title
stringlengths 1
251
| section
stringlengths 0
6.12k
| text
stringlengths 0
716k
|
|---|---|---|
Ataxia | Radiation poisoning | Radiation poisoning
Ataxia can be induced as a result of severe acute radiation poisoning with an absorbed dose of more than 30 grays. Furthermore, those with ataxia telangiectasia may have a high sensitivity towards gamma rays and x-rays. |
Ataxia | Vitamin B<sub>12</sub> deficiency | Vitamin B12 deficiency
Vitamin B12 deficiency may cause, among several neurological abnormalities, overlapping cerebellar and sensory ataxia. Neuropsychological symptoms may include sense loss, difficulty in proprioception, poor balance, loss of sensation in the feet, changes in reflexes, dementia, and psychosis, which can be reversible with treatment. Complications may include a neurological complex known as subacute combined degeneration of spinal cord, and other neurological disorders. |
Ataxia | Hypothyroidism | Hypothyroidism
Symptoms of neurological dysfunction may be the presenting feature in some patients with hypothyroidism. These include reversible cerebellar ataxia, dementia, peripheral neuropathy, psychosis and coma. Most of the neurological complications improve completely after thyroid hormone replacement therapy. |
Ataxia | Causes of isolated sensory ataxia | Causes of isolated sensory ataxia
Peripheral neuropathies may cause generalised or localised sensory ataxia (e.g. a limb only) depending on the extent of the neuropathic involvement. Spinal disorders of various types may cause sensory ataxia from the lesioned level below, when they involve the dorsal columns. |
Ataxia | Non-hereditary cerebellar degeneration | Non-hereditary cerebellar degeneration
Non-hereditary causes of cerebellar degeneration include chronic alcohol use disorder, head injury, paraneoplastic and non-paraneoplastic autoimmune ataxia, high-altitude cerebral edema, celiac disease, normal-pressure hydrocephalus, and infectious or post-infectious cerebellitis. |
Ataxia | Hereditary ataxias | Hereditary ataxias
Ataxia may depend on hereditary disorders consisting of degeneration of the cerebellum or of the spine; most cases feature both to some extent, and therefore present with overlapping cerebellar and sensory ataxia, even though one is often more evident than the other. Hereditary disorders causing ataxia include autosomal dominant ones such as spinocerebellar ataxia, episodic ataxia, and dentatorubropallidoluysian atrophy, as well as autosomal recessive disorders such as Friedreich's ataxia (sensory and cerebellar, with the former predominating) and Niemann–Pick disease, ataxia–telangiectasia (sensory and cerebellar, with the latter predominating), autosomal recessive spinocerebellar ataxia-14 and abetalipoproteinaemia. An example of X-linked ataxic condition is the rare fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome or FXTAS. |
Ataxia | Arnold–Chiari malformation (congenital ataxia) | Arnold–Chiari malformation (congenital ataxia)
Arnold–Chiari malformation is a malformation of the brain. It consists of a downward displacement of the cerebellar tonsils and the medulla through the foramen magnum, sometimes causing hydrocephalus as a result of obstruction of cerebrospinal fluid outflow. |
Ataxia | Succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase deficiency | Succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase deficiency
Succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase deficiency is an autosomal-recessive gene disorder where mutations in the ALDH5A1 gene results in the accumulation of gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) in the body. GHB accumulates in the nervous system and can cause ataxia as well as other neurological dysfunction. |
Ataxia | Wilson's disease | Wilson's disease
Wilson's disease is an autosomal-recessive gene disorder whereby an alteration of the ATP7B gene results in an inability to properly excrete copper from the body. Copper accumulates in the liver and raises the toxicity levels in the nervous system causing demyelination of the nerves. This can cause ataxia as well as other neurological and organ impairments. |
Ataxia | Gluten ataxia | Gluten ataxia
thumb|A male with gluten ataxia: previous situation and evolution after three months of a gluten-free diet
Gluten ataxia is an autoimmune disease derived from celiac disease, which is triggered by the ingestion of gluten. Early diagnosis and treatment with a gluten-free diet can improve ataxia and prevent its progression. The effectiveness of the treatment depends on the elapsed time from the onset of the ataxia until diagnosis, because the death of neurons in the cerebellum as a result of gluten exposure is irreversible. It accounts for 40% of ataxias of unknown origin and 15% of all ataxias. Less than 10% of people with gluten ataxia present any gastrointestinal symptom and only about 40% have intestinal damage. This entity is classified into primary auto-immune cerebellar ataxias (PACA). There is a continuum between presymptomatic ataxia and immune ataxias with clinical deficits. |
Ataxia | Potassium pump | Potassium pump
Malfunction of the sodium-potassium pump may be a factor in some ataxias. The pump has been shown to control and set the intrinsic activity mode of cerebellar Purkinje neurons. This suggests that the pump might not simply be a homeostatic, "housekeeping" molecule for ionic gradients; but could be a computational element in the cerebellum and the brain. Indeed, a ouabain block of pumps in the cerebellum of a live mouse results in it displaying ataxia and dystonia. Ataxia is observed for lower ouabain concentrations, dystonia is observed at higher ouabain concentrations. |
Ataxia | Cerebellar ataxia associated with anti-GAD antibodies | Cerebellar ataxia associated with anti-GAD antibodies
Antibodies against the enzyme glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD: enzyme changing glutamate into GABA) cause cerebellar deficits. The antibodies impair motor learning and cause behavioral deficits.
GAD antibodies related ataxia is part of the group called immune-mediated cerebellar ataxias. The antibodies induce a synaptopathy. The cerebellum is particularly vulnerable to autoimmune disorders. Cerebellar circuitry has capacities to compensate and restore function thanks to cerebellar reserve, gathering multiple forms of plasticity. LTDpathies gather immune disorders targeting long-term depression (LTD), a form of plasticity. |
Ataxia | Diagnosis | Diagnosis
Imaging studies – A CT scan or MRI of the brain might help determine potential causes. An MRI can sometimes show shrinkage of the cerebellum and other brain structures in people with ataxia. It may also show other treatable findings, such as a blood clot or benign tumour, that could be pressing on the cerebellum.
Lumbar puncture (spinal tap) – A needle is inserted into the lower back (lumbar region) between two lumbar vertebrae to obtain a sample of cerebrospinal fluid for testing.
Genetic testing – Determines whether the mutation that causes one of the hereditary ataxic conditions is present. Tests are available for many but not all of the hereditary ataxias. |
Ataxia | Treatment | Treatment
The treatment of ataxia and its effectiveness depend on the underlying cause. Treatment may limit or reduce the effects of ataxia, but it is unlikely to eliminate them entirely. Recovery tends to be better in individuals with a single focal injury (such as stroke or a benign tumour), compared to those who have a neurological degenerative condition. A review of the management of degenerative ataxia was published in 2009. A small number of rare conditions presenting with prominent cerebellar ataxia are amenable to specific treatment and recognition of these disorders is critical. Diseases include vitamin E deficiency, abetalipoproteinemia, cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis, Niemann–Pick type C disease, Refsum's disease, glucose transporter type 1 deficiency, episodic ataxia type 2, gluten ataxia, glutamic acid decarboxylase ataxia. Novel therapies target the RNA defects associated with cerebellar disorders, using in particular anti-sense oligonucleotides.
The movement disorders associated with ataxia can be managed by pharmacological treatments and through physical therapy and occupational therapy to reduce disability. Some drug treatments that have been used to control ataxia include: 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP), idebenone, amantadine, physostigmine, L-carnitine or derivatives, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, vigabatrin, phosphatidylcholine, acetazolamide, 4-aminopyridine, buspirone, and a combination of coenzyme Q10 and vitamin E.
Physical therapy requires a focus on adapting activity and facilitating motor learning for retraining specific functional motor patterns. A recent systematic review suggested that physical therapy is effective, but there is only moderate evidence to support this conclusion. The most commonly used physical therapy interventions for cerebellar ataxia are vestibular habituation, Frenkel exercises, proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF), and balance training; however, therapy is often highly individualized and gait and coordination training are large components of therapy.
Current research suggests that, if a person is able to walk with or without a mobility aid, physical therapy should include an exercise program addressing five components: static balance, dynamic balance, trunk-limb coordination, stairs, and contracture prevention. Once the physical therapist determines that the individual is able to safely perform parts of the program independently, it is important that the individual be prescribed and regularly engage in a supplementary home exercise program that incorporates these components to further improve long term outcomes. These outcomes include balance tasks, gait, and individual activities of daily living. While the improvements are attributed primarily to changes in the brain and not just the hip or ankle joints, it is still unknown whether the improvements are due to adaptations in the cerebellum or compensation by other areas of the brain.
Decomposition, simplification, or slowing of multijoint movement may also be an effective strategy that therapists may use to improve function in patients with ataxia. Training likely needs to be intense and focused—as indicated by one study performed with stroke patients experiencing limb ataxia who underwent intensive upper limb retraining. Their therapy consisted of constraint-induced movement therapy which resulted in improvements of their arm function. Treatment should likely include strategies to manage difficulties with everyday activities such as walking. Gait aids (such as a cane or walker) can be provided to decrease the risk of falls associated with impairment of balance or poor coordination. Severe ataxia may eventually lead to the need for a wheelchair. To obtain better results, possible coexisting motor deficits need to be addressed in addition to those induced by ataxia. For example, muscle weakness and decreased endurance could lead to increasing fatigue and poorer movement patterns.
There are several assessment tools available to therapists and health care professionals working with patients with ataxia. The International Cooperative Ataxia Rating Scale (ICARS) is one of the most widely used and has been proven to have very high reliability and validity. Other tools that assess motor function, balance and coordination are also highly valuable to help the therapist track the progress of their patient, as well as to quantify the patient's functionality. These tests include, but are not limited to:
The Berg Balance Scale
Tandem Walking (to test for Tandem gaitability)
Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA)
tapping tests – The person must quickly and repeatedly tap their arm or leg while the therapist monitors the amount of dysdiadochokinesia.
finger-nose testing – This test has several variations including finger-to-therapist's finger, finger-to-finger, and alternate nose-to-finger. |
Ataxia | Other uses | Other uses
The term "ataxia" is sometimes used in a broader sense to indicate lack of coordination in some physiological process. Examples include optic ataxia (lack of coordination between visual inputs and hand movements, resulting in inability to reach and grab objects) and ataxic respiration (lack of coordination in respiratory movements, usually due to dysfunction of the respiratory centres in the medulla oblongata).
Optic ataxia may be caused by lesions to the posterior parietal cortex, which is responsible for combining and expressing positional information and relating it to movement. Outputs of the posterior parietal cortex include the spinal cord, brain stem motor pathways, pre-motor and pre-frontal cortex, basal ganglia and the cerebellum. Some neurons in the posterior parietal cortex are modulated by intention. Optic ataxia is usually part of Balint's syndrome, but can be seen in isolation with injuries to the superior parietal lobule, as it represents a disconnection between visual-association cortex and the frontal premotor and motor cortex. |
Ataxia | See also | See also
Ataxic cerebral palsy
Locomotor ataxia
Bruns apraxia |
Ataxia | References | References |
Ataxia | Further reading | Further reading
|
Ataxia | External links | External links
National Ataxia Foundation (USA)
Category:Complications of stroke
Category:Symptoms and signs: Nervous system |
Ataxia | Table of Content | Short description, Types, Cerebellar, Sensory, Vestibular, Causes, Focal lesions, Exogenous substances (metabolic ataxia), Radiation poisoning, Vitamin B<sub>12</sub> deficiency, Hypothyroidism, Causes of isolated sensory ataxia, Non-hereditary cerebellar degeneration, Hereditary ataxias, Arnold–Chiari malformation (congenital ataxia), Succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase deficiency, Wilson's disease, Gluten ataxia, Potassium pump, Cerebellar ataxia associated with anti-GAD antibodies, Diagnosis, Treatment, Other uses, See also, References, Further reading, External links |
Abdul Alhazred | # | Redirect Necronomicon#Fictional history
Category:Characters in short stories
Category:Fictional Arabs
Category:Fictional characters with mental disorders
Category:Fictional pagans
Category:Fictional poets
Category:Fictional characters who use magic
Category:Literary characters introduced in 1921 |
Abdul Alhazred | Table of Content | # |
Ada Lovelace | Short description | Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (née Byron; 10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852), also known as Ada Lovelace, was an English mathematician and writer chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. She was the first to recognise that the machine had applications beyond pure calculation.
Lovelace was the only legitimate child of poet Lord Byron and reformer Anne Isabella Milbanke. All her half-siblings, Lord Byron's other children, were born out of wedlock to other women. Lord Byron separated from his wife a month after Ada was born and left England forever. He died in Greece when she was eight. Lady Byron was anxious about her daughter's upbringing and promoted Lovelace's interest in mathematics and logic in an effort to prevent her from developing her father's perceived insanity. Despite this, Lovelace remained interested in her father, naming her two sons Byron and Gordon. Upon her death, she was buried next to her father at her request. Although often ill in her childhood, Lovelace pursued her studies assiduously. She married William King in 1835. King was made Earl of Lovelace in 1838, Ada thereby becoming Countess of Lovelace.
Lovelace's educational and social exploits brought her into contact with scientists such as Andrew Crosse, Charles Babbage, Sir David Brewster, Charles Wheatstone and Michael Faraday, and the author Charles Dickens, contacts which she used to further her education. Lovelace described her approach as "poetical science" and herself as an "Analyst (& Metaphysician)".
When she was eighteen, Lovelace's mathematical talents led her to a long working relationship and friendship with fellow British mathematician Charles Babbage. She was in particular interested in Babbage's work on the Analytical Engine. Lovelace first met him on 5 June 1833, when she and her mother attended one of Charles Babbage's Saturday night soirées with their mutual friend, and Lovelace's private tutor, Mary Somerville.
Though Babbage's Analytical Engine was never constructed and exercised no influence on the later invention of electronic computers, it has been recognised in retrospect as a Turing-complete general-purpose computer which anticipated the essential features of a modern electronic computer; Babbage is therefore known as the "father of computers," and Lovelace is credited with several computing "firsts" for her collaboration with him.
Between 1842 and 1843, Lovelace translated an article by the military engineer Luigi Menabrea (later Prime Minister of Italy) about the Analytical Engine, supplementing it with an elaborate set of seven notes, simply called "Notes". These notes described a method of using the machine to calculate Bernoulli numbers which is often called the first published computer program.
She also developed a vision of the capability of computers to go beyond mere calculating or number-crunching, while many others, including Babbage himself, focused only on those capabilities. Lovelace was the first to point out the possibility of encoding information besides mere arithmetical figures, such as music, and manipulating it with such a machine. Her mindset of "poetical science" led her to ask questions about the Analytical Engine (as shown in her notes), examining how individuals and society relate to technology as a collaborative tool..
The programming language Ada is named after her. |
Ada Lovelace | Biography | Biography |
Ada Lovelace | Childhood | Childhood
Lord Byron expected his child to be a "glorious boy" and was disappointed when Lady Byron gave birth to a girl. The child was named after Byron's half-sister, Augusta Leigh, and was called "Ada" by Byron himself. On 16 January 1816, at Lord Byron's command, Lady Byron left for her parents' home at Kirkby Mallory, taking their five-week-old daughter with her. Although English law at the time granted full custody of children to the father in cases of separation, Lord Byron made no attempt to claim his parental rights, but did request that his sister keep him informed of Ada's welfare.
thumb|Ada Byron, aged four|alt=Ada Byron, portrait at age four
On 21 April, Lord Byron signed the deed of separation, although very reluctantly, and left England for good a few days later. Aside from an acrimonious separation, Lady Byron continued throughout her life to make allegations about her husband's immoral behaviour. This set of events made Lovelace infamous in Victorian society. Ada did not have a relationship with her father. He died in 1824 when she was eight years old. Her mother was the only significant parental figure in her life.. Lovelace was not shown the family portrait of her father until her 20th birthday.
thumb|left|Ada Byron, aged seven, by Alfred d'Orsay, 1822, Somerville College, Oxford.|alt=Ada Byron, portrait at age 7
Lovelace did not have a close relationship with her mother. She was often left in the care of her maternal grandmother Judith, Hon. Lady Milbanke, who doted on her. However, because of societal attitudes of the time—which favoured the husband in any separation, with the welfare of any child acting as mitigation—Lady Byron had to present herself as a loving mother to the rest of society. This included writing anxious letters to Lady Milbanke about her daughter's welfare, with a cover note saying to retain the letters in case she had to use them to show maternal concern. In one letter to Lady Milbanke, she referred to her daughter as "it": "I talk to it for your satisfaction, not my own, and shall be very glad when you have it under your own." Lady Byron had her teenage daughter watched by close friends for any sign of moral deviation. Lovelace dubbed these observers the "Furies" and later complained they exaggerated and invented stories about her.
thumb|upright=0.9|Ada Byron, aged seventeen, 1832.|alt=Ada Byron, portrait drawn at age 17
Lovelace was often ill, beginning in early childhood. At the age of eight, she experienced headaches that obscured her vision. In June 1829, she was paralyzed after a bout of measles. She was subjected to continuous bed rest for nearly a year, something which may have extended her period of disability. By 1831, she was able to walk with crutches. Despite the illnesses, she developed her mathematical and technological skills.
