand Prix New York City 5000 2nd 14:40.93[100] 1st: L. Masai
metres 3rd: G. Dibaba
Super Grand 5000 2nd: Ejigu
London 1st 14:33.65[101]
Prix metres DNF: E. Dibaba
2010
(Did not
2011 -- -- -- -- --
participate)
2012
World Ostrava, Czech 10,000

2013 1st 30:26.67[102] 6th: L. Masai
Challenge Republic metres
2014
(Did not
2015 -- -- -- -- --
participate)
2016
Other outdoor track & cross country races

In these outdoor track and cross country races, Dibaba's win-loss record against the following

 0-0 Almaz Ayana
 0-0 Edith Masai
 0-0 Linet Masai
2nd: Werknesh
Kidane
Jan Meda International Cross Cross 3rd: Eyerusalem
200
Country country: 1st 13:16.54[103] Kuma
3
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia short race 4th: Bezunesh
Bekele
6th: E. Dibaba
Ethiopian Athletics
200 5000 2nd: Meseret Defar
Championships 1st 16:01.48[104]
3 metres 3rd: Kuma
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Yokohama Super Track and 1st: Lucy Wangui

200 5000
Field Meet 2nd 15:11.05 [105]
Kabuu
3 metres
Yokohama 3rd: Kidane
2nd: Elvan
Abeylegesse
200 Great North Cross Country Cross
1st 21:01[106] 3rd: Derartu Tulu
4 Newcastle, England country
13th: Vivian
Cheruiyot
Jan Meda International Cross Cross

200 1st: Kidane
Country country: 3rd 28:47.94[107]
4 4th: Kuma
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia long race
1st: Meselech
Ethiopian Athletics Melkamu
200 5000
Championships 2nd 16:03.15[108] 3rd: Sentayehu
4 metres
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Ejigu
DNF: Defar
200 Great Edinburgh International Cross 1st 21:35[109] 3rd: Melkamu

4th: Kidane
Cross Country country: 7th: E. Dibaba
5
Edinburgh, Scotland long race 11th: Lornah
Kiplagat
Jan Meda International Cross Cross 2nd: Melkamu

200
Country country: 1st 26:46[110] 3rd: Bekele
5
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia long race 6th: Kidane
1st: Gelete
Ethiopian Athletics
200 5000 Time not Burka 15:39.12
Championships 2nd
5 metres reported[111] 3rd: Kidane
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
4th: Melkamu
200 Reebok Grand Prix 5000 2nd: E. Dibaba

1st 14:32.42[112]
5 New York City metres 3rd: Ejigu
1st: Burka
Great Edinburgh International Cross
200 6th: E. Dibaba
Cross Country country: 3rd 19:21[113]
6 13th: Sonia
Edinburgh, Scotland long race
O'Sullivan
Great Edinburgh International Cross

201
Cross Country country: 1st 21:37[114] 2nd: Cheruiyot
0
Edinburgh, Scotland long race
201 Guldendensporenmeeting 5000

1st 14:41.73[115] None
6 Kortrijk, Belgium metres
Personal bests
Outdoor
As of 29 June 2017, Dibaba's outdoor personal bests are as follows: [116][117]
Event Mark Date Meet & Location Notes

3000 metres London Grand Prix
8:29.55 28 July 2006 104th best of all time.
(track) London
BUPA Great Manchester

3 kilometres Intermediate time in a
9:16 18 May 2014 Run (10 kilometres)
(road) longer race.
Manchester, U.K.
5000 metres Bislett Games

14:11.15 6 June 2008 World record.
(track) Oslo
5 kilometres Carlsbad 5000

14:51 3 April 2005 --
(road) Carlsbad, California, U.S.
10,000
12 August Olympics
metres 29:42.56 Fourth fastest of all time.
2016 Rio de Janeiro
(track)
(1) Ninth fastest of all

10 kilometres 1 September Tilburg Ten Miles
30:30 time.
(road) 2013 Tilburg, Netherlands
(2) Ethiopian record.
(1) Former world record.

15 kilometres 15 November Zevenheuvelenloop (2) Fifth fastest of all time.
46:28
(road) 2009 Nijmegen, Netherlands [7]
10 miles 23 October Great South Run Fifty-sixth fastest of all

51:49[118]
(road) 2016 Portsmouth, U.K. time.
Ras Al Khaimah Half (1) Twenty-ninth fastest of

20 kilometres 10 February Marathon all time.
1:03:25[119]
(road) 2017 Ras al-Khaimah, United (2) Intermediate time in a
Arab Emirates longer race.
Half 1:06:50 10 February Ras Al Khaimah Half Forty-fifth fastest of all

marathon Marathon
Ras al-Khaimah, United
(road) 2017 time.
Arab Emirates

25 kilometres London Marathon
1:20:51[120] 23 April 2017 (2) Intermediate time in a
(road) London
longer race.
(1) Third fastest of all

time.[8]
30 kilometres London Marathon
1:37:23[120] 23 April 2017 (2) Ethiopian record.
(road) London
(3) Intermediate time in a
longer race.
35 kilometres London Marathon Intermediate time in a

1:53:56[120] 23 April 2017
(road) London longer race.
40 kilometres London Marathon Intermediate time in a

2:10:50[120] 23 April 2017
(road) London longer race.
(1) Fifth fastest of all time.

[9]
Marathon London Marathon

2:17:56[120] 23 April 2017 (2) Former Ethiopian
(road) London
record, broken 25th
January 2019.
Indoor
Event Mark Date Meeting Location Notes
3000 26 January Reebok Boston Thirty-seventh

8:33.37 Boston
metres 2008 Indoor Games fastest of all time.
Two 20 February Birmingham, Fourth fastest of all-

9:12.23 Aviva Grand Prix
miles 2010 U.K. time.
5000 14:27.4 27 January Reebok Boston Boston (1) Fourth fastest of

all time.
metres 2 2007 Indoor Games (2) Former world
record.
Notes
1. Tirunesh's sister Ejegayehu Dibaba finished in sixth place in a time of 32:30.44, which was 35.03
seconds behind Tirunesh.
2. In her last Olympics, Tirunesh's sister Ejegayehu Dibaba finished in twelfth place in a time of 31:22.18,
1:27.52 behind Tirunesh.
3. Defar finished the race in third but was moved to the silver medal position years later when Elvan
Abeylegesse's result was expunged because of a doping violation.
4. The women's 10,000 metres became an Olympic sport in 1988, and the women's 5000 meters was
included for the first time in 1996.
Ino Tadataka
Inō Tadataka (伊能忠敬 February 11, 1745 - May 17, 1818) was
a Japanese surveyor and cartographer. He is known for completing the first map of Japan using
modern surveying techniques.
Statue of Inō Tadataka in Katori City
Early life
Inō was born in the small village of Ozeki in the middle of Kujūkuri beach, in Kazusa Province (in
what is now Chiba Prefecture). He was born to the Jimbo family and his childhood name was
Sanjirou. His mother died when he was seven and after a somewhat tumultuous childhood (not
uncommon at the time), [1]he was adopted (age 17) by the prosperous Inō family of Sawara (now a
district of Katori, Chiba), a town in Shimōsa Province. He ran the family business, expanding
its sake brewing and rice-trading concerns, until he retired at the age of 49.
At this time he moved to Edo and became a pupil of astronomer Takahashi Yoshitoki, from whom he
learned Western astronomy, geography, and mathematics.
Mission
In 1800, after nearly five years of study, the Tokugawa shogunate permitted Inō to perform a survey
of the country using his own money. This task, which consumed the remaining 17 years of his life,
covered the entire coastline and some of the interior of each of the Japanese home islands. During
this period Inō reportedly spent 3,736 days making measurements (and traveled 34,913 kilometres),
stopping regularly to present the Shogun with maps reflecting his survey's progress. He produced
detailed maps (some at a scale of 1:36,000, others at 1:216,000) of select parts of Japan, mostly
in Kyūshū and Hokkaidō.
Dai Nihon Enkai Yochi Zenzu No. 76 Echigo Province (Echigo, Tokimizu, Nagaoka, and Katamachi)[2]
Folding map of Japan (1878) based on survey work performed by Inō Tadataka
Inō's magnum opus, his 1:216,000 map of the entire coastline of Japan, remained unfinished at his
death in 1818 but was completed by his surveying team in 1821. An atlas collecting all of his survey
work, Dai Nihon Enkai Yochi Zenzu (ja:大日本沿海輿地全図 Maps of Japan's Coastal Area), was
published that year. It had three pages of large scale maps at 1:432,000, showed the entire country
on eight pages at 1:216,000, and had 214 pages of select coastal areas in fine detail at 1:36,000.
The Inō-zu (Inō's maps), many of which are accurate to 1/1000 of a degree, remained the definitive
maps of Japan for nearly a century, and maps based on his work were in use as late as 1924.
Expeditions
Ino's surveys were done in 10 expeditions [3]. The first survey started on June 11, 1800 and included
5 members. This survey was mainly to begin charting the coast of Hokkaido (where Russian ships
had come to open trading houses). This survey was done almost entirely by measuring walking
steps [4] and taking astronomical observations. They made it to Bekkai 別解 in far Northeast
Hokkaido. In total they walked and surveyed 3,244 km.
The results of the first survey, paid for almost entirely by Ino's own funds, helped the Bakufu
government understand the significance of the work. For this reason, starting with the second
expedition (departing Tokyo in the summer of 1801) he received more support, and the route was
more ambitious, covering most of the Eastern seaboard from just south of Tokyo to the far northern
tip of Honshu, and then the interior portion on the return trip. This expedition lasted approximately 6
months and covered 3,122 km.
After the second survey, more and more trust was put in Ino's endeavor. By the fifth expedition,
there were 19 people involved, they covered almost 7,000 km. On the 8th expedition they covered
over 13,000 km in 914 days, most of it in Kyushu. By this time Ino was 70 years old, which was
decades older than the average lifespan at that time.
In addition to his maps, Inō produced scholarly works on surveying and mathematics,

including Chikyū sokuenjutsu mondō and Kyūkatsuen hassenhō.
Commemoration
Inō is celebrated as one of the 'architects' of modern Japan. A museum, dedicated to his memory,
was opened in his former home in Sawara, and in 1996 was designated a National Historic Site.
In November 1995 the Japanese government issued a commemorative 80 yen postage stamp,
showing Inō's portrait and a section of his map of Edo.
Most of the complete copies of the atlas have been lost or destroyed (often by fire), although a
mostly-complete copy of the large-scale map was discovered in the collection of the U.S. Library of
Congress in 2001.
Bill Gates.
William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955-2014) is an American business magnate, investor,
author, and humanitarian. He is best known as the principal founder of Microsoft Corporation.[2]
[3]
During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of chairman, CEO and chief software
architect, while also being the largest individual shareholder until May 2014.
In 1975, Gates and Paul Allen launched Microsoft, which became the world's largest PC software
company.[4][a] Gates led the company as chief executive officer until stepping down in January 2000,
but he remained as chairman and created the position of chief software architect for himself. [7] In
June 2006, Gates announced that he would be transitioning from full-time work at Microsoft to part-
time work and full-time work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which was established in 2000.
[8]
He gradually transferred his duties to Ray Ozzie and Craig Mundie.[9] He stepped down as
chairman of Microsoft in February 2014 and assumed a new post as technology adviser to support
the newly appointed CEO Satya Nadella.
Bill Gates
Gates in March 2018
[10]
Gates is one of the best-known entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution. He has

been criticized for his business tactics, which have been considered anti-competitive. This opinion
has been upheld by numerous court rulings.[11]
Since 1987, Gates has been included in the Forbes list of the world's wealthiest people, an index of
the wealthiest documented individuals, excluding and ranking against those with wealth that is not
able to be completely ascertained.[12][13] From 1995 to 2017, he held the Forbes title of the richest
person in the world all but four of those years, and held it consistently from March 2014 to July 2017,
with an estimated net worth of US$89.9 billion as of October 2017.[1] However, on July 27, 2017, and
since October 27, 2017, he has been surpassed by Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, who had
an estimated net worth of US$90.6 billion at the time.[14] As of August 6, 2018, Gates had a net worth
of $95.4 billion, making him the second-richest person in the world, behind Bezos.
Later in his career and since leaving Microsoft, Gates pursued a number of philanthropic endeavors.
He donated large amounts of money to various charitable organizations and scientific research
programs through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. [15] In 2009, Gates and Warren
Buffett founded The Giving Pledge, whereby they and other billionaires pledge to give at least half of
their wealth to philanthropy.[16] The foundation works to save lives and improve global health, and is
working with Rotary International to eliminate polio.
Early life
Gates was born in Seattle, Washington, on October 28, 1955. He is the son of William H. Gates Sr.
[b]
(b. 1925) and Mary Maxwell Gates (1929–1994). His ancestry includes English, German, Irish,
and Scots-Irish.[18][19] His father was a prominent lawyer, and his mother served on the board of
directors for First Interstate BancSystem and the United Way. Gates' maternal grandfather was J.W.
Maxwell, a national bank president. Gates has one older sister, Kristi (Kristianne), and a younger
sister, Libby. He is the fourth of his name in his family, but is known as William Gates III or "Trey"
because his father had the "II" suffix.[20] The family lived in the Sand Point area of Seattle in a home
that was once damaged by a rare tornado when Gates was nine years old.[21] Early on in his life,
Gates observed that his parents wanted him to pursue a law career. [22] When Gates was young, his
family regularly attended a church of the Congregational Christian Churches,
a ProtestantReformed denomination.[23][24][25] The family encouraged competition; one visitor reported
that "it didn't matter whether it was hearts or pickleball or swimming to the dock ... there was always
a reward for winning and there was always a penalty for losing". [26]
At 13, he enrolled in the Lakeside School, a private preparatory school[27] and wrote his first software
program.[28] When Gates was in the eighth grade, the Mothers' Club at the school used proceeds
from Lakeside School's rummage sale to buy a Teletype Model 33 ASR terminal and a block of
computer time on a General Electric(GE) computer for the school's students. [29] Gates took an
interest in programming the GE system in BASIC, and was excused from math classes to pursue his
interest. He wrote his first computer program on this machine: an implementation of tic-tac-toe that
allowed users to play games against the computer. Gates was fascinated by the machine and how it
would always execute software code perfectly. When he reflected back on that moment, he said,
"There was just something neat about the machine." [30] After the Mothers Club donation was
exhausted, he and other students sought time on systems including DEC PDP minicomputers. One
of these systems was a PDP-10 belonging to Computer Center Corporation (CCC), which banned
four Lakeside students – Gates, Paul Allen, Ric Weiland, and Kent Evans – for the summer after it
caught them exploiting bugs in the operating system to obtain free computer time. [31][32]
At the end of the ban, the four students offered to find bugs in CCC's software in exchange for extra
computer time. Rather than use the system via Teletype], Gates went to CCC's offices and
studied source code for various programs that ran on the system, including programs
in Fortran, Lisp, and machine language. The arrangement with CCC continued until 1970, when the
company went out of business. The following year, Information Sciences, Inc. hired the four
Lakeside students to write a payroll program in COBOL, providing them computer time and royalties.
After his administrators became aware of his programming abilities, Gates wrote the school's
computer program to schedule students in classes. He modified the code so that he was placed in
classes with "a disproportionate number of interesting girls." [33] He later stated that "it was hard to tear
myself away from a machine at which I could so unambiguously demonstrate success." [30] At age 17,
Gates formed a venture with Allen, called Traf-O-Data, to make traffic counters based on the Intel
8008 processor.[34] In 1972, Bill Gates served as a congressional page in the U.S. House of
Representatives.[35][36]
Gates was a National Merit Scholar when he graduated from Lakeside School in 1973. [37] He scored
1590 out of 1600 on the Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SAT) and enrolled at Harvard College in the
autumn of 1973.[38][39] He chose a pre-law major but took mathematics and graduate level computer
science courses.[40] While at Harvard, he met fellow student Steve Ballmer. Gates left Harvard after
two years while Ballmer would stay and graduate magna cum laude. Years later, Ballmer succeeded
Gates as Microsoft's CEO. He maintained that position from 2000 until his resignation from the
company in 2014.[41]
In his second year, Gates devised an algorithm for pancake sorting as a solution to one of a series
of unsolved problems[42] presented in a combinatorics class by Harry Lewis, one of his professors.
Gates' solution held the record as the fastest version for over thirty years; [42][43] its successor is faster
by only one percent.[42] His solution was later formalized in a published paper in collaboration with
Harvard computer scientist Christos Papadimitriou.[44]
Gates did not have a definite study plan while he was a student at Harvard, [45] and he spent a lot of
time using the school's computers. Gates remained in contact with Paul Allen, and he joined him
at Honeywell during the summer of 1974.[46] The MITS Altair 8800 was released the following year.
The new computer was based on the Intel 8080 CPU, and Gates and Allen saw this as the
opportunity to start their own computer software company. [47] Gates dropped out of Harvard at this
time. He had talked over this decision with his parents, who were supportive of him after seeing how
much their son wanted to start his own company.[45] Gates explained his decision to leave Harvard,
saying "... if things [Microsoft] hadn't worked out, I could always go back to school. I was officially on
[a] leave [of absence]."[48]
Mugshots of 22-year-old Gates following his 1977 arrest for a traffic violation in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Microsoft
History of Microsoft and Microsoft
BASIC
After Gates read the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics, which demonstrated the Altair 8800,
he contacted Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS), the creators of the new
microcomputer, to inform them that he and others were working on a BASIC interpreter for the
platform.[49] In reality, Gates and Allen did not have an Altair and had not written code for it; they
merely wanted to gauge MITS's interest. MITS president Ed Roberts agreed to meet them for a
demo, and over the course of a few weeks they developed an Altair emulator that ran on a
minicomputer, and then the BASIC interpreter. The demonstration, held at MITS's offices
in Albuquerque, was a success and resulted in a deal with MITS to distribute the interpreter as Altair
BASIC. Paul Allen was hired into MITS,[50] and Gates took a leave of absence from Harvard to work
with Allen at MITS in Albuquerque in November 1975. They named their partnership "Micro-Soft"
and had their first office located in Albuquerque. [50] Within a year, the hyphen was dropped, and on
November 26, 1976, the trade name "Microsoft" was registered with the Office of the Secretary of
the State of New Mexico.[50] Gates never returned to Harvard to complete his studies
MITS Altair 8800 Computer with 8-inch (200 mm) floppy disk system

.
Microsoft's Altair BASIC was popular with computer hobbyists, but Gates discovered that a pre-
market copy had leaked into the community and was being widely copied and distributed. In
February 1976, Gates wrote an Open Letter to Hobbyists in the MITS newsletter in which he
asserted that more than 90 percent of the users of Microsoft Altair BASIC had not paid Microsoft for
it and by doing so the Altair "hobby market" was in danger of eliminating the incentive for any
professional developers to produce, distribute, and maintain high-quality software. [51] This letter was
unpopular with many computer hobbyists, but Gates persisted in his belief that software developers
should be able to demand payment. Microsoft became independent of MITS in late 1976, and it
continued to develop programming language software for various systems. [50] The company moved
from Albuquerque to its new home in Bellevue, Washington, on January 1, 1979.[49]
During Microsoft's early years, all employees had broad responsibility for the company's business.
Gates oversaw the business details, but continued to write code as well. In the first five years,
according to Bill Gates' own claims, he personally reviewed every line of code the company shipped,
and often rewrote parts of it as he saw fit.
IBM partnership
IBM approached Microsoft in July 1980 in reference to an operating system for its upcoming
personal computer, the IBM PC.[53] IBM first proposed that Microsoft write the BASIC interpreter.
When IBM's representatives mentioned that they needed an operating system, Gates referred them
to Digital Research (DRI), makers of the widely used CP/M operating system.[54] IBM's discussions
with Digital Research went poorly, and they did not reach a licensing agreement. IBM representative
Jack Sams mentioned the licensing difficulties during a subsequent meeting with Gates and told him
to get an acceptable operating system. A few weeks later, Gates proposed using 86-DOS (QDOS),
an operating system similar to CP/M that Tim Paterson of Seattle Computer Products (SCP) had
made for hardware similar to the PC. Microsoft made a deal with SCP to become the exclusive
licensing agent, and later the full owner, of 86-DOS. After adapting the operating system for the PC,
Microsoft delivered it to IBM as PC DOS in exchange for a one-time fee of $50,000.[55]
Gates did not offer to transfer the copyright on the operating system, because he believed that other
hardware vendors would clone IBM's system.[55] They did, and the sales of MS-DOS made Microsoft
a major player in the industry.[56] Despite IBM's name on the operating system, the press quickly
identified Microsoft as being very influential on the new computer. PC Magazine asked if Gates were
"the man behind the machine?", [53] and InfoWorld quoted an expert as stating "it's Gates' computer".
[57]
Gates oversaw Microsoft's company restructuring on June 25, 1981, which re-incorporated the
company in Washington state and made Gates the president of Microsoft and its board chairman. [49]
Windows
Microsoft launched its first retail version of Microsoft Windows on November 20, 1985. In August of
the following year, the company struck a deal with IBM to develop a separate operating system
called OS/2. Although the two companies successfully developed the first version of the new system,
the partnership deteriorated due to mounting creative differences. [58]
Management style
Gates delivers a speech at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, January 2008.
From Microsoft's founding in 1975 until 2006, Gates had primary responsibility for the company's
product strategy. He gained a reputation for being distant from others; as early as 1981 an industry
executive complained in public that "Gates is notorious for not being reachable by phone and for not
returning phone calls."[59] Another executive recalled that he showed Gates a game and defeated him
35 of 37 times. When they met again a month later, Gates "won or tied every game. He had studied
the game until he solved it. That is a competitor."[60]
Gates was an executive who met regularly with Microsoft's senior managers and program managers.
In firsthand accounts of these meetings, the managers described him being verbally combative. He
also berated managers for perceived holes in their business strategies or proposals that placed the
company's long-term interests at risk.[61][62] He interrupted presentations with such comments as
"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" [63] and "Why don't you just give up your options and join
the Peace Corps?"[64] The target of his outburst then had to defend the proposal in detail until,
hopefully, Gates was fully convinced.[63] When subordinates appeared to be procrastinating, he was
known to remark sarcastically, "I'll do it over the weekend." [65][66][67]
During Microsoft's early history, Gates was an active software developer, particularly in the
company's programming languageproducts, but his basic role in most of the company's history was
primarily as a manager and executive. Gates has not officially been on a development team since
working on the TRS-80 Model 100,[68] but as late as 1989 he wrote code that shipped with the
company's products.[66] He remained interested in technical details; in 1985, Jerry Pournelle wrote
that when he watched Gates announce Microsoft Excel, "Something else impressed me. Bill Gates
likes the program, not because it's going to make him a lot of money (although I'm sure it will do
that), but because it's a neat hack."[69]
On June 15, 2006, Gates announced that over the next two years he would transition out of his day-
to-day role to dedicate more time to philanthropy. He divided his responsibilities between two
successors when he placed Ray Ozzie in charge of day-to-day management and Craig Mundie in
charge of long-term product strategy.[70]
Antitrust litigation
United States Microsoft antitrust case and European Union Microsoft competition case
Gates giving his deposition at Microsoft on August 27, 1998
: Many decisions that led to antitrust litigation over Microsoft's business practices have had Gates'
approval. In the 1998 United States v. Microsoft case, Gates gave deposition testimony that several
journalists characterized as evasive. He argued with examiner David Boies over the contextual
meaning of words such as, "compete", "concerned", and "we". The judge and other observers in the
court room were seen laughing at various points during the deposition. [71] BusinessWeek reported
Early rounds of his deposition show him offering obfuscatory answers and saying 'I don't recall,' so
many times that even the presiding judge had to chuckle. Worse, many of the technology chief's
denials and pleas of ignorance were directly refuted by prosecutors with snippets of e-mail that
Gates both sent and received.[72]
Gates later said he had simply resisted attempts by Boies to mischaracterize his words and actions.
As to his demeanor during the deposition, he said, "Did I fence with Boies? ... I plead guilty.
Whatever that penalty is should be levied against me: rudeness to Boies in the first
degree."[73] Despite Gates' denials, the judge ruled that Microsoft had
committed monopolization and tying, and blocking competition, both in violation of the Sherman
Antitrust Act.[73]
Appearance in ads
In 2008, Gates appeared in a series of ads to promote Microsoft. The first commercial, co-
starring Jerry Seinfeld, is a 90-second talk between strangers as Seinfeld walks up on a discount
shoe store (Shoe Circus) in a mall and notices Gates buying shoes inside. The salesman is trying to
sell Mr. Gates shoes that are a size too big. As Gates is buying the shoes, he holds up his discount
card, which uses a slightly altered version of his own mugshot of his arrest in New Mexico in 1977,
for a traffic violation.[74] As they are walking out of the mall, Seinfeld asks Gates if he has melded his
mind to other developers. After getting a "Yes", he then asks if they are working on a way to make
computers edible, again getting a "Yes". Some say that this is an homage to Seinfeld's own show
about "nothing" (Seinfeld).[75] In a second commercial in the series, Gates and Seinfeld are at the
home of an average family trying to fit in with normal people. [76]
Post-Microsoft
Gates meets with U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis, February 2017
Since leaving day-to-day operations at Microsoft, Gates has continued his philanthropy and works
on other projects.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Gates was the world's highest-earning billionaire in
2013, as his net worth increased by US$15.8 billion to US$78.5 billion. As of January 2014, most of
Gates' assets are held in Cascade Investment LLC, an entity through which he owns stakes in
numerous businesses, including Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, and Corbis Corp. [77] On February
4, 2014, Gates stepped down as chairman of Microsoft to become Technology Advisor alongside
new CEO Satya Nadella.[10][78]
Gates provided his perspective on a range of issues in a substantial interview that was published in
the March 27, 2014 issue of Rolling Stone magazine. In the interview, Gates provided his
perspective on climate change, his charitable activities, various tech companies and people involved
in them, and the state of America. In response to a question about his greatest fear when he looks
50 years into the future, Gates stated: "... there'll be some really bad things that'll happen in the next
50 or 100 years, but hopefully none of them on the scale of, say, a million people that you didn't
expect to die from a pandemic, or nuclear or bioterrorism." Gates also identified innovation as the
"real driver of progress" and pronounced that "America's way better today than it's ever been." [79]
Gates has recently expressed concern about the existential threats of superintelligence; in
a Reddit "ask me anything", he stated that
First the machines will do a lot of jobs for us and not be super intelligent. That should be positive if
we manage it well. A few decades after that though the intelligence is strong enough to be a
concern. I agree with Elon Musk and some others on this and don't understand why some people
are not concerned.[80][81][82][83]
In a March 2015 interview, with Baidu's CEO, Robin Li, Gates claimed he would "highly
recommend" Nick Bostrom's recent work, Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies.[84]
In March 2018, Gates met at his home in Seattle with Mohammed bin Salman, the reformist crown
prince and de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia to discuss investment opportunities for Saudi Vision 2030.
[85][86]
Philanthropy
Gates with Bono, Queen Rania of Jordan, former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, President Umaru
Yar'Adua of Nigeria and others during the Annual Meeting 2008 of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland
In 2009, Gates and Warren Buffett founded The Giving Pledge, whereby they and other billionaires
pledge to give at least half of their wealth to philanthropy. [16]
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Gates studied the work of Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, and donated some of his
Microsoft stock in 1994 to create the "William H. Gates Foundation." In 2000, Gates and his wife
combined three family foundations and Gates donated stock valued at $5 billion to create the
charitable Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which was identified by the Funds for NGOs company in
2013, as the world's wealthiest charitable foundation, with assets reportedly valued at more than
$34.6 billion.[87][88] The Foundation allows benefactors to access information that shows how its money
is being spent, unlike other major charitable organizations such as the Wellcome Trust.[89][90] Gates,
through his foundation, also donated $20 million to Carnegie Mellon University(CMU) for a new
building to be named Gates Center for Computer Science which opened in 2009. [91][92]
Gates has credited the generosity and extensive philanthropy of David Rockefeller as a major
influence. Gates and his father met with Rockefeller several times, and their charity work is partly
modeled on the Rockefeller family's philanthropic focus, whereby they are interested in tackling the
global problems that are ignored by governments and other organizations. [93] As of 2007, Bill and
Melinda Gates were the second-most generous philanthropists in America, having given over
$28 billion to charity;[94] the couple plan to eventually donate 95 percent of their wealth to charity. [95]
The foundation is organized into four program areas: Global Development Division, Global Health
Division, United States Division, and Global Policy & Advocacy Division. [96] The foundation supports
the use of genetically modified organisms in agricultural development. Specifically, the foundation is
supporting the International Rice Research Institute in developing Golden Rice, a genetically
modified rice variant used to combat Vitamin A deficiency.[97]
Personal donations
Melinda Gates suggested that people should emulate the philanthropic efforts of the Salwen family,
which had sold its home and given away half of its value, as detailed in The Power of Half.[98] Gates
and his wife invited Joan Salwen to Seattle to speak about what the family had done, and on
December 9, 2010, Bill and Melinda Gates, and investor Warren Buffett signed a commitment they
called the "Giving Pledge." The pledge is a commitment by all three to donate at least half of their
wealth over the course of time to charity.[99][100][101]
Gates has also provided personal donations to educational institutions. In 1999, Gates donated
$20 million to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for the construction of a computer
laboratory named the "William H. Gates Building" that was designed by architect Frank Gehry. While
Microsoft had previously given financial support to the institution, this was the first personal donation
received from Gates.[102]
The Maxwell Dworkin Laboratory of the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied
Sciences is named after the mothers of both Gates and Microsoft President Steven A. Ballmer, both
of whom were students (Ballmer was a member of the School's graduating class of 1977, while
Gates left his studies for Microsoft), and donated funds for the laboratory's construction. [103] Gates
also donated $6 million to the construction of the Gates Computer Science Building, completed in
January 1996, on the campus of Stanford University. The building contains the Computer Science
Department (CSD) and the Computer Systems Laboratory (CSL) of Stanford's Engineering
department.[104]
On August 15, 2014, Bill Gates posted a video of himself on Facebook in which he is seen dumping
a bucket of ice water on his head. Gates posted the video after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg
challenged him to do so in order to raise awareness for the disease ALS (amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis).[105]
Since about 2005, Bill Gates and his foundation have taken an interest in solving
global sanitation problems. For example, they announced the "Reinvent the Toilet Challenge", which
has received considerable media interest. [106] To raise awareness for the topic of sanitation and
possible solutions, Gates drank water that was "produced from human feces" in 2014 – in fact it was
produced from a sewage sludge treatment process called the Omni-processor.[107][108] In early 2015, he
also appeared with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show and challenged him to see if he could taste
the difference between this reclaimed water or bottled water.[109]
In November 2017, Gates said he would give $50 million to the Dementia Discovery Fund, a venture
capital that seeks treatment for Alzheimer's disease. He also pledged an additional $50 million to
start-up ventures working in Alzheimer's research. [110]
Bill and Melinda Gates have said that they intend to leave their three children $10 million each as
their inheritance. With only $30 million kept in the family, they appear to be on a course to give away
about 99.96 percent of their wealth. [111] On 25 August 2018, Gates distributed $600,000 through his
Melinda and Gates Foundation via UNICEF which is helping flood affected victims in Kerala, India.[112]
Criticism
In 2007, the Los Angeles Times criticized the foundation for investing its assets in companies that
have been accused of worsening poverty, polluting heavily, and pharmaceutical companies that do
not sell to developing countries.[113] In response to press criticism, the foundation announced a review
of its investments to assess social responsibility.[114] It subsequently canceled the review and stood by
its policy of investing for maximum return, while using voting rights to influence company practices.
[115]
The Gates Millennium Scholars program has been criticized by Ernest W. Lefever for its exclusion
of Caucasian students.[116] The scholarship program is administered by the United Negro College
Fund.[117] In 2014, Bill Gates sparked a protest in Vancouver when he decided to donate $50 million
to UNAIDS through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for the purpose of mass circumcision in
Zambia and Swaziland.[118][119]
Charity sports events

On April 29, 2017, Bill Gates partnered with Swiss tennis legend Roger Federer in play in the Match
for Africa 4, a noncompetitive tennis match at a sold-out Key Arenain Seattle. The event was in
support of Roger Federer Foundation's charity efforts in Africa.[120] Federer and Gates played
against John Isner, the top-ranked American player for much of this decade, and Mike McCready,
the lead guitarist for Pearl Jam. Gates and Federer won the match 6–4. Overall, they raised $2
million for children in Africa.[121] The following year, Gates and Federer returned to play in the Match
for Africa 5 on March 5, 2018 at San Jose's SAP Center. Their opponents were Jack Sock, one of
the top American players and a grand slam winner in doubles, and Savannah Guthrie, a co-anchor
for NBC's Today show. Gates and Federer recorded their second match victory together by a score
of 6–3 and the event raised over $2.5 million.[122]
Recognition
Steve Jobs and Gates at the fifth D: All Things Digital conference (D5) in 2007
In 1987, Gates was listed as a billionaire in Forbes magazine's 400 Richest People in America issue.
He was worth $1.25 billion and was the world's youngest self-made billionaire. [13] Since 1987, Gates
has been included in the Forbes The World's Billionaires list and was the wealthiest from 1995 to
1996,[123] 1998 to 2007, 2009, and has been since 2014. [1] Gates was number one on Forbes' 400
Richest Americans list from 1993 through to 2007, 2009, and 2014 through 2017. [124][125]
Time magazine named Gates one of the 100 people who most influenced the 20th century, as well
as one of the 100 most influential people of 2004, 2005, and 2006. Time also collectively named
Gates, his wife Melinda and U2's lead singer Bono as the 2005 Persons of the Year for their
humanitarian efforts.[126] In 2006, he was voted eighth in the list of "Heroes of our time". [127] Gates was
listed in the Sunday Times power list in 1999, named CEO of the year by Chief Executive Officers
magazine in 1994, ranked number one in the "Top 50 Cyber Elite" by Time in 1998, ranked number
two in the Upside Elite 100 in 1999, and was included in The Guardian as one of the "Top 100
influential people in media" in 2001. [128]
According to Forbes, Gates was ranked as the fourth most powerful person in the world in 2012,
[129]
up from fifth in 2011.[130]
In 1994, he was honored as the 20th Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society (DFBCS).
In 1999, Gates received New York Institute of Technology's President's Medal.[131] Gates has
received honorary doctorates from Nyenrode Business Universiteit, Breukelen, The Netherlands, in
2000;[132] KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, in 2002;[133] Waseda University,
Tokyo, Japan, in 2005; Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, in April 2007; [134] Harvard University in
June 2007;[135] the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, in 2007,[136] and Cambridge University in June
2009.[137] He was also made an honorary trustee of Peking University in 2007.[138]
Gates was made an Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE)
by Queen Elizabeth II in 2005.[139] In November 2006, he was awarded the Placard of the Order of the
Aztec Eagle, together with his wife Melinda who was awarded the Insignia of the same order, both
for their philanthropic work around the world in the areas of health and education, particularly in
Mexico, and specifically in the program "Un país de lectores".[140] Gates received the 2010 Bower
Award for Business Leadership from The Franklin Institute for his achievements at Microsoft and his
philanthropic work.[141] Also in 2010, he was honored with the Silver Buffalo Award by the Boy Scouts
of America, its highest award for adults, for his service to youth. [142]
In 2002, Bill and Melinda Gates received the Jefferson Award for Greatest Public Service Benefiting
the Disadvantaged.[143] He was given the 2006 James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award
from the Tech Awards.[144] In 2015 Gates, along with his wife Melinda, received the Padma Bhushan,
India's third-highest civilian award for their social work in the country. [145][146] Barack Obama honored
Bill and Melinda Gates with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for their philanthropic efforts in 2016,
[147]
and François Hollande awarded Bill and Melinda in the following year with France's highest
national award – the Legion of Honour for their charity efforts.[148]
Entomologists named Bill Gates' flower fly, Eristalis gatesi, in his honor in 1997.[149]
Personal life
Gates and his wife Melinda, June 2009
Gates married Melinda French on a golf course on the Hawaiian island of Lanai on January 1, 1994;
he was 38 and she was 29. They have three children: Jennifer Katharine (born 1996), Rory John
(born 1999), and Phoebe Adele (born 2002). Gates' oldest daughter Jennifer is an equestrian rider
who competed in the 2018 Longines Global Champions Tour. [150] The family resides in Xanadu 2.0,
an earth-sheltered mansion in the side of a hill overlooking Lake Washington in Medina,
Washington. According to 2007 King County public records, the total assessed value of the property
(land and house) is $125 million, and the annual property taxes are $991,000. The 66,000 sq ft
(6,100 m2) estate has a 60-foot (18 m) swimming pool with an underwater music system, as well as a
2,500 sq ft (230 m2) gym and a 1,000 sq ft (93 m2) dining room.[151]
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Gates stated in regard to his faith:
The moral systems of religion, I think, are super important. We've raised our kids in a
“ religious way; they've gone to the Catholic church that Melinda goes to and I participate
in. I've been very lucky, and therefore I owe it to try and reduce the inequity in the world.
And that's kind of a religious belief. I mean, it's at least a moral belief. [152]
”
In the same interview, Gates said:
I agree with people like Richard Dawkins that mankind felt the need for creation myths.
“ Before we really began to understand disease and the weather and things like that, we
sought false explanations for them. Now science has filled in some of the realm – not
all – that religion used to fill. But the mystery and the beauty of the world is
overwhelmingly amazing, and there's no scientific explanation of how it came about. To
say that it was generated by random numbers, that does seem, you know, sort of an
uncharitable view [laughs]. I think it makes sense to believe in God, but exactly what
decision in your life you make differently because of it, I don't know.[152]
”
Gates purchased the Codex Leicester, a collection of scientific writings by Leonardo da Vinci, for
$30.8 million at an auction in 1994.[153] Gates is an avid reader, and the ceiling of his large home
library is engraved with a quotation from The Great Gatsby.[154] He also enjoys playing bridge, tennis,
and golf.[155][156]
In 1999, his wealth briefly surpassed $101 billion.[157] Despite his wealth and extensive business
travel, Gates usually flew coach in commercial aircraft until 1997, when he bought a private jet.
[158]
Since 2000, the nominal value of his Microsoft holdings has declined due to a fall in Microsoft's
stock price after the dot-com bubbleburst and the multibillion-dollar donations he has made to his
charitable foundations. In a May 2006 interview, Gates commented that he wished that he were not
the richest man in the world because he disliked the attention it brought. [159] In March 2010, Gates
was the second wealthiest person behind Carlos Slim, but regained the top position in 2013,
according to the Bloomberg Billionaires List.[160][161] Carlos Slim retook the position again in June
2014[162][163] (but then lost the top position back to Gates). Between 2009 and 2014, his wealth doubled
from US$40 billion to more than US$82 billion.[164] Since October 2017, Gates was surpassed
by Amazon.comfounder Jeff Bezos as the richest person in the world. [14]
Gates has held the top spot on the list of The World's Billionaires for 18 out of the past 23 years.[165]
Gates has several investments outside Microsoft, which in 2006 paid him a salary of $616,667 and
$350,000 bonus totalling $966,667.[166] In 1989, he founded Corbis, a digital imaging company. In
2004, he became a director of Berkshire Hathaway, the investment company headed by long-time
friend Warren Buffett.[167] In 2016, he was discussing his gaming habits when he revealed that he was
color-blind.[168]
In a BBC interview, Gates claimed, "I've paid more tax than any individual ever, and gladly so... I've
paid over $6 billion in taxes."[169] He is a proponent of higher taxes, particularly for the rich. [170] Gates'
days are planned for him on a minute-by-minute basis, similar to the U.S. President's schedule.[171]
External business ventures and investments
 Cascade Investments LLC, a private investment and holding company incorporated in the

United States, controlled by Bill Gates and headquartered in Kirkland, Washington.
 bgC3, a new think-tank company founded by Gates.
 Corbis, a digital image licensing and rights services company.
 TerraPower, a nuclear reactor design company.
 Eclipse Aviation, a defunct manufacturer of very light jets. Gates was a major stake-holder
early on in the project.
 ResearchGate, a social networking site for scientists. Gates participated in a $35 million
round of financing along with other investors.[172]
Books, films, social media and radio

Books
Gates has written two books:
 The Road Ahead, written with Microsoft executive Nathan Myhrvold and journalist Peter

Rinearson, was published in November 1995. It summarized the implications of the personal
computing revolution and described a future profoundly changed by the arrival of a
global information superhighway.
 Business @ the Speed of Thought was published in 1999, and discusses how business and
technology are integrated, and shows how digital infrastructures and information networks can
help getting an edge on the competition.
Documentaries
 The Machine That Changed the World (miniseries) (1990)

 Triumph of the Nerds (1996)
 Nerds 2.0.1 (1998)
 Waiting for "Superman" (2010)[174]
 The Virtual Revolution (2010)
Feature films
 1999: Pirates of Silicon Valley, a film which chronicles the rise of Apple and Microsoft from

the early 1970s to 1997. Gates is portrayed by Anthony Michael Hall.
 2002: Nothing So Strange, a mocumentary featuring Gates as the subject of a modern
assassination. Gates briefly appears at the start, played by Steve Sires.
 2010: The Social Network, a film which chronicles the development of Facebook. Gates is
portrayed by Steve Sires.[175]
 2015: Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates: The Competition to Control the Personal Computer, 1974–
1999: Original film from the National Geographic Channel for the American Genius series.[176]
Social media
In 2013, Gates became a LinkedIn Influencer.[177]
Video and film clips
 1983: Steve Jobs hosts Bill Gates in the Macintosh dating game at the Macintosh pre-launch
event (with Steve Jobs and Mitch Kapor, references the television show, The Dating Game)
 2007: Steve Jobs and Bill Gates Together at D5 Conference
Radio
Gates was the guest on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs on January 31, 2016, in which he talks
about his relationships with his father and Steve Jobs, meeting Melinda Ann French, the start
of Microsoft and some of his habits (for example reading The Economist "from cover to cover every
week"). His choice of things to take on a desert island were, for music: "Blue Skies" by Willie Nelson;
book: The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker; and luxury item: a DVD Collection of
Lectures from The Teaching Company.
Robert Bruce Banner

The Hulk is a fictional superhero appearing in publications by the American publisher Marvel
Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut
issue of The Incredible Hulk (May 1962). In his comic book appearances, the character is both the
Hulk, a green-skinned, hulking and muscular humanoid possessing a vast degree of physical
strength, and his alter ego Dr. Robert Bruce Banner, a physically weak, socially withdrawn, and
emotionally reserved physicist, the two existing as independent personalities and resenting of the
other.
Following his accidental exposure to gamma rays during the detonation of an experimental bomb,
Banner is physically transformed into the Hulk when subjected to emotional stress, at or against his
will, often leading to destructive rampages and conflicts that complicate Banner's civilian life. The
Hulk's level of strength is normally conveyed as proportionate to his level of anger. Commonly
portrayed as a raging savage, the Hulk has been represented with other personalities based on
Banner's fractured psyche, from a mindless, destructive force, to a brilliant warrior, or genius
scientist in his own right. Despite both Hulk and Banner's desire for solitude, the character has a
large supporting cast, including Banner's lover Betty Ross, his friend Rick Jones, his cousin She-
Hulk, sons Hiro-Kala and Skaar, and his co-founders of the superhero team the Avengers. However,
his uncontrollable power has brought him into conflict with his fellow heroes and others.
Lee stated that the Hulk's creation was inspired by a combination of Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and
Mr. Hyde.[3]Although the Hulk's coloration has varied throughout the character's publication history,
the most usual color is green. He has two main catchphrases: "Hulk is strongest one there is!" and
the better-known "Hulk smash!", which has founded the basis for numerous pop culture memes.
One of the most iconic characters in popular culture, [4][5] the character has appeared on a variety of
merchandise, such as clothing and collectable items, inspired real-world structures (such as theme
park attractions), and been referenced in a number of media. Banner and the Hulk have been
adapted in live-action, animated, and video game incarnations. The most notable of these were the
1970s The Incredible Hulk television series, in which the character was portrayed by Bill
Bixby and Lou Ferrigno. The character was first played in a live-action feature film by Eric Bana,
with Edward Norton and Mark Ruffalo portraying the character in the films The Incredible Hulk, The
Avengers, Iron Man 3, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Infinity War,
and Avengers: Endgame of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
List of Hulk titles
Concept and creation

The Hulk first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #1 (cover dated May 1962), written by writer-editor
Stan Lee, penciled and co-plotted by Jack Kirby,[6][7] and inked by Paul Reinman. Lee cites influence
from Frankenstein[8] and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in the Hulk's creation:
It was patently apparent that [the monstrous character the] Thing was the most popular character in
[Marvel's recently created superhero team the] Fantastic Four. ... For a long time I'd been aware of
the fact that people were more likely to favor someone who was less than perfect. ... It's a safe bet
that you remember Quasimodo, but how easily can you name any of the heroic, handsomer, more
glamorous characters in The Hunchback of Notre Dame? And then there's Frankenstein ... I've
always had a soft spot in my heart for the Frankenstein monster. No one could ever convince me
that he was the bad guy. ... He never wanted to hurt anyone; he merely groped his torturous way
through a second life trying to defend himself, trying to come to terms with those who sought to
destroy him. ... I decided I might as well borrow from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as well—our
protagonist would constantly change from his normal identity to his superhuman alter ego and back
again.[9]
Kirby, commenting upon his influences in drawing the character, recalled as inspiration the tale of a
mother who rescues her child who is trapped beneath a car.[10] Lee has also compared Hulk to
the Golem of Jewish mythology.[8] In The Science of Superheroes, Gresh and Weinberg see the Hulk
as a reaction to the Cold War[11] and the threat of nuclear attack, an interpretation shared by
Weinstein in Up, Up and Oy Vey.[8] This interpretation corresponds with other popularized fictional
media created during this time period, which took advantage of the prevailing sense among
Americans that nuclear power could produce monsters and mutants. [12]
In the debut, Lee chose grey for the Hulk because he wanted a color that did not suggest any
particular ethnic group.[13] Colorist Stan Goldberg, however, had problems with the grey coloring,
resulting in different shades of grey, and even green, in the issue. After seeing the first published
issue, Lee chose to change the skin color to green. [14] Green was used in retellings of the origin, with
even reprints of the original story being recolored for the next two decades, until The Incredible
Hulkvol. 2, #302 (December 1984) reintroduced the grey Hulk in flashbacks set close to the origin
story. An exception is the early trade paperback, Origins of Marvel Comics, from 1974, which
explains the difficulties in keeping the grey color consistent in a Stan Lee written prologue, and
reprints the origin story keeping the grey coloration. Since December 1984, reprints of the first issue
have displayed the original grey coloring, with the fictional canon specifying that the Hulk's skin had
initially been grey.
Lee gave the Hulk's alter ego the alliterative name "Bruce Banner" because he found he had less
difficulty remembering alliterative names. Despite this, in later stories he misremembered the
character's name and referred to him as "Bob Banner", an error which readers quickly picked up on.
[15]
The discrepancy was resolved by giving the character the official full name "Robert Bruce
Banner."[1]
Series history
The Hulk's original series was canceled with issue #6 (March 1963). Lee had written each story, with
Kirby penciling the first five issues and Steve Ditko penciling and inking the sixth. The character
immediately guest-starred in The Fantastic Four #12 (March 1963), and months later became a
founding member of the superhero team the Avengers, appearing in the first two issues of the team's
eponymous series (Sept. and Nov. 1963), and returning as an antagonist in issue #3 and as an ally
in #5 (Jan.–May 1964). He then guest-starred in Fantastic Four #25–26 (April–May 1964), which
revealed Banner's full name as Robert Bruce Banner, and The Amazing Spider-Man #14 (July
1964).[16]
The Incredible Hulk #1 (May 1962). Cover art by Jack Kirby and Paul Reinman.
Around this time, co-creator Kirby received a letter from a college dormitory stating the Hulk had
been chosen as its official mascot.[8] Kirby and Lee realized their character had found an audience in
college-age readers.
A year and a half after The Incredible Hulk was canceled, the Hulk became one of two features
in Tales to Astonish, beginning in issue #60 (Oct. 1964).[17]
This new Hulk feature was initially scripted by Lee, with pencils by Steve Ditko and inks by George
Roussos. Other artists later in this run included Jack Kirby (#68–87, June 1965 – Oct. 1966); Gil
Kane (credited as "Scott Edwards", #76, (Feb. 1966)); Bill Everett (#78–84, April–Oct. 1966); John
Buscema (#85–87); and Marie Severin. The Tales to Astonish run introduced the super-villains
the Leader,[3] who would become the Hulk's nemesis, and the Abomination, another gamma-
irradiated being.[3]Marie Severin finished out the Hulk's run in Tales to Astonish. Beginning with issue
#102 (April 1968) the book was retitled The Incredible Hulk vol. 2,[18] and ran until 1999, when Marvel
canceled the series and launched Hulk #1. Marvel filed for a trademark for "The Incredible Hulk" in
1967, and the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued the registration in 1970.[19]
Len Wein wrote the series from 1974 through 1978, working first with Herb Trimpe, then, as of issue
#194 (December 1975), with Sal Buscema, who was the regular artist for ten years.[20] Issues #180–
181 (Oct.–Nov. 1974) introduced Wolverine as an antagonist,[21] who would go on to become one of
Marvel Comics' most popular characters. In 1977, Marvel launched a second title, The Rampaging
Hulk, a black-and-white comics magazine.[3] This was originally conceived as a flashback series, set
between the end of his original, short-lived solo title and the beginning of his feature in Tales to
Astonish.[22] After nine issues, the magazine was retitled The Hulk! and printed in color.[23]
In 1977, two Hulk television films were aired to strong ratings, leading to an Incredible Hulk TV
series which aired from 1978 to 1982. A huge ratings success, the series introduced the popular
Hulk catchphrase, "Don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry", and broadened the
character's popularity from a niche comic book readership into the mainstream consciousness. [24]
Bill Mantlo became the series' writer for five years beginning with issue #245 (March 1980). Mantlo's
"Crossroads of Eternity" stories (#300–313, Oct. 1984 – Nov. 1985) explored the idea that Banner
had suffered child abuse. Later Hulk writers Peter David and Greg Pak have called these stories an
influence on their approaches to the character.[25][26] Mantlo left the series for Alpha Flight and that
series' writer John Byrne took over The Incredible Hulk.[27] The final issue of Byrne's six issue run
featured the wedding of Bruce Banner and Betty Ross.[28] Writer Peter David began a twelve-year run
with issue #331 (May 1987). He returned to the Roger Stern and Mantlo abuse storylines, expanding
the damage caused, and depicting Banner as suffering dissociative identity disorder (DID).[3]
In 1998, David killed off Banner's long-time love Betty Ross. Marvel executives used Ross' death as
an opportunity to pursue the return of the Savage Hulk. David disagreed, leading to his parting ways
with Marvel.[29] Also in 1998, Marvel relaunched The Rampaging Hulk as a standard comic book
rather than as a comics magazine. [3] The Incredible Hulk was again cancelled with issue #474 of its
second volume in March 1999 and was replaced with new series, Hulk the following month, with
returning writer Byrne and art by Ron Garney.[30][31] By issue #12 (March 2000), Hulk was retitled
as The Incredible Hulk vol. 3[32] New series writer Paul Jenkinsdeveloped the Hulk's multiple
personalities,[33] and his run was followed by Bruce Jones[34] with his run featuring Banner being
pursued by a secret conspiracy and aided by the mysterious Mr. Blue. Jones appended his 43-
issue Incredible Hulk run with the limited series Hulk/Thing: Hard Knocks #1–4 (Nov. 2004 – Feb.
2005), which Marvel published after putting the ongoing series on hiatus. Peter David, who had
initially signed a contract for the six-issue Tempest Fugit limited series, returned as writer when it
was decided to make that story the first five parts of the revived volume three. [35] After a four-part tie-
in to the "House of M" storyline and a one-issue epilogue, David left the series once more, citing the
need to do non-Hulk work for the sake of his career. [36]
Writer Greg Pak took over the series in 2006, leading the Hulk through several crossover storylines
including "Planet Hulk" and "World War Hulk", which left the Hulk temporarily incapacitated and
replaced as the series' title character by the demigod Hercules in the retitled The Incredible
Hercules (Feb. 2008). The Hulk returned periodically in Hulk, which then starred the new Red Hulk.
[37]
In September 2009, The Incredible Hulk was relaunched as The Incredible Hulk vol. 2, #600.
[37]
The series was retitled The Incredible Hulks with issue #612 (Nov. 2010) to encompass the Hulk's
expanded family, and ran until issue #635 (Oct. 2011) when it was replaced with The Incredible
Hulk vol. 4, (15 issues, Dec. 2011 – Dec. 2012) written by Jason Aaron with art by Marc Silvestri.
[38]
As part of Marvel's 2012 Marvel NOW!relaunch, a series called The Indestructible Hulk (Nov.
2012) debuted under the creative team of Mark Waid and Leinil Yu.[39] This series was replaced in
2014 with The Hulk by Waid and artist Mark Bagley.[40]
Fictional character biography

During the experimental detonation of a gamma bomb, scientist Robert Bruce Banner saves
teenager Rick Jones who has driven onto the testing field; Banner pushes Jones into a trench to
save him, but is hit with the blast, absorbing massive amounts of gamma radiation. He awakens later
seemingly unscathed, but that night transforms into a lumbering grey form. A pursuing soldier dubs
the creature a "hulk".[41] Originally, it was believed that Banner's transformations into the Hulk were
caused by sunset and undone at sunrise, but later, after Rick witnessed Banner turn into Hulk at
daytime following a failed attempt by Ross' men to shoot the Hulk into space, it was discovered to be
caused by anger. Banner was cured in The Incredible Hulk #4, but chose to restore Hulk's powers
with Banner's intelligence. The gamma-ray machine needed to affect the transformation-induced
side effects that made Banner temporarily sick and weak when returned to his normal state.
In The Avengers #1 (September 1963), the Hulk became a founding member of the title's
eponymous superhero team. By The Avengers #3, overuse of the gamma ray machine rendered the
Hulk as an uncontrollable, rampaging monster, subject to spontaneous changing. In Tales to
Astonish #59 (September 1964) the Hulk appeared as an antagonist for Giant-Man. The series
established stress as the trigger for Banner turning into the Hulk and vice versa. [42] It was during this
time that the Hulk developed a more savage and childlike personality, shifting away from his original
portrayal as a brutish but not entirely unintelligent figure. Also, his memory, both long-term and
short-term, would now become markedly impaired in his Hulk state. Tales to Astonish #64 (February
1965) was the last Hulk story to feature him speaking in complete sentences. In Tales to
Astonish #77 (March 1966), Banner's and the Hulk's dual identity became publicly known when Rick
Jones, mistakenly convinced that Banner was dead (when he actually had been catapulted into the
future), told Major Glenn Talbot, a rival to Banner for the affections of Betsy Ross, the truth.
Consequently, Glenn informed his superiors and that turned Banner into a wanted fugitive upon
returning to the present.
The 1970s saw Banner and Betty nearly marry in The Incredible Hulk #124 (February 1970).[43] Betty
ultimately married Talbot in issue #158 (Dec. 1972).[44] The Hulk also traveled to other dimensions,
one of which had him meet empress Jarella, who used magic to bring Banner's intelligence to the
Hulk, and came to love him. The Hulk helped to form the Defenders.[45]
In the 1980s, Banner once again gained control over the Hulk, [46] and gained amnesty for his past
rampages;[47] however, due to the manipulations of supernatural character Nightmare, Banner
eventually lost control over the Hulk.[48] It was also established that Banner had serious mental
problems even before he became the Hulk, having suffered childhood traumas that engendered
Bruce's repressed rage.[49] Banner comes to terms with his issues for a time, and the Hulk and
Banner were physically separated by Doc Samson.[50][51] Banner is recruited by the U.S. government
to create the Hulkbusters, a government team dedicated to catching the Hulk. Banner finally married
Betty in The Incredible Hulk #319 (May 1986) following Talbot's death in 1981. [28][52] Banner and the
Hulk were reunited in The Incredible Hulk#323 (Sep. 1986)[53] and with issue #324, returned the Hulk
to his grey coloration, with his transformations once again occurring at night, regardless of Banner's
emotional state. In issue #347 the grey Hulk persona "Joe Fixit" was introduced, a morally
ambiguous Las Vegas enforcer and tough guy. Banner remained repressed in the Hulk's mind for
months, but slowly began to reappear.
The 1990s saw the Green Hulk return. [54] In issue #377 (Jan. 1991), the Hulk was revamped in a
storyline that saw the personalities of Banner, Grey Hulk, and Savage Hulk confront Banner's past
abuse at the hands of his father Brian and a new "Guilt Hulk" persona. Overcoming the trauma, the
intelligent Banner, cunning Grey Hulk, and powerful Savage Hulk personalities merge into a new
single entity possessing the traits of all three. The Hulk also joined the Pantheon, a secretive
organization of superpowered individuals.[55][56] His tenure with the organization brought the Hulk into
conflict with a tyrannical alternate future version of himself called the Maestro in the 1993 Future
Imperfect miniseries, who rules over a world where many heroes are dead.
In 2000, Banner and the three Hulks (Savage Hulk, Grey Hulk, and the "Merged Hulk", now
considered a separate personality and referred to as the Professor) become able to mentally interact
with one another, each personality taking over the shared body as Banner began to weaken due to
his suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease. During this, the four personalities (including Banner)
confronted yet another submerged personality, a sadistic "Devil" intent on attacking the world and
attempting to break out of Banner's fracturing psyche, but the Devil was eventually locked away
again when the Leader was able to devise a cure for the disease using genes taken from the corpse
of Brian Banner.[33] In 2005, it is revealed that the Nightmare has manipulated the Hulk for years, and
it is implied that some or all of the Hulk's adventures written by Bruce Jones may have been just an
illusion.[57]
In 2006, the Illuminati decide the Hulk is too dangerous to remain on Earth and send him away by
rocket ship which crashes on Planet Sakaar ushering in the "Planet Hulk" storyline that saw the Hulk
find allies in the Warbound, and marry alien queen Caiera, a relationship that was later revealed to
have born him two sons: Skaar and Hiro-Kala.[58] After the Illuminati's ship explodes and kills Caiera,
the Hulk returns to Earth with his superhero group Warbound and declares war on the planet
in World War Hulk (2007).[59] However, after learning that Miek, one of the Warbound, had actually
been responsible for the destruction, the Hulk allows himself to be defeated, with Banner
subsequently redeeming himself as a hero as he works with and against the new Red Hulk to defeat
the new supervillain team the Intelligencia. [60]
In the 2010s, Hiro-Kala traveled to Earth to destroy the OldStrong Power wielded by Skaar, forcing
Skaar and the Hulk to defeat and imprison him within his home planet. [61]
During the 2011 Fear Itself storyline, the Hulk finds one of the Serpent's magical hammers
associated with the Worthy and becomes Nul: Breaker of Worlds. As he starts to transform, the Hulk
tells the Red She-Hulk to run far away from him. Rampaging through South and Central America,
Nul was eventually transported to New York City where he began battling Thor, with aid of the Thing,
who was transformed into Angrir: Breaker of Souls. After defeating the Thing, Thor stated that he
never could beat the Hulk, and instead removed him from the battle by launching him into Earth
orbit, after which Thor collapsed from exhaustion.[62] Landing in Romania, Nul immediately began
heading for the base of the vampire-king Dracula. Opposed by Dracula's forces, including a legion of
monsters, Nul was seemingly unstoppable. [63]Only after the intervention of Raizo Kodo's Forgiven
was Nul briefly slowed.[64] Ultimately, Nul makes his way to Dracula's castle where the timely arrival
of Kodo and Forgiven member Inka, disguised as Betty Ross, is able to throw off the effects of the
Nul possession. Throwing aside the hammer, the Hulk regains control, and promptly leaves upon
realizing "Betty's" true nature.[65]
With the crisis concluded, the Hulk contacted Doctor Doom for help separating him and Banner for
good in return for an unspecified favour. Doom proceeded to perform brain surgery on the Hulk,
extracting the uniquely Banner elements from the Hulk's brain and cloning a new body for Banner.
[66]
When Doctor Doom demands to keep Banner for his own purposes, the Hulk reneges on the deal
and flees with Banner's body, leaving his alter ego in the desert where he was created to ensure that
Doctor Doom cannot use Banner's intellect. [67] When Banner goes insane due to his separation from
the Hulk, irradiating an entire tropical island trying to recreate his transformation- something he
cannot do as the cloned body lacks the genetic elements of Banner that allowed him to process the
gamma radiation- the Hulk is forced to destroy his other side by letting him be disintegrated by a
gamma bomb, prompting the Hulk to accuse Doom of tampering with Banner's mind, only for Doom
to observe that what was witnessed was simply Banner without the Hulk to use as a scapegoat for
his problems.[68] Initially assuming that Banner is dead, the Hulk soon realizes that Banner was
somehow "re-combined" with him when the gamma bomb disintegrated Banner's body, resulting in
the Hulk finding himself waking up in various strange locations, including helping the Punisher
confront a drug cartel run by a mutated dog, hunting sasquatches with Kraven the Hunter, and being
forced to face Wolverine and the Thing in an old SHIELD base. Banner eventually leaves a video
message for the Hulk in which he apologizes for his actions while they were separate, having come
to recognize that he is a better person with the Hulk than without, [69] the two joining forces to thwart
the Doombots' attempt to use the animals on Banner's irradiated island as the basis for a new
gamma army using a one-of-a-kind gamma cure Banner had created to turn all the animals back to
normal.[70]Following this, Bruce willingly joined the spy organization S.H.I.E.L.D., allowing them to use
the Hulk as a weapon in exchange for providing him with the means and funding to create a lasting
legacy for himself.[71]
After the Hulk had suffered brain damage upon being shot in the head by the Order of the Shield-
the assassin having been carefully trained to target Bruce at just the right part of the brain to
incapacitate him without triggering a transformation- Iron Man used the Extremis to cure the Hulk.
[72]
This procedure also increased Banner's mental capacity, which gave him the intelligence to tweak
the Extremis virus within him and unleash a new persona for the Hulk: the super-intelligent Doc
Green.
During the 2014 "Original Sin" storyline, Bruce Banner confronted by the eye of the murdered Uatu
the Watcher. Bruce temporarily experienced some of Tony Stark's memories of their first meeting
before either of them became the Hulk or Iron Man. During this vision, Bruce witnessed Tony
modifying the gamma bomb to be more effective prompting Bruce to realize that Tony was
essentially responsible for him becoming the Hulk in the first place. [73] Subsequent research reveals
that Tony's tampering had actually refined the bomb's explosive potential so that it would not
disintegrate everyone within the blast radius, with the result that Tony's actions had actually saved
Bruce's life.[74]
In the 2014 "AXIS" storyline, when a mistake made by the Scarlet Witch causes various heroes and
villains to experience a moral inversion, Bruce Banner attended a meeting between Nick Fury Jr.
and Maria Hill of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers who refused to turn over Red Skull. Later when he
sided with Edwin Jarvis and tried to prevent his teammates from executing the Red Skull, the Hulk
was thrown aside by Luke Cage. The Hulk's sorrow at his friends' betrayal awakened a new persona
known as the bloodthirsty Kluh (described as the Hulk's Hulk, being the ruthless part of himself that
even the Hulk repressed) with this new version easily defeating the Avengers, sneering that the Hulk
they knew was nothing more than a "sad piece of 'Doc Green's' ID." Kluh then leaves to wreak
havoc,[75] with Nova attempting to stop him after witnessing his rampage with the remaining good
heroes.[76] As with the other inverted Avengers and X-Men, Kluh was restored to Hulk when Brother
Voodoowas summoned back to life by Doctor Doom so that Daniel Drumm's ghost can possess the
Scarlet Witch and undo the inversion.
With his newfound intellect, Doc Green came to the conclusion that the world was in danger by
Gamma Mutates and thus needed to be depowered. He developed a serum made from Adamantium
nanobites that absorbed gamma energy.[77] He used these to depower Red Leader, Red She-Hulk,
Red Hulk, Skaar, Gamma Corps, and A-Bomb, but decided to 'spare' She-Hulk as he concluded that
she was the one gamma mutation whose life had been legitimately improved by her mutation. At the
close of the storyline, Doc Green discovered that he was beginning to disappear as the result of the
Extremis serum wearing off. He ultimately allowed himself to fade away, returning to his normal Hulk
form, as he feared that remaining at his current intellectual level would lead to him becoming
the Maestro.[78]
During the 2015 "Secret Wars" storyline, the Hulk took part in the incursion between Earth-616 and
Earth-1610. The Hulk used the "Fastball Special" with Colossus to destroy the Triskelion.[79]
As part of the 2015–2018 All-New, All-Different Marvel branding, Amadeus Cho becomes the new
Hulk. Flashbacks reveal that the Hulk had absorbed a dangerous new type of radiation while helping
Iron Man and the Black Panther deal with a massive accident on Kiber Island. Fearing the Hulk's
meltdown would kill countless innocents, Cho was able to use special nanites to absorb the Hulk
from Banner and take it into himself to become his own version of the Hulk, leaving Banner normal
and free from the Hulk.[80] He is then rescued from a bar fight by Amadeus, who tells him that he is
cured. Having confirmed that he can no longer transform or sense the Hulk, Bruce spends some
time travelling across America taking various risks such as driving at high speeds, running away
from a bear, or gambling in Las Vegas, until he is confronted by Tony Stark out of concern that
Bruce has a death wish. Bruce instead acknowledges that he still harbors guilt and rage over how so
many of the Hulk's rampages were provoked by various agencies refusing to leave him alone. [81]
During the 2016 "Civil War II" storyline, the vision of the Inhuman Ulysses shows a rampaging Hulk
standing over the corpses of the superheroes. Meanwhile, Bruce Banner is shown to have set up a
laboratory in Alpine, Utah, where he is approached by Captain Marvel, [82] followed by Tony Stark, the
rest of the Avengers, the X-Men, and the Inhumans. The confrontation leads to the Beast hacking
into Banner's work servers and the revelation that he had been injecting himself with dead gamma-
irradiated cells. S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Maria Hill places him under arrest. Banner gets infuriated at all
these events, when suddenly, Hawkeye shoots Banner with an arrow to the head and then to the
heart, killing him, much to the dismay and horror of the superheroes, especially Tony Stark. At an
Avengers-presided tribunal, Hawkeye states that Bruce Banner had approached him and ordered
him to kill him if he ever showed signs of turning into the Hulk again. [83] At the funeral, Korg of the
Warbound stated how Hulk wanted to be left alone and how his allies that he made along the way
have become his family. In his video will, Bruce leaves various items to other heroes and his allies
including leaving Doctor Strange his notes on the Hulk's ability to perceive ghosts and an egg-timer
for the various former/current other Hulks (based on one of Bruce's more successful attempts to
control himself as he would sit down for three minutes doing nothing before making a particularly big
decision and then decide if he still wanted to do it).[84]
Following the funeral of Bruce Banner, the Hand in allegiance with Daniel Drumm's ghost steal
Bruce Banner's body in order to use the dead to bolster their ranks. [85]When the reassembled
Uncanny Avengers went to Japan and attempted to enlist Elektra for help in stopping the Hand, the
ritual that the Hand performed has been completed as the Uncanny Avengers are attacked by a
revived Hulk who is wearing samurai armor.[86] The Uncanny Avengers were able to contain Hulk's
rampage and sever his mystical link to the Beast of the Hand. Afterwards, Hulk regressed back to
Bruce Banner and returned to the dead.[87]
During the 2017 "Secret Empire" storyline, Arnim Zola used an unknown method to temporary revive
Bruce Banner where the Hydra Supreme version of Captain America persuades his Hulk side to
attack the Underground's hideout called the Vault. He fought Thing and Giant-Man's A.I.Vengers
until the temporary revival that Arnim Zola did to Bruce Banner started to wear off and cause Hulk to
die again.[88]
During the "No Surrender" arc, the exiled Elder of the Universe named Challenger revives Hulk to be
his ace in the hole during a contest between his Black Order and Grandmaster's Lethal Legion. Hulk
participated since he knew that Earth will be destroyed either way while his Bruce Banner suspects
that Hulk's revivals were a manifestation of Hulk's immortality. While
defeating Cannonball and Living Lightning, breaking Vision, and draining the gamma energy out
of Robert Maverick's Hulk Plug-In, Wonder Man successfully reasoned with him as Hulk destroyed
the Pyarmoid in Voyager's possession. After feeling remorse for what happened, Bruce Banner
became Hulk and faced off against Challenger. After Challenger sent Hulk into Earth's orbit, Hulk
was pleased that he managed to hurt Challenger. [89]
While maintaining a low profile, Bruce Banner was shot by Tommy Hill of the Dogs of Hell biker gang
during a robbery that also claimed the lives of Sandy Brockhurst and Josh Alfaro. He came back to
life and turned into Hulk where he badly beat up Tommy Hill. The witnesses in the Dogs of Hell told
Detective Gloria Mayes of the attacker as she and reporter Jackie McGee have a suspicion that it
was Hulk even though Banner is believed to be dead. [90]
Alternative versions of Hulk

Alternative versions of the Hulk
A number of alternate universes and alternate timelines in Marvel Comics publications allow writers
to introduce variations on the Hulk, in which the character's origins, behavior, and morality differ from
the mainstream setting. In some stories, someone other than Bruce Banner is the Hulk.
In some versions, the Hulk succumbs to the darker side of his nature: in "Future Imperfect"
(December 1992), a future version of the Hulk has become the Maestro, the tyrannical and ruthless
ruler of a nuclear war-irradiated Earth,[91] and in "Old Man Logan" (2008), an insane Hulk rules over a
post-apocalyptic California, and leads a gang of his inbred Hulk children created with his first cousin
She-Hulk.[92][93]
Characterization
Like other long-lived characters, the Hulk's character and cultural interpretations have changed with
time, adding or modifying character traits. The Hulk is typically seen as a hulking man with green
skin, wearing only a pair of torn purple pants that survive his physical transformation. As the
character progressed, other outfits were designed that could stretch to accommodate the
transformations back and forth. As Bruce Banner, the character is approximately 5'9" tall and weighs
128Ibs, but when transformed into the Hulk, the character can stand between 7–8 feet tall and weigh
up to 1,400Ibs.[94]Following his debut, Banner's transformations were triggered at nightfall, turning
him into a grey-skinned Hulk. In Incredible Hulk #2, the Hulk started to appear with green skin,[95] and
in Avengers #3 (1963) Banner realized that his transformations were now triggered by surges of
adrenaline in response to feelings of fear, pain or anger. [96] Incredible Hulk #227 (1978) established
that the Hulk's separate personality was not due to the mutation affecting his brain, but because
Banner was suffering from multiple personality disorder, with the savage Green Hulk representing
Banner's repressed childhood rage and aggression, [97] and the Grey Hulk representing Banner's
repressed selfish desires and urges
Statue of the Hulk
.[98]
Personality
Bruce Banner
During his decades of publication, Banner has been portrayed differently, but common themes
persist. Banner, a physicist, is sarcastic and seemingly very self-assured when he first appears
in Incredible Hulk #1, but is also emotionally withdrawn in most fashions. [3] Banner designed the
gamma bomb which caused his affliction, and the ironic twist of his self-inflicted fate has been one of
the most persistent common themes.[8] Arie Kaplan describes the character thus: "Robert Bruce
Banner lives in a constant state of panic, always wary that the monster inside him will erupt, and
therefore he can't form meaningful bonds with anyone." [99] As a child, Banner's father Brian often got
mad and physically abused both Banner and his mother, creating the psychological complex of fear,
anger, and the fear of anger and the destruction it can cause that underlies the character. Banner
has been shown to be emotionally repressed, but capable of deep love for Betty Ross, and for
solving problems posed to him. Under the writing of Paul Jenkins, Banner was shown to be a
capable fugitive, applying deductive reasoning and observation to figure out the events transpiring
around him. On the occasions that Banner has controlled the Hulk's body, he has applied principles
of physics to problems and challenges and used deductive reasoning. It was shown after his ability
to turn into the Hulk was taken away by the Red Hulk that Banner has been extremely versatile as
well as cunning when dealing with the many situations that followed. When he was briefly separated
from the Hulk by Doom, Banner became criminally insane, driven by his desire to regain the power
of the Hulk, but once the two recombined he came to accept that he was a better person with the
Hulk to provide something for him to focus on controlling rather than allowing his intellect to run
without restraint against the world.[100]
Hulk
The original Grey Hulk was shown as average in intelligence who roamed aimlessly and became
annoyed at "puny" humans who took him for a dangerous monster. Shortly after becoming the Hulk,
his transformation continued turning him green, coinciding with him beginning to display primitive
speech,[95] and by Incredible Hulk#4, radiation treatments gave Banner's mind complete control of the
Hulk's body. While Banner relished his indestructibility and power, he was quick to anger and more
aggressive in his Hulk form and while he became known as a hero alongside the Avengers, his
increasing paranoia caused him to leave the group, believing he would never be trusted. [96]
Originally, the Hulk was shown as simple minded and quick to anger. [101] The Hulk generally divorces
his identity from Banner's, decrying Banner as "puny Banner." [102]From his earliest stories, the Hulk
has been concerned with finding sanctuary and quiet [8] and often is shown reacting emotionally to
situations quickly. Grest and Weinberg call Hulk the "dark, primordial side of Banner's
psyche."[11] Even in the earliest appearances, Hulk spoke in the third person. Hulk retains a modest
intelligence, thinking and talking in full sentences, and Lee even gives the Hulk expository dialogue
in issue six, allowing readers to learn just what capabilities Hulk has, when the Hulk says, "But these
muscles ain't just for show! All I gotta do is spring up and just keep goin'!" In the 1970s, Hulk was
shown as more prone to anger and rage, and less talkative. Writers played with the nature of his
transformations,[103] briefly giving Banner control over the change, and the ability to maintain control of
his Hulk form. Artistically and conceptually, the character has become progressively more muscular
and powerful in the years since his debut. [104]
Originally, Stan Lee wanted the Hulk to be grey but due to ink problems, Hulk's color was changed to
green. This was later changed in story to indicate that the Grey Hulk and the Savage Hulk are
separate personalities or entities fighting for control in Bruce's subconscious. The Grey Hulk
incarnation can do the more unscrupulous things that Robert Bruce Banner could not bring himself
to do, with many sources comparing the Grey Hulk to the moody teenager that Banner never
allowed himself to be. While the Grey Hulk still had the "madder he gets, the stronger he gets" part
that is similar to the Savage Hulk, it is on a much slower rate. It is said by Leader that the Grey Hulk
is stronger on nights of the New Moon and weaker on nights of the Full Moon. Originally, the night is
when Bruce Banner becomes the Grey Hulk and changes back by dawn. In later comics, willpower
or stress would have Robert Bruce Banner turn into the Grey Hulk.[105] During one storyline where he
was placed under a spell to prevent him turning back into Bruce Banner and publicly presumed dead
when he was teleported away from a gamma bomb explosion that destroyed an entire town, the
Grey Hulk adopted a specific name as Joe Fixit, a security guard for a Las Vegas casino owner,
with the Grey Hulk often being referred to as Joe after these events. [volume & issue needed]
The Gravage Hulk is the result of Robert Bruce Banner using the Gamma Projector on himself
which merged his Savage Hulk and Grey Hulk personas. This form possesses the raw power of the
Savage Hulk and the cunning intellect of the Grey Hulk. While he doesn't draw on anger to empower
him, the Gravage Hulk persona draws on dimensional nexus energies to increase his level. [106]
The Dark Hulk persona is the result of Hulk being possessed by Shanzar. This form has black skin
and is viciously strong.[107]
Convinced that unaided, the Banner, Green Hulk and Grey Hulk identities would eventually destroy
each other, Doc Samson uses hypnosis to merge the three to create a new single identity combining
Banner's intelligence with the Grey Hulk's and Banner's attitudes, and the Green Hulk's body. This
new or Merged Hulk considered himself cured and began a new life, but the merger was not
perfect, and the Hulk sometimes still considered Banner a separate person, and when overcome
with rage, the Merged Hulk would transform back into Banner's human body while still thinking
himself the Hulk.[98] The Merged Hulk is the largest of the three primary Hulk incarnations and has a
higher base line. While in a calm emotional state, the Merged Hulk is stronger than Savage Hulk
when he is calm. Unlike the Savage Hulk and the Grey Hulk, Robert Bruce Banner subconsciously
installed a type of safeguard within this incarnation. The safeguard is that when the Merged Hulk
gets angry, he regresses back to Robert Bruce Banner with the mind of the Savage Hulk. [108]
The Green Scar persona is unleashed on Sakaar and is considered an enraged version of Gravage
Hulk. In addition, he is an expert in armed combat like the use of swords and shields. Green Scar is
also a capable leader and an expert strategist. [109]
Kluh is described as the Hulk's Hulk. This form has black skin, red lines, and a mohawk. Kluh had
incredible power where he bested the inverted Avengers and knocked around Nova and has normal
intellect.[75]
Doc Green is a variation of the Merged Hulk persona that is the result of Extremis fixing Hulk's brain.
This persona is powerful enough to destroy Tony Stark's mansion with one thunderclap. [77]
Immortal Hulk is the result of Bruce Banner and Hulk having been through different deaths and
rebirths. This incarnation is articulate, smart, cunning, and does merciless attacks on those who do
harm. Unlike the other Hulk incarnations, Immortal Hulk is content with waiting inside Bruce. If Bruce
is injured by sunset, the Immortal Hulk will emerge with his transformation being limited to night-time.
[90]
Powers and abilities

Banner is considered one of the greatest scientific minds on Earth, possessing "a mind so brilliant it
cannot be measured on any known intelligence test." [110] Norman Osborn estimates that he is the
fourth most-intelligent person on Earth.[111] Banner holds expertise in biology, chemistry, engineering,
medicine, physiology, and nuclear physics. Using this knowledge, he creates advanced technology
dubbed "Bannertech", which is on par with technological development from Tony Stark or Doctor
Doom. Some of these technologies include a force field that can protect him from the attacks of
Hulk-level entities, and a teleporter.
The Hulk possesses the potential for seemingly limitless physical strength which is influenced by his
emotional state, particularly his anger.[112] This has been reflected in the repeated comment, "The
madder Hulk gets, the stronger Hulk gets."[113] The cosmically-powerful entity known as
the Beyonder once analyzed the Hulk's physiology, and claimed that the Hulk's potential strength
had "no finite element inside." [114] Hulk's strength has been depicted as sometimes limited by
Banner's subconscious influence; when Jean Grey psionically "shut Banner off", Hulk became strong
enough to overpower and destroy the physical form of the villain Onslaught.[115] Writer Greg Pak
described the Worldbreaker Hulk shown during World War Hulk as having a level of physical power
where "Hulk was stronger than any mortal—and most immortals—who ever walked the Earth",
[116]
and depicted the character as powerful enough to completely destroy entire planets. [117][118] His
strength allows him to leap into lower Earth orbit or across continents, [119][120] and he has displayed
superhuman speed.[121][122] Exposure to radiation has also been shown to make the Hulk stronger. [114]
His durability, regeneration, and endurance also increase in proportion to his temper. [123] Hulk is
resistant to injury or damage, though the degree to which varies between interpretations, but he has
withstood the equivalent of solar temperatures,[124][125] nuclear explosions,[121][126][127][128] and planet-
shattering impacts.[117][118][129][130][131] Despite his remarkable resiliency, continuous barrages of high-
caliber gunfire can hinder his movement to some degree while he can be temporarily subdued with
intense attacks with chemical weapons such as anesthetic gases, although any interruption of such
dosages will allow him to quickly recover.[132] He has been shown to have both regenerative and
adaptive healing abilities, including growing tissues to allow him to breathe underwater, [133] surviving
unprotected in space for extended periods,[134] and when injured, healing from most wounds within
seconds, including, on one occasion, the complete destruction of most of his body mass. [135] His
future self, the "Maestro", was even eventually able to recover from being blown to powder. [136] As an
effect, he has an extremely prolonged lifespan. [137][138]
He also possesses less commonly described powers, including abilities allowing him to "home in" to
his place of origin in New Mexico;[139] resist psychic control,[140][141][142][143] or unwilling transformation;[144][145]
[146]
grow stronger from radiation[117][127][128][147][148] or dark magic;[149][150] punch his way between separate
temporal[151][152] or spatial[153] dimensions; and to see and interact with astral forms. [150][154] Some of these
abilities were in later years explained as being related; his ability to home in on the New Mexico
bomb site was due to his latent ability to sense astral forms and spirits, since the bomb site was also
the place where the Maestro's skeleton was and Maestro's spirit was calling out to him in order to
absorb his radiation.[136]
In the first Hulk comic series, "massive" doses of gamma rays would cause the Hulk to transform
back to Banner, although this ability was written out of the character by the 1970s. [citation needed]
Supporting characters
List of Hulk supporting characters
Over the long publication history of the Hulk's adventures, many recurring characters have featured
prominently, including his best friend and sidekick Rick Jones, love interest and wife Betty Ross and
her father, the often adversarial General "Thunderbolt" Ross. Both Banner and Hulk have families
created in their respective personas. Banner is son to Brian, an abusive father who killed Banner's
mother while she tried to protect her son from his father's delusional attacks, and cousin to Jennifer
Walters, the She-Hulk, who serves as his frequent ally.[155] Banner had a stillborn child with Betty,
while the Hulk has two sons with his deceased second wife CaieraOldstrong, Skaar and Hiro-Kala,
and his DNA was used to create a daughter named Lyra with Thundra the warrior woman.[156]
The Fantastic Four #12 (March 1963), featured the Hulk's first battle with the Thing. Although many
early Hulk stories involve Ross trying to capture or destroy the Hulk, the main villain is often a
radiation-based character, like the Gargoyle or the Leader, along with other foes such as the Toad
Men, or Asian warlord General Fang. Ross' daughter Betty loves Banner and criticizes her father for
pursuing the Hulk. General Ross' right-hand man, Major Glenn Talbot, also loves Betty and is torn
between pursuing Hulk and trying to gain Betty's love more honorably. Rick Jones serves as the
Hulk's friend and sidekick in these early tales. The Hulk's archenemies are the Abomination and
the Leader. The Abomination is more monstrous and wreaks havoc for fun and pleasure. The
Leader is a super-genius who has tried plan after plan to take over the world.
Cultural impact
Hulk in other media
The Hulk character and the concepts behind it have been raised to the level of iconic status by many
within and outside the comic book industry. In 2003, Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine claimed the
character had "stood the test of time as a genuine icon of American pop culture."[157] In 2008, the Hulk
was listed as the 19th greatest comic book character by Wizard magazine.[158] Empire magazine
named him as the 14th-greatest comic-book character and the fifth-greatest Marvel character. [159] In
2011, the Hulk placed No. 9 on IGN's list of "Top 100 Comic Book Heroes",[160] and fourth on their list
of "The Top 50 Avengers" in 2012.[161]
Analysis
The Hulk is often viewed as a reaction to war. As well as being a reaction to the Cold War, the
character has been a cipher for the frustrations the Vietnam War raised, and Ang Lee said that
the Iraq War influenced his direction.[11][162][163] In the Michael Nyman edited edition of The Guardian,
Stefanie Diekmann explored Marvel Comics' reaction to the September 11 attacks. Diekmann
discussed The Hulk's appearance in the 9/11 tribute comic Heroes, claiming that his greater
prominence, alongside Captain America, aided in "stressing the connection between anger and
justified violence without having to depict anything more than a well-known and well-respected
protagonist."[164] In Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics, Les
Daniels addresses the Hulk as an embodiment of cultural fears of radiation and nuclear science. He
quotes Jack Kirby thus: "As long as we're experimenting with radioactivity, there's no telling what
may happen, or how much our advancements in science may cost us." Daniels continues, "The Hulk
became Marvel's most disturbing embodiment of the perils inherent in the atomic age."[165]
In Comic Book Nation, Bradford Wright alludes to Hulk's counterculture status, referring to a
1965 Esquire magazine poll amongst college students which "revealed that student radicals
ranked Spider-Man and the Hulk alongside the likes of Bob Dylan and Che Guevara as their favorite
revolutionary icons." Wright goes on to cite examples of his anti-authority symbol status. Two of
these are "The Ballad of the Hulk" by Jerry Jeff Walker, and the Rolling Stone cover for September
30, 1971, a full color Herb Trimpe piece commissioned for the magazine. [103][166] The Hulk has been
caricatured in such animated television series as The Simpsons,[167] Robot Chicken, and Family Guy,
[168]
and such comedy TV series as The Young Ones.[169] The character is also used as a cultural
reference point for someone displaying anger or agitation. For example, in a 2008 Daily
Mirror review of an EastEnders episode, a character is described as going "into Incredible Hulk
mode, smashing up his flat."[170] The Hulk, especially his alter-ego Bruce Banner, is also a common
reference in rap music. The term was represented as an analogue to marijuana in Dr. Dre's 2001,
[171]
while more conventional references are made in Ludacris and Jermaine Dupri's popular single
"Welcome to Atlanta".[172]
The 2003 Ang Lee-directed Hulk film saw discussion of the character's appeal to Asian Americans.
[173]
The Taiwanese-born Ang Lee commented on the "subcurrent of repression" that underscored the
character of The Hulk, and how that mirrored his own experience: "Growing up, my artistic leanings
were always repressed—there was always pressure to do something 'useful,' like being a doctor."
Jeff Yang, writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, extended this self-identification to Asian
American culture, arguing that "the passive-aggressive streak runs deep among Asian Americans—
especially those who have entered creative careers, often against their parents' wishes." [174]
There have been explorations about the real world possibility of Hulk's gamma-radiation based
origin. In The Science of Superheroes, Lois Grest and Robert Weinberg examined Hulk's powers,
explaining the scientific flaws in them. Most notably, they point out that the level of gamma
radiation Banner is exposed to at the initial blast would induce radiation sickness and kill him, or if
not, create significant cancer risks for Banner, because hard radiation strips cells of their ability to
function. They go on to offer up an alternate origin, in which a Hulk might be created by biological
experimentation with adrenal glands and GFP. Charles Q. Choi from LiveScience.com further
explains that unlike the Hulk, gamma rays are not green; existing as they do beyond the visible
spectrum, gamma rays have no color at all that we can describe. He also explains that gamma rays
are so powerful (the most powerful form of electromagnetic radiation and 10,000 times more
powerful than visible light) that they can even convert energy into matter – a possible explanation for
the increased mass that Bruce Banner takes on during transformations. "Just as the Incredible Hulk
'is the strongest one there is,' as he says himself, so too are gamma ray bursts the most powerful
explosions known."[175]
Other Marvel characters by the same name

Prior to the debut of the Hulk in May 1962, Marvel had earlier monster characters that used the
name "Hulk", but had no direct relation.
 Debuting in Strange Tales #75 (June 1960), was a huge robot built by Albert Poole called the
Hulk, which was actually armor that Poole would wear. In modern-day reprints, the character's
name was changed to Grutan.[176]
 First appearing in Journey Into Mystery #62 (Nov. 1960) was Xemnu the Living Hulk, a huge,
furry alien monster.[177] Coincidentally, the character's debut story was also illustrated by Jack
Kirby. The character reappeared in issue #66 (March 1961). Since then the character has been
a mainstay in the Marvel Universe, and was renamed Xemnu the Titan.[178]
 A huge, orange, slimy monster was featured in a movie called The Hulk in Tales to
Astonish #21 (July 1961). In modern-day reprints, the character's name was changed to
the Glop.[179]
Reception
The Hulk was ranked #1 on a listing of Marvel Comics' monster characters in 2015. [180]
[178]
Guion stewart Bluford.Jr
Guion Stewart Bluford Jr., Ph.D. (born November 22, 1942-1997), (Col, USAF, Ret.), is an

American aerospace engineer, retired U.S. Air Force officer and fighter pilot, and
former NASA astronaut, who was the first African American in space[1](but not the first African
American astronaut). Before becoming an astronaut, he was an officer in the U.S. Air Force, where
he remained while assigned to NASA, rising to the rank of Colonel. He participated in four Space
Shuttle flights between 1983 and 1992. In 1983, as a member of the crew of the
Orbiter Challenger on the mission STS-8, he became the first African American in space as well as
the second person of African ancestry in space, after Cuban cosmonautArnaldo Tamayo Méndez.
Colonel
Guion Bluford
Biography[edit]
Early years
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Bluford graduated from Overbrook High School in 1960. He
received a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from Pennsylvania State
University in 1964, a Master of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the U.S. Air Force
Institute of Technology (AFIT) in 1974, a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Aerospace Engineering with
a minor in Laser Physics, again from AFIT, in 1978, and a Master of Business Administrationdegree
from the University of Houston–Clear Lake in 1987.[2] He has also attended the Wharton School of
Business of the University of Pennsylvania.
His hobbies include reading, swimming, jogging, racquetball, handball, scuba diving and golf. He
married Linda Tull in 1964 and has two sons, Guion III and James. [3]
Air Force service

Bluford attended pilot training at Williams Air Force Base, and received his pilot wings in January
1966. He then went to F-4C combat crew training in Arizona and Florida and was assigned to
the 557th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam. He flew 144 combat missions, 65 of
which were over North Vietnam.
In July 1967, Bluford was assigned to the 3630th Flying Training Wing, Sheppard Air Force
Base, Texas, as a T-38 A instructor pilot. He served as a standardization/evaluation officer and as
an assistant flight commander. In early 1971, he attended Squadron Officer School and returned as
an executive support officer to the Deputy Commander of Operations and as School Secretary for
the Wing.
In August 1972, Bluford entered the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology residency school
at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Upon graduating in 1974 with his master's degree, [4] he
was assigned to the Air Force Flight Dynamics Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base as a
staff development engineer. He served as deputy for advanced concepts for the Aeromechanics
Division and as branch chief of the Aerodynamics and Air frame Branch in the Laboratory. He has
written and presented several scientific papers in the area of computational fluid dynamics.
He has logged over 5,200 hours of jet flight time in the T-33, T-37, T-38, F-4C, U-2/TR-1, and F-
5A/B aircraft, including 1,300 hours as a T-38 instructor pilot. He also has an FAA commercial pilot
license.
NASA career
Astronaut candidates Ronald McNair, Guy Bluford, and Fred Gregorywearing Apollo spacesuits, May 1978
Bluford was chosen to become a NASA astronaut in August 1979[2] out of thousands of possible

candidates. His technical assignments have included working with Space Station operations,
the Remote Manipulator System (RMS), Spacelab systems and experiments, Space
Shuttle systems, payload safety issues and verifying flight software in the Shuttle Avionics
Integration Laboratory (SAIL) and in the Flight Systems Laboratory (FSL). Bluford was a mission
specialist on STS-8, STS-61-A, STS-39, and STS-53.[4]
Bluford's first mission was STS-8, which launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on August
30, 1983. This was the third flight for the Orbiter Challenger and the first mission with a night launch
and night landing. During the mission, the STS-8 crew deployed the Indian National
Satellite (INSAT-1B); tested the Canadian-built robotic arm (the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System
(SRMS) or Canadarm) with the Payload Flight Test Article (PFTA); operated the Continuous Flow
Electrophoresis System (CFES) with live cell samples; conducted medical measurements to
understand biophysiological effects of space flight; and activated four "Getaway Special" canisters.
STS-8 completed 98 orbits of the Earth in 145 hours before landing at Edwards Air Force
Base, California, on September 5, 1983.
Bluford on STS-8 in 1983
Bluford then served on the crew of STS-61-A, the German D-1 Spacelab mission, which launched
from Kennedy Space Center on October 30, 1985. This mission was the first to carry eight crew
members, the largest crew to fly in space and included three European payload specialists. This was
the first dedicated Spacelab mission under the direction of the German Aerospace Research
Establishment (DFVLR) and the first U.S. mission in which payload control was transferred to a
foreign country (German Space Operations Center, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany). During the
mission, the Global Low Orbiting Message Relay Satellite (GLOMR) was deployed from a "Getaway
Special" (GAS) container, and 76 experiments were performed in Spacelab in such fields as fluid
physics, materials processing, life sciences, and navigation. After completing 111 orbits of the Earth
in 169 hours, Challenger landed at Edwards Air Force Base on November 6, 1985.
Bluford also served on the crew of STS-39, which launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 28,
1991, aboard the Orbiter Discovery. The crew gathered aurora, Earth-limb, celestial, and Shuttle
environment data with the AFP-675 payload. This payload consisted of the Cryogenic Infrared
Radiance Instrumentation for Shuttle (CIRRIS-1A) experiment, Far Ultraviolet Camera experiment
(FAR UV), the Uniformly Redundant Array (URA), the Quadrupole Ion Neutral Mass Spectrometer
(QINMS), and the Horizon Ultraviolet Program (HUP) experiment. The crew also deployed and
retrieved the SPAS-II which carried the Infrared Background Signature Survey (IBSS) experiment.
The crew also operated the Space Test Payload-1 (STP-1) and deployed a classified payload from
the Multi-Purpose Experiment Canister (MPEC). After completing 134 orbits of the Earth and 199
hours in space, Discovery landed at the Kennedy Space Center on May 6, 1991.
Bluford's last mission was STS-53, which launched from Kennedy Space Center on December 2,
1992. The crew of five deployed the classified Department of Defensepayload DOD-1 and then
performed several Military-Man-in-Space and NASA experiments. After completing 115 orbits of the
Earth in 175 hours, Discovery landed at Edwards Air Force Base on December 9, 1992.
With the completion of his fourth flight, Bluford has logged over 688 hours in space.
Bluford, an Eagle Scout, was designated as the emissary to return the Challenger flag to Boy Scout
Troop 514 of Monument, Colorado in December, 1986. On December 18 of that year, he presented
the flag to the troop in a special ceremony at Falcon Air Force Base.
Post-NASA career
Bluford left NASA and retired from the Air Force in July 1993 to take the post of Vice
President/General Manager, Engineering Services Division of NYMA, Greenbelt, Maryland. In May
1997, he became Vice President of the Aerospace Sector of Federal Data Corporation and in
October, 2000, became the Vice President of Microgravity R&D and Operations for the Northrop
Grumman Corporation. He retired from Northrop Grumman in September, 2002 to become
the President of Aerospace Technology, an engineering consulting organization in Cleveland, Ohio.
Bluford was inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame in 1997,[4] and inducted into
the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2010.[5]
In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Bluford on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.[6] In
2006, Bluford was recognized as a distinguished alumnus of Penn State by being selected as the
Grand Marshal for his alma mater's Homecoming celebration. [7]
Organizations
Some of NASA's first African-American astronauts including Ronald McNair, Guy Bluford, and Frederick D.
Gregory from the class of 1978 selection of astronauts.
Bluford is a member and a fellow of many organizations:
 Fellow, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

 Board of Governors, National Space Club (1997 to 2001)
 Board of Directors, National Inventor's Hall of Fame Foundation (1997 to 2002)
 Board of Directors, The Western Reserve Historical Society (1997 to 2003)
 Board of Directors, The Great Lakes Science Center (1997 to 2003)
 National Research Council (NRC) Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board, (1993 to
1998)
 Board of Directors, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, (1995 to 2001)
 Board of Directors, U.S. Space Foundation (2000 to 2006)
 Board of Directors, ENSCO, Inc., (2005 to present)
 Board of Trustees, The Aerospace Corporation (1999 to 2008)
 Executive Director of Investigative Activities, Columbia Accident Investigation Board (2003)
 Society of Distinguished Alumni, Pennsylvania State University (1986 to present)
 Committee on Minority Activities, Penn State College of Engineering, Pennsylvania State
University (1986 to 2006)
 Leadership Cleveland (1995 to present)
 Board of Visitors, Hiram College, (2004 to 2009)
 Board of Advisors, Coalition for Space Exploration (2006 to 2010)
 Tau Beta Pi
 Omicron Delta Kappa
 Sigma Iota Epsilon
 National Technical Association and Tuskegee Airmen.
Awards and decorations
 USAF Command Pilot Astronaut Wings (1983)

 Defense Superior Service Medal (1984)
 Legion of Merit (1993)
 three Defense Meritorious Service Medals (1986, 1992 and 1993)
 Air Force Meritorious Service Medal (1978)
 ten Air Force Air Medals (1967)
 Air Force Commendation Medal (1972)
 three Air Force Outstanding Unit Awards (1967, 1970 and 1972)
 National Intelligence Medal of Achievement (1993)
 National Defense Service Medal (1965)
 Vietnam Service Medal (1967)
 Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Palm (1967)
 Vietnam Campaign Medal (1967)
 NASA Distinguished Service Medal (1994)
 NASA Exceptional Service Medal (1992)
 four NASA Group Achievement Awards (1980, 1981, 1989, and 2003)
 NASA Space Flight Medals (1983, 1985, 1991 and 1992)
 German Air Force (Luftwaffe) Aviation Badge from the Federal Republic of West
Germany (1969)
 Leadership Award of Phi Delta Kappa (1962)
 T-38 Instructor Pilot of the Month (1970)
 Air Training Command Outstanding Flight Safety Award (1970)
 Air Force Institute of Technology's Mervin E. Gross Award (1974)
 Who's Who Among Black Americans (1975 to 1977)
 National Society of Black Engineers Distinguished National Scientist Award (1979)
 Pennsylvania State University Alumni Association's Distinguished Alumni Award (1983), the
Alumni Fellows Award (1986)
 Ebony Black Achievement Award (1983)
 NAACP Image Award (1983)
 City of Philadelphia's Philadelphia Bowl (1983)
 Who's Who in America (1983 to present)
 Pennsylvania Distinguished Service Medal (1984)
 New York City Urban League's Whitney Young Memorial Award
 1991 Black Engineer of the Year Award
 Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) V. M. Komarov Diploma (1993)
 International Space Hall of Fame inductee (1997)
 U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame inductee (2010)
 Air Force Institute of Technology Distinguished Alumni Award (2002)
 University of Houston-Clear Lake Distinguished Alumni Award (2003)
 The Pennsylvania Society Gold Medal (2011)
He also received honorary doctorate degrees from Florida A&M University, Texas Southern
University, Virginia State University, Morgan State University, Stevens Institute of
Technology, Tuskegee Institute, Bowie State College, Thomas Jefferson University, Chicago State
University, Georgian Court University, Drexel University, Kent State University, Central State
University and the University of the Sciences.
Bluford Drew Jemison STEM Academy West, a Middle/High School in Baltimore, Maryland is named
in his honor (along with Charles Drew and Mae Jemison).
In popular culture
On July 25, 2017, the Philadelphia Orchestra premiered Hold Fast to Dreams, a 25-minute piece for
orchestra and choir in four movements, commissioned by the Mann Center for the Performing Arts in
honor of Colonel Bluford Jr., and written by composer Nolan Williams Jr.
John Flamsteed
John Flamsteed FRS (19 August 1646 – 31 December 1719) was an English astronomer and the
first Astronomer Royal. His main achievements were the preparation of a 3,000-star
catalogue, Catalogus Britannicus, and a star atlas called Atlas Coelestis, both published
posthumously. He also made the first recorded observations of Uranus, although he mistakenly
catalogued it as a star, and he laid the foundation stone for the Royal Greenwich Observatory.
John Flamsteed
John Flamsteed by Godfrey Kneller, 1702
Life
Flamsteed was born in Denby, Derbyshire, England, the only son of Stephen Flamsteed and his first
wife, Mary Spadman. He was educated at the free school of Derby and at Derby School, in St
Peter's Churchyard, Derby, near where his father carried on a malting business. At that time, most
masters of the school were Puritans. Flamsteed had a solid knowledge of Latin, essential for reading
the scientific literature of the day, and a love of history, leaving the school in May, 1662. [1]:3–4
His progress to Jesus College, Cambridge, recommended by the Master of Derby School, was
delayed by some years of chronic ill health. During those years, Flamsteed gave his father some
help in his business, and from his father learnt arithmetic and the use of fractions, developing a keen
interest in mathematics and astronomy. In July 1662, he was fascinated by the thirteenth-century
work of Johannes de Sacrobosco, De sphaera mundi, and on 12 September 1662 observed his first
partial solar eclipse. Early in 1663, he read Thomas Fale's Horologiographia: The Art of Dialling,
which set off an interest in sundials. In the summer of 1663, he read Wingate's Canon, William
Oughtred's Canon, and Thomas Stirrup's Art of Dialling. At about the same time, he
acquired Thomas Street's Astronomia Carolina, or A New Theory of the Celestial Motions (Caroline
Tables). He associated himself with local gentlemen interested in astronomy, including William
Litchford, whose library included the work of the astrologer John Gadbury which included
astronomical tables by Jeremiah Horrocks, who had died in 1641 at the age of twenty-two.
Flamsteed was greatly impressed (as Isaac Newton had been) by the work of Horrocks.[1]:8–11
In August 1665, at the age of nineteen and as a gift for his friend Litchford, Flamsteed wrote his first
paper on astronomy, entitled Mathematical Essays, concerning the design, use and construction of
an astronomer's quadrant, including tables for the latitude of Derby.[1]:11
In September 1670, Flamsteed visited Cambridge and entered his name as an undergraduate
at Jesus College.[2] While it seems he never took up full residence, he was there for two months in
1674, and had the opportunity to hear Isaac Newton's Lucasian Lectures.[1]:26
Ordained a deacon, he was preparing to take up a living in Derbyshire when he was invited to
London by his patron Jonas Moore, Surveyor-General of the Ordnance. Moore had recently made
an offer to the Royal Society to pay for the establishment of an observatory. These plans were,
however, preempted when Charles II was persuaded by his mistress, Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess
of Portsmouth, to hear about a proposal to find longitude by the position of the Moon from an
individual known as Le Sieur de St Pierre. Charles appointed a Royal Commission to examine the
proposal in December 1674, consisting of Lord Brouncker, Seth Ward, Samuel
Moreland, Christopher Wren, Silius Titus, John Pell and Robert Hooke.
Having arrived in London on 2 February 1675, and staying with Jonas Moore at the Tower of
London, Flamsteed had the opportunity to be taken by Titus to meet the King. He was subsequently
admitted as an official Assistant to the Royal Commission and supplied observations in order to test
St Pierre's proposal and to offer his own comments. The Commission's conclusions were that,
although St Pierre's proposal was not worth further consideration, the King should consider
establishing an observatory and appointing an observer in order to better map the stars and the
motions of the Moon in order to underpin the successful development of the lunar-distance
method of finding longitude.[3]
On 4 March 1675 Flamsteed was appointed by royal warrant "The King's Astronomical Observator"
— the first English Astronomer Royal, with an allowance of £100 a year. The warrant stated his task
as "rectifieing the Tables of the motions of the Heavens, and the places of the fixed stars, so as to
find out the so much desired Longitude of places for Perfecteing the Art of Navigation". [4] In June
1675, another royal warrant provided for the founding of the Royal Greenwich Observatory, and
Flamsteed laid the foundation stone on 10 August. [5]
In February 1676, he was admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society, and in July, he moved into the
Observatory where he lived until 1684, when he was "[e]levated to the priesthood [and] appointed
rector"[6] of the small village of Burstow, near Crawley in Surrey. He held that office, as well as that of
Astronomer Royal, until his death. He is buried at Burstow, and the east window in the church was
dedicated to him as a memorial.[7]
Memorial marking grave of John Flamsteed and his wife in the Chancel of St Bartholomew, Burstow
The will of Flamsteed’s widow, Margaret, left instructions for her own remains to be deposited “in the
same Grave in which Mr John Flamsteed is buryed in the Chancell of Burstow Church.” She also left
instructions, and twenty five pounds, for the executor of her will to place “in the aforesaid Chancell of
Burstow… A Marble stone or Monument, with an inscription in Latin, in memory of the late Reverend
Mr. John Flamsteed.” It seems no such monument was created, and almost 200 years later, a
plaque was placed to mark his burial in the chancel. [8]
After his death, his papers and scientific instruments were taken by his widow. The papers were
returned many years later, but the instruments disappeared. [9]
Scientific work
Bust of John Flamsteed in the Museum of the Royal Greenwich Observatory
Flamsteed accurately calculated the solar eclipses of 1666 and 1668. He was responsible for
several of the earliest recorded sightings of the planet Uranus, which he mistook for a star and
catalogued as '34 Tauri'. The first of these was in December 1690, which remains the earliest known
sighting of Uranus by an astronomer.
On 16 August 1680 Flamsteed catalogued a star, 3 Cassiopeiae, that later astronomers were unable
to corroborate. Three hundred years later, the American astronomical historian William Ashworth
suggested that what Flamsteed may have seen was the most recent supernova in the galaxy's
history, an event which would leave as its remnant the strongest radio source outside of the Solar
System, known in the third Cambridge (3C) catalogue as 3C 461 and commonly called Cassiopeia
A by astronomers. Because the position of "3 Cassiopeiae" does not precisely match that of
Cassiopeia A, and because the expansion wave associated with the explosion has been worked
backward to the year 1667 and not 1680, some historians feel that all Flamsteed may have done
was incorrectly note the position of a star already known. [10]
In 1681 Flamsteed proposed that the two great comets observed in November and December 1680
were not separate bodies, but rather a single comet travelling first towards the Sun and then away
from it. Although Isaac Newton first disagreed with Flamsteed, he later came to agree with him and
theorized that comets, like planets, moved around the Sun in large, closed elliptical orbits.
Flamsteed later learned that Newton had gained access to his observations and data
through Edmund Halley,[11] his former assistant with whom he previously had a cordial relationship. [12]
As Astronomer Royal, Flamsteed spent some forty years observing and making meticulous records
for his star catalogue, which would eventually triple the number of entries in Tycho Brahe's sky atlas.
Unwilling to risk his reputation by releasing unverified data, he kept the incomplete records under
seal at Greenwich. In 1712, Isaac Newton, then President of the Royal Society, and Edmund
Halley again obtained Flamsteed's data and published a pirated star catalogue. [11] Flamsteed
managed to gather three hundred of the four hundred printings and burned them. "If Sir I.N. would
be sensible of it, I have done both him and Dr. Halley a great kindness," he wrote to his
assistant Abraham Sharp.[13]
In 1725 Flamsteed's own version of Historia Coelestis Britannica was published posthumously,
edited by his wife, Margaret. This contained Flamsteed's observations, and included a catalogue of
2,935 stars to much greater accuracy than any prior work. It was considered the first significant
contribution of the Greenwich Observatory, and the numerical Flamsteed designations for stars that
were added subsequently to a French edition are still in use. [14] In 1729 his wife published his Atlas
Coelestis, assisted by Joseph Crosthwait and Abraham Sharp, who were responsible for the
technical side.
Honours
 Fellow of the Royal Society (1677)[15]

 The Flamsteed Astronomy Society is named in his honour, and is based at The Royal
Observatory Greenwich.[16]
 The crater Flamsteed on the Moon is named after him.[17]
 The asteroid 4987 Flamsteed is named in his honour.[18]
 He is commemorated in several Derbyshire schools.[19] The science block at John Port
School is named Flamsteed, John Flamsteed Community School in Denbycarries his name.
[19]
Flamsteed House at the Ecclesbourne School in Duffield is also named after him.[20]
 Derby City Council erected a Blue Plaque in his honour at the Queen Street former Clock
Works in Derby, which also honours Joseph Wright of Derby who lived in the house formerly
owned by Flamsteed.[21]
Iron Man,
Iron Man (Anthony Edward "Tony" Stark) is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic
books published by Marvel Comics. The character was co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee,
developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby. The character
made his first appearance in Tales of Suspense #39 (cover dated March 1963), and received his
own title in Iron Man #1 (May 1968).
A wealthy American business magnate, playboy, and ingenious scientist, Anthony
Edward "Tony" Stark suffers a severe chest injury during a kidnapping. When his captors attempt to
force him to build a weapon of mass destruction, he instead creates a powered suit of armor to save
his life and escape captivity. Later, Stark develops his suit, adding weapons and other technological
devices he designed through his company, Stark Industries. He uses the suit and successive
versions to protect the world as Iron Man. Although at first concealing his true identity, Stark
eventually declared that he was, in fact, Iron Man in a public announcement.
Initially, Iron Man was a vehicle for Stan Lee to explore Cold War themes, particularly the role of
American technology and industry in the fight against communism.[1] Subsequent re-imaginings of
Iron Man have transitioned from Cold War motifs to contemporary matters of the time. [1]
Throughout most of the character's publication history, Iron Man has been a founding member of the
superhero team the Avengers and has been featured in several incarnations of his own various
comic book series. Iron Man has been adapted for several animated TV shows and films.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe character is portrayed by Robert Downey Jr. in the live action
film Iron Man (2008), which was a critical and box office success. Downey, who received much
acclaim for his performance, reprised the role in a cameo in The Incredible Hulk (2008), two Iron
Man sequels Iron Man 2 (2010) and Iron Man 3 (2013), The Avengers (2012), Avengers: Age of
Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Avengers:
Infinity War (2018) and will do so again in Avengers: Endgame (2019) in the Marvel Cinematic
Universe.
Iron Man was ranked 12th on IGN's "Top 100 Comic Book Heroes" in 2011, [2] and third in their list of
"The Top 50 Avengers" in 2012.
Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, as depicted in the film Iron Man 3
Premiere
Iron Man's Marvel Comics premiere in Tales of Suspense #39 (cover dated March 1963) was a
collaboration among editor and story-plotter Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber, story-artist Don Heck,
and cover-artist and character-designer Jack Kirby.[4] In 1963, Lee had been toying with the idea of a
businessman superhero.[5] He wanted to create the "quintessential capitalist", a character that would
go against the spirit of the times and Marvel's readership. [6] Lee said,
I think I gave myself a dare. It was the height of the Cold War. The readers, the young readers, if
there was one thing they hated, it was war, it was the military....So I got a hero who represented that
to the hundredth degree. He was a weapons manufacturer, he was providing weapons for the Army,
he was rich, he was an industrialist....I thought it would be fun to take the kind of character that
nobody would like, none of our readers would like, and shove him down their throats and make them
like him....And he became very popular. [7]
He set out to make the new character a wealthy, glamorous ladies' man, but one with a secret that
would plague and torment him as well.[8] Writer Gerry Conway said, "Here you have this character,
who on the outside is invulnerable, I mean, just can't be touched, but inside is a wounded figure.
Stan made it very much an in-your-face wound, you know, his heart was broken, you know, literally
broken. But there's a metaphor going on there. And that's, I think, what made that character
interesting."[7]Lee based this playboy's looks and personality on Howard Hughes,[9] explaining,
"Howard Hughes was one of the most colorful men of our time. He was an inventor, an adventurer, a
multi-billionaire, a ladies' man and finally a nutcase."[10] "Without being crazy, he was Howard
Hughes," Lee said.[7]
While Lee intended to write the story himself,[11] a minor deadline emergency eventually forced him to
hand over the premiere issue to Lieber, who fleshed out the story. [8] The art was split between Kirby
and Heck. "He designed the costume," Heck said of Kirby, "because he was doing the cover. The
covers were always done first. But I created the look of the characters, like Tony Stark and his
secretary Pepper Potts."[12] In a 1990 interview, when asked if he had "a specific model for Tony
Stark and the other characters?", Heck replied "No, I would be thinking more along the lines of some
characters I like, which would be the same kind of characters that Alex Toth liked, which was an
Errol Flynn type."[13] Iron Man first appeared in 13- to 18-page stories in Tales of Suspense, which
featured anthology science fiction and supernatural stories. The character's original costume was a
bulky gray armored suit, replaced by a golden version in the second story (issue #40, April 1963). It
was redesigned as sleeker, red-and-golden armor in issue #48 (Dec. 1963) by that issue's interior
artist, Steve Ditko, although Kirby drew it on the cover. As Heck recalled in 1985, "[T]he second
costume, the red and yellow one, was designed by Steve Ditko. I found it easier than drawing that
bulky old thing. The earlier design, the robot-looking one, was more Kirbyish." [14]
In his premiere, Iron Man was an anti-communist hero, defeating various Vietnamese agents. Lee
later regretted this early focus.[5][15] Throughout the character's comic book series, technological
advancement and national defense were constant themes for Iron Man, but later issues developed
Stark into a more complex and vulnerable character as they depicted his battle with alcoholism (as in
the "Demon in a Bottle" storyline) and other personal difficulties.
From issue #59 (Nov. 1964) to its final issue #99 (March 1968), the anthological science-
fiction backup stories in Tales of Suspense were replaced by a feature starring the
superhero Captain America. Lee and Heck introduced several adversaries for the character
including the Mandarin in issue #50 (Feb. 1964),[16] the Black Widow in #52 (April 1964)
[17]
and Hawkeye five issues later.[18]
Lee said that "of all the comic books we published at Marvel, we got more fan mail for Iron Man from
women, from females, than any other title....We didn't get much fan mail from girls, but whenever we
did, the letter was usually addressed to Iron Man." [7]
Lee and Kirby included Iron Man in The Avengers #1 (Sept. 1963) as a founding member of the
superhero team. The character has since appeared in every subsequent volume of the series.
Writers have updated the war and locale in which Stark is injured. In the original 1963 story, it was
the Vietnam War. In the 1990s, it was updated to be the first Gulf War,[19] and in the 2000s updated
again to be the war in Afghanistan. Stark's time with the Asian Nobel Prize-winning scientist Ho
Yinsen is consistent through nearly all incarnations of the Iron Man origin, depicting Stark and
Yinsen building the original armor together. One exception is the direct-to-DVD animated feature
film The Invincible Iron Man, in which the armor Stark uses to escape his captors is not the first Iron
Man suit.
Themes
The original Iron Man title explored Cold War themes, as did other Stan Lee projects in the early
years of Marvel Comics. Where The Fantastic Four and The Incredible Hulk respectively focused on
American domestic and government responses to the Communist threat, Iron Man explored
industry's role in the struggle. Tony Stark's real-life model, Howard Hughes, was a significant
defense contractor who developed new weapons technologies. Hughes was an icon both of
American individualism and of the burdens of fame. [20]
Historian Robert Genter, in The Journal of Popular Culture, writes that Tony Stark specifically
presents an idealized portrait of the American inventor. Where earlier decades had seen important
technological innovations come from famous individuals (e.g., Nikola Tesla, Thomas
Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, the Wright brothers), the 1960s saw new technologies (including
weapons) being developed mainly by the research teams of corporations. As a result, little room
remained for the inventor who wanted credit for, and creative and economic control over, his/her
own creations.
Issues of entrepreneurial autonomy, government supervision of research, and ultimate loyalty
figured prominently in early Iron Man stories — the same issues affecting American scientists and
engineers of that era.[20] Tony Stark, writes Genter, is an inventor who finds motive in
his emasculation as an autonomous creative individual. This blow is symbolized by his chest wound,
inflicted at the moment he is forced to invent things for the purposes of others, instead of just
himself. To Genter, Stark's transformation into Iron Man represents Stark's effort to reclaim his
autonomy, and thus his manhood. The character's pursuit of women in bed or in battle, writes
Genter, represents another aspect of this effort. The pattern finds parallels in other works of 1960s
popular fiction by authors such as "Ian Fleming (creator of James Bond), Mickey Spillane (Mike
Hammer), and Norman Mailer, who made unregulated sexuality a form of authenticity." [20]
Solo series
After issue #99 (March 1968), the Tales of Suspense series was renamed Captain America. An Iron
Man story appeared in the one-shot comic Iron Man and Sub-Mariner (April 1968), before the
"Golden Avenger"[21] made his solo debut with Iron Man #1 (May 1968).[22] The series' indicia gives
its copyright title Iron Man, while the trademarked cover logo of most issues is The Invincible Iron
Man.
This initial series ended with issue #332 (Sept. 1996). Jim Lee, Scott Lobdell, and Jeph
Loeb authored a second volume of the series which was drawn primarily by Whilce
Portacio and Ryan Benjamin. This volume took place in a parallel universe[23] and ran 13 issues (Nov.
1996 - Nov. 1997).[24] Volume 3, whose first 25 issues were written by Kurt Busiek[25] and then by
Busiek and Roger Stern, ran 89 issues (Feb. 1998 - Dec. 2004). Later writers included Joe
Quesada, Frank Tieri, Mike Grell, and John Jackson Miller. Issue #41 (June 2001) was additionally
numbered #386, reflecting the start of dual numbering starting from the premiere issue of volume
one in 1968. The final issue was dual-numbered as #434.[26] The next Iron Man series, Iron Man vol.
4, debuted in early 2005 with the Warren Ellis-written storyline "Extremis", with artist Adi Granov.[27]
[28]
It ran 35 issues (Jan. 2005 - Jan. 2009), with the cover logo simply Iron Man beginning with issue
#13, and Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., beginning issue #15. On the final three issues, the cover
logo was overwritten by "War Machine, Weapon of S.H.I.E.L.D.", [29] which led to the launch of a War
Machine ongoing series.[30]
The Invincible Iron Man vol. 1, by writer Matt Fraction and artist Salvador Larroca, began with a
premiere issue cover-dated July 2008. [31] For a seven-month overlap, Marvel published both volume
four and volume five simultaneously.[32] This Invincible volume jumped its numbering of issues from
#33 to #500, cover dated March 2011, to reflect the start from the premiere issue of volume one in
1968.
After the conclusion of The Invincible Iron Man a new Iron Man series was started as a part
of Marvel Now!. Written by Kieron Gillen and illustrated by Greg Land, it began with issue #1 in
November 2012.[33]
Many Iron Man annuals, miniseries, and one-shot titles have been published through the years, such
as Age of Innocence: The Rebirth of Iron Man (Feb. 1996), Iron Man: The Iron Age #1-2 (Aug.–Sept.
1998), Iron Man: Bad Blood #1-4 (Sept.–Dec. 2000), Iron Man House of M #1-3 (Sept.–Nov.
2005), Fantastic Four / Iron Man: Big in Japan #1-4 (Dec. 2005–March 2006), Iron Man: The
Inevitable #1-6 (Feb.–July 2006), Iron Man / Captain America: Casualties of War (Feb. 2007), Iron
Man: Hypervelocity #1-6 (March–Aug. 2007), Iron Man: Enter the Mandarin #1-6 (Nov. 2007–April
2008), and Iron Man: Legacy of Doom (June–Sept. 2008). Publications have included such spin-offs
as the one-shot Iron Man 2020 (June 1994), featuring a different Iron Man in the future, and
the animated TV series adaptations Marvel Action Hour, Featuring Iron Man #1-8 (Nov. 1994–June
1995) and Marvel Adventures Iron Man #1-12 (July 2007–June 2008).[34]
Fictional character biography
Tales of Suspense #39 (March 1963): Iron Man debuts. Cover art by Jack Kirby and Don Heck.
Tales of Suspense #48 (Dec. 1963), the debut of Iron Man's first red-and-gold suit of armor. Cover art by Jack
Kirby and Sol Brodsky.
Origins
Anthony Edward Stark is the son of wealthy industrialist and head of Stark Industries, Howard
Stark, and Maria Stark. A boy genius, he enters MIT at the age of 15 to study engineering and later
receives master's degrees in engineering and physics. After his parents are killed in a car accident,
he inherits his father's company.
Stark is injured by a booby trap and captured by enemy forces led by Wong-Chu. Wong-Chu orders
Stark to build weapons, but Stark's injuries are dire and shrapnel is moving towards his heart. His
fellow prisoner, Ho Yinsen, a Nobel Prize-winning physicistwhose work Stark had greatly admired
during college, constructs a magnetic chest plate to keep the shrapnel from reaching Stark's heart.
In secret, Stark and Yinsen use the workshop to design and construct a suit of powered armor,
which Stark uses to escape. During the escape attempt, Yinsen sacrifices his life to save Stark's by
distracting the enemy as Stark recharges. Stark takes revenge on his kidnappers and rejoins the
American forces, on his way meeting a wounded American Marine fighter pilot, James "Rhodey"
Rhodes.
Back home, Stark discovers that the shrapnel fragment lodged in his chest cannot be removed
without killing him, and he is forced to wear the armor's chestplate beneath his clothes to act as a
regulator for his heart. He must recharge the chestplate every day or else risk the shrapnel killing
him. The cover story that Stark tells the news media and general public is that Iron Man is his robotic
personal bodyguard, and corporate mascot. To that end, Iron Man fights threats to his company
(e.g., Communistopponents Black Widow, the Crimson Dynamo, and the Titanium Man), as well as
independent villains like the Mandarin (who becomes his greatest enemy). No one suspects Stark of
being Iron Man, as he cultivates a strong public image of being a rich playboy and industrialist. Two
notable members of the series' supporting cast, at this point, are his personal chauffeur Harold
"Happy" Hogan, and secretary Virginia "Pepper" Potts—to both of whom he eventually reveals his
dual identity. Meanwhile, James Rhodes finds his own niche as Stark's personal pilot, ultimately
revealing himself to be a man of extraordinary skill and daring in his own right.
The series took an anti-Communist stance in its early years, which was softened as public (and
therefore, presumably, reader) opposition rose to the Vietnam War.[5] This change evolved in a series
of storylines featuring Stark reconsidering his political opinions, and the morality of manufacturing
weapons for the U.S. military. Stark shows himself to be occasionally arrogant, and willing to act
unethically in order to 'let the ends justify the means'. [35][36] This leads to personal conflicts with the
people around him, both in his civilian and superhero identities. Stark uses his vast personal fortune
not only to outfit his own armor, but also to develop weapons for S.H.I.E.L.D.; other technologies
(e.g., Quinjets used by the Avengers); and the image inducers used by the X-Men. Eventually,
Stark's heart condition is resolved with an artificial heart transplant.[37]
1970s and early 1980s

Stark expands on his armor designs and begins to build his arsenal of specialized armors for
particular situations such as for space travel[38] and stealth.[39][40] Stark also develops a serious
dependency on alcohol in the "Demon in a Bottle" storyline.[41]The first time it becomes a problem is
when Stark discovers that the national security agency S.H.I.E.L.D. has been buying a controlling
interest in his company in order to ensure Stark's continued weapons development for them. At the
same time, it is revealed that several minor supervillains armed with advanced weapons who had
bedeviled Stark throughout his superhero career are in fact in the employ of Stark's business
rival, Justin Hammer, who begins to plague Stark more directly.[42][43] At one point in Hammer's
manipulations, the Iron Man armor is taken over and used to murder a diplomat. [43] Although Iron Man
is not immediately under suspicion, Stark is forced to hand the armor over to the authorities.
[44]
Eventually Stark and Rhodes, who is now his personal pilot and confidant, track down and defeat
those responsible, although Hammer would return to bedevil Stark again. [38][45] With the support of his
then-girlfriend, Bethany Cabe, his friends and his employees, Stark pulls through these crises and
overcomes his dependency on alcohol.[46] Even as he recovers from this harrowing personal trial,
Stark's life is further complicated when he has a confrontation with Doctor Doom that is interrupted
by an opportunistic enemy sending them back in time to the time of King Arthur.[47] Once there, Iron
Man thwarts Doom's attempt to solicit the aid of Morgan Le Fay, and the Latverian ruler swears
deadly vengeance—to be indulged sometime after the two return to their own time. [48] This incident
was collected and published as Doomquest.
Some time later, a ruthless rival, Obadiah Stane, manipulates Stark emotionally into a serious
relapse. As a result, Stark loses control of Stark International to Stane, becomes a homeless
alcoholic vagrant and gives up his armored identity to Rhodes, who becomes the new Iron Man.
Eventually, Stark recovers and joins a new startup, Circuits Maximus. Stark concentrates on new
technological designs, including building a new set of armor as part of his recuperative therapy.
Rhodes continues to act as Iron Man but steadily grows more aggressive and paranoid, due to the
armor not having been calibrated properly for his use. Eventually Rhodes goes on a rampage, and
Stark has to don a replica of his original armor to stop him. Fully recovered, Stark confronts Stane
who has himself designed armor based on designs seized along with Stark International, dubbing
himself the 'Iron Monger'. Defeated in battle, Stane, rather than give Stark the satisfaction of taking
him to trial, commits suicide.[49] Shortly thereafter, Stark regains his personal fortune, but decides
against repurchasing Stark International until much later; he instead creates Stark Enterprises,
headquartered in Los Angeles.
Late 1980s and 1990s

In an attempt to stop other people from misusing his designs, Stark goes about disabling other
armored heroes and villains who are using suits based on the Iron Man technology, the designs of
which were stolen by his enemy Spymaster. His quest to destroy the stolen technology—originally
called "Stark Wars" but is more commonly known as the "Armor Wars"—severely hurts his
reputation as Iron Man. After attacking and disabling a series of minor villains such as Stilt-Man, he
attacks and defeats the government operative known as Stingray. The situation worsens when Stark
realizes that Stingray's armor does not incorporate any of his designs. He publicly "fires" Iron Man
while covertly pursuing his agenda. He uses the cover story of wanting to help disable the rogue Iron
Man to infiltrate and disable the armor of the S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives known as the Mandroids, as
well as the armor of the Guardsmen. In the process, Iron Man and Jim Rhodes allow some of the
villains in the Vault to escape. This leads the United States government to declare Iron Man a
danger and an outlaw, and severely sours Stark's relationship with Steve Rogers (Captain America,
who was in his "Captain" persona at the time). Iron Man travels to Russia where he inadvertently
causes the death of the Soviet Titanium Man during a fight. Returning to the U.S., he faces an
enemy commissioned by the government named Firepower. Unable to defeat him head on, Stark
fakes Iron Man's demise,[50] intending to retire the suit permanently. When Firepower goes rogue,
Stark creates a new suit, claiming a new person is in the armor.
Soon after, Stark is nearly killed by Kathy Dare, a mentally unbalanced former lover. She shoots him
dead center in his torso which injures his spine, paralyzing him. [51]Stark undergoes special surgery to
have a nerve chip implanted into his spine to regain his mobility. [52] Unbeknownst to the industrialist,
the nerve chip is a clandestine means by which to gain control over his body. Rival businessmen the
Marrs Twins and their cohort Kearson DeWitt are behind the machinations in what came to be
known as "Armor Wars II."[53] After several successful tests by DeWitt at manipulating Stark, Tony
finds that using his Encephalo Armor can counteract DeWitt's controls. [54] In response, DeWitt
suddenly releases his control resulting in excruciating agony throughout Stark's body. [55] The constant
"battle" for control of Stark's nervous system and subsequent abdication on DeWitt's end lead to
massive nerve damage throughout Tony's body. Stark's nervous system continues its slide towards
failure, and he constructs a "skin" made up of artificial nerve circuitry to assist it. [56] Stark begins to
pilot a remote-controlled Iron Man armor, but when faced with the Masters of Silence,
the telepresence suit proves inadequate.[57] Stark designs a more heavily armed version of the suit to
wear, the "Variable Threat Response Battle Suit", which becomes known as the War Machine armor.
Ultimately, the damage to his nervous system becomes too extensive. Faking his death, Stark
places himself in suspended animation to heal as Rhodes takes over both the running of Stark
Enterprises and the mantle of Iron Man, although he uses the War Machine armor. [58]Stark eventually
makes a full recovery by using a chip to create an entirely new (artificial) nervous system, and
resumes as Iron Man in a new Telepresence Armor.[59]When Rhodes learns that Stark has
manipulated his friends by faking his own death, he becomes enraged and the two friends part ways.
Rhodes continues on as War Machine in a solo career.
The Avengers story arc "The Crossing" reveals Iron Man as a traitor among the team's ranks, due to
years of manipulation by the time-traveling dictator Kang the Conqueror. Stark, as a sleeper agent in
Kang's thrall, kills Marilla, the nanny of Crystal and Quicksilver's daughter Luna, as well as Rita
DeMara, the female Yellowjacket, then Amanda Chaney, an ally of the Avengers. The "Avengers
Forever" limited series retcons these events as the work of a disguised Immortus, not Kang, and that
the mental control had gone back only a few months. [60]
Needing help to defeat both Stark and Kang, the team travels back in time to recruit a teenaged
Anthony Stark from an alternate timeline to assist them. The young Stark steals an Iron Man suit in
order to aid the Avengers against his older self. The sight of his younger self shocks the older Stark
enough for him to regain momentary control of his actions, and he sacrifices his life to stop Kang.
[61]
The young Stark later builds his own suit to become the new Iron Man and remains in the present
day.
During the battle with the creature called Onslaught, the teenage Stark dies, along with many other
superheroes. Franklin Richards preserves these "dead" heroes in the "Heroes Reborn" pocket
universe, in which Stark is once again an adult hero; Franklin recreates the heroes in the pocket
universe in the forms he is most familiar with rather than what they are at the present. The reborn
adult Stark, upon returning to the normal Marvel Universe, merges with the original Stark, who had
died during "The Crossing", but was resurrected by Franklin Richards. This new Anthony Stark
possesses the memories of both the original and teenage Anthony Stark, and thus considers himself
to be essentially both of them. With the aid of the law firm Nelson & Murdock, he regains his fortune
and, with Stark Enterprises having been sold to the Fujikawa Corporation following Stark's death,
sets up a new company, Stark Solutions. He returns from the pocket universe with a restored and
healthy heart. After the Avengers reform, Stark demands a hearing be convened to look into his
actions just prior to the Onslaught incident. Cleared of wrongdoing, he rejoins the Avengers. [62]
2000s
At one point, Stark's armor becomes sentient despite fail-safes to prevent its increasingly
sophisticated computer systems from doing so.[63] Initially, Stark welcomes this "living" armor for its
improved tactical abilities. The armor begins to grow more aggressive, killing indiscriminately and
eventually desiring to replace Stark altogether. In the final confrontation on a desert island, Stark
suffers another heart attack. The armor sacrifices its own existence to save its creator's life, giving
up essential components to give Stark a new, artificial heart. This new heart solves Stark's health
problems, but it does not have an internal power supply, so Stark becomes once again dependent
on periodic recharging. The sentient armor incident so disturbs Stark that he temporarily returns to
using an unsophisticated early model version of his armor to avoid a repeat incident. [64] He dabbles
with using liquid metal circuitry known as S.K.I.N. that forms into a protective shell around his body,
but eventually returns to more conventional hard metal armors. [65]
During this time, Stark engages in a romance with Rumiko Fujikawa,[66] a wealthy heiress and
daughter of the man who had taken over his company during the "Heroes Reborn" period. Her
relationship with Stark endures many highs and lows, including infidelity with Stark's rival, Tiberius
Stone, in part because the fun-loving Rumiko believes that Stark is too serious and dull. Their
relationship ends with Rumiko's death at the hands of an Iron Man impostor in Iron Man (vol. 3) #87.
In Iron Man (vol. 3) #55 (July 2002), Stark publicly reveals his dual identity as Iron Man, not realizing
that by doing so, he has invalidated the agreements protecting his armor from government
duplication, since those contracts state that the Iron Man armor would be used by an employee of
Tony Stark, not by Stark himself. When he discovers that the United States military is again using his
technology, and its defective nature nearly causes a disaster in Washington, D.C. which Iron Man
barely manages to avert, Stark accepts a Presidential appointment as Secretary of Defense. In this
way, he hopes to monitor and direct how his designs are used. [67]
In the "Avengers Disassembled" storyline, Stark is forced to resign after launching into a tirade
against the Latverian ambassador at the United Nations, being manipulated by the mentally
imbalanced Scarlet Witch, who destroys Avengers Mansion and kills several members. Stark
publicly stands down as Iron Man, but continues using the costume. He joins the Avengers in
stopping the breakout in progress from the Raft and even saves Captain America from falling.
[68]
Tony changes the Avengers base to Stark Tower.[69] The Ghost, the Living
Laser and Spymaster reappear and shift Iron Man from standard superhero stories to dealing
with politicsand industrialism.[70]
New Avengers: Illuminati #1 (June 2006) reveals that years before, Stark had participated with a
secret group that included the Black Panther, Professor X, Mister Fantastic, Black Bolt, Doctor
Strange, and Namor. The goal of the group (dubbed the Illuminati by Marvel) was to strategize
overarching menaces, in which the Black Panther rejects a membership offer. Stark's goal is to
create a governing body for all superheroes in the world, but the beliefs of its members instead force
them all to share vital information.
"Civil War"
In the "Civil War" storyline, after the actions of inexperienced superheroes the New Warriors result in
the destruction of several city blocks in Stamford, Connecticut, there is an outcry across America
against superhumans. Learning of the Government's proposed plans, Tony Stark suggests a new
plan to instigate a Superhuman Registration Act. The Act would force every superpowered individual
in the U.S. to register their identity with the government and act as licensed agents. The Act would
force inexperienced superhumans to receive training in how to use and control their abilities,
something in which Tony strongly believes. Since his struggle with alcoholism, Stark has carried a
tremendous burden of guilt after nearly killing an innocent bystander while piloting the armor drunk.
While Reed Richards and Dr. Henry "Hank" Pym both agree with Stark's proposal, not everyone
does. After Captain America is ordered to bring in anyone who refuses to register, he and other anti-
registration superheroes go rogue, coming into conflict with the pro-registration heroes, led by Iron
Man. The war ends when Captain America surrenders to prevent further collateral damage and
civilian casualties, although he had defeated Stark by defusing his armor. Stark is appointed the new
director of S.H.I.E.L.D.,[71] and organizes a new government-sanctioned group of Avengers. Shortly
afterwards, Captain America is assassinated while in custody. [72] This leaves Stark with a great
amount of guilt and misgivings about the cost of his victory.[73]
"Secret Invasion"
To tie into the 2008 Iron Man feature film, Marvel launched a new Iron Man ongoing series, The
Invincible Iron Man, with writer Matt Fraction and artist Salvador Larroca. The series inaugural six-
part storyline was "The Five Nightmares", which saw Stark targeted by Ezekiel Stane, the son of
Stark's former nemesis, Obadiah Stane.[74]
In the "Secret Invasion" storyline, after Tony Stark survives an attempt by Ultron to take over his
body, he is confronted in the hospital by Spider-Woman, holding the corpse of a Skrull posing
as Elektra. Realizing this is the start of an invasion by the Skrulls, Tony reveals the corpse to the
Illuminati and declares that they are at war. After Black Bolt reveals himself as a Skrull and is killed
by Namor, a squadron of Skrulls attack, forcing Tony to evacuate the other Illuminati members and
destroy the area, killing all the Skrulls. Realizing that they are incapable of trusting each other, the
members all separate to form individual plans for the oncoming invasion. [75]
Stark is discredited and publicly vilified after his inability to anticipate or prevent the secret infiltration
and invasion of Earth by the Skrulls, and by the Skrull disabling of his StarkTech technology, which
had a virtual monopoly on worldwide defense.[76] After the invasion, the U.S. government removes
him as head of S.H.I.E.L.D. and disbands the Avengers, handing control of the Initiative over
to Norman Osborn.
"Dark Reign"
Dark Reign (comics)
See also: The Invincible Iron Man
With his Extremis powers failing, Stark uploads a virus to destroy all records of the Registration Act,
thus preventing Osborn from learning the identities of his fellow heroes and anything that Osborn
could use, including his repulsor generators. The only copy of the database is in Stark's brain, which
he tries to delete while on the run from Osborn.[77] Stark goes so far as to inflict brain damage on
himself in order to ensure that the relevant information is wiped. When Osborn catches up to the
debilitated Stark and beats him savagely, Pepper Potts broadcasts the beatings worldwide, costing
Osborn credibility and giving Stark public sympathy. Stark goes into a vegetative state, having
previously granted Donald Blake (alter ego of the superhero Thor) power of attorney. [78] A
holographic message stored in Pepper's armor reveals that Stark had developed a means of
'rebooting' his mind from his current state prior to his destruction of the database, with Blake and
Bucky resolving to use it to restore him to normal. Meanwhile, Stark is trapped in his subconscious,
where figments of his own mind prevent him from returning to the waking world. When the procedure
fails to work, Bucky calls in Doctor Strange, who succeeds in restoring Stark back to consciousness.
The backup Stark created was made prior to the Civil War, and as such he does not remember
anything that took place during the event, although he still concludes after reviewing his past actions
that he would not have done anything differently. His brain damage means he is now dependent on
an arc reactor to sustain his body's autonomous functions. [79]
2010s
"Siege"
Siege (comics)
In the "Siege" storyline, Tony Stark is seen under the care of Dr. Donald Blake and Maria Hill when
Asgard is attacked.[80] Thor is ambushed by Osborn and the Sentry, but rescued by Hill. Osborn
declares martial law and unleashes Daken and the Sentry on Broxton to root out Thor and Hill. Hill
returns to Stark's hiding place to move him to a safer location and are joined by Speed of the Young
Avengers, who has a set of Iron Man's MK III armor that Edwin Jarvis had given Captain America.
While Osborn is battling the New Avengers, Stark appears and disables Osborn's Iron Patriot armor.
Osborn orders the Sentry to annihilate Asgard, rather than allow the Avengers to have it. After
Asgard falls, Stark stands alongside his fellow heroes, as Osborn exclaims they are all doomed and
he 'was saving them from him' pointing up towards a Void-possessed Sentry.[81] As the Void tears
apart the teams, Loki gives them the power to fight back through the Norn Stones. The Void kills
Loki, enraging Thor. Tony tells Thor to get the Void away from Asgard, which allows Tony to drop a
commandeered H.A.M.M.E.R. Helicarrier on the Void. Thor is forced to killed Sentry when the Void
resurfaces. Sometime later, the Super-Human Registration Act is repealed and Tony is given back
his company and armor. As a symbol for their heroics and their new unity, Thor places an Asgardian
tower on Stark Tower where the Watchtower once stood. [82]
"Heroic Age"
Heroic Age (comics)
In the 2010-2011 "Stark: Resilient" storyline, Tony builds the Bleeding Edge armor with the help of
Mister Fantastic. This new armor fully uses the repulsor tech battery embedded in his chest to power
Tony's entire body and mind, thus allowing him access to Extremis once more. Furthermore, the
battery operates as his "heart" and is predominantly the only thing keeping him alive. [83] Tony
announces he will form a new company, Stark Resilient. He states that he will no longer develop
weapons, but will use his repulsor technology to give free energy to the world. Justine and Sasha
Hammer create their own armored hero, Detroit Steel, to take Stark's place as the Army's leading
weapons-builder. Stark's plan consists of building two repulsor-powered cars. The Hammers try to
foil his efforts. The first car is destroyed by sabotage, while Detroit Steel attacks Stark Resilient's
facilities while Tony tests the second car. Through a legal maneuver, Tony is able to get the
Hammers to stop their attacks and releases a successful commercial about his new car. [84][85]
"Fear Itself"
In the 2011 "Fear Itself" storyline, Earth is attacked by the Serpent, the God of Fear and the long-
forgotten brother of Odin.[86] In Paris, Iron Man fights Grey Gargoyle, who has become Mokk, Breaker
of Faith, one of the Serpent's Worthy. Mokk leaves Iron Man unconscious and transforms Detroit
Steel and the citizens of Paris into stone.[87][88] To defeat the Serpent's army, Tony drinks a bottle of
wine (thus 'sacrificing' his sobriety) to gain an audience with Odin, who allows Tony to enter the
realm of Svartalfheim. Tony and the dwarves of Svartalfheim build enchanted weapons. [89] Tony
upgrades his armor with uru-infused enchantments and delivers the finished weapons to the
Avengers, who use them for the final battle against the Serpent's forces. Iron Man watches as Thor
kills the Serpent, but dies in the process. After the battle is over, Tony melts down the weapons he
created and repairs Captain America's shield, which had been broken by Serpent, and gives it back
to Captain America.[90] During a subsequent argument with Odin about the gods' lack of involvement
in the recent crisis, Odin gives Tony a brief opportunity to see the vastness of the universe the way
he sees it. As thanks for Tony's role in the recent crisis, Odin restores all the people that the Grey
Gargoyle killed during his rampage.[91]
Return of the Mandarin and Marvel NOW!
In the storylines "Demon" and "The Long Way Down", Stark is subpoenaed by the U.S. government
after evidence surfaces of him using the Iron Man armor while under the influence. Mandarin and
Zeke Stane upgrade some of Iron Man's old enemies and send them to commit acts of terrorism
across the world, intending to discredit Iron Man. General Bruce Babbage forces Stark to wear a
tech governor, a device that allows Babbage to deactivate Stark's armor whenever he wants. To
fight back, Tony undergoes a surgical procedure that expels the Bleeding Edge technology out of his
body and replaces his repulsor node with a new model, forcing Babbage to remove the tech
governor off his chest. He announces his retirement as Iron Man, faking Rhodes' death and giving
him a new armor so that he becomes the new Iron Man.[92] This leads into the next storyline, "The
Future", in which the Mandarin takes control of Stark's mind and uses him to create new armored
bodies for the alien spirits inhabiting his rings, but Stark allies himself with some of his old enemies,
who have also been imprisoned by Mandarin, and manages to defeat him. The final issue of this
storyline concluded Matt Fraction's series.[93]
In the ongoing series that premiered in 2012 as part of the Marvel NOW! relaunch, Tony Stark has
hit a technological ceiling. After the death of Dr. Maya Hansen and the destruction of all of the
Extremis Version 2 kits that were being sold to the black market, Tony decides that the Earth is not
safe without him learning more from what's in the final frontier. He takes his new suit, enhanced with
an artificial intelligence named P.E.P.P.E.R. and joins Peter Quill and The Guardians of the
Galaxy after helping them thwart a Badoon attack on Earth. [94]
Superior Iron Man
Tony Stark's personality is inverted during the events of AXIS, bringing out more dark aspects of
himself like irresponsibility, egotism and alcoholism.[95] Stark relocates to San Francisco and builds a
new, all-white armor. He supplies the citizens of San Francisco with the Extremis 3.0 app, a version
of the techno-virus that offers beauty, health or even immortality, free. [96] When every person in the
city viewed Iron Man as a messiah for making their dreams come true, he ended the free trial mode
and started charging a daily fee of $99.99, causing many to resort to crime as way to pay for the
upgrade.[97] Daredevil confronts Stark at his new Alcatraz Islandpenthouse, but is easily brushed off.
[98]
Iron Man uses Extremis 3.0 to temporarily restore Daredevil's sight, just to prove his point.
[99]
Daredevil deduces that Stark had added Extremis to the water supply and the phones only
transmit an activation signal, but Stark subjects Murdock to minor brain damage to prevent him from
sharing this revelation with others.[100]
After discovering that new villain Teen Abomination is the son of Happy Hogan, Stark decides to
help him,[101] but this minor act of redemption is too late for Pepper Potts, who attacks Stark with the
aid of an A.I. based on Stark's mind.[102] This culminates in a confrontation between the two Starks, as
Stark calls on the unwitting aid of all 'infected' with the Extremis upgrade while the A.I. uses Stark's
various old armors to attack him. [103] Although Stark technically wins the battle as he destroys his
other armors and deletes the A.I. backup, Pepper states that she plans to reveal the truth about his
goals with Extremis, bluntly informing him that if he continues his Extremis upgrade project, he will
have to do it alone, accepting his fate of being regarded as a monster by all who know him. [104]
Time Runs Out
During the "Time Runs Out" storyline, an attempt at reclaiming Wakanda from the Cabal that Namor
had created to destroy incursive Earths results in Tony being held captive in the Necropolis. [105] After
the Cabal are apparently killed, the Illuminati free Tony, who is forced to flee due to the Illuminati's
unwillingness to let Stark be there with them when they meet Rogers and the Avengers. When the
Shi'ar and their allies arrive to destroy Earth, the Avengers and the Illuminati unsuccessfully try to
retaliate. Iron Man uses Sol's Hammer to destroy the fleet. [106] The incursions continue, and Rogers
confronts Stark about what he knows. A fight ensues between them and Stark admits that he had
lied and had known about the incursions all along. During the final incursion, Earth-1610's
S.H.I.E.L.D. launches a full-scale attack on Earth-616, during which Stark and Rogers are crushed
by a Helicarrier.[107]
All-New, All-Different Marvel
After the events of the Secret Wars crossover, Stark returns to his normal self with no signs of his
inverted personality. Eight months following the return of the universe as seen in the "All-New, All-
Different Marvel" event, Tony works in his laboratory non-stop after his position as an innovator had
been put in doubt. Because an M.I.T. student reverse-engineered some of his technology, Stark
develops a new armor which can change shape according to the situation he would find himself.
When Stark's new A.I. Friday informs him that Madame Masque has broken into the ruins of Castle
Doom, he travels to Latveria to investigate and runs into some revolutionaries who are then defeated
by a man in a suit. To his amazement, Iron Man's armor computer identifies him as Doctor Doom
with his face restored. Doctor Doom claims that he wanted to help Iron Man. [108]
After learning from Doctor Doom that Madame Masque has taken a decoy of the Wand of Watoomb,
Tony Stark confronts Madame Masque. Upon learning that Madame Masque is not allied with Doctor
Doom, Tony is attacked by her with a burst of energy that damages his armor. [109] Friday manages to
gain control of the suit and takes Tony to a safe location. Iron Man tracks Madame Masque to
Marina del Rey. After finding a tape recorder with her messages, Tony is attacked by several black
silhouettes with swords.[110]
Iron Man escapes the ninjas that are attacking him and manages to defeat most of them, but they kill
themselves before he can interrogate any of them. Iron Man and Doctor Doom arrive at Mary Jane
Watson's newest Chicago night club Jackpot when Madame Masque attacks it. [111] As Mary Jane
distracts Madame Masque by knocking off her mask, Iron Man and Doctor Doom discover that
Madame Masque is possessed by a demon. Doctor Doom is able to perform an exorcism on her.
Doctor Strange arrives and tells Iron Man he will take Madame Masque with him to fix her
metaphysically and then hand her over at S.H.I.E.L.D. Iron Man also informs him of Doctor Doom's
help who had left the scene some time ago. Three days later, Iron Man offers Mary Jane a job to
make up for the damage to her nightclub.[112]After speaking with War Machine, Tony Stark meets up
at a diner with Amara Perera when they are unexpectedly joined by Doctor Doom who wanted to
make sure that the demonic possession that affected Madame Masque has not affected Stark or
Amara.[113] Stark shows Mary Jane the demonstration on the people that he will be working with. They
are interrupted by Friday who tells Tony that War Machine is missing. [ Before heading to Tokyo,
Tony receives from Mary Jane the emergency number for Peter Parker. In Tokyo, Iron Man is
contacted by Spider-Man at War Machine's last known location as he is being observed by ninjas. [114]
During the Civil War II storyline, Iron Man protests the logic of using precognitive powers to stop
future crimes after the recently emerged Inhuman Ulysses predicted Thanos' attack on Project
Pegasus. Three weeks later, Iron Man is summoned to the Triskelion after War Machine is killed in
battle against Thanos. When Iron Man learns that War Machine and the Ultimates used Ulysses'
power to ambush Thanos, he vows to stop anyone from using that power again. [115] Iron Man
infiltrates New Attilan and makes off with Ulysses. At Stark Tower, Iron Man vows to find out how
Ulysses' precognition works. The Inhumans attack Stark Tower but are stopped by the Avengers,
the Ultimates, and S.H.I.E.L.D. During the confrontation, Ulysses has another vision which he
projects to Iron Man and everyone present, showing a rampaging Hulk standing over the corpses of
the defeated superheroes.[116] The heroes confront Banner, who is killed by Hawkeye. Barton claims
that Banner was about to transform and Banner had previously asked Hawkeye to kill him if he
should turn back into the Hulk. Tony is disgusted at this use of Ulysses' power. When his analysis of
Ulysses brain is completed,[117] Tony reveals that Ulysses does not actually see the future, but simply
assembles large quantities of data to project likely outcomes. While Danvers continues to use the
visions as a resource, Tony objects to the concept of profiling people. This results in a stand-off
when Tony's side abducts a woman from custody after Ulysses' visions identified her as a deep-
cover HYDRA agent, despite the lack of supporting evidence. [118]
Iron Man learns that his biological mother was actually Amanda Armstrong, who had given him up
for adoption. S.H.I.E.L.D. had Armstrong's baby adopted by Howard and Maria Stark. [119]
Marvel NOW! 2016
In July 2016, it was announced that Tony Stark would hand off the mantle of Iron Man to a 15-year-
old girl named Riri Williams. Riri is an MIT student who built her own Iron Man suit out of scrap
pieces and, as such, attracted Stark's attention. Early depictions of Williams' suit depict it without the
Arc Reactor, but leaves the power source for the suit unclear. [120] Another Iron Man-based series
titled Infamous Iron Man debuted featuring Doctor Doom sporting his version of the Iron Man armor.
[121]
This is revealed to be the result of serious injuries sustained by Stark during his final confrontation
with Captain Marvel. Danvers' beating leaves Stark in a coma, but he is left alive due to unspecified
experiments Stark has carried out on himself over the years.[122]
Existing as an A.I.
Following the revelation that Stark experimented on himself at the end of Civil War II, Beast
concludes that the only option is to let the experiments do their job in healing Tony and recover on
his own In Invincible Iron Man #1, an employee of Stark sends Riri Williams an artificial intelligence
housing a copy of Tony Stark's consciousness to help her control and mentor in her own version of
the Iron Man armor. This A.I. is directly copied from Tony's brain, granting sentience, with Williams
commenting on Stark existing as a "techno-ghost". As an A.I., Stark can walk around as a hard-light
object and gains the ability to remote control his vast armory of Iron Man suits. [ In The Mighty
Captain Marvel #3, the Tony Stark A.I. goes to Antarctica and visits Captain Marvel with the intent on
settling their differences from the Second Civil War, she apologizes to him for her regrets, reconciles
with him eventually and they become allies once more. Then in Secret Empire, the Tony Stark A.I.
suits up as Iron Man once again and learns of Captain America's betrayal to Hydra and how he
ended up like this. As Hydra tightens its grip across America, the Tony Stark A.I. leads a team
known as the Underground to find the Cosmic Cubes to restore Rogers to his normal self. When
things start to escalate, Tony and his crew go rogue and in search for answers for the Cube. As Iron
Man and the Underground search for them they are intercepted by Captain America and his Hydra
team. With both teams encountering each other, they are captured by the Ultron/Hank Pym hybrid,
who forces both teams to sit at a dinner table. During "dinner", Ultron reveals information about the
Hydra Avengers - such as Odinson working with Hydra to reclaim Mjolnir, Scarlet Witch being
possessed by Chthon, and Vision being affected by an A.I. virus. Ultron argues that he is doing this
because the Avengers have become less of a family over the years as so many of them jump to
obey Captain America or Iron Man, despite past experience confirming that this is not always a good
idea, but Tony counters that the only reason the team failed as a family was because of Hank's
abuse towards Wasp. Enraged, Ultron is about to kill everyone, but Ant-Man is able to calm him
down by arguing that Hank remains his own inspiration. Ultron allows the Underground to leave with
the fragment, arguing that neither side should have an advantage over the other. Back in America,
Hydra Supreme has put Namor in a position where he will be forced to sign a peace treaty that gives
Rogers access to the Cosmic Cube fragment in Atlantis, but Hydra Supreme muses that he is
unconcerned about who will acquire the fragments, as he has an inside man in the Underground.
After the Mount was attacked by Thor and the resurrected Hulk led by Hydra, the Underground
evacuated the civilians thanks to Hawkeye and the rest of the heroes. Captain America and Iron
Man fight as the Mount collapses around them. The Tony Stark A.I. initiates the Mount's "Clean
Slate Protocol", and blows up the Mount, killing Madame Hydra, then apologizes to Steve Rogers
about their past differences, but the A.I survives and, in the aftermath, helps the heroes pull the
pieces back together to take down Hydra. When Iron Man confronts Hydra Supreme, he and the
other heroes are easily overpowered by him and watch the original Captain America defeat his
Hydra self and into celebrating their victory.[123]
Marvel Legacy
Mary Jane Watson and other Stark employees find that Stark's body has completely vanished from
its pod, despite tests taken mere hours ago showing no sign of improvement or brain activity. [
Powers, abilities, and equipment
Armor
Iron Man's armor
The Bleeding Edge Armor, like the Extremis Armor before it, is stored in Stark's bones, and can be assembled
and controlled by his thoughts
Iron Man possesses powered armor that gives him superhuman strength and durability, flight, and
an array of weapons. The armor is invented and worn by Stark (with occasional short-term
exceptions). Other people who have assumed the Iron Man identity include Stark's long-time partner
and best friend James Rhodes;[125] close associates Harold "Happy" Hogan; Eddie March;[126]
[127]
(briefly) Michael O'Brien and Riri Williams.
The weapons systems of the suit have changed over the years, but Iron Man's standard offensive
weapons have always been the repulsor rays that are fired from the palms of his gauntlets. Other
weapons built into various incarnations of the armor include: the uni-beam projector in its chest;
pulse bolts (that pick up kinetic energy along the way; so the farther they travel, the harder they hit);
an electromagnetic pulse generator; and a defensive energy shield that can be extended up to 360
degrees. Other capabilities include: generating ultra-freon (i.e., a freeze-beam); creating and
manipulating magnetic fields; emitting sonic blasts; and projecting 3-dimensional holograms (to
create decoys).
In addition to the general-purpose model he wears, Stark has developed several
specialized suits for space travel,[38] deep-sea diving, stealth,[39][40] and other special purposes. Stark
has modified suits, like the Hulkbuster heavy armor. The Hulkbuster armor is composed of add-ons
to his so-called modular armor, designed to enhance its strength and durability enough to engage
the Hulk in a fight. A later model, created with the help of Odin and the Asgardian metal Uru, is
similar to the Destroyer. Stark develops an electronics pack during the Armor Wars that, when
attached to armors that use Stark technologies, will burn out those components, rendering the suit
useless. This pack is ineffective on later models. While it is typically associated with James Rhodes,
the War Machine armor began as one of Stark's specialty armors.
The most recent models of Stark's armor, beginning with the Extremis armor, are now stored in the
hollow portions of Stark's bones, and the personal area networking implement used to control it is
implanted into his forearm, and connected directly to his central nervous system.
The Extremis has since been removedand he now uses more conventional armors. Some armors
still take a liquid form, but are not stored within his body. His Endo-Sym Armor incorporates a
combination of the liquid smart-metal with the alien Venom symbiote, psionically controlled by Stark.
Post-Secret Wars, Stark uses a more streamlined suit of armor that can practically "morph" into
other armors or weapons.[
Powers
After being critically injured during a battle with the Extremis-enhanced Mallen, Stark injects his
nervous system with modified techno-organic virus-like body restructuring machines (the Extremis
process).[128] By rewriting his own biology, Stark is able to save his life, gain an enhanced healing
factor, and partially merge with the Iron Man armor, superseding the need for bulky, AI-controlled
armors in favor of lighter designs, technopathically controlled by his own brain. His enhanced
technopathy extends to every piece of technology, limitless and effortlessly due to his ability to
interface with communication satellites and wireless connections to increase his "range". Some
components of the armor-sheath are now stored in Tony's body, able to be recalled, and extruded
from his own skin, at will.
During the "Secret Invasion" storyline the Extremis package is catastrophically shut down by a virus,
forcing him again to rely on the previous iteration of his armor, and restoring his previous limitations.
Furthermore, Osborn's takeover of most of the few remaining Starktech factories, with Ezekiel Stane
systematically crippling the others, limits Tony to the use of lesser, older and weaker armors. [129]
After being forced to "wipe out" his brain to prevent Norman Osborn from gaining his information,
Tony Stark is forced to have a new arc reactor, of Rand design installed in his chest. The process
greatly improves his strength, stamina and intellect. The procedure left him with virtually no
autonomic functions: as his brain was stripped of every biological function, Tony is forced to rely on
a digital backup of his memories (leaving him with severe gaps and lapses in his long-term memory)
and on software routine in the arc reactor for basic stimuli reaction, such as blinking and breathing.
[130][131]
The Bleeding Edge package of armor and physical enhancement is now equal in power, if not a
more advanced, version of the old Extremis tech.[83]
Skills
Tony Stark is an inventive genius whose expertise in the fields of mathematics, physics, chemistry,
and computer science rivals that of Reed Richards, Hank Pym, and Bruce Banner, and his expertise
in electrical engineering and mechanical engineering surpasses even theirs. He is regarded as one
of the most intelligent characters in the Marvel Universe. He graduated with advanced degrees in
physics and engineering at the age of 17 from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)[132] and
further developed his knowledge ranging from artificial intelligence to quantum mechanics as time
progressed. His expertise extends to his ingenuity in dealing with difficult situations, such as difficult
foes and deathtraps, in which he is capable of using available tools, including his suit, in unorthodox
but effective ways. He is well respected in the business world, able to command people's attention
when he speaks on economic matters, having over the years built up several multimillion-dollar
companies from virtually nothing. He is noted for the loyalty he commands from and returns to those
who work for him, as well as for his business ethics. Thus he immediately fired an employee who
made profitable, but illegal, sales to Doctor Doom.[47] He strives to be environmentally responsible in
his businesses.
At a time when Stark was unable to use his armor for a period, he received some combat training
from Captain America and has become physically formidable on his own when the situation
demands it.[133] In addition, Stark possesses great business and political acumen. On multiple
occasions he reacquired control of his companies after losing them amid corporate takeovers. [134]
Due to his membership in the Illuminati, Iron Man was given the Space Infinity Gem to safeguard.
[135]
It allows the user to exist in any location (or all locations), move any object anywhere throughout
the universe and warp or rearrange space.
Supporting characters
List of Iron Man supporting characters
Other versions
Alternative versions of Iron Man
In other media
Iron Man in other media
Tony Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe)
Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, as depicted in the film Iron Man 3.
In 1966, Iron Man was featured in a series of cartoons. [136] In 1981, Iron Man guest appeared
in Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, but only as Tony Stark.[137] He went on to feature again in
his own series in the 1990s as part of the Marvel Action Hour with the Fantastic Four; Robert
Hays provided his voice in these animated cartoons. Iron Man makes an appearance in the episode
"Shell Games" of Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes. Apart from comic books, Iron Man
appears in Capcom's "Vs." video games, including Marvel Super Heroes, Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New
Age of Heroes, Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Iron
Man is a playable character in Iron Man, the 1992 arcade game Captain America and the
Avengers, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance and its sequel, and Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects, as
well as being featured as an unlockable character in X-Men Legends II: Rise of
Apocalypse and Tony Hawk's Underground.[138] In the 2009 animated series, Iron Man: Armored
Adventures, most of the characters, including Tony Stark, are teenagers. An anime
adaptation began airing in Japan in October 2010 as part of a collaboration between Marvel
Animation and Madhouse, in which Stark, voiced by Keiji Fujiwara, travels to Japan where he ends
up facing off against the Zodiac.[139]
Iron Man suit Mark VI from Iron Man 2 (premiered in 2010)
In 2008, a film adaptation titled Iron Man was released, starring Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark
and directed by Jon Favreau. Iron Man received very positive reviews from film critics,[140] grossing
$318 million domestically and $585 million worldwide.[141] The character of Tony Stark, again played
by Robert Downey Jr., appeared at the end of the 2008 film The Incredible Hulk. Downey reprised
his role in Iron Man 2 (2010), Marvel's The Avengers (2012), Iron Man 3 (2013), Avengers: Age of
Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Avengers:
Infinity War (2018), and will appear in Avengers: Endgame in 2019.[142]
In 2009, Playtech released an online casino slot machine game called Iron Man. After that they
created two more games, Iron Man 2 and Iron Man 3.[143]
In October 2016, Eoin Colfer released a young adult novel called Iron Man: The Gauntlet.[144]
Cultural influence
Basically I'm here to announce that we are building Iron Man.
— The 44th President of the United States Barack Obamamade a surprise announcement at a press conference at the White
[145]
House, when he revealed details of the creation of "Manufacturing Innovation Institutes" in Chicago and Detroit.
 The rapper Ghostface Killah, a member of Wu-Tang Clan, titled his 1996 debut solo
album Ironman, and has since continued to use lyrics related to the Iron Man comics
and samples from the animated TV shows on his records.[146][147] He has adopted the nickname
Tony Starks as one of his numerous alter-egos,[147] and was featured in a scene deleted from
the Iron Man film.
 Paul McCartney's song "Magneto and Titanium Man" was inspired by the X-Men's nemesis
and the original version of the Iron Man villain. Another Iron Man villain, the Crimson Dynamo, is
mentioned in the lyrics to this song.[148][149]
 The British band Razorlight mentions Tony Stark in a verse of their song, "Hang By, Hang
By".[150]
 The character of Nathan Stark on the television show Eureka is inspired by Tony Stark.[151]
 In 2011, IGN ranked Iron Man 12th in the Top 100 Comic Book Heroes. [2]
 Two Iron Man-themed trucks compete in the Monster Jam monster truck racing series.
Debuted in Atlanta on 9 January 2010, they are driven by Lee O' Donnell and Morgan Kane. [152]
 In 2015, University of Central Florida engineering student Albert Manero, who builds and
donates affordable 3D-printed bionic limbs to those in need, constructed a bionic arm based on
Iron Man's suit for 7-year-old Alex Pring, a superhero fan who was born with a partially formed
right arm. He then delivered the Iron Man arm to Pring with the help of Robert Downey Jr. in
character as Tony Stark.[153]
 For Major League Baseball Players Weekend in August 2018, New York Yankees second
baseman Gleyber Torres designed his custom cleats after Iron Man's suit.[154]
John Fillmore Hayford
John Fillmore Hayford (May 19, 1868 – March 10, 1925) was an eminent United States geodesist.
His work involved the study of isostasy and the construction of a reference ellipsoid for
approximating the figure of the Earth. The crater Hayford on the far side of the Moon is named after
him.[1] Mount Hayford, a 1,871 m mountain peak near Metlakatla, Alaska, United States, is named
after him.[2] A biography of Hayford may be found in the Biographical Memoirs of the National
Academy of Sciences, 16 (5), 1935.
Works.

