title: Anima and animus

text: The third phase is "Mary", named after the Christian theological understanding of the Virgin Mary (Jesus' mother). At this level, women can now seem to possess virtue by the perceiving man (even if in an esoteric and dogmatic way), in as much as certain activities deemed consciously unvirtuous cannot be applied to her.


title: Anima and animus

text: The fourth and final phase of anima development is "Sophia", named after the Greek word for wisdom. Complete integration has now occurred, which allows women to be seen and related to as particular individuals who possess both positive and negative qualities. The most important aspect of this final level is that, as the personification "Wisdom" suggests, the anima is now developed enough that no single object can fully and permanently contain the images to which it is related.


title: Anima and animus

text: Jung focused more on the man's anima and wrote less about the woman's animus. Jung believed that every woman has an analogous animus within her psyche, this being a set of unconscious masculine attributes and potentials. He viewed the animus as being more complex than the anima, postulating that women have a host of animus images whereas the male anima consists only of one dominant image.


title: Anima and animus

text: The animus "first appears as a personification of mere physical power – for instance as an athletic champion or "muscle man", such as 'the fictional jungle hero Tarzan.


title: Anima and animus

text: In the next phase, the animus "possesses initiative and the capacity for planned action ... the "romantic" man – the 19th century British poet Byron; or the "man of action" – America's Ernest Hemingway, war hero, hunter, etc."


title: Anima and animus

text: In the third phase "the animus becomes the "word", often appearing as a professor or clergyman ... the bearer of the word – Lloyd George, the great political orator".


title: Anima and animus

text: "Finally, in his fourth manifestation, the animus is the incarnation of "meaning". On this highest level he becomes (like the anima) a mediator of ... spiritual profundity". Jung noted that "in mythology, this aspect of the "animus" appears as Hermes, messenger of the gods; in dreams he is a helpful guide." Like Sophia, this is the highest level of mediation between the unconscious and conscious mind. In the book "The Invisible Partners," John A. Sanford said that the key to controlling one's anima/animus is to recognize it when it manifests and exercise our ability to discern the anima/animus from reality.


title: Anima and animus

text: The four roles are not identical with genders reversed. Jung believed that while the anima tended to appear as a relatively singular female personality, the animus may consist of a conjunction of multiple male personalities: "in this way the unconscious symbolizes the fact that the animus represents a collective rather than a personal element".


title: Anima and animus

text: The process of animus development deals with cultivating an independent and non-socially subjugated idea of self by embodying a deeper "word" (as per a specific existential outlook) and manifesting this word. To clarify, this does not mean that a female subject becomes more set in her ways (as this word is steeped in emotionality, subjectivity, and a dynamism just as a well-developed anima is) but that she is more internally aware of what she believes and feels, and is more capable of expressing these beliefs and feelings. Thus the "animus in his most developed form sometimes ... make[s] her even more receptive than a man to new creative ideas".


title: Anima and animus

text: Both final stages of animus and anima development have dynamic qualities (related to the motion and flux of this continual developmental process), open-ended qualities (there is no static perfected ideal or manifestation of the quality in question), and pluralistic qualities (which transcend the need for a singular image, as any subject or object can contain multiple archetypes or even seemingly antithetical roles). They also form bridges to the next archetypal figures to emerge, as "the unconscious again changes its dominant character and appears in a new symbolic form, representing the Self".


title: Anima and animus

text: Jung's theory of anima and animus draws from his theory of individuation. In order for a person to reach the goal of individuation is to engage in a series of intrapersonal dialogues which help the person understand how he or she relates to the world. This process requires men and women to become aware of their anima or animus respectively, in so doing the individual will learn how not to be controlled by their anima or animus. As individuals are made aware of their anima or animus, it allows them to overcome thoughts of who they ought to be and accept themselves for who they really are. According to Jung, individuals can discover a bridge to the collective unconscious through the development of their anima or animus. The anima and the animus represent the unconscious. The anima and animus are not gender specific and men and women can have both, however, more empirical research is required to determine whether both men and women do possess both archetypes.


title: Anima and animus

text: Jungians warned that "every personification of the unconscious – the shadow, the anima, the animus, and the Self – has both a light and a dark aspect. ... the anima and animus have dual aspects: They can bring life-giving development and creativeness to the personality, or they can cause petrification and physical death".


title: Anima and animus

text: One danger was of what Jung termed "invasion" of the conscious by the unconscious archetype: "Possession caused by the anima ... bad taste: the anima surrounds herself with inferior people". Jung insisted that "a state of anima possession ... must be prevented. The anima is thereby forced into the inner world, where she functions as the medium between the ego and the unconscious, as does the persona between the ego and the environment".


title: Anima and animus

text: Alternatively, over-awareness of the anima or animus could provide a premature conclusion to the individuation process – "a kind of psychological short-circuit, to identify the animus at least provisionally with wholeness". Instead of being "content with an intermediate position", the animus seeks to usurp "the self, with which the patient's animus identifies. This identification is a regular occurrence when the shadow, the dark side, has not been sufficiently realized".


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: A nail is a claw-like plate found at the tip of the fingers and toes on most primates. Nails correspond to the claws found in other animals. Fingernails and toenails are made of a tough protective protein called alpha-keratin, which is a polymer. Alpha-keratin is found in the hooves, claws, and horns of vertebrates.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: The nail consists of the nail plate, the nail matrix and the nail bed below it, and the grooves surrounding it.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: The matrix, sometimes called the "matrix unguis", keratogenous membrane, nail matrix, or onychostroma, is the active tissue (or germinal matrix) that generates cells, which harden as they move outward from the nail root to the nail plate. It is the part of the nail bed that is beneath the nail and contains nerves, lymph and blood vessels.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: The matrix produces cells that become the nail plate. The width and thickness of the nail plate is determined by the size, length, and thickness of the matrix, while the shape of the fingertip bone determines if the nail plate is flat, arched, or hooked. The matrix will continue to produce cells as long as it receives nutrition and remains in a healthy condition.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: As new nail plate cells are made, they push older nail plate cells forward; and in this way older cells become compressed, flat, and translucent. This makes the capillaries in the nail bed below visible, resulting in a pink color.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: The lunula ("small moon") is the visible part of the matrix, the whitish crescent-shaped base of the visible nail. The lunula can best be seen in the thumb and may not be visible in the little finger. The lunula appears white due to a reflection of light at the point where the nail matrix and nail bed meet.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: It is the area of the nail on which the nail plate rests. Nerves and blood vessels found here supply nourishment to the entire nail unit. Like all skin, it is made of two types of tissues: the dermis and the epidermis. The epidermis is attached to the dermis by tiny longitudinal "grooves" called matrix crests ("cristae matricis unguis"). In old age, the nail plate becomes thinner, and these grooves become more visible. The nail bed is highly innervated, and removal of the nail plate is often excruciatingly painful as a result.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: The nail sinus ("sinus unguis") is where the nail root is; i.e. the base of the nail underneath the skin. It originates from the actively growing tissue below, the matrix.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: The nail plate ("corpus unguis") sometimes referred to as the nail body, is the visible hard nail area from the nail root to the free edge, made of translucent keratin protein. Several layers of dead, compacted cells cause the nail to be strong but flexible. Its (transverse) shape is determined by the form of the underlying bone. In common usage, the word "nail" often refers to this part only. The nail plate is strongly attached to the nail bed and does not contain any nerves or blood vessels.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: The free margin ("margo liber") or distal edge is the anterior margin of the nail plate corresponds to the abrasive or cutting edge of the nail.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: The hyponychium (informally known as the "quick") is the epithelium located beneath the nail plate at the junction between the free edge and the skin of the fingertip. It forms a seal that protects the nail bed.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: The onychodermal band is the seal between the nail plate and the hyponychium. It is just under the free edge, in that portion of the nail where the nail bed ends and can be recognized in fair-skinned people by its glassy, greyish colour. It is not visible in some individuals while it is highly prominent on others.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: Together, the eponychium and the cuticle form a protective seal. The cuticle is the semi-circular layer of almost invisible dead skin cells that "ride out on" and cover the back of the visible nail plate while the eponychium is the fold of skin cells that produces the cuticle. They are continuous, and some references view them as one entity; in this classification, the names "eponychium", "cuticle", and "perionychium" are synonymous. It is the cuticle (nonliving part) that is removed during a manicure, but the eponychium (living part) should not be touched due to risk of infection. The eponychium is a small band of living cells (epithelium) that extends from the posterior nail wall onto the base of the nail. The eponychium is "the end" of the proximal fold that folds back upon itself to shed an epidermal layer of skin onto the newly formed nail plate. The perionyx is the projecting edge of the eponychium covering the proximal strip of the lunula.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: The nail wall ("vallum unguis") is the cutaneous fold overlapping the sides and proximal end of the nail. The lateral margin ("margo lateralis") lies beneath the nail wall on the sides of the nail, and the nail groove or fold ("sulcus matricis unguis") are the cutaneous slits into which the lateral margins are embedded.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: The paronychium is the soft tissue border around the nail, and paronychia is an infection in this area.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: The paronychium is the skin that overlaps onto the sides of the nail plate, also known as the paronychial edge. The paronychium is the site of hangnails, ingrown nails, and paronychia, a skin infection.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: The hyponychium is the area of epithelium, particularly the thickened portion, underlying the free edge of the nail plate. It is sometimes called the "quick", as in the phrase "cutting to the quick".


