Ancient Greek and Roman writers said that Dido was the founder and first Queen of Carthage. Carthage was a city in the country now known as Tunisia. Dido lived in the 9th century BC (about 3000 years ago). Some parts of her life may be true. Other parts are myths. She is best known from the story about her in the Aeneid by the Roman poet Virgil. In some writings about her, she is called Alyssa or Elissa. She was also worshipped as a goddess in ancient Carthage.

Early stories about her life

The oldest story about Dido was written by Timaeus. He was an ancient Greek historian who lived in the 3rd century BC. One hundred years later, a Roman historian, Pompeius Trogus, wrote about her. His story about her is now lost, but a later Roman historian, Justin, wrote a summary of Trogus' story. In the stories by Timaeus and Trogus, Dido was the daughter of the King of Tyre (a city in the country now known as Lebanon). She was married to Acerbas who was a priest of Hercules. When Dido's brother Pygmalion killed Acerbas, Dido ran away. She took some of her people with her. They went first to Cyprus, and then to the north coast of Africa in the place now known as Tunisia.

When they got to Africa, Dido asked the Berber ruler, a man named Iarbus, if she could buy some land to for her people to start a city. He said that she could buy as much land as she could cover with the skin of a dead ox. She told her people to cut the skin into very thin strips. They laid all the strips out to mark the borders. This gave them a very big piece of land. Dido and her people built a city on the land. The city was named Carthage, and Dido was its first queen. Carthage grew and became a very rich city. Many Berbers also went to live there.

When he saw what a rich city Carthage was, Iarbus wanted to marry Dido. He told her that if she did not marry him, he would make war on Carthage. Dido did not want to marry Iarbus. She still loved her husband Acerbas (Sychaeus). Before her wedding to Iarbus, she built a large fire. She told him that the fire was a ceremony to honor Acerbas. She said that when the ceremony was finished, Iarbus would be her new husband. Instead, she climbed onto the pyre where the fire was burning. Then she killed herself with a sword. After she died, the people of Carthage worshipped her as a goddess. Carthage stayed a very rich and powerful city for 600 years. It was destroyed by Rome in 146 BC.

Aeneas and Dido
Dido is most well known today for the story told about her in Books 3 and 4 of Virgil's Aeneid. Virgil's story about the early life of Dido is very like those told by Timaeus and Trogus. But his story of how she died is very different. In Virgil's story, Aeneas, a prince from the ancient city of Troy, goes to Carthage after losing a war against the Greeks (the Trojan War). Aeneas and Dido fall in love. Aeneas decides to stay in Carthage with Dido. But the god Jupiter sends Mercury to tell Aeneas that he must leave Carthage and go to Italy. Aeneas does not want to go, but knows he must do what Jupiter asks. He and his men sail away from Carthage. Dido is very sad and very angry. She builds a large fire to burn all the things that belonged to Aeneas. Then she climbs to the top of the fire and kills herself with the sword that she gave Aeneas when he first came to Carthage.

Most people say that Virgil was the first writer to make up the story about Aeneas and Dido. Others think that he got the idea from a long poem by Gnaeus Naevius called  (The Punic Wars). Most of Naevius's poem is lost, so it is hard to know for sure.

Since Virgil's time, many plays and operas have been written about his story of Aeneas and Dido. Christopher Marlowe wrote a play about them in 1583. It was called Dido Queen of Carthage. Henry Purcell composed an opera about them in 1688 called Dido and Aeneas.

The Italian poet Pietro Metastasio also used Virgil's story for a libretto (the story and words for an opera). It was called . (Its title means Dido Abandoned in Italian.) The first opera to use Metastasio's libretto was composed by Domenico Sarro in 1724. In the next 100 years more than 40 operas by other composers used this libretto.

Sources

Desmond, Marilynn (1994). Reading Dido: Gender, Textuality, and the Medieval Aeneid, pp. 23–73. University of Minnesota Press
Encyclopædia Britannica (1911). "Dido", Vol. 8, p. 206
Enciclopedia Italiana. "Metastasio, Pietro". Treccani

Kings and queens
9th-century BC deaths
People in Greek mythology
Roman mythology

Dido, Queen of Carthage


The Louisville and Nashville Railroad , commonly called the L&N, was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States.

Chartered by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1850, the road grew into one of the great success stories of American business. Operating under one name continuously for 132 years, it survived civil war and economic depression and several waves of social and technological change. Under Milton H. Smith, president of the company for 30 years, the L&N grew from a road with less than  of track to a  system serving fourteen states. As one of the premier Southern railroads, the L&N extended its reach far beyond its namesake cities, stretching to St. Louis, Memphis, Atlanta, and New Orleans. The railroad was economically strong throughout its lifetime, operating freight and passenger trains in a manner that earned it the nickname, "The Old Reliable".

Growth of the railroad continued until its purchase and the tumultuous rail consolidations of the 1980s which led to continual successors. By the end of 1970, L&N operated  of road on  of track, not including the Carrollton Railroad.

In 1971 the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad, successor to the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, purchased the remainder of the L&N shares it did not already own, and the company became a subsidiary. By 1982, the Seaboard Coast Line had absorbed the Louisville & Nashville Railroad entirely. Then in 1986, the Seaboard System merged with the C&O and B&O (known as the Chessie System) and the combined company became CSX Transportation (CSX), which now owns and operates all of the former Louisville and Nashville lines.

Early history and Civil War
Its first line extended barely south of Louisville, Kentucky, and it took until 1859 to span the 180-odd miles () to its second namesake city of Nashville. There were about  of track in the system by the outbreak of the Civil War, and its strategic location, spanning the Union/Confederate lines, made it of great interest to both governments.

During the Civil War, different parts of the network were pressed into service by both armies at various times, and considerable damage from wear, battle, and sabotage occurred. (For example, during the Battle of Lebanon in July 1863, the company's depot in Lebanon, Kentucky, was used as a stronghold by outnumbered Union troops). However, the company benefited from being based in the Union state of Kentucky, and the fact that Nashville fell to Union forces within the first year of the war and remained in their hands for its duration. It profited from Northern haulage contracts for troops and supplies, paid in sound Federal greenbacks, as opposed to the rapidly depreciating Confederate dollars. After the war, other railroads in the South were devastated to the point of collapse, and the general economic depression meant that labor and materials to repair its roads could be had fairly cheaply.

Buoyed by these fortunate circumstances, the firm began an expansion that never really stopped. Within 30 years the network reached from Ohio and Missouri to Louisiana and Florida. By 1884, the firm had such importance that it was included in the Dow Jones Transportation Average, the first American stock market index. It was such a large customer of the Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works, the country's second largest locomotive maker, that in 1879 the firm presented L&N with a free locomotive as a thank-you bonus.

Coal and capital in the Gilded Age

Since all locomotives of the time were steam-powered, many railroads had favored coal as their engines' fuel source after wood-burning models were found unsatisfactory. The L&N guaranteed not only its own fuel sources but a steady revenue stream by pushing its lines into the difficult but coal-rich terrain of eastern Kentucky, and also well into northern Alabama. There the small town of Birmingham had recently been founded amidst undeveloped deposits of coal, iron ore and limestone, the basic ingredients of steel production. The arrival of L&N transport and investment capital helped create a great industrial city and the South's first postwar urban success story. The railroad's access to good coal enabled it to claim for a few years starting in 1940 the nation's longest unrefuelled run, about  from Louisville to Montgomery, Alabama.

In the Gilded Age of the late 19th century there were no such things as anti-trust or fair-competition laws and very little financial regulation. Business was a keen and mean affair, and the L&N was a formidable competitor. It would exclude upstarts like the Tennessee Central Railway Company from critical infrastructure like urban stations. Where that wasn't possible, as with the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway (which was older than the L&N), it simply used its financial muscle—in 1880 it acquired a controlling interest in its chief competitor. A public outcry convinced the L&N directors that there were limits to their power. They discreetly continued the NC&StL as a separate subsidiary, but now working with, instead of in competition with, the L&N.

Ironically, in 1902 financial speculations by financier J.P. Morgan delivered control of the L&N to its rival Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, but that company made no attempt to control L&N operations, and for many decades there were no consequences of this change.

20th century

The World Wars placed heavy demand on the L&N. Its widespread and robust network coped well with the demands of war transport and production, and the resulting profits harked back to the boost it had received from the Civil War. In the postwar period, the line shifted gradually to diesel power, and the new streamlined engines pulled some of the most elegant passenger trains of the last great age of passenger rail, such as the Dixie Flyer, the Humming Bird, and the Pan-American.

Though well past its 100th anniversary, the line was still growing. The railroad retired its last steam locomotive, a J-4 class 2-8-2 Mikado #1882, from active service on January 28, 1957. Also in that year, the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis was finally fully merged. In the 1960s, acquisitions in Illinois allowed a long-sought entry into the premier railroad nexus of Chicago, and some of the battered remains of the old rival, the Tennessee Central, were sold to the L&N as well.

In 1971 the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad, successor to the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, purchased the remainder of the L&N shares it did not already own, and the company became a subsidiary. Prior to the purchase, the L&N, like other railroads, had curtailed passenger service in response to dwindling ridership. Amtrak, the government-formed passenger railway service, took over the few remaining L&N passenger trains in 1971. In 1979, amid great lamentations in the press, the last passenger service over L&N rails ceased when Amtrak discontinued The Floridian, which had connected Louisville with Nashville and continued to Florida via Birmingham.

By 1982, as the railroad industry consolidated, the Seaboard Coast Line absorbed the Louisville & Nashville Railroad entirely. The merged company was known as "SCL/L&N", "Family Lines", and was depicted as such on the railroad's rolling stock.  During the next few years several smaller acquisitions resulted in the creation of the Seaboard System Railroad. Yet more consolidation was ahead, and in 1986, the Seaboard System merged into the C&O/B&O combined system known as the Chessie System. The combined company became CSX Transportation (CSX), which now owns and operates all of the former Louisville and Nashville lines, except for some routes abandoned or sold off.