Ada Byron had an affair with a tutor in early 1833. She tried to elope with him after she was caught, but the tutor's relatives recognised her and contacted her mother. Lady Byron and her friends covered the incident up to prevent a public scandal. Lovelace never met her younger half-sister, Allegra, the daughter of Lord Byron and Claire Clairmont. Allegra died in 1822 at the age of five. Lovelace did have some contact with Elizabeth Medora Leigh, the daughter of Byron's half-sister Augusta Leigh, who purposely avoided Lovelace as much as possible when introduced at court. |
Ada Lovelace | Adult years | Adult years
thumb|Watercolour portrait of Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, , possibly by Alfred Edward Chalon.|alt=Ada King, Countess of Lovelace. Watercolour portrait circa 1840
Lovelace became close friends with her tutor Mary Somerville, who introduced her to Charles Babbage in 1833. She had a strong respect and affection for Somerville, and they corresponded for many years. Other acquaintances included the scientists Andrew Crosse, Sir David Brewster, Charles Wheatstone, Michael Faraday and the author Charles Dickens. She was presented at Court at the age of seventeen "and became a popular belle of the season" in part because of her "brilliant mind". By 1834 Ada was a regular at Court and started attending various events. She danced often and was able to charm many people, and was described by most people as being dainty, although John Hobhouse, Byron's friend, described her as "a large, coarse-skinned young woman but with something of my friend's features, particularly the mouth". This description followed their meeting on 24 February 1834 in which Ada made it clear to Hobhouse that she did not like him, probably due to her mother's influence, which led her to dislike all of her father's friends. This first impression was not to last, and they later became friends.
thumb|William King, 1st Earl of Lovelace in uniform.
On 8 July 1835, she married William, 8th Baron King, becoming Lady King. They had three homes: Ockham Park, Surrey; a Scottish estate on Loch Torridon in Ross-shire; and a house in London. They spent their honeymoon at Ashley Combe near Porlock Weir, Somerset, which had been built as a hunting lodge in 1799 and was improved by King in preparation for their honeymoon. It later became their summer retreat and was further improved during this time. From 1845, the family's main house was Horsley Towers, built in the Tudorbethan fashion by the architect of the Houses of Parliament, Charles Barry, and later greatly enlarged to Lovelace's own designs.
They had three children: Byron (born 1836); Anne Isabella (called Annabella, born 1837); and Ralph Gordon (born 1839). Immediately after the birth of Annabella, Lady King experienced "a tedious and suffering illness, which took months to cure". Ada was a descendant of the extinct Barons Lovelace and in 1838, her husband was made Earl of Lovelace and Viscount Ockham, meaning Ada became the Countess of Lovelace. In 1843–44, Ada's mother assigned William Benjamin Carpenter to teach Ada's children and to act as a "moral" instructor for Ada. He quickly fell for her and encouraged her to express any frustrated affections, claiming that his marriage meant he would never act in an "unbecoming" manner. When it became clear that Carpenter was trying to start an affair, Ada cut it off.
In 1841, Lovelace and Medora Leigh (the daughter of Lord Byron's half-sister Augusta Leigh) were told by Ada's mother that Ada's father was also Medora's father. On 27 February 1841, Ada wrote to her mother: "I am not in the least astonished. In fact, you merely confirm what I have for years and years felt scarcely a doubt about, but should have considered it most improper in me to hint to you that I in any way suspected." She did not blame the incestuous relationship on Byron, but instead blamed Augusta Leigh: "I fear she is more inherently wicked than he ever was." In the 1840s, Ada flirted with scandals: firstly, from a relaxed approach to extra-marital relationships with men, leading to rumours of affairs; and secondly, from her love of gambling. She apparently lost more than £3,000 on the horses during the later 1840s. The gambling led to her forming a syndicate with male friends, and an ambitious attempt in 1851 to create a mathematical model for successful large bets. This went disastrously wrong, leaving her thousands of pounds in debt to the syndicate, forcing her to admit it all to her husband. She had a shadowy relationship with Andrew Crosse's son John from 1844 onwards. John Crosse destroyed most of their correspondence after her death as part of a legal agreement. She bequeathed him the only heirlooms her father had personally left to her. During her final illness, she would panic at the idea of the younger Crosse being kept from visiting her. |
Ada Lovelace | Education | Education
thumb|Sonnet titled The Rainbow in Lovelace's own hand (Somerville College).
From 1832, when she was seventeen, her mathematical abilities began to emerge, and her interest in mathematics dominated the majority of her adult life. Her mother's obsession with rooting out any of the insanity of which she accused Byron was one of the reasons that Ada was taught mathematics from an early age. She was privately educated in mathematics and science by William Frend, William King,William King, her tutor, and William King, her future husband, were not related. and Mary Somerville, the noted 19th-century researcher and scientific author. In the 1840s, the mathematician Augustus De Morgan extended her "much help in her mathematical studies" including study of advanced calculus topics including the "numbers of Bernoulli" (that formed her celebrated algorithm for Babbage's Analytical Engine).Thomas J. Misa, "Charles Babbage, Ada Lovelace, and the Bernoulli Numbers" in Ada's Legacy: Cultures of Computing from the Victorian to the Digital Age, edited by Robin Hammerman and Andrew L. Russell (ACM Books, 2015), pp. 18–20, . In a letter to Lady Byron, De Morgan suggested that Ada's skill in mathematics might lead her to become "an original mathematical investigator, perhaps of first-rate eminence".
Lovelace often questioned basic assumptions through integrating poetry and science. Whilst studying differential calculus, she wrote to De Morgan:
I may remark that the curious transformations many formulae can undergo, the unsuspected and to a beginner apparently impossible identity of forms exceedingly dissimilar at first sight, is I think one of the chief difficulties in the early part of mathematical studies. I am often reminded of certain sprites and fairies one reads of, who are at one's elbows in one shape now, and the next minute in a form most dissimilar.
Lovelace believed that intuition and imagination were critical to effectively applying mathematical and scientific concepts. She valued metaphysics as much as mathematics, viewing both as tools for exploring "the unseen worlds around us". |
Ada Lovelace | Death | Death
thumb|Painting of Lovelace seated at a piano, by Henry Phillips (1852). Although in great pain at the time, she agreed to sit for the painting as her father, Lord Byron, had been painted by Phillips' father, Thomas Phillips.|alt=Ada Lovelace, painted portrait circa 1852
Lovelace died at the age of 36 on 27 November 1852. from cervical cancer (which contemporary accounts called uterine cancer, since a distinction between the two was not made at time). The illness lasted several months, in which time Annabella took command over whom Ada saw, and excluded all of her friends and confidants. Under her mother's influence, Ada had a religious transformation and was coaxed into repenting of her previous conduct and making Annabella her executor. She lost contact with her husband after confessing something to him on 30 August which caused him to abandon her bedside. It is not known what she told him. She was buried, at her request, next to her father at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire. |
Ada Lovelace | Work | Work
Throughout her life, Lovelace was strongly interested in scientific developments and fads of the day, including phrenology and mesmerism. After her work with Babbage, Lovelace continued to work on other projects. In 1844, she commented to a friend Woronzow Greig about her desire to create a mathematical model for how the brain gives rise to thoughts and nerves to feelings ("a calculus of the nervous system"). She never achieved this, however. In part, her interest in the brain came from a long-running preoccupation, inherited from her mother, about her "potential" madness. As part of her research into this project, she visited the electrical engineer Andrew Crosse in 1844 to learn how to carry out electrical experiments. In the same year, she wrote a review of a paper by Baron Karl von Reichenbach, Researches on Magnetism, but this was not published and does not appear to have progressed past the first draft. In 1851, the year before her cancer struck, she wrote to her mother mentioning "certain productions" she was working on regarding the relation of maths and music.
thumb|left|Portrait of Ada Lovelace by the British painter Margaret Sarah Carpenter (1836).|alt=Ada Lovelace, painted portrait circa 1836
Lovelace first met Charles Babbage in June 1833, through their mutual friend Mary Somerville. Later that month, Babbage invited Lovelace to see the prototype for his difference engine. She became fascinated with the machine and used her relationship with Somerville to visit Babbage as often as she could. Babbage was impressed by Lovelace's intellect and analytic skills. He called her "The Enchantress of Number".Some writers give it as "Enchantress of Numbers". In 1843, he wrote to her:
thumb|Lovelace's diagram from "Note G", the first published computer algorithm/|alt=Diagram for the computation by the Engine of the Numbers of Bernoulli
In 1840, Babbage was invited to give a seminar at the University of Turin about his Analytical Engine. Luigi Menabrea, a young Italian engineer and the future Prime Minister of Italy, transcribed Babbage's lecture into French, and this transcript was subsequently published in the Bibliothèque universelle de Genève in October 1842. Babbage's friend Charles Wheatstone commissioned Lovelace to translate Menabrea's paper into English.
During a nine-month period in 1842–43, Lovelace translated Menabrea's article. She then augmented the paper with notes, which were added to the translation. The translation and notes were then published in the September 1843 edition of Taylor's Scientific Memoirs under the initialism AAL.
Explaining the Analytical Engine's function was a difficult task; many other scientists did not grasp the concept and the British establishment had shown little interest in it. Lovelace's notes even had to explain how the Analytical Engine differed from the original Difference Engine. Her work was well received at the time; the scientist Michael Faraday described himself as a supporter of her writing.
Lovelace and Babbage had a minor falling out when the papers were published, when he tried to leave his own statement (criticising the government's treatment of his Engine) as an unsigned preface, which could have been mistakenly interpreted as a joint declaration. When Taylor's Scientific Memoirs ruled that the statement should be signed, Babbage wrote to Lovelace asking her to withdraw the paper. This was the first that she knew he was leaving it unsigned, and she wrote back refusing to withdraw the paper. The historian Benjamin Woolley theorised that "His actions suggested he had so enthusiastically sought Ada's involvement, and so happily indulged her ... because of her 'celebrated name'." Their friendship recovered, and they continued to correspond. On 12 August 1851, when she was dying of cancer, Lovelace wrote to him asking him to be her executor, though this letter did not give him the necessary legal authority. Part of the terrace at Worthy Manor was known as Philosopher's Walk; it was there that Lovelace and Babbage were reputed to have walked while discussing mathematical principles. |
Ada Lovelace | First published computer program | First published computer program
The notes, around three times longer than the article itself, are important in the early history of computers, especially since the seventh one described, in complete detail, a method for calculating a sequence of Bernoulli numbers using the Analytical Engine, which might have run correctly had it ever been built. Though Babbage's personal notes from 1837 to 1840 contain the first programs for the engine, the algorithm in Note G is often called the first published computer program. The engine was never completed and so the program was never tested.
In 1953, more than a century after her death, Ada Lovelace's notes on Babbage's Analytical Engine were republished as an appendix to B. V. Bowden's Faster than Thought: A Symposium on Digital Computing Machines. The engine has now been recognised as an early model for a computer and her notes as a description of a computer and software. |
Ada Lovelace | Controversy over contribution | Controversy over contribution
Based on this work, Lovelace is often called the first computer programmer and her method has been called the world's first computer program.
Eugene Eric Kim and Betty Alexandra Toole consider it "incorrect" to regard Lovelace as the first computer programmer. Babbage claims credit in his autobiography for the algorithm in Note G, and regardless of the extent of Lovelace's contribution to it, she was not the very first person to write a program for the Analytical Engine, as Babbage had written the initial programs for it, although the majority were never published. Bromley notes several dozen sample programs prepared by Babbage between 1837 and 1840, all substantially predating Lovelace's notes. p. 197. Dorothy K. Stein regards Lovelace's notes as "more a reflection of the mathematical uncertainty of the author, the political purposes of the inventor, and, above all, of the social and cultural context in which it was written, than a blueprint for a scientific development". p. 34.
Allan G. Bromley, in the 1990 article Difference and Analytical Engines:
Bruce Collier wrote that Lovelace "made a considerable contribution to publicizing the Analytical Engine, but there is no evidence that she advanced the design or theory of it in any way".
Doron Swade has said that Ada only published the first computer program instead of actually writing it, but agrees that she was the only person to see the potential of the analytical engine as a machine capable of expressing entities other than quantities.
In his book, Idea Makers, Stephen Wolfram defends Lovelace's contributions. While acknowledging that Babbage wrote several unpublished algorithms for the Analytical Engine prior to Lovelace's notes, Wolfram argues that "there's nothing as sophisticated—or as clean—as Ada's computation of the Bernoulli numbers. Babbage certainly helped and commented on Ada's work, but she was definitely the driver of it." Wolfram then suggests that Lovelace's main achievement was to distill from Babbage's correspondence "a clear exposition of the abstract operation of the machine—something which Babbage never did". |
Ada Lovelace | Insight into potential of computing devices | Insight into potential of computing devices
In her notes, Ada Lovelace emphasised the difference between the Analytical Engine and previous calculating machines, particularly its ability to be programmed to solve problems of any complexity. She realised the potential of the device extended far beyond mere number crunching. In her notes, she wrote:
This analysis was an important development from previous ideas about the capabilities of computing devices and anticipated the implications of modern computing one hundred years before they were realised. Walter Isaacson ascribes Ada's insight regarding the application of computing to any process based on logical symbols to an observation about textiles: "When she saw some mechanical looms that used punchcards to direct the weaving of beautiful patterns, it reminded her of how Babbage's engine used punched cards to make calculations." This insight is seen as significant by writers such as Betty Toole and Benjamin Woolley, as well as the programmer John Graham-Cumming, whose project Plan 28 has the aim of constructing the first complete Analytical Engine.
According to the historian of computing and Babbage specialist Doron Swade:
Ada saw something that Babbage in some sense failed to see. In Babbage's world his engines were bound by number...What Lovelace saw...was that number could represent entities other than quantity. So once you had a machine for manipulating numbers, if those numbers represented other things, letters, musical notes, then the machine could manipulate symbols of which number was one instance, according to rules. It is this fundamental transition from a machine which is a number cruncher to a machine for manipulating symbols according to rules that is the fundamental transition from calculation to computation—to general-purpose computation—and looking back from the present high ground of modern computing, if we are looking and sifting history for that transition, then that transition was made explicitly by Ada in that 1843 paper.
Note G also contains Lovelace's dismissal of artificial intelligence. She wrote that "The Analytical Engine has no pretensions whatever to originate anything. It can do whatever we know how to order it to perform. It can follow analysis; but it has no power of anticipating any analytical relations or truths." This objection has been the subject of much debate and rebuttal, for example by Alan Turing in his paper "Computing Machinery and Intelligence". Most modern computer scientists argue that this view is outdated and that computer software can develop in ways that cannot necessarily be anticipated by programmers. Alt URL |
Ada Lovelace | Distinction between mechanism and logical structure | Distinction between mechanism and logical structure
Lovelace recognized the difference between the details of the computing mechanism, as covered in an 1834 article on the Difference Engine,
and the logical structure of the Analytical Engine, on which the article she was reviewing dwelt. She noted that different specialists might be required in each area.
The [1834 article] chiefly treats it under its mechanical aspect, entering but slightly into the mathematical principles of which that engine is the representative, but giving, in considerable length, many details of the mechanism and contrivances by means of which it tabulates the various orders of differences. M. Menabrea, on the contrary, exclusively developes the analytical view; taking it for granted that mechanism is able to perform certain processes, but without attempting to explain how; and devoting his whole attention to explanations and illustrations of the manner in which analytical laws can be so arranged and combined as to bring every branch of that vast subject within the grasp of the assumed powers of mechanism. It is obvious that, in the invention of a calculating engine, these two branches of the subject are equally essential fields of investigation... They are indissolubly connected, though so different in their intrinsic nature, that perhaps the same mind might not be likely to prove equally profound or successful in both. |
Ada Lovelace | Commemoration<!--'Ada Lovelace Day' redirects here--> | Commemoration
thumb|left|upright|Blue plaque to Ada Lovelace in St James's Square, London.|alt=Plaque to Ada Lovelace that reads "English Heritage, Ada Countess of Lovelace, 1815–1852, Pioneer of Computing lived here"
The computer language Ada, created on behalf of the United States Department of Defense, was named after Lovelace. The reference manual for the language was approved on 10 December 1980 and the Department of Defense Military Standard for the language, MIL-STD-1815, was given the number of the year of her birth.
In 1981, the Association for Women in Computing inaugurated its Ada Lovelace Award. , the British Computer Society (BCS) has awarded the Lovelace Medal, and in 2008 initiated an annual competition for women students. BCSWomen sponsors the Lovelace Colloquium, an annual conference for women undergraduates. Ada College is a further-education college in Tottenham Hale, London, focused on digital skills.
Ada Lovelace Day is an annual event celebrated on the second Tuesday of October, which began in 2009. Its goal is to "... raise the profile of women in science, technology, engineering, and maths," and to "create new role models for girls and women" in these fields.
