Historicity.

In Plato's works, Timaeus appears as a wealthy aristocrat from the Greek colony of Lokroi Epizephyrioi (present-day Locri in Calabria), who had served in high offices in his native town before coming to Athens, where the dialogue of "Timaeus" is set. Plato does not explicitly label Timaeus a Pythagorean, but leaves enough hints for the reader to infer this. He appears competent in all areas of ancient philosophy, especially natural philosophy and astronomy.  In antiquity, Timaeus's historical existence was beyond dispute. Cicero reports that Plato traveled to Italy to study with Timaeus and other Pythagoreans. The report of this meeting led Macrobius, a writer of late antiquity, to conclude that Timaeus could not have been in a face-to-face dialogue with Socrates, who, by Timaeus's time, was long dead. Iamblichus lists Timaeus among the notable members of the Pythagorean school. Diogenes Laërtius in his Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, suggests that the character of Timaeus was based on the Pythagorean Philolaus. Further references to Timaeus are found in Proclus, "Commentary on Plato's Timaeus" (II, 38, I); in commentaries on Aristotle by Simplicius; and in Porphyry, where Timaeus mentions the house of Pythagoras in Croton.  Modern scholarship tends to dismiss Timaeus's historicity, treating him as a literary figure constructed by Plato from features of the Pythagoreans known to him, such as Archytas. The main reason for assigning the status of a literary fiction to Timaeus is the lack of any information that does not stem ultimately from Plato's dialogues. As a counterargument, it has been pointed out that most characters appearing in Plato's dialogues are in fact historical persons.

"On the Nature of the World and the Soul".

A work in Doric Greek entitled "On the Nature of the World and the Soul" (), also called the "Timaeus Locrus" after its purported author, starts out by declaring that "Timaeus of Locri said the following" and proceeds to summarize the theories that Timaeus defends in Plato's "Timaeus". The book has been preserved fully, in more than fifty manuscripts. It is mostly consistent with Plato; it notably omits the Theory of Forms.  "On the World and the Soul" was first mentioned in sources of the second century AD (Nicomachus and the commentary on "Timaeus" by Calvisius Taurus) and its authenticity was not doubted in antiquity. The work was even believed to have been a main source for Plato's dialogue; a rumor dating back to the third century BC held that Plato's "Timaeus" was plagiarized from a Pythagorean book, and this became connected to the "Timaeus Locrus".  Modern philology has shown that "On the World and the Soul" is a pseudepigraphon from somewhere between the early first century BC to the early first century AD, and is based on Plato's "Timaeus", rather than the other way around. The Pseudo-Timaeus employs a simplified mode of reasoning and presentation, presenting conclusions rather than arguments and omitting any dialogue, meaning that it was perhaps intended as a summary of the notoriously difficult original for use in a classroom setting. While it may have originated in part as a set of lecture notes to the Platonic original, it tends to omit difficult sections of the "Timaeus" rather than provide explanations. Some of Pseudo-Timaeus's theses are very hard to understand without knowledge of Plato's work.  "On the World and the Soul" shows traces of middle Platonist ideas and terminology; in particular, it resembles works by Eudorus of Alexandria and Philo, making it plausible that the author lived in Alexandria and was familiar with Eudorus's philosophy. He modernized the natural philosophy of Plato's "Timaeus" by incorporating insights from Hellenistic astronomy and medicine.  The book also appears to incorporate material from one or more now-lost commentaries on "Timaeus". R. Harder hypothesized that the composition of "On the World and the Soul" was a two-step process, whereby Pseudo-Timaeus, the author of the preserved version of the book, would have edited an earlier, Hellenistic variant of "Timaeus". Th. Tobin, by contrast, believes the work to have been composed at once, then translated into Doric.

Reception.

"On the Nature of the World and the Soul" was known to the Neoplatonists Iamblichus, Syrianus, Proclus, and Simplicius. The work of Pseudo-Timaeus supported the widely held Neoplatonist conviction that Pythagoreanism and Platonism constituted a singular theory, reflecting the pseudonymous author's intention of placing Plato in the Pythagorean tradition.  Giorgio Valla, in the fifteenth century, translated "On the Nature of the World and the Soul" into Latin. His translation was printed in Venice in 1498. The Greek text appeared as part of Aldo Manuzio's collected works of Plato, first published in 1513 and reprinted many times. In the sixteenth century, it was considered a "Vorlage" of the "Timaeus" (so in Henri Estienne's edition) and often printed along with the works of Plato.

Attributions of other works.

The "Suda" and various scholia on Plato's "Timaeus" ascribe to Timaeus of Locri a work entitled "Mathēmatiká", of which nothing else is known. This is possibly a false attribution, confusing Timaeus with an astronomer bearing the same name. He is also reported to have authored a biography of Pythagoras, but this may be a confusion with the historian Timaeus of Tauromenium, who devoted part of his history to Pythagoras's life and work.

Timaeus of Locri (; ; ) is a character in two of Plato's dialogues, "Timaeus" and "Critias". In both, he appears as a philosopher of the Pythagorean school. If there ever existed a historical Timaeus of Locri, he would have lived in the fifth century BC, but his historicity is dubious since he only appears as a literary figure in Plato; all other ancient sources are either based on Plato or are fictional accounts.


Biography.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Morin's family migrated from the Greek city of Salonica (Thessaloniki) to Marseille and later to Paris, where Edgar was born. He is of Judeo-Spanish (Sefardi) origin.  When the Germans invaded France in 1940, Morin assisted refugees and joined the French Resistance. As a member of the French Resistance he adopted the pseudonym "Morin", which he would use for the rest of his life. He joined the French Communist Party in 1941.  In 1945, Morin married Violette Chapellaubeau and they lived in Landau, where he served as a lieutenant in the French Occupation army in Germany.  In 1946, he returned to Paris and gave up his military career to pursue his activities with the Communist Party. Due to his critical posture, his relationship with the party gradually deteriorated until he was expelled in 1951 after he published an article in "Le Nouvel Observateur". In the same year, he was admitted to the National Center of Scientific Research (CNRS).  Morin founded and directed the magazine "" (1954–1962). In 1959 his book "Autocritique" was published. The book was a sustained reflection on his adherence to, and subsequent exit from, the Communist Party, focusing on the dangers of ideology and self-deception.  In 1960, Morin travelled extensively in Latin America, visiting Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, Peru and Mexico. He returned to France, where he published "L'Esprit du Temps", a work on popular culture"."  That same year, French sociologist Georges Friedmann brought him and Roland Barthes together to create a Centre for the Study of Mass Communication that, after several name changes, became the Edgar Morin Centre of the EHESS, Paris.  Also in 1960 Morin and Jean Rouch coauthored the film Chronique d'un été, an early example of "cinéma vérité" and direct cinema.  Beginning in 1965, Morin became involved in a large multidisciplinary project, financed by the Délégation Générale à la Recherche Scientifique et Technologique in Plozévet.  In 1968, Morin replaced Henri Lefebvre at the. He became involved in the student revolts that began to emerge in France. In May 1968 he wrote a series of articles for Le Monde that tried to understand what he called "The Student Commune." He followed the student revolt closely and wrote a second series of articles in Le Monde called "The Revolution without a Face," as well as coauthoring "Mai 68: La brèche" with Cornelius Castoriadis and Claude Lefort.  In 1969, Morin spent a year at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California. Jonas Salk invited him under the recommendation of Jacques Monod and John Hunt, with the sole imposed condition of learning. It was there, in this "breeding ground for Nobel Prizes" that he familiarized himself with systems theory. He read Henri Laborit, James Watson, Stéphane Lupasco, Bronowski, and was introduced to the thought of Gregory Bateson and the "new problematic in ecology".  In 1983 he published "De la nature de l’URSS," which deepened his analysis of Soviet communism and anticipated the perestroika of Mikhail Gorbachev.  In 2002 Morin participated in the creation of the International Ethical, Scientific and Political Collegium. Also that year, he made a trip to Iran with Dariush Shayegan.

Philosophical work.

In addition to being the UNESCO Chair of Complex Thought, Morin is known as a founder of transdisciplinarity and holds honorary doctorates in a variety of social science fields from 21 universities (Messina, Geneva, Milan, Bergamo, Thessaloniki, La Paz, Odense, Perugia, Cosenza, Palermo, Nuevo León, Université de Laval à Québec, Brussels, Barcelona, Guadalajara, Valencia, Vera Cruz, Santiago, the Catholic University of Porto Alegre, the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, and Candido Mendes University (Rio de Janeiro)).  The University of Messina in Sicily, Ricardo Palma University in Lima, and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), the French National Research Center in Paris, have established research centers based on his transdisciplinary methods and philosophy. In addition, the Multiversidad Mundo Real Edgar Morin, a university based on his work, was established in Mexico. Morin did not embrace the French postmodern or poststructuralist movements, instead pursuing his own research agenda. As a result, US academics did not transport his theories into disciplinary discourses in same fashion as they did Foucault's and Derrida's. Morin's work spans scholarly and popular literature, and he has appeared on the cover of multiple publications including Sciences Humaines and a special issue of Le Monde.  According to Alfonso Montuori in "Edgar Morin: A partial introduction" "The 6 volume Method is perhaps Morin’s culminating work, a remarkable and seemingly inexhaustible treasure trove of insights, reflection, and a real manual for those who are interested in broadening the nature of human inquiry. Drawing on cybernetics, information theory, systems theory, but also integrating all the work he has done before, from the work on imagination in his research on movies to his profound reflections on death, Method integrates Morin’s journey and provides the reader with an alternative to the traditional assumptions and method of inquiry of our time."

Edgar Morin (; ; born Edgar Nahoum on 8 July 1921) is a French philosopher and sociologist who has been internationally recognized for his work on complexity and "complex thought" (), and for his scholarly contributions to such diverse fields as media studies, politics, sociology, visual anthropology, ecology, education, and systems biology. He holds degrees in history, economics, and law. Though less well known in the anglophone world due to the limited availability of English translations of his over 60 books, Morin is renowned in the French-speaking world, Europe, and Latin America.


Etymology.

The name "Tu BiShvat" is derived from the Hebrew date of the holiday, which occurs on the fifteenth day of Shevat. "Tu" stands for the Hebrew letters Tet and Vav, which together have the numerical value of 9 and 6, adding up to 15. The date may also be called "Ḥamisha Asar BiShvat" (, "Fifteenth of Shevat").

Talmud.