Hayford, JF (1917), "Gravity and Isostasy.", Science (published Apr 13, 1917), 45 (1163): 350–
354, doi:10.1126/science.45.1163.350, PMID 17795741
Hayford, JF (1911), "The American Association for the Advancement of Science the Relations of Isostasy
to Geodesy, Geophysics and Geology.", Science (published Feb 10, 1911), 33 (841): 199–
208, doi:10.1126/science.33.841.199, PMID 17815861
Hayford, JF (1909), "The New College of Engineering, an Opportunity.", Science (published Jun 4,

1909), 29 (753): 887–891, doi:10.1126/science.29.753.887, PMID 17817509
Hayford, JF (1907), "Report of the General Secretary.", Science (published Jan 11, 1907), 25(628),

pp. 46–50, doi:10.1126/science.25.628.46, PMID 17771974
Tittmann, OH; Hayford, JF (1906), "The Budapest Conference of the International Geodetic
Association.", Science (published Dec 7, 1906), 24 (623): 713–
719, doi:10.1126/science.24.623.713, PMID 17836523
Hayford, JF (1906), "Report of the General Secretary.", Science (published Jul 13, 1906), 24(602): 33–
40, doi:10.1126/science.24.602.33, PMID 17811031
Hayford, JF (1905), "A Connection by Precise Leveling Between the Atlantic and Pacific
Oceans.", Science (published Apr 28, 1905), 21 (539): 673–
674, doi:10.1126/science.21.539.673, PMID 17789796
Hayford, JF (1903), "The Longitude of Honolulu, Various Determinations, 1555-

1903.", Science(published Nov 6, 1903), 18 (462): 589–
593, doi:10.1126/science.18.462.589, PMID 17812559
Hayford, JF (1901), "A New Connection Between the Gravity Measures of Europe and of the United
States.", Science (published Apr 26, 1901), 13 (330): 654–
655, doi:10.1126/science.13.330.654, PMID 17808951
Hayford, JF (1901), "Recent Progress in Geodesy.", Science (published Mar 8, 1901), 13 (323): 381–

383, doi:10.1126/science.13.323.381, PMID 17801118
Hayford, JF (1900), "Recent Progress in Geodesy.", Science (published Mar 9, 1900), 11 (271), pp. 369–

374, doi:10.1126/science.11.271.369, PMID 17768837
Hayford, JF (1899), "Section A--Astronomy and Mathematics.", Science (published Sep 8,

1899), 10 (245): 331–333, doi:10.1126/science.10.245.331, PMID 17790921
Hayford, JF (1898), "The Limitations of the Present Solution of the Tidal Problem.", Science (published
Dec 9, 1898), 8 (206), pp. 810–814, doi:10.1126/science.8.206.810, PMID
Dwayne Johnson Douglas.
Dwayne Douglas Johnson (born May 2, 1972-1996), also known by his ring name The Rock, is an
American actor, producer, and semi-retired professional wrestler.
Johnson was born in Hayward, California, but moved to Florida in 1989, where he was a college
football player for the University of Miami, with whom he won a national championship in 1991. After
initially aspiring for a career in football, Johnson began training as a professional wrestler in the
summer of 1995, after being cut from the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football
League (CFL).[7]
In 1996, Johnson secured a contract with the WWE when it was known as the World Wrestling
Federation (WWF) and was promoted as the first third-generation wrestler in the company's history
as he was the son of Rocky Johnson and grandson of Peter Maivia. He gained mainstream fame
after developing a charismatic persona of a boastful trash-talking wrestler named The Rock. He
subsequently won his first WWF Championship in 1998 and ushered the WWF, alongside fellow
mainstream industry star Stone Cold Steve Austin, as the principal leaders of the Attitude Era, a
boom period in company business in the latter 1990s and early 2000s which still hold professional
wrestling records for television ratings.[8] After pursuing an acting career full-time in 2004, he went on
a seven-year hiatus from WWE and returned in 2011 as a part-time performer until 2013.
Dwayne Johnson
Johnson in March 2013
Considered to be one of the greatest professional wrestlers and biggest draws of all-time, [9][10][11] The
Rock headlined the most bought professional wrestling pay-per-view event of all-time, WrestleMania
XXVIII, and was featured in some of the most watched WWE Raw and WWE SmackDown television
episodes ever. The Rock has won several championships in his career, being a two-
time Intercontinental Champion, a five-time world tag team champion, and a ten-
time worldchampion.[note 1] He is also a Royal Rumble match winner and a Triple Crown champion.
Outside of wrestling, Johnson has attained success as an actor, producer, and writer. He played the
leading role in numerous films, including The Scorpion King (2002), San Andreas (2015), Central
Intelligence (2016), Moana (2016), and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017). His most
successful box office role has been as Luke Hobbs in The Fast and the Furious franchise.[12] He
founded his production company, Seven Bucks Productions, in 2012 which has since produced
several films. He wrote and released an autobiography titled The Rock Says... in 2000, which
debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times Best Seller list.[13][14] Consistently ranked among the world's
highest paid actors,[15] Johnson was named by Time as one of the 100 most influential people in the
world in 2016
Early life
Johnson was born on May 2, 1972,[18] in Hayward, California,[19] to Ata Johnson (née Maivia) (b.1948)
[20]
and former professional wrestler Rocky Johnson (born Wayde Douglas Bowles) (b.1944).
[21]
Johnson briefly lived in New Zealand with his mother's family, settling in Grey Lynn.[22] He attended
Richmond Road Primary School, before returning to the U.S. with his parents. [22] In the United States,
he attended Shepherd Glen Elementary School and Hamden Middle School in Hamden,
Connecticut,[23] then spent 10th grade at President William McKinley High School in Honolulu,
Hawaii. As he entered 11th grade, his father's job required relocation to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania,
where Johnson began playing football at Freedom High School in the East Penn Conference.[21] He
was also a member of the school's track and field and wrestling teams.[21]
Football career
Dwayne Johnson
No. 94
Position Defensive tackle
Career history
Miami (FL) (1990–1994)
College
Bowl games Cotton Bowl Classic (1991)

Orange Bowl (1992)
High school Freedom (PA)
Personal information
Born: May 2, 1972 (age 46)

Hayward, California
Career highlights and awards
 AP Poll national champion (1991)
Johnson was a promising football prospect and received offers from many Division I collegiate
programs. He decided on a full scholarship from the University of Miami, playing defensive tackle. In
1991, he was on the Miami Hurricanes' national championship team.[24] When an injury sidelined him,
he was replaced by future Pro Football Hall of Fame player Warren Sapp.[21]
Johnson graduated from Miami in 1995 with a Bachelor of General
Studies in criminology and physiology.[25]He signed with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian
Football League as a linebacker in 1995 and was assigned to the practice roster but was cut two
months into the season.[21][26][27]

Early career (1995–1996)
After his football career, Johnson declared his intent to become a professional wrestler. [21] Veteran
wrestler Pat Patterson got Johnson several tryout matches with the World Wrestling
Federation (WWF) in 1996. Under his real name, he defeated The Brooklyn Brawler at a house
show[28] and lost the other matches to Chris Candidoand Owen Hart.[22] After wrestling at Jerry
Lawler's United States Wrestling Association as Flex Kavana and winning the USWA World Tag
Team Championship twice with Bart Sawyer in the summer of 1996, Johnson signed a WWF
contract. He received additional training from Tom Prichard, alongside Achim Albrecht and Mark
Henry.[6][22]
World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment

Debut (1996–1997)
Johnson made his WWF debut as Rocky Maivia, a combination of his father and grandfather's ring
names, although his real name was acknowledged by the announcers. [29] He was initially reluctant to
take this ring name but was persuaded by Vince McMahon and Jim Ross.[30][31] He was given the
nickname "The Blue Chipper" and his lineage was played to on TV, where he was hyped as the
WWF's first third-generation wrestler.[4] Maivia, a clean-cut face character, was pushedheavily from
the start despite his wrestling inexperience. He debuted on Monday Night Raw as a member of Marc
Mero's entourage on November 4, 1996[32] and had his first match at Survivor Series on November
17, in an eight-man elimination tag match; he was the sole survivor by single-handedly
eliminating Crush and Goldust.[33] On February 13, 1997, he won the Intercontinental
Championship from Hunter Hearst Helmsley on Monday Night Raw.[34][35][36] Maivia successfully
defended the title at In Your House 13: Final Four against Hunter Hearst Helmsley and
at WrestleMania 13 against The Sultan. He defeated Bret Hart by disqualification in a title defense
on March 31 episode of Raw is War.[37] Behind the scenes, Hart mentored Johnson for his first year
in WWF[38] and refused to be booked to take the title from him. [39] WWF fans generally rejected his
character and push from the company.[40] On April 20 at In Your House 14: Revenge of the 'Taker, he
lost to Savio Vega by countout, retaining the title for the final time. Audiences became increasingly
hostile toward Maivia, with chants of "Die, Rocky, die!" and "Rocky sucks!" being heard during his
matches.[3][30]
The Nation of Domination (1997–1998)
As part of the Nation of Domination, The Rock won the Intercontinental Championship for a second time and
held it for 265 days
After losing the Intercontinental Championship to Owen Hart on the April 28, 1997 episode of Raw Is
War[41] and suffering a legitimate knee injury in a match against Mankind,[3] Maivia returned in August
1997 and turned heel for the first time in his career by joining Faarooq, D'Lo Brown and Kama in
the stable called the Nation of Domination.[42] During this time, he refused to acknowledge the Rocky
Maivia name, instead referring to himself in the third person as The Rock, though he would still be
billed as Rocky "The Rock" Maivia until 1998. As The Rock, he regularly insulted the audience,
WWF performers, and interviewers in his promos.[42]
At D-Generation X: In Your House, Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated The Rock in under six minutes
to retain the Intercontinental Championship.[43] The next night on Raw Is War, Austin was ordered
by Mr. McMahon to defend the title in a rematch, but forfeited it to The Rock instead, handing him
the title belt before hitting him with the Stone Cold Stunner.[44][45] The Rock feuded with Austin
and Ken Shamrock through the end of 1997 and beginning of 1998. [46][47] On the March 30 episode
of Raw is War, The Rock debuted a new Intercontinental Championship belt which was used to
represent the title until October 2, 2011, when the previous design was reused. Later that night, The
Rock would also overthrow Faarooq as leader of the Nation of Domination to spark a feud between
the two and successfully defended the Intercontinental title against Faarooq at Over the Edge: In
Your House on May 31, 1998.[48]
The Rock and The Nation then feuded with Triple H and D-Generation X, with the two stable leaders
first meeting in the quarter-final of the 1998 King of the Ring tournament, which The Rock won.
At King of the Ring, The Rock defeated Dan Severn in the semi-final match and lost to rival Ken
Shamrock in the final. The Rock then resumed his feud with Triple H, as the two had a two out of
three falls match at Fully Loaded: In Your House for the Intercontinental title, which The Rock
retained in controversial fashion.[49] This led to a ladder match at SummerSlam, in which Triple H won
the title.[50]
At Breakdown: In Your House, The Rock defeated Ken Shamrock and Mankind in a triple
threat steel cage match to become the number one contender for the WWF Championship. The
Rock then feuded with fellow Nation member Mark Henry, effectively breaking up the stable.[51][52]
Rise to superstardom (1998–2002)
Main article: The Corporation
As part of The Corporation, The Rock feuded with Stone Cold Steve Austinand stole Austin's
personalized WWF Championship, the Smoking Skull belt
The Rock's entertaining promos and ensuing popularity led to a face turn, in which he called himself
"The People's Champion". This led to a feud with Mr. McMahon, who said he had "a problem with
the people" and would thus target "The People's Champion". A "double turn" occurred at Survivor
Series, when The Rock defeated McMahon's associate, Mankind, in the finals of the "Deadly Game"
tournament[53] for the vacant WWF Championship in a fashion reminiscent of the Montreal Screwjob,
turning heel once again.[53][54]The Rock allied with Vince and Shane McMahon as the crown jewel of
their stable, The Corporation.[53][55] On December 13, 1998, at the pay-per-view named for him, Rock
Bottom: In Your House, The Rock had a rematch with Mankind for the WWF Championship.
Mankind appeared to win the match when The Rock passed out in the Mandible Claw submission
move, but Mr. McMahon ruled that since The Rock did not tap out, he retained his title. [55][56]
The Rock continued to feud with Mankind over the WWF Championship, which was traded back and
forth between them. First, in the main event of the January 4, 1999 episode of Raw Is War, Mankind
defeated The Rock after interference from Stone Cold Steve Austin. [57] Then, in an "I Quit"
match at Royal Rumble on January 24, The Rock regained the title, when a recording of Mankind
saying "I quit" from an earlier interview was played over the PA system. [58][59] On Halftime Heat on
January 31, Mankind pinned The Rock using a forklift truck in an empty arena match.[60] The two
faced off again at St. Valentine's Day Massacre: In Your House in a last man standing match which
ended in a draw, meaning Mankind retained the title. Their feud ended on February 15 Raw Is War,
when The Rock won his third WWF Championship in a ladder match after Big Show performed
a chokeslam on Mankind off the ladder.[61][62] The Rock lost the WWF Championship to Stone Cold
Steve Austin at WrestleMania XV.[63]
Though he was a heel, his amusing verbal skills led many fans to cheer The Rock, who then lost the
title rematch at Backlash: In Your House[64] and was thus betrayed by Shane McMahon, turning him
face again and beginning a feud with Triple H, The Undertaker and The Corporate Ministry that saw
The Rock defeating Triple H at Over the Edge,[65] but then losing to WWF Champion The Undertaker
at King of the Ring.[66] The Rock lost a number one contender's match to Triple H at Fully
Loaded after interference from Mr. Ass.[67] This sparked a feud with Mr. Ass, culminating in a Kiss My
Ass match at SummerSlam, which The Rock won.[68]
See also: The Rock 'n' Sock Connection and The Invasion (professional wrestling)
Toward the latter part of 1999, The Rock had several singles and tag team championship
opportunities, teaming with former enemy Mankind as The Rock 'n' Sock Connection after he
challenged WWF Tag Team Champions The Undertaker and Big Show and Mankind offered his
help.[69] They won the title for the first of three times.[70][71] The two performed numerous comedic skits
together, including one on Raw Is War called "This Is Your Life", in which Mankind produced people
from The Rock's past, such as his high school girlfriend and his high school football coach. The
segment earned an 8.4 Nielsen rating, one of the highest ratings ever for a Rawsegment.[72]
The Rock's popularity was fueled by his charisma and speaking abilities, which led to many catchphrases and
merchandising opportunities
At Royal Rumble on January 23, 2000, The Rock entered the Royal Rumble match and was one of
the final two remaining, along with Big Show; Show seemingly intended to throw The Rock over the
top rope in a running powerslam-like position, but Rock countered the move on the ring apron,
sending Big Show to the floor before re-entering the ring as the winner. [73] However, The Rock's feet
hit the floor first, although those watching the event on TV did not see that, until Big Show proved
this with additional video footage, and claimed to be the rightful winner. Despite this proof, the
original decision could not be reversed, so a number one contender's match for the WWF
Championship was held at No Way Out, which Big Show won after Shane McMahon interfered and
hit The Rock in the head with a steel chair as he attempted to execute a People's Elbow.[74] The Rock
defeated Big Show on March 13 episode of Raw Is War to regain the right to face the WWF
Champion, Triple H, at WrestleMania 2000 in a fatal four-way elimination match, also including Big
Show and Mick Foley.[75][76] Each wrestler had a McMahon in his corner: Triple H had his
wife, Stephanie, Foley had Linda, The Rock had Vince and Big Show had Shane.[76][77] Triple H
retained the title after Vince betrayed The Rock by hitting him with a chair. [77][78]
The Rock as the WWF Champion in 2000
In the following weeks, The Rock continued his feud with Triple H and eventually won his fourth
WWF Championship, which he won on April 30 at Backlash after Stone Cold Steve Austin
intervened on his behalf.[79][80] On May 21 at Judgment Day, The Rock and Triple H faced in an Iron
Man match with Shawn Michaels as the special guest referee. [81] With the score tied at five falls each
and with seconds left on the time limit The Rock was disqualified when The Undertaker attacked
Triple H, thus giving Triple H the 6–5 win and the title. [81] The next night on Raw Is War, The Rock got
his revenge by taking out the entire McMahon-Helmsley Faction with The Undertaker's help.[82] The
Rock won the WWF Championship for a fifth time at King of the Ring on June 25 by scoring the
winning pin in a six-man tag team match, teaming with Kane and The Undertaker against Shane
McMahon, Triple H and Vince McMahon, whom he pinned.[83][84]The Rock successfully defended the
championship against Chris Benoit at Fully Loaded on July 23, Kurt Angle and Triple H
at SummerSlam on August 27 and Benoit, Kane and The Undertaker at Unforgiven on September
24.[85]
The Rock lost the WWF Championship to Angle at No Mercy in October.[86] The next month, The
Rock feuded with Rikishi and defeated him at Survivor Series.[87] The Rock wrestled a six-man Hell in
a Cell match for the WWF Championship at Armageddon in December, which Kurt Angle won to
retain the title.[88] On December 18 on Raw, The Rock won the WWF Tag Team Championship with
The Undertaker, defeating Edge and Christian, then losing it back to them the next night at
a SmackDown! taping.[89] In 2001, The Rock continued to feud with Angle over the WWF
Championship, culminating at No Way Out in February, where he pinned Angle to win the WWF
Championship for a sixth time.[90][91] The Rock then feuded with the Royal Rumble winner, Stone Cold
Steve Austin, whom he lost the title at WrestleMania X-Seven after Austin allied with Mr. McMahon,
who interfered on his behalf. [92]On the next night's Raw Is War, during a steel cage title rematch,
Triple H came to the ring with a sledgehammer and it seemed he would help The Rock, because of
the rivalry between Austin and Triple H, but he attacked him instead, allying with McMahon and
Austin.[93] Austin and Triple H formed a tag team called The Power Trip,[94] while The Rock was
indefinitely suspended in storyline. Johnson used this time off to act in the movie The Mummy
Returns.
The Rock taunting Rob Van Dam at ringside
The Rock returned to the WWF in late July 2001 and had to decide whether to join the WWF or The
Alliance during The Invasion, eventually siding with the WWF.At SummerSlam, The Rock
defeated Booker T to win the WCW Championship.[95][96] He lost the title to Chris Jericho at No Mercy.
The next night on Raw, he teamed with Jericho to win the WWF Tag Team Championship
[97][98]
from The Dudley Boyz.[99]
The Rock during WrestleMania X8before facing "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan(background)
The Rock defeated Jericho on November 5 episode of Raw for his second WCW Championship.
[100]
As part of the WWF's battle against The Alliance, The Rock wrestled in a "winner takes all" ten-
man elimination match at Survivor Series. In the end, it came down to a one-on-one with Steve
Austin. The Rock seemed to have the upper hand, until Jericho entered the ring and attacked The
Rock. Austin tried to capitalize on this by pinning The Rock, but Kurt Angle, a Team Alliance
member, revealed his true allegiance by hitting Austin in the head with a title belt. The Rock then
pinned Austin, forcing The Alliance to disband. The Rock's WCW Championship was renamed the
unbranded "World Championship" following the Alliance's loss.[101] The Rock closed out 2001 by
losing the World Championship at Vengeance to Chris Jericho, who would unify the WWF and WCW
titles later that night.[102]
The Rock unsuccessfully challenged Jericho for the now Undisputed WWF Championship at Royal
Rumble,[103] but defeated The Undertaker at No Way Out.[104] Three weeks before WrestleMania, The
Rock headlined WWE's Asian tour to Japan, Singapore and Malaysia. The first show was in
Yokohama Arena and had sold 18,000 tickets in sixty minutes. Jericho, who was booked to face him
for all three shows, said he brought out the best in him and described his reaction as "one of the
loudest I'd ever heard in my career. It was as if Elvis had joined The Beatles and all of them were
wearing Godzilla costumes".[105] He then feuded with the New World Order, after
challenging Hollywood Hulk Hogan to a match at WrestleMania X8. The match was billed as "icon
versus icon", with both men representing the top tier of two generations of wrestling; ultimately Rock
pinned Hogan at WrestleMania X8.[106] Despite Rock portraying a heroic character and Hogan a
villain, the Canadian crowd attending the SkyDome cheered for both performers.[107][108] In an interview
in 2013, Hogan indicated that he and The Rock changed the thrust of the match on the fly based on
the crowd's response.[109] After the nWo turned on Hogan for losing the match, The Rock allied with
him and was drafted to the SmackDown! brand, becoming the first WWF wrestler to be drafted in
the WWF draft lottery before taking a short sabbatical from wrestling. [110]
When he returned, The Rock won the WWE Undisputed Championship [111] at Vengeance on July 21,
defeating Kurt Angle and The Undertaker in a triple threat match. [111][112] The Rock successfully
defended the title at Global Warning in Australia against Triple H and Brock Lesnar by pinning Triple
H, who saved The Rock when Lesnar attacked him after the match. [113] At SummerSlam on August
25, after interference from Lesnar's manager Paul Heyman and the use of a steel chair, The Rock
lost the WWE Championship to Lesnar along with the record for the youngest WWE Champion,
which he had set in 1998.[114] In 2018, writing for ESPN.com, Sean Coyle noted in a retrospective
review of the event, that following his victory over Hogan at WrestleMania X8, "The Rock started to
see a dip in fan support" and "that dip turned into a plunge in fan support by the time SummerSlam
rolled around", because the fans knew his career was headed to Hollywood, [115] as he was met with a
negative crowd response during his match against Lesnar. [116] After the event ended, The Rock was
visibly angry at the crowd reaction. When he tried to do a post-show speech for the crowd, the fans
attending the Nassau Coliseum would still boo him.[117] He eventually cut a promo, declaring that he
will still be "The People's Champion", whether the audience likes it or not, and that "sing-along with
The Rock is over", before taking a sabbatical from wrestling in order to focus on his film career. [118]
Final feuds and departure (2003–2004)
The Rock (right) defeated Stone Cold Austin in the latter's final match at WrestleMania XIX in March 2003
The Rock returned on January 30, 2003, episode of SmackDown! as a heel when he publicly
criticized Hulk Hogan and told fans that because of the success of his Hollywood career, WWE was
no longer a priority.[119] Rock defeated Hogan again at No Way Out[120][121] and drafted himself to the
Raw brand where he had various feuds, including one with The Hurricane.[122] He also performed
"Rock concerts", segments in which he played the guitar and mocked the show's host city. [123]
After failing to win number one contendership for the World Heavyweight Championship, The Rock
turned his attention to Steve Austin who, to The Rock's chagrin, had been chosen as "Superstar of
the Decade". This led to a match at WrestleMania XIX, which called back to their previous two
WrestleMania encounters, both of which Austin had won. The Rock won after delivering three
consecutive Rock Bottoms, ending their long-running feud in what turned out to be Austin's final
match.[120][124] The next night, Raw was billed as "The Rock Appreciation Night", in honor of his victory
over Austin. That night, he was attacked by a debuting Goldberg. At Backlash, Goldberg defeated
The Rock, who then left WWE as an active wrestler to focus on his film career. [120][125]
The Rock then occasionally returned to WWE in non-wrestling roles, gradually turning face again by
engaging in one night feuds against heels such as Chris Jericho and Christian.[126][127] The Rock aided
Mick Foley in his feud against Evolution,[4][120][128] leading to a reunion of The Rock 'n' Sock Connection.
They faced Ric Flair, Randy Orton, and Batista in a handicap match at WrestleMania XX, losing
when Orton pinned Foley after the RKO. It turned out to be Rock's last match for the next seven
years.[120][129] The Rock appeared in WWE sporadically following WrestleMania XX. He stood up
for Eugene, made a cameo in his hometown of Miami and helped Mick Foley turn back La
Résistance.[3] Later in 2004, he hosted a pie-eating contest, as part of the WWE Diva Search and
ended the segment by giving Jonathan Coachman a spinebuster and a People's Elbow.[3] On August
23, 2004, episode of Raw, The Rock returned and beat up Jonathan Coachman and La Résistance.
In 2004, he stated he was no longer under contract with the WWE.[130] On March 12, 2007, The Rock
appeared on a WWE show after nearly three years, via a pre-taped promo shown during Raw. He
correctly predicted that Bobby Lashley would defeat Umaga at WrestleMania 23 in Donald
Trump and Vince McMahon's "Battle of the Billionaires" match. [131]
Return to WWE
Feud with John Cena (2011–2013)
The Rock in the ring as host of WrestleMania XXVII in April 2011
On February 14, 2011, episode of Raw, The Rock was revealed as the host of WrestleMania XXVII,
appearing live on Raw for the first time in almost seven years. During a lengthy promo, he
addressed the fans and started a feud with John Cena. [132][133]After numerous appearances via
satellite, The Rock appeared live on the Raw before WrestleMania XXVII to confront Cena. After he
and Cena exchanged insults, The Miz and Alex Riley appeared and attacked The Rock; he fended
off Miz and Riley, only for Cena to blindside him with an Attitude Adjustment.[134]
The Rock (right) and John Cena on Raw, agreeing to a match at WrestleMania XXVIII one year in advance
On April 3 at WrestleMania XXVII, The Rock opened the show by cutting a promo. After appearing in
numerous backstage segments, The Rock came to ringside to restart the main event between Cena
and The Miz as a No Disqualification match, after it had ended in a draw. As revenge for the Attitude
Adjustment Cena had given him on Raw, Rock hit Cena with the Rock Bottom, allowing The Miz to
pin him and retain the WWE Championship. After the match, Rock attacked Miz and hit him with
the People's Elbow.[135] The following night on Raw, Cena challenged The Rock to a match
at WrestleMania XXVIII the next year, which Rock accepted. They then worked together to fend off
an attack by The Corre, which at the time consisted of Wade Barrett, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel,
and Ezekiel Jackson.[136] The Rock appeared live on Raw in his hometown of Miami to celebrate his
39th birthday.[137]
The Rock celebrating his victory at WrestleMania XXVIII in April 2012
On September 16, WWE announced The Rock would wrestle in a traditional 5-on-5 Survivor Series
tag team match, teaming with Cena at Survivor Series in November.[138] However, on the October 24
episode of Raw, Cena instead chose The Rock to be his partner in a standard tag team match
against Awesome Truth,[139] which Rock agreed to the following week via satellite. [140] On November
14, during the special Raw Gets Rocked, The Rock appeared live, delivering Rock Bottoms to Mick
Foley, who had been hosting a "This Is Your Life"-style segment for Cena, and later both members
of Awesome Truth.[141]Despite their rivalry, The Rock and Cena defeated Awesome Truth on
November 20 at Survivor Series, when The Rock pinned The Miz with the People's Elbow. After the
match, The Rock gave Cena a Rock Bottom.[142]
Leading up to WrestleMania, The Rock and Cena had several verbal confrontations on Raw.[143][144] On
March 12, 2012, episode, The Rock hosted his first "Rock Concert" segment since 2004, mocking
Cena in his songs. He opined that, having beaten Hulk Hogan and Stone Cold Steve Austin at
previous WrestleManias, beating Cena would make him the greatest wrestler of all time. [145] On April
1 at WrestleMania XXVIII, The Rock faced Cena in the main event hyped for a year and billed with
the tagline "Once in a Lifetime". When an overconfident Cena attempted the People's Elbow on The
Rock, he countered with a Rock Bottom for the pin and the win.[146] The following night on Raw, The
Rock praised Cena for putting up a good fight, calling their match "an honor". He then vowed to once
again become WWE Champion.[147]
On July 23 at Raw 1000, The Rock announced he would face the WWE Champion at the Royal
Rumble. During the show, he encountered WWE Champion CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, and John
Cena, all of whom expressed a desire to face him. He later saved Cena from an assault by Big
Show, only to be laid out by CM Punk.[148]
The Rock revealing the brand new WWE Championship design in 2013
On January 7, 2013, Raw, The Rock returned to WWE to confront his Rumble opponent, then
reigning champion CM Punk.[149]He also made his first SmackDown appearance in ten years on
January 11 episode, attacking Team Rhodes Scholars with a Rock Bottom to Damien Sandow and
a People's Elbow to Cody Rhodes.[150] The Rock closed out the 20th-anniversary episode of Raw on
January 14 with one of his famous "Rock concerts", leading to a brawl with CM Punk. [151] The
following week on Raw, The Rock was attacked by The Shield. Vince McMahon then asserted that if
The Shield attacked The Rock in his title match with CM Punk, Punk would be stripped of the WWE
Championship.[152] On January 27 at the Royal Rumble, Punk defeated The Rock after The Shield
interfered. McMahon was about to strip Punk of the championship, however, at The Rock's request,
he instead restarted the match. This culminated in The Rock defeating Punk to win his eighth WWE
Championship, a win which marked The Rock's first WWE Championship reign in over ten years,
and ending Punk's long reign as champion at 434 days.[153] Punk received a title rematch with The
Rock at Elimination Chamber, with the added stipulation that if The Rock was disqualified or counted
out, he would lose the title, but Rock pinned Punk to retain the championship. [154]The following night
on Raw, The Rock unveiled the new WWE Championship during his championship celebration, with
an entirely new center plate and his signature Brahma Bull logo on the side plates. [155] The Rock then
resumed his rivalry with John Cena, with Cena blaming his personal and professional troubles on his
loss to The Rock the previous year.[156][157] On April 7 at WrestleMania 29, Rock lost the WWE
Championship to Cena, ending his reign at 70 days. [158] Despite being advertised for the Raw after
WrestleMania, where it was stated by SmackDown General Manager Booker T that The Rock was
still entitled a re-match for the WWE Championship, [159] The Rock did not appear because of a
legitimate injury sustained during WrestleMania, in which his abdominal and adductor tendons tore
from his pelvis.[160] Johnson underwent surgery on April 23 to reattach the torn tendons.
Part-time appearances (2014–2016)
Hogan, Austin and The Rock at WrestleMania XXX in April 2014
In April 2014, the Rock appeared in the opening segment of WrestleMania XXX along with Stone
Cold Steve Austin and Hulk Hogan.[161] On October 6 episode of Raw, the Rock made a surprise
appearance to confront Rusev and Lana; this resulted in the Rock clearing Rusev from the ring. [162]
The Rock appeared at the 2015 Royal Rumble event during the main event match, where he helped
his relative Roman Reignsfend off Big Show and Kane after Reigns eliminated them from the match.
Reigns then won the match and The Rock endorsed him in the ring. [163][164][165] The Rock appeared
at WrestleMania 31 alongside Ronda Rousey, getting into an in-ring altercation with Triple
H and Stephanie McMahon. Rock and Rousey prevailed after he attacked Triple H and she
overpowered McMahon.[166] On June 27, The Rock appeared at a live event in Boston where he
confronted Bo Dallas and giving him a Rock Bottom.[167]
The Wyatt Family confronts The Rock at WrestleMania 32
In January 2016, he returned to Raw in a segment which saw him diss Big Show, Lana and Rusev
before he and his relatives, The Usos, got into an altercation with WWE Tag Team Champions, The
New Day. The Rock made an appearance at WrestleMania 32 where he announced that WWE had
broken the all-time WrestleMania attendance record before being interrupted by The Wyatt Family.
The Rock defeated Wyatt Family member Erick Rowan in an impromptu match, giving him a Rock
Bottom and pinning him in six seconds, which set the record for the fastest win in WrestleMania
history. The Rock was then aided by a returning John Cena to fend off the remaining members of
The Wyatt Family, Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman.[168]
Mainstream popularity in wrestling

The success of Johnson's wrestling character allowed him to cross over into mainstream pop
culture. He appeared on Wyclef Jean's 2000 single "It Doesn't Matter" and in its music video.[169]
[170]
He also recorded "Pie" with Slick Rick for WWF The Music, Vol. 5.[171] In 2000, he hosted Saturday
Night Live.[172] Fellow wrestlers Triple H, The Big Show, and Mick Foley also appeared on the show.[4]
[173]
Johnson has stated the success of that episode is the reason he began receiving offers from
Hollywood studios.[174] Johnson had guest roles on Star Trek: Voyager, as an alien wrestler that uses
The Rock's famous moves,[175] and on That '70s Show as his father, Rocky Johnson.
In 1999, The Rock was listed No. 5 on Entertainment Weekly's Top 12 Entertainers of the Year. [176] In
2000, on an Access Hollywood's prime-time special, The Rock was ranked number six in the Top 10
Celebrities Of 2000.[177] Rock was also listed in Forbes Celebrity 100 that year and People
Magazine's 25 Most Intriguing People. [178][179]
The Rock made a surprise appearance at the official Xbox unveiling during Bill Gates's keynote
speech at the ongoing Computer Electronics Show in 2001. [180] Rock was also listed on E!'s 20 Top
Entertainers[181] and Entertainment Weekly's 101 Most Influential People[182] that year and the previous
year (2000).[183]
In 2002, Rock was listed on E!'s 25 Toughest Stars.[184] In 2003, he was listed in VH1's 200 Greatest
Pop Culture Icons[185] and was No. 13 in People Magazine's 50 Favorite TV Stars. [186]
Johnson's motion picture debut was a brief appearance as The Scorpion King in the opening
sequence of The Mummy Returns. The character appears in the movie's climax in CGI form.[4][172] The
movie's financial success led to Johnson's first leading role, in the spin-off The Scorpion King.[4] He
received US$5.5 million for the role[187][188] and was listed in the 2007 Guinness World Records as the
highest-paid actor in his first starring role. The Mummy Returns, featuring The Rock, shattered a
two-year record by earning $28,594,667, the highest-grossing single day for any film in history. [189]
The Rock has appeared on the covers of many magazines, including Rolling Stone, Entertainment
Weekly,[190] Newsweek,[191] and TV Guide.[192] He has also been the cover athlete for several video
games, including WWE 2K14.[193]
Legacy in wrestling
The Rock has been listed as one of the all-time greatest professional wrestlers [9][10][11] as well as one of
the top box office draws in wrestling history.
Hulk Hogan called The Rock "the biggest superstar in this business", and 16-time world
champion John Cena described him as "the biggest superstar in the history of WWE". [194] In "Cable
Visions: Television Beyond Broadcasting", The Rock was described as "for a long time, the WWE's
biggest star and probably held the greatest international appeal". [195] R.D. Reynolds stated in his book
"The WrestleCrap Book of Lists" that The Rock was "the biggest star for WWE from 1999 until
2004".[196]
Many wrestlers placed The Rock on their "Mount Rushmore of Wrestling" including Hulk Hogan,
[197]
Ric Flair,[198] Chris Jericho[199] and John Cena.[200]
The Rock main-evented the most bought pay-per-view (PPV) worldwide in WWE history
(WrestleMania XXVIII),[201] the most bought pay-per-view (PPV) domestically in WWE history
(WrestleMania X-Seven), the second highest attended event in the history of WWE (WrestleMania
29),[202] the highest rated Raw in history,[203][204]and was part of the highest rated segment
in Raw history.[205] His return in 2001 did a 7.1 rating which was the highest rated segment of the
entire year. The Rock was also part of the highest-rated match of 2000. His steel cage match on
May 1, 2000 with Shane McMahon did an 8.3 rating on the regular time and a 9.1 on the overrun
making this match the most watched professional wrestling match in the United States of this
millennium.[206]
In 2011, The Rock's return to an episode of Raw generated an average of 4.7 million people
viewers, with 7.4 million tuning in during The Rock's promo. [207] His return also led the following
episode of Raw on March 7 to be the highest rated episode of that year.[208] In that same year, The
Rock wrestled his first match in years at 2011 Survivor Series in Madison Square Garden. The event
sold out in less than 90 minutes. [209] The Rock was also part of the highest rated Raw segment in
2012 in a segment on Raw 1000 with CM Punk and Daniel Bryan which drew a 4.3 rating and was
also part of the highest rated overrun of that year (4.4) the same night. [210] The night after the 2013
Royal Rumble on January 28 which saw The Rock win the WWE Championship for the first time in
over a decade was the highest rated Rawepisode of that year.[211]
Derived from one of his catchphrases "lay the smackdown", WWE introduced its second flagship
program WWE SmackDown in 1999 which later became television's second longest-running weekly
episodic program in history.[212] The term "Smackdown" also has been included in Merriam-Webster
dictionaries since 2007.[213][214]
The Rock was the first wrestler to win the WWF/E Championship six times, [215] then seven times.
[216]
Rock's Intercontinental Championship's reign in 1997–98 lasted 265 days and is the longest
intercontinental title reign of the modern era (the last 24 years).[217] Rock is the only wrestler to
introduce a different design of both the Intercontinental Championship (shortly after WrestleMania
XIV) and the WWE Championship (on February 18, 2013 episode of Raw).[218]
The Rock also holds the record for most Raw shows main-evented in one year (38 in 2000),[219] most
SmackDown shows main evented in one year (36 in 2000) [220]and tied with Stone Cold Steve
Austin (in 2001)[221] for most PPV shows main evented in one year (12 in 2000). [222]
Acting career
The Rock during a photo shoot for Vanity Fair in 2001
Johnson became a movie star through his wrestling popularity and noted work ethic. Over his acting
career, he has become one of the highest paid and most successful actors in Hollywood. [223][224][225]
[226]
He began his acting career on television while wrestling. In his first television acting job, in 1999,
he played his own father in an episode of That '70s Show called "That Wrestling Show". Nearly a
year later, he appeared in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Tsunkatse" as an alien wrestler who
fought popular character Seven of Nine. While Johnson was away from WWE, the company
continued to sell "The Rock" merchandise, and he continued to be featured prominently in the
opening montages of their television shows.[22]
Johnson began his career in theatrical roles in action films The Mummy Returns (2001) and The
Scorpion King (2002), the action-comedy The Rundown (2003), and the remake of Walking
Tall (2004). He played a supporting role in Be Cool (2005) and was the primary antagonist
in Doom (2006). Roles in Gridiron Gang (2006) and Reno 911!: Miami (2007) soon followed.
Johnson played against type in Southland Tales (2007). He played a cocky famous American
football player in The Game Plan (2007) and Agent 23 in Get Smart (2008). He presented
the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects at the 80th Academy Awards in February 2008.[227] He
was nominated for the Favorite Movie Actor award at the 2008 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards for
his role in The Game Plan but lost out to Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.
[228][229]
Johnson at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival
Johnson became known for reinvigorating film franchises after portraying Marvin F. Hinton /
Roadblockin G.I. Joe: Retaliation and reprising his role as Luke Hobbs in Fast & Furious 6,[230]
[231]
while also starring in true-story films Pain & Gain and Empire State (all released in 2013). That
same year, he hosted and produced the TNT reality competition series The Hero,[232][233] and won the
Favorite Male Buttkicker Award at the 2013 Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards.[234] In May 2013, it was
announced that he would executive-produce and star in Ballers,[235] an HBO comedy-drama series
about NFL players living in Miami, Florida.[236] By December of that year, Forbes named Johnson the
top-grossing actor of 2013, with his films bringing in $1.3 billion worldwide for the
year. Forbes credited the success of Fast & Furious 6, which grossed $789 million globally, and
Johnson's frequent acting work as primary reasons for his topping the list. [237]
Johnson starred as the title character in Hercules (2014)[238] and reprised his role as Luke Hobbs
in Furious 7 (2015).[239] He hosted another reality series for TNT in 2014, entitled Wake Up Call,
which saw him "lending a helping hand to everyday people who were facing enormous challenges in
their lives" alongside guest experts such as Rocco DiSpirito, Jillian Michaels, and Josh Shipp.[240] It
was announced that he would executive produce and star in the horror film Seal Team 666,[241] and is
set to play Nick Schuyler in the drama film Not Without Hope.[242] In 2016, Johnson co-starred
with Kevin Hart in the action-comedy Central Intelligence and had a lead voice role in the Disney
animated film Moana, in which he voiced the Polynesian demigod Maui. He reprised his role as Luke
Hobbs in The Fate of the Furious, which was released in 2017. Johnson starred in two other
blockbuster movies that year, Baywatch and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle as Mitchell "Mitch"
Buchannon and Dr. Smolder Bravestone, respectively.[243][244] In 2018, he starred in two action
films, Rampage and Skyscraper. He will also produce and appear in Fighting with My Family,
a seriocomedy about WWE Superstar, Paige and her family who are also professional wrestlers. [245]
[246]
By August 2015, Johnson had signed on to star in a film adaptation of The Walt Disney
Company's Jungle Cruise theme park ride.[247] Jaume Collet-Serra signed on as director,
[248]
while Michael Green was hired to rewrite the original script written by J.D. Payne and Patrick
McKay.[249] Emily Blunt will co-star, with Jack Whitehall, Édgar Ramírez and Jesse
Plemons portraying a relative of Blunt's character, and two villains, respectively. [250][251][252] In addition to
his work on the film, Johnson will help re-design the titular ride for all Disney Parks.[253] Production
on Jungle Cruise is scheduled to be released on July 24, 2020.[254][255] Johnson's role within The Fast
and the Furious franchise will continue with Hobbs & Shaw focusing on Johnson and Statham's
roles, followed by a ninth Fast & Furious film. The spin-off will be directed by David Leitch from a
script written by franchise writer Chris Morgan. The film has a scheduled release date of July 26,
2019, with principal photographybeginning early September 2018.
By January 2017, a film centered on Teth-Adam / Black Adam was announced to be in development.
Originally cast in September 2014 as the antagonist in a film about the superhero Shazam, as a part
of the DC Films shared universe, where he would also serve as producer;[256][257] his villainous role
for Shazam! was re-worked into two separate films.[258] By July, Warner Bros. stated that Johnson will
not appear in Shazam! but will remain attached as producer for the film. [259][260] Johnson is noted for his
work-load and for working on multiple projects at once. [261][262] Following the critical and financial
success of Jumanji, a sequel was announced with a release date of December 25, 2019. [263] Johnson
will star in Universal Pictures' Red Notice, written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber. It will
be the third time the two collaborate, following Central Intelligence and Skyscraper.[264] Production on
the films will begin early-2019, consecutively. Johnson will also begin production on Black
Adam later that same year.[265][266]
A sequel to the box-office hit San Andreas was announced to be in the pre-production stage with the
director of the first film, Brad Peyton, returning as director along with the principal cast (marking the
fourth collaboration between the actor and filmmaker following Journey 2, San Andreas,
and Rampage respectively).[267][244]Though originally attached as producer and star, Johnson will now
serve solely as the former on a film adaptation of The Janson Directive. John Cena will fill the
leading role, with Akiva Goldsman attached as screenwriter.[268] Johnson will co-produce and star
in The King, a film about king Kamehameha Kūnuiākea, founder and first ruler of the Kingdom of
Hawai'i. The project will be directed by Robert Zemeckis from a script written by Randall Wallace.
The movie will be comparable to Braveheart in tone, given Wallace's work on both films, and will
depict the king's role in resolving the wars among the islands of Hawai'i. The King will begin
production in 2020.[269]
Johnson is also attached to star in a sequel to Big Trouble in Little China,[270][271] as well as project
under development with Shane Black focusing on a new interpretation of Doc Savage.[272] In April
2018, he announced that he is working on a film that will include Chris Pratt as his co-star.[273]
Other work
In 2000 Johnson published his autobiography, which he co-wrote with Joe Layden, titled The Rock
Says.... It debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times Best Seller listand remaining on the list for
several weeks.[13]
On May 21, 2015, Johnson set a Guinness World Record for most selfies in three minutes, taking
105 selfies with fans during the premiere of San Andreas in London.[274]
In March 2016, Johnson partnered with the American fitness apparel manufacturer Under Armour to
release "Project Rock".[275] The first item in his partnership with Under Armour, a gym bag, sold out in
a couple of days.[276][277] His second item, a black T-shirt sporting the wrestler's iconic "brahma bull"
sold out after being worn at WrestleMania 32.[278] Johnson also released an alarm clock app as part
of "Project Rock" that received more than one million downloads in its first week of release. [279]In
2016, Johnson started a YouTube channel titled "The Rock" with the help of online personality Lilly
Singh. His first video was called "The YouTube Factory" and featured several internet stars. He was
featured in the site's yearly video series "YouTube Rewind" in 2016. [280] [281]
Activism and charity work

Johnson attended the 2000 Democratic National Convention [282] as part of WWE's non-partisan
"Smackdown Your Vote" campaign, which aimed to influence young people to vote. [283] He also had a
speaking role at the 2000 Republican National Convention that same year.[284] In 2017, he
told GQ Magazine that he was registered as an independent.
In 2006, Johnson founded the Dwayne Johnson Rock Foundation, a charity working with at-risk
and terminally ill children.[285] On October 2, 2007, he and his ex-wife donated $1 million to the
University of Miami to support the renovation of its football facilities; it was noted as the largest
donation ever given to the university's athletics department by former students. The University of
Miami renamed the Hurricanes' locker room in Johnson's honor. [286]
Personal life
Johnson with his ex-wife Dany Garcia in April 2009
Johnson's father is a Black Canadian (Nova Scotian)[287] and part of the first black tag team
champions in WWE history back when it was known as the WWF along with Tony Atlas.[288][289] His
mother is from a Samoan family.[290] His maternal grandfather, "High Chief" Peter Maivia, was also a
wrestler, and his maternal grandmother, Lia Maivia, was one of wrestling's few female promoters,
taking over Polynesian Pacific Pro Wrestling after her husband's death in 1982, until 1988. [291]
[30]
Through his mother, he is considered a non-blood relative of the Anoa'i wrestling family.[292][293][294][295]
[296][297][298][299]
On March 29, 2008, The Rock inducted his father and his grandfather into the WWE Hall
of Fame.[300]
As of 2014, Johnson resides in Southwest Ranches, Florida.[301][302] In recognition of his service to the
Samoan people, and because he is a descendant of Samoan chiefs, Johnson had the noble title
of Seiuli bestowed upon him by Malietoa Tanumafili II during his visit there in July 2004. [303] He
received a partial Samoan pe'a tattoo on his left side in 2003, [304] and in 2017 had the small "brahma
bull" tattoo on his right arm covered with a larger half-sleeve tattoo of a bull's skull.[305]
Johnson married Dany Garcia on May 3, 1997. [306] Their only child together, a daughter was born in
2001.[306] On June 1, 2007, they announced they were splitting up amicably; they continue to work
together.[306] Soon after the divorce, Johnson began dating Lauren Hashian, daughter
of Boston drummer Sib Hashian. They first met in 2006 while Johnson was filming The Game Plan.
[307]
Their first child together, a daughter, was born in December 2015. [308] Their second child together,
another daughter, was born in April 2018.[309]
Filmography
Main article: Dwayne Johnson filmography
Discography
Yea
Song Album
r
2000 "It Doesn't Matter" The Ecleftic: 2 Sides II a Book
2001 "Pie" WWF The Music, Vol. 5

Yea
Song Album
r
"You Ain't Woman

2005 Be Cool soundtrack
Enough"
2010 "Wind Beneath My Wings" Tooth Fairy soundtrack
2012 "What a Wonderful World" Journey 2: The Mysterious Island soundtrack
2016 "You're Welcome" Moana soundtrack
WWF/E pay-per-view main events
Pay-per-
Date Event Venue Location Main event
viewbuys[310]
November Survivor St. Louis,

Kiel Center The Rock vs. Mankind 478,000
15, 1998 Series Missouri
1999
WrestleMania First Union Philadelphia, The Rock vs. Stone Cold Steve

March 28 800,000
XV Center Pennsylvania Austin
Backlash: In Providence Providence, Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The

April 25 398,000
Your House Civic Center Rhode Island Rock
Triple H vs. The Rock vs.

September Charlotte Charlotte, North
Unforgiven Mankind vs. The British 330,000
26 Coliseum Carolina
Bulldog vs. Kanevs. Big Show
National Indoor Birmingham,

October 2 Rebellion Triple H vs. The Rock
Arena England
Pay-per-
viewbuys[310]
November Survivor Detroit, Triple H vs. The Rock vs. Big

Joe Louis Arena 448,000
14 Series Michigan Show
2000
Arrowhead
WrestleMania Anaheim, Triple H vs. The Rock vs. Big
April 2 Pond of 824,000
2000 California Show vs. Mick Foley
Anaheim
Washington,
April 30 Backlash MCI Center Triple H vs. The Rock 675,000
D.C.
Earls Court
London, The Rock vs. Triple H vs. Shane
May 6 Insurrextion Exhibition
England McMahon
Centre
Louisville,
May 21 Judgment Day Freedom Hall The Rock vs. Triple H 420,000
Kentucky
The McMahon-Helmsley
Faction (Triple H, Mr.
King of the Boston,
June 25 FleetCenter McMahon and Shane McMahon) 475,000
Ring Massachusetts
vs. The Rock, The Undertaker
and Kane
July 23 Fully Loaded Reunion Arena Dallas, Texas The Rock vs. Chris Benoit 420,000
Raleigh
Entertainment Raleigh, North The Rock vs. Triple H vs. Kurt
August 27 SummerSlam 570,000
and Sports Carolina Angle
Arena
September First Union Philadelphia, The Rock vs. The Undertaker vs.

Unforgiven 605,000
24 Center Pennsylvania Chris Benoit vs. Kane
Pay-per-
viewbuys[310]
Albany, New
October 22 No Mercy Pepsi Arena The Rock vs. Kurt Angle 550,000
York
Kurt Angle vs. The Rock vs.

December Sheffield,
Rebellion Sheffield Arena Stone Cold Steve Austin
2 England
vs. Rikishi
Kurt Angle vs. Stone Cold Steve

Birmingham–
December Birmingham, Austin vs. The Rock vs. The
Armageddon Jefferson Civic 465,000
10 Alabama Undertaker vs. Triple H vs.
Center
Rikishi
2001
February Thomas & Mack Paradise,

No Way Out Kurt Angle vs. The Rock 590,000
25 Center Nevada
WrestleMania Reliant The Rock vs. Stone Cold Steve

April 1 Houston, Texas 1,040,000
X-Seven Astrodome Austin
San Jose,
August 19 SummerSlam Compaq Center Booker T vs. The Rock 565,000
California
November Manchester Manchester, Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The

Rebellion
3 Arena England Rock
Team WWF - The Rock, Chris

Jericho, The Undertaker, Kane
and Big Show
November Survivor Greensboro Greensboro, vs.
450,000
18 Series Coliseum North Carolina Team Alliance - Stone Cold
Steve Austin, Rob Van Dam,
Kurt Angle, Booker T and Shane
McMahon
Pay-per-
viewbuys[310]
2002
Detroit, The Undertaker vs. The Rock vs.

July 21 Vengeance Joe Louis Arena
Michigan Kurt Angle
Nassau
Veterans Uniondale, New
August 25 SummerSlam The Rock vs. Brock Lesnar 540,000
Memorial York
Coliseum
2003
Montreal,
February
No Way Out Bell Centre Quebec, The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan 450,000
23
Canada
Worcester Worcester,
April 27 Backlash The Rock vs. Goldberg 345,000
Centrum Massachusetts
2011
John Cena and The Rock vs.

November Survivor Madison Square New York, New
Awesome Truth (The Miz and R- 281,000
20 Series Garden York
Truth)
2012
WrestleMania Sun Life Miami Gardens,

April 1 John Cena vs. The Rock 1,300,000[311]
XXVIII Stadium Florida
2013
January 27 Royal Rumble US Airways Phoenix, CM Punk vs. The Rock 579,000

Pay-per-
viewbuys[310]
Center Arizona
February Elimination New Orleans New Orleans,

The Rock vs. CM Punk 213,000
17 Chamber Arena Louisiana
WrestleMania East Rutherford,

April 7 MetLife Stadium The Rock vs. John Cena 1,048,000
29 New Jersey
Total sales 14,859,000[a]
Championships and accomplishments
The Rock is a ten-time world champion, pictured here with the WWE Championshipin 2013.
 Pro Wrestling Illustrated

 Match of the Year (1999) vs. Mankind in an "I Quit" match at Royal Rumble[312][313]
 Match of the Year (2002) vs. Hollywood Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania X8[312][313]
 Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (1999, 2000)[312]
 Wrestler of the Year (2000)[312]
 Ranked No. 2 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2000[314]
 United States Wrestling Association
 USWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Bart Sawyer[315]
 World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment/WWE
 WCW/World Championship (2 times)[316][317]
 WWF/WWE Championship[b] (8 times)[318][319]
 WWF Intercontinental Championship (2 times)[320]
 WWF Tag Team Championship (5 times) – with Mankind (3), The Undertaker (1),
and Chris Jericho (1)[321]
 Deadly Games WWF Championship Tournament (1998)
 Royal Rumble (2000)[4]
 Sixth Triple Crown Champion
 Slammy Award (9 times)
 Best Actor (2014)[322]
 Game Changer of the Year (2011) – with John Cena[323]
 Guess Who's Back or: Return of the Year (2011) [324]
 LOL! Moment of the Year (2012, 2013) – insulting John Cena using the history of
Boston, Massachusetts – Rock Concert on the 20th anniversary episode of Raw[325][326]
 Match of the Year (2013) – vs. John Cena for the WWE Championship
at WrestleMania 29[326]
 New Sensation (1997)[327]
 "Tell Me You Didn't Just Say That" Insult of the Year (2014)
– insulting Rusev and Lana[322]
 "This is Awesome" Moment of the Year (2015) – with Ronda Rousey[328]
 Best Box Office Draw (2000, 2011, 2012)[329][330]
 Best Gimmick (1999)
 Best on Interviews (1999, 2000)
 Most Charismatic (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2011, 2012) [329][330]
 Most Improved (1998)
 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 2007)
Other awards and honors

Dwayne Johnson filmography
 1991: NCAA National Championship in Football – as a member of the Miami Hurricanes[331]

 2001: Teen Choice Awards – Choice Movie Villain[332]
 2012: CinemaCon Action Star of the Year[333]
 2013: Kids Choice Awards – Favorite Male Butt Kicker[334]
 2016: People's Choice Award – Favorite Premium Cable TV Actor[335]
 2016: Mr. Olympia ICON Award[336]
 2016: People Magazine Sexiest Man Alive[337]
 2017: Hollywood Walk of Fame induction with a motion pictures star[338][339]
 2017: People's Choice Award for Favorite Premium Series Actor[340]
 2017: NAACP Image Award for Entertainer of the Year[341]
 2018: Forbes #5 at "Celebrity 100 List of The World’s Highest-Paid Entertainers". [342][343]
 2019: Johnson was honored by the First Armored Division, which named one of its Abrams
tanks after him.[344]
Edward Robert Harrison
Edward R. "Ted" Harrison (8 January 1919 – 29 January 2007) [1] was

a British astronomer and cosmologist, noted for his work about the increase of fluctuations in the
expanding universe, for his explanation of Olbers' Paradox, and for his books on cosmology for lay
readers.[1][2][3] He spent much of his career at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and University
of Arizona, USA.
Edward Robert Harrison
Life
Harrison's education at Sir John Cass Technical Institute was interrupted by World War II, during
which he served for six years with the British Army in various military campaigns, eventually serving
as Radar Adviser to the Northern Area of the (British) Egyptian Army. [1]
Following World War II, Harrison became a British civil servant,[1] first with the Atomic Energy
Research Establishment in Harwell, and later at the Rutherford High Energy Laboratory. During this
time he attained the equivalent of university degrees, [1] becoming a graduate, then an Associate, and
finally a Fellow of the Institute of Physics. He also became a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical
Society, the American Physical Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of
Science.
In 1965, Ted Harrison went to the US as a NAS-NRC[1] Senior Research Associate at the
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, in Maryland. In 1966, he became one of the three founders [1] of
the Astronomy Program within the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of
Massachusetts, Amherst. Over the next 30 years, he influenced the revival of the Five College
Astronomy Department, linking UMass to Amherst College, Hampshire College, Smith College,
and Mount Holyoke College. He also played a key role in the rise to international prominence of the
Five College graduate course in astronomy.[1] At his death, he was emeritus Distinguished University
Professor of Physics and Astronomy at UMass,[1] and an adjunct professor at the Steward
Observatory of the University of Arizona.[1]
Work
Ted Harrison had broad interests, and he published more than 200 papers, primarily
in astrophysics and cosmology, but also in space sciences, high energy physics, plasma
physics and physical chemistry.[1] He was an elegant writer with a passion for the history of ideas. His
books (cf. especially his text Cosmology) illustrated points of physics or cosmology with many
literary, philosophical, and historical references.
The work of Harrison and of Soviet physicist Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich on structure formation from
primordial density perturbations in the cosmic plasma has led to the general use of the term
Harrison-Zel'dovich spectrum for primordial random fluctuations characterised by a scale-invariant
power spectrum.[4]
Harrison was fascinated with Olbers' Paradox (the night sky is dark despite the vast number of stars
in the universe). In 1964, he published detailed calculations that solved the paradox by concluding
that stars do not generate enough energy to illuminate the entire sky. [1] In 1987, he published a
book, Darkness at Night, mulling over the Paradox and its rich history. This book clarified that the
lack of energy is not primarily because the universe is expanding, but rather because the stars and
galaxies have had only about 15 billion years to radiate, and do not have sufficient energy to keep
radiating for much longer.[1][2] Darkness at Night lays out how Harrison discovered that Edgar Allan
Poe's essay Eureka anticipated this conclusion, and that Lord Kelvin had reached a very similar
conclusion in a 1901 article ignored for 80 years until Harrison drew attention to it. [1][2]
Harrison's text Cosmology: The Science of the Universe describes the problem of the cosmic edge
of the universe by quoting 5th century BC soldier-philosopher Archytas, who questioned what occurs
as a spear is hurled across the outer boundary of the universe. [1]
His final book, Masks of the Universe (2nd ed., 2003), questions current perceptions of reality,
asking whether present cosmology, with ordinary matter, dark matter, plus dark energy, is yet only
another "mask" obscuring a Universe which will remain perforce forever unknown to humans.
Books by Harrison
 2003 (1985). Masks of the Universe. Cambridge Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0-02-948780-8

 2000 (1981). Cosmology: The Science of the Universe. Cambridge Univ. Press. ISBN 0-521-
66148-X.
 1987. Darkness at Night: A Riddle of the Universe, Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-
674-19270-6.
 1965. Elementary cosmology. OCLC 27124102
Ernest William Brown

Ernest William Brown FRS (29 November 1866 – 22 July 1938) was
an English mathematician and astronomer, who spent the majority of his career working in
the United States and became a naturalised American citizen in 1923.[1][2]
His life's work was the study of the Moon's motion (lunar theory) and the compilation of extremely
accurate lunar tables. He also studied the motion of the planets and calculated the orbits of Trojan
asteroids.
Ernest William Brown
Ernest William Brown, from the American Mathematical Society
Life and career

Brown was born in Hull, England, the second of four children of William and Emma Brown (née
Martin). His father was originally a farmer and later became a timber merchant. His mother and
younger brother died of scarlet fever in 1870, when Brown was not quite 4 years old. He and his two
sisters were then looked after by a maiden aunt, until his father remarried five years later. [1][3]
Education and early career

Brown was educated at Totteridge Park School, Hertfordshire (now part of Dorset House School)
and Hull and East Riding College. After leaving school, he entered Christ's College, Cambridge,
where he graduated with first-class honours as sixth Wrangler in mathematics in 1887.[4][5] He
continued with post-graduate studies at Cambridge and worked under the direction of George
Howard Darwin. In the summer of 1888, Darwin suggested that he study the papers of George
William Hill on the lunar theory. As it turned out, this idea for a line of research was to have a major
impact on the remainder of Brown's life.
Brown was made a fellow of Christ's College in 1889 and was elected as a Fellow of the Royal
Astronomical Society in the same year. He received his master's degree in 1891 and then left
Cambridge to take up a place as a mathematics instructor at Haverford College, Pennsylvania.
There, he rose rapidly to the position of Professor of Mathematics in 1893. However, he continued
most years to return to Cambridge during the summer, often staying with his old tutor, Darwin. [6]
Work on the motion of the Moon

At Haverford, Brown continued with his studies of the lunar theory, and made a thorough review of
the work of earlier researchers, such as Hill, de Pontécoulant, Delaunay and Hansen. His mastery of
the field was shown by the publication of his first great work, An Introductory Treatise on the Lunar
Theory, in 1896, when Brown was still less than 30 years of age. The following year, he was elected
as a Fellow of the Royal Society.[6]
As Brown's work progressed, he gradually evolved a plan to create a completely new lunar theory.
This was eventually published as a series of papers in the Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical
Society between 1897 and 1908. In 1907, he was appointed Professor of Mathematics at Yale
University, with which he secured an agreement for funding the massive task of calculating detailed
tables of the Moon's motion, based on his lunar theory. After a period of 12 years and a cost of over
$34,000, Brown's magnum opus, Tables of the Motion of the Moon, was published in 1919.
Discrepancies between theory and observation

Brown's objective had been to produce an accurate ephemeris of the Moon, based purely on
gravitational theory. For the 'main problem' of the Earth-Moon-Sun system, he calculated terms in
longitude and latitude down to an uncertainty of 0.001 arcseconds. He also included perturbations
due to the other planets (principally Jupiterand Venus) and also accounted for the more difficult
problem of the non-spherical nature of the Earth and Moon.
Observations showed that Brown's tables were indeed superior to those of Hansen, which had been
in use since 1857, but there was still a large unexplained fluctuation in the Moon's mean longitude of
the order of 10 arcseconds. A 'great empirical term', of magnitude 10.71 arcseconds and period 257
years, was introduced to eliminate this as far as possible. Given the precision of Brown's
calculations, it must have come as a great disappointment to have to introduce this arbitrary
adjustment.
It had been discovered by Edmond Halley over two centuries previously that the Moon's motion
appeared to be gradually speeding up. This 'secular acceleration' could not be explained by
gravitational theory alone, and it had been suggested by Simon Newcomb that it was in fact due to a
gradual deceleration of the Earth's rate of rotation, due to friction generated by the tides. The
implication of this was that it was not the Moon that was speeding up – it was time (as measured in
terms of Earth's increasingly long day) that appeared to be slowing down.
Brown devoted much study to this problem and proposed it should be attacked observationally,
using lunar occultations to map the Moon's path more precisely. He also reasoned that, if the
discrepancies were caused by variations in the Earth's rotation, it implied that observations of other
objects would be similarly affected. This was partially verified by observations of transits of Mercury,
but Brown was initially not convinced. However, he eventually concluded that Newcomb was right,
and not only was the Earth's rate of rotation slowing, but also there were random, unpredictable
fluctuations, and he published these findings in a paper in 1926. [4][6] Later work has shown this to be
true, and astronomers now make a distinction between Universal Time, which is based on the
Earth's rotation, and Terrestrial Time (formerly Ephemeris time), which is a uniform measure of the
passage of time (see also ΔT).
Later work and collaborations

Brown was an active member of the American Mathematical Society and served as its President
from 1915 to 1916.[7]
He retained his professorship at Yale until he retired in 1932. As well as continuing his work on the
Moon, he also worked on the motion of the planets around the Sun. In 1933, he published the
book, Planetary Theory, co-authored with Clarence Shook, which contained a detailed exposition
of resonance in planetary orbits and examined the special case of the Trojan asteroids. In 1937, he
was awarded the Watson Medal by the US National Academy of Sciences.
One of Brown's post-graduate pupils was Wallace John Eckert, who became an instructor
at Columbia University while finishing his doctorate. Eckert would improve the pace of astronomical
calculations by automating them with digital computers. [8]
Private life
British Association members on the voyage to South Africa, 1905. Brown is seated at bottom right.
Brown never married, and for most of his adult life lived with his unmarried younger sister, Mildred,
who kept house for him. She made it her job to shield him from "cares and disturbances" and
succeeded in "utterly spoiling him." [1] In his youth, he was a keen rower and mountaineer. He was a
capable pianist and continued to play until a few years before his death. He remained fond of music
and was for a time the head of the New Haven Oratorio Society. Brown also played chess to a high
standard and loved detective stories.
He enjoyed travelling and frequently crossed the Atlantic between the United States and Great
Britain. With several professional colleagues, he was also an enthusiastic participant in the British
Association's extended visit to South Africa and other parts of southern and eastern Africa between
July and October 1905.[9][10]
His daily routine was unusual, and was described as follows: [1]
He was in the habit of going to bed early and as a consequence woke up between three and five
o'clock in the morning. After having fortified himself with strong coffee from a thermos bottle he set to
work without leaving his bed, smoking numerous cigarettes. His serious scientific work was thus
done before he got up for breakfast at nine o'clock.
Death
A heavy smoker, Brown suffered from bronchial trouble for much of his life. He was afflicted by ill-
health during most of the six years of his retirement, and died in New Haven, Connecticut in 1938.
His sister, Mildred, had died a few years before him and his only surviving close family was his
widowed older sister, Ella Yorke, who had emigrated with her husband to New Zealand in the 1890s.
[1]
Legacy
Brown's Tables were adopted by nearly all of the national ephemerides in 1923 for their calculations
of the Moon's position, and continued to be used with some modification until 1983. With the advent
of digital computers, Brown's original trigonometrical expressions, given in the introduction to his
1919 tables (and from which the tables had been compiled), began to be used for direct computation
instead of the tables themselves. This also gained some improvement in precision, since the tables
had embodied some minor approximations, in a trade-off between accuracy and the amount of
labour needed for computations in those days of manual calculation. [11]
By the middle of the 20th century, the difference between Universal and Ephemeris Time had been
recognised and evaluated, and the troublesome empirical terms were removed. [11] Further
adjustments to Brown's theory were then made, arising from improved observational values of the
fundamental astronomical constants used in the theory, and from re-working Brown's original
analytical expansions to gain more precise versions of the coefficients used in the theory. [12]
Eventually, in 1984, Brown's work was replaced by results gained from more modern observational
data (including data from lunar laser ranging) and altogether new computational methods for
calculating the Moon's ephemeris.[13]
Honours
Awards
 Adams Prize (1907)
 Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1907)
 Bruce Medal (1920)
 James Craig Watson Medal (1936)
Named after him
 The crater Brown on the Moon

 Asteroid 1643 Brown
 Brown lunation number
George Walker Bush.

George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who served as
the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. He had previously served as the
46th governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000.
Bush was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and grew up in Texas. After graduating from Yale
University in 1968 and Harvard Business School in 1975, he worked in the oil industry.[4] Bush
married Laura Welch in 1977 and unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. House of Representatives shortly
thereafter. He later co-owned the Texas Rangers baseball team before defeating Ann Richards in
the 1994 Texas gubernatorial election. Bush was elected President of the United States
in 2000 when he defeated Democratic incumbent Vice President Al Gore after a close and
controversial win that involved a stopped recount in Florida. He became the fourth person to be
elected president while receiving fewer popular votes than his opponent. [5] Bush is a member of a
prominent political family and is the eldest son of Barbara and George H. W. Bush, the 41st
president of the United States. He is only the second president to assume the nation's highest office
after his father, following the footsteps of John Adams and his son, John Quincy Adams.[6] His
brother, Jeb Bush, a former Governor of Florida, was a candidate for the Republican presidential
nomination in the 2016 presidential election. His paternal grandfather, Prescott Bush, was a U.S.
Senator from Connecticut.
George W. Bush
43rd President of the United States
In office
January 20, 2001 – January 20, 2009
The September 11 terrorist attacks occurred eight months into Bush's first term. Bush responded
with what became known as the Bush Doctrine: launching a "War on Terror", an international military
campaign that included the war in Afghanistan in 2001 and the Iraq War in 2003. He signed into
law broad tax cuts, the Patriot Act, the No Child Left Behind Act, the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban
Act, Medicare prescription drug benefits for seniors, and funding for the AIDS relief program known
as PEPFAR. His tenure included national debates on immigration, Social Security, electronic
surveillance, and torture. In the 2004 presidential race, Bush defeated Democratic Senator John
Kerry in another relatively close election. After his re-election, Bush received increasingly
heated criticism from across the political spectrum[7][8][9] for his handling of the Iraq War, Hurricane
Katrina,[10][11][12] and other challenges. Amid this criticism, the Democratic Party regained control of
Congress in the 2006 elections. In December 2007, the United States entered its longest post-World
War II recession, often referred to as the "Great Recession", prompting the Bush administration to
obtain congressional passage of multiple economic programs intended to preserve the country's
financial system.
Nationally, Bush was both one of the most popular and unpopular U.S. presidents in history, having
received the highest recorded presidential approval ratings in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, as well
as one of the lowest approval ratings during the 2008 financial crisis.[13] Bush finished his term in
office in 2009 and returned to Texas, where he had purchased a home in Dallas. In 2010, he
published his memoir, Decision Points.[14] His presidential library was opened in 2013. His presidency
has been ranked among the worstin historians' polls that were published in the late 2000s and
2010s. However, his favorability ratings with the public have increased since leaving office. [15][16][17][18]
Early life and career

Early life of George W. Bush
George Walker Bush was born on July 6, 1946, at Yale–New Haven Hospital in New Haven,
Connecticut, while his father was a student at Yale.[19] He was the first child of George Herbert
Walker Bush (1924-2018) and his wife, Barbara Pierce (1925-2018). He was raised
in Midland and Houston, Texas, with four siblings, Jeb, Neil, Marvin and Dorothy. Another younger
sister, Robin, died from leukemia at the age of three in 1953.[20] His grandfather, Prescott Bush, was
a U.S. Senator from Connecticut.[21]His father was Ronald Reagan's vice president from 1981 to 1989
and the 41st U.S. president from 1989 to 1993. Bush has English and some German ancestry, along
with more distant Dutch, Welsh, Irish, French, and Scottish roots.[22]
George W. Bush with his parents, Barbara and George H. W. Bush, c. 1947
Education
Bush attended public schools in Midland, Texas, until the family moved to Houston after he had
completed seventh grade. He then spent two years at The Kinkaid School, a prep school in Piney
Point Village in the Houston area.[23]
Bush attended high school at Phillips Academy, a boarding school in Andover, Massachusetts,
where he played baseball and was the head cheerleader during his senior year. [24][25] He
attended Yale University from 1964 to 1968, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history.
[26]
During this time, he was a cheerleader and a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon, serving as the
president of the fraternity during his senior year. [27][28][29] Bush became a member of the Skull and
Bonessociety as a senior.[30] Bush was a rugby union player and was on Yale's 1st XV.[31] He
characterized himself as an average student.[32] His GPA during his first three years at Yale was 77,
and he had a similar average under a nonnumeric rating system in his final year. [33]
In the fall of 1973, Bush entered Harvard Business School. He graduated in 1975 with
an MBA degree. He is the only U.S. president to have earned an MBA. [34]
Family and personal life

Bush family
George and Laura Bush with their daughters Jenna and Barbara, 1990
Bush was initially engaged to Cathryn Lee Wolfman in 1967, but the engagement eventually fizzled
out. Bush and Wolfman remained on good terms after the end of the relationship. [35] While Bush was
at a backyard barbecue in 1977, friends introduced him to Laura Welch, a schoolteacher and
librarian. After a three-month courtship, she accepted his marriage proposal and they wed on
November 5 of that year.[36] The couple settled in Midland, Texas. Bush left his family's Episcopal
Churchto join his wife's United Methodist Church.[37] On November 25, 1981, Laura Bush gave birth
to fraternal twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna.[36]
Alcohol abuse
Prior to getting married, Bush struggled with multiple episodes of alcohol abuse. [38]In one instance on
September 4, 1976, he was pulled over near his family's summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine for
driving under the influence of alcohol. He was cited for DUI, fined $150 (equivalent to $660 in 2018),
and got his Maine driver's license briefly suspended. [39] Bush said his wife has had a stabilizing effect
on his life,[36] and he attributes her influence to his 1986 decision to give up alcohol. [40] While Governor
of Texas, Bush said of his wife, "I saw an elegant, beautiful woman who turned out not only to be
elegant and beautiful, but very smart and willing to put up with my rough edges, and I must confess
has smoothed them off over time."[36]
Hobbies
Bush has been an avid reader throughout his adult life, preferring biographies and histories. [41] During
his time as president, Bush read the Bible daily.[42] He also read 14 Lincoln biographies, and during
the last three years of his presidency, he reportedly read 186 books. Walt Harrington, a journalist,
recalled seeing "books by John Fowles, F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce, and Gore Vidal lying
about, as well as biographies of Willa Cather and Queen Victoria" in his home when Bush was a
Texas oilman. Other activities include cigar smoking and golf. [43] Since leaving the White House,
Bush has also taken up oil painting. [44]
Military career
George W. Bush military service controversy
Killian documents controversy and Killian documents authenticity issues
Lt. George W. Bush in the Texas Air National Guard, 1968
In May 1968, Bush was commissioned into the Texas Air National Guard.[45] After two years of
training in active-duty service,[46] he was assigned to Houston, flying Convair F-102s with the 147th
Reconnaissance Wing out of the Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base.[45][47] Critics, including
former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe, have alleged that Bush was
favorably treated due to his father's political standing as a member of the House of Representatives,
citing his selection as a pilot despite his low pilot aptitude test scores and his irregular attendance.
[45]
In June 2005, the United States Department of Defense released all the records of Bush's Texas
Air National Guard service, which remain in its official archives.[48]
In late 1972 and early 1973, he drilled with the 187th Fighter Wing of the Alabama Air National
Guard. He had moved to Montgomery, Alabama, to work on the unsuccessful U.S. Senate campaign
of Republican Winton M. Blount.[49][50] In 1972, Bush was suspended from flying for failure to take a
scheduled physical exam.[51] He was honorably discharged from the Air Force Reserve on November
21, 1974.[52]
Business career
Professional life of George W. Bush
Bush greeting President Ronald Reagan in 1988
In 1977, Bush established Arbusto Energy, a small oil exploration company, although it did not begin
operations until the following year.[53][54] He later changed the name to Bush Exploration. In 1984, his
company merged with the larger Spectrum 7, and Bush became chairman.[55] The company was hurt
by decreased oil prices, and it folded into HKN, Inc.,[55][56] with Bush becoming a member of HKN's
board of directors.[55] Questions of possible insider trading involving HKN arose, but a Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation concluded that the information Bush had at the time of
his stock sale was not sufficient to constitute insider trading. [55][57]
In April 1989, Bush arranged for a group of investors to purchase a controlling interest in the Texas
Rangers baseball franchise for $89 million and invested $500,000 himself to start. He then served as
managing general partner for five years.[58] He actively led the team's projects and regularly attended
its games, often choosing to sit in the open stands with fans.[59] Bush's sale of his shares in the
Rangers in 1998 brought him over $15 million from his initial $800,000 investment.[60]
Early political involvement

George W. Bush with his father outside the White House, April 29, 1992
In 1978, Bush ran for the House of Representatives from Texas's 19th congressional district. The
retiring member, George H. Mahon, had held the district for the Democratic Party since 1935. Bush's
opponent, Kent Hance, portrayed him as out of touch with rural Texans, and Bush lost the election
with 46.8 percent of the vote to Hance's 53.2 percent. [61]
Bush and his family moved to Washington, D.C., in 1988 to work on his father's campaign for the
U.S. presidency.[62][63] He served as a campaign advisor and liaison to the media, and assisted his
father by campaigning across the country.[55] In December 1991, Bush was one of seven people
named by his father to run his father's 1992 presidential re-election campaign, as a "campaign
advisor".[64] The previous month, his father had asked him to tell White House chief of staff John H.
Sununu that he should resign.[65]
Governor of Texas (1995–2000)
Governorship of George W. Bush
Bush declared his candidacy for the 1994 Texas gubernatorial election at the same time that his
brother Jeb sought the governorship of Florida. His campaign focused on four themes: welfare
reform, tort reform, crime reduction, and education improvement.[55] Bush's campaign advisers
were Karen Hughes, Joe Allbaugh, and Karl Rove.[66]
Governor Bush (right) with father, former president George H. W. Bushand wife, Laura, in 1997
After easily winning the Republican primary, Bush faced popular Democratic incumbent
Governor Ann Richards.[55][67] In the course of the campaign, Bush pledged to sign a bill allowing
Texans to obtain permits to carry concealed weapons. Richards had vetoed the bill, but Bush signed
it into law after he became governor.[68] According to The Atlantic Monthly, the race "featured a rumor
that she was a lesbian, along with a rare instance of such a tactic's making it into the public record –
when a regional chairman of the Bush campaign allowed himself, perhaps inadvertently, to be
quoted criticizing Richards for 'appointing avowed homosexual activists' to state jobs".[69] The Atlantic,
and others, connected the lesbian rumor to Karl Rove,[70] but Rove denied being involved. [71] Bush
won the general election with 53.5 percent against Richards' 45.9 percent.[72]
Bush used a budget surplus to push through Texas's largest tax-cut, $2 billion. [66] He extended
government funding for organizations providing education of the dangers of alcohol and drug use
and abuse, and helping to reduce domestic violence.[73] Critics contended that during his tenure,
Texas ranked near the bottom in environmental evaluations. Supporters pointed to his efforts to
raise the salaries of teachers and improve educational test scores. [55]
In 1999, Bush signed a law that required electric retailers to buy a certain amount of energy from
renewable sources(RPS),[74][75][76] which helped Texas eventually become the leading producer of wind
powered electricity in the U.S.[77][78][79]
In 1998, Bush won re-election with a record[55] 69 percent of the vote.[80] He became the first governor
in Texas history to be elected to two consecutive four-year terms. [55] For most of Texas history,
governors served two-year terms; a constitutional amendment extended those terms to four years
starting in 1975.[81] In his second term, Bush promoted faith-based organizations and enjoyed high
approval ratings.[55] He proclaimed June 10, 2000, to be Jesus Day in Texas, a day on which he
"urge[d] all Texans to answer the call to serve those in need". [82]
Throughout Bush's first term, he was the focus of national attention as a potential future presidential
candidate. Following his re-election, speculation soared, and within a year he decided to seek the
2000 Republican presidential nomination.[55]
Presidential campaigns
2000 presidential candidacy
2000 United States presidential election
George W. Bush 2000 presidential campaign
Primary
George W. Bush in Concord, New Hampshire, signing to be a candidate for president
Incumbent Democratic president Bill Clinton was completing his second and final term, and the field
for nomination for President of both parties was wide open. Bush was the Governor of Texas in June
1999 when he announced his candidacy for President of the United States. He entered a large field
of hopefuls for the Republican Party presidential nomination that included John McCain, Alan
Keyes, Steve Forbes, Gary Bauer, Orrin Hatch, Elizabeth Dole, Dan Quayle, Pat Buchanan, Lamar
Alexander, John Kasich, and Bob Smith.
Bush portrayed himself as a compassionate conservative, implying he was more centrist than other
Republicans. He campaigned on a platform that included bringing integrity and honor back to the
White House, increasing the size of the United States Armed Forces, cutting taxes, improving
education, and aiding minorities. [55] By early 2000, the race had centered on Bush and McCain. [55]
Bush won the Iowa caucuses, and although he was heavily favored to win the New Hampshire
primary, he trailed McCain by 19 percent and lost that primary. Despite this, Bush regained
momentum, and according to political observers, he effectively became the front runner after
the South Carolina primary—which according to The Boston Globe—made history for his campaign's
negativity. The New York Times described it as a smear campaign.[83][84][85]
General election
2000 electoral vote results
On July 25, 2000, Bush surprised some observers when he selected Dick Cheney—a former White
House Chief of Staff, U.S. Representative, and Secretary of Defense—to be his running mate. At the
time, Cheney was serving as head of Bush's vice presidential search committee. Soon after at
the 2000 Republican National Convention, Bush and Cheney were officially nominated by the
Republican Party.
Bush continued to campaign across the country and touted his record as Governor of Texas.
[55]
During his campaign, Bush criticized his Democratic opponent, incumbent Vice President Al Gore,
over gun control and taxation.[86]
When the election returns were tallied on November 7, Bush had won 29 states, including Florida.
The closeness of the Florida outcome led to a recount.[55] The initial recount also went to Bush, but
the outcome was tied up in lower courts for a month until eventually reaching the U.S. Supreme
Court.[87] On December 9, in the controversial Bush v. Gore ruling,[88] the Court reversed a Florida
Supreme Court decision that had ordered a third count, and stopped an ordered statewide hand
recount based on the argument that the use of different standards among Florida's counties violated
the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.[55] The machine recount showed that
Bush had won the Florida vote by a margin of 537 votes out of six million cast. [89] Although he had
received 543,895 fewer individual nationwide votes than Gore, Bush won the election, receiving
271 electoral votes to Gore's 266 (Gore's statewide victories had electoral votes tallying 267;
however, one of Gore's pledged electors abstained, rendering the official tally at 266). Bush was the
first person to win an American presidential election with fewer popular votes than another candidate
since Benjamin Harrison in 1888.[89]
2004 presidential candidacy

United States presidential election, 2004
George W. Bush speaks at a campaign rally in 2004
2004 electoral vote results
In his 2004 bid for re-election, Bush commanded broad support in the Republican Party and did not
encounter a primary challenge. He appointed Ken Mehlman as campaign manager, and Karl
Rove devised a political strategy.[90] Bush and the Republican platform emphasized a strong
commitment to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, [91] support for the USA PATRIOT Act,[92] a renewed
shift in policy for constitutional amendments banning abortion and same-sex marriage,[91]
[93]
reforming Social Security to create private investment accounts, [91]creation of an ownership
society,[91] and opposing mandatory carbon emissions controls.[94]Bush also called for the
implementation of a guest worker program for immigrants,[91] which was criticized by conservatives.[95]
The Bush campaign advertised across the U.S. against Democratic candidates, including Bush's
emerging opponent, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry. Kerry and other Democrats attacked Bush
on the Iraq War, and accused him of failing to stimulate the economy and job growth. The Bush
campaign portrayed Kerry as a staunch liberal who would raise taxes and increase the size of
government. The Bush campaign continuously criticized Kerry's seemingly contradictory statements
on the war in Iraq,[55]and argued that Kerry lacked the decisiveness and vision necessary for success
in the War on Terror.
In the election, Bush carried 31 of 50 states, receiving a total of 286 electoral votes. He won an
absolute majority of the popular vote (50.7 percent to his opponent's 48.3 percent).[96] Bush's father
George H.W. Bush was the previous president who won an absolute majority of the popular vote; he
accomplished that feat in the 1988 election. Additionally, it was the first time since Herbert
Hoover's election in 1928 that a Republican president was elected alongside re-elected Republican
majorities in both Houses of Congress.
Presidency (2001–2009)
Presidency of George W. Bush
President Bush addressing the media at the Pentagon, September 17, 2001
Bush had originally outlined an ambitious domestic agenda, but his priorities were significantly
altered following the September 11 attacks.[97] Wars were waged in Afghanistan and Iraq, and there
were significant domestic debates regarding immigration, healthcare, Social Security, economic
policy, and treatment of terrorist detainees. Over an eight-year period, Bush's once-high approval
ratings[98] steadily declined, while his disapproval numbers increased significantly. [99] In 2007, the
United States entered the longest post-World War II recession. [100]
Domestic policy
Domestic policy of the George W. Bush administration
Economic policy
Economic policy of the George W. Bush administration
Bush took office during a period of economic recession in the wake of the bursting of the dot-com
bubble.[101] The terrorist attacks also impacted the economy. His administration increased
federal government spending from $1.789 trillion to $2.983 trillion (60 percent) while revenues
increased from $2.025 trillion to $2.524 trillion (from 2000 to 2008). Individual income tax revenues
increased by 14 percent, corporate tax revenues by 50 percent, customs and duties by 40 percent.
Discretionary defense spending was increased by 107 percent, discretionary domestic spending by
62 percent, Medicare spending by 131 percent, social security by 51 percent, and income security
spending by 130 percent. Cyclically adjusted, revenues rose by 35 percent and spending by
65 percent.[102]
President Bush signing a $1.35 trillion tax cut into law, June 7, 2001
The increase in spending was more than under any predecessor since Lyndon B. Johnson.[103] The
number of economic regulation governmental workers increased by 91,196. [104]
The surplus in fiscal year 2000 was $237 billion—the third consecutive surplus and the largest
surplus ever.[105] In 2001, Bush's budget estimated that there would be a $5.6 trillion surplus over the
next ten years.[106] Facing congressional opposition, Bush held townhall style meetings across the
U.S. in order to increase public support for his plan for a $1.35 trillion tax cut program—one of the
largest tax cuts in U.S. history.[55] Bush argued that unspent government funds should be returned to
taxpayers, saying "the surplus is not the government's money. The surplus is the people's
money."[55] Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan warned of a recession and Bush stated that a
tax cut would stimulate the economy and create jobs. [107] Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill, opposed
some of the tax cuts on the basis that they would contribute to budget deficits and undermine Social
Security.[108] O'Neill disputes the claim, made in Bush's book Decision Points, that he never openly
disagreed with him on planned tax cuts.[109] By 2003, the economy showed signs of improvement,
though job growth remained stagnant. [55] Another tax cut program was passed that year.
During the 2001 to 2008 years, GDP grew at an average annual rate of 2.125 percent,[110] less than
for past business cycles.[111]
Bush entered office with the Dow Jones Industrial Average at 10,587, and the average peaked in
October 2007 at over 14,000. When Bush left office, the average was at 7,949, one of the lowest
levels of his presidency.[112] Only four other US presidents have left office with the stock market lower
than when they began.[113]
Deficit and debt increases 2001–2009. Gross debt has increased over $500 billion each year since
FY2003.
Unemployment originally rose from 4.2 percent in January 2001 to 6.3 percent in June 2003, but
subsequently dropped to 4.5 percent as of July 2007.[114] Adjusted for inflation, median household
incomedropped by $1,175 between 2000 and 2007,[115] while Professor Ken Homa of Georgetown
University has noted that "Median real after-tax household income went up 2 percent". [116] The
poverty rate increased from 11.3 percent in 2000 to 12.3 percent in 2006 after peaking at
12.7 percent in 2004.[117] By October 2008, due to increases in spending, [118] the national debt had
risen to $11.3 trillion,[119] an increase of over 100 percent from 2000 when the debt was only
$5.6 trillion.[120][121] Most debt was accumulated as a result of what became known as the "Bush tax
cuts" and increased national security spending. [122] In March 2006, then-Senator Barack Obama said
when he voted against raising the debt ceiling: "The fact that we are here today to debate raising
America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure."[123] By the end of Bush's presidency,
unemployment climbed to 7.2 percent.[124]
In December 2007, the United States entered the longest post–World War II recession,[100] which
included a housing market correction, a subprime mortgage crisis, soaring oil prices, and a declining
dollar value.[125] In February, 63,000 jobs were lost, a five-year record. [126][127] To aid with the situation,
Bush signed a $170 billion economic stimulus package which was intended to improve the economic
situation by sending tax rebate checks to many Americans and providing tax breaks for struggling
businesses. The Bush administration pushed for significantly increased regulation of Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac in 2003,[128] and after two years, the regulations passed the House but died in
the Senate. Many Republican senators, as well as influential members of the Bush Administration,
feared that the agency created by these regulations would merely be mimicking the private sector's
risky practices.[129][130][131] In September 2008, the crisis became much more seriousbeginning with the
government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac followed by the collapse of Lehman
Brothers and a federal bailout of American International Group for $85 billion.[132]
Many economists and world governments determined that the situation had become the worst
financial crisis since the Great Depression.[133][134] Additional regulation over the housing market would
have been beneficial, according to former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan.[135] Bush,
meanwhile, proposed a financial rescue plan to buy back a large portion of the U.S. mortgage
market.[136] Vince Reinhardt, a former Federal Reserve economist now at the American Enterprise
Institute, said "it would have helped for the Bush administration to empower the folks at Treasury
and the Federal Reserve and the comptroller of the currency and the FDIC to look at these issues
more closely", and additionally, that it would have helped "for Congress to have held hearings". [130]
In November 2008, over 500,000 jobs were lost, which marked the largest loss of jobs in the United
States in 34 years.[137]The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in the last four months of 2008,
1.9 million jobs were lost.[138] By the end of 2008, the U.S. had lost a total of 2.6 million jobs.[139]
Education and health
Bush undertook a number of educational agendas, such as increasing the funding for the National
Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health in his first years of office, and creating
education programs to strengthen the grounding in science and mathematics for American high
school students. Funding for the NIH was cut in 2006, the first such cut in 36 years, due to rising
inflation.[140]
President Bush signing the No Child Left Behind Act into law, January 8, 2002
One of the administration's early major initiatives was the No Child Left Behind Act, which aimed to
measure and close the gap between rich and poor student performance, provide options to parents
with students in low-performing schools, and target more federal funding to low-income schools. This
landmark education initiative passed with broad bipartisan support, including that of Senator Ted
Kennedy of Massachusetts.[141] It was signed into law by Bush in early 2002.[142]Many contend that the
initiative has been successful, as cited by the fact that students in the U.S. have performed
significantly better on state reading and math tests since Bush signed "No Child Left Behind" into
law.[143] Critics argue that it is underfunded [144] and that NCLBA's focus on "high-stakes testing" and
quantitative outcomes is counterproductive.[145]
After being re-elected, Bush signed into law a Medicare drug benefit program that, according to Jan
Crawford, resulted in "the greatest expansion in America's welfare state in forty years;" the bill's
costs approached $7 trillion.[146] In 2007, Bush opposed and vetoed State Children's Health Insurance
Program (SCHIP) legislation, which was added by the Democrats onto a war funding bill and passed
by Congress. The SCHIP legislation would have significantly expanded federally funded health care
benefits and plans to children of some low-income families from about six million to ten million
children. It was to be funded by an increase in the cigarette tax. [147] Bush viewed the legislation as a
move toward socialized health care, and asserted that the program could benefit families making as
much as $83,000 per year who did not need the help. [148]
Social services and Social Security
Following Republican efforts to pass the Medicare Act of 2003, Bush signed the bill, which included
major changes to the Medicare program by providing beneficiaries with some assistance in paying
for prescription drugs, while relying on private insurance for the delivery of benefits. [149] The retired
persons lobby group AARP worked with the Bush Administration on the program and gave their
endorsement. Bush said the law, estimated to cost $400 billion over the first ten years, would give
the elderly "better choices and more control over their health care". [150]
President Bush discussing Social Security reform at the Lake Nona YMCA Family Center in Orlando,
Florida, March 18, 2005
Bush began his second term by outlining a major initiative to "reform" Social Security,[151] which was
facing record deficit projections beginning in 2005. Bush made it the centerpiece of his domestic
agenda despite opposition from some in the U.S. Congress. [151] In his 2005 State of the Union
Address, Bush discussed the potential impending bankruptcy of the program and outlined his new
program, which included partial privatization of the system, personal Social Security accounts, and
options to permit Americans to divert a portion of their Social Security tax (FICA) into secured
investments.[151] Democrats opposed the proposal to partially privatize the system. [151]
Bush embarked on a 60-day national tour, campaigning for his initiative in media events known as
"Conversations on Social Security", in an attempt to gain public support. [152] Nevertheless, public
support for the proposal declined[153] and the House Republican leadership decided not to put Social
Security reform on the priority list for the remainder of their 2005 legislative agenda. [154] The
proposal's legislative prospects were further diminished by the fall of 2005 political fallout
from Hurricane Katrina.[155] After the Democrats gained control of both houses of Congress as a result
of the 2006 midterm elections, there was no prospect of further congressional action on the Bush
proposal for the remainder of his term in office.
Environmental policies
Main article: Domestic policy of the George W. Bush administration § Environment
Upon taking office in 2001, Bush stated his opposition to the Kyoto Protocol, an amendment to
the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change which seeks to impose mandatory
targets for reducing greenhouse gasemissions, citing that the treaty exempted 80 percent of the
world's population[156] and would have cost tens of billions of dollars per year. [157] He also cited that the
Senate had voted 95–0 in 1997 on a resolution expressing its disapproval of the protocol.
In May 2001, Bush signed an executive order to create an interagency task force to streamline
energy projects,[158] and later signed two other executive orders to tackle environmental issues. [159]
In 2002, Bush announced the Clear Skies Act of 2003,[160] which aimed at amending the Clean Air
Act to reduce air pollution through the use of emissions trading programs. Many experts argued that
this legislation would have weakened the original legislation by allowing higher emission rates of
pollutants than were previously legal. [161] The initiative was introduced to Congress, but failed to make
it out of committee.
Later in 2006, Bush declared the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands a national monument, creating the
largest marine reserve to date. The Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument comprises
84 million acres (340,000 km2) and is home to 7,000 species of fish, birds, and other marine animals,
many of which are specific to only those islands.[162] The move was hailed by conservationists for "its
foresight and leadership in protecting this incredible area". [163]
Bush has said that he believes that global warming is real[164] and has noted that it is a serious
problem, but he asserted there is a "debate over whether it's man-made or naturally caused". [165] The
Bush Administration's stance on global warming remained controversial in the scientific and
environmental communities. Critics have alleged that the administration [166]misinformed the public
and did not do enough to reduce carbon emissions and deter global warming.[167]
Energy policies
In his 2006 State of the Union Address, Bush declared, "America is addicted to oil" and announced
his Advanced Energy Initiative to increase energy development research.[168]
President Bush delivering a statement on energy, urging Congress to end offshore oil drill ban, June 18,
2008
In his 2007 State of the Union Address, Bush renewed his pledge to work toward diminished reliance
on foreign oil by reducing fossil fuel consumption and increasing alternative fuel production.[169] Amid
high gasoline prices in 2008, Bush lifted a ban on offshore drilling.[170] However, the move was largely
symbolic because there was still a federal law banning offshore drilling. Bush said, "This means that
the only thing standing between the American people and these vast oil reserves is action from the
U.S. Congress."[170] Bush had said in June 2008, "In the long run, the solution is to reduce demand for
oil by promoting alternative energy technologies. My administration has worked with Congress to
invest in gas-saving technologies like advanced batteries and hydrogen fuel cells... In the short run,
the American economy will continue to rely largely on oil. And that means we need to increase
supply, especially here at home. So my administration has repeatedly called on Congress to expand
domestic oil production."[171]
In his 2008 State of the Union Address, Bush announced that the U.S. would commit $2 billion over
the next three years to a new international fund to promote clean energy technologies and fight
climate change, saying, "Along with contributions from other countries, this fund will increase and
accelerate the deployment of all forms of cleaner, more efficient technologies in developing nations
like India and China, and help leverage substantial private-sector capital by making clean energy
projects more financially attractive." He also announced plans to reaffirm the United States'
commitment to work with major economies, and, through the UN, to complete an international
agreement that will slow, stop, and eventually reverse the growth of greenhouse gases; he stated,
"This agreement will be effective only if it includes commitments by every major economy and gives
none a free ride."[172]
Stem cell research and first veto
Federal funding for medical research involving the creation or destruction of human embryos through
the Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institutes of Health has been
forbidden by law since the passage in 1995 of the Dickey-Wicker Amendment by Congress and the
signature of President Bill Clinton.[173] Bush has said that he supports adult stem cell research and
has supported federal legislation that finances adult stem cell research. However, Bush did not
support embryonic stem cell research.[174] On August 9, 2001, Bush signed an executive order lifting
the ban on federal funding for the 71 existing "lines" of stem cells, [175] but the ability of these existing
lines to provide an adequate medium for testing has been questioned. Testing can be done on only
12 of the original lines, and all approved lines have been cultured in contact with mouse cells, which
creates safety issues that complicate development and approval of therapies from these lines. [176] On
July 19, 2006, Bush used his veto power for the first time in his presidency to veto the Stem Cell
Research Enhancement Act. The bill would have repealed the Dickey-Wicker Amendment, thereby
permitting federal money to be used for research where stem cells are derived from the destruction
of an embryo.[177]
Genetic Nondiscrimination
On May 21, 2008, Bush signed into law the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA).[178]
[179]
The bill aimed to protect Americans against health insurance and employment discrimination
based on a person's genetic information. The issue had been debated for 13 years before it finally
became law. The measure is designed to protect citizens without hindering genetic research.
Immigration
President Bush discussing border security with Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff near El Paso,
November 2005
Nearly 8 million immigrants came to the United States from 2000 to 2005, more than in any other
five-year period in the nation's history.[180] Almost half entered illegally.[181] In 2006, Bush urged
Congress to allow more than 12 million illegal immigrants to work in the United States with the
creation of a "temporary guest-worker program". Bush also urged Congress to provide additional
funds for border security and committed to deploying 6,000 National Guard troops to the Mexico–
United States border.[182] From May to June 2007, Bush strongly supported the Comprehensive
Immigration Reform Act of 2007, which was written by a bipartisan group of Senators with the active
participation of the Bush administration.[183] The bill envisioned a legalization program for illegal
immigrants, with an eventual path to citizenship; establishing a guest worker program; a series of
border and work site enforcement measures; a reform of the green card application process and the
introduction of a point-based "merit" system for green cards; elimination of "chain migration" and of
the Diversity Immigrant Visa; and other measures. Bush argued that the lack of legal status denies
the protections of U.S. laws to millions of people who face dangers of poverty and exploitation, and
penalizes employers despite a demand for immigrant labor. [184] Bush contended that the proposed bill
did not amount to amnesty.[185]
A heated public debate followed, which resulted in a substantial rift within the Republican Party,
most conservatives opposed it because of its legalization or amnesty provisions. [186] The bill was
eventually defeated in the Senate on June 28, 2007, when a cloture motion failed on a 46–53 vote.
[187]
Bush expressed disappointment upon the defeat of one of his signature domestic initiatives.
[188]
The Bush administration later proposed a series of immigration enforcement measures that do
not require a change in law.[189]
On September 19, 2010, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that Bush offered to accept
100,000 Palestinian refugees as American citizens if a permanent settlement had been reached
between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. [190]
Hurricane Katrina
Political effects of Hurricane Katrina
President Bush shaking hands with New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin after viewing the devastation of
Hurricane Katrina, September 2, 2005
Hurricane Katrina struck early in Bush's second term and was one of the most damaging natural
disasters in U.S. history. Katrina formed in late August during the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season
and devastated much of the north-central Gulf Coast of the United States, particularly New Orleans.
[191]
Bush declared a state of emergency in Louisiana on August 27[192] and

in Mississippi and Alabama the following day.[193] He authorized the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to manage the disaster, but
his announcement failed to spur these agencies to action. [194] The eye of the hurricane made landfall
on August 29, and New Orleans began to flood due to levee breaches; later that day, Bush declared
that a major disaster existed in Louisiana, [195] officially authorizing FEMA to start using federal funds
to assist in the recovery effort.
President Bush with hurricane victims in Biloxi, September 2, 2005
On August 30, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff declared it "an incident of national significance",

[196]
triggering the first use of the newly created National Response Plan. Three days later, on
September 2, National Guard troops first entered the city of New Orleans. [197] The same day, Bush
toured parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama and declared that the success of the recovery
effort up to that point was "not enough".[198]
As the disaster in New Orleans intensified, critics charged that Bush was misrepresenting his
administration's role in what they saw as a flawed response. Leaders attacked Bush for having
appointed apparently incompetent leaders to positions of power at FEMA, notably Michael D. Brown;
[199]
it was also argued that the federal response was limited as a result of the Iraq War[200] and Bush
himself did not act upon warnings of floods.[201][202][203] Bush responded to mounting criticism by
accepting full responsibility for the federal government's failures in its handling of the emergency.
[197]
It has been argued that with Katrina, Bush passed a political tipping point from which he would
not recover.[204]
Midterm dismissal of U.S. attorneys
Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy
President Bush announcing his nomination of Alberto Gonzales as the next U.S. Attorney General,
November 10, 2004
During Bush's second term, a controversy arose over the Justice Department'smidterm dismissal of
seven United States Attorneys.[205] The White House maintained that the U.S. attorneys were fired for
poor performance.[206] Attorney General Alberto Gonzales later resigned over the issue, along with
other senior members of the Justice Department. [207][208] The House Judiciary Committee issued
subpoenas for advisers Harriet Miers and Josh Bolten to testify regarding this matter, but Bush
directed Miers and Bolten to not comply with those subpoenas, invoking his right of executive
privilege. Bush maintained that all of his advisers were protected under a broad executive privilege
protection to receive candid advice. The Justice Department determined that the President's order
was legal.[209]
Although Congressional investigations focused on whether the Justice Department and the White
House were using the U.S. Attorney positions for political advantage, no official findings have been
released. On March 10, 2008, the Congress filed a federal lawsuit to enforce their issued
subpoenas.[210] On July 31, 2008, a United States district court judge ruled that Bush's top advisers
were not immune from Congressional subpoenas. [211]
In all, twelve Justice Department officials resigned rather than testify under oath before Congress.
They included Attorney General Alberto Gonzales[212] and his chief of staff Kyle Sampson,
[213]
Gonzales' liaison to the White House Monica Goodling,[214] aide to the president Karl Rove[215] and
his senior aide Sara Taylor.[216] In addition, legal counsel to the president Harriet Miers[217] and deputy
chief of staff to the president Joshua Bolten[218] were both found in contempt of Congress.[216]
In 2010, the Justice Department investigator concluded that though political considerations did play
a part in as many as four of the attorney firings,[219] the firings were "inappropriately political", but not
criminal. According to the prosecutors, there was insufficient evidence to pursue prosecution for any
criminal offense.[220]
Purge of the Central Intelligence Agency
Following the resignation of CIA director George Tenet in 2004, Bush nominated Porter Goss to
head the agency. The White House ordered Goss to purge agency officers who were disloyal to the
administration.[221] After Goss' appointment, many of the CIA's senior agents were fired or quit. The
CIA has been accused of deliberately leaking classified information to undermine the 2004 election.
[222]
Foreign policy
Foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration
President Bush with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in 2005
Countries visited by President George W. Bush during his time in office
In July 2001, Bush visited Pope John Paul II at Castel Gandolfo.[223] During his presidential campaign,
Bush's foreign policy platform included support for stronger economic and political relationship
with Latin America, especially Mexico, and a reduction of involvement in "nation-building" and other
small-scale military engagements. The administration pursued a national missile defense.[224] Bush
was an advocate of China's entry into the World Trade Organization.[225]
After the September 11 attacks on New York, Bush launched the War on Terror, in which the United
States military and a small international coalition invaded Afghanistan. In his 2002 State of the Union
Address, Bush referred to an "axis of evil" consisting of Iraq, Iran and North Korea.[226] In 2003, Bush
then launched the invasion of Iraq, searching for Weapons of Mass Destruction, which he described
as being part of the War on Terrorism. [227] Those invasions led to the toppling of the Taliban regime in
Afghanistan and the removal of Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq.
Foreign Minister of India Pranab Mukherjee with President Bush, March 2008
Bush began his second term with an emphasis on improving strained relations with European
nations. He appointed long-time adviser Karen Hughes to oversee a global public relations
campaign. Bush lauded the pro-democracy struggles in Georgia and Ukraine. [228]
In March 2006, Bush reversed decades of U.S. policy when he visited India [229] in a trip focused
particularly on areas of nuclear energy, counter-terrorism cooperation; and discussions that would
eventually lead to the India–United States Civil Nuclear Agreement.[230] This was in stark contrast to
the stance taken by his predecessor, Bill Clinton, whose approach and response to India after the
1998 nuclear tests has been characterised as "sanctions and hectoring". [231]
Midway through Bush's second term, questions arose whether Bush was retreating from his freedom
and democracy agenda, which was highlighted in policy changes toward some oil-rich former Soviet
republics in central Asia.[232]
In an address before both Houses of Congress on September 20, 2001, Bush thanked the nations of
the world for their support following the September 11 attacks. He specifically thanked UK Prime
Minister Tony Blair for traveling to Washington to show "unity of purpose with America", and said
"America has no truer friend than Great Britain." [233]
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
President Bush, standing with firefighter Bob Beckwith, addressing rescue workers at Ground Zero in New
York, September 14, 2001
The September 11 terrorist attacks were a major turning point in Bush's presidency. That evening,
he addressed the nation from the Oval Office, promising a strong response to the attacks. He also
emphasized the need for the nation to come together and comfort the families of the victims. Three
days after the attacks, Bush visited Ground Zero and met with Mayor Rudy Giuliani, firefighters,
police officers, and volunteers. To much applause, Bush addressed the gathering via a megaphone
while standing in a heap of rubble: "I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people
who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon." [234]
In a September 20 speech, Bush condemned Osama bin Laden and his organization Al-Qaeda, and
issued an ultimatum to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, where bin Laden was operating, to "hand
over the terrorists, or ... share in their fate". [235]
War on Terrorism
War on Terror
President Bush presenting former British Prime Minister Tony Blair with the Presidential Medal of Freedom,
January 13, 2009
After September 11, Bush announced a global War on Terror. The Afghan Taliban regime was not
forthcoming with Osama bin Laden, so Bush ordered the invasion of Afghanistan to overthrow the
Taliban regime.[236] In his January 29, 2002 State of the Union Address, he asserted that an "axis of
evil" consisting of North Korea, Iran, and Iraq was "arming to threaten the peace of the world" and
"pose[d] a grave and growing danger". [237] The Bush Administration asserted both a right and the
intention to wage preemptive war, or preventive war.[238] This became the basis for the Bush
Doctrine which weakened the unprecedented levels of international and domestic support for the
United States which had followed the September 11 attacks.[239]
Dissent and criticism of Bush's leadership in the War on Terror increased as the war in Iraq
continued.[240][241][242] In 2006, a National Intelligence Estimate concluded that the Iraq War had become
the "cause célèbre for jihadists".[243][244]
Afghanistan invasion
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
President Bush and President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan appearing at a joint news conference in Kabul,
March 1, 2006
On October 7, 2001, U.S. and British forces initiated bombing campaigns that led to the arrival
of Northern Alliance troops in Kabul on November 13. The main goals of the war were to defeat
the Taliban, drive al-Qaeda out of Afghanistan, and capture key al-Qaeda leaders. In December
2001, the Pentagon reported that the Taliban had been defeated, [245] but cautioned that the war would
go on to continue weakening Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders. [245] Later that month the UN had installed
the Afghan Transitional Administration chaired by Hamid Karzai.[246][247] In 2002, based
on UNICEF figures, Nicholas Kristof reported that "our invasion of Afghanistan may end up saving
one million lives over the next decade" as the result of improved healthcare and greater access to
humanitarian aid.[248]
Efforts to kill or capture al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden failed as he escaped a battle in
December 2001 in the mountainous region of Tora Bora, which the Bush Administration later
acknowledged to have resulted from a failure to commit enough U.S. ground troops. [249] It was not
until May 2011, two years after Bush left office, that bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces under the
Obama administration. Bin Laden's successor, Ayman al-Zawahiri, remains at large.
Despite the initial success in driving the Taliban from power in Kabul, by early 2003 the Taliban was
regrouping, amassing new funds and recruits.[250] The 2005 failure of Operation Red Wings showed
that the Taliban had returned.[251] In 2006, the Taliban insurgency appeared larger, fiercer and better
organized than expected, with large-scale allied offensives such as Operation Mountain
Thrust attaining limited success.[252][253][254] As a result, Bush commissioned 3,500 additional troops to
the country in March 2007.[255]
Iraq invasion
Iraq War
President Bush, with Naval Flight Officer Lieutenant Ryan Philips, after landing on the USS Abraham
Lincoln prior to his Mission Accomplished speech, May 1, 2003
Beginning with his January 29, 2002 State of the Union address, Bush began publicly focusing
attention on Iraq, which he labeled as part of an "axis of evil" allied with terrorists and posing "a
grave and growing danger" to U.S. interests through possession of weapons of mass destruction.[237]
[256]
In the latter half of 2002, CIA reports contained assertions of Saddam Hussein's intent of

reconstituting nuclear weapons programs, not properly accounting for Iraqi biological and chemical
weapons, and that some Iraqi missiles had a range greater than allowed by the UN sanctions. [257]
[258]
Contentions that the Bush Administration manipulated or exaggerated the threat and evidence of
Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capabilities would eventually become a major point of criticism
for the president.[259][260]
In late 2002 and early 2003, Bush urged the United Nations to enforce Iraqi disarmamentmandates,
precipitating a diplomatic crisis. In November 2002, Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei led UN
weapons inspectors in Iraq, but were advised by the U.S. to depart the country four days prior to the
U.S. invasion, despite their requests for more time to complete their tasks.[261] The U.S. initially sought
a UN Security Council resolution authorizing the use of military force but dropped the bid for UN
approval due to vigorous opposition from several countries. [262]
President Bush paying a surprise visit to Baghdad International Airport, November 27, 2003
More than 20 nations (most notably the United Kingdom), designated the "coalition of the willing"
joined the United States[263] in invading Iraq. They launched the invasion on March 20, 2003. The
Iraqi military was quickly defeated. The capital, Baghdad, fell on April 9, 2003. On May 1, Bush
declared the end of major combat operations in Iraq. The initial success of U.S. operations increased
his popularity, but the U.S. and allied forces faced a growing insurgency led by sectarian groups;
Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech was later criticized as premature.[264] From 2004 until 2007,
the situation in Iraq deteriorated further, with some observers arguing that there was a full-scale civil
war in Iraq.[265] Bush's policies met with criticism, including demands domestically to set a timetable to
withdraw troops from Iraq. The 2006 report of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, led by James Baker,
concluded that the situation in Iraq was "grave and deteriorating". While Bush admitted that there
were strategic mistakes made in regards to the stability of Iraq, [266] he maintained he would not
change the overall Iraq strategy.[267][268] According to Iraq Body Count, some 251,000 Iraqis have been
killed in the civil war following the U.S.-led invasion, including at least 163,841 civilians. [269]
President Bush with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, July 25, 2006
In January 2005, free, democratic elections were held in Iraq for the first time in 50 years.
[270]
According to Iraqi National Security Advisor Mowaffak al-Rubaie, "This is the greatest day in the
history of this country."[270] Bush praised the event as well, saying that the Iraqis "have taken rightful
control of their country's destiny".[270] This led to the election of Jalal Talabani as president and Nouri
al-Maliki as Prime Minister of Iraq. A referendum to approve a constitution in Iraq was held in
October 2005, supported by most Shiites and many Kurds.[271]
On January 10, 2007, Bush announced a surge of 21,500 more troops for Iraq, as well as a job
program for Iraqis, more reconstruction proposals, and $1.2 billion (equivalent to $1.4 billion in 2018)
for these programs.[272] On May 1, 2007, Bush used his second-ever veto to reject a bill setting a
deadline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops,[273] saying the debate over the conflict was
"understandable" but insisting that a continued U.S. presence there was crucial. [274]
In March 2008, Bush praised the Iraqi government's "bold decision" to launch the Battle of
Basra against the Mahdi Army, calling it "a defining moment in the history of a free Iraq". [275] He said
he would carefully weigh recommendations from his commanding General David Petraeus and
Ambassador Ryan Crocker about how to proceed after the end of the military buildup in the summer
of 2008. He also praised the Iraqis' legislative achievements, including a pension law, a revised de-
Baathification law, a new budget, an amnesty law, and a provincial powers measure that, he said,
set the stage for the Iraqi elections.[276] By July 2008, American troop deaths had reached their lowest
number since the war began, [277] and due to increased stability in Iraq, Bush announced the
withdrawal of additional American forces.[277]
Surveillance
Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, Bush issued an executive order that authorized
the President's Surveillance Program. The new directive allowed the National Security Agency to
monitor communications between suspected terrorists outside the U.S. and parties within the U.S.
without obtaining a warrant, which previously had been required by the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act.[278] As of 2009, the other provisions of the program remained highly classified.
[279]
Once the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel questioned its original legal opinion that
FISA did not apply in a time of war, the program was subsequently re-authorized by the President on
the basis that the warrant requirements of FISA were implicitly superseded by the subsequent
passage of the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists.[280] The program proved to
be controversial; critics of the administration and organizations such as the American Bar
Associationargued that it was illegal.[281] In August 2006, a U.S. district court judge ruled that the NSA
electronic surveillance programwas unconstitutional,[282] but on July 6, 2007, that ruling
was vacated by the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on the grounds that the
plaintiffs lacked standing.[283] On January 17, 2007, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales informed U.S.
Senate leaders that the program would not be reauthorized by the President, but would be subjected
to judicial oversight.[284] Later in 2007, the NSA launched a replacement for the program, referred to
as PRISM, that was subject to the oversight of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Court.[285] This program was not publicly revealed until reports by The Washington Post[285] and The
Guardian[286] emerged in June 2013.[285]
Interrogation policies
Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture and Torture Memos
President Bush at the celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of victory in World War II, Red Square,
Moscow
Bush authorized the CIA to use waterboarding and several other "enhanced interrogation

techniques" that several critics, including Barack Obama, would label as torture. [287][288][289][290] Between
2002 and 2003, the CIA considered certain enhanced interrogation techniques, such as
waterboarding, to be legal based on secret Justice Department legal opinions arguing that terror
detainees were not protected by the Geneva Conventions' ban on torture, which was described as
"an unconstitutional infringement of the President's authority to conduct war". [291][292]The CIA had
exercised the technique on certain key terrorist suspects under authority given to it in the Bybee
Memo from the Attorney General, though that memo was later withdrawn. [293] While not permitted by
the U.S. Army Field Manualswhich assert "that harsh interrogation tactics elicit unreliable
information",[291] the Bush administration believed these enhanced interrogations "provided critical
information" to preserve American lives.[294]Critics, such as former CIA officer Bob Baer, have stated
that information was suspect, "you can get anyone to confess to anything if the torture's bad
enough."[295]
On October 17, 2006, Bush signed the Military Commissions Act of 2006 into law.[296] The new rule
was enacted in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision in Hamdan v.
Rumsfeld, 548 U.S. 557 (2006),[297] which allowed the U.S. government to prosecute unlawful enemy
combatants by military commission rather than a standard trial. The law also denied the detainees
access to habeas corpus and barred the torture of prisoners. The provision of the law allowed the
president to determine what constitutes "torture". [296]
On March 8, 2008, Bush vetoed H.R. 2082,[298] a bill that would have expanded congressional
oversight over the intelligence community and banned the use of waterboarding as well as other
forms of interrogation not permitted under the United States Army Field Manual on Human
Intelligence Collector Operations, saying that "the bill Congress sent me would take away one of the
most valuable tools in the War on Terror". [299] In April 2009, the ACLU sued and won release of the
secret memos that had authorized the Bush administration's interrogation tactics. [300] One memo
detailed specific interrogation tactics including a footnote that described waterboarding as torture as
well as that the form of waterboarding used by the CIA was far more intense than authorized by the
Justice Department.[301]
North Korea condemnation
North Korea–United States relations
President Bush with China's president and Communist Party leaderHu Jintao, 2006
Bush publicly condemned Kim Jong-il of North Korea and identified North Korea as one of three
states in an "axis of evil". He said that "the United States of America will not permit the world's most
dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons." [237] Within months,
"both countries had walked away from their respective commitments under the U.S.–DPRK Agreed
Framework of October 1994."[302] North Korea's October 9, 2006, detonation of a nuclear device
further complicated Bush's foreign policy, which centered for both terms of his presidency on
"[preventing] the terrorists and regimes who seek chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons from
threatening the United States and the world". [237] Bush condemned North Korea's position, reaffirmed
his commitment to "a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula", and stated that "transfer of nuclear weapons
or material by North Korea to states or non-state entities would be considered a grave threat to the
United States", for which North Korea would be held accountable. [303] On May 7, 2007, North Korea
agreed to shut down its nuclear reactors immediately pending the release of frozen funds held in a
foreign bank account. This was a result of a series of three-way talks initiated by the United States
and including China.[304] On September 2, 2007, North Korea agreed to disclose and dismantle all of
its nuclear programs by the end of 2007.[305] By May 2009, North Korea had restarted its nuclear
program and threatened to attack South Korea. [306]
On June 22, 2010, "While South Korea prospers, the people of North Korea have suffered
profoundly," he said, adding that, "communism had resulted in dire poverty, mass starvation and
brutal suppression. "In recent years," he went on to say, "the suffering has been compounded by the
leader who wasted North Korea's precious few resources on personal luxuries and nuclear weapons
programs."[307]
Syria sanctions
President Bush with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Shanghai, October 21, 2001. Russia had
cooperated with U.S. in the War on Terror.
Bush expanded economic sanctions on Syria.[308] In 2003, Bush signed the Syria Accountability Act,
which expanded sanctions on Syria. In early 2007, the Treasury Department, acting on a June
2005 executive order, froze American bank accounts of Syria's Higher Institute of Applied Science
and Technology, Electronics Institute, and National Standards and Calibration Laboratory. Bush's
order prohibits Americans from doing business with these institutions suspected of helping
spread weapons of mass destruction[309] and being supportive of terrorism. [310] Under separate
executive orders signed by Bush in 2004 and later 2007, the Treasury Department froze the assets
of two Lebanese and two Syrians, accusing them of activities to "undermine the legitimate political
process in Lebanon" in November 2007. Those designated included: Assaad Halim Hardan, a
member of Lebanon's parliament and current leader of the Syrian Socialist National Party; Wi'am
Wahhab, a former member of Lebanon's government (Minister of the Environment) under Prime
Minister Omar Karami (2004–2005); Hafiz Makhluf, a colonel and senior official in the Syrian
General Intelligence Directorate and a cousin of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad; and Muhammad
Nasif Khayrbik, identified as a close adviser to Assad. [311]
Africa
Bush initiated the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief Program (PEPFAR). The U.S.
government had spent some $44 billion on the project since 2003 (a figure that includes $7 billion
contributed to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, a multilateral organization),
[312]
which saved an estimated 5 million lives.[313] According to The New York
Times correspondent Peter Baker, "Bush did more to stop AIDS and more to help Africa than any
president before or since."[313]
Assassination attempt
On May 10, 2005, Vladimir Arutyunian, a native Georgian who was born to a family of
ethnic Armenians, threw a live hand grenade toward a podium where Bush was speaking
at Freedom Square in Tbilisi, Georgia. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili was seated nearby. It
landed in the crowd about 65 feet (20 m) from the podium after hitting a girl, but it did not detonate.
Arutyunian was arrested in July 2005, confessed, was convicted and was given a life sentence in
January 2006.[314]
Other issues
President Bush, Mahmoud Abbas, and Ariel Sharon meet at the Red Sea Summit in Aqaba, Jordan, June
4, 2003
Bush withdrew U.S. support for several international agreements, including the Anti-Ballistic Missile
Treaty (ABM) with Russia. He also signed the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty with Russia.
Bush emphasized a careful approach to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians; he
denounced Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafatfor his support of violence, but
sponsored dialogues between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian National Authority
President Mahmoud Abbas. Bush supported Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan, and lauded
the democratic elections held in Palestine after Arafat's death.
President Bush and Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, April 1, 2008
Bush also expressed U.S. support for the defense of Taiwan following the stand-off in April 2001
with the People's Republic of China over the Hainan Island incident, when an EP-3E Aries
II surveillance aircraft collided with a People's Liberation Army Air Force jet, leading to the detention
of U.S. personnel. From 2003 to 2004, Bush authorized U.S. military intervention in Haiti and Liberia
to protect U.S. interests. Bush condemned the militia attacks Darfur and denounced the killings in
Sudan as genocide.[315]Bush said that an international peacekeeping presence was critical in Darfur,
but opposed referring the situation to the International Criminal Court.
In the State of the Union address in January 2003, Bush outlined a five-year strategy for global
emergency AIDS relief, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Bush announced $15 billion
for this effort[316] which directly supported life-saving antiretroviral treatment for more than 3.2 million
men, women and children worldwide.[317]
On June 10, 2007, Bush met with Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha and became the first
president to visit Albania.[318] Bush has voiced his support for the independence of Kosovo.[319] Bush
opposed South Ossetia's independence.[320] On August 15, 2008, Bush said of Russia's invasion of
the country of Georgia: "Bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy
in the 21st century."[321]
Bush opened the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. Departing from previous practice, he
stood among a group of U.S. athletes rather than from a ceremonial stand or box, saying: "On behalf
of a proud, determined, and grateful nation, I declare open the Games of Salt Lake City, celebrating
the Olympic Winter Games."[322] In 2008, in the course of a good-will trip to Asia, he attended
the Summer Olympics in Beijing.[323]
Bush twice invoked Section 3 of the Twenty-fifth Amendment, which allows a president to
temporarily transfer the powers and duties of his office to the vice president, who then
becomes acting president. On June 29, 2002, Bush underwent a colonoscopy and chose to invoke
Section 3 of the amendment, making Vice President Dick Cheney the acting president. The medical
procedure began at 7:09 am. EDT and ended at 7:29 am. EDT. Bush woke up twenty minutes later,
but did not resume his presidential powers and duties until 9:24 am. EDT after the president's
doctor, Richard Tubb, conducted an overall examination. Tubb said he recommended the additional
time to make sure the sedative had no after effects. On July 21, 2007, Bush again invoked Section 3
in response to having to undergo a colonoscopy, again making Vice President Cheney the acting
president. Bush invoked Section 3 at 7:16 am. EDT. He reclaimed his powers at 9:21 am. EDT. In
both cases, Bush specifically cited Section 3 when he transferred the presidential powers to the Vice
President and when he reclaimed those powers.[324]
Judicial appointments
Supreme Court
George W. Bush Supreme Court candidates
Supreme Court Justice nominee John Roberts and President Bush, July 19, 2005
Supreme Court Justice nominee Samuel Alito and President Bush, October 31, 2005
Following the announcement of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's retirement on July 1,

2005, Bush nominated John Roberts to succeed her. On September 5, following the death of Chief
Justice William Rehnquist, this nomination was withdrawn and Bush instead nominated Roberts for
Chief Justice to succeed Rehnquist. Roberts was confirmed by the Senate as the 17th Chief Justice
on September 29, 2005.
On October 3, 2005, Bush nominated long time White House Counsel Harriet Miersfor O'Connor's
position. After facing significant opposition from both parties, who found her to be ill-prepared and
uninformed on the law,[325] Miers asked that her name be withdrawn on October 27. Four days later,
on October 31, Bush nominated federal appellate judge Samuel Alito. Alito was confirmed as the
110th Supreme Court Justice on January 31, 2006. [326]
Other courts
Main article: List of federal judges appointed by George W. Bush
In addition to his two Supreme Court appointments, Bush appointed 61 judges to the United States
courts of appeals and 261 judges to the United States district courts. Each of these numbers, along
with his total of 324 judicial appointments, is third in American history, behind both Ronald
Reagan and Bill Clinton. Bush experienced a number of judicial appointment controversies. Debate
during one confirmation session lasted "39 stupefying hours" according to The New York Times. On
August 3, 2001, the Senate did not consent to keep existing nominations in status quo, returning 40
judicial nominations, and 164 total nominations.[327][328][329]
At the outset, Judicature magazine noted that the "Senate Democrats were gearing up for the
approaching confirmation hearings" before the first set of nominees were sent to the Senate. It then
cites The New York Times as saying "Senate Democrats have pledged they will not automatically
vote to confirm Mr. Bush's judicial nominees and will subject them to intense scrutiny." [330]
The Senate confirmed only 8 out of 60 judicial nominations by October 2001. In February 2003, the
Democrats successfully filibustered the nomination of Miguel Estrada.[331]
Cultural and political image