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: A healthy fingernail has the function of protecting the distal phalanx, the fingertip, and the surrounding soft tissues from injuries. It also serves to enhance precise delicate movements of the distal digits through counter-pressure exerted on the pulp of the finger.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: The nail then acts as a counter-force when the end of the finger touches an object, thereby enhancing the sensitivity of the fingertip, although the nail itself has no nerve endings.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: Finally, the nail functions as a tool enabling a so-called "extended precision grip" (e.g., pulling out a splinter in one's finger), and certain cutting or scraping actions.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: The growing part of the nail is under the skin at the nail's proximal end under the epidermis, which is the only living part of a nail.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: In mammals, the growth rate of nails is related to the length of the terminal phalanges (outermost finger bones). Thus, in humans, the nail of the index finger grows faster than that of the little finger; and fingernails grow up to four times faster than toenails.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: In humans, fingernails grow at an average rate of approx. a month, whereas toenails grow about half as quickly (approx. average a month). Fingernails require three to six months to regrow completely, and toenails require twelve to eighteen months. Actual growth rate is dependent upon age, sex, season, exercise level, diet, and hereditary factors.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: The longest female nails known ever to have existed measured a total of 8.65 m (28 ft 4.5 in). Contrary to popular belief, nails do not continue to grow after death; the skin dehydrates and tightens, making the nails (and hair) appear to grow.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: The nail is often considered an impermeable barrier, but this is not true. In fact, it is much more permeable than the skin, and the composition of the nail includes 7–12% water. This permeability has implications for penetration by harmful and medicinal substances; in particular cosmetics applied to the nails can pose a risk. Water can penetrate the nail as can many other substances including paraquat, a fast acting herbicide that is harmful to humans, urea which is often an ingredient in creams and lotions meant for use on hands and fingers, and several fungicidal agents such as salicylic acid, miconazole branded Monistat, natamycin; and sodium hypochlorite which is the active ingredient in common household bleach (but usually only in 2–3% concentration).


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: Healthcare and pre-hospital-care providers (EMTs or paramedics) often use the fingernail beds as a cursory indicator of distal tissue perfusion of individuals who may be dehydrated or in shock. However, this test is not considered reliable in adults. This is known as the CRT or blanch test. The fingernail bed is briefly depressed to turn the nail-bed white. When the pressure is released, the normal pink colour should be restored within a second or two. Delayed return to pink color can be an indicator of certain shock states such as hypovolemia.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: Nail growth record can show the history of recent health and physiological imbalances, and has been used as a diagnostic tool since ancient times. Deep, horizontally transverse grooves known as "Beau's lines" may form across the nails (horizontal, not along the nail from cuticle to tip). These lines are usually a natural consequence of aging, although they may result from disease. Discoloration, thinning, thickening, brittleness, splitting, grooves, Mees' lines, small white spots, receded lunula, clubbing (convex), flatness, and spooning (concave) can indicate illness in other areas of the body, nutrient deficiencies, drug reaction or poisoning, or merely local injury.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: Nails can also become thickened (onychogryphosis), loosened (onycholysis), infected with fungus (onychomycosis), or degenerate (onychodystrophy). A common nail disorder is an ingrowing toenail (onychocryptosis).


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: The best way to care for nails is to trim them regularly. Filing is also recommended, as to keep nails from becoming too rough and to remove any small bumps or ridges that may cause the nail to get tangled up in materials such as cloth.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: Bluish or purple fingernail beds may be a symptom of peripheral cyanosis, which indicates oxygen deprivation.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: Nails can dry out, just like skin. They can also peel, break, and be infected. Toe infections, for instance, can be caused or exacerbated by dirty socks, specific types of aggressive exercise (long-distance running), tight footwear, and walking unprotected in an unclean environment. Common organisms causing nail infections include yeasts and molds (particularly dermatophytes).


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: Nail tools used by different people may transmit infections. Standard hygiene and sanitation procedures avoid transmission. In some cases, gel and cream cuticle removers can be used instead of cuticle scissors.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: Nail disease can be very subtle and should be evaluated by a dermatologist with a focus in this particular area of medicine. However, most times it is a nail technician who will note a subtle change in nail disease.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: Inherited accessory nail of the fifth toe occurs where the toenail of the smallest toe is separated, forming a smaller "sixth toenail" in the outer corner of the nail. Like any other nail, it can be cut using a nail clipper.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: Biotin-rich foods and supplements may help strengthen brittle fingernails. A few small studies support biotin supplement use to that effect. One study in 35 people with brittle fingernails found that 2.5 mg of biotin per day for six weeks to seven months improved symptoms in 63% of participants.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: Vitamin A is an essential micronutrient for vision, reproduction, cell and tissue differentiation, and immune function. Vitamin D and calcium work together in cases of maintaining homeostasis, creating muscle contraction, transmission of nerve pulses, blood clotting, and membrane structure. A lack of vitamin A, vitamin D, or calcium can cause dryness and brittleness.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: Insufficient vitamin B12 can lead to excessive dryness, darkened nails, and rounded or curved nail ends. Insufficient intake of both vitamin A and B results in fragile nails with horizontal and vertical ridges. Some over-the-counter vitamin supplements such as certain multivitamins and biotin may help in growth of strong nails, although this is quite subjective. Both vitamin B12 and folate play a role in red blood cell production and oxygen transportation to nail cells. Inadequacies can result in discoloration of your nails.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: Omega-3 fatty acids can help lubricate and moisturize your nails, giving them a shiny appearance. These fatty acids may also reduce inflammation in your nail bed, which nourishes and promotes the health of cells that give rise to your nail plate. A lack of omega-3 fatty acids could contribute to dry and brittle nails.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: Protein is a building material for new nails; therefore, low dietary protein intake may cause anemia and the resultant reduced hemoglobin in the blood filling the capillaries of the nail bed reflects varying amounts of light incident on the nail matrix resulting in lighter shades of pink ultimately resulting in white nail beds when the hemoglobin is very low. When hemoglobin is close to 15 or 16 grams, most of the spectrum of light is absorbed and only the pink color is reflected back and the nails look pink.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: Essential fatty acids play a large role in healthy skin as well as nails. Splitting and flaking of nails may be due to a lack of linoleic acid.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: Iron-deficiency anemia can lead to a pale color along with a thin, brittle, ridged texture. Iron deficiency in general may cause the nails to become flat or concave, rather than convex. As oxygen is needed for healthy nails, an iron deficiency or anemia can lead to vertical ridges in your nails or your nails may concave or “spoon”. RDAs for iron vary considerably depending on age and gender. The recommendation for men is 8 mg per day, while that of women aged 19–50 is 18 mg per day. After women hit age 50 or go through menopause, their iron needs drop to 8 mg daily.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: Manicures (for the hands) and pedicures (for the feet) are health and cosmetic procedures to groom, trim, and paint the nails and manage calluses. They require various tools such as cuticle scissors, nail scissors, nail clippers, and nail files. Artificial nails can also be fixed onto real nails for cosmetic purposes.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: A person whose occupation is to cut, shape and care for nails as well as to apply overlays such as acrylic and UV gel is sometimes called a nail technician. The place where a nail technician works may be a nail salon or nail shop or nail bar.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: Acrylic nails are made out of acrylic glass (PMMA). When it is mixed with a liquid monomer (usually ethyl methacrylate mixed with some inhibitor) it forms a malleable bead. This mixture begins to cure immediately, continuing until completely solid in minutes. Acrylic nails can last up to 21 days but can last longer with touch-ups. To give acrylic nails color, gel polish, nail polish, and dip powders can be applied.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: Painting the nails with colored nail polish (also called nail lacquer and nail varnish) to improve the appearance is a common practice dating back to at least 3000 B.C. With the rise of smartphones, some analysts have noted a trend of the "nelfie" (nail selfie), wherein people share their nail art online.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: Gel nails can be utilized in order to create artificial nail extensions, but can also be used like nail polish. They are hardened using ultraviolet light. They last longer than regular nail polish and do not chip. They have a high-gloss finish and last for two to three weeks.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: Nail wraps are formed by cutting pieces of fiberglass, linen, silk fabric, or another material to fit on the surface of the nail (or a tip attached prior), to be sealed onto the nail plate with a layer of resin or glue. They do not damage the nail and also provide strength to the nail but are not used to lengthen it. It can also be used to fix broken nails. The treatment is however more expensive.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: With the dip powder method, a clear liquid is brushed onto a nail and the nail is then placed into pigmented powder. Dip nails tend to last about a month, 2-3 weeks longer than gel and acrylic nails. It can be worn on natural nails, or with tips to create an artificial nail. Dip powder nails do not require any UV/LED light to be cured, instead they are sealed using an activator. The quickest way to remove dip powder is to drill, clip off, or buff out layers of the powder so, when they are soaking in acetone, they slide right off.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: "Guinness World Records" began tracking record fingernail lengths in 1955, when a Chinese priest was listed as having fingernails long.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: The current record-holder for men, according to "Guinness", is Shridhar Chillal from India who set the record in 1998 with a total of of nails on his left hand. His longest nail, on his thumb, was long.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: The record-holder for women is Lee Redmond of the U.S., who set the record in 2001 and as of 2008 had nails with a total length on both hands of , with the longest nail on her right thumb at .


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: The nail is an "unguis", meaning a keratin structure at the end of a digit. Other examples of "ungues" include the claw, hoof, and talon. The nails of primates and the hooves of running mammals evolved from the claws of earlier animals.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: In contrast to nails, claws are typically curved ventrally (downwards in animals) and compressed sideways. They serve a multitude of functionsincluding climbing, digging, and fightingand have undergone numerous adaptive changes in different animal taxa. Claws are pointed at their ends and are composed of two layers: a thick, deep layer and a superficial, hardened layer which serves a protective function. The underlying bone is a virtual mold of the overlying horny structure and therefore has the same shape as the claw or nail. Compared to claws, nails are flat, less curved, and do not extend far beyond the tip of the digits. The ends of the nails usually consist only of the "superficial", hardened layer and are not pointed like claws.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: With only a few exceptions, primates retain plesiomorphic (original, "primitive") hands with five digits, each equipped with either a nail or a claw. For example, nearly all living strepsirrhine primates have nails on all digits except the second toe which is equipped with a grooming claw. Tarsiers have a grooming claw on second and third toes. Less commonly known, a grooming claw is also found on the second pedal digit of owl monkeys ("Aotus"), titis ("Callicebus"), and possibly other New World monkeys. The needle-clawed bushbaby ("Euoticus") has keeled nails (the thumb and the first and the second toes have claws) featuring a central ridge that ends in a needle-like tip.