The Ada Initiative was a non-profit organisation dedicated to increasing the involvement of women in the free culture and open source movements. A specialist technical college, for pupils aged 16–19, in England is named "Ada, the National College for Digital Skills", it has campuses in Whitechapel, Tottenham Hale and Manchester. The building of the department of Engineering Mathematics at the University of Bristol is called the Ada Lovelace Building. The Engineering in Computer Science and Telecommunications College building in Zaragoza University is called the Ada Byron Building. The computer centre in the village of Porlock, near where Lovelace lived, is named after her. Ada Lovelace House is a council-owned building in Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, near where Lovelace spent her infancy.
In 2012, a Google Doodle and blog post honoured her on her birthday. In 2013, Ada Developers Academy was founded and named after her. Its mission is to diversify tech by providing women and gender-diverse people the skills, experience, and community support to become professional software developers to change the face of tech. On 17 September 2013, the BBC Radio 4 biography programme Great Lives devoted an episode to Ada Lovelace; she was sponsored by TV presenter Konnie Huq.
thumb|Lovelace statue in Millbank, City of Westminster, London.
As of November 2015, all new British passports have included an illustration of Lovelace and Babbage. In 2017, a Google Doodle honoured her with other women on International Women's Day. On 2 February 2018, Satellogic, a high-resolution Earth observation imaging and analytics company, launched a ÑuSat type micro-satellite named in honour of Ada Lovelace. In March 2018, The New York Times published a belated obituary for Ada Lovelace.
On 27 July 2018, Senator Ron Wyden submitted, in the United States Senate, the designation of 9 October 2018 as National Ada Lovelace Day: "To honor the life and contributions of Ada Lovelace as a leading woman in science and mathematics". The resolution (S.Res.592) was considered, and agreed to without amendment and with a preamble by unanimous consent. In November 2020 it was announced that Trinity College Dublin, whose library had previously held forty busts, all of them of men, was commissioning four new busts of women, one of whom was to be Lovelace.
In March 2022, a statue of Ada Lovelace was installed at the site of the former Ergon House in the City of Westminster, London, honoring its scientific history. The redevelopment was part of a complex with Imperial Chemical House. The statue was sculpted by Etienne and Mary Millner and based on the portrait by Margaret Sarah Carpenter. The sculpture was unveiled on International Women's Day, 2022. It stands on the 7th floor of Millbank Quarter overlooking the junction of Dean Bradley Street and Horseferry Road.
In September 2022, Nvidia announced the Ada Lovelace graphics processing unit (GPU) microarchitecture. In July 2023, the Royal Mint issued four commemorative £2 coins in various metals to "honour the innovative contributions of computer science visionary Ada Lovelace and her legacy as a female trailblazer." |
Ada Lovelace | Bicentenary (2015) | Bicentenary (2015)
The bicentenary of Ada Lovelace's birth was celebrated with a number of events, including:
The Ada Lovelace Bicentenary Lectures on Computability, Israel Institute for Advanced Studies, 20 December 2015 – 31 January 2016.
Ada Lovelace Symposium, University of Oxford, 13–14 October 2015.
Ada.Ada.Ada, a one-woman show about the life and work of Ada Lovelace (using an LED dress), premiered at Edinburgh International Science Festival on 11 April 2015, and continued to touring internationally to promote diversity on STEM at technology conferences, businesses, government and educational organisations.
Special exhibitions were displayed by the Science Museum in London, England and the Weston Library (part of the Bodleian Library) in Oxford, England. |
Ada Lovelace | In popular culture | In popular culture
thumb|upright|An illustration inspired by the A. E. Chalon portrait created for the Ada Initiative, which supported open technology and women.|alt=Illustration of Ada Lovelace's portrait in a gold frame |
Ada Lovelace | Novels and plays | Novels and plays
Lovelace is portrayed in Romulus Linney's 1977 play Childe Byron. In Tom Stoppard's 1993 play Arcadia, the precocious teenage genius Thomasina Coverly—a character "apparently based" on Ada Lovelace (the play also involves Lord Byron)—comes to understand chaos theory, and theorises the second law of thermodynamics, before either is officially recognised.Profile, Gale Edwards, 1994, Director of "Arcadia" for the Sydney Theatre Company
In the 1990 steampunk novel The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, Lovelace delivers a lecture on the "punched cards" programme which proves Gödel's incompleteness theorems decades before their actual discovery. Lovelace and Mary Shelley as teenagers are the central characters in Jordan Stratford's steampunk series, The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency.
Lovelace features in John Crowley's 2005 novel, Lord Byron's Novel: The Evening Land, as an unseen character whose personality is forcefully depicted in her annotations and anti-heroic efforts to archive her father's lost novel.
The 2015 play Ada and the Engine by Lauren Gunderson portrays Lovelace and Charles Babbage in unrequited love, and it imagines a post-death meeting between Lovelace and her father. Lovelace and Babbage are also the main characters in Sydney Padua's webcomic and graphic novel The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage. The comic features extensive footnotes on the history of Ada Lovelace, and many lines of dialogue are drawn from actual correspondence. |
Ada Lovelace | Film and television | Film and television
In the 1997 film Conceiving Ada, a computer scientist obsessed with Ada finds a way of communicating with her in the past by means of "undying information waves".
Lovelace, identified as Ada Augusta Byron, is portrayed by Lily Lesser in the second series of The Frankenstein Chronicles aired on ITV in 2017. She is employed as an "analyst" to provide the workings of a life-sized humanoid automaton. The brass workings of the machine are reminiscent of Babbage's analytical engine. Her employment is described as keeping her occupied until she returns to her studies in advanced mathematics.
Lovelace and Babbage appear as characters in the second season of the ITV series Victoria (2017). Emerald Fennell portrays Lovelace in the episode, "The Green-Eyed Monster."
"Lovelace" is the name of the operating system designed by the character Cameron Howe in Halt and Catch Fire, which aired on AMC in the US in 2015.
Lovelace features as a character in "Spyfall, Part 2", the second episode of Doctor Who, series 12, which first aired on BBC One on 5 January 2020. The character was portrayed by Sylvie Briggs, alongside characterisations of Charles Babbage and Noor Inayat Khan. |
Ada Lovelace | Computing and STEM | Computing and STEM
Ada Lovelace Day
A computer language, initially developed by the US Department of Defense, is called Ada.
The Lovelace Medal awarded by the British Computer Society (BCS).
The Lovelace Lectures at the BCS sponsored by the Alan Turing Institute.
The Lovelace Lectures at Durham University.
The Ada Lovelace Award awarded by the Association for Women in Computing
The Ada Initiative supporting open technology and women is named after her.
Ada Lovelace Building, the engineering mathematics building at the University of Bristol.
Ada Lovelace Building, in Exeter Science Park.
Ada Byron Building, in the Department of Computer Science and Systems Engineering at the University of Zaragoza.
Ada Byron Research Centre in University of Malaga, Andalucía.
Ada Lovelace Institute, a think tank dedicated to ensuring data and AI work for people and society.
Ada Lovelace Centre for Digital Scholarship, Oxford
Ada Lovelace Center for Digital Humanities at the FU Berlin.
ADA Lovelace Centre for Analytics, Data, Applications at Fraunhofer IIS originally called the ADA Lovelace Centre for Artificial Intelligence.
Ada Lovelace Excellence Scholarship at the University of Southampton.
Adafruit Industries
Ada Lovelace Centre, part of the Science and Technology Facilities Council, a UK government agency that carries out research in science and engineering.
The Cardano cryptocurrency platform, launched in 2017, uses Ada as the name for the cryptocurrency and Lovelace as the smallest sub-unit of an Ada.
Ada, an artwork incorporating artificial intelligence house at Microsoft's Building 99.
In 2021, the code name of Nvidia's GPU architecture in its RTX 4000 series is Ada Lovelace. It is the first Nvidia architecture to feature both a first and last name.
Ada Byron University Programming Contest at the Polytechnic University of Valencia. |
Ada Lovelace | Other | Other
thumb|right|Green plaque in Ealing
thumb|right|Blue plaque at Mallory Park
thumb|right|Ada Lovelace Memorial
A green plaque is to be found on Fordhook Avenue on the corner of 5 Station Parade, Uxbridge Road, Ealing.
Blue plaques are at Mallory Park and St James's Square.
Ada Lovelace C of E High School in Greenford, specialising in music, digital technologies and languages.
Ada Lovelace House, council offices in Nottinghamshire, later proposed to be let to small business.
Ada Byron King Building at Nottingham Trent University
Ada Lovelace Suite at Seaham Hall.
The Lovelace Memorial is a Grade II Listed monument in Kirkby Mallory.
A clone of Ada Lovelace appears in the 2023 video game Starfield
Ada Lovelace is a playable leader in Sid Meier's Civilization VII. |
Ada Lovelace | Publications | Publications
Lovelace, Ada King. Ada, the Enchantress of Numbers: A Selection from the Letters of Lord Byron's Daughter and her Description of the First Computer. Mill Valley, CA: Strawberry Press, 1992. .
Also available on Wikisource: The Menebrea article, The notes by Ada Lovelace. |
Ada Lovelace | Publication history | Publication history
Six copies of the 1843 first edition of Sketch of the Analytical Engine with Ada Lovelace's "Notes" have been located. Three are held at Harvard University, one at the University of Oklahoma, and one at the United States Air Force Academy. On 20 July 2018, the sixth copy was sold at auction to an anonymous buyer for £95,000. A digital facsimile of one of the copies in the Harvard University Library is available online.
In December 2016, a letter written by Ada Lovelace was forfeited by Martin Shkreli to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance for unpaid taxes owed by Shkreli. |
Ada Lovelace | See also | See also
Ai-Da – humanoid robot, completed in 2019
Code: Debugging the Gender Gap
List of pioneers in computer science
Timeline of women in science
Women in computing
Women in STEM fields |
Ada Lovelace | Explanatory notes | Explanatory notes |
Ada Lovelace | References | References |
Ada Lovelace | Citations | Citations |
Ada Lovelace | General and cited sources | General and cited sources
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
With notes upon the memoir by the translator.
Miller, Clair Cain. "Ada Lovelace, 1815–1852," New York Times, 8 March 2018.
.
.
.
.
.
.
. |
Ada Lovelace | Further reading | Further reading
Jennifer Chiaverini, 2017, Enchantress of Numbers, Dutton, 426 pp.
Christopher Hollings, Ursula Martin, and Adrian Rice, 2018, Ada Lovelace: The Making of a Computer Scientist, Bodleian Library, 114 pp.
Miranda Seymour, 2018, In Byron's Wake: The Turbulent Lives of Byron's Wife and Daughter: Annabella Milbanke and Ada Lovelace, Pegasus, 547 pp.
Jenny Uglow (22 November 2018), "Stepping Out of Byron's Shadow", The New York Review of Books, vol. LXV, no. 18, pp. 30–32. |
Ada Lovelace | External links | External links
"Ada's Army gets set to rewrite history at Inspirefest 2018" by Luke Maxwell, 4 August 2018
"Untangling the Tale of Ada Lovelace" by Stephen Wolfram, December 2015
Category:1815 births
Category:1852 deaths
Category:19th-century British women mathematicians
Category:19th-century English writers
Category:19th-century English mathematicians
Category:19th-century English women writers
Category:19th-century British inventors
Category:British women inventors
Category:19th-century English nobility
Category:Ada (programming language)
Category:Amateur mathematicians
Category:British countesses
Category:British women computer scientists
Category:Burials in Nottinghamshire
Ada
Category:Computer designers
Category:Daughters of barons
Category:Deaths from cancer in England
Category:Deaths from uterine cancer in the United Kingdom
Category:English computer programmers
Category:English people of Scottish descent
Category:English women poets
Category:Godwin family
Category:Family of Lord Byron
Category:Mathematicians from London
Category:Women of the Victorian era
Category:Burials at the Church of St Mary Magdalene, Hucknall
Category:19th-century women inventors |
Ada Lovelace | Table of Content | Short description, Biography, Childhood, Adult years, Education, Death, Work, First published computer program, Controversy over contribution, Insight into potential of computing devices, Distinction between mechanism and logical structure, Commemoration<!--'Ada Lovelace Day' redirects here-->, Bicentenary (2015), In popular culture, Novels and plays, Film and television, Computing and STEM, Other, Publications, Publication history, See also, Explanatory notes, References, Citations, General and cited sources, Further reading, External links |
August Derleth | Short description | August William Derleth (February 24, 1909 – July 4, 1971) was an American writer and anthologist. He was the first book publisher of the writings of H. P. Lovecraft. He made contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos and the cosmic horror genre and helped found Arkham House, a publishing company which did much to introduce hardcover prints of United Kingdom supernatural fiction works to the United States. Derleth was also a leading American regional writer of his day, as well as prolific in several other genres, including historical fiction, poetry, detective fiction, science fiction, and biography. Notably, he created the fictional detective Solar Pons, a pastiche of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.
A 1938 Guggenheim Fellow, Derleth considered his most serious work to be the ambitious Sac Prairie Saga, a series of fiction, historical fiction, poetry, and non-fiction naturalist works designed to memorialize life in the Wisconsin he knew. Derleth can also be considered a pioneering naturalist and conservationist in his writing. |
August Derleth | Life | Life
The son of William Julius Derleth and Rose Louise Volk, Derleth grew up in Sauk City, Wisconsin."August Derleth Services Wednesday in Sauk City", Capital Times, July 6, 1971, p. 24, col. 2. He was educated in local parochial and public high school. Derleth wrote his first fiction at age 13. He was interested most in reading, and he made three trips to the library a week. He would save his money to buy books (his personal library exceeded 12,000 volumes later on in life). Some of his biggest influences were Ralph Waldo Emerson's essays, Walt Whitman, H. L. Mencken's The American Mercury, Samuel Johnson's The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia, Alexandre Dumas, Edgar Allan Poe, Walter Scott, and Henry David Thoreau's Walden.
Forty rejected stories and three years later, according to anthologist Jim Stephens, he sold his first story, "Bat's Belfry", to Weird Tales magazine in 1926. Derleth wrote throughout his four years at the University of Wisconsin, where he received a B.A. in 1930. During this time he also served briefly as associate editor of Minneapolis-based Fawcett Publications Mystic Magazine.
Returning to Sauk City in the summer of 1931, Derleth worked in a local canning factory and collaborated with childhood friend Mark Schorer (later Chairman of the University of California, Berkeley English Department). They rented a cabin, writing Gothic and other horror stories and selling them
to Weird Tales magazine. Derleth won a place on the O'Brien Roll of Honor for Five Alone, published in Place of Hawks, but was first published in Pagany magazine.
As a result of his early work on the Sac Prairie Saga, Derleth was awarded the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship; his sponsors were Helen C. White, Nobel Prize-winning novelist Sinclair Lewis and poet Edgar Lee Masters of Spoon River Anthology fame.
In the mid-1930s, Derleth organized a Ranger's Club for young people, served as clerk and president of the local school board, served as a parole officer, organized a local men's club and a parent-teacher association. He also lectured in American regional literature at the University of Wisconsin and was a contributing editor of Outdoors Magazine.
With longtime friend Donald Wandrei, Derleth founded Arkham House in 1939. Its initial objective was to publish the works of H. P. Lovecraft, with whom Derleth had corresponded since his teenage years. At the same time, he began teaching a course in American Regional Literature at the University of Wisconsin.
In 1941, he became literary editor of The Capital Times newspaper in Madison, a post he held until his resignation in 1960. His hobbies included fencing, swimming, chess, philately and comic-strips (Derleth reportedly used the funding from his Guggenheim Fellowship to bind his comic book collection, most recently valued in the millions of dollars, rather than to travel abroad as the award intended.). Derleth's true avocation, however, was hiking the terrain of his native Wisconsin lands, and observing and recording nature with an expert eye.
Derleth once wrote of his writing methods, "I write very swiftly, from 750,000 to a million words yearly, very little of it pulp material."
In 1948, he was elected president of the Associated Fantasy Publishers at the 6th World Science Fiction Convention in Toronto.
He was married April 6, 1953, to Sandra Evelyn Winters. They divorced six years later. Derleth retained custody of the couple's two children, April Rose Derleth and Walden William Derleth. April earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1977. She became majority stockholder, President, and CEO of Arkham House in 1994. She remained in that capacity until her death. She was known in the community as a naturalist and humanitarian. April died on March 21, 2011.
In 1960, Derleth began editing and publishing a magazine called Hawk and Whippoorwill, dedicated to poems of man and nature.
Derleth died of a heart attack on July 4, 1971, and is buried in St. Aloysius Cemetery in Sauk City. The U.S. 12 bridge over the Wisconsin River is named in his honor. Derleth was Roman Catholic.
In Derleth's biography, Dorothy M. Grobe Litersky stated that Derleth was bisexual, and maintained long-term romantic relationships with both men and women. This assertion has not been verified; no names were given of these romantic partners (in the interest of privacy according to Litersky), and no evidence or acknowledgement of Derleth having a bisexual or homosexual orientation has ever been found in his personal correspondence. |
August Derleth | Career | Career
Derleth wrote more than 150 short stories and more than 100 books during his lifetime.
thumb|Derleth in 1962 |
August Derleth | The ''Sac Prairie Saga'' | The Sac Prairie Saga
Derleth wrote an expansive series of novels, short stories, journals, poems, and other works about Sac Prairie. Derleth intended this series to comprise up to 50 novels telling the projected life-story of the region from the 19th century onwards, with analogies to Balzac's Human Comedy and Proust's Remembrance of Things Past.