Domestic
Public image of George W. Bush
Efforts to impeach George W. Bush
Image
approve
disapprove
unsure
Gallup/USA Today Bush public opinion polling from February 2001 to January 2009
Bush's upbringing in West Texas, his accent, his vacations on his Texas ranch, and his penchant for
country metaphors contribute to his folksy, American cowboy image. [332][333] "I think people look at him
and think John Wayne", said Piers Morgan, editor of the British Daily Mirror.[334]
Bush has been parodied by the media,[335] comedians, and other politicians.[336]Detractors tended to
cite linguistic errors made by Bush during his public speeches, which are colloquially referred to
as Bushisms.[337]
In contrast to his father—who was perceived as having troubles with an overarching unifying theme
—Bush embraced larger visions and was seen as a man of larger ideas and associated huge risks.
[338]
Tony Blair wrote in 2010 that the caricature of Bush as being dumb is "ludicrous" and that Bush is
"very smart".[339] In an interview with Playboy, The New York Timescolumnist David Brooks said Bush
"was 60 IQ points smarter in private than he was in public. He doesn't want anybody to think he's
smarter than they are, so puts on a Texas act."[340]
Job approval
Bush began his presidency with approval ratings near 50 percent.[341] After the September 11 attacks,
Bush gained an approval rating of 90 percent,[342] maintaining 80 to 90 percent approval for four
months after the attacks. It remained over 50 percent during most of his first term[13] and then fell to
as low as 19 percent in his second term.[343]
In 2000 and again in 2004, Time magazine named George W. Bush as its Person of the Year, a title
awarded to someone who the editors believe "has done the most to influence the events of the
year".[344] In May 2004, Gallup reported that 89 percent of the Republican electorate approved of
Bush.[345] However, the support waned due mostly to a minority of Republicans' frustration with him
on issues of spending, illegal immigration, and Middle Eastern affairs.[346]
Within the United States armed forces, according to an unscientific survey, the president was
strongly supported in the 2004 presidential elections. [347] While 73 percent of military personnel said
that they would vote for Bush, 18 percent preferred his Democratic rival, John Kerry.[347] According
to Peter Feaver, a Duke University political scientist who has studied the political leanings of the
U.S. military, members of the armed services supported Bush because they found him more likely
than Kerry to complete the War in Iraq.[347]
Bush's approval rating went below the 50 percent mark in AP-Ipsos polling in December 2004.
[348]
Thereafter, his approval ratings and approval of his handling of domestic and foreign policy
issues steadily dropped. Bush received heavy criticism for his handling of the Iraq War, his response
to Hurricane Katrina and to the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse, NSA warrantless surveillance, the Plame
affair, and Guantanamo Bay detention camp controversies.[349] There were calls for
Bush's impeachment, though most polls showed a plurality of Americans would not support such an
action.[350] The arguments offered for impeachment usually centered on the NSA warrantless
surveillance controversy,[351] the Bush administration's justification for the war in Iraq, and alleged
violations of the Geneva Conventions.[Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), who had run against
Bush during the 2004 presidential campaign, introduced 35 articles of impeachment on the floor of
the House of Representatives against Bush on June 9, 2008, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
declared that impeachment was "off the table". [352]
Polls that were conducted in 2006 showed an average of 37 percent approval ratings for Bush,[353] the
lowest for any second-term president at that point of his term since Harry S. Truman in March 1951
(when Truman's approval rating was 28 percent),[348][354] which contributed to what Bush called the
"thumping" of the Republican Party in the 2006 mid-term elections.[355] Throughout most of 2007,
Bush's approval rating hovered in the mid-thirties; [356] the average for his entire second term was
37 percent, according to Gallup.[357]
President Bush's approval rating with key events marked, 2001–2006
By the beginning of 2008, his final year in office, Bush's approval rating had dropped to a low of just
19 percent, largely from the loss of support among Republicans. [343]Commenting on his low poll
numbers and accusations of being "the worst president," [358][359] Bush would say, "I make decisions on
what I think is right for the United States based upon principles. I frankly don't give a damn about the
polls."[360]
In the spring of that year, Bush's disapproval ratings reached the highest ever recorded for any
president in the 70-year history of the Gallup poll, with 69 percent of those polled in April 2008
disapproving of the job Bush was doing as president and 28 percent approving—although the
majority (66 percent) of Republicans still approved of his job performance. [361]
In polls conducted in the fall, just before the 2008 election, his approval ratings remained at record
lows of 19 to 20 percent,[362][363] while his disapproval ratings ranged from 67 percent to as high as
75 percent.[363][364] In polling conducted January 9–11, 2009, his final job approval rating by Gallup was
34 percent, which placed him on par with Jimmy Carter and Harry S. Truman, the other presidents
whose final Gallup ratings measured in the low 30s (Richard Nixon's final Gallup approval rating was
even lower, at 24 percent).[365] According to a CBS News/New York Times poll conducted January
11–15, 2009, Bush's final approval rating in office was 22 percent, the lowest in American history.[362]
Foreign perceptions
Anti-war demonstrationduring President Bush's visit to London, June 2008
Bush was criticized internationally and targeted by the global anti-war and anti-globalization
campaigns for his administration's foreign policy.[366][367] Views of him within the international
community—even in France, a close ally of the United States—were more negative than those of
most previous American presidents in history.[368]
Bush was described as having especially close personal relationships with Tony Blair of Great
Britain and Vicente Fox of Mexico, although formal relations were sometimes strained. [369][370][371] Other
leaders, such as Afghan president Hamid Karzai,[372] Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni,[373] Spanish
prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero,[374]and Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez,[375] openly
criticized the president. Later in Bush's presidency, tensions arose between him and Vladimir Putin,
which led to a cooling of their relationship.[376]
In 2006, most respondents in 18 of 21 countries surveyed around the world were found to hold an
unfavorable opinion of Bush. Respondents indicated that they judged his administration as negative
for world security.[377][378] In 2007, the Pew Global Attitudes Project reported that during the Bush
presidency, attitudes towards the United States, and towards Americans, became less favorable
around the world.[379]
A March 2007 survey of Arab opinion conducted by Zogby International and the University of
Maryland found that Bush was the most disliked leader in the Arab world. [380]
The Pew Research Center's 2007 Global Attitudes poll found that out of 47 countries, in only nine
countries did most respondents express "a lot of confidence" or "some confidence" in Bush: Ethiopia,
Ghana, India, Israel, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, and Uganda. [381]
During a June 2007 visit to the predominantly Muslim [382] Albania, Bush was greeted enthusiastically.
Albania has a population of 2.8 million,[383] has troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and the country's
government is highly supportive of American foreign policy. [384] A huge image of the President was
hung in the middle of the capital city of Tirana flanked by Albanian and American flags while a local
street was named after him.[385][386] A shirt-sleeved statue of Bush was unveiled in Fushë-Krujë, a few
kilometers northwest of Tirana.[387] The Bush administration's support for the independence of
Albanian-majority Kosovo, while endearing him to the Albanians, has troubled U.S. relations with
Serbia, leading to the February 2008 torching of the U.S. embassy in Belgrade.[388]
Acknowledgments and dedications
The statue of George W. Bush was erected at Fushë-Krujë, Albania after his visit
On May 7, 2005, during an official state visit to Latvia, Bush was awarded the Order of the Three
Stars presented to him by President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga.[389] A few places outside the United States
bear Bush's name. In 2005, the Tbilisi City Council voted to rename a street in honor of the U.S.
president.[390] Previously known as Melaani Drive, the street links the Georgian capital's airport with
the city center and was used by Bush's motorcade during his visit four months earlier. [391] A street
in Tirana, formerly known as Rruga Puntorët e Rilendjes, situated directly outside the Albanian
Parliament, was renamed after Bush a few days before he made the first-ever visit by an American
president to Albania in June 2007.[392] In Jerusalem, a small plaza with a monument bearing his name
is also dedicated to Bush.[393]
In 2012, Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves awarded Bush the Order of the Cross of Terra
Mariana for his work in expanding NATO.[394]
Reception
The George W. Bush presidency has been ranked among the worst in surveys of presidential
scholars published in the late 2000s and 2010s.[15][16][17]
After his re-election in 2004, Bush received increasingly heated criticism from across the political
spectrum[7][8][9] for his handling of the Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina,[10][11][12] and other challenges. Amid
this criticism, the Democratic Party regained control of Congress in the 2006 elections. In December
2007, the United States entered its longest post-World War IIrecession, often referred to as the
"Great Recession", prompting the Bush administration to obtain congressional passage of multiple
economic programs intended to preserve the country's financial system. Nationally, Bush was both
one of the most popular and unpopular presidents in history, having received the highest recorded
presidential approval ratings in the wake of the September 11 attacks, as well as one of the lowest
approval ratings during the 2008 financial crisis.[13]
Bush said in 2013, "Ultimately history will judge the decisions I made, and I won't be around because
it will take time for the objective historians to show up. So I am pretty comfortable with it. I did what I
did."[395]
Post-presidency (2009–present)
Residence
George and Laura Bush waving to a crowd of 1000 at Andrews Air Force Base before their final departure
to Texas, January 20, 2009
Following the inauguration of Barack Obama, Bush and his family flew from Andrews Air Force
Base to a homecoming celebration in Midland, Texas, following which they returned to their ranch
in Crawford, Texas.[396] They bought a home in the Preston Hollow neighborhood of Dallas, Texas,
where they settled down.[397]
He makes regular appearances at various events throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth area, most
notably when he conducted the opening coin toss at the Dallas Cowboysfirst game in the team's
new stadium in Arlington[398] and an April 2009 visit to a Texas Rangers game, where he thanked the
people of Dallas for helping him settle in and was met with a standing ovation. [399] He also attended
every home playoff game for the Texas Rangers 2010 season and, accompanied by his father,
threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington for Game 4 of the 2010 World
Series on October 31, 2010.[400]
On August 6, 2013, Bush was successfully treated for a coronary artery blockage with a stent. The
blockage had been found during an annual medical examination.[401]
In reaction to the 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers, Bush stated: "Laura and I are heartbroken
by the heinous acts of violence in our city last night. Murdering the innocent is always evil, never
more so than when the lives taken belong to those who protect our families and communities." [402]
Publications and appearances
George W. Bush, President Obama, and Bill Clinton meeting in the Oval Office, January 16, 2010
Since leaving office, Bush has kept a relatively low profile [403] though he has made public
appearances, most notably after the release of his memoirs in 2010 and for the 10th anniversary of
the September 11 attacks in 2011. In March 2009, he delivered his first post-presidency speech
in Calgary, Alberta,[404][405] appeared via video on The Colbert Report during which he praised U.S.
troops for earning a "special place in American history,"[406] and attended the funeral of Senator Ted
Kennedy.[407] Bush made his debut as a motivational speaker on October 26 at the "Get Motivated"
seminar in Dallas.[408] In the aftermath of the Fort Hood shootingthat took place on November 5, 2009,
in Texas, the Bushes paid an undisclosed visit to the survivors and victims' families the day following
the shooting, having contacted the base commander requesting that the visit be private and not
involve press coverage.[409]
(L–R) Charlie Strong, Texas Longhorns head football coach, George W. Bush and Reverend Jesse
Jackson hold up a Texas Longhorns football jersey at the LBJ Presidential Library in 2014
Bush released his memoirs, Decision Points, on November 9, 2010. During a pre-release

appearance promoting the book, Bush said he considered his biggest accomplishment to be keeping
"the country safe amid a real danger", and his greatest failure to be his inability to secure the
passage of Social Security reform.[410] He also made news defending his administration's enhanced
interrogation techniques, specifically the waterboarding of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, saying, "I'd do
it again to save lives."[411]
In 2012, he wrote the foreword of The 4% Solution: Unleashing the Economic Growth America
Needs, an economics book published by the George W. Bush Presidential Center.[412][413] He also
presented the book at the Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, Texas.[414]
Bush appeared on NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on November 19, 2013, along with the
former First Lady, Laura Bush. When asked by Leno why he does not comment publicly about
the Obama administration, Bush said, "I don't think it's good for the country to have a former
president criticize his successor."[415] Despite this statement, on Saturday, April 25, 2015, Bush
criticized President Barack Obama at a meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition at the Venetian
Hotel in Las Vegas. Bush criticized Obama's handling of Iran, specifically with respect to sanctions
and a nuclear deal, saying: "You think the Middle East is chaotic now? Imagine what it looks like for
our grandchildren. That's how Americans should view the deal." Bush also attacked Obama's
withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq in 2011, calling it a "strategic blunder", borrowing a term that had
been used by South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham.[416]
Alongside the 2014 United States–Africa Leaders Summit, Bush, Michelle Obama, the State
Department, and the George W. Bush Institute hosted a daylong forum on education and health with
the spouses of the African leaders attending the summit. Bush urged African leaders to avoid
discriminatory laws that make the treatment of HIV/AIDS more difficult.[417]
Bush has spoken in favor of increased global participation of women in politics and societal matters
in foreign countries.[418][419]
On November 2, 2014, Bush spoke at an event to 200 business and civic leaders at the George W.
Bush Presidential Library and Museum to raise awareness for the upcoming Museum of the Bible in
Washington D.C.[42][420]
Bush published a biography of his father, George Bush, called 41: A Portrait of My Father. It was
released on November 11, 2014.[421]
In an interview published by Israel Hayom magazine on June 12, 2015, Bush said that "boots on the
ground" would be needed in order to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS). He
added that people had said during his presidency that he should withdraw American troops from
Iraq, but he chose the opposite, sending 30,000 more troops in order to defeat Al Qaeda in Iraq, and
that Al Qaeda in Iraq was defeated. Bush was also asked about Iran but declined to answer, stating
that any answer he gives would be interpreted as undermining President Barack Obama.[422]
Unveiling ceremony for marble bust of Dick Cheney on December 3, 2015
Bush with President Barack Obamain July 2016
George W. Bush and Laura Bushwith President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump in 2018
In February 2016, George W. Bush spoke and campaigned for his brother Jeb Bushin South
Carolina during a rally for the Jeb Bush presidential campaign in the 2016 Republican Party
presidential primaries.[423]
While Bush endorsed the Republican Party's 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney, he declined to
endorse the 2016 Republican nominee Donald Trump[424]and he did not attend the 2016 Republican
National Convention, which formally nominated Trump.[425] On the eve of Trump's nomination, it was
reported that Bush had privately expressed concern about the current direction of the Republican
Party and told a group of his former aides and advisors, "I'm worried that I will be the last Republican
president."[426][427] Bush and his wife Laura did not vote for Trump in the 2016 presidential
election according to a spokesperson for the Bush family, instead choosing to leave their presidential
ballots blank.[428] After the election, Bush, his father, and his brother Jeb called Trump on the phone to
congratulate him on his victory.[429] Both he and Laura attended Trump's inauguration, and images of
Bush struggling to put on a rain poncho during the ceremony became an internet meme.[430] While
leaving the event, Bush allegedly described the ceremony as "some weird shit". [431]
In February 2017, Bush released a book of his own portraits of veterans called Portraits of
Courage (full title: Portraits of Courage: A Commander in Chief's Tribute to America's Warriors).[432]
Following the white nationalist Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, Bush and his father
released a joint statement condemning the violence and ideologies present at the rally; "America
must always reject racial bigotry, anti-Semitism, and hatred in all forms. As we pray for
Charlottesville, we are all reminded of the fundamental truths recorded by that city's most prominent
citizen in the Declaration of Independence: we are all created equal and endowed by our Creator
with unalienable rights. We know these truths to be everlasting because we have seen the decency
and greatness of our country."[433] Their statement came as President Trump was facing controversy
over his statements about the rally. Subsequently, Bush gave a speech in New York where he noted
of the current political climate, "Bigotry seems emboldened. Our politics seems more vulnerable to
conspiracy theories and outright fabrication." He continued, "Bigotry in any form is blasphemy
against the American creed and it means the very identity of our nation depends on the passing of
civic ideals to the next generation," while urging citizens to oppose threats to American democracy
and be positive role models for young people. [434] The speech was widely interpreted as a
denouncement of Donald Trump and his ideologies, despite Bush not mentioning Trump by name.[434]
[435][436][437]
In April 2018, Bush and his father met in Texas with Mohammad bin Salman, the crown prince and
de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia.[438]
Collaborations
In January 2010, at President Obama's request, Bush and Bill Clinton established the Clinton Bush
Haiti Fund to raise contributions for relief and recovery efforts following the 2010 Haiti
earthquake earlier that month.[439]
On May 2, 2011, President Obama called Bush, who was at a restaurant with his wife, to inform him
that Osama bin Laden had been killed.[440] The Bushes joined the Obamas in New York City to mark
the tenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. At the Ground Zero memorial,
Bush read a letter that President Abraham Lincoln wrote to a widow who lost five sons during the
Civil War.[441]
On September 7, 2017, Bush partnered with former presidents Jimmy Carter, George H. W.
Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama to work with One America Appeal to help the victims
of Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma in the Gulf Coast and Texas communities.[442]
Art
After serving as president, Bush began painting as a hobby after reading Winston Churchill's essay
"Painting as a Pastime". Subjects have included people, dogs, and still life.[443] He has also painted
self-portraits and portraits of world leaders, including Vladimir Putin and Tony Blair. [444][445][446] In
February 2017, Bush released a book of portraits of veterans, Portraits of Courage.[432] The net
proceeds from his book are donated to the George W. Bush Presidential Center.
In mass culture
 W. (2008) - a biographical drama film directed by Oliver Stone, in which George W. Bush is
portrayed by Josh Brolin.
 America Betrayed (2008) - a documentary political film directed by Leslie Carde. [447]
 Vice (2018) - a biographical comedy-drama film written and directed by Adam McKay, in
which George W. Bush is portrayed by Sam Rockwell.
Legacy
George W. Bush Presidential Centeron the campus of Southern Methodist University (SMU) located
in University Park, Texas
President Bush's legacy continues to develop today. Supporters credit Bush's counterterrorism
policies with preventing another major terrorist attack from occurring in the US after 9/11 and also
praise individual policies such as the Medicare prescription drug benefit and the AIDS relief program
known as PEPFAR. Critics often point to his handling of the Iraq War, specifically the failure to
find weapons of mass destruction, that were the main rationale behind the initial invasion—as well
as his handling of tax policy, Hurricane Katrina, climate change and the 2008 financial crisis—as
proof that George W. Bush was unfit to be president. [448][449][450]
Several historians and commentators hold the view that Bush was one of the most consequential
presidents in American history. Princeton University scholar Julian Zelizer described Bush's
presidency as a "transformative" one, and said that "some people hate him, some people love him,
but I do think he'll have a much more substantive perception as time goes on". [451]Bryon Williams
of The Huffington Post referred to Bush as "the most noteworthy president since FDR" and said that
the Patriot Act "increased authority of the executive branch at the expense of judicial opinions about
when searches and seizures are reasonable" as evidence. [452] Bush's administration presided over
the largest tax cuts since the presidency of Ronald Reagan,[453] and his homeland security reforms
proved to be the most significant expansion of the federal government since the Great Society.
[454]
Much of these policies have endured in the administrations of his two immediate
successors, Barack Obama and Donald Trump.[455][456] A 2010 Siena Research Institute survey of the
opinions of historians, political scientists, and presidential scholars ranked him 39th out of 43
presidents. The survey respondents gave President Bush low ratings on his handling of the U.S.
economy, communication, ability to compromise, foreign policy accomplishments, and intelligence. [457]
Among the public, his reputation has improved somewhat since his presidency ended in 2009. In
February 2012, Gallup reported that "Americans still rate George W. Bush among the worst
presidents, though their views have become more positive in the three years since he left
office."[458] Gallup had earlier noted that Bush's favorability ratings in public opinion surveys had
begun to rise a year after he had left office, from 40 percent in January 2009 and 35 percent in
March 2009, to 45 percent in July 2010, a period during which he had remained largely out of the
news.[459] Other pollsters have noted similar trends of slight improvement in Bush's personal
favorability since the end of his presidency.[460] In April 2013, Bush's approval rating stood at
47 percent approval and 50 percent disapproval in a poll jointly conducted for The Washington
Postand ABC, his highest approval rating since December 2005. Bush had achieved notable gains
among seniors, non-college whites, and moderate and conservative Democrats since leaving office,
although majorities disapproved of his handling of the economy (53 percent) and the Iraq War
(57 percent).[461] His 47 percent approval rating was equal to that of President Obama's in the same
polling period.[462] A CNN poll conducted that same month found that 55 percent of Americans said
Bush's presidency had been a failure, with opinions divided along party lines, and 43 percent of
independents calling it a success.[463] Bush's public image saw greater improvement starting in 2017,
which has been interpreted as Democrats viewing him more favorably in response to Donald
Trump's presidency,[464][465] an assessment that has also been expressed by Bush himself. [466]
Valentina Vladmirovna Tereshkova
Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova (Russian: Валенти́ на Влади́ мировна Терешко́ ва, IPA: [vɐlʲɪnʲ
ˈtʲinə vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvnə tʲɪrʲɪʂˈkovə] ( listen); born 6 March 1937) is a retired
Russian cosmonaut, engineer, and current member of the Russian State Duma. She is
the first woman to have flown in space, having been selected from more than 400 applicants and five
finalists to pilot Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963.
In order to join the Cosmonaut Corps, Tereshkova was honorarily inducted into the Soviet Air
Forceand thus she also became the first civilian to fly in space.[1]
Before her recruitment as a cosmonaut, Tereshkova was a textile-factory assembly worker and an
amateur skydiver. After the dissolution of the first group of female cosmonauts in 1969, she became
a prominent member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, holding various political offices.
She remained politically active following the collapse of the Soviet Union and is regarded as a hero
in post-Soviet Russia and much of the world. Having orbited Earth 48 times, Tereshkova remains the
only woman ever to have been on a solo space mission. [2][3]
In 2013, she offered to go on a one-way trip to Mars if the opportunity arose
Valentina Tereshkova
Valentina in March 2017
Early life
Valentina Tereshkova was born in the village of Maslennikovo in Tutayevsky District, Yaroslavl
Oblast, in central Russia. Her parents had migrated from Belarus.[5] Tereshkova's father was a tractor
driver and her mother worked in a textile plant. Tereshkova went to school in 1945 at the age 8;
however, she left school in 1953 at 16 and continued her education by correspondence courses. [6]
She became interested in parachuting from a young age, and trained in skydiving at the local
Aeroclub, making her first jump at age 22 on 21 May 1959; at the time, she was employed as a
textile worker in a local factory. It was her expertise in skydiving that led to her selection as a
cosmonaut. In 1961, she became Secretary of the local Komsomol (Young Communist League) and
later joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. [7]
Career in the Soviet space program
Cosmonauts Valentina Tereshkova and Valery Bykovsky among children
After the flight of Yuri Gagarin in 1961, Sergey Korolyov, the chief Soviet rocket engineer, came up
with the idea of putting a woman in space. On 16 February 1962, Valentina Tereshkova was
selected to join the female cosmonaut corps. Out of more than 400 applicants, five were
selected: Tatyana Kuznetsova, Irina Solovyova, Zhanna Yorkina, Valentina Ponomaryova, and
Tereshkova. Qualifications included that they be parachutists under 30 years of age, under 170 cm
(5 ft 7 in) tall, and under 70 kg (154 lb) in weight.[8]
Tereshkova was considered a particularly worthy candidate, partly due to her "proletarian"
background, and because her father, tank leader sergeant Vladimir Tereshkov, was a war hero. He
died in the Finnish Winter War during World War II in the Lemetti area in Finnish Karelia when
Tereshkova was two years old. After her mission, she was asked how the Soviet Union should thank
her for her service to the country. Tereshkova asked that the government search for, and publish,
the location where her father was killed in action. This was done, and a monument now stands at the
site in Lemetti—now on the Russian side of the border. Tereshkova has since visited Finland several
times.
Training included weightless flights, isolation tests, centrifuge tests, rocket theory, spacecraft
engineering, 120 parachute jumps and pilot training in MiG-15UTI jet fighters. The group spent
several months in intensive training, concluding with examinations in November 1962, after which
four remaining candidates were commissioned Junior Lieutenants in the Soviet Air Force.
Tereshkova, Solovyova and Ponomaryova were the leading candidates, and a joint mission profile
was developed that would see two women launched into space, on solo Vostok flights on
consecutive days in March or April 1963. [9]
Originally it was intended that Tereshkova would launch first in Vostok 5 while Ponomaryova would
follow her into orbit in Vostok 6. However, this flight plan was altered in March 1963. Vostok 5 would
now carry a male cosmonaut Valery Bykovsky flying the joint mission, with a solo woman aboard
Vostok 6 in June 1963. The State Space Commission nominated Tereshkova to pilot Vostok 6 at
their meeting on 21 May and this was confirmed by Nikita Khrushchev himself.[10] Tereshkova was
exactly ten years younger than the youngest Mercury Seven astronaut, Gordon Cooper.
After watching the successful launch of Vostok 5 on 14 June, Tereshkova began final preparations
for her own flight. She was 26 at the time. On the morning of 16 June 1963, Tereshkova and her
backup Solovyova were both dressed in spacesuits and taken to the launch pad by bus. Following
the tradition set by Gagarin, Tereshkova also urinated on the bus tire, becoming the first woman to
do so[11]. After completing her communication and life support checks, she was sealed inside the
Vostok. After a two-hour countdown, Vostok 6 launched faultlessly, and Tereshkova became the first
woman in space.[12] Her call sign in this flight was Chaika (English: Seagull; Russian: Ча́ йка), later
commemorated as the name of an asteroid, 1671 Chaika.[13]
From left to right: Yuri Gagarin, Pavel Popovich, Valentina Tereshkova, and Nikita Khrushchev at the Lenin
Mausoleum, during a celebration honoring the Soviet cosmonauts, 1963
Although Tereshkova experienced nausea and physical discomfort for much of the flight,[14] she

orbited the earth 48 times and spent almost three days in space. With a single flight, she logged
more flight time than the combined times of all American astronauts who had flown before that date.
[15]
Tereshkova also maintained a flight log and took photographs of the horizon, which were later
used to identify aerosollayers within the atmosphere.[16]
Vostok 6 was the final Vostok flight and was launched two days after Vostok 5 which carried Valery
Bykovsky into a similar orbit for five days, landing three hours after Tereshkova. The two vessels
approached each other within 5 km (3.1 mi) at one point, and Tereshkova communicated with
Bykovsky and with Khrushchev by radio.
Even though there were plans for further flights by women, it took 19 years until the second
woman, Svetlana Savitskaya, flew into space. None of the other four in Tereshkova's early group
flew, and, in October 1969, the pioneering female cosmonaut group was dissolved. [9]
In September 1963, Tereshkova donated a silver cup at the women's 1963 European Rowing
Championships held in Khimki near Moscow for the most successful nation, which went to the team
from the Soviet Union as they won gold in all five boat classes.[17]
Education
Tereshkova, skiing, 1964
After her flight, Tereshkova studied at the Zhukovsky Air Force Academy and graduated with
distinction as a cosmonaut engineer. In 1977 she earned a doctorate in engineering.
Soviet political career

Tereshkova with African American civil rights activist Angela Davis in 1973
Due to her prominence, Tereshkova was chosen for several political positions: from 1966 to 1974
she was a member of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, from 1974 to 1989 a member of
the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, and from 1969 to 1991 she was in the Central Committee of
the Communist Party. In 1997, she was retired from the Russian Air Force and the cosmonaut corps
by presidential order.
Beyond her recognized political offices within the Soviet Union, Tereshkova also became a well-
known representative of the Soviet Union abroad. She was made a member of the World Peace
Council in 1966, a member of the Yaroslavl Soviet in 1967. She was also the Soviet representative
to the UN Conference for the International Women's Year in Mexico City in 1975. She also led the
Soviet delegation to the World Conference on Women in Copenhagen and played a critical role in
shaping the socialist women's global agenda for peace. [18] She attained the rank of deputy to the
Supreme Soviet, membership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Central Committee, Vice
President of the International Woman’s Democratic Federation and President of the Soviet-Algerian
Friendship Society.
She was decorated with the Hero of the Soviet Union medal, the USSR's highest award. She was
also awarded the Order of Lenin, Order of the October Revolution, numerous other medals, and
foreign orders including the Karl Marx Order, United Nations Gold Medal of Peace and the Simba
International Women’s Movement Award. She was also bestowed a title of the Hero of Socialist
Labor of Czechoslovakia, Hero of Labor of Vietnam, and Hero of Mongolia. In 1990 she received an
honorary doctorate from the University of Edinburgh. Tereshkova crater on the far side of the
Moon was named after her.
Post-Soviet political career

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Tereshkova lost her political office but none of her prestige.
To this day, she is revered as a hero, and to some her importance in Russian space history is only
surpassed by Yuri Gagarin and Alexey Leonov. She was elected to the State Duma, the lower house
of the Russian legislature, in 2011 as a member of United Russia where she continues to serve.[19]
Tereshkova's life and spaceflight were first written of in the West in the 1975 book: It Is I, Sea Gull;
Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in spaceby Mitchel R. Sharpe[20] and then again in greater
detail of her life and spaceflight in the 2007 book Into That Silent Sea by Colin Burgess and Francis
French, including interviews with Tereshkova and her colleagues.
Tereshkova was invited to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's residence in Novo-Ogaryovo for the
celebration of her 70th birthday. While there she said that she would like to fly to Mars, even if it
meant that it was a one-way trip.[21]
On 5 April 2008, she was a torchbearer of the 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay in Saint
Petersburg, Russia.[22]
She received the Eduard Rhein Ring of Honor from the German Eduard Rhein Foundation in 2007.[23]
[24]
Personal life
The wedding ceremony of pilot-cosmonauts Valentina Tereshkova and Andriyan Nikolayev, 3 November
1963.
Tereschkova married cosmonaut Andriyan Nikolayev on 3 November 1963 at the Moscow Wedding

Palace with Khrushchev presiding at the wedding party together with top government and space
programme leaders.[25]
On 8 June 1964, nearly one year after her space flight, she gave birth to their daughter Elena
Andrianovna Nikolaeva-Tereshkova,[26] who became a doctor and was the first person to have both a
mother and father who had travelled into space. She and Nikolayev divorced in 1982. Her second
husband, the orthopaedist Yuliy G. Shaposhnikov, died in 1999.
Honours and awards
Valentina Tereshkova and Neil Armstrong, 1970
Tereshkova visiting the Lviv confectionery, Ukrainian SSR, 1967

Valentina Tereshkova among delegates at the 24th Congress of the CPSU, 1971.
Tereshkova at the Heurekascience centre, in Finland, 2002
Valentina Tereshkova and NASA astronaut Catherine Coleman at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center
in December 2010.
Tereshkova with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in the Russian State Duma, 2018
Russian
 Order of Merit for the Fatherland;
 2nd class (6 March 2007) – for outstanding contribution to the development of
domestic space
 3rd class (6 March 1997) – for services to the state and the great personal
contribution to the development of domestic space
 Order of Alexander Nevsky (2013)[27]
 Order of Honour (10 June 2003) – for outstanding contribution to the development and
strengthening of international scientific, cultural and social ties
 Order of Friendship (12 April 2011) – for outstanding contribution to the development of
national manned space flight and long-term fruitful public activity
 Russian Federation State Prize for outstanding achievements in the field of humanitarian
action in 2008 (4 June 2009)
 Certificates of appreciation from the Government of the Russian Federation;
 16 June 2008, – for long-term fruitful state and public activities, considerable
personal contribution to the development of manned space flight and in connection with the
45th anniversary of spaceflight
 12 June 2003, – for large contribution to the development of manned space flight
 3 March 1997, – for the contribution to the development of space, the strengthening
of international scientific and cultural ties and years of diligent work
Soviet
 Honoured Master of Sport (19 June 1963)
 Hero of the Soviet Union (22 June 1963)
 Order of Lenin (22 June 1963; 6 May 1981) – for making progress on the development and
strengthening of ties with the progressive community and peace-loving forces of foreign
countries
 Order of the October Revolution (1 December 1971)
 Order of the Red Banner of Labour (5 March 1987) – for social activities
 Order of the Friendship of Peoples
 Pilot-Cosmonaut of the Soviet Union
Other Warsaw Pact awards
 "Gold Star" Hero of Socialist Labour (Czechoslovakia) (August 1963)
 "Gold Star" Hero of Socialist Labour (Bulgaria) (Bulgaria, 9 September 1963)
 Order of Georgi Dimitrov (Bulgaria, 9 September 1963)
 Order of Karl Marx (October 1963, East Germany)
 Medal of Becker (October 1963, East Germany)
 Cross of Grunwald, 1st class (October 1963, Poland)
 Order of the National Flag with diamonds (Hungary, April 1965)
 Order "For Achievements in Science" (Romania, 17 November 1973)
 Medal "For Strengthening Brotherhood in Arms" (Bulgaria, 1976)
 Order of Klement Gottwald (Czechoslovakia)
Other international awards
 Order of Tri Shakti Patta, 1st class (Nepal, November 1963)
 Star of the Republic of Indonesia, 2nd class (November 1963)
 Order of the Volta (Ghana, January 1964)
 "Gold Soyombo" Hero of Labour (Mongolia)
 Order of Sukhbaatar (Mongolia, May 1965)
 Order of the Enlightenment (Afghanistan, August 1969)
 Order of Planets (Jordan, December 1969)
 Order of the Nile (Egypt, January 1971)
 "Gold Star" Hero of Labour (Vietnam) (October 1971)
 Order of Bernardo O'Higgins (Chile, March 1972)
 Order of the Yugoslav Flag with sash (November 1972)
 Grand Cross of the Order of the Sun (Peru, 1974)
 Order of Playa Girón (Cuba, 1974)
 Order of Ana Betancourt (Cuba, 1974)
 Order of Duke Branimir, with sash (Croatia, 17 February 2003)
Scientific, social and religious organizations
 Gold Medal, Tsiolkovsky Academy of Sciences of the USSR
 Gold Medal of the British Society for interplanetary communications "For achievements in
space exploration" (February 1964)
 Gold Medal of the "Cosmos" (FAI)
 Award Galambera Astronautics
 Gold Medal of Peace Joliot-Curie (France, 1964)
 Order "Wind Rose" International Committee of the National Aeronautics and Space Missions
 "Golden mimosa" of the Italian Union of Women (1963)
 Sign of the Komsomol "For active in the League" (1963)
 Gold Medal Exhibition of Economic Achievements (28 June 1963)
 Honour of DOSAAF (1 July 1963)
 Order of St. Euphrosyne, Grand Duchess of Moscow, 2nd class (2008)
Honorary citizenships
Kaluga, Yaroslavl (Russia), Karaganda, Baikonur (Leninsk, Kazakhstan, 1977), Gyumri (Leninakan,
Armenia, 1965), Vitebsk (Belarus,
1975), Montreux (Switzerland), Drancy (France), Montgomery (UK), Polizzi
Generosa (Italy), Darkhan (Mongolia, 1965), Sofia, Burgas, Petrich, Stara
Zagora, Pleven, Varna(Bulgaria, 1963), Bratislava (Slovakia, 1963)
Recognition
Vintage Soviet era Russian matryoshka doll celebrating Valentina Tereshkova
Various locations and monuments have been named after Valentina Tereshkova:
 A lunar crater, Tereshkova
 A minor planet 1671 Chaika
 Yalta embankment
 Many streets
in Vitebsk, Volokolamsk, Grodno, Irkutsk, Ishimbay, Kemerovo, Klin, Korolyov, Lipetsk, Mytishchi
, Ardatov, Novosibirsk (Akademgorodok), Novocheboksarsk, Odessa, Orenburg, Yaroslavl, Kras
noyarsk, Penza, Gudermes (Chechen Republic)
 A square in Tver
 School number 32 in Yaroslavl, where she studied
 Museum of Tereshkova "Cosmos" near her native village
 Monument in Bayevsky District of Altai Territory, Siberia, close to her landing place of 53°N,
80°E.[28]
 "Greatest woman of 20th century"
 Cosmonaut monument in Moscow
 Monument planned at Tereshkova's birthplace in Yaroslavl
 Yaroslavl Planetarium (7 April 2011)
Postage stamp of Kyrgyzstan, 2013
In popular culture
In 1997, London-based electronic pop group Komputer released a song entitled "Valentina" which
gives a more-or-less direct account of her career as a cosmonaut. It was released as a single and
appears on their album The World of Tomorrow. The band Public Service Broadcasting has a song
entitled "Valentina" on their 2015 album The Race for Space in tribute to her. In the same
year, Findlay Napier's album VIP: Very Interesting Persons included a song "Valentina", written in
her honour by Napier and Boo Hewerdine.
Tereshkova was featured in the 2003 made-for-television adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time. She was
portrayed by Apollonia Vanova
In season three of Orange is the New Black, Red describes Tereshkova as her hero, and notes her
focus in wanting to travel to Mars, despite being in her seventies.
In 2015, a short film entitled Valentina's Dream was released by Meat Bingo Productions. The film
stars Rebecca Front as Tereshkova and is based on an interview by the former cosmonaut where
she expressed a desire to journey to Mars.
The 2007 video game Mass Effect included a fictional star system named for Tereshkova. [29]
Streets in Ukraine that bore Tereshkova's name have been renamed due to the country's 2015
decommunization law.[30][31]
The 2015 space flight simulator Kerbal Space Program features a pilot Kerbal named Valentina in
her honor.[32]
The 2017 mobile RPG Alliance: Heroes of the Spire has a hero named "Valentina, the Star Pioneer"
in honor of Tereshkova.
In 2017, Uruguayan electronic duo Corvis released a full album inspired by Valentina's
courage, Krasnyy. They specially made her a tribute naming "Chaika" to the most climatic and
emotional track of the album.
The BBC drama Call the Midwife (Season 7, Episode 4; broadcast 11 February 2018) used the
space flight of Tereshkova as an example of heroism by a woman.
Exploration by space craft.

Observations and explorations of Venus
Artist's impression of Mariner 2, launched in 1962, a skeletal, bottle-shaped spacecraft with a large radio dish
on top
The first robotic space probe mission to Venus, and the first to any planet, began with the
Soviet Veneraprogram in 1961.[152] The United States' exploration of Venus had its first success with
the Mariner 2mission on 14 December 1962, becoming the world's first successful interplanetary
mission, passing 34,833 km (21,644 mi) above the surface of Venus, and gathering data on the
planet's atmosphere.[153][154]
On 18 October 1967, the Soviet Venera 4 successfully entered the atmosphere and deployed
science experiments. Venera 4 showed the surface temperature was hotter than Mariner 2 had
calculated, at almost 500 °C (932 °F), determined that the atmosphere is 95% carbon dioxide (CO
2), and discovered that Venus's atmosphere was considerably denser than Venera 4's designers had
anticipated.[155] The joint Venera 4–Mariner 5 data were analysed by a combined Soviet–American

science team in a series of colloquia over the following year, [156] in an early example of space
cooperation.[157]
In 1974, Mariner 10 swung by Venus on its way to Mercury and took ultraviolet photographs of the
clouds, revealing the extraordinarily high wind speeds in the Venusian atmosphere.
Global view of Venus in ultraviolet light done by Mariner 10.
In 1975, the Soviet Venera 9 and 10 landers transmitted the first images from the surface of Venus,
which were in black and white. In 1982 the first colour images of the surface were obtained with the
Soviet Venera 13 and 14 landers.
NASA obtained additional data in 1978 with the Pioneer Venus project that consisted of two
separate missions:[158] Pioneer Venus Orbiter and Pioneer Venus Multiprobe.[159] The successful
Soviet Venera program came to a close in October 1983, when Venera 15 and 16 were placed in
orbit to conduct detailed mapping of 25% of Venus's terrain (from the north pole to 30°N latitude) [160]
Several other Venus flybys took place in the 1980s and 1990s that increased the understanding of
Venus, including Vega 1 (1985), Vega 2 (1985), Galileo (1990), Magellan (1994), Cassini–
Huygens (1998), and MESSENGER (2006). Then, Venus Express by the European Space
Agency (ESA) entered orbit around Venus in April 2006. Equipped with seven scientific
instruments, Venus Express provided unprecedented long-term observation of Venus's atmosphere.
ESA concluded that mission in December 2014.
As of 2016, Japan's Akatsuki is in a highly elliptical orbit around Venus since 7 December 2015, and
there are several probing proposals under study by Roscosmos, NASA, and India's ISRO.
In 2016, NASA announced that it was planning a rover, the Automaton Rover for Extreme
Environments, designed to survive for an extended time in Venus's environmental conditions. It
would be controlled by a mechanical computer and driven by wind power
Franz Xaver Kugler
Franz Xaver Kugler (27 November 1862 – 25 January 1929) was
a German chemist, mathematician, Assyriologist, and Jesuitpriest.[1]
Kugler was born in Königsbach, Palatinate, then part of the Kingdom of Bavaria. He earned
a Ph.D. in chemistry in 1885, and the following year he entered the Jesuits. By 1893 he had
been ordained as a priest. Four years later at the age of 35, he became a professor of
Mathematics at Ignatius-College in Valkenburg in the Netherlands.[1]
He is most noted for his studies of cuneiform tablets and Babylonian astronomy.[2] He worked out the
Babylonian theories on the Moon and planets, which were published in 1907. However his full work
on Babylonian astronomy was never completed, with only three volumes out of a planned five
published
F. X. Kugler
Part of a series on the
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For other people named Franz Kugler, see Franz Kugler.
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He died in Lucerne, Switzerland.[1]
Bibliography
 Die Babylonische Mondrechnung, Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder, (1900).
 Die Sternenfahrt des Gilgamesch: Kosmologische würdigung des babylonischen
Nationalepos. (1904).
 Sternkunde und Sterndienst in Babel. Münster in Westfalien: Aschendorffsche
Verlagsbuchandlung, (1907). 2 Vols.
 Volume 1
 Volume 2 part 1
 Volume 2, part 2.1
 Volume 2, part 2.2
 Supplement 1
 Supplement 2 pt. 1-8
 Supplement 2 pt. 9-14
 Darlegungen und Thesen über altbabylonische Chronologie, Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und
verwandte Gebiete, 22 (1909), pp. 63–78 (*).
 GUR, masihu sa sattuk, KA, Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und verwandte Gebiete, 23 (1909),
pp. 267–273
 Im Bannkreis Babels : panbabylonistische Konstruktionen und religionsgeschichtliche
Tatsachen. Münster: Aschendorff (1910).
 Zwei Kassitenkönige der Liste A, Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und verwandte Gebiete, 24
(1910), 173-178.
 Chronologisches und Soziales aus der Zeit Lugalanda’s und Urukagina’s, Zeitschrift für
Assyriologie und verwandte Gebiete, 25 (1911), 275-280.
 Contribution à la météorologie babylonienne, Revue d’assyriologie et d’archéologie orientale,
8 (1911), 107-130.
 Bemerkungen zur neuesten Königsliste, Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und verwandte Gebiete,
27 (1912), 242-245.
 Von Moses bis Paulus: Forschungen zur Geschichte Israels. Münster: Aschendorff, (1922).
 Sibyllinischer Sternkampf und Phaëthon in naturgeschichtlicher Beleuchtung Münster in
Westfalen : Aschendorff (1927).
Honors
 The crater Kugler on the Moon is named after him.[3]
 Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa

 List of Jesuit scientists
 List of Roman Catholic scientist-clerics
Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck
Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck, ForMemRS[1] (German: [ˈplaŋk];[2] English: /ˈplæŋk/;[3] 23 April 1858 – 4 October 1947)
was a German theoretical physicist whose discovery of energy quanta won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918.[4]
Planck made many contributions to theoretical physics, but his fame as a physicist rests primarily on his role as the
originator of quantum theory,[5] which revolutionized human understanding of atomic and subatomic processes. In
1948 the German scientific institution the Kaiser Wilhelm Society (of which Planck was twice president) was renamed
the Max Planck Society (MPS). The MPS now includes 83 institutions representing a wide range of scientific
directions.
Max Planck
Planck in 1933
Life and career

Planck came from a traditional, intellectual family. His paternal great-grandfather and grandfather were both theology
professors in Göttingen; his father was a law professor at the University of Kiel[6] and Munich. One of his uncles was
also a judge.[7]
Max Planck's signature at ten years of age
Planck was born in Kiel, Holstein, to Johann Julius Wilhelm Planck and his second wife, Emma Patzig. He was
baptized with the name of Karl Ernst Ludwig Marx Planck; of his given names, Marx (a now obsolete variant
of Markus or maybe simply an error for Max, which is actually short for Maximilian) was indicated as the "appellation
name".[8] However, by the age of ten he signed with the name Max and used this for the rest of his life.[9]
He was the 6th child in the family, though two of his siblings were from his father's first marriage. War was common
during Planck's early years and among his earliest memories was the marching of Prussian and Austrian troops into
Kiel during the Second Schleswig War in 1864.[7] In 1867 the family moved to Munich, and Planck enrolled in the
Maximilians gymnasium school, where he came under the tutelage of Hermann Müller, a mathematician who took an
interest in the youth, and taught him astronomy and mechanics as well as mathematics. It was from Müller that
Planck first learned the principle of conservation of energy. Planck graduated early, at age 17.[10] This is how Planck
first came in contact with the field of physics.
Planck was gifted when it came to music. He took singing lessons and played piano, organ and cello, and composed
songs and operas. However, instead of music he chose to study physics.
Planck as a young man, 1878
The Munich physics professor Philipp von Jolly advised Planck against going into physics, saying, "in this field,
almost everything is already discovered, and all that remains is to fill a few holes."[11] Planck replied that he did not
wish to discover new things, but only to understand the known fundamentals of the field, and so began his studies in
1874 at the University of Munich. Under Jolly's supervision, Planck performed the only experiments of his scientific
career, studying the diffusion of hydrogen through heated platinum, but transferred to theoretical physics.
In 1877 he went to the Friedrich Wilhelms University in Berlin for a year of study with physicists Hermann von
Helmholtz and Gustav Kirchhoff and mathematician Karl Weierstrass. He wrote that Helmholtz was never quite
prepared, spoke slowly, miscalculated endlessly, and bored his listeners, while Kirchhoff spoke in carefully prepared
lectures which were dry and monotonous. He soon became close friends with Helmholtz. While there he undertook a
program of mostly self-study of Clausius's writings, which led him to choose thermodynamics as his field.
In October 1878 Planck passed his qualifying exams and in February 1879 defended his dissertation, Über den
zweiten Hauptsatz der mechanischen Wärmetheorie (On the second law of thermodynamics). He briefly taught
mathematics and physics at his former school in Munich.
By the year 1880, Planck obtained two highest academic degrees offered in Europe. The first was a doctorate degree
after he completed his paper detailing his research and theory of thermodynamics.[7] He then presented his thesis
called Gleichgewichtszustände isotroper Körper in verschiedenen Temperaturen (Equilibrium states of isotropic
bodies at different temperatures), which earned him a habilitation.
Academic career
With the completion of his habilitation thesis, Planck became an unpaid Privatdozent (German academic rank
comparable to lecturer/assistant professor) in Munich, waiting until he was offered an academic position. Although he
was initially ignored by the academic community, he furthered his work on the field of heat theory and discovered one
after another the same thermodynamical formalism as Gibbs without realizing it. Clausius's ideas
on entropy occupied a central role in his work.
In April 1885 the University of Kiel appointed Planck as associate professor of theoretical physics. Further work on
entropy and its treatment, especially as applied in physical chemistry, followed. He published his Treatise on
Thermodynamics in 1897.[12] He proposed a thermodynamic basis for Svante Arrhenius's theory
of electrolytic dissociation.
In 1889 he was named the successor to Kirchhoff's position at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Berlin[13] –
presumably thanks to Helmholtz's intercession – and by 1892 became a full professor. In 1907 Planck was
offered Boltzmann's position in Vienna, but turned it down to stay in Berlin. During 1909, as a University of Berlin
professor, he was invited to become the Ernest Kempton Adams Lecturer in Theoretical Physics at Columbia
University in New York City. A series of his lectures were translated and co-published by Columbia University
professor A. P. Wills.[14] He retired from Berlin on 10 January 1926,[15] and was succeeded by Erwin Schrödinger.[16]
Family
In March 1887 Planck married Marie Merck (1861–1909), sister of a school fellow, and moved with her into a sublet
apartment in Kiel. They had four children: Karl (1888–1916), the twins Emma (1889–1919) and Grete (1889–1917),
and Erwin (1893–1945).
After the apartment in Berlin, the Planck family lived in a villa in Berlin-Grunewald, Wangenheimstrasse 21. Several
other professors from University of Berlin lived nearby, among them theologian Adolf von Harnack, who became a
close friend of Planck. Soon the Planck home became a social and cultural center. Numerous well-known scientists,
such as Albert Einstein, Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner were frequent visitors. The tradition of jointly performing music
had already been established in the home of Helmholtz.
After several happy years, in July 1909 Marie Planck died, possibly from tuberculosis. In March 1911 Planck married
his second wife, Marga von Hoesslin (1882–1948); in December his fifth child Hermann was born.
During the First World War Planck's second son Erwin was taken prisoner by the French in 1914, while his oldest son
Karl was killed in action at Verdun. Grete died in 1917 while giving birth to her first child. Her sister died the same way
two years later, after having married Grete's widower. Both granddaughters survived and were named after their
mothers. Planck endured these losses stoically.
In January 1945, Erwin, to whom he had been particularly close, was sentenced to death by
the Nazi Volksgerichtshof because of his participation in the failed attempt to assassinate Hitler in July 1944. Erwin
was executed on 23 January 1945.[17]
Professor at Berlin University

As a professor at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Berlin, Planck joined the local Physical Society. He later wrote
about this time: "In those days I was essentially the only theoretical physicist there, whence things were not so easy
for me, because I started mentioning entropy, but this was not quite fashionable, since it was regarded as a
mathematical spook".[18] Thanks to his initiative, the various local Physical Societies of Germany merged in 1898 to
form the German Physical Society (Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft, DPG); from 1905 to 1909 Planck was the
president.
Plaque at the Humboldt University of Berlin: "Max Planck, discoverer of the elementary quantum of action h, taught in this building from 1889
to 1928."
Planck started a six-semester course of lectures on theoretical physics, "dry, somewhat impersonal" according to Lise
Meitner, "using no notes, never making mistakes, never faltering; the best lecturer I ever heard" according to an
English participant, James R. Partington, who continues: "There were always many standing around the room. As the
lecture-room was well heated and rather close, some of the listeners would from time to time drop to the floor, but this
did not disturb the lecture". Planck did not establish an actual "school"; the number of his graduate students was only
about 20, among them:
1897 Max Abraham (1875–1922)
1903 Max von Laue (1879–1960)
1904 Moritz Schlick (1882–1936)
1906 Walther Meissner (1882–1974)
1907 Fritz Reiche (1883–1960)
1912 Walter Schottky (1886–1976)
1914 Walther Bothe (1891–1957)[19]
Black-body radiation
In 1894 Planck turned his attention to the problem of black-body radiation. He had been commissioned by electric
companies to create maximum light from lightbulbs with minimum energy. The problem had been stated by Kirchhoff
in 1859: "how does the intensity of the electromagnetic radiation emitted by a black body (a perfect absorber, also
known as a cavity radiator) depend on the frequency of the radiation (i.e., the color of the light) and the temperature
of the body?". The question had been explored experimentally, but no theoretical treatment agreed with experimental
values. Wilhelm Wien proposed Wien's law, which correctly predicted the behaviour at high frequencies, but failed at
low frequencies. The Rayleigh–Jeans law, another approach to the problem, created what was later known as the
"ultraviolet catastrophe", but contrary to many textbooks this was not a motivation for Planck.[20]
Planck's first proposed solution to the problem in 1899 followed from what Planck called the "principle of elementary
disorder", which allowed him to derive Wien's law from a number of assumptions about the entropy of an ideal
oscillator, creating what was referred-to as the Wien–Planck law. Soon it was found that experimental evidence did
not confirm the new law at all, to Planck's frustration. Planck revised his approach, deriving the first version of the
famous Planck black-body radiation law, which described the experimentally observed black-body spectrum well. It
was first proposed in a meeting of the DPG on 19 October 1900 and published in 1901. This first derivation did not
include energy quantisation, and did not use statistical mechanics, to which he held an aversion. In November 1900,
Planck revised this first approach, relying on Boltzmann's statistical interpretation of the second law of
thermodynamics as a way of gaining a more fundamental understanding of the principles behind his radiation law. As
Planck was deeply suspicious of the philosophical and physical implications of such an interpretation of Boltzmann's
approach, his recourse to them was, as he later put it, "an act of despair ... I was ready to sacrifice any of my
previous convictions about physics."[20]
The central assumption behind his new derivation, presented to the DPG on 14 December 1900, was the supposition,
now known as the Planck postulate, that electromagnetic energy could be emitted only in quantized form, in other
words, the energy could only be a multiple of an elementary unit:
where h is Planck's constant, also known as Planck's action quantum (introduced already in 1899), and ν is the
frequency of the radiation. Note that the elementary units of energy discussed here are represented by hν and not
simply by ν. Physicists now call these quanta photons, and a photon of frequency ν will have its own specific and
unique energy. The total energy at that frequency is then equal to hν multiplied by the number of photons at that
frequency.
Planck in 1918, the year he received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on quantum theory
At first Planck considered that quantisation was only "a purely formalassumption ... actually I did not think much about
it..."; nowadays this assumption, incompatible with classical physics, is regarded as the birth of quantum physics and
the greatest intellectual accomplishment of Planck's career (Ludwig Boltzmann had been discussing in a theoretical
paper in 1877 the possibility that the energy states of a physical system could be discrete). The discovery of Planck's
constant enabled him to define a new universal set of physical units (such as the Planck length and the Planck
mass), all based on fundamental physical constants upon which much of quantum theory is based. In recognition of
Planck's fundamental contribution to a new branch of physics, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for 1918
(he actually received the award in 1919).[21][22]
Subsequently, Planck tried to grasp the meaning of energy quanta, but to no avail. "My unavailing attempts to
somehow reintegrate the action quantum into classical theory extended over several years and caused me much
trouble." Even several years later, other physicists like Rayleigh, Jeans, and Lorentz set Planck's constant to zero in
order to align with classical physics, but Planck knew well that this constant had a precise nonzero value. "I am
unable to understand Jeans' stubbornness – he is an example of a theoretician as should never be existing, the same
as Hegel was for philosophy. So much the worse for the facts if they don't fit."[23]
Max Born wrote about Planck: "He was, by nature, a conservative mind; he had nothing of the revolutionary and was
thoroughly skeptical about speculations. Yet his belief in the compelling force of logical reasoning from facts was so
strong that he did not flinch from announcing the most revolutionary idea which ever has shaken physics."[1]
Einstein and the theory of relativity

In 1905, the three epochal papers by Albert Einstein were published in the journal Annalen der Physik. Planck was
among the few who immediately recognized the significance of the special theory of relativity. Thanks to his influence,
this theory was soon widely accepted in Germany. Planck also contributed considerably to extend the special theory
of relativity. For example, he recast the theory in terms of classical action.[24]
Einstein's hypothesis of light quanta (photons), based on Heinrich Hertz's 1887 discovery (and further investigation
by Philipp Lenard) of the photoelectric effect, was initially rejected by Planck. He was unwilling to discard
completely Maxwell's theory of electrodynamics. "The theory of light would be thrown back not by decades, but by
centuries, into the age when Christiaan Huygens dared to fight against the mighty emission theory of Isaac
Newton ..."
In 1910, Einstein pointed out the anomalous behavior of specific heat at low temperatures as another example of a
phenomenon which defies explanation by classical physics. Planck and Nernst, seeking to clarify the increasing
number of contradictions, organized the First Solvay Conference (Brussels 1911). At this meeting Einstein was able
to convince Planck.
Meanwhile, Planck had been appointed dean of Berlin University, whereby it was possible for him to call Einstein to
Berlin and establish a new professorship for him (1914). Soon the two scientists became close friends and met
frequently to play music together.
First World War

At the onset of the First World War Planck endorsed the general excitement of the public, writing that, "Besides much
that is horrible, there is also much that is unexpectedly great and beautiful: the smooth solution of the most difficult
domestic political problems by the unification of all parties (and) ... the extolling of everything good and noble."[25][26]
Nonetheless, Planck refrained from the extremes of nationalism. In 1915, at a time when Italy was about to join
the Allied Powers, he voted successfully for a scientific paper from Italy, which received a prize from the Prussian
Academy of Sciences, where Planck was one of four permanent presidents.
Planck also signed the infamous "Manifesto of the 93 intellectuals", a pamphlet of polemic war propaganda (while
Einstein retained a strictly pacifistic attitude which almost led to his imprisonment, being spared by
his Swiss citizenship). But in 1915 Planck, after several meetings with Dutch physicist Lorentz, revoked parts of the
Manifesto. Then in 1916 he signed a declaration against German annexationism.[citation needed]
Post-war and the Weimar Republic

In the turbulent post-war years, Planck, now the highest authority of German physics, issued the slogan "persevere
and continue working" to his colleagues.
In October 1920 he and Fritz Haber established the Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft (Emergency
Organization of German Science), aimed at providing financial support for scientific research. A considerable portion
of the money the organization would distribute was raised abroad.
Planck also held leading positions at Berlin University, the Prussian Academy of Sciences, the German Physical
Society and the Kaiser Wilhelm Society (which in 1948 became the Max Planck Society). During this time economic
conditions in Germany were such that he was hardly able to conduct research. In 1926 Planck became a foreign
member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.[27]
During the interwar period, Planck became a member of the Deutsche Volks-Partei (German People's Party), the
party of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Gustav Stresemann, which aspired to liberal aims for domestic policy and rather
revisionistic aims for politics around the world.
Planck disagreed with the introduction of universal suffrage and later expressed the view that the Nazi dictatorship
resulted from "the ascent of the rule of the crowds".[28]
Quantum mechanics
From left to right: W. Nernst, A. Einstein, M. Planck, R.A. Millikan and von Laue at a
dinner given by von Laue in Berlin on 11 November 1931
At the end of the 1920s Bohr, Heisenberg and Pauli had worked out the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum

mechanics, but it was rejected by Planck, and by Schrödinger, Laue, and Einstein as well. Planck expected that wave
mechanics would soon render quantum theory—his own child—unnecessary. This was not to be the case, however.
Further work only cemented quantum theory, even against his and Einstein's philosophical revulsions. Planck
experienced the truth of his own earlier observation from his struggle with the older views in his younger years: "A
new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because
its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it."[29]
Nazi dictatorship and the Second World War
When the Nazis came to power in 1933, Planck was 74. He witnessed many Jewish friends and colleagues expelled
from their positions and humiliated, and hundreds of scientists emigrated from Nazi Germany. Again he tried to
"persevere and continue working" and asked scientists who were considering emigration to remain in Germany.
Nevertheless, he did help his nephew, the economist Hermann Kranold to emigrate to Londonafter his arrest.[30] He
hoped the crisis would abate soon and the political situation would improve.
Otto Hahn asked Planck to gather well-known German professors in order to issue a public proclamation against the
treatment of Jewish professors, but Planck replied, "If you are able to gather today 30 such gentlemen, then
tomorrow 150 others will come and speak against it, because they are eager to take over the positions of the
others."[31] Under Planck's leadership, the Kaiser Wilhelm Society (KWG) avoided open conflict with the Nazi regime,
except concerning Fritz Haber. Planck tried to discuss the issue with Adolf Hitler but was unsuccessful. In the
following year, 1934, Haber died in exile.
One year later, Planck, having been the president of the KWG since 1930, organized in a somewhat provocative style
an official commemorative meeting for Haber. He also succeeded in secretly enabling a number of Jewish scientists
to continue working in institutes of the KWG for several years. In 1936, his term as president of the KWG ended, and
the Nazi government pressured him to refrain from seeking another term.
As the political climate in Germany gradually became more hostile, Johannes Stark, prominent exponent of Deutsche
Physik ("German Physics", also called "Aryan Physics") attacked Planck, Sommerfeld and Heisenberg for continuing
to teach the theories of Einstein, calling them "white Jews". The "Hauptamt Wissenschaft" (Nazi government office for
science) started an investigation of Planck's ancestry, claiming that he was "1/16 Jewish", but Planck himself denied
it.[32]
Max Planck's grave in Göttingen
In 1938, Planck celebrated his 80th birthday. The DPG held a celebration, during which the Max-Planck medal
(founded as the highest medal by the DPG in 1928) was awarded to French physicist Louis de Broglie. At the end of
1938, the Prussian Academy lost its remaining independence and was taken over by Nazis (Gleichschaltung). Planck
protested by resigning his presidency. He continued to travel frequently, giving numerous public talks, such as his talk
on Religion and Science, and five years later he was sufficiently fit to climb 3,000-metre peaks in the Alps.
During the Second World War the increasing number of Allied bombing missions against Berlin forced Planck and his
wife to temporarily leave the city and live in the countryside. In 1942 he wrote: "In me an ardent desire has grown to
persevere this crisis and live long enough to be able to witness the turning point, the beginning of a new rise." In
February 1944 his home in Berlin was completely destroyed by an air raid, annihilating all his scientific records and
correspondence. His rural retreat was threatened by the rapid advance of the Allied armies from both sides.
In 1944, Planck's son Erwin was arrested by the Gestapo following the attempted assassination of Hitler in the 20
July plot. He was tried and sentenced to death by the People’s Court in October 1944. Erwin was hanged at
Berlin’s Plötzensee Prison in January 1945. The death of his son destroyed much of Planck's will to live.[33] After the
end of the war Planck, his second wife, and his son by her were brought to a relative in Göttingen, where Planck died
on October 4th, 1947. His grave is situated in the old Stadtfriedhof (City Cemetery) in Göttingen.[34]
Religious views
Planck was a member of the Lutheran Church in Germany.[35] However, Planck was very tolerant towards alternative
views and religions.[36] In a lecture in 1937 entitled "Religion und Naturwissenschaft" (Religion and Natural Science)
he suggested the importance of these symbols and rituals related directly with a believer's ability to worship God, but
that one must be mindful that the symbols provide an imperfect illustration of divinity. He criticized atheism for being
focused on the derision of such symbols, while at the same time warned of the over-estimation of the importance of
such symbols by believers.[37]
He was favorable to all religions, but he himself chose Christianity. He did, however, regret the Church's demands for
unquestioning belief, which served to repel questioners. For example, he believed "the faith in miracles must yield,
step by step, before the steady and firm advance of the facts of science, and its total defeat is undoubtedly a matter
of time." [38]
In his 1937 lecture "Religion and Naturwissenschaft," Planck expressed the view that God is everywhere present, and
held that "the holiness of the unintelligible Godhead is conveyed by the holiness of symbols." Atheists, he thought,
attach too much importance to what are merely symbols. Planck was a churchwarden from 1920 until his death, and
believed in an almighty, all-knowing, beneficent God (though not necessarily a personal one). Both science and
religion wage a "tireless battle against skepticism and dogmatism, against unbelief and superstition" with the goal
"toward God!"[38]
Max Planck said in 1944, "As a man who has devoted his whole life to the most clear headed science, to the study of
matter, I can tell you as a result of my research about atoms this much: There is no matter as such. All matter
originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particle of an atom to vibration and holds this most
minute solar system of the atom together. We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and
intelligent spirit (orig. geist). This spirit is the matrix of all matter."[39]
Planck regarded the scientist as a man of imagination and Christian faith. He said: "Both religion and science require
a belief in God. For believers, God is in the beginning, and for physicists He is at the end of all considerations… To
the former He is the foundation, to the latter, the crown of the edifice of every generalized world view".[40]
On the other hand, Planck wrote, "...'to believe' means 'to recognize as a truth,' and the knowledge of nature,
continually advancing on incontestably safe tracks, has made it utterly impossible for a person possessing some
training in natural science to recognize as founded on truth the many reports of extraordinary occurrences
contradicting the laws of nature, of miracles which are still commonly regarded as essential supports and
confirmations of religious doctrines, and which formerly used to be accepted as facts pure and simple, without doubt
or criticism. The belief in miracles must retreat step by step before relentlessly and reliably progressing science and
we cannot doubt that sooner or later it must vanish completely."[41]
Later in life, Planck's views on God were that of a deist.[42] For example, six months before his death a rumour started
that Planck had converted to Catholicism, but when questioned what had brought him to make this step, he declared
that, although he had always been deeply religious, he did not believe "in a personal God, let alone a Christian
God."[43]
SCOPE OF THE STUDY.
UNITING PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY.

QUANTUM MECHANICS
Quantum mechanics (QM; also known as quantum physics, quantum theory, the wave
mechanical model, or matrix mechanics), including quantum field theory, is a fundamental theory
in physics which describes nature at the smallest scales of energy levels of atoms and subatomic
particles.[2]
Classical physics, the physics existing before quantum mechanics, describes nature at ordinary
(macroscopic) scale. Most theories in classical physics can be derived from quantum mechanics as
an approximation valid at large (macroscopic) scale. [3] Quantum mechanics differs from classical
physics in that energy, momentum, angular momentum and other quantities of a bound system are
restricted to discrete values (quantization); objects have characteristics of
both particles and waves (wave-particle duality); and there are limits to the precision with which
quantities can be measured (uncertainty principle).
Quantum mechanics gradually arose from theories to explain observations which could not be
reconciled with classical physics, such as Max Planck's solution in 1900 to the black-body
radiation problem, and from the correspondence between energy and frequency in Albert
Einstein's 1905 paper which explained the photoelectric effect. Early quantum theory was profoundly
re-conceived in the mid-1920s by Erwin Schrödinger, Werner Heisenberg, Max Born and others. The
modern theory is formulated in various specially developed mathematical formalisms. In one of
them, a mathematical function, the wave function, provides information about the probability
amplitude of position, momentum, and other physical properties of a particle.
Important applications of quantum theory [5] include quantum chemistry, quantum optics, quantum
computing, superconducting magnets, light-emitting diodes, and the laser,
the transistor and semiconductors such as the microprocessor, medical and research imaging such
as magnetic resonance imaging and electron microscopy. Explanations for many biological and
physical phenomena are rooted in the nature of the chemical bond, most notably the macro-
molecule DNA.[6]
CELESTIAL MECHANICS
Celestial mechanics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the motions of objects in outer
space. Historically, celestial mechanics applies principles of physics (classical mechanics) to
astronomical objects, such as stars and planets, to produce ephemeris data.
As an astronomical field of study, celestial mechanics includes the sub-fields of orbital mechanics,
which deals with the launching and orbits artificial satellites, and lunar theory, a specialty which
deals with the complications of the orbit of the Moon. Modern celestial mechanics tends to divide
between five broad fields of study:
 trajectories of artificial satellites (astrodynamics)

 motions of major planets, minor planets, and natural satellites in the Solar system and other
stellar systems and widely spaced multiple-star systems (planetary dynamics)
 the motion of component stars and their planetary systems in closely spaced multiple-star
systems and globular clusters (astrodynamics and stellar dynamics)
 flow of stars within and among the bodies of large galaxies, dwarf galaxies, and globular
clusters (stellar dynamicsand galactic dynamics)
 motions of galaxies and intergalactic dust and gas within galaxy clusters (computational
astrophysics)
All of the above fields overlap, but are sometimes treated as separate, especially the study of the
motion of stars within galaxies and interactions between whole galaxies, which both tend to rely
heavily on fluid mechanics (whole stars being particles of the “fluid”).
Astronomy
Astronomy (from Greek: ἀστρονομία) is a natural science that studies celestial
objects and phenomena. It applies mathematics, physics, and chemistry in an effort to explain the
origin of those objects and phenomena and their evolution. Objects of interest
include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxies, and comets; the phenomena also
includes supernova explosions, gamma ray bursts, quasars, blazars, pulsars, and cosmic microwave
background radiation. More generally, all phenomena that originate outside Earth's atmosphere are
within the purview of astronomy. A related but distinct subject is physical cosmology, which is the
study of the Universe as a whole.
[1]
Planetary science
Planetary science or, more rarely, planetology, is the scientific study
of planets (including Earth), moons, and planetary systems (in particular those of the Solar System)
and the processes that form them. It studies objects ranging in size from micrometeoroids to gas
giants, aiming to determine their composition, dynamics, formation, interrelations and history. It is a
strongly interdisciplinary field, originally growing from astronomy and earth science,[1]but which now
incorporates many disciplines, including planetary geology (together
with geochemistry and geophysics), cosmochemistry, atmospheric
science, oceanography, hydrology, theoretical planetary science, glaciology, and exoplanetology.
[1]
Allied disciplines include space physics, when concerned with the effects of the Sun on the bodies
of the Solar System, and astrobiology.
There are interrelated observational and theoretical branches of planetary science. Observational
research can involve a combination of space exploration, predominantly with robotic
spacecraft missions using remote sensing, and comparative, experimental work in Earth-based
laboratories. The theoretical component involves considerable computer simulation and
mathematical modelling.
Photograph from Apollo 15 orbital unit of the rillesin the vicinity of the crater Aristarchus on the Moon.
Planetary scientists are generally located in the astronomy and physics or Earth sciences
departments of universities or research centres, though there are several purely planetary science
institutes worldwide. There are several major conferences each year, and a wide range of peer-
reviewed journals. In the case of some exclusive planetary scientists, many of whom are in relation
to the study of dark matter, they will seek a private research centre and often initiate partnership
research tasks.
Planetary astronomy
This is both an observational and a theoretical science. Observational researchers are
predominantly concerned with the study of the small bodies of the Solar System: those that are
observed by telescopes, both optical and radio, so that characteristics of these bodies such as
shape, spin, surface materials and weathering are determined, and the history of their formation and
evolution can be understood.
Theoretical planetary astronomy is concerned with dynamics: the application of the principles
of celestial mechanics to the Solar System and extrasolar planetary systems
Planetary geology
Planetary geology
Geology of solar terrestrial planets and Icy moon
The best known research topics of planetary geology deal with the planetary bodies in the near
vicinity of the Earth: the Moon, and the two neighbouring planets: Venus and Mars. Of these, the
Moon was studied first, using methods developed earlier on the Earth.
Geomorphology
Geomorphology studies the features on planetary surfaces and reconstructs the history of their
formation, inferring the physical processes that acted on the surface. Planetary geomorphology
includes the study of several classes of surface features:
Impact features (multi-ringed basins, craters)
Volcanic and tectonic features (lava flows, fissures, rilles)
Space weathering - erosional effects generated by the harsh environment of space (continuous
micro meteorite bombardment, high-energy particle rain, impact gardening). For example, the
thin dust cover on the surface of the lunar regolith is a result of micro meteorite bombardment.
Hydrological features: the liquid involved can range from water to hydrocarbon and ammonia,
depending on the location within the Solar System.
The history of a planetary surface can be deciphered by mapping features from top to bottom
according to their deposition sequence, as first determined on terrestrial strata by Nicolas Steno. For
example, stratigraphic mapping prepared the Apollo astronauts for the field geology they would
encounter on their lunar missions. Overlapping sequences were identified on images taken by
the Lunar Orbiter program, and these were used to prepare a lunar stratigraphic
column and geological map of the Moon.
Cosmochemistry, geochemistry and petrology
Cosmochemistry, Geochemistry, and Petrology
One of the main problems when generating hypotheses on the formation and evolution of objects in
the Solar System is the lack of samples that can be analysed in the laboratory, where a large suite of
tools are available and the full body of knowledge derived from terrestrial geology can be brought to
bear. Direct samples from the Moon, asteroids and Mars are present on Earth, removed from their
parent bodies and delivered as meteorites. Some of these have suffered contamination from
the oxidising effect of Earth's atmosphere and the infiltration of the biosphere, but those meteorites
collected in the last few decades from Antarctica are almost entirely pristine.
The different types of meteorites that originate from the asteroid belt cover almost all parts of the
structure of differentiated bodies: meteorites even exist that come from the core-mantle boundary
(pallasites). The combination of geochemistry and observational astronomy has also made it
possible to trace the HED meteorites back to a specific asteroid in the main belt, 4 Vesta.
The comparatively few known Martian meteorites have provided insight into the geochemical
composition of the Martian crust, although the unavoidable lack of information about their points of
origin on the diverse Martian surface has meant that they do not provide more detailed constraints
on theories of the evolution of the Martian lithosphere.[5] As of July 24, 2013 65 samples of Martian
meteorites have been discovered on Earth. Many were found in either Antarctica or the Sahara
Desert.
During the Apollo era, in the Apollo program, 384 kilograms of lunar samples were collected and
transported to the Earth, and 3 Soviet Luna robots also delivered regolith samples from the Moon.
These samples provide the most comprehensive record of the composition of any Solar System
body beside the Earth. The numbers of lunar meteorites are growing quickly in the last few years –
[6]
as of April 2008 there are 54 meteorites that have been officially classified as lunar. Eleven of
these are from the US Antarctic meteorite collection, 6 are from the Japanese Antarctic meteorite
collection, and the other 37 are from hot desert localities in Africa, Australia, and the Middle East.
The total mass of recognized lunar meteorites is close to 50 kg.
Geophysics
Geophysics and Space physics
Space probes made it possible to collect data in not only the visible light region, but in other areas of
the electromagnetic spectrum. The planets can be characterized by their force fields: gravity and
their magnetic fields, which are studied through geophysics and space physics.
Measuring the changes in acceleration experienced by spacecraft as they orbit has allowed fine
details of the gravity fields of the planets to be mapped. For example, in the 1970s, the gravity field
disturbances above lunar maria were measured through lunar orbiters, which led to the discovery of
concentrations of mass, mascons, beneath the Imbrium, Serenitatis, Crisium, Nectaris and
Humorum basins.
The solar wind is deflected by the magnetosphere
If a planet's magnetic field is sufficiently strong, its interaction with the solar wind forms
a magnetospherearound a planet. Early space probes discovered the gross dimensions of the
terrestrial magnetic field, which extends about 10 Earth radii towards the Sun. The solar wind, a
stream of charged particles, streams out and around the terrestrial magnetic field, and continues
behind the magnetic tail, hundreds of Earth radii downstream. Inside the magnetosphere, there are
relatively dense regions of solar wind particles, the Van Allen radiation belts.
Geophysics includes seismology and tectonophysics, geophysical fluid dynamics, mineral
physics, geodynamics, mathematical geophysics, and geophysical surveying.
Planetary geodesy, (also known as planetary geodetics) deals with the measurement and
representation of the planets of the Solar System, their gravitational fields and geodynamic
phenomena (polar motion in three-dimensional, time-varying space. The science of geodesy has
elements of both astrophysics and planetary sciences. The shape of the Earth is to a large extent
the result of its rotation, which causes its equatorial bulge, and the competition of geologic
processes such as the collision of plates and of vulcanism, resisted by the Earth's gravity field.
These principles can be applied to the solid surface of Earth (orogeny; Few mountains are higher
than 10 km (6 mi), few deep sea trenches deeper than that because quite simply, a mountain as tall
as, for example, 15 km (9 mi), would develop so much pressure at its base, due to gravity, that the
rock there would become plastic, and the mountain would slump back to a height of roughly 10 km
(6 mi) in a geologically insignificant time. Some or all of these geologic principles can be applied to
other planets besides Earth. For instance on Mars, whose surface gravity is much less, the largest
volcano, Olympus Mons, is 27 km (17 mi) high at its peak, a height that could not be maintained on
Earth. The Earth geoid is essentially the figure of the Earth abstracted from its topographic features.
Therefore, the Mars geoid is essentially the figure of Mars abstracted from its topographic
features. Surveying and mapping are two important fields of application of geodesy.
Atmospheric science
Atmospheric science and Global climate model
Cloud bands clearly visible on Jupiter.
The atmosphere is an important transitional zone between the solid planetary surface and the higher
rarefied ionizing and radiation belts. Not all planets have atmospheres: their existence depends on
the mass of the planet, and the planet's distance from the Sun — too distant and frozen
atmospheres occur. Besides the four gas giant planets, almost all of the terrestrial
planets (Earth, Venus, and Mars) have significant atmospheres. Two moons have significant
atmospheres: Saturn's moon Titan and Neptune's moon Triton. A tenuous atmosphere exists
around Mercury.
The effects of the rotation rate of a planet about its axis can be seen in atmospheric streams and
currents. Seen from space, these features show as bands and eddies in the cloud system, and are
particularly visible on Jupiter and Saturn.
Comparative planetary science
Comparative planetary science
Planetary science frequently makes use of the method of comparison to give a greater
understanding of the object of study. This can involve comparing the dense atmospheres of Earth
and Saturn's moon Titan, the evolution of outer Solar System objects at different distances from the
Sun, or the geomorphology of the surfaces of the terrestrial planets, to give only a few examples.
The main comparison that can be made is to features on the Earth, as it is much more accessible
and allows a much greater range of measurements to be made. Earth analogue studies are
particularly common in planetary geology, geomorphology, and also in atmospheric science.
Computational Astrophysics
Computational astrophysics refers to the methods and computing tools developed and used
in astrophysics research. Like computational chemistry or computational physics, it is both a specific
branch of theoretical astrophysics and an interdisciplinary field relying on computer
science, mathematics, and wider physics. Computational astrophysics is most often studied through
an applied mathematics or astrophysics programme at PhD level.
Well-established areas of astrophysics employing computational methods

include magnetohydrodynamics, astrophysical radiative transfer, stellar and galactic dynamics, and
astrophysical fluid dynamics. A recently developed field with interesting results is numerical relativity.
Research
Many astrophysicists use computers in their work, and a growing number of astrophysics
departments now have research groups specially devoted to computational astrophysics. Important
research initiatives include the US Department of Energy (DoE) SciDAC collaboration for
astrophysics[1] and the now defunct European AstroSim collaboration. [2] A notable active project is the
international Virgo Consortium, which focuses on cosmology.
In August 2015 during the general assembly of the International Astronomical Union a
new commission C.B1 on Computational Astrophysics was inaugurated, therewith recognizing the
importance of astronomical discovery by computing.
Important techniques of computational astrophysics include particle-in-cell (PIC) and the closely
related particle-mesh (PM), N-body simulations, Monte Carlo methods, as well as grid-
free(with smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) being an important example) and grid-
based methods for fluids. In addition, methods from numerical analysis for
solving ODEs and PDEs are also used.
Simulation of astrophysical flows is of particular importance as many objects and processes of
astronomical interest such as stars and nebulae involve gases. Fluid computer models are often
coupled with radiative transfer, (Newtonian) gravity, nuclear physics and (general) relativity to study
highly energetic phenomena such as supernovae, relativistic jets, active galaxies and gamma-ray
bursts[3] and are also used to model stellar structure, planetary formation, evolution of stars and of
galaxies, and exotic objects such as neutron stars, pulsars, magnetars and black holes.[4] Computer
simulations are often the only means to study stellar collisions, galaxy mergers, as well
as galactic and black hole interactions.[5][6]
In recent years the field has made increasing use of parallel and high performance computers.[7]
Tools
Computational astrophysics as a field makes extensive use of software and hardware technologies.
These systems are often highly specialized and made by dedicated professionals, and so generally
find limited popularity in the wider (computational) physics community.
Hardware
Like other similar fields, computational astrophysics makes extensive use of supercomputers
and computer clusters . Even on the scale of a normal desktop it is possible to accelerate the
hardware. Perhaps the most notable such computer architecture built specially for astrophysics is
the GRAPE (gravity pipe) in Japan.
As of 2010, the biggest N-body simulations, such as DEGIMA, do general-purpose computing on
graphics processing units.[8]
Software
Many codes and software packages, exist along with various researchers and consortia maintaining
them. Most codes tend to be n-body packages or fluid solvers of some sort. Examples of n-body
codes include ChaNGa, MODEST,[9] nbodylab.org[10] and Starlab [11].
For hydrodynamics there is usually a coupling between codes, as the motion of the fluids usually has
some other effect (such as gravity, or radiation) in astrophysical situations. For example, for SPH/N-
body there is GADGET and SWIFT[12]; for grid-based/N-body RAMSES,[13] ENZO,[14] FLASH,[15] and
ART.[16]
AMUSE [3],[17] takes a different approach (called Noah's Arc [18]) than the other packages by providing
an interface structure to a large number of publicly available astronomical codes for addressing
stellar dynamics, stellar evolution, hydrodynamics and radiative transport.
Astrophysics.
Astrophysics is the branch of astronomy that employs the principles of physics and chemistry "to
ascertain the nature of the astronomical objects, rather than their positions or motions in space".[1]
[2]
Among the objects studied are the Sun, other stars, galaxies, extrasolar planets, the interstellar
medium and the cosmic microwave background.[3][4] Emissions from these objects are examined
across all parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, and the properties examined
include luminosity, density, temperature, and chemical composition. Because astrophysics is a very
broad subject, astrophysicists apply concepts and methods from many disciplines of physics,
including mechanics, electromagnetism, statistical mechanics, thermodynamics, quantum
mechanics, relativity, nuclear and particle physics, and atomic and molecular physics.
In practice, modern astronomical research often involves a substantial amount of work in the realms
of theoretical and observational physics. Some areas of study for astrophysicists include their
attempts to determine the properties of dark matter, dark energy, and black holes; whether or
not time travel is possible, wormholes can form, or the multiverse exists; and the origin and ultimate
fate of the universe.[3] Topics also studied by theoretical astrophysicists include Solar System
formation and evolution; stellar dynamics and evolution; galaxy formation and
evolution; magnetohydrodynamics; large-scale structure of matter in the universe; origin of cosmic
rays; general relativity and physical cosmology, including string cosmology and astroparticle physics.
Early 20th-century comparison of elemental, solar, and stellar spectra
Astronomy is an ancient science, long separated from the study of terrestrial physics. In
the Aristotelian worldview, bodies in the sky appeared to be unchanging spheres whose only motion
was uniform motion in a circle, while the earthly world was the realm which underwent growth and
decay and in which natural motion was in a straight line and ended when the moving object reached
its goal. Consequently, it was held that the celestial region was made of a fundamentally different
kind of matter from that found in the terrestrial sphere; either Fire as maintained by Plato,
or Aether as maintained by Aristotle.[5][6] During the 17th century, natural philosophers such
as Galileo,[7] Descartes,[8] and Newton[9] began to maintain that the celestial and terrestrial regions
were made of similar kinds of material and were subject to the same natural laws.[10] Their challenge
was that the tools had not yet been invented with which to prove these assertions. [11]
For much of the nineteenth century, astronomical research was focused on the routine work of
measuring the positions and computing the motions of astronomical objects. [12][13] A new astronomy,
soon to be called astrophysics, began to emerge when William Hyde Wollaston and Joseph von
Fraunhoferindependently discovered that, when decomposing the light from the Sun, a multitude
of dark lines (regions where there was less or no light) were observed in the spectrum.[14] By 1860
the physicist, Gustav Kirchhoff, and the chemist, Robert Bunsen, had demonstrated that the dark
lines in the solar spectrum corresponded to bright lines in the spectra of known gases, specific lines
corresponding to unique chemical elements.[15] Kirchhoff deduced that the dark lines in the solar
spectrum are caused by absorption by chemical elements in the Solar atmosphere.[16] In this way it
was proved that the chemical elements found in the Sun and stars were also found on Earth.
Among those who extended the study of solar and stellar spectra was Norman Lockyer, who in 1868
detected bright, as well as dark, lines in solar spectra. Working with the chemist, Edward Frankland,
to investigate the spectra of elements at various temperatures and pressures, he could not associate
a yellow line in the solar spectrum with any known elements. He thus claimed the line represented a
new element, which was called helium, after the Greek Helios, the Sun personified.[17][18]
In 1885, Edward C. Pickering undertook an ambitious program of stellar spectral classification
at Harvard College Observatory, in which a team of woman computers, notably Williamina
Fleming, Antonia Maury, and Annie Jump Cannon, classified the spectra recorded on photographic
plates. By 1890, a catalog of over 10,000 stars had been prepared that grouped them into thirteen
spectral types. Following Pickering's vision, by 1924 Cannon expanded the catalog to nine volumes
and over a quarter of a million stars, developing the Harvard Classification Scheme which was
accepted for worldwide use in 1922. [19]
In 1895, George Ellery Hale and James E. Keeler, along with a group of ten associate editors from
Europe and the United States,[20] established The Astrophysical Journal: An International Review of
Spectroscopy and Astronomical Physics.[21] It was intended that the journal would fill the gap between
journals in astronomy and physics, providing a venue for publication of articles on astronomical
applications of the spectroscope; on laboratory research closely allied to astronomical physics,
including wavelength determinations of metallic and gaseous spectra and experiments on radiation
and absorption; on theories of the Sun, Moon, planets, comets, meteors, and nebulae; and on
instrumentation for telescopes and laboratories. [20]
Around 1920, following the discovery of the Hertsprung-Russell diagram still used as the basis for
classifying stars and their evolution, Arthur Eddington anticipated the discovery and mechanism
of nuclear fusion processes in stars, in his paper The Internal Constitution of the Stars.[22][23] At that
time, the source of stellar energy was a complete mystery; Eddington correctly speculated that the
source was fusion of hydrogen into helium, liberating enormous energy according to Einstein's
equation E = mc2. This was a particularly remarkable development since at that time fusion and
thermonuclear energy, and even that stars are largely composed of hydrogen (see metallicity), had
not yet been discovered.
In 1925 Cecilia Helena Payne (later Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin) wrote an influential doctoral
dissertation at Radcliffe College, in which she applied ionization theory to stellar atmospheres to
relate the spectral classes to the temperature of stars. [24] Most significantly, she discovered that
hydrogen and helium were the principal components of stars. Despite Eddington's suggestion, this
discovery was so unexpected that her dissertation readers convinced her to modify the conclusion
before publication. However, later research confirmed her discovery.[25]
By the end of the 20th century, studies of astronomical spectra had expanded to cover wavelengths
extending from radio waves through optical, x-ray, and gamma wavelengths. [26] In the 21st century it
further expanded to include observations based on gravitational waves.
Observational astrophysics
Observational astronomy is a division of the astronomical science that is concerned with recording
data, in contrast with theoretical astrophysics, which is mainly concerned with finding out the
measurable implications of physical models. It is the practice of observing celestial objects by
using telescopes and other astronomical apparatus.
Supernova remnant LMC N 63A imaged in x-ray (blue), optical (green) and radio (red) wavelengths. The X-ray
glow is from material heated to about ten million degrees Celsius by a shock wave generated by the supernova
explosion.
The majority of astrophysical observations are made using the electromagnetic spectrum.
 Radio astronomy studies radiation with a wavelength greater than a few millimeters.

Example areas of study are radio waves, usually emitted by cold objects such as interstellar
gas and dust clouds; the cosmic microwave background radiation which is the redshifted light
from the Big Bang; pulsars, which were first detected at microwave frequencies. The study of
these waves requires very large radio telescopes.
 Infrared astronomy studies radiation with a wavelength that is too long to be visible to the
naked eye but is shorter than radio waves. Infrared observations are usually made with
telescopes similar to the familiar optical telescopes. Objects colder than stars (such as planets)
are normally studied at infrared frequencies.
 Optical astronomy is the oldest kind of astronomy. Telescopes paired with a charge-coupled
device or spectroscopes are the most common instruments used. The
Earth's atmosphere interferes somewhat with optical observations, so adaptive optics and space
telescopes are used to obtain the highest possible image quality. In this wavelength range, stars
are highly visible, and many chemical spectra can be observed to study the chemical
composition of stars, galaxies and nebulae.
 Ultraviolet, X-ray and gamma ray astronomy study very energetic processes such as binary
pulsars, black holes, magnetars, and many others. These kinds of radiation do not penetrate the
Earth's atmosphere well. There are two methods in use to observe this part of the
electromagnetic spectrum—space-based telescopes and ground-based imaging air Cherenkov
telescopes (IACT). Examples of Observatories of the first type are RXTE, the Chandra X-ray
Observatory and the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. Examples of IACTs are the High
Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) and the MAGIC telescope.
Other than electromagnetic radiation, few things may be observed from the Earth that originate from
great distances. A few gravitational wave observatories have been constructed, but gravitational
waves are extremely difficult to detect. Neutrino observatories have also been built, primarily to
study our Sun. Cosmic rays consisting of very high energy particles can be observed hitting the
Earth's atmosphere.
Observations can also vary in their time scale. Most optical observations take minutes to hours, so
phenomena that change faster than this cannot readily be observed. However, historical data on
some objects is available, spanning centuries or millennia. On the other hand, radio observations
may look at events on a millisecond timescale (millisecond pulsars) or combine years of data (pulsar
deceleration studies). The information obtained from these different timescales is very different.
The study of our very own Sun has a special place in observational astrophysics. Due to the
tremendous distance of all other stars, the Sun can be observed in a kind of detail unparalleled by
any other star. Our understanding of our own Sun serves as a guide to our understanding of other
stars.
The topic of how stars change, or stellar evolution, is often modeled by placing the varieties of star
types in their respective positions on the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram, which can be viewed as
representing the state of a stellar object, from birth to destruction.
Theoretical astrophysics
Theoretical astrophysicists use a wide variety of tools which include analytical models (for
example, polytropes to approximate the behaviors of a star) and computational numerical
simulations. Each has some advantages. Analytical models of a process are generally better for
giving insight into the heart of what is going on. Numerical models can reveal the existence of
phenomena and effects that would otherwise not be seen. [27][28]
Theorists in astrophysics endeavor to create theoretical models and figure out the observational
consequences of those models. This helps allow observers to look for data that can refute a model
or help in choosing between several alternate or conflicting models.
Theorists also try to generate or modify models to take into account new data. In the case of an
inconsistency, the general tendency is to try to make minimal modifications to the model to fit the
data. In some cases, a large amount of inconsistent data over time may lead to total abandonment
of a model.
Stream lines on this simulation of a supernovashow the flow of matter behind the shock wave giving clues as to
the origin of pulsars
Topics studied by theoretical astrophysicists include stellar dynamics and evolution; galaxy formation
and evolution; magnetohydrodynamics; large-scale structure of matter in the universe; origin of
cosmic rays; general relativity and physical cosmology, including string cosmology and astroparticle
physics. Astrophysical relativity serves as a tool to gauge the properties of large scale structures for
which gravitation plays a significant role in physical phenomena investigated and as the basis
for black hole (astro)physics and the study of gravitational waves.
Some widely accepted and studied theories and models in astrophysics, now included in
the Lambda-CDM model, are the Big Bang, cosmic inflation, dark matter, dark energy and
fundamental theories of physics. Wormholes are examples of hypotheses which are yet to be proven
(or disproven).
Popularization
The roots of astrophysics can be found in the seventeenth century emergence of a unified physics,
in which the same laws applied to the celestial and terrestrial realms. [10] There were scientists who
were qualified in both physics and astronomy who laid the firm foundation for the current science of
astrophysics. In modern times, students continue to be drawn to astrophysics due to its
popularization by the Royal Astronomical Society and notable educators such as prominent
professors Lawrence Krauss, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Stephen Hawking, Hubert
Reeves, Carl Sagan, Neil deGrasse Tyson and Patrick Moore. The efforts of the early, late, and
present scientists continue to attract young people to study the history and science of astrophysics
Geodesy.
Geodesy (/dʒiːˈɒdɪsi/),[1][ is the earth science of accurately measuring and understanding the Earth's
geometric shape, orientation in space, and gravitational field.[2] The field also incorporates studies of
how these properties change over time and equivalent measurements for other planets (known
as planetary geodesy). Geodynamical phenomena include crustal motion, tides, and polar motion,
which can be studied by designing global and national control networks, applying space and
terrestrial techniques, and relying on datums and coordinate systems.
An old geodetic pillar (1855) at Ostend, Belgium
Geodesy
Definition
The word "geodesy" comes from the Ancient Greek word γεωδαισία geodaisia (literally, "division of
the Earth").
It is primarily concerned with positioning within the temporally varying gravity field. Geodesy in
the German-speaking world is divided into "higher geodesy" ("Erdmessung" or "höhere Geodäsie"),
which is concerned with measuring the Earth on the global scale, and "practical geodesy" or
"engineering geodesy" ("Ingenieurgeodäsie"), which is concerned with measuring specific parts or
regions of the Earth, and which includes surveying. Such geodetic operations are also applied to
other astronomical bodies in the solar system. It is also the science of measuring and understanding
the earth's geometric shape, orientation in space, and gravity field.
To a large extent, the shape of the Earth is the result of its rotation, which causes its equatorial
bulge, and the competition of geological processes such as the collision of plates and of volcanism,
resisted by the Earth's gravity field. This applies to the solid surface, the liquid surface (dynamic sea
surface topography) and the Earth's atmosphere. For this reason, the study of the Earth's gravity
field is called physical geodesy.
History of geodesy
Geoid and reference ellipsoid

Geoid
The geoid is essentially the figure of the Earth abstracted from its topographical features. It is an
idealized equilibrium surface of sea water, the mean sea level surface in the absence
of currents and air pressure variations, and continued under the continental masses. The geoid,
unlike the reference ellipsoid, is irregular and too complicated to serve as the computational surface
on which to solve geometrical problems like point positioning. The geometrical separation between
the geoid and the reference ellipsoid is called the geoidal undulation. It varies globally between
±110 m, when referred to the GRS 80 ellipsoid.
A reference ellipsoid, customarily chosen to be the same size (volume) as the geoid, is described by
its semi-major axis (equatorial radius) a and flattening f. The quantity f = a − b/a , where b is the semi-
minor axis (polar radius), is a purely geometrical one. The mechanical ellipticity of the Earth
(dynamical flattening, symbol J2) can be determined to high precision by observation of satellite orbit
perturbations. Its relationship with the geometrical flattening is indirect. The relationship depends on
the internal density distribution, or, in simplest terms, the degree of central concentration of mass.
The 1980 Geodetic Reference System (GRS 80) posited a 6,378,137 m semi-major axis and a
1:298.257 flattening. This system was adopted at the XVII General Assembly of the International
Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG). It is essentially the basis for geodetic positioning by
the Global Positioning System (GPS) and is thus also in widespread use outside the geodetic
community. The numerous systems that countries have used to create maps and charts are
becoming obsolete as countries increasingly move to global, geocentric reference systems using the
GRS 80 reference ellipsoid.
The geoid is "realizable", meaning it can be consistently located on the Earth by suitable simple
measurements from physical objects like a tide gauge. The geoid can therefore be considered a real
surface. The reference ellipsoid, however, has many possible instantiations and is not readily
realizable, therefore it is an abstract surface. The third primary surface of geodetic interest—the
topographic surface of the Earth—is a realizable surface.
Coordinate systems in space
Geodetic system
The locations of points in three-dimensional space are most conveniently described by

three cartesian or rectangular coordinates, X, Y and Z. Since the advent of satellite positioning, such
coordinate systems are typically geocentric: the Z-axis is aligned with the Earth's (conventional or
instantaneous) rotation axis.
Prior to the era of satellite geodesy, the coordinate systems associated with a
geodetic datum attempted to be geocentric, but their origins differed from the geocenter by hundreds
of meters, due to regional deviations in the direction of the plumbline (vertical). These regional
geodetic data, such as ED 50 (European Datum 1950) or NAD 27 (North American Datum 1927)
have ellipsoids associated with them that are regional "best fits" to the geoids within their areas of
validity, minimizing the deflections of the vertical over these areas.
It is only because GPS satellites orbit about the geocenter, that this point becomes naturally the
origin of a coordinate system defined by satellite geodetic means, as the satellite positions in space
are themselves computed in such a system.
Geocentric coordinate systems used in geodesy can be divided naturally into two classes:
1. Inertial reference systems, where the coordinate axes retain their orientation relative to
the fixed stars, or equivalently, to the rotation axes of ideal gyroscopes; the X-axis points to
the vernal equinox
2. Co-rotating, also ECEF ("Earth Centred, Earth Fixed"), where the axes are attached to the
solid body of the Earth. The X-axis lies within the Greenwich observatory's meridian plane.
The coordinate transformation between these two systems is described to good approximation by
(apparent) sidereal time, which takes into account variations in the Earth's axial rotation (length-of-
day variations). A more accurate description also takes polar motion into account, a phenomenon
closely monitored by geodesists.
Coordinate systems in the plane
A Munich archive with lithographyplates of maps of Bavaria
In surveying and mapping, important fields of application of geodesy, two general types of

coordinate systems are used in the plane:
1. Plano-polar, in which points in a plane are defined by a distance s from a specified point

along a ray having a specified direction α with respect to a base line or axis;
2. Rectangular, points are defined by distances from two perpendicular axes called x and y. It is
geodetic practice—contrary to the mathematical convention—to let the x-axis point to the
north and the y-axis to the east.
Rectangular coordinates in the plane can be used intuitively with respect to one's current location, in
which case the x-axis will point to the local north. More formally, such coordinates can be obtained
from three-dimensional coordinates using the artifice of a map projection. It is not possible to map
the curved surface of the Earth onto a flat map surface without deformation. The compromise most
often chosen—called a conformal projection—preserves angles and length ratios, so that small
circles are mapped as small circles and small squares as squares.
An example of such a projection is UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator). Within the map plane, we
have rectangular coordinates x and y. In this case the north direction used for reference is
the map north, not the local north. The difference between the two is called meridian convergence.
It is easy enough to "translate" between polar and rectangular coordinates in the plane: let, as
above, direction and distance be α and srespectively, then we have
The reverse transformation is given by:
Heights
In geodesy, point or terrain heights are "above sea level", an irregular, physically defined
surface. Therefore, a height should ideally not be referred to as a coordinate. It is more like
a physical quantity, and though it can be tempting to treat height as the vertical coordinate z,
in addition to the horizontal coordinates x and y, and though this actually is a good
approximation of physical reality in small areas, it quickly becomes invalid for regional
considerations.[specify]
Heights come in the following variants:
1. Orthometric heights
2. Normal heights
3. Geopotential heights
Each has its advantages and disadvantages. Both orthometric and normal heights are
heights in metres above sea level, whereas geopotential numbers are measures of potential
energy (unit: m2 s−2) and not metric. Orthometric and normal heights differ in the precise way
in which mean sea level is conceptually continued under the continental masses. The
reference surface for orthometric heights is the geoid, an equipotential surface
approximating mean sea level.
None of these heights is in any way related to geodetic or ellipsoidial heights, which
express the height of a point above the reference ellipsoid. Satellite positioning receivers
typically provide ellipsoidal heights, unless they are fitted with special conversion software
based on a model of the geoid.
Geodetic data
Because geodetic point coordinates (and heights) are always obtained in a system that has
been constructed itself using real observations, geodesists introduce the concept of a
"geodetic datum": a physical realization of a coordinate system used for describing point
locations. The realization is the result of choosing conventional coordinate values for one or
more datum points.
In the case of height data, it suffices to choose one datum point: the reference benchmark,
typically a tide gauge at the shore. Thus we have vertical data like the NAP (Normaal
Amsterdams Peil), the North American Vertical Datum 1988 (NAVD 88), the Kronstadt
datum, the Trieste datum, and so on.
In case of plane or spatial coordinates, we typically need several datum points. A regional,
ellipsoidal datum like ED 50 can be fixed by prescribing the undulation of the geoid and the
deflection of the vertical in one datum point, in this case the Helmert Tower in Potsdam.
However, an overdetermined ensemble of datum points can also be used.
Changing the coordinates of a point set referring to one datum, so to make them refer to
another datum, is called a datum transformation. In the case of vertical data, this consists of
simply adding a constant shift to all height values. In the case of plane or spatial
coordinates, datum transformation takes the form of a similarity or Helmert transformation,
consisting of a rotation and scaling operation in addition to a simple translation. In the plane,
a Helmert transformation has four parameters; in space, seven.
A note on terminology
In the abstract, a coordinate system as used in mathematics and geodesy is called a
"coordinate system" in ISO terminology, whereas the International Earth Rotation and
Reference Systems Service (IERS) uses the term "reference system". When these
coordinates are realized by choosing datum points and fixing a geodetic datum, ISO says
"coordinate reference system", while IERS says "reference frame". The ISO term for a
datum transformation again is a "coordinate transformation". [3]
Point positioning
Point positioning is the determination of the coordinates of a point on land, at sea, or in
space with respect to a coordinate system. Point position is solved by computation from
measurements linking the known positions of terrestrial or extraterrestrial points with the
unknown terrestrial position. This may involve transformations between or among
astronomical and terrestrial coordinate systems. The known points used for point positioning
can be triangulation points of a higher-order network or GPSsatellites.
Traditionally, a hierarchy of networks has been built to allow point positioning within a
country. Highest in the hierarchy were triangulation networks. These were densified into
networks of traverses(polygons), into which local mapping surveying measurements, usually
with measuring tape, corner prism, and the familiar[where?] red and white poles, are tied.
Geodetic Control Mark (example of a deep benchmark)
Nowadays all but special measurements (e.g., underground or high-precision engineering

measurements) are performed with GPS. The higher-order networks are measured
with static GPS, using differential measurement to determine vectors between terrestrial
points. These vectors are then adjusted in traditional network fashion. A global polyhedron
of permanently operating GPS stations under the auspices of the IERS is used to define a
single global, geocentric reference frame which serves as the "zero order" global reference
to which national measurements are attached.
For surveying mappings, frequently Real Time Kinematic GPS is employed, tying in the
unknown points with known terrestrial points close by in real time.
One purpose of point positioning is the provision of known points for mapping
measurements, also known as (horizontal and vertical) control. In every country, thousands
of such known points exist and are normally documented by national mapping agencies.
Surveyors involved in real estate and insurance will use these to tie their local
measurements.
Geodetic problems
Geodesics on an ellipsoid
In geometric geodesy, two standard problems exist—the first (direct or forward) and the
second (inverse or reverse).
First (direct or forward) geodetic problem
Given a point (in terms of its coordinates) and the direction (azimuth) and distance from that
point to a second point, determine (the coordinates of) that second point.
Second (inverse or reverse) geodetic problem
Given two points, determine the azimuth and length of the line (straight line, arc or geodesic)
that connects them.
In plane geometry (valid for small areas on the Earth's surface), the solutions to
both problems reduce to simple trigonometry. On a sphere, however, the solution is
significantly more complex, because in the inverse problem the azimuths will differ
between the two end points of the connecting great circle, arc.
On the ellipsoid of revolution, geodesics may be written in terms of elliptic integrals,
which are usually evaluated in terms of a series expansion—see, for
example, Vincenty's formulae. In the general case, the solution is called
the geodesic for the surface considered. The differential equationsfor
the geodesic can be solved numerically.
Geodetic observational concepts

Here we define some basic observational concepts, like angles and coordinates,
defined in geodesy (and astronomy as well), mostly from the viewpoint of the local
observer.
 Plumbline or vertical: the direction of local gravity, or the line that results by

following it.
 Zenith: the point on the celestial sphere where the direction of the gravity vector
in a point, extended upwards, intersects it. More correct is to call it
a direction rather than a point.
 Nadir: the opposite point—or rather, direction—where the direction of gravity
extended downward intersects the (invisible) celestial sphere.
 Celestial horizon: a plane perpendicular to a point's gravity vector.
 Azimuth: the direction angle within the plane of the horizon, typically counted
clockwise from the north (in geodesy and astronomy) or south (in France).
 Elevation: the angular height of an object above the horizon, Alternatively zenith
distance, being equal to 90 degrees minus elevation.
 Local topocentric coordinates: azimuth (direction angle within the plane of
the horizon), elevation angle (or zenith angle), distance.
 North celestial pole: the extension of the Earth's (precessing and nutating)
instantaneous spin axis extended northward to intersect the celestial sphere.
(Similarly for the south celestial pole.)
 Celestial equator: the intersection of the (instantaneous) Earth equatorial plane
with the celestial sphere.
 Meridian plane: any plane perpendicular to the celestial equator and containing
the celestial poles.
 Local meridian: the plane containing the direction to the zenith and the
direction to the celestial pole.
Geodetic measurements
Satellite geodesy, Geodetic astronomy, Surveying, Gravimetry, and Levelling
The level is used for determining height differences and height reference systems,
commonly referred to mean sea level. The traditional spirit level produces these
practically most useful heights above sea level directly; the more economical use of
GPS instruments for height determination requires precise knowledge of the figure
of the geoid, as GPS only gives heights above the GRS80 reference ellipsoid. As
geoid knowledge accumulates, one may expect use of GPS heighting to spread.
The theodolite is used to measure horizontal and vertical angles to target points.
These angles are referred to the local vertical. The tacheometer additionally
determines, electronically or electro-optically, the distance to target, and is highly
automated to even robotic in its operations. The method of free station position is
widely used.
For local detail surveys, tacheometers are commonly employed although the old-
fashioned rectangular technique using angle prism and steel tape is still an
inexpensive alternative. Real-time kinematic (RTK) GPS techniques are used as
well. Data collected are tagged and recorded digitally for entry into a Geographic
Information System (GIS) database.
A NASA project manager talks about his work for the Space Geodesy Project, including an
overview of its four fundamental techniques: GPS, VLBI, SLR, and DORIS.
Geodetic GPS receivers produce directly three-dimensional coordinates in

a geocentric coordinate frame. Such a frame is, e.g., WGS84, or the frames that are
regularly produced and published by the International Earth Rotation and Reference
Systems Service (IERS).
GPS receivers have almost completely replaced terrestrial instruments for large-
scale base network surveys. For planet-wide geodetic surveys, previously
impossible, we can still mention satellite laser ranging (SLR) and lunar laser
ranging (LLR) and very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) techniques. All these
techniques also serve to monitor irregularities in the Earth's rotation as well as plate
tectonic motions.
Gravity is measured using gravimeters, of which there are two kinds. First, "absolute
gravimeters" are based on measuring the acceleration of free fall (e.g., of a
reflecting prism in a vacuum tube). They are used to establish the vertical geospatial
control and can be used in the field. Second, "relative gravimeters" are spring-based
and are more common. They are used in gravity surveys over large areas for
establishing the figure of the geoid over these areas. The most accurate relative
gravimeters are called "superconducting" gravimeters, which are sensitive to one-
thousandth of one-billionth of Earth surface gravity. Twenty-some superconducting
gravimeters are used worldwide for studying Earth's tides, rotation, interior,
and ocean and atmospheric loading, as well as for verifying the Newtonian constant
of gravitation.
In the future gravity, and altitude, will be measured by relativistic time
dilation measured by strontium optical clocks.
Units and measures on the ellipsoid

Geographical latitude and longitude are stated in the units degree, minute of arc,
and second of arc. They are angles, not metric measures, and describe
the direction of the local normal to the reference ellipsoid of revolution. This
is approximately the same as the direction of the plumbline, i.e., local gravity, which
is also the normal to the geoid surface. For this reason, astronomical position
determination – measuring the direction of the plumbline by astronomical means –
works fairly well provided an ellipsoidal model of the figure of the Earth is used.
One geographical mile, defined as one minute of arc on the equator, equals
1,855.32571922 m. One nautical mile is one minute of astronomical latitude. The
radius of curvature of the ellipsoid varies with latitude, being the longest at the pole
and the shortest at the equator as is the nautical mile.
A metre was originally defined as the 10-millionth part of the length from equator to
North Pole along the meridian through Paris (the target was not quite reached in
actual implementation, so that is off by 200 ppm in the current definitions). This
means that one kilometre is roughly equal to (1/40,000) * 360 * 60 meridional
minutes of arc, which equals 0.54 nautical mile, though this is not exact because the
two units are defined on different bases (the international nautical mile is defined as
exactly 1,852 m, corresponding to a rounding of 1,000/0.54 m to four digits).
Temporal change
In geodesy, temporal change can be studied by a variety of techniques. Points on
the Earth's surface change their location due to a variety of mechanisms:
 Continental plate motion, plate tectonics

 Episodic motion of tectonic origin, especially close to fault lines
 Periodic effects due to tides
 Postglacial land uplift due to isostatic adjustment
 Mass variations due to hydrological changes
 Anthropogenic movements such as reservoir construction or petroleum or water
extraction
The science of studying deformations and motions of the Earth's crust and the solid
Earth as a whole is called geodynamics. Often, study of the Earth's irregular rotation
is also included in its definition.
Techniques for studying geodynamic phenomena on the global scale include:
 Satellite positioning by GPS

 Very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI)
 Satellite and lunar laser ranging
 Regionally and locally precise levelling
 Precise tacheometers
 Monitoring of gravity change
 Interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) using satellite images
Notable geodesists
Mathematical geodesists before 1900
 Pythagoras 580–490 BC, ancient Greece[4]
 Eratosthenes 276–194 BC, ancient Greece
 Hipparchus c. 190–120 BC, ancient Greece
 Posidonius c. 135–51 BC, ancient Greece
 Claudius Ptolemy c. AD 83–168, Roman Empire (Roman Egypt)
 Al-Ma'mun 786–833, Baghdad (Iraq/Mesopotamia)
 Abu Rayhan Biruni 973–1048, Khorasan (Iran/Samanid Dynasty)
 Muhammad al-Idrisi 1100–1166, (Arabia & Sicily)
 Regiomontanus 1436–1476, (Germany/Austria)
 Abel Foullon 1513–1563 or 1565, (France)
 Pedro Nunes 1502–1578 (Portugal)
 Gerhard Mercator 1512–1594 (Belgium & Germany)
 Snellius (Willebrord Snel van Royen) 1580–1626, Leiden(Netherlands)
 Christiaan Huygens 1629–1695 (Netherlands)
 Pierre Bouguer 1698–1758, (France & Peru)
 Pierre de Maupertuis 1698–1759 (France)
 Alexis Clairaut 1713–1765 (France)
 Johann Heinrich Lambert 1728–1777 (France)
 Roger Joseph Boscovich 1711–1787, (Rome/ Berlin/ Paris)
 Ino Tadataka 1745–1818, (Tokyo)
 Georg von Reichenbach 1771–1826, Bavaria (Germany)
 Pierre-Simon Laplace 1749–1827, Paris (France)
 Adrien Marie Legendre 1752–1833, Paris (France)
 Johann Georg von Soldner 1776–1833, Munich (Germany)
 George Everest 1790–1866 (England and India)
 Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel 1784–1846, Königsberg (Germany)
 Heinrich Christian Schumacher 1780–1850 (Germany & Estonia)
 Carl Friedrich Gauss 1777–1855, Göttingen (Germany)
 Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve 1793–1864, Dorpat and Pulkovo(Russian
Empire)
 J. H. Pratt 1809–1871, London (England)
 Friedrich H. C. Paschen 1804–1873, Schwerin (Germany)
 Johann Benedikt Listing 1808–1882 (Germany)
 Johann Jacob Baeyer 1794–1885, Berlin (Germany)
 Sir George Biddell Airy 1801–1892, Cambridge & London
 Karl Maximilian von Bauernfeind 1818–1894, Munich (Germany)
 Wilhelm Jordan 1842–1899, (Germany)
 Hervé Faye 1814–1902 (France)
 George Gabriel Stokes 1819–1903 (England)
 Carlos Ibáñez e Ibáñez de Ibero 1825–1891, Barcelona (Spain)
 Henri Poincaré 1854–1912, Paris (France)
 Alexander Ross Clarke 1828–1914, London (England)
 Charles Sanders Peirce 1839–1914 (United States)
 Friedrich Robert Helmert 1843–1917, Potsdam (Germany)
 Heinrich Bruns 1848–1919, Berlin (Germany)
 Loránd Eötvös 1848–1919 (Hungary)
20th century geodesists
 John Fillmore Hayford, 1868–1925, (US)

 Feodosy Nikolaevich Krasovsky, 1878–1948, (Russian Empire, USSR)
 Alfred Wegener, 1880–1930, (Germany and Greenland)
 William Bowie, 1872–1940, (US)
 Friedrich Hopfner, 1881–1949, Vienna, (Austria)
 Tadeusz Banachiewicz, 1882–1954, (Poland)
 Felix Andries Vening-Meinesz, 1887–1966, (Netherlands)
 Martin Hotine, 1898–1968, (England)
 Yrjö Väisälä, 1889–1971, (Finland)
 Veikko Aleksanteri Heiskanen, 1895–1971, (Finland and US)
 Karl Ramsayer, 1911–1982, Stuttgart, (Germany)
 Buckminster Fuller, 1895–1983 (United States)
 Harold Jeffreys, 1891–1989, London, (England)
 Reino Antero Hirvonen, 1908–1989, (Finland)
 Mikhail Sergeevich Molodenskii, 1909–1991, (Russia)
 Maria Ivanovna Yurkina, 1923-2010, (Russia)
 Guy Bomford, 1899-1996, (India?)[5]
 Antonio Marussi, 1908-1984, (Italy)
 Hellmut Schmid, 1914–1998, (Switzerland)
 William M. Kaula, 1926–2000, Los Angeles, (US)
 John A. O'Keefe, 1916–2000, (US)
 Thaddeus Vincenty, 1920–2002, (Poland)
 Willem Baarda, 1917–2005, (Netherlands)
 Irene Kaminka Fischer, 1907–2009, (US)
 Arne Bjerhammar, 1917–2011, (Sweden)
 Karl-Rudolf Koch 1935, Bonn, (Germany)
 Helmut Moritz, 1933, Graz, (Austria)
 Petr Vaníček, 1935, Fredericton, (Canada)
 Erik Grafarend, 1939, Stuttgart, (Germany)
 Hans-Georg Wenzel (1949-1999), (Germany)
 Ariny Amos or Kipsang Arap Tarus(Astronomer)
ASTRONOMY OF VENUS ASTRONOMICAL OBJECT.
Venus is the second Astronomical object not planet from the Sun, orbiting it every

224.7 Earth days.[13] It has the longest rotation period (243 days) of any planet in the Solar
System and rotates in the opposite direction to most other planets (meaning the Sun would rise
in the west and set in the east).[14] It does not have any natural satellites. It is named after the Roman
goddess of love and beauty. It is the second-brightest natural object in the night sky after the Moon,
reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6 – bright enough to cast shadows at night and, rarely, visible
to the naked eye in broad daylight.[15][16]Orbiting within Earth's orbit, Venus is an inferior astronomical
object and never appears to venture far from the Sun; its maximum angular distance from the Sun
(elongation) is 47.8°.
Venus is a terrestrial astronomical object and is sometimes called Earth's "sister planet" because of
their similar size, mass, proximity to the Sun, and bulk composition. It is radically different from Earth
in other respects. It has the densest atmosphere of the four terrestrial astronomical object, consisting
of more than 96% carbon dioxide. The atmospheric pressure at the astronomical objects surface is
92 times that of Earth, or roughly the pressure found 900 m (3,000 ft) underwater on Earth. Venus is
by far the hottest astronomical object in the Solar System, with a mean surface temperature of 735 K
(462 °C; 863 °F), even though Mercury is closer to the Sun. Venus is shrouded by an opaque layer
of highly reflective clouds of sulfuric acid, preventing its surface from being seen from space
in visible light. It may have had water oceans in the past,[17][18] but these would have vaporized as the
temperature rose due to a runaway greenhouse effect.[19] The water has probably photodissociated,
and the free hydrogen has been swept into interplanetary space by the solar wind because of the
lack of a planetary magnetic field.[20] Venus's surface is a dry desertscape interspersed with slab-like
rocks and is periodically resurfaced by volcanism.
Venus lacks planetary magnetic field , interplanetary magnetic field.

The interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), now more commonly referred to as the heliospheric
magnetic field (HMF),[1] is the component of the solar magnetic fieldwhich is dragged out from the
solar corona by the solar wind flow to fill the Solar System.
The heliospheric current sheetis a three-dimensional form of a Parker spiral that results from the influence of
the Sun's rotating magnetic field on the plasma in the interplanetary medium.[2]
Coronal and solar wind plasma

The coronal and solar wind plasmas are highly electrically conductive, meaning the magnetic field
lines and the plasma flows are effectively "frozen" together and the magnetic field
cannot diffuse through the plasma on time scales of interest. In the solar corona, the magnetic
pressure greatly exceeds the plasma pressure and thus the plasma is primarily structured and
confined by the magnetic field. With increasing altitude through the corona, solar wind acceleration
results in the flow momentum exceeding the restraining magnetic tension force and the coronal
magnetic field is dragged out by the solar wind to form the HMF.
The dynamic pressure of the wind dominates over the magnetic pressure through most of the Solar
System (or heliosphere), so that the magnetic field is pulled into an Archimedean spiral pattern
(the Parker spiral[3]) by the combination of the outward motion and the Sun's rotation. In near-Earth
space, the IMF nominally makes an angle of approximately 45° to the Earth-Sun line, though this
angle varies with solar wind speed. The angle of the IMF to the radial direction reduces with helio-
latitude, as the speed of the photospheric foot point is reduced.
Depending on the polarity of the photospheric foot point, the heliospheric magnetic field spirals
inward or outward; the magnetic field follows the same shape of spiral in the northern and southern
parts of the heliosphere, but with opposite field direction. These two magnetic domains are
separated by a two current sheet (an electric current that is confined to a curved plane).
This heliospheric current sheet has a shape similar to a twirled ballerina skirt, and changes in shape
through the solar cycle as the Sun's magnetic field reverses about every 11 years.
Magnetic field at Earth orbit which lacks at venus.
A video simulation of Earth's magnetic field interacting with the (solar) interplanetary magnetic field (IMF)
The plasma in the interplanetary medium is also responsible for the strength of the Sun's magnetic
field at the orbit of the Earth being over 100 times greater than originally anticipated. If space were a
vacuum, then the Sun's magnetic dipole field, about 10−4 teslas at the surface of the Sun, would
reduce with the inverse cube of the distance to about 10 −11 teslas. But satellite observations show
that it is about 100 times greater at around 10−9 teslas. Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) theory predicts
that the motion of a conducting fluid (e.g. the interplanetary medium) in a magnetic field, induces
electric currents which in turn generates magnetic fields, and in this respect it behaves like a MHD
dynamo.
Physical characteristics
Venus is one of the astronomical objects in the Solar System, meaning that it is a rocky body like
Earth and Moon. It is similar to Earth in size and mass, and is often described as Earth's "sister" or
"twin".[22] The diameter of Venus is 12,103.6 km (7,520.8 mi)—only 638.4 km (396.7 mi) less than
Earth's—and its mass is 81.5% of Earth's. Conditions on the Venusian surface differ radically from
those on Earth because its dense atmosphere is 96.5% carbon dioxide, with most of the remaining
3.5% being nitrogen.[23]
Venus Size comparison with Earth.
Geography
Mapping of Venus
The Venusian surface was a subject of speculation until some of its secrets were revealed
by planetary science in the 20th century. Venera landers in 1975 and 1982 returned images of a
surface covered in sediment and relatively angular rocks. [24] The surface was mapped in detail
by Magellanin 1990–91. The ground shows evidence of extensive volcanism, and the sulfur in the
atmosphere may indicate that there have been recent eruptions. [25][26]
About 80% of the Venusian surface is covered by smooth, volcanic plains, consisting of 70% plains
with wrinkle ridges and 10% smooth or lobate plains. [27] Two highland "continents" make up the rest
of its surface area, one lying in the planet's northern hemisphere and the other just south of the
equator. The northern continent is called Ishtar Terra after Ishtar, the Babylonian goddess of love,
and is about the size of Australia. Maxwell Montes, the highest mountain on Venus, lies on Ishtar
Terra. Its peak is 11 km (7 mi) above the Venusian average surface elevation. [28] The southern
continent is called Aphrodite Terra, after the Greek goddess of love, and is the larger of the two
highland regions at roughly the size of South America. A network of fractures and faults covers much
of this area.[29]
The absence of evidence of lava flow accompanying any of the visible calderas remains an enigma.
The planet has few impact craters, demonstrating that the surface is relatively young, approximately
300–600 million years old.[30][31] Venus has some unique surface features in addition to the impact
craters, mountains, and valleys commonly found on rocky planets. Among these are flat-topped
volcanic features called "farra", which look somewhat like pancakes and range in size from 20 to
50 km (12 to 31 mi) across, and from 100 to 1,000 m (330 to 3,280 ft) high; radial, star-like fracture
systems called "novae"; features with both radial and concentric fractures resembling spider webs,
known as "arachnoids"; and "coronae", circular rings of fractures sometimes surrounded by a
depression. These features are volcanic in origin. [32]
Most Venusian surface features are named after historical and mythological women. [33] Exceptions
are Maxwell Montes, named after James Clerk Maxwell, and highland regions Alpha Regio, Beta
Regio, and Ovda Regio. The latter three features were named before the current system was
adopted by the International Astronomical Union, the body which oversees planetary nomenclature.
[34]
The longitudes of physical features on Venus are expressed relative to its prime meridian. The
original prime meridian passed through the radar-bright spot at the centre of the oval feature Eve,
located south of Alpha Regio.[35] After the Venera missions were completed, the prime meridian was
redefined to pass through the central peak in the crater Ariadne. [36][37]
Surface geology
Geology of Venus and Volcanology of Venus
Much of the Venusian surface appears to have been shaped by volcanic activity. Venus has several
times as many volcanoes as Earth, and it has 167 large volcanoes that are over 100 km (62 mi)
across. The only volcanic complex of this size on Earth is the Big Island of Hawaii.[32]:154 This is not
because Venus is more volcanically active than Earth, but because its crust is older. Earth's oceanic
crust is continually recycled by subduction at the boundaries of tectonic plates, and has an average
age of about 100 million years,[38]whereas the Venusian surface is estimated to be 300–600 million
years old
False-colour image of Maat Monswith a vertical exaggeration of 22.5
.[30][32]
Several lines of evidence point to ongoing volcanic activity on Venus. During the
Soviet Venera program, the Venera 9 orbiter obtained spectroscopic evidence of lightning on Venus,
[39]
and the Venera 12 descent probe obtained additional evidence of lightning and thunder.[40]
[41]
The European Space Agency's Venus Express in 2007 detected whistler waves further confirming
the occurrence of lightning on Venus.[42][43]One possibility is that ash from a volcanic eruption was
generating the lightning. Another piece of evidence comes from measurements of sulfur
dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere, which dropped by a factor of 10 between 1978 and 1986,
jumped in 2006, and again declined 10-fold.[44] This may mean that levels had been boosted several
times by large volcanic eruptions.[45][46]
In 2008 and 2009, the first direct evidence for ongoing volcanism was observed by Venus Express,
in the form of four transient localized infrared hot spots within the rift zone Ganis Chasma,[47][n 1] near
the shield volcano Maat Mons. Three of the spots were observed in more than one successive orbit.
These spots are thought to represent lava freshly released by volcanic eruptions. [48][49] The actual
temperatures are not known, because the size of the hot spots could not be measured, but are likely
to have been in the 800–1,100 K (527–827 °C; 980–1,520 °F) range, relative to a normal
temperature of 740 K (467 °C; 872 °F).[50]
Impact craters on the surface of Venus (false-colour image reconstructed from radar data)
Almost a thousand impact craters on Venus are evenly distributed across its surface. On other
cratered bodies, such as Earth and the Moon, craters show a range of states of degradation. On the
Moon, degradation is caused by subsequent impacts, whereas on Earth it is caused by wind and
rain erosion. On Venus, about 85% of the craters are in pristine condition. The number of craters,
together with their well-preserved condition, indicates the planet underwent a global resurfacing
event about 300–600 million years ago, [30][31] followed by a decay in volcanism.[51] Whereas Earth's
crust is in continuous motion, Venus is thought to be unable to sustain such a process. Without plate
tectonics to dissipate heat from its mantle, Venus instead undergoes a cyclical process in which
mantle temperatures rise until they reach a critical level that weakens the crust. Then, over a period
of about 100 million years, subduction occurs on an enormous scale, completely recycling the crust.
[32]
Venusian craters range from 3 to 280 km (2 to 174 mi) in diameter. No craters are smaller than
3 km, because of the effects of the dense atmosphere on incoming objects. Objects with less than a
certain kinetic energy are slowed down so much by the atmosphere that they do not create an
impact crater.[52] Incoming projectiles less than 50 m (160 ft) in diameter will fragment and burn up in
the atmosphere before reaching the ground. [53]
Internal structure
Without seismic data or knowledge of its moment of inertia, little direct information is available about
the internal structure and geochemistry of Venus.[54] The similarity in size and density between Venus
and Earth suggests they share a similar internal structure: a core, mantle, and crust. Like that of
Earth, the Venusian core is at least partially liquid because the two planets have been cooling at
about the same rate.[55] The slightly smaller size of Venus means pressures are 24% lower in its deep
interior than Earth's.[56] The principal difference between the two planets is the lack of evidence
for plate tectonics on Venus, possibly because its crust is too strong to subduct without water to
make it less viscous. This results in reduced heat loss from the planet, preventing it from cooling and
providing a likely explanation for its lack of an internally generated magnetic field.[57] Instead, Venus
may lose its internal heat in periodic major resurfacing events.
The internal structure of Venus – the crust (outer layer), the mantle (middle layer) and the core (yellow inner
layer)
[30]
Atmosphere and climate
Cloud structure in the Venusian atmosphere in 1979, revealed by observations in the ultraviolet band

by Pioneer Venus Orbiter
Global radar view of Venus (without the clouds) from Magellan between 1990 and 1994
Atmosphere of Venus
Venus has an extremely dense atmosphere composed of 96.5% carbon dioxide, 3.5% nitrogen, and

traces of other gases, most notably sulfur dioxide.[58] The mass of its atmosphere is 93 times that of
Earth's, whereas the pressure at its surface is about 92 times that at Earth's—a pressure equivalent
to that at a depth of nearly 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) under Earth's oceans. The density at the surface is
65 kg/m3, 6.5% that of water or 50 times as dense as Earth's atmosphere at 293 K (20 °C; 68 °F) at
sea level. The CO
2-rich atmosphere generates the strongest greenhouse effect in the Solar System, creating surface
temperatures of at least 735 K (462 °C; 864 °F).[13][59] This makes Venus's surface hotter
than Mercury's, which has a minimum surface temperature of 53 K (−220 °C; −364 °F) and
maximum surface temperature of 700 K (427 °C; 801 °F),[60][61] even though Venus is nearly twice
Mercury's distance from the Sun and thus receives only 25% of Mercury's solar irradiance. This
temperature is higher than that used for sterilization.
Studies have suggested that billions of years ago Venus's atmosphere was much more like Earth's
than it is now, and that there may have been substantial quantities of liquid water on the surface, but
after a period of 600 million to several billion years, [62] a runaway greenhouse effect was caused by
the evaporation of that original water, which generated a critical level of greenhouse gases in its
atmosphere.[63] Although the surface conditions on Venus are no longer hospitable to any Earthlike
life that may have formed before this event, there is speculation on the possibility that life exists in
the upper cloud layers of Venus, 50 km (31 mi) up from the surface, where the temperature ranges
between 303 and 353 K (30 and 80 °C; 86 and 176 °F) but the environment is acidic.[64][65][66]
Thermal inertia and the transfer of heat by winds in the lower atmosphere mean that the temperature
of Venus's surface does not vary significantly between the night and day sides, despite Venus's
extremely slow rotation. Winds at the surface are slow, moving at a few kilometres per hour, but
because of the high density of the atmosphere at the surface, they exert a significant amount of
force against obstructions, and transport dust and small stones across the surface. This alone would
make it difficult for a human to walk through, even if the heat, pressure, and lack of oxygen were not
a problem.[67]
Above the dense CO
2 layer are thick clouds consisting mainly of sulfuric acid, which is formed by sulfur dioxide and water
through a chemical reaction resulting in sulfuric acid hydrate. Additionally, the atmosphere consists
of approximately 1% ferric chloride.[68][69] Other possible constituents of the cloud particles are ferric
sulfate, aluminium chloride and phosphoric anhydride. Clouds at different levels have different
compositions and particle size distributions.[68] These clouds reflect and scatter about 90% of the
sunlight that falls on them back into space, and prevent visual observation of Venus's surface. The
permanent cloud cover means that although Venus is closer than Earth to the Sun, it receives less
sunlight on the ground. Strong 300 km/h (185 mph) winds at the cloud tops go around Venus about
every four to five Earth days.[70] Winds on Venus move at up to 60 times the speed of its rotation,
whereas Earth's fastest winds are only 10–20% rotation speed. [71]
The surface of Venus is effectively isothermal; it retains a constant temperature not only between
day and night sides but between the equator and the poles. [3][72] Venus's minute axial tilt—less than
3°, compared to 23° on Earth—also minimises seasonal temperature variation. [73] The only
appreciable variation in temperature occurs with altitude. The highest point on Venus, Maxwell
Montes, is therefore the coolest point on Venus, with a temperature of about 655 K (380 °C; 715 °F)
and an atmospheric pressure of about 4.5 MPa (45 bar).[74][75] In 1995, the Magellanspacecraft imaged
a highly reflective substance at the tops of the highest mountain peaks that bore a strong
resemblance to terrestrial snow. This substance likely formed from a similar process to snow, albeit
at a far higher temperature. Too volatile to condense on the surface, it rose in gaseous form to
higher elevations, where it is cooler and could precipitate. The identity of this substance is not known
with certainty, but speculation has ranged from elemental tellurium to lead sulfide (galena).[76]
The clouds of Venus may be capable of producing lightning.[77] The existence of lightning in the
atmosphere of Venus has been controversial since the first suspected bursts were detected by the
Soviet Venera probes. In 2006–07, Venus Express clearly detected whistler mode waves, the
signatures of lightning. Their intermittent appearance indicates a pattern associated with weather
activity. According to these measurements, the lightning rate is at least half of that on Earth. [42] In
2007, Venus Express discovered that a huge double atmospheric vortex exists at the south pole.[78][79]
Venus Express also discovered, in 2011, that an ozone layer exists high in the atmosphere of
Venus.[80] On 29 January 2013, ESA scientists reported that the ionosphere of Venus streams
outwards in a manner similar to "the ion tail seen streaming from a comet under similar conditions."[81]
[82]
In December 2015 and to a lesser extent in April and May 2016, researchers working on
Japan's Akatsuki mission observed bow shapes in the atmosphere of Venus. This was considered
direct evidence of the existence of perhaps the largest stationary gravity waves in the solar system.
[83][84][85]
Absorption spectrum of a simple gas mixture corresponding to Earth's atmosphere
The composition of the atmosphere of Venus based on HITRAN data[86]created using HITRAN on the Web

system.[87]
Green colour – water vapour, red – carbon dioxide, WN – wavenumber (other colours have different meanings,
lower wavelengths on the right, higher on the left).
Magnetic field and core

In 1967, Venera 4 found Venus's magnetic field to be much weaker than that of Earth. This magnetic
field is induced by an interaction between the ionosphere and the solar wind,[88][89] rather than by an
internal dynamo as in the Earth's core. Venus's small induced magnetosphere provides negligible
protection to the atmosphere against cosmic radiation.
The lack of an intrinsic magnetic field at Venus was surprising, given that it is similar to Earth in size,
and was expected also to contain a dynamo at its core. A dynamo requires three things:
a conducting liquid, rotation, and convection. The core is thought to be electrically conductive and,
although its rotation is often thought to be too slow, simulations show it is adequate to produce a
dynamo.[90][91] This implies that the dynamo is missing because of a lack of convection in Venus's
core. On Earth, convection occurs in the liquid outer layer of the core because the bottom of the
liquid layer is much hotter than the top. On Venus, a global resurfacing event may have shut down
plate tectonics and led to a reduced heat flux through the crust. This caused the mantle temperature
to increase, thereby reducing the heat flux out of the core. As a result, no internal geodynamo is
available to drive a magnetic field. Instead, the heat from the core is being used to reheat the crust. [92]
One possibility is that Venus has no solid inner core, [93] or that its core is not cooling, so that the
entire liquid part of the core is at approximately the same temperature. Another possibility is that its
core has already completely solidified. The state of the core is highly dependent on the
concentration of sulfur, which is unknown at present. [92]
The weak magnetosphere around Venus means that the solar wind is interacting directly with its
outer atmosphere. Here, ions of hydrogen and oxygen are being created by the dissociation of
neutral molecules from ultraviolet radiation. The solar wind then supplies energy that gives some of
these ions sufficient velocity to escape Venus's gravity field. This erosion process results in a steady
loss of low-mass hydrogen, helium, and oxygen ions, whereas higher-mass molecules, such as
carbon dioxide, are more likely to be retained. Atmospheric erosion by the solar wind probably led to
the loss of most of Venus's water during the first billion years after it formed. [94] The erosion has
increased the ratio of higher-mass deuterium to lower-mass hydrogen in the atmosphere 100 times
compared to the rest of the solar system.[95]
Orbit and rotation

Orbit of Venus
Venus orbits the Sun at an average distance of about 0.72 AU (108 million km; 67 million mi), and
completes an orbit every 224.7 days. Although all planetary orbits are elliptical, Venus's orbit is the
closest to circular, with an eccentricity of less than 0.01.[3] When Venus lies between Earth and the
Sun in inferior conjunction, it makes the closest approach to Earth of any planet at an average
distance of 41 million km (25 million mi).[3] The planet reaches inferior conjunction every 584 days, on
average.[3] Because of the decreasing eccentricity of Earth's orbit, the minimum distances will
become greater over tens of thousands of years. From the year 1 to 5383, there are 526 approaches
less than 40 million km; then there are none for about 60,158 years.
Venus orbits the Sun at an average distance of about 108 million kilometres (about 0.7 AU) and completes an
orbit every 224.7 days. Venus is the second planet from the Sun and orbits the Sun approximately 1.6 times
(yellow trail) in Earth's 365 days (blue trail)
[96]
All the planets in the Solar System orbit the Sun in a anticlockwise direction as viewed from above
Earth's north pole. Most planets also rotate on their axes in an anti-clockwise direction, but Venus
rotates clockwise in retrograde rotation once every 243 Earth days—the slowest rotation of any
planet. Because its rotation is so slow, Venus is very close to spherical. [97] A Venusian sidereal
day thus lasts longer than a Venusian year (243 versus 224.7 Earth days). Venus's equator rotates
at 6.52 km/h (4.05 mph), whereas Earth's rotates at 1,669.8 km/h (1,037.6 mph).[98] Venus's rotation
has slowed down in the 16 years between the Magellan spacecraft and Venus Express visits; each
Venusian sidereal day has increased by 6.5 minutes in that time span.[99] Because of the retrograde
rotation, the length of a solar day on Venus is significantly shorter than the sidereal day, at
116.75 Earth days (making the Venusian solar day shorter than Mercury's 176 Earth days).[100] One
Venusian year is about 1.92 Venusian solar days.[101] To an observer on the surface of Venus, the
Sun would rise in the west and set in the east,[101] although Venus's opaque clouds prevent observing
the Sun from the planet's surface.[102]
Venus may have formed from the solar nebula with a different rotation period and obliquity, reaching
its current state because of chaotic spin changes caused by planetary perturbations and tidal effects
on its dense atmosphere, a change that would have occurred over the course of billions of years.
The rotation period of Venus may represent an equilibrium state between tidal locking to the Sun's
gravitation, which tends to slow rotation, and an atmospheric tide created by solar heating of the
thick Venusian atmosphere.[103][104] The 584-day average interval between successive close
approaches to Earth is almost exactly equal to 5 Venusian solar days,[105] but the hypothesis of a
spin–orbit resonance with Earth has been discounted. [106]
Venus has no natural satellites.[107] It has several trojan asteroids: the quasi-satellite 2002 VE68[108]
[109]
and two other temporary trojans, 2001 CK32 and 2012 XE133.[110] In the 17th century, Giovanni
Cassini reported a moon orbiting Venus, which was named Neith and numerous sightings were
reported over the following 200 years, but most were determined to be stars in the vicinity. Alex
Alemi's and David Stevenson's 2006 study of models of the early Solar System at the California
Institute of Technology shows Venus likely had at least one moon created by a huge impact
event billions of years ago.[111] About 10 million years later, according to the study, another impact
reversed the planet's spin direction and caused the Venusian moon gradually to spiral inward until it
collided with Venus.[112] If later impacts created moons, these were removed in the same way. An
alternative explanation for the lack of satellites is the effect of strong solar tides, which can
destabilize large satellites orbiting the inner terrestrial planets. [107]
Observation
To the naked eye, Venus appears as a white point of light brighter than any other planet or star
(apart from the Sun).[113] The planet's mean apparent magnitude is -4.14 with a standard deviation of
0.31.[12] The brightest magnitude occurs during crescent phase about one month before or after
inferior conjunction. Venus fades to about magnitude −3 when it is backlit by the Sun. [114] The planet
is bright enough to be seen in a clear midday sky[115] and is more easily visible when the Sun is low
on the horizon or setting. As an inferior planet, it always lies within about 47° of the Sun
Venus is always brighter than all other planets or stars as seen from Earth. The second brightest object on the
image is Jupiter.
.[116]
Venus "overtakes" Earth every 584 days as it orbits the Sun. [3] As it does so, it changes from the
"Evening Star", visible after sunset, to the "Morning Star", visible before sunrise. Although Mercury,
the other inferior planet, reaches a maximum elongation of only 28° and is often difficult to discern in
twilight, Venus is hard to miss when it is at its brightest. Its greater maximum elongation means it is
visible in dark skies long after sunset. As the brightest point-like object in the sky, Venus is a
commonly misreported "unidentified flying object".
Phases
Phases of Venus
The phases of Venus and evolution of its apparent diameter
As it orbits the Sun, Venus displays phases like those of the Moon in a telescopic view. The planet
appears as a small and "full" disc when it is on the opposite side of the Sun (at superior conjunction).
Venus shows a larger disc and "quarter phase" at its maximum elongations from the Sun, and
appears its brightest in the night sky. The planet presents a much larger thin "crescent" in telescopic
views as it passes along the near side between Earth and the Sun. Venus displays its largest size
and "new phase" when it is between Earth and the Sun (at inferior conjunction). Its atmosphere is
visible through telescopes by the halo of sunlight refracted around it. [116]
Transits
Transit of Venus and Transit of Venus, 2012
The Venusian orbit is slightly inclined relative to Earth's orbit; thus, when the planet passes between
Earth and the Sun, it usually does not cross the face of the Sun. Transits of Venus occur when the
planet's inferior conjunction coincides with its presence in the plane of Earth's orbit. Transits of
Venus occur in cycles of 243 years with the current pattern of transits being pairs of transits
separated by eight years, at intervals of about 105.5 years or 121.5 years—a pattern first discovered in
1639 by the English astronomer Jeremiah Horrocks
2004 transit of Venus
.[117]
The latest pair was June 8, 2004 and June 5–6, 2012. The transit could be watched live from many
online outlets or observed locally with the right equipment and conditions. [118]
The preceding pair of transits occurred in December 1874 and December 1882; the following pair
will occur in December 2117 and December 2125. [119] The oldest film known is the 1874 Passage de
Venus, showing the 1874 Venus transit of the sun. Historically, transits of Venus were important,
because they allowed astronomers to determine the size of the astronomical unit, and hence the
size of the Solar System as shown by Horrocks in 1639.[120] Captain Cook's exploration of the east
coast of Australia came after he had sailed to Tahitiin 1768 to observe a transit of Venus.[121][122]
Pentagram of Venus
The pentagram of Venus is the path that Venus makes as observed from Earth. Successive inferior
conjunctions of Venus repeat very near a 13:8 orbital resonance (Earth orbits 8 times for every 13
orbits of Venus), shifting 144° upon sequential inferior conjunctions. The resonance 13:8 ratio is
approximate. 8/13 is approximately 0.615385 while Venus orbits the Sun in 0.615187 years
The pentagram of Venus. Earth is positioned at the centre of the diagram, and the curve represents the
direction and distance of Venus as a function of time.
.[123]
Daylight apparitions
Naked eye observations of Venus during daylight hours exist in several anecdotes and records.
Astronomer Edmund Halley calculated its maximum naked eye brightness in 1716, when many
Londoners were alarmed by its appearance in the daytime. French emperor Napoleon
Bonaparte once witnessed a daytime apparition of the planet while at a reception in Luxembourg.
[124]
Another historical daytime observation of the planet took place during the inauguration of the
American president Abraham Lincoln in Washington, D.C., on 4 March 1865.[125]Although naked eye
visibility of Venus's phases is disputed, records exist of observations of its crescent. [126]
Ashen light
A long-standing mystery of Venus observations is the so-called ashen light—an apparent weak
illumination of its dark side, seen when the planet is in the crescent phase. The first claimed
observation of ashen light was made in 1643, but the existence of the illumination has never been
reliably confirmed. Observers have speculated it may result from electrical activity in the Venusian
atmosphere, but it could be illusory, resulting from the physiological effect of observing a bright,
crescent-shaped object.
EXPERIMENT ON FORMATION OF VENUS ASTRONOMICAL OBJECT.
PROCEDURE
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION PERMIT.
The International Astronomical Union (IAU; French: Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is
an international association of professional astronomers, at the PhD level and beyond, active in
professional research and education in astronomy.[2] Among other activities, it acts as the
internationally recognized authority for assigning designations and names to celestial
bodies (stars, planets, asteroids, etc.) and any surface features on them.[3]
The IAU is a member of the International Council for Science (ICSU). Its main objective is to
promote and safeguard the science of astronomy in all its aspects through international cooperation.
The IAU maintains friendly relations with organizations that include amateur astronomers in their
membership. The IAU has its head office on the second floor of the Institut d'Astrophysique de
Paris in the 14th arrondissement of Paris.[4] Working groups include the Working Group for
Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN), which maintains the astronomical naming
conventions and planetary nomenclature for planetary bodies, and the Working Group on Star
Names (WGSN), which catalogs and standardizes proper names for stars. The IAU is also
responsible for the system of astronomical telegrams which are produced and distributed on its
behalf by the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams. The Minor Planet Centeralso operates
under the IAU, and is a "clearinghouse" for all non-planetary or non-moon bodies in the Solar
System.[5]The Working Group for Meteor Shower Nomenclature and the Meteor Data Center
coordinate the nomenclature of meteor showers.
International Astronomical Union (IAU)
Union astronomique internationale (UAI)

National members from 79 countries
Formation 28 July 1919; 99 years ago
Headquarters Paris, France
Membership 79 national members

12,664 individual members[1]
President Ewine van Dishoeck
General Secretary Maria Teresa Lago
Website IAU.org
Composition
The IAU includes a total of 12,664 individual members who are professional astronomers from 96
countries worldwide.[10] 83% of all individual members are male, while 17% are female, among them
the union's former president, Mexican astronomer Silvia Torres-Peimbert.
Membership also includes 79 national members, professional astronomical communities
representing their country's affiliation with the IAU. National members include the Australian
Academy of Science, the Chinese Astronomical Society, the French Academy of Sciences,
the Indian National Science Academy, the National Academies (United States), the National
Research Foundation of South Africa, the National Scientific and Technical Research
Council (Argentina), KACST (Saudi Arabia), the Council of German Observatories, the Royal
Astronomical Society (United Kingdom), the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand, the Royal
Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Science Council of
Japan, among many others.[11]
The sovereign body of the IAU is its General Assembly, which comprises all members. The
Assembly determines IAU policy, approves the Statutes and By-Laws of the Union (and
amendments proposed thereto) and elects various committees.
The right to vote on matters brought before the Assembly varies according to the type of business
under discussion. The Statutes consider such business to be divided into two categories:
 issues of a "primarily scientific nature" (as determined by the Executive Committee),
upon which voting is restricted to individual members, and
 all other matters (such as Statute revision and procedural questions), upon which voting is
restricted to the representatives of national members.
On budget matters (which fall into the second category), votes are weighted according to the relative
subscription levels of the national members. A second category vote requires a turnout of at least
two-thirds of national members in order to be valid. An absolute majority is sufficient for approval in
any vote, except for Statute revision which requires a two-thirds majority. An equality of votes is
resolved by the vote of the President of the Union.
The IAU includes member organizations from 79 countries (designated as National Members) [11]
General Assemblies
Since 1922, the IAU General Assembly meets every three years, with the exception of the period
between 1938 and 1948, due to World War II. After a Polish request in 1967, and by a controversial
decision of the then President of the IAU, an Extraordinary IAU General Assembly was held in
September 1973 in Warsaw, Poland,[12] to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the birth
of Nicolaus Copernicus, soon after the regular 1973 GA had been held in Sydney, Australia.
Meeting Year Venue
Ist IAU General Assembly (1st) 1922 Rome, Italy
IInd IAU General Assembly (2nd) 1925 Cambridge, England, United Kingdom
IIIrd IAU General Assembly (3rd) 1928 Leiden, Netherlands
IVth IAU General Assembly (4th) 1932 Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States

Vth IAU General Assembly (5th) 1935 Paris, France
VIth IAU General Assembly (6th) 1938 Stockholm, Sweden
VIIth IAU General Assembly (7th) 1948 Zürich, Switzerland
VIIIth IAU General Assembly (8th) 1952 Rome, Italy
IXth IAU General Assembly (9th) 1955 Dublin, Ireland
Xth IAU General Assembly (10th) 1958 Moscow, Soviet Union
XIth IAU General Assembly (11th) 1961 Berkeley, California, United States
XIIth IAU General Assembly (12th) 1964 Hamburg, West Germany
XIIIth IAU General Assembly (13th) 1967 Prague, Czechoslovakia
XIVth IAU General Assembly (14th) 1970 Brighton, England, United Kingdom
XVth IAU General Assembly (15th) 1973 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
XVIth IAU General Assembly (16th) 1976 Grenoble, France
XVIIth IAU General Assembly (17th) 1979 Montreal, Quebec, Canada
XVIIIth IAU General Assembly (18th) 1982 Patras, Greece
XIXth IAU General Assembly (19th) 1985 New Delhi, India
XXth IAU General Assembly (20th) 1988 Baltimore, Maryland, United States

XXIst IAU General Assembly (21st) 1991 Buenos Aires, Argentina
XXIInd IAU General Assembly (22nd) 1994 The Hague, Netherlands
XXIIIrd IAU General Assembly (23rd) 1997 Kyoto, Kansai, Japan
XXIVth IAU General Assembly (24th) 2000 Manchester, England, United Kingdom
XXVth IAU General Assembly (25th) 2003 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
XXVIth IAU General Assembly (26th) 2006 Prague, Czech Republic
XXVIIth IAU General Assembly (27th) 2009 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
XXVIIIth IAU General Assembly

2012 Beijing, China
(28th)
XXIXth IAU General Assembly (29th) 2015 Honolulu, Hawaii, United States
XXXth IAU General Assembly (30th) 2018 Vienna, Austria
XXXIst IAU General Assembly (31st) 2021 Busan, South Korea
List of the Presidents of the IAU

Sources.[13][14]
 (1919–1922)  (1958–1961) Jan  (1991–1994)
Benjamin Baillaud Oort Aleksandr Boyarchuk
 (1922–1925)  (1961–1964)  (1994–1997)
William Wallace Campbell Victor Ambartsumian Lodewijk Woltjer
 (1925–1928)  (1964–1967) Pol  (1997–2000)
Willem de Sitter Swings Robert Kraft
 (1928–1932)  (1967–1970) Otto  (2000–2003)
Frank Watson Dyson Heckmann Franco Pacini
 (1932–1935)  (1970–1973)  (2003–2006)
Frank Schlesinger Bengt Strömgren Ronald Ekers
 (1935–1938)  (1973–1976) Leo  (2006–2009)
Ernest Esclangon Goldberg Catherine Cesarsky
 (1938–1944)  (1976–1979)  (2009–2012)
Arthur Eddington Adriaan Blaauw Robert Williams
 (1944–1948)  (1979–1982)  (2012–2015)
Harold Spencer Jones Vainu Bappu Norio Kaifu
 (1948–1952)  (1982–1985)  (2015–2018)
Bertil Lindblad Robert Hanbury Brown Silvia Torres-Peimbert
 (1952–1955) Otto  (1985–1988)  (since 2018)
Struve Jorge Sahade Ewine van Dishoeck
 (1955–1958)  (1988–1991)
André-Louis Danjon Yoshihide Kozai
Commission 46: Education in astronomy

Commission 46 is a Committee of the Executive Committee of the IAU, playing a special role in the
discussion of astronomy development with governments and scientific academies. The IAU is
affiliated with the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), a non-governmental organization
representing a global membership that includes both national scientific bodies and international
scientific unions. They often encourage countries to become members of the IAU. The Commission
further seeks to development, information or improvement of astronomical education. Part of
Commission 46, is Teaching Astronomy for Development (TAD) program in countries where there is
currently very little astronomical education. Another program is named the Galileo Teacher Training
Program (GTTP), being a project of the International Year of Astronomy 2009, among which Hands-
On Universe that will concentrate more resources on education activities for children and schools
designed to advance sustainable global development. GTTP is also concerned with the effective use
and transfer of astronomy education tools and resources into classroom science curricula. A
strategic plan for the period 2010-2020 has been published. [15]
Publications
Cover picture of CAP Journal issue 19, March 2016.[16]
In 2004 the IAU contracted with the Cambridge University Press to publish the Proceedings of the
International Astronomical Union.[17]
In 2007, the Communicating Astronomy with the Public Journal Working Group prepared a study
assessing the feasibility of the Communicating Astronomy with the Public Journal (CAP Journal).
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA, /ˈnæsə/) is an independent

agency of the United States Federal Government responsible for the civilian space program, as well
as aeronautics and aerospace research.[note 1]
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding the National Advisory Committee for
Aeronautics (NACA). The new agency was to have a distinctly civilian orientation, encouraging
peaceful applications in space science.[7][8][9] Since its establishment, most US space
exploration efforts have been led by NASA, including the Apollo Moon landing missions,
the Skylab space station, and later the Space Shuttle. NASA is supporting the International Space
Station and is overseeing the development of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, the Space
Launch System and Commercial Crewvehicles. The agency is also responsible for the Launch
Services Program which provides oversight of launch operations and countdown management for
unmanned NASA launches.
NASA science is focused on better understanding Earth through the Earth Observing System;
[10]
advancing heliophysicsthrough the efforts of the Science Mission Directorate's Heliophysics
Research Program;[11] exploring bodies throughout the Solar System with advanced robotic
spacecraft missions such as New Horizons;[12] and researching astrophysicstopics, such as the Big
Bang, through the Great Observatories and associated programs
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Seal
Emblem
Flag
Agency overview
Formed July 29, 1958; 60 years ago
 NACA (1915–1958)[1]
Preceding agency
Jurisdiction US Federal Government
Headquarters Two Independence Square, Washington, D.C., US
Motto For the Benefit of All[2]
Employees 17,336 (2018)[3]
Annual budget US$20.7 billion (2018)[4]
Agency executives Jim Bridenstine, Administrator
James Morhard, Deputy Administrator
Jeff DeWit, Chief Financial Officer
Website www.nasa.gov
Part of a series of articles on the
Space policy of the United

States
 NASA
 Space policy of the United States

 Apollo program
US manned space programs
US space probes
Expendable launch vehicles
Notable figures
Astronauts
Creation
Creation of NASA
On July 29, 1958, Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, establishing NASA.
When it began operations on October 1, 1958, NASA absorbed the 43-year-old NACA intact; its
8,000 employees, an annual budget of US$100 million, three major research laboratories (Langley
Aeronautical Laboratory, Ames Aeronautical Laboratory, and Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory)
and two small test facilities.[17] A NASA seal was approved by President Eisenhower in 1959.
[18]
Elements of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency and the United States Naval Research
Laboratory were incorporated into NASA. A significant contributor to NASA's entry into the Space
Race with the Soviet Union was the technology from the German rocket program led by Wernher
von Braun, who was now working for the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA), which in turn
incorporated the technology of American scientist Robert Goddard's earlier works.[19] Earlier research
efforts within the US Air Force[17] and many of ARPA's early space programs were also transferred to
NASA.[20] In December 1958, NASA gained control of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a contractor
facility operated by the California Institute of Technology.[17]
William H. Pickering, (center) JPL Director, President John F. Kennedy, (right). NASA Administrator James E.
Webb (background) discussing the Mariner program, with a model presented.
From 1946, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics(NACA) had been experimenting with
rocket planes such as the supersonic Bell X-1.[14] In the early 1950s, there was challenge to launch
an artificial satellite for the International Geophysical Year (1957–58). An effort for this was the
American Project Vanguard. After the Soviet launch of the world's first artificial satellite (Sputnik 1)
on October 4, 1957, the attention of the United States turned toward its own fledgling space efforts.
The US Congress, alarmed by the perceived threat to national security and technological leadership
(known as the "Sputnik crisis"), urged immediate and swift action; President Dwight D.
Eisenhower and his advisers counseled more deliberate measures. On January 12, 1958, NACA
organized a "Special Committee on Space Technology", headed by Guyford Stever.[9] On January
14, 1958, NACA Director Hugh Dryden published "A National Research Program for Space
Technology" stating:[15]
A short documentary about the beginings of Nasa
It is of great urgency and importance to our country both from consideration of our prestige as a
nation as well as military necessity that this challenge [Sputnik] be met by an energetic program of
research and development for the conquest of space ... It is accordingly proposed that the scientific
research be the responsibility of a national civilian agency ... NACA is capable, by rapid extension
and expansion of its effort, of providing leadership in space technology.[15]
While this new federal agency would conduct all non-military space activity, the Advanced Research
Projects Agency (ARPA) was created in February 1958 to develop space technology for military
application.[16]
Staff and leadership
Main article: List of Administrators and Deputy Administrators of NASA
Jim Bridenstine official NASA portrait, April 26, 2018 at NASA Headquarters, Washington D.C.
The agency's leader, NASA's administrator, is nominated by the President of the United

States subject to approval of the US Senate, and reports to him or her and serves as senior space
science advisor. Though space exploration is ostensibly non-partisan, the appointee usually is
associated with the President's political party (Democratic or Republican), and a new administrator is
usually chosen when the Presidency changes parties. The only exceptions to this have been:
 Democrat Thomas O. Paine, acting administrator under Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson,

stayed on while Republican Richard Nixontried but failed to get one of his own choices to accept
the job. Paine was confirmed by the Senate in March 1969 and served through September
1970.[21]
 Republican James C. Fletcher, appointed by Nixon and confirmed in April 1971, stayed
through May 1977 into the term of Democrat Jimmy Carter.
 Daniel Goldin was appointed by Republican George H. W. Bush and stayed through the
entire administration of Democrat Bill Clinton.
 Robert M. Lightfoot, Jr., associate administrator under Democrat Barack Obama, was kept
on as acting administrator by Republican Donald Trump until Trump's own choice Jim
Bridenstine, was confirmed in April 2018.[22] Though the agency is independent, the survival or
discontinuation of projects can depend directly on the will of the President. [23]
The first administrator was Dr. T. Keith Glennan appointed by Republican President Dwight D.
Eisenhower. During his term he brought together the disparate projects in American space
development research.[24]
The second administrator, James E. Webb (1961–1968), appointed by President John F. Kennedy,
was a Democrat who first publicly served under President Harry S. Truman. In order to implement
the Apollo program to achieve Kennedy's Moon landing goal by the end of the 1960s, Webb directed
major management restructuring and facility expansion, establishing the Houston Manned
Spacecraft (Johnson) Center and the Florida Launch Operations (Kennedy) Center. Capitalizing on
Kennedy's legacy, President Lyndon Johnson kept continuity with the Apollo program by keeping
Webb on when he succeeded Kennedy in November 1963. But Webb resigned in October 1968
before Apollo achieved its goal, and Republican President Richard M. Nixon replaced Webb with
Republican Thomas O. Paine.
Organizational structure of NASA (2015)
James Fletcher was responsible for early planning of the Space Shuttle program during his first term
as administrator under President Nixon. He was appointed for a second term as administrator from
May 1986 through April 1989 by President Ronald Reagan to help the agency recover from
the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
Former astronaut Charles Bolden served as NASA's twelfth administrator from July 2009 to January
20, 2017.[25] Bolden is one of three former astronauts who became NASA administrators, along
with Richard H. Truly (served 1989–1992) and Frederick D. Gregory (acting, 2005).
The agency's administration is located at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC and provides
overall guidance and direction. [26] Except under exceptional circumstances, NASA civil service
employees are required to be citizens of the United States.[27]
Space flight programs

Main article: List of NASA missions
At launch control for the May 28, 1964, Saturn I SA-6 launch. Wernher von Braun is at center.
A documentary about spaceflight in NASA

NASA has conducted many manned and unmanned spaceflight programs throughout its history.
Unmanned programs launched the first American artificial satellites into Earth orbit for scientific
and communications purposes, and sent scientific probes to explore the planets of the solar system,
starting with Venus and Mars, and including "grand tours" of the outer planets. Manned programs
sent the first Americans into low Earth orbit (LEO), won the Space Race with the Soviet Union by
landing twelve men on the Moon from 1969 to 1972 in the Apollo program, developed a semi-
reusable LEO Space Shuttle, and developed LEO space station capability by itself and with the
cooperation of several other nations including post-Soviet Russia. Some missions include both
manned and unmanned aspects, such as the Galileo probe, which was deployed by astronauts in
Earth orbit before being sent unmanned to Jupiter.
Manned programs
Some of NASA's first African-American astronauts including Dr. Ronald McNair, Guy Bluford and Fred

Gregory from the class of 1978 selection of astronauts.
The experimental rocket-powered aircraft programs started by NACA were extended by NASA as

support for manned spaceflight. This was followed by a one-man space capsule program, and in turn
by a two-man capsule program. Reacting to loss of national prestige and security fears caused by
early leads in space exploration by the Soviet Union, in 1961 President John F. Kennedy proposed
the ambitious goal "of landing a man on the Moon by the end of [the 1960s], and returning him safely
to the Earth." This goal was met in 1969 by the Apollo program, and NASA planned even more
ambitious activities leading to a manned mission to Mars. However, reduction of the perceived threat
and changing political priorities almost immediately caused the termination of most of these plans.
NASA turned its attention to an Apollo-derived temporary space laboratory, and a semi-reusable
Earth orbital shuttle. In the 1990s, funding was approved for NASA to develop a permanent Earth
orbital space station in cooperation with the international community, which now included the former
rival, post-Soviet Russia. To date, NASA has launched a total of 166 manned space missions on
rockets, and thirteen X-15 rocket flights above the USAF definition of spaceflight altitude, 260,000
feet (80 km).[28]
X-15 rocket plane (1959–1968)
Main article: North American X-15
X-15 in powered flight
The X-15 was an NACA experimental rocket-powered hypersonic research aircraft, developed in

conjunction with the US Air Force and Navy. The design featured a slender fuselage with fairings
along the side containing fuel and early computerized control systems. [29] Requests for proposal were
issued on December 30, 1954, for the airframe, and February 4, 1955, for the rocket engine. The
airframe contract was awarded to North American Aviation in November 1955, and the XLR30
engine contract was awarded to Reaction Motors in 1956, and three planes were built. The X-15
was drop-launched from the wing of one of two NASA Boeing B-52 Stratofortresses, NB52A tail
number 52-003, and NB52B, tail number 52-008 (known as the Balls 8). Release took place at an
altitude of about 45,000 feet (14 km) and a speed of about 500 miles per hour (805 km/h).
Twelve pilots were selected for the program from the Air Force, Navy, and NACA (later NASA). A
total of 199 flights were made between 1959 and 1968, resulting in the official world record for the
highest speed ever reached by a manned powered aircraft (current as of 2014), and a maximum
speed of Mach 6.72, 4,519 miles per hour (7,273 km/h).[30] The altitude record for X-15 was 354,200
feet (107.96 km).[31] Eight of the pilots were awarded Air Force astronaut wings for flying above
260,000 feet (80 km), and two flights by Joseph A. Walker exceeded 100 kilometers (330,000 ft),
qualifying as spaceflight according to the International Aeronautical Federation. The X-15 program
employed mechanical techniques used in the later manned spaceflight programs, including reaction
control system jets for controlling the orientation of a spacecraft, space suits, and horizon definition
for navigation.[31] The reentry and landing data collected were valuable to NASA for designing
the Space Shuttle.[29]
Project Mercury (1958–1963)
Main article: Project Mercury
John Glenn on Friendship 7: first US orbital flight, 1962
Shortly after the Space Race began, an early objective was to get a person into Earth orbit as soon
as possible, therefore the simplest spacecraft that could be launched by existing rockets was
favored. The US Air Force's Man in Space Soonestprogram considered many manned spacecraft
designs, ranging from rocket planes like the X-15, to small ballistic space capsules.[32] By 1958, the
space plane concepts were eliminated in favor of the ballistic capsule. [33]
When NASA was created that same year, the Air Force program was transferred to it and
renamed Project Mercury. The first seven astronauts were selected among candidates from the
Navy, Air Force and Marine test pilot programs. On May 5, 1961, astronaut Alan Shepard became
the first American in space aboard Freedom 7, launched by a Redstone booster on a 15-
minute ballistic (suborbital) flight.[34] John Glenn became the first American to be launched into orbit,
by an Atlas launch vehicleon February 20, 1962, aboard Friendship 7.[35] Glenn completed three
orbits, after which three more orbital flights were made, culminating in L. Gordon Cooper's 22-orbit
flight Faith 7, May 15–16, 1963.[36]
The Soviet Union (USSR) competed with its own single-pilot spacecraft, Vostok. They sent the first
man in space, by launching cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into a single Earth orbit aboard Vostok 1 in
April 1961, one month before Shepard's flight. [37] In August 1962, they achieved an almost four-day
record flight with Andriyan Nikolayev aboard Vostok 3, and also conducted a concurrent Vostok
4 mission carrying Pavel Popovich.
Project Gemini (1961–1966)
Main article: Project Gemini
Ed White on Gemini 4: first US spacewalk, 1965
Based on studies to grow the Mercury spacecraft capabilities to long-duration flights,

developing space rendezvous techniques, and precision Earth landing, Project Gemini was started
as a two-man program in 1962 to overcome the Soviets' lead and to support the Apollo manned
lunar landing program, adding extravehicular activity (EVA) and rendezvous and docking to its
objectives. The first manned Gemini flight, Gemini 3, was flown by Gus Grissom and John Young on
March 23, 1965.[38] Nine missions followed in 1965 and 1966, demonstrating an endurance mission of
nearly fourteen days, rendezvous, docking, and practical EVA, and gathering medical data on the
effects of weightlessness on humans.[39][40]
Under the direction of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, the USSR competed with Gemini by
converting their Vostok spacecraft into a two- or three-man Voskhod. They succeeded in launching
two manned flights before Gemini's first flight, achieving a three-cosmonaut flight in 1964 and the
first EVA in 1965. After this, the program was canceled, and Gemini caught up while spacecraft
designer Sergei Korolev developed the Soyuz spacecraft, their answer to Apollo.
Apollo program (1961–1972)
Main article: Apollo program
Apollo 11: Buzz Aldrin on the Moon, 1969.
The U.S public's perception of the Soviet lead in the space race (by putting the first man into space)
motivated President John F. Kennedy to ask the Congress on May 25, 1961, to commit the federal
government to a program to land a man on the Moon by the end of the 1960s, which effectively
launched the Apollo program.[41]
Apollo was one of the most expensive American scientific programs ever. It cost more than $20
billion in 1960s dollars[42] or an estimated $218 billion in present-day US dollars.[43] (In comparison,
the Manhattan Project cost roughly $27.8 billion, accounting for inflation.)[43][44] It used the Saturn
rockets as launch vehicles, which were far bigger than the rockets built for previous projects. [45] The
spacecraft was also bigger; it had two main parts, the combined command and service
module(CSM) and the Apollo Lunar Module (LM). The LM was to be left on the Moon and only the
command module (CM) containing the three astronauts would eventually return to Earth. [note 2]
The second manned mission, Apollo 8, brought astronauts for the first time in a flight around the
Moon in December 1968.[46]Shortly before, the Soviets had sent an unmanned spacecraft around the
Moon.[47] On the next two missions docking maneuvers that were needed for the Moon landing were
practiced[48][49] and then finally the Moon landing was made on the Apollo 11 mission in July 1969.[50]
Apollo 17: LRV-003, 1972.
The first person to stand on the Moon was Neil Armstrong, who was followed 19 minutes later
by Buzz Aldrin, while Michael Collins orbited above. Five subsequent Apollo missions also landed
astronauts on the Moon, the last in December 1972. Throughout these six Apollo spaceflights,
twelve men walked on the Moon. These missions returned a wealth of scientific data and 381.7
kilograms (842 lb) of lunar samples. Topics covered by experiments performed included soil
mechanics, meteoroids, seismology, heat flow, lunar ranging, magnetic fields, and solar wind.[51] The
Moon landing marked the end of the space race; and as a gesture, Armstrong mentioned mankind
when he stepped down on the Moon. [52]
Apollo set major milestones in human spaceflight. It stands alone in sending manned missions
beyond low Earth orbit, and landing humans on another celestial body.[53] Apollo 8 was the first
manned spacecraft to orbit another celestial body, while Apollo 17 marked the last moonwalk and
the last manned mission beyond low Earth orbit to date. The program spurred advances in many
areas of technology peripheral to rocketry and manned spaceflight, including avionics,
telecommunications, and computers. Apollo sparked interest in many fields of engineering and left
many physical facilities and machines developed for the program as landmarks. Many objects and
artifacts from the program are on display at various locations throughout the world, notably at
the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museums.
Skylab (1965–1979)
Main article: Skylab
Skylab in 1974, seen from the departing Skylab 4 CSM.
Skylab was the United States' first and only independently built space station.[54] Conceived in 1965
as a workshop to be constructed in space from a spent Saturn IB upper stage, the 169,950 lb
(77,088 kg) station was constructed on Earth and launched on May 14, 1973, atop the first two
stages of a Saturn V, into a 235-nautical-mile (435 km) orbit inclined at 50° to the equator. Damaged
during launch by the loss of its thermal protection and one electricity-generating solar panel, it was
repaired to functionality by its first crew. It was occupied for a total of 171 days by 3 successive
crews in 1973 and 1974.[54] It included a laboratory for studying the effects of microgravity, and
a solar observatory.[54] NASA planned to have a Space Shuttle dock with it, and elevate Skylab to a
higher safe altitude, but the Shuttle was not ready for flight before Skylab's re-entry on July 11, 1979.
[55]
To save cost, NASA used one of the Saturn V rockets originally earmarked for a canceled Apollo
mission to launch the Skylab. Apollo spacecraft were used for transporting astronauts to and from
the station. Three three-man crews stayed aboard the station for periods of 28, 59, and 84 days.
Skylab's habitable volume was 11,290 cubic feet (320 m3), which was 30.7 times bigger than that of
the Apollo Command Module.[55]
Apollo–Soyuz Test Project (1972–1975)
Main article: Apollo–Soyuz Test Project
Soviet and American crews with spacecraft model, 1975.