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: A study of the fingertip morphology of four small-bodied New World monkey species indicated a correlation between increasing small-branch foraging and:


title: Nail (anatomy)

text: This suggests that whereas claws are useful on large-diameter branches, wide fingertips with nails and epidermal ridges were required for habitual locomotion on small-diameter branches. It also indicates keel-shaped nails of "Callitrichines" (a family of New World monkeys) is a derived postural adaptation rather than retained ancestral condition.


title: IMac

text: iMac is a family of all-in-one Mac desktop computers designed and built by Apple Inc. It has been the primary part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings since its debut in August 1998, and has evolved through seven distinct forms.


title: IMac

text: In its original form, the iMac G3 had a gumdrop or egg-shaped look, with a CRT monitor, mainly enclosed by a colored, translucent plastic case, which was refreshed early on with a sleeker design notable for its slot-loaded optical drive. The second major revision, the iMac G4, moved the design to a hemispherical base containing all the main components and an LCD monitor on a freely moving arm attached to it. The third and fourth major revisions, the iMac G5 and the Intel iMac respectively, placed all the components immediately behind the display, creating a slim unified design that tilts only up and down on a simple metal base.


title: IMac

text: The fifth major revision (mid-2007) shared the same form as the previous model, but was thinner and used anodized aluminum and a glass panel over the entire front. The seventh major revision (late 2012) uses a different display unit, omits the SuperDrive, and uses different production techniques from the older unibody versions. This allows it to be thinner at the edge than older models, with an edge thickness of 5.9  mm (but the same maximum depth). It also includes a dual microphone setup and includes solid-state drive (SSD) or hard disk storage, or an Apple Fusion Drive, a hybrid of solid-state and hard disk drives. This version of the iMac was announced in October 2012, with the version released in November and the version in December; these were refreshed in September 2013, with new Haswell processors, faster graphics, faster and larger SSD options and 802.11ac Wi-Fi cards.


title: IMac

text: In October 2014, a major revision of the iMac was announced, whose main feature is a "Retina 5K" display at a resolution of 5120 × 2880 pixels. The new model also includes a new processor, graphics chip, and IO, along with several new storage options. A major revision of the iMac was announced in October 2015. Its main feature is a "Retina 4K" display at a resolution of 4096 × 2304 pixels. It has the same new processor, graphics chip, and I/O as the 27-inch iMac, along with several new storage options.


title: IMac

text: On June 5, 2017, Apple announced a workstation-class version called the iMac Pro, which features Intel Xeon processors and standard SSD storage. It shares the design and screen of the 5K iMac but is colored in Space Gray rather than silver. Apple began shipping the iMac Pro in December 2017. The iMac Pro was discontinued in 2021.


title: IMac

text: On April 20, 2021, Apple announced a 24" iMac (actual diagonal screen size is 23.5 in.) with an Apple M1 processor, its first as part of its transition to Apple silicon. It comes in 7 colors (Silver, Blue, Green, Orange, Yellow, Purple, and Pink) with a 4.5K Retina display. On the base configuration, the M1 iMacs come with two Thunderbolt 3/USB 4 ports, and two USB Type-C 3.1 Gen 2 ports on the higher configurations.


title: IMac

text: The announcement of the iMac in 1998 was a source of controversy and anticipation among commentators, Mac fans, and detractors. Opinions were divided over Apple's drastic changes to the Macintosh hardware. At the time, Apple had suffered a series of setbacks as consumers increasingly opted for Wintel (Windows PCs with Intel CPUs) machines instead of Apple's Performa models. Many in the industry thought that "beleaguered" Apple would soon be forced to start selling computers with a custom interface built on top of one or more potential operating system bases, such as Taligent, Solaris, or Windows 98.


title: IMac

text: Ken Segall was an employee at an L.A. ad agency handling Apple's account who came up with the name "iMac" and pitched it to Steve Jobs. After Jobs' death, Segall claimed Jobs preferred "MacMan" for the name of the computer, but after Segall pitched "iMac" to him twice, the name was accepted. Segall says that the "i" stands for "Internet", but also represents the product as a personal and revolutionary device ('i' for "individuality" and "innovation"). Apple later adopted the 'i' prefix across its consumer hardware and software lines, such as iPod, iBook (later MacBook), iPhone, iPad and various pieces of software such as the iLife, iCloud suite and iWork and the company's media player/store, iTunes.


title: IMac

text: Attention was given to the out-of-box experience: the user needed to go through only two steps to set up and connect to the Internet. "There's no step 3!" was the catch-phrase in a popular iMac commercial narrated by actor Jeff Goldblum. Another commercial, dubbed "Simplicity Shootout", pitted seven-year-old Johann Thomas and his border collie Brodie, with an iMac, against Adam Taggart, a Stanford University MBA student, with an HP Pavilion 8250, in a race to set up their computers. Johann and Brodie finished in 8 minutes and 15 seconds, whereas Adam was still working on it by the end of the commercial.


title: IMac

text: By 2005, it had become more and more apparent that IBM's development for the desktop implementation of PowerPC was grinding to a halt. Apple announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference that it would be switching the Macintosh to the x86 architecture and Intel's line of Core processors. The first Intel-equipped Macs were unveiled on January 10, 2006: the Intel iMac and the introductory MacBook Pro. Within nine months, Apple had smoothly transitioned the entire Macintosh line to Intel. One of the highly touted side benefits of this switch was the ability to run Windows on Mac hardware.


title: IMac

text: On July 27, 2010, Apple updated its line of iMacs to feature the new Intel Core "i-series" processors across the line. The 21.5" models now feature the Core i3 processor, but these are upgradable to the Core i5. The high-end 27" features a Quad-Core i5 processor, which is upgradable to a Quad-Core i7. On this date, Apple also announced its new "Apple Magic Trackpad" peripheral, a trackpad similar to that of the MacBook Pro for use with iMac or any other Apple computer. Apple also introduced a AA NiMH battery charger intended to simplify the use of batteries in these peripherals. Apple offers an option to use a solid-state drive instead of a large mechanical drive.


title: IMac

text: On May 3, 2011, Apple updated its iMac line with the introduction of Intel Thunderbolt technology and Intel Core i5 and i7 Sandy Bridge processors as well as a 1 mega pixel high definition FaceTime camera, features which were first introduced in the MacBook Pro line in February 2011.


title: IMac

text: On October 23, 2012, a new iMac was announced (for a November/December release) with a substantially thinner edge, new Apple Fusion Drive, faster processors (Intel Core i5 and i7 Ivy Bridge) and graphics along with updates to the ports, but with the same overall depth (stand depth: 8 inches (20.3  cm)). To reduce the edge, the SuperDrive was removed on these iMacs.


title: IMac

text: On October 16, 2014, a new version of the 27-inch (69  cm) iMac was announced, whose main feature is a "Retina 5K" display at a resolution of 5120 × 2880 pixels. The new model also includes a new processor, graphics chip, and I/O, along with several new storage options. This computer was designed with professional photographers and video editors in mind, with the 5K resolution allowing 4K video to be played at its native resolution in Final Cut Pro, with room for toolbars on the side.


title: IMac

text: On June 6, 2017, Apple’s 21.5-inch iMac, which has a "Retina 4K" display at a resolution of 4096 × 2304 pixels, and the latest Intel 7th generation i5 processor, was announced. The iMac has Turbo Boost up to 3.6 GHz supported, and a 1 TB hard drive. Apple’s iMac with 4K display has Intel Core i5 quad-core processor with 3 GHz or 3.4 GHz clock speed. The RAM on board is 8 GB, and it will support a Turbo boost of up to 3.8 GHz. This iMac has options of 1 TB hard drive or 1 TB Fusion Drive. This 21.5-inch iMac also has the option of Radeon Pro 555 with 2 GB of video RAM for graphics or a Radeon Pro 560 with 4 GB of video RAM. Apple’s 27-inch iMac with the 5K display comes with the quad-core Intel Core i5 processor, which is clocked at 3.4 GHz, 3.5 GHz, or 3.8 GHz. This iMac supports a Turbo boost of up to 4.2Ghz and comes with 8 GB RAM option.


title: IMac

text: In March 2019, Apple updated the iMac to feature 9th-generation Intel Core i9 processors and Radeon Vega graphics. Unlike most other Apple releases, Apple opted not to announce the iMac at an event; instead, they updated the specs and released a press statement. For the first time, the iMac can support 6-core or 8-core Intel processors. Apple claims the 21.5-inch model is up to 60% faster than the previous model, and the 27-inch is up to 2.4 times faster. The exterior of the machine remained the same as the previous model.


title: IMac

text: On August 4, 2020, Apple refreshed the iMac models. The smaller 21.5-inch model was updated with SSDs standard. The 27-inch model received 10th generation Intel chips, a T2 Security chip, a 1080p camera, studio-quality microphone, an option for nano-textured glass, as well as SSDs standard. The 27-inch model now has SSDs soldered to the motherboard, which means the storage is no longer replaceable, and in order to replace a hard drive the entire motherboard must be replaced and any data on the drive will be wiped.


title: IMac

text: On April 20, 2021, Apple announced redesigned iMacs with a 24-inch display, new colors (7), updated cameras, and the inclusion of the Apple M1 chip.


title: IMac

text: The original iMac was the first legacy-free PC. It was the first Macintosh computer to have a USB port but no floppy disk drive. Subsequently, all Macs have included USB. Via the USB port, hardware makers could make products compatible with both x86 PCs and Macs. Previously, Macintosh users had to seek out certain hardware, such as keyboards and mice specifically tailored for the "old world" Mac's unique ADB interface and printers and modems with MiniDIN-8 serial ports. Only a limited number of models from certain manufacturers were made with these interfaces and often came at a premium price. USB, being cross-platform, has allowed Macintosh users to select from a large selection of devices marketed for the Wintel PC platform, such as hubs, scanners, storage devices, USB flash drives, and mice. After the iMac, Apple continued to remove older peripheral interfaces and floppy drives from the rest of its product line.


title: IMac

text: Borrowing from the 1997 Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh, the various LCD-based iMac designs continued the all-in-one concept first envisioned in Apple's original Macintosh computer. The successful iMac allowed Apple to continue targeting the Power Macintosh line at the high-end of the market. This foreshadowed a similar strategy in the notebook market when the iMac-like iBook was released in 1999. Since then, the company has continued this strategy of differentiating the consumer versus professional product lines. Apple's focus on design has allowed each of its subsequent products to create a distinctive identity. Apple avoided using the beige colors that were then common in the PC industry. The company would later drift from the multicolored designs of the late 1990s and early 2000s. The latter part of the decade saw Apple using anodized aluminum; glass; and white, black, and clear polycarbonate plastics among their build materials. Today many PCs are more design-conscious than before the iMac's introduction, with multi-shaded design schemes being common, and some desktops and laptops available in colorful, decorative patterns.