Legacy
A number of historical groups and publications devoted to the line exist, and L&N equipment is well represented in the model railroading hobby. The L&N Railroad is mentioned by country music pioneer Jimmie Rodgers in his "Blue Yodel #7". It is also the subject of two other songs: the 2003 Rhonda Vincent bluegrass song "Kentucky Borderline", and "The L&N Don't Stop Here Anymore" by Jean Ritchie and individually performed by Michelle Shocked, Johnny Cash, Billy Bragg & Joe Henry and Kathy Mattea.
Dutch blues/rockband The Bintangs had a hit in the Dutch charts in the late 1960s with "Ridin' on the L&N" (a cover from the Dan Burley / Lionel Hampton – composition from 1946).
This composition also was covered by John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers.

In 1926 the L&N turned over approximately 137 acres to the Kentucky State Park Commission, making possible the creation of the state's Natural Bridge State Park.

Passenger operations

The Humming Bird and Pan-American, both from Cincinnati to New Orleans and Memphis, were two of the L&N's most popular passenger trains that ran entirely on its own lines. However, the Humming Bird later added a Chicago to New Orleans section in conjunction with the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad utilizing the Georgian north of Nashville. (The Official Guide of the Railroads, February, 1952) The railroad also hosted other named trains, including:

 Azalean (Cincinnati – New Orleans) (had through Pullman Company Sleeping Cars between Cincinnati and New York over the Pennsylvania Railroad) ran combined with the Washington – Atlanta – New Orleans Express (New York – New Orleans in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Railroad, Southern Railway and the West Point Route); these trains combined south of Montgomery.
 Pre-Amtrak Crescent (New York – New Orleans in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Railroad, Southern Railway and the West Point Route)
 Dixie Flagler (Chicago – Miami in conjunction with the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad, Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway, Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and the Florida East Coast Railway)
 Dixie Flyer and Dixie Limited (Chicago and St. Louis to Jacksonville in conjunction with the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad,  Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway, Central of Georgia Railway and the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad)
 Dixieland (Chicago – Miami in conjunction with the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad, Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway, Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and the Florida East Coast Railway)
 Dixiana (Chicago – Miami in conjunction with the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad, Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway, Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and the Florida East Coast Railway)
 Flamingo (Cincinnati – Jacksonville in conjunction with the Central of Georgia Railway, Atlantic Coast Line)
 Florida Arrow (seasonal train, Chicago - Louisville -Birmingham - Miami in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Railroad, Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and the Florida East Coast Railway)

 Georgian (Originally St. Louis – Atlanta, later changed to Chicago-Atlanta in conjunction with the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad and the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway)
 Gulf Wind (New Orleans – Jacksonville in conjunction with the Seaboard Air Line Railroad)
 Piedmont Limited (New York – New Orleans in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Railroad, Southern Railway and the West Point Route)
 Southland (Chicago – St. Petersburg, Tampa and Miami in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Railroad, Central of Georgia Railway and the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. The Wabash Railroad had a connection in Fort Wayne, for trips from Detroit.)
 South Wind (Chicago – Miami in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Railroad, Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and the Florida East Coast Railway)

The L&N was one of few railroads to discontinue a passenger train that was en route. On January 9, 1969, as soon as a judge lifted the injunction preventing its discontinuance, the L&N discontinued its southbound Humming Bird at Birmingham, in mid-run from Cincinnati to New Orleans. The 14 passengers continuing south did so by bus.

Preservation

There are several preservation organizations of L&N equipment and L&N lines, such as the Kentucky Railway Museum, The Historic Railpark and Train Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and the L&N Historic Society.

The city of Atlanta, Georgia, is home to the General and the Texas, two 4-4-0 locomotives originally built for the Western and Atlantic Railroad, which was later leased to L&N predecessor Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis. The lease of the W&A was passed to, and renewed by L&N and its successors.  The General and the Texas became famous for being participants in The Great Locomotive Chase during the Civil War. The General had been placed on display in the railroad's Union Depot in Chattanooga in 1901. In 1957, the L&N removed the engine and restored it to operating condition. The engine pulled the railroad's wooden center-door Jim Crow combine coach No. 665 as it traveled throughout the eastern U.S. as part of the observance of the Civil War Centennial, including a visit to the 1964 New York World's Fair. Between 1966 and 1971, a legal battle ensued between the railroad and the city of Chattanooga as the former had planned to send the engine to Georgia, while the latter claimed to be the owners of the engine. After the dispute was settled, the engine was formally presented to the state of Georgia in 1971. The engine currently resides at the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History in Kennesaw, Georgia, while the Texas is currently at the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, North Carolina undergoing restoration for inclusion into an addition to house it and the cyclorama painting of the battle of Atlanta. The Texas should return to Georgia in late 2016.

The Kentucky Railway Museum consists of many pieces of L&N equipment, as well as a portion of the Lebanon Branch. The museum owns the following L&N equipment: K2A Light Pacific 4-6-2 No. 152, a steam locomotive; heavyweight coaches Nos. 2572 and 2554; an observation car; heavyweight combine No. 1603; combine coach No. 665; sleeper the Pearl River, the Pullman heavyweight 10 section sleeper-lounge Mt. Broderick which was assigned to the L&N but owned and operated by Pullman; several baggage cars; a steam-powered crane; and E-6 diesel locomotive No. 770. All of the last seven pieces of equipment listed are in need of restoration.

The Historic Railpark and Train Museum owns or operates several pieces of L&N equipment, including an E-8 diesel locomotive, a Railway Post Office car, dining car No. 2799, a sleeping car, an observation car, along with a Jim Crow combine in need of major overhaul.

There are several other museums that own L&N equipment, including the Bluegrass Railroad Museum.

L&N 2132 a South Louisville shop
Steam locomotive is also on static display in Corbin Ky. 2132 was moved from Bainbridge Georgia to Corbin and underwent a fully cosmetic restoration. Along with 2132 and her tender is L&N caboose 1056.

The Wilderness Road Trail is a rail trail built on the ROW from Cumberland Gap National Historical Park to Ewing, Virginia.

See also

 Family Lines System
 List of Louisville and Nashville Railroad precursors
 Louisville & Nashville Railroad Co. v. Mottley—famous U.S. Supreme Court case involving the railroad
 Seaboard System

References

Further reading

 Cotterill, R. S. "The Louisville and Nashville Railroad 1861-1865", American Historical Review (1924) 29#4 pp. 700–715 in JSTOR

External links

 The Louisville & Nashville Railroad Historical Society
 L&N in Georgia
 L&N in Alabama
 L&N model photos
 A 1933 article on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, from the New Zealand Railways magazine.
 Historic RailPark & Train Museum and L&N Depot
 Finding Aid, Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company records, University of Louisville Archives and Records Center
 Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company  Magazine – a digital collection of the company's employees' magazine.
 1958 L&N Railroad Map

Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
Railway companies established in 1850
1850 establishments in Kentucky
1982 disestablishments in Florida
Defunct companies based in Louisville, Kentucky
Defunct Florida railroads
Defunct Kentucky railroads
Defunct Tennessee railroads
Defunct Virginia railroads
Former Class I railroads in the United States
Former components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average
Kentucky in the American Civil War
Predecessors of CSX Transportation
Companies based in Jacksonville, Florida
Railway companies disestablished in 1982
Seaboard System Railroad
Tennessee in the American Civil War
Transportation in Louisville, Kentucky
Transportation in Nashville, Tennessee
Defunct Alabama railroads
Defunct Ohio railroads
Defunct Missouri railroads
Defunct Illinois railroads
Defunct Indiana railroads
Defunct Georgia (U.S. state) railroads
Defunct South Carolina railroads
Defunct North Carolina railroads
Defunct Louisiana railroads
Defunct Mississippi railroads

Louisville and Nashville Railroad


Jerôme Duquesnoy (II) or Hieronymus Duquesnoy (II) or the Younger (baptized 8 May 1602  – 28 September 1654) was a Flemish architect and sculptor who was particularly accomplished in portraits. He played an important role in the introduction of the Baroque style in Northern European sculpture.

Life

Training
He was born in Brussels, the son of Jerôme Duquesnoy (I), court sculptor to Archduke Albert and Archduchess Isabella who jointly ruled the Spanish Netherlands. His father is now mainly known as the creator of the Manneken Pis fountain in Brussels (1619). He trained in his father's workshop along with his older brother François. François went to work in Rome where he became rather successful.

Abroad

Jerôme travelled to join his older brother in Rome in 1621. During Anthony van Dyck's period of residence in Rome, the brothers became friends with him and van Dyck painted their portraits. Jerôme worked with his brother on the baldacchino for Saint Peter's in Rome as is testified by a payment in his own name for that work received in 1627. There is no documentation on Jérôme's movements between 1627 and 1641. The assumption has been that the brothers had a falling out and split ways after which Jerôme went to work primarily in Spain, where he received court commissions, and Portugal. None of his works from that period have been traced. An alternative view of the lack of details on Jérôme's whereabouts and residence in Spain between 1627 and 1641 holds that Jérôme had in fact not left Rome for a long period of time but had been working inside the workshop of his brother in Rome assisting him with his various commissions. The trip to Spain would therefore have only been rather brief and occurred probably in the year 1640. When in 1641 Jérôme is documented as working in the workshop of the Flemish goldsmith Andreas Ghysels in Florence, he may have been doing so in the execution of designs of his brother.

After a stay of nine months in Florence, Duquesnoy returned to Rome. When François left on a trip to France at the invitation of the French king to become the director of a yet to be established department of painting and sculpture called 'Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture', Jerôme accompanied him. During the trip François died on 12 July 1643 in Livorno of an illness from which he had already been suffering before he set out.

Return to Flanders
Instead of returning to Rome, Jerôme travelled on to his hometown Brussels where he soon received many commissions.  He claimed the chests with art designs and models that had belonged to his brother and that had been sent on to Brussels.

In 1644 he completed a sculpture of Saint Thomas destined for the Cathedral of Saint Michael and Saint Gudula in Brussels and paid for by the Council of Brabant. He also became an assistant of the court architect and painter Jacob Franquart. In 1646 he drew the design for the Our Blessed Lady chapel in the Cathedral of Saint Michael and Saint Gudula and directed its construction.

Duquesnoy completed an additional three sculptures of apostles for the Cathedral of Saint Michael and Saint Gudula in 1646. He also made the images of the apostles Philip and Matthew for the Chapel Church in Brussels. When Jacob Franquart died in 1651, Duquesnoy succeeded to his position at the Brussels court as "architecte, statuaire et sculpteur de la Cour" (Court architect, statue maker and sculptor). In that capacity Duquesnoy completed several portraits of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, then governor of the Spanish Netherlands (now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna).