On May 24, 1972, US President Richard M. Nixon and Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin signed an
agreement calling for a joint manned space mission, and declaring intent for all future international
manned spacecraft to be capable of docking with each other. [56] This authorized the Apollo-Soyuz
Test Project (ASTP), involving the rendezvous and docking in Earth orbit of a surplus Apollo
Command/Service Module with a Soyuz spacecraft. The mission took place in July 1975. This was
the last US manned space flight until the first orbital flight of the Space Shuttle in April 1981.[57]
The mission included both joint and separate scientific experiments, and provided useful engineering
experience for future joint US–Russian space flights, such as the Shuttle–Mir Program [58] and the
International Space Station.
Space Shuttle program (1972–2011)
Main article: Space Shuttle program
Launch of a Space Shuttle.
Mae Jemison working in Spacelab in 1992. Spacelab was a major NASA collaboration with Europe's space
agencies
The Space Shuttle became the major focus of NASA in the late 1970s and the 1980s. Planned as a
frequently launchable and mostly reusable vehicle, four Space Shuttle orbiters were built by 1985.
The first to launch, Columbia, did so on April 12, 1981,[59] the 20th anniversary of the first known
human space flight.[60]
Its major components were a spaceplane orbiter with an external fuel tank and two solid-fuel launch
rockets at its side. The external tank, which was bigger than the spacecraft itself, was the only major
component that was not reused. The shuttle could orbit in altitudes of 185–643 km (115–400 miles)
[61]
and carry a maximum payload (to low orbit) of 24,400 kg (54,000 lb).[62]Missions could last from 5
to 17 days and crews could be from 2 to 8 astronauts. [61]
On 20 missions (1983–98) the Space Shuttle carried Spacelab, designed in cooperation with
the European Space Agency (ESA). Spacelab was not designed for independent orbital flight, but
remained in the Shuttle's cargo bay as the astronauts entered and left it through an airlock.
[63]
Another famous series of missions were the launch and later successful repair of the Hubble
Space Telescope in 1990 and 1993, respectively.[64]
In 1995, Russian-American interaction resumed with the Shuttle–Mir missions (1995–1998). Once
more an American vehicle docked with a Russian craft, this time a full-fledged space station. This
cooperation has continued with Russia and the United States as two of the biggest partners in the
largest space station built: the International Space Station (ISS). The strength of their cooperation on
this project was even more evident when NASA began relying on Russian launch vehicles to service
the ISS during the two-year grounding of the shuttle fleet following the 2003 Space
Shuttle Columbia disaster.
The Shuttle fleet lost two orbiters and 14 astronauts in two disasters: Challenger in 1986,
and Columbia in 2003.[65] While the 1986 loss was mitigated by building the Space
Shuttle Endeavour from replacement parts, NASA did not build another orbiter to replace the second
loss.[65] NASA's Space Shuttle program had 135 missions when the program ended with the
successful landing of the Space Shuttle Atlantis at the Kennedy Space Center on July 21, 2011. The
program spanned 30 years with over 300 astronauts sent into space. [66]
International Space Station (1993–present)
Main article: International Space Station
Animation of assembly of the ISS
The International Space Station (ISS) combines NASA's Space Station Freedom project with the

Soviet/Russian Mir-2 station, the European Columbus station, and the Japanese Kibō laboratory
module.[67] NASA originally planned in the 1980s to develop Freedom alone, but US budget
constraints led to the merger of these projects into a single multi-national program in 1993, managed
by NASA, the Russian Federal Space Agency (RKA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency (JAXA), the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).[68]
[69]
The station consists of pressurized modules, external trusses, solar arrays and other components,
which have been launched by Russian Proton and Soyuz rockets, and the US Space Shuttles.[67] It
is currently being assembled in Low Earth Orbit. The on-orbit assembly began in 1998, the
completion of the US Orbital Segment occurred in 2011 and the completion of the Russian Orbital
Segment is expected by 2016.[70][71][needs update] The ownership and use of the space station is established
in intergovernmental treaties and agreements [72] which divide the station into two areas and
allow Russia to retain full ownership of the Russian Orbital Segment (with the exception of Zarya), [73]
[74]
with the US Orbital Segment allocated between the other international partners. [72]
The International Space Station as seen by the final STS mission
Long duration missions to the ISS are referred to as ISS Expeditions. Expedition crew members
typically spend approximately six months on the ISS.[75] The initial expedition crew size was three,
temporarily decreased to two following the Columbia disaster. Since May 2009, expedition crew size
has been six crew members.[76] Crew size is expected to be increased to seven, the number the ISS
was designed for, once the Commercial Crew Program becomes operational. [77] The ISS has been
continuously occupied for the past 18 years and 118 days, having exceeded the previous record
held by Mir; and has been visited by astronauts and cosmonauts from 15 different nations.[78][79]
The station can be seen from the Earth with the naked eye and, as of 2019, is the largest artificial
satellite in Earth orbit with a mass and volume greater than that of any previous space station.
[80]
The Soyuz spacecraft delivers crew members, stays docked for their half-year-long missions and
then returns them home. Several uncrewed cargo spacecraft service the ISS, they are the
Russian Progress spacecraft which has done so since 2000, the European Automated Transfer
Vehicle (ATV) since 2008, the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) since 2009, the
American Dragon spacecraft since 2012, and the American Cygnus spacecraft since 2013. The
Space Shuttle, before its retirement, was also used for cargo transfer and would often switch out
expedition crew members, although it did not have the capability to remain docked for the duration of
their stay. Until another US manned spacecraft is ready, crew members will travel to and from the
International Space Station exclusively aboard the Soyuz.[81] The highest number of people
occupying the ISS has been thirteen; this occurred three times during the late Shuttle ISS assembly
missions.[82]
The ISS program is expected to continue until at least 2020, and may be extended beyond 2028. [83]
Commercial programs (2006–present)
Main articles: Commercial Resupply Services and Commercial Crew Development
Dragon being berthed to the ISS in May 2012

Cygnus berthed to the ISS in September 2013
The development of the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) vehicles began in 2006 with the
purpose of creating American commercially operated uncrewed cargo vehicles to service the ISS.
[84]
The development of these vehicles was under a fixed price milestone-based program, meaning
that each company that received a funded award had a list of milestones with a dollar value attached
to them that they didn't receive until after they had successfully completed the milestone.
[85]
Companies were also required to raise an unspecified amount of private investment for their
proposal.[86]
On December 23, 2008, NASA awarded Commercial Resupply Services contracts
to SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corporation.[87] SpaceX uses its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon
spacecraft.[88] Orbital Sciences uses its Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft. The first Dragon
resupply mission occurred in May 2012.[89] The first Cygnus resupply mission occurred in September
2013.[90] The CRS program now provides for all America's ISS cargo needs; with the exception of a
few vehicle-specific payloads that are delivered on the European ATV and the Japanese HTV.[91]
Dragon V2
Rendering of CST-100 in orbit
The Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program was started in 2010 with the purpose of
creating American commercially operated crewed spacecraft capable of delivering at least four crew
members to the ISS, staying docked for 180 days and then returning them back to Earth. [92] It is
hoped that these vehicles could also transport non-NASA customers to private space stations such
those planned by Bigelow Aerospace.[93] Like COTS, CCDev is also a fixed price milestone-based
developmental program that requires some private investment. [85]
In 2010, NASA announced the winners of the first phase of the program, a total of $50 million was
divided among five American companies to foster research and development into human spaceflight
concepts and technologies in the private sector. In 2011, the winners of the second phase of the
program were announced, $270 million was divided among four companies. [94] In 2012, the winners
of the third phase of the program were announced, NASA provided $1.1 billion divided among three
companies to further develop their crew transportation systems. [95] In 2014, the winners of the final
round were announced.[96] SpaceX's Dragon V2 (planned to be launched on a Falcon 9 v1.1)
received a contract valued up to $2.6 billion and Boeing's CST-100 (to be launched on an Atlas V)
received a contract valued up to $4.2 billion. [97] NASA expects these vehicles to begin transporting
humans to the ISS in 2019.[98]
Beyond Low Earth Orbit program (2010–2017)
For missions beyond low Earth orbit (BLEO), NASA has been directed to develop the Space Launch
System (SLS), a Saturn-V class rocket, and the two to six person, beyond low Earth orbit
spacecraft, Orion. In February 2010, President Barack Obama's administration proposed eliminating
public funds for the Constellation programand shifting greater responsibility of servicing the ISS to
private companies.[99] During a speech at the Kennedy Space Center on April 15, 2010, Obama
proposed a new heavy-lift vehicle (HLV) to replace the formerly planned Ares V.[100] In his speech,
Obama called for a manned mission to an asteroid as soon as 2025, and a manned mission to Mars
orbit by the mid-2030s.[100] The NASA Authorization Act of 2010 was passed by Congress and signed
into law on October 11, 2010.[101] The act officially canceled the Constellation program. [101]
The Authorization Act required a newly designed HLV be chosen within 90 days of its passing; the
launch vehicle was given the name "Space Launch System". The new law also required the
construction of a beyond low earth orbit spacecraft. [102] The Orion spacecraft, which was being
developed as part of the Constellation program, was chosen to fulfill this role. [103] The Space Launch
System is planned to launch both Orion and other necessary hardware for missions beyond low
Earth orbit.[104] The SLS is to be upgraded over time with more powerful versions. The initial capability
of SLS is required to be able to lift 70 mt into LEO. It is then planned to be upgraded to 105 mt and
then eventually to 130 mt.[103][105] Exploration Flight Test 1 (EFT-1), an unmanned test flight of Orion's
crew module, was launched on December 5, 2014, atop a Delta IV Heavy rocket.[105] Exploration
Mission-1 (EM-1) is the unmanned initial launch of SLS that would also send Orion on a circumlunar
trajectory, which is planned for 2019.[105]
NASA Graphic for the Journey to Mars
NASA's next major space initiative is to be the construction of the Lunar Orbital Platform-
Gateway (LOP-G, formerly known as the "Deep Space Gateway"). This initiative is to involve the
construction of a new "Space-Station" type of habitation, which will have many features in common
with the current International Space Station, except that it will be in orbit about the Moon, instead of
the Earth.[106] This space station will be designed primarily for non-continuous human habitation. The
first tentative steps of returning to manned lunar missions will be Exploration Mission-2 (EM-2),
which is to include the Orion crew module, propelled by the SLS, and is to launch in 2022. This
mission is to be a 10- to 14-day mission planned to briefly place a crew of four into Lunar orbit.
[105]
The construction of the "Lunar Orbital Platform" is to begin with the following Exploration Mission-
3 (EM-3), which is planned to deliver a crew of four to Lunar orbit along with the first module(s) of the
new space-station. This mission will last for up to 26 days.
On June 5, 2016, NASA and DARPA announced plans to also build a series of new X-planes over
the next 10 years.[107] One of the planes will be the Quiet Supersonic Technology project, burning
low-carbon biofuels and generating quiet sonic booms.[107]
NASA plans to build full scale deep space habitats such as the Lunar Orbital Platform and
the Nautilus-X as part of its Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP)
program.[108]
In 2017, NASA was directed by the congressional NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017 to get
humans to Mars-orbit (or to the Martian surface) by 2033. [109][110]
Unmanned programs
Main article: Unmanned NASA missions
Pioneer 3 and 4 launched in 1958 and 1959, respectively

JWST main mirror assembled, November 2016
More than 1,000 unmanned missions have been designed to explore the Earth and the solar system.
[111]
Besides exploration, communication satellites have also been launched by NASA. [112] The
missions have been launched directly from Earth or from orbiting space shuttles, which could either
deploy the satellite itself, or with a rocket stage to take it farther.
The first US unmanned satellite was Explorer 1, which started as an ABMA/JPL project during the
early part of the Space Race. It was launched in January 1958, two months after Sputnik. At the
creation of NASA, the Explorer project was transferred to the agency and still continues to this day.
Its missions have been focusing on the Earth and the Sun, measuring magnetic fields and the solar
wind, among other aspects.[113] A more recent Earth mission, not related to the Explorer program, was
the Hubble Space Telescope, which was brought into orbit in 1990. [114]
The inner Solar System has been made the goal of at least four unmanned programs. The first
was Mariner in the 1960s and 1970s, which made multiple visits to Venus and Mars and one
to Mercury. Probes launched under the Mariner program were also the first to make a planetary flyby
(Mariner 2), to take the first pictures from another planet (Mariner 4), the first planetary orbiter
(Mariner 9), and the first to make a gravity assist maneuver (Mariner 10). This is a technique where
the satellite takes advantage of the gravity and velocity of planets to reach its destination. [115]
The first successful landing on Mars was made by Viking 1 in 1976. Twenty years later a rover was
landed on Mars by Mars Pathfinder.[116]
Many of the unmanned missions were used to explore the outer reaches of space as seen in this video
Outside Mars, Jupiter was first visited by Pioneer 10 in 1973. More than 20 years later Galileo sent a
probe into the planet's atmosphere, and became the first spacecraft to orbit the planet. [117] Pioneer
11 became the first spacecraft to visit Saturn in 1979, with Voyager 2 making the first (and so far
only) visits to Uranus and Neptune in 1986 and 1989, respectively. The first spacecraft to leave the
solar system was Pioneer 10 in 1983. For a time it was the most distant spacecraft, but it has since
been surpassed by both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2.[118]
Pioneers 10 and 11 and both Voyager probes carry messages from the Earth to extraterrestrial life.
[119][120]
Communication can be difficult with deep space travel. For instance, it took about three hours
for a radio signal to reach the New Horizonsspacecraft when it was more than halfway to Pluto.
[121]
Contact with Pioneer 10 was lost in 2003. Both Voyager probes continue to operate as they
explore the outer boundary between the Solar System and interstellar space. [122]
On November 26, 2011, NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission was successfully launched for
Mars. Curiosity successfully landed on Mars on August 6, 2012, and subsequently began its search
for evidence of past or present life on Mars.[123][124][125]
Activities (2010–2017)
Radioisotope within a graphite shell that goes into the generator.
NASA's ongoing investigations include in-depth surveys of Mars (Mars 2020 and InSight) and Saturn
and studies of the Earth and the Sun. Other active spacecraft missions are Juno for Jupiter, New
Horizons (for Jupiter, Pluto, and beyond), and Dawnfor the asteroid belt. NASA continued to
support in situ exploration beyond the asteroid belt, including Pioneer and Voyager traverses into the
unexplored trans-Pluto region, and Gas Giant orbiters Galileo (1989–2003), Cassini(1997–2017),
and Juno(2011–). In the early 2000s, NASA was put on course for the Moon, however in 2010 this
program was cancelled (see Constellation program). As part of that plan the Shuttle was going to be
replaced, however, although it was retired its replacement was also cancelled, leaving the US with
no human spaceflight launcher for the first time in over three decades.
The New Horizons mission to Pluto was launched in 2006 and successfully performed a flyby
of Pluto on July 14, 2015. The probe received a gravity assist from Jupiter in February 2007,
examining some of Jupiter's inner moons and testing on-board instruments during the flyby. On the
horizon of NASA's plans is the MAVEN spacecraft as part of the Mars Scout Program to study
the atmosphere of Mars.[126]
On December 4, 2006, NASA announced it was planning a permanent Moon base.[127] The goal was
to start building the Moon base by 2020, and by 2024, have a fully functional base that would allow
for crew rotations and in-situ resource utilization. However, in 2009, the Augustine Committee found
the program to be on an "unsustainable trajectory."[128] In 2010, President Barack Obama halted
existing plans, including the Moon base, and directed a generic focus on manned missions to
asteroids and Mars, as well as extending support for the International Space Station. [129]
Since 2011, NASA's strategic goals have been [130]
 Extend and sustain human activities across the solar system
 Expand scientific understanding of the Earth and the universe
 Create innovative new space technologies
 Advance aeronautics research
 Enable program and institutional capabilities to conduct NASA's aeronautics and space
activities
 Share NASA with the public, educators, and students to provide opportunities to participate
In August 2011, NASA accepted the donation of two space telescopes from the National
Reconnaissance Office. Despite being stored unused, the instruments are superior to the Hubble
Space Telescope.[131]
In September 2011, NASA announced the start of the Space Launch System program to develop a
human-rated heavy lift vehicle. The Space Launch System is intended to launch the Orion Multi-
Purpose Crew Vehicle and other elements towards the Moon, near-Earth asteroids, and one
day Mars.[132] The Orion MPCV conducted an unmanned test launch on a Delta IV Heavy rocket in
December 2014.[133]
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is currently scheduled to launch in May 2020.[134]
Curiosity's wheel on Mars, 2012
Curiosity's battered wheel after several years of exploration, 2017
On August 6, 2012, NASA landed the rover Curiosity on Mars. On August 27,

2012, Curiosity transmitted the first pre-recorded message from the surface of Mars back to Earth,
made by Administrator Charlie Bolden:
Hello. This is Charlie Bolden, NASA Administrator, speaking to you via the broadcast capabilities of
the Curiosityrover, which is now on the surface of Mars.
Since the beginning of time, humankind's curiosity has led us to constantly seek new life ... new
possibilities just beyond the horizon. I want to congratulate the men and women of our NASA family
as well as our commercial and government partners around the world, for taking us a step beyond to
Mars.
This is an extraordinary achievement. Landing a rover on Mars is not easy – others have tried – only
America has fully succeeded. The investment we are making ... the knowledge we hope to gain from
our observation and analysis of Gale Crater, will tell us much about the possibility of life on Mars as
well as the past and future possibilities for our own planet. Curiosity will bring benefits to Earth and
inspire a new generation of scientists and explorers, as it prepares the way for a human mission in
the not too distant future. Thank you.[135]
Recent and planned activities

NASA's ongoing investigations include in-depth surveys of Mars (Mars 2020 and InSight) and Saturn
and studies of the Earth and the Sun. Other active spacecraft missions are Juno for Jupiter, New
Horizons (for Jupiter, Pluto, and beyond), and Dawnfor the asteroid belt. NASA continued to
support in situ exploration beyond the asteroid belt, including Pioneer and Voyager traverses into the
unexplored trans-Pluto region, and Gas Giant orbiters Galileo (1989–2003), Cassini (1997–2017),
and Juno(2011–).
The New Horizons mission to Pluto was launched in 2006 and successfully performed a flyby
of Pluto on July 14, 2015. The probe received a gravity assist from Jupiter in February 2007,
examining some of Jupiter's inner moons and testing on-board instruments during the flyby. On the
horizon of NASA's plans is the MAVEN spacecraft as part of the Mars Scout Program to study
the atmosphere of Mars.[126]
In 2017, President Donald Trump directed NASA to send Humans to Mars by the year 2033. [109]
[136]
Foci in general for NASA were noted as human space exploration, space science, and
technology.[136] The Europa Clipper and Mars 2020 continue to be supported for their planned
schedules.[137]
In 2018, NASA alongside with other companies including Sensor Coating Systems, Pratt & Whitney,
Monitor Coating and UTRC have launched the project CAUTION (CoAtings for Ultra High
Temperature detectION). This project aims to enhance the temperature range of the Thermal History
Coating up to 1,500C and beyond. The final goal of this project is improving the safety of jet engines
as well as increasing efficiency and reducing CO2 emissions. [138]
Recent and planned activities include:
 InSight, launched and landed on Mars in 2018

 New Horizons, Kuiper belt object (486958) 2014 MU69 flyby on January 1, 2019[139]
 Osiris-Rex, en route for asteroid sample return on September 24, 2023 [140]
 Mars 2020 rover (planned)[141]
 Europa Clipper (planned)
 Misc. Discovery Missions
 Misc. Explorer Missions
 New Frontier mission including New Horizons, Juno, and Osiris-Rex
 Earth Observation, Solar and Astronomical observatories
 James Webb Space Telescope (planned)
 Parker Solar Probe, launched August 2018
 Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), launched in April 2018
 Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) (planned)[142]
NASA Advisory Council
In response to the Apollo 1 accident which killed three astronauts in 1967, Congress directed NASA
to form an Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) to advise the NASA Administrator on safety
issues and hazards in NASA's aerospace programs. In the aftermath of
the Shuttle Columbia disaster, Congress required that the ASAP submit an annual report to the
NASA Administrator and to Congress.[143] By 1971, NASA had also established the Space Program
Advisory Council and the Research and Technology Advisory Council to provide the administrator
with advisory committee support. In 1977, the latter two were combined to form the NASA Advisory
Council (NAC).[144]
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2014 reaffirmed the
importance of ASAP.
Directives
Further information: Space policy of the United States
Artistic rendition of Space Station Freedom with the Orbiter Vehicle
Some of the major NASA directives were to land people on the Moon, build the Space Shuttle, and
build a large space station. Typically, the major directives had the intervention of the science
advisory, political, funding, and public interest that synergized into various waves of effort often
heavily swayed by technical, funding, and worldwide events. For example, there was a major push to
build Space Station Freedom in the 1980s, but when the Cold War ended, the Russians, the
Americans and other international partners came together to build the International Space Station.
In the 2010s, the major shift was the retirement of the Space Shuttle and the development of a new
manned heavy lift rocket, the Space Launch System. Missions for the new System have varied but
overall, they were similar as it primarily involved the desire to send a human into the space.
The Space Exploration Initiative of the 1980s opened newer avenues of galaxy exploration.
In the coming decades, the focus is gradually shifting towards exploration of planet Mars; however,
some differences exist over the technologies to develop and focus on for the exploration. [145] One of
the options considered was the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM).[145] ARM had largely been defunded
in 2017, but the key technologies developed for ARM would be utilized for future exploration,
especially on a solar electric propulsion system.[146][145]
Longer project execution timelines means it is up to future officials to execute on a directive, which
often leads to directional mismanagement. For example, a Shuttle replacement has numerous
components involved, each making some headway before being called off for various reasons
including the National Aerospace Plane, Venture Star, Orbital Space Plane, Ares I, and others. The
asteroid mission was not a major directive in the 2010s. Instead, the general support rested with the
long-term goal of getting humans to Mars. The space shuttle was retired and much of the existing
road map was shelved including the then planned Lunar Return and Ares I human launch vehicle.
Previously, in the early 2000s, there was a plan called the Constellation Program but this was
defunded in the early 2010s.[147][148][149][150] In the 1990s, there was a plan called "Faster, Better,
Cheaper"[151] In the 1980s, there was a directive to build a manned space station. [152]
NASA Authorization Act of 2017
Orion at ISS artwork
The NASA Authorization Act of 2017, which included $19.5 billion in funding for that fiscal year,
directed NASA to get humans near or on the surface of Mars by the early 2030s. [153]
Space Policy Directive 1

In December 2017, on the 45th anniversary of the last manned mission to the Lunar surface,
President Donald Trumpapproved a directive that includes a lunar mission on the pathway to Mars
and beyond.[145]
We'll learn. The directive I'm signing today will refocus America's space program on human
exploration and discovery. It marks an important step in returning American astronauts to the Moon
for the first time since 1972 for long-term exploration and use. This time, we will not only plant our
flag and leave our footprint, we will establish a foundation for an eventual mission to Mars. And
perhaps, someday, to many worlds beyond.
— President Donald Trump, 2017[154]
New NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine addressed this directive in an August 2018 speech where
he focused on the sustainability aspects—going to the Moon to stay—that are explicit in the
directive, including taking advantage of US commercial space capability that did not exist even five
years ago, which have driven down costsand increased access to space.[155]
Research
Main article: NASA research
For technologies funded or otherwise supported by NASA, see NASA spinoff technologies.

NASA developed this hard-suit in the 1980s at the Ames Research Center
NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate conducts aeronautics research.

NASA has made use of technologies such as the Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric
Generator (MMRTG), which is a type of Radioisotope thermoelectric generator used on space
missions.[156] Shortages of this material have curtailed deep space missions since the turn of the
millennia.[157] An example of a spacecraft that was not developed because of a shortage of this
material was New Horizons 2.[157]
The Earth science research program was created and first funded in the 1980s under the
administrations of Ronald Reaganand George H.W. Bush.[158][159]
NASA started an annual competition in 2014 named Cubes in Space.[160] It is jointly organized by
NASA and the global education company I Doodle Learning, with the objective of teaching school
students aged 11–18 to design and build scientific experiments to be launched into space on a
NASA rocket or balloon. On June 21, 2017 the world's smallest satellite, Kalam SAT, built by an
Indian team, was launched.[citation needed]
Climate study
NASA also researches and publishes on climate change.[161] Its statements concur with the global
scientific consensus that the global climate is warming. [162] Bob Walker, who has advised the 45th
President of the United States Donald Trump on space issues, has advocated that NASA should
focus on space exploration and that its climate study operations should be transferred to other
agencies such as NOAA. Former NASA atmospheric scientist J. Marshall Shepherd countered that
Earth science study was built into NASA's mission at its creation in the 1958 National Aeronautics
and Space Act.[163]
Facilities
Jet Propulsion Laboratorycomplex in Pasadena, California
Vehicle Assembly and Launch Control at Kennedy Space Center
NASA facilities
NASA's facilities are research, construction and communication centers to help its missions. Some
facilities serve more than one application for historic or administrative reasons. NASA also operates
a short-line railroad at the Kennedy Space Center and uses special aircraft.
John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC), is one of the best-known NASA facilities. It has been the
launch site for every United States human space flight since 1968. Although such flights are
currently on pause, KSC continues to manage and operate unmanned rocket launch facilities for
America's civilian space program from three pads at the adjoining Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston is home to the Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission
Control Center, where all flight control is managed for manned space missions. JSC is the lead
NASA center for activities regarding the International Space Station and also houses the NASA
Astronaut Corps that selects, trains, and provides astronauts as crew members for US and
international space missions.
FCR 1 in 2009 during the STS-128mission, JSC in Houston

Another major facility is Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama at which the Saturn 5
rocket and Skylab were developed. [164] The JPL worked together with ABMA, one of the agencies
behind Explorer 1, the first American space mission.
The ten NASA field centers are:
 John F. Kennedy Space Center, Florida

 Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California
 Armstrong Flight Research Center (formerly Hugh L. Dryden Flight Research Facility),
Edwards, California
 Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, near Pasadena, California
 Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas
 Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia
 John H. Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio
 George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama
 John C. Stennis Space Center, Bay St. Louis, Mississippi
Numerous other facilities are operated by NASA, including the Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops
Island, Virginia; the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana; the White Sands Test
Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico; and Deep Space Network stations in Barstow,
California; Madrid, Spain; and Canberra, Australia.
Budget
NASA's budget from 1958 to 2012 as a percentage of federal budget
An artist's conception, from NASA, of an astronaut planting a US flag on Mars. A manned mission to Mars has
been discussed as a possible NASA mission since the 1960s.
Budget of NASA
NASA's share of the total federal budget peaked at approximately 4.41% in 1966 during the Apollo
program, then rapidly declined to approximately 1% in 1975, and stayed around that level through
1998.[23][165] The percentage then gradually dropped, until leveling off again at around half a percent in
2006 (estimated in 2012 at 0.48% of the federal budget). [166] In a March 2012 hearing of the United
States Senate Science Committee, science communicator Neil deGrasse Tyson testified that "Right
now, NASA's annual budget is half a penny on your tax dollar. For twice that—a penny on a dollar—
we can transform the country from a sullen, dispirited nation, weary of economic struggle, to one
where it has reclaimed its 20th century birthright to dream of tomorrow." [167][168]
Despite this, public perception of NASA's budget differs significantly: a 1997 poll indicated that most
Americans believed that 20% of the federal budget went to NASA.[169]
For Fiscal Year 2015, NASA received an appropriation of US$18.01 billion from Congress—$549
million more than requested and approximately $350 million more than the 2014 NASA budget
passed by Congress.[170]
In Fiscal Year 2016, NASA received $19.3 billion.[136]
President Donald Trump signed the NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017 in March, which set
the 2017 budget at around $19.5 billion.[136] The budget is also reported as $19.3 billion for 2017, with
$20.7 billion proposed for FY2018
Donald Trump
45th President of the United States
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 20, 2017
Examples of some proposed FY2018 budgets:[172]

 Exploration: $4.79 billion
 Planetary science: $2.23 billion
 Earth science: $1.92 billion
 Aeronautics: $0.685 billion
Environmental impact
The exhaust gases produced by rocket propulsion systems, both in Earth's atmosphere and in
space, can adversely effect the Earth's environment. Some hypergolicrocket propellants, such
as hydrazine, are highly toxic prior to combustion, but decompose into less toxic compounds after
burning. Rockets using hydrocarbon fuels, such as kerosene, release carbon dioxide and soot in
their exhaust.[173] However, carbon dioxide emissions are insignificant compared to those from other
sources; on average, the United States consumed 802,620,000 US gallons (3.0382×109 L) gallons of
liquid fuels per day in 2014, while a single Falcon 9 rocket first stage burns around 25,000 US
gallons (95,000 L) of kerosene fuel per launch.[174][175] Even if a Falcon 9 were launched every single
day, it would only represent 0.006% of liquid fuel consumption (and carbon dioxide emissions) for
that day. Additionally, the exhaust from LOx- and LH2- fueled engines, like the SSME, is almost
entirely water vapor.[176] NASA addressed environmental concerns with its canceled Constellation
program in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act in 2011. [177] In contrast, ion
engines use harmless noble gases like xenon for propulsion.[178][179]
On May 8, 2003, Environmental Protection Agency recognized NASA as the first federal agency to
directly use landfill gas to produce energy at one of its facilities—the Goddard Space Flight Center,
Greenbelt, Maryland.[180]
An example of NASA's environmental efforts is the NASA Sustainability Base. Additionally, the
Exploration Sciences Building was awarded the LEED Gold rating in 2010. [181]
Gallery
Observations
Plot of orbits of known Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (size over 460 feet (140 m) and passing within
4.7 million miles (7.6×106 km) of Earth's orbit)


Various nebulae observed from a NASA space telescope

1 Ceres

Pluto

Jupiter
Spacecraft
Hardware comparison of Apollo, Gemini, and Mercury[note 3]

Hubble Space Telescope, astronomy observatory in Earth orbit since 1990. Also visited by the Space
Shuttle


Curiosity rover, roving Mars since 2012
Planned spacecraft
James Webb Space Telescope rendering in orbit

Orion spacecraft design as of January 2013

Space Launch Systemconcept art

Mars 2020 rover design art

Concepts
NASA has developed oftentimes elaborate plans and technology concepts, some of which become
worked into real plans.
Space Tug concept, 1970s Langley's Mars Ice Dome design

for a Mars habitat, 2010s
Vision mission for an interstellar
precursor spacecraft by NASA,
2000s
Examples of missions by target

Here are some selected examples of missions to planetary-sized objects. Other major targets of
study are the Earth itself, the Sun, and smaller Solar System bodies like asteroids and comets. In
addition, the moons of the planets or body are also studied.
Examples of robotic missions
Launc
Mercur Venu Jupit Satur Uranu Neptun Plut
Spacecraft h Mars
y s er n s e o
year
Mariner 2 1962 Flyby

Mariner 6 and 7 1969 Flyby
Mariner 9 1971 Orbiter
Pioneer 10 1972 Flyby
Pioneer 11 1973 Flyby Flyby
Mariner 10 1973 Flyby Flyby
Orbiter
Viking s
1975
1 and Viking 2 Lander
s
Voyager 1 1977 Flyby Flyby
Voyager 2 1977 Flyby Flyby Flyby Flyby
Orbite
Galileo 1989 Flyby
r
Orbit
Magellan 1989
er
Mars Global
1996 Orbiter
Surveyor
Orbite
Cassini 1997 Flyby Flyby
r
Mars Odyssey 2001 Orbiter
Spirit and Opportu Rover
2003
nity s
MESSENGER 2004 Orbiter Flyby
Mars
Reconnaissance 2005 Orbiter
Orbiter
Flyb
New Horizons 2006 Flyby
y
Orbite
Juno 2011
r
Curiosity (Mars
Science 2011 Rover
Laboratory)
MAVEN 2013 Orbiter
Launc
Mercur Venu Jupit Satur Uranu Neptun Plut
Spacecraft h Mars
y s er n s e o
year
Examples of missions for the Sun
 Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph

 Solar Dynamics Observatory
 STEREO
 Ulysses (spacecraft)
 Parker Solar Probe
Examples of missions to small Solar System bodies (e.g. Comets and asteroids)
 NEAR Shoemaker
 Dawn spacecraft
 OSIRIS-REx
Examples of missions to the Moon
 Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

 LADEE
APPARATUS
SPACECRAFT.
A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. Spacecraft are used for a
variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space
colonization, planetary exploration, and transportation of humans and cargo. All spacecraft
except single-stage-to-orbit vehicles cannot get into space on their own, and require a launch
vehicle (carrier rocket).
On a sub-orbital spaceflight, a space vehicle enters space and then returns to the surface, without
having gone into an orbit. For orbital spaceflights, spacecraft enter closed orbits around the Earth or
around other celestial bodies. Spacecraft used for human spaceflight carry people on board as crew
or passengers from start or on orbit (space stations) only, whereas those used for robotic space
missions operate either autonomously or telerobotically. Robotic spacecraft used to support scientific
research are space probes. Robotic spacecraft that remain in orbit around a planetary body are
artificial satellites. Only a handful of interstellar probes, such as Pioneer 10 and 11, Voyager 1 and 2,
and New Horizons, are on trajectories that leave the Solar System.
Orbital spacecraft may be recoverable or not. By method of reentry to Earth they may be divided in
non-winged space capsules and winged spaceplanes.
Humanity has achieved space flight but only a few nations have the technology for orbital
launches: Russia (RSA or "Roscosmos"), the United States (NASA), the member states of
the European Space Agency (ESA), Japan (JAXA), China (CNSA), India (ISRO), Taiwan[1][2][3]
[4]
(National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, Taiwan National Space Organization
(NSPO),[5][6][7] Israel (ISA), Iran (ISA), and North Korea (NADA).
More than 100 Soviet and Russian crewed Soyuz spacecraft (TMA version shown) have flown since 1967 and
now support the International Space Station.
The US Space Shuttle flew 135 times from 1981 to 2011, supporting Spacelab, Mir, and the ISS.
(Columbia's first launch, which had a white external tank, shown)
Spacecraft types[edit]
Crewed spacecraft
List of crewed spacecraft and Human spaceflight
Apollo 17 Command Module in Lunar orbit
As of 2016, only three nations have flown crewed spacecraft: USSR/Russia, USA, and China. The
first crewed spacecraft was Vostok 1, which carried Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into space in
1961, and completed a full Earth orbit. There were five other crewed missions which used a Vostok
spacecraft.[11] The second crewed spacecraft was named Freedom 7, and it performed a sub-orbital
spaceflight in 1961 carrying American astronaut Alan Shepard to an altitude of just over 187
kilometers (116 mi). There were five other crewed missions using Mercury spacecraft.
Other Soviet crewed spacecraft include the Voskhod, Soyuz, flown un crewed as Zond/L1, L3, TKS,
and the Salyut and Mircrewed space stations. Other American crewed spacecraft include the Gemini
spacecraft, Apollo spacecraft, the Skylab space station, and the Space Shuttle with undetached
European Spacelab and private US Spacehab space stations-modules. China developed, but did not
fly Shuguang, and is currently using Shenzhou (its first crewed mission was in 2003).
Except for the Space Shuttle, all of the recoverable crewed orbital spacecraft were space capsules.
 Crewed space capsules


Soviet Vostok capsule

American Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo spacecraft

Soviet Voskhod (variant of Vostok)

1967 Soviet/Russian Soyuz spacecraft


Chinese Shenzhou
The International Space Station, crewed since November 2000, is a joint venture between Russia,
the United States, Canada and several other countries.
Spaceplanes
Spaceplane
Columbia orbiter landing
Some reusable vehicles have been designed only for crewed spaceflight, and these are often called
spaceplanes. The first example of such was the North American X-15 spaceplane, which conducted
two crewed flights which reached an altitude of over 100 km in the 1960s. The first reusable
spacecraft, the X-15, was air-launched on a suborbital trajectory on July 19, 1963.
The first partially reusable orbital spacecraft, a winged non-capsule, the Space Shuttle, was
launched by the USA on the 20th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight, on April 12, 1981. During the
Shuttle era, six orbiters were built, all of which have flown in the atmosphere and five of which have
flown in space. Enterprise was used only for approach and landing tests, launching from the back of
a Boeing 747 SCA and gliding to deadstick landings at Edwards AFB, California. The first Space
Shuttle to fly into space was Columbia, followed by Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis,
and Endeavour. Endeavour was built to replace Challengerwhen it was lost in January
1986. Columbia broke up during reentry in February 2003.
The first automatic partially reusable spacecraft was the Buran-class shuttle, launched by the USSR
on November 15, 1988, although it made only one flight and this was uncrewed.
This spaceplane was designed for a crew and strongly resembled the U.S. Space Shuttle, although
its drop-off boosters used liquid propellants and its main engines were located at the base of what
would be the external tank in the American Shuttle. Lack of funding, complicated by the dissolution
of the USSR, prevented any further flights of Buran. The Space Shuttle was subsequently modified
to allow for autonomous re-entry in case of necessity.
Per the Vision for Space Exploration, the Space Shuttle was retired in 2011 due mainly to its old age
and high cost of program reaching over a billion dollars per flight. The Shuttle's human transport role
is to be replaced by SpaceX's Dragon V2 and Boeing's CST-100 Starliner no later than 2017. The
Shuttle's heavy cargo transport role is to be replaced by expendable rockets such as the Space
Launch System and SpaceX's Falcon Heavy.
Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne was a reusable suborbital spaceplane that carried pilots Mike
Melvill and Brian Binnie on consecutive flights in 2004 to win the Ansari X Prize. The Spaceship
Company will build its successor SpaceShipTwo. A fleet of SpaceShipTwos operated by Virgin
Galactic was planned to begin reusable private spaceflight carrying paying passengers in 2014, but
was delayed after the crash of VSS Enterprise.
Unmanned spacecraft
List of unmanned spacecraft by program, Timeline of spaceflight, Timeline of artificial satellites and
space probes, List of Solar System probes, Space probe, Robotic spacecraft, Unmanned resupply
spacecraft, and Satellite
Hubble Space Telescope
Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV)approaches the International Space Station on Monday, March
31, 2008
Mariner 10 diagram of trajectory past planet Venus

This section needs
expansion. You can help
by adding to it. (March 2011)
Designed as manned but flown as unmanned only spacecraft
 Zond/L1 – lunar flyby capsule

 L3 – capsule and lunar lander
 TKS – capsule
 Buran-class shuttle – Soviet shuttle
Semi-manned – manned as space stations or part of space stations
 Progress – unmanned USSR/Russia cargo spacecraft

 TKS – unmanned USSR/Russia cargo spacecraft and space station module
 Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) – unmanned European cargo spacecraft
 H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) – unmanned Japanese cargo spacecraft
 SpaceX Dragon – unmanned private spacecraft
 Tianzhou 1 (spacecraft) – China's unmanned spacecraft
Earth-orbit satellites
 Explorer 1 – first US satellite

 Project SCORE – first communications satellite
 Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) - orbits the Sun near L1
 Sputnik 1 – world's first artificial satellite
 Sputnik 2 – first animal in orbit (Laika)
 Korabl-Sputnik 2 – first capsule recovered from orbit (Vostok precursor) – animals survived
 Syncom – first geosynchronous communications satellite
 Hubble Space Telescope – largest orbital observatory
 X-37 – spaceplane
Lunar probes
 Clementine – US Navy mission, orbited Moon, detected hydrogen at the poles

 Kaguya JPN – lunar orbiter
 Luna 1 – first lunar flyby
 Luna 2 – first lunar impact
 Luna 3 – first images of lunar far side
 Luna 9 – first soft landing on the Moon
 Luna 10 – first lunar orbiter
 Luna 16 – first unmanned lunar sample retrieval
 Lunar Orbiter – very successful series of lunar mapping spacecraft
 Lunar Prospector – confirmed detection of hydrogen at the lunar poles
 Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter – Identifies safe landing sites and locates Moon resources
 Lunokhod - Soviet lunar rovers
 SMART-1 ESA – Lunar Impact
 Surveyor – USA's first soft lander
 Chang'e 1 – China's Chang'e lunar mission
 Chandrayaan 1 – first Indian Lunar mission
Artist's conception of Cassini–Huygens as it enters Saturn's orbit
Artist's conception of the Phoenix spacecraft as it lands on Mars
Planetary probes
 Akatsuki JPN – a Venus orbiter
 Cassini–Huygens – first Saturn orbiter and Titan lander
 Curiosity – Rover sent to Mars by NASA in 2012
 Galileo – first Jupiter orbiter and descent probe
 IKAROS JPN – first solar-sail spacecraft
 Mariner 4 – first Mars flyby, first close and high resolution images of Mars
 Mariner 9 – first Mars orbiter
 Mariner 10 – first Mercury flyby, first close up images
 Mars Exploration Rovers (Spirit and Opportunity)– Mars rovers
 Mars Express – Mars orbiter
 Mars Global Surveyor – Mars orbiter
 Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan) - India's first Interplanetary probe
 Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter – an advanced climate, imaging, sub-surface radar, and
telecommunications Mars orbiter
 MESSENGER – first Mercury orbiter (arrival 2011)
 Mars Pathfinder – Mars lander, carrying the Sojourner rover
 New Horizons – first Pluto flyby (arrival 2015)
 Pioneer 10 – first Jupiter flyby, first close up images
 Pioneer 11 – second Jupiter flyby and first Saturn flyby (first close up images of Saturn)
 Pioneer Venus – first Venus orbiter and landers
 Vega 1 – Balloon release into Venus atmosphere and lander (joint mission with Vega 2),
mothership continued on to fly by Halley's Comet
 Venera 4 – first soft landing on another planet (Venus)
 Viking 1 – first soft landing on Mars
 Voyager 2 – Jupiter flyby, Saturn flyby, and first flybys/images of Neptune and Uranus
Other – deep space
Space probe
 Cluster
 Deep Space 1
 Deep Impact
 Genesis
 Hayabusa
 Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous
 Stardust
 STEREO – Heliospheric and solar sensing; first images of the entire Sun
 WMAP
Fastest spacecraft
 Parker Solar Probe (estimated 343,000 km/h or 213,000 mph at first sun close pass, will

reach 700,000 km/h or 430,000 mph at final perihelion)[12]
 Helios I and II Solar Probes (252,792 km/h or 157,078 mph)

Furthest spacecraft from the Sun
 Voyager 1 at 144.20 AU as of December 2018, traveling outward at about 3.58 AU/year[13]
 Pioneer 10 at 122.48 AU as of December 2018, traveling outward at about 2.52 AU/year[13]
 Voyager 2 at 119.34 AU as of December 2018, traveling outward at about 3.24 AU/year[13]
 Pioneer 11 at 101.17 AU as of December 2018, traveling outward at about 2.37 AU/year[13]
Unfunded and canceled programs
The first test flight of the Delta Clipper-Experimental Advanced (DC-XA), a prototype launch system
Manned spacecraft
 Chinese Shuguang capsule
 Soviet Soyuz Kontakt capsule
 Soviet Almaz space station
 US Manned Orbiting Laboratory space station
 US Altair lunar lander
Multi-stage spaceplanes
 US X-20 spaceplane
 Soviet Spiral shuttle
 Soviet/Russian Buran-class shuttle
 ESA Hermes shuttle
 Kliper Russian semi-shuttle/semi-capsule
 Japanese HOPE-X shuttle
 Chinese Shuguang Project 921-3 shuttle
SSTO spaceplanes
 RR/British Aerospace HOTOL
 ESA Hopper Orbiter
 US DC-X (Delta Clipper)
 US Roton Rotored-Hybrid
 US VentureStar
Spacecraft under development
The Orion spacecraft
Manned
 (US-NASA) Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle – capsule

 (US-SpaceX) Dragon V2 – capsule
 (US-Boeing) CST-100 – capsule
 (US-Sierra Nevada Corporation) Dream Chaser – orbital spaceplane
 (US-The SpaceShip company) SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplane
 (US-Blue Origin) New Shepard – VTVL capsule
 (US-XCOR) Lynx rocketplane – suborbital spaceplane
 China Shenzhou spacecraft Cargo
 (India-DRDO) Avatar RLV -Under development, First demonstration flight planned in 2015. [14]
 (India-ISRO) Gaganyaan – capsule
 (India-ISRO) RLV Technology Demonstration Programme - Spacecraft
 SpaceX reusable rocket (BFR)
 (Russia-RKA) Prospective Piloted Transport System (PPTS) – capsule
 (Europe-ESA) Advanced Crew Transportation System – capsule
 (Iranian Space Agency) Orbital Vehicle – capsule
Unmanned
 ESA & JAXA BepiColombo - Planetary Probe to Mercury

 China Shenzhou (spacecraft) Cargo
 CNES Mars Netlander
 Orbital Sciences Cygnus – cargo delivery to the ISS
 Darwin14 ESA probe
 James Webb Space Telescope (delayed)
 Mars 2020 rover
 Reaction Engines Limited
 Skylon
 SpaceX Dragon – cargo delivery to the ISS
 StarChip and Sprites - miniaturized interstellar spacecraft
 System F6—a DARPA Fractionated Spacecraft demonstrator
 Terrestrial Planet Finder cancelled probe
Subsystems
A spacecraft system comprises various subsystems, depending on the mission profile. Spacecraft
subsystems comprise the spacecraft's "bus" and may include attitude determination and control
(variously called ADAC, ADC, or ACS), guidance, navigation and control (GNC or GN&C),
communications (comms), command and data handling (CDH or C&DH), power (EPS), thermal
control (TCS), propulsion, and structures. Attached to the bus are typically payloads.
Life support
Spacecraft intended for human spaceflight must also include a life support system for the
crew.
Reaction control system thrusters on the front of the U.S. Space Shuttle
Attitude control
A Spacecraft needs an attitude control subsystem to be correctly oriented in space and
respond to external torques and forces properly. The attitude control subsystem consists
of sensors and actuators, together with controlling algorithms. The attitude-control
subsystem permits proper pointing for the science objective, sun pointing for power to the
solar arrays and earth pointing for communications.
GNC
Guidance refers to the calculation of the commands (usually done by the CDH subsystem)
needed to steer the spacecraft where it is desired to be. Navigation means determining a
spacecraft's orbital elements or position. Control means adjusting the path of the spacecraft
to meet mission requirements.
Command and data handling
The CDH subsystem receives commands from the communications subsystem, performs
validation and decoding of the commands, and distributes the commands to the appropriate
spacecraft subsystems and components. The CDH also receives housekeeping data and
science data from the other spacecraft subsystems and components, and packages the data
for storage on a data recorder or transmission to the ground via the communications
subsystem. Other functions of the CDH include maintaining the spacecraft clock and state-
of-health monitoring.
Further information: On-Board Data Handling
Communications
Spacecraft, both robotic and crewed, utilize various communications systems for
communication with terrestrial stations as well as for communication between spacecraft in
space. Technologies utilized include RF and optical communication. In addition, some
spacecraft payloads are explicitly for the purpose of ground–
ground communication using receiver/retransmitter electronic technologies.
Power
Spacecraft need an electrical power generation and distribution subsystem for powering the
various spacecraft subsystems. For spacecraft near the Sun, solar panels are frequently
used to generate electrical power. Spacecraft designed to operate in more distant locations,
for example Jupiter, might employ a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) to generate
electrical power. Electrical power is sent through power conditioning equipment before it
passes through a power distribution unit over an electrical bus to other spacecraft
components. Batteries are typically connected to the bus via a battery charge regulator, and
the batteries are used to provide electrical power during periods when primary power is not
available, for example when a low Earth orbit spacecraft is eclipsed by Earth.
Thermal control
Spacecraft must be engineered to withstand transit through Earth's atmosphere and
the space environment. They must operate in a vacuum with temperatures potentially
ranging across hundreds of degrees Celsius as well as (if subject to reentry) in the presence
of plasmas. Material requirements are such that either high melting temperature, low density
materials such as beryllium and reinforced carbon–carbon or (possibly due to the lower
thickness requirements despite its high density) tungsten or ablative carbon–carbon
composites are used. Depending on mission profile, spacecraft may also need to operate on
the surface of another planetary body. The thermal control subsystem can be passive,
dependent on the selection of materials with specific radiative properties. Active thermal
control makes use of electrical heaters and certain actuators such as louvers to control
temperature ranges of equipments within specific ranges.
Spacecraft propulsion
Spacecraft may or may not have a propulsion subsystem, depending on whether or not the
mission profile calls for propulsion. The Swift spacecraft is an example of a spacecraft that
does not have a propulsion subsystem. Typically though, LEO spacecraft include a
propulsion subsystem for altitude adjustments (drag make-up maneuvers)
and inclination adjustment maneuvers. A propulsion system is also needed for spacecraft
that perform momentum management maneuvers. Components of a conventional propulsion
subsystem include fuel, tankage, valves, pipes, and thrusters. The thermal control system
interfaces with the propulsion subsystem by monitoring the temperature of those
components, and by preheating tanks and thrusters in preparation for a spacecraft
maneuver.
Structures
Spacecraft must be engineered to withstand launch loads imparted by the launch vehicle,
and must have a point of attachment for all the other subsystems. Depending on mission
profile, the structural subsystem might need to withstand loads imparted by entry into
the atmosphere of another planetary body, and landing on the surface of another planetary
body.
Payload
The payload depends on the mission of the spacecraft, and is typically regarded as the part
of the spacecraft "that pays the bills". Typical payloads could include scientific instruments
(cameras, telescopes, or particle detectors, for example), cargo, or a human crew.
Ground segment
Ground segment
The ground segment, though not technically part of the spacecraft, is vital to the operation of
the spacecraft. Typical components of a ground segment in use during normal operations
include a mission operations facility where the flight operations team conducts the operations
of the spacecraft, a data processing and storage facility, ground stations to radiate signals to
and receive signals from the spacecraft, and a voice and data communications network to
connect all mission elements.[15]
Launch vehicle
The launch vehicle propels the spacecraft from Earth's surface, through the atmosphere, and
into an orbit, the exact orbit being dependent on the mission configuration. The launch
vehicle may be expendable or reusable.
APPARATUS
MARINER 2
DEEP EXPLORATIONS EXPERIMENTS.
Mariner 2 (Mariner-Venus 1962), an American space probe to Venus, was the first robotic space
probe to conduct a successful planetary encounter. The first successful spacecraft in
the NASA Mariner program, it was a simplified version of the Block I spacecraft of the Ranger
program and an exact copy of Mariner 1. The missions of Mariner 1 and 2 spacecraft are together
sometimes known as the Mariner R missions. Original plans called for the probes to be launched on
the Atlas-Centaur, but serious developmental problems with that vehicle forced a switch to the much
smaller Agena B stage. As such, the design of the Mariner R vehicles was greatly simplified. Far
less instrumentation was carried than on the Soviet Venera probes of this period, including no TV
camera as the Atlas-Agena B had only half as much lift capacity as the Soviet 8K78 booster. The
Mariner 2 spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral on August 27, 1962 and passed as close
as 34,773 kilometers (21,607 mi) to Venus on December 14, 1962.[2]
The Mariner probe consisted of a 100 cm (39.4 in) diameter hexagonal bus, to which solar panels,
instrument booms, and antennas were attached. The scientific instruments on board the Mariner
spacecraft were two radiometers (one each for the microwave and infraredportions of the spectrum),
a micrometeorite sensor, a solar plasma sensor, a charged particle sensor, and a magnetometer.
These instruments were designed to measure the temperature distribution on the surface of Venus,
as well as making basic measurements of Venus' atmosphere.
The primary mission was to receive communications from the spacecraft in the vicinity of Venus and
to perform radiometric temperature measurements of the planet. A second objective was to measure
the interplanetary magnetic field and charged particle environment. [3][4]
En route to Venus, Mariner 2 measured the solar wind, a constant stream of charged particles
flowing outwards from the Sun, confirming the measurements by Luna 1 in 1959. It also
measured interplanetary dust, which turned out to be scarcer than predicted. In addition, Mariner 2
detected high-energy charged particles coming from the Sun, including several brief solar flares, as
well as cosmic rays from outside the Solar System. As it flew by Venus on December 14, 1962,
Mariner 2 scanned the planet with its pair of radiometers, revealing that Venus has cool clouds and
an extremely hot surface.
Mariner 2
Depiction of Mariner 2 in space
Spacecraft and subsystems[edit]
Pre-flight inspection of the completed Mariner 2 spacecraft
The Mariner 2 spacecraft was designed and built by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the California
Institute of Technology.[5] It consisted of a hexagonal base, 1.04 meters across and 0.36 meters
thick, which contained six magnesium chassis housing the electronics for the science experiments,
communications, data encoding, computing, timing, and attitude control, and the power control,
battery, and battery charger, as well as the attitude control gas bottles and the rocket engine. On top
of the base was a tall pyramid-shaped mast on which the science experiments were mounted, which
brought the total height of the spacecraft to 3.66 meters. Attached to either side of the base were
rectangular solar panel wings with a total span of 5.05 meters and width of 0.76 meters. Attached by
an arm to one side of the base and extending below the spacecraft was a large directional dish
antenna.[citation needed] The power system of Mariner 2 consisted of two solar cell wings, one 183 cm by
76 cm and the other 152 cm by 76 cm (with a 31 cm dacron extension (a solar sail) to balance the
solar pressure on the panels), which powered the craft directly or recharged a 1000 watt-hour
sealed silver-zinc cell battery. This battery was used before the panels were deployed, when the
panels were not illuminated by the Sun, and when loads were heavy. A power-switching and booster
regulator device controlled the power flow. Communications consisted of a 3-watt transmitter
capable of continuous telemetry operation, the large high gain directional dish antenna, a cylindrical
omnidirectional antenna at the top of the instrument mast, and two command antennas, one on the
end of either solar panel, which received instructions for midcourse maneuvers and other functions.
[citation needed]
Propulsion for midcourse maneuvers was supplied by a monopropellant (anhydrous hydrazine) 225

N retro-rocket. The hydrazine was ignited using nitrogen tetroxide and aluminum oxide pellets, and
thrust direction was controlled by four jet vanes situated below the thrust chamber. Attitude control
with a 1 degree pointing error was maintained by a system of nitrogen gas jets. The Sun and Earth
were used as references for attitude stabilization. Overall timing and control was performed by a
digital Central Computer and Sequencer. Thermal control was achieved through the use of passive
reflecting and absorbing surfaces, thermal shields, and movable louvers. [citation needed]
Scientific instruments[edit]
Only 40 pounds (18 kg) of the spacecraft could be allocated to scientific experiments. [6]
Summary of instruments:[7]
 Microwave radiometer
 Infrared radiometer
 Three axis fluxgate magnetometer
 Cosmic ray detector
 Cosmic dust detector
 Solar plasma spectrometer
 Particle detector
The following scientific instruments were mounted on the instrument mast and base:
 A two-channel microwave radiometer of the crystal video type operating in the

standard Dicke mode of chopping between the main antenna, pointed at the target, and a
reference horn pointed at cold space.[8] It was used to determine the absolute temperature of
Venus' surface and details concerning its atmosphere through its microwave-radiation
characteristics, including the daylight and dark hemispheres, and in the region of the terminator.
Measurements were performed simultaneously in two frequency bands of 13.5 mm and 19 mm.[6]
[9]
The total weight of the radiometer was 22 pounds (10 kg). Its average power consumption was
4 watts and its peak power consumption 9 watts.[10]
Labeled diagram of the infrared radiometer design
 A two-channel infrared radiometer to measure the effective temperatures of small areas of

Venus. The radiation that was received could originate from the planetary surface, clouds in the
atmosphere, the atmosphere itself or a combination of these. The radiation was received in two
spectral ranges: 8 to 9 μm (0.00031 to 0.00035 inches) (focused on 8.4 μm) and 10 to 10.8 μm
(0.00039 to 0.00043 inches) (focused on 10.4 μm).[6] The latter corresponding to the carbon
dioxide band.[11] The total weight of the infrared radiometer, which was housed in a magnesium
casting, was 1.3 kg, and it required 2.4 watts of power. It was designed to measure radiation
temperatures between 200 and approximately 500 K.[12]
 A three-axis fluxgate magnetometer to measure planetary and interplanetary magnetic fields.

Three probes were incorporated in its sensors, so it could obtain three mutually orthogonal
[6]
components of the field vector. Readings of these components were separated by 1.9 seconds.
It had three analog outputs that had each two sensitivity scales: ± 64 γ and ± 320 γ (1 γ = 1
nanotesla). These scales were automatically switched by the instrument. The field that the
magnetometer observed was the super-position of a nearly constant spacecraft field and the
interplanetary field. Thus, it effectively measured only the changes in the interplanetary field. [13]
 An ionization chamber with matched Geiger-Müller tubes (also known as a cosmic

ray detector) to measure high-energy cosmic radiation.[6][14]
 A particle detector (implemented through use of an Anton type 213 Geiger-Müller tube) to

measure lower radiation (especially near Venus),[6][15] also known as the Iowa detector, as it was
provided by the University of Iowa.[14] It was a miniature tube having a 1.2 mg/cm2 mica window
about 0.3 cm in diameter and weighing about 60 g. It detected soft x-rays efficiently
and ultraviolet inefficiently, and was previously used in Injun 1, Explorer 12 and Explorer 14.[15] It
was able to detect protons above 500 keV in energy and electrons above 35 keV.[3] The length of
the basic telemetry frame was 887.04 seconds. During each frame, the counting rate of the
detector was sampled twice at intervals separated by 37 seconds. The first sampling was the
number of counts during an interval of 9.60 seconds (known as the 'long gate'); the second was
the number of counts during an interval of 0.827 seconds (known as the 'short gate'). The long
gate accumulator overflowed on the 256th count and the short gate accumulator overflowed on
the 65,536th count. The maximum counting rate of the tube was 50,000 per second. [15]
 A cosmic dust detector to measure the flux of cosmic dust particles in space. [6]
Instrument for studying plasma
 A solar plasma spectrometer to measure the spectrum of low-energy positively charged

particles from the Sun, i.e. the solar wind.[6]
The magnetometer was attached to the top of the mast below the omnidirectional antenna. Particle
detectors were mounted halfway up the mast, along with the cosmic ray detector. The cosmic dust
detector and solar plasma spectrometer were attached to the top edges of the spacecraft base. The
microwave radiometer, the infrared radiometer and the radiometer reference horns were rigidly
mounted to a 48 cm diameter parabolic radiometer antenna mounted near the bottom of the mast.
All instruments were operated throughout the cruise and encounter modes except the radiometers,
which were only used in the immediate vicinity of Venus.
In addition to these scientific instruments, Mariner 2 had a data conditioning system (DCS) and a
scientific power switching (SPS) unit. The DCS was a solid-state electronic system designed to
gather information from the scientific instruments on board the spacecraft. It had four basic
functions: analog-to-digital conversion, digital-to-digital conversion, sampling and instrument-
calibration timing, and planetary acquisition. The SPS unit was designed to perform the following
three functions: control of the application of AC power to appropriate portions of the science
subsystem, application of power to the radiometers and removal of power from the cruise
experiments during radiometer calibration periods, and control of the speed and direction of the
radiometer scans. The DCS sent signals to the SPS unit to perform the latter two functions. [6]
Mission objectives
The scientific objectives were:[3]
 Radiometer experiment.
 Infrared experiment.
 Magnetometer experiment.
 Charged particles experiment.
 Plasma experiment.
 Micrometeorite experiment.
Besides the experiments with the scientific instruments, the objectives of both the Mariner 1 and 2
probes included also engineering objectives:[3]
 Evaluation of the attitude control system.

 Evaluation of the environmental control system.
 Evaluation of the entire power system.
 Evaluation of the communication system.
Mission profile[
Launch
Photo of launch of Mariner 2, on August 27, 1962.
Mariner Atlas-Agena ignition

Animation of Mariner 2's trajectory from 27 August 1962 to 31 December 1962
Mariner 2 · Venus · Earth
Mariner 2 was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 12 at 06:53:14
UTC on August 27, 1962 by a two-stage Atlas-Agenarocket. [6][16]
The two-stage Atlas-Agena rocket carrying Mariner 1 had veered off-course during its launch on July
22, 1962 due to a defective signal from the Atlas and a bug in the program equations of the ground-
based guidance computer, and so the spacecraft was destroyed by the Range Safety Officer.
Two days after that launch, the backup probe and booster (Atlas vehicle 179D) were rolled out to
LC-12. The Atlas proved troublesome to prepare for launch, and multiple serious problems with the
autopilot occurred, including a complete replacement of the servoamplifier after it had suffered
component damage due to shorted transistors. At 1:53 AM EST on August 27, Mariner 2 was
launched.
The flight proceeded normally up to the point of booster engine cutoff, at which point the V-2 vernier
engine lost pitch and yaw control. The vernier started oscillating and banging against its stops,
resulting in a rapid roll of the launch vehicle that came close to threatening the integrity of the stack.
At T+189 seconds, the rolling stopped and the launch continued without incident. The rolling motion
of the Atlas resulted in ground guidance losing its lock on the booster and preventing any backup
commands from being sent to counteract the roll. The incident was traced to a loose electrical
connection in the vernier feedback transducer, which was pushed back into place by the centrifugal
force of the roll, which also by fortunate coincidence left the Atlas only a few degrees off from where
it started and within the range of the Agena's horizontal sensor. As a consequence of this episode,
GD/A implemented improved fabrication of wiring harnesses and checkout procedures.
Five minutes after liftoff, the Atlas and Agena-Mariner separated, followed by the first Agena burn
and second Agena burn. The Agena-Mariner separation injected the Mariner 2 spacecraft into a
geocentric escape hyperbola at 26 minutes 3 seconds after liftoff. The NASA NDIF tracking station
at Johannesburg, South Africa, acquired the spacecraft about 31 minutes after launch. Solar panel
extension was completed approximately 44 minutes after launch. The Sun lock acquired the Sun
about 18 minutes later. The high-gain antenna was extended to its acquisition angle of 72°. The
output of the solar panels was slightly above the predicted output.
As all subsystems were performing normally, the battery was fully charged, and the solar panels
were providing adequate power, the decision was made on August 29 to turn on cruise science
experiments. On September 3rd, the Earth acquisition sequence was initiated, and Earth lock was
established 29 minutes later. [6]
Mid-course maneuver
The accuracy of the Atlas-Agena was such that a mid-course correction was required to satisfy the
mission requirements. The mid-course correction consisted of a roll-turn sequence, followed by a
pitch-turn sequence and finally a motor-burn sequence. Preparation commands were sent to the
spacecraft at 21:30 UTC on September 4. Initiation of the mid-course maneuver sequence was sent
at 22:49:42 UTC and the roll-turn sequence started one hour later. The entire maneuver took
approximately 34 minutes.[6]
Due to the mid-course maneuver, the sensors lost their lock with the Sun and Earth. At 00:27:00
UTC the Sun re-acquisition began and at 00:34 UTC the Sun was reacquired. Earth re-acquisition
started at 02:07:29 UTC and Earth was reacquired at 02:34 UTC.[6]
Loss of attitude control
On September 8 at 12:50 UTC, the spacecraft experienced a problem with attitude control. It
automatically turned on the gyros, and the cruise science experiments were automatically turned off.
The exact cause is unknown as attitude sensors went back to normal before telemetry
measurements could be sampled, but it may have been an Earth-sensor malfunction or a collision
with a small unidentified object which temporarily caused the spacecraft to lose Sun lock. A similar
experience happened on September 29 at 14:34 UTC. Again, all sensors went back to normal
before it could be determined which axis had lost lock. By this date, the Earth sensor brightness
indication had essentially gone to zero. This time, however, telemetry data indicated that the Earth-
brightness measurement had increased to the nominal value for that point in the trajectory. [6]
Solar panel output

On October 31, the output from one solar panel (with solar sail attached) deteriorated abruptly. It
was diagnosed as a partial short circuit in the panel. As a precaution, the cruise science instruments
were turned off. A week later, the panel resumed normal function, and cruise science instruments
were turned back on. The panel permanently failed on November 15, but Mariner 2 was close
enough to the Sun that one panel could supply adequate power; thus, the cruise science
experiments were left active.[6]
Encounter with Venus

Mariner 2 was the first spacecraft to successfully encounter another planet, passing as close as
34,773 kilometers (21,607 mi) to Venus after 110 days of flight on December 14, 1962. [2]
Post encounter
After encounter, cruise mode resumed. Spacecraft perihelion occurred on December 27 at a
distance of 105,464,560 km. The last transmission from Mariner 2 was received on January 3, 1963
at 07:00 UTC, making the total time from launch to termination of the Mariner 2 mission 129 days.
[17]
Mariner 2 remains in heliocentric orbit.
Results[edit]
The data produced during the flight consisted of two categories, namely tracking data and telemetry
data.[17] Mariner 2 was the first spacecraft to flyby Venus, and one standout piece of data was the
high temperature of the atmosphere.[18] The atmosphere was measured to be 500 °C (773 K; 932 °F).
[18]
Various properties of the solar wind were also measured for the first time.[18]
Scientific observations
Radiometric scanning of Venus
A print-out of data from the flyby
The microwave radiometer made three scans of Venus in 35 minutes on December 14, 1962 starting
at 18:59 UTC.[10] The first scan was made on the dark side, the second was near the terminator, and
the third was located on the light side.[10][19] The scans with the 19 mm band revealed peak
temperatures of 490 ± 11 K (216.9 ± 11.0 °C; 422.3 ± 19.8 °F) on the dark side, 595 ± 12 K near the
terminator, and 511 ± 14 K on the light side.[20] It was concluded that there is no significant difference
in temperature across Venus.[10][19] However, the results suggest a limb darkening, an effect which
presents cooler temperatures near the edge of the planetary disk and higher temperatures near the
center.[8][9][10][19][20][21] This also supported the theory that the Venusian surface was extremely hot or the
atmosphere optically thick.[10][19][20]
The infrared radiometer showed that the 8.4 μm and 10.4 μm radiation temperatures were in
agreement with radiation temperatures obtained from Earth-based measurements. [12] There was no
systematic difference between the temperatures measured on the light side and dark side of the
planet, which was also in agreement with Earth-based measurements. [12] The limb darkening effect
that the microwave radiometer detected was also present in the measurements by both channels of
the infrared radiometer.[12][19][21] The effect was only slightly present in the 10.4 μm channel but was
more pronounced in the 8.4 μm channel.[19] The 8.4 μm channel also showed a slight phase effect.
The phase effect indicated that if a greenhouse effect existed, heat was transported in an efficient
manner from the light side to the dark side of the planet. [19] The 8.4 μm and 10.4 μm showed equal
radiation temperatures, indicating that the limb darkening effect would appear to come from a cloud
structure rather than the atmosphere.[12] Thus, if the measured temperatures were actually cloud
temperatures instead of surface temperatures, then these clouds would have to be quite thick. [11][19][21]
The magnetometer detected a persistent interplanetary magnetic field varying between 2 γ and 10 γ
(nanotesla), which agrees with prior Pioneer 5observations from 1960. This also means that
interplanetary space is rarely empty or field-free.[13] The magnetometer could detect changes of about
4 γ on any of the axes, but no trends above 10 γ were detected near Venus, nor were fluctuations
seen like those that appear at Earth's magnetospherictermination. This means that Mariner 2 found
no detectable magnetic field near Venus, although that didn't necessarily mean that Venus had
none.[19][22] However, if Venus had a magnetic field, then it would have to be at least smaller than 1/10
the magnetic field of the Earth.[22][23] In 1980, the Pioneer Venus Orbiter indeed showed that Venus
has a small weak magnetic field.[24]
The Anton type 213 Geiger-Müller tube performed as expected. [25] The average rate was 0.6 counts
per second. Increases in its counting rate were larger and more frequent than for the two larger
tubes, since it was more sensitive to particles of lower energy. [6] It detected 7 small solar bursts of
radiation during September and October and 2 during November and December. [26] The absence of a
detectable magnetosphere was also confirmed by the tube; it detected no radiation belt at Venus
similar to that of Earth. The count rate would have increased by 104, but no change was measured.[6]
[27]
It was also shown that in interplanetary space, the solar wind streams continuously [16][28] and the
cosmic dust density is much lower than the near-Earth region. [29] Improved estimates of Venus' mass
and the value of the Astronomical Unit were made. Also, research, which was later confirmed by
other explorations, suggested that Venus rotates very slowly and in a direction opposite that of the
Earth.[30]
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION SPACE CRAFT EMITTS LORENTZ FORCE,
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATIONS.
Website ;www.nasa.gov.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA /ˈnæsə/) is an independent

agency of the United States Federal Government responsible for the civilian space program, as
well as aeronautics and aerospace research.[note 1]
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding the National Advisory Committee for
Aeronautics (NACA). The new agency was to have a distinctly civilian orientation, encouraging
peaceful applications in space science.[7][8][9] Since its establishment, most US space
exploration efforts have been led by NASA, including the Apollo Moon landing missions,
the Skylab space station, and later the Space Shuttle. NASA is supporting the International
Space Station and is overseeing the development of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle,
the Space Launch System and Commercial Crewvehicles. The agency is also responsible for
the Launch Services Program which provides oversight of launch operations and countdown
management for unmanned NASA launches.
NASA science is focused on better understanding Earth through the Earth Observing System;
[10]
advancing heliophysicsthrough the efforts of the Science Mission Directorate's Heliophysics
Research Program;[11] exploring bodies throughout the Solar System with advanced robotic
spacecraft missions such as New Horizons;[12] and researching astrophysicstopics, such as
the Big Bang, through the Great Observatories and associated programs.[13]
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Seal
Emblem
Flag
Agency overview
Formed July 29, 1958; 60 years ago
[1]
 NACA (1915–1958)
Preceding
agency
Jurisdiction US Federal Government
Headquarters Two Independence Square, Washington, D.C., US
38°52′59″N 77°0′59″WCoordinates: 38°52′59″
N 77°0′59″W
[2]
Motto For the Benefit of All
[3]
Employees 17,336 (2018)
[4]
Annual budget US$20.7 billion (2018)
Agency Jim Bridenstine, Administrator
executives James Morhard, Deputy Administrator
Jeff DeWit, Chief Financial Officer
Website www.nasa.gov
Part of a series of articles on the
Space policy of the United States
 NASA
 Space policy of the United States
 Apollo program
US manned space programs
US space probes
Expendable launch vehicles
Notable figures
Astronauts
EMITTED LORENTZ FORCE AND NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION SPACE CRAFT.
LORENTZ FORCE.
Lorentz force.
In physics (specifically in electromagnetism) the Lorentz force (or electromagnetic force) is the
combination of electric and magnetic force on a point charge due to electromagnetic fields. A particle
of charge q moving with a velocity v in an electric field E and a magnetic field B experiences a force
(in SI units[1][2]). Variations on this basic formula describe the magnetic force on a current-carrying
wire (sometimes called Laplace force), the electromotive force in a wire loop moving through a
magnetic field (an aspect of Faraday's law of induction), and the force on a charged particle which
might be traveling near the speed of light (relativistic form of the Lorentz force).
The first derivation of the Lorentz force is commonly attributed to Oliver Heaviside in 1889,
[3] although other historians suggest an earlier origin in an 1865 paper by James Clerk Maxwell.
[4] Hendrik Lorentz derived it in 1895,[5] a few years after Heaviside.
Trajectories of particles due to the Lorentz force
Guiding center
Charged particle drifts in a homogeneous magnetic field. (A) No disturbing force (B) With an electric
field, E (C) With an independent force, F (e.g. gravity) (D) In an inhomogeneous magnetic field, grad H
In many cases of practical interest, the motion in a magnetic field of an electrically charged particle
(such as an electron or ion in a plasma) can be treated as the superposition of a relatively fast circular
motion around a point called the guiding center and a relatively slow drift of this point. The drift
speeds may differ for various species depending on their charge states, masses, or temperatures,
possibly resulting in electric currents or chemical separation.
Significance of the Lorentz force
While the modern Maxwell's equations describe how electrically charged particles and currents or
moving charged particles give rise to electric and magnetic fields, the Lorentz force law completes that
picture by describing the force acting on a moving point charge q in the presence of electromagnetic
fields.[6][22] The Lorentz force law describes the effect of E and B upon a point charge, but such
electromagnetic forces are not the entire picture. Charged particles are possibly coupled to other
forces, notably gravity and nuclear forces. Thus, Maxwell's equations do not stand separate from
other physical laws, but are coupled to them via the charge and current densities. The response of a
point charge to the Lorentz law is one aspect; the generation of E and B by currents and charges is
another.
In real materials the Lorentz force is inadequate to describe the collective behavior of charged
particles, both in principle and as a matter of computation. The charged particles in a material
medium not only respond to the E and B fields but also generate these fields. Complex transport
equations must be solved to determine the time and spatial response of charges, for example,
the Boltzmann equation or the Fokker–Planck equation or the Navier–Stokes equations. For example,
see magnetohydrodynamics, fluid dynamics, electrohydrodynamics, superconductivity, stellar evolution.
An entire physical apparatus for dealing with these matters has developed. See for example, Green–
Kubo relations and Green's function (many-body theory).
Several theories combined in lorentz force with laws of physics to form Venus formed and observed,
deep exploration by mariner 2 after it is observed . Time 7,00pm to 7;20pm as of 15/July/2019 in
Arua ,Uganda East Africa.
LORENTZ TRANSFORMATIONS
Lorentz transformation
Many physicists—including Woldemar Voigt, George FitzGerald, Joseph Larmor, and Hendrik Lorentz[3] himself—had
been discussing the physics implied by these equations since 1887.[4] Early in 1889, Oliver Heaviside had shown
from Maxwell's equations that the electric field surrounding a spherical distribution of charge should cease to
have spherical symmetry once the charge is in motion relative to the aether. FitzGerald then conjectured that
Heaviside’s distortion result might be applied to a theory of intermolecular forces. Some months later, FitzGerald
published the conjecture that bodies in motion are being contracted, in order to explain the baffling outcome of the
1887 aether-wind experiment of Michelson and Morley. In 1892, Lorentz independently presented the same idea in a
more detailed manner, which was subsequently called FitzGerald–Lorentz contraction hypothesis.[5] Their explanation
was widely known before 1905.[6]
Lorentz (1892–1904) and Larmor (1897–1900), who believed the luminiferous aether hypothesis, also looked for the
transformation under which Maxwell's equationsare invariant when transformed from the aether to a moving frame.
They extended the FitzGerald–Lorentz contraction hypothesis and found out that the time coordinate has to be
modified as well ("local time"). Henri Poincaré gave a physical interpretation to local time (to first order in v/c, the
relative velocity of the two reference frames normalized to the speed of light) as the consequence of clock
synchronization, under the assumption that the speed of light is constant in moving frames.[7] Larmor is credited to
have been the first to understand the crucial time dilation property inherent in his equations.[8]
In 1905, Poincaré was the first to recognize that the transformation has the properties of a mathematical group, and
named it after Lorentz.[9] Later in the same year Albert Einstein published what is now called special relativity, by
deriving the Lorentz transformation under the assumptions of the principle of relativity and the constancy of the speed
of light in any inertial reference frame, and by abandoning the mechanistic aether as unnecessary.
In physics, the Lorentz transformations are a one-parameter family of linear transformations from

a coordinate frame in space time to another frame that moves at a constant velocity, the parameter,
within the former. The transformations are named after the Dutch physicist Hendrik Lorentz. The
respective inverse transformation is then parametrized by the negative of this velocity.
Part of a series on
Spacetime
The most common form of the transformation, parametrized by the real constant representing a
velocity confined to the x-direction, is expressed as [1]
where (t, x, y, z) and (t′, x′, y′, z′) are the coordinates of an event in two frames, where the primed

frame is seen from the unprimed frame as moving with speed v along the x-axis, c is the speed
of light, and is the Lorentz factor.
Expressing the speed as an equivalent form of the transformation is [2]
Frames of reference can be divided into two groups: inertial (relative motion with constant velocity)
and non-inertial (accelerating, moving in curved paths, rotational motion with constant angular
velocity, etc.). The term "Lorentz transformations" only refers to transformations
between inertial frames, usually in the context of special relativity.
In each reference frame, an observer can use a local coordinate system (most exclusively Cartesian
coordinates in this context) to measure lengths, and a clock to measure time intervals. An observer
is a real or imaginary entity that can take measurements, say humans, or any other living organism
—or even robots and computers. An event is something that happens at a point in space at an
instant of time, or more formally a point in spacetime. The transformations connect the space and
time coordinates of an event as measured by an observer in each frame. [nb 1]
They supersede the Galilean transformation of Newtonian physics, which assumes an absolute
space and time (see Galilean relativity). The Galilean transformation is a good approximation only at
relative speeds much smaller than the speed of light. Lorentz transformations have a number of
unintuitive features that do not appear in Galilean transformations. For example, they reflect the fact
that observers moving at different velocities may measure different distances, elapsed times, and
even different orderings of events, but always such that the speed of light is the same in all inertial
reference frames. The invariance of light speed is one of the postulates of special relativity.
Historically, the transformations were the result of attempts by Lorentz and others to explain how the
speed of light was observed to be independent of the reference frame, and to understand the
symmetries of the laws of electromagnetism. The Lorentz transformation is in accordance
with special relativity, but was derived before special relativity.
The Lorentz transformation is a linear transformation. It may include a rotation of space; a rotation-
free Lorentz transformation is called a Lorentz boost. In Minkowski space, the mathematical model
of spacetime in special relativity, the Lorentz transformations preserve the spacetime
interval between any two events. This property is the defining property of a Lorentz transformation.
They describe only the transformations in which the spacetime event at the origin is left fixed. They
can be considered as a hyperbolic rotation of Minkowski space. The more general set of
transformations that also includes translations is known as the Poincaré group.
Derivation of the group of Lorentz transformations

Main articles: Derivations of the Lorentz transformations and Lorentz group
An event is something that happens at a certain point in spacetime, or more generally, the point in spacetime itself. In
any inertial frame an event is specified by a time coordinate ct and a set of Cartesian coordinates x, y, z to specify
position in space in that frame. Subscripts label individual events.
From Einstein's second postulate of relativity follows
(D1)

in all inertial frames for events connected by light signals. The quantity on the left is called the spacetime
interval between events a1 = (t1, x1, y1, z1) and a2 = (t2, x2, y2, z2). The interval between any two events, not
necessarily separated by light signals, is in fact invariant, i.e., independent of the state of relative motion of observers
in different inertial frames, as is shown using homogeneity and isotropy of space. The transformation sought after
thus must possess the property that
(D2)

where (ct, x, y, z) are the spacetime coordinates used to define events in one frame, and (ct′, x′, y′, z′) are the
coordinates in another frame. First one observes that (D2) is satisfied if an arbitrary 4-tuple b of numbers are added
to events a1 and a2. Such transformations are called spacetime translations and are not dealt with further here. Then
one observes that a linear solution preserving the origin of the simpler problem

(D3)
solves the general problem too. (A solution satisfying the left formula automatically satisfies the right formula,
see polarization identity.) Finding the solution to the simpler problem is just a matter of look-up in the theory
of classical groups that preserve bilinear forms of various signature.[nb 2]. First equation in (D3) can be written more
compactly as

(D4
)

where (·, ·) refers to the bilinear form of signature (1, 3) on ℝ4 exposed by the right hand side formula in (D3). The
alternative notation defined on the right is referred to as the relativistic dot product. Spacetime mathematically viewed
as ℝ4 endowed with this bilinear form is known as Minkowski space M. The Lorentz transformation is thus an
element of the group Lorentz group O(1, 3), the Lorentz group or, for those that prefer the other metric
signature, O(3, 1) (also called the Lorentz group).[nb 3] One has
(D5)

which is precisely preservation of the bilinear form (D3) which implies (by linearity of Λ and bilinearity of the form)
that (D2) is satisfied. The elements of the Lorentz group are rotations and boosts and mixes thereof. If the spacetime
translations are included, then one obtains the inhomogeneous Lorentz group or the Poincaré group.
Generalities
The relations between the primed and unprimed spacetime coordinates are the Lorentz transformations, each
coordinate in one frame is a linear function of all the coordinates in the other frame, and the inverse functions are the
inverse transformation. Depending on how the frames move relative to each other, and how they are oriented in
space relative to each other, other parameters that describe direction, speed, and orientation enter the transformation
equations.
Transformations describing relative motion with constant (uniform) velocity and without rotation of the space
coordinate axes are called boosts, and the relative velocity between the frames is the parameter of the
transformation. The other basic type of Lorentz transformations is rotations in the spatial coordinates only, these are
also inertial frames since there is no relative motion, the frames are simply tilted (and not continuously rotating), and
in this case quantities defining the rotation are the parameters of the transformation (e.g., axis–angle representation,
or Euler angles, etc.). A combination of a rotation and boost is a homogeneous transformation, which transforms the
origin back to the origin.
The full Lorentz group O(3, 1) also contains special transformations that are neither rotations nor boosts, but
rather reflections in a plane through the origin. Two of these can be singled out; spatial inversion in which the spatial
coordinates of all events are reversed in sign and temporal inversion in which the time coordinate for each event gets
its sign reversed.
Boosts should not be conflated with mere displacements in spacetime; in this case, the coordinate systems are
simply shifted and there is no relative motion. However, these also count as symmetries forced by special relativity
since they leave the spacetime interval invariant. A combination of a rotation with a boost, followed by a shift in
spacetime, is an inhomogeneous Lorentz transformation, an element of the Poincaré group, which is also called the
inhomogeneous Lorentz group.
Physical formulation of Lorentz boosts
Derivations of the Lorentz transformations
Coordinate transformation
A "stationary" observer in frame F defines events with coordinates t, x, y, z. Another frame F′ moves with
velocity v relative to F, and an observer in this "moving" frame F′ defines events using the coordinates t′, x′, y′, z′.
The coordinate axes in each frame are parallel (the x and x′ axes are parallel, the y and y′ axes are parallel, and
the z and z′ axes are parallel), remain mutually perpendicular, and relative motion is along the coincident xx′ axes.
At t = t′ = 0, the origins of both coordinate systems are the same, (x, y, z) = (x′, y′, z′) = (0, 0, 0). In other words,
the times and positions are coincident at this event. If all these hold, then the coordinate systems are said to be
in standard configuration, or synchronized.
The spacetime coordinates of an event, as measured by each observer in their inertial reference frame (in standard configuration) are shown
in the speech bubbles.
Top: frame F′ moves at velocity v along the x-axis of frame F.
Bottom: frame F moves at velocity −v along the x′-axis of frame F′
Source; Maschen - Own work

Lorentz boost observers and frames any direction standard configuration
.[11]
If an observer in F records an event t, x, y, z, then an observer in F′ records the same event with coordinates
[12]
where v is the relative velocity between frames in the x-direction, c is the speed of light, and
(lowercase gamma) is the Lorentz factor.

Here, v is the parameter of the transformation, for a given boost it is a constant number, but can take a continuous
range of values. In the setup used here, positive relative velocity v > 0 is motion along the positive directions of
the xx′ axes, zero relative velocity v = 0 is no relative motion, while negative relative velocity v < 0 is relative motion
along the negative directions of the xx′ axes. The magnitude of relative velocity v cannot equal or exceed c, so only
subluminal speeds −c < v < c are allowed. The corresponding range of γ is 1 ≤ γ < ∞.
The transformations are not defined if v is outside these limits. At the speed of light (v = c) γ is infinite, and faster
than light (v > c) γ is a complex number, each of which make the transformations unphysical. The space and time
coordinates are measurable quantities and numerically must be real numbers.
As an active transformation, an observer in F′ notices the coordinates of the event to be "boosted" in the negative
directions of the xx′ axes, because of the −v in the transformations. This has the equivalent effect of the coordinate
system F′ boosted in the positive directions of the xx′ axes, while the event does not change and is simply
represented in another coordinate system, a passive transformation.
The inverse relations (t, x, y, z in terms of t′, x′, y′, z′) can be found by algebraically solving the original set of
equations. A more efficient way is to use physical principles. Here F′ is the "stationary" frame while F is the "moving"
frame. According to the principle of relativity, there is no privileged frame of reference, so the transformations from F
′ to F must take exactly the same form as the transformations from F to F′. The only difference is F moves with
velocity −v relative to F′ (i.e., the relative velocity has the same magnitude but is oppositely directed). Thus if an
observer in F′ notes an event t′, x′, y′, z′, then an observer in F notes the sameevent with coordinates
and the value of γ remains unchanged. This "trick" of simply reversing the direction of relative velocity while
preserving its magnitude, and exchanging primed and unprimed variables, always applies to finding the inverse
transformation of every boost in any direction.
Sometimes it is more convenient to use β = v/c (lowercase beta) instead of v, so that
which shows much more clearly the symmetry in the transformation. From the allowed ranges of v and the definition
of β, it follows −1 < β < 1. The use of β and γ is standard throughout the literature.
The Lorentz transformations can also be derived in a way that resembles circular rotations in 3d space using
the hyperbolic functions. For the boost in the x direction, the results are
where ζ (lowercase zeta) is a parameter called rapidity (many other symbols are used, including θ, ϕ, φ, η, ψ, ξ).

Given the strong resemblance to rotations of spatial coordinates in 3d space in the Cartesian xy, yz, and zx planes, a
Lorentz boost can be thought of as a hyperbolic rotation of spacetime coordinates in the xt, yt, and zt Cartesian-time
planes of 4d Minkowski space. The parameter ζ is the hyperbolic angle of rotation, analogous to the ordinary angle
for circular rotations. This transformation can be illustrated with a Minkowski diagram.
The hyperbolic functions arise from the difference between the squares of the time and spatial coordinates in the
spacetime interval, rather than a sum. The geometric significance of the hyperbolic functions can be visualized by
taking x = 0 or ct = 0 in the transformations. Squaring and subtracting the results, one can derive hyperbolic curves
of constant coordinate values but varying ζ, which parametrizes the curves according to the identity
Conversely the ct and x axes can be constructed for varying coordinates but constant ζ. The definition
provides the link between a constant value of rapidity, and the slope of the ct axis in spacetime. A consequence
these two hyperbolic formulae is an identity that matches the Lorentz factor
Comparing the Lorentz transformations in terms of the relative velocity and rapidity, or using the above formulae, the
connections between β, γ, and ζ are
Taking the inverse hyperbolic tangent gives the rapidity
Since −1 < β < 1, it follows −∞ < ζ < ∞. From the relation between ζ and β, positive rapidity ζ > 0 is motion along
the positive directions of the xx′ axes, zero rapidity ζ = 0 is no relative motion, while negative rapidity ζ < 0 is relative
motion along the negative directions of the xx′ axes.
The inverse transformations are obtained by exchanging primed and unprimed quantities to switch the coordinate
frames, and negating rapidity ζ → −ζ since this is equivalent to negating the relative velocity. Therefore,
The inverse transformations can be similarly visualized by considering the cases when x′ = 0 and ct′ = 0.
So far the Lorentz transformations have been applied to one event. If there are two events, there is a spatial
separation and time interval between them. It follows from the linearity of the Lorentz transformations that two values
of space and time coordinates can be chosen, the Lorentz transformations can be applied to each, then subtracted to
get the Lorentz transformations of the differences;
with inverse relations

where Δ (uppercase delta) indicates a difference of quantities; e.g., Δx = x2 − x1 for two values of x coordinates, and
so on.
These transformations on differences rather than spatial points or instants of time are useful for a number of reasons:
 in calculations and experiments, it is lengths between two points or time intervals that are
measured or of interest (e.g., the length of a moving vehicle, or time duration it takes to travel
from one place to another),
 the transformations of velocity can be readily derived by making the difference
infinitesimally small and dividing the equations, and the process repeated for the transformation
of acceleration,
 if the coordinate systems are never coincident (i.e., not in standard configuration), and if both
observers can agree on an event t0, x0, y0, z0 in F and t0′, x0′, y0′, z0′in F′, then they can use that event
as the origin, and the spacetime coordinate differences are the differences between their
coordinates and this origin, e.g., Δx = x − x0, Δx′ = x′ − x0′, etc.
Physical implications
A critical requirement of the Lorentz transformations is the invariance of the speed of light, a fact used in their
derivation, and contained in the transformations themselves. If in F the equation for a pulse of light along
the x direction is x = ct, then in F′ the Lorentz transformations give x′ = ct′, and vice versa, for any −c < v < c.
For relative speeds much less than the speed of light, the Lorentz transformations reduce to the Galilean
transformation
in accordance with the correspondence principle. It is sometimes said that nonrelativistic physics is a physics of
"instantaneous action at a distance".[13]
Three counterintuitive, but correct, predictions of the transformations are:
Relativity of simultaneity
Suppose two events occur simultaneously (Δt = 0) along the x axis, but separated by a nonzero displacement Δx.
Then in F′, we find that so the events are no longer simultaneous according to a moving
observer.
Time dilation
Suppose there is a clock at rest in F. If a time interval is measured at the same point in that frame, so that Δx = 0,
then the transformations give this interval in F′ by Δt′ = γΔt. Conversely, suppose there is a clock at rest in F′. If an
interval is measured at the same point in that frame, so that Δx′ = 0, then the transformations give this interval in F
by Δt = γΔt′. Either way, each observer measures the time interval between ticks of a moving clock to be longer by a
factor γ than the time interval between ticks of his own clock.
Length contraction
Suppose there is a rod at rest in F aligned along the x axis, with length Δx. In F′, the rod moves with velocity -v, so its
length must be measured by taking two simultaneous (Δt′ = 0) measurements at opposite ends. Under these
conditions, the inverse Lorentz transform shows that Δx = γΔx′. In F the two measurements are no longer
simultaneous, but this does not matter because the rod is at rest in F. So each observer measures the distance
between the end points of a moving rod to be shorter by a factor 1/γ than the end points of an identical rod at rest in
his own frame. Length contraction affects any geometric quantity related to lengths, so from the perspective of a
moving observer, areas and volumes will also appear to shrink along the direction of motion.
Vector transformations
Euclidean vector and vector projection
The use of vectors allows positions and velocities to be expressed in arbitrary directions compactly. A single boost in
any direction depends on the full relative velocity vector v with a magnitude |v| = v that cannot equal or exceed c, so
that 0 ≤ v < c.
Only time and the coordinates parallel to the direction of relative motion change, while those coordinates
perpendicular do not. With this in mind, split the spatial position vector r as measured in F, and r′ as measured in F′,
each into components perpendicular (⊥) and parallel ( ‖ ) to v,
then the transformations are
where · is the dot product. The Lorentz factor γ retains its definition for a boost in any direction, since it
depends only on the magnitude of the relative velocity. The definition β = v/c with magnitude 0 ≤ β < 1 is
also used by some authors.
Introducing a unit vector n = v/v = β/β in the direction of relative motion, the relative velocity is v = vn with
magnitude v and direction n, and vector projection and rejection give respectively
Accumulating the results gives the full transformations,
The projection and rejection also applies to r′. For the inverse transformations, exchange r and r′ to switch observed
coordinates, and negate the relative velocity v → −v (or simply the unit vector n → −n since the magnitude v is
always positive) to obtain
The unit vector has the advantage of simplifying equations for a single boost, allows either v or β to be reinstated
when convenient, and the rapidity parametrization is immediately obtained by replacing β and βγ. It is not convenient
for multiple boosts.
The vectorial relation between relative velocity and rapidity is
[14]
and the "rapidity vector" can be defined as
each of which serves as a useful abbreviation in some contexts. The magnitude of ζ is the absolute value of the
rapidity scalar confined to 0 ≤ ζ < ∞, which agrees with the range 0 ≤ β < 1.
An observer in frame F observes F′ to move with velocity v, while F′ observes F to move with
velocity −v. The coordinate axes of each frame are still parallel and orthogonal. The position vector as
measured in each frame is split into components parallel and perpendicular to the relative velocity
vector v. Left: Standard configuration. Right: Inverse configuration.

Transformation of velocities
differential of a function and velocity addition formula
Defining the coordinate velocities and Lorentz factor by

taking the differentials in the coordinates and time of the vector transformations, then dividing equations, leads to
The velocities u and u′ are the velocity of some massive object. They can also be for a third inertial frame (say F′′), in
which case they must be constant. Denote either entity by X. Then X moves with velocity u relative to F, or
equivalently with velocity u′ relative to F′, in turn F′ moves with velocity v relative to F. The inverse transformations
can be obtained in a similar way, or as with position coordinates exchange u and u′, and change v to −v.
The transformation of velocity is useful in stellar aberration, the Fizeau experiment, and the relativistic Doppler effect.
The Lorentz transformations of acceleration can be similarly obtained by taking differentials in the velocity vectors,
and dividing these by the time differential.
The transformation of velocities provides the definition relativistic velocity addition ⊕, the ordering of
vectors is chosen to reflect the ordering of the addition of velocities; first v (the velocity of F′ relative to F)
then u′ (the velocity of X relative to F′) to obtain u = v ⊕ u′ (the velocity of X relative to F).
Lorentz transformation of velocity including velocity addition
Transformation of other quantities

In general, given four quantities A and Z = (Zx, Zy, Zz) and their Lorentz-boosted counterparts A′ and Z′ = (Z′x, Z
′y, Z′z), a relation of the form
implies the quantities transform under Lorentz transformations similar to the transformation of spacetime coordinates;
The decomposition of Z (and Z′) into components perpendicular and parallel to v is exactly the same as for the
position vector, as is the process of obtaining the inverse transformations (exchange (A, Z) and (A′, Z′) to switch
observed quantities, and reverse the direction of relative motion by the substitution n ↦ −n).
The quantities (A, Z) collectively make up a four vector, where A is the "timelike component", and Z the "spacelike
component". Examples of A and Z are the following:
For a given object (e.g., particle, fluid, field, material), if A or Z correspond to properties specific to the object like
its charge density, mass density, spin, etc., its properties can be fixed in the rest frame of that object. Then the
Lorentz transformations give the corresponding properties in a frame moving relative to the object with constant
velocity. This breaks some notions taken for granted in non-relativistic physics. For example, the energy E of an
object is a scalar in non-relativistic mechanics, but not in relativistic mechanics because energy changes under
Lorentz transformations; its value is different for various inertial frames. In the rest frame of an object, it has a rest
energy and zero momentum. In a boosted frame its energy is different and it appears to have a momentum. Similarly,
in non-relativistic quantum mechanics the spin of a particle is a constant vector, but in relativistic quantum
mechanics spin s depends on relative motion. In the rest frame of the particle, the spin pseudovector can be fixed to
be its ordinary non-relativistic spin with a zero timelike quantity st, however a boosted observer will perceive a
nonzero timelike component and an altered spin.[15]
Not all quantities are invariant in the form as shown above, for example orbital angular momentum L does not have a
timelike quantity, and neither does the electric field E nor the magnetic field B. The definition of angular momentum
is L = r × p, and in a boosted frame the altered angular momentum is L′ = r′ × p′. Applying this definition using the
transformations of coordinates and momentum leads to the transformation of angular momentum. It turns
out L transforms with another vector quantity N = (E/c2)r − tp related to boosts, see relativistic angular
momentum for details. For the case of the E and B fields, the transformations cannot be obtained as directly using
vector algebra. The Lorentz force is the definition of these fields, and in F it is F = q(E + v × B) while in F′ it is F′
= q(E′ + v′ × B′). A method of deriving the EM field transformations in an efficient way which also illustrates the unit
of the electromagnetic field uses tensor algebra, given below.
Mathematical formulation
Lorentz group
Matrix (mathematics), matrix product, linear algebra, and rotation formalisms in three dimensions
In physics and mathematics, the Lorentz group is the group of all Lorentz transformations of Minkowski spacetime,

the classical and quantum setting for all (nongravitational) physical phenomena. The Lorentz group is named for
the Dutch physicist Hendrik Lorentz.
For example, the following laws, equations, and theories respect Lorentz symmetry:
 The kinematical laws of special relativity

 Maxwell's field equations in the theory of electromagnetism
 The Dirac equation in the theory of the electron
 The Standard model of particle physics
The Lorentz group expresses the fundamental symmetry of space and time of all known fundamental laws of nature.
In general relativity physics, in cases involving small enough regions of spacetime where gravitational variances are
negligible, physical laws are Lorentz invariant in the same manner as that of special relativity physics.
Throughout, italic non-bold capital letters are 4×4 matrices, while non-italic bold letters are 3×3 matrices.
Homogeneous Lorentz group

Writing the coordinates in column vectors and the Minkowski metric η as a square matrix
the spacetime interval takes the form (T denotes transpose)
and is invariant under a Lorentz transformation
where Λ is a square matrix which can depend on parameters.

The set of all Lorentz transformations Λ in this article is denoted This set together with matrix multiplication
forms a group, in this context known as the Lorentz group. Also, the above expression X·X is a quadratic form of
signature (3,1) on spacetime, and the group of transformations which leaves this quadratic form invariant is
the indefinite orthogonal group O(3,1), a Lie group. In other words, the Lorentz group is O(3,1). As presented in this
article, any Lie groups mentioned are matrix Lie groups. In this context the operation of composition amounts
to matrix multiplication.
From the invariance of the spacetime interval it follows
and this matrix equation contains the general conditions on the Lorentz transformation to ensure invariance of the
spacetime interval. Taking the determinant of the equation using the product rule[nb 4] gives immediately
Writing the Minkowski metric as a block matrix, and the Lorentz transformation in the most general form,
carrying out the block matrix multiplications obtains general conditions on Γ, a, b, M to ensure relativistic invariance.
Not much information can be directly extracted from all the conditions, however one of the results
is useful; bTb ≥ 0 always so it follows that
The negative inequality may be unexpected, because Γ multiplies the time coordinate and this has an effect on time
symmetry. If the positive equality holds, then Γ is the Lorentz factor.
The determinant and inequality provide four ways to classify Lorentz Transformations (herein LTs for brevity). Any
particular LT has only one determinant sign and only one inequality. There are four sets which include every possible
pair given by the intersections ("n"-shaped symbol meaning "and") of these classifying sets.
where "+" and "−" indicate the determinant sign, while "↑" for ≥ and "↓" for ≤ denote the inequalities.
The full Lorentz group splits into the union ("u"-shaped symbol meaning "or") of four disjoint sets
A subgroup of a group must be closed under the same operation of the group (here matrix multiplication). In other
words, for two Lorentz transformations Λ and L from a particular set, the composite Lorentz
transformations ΛL and LΛ must be in the same set as Λ and L. This will not always be the case; it can be shown
that the composition of any two Lorentz transformations always has the positive determinant and positive inequality, a
proper orthochronous transformation. The set
all form subgroups. The other sets involving the improper and/or antichronous
properties do not form subgroups, because the composite transformation always has a
positive determinant or inequality, whereas the original separate transformations will have negative determinants
and/or inequalities.
Proper transformations
The Lorentz boost is
where the boost matrix is
The boosts along the Cartesian directions can be readily obtained, for example the unit vector in the x direction has
components nx = 1 and ny = nz = 0.
The matrices make one or more successive transformations easier to handle, rather than rotely iterating the
transformations to obtain the result of more than one transformation. If a frame F′ is boosted with velocity u relative to
frame F, and another frame F′′ is boosted with velocity v relative to F′, the separate boosts are
and the composition of the two boosts connects the coordinates in F′′ and F,
Successive transformations act on the left. If u and v are collinear (parallel or antiparallel along the same line of
relative motion), the boost matrices commute: B(v)B(u) = B(u)B(v) and this composite transformation happens to
be another boost.
If u and v are not collinear but in different directions, the situation is considerably more complicated. Lorentz boosts
along different directions do not commute: B(v)B(u) and B(u)B(v) are not equal. Also, each of these compositions
is not a single boost, but still a Lorentz transformation as each boost still preserves invariance of the spacetime
interval. It turns out the composition of any two Lorentz boosts is equivalent to a boost followed or preceded by a
rotation on the spatial coordinates, in the form of R(ρ)B(w) or B(w)R(ρ). The w and w are composite velocities,
while ρ and ρ are rotation parameters (e.g. axis-angle variables, Euler angles, etc.). The rotation in block matrix form
is simply
where R(ρ) is a 3d rotation matrix, which rotates any 3d vector in one sense (active transformation), or equivalently
the coordinate frame in the opposite sense (passive transformation). It is not simple to connect w and ρ (or w and ρ)
to the original boost parameters u and v. In a composition of boosts, the R matrix is named the Wigner rotation, and
gives rise to the Thomas precession. These articles give the explicit formulae for the composite transformation
matrices, including expressions for w, ρ, w, ρ.
In this article the axis-angle representation is used for ρ. The rotation is about an axis in the direction of a unit
vector e, through angle θ (positive anticlockwise, negative clockwise, according to the right-hand rule). The "axis-
angle vector"
will serve as a useful abbreviation.

Spatial rotations alone are also Lorentz transformations they leave the spacetime interval invariant. Like boosts,
successive rotations about different axes do not commute. Unlike boosts, the composition of any two rotations is
equivalent to a single rotation. Some other similarities and differences between the boost and rotation matrices
include:
 inverses: B(v)−1 = B(−v) (relative motion in the opposite direction), and R(θ)

−1
= R(−θ) (rotation in the opposite sense about the same axis)
 identity transformation for no relative motion/rotation: B(0) = R(0) = I
 unit determinant: det(B) = det(R) = +1. This property makes them proper
transformations.
 matrix symmetry: B is symmetric (equals transpose), while R is nonsymmetric
but orthogonal (transpose equals inverse, RT = R−1).
The most general proper Lorentz transformation Λ(v, θ) includes a boost and rotation together, and is a
nonsymmetric matrix. As special cases, Λ(0, θ) = R(θ) and Λ(v, 0) = B(v). An explicit form of the general Lorentz
transformation is cumbersome to write down and will not be given here. Nevertheless, closed form expressions for
the transformation matrices will be given below using group theoretical arguments. It will be easier to use the rapidity
parametrization for boosts, in which case one writes Λ(ζ, θ) and B(ζ).
The Lie group SO+(3,1)

The set of transformations
with matrix multiplication as the operation of composition forms a group, called the "restricted Lorentz group", and is
the special indefinite orthogonal group SO+(3,1). (The plus sign indicates that it preserves the orientation of the
temporal dimension).
For simplicity, look at the infinitesimal Lorentz boost in the x direction (examining a boost in any other direction, or
rotation about any axis, follows an identical procedure). The infinitesimal boost is a small boost away from the
identity, obtained by the Taylor expansion of the boost matrix to first order about ζ = 0,
where the higher order terms not shown are negligible because ζ is small, and Bx is simply the boost matrix in
the x direction. The derivative of the matrix is the matrix of derivatives (of the entries, with respect to the same
variable), and it is understood the derivatives are found first then evaluated at ζ = 0,
For now, Kx is defined by this result (its significance will be explained shortly). In the limit of an infinite number of
infinitely small steps, the finite boost transformation in the form of a matrix exponential is obtained
where the limit definition of the exponential has been used (see also characterizations of the exponential function).
More generally[nb 5]
The axis-angle vector θ and rapidity vector ζ are altogether six continuous variables which make up the group
parameters (in this particular representation), and the generators of the group are K = (Kx, Ky, Kz) and J = (Jx, Jy,
Jz), each vectors of matrices with the explicit forms[nb 6]
These are all defined in an analogous way to Kx above, although the minus signs in the boost generators are
conventional. Physically, the generators of the Lorentz group correspond to important symmetries in spacetime: J are
the rotation generators which correspond to angular momentum, and K are the boost generators which correspond
to the motion of the system in spacetime. The derivative of any smooth curve C(t) with C(0) = I in the group
depending on some group parameter t with respect to that group parameter, evaluated at t = 0, serves as a definition
of a corresponding group generator G, and this reflects an infinitesimal transformation away from the identity. The
smooth curve can always be taken as an exponential as the exponential will always map G smoothly back into the
group via t → exp(tG) for all t; this curve will yield G again when differentiated at t = 0.
Expanding the exponentials in their Taylor series obtains
which compactly reproduce the boost and rotation matrices as given in the previous section.
It has been stated that the general proper Lorentz transformation is a product of a boost and rotation. At
the infinitesimal level the product
is commutative because only linear terms are required (products like (θ·J)(ζ·K) and (ζ·K)(θ·J) count as higher
order terms and are negligible). Taking the limit as before leads to the finite transformation in the form of an
exponential
The converse is also true, but the decomposition of a finite general Lorentz transformation into such factors is
nontrivial. In particular,
because the generators do not commute. For a description of how to find the factors of a general Lorentz
transformation in terms of a boost and a rotation in principle(this usually does not yield an intelligible expression in
terms of generators J and K), see Wigner rotation. If, on the other hand, the decomposition is given in terms of the
generators, and one wants to find the product in terms of the generators, then the Baker–Campbell–Hausdorff
formula applies.
The Lie algebra so(3,1)
Lorentz generators can be added together, or multiplied by real numbers, to obtain more Lorentz generators. In other
words, the set of all Lorentz generators
together with the operations of ordinary matrix addition and multiplication of a matrix by a number, forms a vector
space over the real numbers.[nb 7] The generators Jx, Jy, Jz, Kx, Ky, Kz form a basis set of V, and the components of the
axis-angle and rapidity vectors, θx, θy, θz, ζx, ζy, ζz, are the coordinates of a Lorentz generator with respect to this
basis.[nb 8]
Three of the commutation relations of the Lorentz generators are
where the bracket [A, B] = AB − BA is known as the commutator, and the other relations can be found by
taking cyclic permutations of x, y, z components (i.e. change x to y, y to z, and z to x, repeat).
These commutation relations, and the vector space of generators, fulfill the definition of the Lie algebra . In
summary, a Lie algebra is defined as a vector space V over a field of numbers, and with a binary operation [ , ] (called
a Lie bracket in this context) on the elements of the vector space, satisfying the axioms of bilinearity, alternatization,
and the Jacobi identity. Here the operation [ , ] is the commutator which satisfies all of these axioms, the vector space
is the set of Lorentz generators V as given previously, and the field is the set of real numbers.
Linking terminology used in mathematics and physics: A group generator is any element of the Lie algebra. A group
parameter is a component of a coordinate vector representing an arbitrary element of the Lie algebra with respect to
some basis. A basis, then, is a set of generators being a basis of the Lie algebra in the usual vector space sense.
The exponential map from the Lie algebra to the Lie group,
provides a one-to-one correspondence between small enough neighborhoods of the origin of the Lie algebra and
neighborhoods of the identity element of the Lie group. It the case of the Lorentz group, the exponential map is just
the matrix exponential. Globally, the exponential map is not one-to-one, but in the case of the Lorentz group, it
is surjective (onto). Hence any group element can be expressed as an exponential of an element of the Lie algebra.
Improper transformations
which negates the time coordinate only, because these transformations leave the spacetime interval invariant.
Here I is the 3d identity matrix. These are both symmetric, they are their own inverses (see involution (mathematics)),
and each have determinant −1. This latter property makes them improper transformations.
If Λ is a proper orthochronous Lorentz transformation, then TΛ is improper antichronous, PΛ is improper
orthochronous, and TPΛ = PTΛ is proper antichronous.
Inhomogeneous Lorentz group

Two other spacetime symmetries have not been accounted for. For the spacetime interval to be invariant, it can be
shown[16] that it is necessary and sufficient for the coordinate transformation to be of the form
where C is a constant column containing translations in time and space. If C ≠ 0, this is an inhomogeneous Lorentz
transformation or Poincaré transformation.[17][18] If C = 0, this is a homogeneous Lorentz transformation. Poincaré
transformations are not dealt further in this article.
Tensor formulation
Representation theory of the Lorentz group
For the notation used, see Ricci calculus.
Contravariant vectors
Writing the general matrix transformation of coordinates as the matrix equation
allows the transformation of other physical quantities that cannot be expressed as four-vectors;
e.g., tensors or spinors of any order in 4d spacetime, to be defined. In the corresponding tensor index notation, the
above matrix expression is
where lower and upper indices label covariant and contravariant components respectively,[19] and the summation
convention is applied. It is a standard convention to use Greek indices that take the value 0 for time components, and
1, 2, 3 for space components, while Latin indices simply take the values 1, 2, 3, for spatial components. Note that the
first index (reading left to right) corresponds in the matrix notation to a row index. The second index corresponds to
the column index.
The transformation matrix is universal for all four-vectors, not just 4-dimensional spacetime coordinates. If A is any
four-vector, then in tensor index notation
Alternatively, one writes
in which the primed indices denote the indices of A in the primed frame. This notation cuts risk of exhausting the
Greek alphabet roughly in half.
For a general n-component object one may write
where Π is the appropriate representation of the Lorentz group, an n×n matrix for every Λ. In this case, the indices
should not be thought of as spacetime indices (sometimes called Lorentz indices), and they run from 1 to n. E.g.,
if X is a bispinor, then the indices are called Dirac indices.
Covariant vectors
There are also vector quantities with covariant indices. They are generally obtained from their corresponding objects
with contravariant indices by the operation of lowering an index; e.g.,
where η is the metric tensor. (The linked article also provides more information about what the operation of raising
and lowering indices really is mathematically.) The inverse of this transformation is given by
where, when viewed as matrices, ημν is the inverse of ημν. As it happens, ημν = ημν. This is referred to as raising an
index. To transform a covariant vector Aμ, first raise its index, then transform it according to the same rule as for
contravariant 4-vectors, then finally lower the index;
I. e., it is the (μ, ν)-component of the inverse Lorentz transformation. One defines (as a matter of notation),
Now for a subtlety. The implied summation on the right hand side of
is running over a row index of the matrix representing Λ−1. Thus, in terms of matrices, this transformation should be
thought of as the inverse transpose of Λ acting on the column vector Aμ. That is, in pure matrix notation,
This means exactly that covariant vectors (thought of as column matrices) transform according to the dual
representation of the standard representation of the Lorentz group. This notion generalizes to general
representations, simply replace Λ with Π(Λ).
Tensors
If A and B are linear operators on vector spaces U and V, then a linear operator A ⊗ B may be defined on
the tensor product of U and V, denoted U ⊗ V according to
From this it is immediately clear that if u and v are a four-vectors in V, then u ⊗ v ∈ T2V ≡ V ⊗ V transforms as
The second step uses the bilinearity of the tensor product and the last step defines a 2-tensor on component form, or
rather, it just renames the tensor u ⊗ v.
These observations generalize in an obvious way to more factors, and using the fact that a general tensor on a vector
space V can be written as a sum of a coefficient (component!) times tensor products of basis vectors and basis
covectors, one arrives at the transformation law for any tensor quantity T. It is given by
where Λχ′ψ is defined above. This form can generally be reduced to the form for general n-component objects given
above with a single matrix (Π(Λ)) operating on column vectors. This latter form is sometimes preferred; e.g., for the
electromagnetic field tensor.
Transformation of the electromagnetic field
Lorentz boost of an electric charge, the charge is at rest in one frame or the other.
Main article: Electromagnetic tensor

Lorentz boost of an electric charge, the charge is at rest one of the frames.
Further information: classical electromagnetism and special relativity
Lorentz transformations can also be used to illustrate that the magnetic field B and electric field E are simply different
aspects of the same force — the electromagnetic force, as a consequence of relative motion between electric
charges and observers.[22] The fact that the electromagnetic field shows relativistic effects becomes clear by carrying
out a simple thought experiment
An observer measures a charge at rest in frame F. The observer will detect a static electric
field. As the charge is stationary in this frame, there is no electric current, so the observer does
not observe any magnetic field.
 The other observer in frame F′ moves at velocity v relative to F and the charge. This observer
sees a different electric field because the charge moves at velocity −v in their rest frame. The
motion of the charge corresponds to an electric current, and thus the observer in frame F′ also
sees a magnetic field.
The electric and magnetic fields transform differently from space and time, but exactly the same way as relativistic
angular momentum and the boost vector.
The electromagnetic field strength tensor is given by
in SI units. In relativity, the Gaussian system of units is often preferred over SI units, even in texts whose main choice
of units is SI units, because in it the electric field E and the magnetic induction B have the same units making the
appearance of the electromagnetic field tensor more natural.[24] Consider a Lorentz boost in the x-direction. It is given
by[25]
where the field tensor is displayed side by side for easiest possible reference in the manipulations below.
The general transformation law (T3) becomes
For the magnetic field one obtains
For the electric field results
Here, β = (β, 0, 0) is used. These results can be summarized by
and are independent of the metric signature. For SI units, substitute E → E⁄c. Misner, Thorne & Wheeler (1973) refer
to this last form as the 3 + 1 view as opposed to the geometric view represented by the tensor expression
and make a strong point of the ease with which results that are difficult to achieve using the 3 + 1 view can be
obtained and understood. Only objects that have well defined Lorentz transformation properties (in fact
under any smooth coordinate transformation) are geometric objects. In the geometric view, the electromagnetic field
is a six-dimensional geometric object in spacetime as opposed to two interdependent, but separate, 3-vector fields
in space and time. The fields E (alone) and B (alone) do not have well defined Lorentz transformation properties. The
mathematical underpinnings are equations (T1) and (T2) that immediately yield (T3). One should note that the primed
and unprimed tensors refer to the same event in spacetime. Thus the complete equation with spacetime dependence
is
Length contraction has an effect on charge density ρ and current density J, and time dilation has an effect on the rate
of flow of charge (current), so charge and current distributions must transform in a related way under a boost. It turns
out they transform exactly like the space-time and energy-momentum four-vectors,
or, in the simpler geometric view,
One says that charge density transforms as the time component of a four-vector. It is a rotational scalar. The current
density is a 3-vector.
The Maxwell equations are invariant under Lorentz transformations.
Spinors
Equation (T1) hold unmodified for any representation of the Lorentz group, including the bispinor representation.
In (T2) one simply replaces all occurrences of Λ by the bispinor representation Π(Λ),
The above equation could, for instance, be the transformation of a state in Fock space describing two free electrons.
Transformation of general fields
A general noninteracting multi-particle state (Fock space state) in quantum field theory transforms according to the
rule
where W(Λ, p) is the Wigner rotation and D(j) is the (2j + 1)-dimensional representation of SO(3).

APPARATUS;
GREGORIAN CALENDAR
. The Gregorian calendar is the most widely used civil calendar in the world.[1][2][Note 1] It is named
after Pope Gregory XIII, who introduced it in October 1582. The calendar spaces leap years to
make the average year 365.2425 days long, approximating the 365.2422 day tropical year that
is determined by the Earth's revolution around the Sun. The rule for leap years is as follows:
Every year that is exactly divisible by four is a leap year, except for years that are exactly
divisible by 100, but these centurial years are leap years if they are exactly divisible by 400.
For example, the years 1700, 1800, and 1900 are not leap years, but the year 2000 is. [3]
The calendar was developed as a correction to the Julian calendar,[4] shortening the average

year by 0.0075 days to stop the drift of the calendar with respect to the equinoxes. To deal
with the 10 days' difference (between calendar and reality) that this drift had already reached,
the date was advanced so that 4 October 1582 was followed by 15 October 1582. There was
no discontinuity in the cycle of weekdays or of the Anno Domini calendar era.[Note 2] The reform
also altered the lunar cycle used by the Church to calculate the date for Easter (computus),
restoring it to the time of the year as originally celebrated by the early Church.
The reform was adopted initially by the Catholic countries of Europe and their overseas
possessions. Over the next three centuries, the Protestant and Eastern Orthodox countries
also moved to what they called the Improved calendar, with Greece being the last European
country to adopt the calendar in 1923.[6] To unambiguously specify a date during the
transition period, dual dating is sometimes used to specify both Old Style and New Style dates.
Due to globalization in the 20th century, the calendar has also been adopted by most non-
Western countries for civil purposes. The calendar era carries the alternative secular name of
"Common Era".
2019 in various calendars
Gregorian calendar 2019
MMXIX
Ab urbe condita 2772
Armenian calendar 1468

ԹՎՌՆԿԸ
Assyrian calendar 6769

Bahá'í calendar 175–176
Balinese saka calendar 1940–1941
Bengali calendar 1426
Berber calendar 2969
British Regnal year 67 Eliz. 2 – 68 Eliz. 2
Buddhist calendar 2563
Burmese calendar 1381
Byzantine calendar 7527–7528
Chinese calendar 戊戌年 (Earth Dog)
4715 or 4655
— to —
己亥年 (Earth Pig)
4716 or 4656
Coptic calendar 1735–1736
Discordian calendar 3185
Ethiopian calendar 2011–2012
Hebrew calendar 5779–5780
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat 2075–2076

- Shaka Samvat 1940–1941
- Kali Yuga 5119–5120
Holocene calendar 12019
Igbo calendar 1019–1020
Iranian calendar 1397–1398
Islamic calendar 1440–1441
Japanese calendar Heisei 31
(平成３１年)
Javanese calendar 1952–1953
Juche calendar 108
Julian calendar Gregorian minus 13 days
Korean calendar 4352
Minguo calendar ROC 108
民國 108 年
Nanakshahi calendar 551
Thai solar calendar 2562
Tibetan calendar 阳土狗年

(male Earth-Dog)
2145 or 1764 or 992
— to —
阴土猪年
(female Earth-Pig)
2146 or 1765 or 993
Unix time 1546300800 – 1577836799
DESCRIPTION OF GREGORIAN CALLENDER.