Tu BiShvat appears in the Mishnah in Tractate Rosh Hashanah as one of the four new years in the Jewish calendar. The discussion of when the New Year occurs was a source of debate among the rabbis, who argued:  The rabbis ruled in favor of Hillel on this issue and the 15th of Shevat became the date for calculating the beginning of the agricultural cycle for the purpose of biblical tithes.

Biblical tithes.

Of the talmudic requirements for fruit trees which used Tu BiShvat as the cut-off date in the Hebrew calendar for calculating the age of a fruit-bearing tree, Orlah remains to this day in essentially the same form it had in talmudic times. In the Orthodox Jewish world, these practices are still observed today as part of Halacha, Jewish law. Fruit that ripened on a three-year-old tree before Tu BiShvat is considered "orlah" and is forbidden to eat, while fruit ripening on or after Tu BiShvat of the tree's third year is permitted. In the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th years of the Shmita cycle Maaser Sheni is observed today by a ceremony redeeming tithing obligations with a coin; in the 3rd and 6th years, Maaser Ani is substituted, and no coin is needed for redeeming it. Tu BiShvat is the cut-off date for determining to which year the tithes belong.  Tu BiShvat falls on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shevat and begins a three-month series (in years without a leap year) of holidays that occur on the mid-month full moons that culminate in Passover.

Kabbalistic and Hasidic customs.

In the Middle Ages, Tu BiShvat was celebrated with a feast of fruits in keeping with the Mishnaic description of the holiday as a "New Year." In the 16th century, the kabbalist Rabbi Yitzchak Luria of Safed and his disciples instituted a "Tu BiShvat seder" in which the fruits and trees of the Land of Israel were given symbolic meaning. The main idea was that eating ten specific fruits and drinking four cups of wine in a specific order while reciting the appropriate blessings would bring human beings, and the world, closer to spiritual perfection.  In Israel, the kabbalistic Tu BiShvat seder has been revived, and is now celebrated by many Jews, religious and secular. Special "haggadot" have been written for this purpose.  In the Hasidic community, some Jews pickle or candy the etrog (citron) from Sukkot and eat it on Tu BiShvat. Some pray that they will be worthy of a beautiful etrog on the following Sukkot.

Customs in Israel.

Tu BiShvat is the Israeli Arbor Day, and it is often referred to by that name in international media. Ecological organizations in Israel and the diaspora have adopted the holiday to further environmental-awareness programs. On Israeli kibbutzim, Tu BiShvat is celebrated as an agricultural holiday.  On Tu BiShvat 1890, Rabbi Ze'ev Yavetz, one of the founders of the Mizrachi movement, took his students to plant trees in the agricultural colony of Zichron Yaakov. This custom was adopted in 1908 by the Jewish Teachers Union and later by the Jewish National Fund (Keren HaKayemet L’Israel), established in 1901 to oversee land reclamation and afforestation of the Land of Israel. In the early 20th century, the Jewish National Fund devoted the day to planting eucalyptus trees to stop the plague of malaria in the Hula Valley; today the Fund schedules major tree-planting events in large forests every Tu BiShvat. Over a million Israelis take part in the Jewish National Fund's Tu BiShvat tree-planting activities.  In keeping with the idea of Tu BiShvat marking the revival of nature, many of Israel's major institutions have chosen this day for their inauguration. The cornerstone-laying of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem took place on Tu BiShvat 1918; the Technion in Haifa, on Tu BiShvat 1925; and the Knesset, on Tu BiShvat 1949.

Tu BiShvat (; "") is a Jewish holiday occurring on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shevat (in 2020, Tu BiShvat begins at sunset on February 9 and ends in the evening of February 10). It is also called "Rosh HaShanah La'Ilanot" (), literally 'New Year of the Trees'. In contemporary Israel, the day is celebrated as an ecological awareness day, and trees are planted in celebration.


Life and work.

Bachelard was a postal clerk in Bar-sur-Aube, and then studied physics and chemistry before finally becoming interested in philosophy. To obtain his doctorate ("doctorat ès lettres") in 1927, he wrote two theses: the main one, "Essai sur la connaissance approchée", under the direction of Abel Rey, and the complementary one, "Étude sur l'évolution d'un problème de physique : la propagation thermique dans les solides", supervised by Léon Brunschvicg.  He was a professor at the University of Dijon from 1930 to 1940 and then was appointed chair in the history and philosophy of science at the University of Paris. In 1958 he became a member of the Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium.

Bachelard's psychology of science.

Bachelard's studies of the history and philosophy of science in such works as "Le nouvel esprit scientifique" ("The New Scientific Spirit", 1934) and "La formation de l'esprit scientifique" ("The Formation of the Scientific Mind", 1938) were based on his vision of historical epistemology as a kind of psychoanalysis of the scientific mind.  In the English-speaking world, the connection Bachelard made between psychology and the history of science has been little understood. Bachelard demonstrated how the progress of science could be blocked by certain types of mental patterns, creating the concept of "obstacle épistémologique" ("epistemological obstacle"). One task of epistemology is to make clear the mental patterns at use in science, in order to help scientists overcome the obstacles to knowledge. Another goal is to “give back to human reason its function of agitation and aggressiveness” as Bachelard put it in ‘L'engagement rationaliste’ (1972).

Epistemological breaks: the discontinuity of scientific progress.

Bachelard was critical of Auguste Comte's positivism, which considered science as a continual progress. To Bachelard, scientific developments such as Einstein's theory of relativity demonstrated the discontinuous nature of the history of sciences. Thus models that framed scientific development as continuous, such as that of Comte and Émile Meyerson, seemed simplistic and erroneous to Bachelard.  Through his concept of "epistemological break", Bachelard underlined the discontinuity at work in the history of sciences. However the term "epistemological break" itself is almost never used by Bachelard, but became famous through Louis Althusser.  He showed that new theories integrated old theories in new paradigms, changing the sense of concepts (for instance, the concept of mass, used by Newton and Einstein in two different senses). Thus, non-Euclidean geometry did not contradict Euclidean geometry, but integrated it into a larger framework.

The role of epistemology in science.

Bachelard was a rationalist in the Cartesian sense, although he recommended his "non-Cartesian epistemology" as a replacement for the more standard Cartesian epistemology. He compared "scientific knowledge" to ordinary knowledge in the way we deal with it, and saw error as only illusion: "Scientifically, one thinks truth as the historical rectification of a persistent error, and experiments as correctives for an initial, common illusion ("illusion première")."  The role of epistemology is to show the history of the (scientific) production of concepts; those concepts are not just theoretical propositions: they are simultaneously abstract and concrete, pervading technical and pedagogical activity. This explains why "The electric bulb is an object of scientific thought... an example of an abstract-concrete object." To understand the way it works, one has to take the detour of scientific knowledge. Epistemology is thus not a general philosophy that aims at justifying scientific reasoning. Instead it produces regional histories of science.

Shifts in scientific perspective.

Bachelard saw how seemingly irrational theories often simply represented a drastic shift in scientific perspective. For instance, he claimed that the theory of probabilities was just another way of complexifying reality through a deepening of rationality (even though critics like Lord Kelvin found this theory irrational).  One of his main theses in "The New Scientific Mind" was that modern sciences had replaced the classical ontology of the substance with an "ontology of relations", which could be assimilated to something like a process philosophy. For instance, the physical concepts of matter and rays correspond, according to him, to the metaphysical concepts of the thing and of movement; but whereas classical philosophy considered both as distinct, and the thing as ontologically real, modern science can not distinguish matter from rays: it is thus impossible to examine an immobile thing, which was precisely the condition for knowledge according to classical theory of knowledge (Becoming being impossible to be known, in accordance with Aristotle and Plato's theories of knowledge).  In non-Cartesian epistemology, there is no "simple substance" as in Cartesianism, but only complex objects built by theories and experiments, and continuously improved (VI, 4). Intuition is therefore not primitive, but built (VI, 2). These themes led Bachelard to support a sort of constructivist epistemology.

Other academic interests.

In addition to epistemology, Bachelard's work deals with many other topics, including poetry, dreams, psychoanalysis, and the imagination. "The Psychoanalysis of Fire" (1938) and "The Poetics of Space" (1958) are among the most popular of his works: Jean-Paul Sartre cites the former and Bachelard's "Water and Dreams" in his "Being and Nothingness" (1943), and the latter had a wide reception in architectural theory circles. In philosophy, this nocturnal side of his work is developed by his student Gilbert Durand.

Bibliography.

His works include:

English translations.

Though most of Bachelard's major works on poetics have been translated into English, only about half of his works on the philosophy of science have been translated.

Gaston Bachelard (; ; 27 June 1884 – 16 October 1962) was a French philosopher. He made contributions in the fields of poetics and the philosophy of science. To the latter he introduced the concepts of "epistemological obstacle" and "epistemological break" ("obstacle épistémologique" and "rupture épistémologique"). He influenced many subsequent French philosophers, among them Michel Foucault, Louis Althusser, Dominique Lecourt and Jacques Derrida, as well as the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu.


Creation.

The Soyombo script was created as the fourth Mongolian script, only 38 years after the invention of the Clear script. The name of the script alludes to this story. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "Svayambhu" "self-created".  The syllabic system in fact appears to be based on Devanagari, while the base shape of the letters is derived from the Ranjana alphabet. Details of individual characters resemble traditional Mongolian alphabets and the Old Turkic alphabet.  It is unclear whether Zanabazar designed the Soyombo symbol himself or if it had existed beforehand.

Use.

The eastern Mongols used the script primarily as a ceremonial and decorative script. Zanabazar had created it for the translation of Buddhist texts from Sanskrit or Tibetan, and both he and his students used it extensively for that purpose.  As it was much too complicated to be adopted as an everyday script, its use is practically nonexistent today. Aside from historical texts, it can usually be found in temple inscriptions. It also has some relevance to linguistic research, because it reflects certain developments in the Mongolian language, such as that of long vowels.

Form.

The Soyombo script was the first Mongolian script to be written horizontally from left to right, in contrast to earlier scripts that had been written vertically. As in the Tibetan and Devanagari scripts, the signs are suspended below a horizontal line, giving each line of text a visible "backbone".  The two variations of the "Soyombo" symbol are used as special characters to mark the start and end of a text. Two of its elements (the upper triangle and the right vertical bar) form the angular base frame for the other characters.  Within this frame, the syllables are composed of one to three elements. The first consonant is placed high within the angle. The vowel is given by a mark above the frame, except for u and ü which are marked in the low center. A second consonant is specified by a small mark, appended to the inside of the vertical bar, pushing any u or ü mark to the left side. A short oblique hook at the bottom of the vertical bar marks a long vowel. There is also a curved or jagged mark to the right of the vertical bar for the two diphthongs.