He received the commission for the tomb monument of Bishop Antonius Triest to be placed in the choir of the Saint Bavo Cathedral in Ghent. He also received a commission from the family Thurn und Taxis for a marble statue of Saint Ursula to be placed in the Saint Ursula Chapel in the Sablon Church in Brussels.

In 1654 Duquesnoy was living in Ghent to complete the tomb monument of Antonius Triest. He was arrested for sexually abusing two boys of respectively 8 and 11 years old and tried for sodomy. Appeals by his friends to the court in Brussels to transfer jurisdiction over the case from the local court in Ghent to the Royal Magistrate in Brussels were unsuccessful. He was sentenced to strangulation at the stake, followed by burning at the Koornmarkt, a public square in Ghent. The sentence was carried out on 28 September 1654. The tomb of Triest was left to be completed by others.

Work

Jerôme is generally regarded as a skilled sculptor, but a less original or innovative artist than his brother François. His artistic talent has been questioned based on assumptions surrounding the use for his own work of designs made by his brother, and in particular the designs for the bust (now in the Louvre Museum in Paris) and the tomb of Bishop Triest. Already in 1642 Bishop Antonius Triest had approached François Duquesnoy in relation to this bust and monument and had sent along a painting of himself to be used as the basis for the bust. François had declined the commission because of his upcoming move to France but is still said to have made a few terracotta models for putti for the monument. There is no documentation whether or how much work François had done on the design and execution of the bust before he died in 1643. It is therefore difficult to determine how much (if any) of it is of his hand. The work was probably completed in 1643 or 1644 and is signed by Jerôme. The very high quality of the execution of the portrait has led to speculation that his brother had a major (or even sole) role in its design and even execution.
It is likely that the design of the tomb monument itself, which was made almost a decade later, was by Jerôme's own hand. The monument is placed in an architectural frame of black and white marble and depicts Mary and Christ looking down on the effigy of the Bishop reclining on a sarcophagus. The portrait of the Bishop in the monument is particularly fine although some have compared it unfavourably with the earlier bust of the Bishop.

He worked in the baroque style with classicistic tendencies pioneered by his brother. One of his most successful works is the marble statue of a kneeling Saint Ursula placed in the Saint Ursula Chapel in the Sablon Church in Brussels. His style can be clearly seen in the marble depicting the Rape of Ganymede (Westphalian State Museum of Art and Cultural History)

References

External links

Flemish Baroque sculptors
Flemish Baroque architects
17th-century births
1654 deaths
People executed by strangulation
People executed for sodomy
Artists from Brussels

Jerôme Duquesnoy (II)


A federal republic is a federation of states, with a republican form of central government. It differs from a unitary state in that in a federal republic, the authorities of the state governments cannot be taken back by the central government.

A republic is a country belonging to the people, whereas a federation is a form of government where by regional divisions are not branches of the central government. Thus, a federal republic has power divisions and regional governments fall under the power domain of the national government.

Many countries have a federal republic government; for example, the Republic of Austria, the Federal Republic of Brazil, the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Republic of India, the United Mexican States, the Swiss Confederation, the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and the United States of America.  As this list shows, some of these countries use "Federal Republic" in their name, and some do not. Federal Republics usually have presidents.

There can be more than one type of Federal republic. For example, the United States is a Constitutional Democratic Federal Republic. Ethiopia also has a Federal Republic government

History of the American Federal republic

The American Federal republican system has grown over the past 225 years.

References

Republics

Federal republic


Pátio do Colégio (in Portuguese School Yard, written in the archaic orthography Pateo do Collegio) is the name given to the historical Jesuit church and school in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. The name is also used to refer to the square in front of the church. The Pátio do Colégio marks the site where the city was founded in 1554.

The city of São Paulo has its beginnings in a mission established by Jesuits Manuel da Nóbrega, José de Anchieta and others in the Brazilian hinterland. The village - then called São Paulo dos Campos de Piratininga - was founded on a plateau between two rivers, the Tamanduateí and the Anhangabaú, and was linked to the coastal village of São Vicente by a precarious path in the rainforest.

The date that marks the beginning of São Paulo is January 25, 1554, when the priests celebrated the inaugural mass of the Jesuit school. Initially, the church building was a modest hut covered with palm leaves or straw. In 1556, under father Afonso Brás, new buildings of the school and church were finished using taipa de pilão (rammed earth), a more solid technique. These buildings would be the centre of spiritual and educational life in the settlement in the next couple of centuries.

Since its beginnings, the Jesuit action in evangelising the Amerinds clashed with the interests of many settlers, who used indigenous slave labour and profited from the indigenous slave trade. In the early São Paulo, the expeditions of the bandeirantes to the hinterland in order to capture Amerinds were an important economic activity, and the conflicts with the Jesuits led to the expulsion of the Order from the village in 1640. Only in 1653, bandeirante Fernão Dias Pais Leme allowed the return of the Jesuit priests. The church and school were extensively rebuilt around 1653.

In 1759, with the Suppression of the Society of Jesus in Portugal and its colonies ordered by the Marquis of Pombal, the fathers had to leave again. The Jesuit buildings now housed the colonial governors of São Paulo, and they continued to serve administrative functions after the Independence of Brazil and well into the 20th century. The colonial structures were completely rebuilt in different styles, and in 1896 the church collapsed. The tower survived but was greatly modified.

In 1953, during the celebrations of the city's 400th anniversary, the area was given back to the Jesuit order. Thanks to their relative simple architecture and the abundance of 19th-century iconography, the church was rebuilt and the tower and the school façade were given back their colonial look. The church and tower, in particular, have the sober Mannerist style they had in the 17th century, typical of Jesuit churches of colonial Brazil.

Anchieta Museum
In 1979, a museum dedicated to Father José de Anchieta was inaugurated in the Pátio do Colégio. It contains more the 600 items including colonial paintings, altarpieces and sculptures, documents and iconography pertaining Jesuit action in Brazil. 17th century portraits of José de Anchieta and writer and priest António Vieira, another important Jesuit figure, are highlights of the collection. Particularly informative is also a scale model of the Pátio do Colégio area at the time of the founding of São Paulo and the panels that show the development of this area of the city through the centuries.

See also
 List of Jesuit sites

Footnotes

References
Pateo do Collegio official website
Eduardo Bueno. Coleção Terra Brasilis Volume 4 - A Coroa, a Cruz e a Espada. Ed. Objetiva. Rio de Janeiro, 2006. (in Portuguese)

Museums in São Paulo
Central Zone of São Paulo
History museums in Brazil
Christian museums
Religious buildings and structures completed in 1556
Portuguese colonial architecture in Brazil
1556 establishments in the Portuguese Empire

Pátio do Colégio


Traffic congestion is when vehicles travel slower because there is too much traffic on roads. This makes trip times longer, and increases queueing. This is also known as a traffic jam.  Congestion may result from a decrease in capacity, for example accidents on the road or roads being closed.  Bad road layouts can also restrict capacity.  Increased traffic, for example by many cars leaving a sports stadium at the same time, can also cause congestion.

Where congestion is common, for example because of commuting in big cities, several methods are used to relieve it. Cars may be banned in certain districts or certain times, or made to carry passengers or pay a fee, or people may use public transport, such as rapid transit, which travel independently of car traffic and are not affected by traffic jams.

Traffic

Traffic congestion


The Senate House State Historic Site is located on Fair Street in Kingston, New York, United States. During the Revolutionary War, New York's First Constitutional Convention met there and on April 20, 1777, adopted the first New York State Constitution. After one month, the Senate fled the British troops who were advancing from Manhattan. The Senate House and much of Kingston was burned in retribution. It has served as a museum from the late 19th century. Currently it is owned and operated by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

In 1971 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the first building in Kingston listed. At that time it was a contributing property to the small Clinton Avenue Historic District. Four years later, in 1975, the original district was replaced with the larger Kingston Stockade District, which retained the Senate House and all the other properties of the original district.

The house first belonged to Wessel Wesselse Ten Broeck, born about 1636, who emigrated to New Amsterdam from Wessen, in Westphalia in 1659. It is generally described as having been  built in 1676, but can be certainly dated to some time before his death in 1704. The ground floor of the house consists of three rooms, lined up along the street, with an entrance hallway between two of the rooms. As is typical of early Dutch houses in the Hudson Valley, the house is of stone, with the exception of the rear wall which is brick, laid in Flemish bond. At the back is a kitchen wing, added early, but somewhat later than the original construction.

See also

List of New York State Historic Sites
List of the oldest buildings in New York
National Register of Historic Places listings in Ulster County, New York

References

External links

Senate House State Historic Site at NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
National Park Service: Senate House in Kingston
Wildernet information about Senate House
Archeology at the Senate House
Rachel DuMont, A Brave Little Maid of the Revolution. A true story of the burning of Kingston; for girls and boys, and older people (1884)

National Register of Historic Places in Ulster County, New York
Historic American Buildings Survey in New York (state)
New York (state) historic sites
Museums in Ulster County, New York
Tourist attractions in Ulster County, New York
History museums in New York (state)
New York (state) in the American Revolution
American Revolutionary War sites
Houses completed in 1676
Kingston, New York
Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in New York (state)
Government buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state)
1676 establishments in the Province of New York

Senate House State Historic Site


Menachem Mendel Morgensztern of Kotzk, better known as the Kotzker Rebbe and the Kotzker (1787–1859) was a Hasidic rabbi and leader.

Life
Born to a non-Hasidic family in Goraj near Lublin, Poland, he became attracted to Hasidic philosophy in his youth. He was known for having acquired impressive Talmudic and Kabbalistic knowledge at an early age. He was a student of Reb Bunim of Peshischa, and upon the latter's death attracted many of his followers. Morgensztern was well known for his incisive and down-to-earth philosophies, and sharp-witted sayings. He appears to have had little patience for false piety or stupidity.

From 1839 he lived in seclusion for the last twenty years of his life.

Students and legacy
The Kotzker Rebbe never published any works. He wrote many manuscripts, but he had them all burned before his death. Several collections of his sayings have been published, most notably Emes VeEmunah (Truth and Faith).

The Kotzker Rebbe's disciple Rabbi Avrohom Bornsztain, author of Avnei Nezer and first Sochatchover Rebbe, was his son-in-law (having married Sara Tzina Morgenstern, the daughter of the Kotzker Rebbe).