title: IMac

text: Apple's use of translucent, candy-colored plastics inspired similar industrial designs in other consumer products. Apple's later introduction of the iPod, iBook G3 (Dual USB), and iMac G4 (all featuring snowy-white plastic), inspired similar designs in other companies' consumer electronics products. The color rollout also featured two distinctive ads: one called 'Life Savers' featured the Rolling Stones song, "She's a Rainbow" and an advertisement for the white version had the introduction of Cream's "White Room" as its backing track.


title: IMac

text: iMac has received considerable critical acclaim, including praise from technology columnist Walt Mossberg as the "Gold Standard of desktop computing"; "Forbes" magazine described the original candy-colored line of iMac computers as being an "industry-altering success". The first 24" Core 2 Duo iMac received CNET's "Must-have desktop" in their 2006 "Top 10 Holiday Gift Picks".


title: IMac

text: Apple faced a class-action lawsuit filed in 2008 for allegedly deceiving the public by promising millions of colors from the LCD screens of all Mac models while its 20-inch model only held 262,144 colors. This issue arose due to the use of 6-bit per pixel Twisted nematic LCD screens. The case was dismissed on January 21, 2009.


title: IMac

text: While not a criticism of iMac "per se", the integrated design has some inherent tradeoffs that have garnered criticism. In "The Mythical Midrange Mac Minitower", Dan Frakes of "Macworld" suggests that with the iMac occupying the midrange of Apple's product line, Apple has little to offer consumers who want some ability to expand or upgrade their computers, but do not need (or cannot afford) the Mac Pro. For example, iMac's integration of monitor and computer, while convenient, commits the owner to replace both at the same time. For a time before the Mac mini's introduction, there were rumors of a "headless iMac" but the G4 Mac mini as introduced had lower performance compared to the iMac, which at the time featured a G5 processor. Some third party suppliers such as Other World Computing provide upgrade kits that include specialized tools for working on iMacs.


title: IMac

text: Similarly, though the graphics chipset in some Intel models is on a removable MXM, neither Apple nor third parties have offered retail iMac GPU upgrades, with the exception of those for the original iMac G3's "mezzanine" PCI slot. Models after iMac G5 (excluding the August 7, 2007 iMac update) made it difficult for the end-user to replace the hard disk or optical drive, and Apple's warranty explicitly forbids upgrading the socketed CPU. While conceding the possibility of a mini-tower cannibalizing sales from the Mac Pro, Frakes argues there is enough frustration with iMac's limitations to make such a proposition worthwhile. This disparity has become more pronounced after the G4 era since the bottom-end Power Mac G5 (with one brief exception) and Mac Pro models have all been priced in the US$1999–2499$ range, while base model Power Macs G4s and earlier were US$1299–1799. The current generation iMac has Intel 5th generation i5 and i7 processors, ranging from quad-core 2.7 GHz i5 to a quad-core 3.4 GHz i7 processor, however it is possible to upgrade the 2010 edition of the iMac quite easily.


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: Low is the 11th studio album by the English musician David Bowie, released on 14 January 1977 through RCA Records. After years of drug addiction when living in Los Angeles, Bowie moved to France in 1976 with his friend Iggy Pop to sober up. There, Bowie produced and co-wrote Pop's debut studio album, "The Idiot", featuring sounds Bowie would explore on his next record. After completing "The Idiot", Bowie began recording the first of three collaborations that became known as the Berlin Trilogy with American producer Tony Visconti and English musician Brian Eno. Sessions began at Hérouville's Château d'Hérouville in September 1976 and ended in October at Hansa Studios in West Berlin, where Bowie and Pop had relocated.


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: Grounded in art rock and experimental rock and influenced by German bands such as Tangerine Dream, Neu!, Harmonia and Kraftwerk, "Low" features Bowie's first explorations in electronic and ambient styles. Side one consists primarily of short, direct avant-pop song-fragments, with mostly downbeat lyrics reflecting Bowie's state of mind, and side two comprises longer, mostly instrumental tracks, conveying musical observations of Berlin. Visconti created the distinctive drum sound using an Eventide H910 Harmonizer, a pitch-shifting device. The cover artwork, a profile of Bowie from the film "The Man Who Fell to Earth" (1976), was intended as a visual pun, meaning "low profile".


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: RCA refused to issue "Low" for three months, fearing it would be a commercial failure. Upon release, it divided critical opinion and received little promotion from RCA or Bowie, who opted to tour as Pop's keyboardist. Nevertheless, it reached number two on the UK Albums Chart and number 11 on the US "Billboard" Top LPs & Tape chart. Two singles were released: "Sound and Vision", which peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart, and "Be My Wife". The success prompted RCA to release "The Idiot" in March 1977. In mid-1977, Bowie played on Pop's follow-up album "Lust for Life" before recording his album ""Heroes"", which expanded on "Low"s musical approach and features a similar mix of songs and instrumentals.


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: In later decades, critics have rated "Low" one of Bowie's best works, and it has appeared on several lists of the greatest albums of all time. It influenced numerous post-punk bands such as Joy Division, and its drum sound has been widely imitated. A forerunner in the development of the post-rock genre of the 1990s, "Low" has been reissued several times and was remastered in 2017 as part of the "A New Career in a New Town (1977–1982)" box set.


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: In 1974, David Bowie developed a cocaine addiction. It worsened over the next two years, affecting his physical and mental state. He recorded "Young Americans" (1975) and "Station to Station" (1976), and filmed "The Man Who Fell to Earth" (1976), while under the drug's influence. Bowie attributed his growing addiction to Los Angeles, where he moved from New York City in early 1975. His drug intake escalated to the point where, decades later, he recalled almost nothing of the recording of "Station to Station", saying, "I know it was in L.A. because I've read it was."


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: After completing "Station to Station" in December 1975, Bowie began work on a soundtrack for "The Man Who Fell to Earth" with Paul Buckmaster, who worked with Bowie on the 1969 album "Space Oddity". Bowie expected to be wholly responsible for the music, but withdrew his work when he was invited to submit it along with the work of other composers: "I just said, 'Shit, you're not getting any of it.' I was so furious, I'd put "so" much work into it." "Station to Station" co-producer Harry Maslin argued Bowie was "burned out" and could not complete the work. Bowie eventually collapsed, saying later, "There were pieces of me laying all over the floor." Only one instrumental composed for the soundtrack was released, evolving into the "Low" track "Subterraneans".


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: When Bowie presented his material for the film to director Nicolas Roeg, Roeg decided it was unsuitable. He preferred a more folk-styled sound, although the soundtrack's composer John Phillips described Bowie's contributions as "haunting and beautiful". Six months after Bowie's proposal was rejected, he sent Roeg a copy of "Low" with a note that read, "This is what I wanted to do for the soundtrack. It would have been a wonderful score."


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: The soundtrack abandoned, Bowie decided he was ready to free himself from the Los Angeles drug culture and move back to Europe. He began rehearsals for the Isolar tour to promote "Station to Station" in January 1976; the tour began on 2 February. Though it was critically acclaimed, Bowie became a controversial figure during the tour. Speaking as his persona the Thin White Duke, he made statements about Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany that some interpreted as expressing sympathy for or promoting fascism. Bowie later blamed his erratic behaviour during this period on his addictions and precarious mental state, stating: "It was a dangerous period for me. I was at the end of my tether physically and emotionally and had serious doubts about my sanity."


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: After performing the 7 May 1976 show in London, Bowie caught up with ex-Roxy Music keyboardist and conceptualist Brian Eno backstage. The two had met occasionally since 1973. After leaving Roxy Music, Eno had released two solo albums in 1975 in the ambient genre: "Another Green World" and "Discreet Music." Bowie listened to "Discreet Music" regularly on the American leg of the tour. Biographers Marc Spitz and Hugo Wilcken later recognised "Another Green World" in particular as a major influence on the sound Bowie aimed to create for "Low"; Christopher Sandford also cites Eno's "Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)" (1974) as an influence. Bowie and Eno became infatuated with the German musical movement known as krautrock, including the acts Tangerine Dream, Neu!, Kraftwerk and Harmonia. Eno had worked with Harmonia in the studio and on stage, and Bowie exhibited a krautrock influence on "Station to Station", particularly its title track. After meeting, the pair agreed to stay in touch.


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: At the conclusion of the Isolar tour on 18 May 1976, Bowie and his wife Angela moved to Switzerland, although the two would rarely spend time there. David booked studio time later in the summer at the Château d'Hérouville in Hérouville, France, where he made plans to write and produce an album for his old friend, singer Iggy Pop. Although the two had been friends for many years, the last time they worked together officially was in 1973, when Bowie was hired to mix the Stooges' "Raw Power" (1973). After the Stooges' demise, Pop descended into drug addiction. By 1976, he was ready to get sober and accepted Bowie's invitation to accompany him on the Isolar tour and then move to Europe with him. The two relocated to the Château, where Bowie had recorded his 1973 covers album "Pin Ups". Afterwards, Bowie travelled back to Switzerland, where he spent the next few weeks writing and planning his next album.


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: Bowie and Pop regrouped at the Château at the end of June 1976. Through August, they recorded what would become Pop's debut studio album "The Idiot" (1977). Bowie composed much of the music, and Pop wrote most of the lyrics, often in response to the tunes Bowie was creating. During the album's recording, Bowie developed a new process whereby the backing tracks were recorded first, followed by overdubs; the lyrics and vocals were written and recorded last. He heavily favoured this "three-phase" process, which he would use for the rest of his career. Because "The Idiot" was recorded before "Low", it has been referred to as the unofficial beginning of Bowie's Berlin period, as its music features a sound reminiscent of that which Bowie would explore in the Berlin Trilogy.