Alphabet.

The first character of the alphabet represents a syllable starting with a short "a". Syllables starting with other vowels are constructed by adding a vowel mark to the same base character. All remaining base characters represent syllables starting with a consonant. A starting consonant without a vowel mark implies a following "a".  In theory, 20 consonants and 14 vowels would result in almost 4,000 combinations, but not all of those actually occur in Mongolian. There are additional base characters and marks for writing Tibetan or Sanskrit, and some of the symbols used in these two languages will also not be used in Mongolian.

Mongolian.

A syllable in Mongolian can contain the following elements: consonant or vocal carrier (C), vowel (V), length marker (L), diphthong marker (V) and a final consonant C).

Vowels.

Mongolian uses seven vowels, all of which have a short and a long form. The long form is indicated with the length mark:  Diphthong markers are used with other vowel signs to represent diphthongs in Mongolian:

Consonants.

A final consonant is written with a simplified variant of the basic letter in the bottom of the frame. In cases where it would conflict with the vowels u or ü the vowel is written to the left.

Sanskrit and Tibetan.

A syllable in Sanskrit or Tibetan can contain the following elements: Consonant in prefix form (C), consonant or vocal carrier (C), stack of medial consonants (C...C), vowel (V) and length marker (L). For Sanskrit, there are two diacritics: anusvara (S) and visarga (S). In Tibetan, syllables can be separated by tsheg (T), a small triangle-shaped sign comparable to a space.

Vowels.

Sanskrit contains additional vowels ṛ, ṝ, ḷ and <unk>.  An anusvara diacritic indicates nasalization (transcribed as ṃ). A visarga indicates post-vocalic aspiration (transcribed as ḥ).

Consonants.

Soyombo contains the full set of letters to reproduce Sanskrit and Tibetan. Note that some of the letters represent different sounds in Mongolian, Sanskrit, and Tibetan. The primary difference between the three occurs in Mongolian where letters for Sanskrit voiceless sounds are used for voiced stops, while the letters for voiceless aspirated sounds are used for voiceless stops. In Mongolian, letters used specifically for Tibetan and Sanskrit are called 'гали' "galig" noting they are characters used for the transcription of foreign sounds.  Consonant clusters in Sanskrit and Tibetan are usually written by stacking several consonants vertically within the same frame. In existing sources clusters occur with up to three consonants, but in theory they could contain as many as possible. Four consonants, ra, la, śa and sa, can also be written as a special prefix, consisting of a small sign written to the left of the main triangle. They are pronounced before the other consonants.

Punctuation.

Apart from the Soyombo symbol, the only punctuation mark is a full stop, represented by a vertical bar. In inscriptions, words are often separated by a dot at the height of the upper triangle ("tsheg").

Unicode.

Soyombo script has been included in the Unicode Standard since the release of Unicode version 10.0 in June 2017. The Soyombo block currently comprises 83 characters. The proposal to encode Soyombo was submitted by Anshuman Pandey. The Unicode proposal was revised in December 2015.  The Unicode block for Soyombo is U+11A50–U+11AAF:  The Menksoft IMEs provide alternative input methods.

The Soyombo script (, "Soyombo biçig") is an abugida developed by the monk and scholar Zanabazar in 1686 to write Mongolian. It can also be used to write Tibetan and Sanskrit.


History.

Although they were not held continuously, the European Championships is figure skating's oldest championship. The first European Championships were held in 1891 in Hamburg, Germany. It featured one segment, compulsory figures, with seven competitors, five from Germany and two from Austria. The event was sponsored by the Austrian and German skating federations, after they combined to become one federation. All the medalists were from Germany; Oskar Uhlig won the first gold medal, Anon Schmitson came in second place, and Franz Zilly was third. The second European Championships were held in Vienna in 1892. The event had 10 competitors: one from Hungary, two from Germany, and seven from Austria. It included two segments, compulsory figures and free skating. It was also sponsored by the German/Austrian federation. Austrian Eduard Englemann won the gold medal, Hungarian Tibor von Földváry came in second place, and Georg Zachariades from Austria was third.  The next European Championships was held in 1893 in Berlin; it was the first time the event was under the jurisdiction of the International Skating Union (ISU), which was formed in the summer of 1892. The championships were sponsored by the Berlin Skating Club, and like the previous two years, was organized by the German/Austrian federation. There were eight competitors: three from Austria, two from Germany, and one each from Hungary, Sweden, and Norway. Englemann is listed as the gold medalist; Henning Grenander from Sweden came in second, and Zachariades came in third. Figure skating historian James Hines called the 1893 European Championships "clearly a success from a skating standpoint", but it also marked figure skating's "first major controversy", due to "different interpretations of the scoring rules, which could result in a tie depending upon one's interpretation of them". The Berlin Skating Club declared Grenander the winner, but the ISU declared Englemann the winner. The problem was never resolved, but in 1895, the ISU declared the 1893 results invalid. ISU historian Benjamin T. Wright said that the controversy "nearly led to the demise" of the newly-formed ISU.  The next two European Championships, 1894 and 1895, "experienced a marked decrease in participation, perhaps a result of the scoring debacle". In 1894, five skaters competed in Vienna. Engelmann won his third Europeans gold medal, Austrian Gustav Hügel came in second, and Földváry came in third. In 1895, which was held in Budapest, three skaters competed, with one withdrawal. Földváry won the gold medal, Hügel again came in second, and Gilbert Fuchs from Germany came in third. There were no European Championships for two years, which Hines speculated was because of the small number of contestants in 1894 and 1895, although the competition returned in 1898. Hines also reported that the European Championships were again interrupted in 1902 and 1903, "for lack of ice". By the beginning of World War I, 20 European Championships were held. There were two more interruptions of the European Championships: between 1915 and 1922 due to World War I, and between 1940 and 1946 due to World War II.  Figure skating historian James Hines reported that "perhaps the most bizarre incident in the history of competitive figure skating occurred at the 1930 European Figure Skating Championships in Slovakia". The competition's referee was not certified by the ISU and the Yugoslavian judge "was a replacement who served falsely" under the name of a judge who was certified. The irregularities were discovered after the competition was over, so the ISU nullified the results and ordered the competition reskated. The winner of the original competition, Joseph Silva from Czechoslovakia, was not able to compete in the second competition. Karl Schäfer from Austria won the reskate and is listed as the gold medalist.  Only men competed at the European Championships until 1930, which is when women single skaters and pair skating were added. All members of the ISU, not just skaters from Europe, were allowed to compete at Europeans until 1948.Ice dance was added to Europeans in 1954. The first time the U.S.S.R. sent skaters to the European Championships was in 1956. Competitions were held in outdoor rinks until 1967 when the ISU ruled that both the European and World Championships be held in covered ice rinks.

Qualifying.

Only those competitors who are "members of a European ISU Member" are eligible to compete in the European Championships. According to the ISU's Constitution, in order to be eligible to compete in international senior competitions, ISU senior championships, and the Olympics, skaters must have "reached at least the age of fifteen (15) before July 1 preceding the Events". Each ISU member country can send at least one competitor per discipline, if they earn the minimum total element scores, which is determined and published each season by the ISU, during the current or during the immediately previous season. Skaters who earn the minimum elements score/points during the Olympic season or during the immediately previous season, as established for the European and Four Continents championships, are eligible to compete in the Olympics.  In 2018, the ISU determined that skaters and couples participating in the 2019 European Championships had to earn the following minimum total elements scores:  The number of additional competitors eligible to compete from ISU member countries is determined by the accumulation of points "equal to the sum of placements of their Competitors who were entered in this preceding season’s Championships". Single skaters who do not qualify for the free skating program after being entered in the short program receive 18 points towards the entry quota. Pairs teams and ice dancers who enter the short program or rhythm dance but do not qualify for the free skate or free dance receive the number of points equal to their placement in the short program and rhythm dance. Skaters who move forward to the free skate or free dance, but do not place higher than 16th place, are awarded 16 points. Skaters who withdraw from the competition and were not able to complete the free skate or free dance, but who were in the top 10 in the short program or rhythm dance, are not considered for the entry quota. If an ISU member country sends three competitors to a competition, only the two best-scoring skaters and teams will count for points. Each ISU member country can substitute one skater per discipline, but can submit no more than two substitutes in case there are two or more entries unable to compete.  The number of competitors, or the overall entry quota, per discipline an ISU member country can send to a competition "is determined in accordance" with the chart below.

The European Figure Skating Championships (also called ""Europeans"") is an annual figure skating competition in which figure skaters compete for the title of European champion. Medals are awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance. The event is sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU) and is the sport's oldest competition. The first European Championships was held in 1891 in Hamburg, Germany and featured one segment, compulsory figures, with seven competitors, all men from Germany and Austria. It has been, other than four periods, held continuously since 1891, and has been sanctioned by the ISU since 1893. Women were allowed to compete for the first time in 1930, which is also the first time pairs skating was added to the competition. Ice dance was added in 1954. Only eligible skaters from ISU member countries in Europe can compete, and skaters must have reached at least the age of 15 before July 1 preceding the competition. ISU member countries can submit 1-3 skaters to compete in the European Championships.


Early life.

He was born in Modena and died in Padua. His family was noble but very poor and it was only by a hard struggle he succeeded in obtaining an education. Financial difficulties led him to join the clergy, and in 1542, he became a canon at Modena's cathedral. He studied medicine at the University of Ferrara, at that time one of the best medical schools in Europe. He received his MD in 1548 under the guidance of Antonio Musa Brassavola. After taking his degree he worked at various medical schools and then became professor of anatomy at Ferrara, in 1548. Girolamo Fabrici was one of his famous students. He was called the next year to the University of Pisa, then the most important university in Italy. In 1551 Falloppio was invited to occupy the chair of anatomy and surgery at the University of Padua. He also held the professorship of botany and was superintendent of the botanical gardens. Though he died when less than forty, he had made his mark on anatomy for all time.

Medical contributions.