This, and other early work by Derleth, made him a well-known figure among the regional literary figures of his time: early Pulitzer Prize winners Hamlin Garland and Zona Gale, as well as Sinclair Lewis, the last both an admirer and critic of Derleth.
As Edward Wagenknecht wrote in Cavalcade of the American Novel, "What Mr. Derleth has that is lacking… in modern novelists generally, is a country. He belongs. He writes of a land and a people that are bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. In his fictional world, there is a unity much deeper and more fundamental than anything that can be conferred by an ideology. It is clear, too, that he did not get the best, and most fictionally useful, part of his background material from research in the library; like Scott, in his Border novels, he gives, rather, the impression of having drunk it in with his mother's milk."
Jim Stephens, editor of An August Derleth Reader, (1992), argues: "what Derleth accomplished… was to gather a Wisconsin mythos which gave respect to the ancient fundament of our contemporary life."
The author inaugurated the Sac Prairie Saga with four novellas comprising Place of Hawks, published by Loring & Mussey in 1935. At publication, The Detroit News wrote: "Certainly with this book Mr. Derleth may be added to the American writers of distinction."
Derleth's first novel, Still is the Summer Night, was published two years later by the famous Charles Scribners' editor Maxwell Perkins, and was the second in his Sac Prairie Saga.
Village Year, the first in a series of journals – meditations on nature, Midwestern village American life, and more – was published in 1941 to praise from The New York Times Book Review: "A book of instant sensitive responsiveness… recreates its scene with acuteness and beauty, and makes an unusual contribution to the Americana of the present day." The New York Herald Tribune observed that "Derleth… deepens the value of his village setting by presenting in full the enduring natural background; with the people projected against this, the writing comes to have the quality of an old Flemish picture, humanity lively and amusing and loveable in the foreground and nature magnificent beyond." James Grey, writing in the St. Louis Dispatch concluded, "Derleth has achieved a kind of prose equivalent of the Spoon River Anthology."
In the same year, Evening in Spring was published by Charles Scribners & Sons. This work Derleth considered among his finest. What The Milwaukee Journal called "this beautiful little love story", is an autobiographical novel of first love beset by small-town religious bigotry. The work received critical praise: The New Yorker considered it a story told "with tenderness and charm", while the Chicago Tribune concluded: "It's as though he turned back the pages of an old diary and told, with rekindled emotion, of the pangs of pain and the sharp, clear sweetness of a boy's first love." Helen Constance White, wrote in The Capital Times that it was "… the best articulated, the most fully disciplined of his stories."
These were followed in 1943 with Shadow of Night, a Scribners' novel of which The Chicago Sun wrote: "Structurally it has the perfection of a carved jewel…. A psychological novel of the first order, and an adventure tale that is unique and inspiriting."
In November 1945, however, Derleth's work was attacked by his one-time admirer and mentor, Sinclair Lewis. Writing in Esquire, Lewis observed, "It is a proof of Mr. Derleth's merit that he makes one want to make the journey and see his particular Avalon: The Wisconsin River shining among its islands, and the castles of Baron Pierneau and Hercules Dousman. He is a champion and a justification of regionalism. Yet he is also a burly, bounding, bustling, self-confident, opinionated, and highly-sweatered young man with faults so grievous that a melancholy perusal of them may be of more value to apprentices than a study of his serious virtues. If he could ever be persuaded that he isn't half as good as he thinks he is, if he would learn the art of sitting still and using a blue pencil, he might become twice as good as he thinks he is – which would about rank him with Homer." Derleth good-humoredly reprinted the criticism along with a photograph of himself sans sweater, on the back cover of his 1948 country journal: Village Daybook.
A lighter side to the Sac Prairie Saga is a series of quasi-autobiographical short stories known as the "Gus Elker Stories", amusing tales of country life that Peter Ruber, Derleth's last editor, said were "… models of construction and… fused with some of the most memorable characters in American literature." Most were written between 1934 and the late 1940s, though the last, "Tail of the Dog", was published in 1959 and won the Scholastic Magazine short story award for the year. The series was collected and republished in Country Matters in 1996.
Walden West, published in 1961, is considered by many Derleth's finest work. This prose meditation is built out of the same fundamental material as the series of Sac Prairie journals, but is organized around three themes: "the persistence of memory… the sounds and odors of the country… and Thoreau's observation that the 'mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. A blend of nature writing, philosophic musings, and careful observation of the people and place of "Sac Prairie". Of this work, George Vukelich, author of "North Country Notebook", writes: "Derleth's Walden West is… the equal of Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg,Ohio, Thornton Wilder's Our Town, and Edgar Lee Masters' Spoon River Anthology." This was followed eight years later by Return to Walden West, a work of similar quality, but with a more noticeable environmentalist edge to the writing, notes critic Norbert Blei.
A close literary relative of the Sac Prairie Saga was Derleth's Wisconsin Saga, which comprises several historical novels. |
August Derleth | Detective fiction and "Solar Pons" | Detective fiction and "Solar Pons"
Detective fiction represented another substantial body of Derleth's work. Most notable among this work was a series of 70 stories in affectionate pastiche of Sherlock Holmes, whose creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, he admired greatly. The stories feature a Holmes-styled British detective named Solar Pons, of 7B Praed Street in London. These included one published novel as well (Mr. Fairlie's Final Journey). The series was greatly admired by such notable writers and critics of mystery and detective fiction as Ellery Queen (Frederic Dannay), Anthony Boucher, Vincent Starrett, and Howard Haycraft.
In his 1944 volume The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes, Ellery Queen wrote of Derleth's "The Norcross Riddle", an early Pons story: "How many budding authors, not even old enough to vote, could have captured the spirit and atmosphere with as much fidelity?" Queen adds, "his choice of the euphonic Solar Pons is an appealing addition to the fascinating lore of Sherlockian nomenclature." Vincent Starrett, in his foreword to the 1964 edition of The Casebook of Solar Pons, wrote that the series is "as sparkling a galaxy of Sherlockian pastiches as we have had since the canonical entertainments came to an end."
Despite close similarities to Doyle's creation, Pons lived in the post-World War I era, in the decades of the 1920s and 1930s. Though Derleth never wrote a Pons novel to equal The Hound of the Baskervilles, editor Peter Ruber wrote that "Derleth produced more than a few Solar Pons stories almost as good as Sir Arthur's, and many that had better plot construction."
Although these stories were a form of diversion for Derleth, Ruber, who edited The Original Text Solar Pons Omnibus Edition (2000), argued: "Because the stories were generally of such high quality, they ought to be assessed on their own merits as a unique contribution in the annals of mystery fiction, rather than suffering comparison as one of the endless imitators of Sherlock Holmes."
Some of the stories were self-published, through a new imprint called "Mycroft & Moran", an appellation of humorous significance to Holmesian scholars. For approximately a decade, an active supporting group was the Praed Street Irregulars, patterned after the Baker Street Irregulars.
In 1946, Conan Doyle's two sons made some attempts to force Derleth to cease publishing the Solar Pons series, but the efforts were unsuccessful, and were eventually withdrawn.Peter Ruber. "Introduction" in August Derleth, The Final Adventures of Solar Pons, Shelburne, Ont.: Mycroft & Moran, 1998.
Derleth's mystery and detective fiction also included a series of works set in Sac Prairie and featuring Judge Peck as the central character. |
August Derleth | Youth and children's fiction | Youth and children's fiction
Derleth wrote many and varied children's works, including biographies meant to introduce younger readers to explorer Jacques Marquette, as well as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Arguably most important among his works for younger readers, however, is the Steve and Sim Mystery Series, also known as the Mill Creek Irregulars series. The ten-volume series, published between 1958 and 1970, is set in Sac Prairie of the 1920s and can thus be considered in its own right a part of the Sac Prairie Saga, as well as an extension of Derleth's body of mystery fiction. Robert Hood, writing in the New York Times said: "Steve and Sim, the major characters, are twentieth-century cousins of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer; Derleth's minor characters, little gems of comic drawing." The first novel in the series, The Moon Tenders, does, in fact, involve a rafting adventure down the Wisconsin River, which led regional writer Jesse Stuart to suggest the novel was one that "older people might read to recapture the spirit and dream of youth." The connection to the Sac Prairie Saga was noted by the Chicago Tribune: "Once again a small midwest community in 1920s is depicted with perception, skill, and dry humor." |
August Derleth | Arkham House and the "Cthulhu Mythos" | Arkham House and the "Cthulhu Mythos"
thumb|alt=H. P. Lovecraft in front of a brick wall in Brooklyn|H. P. Lovecraft on July 11, 1931
Derleth was a correspondent and friend of H. P. Lovecraft – when Lovecraft wrote about "le Comte d'Erlette" in his fiction, it was in homage to Derleth. Derleth invented the term "Cthulhu Mythos" to describe the fictional universe depicted in the series of stories shared by Lovecraft and other writers in his circle.
When Lovecraft died in 1937, Derleth and Donald Wandrei assembled a collection of Lovecraft's stories and tried to get them published. Existing publishers showed little interest, so Derleth and Wandrei founded Arkham House in 1939 for that purpose. The name of the company derived from Lovecraft's fictional town of Arkham, Massachusetts, which features in many of his stories. In 1939, Arkham House published The Outsider and Others, a huge collection that contained most of Lovecraft's known short stories. Derleth and Wandrei soon expanded Arkham House and began a regular publishing schedule after its second book, Someone in the Dark, a collection of some of Derleth's own horror stories, was published in 1941.
Following Lovecraft's death, Derleth wrote a number of stories based on fragments and notes left by Lovecraft. These were published in Weird Tales and later in book form, under the byline "H. P. Lovecraft and August Derleth", with Derleth calling himself a "posthumous collaborator". This practice has raised objections in some quarters that Derleth simply used Lovecraft's name to market what was essentially his own fiction; S. T. Joshi refers to the "posthumous collaborations" as marking the beginning of "perhaps the most disreputable phase of Derleth's activities".Joshi, H. P. Lovecraft: A Life, Necronomicon Press 1996, p.638.
Dirk W. Mosig,Mosig, "H. P. Lovecraft: Myth Maker" (1976), collected in Mosig at Last, Necronomicon Press 1997. S. T. Joshi,Joshi, H. P. Lovecraft: A Life, Necronomicon Press 1996, pp. 403–4. and Richard L. Tierney"The Derleth Mythos" in Meade & Penny Frierson (eds), HPL (1972) were dissatisfied with Derleth's invention of the term Cthulhu Mythos (Lovecraft himself used Yog-Sothothery) and his presentation of Lovecraft's fiction as having an overall pattern reflecting Derleth's own Christian world view, which they contrast with Lovecraft's depiction of an amoral universe. However, Robert M. Price points out that while Derleth's tales are distinct from Lovecraft's in their use of hope and his depiction of a struggle between good and evil, nevertheless the basis of Derleth's systemization are found in Lovecraft. He also suggests that the differences can be overstated:
Derleth was more optimistic than Lovecraft in his conception of the Mythos, but we are dealing with a difference more of degree than kind. There are indeed tales wherein Derleth's protagonists get off scot-free (like "The Shadow in the Attic", "Witches' Hollow", or "The Shuttered Room"), but often the hero is doomed (e.g., "The House in the Valley", "The Peabody Heritage", "Something in Wood"), as in Lovecraft. And it must be remembered that an occasional Lovecraftian hero does manage to overcome the odds, e.g., in "The Horror in the Museum", "The Shunned House", and "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward".
Derleth also treated Lovecraft's Great Old Ones as representatives of elemental forces, creating new fictional entities to flesh out this framework.
Such debates aside, Derleth's founding of Arkham House and his successful effort to rescue Lovecraft from literary oblivion are widely acknowledged by practitioners in the horror field as seminal events in the field. For instance, Ramsey Campbell has acknowledged Derleth's encouragement and guidance during the early part of his own writing career,For example, in The Count of Thirty (Necronomicon Press 1993), p. 11. and Kirby McCauley has cited Derleth and Arkham House as an inspiration for his own anthology Dark Forces.Kirby McCauley, Introduction, Dark Forces (1980). Arkham House and Derleth published Dark Carnival, the first book by Ray Bradbury, as well. Brian Lumley cites the importance of Derleth to his own Lovecraftian work, and contends in a 2009 introduction to Derleth's work that he was "… one of the first, finest, and most discerning editors and publishers of macabre fiction".
Important as was Derleth's work to rescue H.P. Lovecraft from literary obscurity at the time of Lovecraft's death, Derleth also built a body of horror and spectral fiction of his own; still frequently anthologized. The best of this work, recently reprinted in four volumes of short stories – most of which were originally published in Weird Tales, illustrates Derleth's original abilities in the genre. While Derleth considered his work in this genre less important than his most serious literary efforts, the compilers of these four anthologies, including Ramsey Campbell, note that the stories still resonate after more than 50 years.
In 2009, The Library of America selected Derleth's story The Panelled Room for inclusion in its two-century retrospective of American Fantastic Tales. |
August Derleth | Other works | Other works
Derleth also wrote many historical novels, as part of both the Sac Prairie Saga and the Wisconsin Saga. He also wrote history; arguably most notable among these was The Wisconsin: River of a Thousand Isles, published in 1942. The work was one in a series entitled "The Rivers of America", conceived by writer Constance Lindsay Skinner during the Great Depression as a series that would connect Americans to their heritage through the history of the great rivers of the nation. Skinner wanted the series to be written by artists, not academicians. Derleth, while not a trained historian, was, according to former Wisconsin state historian William F. Thompson, "… a very competent regional historian who based his historical writing upon research in the primary documents and who regularly sought the help of professionals…". In the foreword to the 1985 reissue of the work by The University of Wisconsin Press, Thompson concluded: "No other writer, of whatever background or training, knew and understood his particular 'corner of the earth' better than August Derleth."
Additionally, Derleth wrote a number of volumes of poetry. Three of his collections – Rind of Earth (1942), Selected Poems (1944), and The Edge of Night (1945) – were published by the Decker Press, which also printed the work of other Midwestern poets such as Edgar Lee Masters.
Derleth was also the author of several biographies of other writers, including Zona Gale, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.
He also wrote introductions to several collections of classic early 20th century comics, such as Buster Brown, Little Nemo in Slumberland, and Katzenjammer Kids, as well as a book of children's poetry entitled A Boy's Way, and the foreword to Tales from an Indian Lodge by Phebe Jewell Nichols. Derleth also wrote under the pen names Stephen Grendon, Kenyon Holmes and Tally Mason.
Derleth's papers were donated to the Wisconsin Historical Society in Madison. |
August Derleth | Bibliography | Bibliography |
August Derleth | Awards | Awards
O'Brien Roll of Honour for short story, 1933
Guggenheim fellow, 1938 |
August Derleth | See also | See also
August Derleth Award
List of authors of new Sherlock Holmes stories
List of horror fiction authors
List of people from Wisconsin
Mark Schorer
Sherlock Holmes pastiches |
August Derleth | Notes | Notes |
August Derleth | References | References
Meudt, Edna. 'August Derleth: "A simple, honorable man",' Wisconsin Academy Review, 19:2 (Summer, 1972) 8–11.
Schorer, Mark. "An Appraisal of the Work of August Derleth", The Capital Times, July 9, 1971.
|
August Derleth | Further reading | Further reading
Robert Bloch. "Two Great Editors". Is No 4 (Oct 1971). Reprint in Bloch's Out of My Head. Cambridge MA: NESFA Press, 1986, 71–79.
Lin Carter. "A Day in Derleth Country". Is No 4 (Oct 1971). Reprint in Crypt of Cthulhu 1, No 6.
John Howard. "The Ghosts of Sauk County". All Hallows 18 (1998); in Howard's Touchstones: Essays on the Fantastic. Staffordshire UK: Alchemy Press, 2014.
David E. Schultz and S.T. Joshi (eds). Eccentric, Impractical Devils: The Letters of August Derleth and Clark Ashton Smith. NY: Hippocampus Press, 2020. |
August Derleth | External links | External links
The August Derleth Society
A biography
August Derleth Bibliography
Derleth Collection guides at University of Wisconsin Libraries: papers; comics
Derleth Collection guide at Syracuse University
Works
Category:1909 births
Category:1971 deaths
Category:University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni
Category:20th-century American short story writers
Category:American mystery writers
Category:20th-century American novelists
Category:Cthulhu Mythos writers
Category:American horror writers
Category:People from Sauk City, Wisconsin
Category:Hugo Award–winning writers
Category:Novelists from Wisconsin
Category:American science fiction editors
Category:Solar Pons
Category:American anthologists
Category:American male novelists
Category:American male short story writers
Category:Catholics from Wisconsin
Category:20th-century Roman Catholics
Category:Writers from Wisconsin
Category:Writers of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction
Category:Writers of Sherlock Holmes pastiches
Category:American weird fiction writers
Category:20th-century American male writers |
August Derleth | Table of Content | Short description, Life, Career, The ''Sac Prairie Saga'', Detective fiction and "Solar Pons", Youth and children's fiction, Arkham House and the "Cthulhu Mythos", Other works, Bibliography, Awards, See also, Notes, References, Further reading, External links |
Alps | Short description | thumb|upright=1.15|The Dolomites (Italy) are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia.