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: After completing "The Idiot", Bowie and Pop travelled to Hansa Studios in West Berlin to mix the album. Because Tony Visconti was already in line to co-produce Bowie's next album, Bowie called on him to help mix the record to familiarise himself with his new way of working. Bowie became fascinated with Berlin, finding it a place for a great escape. In love with the city, Bowie and Pop decided to move there in a further attempt to erase their drug habits and escape the spotlight. Although Bowie was ready to move fully to Berlin, he had already booked another month of studio time at the Château after "The Idiot", so recording began there. Although "The Idiot" was completed by August 1976, Bowie wanted to be sure he had his own album in stores before its release. Château owner and "The Idiot" bassist Laurent Thibault opined that "[Bowie] didn't want people to think he'd been inspired by Iggy's album, when in fact it was all the same thing".


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: The "Low" sessions began on 1 September 1976. The album had the working title "New Music: Night and Day." Although "Low" is considered the first of Bowie's Berlin Trilogy, most of it was recorded at the Château in France. Returning from the "Station to Station" sessions were guitarist Carlos Alomar, bassist George Murray and percussionist Dennis Davis. Along with Eno, new members included Roy Young, the former keyboardist for the Rebel Rousers, and Ricky Gardiner, former guitarist of Beggars Opera. A guest during the Château sessions was Visconti's then-wife Mary Hopkin, credited as Mary Visconti. She contributed backing vocals to "Sound and Vision".


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: Bowie and Visconti co-produced the album, with contributions from Eno. Visconti, who was absent for the recording of "Station to Station" because of conflicting schedules, was brought back to co-produce after mixing "The Idiot". In 2000, Bowie stressed Visconti's importance as co-producer, stating that "the actual sound and texture, the feel of everything from the drums to the way that my voice is recorded," was due to Visconti. Eno was not a co-producer, despite being widely perceived as such. Visconti said: "Brian is a great musician, and was very integral to the making of those three albums ["Low", ""Heroes"" and "Lodger"]. But he was not the producer."


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: Like "The Idiot", the "Low" sessions began with Bowie and the rhythm players running through the backing tracks quickly, beginning in the evening and continuing into the night, which biographer Thomas Jerome Seabrook believes fit the mood of the music perfectly. As he had done on "Station to Station", Bowie left Alomar in charge of the guitar, bass and percussion arrangements, with instructions about how they should sound. Bowie brought many song ideas he had in Switzerland to the sessions; some, including "What in the World", were brought back from "The Idiot".


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: According to biographer Paul Trynka, Eno arrived after the backing tracks for side one were "essentially" finished. Shortly before arriving, Eno had recorded with Harmonia, who would serve as a major influence on the recording of "Low". On his arrival, Eno and Bowie sat down with the musicians and informed them of the next stage in the recording process. According to Young, they played tapes of the "Man Who Fell to Earth" soundtrack for the musicians and said they planned something similar. Young added he and some of the other musicians were not fond of the idea, as it was outside their experiences. Bowie thought RCA would feel the same way, warning: "We don't know if this will ever be released, but I have to do this." Visconti insisted on completing the project, telling Bowie and Eno: "Wasting a month of my time with David Bowie and Brian Eno is not wasting a month of my time." Two weeks into the project, Visconti compiled a tape and played it for Bowie, who was surprised and enthusiastic that they had an album.


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: "Low" is noted for its unusual drum sound, described by biographer David Buckley as "brutal" and "mechanistic". Davis played the drums, which Visconti processed using an Eventide H910 Harmonizer. The Harmonizer was the first commercially available pitch-shifting device, which could alter the pitch of a sound without changing the speed. When Bowie asked what it did, Visconti replied, "It fucks with the fabric of time."


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: Visconti rigged the Harmonizer to Davis's snare drum and monitored the results through his headphones. Speaking to Buckley, Visconti said: "My brain nearly exploded when I found what I could do with drums." He fed the pitch-altered sound back into the device, creating "an infinite dropping of [the] pitch, ever renewing itself".


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: Buckley describes the sound, particularly evident on "Speed of Life", "Breaking Glass" and "Sound and Vision", as "revolutionary" and "stunning". Davis said it sounded "as big as a house". Bud Scoppa of "Phonograph Record" compares the sound to "cherry bombs exploding under tin cans". Trynka writes that Davis's "spirit and energy" propel the album's first side "ever onward". On its release, Kris Needs of "ZigZag" magazine called the drum sound one of the best sounds he had ever heard; Rob Sheffield of "Rolling Stone" later described it as "one of rock's all-time most imitated drum sounds".


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: With no deadline or planned structure, the mood during the sessions, says Seabrook, was "upbeat and relaxed". The studio was in the middle of the French countryside, and the musicians bonded and experimented regularly. According to Trynka, Eno was responsible for Bowie's motivation. Even Alomar – the most resistant to Eno's "avant-garde bullshit" – warmed to the experimentation.


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: Seabrook writes that everyone ate together, watched the British television programme "Fawlty Towers" in their free time, and entertained each other with stories. Gardiner said, "We had some good conversations about music, astrology – the world." Davis was the "comedian" during the sessions, performing acts and telling tales. As well as contributing backing vocals to "What in the World", Pop was present throughout the sessions. Gardiner recalled him being "fit, healthy and positive". Like Davis, he encouraged a positive atmosphere by telling stories of his time with the Stooges.


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: The sessions were not without problems. Most of the Château's staff were on holiday, leaving an inexperienced engineer and a kitchen staff who did not serve a variety of meals. Months after the sessions, Visconti said: "We found the studio totally useless. The people who own it now don't seem to care. We all came down with dysentery." Bowie and Visconti both contracted food poisoning.


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: Bowie was in a fragile state of mind throughout the sessions, as his days of cocaine addiction were not far behind him. ""Low" was largely drug-free," he remarked. "That was the first instance in a very long time that I'd gone into an album without anything like that to help me along. I was scared, because I thought that maybe my creativity had to be bound up with drugs – that it enhanced my ability to make music. But that album turned out okay." He also had conflicts with his wife and faced legal problems after firing his manager Michael Lippman; he left the sessions in September 1976 to work on resolving the case. Despite the problems, Visconti recalled that he, Bowie and Eno were working "at their peak".


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: By the end of September, Bowie and Visconti had grown tired of the Château. Bowie was mentally drained; Visconti frustrated by the lack of outside assistance. After recording the wordless vocals for "Warszawa", Bowie, Visconti, Pop and Bowie's assistant Coco Schwab left France for West Berlin. The sessions continued at Hansa Studios. According to Nicholas Pegg and Seabrook, it was not the same "Hansa by the Wall" location where "Low" would be mixed and ""Heroes"" would be recorded. At Hansa, the final tracks, "Weeping Wall" and "Art Decade", were completed, as well as vocal overdubs for the Château recordings. Recording continued until early October 1976, and mixing was finished later that month.


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: "Low" features Bowie's first explorations of electronic and ambient music. "Ultimate Classic Rock" and "Consequence of Sound" retrospectively categorised "Low" as art rock and experimental rock, respectively. Along with its successor ""Heroes"", the songs on "Low" emphasise tone and atmosphere, rather than guitar-based rock. German bands like Tangerine Dream, Neu! and Kraftwerk influenced the music. Seabrook considers Neu! the biggest influence on Bowie's new musical direction; he explained that their 1975 album "Neu! '75" is, like "Low" and ""Heroes"", characterised by a song/instrumental split and contains a song titled "Hero". Ron Hart of "The Observer" recognised Kraftwerk's "Radio-Activity" (1975) as an influence, noting that album's harmony of "experimentalism and repetition" as providing the template for "Low".


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: Side one consists primarily of short, direct avant-pop song-fragments; side two comprises longer, mostly instrumental tracks. In 1977, Bowie said side one was about himself and his "prevailing moods" at the time and side two is about his musical observations of living in Berlin. Musically, one reviewer characterised side one as a direct extension of "Young Americans" and "Station to Station". Regarding the song/instrumental split, Visconti said: "We felt that getting six or seven songs with Bowie singing, with choruses and verses, still make for a good album ... then making the second side instrumental gave a perfect yin-yang balance." Biographer Chris O'Leary writes that the instrumental pieces share the theme of "a tour of an imaginary Eastern Europe by the isolate, paranoiac character of "Low"s manic side". Some tracks, including "Speed of Life" and "A New Career in a New Town", were originally going to have lyrics, but Bowie could not come up with suitable words and left them as instrumentals. The instrumentals feature contributions from Eno, who used his portable EMS AKS synthesiser. Visconti recalled, "It had no keyboard, just a joystick, and he came up with wonderful sounds you can hear all over the album that weren't produced by conventional instruments."


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: Author Peter Doggett describes "Speed of Life" as a perfect opening track, in the sense that it brings the audience into "a subject too profound for words". It features a rapid fade-in that Pegg believes makes for a "bizarre" opener, writing that "[it's as if] the listener has just arrived within earshot of something that's already started". "Breaking Glass" is a song-fragment, featuring six lines of lyrics, two of them demanding the audience "listen" and "see". Eno said of the track, "the feeling around was that we'd edit together ... and turn it into a more normal structure" before Alomar vetoed the idea and recommended leaving it as it was. Credited to Bowie, Murray and Davis, Alomar recalled the trio mainly composed the song. O'Leary writes "What in the World" was created around the beginning of the sessions and was possibly slated for inclusion on "The Idiot"; it features backing vocals from Pop. The song is one of the few tracks on "Low" to combine art rock with more straightforward pop. According to Pegg, it features a "wall of synthesiser bleeps against a barrage of guitar sound [and] distorted percussion effects". The lyrics describe a little girl who is stuck in her room.


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: "Sound and Vision" contains wordless backing vocals from Hopkin, which she recorded before there were lyrics, a title or a melody. Bowie's vocals take a full 1:45 to appear; Eno insisted on this to "confound listener expectations". Described by Bowie as his "ultimate retreat song", the lyrics reflect his mental state following his long period of drug addiction. They provide a stark contrast to the music itself, which is more joyous and upbeat. Buckley writes that the track is the closest to a "conventional pop song" on the album. The lyrics of "Always Crashing in the Same Car" reference an incident when Bowie kept ramming his car into that of a drug dealer who was ripping him off in Los Angeles. In a broader context, the lyrics are a metaphor for making the same mistake repeatedly and Bowie's obsessive need to travel and change his lifestyle. O'Leary calls the song "the depression in the middle of the 'manic' side". Seabrook considers it the only song on side one that has a definite beginning and end.