Falloppio's own work dealt mainly with the anatomy of the head. He added much to what was known before about the internal ear and described in detail the tympanum and its relations to the osseous ring in which it is situated. He also described minutely the circular and oval windows (fenestræ) and their communication with the vestibule and cochlea. He was the first to point out the connection between the mastoid cells and the middle ear. His description of the lacrimal ducts in the eye was a marked advance on those of his predecessors and he also gave a detailed account of the ethmoid bone and its cells in the nose. His contributions to the anatomy of the bones and muscles were very valuable. It was in myology particularly that he corrected Vesalius. He studied the reproductive organs in both sexes, and described the Fallopian tube, which leads from the ovary to the uterus and bears his name to this day.  The aquæductus Fallopii, the canal through which the facial nerve passes after leaving the auditory nerve, is also named after him. Falloppio’s contributions to neuroanatomy, however, are still of interest today due to attempts to better understand the structures he first found. He was interested in the sensory systems in the face. He centered his research on understanding the path of the nerves of the face and structures that lie in their tracks. Here, he left his name to two parts of the human face, only emphasizing his enormous influence on the study of the head. The facial canal was first described by Falloppio, who studied its path, structure, and contents. He also described the Fallopian hiatus, an opening in the anterosuperior part of the petrosal bone.  His contributions to practical medicine were also important. He was the first to use an aural speculum for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the ear, and his writings on surgical subjects are still of interest. He published two treatises on ulcers and tumors, a treatise on surgery, and a commentary on Hippocrates's book on wounds of the head. In his own time he was regarded as somewhat of an authority in the field of sexuality. Fallopio was the first to describe a condom (in his writings, a linen sheath wrapped around the penis), and he advocated the use of such sheaths to prevent syphilis. In an early example of a clinical trial, Falloppio reported that he tested these condoms in 1,100 men, none of whom contracted syphilis. Falloppio was also interested in every form of therapeutics. He wrote a treatise on baths and thermal waters, another on simple purgatives, and a third on the composition of drugs. None of these works, except his "Anatomy" (Venice, 1561), were published during his lifetime. As we have them, they consist of manuscripts of his lectures and notes of his students. They were published by Volcher Coiter (Nuremberg, 1575).  Falloppio argued against Fracastoro's theory of fossils, as described as follows in Charles Lyell's "Principles of Geology":  Falloppio of Padua conceived that petrified shells had been generated by fermentation in the spots where they were found, or that they had in some cases acquired their form from 'the tumultuous movements of terrestrial exhalations.' Although a celebrated professor of anatomy, he taught that certain tusks of elephants dug up in his time at Puglia were mere earthy concretions, and, consistently with these principles, he even went so far as to consider it not improbable, that the vases of Monte Testaceo at Rome were natural impressions stamped in the soil.

Legacy.

This was the golden age of anatomy and Falloppio's contemporaries included such great anatomists as Vesalius, Eustachius, and Realdo Colombo (whom he succeeded at Padua). It has sometimes been asserted that he was jealous of certain of the great discoverers in anatomy and that this is the reason for his frequent criticisms and corrections of their work. However, Heinrich Häser, an authority in the history of medicine, declared that Falloppio was noted for his modesty and deference to his fellow workers and especially to Vesalius. His purpose in suggesting corrections, therefore, was the advance of the science of anatomy.

Anatomical names.

Various anatomical structures are named after Falloppio, including Fallopian tube, Fallopian Canal, and Fallopian ligament.

Gabriele Falloppio (1523 – October 9, 1562) was an Italian Catholic priest and anatomist often known by his Latin name Fallopius. He was one of the most important anatomists and physicians of the sixteenth century.


Plot.

In the story, Schlemihl sells his shadow to the Devil for a bottomless wallet (the gold sack of Fortunatus), only to find that a man without a shadow is shunned by human societies. The woman he loves rejects him, and he himself becomes involved in guilt. Yet when the devil wants to return his shadow to him in exchange for his soul, Schlemihl, as the friend of God, rejects the proposal and throws away the bottomless wallet besides. He seeks refuge in nature and travels around the world in scientific exploration, with the aid of seven-league boots. When overtaken with sickness, he is reconciled with his fellow men, who take care of him, and in regard for his sickness do not look for his shadow. Finally, however, he returns to his studies of nature and finds his deepest satisfaction in communion with nature and his own better self.

Reception and cultural influence.

The story, intended for children, was widely read and the character became a common cultural reference in many countries. People generally remembered the element of the shadow better than how the story ended, simplifying Chamisso's lesson to the idiom "don't sell your shadow to the Devil."  The Yiddish word "schlemiel"—borrowed from Hebrew "shlumi'el"—refers to a hopelessly incompetent person, a bungler. Consequently, the name is a synonym of one who makes a desperate or silly bargain. Originally the name meant friend of God, Theophilus.

Later retellings.

The story was performed on American television, in a 1953 episode of "Favorite Story", starring DeForest Kelley as the title character.  Georges Schwizgebel's 2004 paint-on-glass animation "L'Homme sans ombre" ("The Man With No Shadow") portrays a slight variation on the original story: after being rejected by his lover and society, the main character returns to the devil. Rather than getting back his shadow, he trades his riches for a pair of seven-league boots and travels the world in search of a place where he will be accepted without a shadow. In the end, he becomes a Wayang shadow puppeteer in Indonesia because he can manipulate the puppets directly without affecting their silhouettes.

Peter Schlemihl is the title character of an 1814 novella, "" ("Peter Schlemihl's Miraculous Story"), written in German by exiled French aristocrat Adelbert von Chamisso.


Logic and philosophy.

Starting in 1929, Chwistek was a Professor of Logic at the University of Lwów in a position for which Alfred Tarski had also applied. His interests in the 1930s were in a general system of philosophy of science, which was published in a book translated in English 1948 as "The Limits of Science".  In the 1920s-30s, many European philosophers attempted to reform traditional philosophy by means of mathematical logic. Leon Chwistek did not believe that such reform could succeed. He thought that reality could not be described in one homogeneous system, based on the principles of formal logic, because there was not one reality but many.  Chwistek argued against the axiomatic method by demonstrating that the extant axiomatic systems are inconsistent.

Artist.

Chwistek developed his theory of the multiplicity of realities first with regard to the arts. He distinguished four basic types of realities, then matched them with four basic types of painting.  The four types of realities were:  The types of painting corresponding to the above were: Chwistek never intended his views to constitute a new metaphysical theory. He was a defender of "common sense" against metaphysics and irrational feeling. His theory of plural reality was merely an attempt to specify the various ways in which the term, “real,” is used. Chwistek's fellow-artist and closest friend, Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz, harshly criticized his philosophical views. Witkiewicz's own philosophy was based on a monadic character to the individual's existence, embracing a multiplicity of existences, with the world being made up of a multiplicity of Particular Existences.

Leon Chwistek (Kraków, Austria-Hungary, 13 June 1884 – 20 August 1944, Barvikha near Moscow, Russia) was a Polish avant-garde painter, theoretician of modern art, literary critic, logician, philosopher and mathematician.


Ideas.

Rashid Rida, was a leading exponent of Salafism and was especially critical of what he termed "blind following" of traditional Islam. He encouraged both laymen and scholars to interpret the primary sources of Islam themselves. Applying this principle enabled Rida to tackle a number of subjects in a modern way and sometimes led to him holding unorthodox ideas that were considered controversial by some and progressive by others.  One of his controversial views was his support of Darwin's theory of evolution. To justify Darwinism, Rida considered it permissible to "interpret certain stories of the Qur'an in an allegorical manner, as, for example, the story of Adam.". He also believed that the origin of the human race from Adam is a history derived from the Hebrews and that Muslims are not obliged to believe in this account.  Other controversial beliefs held by Rida included:
 - His view that usury (riba) may be permitted in certain cases
 - His idea that building statues is permissible in Islam as long as there is no danger of their being devoted to improper religious uses.
 - His support of the British against the Ottomans
 - His view that "the minute living bodies which today have been made known by the microscope and are called microbes, may possibly be a species of Jinn"
  Rida focused on the relative weakness of Muslim societies vis-à-vis Western colonialism, blaming Sufi excesses, the blind imitation of the past (taqlid), the stagnation of the ulama, and the resulting failure to achieve progress in science and technology. He held that these flaws could be alleviated by a return to what he saw as the true principles of Islam albeit interpreted (ijtihad) to suit modern realities. This alone could, he believed, save Muslims from subordination to the colonial powers.  Rida had a close relationship with Freemasonry, though his feelings toward the Bahá'í Faith were quite negative.  Despite some controversial ideas held by Rida, his works and in particular his magazine al-Manar spread throughout the Muslim world influencing many individuals including the popular Salafi writer Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani.  Muhammad Rashid Rida was one of the earliest critics of Zionism and wrote an article on the Movement as early as 1898.  Rida died on his way back to Cairo from Suez, where he had gone to see off his patron, King of Saudi Arabia Abdulaziz Ibn Saud.

Contributions to Islamist political thought.

The corruption and tyranny of Muslim rulers ("caliphs", sultans, etc.) throughout history was a central theme in Rida's criticisms. Rida, however, celebrated the rule of Muhammad and the Rightly Guided Caliphs, and leveled his attacks at subsequent rulers who could not maintain Muhammad's example. He also criticized the clergy ("ulama") for compromising their integrity - and the integrity of the Islamic law ("sharia") they were meant to uphold - by associating with worldly corrupt powers.  Rida's ideas were foundational to the development of the modern "Islamic state". He "was an important link between classical theories of the caliphate, such as al-Mawardi's, and 20th-century notions of the Islamic state".  Rida promoted a restoration or rejuvenation of the Caliphate for Islamic unity, and "democratic consultation on the part of the government, which he called "shura"." In theology, his reformist ideas, like those of Abduh, were "based on the argument that: shari'a consists of "`ibadat" (worship) and "mu'amalat" (social relations). Human reason has little scope in the former and Muslims should adhere to the dictates of the Qur'an and hadith. The laws governing "mu'amalat" should conform to Islamic ethics but on specific points may be continually reassessed according to changing conditions of different generations and societies.  Although he did not call for the "revolutionary establishment" of an Islamic state, rather advocating only gradual reform of the existing Ottoman government, Rida preceded Abul Ala Maududi, Sayyid Qutb, and later Islamists in declaring adherence to Sharia law as essential for Islam and Muslims, saying  Koran 5:44 applies to `...whomsoever thinks it distasteful to rule in accordance with the just rules which God sent down, and does not rule by them because he has different views, or because he has worldly interests. According to these verses, they are unbelievers; because true faith requires obedience. Obedience requires deeds, and is not consistent with omission'

Muhammad Rashid Rida (; 23 September 1865 or 18 October 1865 – 22 August 1935) was an early Islamic reformer, whose ideas would later influence 20th-century Islamist thinkers in developing a political philosophy of an "Islamic state". Rida is said to have been one of the most influential and controversial scholars of his generation and was deeply influenced by the early Salafi Movement and the movement for Islamic Modernism founded in Cairo by Muhammad Abduh.