The Alpine arch extends from Nice on the western Mediterranean to Trieste on the Adriatic and Vienna at the beginning of the Pannonian Basin. The mountains were formed over tens of millions of years as the African and Eurasian tectonic plates collided. Extreme shortening caused by the event resulted in marine sedimentary rocks rising by thrusting and folding into high mountain peaks such as Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn.
Mont Blanc spans the French–Italian border, and at is the highest mountain in the Alps. The Alpine region area contains 82 peaks higher than .
The altitude and size of the range affect the climate in Europe; in the mountains, precipitation levels vary greatly and climatic conditions consist of distinct zones. Wildlife such as ibex live in the higher peaks to elevations of , and plants such as edelweiss grow in rocky areas in lower elevations as well as in higher elevations.
Evidence of human habitation in the Alps goes back to the Palaeolithic era. A mummified man ("Ötzi"), determined to be 5,000 years old, was discovered on a glacier at the Austrian–Italian border in 1991.
By the 6th century BC, the Celtic La Tène culture was well established. Hannibal notably crossed the Alps with a herd of elephants, and the Romans had settlements in the region. In 1800, Napoleon crossed one of the mountain passes with an army of 40,000. The 18th and 19th centuries saw an influx of naturalists, writers, and artists, in particular, the Romanticists, followed by the golden age of alpinism as mountaineers began to ascend the peaks of the Alps.
The Alpine region has a strong cultural identity. Traditional practices such as farming, cheesemaking, and woodworking still thrive in Alpine villages. However, the tourist industry began to grow early in the 20th century and expanded significantly after World War II, eventually becoming the dominant industry by the end of the century.
The Winter Olympic Games have been hosted in the Swiss, French, Italian, Austrian and German Alps. the region is home to 14 million people and has 120 million annual visitors.Chatré, Baptiste, et al. (2010), 8 |
Alps | Etymology and toponymy | Etymology and toponymy
thumb|upright=1.15|An "Alp" refers to a high elevation pasture frequented only in summer. It often includes several huts and small places of worship (here the Alpe Bardughè in Ticino).
The English word Alps comes from the Latin Alpes.
The Latin word Alpes could possibly come from the adjective albus ("white"), or could possibly come from the Greek goddess Alphito, whose name is related to alphita, the "white flour"; alphos, a dull white leprosy; and finally the Proto-Indo-European word *albʰós. Similarly, the river god Alpheus is also supposed to derive from the Greek alphos and means whitish.Smith, Jennifer Nimmo (2004). The river Alpheus in Greek, Christian and Byzantine thought. Byzantion
In his commentary on the Aeneid of Virgil, the late fourth-century grammarian Maurus Servius Honoratus says that all high mountains are called Alpes by Celts.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the Latin Alpes might derive from a pre-Indo-European word *alb "hill"; "Albania" is a related derivation. Albania, the name of the region known as the country of Albania, has been used as a name for several mountainous areas across Europe.
In Roman times, "Albania" was a name for the eastern Caucasus, while in the English languages "Albania" (or "Albany") was occasionally used as a name for Scotland, although it is more likely derived from the Latin word albus, the colour white.
In modern languages the term alp, alm, albe or alpe refers to a grazing pastures in the alpine regions below the glaciers, not the peaks.
An alp refers to a high mountain pasture, typically near or above the tree line, where cows and other livestock are taken to be grazed during the summer months and where huts and hay barns can be found, sometimes constituting tiny hamlets. Therefore, the term "the Alps", as a reference to the mountains, is a misnomer.Fleming (2000), 4 The term for the mountain peaks varies by nation and language: words such as Horn, Kogel, Kopf, Gipfel, Spitze, Stock, and Berg are used in German-speaking regions; Mont, Pic, Tête, Pointe, Dent, Roche, and Aiguille in French-speaking regions; and Monte, Picco, Corno, Punta, Pizzo, or Cima in Italian-speaking regions.Shoumatoff (2001), 117–19 |
Alps | Geography | Geography
thumb|upright=1.2|The Alps extend in an arc from France in the south and west to Slovenia in the east, and from Monaco in the south to Germany in the north.
The Alps are a crescent shaped geographic feature of central Europe that ranges in an arc (curved line) from east to west and is in width. The mean height of the mountain peaks is . The range stretches from the Mediterranean Sea north above the Po basin, extending through France from Grenoble, and stretching eastward through mid and southern Switzerland. The range continues onward toward Vienna, Austria, and southeast to the Adriatic Sea and Slovenia.Chatré, Baptiste, et al. (2010), 9Fleming (2000), 1
To the south it dips into northern Italy and to the north extends to the southern border of Bavaria in Germany.Beattie (2006), xii–xiii In areas like Chiasso, Switzerland, and Allgäu, Bavaria, the demarcation between the mountain range and the flatlands are clear; in other places such as Geneva, the demarcation is less clear.
The Alps are found in the following countries: Austria (28.7% of the range's area), Italy (27.2%), France (21.4%), Switzerland (13.2%), Germany (5.8%), Slovenia (3.6%), Liechtenstein (0.08%) and Monaco (0.001%).
thumb|left|Aerial view of the Pennine Alps, the second-highest range of the Alps
The highest portion of the range is divided by the glacial trough of the Rhône valley, from Mont Blanc to the Matterhorn and Monte Rosa on the southern side, and the Bernese Alps on the northern. The peaks in the easterly portion of the range, in Austria and Slovenia, are smaller than those in the central and western portions.
The variances in nomenclature in the region spanned by the Alps make classification of the mountains and subregions difficult, but a general classification is that of the Eastern Alps and Western Alps with the divide between the two occurring in eastern Switzerland according to geologist Stefan Schmid, near the Splügen Pass.
thumb|A typical alpine village in the Tuxertal valley of Tyrol, Austria
The highest peaks of the Western Alps and Eastern Alps, respectively, are Mont Blanc, at ,Shoumtoff (2001), 23 and Piz Bernina, at . The second-highest major peaks are Monte Rosa, at , and Ortler,Excluding the Piz Zupò and Piz Roseg located in the Bernina range, close to Piz Bernina. at , respectively.
A series of lower mountain ranges run parallel to the main chain of the Alps, including the French Prealps in France and the Jura Mountains in Switzerland and France. The secondary chain of the Alps follows the watershed from the Mediterranean Sea to the Wienerwald, passing over many of the highest and most well-known peaks in the Alps. From the Colle di Cadibona to Col de Tende it runs westwards, before turning to the northwest and then, near the Colle della Maddalena, to the north. Upon reaching the Swiss border, the line of the main chain heads approximately east-northeast, a heading it follows until its end near Vienna.
The northeast end of the Alpine arc, directly on the Danube, which flows into the Black Sea, is the Leopoldsberg near Vienna. In contrast, the southeastern part of the Alps ends on the Adriatic Sea in the area around Trieste towards Duino and Barcola. |
Alps | Passes | Passes
thumb|Teufelsbrücke (Devil's Bridge) on the route to the Gotthard Pass; the currently used bridge from 1958 over the first drivable bridge from 1830
The Alps have been crossed for war and commerce, and by pilgrims, students, and tourists. Crossing routes by road, train, or foot are known as passes, and usually consist of depressions in the mountains in which a valley leads from the plains and hilly pre-mountainous zones. Merchant traffic was supported by pack animals such as mules. In the late Middle Ages heavy carts and sleighs were in use on the alpine passes.
In the medieval period hospices were established by religious orders at the summits of many of the main passes. The most important passes are the Col de l'Iseran (the highest), the Col Agnel, the Brenner Pass, the Mont-Cenis, the Great St. Bernard Pass, the Col de Tende, the Gotthard Pass, the Semmering Pass, the Simplon Pass, and the Stelvio Pass.Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopedia Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica; retrieved 6 August 2012.
Crossing the Italian-Austrian border, the Brenner Pass separates the Ötztal Alps and Zillertal Alps and has been in use as a trading route since the 14th century. The lowest of the Alpine passes at is the Semmering crossing from Lower Austria to Styria. It has been in continuous use since the 12th century when a hospice was built there. A railroad with a tunnel long was built along the route of the pass in the mid-19th century. With a summit of , the Great St Bernard Pass is one of the highest in the Alps, crossing the Italian-Swiss border east of the Pennine Alps along the flanks of Mont Blanc. The pass was used by Napoleon Bonaparte to cross 40,000 troops in 1800.
The Mont Cenis pass has been a major commercial and military road between Western Europe and Italy. The pass was crossed by many troops on their way to the Italian peninsula. From Constantine I, Pepin the Short and Charlemagne to Henry IV, Napoléon and more recently the German Gebirgsjägers during World War II.
In the 18th century the principal passes of the Alps were modernized by engineers to speed up passenger and freight transport. The Mont Cenis pass has been supplanted by the Fréjus Rail Tunnel opening in 1871, while the Fréjus Road Tunnel opened 1980. Railway lines could not be built in the Alps without tunnels and bridges. Apart from the Mont Cenis railway tunnel the Semmering railway tunnel and the Gotthard railway tunnel were built between 1854 and 1882. By the early 19th century eight trans-alpine railway lines had been put into operation.
The Saint Gotthard Pass crosses from Central Switzerland to Ticino. In 1882 the Saint Gotthard Railway Tunnel was opened connecting Lucerne in Switzerland, with Milan in Italy. 98 years later followed Gotthard Road Tunnel ( long) connecting the A2 motorway in Göschenen on the north side with Airolo on the south side, exactly like the railway tunnel.
On 1 June 2016 the world's longest railway tunnel, the Gotthard Base Tunnel, was opened, which connects Erstfeld in canton of Uri with Bodio in canton of Ticino by two single tubes of .
It is the first tunnel that traverses the Alps on a flat route.
From 11 December 2016, it has been part of the regular railway timetable and used hourly as standard ride between Basel/Lucerne/Zurich and Bellinzona/Lugano/Milan.
The highest pass in the alps is the Col de l'Iseran in Savoy (France) at , followed by the Stelvio Pass in northern Italy at ; the road was built in the 1820s. |
Alps | Highest mountains | Highest mountains
thumb|upright=1.5|The Eiger (shown along with the Mönch and the Jungfrau) has the tallest north face in the Alps.
The Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme (UIAA) has defined a list of 82 "official" Alpine summits that reach at least . The list includes not only mountains, but also subpeaks with little prominence that are considered important mountaineering objectives. Below are listed the 29 "four-thousanders" with at least of prominence.
While Mont Blanc was first climbed in 1786 and the Jungfrau in 1811, most of the Alpine four-thousanders were climbed during the second half of the 19th century, notably Piz Bernina (1850), the Dom (1858), the Grand Combin (1859), the Weisshorn (1861) and the Barre des Écrins (1864); the ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865 marked the end of the golden age of alpinism. Karl Blodig (1859–1956) was among the first to successfully climb all the major 4,000 m peaks. He completed his series of ascents in 1911.Michael Huxley, The Geographical magazine: Volume 59, Geographical Press, 1987 Many of the big Alpine three-thousanders were climbed in the early 19th century, notably the Grossglockner (1800) and the Ortler (1804), although some of them were climbed only much later, such at Mont Pelvoux (1848), Monte Viso (1861) and La Meije (1877).
The first British Mont Blanc ascent by a man was in 1788; the first ascent by a woman was in 1808. By the mid-1850s Swiss mountaineers had ascended most of the peaks and were eagerly sought as mountain guides. Edward Whymper reached the top of the Matterhorn in 1865 (after seven attempts), and in 1938 the last of the six great north faces of the Alps was climbed with the first ascent of the Eiger Nordwand (north face of the Eiger).Shoumatoff (2001), 197–200
+ The 29 Alpine four-thousanders with at least 300 metres of topographic prominence Name Height Name Height Name Height Mont Blanc Grandes Jorasses Barre des Écrins Monte Rosa Alphubel Schreckhorn Dom Rimpfischhorn Ober Gabelhorn Lyskamm Aletschhorn Gran Paradiso Weisshorn Strahlhorn Piz Bernina Matterhorn Dent d'Hérens Gross Fiescherhorn Dent Blanche Breithorn Gross Grünhorn Grand Combin Jungfrau Weissmies Finsteraarhorn Aiguille Verte Lagginhorn Zinalrothorn Mönch list continued here |
Alps | Geology and orogeny | Geology and orogeny
Important geological concepts were established as naturalists began studying the rock formations of the Alps in the 18th century. In the mid-19th century, the now-defunct idea of geosynclines was used to explain the presence of "folded" mountain chains. This theory was replaced in the mid-20th century by the theory of plate tectonics.
thumb|upright=1.15|The geologic folding seen at the Arpenaz waterfall, shown here in a mid-18th-century drawing, was noted by 18th-century geologists.Graciansky (2011), 5
The formation of the Alps (the Alpine orogeny) was an episodic process that began about 300 million years ago.Shoumatoff (2001), 35 In the Paleozoic Era the Pangaean supercontinent consisted of a single tectonic plate; it broke into separate plates during the Mesozoic Era and the Tethys sea developed between Laurasia and Gondwana during the Jurassic Period.Graciansky (2011), 1–2 The Tethys was later squeezed between colliding plates causing the formation of mountain ranges called the Alpide belt, from Gibraltar through the Himalayas to Indonesia—a process that began at the end of the Mesozoic and continues into the present. The formation of the Alps was a segment of this orogenic process, caused by the collision between the African and the Eurasian plates that began in the late Cretaceous Period.Gerrard, (1990), 16
Under extreme compressive stresses and pressure, marine sedimentary rocks were uplifted, forming characteristic recumbent folds, and thrust faults.Earth (2008), 142 As the rising peaks underwent erosion, a layer of marine flysch sediments was deposited in the foreland basin, and the sediments became involved in younger folds as the orogeny progressed. Coarse sediments from the continual uplift and erosion were later deposited in foreland areas north of the Alps.Gerrard, (1990), 9 These regions in Switzerland and Bavaria are well-developed, containing classic examples of flysch, which is sedimentary rock formed during mountain building.Schmid (2004), 102
thumb|left|upright=1.5|The dolomitic peaks of Triglav National Park in the Julian Alps
The Alpine orogeny occurred in ongoing cycles through to the Paleogene causing differences in folded structures, with a late-stage orogeny causing the development of the Jura Mountains.Schmid (2004), 97 A series of tectonic events in the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods caused different paleogeographic regions. The Alps are subdivided by different lithology (rock composition) and nappe structures according to the orogenic events that affected them. The geological subdivision differentiates the Western, Eastern Alps, and Southern Alps: the Helveticum in the north, the Penninicum and Austroalpine system in the centre and, south of the Periadriatic Seam, the Southern Alpine system.
thumb|upright=1.15|Compressed metamorphosed Tethyan sediments and their oceanic basement are sandwiched between the tip of the Matterhorn (Italian-Swiss border), which consists of gneisses originally part of the African plate, and the base of the peak, which is part of the Eurasian plate.
According to geologist Stefan Schmid, because the Western Alps underwent a metamorphic event in the Cenozoic Era while the Austroalpine peaks underwent an event in the Cretaceous Period, the two areas show distinct differences in nappe formations. Flysch deposits in the Southern Alps of Lombardy probably occurred in the Cretaceous or later.
Peaks in France, Italy and Switzerland lie in the "Houillière zone", which consists of basement with sediments from the Mesozoic Era.Schmid, 99 High "massifs" with external sedimentary cover are more common in the Western Alps and were affected by Neogene Period thin-skinned thrusting whereas the Eastern Alps have comparatively few high peaked massifs. Similarly the peaks in eastern Switzerland extending to western Austria (Helvetic nappes) consist of thin-skinned sedimentary folding that detached from former basement rock.Schmid (2004), 103
In simple terms, the structure of the Alps consists of layers of rock of European, African, and oceanic (Tethyan) origin.Graciansky (2011), 29 The bottom nappe structure is of continental European origin, above which are stacked marine sediment nappes, topped off by nappes derived from the African plate.Graciansky (2011), 31 The Matterhorn is an example of the ongoing orogeny and shows evidence of great folding. The tip of the mountain consists of gneisses from the African plate; the base of the peak, below the glaciated area, consists of European basement rock. The sequence of Tethyan marine sediments and their oceanic basement is sandwiched between rock derived from the African and European plates.
