Electro-Voice (EV) is an American manufacturer of audio equipment, including microphones, amplifiers, and loudspeakers, focused on pro audio applications such as sound reinforcement. As a subdivision of Bosch Communications Systems Inc. since 2006, Electro-Voice markets products for use by consumers as well as small or large concert venues, broadcasting, houses of worship, and in retail situations.

History

On September 1, 1927, Lou Burroughs and Albert R. Kahn began a small business called Radio Engineers, servicing radio receivers in the basement of the Century Tire and Rubber Company in South Bend, Indiana. Because of the Great Depression, according to Kahn, "We found ourselves insolvent to the extent of $5,000" ($ today). They decided to focus their business on audio products. The company designed a PA system for Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne. Rockne, who had difficulty being heard at football practices due to health problems that affected his voice, called the new PA system his "electric voice". Rockne's remark inspired the company's name. On June 1, 1930, Burroughs and Kahn incorporated under the name "Electro-Voice".

The partners recognized an opportunity to capitalize on what they perceived as the generally poor quality and high prices of existing microphones. They purchased a lathe and a drill and started producing about one microphone a week. Soon after, Burroughs withdrew from the business, leaving complete ownership to Kahn. By 1933, the previous business debts were completely paid off, and Electro-Voice began hiring manufacturing employees. In 1936, twenty people were hired, and Lou Burroughs returned as chief engineer.

During World War II, EV developed the noise-canceling microphone. Noise cancelling microphones such as the Electro-Voice T45 lip microphone were instrumental to fighter and bomber airplane, tank, battleship and ground troop radio communications. EV licensed the patent to the government for free to be applied by other manufacturers to produce what was needed for the war supply.

In 1946, the business moved to a bigger facility in Buchanan, Michigan and expanded its engineering efforts. In 1948, they began successfully producing phonograph pickup cartridges. In 1950, they started production of the first automatic TV booster. They also started to design and produce a consumer loudspeaker line in response to increased public interest in high-fidelity music listening. In 1952, EV patented the Compound Diffraction Horn, which changed the look and performance the traditional cone-shaped paging horn. Known for its high output, the CDP was deployed by the Navy on aircraft carriers and other high noise environments.

In 1963, EV received an Academy Award for their 642 Cardiline shotgun microphone, the first ever given for an audio product.

Electro-Voice launched its RE Series of microphones in the 1960s, notably the RE15, which was used extensively by musicians on television shows. The RE series used "Variable D" technology first developed by EV in 1953, which eliminated changes in tone and frequency response corresponding to changes in the physical distance of the sound source from the microphone. The RE20 broadcast microphone was introduced in 1968, followed by the RE27N/D in the late 1980s, using neodymium magnets. Both continue to be used in recording studios and on the concert stage.

In the early 1970s, EV developed the first commercial system for matrix four channel stereo called Stereo-4. When Columbia/CBS and Sony developed their Stereo Quadraphonic system (SQ) that system became the leading matrix system. Electro-Voice then adapted their decoders so they also could play SQ records as well as Sansui's QS records. The EV system could also simulate four channel sound from two channel sources.

In 1978, Electro-Voice patented its Constant Directivity Horn, which produced an even balance of frequencies across the listening field. It overcame the uneven dispersion of high frequencies that affected the typical high frequency horns used in many professional sound speakers until the late seventies.

Also in the 1970s, EV acquired TAPCO. The company, founded by Greg Mackie, specialized in audio mixers. TAPCO products soon became prominent in the EV product line.

In the late 1980s, EV became the first microphone manufacturer to use neodymium magnets in its microphones. The N/DYM microphones were introduced in the mid 1980s to combine the high output and high frequency response characteristics of condenser microphones with the rugged shock resistance of dynamic microphones. Around the same time EV's first wireless microphones were being produced.

Mergers
The company merged with Telex Communications in 1998. Prior to the merger, EV was owned by Mark IV Industries, Inc. through its subsidiary, Gulton Industries, Inc., and had manufacturing plants in Buchanan, Michigan; Newport, Tennessee; Sevierville, Tennessee; and Gananoque, Ontario. Electro-Voice's headquarters were in Buchanan, Michigan until the merger with Telex Communications.

In June 2006, EV, along with all of Telex Communications, became part of Bosch Security Systems division. Today EV manufactures widely used broadcast microphones as well as loudspeakers and various other professional audio equipment.