The Kotzker Rebbe is considered to be the spiritual founder upon which the Ger dynasty in Poland is based, through the teachings of its founder and first Rebbe Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Alter, known for his work as the Chidushei Harim, who was a preeminent disciple of the Kotzker Rebbe and his brother in law through his second wife.

One of his major students was Rabbi Mordechai Yosef Leiner of Izbica.

Dynasty

 His eldest son, Rabbi Dovid Morgensztern, succeeded him as Kotzker Rebbe (1809–1893).
 The third Kotzker Rebbe was Rabbi Chaim Yisrael Morgenstern (the Pilover Rebbe, 1840–1905).
 The fourth Kotzker Rebbe was Rabbi Yitzchak Zelig Morgenstern (the Sokolover Rebbe, 1866–1939).
 The fifth Kotzker Rebbe was Rabbi Jacob Mendel Morgenstern (the Węgrów Rebbe, 1887–1939).
 The sixth Kotzker Rebbe was Rabbi David Solomon Morgenstern, who emigrated to London, England and then, Chicago, Illinois where he served the Chicago community.

Some of the Kotzker's sayings
"What kind of God would He be if I could understand Him?"
"If I am I because I am I, and you are you because you are you, then I am I and you are you. But if I am I because you are you and you are you because I am I, then I am not I and you are not you!"
"Do not be satisfied with the speech of your lips and the thought in your heart, all the promises and good sayings in your mouth, and all the good thoughts in your heart; rather you must arise and do!"
"A person must renew himself, and his world with him, each and every day. But one who does not do so, and rather performs his deeds as a mechanical function, does nothing other than the actions of a monkey. Just as this monkey has no personality of his own, but rather copies his own actions and his fellow, so too this person."
"Not all that is thought need be said, not all that is said need be written, not all that is written need be published, and not all that is published need be read."
Man must "guard himself and his uniqueness, and not imitate his fellow ... for initially man was created 'in his own image', and only afterwards in the image of God."
"People are accustomed to look at the heavens and to wonder what happens there. It would be better if they would look within themselves, to see what happens there."
"Where is God to be found? In the place where He is given entry."
"You don't love fish. If you loved the fish, you would not have killed it and cooked it on a fire."
"Just as it is the way of an ape to imitate humans, so too, a person, when he has become old, imitates himself, and does what was his manner previously." In other words, most of us, at some point in life, either consciously or not, become satisfied with who we are and what we've become. As such, we cease to strive toward attaining greater spiritual heights. We are content to live out our remaining days as a mere imitation of ourselves!

"Each person was created in his/her image and only then in God's image."

There are many more wise and important sayings by the Kotzker Rebbe.

See also
Kotsk

References

Sources
 Fox, Dr. Joseph (1988). Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk: A Biographical Study of the Chasidic Master. New York:Bash Publications Inc.
 Oratz, Rabbi Ephraim (1989) And Nothing But The Truth according to the Rebbe of Kotzk. Judaica Press.
 Heschel, Abraham Joshua (1973). A Passion for Truth. New York:Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
 Raz, Simcha, Levin, Edward (trans.) (1995). The sayings of Menachem Mendel of Kotsk. Northvale, N.J.:Jason Aronson Inc.

External links

 Fox, Joseph Dr., "Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk" A Biographical Study of the Chasidic Master, .pdf book download
 The Hammer of Solitude: Boundaries and Alienation in the Life of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Morgenstern of Kotsk

1787 births
1859 deaths
Hasidic rebbes
Hasidic rabbis in Europe
Polish Hasidic rabbis
Burials in Poland
People from Biłgoraj

Menachem Mendel of Kotzk


The Katskhi pillar (, kac'xis svet'i) is a natural limestone monolith located at the village of Katskhi in western Georgian region of Imereti, near the town of Chiatura. It is approximately  high, and overlooks the small river valley of Katskhura, a right affluent of the Q'virila.

The rock, with visible church ruins on a top surface measuring  150 m2, has been venerated by locals as the Pillar of Life and a symbol of the True Cross, and has become surrounded by legends. It remained unclimbed by researchers and unsurveyed until 1944 and was more systematically studied from 1999 to 2009. These studies determined the ruins were of an early medieval hermitage dating from the 9th or 10th century. A Georgian inscription paleographically dated to the 13th century suggests that the hermitage was still extant at that time. Religious activity associated with the pillar was revived in the 1990s and the monastery building had been restored within the framework of a state-funded program by 2009.

Architecture
The Katskhi pillar complex currently consists of a church dedicated to Maximus the Confessor, a crypt (burial vault), three hermit cells, a wine cellar, and a curtain wall on the uneven top surface of the column. At the base of the pillar are the newly built church of Simeon Stylites and ruins of an old wall and belfry.

The church of St. Maximus the Confessor is located at the south-easternmost corner of the top surface of the Katskhi pillar. A small simple hall church design with the dimensions of 4.5 × 3.5 m., it is a modern restoration of the ruined medieval church built of stone. Beneath and south of the church is an elongated rectangular crypt with the dimensions of 2.0 × 1.0 m., which had served as a burial vault. Digs at the ruined wine cellar revealed eight large vessels known in Georgia as k'vevri. Also of note is a rectangular cellar grotto with the entrance and two skylights—on the vertical surface of the rock, some  below the top. At the very base of the pillar there is a cross in relief, exhibiting parallels with similar early medieval depictions found elsewhere in Georgia, particularly at Bolnisi.

History

In historical records, the Katskhi pillar is first mentioned by the 18th-century Georgian scholar Prince Vakhushti, who reports in his Geographic Description of the Kingdom of Georgia: "There is a rock within the ravine standing like a pillar, considerably high. There is a small church on the top of the rock, but nobody is able to ascend it; nor know they how to do that." No other written accounts of monastic life or ascents survive. A number of local legends surround the pillar. One of them has it that the top of the rock was connected by a long iron chain to the dome of the Katskhi church, located at a distance of around  from the pillar.

In July 1944 a group led by the mountaineer Alexander Japaridze and the writer Levan Gotua made the first documented ascent of the Katskhi pillar. Vakhtang Tsintsadze, an architecture specialist with the group, reported in his 1946 paper that the ruins found on top of the rock were remains of two churches, dating from the 5th and 6th centuries and associated with a stylite practice, a form of Christian asceticism. Since 1999, the Katskhi pillar has become the subject of more systematic research. Based on further studies and archaeological digs conducted in 2006, Giorgi Gagoshidze, an art historian with the Georgian National Museum, re-dated the structures to the 9th–10th century. He concluded that this complex was composed of a monastery church and cells for hermits. Discovery of the remnants of a wine cellar also undermined the idea of extreme ascetism flourishing on the pillar. In 2007, a small limestone plate with the asomtavruli Georgian inscriptions was found, paleographically dated to the 13th century and revealing the name of a certain "Giorgi", responsible for the construction of three hermit cells. The inscription also makes mention of the Pillar of Life, echoing the popular tradition of veneration of the rock as a symbol of the True Cross.

Religious activity started to revive in 1995, with the arrival of the monk Maxim Qavtaradze, a native of Chiatura.  Between 2005 and 2009, the monastery building on the top of the pillar was restored with the support of the National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia. The rock was once accessible to male visitors through an iron ladder running from its base to the top, but has recently been deemed inaccessible to the public.

Maxime Qavtaradze, a monk of the Orthodox Church, has lived on top of Katskhi Pillar for 20 years, coming down only twice a week. Evidence of use by stylites as late as the 13th century has been found on the top of the rock. With the aid of local villagers and the National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia, Qavtaradze restored the 1200-year-old monastic chapel on the top of the rock. A film documentary on the project was completed in 2013.

References

Natural monoliths
Georgian Orthodox monasteries
Geography of Imereti
Stylites
Buildings and structures in Imereti
Immovable Cultural Monuments of National Significance of Georgia
Archaeological sites in Georgia (country)

Katskhi pillar


The term annual percentage rate (APR), also called nominal APR, and the term effective APR, means the interest rate for a whole year, rather than just a monthly fee/rate, as applied on a loan, mortgage loan, or credit card. This rate is useful when buying a car, a house, or any other expensive possession. Since few people are able to afford to pay the full price, many sellers choose to divide the price into monthly payments and a down payment. This makes things easier to buy. Once the buyer pays the down payment, he or she enters into an agreement to pay the remaining months. But since the buyer has not paid the entire amount yet, the seller is essentially lending part of the purchase to the buyer. This is where interest rates come in. The seller charges the monthly payments with a part or a percentage of the remaining amount. This amount gets added onto the monthly payment. Some companies force the buyer to pay the interest first, and the remaining amount pays the original loaned amount, called the principal.

References

Money

Annual percentage rate


My Fair Lady is a musical. It is based on George Bernard Shaw's play, Pygmalion, and on the movie adaptation of the play starring Wendy Hiller and Leslie Howard. The book and lyrics for the musical were written by Alan Jay Lerner. The music was written by Frederick Loewe.

Synopsis
The common flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, tells us of the simple pleasures she would like in life (a warm room, an enormous chair, chocolate, someone who cares for her) and how much she would appreciate these little things. As Eliza grew up on the streets of London, she has a strong cockney accent (therefore pronouncing 'lovely' as 'loverly'), the phoneticist, Professor Henry Higgins, overhears her and he places a bet that he can turn Eliza into a lady within the space of a year.

Productions
The musical premiered on Broadway on 15 March 1956 at the Mark Hellinger Theatre.  It moved to other theatres in New York during its original run, and closed on 29 September 1962 after 2,717 performances. It starred Rex Harrison, Julie Andrews, Robert Coote, and Stanley Holloway. It was directed by Moss Hart.

The West End production opened on 30 April 1958 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Harrison, Andrews, Coote, and Holloway played their Broadway roles. It ran for five and one-half years for 2,281 performances.

Awards
The musical won the Tony Award for Best Musical.

Adaptations
The musical was made into a movie in 1964 starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison.

Broadway musicals
West End musicals
Musicals based on plays
Musicals based on movies
Musicals adapted to movies
1950s musicals
Tony Award winning musicals

1956 works

My Fair Lady


Michael Butler (born December 24, 1961) is an American musician and podcaster from San Francisco, California, United States.