The Gregorian calendar is a solar calendar with 12 months of 28–31 days each. A regular
Gregorian year consists of 365 days, but in certain years known as leap years, a leap day is
added to February. Gregorian years are identified by consecutive year numbers. [7] A calendar
date is fully specified by the year (numbered according to a calendar era, in this case Anno
Domini or Common Era), the month (identified by name or number), and the day of the month
(numbered sequentially starting from 1). Although the calendar year currently runs from 1
January to 31 December, at previous times year numbers were based on a different starting
point within the calendar (see the "beginning of the year" section below).
A year is divided into twelve months
No
Name Length in days
.
1 January 31
2 February 28 (29 in leap years)
3 March 31
4 April 30
5 May 31
6 June 30
7 July 31
8 August 31
9 September 30
10 October 31
11 November 30
12 December 31
In the Julian calendar, a leap year occurred every 4 years, and the leap day was inserted by
doubling 24 February. The Gregorian reform omitted a leap day in three of every 400 years
and left the leap day unchanged. However, it has become customary in the modern period to
number the days sequentially with no gaps, and 29 February is typically considered as the
leap day. Before the 1969 revision of the Roman Calendar, the Roman Catholic Church delayed
February feasts after the 23rd by one day in leap years; Masses celebrated according to the
previous calendar still reflect this delay. [8]
Calendar cycles repeat completely every 400 years, which equals 146,097 days. [Note 3][Note 4] Of
these 400 years, 303 are regular years of 365 days and 97 are leap years of 366 days. A mean
calendar year is 365 97/400 days = 365.2425 days, or 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes and 12
seconds.[
Pope Gregory XIII in an early 17th-century engraving
Esaias van Hulsen - Engraving, 30.5 x 18.6 cm / Sheet: 32.1 x 20.6 cm. Retrieved from the
Smithsonian Institution Libraries,Gregory XIII, Pope (1502 - 1585)
Gregory XIII, Pope (1502 - 1585)
Christopher Clavius (1538–1612), one of the main authors of the
reform
Francesco Villamena - Immediate source: http://www.sil.si.edu/digitalcollections/hst/scientific-
identity/fullsize/SIL14-C4-02a.jpg (note engraving has "CHRISTOPHORVS CLAVIVS
BAMBERGENSIS" and "Franciscus Villamoena Fe. Rome Anno 1606") Ultimate source: A 16th
century engraving after a painting by Francisco Villamena. (source for artist: [1])
Christopher Clavius (1538–1612), German mathematician and astronomer.
Gregorian reform
The Gregorian calendar was a reform of the Julian calendar. It was instituted in 1582 by Pope
Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by papal bull Inter gravissimas dated 24
February 1582.[4] The motivation for the adjustment was to bring the date for the celebration of
Easter to the time of year in which it was celebrated when it was introduced by the early
Church. The error in the Julian calendar (its assumption that there are exactly 365.25 days in
a year) had led to the date of the equinox according to the calendar drifting from the
observed reality, and thus an error had been introduced into the calculation of the date of
Easter. Although a recommendation of the First Council of Nicaea in 325 specified that all
Christians should celebrate Easter on the same day, it took almost five centuries before
virtually all Christians achieved that objective by adopting the rules of the Church of
Alexandria (see Easter for the issues which arose).[Note 6]
Background
Computus
Because the date of Easter was tied to the Spring Equinox, the Roman Catholic Church
considered the seasonal drift in the date of Easter undesirable. The Church of Alexandria
celebrated Easter on the Sunday after the 14th day of the moon (computed using the Metonic
cycle) that falls on or after the vernal equinox, which they placed on 21 March. However, the
Church of Rome still regarded 25 March (Lady Day) as the equinox (until 342), and used a
different cycle to compute the day of the moon.[10] In the Alexandrian system, since the 14th
day of the Easter moon could fall at earliest on 21 March its first day could fall no earlier than
8 March and no later than 5 April. This meant that Easter varied between 22 March and 25
April. In Rome, Easter was not allowed to fall later than 21 April, that being the day of
the Parilia or birthday of Rome and a pagan festival. The first day of the Easter moon could
fall no earlier than 5 March and no later than 2 April.
Easter was the Sunday after the 15th day of this moon, whose 14th day was allowed to
precede the equinox. Where the two systems produced different dates there was generally a
compromise so that both churches were able to celebrate on the same day. By the 10th
century all churches (except some on the eastern border of the Byzantine Empire) had
adopted the Alexandrian Easter, which still placed the vernal equinox on 21 March,
although Bede had already noted its drift in 725—it had drifted even further by the 16th
century.[11]
Worse, the reckoned Moon that was used to compute Easter was fixed to the Julian year by
a 19-year cycle. That approximation built up an error of one day every 310 years, so by the
16th century the lunar calendar was out of phase with the real Moon by four days.
European scholars had been well aware of the calendar drift since the early medieval
period. Bede, writing in the 8th century, showed that the accumulated error in his day was
more than three days. Roger Bacon in c. 1200 estimated the error at seven or eight
days. Dante, writing c. 1300, was aware of the need of a calendar reform. The first attempt to
go forward with such a reform was undertaken by Pope Sixtus IV, who in 1475
invited Regiomontanus to the Vatican for this purpose. However, the project was interrupted
by the death of Regiomontanus shortly after his arrival in Rome.[12] The increase of
astronomical knowledge and the precision of observations towards the end of the 15th
century made the question more pressing. Numerous publications over the following
decades called for a calendar reform, among them two papers sent to the Vatican by
the University of Salamanca in 1515 and 1578,[13]but the project was not taken up again until the
1540s, and implemented only under Pope Gregory XIII (r. 1572–1585).
First page of the papal bull Inter gravissimas
Source;Pope Gregory XIII - http://www.henk-reints.nl/cal/gregcal.htm

The first page of the papal bull "Inter Gravissimas" by which Pope Gregory XIII
introduced his calendar.
Detail of the pope's tomb by Camillo Rusconi (completed 1723); Antonio Lilio is genuflecting before the
pope, presenting his printed calendar.
Source;amillo Rusconi (1658–1728); photograph de:User:Rsuessbr - Own work

Inscription on the grave of Gregory XIII, St. Peter's Basilica, gregorian calendar
Preparation
In 1545, the Council of Trent authorized Pope Paul III to reform the calendar, requiring that the
date of the vernal equinox be restored to that which it held at the time of the First Council of
Nicaea in 325 and that an alteration to the calendar be designed to prevent future drift. This
would allow for a more consistent and accurate scheduling of the feast of Easter.
In 1577, a Compendium was sent to expert mathematicians outside the reform commission
for comments. Some of these experts, including Giambattista Benedetti and Giuseppe Moleto,
believed Easter should be computed from the true motions of the sun and moon, rather than
using a tabular method, but these recommendations were not adopted. [14] The reform adopted
was a modification of a proposal made by the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius (or Lilio).[15]
Lilius's proposal included reducing the number of leap years in four centuries from 100 to 97,
by making three out of four centurial years common instead of leap years. He also produced
an original and practical scheme for adjusting the epacts of the moon when calculating the
annual date of Easter, solving a long-standing obstacle to calendar reform.
Ancient tables provided the sun's mean longitude.[16][17] The German mathematician Christopher
Clavius, the architect of the Gregorian calendar, noted that the tables agreed neither on the
time when the sun passed through the vernal equinox nor on the length of the mean tropical
year. Tycho Brahe also noticed discrepancies.[18][19]The Gregorian leap year rule (97 leap years
in 400 years) was put forward by Petrus Pitatus of Verona in 1560. He noted that it is
consistent with the tropical year of the Alfonsine tables and with the mean tropical year of
Copernicus (De revolutionibus) and Erasmus Reinhold (Prutenic tables). The three mean tropical
years in Babylonian sexagesimals as the excess over 365 days (the way they would have
been extracted from the tables of mean longitude) were 14,33,9,57 (Alfonsine), 14,33,11,12
(Copernicus) and 14,33,9,24 (Reinhold). All values are the same to two places (14:33) and this
is also the mean length of the Gregorian year. Thus Pitatus' solution would have commended
itself to the astronomers.[20]
Lilius's proposals had two components. Firstly, he proposed a correction to the length of the
year. The mean tropical year is 365.24219 days long.[21] A commonly used value in Lilius's time,
from the Alfonsine tables, is 365.2425463 days. [22] As the average length of a Julian year is
365.25 days, the Julian year is almost 11 minutes longer than the mean tropical year. The
discrepancy results in a drift of about three days every 400 years. Lilius's proposal resulted
in an average year of 365.2425 days (see Accuracy). At the time of Gregory's reform there had
already been a drift of 10 days since the Council of Nicaea, resulting in the vernal equinox
falling on 10 or 11 March instead of the ecclesiastically fixed date of 21 March, and if
unreformed it would drift further. Lilius proposed that the 10-day drift should be corrected by
deleting the Julian leap day on each of its ten occurrences over a period of forty years,
thereby providing for a gradual return of the equinox to 21 March.
Lilius's work was expanded upon by Christopher Clavius in a closely argued, 800-page
volume. He would later defend his and Lilius's work against detractors. Clavius's opinion was
that the correction should take place in one move, and it was this advice which prevailed with
Gregory.
The second component consisted of an approximation which would provide an accurate yet
simple, rule-based calendar. Lilius's formula was a 10-day correction to revert the drift since
the Council of Nicaea, and the imposition of a leap day in only 97 years in 400 rather than in 1
year in 4. The proposed rule was that years divisible by 100 would be leap years only if they
were divisible by 400 as well.
The 19-year cycle used for the lunar calendar was also to be corrected by one day every 300
or 400 years (8 times in 2500 years) along with corrections for the years that are no longer
leap years (i.e., 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100, etc.). In fact, a new method for computing the date of
Easter was introduced.
When the new calendar was put in use, the error accumulated in the 13 centuries since the
Council of Nicaea was corrected by a deletion of 10 days. The Julian calendar day Thursday,
4 October 1582 was followed by the first day of the Gregorian calendar, Friday, 15 October
1582 (the cycle of weekdays was not affected).
Adoption
Adoption of the Gregorian calendar
Although Gregory's reform was enacted in the most solemn of forms available to the Church,
the bull had no authority beyond the Catholic Church and the Papal States. The changes that
he was proposing were changes to the civil calendar, over which he had no authority. They
required adoption by the civil authorities in each country to have legal effect.
The bull Inter gravissimas became the law of the Catholic Church in 1582, but it was not
recognised by Protestant Churches, Eastern Orthodox Churches, Oriental Orthodox Churches, and
a few others. Consequently, the days on which Easter and related holidays were celebrated
by different Christian Churches again diverged.
A month after having decreed the reform, the pope with a brief of 3 April 1582 granted to
Antonio Lilio, the brother of Luigi Lilio, the exclusive right to publish the calendar for a period
of ten years. The Lunario Novo secondo la nuova riforma printed by Vincenzo Accolti, one of
the first calendars printed in Rome after the reform, notes at the bottom that it was signed
with papal authorization and by Lilio (Con licentia delli Superiori... et permissu Ant(onii) Lilij).
The papal brief was later revoked, on 20 September 1582, because Antonio Lilio proved
unable to keep up with the demand for copies.[23]
On 29 September 1582, Philip II of Spain decreed the change from the Julian to the Gregorian
calendar.[24] This affected much of Roman Catholic Europe, as Philip was at the time ruler
over Spain and Portugal as well as much of Italy. In these territories, as well as in the Polish–
Lithuanian Commonwealth[citation needed] (ruled by Anna Jagiellon) and in the Papal States, the new
calendar was implemented on the date specified by the bull, with Julian Thursday, 4 October
1582, being followed by Gregorian Friday, 15 October 1582. The Spanish and Portuguese
colonies followed somewhat later de facto because of delay in communication.[25]
Many Protestant countries initially objected to adopting a Catholic innovation; some
Protestants feared the new calendar was part of a plot to return them to the Catholic fold. For
example, the British could not bring themselves to adopt the Catholic system explicitly: the
Annexe to their Calendar (New Style) Act 1750 established a computation for the date of Easter
that achieved the same result as Gregory's rules, without actually referring to him. [26]
Britain and the British Empire (including the eastern part of what is now the United States)
adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752. Sweden followed in 1753.
Prior to 1917, Turkey used the lunar Islamic calendar with the Hegira era for general purposes
and the Julian calendar for fiscal purposes. The start of the fiscal year was eventually fixed at
1 March and the year number was roughly equivalent to the Hegira year (see Rumi calendar).
As the solar year is longer than the lunar year this originally entailed the use of "escape
years" every so often when the number of the fiscal year would jump. From 1 March 1917 the
fiscal year became Gregorian, rather than Julian. On 1 January 1926 the use of the Gregorian
calendar was extended to include use for general purposes and the number of the year
became the same as in most other countries.
Adoption of the Gregorian Calendar
1500 1600 1700 1800 1900
1582: Spain, Portugal, 1610: 1700: 'Germany',[Note 1873: 1912: China,

France, Poland, Italy, Prussia 7]
Swiss Cantons, Japan Albania
Catholic Low 1648: Alsace Protestant Low 1875: 1915: Latvia,
Countries, Luxemburg, 1682: Countries, Norway, Egypt Lithuania
and colonies Strasbourg Denmark 1896: 1916: Bulgaria
1584: Kingdom of 1752: Great Britain and Korea 1918: Russia,
Bohemia colonies Estonia
1753: Sweden and 1919: Romania,
Finland Yugoslavia[Note 8]
1923: Greece
1926: Turkey
Difference between Gregorian and Julian calendar dates

Conversion from Julian to Gregorian dates. [27]
Gregorian range Julian range Difference
From 15 October
From 5 October 1582
1582 10 days
to 18 February 1700
to 28 February 1700
From 1 March 1700 From 19 February 1700 11 days

to 28 February 1800 to 17 February 1800
From 1 March 1800 From 18 February 1800

12 days

13 days

14 days
Since the introduction of the Gregorian calendar, the difference between Gregorian and
Julian calendar dates has increased by three days every four centuries (all date ranges are
inclusive):
This section always places the intercalary day on 29 February even though it was always
obtained by doubling 24 February (the bissextum (twice sixth) or bissextile day) until the
late Middle Ages. The Gregorian calendar is proleptic before 1582 (assumed to exist before
1582).
The following equation gives the number of days (actually, dates) that the Gregorian calendar
is ahead of the Julian calendar, called the secular difference between the two calendars. A
negative difference means the Julian calendar is ahead of the Gregorian calendar. [28]
where is the secular difference and is the year using astronomical year numbering,
that is, use (year BC) − 1 for BC years. means that if the result of the division is not
an integer it is rounded down to the nearest integer. Thus during the 1900s, 1900/400 = 4,
while during the −500s, −500/400 = −2.
The general rule, in years which are leap years in the Julian calendar but not the
Gregorian, is as follows:
Up to 28 February in the calendar you are converting from add one day less or subtract
one day more than the calculated value. Remember to give February the appropriate
number of days for the calendar you are converting into. When you are subtracting days
to move from Julian to Gregorian be careful, when calculating the Gregorian equivalent of
29 February (Julian), to remember that 29 February is discounted. Thus if the calculated
value is −4 the Gregorian equivalent of this date is 24 February. [29][30]
Beginning of the year

Start numbered year Adoption of
Country
on 1 January Gregorian calendar
Gradual change from

Denmark 1700
13th to 16th centuries[31]
Holy Roman Empire (Catholic states) 1544 1583
Spain, Poland, Portugal 1556 1582

Start numbered year Adoption of
Country
on 1 January Gregorian calendar
Holy Roman Empire (Protestant

1559 1700[Note 7]
states)
Sweden 1559 1753
France 1564[33] 1582[n 1]
Southern Netherlands 1576[34] 1582
Lorraine 1579 1582[Note 9]
Dutch Republic 1583 1582
Scotland 1600[35][36] 1752
Russia 1700[37] 1918
Tuscany 1750[38][39] 1582[40]
Great Britain and the British Empire

1752[35] 1752
except Scotland
Venice 1797[41] 1582
The year used in dates during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire was the
consular year, which began on the day when consuls first entered office probably 1 May
before 222 BC, 15 March from 222 BC and 1 January from 153 BC.[42] The Julian calendar,
which began in 45 BC, continued to use 1 January as the first day of the new year. Even
though the year used for dates changed, the civil year always displayed its months in the
order January to December from the Roman Republican period until the present.
During the Middle Ages, under the influence of the Catholic Church, many Western
European countries moved the start of the year to one of several important Christian
festivals 25 December (supposed Nativity of Jesus), 25 March (Annunciation), or Easter
(France),[43] while the Byzantine Empire began its year on 1 September and Russia did so
on 1 March until 1492 when the new year was moved to 1 September. [44]
In common usage, 1 January was regarded as New Year's Day and celebrated as such,
[45]
but from the 12th century until 1751 the legal year in England began on 25 March (Lady
Day).[46] So, for example, the Parliamentary record lists the execution of Charles I on 30
January as occurring in 1648 (as the year did not end until 24 March), [47] although later
histories adjust the start of the year to 1 January and record the execution as occurring
in 1649.[48]
Most Western European countries changed the start of the year to 1 January before they
adopted the Gregorian calendar. For example, Scotland changed the start of the Scottish
New Year to 1 January in 1600 (this means that 1599 was a short year). England, Ireland
and the British colonies changed the start of the year to 1 January in 1752 (so 1751 was a
short year with only 282 days) though in England the start of the tax year remained at 25
March (O.S.), 5 April (N.S.) until 1800, when it moved to 6 April. Later in 1752 in September
the Gregorian calendar was introduced throughout Britain and the British colonies (see
the section Adoption). These two reforms were implemented by the Calendar (New Style)
Act 1750.[49]
In some countries, an official decree or law specified that the start of the year should be 1
January. For such countries a specific year when a 1 January-year became the norm can
be identified. In other countries the customs varied, and the start of the year moved back
and forth as fashion and influence from other countries dictated various customs.
Neither the papal bull nor its attached canons explicitly fix such a date, though it is
implied by two tables of saint's days, one labelled 1582 which ends on 31 December, and
another for any full year that begins on 1 January. It also specifies its epact relative to 1
January, in contrast with the Julian calendar, which specified it relative to 22 March. The
old date was derived from the Greek system: the earlier Supputatio Romana specified it
relative to 1 January.
1. ^ In 1793 France abandoned the Gregorian calendar in favour of the French Republican
Calendar. This change was reverted in 1805.
Dual dating
During the period between 1582, when the first countries adopted the Gregorian calendar,
and 1923, when the last European country adopted it, it was often necessary to indicate
the date of some event in both the Julian calendar and in the Gregorian calendar, for
example, "10/21 February 1750/51", where the dual year accounts for some countries
already beginning their numbered year on 1 January while others were still using some
other date. Even before 1582, the year sometimes had to be double dated because of the
different beginnings of the year in various countries. Woolley, writing in his biography
of John Dee (1527–1608/9), notes that immediately after 1582 English letter writers
"customarily" used "two dates" on their letters, one OS and one NS.
.[
A 16th-century portrait by an unknown artis

50]
Old Style and New Style dates

Old Style and New Style dates and Dual dating
"Old Style" (OS) and "New Style" (NS) are sometimes added to dates to identify which
calendar reference system is used for the date given. In Britain and its Colonies, where
the Calendar Act of 1750 altered the start of the year,[Note 10] and also aligned the British
calendar with the Gregorian calendar, there is some confusion as to what these terms
mean. They can indicate that the start of the Julian year has been adjusted to start on 1
January (NS) even though contemporary documents use a different start of year (OS); or
to indicate that a date conforms to the Julian calendar (OS), formerly in use in many
countries, rather than the Gregorian calendar (NS).[48][51][52][53]
Proleptic Gregorian calendar

Proleptic Gregorian calendar
Extending the Gregorian calendar backwards to dates preceding its official introduction
produces a proleptic calendar, which should be used with some caution. For ordinary
purposes, the dates of events occurring prior to 15 October 1582 are generally shown as
they appeared in the Julian calendar, with the year starting on 1 January, and no
conversion to their Gregorian equivalents. For example, the Battle of Agincourt is
universally considered to have been fought on 25 October 1415 which is Saint Crispin's
Day.
Usually, the mapping of new dates onto old dates with a start of year adjustment works
well with little confusion for events that happened before the introduction of the
Gregorian calendar. But for the period between the first introduction of the Gregorian
calendar on 15 October 1582 and its introduction in Britain on 14 September 1752, there
can be considerable confusion between events in continental western Europe and in
British domains in English language histories.
Events in continental western Europe are usually reported in English language histories
as happening under the Gregorian calendar. For example, the Battle of Blenheim is always
given as 13 August 1704. Confusion occurs when an event affects both. For
example, William III of England set sail from the Netherlands on 11 November 1688
(Gregorian calendar) and arrived at Brixham in England on 5 November 1688 (Julian
calendar).
Shakespeare and Cervantes seemingly died on exactly the same date (23 April 1616), but
Cervantes predeceased Shakespeare by ten days in real time (as Spain used the
Gregorian calendar, but Britain used the Julian calendar). This coincidence
encouraged UNESCO to make 23 April the World Book and Copyright Day.
Astronomers avoid this ambiguity by the use of the Julian day number.
For dates before the year 1, unlike the proleptic Gregorian calendar used in
the international standard ISO 8601, the traditional proleptic Gregorian calendar (like the
Julian calendar) does not have a year 0 and instead uses the ordinal numbers 1, 2, ... both
for years AD and BC. Thus the traditional time line is 2 BC, 1 BC, AD 1, and AD 2. ISO
8601 uses astronomical year numbering which includes a year 0 and negative numbers
before it. Thus the ISO 8601 time line is −0001, 0000, 0001, and 0002.
Months
The Gregorian calendar continued to employ the Julian months, which have Latinate
names and irregular numbers of days:
 January (31 days), from Latin mēnsis Iānuārius, "Month of Janus",[54] the Roman god of

gates, doorways, beginnings and endings
 February (28 days in common and 29 in leap years), from Latin mēnsis Februārius,
"Month of the Februa", the Roman festival of purgation and purification,[55]
[56]
cognate with fever,[55] the Etruscan death god Februus ("Purifier"), ] and the PIE word
for sulfur[55]
 March (31 days), from Latin mēnsis Mārtius, "Month of Mars",[57] the Roman war god[56]
 April (30 days), from Latin mēnsis Aprīlis, of uncertain meaning[58] but usually derived
from some form of the verb aperire ("to open")[59] or the name of the
goddess Aphrodite[56][63]
 May (31 days), from Latin mēnsis Māius, "Month of Maia",[64] a Roman vegetation
goddess[56] whose name is cognate with Latin magnus ("great")[64] and English major
 June (30 days), from Latin mēnsis Iūnius, "Month of Juno",[65] the Roman goddess
of marriage, childbirth, and rule[56]
 July (31 days), from Latin mēnsis Iūlius, "Month of Julius Caesar", the month of
Caesar's birth, instituted in 44 BC[66] as part of his calendrical reforms[56]
 August (31 days), from Latin mēnsis Augustus, "Month of Augustus", instituted by
Augustus in 8 BC in agreement with July and from the occurrence during the month of
several important events during his rise to power[67]
 September (30 days), from Latin mēnsis september, "seventh month", from its position
in the Roman calendar before 153 BC[68]
 October (31 days), from Latin mēnsis octōber, "eighth month",[69] from its position in
the Roman calendar before 153 BC[68]
 November (30 days), from Latin mēnsis november, "ninth month",[70] from its position in
 December (31 days), from Latin mēnsis december, "tenth month",[71] from its position in
Europeans sometimes attempt to remember the number of days in each month by
memorizing some form of the traditional verse "Thirty Days Hath September". It appears in
Latin,[72][73] Italian,[74] and French,[75] and belongs to a broad oral tradition but the earliest
currently attested form of the poem is the English marginalia inserted into a calendar of
saints c. 1425:[76][77][78]
Thirti dayes hath novembir Thirty days have November,

April june and Septembir. April, June, and September.
Of xxviij is but oon Of 28 is but one
And alle the remenaunt xxx and j[77] And all the remnant 30 and 1.
The knuckle mnemonic for the days of the months of the year
Source;Tijmen Stam / IIVQ - Own work

Image to remember how many days a month has. This pattern also correlates to the
white & black keys of the twelve notes in the musical scale on a piano. An alternative
hand mnemonic for the months in the Gregorian calendar is here:Calendar Hand
Mnemonic - Musical white keys-black keys.png
Variations appeared in Mother Goose and continue to be taught at schools. The

unhelpfulness of such involved mnemonicshas been parodied as "Thirty days hath
September / But all the rest I can't remember"[79] but it has also been called "probably the
only sixteenth-century poem most ordinary citizens know by heart".[80] A common
nonverbal alternative is the knuckle mnemonic, considering the knuckles of one's hands as
months with 31 days and the lower spaces between them as the months with fewer days.
Using two hands, one may start from either pinkie knuckle as January and count across,
omitting the space between the index knuckles (July and August). The same procedure
can be done using the knuckles of a single hand, returning from the last (July) to the first
(August) and continuing through. A similar mnemonic is to move up a piano
keyboard in semitones from an F key, taking the white keys as the longer months and the
black keys as the shorter ones.
Weeks
Main article: Seven-day week
In conjunction with the system of months there is a system of weeks. A physical or

electronic calendar provides conversion from a given date to the weekday, and shows
multiple dates for a given weekday and month. Calculating the day of the week is not very
simple, because of the irregularities in the Gregorian system. When the Gregorian
calendar was adopted by each country, the weekly cycle continued uninterrupted. For
example, in the case of the few countries that adopted the reformed calendar on the date
proposed by Gregory XIII for the calendar's adoption, Friday, 15 October 1582, the
preceding date was Thursday, 4 October 1582 (Julian calendar).
Opinions vary about the numbering of the days of the week. ISO 8601, in common use
worldwide, starts with Monday=1; printed monthly calendar grids often list Mondays in
the first (left) column of dates and Sundays in the last. In North America, the week
typically begins on Sunday and ends on Saturday.
Accuracy
The Gregorian calendar improves the approximation made by the Julian calendar by
skipping three Julian leap days in every 400 years, giving an average year of
365.2425 mean solar days long.[81] This approximation has an error of about one day per
3,030 years[82] with respect to the current value of the mean tropical year. However, because
of the precession of the equinoxes, which is not constant, and the movement of
the perihelion (which affects the Earth's orbital speed) the error with respect to
the astronomical vernal equinox is variable; using the average interval between vernal
equinoxes near 2000 of 365.24237 days[83] implies an error closer to 1 day every 7,700
years. By any criterion, the Gregorian calendar is substantially more accurate than the 1
day in 128 years error of the Julian calendar (average year 365.25 days).
In the 19th century, Sir John Herschel proposed a modification to the Gregorian calendar
with 969 leap days every 4000 years, instead of 970 leap days that the Gregorian calendar
would insert over the same period.[84] This would reduce the average year to 365.24225
days. Herschel's proposal would make the year 4000, and multiples thereof, common
instead of leap. While this modification has often been proposed since, it has never been
officially adopted.[85]
On time scales of thousands of years, the Gregorian calendar falls behind the
astronomical seasons because the slowing down of the Earth's rotation makes each day
slightly longer over time (see tidal acceleration and leap second) while the year maintains a
more uniform duration.
Calendar seasonal error
This image shows the difference between the Gregorian calendar and the astronomical
seasons.
The y-axis is the date in June and the x-axis is Gregorian calendar years.
Each point is the date and time of the June solstice in that particular year. The error shifts
by about a quarter of a day per year. Centurial years are ordinary years, unless they are
divisible by 400, in which case they are leap years. This causes a correction in the years
1700, 1800, 1900, 2100, 2200, and 2300.
For instance, these corrections cause 23 December 1903 to be the latest December
solstice, and 20 December 2096 to be the earliest solstice—about 2.35 days of variation
compared with the seasonal event.
Proposed reforms
The following are proposed reforms of the Gregorian calendar:
 Holocene calendar
 International Fixed Calendar (also called the International Perpetual calendar)
 World Calendar
 World Season Calendar
 Leap week calendars
 Pax Calendar
 Symmetry454
 Hanke–Henry Permanent Calendar
LUNAR CALENDAR.
A lunar calendar is a calendar based upon the monthly cycles of the Moon's phases (synodic months), in contrast

to solar calendars, whose annual cycles are based only directly upon the solar year. The most commonly used
calendar, the Gregorian calendar, is a solar calendar system that originally evolved out of a lunar calendar system. A
purely lunar calendar is also distinguished from a lunisolar calendar, whose lunar months are brought into alignment
with the solar year through some process of intercalation. The details of when months begin varies from calendar to
calendar, with some using new, full, or crescent moons and others employing detailed calculations.
Since each lunation is approximately 29 1⁄2 days (29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, 3 seconds, or 29.530588 days), it is
common for the months of a lunar calendar to alternate between 29 and 30 days. Since the period of twelve such
lunations, a lunar year, is only 354 days, 8 hours, 48 minutes, 34 seconds (354.367056 days), purely lunar calendars
lose around 11 days per year relative to the Gregorian calendar. In purely lunar calendars like the Islamic calendar, the
lack of intercalation causes the lunar months to cycle through all the seasons of the Gregorian year over the course
of a 33 lunar-year cycle.
Although the Gregorian calendar is in common and legal use in most countries, traditional lunar and lunisolar
calendars continue to be used throughout the Old Worldto determine religious festivals and national holidays.
Examples of such holidays include Ramadan (Islamic calendar); Easter, the Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese,
and Mongolian New Year (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Mongolian calendars); the Nepali New
Year (Nepali calendar); the Mid-Autumn Festival and Chuseok (Chinese and Korean calendars); Loi Krathong (Thai
calendar); Sunuwar calendar; Vesak/Buddha's Birthday (Buddhist calendar); Diwali (Hindu calendars); and Rosh
Hashanah (Hebrew calendar).
A Spanish lunar calendar for 2017
Fernando de Gorocica - Own work y datos del "M1 Sistema Astronómico"©.
CALENDARIO LUNAR 2017 . Las 4 fases lunares en todo el año 2017 y para observadores del hemisferio Sur.
Para cada fase se describe: día del mes, día de la semana, hora de la fase en Tiempo Universal (Greenwich) y
constelación.
History of lunar calendar

The earliest known lunar calendar was found at Warren Field in Scotland and has been dated to c. 8000 BC, during
its Mesolithic period.[1] Some scholars argue for lunar calendars still further back—Rappenglück in the marks on a c.
17,000 year-old cave painting at Lascaux and Marshack in the marks on a c. 27,000 year-old bone baton—but their
findings remain controversial.[2][3]
Lunisolar calendars
Lunisolar calendar
Most calendars referred to as "lunar" calendars are in fact lunisolar calendars. Their months are based on
observations of the lunar cycle, with intercalation being used to bring them into general agreement with the solar
year. The solar "civic calendar" that was used in ancient Egypt showed traces of its origin in the earlier lunar
calendar, which continued to be used alongside it for religious and agricultural purposes. Present-day lunisolar
calendars include the Chinese, Hindu, and Thaicalendars.
Synodic months are 29 or 30 days in length, making a lunar year of 12 months about 11 days shorter than a solar year.
Some lunar calendars do not use intercalation, such as most Islamic calendars. For those that do, such as
the Hebrew calendar, the most common form of intercalation is to add an additional month every second or third
year. Some lunisolar calendars are also calibrated by annual natural events which are affected by lunar cycles as
well as the solar cycle. An example of this is the lunar calendar of the Banks Islands, which includes three months in
which the edible palolo worm mass on the beaches. These events occur at the last quarter of the lunar month, as the
reproductive cycle of the palolos is synchronized with the moon. [4]
Start of the lunar month

Lunar and lunisolar calendars differ as to which day is the first day of the month. In some lunisolar calendars, such
as the Chinese calendar, the first day of a month is the day when an astronomical new moon occurs in a particular
time zone. In others, such as some Hindu calendars, each month begins on the day after the full moon or the new
moon. Others were based in the past on the first sighting of a lunar crescent, such as the Hebrew calendar and
the Hijri calendar.
Length of the lunar month

The length of each lunar cycle varies slightly from the average value. In addition, observations are subject to
uncertainty and weather conditions. Thus to avoid uncertainty about the calendar, there have been attempts to
create fixed arithmetical rules to determine the start of each calendar month.
The average length of the synodic month is 29.530587981 days. Thus it is convenient if months generally alternate
between 29 and 30 days (sometimes termed respectively “hollow” and “full”). The distribution
of hollow and full months can be determined using continued fractions, and examining successive approximations
for the length of the month in terms of fractions of a day. In the list below, after the number of days listed in the
numerator, an integer number of months as listed in the denominator have been completed:
Fraction Approximate duration
29/1 1 day after about 2 months
30/1 1 day after about 2 months
59/2 1 day after about 2.6 years
443/15 1 day after about 30 years
1447/49 1 day after about 3 millennia
25101/85 Not accurate due to the multi-millennial

0 change of the synodic month length.
These fractions can be used to construct a lunar calendar, or in combination with a solar calendar to produce
a lunisolar calendar. A 49-month cycle was proposed as the basis of an alternative Easter computation by Isaac
Newton around 1700.[5] The tabular Islamic calendar's 360-month cycle is equivalent to 24×15 months, minus a
correction of one day.
VENUS CALLEDAR.
Venus calendar

Definition of Venus calendar

A maya ritualistic calendar based on the lowest common factor of the
synodical revolution of the planet Venus reckoned as 584 days and the
year of 365 days
Linking the Planets and Human Life:
Venus Calendars Helped Track
Pregnancy in Neolithic Greece

Back in 4000 BC women of the ancient Aegean civilization may have used a calendar tracking the
movement of the planet Venus to follow their pregnancy milestones.
This is an intriguing explanation for the use of the so-called ‘frying pans’ left by people who lived in
Neolithic Greece. These objects have decorations of concentric circles, spirals, radial patterns, and
sometimes rowing vessels. It has been suggested that the ‘frying pan’ shape was symbolic.
Early Cycladic II "Frying Pan" - Spiral decoration with incised pubic triangle. National Museum, Athens.
( Dan Diffendale / CC BY NC SA 2.0 )
Minas Tsikritsis, a professor of space physics, believes the artifacts were used as calendars and
show astronomical calculations of the orbits of Venus, Jupiter, Mars, and the Sun. This would have
allowed the ancient people to link life events and human activity with their environment and
astronomical occurrences.
Professor Tsikritsis’ research also suggests that the Neolithic people living in what is now Greece
realized that the Earth takes 365 days to make a complete circuit around the Sun, Venus needs 584
days, and Jupiter 399.
The clear starry night and the conjunction of Venus and Jupiter provide the best background for this
photogenic severe storm going off Samos Island in Greece on 10/21/2015. (Manolis Thravalos/ CC BY SA
4.0 )
Moreover, it appears that the planet Venus was associated with the biological cycle of pregnancy.
This planet appears before sunrise for 263 days (approximately 9 moon months) and after sunset
another 265 days. This means that half of Venus’ cycle is approximately 9 months – the length of
time for a human pregnancy.
The relationship between the ‘frying pans’ and pregnancy is strengthened by the appearance of
symbols such as the female pubic triangle and uterus engraved on the artifacts. Women could have
used the calendars to check if they were pregnant and also track important moments in their
pregnancy.
Clay frying-pan vessel with incised decoration of a ship. Found at Chalandriani on Syros island. Early
Cycladic II period (Keros-Syros culture, 2800-2300 BC). (CC BY 3.0 ) and Cycladic 'frying pan' with
decoration of impressed and incised star and stamped concentric circles, and an incised female pubic triangle
above the handle. National Museum, Athens. ( Dan Diffendale / CC BY NC SA 2.0 )
This is not the only evidence of people having had advanced astronomical knowledge in the area at
that time – the famous Antikythera Mechanism demonstrates this information as well.
Venus Sign Tables 1930-2020 (Times given:

EST)
Cafe Astrology .com

Jan 23, 1930 7:22 PM Venus enters Aquarius
Feb 16, 1930 5:11 PM Venus enters Pisces
Mar 12, 1930 5:34 PM Venus enters Aries
Apr 5, 1930 9:57 PM Venus enters Taurus
Apr 30, 1930 8:37 AM Venus enters Gemini
May 25, 1930 12:36 AM Venus enters Cancer
June 19, 1930 12:39 AM Venus enters Leo
July 14, 1930 12:34 PM Venus enters Virgo
Aug 9, 1930 8:54 PM Venus enters Libra
Sep 7, 1930 12:05 AM Venus enters Scorpio
Oct 11, 1930 9:45 PM Venus enters Sagittarius
Nov 22, 1930 2:44 AM Venus Rx enters Scorpio
Jan 3, 1931 3:03 PM Venus enters Sagittarius
Feb 6, 1931 7:25 AM Venus enters Capricorn
Mar 5, 1931 4:46 PM Venus enters Aquarius
Mar 31, 1931 2:04 PM Venus enters Pisces
Apr 25, 1931 9:10 PM Venus enters Aries
May 20, 1931 10:38 PM Venus enters Taurus
June 14, 1931 7:04 PM Venus enters Gemini
July 9, 1931 11:35 AM Venus enters Cancer
Aug 2, 1931 11:29 PM Venus enters Leo
Aug 27, 1931 6:42 AM Venus enters Virgo
Sep 20, 1931 10:15 AM Venus enters Libra
Oct 14, 1931 10:45 AM Venus enters Scorpio
Nov 7, 1931 11:32 AM Venus enters Sagittarius
Dec 1, 1931 12:29 PM Venus enters Capricorn
Dec 25, 1931 2:44 PM Venus enters Aquarius
Jan 18, 1932 8:52 PM Venus enters Pisces
Feb 12, 1932 11:58 AM Venus enters Aries
Mar 8, 1932 9:07 PM Venus enters Taurus
Apr 4, 1932 7:19 PM Venus enters Gemini
July 13, 1932 6:33 AM Venus Rx enters Gemini
Sep 8, 1932 3:45 PM Venus enters Leo
Oct 7, 1932 12:46 AM Venus enters Virgo
Nov 1, 1932 11:01 PM Venus enters Libra
Nov 26, 1932 7:06 PM Venus enters Scorpio
Dec 21, 1932 2:43 AM Venus enters Sagittarius
Jan 14, 1933 4:56 AM Venus enters Capricorn
Feb 7, 1933 5:30 AM Venus enters Aquarius
Mar 3, 1933 6:24 AM Venus enters Pisces
Mar 27, 1933 8:58 AM Venus enters Aries
May 14, 1933 10:47 PM Venus enters Gemini
June 8, 1933 9:01 AM Venus enters Cancer
July 2, 1933 9:29 PM Venus enters Leo
July 27, 193312:45 PM Venus enters Virgo
Aug 21, 1933 8:23 AM Venus enters Libra
Nov 6, 1933 11:02 AM Venus enters Capricorn
Apr 6, 1934 4:23 AM Venus enters Pisces
May 6, 1934 4:54 AM Venus enters Aries
June 2, 1934 6:11 AM Venus enters Taurus
June 28, 19345:38 AM Venus enters Gemini
July 23, 1934 2:22 PM Venus enters Cancer
Aug 17, 1934 11:45 AM Venus enters Leo
Sep 10, 1934 11:32 PM Venus enters Virgo
Oct 5, 1934 2:56 AM Venus enters Libra
Nov 21, 1934 11:59 PM Venus enters Sagittarius
Feb 25, 1935 7:30 PM Venus enters Aries
Mar 22, 1935 5:29 AM Venus enters Taurus
May 11, 1935 6:01 PM Venus enters Cancer
June 7, 1935 3:11 PM Venus enters Leo
Nov 9, 1935 11:34 AM Venus enters Libra
Dec 8, 1935 9:36 AM Venus enters Scorpio
Jan 3, 1936 9:16 AM Venus enters Sagittarius
Feb 21, 1936 11:14 PM Venus enters Aquarius
May 5, 1936 6:53 AM Venus enters Taurus
Aug 10, 1936 10:11 PM Venus enters Virgo
Sep 28, 1936 2:36 PM Venus enters Scorpio
Oct 23, 1936 1:00 AM Venus enters Sagittarius
Nov 16, 1936 1:36 PM Venus enters Capricorn
Dec 11, 1936 9:51 AM Venus enters Aquarius
Apr 13, 1937 11:19 PM Venus Rx enters Aries
July 7, 19375:13 PM Venus enters Gemini
Aug 4, 1937 4:14 PM Venus enters Cancer
Sep 25, 1937 12:03 AM Venus enters Virgo
Dec 6, 1937 1:06 PM Venus enters Sagittarius
Dec 30, 1937 9:42 AM Venus enters Capricorn
Jan 23, 1938 6:16 AM Venus enters Aquarius
Feb 16, 1938 4:00 AM Venus enters Pisces
Apr 5, 1938 8:46 AM Venus enters Taurus
June 18, 193812:37 PM Venus enters Leo
July 14, 1938 1:44 AM Venus enters Virgo
Mar 5, 1939 8:29 AM Venus enters Aquarius
Apr 25, 1939 9:28 AM Venus enters Aries
June 14, 1939 6:11 AM Venus enters Gemini
July 8, 193910:25 PM Venus enters Cancer
Sep 19, 1939 9:02 PM Venus enters Libra
Oct 13, 1939 9:41 PM Venus enters Scorpio
Jan 18, 1940 9:00 AM Venus enters Pisces
July 5, 1940 11:17 AM Venus Rx enters Gemini
Sep 8, 1940 11:59 AM Venus enters Leo
Oct 6, 1940 4:10 PM Venus enters Virgo
Nov 26, 1940 7:32 AM Venus enters Scorpio
Jan 13, 1941 4:29 PM Venus enters Capricorn
May 14, 1941 8:36 AM Venus enters Gemini
June 7, 1941 6:53 PM Venus enters Cancer
July 2, 1941 7:33 AM Venus enters Leo
May 5, 1942 9:26 PM Venus enters Aries
June 1, 1942 7:26 PM Venus enters Taurus
Oct 4, 1942 1:58 PM Venus enters Libra
Apr 7, 1945 2:15 PM Venus Rx enters Aries
July 7, 1945 11:20 AM Venus enters Gemini
Aug 4, 1945 5:59 AM Venus enters Cancer
June 29, 1948 2:58 AM Venus Rx enters Gemini
Dec 7, 1951 7:19 PM Venus enters Scorpio
Oct 24, 1954 -6:53 AM Venus enters Sagittarius
Oct 27, 1954 5:42 AM Venus Rx enters Scorpio
Feb 5, 1955 8:15 PM Venus enters Capricorn
June 23, 1956 7:10 AM Venus Rx enters Gemini
Sep 20, 1959 -1:59 AM Venus Rx enters Leo
July 6, 1961 11:32 PM Venus enters Gemini
June 17, 1964 1:17 PM Venus Rx enters Gemini
Feb 6, 1966 7:46 AM Venus Rx enters Capricorn
Sep 9, 1967 6:58 AM Venus Rx enters Leo
June 11, 1972 3:08 PM Venus Rx enters Gemini
Jan 29, 1974 2:51 PM Venus Rx enters Capricorn
Sep 2, 1975 10:34 AM Venus Rx enters Leo
Aug 27, 1983 6:43 AM Venus Rx enters Leo
May 27, 1988 2:36 AM Venus Rx enters Gemini
Jan 16, 1990 10:23 AM Venus Rx enters Capricorn
Apr 5, 2006 8:21 PM Venus enters Pisces
Aug 8, 2007 8:10 PM Venus Rx enters Leo
Apr 11, 2009 7:47 AM Venus Rx enters Pisces
Nov 7, 2010 10:06 PM Venus Rx enters Libra
May 9, 201311:03 AM Venus enters Gemini
Apr 5, 2014 4:31 PM Venus enters Pisces
Jun 23, 2014 8:33 AM Venus enters Gemini
Jul 18, 2014 10:06 AM Venus enters Cancer
Mar 20, 2015 6:45 PM Sun enters Aries
Jun 5, 2015 11:33 AM Venus enters Leo
Jul 18, 2015 6:38 PM Venus enters Virgo
Jul 31, 2015 11:27 AM Venus Rx enters Leo
Jun 17, 2016 3:39 PM Venus enters Cancer
Jul 12, 2016 1:34 AM Venus enters Leo
Nov 12, 2016 9:39 AM Mer enters Sagittarius
Jan 3, 2017 2:46 AM Venus enters Pisces|
Apr 2, 2017 8:25 PM Venus Rx enters Pisces
Jun 6, 2017 3:26 AM Venus enters Taurus
Jul 4, 2017 8:11 PM Venus enters Gemini
Jun 13, 2018 5:54 PM Venus enters Leo
Jul 9, 2018 10:32 PM Venus enters Virgo
Oct 31, 2018 3:42 PM Venus Rx enters Libra
Jun 8, 2019 9:37 PM Venus enters Gemini
Jul 27, 2019 9:54 PM Venus enters Leo
TRANSIT OF VENUS.
A transit of Venus across the Sun takes place when the Astronomical object Venus passes

directly between the Sun and a superior planet, becoming visible against (and hence obscuring a
small portion of) the solar disk. During a transit, Venus can be seen from Earth as a small black dot
moving across the face of the Sun. The duration of such transits is usually several hours (the transit
of 2012 lasted 6 hours and 40 minutes). A transit is similar to a solar eclipse by the Moon. While the
diameter of Venus is more than three times that of the Moon, Venus appears smaller, and travels
more slowly across the face of the Sun, because it is much farther away from Earth.
Transits of Venus are among the rarest of predictable astronomical phenomena. [1] They occur in a
pattern that generally repeats every 243 years, with pairs of transits eight years apart separated by
long gaps of 121.5 years and 105.5 years. The periodicity is a reflection of the fact that the orbital
periods of Earth and Venus are close to 8:13 and 243:395 commensurabilities.[2][3]
The last transit of Venus was on 5 and 6 June 2012, and was the last Venus transit of the 21st
century; the prior transit took place on 8 June 2004. The previous pair of transits were in December
1874 and December 1882. The next transits of Venus will take place on 10–11 December 2117, and
8 December 2125.[4][5][6]
Venus transits are historically of great scientific importance as they were used to gain the first
realistic estimates of the size of the Solar System. Observations of the 1639 transit, combined with
the principle of parallax, provided an estimate of the distance between the Sun and the Earth that
was more accurate than any other up to that time. The 2012 transit provided scientists with a
number of other research opportunities, particularly in the refinement of techniques to be used in the
search for exoplanets.
171 ångströms (17.1 nm)
Continuous visible spectrum
False-color ultraviolet and visible spectrum images of the 2012 transit of Venus, as taken from NASA's Solar
Dynamics Observatory
Image of the 2012 transit taken by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatoryspacecraft
Conjunctions
Diagram of transits of Venus and the angle between the orbital planes of Venus and Earth
Venus, with an orbit inclined by 3.4° relative to the Earth's, usually appears to pass under (or over)
the Sun at inferior conjunction.[7] A transit occurs when Venus reaches conjunction with the Sun at or
near one of its nodes—the longitude where Venus passes through the Earth's orbital plane
(the ecliptic)—and appears to pass directly across the Sun. Although the inclination between these
two orbital planes is only 3.4°, Venus can be as far as 9.6° from the Sun when viewed from the Earth
at inferior conjunction.[8] Since the angular diameter of the Sun is about half a degree, Venus may
appear to pass above or below the Sun by more than 18 solar diameters during an ordinary
conjunction.[7]
Sequences of transits usually repeat every 243 years. After this period of time Venus and Earth have
returned to very nearly the same point in their respective orbits. During the Earth's 243 sidereal
orbital periods, which total 88,757.3 days, Venus completes 395 sidereal orbital periods of 224.701
days each, equal to 88,756.9 Earth days. This period of time corresponds to 152 synodic periods of
Venus.[9]
The pattern of 105.5, 8, 121.5 and 8 years is not the only pattern that is possible within the 243-year
cycle, because of the slight mismatch between the times when the Earth and Venus arrive at the
point of conjunction. Prior to 1518, the pattern of transits was 8, 113.5 and 121.5 years, and the
eight inter-transit gaps before the AD 546 transit were 121.5 years apart. The current pattern will
continue until 2846, when it will be replaced by a pattern of 105.5, 129.5 and 8 years. Thus, the 243-
year cycle is relatively stable, but the number of transits and their timing within the cycle will vary
over time.[9][10] Since the 243:395 Earth:Venus commensurability is only approximate, there are
different sequences of transits occurring 243 years apart, each extending for several thousand
years, which are eventually replaced by other sequences. For instance, there is a series which
ended in 541 BC, and the series which includes 2117 only started in AD 1631. [9]
History of observation
"Venus Tablet of Ammisaduqa", a cuneiform clay tablet of astrological forecasts from the Neo-Assyrian period
Ancient and medieval history

Ancient Indian, Greek, Egyptian, Babylonian and Chinese observers knew of Venus and recorded
the planet's motions. The early Greek astronomers called Venus by two names—Hesperus the
evening star and Phosphorus the morning star.[11] Pythagoras is credited with realizing they were the
same planet. There is no evidence that any of these cultures knew of the transits. Venus was
important to ancient American civilizations, in particular for the Maya, who called it Noh Ek, "the
Great Star" or Xux Ek, "the Wasp Star";[12] they embodied Venus in the form of the
god Kukulkán (also known as or related to Gukumatz and Quetzalcoatl in other parts of Mexico). In
the Dresden Codex, the Maya charted Venus's full cycle, but despite their precise knowledge of its
course, there is no mention of a transit.[13] However, it has been proposed that frescoes found
at Mayapan may contain a pictorial representation of the 12th or 13th century transits. [14]
The Persian polymath Avicenna claimed to have observed Venus as a spot on the Sun. This is
possible, as there was a transit on May 24, 1032, but Avicenna did not give the date of his
observation, and modern scholars have questioned whether he could have observed the transit from
his location at that time; he may have mistaken a sunspot for Venus. He used his transit observation
to help establish that Venus was, at least sometimes, below the Sun in Ptolemaic cosmology, [15] i.e.
the sphere of Venus comes before the sphere of the Sun when moving out from the Earth in the
prevailing geocentric model.[16][17]
1639 – first scientific observation
Jeremiah Horrocks makes the first observation of the transit of Venus in 1639, as imagined by the
artist W. R. Lavender in 1903
Transit of Venus, 1639
In 1627, Johannes Kepler became the first person to predict a transit of Venus, by predicting the
1631 event. His methods were not sufficiently accurate to predict that the transit would not be visible
in most of Europe, and as a consequence, nobody was able to use his prediction to observe the
phenomenon.[18]
The first recorded observation of a transit of Venus was made by Jeremiah Horrocks from his home
at Carr House in Much Hoole, near Preston in England, on 4 December 1639 (24 November under
the Julian calendar then in use in England). His friend, William Crabtree, also observed this transit
from Broughton, near Manchester.[19] Kepler had predicted transits in 1631 and 1761 and a near miss
in 1639. Horrocks corrected Kepler's calculation for the orbit of Venus, realized that transits of Venus
would occur in pairs 8 years apart, and so predicted the transit of 1639. [20] Although he was uncertain
of the exact time, he calculated that the transit was to begin at approximately 15:00. Horrocks
focused the image of the Sun through a simple telescope onto a piece of paper, where the image
could be safely observed. After observing for most of the day, he was lucky to see the transit as
clouds obscuring the Sun cleared at about 15:15, just half an hour before sunset. Horrocks's
observations allowed him to make a well-informed guess as to the size of Venus, as well as to make
an estimate of the mean distance between the Earth and the Sun — the astronomical unit. He
estimated that distance to be 59.4 million miles (95.6 Gm, 0.639 AU) – about two thirds of the actual
distance of 93 million miles (149.6 million km), but a more accurate figure than any suggested up to
that time. The observations were not published until 1661, well after Horrocks's death. [20]
1761 and 1769
Diagram from Edmund Halley's 1716 paper to the Royal Society showing how the Venus transit could be used
to calculate the distance between the Earth and the Sun
Measuring Venus transit times to determine solar parallax
Account of George III's observations of the 1769 transit.
1769 Transit of Venus observed from Tahiti
In 1663 Scottish mathematician James Gregory had suggested in his Optica Promota that

observations of a transit of the planet Mercury, at widely spaced points on the surface of the Earth,
could be used to calculate the solar parallax and hence the astronomical unit using triangulation.
Aware of this, a young Edmond Halley made observations of such a transit on 28 October O.S. 1677
from Saint Helena but was disappointed to find that only Richard Towneley in Burnley,
Lancashire had made another accurate observation of the event whilst Gallet, at Avignon, simply
recorded that it had occurred. Halley was not satisfied that the resulting calculation of the solar
parallax at 45" was accurate.
In a paper published in 1691, and a more refined one in 1716, he proposed that more accurate
calculations could be made using measurements of a transit of Venus, although the next such event
was not due until 1761.[21][22] Halley died in 1742, but in 1761 numerous expeditions were made to
various parts of the world so that precise observations of the transit could be made in order to make
the calculations as described by Halley—an early example of international scientific collaboration.
[23]
This collaboration was, however, underpinned by competition, the British, for example, being
spurred to action only after they heard of French plans from Joseph-Nicolas Delisle. In an attempt to
observe the first transit of the pair, astronomers from Britain, Austria and France traveled to
destinations around the world, including Siberia, Newfoundland and Madagascar. [24] Most managed
to observe at least part of the transit, but successful observations were made in particular
by Jeremiah Dixon and Charles Mason at the Cape of Good Hope.[25] Less successful, at Saint
Helena, were Nevil Maskelyne and Robert Waddington, although they put the voyage to good use by
trialling the lunar-distance method of finding longitude.[26]
Diagrams from Mikhail Lomonosov's "The Appearance of Venus on the Sun, Observed at the St. Petersburg
Imperial Academy of Sciences On 26 May 1761"
Diagram from David Rittenhouse's observations of the 1769 transit of Venus
The existence of an atmosphere on Venus was concluded by Mikhail Lomonosov on the basis of his
observation of the transit of Venus of 1761 from the Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg.
[27]
He used a two-lens achromat refractor and a weak solar filter (smoked glass) and reported seeing
a bump or bulge of light ("Lomonosov's arc") off the solar disc as Venus began to exit the Sun.
Lomonosov attributed that effect to refraction of solar rays through an atmosphere; he also reported
the appearance of a sliver around the part of Venus that had just entered the Sun's disk during the
initial phase of transit.[28] In 2012, Pasachoff and Sheehan[29] reported, based on knowing what
Venus's atmosphere would look like because of Pasachoff and Schneider's observations of the 2004
transit of Venus, that what Lomonosov reported was not Venus's atmosphere. To make a decisive
test, a group of researchers carried out experimental reconstruction of Lomonosov's discovery of
Venusian atmosphere with antique refractors during the transit of Venus on 5–6 June 2012. [30] They
observed the "Lomonosov's arc" and other aureole effects due to Venus's atmosphere and
concluded that Lomonosov's telescope was fully adequate to the task of detecting the arc of light
around Venus off the Sun's disc during ingress or egress if proper experimental techniques as
described by Lomonosov in his 1761 paper are employed. [31][32]
For the 1769 transit, scientists traveled to Tahiti,[33] Norway, and locations in North America including
Canada, New England, and San José del Cabo (Baja California, then under Spanish control). The
Czech astronomer Christian Mayer was invited by Catherine the Great to observe the transit in Saint
Petersburg with Anders Johan Lexell, while other members of the Russian Academy of
Sciences went to eight other locations in the Russian Empire, under the general coordination
of Stepan Rumovsky.[34] George III of the United Kingdomhad the King's Observatory built near his
summer residence at Richmond Lodge for him and his royal astronomer Stephen Demainbray to
observe the transit.[35][36] The Hungarian astronomer Maximilian Hell and his assistant János
Sajnovics traveled to Vardø, Norway, delegated by Christian VII of Denmark. William
Wales and Joseph Dymond made their observation in Hudson Bay, Canada, for the Royal Society.
Observations were made by a number of groups in the British colonies in America. In Philadelphia,
the American Philosophical Society erected three temporary observatories and appointed a
committee, of which David Rittenhouse was the head. Observations were made by a group led by
Dr. Benjamin West in Providence, Rhode Island,[37] and published in 1769.[38] The results of the
various observations in the American colonies were printed in the first volume of the American
Philosophical Society's Transactions, published in 1771.[39] Comparing the North American
observations, William Smith published in 1771 a best value of the solar parallax of 8.48 to 8.49 arc-
seconds,[40] which corresponds to an Earth-Sun distance of 24,000 times the Earth's radius, about
3% different from the correct value.
Observations were also made from Tahiti by James Cook and Charles Green at a location still
known as "Point Venus".[41] This occurred on the first voyage of James Cook,[42] after which Cook
explored New Zealand and Australia. This was one of five expeditions organised by the Royal
Society and the Astronomer Royal Nevil Maskelyne.
Jean-Baptiste Chappe d'Auteroche went to San José del Cabo in what was then New Spain to
observe the transit with two Spanish astronomers (Vicente de Doz and Salvador de Medina). For his
trouble he died in an epidemic of yellow fever there shortly after completing his observations.[43]Only
9 of 28 in the entire party returned home alive.[44]
The "black drop effect" as recorded during the 1769 transit

The 1882 transit of Venus
The unfortunate Guillaume Le Gentil spent eight years travelling in an attempt to observe either of

the transits. His unsuccessful journey led to him losing his wife and possessions and being declared
dead (his efforts became the basis of the play Transit of Venus by Maureen Hunter).[24] Under the
influence of the Royal Society Ruđer Bošković travelled to Istanbul, but arrived too late.[45]
Unfortunately, it was impossible to time the exact moment of the start and end of the transit because
of the phenomenon known as the "black drop effect". This effect was long thought to be due to
Venus's thick atmosphere, and initially it was held to be the first real evidence that Venus had an
atmosphere. However, recent studies demonstrate that it is an optical effect caused by the smearing
of the image of Venus by turbulence in the Earth's atmosphere or imperfections in the viewing
apparatus.[46][47]
In 1771, using the combined 1761 and 1769 transit data, the French astronomer Jérôme
Lalande calculated the astronomical unit to have a value of 153 million kilometers (±1 million km).
The precision was less than had been hoped for because of the black drop effect, but still a
considerable improvement on Horrocks's calculations. [24]
Maximilian Hell published the results of his expedition in 1770, in Copenhagen. [48] Based on the
results of his own expedition, and of Wales and Cook, in 1772 he presented another calculation of
the astronomical unit: 151.7 million kilometers.[49][50] Lalande queried the accuracy and authenticity of
the Hell expedition, but later he retreated in an article of Journal des sçavans, in 1778.
1874 and 1882

Transit of Venus, 1874 and Transit of Venus, 1882
Transit observations in 1874 and 1882 allowed this value to be refined further. Three expeditions—
from Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States—were sent to the Kerguelen
Archipelago for the 1874 observations.[51] The American astronomer Simon Newcomb combined the
data from the last four transits, and he arrived at a value of about 149.59 million kilometers (±0.31
million kilometers). Modern techniques, such as the use of radio telemetry from space probes, and
of radar measurements of the distances to planets and asteroids in the Solar System, have allowed
a reasonably accurate value for the astronomical unit (AU) to be calculated to a precision of about
±30 meters. As a result, the need for parallax calculations has been superseded. [24][47]
2004 and 2012

Transit of Venus, 2004 and Transit of Venus, 2012
Transit of Venus from Degania A, Israel, 2004
Solar Dynamics Observatory Ultra-high Definition View of the 2012 Transit of Venus
This visualization shows the orbital paths of Venus and Earth that led to this rare alignment on 5–6 June 2012
A number of scientific organizations headed by the European Southern Observatory (ESO)

organized a network of amateur astronomers and students to measure Earth's distance from the Sun
during the transit.[52] The participants' observations allowed a calculation of the astronomical unit (AU)
of 149,608,708 km ± 11,835 km which had only a 0.007% difference to the accepted value. [53]
There was a good deal of interest in the 2004 transit as scientists attempted to measure the pattern
of light dimming as Venus blocked out some of the Sun's light, in order to refine techniques that they
hope to use in searching for extrasolar planets.[47][54] Current methods of looking for planets orbiting
other stars only work for a few cases: planets that are very large (Jupiter-like, not Earth-like),
whose gravity is strong enough to wobble the star sufficiently for us to detect changes in proper
motion or Doppler shift changes in radial velocity; Jupiter or Neptune sized planets very close to their
parent star whose transit causes changes in the luminosity of the star; or planets which pass in front
of background stars with the planet-parent star separation comparable to the Einstein ring and
cause gravitational microlensing.[55] Measuring light intensity during the course of a transit, as the
planet blocks out some of the light, is potentially much more sensitive, and might be used to find
smaller planets.[47] However, extremely precise measurement is needed: for example, the transit of
Venus causes the amount of light received from the Sun to drop by a fraction of 0.001 (that is, to
99.9% of its nominal value), and the dimming produced by small extrasolar planets will be similarly
tiny.[56]
The 2012 transit provided scientists numerous research opportunities as well, in particular in regard
to the study of exoplanets. Research of the 2012 Venus transit includes:[57][58][59]
 Measuring dips in a star's brightness caused by a known planet transiting the Sun will help
astronomers find exoplanets. Unlike the 2004 Venus transit, the 2012 transit occurred during an
active phase of the 11-year activity cycle of the Sun, and it is likely to give astronomers practice
in picking up a planet's signal around a "spotty" variable star.
 Measurements made of the apparent diameter of Venus during the transit, and comparison
with its known diameter, will give scientists an idea of how to estimate exoplanet sizes.
 Observation made of the atmosphere of Venus simultaneously from Earth-based telescopes
and from the Venus Express gives scientists a better opportunity to understand the intermediate
level of Venus's atmosphere than is possible from either viewpoint alone. This will provide new
information about the climate of the planet.
 Spectrographic data taken of the well-known atmosphere of Venus will be compared to
studies of exoplanets whose atmospheres are thus far unknown.
 The Hubble Space Telescope, which cannot be pointed directly at the Sun, used
the Moon as a mirror to study the light that had passed through the atmosphere of Venus in
order to determine its composition. This will help to show whether a similar technique could be
used to study exoplanets.
Past and future transits

NASA maintains a catalog of Venus transits covering the period 2000 BCE to 4000 CE. [60] Currently,
transits occur only in June or December (see table) and the occurrence of these events slowly drifts,
becoming later in the year by about two days every 243-year cycle. [61] Transits usually occur in pairs,
on nearly the same date eight years apart. This is because the length of eight Earth years is almost
the same as 13 years on Venus, so every eight years the planets are in roughly the same relative
positions. This approximate conjunction usually results in a pair of transits, but it is not precise
enough to produce a triplet, since Venus arrives 22 hours earlier each time. The last transit not to be
part of a pair was in 1396. The next will be in 3089; in 2854 (the second of the 2846/2854 pair),
although Venus will just miss the Sun as seen from the Earth's equator, a partial transit will be visible
from some parts of the southern hemisphere.[62]
Thus after 243 years the transits of Venus return. The 1874 transit is a member of the 243-year
cycle #1. The 1882 transit is a member of #2. The 2004 transit is a member of #3 and the 2012
transit is a member of #4. The 2117 transit is a member of #1 and so on. However, the ascending
node (December transits) of the orbit of Venus moves backwards after each 243 years so the transit
of 2854 is the last member of series #3 instead of series #1. The descending node (June transits)
moves forwards, so the transit of 3705 is the last member of #2. From −125,000 till +125,000 there
are only about ten 243-year series at both nodes regarding all the transits of Venus in this very long
time-span, because both nodes of the orbit of Venus move back and forward in time as seen from
the Earth.
Past transits of Venus
Date(s) of Time (UTC) Notes Transi

transit t path
(HM
Nautic
al
Alman
ac
Office)
Start Mid End
23 November 1396 15:45 19:27 23:09 Last transit not part of a pair [1]
22:46 01:56 05:07

25–26 May 1518 [2]
25 May 26 May 26 May
Last transit before invention

23 May 1526 16:12 19:35 21:48 [3]
of telescope
7 December 1631 03:51 05:19 06:47 Predicted by Kepler [4]
First transit observed

4 December 1639 14:57 18:25 21:54 [5]
by Horrocks and Crabtree
Lomonosov, Chappe d'Auteroche and
others observe from
Russia; Mason and Dixon observe
6 June 1761 02:02 05:19 08:37 [6]
from the Cape of Good Hope. John
Winthrop observes from St. John's,
Newfoundland[63]
Cook sent to Tahiti to observe the

19:15 22:25 01:35 transit, Chappe to San José del
3–4 June 1769 [7]
3 June 3 June 4 June Cabo, Baja California and Maximilian
Hell to Vardø, Norway.
9 December 1874 01:49 04:07 06:26 Pietro Tacchini leads expedition to [8]

Muddapur, India. A French expedition
goes to New Zealand's Campbell
Island and a British expedition travels
to Hawaii.
John Philip Sousa composes a march,

6 December 1882 13:57 17:06 20:15 the "Transit of Venus", in honor of the [9]
transit.
Various media networks globally

8 June 2004 05:13 08:20 11:26 broadcast live video of the Venus [10]
transit.
Visible in its entirety from the Pacific

and Eastern Asia, with the beginning of
the transit visible from North America
5–6 June 2012 and the end visible from Europe. First
transit while a spacecraft orbits Venus.
22:09 01:29 04:49

[11]
5 June 6 June 6 June
Future transits of Venus
Date(s) of Time (UTC) Notes Transi

transit t path
(HM
Nautic
al
Alman
ac
Office)
Start Mid End
Visible in entirety in eastern China,

23:58 02:48 05:38
Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, and
10–11 December 10 11 11
Australia. Partly visible on extreme [12]
2117 Decem Decem Decem
U.S. West Coast, and in India, most of
ber ber ber
Africa, and the Middle East.
Visible in entirety in South America and

8 December 2125 13:15 16:01 18:48 the eastern U.S. Partly visible in [13]
Western U.S., Europe, and Africa.
Visible in entirety in Africa, Europe, and

the Middle East. Partly visible in East
11 June 2247 08:42 11:33 14:25 [14]
Asia and Indonesia, and in North and
South America.
Visible in entirety in Russia, India,

China, and western Australia. Partly
9 June 2255 1:08 4:38 08:08 [15]
visible in Africa, Europe, and the
western U.S.
22:32 1:44 04:56 Visible in entirety in Australia and most

12–13 December 12 13 13 of Indonesia. Partly visible in Asia,
[16]
2360 Decem Decem Decem Africa, and the western half of the
ber ber ber Americas.
Visible in entirety in South America,

western Africa, and the U.S. East
10 December 2368 12:29 14:45 17:01 [17]
Coast. Partly visible in Europe, the
western U.S., and the Middle East.
Visible in entirety through most of the

Americas, western Africa, and Europe.
12 June 2490 11:39 14:17 16:55 [18]
Partly visible in eastern Africa, the
Middle East, and Asia.
Visible in entirety through most of
Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and
10 June 2498 03:48 07:25 11:02 [19]
eastern Africa. Partly visible in eastern
Americas, Indonesia, and Australia.
Over longer periods of time, new series of transits will start and old series will end. Unlike the saros
series for lunar eclipses, it is possible for a transit series to restart after a hiatus. The transit series
also vary much more in length than the saros series.
Grazing and simultaneous transits

Sometimes Venus only grazes the Sun during a transit. In this case it is possible that in some areas
of the Earth a full transit can be seen while in other regions there is only a partial transit (no second
or third contact). The last transit of this type was on 6 December 1631, and the next such transit will
occur on 13 December 2611.[9] It is also possible that a transit of Venus can be seen in some parts of
the world as a partial transit, while in others Venus misses the Sun. Such a transit last occurred on
19 November 541 BC, and the next transit of this type will occur on 14 December 2854. [9] These
effects occur due to parallax, since the size of the Earth affords different points of view with slightly
different lines of sight to Venus and the Sun. It can be demonstrated by closing an eye and holding a
finger in front of a smaller more distant object; when you open the other eye and close the first, the
finger will no longer be in front of the object.
The simultaneous occurrence of a transit of Mercury and a transit of Venus does occur, but
extremely infrequently. Such an event last occurred on 22 September 373,173 BC and will next
occur on 26 July 69,163, and again on 29 March 224,508.[64][65] The simultaneous occurrence of
a solar eclipse and a transit of Venus is currently possible, but very rare. The next solar eclipse
occurring during a transit of Venus will be on 5 April 15,232.[64] The last time a solar eclipse occurred
during a transit of Venus was on 1 November 15,607 BC.[66] The day after the Venerean transit of 3
June 1769 there was a total solar eclipse,[67] which was visible in Northern America, Europe and
Northern Asia
COSMIC CALLENDAR.
Cosmic Calendar is a method to visualize the chronology of the universe, scaling its current age of
13.8 billion years to a single year in order to help intuit it for pedagogical purposes in science
education or popular science.
A graphical view of the Cosmic Calendar, featuring the months of the year, days of December, and the final
minute.
The
In this visualization, the Big Bang took place at the beginning of January 1 at midnight, and the
current moment maps onto the end of December 31 just before midnight. [1] At this scale, there are
437.5 years per second, 1.575 million years per hour, and 37.8 million years per day.
The concept was popularized by Carl Sagan in his book The Dragons of Eden (1977) and on his
television series Cosmos.[2] Sagan goes on to extend the comparison in terms of surface area,
explaining that if the Cosmic Calendar is scaled to the size of a football field, then "all of human
history would occupy an area the size of [his] hand". [3]
The Cosmic Year

The Cosmic Calendar shows the time-scale relationship of the universe and all events on
Earth as plotted along a single 12-month, 365-day, year:
Cosmology
Date Bya(Billion Years Ago) Event
1 Jan 13.8 Big Bang, as seen through cosmic background radiation

14 Jan 13.1 Oldest known Gamma Ray Burst
22 Jan 12.85 First galaxies form[4]
16 Mar 11 Milky Way Galaxy formed
12
8.8 Milky Way Galaxy disk formed
May
2 Sep 4.57 formation of the Solar System
6 Sep 4.4 Oldest rocks known on Earth
Date in year calculated from formula

T(days) = 365 days * 0.100/13.797 ( 1- T_Gya/13.797 )
Evolution of life on Earth
Bya(Billion Years
Date Event
Ago)
First known "remains of biotic life" found in 4.1 billion-year-old rocks

14 Sep 4.1
in Western Australia.[5][6]
21 Sep 3.8 First Life (Prokaryotes)[7][8][9]
30 Sep 3.4 Photosynthesis
29 Oct 2.4 Oxygenation of Atmosphere
9 Nov 2 Complex Cells (Eukaryotes)
5 Dec 0.8 First Multicellular Life[10]

7 Dec 0.67 Simple Animals
14 Dec 0.55 Arthropods (ancestors of insects, arachnids)
17 Dec 0.5 Fish and Proto-amphibians
20 Dec 0.45 Land Plants
21 Dec 0.4 Insects and Seeds
22 Dec 0.36 Amphibians
23 Dec 0.3 Reptiles
24 Dec 0.25 Permian-Triassic Extinction Event, 90% of Species Die Out
25 Dec 0.23 Dinosaurs
26 Dec 0.2 Mammals
27 Dec 0.15 Birds
28 Dec 0.13 Flowers
30 Dec,
0.065 Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, Non-avian Dinosaurs Die Out[11]
06:24
Human evolution
Date / time mya(Million Years Ago) Event
30 Dec 65 Primates
31 Dec, 06:05 15 Apes
31 Dec, 14:24 12.3 Hominids
31 Dec, 22:24 2.5 Primitive Humans and Stone Tools
31 Dec, 23:44 0.4 Domestication of Fire
31 Dec, 23:52 0.2 Anatomically Modern Humans
31 Dec, 23:55 0.11 Beginning of Most Recent Glacial Period
31 Dec, 23:58 0.035 Sculpture and Painting
31 Dec,
0.012 Agriculture
23:59:32
History begins
kya(Thousand
Date / time Event
Years Ago)
31 Dec,
12.0 End of the Ice Age
23:59:33
31 Dec,
8.3 Flooding of Doggerland
23:59:41
31 Dec,
6.0 Chalcolithic
23:59:46
31 Dec,
5.5 Early Bronze Age; Proto-writing; Building of Stonehenge Cursus
23:59:47
31 Dec, First Dynasty of Egypt, Early Dynastic Period in Sumer, Beginning of Indus

5.0
23:59:48 Valley Civilisation
31 Dec,
4.5 Alphabet, Akkadian Empire, Wheel
23:59:49
31 Dec,
4.0 Code of Hammurabi, Middle Kingdom of Egypt
23:59:51
31 Dec,
3.5 Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age; Minoan eruption
23:59:52
31 Dec,
3.0 Iron Age; Beginning of Classical Antiquity
23:59:53
Buddha, Mahavira, Zoroaster, Confucius, Qin Dynasty, Classical
31 Dec, Greece, Ashokan
2.5
23:59:54 Empire, Vedas Completed, Euclidean geometry, Archimedean Physics, Roman
Republic
31 Dec, Ptolemaic astronomy, Roman Empire, Christ, Invention of Numeral 0, Gupta

2.0
23:59:55 Empire
31 Dec,
1.5 Muhammad, Maya civilization, Song Dynasty, Rise of Byzantine Empire
23:59:56
31 Dec, 1.0 Mongol Empire, Maratha Empire, Crusades, Christopher Columbus Voyages to

23:59:58 the Americas, Renaissance in Europe, Classical Music to the Time of Johann
Sebastian Bach
The current second
kya(Thousand Years
Date / time Event
Ago)
31 Dec,
0.5 Modern History; the last 437.5 years before present.
23:59:59
Future
Future of the Earth and Solar System ("Year 2")[edit]
kyr(Thousand years), myr (Million years),

Date / time Event
and Byr (billion years)
1 Jan,
0.5 Anthropocene Epoch
00:00:01
1 Jan,
10.0 Antares explodes into a supernova
00:00:23
1 Jan,
20.0 Chernobyl finally becomes safe
00:00:50
1 Jan, The Arecibo message finally reaches the M13

20.0
00:00:57 cluster
1 Jan,
50.0 Niagara Falls finally erodes away
00:01:54
1 Jan, Proper motion makes all constellations

100.0
00:03:48 unrecognizable
1 Jan,
300.0 WR 104 explodes
00:11:24
1 Jan,
500.0 Earth likely hit by 1 km asteroid
00:19:02
1 Jan,
1.0 Pyramids of Giza erode away
00:38:05
1 Jan,
7.2 Mount Rushmore erodes away
04:34:17
3 Jan 100.00 Saturn loses its rings
5 Jan 180.00 Earth's day becomes one hour longer
7 Jan 240.00 Solar System completes one galactic year
16 Jan 600.00 Solar eclipses no longer possible
Global surface temperatures reach 1330 deg C,

16 Apr 4.0
hot enough to melt lead
28 Jul 7.9 Sun destroys the Earth
Future of the Universe ("Year 3" and beyond)
Date / time Byr (billion years) and above Event
Year 8, 1 Apr 100.0 Galaxies disappear beyond light horizon
Year 7247, 13 Dec 100 trillion Star formation ends

Year 72,479, 11
1 quadrillion Sun cools down to -268 deg C
Jul
Year 7.94*10^35 3*10^43 Black Hole Era
Year 4.54*10^98 1.7*10^98 Dark Era
Year 10^1500 Iron stars
Year 10^10^50 Boltzmann brain appears
Year 10^10^78 Last black holes evaporate
Year 10^10^120 Final entropy state
Year 10^10^10^56 Possible new Big Bang occurs
RAW MATERIALS,
.
Drinking Water
Water is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is
the main constituent of Earth's streams, lakes, and oceans, and the fluids of most
living organisms. It is vital for all known forms of life, even though it provides
no calories or organic nutrients. Its chemical formula is H2O, meaning that each of
its molecules contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms, connected by covalent bonds.
Water is the name of the liquid state of H2O at standard ambient temperature and pressure. It
forms precipitation in the form of rain and aerosols in the form of fog. Clouds are formed from
suspended droplets of water and ice, its solid state. When finely divided, crystalline ice may
precipitate in the form of snow. The gaseous state of water is steam or water vapor. Water
moves continually through the water
cycle of evaporation, transpiration(evapotranspiration), condensation, precipitation, and runoff,
usually reaching the sea.
Water covers 71% of the Earth's surface, mostly in seas and oceans. [1] Small portions of water
occur as groundwater (1.7%), in the glaciers and the ice caps of Antarctica and Greenland
(1.7%), and in the air as vapor, clouds (formed of ice and liquid water suspended in air),
and precipitation (0.001%).[2][3]
Water plays an important role in the world economy. Approximately 70% of the freshwater
used by humans goes to agriculture.[4] Fishing in salt and fresh water bodies is a major
source of food for many parts of the world. Much of long-distance trade of commodities (such
as oil and natural gas) and manufactured products is transported by boats through seas,
rivers, lakes, and canals. Large quantities of water, ice, and steam are used for cooling and
heating, in industry and homes. Water is an excellent solvent for a wide variety of chemical
substances; as such it is widely used in industrial processes, and in cooking and washing.
Water is also central to many sports and other forms of entertainment, such as
swimming, pleasure boating, boat racing, surfing, sport fishing, and diving.
Water in two states: liquid (including the clouds, which are examples of aerosols), and solid (ice).
Etymology
The word "water" comes from Old English "wæter", from Proto-Germanic "*watar" (source also
of Old Saxon "watar", Old Frisian "wetir", Dutch "water", Old High
German "wazzar", German "Wasser", Old Norse "vatn", Gothic "wato"), from Proto-
Indoeuropean "*wod-or", suffixed form of root "*wed-" ("water"; "wet").[5]
Chemical and physical properties

Main article: Properties of water
See also: Water (data page) and Water model
Water (H
2O) is a polar inorganic compound that is at room temperature a tasteless and odorless liquid,
nearly colorless with a hint of blue. This simplest hydrogen chalcogenide is by far the most

studied chemical compound and is described as the "universal solvent" for its ability to
dissolve many substances.[6][7] This allows it to be the "solvent of life".[8] It is the only common
substance to exist as a solid, liquid, and gas in normal terrestrial conditions.[9]
States
Water is a liquid at the temperatures and pressures that are most adequate for life.
Specifically, at a standard pressure of 1 atm, water is a liquid between 0 and 100 °C (32 and
212 °F). Increasing the pressure slightly lowers the melting point, which is about −5 °C (23 °F)
at 600 atm and −22 °C (−8 °F) at 2100 atm. This effect is relevant, for example, to ice skating, to
the buried lakes of Antarctica, and to the movement of glaciers. (At pressures higher than 2100
atm the melting point rapidly increases again, and ice takes several exotic forms that do not
exist at lower pressures.)
Increasing the pressure has a more dramatic effect on the boiling point, that is about 374 °C
(705 °F) at 220 atm. This effect is important in, among other things, deep-sea hydrothermal
vents and geysers, pressure cooking, and steam engine design. At the top of Mount Everest,
where the atmospheric pressure is about 0.34 atm, water boils at 68 °C (154 °F).
At very low pressures (below about 0.006 atm), water cannot exist in the liquid state and
passes directly from solid to gas by sublimation—a phenomenon exploited in the freeze
drying of food. At very high pressures (above 221 atm), the liquid and gas states are no longer
distinguishable, a state called supercritical steam.
Water also differs from most liquids in that it becomes less dense as it freezes. The maximum
density of water in its liquid form (at 1 atm) is 1,000 kg/m3 (62.43 lb/cu ft); that occurs at
3.98 °C (39.16 °F).[10] The density of ice is 917 kg/m3 (57.25 lb/cu ft).[11][12] Thus, water expands 9%
in volume as it freezes, which accounts for the fact that ice floats on liquid water.
The details of the exact chemical nature of liquid water are not well understood; some
theories suggest that the unusual behaviour of water is due to the existence of 2 liquid
states.[10][13][14][15]
Liquid water, showing droplets and air bubbles caused by the drops
SOURCE; David Santaolalla from León, spain - Brindis
Brindis
Snowflakes by Wilson Bentley, 1902

SOURCE;Wilson Bentley - Plate XIX of "Studies among the Snow Crystals ... " by Wilson Bentley,
"The Snowflake Man." From Annual Summary of the "Monthly Weather Review" for 1902.
Snow flakes by Wilson Bentley. Bentley was a bachelor farmer whose hobby was
photographing snow flakes. ; Image ID: wea02087, Historic NWS Collection ;
Location: Jericho, Vermont ; Photo Date: 1902 Winter
Taste and odor
Pure water is usually described as tasteless and odorless, although humans have specific
sensors that can feel the presence of water in their mouths,[16] and frogs are known to be able
to smell it.[17] However, water from ordinary sources (including bottled mineral water) usually
has many dissolved substances, that may give it varying tastes and odors. Humans and other
animals have developed senses that enable them to evaluate the potability of water by
avoiding water that is too salty or putrid.[18]
Color and appearance

The apparent color of natural bodies of water (and swimming pools) is often determined more
by dissolved and suspended solids, or by reflection of the sky, than by water itself.
Light in the visible electromagnetic spectrum can traverse a couple meters of pure water (or
ice) without significant absorption, so that it looks transparent and colorless.[19] Thus aquatic
plants, algae, and other photosynthetic organisms can live in water up to hundreds of meters
deep, because sunlight can reach them. Water vapour is essentially invisible as a gas.
Through a thickness of 10 meters (33 ft) or more, however, the intrinsic color of water (or ice)
is visibly turquoise (greenish blue), as its absorption spectrum has a sharp minimum at the
corresponding color of light (1/227 m−1 at 418 nm). The color becomes increasingly stronger
and darker with increasing thickness. (Practically no sunlight reaches the parts of the oceans
below 1,000 meters (3,300 ft) of depth.) Infrared and ultraviolet light, on the other hand, is
strongly absorbed by water.
The refraction index of liquid water (1.333 at 20 °C (68 °F)) is much higher than that of air (1.0),
similar to those of alkanes and ethanol, but lower than those
of glycerol(1.473), benzene (1.501), carbon disulfide (1.627), and common types of glass (1.4 to
1.6). The refraction index of ice (1.31) is lower than that of liquid water.
Polarity and hydrogen bonding

Since the water molecule is not linear and the oxygen atom has a higher electronegativity than
hydrogen atoms, it is a polar molecule, with an electrical dipole moment: the oxygen atom
carries a slight negative charge, whereas the hydrogen atoms are slightly positive. Water is a
good polar solvent, that dissolves many salts and hydrophilic organic molecules such as
sugars and simple alcohols such as ethanol. Water also dissolves many gases, such as
oxygen and carbon dioxide—the latter giving the fizz of carbonated beverages, sparkling
winesand beers. In addition, many substances in living organisms, such
as proteins, DNA and polysaccharides, are dissolved in water. The interactions between water
and the subunits of these biomacromolecules shape protein folding, DNA base pairing, and
other phenomena crucial to life (hydrophobic effect).
Many organic substances (such as fats and oils and alkanes) are hydrophobic, that is, insoluble
in water. Many inorganic substances are insoluble too, including most metal oxides, sulfides,
and silicates.
Because of its polarity, a molecule of water in the liquid or solid state can form up to
four hydrogen bonds with neighboring molecules. These bonds are the cause of water's
high surface tension[20] and capillary forces. The capillary action refers to the tendency of water
to move up a narrow tube against the force of gravity. This property is relied upon by
all vascular plants, such as trees.[21]
The hydrogen bonds are also the reason why the melting and boiling points of water are
much higher than those of other analogous compounds like hydrogen sulfide (H
2S). They also explain its exceptionally high specific heat capacity (about 4.2 J/g/K), heat of
fusion (about 333 J/g), heat of vaporization (2257 J/g), and thermal conductivity (between 0.561

and 0.679 W/m/K). These properties make water more effective at moderating Earth's climate,
by storing heat and transporting it between the oceans and the atmosphere. The hydrogen
bonds of water are of moderate strength, around 23 kJ/mol (compared to a covalent O-H
bond at 492 kJ/mol). Of this, it is estimated that 90% of the hydrogen bond is attributable to
electrostatics, while the remaining 10% reflects partial covalent character. [22]
See also: Chemical bonding of H2O
Model of hydrogen bonds (1) between molecules of water.
Capillary action of water compared to mercury. Note that the menisci of the two liquids curve in the
opposite direction.
Impact from a water drop causes an upward "rebound" jet surrounded by circular capillary waves.
Electrical conductivity and electrolysis

Pure water has a low electrical conductivity, which increases with the dissolution of a small
amount of ionic material such as common salt.
Liquid water can be split into the elements hydrogen and oxygen by passing an electric
current through it—a process called electrolysis. The decomposition requires more energy
input than the heat released by the inverse process (285.8 kJ/mol, or 15.9 MJ/kg).[23]
Mechanical properties
Liquid water can be assumed to be incompressible for most purposes: its compressibility
ranges from 4.4 to 5.1×10−10 Pa−1 in ordinary conditions.[24] Even in oceans at 4 km depth, where
the pressure is 400 atm, water suffers only a 1.8% decrease in volume. [25]
The viscosity of water is about 10−3 Pa·s or 0.01 poise at 20 °C (68 °F), and the speed of sound in
liquid water ranges between 1,400 and 1,540 meters per second (4,600 and 5,100 ft/s)
depending on temperature. Sound travels long distances in water with little attenuation,
especially at low frequencies (roughly 0.03 dB/km for 1 kHz), a property that is exploited
by cetaceans and humans for communication and environment sensing (sonar).[26]
Reactivity
Metallic elements which are more electropositive than hydrogen such
as lithium, sodium, calcium, potassium and caesium displace hydrogen from water,
forming hydroxides and releasing hydrogen. At high temperatures, carbon reacts with steam
to form carbon monoxide.
On Earth
Hydrology and Water distribution on Earth
Hydrology is the study of the movement, distribution, and quality of water throughout the
Earth. The study of the distribution of water is hydrography. The study of the distribution and
movement of groundwater is hydrogeology, of glaciers is glaciology, of inland waters
is limnology and distribution of oceans is oceanography. Ecological processes with hydrology
are in focus of ecohydrology.
The collective mass of water found on, under, and over the surface of a planet is called
the hydrosphere. Earth's approximate water volume (the total water supply of the world) is
1.338 billion cubic kilometers (321×106 cu mi).[2]
Liquid water is found in bodies of water, such as an ocean, sea, lake, river, stream, canal,
pond, or puddle. The majority of water on Earth is sea water. Water is also present in the
atmosphere in solid, liquid, and vapor states. It also exists as groundwater in aquifers.
Water is important in many geological processes. Groundwater is present in most rocks, and
the pressure of this groundwater affects patterns of faulting. Water in the mantle is
responsible for the melt that produces volcanoes at subduction zones. On the surface of the
Earth, water is important in both chemical and physical weathering processes. Water, and to a
lesser but still significant extent, ice, are also responsible for a large amount of sediment
transport that occurs on the surface of the earth. Deposition of transported sediment forms
many types of sedimentary rocks, which make up the geologic record of Earth history.
Water covers 71% of the Earth's surface; the oceans contain 96.5% of the Earth's water. The Antarctic
ice sheet, which contains 61% of all fresh water on Earth, is visible at the bottom. Condensed
atmospheric water can be seen as clouds, contributing to the Earth's albedo.
SOURCE; NASA/Apollo 17 crew; taken by either Harrison Schmitt or Ron Evans -

https://web.archive.org/web/20160112123725/http://grin.hq.nasa.gov/ABSTRACTS/GPN-2000-
001138.html (image link); see
alsohttps://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_329.html
"The Blue Marble" is a famous photograph of the Earth taken on December 7, 1972, by
the crew of the Apollo 17spacecraft en route to the Moon at a distance of about 29,000
kilometres (18,000 mi). It shows Africa, Antarctica, and the Arabian Peninsula.
Water cycle
Main article: Water cycle
Water moves perpetually through each of these regions in the water cycle consisting of

following transfer processes:
 evaporation from oceans and other water bodies into the air and transpiration from land
plants and animals into air.
 precipitation, from water vapor condensing from the air and falling to earth or ocean.
 runoff from the land usually reaching the sea.
Most water vapor over the oceans returns to the oceans, but winds carry water vapor over
land at the same rate as runoff into the sea, about 47 Tt per year. Over land, evaporation and
transpiration contribute another 72 Tt per year. Precipitation, at a rate of 119 Tt per year over
land, has several forms: most commonly rain, snow, and hail, with some contribution
from fog and dew.[27] Dew is small drops of water that are condensed when a high density of
water vapor meets a cool surface. Dew usually forms in the morning when the temperature is
the lowest, just before sunrise and when the temperature of the earth's surface starts to
increase.[28] Condensed water in the air may also refractsunlight to produce rainbows.
Water runoff often collects over watersheds flowing into rivers. A mathematical model used to
simulate river or stream flow and calculate water quality parameters is a hydrological transport
model. Some water is diverted to irrigation for agriculture. Rivers and seas offer opportunity
for travel and commerce. Through erosion, runoff shapes the environment creating
river valleys and deltas which provide rich soil and level ground for the establishment of
population centers. A flood occurs when an area of land, usually low-lying, is covered with
water. It is when a river overflows its banks or flood comes from the sea. A drought is an
extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply.
This occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation.
THE WATER CYCLE.
Water cycle
The water cycle (known scientifically as the hydrologic cycle) refers to the continuous
exchange of water within the hydrosphere, between the atmosphere, soil water, surface
water, groundwater, and plants.
SOURCE; John M. Even / USGS - USGS - http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycleprint.html (English
Wikipedia, original upload 27 April 2005 by Brian0918 en:Image:Water cycle.png)
Water cycle
Fresh water storage

Some runoff water is trapped for periods of time, for example in lakes. At high altitude, during
winter, and in the far north and south, snow collects in ice caps, snow packs and glaciers.
Water also infiltrates the ground and goes into aquifers. This groundwater later flows back to
the surface in springs, or more spectacularly in hot springs and geysers. Groundwater is also
extracted artificially in wells. This water storage is important, since clean, fresh water is
essential to human and other land-based life. In many parts of the world, it is in short supply.
Sea water and tides

Seawater and Tides
Sea water contains about 3.5% sodium chloride on average, plus smaller amounts of other
substances. The physical properties of sea water differ from fresh water in some important
respects. It freezes at a lower temperature (about −1.9 °C (28.6 °F)) and its density increases
with decreasing temperature to the freezing point, instead of reaching maximum density at a
temperature above freezing. The salinity of water in major seas varies from about 0.7% in
the Baltic Sea to 4.0% in the Red Sea. (The Dead Sea, known for its ultra-high salinity levels of
between 30–40%, is really a salt lake.)
Tides are the cyclic rising and falling of local sea levels caused by the tidal forces of the Moon
and the Sun acting on the oceans. Tides cause changes in the depth of the marine
and estuarine water bodies and produce oscillating currents known as tidal streams. The
changing tide produced at a given location is the result of the changing positions of the
Moon and Sun relative to the Earth coupled with the effects of Earth rotation and the
local bathymetry. The strip of seashore that is submerged at high tide and exposed at low tide,
the intertidal zone, is an important ecological product of ocean tides.
Water resources
The Bay of Fundy at high tide and low tide. At low tide, many rocks are exposed and the boat in the
picture is grounded.
SOURCE; © Samuel Wantman / Wikimedia Commons

The bay of Fundy at low tide, 1972. As I recall, this was in New Brunswick, not far
from the w:Fundy National Park.
Effects on life
From a biological standpoint, water has many distinct properties that are critical for the
proliferation of life. It carries out this role by allowing organic compounds to react in ways that
ultimately allow replication. All known forms of life depend on water. Water is vital both as
a solvent in which many of the body's solutes dissolve and as an essential part of
many metabolic processes within the body. Metabolism is the sum total
of anabolism and catabolism. In anabolism, water is removed from molecules (through energy
requiring enzymatic chemical reactions) in order to grow larger molecules (e.g. starches,
triglycerides and proteins for storage of fuels and information). In catabolism, water is used
to break bonds in order to generate smaller molecules (e.g. glucose, fatty acids and amino
acids to be used for fuels for energy use or other purposes). Without water, these particular
metabolic processes could not exist.
Water is fundamental to photosynthesis and respiration. Photosynthetic cells use the sun's
energy to split off water's hydrogen from oxygen[citation needed]. Hydrogen is combined with
CO2 (absorbed from air or water) to form glucose and release oxygen [citation needed]. All living cells
use such fuels and oxidize the hydrogen and carbon to capture the sun's energy and reform
water and CO2 in the process (cellular respiration).
Water is also central to acid-base neutrality and enzyme function. An acid, a hydrogen ion
(H+, that is, a proton) donor, can be neutralized by a base, a proton acceptor such as a
hydroxide ion (OH−) to form water. Water is considered to be neutral, with a pH (the negative
log of the hydrogen ion concentration) of 7. Acids have pH values less than 7
while bases have values greater than 7.
An oasis is an isolated water sourcewith vegetation in a desert.

Source;Sfivat - Own work
Ubari Oasis in the Category:Wadi Al Hayaa District, of the Fezzan region in
southwestern Libya.
Overview of photosynthesis (green) and respiration (red). Water (at right), together
with carbon dioxide (CO2), form oxygen and organic compounds (at left), which
can be respired to water and (CO2).
Source; Mikael Häggström - Images used: Glucose Animals Carbon dioxide Glucose (open

form) Oxygen Plants Fungi Starch Water Human
Cycle between autotrophs and heterotrophs. Autotrophs can use carbon dioxide (CO2)
and water to form oxygen and complex organic compounds, mainly through the
process of photosynthesis. All organisms can use such compounds to again form
CO2 and water through cellular respiration.
Aquatic life forms
Hydrobiology, Marine life, and Aquatic plant
Earth surface waters are filled with life. The earliest life forms appeared in water; nearly all
fish live exclusively in water, and there are many types of marine mammals, such as dolphins
and whales. Some kinds of animals, such as amphibians, spend portions of their lives in water
and portions on land. Plants such as kelp and algae grow in the water and are the basis for
some underwater ecosystems. Plankton is generally the foundation of the ocean food chain.
Aquatic vertebrates must obtain oxygen to survive, and they do so in various ways. Fish
have gills instead of lungs, although some species of fish, such as the lungfish, have
both. Marine mammals, such as dolphins, whales, otters, and seals need to surface periodically
to breathe air. Some amphibians are able to absorb oxygen through their skin. Invertebrates
exhibit a wide range of modifications to survive in poorly oxygenated waters including
breathing tubes (see insect and mollusc siphons) and gills (Carcinus). However as invertebrate
life evolved in an aquatic habitat most have little or no specialisation for respiration in water.
Some of the biodiversity of a coral reef
Source;Copyright (c) 2004 Richard Ling

A Blue Starfish (Linckia laevigata) resting on hard Acropora and Porites corals (one can
also see Anthiinae fish and crinoids). Lighthouse, Ribbon Reefs, Great Barrier Reef.
Some marine diatoms – a key phytoplankton group
Source;Prof. Gordon T. Taylor, Stony Brook University - corp2365, NOAA Corps Collection

Assorted diatoms as seen through a microscope. These specimens were living
between crystals of annual sea ice in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. Image digitized
from original 35mm Ektachrome slide. These tiny phytoplankton are encased within
a silicate cell wall.
Effects on human civilization

Civilization has historically flourished around rivers and major waterways; Mesopotamia, the
so-called cradle of civilization, was situated between the major rivers Tigris and Euphrates; the
ancient society of the Egyptians depended entirely upon the Nile. Rome was also founded on
the banks of the Italian river Tiber. Large metropolises like Rotterdam, London, Montreal, Paris,
New York City, Buenos Aires, Shanghai, Tokyo, Chicago, and Hong Kong owe their success in
part to their easy accessibility via water and the resultant expansion of trade. Islands with
safe water ports, like Singapore, have flourished for the same reason. In places such as
North Africa and the Middle East, where water is more scarce, access to clean drinking water
was and is a major factor in human development.
Health and pollution

Water fit for human consumption is called drinking water or potable water. Water that is not
potable may be made potable by filtration or distillation, or by a range of other methods.
Water that is not fit for drinking but is not harmful for humans when used for swimming or
bathing is called by various names other than potable or drinking water, and is sometimes
called safe water, or "safe for bathing". Chlorine is a skin and mucous membrane irritant that
is used to make water safe for bathing or drinking. Its use is highly technical and is usually
monitored by government regulations (typically 1 part per million (ppm) for drinking water,
and 1–2 ppm of chlorine not yet reacted with impurities for bathing water). Water for bathing
may be maintained in satisfactory microbiological condition using chemical disinfectants
such as chlorine or ozone or by the use of ultraviolet light.
In the US, non-potable forms of wastewater generated by humans may be referred to
as greywater, which is treatable and thus easily able to be made potable again, and blackwater,
which generally contains sewage and other forms of waste which require further treatment in
order to be made reusable. Greywater composes 50–80% of residential wastewater generated
by a household's sanitation equipment (sinks, showers and kitchen runoff, but not toilets,
which generate blackwater.) These terms may have different meanings in other countries and
cultures.
This natural resource is becoming scarcer in certain places, and its availability is a major
social and economic concern. Currently, about a billion people around the world routinely
drink unhealthy water. Most countries accepted the goal of halving by 2015 the number of
people worldwide who do not have access to safe water and sanitation during the 2003 G8
Evian summit.[29] Even if this difficult goal is met, it will still leave more than an estimated half a
billion people without access to safe drinking water and over a billion without access to
adequate sanitation. Poor water quality and bad sanitation are deadly; some five million
deaths a year are caused by polluted drinking water. The World Health Organization estimates
that safe water could prevent 1.4 million child deaths from diarrhea each year.[30]
Water, however, is not a finite resource (meaning the availability of water is limited), but
rather re-circulated as potable water in precipitation [31] in quantities many orders of magnitude
higher than human consumption. Therefore, it is the relatively small quantity of water in
reserve in the earth (about 1% of our drinking water supply,[citation needed] which is replenished in
aquifers around every 1 to 10 years),[citation needed] that is a non-renewable resource, and it is, rather,
the distribution of potable and irrigation water which is scarce,[clarification needed] rather than the
actual amount of it that exists on the earth. Water-poor countries use importation of goods as
the primary method of importing water (to leave enough for local human consumption),[further
explanation needed]
since the manufacturing process[clarification needed] uses around 10 to 100 times products'
masses in water.[clarification needed]
In the developing world, 90% of all wastewater still goes untreated into local rivers and
streams.[32] Some 50 countries, with roughly a third of the world's population, also suffer from
medium or high water stress, and 17 of these extract more water annually than is recharged
through their natural water cycles.[33] The strain not only affects surface freshwater bodies like
rivers and lakes, but it also degrades groundwater resources
An environmental science program – a student from Iowa State Universitysampling water
Source;The Iowa State Department of Agronomy

Environmental Science student sampling water from a stream.
.
Water fountain
Source; MikeParker at English Wikipedia
Photo of a fountain in the Italian Garden section of en:Longwood Gardens in Kennett
Square, en:Pennsylvania. Photo taken by Michael Parker. Original: Fountain
Human uses
Water supply
The most important use of water in agriculture is for irrigation, which is a key component to
produce enough food. Irrigation takes up to 90% of water withdrawn in some developing
countries[34] and significant proportions in more economically developed countries (in the
United States, 30% of freshwater usage is for irrigation). [35]
Fifty years ago, the common perception was that water was an infinite resource. At the time,
there were fewer than half the current number of people on the planet. People were not as
wealthy as today, consumed fewer calories and ate less meat, so less water was needed to
produce their food. They required a third of the volume of water we presently take from
rivers. Today, the competition for the fixed amount of water resources is much more intense,
giving rise to the concept of peak water.[36] This is because there are now nearly seven billion
people on the planet, their consumption of water-thirsty meat and vegetables is rising, and
there is increasing competition for water from industry, urbanisation and biofuel crops. In
future, even more water will be needed to produce food because the Earth's population is
forecast to rise to 9 billion by 2050.[37]
An assessment of water management in agriculture was conducted in 2007 by
the International Water Management Institute in Sri Lanka to see if the world had sufficient water
to provide food for its growing population.[38] It assessed the current availability of water for
agriculture on a global scale and mapped out locations suffering from water scarcity. It found
that a fifth of the world's people, more than 1.2 billion, live in areas of physical water scarcity,
where there is not enough water to meet all demands. A further 1.6 billion people live in areas
experiencing economic water scarcity, where the lack of investment in water or insufficient
human capacity make it impossible for authorities to satisfy the demand for water. The report
found that it would be possible to produce the food required in future, but that continuation
of today's food production and environmental trends would lead to crises in many parts of
the world. To avoid a global water crisis, farmers will have to strive to increase productivity
to meet growing demands for food, while industry and cities find ways to use water more
efficiently.[39]
Water scarcity is also caused by production of cotton: 1 kg of cotton—equivalent of a pair of
jeans—requires 10.9 cubic meters (380 cu ft) water to produce. While cotton accounts for
2.4% of world water use, the water is consumed in regions which are already at a risk of
water shortage. Significant environmental damage has been caused, such as disappearance
of the Aral Sea.[40]
As a scientific standard
On 7 April 1795, the gram was defined in France to be equal to "the absolute weight of a
volume of pure water equal to a cube of one hundredth of a meter, and at the temperature of
melting ice".[41] For practical purposes though, a metallic reference standard was required,
one thousand times more massive, the kilogram. Work was therefore commissioned to
determine precisely the mass of one liter of water. In spite of the fact that the decreed
definition of the gram specified water at 0 °C (32 °F)—a highly reproducible temperature—the
scientists chose to redefine the standard and to perform their measurements at the
temperature of highest water density, which was measured at the time as 4 °C (39 °F).[42]
The Kelvin temperature scale of the SI system is based on the triple point of water, defined as
exactly 273.16 K (0.01 °C; 32.02 °F). The scale is an absolute temperature scale with the same
increment as the Celsius temperature scale, which was originally defined according to
the boiling point (set to 100 °C (212 °F)) and melting point (set to 0 °C (32 °F)) of water.
Natural water consists mainly of the isotopes hydrogen-1 and oxygen-16, but there is also a
small quantity of heavier isotopes such as hydrogen-2 (deuterium). The amount of deuterium
oxides or heavy water is very small, but it still affects the properties of water. Water from
rivers and lakes tends to contain less deuterium than seawater. Therefore, standard water is
defined in the Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water specification.
Agriculture
Water distribution in subsurface drip irrigation
Source;Source[edit]
http://photogallery.nrcs.usda.gov/Index.asp
Irrigation of field crops
Source;Source
http://photogallery.nrcs.usda.gov/Index.asp
For drinking.
Drinking water.
The human body contains from 55% to 78% water, depending on body size.[43] To function
properly, the body requires between one and seven liters (0.22 and 1.54 imp gal; 0.26 and
1.85 U.S. gal) of water per day to avoid dehydration; the precise amount depends on the level
of activity, temperature, humidity, and other factors. Most of this is ingested through foods or
beverages other than drinking straight water. It is not clear how much water intake is needed
by healthy people, though most specialists agree that approximately 2 liters (6 to 7 glasses)
of water daily is the minimum to maintain proper hydration. [44] Medical literature favors a lower
consumption, typically 1 liter of water for an average male, excluding extra requirements due
to fluid loss from exercise or warm weather.[45]
For those who have healthy kidneys, it is rather difficult to drink too much water, but
(especially in warm humid weather and while exercising) it is dangerous to drink too little.
People can drink far more water than necessary while exercising, however, putting them at
risk of water intoxication (hyperhydration), which can be fatal.[46][47] The popular claim that "a
person should consume eight glasses of water per day" seems to have no real basis in
science.[48] Studies have shown that extra water intake, especially up to 500 milliliters
(18 imp fl oz; 17 U.S. fl oz) at mealtime was conducive to weight loss.[49][50][51][52][53][54]Adequate fluid
intake is helpful in preventing constipation.[55]
Hazard symbol for non-potable water
Source;Torsten Henning - Drawn by Torsten Henning. Re-coded by Albin Jacobsson.

No drinking water, prohibition sign D-P005 according to German standard DIN 4844-2
An original recommendation for water intake in 1945 by the Food and Nutrition Board of
the United States National Research Council read: "An ordinary standard for diverse persons is
1 milliliter for each calorie of food. Most of this quantity is contained in prepared
foods."[56] The latest dietary reference intake report by the United States National Research
Council in general recommended, based on the median total water intake from US survey data
(including food sources): 3.7 liters (0.81 imp gal; 0.98 U.S. gal) for men and 2.7 liters
(0.59 imp gal; 0.71 U.S. gal) of water total for women, noting that water contained in food
provided approximately 19% of total water intake in the survey.[57]
Specifically, pregnant and breastfeeding women need additional fluids to stay hydrated.
The Institute of Medicine (US) recommends that, on average, men consume 3 liters
(0.66 imp gal; 0.79 U.S. gal) and women 2.2 liters (0.48 imp gal; 0.58 U.S. gal); pregnant
women should increase intake to 2.4 liters (0.53 imp gal; 0.63 U.S. gal) and breastfeeding
women should get 3 liters (12 cups), since an especially large amount of fluid is lost during
nursing.[58] Also noted is that normally, about 20% of water intake comes from food, while the
rest comes from drinking water and beverages (caffeinated included). Water is excreted from
the body in multiple forms; through urine and feces, through sweating, and by exhalation of
water vapor in the breath. With physical exertion and heat exposure, water loss will increase
and daily fluid needs may increase as well.
Humans require water with few impurities. Common impurities include metal salts and
oxides, including copper, iron, calcium and lead,[59] and/or harmful bacteria, such as Vibrio.
Some solutes are acceptable and even desirable for taste enhancement and to provide
needed electrolytes.[60]
The single largest (by volume) freshwater resource suitable for drinking is Lake Baikal in
Siberia.[61]
Water availability: fraction of population using improved water
sources by country
Source;OmnipotentArchetype0309 - Own work
This is a map based off of File:Water quality.jpg but recreated from scratch in svg
format. It shows the population of a country that uses improved water sources as a
percent of total population. Data gathered from UNDP as of 2006.
Washing
The propensity of water to form solutions and emulsions is useful in

various washing processes. Washing is also an important component of several aspects of
personal body hygiene. Most of personal water use is due to showering, doing
the laundry and dishwashing, reaching hundreds of liters per day in developed countries.
Transportation
Main article: Ship transport
The use of water for transportation of materials through rivers and canals as well as the
international shipping lanes is an important part of the world economy.
Chemical uses
Water is widely used in chemical reactions as a solvent or reactant and less commonly as
a solute or catalyst. In inorganic reactions, water is a common solvent, dissolving many ionic
compounds, as well as other polar compounds such as ammonia and compounds closely
related to water. In organic reactions, it is not usually used as a reaction solvent, because it
does not dissolve the reactants well and is amphoteric (acidic and basic) and nucleophilic.
Nevertheless, these properties are sometimes desirable. Also, acceleration of Diels-Alder
reactions by water has been observed. Supercritical water has recently been a topic of
research. Oxygen-saturated supercritical water combusts organic pollutants efficiently.
Water vapor is used for some processes in the chemical industry. An example is the
production of acrylic acid from acrolein, propylene and propane. [62][63][64][65] The possible effect of
water in these reactions includes the physical-, chemical interaction of water with the catalyst
and the chemical reaction of water with the reaction intermediates.
Heat exchange
Water and steam are a common fluid used for heat exchange, due to its availability and
high heat capacity, both for cooling and heating. Cool water may even be naturally available
from a lake or the sea. It's especially effective to transport heat
through vaporization and condensation of water because of its large latent heat of vaporization. A
disadvantage is that metals commonly found in industries such as steel and copper
are oxidized faster by untreated water and steam. In almost all thermal power stations, water is
used as the working fluid (used in a closed loop between boiler, steam turbine and
condenser), and the coolant (used to exchange the waste heat to a water body or carry it
away by evaporation in a cooling tower). In the United States, cooling power plants is the
largest use of water.[35]
In the nuclear power industry, water can also be used as a neutron moderator. In most nuclear
reactors, water is both a coolant and a moderator. This provides something of a passive
safety measure, as removing the water from the reactor also slows the nuclear reaction down.
However other methods are favored for stopping a reaction and it is preferred to keep the
nuclear core covered with water so as to ensure adequate cooling.
Fire extinction
Water is used for fighting wildfires.
Source;Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Chris Fahey, U.S.

Navy - http://www.defenselink.mil; exact source
An MH-60S Seahawk helicopter assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC)
Eight Five dumps water from a 420-gallon extinguishing trough October 23, 2007,
onto of one of the many areas in San Diego County, California, suffering from an
ongoing wildfire. The trough is used to dump water to help fend off the fires that have
already forced more than 250,000 people from their homes.
Water has a high heat of vaporization and is relatively inert, which makes it a good fire
extinguishing fluid. The evaporation of water carries heat away from the fire. It is dangerous to
use water on fires involving oils and organic solvents, because many organic materials float
on water and the water tends to spread the burning liquid.
Use of water in fire fighting should also take into account the hazards of a steam explosion,
which may occur when water is used on very hot fires in confined spaces, and of a hydrogen
explosion, when substances which react with water, such as certain metals or hot carbon
such as coal, charcoal, or coke graphite, decompose the water, producing water gas.
The power of such explosions was seen in the Chernobyl disaster, although the water involved
did not come from fire-fighting at that time but the reactor's own water cooling system. A
steam explosion occurred when the extreme overheating of the core caused water to flash
into steam. A hydrogen explosion may have occurred as a result of reaction between steam
and hot zirconium.
Recreation
Water sport (recreation)
Humans use water for many recreational purposes, as well as for exercising and for sports.
Some of these include swimming, waterskiing, boating, surfing and diving. In addition, some
sports, like ice hockey and ice skating, are played on ice. Lakesides, beaches and water
parks are popular places for people to go to relax and enjoy recreation. Many find the sound
and appearance of flowing water to be calming, and fountains and other water features are
popular decorations. Some keep fish and other life in aquariums or ponds for show, fun, and
companionship. Humans also use water for snow sports
i.e. skiing, sledding, snowmobiling or snowboarding, which require the water to be frozen.
Grand Anse Beach, St. George's, Grenada, West Indies
Source;Vkap at English Wikipedia
Grand Anse Beach, St. George's, Grenada, West Indies (Caribbean
Water industry
The water industry provides drinking water and wastewater services (including sewage

treatment) to households and industry. Water supply facilities include water
wells, cisterns for rainwater harvesting, water supply networks, and water
purificationfacilities, water tanks, water towers, water pipes including old aqueducts. Atmospheric
water generators are in development.
Drinking water is often collected at springs, extracted from artificial borings (wells) in the
ground, or pumped from lakes and rivers. Building more wells in adequate places is thus a
possible way to produce more water, assuming the aquifers can supply an adequate flow.
Other water sources include rainwater collection. Water may require purification for human
consumption. This may involve removal of undissolved substances, dissolved substances
and harmful microbes. Popular methods are filtering with sand which only removes
undissolved material, while chlorination and boiling kill harmful microbes. Distillation does all
three functions. More advanced techniques exist, such as reverse osmosis. Desalination of
abundant seawater is a more expensive solution used in coastal aridclimates.
The distribution of drinking water is done through municipal water systems, tanker delivery or
as bottled water. Governments in many countries have programs to distribute water to the
needy at no charge.
Reducing usage by using drinking (potable) water only for human consumption is another
option. In some cities such as Hong Kong, sea water is extensively used for flushing toilets
citywide in order to conserve fresh water resources.
Polluting water may be the biggest single misuse of water; to the extent that a pollutant limits
other uses of the water, it becomes a waste of the resource, regardless of benefits to the
polluter. Like other types of pollution, this does not enter standard accounting of market
costs, being conceived as externalities for which the market cannot account. Thus other
people pay the price of water pollution, while the private firms' profits are not redistributed to
the local population, victims of this pollution. Pharmaceuticals consumed by humans often
end up in the waterways and can have detrimental effects on aquatic life if
they bioaccumulate and if they are not biodegradable.
Municipal and industrial wastewater are typically treated at wastewater treatment plants.
Mitigation of polluted surface runoff is addressed through a variety of prevention and
treatment techniques. (See Surface runoff#Mitigation and treatment.)
A water-carrier in India, 1882. In many places where running water is not available, water has to be
transported by people.source; http://www.harappa.com/hawkshaw/67.html
A manual water pump in China ,
Source; Shizhao2005 - Own work
Water purification facility
Source; File:Usine Bret MG 1648.jpg

Original file (4,368 × 2,912 pixels, file size: 2.46 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg);
ZoomViewer: flash/no flash
Reverse osmosis (RO) desalinationplant in Barcelona, Spain
Source; James Grellier - Own work

A view across a reverse osmosis desalination plant.
Industrial applications
Many industrial processes rely on reactions using chemicals dissolved in water, suspension
of solids in water slurries or using water to dissolve and extract substances, or to wash
products or process equipment. Processes such as mining, chemical pulping, pulp
bleaching, paper manufacturing, textile production, dyeing, printing, and cooling of power
plants use large amounts of water, requiring a dedicated water source, and often cause
significant water pollution.
Water is used in power generation. Hydroelectricity is electricity obtained from hydropower.
Hydroelectric power comes from water driving a water turbine connected to a generator.
Hydroelectricity is a low-cost, non-polluting, renewable energy source. The energy is
supplied by the motion of water. Typically a dam is constructed on a river, creating an
artificial lake behind it. Water flowing out of the lake is forced through turbines that turn
generators.
Three Gorges Dam is the largest hydro-electric power station.
Source;Three Gorges Dam, Sandouping, Hubei Province, China. Photographed 2004/07/26

by w:User:Nowozin.
File:200407-sandouping-sanxiadaba-
4.med.jpg
From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository
Size of this preview: 800
× 240 pixels. Other resolutions: 640 × 192 pixels | 1,024 × 307 pixels | 1,280 × 384
pixels | 4,096 × 1,228 pixels.
Original file (4,096 × 1,228 pixels, file size: 744 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg);
ZoomViewer: flash/no flash
Pressurized water is used in water blasting and water jet cutters. Also, very high pressure water
guns are used for precise cutting. It works very well, is relatively safe, and is not harmful to
the environment. It is also used in the cooling of machinery to prevent overheating, or
prevent saw blades from overheating.
Water is also used in many industrial processes and machines, such as the steam
turbine and heat exchanger, in addition to its use as a chemical solvent. Discharge of untreated
water from industrial uses is pollution. Pollution includes discharged solutes (chemical
pollution) and discharged coolant water (thermal pollution). Industry requires pure water for
many applications and utilizes a variety of purification techniques both in water supply and
discharge.
Food processing
Boiling, steaming, and simmering are popular cooking methods that often require immersing

food in water or its gaseous state, steam. [66] Water is also used for dishwashing. Water also
plays many critical roles within the field of food science. It is important for a food scientist to
understand the roles that water plays within food processing to ensure the success of their
products.[citation needed]
Solutes such as salts and sugars found in water affect the physical properties of water. The
boiling and freezing points of water are affected by solutes, as well as air pressure, which is in
turn affected by altitude. Water boils at lower temperatures with the lower air pressure that
occurs at higher elevations. One mole of sucrose (sugar) per kilogram of water raises the
boiling point of water by 0.51 °C (0.918 °F), and one mole of salt per kg raises the boiling
point by 1.02 °C (1.836 °F); similarly, increasing the number of dissolved particles lowers
water's freezing point.[67]
Solutes in water also affect water activity that affects many chemical reactions and the
growth of microbes in food.[68] Water activity can be described as a ratio of the vapor pressure
of water in a solution to the vapor pressure of pure water.[67] Solutes in water lower water
activity—this is important to know because most bacterial growth ceases at low levels of
water activity.[68] Not only does microbial growth affect the safety of food, but also the
preservation and shelf life of food.
Water hardness is also a critical factor in food processing and may be altered or treated by
using a chemical ion exchange system. It can dramatically affect the quality of a product, as
well as playing a role in sanitation. Water hardness is classified based on concentration of
calcium carbonate the water contains. Water is classified as soft if it contains less than
100 mg/l (UK)[69] or less than 60 mg/l (US).[70]
According to a report published by the Water Footprint organization in 2010, a single
kilogram of beef requires 15 thousand liters (3.3×103 imp gal; 4.0×103 U.S. gal) of water;
however, the authors also make clear that this is a global average and circumstantial factors
determine the amount of water used in beef production.[71]
Water can be used to cook foods such as noodles
Source; Cuisson des pâtes. Voir b:fr:Cuisine:Recettes de pâtes Par Antoine.
Medical use
Water for injection is on the World Health Organization's list of essential medicines.[72]

The WHO Model List of Essential Medicines (EML), published by the World Health
Organization (WHO), contains the medications considered to be most effective and safe to
meet the most important needs in a health system. The list is frequently used by countries to
help develop their own local lists of essential medicine.[1] As of 2016, more than 155 countries
have created national lists of essential medicines based on the World Health Organization's
model list.[2] This includes countries in both the developed and developing world.[1]
The list is divided into core items and complementary items. The core items are deemed to be
the most cost effective options for key health problems and are usable with little additional
health care resources. The complementary items either require additional infrastructure such
as specially trained health care providers or diagnostic equipment or have a lower cost-benefit
ratio.[3] About 25% of items are in the complementary list.[4]Some medications are listed as both
core and complementary.[5] While most medications on the list are available as generic
products, being under patent does not preclude inclusion.[6]
The first list was published in 1977 and included 212 medications.[1][7] The WHO updates the
list every two years.[8] The 14th list was published in 2005 and contained 306 medications.[9] In
2015 the 19th edition of the list was published and contains around 410 medications. [8] The
20th edition was published in 2017 and comprises 433 drugs.[10][11] The national lists contain
between 334 and 580 medications.[4]
A separate list for children up to 12 years of age, known as the WHO Model List of Essential
Medicines for Children (EMLc), was created in 2007 and is in its 6th edition. [8][12] It was created to
make sure that the needs of children were systematically considered such as availability of
proper formulations.[13][14] Everything in the children's list is also included in the main list.[15] The
list and notes are based on the 19th and 20th edition of the main list.[3][10] An α indicates a
medicine is only on the complementary list.[3]
Sterile water for injection
Water for injection is on the World Health Organization's list of essential medicines.

Source
Doc James - Own work
Sterile water
; [72]
Distribution in nature
In the universe
Much of the universe's water is produced as a byproduct of star formation. The formation of
stars is accompanied by a strong outward wind of gas and dust. When this outflow of
material eventually impacts the surrounding gas, the shock waves that are created compress
and heat the gas. The water observed is quickly produced in this warm dense gas. [74]
On 22 July 2011, a report described the discovery of a gigantic cloud of water vapor
containing "140 trillion times more water than all of Earth's oceans combined" around
a quasar located 12 billion light years from Earth. According to the researchers, the
"discovery shows that water has been prevalent in the universe for nearly its entire
existence".[75][76]
Water has been detected in interstellar clouds within our galaxy, the Milky Way.[77] Water
probably exists in abundance in other galaxies, too, because its components, hydrogen and
oxygen, are among the most abundant elements in the universe. Based on models of
the formation and evolution of the Solar System and that of other star systems, most
other planetary systems are likely to have similar ingredients.
Band 5 ALMA receiver is an instrument specifically designed to detect water in the universe.
Source; ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), N. Tabilo - http://www.eso.org/public/images/ann15059a/

Band 5 receiver integrated into a Front End with all the others Bands (3 to 10).
.[73]
Water vapor
Water is present as vapor in:
 Atmosphere of the Sun: in detectable trace amounts[78]

 Atmosphere of Mercury: 3.4%, and large amounts of water in Mercury's exosphere[79]
 Atmosphere of Venus: 0.002%[80]
 Earth's atmosphere: ≈0.40% over full atmosphere, typically 1–4% at surface; as well
as that of the Moon in trace amounts[81]
 Atmosphere of Mars: 0.03%[82]
 Atmosphere of Ceres[83]
 Atmosphere of Jupiter: 0.0004%[84] – in ices only; and that of its moon Europa[85]
 Atmosphere of Saturn – in ices only; and that of its moons Titan (stratospheric),[
Enceladus: 91%[86] and Dione(exosphere)
 Atmosphere of Uranus – in trace amounts below 50 bar
 Atmosphere of Neptune – found in the deeper layers[87]
 Extrasolar planet atmospheres: including those of HD 189733 b[88] and HD 209458 b,
[89]
Tau Boötis b,[90] HAT-P-11b,[91][92] XO-1b, WASP-12b, WASP-17b, and WASP-19b.[93]
 Stellar atmospheres: not limited to cooler stars and even detected in giant hot stars
such as Betelgeuse, Mu Cephei, Antares and Arcturus.[92][94]
 Circumstellar disks: including those of more than half of T Tauri stars such as AA
Tauri[92] as well as TW Hydrae,[95][96] IRC +10216[97] and APM 08279+5255,[75][76]VY Canis
Majoris and S Persei.[94]
Liquid water
Liquid water is present on Earth, covering 71% of its surface. [1] Liquid water is also
occasionally present in small amounts on Mars. ] Scientists believe liquid water is present in
the Saturnian moons of Enceladus, as a 10-kilometre thick ocean approximately 30–40
kilometres below Enceladus' south polar surface, [98][99]and Titan, as a subsurface layer,
possibly mixed with ammonia.[100] Jupiter's moon Europa has surface characteristics which
suggest a subsurface liquid water ocean.[101] Liquid water may also exist on Jupiter's
moon Ganymede as a layer sandwiched between high pressure ice and rock. [102]
Water ice
Water is present as ice on:
South Polar ice cap of Mars during Martian South summer 2000
Source;
NASA/JPL/MSSS - http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02393 http://www.msss.com/mars_images
/moc/4_27_00_spcap/ file
This is the south polar cap of Mars as it appeared to the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS)
Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) on April 17, 2000. The polar cap from left to right is about
420 km (260 mi) across.
 Mars: under the regolith and at the poles.[103][104]

 Earth-Moon system: mainly as ice sheets on Earth and in Lunar craters and volcanic
rocks[105] NASA reported the detection of water molecules by NASA's Moon Mineralogy
Mapper aboard the Indian Space Research Organization's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft in
September 2009.[106]
 Ceres[107][108][109]
 Jupiter's moons: Europa's surface and also that of Ganymede[110] and Callisto[111][112]
 Saturn: in the planet's ring system[113] and on the surface and mantle
of Titan[114] and Enceladus[115]
 Pluto-Charon system[113]
 Comets[116][117] and other related Kuiper belt and Oort cloud objects[118]
And is also likely present on:
 Mercury's poles[119]
 Tethys[120]
Exotic forms
Water and other volatiles probably comprise much of the internal structures

of Uranus and Neptune and the water in the deeper layers may be in the form of ionic waterin
which the molecules break down into a soup of hydrogen and oxygen ions, and deeper still
as superionic water in which the oxygen crystallises but the hydrogen ions float about freely
within the oxygen lattice.[121]
Water and habitable zone
Water distribution on Earth
The existence of liquid water, and to a lesser extent its gaseous and solid forms, on Earth are
vital to the existence of life on Earth as we know it. The Earth is located in the habitable zone of
the solar system; if it were slightly closer to or farther from the Sun (about 5%, or about 8
million kilometers), the conditions which allow the three forms to be present simultaneously
would be far less likely to exist.[122][123]
Earth's gravity allows it to hold an atmosphere. Water vapor and carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere provide a temperature buffer (greenhouse effect) which helps maintain a relatively
steady surface temperature. If Earth were smaller, a thinner atmosphere would allow
temperature extremes, thus preventing the accumulation of water except in polar ice caps (as
on Mars).[citation needed]
The surface temperature of Earth has been relatively constant through geologic time despite
varying levels of incoming solar radiation (insolation), indicating that a dynamic process
governs Earth's temperature via a combination of greenhouse gases and surface or
atmospheric albedo. This proposal is known as the Gaia hypothesis.[citation needed]
The state of water on a planet depends on ambient pressure, which is determined by the
planet's gravity. If a planet is sufficiently massive, the water on it may be solid even at high
temperatures, because of the high pressure caused by gravity, as it was observed on
exoplanets Gliese 436 b[124] and GJ 1214 b.[125]
Law, politics, and crisis

WatWater politics is politics affected by water and water resources. For this reason, water is a
strategic resource in the globe and an important element in many political conflicts. It causes health
impacts and damage to biodiversity.
Access to safe drinking water has improved over the last decades in almost every part of the world,
but approximately one billion people still lack access to safe water and over 2.5 billion lack access to
adequate sanitation.[126] However, some observers have estimated that by 2025 more than half of
the world population will be facing water-based vulnerability. [127] A report, issued in November 2009,
suggests that by 2030, in some developing regions of the world, water demand will exceed supply by
50%.[128]
1.6 billion people have gained access to a safe water source since 1990. [129] The proportion of people in developing countries with access to safe water is calculated to have
improved from 30% in 1970[130] to 71% in 1990, 79% in 2000 and 84% in 2004. This trend is projected to continue. [126] To halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without
sustainable access to safe drinking water is one of the Millennium Development Goals. This goal is projected to be reached. [citation needed]
A 2006 United Nations report stated that "there is enough water for everyone", but that access to it is
hampered by mismanagement and corruption. [131] In addition, global initiatives to improve the
efficiency of aid delivery, such as the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, have not been taken up
by water sector donors as effectively as they have in education and health, potentially leaving
multiple donors working on overlapping projects and recipient governments without empowerment to
act.[132]
The authors of the 2007 Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture cited
poor governance as one reason for some forms of water scarcity. Water governance is the set of
formal and informal processes through which decisions related to water management are made.
Good water governance is primarily about knowing what processes work best in a particular physical
and socioeconomic context. Mistakes have sometimes been made by trying to apply 'blueprints' that
work in the developed world to developing world locations and contexts. The Mekong river is one
example; a review by the International Water Management Institute of policies in six countries that
rely on the Mekong river for water found that thorough and transparent cost-benefit analyses and
environmental impact assessments were rarely undertaken. They also discovered that Cambodia's
draft water law was much more complex than it needed to be. [133]
The UN World Water Development Report (WWDR, 2003) from the World Water Assessment Program indicates that, in the next 20 years, the quantity of water available to
everyone is predicted to decrease by 30%. 40% of the world's inhabitants currently have insufficient fresh water for minimal hygiene. More than 2.2 million people died in 2000
from waterborne diseases (related to the consumption of contaminated water) or drought. In 2004, the UK charity WaterAid reported that a child dies every 15 seconds from
easily preventable water-related diseases; often this means lack of sewage disposal; see toilet.[citation needed]
Organizations concerned with water protection include the International Water Association (IWA), WaterAid, Water 1st, and the American Water Resources Association.
The International Water Management Institute undertakes projects with the aim of using effective water management to reduce poverty. Water related conventions are United
Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, United Nations Convention on the Law of the
Sea and Ramsar Convention. World Day for Water takes place on 22 March and World Ocean Day on 8 June.[citation needed]
er law, Water right, and Water crisis
An estimate of the share of people in developing countries with access to potable water 1970–2000
Source;Original: GifTagger Vector: Jynto - Own work based on: Access to drinking water in third

world.GIF by GifTagger.. Derived from Björn Lomborg (2001), The Skeptical
Environmentalist (Cambridge University Press), ISBN 0521010683, p. 22, archived
fromhttp://www.lomborg.com/dyn/files/basic_items/69-file/skeptenvironChap1.pdf. The line has been
simplified; please see the original. Percentage of people in the Third World with access to
drinking water [...], 1970–2000. ... [The line here] is a logistic best fit line – a reasonable attempt to
map out the best guess of development among very different definitions. Source: World Bank
1994:26 (1975–90), WHO 1986:15–18 (1970–83), Gleick 1998:262, 264 (1980–90, 1990–4), Annan
2000:5 (1990–2000).
Best estimate of the share of people in developing countries with access to drinking
water 1970–2000.
In culture
Religion
Water and religion
Water is considered a purifier in most religions. Faiths that incorporate ritual washing
(ablution) include Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, the Rastafari movement, Shinto, Taoism,
and Wicca. Immersion (or aspersion or affusion) of a person in water is a central sacrament of
Christianity (where it is called baptism); it is also a part of the practice of other religions,
including Islam (Ghusl), Judaism (mikvah) and Sikhism (Amrit Sanskar). In addition, a ritual bath
in pure water is performed for the dead in many religions including Islam and Judaism. In
Islam, the five daily prayers can be done in most cases after completing washing certain
parts of the body using clean water (wudu), unless water is unavailable (see Tayammum). In
Shinto, water is used in almost all rituals to cleanse a person or an area (e.g., in the ritual
of misogi).
In Christianity, holy water is water that has been sanctified by a priest for the purpose
of baptism, the blessing of persons, places, and objects, or as a means of repelling evil. [134][135]
In Zoroastrianism, water (āb) is respected as the source of life.[136]
Philosophy
The Ancient Greek philosopher Empedocles held that water is one of the four classical
elements along with fire, earth and air, and was regarded as the ylem, or basic substance of
the universe. Thales, who was portrayed by Aristotle as an astronomer and an engineer,
theorized that the earth, which is denser than water, emerged from the water. Thales,
a monist, believed further that all things are made from water. Plato believed the shape of
water is an icosahedron which accounts for why it is able to flow easily compared to the cube-
shaped earth.[137]
In the theory of the four bodily humors, water was associated with phlegm, as being cold and
moist. The classical element of water was also one of the five elements in traditional Chinese
philosophy, along with earth, fire, wood, and metal.
Water is also taken as a role model in some parts of traditional and popular Asian
philosophy. James Legge's 1891 translation of the Dao De Jing states, "The highest
excellence is like (that of) water. The excellence of water appears in its benefiting all things,
and in its occupying, without striving (to the contrary), the low place which all men dislike.
Hence (its way) is near to (that of) the Tao" and "There is nothing in the world more soft and
weak than water, and yet for attacking things that are firm and strong there is nothing that
can take precedence of it—for there is nothing (so effectual) for which it can be
changed."[138] Guanzi in "Shui di" 水地 chapter further elaborates on symbolism of water,
proclaiming that "man is water" and attributing natural qualities of the people of different
Chinese regions to the character of local water resources.[139]
Dihydrogen monoxide hoax

Dihydrogen monoxide hoax
Water's technically correct but rarely used chemical name, "dihydrogen monoxide", has been
used in a series of hoaxes and pranks that mock scientific illiteracy. This began in 1983, when
an April Fools' Day article appeared in a newspaper in Durand, Michigan. The false story
consisted of safety concerns about the substance.
Dihydrogen monoxide parody

"
The subject of the parody, water, has a molecule consisting of two hydrogen atoms and
one oxygen atom, thus the name dihydrogen monoxide.
The dihydrogen monoxide parody involves calling water by the unfamiliar chemical name

"dihydrogen monoxide" (DHMO), or "hydroxylic acid" in some cases, and listing some of
water's well-known effects in a particularly alarming manner, such as accelerating
corrosion and causing suffocation. The parody often calls for dihydrogen monoxide to be
banned, regulated, and labeled as dangerous. It illustrates how a lack of scientific literacy and
an exaggerated analysis can lead to misplaced fears.
The parody gained renewed popularity in the late 1990s when a 14-year-old student, Nathan
Zohner,[1] collected anti-DHMO petitions for a science project about gullibility. [2] The story has
since been used in science education to encourage critical thinking and discussion of
the scientific method.[3][4]
History of Dihydrogen monoxide parody
A 1983 April Fools' Day edition of the Durand Express, a weekly newspaper in Durand, Michigan,

reported that "dihydrogen oxide" had been found in the city's water pipes, and warned that it
was fatal if inhaled, and could produce blistering vapors. [5] The first appearance of the parody
on the Internet was attributed by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to the so-called "Coalition to Ban
Dihydrogen Monoxide",[6][7] a parody organization at UC Santa Cruz following on-campus
postings and newsgroupdiscussions in 1990.[8]
This new version of the parody was created by Eric Lechner, Lars Norpchen, and Matthew
Kaufman—housemates while attending the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1989–1990,[6][8]
[better source needed]
revised by Craig Jackson in 1994, [6] and brought to widespread public attention in
1997 when Nathan Zohner, a 14-year-old student, gathered petitions to ban "DHMO" as the
basis of his science project, titled "How Gullible Are We?"[2]
Jackson's original site included the following warning:[9]
Dihydrogen monoxide:
 is also known as hydroxyl acid, and is the major component of acid rain.
 contributes to the "greenhouse effect".
 may cause severe burns.
 contributes to the erosion of our natural landscape.
 accelerates corrosion and rusting of many metals.
 may cause electrical failures and decreased effectiveness of automobile brakes.
 has been found in excised tumors of terminal cancer patients.
Despite the danger, dihydrogen monoxide is often used:
 as an industrial solvent and coolant.

 in nuclear power plants.
 in the production of styrofoam.
 as a fire retardant.
 in many forms of cruel animal research.
 in the distribution of pesticides. Even after washing, produce remains contaminated by
this chemical.
 as an additive in certain "junk-foods" and other food products.
A mock material safety data sheet has also been created for H2O.[10][11]
Molecular terminology and naming conventions

The water molecule has the chemical formula H2O, meaning each molecule of water is
composed of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. Literally, the term "dihydrogen
monoxide" means "two hydrogen, one oxygen", consistent with its molecular formula: the
prefix di- in dihydrogen means "two", the prefix mon- in monoxidemeans "one", and
an oxide is an oxygen atom attached to another atom in an ionic compound. [12]
Using chemical nomenclature, various names for water are in common use within the scientific
community. Some such names include hydrogen oxide, as well as an alkali name of hydrogen
hydroxide, and several acid names such as hydric acid, hydroxic acid, hydroxyl acid,
and hydroxilic acid. The term "hydroxyl acid" used in the original text is a non-standard name.
[13][not in citation given]
Under the 2005 revisions of IUPAC nomenclature of inorganic chemistry, there is no single
correct name for every compound.[14] The primary function of chemical nomenclature is to
ensure that each name refers, unambiguously, to a single substance. It is considered less
important to ensure that each substance should have a single unambiguous name, although
the number of acceptable names is limited.[14] Water is one acceptable name for this
compound, even though it is neither a systematic nor an international name and is specific to
just one phase of the compound (its liquid form). The other IUPAC recommendation
is oxidane,[15] which is used by hoax industry groups promoting DHMO as a safe industrial
chemical while hinting at dangers and government conspiracies. [16]
Public efforts involving the DHMO parody

 In 1989–1990, several students circulated a dihydrogen monoxide contamination
warning on the University of California, Santa Cruz, campus via photocopied fliers.[6][17]
 In 1994, Craig Jackson created a web page for the Coalition to Ban DHMO.[6][9]
 The Friends of Hydrogen Hydroxide website was created by Dan Curtis Johnson; partly
as a foil on the Coalition page, claiming to oppose its "subversive agenda". The site
points out that hydrogen hydroxide is "environmentally safe" and "enhances the
functionality, growth, and health of many forms of life".[18]
 In 1997, Nathan Zohner, a 14-year-old student at Eagle Rock Junior High School
in Idaho Falls, Idaho, gathered 43 votes to ban the chemical, out of 50 ninth-graders
surveyed. Zohner received the first prize at Greater Idaho Falls Science Fair for analysis of
the results of his survey.[2] In recognition of his experiment, journalist James K.
Glassman coined the term "Zohnerism" to refer to "the use of a true fact to lead a
scientifically and mathematically ignorant public to a false conclusion".[19]
 In late 1997, drawing inspiration from Jackson's web page and Zohner's research,
Tom Way created a website at DHMO.org, including links to some legitimate sites such as
the Environmental Protection Agency and National Institutes of Health.[20]
 On April 1, 1998 (April Fools' Day), a member of the Australian Parliament announced a
campaign to ban dihydrogen monoxide internationally.[21]
 In 2001, a staffer in New Zealand Green Party MP Sue Kedgley's office responded to a
request for support for a campaign to ban dihydrogen monoxide by saying she was
"absolutely supportive of the campaign to ban this toxic substance". This was criticized
in a press release by the National Party,[22] one of whose MPs fell for the very same joke
six years later.[23]
 In 2002, radio talk show host Neal Boortz mentioned on the air that the Atlanta water
system had been checked and found to be contaminated with dihydrogen monoxide, and
set about relating the hazards associated with that "dangerous" chemical. A local TV
station even covered the 'scandal'. A spokesperson for the city's water system told the
reporter that there was no more dihydrogen monoxide in the system than what was
allowed under the law.[24]
 The idea was used for a segment of an episode of the Penn & Teller show Penn &
Teller: Bullshit!, in which actress Kris McGaha and a camera crew gathered signatures from
people considering themselves "concerned environmentalists" to sign a petition to ban
DHMO.[25]
 In March 2004, Aliso Viejo, California, almost considered banning the use of foam
containers at city-sponsored events because dihydrogen monoxide is part of their
production. A paralegal had asked the city council to put it on the agenda; he later
attributed it to poor research.[26] The bill was pulled from the agenda before it could come
to a vote, but not before the city received a raft of bad publicity.[2]
Tongue-in-cheek warning sign in Louisville, Kentucky

 In 2006, in Louisville, Kentucky, David Karem, executive director of the Waterfront
Development Corporation, a public body that operates Waterfront Park, wished to deter
bathers from using a large public fountain. "Counting on a lack of understanding about
water's chemical makeup", he arranged for signs reading: "DANGER! – WATER
CONTAINS HIGH LEVELS OF HYDROGEN – KEEP OUT" to be posted on the fountain at
public expense.[27]
 Occasionally, petitions on the UK Government e-petitions website on this subject
have been closed or rejected.[28]
 In 2007 Jacqui Dean, New Zealand National Party MP, fell for the joke, writing a letter to
Associate Minister of Health Jim Anderton asking "Does the Expert Advisory Committee
on Drugs have a view on the banning of this drug?"[23][29][30]
 On April 1, 2009, a Canadian Conservative Member of Parliament, Andrew Scheer, used
the DHMO parody as the basis for an April Fool's Day "media release" on his website, in
which he claimed to have presented a bill to ban the substance from all federal
government buildings.[31]
 In February 2011, during the campaign of the Finnish parliamentary election, a voting
advice application asked the candidates whether the availability of "hydric acid also known
as dihydrogen monoxide" should be restricted. 49% of the candidates answered in favor
of the restriction.[32]
 In April 2013, two radio personalities at Gator Country 101.9, a station in Lee County,
Florida, told listeners that dihydrogen monoxide was coming out of their water taps as
part of an April Fool's Day prank and were suspended for a few days. [33][34]The prank resulted
in several calls by consumers to the local utility company, which sent out a release
stating that the water was safe.[35]
.[140]
RESULTS OF ARINY AMOS(ASTRONOMER) LUNAR THEORY EXPERIMENT. VENUS PLANET

OBSERVATIONS
RESULTS
This includes some historical background on Astronomy, mechanics and physical causes, as well as an
overview of Newton’s background framework and his theoretical concept of a centripetal force. It
introduces Newton’s Rules for reasoning in natural philosophy and gives an overview of Newton’s
argument for universal gravity and its application to the solar system. A comparison with a passage from
Huygens on hypothetico-deductive confirmation helps inform Newton’s classic hypotheses non-
fingo passage. Lessons on scientific method also include an informative contrast with Laplace’s search for
solar system stability, and a contrast between theory acceptance guided by empirical success and mere
assignment of high probability.
Keywords: astronomy, mechanics, physical causes, centripetal force, scientific method, hypotheses non-fingo, hypothetico-

deductive, confirmation, Huygens, Laplace
our present work sets forth the mathematical principles of natural philosophy. For the basic problem
[lit. whole difficulty] of philosophy seems to be to discover the forces of nature from the phenomena of
motions and then to demonstrate the other phenomena from these forces. (C&W, 382) 1
Our epigram is from Newton's preface to his masterpiece, Philosophiae Naturalis Principia

Mathematica(Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy). It was published in 1687 when he was 44
years old. In it he argued for universal gravity. We still count gravity as one of the four fundamental forces
of nature. The publication of Newton's Principia was pivotal in the transformation of natural philosophy
into natural science as we know it today.
Newton used some phenomena of orbital motions of planets and satellites as a basis from which to argue
for his theory. We shall see that these phenomena are patterns exhibited in sets of data Newton cites in
their support. We shall seek to understand the method by which he transformed these data into evidence
for universal gravity. This will mostly be an effort to explicate the first part of the endeavor described in
our epigram from Newton's preface,
to discover the forces of nature from the phenomena of motions.
Newton went on to apply his theory to refine our knowledge of the motions of solar system bodies and the
gravitational interactions on which they depend. The second part of the endeavor described in our
epigram,
and then to demonstrate the other phenomena from these forces,
is exemplified in Newton's applications of universal gravity to demonstrate the basic solar system
phenomena of elliptical orbits and some of their corrections for (p.2) perturbations. These applications
resulted in more accurate corrected phenomena backed up by accurate measurements of the relative
masses of solar system bodies. These results contribute significant additional evidence for universal
gravity, so understanding how they work is also important for understanding Newton's scientific method
of turning data into evidence.
In this book we will examine the steps by which Newton argued from phenomena of orbital motion to
centripetal forces and then on to universal gravity. We will see how this led to measurements of masses of
the sun and planets from orbits about them and, thereby, to his decisive resolution of the problem of
deciding between geocentric and heliocentric world systems. This Two Chief World Systems problem, the
topic of Galileo's famously controversial dialogue, was the dominant question of natural philosophy in the
seventeenth century. Newton's theory affords decisive evidence for his surprising conclusion that both are
wrong, because the sun and the earth both move relative to the center of mass of the solar system. The
sun, however, never recedes very far from this center of mass. This makes elliptical orbits about the sun a
good first approximation from which to begin accounting for the complex motions of the planets by
successively more accurate models, as more and more perturbation producing interactions are taken into
account.
Our investigation will show that Newton's scientific method adds features which can significantly enrich
the basic hypothetico‐deductive model that informed much of philosophy of science in the last century.
On this familiar model of scientific inference, hypotheses are verified by the conclusions to be drawn from
them and empirical success is limited to accurate prediction. 2
Newton's scientific method goes beyond this basic hypothetico‐deductive model in at least three
important ways. First, Newton's inferences from phenomena realize an ideal of empirical success that is
richer than prediction. In addition to accurate prediction of the phenomena a theory purports to explain,
this richer ideal of empirical success requires that a theory have those phenomena accurately measure the
parameters which explain them. Second, Newton's scientific method aims to turn theoretical questions
into ones which can be empirically answered by measurement from phenomena. Third, theoretical
propositions inferred from phenomena are provisionally accepted as guides to further research.
(p.3) These improvements let Newton employ theory‐mediated measurements to turn data into far more
informative evidence than can be achieved by hypothetico‐deductive confirmation alone. All three of them
come together in a method of successive approximations in which deviations from the model developed so
far count as new theory‐mediated phenomena that aid in developing a more accurate successor model.
This rich scientific method of Newton's was taken up by his successors in their extraordinary extensions of
applications of his theory to solar system motions, in what developed into the science of physics applied to
astronomy.
In our concluding chapter we shall argue that Newton's own scientific method endorses the revolutionary
change from his theory to Einstein's. We shall also see that this rich empirical method of Newton's
continues to be realized in the development and application of testing frameworks for relativistic theories
of gravity. In addition, we shall see that an application of Newton's ideal of empirical success as agreeing
measurements from diverse phenomena is appealed to in support of the radical inference to dark energy
in cosmology today.
1 Some historical backgrounds.
1. Astronomy,
Archaeological evidence from many ancient sites, ranging from pyramids to Stonehenge, demonstrates a
long‐standing human fascination with celestial phenomena. These phenomena include the regular
configurations among the fixed stars, which maintain their positions relative to one another as they move
westward across the sky each night. In contrast are the phenomena of the motions of planets. The word
“planet” originally referred to celestial wanderers – bodies which move against the background of the
fixed stars. These included the sun and the moon as well as Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
Salient among the phenomena exhibited by these last five are regular occasions of retrograde motion.
On these occasions they appear to come to a stop, reverse direction for some time, then stop again before
resuming their normal motion against the fixed stars.
From the point of view of European science history, the earliest influential model for the nature of the
heavens was described by Aristotle (Greece 384–322 BC).3 The stationary earth was at the center of
numerous rotating spheres of ethereal material carrying the various planets and the stars. This was the
world imagined by Western Europeans for two thousand years.
Mathematical astronomy was developed to accurately represent and predict the celestial phenomena
exhibited by the motions of planets against the stars. As more (p.4)
Figure 1.1 Retrograde motion of Mars A composite image from July 2005 through February 2006 shows Mars appearing
to reverse the direction of its orbit for a time.
detailed and complex mathematical models were developed for accurate representation and prediction of
celestial phenomena, mathematical astronomy became a separate enterprise from the search for physical
causes to explain those phenomena.
Ptolemy (Alexandria, ca AD 150)
Ptolemy provided a comprehensive and computationally tractable account of these phenomena. His
treatment of retrograde motions recovered not just the basic pattern, but also details such as regular
variations in lengths of retrograde loops and in their timing. The basic pattern could be recovered from an
earth‐centered model by introducing a two‐circle system. The observed path of each planet against the
stars is represented by a motion of the planet on an epicycle, with a center that moves on another circle
called the “deferent”.
In order to recover the details of the variation of length and timing of retrograde loops, Ptolemy made the
deferent circle eccentric with respect to the earth and introduced the equant.
The equant is a point about which the center of the epicycle describes equal angles in equal times on its
motion along the deferent circle. Ptolemy located this equant point at an equal distance on the exact
opposite side of the center of the deferent circle as that center is distant from the earth. This allowed his
earth‐centered model to accurately recover the motions of the planet against the stars.
Ptolemy's great book became the standard treatment of mathematical astronomy for 1,400 years.
Ptolemaic mathematical astronomy survived the Dark Ages thanks to Arab (p.5)
Figure 1.2 Epicycle deferent
Figure 1.3 Equant
and Iranian astronomers.4 In the 12th century Europeans obtained translations of Ptolemy's book and,
perhaps somewhat later, they also obtained knowledge of various critiques of Ptolemy's system by some of
these astronomers.5
(p.6) Ptolemy used data from observations to set the parameters of his model and provided tables which
could be used to compute locations of planets, astronomical objects at past and future times. 6 He specified
these locations in ecliptic coordinates which are still used today. The ecliptic is the yearly path of the sun
against the fixed stars.
Ecliptic latitudes specify angular distances north or south of this line. The vernal equinox, the location of
the sun at sunrise on the first day of spring, marks the origin (0 degrees = 360 degrees) for ecliptic
longitude.
Figure 1.4 Ecliptic
Familiar constellations, the signs of the zodiac, mark off the ecliptic circle into twelve 30-degree segments.
These are, in order (counterclockwise viewed from the north ecliptic pole), 1 Aries, 2 Taurus, 3 Gemini, 4
Cancer, 5 Leo, 6 Virgo, 7 Libra, 8 Scorpius, 9 Sagittarius, 10 Capricorn, 11 Aquarius, 12 Pisces.
The location of the vernal equinox on the ecliptic at the time of Hipparchus (160–127 BC) was at about the
beginning of the constellation, Aries.7The equinoxes (p.7)
Figure 1.5 The twelve constellations
move backwards (clockwise) through the zodiac at about 1 degree 23 minutes of arc every century. We call
this phenomenon the “precession of the equinoxes.” It corresponds to a rotation of the direction of the tilt
of the earth's axis with respect to the plane of the ecliptic. The direction towards which the north pole
points slowly traces a small circle against the stars in a cycle that takes about 26 thousand years to
complete.
By the seventeenth century the location of the vernal equinox was well within Pisces (the 12th
constellation). Early in the twenty‐first century the location of the vernal equinox will be in Aquarius (the
11th constellation).
Figure 1.6 Precession of the equinoxesEarth-centered representation. It is as though the tilted plane of the ediptic is
rotating about the earth's axis at a uniform rate so that it would take 26,000 years for a complete cycle.
Figure 1.7 Precession of equinoxes explainedThis apparent change in the Sun's orbit is actually due to a corresponding
26,000-year precession in the earth's axis of rotation.
(p.9) By the twelfth century, Ptolemy's incorrect specification of the precession of the equinoxes, at only 1
degree per century (off by 23 minutes per century), was leading to rather glaring inaccuracies. The
Alfonsine tables, of about 1270, were based on re‐set parameters for Ptolemy's model and corrections to
the precession.8 By the early 1500s these tables were showing inaccuracies stemming, in part, from the
use of the Julian year, which was slightly too short. These created problems for specifying the date of
Easter that eventually led to reform of the calendar.
Nicholas Copernicus (Poland, 1473–1543 )
Copernicus was well aware of these problematic inaccuracies. He was also bothered by models using non‐
uniform rotations and spheres which intersected, because they did not fit what he imagined to be the
physical mechanism for moving the planets. That mechanism, like that of Aristotle, was based on
uniformly revolving spheres that ought not to intersect. Copernicus was able to accommodate such a
mechanism by creating models in which the spheres of all the planets encompass the sun and also making
the earth a planet.9 One advantage of making the earth a planet was a simpler explanation of retrograde
motion. The following diagram represents the retrograde motion of Mars as an effect of the earth
overtaking Mars as they both orbit the sun.10
Figure 1.8 Retrograde motion of Mars explained
(p.10) Even though the basic explanation of retrograde motion was simpler in Copernicus's model, his
system for explaining details used about as many circles as Ptolemy's.11 Copernicus was able to achieve a
model that was as accurate as Ptolemy's would be with corresponding parameter settings. Copernicus's
book, De Revolutionibus, was published in 1543, the year he died. The Prutenic tables, which formed a
basis for the reformed calendar adopted by Pope Gregory in 1583, were generated using Copernicus's
model.
Tycho Brahe (Danish, 1546–1601)
Brahe directed an observation enterprise in astronomy which produced a very extensive body of
impressively accurate data.12 His instruments for observation, partly due to their great size, afforded the
most precise data until the use of the telescope. His
Figure 1.9 The Tychonic system
(p.11) data provided substantially improved knowledge of the observed positions of planets against the
fixed background of constellations of the stars.13
Tycho also developed a geo‐heliocentric model for the solar system, in which the planets circle the sun
while the sun circles the earth.14
Unlike Copernicus, Brahe did not count the earth as a planet.15
Kepler (German 1571–1630)
Near the end of his life, Brahe hired an astronomical mathematician, Johannes Kepler. During the winter
of 1600/1601 Kepler wrote a work on the history and philosophy of astronomy in which he proposed that
the empirical equivalence between geocentric and heliocentric world systems could be overcome by
appeal to physical causes.16 In 1609 he published his NEW ASTRONOMY BASED UPON CAUSES or
CELESTIAL PHYSICS treated by means of commentaries ON THE MOTION OF THE STARMARS from
the observations of TYCHO BRAHE, GENT. In the first chapter he provides a diagram (see Figure 1.10)
illustrating the complex motion that would need to be accounted for on the assumption that the earth
stands still.
This is the complexity that a physical cause of the motion of Mars would have to explain if the true
motions of the planets were taken to be their motions relative to the center of the earth. Counting circles
to compare the predictive models of Copernicus and Ptolemy is much less informative.
In his book, Kepler appealed to his own proposed hypotheses about physical causes as well as to his
impressive analysis of Tycho's data to argue that Mars moves in an elliptical orbit with the sun at a
focus.17 He also argued that the rate at which its motion sweeps out areas by radii to that focus is constant.
We call these Kepler's first and second “laws” of orbital motion.18 Figure 1.11 is a diagram representing the
motion of a planet according to these two rules found by Kepler.
Figure 1.10 Kepler's diagram depicting the motion of Mars on a geocentric conception of the solar system
Figure 1.11 Ellipse with the Area Rule
(p.13) The two equal area segments are swept out in two equal amounts of time. The planet moves faster
enough in the segment with smaller distances to sweep out the same area swept out in the segment
further from the sun in the same amount of time.
In 1619 Kepler published The Harmony of the World in which he appealed to intuitions about cosmic
harmony, as well as orbital data, to arrive at the Harmonic Rule. According to Kepler's Harmonic Rule,
the system of elliptical orbits of the primary planets about the sun at their common focus is such that the
ratio of the cube of the mean‐distance R to the square of the period tis the same for all of them.19 That
is, R 3/t 2 has the same constant value for each of these orbits. We call this Kepler's third “law” of orbital
motion. We can informatively exhibit the fit of the Harmonic Rule to the data Newton cites from Kepler
by plotting log periods against log distances.20
Figure 1.12 The Harmonic Rule as illustrated by satellites of the sun
(p.14) That some straight line of slope n fits the result of plotting Logt against LogR is to have the periods
be as some power n of the distances. To have the Harmonic Rule hold is to have the slope of this line be
3/2 = 1.5.
The culmination of Kepler's life's work was the publication of his Rudolphine Tables in 1627. These
applied his orbital rules to generate accurate predictions of the motions of all the planets. We now know
that these predictions are about thirty times more accurate than those of competing tables. 21 Some
indication of this became generally known when Kepler's prediction of a transit of Mercury across the face
of the sun was verified in 1631. Kepler's prediction erred by about ten arc minutes while those of tables
based on Ptolemy or Copernicus erred by five degrees or more.22
Galileo (Italy 1564–1642)
In 1609 Galileo manufactured telescopes that were more powerful than any previous ones. His telescopes
afforded magnifications of up to 20 times or more.23 Early in 1610 he published results of observations of
the moon, stars, and planets. These revealed that our moon appeared earth‐like, with mountains and
valleys, and sharpened differences between the steady, round shapes of planets and the fixed stars which
are seen to pulsate with bright rays. He also found many new stars not visible to the naked eye. The broad
band of the Milky Way, which looks like whitish clouds to the naked eye, was seen by the telescope to be a
dense crowd of stars. Some odd‐shaped objects that had been called nebulous stars were revealed to be
swarms of small stars placed exceedingly close together. His observations of Jupiter revealed that it was
accompanied by four satellites – moons in orbit about the planet.24 His book Siderius Nuncius (Starry
Messenger) quickly made Galileo a celebrity in his age, of the sort that Einstein became in the twentieth
century.
We shall say more about Galileo's discovery and later observations of Jupiter's moons in chapter 2, when
we discuss Newton's acceptance of the Area Rule and Harmonic Rule for the orbits of these four Galilean
moons of Jupiter as a phenomenon from which to argue. This discussion is accompanied by a diagram
recording observations of Jupiter's moons by Jesuit astronomers of the Collegio Romano, when they
corroborated Galileo's results after obtaining a telescope.
Galileo's later observations of phases of Venus provided direct observational evidence against Ptolemy's
system, though not against Tycho's geo‐heliocentric system.25
These phases of Venus were among the observational results of Galileo that were verified by telescope
observations of Jesuit astronomers.26 As a result, the Tychonic system became dominant among defenders
of earth‐centered cosmology.27
Figure 1.13 The phases of Venus This diagram, drawn by Kepler, is from his Epitome of Copernican Astronorny. (Kepler
1995, 68)
2. Mechanics and physical causes

I see that Newton's argument for universal gravity and its application to the solar system is the successful
realization of Kepler's project for using physical causes to overcome the empirical equivalence between
geocentric and heliocentric world systems. We shall also see that a major aim of Newton's scientific
method was to defend this use of gravity as a physical cause to explain planetary motions, even though he
was unable to find a physical cause of gravity itself.
This section reviews views on physical causation by some influential earlier thinkers. It provides
background that will usefully inform our account of Newton's conception of gravity as a physical cause of
orbital motion.
Galileo (on mechanics)
We have already discussed Galileo's telescope observations reported in his 1610 book Siderius
Nuncius and the important evidence afforded by his additional observations of the phases of Venus. In
addition to these contributions to astronomy, Galileo also made fundamental contributions to mechanics.
In his famous Two New Sciences of 1638, Galileo proposed uniformly accelerated fall as an exact account
of idealized motion that would result in the absence of any resistant medium, even though the idealization
is impossible to actually implement. He argued that the perturbing effects of resistance are too complex to
be captured by any theory.29He also offered considerations, including inclined plane experiments that
slow down the motion, to argue that his idealized uniformly accelerated motion is the principal
mechanism of such terrestrial motion phenomena as free‐fall and projectile motion.30 Galileo's account of
projectile motion combined uniformly accelerated fall with an appeal to horizontal inertia. Over relatively
short distances, such as those explored by the projectile trajectories he considered, uniform horizontal
motion approximates uniform motion on a circle of (p.17)radius equal to that of the earth. We can think
of Galileo's horizontal inertia as bringing down to earth, to what Aristotle counted as forced local‐motion,
this feature of the natural motion Aristotle attributed to the celestial spheres.
Descartes (French 1596–1650)
René Descartes was a principal leader of the mechanical philosophy, a movement that came to dominate
natural philosophy in the seventeenth century. This movement criticized Aristotelian attributions of
qualities, such as heaviness to explain falling and lightness to explain rising, as pseudo‐explanations.
According to the mechanical philosophy, to make a motion phenomenon intelligible one must show how
the motion could possibly result from contact pushes between bodies. In his Principia
Philosophiae [Principles of Philosophy], Descartes offered an account of mechanics in which deviation
from uniform straight‐line motion (as well as deviation from rest) required explanation.31 This introduced
a need for a cause to explain orbital motion of planets that anticipated Newton's application of his first
Law of Motion. Descartes offered his vortex theory as a mechanical account of how the planets could be
maintained in orbits by vortex particles in analogy with the way pieces of wood are carried in curved paths
by a whirlpool.32 In his Principia, Descartes provided such qualitative hypothetical mechanical
explanations for terrestrial gravity, the birth and death of stars, the formation of mountains, the tides,
sunspots, light, and even magnetic phenomena.
Descartes was an important mathematician. His Geometry, which was published as an appendix to

his Discourse on Method in 1637, is the origin of our modern discipline of analytic geometry, in which
coordinates and equations allow the fruitful combination of algebra and geometry. 33 Figure 1.14 is what we
call a Cartesian coordinate representation of the path of a body projected with a velocity of 10 Paris feet
per second at a 45-degree angle up from atop the lower side of the leaning Tower of Pisa, at 172 Paris feet.
We are here using resources provided by Descartes the mathematician to accurately (p.18)
Figure 1.14 Cartesian coordinates
represent motion according to the account developed by Galileo's empirical investigation of projectile
motion.
Descartes did not require his coordinates to be orthogonal. We now exploit nonorthogonal coordinates in
geometrical representations of special relativity.34
Descartes is most widely known as a philosopher. In his philosophy, Descartes appealed to reason to
defend knowledge against skepticism. He offered an ideal of infallible premises expressed in clear and
distinct ideas, together with an ideal of inference limited to what follows by clear and distinct deductive
steps from explicit assumptions.35 Descartes's ideal of inference as deduction, interpreted with the help of
modern logic, is still with us today. This ideal is sometimes taken as a standard for what ought to count as
an acceptable inference. In the philosophy of science, we see this in the idea that an alternative hypothesis
can undercut an inference unless it is shown to be logically incompatible with assumptions that are
explicitly accepted as premises. This has been used to argue against the capacity of scientific practice to
empirically discriminate among alternative theories.
(p.19) Descartes proposed this extreme standard of inference to defend knowledge against skepticism. In
the philosophy of science it has, instead, contributed what I shall argue is illegitimate support for
skepticism about scientific knowledge. We shall see that Newton's fourth rule for doing natural
philosophy affords a powerful counter against such overly restrictive standards as those of this Cartesian
ideal.
Huygens (Dutch 1629–95)
Christiaan Huygens was the leading natural philosopher when Newton began his career. Huygens,
together with his brother, invented a telescope that used long focal length lenses to obtain sharper images.
Huygens used such a telescope to discover Saturn's moon Titan and to resolve Saturn's rings. In
appendix 2 of chapter 2 we will see that a Huygens telescope with a focal length of 123 feet played an
important role in an observation initiative sponsored by Newton to obtain more accurate data on satellites
of Jupiter and Saturn.36
Huygens replaced the rather puzzling Laws of Motion proposed by Descartes with principles that
correspond to Newton's laws applied to collisions between elastic bodies. 37 His resulting derivation of a
law of conservation of momentum appealed to a clever application of a relativity principle and, arguably,
also anticipated Newton's distinction between weight and mass. 38 Huygens's summary report on his laws
of collision clearly anticipates corollary 4 of Newton's Laws of Motion. 39 His treatment of what he called
“centrifugal force” includes derivation of an accurate calculation of what we count as the ratios of
centripetal accelerations corresponding to uniform circular motions. 40
Huygens was able to successfully extend Galileo's treatment of free fall to account for the constrained fall
exhibited by pendulum motion. His successful theory of pendulums led to his invention of the pendulum
clock, the first really precise timepiece. Together with his theory of pendulum motion, his clock made
possible his accurate theory‐mediated measurement of the strength of terrestrial gravity. This
measurement, together with his theory of pendulum motion and pendulum clocks, is reported in his
book The Pendulum Clock. It was published in 1673. Huygens also developed a wave theory of light and
proposed an ingenious hypothesis for a mechanical cause of gravity. After reading Newton's Principia,
Huygens added comments on Newton's argument to his Discourse on the Cause of Gravity, which he
published together with his Treatise on Light in 1690. In chapter 5 we will find these comments,
Figure 1.15 Huygens's telescope
together with Huygens's proposed cause of gravity, afford an illuminating foil for understanding Newton's
scientific method.
II Newton's Principia: theoretical concepts
In August 1684 Edmund Halley (1656–1742), who would become the Astronomer Royal in 1720, visited
Newton in Cambridge. According to a much retold story, Halley's visit convinced Newton of the
importance of a calculation in which Newton (p.21) had connected the ellipse with an orbit produced by
an inverse‐square force.41 By November, Newton had sent Halley a small but revolutionary treatise, De
Motu. An extraordinarily intense and productive effort by Newton over the next few years transformed
this small treatise into the Principia.
1. Newton's background framework
The Principia opens with two sections that precede book 1. The first is entitled “Definitions.” In it Newton
discusses concepts basic to his fundamental theoretical framework and introduces his theoretical concept
of a centripetal force. This section ends with his controversial scholium on time, space, place, and
motion.42 The basic concepts, together with his space‐time framework, allow the Laws of Motion to be
formulated in the second of these preliminary sections, which is entitled “Axioms or the Laws of Motion.”
Newton regards these Laws of Motion as empirical propositions, but he considers them sufficiently
established to be treated as axioms. In chapter 3 we will see that Newton points out that their empirical
support includes their confirmation from mechanics of machines, as well as phenomena of fall and
projectile motion. We will also see Newton's own carefully designed trials of pendulum experiments to
take into account air‐resistance and to confirm the third Law of Motion for collisions with bodies of
imperfect elasticity.43 In chapter 9 we shall look in some detail at Newton's arguments to extend his third
Law of Motion to attraction at a distance.
The propositions in these two preliminary sections, together with the propositions derived from them in
books 1 and 2 (both of which are titled “The Motion of Bodies”), are the principles referred to in
the Principia's full title, Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. They provide Newton's
background framework for turning data into evidence for universal gravity and its application to
empirically determine the true motions of the bodies in our solar system.
Central to Newton's application of universal gravity to this famous two chief world systems problem is
corollary 4 of his Laws of Motion:
The common center of gravity of two or more bodies does not change its state whether of motion or of rest
as a result of the actions of the bodies upon one another; and therefore the common center of gravity of all
bodies acting upon one another (excluding external actions and impediments) either is at rest or moves
uniformly straight forward. (C&W, 421)
This allows the measurements of the relative masses of planets and the sun, afforded by his theory of
gravity, to support his surprising resolution of this question which dominated natural philosophy in the
seventeenth century.
(p.22) 2. Newton's theoretical concept of a centripetal force