Geography.

The Shaanxi earthquake's epicenter was in the Wei River Valley in Shaanxi Province, near Huaxian (now Huazhou District of Weinan), Weinan and Huayin. In Huaxian, every single building and home was demolished, killing more than half the residents of the city, with a death toll estimated in the hundreds of thousands. The situation in Weinan and Huayin was similar. In certain areas, crevices opened in the earth. Destruction and death were everywhere, affecting places as far as from the epicenter. The earthquake also triggered landslides, which contributed to the massive death toll. The rupture occurred during the reign of the Jiajing Emperor of the Ming dynasty. Therefore, in the Chinese historical record, this earthquake is often referred to as the Jiajing Great earthquake.  Modern estimates, based on geological data, give the earthquake a magnitude of approximately 8 on the moment magnitude scale or XI on the Mercalli scale, though more recent discoveries have shown that it was 7.9. While it was the deadliest earthquake and the third-deadliest natural disaster in history, there have been earthquakes with considerably higher magnitudes. Following the earthquake, aftershocks continued several times a month for half a year.  In the annals of China it was described in this manner: The earthquake damaged many of the Forest of Stone steles badly. Of the 114 Kaicheng Stone Classics, 40 were broken in the earthquake.  The scholar Qin Keda lived through the earthquake and recorded details. One conclusion he drew was that "at the very beginning of an earthquake, people indoors should not go out immediately. Just crouch down and wait. Even if the nest has collapsed, some eggs may remain intact." The shaking reduced the height of the Small Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an by three levels.

Loess caves.

Millions of people at the time lived in artificial loess caves on high cliffs in the area of the Loess Plateau. Loess is the silty soil that windstorms have deposited on the plateau over the ages. The soft loess clay formed over thousands of years due to wind blowing silt into the area from the Gobi Desert. Loess is a highly erosion-prone soil that is susceptible to the forces of wind and water.  The Loess Plateau and its dusty soil cover almost all of Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces and parts of others. Much of the population lived in dwellings called yaodongs in these cliffs. This was the major contributing factor to the very high death toll. The earthquake collapsed many caves and caused landslides, which destroyed many more.

Cost.

The cost of damage done by the earthquake is almost impossible to measure in modern terms. The death toll, however, has been traditionally given as 820,000 to 830,000. The accompanying property damage would have been incalculable—an entire region of inner China had been destroyed and an estimated 60% of the region's population died.

Foreign reaction.

The Portuguese Dominican friar Gaspar da Cruz, who visited Guangzhou later in 1556, heard about the earthquake, and later reported about it in the last chapter of his book "A Treatise of China" (1569). He viewed the earthquake as a possible punishment for people's sins, and the Great Comet of 1556 as, possibly, the sign of this calamity (as well as perhaps the sign of the birth of the Antichrist).

The 1556 Shaanxi earthquake, or Huaxian earthquake (), or Jiajing earthquake (), is the deadliest earthquake in recorded history: according to imperial records approximately 830,000 people lost their lives.


Development.

The Breguet 19 was designed as a successor to a highly successful World War I light bomber, the 14. Initially, it was designed to be powered by a Bugatti U-16 engine, driving a four-blade propeller, and such a prototype was shown on the 7th Paris Air Show in November 1921. A new design was flown in March 1922, featuring a conventional layout with a single Renault 12Kb inline engine. The aircraft was built in a sesquiplane platform, with lower wings substantially smaller than the upper ones. After trials, the Breguet 19 was ordered by the French Armys "Aéronautique Militaire" in September 1923.  The first 11 Breguet 19 prototypes were powered by a number of different engines. A "trademark" of Breguet was the wide usage of duralumin as a construction material, instead of steel or wood. At that time, the aircraft was faster than other bombers, and even some fighter aircraft. Therefore, it met with a huge interest in the world, strengthened by its sporting successes. Mass production, for the "Aéronautique Militaire" and export, started in France in 1924.

Design.

The Breguet 19 was a biplane (sesquiplane), conventional in layout, with braced wings. The fuselage, ellipsoid in cross-section, was a frame of duralumin pipes. The front part was covered with duralumin sheets, the tail with canvas. The wings were canvas covered. It had a conventional fixed landing gear with rear skid. The crew of two, pilot and observer/bombardier, sat in tandem in open cockpits, with dual controls.  A wide variety of engine types were fitted, mostly water-cooled V-12 or W-12 inline engines, including the following:  A fixed Vickers machine gun with an interrupter gear was operated by the pilot, while the observer had twin Lewis Guns. There was also a fourth machine gun, which could be fired by the observer downwards through an opening in the floor. The Br.19CN2 night fighter variant was fitted with two pilot's machine guns. The bomber variant could carry up to of bombs under the fuselage, or in a vertical bomb bay (small bombs up to ). The reconnaissance variant could carry 12x bombs. The reconnaissance variant had a camera mounting, which was optional on the bomber variant. All variants had radio.

Operational history.

The Breguet had its baptism of fire in the Spanish Civil War.

Greece.

In the Greco-Italian War of World War II, 18 Breguets were on line at the outbreak of war, with 1 Observation (or Army Cooperation) "Mira", under I Corp Command, based at Perigiali, near Corinth and with 2 Observation "Mira" under II Corps command, based at Larissa and Kozani. On 4 November 1940, a RHAF (Royal Hellenic Air Force) Breguet from 2 "Mira" was sent looking for the attacking 3rd Julia Alpine Division, locating it in a mountain pass near Metsovo. Three more Breguets sent to bomb the Italian division were in turn attacked by three Fiat CR.42 fighters. A Breguet was shot down, one crash-landed and the third returned to base, though badly shot up.

Variants.

In total, more than 2,000 Breguet 19s were manufactured in France, and about 700 license-built by Spanish CASA, Japanese Nakajima, Belgian SABCA and the Yugoslavian aircraft factory in Kraljevo.  In April 1925, the factory Nakajima Hikoki KK acquired two aircraft from the French Breguet 19 A2, was a versatile aircraft with long-range bombers. Purchase of two aircraft was the work of well-known promoter and promoter of aviation Asahi Shinbun newspaper group. By factory Nakajima Hikoki KK won two planes had been able to fairly detailed knowledge of aircraft structures. At the same time opened negotiations to purchase licensing rights to manufacture, these negotiations were successful. Licensed production will eventually be made, because the Imperial Army Air Force expressed interest in reconnaissance. Nakajima Hikoki KK then immediately changed the wheel all-metal chassis for two floats and the Naval Air Force offered him. The Navy, however, at that time began to receive new aircraft in this category Yokosho Type 14 and also reflected his interest. Nakajima Hikoki KK it still ranked in the competition, the Air Force has called for maritime reconnaissance aircraft with long-range, this contest was ultimately canceled because it failed to accurately formulate long range category. Some time this plane flew again with wheeled undercarriage and civilian designation J-BBFO as a post. Unlike the French Breguet was driven by a powerful engine Nakajima Loriane 2, the French had first Loriane.

Record variants.

Both standard and modified Breguet 19s were used for numerous record-breaking flights. The first was the Br.19 prototype, which won a military aircraft speed contest in Madrid on 17 February 1923. On 12 March 1923, it also set an international altitude record of carrying a load. It was later bought by the Spanish government.  Many crews made long-distance flights in Br.19s. In February 1925, Thieffry flew from Brussels to Leopoldville in central Africa, a distance of. Two Br.19 A2s were bought by the Japanese Asahi Shimbun newspaper and fitted with additional fuel tanks. They were flown by H. Abe and K. Kawachi on the Tokyo-Paris-London route in July 1925, covering. Between 27 August and 25 September 1926, the Polish crew of Boleslaw Orlinski flew the Warsaw-Tokyo route () and back, in a modified Br.19 A2, despite the fact that one of its lower wings was broken on the way. On June 8, 1928 a modified Greek Br.A2 ("ΕΛΛΑΣ"), flown by C. Adamides and E. Papadakos, embarked on a long distance tour around the Mediterranean landing without incident at Tatoi airfield, Athens, on July 1st. Between 1927 and 1930, Romanian, Yugoslavian and Polish Br.19s were often used in Little Entente air races.  Breguet 19 GRs and TRs set several world records, mostly of long-distance non-stop flights, starting with Arrachart and Lemaitre's flight from Paris to Villa Cisneros in 241⁄2 hours on 2–3 February 1925. On 14–15 July 1926, Girier and Dordilly set a new record of between Paris and Omsk, beaten on 31 August-1 September by Challe and Weiser's, and on 28 October by Dieudonne Costes and Rignot's. From 10 October 1927 – 14 April 1928, Costes and Le Brix flew a Br.19 GR (named "Nungesser-Coli") around the world, covering - though the journey between San Francisco and Tokyo was taken by ship.  The Super Bidon was created especially for the purpose of a transatlantic flight. It was named "Point d'Interrogation" ("The Question Mark"). Dieudonne Costes and Maurice Bellonte set a non-stop distance record of from Paris to Moullart on 27–29 September 1929 on this aircraft. Then on 1–2 September 1930, they flew from Paris to New York City, a distance of making the first non-stop east-west crossing of the North Atlantic by a fixed-wing aircraft. The second Super Bidon, the Spanish Cuatro Vientos, vanished over Mexico with M. Barberan and J. Collar Serra, after a transatlantic flight from Seville to Cuba on 10–11 June 1933.

See also.

The Breguet XIX played a central role in Nevil Shute's second published work "So Disdained".

The Breguet 19 (Breguet XIX, Br.19 or Bre.19) was a light bomber and reconnaissance aircraft, also used for long-distance flights, designed by the French Breguet company and produced from 1924.


Life.

Youth and early career.

Max Ophüls was born in Saarbrücken, Germany, the son of Leopold Oppenheimer, a Jewish textile manufacturer and owner of several textile shops in Germany, and his wife Helene Oppenheimer (née Bamberger). He took the pseudonym Ophüls during the early part of his theatrical career so that, should he fail, it wouldn't embarrass his father.  Initially envisioning an acting career, he started as a stage actor in 1919 and played at the Aachen Theatre from 1921 to 1923. He then worked as a theater director, becoming the first director at the city theater of Dortmund. Ophüls moved into theatre production in 1924. He became creative director of the Burgtheater in Vienna in 1926. Having had 200 plays to his credit, he turned to film production in 1929, when he became a dialogue director under Anatole Litvak at UFA in Berlin. He worked throughout Germany and directed his first film in 1931, the comedy short "Dann schon lieber Lebertran" (literally "In This Case, Rather Cod-Liver Oil").  Of his early films, the most acclaimed is "Liebelei" (1933), which included a number of the characteristic elements for which he was to become known: luxurious sets, a feminist attitude, and a duel between a younger and an older man.  It was at the Burgtheater that Ophüls met the actress Hilde Wall. They were married in 1926.