He is well known for his popular podcast, The Rock and Roll Geek Show, one of the earliest podcasts and a featured program on Mevio (formerly PodShow), a podcasting start-up and Butler's employer from late 2005 to 2013 as Director of Programming.  He left that company to start his own multimedia video production company, "MySourceTV", with business partner Laura Rose.

Butler plays bass guitar and performs vocals with his own band, American Heartbreak.  He also previously played bass in the Florida hardcore band Stevie Stiletto, and thrash metal band Exodus.   Since 2006 he has also been playing with the San Francisco band Jetboy, although he was kicked out of the band live on his podcast in early November 2009 after expressing disappointment and frustration that the drummer had just quit.  In July 2009 Butler joined Ginger from the UK band Wildhearts, as well as former Cult bass player Billy Morrison, for shows at Los Angeles El Ray Theater and The Viper Room.  Butler currently plays in a couple different coverbands including "The Butlers" & "FeatherWitch".
In his spare time he makes "Photo Quality Inkjet paper" custom buttons featuring pictures of bands (such as The Babys), and '80s adult movie actresses and actors.

Aside from the Rock and Roll Geek Show, Butler also hosts several spin-off podcasts such as Cooking With Butler, Rock and Roll Geek Indie Cast, Bangin' With Butler, and Hairbanger's Ball.

In 2008 he started another podcast, The Good Clean Fun Show, in which he discusses the details of his week with his co-host Jasper Plan9.  The show contains reoccurring comedy segments such as "The Beer of the Week" where beers are reviewed badly by a simpleton with no taste, and "What Would You Do For Love?" (in which hypothetical questions about Love\Sex\Marriage\Death are debated).  This show pod-faded sometime in 2013.

In 2015 he started another podcast, Mad At Dad, with fellow podcaster Dave Slusher of The Evil Genius Chronicles.

External links
American Heartbreak — Michael Butler's Band
The Rock and Roll Geek Show — Michael Butler's Podcast
 A. Jacob Metz, "Pod People" , San Francisco Bay Guardian

Living people
American heavy metal bass guitarists
American male bass guitarists
American podcasters
Guitarists from San Francisco
Exodus (American band) members
1961 births
Singers from San Francisco
20th-century American bass guitarists
20th-century American male musicians

Michael Butler (musician)


A septum (Latin: something that encloses; plural Septa) is a partition separating two cavities or spaces. Examples include:
Nasal Septum: the cartilage wall separating the nostrils of the human nose.Often deviated or perforated through physical injury or cocaine abuse.
Cephalopod Septa: walls between each chamber, or siphuncle, in shells of nautiloids, ammonites, and belemnites; i.e. cephalopods that retain an external shell.
The wall dividing the right side of the heart from the left side.
Fungi produce septa to partition filamentous hyphae into discrete cells.

Anatomy

Septum


Secretary of State is a title for a government official.  The title has different meanings in different countries, and in some cases there are several Secretaries of State in the government.

In many countries, a secretary of state is a mid-level official.

In the United Kingdom a secretary of state is a senior minister in the Cabinet.

In the Vatican City the Cardinal Secretary of State is the head of the Roman Curia which is the cabinet of the Vatican and the Roman Catholic Church.

United States

In the United States federal government, the Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, and is responsible for foreign policy.  In most other countries, this official is called the Foreign Secretary or foreign minister.  The Secretary of State is the highest-ranking member of the Cabinet. The current U.S. Secretary of State is Antony Blinken.

Government occupations

Secretary of State


Jack Kahane (20 July 1887, in Manchester – 2 September 1939, in Paris) was a writer and publisher who founded the Obelisk Press in Paris in 1929.

He was the son of Selig and Susy Kahane, both immigrants from Romania. Kahane, a novelist, began the Obelisk Press after his publisher, Grant Richards, went bankrupt. Going into partnership with a printer — Herbert Clarke, owner of Imprimerie Vendôme — Kahane published his next novel Daffodil under his own imprint, and under one of several pseudonyms he used, Cecil Barr. A publisher of "dbs" ("dirty books"), Kahane mixed serious work with smut in his list; he was able to take advantage of a legal hiatus whereby English-language books published in France were not subject there to the censorship otherwise effectively practised in the UK and elsewhere, though they remained potentially subject to confiscation when they were imported into English-speaking countries.

The Obelisk Press published Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer and other works that other publishers would not touch for fear of prosecution, among which were Lady Chatterley's Lover, James Hanley's Boy and some of James Joyce's books.

Jack Kahane was the father of Maurice Girodias, who created the Olympia Press.

Further reading
Neil Pearson Obelisk: A History of Jack Kahane and the Obelisk Press, 2007, Liverpool University Press
 Gary Miers Of Obelisks and Daffodils: The Publishing History of the Obelisk Press (1929–1939), 2011, Handsack Press.
 Jack Kahane. Memoirs of a Booklegger, 1939, William Brendon & Son.

References

External links
Jack Kahane family documents

1887 births
1939 deaths
English Jews
English writers
English publishers (people)
English people of Romanian-Jewish descent
French people of Romanian-Jewish descent
English pornographers
British expatriates in France
20th-century English male writers
20th-century English businesspeople

Jack Kahane


The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) is one of the national scientific research laboratories in the UK operated by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). It began as the Rutherford High Energy Laboratory, merged with the Atlas Computer Laboratory in 1975 to create the Rutherford Lab; then in 1979 with the Appleton Laboratory to form the current laboratory.

It is located on the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus at Chilton near Didcot in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom. It has a staff of approximately 1,200 people who support the work of over 10,000 scientists and engineers, chiefly from the university research community. The laboratory's programme is designed to deliver trained manpower and economic growth for the UK as the result of achievements in science.

History
RAL is named after the physicists Ernest Rutherford and Edward Appleton.

The National Institute for Research in Nuclear Science (NIRNS) was formed in 1957 to operate the Rutherford High Energy Laboratory established next to the Atomic Energy Research Establishment on the former RAF Harwell airfield between Chilton and Harwell. The 50 MeV proton linear accelerator was transferred from the Atomic Energy Research Establishment to the new laboratory to become a national facility for particle physics as the Nimrod (synchrotron). Some components of this linear accelerator are still operating as part of the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source injector linac over 50 years after their first use. Since then the laboratory has grown both with the expansion of its established facilities, and the incorporation of facilities from other institutions to provide the benefits from economies of scale. The major mergers were in 1975 with the adjacent Atlas Computer Laboratory creating the Rutherford Laboratory, and then in 1979 with the Appleton Laboratory to form the current Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. With the closure of the Royal Greenwich Observatory in 1998, some small offices also moved to RAL. Similarly, laser technology moved to RAL from Joint European Torus at Culham to become the foundation of the Central Laser Facility.

To be able to decide the priorities for government funding across all areas of scientific research, the Science & Technology Act of 1965 created the Science Research Council (SRC) which took over management of the Rutherford High Energy Laboratory from NIRNS along with many other previously disparate UK science bodies. To prioritise economic impact over blue skies research, the SRC became the Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) in the early 1980s, and in 1994, the SERC was eventually divided into three Research Councils (the EPSRC, PPARC and the CCLRC – which took responsibility for RAL from EPSRC in 1995), so that each could then focus its development around one of three incompatible business models – administratively efficient short duration grant distribution, medium term commitments to international agreements, long-term commitments to staff and facilities provision. To unify the planning of the provision for UK scientists to access large national and international facilities, in 2007 the CCLRC merged with PPARC and incorporated the nuclear physics discipline from EPSRC to create the Science and Technology Facilities Council which then took responsibility for RAL.

Facilities
The site hosts some of the UK's major scientific facilities, including:

 the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source (1984), a spallation neutron source.
 the Central Laser Facility, providing access to large scale laser systems for researchers from the United Kingdom and other EU countries.
 the Diamond Light Source synchrotron, which officially opened in January 2007.

Also hosted are:
 Microelectronics Support Centre (MSC)
 NGS UK national academic computing grid
 GridPP's Tier1 computing centre
 Energy Research Unit
 various other resources and services in microelectronics, atmospheric sciences, spectroscopy and renewable energy research.

Programmes
In addition to hosting facilities for the UK, RAL also operates departments to co-ordinate the UK programme of participation in major international facilities. The largest of these are the areas of particle physics, and space science.

In particle physics the largest international project is the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, but RAL has a major role in the UK participation in several other projects such as:

 the MINOS – Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search,
 the T2K – to measure the third type of neutrino oscillation,
 experiments to measure the electric dipole moment of the neutron at the Institut Laue–Langevin,
 International Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment,
 the UK Dark Matter Collaboration experiment at the Boulby Mine in Yorkshire.

In space science, RAL builds components for, and tests satellites, as well as receiving, analysing and curating the data collected by those spacecraft. Satellite missions in which RAL has a significant role include:

 the STEREO Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory,
 the SOHO Solar and Heliospheric Observatory,
 Solar-B investigating the Solar Corona,
 Galileo European satellite navigation system,
 MSG-2 meteorological satellite,
 Venus Express investigating the atmosphere of Venus,
 TopSat taking high resolution pictures of the Earth,
 Double Star (Polar) investigating the interaction of the Earth and the Sun,
 EOS-Aura monitoring the global temperature of the Earth's atmosphere,
 Rosetta (spacecraft) investigating the composition of comets,
 Chandrayaan-1 mission to investigate the moon,
 Herschel Space Observatory and Planck (spacecraft) space telescope.
Badr-B, developed the CCD cameras for the satellite.

Economic impact

In recent years, there has been an increasing political drive towards requiring that the science undertaken at RAL and the technology created there result in a proportional economic benefit to the UK to justify the investment of public funds in the laboratory. RAL management has argued that this is achieved in various ways, including:

 From the commercial products and services resulting from the scientific results which are achieved on the facilities at RAL (e.g., through new materials, new drugs etc.).
 Through the early warning of disasters predicted from terrestrial and space data acquired and analysed at RAL (e.g., radio/mobile phone interference predictions, severe weather predictions etc.).
 Through the training of specialist scientists and engineers at RAL, who then move into commercial companies.
 Through the standardisation of technologies which has resulted in the acceleration of economic growth through interoperability and interchangeability of products — especially in computing.
 By the enthusiasm generated in science by the results of large facilities (e.g., from astronomical images or from particle physics experiments), which leads to schoolchildren choosing scientific training and scientific careers in many fields.
 By technologies developed at RAL during the development of facilities themselves, which are then licensed to UK companies, or spin-out companies.