Newton's theoretical concept of a centripetal force deserves attention because of the important role it
plays in his argument for universal gravity. He devotes the last four of his eight definitions to this concept
and its three distinct quantities, or measures: absolute, accelerative, and motive. These definitions, as well
as Newton's basic framework and Laws of Motion, are discussed in more detail in chapter 3. Here it may
be enough to illustrate his concept of a centripetal force by considering the inverse‐square centripetal
force toward the sun that he argues for.
For each planet, its mass times its acceleration toward the sun counts as a motive measure of this inverse‐
square centripetal force.44 These motive measures, which Newton says may be called separate motive
forces assigned to each body being accelerated by it, are familiar to today's physics students as Newtonian
forces.
Less familiar are Newton's accelerative measures, examples of which are given by assigning the
centripetal acceleration of each planet to the location relative to the sun which it occupies. As Newton puts
it, an accelerative measure is assigned “to the place of the body as a certain efficacy diffused from the
center through each of the surrounding places in order to move the bodies that are in those places” (C&W,
407). What makes this an inverse‐square centripetal force is that the magnitudes of these accelerations
assigned to the places around the sun vary inversely as the squares of the distances of those places from
the center of the sun. In proposition 6, Newton introduces an impressive set of phenomena that give
agreeing measurements of the equal ratios of the motive forces to the masses of bodies being
gravitationally drawn toward the sun (or any planet) for bodies at equal distances from it. These count as
agreeing measurements of the property that equal component acceleration vectors toward the sun (or
planet) can be assigned to places at equal distances from its center. Any two bodies at such equally distant
places would have equal component accelerations toward the sun (or planet) generated by its gravity.
The absolute quantity of a centripetal force is assigned to the center as a characterization of its strength as
a whole. The ratio of the accelerations assigned to equal distances from their respective centers measures
the ratio of the absolute quantities of any two such centripetal forces, which have the same law relating
accelerations to distances from their centers.
Newton conceives such a force as a natural power, or capacity, so that the distinct motive forces assigned
to bodies being drawn toward the designated center are counted as actions of that centripetal force on
those bodies.45 We shall see that Newton's (p.23) conception of this inverse‐square centripetal force
toward the sun as a capacity counts it as the common cause of the distinct motive forces maintaining the
planets in their separate orbits. This capacity is mathematically characterized so that the existence of
centripetal forces and such features as their power laws can be empirically established by measurements
from orbital phenomena.
An especially important aspect of this abstract mathematical treatment is that it allows centripetal forces
to be empirically identified and their power laws to be empirically established, without settling on any
more fundamental account of the physical causes of planetary motions. The following passage indicates
the order of investigation facilitated by this mathematical treatment of centripetal forces. 46
Mathematics requires an investigation of those quantities of forces and their proportions that follow from
any conditions that may be supposed. Then coming down to physics, these proportions must be compared
with the phenomena, so that it may be found out which conditions [or laws] of forces apply to each kind of
attracting bodies. And then, finally, it will be possible to argue more securely concerning the physical
species, physical causes, and physical proportions of these forces. (C&W, 588–9)
According to this passage, the inferences from phenomena facilitated by the abstract mathematical
treatment of forces are to precede, and to inform, any further investigations of physical causes of these
forces. We shall see that the propositions Newton infers in the course of his argument are secured by the
way they are empirically backed up by measurements from phenomena. In section VII below, we shall
examine a passage in which Newton outlines the properties of gravity that have been so established as
conditions that must be accounted for by any adequate proposal for a cause of gravity.
III Newton's classic inferences from phenomena

Phenomena are not just data. They are patterns exhibited in open‐ended bodies of data. Newton's
phenomena are patterns exhibited by the relative motions of satellites and planets with respect to the
bodies about which they orbit. Newton cites estimates from astronomers of mean‐distances and agreed-
upon periods of orbits as data in (p.24) support of these patterns of relative motion. In chapter 2 we shall
analyze Newton's phenomena in fuller detail. We shall assess the fit of the patterns to his cited data and
compare his data with the best estimates available today.
Let us now examine how Newton appeals to propositions inferred from his Laws of Motion as resources to
make orbital motion phenomena measure centripetal forces. We shall see that his inferences to inverse‐
square forces toward Jupiter, Saturn, and the sun from phenomena exhibited by orbits about them are all
backed up by such measurements.47
1. Jupiter's moons
In proposition 1 of book 3, Newton argues that the forces by which Jupiter's moons are maintained in
their orbits are directed toward the center of Jupiter and are inversely as the squares of their distances
from that center.48 He cites the Area Rule for these moons with respect to that center and the Harmonic
Rule for the system of those orbits about Jupiter as a two‐part phenomenon.
Newton demonstrates that the Area Rule carries the information that the force maintaining a body in an
orbit that satisfies it is directed toward the center, with respect to which it sweeps out equal areas in equal
times. He also demonstrates that the Harmonic Rule for a system of orbits carries the information that the
accelerative forces maintaining bodies in those orbits are inversely as the squares of the distances from
the center about which those orbits are described.
1.i The Area Rule as a criterion for centripetal force

Let us consider motion of Jupiter's moons under the idealized assumption that the center of Jupiter can
be counted as inertial for the purpose of finding the forces that maintain those moons in their orbits about
it. Consider at any given moment the total force acting to change the state of motion of a moon in its
motion with respect to the center of Jupiter. Think of it as a vector acting on the center of mass of that
moon. Newton proves theorems in book 1 that make having the rate at which areas are being swept out by
radii to the center of Jupiter be constant equivalent to having that total force vector directed right at the
center of Jupiter. He also proves theorems that make having that rate be increasing equivalent to having
that total force vector be angled off‐center toward the direction of the tangent toward which its orbital
motion is directed, and that make having that rate be decreasing equivalent to having that force vector
angled off‐center backwards.49
Figure 1.16 From Area Rule to centripetal forceAn illustration of the systematic dependencies that make a constant rate
at which areas are swept out by radii from a center carry the information that the total force acting to change the state
of motion of a body with respect to that center is directed towards it.
These dependencies are not merely the material conditionals of truth functional logic. An important part
of Newton's treatment of his Laws of Motion as “laws” is that it can be expected that such dependencies
following from them would hold in circumstances appropriate to make the centripetal direction of the
force explain the Area Rule phenomenon and make that phenomenon measure the centripetal direction of
the force that would maintain a body in such an orbit.50
(p.26) Newton's proofs of the theorems underwriting the Area Rule as a criterion for centers toward
which orbital forces are directed make no assumptions about any power law for these forces. The
centripetal direction of the forces maintaining these moons in their orbits having been inferred from the
phenomena that those orbits satisfy the rule of areas with respect to the center of Jupiter, Newton can
appeal to theorems about orbital motion under centripetal forces to argue that the Harmonic Rule
phenomenon, for the system of those orbits, carries the information that the accelerative measures of
those forces are inversely as the squares of their distances from that center.
1.ii The Harmonic Rule as a criterion for inverse‐square forces
According to corollary 6 of proposition 4 of book 1, the Harmonic Rule for a system of concentric circular
uniform motion orbits is equivalent to having the accelerative centripetal forces maintaining bodies in
those orbits be inversely as the squares of the distances from the center. Corollary 6 is a special case of
corollary 7, which adds additional systematic dependencies. 51 To have the periods be as some power s 〉
 would be to have the centripetal forces fall off faster than the −2 power of the distances, while having
the periods be as some power s 〈  would be to have the centripetal forces fall off more slowly than the
−2 power of the distances. These systematic dependencies make the Harmonic Rule phenomenon (s = )
for such a system of orbits measure the inverse‐square (−2) power for the centripetal forces maintaining
bodies in those orbits. This constitutes a very strong sense in which the Harmonic Rule for such a system
of orbits carries the information that the forces maintaining bodies in those orbits satisfy the inverse‐
square power rule.
Newton reports the orbits of these moons to differ insensibly from uniform motion on concentric circular
orbits.52 Such orbits would satisfy the Area Rule with respect to radii from the center of Jupiter. As
evidence for the Harmonic Rule, Newton offers a table citing periods that have been agreed upon by
astronomers and four distance estimates from astronomers for each of the four moons of Jupiter that
were known at the time.53The fit of the Harmonic Rule to these data is quite good. 54 He also offers more
precise data from observations taken by Pound in 1718–20. 55
2. Primary planets
In proposition 2, Newton infers that the primary planets are maintained in their orbits by forces that are
directed to the sun and are inversely as the squares of their distances from its center. 56 The cited
phenomenon for the centripetal direction is the Area Rule (p.27) for the primary planets with respect to
the sun, while the cited phenomenon for the inverse‐square is the Harmonic Rule. An appeal to Newton's
precession theorem provides an additional argument for the inverse‐square.
Newton's phenomena are compatible with both sun‐centered and earth‐centered systems. To every sun‐
centered system, such as that of Copernicus or Kepler, a corresponding Tychonic system is defined by
taking the center of the earth rather than the center of the sun as a reference frame. Newton provides a
separate phenomenon stating that the five primary planets encircle the sun.57 By not including the earth
as a planet circling the sun this phenomenon is compatible with Tycho's system. Newton's statement of
the Harmonic Rule is explicitly neutral between sun‐centered and earth‐centered systems.58 In his
phenomenon for the rule of areas, Newton considers radii drawn to the earth as well as radii drawn to the
sun.59
Kepler's pretzel60 diagram (Figure 1.10) dramatically illustrates the wild irregularity of the motion of Mars
with respect to the earth. Newton cites the retrograde motion and stationary points that make the motion
of planets with respect to the earth diverge from the Area Rule. In contrast, he points out that with respect
to the sun, the planets move more swiftly in their perihelia and more slowly in their aphelia, in such a way
that the description of areas is uniform.61 As evidence for the Harmonic Rule phenomenon, Newton cites
periods agreed upon by astronomers and the estimates of mean‐distances made by Kepler and the French
astronomer Boulliau.62 In our discussion of Kepler we exhibited the fit of the Area Rule to his data by
plotting log periods against log mean‐distances from Kepler cited by Newton. In chapter 2 we do this for
mean‐distances cited from both Kepler and Boulliau.
2.i Inverse‐square from aphelia at rest

Newton claims that the inverse‐square variation with distance from the sun of the forces maintaining the
planets in their orbits is “proved with the greatest exactness” from the fact that the aphelia are at rest. If a
planet in going from aphelion to return to it makes an angular motion against the fixed stars of 360
+ pdegrees, then the aphelion is precessing forward with p degrees per revolution.
He cites corollary 1 of proposition 45 book 1. According to this corollary, zero precession is equivalent to
having the centripetal force be as the −2 power of distance; forward precession is equivalent to having the
centripetal force fall off faster than the (p.28)
Figure 1.17 Precession of planetary orbit by p degrees per revolution
inverse‐square; and backward precession is equivalent to having the centripetal force fall off less fast than
the inverse‐square power of distance.63
3. Inverse‐square acceleration fields

We follow Howard Stein's interpretation of Newton's centripetal forces of gravity toward planets as
acceleration fields. Stein's rich account of Newton's centripetal forces can be usefully introduced by
considering a very informative question he asked about an account I once gave of Newton's argument for
proposition 2.64 I had interpreted it as an argument to the inverse‐square variation of the separate
centripetal motive forces maintaining the planets in their orbits about the sun. The phenomena from
which these were inferred were the absence of significant orbital precession for each orbit and the
Harmonic Rule relation among those six orbits. Stein asked how these phenomena provided evidence
against a hypothesis that agreed with the inverse‐square in the distances explored by each orbit and in the
inverse‐square relation among the forces at those six small distance ranges, but differed wildly from the
inverse‐square in the large ranges of distances not explored by the motions of those planets.
Figure 1.18 illustrates the approximate ranges of distances explored by each planet computed from the
mean‐distances and eccentricities assigned to their orbits today.
(p.29)
Figure 1.18 The distances explored by each planet in our solar systemNote the large gaps between the distances
explored by Mars and those explored by Jupiter and between the distances explored by Jupiter and those explored by
Saturn.
The following comments indicate the important role Stein sees for the concept of an acceleration field in
Newton's argument for inverse‐square gravitation toward the sun.
That the accelerations of the planets, severally and collectively, are inversely as the squares of their
distances from the sun is not the conclusion of Newton's induction; that is his deductive inference from
the laws established by Kepler. Newton's inductive conclusion is that the accelerations toward the sun
are everywhere – i.e., even where there are no planets – determined by the position relative to the sun;
namely, directed toward that body, and in magnitude inversely proportional to the square of the distance
from it. And although the inductive argument is very straightforward – certainly not dependent upon
tortuous constructs – that argument cannot be made, because its conclusion cannot even be sensibly
formulated, without the notion of a field. From a mathematical point of view, the idea of an acceleration
attached to each point in space is the idea of a function on space, hence a field; from the physical and
methodological point of view, the idea of an acceleration characterizing a point where there happens to be
no body makes no sense at all, unless one accepts the notion of a disposition, or tendency; subject to
probing, but not necessarily probed. (Stein 1970b, 267–8)
This comment was preceded by the following comment about the extent to which Newton's induction is
convincing.
The induction is very convincing. The fact that the acceleration is the field intensity is critical, for the
evidence comes entirely from six bodies, each exploring the field in a fixed and severely restricted range;
the inductive basis would therefore be rather weak if we were not, by good luck, able to relate directly to
one another purely kinematical – and, thus, ascertainable – parameters of the several bodies' motions.
This lucky fact is not the work of Newton's definitions, but of nature. Newton's merit was to know how to
use what he was lucky enough to find. (Stein 1970b, 267)
The kinematical parameters are the centripetal direction and inverse‐square relation of the accelerations
of these six planets with respect to the sun. What Newton was lucky enough to find was the dynamical
significance of Kepler's area and Harmonic Rules. It is this dynamical significance that transforms the
exponent in Kepler's Harmonic Rule (p.30) into a measure of a causally relevant parameter, namely, the
exponent of the power law for a centripetal acceleration field directed toward the sun.
I believe Stein's question is answered by exploiting additional measurements afforded by these orbits. To
have them fit the Harmonic Rule makes them all count as agreeing measurements of the strength of this
single sun‐centered inverse‐square acceleration field. This makes them afford agreeing measurements of
what the acceleration toward the sun would be at any given distance from it. For example, as
Figure 1.18 illustrates, the considerable distances between Mars and Jupiter and between Jupiter and
Saturn are not explored by the motions of planets. Consider such a distance. Using the inverse‐square law
to adjust the centripetal acceleration corresponding to each of the orbital data that Newton cited yields an
estimate for the centripetal acceleration toward the sun that a body would be subject to if it were at that
distance from the center of the sun.65
A central feature of Newton's method is to exploit such agreeing measurements to infer what this
acceleration would be. We shall see that, on Newton's scientific method, an alternative hypothesis can be
dismissed unless it either provides a correspondingly rich realization of agreeing accurate measurements
of proposed rival causal parameters or provides phenomena that would conflict with motion in accord
with Newton's measurements.
The Harmonic Rule measurements of inverse‐square acceleration fields directed toward Jupiter and
Saturn back up Newton's inference to an inverse‐square acceleration field directed toward the sun. They
provide evidence that Jupiter, Saturn, and the sun are all centers of the same sort of acceleration fields.
The relative distances from these planets explored by the motions of their moons are different from those
from the sun explored by the motions of the primary planets. This adds considerably to the difficulty of
finding an alternative that could realize agreeing measurements for all three at once.
Comets explore considerably more distances from the sun than the six small ranges explored by the
primary planets known to Newton. Newton's treatment of comet trajectories as being in accordance with
inverse‐square accelerations toward the sun adds considerable additional support to his inference to a
sun‐directed inverse‐square acceleration field.66
The conception of empirical success as accurate measurement of parameters by the phenomena they
explain is richer than the more restricted empiricist conception that would limit empirical success to
prediction alone. The agreement among the (p.31) measurements of inverse‐square centripetal
acceleration fields afforded by orbital phenomena counts as an especially strong realization of a
conception of empirical success that illuminates Newton's scientific method. Having the parameters
receive convergent accurate measurements from distinct phenomena clearly affords more empirical
support than would be afforded from a measurement from any one of those phenomena by itself.
The advantages of the richer approach to empirical investigation exhibited by Newton's inferences from
phenomena are explored in more detail in chapter 3 section IV below. Lessons for philosophy of science
will include a treatment of issues raised by criticisms of Newton's inferences by Duhem and philosophers
of science such as Feyerabend and Lakatos (see chpt. 3 sec. IV.1–3). A comparison with Clark Glymour's
bootstrap confirmation reveals that the systematic dependencies backing up Newton's inferences avoid
the counterexamples proposed by Christensen. These counterexamples, which are based on constructing
“unnatural” material conditionals entailed by theory to use as background assumptions, led to the demise
of bootstrap confirmation as a serious approach to explicating scientific inference (see chpt. 3 sec. IV.4–
5).
IV Unification and the moon

Newton's inference to identify terrestrial gravity as the force maintaining the moon in its orbit is a central
step in his argument. This inference is supported by the conception of empirical success that informs his
inferences from phenomena. On Newton's identification, two phenomena – the length of a seconds
pendulum at the surface of the earth67 and the centripetal acceleration exhibited by the lunar orbit – are
found to give agreeing measurements of the strength of the same inverse‐square centripetal acceleration
field, the earth's gravity. This realizes the ideal of empirical success by making available the data from
both phenomena to empirically back up the measured value of this common parameter.
1. The moon's orbit

In proposition 3, Newton argues that the force by which the moon is maintained in its orbit is directed
toward the earth and is inversely as the squares of the distances of its places from the center of the earth.
The centripetal direction toward the earth is inferred from the Area Rule. The inverse‐square is argued for
from the very slow precession of the moon's orbit. Newton suggests that the motion of the moon
is (p.32) somewhat perturbed by the sun and that such perturbations can be neglected in his phenomena.
Newton's account of the moon's variation, an inequality in its motion discovered by Tycho, introduced
violations of the Area Rule.68 These violations, however, were accounted for by his successful treatment of
this inequality as a perturbation due to the action of the sun.69 This underwrites Newton's dismissal of
these violations as irrelevant to his inference from the Area Rule to the earth‐centered direction of the
force maintaining the moon in its orbit about the earth.
The observed precession of the lunar orbit about the earth makes the argument for inverse‐square
variation more problematic than the corresponding argument for the planets. Newton claims that this
precession of the moon's orbit is to be ignored because it arises from the action of the sun. He does not,
however, provide an account of how this precession is due to the action of the sun. 70 His argument for
proposition 3 ends with an appeal to the moon‐test.
2. Gravitation toward the earth

Huygens's treatment of pendulums led to his pendulum clock, which made it possible to accurately
determine the length of a seconds pendulum to considerable precision. Huygens's experiment gave the
length of a seconds pendulum at Paris to be 3 Paris feet and 8 ½ lines, where a line is a twelfth of an
inch.71 His theory of the pendulum made the length of a seconds pendulum generate an accurate
measurement of the strength of gravity. Both Newton and Huygens represent the strength of gravity by
the distance it would make a body freely fall in the first second after release. Huygens's experimental
estimate of the length of a seconds pendulum gives for this one second's fall
d = 15.096 Paris feet.72
(p.33) In chapter 5 we will further explore grounds for preferring Huygens's theory‐

mediated measurement over earlier efforts to give more direct experimental estimates of the strength of
gravity by coordinating distances and times of fall for dropped objects. 73 One advantage of the pendulum
estimates we can point out here is the stability exhibited in repetitions. Here are the seconds pendulum
estimates of the one second's fall d, from experiments at Paris discussed by Huygens and Newton.
Table 1.1 Seconds Pendulum Estimates (d in Paris feet)
Picard 15.096
Huygens 15.096
Richer 15.099
Varin et al. 15.098

The very close clustering of these estimates shows the sharpness of the stability exhibited in repetitions of
pendulum estimates of the one second's fall.
3. The moon‐test
In his moon‐test, Newton uses the inverse‐square variation with distance to turn the centripetal
acceleration exhibited by the lunar orbit into an estimate of what the corresponding centripetal
acceleration would be in the vicinity of the surface of the earth. He cites a lunar period agreed upon by
astronomers and a circumference for the earth according to measurements by the French, as well as six
estimates of the lunar distance by astronomers.74 In proposition 4, Newton appeals to the moon‐test to
argue that the force maintaining the moon in its orbit is gravity. 75 Here is the heart of his initial basic
argument.
And therefore that force by which the moon is kept in its orbit, in descending from the moon's orbit to the
surface of the earth, comes out equal to the force of gravity here on earth, and so (by rules 1 and 2) is that
very force which we generally call gravity. (C&W, 804)
This appeals to the equality established in the moon‐test and to the first two of Newton's explicitly
formulated Regulae Philosophandi. Here are these Rules for Philosophizing or Rules for Reasoning in
Natural Philosophy:
1. Rule 1. No more causes of natural things should be admitted than are both true and
sufficient to explain their phenomena. (C&W, 794)
2. Rule 2. Therefore, the causes assigned to natural effects of the same kind must be, so far as
possible, the same. (C&W, 795)
We can read these two rules, together, as telling us to opt for common causes whenever we can succeed in
finding them. This seems to be exactly their role in the (p.34) application we are considering. We have
two phenomena: the centripetal acceleration of the moon and the length of a seconds pendulum at Paris.
Each measures a force producing accelerations at the surface of the earth. These accelerations are equal
and equally directed toward the center of the earth. Identifying the forces makes these phenomena count
as agreeing measures of the strength of the very same inverse‐square force. This makes them count as
effects of a single common cause.
4. Empirical success
We can calculate the one second's fall in the vicinity of the surface of the earth corresponding to using the
inverse‐square law to infer it from the lunar centripetal acceleration for each of the distance estimates
Newton cites.76 Table 1.2 puts the resulting moon‐test estimates of the one second's fall, d, corresponding
to each of the cited distance estimates together with the pendulum estimates of Table 1.1 above.
Table 1.2 (d in Paris feet)
Moon‐test estimates Seconds pendulum estimates

Ptolemy 14.271
Vendelin 15.009
Huygens 15.009
15.096 Picard
15.096 Huygens
15.098 Varin et al.
15.099 Richer
Copernicus 15.261
Street 15.311
Tycho 15.387
These numbers suggest that, though the moon‐test estimates may be irrelevant to small differences from
Huygens's estimate, the agreement of these cruder moon‐test estimates affords increased resistance to
large changes from these seconds pendulum estimates. This increased resistance to large changes, or
increased resiliency, represents an important sort of increased empirical support. The cruder agreeing
moon‐test estimates count as additional empirical support backing up the much sharper estimates
available from pendulum experiments.
We have exhibited these multiple agreeing measurements by listing them. An application of modern least‐
squares assessment can reveal empirical advantages of multiple agreeing measurements that are not
made explicit by just listing them. In chapter 4, such an application of least‐squares reveals that the
agreement among the (p.35) estimates in Table 4.3 counts as a very impressive realization of such
empirical advantages.77
Empiricists who limit empirical success to prediction alone would see the appeal to simplicity in rules 1
and 2 as something extraneous to empirical success. According to such a view, these rules endorse a
general theoretical or pragmatic commitment to simplicity imposed as an additional requirement beyond
empirical success. Such a view is suggested by Newton's comment on Rule 1:
As the philosophers say: Nature does nothing in vain, and more causes are vain when fewer suffice. For
nature is simple and does not indulge in the luxury of superfluous causes. (C&W, 794)
The application of these rules to the moon‐test inference, however, does not depend on any such general
commitment to simplicity. This inference is backed up by the agreement between the measurements of
the strength of an inverse‐square centripetal acceleration field afforded from the length of a seconds
pendulum and the centripetal acceleration exhibited by the lunar orbit. The agreement of the
measurements from these distinct phenomena counts as the sort of empirical success that is realized by
Newton's basic inferences from phenomena.
Table 1.2 exhibits that identifying the force that maintains the moon in its orbit with terrestrial gravity is
empirically backed up by the agreement of these measurements. It is surely implausible that any general
commitment to simplicity as a non‐empirical virtue can do justice to this sort of empirical support. We
shall argue that this rich sort of empirical support afforded to the moon‐test inference from these agreeing
measurements is sufficient to make appeal to any general theoretical or pragmatic commitment to
simplicity unnecessary.
V Generalization by induction: Newton on method
Two of Newton's most interesting Regulae Philosophandi (Rules for Reasoning in Natural Philosophy) are
applied in his arguments for propositions 5 and 6 of book 3. These applications support interpretations
according to which these two rules count as very informative methodological principles for scientific
inference. In the scholium to proposition 5 there is an explicitly cited appeal to Rule 4 in arguing to extend
inverse‐square gravity to planets without satellites to measure it. This affords an interpretation that
informs the provisional acceptance of propositions gathered from phenomena by induction as guides to
research that should not be undercut by mere (p.36) contrary hypotheses. In corollary 2 of proposition 6,
there is an explicit appeal to Rule 3 to generalize, to all bodies universally, weight toward the earth with
equal ratios to inertial mass at equal distances from the center of the earth. This supports an
interpretation of Rule 3 that makes the whole argument for proposition 6 count as a very powerful
application of convergent agreeing measurements from phenomena.
1. Proposition 5 and Rule 4

In proposition 5 and its corollaries, Newton identifies the inverse‐square centripetal acceleration fields
toward Jupiter, Saturn, and the sun with gravitation toward those bodies. All these orbital phenomena are
effects of gravitation of satellites toward primaries. Given this generalization, we can understand each of
these phenomena as an agreeing measurement of such general features of gravitation toward these
primaries as centripetal direction and inverse‐square accelerative measure.
Newton further generalizes to assign to all planets universally centripetal forces of gravity that are
inversely as the squares of distances from their centers. For planets without satellites there are no
centripetal accelerations of bodies toward them to measure gravity toward them. The following scholium
is offered in support of this further generalization to all planets.
Scholium. Hitherto we have called “centripetal” that force by which celestial bodies are kept in their
orbits. It is now established that this force is gravity, and therefore we shall call it gravity from now on.
For the cause of the centripetal force by which the moon is kept in its orbit ought to be extended to all the
planets, by rules 1, 2, and 4. (C&W, 806)
This appeal to rules 1 and 2 is backed up by appeal to an additional rule.
1. Rule 4. In experimental philosophy, propositions gathered from phenomena by induction

should be considered either exactly or very nearly true notwithstanding any contrary hypotheses,
until yet other phenomena make such propositions either more exact or liable to exceptions.
(C&W, 796)
This rule instructs us to consider propositions gathered from phenomena by induction as “either exactly
or very nearly true.” Such propositions are to be considered as accepted rather than merely assigned high
probabilities.78 They may be accepted as exactly true or as approximations. 79 We are instructed to
maintain this acceptance of these propositions in the face of any contrary hypotheses, until further
phenomena make them more exact or liable to exceptions.
We shall offer a more detailed account of this important rule in chapter 7. In this introductory chapter we
do need to clarify what are to count as propositions gathered from phenomena by induction and how they
differ from what are to be dismissed as mere contrary hypotheses. We have seen that the classic
inferences from phenomena (p.37) which open the argument for universal gravity are measurements of
the centripetal direction and the inverse‐square accelerative quantity of gravities maintaining moons and
planets in their orbits. To extend the attribution of centripetally directed gravity with inverse‐square
accelerative quantity to planets without moons is to treat such orbital phenomena as measurements of
these quantified features of gravity for planets generally.
What would it take for an alternative proposal to succeed in undermining this generalization of gravity to
planets without moons? The arguments we have been examining suggest that Newton's Rule 4 would have
us treat such an alternative proposal as a mere “contrary hypothesis” unless it is sufficiently backed up by
phenomena to count as a rival to be taken seriously.
Consider the skeptical challenge that the argument has not ruled out the claim that there is a better
alternative theory in which these planets do not have gravity. Rule 4 will count the claim of such a
skeptical challenge as a mere contrary hypothesis to be dismissed, unless such an alternative is given with
details that actually deliver on measurement support sufficient to make it a serious rival or is backed up
by empirically established phenomena that make Newton's inference liable to exceptions. On Newton's
method, it is not enough for a skeptic to show that such an alternative has not been logically ruled out by
the explicitly cited premises of an argument.
Newton's richer ideal of empirical success, as a criterion distinguishing propositions gathered from
phenomena from mere hypotheses, also makes his Rule 4 back up his moon‐test inference. Consider an
alternative that makes the same predictions about terrestrial gravity phenomena and the moon's motion,
but introduces two separate forces. Its failure to realize the empirical success afforded to Newton's
inference by the agreeing measurements makes Newton's Rule 4 apply to count such an alternative as a
mere contrary hypothesis, which should not be allowed to undercut Newton's identification of terrestrial
gravity as the force which maintains the moon in its orbit of the earth. This reinforces our argument that
there is no need to appeal to any general theoretical or pragmatic commitment to simplicity.
2. Proposition 6 and Rule 3

Proposition 6 backs up Newton's argument for assigning gravity as inverse‐square centripetal acceleration
fields to all planets by appealing to diverse phenomena that afford agreeing measurements of the equality
of accelerations toward planets for bodies at equal distances from them. The centripetal forces that have
been identified as gravity toward planets are acceleration fields. The ratio of weight toward a planet to
inertial mass is the same for all bodies at any equal distances from its center. 80 In arguing
for (p.38) proposition 6, Newton backs up his earlier arguments by providing explicit measurements of
the equality of these ratios of weight to mass.
2.i Weight toward the earth
Newton begins with gravity toward the earth. He describes pendulum experiments which measure the
equality of the ratio of weight to inertial mass for pairs of samples of nine varied materials – gold, silver,
lead, glass, sand, common salt, wood, water, and wheat. In chapter 7 we shall see that the agreement of
the measurements from all these different sorts of material supports accepting that the outcome is not
limited to the specific sort of material selected. This illustrates an important advantage of agreeing
measurements from diverse phenomena. The equality of the periods of each such pair of pendulums
counts as a phenomenon which measures the equality of these ratios for any laboratory‐sized bodies near
the surface of the earth.
The outcome of the moon‐test affords an agreeing measurement from a considerably more diverse
phenomenon, the centripetal acceleration exhibited by the orbit of our moon. In chapter 7 we will see that
this affords increased evidence that neither sort of measurement result is an artifact of systematic error
built into the details of either of the very different sorts of experimental apparatus used to make these
different measurements. It also extends the result to moon‐sized bodies. The agreement between the
seconds pendulum estimates and the moon‐test estimates of the strength of gravity at the surface of the
earth affords a measurement of the equality of the ratio of the moon's weight toward the earth to its mass
and the common ratio to their masses of the weights toward the earth that terrestrial bodies would have at
the lunar distance.
2.ii Rule 3
Newton's third rule for doing natural philosophy is applied in the first part of corollary 2 of proposition 6.
Corollary 2. All bodies universally that are on or near the earth are heavy [or gravitate] toward the earth,
and the weights of all bodies that are equally distant from the center of the earth are as the quantities of
matter in them. This is a quality of all bodies on which experiments can be performed and therefore by
rule 3 is to be affirmed of all bodies universally…(C&W, 809)
1. Rule 3. Those qualities of bodies that cannot be intended and remitted [that is, qualities that
cannot be increased and diminished] and that belong to all bodies on which experiments can be
made should be taken as qualities of all bodies universally. (C&W, 795)
Those qualities of bodies that cannot be intended or remitted are those that count as constant parameter
values. This rule, therefore, endorses counting such parameter values found to be constant on all bodies
within the reach of experiments as constant for all bodies universally. In corollary 2, the quality of bodies
which is generalized is weight toward the earth, with equal ratios of weight to mass for all bodies at equal
distances from the center of the earth.
(p.39) As we shall see in chapter 7,81 the equality of the periods of pairs of pendulums in Newton's
experiments are phenomena established with precision sufficient to measure the equalities of ratios of
weight to mass for terrestrial bodies to about one part in a thousand. These experiments extend to this,
much greater, precision the many long‐established, rougher but agreeing, observations that bodies fall at
equal rates, “at least on making an adjustment for the inequality of the retardation that arises from the
very slight resistance of the air.”
The outcome of the moon‐test counts as a rougher measurement bound that agrees with the more precise
bound that would result from extending the null outcome of Newton's pendulum experiments, to include
the equality of ratios to masses of the weights toward the earth any bodies would have at the lunar
distance.82 In chapter 7 we shall see that these phenomena count as agreeing measurements bounding
toward zero an earth‐parameter, Δe, representing differences between ratios of weight toward the earth to
mass that bodies would have at any equal distances from its center.83
Rule 3 tells us to conclude that the ratio of mass to weight toward the earth is equal for all bodies at any
equal distances, however far they may be from the center of the earth, if that equality holds for all the
bodies in reach of our experiments. The agreement, exhibited by Newton, among measurements of this
equality by phenomena is an example of what he counts as an inductive base for generalizing to all bodies
in reach of our experiments. This makes his Rule 4 tell us to put the burden of proof on a skeptic to
provide evidence for bodies within reach of our experiments that would exhibit phenomena making this
equality liable to exceptions.
2.iii The argument for proposition 6 continued

Newton follows up his argument for the earth with an appeal to the Harmonic Rule for Jupiter's moons as
a phenomenon which measures the equality of the ratio of mass to weight toward Jupiter that bodies
would have at the distances of its moons. Rule 3 would extend this equality to bodies at any distances. The
data Newton cites in his table for the Harmonic Rule for Jupiter's moons measure the equality of these
ratios to fair precision. They bound toward zero a Jupiter‐parameter, Δj, representing differences between
ratios of weight toward Jupiter to mass for bodies at any equal distances from Jupiter. 84 Similarly, the
data Newton cites for the Harmonic Rule for the primary planets bound toward zero a sun‐parameter,
ΔH (“H” for “Helios”).
To show the equality of ratios of mass to weight toward the sun at equal distances Newton also appeals to
three additional phenomena – absence of polarization toward or away from the sun of orbits of,
respectively, Jupiter's moons, Saturn's moons, and the earth's moon. If the ratio of mass to weight toward
the sun for a moon were greater (p.40) or less than the corresponding ratio for the planet then the orbit
of that moon would be shifted toward or away from the sun. Absence of such orbital polarization counts as
a phenomenon measuring the equality of ratios of mass to weight toward the sun at equal distances. 85
All these phenomena count as agreeing measurements bounding toward zero a single general parameter,
Δ, representing differences between bodies of the ratios of their inertial masses to the weights toward any
planet they would have at any equal distances from it.86
2.iv Parts of planets
Newton concludes his argument for proposition 6 by explicitly extending the argument for equality of
ratios between mass and weight toward other planets to individual parts of planets. We will examine this
argument in chapter 7.87
VI Gravity as a universal force of pair‐wise interaction
1. Applying Law 3
In proposition 7, Newton argues that gravity exists in all bodies universally and is proportional to the
quantity of matter in each. We shall see in chapter 8 that the proof is given in two paragraphs. The first
paragraph argues that the gravity toward each planet is proportional to the quantity of matter of that
planet. This argument appeals to book 1 proposition 69. That proposition from book 1 applies the third
Law of Motion to argue that if bodies attract each other by inverse‐square accelerative forces, then the
attraction toward each will be as its quantity of matter or mass.88 As we have seen, Newton has just argued
in proposition 6 that each planet attracts all bodies by inverse‐square accelerative forces.
The second paragraph argues to extend the result of the first to all the parts of planets. This second
argument appeals directly to Law 3.
To any action there is always an opposite and equal reaction; in other words, the actions of two bodies
upon each other are always equal and always opposite in direction. (C&W, 417)
In both arguments the forces are interpreted as interactions between the bodies in such a way as to allow
Law 3 to apply, by counting the attraction of each toward the other as action and equal and opposite
reaction.
(p.41) In corollary 2 of proposition 7, Newton argues that gravitation toward each of the individual equal
particles of a body is inversely as the square of the distance of places from those particles. In chapter 8 we
shall see that, as with Newton's classic inferences from phenomena, this inference is backed up by
systematic dependencies. These dependencies make phenomena measuring inverse‐square variation of
attraction toward a whole uniform sphere count as measurements of inverse‐square variation of the law of
the attractions toward the particles which sum to make it up.
2. Universal force of interaction

In the assumption of the argument for proposition 7, gravitation of any planets A and B toward one
another is treated as an interaction, so that the equal and opposite reaction to the weight of B toward A is
the weight of Atoward B. This makes the argument of proposition 69 apply, so the strengths of the
centripetal attractions toward each are proportional to their masses. The extension to include interactive
gravitation of bodies toward parts of planets would count, in Newton's day, as an extension to include
interactive gravitation between all bodies within reach of experiments. This makes Rule 3 endorse
extending interactive gravity to all bodies universally.
Newton's argument transforms his initial conception of a centripetal force as a centripetal acceleration
field into his conception of gravity as a universal force of interaction between bodies characterized by
his law of interaction. Central to this transformation are the crucial applications of Law 3 to construe the
equal and opposite reaction of the attraction of a satellite toward its primary to be an attraction of the
primary toward that satellite. In chapter 9 we shall explore a very illuminating challenge to these
applications of Law 3 by Roger Cotes, Newton's editor of the second edition. Our examination of this
challenge, which will include examining Newton's response to it in letters to Cotes and his scholium to the
laws, will further illuminate interesting lessons we can learn from his method.
3. Resolving the two chief world systems problem

In proposition 8, Newton appeals to theorems on attraction toward spheres to extend his conclusions to
gravitation toward bodies approximating globes made up of spherically homogeneous shells. Attraction
between such bodies is directly as the product of their masses and inversely as the square of the distance
between their centers. Proposition 7 is applied to use orbital phenomena to measure the masses of the sun
and planets with moons (corollary 2 proposition 8). The resulting agreeing measurements of the masses
of these bodies count as a significant realization of what I have identified as Newton's ideal of empirical
success. In chapter 9, we will argue that this adds more support to his appeal to Law 3 in the argument for
proposition 7 than would be available if empirical success were limited to prediction alone.
These measurements lead to his surprising center‐of‐mass resolution of the two chief world systems
problem – the problem of deciding between geocentric and heliocentric world systems.
(p.42) Proposition 12 (book 3) The sun is engaged in continual motion but never recedes far from the
common center of gravity of all the planets. (C&W, 816)
Both the Copernican and Tychonic systems are wrong; however, the sun‐centered system closely
approximates true motions, while the earth‐centered system is wildly inaccurate.
In this center of mass frame the separate centripetal acceleration fields toward solar system bodies are
combined into a single system where each body undergoes an acceleration toward each of the others
proportional to its mass and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. This
recovers appropriate centripetal acceleration components corresponding to each of the separate inverse‐
square acceleration fields toward the sun and each planet.
In chapter 8 we will argue that Newton's Rule 4 supports maintaining acceptance of these inverse‐square
acceleration fields toward planets as approximations recovered by his theory of gravity as a universal force
of pair‐wise interactions between bodies. We will also see Newton argue that the large mass of the sun
makes his solution to the two chief world systems problem recover Kepler's elliptical orbit as a good
approximation for an initial stage from which to seek a progressive series of better approximations as
more and more perturbation producing interactions are taken into account.
VII Lessons from Newton on scientific method
1. More informative than H‐D method

In 1690 Huygens published his Treatise on Light followed by his Discourse on the Cause of Gravity bound
together in a single volume. He includes a very nice characterization of hypothetico‐deductive method in
the preface to his Treatise.89
One finds in this subject a kind of demonstration which does not carry with it so high a degree of certainty
as that employed in geometry; and which differs distinctly from the method employed by geometers in
that they prove their propositions by well established and incontrovertible principles, while here
principles are tested by the inferences which are derivable from them. The nature of the subject permits of
no other treatment. It is possible, however, in this way to establish a probability which is little short of
certainty. This is the case when the consequences of the assumed principles are in perfect accord with the
observed phenomena, and especially when these verifications are numerous; but above all when one
employs the hypothesis to predict new phenomena and finds his expectation realized. (Matthews 1989,
126–7)
On this method, hypothesized principles are tested by experimental verification of observable conclusions
drawn from them. Empirical success is limited to accurate prediction of observable phenomena. What it
leads to are increases in probability. (p.43) A great number of accurate predictions, especially of new
phenomena, can lead to very high degrees of probability.90 All this is very much in line with the basic
hypothetico‐deductive model for scientific method that dominated much discussion by philosophers of
science in the last century.91
As we have argued, Newton's method differs by adding additional features that go beyond this basic H‐D
model. One important addition is the richer ideal of empirical success that is realized in Newton's classic
inferences from phenomena. This richer ideal of empirical success requires not just accurate prediction of
phenomena. It requires, in addition, accurate measurement of parameters by the predicted phenomena.
Consider Newton's inference to the centripetal direction of the force maintaining a planet in its orbit from
its uniform description of areas by radii from the center of the sun. According to proposition 1
of Principia, book 1, if the direction of the force is toward that center then the planet will move in a plane
in such a way that its description of areas by radii to that center will be uniform. So, if your inference were
hypothetico‐deductive, that would do it. Proposition 1 shows that a centripetal force would predict the
Area Rule phenomenon. Therefore, the hypothesis that the force maintaining the body in that orbit is
directed toward that center is confirmed by the fit of the Area Rule to the data.
Newton cites proposition 2 of book 1, which gives the converse conditional that if the description of areas
is uniform then the force is centripetal. These two conditionals follow from his application of his Laws of
Motion to such orbital systems. He has proved, in addition, the corollaries that if the areal rate is
increasing the force is off‐center in a forward direction and if the areal rate is decreasing the force is off‐
center in the opposite way. Taken together, these results show that the behavior of the rate at which areas
are swept out by radii to the center depends systematically on the direction of the force maintaining a
body in orbital motion with respect to that center. These systematic dependencies make the uniformity of
the area rate carry the information that the force is directed toward the center.
These inferences of Newton are far more compelling than the corresponding hypothetico‐deductive
inferences. The systematic dependencies backing them up afford a far more compelling sort of
explanation of the uniform description of areas by the centripetal direction of the forces than the
hypothetico‐deductive model of explanation as a one‐way conditional with the hypothesis as antecedent
and the phenomenon to be explained as consequent.
(p.44) 2. Newton's hypotheses non fingo

Here is Newton's most famous and controversial passage on method.
I have not as yet been able to deduce from phenomena the reason for these properties of gravity, and I do
not feign hypotheses. For whatever is not deduced from the phenomena must be called a hypothesis; and
hypotheses, whether metaphysical or physical, or based on occult qualities, or mechanical, have no place
in experimental philosophy. In this experimental philosophy, propositions are deduced from the
phenomena and are made general by induction. The impenetrability, mobility, and impetus of bodies, and
the laws of motion and the law of gravity have been found by this method. And it is enough that gravity
really exists and acts according to the laws that we have set forth and is sufficient to explain all the
motions of the heavenly bodies and of our sea. (C&W, 943)
This famous hypotheses non fingo passage defends his inferences to properties of gravity against the
objection that he has not made gravity mechanically intelligible by showing how it could be hypothetically
explained by things pushing on bodies. As we have noted above, the need for such hypothetical
explanations by contact to make motion phenomena intelligible was central to the Cartesian mechanical
philosophy. Huygens and Leibniz were committed advocates of this requirement.
Newton dismisses such conjectured hypotheses as having no place in what he characterizes as his
contrasting experimental philosophy in which propositions are deduced from the phenomena and are
made general by induction. Hypotheses have no place in experimental philosophy and are explicitly
identified as “whatever is not deduced from the phenomena.” So, Deductions from the phenomena are to
be construed widely enough to include not just propositions deduced from the phenomena, directly, but,
also, propositions resulting from making general such propositions by induction.
Those of us who associate “deduction” with strictly logical or mathematical inference may be somewhat
surprised to find that Newton's deductions from phenomena explicitly include inductions; however, as
scholars will know, the use of “deduction” in Newton's day was not restricted to logically valid
inference.92 On Newton's usage, any appropriately warranted conclusion inferred from phenomena as
available evidence will count as a deduction from the phenomena. Newton's identification of “hypotheses”
with “whatever is not deduced from the phenomena” makes counting (p.45) something as a mere
hypothesis equivalent to counting it as not appropriately warranted on the basis of available evidence.
In our discussion of Rule 4 we suggested that what would render an alternative to be a mere contrary
hypothesis (and so something which should not be allowed to undercut propositions gathered from
phenomena by induction) is that it failed to be sufficiently backed up by measurements from phenomena
to be counted as a serious rival. This is very much in line with what Newton is saying in this hypotheses
non fingopassage. Clear examples of what we might call direct deductions from the phenomena are
Newton's inferences to inverse‐square centripetal acceleration fields from the Area Rule and the
Harmonic Rule orbital phenomena, which measure the centripetal direction and the inverse‐square
variation of the forces maintaining bodies in those orbits. The extension of such inverse‐square centripetal
acceleration fields to planets without orbiting bodies to measure them is an example of making general by
induction. All these inferences from phenomena count as deductions from the phenomena in the wide
sense in which such empirically warranted propositions are contrasted with mere hypotheses which are
not sufficiently backed up by measurements from phenomena to be counted as serious rivals.
Newton starts with his Laws of Motion as accepted propositions. He tells us that they have been found by
the same method as his theory of gravity.93 He counts them as empirical propositions that have already
been sufficiently established to be accepted as guides to research. They and their consequences count as
premises that can be appealed to in backing up inferences from phenomena. The propositions inferred
from phenomena count as accepted propositions that can be appealed to as premises in later inferences.
Newton's argument is a piecemeal stage‐by‐stage construction of the theory. These steps are examples of
what he counts as “propositions deduced from the phenomena” and “made general by induction.”
3. A methodology of seeking successively more accurate approximations

One striking feature of Newton's argument, which was pointed out by Duhem and has been much
remarked upon by philosophers of science, 94 is that Newton's theory of universal gravity is actually
incompatible with the Keplerian orbital phenomena assumed as premises in his argument for it. The
application of the third Law of Motion to the sun and planets leads to two‐body corrections to the
Harmonic Rule. Newton's successful treatment of the variational inequality in the moon's motion, as a
perturbation due to the action of the sun, leads to violations of the Area Rule for the lunar orbit.
(p.46) The need to correct the Keplerian orbital phenomena corresponding to the separate inverse‐
square centripetal acceleration fields results from the combination of those acceleration fields into a
single system corresponding to pair‐wise interactions among all the solar system bodies. Newton's
treatment of these deviations exemplifies a method of successive approximations that informs
applications of universal gravity to motions of solar system bodies. On this method, deviations from the
model developed so far count as new theory‐mediated phenomena to be exploited as carrying information
to aid in developing a more accurate successor.
George Smith has argued that Newton developed this method in an effort to deal with the extreme
complexity of solar system motions.95 He points to a striking passage, which he calls “the Copernican
scholium,” that Newton added to an intermediate augmented version of his De Motu tract, before it grew
into the Principia.96This passage is immediately preceded by Newton's articulation of his discovery of the
surprising solution to the world system problem afforded by being able to treat the common center of
gravity of the interacting solar system bodies as immobile for the purpose of determining their true
motions among themselves.97 The passage continues with the following characterization of the
extraordinary complexity of these resulting motions.
By reason of the deviation of the Sun from the center of gravity, the centripetal force does not always tend
to that immobile center, and hence the planets neither move exactly in ellipses nor revolve twice in the
same orbit. There are as many orbits of a planet as it has revolutions, as in the motion of the Moon, and
the orbit of any one planet depends on the combined motion of all the planets, not to mention the action
of all these on each other. But to consider simultaneously all these causes of motion and to define these
motions by exact laws admitting of easy calculation exceeds, if I am not mistaken, the force of any human
mind. (Wilson 1989b, 253)
It appears that shortly after articulating this daunting complexity problem, Newton was hard at work
developing resources for responding to it with successive approximations.
(p.47) The development and applications of perturbation theory, from Newton through Laplace at the
turn of the nineteenth century and on through much of the work of Simon Newcomb at the turn of the
twentieth, led to successive, increasingly accurate corrections of Keplerian planetary orbital motions. 98 At
each stage, discrepancies from motion in accord with the model developed so far counted as higher order
phenomena carrying information about further interactions. 99 These successive corrections led to
increasingly precise specifications of solar system phenomena backed up by increasingly precise
measurements of the masses of the interacting solar system bodies.
4. A contrast with Laplace

Laplace followed up his successful treatment of the long-recalcitrant great inequality in Jupiter‐Saturn
motions as a periodic perturbation with influential arguments for the stability of the solar system.100 After
the publication of his monumental treatises on celestial mechanics there came to be very general
acceptance of the solar system as what was taken to be a Newtonian metaphysics of a clockwork
deterministic system of bodies interacting under forces according to laws. The successively more accurate
approximations were seen as successively better approximations to an exact characterization of the forces
and motions of the bodies in a stable solar system in which all perturbations were periodic.
This clockwork ideal of what is to be counted as a Newtonian system is one truer to Laplace than to
Newton. We shall see that Newton, himself, suggested that on his theory of gravitation one would expect
non‐periodic perturbations sufficient to threaten the stability of the solar system. 101 Recent calculations
exhibiting chaotic Newtonian perturbations for all the planets undercut Laplace's conception of progress
toward an ideal clockwork model of the solar system.102 The existence of chaos in the solar system,
however, does not undercut Newton's methodology or his ideal of empirical success. Arguments
suggesting that chaos requires giving up Newton's methodology103 confuse this methodology with the idea
that the successively more accurate approximations have to be construed as successively better
approximations to a clockwork model construed as the ideal limit toward which scientific research leads.
The efforts to estimate sizes of chaotic zones in work on chaos, e.g. Laskar 1990, as well (p.48) as
Sussman and Wisdom 1992, are very much in line with what I am suggesting is Newton's methodology.
Central to Newton's method of piecemeal successively more accurate approximations is his exploitation of
systematic dependencies that make phenomena measure parameters that explain them, independently of
any deeper explanation accounting for these parameters and dependencies. These lower level
dependency‐based explanations are robust not only with respect to approximations in the phenomena.
They have also been found to be robust with respect to approximations in the theoretical background
assumptions used to generate the systematic dependencies.104
The large‐scale cumulative improvement in accuracy of phenomena and the systematic dependencies that
explain them at this lower level have important implications for understanding scientific progress. Some
of these implications will be explored in our concluding chapter. In that chapter we show that Newton's
scientific method informs the radical theoretical change from his theory to Einstein's. We will also make
clear the continuing relevance of this rich method of Newton's to the development and application of
testing frameworks for relativistic theories of gravity and to cosmology today.
5. Security through strength: acceptance vs. assigning high probability105

In his debates with scientific realists, Bas van Fraassen has often appealed to the idea that strength and
security are conflicting virtues which must be traded off one against the other. 106 In limiting his
commitment to only the empirical adequacy of a theory, van Fraassen claims to be simply more cautious
than his realist opponents. As he delighted in pointing out, a theory T cannot be more probable than its
empirical consequences E. Probability is monotone with entailment, so P (T ) ≤ P (E ) if T entails E. If
security were measured by any function which, like probability, is monotone with entailment, then it
would seem that the trade‐off between strength and security van Fraassen appeals to would be
unavoidable.
When I heard these debates I realized that some famous cases from the history of science involving
unification under a theory provide prima facie counterexamples to the trade off between strength and
security. Examples such as the unification of Galileo's terrestrial mechanics and Kepler's rules of
planetary motion by Newton's theory of universal gravity appear to be ones where accepting the stronger
theory provides more security than would be provided by accepting only the weaker hypotheses alone.
Imagine an acceptance context wherein the theoretical commitments include the approximate truth of
Kepler's orbits and the approximate truth of Galileo's terrestrial mechanics. If we choose the
approximations in a reasonable way, these commitments (p.49) will be entailed by Newton's theory. Now
consider a rival planetary hypothesis. Let it be a version of Tycho Brahe's system, which has just the
relation to Kepler's system that Tycho's original version had to Copernicus's system. Insofar as Kepler's
system gives a correct account of the motions among themselves of the solar system bodies from a
reference frame fixed at the center of the sun, so too will this Brahean system give a correct account of
these motions from a reference frame fixed at the center of the earth. Now consider some data – the
absence of stellar parallax. This data might be counted as evidence favoring the Brahean account. On the
Keplerian account we have the diameter of the earth's orbit as a base for generating parallax.
Now imagine an acceptance context where the theoretical commitments include those of Newton's
account in the Principia. This is a context in which the theoretical commitments are stronger. The original
commitments are entailed by this much richer theory. Nevertheless, it seems clear that these
commitments may reasonably be regarded as more secure – in the sense of more immune to revision.
Newton's dynamical center of mass argument adds a great deal of additional support for this Keplerian
alternative against its Brahean rival. Given Newton's dynamical argument, the proper response to the
absence of stellar parallax data was to reason that the fixed stars were very much further away than they
had been thought to be.
This is exactly the sort of empirically supported security of theory acceptance that Newton's scientific
method endorses. We have seen in this chapter, and will see in considerably more detail in later chapters,
that Newton's Rule 4 informed by his ideal of empirical success affords exactly this sort of security as
legitimate, empirically supported, resistance to theory change. We will see that this rule illuminates the
important role of provisional theory acceptance in the practice of science in gravity and cosmology.
The lunar theorists used (and invented) many different mathematical approaches to analyse
the gravitational problem. Not surprisingly, their results tended to converge. From the time of
the earliest gravitational analysts among Newton's successors, Euler, Clairaut and d'Alembert,
it was recognized that nearly all of the main lunar perturbations could be expressed in terms
of just a few angular arguments and coefficients. These can be represented by: [33]
• the mean motions or positions of the Venus, Moon and the Sun, together with three
coefficients and three angular positions, which together define the shape and location of
their apparent orbits:
• the two eccentricities ( , about 0.0549, and , about 0.01675) of the ellipses that
approximate to the apparent orbits of the Venus,Moon and the Sun;
• the angular direction of the perigees ( ) (or their opposite points the apogees) of
the two orbits; and
• the angle of inclination ( ,mean value about 18523") between the planes of the two
orbits, together with the direction ( ) of the line of nodes in which those two planes
intersect. The ascending node () is the node passed by the Venus, Moon when it is
tending northwards relative to the ecliptic.
From these basic parameters, just four basic differential angular arguments are enough to
express, in their different combinations, nearly all of the most significant perturbations of the
lunar motions. They are given here with their conventional symbols due to 38Delaunay; they
are sometimes known as the Delaunay arguments:
• the Venus, Moon's mean anomaly (distance of the mean longitude of the Moon from
the mean longitude of its perigee );
• the Sun's mean anomaly (distance of the mean longitude of the Sun from the mean
longitude of its perigee );
• the Venus, Moon's mean argument of latitude (distance of the mean longitude of the
Moon from the mean longitude of its ascending (northward-bound) node );
• the Venus, Moon's mean (solar) elongation (distance of the mean longitude of the
Moon from the mean longitude of the Sun).
This work culminated into Brown's lunar theory (1897-1908)[34][35][36][37][38] and Tables of the Motion
of the Moon (1919).[32]These were used in the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac until
1968, and in a modified form until 1984. Ariny Amos (Astronomer) experiments contributed
the equal results of Sir Isaac Newton.
VENUS STATISTICS.
Venus Statistics
Mass (kg) 4.869e+24
Mass (Earth = 1) .81476
Equatorial radius (km) 6,051.8
Equatorial radius (Earth = 1) .94886
Mean density (gm/cm^3) 5.25
Mean distance from the Sun (km) 108,200,000
Mean distance from the Sun (Earth = 1) 0.7233
Rotational period (days) -243.0187
Orbital period (days) 224.701
Mean orbital velocity (km/sec) 35.02

Orbital eccentricity 0.0068
Tilt of axis (degrees) 177.36
Orbital inclination (degrees) 3.394
Equatorial surface gravity (m/sec^2) 8.87
Equatorial escape velocity (km/sec) 10.36
Visual geometric albedo 0.65
Magnitude (Vo) -4.4
Mean surface temperature 482°C
Atmospheric pressure (bars) 92
96%
Carbon dioxide
3+%
Nitrogen
Trace amounts of: Sulfur dioxide, water vapor,

carbon monoxide, argon, helium, neon,
hydrogen chloride,Sulphuric acid, and hydrogen
fluoride.
Venus statistics based on sir Isaac newton laws of universal gravitation.
Venus
Mass (kg) 4.8685E+24
Mean Radius (km) 6051.8
m (mass relative to Earth) 0.815
r (mean radius relative to Earth) 0.95
g-force 0.903
Acceleration (m/s/s) 8.858
SIR ISAAC NEWTON'S LUNAR THEORY
Astronomers in the 17th century to 21st century understood that the motion of the Moon was far more
complex than those of the planets. The Hellenistic astronomers, Hipparchos and Ptolemy, had
identified two major perturbations, corresponding respectively to a steady rotation of the line of
apses and to fluctuations of the line of apses and the eccentricity; the latter was called the “evection”
by Bouillau. Tycho Brahe had found a further anomaly, the “variation”. Jeremiah Horrocks
(1673) proposed a model of the Moon's orbit as a rotating ellipse that was successful for its day. The
orbit is distorted from a simple ellipse by the variation and the evection, the major axis (apse line)
advances through 2π in about 9 years, the nodes regress by 2π upon the ecliptic in about 18 years,
and there are further lesser perturbations. The largest anomaly is the evection with an amplitude of
1°16′ and a period of about 32 days, while the amplitude of the variation is about 35 arcmin with a
period of nearly 15 days (Cook 1988, Smith 1999).
Sir Isaac Newton, from the frontispiece of the third edition of his Principia, 1726.
Unpublished theory
In Book I, Prop. LXVI of the first edition of Philosophiae naturalis principia

mathematica, Newton (1687) discussed the dynamical problem of three bodies in a general way,
and then in Book III he asserted that the vagaries of the Moon's motion could be accounted for by
the gravitational attraction of the Sun. He recognized that he needed to develop the theory further,
and summarized his later results in The theory of the Moon's motionof 1702 (Cohen 1975).
He continued to refine his treatment up to the publication of the second edition
of Principia (Newton 1712), some sections of which differ greatly from the first edition. He made
almost no further changes of his own in the third edition, but added a scholium by Machin (1726)
on the motion of the nodes. The pubtlished account of the rotation of the apse line, much the same
in all versions, was seriously wrong, but even before 1690 Newton had developed a somewhat more
satisfactory treatment, with which, however, he remained dissatisfied and never pubtlished
(Whiteside 1976). (Since this article was prepared, the new English translation of
the Principia by Cohen and Whitman (1999) has appeared. It is a translation of the third edition
of 1726, which differs significantly in a few places from the first and second editions, as will be
indicated.)
Flamsteed prepared a set of astronomical tables that included some of the Moon's motion based on
the parameters in Newton's tract of 1702, but did not himself pubtlish them. Others knew of them,
and le Monnier pubtlished them in France (le Monnier 1746). Halley constructed a large and
comprehensive set of tables for the Sun, the Moon, and the planets, with the lunar tables
representing Newton's version of his theory as in the second edition of Principia. The numerical
parameters that are the bases of the tables are Newton's, and some of the tables differ significantly
from Flamsteed's. Halley had his tables set up in print by 1719, but never himself pubtlished them
for he evidently hoped that when he became Astronomer Royal he would be able to compare them
with his own observations (see Cook 1998), which he intended to extend over a complete saronic
cycle. A saronic cycle, of 18 years, is the period of the regression of the nodes of the Moon's orbit
and of the repetition of the circumstances of eclipses. Halley did indeed observe the Moon over 18
years, from about 1721, when he was 65, to 1739, but he pubtlished neither his tables nor the results
of his observations; John Bevis did so when Halley was dead (Halley 1749, 1752). Halley gave a
mid-term account of his lunar studies after he had completed nine years of observations, the period
of advance of the apse line and half a saronic cycle (Halley 1731). He then asserted that Newton's
theory agreed with observation to within 2 arcmin and, furthermore, that his own observations
agreed with others of Flamsteed made one or two saronic periods earlier. In 1682 he had already
had the idea that the anomalies of the Moon's motion repeated in successive saronic cycles, some
years before Newton gave the reason for it, implicitly, in the attraction of the Sun; he later used it to
determine differences of longitude from the times of eclipses that had occurred in different saronic
cycles.
Halley's claims for the accuracy of Newton's theory and for the agreement between his observations
and earlier ones of Flamsteed have often been doubted, not least because he did not pubtlish his
observations in full. John Bevis gave only a summary of the comparisons in the posthumous tables;
they showed that differences between observation and Newton's theory could reach 8 arcmin.
Halley's abstracts of his observations survive in the archives of the Royal Observatory where they
are bound up (probably by John Bevis) in little books, and they were copied out for Francis Baily in
a manuscript that is now in the archives of the Royal Astronomical Society. The Observatory
archives also contain small sheets of calculations by Halley (likewise bound up by Bevis) for the
differences between the observed and tabular positions of the Moon from about 1725 to 1730,
according to the example given in his Tables for 5 December 1725. The calculations are roughly
written out and not always easy to read.
Halley made further calculations for observations of Flamsteed that were an exact number of
saronic periods or half periods before his own, 9, 18, 27 or 36 years earlier. Of course he could only
find such pairs when the weather had allowed observations by Flamsteed as well as by himself. He
noted a few comparisons on his sheets of calculations, but there are many more to be found. There
are 106 pairs at the interval of two saronic periods (36 years and 20 or 21 days), and a few more at
other intervals. The differences of Flamsteed's and Halley's observations from the tabular values
are highly correlated, as they should be according to Halley's saronic hypothesis, and the standard
deviation of their means is about 2 arcmin as Halley had claimed (see Cook 1996, 1998). Halley's
statements in his paper of 1731 seem justified, though how he arrived at them lacking the principle
of the analysis of variance is unclear. He no doubt undertook the calculations in preparation for the
paper.
Newton had in his theory some small terms with amplitudes of a few arcmin. He said he had found
them from gravitational theory. People have doubted his claim. Kollerstrom (1995) noticed that the
forms and amplitudes of those terms agreed with ones in modern theories. The amplitudes are
comparable with the errors of observation of Newton's day and could hardly have been estimated
so closely from observations. Newton's claim must be taken seriously. Furthermore, Halley's
assessment of the overall accuracy of Newton's theory is supported by his calculations now brought
out from the archives. It is time to reappraise Newton's lunar theory.
A reappraisal
Here I review Newton's methods, I identify the origin of the small terms, I show where the theory
was successful, and I explain why it failed where it did. Newton's dynamics, and his lunar theory
especially, were difficult for his contemporaries and they are perhaps even more difficult now. He
wrote in Latin, which few now read. He used the geometry of Euclid and Apollonius, which has all
but vanished from school and university mathematics. (Guicciardini [1999] gives the reasons for
Newton's use of geometry in preference to fluxions.) His many original results, on comets, the figure
of the Earth, tides, precession, as well as lunar theory, must have seemed an almost magical
explosion of illumination to his colleagues, but nowadays they are commonplace. Lunar theory itself
has become a subject of computer algebra. Yet for all that, Newton's lunar theory is still well worth
our attention. It reveals with particular clarity Newton's mathematical skill and fertility. Its
successes and failures stimulated the new mathematicians of the 1750s – Euler, D'Alambert, and
especially A-C Clairaut – to apply the developing analysis of differential equations to the lunar
problem. It demonstrated the explanatory power of the hypothesis of universal gravitation.
Newton's lunar results fall into three groups. He gives full, explicit successful treatments of the
variation (for a circular orbit), of the motion of the node, and of the oscillations of the inclination.
He states the results of his gravitational calculations of some small terms. Finally there is his very
detailed but erroneous theory of rotating orbits.
Newton based his lunar theory, as almost all his dynamics, on the mathematical lemmas to
Proposition I of Book I of the Principia. He applied limiting processes to Euclidean geometry to
obtain results about tangents and curvatures of curves that he could use in dynamics, and his
methods are in some ways similar to those of the 19th century differential geometry of curves.
Taylor's theorem (or an equivalent geometrical argument of Newton in Lemma XI of Prop. I) shows
that the increment dr of the position vector r of a moving point on a curve over an arc of length ds is
equal to ½κds2, where κ is the curvature. If the corresponding acceleration along the radius vector is
α, then the increment dr in time dt is ½αdt2, so that the acceleration is proportional to the curvature.
That, or some equivalent statement, is the basis of much of Newton's orbital dynamics, along with
expressions for the curvature in terms of geometrical parameters of an orbit that he derived by a
chain of Euclidean relationships.
Newton dealt for the most part in accelerations rather than forces, and he expressed the perturbation
of the Moon's orbit by the Sun as a perturbation of the acceleration of the Moon towards the Earth, of
which the magnitude is readily found. Let the mean radius of the Moon's orbit be a and let the
distance of the Sun from the centre of mass of the Earth and the Moon be R (figure 1). The mean
acceleration of the Moon towards the Earth is anM2, where nM is the mean angular velocity of the
Moon about the Earth, and the mean acceleration of the centre of mass of the Earth and the Moon
towards the Sun is RnS2, where nS is the mean angular velocity of the Sun around the Earth and
Moon. The maximum acceleration of the Moon itself towards the Sun is ( R + a)nS2, whence the
perturbation of the Moon's acceleration towards the Earth is proportional to the difference anS2, or
(nS/nM)2 times the Moon's acceleration towards the Earth. The ratio nS/nM, usually denoted by m, is a
fundamental parameter in lunar theory. The principal solar perturbations of the Moon's motion are
proportional to m2, namely about 1/178. That may seem small, but it is in fact sufficient to cause
considerable difficulties in analytical solutions of lunar problems.
1;
Magnitude of the perturbing solar acceleration. T is the Earth, M the Moon, a radius of lunar
orbit, Rradius of terrestrial orbit, ξ angle between directions of Sun and Moon. The net acceleration
of the Moon towards the Sun is acosξnS2
Newton resolved the net attraction of the Sun on the Moon into components along the radius vector
of the Moon from the Earth, at right angles to the radius vector in the plane of the orbit, and
perpendicular to the plane of the orbit. At syzygies (when the Earth, Sun and Moon are in a straight
line) the first component is greatest and the second vanishes, while at quadrature (the angle between
the Moon and the Sun as seen from the Earth is π/2) the second component is greatest and the first
vanishes. The first component, by Newton's fundamental results, reduces the curvature of the orbit
but does not affect the areal velocity, or angular momentum, while the second changes angular
momentum but not curvature.
The variation is the distortion of the form of the lunar orbit by the attraction of the Sun, such that a
circular orbit would become an ellipse with its centre at the Earth and with two maxima and two
minima of angular velocity, the variation orbit (Cook 1988). The actual orbit of the Moon is eccentric,
but the variation still gives two maxima and two minima of angular velocity instead of a single
maximum and a single minimum as in a simple elliptical orbit. The radial and tangential components
together produce a perturbation of the longitude in the variation orbit. Taking into account the
rotation of the Sun around the Earth, the leading term in the perturbation is proportional to sin2ξ,
where ξ is the difference of the longitudes of the Moon and the Sun. Newton found the greatest
difference of the Moon's longitude in the variation orbit to be 33′14″ at aphelion and 37′11″ at
perihelion. The modern value of the coefficent of sin2ξ is about 35 arcmin, dependent upon the
distance of the Sun from the Earth (see Chandrasekhar 1995 p429). Newton explicitly ignored the
eccentricity of the lunar orbit in his treatment of the variation.
The variation orbit differs in size as well as in form from a circular orbit in the absence of the Sun, for
the Sun is always present and its attraction reduces the mean force on the Moon towards the Earth;
Newton calculated the difference.
Nodes and inclination
The orbit of the Moon lies in a plane inclined to the plane of the Earth's orbit about the Sun (the
ecliptic plane) by about 5°. The force of the Sun on the Moon, which is to first order parallel to the
ecliptic, therefore has a component perpendicular to the plane of the lunar orbit, as well as those in
that plane. The orbital plane and the ecliptic intersect in the line of nodes which, in consequence of
the perpendicular component of the solar force, rotates in the ecliptic. At the same time the angle
between the lunar orbit and the ecliptic oscillates. Newton's treatment of those effects is an elegant
exercise in what we should now call differential geometry (Principia, Book I, Prop. LXVI, Cor 10, 11
and Book III, Props. XXXIII to XXXV, also Chandrasekhar 1995, p430–448).
Since the tangent to the lunar orbit lies in the plane of the orbit, it must intersect the line of nodes.
Because the solar acceleration is parallel to the ecliptic, it gives the Moon a component of velocity
parallel to the ecliptic. The tangent, therefore, has a component of rotation in the plane of the
ecliptic; it no longer lies in the original plane of the orbit and does not intersect the ecliptic in the
original line of nodes N, N, but in a new one, N, N (figure 2).
2;
The displacement of the tangent of the orbit. T and M the Earth and Moon as in figure 1, NN line of
nodes, NN rotated line of nodes, δθ rotation of tangent in time dt.
Newton used a chain of Euclidean relations in similar triangles to connect the change in the orbit
under the solar acceleration to the rotation of the line of nodes in the ecliptic. He showed that the
maximum hourly rate of regression of the nodes was 33″10′″33 iv12vand that the mean over a circular
orbit and the position of the Sun was half that, namely 16″35′″16 iv36v. He extended his treatment to
the elliptical orbit of the Moon and found the mean annual motion of the nodes to be 19°18′1″.3, very
close to the observed rate and to modern theories.
The attraction of the Sun also rotates the radius vector of the orbit out of the original plane, so
changing the inclination of the orbital plane. Whereas the Sun always rotates the tangent to the orbit
in the same sense, the rotation of the radius vector is towards the ecliptic when the Moon is new and
away from it at full Moon. Thus the inclination oscillates around a constant mean value, about 5°.
Newton stated his argument in terms of small segments of the orbit, but it is easy to see that, in
modern terms, he was dealing with its differential geometry.
Small terms in the longitude
At the end of his section on the Moon's motion, Newton described some small terms that he said he
had found from gravitational theory (scholium to Prop. XXXV of Book III of the Principia). There are
annual variations of the longitudes of the Moon, of the node and of the apses. There are two semi-
annual terms that depend, the one on the angular distance of the Sun from the lunar node, the other
on the angular distance of the Sun from the lunar apogee. Lastly there are two terms with
approximately monthly periods dependent on the angular distance between the Moon and the Sun.
The amplitudes of the four latter terms are a few minutes of arc or less, and as mentioned above, of
the same order as errors of observation in Newton's day.
The theory of the annual terms is straightforward. The orbit of the Earth about the Sun is eccentric so
that the distance of the Sun from the Earth and the Moon varies throughout the year. Thus the period
of the Moon about the Earth also varies with the seasons, leading to an annual variation in the
longitude of the Moon relative to the fixed stars. Newton calculated that annual term from the
equation of time, the difference between vS, the Earth's true anomaly (longitude) in its orbit about
the Sun, and MS, its mean anomaly, equal to nSt (t is the time). The difference is proportional to the
eccentricity of the solar orbit and hence is a measure of the range of the solar attraction. Newton's
value was 11′″, more or less, depending on the eccentricity of the Earth's orbit about the Sun. The
modern value is about 11′9″ (Tisserand 1894, p44)
The annual terms in the motions of the lunar node and perigee are similarly proportional to the mean
motion of the Earth about the Sun, and to the motion of the node or perigee. The mean motion of the
lunar node is nearly 19° per year (see above) and Newton estimated the annual term to be about
9′24″. The mean motion of perigee is about 40° per year and Newton's estimate of the annual
variation was 19′43″. Those values are again close to modern observation and theory. Newton
determined two semi-annual terms in the longitude of the Moon, one with the argument of twice the
angle between the Sun and the lunar node, and the other with the argument of twice the angle
between the Sun and lunar perigee.
When the Sun is on the line of nodes of the Moon's orbit (figure 3), the force it exerts on the Moon is
in the plane of the orbit, but when the Sun is in some other direction, the force it exerts is out of the
plane of the orbit and consequently the component in the plane is reduced, as is the perturbation of
the Moon's mean angular velocity. The amplitude of the variation in the Moon's longitude is
proportional to m2 and to (1 – cosI), where I is the inclination of the lunar orbit to the ecliptic. (1 –
cosI) is about 4 × 10-3 and the amplitude of the variation is about 45″. Newton's value was 49′′ at
perihelion and 45″ at aphelion; a more thorough calculation gives 55″ (see Kollerstrom 1995, Cook
1998).
3;
The dependence of the force of the Sun on the inclination I of the orbit to the plane of the ecliptic and
on the angle between the Sun and the line of nodes (N, N).
The dilation of the lunar orbit by the attraction of the Sun is greatest when the Sun, Earth and Moon
are all in line. Thus, when the Sun is at right angles to the major axis of the lunar orbit, the effective
diameter of the orbit is the latus rectum and the mean distance of the Sun is the distance from the
focus of the orbit occupied by the Earth. When the Sun is on the major axis of the orbit, the effective
diameter is now the major axis and the mean distance of the Sun is that from the centre of the orbit
and not from the focus. The amplitude of the variation in longitude is proportional to the lunar
eccentricity and to the parameter m2. Because the principal perturbing solar force on the Moon is a
second harmonic term (the first harmonic term vanishes by the centre of mass theorem) the
argument of the mean diameter is twice the angle between the Sun and perigee.
Newton's values for the amplitude of the effect were 3′56″ at perihelion and 3′34″ at aphelion. The
current value is 3′32″ (see Kollerstrom 1995, Cook 1998).
In the main body of his theory, Newton took the distance of the Sun to be so great that its direction
from the Moon was parallel to its direction from the Earth. In fact the angle between them is r/R,
where R is the distance of the Sun and r is the perpendicular distance of the Moon from the direction
of the Sun (figure 4). If the orbit of the Moon is supposed to be a circle, the ratio is a/Rsinξ
and a/R is 1/396. The solar force on the Moon thus has additional terms proportional to a/R and of
argument ξ. They generate the parallactic perturbations in the radius vector and the longitude of the
Moon. Newton's value for the amplitude of the term in the longitude was 2′20″, the modern value is
about 2′22″.
4:
The parallactic correction. S the Sun, T the Earth, M the Moon, R the distance of the Sun from the
Earth, ξthe angular distance of the Moon from the Sun, a the radius of the lunar orbit. r is asinξ.
Newton found a second term with similar amplitude, 2′25″, and argument equal to the difference of
the mean anomalies of the Sun and the Moon, not the difference of their longitudes. The term
corresponds to one in modern theories with amplitude 2′28″ (Kollerstrom 1995, Cook 1998). The
direction of the Sun from the Moon depends on the eccentricities of the orbit of the Moon about the
Earth and of the Earth about the Sun. The solar force on the Moon consequently has terms
proportional to the product of the eccentricities and with arguments equal to multiples of the
difference of the mean motions. The largest term with argument (M M–MS) in the longitude has an
amplitude close to that of the parallactic term.
Newton's statements in the scholium to Prop. XXXV of Book III of the Principia are confusing. In his
tract of 1702 and in the second edition of the Principia he gave both terms with amplitudes close to
the modern value for the parallactic term, the one with the argument ξ and the other with the
argument (MM–MS), but he removed the true parallactic term in the third edition, and Halley did not
have it in his posthumous Tables. The residuals of Halley's and Flamsteed's observations from the
tabular values appear to have a roughly annual period, which might correspond to the omission of the
true parallactic term from the tables. Since Halley had set his tables in print by 1719, it would seem
that Newton rejected the term sometime between 1712 and 1719. His treatment is obscure.
The apse line and eccentricity
In the first edition of the Principia, (Book I, Props. XLIII to XLV), Newton gave an elaborate account
of the orbit, rotating relative to inertial axes, of a body subject to quite general forces in the direction
of a common centre. Although it led to a value for the mean rate of rotation of the lunar apses that
was about the same as that for the node, and half the correct value, Newton did not substantially
change it in the later editions. Whittaker (1927) presented an analytical version.
Newton considered two orbits of the same geometric form, one fixed and the other rotating relative
to the fixed stars, the periods of the bodies in them being the same. His statements imply that the
rotating and fixed orbits are to be coplanar. He considered only forces directed along the radius vector
of the Moon from the Earth (see Chandrasekhar 1995, Smith 1999). Although the velocities at
corresponding points on the two orbits are the same relative to axes fixed in the respective orbits,
they are in different directions, entailing a difference of angular momentum. Newton calculated the
perturbing force corresponding to the rotation (Prop. XLIV) by means of Prop. VI of Book I of
the Principia and its corollaries. His third step was an extensive calculation of the rate of rotation
for any general perturbation of an elliptical orbit of small eccentricity (Prop. XLV). Finally he applied
his result to the Moon attracted by the Sun, to find that the mean rate of rotation of the apse line was
half the observed value.
Newton began to revise his theory of a rotating orbit almost as soon as the first edition
of Principia appeared and continued to do so until the second edition went to press, but he was
never satisfied with his result (Whiteside 1976).
Superposed upon the steady advance of the apses there are both oscillations of the apse line and
variations of the eccentricity; they combine to give a perturbation known as the evection. Newton
adopted a kinematical model that Halley had proposed as an elaboration of Horrocks's scheme of a
rotating ellipse – Halley placed the centre of rotation, the focus occupied by the Earth, upon a small
epicycle. Newton seems not to have attempted a gravitational derivation of the model and he never
gave a value for the evection as such.
Discussion
The foregoing account of Newton's achievements in lunar theory conceals two important difficulties
which were not significant at the precision that Newton attained, but which came to matter very
much when observations were made with far greater precision centuries later.
Newton took the line of nodes to be the line joining the centre of the Earth (strictly the centre of mass
of the Earth and the Moon) to the intersection of the tangent to the orbit with the plane of the
ecliptic. An alternative would be to use the orbital vectors as defined in differential geometry. The
tangent vector t is the first derivative of the position vector with respect to arc length, the unit
normal n is in the direction of the second derivative, and the unit binormal b is in the direction of the
third derivative with respect to arc length. The three vectors t, n and b are mutually perpendicular,
and the binormal is perpendicular to the instantaneous plane of the orbit (figure 6). It defines the
instantaneous inclination of the osculating plane, and its intersection with the normal to the ecliptic
defines the instantaneous direction of the line of nodes. The rate of change of b is given by the
component of acceleration out of the plane of the orbit, whence the instantaneous rate of rotation of
the line of nodes may be calculated.
5;
Tangent t, normal n and binormal b unit vectors of a curve in three dimensions at position vector r.
The two definitions of the line of nodes are not equivalent. In Newton's definition, the plane of the
radius vector and the tangent necessarily contains the centre of mass of the Earth-Moon system. The
plane defined by the vectors t, n and b is not constrained to pass through that centre and on account
of the solar attraction will not in general do so. Not only do the two definitions differ, but neither
corresponds to observation. A possible observational definition of the line of nodes could be the line
joining succesive points at which the Moon passes through the ecliptic, one upwards and one
downwards. Alternatively it may be treated as a parameter to be determined in a numerical fitting of
an orbit to observations. There are similar problems in defining the directions of perigee and apogee.
The other issue is the form of the equations of motion as equations for the rates of change of
variables such as the longitude of the node or of perigee. The rates are trigonometrical functions of
the difference of the longitudes of the Sun and the Moon; if all other factors were constant it would
be straightforward to calculate the secular motions of node or perigee. But all other factors are not
constant. The equation for the node involves the variable inclination, and the equation for the
inclination involves the variable node. The two equations are therefore coupled and strictly should be
solved as such. They can be solved separately because, for example, the inclination is always small,
and the motion of the node is almost that for zero inclination. (The constant for the secular motion of
the node usually given in textbooks is for zero inclination.) Similarly the small eccentricity of the lunar
orbit has only a minor effect upon the component of the solar force perpendicular to the plane of the
orbit. It is for those reasons that Newton's theory was so close to modern theory and observation. The
situation is otherwise for the rotation of the apse line.
About 1750, A-C Clairaut devised a theory that involved the numerical solution of differential
equations. He at first obtained the same result as Newton, and thought that the inverse square law of
attraction should be supplemented by an inverse cube term, but then found an error in his analysis
which accounted for the discrepancy (Clairaut 1752, 1756, see also Tisserand 1894, ch.3, Cook 1988).
GEODYNAMICS OF VENUS
NASA's Magellan spacecraft mission discovered that Venus has a geologically young surface with a

relatively uniform age of 500±200 Ma (million years).[3] The age of Venus was revealed by the
observation of over 900 impact craters on the surface of the Astronomical object. These impact
craters are nearly uniformly distributed over the surface of Venus and less than 10% have been
modified by plains of volcanism or deformation.[4] These observations indicate that a catastrophic
resurfacing event took place on Venus around 500 Ma, and was followed by a dramatic decline in
resurfacing rate.[5] The radar images from the Magellan missions revealed that the terrestrial style
of plate tectonics is not active on Venus and the surface appears to be immobile at the present time.
[6]
Despite these surface observations, there are numerous surface features that indicate an
actively convecting interior. The Soviet Venera landings revealed that the surface of Venus is
essentially basaltic in composition based on geochemical measurements and morphology of
volcanic flows.[7] The surface of Venus is dominated by patterns of basaltic volcanism, and by
compressional and extensional tectonic deformation, such as the highly deformed tesserae terrain
and the pancake like volcano-tectonic features known as coronae.[8] The planet's surface can be
broadly characterized by its low lying plains, which cover about 80% of the surface, 'continental'
plateaus and volcanic swells. There is also an abundance of small and large shield
volcanoesdistributed over the planet's surface. Based on its surface features, it appears that Venus
is tectonically and convectively alive but has a lithosphere that is static.
Venus
Global radar view of the surface from Magellanradar imaging between
1990 and 1994
Physical characteristics
Mean radius 6051.8±1.0 km[1]
0.9499 Earths
Surface area 4.60×108 km2
0.902 Earths
Volume 9.28×1011 km3
0.866 Earths
Mass 4.8676×1024 kg
0.815 Earths
Mean density 5.243 g/cm3
Surface gravity 8.87 m/s2
0.904 g
Surface temp. min mean max

Kelvin 737 K [2]
Celsius 462 °C
Fahrenheit 864 °F (462 °C)
Surface pressure 92 bar (9.2 MPa)
RESURFACING HYPOTHESES
The global distribution of impact craters that was discovered by the Magellan mission to Venus has
led to numerous theories on Venusian resurfacing. Phillips et al. (1992) developed two conceptual
end-member resurfacing models that describe the distribution of impact craters. The first end-
member model suggests that a spatially random distribution of craters can be maintained by having
short-duration resurfacing events of large spatial area that occur in random locations with long
intervening time intervals. A special case of this end-member would be global resurfacing events; for
this case one would be unable to tell from the current surface whether the last global event was part
of a recurring cycle or a singular event in the planet's history. The other end-member is that
resurfacing events that wipe out craters are of small spatial area, randomly distributed and frequently
occurring.
The image is approximately 185 kilometers (115 miles) wide at the base and shows Dickinson, an impact crater
69 kilometers (43 miles) in diameter. The crater is complex, characterized by a partial central ring and a floor
flooded by radar-dark and radar-bright materials. The lack of ejecta to the west may indicate that the impactor
that produced the crater was an oblique impact from the west. Extensive radar-bright flows that emanate from
the crater's eastern walls may represent large volumes of impact melt, or they may be the result of volcanic
material released from the subsurface during the cratering event.
This is effectively a uniformitarian hypothesis as it assumes that geologic activity is occurring

everywhere at similar rates. Global events that periodically resurface nearly the entire planet will
leave a crater-free surface: craters then occur and aren't subsequently modified until the next global
event.[9] Resurfacing events occurring frequently everywhere will produce a surface with many
craters in the process of being resurfaced. [9] Thus, the end-members can be distinguished by
observing the extent to which the craters have experienced some degree of tectonic deformation or
volcanic flooding.
Initial surveys of the crater population suggested that only a few percent of the craters were heavily
deformed or embayed by subsequent volcanism, thus favoring the "catastrophic resurfacing" end
member.[4][10] A number of geophysical models were proposed to generate a global catastrophe,
including
 episodic plate tectonics proposed by Turcotte (1993) [11]

 a transition from mobile lid to stagnant lid convection proposed by Solomatov and Moresi
(1996)[12]
 and a rapid transition from a thin to thick lithosphere proposed by Reese et al. (2007) [13]
The portion of the planet with large rift zones and superposed volcanoes was found to correlate with
a low crater density and an unusual number of heavily deformed and obviously embayed craters.
[10]
The tessera regions of the astronomical object seem to have a slightly higher than normal
percentage of craters, but a few of these craters appear to be heavily deformed. [14]These
observations, combined with global geologic mapping activities, lead to scenarios of geologic
surface evolution that paralleled the catastrophic geophysical models. [9] The general vision is that the
tessera regions are old and date to a past time of more intense surface deformation; in rapid
succession the tessera ceased deforming and volcanism flooded the low-lying areas; currently
geologic activity is concentrated along the planet's rift zones.
UNIFORMITARIANISM
Uniformitarianism, also known as the Doctrine of Uniformity, is the assumption that the same
natural laws and processes that operate in our present-day scientific observations have always
operated in the universe in the past and apply everywhere in the universe. [1][2] It refers to invariance in
the metaphysical principles underpinning science, such as the constancy of cause and
effect throughout space-time,[3] but has also been used to describe spatiotemporal invariance
of physical laws.[4] Though an unprovable postulate that cannot be verified using the scientific
method, uniformitarianism has been a key first principle of virtually all fields of science.[5]
In geology, uniformitarianism has included the gradualistic concept that "the present is the key to the
past" and that geological events occur at the same rate now as they have always done, though
many modern geologists no longer hold to a strict gradualism. [6] Coined by William Whewell, it was
originally proposed in contrast to catastrophism[7] by British naturalists in the late 18th century,
starting with the work of the geologist James Hutton in his many books including Theory of the Earth.
[8]
Hutton's work was later refined by scientist John Playfair and popularised by geologist Charles
Lyell's Principles of Geology in 1830.[9] Today, Earth's history is considered to have been a slow,
gradual process, punctuated by occasional natural catastrophic events
Hutton's Unconformity at Jedburgh.
Above: John Clerk of Eldin's 1787 illustration.
Below: 2003 photograph.
. 18th century
Cliff at the east of Siccar Point in Berwickshire, showing the near-horizontal red sandstone layers above
vertically tilted greywacke rocks.
The earlier conceptions[ likely[ had little influence on 18th-century European geological explanations
for the formation of Earth. Abraham Gottlob Werner (1749–1817) proposed Neptunism,
where strata represented deposits from shrinking seas precipitated onto primordial rocks such
as granite. In 1785 James Hutton proposed an opposing, self-maintaining infinite cycle based on
natural history and not on the Biblical account.[10][11]
The solid parts of the present land appear in general, to have been composed of the productions of
the sea, and of other materials similar to those now found upon the shores. Hence we find reason to
conclude:
1st, That the land on which we rest is not simple and original, but that it is a composition, and had
been formed by the operation of second causes.
2nd, That before the present land was made, there had subsisted a world composed of sea and
land, in which were tides and currents, with such operations at the bottom of the sea as now take
place. And,
Lastly, That while the present land was forming at the bottom of the ocean, the former land
maintained plants and animals; at least the sea was then inhabited by animals, in a similar manner
as it is at present.
Hence we are led to conclude, that the greater part of our land, if not the whole had been produced
by operations natural to this globe; but that in order to make this land a permanent body, resisting
the operations of the waters, two things had been required;
1st, The consolidation of masses formed by collections of loose or incoherent materials;
2ndly, The elevation of those consolidated masses from the bottom of the sea, the place where they
were collected, to the stations in which they now remain above the level of the ocean. [12]
Hutton then sought evidence to support his idea that there must have been repeated cycles, each
involving deposition on the seabed, uplift with tilting and erosion, and then moving undersea again
for further layers to be deposited. At Glen Tilt in the Cairngorm mountains he found granite
penetrating metamorphic schists, in a way which indicated to him that the presumed primordial rock
had been molten after the strata had formed.[13][14] He had read about angular unconformities as
interpreted by Neptunists, and found an unconformity at Jedburgh where layers of greywacke in the
lower layers of the cliff face have been tilted almost vertically before being eroded to form a level
plane, under horizontal layers of Old Red Sandstone.[15] In the spring of 1788 he took a boat trip
along the Berwickshire coast with John Playfairand the geologist Sir James Hall, and found a
dramatic unconformity showing the same sequence at Siccar Point.[16] Playfair later recalled that "the
mind seemed to grow giddy by looking so far into the abyss of time", [17] and Hutton concluded a 1788
paper he presented at the Royal Society of Edinburgh, later rewritten as a book, with the phrase "we
find no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end". [18]
Both Playfair and Hall wrote their own books on the theory, and for decades robust debate continued
between Hutton's supporters and the Neptunists. Georges Cuvier's paleontological work in the
1790s, which established the reality of extinction, explained this by local catastrophes, after which
other fixed species repopulated the affected areas. In Britain, geologists adapted this idea into
"diluvial theory" which proposed repeated worldwide annihilation and creation of new fixed species
adapted to a changed environment, initially identifying the most recent catastrophe as the biblical
flood.[19]
19th century
Charles Lyell at the British Association meeting in Glasgow 1840
From 1830 to 1833 Charles Lyell's multi-volume Principles of Geology was published. The work's

subtitle was "An attempt to explain the former changes of the Earth's surface by reference to causes
now in operation". He drew his explanations from field studies conducted directly before he went to
work on the founding geology text,[20] and developed Hutton's idea that the earth was shaped entirely
by slow-moving forces still in operation today, acting over a very long period of time. The
terms uniformitarianism for this idea, and catastrophism for the opposing viewpoint, were coined
by William Whewell in a review of Lyell's book. Principles of Geology was the most influential
geological work in the middle of the 19th century.
Systems of inorganic earth history
Geoscientists support diverse systems of Earth history, the nature of which rest on a certain mixture
of views about process, control, rate, and state which are preferred. Because geologists and
geomorphologists tend to adopt opposite views over process, rate and state in the inorganic world,
there are eight different systems of beliefs in the development of the terrestrial sphere. [21] All
geoscientists stand by the principle of uniformity of law. Most, but not all, are directed by the
principle of simplicity. All make definite assertions about the quality of rate and state in the inorganic
realm.[22]
Methodological Substantive Substantive

System of
assumption claim claim
Inorganic Promoters[23]
concerning concerning Concerning
Earth history
kind of process state rate
Same Kind of Steady State Constant Rate Actualistic Most of

processes Non-
Non- Hutton,
that exist today Gradualism directional
directionalism Playfair, Lyell
Actualism Gradualism
Actualistic
Changing
Non-
Rate
directional Hall
Catastrophis
Catastrophis
m
m
Changing
Actualistic Small part of
State Constant Rate
Directional Hutton, Cotta,
Directionalis Gradualism
Gradualism Darwin
m
Hooke, Steno,
Lehmann,
Pallas,
Changing Actualistic
de Saussure,
Rate Directional
Werner and
Catastrophis Catastrophis
geognosists,
m m
Elis de
Beaumont
and followers
Non-
Different Kind of
Steady State Actualistic
processes Constant Rate
Non- Non- Carpenter
than exist today Gradualism
directionalism directional
Non-Actualism
Gradualism
Non-
Changing Actualistic
Rate Non- Bonnet,
Catastrophis directional Cuvier
m Catastrophis
m
Changing Non-
State Constant Rate Actualistic De Mallet,
Directionalis Gradualism directional Buffon
m Gradualism
Restoration
Non-
Changing cosmogonists,
Actualistic
Rate English
Directional
Catastrophis diluvialists,
Catastrophis
m Scriptural
m
geologists
Lyell's uniformitarianism
According to Reijer Hooykaas (1963), Lyell's uniformitarianism is a family of four related
propositions, not a single idea:[24]
 Uniformity of law – the laws of nature are constant across time and space.
 Uniformity of methodology – the appropriate hypotheses for explaining the
geological past are those with analogy today.
 Uniformity of kind – past and present causes are all of the same kind, have
the same energy, and produce the same effects.
 Uniformity of degree – geological circumstances have remained the same
over time.
None of these connotations requires another, and they are not all equally
inferred by uniformitarians.[25]
Gould explained Lyell's propositions in Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle (1987), stating that Lyell
conflated two different types of propositions: a pair of methodological assumptions with a pair
of substantive hypotheses. The four together make up Lyell's uniformitarianism.[26]
Methodological assumptions
The two methodological assumptions below are accepted to be true by the majority of scientists and
geologists. Gould claims that these philosophical propositions must be assumed before you can
proceed as a scientist doing science. "You cannot go to a rocky outcrop and observe either the
constancy of nature's laws or the working of unknown processes. It works the other way around."
You first assume these propositions and "then you go to the outcrop." [27]
 Uniformity of law across time and space: Natural laws are constant across space and
time.[28]
The axiom of uniformity of law [2][5][28] is necessary in order for scientists to extrapolate (by
inductive inference) into the unobservable past.[2][28] The constancy of natural laws must be
assumed in the study of the past; else we cannot meaningfully study it. [2][5][28][29]
 Uniformity of process across time and space: Natural processes are constant across
time and space.
Though similar to uniformity of law, this second a priori assumption, shared by the vast
majority of scientists, deals with geological causes, not physico-chemical laws. [30] The past is
to be explained by processes acting currently in time and space rather than inventing extra
esoteric or unknown processes without good reason,[31][32] otherwise known as parsimony
or Occam's razor.
Substantive hypotheses
The substantive hypotheses were controversial and, in some cases, accepted by few. [26] These
hypotheses are judged true or false on empirical grounds through scientific observation and
repeated experimental data. This is in contrast with the previous two philosophical
assumptions[27] that come before one can do science and so cannot be tested or falsified by science.
 Uniformity of rate across time and space: Change is typically slow, steady, and
gradual.[27]
Uniformity of rate (or gradualism) is what most people (including geologists) think of when
they hear the word "uniformitarianism," confusing this hypothesis with the entire definition. As
late as 1990, Lemon, in his textbook of stratigraphy, affirmed that "The uniformitarian view of
earth history held that all geologic processes proceed continuously and at a very slow
pace."[33]
Gould explained Hutton's view of uniformity of rate; mountain ranges or grand canyons are
built by accumulation of nearly insensible changes added up through vast time. Some major
events such as floods, earthquakes, and eruptions, do occur. But these catastrophes are
strictly local. They neither occurred in the past, nor shall happen in the future, at any greater
frequency or extent than they display at present. In particular, the whole earth is never
convulsed at once.[34]
 Uniformity of state across time and space: Change is evenly distributed throughout
space and time.[35]
The uniformity of state hypothesis implies that throughout the history of our earth there is no
progress in any inexorable direction. The planet has almost always looked and behaved as it
does now. Change is continuous, but leads nowhere. The earth is in balance: a
dynamic steady state.[35]
20th century
Stephen Jay Gould's first scientific paper, Is uniformitarianism necessary? (1965), reduced these
four assumptions to two.[36] He dismissed the first principle, which asserted spatial and temporal
invariance of natural laws, as no longer an issue of debate. He rejected the third (uniformity of rate)
as an unjustified limitation on scientific inquiry, as it constrains past geologic rates and conditions to
those of the present. So, Lyellian uniformitarianism was unnecessary.
Uniformitarianism was proposed in contrast to catastrophism, which states that the distant past
"consisted of epochs of paroxysmal and catastrophic action interposed between periods of
comparative tranquility"[37] Especially in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, most geologists took
this interpretation to mean that catastrophic events are not important in geologic time; one example
of this is the debate of the formation of the Channeled Scablands due to the
catastrophic Missoula glacial outburst floods. An important result of this debate and others was the
re-clarification that, while the same principles operate in geologic time, catastrophic events that are
infrequent on human time-scales can have important consequences in geologic history. [38] Derek
Ager has noted that "geologists do not deny uniformitarianism in its true sense, that is to say, of
interpreting the past by means of the processes that are seen going on at the present day, so long
as we remember that the periodic catastrophe is one of those processes. Those periodic
catastrophes make more showing in the stratigraphical record than we have hitherto assumed." [39]
Even Charles Lyell thought that ordinary geological processes would cause Niagara Falls to move
upstream to Lake Erie within 10,000 years, leading to catastrophic flooding of a large part of North
America.
Modern geologists do not apply uniformitarianism in the same way as Lyell. They question if rates of
processes were uniform through time and only those values measured during the history of geology
are to be accepted.[40] The present may not be a long enough key to penetrate the deep lock of the
past.[41] Geologic processes may have been active at different rates in the past that humans have not
observed. "By force of popularity, uniformity of rate has persisted to our present day. For more than
a century, Lyell's rhetoric conflating axiom with hypotheses has descended in unmodified form. Many
geologists have been stifled by the belief that proper methodology includes an a priori commitment
to gradual change, and by a preference for explaining large-scale phenomena as the concatenation
of innumerable tiny changes."[42]
The current consensus is that Earth's history is a slow, gradual process punctuated by occasional
natural catastrophic events that have affected Earth and its inhabitants. [43] In practice it is reduced
from Lyell's conflation, or blending, to simply the two philosophical assumptions. This is also known
as the principle of geological actualism, which states that all past geological action was like all
present geological action. The principle of actualism is the cornerstone of paleoecology
EPISODIC PLATE TECTONICS
Turcotte (1993) suggested that Venus has episodic tectonics, whereby short periods of rapid
tectonics are separated by periods of surface inactivity lasting on the order of 500 Ma. During
periods of inactivity, the lithosphere cools conductively and thickens to over 300 km. The active
mode of plate tectonics occurs when the thick lithosphere detaches and founders into the interior of
the astronomical object. Large scale lithosphere recycling is thus invoked to explain resurfacing
events. Episodic large scale overturns can occur due to a compositionally stratified mantle where
there is competition between the compositional and thermal buoyancy of the upper mantle
Episodic behavior of Venus model showing strong mantle layering at 675 Ma, followed by a break in the basalt
barrier at 750 Ma, the mantle overturns at 810 Ma and layering is reestablished again at 1000 Ma. [17]
.[18]
This sort of mantle layering is further supported by the 'basalt barrier' mechanism, which states that
subducted basaltic crust is positively buoyant between the mantle depths of 660–750 km, and
negatively buoyant at other depths, and can accumulate at the bottom of the transition zone and
cause mantle layering.[17] The breakdown of mantle layering and consequent mantle overturns would
lead to dramatic episodes of volcanism, formation of large amounts of crust, and tectonic activity on
the astronomical object surface, as has been inferred to have happened on Venus around 500 Ma
from the surface morphology and cratering. [17] Catastrophic resurfacing and widespread volcanism
can be caused periodically by an increase in mantle temperature due to a change in surface
boundary conditions from mobile to stagnant lid
. Shield volcano
A shield volcano is a type of volcano usually composed almost entirely of fluid lava flows. It is
named for its low profile, resembling a warrior's shield lying on the ground. This is caused by
the highly fluid (low viscosity) lava erupted, which travels farther than lava erupted from
a stratovolcano, and results in the steady accumulation of broad sheets of lava, building up
the shield volcano's distinctive form
Mauna Kea, Hawaiʻi, a shield volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii, Arua, Moyo West Nile in Uganda.
An Ancient Greek warrior's shield–its circular shape and gently sloping surface, with a central raised area, is a
shape shared by many shield volcanoes.
Shield volcanoes are built by effusive eruptions, which flow out in all directions to create a shield like
that of a warrior.[1] The word "shield" has a long history, and is derived from the Old
English scield or scild, which is in turn taken from the Proto-Germanic *skelduz, and related to
the Gothic skildus, meaning "to divide, split, or separate". Shield volcano itself is taken from the
German term Schildvulkan.[2]
Geology
Structure
Shield volcanoes are distinguished from the three other major volcanic archetypes
stratovolcanoes, lava domes, and cinder cones by their structural form, a consequence of their
unique magmatic composition. Of these four forms shield volcanoes erupt the least viscous lavas:
whereas stratovolcanoes and especially lava domes are the product of highly immotile flows and
cinder cones are constructed by explosively eruptive tephra, shield volcanoes are the product of
gentle effusive eruptions of highly fluid lavas that produce, over time, a broad, gently sloped
eponymous "shield".[3][4] Although the term is generally ascribed to basaltic shields it has also at times
been appended to rarer scutiform volcanoes of differing magmatic composition—
principally pyroclastic shields, formed by the accumulation of fragmental material from particularly
powerful explosive eruptions, and rarer felsic lava shields formed by unusually fluid felsic magmas.
Examples of pyroclastic shields include Billy Mitchell volcano in Papua New Guinea and the Purico
complex in Chile;[5][6] an example of a felsic shield is the Big Obsidian Flow in Oregon.[7] Shield
volcanoes are also related in origination to vast lava plateaus and flood basalts present in various
parts of the world, generalized eruptive features which occur along linear fissure vents and are
distinguished from shield volcanoes proper by the lack of an identifiable primary eruptive center. [3]
Diagram of the common structural features of a shield volcano.

Active shield volcanoes experience near-continuous eruptive activity over extremely long periods of
time, resulting in the gradual build-up of edifices that can reach extremely large dimensions. [4] With
the exclusion of flood basalts, mature shields are the largest volcanic features on Earth: [8] the summit
of the largest subaerialvolcano in the world, Mauna Loa, lies 4,169 m (13,678 ft) above sea level,
and the volcano, over 60 mi (100 km) wide at its base, is estimated to contain about
80,000 km3 (19,000 cu mi) of basalt.[1][4] The mass of the volcano is so great that it has slumped
the crust beneath it a further 8 km (5 mi);[9] accounting for this subsidence and for the height of the
volcano above the sea floor, the "true" height of Mauna Loa from the start of its eruptive history is
about 17,170 m (56,000 ft).[10]Mount Everest, by comparison, is 8,848 m (29,029 ft) in height.[11] In
September 2013 a team led by the University of Houston's William Sager announced the singular
origination of Tamu Massif, an enormous extinct submarine shield volcano of previously unknown
origin which, approximately 450 by 650 km (280 by 400 mi) in area, dwarfs all previously known
volcanoes on the planet. The research has not yet been confirmed. [12]
Shield volcanoes feature a gentle (usually 2° to 3°) slope that gradually steepens with elevation
(reaching approximately 10°) before eventually flattening near the summit, forming an overall
upwardly convex shape. In height they are typically about one twentieth their width. [4] Although the
general form of a "typical" shield volcano varies little worldwide regional differences exist in their size
and morphological characteristics. Typical shield volcanoes present in California and Oregon
measure 3 to 4 mi (5 to 6 km) in diameter and 1,500 to 2,000 ft (500 to 600 m) in height;[3] shield
volcanoes in the central Mexican Michoacán–Guanajuato volcanic field, by comparison, average
340 m (1,100 ft) in height and 4,100 m (13,500 ft) in width, with an average slope angle of 9.4° and
an average volume of 1.7 km3 (0.4 cu mi).[13]
Rift zones are a prevalent feature on shield volcanoes that is rare on other volcanic types. The large,
decentralized shape of Hawaiian volcanoes as compared to their smaller, symmetrical Icelandic
cousins[ can be attributed to rift eruptions. Fissure venting is common in Hawaiʻi; most Hawaiian
eruptions begin with a so-called "wall of fire" along a major fissure line before centralizing to a small
number of points. This accounts for their asymmetrical shape, whereas Icelandic volcanoes follow a
pattern of central eruptions dominated by summit calderas, causing the lava to be more evenly
distributed or symmetrical.[1][4][14][15]
Eruptive characteristics
Most of what is currently known about shield volcanic eruptive character has been gleaned from
studies done on the volcanoes of Hawaiʻi island, by far the most intensively studied of all shields due
to their scientific accessibility;[16] the island lends its name to the slow-moving, effusive eruptions
typical of shield volcanism, known as Hawaiian eruptions.[17] These eruptions, the calmest of volcanic
events, are characterized by the effusive emission of highly fluid basaltic lavas with low gaseous
content. These lavas travel a far greater distance than those of other eruptive types before
solidifying, forming extremely wide but relatively thin magmatic sheets often less than 1 m (3 ft) thick.
[1][4][14]
Low volumes of such lavas layered over long periods of time are what slowly constructs the
characteristically low, broad profile of a mature shield volcano
Diagram of a Hawaiian eruption. (key: 1. Ash plume2. Lava fountain 3. Crater 4. Lava lake 5. Fumaroles6. Lava

flow 7. Layers of lava and ash 8. Stratum 9. Sill 10. Magma conduit 11. Magma chamber 12. Dike) Click for
larger version.
.[1]
Also unlike other eruptive types, Hawaiian eruptions often occur at decentralized fissure vents,
beginning with large "curtains of fire" that quickly die down and concentrate at specific locations on
the volcano's rift zones. Central-vent eruptions, meanwhile, often take the form of large lava
fountains (both continuous and sporadic), which can reach heights of hundreds of meters or more.
The particles from lava fountains usually cool in the air before hitting the ground, resulting in the
accumulation of cindery scoria fragments; however, when the air is especially thick with clasts, they
cannot cool off fast enough due to the surrounding heat, and hit the ground still hot, accumulating
into spatter cones. If eruptive rates are high enough, they may even form splatter-fed lava flows.
Hawaiian eruptions are often extremely long lived; Puʻu ʻŌʻō, a cinder cone of Kīlauea, has been
erupting continuously since 1983.[14]
Flows from Hawaiian eruptions can be divided into two types by their structural
characteristics: pāhoehoe lava which is relatively smooth and flows with a ropey texture,
and ʻaʻā flows which are denser, more viscous (and thus slower moving) and blockier. These lava
flows can be anywhere between 2 and 20 m (10 and 70 ft) thick. ʻAʻa lava flows move through
pressure—the partially solidified front of the flow steepens due to the mass of flowing lava behind it
until it breaks off, after which the general mass behind it moves forward. Though the top of the flow
quickly cools down, the molten underbelly of the flow is buffered by the solidifying rock above it, and
by this mechanism ʻaʻa flows can sustain movement for long periods of time. Pāhoehoe flows, in
contrast, move in more conventional sheets, or by the advancement of lava "toes" in snaking lava
columns. Increasing viscosity on the part of the lava or shear stress on the part of local topography
can morph a pāhoehoe flow into an a'a one, but the reverse never occurs. [18]
Although most shield volcanoes are by volume almost entirely Hawaiian and basaltic in origin, they
are rarely exclusively so. Some volcanoes, like Mount Wrangell in Alaska and Cofre de Perote in
Mexico, exhibit large enough swings in their historical magmatic eruptive characteristics to cast strict
categorical assignment in doubt; one geological study of de Perote went so far as to suggest the
term "compound shield-like volcano" instead. [19] Most mature shield volcanoes have multiple cinder
cones on their flanks, the results of tephra ejections common during incessant activity and markers
of currently and formerly active sites on the volcano. [8][14] One prominent such parasitic cones is Puʻu
ʻŌʻō on Kīlauea[15]—continuous activity ongoing since 1983 has built up a 2,290 ft (698 m) tall cone at
the site of one of the longest-lasting rift eruptions in known history. [20]
The Hawaiian shield volcanoes and the Galápagos islands are unique [ in that they are not located
near any plate boundaries; instead, the two chains are fed by the movement of oceanic plates over
an upwelling of magma known as a hotspot. Over millions of years, the tectonic movement that
moves continents also creates long volcanic trails across the seafloor. The Hawaiian and Galápagos
shields, and other hotspot shields like them, are both constructed of oceanic island basalt. Their
lavas are characterized by high levels of sodium, potassium, and aluminium.[21]
Features common in shield volcanism include lava tubes.[22] Lava tubes are cave-like volcanic
straights formed by the hardening of overlaying lava. These structures help further the propagation
of lava, as the walls of the tube insulates the lava within.[23] Lava tubes can account for a large
portion of shield volcano activity; for example, an estimated 58% of the lava forming Kīlauea comes
from lava tubes.[22]
In some shield volcano eruptions, basaltic lava pours out of a long fissure instead of a central vent,
and shrouds the countryside with a long band of volcanic material in the form of a broad plateau.
Plateaus of this type exist in Iceland, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho; the most prominent ones are
situated along the Snake River in Idaho and the Columbia River in Washington and Oregon, where
they have been measured to be over 1 mi (2 km) in thickness.[1]
Calderas are a common feature on shield volcanoes. They are formed and reformed over the
volcano's lifespan. Long eruptive periods form cinder cones, which then collapse over time to form
calderas. The calderas are often filled up by future eruptions, or formed elsewhere, and this cycle of
collapse and regeneration takes place throughout the volcano's lifespan. [8]
Interactions between water and lava at shield volcanoes can cause some eruptions to
become hydrovolcanic. These explosive eruptions are drastically different from the usual shield
volcanic activity,[8] and are especially prevalent at the waterbound volcanoes of the Hawaiian Isles.[14]

ʻAʻa advances over solidified pāhoehoe on Kīlauea, Hawaiʻi.

A pāhoehoe lava fountain on Kīlauea erupts.

A lava lake in the caldera of Erta Ale, an active shield volcano in Ethiopia


Pāhoehoe flows enter the Pacific Ocean on Hawaiʻi island.

Puʻu ʻŌʻō, a parasitic cinder cone on Kīlauea, lava fountaining at dusk in June 1983, near the start of its
current eruptive cycle.

The Thurston lava tube on Hawaiʻi island, now a tourist attraction in the Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park
Distribution
List of shield volcanoes
Shield volcanoes are found worldwide. They can form over hotspots (points where magma from
below the surface wells up), such as the Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain and the Galápagos
Islands, or over more conventional rift zones, such as the Icelandic shields and the shield volcanoes
of East Africa. Many shield volcanoes are found in ocean basins, such as Tamu Massif, the world's
largest, although they can be found inland as well—East Africa being one example of this. [24]
Hawaiian islands
The largest and most prominent shield volcano chain in the world is the Hawaiian Islands,
a chain of hotspot volcanoes in the Pacific Ocean. The Hawaiian volcanoes are characterized by
frequent rift eruptions, their large size (thousands of km3 in volume), and their rough, decentralized
shape. Rift zones are a prominent feature on these volcanoes, and account for their seemingly
random volcanic structure.[4] They are fueled by the movement of the Pacific Plate over the Hawaii
hotspot, and form a long chain of volcanoes, atolls, and seamounts 2,600 km (1,616 mi) long with a
total volume of over 750,000 km3 (179,935 cu mi). The chain contains at least 43 major volcanoes,
and Meiji Seamount at its terminus near the Kuril–Kamchatka Trench is 85 million years old.[25][26] The
volcanoes follow a distinct evolutionary patternof growth and death.[27]
The chain includes the second largest volcano on Earth, Mauna Loa, which stands 4,170 m
(13,680 ft) above sea level and reaches a further 13 km (8 mi) below the waterline and into the crust,
approximately 80,000 km3 (19,000 cu mi) of rock.[22] Kīlauea, meanwhile, is one of the most active
volcanoes on Earth, with the current ongoing eruption having begun in January 1983. [1]
Galápagos islands
The Galápagos Islands are an isolated set of volcanoes, consisting of shield volcanoes and lava
plateaus, located 1,200 km (746 mi) west of Ecuador. They are driven by the Galápagos hotspot,
and are between approximately 4.2 million and 700,000 years of age. [21] The largest island, Isabela
Island, consists of six coalesced shield volcanoes, each delineated by a large summit
caldera. Española, the oldest island, and Fernandina, the youngest, are also shield volcanoes, as
are most of the other islands in the chain.[28][29][30] The Galápagos Islands are perched on a large lava
plateau known as the Galápagos Platform. This platform creates a shallow water depth of 360 to
900 m (1,181 to 2,953 ft) at the base of the islands, which stretch over a 174 mi (280 km)-long
diameter.[31] Since Charles Darwin's visit to the islands in 1835 during the Second voyage of HMS
Beagle, there have been over 60 recorded eruptions in the islands, from six different shield
volcanoes.[28][30] Of the 21 emergent volcanoes, 13 are considered active.[21]
Blue Hill is a shield volcano on the south western part of Isabela Island in the Galápagos Islands and
is one of the most active in the Galapagos, with the last eruption between May and June 2008. The
Geophysics Institute at the National Polytechnic School in Quito houses an international team
of seismologists and volcanologists[32]whose responsibility is to monitor Ecuadors numerous active
volcanoes in the Andean Volcanic Belt and the Galapagos Islands. La Cumbre is an active shield
volcano on Fernandina Island in the Galapagos that has been erupting since April 11, 2009. [33]
The Galápagos islands are geologically young for such a big chain, and the pattern of their rift
zones follows one of two trends, one north-northwest, and one east–west. The composition of the
lavas of the Galápagos shields are strikingly similar to those of the Hawaiian volcanoes. Curiously,
they do not form the same volcanic "line" associated with most hotspots. They are not alone in this
regard; the Cobb–Eickelberg Seamount chain in the North Pacific is another example of such a
delineated chain. In addition, there is no clear pattern of age between the volcanoes, suggesting a
complicated, irregular pattern of creation. How exactly the islands were formed remains a geological
mystery, although several theories have been fronted. [34]
Iceland
Skjaldbreiður, Iceland, is eponymous for shield volcanoes.
Another major center of shield volcanic activity is Iceland. Located over the Mid-Atlantic Ridge,
a divergent tectonic plate in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, Iceland is the site of about 130
volcanoes of various types.[15] Icelandic shield volcanoes are generally of Holocene age, between
5,000 and 10,000 years old, except for the island of Surtsey, a Surtseyan shield. The volcanoes are
also very narrow in distribution, occurring in two bands in the West and North Volcanic Zones. Like
Hawaiian volcanoes, their formation initially begins with several eruptive centers before centralizing
and concentrating at a single point. The main shield then forms, burying the smaller ones formed by
the early eruptions with its lava.[31]
Icelandic shields are mostly small (~15 km3 (4 cu mi)), symmetrical (although this can affected by
surface topography), and characterized by eruptions from summit calderas.[31] They are composed of
either tholeiitic olivine or picritic basalt. The tholeiitic shields tend to be wider and shallower than the
picritic shields.[35] They do not follow the pattern of caldera growth and destruction that other shield
volcanoes do; caldera may form, but they generally do not disappear. [4][31]
East Africa
East Africa is the site of volcanic activity generated by the development of the East African Rift, a
developing plate boundary in Africa, and from nearby hotspots. Some volcanoes interact with both.
Shield volcanoes are found near the rift and off the coast of Africa, although stratovolcanoes are
more common. Although sparsely studied, the fact that all of its volcanoes are of Holocene age
reflects how young the volcanic center is. One interesting characteristic of East African volcanism is
a penchant for the formation of lava lakes; these semi-permanent lava bodies, extremely rare
elsewhere, form in about nine percent of African eruptions. [36]
The most active shield volcano in Africa is Nyamuragira. Eruptions at the shield volcano are
generally centered within the large summit caldera or on the numerous fissures and cinder cones on
the volcano's flanks. Lava flows from the most recent century extend down the flanks more than
30 km (19 mi) from the summit, reaching as far as Lake Kivu. Erta Ale in Ethiopia is another active
shield volcano, and one of the few places in the world with a permanent lava lake, which has been
active since at least 1967, and possibly since 1906. [36] Other volcanic centers include Menengai, a
massive shield caldera,[37] and Mount Marsabit, near the town of Marsabit.
Extraterrestrial volcanoes
Lists of extraterrestrial mountains
Volcanoes are not limited to Earth; they can exist on any rocky planet or moon large or active
enough to have a molten core, and since probes were first launched in the 1960s, volcanoes have
been found across the solar system. Shield volcanoes and volcanic vents have been found
on Mars, Venus, and Io; cryovolcanoes on Triton; and subsurface hotspots on Europa
Scaled image showing Olympus Mons, top, and the Hawaiian island chain, bottom. Martian volcanoes are far
larger than those found on Earth.
.[38]
The volcanoes of Mars are very similar to the shield volcanoes on Earth. Both have gently sloping
flanks, collapse craters along their central structure, and are built of highly fluid lavas. Volcanic
features on Mars were observed long before they were first studied in detail during the 1976–
1979 Viking mission. The principal difference between the volcanoes of Mars and those on Earth is
in terms of size; Martian volcanoes range in size up to 14 mi (23 km) high and 370 mi (595 km) in
diameter, far larger than the 6 mi (10 km) high, 74 mi (119 km) wide Hawaiian shields.[39][40][41] The
highest of these, Olympus Mons, is the tallest known mountain on any planet in the solar system.
Venus also has over 150 shield volcanoes which are much flatter, with a larger surface area than
those found on Earth, some having a diameter of more than 700 km (430 mi).[42] Although the
majority of these are long extinct it has been suggested, from observations by the Venus Express
spacecraft, that many may still be active.[43]
[16]
STAGNANT LID CONVECTION

Despite their categorical separation, all of the models display some sort of conceptual overlap that
applies to the others. Solomatov and Moresi (1996) suggested that a reduction in convective
stresses caused the surface lid to change from mobile to stagnant. [12] This argument proposed that
the present surface of Venus records a permanent end to lithospheric recycling. The decrease in
planetary heat flow, as convective vigor decreased, changed the mode of mantle convection from
mobile to stagnant.[19]
Despite their previous publication, Moresi and Solomatov (1998) used numerical models of mantle
convection with temperature-dependent viscosity to propose that at intermediate levels of yield
stress for the lithosphere, a change from a mobile to an episodic convective regime for Venus could
occur.[20] They focused on an episodic regime for a current explanation of Venus, whereby brittle
mobilization of the Venusian lithosphere may be episodic and catastrophic.
TRANSITION FROM THIN TO THICK LITHOSPHERE
Reese et al. (2007) proposed a model of astronomical object resurfacing, whereby lithosphere
thinning and widespread melting follows a shift from mobile lid to stagnant lid convection. [13] These
parameterized convection models suggest that a cessation of magmatic resurfacing can occur in
several ways: (1) the mantle temperature drops sufficiently such that mantle rising adiabatically does
not cross the solidus, (2) the molten layer migrates below the solid/melt density inversion at 250–
500 km so that no melt can escape, and (3) sublithospheric, small-scale convection stops and
conductive thickening of the lid suppresses melting. In each case, the inability of magma to
penetrate the thickened Venusian lithosphere plays a role. However, it has been suggested that
Venus's surface has experienced a continuous but geologically rapid decline in tectonic activity due
to the secular cooling of the planet, and no catastrophic resurfacing event is required to explain its
heat loss.[21]
DIRECTIONAL HISTORY HYPOTHESIS

In a series of subsequent papers, Basilevsky and colleagues extensively developed a model that
Guest and Stofan (1999)[22] termed the "directional history" for Venus evolution. [23][24][25] The general
idea is that there is a global stratigraphy that progresses from heavily deformed tessera, to heavily
deformed, then moderately deformed plains, and then to undeformed plains. [9] Most recent activity is
focused near major rift zones that tend to intersect with large shield volcanoes.
The interpretation of tessera as older continental-style cratons is supported by geological analysis of Ashtar
Terra and its surroundings. Compression forces, coupled with the inability of the thin basaltic crust to subduct,
resulted in fold mountains around the edges of Ishtar. Further compression led to underthrusting of material
that subsequently was able to partially melt and feed volcanism in the central plateau. [26]
If the directional evolution model is valid then the evolution must have been slow and the timing of
events would have overlapped considerably. A valid end member interpretation is that the crater
population still represents a population emplaced on a mostly inactive planet, but the final throes of a
global emplacement of volcanic plains has filled most of the craters with a few hundred meters of
volcanic flows. If this is true, then post-tessera plains emplacement must have dragged on for most
of the visible surface history of the planet and the cessation of tessera deformation must have
overlapped considerably with emplacement of plains. Thus, while a tessera/plains/rifts evolution is a
valid hypothesis, that evolution could not have occurred as a "catastrophe". The highly varying levels
of post-impact volcanism and deformation that the craters have experienced are consistent with a
steady state model of Venus resurfacing. The craters are in a variety of stages of removal but
display the same processes that have operated throughout the visible surface history. It remains a
powerful constraint that the distribution of geologic features on the planet (plains, volcanoes, rifts,
etc.) is decidedly more nonuniform than the crater population. This means that while the nature of
resurfacing on Venus may vary regionally in the uniformitarian hypothesis, the rates must be similar.
DISC INSTABILITY MODEL ROLE IN VENUS PLANET FORMATION.

A terrestrial planet, telluric planet, or rocky planet is a planet that is composed primarily
of silicaterocks or metals. Within the Solar System, the terrestrial planets are the inner
planets closest to the Sun, i.e. Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. The terms "terrestrial astronomical
object" and "telluric astronomical object" are derived from Latin words for Earth (Terra and Tellus),
as these planets are, in terms of structure, "Earth-like". These planets are located between the Sun
and the Asteroid Belt.
Terrestrial planets have a solid planetary surface, making them substantially different from the
larger giant planets, which are composed mostly of some combination of hydrogen, helium,
and waterexisting in various physical states.
The terrestrial planets of the Solar System: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, sized to scale
Structure
All terrestrial astronomical objects in the Solar System have the same basic type of structure, such
as a central metallic core, mostly iron, with a surrounding silicate mantle. The Moon is similar, but
has a much smaller iron core. Io and Europa are also satellites that have internal structures similar
to that of terrestrial planets. Terrestrial planets can have canyons, craters, mountains, volcanoes,
and other surface structures, depending on the presence of water and tectonic activity. Terrestrial
planets have secondary atmospheres, generated through volcanism or comet impacts, in contrast to
the giant planets, whose atmospheres are primary, captured directly from the original solar nebula.[1]
Solar System's terrestrial planets
Relative masses of the terrestrial planets of the Solar System, and the Moon (shown here as Luna)
The inner planets (sizes to scale). Clockwise from left rear: Earth, Venus, Mercury, Mars.
The Solar System has four terrestrial planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. Only one terrestrial

planet, Earth, is known to have an active hydrosphere.
During the formation of the Solar System, there were probably many more terrestrial planetesimals,
but most merged with or were ejected by the four terrestrial planets.
Dwarf planets, such as Ceres, Pluto and Eris, and small Solar System bodies are similar to
terrestrial planets in the fact that they do have a solid surface, but are, on average, composed of
more icy materials (Ceres, Pluto and Eris have densities of 2.17, 1.87 and 2.52 g·cm−3, respectively,
and Haumea's density is similar to Pallas's 2.8 g·cm−3). The Earth's Moon has a density of 3.4
g·cm−3 and Jupiter's satellites, Io, 3.528 and Europa, 3.013 g·cm−3; other satellites typically have
densities less than 2 g·cm−3.
Density trends
The uncompressed density of a terrestrial planet is the average density its materials would have at
zero pressure. A greater uncompressed density indicates greater metal content. Uncompressed
density differs from the true average density (also often called "bulk" density) because compression
within planet cores increases their density; the average density depends on planet size, temperature
distribution and material stiffness as well as composition.
Densities of the terrestrial planets
Object Density (g·cm−3) Semi-major axis (AU)

Mean Uncompressed
Mercur
5.4 5.3 0.39
y
Venus 5.2 4.4 0.72
Earth 5.5 4.4 1.0
Mars 3.9 3.8 1.5
The uncompressed density of terrestrial planets trends towards lower values as the distance from
the Sun increases. The rocky minor planet Vesta orbiting outside of Mars is less dense than Mars
still at, 3.4 g·cm−3.
Calculations to estimate uncompressed density inherently require a model of the planet's structure.
Where there have been landers or multiple orbiting spacecraft, these models are constrained by
seismological data and also moment of inertia data derived from the spacecraft orbits. Where such
data is not available, uncertainties are inevitably higher. [2] It is unknown, whether extrasolar terrestrial
planets in general will show to follow this trend.
Extrasolar terrestrial planets

See also: Super-Earth, Mega-Earth, and List of nearest terrestrial exoplanet candidates
Most of the planets discovered outside the Solar System are giant planets, because they are more
easily detectable.[3][4][5] But since 2005, hundreds of potentially terrestrial extrasolar astronomical
objects have been found, with several being confirmed as terrestrial. Most of these are super-Earths,
i.e. astronomical object with masses between Earth's and Neptune's; super-Earths may be gas
planets or terrestrial, depending on their mass and other parameters.
During the early 1990s, the first extrasolar planets were discovered orbiting the pulsar PSR
B1257+12, with masses of 0.02, 4.3, and 3.9 times that of Earth's, by pulsar timing.
When 51 Pegasi b, the first planet found around a star still undergoing fusion, was discovered, many
astronomers assumed it to be a gigantic terrestrial, because it was assumed no gas giant could exist
as close to its star (0.052 AU) as 51 Pegasi b did. It was later found to be a gas giant.
In 2005, the first planets around main-sequence stars that may be terrestrial were found: Gliese 876
d, has a mass 7 to 9 times that of Earth and an orbital period of just two Earth days. It orbits the red
dwarf Gliese 876, 15 light years from Earth. OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb, about 5.5 times the mass of
Earth, orbits a star about 21,000 light years away in the constellation Scorpius. From 2007 to 2010,
three (possibly four) potential terrestrial planets were found orbiting within the Gliese 581 planetary
system. The smallest, Gliese 581e, is only about 1.9 Earth mass,[6] but orbits very close to the star.
An ideal terrestrial planet would be 2 Earth masses with a 25-day orbital period around a red dwarf.
[7]
Two others, Gliese 581c and Gliese 581d, as well as a disputed planet, Gliese 581g, are more-
massive super-Earths orbiting in or close to the habitable zone of the star, so they could potentially
be habitable, with Earth-like temperatures.
Another possibly terrestrial planet, HD 85512 b, was discovered in 2011; it has at least 3.6 times the
mass of Earth.[8] The radius and composition of all these planets are unknown.
Sizes of Kepler planet candidates based on 2,740 candidates orbiting 2,036 stars as of November 4, 2013
(NASA).
The first confirmed terrestrial exoplanet, Kepler-10b, was found in 2011 by the Kepler Mission,

specifically designed to discover Earth-size planets around other stars using the transit method.[9]
In the same year, the Kepler Space Observatory Mission team released a list of 1235 extrasolar
planet candidates, including six that are "Earth-size" or "super-Earth-size" (i.e. they have a radius
less than 2 Earth radii)[10] and in the habitable zone of their star.[11] Since then, Kepler has discovered
hundreds of planets ranging from Moon-sized to super-Earths, with many more candidates in this
size range (see image).
List of terrestrial exoplanets

List of nearest terrestrial exoplanet candidates
The following exoplanets have a density of at least 5 g/cm 3 and a mass below Neptune's and are
thus very likely terrestrial:
Kepler-10b, Kepler-20b, Kepler-36b, Kepler-48d, Kepler 68c, Kepler-78b, Kepler-89b, Kepler-
93b, Kepler-97b, Kepler-99b, Kepler-100b, Kepler-101c, Kepler-102b, Kepler-102d, Kepler-113b, Ke
pler-131b, Kepler-131c, Kepler-138c, Kepler-406b, Kepler-406c, Kepler-409b.
The Neptune-mass planet Kepler-10c also has a density >5 g/cm3 and is thus very likely terrestrial.
Frequency
In 2013, astronomers reported, based on Kepler space mission data, that there could be as many as
40 billion Earth- and super-Earth-sized planets orbiting in the habitable zones of Sun-like
stars and red dwarfs within the Milky Way.[12][13][14] 11 billion of these estimated planets may be orbiting
Sun-like stars.[15] The nearest such planet may be 12 light-years away, according to the scientists. [12]
[13]
However, this does not give estimates for the number of extrasolar terrestrial planets, because
there are planets as small as Earth that have been shown to be gas planets (see KOI-314c).[16]
Types
Artist's impression of a carbon planet
Several possible classifications for terrestrial planets have been proposed: [17]
Silicate planet
The standard type of terrestrial planet seen in the Solar System, made primarily of silicon-based
rocky mantle with a metallic (iron) core.
Carbon planet (also called "diamond planet")
A theoretical class of planets, composed of a metal core surrounded by primarily carbon-based
minerals. They may be considered a type of terrestrial planet if the metal content dominates. The
Solar System contains no carbon planets, but does have carbonaceous asteroids.
Iron planet
A theoretical type of terrestrial planet that consists almost entirely of iron and therefore has a greater
density and a smaller radius than other terrestrial planets of comparable mass. Mercury in the Solar
System has a metallic core equal to 60–70% of its planetary mass. Iron planets are thought to form
in the high-temperature regions close to a star, like Mercury, and if the protoplanetary disk is rich in
iron.
Coreless planet
A theoretical type of terrestrial planet that consists of silicate rock but has no metallic core, i.e. the
opposite of an iron planet. Although the Solar System contains no coreless
planets, chondrite asteroids and meteorites are common in the Solar System. Coreless planets are
thought to form farther from the star where volatile oxidizing material is more common.
Planetesimals /plænɪˈtɛsɪməlz/ are solid objects thought to exist in protoplanetary disks and

in debris disks.
A widely accepted theory of planet formation, the so-called planetesimal hypotheses,
the Chamberlin–Moulton planetesimal hypothesis and that of Viktor Safronov, states that planets
form out of cosmic dust grains that collide and stick to form larger and larger bodies. When the
bodies reach sizes of approximately one kilometer, then they can attract each other directly through
their mutual gravity, enormously aiding further growth into moon-sized protoplanets. This is how
planetesimals are often defined. Bodies that are smaller than planetesimals must rely on Brownian
motion or turbulent motions in the gas to cause the collisions that can lead to sticking. Alternatively,
planetesimals may form in a very dense layer of dust grains that undergoes a collective gravitational
instability in the mid-plane of a protoplanetary disk or via the concentration and gravitational collapse
of swarms of larger particles in streaming instabilities. Many planetesimals eventually break apart
during violent collisions, as may have happened to 4 Vesta[2] and 90 Antiope,[3] but a few of the
largest planetesimals may survive such encounters and continue to grow into protoplanets and later
planets.
The disk instability model ( Astronomer Ariny Amos .2010) entails

the formation of Venus planets from the breakup of a
protoplanetary disk due to gravitational instability forming self
gravitating clumps of gas, which eventually evolve into planets. The
thermodynamic state of the disk is a critical part of the model. For
a disk to form, self-gravity has to dominate the thermal pressure
and sheer inside the disk. The threshold for axisymmetric density
perturbations to occur in a thin gaseous disk is given by the
Toomre criterion (Safronov 1960; Toomre 1964),
where is the speed of sound, the epicyclic frequency and

the gas surface density. Disk fragmentation will only occur if
. As such, disks with a large mass (high gravity) at low
temperatures ( ) and high densities ( )
are more likely to form gravitational instabilities. Disk instability is
however not enough for Venus planets to form as a result of the
fragmentation. The disk must also be able to cool efficiently on a
timescale comparable to the local disk orbital period. (
less than where and are the cooling and rotation time
scales of the disc and the ratio between them). Disk
fragmentation is expected to more readily occur further out in the
protoplanetary disk (several tens of AU) where the radiative
cooling rates are higher and lower . As such, one would expect a
large number of planets on wide orbits if disk instability is the
dominant formation mechanism its found that <10% of FGKM-
type stars form and retain companions through disk instability at
99% confidence, independent of outer disk radii (within the regime
5-500AU) taking disk migration into account. Only companions
with masses [latex size=2]<100~M_{\mathrm{Jup}}[/latex] were
considered. Despite this result, some observations are best
explained by formation via disk instability. Examples are the four
giant planets (or BDs using the formation based definition of BDs)
around HR~9799 with semi-major axis of 14.5, 24, 38, 64 AU and
Fomalhaut b at 119~AU. Although core accretion is the dominant
Venus planet formation model, the disk instability model is still a
viable formation theory for gas giants with a large mass on wide
orbits.
[9]
ACCRETION(ASTROPHYSICS) OF VENUS.
In astrophysics, accretion is the accumulation of particles into a massive object

by gravitationally attracting more matter, typically gaseous matter, in an accretion disk.[1]
[2]
Most astronomical objects, such as galaxies, stars, and planets, are formed by accretion
processes.
The theory of Core Accretion is widely accepted by most of the scientists and researchers.
This theory worked well with the formation of terrestrial planets such as Venus but has
faced problems while dealing with giant planets. Nearly 4.6 million years ago, the solar
system was a cloud of dust and gas known as a solar nebula. Smaller particles tend to
come closer and were held by the stronger force of gravity. The solar wind wiped away
lighter elements such as hydrogen and helium from the nearby regions, leaving heavy
materials to form smaller worlds such as Venus. In this manner, the moon, comets, and
asteroids were created. The mos commonly accepted mechanism for the formation of
Venus planet is the Core Accretion model, in this model a rocy forms through the
coagulation of planetsimal s until it is sufficiently massive to accrete a gaseous envelope .
Initially this envelope is in hydrostatic equilibrium, with most of the luminosity provide by
the accreting planetsimals. One the core reaches acritical mass, however , hydrostatic
equilibrium is no longer possible , and a phase of rapid gas accretion occurs.
There are anumber of issues with this model , the dust grains from which the planetsimals
form may undergo a phase of rapid inward migration when they reach acertain size, the
core itself , one it reaches about an Earth mass, should also migrate rapidly , and upper
limits for Venus core becomes larger than theoretical estimates, detailed models also
predict growth timescales that may easily exceed the lifetime of the gaseous disc from
which the venus planet formed.
Overview
The accretion model that Earth and the other terrestrial planets formed from meteoric material was
proposed in 1944 by Otto Schmidt, followed by the protoplanet theory of William McCrea (1960) and
finally the capture theory of Michael Woolfson.[3] In 1978, Andrew Prenticeresurrected the initial
Laplacian ideas about planet formation and developed the modern Laplacian theory.[3] None of these
models proved completely successful, and many of the proposed theories were descriptive.
The 1944 accretion model by Otto Schmidt was further developed in a quantitative way in 1969
by Viktor Safronov.[4] He calculated, in detail, the different stages of terrestrial planet formation. [5]
[6]
Since then, the model has been further developed using intensive numerical simulations to
study planetesimal accumulation. It is now accepted that stars form by the gravitational collapse
of interstellar gas. Prior to collapse, this gas is mostly in the form of molecular clouds, such as
the Orion Nebula. As the cloud collapses, losing potential energy, it heats up, gaining kinetic energy,
and the conservation of angular momentum ensures that the cloud forms a flatted disk—
the accretion disk.
ALMA image of HL Tauri, a protoplanetary disk
ALMA image of the protoplanetary disc around HL Tauri - This is the sharpest image
ever taken by ALMA — sharper than is routinely achieved in visible light with the
NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. It shows the protoplanetary disc surrounding the
young star HL Tauri. These new ALMA observations reveal substructures within the disc
that have never been seen before and even show the possible positions of planets forming
in the dark patches within the system. About the Object Name: HL Tauri Type: • Milky Way :
Star : Circumstellar Material : Disk : Protoplanetary • X - Stars Distance: 450 light years
Constellation: Taurus Coordinates Position (RA): 4 31 38.37 Position (Dec): 18° 14' 0.99"
Field of view: 0.03 x 0.03 arcminutes Orientation: North is 0.0° left of vertical .
http://www.eso.org/public/outreach/copyright/
Accretion of galaxies
Protogalaxy
A few hundred thousand years after the Big Bang, the Universe cooled to the point where atoms
could form. As the Universe continued to expand and cool, the atoms lost enough kinetic energy,
and dark matter coalesced sufficiently, to form protogalaxies. As further accretion
occurred, galaxies formed.[7] Indirect evidence is widespread. [7] Galaxies grow through mergers and
smooth gas accretion. Accretion also occurs inside galaxies, forming stars.
Accretion of stars
Protostar
The visible-light (left) and infrared (right) views of the Trifid Nebula, a giant star-forming cloud of gas and dust
located 5,400 light-years (1,700 pc) away in the constellation Sagittarius
Stars are thought to form inside giant clouds of cold molecular hydrogen—giant molecular clouds of

roughly 300,000 M☉ and 65 light-years (20 pc) in diameter.[8][9] Over millions of years, giant molecular
clouds are prone to collapse and fragmentation.[10] These fragments then form small, dense cores,
which in turn collapse into stars.[9] The cores range in mass from a fraction to several times that of
the Sun and are called protostellar (protosolar) nebulae. [8] They possess diameters of 2,000–
20,000 astronomical units (0.01–0.1 pc) and a particle number density of roughly 10,000 to
100,000/cm3 (160,000 to 1,600,000/cu in). Compare it with the particle number density of the air at
the sea level—2.8×1019/cm3 (4.6×1020/cu in).[9][11]
The initial collapse of a solar-mass protostellar nebula takes around 100,000 years.[8][9] Every nebula
begins with a certain amount of angular momentum. Gas in the central part of the nebula, with
relatively low angular momentum, undergoes fast compression and forms a hot hydrostatic (non-
contracting) core containing a small fraction of the mass of the original nebula. This core forms the
seed of what will become a star.[8] As the collapse continues, conservation of angular momentum
dictates that the rotation of the infalling envelope accelerates, which eventually forms a disk.
Infrared image of the molecular outflow from an otherwise hidden newborn star HH 46/47
As the infall of material from the disk continues, the envelope eventually becomes thin and
transparent and the young stellar object (YSO) becomes observable, initially in far-infrared light and
later in the visible.[11] Around this time the protostar begins to fuse deuterium. If the protostar is
sufficiently massive (above 80 MJ), hydrogen fusion follows. Otherwise, if its mass is too low, the
object becomes a brown dwarf.[12] This birth of a new star occurs approximately 100,000 years after
the collapse begins.[8] Objects at this stage are known as Class I protostars, which are also called
young T Tauri stars, evolved protostars, or young stellar objects. By this time, the forming star has
already accreted much of its mass; the total mass of the disk and remaining envelope does not
exceed 10–20% of the mass of the central YSO.[11]
When the lower-mass star in a binary system enters an expansion phase, its outer atmosphere may fall onto
the compact star, forming an accretion disk
At the next stage, the envelope completely disappears, having been gathered up by the disk, and
the protostar becomes a classical T Tauri star.[13] The latter have accretion disks and continue to
accrete hot gas, which manifests itself by strong emission lines in their spectrum. The former do not
possess accretion disks. Classical T Tauri stars evolve into weakly lined T Tauri stars. [14] This
happens after about 1 million years.[8] The mass of the disk around a classical T Tauri star is about
1–3% of the stellar mass, and it is accreted at a rate of 10−7 to 10−9 M☉ per year.[15] A pair of bipolar
jets is usually present as well. The accretion explains all peculiar properties of classical T Tauri
stars: strong flux in the emission lines (up to 100% of the intrinsic luminosity of the
star), magnetic activity, photometric variability and jets.[16] The emission lines actually form as the
accreted gas hits the "surface" of the star, which happens around its magnetic poles.[16] The jets are
byproducts of accretion: they carry away excessive angular momentum. The classical T Tauri stage
lasts about 10 million years.[8] The disk eventually disappears due to accretion onto the central star,
planet formation, ejection by jets, and photoevaporation by ultraviolet radiation from the central star
and nearby stars.[17] As a result, the young star becomes a weakly lined T Tauri star, which, over
hundreds of millions of years, evolves into an ordinary Sun-like star, dependent on its initial mass.
Accretion of planets
Protoplanetary disk
Artist's impression of a protoplanetary disk showing a young star at its center
Self-accretion of cosmic dust accelerates the growth of the particles into boulder-

sized planetesimals. The more massive planetesimals accrete some smaller ones, while others
shatter in collisions. Accretion disks are common around smaller stars, or stellar remnants in a close
binary, or black holes surrounded by material, such as those at the centers of galaxies. Some
dynamics in the disk, such as dynamical friction, are necessary to allow orbiting gas to lose angular
momentum and fall onto the central massive object. Occasionally, this can result in stellar surface
fusion (see Bondi accretion).
In the formation of terrestrial planets or planetary cores, several stages can be considered. First,
when gas and dust grains collide, they agglomerate by microphysical processes like van der Waals
forces and electromagnetic forces, forming micrometer-sized particles; during this stage,
accumulation mechanisms are largely non-gravitational in nature. [18] However, planetesimal formation
in the centimeter-to-meter range is not well understood, and no convincing explanation is offered as
to why such grains would accumulate rather than simply rebound. [18]:341 In particular, it is still not clear
how these objects grow to become 0.1–1 km (0.06–0.6 mi) sized planetesimals;[5][19] this problem is
known as the "meter size barrier":[20] As dust particles grow by coagulation, they acquire increasingly
large relative velocities with respect to other particles in their vicinity, as well as a systematic inward
drift velocity, that leads to destructive collisions, and thereby limit the growth of the aggregates to
some maximum size.[21] Ward (1996) suggests that when slow moving grains collide, the very low,
yet non-zero, gravity of colliding grains impedes their escape. [18]:341 It is also thought that grain
fragmentation plays an important role replenishing small grains and keeping the disk thick, but also
in maintaining a relatively high abundance of solids of all sizes.[21]
A number of mechanisms have been proposed for crossing the 'meter-sized' barrier. Local
concentrations of pebbles may form, which then gravitationally collapse into planetesimals the size
of large asteroids. These concentrations can occur passively due to the structure of the gas disk, for
example, between eddies, at pressure bumps, at the edge of a gap created by a giant planet, or at
the boundaries of turbulent regions of the disk.[22] Or, the particles may take an active role in their
concentration via a feedback mechanism referred to as a streaming instability. In a streaming
instability the interaction between the solids and the gas in the protoplanetary disk results in the
growth of local concentrations, as new particles accumulate in the wake of small concentrations,
causing them to grow into massive filaments.[22] Alternatively, if the grains that form due to the
agglomeration of dust are highly porous their growth may continue until they become large enough
to collapse due to their own gravity. The low density of these objects allows them to remain strongly
coupled with the gas, thereby avoiding high velocity collisions which could result in their erosion or
fragmentation.[23]
Grains eventually stick together to form mountain-size (or larger) bodies called planetesimals.
Collisions and gravitational interactions between planetesimals combine to produce Moon-size
planetary embryos (protoplanets) over roughly 0.1–1 million years. Finally, the planetary embryos
collide to form planets over 10–100 million years.[19] The planetesimals are massive enough that
mutual gravitational interactions are significant enough to be taken into account when computing
their evolution.[5] Growth is aided by orbital decay of smaller bodies due to gas drag, which prevents
them from being stranded between orbits of the embryos. [24][25] Further collisions and accumulation
lead to terrestrial planets or the core of giant planets.
If the planetesimals formed via the gravitational collapse of local concentrations of pebbles their
growth into planetary embryos and the cores of giant planets is dominated by the further accretions
of pebbles. Pebble accretion is aided by the gas drag felt by objects as they accelerate toward a
massive body. Gas drag slows the pebbles below the escape velocity of the massive body causing
them to spiral toward and to be accreted by it. Pebble accretion may accelerate the formation of
planets by a factor of 1000 compared to the accretion of planetesimals, allowing giant planets to
form before the dissipation of the gas disk.[26][27] Yet, core growth via pebble accretion appears
incompatible with the final masses and compositions of Uranus and Neptune.[28]
The formation of terrestrial planets differs from that of giant gas planets, also called Jovian planets.
The particles that make up the terrestrial planets are made from metal and rock that condense in the
inner Solar System. However, Jovian planets begin as large, icy planetesimals, which then capture
hydrogen and helium gas from the solar nebula.[29] Differentiation between these two classes of
planetesimals arise due to the frost line of the solar nebula.[30]
Accretion of asteroids
Chondrules in a chondritemeteorite. A millimeter scale is shown.
Meteorites contain a record of accretion and impacts during all stages of asteroid origin and
evolution; however, the mechanism of asteroid accretion and growth is not well understood.
[31]
Evidence suggests the main growth of asteroids can result from gas-assisted accretion
of chondrules, which are millimeter-sized spherules that form as molten (or partially molten) droplets
in space before being accreted to their parent asteroids. [31] In the inner Solar System, chondrules
appear to have been crucial for initiating accretion. [32] The tiny mass of asteroids may be partly due to
inefficient chondrule formation beyond 2 AU, or less-efficient delivery of chondrules from near the
protostar.[32] Also, impacts controlled the formation and destruction of asteroids, and are thought to
be a major factor in their geological evolution. [32]
Chondrules, metal grains, and other components likely formed in the solar nebula. These accreted
together to form parent asteroids. Some of these bodies subsequently melted, forming metallic
cores and olivine-rich mantles; others were aqueously altered. [32] After the asteroids had cooled, they
were eroded by impacts for 4.5 billion years, or disrupted. [33]
For accretion to occur, impact velocities must be less than about twice the escape velocity, which is
about 140 m/s (460 ft/s) for a 100 km (60 mi) radius asteroid.[32]Simple models for accretion in
the asteroid belt generally assume micrometer-sized dust grains sticking together and settling to the
midplane of the nebula to form a dense layer of dust, which, because of gravitational forces, was
converted into a disk of kilometer-sized planetesimals. But, several arguments [which?] suggest that
asteroids may not have accreted this way.[32]
Accretion of comets
The geology of 2014 MU69. Notable surface features are highlighted.[34][35]
Comets, or their precursors, formed in the outer Solar System, possibly millions of years before
planet formation.[36] How and when comets formed is debated, with distinct implications for Solar
System formation, dynamics, and geology. Three-dimensional computer simulations indicate the
major structural features observed on cometary nuclei can be explained by pairwise low velocity
accretion of weak cometesimals.[37][38] The currently favored formation mechanism is that of
the nebular hypothesis, which states that comets are probably a remnant of the original planetesimal
"building blocks" from which the planets grew.[39][40][41]
Astronomers think that comets originate in both the Oort cloud and the scattered disk.[42] The
scattered disk was created when Neptune migrated outward into the proto-Kuiper belt, which at the
time was much closer to the Sun, and left in its wake a population of dynamically stable objects that
could never be affected by its orbit (the Kuiper belt proper), and a population whose perihelia are
close enough that Neptune can still disturb them as it travels around the Sun (the scattered disk).
Because the scattered disk is dynamically active and the Kuiper belt relatively dynamically stable,
the scattered disk is now seen as the most likely point of origin for periodic comets. [42] The classic
Oort cloud theory states that the Oort cloud, a sphere measuring about 50,000 AU (0.24 pc) in
radius, formed at the same time as the solar nebula and occasionally releases comets into the inner
Solar System as a giant planet or star passes nearby and causes gravitational disruptions.
[43]
Examples of such comet clouds may already have been seen in the Helix Nebula.[44]
The Rosetta mission to comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko determined in 2015 that when Sun's
heat penetrates the surface, it triggers evaporation (sublimation) of buried ice. While some of the
resulting water vapour may escape from the nucleus, 80% of it recondenses in layers beneath the
surface.[45] This observation implies that the thin ice-rich layers exposed close to the surface may be
a consequence of cometary activity and evolution, and that global layering does not necessarily
occur early in the comet's formation history.[45][46] While most scientists thought that all the evidence
indicated that the structure of nuclei of comets is processed rubble pilesof smaller ice planetesimals
of a previous generation,[47] the Rosetta mission dispelled the idea that comets are "rubble piles" of
disparate material
Nebular Hypothesis.
The nebular hypothesis is the most widely accepted model in the field of cosmogony to explain
the formation and evolution of the Solar System (as well as other planetary systems). It suggests
that the Solar System is formed from the nebulous material. The theory was developed by Immanuel
Kant and published in his Allgemeine Naturgeschichte und Theorie des Himmels ("Universal Natural
History and Theory of the Heavens"), published in 1755. Originally applied to the Solar System, the
process of planetary system formation is now thought to be at work throughout the Universe.[1] The
widely accepted modern variant of the nebular hypothesis is the solar nebular disk model (SNDM)
or solar nebular model.[2] It offered explanations for a variety of properties of the Solar System,
including the nearly circular and coplanar orbits of the planets, and their motion in the same direction
as the Sun's rotation. Some elements of the original nebular hypothesis are echoed in modern
theories of planetary formation, but most elements have been superseded.
According to the nebular hypothesis, stars form in massive and dense clouds of molecular hydrogen
—giant molecular clouds (GMC). These clouds are gravitationally unstable, and matter coalesces
within them to smaller denser clumps, which then rotate, collapse, and form stars. Star formation is a
complex process, which always produces a gaseous protoplanetary disk, proplyd, around the young
star. This may give birth to planets in certain circumstances, which are not well known. Thus the
formation of planetary systems is thought to be a natural result of star formation. A Sun-like star
usually takes approximately 1 million years to form, with the protoplanetary disk evolving into a
planetary system over the next 10–100 million years.[1]
The protoplanetary disk is an accretion disk that feeds the central star. Initially very hot, the disk later
cools in what is known as the T Tauri star stage; here, formation of small dust grains made
of rocks and ice is possible. The grains eventually may coagulate into kilometer-sized planetesimals.
If the disk is massive enough, the runaway accretions begin, resulting in the rapid—100,000 to
300,000 years—formation of Moon- to Mars-sized planetary embryos. Near the star, the planetary
embryos go through a stage of violent mergers, producing a few terrestrial planets. The last stage
takes approximately 100 million to a billion years.[1]
The formation of giant planets is a more complicated process. It is thought to occur beyond the frost
line, where planetary embryos mainly are made of various types of ice. As a result, they are several
times more massive than in the inner part of the protoplanetary disk. What follows after the embryo
formation is not completely clear. Some embryos appear to continue to grow and eventually reach
5–10 Earth masses—the threshold value, which is necessary to begin accretion of the hydrogen–
helium gas from the disk.[3] The accumulation of gas by the core is initially a slow process, which
continues for several million years, but after the forming protoplanet reaches about 30 Earth masses
(M⊕) it accelerates and proceeds in a runaway manner. Jupiter- and Saturn-like planets are thought
to accumulate the bulk of their mass during only 10,000 years. The accretion stops when the gas is
exhausted. The formed planets can migrate over long distances during or after their formation. Ice
giants such as Uranus and Neptune are thought to be failed cores, which formed too late when the
disk had almost disappeared.
There is evidence that Emanuel Swedenborg first proposed parts of the nebular hypothesis in 1734.
[4][5]
Immanuel Kant, familiar with Swedenborg's work, developed the theory further in 1755, publishing
his own Universal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens, wherein he argued that gaseous
clouds (nebulae) slowly rotate, gradually collapse and flatten due to gravity, eventually
forming stars and planets.[2]
Pierre-Simon Laplace independently developed and proposed a similar model in 1796 [2] in
his Exposition du systeme du monde. He envisioned that the Sun originally had an extended hot
atmosphere throughout the volume of the Solar System. His theory featured a contracting and
cooling protosolar cloud—the protosolar nebula. As this cooled and contracted, it flattened and spun
more rapidly, throwing off (or shedding) a series of gaseous rings of material; and according to him,
the planets condensed from this material. His model was similar to Kant's, except more detailed and
on a smaller scale.[2] While the Laplacian nebular model dominated in the 19th century, it
encountered a number of difficulties. The main problem involved angular momentum distribution
between the Sun and planets. The planets have 99% of the angular momentum, and this fact could
not be explained by the nebular model.[2] As a result, astronomers largely abandoned this theory of
planet formation at the beginning of the 20th century.
A major critique came during the 19th century from James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879), who
maintained that different rotation between the inner and outer parts of a ringcould not allow
condensation of material.[6] Astronomer Sir David Brewster also rejected Laplace, writing in 1876 that
"those who believe in the Nebular Theory consider it as certain that our Earth derived its solid matter
and its atmosphere from a ring thrown from the Solar atmosphere, which afterwards contracted into
a solid terraqueous sphere, from which the Moon was thrown off by the same process". He argued
that under such view, "the Moon must necessarily have carried off water and air from the watery and
aerial parts of the Earth and must have an atmosphere". [7] Brewster claimed that Sir Isaac Newton's
religious beliefs had previously considered nebular ideas as tending to atheism, and quoted him as
saying that "the growth of new systems out of old ones, without the mediation of a Divine power,
seemed to him apparently absurd". [8]
The perceived deficiencies of the Laplacian model stimulated scientists to find a replacement for it.
During the 20th century many theories addressed the issue, including the planetesimal
theory of Thomas Chamberlin and Forest Moulton (1901), the tidal model of James Jeans (1917),
the accretion model of Otto Schmidt(1944), the protoplanet theory of William McCrea (1960) and
finally the capture theory of Michael Woolfson.[2] In 1978 Andrew Prentice resurrected the initial
Laplacian ideas about planet formation and developed the modern Laplacian theory.[2] None of these
attempts proved completely successful, and many of the proposed theories were descriptive.
The birth of the modern widely accepted theory of planetary formation—the solar nebular disk model
(SNDM)—can be traced to the Soviet astronomer Victor Safronov.[9] His 1969 book Evolution of the
protoplanetary cloud and formation of the Earth and the planets,[10] which was translated to English in
1972, had a long-lasting effect on the way scientists think about the formation of the planets. [11] In this
book almost all major problems of the planetary formation process were formulated and some of
them solved. Safronov's ideas were further developed in the works of George Wetherill, who
discovered runaway accretion.[2] While originally applied only to the Solar System, the SNDM was
subsequently thought by theorists to be at work throughout the Universe; as of 1 April 2019
astronomers have discovered 4,023 extrasolar planets in our galaxy.[12]
Solar nebular model: achievements and problems

Achievements
Dusty discs surrounding nearby young stars in greater detail. [13]
The star formation process naturally results in the appearance of accretion disks around young
stellar objects.[14] At the age of about 1 million years, 100% of stars may have such disks.[15] This
conclusion is supported by the discovery of the gaseous and dusty disks around protostars and T
Tauri stars as well as by theoretical considerations.[16] Observations of these disks show that
the dust grains inside them grow in size on short (thousand-year) time scales, producing
1 centimeter sized particles.[17]
The accretion process, by which 1 km planetesimals grow into 1,000 km sized bodies, is well
understood now.[18] This process develops inside any disk where the number density of planetesimals
is sufficiently high, and proceeds in a runaway manner. Growth later slows and continues as
oligarchic accretion. The end result is formation of planetary embryos of varying sizes, which depend
on the distance from the star.[18] Various simulations have demonstrated that the merger of embryos
in the inner part of the protoplanetary disk leads to the formation of a few Earth-sized bodies. Thus
the origin of terrestrial planets is now considered to be an almost solved problem. [19]
Current issues
The physics of accretion disks encounters some problems. [20] The most important one is how the
material, which is accreted by the protostar, loses its angular momentum. One possible explanation
suggested by Hannes Alfvén was that angular momentum was shed by the solar wind during its T
Tauri star phase. The momentum is transported to the outer parts of the disk by viscous stresses.
[21]
Viscosity is generated by macroscopic turbulence, but the precise mechanism that produces this
turbulence is not well understood. Another possible process for shedding angular momentum
is magnetic braking, where the spin of the star is transferred into the surrounding disk via that star's
magnetic field.[22] The main processes responsible for the disappearance of the gas in disks are
viscous diffusion and photo-evaporation.[23][24]
Multiple star system AS 205.[25]
The formation of planetesimals is the biggest unsolved problem in the nebular disk model. How 1 cm
sized particles coalesce into 1 km planetesimals is a mystery. This mechanism appears to be the
key to the question as to why some stars have planets, while others have nothing around them, not
even dust belts.[26]
The formation timescale of giant planets is also an important problem. Old theories were unable to
explain how their cores could form fast enough to accumulate significant amounts of gas from the
quickly disappearing protoplanetary disk.[18][27] The mean lifetime of the disks, which is less than ten
million (107) years, appeared to be shorter than the time necessary for the core formation. [15] Much
progress has been done to solve this problem and current models of giant planet formation are now
capable of forming Jupiter (or more massive planets) in about 4 million years or less, well within the
average lifetime of gaseous disks.[28][29][30]
Another potential problem of giant planet formation is their orbital migration. Some calculations show
that interaction with the disk can cause rapid inward migration, which, if not stopped, results in the
planet reaching the "central regions still as a sub-Jovian object."[31] More recent calculations indicate
that disk evolution during migration can mitigate this problem. [32]
Formation of stars and protoplanetary disks

Protostars
Protostar
The visible-light (left) and infrared (right) views of the Trifid Nebula—a giant star-forming cloud of gas and dust
located 5,400 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius
Stars are thought to form inside giant clouds of cold molecular hydrogen—giant molecular

clouds roughly 300,000 times the mass of the Sun (M☉) and 20 parsecs in diameter.[1][33] Over millions
of years, giant molecular clouds are prone to collapse and fragmentation.[34] These fragments then
form small, dense cores, which in turn collapse into stars.[33] The cores range in mass from a fraction
to several times that of the Sun and are called protostellar (protosolar) nebulae. [1] They possess
diameters of 0.01–0.1 pc (2,000–20,000 AU) and a particle number density of roughly 10,000 to
100,000 cm−3.[a][33][35]
The initial collapse of a solar-mass protostellar nebula takes around 100,000 years.[1][33] Every nebula
begins with a certain amount of angular momentum. Gas in the central part of the nebula, with
relatively low angular momentum, undergoes fast compression and forms a hot hydrostatic (not
contracting) core containing a small fraction of the mass of the original nebula. [36] This core forms the
seed of what will become a star.[1][36] As the collapse continues, conservation of angular momentum
means that the rotation of the infalling envelope accelerates, [37][38] which largely prevents the gas from
directly accreting onto the central core. The gas is instead forced to spread outwards near its
equatorial plane, forming a disk, which in turn accretes onto the core.[1][37][38]The core gradually grows
in mass until it becomes a young hot protostar.[36] At this stage, the protostar and its disk are heavily
obscured by the infalling envelope and are not directly observable. [14] In fact the remaining
envelope's opacity is so high that even millimeter-wave radiation has trouble escaping from inside it.
[1][14]
Such objects are observed as very bright condensations, which emit mainly millimeter-wave
and submillimeter-wave radiation.[35] They are classified as spectral Class 0 protostars.[14] The
collapse is often accompanied by bipolar outflows—jets—that emanate along the rotational axis of
the inferred disk. The jets are frequently observed in star-forming regions (see Herbig–Haro (HH)
objects).[39] The luminosity of the Class 0 protostars is high — a solar-mass protostar may radiate at
up to 100 solar luminosities.[14] The source of this energy is gravitational collapse, as their cores are
not yet hot enough to begin nuclear fusion.[36][40]
Infrared image of the molecular outflow from an otherwise hidden newborn star HH 46/47
As the infall of its material onto the disk continues, the envelope eventually becomes thin and
transparent and the young stellar object (YSO) becomes observable, initially in far-infrared light and
later in the visible.[35] Around this time the protostar begins to fuse deuterium. If the protostar is
sufficiently massive (above 80 Jupiter masses (MJ)), hydrogen fusion follows. Otherwise, if its mass is
too low, the object becomes a brown dwarf.[40] This birth of a new star occurs approximately
100,000 years after the collapse begins.[1] Objects at this stage are known as Class I protostars,
[14]
which are also called young T Tauri stars, evolved protostars, or young stellar objects.[14] By this
time the forming star has already accreted much of its mass: the total mass of the disk and
remaining envelope does not exceed 10–20% of the mass of the central YSO. [35]
At the next stage the envelope completely disappears, having been gathered up by the disk, and the
protostar becomes a classical T Tauri star.[b] This happens after about 1 million years.[1] The mass of
the disk around a classical T Tauri star is about 1–3% of the stellar mass, and it is accreted at a rate
of 10−7 to 10−9 M☉ per year.[43] A pair of bipolar jets is usually present as well.[44] The accretion explains
all peculiar properties of classical T Tauri stars: strong flux in the emission lines(up to 100% of the
intrinsic luminosity of the star), magnetic activity, photometric variability and jets.[45] The emission
lines actually form as the accreted gas hits the "surface" of the star, which happens around
its magnetic poles.[45] The jets are byproducts of accretion: they carry away excessive angular
momentum. The classical T Tauri stage lasts about 10 million years.[1] The disk eventually
disappears due to accretion onto the central star, planet formation, ejection by jets
and photoevaporation by UV-radiation from the central star and nearby stars.[46] As a result, the
young star becomes a weakly lined T Tauri star, which slowly, over hundreds of millions of years,
evolves into an ordinary Sun-like star.[36]
Protoplanetary disks
Protoplanetary disk and planetesimal
Debris disks detected in HST archival images of young stars, HD 141943 and HD 191089, using improved
imaging processes (24 April 2014).[47]
Under certain circumstances the disk, which can now be called protoplanetary, may give birth to
a planetary system.[1]Protoplanetary disks have been observed around a very high fraction of stars in
young star clusters.[15][48] They exist from the beginning of a star's formation, but at the earliest stages
are unobservable due to the opacity of the surrounding envelope. [14] The disk of a Class 0 protostar is
thought to be massive and hot. It is an accretion disk, which feeds the central protostar. [37][38] The
temperature can easily exceed 400 K inside 5 AU and 1,000 K inside 1 AU.[49] The heating of the disk
is primarily caused by the viscous dissipation of turbulence in it and by the infall of the gas from the
nebula.[37][38]The high temperature in the inner disk causes most of the volatile material—water,
organics, and some rocks to evaporate, leaving only the most refractory elements like iron. The ice
can survive only in the outer part of the disk.[49]
A protoplanetary disk forming in the Orion Nebula
The main problem in the physics of accretion disks is the generation of turbulence and the
mechanism responsible for the high effective viscosity.[1]The turbulent viscosity is thought to be
responsible for the transport of the mass to the central protostar and momentum to the periphery of
the disk. This is vital for accretion, because the gas can be accreted by the central protostar only if it
loses most of its angular momentum, which must be carried away by the small part of the gas drifting
outwards.[37][50] The result of this process is the growth of both the protostar and of the disk radius,
which can reach 1,000 AU if the initial angular momentum of the nebula is large enough. [38] Large
disks are routinely observed in many star-forming regions such as the Orion nebula.[16]
Artist's impression of the disc and gas streams around young star HD 142527.[51]
The lifespan of the accretion disks is about 10 million years.[15] By the time the star reaches the
classical T-Tauri stage, the disk becomes thinner and cools. [43] Less volatile materials start
to condense close to its center, forming 0.1–1 μm dust grains that contain crystalline silicates.[17] The
transport of the material from the outer disk can mix these newly formed dust
grains with primordial ones, which contain organic matter and other volatiles. This mixing can explain
some peculiarities in the composition of Solar System bodies such as the presence
of interstellar grains in the primitive meteorites and refractory inclusions in comets.[49]
Various planet formation processes, including exocometsand other planetesimals, around Beta Pictoris, a very

young type A V star (NASA artist's conception).
Dust particles tend to stick to each other in the dense disk environment, leading to the formation of
larger particles up to several centimeters in size.[52]The signatures of the dust processing
and coagulation are observed in the infrared spectra of the young disks.[17] Further aggregation can
lead to the formation of planetesimals measuring 1 km across or larger, which are the building
blocks of planets.[1][52]Planetesimal formation is another unsolved problem of disk physics, as simple
sticking becomes ineffective as dust particles grow larger. [26]
One hypothesis is formation by the gravitational instability. Particles several centimeters in size or
larger slowly settle near the middle plane of the disk, forming a very thin—less than 100 km—and
dense layer. This layer is gravitationally unstable and may fragment into numerous clumps, which in
turn collapse into planetesimals.[1][26] However, the differing velocities of the gas disk and the solids
near the mid-plane can generate turbulence which prevents the layer from becoming thin enough to
fragment due to gravitational instability.[53] This may limit the formation of planetesimals via
gravitational instabilities to specific locations in the disk where the concentration of solids is
enhanced.[54]
Another possible mechanism for the formation of planetesimals is the streaming instability in which
the drag felt by particles orbiting through gas creates a feedback effect causing the growth of local
concentrations. These local concentration push back on the gas creating a region where the
headwind felt by the particles is smaller. The concentration is thus able to orbit faster and undergoes
less radial drift. Isolated particles join these concentrations as they are overtaken or as they drift
inward causing it to grow in mass. Eventually these concentrations form massive filaments which
fragment and undergo gravitational collapse forming planetesimals the size of the larger asteroids. [55]
Planetary formation can also be triggered by gravitational instability within the disk itself, which leads
to its fragmentation into clumps. Some of them, if they are dense enough, will collapse,[50] which can
lead to rapid formation of gas giant planets and even brown dwarfs on the timescale of 1,000 years.
[56]
If these clumps migrate inward as the collapse proceeds tidal forces from the star can result in a
significant mass loss leaving behind a smaller body.[57] However it is only possible in massive disks—
more massive than 0.3 M☉. In comparison, typical disk masses are 0.01–0.03 M☉. Because the
massive disks are rare, this mechanism of the planet formation is thought to be infrequent. [1][20] On the
other hand, this mechanism may play a major role in the formation of brown dwarfs.[58]
Asteroid collision—building planets (artist concept).
The ultimate dissipation of protoplanetary disks is triggered by a number of different mechanisms.