The core regions of the Alpine orogenic belt have been folded and fractured in such a manner that erosion produced the characteristic steep vertical peaks of the Swiss Alps that rise seemingly straight out of the foreland areas. Peaks such as Mont Blanc, the Matterhorn, and high peaks in the Pennine Alps, the Briançonnais, and Hohe Tauern consist of layers of rock from the various orogenies including exposures of basement rock.Beattie (2006), 6–8
Due to the ever-present geologic instability, earthquakes continue in the Alps to this day. Typically, the largest earthquakes in the alps have been between magnitude 6 and 7 on the Richter scale. Geodetic measurements show ongoing topographic uplift at rates of up to about 2.5 mm per year in the North, Western and Central Alps, and at ~1 mm per year in the Eastern and South-Western Alps. The underlying mechanisms that jointly drive the present-day uplift pattern are the isostatic rebound due to the melting of the last glacial maximum ice-cap or long-term erosion, detachment of the Western Alpine subducting slab, mantle convection as well as ongoing horizontal convergence between Africa and Europe, but their relative contributions to the uplift of the Alps are difficult to quantify and likely to vary significantly in space and time. |
Alps | Minerals | Minerals
The Alps are a source of minerals that have been mined for thousands of years. In the 8th to 6th centuries, BC during the Hallstatt culture, Celtic tribes mined copper; later the Romans mined gold for coins in the Bad Gastein area. Erzberg in Styria furnishes high-quality iron ore for the steel industry. Crystals, such as cinnabar, amethyst, and quartz, are found throughout much of the Alpine region. The cinnabar deposits in Slovenia are a notable source of cinnabar pigments.Shoumatoff (2001), 49–53
Alpine crystals have been studied and collected for hundreds of years and began to be classified in the 18th century. Leonhard Euler studied the shapes of crystals, and by the 19th-century crystal hunting was common in Alpine regions. David Friedrich Wiser amassed a collection of 8000 crystals that he studied and documented. In the 20th century Robert Parker wrote a well-known work about the rock crystals of the Swiss Alps; at the same period a commission was established to control and standardize the naming of Alpine minerals.Roth, 10–17 |
Alps | Glaciers | Glaciers
thumb|upright=1.6|right|This illustration of the glacier systems of the Mont Blanc massif by Alexander Keith Johnston was first published 1848 in The Physical Atlas.
In the Miocene Epoch the mountains underwent severe erosion because of glaciation, which was noted in the mid-19th century by naturalist Louis Agassiz who presented a paper proclaiming the Alps were covered in ice at various intervals—a theory he formed when studying rocks near his Neuchâtel home which he believed originated to the west in the Bernese Oberland. Because of his work he came to be known as the "father of the ice-age concept" although other naturalists before him put forth similar ideas.Shoumatoff (2001), 63–68
thumb|left|Louis Agassiz's studies of the Unteraar Glacier in the 1840s showed that it moved at per year.
Agassiz studied glacier movement in the 1840s at the Unteraar Glacier where he found the glacier moved per year, more rapidly in the middle than at the edges. His work was continued by other scientists and now a permanent laboratory exists inside a glacier under the Jungfraujoch, devoted exclusively to the study of Alpine glaciers.
Glaciers pick up rocks and sediment with them as they flow. This causes erosion and the formation of valleys over time. The Inn valley is an example of a valley carved by glaciers during the ice ages with a typical terraced structure caused by erosion. Eroded rocks from the most recent ice age lie at the bottom of the valley while the top of the valley consists of erosion from earlier ice ages. Glacial valleys have characteristically steep walls (reliefs); valleys with lower reliefs and talus slopes are remnants of glacial troughs or previously infilled valleys.Gerrard, (1990), 132 Moraines, piles of rock picked up during the movement of the glacier, accumulate at edges, centre, and the terminus of glaciers.
thumb|The Sphinx Tunnel connecting Jungfraujoch railway station to the Sphinx Observatory, through a glacier at the Jungfraujoch
Alpine glaciers can be straight rivers of ice, long sweeping rivers, spread in a fan-like shape (Piedmont glaciers), and curtains of ice that hang from vertical slopes of the mountain peaks. The stress of the movement causes the ice to break and crack loudly, perhaps explaining why the mountains were believed to be home to dragons in the medieval period. The cracking creates unpredictable and dangerous crevasses, often invisible under new snowfall, which causes the greatest danger to mountaineers.
Glaciers end in ice caves (the Rhône Glacier), by trailing into a lake or river, or by shedding snowmelt on a meadow. Sometimes a piece of glacier will detach or break resulting in flooding, property damage, and loss of life.Shoumatoff (2001), 71–72
High levels of precipitation cause the glaciers to descend to permafrost levels in some areas whereas in other, more arid regions, glaciers remain above about the level.Gerrard, (1990), 78 The of the Alps covered by glaciers in 1876 had shrunk to by 1973, resulting in decreased river run-off levels.Gerrard, (1990), 108 Forty percent of the glaciation in Austria has disappeared since 1850, and 30% of that in Switzerland.Ceben (1998), 38
Although the Alpine topography shows marked glacial morphologies, the mechanisms by which glacial reshaping occurs are unclear. Numerical modeling suggests that glacial erosion propagates from low elevations to high elevations leading to an early increase of local relief followed by lowering of the mean orogen elevation. |
Alps | Rivers and lakes | Rivers and lakes
thumb|left|The St. Bartholomew's chapel on the Königssee in Bavaria is a popular tourist destination.Shoumatoff (2001), 31
The Alps provide lowland Europe with drinking water, irrigation, and hydroelectric power.Chatré, Baptiste, et al. (2010), 5 Although the area is only about 11% of the surface area of Europe, the Alps provide up to 90% of water to lowland Europe, particularly to arid areas and during the summer months. Cities such as Milan depend on 80% of water from Alpine runoff.Benniston et al. (2011), 1Price, Martin. Mountains: Globally Important Eco-systems. University of Oxford Water from the rivers is used in at least 550 hydroelectricity power plants, considering only those producing at least 10MW of electricity.Alpine Convention (2010), 8
Major European rivers flow from the Alps, such as the Rhine, the Rhône, the Ticino->Po, and the Inn->Danube, all of which have headwaters in the Alps and flow into neighbouring countries, finally emptying into the North Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the Adriatic Sea and the Black Sea. Other rivers such as the Danube have major tributaries flowing into them that originate in the Alps.
The Rhône is second to the Nile as a freshwater source to the Mediterranean Sea; the river begins as glacial meltwater, flows into Lake Geneva, and from there to France where one of its uses is to cool nuclear power plants.Benniston et al. (2011), 3 The Rhine originates in a area in Switzerland and represents almost 60% of water exported from the country. Tributary valleys, some of which are complicated, channel water to the main valleys which can experience flooding during the snowmelt season when rapid runoff causes debris torrents and swollen rivers.Ceben (1998), 31
The rivers form lakes, such as Lake Geneva, a crescent-shaped lake crossing the Swiss border with Lausanne on the Swiss side and the town of Evian-les-Bains on the French side. In Germany, the medieval St. Bartholomew's chapel was built on the south side of the Königssee, accessible only by boat or by climbing over the abutting peaks.Shoumatoff (2001), 24, 31
thumb|Southern pre-alpine lakes like Lake Garda are characterised by warmer microclimates than the surrounding areas.
Additionally, the Alps have led to the creation of large lakes in Italy. For instance, the Sarca, the primary inflow of Lake Garda, originates in the Italian Alps. The Italian Lakes are a popular tourist destination since the Roman Era for their mild climate.
Scientists have been studying the impact of climate change and water use. For example, each year more water is diverted from rivers for snowmaking in the ski resorts, the effect of which is yet unknown. Furthermore, the steady decrease of glaciated areas for about 150 years—vastly accelerated during the last 30-50 years—combined with a increasingly succession of winters with lower-than-expected precipitation (snow) due to much warmer winters will have a non-negligible future impact on the water storage in the Alps, namely glacier, and consequently on rivers in the Alps as well as an effect on the water availability to the lowlands of many European countries.Chatré, Baptiste, et al. (2010), 13 |
Alps | Climate | Climate
The Alps are a classic example of what happens when a temperate area at lower altitude gives way to higher-elevation terrain. Elevations around the world that have cold climates similar to those of the polar regions have been called Alpine. A rise from sea level into the upper regions of the atmosphere causes the temperature to decrease (see adiabatic lapse rate). The effect of mountain chains on prevailing winds is to carry warm air belonging to the lower region into an upper zone, where it expands in volume at the cost of a proportionate loss of temperature, often accompanied by precipitation in the form of snow or rain. The height of the Alps is sufficient to divide the weather patterns in Europe into a wet north and dry south because moisture is sucked from the air as it flows over the high peaks.Fleming (2000), 3
thumb|The Aletsch Glacier with pine trees growing on the hillside (2007; the surface is lower than 150 years ago)
The severe weather in the Alps has been studied since the 18th century; particularly the weather patterns such as the seasonal foehn wind. Numerous weather stations were placed in the mountains early in the early 20th century, providing continuous data for climatologists.Ceben (1998), 22–24 Some of the valleys are quite arid such as the Aosta Valley in Italy, the Maurienne in France, the Valais in Switzerland, and northern Tyrol.
The areas that are not arid and receive high precipitation experience periodic flooding from rapid snowmelt and runoff. The mean precipitation in the Alps ranges from a low of per year to per year, with the higher levels occurring at high altitudes. At altitudes between , snowfall begins in November and accumulates through to April or May when the melt begins. Snow lines vary from , above which the snow is permanent and the temperatures hover around the freezing point even during July and August. High-water levels in streams and rivers peak in June and July when the snow is still melting at the higher altitudes.Ceben (1998), 34–36
The Alps are split into five climatic zones, each with different vegetation. The climate, plant life, and animal life vary among the different sections or zones of the mountains. The lowest zone is the colline zone, which exists between , depending on the location. The montane zone extends from , followed by the sub-Alpine zone from . The Alpine zone, extending from tree line to the snow line, is followed by the glacial zone, which covers the glaciated areas of the mountain. Climatic conditions show variances within the same zones; for example, weather conditions at the head of a mountain valley, extending directly from the peaks, are colder and more severe than those at the mouth of a valley which tend to be less severe and receive less snowfall.Viazzo (1980), 17
Climate change
thumb|200px|Shrinkage of snow cover duration, starting ~end of the 19th century
Various models of climate change have been projected into the 22nd century for the Alps, with an expectation that a trend toward increased temperatures will have an effect on snowfall, snowpack, glaciation, and river runoff.Benniston (2011), 3–4 Significant changes, of both natural and anthropogenic origins, have already been diagnosed from observations, including a 5.6% reduction per decade in snow cover duration over the last 50 years, which also highlights climate change adaptation needs due to impacts on the climate and regional socio-economic activities. |
Alps | Ecology | Ecology |
Alps | Flora | Flora
thumb|Stemless gentian (Gentiana acaulis)
Thirteen thousand species of plants have been identified in the Alpine regions. Alpine plants are grouped by habitat and soil type which can be limestone or non-calcareous. The habitats range from meadows, bogs, and woodland (deciduous and coniferous) areas to soil-less scree and moraines, and rock faces and ridges.Reynolds, (2012), 43–45 A natural vegetation limit with altitude is given by the presence of the chief deciduous trees—oak, beech, ash and sycamore maple. These do not reach the same elevation, nor are they often found growing together, but their upper limit corresponds accurately enough to the change from a temperate to a colder climate that is further proved by a change in the presence of wild herbaceous vegetation. This limit usually lies about above the sea on the north side of the Alps, but on the southern slopes it often rises to , sometimes even to .Shoumatoff (2001), 75
thumb|upright|left|Edelweiss (Leontopodium alpinum)
Above the forestry, there is often a band of dwarf pine trees (Pinus mugo), which is in turn superseded by Alpenrosen, dwarf shrubs, typically Rhododendron ferrugineum (on acid soils) or Rhododendron hirsutum (on alkaline soils).Beattie (2006), 17 Although Alpenrose prefers acidic soil, the plants are found throughout the region. Above the tree line is the area defined as "alpine" where in the alpine meadow plants are found that have adapted well to harsh conditions of cold temperatures, aridity, and high altitudes. The alpine area fluctuates greatly because of regional fluctuations in tree lines.Körner (2003), 9
Alpine plants such as the Alpine gentian grow in abundance in areas such as the meadows above the Lauterbrunnental. Gentians are named after the Illyrian king Gentius, and 40 species of the early-spring blooming flower grow in the Alps, in a range of .Shoumatoff (2001), 85 Writing about the gentians in Switzerland D. H. Lawrence described them as "darkening the day-time, torch-like with the smoking blueness of Pluto's gloom."qtd in Beattie (2006), 17 Gentians tend to "appear" repeatedly as the spring blooming takes place at progressively later dates, moving from the lower altitude to the higher altitude meadows where the snow melts much later than in the valleys. On the highest rocky ledges, the spring flowers bloom in the summer.
thumb|right|Berchtesgaden National Park in Bavaria
thumb|Preserved internal alpine forest and meadow, Vanoise National Park
At these higher altitudes, the plants tend to form isolated cushions. In the Alps, several species of flowering plants have been recorded above , including Ranunculus glacialis, Androsace alpina and Saxifraga biflora. Eritrichium nanum, commonly known as the King of the Alps, is the most elusive of the alpine flowers, growing on rocky ridges at .Shoumatoff (2001), 87 Perhaps the best known of the alpine plants is Edelweiss which grows in rocky areas and can be found at altitudes as low as and as high as . The plants that grow at the highest altitudes have adapted to conditions by specialization such as growing in rock screes that give protection from winds.Sharp (2002), 14
The extreme and stressful climatic conditions give way to the growth of plant species with secondary metabolites important for medicinal purposes. Origanum vulgare, Prunella vulgaris, Solanum nigrum, and Urtica dioica are some of the more useful medicinal species found in the Alps.Kala, C.P. and Ratajc, P. 2012."High altitude biodiversity of the Alps and the Himalayas: ethnobotany, plant distribution and conservation perspective". Biodiversity and Conservation, 21 (4): 1115–1126.
Human interference has nearly exterminated the trees in many areas, and, except for the beech forests of the Austrian Alps, forests of deciduous trees are rarely found after the extreme deforestation between the 17th and 19th centuries.Gerrard (1990), 225 The vegetation has changed since the second half of the 20th century, as the high alpine meadows cease to be harvested for hay or used for grazing which eventually might result in a regrowth of the forest. In some areas, the modern practice of building ski runs by mechanical means has destroyed the underlying tundra from which the plant life cannot recover during the non-skiing months, whereas areas that still practice a natural piste type of ski slope building preserve the fragile underlayers. |
Alps | Fauna | Fauna
The Alps are a habitat for 30,000 species of wildlife, ranging from the tiniest snow fleas to brown bears, many of which have made adaptations to the harsh cold conditions and high altitudes to the point that some only survive in specific micro-climates either directly above or below the snow line.Shoumatoff (2001), 90, 96, 101
thumb|upright|Young alpine ibex. When fully grown the horns of this male will be about one metre wide.
The largest mammal to live in the highest altitudes are the alpine ibex, which have been sighted as high as . The ibex live in caves and descend to eat the succulent alpine grasses.Shoumatoff (2001), 104 Classified as antelopes, chamois are smaller than ibex and found throughout the Alps, living above the tree line and are common in the entire alpine range.Rupicapra rupicapra [Linnaeus, 1758] Areas of the eastern Alps are still home to brown bears. In Switzerland the canton of Bern was named for the bears but the last bear is recorded as having been killed in 1792 above Kleine Scheidegg by three hunters from Grindelwald.Shoumatoff (2001), 101
Many rodents such as voles live underground. Marmots live almost exclusively above the tree line as high as . They hibernate in large groups to provide warmth,Shoumatoff (2001), 102–103 and can be found in all areas of the Alps, in large colonies they build beneath the alpine pastures. Golden eagles and bearded vultures are the largest birds to be found in the Alps; they nest high on rocky ledges and can be found at altitudes of . The most common bird is the alpine chough which can be found scavenging at climber's huts or the Jungfraujoch, a high-altitude tourist destination.Shoumatoff (2001), 97–98
thumb|left|The alpine Apollo butterfly has adapted to alpine conditions.
Reptiles such as adders and vipers live up to the snow line; because they cannot bear the cold temperatures they hibernate underground and soak up the warmth on rocky ledges.Shoumatoff (2001), 96 The high-altitude Alpine salamanders have adapted to living above the snow line by giving birth to fully developed young rather than laying eggs. Brown trout can be found in the streams up to the snow line. Molluscs such as the wood snail live up the snow line. Popularly gathered as food, the snails are now protected.Shoumatoff (2001), 88–89
Several species of moths live in the Alps, some of which are believed to have evolved in the same habitat up to 120 million years ago, long before the Alps were created. Blue butterflies can commonly be seen drinking from the snowmelt; some species of blues fly as high as .Shoumatoff (2001), 93 The butterflies tend to be large, such as those from the swallowtail Parnassius family, with a habitat that ranges to . Twelve species of beetles have habitats up to the snow line; the most beautiful and formerly collected for its colours but now protected is Rosalia alpina.Shoumatoff (2001), 91 Spiders, such as the large wolf spider, live above the snow line and can be seen as high as . Scorpions can be found in the Italian Alps.
Some of the species of moths and insects show evidence of having been indigenous to the area from as long ago as the Alpine orogeny. In Émosson in Valais, Switzerland, dinosaur tracks were found in the 1970s, dating probably from the Triassic Period.Reynolds (2012), 75 |
Alps | History | History |
Alps | Prehistory | Prehistory
thumb|Petroglyphs, Rock Drawings in Valcamonica, Italy, which was recognized by UNESCO in 1979 and was Italy's first recognized World Heritage Site
thumb|Reconstruction of Ötzi mummy as shown in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France. The original mummy and his remains and personal belongings are on exhibit at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, South Tyrol, Italy.