Exile and post-war career.

Predicting the Nazi ascendancy, Ophüls, a Jew, fled to France in 1933 after the Reichstag fire and became a French citizen in 1938. After the fall of France to Germany, he travelled through Switzerland and Italy to the United States in 1941, only to become inactive in Hollywood. He eventually received help from a longtime fan, director Preston Sturges, and went on to direct a number of distinguished films.  His first Hollywood film was the Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. vehicle, "The Exile" (1947). Ophüls' "Letter from an Unknown Woman" (1948), derived from a Stefan Zweig novella, is the most highly regarded of the American films. "Caught" (1949), and "The Reckless Moment" (1949) followed, before his return to Europe in 1950.  Back in France, he directed and collaborated on the adaptation of Schnitzler's "La Ronde" (1950), which won the 1951 BAFTA Award for Best Film, and "Lola Montès" (1955) starring Martine Carol and Peter Ustinov, as well as "Le Plaisir" and "The Earrings of Madame de..." (1953), the latter with Danielle Darrieux and Charles Boyer, which capped his career. Ophüls died from rheumatic heart disease on 26 March 1957 in Hamburg, while shooting interiors on "The Lovers of Montparnasse", and was buried in Le Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. This final film was completed by his friend Jacques Becker.  Max Ophüls's son Marcel Ophüls became a distinguished documentary-film maker, director of "The Sorrow and the Pity" and other films examining the nature of political power.

Style.

All his works feature his distinctive smooth camera movements, complex crane and dolly sweeps, and tracking shots.  Many of his films inspired filmmakers like Paul Thomas Anderson, who gave an introduction on the restored DVD of "The Earrings of Madame de..." (1953).  Some of his films are narrated from the point of view of the female protagonist. Film scholars have analyzed films such as "Liebelei" (1933), "Letter from an Unknown Woman" (1948), and "Madame de..." (1953) as examples of the woman's film genre. Nearly all of his female protagonists had names beginning with "L" (Leonora, Lisa, Lucia, Louise, Lola, etc.)  Actor James Mason, who worked with Ophüls on two films, wrote a short poem about the director's love for tracking shots and elaborate camera movements:

Maximillian Oppenheimer (; 6 May 1902 – 26 March 1957), known as Max Ophüls (; ), was a German-born film director who worked in Germany (1931–1933), France (1933–1940 and 1950–1957), and the United States (1947–1950). He made nearly 30 films, the latter ones being especially notable: "La Ronde" (1950), "Le Plaisir" (1952), "The Earrings of Madame de..." (1953) and "Lola Montès" (1955). He was credited as Max Opuls on several of his American films, including "The Reckless Moment", "Caught", "Letter from an Unknown Woman", and "The Exile". The annual Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis in Saarbrücken is named after him.


Background.

In 2000, Microsoft released an initial version of an XML-based format for Microsoft Excel, which was incorporated in Office XP. In 2002, a new file format for Microsoft Word followed. The Excel and Word formats—known as the Microsoft Office XML formats—were later incorporated into the 2003 release of Microsoft Office.  Microsoft announced in November 2005 that it would co-sponsor standardization of the new version of their XML-based formats through Ecma International as "Office Open XML". The presentation was made to Ecma by Microsoft's Jean Paoli and Isabelle Valet-Harper.

Standardization process.

Microsoft submitted initial material to Ecma International Technical Committee TC45, where it was standardized to become ECMA-376, approved in December 2006.  This standard was then fast-tracked in the Joint Technical Committee 1 of ISO and IEC. After initially failing to pass, an amended version of the format received the necessary votes for approval as an ISO/IEC Standard as the result of a JTC 1 fast-tracking standardization process that concluded in April 2008. The resulting four-part International Standard (designated ISO/IEC 29500:2008) was published in November 2008 and can be downloaded from the ITTF. A technically equivalent set of texts is published by Ecma as "ECMA-376 Office Open XML File Formats—2nd edition" (December 2008); they can be downloaded from their web site.  The ISO standardization of Office Open XML was controversial and embittered, with much discussion both about the specification and about the standardization process. According to "InfoWorld", "OOXML was opposed by many on grounds it was unneeded, as software makers could use OpenDocument Format (ODF), a less complicated office software format that was already an international standard." The same "InfoWorld" article reported that IBM (which supports the ODF format) threatened to leave standards bodies that it said allow dominant corporations like Microsoft to wield undue influence. The article further says that Microsoft was accused of co-opting the standardization process by leaning on countries to ensure that it got enough votes at the ISO for Office Open XML to pass, although it does not specify exactly who accused Microsoft.

Licensing.

Under the Ecma International code of conduct in patent matters, participating and approving member organisations of ECMA are required to make available their patent rights on a reasonable and non-discriminatory (RAND) basis.  Holders of patents which concern ISO/IEC International Standards may agree to a standardized license governing the terms under which such patents may be licensed, in accord with the ISO/IEC/ITU common patent policy.  Microsoft, the main contributor to the standard, provided a covenant not to sue for its patent licensing. The covenant received a mixed reception, with some like the Groklaw blog criticizing it, and others such as Lawrence Rosen, (an attorney and lecturer at Stanford Law School), endorsing it.  Microsoft has added the format to their "Open Specification Promise" in which  Microsoft irrevocably promises not to assert any Microsoft Necessary Claims against you for making, using, selling, offering for sale, importing or distributing any implementation to the extent it conforms to a Covered Specification [...]  This is limited to applications which do not deviate from the ISO/IEC 29500:2008 or Ecma-376 standard and to parties that do not "file, maintain or voluntarily participate in a patent infringement lawsuit against a Microsoft implementation of such Covered Specification". The Open Specification Promise was included in documents submitted to ISO/IEC in support of the ECMA-376 fast-track submission. Ecma International asserted that, "The OSP enables both open source and commercial software to implement [the specification]".

Versions.

The Office Open XML specification exists in a number of versions.

ECMA-376 1st edition (2006).

The ECMA standard is structured in five parts to meet the needs of different audiences.  Later versions of the ECMA-376 standard are aligned and technically equivalent to the corresponding ISO standard.

ISO/IEC 29500:2008.

The ISO/IEC standard is structured into four parts: Parts 1, 2 and 3 are independent standards; for example, Part 2, specifying Open Packaging Conventions, is used by other file formats including XPS and Design Web Format. Part 4 is to be read as a modification to Part 1, which it requires.  A technically equivalent set of texts is also published by Ecma as ECMA-376 2nd edition (2008).  The standard specifies two levels of document & application conformance, "strict" and "transitional," for each of WordprocessingML, PresentationML and SpreadsheetML, and also specifies applications' descriptions of "base" and "full".

Compatibility between versions.

The intent of the changes from ECMA-376 1st Edition to ISO/IEC 29500:2008 was that a valid ECMA-376 document would also be a valid ISO 29500 Transitional document; however, at least one change introduced at the BRM—refusing to allow further values for xsd:boolean—had the effect of breaking backwards-compatibility for most documents. A fix for this had been suggested to ISO/IEC JTC1/SC34/WG4, and was approved in June 2009 as a recommendation for the first revision to Office Open XML.  Applications capable of reading documents compliant to ECMA-376 Edition 1 would regard ISO/IEC 29500-4 Transitional documents containing ISO 8601 dates as corrupt.

Application support.

Some older versions of Microsoft Word and Microsoft Office are able to read and write codice_1 files after installation of the free compatibility pack provided by Microsoft, although some items, such as equations, are converted into images that cannot be edited.  Starting with Microsoft Office 2007, the Office Open XML file formats have become the default file format of Microsoft Office. However, due to the changes introduced in the Office Open XML standard, Office 2007 is not wholly in compliance with ISO/IEC 29500:2008. Office 2010 includes support for opening documents of the ISO/IEC 29500:2008-compliant version of Office Open XML, but it can only save documents conforming to the "transitional", not the "strict", schemas of the specification. Note that the intent of the ISO/IEC is to allow the removal of the transitional variant from the ISO/IEC 29500 standard.  The ability to read and write Office Open XML format is, however, not limited to Microsoft Office; other office products are also able to read & write this format:  Other office products that offer import support for the Office Open XML formats include:

Office Open XML (also informally known as OOXML or Microsoft Open XML (MOX)) is a zipped, XML-based file format developed by Microsoft for representing spreadsheets, charts, presentations and word processing documents. The format was initially standardized by Ecma (as ECMA-376), and by the ISO and IEC (as ISO/IEC 29500) in later versions.


Life.

Bartholomeus Spranger was born in Antwerp as the third son of Ioachim Spranger and Anna Roelandtsinne. His father was a trader who had spent time abroad including a long stint in Rome. Showing a keen interest in drawing, he was first apprenticed with Jan Mandijn, where he stayed for 18 months. Upon the death of Mandijn, Spranger studied for some time with Frans Mostaert who died after only a few weeks. He finally studied wwth with Cornelis van Dalem for two years after which he stayed on for another two years in the workshop of van Dalem. As his three masters were mainly known as landscape painters. Spranger further copied prints of Frans Floris and Parmigianino. He traveled to Paris on 1 March 1565 where he worked for six weeks in the workshop of Marc Duval. He then travelled on to Italy, where he first stayed for eight months in Milan. He then worked for three months in Parma as an assistant to Bernardino Gatti on the painting of the dome of the Santa Maria della Steccata.  He worked on wall paintings in various churches. In Rome he became, like El Greco, a protégé of Giulio Clovio. Here he also met Karel van Mander who later included a biography of Spranger in his "Schilder-boeck", first published in 1604 and containing, amongst others, biographies of important Netherlandish painters. Pope Pius V appointed him court painter in 1570. He was summoned to Vienna by Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor, who died soon after his arrival in 1576.  Maximilian II's successor Rudolf II was even more keen to employ him, and in 1581 he was appointed court painter and also valet de chambre, the court having moved its seat to Prague, where he stayed until his death there in 1611, shortly before Rudolf was deposed. Spranger occupied a house just outside the castle walls. The artist developed a close personal relationship with Rudolf and the two spent many days together engaged in conversation. The emperor would regularly visit Spranger's studio. The emperor bestowed on Spranger the coat of arms of a liegeman in 1588 and granted him a hereditary title in 1595. In the meantime, Spranger supplied the emperor with a continuous stream of paintings of mythological scenes with nudes drawn from nature as well as propaganda pieces which extolled the virtues of Rudolf as a ruler. An example of a work combining the two elements of eroticism and propaganda is the (Kunsthistorisches Museum) which shows Bellona (the Roman goddess of war) sitting on a globe surrounded by Venus, Amor, Athene and Baccus and emblems symbolising Hungary and the Croatian river Sava. The propagandic message is that the empire is safe with Rudolf at the helm. Thanks to the emperor's patronage, Spranger became very wealthy and owned many properties by the time he died.  Spranger married Christina Müller, the daughter of a rich jeweller from Prague in 1582. His wife died in 1600 after al their children had died. This sad story is depicted in Aegidius Sadeler's.