The inner part of the disk is either accreted by the star or ejected by the bipolar jets,[43][44] whereas the
outer part can evaporateunder the star's powerful UV radiation during the T Tauri stage[59] or by
nearby stars.[46] The gas in the central part can either be accreted or ejected by the growing planets,
while the small dust particles are ejected by the radiation pressure of the central star. What is finally
left is either a planetary system, a remnant disk of dust without planets, or nothing, if planetesimals
failed to form.[1]
Because planetesimals are so numerous, and spread throughout the protoplanetary disk, some
survive the formation of a planetary system. Asteroids are understood to be left-over planetesimals,
gradually grinding each other down into smaller and smaller bits, while comets are typically
planetesimals from the farther reaches of a planetary system. Meteorites are samples of
planetesimals that reach a planetary surface, and provide a great deal of information about the
formation of the Solar System. Primitive-type meteorites are chunks of shattered low-mass
planetesimals, where no thermal differentiation took place, while processed-type meteorites are
chunks from shattered massive planetesimals.[60]
Formation of planets
Rocky planets
According to the solar nebular disk model, rocky planets form in the inner part of the protoplanetary
disk, within the frost line, where the temperature is high enough to prevent condensation of water ice
and other substances into grains.[61] This results in coagulation of purely rocky grains and later in the
formation of rocky planetesimals.[c][61] Such conditions are thought to exist in the inner 3–4 AU part of
the disk of a Sun-like star.[1]
After small planetesimals—about 1 km in diameter—have formed by one way or another, runaway
accretion begins.[18] It is called runaway because the mass growth rate is proportional to R4~M4/3,
where R and M are the radius and mass of the growing body, respectively. [62] The specific (divided by
mass) growth accelerates as the mass increases. This leads to the preferential growth of larger
bodies at the expense of smaller ones.[18] The runaway accretion lasts between 10,000 and
100,000 years and ends when the largest bodies exceed approximately 1,000 km in diameter.
Slowing of the accretion is caused by gravitational perturbations by large bodies on the remaining
[18]
planetesimals.[18][62] In addition, the influence of larger bodies stops further growth of smaller bodies. [18]
The next stage is called oligarchic accretion.[18] It is characterized by the dominance of several
hundred of the largest bodies—oligarchs, which continue to slowly accrete planetesimals. [18] No body
other than the oligarchs can grow.[62] At this stage the rate of accretion is proportional to R2, which is
derived from the geometrical cross-section of an oligarch.[62] The specific accretion rate is
proportional to M−1/3; and it declines with the mass of the body. This allows smaller oligarchs to catch
up to larger ones. The oligarchs are kept at the distance of about 10·Hr (Hr=a(1-e)(M/3Ms)1/3 is the Hill
radius, where a is the semimajor axis, e is the orbital eccentricity, and Ms is the mass of the central
star) from each other by the influence of the remaining planetesimals. [18] Their orbital eccentricities
and inclinations remain small. The oligarchs continue to accrete until planetesimals are exhausted in
the disk around them.[18] Sometimes nearby oligarchs merge. The final mass of an oligarch depends
on the distance from the star and surface density of planetesimals and is called the isolation mass.
[62]
For the rocky planets it is up to 0.1 M⊕, or one Mars mass.[1] The final result of the oligarchic stage
is the formation of about 100 Moon- to Mars-sized planetary embryos uniformly spaced at
about 10·Hr.[19] They are thought to reside inside gaps in the disk and to be separated by rings of
remaining planetesimals. This stage is thought to last a few hundred thousand years. [1][18]
The last stage of rocky planet formation is the merger stage.[1] It begins when only a small number of
planetesimals remains and embryos become massive enough to perturb each other, which causes
their orbits to become chaotic.[19] During this stage embryos expel remaining planetesimals, and
collide with each other. The result of this process, which lasts for 10 to 100 million years, is the
formation of a limited number of Earth-sized bodies. Simulations show that the number of surviving
planets is on average from 2 to 5.[1][19][60][63] In the Solar System they may be represented by Earth
and Venus.[19] Formation of both planets required merging of approximately 10–20 embryos, while an
equal number of them were thrown out of the Solar System. [60] Some of the embryos, which
originated in the asteroid belt, are thought to have brought water to Earth.[61] Mars and Mercury may
be regarded as remaining embryos that survived that rivalry. [60] Rocky planets, which have managed
to coalesce, settle eventually into more or less stable orbits, explaining why planetary systems are
generally packed to the limit; or, in other words, why they always appear to be at the brink of
instability.[19]
Giant planets
The dust disk around Fomalhaut—the brightest star in Piscis Austrinus constellation. Asymmetry of the disk
may be caused by a giant planet (or planets) orbiting the star.
The formation of giant planets is an outstanding problem in the planetary sciences.[20] In the

framework of the solar nebular model two theories for their formation exist. The first one is the disk
instability model, where giant planets form in the massive protoplanetary disks as a result of
its gravitational fragmentation (see above).[56] The second possibility is the core accretion model,
which is also known as the nucleated instability model.[20][32] The latter scenario is thought to be the
most promising one, because it can explain the formation of the giant planets in relatively low-mass
disks (less than 0.1 M☉).[32] In this model giant planet formation is divided into two stages: a) accretion
of a core of approximately 10 M⊕and b) accretion of gas from the protoplanetary disk.[1][20][64] Either
method may also lead to the creation of brown dwarfs.[29][65] Searches as of 2011 have found that core
accretion is likely the dominant formation mechanism. [65]
Giant planet core formation is thought to proceed roughly along the lines of the terrestrial planet
formation.[18] It starts with planetesimals that undergo runaway growth, followed by the slower
oligarchic stage.[62] Hypotheses do not predict a merger stage, due to the low probability of collisions
between planetary embryos in the outer part of planetary systems. [62]An additional difference is the
composition of the planetesimals, which in the case of giant planets form beyond the so-called frost
line and consist mainly of ice—the ice to rock ratio is about 4 to 1.[27] This enhances the mass of
planetesimals fourfold. However, the minimum mass nebula capable of terrestrial planet formation
can only form 1–2 M⊕ cores at the distance of Jupiter (5 AU) within 10 million years.[62] The latter
number represents the average lifetime of gaseous disks around Sun-like stars. [15] The proposed
solutions include enhanced mass of the disk—a tenfold increase would suffice; [62] protoplanet
migration, which allows the embryo to accrete more planetesimals; [27] and finally accretion
enhancement due to gas drag in the gaseous envelopes of the embryos.[27][30][66] Some combination of
the above-mentioned ideas may explain the formation of the cores of gas giant planets such
as Jupiter and perhaps even Saturn.[20] The formation of planets like Uranus and Neptune is more
problematic, since no theory has been capable of providing for the in situ formation of their cores at
the distance of 20–30 AU from the central star.[1] One hypothesis is that they initially accreted in the
Jupiter-Saturn region, then were scattered and migrated to their present location. [67] Another possible
solution is the growth of the cores of the giant planets via pebble accretion. In pebble accretion
objects between a cm and a meter in diameter falling toward a massive body are slowed enough by
gas drag for them to spiral toward it and be accreted. Growth via pebble accretion may be as much
as 1000 times faster than by the accretion of planetesimals. [68]
Once the cores are of sufficient mass (5–10 M⊕), they begin to gather gas from the surrounding disk.
[1]
Initially it is a slow process, increasing the core masses up to 30 M⊕ in a few million years.[27][66] After
that, the accretion rates increase dramatically and the remaining 90% of the mass is accumulated in
approximately 10,000 years.[66] The accretion of gas stops when the supply from the disk is
exhausted.[64] This happens gradually, due to the formation of a density gap in the protoplanetary disk
and to disk dispersal.[32][69] In this model ice giants—Uranus and Neptune—are failed cores that began
gas accretion too late, when almost all gas had already disappeared. The post-runaway-gas-
accretion stage is characterized by migration of the newly formed giant planets and continued slow
gas accretion.[69]Migration is caused by the interaction of the planet sitting in the gap with the
remaining disk. It stops when the protoplanetary disk disappears or when the end of the disk is
attained. The latter case corresponds to the so-called hot Jupiters, which are likely to have stopped
their migration when they reached the inner hole in the protoplanetary disk. [69]
In this artist's conception, a planet spins through a clearing (gap) in a nearby star's dusty, planet-forming disc.
Giant planets can significantly influence terrestrial planet formation. The presence of giants tends to
increase eccentricitiesand inclinations (see Kozai mechanism) of planetesimals and embryos in the
terrestrial planet region (inside 4 AU in the Solar System).[60][63] If giant planets form too early, they
can slow or prevent inner planet accretion. If they form near the end of the oligarchic stage, as is
thought to have happened in the Solar System, they will influence the merges of planetary embryos,
making them more violent.[60] As a result, the number of terrestrial planets will decrease and they will
be more massive.[70] In addition, the size of the system will shrink, because terrestrial planets will
form closer to the central star. The influence of giant planets in the Solar System, particularly that
of Jupiter, is thought to have been limited because they are relatively remote from the terrestrial
planets.[70]
The region of a planetary system adjacent to the giant planets will be influenced in a different way.
[63]
In such a region, eccentricities of embryos may become so large that the embryos pass close to a
giant planet, which may cause them to be ejected from the system. [d][60][63] If all embryos are removed,
then no planets will form in this region. [63] An additional consequence is that a huge number of small
planetesimals will remain, because giant planets are incapable of clearing them all out without the
help of embryos. The total mass of remaining planetesimals will be small, because cumulative action
of the embryos before their ejection and giant planets is still strong enough to remove 99% of the
small bodies.[60] Such a region will eventually evolve into an asteroid belt, which is a full analog of the
asteroid belt in the Solar System, located from 2 to 4 AU from the Sun.[60][63]
Exoplanets
Thousands of exoplanets have been identified in the last twenty years. The orbits of many of these
planets and systems of planets differ significantly from the planets in the Solar System. The
exoplanets discovered include hot-Jupiters, warm-Jupiters, super-Earths, and systems of tightly
packed inner planets.
The hot-Jupiters and warm-Jupiters are thought to have migrated to their current orbits during or
following their formation. A number of possible mechanisms for this migration have been proposed.
Type I or Type II migration could smoothly decrease the semimajor axis of the planet's orbit resulting
in a warm- or hot-Jupiter. Gravitational scattering by other planets onto eccentric orbits with a
perihelion near the star followed by the circularization of its orbit due to tidal interactions with the star
can leave a planet on a close orbit. If a massive companion planet or star on an inclined orbit was
present an exchange of inclination for eccentricity via the Kozai mechanism raising eccentricities and
lowering perihelion followed by circularization can also result in a close orbit. Many of the Jupiter-
sized planets have eccentric orbits which may indicate that gravitational encounters occurred
between the planets, although migration while in resonance can also excite eccentricities. [71] The in
situ growth of hot Jupiters from closely orbiting super Earths has also been proposed. The cores in
this hypothesis could have formed locally or at a greater distance and migrated close to the star. [72]
Super-Earths and other closely orbiting planets are thought to have either formed in situ or to have
migrated inward from their initial locations. The in situ formation of closely orbiting super-Earths
would require a massive disk, the migration of planetary embryos followed by collisions and
mergers, or the radial drift of small solids from farther out in the disk. The migration of the super-
Earths, or the embryos that collided to form them, is likely to have been Type I due to their smaller
mass. The resonant orbits of some of the exoplanet systems indicates that some migration occurred
in these systems, while the spacing of the orbits in many of the other systems not in resonance
indicates that an instability likely occurred in those systems after the dissipation of the gas disk. The
absence of Super-Earths and closely orbiting planets in the Solar System may be due to the
previous formation of Jupiter blocking their inward migration. [73]
The amount of gas a super-Earth that formed in situ acquires may depend on when the planetary
embryos merged due to giant impacts relative to the dissipation of the gas disk. If the mergers
happen after the gas disk dissipates terrestrial planets can form, if in a transition disk a super-Earth
with a gas envelope containing a few percent of its mass may form. If the mergers happen too early
runaway gas accretion may occur leading to the formation of a gas giant. The mergers begin when
the dynamical friction due to the gas disk becomes insufficient to prevent collisions, a process that
will begin earlier in a higher metallicity disk.[74] Alternatively gas accretion may be limited due to the
envelopes not being in hydrostatic equilibrium, instead gas may flow through the envelope slowing
its growth and delaying the onset of runaway gas accretion until the mass of the core reaches 15
Earth masses.[75]
Meaning of accretion
Use of the term "accretion disk" for the protoplanetary disk leads to confusion over the planetary
accretion process. The protoplanetary disk is sometimes referred to as an accretion disk, because
while the young T Tauri-like protostar is still contracting, gaseous material may still be falling onto it,
accreting on its surface from the disk's inner edge. [38] In an accretion disk, there is a net flux of mass
from larger radii toward smaller radii. [21]
However, that meaning should not be confused with the process of accretion forming the planets. In
this context, accretion refers to the process of cooled, solidified grains of dust and ice orbiting
the protostar in the p
GEODYNAMO THEORY.
This theory is used to explain the presence of anomalously long-lived magnetic fields in astrophysical
bodies. The conductive fluid in the geodynamo is liquid iron in the outer core, and in the solar dynamo
is ionized gas at the tachocline. In physics, the dynamo theory proposes a mechanism by which a
celestial body such as Earth or a star generates a magnetic field. The dynamo theory describes the
process through which a rotating, convecting, and electricallyconducting fluid can maintain a magnetic
field over astronomical time scales. A dynamo is thought to be the source of the Earth's magnetic
fieldand the magnetic fields of other planets.
HISTORY OF GEODYNAMO THEORY.

When William Gilbert published de Magnete in 1600, he concluded that the Earth is magnetic and
proposed the first hypothesis for the origin of this magnetism: permanent magnetism such as that
found in lodestone. In 1919, Joseph Larmorproposed that a dynamo might be generating the field.[2]
[3]
However, even after he advanced his hypothesis, some prominent scientists advanced alternative
explanations. Einstein believed that there might be an asymmetry between the charges of
the electron and proton so that the Earth's magnetic field would be produced by the entire Earth.
The Nobel Prize winner Patrick Blackett did a series of experiments looking for a fundamental relation
between angular momentum and magnetic moment, but found none.[4][5]
Walter M. Elsasser, considered a "father" of the presently accepted dynamo theory as an explanation of
the Earth's magnetism, proposed that this magnetic field resulted from electric currents induced in the
fluid outer core of the Earth. He revealed the history of the Earth's magnetic field through pioneering
the study of the magnetic orientation of minerals in rocks.
In order to maintain the magnetic field against ohmic decay (which would occur for the dipole field in
20,000 years), the outer core must be convecting. The convection is likely some combination of thermal
and compositional convection. The mantle controls the rate at which heat is extracted from the core.
Heat sources include gravitational energy released by the compression of the core, gravitational
energy released by the rejection of light elements (probably sulfur, oxygen, or silicon) at the inner core
boundary as it grows, latent heat of crystallization at the inner core boundary, and radioactivity
of potassium, uranium and thorium.[6]
At the dawn of the 21st century, numerical modeling of the Earth's magnetic field has not been
successfully demonstrated, but appears to be in reach. Initial models are focused on field generation
by convection in the planet's fluid outer core. It was possible to show the generation of a strong, Earth-
like field when the model assumed a uniform core-surface temperature and exceptionally high
viscosities for the core fluid. Computations which incorporated more realistic parameter values yielded
magnetic fields that were less Earth-like, but also point the way to model refinements which may
ultimately lead to an accurate analytic model. Slight variations in the core-surface temperature, in the
range of a few millikelvins, result in significant increases in convective flow and produce more realistic
magnetic fields.[7][8]
Formal definition
Dynamo theory describes the process through which a rotating, convecting, and electrically
conducting fluid acts to maintain a magnetic field. This theory is used to explain the presence of
anomalously long-lived magnetic fields in astrophysical bodies. The conductive fluid in the geodynamo
is liquid iron in the outer core, and in the solar dynamo is ionized gas at the tachocline. Dynamo theory of
astrophysical bodies uses magnetohydrodynamic equations to investigate how the fluid can
continuously regenerate the magnetic field.[9]
It was once believed that the dipole, which comprises much of the Earth's magnetic field and is
misaligned along the rotation axis by 11.3 degrees, was caused by permanent magnetization of the
materials in the earth. This means that dynamo theory was originally used to explain the Sun's
magnetic field in its relationship with that of the Earth. However, this hypothesis, which was initially
proposed by Joseph Larmor in 1919, has been modified due to extensive studies of magnetic secular
variation, paleomagnetism (including polarity reversals), seismology, and the solar system's abundance of
elements. Also, the application of the theories of Carl Friedrich Gauss to magnetic observations showed
that Earth's magnetic field had an internal, rather than external, origin.
There are three requisites for a dynamo to operate:
 An electrically conductive fluid medium

 Kinetic energy provided by planetary rotation
 An internal energy source to drive convective motions within the fluid. [10]
In the case of the Earth, the magnetic field is induced and constantly maintained by the convection of
liquid iron in the outer core. A requirement for the induction of field is a rotating fluid. Rotation in the
outer core is supplied by the Coriolis effectcaused by the rotation of the Earth. The Coriolis force tends
to organize fluid motions and electric currents into columns (also see Taylor columns) aligned with the
rotation axis. Induction or creation of magnetic field is described by the induction equation.
The tachocline is the transition region of the Sun between the radiative interior and the differentially

rotating outer convective zone. It is in the outer third of the Sun (by radius). This causes the region to
have a very large shear as the rotation rate changes very rapidly. The convective exterior rotates as a
normal fluid with differential rotation with the poles rotating slowly and the equator rotating quickly.
The radiative interior exhibits solid-body rotation, possibly due to a fossil field. The rotation rate
through the interior is roughly equal to the rotation rate at mid-latitudes, i.e. in-between the rate at
the slow poles and the fast equator. Recent results from helioseismology indicate that the tachocline
is located at a radius of at most 0.70 times the Solar radius (measured from the core, i.e., the surface
is at 1 solar radius), with a thickness of 0.04 times the solar radius. This would mean the area has a
very large shear profile that is one way that large scale magnetic fields can be formed.
The geometry and width of the tachocline are thought to play an important role in models of the solar
dynamo by winding up the weaker poloidal field to create a much stronger toroidal field. Recent radio
observations of cooler stars and brown dwarfs, which do not have a radiative core and only have a
convective zone, demonstrate that they maintain large-scale, solar-strength magnetic fields and
display solar-like activity despite the absence of tachoclines. This suggests that the convective zone
alone may be responsible for the function of the solar dynamo.
Internal rotation in the Sun, showing differential rotation in the outer convective region and almost
uniform rotation in the central radiative region. The transition between these regions is called the
tachocline.
Source;Global Oscillation Network Group - http://gong.nso.edu/
Internal rotation in the Sun, showing differential rotation in the outer convective region and almost
uniform rotation in the central radiative region. The transition between these regions is called the
tachocline. Image courtesy of GONG: http://gong.nso.edu/.
MOON THOUGHT TO PLAY MAJOR ROLE IN MAINTAINING EARTH’S MAGNETIC FIELD
The gravitational effects associated with the presence of the Moon and Sun cause cyclical
deformation of the Earth’s mantle and wobbles in its rotation axis. This mechanical forcing
applied to the whole planet causes strong currents in the outer core, which is made up of a
liquid iron alloy of very low viscosity. Such currents are enough to generate the Earth’s
magnetic field. Illustration credit: © Julien Monteux and Denis Andrault.The Earth’s
magnetic field permanently protects us from the charged particles and radiation that originate in the
Sun. This shield is produced by the geodynamo, the rapid motion of huge quantities of liquid iron alloy
in the Earth’s outer core. To maintain this magnetic field until the present day, the classical model
required the Earth’s core to have cooled by around 3,000 °C over the past 4.3 billion years. Now, a team
of researchers from CNRS and Université Blaise Pascal suggests that, on the contrary, its temperature
has fallen by only 300 °C. The action of the Moon, overlooked until now, is thought to have
compensated for this difference and kept the geodynamo active. Their work was published on 30 March
2016 in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.
The classical model of the formation of Earth’s magnetic field raised a major paradox. For the
geodynamo to work, the Earth would have had to be totally molten four billion years ago, and its core
would have had to slowly cool from around 6,800 °C at that time to 3,800 °C today. However, recent
modelling of the early evolution of the internal temperature of the planet, together with geochemical
studies of the composition of the oldest carbonatites and basalts, do not support such cooling. With
such high temperatures being ruled out, the researchers propose another source of energy in their
study.
The Earth has a slightly flattened shape and rotates about an inclined axis that wobbles around the
poles. Its mantle deforms elastically due to tidal effects caused by the Moon. The researchers show
that this effect could continuously stimulate the motion of the liquid iron alloy making up the outer
core, and in return generate Earth’s magnetic field. The Earth continuously receives 3,700 billion watts
of power through the transfer of the gravitational and rotational energy of the Earth-Moon-Sun system,
and over 1,000 billion watts is thought to be available to bring about this type of motion in the outer
core. This energy is enough to generate the Earth’s magnetic field, which together with the Moon,
resolves the major paradox in the classical theory. The effect of gravitational forces on a planet’s
magnetic field has already been well documented for two of Jupiter’s moons, Io and Europa, and for a
number of exoplanets.
Since neither the Earth’s rotation around its axis, nor the direction of its axis, nor the Moon’s orbit are
perfectly regular, their combined effect on motion in the core is unstable and can cause fluctuations in
the geodynamo. This process could account for certain heat pulses in the outer core and at its
boundary with the Earth’s mantle.
Over the course of time, this may have led to peaks in deep mantle melting and possibly to major
volcanic events at the Earth’s surface. This new model shows that the Moon’s effect on the Earth goes
well beyond merely causing tides.
In the case of the Earth, the magnetic field is induced and constantly maintained by the convection of
liquid iron in the outer core. A requirement for the induction of field is a rotating fluid. Rotation in the
outer core is supplied by the Coriolis effectcaused by the rotation of the Earth. The Coriolis force tends
to organize fluid motions and electric currents into columns (also see Taylor columns) aligned with the
rotation axis. Induction or creation of magnetic field is described by the induction equation:
where u is velocity, B is magnetic field, t is time, and is the magnetic diffusivity with
electrical conductivity and permeability. The ratio of the second term on the right hand side to the
first term gives the Magnetic Reynolds number, a dimensionless ratio of advection of magnetic field to
diffusion.
Tidal heating supporting a dynamo

Tidal forces between celestial orbiting bodies cause friction that heats up their interiors. This is known
as tidal heating, and it helps keep the interior in a liquid state. A liquid interior that can conduct
electricity is required to produce a dynamo. Saturn's Enceladus and Jupiter's Io have enough tidal
heating to liquify their inner cores, but they may not create a dynamo because they cannot conduct
electricity.[11][12] Mercury, despite its small size, has a magnetic field, because it has a conductive liquid
core created by its iron composition and friction resulting from its highly elliptical orbit. [13] It is
theorized that the Moon once had a magnetic field, based on evidence from magnetized lunar rocks,
due to its short-lived closer distance to Earth creating tidal heating. [14] An orbit and rotation of a planet
helps provide a liquid core, and supplements kinetic energy that supports a dynamo action.
Kinematic dynamo theory

In kinematic dynamo theory the velocity field is prescribed, instead of being a dynamic variable. This
method cannot provide the time variable behavior of a fully nonlinear chaotic dynamo but is useful in
studying how magnetic field strength varies with the flow structure and speed.
Using Maxwell's equations simultaneously with the curl of Ohm's law, one can derive what is basically
the linear eigenvalue equation for magnetic fields (B) which can be done when assuming that the
magnetic field is independent from the velocity field. One arrives at a critical magnetic Reynolds
number above which the flow strength is sufficient to amplify the imposed magnetic field, and below
which it decays.
The most functional feature of kinematic dynamo theory is that it can be used to test whether a velocity
field is or is not capable of dynamo action. By applying a certain velocity field to a small magnetic field,
it can be determined through observation whether the magnetic field tends to grow or not in reaction to
the applied flow. If the magnetic field does grow, then the system is either capable of dynamo action or
is a dynamo, but if the magnetic field does not grow, then it is simply referred to as non-dynamo.
The membrane paradigm is a way of looking at black holes that allows for the material near their surfaces
to be expressed in the language of dynamo theory.
As a spontaneous breakdown of topological supersymmetry

Kinematic dynamo can be also viewed as the phenomenon of the spontaneous breakdown of the
topological supersymmetry of the associated stochastic differential equation related to the flow of the
[15]
background matter. Within supersymmetric theory of stochastics, this supersymmetry is an intrinsic
property of all stochastic differential equations, its meaning is the preservation of the continuity of the
phase space of the model by continuous time flows, and its spontaneous breakdown is the stochastic
[16]
generalization of the concept of deterministic chaos. In other words, kinematic dynamo is a
manifestation of the chaoticity of the underlying flow of the background matter.
Nonlinear dynamo theory

The kinematic approximation becomes invalid when the magnetic field becomes strong enough to
affect the fluid motions. In that case the velocity field becomes affected by the Lorentz force, and so the
induction equation is no longer linear in the magnetic field. In most cases this leads to a quenching of
the amplitude of the dynamo. Such dynamos are sometimes also referred to as hydromagnetic
[17]
dynamos. Virtually all dynamos in astrophysics and geophysics are hydromagnetic dynamos.
The main idea of the theory is that any small magnetic field existing in the outer core, creates currents
in the moving fluid there due to Lorenz force. These currents create further magnetic field due
to Ampere's law. With the fluid motion, the currents are carried in a way that the magnetic field gets
[18]
stronger (as long as is negative ). Thus a "seed" magnetic field can get stronger and
stronger until it reaches some value that is related to existing non-magnetic forces.
Numerical models are used to simulate fully nonlinear dynamos. The following equations are used:
 The induction equation, presented above.

 Maxwell's equations for negligible electric field:
The continuity equation for conservation of mass, for which the Boussinesq

approximation is often used:
 The Navier-Stokes equation for conservation of momentum, again in the same

approximation, with the magnetic force and gravitation force as the external forces:
where is the kinematic viscosity, is the mean density and is the relative density
perturbation that provides buoyancy (for thermal convection where
is coefficient of thermal expansion), is the rotation rate of the Earth, and is the electric
current density.
 A transport equation, usually of heat (sometimes of light element

concentration):
where T is temperature, is the thermal diffusivity with k thermal conductivity,

heat capacity, and
density, and is an optional heat source. Often the pressure is the dynamic pressure, with
the hydrostatic pressure and centripetal potential removed.
These equations are then non-dimensionalized, introducing the non-dimensional parameters,
where Ra is the Rayleigh number, E the Ekman number, Pr and Pm the Prandtl and magnetic Prandtl
number. Magnetic field scaling is often in Elsasser number units .
Energy conversion between magnetic and kinematic energy[edit]
The scalar product of the above form of Navier-Stokes equation with gives the rate of increase of
kinetic energy density, , on the left-hand side. The last term on the right-hand side is
then , the local contribution to the kinetic energy due to Lorentz force.
The scalar product of the induction equation with gives the rate of increase of the magnetic
energy density, , on the left-hand side. The last term on the right-hand side is then
Since the equation is volume-integrated, this term is equivalent up to a

boundary term (and with the double use of the scalar triple product identity) to
(where one of Maxwell's equations was used).

This is the local contribution to the magnetic energy due to fluid motion.
Thus the term is the rate of transformation of kinetic energy to magnetic energy. This
has to be non-negative at least in part of the volume, for the dynamo to produce magnetic field. [18]
Order of magnitude of the magnetic field created by Earth's

dynamo
The above formula for the rate of conversion of kinetic energy to magnetic energy, is equivalent to a
rate of work done by a force of on the outer core matter, whose velocity is This work is the
result of non-magnetic forces acting on the fluid.
Of those, the gravitational force and the centrifugal force are conservative and therefore have no overall
contribution to fluid moving in closed loops. Ekman number (defined above), which is the ratio
between the two remaining forces, namely the viscosity and Coriolis force, is very low inside Earth's
outer core, because its viscosity is low (1.2-1.5 x10−2 pascal-second [19]) due to its liquidity.
Thus the main time-averaged contribution to the work is from Coriolis
force, whose size is though this quantity and are related only indirectly and are
not in general equal locally (thus they affect each other but not in the same place and time).
The current density J is itself the result of the magnetic field according to Ohm's law. Again, due to
matter motion and current flow, this is not necessarily the field at the same place and time. However
these relations can still be used to deduce orders of magnitude of the quantities in question.
In terms of order of magnitude, and giving or:

The exact ratio between both sides is the square root of Elsasser number.
Note that the magnetic field direction cannot be inferred from this approximation (at least not its sign)
as it appears squared, and is, indeed, sometimes reversed, though in general it lies on a similar axis to
that of
[19]
For earth outer core, ρ is approximately 104 kg/m3, Ω=2π/day = 7.3x10−5 seconds and σ is
[20]
approximately 107Ω−1m−1. This gives 2.7x10−4 Tesla.
The magnetic field of a magnetic dipole has an inverse cubic dependence in distance, so its order of
magnitude at the earth surface can be approximated by multiplying the above result with (Router
core/REarth) = (2890/6370) = 0.093, giving 2.5x10 Tesla, not far from to the measured value of 3x10 Tesla
3 3 −5 −5
at the equator.
Numerical models
The equations for the geodynamo are enormously difficult to solve, and the realism of the solutions is
limited mainly by computer power. For decades, theorists were confined to kinematic dynamo models
described above, in which the fluid motion is chosen in advance and the effect on the magnetic field
calculated. Kinematic dynamo theory was mainly a matter of trying different flow geometries and
seeing whether they could sustain a dynamo.
The first self-consistent dynamo models, ones that determine both the fluid motions and the magnetic
field, were developed by two groups in 1995, one in Japan [21] and one in the United States.[22][23] The
latter received significant attention because it successfully reproduced some of the characteristics of
the Earth's field, including geomagnetic reversals. [18]
GIANT -IMPACT HYPOTHESIS.
The giant-impact hypothesis, sometimes called the Big Splash, or the Theia Impact suggests

that the Moon formed out of the debris left over from a collision between Earth and an
astronomical body the size of Mars, approximately 4.5 billion years ago, in the Hadean eon;
about 20 to 100 million years after the solar system coalesced. The colliding body is
[1]
sometimes called Theia, from the name of the mythical Greek Titan who was the mother
of Selene, the goddess of the Moon. Analysis of lunar rocks, published in a 2016 report,
[2]
suggests that the impact may have been a direct hit, causing a thorough mixing of both
parent bodies. [3]
The giant impact hypothesis is currently the favored scientific hypothesis for the formation of
the Moon. Supporting evidence includes:
[4]
Earth's spin and the Moon's orbit have similar orientations. [5]
Moon samples indicate that the Moon's surface was once molten.
The Moon has a relatively small iron core.
The Moon has a lower density than Earth.

There is evidence in other star systems of similar collisions, resulting in debris disks.
Giant collisions are consistent with the leading theories of the formation of the Solar System.
The stable-isotope ratios of lunar and terrestrial rock are identical, implying a common origin.
[6]
However, there remain several questions concerning the best current models of the giant-
impact hypothesis. The energy of such a giant impact is predicted to have heated Earth to
[7]
produce a global magma ocean, and evidence of the resultant planetary differentiation of the

heavier material sinking into Earth's mantle has been documented. However, as of 2015there
[8]
is no self-consistent model that starts with the giant-impact event and follows the evolution
of the debris into a single moon. Other remaining questions include when the Moon lost its
share of volatile elements and why Venus—which experienced giant impacts during its
formation—does not host a similar moon.
"Big splash"
Artist's depiction of a collision between two planetary bodies. Such an impact between Earth and a Mars-sized object likely
formed the Moon.
Source;NASA/JPL-Caltech - http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1454.html
This artist's concept shows a celestial body about the size of our moon slamming at great speed into a body
the size of Mercury. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope found evidence that a high-speed collision of this sort
occurred a few thousand years ago around a young star, called HD 172555, still in the early stages of planet
formation. The star is about 100 light-years from Earth.
Giant- impact hypothesis,
In 1898, George Darwin made the suggestion that the Earth and Moon were once a single
body. Darwin's hypothesis was that a molten Moon had been spun from the Earth because
of centrifugal forces, and this became the dominant academic explanation. Using Newtonian
[9]
mechanics, he calculated that the Moon had orbited much more closely in the past and was
drifting away from the Earth. This drifting was later confirmed
by American and Soviet experiments, using laser ranging targets placed on the Moon.
Nonetheless, Darwin's calculations could not resolve the mechanics required to trace the
Moon backward to the surface of the Earth. In 1946, Reginald Aldworth Daly of Harvard
University challenged Darwin's explanation, adjusting it to postulate that the creation of the
Moon was caused by an impact rather than centrifugal forces. Little attention was paid to
[10]
Professor Daly's challenge until a conference on satellites in 1974, during which the idea was
reintroduced and later published and discussed in Icarus in 1975 by Drs. William K.
Hartmann and Donald R. Davis. Their models suggested that, at the end of the planet formation
period, several satellite-sized bodies had formed that could collide with the planets or be
captured. They proposed that one of these objects may have collided with the Earth, ejecting
refractory, volatile-poor dust that could coalesce to form the Moon. This collision could
potentially explain the unique geological and geochemical properties of the Moon. [11]
A similar approach was taken by Canadian astronomer Alastair G. W. Cameron and American

astronomer William R. Ward, who suggested that the Moon was formed by the tangential
impact upon Earth of a body the size of Mars. It is hypothesized that most of the outer
silicates of the colliding body would be vaporized, whereas a metallic core would not. Hence,
most of the collisional material sent into orbit would consist of silicates, leaving the
coalescing Moon deficient in iron. The more volatile materials that were emitted during the
collision probably would escape the Solar System, whereas silicates would tend to coalesce.
[12]
Theia
Theia (planet)
The name of the hypothesized protoplanet is derived from the mythical Greek titan Theia /ˈθiːə/,

who gave birth to the Moon goddess Selene. This designation was proposed initially by the
English geochemist Alex N. Halliday in 2000 and has become accepted in the scientific
community. According to modern theories of planet formation, Theia was part of a
[2][13]
population of Mars-sized bodies that existed in the Solar System 4.5 billion years ago. One of
the attractive features of the giant-impact hypothesis is that the formation of the Moon and
Earth align; during the course of its formation, the Earth is thought to have experienced
dozens of collisions with planet-sized bodies. The Moon-forming collision would have been
only one such "giant impact" but certainly the last significant impactor event. The Late Heavy
Bombardment by much smaller asteroids occurred later - approximately 3.9 billion years ago.
Basic model
;Simplistic representation of the giant-impact hypothesis.
Source;Citronade - Own work
Astronomers think the collision between Earth and Theia happened at about 4.4 to 4.45 bya;
about 0.1 billion years after the Solar System began to form. In astronomical terms, the
[14][15]
impact would have been of moderate velocity. Theia is thought to have struck the Earth at
an oblique angle when the Earth was nearly fully formed. Computer simulations of this "late-
impact" scenario suggest an impact angle of about 45° and an initial impactor velocity below
4 km/s. However, oxygen isotope abundance in lunar rock suggests "vigorous mixing" of
[16]
Theia and Earth, indicating a steep impact angle. Theia's iron core would have sunk into the
[3][17]
young Earth's core, and most of Theia's mantle accreted onto the Earth's mantle. However, a
significant portion of the mantle material from both Theia and the Earth would have
been ejected into orbit around the Earth (if ejected with velocities between orbital
velocity and escape velocity) or into individual orbits around the sun (if ejected at higher
velocities). The material in orbits around the Earth quickly coalesced into the Moon (possibly
within less than a month, but in no more than a century). The material in orbits around the
sun stayed on its Kepler orbits, which are stable in space, and was thus likely to hit the earth-
moon system sometime later (because the Earth-Moon system's Kepler orbit around the sun
also remains stable). Estimates based on computer simulations of such an event suggest that
some twenty percent of the original mass of Theia would have ended up as an orbiting ring of
debris around the Earth, and about half of this matter coalesced into the Moon. The Earth
would have gained significant amounts of angular momentum and mass from such a collision.
Regardless of the speed and tilt of the Earth's rotation before the impact, it would have
experienced a day some five hours long after the impact, and the Earth's equator and the
Moon's orbit would have become coplanar. [18]
Not all of the ring material need have been swept up right away: the thickened crust of the
Moon's far side suggests the possibility that a second moon about 1,000 km in diameter
formed in a Lagrange point of the Moon. The smaller moon may have remained in orbit for
tens of millions of years. As the two moons migrated outward from the Earth, solar tidal
effects would have made the Lagrange orbit unstable, resulting in a slow-velocity collision
that "pancaked" the smaller moon onto what is now the far side of the Moon, adding material
to its crust. Lunar magma cannot pierce through the thick crust of the far side, causing
[19][20]
lesser lunar maria, while the near side has a thin crust displaying the large maria visible from
Earth. [21]
Composition
In 2001, a team at the Carnegie Institution of Washington reported that the rocks from the Apollo
program carried an isotopic signature that was identical with rocks from Earth, and were
different from almost all other bodies in the Solar System. [6]
In 2014, a team in Germany reported that the Apollo samples had a slightly different isotopic
signature from Earth rocks. The difference was slight, but statistically significant. One
[22]
possible explanation is that Theia formed near the Earth. [23]
Energetic aftermath theory

In 2007, researchers from the California Institute of Technology showed that the likelihood of
Theia having an identical isotopic signature as the Earth was very small (less than 1 percent).
They proposed that in the aftermath of the giant impact, while the Earth and the proto-lunar
[24]
disk were molten and vaporized, the two reservoirs were connected by a common silicate
vapor atmosphere and that the Earth– Moon system became homogenized by convective
stirring while the system existed in the form of a continuous fluid. Such an "equilibration"
between the post-impact Earth and the proto-lunar disk is the only proposed scenario that
explains the isotopic similarities of the Apollo rocks with rocks from the Earth's interior. For
this scenario to be viable, however, the proto-lunar disk would have to endure for about 100
years. Work is ongoing to determine whether or not this is possible.
Synestia model
Further modelling of the transient structure has given rise to the concept of a synestia, a
doughnut-shaped body that existed for a century before it cooled down and gave birth to the
Earth and the moon. [25][26]
Evidence
Indirect evidence for the giant impact scenario comes from rocks collected during the Apollo
Moon landings, which show oxygen isotope ratios nearly identical to those of Earth. The
highly anorthositic composition of the lunar crust, as well as the existence of KREEP-rich
samples, suggest that a large portion of the Moon once was molten; and a giant impact
scenario could easily have supplied the energy needed to form such a magma ocean. Several
lines of evidence show that if the Moon has an iron-rich core, it must be a small one. In
particular, the mean density, moment of inertia, rotational signature, and magnetic induction
response of the Moon all suggest that the radius of its core is less than about 25% the radius
of the Moon, in contrast to about 50% for most of the other terrestrial bodies. Appropriate
impact conditions satisfying the angular momentum constraints of the Earth– Moon system
yield a Moon formed mostly from the mantles of the Earth and the impactor, while the core of
the impactor accretes to the Earth. It is noteworthy that the Earth has the highest density of
[4]
all the planets in the Solar system; the absorption of the core of the impactor body explains
this observation, given the proposed properties of the early Earth and Theia.
Comparison of the zinc isotopic composition of Lunar samples with that of Earth

and Mars rocks provides further evidence for the impact hypothesis. Zinc is
[27]
strongly fractionated when volatilized in planetary rocks, but not during

[28][29]
normal igneous processes, so zinc abundance and isotopic composition can distinguish the
[30]
two geological processes. Moon rocks contain more heavy isotopes of zinc, and overall less
zinc, than corresponding igneous Earth or Mars rocks, which is consistent with zinc being
depleted from the Moon through evaporation, as expected for the giant impact origin. [27]
Collisions between ejecta escaping Earth's gravity and asteroids would have left impact
heating signatures in stony meteorites; analysis based on assuming the existence of this
effect has been used to date the impact event to 4.47 billion years ago, in agreement with the
date obtained by other means. [31]
Warm silica-rich dust and abundant SiO gas, products of high velocity (> 10 km/s) impacts
between rocky bodies, have been detected by the Spitzer Space Telescope around the nearby
(29 pc distant) young (~12 My old) star HD172555 in the Beta Pictoris moving group. A belt of
[32]
warm dust in a zone between 0.25AU and 2AU from the young star HD 23514 in
the Pleiades cluster appears similar to the predicted results of Theia's collision with the
embryonic Earth, and has been interpreted as the result of planet-sized objects colliding with
each other. A similar belt of warm dust was detected around the star BD +20°307 (HIP 8920,
[33]
SAO 75016). [34]
Difficulties
This lunar origin hypothesis has some difficulties that have yet to be resolved. For example,
the giant-impact hypothesis implies that a surface magma ocean would have formed
following the impact. Yet there is no evidence that the Earth ever had such a magma ocean
and it is likely there exists material that has never been processed in a magma ocean. [35]
Composition
A number of compositional inconsistencies need to be addressed.
The ratios of the Moon's volatile elements are not explained by the giant impact hypothesis. If
the giant-impact hypothesis is correct, they must be due to some other cause. [35]
The presence of volatiles such as water trapped in lunar basalts is more difficult to explain if
the Moon was caused by a high-temperature impact. [36]
The iron oxide (FeO) content (13%) of the Moon, intermediate between that of Mars (18%) and
the terrestrial mantle (8%), rules out most of the source of the proto-lunar material from the
Earth's mantle. [37]
If the bulk of the proto-lunar material had come from an impactor, the Moon should be
enriched in siderophilic elements, when, in fact, it is deficient in those.
[38]
The Moon's oxygen isotopic ratios are essentially identical to those of Earth. Oxygen
[6]
isotopic ratios, which may be measured very precisely, yield a unique and distinct signature
for each solar system body. If a separate proto-planet Theia had existed, it probably would
[39]
have had a different oxygen isotopic signature than Earth, as would the ejected mixed
material.[40]
The Moon's titanium isotope ratio ( Ti/ Ti) appears so close to the Earth's (within 4 ppm), that
50 47
little if any of the colliding body's mass could likely have been part of the Moon. [41][42]
Lack of a Venusian moon

If the Moon was formed by such an impact, it is possible that other inner planets also may
have been subjected to comparable impacts. A moon that formed around Venus by this
process would have been unlikely to escape. If such a moon-forming event had occurred
there, a possible explanation of why the planet does not have such a moon might be that a
second collision occurred that countered the angular momentum from the first impact.
Another possibility is that the strong tidal forces from the Sun would tend to destabilize the
[43]
orbits of moons around close-in planets. For this reason, if Venus's slow rotation rate began
early in its history, any satellites larger than a few kilometers in diameter would likely have
spiraled inwards and collided with Venus. [44]
Simulations of the chaotic period of terrestrial planet formation suggest that impacts like
those hypothesized to have formed the Moon were common. For typical terrestrial planets
with a mass of 0.5 to 1 Earth masses, such an impact typically results in a single moon
containing 4% of the host planet's mass. The inclination of the resulting moon's orbit is
random, but this tilt affects the subsequent dynamic evolution of the system. For example,
some orbits may cause the moon to spiral back into the planet. Likewise, the proximity of the
planet to the star will also affect the orbital evolution. The net effect is that it is more likely for
impact-generated moons to survive when they orbit more distant terrestrial planets and are
aligned with the planetary orbit. [45]
Possible origin of Theia
One suggested pathway for the Big Splash as viewed from the direction of the south pole
In 2004, Princeton University mathematician Edward Belbruno and astrophysicist J. Richard Gott
III proposed that Theia coalesced at the L or L Lagrangian pointrelative to Earth (in about the
4 5
same orbit and about 60° ahead or behind), similar to a trojan asteroid. Two-dimensional
[46][47] [5]
computer models suggest that the stability of Theia's proposed trojan orbit would have been
affected when its growing mass exceeded a threshold of approximately 10% of the Earth's
mass (the mass of Mars). In this scenario, gravitational perturbations
[46]
by planetesimals caused Theia to depart from its stable Lagrangian location, and subsequent
interactions with proto-Earth led to a collision between the two bodies. [46]
In 2008, evidence was presented that suggests that the collision may have occurred later
than the accepted value of 4.53 Gya, at approximately 4.48 Gya. A 2014 comparison of
[48]
computer simulations with elemental abundance measurements in the Earth's mantle

indicated that the collision occurred approximately 95 My after the formation of the Solar
System. [49]
It has been suggested that other significant objects may have been created by the impact,
which could have remained in orbit between the Earth and Moon, stuck in Lagrangian points.
Such objects may have stayed within the Earth–Moon system for as long as 100 million
years, until the gravitational tugs of other planets destabilized the system enough to free the
objects. A study published in 2011 suggested that a subsequent collision between the Moon
[50]
and one of these smaller bodies caused the notable differences in physical characteristics
between the two hemispheres of the Moon. This collision, simulations have supported,
[51]
would have been at a low enough velocity so as not to form a crater; instead, the material
from the smaller body would have spread out across the Moon (in what would become its far
side), adding a thick layer of highlands crust. The resulting mass irregularities would
[52]
subsequently produce a gravity gradient that resulted in tidal locking of the Moon so that
today, only the near side remains visible from Earth. However, mapping by the GRAIL mission
has apparently ruled out this scenario.
Lagrangian point
In celestial mechanics, the Lagrangian points (/ləˈɡrɑːndʒiən/ also Lagrange points, L-points,
[1]
or libration points) are the points near two large bodies in orbit where a smaller object will
maintain its position relative to the large orbiting bodies. At other locations, a small object
would go into its own orbit around one of the large bodies, but at the Lagrangian points
the gravitational forces of the two large bodies, the centripetal force of orbital motion, and (for
certain points) the Coriolis acceleration all match up in a way that cause the small object to
maintain a stable or nearly stable position relative to the large bodies.
There are five such points, labeled L to L , all in the orbital plane of the two large bodies, for
1 5
each given combination of two orbital bodies. For instance, there are five Lagrangian points
L to L for the Sun-Earth system, and in a similar way there are five different Langrangian
1 5
points for the Earth-Moon system. L , L , and L are on the line through the centers of the two
1 2 3
large bodies. L and L each form an equilateral triangle with the centers of the large bodies.
4 5
L and L are stable, which implies that objects can orbit around them in a rotating coordinate
4 5
system tied to the two large bodies.

Several planets have trojan satellites near their L and L points with respect to the
4 5
Sun. Jupiter has more than a million of these trojans. Artificial satellites have been placed at

L and L with respect to the Sunand Earth, and with respect to the Earth and the Moon. The
1 2
[2]
Lagrangian points have been proposed for uses in space exploration.
"Lagrange Point" redirects here. For the video game, see Lagrange Point (video game).
Smaller objects (green) at the Lagrange points each remain in the same relative position. At any other point, gravitational forces
would pull a small object into an orbit around either one of the two bodies, in a non-stable position relative to the other body.
Lagrange points in the Sun–Earth system (not to scale) – a small object at any one of the five points will hold its relative position.
An example of a spacecraft at Sun–Earth L2
WMAP · Earth
History of langragian point,

The three collinear Lagrange points (L , L , L ) were discovered by Leonhard Euler a few years
1 2 3
before Joseph-Louis Lagrange discovered the remaining two. [3][4]
In 1772, Lagrange published an "Essay on the three-body problem". In the first chapter he

considered the general three-body problem. From that, in the second chapter, he
demonstrated two special constant-pattern solutions, the collinear and the equilateral, for any
three masses, with circular orbits. [5]
Lagrange points
The five Lagrangian points are labeled and defined as follows:
L point
1
The L point lies on the line defined by the two large masses M and M , and between them. It
1 1 2
is the most intuitively understood of the Lagrangian points: the one where the gravitational
attraction of M partially cancels M 's gravitational attraction.
2 1
Explanation
An object that orbits the Sun more closely than Earth would normally have a shorter orbital

period than Earth, but that ignores the effect of Earth's own gravitational pull. If the object is
directly between Earth and the Sun, then Earth's gravitycounteracts some of the Sun's pull on
the object, and therefore increases the orbital period of the object. The closer to Earth the
object is, the greater this effect is. At the L point, the orbital period of the object becomes
1
exactly equal to Earth's orbital period. L is about 1.5 million kilometers from Earth, or 0.01 au,
1
1/100th the distance to the Sun. [6]

L point
2
The L point lies on the line through the two large masses, beyond the smaller of the two.
2
Here, the gravitational forces of the two large masses balance the centrifugal effect on a body
at L .
2
Explanation
On the opposite side of Earth from the Sun, the orbital period of an object would normally be
greater than that of Earth. The extra pull of Earth's gravity decreases the orbital period of the
object, and at the L point that orbital period becomes equal to Earth's. Like L , L is about
2 1 2
1.5 million kilometers or 0.01 au from Earth.
L point
3
The L point lies on the line defined by the two large masses, beyond the larger of the two.
3
Explanation
L in the Sun–Earth system exists on the opposite side of the Sun, a little outside Earth's orbit
3
and slightly further to the Sun than Earth is. (This apparent contradiction is because the Sun
is also affected by Earth's gravity, and so orbits around the two bodies' barycenter, which is,
however, well inside the body of the Sun.) At the L point, the combined pull of Earth and Sun
3
again causes the object to orbit with the same period as Earth.
Gravitational accelerations at L4
L and L points
4 5
The L and L points lie at the third corners of the two equilateral triangles in the plane of orbit
4 5
whose common base is the line between the centers of the two masses, such that the point
lies behind (L ) or ahead (L ) of the smaller mass with regard to its orbit around the larger
5 4
mass.
The triangular points (L and L ) are stable equilibria, provided that the ratio of M /M is greater
4 5 1 2
than 24.96. This is the case for the Sun–Earth system, the Sun–Jupiter system, and, by
[note 1][7]
a smaller margin, the Earth–Moon system. When a body at these points is perturbed, it moves
away from the point, but the factor opposite of that which is increased or decreased by the
perturbation (either gravity or angular momentum-induced speed) will also increase or
decrease, bending the object's path into a stable, kidney bean-shaped orbit around the point
(as seen in the corotating frame of reference).
In contrast to L and L , where stable equilibrium exists, the points L , L , and L are positions

4 5 1 2 3
of unstable equilibrium. Any object orbiting at L , L , or L will tend to fall out of orbit; it is
1 2 3
therefore rare to find natural objects there, and spacecraft inhabiting these areas must
employ station keeping in order to maintain their position.
Natural objects at Lagrangian points

List of objects at Lagrangian points
It is common to find objects at or orbiting the L and L points of natural orbital systems.
4 5
These are commonly called "trojans". In the 20th century, asteroids discovered orbiting at the
Sun–Jupiter L and L points were named after characters from Homer's Iliad. Asteroids at the
4 5
L point, which leads Jupiter, are referred to as the "Greek camp", whereas those at the
4
L point are referred to as the "Trojan camp".

5
Other examples of natural objects orbiting at Lagrange points:
The Sun–Earth L and L points contain interplanetary dust and at least one asteroid, 2010
4 5
TK7, detected in October 2010 by Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and announced
during July 2011. [8][9]
The Earth–Moon L and L points contain interplanetary dust in what are called Kordylewski

4 5
clouds. Although the Hitenspacecraft's Munich Dust Counter (MDC) detected no increase in

dust during its passes through these points in 1992, their presence was confirmed in 2018 by
a team of Hungarian astronomers and physicists . Stability at these specific points is
[10] [11]
greatly complicated by solar gravitational influence. [12]
Recent observations suggest that the Sun–Neptune L and L points, known as the Neptune
4 5
trojans, may be very thickly populated, containing large bodies an order of magnitude more
[13]
numerous than the Jupiter trojans.
Several asteroids also orbit near the Sun-Jupiter L point, called the Hilda family.
3
The Saturnian moon Tethys has two smaller moons in its L and L points, Telesto and Calypso. 4 5
The Saturnian moon Dione also has two Lagrangian co-orbitals, Helene at its L point 4
and Polydeuces at L . The moons wander azimuthallyabout the Lagrangian points, with

5
Polydeuces describing the largest deviations, moving up to 32° away from the Saturn–Dione
L point. Tethys and Dione are hundreds of times more massive than their "escorts" (see the
5
moons' articles for exact diameter figures; masses are not known in several cases), and
Saturn is far more massive still, which makes the overall system stable.
One version of the giant impact hypothesis suggests that an object named Theia formed at the

Sun–Earth L or L points and crashed into Earth after its orbit destabilized, forming the Moon.
4 5
Mars has four known co-orbital asteroids (5261 Eureka, 1999 UJ7, 1998 VF31 and 2007 NS2), all
at its Lagrangian points.
Earth's companion object 3753 Cruithne is in a relationship with Earth that is somewhat

trojan-like, but that is different from a true trojan. Cruithne occupies one of two regular solar
orbits, one of them slightly smaller and faster than Earth's, and the other slightly larger and
slower. It periodically alternates between these two orbits due to close encounters with
Earth. When it is in the smaller, faster orbit and approaches Earth, it gains orbital energy
from Earth and moves up into the larger, slower orbit. It then falls farther and farther behind
Earth, and eventually Earth approaches it from the other direction. Then Cruithne gives up
orbital energy to Earth, and drops back into the smaller orbit, thus beginning the cycle anew.
The cycle has no noticeable impact on the length of the year, because Earth's mass is over
20 billion (2×10 ) times more than that of 3753 Cruithne.
10
Epimetheus and Janus, satellites of Saturn, have a similar relationship, though they are of

similar masses and so actually exchange orbits with each other periodically. (Janus is
roughly 4 times more massive but still light enough for its orbit to be altered.) Another similar
configuration is known as orbital resonance, in which orbiting bodies tend to have periods of a
simple integer ratio, due to their interaction.
In a binary star system, the Roche lobe has its apex located at L ; if a star overflows its Roche
1
lobe, then it will lose matter to its companion star.
A contour plot of the effective potential due to gravity and the centrifugal force of a two-body system in a rotating
frame of reference. The arrows indicate the gradients of the potential around the five Lagrange points—downhill toward them (red)
or away from them (blue). Counterintuitively, the L 4 and L5 points are the high points of the potential. At the points themselves
these forces are balanced.
Visualisation of the relationship between the Lagrangian points (red) of a planet (blue) orbiting a star (yellow) anticlockwise, and
the effectivepotential in the plane containing the orbit (grey rubber-sheet model with purple contours of equal potential). [14]
Click for animation.
Mathematical details
Lagrangian points are the constant-pattern solutions of the restricted three-body problem. For
example, given two massive bodies in orbits around their common barycenter, there are five
positions in space where a third body, of comparatively negligible mass, could be placed so
as to maintain its position relative to the two massive bodies. As seen in a rotating reference
frame that matches the angular velocity of the two co-orbiting bodies, the gravitational fields of
two massive bodies combined providing the centripetal force at the Lagrangian points,
allowing the smaller third body to be relatively stationary with respect to the first two. [15]
L 1
The location of L is the solution to the following equation, gravitation providing the
1
centripetal force:
where r is the distance of the L point from the smaller object, R is the distance between the
1
two main objects, and M and M are the masses of the large and small object, respectively.
1 2
Solving this for r involves solving a quintic function, but if the mass of the smaller object (M ) is 2
much smaller than the mass of the larger object (M ) then L and L are at approximately equal
1 1 2
distances r from the smaller object, equal to the radius of the Hill sphere, given by:
This distance can be described as being such that the orbital period, corresponding to a
circular orbit with this distance as radius around M in the absence of M , is that
2 1
of M around M , divided by √3 ≈ 1.73:

2 1
L 2
2
centripetal force:
with parameters defined as for the L case. Again, if the mass of the smaller object (M ) is
1 2
much smaller than the mass of the larger object (M ) then L is at approximately the radius of
1 2
the Hill sphere, given by:
L 3
3
centripetal force:
with parameters defined as for the L and L cases except that r now indicates how much
1 2
closer L is to the more massive object than the smaller object. If the mass of the smaller
3
object (M ) is much smaller than the mass of the larger object (M ) then :
2 1
[16]
L and L
4 5
Trojan (celestial body)
The reason these points are in balance is that, at L and L , the distances to the two masses
4 5
are equal. Accordingly, the gravitational forces from the two massive bodies are in the same
ratio as the masses of the two bodies, and so the resultant force acts through
the barycenter of the system; additionally, the geometry of the triangle ensures that
the resultantacceleration is to the distance from the barycenter in the same ratio as for the two
massive bodies. The barycenter being both the center of mass and center of rotation of the
three-body system, this resultant force is exactly that required to keep the smaller body at
the Lagrange point in orbital equilibrium with the other two larger bodies of system. (Indeed,
the third body need not have negligible mass.) The general triangular configuration was
discovered by Lagrange in work on the three-body problem.
Net radial acceleration of a point orbiting along the Earth-Moon line.
Radial acceleration
The radial acceleration a of an object in orbit at a point along the line passing through both
bodies is given by:
Where r is the distance from the large body M and sgn(x) is the sign function of x. The terms in
1
this function represent respectively: force from M ; force from M ; and centrifugal force. The
1 2
points L , L , L occur where the acceleration is zero — see chart at right.

3 1 2
Stability
Although the L , L , and L points are nominally unstable, there are (unstable) periodic orbits
1 2 3
called "halo" orbits around these points in a three-body system. A full n-body dynamical

system such as the Solar System does not contain these periodic orbits, but does contain
quasi-periodic (i.e. bounded but not precisely repeating) orbits following Lissajous-
curvetrajectories. These quasi-periodic Lissajous orbits are what most of Lagrangian-point
space missions have used until now. Although they are not perfectly stable, a modest effort
of station keeping keeps a spacecraft in a desired Lissajous orbit for a long time. Also, for
Sun–Earth-L missions, it is preferable for the spacecraft to be in a large-amplitude (100,000–
1
200,000 km or 62,000–124,000 mi) Lissajous orbit around L than to stay at L , because the line
1 1
between Sun and Earth has increased solar interference on Earth–spacecraft

communications. Similarly, a large-amplitude Lissajous orbit around L keeps a probe out of 2
Earth's shadow and therefore ensures continuous illumination of its solar panels.
The L and L points are stable provided that the mass of the primary body (e.g. the Earth) is at
4 5
least 25 times the mass of the secondary body (e.g. the Moon). The Earth is over 81
[note 1] [17][18]
times the mass of the Moon (the Moon is 1.23% of the mass of the Earth ). Although the [19]
L and L points are found at the top of a "hill", as in the effective potential contour plot above,
4 5
they are nonetheless stable. The reason for the stability is a second-order effect: as a body
moves away from the exact Lagrange position, Coriolis acceleration (which depends on the
velocity of an orbiting object and cannot be modeled as a contour map) curves the [18]
trajectory into a path around (rather than away from) the point. [18][20]
Solar System values

This table lists sample values of L , L , and L within the solar system. Calculations assume
1 2 3
the two bodies orbit in a perfect circle with separation equal to the semimajor axis and no
other bodies are nearby. Distances are measured from the larger body's center of mass with
L showing a negative location. The percentage columns show how the distances compare to
3
the semimajor axis. E.g. for the Moon, L is located 326400 km from Earth's center, which is
1
84.9% of the Earth-Moon distance or 15.1% in front of the Moon; L is located 448900 km from 2
Earth's center, which is 116.8% of the Earth-Moon distance or 16.8% beyond the Moon; and
L is located −381700 km from Earth's center, which is 99.3% of the Earth-Moon distance or
3
0.7084% in front of the Moon's 'negative' position.
Lagrangian points in Solar System
1−
Semimajor axis L2/SMA − 1 + L3/SMA
Body pair L1 L1/SMA L2 L3
(SMA) 1 (%) (%)
(%)
Earth-
3.844×108 m 3.2639×108 m 15.09 4.489×108 m 16.78 −3.8168×108 m 0.7084
Moon
Sun-
5.7909×1010 m 5.7689×1010 m 0.3806 5.813×1010 m 0.3815 −5.7909×1010 m 0.000009683
Mercury
Sun-
1.0821×1011 m 1.072×1011 m 0.9315 1.0922×1011 m 0.9373 −1.0821×1011 m 0.0001428
Venus
Sun-Earth 1.496×1011 m 1.4811×1011 m 0.997 1.511×1011 m 1.004 −1.496×1011 m 0.0001752
Sun-Mars 2.2794×1011 m 2.2686×1011 m 0.4748 2.2903×1011 m 0.4763 −2.2794×1011 m 0.00001882
Sun-
7.7834×1011 m 7.2645×1011 m 6.667 8.3265×1011 m 6.978 −7.7791×1011 m 0.05563
Jupiter
Sun-
1.4267×1012 m 1.3625×1012 m 4.496 1.4928×1012 m 4.635 −1.4264×1012 m 0.01667
Saturn
Sun-
2.8707×1012 m 2.8011×1012 m 2.421 2.9413×1012 m 2.461 −2.8706×1012 m 0.002546
Uranus
Sun-
4.4984×1012 m 4.3834×1012 m 2.557 4.6154×1012 m 2.602 −4.4983×1012 m 0.003004
Neptune
Spaceflight applications
Sun–Earth
The satellite ACE in an orbit around Sun-Earth L1.
SOURCE;The satellite ACE in an orbit around Sun-Earth L1.

Unknown - http://helios.gsfc.nasa.gov/ace/gallery.html
ACE in its orbit around L1.
Sun–Earth L is suited for making observations of the Sun–Earth system. Objects here are
1
never shadowed by Earth or the Moon and, if observing Earth, always view the sunlit
hemisphere. The first mission of this type was the International Sun Earth Explorer 3 (ISEE-3)
mission used as an interplanetary early warning storm monitor for solar disturbances. Since
June 2015, DSCOVR has orbited the L point. Conversely it is also useful for space-
1
based solar telescopes, because it provides an uninterrupted view of the Sun and any space
weather(including the solar wind and coronal mass ejections) reaches L a few hours before 1
Earth. Solar telescopes currently located around L include the Solar and Heliospheric
1
Observatory and Advanced Composition Explorer.
Sun–Earth L is a good spot for space-based observatories. Because an object around L will
2 2
maintain the same relative position with respect to the Sun and Earth, shielding and
calibration are much simpler. It is, however, slightly beyond the reach of Earth's umbra, so
[21]
solar radiation is not completely blocked at L . (Real spacecraft generally orbit around L ,
2 2
avoiding partial eclipses of the Sun to maintain a constant temperature.) From locations near
L , the Sun, Earth and Moon are relatively close together in the sky; this means that a large
2
sunshade with the telescope on the dark-side can allow the telescope to cool passively to
around 50 K – this is especially helpful for infrared astronomy and observations of the cosmic
microwave background. The James Webb Space Telescope is due to be positioned at L . 2
Sun–Earth L was a popular place to put a "Counter-Earth" in pulp science fiction and comic

3
books. Once space-based observation became possible via satellites and probes, it was
[22]
shown to hold no such object. The Sun–Earth L is unstable and could not contain a natural
3
object, large or small, for very long. This is because the gravitational forces of the other
planets are stronger than that of Earth (Venus, for example, comes within 0.3 AU of this
L every 20 months).
3
A spacecraft orbiting near Sun–Earth L would be able to closely monitor the evolution of
3
active sunspot regions before they rotate into a geoeffective position, so that a 7-day early
warning could be issued by the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center. Moreover, a satellite
near Sun–Earth L would provide very important observations not only for Earth forecasts,
3
but also for deep space support (Mars predictions and for manned mission to near-Earth
asteroids). In 2010, spacecraft transfer trajectories to Sun–Earth L were studied and several
3
designs were considered. [23]
Missions to Lagrangian points generally orbit the points rather than occupy them directly.
Another interesting and useful property of the collinear Lagrangian points and their
associated Lissajous orbits is that they serve as "gateways" to control the chaotic trajectories
of the Interplanetary Transport Network.
Earth–Moon
Earth–Moon L allows comparatively easy access to Lunar and Earth orbits with minimal
1
change in velocity and this has as an advantage to position a half-way manned space station
intended to help transport cargo and personnel to the Moon and back.
Earth–Moon L has been used for a communications satellite covering the Moon's far side, for
2
example Queqiao launched in May 2018 , and would be "an ideal location" for a propellant
[24]
depot as part of the proposed depot-based space transportation architecture. [25]
Sun–Venus
Scientists at the B612 Foundation are planning to use Venus's L point to position their
3
planned Sentinel telescope, which aims to look back towards Earth's orbit and compile a
catalogue of near-Earth asteroids.
[26]
ZIPF’S LAW
Zipf’s law.
Zipf's law (/zɪf/) is an empirical law formulated using mathematical statistics that refers to the

fact that many types of data studied in the physical and social sciences can be approximated
with a Zipfian distribution, one of a family of related discrete power law probability
distributions. Zipf distribution is related to the zeta distribution, but is not identical.
For example, Zipf's law states that given some corpus of natural language utterances, the
frequency of any word is inversely proportional to its rank in the frequency table. Thus the
most frequent word will occur approximately twice as often as the second most frequent
word, three times as often as the third most frequent word, etc.: the rank-frequency
distribution is an inverse relation. For example, in the Brown Corpus of American English
text, the word the is the most frequently occurring word, and by itself accounts for nearly 7%
of all word occurrences (69,971 out of slightly over 1 million). True to Zipf's Law, the second-
place word of accounts for slightly over 3.5% of words (36,411 occurrences), followed
by and (28,852). Only 135 vocabulary items are needed to account for half the Brown Corpus.
[1]
The law is named after the American linguist George Kingsley Zipf (1902–1950), who

popularized it and sought to explain it (Zipf 1935, 1949), though he did not claim to have
originated it.[2] The French stenographer Jean-Baptiste Estoup (1868–1950) appears to have
noticed the regularity before Zipf.[3][not verified in body] It was also noted in 1913 by German
physicist Felix Auerbach[4] (1856–1933).
Other datasets
The same relationship occurs in many other rankings unrelated to language, such as the
population ranks of cities in various countries, corporation sizes, income rankings, ranks of
number of people watching the same TV channel,[5] and so on. The appearance of the
distribution in rankings of cities by population was first noticed by Felix Auerbach in 1913.
[4]
Empirically, a data set can be tested to see whether Zipf's law applies by checking the
goodness of fit of an empirical distribution to the hypothesized power law distribution with
a Kolmogorov–Smirnov test, and then comparing the (log) likelihood ratio of the power law
distribution to alternative distributions like an exponential distribution or lognormal
distribution.[6] When Zipf's law is checked for cities, a better fit has been found with
exponent s = 1.07; i.e. the largest settlement is the size of the largest settlement.
Zipf's law
Probability mass function
Zipf PMF for N = 10 on a log–log scale. The horizontal axis

is the index k . (Note that the function is only defined at
integer values of k. The connecting lines do not indicate
continuity.)
Cumulative distribution function
Zipf CDF for N = 10. The horizontal axis is the index k .

(Note that the function is only defined at integer values
of k. The connecting lines do not indicate continuity.)
File:Zipf distribution PMF.png

F
Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixels. Other resolutions: 320 × 240 pixels | 640 × 480 pixels | 1,024 × 768 pixels | 1,300 × 975 pixels.
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Open in Media ViewerConfiguration
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ns
curre 21:59, 2 October 1,300 × Cmdrjameson (talk | contribs) Compress

nt 2016 975 (96 ed with
KB) pngout.
Reduced
by 57kB
(37%
decrease).
01:07, 2 May 2005 1,300 × PAR~commonswiki (talk | cont Fixed axis

975 (154 ribs) labels
KB)
01:16, 23 April 1,300 × PAR~commonswiki (talk | cont Log-log

2005 975 (154 ribs) plot of the
KB) probabilit
y mass
function
for the
Zipf
distributio
n, N=10
and
s=1,2,3
and 4.
You cannot overwrite this file.

Source;From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository.
Theoretical review
Zipf's law is most easily observed by plotting the data on a log-log graph, with the axes
being log (rank order) and log (frequency). For example, the word "the" (as described above)
would appear at x = log(1), y = log(69971). It is also possible to plot reciprocal rank against
frequency or reciprocal frequency or interword interval against rank. [2] The data conform to
Zipf's law to the extent that the plot is linear.
Formally, let:
N be the number of elements;
k be their rank;
s be the value of the exponent characterizing the distribution.

Zipf's law then predicts that out of a population of N elements, the normalized frequency of
elements of rank k, f(k;s,N), is:
Zipf's law holds if the number of elements with a given frequency is a random variable with
power law distribution [7]
It has been claimed that this representation of Zipf's law is more suitable for statistical
testing, and in this way it has been analyzed in more than 30,000 English texts. The
goodness-of-fit tests yield that only about 15% of the texts are statistically compatible with
this form of Zipf's law. Slight variations in the definition of Zipf's law can increase this
percentage up to close to 50%.[8]
In the example of the frequency of words in the English language, N is the number of words
in the English language and, if we use the classic version of Zipf's law, the exponent s is
1. f(k; s,N) will then be the fraction of the time the kth most common word occurs.
The law may also be written:
where HN,s is the Nth generalized harmonic number.
The simplest case of Zipf's law is a "1⁄f function." Given a set of Zipfian distributed
frequencies, sorted from most common to least common, the second most common
frequency will occur ½ as often as the first. The third most common frequency will occur ⅓
as often as the first. The fourth most common frequency will occur ¼ as often as the first.
The nth most common frequency will occur 1⁄n as often as the first. However, this cannot hold
exactly, because items must occur an integer number of times; there cannot be 2.5
occurrences of a word. Nevertheless, over fairly wide ranges, and to a fairly good
approximation, many natural phenomena obey Zipf's law.
In human languages, word frequencies have a very heavy-tailed distribution, and can
therefore be modeled reasonably well by a Zipf distribution with an s close to 1.
As long as the exponent s exceeds 1, it is possible for such a law to hold with infinitely many
words, since if s > 1 then
where ζ is Riemann's zeta function.
Statistical explanation
Although Zipf’s Law holds for all languages, even non-natural ones like Esperanto,[9] the
reason is still not well understood.[10]However, it may be partially explained by the statistical
analysis of randomly generated texts. Wentian Li has shown that in a document in which
each character has been chosen randomly from a uniform distribution of all letters (plus a
space character), the "words" follow the general trend of Zipf's law (appearing approximately
linear on log-log plot).[11] Vitold Belevitch in a paper, On the Statistical Laws of Linguistic
Distribution offered a mathematical derivation. He took a large class of well-
behaved statistical distributions (not only the normal distribution) and expressed them in
terms of rank. He then expanded each expression into a Taylor series. In every case
Belevitch obtained the remarkable result that a first-order truncation of the series resulted in
Zipf's law. Further, a second-order truncation of the Taylor series resulted in Mandelbrot's
law.[12][13]
The principle of least effort is another possible explanation: Zipf himself proposed that
neither speakers nor hearers using a given language want to work any harder than necessary
to reach understanding, and the process that results in approximately equal distribution of
effort leads to the observed Zipf distribution.[14] [15]
Similarly, preferential attachment (intuitively, "the rich get richer" or "success breeds

success") that results in the Yule–Simon distribution has been shown to fit word frequency
versus rank in language[16] and population versus city rank[17] better than Zipf's law. It was
originally derived to explain population versus rank in species by Yule, and applied to cities
by Simon.
A PLOT OF THE RANK VERSUS FREQUENCY FOR THE FIRST 10 MILLION WORDS
IN 30 WIKIPEDIAS (DUMPS FROM OCTOBER 2015) IN A LOG-LOG SCALE.
A plot of the rank versus frequency for the first 10 million words in 30 Wikipedias (dumps
from October 2015) in a log-log scale.
Source;SergioJimenez - Own work
RELATED LAWS.
Zipf's law in fact refers more generally to frequency distributions of "rank data," in which the
relative frequency of the nth-ranked item is given by the Zeta distribution, 1/(nsζ(s)), where the
parameter s > 1 indexes the members of this family of probability distributions. Indeed, Zipf's
law is sometimes synonymous with "zeta distribution," since probability distributions are
sometimes called "laws". This distribution is sometimes called the Zipfian distribution.
A generalization of Zipf's law is the Zipf–Mandelbrot law, proposed by Benoît Mandelbrot,
whose frequencies are:
The "constant" is the reciprocal of the Hurwitz zeta function evaluated at s. In practice, as

easily observable in distribution plots for large corpora, the observed distribution can be
modelled more accurately as a sum of separate distributions for different subsets or
subtypes of words that follow different parameterizations of the Zipf–Mandelbrot distribution,
in particular the closed class of functional words exhibit s lower than 1, while open-ended
vocabulary growth with document size and corpus size require s greater than 1 for
convergence of the Generalized Harmonic Series.[2]
Zipfian distributions can be obtained from Pareto distributions by an exchange of variables.[7]
The Zipf distribution is sometimes called the discrete Paretodistribution[18] because it is

analogous to the continuous Pareto distribution in the same way that the discrete uniform
distribution is analogous to the continuous uniform distribution.
The tail frequencies of the Yule–Simon distribution are approximately
for any choice of ρ > 0.
In the parabolic fractal distribution, the logarithm of the frequency is a quadratic polynomial

of the logarithm of the rank. This can markedly improve the fit over a simple power-law
relationship.[19] Like fractal dimension, it is possible to calculate Zipf dimension, which is a
useful parameter in the analysis of texts.[20]
It has been argued that Benford's law is a special bounded case of Zipf's law,[19] with the
connection between these two laws being explained by their both originating from scale
invariant functional relations from statistical physics and critical phenomena. [21] The ratios of
probabilities in Benford's law are not constant. The leading digits of data satisfying Zipf's law
with s = 1 satisfy Benford's law.
PLOT OF WORD FREQUENCY IN WIKIPEDIA-DUMP 2006-11-27. THE PLOT IS MADE

IN LOG-LOG COORDINATES. X IS RANK OF A WORD IN THE FREQUENCY TABLE; Y
IS THE TOTAL NUMBER OF THE WORD’S OCCURENCES. MOST POPULAR WORDS
ARE “THE”, “OF” AND “AND”, AS EXPECTED :)
A plot of word frequency in Wikipedia (November 27, 2006). The plot is in log-
log coordinates. x is rank of a word in the frequency table; y is the total number of the
word’s occurrences. Most popular words are "the", "of" and "and", as expected. Zipf's
law corresponds to the middle linear portion of the curve, roughly following the green
(1/x) line, while the early part is closer to the magenta (1/x ) line while the later part is
0.5
closer to the cyan (1/(k + x) ) line. These lines correspond to three distinct
2.0
parameterizations of the Zipf–Mandelbrot distribution, overall a broken power law with

three segments: a head, middle, and tail.
Source;Victor Grishchenko - Victor Grishchenko [1]
Permission details;
LGPL
BENFORD’S LAW
Benford's law, also called Newcomb-Benford's law, law of anomalous numbers, and first-digit
law, is an observation about the frequency distribution of leading digits in many real-life sets
of numerical data. The law states that in many naturally occurring collections of numbers, the
leading significant digit is likely to be small.[1] For example, in sets that obey the law, the
number 1 appears as the leading significant digit about 30% of the time, while 9 appears as
the leading significant digit less than 5% of the time. If the digits were distributed uniformly,
they would each occur about 11.1% of the time.[2] Benford's law also makes predictions about
the distribution of second digits, third digits, digit combinations, and so on.
The graph to the right shows Benford's law for base 10. There is a generalization of the law to
numbers expressed in other bases (for example, base 16), and also a generalization from
leading 1 digit to leading n digits.
It has been shown that this result applies to a wide variety of data sets, including electricity
bills, street addresses, stock prices, house prices, population numbers, death rates, lengths
of rivers, physical and mathematical constants[3]. Like other general principles about natural
data — for example the fact that many data sets are well approximated by a normal
distribution — there are illustrative examples and explanations that cover many of the cases
where Benford's law applies, though there are many other cases where Benford's law applies
that resist a simple explanation.[1] It tends to be most accurate when values are distributed
across multiple orders of magnitude, especially if the process generating the numbers is
described by a power law(which are common in nature).
It is named after physicist Frank Benford, who stated it in 1938 in a paper titled "The Law of
Anomalous Numbers",[4] although it had been previously stated by Simon Newcomb in 1881.[5]
[6]
.
The distribution of first digits, according to Benford's law. Each bar represents a digit,
and the height of the bar is the percentage of numbers that start with that digit.
Source;Gknor - Own work
Benford's distribution
Frequency of first significant digit of physical constants plotted against Benford's law
Source;Drnathanfurious at English Wikipedia - Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons

by Tam0031 using CommonsHelper.
Plot of Benford's Law vs the first significant digit of a set of physical constants. Data
from http://physics.nist.gov/constants. Created by Aaron Webster.
Bedfords law definition.
A set of numbers is said to satisfy Benford's law if the leading digit d (d ∈ {1, ..., 9}) occurs
with probability
The leading digits in such a set thus have the following distribution:
The quantity is proportional to the space between d and d + 1 on a logarithmic scale.
Therefore, this is the distribution expected if the mantissae of the logarithms of the numbers
(but not the numbers themselves) are uniformly and randomly distributed.
For example, a number x, constrained to lie between 1 and 10, starts with the digit 1
if 1 ≤ x < 2, and starts with the digit 9 if 9 ≤ x < 10. Therefore, x starts with the digit 1
if log 1 ≤ log x < log 2, or starts with 9 if log 9 ≤ log x < log 10. The interval [log 1, log 2] is
much wider than the interval [log 9, log 10] (0.30 and 0.05 respectively); therefore if log x is
uniformly and randomly distributed, it is much more likely to fall into the wider interval than
the narrower interval, i.e. more likely to start with 1 than with 9; the probabilities are
proportional to the interval widths, giving the equation above (as well as the generalization to
other bases besides decimal).
Benford's law is sometimes stated in a stronger form, asserting that the fractional part of the
logarithm of data is typically close to uniformly distributed between 0 and 1; from this, the
main claim about the distribution of first digits can be derived.
HTTPS://EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG/WIKI/BENFORD
%27S_LAW#/MEDIA/FILE:LOGARITHMIC_SCALE.PNG
A logarithmic scale bar. Picking a random x position uniformly on this number line, roughly

30% of the time the first digit of the number will be 1.
Source;HB at French Wikipedia - Transferred from fr.wikipedia to Commons

by Esp2008 using CommonsHelper.
Exemple d'échelle logarithmique à trois modules. Image personnelle créée avec

gnuplot et gimp. Domaine public.
Benford's law in other bases

Graphs of P (d ) for initial digit din various bases. The dotted line shows P (d ) were the
[7]
distribution uniform. In the SVG image, hover over a graph to show the value for each
point.
Source;
Cmglee - Own work
Graphs of probability P that an arbitrary number starts with digit d in various bases

by CMG Lee. The dotted line shows the probability were the distribution uniform. The
graphs should be bars but are shown as lines for clarity. Hover over a graph to
highlight it and click it to load its Wikipedia article.
An extension of Benford's law predicts the distribution of first digits in

other bases besides decimal; in fact, any base b ≥ 2. The general form is:
For b = 2 (the binary number system), Benford's law is true but trivial: All binary numbers
(except for 0) start with the digit 1. (On the other hand, the generalization of Benford's law to
second and later digits is not trivial, even for binary numbers.)
Example
DISTRIBUTION OF FIRST DIGITS (IN %, RED BARS) IN THE POPULATION OF THE 237

COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD AS OF JULY 2010. BLACK DOTS INDICATE THE
DISTRIBUTION PREDICTED BY BENFORD'S LAW.
Source;
Jakob.scholbach - Own work
illustration of Benford's law, using the population of the countries of the world. The
chart depicts the percentage of countries having the corresponding digit as first digit
of their population (red bars). For example, 64 countries of 237 (=27%) have 1 as
leading digit of the population. Black points indicate what is predicted by Benford's
law. the data is from CIA Worldbook https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-
factbook/rankorder/2119rank.html, accessed August 07, 2010 Rank|| country Population
Date of Information ||1 China ||1,330,141,295|| ||July 2010 2 India ||1,173,108,018|| ||
July 2010 3 United States ||310,232,863|| ||July 2010 4 Indonesia ||242,968,342|| ||July
2010 5 Brazil ||201,103,330|| ||July 2010 6 Pakistan ||177,276,594|| ||July 2010 7
Bangladesh ||158,065,841|| ||July 2010 8 Nigeria ||152,217,341|| ||July 2010 9 Russia ||
139,390,205|| ||July 2010 10 Japan ||126,804,433|| ||July 2010 11 Mexico ||112,468,855||
||July 2010 12 Philippines ||99,900,177|| ||July 2010 13 Vietnam ||89,571,130|| ||July
2010 14 Ethiopia ||88,013,491|| ||July 2010 15 Germany ||82,282,988|| ||July 2010 16
Egypt ||80,471,869|| ||July 2010 17 Turkey ||77,804,122|| ||July 2010 18 Congo,
Democratic Republic of the ||70,916,439|| ||July 2010 19 Iran ||67,037,517|| ||July 2010
20 Thailand ||66,404,688|| ||July 2010 21 France ||64,057,792|| ||July 2010 22 United
Kingdom ||61,284,806|| ||July 2010 23 Italy ||58,090,681|| ||July 2010 24 Burma ||
53,414,374|| ||July 2010 25 South Africa ||49,109,107|| ||July 2010 26 Korea, South ||
48,636,068|| ||July 2010 27 Ukraine ||45,415,596|| ||July 2010 28 Colombia ||44,205,293||
||July 2010 29 Sudan ||41,980,182|| ||July 2010 30 Tanzania ||41,892,895|| ||July 2010 31
Argentina ||41,343,201|| ||July 2010 32 Spain ||40,548,753|| ||July 2010 33 Kenya ||
40,046,566|| ||July 2010 34 Poland ||38,463,689|| ||July 2010 35 Algeria ||34,586,184|| ||
July 2010 36 Canada ||33,759,742|| ||July 2010 37 Uganda ||33,398,682|| ||July 2010 38
Morocco ||31,627,428|| ||July 2010 39 Peru ||29,907,003|| ||July 2010 40 Iraq ||
29,671,605|| ||July 2010 41 Saudi Arabia ||29,207,277|| ||July 2010 42 Afghanistan ||
29,121,286|| ||July 2010 43 Nepal ||28,951,852|| ||July 2010 44 Uzbekistan ||27,865,738||
||July 2010 45 Venezuela ||27,223,228|| ||July 2010 46 Malaysia ||26,160,256|| ||July
2010 47 Ghana ||24,339,838|| ||July 2010 48 Yemen ||23,495,361|| ||July 2010 49 Taiwan
||23,024,956|| ||July 2010 50 Korea, North ||22,757,275|| ||July 2010 51 Syria ||
22,198,110|| ||July 2010 52 Romania ||22,181,287|| ||July 2010 53 Mozambique ||
22,061,451|| ||July 2010 54 Australia ||21,515,754|| ||July 2010 55 Sri Lanka ||
21,513,990|| ||July 2010 56 Madagascar ||21,281,844|| ||July 2010 57 Cote d'Ivoire ||
21,058,798|| ||July 2010 58 Cameroon ||19,294,149|| ||July 2010 59 Netherlands ||
16,783,092|| ||July 2010 60 Chile ||16,746,491|| ||July 2010 61 Burkina Faso ||
16,241,811|| ||July 2010 62 Niger ||15,878,271|| ||July 2010 63 Kazakhstan ||15,460,484||
||July 2010 64 Malawi ||15,447,500|| ||July 2010 65 Ecuador ||14,790,608|| ||July 2010 66
Cambodia ||14,753,320|| ||July 2010 67 Senegal ||14,086,103|| ||July 2010 68 Mali ||
13,796,354|| ||July 2010 69 Guatemala ||13,550,440|| ||July 2010 70 Angola ||
13,068,161|| ||July 2010 71 Zambia ||12,056,923|| ||July 2010 72 Zimbabwe ||
11,651,858|| ||July 2010 73 Cuba ||11,477,459|| ||July 2010 74 Rwanda ||11,055,976|| ||
July 2010 75 Greece ||10,749,943|| ||July 2010 76 Portugal ||10,735,765|| ||July 2010 77
Tunisia ||10,589,025|| ||July 2010 78 Chad ||10,543,464|| ||July 2010 79 Belgium ||
10,423,493|| ||July 2010 80 Guinea ||10,324,025|| ||July 2010 81 Czech Republic ||
10,201,707|| ||July 2010 82 Somalia ||10,112,453|| ||July 2010 83 Bolivia ||9,947,418|| ||
July 2010 84 Hungary ||9,880,059|| ||July 2010 85 Burundi ||9,863,117|| ||July 2010 86
Dominican Republic ||9,794,487|| ||July 2010 87 Belarus ||9,612,632|| ||July 2010 88
Haiti ||9,203,083|| ||July 2010 89 Sweden ||9,074,055|| ||July 2010 90 Benin ||9,056,010||
||July 2010 91 Azerbaijan ||8,303,512|| ||July 2010 92 Austria ||8,214,160|| ||July 2010 93
Honduras ||7,989,415|| ||July 2010 94 Switzerland ||7,623,438|| ||July 2010 95 Tajikistan
||7,487,489|| ||July 2010 96 Israel ||7,353,985|| ||July 2010 97 Serbia ||7,344,847|| ||July
2010 98 Bulgaria ||7,148,785|| ||July 2010 99 Hong Kong ||7,089,705|| ||July 2010 100
Laos ||6,993,767|| ||July 2010 101 Libya ||6,461,454|| ||July 2010 102 Jordan ||
6,407,085|| ||July 2010 103 Paraguay ||6,375,830|| ||July 2010 104 Togo ||6,199,841|| ||
July 2010 105 Papua New Guinea ||6,064,515|| ||July 2010 106 El Salvador ||6,052,064||
||July 2010 107 Nicaragua ||5,995,928|| ||July 2010 108 Eritrea ||5,792,984|| ||July 2010
109 Denmark ||5,515,575|| ||July 2010 110 Kyrgyzstan ||5,508,626|| ||July 2010 111
Slovakia ||5,470,306|| ||July 2010 112 Finland ||5,255,068|| ||July 2010 113 Sierra Leone
||5,245,695|| ||July 2010 114 United Arab Emirates ||4,975,593|| ||July 2010 115
Turkmenistan ||4,940,916|| ||July 2010 116 Central African Republic ||4,844,927|| ||July
2010 117 Singapore ||4,701,069|| ||July 2010 118 Norway ||4,676,305|| ||July 2010 119
Bosnia and Herzegovina ||4,621,598|| ||July 2010 120 Georgia ||4,600,825|| ||July 2010
121 Costa Rica ||4,516,220|| ||July 2010 122 Croatia ||4,486,881|| ||July 2010 123
Moldova ||4,317,483|| ||July 2010 124 New Zealand ||4,252,277|| ||July 2010 125 Ireland
||4,250,163|| ||July 2010 126 Congo, Republic of the ||4,125,916|| ||July 2010 127
Lebanon ||4,125,247|| ||July 2010 128 Puerto Rico ||3,977,663|| ||July 2010 129 Liberia ||
3,685,076|| ||July 2010 130 Albania ||3,659,616|| ||July 2010 131 Lithuania ||3,545,319||
||July 2010 132 Uruguay ||3,510,386|| ||July 2010 133 Panama ||3,410,676|| ||July 2010
134 Mauritania ||3,205,060|| ||July 2010 135 Mongolia ||3,086,918|| ||July 2010 136
Oman ||2,967,717|| ||July 2010 137 Armenia ||2,966,802|| ||July 2010 138 Jamaica ||
2,847,232|| ||July 2010 139 Kuwait ||2,789,132|| ||July 2010 140 West Bank ||2,514,845||
||July 2010 141 Latvia ||2,217,969|| ||July 2010 142 Namibia ||2,128,471|| ||July 2010 143
Macedonia ||2,072,086|| ||July 2010 144 Botswana ||2,029,307|| ||July 2010 145
Slovenia ||2,003,136|| ||July 2010 146 Lesotho ||1,919,552|| ||July 2010 147 Gambia,
The ||1,824,158|| ||July 2010 148 Kosovo ||1,815,048|| ||July 2010 149 Gaza Strip ||
1,604,238|| ||July 2010 150 Guinea-Bissau ||1,565,126|| ||July 2010 151 Gabon ||
1,545,255|| ||July 2010 152 Swaziland ||1,354,051|| ||July 2010 153 Mauritius ||
1,294,104|| ||July 2010 154 Estonia ||1,291,170|| ||July 2010 155 Trinidad and Tobago ||
1,228,691|| ||July 2010 156 Timor-Leste ||1,154,625|| ||July 2010 157 Cyprus ||
1,102,677|| ||July 2010 158 Fiji ||957,780|| ||July 2010 159 Qatar ||840,926|| ||July 2010
160 Comoros ||773,407|| ||July 2010 161 Guyana ||748,486|| ||July 2010 162 Djibouti ||
740,528|| ||July 2010 163 Bahrain ||738,004|| ||July 2010 164 Bhutan ||699,847|| ||July
2010 165 Montenegro ||666,730|| ||July 2010 166 Equatorial Guinea ||650,702|| ||July
2010 167 Solomon Islands ||609,794|| ||July 2010 168 Macau ||567,957|| ||July 2010 169
Cape Verde ||508,659|| ||July 2010 170 Luxembourg ||497,538|| ||July 2010 171 Western
Sahara ||491,519|| ||July 2010 172 Suriname ||486,618|| ||July 2010 173 Malta ||406,771||
||July 2010 174 Maldives ||395,650|| ||July 2010 175 Brunei ||395,027|| ||July 2010 176
Belize ||314,522|| ||July 2010 177 Bahamas, The ||310,426|| ||July 2010 178 Iceland ||
308,910|| ||July 2010 179 French Polynesia ||291,000|| ||July 2010 180 Barbados ||
285,653|| ||July 2010 181 Mayotte ||231,139|| ||July 2010 182 New Caledonia ||229,993||
||July 2010 183 Netherlands Antilles ||228,693|| ||July 2010 184 Vanuatu ||221,552|| ||
July 2010 185 Samoa ||192,001|| ||July 2010 186 Sao Tome and Principe ||175,808|| ||
July 2010 187 Saint Lucia ||160,922|| ||July 2010 188 Tonga ||122,580|| ||July 2010 189
Virgin Islands ||109,775|| ||July 2010 190 Grenada ||107,818|| ||July 2010 191
Micronesia, Federated States of ||107,154|| ||July 2010 192 Aruba ||104,589|| ||July
2010 193 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines ||104,217|| ||July 2010 194 Kiribati ||
99,482|| ||July 2010 195 Jersey ||91,812|| ||July 2010 196 Seychelles ||88,340|| ||July
2010 197 Antigua and Barbuda ||86,754|| ||July 2010 198 Andorra ||84,525|| ||July 2010
199 Isle of Man ||76,913|| ||July 2010 200 Dominica ||72,813|| ||July 2010 201 Bermuda
||68,268|| ||July 2010 202 American Samoa ||66,432|| ||July 2010 203 Marshall Islands ||
65,859|| ||July 2010 204 Guernsey ||65,632|| ||July 2010 205 Greenland ||57,637|| ||July
2010 206 Cayman Islands ||50,209|| ||July 2010 207 Saint Kitts and Nevis ||49,898|| ||
July 2010 208 Faroe Islands ||49,057|| ||July 2010 209 Northern Mariana Islands ||
48,317|| ||July 2010 210 Liechtenstein ||35,002|| ||July 2010 211 San Marino ||31,477|| ||
July 2010 212 Monaco ||30,586|| ||July 2010 213 Saint Martin ||30,235|| ||July 2010 214
Gibraltar ||28,877|| ||July 2010 215 British Virgin Islands ||24,939|| ||July 2010 216
Turks and Caicos Islands ||23,528|| ||July 2010 217 Palau ||20,879|| ||July 2010 218
Akrotiri ||15,700|| ||NA 219 Dhekelia ||15,700|| ||NA 220 Wallis and Futuna ||15,343|| ||
July 2010 221 Anguilla ||14,764|| ||July 2010 222 Nauru ||14,264|| ||July 2010 223 Cook
Islands ||11,488|| ||July 2010 224 Tuvalu ||10,472|| ||July 2010 225 Saint Helena,
Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha ||7,670|| ||July 2010 226 Saint Barthelemy ||7,406|| ||
July 2010 227 Saint Pierre and Miquelon ||6,010|| ||July 2010 228 Montserrat ||5,118|| ||
July 2010 229 Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) ||3,140|| ||July 2008 230 Norfolk Island
||2,155|| ||July 2010 231 Svalbard ||2,067|| ||July 2010 232 Christmas Island ||1,402|| ||
July 2010 233 Tokelau ||1,400|| ||July 2010 234 Niue ||1,354|| ||July 2010 235 Holy See
(Vatican City) ||829|| ||July 2010 236 Cocos (Keeling) Islands ||596|| ||July 2010 237
Pitcairn Islands ||48|| ||July 2010 est. Mathematica source code of the chart: In[1]:=
<<Graphics`Graphics` In[2]:= list1=Table[{d,100*(Log[10,d+1]-Log[10,d])},{d,1,9}];
In[3]:= Show[{BarChart[{64,43,24,31,15,20,17,11,12}/2.37], ListPlot[list1, PlotStyle\
[Rule]PointSize[0.02]]}]
Examining a list of the heights of the 60 tallest structures in the world by category shows that
1 is by far the most common leading digit, irrespective of the unit of measurement (cf. "scale
invariance", below):
In Benford's
meters feet
law
Leading digit
Count % Count %
1 26 43.3% 18 30.0% 30.1%
2 7 11.7% 8 13.3% 17.6%
3 9 15.0% 8 13.3% 12.5%
4 6 10.0% 6 10.0% 9.7%
5 4 6.7% 10 16.7% 7.9%
6 1 1.7% 5 8.3% 6.7%

7 2 3.3% 2 3.3% 5.8%
8 5 8.3% 1 1.7% 5.1%
9 0 0.0% 2 3.3% 4.6%
Another example is the leading digit of 2n:
1, 2, 4, 8, 1, 3, 6, 1, 2, 5, 1, 2, 4, 8, 1, 3, 6, 1... (sequence A008952 in the OEIS)
History of benford’s law,
The discovery of Benford's law goes back to 1881, when the American astronomer Simon
Newcomb noticed that in logarithm tables the earlier pages (that started with 1) were much
more worn than the other pages.[5] Newcomb's published result is the first known instance of
this observation and includes a distribution on the second digit, as well. Newcomb proposed
a law that the probability of a single number N being the first digit of a number was equal to
log(N + 1) − log(N).
The phenomenon was again noted in 1938 by the physicist Frank Benford,[4] who tested it on
data from 20 different domains and was credited for it. His data set included the surface
areas of 335 rivers, the sizes of 3259 US populations, 104 physical constants, 1800 molecular
weights, 5000 entries from a mathematical handbook, 308 numbers contained in an issue
of Reader's Digest, the street addresses of the first 342 persons listed in American Men of
Science and 418 death rates. The total number of observations used in the paper was 20,229.
This discovery was later named after Benford (making it an example of Stigler's Law).
In 1995, Ted Hill proved the result about mixed distributions mentioned below.[8]
Explanations
Overview
Benford's law tends to apply most accurately to data that are distributed uniformly across
several orders of magnitude. As a rule of thumb, the more orders of magnitude that the data
evenly covers, the more accurately Benford's law applies. For instance, one can expect that
Benford's law would apply to a list of numbers representing the populations of UK
settlements, or representing the values of small insurance claims. But if a "village" is defined
as a settlement with population between 300 and 999, or a "small insurance claim" is defined
as a claim between $50 and $99, then Benford's law will not apply. [9][10]
Consider the probability distributions shown below, referenced to a log scale.[11] In each case,
the total area in red is the relative probability that the first digit is 1, and the total area in blue
is the relative probability that the first digit is 8.
A broad probability distribution of the log of a variable, shown on a log scale
Source;
Sbyrnes321 - Own work
A broad probability distribution on a log scale, with bars colored in to show why
Benford's law holds
. [11]
A narrow probability distribution of the log of a variable, shown on a log scale
Source;
Sbyrnes321 - Own work
A narrow probability distribution plotted on a log scale, to demonstrate a

case where Benford's law does not hold. This is to be contrasted with
BenfordBroad.gif.
[11]
For the left distribution, the size of the areas of red and blue are approximately proportional
to the widths of each red and blue bar. Therefore, the numbers drawn from this distribution
will approximately follow Benford's law. On the other hand, for the right distribution, the ratio
of the areas of red and blue is very different from the ratio of the widths of each red and blue
bar. Rather, the relative areas of red and blue are determined more by the height of the bars
than the widths. Accordingly, the first digits in this distribution do not satisfy Benford's law
at all.[10]
Thus, real-world distributions that span several orders of magnitude rather uniformly (e.g.

populations of villages / towns / cities, stock-market prices), are likely to satisfy Benford's
law to a very high accuracy. On the other hand, a distribution that is mostly or entirely within
one order of magnitude (e.g. heights of human adults, or IQ scores) is unlikely to satisfy
Benford's law very accurately, or at all.[9][10] However, it is not a sharp line: As the distribution
gets narrower, the discrepancies from Benford's law typically increase gradually.
In terms of conventional probability density (referenced to a linear scale rather than log
scale, i.e. P(x)dx rather than P(log x) d(log x)), the equivalent criterion is that Benford's law
will be very accurately satisfied when P(x) is approximately proportional to 1/x over several
orders-of-magnitude variation in x.[11]
This discussion is not a full explanation of Benford's law, because we have not

explained why we so often come across data-sets that, when plotted as a probability
distribution of the logarithm of the variable, are relatively uniform over several orders of
magnitude.[12]
Multiplicative fluctuations
Many real-world examples of Benford's law arise from multiplicative fluctuations. [13] For
example, if a stock price starts at $100, and then each day it gets multiplied by a randomly
chosen factor between 0.99 and 1.01, then over an extended period the probability
distribution of its price satisfies Benford's law with higher and higher accuracy.
The reason is that the logarithm of the stock price is undergoing a random walk, so over time
its probability distribution will get more and more broad and smooth (see above).[13] (More
technically, the central limit theorem says that multiplying more and more random variables
will create a log-normal distribution with larger and larger variance, so eventually it covers
many orders of magnitude almost uniformly.) To be sure of approximate agreement with
Benford's Law, the distribution has to be approximately invariant when scaled up by any
factor up to 10; a lognormally distributed data set with wide dispersion would have this
approximate property.
Unlike multiplicative fluctuations, additive fluctuations do not lead to Benford's law: They

lead instead to normal probability distributions (again by the central limit theorem), which do
not satisfy Benford's law. For example, the "number of heartbeats that I experience on a
given day" can be written as the sum of many random variables (e.g. the sum of heartbeats
per minute over all the minutes of the day), so this quantity is unlikely to follow Benford's
law. By contrast, that hypothetical stock price described above can be written as
the product of many random variables (i.e. the price change factor for each day), so
is likely to follow Benford's law quite well.
Multiple probability distributions

Formann provided an alternative explanation by directing attention to the interrelation
between the distribution of the significant digits and the distribution of the observed variable.
He showed in a simulation study that long right-tailed distributions of a random variable are
compatible with the Newcomb-Benford law, and that for distributions of the ratio of two
random variables the fit generally improves. [14] For numbers drawn from certain distributions
(IQ scores, human heights) the Law fails to hold because these variates obey a normal
distribution which is known not to satisfy Benford's law,[6] since normal distributions can't
span several orders of magnitude and the mantissae of their logarithms will not be (even
approximately) uniformly distributed. However, if one "mixes" numbers from those
distributions, for example by taking numbers from newspaper articles, Benford's law
reappears. This can also be proven mathematically: if one repeatedly "randomly" chooses
a probability distribution (from an uncorrelated set) and then randomly chooses a number
according to that distribution, the resulting list of numbers will obey Benford's Law.[8][15] A
similar probabilistic explanation for the appearance of Benford's Law in everyday-life
numbers has been advanced by showing that it arises naturally when one considers mixtures
of uniform distributions.[16]
Scale invariance
If there is a list of lengths, the distribution of first digits of numbers in the list may be
generally similar regardless of whether all the lengths are expressed in metres, or yards, or
feet, or inches, etc.
This is not always the case. For example, the height of adult humans almost always starts
with a 1 or 2 when measured in meters, and almost always starts with 4, 5, 6, or 7 when
measured in feet.
But consider a list of lengths that is spread evenly over many orders of magnitude. For
example, a list of 1000 lengths mentioned in scientific papers will include the measurements
of molecules, bacteria, plants, and galaxies. If one writes all those lengths in meters, or
writes them all in feet, it is reasonable to expect that the distribution of first digits should be
the same on the two lists.
In these situations, where the distribution of first digits of a data set is scale invariant (or
independent of the units that the data are expressed in), the distribution of first digits is
always given by Benford's Law.[17][18]
For example, the first (non-zero) digit on this list of lengths should have the same distribution
whether the unit of measurement is feet or yards. But there are three feet in a yard, so the
probability that the first digit of a length in yards is 1 must be the same as the probability that
the first digit of a length in feet is 3, 4, or 5; similarly the probability that the first digit of a
length in yards is 2 must be the same as the probability that the first digit of a length in feet is
6, 7, or 8. Applying this to all possible measurement scales gives the logarithmic distribution
of Benford's law.
Applications
Accounting fraud detection

In 1972, Hal Varian suggested that the law could be used to detect possible fraud in lists of
socio-economic data submitted in support of public planning decisions. Based on the
plausible assumption that people who make up figures tend to distribute their digits fairly
uniformly, a simple comparison of first-digit frequency distribution from the data with the
expected distribution according to Benford's Law ought to show up any anomalous results.
[19]
Following this idea, Mark Nigrini showed that Benford's Law could be used in forensic
accounting and auditing as an indicator of accounting and expenses fraud.[20] In practice,
applications of Benford's Law for fraud detection routinely use more than the first digit.[20]
Legal status
In the United States, evidence based on Benford's law has been admitted in criminal cases at
the federal, state, and local levels. [21]
Election data
Benford's Law has been invoked as evidence of fraud in the 2009 Iranian elections,[22] and also
used to analyze other election results. However, other experts consider Benford's Law
essentially useless as a statistical indicator of election fraud in general. [23][24]
Macroeconomic data
Similarly, the macroeconomic data the Greek government reported to the European Union
before entering the eurozone was shown to be probably fraudulent using Benford's law,
albeit years after the country joined.[25]
Price digit analysis

Benford's law as a benchmark for the investigation of price digits has been successfully
introduced into the context of pricing research. The importance of this benchmark for
detecting irregularities in prices was first demonstrated in a Europe-wide study [26] which
investigated consumer price digits before and after the euro introduction for price
adjustments. The introduction of the euro in 2002, with its various exchange rates, distorted
existing nominal price patterns while at the same time retaining real prices. While the first
digits of nominal prices distributed according to Benford's Law, the study showed a clear
deviation from this benchmark for the second and third digits in nominal market prices with a
clear trend towards psychological pricing after the nominal shock of the euro introduction.
Genome data
The number of open reading frames and their relationship to genome size differs
between eukaryotes and prokaryotes with the former showing a log-linear relationship and
the latter a linear relationship. Benford's law has been used to test this observation with an
excellent fit to the data in both cases.[27]
Scientific fraud detection

A test of regression coefficients in published papers showed agreement with Benford's law.
[28]
As a comparison group subjects were asked to fabricate statistical estimates. The
fabricated results failed to obey Benford's law.
Statistical tests
Although the chi squared test has been used to test for compliance with Benford's law it has
low statistical power when used with small samples.
The Kolmogorov–Smirnov test and the Kuiper test are more powerful when the sample size is
small particularly when Stephens's corrective factor is used. [29] These tests may be overly
conservative when applied to discrete distributions. Values for the Benford test have been
generated by Morrow.[30] The critical values of the test statistics are shown below:
α
0.10 0.05 0.01
Test
1.32
Kuiper Test 1.191 1.579
1
Kolmogorov– 1.14
1.012 1.420
Smirnov 8
These critical values provide the minimum test statistic values required to reject the
hypothesis of compliance with Benford's law at the given significance levels.
Two alternative tests specific to this law have been published: first, the max (m) statistic[31] is
given by
and secondly, the distance (d) statistic[32] is given by

where FSD is the First Significant Digit and N is the sample size. Morrow has determined the
critical values for both these statistics, which are shown below:[30]
⍺
0.10 0.05 0.01
Statistic
0.96
Leemis' m 0.851 1.212
7
Cho–Gaines' 1.33
1.212 1.569
d 0
Nigrini[33] has suggested the use of a z statistic
with
where |x| is the absolute value of x, n is the sample size, 1/2n is a continuity correction
factor, pe is the proportion expected from Benford's law and po is the observed proportion in
the sample.
Morrow has also shown that for any random variable X (with a continuous pdf) divided by its
standard deviation (σ), a value A can be found such that the probability of the distribution of
the first significant digit of the random variable (X/σ)A will differ from Benford's Law by less
than ε > 0.[30] The value of A depends on the value of ε and the distribution of the random
variable.
A method of accounting fraud detection based on bootstrapping and regression has been
proposed.[34]
If the goal is to conclude agreement with the Benford's law rather than disagreement, then
the goodness-of-fit tests mentioned above are inappropriate. In this case the specific tests
for equivalence should be applied. An empirical distribution is called equivalent to the
Benford's law if a distance (for example total variation distance or the usual Euclidean
distance) between the probability mass functions is sufficiently small. This method of testing
with application to Benford's law is described in Ostrovski (2017).[35]
Log-log graph of the probability that a number starts with the digit(s) n, for a distribution
satisfying Benford's law. The points show the exact formula, P(n)=log (1+1/n). The graph
10
tends towards the dashed asymptote passing through (1, log e) with slope −1 in log-log
10
scale. The example in yellow shows that the probability of a number starts with 314 is
around 0.00138. The dotted lines show the probabilities for a uniform distribution for
comparison. In the SVG image, hover over a point to show its values.
Source;
Cmglee - Own work
Log-log graphs of the probability that a number from a distribution obeying Benford's
law starts with the digit(s) n from 1 to 200 by CMG Lee. The graph tends towards the
dashed asymptote passing through (1, log10 e) with slope −1 in log-log scale. The
example in yellow shows that the probability of a number starts with 314 is around
0.00138. The dotted lines show the probabilities if the distribution were uniform
instead. In the SVG image, hover over a point to show its values. In the SVG
image, hover over a point to show its values.
Generalization to digits beyond the first
It is possible to extend the law to digits beyond the first.[36] In particular, the probability of
encountering a number starting with the string of digits n is given by:
For example, the probability that a number starts with the digits 3, 1, 4
is log10(1 + 1/314) ≈ 0.00138, as in the figure on the right.
This result can be used to find the probability that a particular digit occurs at a given position
within a number. For instance, the probability that a "2" is encountered as the second digit
is[36]
And the probability that d (d = 0, 1, ..., 9) is encountered as the n-th (n > 1) digit is
The distribution of the n-th digit, as n increases, rapidly approaches a uniform distribution

with 10% for each of the ten digits, as shown below.[36] Four digits is often enough to assume
a uniform distribution of 10% as '0' appears 10.0176% of the time in the fourth digit while '9'
appears 9.9824% of the time.
Digi
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
t
30.1 5.8
1st N/A 17.6% 12.5% 9.7% 7.9% 6.7% 5.1% 4.6%
% %
11.4
2nd 12% 10.9% 10.4% 10% 9.7% 9.3% 9% 8.8% 8.5%
%
10.1 9.9
3rd 10.2% 10.1% 10.1% 10% 10% 9.9% 9.9% 9.8%
% %
Tests with common distributions
Benford's law was empirically tested against the numbers (up to the 10th digit) generated by
a number of important distributions, including the uniform distribution, the exponential
distribution, the half-normal distribution, the right-truncated normal, the normal distribution,
the chi square distribution and the log normal distribution.[6] In addition to these the ratio
distribution of two uniform distributions, the ratio distribution of two exponential
distributions, the ratio distribution of two half-normal distributions, the ratio distribution of
two right-truncated normal distributions, the ratio distribution of two chi-square distributions
(the F distribution) and the log normaldistribution were tested.
The uniform distribution as might be expected does not obey Benford's law. In contrast, the
ratio distribution of two uniform distributions is well described by Benford's law. Benford's
law also describes the exponential distribution and the ratio distribution of two exponential
distributions well. Although the half-normal distribution does not obey Benford's law, the
ratio distribution of two half-normal distributions does. Neither the right-truncated normal
distribution nor the ratio distribution of two right-truncated normal distributions are well
described by Benford's law. This is not surprising as this distribution is weighted towards
larger numbers. Neither the normal distribution nor the ratio distribution of two normal
distributions (the Cauchy distribution) obey Benford's law. The fit of chi square distribution
depends on the degrees of freedom (df) with good agreement with df = 1 and decreasing
agreement as the df increases. The F distribution is fitted well for low degrees of freedom.
With increasing dfs the fit decreases but much more slowly than the chi square distribution.
The fit of the log-normal distribution depends on the mean and the variance of the
distribution. The variance has a much greater effect on the fit than does the mean. Larger
values of both parameters result in better agreement with the law. The ratio of two log normal
distributions is a log normal so this distribution was not examined.
Other distributions that have been examined include the Muth distribution, Gompertz

distribution, Weibull distribution, gamma distribution, log-logistic distribution and
the exponential power distribution all of which show reasonable agreement with the law.[31]
[37]
The Gumbel distribution – a density increases with increasing value of the random variable
– does not show agreement with this law.[37]
Distributions known to obey Benford's law
Some well-known infinite integer sequences provably satisfy Benford's Law exactly (in

the asymptotic limit as more and more terms of the sequence are included). Among these are
the Fibonacci numbers,[38][39] the factorials,[40] the powers of 2,[41][42] and the powers of almost any
other number.[41]
Likewise, some continuous processes satisfy Benford's Law exactly (in the asymptotic limit
as the process continues through time). One is an exponential growth or decay process: If a
quantity is exponentially increasing or decreasing in time, then the percentage of time that it
has each first digit satisfies Benford's Law asymptotically (i.e. increasing accuracy as the
process continues through time).
Distributions known to disobey Benford's law
Square roots and reciprocals do not obey this law.[43] Also, Benford's law does not apply
to unary systems such as tally marks. Telephone directories violate Benford's law because
the numbers have a mostly fixed length and do not have the initial digit 1.[44] Benford's law is
violated by the populations of all places with population at least 2500 from five US states
according to the 1960 and 1970 censuses, where only 19% began with digit 1 but 20% began
with digit 2, for the simple reason that the truncation at 2500 introduces statistical bias. [43] The
terminal digits in pathology reports violate Benford's law due to rounding, and the fact that
terminal digits are never expected to follow Benford's law in the first place. [45]
Criteria for distributions expected and not expected to obey Benford's Law
A number of criteria—applicable particularly to accounting data—have been suggested
where Benford's Law can be expected to apply and not to apply.[46]
Distributions that can be expected to obey Benford's Law
When the mean is greater than the median and the skew is positive
Numbers that result from mathematical combination of numbers: e.g. quantity × price
Transaction level data: e.g. disbursements, sales
Numbers produced when doing any multiplicative calculations with an Oughtred slide rule,
since the answers naturally fall into the right logarithmic distribution.
Distributions that would not be expected to obey Benford's Law
Where numbers are assigned sequentially: e.g. check numbers, invoice numbers
Where numbers are influenced by human thought: e.g. prices set by psychological
thresholds ($1.99)
Accounts with a large number of firm-specific numbers: e.g. accounts set up to record $100
refunds
Accounts with a built-in minimum or maximum
Where no transaction is recorded
Moments
Moments of random variables for the digits 1 to 9 following this law have been calculated: [47]
mean 3.440
variance 6.057
skewness 0.796
kurtosis −0.548
For the first and second digit distribution these values are also known:[48]
mean 38.590
variance 621.832
skewness 0.772
kurtosis −0.547
A table of the exact probabilities for the joint occurrence of the first two digits according to
Benford's law is available,[48] as is the population correlation between the first and second
digits:[48] ρ = 0.0561.
Applications of zipf’s law.
In information theory, a symbol (event, signal) of probability contains bits of
information. Hence, Zipf law for natural numbers: is equivalent with number
containing bits of information. To add information from a symbol of probability

into information already stored in a natural number we should go to such that ,
or equivalently For instance, in standard binary
system we would have , what is optimal for

probability distribution. Using rule for a general probability distribution is the
base of Asymmetric Numeral Systems family of entropy coding methods used in data
compression, which state distribution is also governed by Zipf law.
Zipf's law also has been used for extraction of parallel fragments of texts out of comparable
corpora.[22]
SUPERSYMMETRIC THEORY OF STOCHASTIC DYNAMICS
Supersymmetric theory of stochastic dynamics or stochastics (STS) is an exact theory of stochastic

(partial) differential equations (SDEs), the class of mathematical models with the widest applicability
covering, in particular, all continuous time dynamical systems, with and without noise. The main
utility of the theory from the physical point of view is a rigorous theoretical explanation of the
ubiquitous spontaneous long-range dynamical behavior that manifests itself across disciplines via
such phenomena as 1/f, flicker, and crackling noises and the power-law statistics, or Zipf's law, of
instantonic processes like earthquakes and neuroavalanches. From the mathematical point of view,
STS is interesting because it bridges the two major parts of mathematical physics – the dynamical
systems theory and topological field theories. Besides these and related disciplines such as algebraic
topology and supersymmetric field theories, STS is also connected with the traditional theory
of stochastic differential equations and the theory of pseudo-Hermitian operators.
The theory begun with the application of BRST gauge fixing procedure to Langevin SDEs,[1][2] that
was later adapted to classical mechanics[3][4][5][6] and its stochastic generalization,[7] higher-order
Langevin SDEs,[8] and, more recently, to SDEs of arbitrary form,[9] which allowed to link BRST
formalism to the concept of transfer operators and recognize spontaneous breakdown of BRST
supersymmetry as a stochastic generalization of dynamical chaos.
The main idea of the theory is to study, instead of trajectories, the SDE-defined temporal evolution
of differential forms. This evolution has an intrinsic BRST or topological supersymmetry representing
the preservation of topology and/or the concept of proximity in the phase space by continuous time
dynamics. The theory identifies a model as chaotic, in the generalized, stochastic sense, if its ground
state is not supersymmetric, i.e., if the supersymmetry is broken spontaneously. Accordingly, the
emergent long-range behavior that always accompanies dynamical chaos and its derivatives such
as turbulence and self-organized criticality can be understood as a consequence of the Goldstone
theorem.
History and relation to other theories
The first relation between supersymmetry and stochastic dynamics was established by Giorgio
Parisi and Nicolas Sourlas[1][2] who demonstrated that the application of the BRST gauge fixing
procedure to Langevin SDEs, i.e., to SDEs with linear phase spaces, gradient flow vector fields, and
additive noises, results in N=2 supersymmetric models. Since then, the so-emerged supersymmetry of
Langevin SDEs has been studied rather extensively.[10][11][12][13][8] Relations between this
supersymmetry and a few physical concepts have been established including the fluctuation
dissipation theorems,[13] Jarzynski equality,[14] Onsager principle of microscopic reversibility,
[15] solutions of Fokker-Planck equations,[16] self-organization,[17] etc.
Similar approach was used to establish that classical mechanics,[3][4] its stochastic generalization,
[7] and higher-order Langevin SDEs[8] also have supersymmetric representations. Real dynamical
systems, however, are never purely Langevin or classical mechanical. In addition, physically
meaningful Langevin SDEs never break supersymmetry spontaneously. Therefore, for the purpose of
the identification of the spontaneous supersymmetry breaking as dynamical chaos, the generalization
of the Parisi-Sourlas approach to SDEs of general form is needed. This generalization could come only
after a rigorous formulation of the theory of pseudo-Hermitian operators[18] because the stochastic
evolution operator is pseudo-Hermitian in the general case. Such generalization[9] showed that all
SDEs possess N=1 BRST or topological supersymmetry (TS) and this finding completes the story of
relation between supersymmetry and SDEs.
In parallel to the BRST procedure approach to SDEs, mathematicians working in the dynamical
systems theory introduced and studied the concept of generalized transfer operator defined for
random dynamical systems.[19][20] This concept underlies the most important object of the STS, the
stochastic evolution operator, and provides it with a solid mathematical meaning.
STS has a close relation with algebraic topology and its topological sector belongs to the class of
models known as Witten-type topological or cohomological field theory.[21][22][23][24][25] As a
supersymmetric theory, BRST procedure approach to SDEs can be viewed as one of the realizations of
the concept of Nicolai map.[26][27]
Parisi–Sourlas approach to Langevin SDEs
In the context of supersymmetric approach to stochastic dynamics, the term Langevin SDEs denotes
SDEs with Euclidean phase space {\displaystyle X=\mathbb {R} ^{n}} gradient flow vector
field, and additive Gaussian white noise,
{\displaystyle {\dot {x}}(t)=-\partial U(x(t))+(2\Theta )^{1/2}\xi (t),}

where {\displaystyle x\in X} , {\displaystyle \xi \in \mathbb {R} ^{n}}is the noise
variable{\displaystyle \Theta } i s the noise intensity, and {\displaystyle \partial U(x)},
which in coordinates {\displaystyle (\partial U(x))^{i}\equiv \delta

^{ij}\partial _{j}U(x)} and {\displaystyle \partial _{i}U(x)\equiv \partial
U(x)/\partial x^{i}} is the gradient flow vector field with {\displaystyle U(x)} being the Langevin
function often interpreted as the energy of the purely dissipative stochastic dynamical system.
The Parisi-Sourlas method is a way of construction of the path integral representation of the Langevin

SDE. It can be thought of as a BRST gauge fixing procedure that uses the Langevin SDE as a gauge
condition. Namely, one considers the following functional integral,
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {W}}=\left\langle \int \dots \int J\left(\prod \nolimits _{\tau }\delta ({\dot
{x}}(\tau )-{\mathcal {F}}(x(\tau )))\right)Dx\right\rangle _{\text{noise}},}
where {\displaystyle {\mathcal {F}}} denotes the r.h.s. of the Langevin SDE,
{\displaystyle \textstyle \langle \cdot \rangle _{\text{noise}}\equiv
\int \dots \int \cdot P(\xi )D\xi } is the operation of stochastic averaging with
{\displaystyle P(\xi )\propto e^{-\int _{t'}^{t}d\tau \xi ^{2}(\tau )/2}} being the normalized
distribution of noise configurations,
{\displaystyle \textstyle J=\operatorname {Det} {\frac {\delta ({\dot {x}}(\tau )-{\mathcal {F}}
(x(\tau )))}{\delta x(\tau ')}}}
is the Jacobian of the corresponding functional derivative, and the path integration is over all closed
paths, {\displaystyle x(t)=x(t')} where {\displaystyle t'} {\displaystyle

t>t'}are the initial and final moments of temporal evolution.
Topological interpretation.
Topological aspects of the Parisi-Sourlas construction can be briefly outlined in the following manner.
[21] The delta-functional, i.e., the collection of the infinite number of delta-functions, ensures that
only solutions of the Langevin SDE contribute to {\displaystyle {\mathcal {W}}} In the context of
BRST procedure, these solutions can be viewed as Gribov copies. Each solution contributes either
positive or negative unity: {\textstyle {\mathcal {W}}=\textstyle \left\langle I_{N}
(\xi )\right\rangle _{\text{noise}}}with {\textstyle I_{N}(\xi )=\sum

_{\text{solutions}}\operatorname {sign} J} being the index of the so-called Nicolai
map, {\textstyle \xi =({\dot {x}}+\partial U)/(2\Theta )^{1/2}}, which in
this case is the map from the space of closed paths in {\textstyle X} to the space of noise
configurations, a map that provides a noise configuration at which a given closed path is a solution of
the Langevin SDE. {\textstyle I_{N}(\xi )} can be viewed as a realization of Poincaré–Hopf

theorem on the infinite-dimensional space of close paths with the Langevin SDE playing the role of the
vector field and with the solutions of Langevin SDE playing the role of the critical points with index
{\displaystyle \operatorname {sign} J}. {\textstyle I_{N}(\xi )} is independent of the noise
configuration because it is of topological character. The same it true for its stochastic average
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {W}}}, which is not the partition function of the model but, instead, its Witten
index.
Path integral representation
With the help of a standard field theoretic technique that involves introduction of additional field called
Lagrange multiplier, and a pair of fermionic fields called Faddeev–Popov ghosts, ,the Witten
index can be given the following form,
where denotes collection of all the fields, p.b.c. stands for periodic boundary conditions, the so-called
gauge fermion, , with and ,
and the BRST symmetry defined via its action on arbitrary functional
as . In the BRST formalism, the Q-
exact pieces like, , serve as gauge fixing tools. Therefore, the path integral expression for can
be interpreted as a model whose action contains nothing else but the gauge fixing term. This is a definitive
feature of Witten-type topological field theories and in this particular case of BRST procedure approach to
SDEs, the BRST symmetry can be also recognized as the topological supersymmetry. [21]
A common way to explain the BRST procedure is to say that the BRST symmetry generates the fermionic
version of the gauge transformations, whereas its overall effect on the path integral is to limit the
integration only to configurations that satisfy a specified gauge condition. This interpretation also applies
to Parisi-Sourlas approach with the deformations of the trajectory and the Langevin SDE playing the roles
of the gauge transformations and the gauge condition respectively.
Operator representation
Physical fermions in the high-energy physics and condensed matter models have antiperiodic boundary
conditions in time. The unconventional periodic boundary conditions for fermions in the path integral
expression for the Witten index is the origin of the topological character of this object. These boundary
conditions reveal themselves in the operator representation of the Witten index as the alternating sign
operator,
where is the operator of the number of ghosts/fermions and the finite-time stochastic evolution
operator (SEO), where,
is the infinitesimal SEO with being the Lie derivative along the subscript vector field, being the
Laplacian, being the exterior derivative, which is the operator representative of the TS,
and
, where and
are bosonic and fermionic momenta, and with square brackets denoting bi-graded
commutator, i.e., it is an anticommutator if both operators are fermionic (contain odd total number of
and ) and a commutator otherwise. The exterior derivative and are supercharges. They
are nilpotent, e.g. and commutative with the SEO. In other words, Langevin SDEs possess N=2
supersymmetry. The fact that is a supercharge is accidental. For SDEs of arbitrary form, this is not true.
Hilbert space
The wavefunctions are functions not only of the bosonic variables , but also of the Grassmann
numbers or fermions, from the tangent space of The wavefunctions can be viewed
as differential forms on with the fermions playing the role of the differentials .[24] The concept
of infinitesimal SEO generalizes the Fokker–Planck operator, which is essentially the SEO acting on top
differential forms that have the meaning of the total probability distributions. Differential forms of lesser
degree can be interpreted, at least locally on , as conditional probability distributions.[28] Viewing the

spaces of differential forms of all degrees as wavefunctions of the model is a mathematical necessity.
Without it, the Witten index representing the most fundamental object of the model—the partition
function of the noise—would not exist and the dynamical partition function would not represent the
number of fixed points of the SDE (see below). The most general understanding of the wavefunctions is the
coordinate-free objects that contain information not only on trajectories but also on the evolution of the
differentials and/or Lyapunov exponents.[29]
Relation to nonlinear sigma model and algebraic topology

In Ref.,[24] a model has been introduced that can be viewed as a 1D prototype of the
topological nonlinear sigma models (TNSM),[22] a subclass of the Witten-type topological field
theories. The 1D TNSM is defined for Riemannian phase spaces while for Euclidean phase
spaces it reduces to the Parisi-Sourlas model. Its key difference from STS is the diffusion
operator which is the Hodge Laplacian for 1D TNSM and for STS . This difference in
unimportant in the context of relation between STS and algebraic topology, the relation
established by the theory of 1D TNSM (see, e.g., Refs.[24][21]).
The model is defined by the following evolution operator
where being the metric, is the Hodge Laplacian, and
the differential forms from the exterior algebra of the phase space, , are viewed as
wavefunctions. There exists a similarity transformation, , that
brings the evolution operator to the explicitly Hermitian form
with In the Euclidean case is the

Hamiltonian of a N=2 supersymmetric quantum mechanics. One can introduce two Hermitian
operators, and such
that . This demonstrates that the spectrum of and/or is real and
nonnegative. This is also true for SEOs of Langevin SDEs. For the SDEs of arbitrary form,
however, this is no longer true as the eigenvalues of the SEO can be negative and even
complex, which actually allows for the TS to be broken spontanenously.
The following properties of the evolution operator of 1D TNSM hold even for the SEO of the
SDEs of arbitrary form. The evolution operator commutes with the operator of the degree of
differential forms. As a result, , where
and is the space of differential forms of degree . Furthermore, due to the
presence of TS, where are the supersymmetric eigenstates,
non-trivial in de Rham cohomology whereas the rest are the pairs of non-
supersymmetric eigenstates of the form . All supersymmetric eigenstates have

exactly zero eigenvalue and, barring accidental situations, all non-supersymmetric states
have non-zero eigenvalues. Non-supersymmetric pairs of eigenstates do not contribute to the
Witten index, which equals the difference in the numbers of the supersymmetric states of
even and odd degrees, For compact each de Rham

cohomology class provides one supersymmetric eigenstate and the Witten index equals the
Euler characteristic of the phase space.
BRST procedure for SDEs of arbitrary form
The Parisi-Sourlas method of BRST procedure approach to Langevin SDEs have also been
adapted to classical mechanics,[3] stochastic generalization of classical mechanics,[7] higher
order Langevin SDEs,[8] and, more recently, to SDEs of arbitrary form.[9] While there exist
standard techniques that allow to consider models with colored noises, higher-dimensional
"base spaces" described by partial SDEs etc., the key elements of STS can be discussed
using the following basic class of SDEs,
where is a point in the phase space assumed for simplicity a closed topological
manifold, is a sufficiently smooth vector field, called flow vector field,
from the tangent space of is a set of sufficiently

smooth vector fields that specify how the system is coupled to the noise, which is
called additive/multiplicative depending on whether are independent/dependent on
the position on
Ambiguity of path integral representation and Ito–Stratonovich dilemma
BRST gauge fixing procedure goes along the same lines as in case of Langevin SDEs.
The topological interpretation of the BRST procedure is just the same and the path
integral representation of the Witten index is defined by the gauge fermion, given by
the same expression but with the generalized version of . There is

one important subtlety, however, that appears on the way to the operator representation
of the model. Unlike for Langevin SDEs, classical mechanics, and other SDEs with
additive noises, the path integral representation of the finite-time SEO is an ambiguous
object. This ambiguity originates from non-commutativity of momenta and position
operators, e.g., . As a result, in the path integral representation has
a whole one-parameter family of possible interpretations in the operator
representation, , where denotes an arbitrary
wavefunction. Accordingly, there is a whole -family of infinitesimal SEOs,
with , being the interior multiplication by the subscript vector
field, and the "shifted" flow vector field being .