When the ice melted after the Würm glaciation, Paleolithic settlements were established along the lake shores and in cave systems. Evidence of human habitation has been found in caves near the Vercors Cave System, close to Grenoble and Echirolles. In Austria, the Mondsee lake shows evidence of houses built on piles. Standing stones have been found in the Alpine areas of France and Italy. About 200,000 drawings and etchings have been documented, and are known as the Rock Drawings in Valcamonica.Beattie, (2006), 25
A mummy of a Neolithic human, known as Ötzi, was discovered on the Similaun. His clothing lets modern people assume that he was an alpine farmer, while the location and manner of his death suggests that Ötzi was traveling.Beattie, (2006), 21 Analysis of the mitochondrial DNA of Ötzi, has shown that he belongs to the K1 subclade. His remains and personal belongings are on exhibit at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, South Tyrol, Italy.
From the 13th to the 6th century BC much of the Alps was settled by the Germanic peoples, Lombards, Alemanni, Bavarii, and Franks.Beattie, (2006), 31, 34 Celt tribes settled in modern-day Switzerland between 1500 and 1000 BC. The Raeti lived in the eastern regions, while the west was occupied by the Helvetii and the Allobroges settled in the Rhône valley and in Savoy. The Ligures and Adriatic Veneti lived in Northwest Italy and Triveneto respectively. The Celts mined salt in areas such as Salzburg, where evidence was found of the Hallstatt culture. By the 6th century BC the La Tène culture was well established in the region,Fleming (2000), 2 and became known for high quality Celtic art.Shoumatoff (2001), 131
Between 430 and 400 BC prolonged warfare in the Alps resulted in the devastation of agricultural land and human settlements, ultimately triggering the enslavement of men, women, and children, goods had to be imported as a result. The Etruscan civilization responded to raids by the Massalia and acquired absolute control over the Alpine trade routes. Aggressors in modern-day Italy were dealt with and an alliance was formed with the Celts. The grip of the Etruscan settlements broke down, as the Roman political system expanded, so as to take control over Alpine trade routes that connected human settlements in the Alps with settlements in the Mediterranean.
During the Second Punic War in 218 BC, the Carthage general Hannibal initiated one of the most celebrated achievements of any military force in ancient warfare, recorded as Hannibal crossing the Alps.Lancel, Serge, (1999), 71 The Roman people built roads along the Alpine mountain passes, which continued to be used through the medieval period. Roman road markers can still be found on the Alpine mountain passes.Prevas (2001), 68–69
During the Gallic Wars in 58 BC Julius Caesar defeated the Helvetii. The Rhaetian continued to resist but their territory was eventually conquered when the Romans crossed the Danube valley and defeated the Brigantes.Beattie, (2006), 27 The Romans built settlements in the Alps. In towns such as Aosta, Martigny, Lausanne, and Partenkirchen remains of villas, arenas, and temples have been discovered.Beattie, (2006), 28–31 |
Alps | Christianity, feudalism, and Napoleonic wars | Christianity, feudalism, and Napoleonic wars
thumb|Suvorov crossing the Alps, by Vasily Surikov
thumb|right|Napoleon passing the Great St Bernard Pass, by Edouard Castres
Christianity was established in the Alps by the Roman people. Monasteries and churches were constructed, even at high Alpine altitudes. The Franks expanded their Carolingian Empire, while the Baiuvarii introduced feudalism in the eastern Alps. The construction of castles in the Alps supported the growing number of dukedoms and kingdoms. Castello del Buonconsiglio in Trento, still has intricate frescoes, and excellent examples of Gothic art. The Château de Chillon is preserved as an example of medieval architecture.Beattie, (2006), 32, 34, 37, 43 There are several important alpine saints and one such one is Saint Maurice.Mershman, Francis. "St. Maurice", The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 10. New York City: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 6 March 2013 Much of the medieval period was a time of power struggles between competing dynasties such as the House of Savoy, the Visconti of Milan, and the House of Habsburg.Beattie, (2006), 41, 46, 48
The Great St Bernard Hospice, built in the 9th or 10th centuries, at the summit of the Great Saint Bernard Pass was a shelter for humans and destination for pilgrims.Beattie, (2006), 73, 75–76 In 1291, to protect themselves from incursions by the House of Habsburg, four Alpine cantons drew up the Federal Charter of 1291, which is considered to be a declaration of independence from neighboring kingdoms. After a series of battles fought in the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries, more cantons joined the confederacy and by the 16th century, Switzerland was established as a sovereign state.Beattie, (2006), 56, 66
In the Alps, the War of the Spanish Succession fallout resulted in a 1713 treaty, part of the Peace of Utrecht, which relocated the Western Alps border along the watersheds. Historically, the Alps were used to determine the borders of political and administrative gangs, but the Peace of Utrecht was the first significant body of treaty that considered geographical conditions. The Alps were carved up and borders were agreed, so that enclaves in the Alps could be eliminated.
During the Napoleonic Wars in the late 18th century and early 19th century, Napoleon annexed territory formerly controlled by the House of Habsburg, and the House of Savoy. In 1798, the Helvetic Republic was established, two years later an army across the Great St Bernard Pass.Shoumatoff (2001), 182–183 In 1799 the Russian imperial military engaged the revolutionary French army in the Alps, this episode has been recorded as significant achievement in mountain warfare. In October 1799 the troops commanded by Alexander Suvorov were surrounded in the Alps by much larger French troops. The Russian troops broke out, mauled the French troops, and retreated through the Panix Pass.
After the fall of Napoleon, many alpine countries developed heavy protections to prevent further invasion. Thus, Savoy built a series of fortifications to protect the major alpine passes, such as the col du Mont-Cenis, which was crossed by Charlemagne to obliterate the Lombards.
In the 19th century, the monasteries built in the Alps to shelter humans became tourist destinations. The Benedictines had built monasteries in Lucerne, and Oberammergau. The Cistercians built their temple at Lake Constance. Meanwhile, the Augustinians maintained abbeys in Savoy and one in Interlaken.Beattie, (2006), 69-70 |
Alps | Exploration | Exploration
thumb|Mont Blanc massif
Radiocarbon-dated charcoal placed around 50,000 years ago was found in the Drachloch (Dragon's Hole) cave above the village of Vattis in the canton of St. Gallen, proving that the high peaks were visited by prehistoric people. Seven bear skulls from the cave may have been buried by the same prehistoric people.Shoumatoff (2001), 108 The peaks, however, were mostly ignored except for a few notable examples, and long left to the exclusive attention of the people of the adjoining valleys.Shoumatoff (2001), 188–191 The mountain peaks were seen as terrifying, the abode of dragons and demons, to the point that people blindfolded themselves to cross the Alpine passes.Fleming (2000), 6 The glaciers remained a mystery and many still believed the highest areas to be inhabited by dragons.Fleming (2000), 12
Charles VII of France ordered his chamberlain to climb Mont Aiguille in 1356. The knight reached the summit of Rocciamelone where he left a bronze triptych of three crosses, a feat which he conducted with the use of ladders to traverse the ice.Fleming (2000), 5 In 1492, Antoine de Ville climbed Mont Aiguille, without reaching the summit, an experience he described as "horrifying and terrifying." Leonardo da Vinci was fascinated by variations of light in the higher altitudes, and climbed a mountain—scholars are uncertain which one; some believe it may have been Monte Rosa. From his description of a "blue like that of a gentian" sky it is thought that he reached a significantly high altitude.qtd in Shoumatoff (2001), 193 In the 18th century four Chamonix men almost made the summit of Mont Blanc but were overcome by altitude sickness and snowblindness.Shoumatoff (2001), 192–194
thumb|Horace Bénédict de Saussure shown in, Descent from Mont-Blanc, by Christian von Mechel
Conrad Gessner was the first naturalist to ascend the mountains in the 16th century, to study them, writing that in the mountains he found the "theatre of the Lord".Fleming (2000), 8 By the 19th century more naturalists began to arrive to explore, study and conquer the high peaks.Fleming (2000), vii Two men who first explored the regions of ice and snow were Horace-Bénédict de Saussure (1740–1799) in the Pennine Alps,Fleming (2000), 27 and the Benedictine monk of Disentis Placidus a Spescha (1752–1833). Born in Geneva, Saussure was enamoured with the mountains from an early age; he left a law career to become a naturalist and spent many years trekking through the Bernese Oberland, the Savoy, the Piedmont and Valais, studying the glaciers and geology, as he became an early proponent of the theory of rock upheaval.Fleming (2000), 12–13, 30, 27 Saussure, in 1787, was a member of the third ascent of Mont Blanc—today the summits of all the peaks have been climbed. |
Alps | The Romantics and Alpinists | The Romantics and Alpinists
thumb|upright|Wanderer above the Sea of Fog by Caspar David Friedrich
Albrecht von Haller's poem Die Alpen, published in 1732 described the mountains as an area of mythical purity.Beattie, (2006), 121–123 Jean-Jacques Rousseau presented the Alps as a place of allure and beauty, in his novel Julie, or the New Heloise, published in 1761. Later the first wave of Romanticism such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and J. M. W. Turner came to admire the Alpine scenery;Goethe en Suisse et dans les Alpes: Voyages de 1775, 1779 et 1797 Wordsworth visited the area in 1790, writing of his experiences in The Prelude (1799). Schiller later wrote the play William Tell (1804), which tells the story of the legendary Swiss marksman William Tell as part of the greater Swiss struggle for independence from the Habsburg Empire in the early 14th century. At the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the Alpine countries began to see an influx of poets, artists, and musicians,Fleming (2000), 83 as visitors came to experience the sublime effects of monumental nature.Beattie, (2006), 125–126
In 1816, Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley and his wife Mary Shelley visited Geneva and all three were inspired by the scenery in their writings. During these visits Shelley wrote the poem "Mont Blanc", Byron wrote "The Prisoner of Chillon" and the dramatic poem Manfred, and Mary Shelley, who found the scenery overwhelming, conceived the idea for the novel Frankenstein in her villa on the shores of Lake Geneva amid a thunderstorm. When Coleridge travelled to Chamonix, he declaimed, in defiance of Shelley, who had signed himself "Atheos" in the guestbook of the Hotel de Londres near Montenvers,Geoffrey Hartman, "Gods, Ghosts, and Shelley's 'Atheos'", Literature and Theology, Volume 24, Issue 1, pp. 4–18 "Who would be, who could be an atheist in this valley of wonders".Beattie, (2006), 127–133
By the mid-19th century scientists began to arrive en masse to study the geology and ecology of the region.Beattie, (2006), 139
From the beginning of the 19th century, the tourism and mountaineering development of the Alps began. In the early years of the "golden age of alpinism" initially scientific activities were mixed with sport, for example by the physicist John Tyndall, with the first ascent of the Matterhorn by Edward Whymper being the highlight. In the later years, the "silver age of alpinism", the focus was on mountain sports and climbing. The first president of the Alpine Club, John Ball, is considered the discoverer of the Dolomites, which for decades were the focus of climbers like Paul Grohmann, Michael Innerkofler and Angelo Dibona.Gilles Modica "1865: the Golden Age of Mountaineering" (2016), pp 10. |
Alps | The Nazis | The Nazis
thumb|left|The Nazis hid looted art in salt mines at Altaussee, such as the Early Netherlandish Ghent Altarpiece which sustained significant damage.
In autumn 1932, Adolf Hitler commissioned the first of a series of refurbishments, which eventually turned a mountain cottage, later named Berghof, into a fortified citadel. This domestic, but representative, fortification had two small bedrooms, and a full bathroom, planned by the Munich architect and NSDAP member Josef Neumaier. Guests, such as Rudolf Hess, stayed over, sleeping in tents or over the garage.
The Alps, Adolf Hitler, and improbable powerful organizations have been subject to crime fiction. The Alps acted as a geographical barrier to Italy, and the Alps for centuries were permeated with established smuggling routes, known as green line. After World War II, members of the Schutzstaffel that feared prosecution as war criminals, known in modern English only as SS, disappeared into a crowd of refugees. Massive numbers of refugees entered Italy illegally, by navigating the Alps. |
Alps | Undocumented migrants | Undocumented migrants
Smugglers of humans claim that crossing the Alps is less dangerous, or deadly, than traveling 355 km on water between Tripoli and Lampedusa with a tramp ship (carretta del mare) or a dinghy. Undocumented migrants, visa overstayers, false tourists, asylum seekers, and other clandestine humans, lose their lives crossing the Alps. The exact number of smuggled humans who die a brutal death in the Alps can only be estimated. |
Alps | Largest Alpine cities | Largest Alpine cities
The largest city within the Alps is the city of Grenoble in France. Other larger and important cities within the Alps with over 100,000 inhabitants are in Tyrol with Bolzano/Bozen (Italy), Trento (Italy) and Innsbruck (Austria). Larger cities outside the Alps are Milan, Verona, Turin (Italy), Munich (Germany), Graz, Vienna, Salzburg (Austria), Ljubljana, Maribor, Kranj (Slovenia), Zurich, Geneva (Switzerland), Nice and Lyon (France).
Cities with over 100,000 inhabitants in the Alps are:
Rank Municipality Inhabitants Country Region 1 35px Grenoble 162,780 France 35px Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes 2 35px Innsbruck 132,236 Austria 35px Tyrol 3 35px Trento 117,417 Italy 35px Trentino-South Tyrol 4 35px Bolzano/Bozen 106,951 Italy 35px Trentino-South Tyrol |
Alps | Alpine people and culture | Alpine people and culture
The population of the region is 14 million spread across eight countries. On the rim of the mountains, on the plateaus, and on the plains the economy consists of manufacturing and service jobs whereas in the higher altitudes and the mountains farming is still essential to the economy.Chartes et. el. (2010), 14 Farming and forestry continue to be mainstays of Alpine culture, industries that provide for export to the cities and maintain the mountain ecology.Chartes et. el. (2010), 5
The Alpine regions are multicultural and linguistically diverse. Dialects are common and vary from valley to valley and region to region. In the Slavic Alps alone 19 dialects have been identified. Some of the Romance dialects spoken in the French, Swiss and Italian alps of Aosta Valley derive from Arpitan, while the southern part of the western range is related to Occitan; the German dialects derive from Germanic tribal languages.Shoumataff (2001), 114–166 Romansh, spoken by two percent of the population in southeast Switzerland, is an ancient Rhaeto-Romanic language derived from Latin, remnants of ancient Celtic languages and perhaps Etruscan.
thumb|Hallstatt is known for its production of salt, dating back to prehistoric times.
Much of the Alpine culture is unchanged since the medieval period when skills that guaranteed survival in the mountain valleys and the highest villages became mainstays, leading to strong traditions of carpentry, woodcarving, baking, pastry-making, and cheesemaking.Shoumataff (2001), 123–126
Farming has been a traditional occupation for centuries, although it became less dominant in the 20th century with the advent of tourism. Grazing and pasture land are limited because of the steep and rocky topography of the Alps. In mid-June, cows are moved to the highest pastures close to the snowline, where they are watched by herdsmen who stay in the high altitudes often living in stone huts or wooden barns during the summers. Villagers celebrate the day the cows are herded up to the pastures and again when they return in mid-September. The Almabtrieb, Alpabzug, Alpabfahrt, Désalpes ("coming down from the alps") is celebrated by decorating the cows with garlands and enormous cowbells while the farmers dress in traditional costumes.
thumb|left|In the summers the cows are brought up to the high mountain meadows for grazing. Small summer villages such as the one shown in this photograph taken in Savoy are used.
Cheesemaking is an ancient tradition in most Alpine countries. A wheel of cheese from the Emmental in Switzerland can weigh up to , and the Beaufort in Savoy can weigh up to . Owners of the cows traditionally receive from the cheesemakers a portion about the proportion of the cows' milk from the summer months in the high alps. Haymaking is an important farming activity in mountain villages that have become somewhat mechanized in recent years, although the slopes are so steep that scythes are usually necessary to cut the grass. Hay is normally brought in twice a year, often also on festival days.
In the high villages, people live in homes built according to medieval designs that withstand cold winters. The kitchen is separated from the living area (called the stube, the area of the home heated by a stove), and second-floor bedrooms benefit from rising heat. The typical Swiss chalet originated in the Bernese Oberland. Chalets often face south or downhill and are built of solid wood, with a steeply gabled roof to allow accumulated snow to slide off easily. Stairs leading to upper levels are sometimes built on the outside, and balconies are sometimes enclosed.Shoumataff (2001), 134
thumb|Herding sheep in Austria
Food is passed from the kitchen to the stube, where the dining room table is placed. Some meals are communal, such as fondue, where a pot is set in the middle of the table for each person to dip into. Other meals are still served traditionally on carved wooden plates. Furniture has been traditionally elaborately carved and in many Alpine countries, carpentry skills are passed from generation to generation.
thumb|left|Alpine chalet being built in Haute-Maurienne (Savoy). The use of thick pieces of orthogneiss (4–7 cm) is by the strict architectural regulations in the region bordering the national parks of Vanoise-Grand Paradis.
Roofs are traditionally constructed from Alpine rocks such as pieces of schist, gneiss, or slate.Shoumataff (2001), 131, 134 Such chalets are typically found in the higher parts of the valleys, as in the Maurienne valley in Savoy, where the amount of snow during the cold months is important. The inclination of the roof cannot exceed 40%, allowing the snow to stay on top, thereby functioning as insulation from the cold. In the lower areas where the forests are widespread, wooden tiles are traditionally used. Commonly made of Norway spruce, they are called "tavaillon".