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: Bowie described his lyrics to "Be My Wife" as "genuinely anguished, I think". They reflect Bowie's feelings of loneliness, his inability to settle, and constitute a plea for human connections. Several biographers have suggested the lyrics allude to Bowie's failing marriage. Musically, the track is led by a "barrelling bar-room piano", played by Young. Wilcken writes that "Always Crashing in the Same Car" and "Be My Wife" are the only tracks on "Low" that have more conventional song structures. "A New Career in a New Town", as its title suggests, is an instrumental that acts as a musical transition. It begins as an electronic piece, before moving into a more rock-style tune enhanced by a harmonica solo from Bowie. Doggett and O'Leary describe the solo as reminiscent of blues music. The title reflects Bowie's upcoming move to Berlin.


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: "Warszawa", the opening track of what O'Leary calls "Low"s "night" side, is named after the Polish city of Warsaw, which Bowie visited in April 1976. He found the landscape to be desolate and wanted to capture this through music. Eno mostly composed the song. He heard Visconti's four-year-old son playing A, B, C in a constant loop on the studio piano and used this phrase to create the main theme. The piece is haunting, featuring wordless vocals from Bowie that Doggett describes as reminiscent of a "monkish vocal chorale". Buckley calls it the "most startling" piece on the album. In 1977, Bowie said that "Art Decade", a pun on "art decayed," is about West Berlin, "a city cut off from its world, art and culture, dying with no hope of retribution". Heavily influenced by Eno's ambient work, the piece paints visual impressions and evokes feelings of melancholy and beauty. O'Leary writes that for a time, the piece was co-credited to Eno. Hansa engineer Eduard Meyer played cello on the track.


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: Bowie played every instrument on the third instrumental, "Weeping Wall". Influenced by minimalist composer Steve Reich, the main melody is an adaptation of the tune "Scarborough Fair". Bowie uses synthesisers, vibraphone, xylophone and wordless vocals to create a sense of frustration and imprisonment. The piece is reportedly meant to evoke the pain and misery caused by the Berlin Wall. Bowie described "Subterraneans" as a portrait of "the people who got caught in East Berlin after the separation, hence the faint jazz saxophones representing the memory of what it was". Originally recorded for the aborted "The Man Who Fell to Earth" soundtrack, the piece contains wordless vocals similar to "Warszawa". Doggett describes Bowie's saxophone solo as "remarkable".


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: George Underwood, Bowie's school friend, designed "Low"s cover artwork. Similar to the artwork for "Station to Station", it features an altered still frame from "The Man Who Fell to Earth". Bowie is seen in profile as his character from the film, Thomas Jerome Newton, wearing a duffel coat set against an orange background. His hair is the same colour as the background, which Wilcken says "underlines the solipsistic notion of place reflecting person, object and subject melding into one". Wilcken notes that as "The Man Who Fell to Earth" was out of theatres by the time of "Low"s release, the design choice was not to promote the film, but to show the connection between it and the album. Buckley writes that the cover was a visual pun, meaning 'low profile'; many did not understand the joke until Bowie pointed it out in a later interview.


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: Bowie's previous albums, "Young Americans" and "Station to Station", were massive commercial successes. RCA Records was eager to have another best-seller from the artist but, on hearing "Low", label staff were shocked. In a letter to Bowie, RCA rejected the album and urged him to make a record more like "Young Americans". Bowie kept the rejection letter on his wall at home. His former manager, Tony Defries, also tried preventing its release due to his royalty settlement in the artist's fortunes following their erroneous 1975 split. After Bowie refused to make any changes, RCA delayed "Low" from its original planned release date in November 1976. According to Seabrook, the label's executives considered the album to be "distinctly unpalatable" for the Christmas market.


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: RCA eventually released "Low" on 14 January 1977—less than a week after Bowie's 30th birthday—with the catalogue number PL 12030. The album received little to no promotion from both RCA or Bowie, who felt it was his "least commercial" record to that point. He opted to tour as Iggy Pop's keyboardist instead. "Low" became a commercial success, entering the UK Albums Chart at number 37 before peaking at number two the following week; Slim Whitman's "Red River Valley" kept the album from the top spot. It remained on the chart for 30 weeks. In the US, "Low" entered the "Billboard" Top LPs & Tape chart at number 82, peaking at number 11 four weeks later and remaining on the chart for 20 weeks.


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: "Sound and Vision" was released as the first single on 11 February 1977, with the instrumental "A New Career in a New Town" as the B-side. It reached number three on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Bowie's highest charting new single in the UK since "Sorrow" in 1973. The song did not fare so well in the US, peaking at number 69 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and signalling Bowie's commercial downturn in the country until 1983. Although Bowie did not promote it, Pegg writes the single was an "instant turntable favourite" and was bolstered by the BBC's usage for television commercials. The single's UK success confused RCA executives. Bowie intimidated the label and persuaded RCA to release Pop's "The Idiot" in March 1977.


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: "Be My Wife" was released as the second single on 17 June 1977, backed by the instrumental "Speed of Life". It became Bowie's first single that failed to chart since his pre-"Ziggy" days (1972). Despite this, a music video—his first since 1973—promoted the song. An extended version of "Breaking Glass" was released as a single in Australia and New Zealand in November 1978. The single edit was created by splicing in a repeated verse of the original album recording. This rare version was made available for the first time in 2017 on "Re:Call 3", part of the "A New Career in a New Town (1977–1982)" compilation.


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: Upon release, "Low" divided critical opinion. "Rolling Stone"s John Milward said that "Bowie lacks the self-assured humour to pull off his avant-garde aspirations" and found the album's second side weaker than its first, due to the band inflicting "discipline into Bowie's writing and performance". Another reviewer, Dave Marsh, gave "Low" two stars out of five, finding a lack of "thought" and "real songs", calling the majority of side two "as limpid as the worst movie soundtrack". He ultimately found the record a new low point for the artist. A reviewer for "Record Mirror" found the album boring at first listen, and upon repeated listens, felt Bowie had hit an "all time low", releasing an album that lacks a "genuine vision" with in cohesive music and few lyrics. "NME"s Charles Shaar Murray gave the album an extremely negative assessment, describing it as "a state of mind beyond desperation". He felt that the record encouraged the listener to feel down and offered no help in getting back up, stating, "It's an act of purest hatred and destructiveness. It comes to us in a bad time and it doesn't help at all." Murray ultimately asked, "Who needs this shit?"


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: In "The Village Voice", Robert Christgau found side one's seven "fragments" to be "almost as powerful as the 'overlong' tracks on "Station to Station"", but described "the movie music on side two" as banal. He revised his opinion on the second side after the release of ""Heroes"", writing that "Low" "now seems quite pop, slick and to the point even when the point is background noise". Christgau included it at number 26 on his "dean's list" of the year's best albums for the 1977 Pazz & Jop critics poll. "Los Angeles Times" critic Robert Hilburn found some of the album as "striking" and "satisfying" as "Ziggy" but felt the rest lacked mass appeal. Robin Denslow agreed, calling "Low" Bowie's "least commercial" yet "most experimental" work yet in "The Guardian".


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: Other reviewers praised the record. "NME"s Ian MacDonald found "Low" "stunningly beautiful [...] the sound of Sinatra reproduced by Martian computers". He considered it a conceptual sequel to "Station to Station" and concluded that "Low" is "the ONLY contemporary rock album". Michael Watts of "Melody Maker" called it "the music of Now", praising the album as feeling "right for the times", despite its lack of popularity. A reviewer for "Billboard" described the second side as "adventurous" with an appeal that was as yet uncertain, while Canadian critic Dave Winnitowy found "Low" "hideously interesting". Though John Rockwell of "The New York Times" called the lyrics "mindless" and described the instruments as "strange and spacey", he found the album "alluringly beautiful". "Sounds" magazine's Tim Lott considered "Low" both Bowie and Eno's best work thus far and a "mechanical classic".


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: Bowie's musical direction perplexed some reviewers. Rockwell felt that Bowie's fans would find "Low" was his finest work after they overcame their shock at hearing it for the first time. In "National RockStar", David Hancock was surprised the record was Bowie's, calling it "his most bizarre and adventurous LP". Kris Needs in "ZigZag" described "Low" as strange and shocking but believed it was one of Bowie's greatest achievements. "Phonograph Record"s Bud Scoppa felt the album made little sense. He found it "the most intimate and free recording this extraordinary artist has yet made", and believed listeners would be "baffled" by it or "give in" to it.


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: Although RCA was hoping he would tour to support "Low", Bowie opted instead to continue to support Pop on his tour to promote "The Idiot". Bowie was adamant about not taking the spotlight away from Pop, often staying behind his keyboards and not addressing the audience. The tour began on 1 March 1977 and ended on 16 April. At the end of the tour, Bowie and Pop returned to the studio to record Pop's second studio album "Lust for Life" (1977). Bowie played a minor role in "Lust for Life", allowing Pop to compose his own arrangements for the tracks, resulting in a sound more reminiscent of Pop's earlier work. Recording took place at Hansa by the Wall in West Berlin and was completed in two and a half weeks, from May to June 1977. Although Bowie had told interviewers in 1978 he planned to do a third collaboration with Pop, the album would be their last official collaboration until the mid-1980s.


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: After completing "Lust for Life" in mid-June 1977, Bowie travelled to Paris to film a music video for "Be My Wife". He contacted Eno to discuss their next collaboration; recording for the follow-up ""Heroes"" took place at Hansa by the Wall from July to August 1977. Developing the material found on "Low", the songs on ""Heroes"" have been described as more positive in tone and more atmosphere than those of its predecessor. The albums are similarly structured, side one featuring more conventional tracks and side two mainly featuring instrumentals. Eno played a much greater role on ""Heroes"" than on "Low", being credited as co-author of four of the ten tracks. Although well-received in its own right, critical and public opinion has typically favoured "Low" as the more groundbreaking record. The final release of the Berlin Trilogy, "Lodger" (1979), abandoned the electronic and ambient styles and the song/instrumental split that defined the two earlier works, in favour of more conventional song structures, which "The Quietus" described as presaging world music.