Work.

Spranger's paintings for Rudolf mostly depict mythological nudes in various complex poses, with some connection to the Emperor's esoteric Late-Renaissance philosophical ideas. His paintings are the most characteristic of the final phase of Northern Mannerism. By far the best collection is in Vienna. His drawings have great energy, in a very free technique.  Spranger also worked as a sculptor. He may have acquired his knowledge of sculpture through his collaboration with the Flemish sculptor Hans Mont, who also worked at the Prague court. After Mont left the Prague court, Spranger appears to have worked intermittently as a sculptor for the emperor, at least until Adriaen de Vries arrived in Prague in 1601. A terracotta relief of the 'Body of Christ Supported by an Angel' (Courtauld Gallery) is by his hand. The Walters Museum holds a bronze 'Achelous and Deianeira' which is attributed to him. There is no record of any sculpture by Spranger in Rudolf II's collection.  Aegidius Sadeler, who lived in his house in Prague for some time, and Hendrik Goltzius made engravings of his paintings, spreading Spranger's fame around Europe.

Collections.

Much the best collection is in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, mostly from the Imperial collection. Most museum print rooms will have examples of his prints. There are 3 oil paintings by Spranger in the Blanton Art Museum in Austin, Texas ("Saint Catherine", "Saint Ursula", "Saint Margaret"), and one in the Wawel Castle Museum in Cracow, Poland ("Memento mori)."

Bartholomeus Spranger or Bartholomaeus Spranger (21 March 1546 in Antwerp – 1611 in Prague) was a Flemish painter, draughtsman, sculptor and designer of prints. Working in Prague as a court artist for the Holy Roman emperor Rudolf II, he responded to his patron's aesthetic preferences by developing a version of the extreme style, full of conceits, which has become known as Northern Mannerism. This style stressed sensuality, which was expressed in smoothly modeled, elongated figures arranged in elegant poses, often including a nude woman seen from behind. Spranger's unique style combining elements of Netherlandish painting and Italian influences, in particular the Roman Mannerists, had an important influence on other artists in Prague and beyond as his paintings were disseminated widely through prints.


Discovery.

The shipwreck site was discovered in the summer of 1982 due to Mehmet Çakir's sketching of “the metal biscuits with ears” recognized as oxhide ingots. Turkish sponge divers were often consulted by the Institute of Nautical Archaeology's (INA) survey team on how to identify ancient wrecks while diving for sponges. Çakir's findings urged Oğuz Alpözen, Director of the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology, to send out an inspection team of the Museum and INA archaeologists to locate the wreck site. The inspection team was able to locate several amounts of copper ingots just 50 metres from the shore of Uluburun.

Apparent route.

With the evidence provided from the cargo on the ship it can be assumed that the ship set sail from either a Cypriot or Syro-Palestinian port. The Uluburun ship was undoubtedly sailing to the region west of Cyprus, but her ultimate destination can be concluded only from the distribution of objects matching the types carried on board. It has been proposed that ship's destination was a port somewhere in the Aegean Sea. Rhodes, at the time an important redistribution centre for the Aegean, has been suggested as a possible destination. According to the excavators of the shipwreck, the probable final destination of the ship was one of the Mycenaean palaces, in mainland Greece.

Dating.

Peter Kuniholm of Cornell University was assigned the task of dendrochronological dating in order to obtain an absolute date for the ship. The results date the wood at 1305 BC, but given that no bark has survived it is impossible to determine an exact date and it can be assumed that the ship sank sometime after that date. Based on ceramic evidence, it appears that the Uluburun sank toward the end of the Amarna period, but could not have sunk before the time of Nefertiti due to the unique gold scarab engraved with her name found aboard the ship. For now, a conclusion that the ship sank at the end of the 14th century BC is accepted.  The origins of the objects aboard the ship range geographically from northern Europe to Africa, as far west as Sicily and Sardinia, and as far east as Mesopotamia. They appear to be the products of nine or ten cultures. These proveniences indicate that the Late Bronze Age Aegean was the medium of an international trade perhaps based on royal gift-giving in the Near East.  According to a reconstruction by various scholars, the Uluburun shipwreck illustrates a thriving commercial sea network of the Late Bronze Age Mediterranean. In this case, a huge mixed cargo of luxury items, royal gifts and raw materials. According to the findings, it has been suggested that Mycenaean officials were also aboard accompanying the gifts. A small (9.5 x 6.2 cm), folding boxwood writing-tablet was found with partially extant ivory hinges. It likely would have had wax writing surfaces.

The vessel.

The distribution of the wreckage and the scattered cargo indicates that the ship was between long. It was constructed by the shell-first method, with mortise-and-tenon joints similar to those of the Graeco-Roman ships of later centuries.  Even though there has been a detailed examination of Uluburun's hull, there is no evidence of framing. The keel appears to be rudimentary, perhaps more of a keel-plank than a keel in the traditional sense. The ship was built with planks and keel of Lebanese cedar and oak tenons. Lebanese cedar is indigenous to the mountains of Lebanon, southern Turkey, and central Cyprus. The ship carried 24 stone anchors. The stone is of a type almost completely unknown in the Aegean, but is often built into the temples of Syria-Palestine and on Cyprus. Brushwood and sticks served as dunnage to help protect the ship's planks from the metal ingots and other heavy cargo.

Cargo.

The Uluburun ship's cargo consisted mostly of raw materials that were trade items, which before the ship's discovery were known primarily from ancient texts or Egyptian tomb paintings. The cargo matches many of the royal gifts listed in the Amarna letters found at El-Amarna, Egypt.

Excavation.

The Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) began excavating in July 1984 under the direction of its founder, George F. Bass, and was then turned over to INA's Vice President for Turkey, Cemal Pulak, who directed the excavation from 1985 to 1994. The wreck lay between 44 and 52 meters deep on a steep, rocky slope riddled with sand pockets. Half of the staff members who aided in the excavation lived in a camp built into the southeastern face of the promontory, which the ship most likely hit, while the other half lived aboard the "Virazon", INA's research vessel at the time. The excavation site utilized an underwater telephone booth and air-lifts. The mapping of the site was done by triangulation. Meter tapes and metal squares were used as an orientation aid for excavators. Since the completion of the excavation in September 1994, all efforts have been concentrated on full-time conservation, study, and sampling for analysis in the conservation laboratory of the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology in Turkey.

The Uluburun Shipwreck is a Late Bronze Age shipwreck dated to the late 14th century BC, discovered close to the east shore of Uluburun (Grand Cape), and about miles southeast of Kaş, in south-western Turkey. The shipwreck was discovered in the summer of 1982 by Mehmed Çakir, a local sponge diver from Yalıkavak, a village near Bodrum.


SS career.

Jeckeln served in World War I as an officer. After being discharged following Germany's defeat, Jeckeln worked as an engineer before joining the Nazi Party on 1 October 1929. In January 1931, he was accepted into the "Schutzstaffel" (SS). By the end of 1931 he was placed in charge of a regiment and then a brigade. In 1932, Jeckeln was elected as a member of the Reichstag. In January 1933, when the Nazi Party came to national power, Jeckeln was put in charge of SS group South. In 1936, he was appointed SS and Police Leader and later promoted to SS-"Obergruppenführer".  Jeckeln was known for ruthlessness and brutality. Political opponents, especially members of the KPD, SPD and the unions, were pursued relentlessly until their death. Together with party member Friedrich Alpers, Jeckeln was primarily responsible for the Rieseberg Murders in the summer of 1933.

Holocaust perpetrator.

After the Second World War began, Jeckeln was transferred to the Waffen-SS. As was the practice in the SS, Jeckeln took a lower rank from his "Allgemeine-SS" position and served as an officer in Regiment 2 of the Totenkopf Division. In 1941, he was transferred by "Reichsführer-SS" Heinrich Himmler to serve as Higher SS and Police Leader (HSSPF) of Southern, then later in 1941, of Northern Russia. In this role Jeckeln assumed control of all SS-"Einsatzgruppen" mass killings and security operations in his district.  Jeckeln developed a method of killing large numbers of people, over the course of the mass killings he had organised in the Ukraine, which included (amongst others) Babi Yar and the Kamianets-Podilskyi Massacre. First applied in the Rumbula massacre on 30 November and 8 December 1941, the method (which became known as the "Jeckeln System") involved dividing staff into separate groups, each of which specialised in a separate part of the process:  This system was referred to as "sardine packing" ("Sardinenpackung"). It was reported that some of the experienced "Einsatzgruppen" killers were horrified by its cruelty. At Rumbula, Jeckeln watched on both days of the massacre as 25,000 people were killed. Jeckeln proved to be an effective killer who cared nothing about murdering huge numbers of men, women, children and the elderly. One of only 3 survivors of the Rumbala massacre, Frida Michelson, escaped by pretending to be dead as the victims heaped shoes (later salvaged by Jeckeln's men) upon her: By the end of August 1941, while commanding the "Kommandostab" SS First Brigade in Western Ukraine, Jeckeln had personally supervised the murder of more than 44,000 people, the largest total of Jews murdered that month.  On 27 January 1942, Jeckeln was awarded the War Merit Cross with Swords for killing 25,000 at Rumbula "on orders from the highest level." In February 1945, now a "General der Waffen-SS und Polizei", Jeckeln was appointed to command the "SS-Freiwilligen-Gebirgs-Korps" and also served as Commander of Replacement Troops and Higher SS and Police Leader in Southwest Germany.

Trial and execution.