Decommissioning
According to its Annual Report from 2017 to 2018, STFC expects the end of the ISIS pulsed neutron source and the associated Second Target Station to be in 2040 and anticipates decommissioning to take 55 years. The cost of radioactive waste disposal could range between £9 million and £16 million.

In popular culture
RAL was used as a set for the filming of an episode of Terry Nation's BBC TV series Blake's 7.

The computer-generated imagery (CGI) for Ridley Scott's 1979 film Alien were created at the Atlas Computer Laboratory which is now part of RAL.

The Space Science department featured in the "In the Box" episode of the CBeebies series Nina and the Neurons.

See also
 Daresbury Laboratory
 Oak Ridge National Laboratory
 Argonne National Laboratory
 Spallation Neutron Source
 European Spallation Source
 Institut Laue–Langevin
 European Synchrotron Radiation Facility
 Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
 List of synchrotron radiation facilities
 European Space Agency Facilities
 European Research Area
 Diamond Light Source

References

External links
Computing at Chilton: 1961–2003
STFC e-Science
Microelectronics Support Centre
EUROPRACTICE Software Service
Texas Center for High Intensity Laser Science
Photos from a recent open day

Nuclear research institutes
Laboratories in the United Kingdom
Research institutes in Oxfordshire
Science and Technology Facilities Council
Science and technology in England
Scientific organisations based in the United Kingdom
History of Berkshire
Vale of White Horse
Research institutes established in 1957
Scientific organizations established in 1957
1957 establishments in England
1957 establishments in the United Kingdom
Institutes associated with CERN

Rutherford Appleton Laboratory


The Canadian Locomotive Company, commonly referred to as CLC, was a Canadian manufacturer of railway locomotives located in Kingston, Ontario. Its works were located on the south side of Ontario Street between William and Gore streets on Kingston's waterfront.

Early beginnings and bankruptcies
The CLC had its beginnings with a number of predecessor businesses. It began business as the Ontario Foundry in 1848, but after commencing construction of locomotives it became known as the Kingston Locomotive Works. The first steam locomotive was turned out on Wednesday, December 20, 1854. This was the first of four locomotives for the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, which was being built at that time. A further order of five locomotives for the GTR followed in October and November 1856. However, less than three dozen locomotives were built before the business went bankrupt in 1860.

The Canadian Engine & Machinery Company was a shareholder-owned successor company founded in 1865. It too ran into financial troubles during the depression of 1878-1879 and also went bankrupt. It was re-organized in February 1878 as the Canadian Locomotive and Engine Company Ltd. (CL&EC). After yet another re-organization in April 1881, the plant was updated and expanded. The syndicate of investors who owned the Canadian Pacific Railway also owned a large portion of the CL&EC, and when funds were needed to further work on the CPR, their shares were sold to the respected locomotive builder Dübs and Company, of Glasgow, Scotland, which eventually gained control effective January 1, 1888. CL&EC became a major supplier to the CPR, delivering nearly one-third of their locomotives over many decades. These "Dübs-boilered" locomotives were regarded as durable and long-lasting.

CLC is formed and finds modest success
In January 1900, following the decision of both the CPR and the GTR to build their own locomotives, the CL&EC once again became insolvent, and the plant was closed. It was bought by new investors and incorporated in February 1901 as the Canadian Locomotive Company Ltd.  Improvements followed which allowed production of one locomotive per week. Reorganization once again took place under new management in June 1911 although the name remained the same.

CLC contributed to the war effort in two world wars by manufacturing armaments and munitions, as did the competing shops of the Montreal Locomotive Works, the CPR, and others. Large numbers of locomotives were also built for the war effort and for reconstruction afterwards.

By the end of World War II steam technology was at its peak, but production was declining except for exports to France, Belgium and India. One of the last groups of steam locomotives, completed in 1955, was 120  broad gauge, streamlined 4-6-2 types for passenger service in India. CLC felt its future lay with diesel locomotives, but lacking expertise it sought out opportunities with existing builders in the United States.

Representing American manufacturers

In 1948 CLC became the Canadian representative for Baldwin Locomotive Works which also owned Whitcomb Locomotive Works. However, the result of this collaboration was less than outstanding — the Whitcomb locomotives built for the Canadian National Railway with Sterling diesel engines proved problematic, and orders for Baldwin-designed locomotives were modest. CLC then turned to Fairbanks-Morse, a manufacturer of opposed piston diesel engines primarily used in maritime applications that was itself attempting to break into the railway locomotive market.  Baldwin's shares in CLC were acquired in 1950 by the newly formed Canadian Fairbanks Morse.  Orders were more extensive and longer-lasting, especially for the Train Master and Consolidated line designs.  However, the Fairbanks-Morse designs proved to be no match in the marketplace for the ALCO-designed locomotives offered by the Montreal Locomotive Works or to the Electro-Motive Division-designs constructed by General Motors Diesel.  By 1957, orders had fallen off and Fairbanks-Morse eventually left the locomotive business in both Canada and the United States.  Following the departure of Baldwin and MLW, the Canadian market was left to just two companies, General Electric and General Motors Diesel.

Before this however, CLC also sought more opportunities in the export market with the involvement of government agencies, exporting small industrial locomotives of Davenport-Besler design. In 1955 CLC bought the Davenport-Besler Corp. Inc., including its inventory of Porter locomotives. A Canadian-only DTC (Diesel Torque Converter) was built for the CPR featuring a diesel-hydraulic design rather than the conventional diesel-electric.

On July 26, 1965, CLC became Fairbanks-Morse (Canada) Ltd. and was no longer an independent Canadian company. Locomotive construction dwindled even further as the company branched out into industrial machinery such as marine engines and weigh scales. None of this could save the company.

End of CLC
Declining business and a union strike in April 1969 closed the plant that June. It was demolished in August 1971 after having constructed over 3000 locomotives from its earliest beginnings, making it at the time, Canada's second largest commercial builder after Montreal Locomotive Works.

The site of the old plant (known as "Block D") sat vacant for 35 years while several proposed developments failed to materialize or obtain municipal approval. It would be the last vacated portion of Ontario Street's formerly industrial waterfront to be developed. After work to negate the effects of a century of industrial pollutants in the soil, it has recently been redeveloped with three high-rise apartment/condominium buildings (Locomotive Apartments, Carruthers Wharf, and Royal George), a high-rise hotel (Marriott Residences Inn), and a small municipal park (Battery Park).

Clients

 Canadian Pacific Railway
 Canadian National Railway

References

External links

 Canadian Locomotive Company Trainweb

Defunct locomotive manufacturers of Canada
Companies based in Kingston, Ontario
Rail transport in Kingston, Ontario
Defunct manufacturing companies of Canada
Defunct rolling stock manufacturers of Canada
History of manufacturing in Ontario
Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1901
1901 establishments in Ontario
Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1969
1969 disestablishments in Ontario

Canadian Locomotive Company


Emersons Green is an area with lots of houses, just to the north of Bristol, in England.

It used to be just farming land between Mangotsfield and Downend, but in the 1990s houses, schools and shops were built.

Emersons Green is in South Gloucestershire.

There is a large shopping area in Emersons Green, including Sainsbury's, Boots, Lidl and Argos.  There are also restaurants, three pubs and some cafés.

Villages in Gloucestershire

Emersons Green


Bestla or Saturn XXXIX (provisional designation S/2004 S 18) is a moon of Saturn. Its discovery was announced by Scott S. Sheppard, David C. Jewitt, Jan Kleyna, and Brian G. Marsden on May 4, 2005, from observations taken between December 13, 2004, and March 5, 2005.

Bestla is about 7 kilometres in diameter, and orbits Saturn at an average distance of 19,959,000 km in 1052.722 days, at an inclination of 147° to the ecliptic (151° to Saturn's equator), with an eccentricity of 0.772. This moon has the most eccentric orbit of any moon in the solar system.

It was named in April 2007 after Bestla, a frost giantess (female giant) from Norse mythology, mother of Odin.

References
 Institute for Astronomy Saturn Satellite Data
 Jewitt's New Satellites of Saturn page
 IAUC 8523: New Satellites of Saturn May 4, 2005 (discovery)
 MPEC 2005-J13: Twelve New Satellites of Saturn May 3, 2005 (discovery and ephemeris)
 IAUC 8826: Satellites of Jupiter and Saturn (subscription-only) 2007 April 5 (naming the moon)

Saturn's moons

Bestla (moon)


Francesco Feo (1691 – 28 January 1761) was an Italian composer, known chiefly for his operas.  He was born and died in Naples, where most of his operas were premièred.

Life
Feo studied music at the Conservatorio di Santa Maria della Pietà in Naples, starting on 3 September 1704. Among the other composers he met there were Leonardo Leo, Giuseppe de Majo (who would later marry his niece), and Niccolò Jommelli. His first teacher was Andrea Basso, and after 1705 Nicola Fago, who had only just been appointed. Feo remained at the conservatory until some time around 1712.

In 1713 he presented his first opera, L'amor tirannico, ossia Zenobia (Tyrannical Love, or Zenobia), and for carnival 1714 Il martirio di Santa Caterina (The Martyrdom of Saint Catherine of Egypt), an oratorio. His fame began to increase with sacred works for local churches, such as his Missa defunctorum (Requiem Mass) in 1718, and with his recitatives, arias and comic scenes for performances of operas by other composers when they were staged in Naples. In 1719 Feo wrote La forza della virtù (The Power of Virtue), and then his opera seria Teuzzone in 1720. Real fame only came with his opera seria Siface, re di Numidia (Syphax, King of Numidia), for the Teatro San Bartolomeo in 1723. The libretto was the first attempt at dramma per musica by the 25-year-old Pietro Metastasio, who had just arrived in Naples.

With his increasing popularity, Feo was appointed as a teacher in the Conservatorio di Sant'Onofrio a Porta Capuana, where he worked alongside Gabriele Prota and took over from Nicola Grillo. In the next sixteen years he became known as one of the most important teachers in Naples. Among his students at Sant'Onofrio were Nicolò Jommelli, Nicola Sabatino, Matteo Capranica, and Gennaro Manna. In 1739 he left Sant'Onofrio to teach at the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo, to replace Francesco Durante who had just retired. Feo would stay there until 1743, helped by Alfonso Caggi and later Girolamo Abos. During his time there, he taught Giacomo Insanguine and Gian Francesco de Majo.