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: In the decades since its release, "Low" has been acclaimed for its originality and cited as an influence on the post-punk genre. Susie Goldring of BBC Music wrote: "Without "Low", we'd have no Joy Division, no Human League, no Cabaret Voltaire, and I bet, no Arcade Fire. The legacy of "Low" lives on." Spitz also acknowledges the influence of the album on post-punk, naming Joy Division, Magazine, Gang of Four and Wire as bands influenced by "Low"s "odd anti-aggression and unapologetic, almost metaphorical use of synthesised music". Music journalist Simon Reynolds said: "I think it's "Low"s inhibition and repression that Joy Division and others responded to. The fact that the music, while guitar-based and harsh and aggressive, never rocks out. It's imploded aggression." James Perone suggested that both "What in the World" and "Be My Wife" foreshadowed the punk/new wave sound of English band the Stranglers, particularly their 1977 releases "Rattus Norvegicus" and "No More Heroes".


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: In the second edition of his book "All Time Top 1000 Albums" (1998), Colin Larkin cites Gary Numan, Ultravox and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark as artists influenced by "Low". Wilcken finds Radiohead's album "Kid A" (2000), particularly the track "Treefingers", to reflect a similar influence. William Doyle of "The Quietus" wrote that before the release of "Kid A", Bowie created the blueprint "reinvention" album with "Low", a record from an artist at the peak of their popularity that confounded his fans' expectations. Bjorn Randolph of "Stylus Magazine" felt the album had a crucial influence on the post-rock genre that came to prominence among underground musicians nearly two decades after "Low"s release. Doggett writes that, like "Station to Station" before it, "Low" established Bowie as an artist who was "impossible to second-guess". He found Bowie's five-year progression from "Hunky Dory" to "Low" daring and courageous.


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: Bowie's biographers have highlighted the influence the album had on Joy Division, as have the band themselves; their original name was "Warsaw", a reference to "Warszawa". Wilcken writes that Joy Division imitate the "split mentality" of "Low" on their final album "Closer" (1980), a record which contains progressively darker track sequencing. Joy Division's drummer Stephen Morris told "Uncut" magazine in 2001 that when making their 1978 "An Ideal for Living" EP, the band asked the engineer to make the drums sound like "Speed of Life"; "Strangely enough he couldn't." Like Morris, many musicians, producers and engineers tried to imitate "Low"s drum sound. Visconti refused to explain how he crafted the sound, asking them instead how they thought it had been done. Approximations began appearing throughout the rest of the 1970s and, by the 1980s, were found on almost every record on the charts. Seabrook credits Bowie as being indirectly responsible for the "thumping backbeat" heard on tracks ranging from Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight" to Duran Duran's "Hungry Like the Wolf". In an interview with "Musician" magazine in 1983, Bowie expressed his dismay, stating, "That depressive gorilla effect was something I wish we'd never created, having had to live through four years of it with other English bands."


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: Many musicians have discussed the album's influence. On learning the title of the album was "Low" (without an "e"), English singer-songwriter Nick Lowe "retaliated" by naming his 1977 EP "Bowi" (without an "e"). Robert Smith, of the English rock band the Cure, listened to the record frequently while making their 1980 album "Seventeen Seconds". In 1994, musician Trent Reznor of the American rock band Nine Inch Nails cited "Low" as a key inspiration for "The Downward Spiral" (1994), crediting its "song-writing", "mood" and "structure[s]" as influences. Dave Sitek of the American rock band TV on the Radio stated: "That particular album, that song 'Warszawa', that's when I knew music was the ultimate force, at least in my own life." Bowie worked with the band in 2003.


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: In 1992, the American composer and pianist Philip Glass produced a classical suite based on the album, titled ""Low" Symphony", his first symphony. It consisted of three movements based on "Low" tracks: "Subterraneans"; "Some Are" (an outtake); and "Warszawa". The Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra recorded the symphony at Glass' Looking Glass Studios in New York and it was released in 1993. Speaking of the album, Glass said: "They were doing what few other people were trying to do—which was to create an art within the realm of popular music. I listened to it constantly." Of his decision to create a symphony based on the record, Glass said: "In the question of Bowie and Eno's original "Low" LP, to me there was no doubt that both talent and quality were evident there... . My generation was sick to death of academics telling us what was good and what wasn't." The ""Low" Symphony" acknowledges Eno's contributions to the original record and portraits of Bowie, Eno and Glass appear on the album cover. Bowie was flattered by the symphony and praised it, as did Pegg. Glass followed up the ""Low" Symphony" with classical adaptations of the other "Berlin" records with ""Heroes"" and "Lodger" in 1997 and 2019, respectively.


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: Commentators continue to regard "Low" as one of Bowie's best works. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote that with the album, Bowie "confirmed his place at rock's cutting edge", concluding that "the record is defiantly experimental and dense with detail, providing a new direction for the avant-garde in rock & roll". Dele Fadele of "NME" found the record a "futuristic touchstone that still stands". In 2001, Sheffield wrote that "Low" contained some of the artist's best work. "[The album] flows together into a lyrical, hallucinatory, miraculously beautiful whole, the music of an overstimulated mind in an exhausted body, as rock's prettiest sex vampire sashays through some serious emotional wreckage." Sheffield concluded by noting the timelessness of the record, calling it one of Bowie's "most intense and influential" records. Goldring praised the album as "ambitious" and felt it complimented Bowie's artistic growth, the singer having turned 30 on its release. In a 2013 readers' poll for "Rolling Stone", "Low" was voted Bowie's fourth best album. The magazine noted its underappreciation at the time of release and the recognition as a masterpiece in the ensuing decades.


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: Some reviewers have considered "Low" Bowie's greatest artistic achievement. Following Bowie's death, Bryan Wawzenek of "Ultimate Classic Rock" listed "Low" as his greatest album, writing: ""Low" is more than songs and sounds. The creative partnership behind the record forged a feeling, a mood, a place. Like very few of the best albums ever recorded, "Low" contains a universe you can inhabit, for 40 minutes at a time. It's Bowie's masterpiece." Laura Snapes of "Pitchfork" gave the album a 10 out of 10 rating, saying it shows Bowie succeeding in setting a new path for himself following a period of drug addiction. Snapes summarises side one as feeling like "having the carpet ripped out from under you by three wizards who have plans to fly it elsewhere". Although she believed side two's instrumentals feel "a little ponderous by today's standards", their ability to provoke imagery of different worlds is "something to behold". The album's 40th anniversary in 2017 attracted reviews. Hart noted "Low" contains music that sounds both of its time and before its time, shrouded with "forward-thinking artfulness" that remains unmatched in 2017, further stating that it is an album "that will make you dance, think and weep all in [...] 38 minutes." Doyle praised "Low"s production and its ability to "transport the listener to certain frontiers of place and thought in a very powerful way". He described "Low" as "a moment of pure discovery that most other records have failed to surpass", adding that the record is open to interpretation by each listener.


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: "Low" has frequently appeared on lists of the greatest albums of all time. Ranking the 100 best albums ever made, "Sounds" placed it at number 35 in 1986 and "The Guardian" ranked it number 62 in 1997. A year later, "Q" readers voted it the 43rd greatest album of all time. On lists of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever, "Q" and "The Observer" ranked "Low" numbers 16 and 39, respectively. In 2004, "Pitchfork" named it the greatest album of the 1970s; Erlewine described it as "a record that hurtles toward an undefined future while embracing ambiguity", as well as "an album about rebirth, which is why it still possesses the power to startle." Similarly, "Paste" magazine included it at number 34 in their list of the 70 best albums of the 1970s, and "Ultimate Classic Rock" later featured "Low" in a similar list of the 100 best rock albums from the 1970s in 2015. In 2013, "NME" listed the album as the 14th greatest of all time in their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Larkin ranked it numbers 120 and 47 in the second and third editions of "All Time Top 1000 Albums", respectively. In 2003, "Low" was ranked number 249 on "Rolling Stone"s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. It was subsequently ranked number 251 in a 2012 revised list and number 206 in a 2020 revised list.


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: The album was also included in the 2018 edition of Robert Dimery's book "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die". Based on "Low"s appearances in professional rankings and listings, the aggregate website Acclaimed Music lists it as the 6th most acclaimed album of 1977, the 39th most acclaimed album of the 1970s and the 122nd most acclaimed album in history.


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: RCA first released the album on CD in the mid-1980s. A 1991 CD release by Rykodisc contained three bonus tracks, including a remix of "Sound and Vision" and the outtakes "Some Are" and "All Saints". EMI released the 1991 edition in the UK on CD, Cassette and LP, while it was subsequently rereleased on AU20 Gold CD. The reissue charted at number 64 on the UK Albums Chart in September 1991. A 1999 CD release by EMI, without bonus tracks, featured 24-bit digitally remastered sound. In 2017, the album was remastered for Parlophone's "A New Career in a New Town (1977–1982)" box set. It was released in CD, vinyl and digital formats.


title: Low (David Bowie album)

text: Personnel per the album's liner notes and biographer Nicholas Pegg. Track numbers noted in parenthesis below are based on the CD track numbering of the 1991 reissue.


title: Space exploration

text: Space exploration is the use of astronomy and space technology to explore outer space. While the exploration of space is carried out mainly by astronomers with telescopes, its physical exploration though is conducted both by uncrewed robotic space probes and human spaceflight. Space exploration, like its classical form astronomy, is one of the main sources for space science.


title: Space exploration

text: While the observation of objects in space, known as astronomy, predates reliable recorded history, it was the development of large and relatively efficient rockets during the mid-twentieth century that allowed physical space exploration to become a reality. The world's first large-scale experimental rocket program was Opel-RAK under the leadership of Fritz von Opel and Max Valier during the late 1920s leading to the first crewed rocket cars and rocket planes, which paved the way for the Nazi era V2 program and US and Soviet activities from 1950 onwards. The Opel-RAK program and the spectacular public demonstrations of ground and air vehicles drew large crowds, as well as caused global public excitement as so-called "Rocket Rumble" and had a large long-lasting impact on later spaceflight pioneers like Wernher von Braun. Common rationales for exploring space include advancing scientific research, national prestige, uniting different nations, ensuring the future survival of humanity, and developing military and strategic advantages against other countries.