Jeckeln was taken prisoner by Soviet troops near Halbe on 28 April 1945. Along with other German personnel, he was tried before a Soviet military tribunal in the "Riga Trial" in Latvia from 26 January 1946 to 3 February 1946. During the investigation, he was calm, answering questions from investigators in essence, on the dock looked dull and impartial.  Jeckeln in his last words was restrained, he fully admitted his guilt and agreed to bear full responsibility for the activities of subordinate police, SS and SD in Ostland. Concluding his speech, he said: ""I have to take full responsibility for what happened in the borders of Ostland, within SS, SD and the Gestapo. Thereby increases much my fault. My fate is in the hands of the High Court, and so I ask only to pay attention to mitigating circumstances. I will accept a sentence in full repentance and I will consider as worthy punishment."" Jeckeln and the other defendants were found guilty, sentenced to death and hanged in Riga on 3 February 1946 in front of some 4,000 spectators. Against popular misconception, the execution did not happen in the territory of the former Riga Ghetto, but in Victory Square (Uzvaras laukums).

Friedrich Jeckeln (2 February 1895 – 3 February 1946) was a German SS commander during the Nazi era. He served as a Higher SS and Police Leader in the occupied Soviet Union during World War II. Jeckeln was the commander of one of the largest collection of "Einsatzgruppen" death squads and was personally responsible for ordering and organizing the deaths of over 100,000 Jews, Romani, and others designated by the Nazis as "undesirables". After the end of World War II in Europe, Jeckeln was convicted of war crimes by a Soviet military tribunal in Riga and executed in 1946.


Career.

Sedykh began athletics in 1967, his first trainer being Vladimir Ivanovich Volovik. He trained at Burevestnik and later at the Armed Forces sports society in Kiev (Sedykh attained the rank of major in the Soviet Army). From 1972 he was coached by Anatoliy Bondarchuk, who is widely regarded as one of the best hammer coaches in the world. In 1973 he became a member of the USSR National Junior Team.

Competition.

He won gold medals at the 1976 Summer Olympics and 1980 Summer Olympics as well as taking first at the 1986 Goodwill Games. He set a world record of 86.74 m. at the 1986 European championships in Stuttgart. He won a first at the 1991 World Championships in Athletics. Only Sedykh and Sergey Litvinov have thrown over 86 meters in the history of the sport (Ivan Tsikhan's 86.73 m throw in 2005 was annulled by the IAAF in April 2014 due to doping sanctions).

Coaching.

Sedykh coached hammer throwers of the French team; Nicolas Figére (80.88) for instance. His compatriot and rival, Sergey Litvinov, went on to coach the Belarusians; Ivan Tikhon and his own son Sergey Lytvynov Jr..

Technique.

Unlike many hammer throwers Sedykh threw off three rotations rather than four – he felt three rotations were sufficient. Sedykh often practiced with lighter and heavier hammers.  Yuriy's technique centers on 'pushing' the ball left and letting the hammer turn you, whereas Litvinov advocates uniformly accelerating the hammer.

Personal life.

Yuriy's married his first wife Lyudmila Kondratyeva in the mid-1980s but later divorced. Kondratyeva also won gold at the 1980 Olympics, in the Women's 100 metres. Their daughter, Oksana, born in 1985, is also a high-level Russian hammer thrower.  Yuriy subsequently married former Soviet thrower Natalya Lisovskaya. Lisovskaya won the shot put gold in the 1988 Olympics and has the world record of 22,63 m. They have one daughter, Alexia, born in 1993, who won gold in the girls' hammer throw at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics in Singapore. Sedykh and his family moved to Paris, France, where Yuriy was engaged to teach strength and conditioning at university level.

Yuriy Georgiyevich Sedykh (; ) (born 11 June 1955) is a retired Soviet track and field athlete who represented the Soviet Union, specialising in the hammer throw. He was a World and Olympic Champion and holds the world record with a throw of 86.74 m.


Description.

Erect stems or trunks are rarely produced, but are found in some populations. It is a hardy plant; extremely slow-growing, and long-lived, with some plants, especially in Florida possibly being as old as 500–700 years.  Saw palmetto is a fan palm, with the leaves that have a bare petiole terminating in a rounded fan of about 20 leaflets. The petiole is armed with fine, sharp teeth or spines that give the species its common name. The teeth or spines are easily capable of breaking the skin, and protection should be worn when working around a saw palmetto. The leaves are light green inland, and silvery-white in coastal regions. The leaves are 1–2 m in length, the leaflets 50–100 cm long. They are similar to the leaves of the palmettos of genus "Sabal". The flowers are yellowish-white, about 5 mm across, produced in dense compound panicles up to 60 cm long.  The fruit is a large reddish-black drupe and is an important food source for wildlife and historically for humans. The plant is used as a food plant by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species such as "Batrachedra decoctor", which feeds exclusively on the plant.  The generic name honors American botanist Sereno Watson.

Medical use.

"Serenoa repens" extract has been researched as a treatment for people with prostate cancer. However, according to the American Cancer Society, "available scientific studies do not support claims that saw palmetto can prevent or treat prostate cancer in humans".  A meta-analysis by the Cochrane Collaboration found that saw palmetto berry extract given therapeutically, even at double and triple doses, did not improve urinary flow or improve the prostate gland size in men with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Two large trials published between the newer and older meta-analysis found the extract to be no different from placebo. Although a 2016 review included trials with a special standardized extract of saw palmetto called Permixon. This suggests that the lack of an effect found in the most recent Cochrane review was due to the differences in the saw palmetto extracts used.

Ethnobotany.

Indigenous names are reported to include: "tala" (Choctaw); "cani" (Timucua); "ta ́:la" (Koasati); "taalachoba" ("big palm", Alabama); "ta:laɬ a ́ kko" ("big palm", Creek); "talco ́:bˆı "("big palm", Mikasuki);" talimushi "("palmetto's uncle", Choctaw), and "guana "(Taino, possibly). Saw palmetto fibers have been found among materials from indigenous people as far north as Wisconsin and New York, strongly suggesting this material was widely traded prior to European contact. The leaves are used for thatching by several indigenous groups, so commonly so that a location in Alachua County, Florida, is named Kanapaha ("palm house"). The fruit may have been used to treat an unclear form of fish poisoning by the Seminoles and Bahamians.

Serenoa repens, commonly known as saw palmetto, is the sole species currently classified in the genus Serenoa. It is a small palm, growing to a maximum height around. It is endemic to the subtropical Southeastern United States, most commonly along the south Atlantic and Gulf Coastal plains and sand hills. It grows in clumps or dense thickets in sandy coastal areas, and as undergrowth in pine woods or hardwood hammocks.


Theft.

In 1911, Peruggia perpetrated what has been described as the greatest art theft of the 20th century. It was a police theory that the former Louvre worker hid inside the museum on Sunday, August 20, knowing the museum would be closed the following day. But, according to Peruggia's interrogation in Florence after his arrest, he entered the museum on Monday, August 21 around 7 am, through the door where the other Louvre workers were entering. He said he wore one of the white smocks that museum employees customarily wore and was indistinguishable from the other workers. When the Salon Carré, where the "Mona Lisa" hung, was empty, he lifted the painting off the four iron pegs that secured it to the wall and took it to a nearby service staircase. There, he removed the protective case and frame. Some people report that he concealed the painting (which Leonardo painted on wood) under his smock. But Peruggia was only, and the "Mona Lisa" measures approx., so it would not fit under a smock worn by someone his size. Instead, he said he took off his smock and wrapped it around the painting, tucked it under his arm, and left the Louvre through the same door he had entered.  Peruggia hid the painting in his apartment in Paris. Supposedly, when police arrived to search his apartment and question him, they accepted his alibi that he had been working at a different location on the day of the theft.  After keeping the painting hidden in a trunk in his apartment for two years, Peruggia returned to Italy with it. He kept it in his apartment in Florence, Italy but grew impatient, and was finally caught when he contacted Alfredo Geri, the owner of an art gallery in Florence. Geri's story conflicts with Peruggia's, but it was clear that Peruggia expected a reward for returning the painting to what he regarded as its "homeland". Geri called in Giovanni Poggi, director of the Uffizi Gallery, who authenticated the painting. Poggi and Geri, after taking the painting for "safekeeping", informed the police, who arrested Peruggia at his hotel. After its recovery, the painting was exhibited all over Italy with banner headlines rejoicing its return and then returned to the Louvre in 1913. While the painting was famous before the theft, the notoriety it received from the newspaper headlines and the large scale police investigation helped the artwork become one of the best known in the world.

Later life and personal life.

Peruggia was released from jail after a short time and served in the Italian army during World War I. He later married, had one daughter, Celestina, returned to France, and continued to work as a painter decorator using his birth name Pietro Peruggia.

Death.

He died on October 8, 1925 (his 44th birthday) in the town of Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, France. His death was not widely reported by the media; obituaries appeared mistakenly only when another Vincenzo Peruggia died in Haute-Savoie in 1947.

Motivations.

There are currently two predominant theories regarding the theft of the "Mona Lisa". Peruggia said he did it for a patriotic reason: he wanted to bring the painting back for display in Italy "after it was stolen by Napoleon". Although perhaps sincere in his motive, Vincenzo may not have known that Leonardo da Vinci took this painting as a gift for Francis I when he moved to France to become a painter in his court during the 16th century, 250 years before Napoleon's birth.  Experts have questioned the 'patriotism' motive on the grounds that—if 'patriotism' was the true motive—Peruggia would have donated the painting to an Italian museum, rather than have attempted to profit from its sale. The question of money is also confirmed by letters that Peruggia sent to his father after the theft. On December 22, 1911, four months after the theft, he wrote that Paris was where "I will make my fortune and that his (fortune) will arrive in one shot." The following year (1912), he wrote: "I am making a vow for you to live long and enjoy the prize that your son is about to realize for you and for all our family."  Put on trial, the court agreed, to some extent, that Peruggia committed his crime for patriotic reasons and gave him a lenient sentence. He was sent to jail for one year and 15 days, but was hailed as a great patriot in Italy and served only seven months in jail.  Another theory emerged later. The theft may have been encouraged or masterminded by Eduardo de Valfierno, a con-man who had commissioned the French art forger Yves Chaudron to make copies of the painting so he could sell them as the missing original. The copies would have gone up in value if the original were stolen. This theory is based entirely on a 1932 article by former Hearst journalist Karl Decker in "The Saturday Evening Post". Decker claimed to have known "Valfierno" and heard the story from him in 1913, promising not to print it until he learned of Valfierno's death. There is no external confirmation for this tale.

Vincenzo Peruggia (October 8,1881 – October 8, 1925) was an Italian thief, most famous for stealing the "Mona Lisa" on 21 August 1911. Born in Dumenza, Varese, Italy, he died in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, France.