Superfund site
The former Electro-Voice facility in Buchanan, Michigan is a Superfund site. Before closing in 2000, the business was engaged in die-casting, machining, assembly, painting and electroplating activities. According to the EPA, "contamination at the site resulted from Electro-Voice's discharge of electroplating wastes into two clay-lined lagoons from 1952 to 1962, and from the disposal of paint wastes and solvents into a drywell from 1964 to 1973. The waste disposal activities caused groundwater to become contaminated with chemicals called volatile organic compounds, or VOCs. Following construction of the site's long-term remedy, operation and maintenance activities and monitoring are ongoing". Construction of the site's long-term remedy finished in 1999, with the EPA reporting, "soil cleanup included construction of a clay cap and active treatment by an in-place ventilation and volatilization system. Groundwater remediation is ongoing through monitored natural attenuation of pollutants".

See also
 List of microphone manufacturers

References

External links

 Al Kahn Interview at NAMM Oral History Library (2002)
 Don Kirkendall Interview at NAMM Oral History Library (2002)
 Paul McGuire Interview at NAMM Oral History Library (2010)
 George Riley Interview at NAMM Oral History Library (2002)

American brands
Audio amplifier manufacturers
Audio equipment manufacturers of the United States
Audio mixing console manufacturers
Guitar amplifier manufacturers
Loudspeaker manufacturers
Manufacturers of professional audio equipment
Microphone manufacturers
Superfund sites in Michigan

Electro-Voice


Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar (1465 – c. June 12, 1524) was a Spanish conquistador and the first governor of Cuba. In 1511 he led the successful conquest and colonization of Cuba. As the first governor of the island, he established several municipalities that remain important to this day and positioned Cuba as a center of trade and a staging point for expeditions of conquest elsewhere. From Cuba, he chartered important expeditions that led to the Spanish discovery and conquest of the Aztec Empire.

Early life

Little is known about the early life of Velázquez. He was born in Cuéllar around 1465, in the Segovia region of Spain. For a time he was a member of the Spanish military and served in Naples. Afterward, he returned to Spain and lived in Seville. In September 1493, Velázquez was one of 1,500 men who sailed with Columbus on his second voyage to the New World. Velázquez never returned to Spain.

Velázquez settled on the island of Hispaniola and survived the early hardships which killed many colonists or drove them back home. In time he demonstrated an aptitude for dealing with the political factions on the island. He was well regarded by Bartholomew Columbus, the younger brother of Christopher and the administrator of the island from 1493 to 1500. When Bartholomew left the island for any length of time, he would make Velázquez acting governor of Hispaniola.

There is no record of Velázquez during Francisco de Bobadilla's brief tenure as governor of the island but when Nicolás de Ovando was appointed to the post in 1501, Velázquez quickly became one of the governor's trusted lieutenants. In 1503, when a Taíno revolt broke out in the western provinces of the island, Velázquez was ordered to Jaragua where he quashed the rebellion.

After the revolt, Ovando determined that five new towns should be built in the rebellious territory. Velázquez was sent to the western end of the island to establish Salvatierra de la Zabana and perhaps other towns. Velázquez resided in Salvatierra de la Zabana and all five of the new settlements were placed under his administration. By 1511, Velázquez was one of the wealthiest men on Hispaniola. He held encomiendas at Verapaz, Salvatierra de la Zabana, and Santiago de Caballeros, where he was a partner with an unidentified encomendero in mining enterprises.

Conquest of Cuba
When Diego Columbus became governor in 1509, he was instructed by King Ferdinand to explore, conquer, and colonize the neighboring island of Cuba in hopes of obtaining new sources of gold and Native labor. Miguel de Pasamonte, the king's treasurer in the Caribbean, was influential in seeing that Columbus selected Velázquez to lead the expedition. Velázquez was to finance the project himself and though Columbus assured him that the Crown would reimburse him later, no money was ever forthcoming. He assembled a small fleet of four ships and three hundred men among whom were several relatives, debt-ridden encomenderos, and a few who would later become notable, including Hernán Cortés and Pedro de Alvarado.

Velázquez sailed for Cuba in January 1511 and landed at a small harbor in the native province of Mayci. The Spaniards were opposed by a Taíno force led by Hatuey, formerly a chief from Hispaniola who fled to Cuba and helped the local Natives organize resistance to the incursion. The Taínos were outmatched by the Spanish weaponry and after two months of intermittent fighting, they were defeated. According to Bartolomé de las Casas, who did not arrive on the island until later, Hatuey was captured and burned alive at the stake.

The first Spanish settlement, Baracoa, was established on the northeast corner of the island by August 1511. It consisted of a fort surrounded by thatched huts and served as the initial base of operations for the Spanish occupation of Cuba. Later that year, Velázquez was joined by Pánfilo de Narváez who brought thirty Spanish archers and Native auxiliaries from Jamaica. Velázquez was glad for the reinforcements and made Narvaez second in command. More than a year was spent consolidating control of the present-day Oriente province.