In the German-speaking parts of the Alps (Austria, Bavaria, South Tyrol, Liechtenstein and Switzerland) and also Slovenia, there is a strong tradition of Alpine folk culture. Old traditions are carefully maintained among inhabitants of Alpine areas, even though this is seldom obvious to the visitor: many people are members of cultural associations where the Alpine folk culture is cultivated. At cultural events, traditional folk costume (in German Tracht) is expected: typically lederhosen for men and dirndls for women. Visitors can get a glimpse of the rich customs of the Alps at public Volksfeste. Even when large events feature only a little folk culture, all participants take part with gusto. Good opportunities to see local people celebrating the traditional culture occur at the many fairs, wine festivals, and firefighting festivals which fill weekends in the countryside from spring to autumn. Alpine festivals vary from country to country. Frequently they include music (e.g. the playing of Alpenhorns), dance (e.g. Schuhplattler), sports (e.g. wrestling marches and archery), as well as traditions with pagan roots such as the lighting of fires on Walpurgis Night and Saint John's Eve. Many areas celebrate Fastnacht in the weeks before Lent. Folk costume also continues to be worn for most weddings and festivals.Shoumataff (2001), 129, 135Anita Ericson, Österreich [Marco Polo travel guide], 13th edition, Marco Polo, Ostfildern (Germany), 2017, Pp. 21f. |
Alps | Tourism | Tourism
thumb|View of the ski resort Bolsterlang, Oberallgäu, Bavaria, Germany
thumb|A ski resort in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Veneto, Italy
thumb|Karl Schranz running the Lauberhorn in 1966
The Alps are one of the more popular tourist destinations in the world with many resorts such as Oberstdorf, in Bavaria, Saalbach in Austria, Davos in Switzerland, Chamonix in France, and Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy recording more than a million annual visitors. With over 120 million visitors a year, tourism is integral to the Alpine economy with much of it coming from winter sports, although summer visitors are also an important component.Bartaletti, Fabrizio."What Role Do the Alps Play within World Tourism?" . Commission Internationale pour la Protection des Alpes. CIRPA.org. Retrieved August 9, 2012
The tourism industry began in the early 19th century when foreigners visited the Alps, travelled to the bases of the mountains to enjoy the scenery, and stayed at the spa-resorts. Large hotels were built during the Belle Époque; cog-railways, built early in the 20th century, brought tourists to ever-higher elevations, with the Jungfraubahn terminating at the Jungfraujoch, well above the eternal snow-line, after going through a tunnel in Eiger. During this period winter sports were slowly introduced: in 1882 the first figure skating championship was held in St. Moritz, and downhill skiing became a popular sport with English visitors early in the 20th century, as the first ski-lift was installed in 1908 above Grindelwald.Beattie (2006), 198
In the first half of the 20th century the Olympic Winter Games were held three times in Alpine venues: the 1924 Winter Olympics in Chamonix, France; the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland; and the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. During World War II the winter games were cancelled but after that time the Winter Games have been held in St. Moritz (1948), Cortina d'Ampezzo (1956), Innsbruck, Austria (1964 and 1976), Grenoble, France, (1968), Albertville, France, (1992), and Turin (2006)."21 Past Olympic Games" . Olympic.org. Retrieved August 13, 2012 In 1930, the Lauberhorn Rennen (Lauberhorn Race), was run for the first time on the Lauberhorn above Wengen;Lauberhorn History . Retrieved August 14, 2012. the equally demanding Hahnenkamm was first run in the same year in Kitzbühl, Austria."Hahenkamm Races Kitzbuhel" . HKR.com. Retrieved August 13, 2012, Both races continue to be held each January on successive weekends. The Lauberhorn is the more strenuous downhill race at and poses danger to racers who reach within seconds of leaving the start gate.Lauberhorn Downhill . Retrieved August 14, 2012.
During the post-World War I period, ski lifts were built in Swiss and Austrian towns to accommodate winter visitors, and summer tourism continued to be important. By the mid-20th century the popularity of downhill skiing increased greatly as it became more accessible and in the 1970s several new villages were built in France devoted almost exclusively to skiing, such as Les Menuires. Until this point, Austria and Switzerland had been the traditional and more popular destinations for winter sports, and by the end of the 20th century and into the early 21st century, France, Italy, and Tyrol began to see increases in winter visitors. Since the 1980s tourism expansion and easy global access generate grave concerns regarding the loss of traditional Alpine culture and many uncertainties about sustainable development. As a likely result of climatic change, the number of high altitude ski resorts and piste km is in decline since 2015, with snow-making machines installed at many sites. |
Alps | Avalanche/snow-slide | Avalanche/snow-slide
17th-century French-Italian border avalanche: in the 17th century about 2500 people were killed by an avalanche in a village on the French-Italian border.
19th century Zermatt avalanche: in the 19th century, 120 homes in a village near Zermatt were destroyed by an avalanche.Fleming (2000), 89–90
December 13, 1916 Marmolada-mountain-avalanche
1950–1951 winter-of-terror avalanches
February 10, 1970 Val d'Isère avalanche
February 9, 1999 Montroc avalanche
February 21, 1999 Evolène avalanche
February 23, 1999, Galtür avalanche, the deadliest avalanche in the Alps in 40 years
July 2014 Mont-Blanc avalanche
January 13, 2016 Les-Deux-Alpes avalanche
January 18, 2016 Valfréjus avalanche
July 3, 2022 Marmolada serac collapse |
Alps | Transportation | Transportation
thumb|Zentralbahn Interregio train following the Lake Brienz shoreline, near Niederried in Switzerland
The region is serviced by of roads used by six million vehicles per year. Train travel is well established in the Alps, with, for instance of track for every in a country such as Switzerland."Rail". Swissworld.org. Retrieved August 20, 2012, Most of Europe's highest railways are located there. In 2007, the new Lötschberg Base Tunnel was opened, which circumvents the 100 years older Lötschberg Tunnel. With the opening of the Gotthard Base Tunnel on June 1, 2016, it bypasses the Gotthard Tunnel built in the 19th century and realizes the first flat route through the Alps.
Some high mountain villages are car-free either because of inaccessibility or by choice. Wengen, and Zermatt (in Switzerland) are accessible only by cable car or cog-rail trains. Avoriaz (in France), is car-free, with other Alpine villages considering becoming car-free zones or limiting the number of cars for reasons of sustainability of the fragile Alpine terrain.Hudson (2000), 107
The lower regions and larger towns of the Alps are well-served by motorways and main roads, but higher mountain passes and byroads, which are amongst the highest in Europe, can be treacherous even in summer due to steep slopes. Many passes are closed in winter. Several airports around the Alps (and some within), as well as long-distance rail links from all neighbouring countries, afford large numbers of travellers easy access. |
Alps | Notes | Notes |
Alps | References | References |
Alps | Works cited | Works cited
Alpine Convention. (2010). The Alps: People and pressures in the mountains, the facts at a glance
Allaby, Michael et al. The Encyclopedia of Earth. (2008). Berkeley: University of California Press.
Beattie, Andrew. (2006). The Alps: A Cultural History. New York: Oxford University Press.
Benniston, Martin, et al. (2011). "Impact of Climatic Change on Water and Natural Hazards in the Alps". Environmental Science and Policy. Volume 30. 1–9
Cebon, Peter, et al. (1998). Views from the Alps: Regional Perspectives on Climate Change. Cambridge MA: MIT Press.
Chatré, Baptiste, et al. (2010). The Alps: People and Pressures in the Mountains, the Facts at a Glance. Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention (alpconv.org). Retrieved August 4, 2012.
De Graciansky, Pierre-Charles et al. (2011). The Western Alps, From Rift to Passive Margin to Orogenic Belt. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Feuer, A.B. (2006). Packs On!: Memoirs of the 10th Mountain Division in World War II. Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books.
Fleming, Fergus. (2000). Killing Dragons: The Conquest of the Alps. New York: Grove.
Gerrard, AJ. (1990) Mountain Environments: An Examination of the Physical Geography of Mountains. Boston: MIT Press.
Halbrook, Stephen P. (1998). Target Switzerland: Swiss Armed Neutrality in World War II. Rockville Center, NY: Sarpedon.
Halbrook, Stephen P. (2006). The Swiss and the Nazis: How the Alpine Republic Survived in the Shadow of the Third Reich. Havertown, PA: Casemate.
Hudson, Simon. (2000). Snow Business: A Study of the International Ski Industry. New York: Cengage
Körner, Christian. (2003). Alpine Plant Life. New York: Springer Verlag.
Lancel, Serge. (1999). Hannibal. Oxford: Blackwell.
Mitchell, Arthur H. (2007). Hitler's Mountain. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
Prevas, John. (2001). Hannibal Crosses The Alps: The Invasion Of Italy And The Punic Wars. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press.
Reynolds, Kev. (2012) The Swiss Alps. Cicerone Press.
Roth, Philipe. (2007). Minerals first Discovered in Switzerland. Lausanne, CH: Museum of Geology.
Schmid, Stefan M. (2004). "Regional tectonics: from the Rhine graben to the Po plain, a summary of the tectonic evolution of the Alps and their forelands". Basel: Geologisch-Paläontologisches Institut
Sharp, Hilary. (2002). Trekking and Climbing in the Western Alps. London: New Holland.
Shoumatoff, Nicholas and Nina. (2001). The Alps: Europe's Mountain Heart. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
Viazzo, Pier Paolo. (1980). Upland Communities: Environment, Population and Social Structure in the Alps since the Sixteenth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. |
Alps | External links | External links
17, 2005 Satellite photo of the Alps, taken on August 31, 2005, by MODIS aboard Terra
Official website of the Alpine Space Programme This EU-co-funded programme co-finances transnational projects in the Alpine region
Category:Geography of Europe
Category:Mountain ranges of Austria
Category:Mountain ranges of France
Category:Mountain ranges of Germany
Category:Mountain ranges of Hungary
Category:Mountain ranges of Italy
Category:Mountain ranges of Liechtenstein
Category:Mountain ranges of Monaco
Category:Mountain ranges of Slovenia
Category:Mountain ranges of Switzerland
Category:Physiographic provinces |
Alps | Table of Content | Short description, Etymology and toponymy, Geography, Passes, Highest mountains, Geology and orogeny, Minerals, Glaciers, Rivers and lakes, Climate, Ecology, Flora, Fauna, History, Prehistory, Christianity, feudalism, and Napoleonic wars, Exploration, The Romantics and Alpinists, The Nazis, Undocumented migrants, Largest Alpine cities, Alpine people and culture, Tourism, Avalanche/snow-slide, Transportation, Notes, References, Works cited, External links |
Albert Camus | Short description | Albert Camus ("Camus". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, journalist, world federalist, and political activist. He was the recipient of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the second-youngest recipient in history. His works include The Stranger, The Plague, The Myth of Sisyphus, The Fall and The Rebel.
Camus was born in French Algeria to pied-noir parents. He spent his childhood in a poor neighbourhood and later studied philosophy at the University of Algiers. He was in Paris when the Germans invaded France during World War II in 1940. Camus tried to flee but finally joined the French Resistance where he served as editor-in-chief at Combat, an outlawed newspaper. After the war, he was a celebrity figure and gave many lectures around the world. He married twice but had many extramarital affairs. Camus was politically active; he was part of the left that opposed Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union because of their totalitarianism. Camus was a moralist and leaned towards anarcho-syndicalism. He was part of many organisations seeking European integration. During the Algerian War (1954–1962), he kept a neutral stance, advocating a multicultural and pluralistic Algeria, a position that was rejected by most parties.
Philosophically, Camus's views contributed to the rise of the philosophy known as absurdism. Some consider Camus's work to show him to be an existentialist, even though he himself firmly rejected the term throughout his lifetime. |
Albert Camus | Biography | Biography |
Albert Camus | Early years and education | Early years and education
thumb|alt=A postcard showing the University of Algiers|A 20th-century postcard of the University of Algiers
Albert Camus was born on 7 November 1913 in a working-class neighbourhood in Mondovi (present-day Dréan), in French Algeria. His mother, Catherine Hélène Camus (), was French with Balearic Spanish ancestry. She was deaf and illiterate. He never knew his father, Lucien Camus, a poor French agricultural worker killed in action while serving with a Zouave regiment in October 1914, during World War I. Camus, his mother, and other relatives lived without many basic material possessions during his childhood in the Belcourt section of Algiers. Camus was a second-generation French inhabitant of Algeria, which was a French territory from 1830 until 1962. His paternal grandfather, along with many others of his generation, had moved to Algeria for a better life during the first decades of the 19th century. Hence, he was called a – a slang term for people of French and other European descent born in Algeria. His identity and poor background had a substantial effect on his later life. Nevertheless, Camus was a French citizen and enjoyed more rights than Arab and Berber Algerians under . During his childhood, he developed a love for football and swimming.
Under the influence of his teacher Louis Germain, Camus gained a scholarship in 1924 to continue his studies at a prestigious lyceum (secondary school) near Algiers. Germain immediately noticed his lively intelligence and his desire to learn. In middle school, he gave Camus free lessons to prepare him for the 1924 scholarship competition – despite the fact that his grandmother had a plan for him to be a manual worker so that he could immediately contribute to the maintenance of the family. Camus maintained great gratitude and affection towards Louis Germain throughout his life and he dedicated his speech for accepting the Nobel Prize to Germain. Having received the news of the awarding of the prize, he wrote:
But when I heard the news, my first thought, after my mother, was of you. Without you, without the affectionate hand you extended to the small poor child that I was, without your teaching and example, none of all this would have happened.
In a letter dated 30 April 1959, Germain lovingly reciprocated the warm feelings towards his former pupil, calling him "my little Camus".
Camus played as goalkeeper for the Racing Universitaire d'Alger junior team from 1928 to 1930. The sense of team spirit, fraternity, and common purpose appealed to him enormously. In match reports, he was often praised for playing with passion and courage. Any football ambitions, however, disappeared when he contracted tuberculosis. Camus later drew parallels between football, human existence, morality, and personal identity. For him, the simplistic morality of football contradicted the complicated morality imposed by authorities such as the state and church.
In 1930, at the age of 17, Camus was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Because it is a transmitted disease, he moved out of his home and stayed with his uncle Gustave Acault, a butcher, who influenced the young Camus. It was at that time he turned to philosophy, with the mentoring of his philosophy teacher Jean Grenier. He was impressed by ancient Greek philosophers and Friedrich Nietzsche. During that time, he was only able to study part time. To earn money, he took odd jobs, including as a private tutor, car parts clerk, and assistant at the Meteorological Institute.
In 1933, Camus enrolled at the University of Algiers and completed his licence de philosophie (BA) in 1936 after presenting his thesis on Plotinus. Camus developed an interest in early Christian philosophers, but Nietzsche and Arthur Schopenhauer had paved the way towards pessimism and atheism. Camus also studied novelist-philosophers such as Stendhal, Herman Melville, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and Franz Kafka. That same year he met Simone Hié, then a partner of Camus's friend, who later became his first wife. |
Albert Camus | Formative years | Formative years
In 1934, Camus was in a relationship with Simone Hié. Simone had an addiction to morphine, a drug she used to ease her menstrual pains. His uncle Gustave did not approve of the relationship, but Camus married Hié to help her fight the addiction. He subsequently discovered she was in a relationship with her doctor at the same time and the couple later divorced.
Camus joined the French Communist Party (PCF) in early 1935. He saw it as a way to "fight inequalities between Europeans and 'natives' in Algeria", even though he was not a Marxist. He explained: "We might see communism as a springboard and asceticism that prepares the ground for more spiritual activities." Camus left the PCF a year later. In 1936, the independence-minded Algerian Communist Party (PCA) was founded, and Camus joined it after his mentor Grenier advised him to do so. Camus's main role within the PCA was to organise the ('Workers' Theatre'). Camus was also close to the (Algerian People's Party [PPA]), which was a moderate anti-colonialist/nationalist party. As tensions in the interwar period escalated, the Stalinist PCA and PPA broke ties. Camus was expelled from the PCA for refusing to toe the party line. This series of events sharpened his belief in human dignity. Camus's mistrust of bureaucracies that aimed for efficiency instead of justice grew. He continued his involvement with theatre and renamed his group ('Theatre of the Team'). Some of his scripts were the basis for his later novels.
In 1938, Camus began working for the leftist newspaper (founded by Pascal Pia), as he had strong anti-fascist feelings, and the rise of fascist regimes in Europe was worrying him. By then, Camus had also developed strong feelings against authoritarian colonialism as he witnessed the harsh treatment of the Arabs and Berbers by French authorities. was banned in 1940 and Camus flew to Paris to take a new job at as layout editor. In Paris, he almost completed his "first cycle" of works dealing with the absurd and the meaningless: the novel L'Étranger (The Outsider [UK] or The Stranger [US]), the philosophical essay Le Mythe de Sisyphe (The Myth of Sisyphus), and the play Caligula. Each cycle consisted of a novel, an essay, and a theatrical play. |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.