Feo wrote most of his oratorios between 1723 and 1743, along with a good portion of his cantatas and much other sacred music. His best-known oratorio was San Francesco Salesio, Apostolo del Chablais (Saint Francis de Sales, the Apostle of Chablais, 1734), which would be performed many times in the next twenty years or so throughout Italy. For Rome and Turin he wrote another six opere serie and several intermezzi. Just as his friend Giovanni Battista Pergolesi was commissioned in 1734-35 by the Cavalieri della Vergine dei Dolori to write a new Stabat Mater to replace the now unfashionable one written by Alessandro Scarlatti, so Feo was commissioned to replace Scarlatti's St. John Passion. Feo composed the serenate Oreste and Polinice for Madrid in 1738, and for the Fathers of the Holy Cross in Prague he wrote the oratorio La distruzione dell'esercito dei Cananei con la morte di Sisara (The Destruction of the Canaanite Army and the Death of Sisara, 1739). His last opera, Arsace, was performed in Turin for the reopening of the Teatro Regio in 1740. His last oratorio, Ruth, was performed at Rome in 1743.

In 1743, the Poveri di Gesù Cristo was abolished and converted into a seminary. Feo retired from teaching, but continued to compose sacred music for Neapolitan churches, including the Santissima Annunziata Maggiore, where he became maestro di cappella in 1726. His last autograph composition is a Quoniam tu solus sanctus (For Thou alone art holy), 1760, for tenor and strings.

Works
Operas:
L'amor tirannico, ossia Zenobia (1713)
Lucio Papirio (1717)
La forza della virtù (1719)
Teuzzone (1720)
Siface, re di Numidia (1723)
Morano e Rosina (1723)
Don Chisciotte della Mancia (1726)
Coriando lo speciale (1726)
Ipermestra (1728)
Arianna (1728)
Tamese (1729)
Il vedovo (1729)
Andromaca (1730)
L'Issipile (1733)
Oreste (1738)
Polinice (1738)
Arsace (1740)

Oratorios:
San Francesco di Sales (1734)

Sacred:
Passio secundum Joannem (St. John Passion).
Mass. Confitebor a 5.

References

Sources

The Oxford Dictionary of Opera, by John Warrack and Ewan West (1992),  782 pages,

External links

1691 births
1761 deaths
18th-century Italian male musicians
18th-century Italian composers
Italian Baroque composers
Italian male classical composers
Italian opera composers
Male opera composers
Neapolitan school composers
Composers from Naples

Francesco Feo


The prowfish (Zaprora silenus) is a species of scorpaeniform marine fish found in the northern Pacific Ocean. It is the only extant member of the family, Zaproridae.  Another species, Araeosteus rothi, is known from Late Miocene marine strata in Southern California.

Prowfish range from the Aleutian Islands, Alaska west to Kamchatka, Russia; from Navarin Canyon in the Bering Sea south to Hokkaidō, Japan and Monterey, California. An otherwise little-known species, prowfish are important to subsistence fisheries in remote regions.

Growing to a length of , prowfish have stout, laterally compressed and elongated bodies. They have single, somewhat high dorsal fin running nearly the entire length of the back; it may contain 54–58 pliable spines. The anal fin is also fairly extensive. The tail fin is large, rounded and truncated; the pectoral fins are enlarged and pelvic fins are conspicuously absent. The mouth is slightly upturned with small, closely set, sharp teeth confined to the jaws. The head is convex, ending in a projecting snout. This explains the family name Zaproridae; from the Greek za, an intensifier, and prora meaning "prow". The species name silneus is a reference to Silenus, a figure in Greek mythology.

The distinctive head of the prowfish also features a number of sensory pores made all the more obvious by fringes of blue or white. Prowfish have small ctenoid scales and a variable coloration; typically, they are bluish-grey to olive brown with small dark spots, grading to lighter shades ventrally. The lateral line and swim bladder are absent.

Prowfish prefer rocky substrates and range from relatively shallow waters to . They are benthic animals spending most of their time on or near the bottom. Their diet consists principally of scyphozoans and salps; prowfish use their large mouths to tear chunks from the bells of jellyfish and ctenophores. Prowfish may also eat smaller fish and amphipods; however, juveniles feed exclusively on jellyfish. Larger skates and Pacific halibut are known predators of prowfish.

Little is known of prowfish reproduction, but juveniles have been observed to be pelagic; unlike adults, they spend their time in the middle levels of the water column, closely associated with their jellyfish prey. Indeed, juvenile prowfish will seek shelter from prey within the bells of larger jellies. This behaviour has led to their confusion with the medusafish (Icichthys lockingtoni) of the family Centrolophidae. Most female prowfish are thought to reach maturity at around five years. There is little sexual dimorphism; females are slightly heavier for their length.

Timeline

See also
List of fish common names
List of fish families

References

Fish described in 1896
Taxa named by David Starr Jordan

Prowfish


Jules Gabriel Verne (; February 8, 1828 – March 24, 1905) was a French author from Brittany who pioneered the science-fiction genre. He is best known for novels such as Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870), A Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873). Verne wrote about space, air, and underwater travel before air travel and practical submarines were invented, and before practical means of space travel had been devised.

Itokasi

àwọn ọjọ́ìbí ní 1828
Àwọn ọjọ́aláìsí ní 1905
Àwọn olùkọ̀wé ará Fránsì

Jules Verne


Widener University is a private university in Chester, Pennsylvania. The university has three other campuses: two in Pennsylvania (Harrisburg and Exton) and one in Wilmington, Delaware.

Founded as The Bullock School for Boys in 1821, the school was established in Wilmington, Delaware. It became The Alsop School for Boys from 1846 to 1853, and then Hyatt's Select School for Boys from 1853 to 1859. Military instruction was introduced in 1858, and the school changed its name in 1859 to Delaware Military Academy. It moved to Pennsylvania in 1862 and became Chester County Military Academy. It was known as Pennsylvania Military College after 1892 and adopted the Widener name in 1972.

About 3,300 undergraduates and 3,300 graduate students attend Widener in eight degree-granting schools.  The university offers associate, baccalaureate, master's, and doctoral degrees in areas ranging from traditional liberal arts to professional programs. It is classified among "Doctoral/Professional Universities" and a "Community Engagement Institution".

History

Widener University was founded in 1821 as the Bullock School for Boys preparatory school in Wilmington, Delaware, by John Bullock.  Bullock operated the school until 1846 when it was sold to Samuel Alsop and renamed the Alsop School for Boys. In 1853, the school was sold to Theodore Hyatt and renamed the Hyatt's Select School for Boys, and again in 1859 to the Delaware Military Academy.  In 1862, the school moved to West Chester, Pennsylvania.  By act of assembly on April 8, 1862, the Pennsylvania legislature incorporated the school as a university under the name of Chester County Military Academy.  In 1865, the school moved to Chester, Pennsylvania, and occupied the building which would become the Old Main building of the Crozer Theological Seminary. By 1868, the school outgrew the Crozer Old Main building and relocated to its current location.

From 1892 to 1966, the school was known as Pennsylvania Military College (PMC) and was under the direction of General Charles Hyatt. PMC was once one of the nation's senior military colleges. In 1869, Pennsylvania Military College was the first school to have a U.S. Army detail stationed at the school and to receive federal arms for training.  In 1904, the school was recognized on the first list of distinguished institutions published by the U.S. War Department. In 1923, "American March King" John Philip Sousa wrote and dedicated "The Dauntless Battalion" march to PMC's President (Colonel Charles E. Hyatt), the faculty and the cadets of PMC. Sousa had been presented with an honorary doctor of music degree by the college in 1920, and he was impressed by the cadet cavalry horsemen.

In 1966, the school changed its name again to PMC Colleges, which incorporated Pennsylvania Military College as well as Penn Morton College, which had a non-military, co-educational curriculum.  The school expanded the Chester campus from 25 acres to 90 acres.  Graduate programs were introduced in 1966, and female students were first enrolled in 1967.

In 1972, the institution was renamed Widener College to honor the memory of Eleanor Elkins Widener, the maternal grandmother of Fitz Eugene Dixon Jr., a generous supporter of the organization over four decades and a member of the prominent Widener family of Philadelphia.  The Corps of Cadets disbanded, although an Army ROTC program was retained.  The Widener University School of Law was acquired in 1975, which was split in 2015 to become two separate law schools: one on the Delaware campus and another in Harrisburg – Widener University Commonwealth Law School. In recognition of its comprehensive offerings, Widener College became Widener University in 1979. Today, Widener is a four-campus university offering more than 80 programs of study.

Architecture

The Manor House was designed and built by Jonathan Edwards Woodbridge in 1888 at 14th and Potter Street.  It was a wedding gift to his wife, Louise Deshong, and was originally named "The Louise".  It was modeled after the late 19th-century English country manor style and is unique for its hand-made brick construction.

The house was given to the city of Chester as a home for young women.  In 1976, Widener University purchased the home for use as a student residence.   It later became home to the Phi Sigma Sigma sorority.  The home is currently used by Widener University as a student dormitory.

The Old Main and Chemistry Building were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

Timeline
Throughout its long history, the university has undergone several name changes.  The following table details the various names Widener has held over the years as well as any significant organizational changes that occurred during each period.

Campuses
Widener consists of four campuses, the Main Campus in Chester, Pennsylvania, plus campuses in Wilmington, Delaware, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Exton, Pennsylvania.  Founded in 1866 after the school moved to Chester, the  main campus consists of over 100 buildings and serves all undergraduate day students as well as Continuing Studies, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) students, and graduate students.  Widener's graduate programs include business, education, engineering, nursing, social work, physical therapy, and clinical psychology.

The School of Law, which opened in 1976 on the Delaware Campus, consists of 16 buildings across  and is  from the Main Campus.  It contains the School of Law as well as the Legal Education Institute.  Some classes for Continuing Studies students and graduate business students are also held here.  The  Harrisburg Campus, opening in 1989, contains the Widener University Commonwealth Law School and has graduate programs in nursing and social work held there. In July 2015, Widener School of Law, which used to be one school sitting on the Delaware and Harrisburg campuses, split to become Widener University Delaware Law School in Wilmington and Widener University Commonwealth Law School in Harrisburg.