title: Space exploration

text: The early era of space exploration was driven by a "Space Race" between the Soviet Union and the United States. The launch of the first human-made object to orbit Earth, the Soviet Union's Sputnik 1, on 4 October 1957, and the first Moon landing by the American Apollo 11 mission on 20 July 1969 are often taken as landmarks for this initial period. The Soviet space program achieved many of the first milestones, including the first living being in orbit in 1957, the first human spaceflight (Yuri Gagarin aboard "Vostok 1") in 1961, the first spacewalk (by Alexei Leonov) on 18 March 1965, the first automatic landing on another celestial body in 1966, and the launch of the first space station ("Salyut 1") in 1971.


title: Space exploration

text: After the first 20 years of exploration, focus shifted from one-off flights to renewable hardware, such as the Space Shuttle program, and from competition to cooperation as with the International Space Station (ISS).


title: Space exploration

text: With the substantial completion of the ISS following STS-133 in March 2011, plans for space exploration by the U.S. remain in flux. Constellation, a Bush Administration program for a return to the Moon by 2020 was judged inadequately funded and unrealistic by an expert review panel reporting in 2009.


title: Space exploration

text: The Obama Administration proposed a revision of Constellation in 2010 to focus on the development of the capability for crewed missions beyond low Earth orbit (LEO), envisioning extending the operation of the ISS beyond 2020, transferring the development of launch vehicles for human crews from NASA to the private sector, and developing technology to enable missions to beyond LEO, such as Earth–Moon L1, the Moon, Earth–Sun L2, near-Earth asteroids, and Phobos or Mars orbit.


title: Space exploration

text: In the 2000s, China initiated a successful crewed spaceflight program while India launched Chandraayan 1, while the European Union and Japan have also planned future crewed space missions. China, Russia, and Japan have advocated crewed missions to the Moon during the 21st century, while the European Union has advocated crewed missions to both the Moon and Mars during the 20th and 21st century.


title: Space exploration

text: The first telescope is said to have been invented in 1608 in the Netherlands by an eyeglass maker named Hans Lippershey, but their firsts uses in astronomy was by Galileo Galilei since 1609 on. In 1668 Isaac Newton builds his own reflecting telescope, the first fully functional of this kind, and a landmark for future developings due to its superior features over the previous Galilean telescope.


title: Space exploration

text: A string of discoveries in the Solar System (and beyond) followed, then and in the next centuries: the mountains of the Moon, the phases of Venus, the first satellites of Jupiter and Saturn, the rings of Saturn, many comets, the asteroids, the new planets Uranus and Neptune, and many more satellites.


title: Space exploration

text: The Orbiting Astronomical Observatory 2 was the first space telescope launched 1968, but the launching of Hubble Space Telescope in 1990 set a milestone. As of 1 December 2022, there was 5,284 confirmed exoplanets discovered. The Milky Way is estimated to contain 100–400 billion stars and more than 100 billion planets. There are at least 2 trillion galaxies in the observable universe. HD1 is the most distant known object from Earth, reported as 33.4 billion light-years away.


title: Space exploration

text: MW 18014 was a German V-2 rocket test launch that took place on 20 June 1944, at the Peenemünde Army Research Center in Peenemünde. It was the first man-made object to reach outer space, attaining an apogee of 176 kilometers, which is well above the Kármán line. It was a vertical test launch. Although the rocket reached space, it did not reach orbital velocity, and therefore returned to Earth in an impact, becoming the first sub-orbital spaceflight.


title: Space exploration

text: The first successful orbital launch was of the Soviet uncrewed "Sputnik 1" ("Satellite 1") mission on 4 October 1957. The satellite weighed about , and is believed to have orbited Earth at a height of about . It had two radio transmitters (20 and 40 MHz), which emitted "beeps" that could be heard by radios around the globe. Analysis of the radio signals was used to gather information about the electron density of the ionosphere, while temperature and pressure data was encoded in the duration of radio beeps. The results indicated that the satellite was not punctured by a meteoroid. "Sputnik 1" was launched by an R-7 rocket. It burned up upon re-entry on 3 January 1958.


title: Space exploration

text: The first successful human spaceflight was "Vostok 1" ("East 1"), carrying the 27-year-old Russian cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, on 12 April 1961. The spacecraft completed one orbit around the globe, lasting about 1 hour and 48 minutes. Gagarin's flight resonated around the world; it was a demonstration of the advanced Soviet space program and it opened an entirely new era in space exploration: human spaceflight.


title: Space exploration

text: The first artificial object to reach another celestial body was Luna 2 reaching the Moon in 1959. The first soft landing on another celestial body was performed by Luna 9 landing on the Moon on 3 February 1966. Luna 10 became the first artificial satellite of the Moon, entering in a lunar orbit on 3 April 1966.


title: Space exploration

text: The first crewed landing on another celestial body was performed by Apollo 11 on 20 July 1969, landing on the Moon. There have been a total of six spacecraft with humans landing on the Moon starting from 1969 to the last human landing in 1972.


title: Space exploration

text: The first interplanetary flyby was the 1961 Venera 1 flyby of Venus, though the 1962 Mariner 2 was the first flyby of Venus to return data (closest approach 34,773 kilometers). Pioneer 6 was the first satellite to orbit the Sun, launched on 16 December 1965. The other planets were first flown by in 1965 for Mars by Mariner 4, 1973 for Jupiter by "Pioneer 10", 1974 for Mercury by Mariner 10, 1979 for Saturn by "Pioneer 11", 1986 for Uranus by "Voyager 2", 1989 for Neptune by "Voyager 2". In 2015, the dwarf planets Ceres and Pluto were orbited by "Dawn" and passed by "New Horizons", respectively. This accounts for flybys of each of the eight planets in the Solar System, the Sun, the Moon and Ceres & Pluto (2 of the 5 recognized dwarf planets).


title: Space exploration

text: The first interplanetary surface mission to return at least limited surface data from another planet was the 1970 landing of Venera 7, which returned data to Earth for 23 minutes from Venus. In 1975 the Venera 9 was the first to return images from the surface of another planet, returning images from Venus. In 1971 the Mars 3 mission achieved the first soft landing on Mars returning data for almost 20 seconds. Later much longer duration surface missions were achieved, including over six years of Mars surface operation by Viking 1 from 1975 to 1982 and over two hours of transmission from the surface of Venus by Venera 13 in 1982, the longest ever Soviet planetary surface mission. Venus and Mars are the two planets outside of Earth on which humans have conducted surface missions with uncrewed robotic spacecraft.


title: Space exploration

text: Salyut 1 was the first space station of any kind, launched into low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 19 April 1971. The International Space Station is currently the only fully functional space station, inhabited continuously since the year 2000.


title: Space exploration

text: "Voyager 1" became the first human-made object to leave the Solar System into interstellar space on 25 August 2012. The probe passed the heliopause at 121 AU to enter interstellar space.


title: Space exploration

text: The Apollo 13 flight passed the far side of the Moon at an altitude of above the lunar surface, and 400,171 km (248,655 mi) from Earth, marking the record for the farthest humans have ever traveled from Earth in 1970.


title: Space exploration

text: Starting in the mid-20th century probes and then human mission were sent into Earth orbit, and then on to the Moon. Also, probes were sent throughout the known Solar system, and into Solar orbit. Uncrewed spacecraft have been sent into orbit around Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury by the 21st century, and the most distance active spacecraft, "Voyager 1" and "2" traveled beyond 100 times the Earth-Sun distance. The instruments were enough though that it is thought they have left the Sun's heliosphere, a sort of bubble of particles made in the Galaxy by the Sun's solar wind.


title: Space exploration

text: The Sun is a major focus of space exploration. Being above the atmosphere in particular and Earth's magnetic field gives access to the solar wind and infrared and ultraviolet radiations that cannot reach Earth's surface. The Sun generates most space weather, which can affect power generation and transmission systems on Earth and interfere with, and even damage, satellites and space probes. Numerous spacecraft dedicated to observing the Sun, beginning with the Apollo Telescope Mount, have been launched and still others have had solar observation as a secondary objective. Parker Solar Probe, launched in 2018, will approach the Sun to within 1/9th the orbit of Mercury.


title: Space exploration

text: <nowiki> </nowiki>Mercury remains the least explored of the Terrestrial planets. As of May 2013, the Mariner 10 and "MESSENGER" missions have been the only missions that have made close observations of Mercury. "MESSENGER" entered orbit around Mercury in March 2011, to further investigate the observations made by Mariner 10 in 1975 (Munsell, 2006b).


title: Space exploration

text: A third mission to Mercury, scheduled to arrive in 2025, BepiColombo is to include two probes. BepiColombo is a joint mission between Japan and the European Space Agency. "MESSENGER" and BepiColombo are intended to gather complementary data to help scientists understand many of the mysteries discovered by Mariner 10's flybys.


title: Space exploration

text: Flights to other planets within the Solar System are accomplished at a cost in energy, which is described by the net change in velocity of the spacecraft, or delta-v. Due to the relatively high delta-v to reach Mercury and its proximity to the Sun, it is difficult to explore and orbits around it are rather unstable.


title: Space exploration

text: Venus was the first target of interplanetary flyby and lander missions and, despite one of the most hostile surface environments in the Solar System, has had more landers sent to it (nearly all from the Soviet Union) than any other planet in the Solar System. The first flyby was the 1961 Venera 1, though the 1962 Mariner 2 was the first flyby to successfully return data. Mariner 2 has been followed by several other flybys by multiple space agencies often as part of missions using a Venus flyby to provide a gravitational assist en route to other celestial bodies. In 1967 Venera 4 became the first probe to enter and directly examine the atmosphere of Venus. In 1970, Venera 7 became the first successful lander to reach the surface of Venus and by 1985 it had been followed by eight additional successful Soviet Venus landers which provided images and other direct surface data. Starting in 1975 with the Soviet orbiter Venera 9 some ten successful orbiter missions have been sent to Venus, including later missions which were able to map the surface of Venus using radar to pierce the obscuring atmosphere.