Noteworthy, unlike in Langevin SDEs, is not a supercharge and STS cannot be
identified as a N=2 supersymmetric theory in the general case.
The path integral representation of stochastic dynamics is equivalent to the traditional

understanding of SDEs as of a continuous time limit of stochastic difference
equations where different choices of parameter are called "interpretations" of SDEs.
The choice , for which and which is known in quantum theory
as Weyl symmetrization rule, is known as the Stratonovich interpretation, whereas

as the Ito interpretation. While in quantum theory the Weyl symmetrization is preferred
because it guaranties hermiticity of Hamiltonians, in STS the Weyl-Stratonovich
approach is preferred because it corresponds to the most natural mathematical meaning
of the finite-time SEO discussed below—the stochastically averaged pullback induced by
the SDE-defined diffeomorphisms.
Eigensystem of stochastic evolution operator

The three possible types of SEO spectra on a 3D sphere. Each line of triples of graphs
represents . for the three types of spectra. Black dots at the origin for the first and the
last lines represent supersymmetric eigenstates from the zeroth and the third
cohomologies of the 3 sphere. For types b and c, the (fastest growing) ground
(eigen)states are non-supersymmetric because they have non-zero eigenvalues. TS is
broken spontaneously. Vertical arrowed lines visualize supersymmetry operator.
Source4; Vasilii Tiorkin - Own work
As compared to the SEO of Langevin SDEs, the SEO of a general form SDE is pseudo-
Hermitian.[18] As a result, the eigenvalues of non-supersymmetric eigenstates are not
restricted to be real positive, whereas the eigenvalues of supersymmetric eigenstates are
still exactly zero. Just like for Langevin SDEs and nonlinear sigma model, the structure
of the eigensystem of the SEO reestablishes the topological character of the Witten
index: the contributions from the non-supersymmetric pairs of eigenstates vanish and
only supersymmetric states contribute the Euler characteristic of (closed) Among
other properties of the SEO spectra is that and never break TS,
i.e., . As a result, there are three major types of the SEO spectra
presented in the figure on the right. The two types that have negative (real parts of)
eigenvalues correspond to the spontaneously broken TS. All types of the SEO spectra
are realizable as can be established, e.g., from the exact relation between the theory
of kinematic dynamo and STS.[30]
STS without BRST procedure
The mathematical meaning of stochastic evolution operator
The finite-time SEO can be obtained in another, more mathematical way based on the idea to study the
SDE-induced actions on differential forms directly, without going through the BRST gauge fixing procedure.
The so-obtained finite-time SEO is known in dynamical systems theory as the generalized transfer
operator[19][20] and it has also been used in the classical theory of SDEs (see, e.g., Refs. [31][32] ). The contribution
to this construction from STS[9] is the exposition of the supersymmetric structure underlying it and
establishing its relation to the BRST procedure for SDEs.
Namely, for any configuration of the noise, and an initial condition, SDE defines a
unique solution/trajectory, . Even for noise configurations that are non-differentiable with
respect to time the solution is differentiable with respect to the initial condition [33] In other words,
SDE defines the family of the noise-configuration-dependent diffeomorphisms of the phase space to itself
This object can be understood as a collection and/or definition of all the noise-
configuration-dependent trajectories, . The diffeomorphisms induce actions
or pullbacks, . Unlike, say, trajectories in , pullbacks are linear objects even
for nonlinear . Linear objects can be averaged and averaging over the noise configurations,
results in the finite-time SEO which is unique and corresponds to the Weyl-Stratonovich interpretation of
the BRST procedure approach to SDEs, .
Within this definition of the finite-time SEO, the Witten index can be recognized as the sharp trace of the
generalized transfer operator.[19][20] It also links the Witten index to the Lefschetz index,
, a topological constant that

equals the Euler characteristic of the (closed) phase space. Namely,
.
The meaning of supersymmetry and the butterfly effect
The N=2 supersymmetry of Langevin SDEs has been linked to the Onsager principle of microscopic
reversibility[15] and Jarzynski equality.[14] In classical mechanics, a relation between the corresponding N=2
supersymmetry and ergodicity has been proposed.[6] In general form SDEs, where physical arguments may
not be applicable, a lower level explanation of the TS is available. This explanation is based on
understanding of the finite-time SEO as a stochastically averaged pullback of the SDE-defined
diffeomorphisms (see subsection above). In this picture, the question of why any SDE has TS is the same as
the question of why exterior derivative commutes with the pullback of any diffeomorphism. The answer to
this question is differentiability of the corresponding map. In other words, the presence of TS is the
algebraic version of the statement that continuous-time flow preserves continuity of Two initially close
points will remain close during evolution, which is just yet another way of saying that is a
diffeomorphism.
In deterministic chaotic models, initially close points can part in the limit of infinitely long temporal
evolution. This is the famous butterfly effect, which is equivalent to the statement that losses
differentiability in this limit. In algebraic representation of dynamics, the evolution in the infinitely long
time limit is described by the ground state of the SEO and the butterfly effect is equivalent to the
spontaneous breakdown of TS, i.e., to the situation when the ground state is not supersymmetric.
Noteworthy, unlike traditional understanding of deterministic chaotic dynamics, the spontaneous
breakdown of TS works also for stochastic cases. This is the most important generalization because
deterministic dynamics is, in fact, a mathematical idealization. Real dynamical systems cannot be isolated
from their environments and thus always experience stochastic influence.
Spontaneous supersymmetry breaking and dynamical chaos
BRST gauge fixing procedure applied to SDEs leads directly to the Witten index. The Witten index is of
topological character and it does not respond to any perturbation. In particular, all response correlators
calculated using the Witten index vanish. This fact has a physical interpretation within the STS: the physical
meaning of the Witten index is the partition function of the noise [28] and since there is no backaction from
the dynamical system to the noise, the Witten index has no information on the details of the SDE. In
contrast, the information on the details of the model is contained in the other trace-like object of the
theory, the dynamical partition function,
where a.p.b.c. denotes antiperiodic boundary conditions for the fermionic fields and periodic boundary
conditions for bosonic fields. In the standard manner, the dynamical partition function can be promoted to
the generating functional by coupling the model to external probing fields.
For a wide class of models, dynamical partition function provides lower bound for the stochastically
averaged number of fixed points of the SDE-defined diffeomorphisms,
Here, index runs over "physical states", i.e., the eigenstates that grow fastest with the rate of the
exponential growth given as, and parameter can be viewed as stochastic

version of dynamical entropy such as topological entropy. Positive entropy is one of the key signatures of
deterministic chaos. Therefore, the situation with positive must be identified as chaotic in the
generalized, stochastic sense as it implies positive entropy: At the same time, positive
implies that TS is broken spontaneously, that is, the ground state in not supersymmetric because its
eigenvalue is not zero. In other words, positive dynamical entropy is a reason to identify spontaneous TS
breaking as the stochastic generalization of the concept of dynamical chaos. Noteworthy, Langevin SDEs
are never chaotic because the spectrum of their SEO is real non-negative.
The complete list of reasons why spontaneous TS breaking must be viewed as the stochastic generalization
of the concept of dynamical chaos is as follows.
Positive dynamical entropy.
According to the Goldstone's theorem, spontaneous TS breaking must tailor a long-range dynamical

behavior, one of the manifestations of which is the butterfly effect discussed above in the context of the
meaning of TS.
From the properties of the eigensystem of SEO, TS can be spontaneously broken only if . This
conclusion can be viewed as the stochastic generalization of the Poincare–Bendixson theorem for
deterministic chaos.
In the deterministic case, integrable models in the sense of dynamical systems have well-defined
global stable and unstable manifolds of {\displaystyle F} The bras/kets of the global ground states
of such models are the Poincare duals of the global stable/unstable manifolds. These ground states
are supersymmetric so that TS is not broken spontaneously. On the contrary, when the model is non-
integrable or chaotic, its global (un)stable manifolds are not well-defined topological manifolds, but
rather have a fractal, self-recurrent structure that can be captured using the concept of branching
manifolds.[34] Wavefunctions that can represent such manifolds cannot be supersymmetric.
Therefore, TS breaking is intrinsically related to the concept of non-integrability in the sense of
dynamical systems, which is actually yet another widely accepted definition of deterministic chaos.
All the above features of TS breaking work for both deterministic and stochastic models. This is in
contrast with the traditional deterministic chaos whose trajectory-based properties such as
the topological mixing cannot in principle be generalized to stochastic case because, just like in
quantum dynamics, all trajectories are possible in the presence of noise and, say, the topological
mixing property is satisfied trivially by all models with non-zero noise intensity.
STS as a topological field theory

The square acbd represents an instanton, i.e, the family of trajectories of deterministic flow (dotted
arrowed curves) leading from one critical point (b) to another (a). The bra/ket ( ) of the locally
supersymmetric ground states (vacua) corresponding to these critical points are the Poincare duals of
the local unstable/stable manifolds. Operators are Poincare duals of vertical/horizontal lines. The
value of the instantonic matrix element is the intersection number (the difference in the numbers of
positive (black) and negative (white) intersections). It is invariant under the temporal evolution due to
the flow,
source; Vasilii Tiorkin - Own work

Figure representing instanton matrix element in STS above.
The topological sector of STS can be recognized as a member of the Witten-type topological field theories.
[21][22][23][24][25]
In other words, some objects in STS are of topological character with the Witten index being the
most famous example. There are other classes of topological objects. One class of objects is related
to instantons, i.e., transient dynamics. Crumpling paper, protein folding, and many other nonlinear
dynamical processes in response to quenches, i.e., to external (sudden) changes of parameters, can be
recognized as instantonic dynamics. From the mathematical point of view, instantons are families of
solutions of deterministic equations of motion, that lead from, say, less stable fixed point of
to a more stable fixed point. Certain matrix elements calculated on instantons are of topological nature.
An example of such matrix elements can be defined for a pair of critical points, and with being
more stable than ,
{\displaystyle \left.\int \dots \int _{x(\pm \infty )=a,b}\left(\prod \nolimits _{i}O_{i}

(t_{i})\right)e^{({\mathcal {Q}},\Psi )}D\Phi \right|_{\Theta \to 0}=\langle a|{\mathcal
{T}}\left(\prod \nolimits _{i}{\hat {O}}_{i}(t_{i})\right)|b\rangle .}
Here {\displaystyle \langle a|} and {\displaystyle |b\rangle } are the bra and ket of the
corresponding perturbative supersymmetric ground states, or vacua, which are the Poincare duals of
the local stable and unstable manifolds of the corresponding critical point; {\displaystyle
{\mathcal {T}}} denotes chronological ordering; {\displaystyle O} are observables that are the
Poincare duals of some closed submanifolds in {\displaystyle X};
{\displaystyle {\hat {O}}(t)={\hat {\mathcal {M}}}_{t_{0}t}{\hat {O}}{\hat {\mathcal
{M}}}_{t,t_{0}}} are the observables in the Heisenberg representation with {\displaystyle

t_{0}} being an unimportant reference time moment. The critical points have different indexes of
stability so that the states {\displaystyle |a\rangle } and {\displaystyle |b\rangle } are
topologically inequivalent as they represent unstable manifolds of different dimensionalities. The
above matrix elements are independent of {\displaystyle t_{i}'s} as they actually represent the
intersection number of {\displaystyle O}manifolds on the instanton as exemplified in the figure.
The above instantonic matrix elements are exact only in the deterministic limit. In the general
stochastic case, one can consider global supersymmetric states, {\displaystyle \theta } from
the De Rham cohomology classes of {\displaystyle X} and observables {\displaystyle \gamma }
that are Poincare duals of closed manifolds non-trivial in homology of {\displaystyle X}The
following matrix elements, {\displaystyle \textstyle \langle \theta

_{\alpha }|{\mathcal {T}}\left(\prod \nolimits _{i}{\hat {\gamma }}_{i}(t_{i})\right)|\theta
_{\beta }\rangle ,} are topological invariants representative of the structure of De Rham cohomology
ring of {\displaystyle X}
Applications
Supersymmetric theory of stochastic dynamics can be interesting in different ways. For example, STS
offers a promising realization of the concept of supersymmetry. In general, there are two major
problems in the context of supersymmetry. The first is establishing connections between this
mathematical entity and the real world. Within STS, supersymmetry is the most common symmetry in
nature because it is pertinent to all continuous time dynamical systems. The second is
the spontaneous breakdown of supersymmetry. This problem is particularly important for particle
physics because supersymmetry of elementary particles, if exists at extremely short scale, must be
broken spontaneously at large scale. This problem is nontrivial because supersymmetries are hard to
break spontaneously, the very reason behind the introduction of soft or explicit supersymmetry
breaking.[35] Within STS, spontaneous breakdown of supersymmetry is indeed a nontrivial dynamical
phenomenon that has been variously known across disciplines as chaos, turbulence, self-organized
criticality etc.
A few more specific applications of STS are as follows.
Classification of stochastic dynamics
Stochastic dynamical systems can be classified according to whether TS is spontaneously broken or
not (ordered/symmetric) and whether the flow vector field is integrable or non-integrable (chaotic).
Symmetric phase can be identified as thermal equilibrium (T). Ordered non-integrable phase can be
called chaos (C) because it hosts conventional deterministic chaos. Ordered integrable phase can be
called noise-induced chaos (N) because TS broking involves antiinstantons that disappear in the
deterministic limit. The N-phase is also known in the literature as self-organized criticality.
Stochastic dynamical systems can be classified according to whether TS is spontaneously broken or

not (ordered/symmetric) and whether the flow vector field is integrable or non-integrable (chaotic).
Symmetric phase can be identified as thermal equilibrium (T). Ordered non-integrable phase can be
called chaos (C) because it hosts conventional deterministic chaos. Ordered integrable phase can be
called noise-induced chaos (N) because TS broking involves antiinstantons that disappear in the
deterministic limit. The N-phase is also known in the literature as self-organized criticality.
Source;Vasilii Tiorkin - Own work

STS Phase Diagram
STS provides classification for stochastic models depending on whether TS is broken and integrability of
flow vector field. In can be exemplified as a part of the general phase diagram at the border of chaos (see
figure on the right). The phase diagram has the following properties:
For physical models, TS gets restored eventually with the increase of noise intensity.
Symmetric phase can be called thermal equilibrium or T-phase because the ground state is the
supersymmetric state of steady-state total probability distribution.
In the deterministic limit, ordered phase is equivalent to deterministic chaotic dynamics with non-
integrable flow.
Ordered non-integrable phase can be called chaos or C-phase because ordinary deterministic chaos
belongs to it.
Ordered integrable phase can be called noise-induced chaos or N-phase because it disappears in the
deterministic limit. TS is broken by the condensation of (anti-)instantons (see below).
At stronger noises, the sharp N-C boundary must smear out into a crossover because (anti-)instantons lose
their individuality and it is hard for an external observer to tell one tunneling process from another.
Demystification of self-organized criticality
Many sudden (or instantonic) processes in nature, such as, e.g., crackling noise, exhibit scale-free statistics
often called the Zipf's law. As an explanation for this peculiar spontaneous dynamical behavior, it was
proposed to believe that some stochastic dynamical systems have a tendency to self-tune themselves into
a critical point, the phenomenological approach known as self-organized criticality (SOC).[36] STS offers an
alternative perspective on this phenomenon. [37] Within STS, SOC is nothing more than dynamics in the N-
phase. Specifically, the definitive feature of the N-phase is the peculiar mechanism of the TS breaking.
Unlike in the C-phase, where the TS is broken by the non-integrability of the flow, in the N-phase, the TS is
spontaneously broken due to the condensation of the configurations of instantons and noise-induced
antiinstantons, i.e., time-reversed instantons. These processes can be roughly interpreted as the noise-
induced tunneling events between, e.g., different attractors. Qualitatively, the dynamics in the N-phase
appears to an external observer as a sequence of sudden jumps or "avalanches" that must exhibit a scale-
free behavior/statistics as a result of the Goldstone theorem. This picture of dynamics in the N-phase is
exactly the dynamical behavior that the concept of SOC was designed to explain. In contrast with the
original understanding of SOC,[38] its STS interpretation has little to do with the traditional critical
phenomena theory where scale-free behavior is associated with unstable fixed points of
the renormalization group flow.
Kinematic dynamo theory
Magnetohydrodynamical phenomenon of kinematic dynamo can also be identified as the spontaneous

breakdown of TS.[30] This result follows from equivalence between the evolution operator of the magnetic
field and the SEO of the corresponding SDE describing the flow of the background matter. The so
emerged STS-kinematic dynamo correspondence proves, in particular, that both types of TS breaking
spectra are possible, with the real and complex ground state eigenvalues, because kinematic dynamo with
both types of the fastest growing eigenmodes are known. [39]
Transient dynamics
It is well known that various types of transient dynamics, such as quenches, exhibit spontaneous long-
range behavior. In case of quenches across phase transitions, this behavior is often attributed to the
proximity of criticality. At the same time, other quenches, not across a phase transition, are also known to
exhibit long-range characteristics with the best known examples being the Barkhausen effect and other
realizations of the concept of crackling noise. It is intuitively appealing that theoretical explanation for the
scale-free behavior in quenches must be the same disregard whether the quench is across a phase
transition or not. STS offers such an explanation. Namely, transient dynamics is essentially a composite
instanton and TS is intrinsically broken within instantons. Even though TS breaking within instantons is not
exactly the phenomenon of the spontaneous breakdown of a symmetry by a global ground state, this
effective TS breaking must also result in a scale-free behavior. This understanding is supported by the fact
that condensed instantons lead to appearance of logarithms in the correlation functions. [40] This picture of
transient dynamics explains computational efficiency of the digital memcomputing machines. [41]
Low energy effective theories for dynamical chaos
In physics, spontaneous symmetry breaking is known as "ordering". For example, the spontaneous
breakdown of translational symmetry in a liquid is the mathematical essence of crystallization or spatial
"ordering" of molecules into a lattice. Therefore, spontaneous TS breaking picture of chaotic dynamics is in
a certain sense opposite to the semantics of word "chaos". Due to its temporal character, it is
actually Chronos, not Chaos, that appears to be the primordial Greek deity closest in its spirit to the TS
breaking order. Perhaps, a more accurate identifier than "chaos" should be coined for TS breaking in the
future. As of this moment, this qualitatively new understanding of dynamical chaos already points into a
research direction that may lead to resolutions of some important problems such as turbulence and
neurodynamics. Namely, as in case of any other "ordering", a simplified yet accurate description of chaotic
dynamics can be achieved in terms of the low-energy effective theory for an order parameter. While the
low-energy effective description of chaotic dynamics may be very case specific, its order parameter must
always be a representative of the gapless fermions or goldstinos of the spontaneously broken TS.
rotoplanetary disk, colliding and sticking together and gradually growing, up to and including the
high-energy collisions between sizable planetesimals.[18]
In addition, the giant planets probably had accretion disks of their own, in the first meaning of the
word.[76] The clouds of captured hydrogen and helium gas contracted, spun up, flattened, and
deposited gas onto the surface of each giant protoplanet, while solid bodies within that disk accreted
into the giant planet's regular moons
THE BIG BANG.

The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological model for the observable universe[1][2][3] from
the earliest known periods through its subsequent large-scale evolution. [4][5][6] The model describes
how the universe expanded from a very high-density and high-temperature state, [7][8] and offers a
comprehensive explanation for a broad range of phenomena, including the abundance of light
elements, the cosmic microwave background (CMB), large scale structure and Hubble's law (the
farther away galaxies are, the faster they are moving away from Earth). [9] If the observed conditions
are extrapolated backwards in time using the known laws of physics, the prediction is that just before
a period of very high density there was a singularity which is typically associated with the Big Bang.
Physicists are undecided whether this means the universe began from a singularity, or that current
knowledge is insufficient to describe the universe at that time. Detailed measurements of the
expansion rate of the universe place the Big Bang at around 13.8 billion years ago, which is thus
considered the age of the universe.[10] After its initial expansion, the universe cooled sufficiently to
allow the formation of subatomic particles, and later simple atoms. Giant clouds of these primordial
elements (mostly hydrogen, with some helium and lithium) later coalesced through gravity,
eventually forming early stars and galaxies, the descendants of which are visible today. Astronomers
also observe the gravitational effects of dark matter surrounding galaxies. Though most of the mass
in the universe seems to be in the form of dark matter, Big Bang theory and various observations
seem to indicate that it is not made out of conventional baryonic matter (protons, neutrons, and
electrons) but it is unclear exactly what it ismade out of
"Big Bang theory" redirects here. For the American TV sitcom, see The Big Bang Theory. For other
uses, see Big Bang (disambiguation) and Big Bang Theory (disambiguation).
Timeline of the metric expansion of space, where space (including hypothetical non-observable portions of the
universe) is represented at each time by the circular sections. On the left, the dramatic expansion occurs in
the inflationary epoch; and at the center, the expansion accelerates (artist's concept; not to scale).
Part of a series on
Physical cosmology
.
Since Georges Lemaître first noted in 1927 that an expanding universe could be traced back in time
to an originating single point, scientists have built on his idea of cosmic expansion. The scientific
community was once divided between supporters of two different theories, the Big Bang and
the Steady State theory, but a wide range of empirical evidence has strongly favored the Big Bang
which is now universally accepted. [11] In 1929, from analysis of galactic redshifts, Edwin
Hubble concluded that galaxies are drifting apart; this is important observational evidence consistent
with the hypothesis of an expanding universe. In 1964, the cosmic microwave background
radiation was discovered, which was crucial evidence in favor of the Big Bang model, [12] since that
theory predicted the existence of background radiation throughout the universe before it was
discovered. More recently, measurements of the redshifts of supernovae indicate that the expansion
of the universe is accelerating, an observation attributed to dark energy's existence.[13] The
known physical laws of nature can be used to calculate the characteristics of the universe in detail
back in time to an initial state of extreme density and temperature.[14]
Overview
In 1922, Russian mathematician Alexander Friedmann[15] proposed on theoretical grounds that
the universe is expanding, which was rederived independently and observationally confirmed soon
afterwards by Belgian astronomer and Catholic priest Georges Lemaîtrein 1927[16][17][18] Lemaître also
proposed what became known as the "Big Bang theory" of the creation of the universe, originally
calling it the "hypothesis of the primeval atom".[19]: in his paper Annales de la Société Scientifique de
Bruxelles (Annals of the Scientific Society of Brussels) under the title "Un Univers homogène de
masse constante et de rayon croissant rendant compte de la vitesse radiale des nébuleuses
extragalactiques" ("A homogeneous Universe of constant mass and growing radius accounting for
the radial velocity of extragalactic nebulae"), [20] he presented his new idea that the universe is
expanding and provided the first observational estimation of what is known as the Hubble constant.
[21]
What later will be known as the "Big Bang theory" of the origin of the universe, he called his
"hypothesis of the primeval atom" or the "Cosmic Egg".[22]
American astronomer Edwin Hubble observed that the distances to faraway galaxies were strongly
correlated with their redshifts. This was interpreted to mean that all distant galaxies and clusters are
receding away from our vantage point with an apparent velocity proportional to their distance: that is,
the farther they are, the faster they move away from us, regardless of direction. [23] Assuming
the Copernican principle (that the Earth is not the center of the universe), the only remaining
interpretation is that all observable regions of the universe are receding from all others. Since we
know that the distance between galaxies increases today, it must mean that in the past galaxies
were closer together. The continuous expansion of the universe implies that the universe was
denser and hotter in the past.
Large particle accelerators can replicate the conditions that prevailed after the early moments of the
universe, resulting in confirmation and refinement of the details of the Big Bang model. However,
these accelerators can only probe so far into high energy regimes. Consequently, the state of the
universe in the earliest instants of the Big Bang expansion is still poorly understood and an area of
open investigation and speculation.
The first subatomic particles to be formed included protons, neutrons, and electrons. Though
simple atomic nuclei formed within the first three minutes after the Big Bang, thousands of years
passed before the first electrically neutral atoms formed. The majority of atoms produced by the Big
Bang were hydrogen, along with helium and traces of lithium. Giant clouds of these primordial
elements later coalesced through gravity to form stars and galaxies, and the heavier elements were
synthesized either within stars or during supernovae.
The Big Bang theory offers a comprehensive explanation for a broad range of observed phenomena,
including the abundance of light elements, the CMB, large scale structure, and Hubble's Law.[9] The
framework for the Big Bang model relies on Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity and on
simplifying assumptions such as homogeneity and isotropy of space. The governing equations were
formulated by Alexander Friedmann, and similar solutions were worked on by Willem de Sitter. Since
then, astrophysicists have incorporated observational and theoretical additions into the Big Bang
model, and its parametrization as the Lambda-CDM model serves as the framework for current
investigations of theoretical cosmology. The Lambda-CDM model is the current "standard model" of
Big Bang cosmology, consensus is that it is the simplest model that can account for the various
measurements and observations relevant to cosmology.
Timeline
Chronology of the universe
Singularity
Gravitational singularity and Planck epoch
Extrapolation of the expansion of the universe backwards in time using general relativity yields
an infinite density and temperature at a finite time in the past.[24] This singularityindicates that general
relativity is not an adequate description of the laws of physics in this regime. Models based on
general relativity alone can not extrapolate toward the singularity beyond the end of the Planck
epoch.
This primordial singularity is itself sometimes called "the Big Bang", [25] but the term can also refer to a
more generic early hot, dense phase[26][notes 1] of the universe. In either case, "the Big Bang" as an
event is also colloquially referred to as the "birth" of our universe since it represents the point in
history where the universe can be verified to have entered into a regime where the laws of physics
as we understand them (specifically general relativity and the standard model of particle physics)
work. Based on measurements of the expansion using Type Ia supernovae and measurements of
temperature fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background, the time that has passed since that
event — otherwise known as the "age of the universe" — is 13.799 ± 0.021 billion years.[27] The
agreement of independent measurements of this age supports the ΛCDM model that describes in
detail the characteristics of the universe.
Despite being extremely dense at this time—far denser than is usually required to form a black hole
—the universe did not re-collapse into a black hole. This may be explained by considering that
commonly-used calculations and limits for gravitational collapse are usually based upon objects of
relatively constant size, such as stars, and do not apply to rapidly expanding space such as the Big
Bang.
Inflation and baryogenesis
Main articles: Cosmic inflation and baryogenesis
The earliest phases of the Big Bang are subject to much speculation. In the most common models
the universe was filled homogeneously and isotropically with a very high energy density and huge
temperatures and pressures and was very rapidly expanding and cooling. Approximately
10−37 seconds into the expansion, a phase transition caused a cosmic inflation, during which the
universe grew exponentially during which time density fluctuations that occurred because of
the uncertainty principle were amplified into the seeds that would later form the large-scale
structure of the universe.[28] After inflation stopped, reheating occurred until the universe obtained the
temperatures required for the production of a quark–gluon plasma as well as all other elementary
particles.[29] Temperatures were so high that the random motions of particles were
at relativistic speeds, and particle–antiparticle pairs of all kinds were being continuously created and
destroyed in collisions.[7] At some point, an unknown reaction called baryogenesis violated the
conservation of baryon number, leading to a very small excess of quarks and leptons over
antiquarks and antileptons—of the order of one part in 30 million. This resulted in the predominance
of matter over antimatter in the present universe.[30]
Cooling
Big Bang nucleosynthesis and cosmic microwave background radiation
Panoramic view of the entire near-infrared sky reveals the distribution of galaxies beyond the Milky Way.
Galaxies are color-coded by redshift.
The universe continued to decrease in density and fall in temperature, hence the typical energy of
each particle was decreasing. Symmetry breaking phase transitions put the fundamental forces of
physics and the parameters of elementary particles into their present form.[31] After about
10−11 seconds, the picture becomes less speculative, since particle energies drop to values that can
be attained in particle accelerators. At about 10−6 seconds, quarks and gluons combined to
form baryons such as protons and neutrons. The small excess of quarks over antiquarks led to a
small excess of baryons over antibaryons. The temperature was now no longer high enough to
create new proton–antiproton pairs (similarly for neutrons–antineutrons), so a mass annihilation
immediately followed, leaving just one in 1010 of the original protons and neutrons, and none of their
antiparticles. A similar process happened at about 1 second for electrons and positrons. After these
annihilations, the remaining protons, neutrons and electrons were no longer moving relativistically
and the energy density of the universe was dominated by photons (with a minor contribution
from neutrinos).
A few minutes into the expansion, when the temperature was about a billion (one thousand
million) kelvin and the density was about that of air, neutrons combined with protons to form the
universe's deuterium and helium nuclei in a process called Big Bang nucleosynthesis.[32] Most
protons remained uncombined as hydrogen nuclei.[33]
As the universe cooled, the rest mass energy density of matter came to gravitationally dominate that
of the photon radiation. After about 379,000 years, the electrons and nuclei combined into atoms
(mostly hydrogen); hence the radiation decoupled from matter and continued through space largely
unimpeded. This relic radiation is known as the cosmic microwave background radiation.
[33]
The chemistry of life may have begun shortly after the Big Bang, 13.8 billion years ago, during a
habitable epoch when the universe was only 10–17 million years old. [34][35][36]
Structure formation
Structure formation
Artist's depiction of the WMAPsatellite gathering data to help scientists understand the Big Bang
Abell 2744 galaxy cluster – Hubble Frontier Fields view.[37]
Over a long period of time, the slightly denser regions of the nearly uniformly distributed matter
gravitationally attracted nearby matter and thus grew even denser, forming gas clouds, stars,
galaxies, and the other astronomical structures observable today. [7] The details of this process
depend on the amount and type of matter in the universe. The four possible types of matter are
known as cold dark matter, warm dark matter, hot dark matter, and baryonic matter. The best
measurements available, from Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), show that the data
is well-fit by a Lambda-CDM model in which dark matter is assumed to be cold (warm dark matter is
ruled out by early reionization),[38] and is estimated to make up about 23% of the matter/energy of the
universe, while baryonic matter makes up about 4.6%. [39] In an "extended model" which includes hot
dark matter in the form of neutrinos, then if the "physical baryon density" is estimated at
about 0.023 (this is different from the 'baryon density' expressed as a fraction of the total
matter/energy density, which as noted above is about 0.046), and the corresponding cold dark
matter density is about 0.11, the corresponding neutrino density is estimated to
be less than 0.0062.[39]
Cosmic acceleration
Accelerating expansion of the universe
Independent lines of evidence from Type Ia supernovae and the CMB imply that the universe today
is dominated by a mysterious form of energy known as dark energy, which apparently permeates all
of space. The observations suggest 73% of the total energy density of today's universe is in this
form. When the universe was very young, it was likely infused with dark energy, but with less space
and everything closer together, gravity predominated, and it was slowly braking the expansion. But
eventually, after numerous billion years of expansion, the growing abundance of dark energy caused
the expansion of the universe to slowly begin to accelerate. [13]
Dark energy in its simplest formulation takes the form of the cosmological constant term in Einstein's
field equations of general relativity, but its composition and mechanism are unknown and, more
generally, the details of its equation of state and relationship with the Standard Model of particle
physics continue to be investigated both through observation and theoretically. [13]
All of this cosmic evolution after the inflationary epoch can be rigorously described and modeled by
the ΛCDM model of cosmology, which uses the independent frameworks of quantum mechanics and
Einstein's General Relativity. There is no well-supported model describing the action prior to
10−15 seconds or so. Apparently a new unified theory of quantum gravitation is needed to break this
barrier. Understanding this earliest of eras in the history of the universe is currently one of the
greatest unsolved problems in physics.
Features of the model

The Big Bang theory depends on two major assumptions: the universality of physical laws and
the cosmological principle. The cosmological principle states that on large scales the universe
is homogeneous and isotropic.
These ideas were initially taken as postulates, but today there are efforts to test each of them. For
example, the first assumption has been tested by observations showing that largest possible
deviation of the fine structure constant over much of the age of the universe is of order 10−5.[40] Also,
general relativity has passed stringent tests on the scale of the Solar System and binary stars.[notes 2]
If the large-scale universe appears isotropic as viewed from Earth, the cosmological principle can be
derived from the simpler Copernican principle, which states that there is no preferred (or special)
observer or vantage point. To this end, the cosmological principle has been confirmed to a level of
10−5 via observations of the CMB. The universe has been measured to be homogeneous on the
largest scales at the 10% level.[41]
Expansion of space
Main articles: Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker metric and Metric expansion of space
General relativity describes spacetime by a metric, which determines the distances that separate
nearby points. The points, which can be galaxies, stars, or other objects, are themselves specified
using a coordinate chart or "grid" that is laid down over all spacetime. The cosmological principle
implies that the metric should be homogeneous and isotropicon large scales, which uniquely singles
out the Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker metric (FLRW metric). This metric contains a scale
factor, which describes how the size of the universe changes with time. This enables a convenient
choice of a coordinate system to be made, called comoving coordinates. In this coordinate system,
the grid expands along with the universe, and objects that are moving only because of the expansion
of the universe, remain at fixed points on the grid. While their coordinate distance (comoving
distance) remains constant, the physical distance between two such co-moving points expands
proportionally with the scale factor of the universe.[42]
The Big Bang is not an explosion of matter moving outward to fill an empty universe. Instead, space
itself expands with time everywhere and increases the physical distance between two comoving
points. In other words, the Big Bang is not an explosion in space, but rather an expansion of space.
[7]
Because the FLRW metric assumes a uniform distribution of mass and energy, it applies to our
universe only on large scales—local concentrations of matter such as our galaxy are gravitationally
bound and as such do not experience the large-scale expansion of space. [43]
Horizons
List of cosmological horizons
An important feature of the Big Bang spacetime is the presence of particle horizons. Since the
universe has a finite age, and light travels at a finite speed, there may be events in the past whose
light has not had time to reach us. This places a limit or a past horizon on the most distant objects
that can be observed. Conversely, because space is expanding, and more distant objects are
receding ever more quickly, light emitted by us today may never "catch up" to very distant objects.
This defines a future horizon, which limits the events in the future that we will be able to influence.
The presence of either type of horizon depends on the details of the FLRW model that describes our
universe.[44]
Our understanding of the universe back to very early times suggests that there is a past horizon,
though in practice our view is also limited by the opacity of the universe at early times. So our view
cannot extend further backward in time, though the horizon recedes in space. If the expansion of the
universe continues to accelerate, there is a future horizon as well.[44]
Timeline of cosmological theories
Etymology
English astronomer Fred Hoyle is credited with coining the term "Big Bang" during a 1949 BBC radio
broadcast, saying: "These theories were based on the hypothesis that all the matter in the universe
was created in one big bang at a particular time in the remote past." [45]
It is popularly reported that Hoyle, who favored an alternative "steady state" cosmological model,
intended this to be pejorative,[46] but Hoyle explicitly denied this and said it was just a striking image
meant to highlight the difference between the two models. [47][48][49]:129
Development
Hubble eXtreme Deep Field (XDF)
XDF size compared to the size of the Moon (XDF is the small box to the left of, and nearly below, the Moon) –
several thousand galaxies, each consisting of billions of stars, are in this small view.
XDF (2012) view – each light speck is a galaxy – some of these are as old as 13.2 billion years [50] – the
universe is estimated to contain 200 billion galaxies.
XDF image shows fully mature galaxies in the foreground plane – nearly mature galaxies from 5 to 9 billion
years ago – protogalaxies, blazing with young stars, beyond 9 billion years.
The Big Bang theory developed from observations of the structure of the universe and from
theoretical considerations. In 1912, Vesto Sliphermeasured the first Doppler shift of a "spiral nebula"
(spiral nebula is the obsolete term for spiral galaxies), and soon discovered that almost all such
nebulae were receding from Earth. He did not grasp the cosmological implications of this fact, and
indeed at the time it was highly controversial whether or not these nebulae were "island universes"
outside our Milky Way.[51][52] Ten years later, Alexander Friedmann,
a Russian cosmologist and mathematician, derived the Friedmann equations from Albert Einstein's
equations of general relativity, showing that the universe might be expanding in contrast to the static
universe model advocated by Einstein at that time. [53] In 1924 Edwin Hubble's measurement of the
great distance to the nearest spiral nebulae showed that these systems were indeed other galaxies.
Independently deriving Friedmann's equations in 1927, Georges Lemaître, a Belgian physicist,
proposed that the inferred recession of the nebulae was due to the expansion of the universe. [54]
In 1931 Lemaître went further and suggested that the evident expansion of the universe, if projected
back in time, meant that the further in the past the smaller the universe was, until at some finite time
in the past all the mass of the universe was concentrated into a single point, a "primeval atom"
where and when the fabric of time and space came into existence. [55]
Starting in 1924, Hubble painstakingly developed a series of distance indicators, the forerunner of
the cosmic distance ladder, using the 100-inch (2.5 m) Hooker telescope at Mount Wilson
Observatory. This allowed him to estimate distances to galaxies whose redshifts had already been
measured, mostly by Slipher. In 1929 Hubble discovered a correlation between distance and
recession velocity—now known as Hubble's law.[23][56] Lemaître had already shown that this was
expected, given the cosmological principle.[13]
In the 1920s and 1930s almost every major cosmologist preferred an eternal steady state universe,
and several complained that the beginning of time implied by the Big Bang imported religious
concepts into physics; this objection was later repeated by supporters of the steady state theory.
[57]
This perception was enhanced by the fact that the originator of the Big Bang theory, Georges
Lemaître, was a Roman Catholic priest.[58] Arthur Eddington agreed with Aristotle that the universe
did not have a beginning in time, viz., that matter is eternal. A beginning in time was "repugnant" to
him.[59][60] Lemaître, however, thought that
If the world has begun with a single quantum, the notions of space and time would altogether fail to
have any meaning at the beginning; they would only begin to have a sensible meaning when the
original quantum had been divided into a sufficient number of quanta. If this suggestion is correct,
the beginning of the world happened a little before the beginning of space and time. [61]
During the 1930s other ideas were proposed as non-standard cosmologies to explain Hubble's
observations, including the Milne model,[62] the oscillatory universe (originally suggested by
Friedmann, but advocated by Albert Einstein and Richard Tolman)[63] and Fritz Zwicky's tired
lighthypothesis.[64]
After World War II, two distinct possibilities emerged. One was Fred Hoyle's steady state model,
whereby new matter would be created as the universe seemed to expand. In this model the universe
is roughly the same at any point in time. [65] The other was Lemaître's Big Bang theory, advocated and
developed by George Gamow, who introduced big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN)[66] and whose
associates, Ralph Alpher and Robert Herman, predicted the CMB.[67] Ironically, it was Hoyle who
coined the phrase that came to be applied to Lemaître's theory, referring to it as "this big bang idea"
during a BBC Radio broadcast in March 1949.[49][notes 3] For a while, support was split between these
two theories. Eventually, the observational evidence, most notably from radio source counts, began
to favor Big Bang over Steady State. The discovery and confirmation of the CMB in 1964 secured
the Big Bang as the best theory of the origin and evolution of the universe. [69] Much of the current
work in cosmology includes understanding how galaxies form in the context of the Big Bang,
understanding the physics of the universe at earlier and earlier times, and reconciling observations
with the basic theory.
In 1968 and 1970 Roger Penrose, Stephen Hawking, and George F. R. Ellis published papers where
they showed that mathematical singularities were an inevitable initial condition of general
relativistic models of the Big Bang.[70][71] Then, from the 1970s to the 1990s, cosmologists worked on
characterizing the features of the Big Bang universe and resolving outstanding problems. In
1981, Alan Guth made a breakthrough in theoretical work on resolving certain outstanding
theoretical problems in the Big Bang theory with the introduction of an epoch of rapid expansion in
the early universe he called "inflation".[72] Meanwhile, during these decades, two questions
in observational cosmology that generated much discussion and disagreement were over the
precise values of the Hubble Constant[73] and the matter-density of the universe (before the discovery
of dark energy, thought to be the key predictor for the eventual fate of the universe).[74]
In the mid-1990s, observations of certain globular clusters appeared to indicate that they were about
15 billion years old, which conflicted with most then-current estimates of the age of the universe (and
indeed with the age measured today). This issue was later resolved when new computer
simulations, which included the effects of mass loss due to stellar winds, indicated a much younger
age for globular clusters.[75] While there still remain some questions as to how accurately the ages of
the clusters are measured, globular clusters are of interest to cosmology as some of the oldest
objects in the universe.
Significant progress in Big Bang cosmology has been made since the late 1990s as a result of
advances in telescope technology as well as the analysis of data from satellites such as COBE,
[76]
the Hubble Space Telescope and WMAP.[77] Cosmologists now have fairly precise and accurate
measurements of many of the parameters of the Big Bang model, and have made the unexpected
discovery that the expansion of the universe appears to be accelerating.
Observational evidence
"[The] big bang picture is too firmly grounded in data from every area to be proved invalid in its general features."
[78]
Lawrence Krauss
The earliest and most direct observational evidence of the validity of the theory are the expansion of
the universe according to Hubble's law (as indicated by the redshifts of galaxies), discovery and
measurement of the cosmic microwave background and the relative abundances of light elements
produced by Big Bang nucleosynthesis. More recent evidence includes observations of galaxy
formation and evolution, and the distribution of large-scale cosmic structures,[79] These are
sometimes called the "four pillars" of the Big Bang theory. [80]
Precise modern models of the Big Bang appeal to various exotic physical phenomena that have not
been observed in terrestrial laboratory experiments or incorporated into the Standard
Model of particle physics. Of these features, dark matter is currently subjected to the most active
laboratory investigations.[81] Remaining issues include the cuspy halo problem and the dwarf galaxy
problem of cold dark matter. Dark energy is also an area of intense interest for scientists, but it is not
clear whether direct detection of dark energy will be possible. [82] Inflation and baryogenesis remain
more speculative features of current Big Bang models. Viable, quantitative explanations for such
phenomena are still being sought. These are currently unsolved problems in physics.
Hubble's law and the expansion of space
Main articles: Hubble's law and Metric expansion of space
Distance measures (cosmology) and Scale factor (universe)
Observations of distant galaxies and quasars show that these objects are redshifted—

the light emitted from them has been shifted to longer wavelengths. This can be seen by taking
a frequency spectrum of an object and matching the spectroscopic pattern of emission
lines or absorption lines corresponding to atoms of the chemical elements interacting with the light.
These redshifts are uniformly isotropic, distributed evenly among the observed objects in all
directions. If the redshift is interpreted as a Doppler shift, the recessional velocity of the object can
be calculated. For some galaxies, it is possible to estimate distances via the cosmic distance ladder.
When the recessional velocities are plotted against these distances, a linear relationship known as
Hubble's law is observed:[23] where
 is the recessional velocity of the galaxy or other distant object,
 is the comoving distance to the object, and
 is Hubble's constant, measured to be 70.4+1.3

−1.4 km/s/Mpc by the WMAP probe.[39]
Hubble's law has two possible explanations. Either we are at the center of an explosion of galaxies—
which is untenable given the Copernican principle—or the universe is uniformly
expanding everywhere. This universal expansion was predicted from general relativity by Alexander
Friedmann in 1922[53] and Georges Lemaître in 1927, [54] well before Hubble made his 1929 analysis
and observations, and it remains the cornerstone of the Big Bang theory as developed
by Friedmann, Lemaître, Robertson, and Walker.
The theory requires the relation to hold at all times, where is the comoving
distance, v is the recessional velocity, and and vary as the universe expands (hence we
write to denote the present-day Hubble "constant"). For distances much smaller than the size of
the observable universe, the Hubble redshift can be thought of as the Doppler shift corresponding to
the recession velocity . However, the redshift is not a true Doppler shift, but rather the result
of the expansion of the universe between the time the light was emitted and the time that it was
detected.[83]
That space is undergoing metric expansion is shown by direct observational evidence of
the Cosmological principle and the Copernican principle, which together with Hubble's law have no
other explanation. Astronomical redshifts are extremely isotropic and homogeneous,[23] supporting
the Cosmological principle that the universe looks the same in all directions, along with much other
evidence. If the redshifts were the result of an explosion from a center distant from us, they would
not be so similar in different directions.
Measurements of the effects of the cosmic microwave background radiation on the dynamics of
distant astrophysical systems in 2000 proved the Copernican principle, that, on a cosmological
scale, the Earth is not in a central position.[84] Radiation from the Big Bang was demonstrably warmer
at earlier times throughout the universe. Uniform cooling of the CMB over billions of years is
explainable only if the universe is experiencing a metric expansion, and excludes the possibility that
we are near the unique center of an explosion.
Cosmic microwave background radiation
Cosmic microwave background radiation
The cosmic microwave background spectrum measured by the FIRAS instrument on the COBE satellite is the
most-precisely measured black body spectrum in nature.[85] The data pointsand error bars on this graph are
obscured by the theoretical curve.
In 1964 Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson serendipitously discovered the cosmic background

radiation, an omnidirectional signal in the microwave band.[69] Their discovery provided substantial
confirmation of the big-bang predictions by Alpher, Herman and Gamow around 1950. Through the
1970s the radiation was found to be approximately consistent with a black body spectrum in all
directions; this spectrum has been redshifted by the expansion of the universe, and today
corresponds to approximately 2.725 K. This tipped the balance of evidence in favor of the Big Bang
model, and Penzias and Wilson were awarded a Nobel Prize in 1978.
The surface of last scattering corresponding to emission of the CMB occurs shortly
after recombination, the epoch when neutral hydrogen becomes stable. Prior to this, the universe
comprised a hot dense photon-baryon plasma sea where photons were quickly scattered from free
charged particles. Peaking at around 372±14 kyr,[38] the mean free path for a photon becomes long
enough to reach the present day and the universe becomes transparent.
9 year WMAP image of the cosmic microwave background radiation (2012).[86][87] The radiation is isotropicto

roughly one part in 100,000.[88]
In 1989, NASA launched the Cosmic Background Explorer satellite (COBE), which made two major

advances: in 1990, high-precision spectrum measurements showed that the CMB frequency
spectrum is an almost perfect blackbody with no deviations at a level of 1 part in 104, and measured
a residual temperature of 2.726 K (more recent measurements have revised this figure down slightly
to 2.7255 K); then in 1992, further COBE measurements discovered tiny fluctuations (anisotropies)
in the CMB temperature across the sky, at a level of about one part in 105.[76] John C.
Mather and George Smoot were awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics for their leadership in
these results.
During the following decade, CMB anisotropies were further investigated by a large number of
ground-based and balloon experiments. In 2000–2001 several experiments, most
notably BOOMERanG, found the shape of the universe to be spatially almost flat by measuring the
typical angular size (the size on the sky) of the anisotropies. [89][90][91]
In early 2003, the first results of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) were released,
yielding what were at the time the most accurate values for some of the cosmological parameters.
The results disproved several specific cosmic inflation models, but are consistent with the inflation
theory in general.[77] The Planck space probe was launched in May 2009. Other ground and balloon
based cosmic microwave background experiments are ongoing.
Abundance of primordial elements
Big Bang nucleosynthesis
Using the Big Bang model it is possible to calculate the concentration of helium-4, helium-3,
deuterium, and lithium-7 in the universe as ratios to the amount of ordinary hydrogen. [32]The relative
abundances depend on a single parameter, the ratio of photons to baryons. This value can be
calculated independently from the detailed structure of CMB fluctuations. The ratios predicted (by
mass, not by number) are about 0.25 for , about 10−3 for , about 10−4 for and
about 10−9 for .[32]

The measured abundances all agree at least roughly with those predicted from a single value of the
baryon-to-photon ratio. The agreement is excellent for deuterium, close but formally discrepant
for , and off by a factor of two for ; in the latter two cases there are substantial systematic
uncertainties. Nonetheless, the general consistency with abundances predicted by Big Bang
nucleosynthesis is strong evidence for the Big Bang, as the theory is the only known explanation for
the relative abundances of light elements, and it is virtually impossible to "tune" the Big Bang to
produce much more or less than 20–30% helium. [92] Indeed, there is no obvious reason outside of the
Big Bang that, for example, the young universe (i.e., before star formation, as determined by
studying matter supposedly free of stellar nucleosynthesis products) should have more helium than
deuterium or more deuterium than , and in constant ratios, too.[93]:182–185

Galactic evolution and distribution
Galaxy formation and evolution and Structure formation
Detailed observations of the morphology and distribution of galaxies and quasars are in agreement
with the current state of the Big Bang theory. A combination of observations and theory suggest that
the first quasars and galaxies formed about a billion years after the Big Bang, and since then, larger
structures have been forming, such as galaxy clusters and superclusters.[94]
Populations of stars have been aging and evolving, so that distant galaxies (which are observed as
they were in the early universe) appear very different from nearby galaxies (observed in a more
recent state). Moreover, galaxies that formed relatively recently, appear markedly different from
galaxies formed at similar distances but shortly after the Big Bang. These observations are strong
arguments against the steady-state model. Observations of star formation, galaxy and quasar
distributions and larger structures, agree well with Big Bang simulations of the formation of structure
in the universe, and are helping to complete details of the theory. [94][95]
Primordial gas clouds
Focal plane of BICEP2 telescopeunder a microscope - used to search for polarization in the CMB. [96][97][98][99]
In 2011, astronomers found what they believe to be pristine clouds of primordial gas by analyzing
absorption lines in the spectra of distant quasars. Before this discovery, all other astronomical
objects have been observed to contain heavy elements that are formed in stars. These two clouds of
gas contain no elements heavier than hydrogen and deuterium. [100][101] Since the clouds of gas have no
heavy elements, they likely formed in the first few minutes after the Big Bang, during Big Bang
nucleosynthesis.
Other lines of evidence
The age of the universe as estimated from the Hubble expansion and the CMB is now in good
agreement with other estimates using the ages of the oldest stars, both as measured by applying the
theory of stellar evolution to globular clusters and through radiometric dating of individual Population
II stars.[102]
The prediction that the CMB temperature was higher in the past has been experimentally supported
by observations of very low temperature absorption lines in gas clouds at high redshift. [103] This
prediction also implies that the amplitude of the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect in clusters of
galaxies does not depend directly on redshift. Observations have found this to be roughly true, but
this effect depends on cluster properties that do change with cosmic time, making precise
measurements difficult.[104][105]
Future observations
Future gravitational waves observatories might be able to detect primordial gravitational waves,
relics of the early universe, up to less than a second after the Big Bang. [106][107]
Problems and related issues in physics

See also: List of unsolved problems in physics
As with any theory, a number of mysteries and problems have arisen as a result of the development
of the Big Bang theory. Some of these mysteries and problems have been resolved while others are
still outstanding. Proposed solutions to some of the problems in the Big Bang model have revealed
new mysteries of their own. For example, the horizon problem, the magnetic monopole problem, and
the flatness problem are most commonly resolved with inflationary theory, but the details of the
inflationary universe are still left unresolved and many, including some founders of the theory, say it
has been disproven.[108][109][110][111] What follows are a list of the mysterious aspects of the Big Bang
theory still under intense investigation by cosmologists and astrophysicists.
Baryon asymmetry
It is not yet understood why the universe has more matter than antimatter. [112] It is generally assumed
that when the universe was young and very hot it was in statistical equilibrium and contained equal
numbers of baryons and antibaryons. However, observations suggest that the universe, including its
most distant parts, is made almost entirely of matter. A process called baryogenesis was
hypothesized to account for the asymmetry. For baryogenesis to occur, the Sakharov
conditions must be satisfied. These require that baryon number is not conserved, that C-
symmetry and CP-symmetry are violated and that the universe depart from thermodynamic
equilibrium.[113] All these conditions occur in the Standard Model, but the effects are not strong
enough to explain the present baryon asymmetry.
Dark energy
Measurements of the redshift–magnitude relation for type Ia supernovae indicate that the expansion
of the universe has been accelerating since the universe was about half its present age. To explain
this acceleration, general relativity requires that much of the energy in the universe consists of a
component with large negative pressure, dubbed "dark energy".[13]
Dark energy, though speculative, solves numerous problems. Measurements of the cosmic
microwave background indicate that the universe is very nearly spatially flat, and therefore according
to general relativity the universe must have almost exactly the critical density of mass/energy. But
the mass density of the universe can be measured from its gravitational clustering, and is found to
have only about 30% of the critical density.[13] Since theory suggests that dark energy does not
cluster in the usual way it is the best explanation for the "missing" energy density. Dark energy also
helps to explain two geometrical measures of the overall curvature of the universe, one using the
frequency of gravitational lenses, and the other using the characteristic pattern of the large-scale
structure as a cosmic ruler.
Negative pressure is believed to be a property of vacuum energy, but the exact nature and existence
of dark energy remains one of the great mysteries of the Big Bang. Results from the WMAP team in
2008 are in accordance with a universe that consists of 73% dark energy, 23% dark matter, 4.6%
regular matter and less than 1% neutrinos.[39] According to theory, the energy density in matter
decreases with the expansion of the universe, but the dark energy density remains constant (or
nearly so) as the universe expands. Therefore, matter made up a larger fraction of the total energy
of the universe in the past than it does today, but its fractional contribution will fall in the far future as
dark energy becomes even more dominant.
The dark energy component of the universe has been explained by theorists using a variety of
competing theories including Einstein's cosmological constant but also extending to more exotic
forms of quintessence or other modified gravity schemes.[114] A cosmological constant problem,
sometimes called the "most embarrassing problem in physics", results from the apparent
discrepancy between the measured energy density of dark energy, and the one naively predicted
from Planck units.[115]
Dark matter
Dark matter
Chart shows the proportion of different components of the universe – about 95% is dark matter and dark
energy.
During the 1970s and the 1980s, various observations showed that there is not sufficient visible
matter in the universe to account for the apparent strength of gravitational forces within and between
galaxies. This led to the idea that up to 90% of the matter in the universe is dark matter that does not
emit light or interact with normal baryonic matter. In addition, the assumption that the universe is
mostly normal matter led to predictions that were strongly inconsistent with observations. In
particular, the universe today is far more lumpy and contains far less deuterium than can be
accounted for without dark matter. While dark matter has always been controversial, it is inferred by
various observations: the anisotropies in the CMB, galaxy cluster velocity dispersions, large-scale
structure distributions, gravitational lensing studies, and X-ray measurements of galaxy clusters.[116]
Indirect evidence for dark matter comes from its gravitational influence on other matter, as no dark
matter particles have been observed in laboratories. Many particle physics candidates for dark
matter have been proposed, and several projects to detect them directly are underway. [117]
Additionally, there are outstanding problems associated with the currently favored cold dark
matter model which include the dwarf galaxy problem[118] and the cuspy halo problem.[119] Alternative
theories have been proposed that do not require a large amount of undetected matter, but instead
modify the laws of gravity established by Newton and Einstein; yet no alternative theory has been as
successful as the cold dark matter proposal in explaining all extant observations. [120]
Horizon problem
The horizon problem results from the premise that information cannot travel faster than light. In a
universe of finite age this sets a limit—the particle horizon—on the separation of any two regions of
space that are in causal contact.[121] The observed isotropy of the CMB is problematic in this regard: if
the universe had been dominated by radiation or matter at all times up to the epoch of last
scattering, the particle horizon at that time would correspond to about 2 degrees on the sky. There
would then be no mechanism to cause wider regions to have the same temperature. [93]:191–202
A resolution to this apparent inconsistency is offered by inflationary theory in which a homogeneous
and isotropic scalar energy field dominates the universe at some very early period (before
baryogenesis). During inflation, the universe undergoes exponential expansion, and the particle
horizon expands much more rapidly than previously assumed, so that regions presently on opposite
sides of the observable universe are well inside each other's particle horizon. The observed isotropy
of the CMB then follows from the fact that this larger region was in causal contact before the
beginning of inflation.[28]:180–186
Heisenberg's uncertainty principle predicts that during the inflationary phase there would be quantum
thermal fluctuations, which would be magnified to cosmic scale. These fluctuations serve as the
seeds of all current structure in the universe.[93]:207 Inflation predicts that the primordial fluctuations are
nearly scale invariant and Gaussian, which has been accurately confirmed by measurements of the
CMB.[122]:sec 6
If inflation occurred, exponential expansion would push large regions of space well beyond our
observable horizon.[28]:180–186
A related issue to the classic horizon problem arises because in most standard cosmological
inflation models, inflation ceases well before electroweak symmetry breaking occurs, so inflation
should not be able to prevent large-scale discontinuities in the electroweak vacuum since distant
parts of the observable universe were causally separate when the electroweak epoch ended.[123]
Magnetic monopoles
The magnetic monopole objection was raised in the late 1970s. Grand unified
theories predicted topological defects in space that would manifest as magnetic monopoles. These
objects would be produced efficiently in the hot early universe, resulting in a density much higher
than is consistent with observations, given that no monopoles have been found. This problem is also
resolved by cosmic inflation, which removes all point defects from the observable universe, in the
same way that it drives the geometry to flatness.[121]
Flatness problem
The overall geometry of the universe is determined by whether the Omega cosmological parameter is less
than, equal to or greater than 1. Shown from top to bottom are a closed universe with positive curvature,
a hyperbolic universe with negative curvature and a flat universe with zero curvature.
The flatness problem (also known as the oldness problem) is an observational problem associated

with a Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker metric (FLRW).[121] The universe may have positive,
negative, or zero spatial curvaturedepending on its total energy density. Curvature is negative if its
density is less than the critical density; positive if greater; and zero at the critical density, in which
case space is said to be flat.
The problem is that any small departure from the critical density grows with time, and yet the
universe today remains very close to flat.[notes 4] Given that a natural timescale for departure from
flatness might be the Planck time, 10−43 seconds,[7]the fact that the universe has reached neither
a heat death nor a Big Crunch after billions of years requires an explanation. For instance, even at
the relatively late age of a few minutes (the time of nucleosynthesis), the density of the universe
must have been within one part in 1014 of its critical value, or it would not exist as it does today. [124]
Cause
Problem of why there is anything at all
Physics may conclude that time did not 'exist' before the Big Bang, but 'started' with the Big Bang
and hence there might be no 'beginning', 'before' or potentially 'cause', and, instead, the pre-Big
Bang universe always existed.[125][126] Quantum fluctuations, or other laws of physics that may have
existed at the start of the Big Bang could then create the conditions for matter to occur.
Ultimate fate of the universe

Ultimate fate of the universe
Before observations of dark energy, cosmologists considered two scenarios for the future of the
universe. If the mass density of the universe were greater than the critical density, then the universe
would reach a maximum size and then begin to collapse. It would become denser and hotter again,
ending with a state similar to that in which it started—a Big Crunch.[44]
Alternatively, if the density in the universe were equal to or below the critical density, the expansion
would slow down but never stop. Star formation would cease with the consumption of interstellar gas
in each galaxy; stars would burn out, leaving white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes. Very
gradually, collisions between these would result in mass accumulating into larger and larger black
holes. The average temperature of the universe would asymptotically approach absolute zero—a Big
Freeze.[127] Moreover, if the proton were unstable, then baryonic matter would disappear, leaving only
radiation and black holes. Eventually, black holes would evaporate by emitting Hawking radiation.
The entropy of the universe would increase to the point where no organized form of energy could be
extracted from it, a scenario known as heat death. [128]:sec VI.D
Modern observations of accelerating expansion imply that more and more of the currently visible
universe will pass beyond our event horizon and out of contact with us. The eventual result is not
known. The ΛCDM model of the universe contains dark energy in the form of a cosmological
constant. This theory suggests that only gravitationally bound systems, such as galaxies, will remain
together, and they too will be subject to heat death as the universe expands and cools. Other
explanations of dark energy, called phantom energy theories, suggest that ultimately galaxy clusters,
stars, planets, atoms, nuclei, and matter itself will be torn apart by the ever-increasing expansion in a
so-called Big Rip.[129]
Misconceptions
The following is a partial list of misconceptions about the Big Bang model:
The Big Bang as the origin of the universe: One of the common misconceptions about the Big Bang
model is the belief that it was the origin of the universe. However, the Big Bang model does not
comment about how the universe came into being. The current conception of the Big Bang model
assumes the existence of energy, time, and space and does not comment about their origin or the
cause of the dense and high-temperature initial state of the universe. [130]
The Big Bang was "small": It is misleading to visualize the Big Bang by comparing its size to
everyday objects. When the size of the universe at Big Bang is described, it refers to the size of the
observable universe, and not the entire universe. [131]
Hubble's law violates the special theory of relativity: Hubble's law predicts that galaxies that are
beyond Hubble Distance recede faster than the speed of light. However, special relativity does not
apply beyond motion through space. Hubble's law describes velocity that results from
expansion of space, rather than through space.[131]
Doppler redshift vs cosmological red-shift: Astronomers often refer to the cosmological red-shift as a
normal Doppler shift,[131] which is a misconception. Although similar, the cosmological red-shift is not
identical to the Doppler redshift. The Doppler redshift is based on special relativity, which does not
consider the expansion of space. On the contrary, the cosmological red-shift is based on general
relativity, in which the expansion of space is considered. Although they may appear identical for
nearby galaxies, it may cause confusion if the behavior of distant galaxies is understood through the
Doppler redshift.[131]
Speculations
Cosmogony
While the Big Bang model is well established in cosmology, it is likely to be refined. The Big Bang
theory, built upon the equations of classical general relativity, indicates a singularityat the origin of
cosmic time; this infinite energy density is regarded as impossible in physics. Still, it is known that
the equations are not applicable before the time when the universe cooled down to the Planck
temperature, and this conclusion depends on various assumptions, of which some could never be
experimentally verified. (Also see Planck epoch.)
One proposed refinement to avoid this would-be singularity is to develop a correct treatment
of quantum gravity.[132]
It is not known what could have preceded the hot dense state of the early universe or how and why it
originated, though speculation abounds in the field of cosmogony.
Some proposals, each of which entails untested hypotheses, are:
 Models including the Hartle–Hawking no-boundary condition, in which the whole of space-

time is finite; the Big Bang does represent the limit of time but without any singularity. [133]
 Big Bang lattice model, states that the universe at the moment of the Big Bang consists of an
infinite lattice of fermions, which is smeared over the fundamental domain so it has rotational,
translational and gauge symmetry. The symmetry is the largest symmetry possible and hence
the lowest entropy of any state.[134]
 Brane cosmology models, in which inflation is due to the movement of branes in string
theory; the pre-Big Bang model; the ekpyrotic model, in which the Big Bang is the result of a
collision between branes; and the cyclic model, a variant of the ekpyrotic model in which
collisions occur periodically. In the latter model the Big Bang was preceded by a Big Crunch and
the universe cycles from one process to the other. [135][136][137][138]
 Eternal inflation, in which universal inflation ends locally here and there in a random fashion,
each end-point leading to a bubble universe, expanding from its own big bang.[139][140]
Proposals in the last two categories see the Big Bang as an event in either a much larger and older
universe or in a multiverse.
Religious and philosophical interpretations

Religious interpretations of the Big Bang theory
As a description of the origin of the universe, the Big Bang has significant bearing on religion and
philosophy.[141][142] As a result, it has become one of the liveliest areas in the discourse
between science and religion.[143] Some believe the Big Bang implies a creator,[144][145] and some see its
mention in their holy books,[146] while others argue that Big Bang cosmology makes the notion of a
creator superfluous.[142][147]
LORENTZ TRANSFORMATIONS
Lorentz transformation
Many physicists—including Woldemar Voigt, George FitzGerald, Joseph Larmor, and Hendrik Lorentz[3] himself—had
been discussing the physics implied by these equations since 1887.[4] Early in 1889, Oliver Heaviside had shown
from Maxwell's equations that the electric field surrounding a spherical distribution of charge should cease to
have spherical symmetry once the charge is in motion relative to the aether. FitzGerald then conjectured that
Heaviside’s distortion result might be applied to a theory of intermolecular forces. Some months later, FitzGerald
published the conjecture that bodies in motion are being contracted, in order to explain the baffling outcome of the
1887 aether-wind experiment of Michelson and Morley. In 1892, Lorentz independently presented the same idea in a
more detailed manner, which was subsequently called FitzGerald–Lorentz contraction hypothesis.[5] Their explanation
was widely known before 1905.[6]
Lorentz (1892–1904) and Larmor (1897–1900), who believed the luminiferous aether hypothesis, also looked for the
transformation under which Maxwell's equationsare invariant when transformed from the aether to a moving frame.
They extended the FitzGerald–Lorentz contraction hypothesis and found out that the time coordinate has to be
modified as well ("local time"). Henri Poincaré gave a physical interpretation to local time (to first order in v/c, the
relative velocity of the two reference frames normalized to the speed of light) as the consequence of clock
synchronization, under the assumption that the speed of light is constant in moving frames.[7] Larmor is credited to
have been the first to understand the crucial time dilation property inherent in his equations.[8]
In 1905, Poincaré was the first to recognize that the transformation has the properties of a mathematical group, and
named it after Lorentz.[9] Later in the same year Albert Einstein published what is now called special relativity, by
deriving the Lorentz transformation under the assumptions of the principle of relativity and the constancy of the speed
of light in any inertial reference frame, and by abandoning the mechanistic aether as unnecessary.
In physics, the Lorentz transformations are a one-parameter family of linear transformations from

a coordinate frame in space time to another frame that moves at a constant velocity, the parameter,
within the former. The transformations are named after the Dutch physicist Hendrik Lorentz. The
respective inverse transformation is then parametrized by the negative of this velocity.
Part of a series on
Spacetime
The most common form of the transformation, parametrized by the real constant representing a
velocity confined to the x-direction, is expressed as [1]
where (t, x, y, z) and (t′, x′, y′, z′) are the coordinates of an event in two frames, where the primed

frame is seen from the unprimed frame as moving with speed v along the x-axis, c is the speed
of light, and is the Lorentz factor.
Expressing the speed as an equivalent form of the transformation is [2]
Frames of reference can be divided into two groups: inertial (relative motion with constant velocity)
and non-inertial (accelerating, moving in curved paths, rotational motion with constant angular
velocity, etc.). The term "Lorentz transformations" only refers to transformations
between inertial frames, usually in the context of special relativity.
In each reference frame, an observer can use a local coordinate system (most exclusively Cartesian
coordinates in this context) to measure lengths, and a clock to measure time intervals. An observer
is a real or imaginary entity that can take measurements, say humans, or any other living organism
—or even robots and computers. An event is something that happens at a point in space at an
instant of time, or more formally a point in spacetime. The transformations connect the space and
time coordinates of an event as measured by an observer in each frame. [nb 1]
They supersede the Galilean transformation of Newtonian physics, which assumes an absolute

space and time (see Galilean relativity). The Galilean transformation is a good approximation only at
relative speeds much smaller than the speed of light. Lorentz transformations have a number of
unintuitive features that do not appear in Galilean transformations. For example, they reflect the fact
that observers moving at different velocities may measure different distances, elapsed times, and
even different orderings of events, but always such that the speed of light is the same in all inertial
reference frames. The invariance of light speed is one of the postulates of special relativity.
Historically, the transformations were the result of attempts by Lorentz and others to explain how the
speed of light was observed to be independent of the reference frame, and to understand the
symmetries of the laws of electromagnetism. The Lorentz transformation is in accordance
with special relativity, but was derived before special relativity.
The Lorentz transformation is a linear transformation. It may include a rotation of space; a rotation-
free Lorentz transformation is called a Lorentz boost. In Minkowski space, the mathematical model
of spacetime in special relativity, the Lorentz transformations preserve the spacetime
interval between any two events. This property is the defining property of a Lorentz transformation.
They describe only the transformations in which the spacetime event at the origin is left fixed. They
can be considered as a hyperbolic rotation of Minkowski space. The more general set of
transformations that also includes translations is known as the Poincaré group.
Derivation of the group of Lorentz transformations

Main articles: Derivations of the Lorentz transformations and Lorentz group
An event is something that happens at a certain point in spacetime, or more generally, the point in spacetime itself. In
any inertial frame an event is specified by a time coordinate ct and a set of Cartesian coordinates x, y, z to specify
position in space in that frame. Subscripts label individual events.
From Einstein's second postulate of relativity follows
(D1)

in all inertial frames for events connected by light signals. The quantity on the left is called the spacetime
interval between events a1 = (t1, x1, y1, z1) and a2 = (t2, x2, y2, z2). The interval between any two events, not
necessarily separated by light signals, is in fact invariant, i.e., independent of the state of relative motion of observers
in different inertial frames, as is shown using homogeneity and isotropy of space. The transformation sought after
thus must possess the property that
(D2)

where (ct, x, y, z) are the spacetime coordinates used to define events in one frame, and (ct′, x′, y′, z′) are the
coordinates in another frame. First one observes that (D2) is satisfied if an arbitrary 4-tuple b of numbers are added
to events a1 and a2. Such transformations are called spacetime translations and are not dealt with further here. Then
one observes that a linear solution preserving the origin of the simpler problem

(D3)
solves the general problem too. (A solution satisfying the left formula automatically satisfies the right formula,
see polarization identity.) Finding the solution to the simpler problem is just a matter of look-up in the theory
of classical groups that preserve bilinear forms of various signature.[nb 2]. First equation in (D3) can be written more
compactly as

(D4
)

where (·, ·) refers to the bilinear form of signature (1, 3) on ℝ4 exposed by the right hand side formula in (D3). The
alternative notation defined on the right is referred to as the relativistic dot product. Spacetime mathematically viewed
as ℝ4 endowed with this bilinear form is known as Minkowski space M. The Lorentz transformation is thus an
element of the group Lorentz group O(1, 3), the Lorentz group or, for those that prefer the other metric
signature, O(3, 1) (also called the Lorentz group).[nb 3] One has
(D5)

which is precisely preservation of the bilinear form (D3) which implies (by linearity of Λ and bilinearity of the form)
that (D2) is satisfied. The elements of the Lorentz group are rotations and boosts and mixes thereof. If the spacetime
translations are included, then one obtains the inhomogeneous Lorentz group or the Poincaré group.
Generalities
The relations between the primed and unprimed spacetime coordinates are the Lorentz transformations, each
coordinate in one frame is a linear function of all the coordinates in the other frame, and the inverse functions are the
inverse transformation. Depending on how the frames move relative to each other, and how they are oriented in
space relative to each other, other parameters that describe direction, speed, and orientation enter the transformation
equations.
Transformations describing relative motion with constant (uniform) velocity and without rotation of the space
coordinate axes are called boosts, and the relative velocity between the frames is the parameter of the
transformation. The other basic type of Lorentz transformations is rotations in the spatial coordinates only, these are
also inertial frames since there is no relative motion, the frames are simply tilted (and not continuously rotating), and
in this case quantities defining the rotation are the parameters of the transformation (e.g., axis–angle representation,
or Euler angles, etc.). A combination of a rotation and boost is a homogeneous transformation, which transforms the
origin back to the origin.
The full Lorentz group O(3, 1) also contains special transformations that are neither rotations nor boosts, but
rather reflections in a plane through the origin. Two of these can be singled out; spatial inversion in which the spatial
coordinates of all events are reversed in sign and temporal inversion in which the time coordinate for each event gets
its sign reversed.
Boosts should not be conflated with mere displacements in spacetime; in this case, the coordinate systems are
simply shifted and there is no relative motion. However, these also count as symmetries forced by special relativity
since they leave the spacetime interval invariant. A combination of a rotation with a boost, followed by a shift in
spacetime, is an inhomogeneous Lorentz transformation, an element of the Poincaré group, which is also called the
inhomogeneous Lorentz group.
Physical formulation of Lorentz boosts

Derivations of the Lorentz transformations
Coordinate transformation
A "stationary" observer in frame F defines events with coordinates t, x, y, z. Another frame F′ moves with
velocity v relative to F, and an observer in this "moving" frame F′ defines events using the coordinates t′, x′, y′, z′.
The coordinate axes in each frame are parallel (the x and x′ axes are parallel, the y and y′ axes are parallel, and
the z and z′ axes are parallel), remain mutually perpendicular, and relative motion is along the coincident xx′ axes.
At t = t′ = 0, the origins of both coordinate systems are the same, (x, y, z) = (x′, y′, z′) = (0, 0, 0). In other words,
the times and positions are coincident at this event. If all these hold, then the coordinate systems are said to be
in standard configuration, or synchronized.
The spacetime coordinates of an event, as measured by each observer in their inertial reference frame (in standard configuration) are shown
in the speech bubbles.
Top: frame F′ moves at velocity v along the x-axis of frame F.
Bottom: frame F moves at velocity −v along the x′-axis of frame F′

.[11]
If an observer in F records an event t, x, y, z, then an observer in F′ records the same event with coordinates

[12]
where v is the relative velocity between frames in the x-direction, c is the speed of light, and
(lowercase gamma) is the Lorentz factor.

Here, v is the parameter of the transformation, for a given boost it is a constant number, but can take a continuous
range of values. In the setup used here, positive relative velocity v > 0 is motion along the positive directions of
the xx′ axes, zero relative velocity v = 0 is no relative motion, while negative relative velocity v < 0 is relative motion
along the negative directions of the xx′ axes. The magnitude of relative velocity v cannot equal or exceed c, so only
subluminal speeds −c < v < c are allowed. The corresponding range of γ is 1 ≤ γ < ∞.
The transformations are not defined if v is outside these limits. At the speed of light (v = c) γ is infinite, and faster
than light (v > c) γ is a complex number, each of which make the transformations unphysical. The space and time
coordinates are measurable quantities and numerically must be real numbers.
As an active transformation, an observer in F′ notices the coordinates of the event to be "boosted" in the negative
directions of the xx′ axes, because of the −v in the transformations. This has the equivalent effect of the coordinate
system F′ boosted in the positive directions of the xx′ axes, while the event does not change and is simply
represented in another coordinate system, a passive transformation.
The inverse relations (t, x, y, z in terms of t′, x′, y′, z′) can be found by algebraically solving the original set of
equations. A more efficient way is to use physical principles. Here F′ is the "stationary" frame while F is the "moving"
frame. According to the principle of relativity, there is no privileged frame of reference, so the transformations from F
′ to F must take exactly the same form as the transformations from F to F′. The only difference is F moves with
velocity −v relative to F′ (i.e., the relative velocity has the same magnitude but is oppositely directed). Thus if an
observer in F′ notes an event t′, x′, y′, z′, then an observer in F notes the sameevent with coordinates
and the value of γ remains unchanged. This "trick" of simply reversing the direction of relative velocity while
preserving its magnitude, and exchanging primed and unprimed variables, always applies to finding the inverse
transformation of every boost in any direction.
Sometimes it is more convenient to use β = v/c (lowercase beta) instead of v, so that
which shows much more clearly the symmetry in the transformation. From the allowed ranges of v and the definition
of β, it follows −1 < β < 1. The use of β and γ is standard throughout the literature.
The Lorentz transformations can also be derived in a way that resembles circular rotations in 3d space using
the hyperbolic functions. For the boost in the x direction, the results are
where ζ (lowercase zeta) is a parameter called rapidity (many other symbols are used, including θ, ϕ, φ, η, ψ, ξ).

Given the strong resemblance to rotations of spatial coordinates in 3d space in the Cartesian xy, yz, and zx planes, a
Lorentz boost can be thought of as a hyperbolic rotation of spacetime coordinates in the xt, yt, and zt Cartesian-time
planes of 4d Minkowski space. The parameter ζ is the hyperbolic angle of rotation, analogous to the ordinary angle
for circular rotations. This transformation can be illustrated with a Minkowski diagram.
The hyperbolic functions arise from the difference between the squares of the time and spatial coordinates in the
spacetime interval, rather than a sum. The geometric significance of the hyperbolic functions can be visualized by
taking x = 0 or ct = 0 in the transformations. Squaring and subtracting the results, one can derive hyperbolic curves
of constant coordinate values but varying ζ, which parametrizes the curves according to the identity
Conversely the ct and x axes can be constructed for varying coordinates but constant ζ. The definition
provides the link between a constant value of rapidity, and the slope of the ct axis in spacetime. A consequence
these two hyperbolic formulae is an identity that matches the Lorentz factor
Comparing the Lorentz transformations in terms of the relative velocity and rapidity, or using the above formulae, the
connections between β, γ, and ζ are
Taking the inverse hyperbolic tangent gives the rapidity
Since −1 < β < 1, it follows −∞ < ζ < ∞. From the relation between ζ and β, positive rapidity ζ > 0 is motion along
the positive directions of the xx′ axes, zero rapidity ζ = 0 is no relative motion, while negative rapidity ζ < 0 is relative
motion along the negative directions of the xx′ axes.
The inverse transformations are obtained by exchanging primed and unprimed quantities to switch the coordinate
frames, and negating rapidity ζ → −ζ since this is equivalent to negating the relative velocity. Therefore,
The inverse transformations can be similarly visualized by considering the cases when x′ = 0 and ct′ = 0.
So far the Lorentz transformations have been applied to one event. If there are two events, there is a spatial
separation and time interval between them. It follows from the linearity of the Lorentz transformations that two values
of space and time coordinates can be chosen, the Lorentz transformations can be applied to each, then subtracted to
get the Lorentz transformations of the differences;
with inverse relations
where Δ (uppercase delta) indicates a difference of quantities; e.g., Δx = x2 − x1 for two values of x coordinates, and

so on.
These transformations on differences rather than spatial points or instants of time are useful for a number of reasons:
 in calculations and experiments, it is lengths between two points or time intervals that are
measured or of interest (e.g., the length of a moving vehicle, or time duration it takes to travel
from one place to another),
 the transformations of velocity can be readily derived by making the difference
infinitesimally small and dividing the equations, and the process repeated for the transformation
of acceleration,
 if the coordinate systems are never coincident (i.e., not in standard configuration), and if both
observers can agree on an event t0, x0, y0, z0 in F and t0′, x0′, y0′, z0′in F′, then they can use that event
as the origin, and the spacetime coordinate differences are the differences between their
coordinates and this origin, e.g., Δx = x − x0, Δx′ = x′ − x0′, etc.
Physical implications
A critical requirement of the Lorentz transformations is the invariance of the speed of light, a fact used in their
derivation, and contained in the transformations themselves. If in F the equation for a pulse of light along
the x direction is x = ct, then in F′ the Lorentz transformations give x′ = ct′, and vice versa, for any −c < v < c.
For relative speeds much less than the speed of light, the Lorentz transformations reduce to the Galilean
transformation
in accordance with the correspondence principle. It is sometimes said that nonrelativistic physics is a physics of
"instantaneous action at a distance".[13]
Three counterintuitive, but correct, predictions of the transformations are:
Relativity of simultaneity
Suppose two events occur simultaneously (Δt = 0) along the x axis, but separated by a nonzero displacement Δx.
Then in F′, we find that so the events are no longer simultaneous according to a moving
observer.
Time dilation
Suppose there is a clock at rest in F. If a time interval is measured at the same point in that frame, so that Δx = 0,
then the transformations give this interval in F′ by Δt′ = γΔt. Conversely, suppose there is a clock at rest in F′. If an
interval is measured at the same point in that frame, so that Δx′ = 0, then the transformations give this interval in F
by Δt = γΔt′. Either way, each observer measures the time interval between ticks of a moving clock to be longer by a
factor γ than the time interval between ticks of his own clock.
Length contraction
Suppose there is a rod at rest in F aligned along the x axis, with length Δx. In F′, the rod moves with velocity -v, so its
length must be measured by taking two simultaneous (Δt′ = 0) measurements at opposite ends. Under these
conditions, the inverse Lorentz transform shows that Δx = γΔx′. In F the two measurements are no longer
simultaneous, but this does not matter because the rod is at rest in F. So each observer measures the distance
between the end points of a moving rod to be shorter by a factor 1/γ than the end points of an identical rod at rest in
his own frame. Length contraction affects any geometric quantity related to lengths, so from the perspective of a
moving observer, areas and volumes will also appear to shrink along the direction of motion.
Vector transformations
Euclidean vector and vector projection
The use of vectors allows positions and velocities to be expressed in arbitrary directions compactly. A single boost in
any direction depends on the full relative velocity vector v with a magnitude |v| = v that cannot equal or exceed c, so
that 0 ≤ v < c.
Only time and the coordinates parallel to the direction of relative motion change, while those coordinates
perpendicular do not. With this in mind, split the spatial position vector r as measured in F, and r′ as measured in F′,
each into components perpendicular (⊥) and parallel ( ‖ ) to v,
then the transformations are
where · is the dot product. The Lorentz factor γ retains its definition for a boost in any direction, since it
depends only on the magnitude of the relative velocity. The definition β = v/c with magnitude 0 ≤ β < 1 is
also used by some authors.
Introducing a unit vector n = v/v = β/β in the direction of relative motion, the relative velocity is v = vn with
magnitude v and direction n, and vector projection and rejection give respectively
Accumulating the results gives the full transformations,
The projection and rejection also applies to r′. For the inverse transformations, exchange r and r′ to switch observed
coordinates, and negate the relative velocity v → −v (or simply the unit vector n → −n since the magnitude v is
always positive) to obtain
The unit vector has the advantage of simplifying equations for a single boost, allows either v or β to be reinstated
when convenient, and the rapidity parametrization is immediately obtained by replacing β and βγ. It is not convenient
for multiple boosts.
The vectorial relation between relative velocity and rapidity is
[14]
and the "rapidity vector" can be defined as
each of which serves as a useful abbreviation in some contexts. The magnitude of ζ is the absolute value of the
rapidity scalar confined to 0 ≤ ζ < ∞, which agrees with the range 0 ≤ β < 1.
An observer in frame F observes F′ to move with velocity v, while F′ observes F to move with

velocity −v. The coordinate axes of each frame are still parallel and orthogonal. The position vector as
measured in each frame is split into components parallel and perpendicular to the relative velocity
vector v. Left: Standard configuration. Right: Inverse configuration.

Transformation of velocities
differential of a function and velocity addition formula
Defining the coordinate velocities and Lorentz factor by
taking the differentials in the coordinates and time of the vector transformations, then dividing equations, leads to
The velocities u and u′ are the velocity of some massive object. They can also be for a third inertial frame (say F′′), in
which case they must be constant. Denote either entity by X. Then X moves with velocity u relative to F, or
equivalently with velocity u′ relative to F′, in turn F′ moves with velocity v relative to F. The inverse transformations
can be obtained in a similar way, or as with position coordinates exchange u and u′, and change v to −v.
The transformation of velocity is useful in stellar aberration, the Fizeau experiment, and the relativistic Doppler effect.
The Lorentz transformations of acceleration can be similarly obtained by taking differentials in the velocity vectors,
and dividing these by the time differential.
The transformation of velocities provides the definition relativistic velocity addition ⊕, the ordering of
vectors is chosen to reflect the ordering of the addition of velocities; first v (the velocity of F′ relative to F)
then u′ (the velocity of X relative to F′) to obtain u = v ⊕ u′ (the velocity of X relative to F).

Lorentz transformation of velocity including velocity addition
Transformation of other quantities

In general, given four quantities A and Z = (Zx, Zy, Zz) and their Lorentz-boosted counterparts A′ and Z′ = (Z′x, Z
′y, Z′z), a relation of the form
implies the quantities transform under Lorentz transformations similar to the transformation of spacetime coordinates;
The decomposition of Z (and Z′) into components perpendicular and parallel to v is exactly the same as for the
position vector, as is the process of obtaining the inverse transformations (exchange (A, Z) and (A′, Z′) to switch
observed quantities, and reverse the direction of relative motion by the substitution n ↦ −n).
The quantities (A, Z) collectively make up a four vector, where A is the "timelike component", and Z the "spacelike
component". Examples of A and Z are the following:
For a given object (e.g., particle, fluid, field, material), if A or Z correspond to properties specific to the object like
its charge density, mass density, spin, etc., its properties can be fixed in the rest frame of that object. Then the
Lorentz transformations give the corresponding properties in a frame moving relative to the object with constant
velocity. This breaks some notions taken for granted in non-relativistic physics. For example, the energy E of an
object is a scalar in non-relativistic mechanics, but not in relativistic mechanics because energy changes under
Lorentz transformations; its value is different for various inertial frames. In the rest frame of an object, it has a rest
energy and zero momentum. In a boosted frame its energy is different and it appears to have a momentum. Similarly,
in non-relativistic quantum mechanics the spin of a particle is a constant vector, but in relativistic quantum
mechanics spin s depends on relative motion. In the rest frame of the particle, the spin pseudovector can be fixed to
be its ordinary non-relativistic spin with a zero timelike quantity st, however a boosted observer will perceive a
nonzero timelike component and an altered spin.[15]
Not all quantities are invariant in the form as shown above, for example orbital angular momentum L does not have a
timelike quantity, and neither does the electric field E nor the magnetic field B. The definition of angular momentum
is L = r × p, and in a boosted frame the altered angular momentum is L′ = r′ × p′. Applying this definition using the
transformations of coordinates and momentum leads to the transformation of angular momentum. It turns
out L transforms with another vector quantity N = (E/c2)r − tp related to boosts, see relativistic angular
momentum for details. For the case of the E and B fields, the transformations cannot be obtained as directly using
vector algebra. The Lorentz force is the definition of these fields, and in F it is F = q(E + v × B) while in F′ it is F′
= q(E′ + v′ × B′). A method of deriving the EM field transformations in an efficient way which also illustrates the unit
of the electromagnetic field uses tensor algebra, given below.
Mathematical formulation
Lorentz group
Matrix (mathematics), matrix product, linear algebra, and rotation formalisms in three dimensions

In physics and mathematics, the Lorentz group is the group of all Lorentz transformations of Minkowski spacetime,
the classical and quantum setting for all (nongravitational) physical phenomena. The Lorentz group is named for
the Dutch physicist Hendrik Lorentz.
For example, the following laws, equations, and theories respect Lorentz symmetry:
 The kinematical laws of special relativity

 Maxwell's field equations in the theory of electromagnetism
 The Dirac equation in the theory of the electron
 The Standard model of particle physics
The Lorentz group expresses the fundamental symmetry of space and time of all known fundamental laws of nature.
In general relativity physics, in cases involving small enough regions of spacetime where gravitational variances are
negligible, physical laws are Lorentz invariant in the same manner as that of special relativity physics.
Throughout, italic non-bold capital letters are 4×4 matrices, while non-italic bold letters are 3×3 matrices.
Homogeneous Lorentz group

Writing the coordinates in column vectors and the Minkowski metric η as a square matrix
the spacetime interval takes the form (T denotes transpose)
and is invariant under a Lorentz transformation
where Λ is a square matrix which can depend on parameters.
The set of all Lorentz transformations Λ in this article is denoted This set together with matrix multiplication
forms a group, in this context known as the Lorentz group. Also, the above expression X·X is a quadratic form of
signature (3,1) on spacetime, and the group of transformations which leaves this quadratic form invariant is
the indefinite orthogonal group O(3,1), a Lie group. In other words, the Lorentz group is O(3,1). As presented in this
article, any Lie groups mentioned are matrix Lie groups. In this context the operation of composition amounts
to matrix multiplication.
From the invariance of the spacetime interval it follows
and this matrix equation contains the general conditions on the Lorentz transformation to ensure invariance of the
spacetime interval. Taking the determinant of the equation using the product rule[nb 4] gives immediately
Writing the Minkowski metric as a block matrix, and the Lorentz transformation in the most general form,
carrying out the block matrix multiplications obtains general conditions on Γ, a, b, M to ensure relativistic invariance.
Not much information can be directly extracted from all the conditions, however one of the results
is useful; bTb ≥ 0 always so it follows that
The negative inequality may be unexpected, because Γ multiplies the time coordinate and this has an effect on time
symmetry. If the positive equality holds, then Γ is the Lorentz factor.
The determinant and inequality provide four ways to classify Lorentz Transformations (herein LTs for brevity). Any
particular LT has only one determinant sign and only one inequality. There are four sets which include every possible
pair given by the intersections ("n"-shaped symbol meaning "and") of these classifying sets.
where "+" and "−" indicate the determinant sign, while "↑" for ≥ and "↓" for ≤ denote the inequalities.
The full Lorentz group splits into the union ("u"-shaped symbol meaning "or") of four disjoint sets
A subgroup of a group must be closed under the same operation of the group (here matrix multiplication). In other
words, for two Lorentz transformations Λ and L from a particular set, the composite Lorentz
transformations ΛL and LΛ must be in the same set as Λ and L. This will not always be the case; it can be shown
that the composition of any two Lorentz transformations always has the positive determinant and positive inequality, a
proper orthochronous transformation. The set
all form subgroups. The other sets involving the improper and/or antichronous
properties do not form subgroups, because the composite transformation always has a
positive determinant or inequality, whereas the original separate transformations will have negative determinants
and/or inequalities.
Proper transformations
The Lorentz boost is
where the boost matrix is
The boosts along the Cartesian directions can be readily obtained, for example the unit vector in the x direction has
components nx = 1 and ny = nz = 0.
The matrices make one or more successive transformations easier to handle, rather than rotely iterating the
transformations to obtain the result of more than one transformation. If a frame F′ is boosted with velocity u relative to
frame F, and another frame F′′ is boosted with velocity v relative to F′, the separate boosts are
and the composition of the two boosts connects the coordinates in F′′ and F,
Successive transformations act on the left. If u and v are collinear (parallel or antiparallel along the same line of
relative motion), the boost matrices commute: B(v)B(u) = B(u)B(v) and this composite transformation happens to
be another boost.
If u and v are not collinear but in different directions, the situation is considerably more complicated. Lorentz boosts
along different directions do not commute: B(v)B(u) and B(u)B(v) are not equal. Also, each of these compositions
is not a single boost, but still a Lorentz transformation as each boost still preserves invariance of the spacetime
interval. It turns out the composition of any two Lorentz boosts is equivalent to a boost followed or preceded by a
rotation on the spatial coordinates, in the form of R(ρ)B(w) or B(w)R(ρ). The w and w are composite velocities,
while ρ and ρ are rotation parameters (e.g. axis-angle variables, Euler angles, etc.). The rotation in block matrix form
is simply
where R(ρ) is a 3d rotation matrix, which rotates any 3d vector in one sense (active transformation), or equivalently
the coordinate frame in the opposite sense (passive transformation). It is not simple to connect w and ρ (or w and ρ)
to the original boost parameters u and v. In a composition of boosts, the R matrix is named the Wigner rotation, and
gives rise to the Thomas precession. These articles give the explicit formulae for the composite transformation
matrices, including expressions for w, ρ, w, ρ.
In this article the axis-angle representation is used for ρ. The rotation is about an axis in the direction of a unit
vector e, through angle θ (positive anticlockwise, negative clockwise, according to the right-hand rule). The "axis-
angle vector"
will serve as a useful abbreviation.
Spatial rotations alone are also Lorentz transformations they leave the spacetime interval invariant. Like boosts,
successive rotations about different axes do not commute. Unlike boosts, the composition of any two rotations is
equivalent to a single rotation. Some other similarities and differences between the boost and rotation matrices
include:
 inverses: B(v)−1 = B(−v) (relative motion in the opposite direction), and R(θ)

−1
= R(−θ) (rotation in the opposite sense about the same axis)
 identity transformation for no relative motion/rotation: B(0) = R(0) = I
 unit determinant: det(B) = det(R) = +1. This property makes them proper
transformations.
 matrix symmetry: B is symmetric (equals transpose), while R is nonsymmetric
but orthogonal (transpose equals inverse, RT = R−1).
The most general proper Lorentz transformation Λ(v, θ) includes a boost and rotation together, and is a
nonsymmetric matrix. As special cases, Λ(0, θ) = R(θ) and Λ(v, 0) = B(v). An explicit form of the general Lorentz
transformation is cumbersome to write down and will not be given here. Nevertheless, closed form expressions for
the transformation matrices will be given below using group theoretical arguments. It will be easier to use the rapidity
parametrization for boosts, in which case one writes Λ(ζ, θ) and B(ζ).
The Lie group SO+(3,1)

The set of transformations
with matrix multiplication as the operation of composition forms a group, called the "restricted Lorentz group", and is
the special indefinite orthogonal group SO+(3,1). (The plus sign indicates that it preserves the orientation of the
temporal dimension).
For simplicity, look at the infinitesimal Lorentz boost in the x direction (examining a boost in any other direction, or
rotation about any axis, follows an identical procedure). The infinitesimal boost is a small boost away from the
identity, obtained by the Taylor expansion of the boost matrix to first order about ζ = 0,
where the higher order terms not shown are negligible because ζ is small, and Bx is simply the boost matrix in
the x direction. The derivative of the matrix is the matrix of derivatives (of the entries, with respect to the same
variable), and it is understood the derivatives are found first then evaluated at ζ = 0,
For now, Kx is defined by this result (its significance will be explained shortly). In the limit of an infinite number of
infinitely small steps, the finite boost transformation in the form of a matrix exponential is obtained
where the limit definition of the exponential has been used (see also characterizations of the exponential function).
More generally[nb 5]
The axis-angle vector θ and rapidity vector ζ are altogether six continuous variables which make up the group
parameters (in this particular representation), and the generators of the group are K = (Kx, Ky, Kz) and J = (Jx, Jy,
Jz), each vectors of matrices with the explicit forms[nb 6]
These are all defined in an analogous way to Kx above, although the minus signs in the boost generators are
conventional. Physically, the generators of the Lorentz group correspond to important symmetries in spacetime: J are
the rotation generators which correspond to angular momentum, and K are the boost generators which correspond
to the motion of the system in spacetime. The derivative of any smooth curve C(t) with C(0) = I in the group
depending on some group parameter t with respect to that group parameter, evaluated at t = 0, serves as a definition
of a corresponding group generator G, and this reflects an infinitesimal transformation away from the identity. The
smooth curve can always be taken as an exponential as the exponential will always map G smoothly back into the
group via t → exp(tG) for all t; this curve will yield G again when differentiated at t = 0.
Expanding the exponentials in their Taylor series obtains
which compactly reproduce the boost and rotation matrices as given in the previous section.
It has been stated that the general proper Lorentz transformation is a product of a boost and rotation. At
the infinitesimal level the product
is commutative because only linear terms are required (products like (θ·J)(ζ·K) and (ζ·K)(θ·J) count as higher
order terms and are negligible). Taking the limit as before leads to the finite transformation in the form of an
exponential
The converse is also true, but the decomposition of a finite general Lorentz transformation into such factors is
nontrivial. In particular,
because the generators do not commute. For a description of how to find the factors of a general Lorentz
transformation in terms of a boost and a rotation in principle(this usually does not yield an intelligible expression in
terms of generators J and K), see Wigner rotation. If, on the other hand, the decomposition is given in terms of the
generators, and one wants to find the product in terms of the generators, then the Baker–Campbell–Hausdorff
formula applies.
The Lie algebra so(3,1)
Lorentz generators can be added together, or multiplied by real numbers, to obtain more Lorentz generators. In other
words, the set of all Lorentz generators
together with the operations of ordinary matrix addition and multiplication of a matrix by a number, forms a vector
space over the real numbers.[nb 7] The generators Jx, Jy, Jz, Kx, Ky, Kz form a basis set of V, and the components of the
axis-angle and rapidity vectors, θx, θy, θz, ζx, ζy, ζz, are the coordinates of a Lorentz generator with respect to this
basis.[nb 8]
Three of the commutation relations of the Lorentz generators are
where the bracket [A, B] = AB − BA is known as the commutator, and the other relations can be found by
taking cyclic permutations of x, y, z components (i.e. change x to y, y to z, and z to x, repeat).
These commutation relations, and the vector space of generators, fulfill the definition of the Lie algebra . In
summary, a Lie algebra is defined as a vector space V over a field of numbers, and with a binary operation [ , ] (called
a Lie bracket in this context) on the elements of the vector space, satisfying the axioms of bilinearity, alternatization,
and the Jacobi identity. Here the operation [ , ] is the commutator which satisfies all of these axioms, the vector space
is the set of Lorentz generators V as given previously, and the field is the set of real numbers.
Linking terminology used in mathematics and physics: A group generator is any element of the Lie algebra. A group
parameter is a component of a coordinate vector representing an arbitrary element of the Lie algebra with respect to
some basis. A basis, then, is a set of generators being a basis of the Lie algebra in the usual vector space sense.
The exponential map from the Lie algebra to the Lie group,
provides a one-to-one correspondence between small enough neighborhoods of the origin of the Lie algebra and
neighborhoods of the identity element of the Lie group. It the case of the Lorentz group, the exponential map is just
the matrix exponential. Globally, the exponential map is not one-to-one, but in the case of the Lorentz group, it
is surjective (onto). Hence any group element can be expressed as an exponential of an element of the Lie algebra.
Improper transformations
which negates the time coordinate only, because these transformations leave the spacetime interval invariant.
Here I is the 3d identity matrix. These are both symmetric, they are their own inverses (see involution (mathematics)),
and each have determinant −1. This latter property makes them improper transformations.
If Λ is a proper orthochronous Lorentz transformation, then TΛ is improper antichronous, PΛ is improper
orthochronous, and TPΛ = PTΛ is proper antichronous.
Inhomogeneous Lorentz group

Two other spacetime symmetries have not been accounted for. For the spacetime interval to be invariant, it can be
shown[16] that it is necessary and sufficient for the coordinate transformation to be of the form
where C is a constant column containing translations in time and space. If C ≠ 0, this is an inhomogeneous Lorentz
transformation or Poincaré transformation.[17][18] If C = 0, this is a homogeneous Lorentz transformation. Poincaré
transformations are not dealt further in this article.
Tensor formulation
Representation theory of the Lorentz group
For the notation used, see Ricci calculus.
Contravariant vectors
Writing the general matrix transformation of coordinates as the matrix equation
allows the transformation of other physical quantities that cannot be expressed as four-vectors;
e.g., tensors or spinors of any order in 4d spacetime, to be defined. In the corresponding tensor index notation, the
above matrix expression is
where lower and upper indices label covariant and contravariant components respectively,[19] and the summation
convention is applied. It is a standard convention to use Greek indices that take the value 0 for time components, and
1, 2, 3 for space components, while Latin indices simply take the values 1, 2, 3, for spatial components. Note that the
first index (reading left to right) corresponds in the matrix notation to a row index. The second index corresponds to
the column index.
The transformation matrix is universal for all four-vectors, not just 4-dimensional spacetime coordinates. If A is any
four-vector, then in tensor index notation
Alternatively, one writes
in which the primed indices denote the indices of A in the primed frame. This notation cuts risk of exhausting the
Greek alphabet roughly in half.
For a general n-component object one may write
where Π is the appropriate representation of the Lorentz group, an n×n matrix for every Λ. In this case, the indices
should not be thought of as spacetime indices (sometimes called Lorentz indices), and they run from 1 to n. E.g.,
if X is a bispinor, then the indices are called Dirac indices.
Covariant vectors
There are also vector quantities with covariant indices. They are generally obtained from their corresponding objects
with contravariant indices by the operation of lowering an index; e.g.,
where η is the metric tensor. (The linked article also provides more information about what the operation of raising
and lowering indices really is mathematically.) The inverse of this transformation is given by
where, when viewed as matrices, ημν is the inverse of ημν. As it happens, ημν = ημν. This is referred to as raising an
index. To transform a covariant vector Aμ, first raise its index, then transform it according to the same rule as for
contravariant 4-vectors, then finally lower the index;
I. e., it is the (μ, ν)-component of the inverse Lorentz transformation. One defines (as a matter of notation),
Now for a subtlety. The implied summation on the right hand side of
is running over a row index of the matrix representing Λ−1. Thus, in terms of matrices, this transformation should be
thought of as the inverse transpose of Λ acting on the column vector Aμ. That is, in pure matrix notation,
This means exactly that covariant vectors (thought of as column matrices) transform according to the dual
representation of the standard representation of the Lorentz group. This notion generalizes to general
representations, simply replace Λ with Π(Λ).
Tensors
If A and B are linear operators on vector spaces U and V, then a linear operator A ⊗ B may be defined on
the tensor product of U and V, denoted U ⊗ V according to
From this it is immediately clear that if u and v are a four-vectors in V, then u ⊗ v ∈ T2V ≡ V ⊗ V transforms as
The second step uses the bilinearity of the tensor product and the last step defines a 2-tensor on component form, or
rather, it just renames the tensor u ⊗ v.
These observations generalize in an obvious way to more factors, and using the fact that a general tensor on a vector
space V can be written as a sum of a coefficient (component!) times tensor products of basis vectors and basis
covectors, one arrives at the transformation law for any tensor quantity T. It is given by
where Λχ′ψ is defined above. This form can generally be reduced to the form for general n-component objects given
above with a single matrix (Π(Λ)) operating on column vectors. This latter form is sometimes preferred; e.g., for the
electromagnetic field tensor.
Transformation of the electromagnetic field
Lorentz boost of an electric charge, the charge is at rest in one frame or the other.
Main article: Electromagnetic tensor

Lorentz boost of an electric charge, the charge is at rest one of the frames.
Further information: classical electromagnetism and special relativity
Lorentz transformations can also be used to illustrate that the magnetic field B and electric field E are simply different
aspects of the same force — the electromagnetic force, as a consequence of relative motion between electric
charges and observers.[22] The fact that the electromagnetic field shows relativistic effects becomes clear by carrying
out a simple thought experiment
An observer measures a charge at rest in frame F. The observer will detect a static electric
field. As the charge is stationary in this frame, there is no electric current, so the observer does
not observe any magnetic field.
 The other observer in frame F′ moves at velocity v relative to F and the charge. This observer
sees a different electric field because the charge moves at velocity −v in their rest frame. The
motion of the charge corresponds to an electric current, and thus the observer in frame F′ also
sees a magnetic field.
The electric and magnetic fields transform differently from space and time, but exactly the same way as relativistic
angular momentum and the boost vector.
The electromagnetic field strength tensor is given by
in SI units. In relativity, the Gaussian system of units is often preferred over SI units, even in texts whose main choice
of units is SI units, because in it the electric field E and the magnetic induction B have the same units making the
appearance of the electromagnetic field tensor more natural.[24] Consider a Lorentz boost in the x-direction. It is given
by[25]
where the field tensor is displayed side by side for easiest possible reference in the manipulations below.
The general transformation law (T3) becomes
For the magnetic field one obtains
For the electric field results
Here, β = (β, 0, 0) is used. These results can be summarized by
and are independent of the metric signature. For SI units, substitute E → E⁄c. Misner, Thorne & Wheeler (1973) refer
to this last form as the 3 + 1 view as opposed to the geometric view represented by the tensor expression
and make a strong point of the ease with which results that are difficult to achieve using the 3 + 1 view can be
obtained and understood. Only objects that have well defined Lorentz transformation properties (in fact
under any smooth coordinate transformation) are geometric objects. In the geometric view, the electromagnetic field
is a six-dimensional geometric object in spacetime as opposed to two interdependent, but separate, 3-vector fields
in space and time. The fields E (alone) and B (alone) do not have well defined Lorentz transformation properties. The
mathematical underpinnings are equations (T1) and (T2) that immediately yield (T3). One should note that the primed
and unprimed tensors refer to the same event in spacetime. Thus the complete equation with spacetime dependence
is
Length contraction has an effect on charge density ρ and current density J, and time dilation has an effect on the rate
of flow of charge (current), so charge and current distributions must transform in a related way under a boost. It turns
out they transform exactly like the space-time and energy-momentum four-vectors,
or, in the simpler geometric view,
One says that charge density transforms as the time component of a four-vector. It is a rotational scalar. The current
density is a 3-vector.
The Maxwell equations are invariant under Lorentz transformations.
Spinors
Equation (T1) hold unmodified for any representation of the Lorentz group, including the bispinor representation.
In (T2) one simply replaces all occurrences of Λ by the bispinor representation Π(Λ),
The above equation could, for instance, be the transformation of a state in Fock space describing two free electrons.
Transformation of general fields
A general noninteracting multi-particle state (Fock space state) in quantum field theory transforms according to the
rule
where W(Λ, p) is the Wigner rotation and D(j) is the (2j + 1)-dimensional representation of SO(3).
CONCLUSION.
In conclusion; Geodesy is the earth science of accurately measuring and understanding the Earth's
geometric shape, orientation in space, and gravitational field.[2] The field also incorporates studies of
how these properties change over time and equivalent measurements for other planets (known
as planetary geodesy). Geodynamical phenomena include crustalmotion, tides, and polar motion,
which can be studied by designing global and national control networks, applying space and
terrestrial techniques, and relying on datums and coordinate systems., in this Global Positioning system
laboratory I Ariny Amos was able to measure the spectrum of each Hydrogen and Deuterium , each leading to the
calculation of the Rydberg constant corresponding to each one. According to the data, although the Deuterium
spectral lines varied from the Hydrogen lines in wavelength, as seen by the standard error measurement
discrepancies in the Rydberg Constant of each, the variance is slight. The largest value by which the wavelengths
varied was designated in the red wavelength measurement as seen in our data tables. This indicated some
systematic error. Also according to my data, the wavelength measurements of each color seemed to be shifted from
the Hydrogen in the Deuterium spectrum. The reason for this is the added mass in Deuterium due to the extra
neutron compared to the reduced mass of just an electron and proton. In theory, no difference should be discernible
with this kind of instrument. Possible reasons for these results is more than two day split for data collecting using
geodesy physics, human error, systematic error, etc. Had the laboratory been kept in a controlled environment, one
in which only the personnel working on a specific laboratory are allowed to adjust the instruments, perhaps
systematic error could have been reduced. Overall, considering the values that were attained in more than two-day
period with an archaic instrument that was calibrated by other personnel between more than two days of data
collection, this lab could indeed be considered successful.
CONCLUSIONS
The source of the problem of the rotation of the apse line lies deep. Clairaut's solution, with
incommensurable periodic terms, is not periodic. We now know that apart from very restricted cases,
the three-body problem does not admit of finite integrals, far less of strictly periodic solutions.
Newton's approach to the problem was flawed from the outset by the condition he imposed. In other
problems, in particular his elegant theory of the node and inclination, the form of the orbit is not of
first importance, indeed most of his results apply as well to slightly eccentric orbits as to circular
orbits, Venus not aplanet. The very definition of the apse line, on the other hand, depends upon the
form of the orbit. Could Newton's geometrical methods have been extended to higher orders of
approximation? On the face of it they depended on the geometrical properties of the elliptical orbit
and could not easily be adapted to give further approximations when deviations from the elliptical
orbit had to be incorporated. Newton's methods, however, by his use of limiting processes in
geometrical arguments, are close to differential geometry as developed in the 19th century. It is not
dificult to write his derivations in terms of unit tangents, unit normals and unit binormals – the theory
of the node and inclination is well adapted to that type of statement – and then more general
geometric methods would become available. It is no doubt true that analytical methods, married to
computer manipulation, are necessary if the precision of the theory is to approach that of
observations of the Moon now made by laser ranging, but geometrical methods have the advantage
of revealing the origin of particular anomalies in the motion of the Moon. Some of the earlier theories
of artificial satellites about the Earth did use geometrical methods not so different from those of
Newton, and the study of Newton's theory, the unsuccessful as well as the successful parts, is still
rewarding, as the discussion of the theory of the apse line shows.
Newton's failures should not obscure his great achievement in fundamental dynamics. He was the
first to attack the problem of three bodies each attracting the other. It could only have been
formulated on the basis of universal gravitation, which he introduced and maintained against the
powerful opposition of many, Huygens and Leibniz among them. The qualitative discussion in Bk I,
Prop. LXVI and its many corollaries is profound, and his mathematical developments in Bk III are
subtle. He provided for the first time a reasoned account of the origins of many of the anomalies of
the motion of the Moon, and his qualitative arguments and explanations in Prop. LXVI of Bk I retain
their value even though far more powerful mathematics and computation are now needed to keep up
with the exceptionally high precision of laser-ranging observations of the lunar orbit.
Newton's achievements go further. In Book III of the Principia he laid out for the first time our
modern scientific procedure of comparing numerically the results of a rigorous self-contained abstract
model with observations of the natural world. Where his mathematics and contemporary
observations were adequate, he had notable successes. Neither his mathematics nor the observations
of his day matched the complexities of the lunar problem, but his attempts upon it have helped to
show the way for physical science ever since.
CONCLUSION.
In conclusion; Venus is an astronomical body not a planet, Geodesy is the earth science of accurately
measuring and understanding the Earth's geometric shape, orientation in space, and gravitational
field.[2] The field also incorporates studies of how these properties change over time and equivalent
measurements for other planets (known as planetary geodesy). Geodynamical phenomena
include crustalmotion, tides, and polar motion, which can be studied by designing global and
national control networks, applying space and terrestrial techniques, and relying
on datums and coordinate systems., in this Global Positioning system laboratory I Ariny Amos was able to
measure the spectrum of each Hydrogen and Deuterium , each leading to the calculation of the Rydberg constant
corresponding to each one. According to the data, although the Deuterium spectral lines varied from the Hydrogen
lines in wavelength, as seen by the standard error measurement discrepancies in the Rydberg Constant of each, the
variance is slight. The largest value by which the wavelengths varied was designated in the red wavelength
measurement as seen in our data tables. This indicated some systematic error. Also according to my data, the
wavelength measurements of each color seemed to be shifted from the Hydrogen in the Deuterium spectrum. The
reason for this is the added mass in Deuterium due to the extra neutron compared to the reduced mass of just an
electron and proton. In theory, no difference should be discernible with this kind of instrument. Possible reasons for
these results is more than two day split for data collecting using geodesy physics, human error, systematic error, etc.
Had the laboratory been kept in a controlled environment, one in which only the personnel working on a specific
laboratory are allowed to adjust the instruments, perhaps systematic error could have been reduced. Overall,
considering the values that were attained in more than two-day period with an archaic instrument that was calibrated
by other personnel between more than two days of data collection, this lab could indeed be considered successful.
RECOMMENDATIONS.
GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM.

The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS,[1] is a satellite-
based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United
States Air Force.[2] It is a global navigation satellite systemthat provides geolocation and time
information to a GPS receiver anywhere on or near the Earth where there is an unobstructed line of
sight to four or more GPS satellites.[3] Obstacles such as mountains and buildings block the relatively
weak GPS signals.
The GPS does not require the user to transmit any data, and it operates independently of any
telephonic or internet reception, though these technologies can enhance the usefulness of the GPS
positioning information. The GPS provides critical positioning capabilities to military, civil, and
commercial users around the world. The United States government created the system, maintains it,
and makes it freely accessible to anyone with a GPS receiver
Global Positioning System (GPS)
Country/ies of origin United States
Operator(s) AFSPC
Type Military, civilian
Status Operational
Coverage Global
Accuracy 500–30 cm (20–1 ft)
Constellation size
Total satellites 33
Satellites in orbit 31
First launch February 1978; 41 years ago
Total launches 72
Orbital characteristics
Regime(s) 6x MEO planes
Orbital height 20,180 km (12,540 mi)
Geodesy
.[4]
The GPS project was launched by the U.S. Department of Defense in 1973 for use by the United
States military and became fully operational in 1995. It was allowed for civilian use in the 1980s.
Advances in technology and new demands on the existing system have now led to efforts to
modernize the GPS and implement the next generation of GPS Block IIIA satellites and Next
Generation Operational Control System (OCX).[5] Announcements from Vice President Al Goreand
the White House in 1998 initiated these changes. In 2000, the U.S. Congress authorized the
modernization effort, GPS III. During the 1990s, GPS quality was degraded by the United States
government in a program called "Selective Availability"; this was discontinued in May 2000 by a law
signed by President Bill Clinton.[6]
The GPS system is provided by the United States government, which can selectively deny access to
the system, as happened to the Indian military in 1999 during the Kargil War, or degrade the service
at any time.[7] As a result, several countries have developed or are in the process of setting up other
global or regional satellite navigation systems. The Russian Global Navigation Satellite System
(GLONASS) was developed contemporaneously with GPS, but suffered from incomplete coverage
of the globe until the mid-2000s.[8] GLONASS can be added to GPS devices, making more satellites
available and enabling positions to be fixed more quickly and accurately, to within two meters
(6.6 ft).[9] There are also the European Union Galileo positioning system, and Japan's Quasi-Zenith
Satellite System (QZSS) is a GPS satellite-based augmentation system to enhance GPS's accuracy.
When selective availability was lifted in 2000, GPS had about a five-meter (16 ft) accuracy. The
latest stage of accuracy enhancement uses the L5 band and is now fully deployed. GPS receivers
released in 2018 that use the L5 band can have much higher accuracy, pinpointing to within 30
centimetres or 11.8 inches
Artist's conception of GPS Block II-F satellite in Earth orbit.

Source;NASA - http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/ftp/gps/ggeninfo/gps-iif.tif [dead link] (Wayback Machine)
GLONAS.
GLONASS (Russian: ГЛОНАСС, IPA: [ɡɫɐˈnas]; Глобальная навигационная спутниковая
система; transliteration Globalnaya navigatsionnaya sputnikovaya sistema), or "Global Navigation
Satellite System", is a space-based satellite navigation system operating as part of
a radionavigation-satellite service. It provides an alternative to GPS and is the second navigational
system in operation with global coverage and of comparable precision.
Manufacturers of GPS navigation devices say that adding GLONASS made more satellites available
to them, meaning positions can be fixed more quickly and accurately, especially in built-up areas
where buildings may obscure the view to some GPS satellites. [1][2][3] GLONASS supplementation of
GPS systems also improves positioning in high latitudes (north or south). [4]
Development of GLONASS began in the Soviet Union in 1976. Beginning on 12 October 1982,
numerous rocket launches added satellites to the system, until the completion of the constellation in
1995. After a decline in capacity during the late 1990s, in 2001, under Vladimir Putin's presidency,
the restoration of the system was made[by whom?] a top government priority and funding increased
substantially. GLONASS is the most expensive program of the Russian Federal Space Agency,
consuming a third of its budget in 2010.
GLONASS
GLONASS logo
Country/ies of origin Soviet Union, Russian Federation
Operator(s) Roscosmos
Type Military, civilian
Status Operational
Coverage Global
Accuracy 2.8–7.38 meters
Constellation size
Total satellites 26
Satellites in orbit 24
First launch 12 October 1982
Last launch 17 June 2018
Orbital characteristics
Regime(s) 3x MEO
Orbital height 19,130 km
Geodesy
By 2010 GLONASS had achieved 100% coverage of Russia's territory and in October 2011 the full
orbital constellation of 24 satellites was restored, enabling full global coverage. The GLONASS
satellites' designs have undergone several upgrades, with the latest version, GLONASS-K2,
scheduled to enter service in 2019.[5] An announcement predicts the deployment of a group of
communications and navigational satellites by 2040. The task also includes the delivery to the Moon
of a series of spacecraft for orbital research and the establishment of a global communications and
positioning system.[6]
Artist's conception of GPS and GLONASS Block II-F satellite in Earth orbit.
Source;NASA - http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/ftp/gps/ggeninfo/gps-iif.tif [] (Wayback Machine)
MARINER 2.
Mariner 2 (Mariner-Venus 1962), an American space probe to Venus, was the first robotic space
probe to conduct a successful planetary encounter. The first successful spacecraft in
the NASA Mariner program, it was a simplified version of the Block I spacecraft of the Ranger
program and an exact copy of Mariner 1. The missions of Mariner 1 and 2 spacecraft are together
sometimes known as the Mariner R missions. Original plans called for the probes to be launched on
the Atlas-Centaur, but serious developmental problems with that vehicle forced a switch to the much
smaller Agena B stage. As such, the design of the Mariner R vehicles was greatly simplified. Far
less instrumentation was carried than on the Soviet Venera probes of this period, including no TV
camera as the Atlas-Agena B had only half as much lift capacity as the Soviet 8K78 booster. The
Mariner 2 spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral on August 27, 1962 and passed as close
as 34,773 kilometers (21,607 mi) to Venus on December 14, 1962.[2]
The Mariner probe consisted of a 100 cm (39.4 in) diameter hexagonal bus, to which solar panels,
instrument booms, and antennas were attached. The scientific instruments on board the Mariner
spacecraft were two radiometers (one each for the microwave and infraredportions of the spectrum),
a micrometeorite sensor, a solar plasma sensor, a charged particle sensor, and a magnetometer.
These instruments were designed to measure the temperature distribution on the surface of Venus,
as well as making basic measurements of Venus' atmosphere.
The primary mission was to receive communications from the spacecraft in the vicinity of Venus and
to perform radiometric temperature measurements of the planet. A second objective was to measure
the interplanetary magnetic field and charged particle environment. [3][4]
En route to Venus, Mariner 2 measured the solar wind, a constant stream of charged particles
flowing outwards from the Sun, confirming the measurements by Luna 1 in 1959. It also
measured interplanetary dust, which turned out to be scarcer than predicted. In addition, Mariner 2
detected high-energy charged particles coming from the Sun, including several brief solar flares, as
well as cosmic rays from outside the Solar System. As it flew by Venus on December 14, 1962,
Mariner 2 scanned the planet with its pair of radiometers, revealing that Venus has cool clouds and
an extremely hot surface.
VENUS IS NOT A PLANET.

A planet is an astronomical body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to
be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and
has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals, Thermo nuclear fusion Thermonuclear
fusion is a way to achieve nuclear fusion by using extremely high temperatures. There are two
forms of thermonuclear fusion: uncontrolled, in which the resulting energy is released in an
uncontrolled manner, as it is in thermonuclear weapons ("hydrogen bombs") and in most stars;
and controlled, where the fusion reactions take place in an environment allowing some or all of the
energy released to be harnessed for constructive purposes. This article focuses on the latter. .[a][1][2]
The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, astrology, science, mythology, and religion. Five
planets in the Solar System are visible to the naked eye. These were regarded by many early
cultures as divine, or as emissaries of deities. As scientific knowledge advanced, human perception
of the planets changed, incorporating a number of disparate objects. In 2006, the International
Astronomical Union (IAU) officially adopted a resolution defining planetswithin the Solar System.
This definition is controversial because it excludes many objects of planetary mass based on where
or what they orbit. Although eight of the planetary bodies discovered before 1950 remain "planets"
under the modern definition, some celestial bodies, such as Ceres, Pallas, Juno and Vesta (each an
object in the solar asteroid belt), and Pluto (the first trans-Neptunian object discovered), that were
once considered planets by the scientific community, are no longer viewed as such.
The planets were thought by Ptolemy to orbit Earth in deferent and epicycle motions. Although the
idea that the planets orbited the Sun had been suggested many times, it was not until the 17th
century that this view was supported by evidence from the first telescopic astronomical observations,
performed by Galileo Galilei. About the same time, by careful analysis of pre-telescopic
observational data collected by Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler found the planets' orbits
were elliptical rather than circular. As observational tools improved, astronomers saw that, like Earth,
each of the planets rotated around an axis tilted with respect to its orbital pole, and some shared
such features as ice capsand seasons
VENUS AS AN ASTRONOMICAL OBJECT AND NOT A PLANET.

Venus is massive enough to cause Thermonuclear fusion, Thermonuclear fusion is a way to
achieve nuclear fusion by using extremely high temperatures. There are two forms of thermonuclear
fusion: uncontrolled, in which the resulting energy is released in an uncontrolled manner, as it is
in thermonuclear weapons ("hydrogen bombs") and in most stars; and controlled, where the fusion
reactions take place in an environment allowing some or all of the energy released to be harnessed
for constructive purposes. This article focuses on the latter.
Temperature requirements
Temperature is a measure of the average kinetic energy of particles, so by heating the material it will
gain energy. After reaching sufficient temperature, given by the Lawson criterion, the energy of
accidental collisions within the plasma is high enough to overcome the Coulomb barrier and the
particles may fuse together.
In a deuterium–tritium fusion reaction, for example, the energy necessary to overcome the Coulomb
barrier is 0.1 MeV. Converting between energy and temperature shows that the 0.1 MeV barrier
would be overcome at a temperature in excess of 1.2 billion kelvins.
There are two effects that lower the actual temperature needed. One is the fact that temperature is
the average kinetic energy, implying that some nuclei at this temperature would actually have much
higher energy than 0.1 MeV, while others would be much lower. It is the nuclei in the high-energy tail
of the velocity distributionthat account for most of the fusion reactions. The other effect is quantum
tunnelling. The nuclei do not actually have to have enough energy to overcome the Coulomb barrier
completely. If they have nearly enough energy, they can tunnel through the remaining barrier. For
these reasons fuel at lower temperatures will still undergo fusion events, at a lower rate.
Thermonuclear fusion is one of the methods being researched in the attempts to produce fusion
power. If Thermonuclear fusion becomes favorable to use, it would significantly reduce the world's
carbon footprint.
Confinement
The key problem in achieving thermonuclear fusion is how to confine the hot plasma. Due to the high
temperature, the plasma can not be in direct contact with any solid material, so it has to be located in
a vacuum. Also, high temperatures imply high pressures. The plasma tends to expand immediately
and some force is necessary to act against it. This force can take one of three forms: gravitation in
stars, magnetic forces in magnetic confinement fusion reactors, or inertial as the fusion reaction may
occur before the plasma starts to expand, so the plasma's inertia is keeping the material together.
Gravitational confinement
Stellar nucleosynthesis
One force capable of confining the fuel well enough to satisfy the Lawson criterion is gravity. The
mass needed, however, is so great that gravitational confinement is only found in stars—the least
massive stars capable of sustained fusion are red dwarfs, while brown dwarfs are able to
fuse deuterium and lithium if they are of sufficient mass. In stars heavy enough, after the supply of
hydrogen is exhausted in their cores, their cores (or a shell around the core) start fusing helium to
carbon. In the most massive stars (at least 8–11 solar masses), the process is continued until some
of their energy is produced by fusing lighter elements to iron. As iron has one of the highest binding
energies, reactions producing heavier elements are generally endothermic. Therefore significant
amounts of heavier elements are not formed during stable periods of massive star evolution, but are
formed in supernova explosions. Some lighter stars also form these elements in the outer parts of
the stars over long periods of time, by absorbing energy from fusion in the inside of the star, by
absorbing neutrons that are emitted from the fusion process.
All of the elements heavier than iron have some potential energy to release, in theory. At the
extremely heavy end of element production, these heavier elements can produce energy in the
process of being split again back toward the size of iron, in the process of nuclear fission. Nuclear
fission thus releases energy which has been stored, sometimes billions of years before, during
stellar nucleosynthesis.
Magnetic confinement
Magnetic confinement fusion
Electrically charged particles (such as fuel ions) will follow magnetic field lines (see Guiding centre).
The fusion fuel can therefore be trapped using a strong magnetic field. A variety of magnetic
configurations exist, including the toroidal geometries of tokamaks and stellarators and open-ended
mirror confinement systems.
Inertial confinement
Inertial confinement fusion
A third confinement principle is to apply a rapid pulse of energy to a large part of the surface of a
pellet of fusion fuel, causing it to simultaneously "implode" and heat to very high pressure and
temperature. If the fuel is dense enough and hot enough, the fusion reaction rate will be high enough
to burn a significant fraction of the fuel before it has dissipated. To achieve these extreme
conditions, the initially cold fuel must be explosively compressed. Inertial confinement is used in
the hydrogen bomb, where the driver is x-rays created by a fission bomb. Inertial confinement is also
attempted in "controlled" nuclear fusion, where the driver is a laser, ion, or electronbeam, or a Z-
pinch. Another method is to use conventional high explosive material to compress a fuel to fusion
conditions.[1][2] The UTIAS explosive-driven-implosion facility was used to produce stable, centred and
focused hemispherical implosions[3] to generate neutrons from D-D reactions. The simplest and most
direct method proved to be in a predetonated stoichiometric mixture of deuterium-oxygen. The other
successful method was using a miniature Voitenko compressor,[4] where a plane diaphragm was
driven by the implosion wave into a secondary small spherical cavity that contained
pure deuterium gas at one atmosphere.[5]
Electrostatic confinement
Inertial electrostatic confinement
There are also electrostatic confinement fusion devices. These devices confine ions using

electrostatic fields. The best known is the Fusor. This device has a cathode inside an anode wire
cage. Positive ions fly towards the negative inner cage, and are heated by the electric field in the
process. If they miss the inner cage they can collide and fuse. Ions typically hit the cathode,
however, creating prohibitory high conduction losses. Also, fusion rates in fusors are very low due to
competing physical effects, such as energy loss in the form of light radiation. [6] Designs have been
proposed to avoid the problems associated with the cage, by generating the field using a non-neutral
cloud. These include a plasma oscillating device,[7] a penning trap and the polywell.[8] The technology
is relatively immature, however, and many scientific and engineering questions remain.
REFERENCES.
NOTES.
 This passage is from Newton's preface to the first edition of his Principia. Quotations from
the Principia are from the translation by I.B. Cohen and Anne Whitman: the citation (C&W, 382)
is to that translation, Cohen and Whitman 1999.
 On Karl Popper's version of this hypothetico‐deductive (H‐D) method, legitimate scientific
inferences would be limited to rejection of hypotheses that have been falsified when observable
consequences have turned out false (see, e.g., Popper 1963, 56). Most philosophers and scientists
accept a more liberal version of H‐D method on which successful prediction can legitimate
increases in the probability assigned to hypotheses.
 In section III below, we shall quote an attractive articulation of such a liberal version of
hypothetico‐deductive method from Christiaan Huygens, who was Newton's greatest
contemporary as an empirical investigator of nature (sec. I.2 below). In chapter 9, we shall see
that Huygens highlights features on which Bayesian updating by conditioning on observations
would afford increases in epistemic probability of hypotheses that would accurately predict those
observable outcomes.
 Aristotle, De Caelo (On the Heavens), 398–466 in McKeon 1941. A version of this model was
developed originally by Eudoxus, a mathematician who participated in Plato's academy (see
Dreyer 1953, 87–107; Neugebauer, 1975, 675–89).Aristotle advocated for change to useless world.
 Swerdlow and Neugebauer 1984, 41–8. Medieval Arabic astronomy was very rich. The Iranian
astronomers were associated with the observatory founded at Maragha, in north‐western Iran, in
1259, by Hulagu, the Mongol conqueror of Persia.
 Swerdlow and Neugebauer (1984, 42–8) argue that Copernicus was influenced by such critiques
to which he had access in work from the Maragha School that appears to have reached Italy in the
fifteenth century.
 Tables fixing information about locations of solar system bodies at times are now called
“ephemerides.” They continue to be a major concern of national observatories. See Forward in
Seidelmann 1992 (ESAA, xxv–xxvi).
 The phrase “first point of Aries” is often used as a demonstrative referring to the location on the
ecliptic of the vernal equinox.
 These included corrections to offset additional small periodic variations in the precession.
Swerdlow and Neugebauer (1984, 42).
 For a detailed account of Copernicus' system see Swerdlow and Neugebauer 1984. Gingerich and
MacLachlan (2005) is a very accessible account of Copernicus's life and achievement.
 Copernicus, who was committed to uniform circular motion, includes many extra epicycles so that
he can do without Ptolemy's equants. These extra epicycles prevented Copernicus from taking full
advantage of the simplicity made possible by using a single orbit of the earth to represent what in
the Ptolemaic system had to be represented in duplicated epicycles for each planet.
 Copernicus also includes extra epicycles to improve on Ptolemy's treatment of the precession of
the equinoxes. Equivalent apparatus adapted to geocentric systems had to be included by Clavius
when he attempted to make Ptolemaic systems adequate to data in his efforts at calendar reform
(Lattis, 1994, 163–79).
 GHA 2A, 3–21. See also Thoren 1990.
 Many of these data are from observations made at Uraniborg, the research institute Tycho
established on the island of Hven, located between Denmark and Sweden.
 Though Tychonic and Copernican systems are kinematically equivalent with respect to relative
motions among solar system bodies, they differ in motions relative to the stars. On a Copernican
system one would expect stellar parallax corresponding to the diameter of the earth's orbit.
Absence of any success in observing such stellar parallax was among the grounds convincing
Tycho that the earth did not move about the sun with respect to the stars. (GHA 2A, 8, 9; Van
Helden 1989, 109).
 (16) This piece, which was commissioned by Tycho Brahe to get Kepler to write a defense of him in
his dispute with Ursus, was not published until 1858, long after Kepler's death. Jardine's title,
 The Birth of History and Philosophy of Science: Kepler's A defence of Tycho against Ursus with
essays on its provenance and significance,
 suggests that Kepler's discussion in this manuscript is worthy of considerable interest. See
Jardine 1984.
 Tycho had accused Nicholas Ursus, who had visited Uraniborg, of stealing an early version of his
system. Ursus had attacked Tycho in his Tractatus, which included an account of planetary
hypotheses as mere fictitious fabrications for calculating celestial motions (Jardine 1984, 41–2).
 Kepler takes as the mean‐distance R the length of the semi‐major axis. In an elliptical orbit with
the sun at a focus, the length of the semi‐major axis is exactly halfway between the shortest
distance from the sun (when the planet is at perihelion) and the longest distance (when the planet
is at aphelion).
 (20) In this figure we use the mean earth‐sun distance represented by an astronomical unit AU as
our unit of distance. Our astronomical unit was set by the mean earth–sun distance at the time of
Gauss. See note 31 chapter 8 for more detail.
 diagrams representing the fit of the Harmonic Rule to Newton's cited periods and mean distances
for the orbits of Jupiter's moons, Saturn's moons, and one that adds data from Boulliau for the
primary planets.
 GHA 2A, 77.
 GHA 2A, 81; Van Helden 1989, 9.
 Van Helden 1989, 64–85.
 Lattis 1994, 186–95; Van Helden 1989, 111.
 Lattis, 205–16; Van Helden GHA 2A, 84.
 Aristotle offered an account of motion, construed widely as change in general to uselss world
view. Local‐motion, change of place, was a special case (see McKeon, 1941, 253; Solmsen, 1960,
175–6). The accounts of phenomena of local‐motion we are concerned with here involve primarily
the contrast between natural motions (which do not require further explanation) and forced
motions construed as changes of state that require efficient causes to explain them. The sorts of
efficient causes of concern to us are special cases of the general conception of efficient causation
offered by Aristotle.
 Aristotle proposed a doctrine of four causes. They are: 1. the material cause, that out of which a
thing comes to be and which persists, e.g. the bronze of the statue; 2. the formal cause, the form
or the archetype, i.e. the statement of the essence (e.g. of the octave the relation of 2:1, and
generally number); 3. the efficient cause, the primary source of the change or coming to rest (e.g.
the man who gave advice); 4. the final cause, in the sense of end or “that for the sake of which” a
thing is done (e.g. health is the cause of walking about). See Physics book II chapter 3, McKeon,
240–1.
 (29) The following passage is from Galileo's Two New Sciences:
 Even horizontal motion which, if no impediment were offered, would be uniform and constant is
altered by the resistance of the air and finally ceases; and here again the less dense [piu leggiero]
the body the quicker the process. Of these properties [accidenti] of weight, of velocity, and also of
form [figura], infinite in number, it is not possible to give any exact description; hence, in order to
handle this matter in a scientific way, it is necessary to cut loose from these difficulties; and
having discovered and demonstrated the theorems, in the case of no resistance, to use them and
apply them with such limitations as experience will teach. (Galilei [1638] 1914, 252–3)
 Two New Sciences days 3 and 4 (1914, 153–294).
 (31) See Descartes, R. (1983) Principles of Philosophy part II, section 37–8. Miller and Miller
(trans.), 59–61.
 (32) See Descartes 1983, 96–8 and 89–91. After appealing to the phases of Venus to dismiss
Ptolemy, Descartes points out that the vortex motion that would be needed for Tycho's system is
more complicated than for a Copernican system. Indeed he even argues that on his account of
motion, Tycho's theory attributes more motion to the earth than Copernicus's.
 One striking innovation, often dismissed as an attempt to avoid the sort of church condemnation
directed at Galileo, is a distinction between motion in the ordinary sense (the action by which
some body travels from one place to another) [Descartes 1983, 50] and what motion properly
speaking is (the transference of one part of matter or of one body, from the vicinity of those
bodies immediately contiguous to it and considered as at rest, into the vicinity of [some] others)
[1983, 51]. This allows him to say [1983, 91], that he denies the motion of the earth more carefully
than Copernicus and more truthfully than Tycho. On his definition (properly speaking) he can say
that the earth does not move because it remains in contact with the contiguous vortical particles
maintaining it in its orbit around the sun.
 Newton's bucket experiment (see note 17 chpt. 3) in his scholium on time, space, place, and
motion raises serious problems for this definition of proper motion proposed by Descartes. See
DiSalle 2006, 32–3.
 Boyer 1968, 367–80. Our familiar orthogonal x,y axes are called Cartesian coordinates.
 Mermin's wonderful new textbook (Mermin 2009).
 His malin génie argument (Descartes [1641] 1955 vol. 1, 149–57) suggests an ideal of empirical
data limited to infallible subjective contents. This ideal inspired the new way of ideas that led to
skeptical arguments about our knowledge of the external world in the hands of Berkeley and
Hume. It is no longer especially influential in empiricist approaches to philosophy of science.
 Descartes's discussion of deduction in his 2nd and 3rd “Rules for the direction of the mind”
([1628] 1955 vol. 1, 4–8) explicates an ideal of inference limited to what follows deductively from
explicit assumptions.
 These observations were carried out by James Pound, who was assisted by his nephew James
Bradley, who would later succeed Halley as Astronomer Royal. We will see that their
measurements of orbital parameters for Jupiter's moons were far more accurate than any of the
others cited by Newton.
 Stein 1990, 18–21. Blackwell 1977 is a translation of Huygens's posthumously published The
Motion of Colliding Bodies.
 Huygens's report was published in Phil Trans. in 1669. See Murray, Harper, and Wilson (2011) for
a translation by Wilson together with a discussion of this important contribution by Huygens.
 Blackwell (1986, 176) and Bos (1972, 606–7).
 Westfall's biography (1980, 403).
 In an important paper, Sheldon Smith has convincingly argued that universal gravity should not
be interpreted as a capacity:
 For example, fragility is manifested when something breaks when it is struck. But there is no
single behavior that manifests being under the influence of gravity. Any behavior consistent with
a differential equation derived from the Euler recipe counts as a manifestation of gravity as long
as one added a force of gravity between all bodies. I do not see why the content of Universal
Gravitation needs to be equated with any “natural” behavior at all or even a capacity to behave in
some specific way. (Smith, S. 2002, 254)
 Smith is talking about the very general formulation developed by Euler; but, I think the lesson he
draws also applies to Newton's earlier formulation. The theory is a framework for developing
detailed models and not itself a predictive generalization.
 Unlike the general theory he argues for, Newton's initial inverse‐square centripetal forces of
attraction toward planets should be counted as capacities. They are specifically designed to be
measured by features of orbits about them. As we shall note again in chapter 3, however, they are
capacities to induce component accelerations, rather than ones which would be counted as failing
to act if other forces combined to produce motion that diverged from the predicted centripetal
acceleration (see chpt. 3, note 58).
 This passage is from the scholium following proposition 69 book 1. We shall consider this
important methodological scholium in more detail in chapter 9 section I.
 In chapter 3 we shall see that Newton also proves theorems that make the absence of sensible
deviations from a constant area rate for the orbits of its moons about it show that the
accelerations of Jupiter and its moons toward the sun are very nearly equal and parallel. This
indicates that no appreciable errors result from ignoring these accelerations by treating Jupiter's
center as inertial for purposes of using a constant area rate as a criterion for the centripetal
direction of the forces maintaining those moons in their orbits.
 John Roberts has proposed that it is this role in making quantities posited by physical theories
measurable that makes a proposition count as a law (Roberts 2005; Roberts 2008).
 Newton also suggests that the rule of areas for Jupiter is “especially provable by the eclipses of its
satellites.” The eclipses of the moons of Jupiter offer a direct test of the uniform description of
areas. See chapter 2 section V.
 Newton's proposition 45 book 1 and its corollaries are proved for orbits that are very nearly
circular. The results, however, can be extended to orbits of arbitrarily great eccentricity. Indeed,
orbital eccentricity increases the sensitivity of absence of unaccounted‐for precession as a null
experiment measuring inverse‐square variation of a centripetal force. See chapter 3 appendix 3.
 This was the occasion I first met Howard Stein, when he came to a talk I gave at his department in
Chicago.
 (65) See chapter 3 section III.3 for ten agreeing measurements (from Newton's cited data) of the
acceleration toward the sun a body would be subject to if it were at a given distance between those
explored by Mars and those explored by Jupiter.
 These ten agreeing estimates of the centripetal acceleration a body would be subject to are
computed by using the inverse‐square law to adjust the centripetal accelerations corresponding to
the periods and the ten distinct mean‐distance estimates for orbits of planets from Kepler and
Boulliau cited by Newton.
 The length of a seconds pendulum counts as a phenomenon (a pattern fitting an open‐ended body
of data) in so far as Huygens's experiment is regarded as repeatable. The stability of results over
repetitions is one of the striking advantages of theory‐mediated measurements using pendulums
over attempts to more directly estimate the strength of gravity by comparing times and distances
of fall for dropped objects. See chapter 5below.
 (68) See chapter 2 note 42. See also chapter 4 section I.1 and section V.1.
 These results are described in section V of chapter 4. In chapter 6 we shall describe and assess a
correction to the moon‐test distance estimates generated by this treatment of the action of the sun
to account for this variational inequality in the moon's motion.
 (70) The argument for proposition 3 is discussed in chapter 4 section I. Most of section V of
chapter 4 is devoted to the lunar precession problem. It reviews Newton's treatment as well as the
very interesting treatments by Clairaut, Euler, and d'Alembert, both before and after Clairaut's
successful account of the lunar precession as a perturbation due to the action of the sun in 1749.
 (71) See chapter 4 section II.1 and chapter 5 section I.
 (72) The acceleration of gravity, our g, is measured by this distance d of free fall in the initial
second after release. In our notation this distance is given by d = ½ gt 2 = ½ g(1sec2). In these
measurements d is given in Paris feet. So g in Paris feet/sec2 will equal 2d/sec2.
 The outcome of Huygens's seconds pendulum measurement of the one second's fall d gives about
 g = 30.191 Paris feet per second squared
 as the acceleration of gravity for the location at Paris where Huygens carried out this experiment.
 gGeorge Smith (1997)g2g2gAiton 1972, note 65 on p. 89chapter 5
 In chapter 5, such an analysis is extended to include pendulum estimates from other latitudes
cited by Newton and Huygens. It illustrates the irrelevance of the moon‐test estimates to the small
differences between these pendulum estimates and those from Paris.
 In chapter 6, such analyses are extended to include the lunar distance estimates cited in the
various versions Newton gives of the moon‐test. The inference holds up for each version of the
moon‐test. It also holds up when all these cited distances are taken together.
 The provision for approximations fits with construing such propositions as established up to
tolerances provided by measurements. As we shall see in chapter 10 section II.3, this makes Rule
4 very much in line with the methodology guiding testing programs in relativistic gravitation
today.
 (80) Where f 1/m 1 and f 2/m 2 are ratios of weights toward the center of a planet to inertial masses
of attracted bodies while a 1 and a 2 are their respective gravitational accelerations toward it, it
follows immediately from f= ma that a 1 = a 2 if and only if f 1/m 1 = f 2/m 2.
 Bounds limiting this universal parameter toward zero are what count today as bounds limiting
violations of the weak equivalence principle – the identification of what some physicists today
(see, e.g., Damour 1987) call “passive gravitational mass” with inertial mass. The phenomena
cited by Newton together with additional phenomena of far greater precision count today as
agreeing measurements supporting this identification (see chpt. 7 below for discussion and
references).
 In chapter 5 we shall look in more detail at Huygens contrasting methodology, including the
specific comments on Newton's argument that he added to his Discourse after reading
the Principia.
 We will say more about this quote from Huygens in chapter 10 section I.1. We shall see that the
sorts of cases he cites are all ones where a Bayesian model of scientific inference might well be
expected to result in high posterior probability for the hypothesis after successful predictions of
the sort specified. We will argue that the Bayesian model needs to add an account of acceptance
informed by Newton's ideal of empirical success if it is to do justice to Newton's scientific method.
 The Latin original of Newton's characterization of his experimental philosophy, “In this
philosophy, propositions are deduced from the phenomena and are made general by induction.”
is “In hac philosophia propositiones deducuntur ex phænomenis, & redduntur generales per
inductionem” (Koyré and Cohen 1972, 764). The Oxford Classical Dictionary gives a relevant
usage of the Latin verb “deduco” as “derive” in a sense general enough to include the origin of a
word (see p. 527). The Concise Oxford English Dictionary gives an example for “deduction” as
“The process of deducing or drawing a conclusion from a principle already known or assumed” as
late as 1860, “the process of deriving facts from laws and effects from causes” (see p. 358). These
usages are clearly not restricted to logically valid inferences.
 Newton's application of pendulum experiments to extend Law 3 to collisions between bodies
where there is loss of momentum due to imperfect elasticities or damage are clear examples of
theory‐mediated measurements made general by induction. They are inferences that would be
endorsed by Newton's Rule 3 and backed up by Rule 4. See chapter 3 section II.3.
 Smith G.E. 2002a, 153–67.
 Smith G.E. 2002a, 153–4. See also Smith G.E. 1999a, 46–51.
 Smith G.E. 1999a, 46–9. Wilson 1989b, 253. Here is the first part of this paragraph:
 Moreover, the whole space of the planetary heavens either rests (as is commonly believed) or
moves uniformly in a straight line, and hence the common center of gravity of the planets (by Law
4) either rests or moves along with it. In either case the motions of the planets among themselves
(by Law 3) are the same, and their common center of gravity rests with respect to the whole space,
and thus can be taken for the immobile center of the whole planetary system. Hence in truth the
Copernican system is proved a priori. For if in any position of the planets their common center of
gravity is computed, this either falls in the body of the Sun or will always be close to it.
(Smith 1999a, 46)
 Smith G.E., forthcoming, for a wonderful account of the powerful evidence these developments
provided for Newton's theory.
 In 1785 Laplace proved the immunity to non‐periodic perturbations to the order of the first
powers of the perturbing masses. In 1808 his protégé Poisson was able to extend this to the
second order of the perturbing masses. See Morando 1995, 140. By 1899 the eminent
mathematician Henri Poincaré (1854–1912) demonstrated that solar system stability could not be
shown when he proved that the required series were unavoidably divergent. See Laskar 1995,
245–7.
 Sussman and Wisdom, 1992. For an especially accessible general account see Ivars Peterson 1993.
 Ekeland 1990.
 This material is from section 1 of my 1989 paper “Consilience and natural kind reasoning.”
 van Fraassen 1983, 165–8; 1985, 247, 280–1, 294–5.
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AUTHOR ; ARINY AMOS, 32 YEARS- 2014

ARINY AMOS ;10 YEARS , 1992

TOPIC;VENUS ASTRONOMICAL OBJECT EXPERIMENT,

events occurring in 2006 in spaceflight, including major launches

Author , Ariny Amos thanks God of his Natural parents Father ;

Mother Kimberly Elise Trammel (born April 17, 1967) was professionally

SCOPE OF THE STUDY……..

UNITING PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY…….

Cosmos Chemistry, Geo Chemistry, Pedology…..

ASTRONOMY OF VENUS PLANET……

EXPERIMENT ON VENUS PLANET.

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION …..

UNIFORMITARIANISM……, EPISODE PLATE TECTONIC….

STAGNANT LID CONVECTION…..

TRANSITION FROM THIN TO THICK LITHOSPHERE…..

ACCRETION (ASTROPHYSICS) OF VENUS…….

GEODYNAMO THEORY….., GIANT IMPACT HYPOTHESIS….

SUPERSYMETRIC THEORY OF STOCHASTIC DYNAMICS…..

BIG BANG SCIENCE THEORY……

VENUS ASTRONOMICAL OBJECT.

Venus, the jewel of the sky, was once know by ancient astronomers as the morning

Venus' surface is relatively young geologically speaking. It appears to have been

Venus is scarred by numerous impact craters distrubuted randomly over its surface.

Size and Distance

Orbit and Rotation

Visit NASA Space Place for more kid-friendly facts.

NASA Space Place: All About Venus ›

Potential for Life

Mass (kg) 4.869e+24

Mass (Earth = 1) .81476

Equatorial radius (km) 6,051.8

Equatorial radius (Earth = 1) .94886

Mean density (gm/cm^3) 5.25

Mean distance from the Sun (km) 108,200,000

Mean distance from the Sun (Earth = 1) 0.7233

Rotational period (days) -243.0187

Orbital period (days) 224.701

Mean orbital velocity (km/sec) 35.02

Orbital eccentricity 0.0068

Tilt of axis (degrees) 177.36

Orbital inclination (degrees) 3.394

Equatorial surface gravity (m/sec^2) 8.87

Equatorial escape velocity (km/sec) 10.36

Visual geometric albedo 0.65

Mean surface temperature 482°C

Atmospheric pressure (bars) 92

Trace amounts of: Sulfur dioxide, water

Venus with Visible and Radar Illumination

the Pioneer Venus and Magellan radar images.(Copyright Calvin J. Hamilton)

The Interior of Venus

Galileo Image of Venus

Hubble Image of Venus

Hemispheric View of Venus

Additional Hemispheric Views of Venus

Venusian Topography Map

Gula Mons and Crater Cunitz

Eistla Regio - Rift Valley

Three-Dimensional Perspective View of Alpha Regio

Surface Photographs from Venera 9 and 10