Starting in 2004, the Exton Campus was added to Widener's growing institution. It is located in a business park  from the Main Campus.  It primarily serves Continuing Studies students and contains Widener's Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), which provides continuing education programs for retired adults.

Academics
Widener's academic offerings include over 50 undergraduate majors, 40 minors, and more than 30 graduate programs of study.  Widener has an undergraduate student to faculty ratio of 12:1 with 90% of the full-time faculty having doctorates or the highest degree in their field.  In addition, 60% of all classes contain less than 20 students.

Libraries and museums

The Wolfgram Memorial Library contains 242,000 volumes, 175,000 microfilms, 12,000 audio-visual materials and 1,960 serial subscriptions.

In 1979, Widener University leased and restored the Deshong Art Museum located on Edgemont Avenue in Chester.  The Deshong Art Museum was built in 1914 after the death of the art collector and wealthy industrialist Alfred O. Deshong left his trust and land to the city of Chester.  Deshong donated over 300 pieces of art to the museum including carved Japanese ivory figures, Chinese carved hard stone vessels and 19th century American and European paintings.

Over the years, the museum fell into disrepair and in July 1984 the trustees that managed the art museum dissolved the trust.  The Asian and impressionistic art collection were given to Widener University and are displayed in their permanent collection.

The PMC Museum highlights the legacy of the Pennsylvania Military Academy of Cadets with exhibits of sabres, uniforms, scrapbooks, newspapers and yearbooks.

Rankings and classifications
In 2013, Widener was named a finalist for the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll Presidential award – one of only 14 institutions in the nation to receive that honor. The university has made the honor roll every year since its inception in 2006. The 2018 Best Colleges list from U.S. News & World Report ranked Widener as tied for 192nd among 311 national universities, with a score of 32 out of 100.  It also ranked Widener's undergraduate engineering program 103rd among all 200 programs whose highest engineering degree is a bachelor's or master's.  Out of the 262 national universities ranked, Widener is 55th in the category "Highest Proportion of Classes Under 20 Students".  The 2008 U.S. News & World Report's Best Graduate Schools ranks several of Widener's graduate programs:
clinical psychology → #145,
health care management → #49,
nursing → #141,
physical therapy → #173,
and social work → #140.

Athletics
Widener has 22 varsity teams (11 for men and 11 for women) participating in Division III within the MAC Commonwealth of the Middle Atlantic Conferences (MAC). Formerly known as the Pioneers, their nickname changed to the Pride in the Fall of 2006 after a student poll.  Widener sports teams include:
Men's and Women's varsity: basketball, cross country, lacrosse, soccer, swimming, indoor track and field, outdoor track and field, volleyball and golf.
Men's varsity: baseball and football
Women's varsity: field hockey and softball
Co-ed varsity:  esports
Club sports: men's ice hockey, men's rugby union, women's rugby, and cheerleading

Athletic achievements
The football team has had recent success winning the MAC championship in 2012 and an "Elite 8" appearance in the Division III Playoffs, the ECAC Southwest Bowl in 2011, and the ECAC South Atlantic Bowl in 2005.  Its greatest success has been winning the NCAA Division III National Championship in 1977 and 1981 under long-time coach Bill Manlove and reaching the semi-finals in 1979, 1980, and 2000. Widener also reached the quarterfinals of the tournament in 2012 before losing to eventual NCAA D-III National Champion, Mount Union, by a lopsided 72–17 score.  In 2014, the team again won the MAC championship and eventually lost in the NCAA Division III tournament in the "Elite Eight" to Linfield by a score of 45–7.  Additionally, Widener football has won 17 MAC championships, the most of any team in the conference. Billy "White Shoes" Johnson played for Widener in the early 70s.  He went on to be an all-pro NFL player and was selected to the NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team as well as the College Football Hall of Fame.

The men's basketball team has won 15 MAC titles and appeared in the NCAA Division III Tournament 17 times, advancing to the "Sweet 16" in 1987 and 2006, the "Final 4" in 1985, and the championship game in 1978.  The men's lacrosse team has appeared in the NCAA Tournament 8 times since 2000 and has won 12 MAC titles since 1996.  The men's swimming team has won 12 MAC titles since 1994.

Athletic facilities
The Schwartz Athletic Center is home to basketball, swimming, indoor track, and volleyball.  It houses a newly renovated  by 25 meter 10-lane competition swimming pool, squash/racquetball courts, and administrative offices for the athletic department.  Schwartz is also home to the new Wellness Center, opened in April 2006 to provide the faculty, staff, and students with additional recreational and fitness opportunities.  In addition to exercise equipment, the Wellness Center provides fitness classes and a  rock climbing wall.

Opening in 1994, Leslie C. Quick Jr. Stadium seats over 4,000 people and has a turf playing field surrounded by an 8-lane track.  The stadium houses the football, soccer, men's lacrosse, and outdoor track & field teams.  In addition, Edith R. Dixon Field, opening in 2005,  houses the women's field hockey and lacrosse teams.  It sports an artificial turf, lighting, and a scoreboard.  The field is also used for the intramural teams.

In Fall 2019, the Esports Arena in the basement of University Center opened for the inaugural season of the esports program. The arena includes 26 top-of-the-line gaming PCs and serves as both a practice and competition space for the athletes.

The Philadelphia Eagles held their summer training camp on Widener's campus between 1973 and 1979.  The 2006 movie Invincible depicts the campus during the Eagles' 1976 summer training camp.  Since 2006, the Philadelphia Soul have held practices at Widener as well.

Student life

Enrollment
Widener enrolls approximately 6,300 total students including 3,600 undergraduate, 1,700 graduate students, and 1,000 law school students. Among full-time undergraduate students, the male/female ratio is about 0.8:1 (44% male, 56% female). 48% of undergraduates choose to live on the Main Campus while the remaining students live off-campus or commute.  Approximately 54% of all full-time undergraduates are from Pennsylvania with 45% coming from the rest of the country (predominantly Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia), and 1% of students originating from outside the U.S.  The acceptance rate for undergraduate applicants in fall 2013 was 65.5%.

Student clubs and events
The university has over 100 student clubs including honor societies, religious organizations, media groups, and special interest clubs.  Greek Week, Spring Carnival, and Homecoming are among the popular events on campus. Graduate students are currently not allowed to participate in club sports activities.

Media is big on Widener's campus. The Blue&Gold: Widener University's Student Media Site was established in spring 2013. This outlet for student reporting has been growing ever since, telling the news and giving students a voice on campus. TV Club is Widener's student-run television program. WDNR is the student-run campus radio station that plays a variety of music including hip-hop, rock, metal, and punk.

Fraternity and sorority life
Widener has six fraternities and six sororities. Approximately 12% of all undergraduates are members.  Widener's Greek organizations include:
Fraternities: Alpha Tau Omega, Phi Delta Theta, Tau Kappa Epsilon, Kappa Sigma, Theta Chi and Theta Delta Sigma(Co-ed)
Sororities: Alpha Kappa Alpha, Zeta Phi Beta, Delta Phi Epsilon, Phi Sigma Sigma, Sigma Sigma Sigma, and Alpha Omega Epsilon

Community
Widener is one of only 22 colleges that is a member of Project Pericles, an organization promoting social responsibility and addressing civic apathy among students.  It is classified as a Community Engagement Institution.

Widener has several initiatives aimed at benefiting the surrounding community.  These include:
Pennsylvania Small Business Development Center — The school opened the center in 2006 to provide consulting and educational programs to local small businesses and entrepreneurs.  It is one of only 18 in the state and one of 3 in the Philadelphia region (with Temple University and University of Pennsylvania).
Philadelphia Speakers Series — Since 2004, Widener has sponsored this series which has had such notable speakers as Steve Wozniak, Henry Kissinger, Walter Cronkite and Dave Barry.
University Technology Park — A joint project started in 1999 between the university and Crozer-Keystone Health System to foster small business opportunities focusing on health care, science and technology.  It currently consists of two buildings (with three more planned) on  and is located directly in between the Main Campus and Crozer-Keystone Medical Center.
Widener University Observatory — The observatory has free public telescope viewings throughout the school year hosted by the physics and astronomy department.

Charter school
In 2006, the university established a new charter school near the Chester campus to serve local residents from kindergarten to grade 5.  Named the Widener Partnership Charter School, the school utilizes the university's programs in education, social work, nursing, and clinical psychology.  This collaboration involves the participation of Widener faculty and students to not only provide educational support but also provide additional assistance outside of school through counseling and health services.

Classes in the charter school started in September 2006, enrolling 50 students in both kindergarten and grade 1.  The school continued to add a new grade each year until grade 8 had been reached, surpassing the initial expectations of the project.

Chester revitalization project
A $50 million revitalization project was started in 2007. The project, named University Crossings, included the addition of a hotel, bookstore, coffee shop, restaurant, and apartments.  The project is expected to have an overall economic impact of $1 million to Chester, as well as creating 100 new jobs.

In 2017, Widener University purchased the Taylor Memorial Arboretum in Nether Providence Township about 1 mile north of the Chester campus.  The university purchased the site from BNY Mellon bank and plans to use the nature reserve for research and hands-on learning opportunities for citizen science projects.

Notable alumni

As of 2011, there were 59,018 total living alumni.

References

External links

Educational institutions established in 1821
Eastern Pennsylvania Rugby Union
Widener family
Universities and colleges in Delaware County, Pennsylvania
Universities and colleges in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania
Chester, Pennsylvania
1821 establishments in Pennsylvania
Private universities and colleges in Pennsylvania

Widener University


An NP problem is an algorithmic problem such that if you have a case of the problem of size , the number of steps needed to check the answer is smaller than the value of some polynomial in . It doesn't mean one can find an answer in the polynomial number of steps, only check it.

An NP-complete problem is an NP problem such that if one could find answers to that problem in polynomial number of steps, one could also find answers to all NP problems in polynomial number of steps. This makes NP-complete decision problems the hardest problems in NP (they are NP-hard). People spent lots of time looking for algorithms that finds answers to some NP-complete problem in polynomial number of steps, but have not found any. Because of this, if someone shows a problem to be NP-complete, it is not likely that there is an algorithm solving it in polynomial number of steps.

The unsolved problem P = NP asks whether polynomial time algorithms actually exist for NP-complete, and by corollary, all NP problems. It is widely believed that this is not the case.

The Travelling salesman problem is an NP-Complete problem.

Theoretical computer science

NP-complete