In early 1513 Velázquez married Maria de Cuéllar in the new town of Baracoa. She was the daughter of the royal treasurer, Cristóbal de Cuéllar, and a former lady-in-waiting for Maria de Toledo, the wife of Diego Columbus. Maria died less than a week after their wedding.

After a slow start, the conquest of Cuba accelerated dramatically in 1513 when Velázquez organized three expeditions to proceed west, explore the island, and establish a Spanish presence. Narvaez led a force through the interior of the country while Velázquez and a lieutenant proceeded along the south and north coasts respectively. Near the south coast, Narvaez soon met with a force of 2,500 Taínos led by their chief, Caguax. The Spanish struck first before they could be attacked by the Natives defending their land, defeating Caguex, and killing some one hundred Taínos. This was the last significant resistance faced by the Spanish and after that, they proceeded relatively unchallenged in their colonization and search for gold.

In October 1513, Velázquez received letters from the king that expanded his powers in Cuba. Velázquez was authorized to assign Indians to encomiendas and establish additional towns as warranted by his discoveries. In particular, he was encouraged to create settlements on the southern coast that would support trade with the growing Spanish presence in Panama. By 1514, the island was largely pacified and significant gold deposits were discovered at several sites on the island, setting off a brief gold rush that lasted until about 1520. At its peak, officials complained that the search for Cuban gold was depleting manpower in Hispaniola.

In addition to Baracoa, Velázquez used his authority to establish six more Cuban towns by 1515. Most of the new settlements were sited on the coast near gold deposits and significant populations of Indian laborers. Bayamo was founded in 1513, followed in 1514 by Trinidad, Sancti Spiritus, and Havana. Havana, destined to become the premier city of Cuba, was originally founded on the south coast. Camagüey was established in 1515. Velázquez added Santiago de Cuba in July 1515 and made it his residence and the new capital of the island.

Velázquez used the assignment of encomiendas to reward relatives and associates and thus ensure an island aristocracy that was loyal to him. By 1522 significant encomiendas were held by his relatives Juan de Grijalva and Manuel de Rojas; his close associates Panfilo de Narvaez, Bachiller de Alonso Parada, and Vasco Porcallo de Figueroa; and fourteen others. In total, these encomenderos controlled almost 3,000 Indian laborers.

The new colonizers did not wish to be under the personal authority of Diego Columbus, so Velázquez convoked a general cabildo (a local government council) which was duly authorized to deal directly with Spain, and therefore removed Velázquez and the colonizers from under the authority of Columbus, their nominal superior. It was a precedent that would come back to haunt him with the Mexican adventures.

Conquest of Mexico
In 1514, Velázquez wrote to the king concerning rumors of unknown lands to the north and west of Cuba. Initially, these rumors were merely the subject of idle speculation and the king instructed Velázquez to remain focused on the governance of Cuba and especially the production of gold. However, as the demand for labor grew, slaving expeditions explored the region in search of natives to work the Cuban ranches and gold mines. Interest in exploration and conquest intensified in 1516 when a slave ship returned carrying 20,000 pesos of gold seized from the natives living on the Guanajes, a series of small islands off the coast of Central America.

Velázquez quickly commissioned Francisco Hernández de Córdoba to lead an expedition which sailed in February 1517, with instructions to explore certain neighboring islands. They soon came upon the shore of what they initially believed to be a large island, thus marking the Spanish discovery of the Yucatán Peninsula. Initial encounters with the Mayans living along the coast turned into armed conflict; 25 Spaniards were killed and many more wounded, including Córdoba himself. On his return to Cuba, Córdoba reported to Velázquez that the Mayans exhibited a sophistication not seen before in the region, including buildings of stone and mortar, clothing of woven cloth, and ornamentation of gold and silver.

Velázquez organized another expedition, hoping to trade with the Mayans for their gold, "for there must have been much there." He put his nephew, Juan de Grijalva, in command of four ships that departed Cuba in January 1518. Grijalva sailed along the Yucatan and then headed northwards following the Mexican coastline, exploring and trading with the natives as the opportunity arose. When Grijalva returned in October he brought back a profit of 20,000 crowns, but Velázquez was angry with his nephew and felt the returns did not justify the time and effort.

Even before Grijalva returned, Velázquez was preparing for another, larger expedition to the Yucatan. He sent a representative to Spain requesting authority to trade with or conquer the new lands and was granted the title of adelantado of the Yucatan and any other lands he might discover. Velázquez was unsure of who should lead this latest effort and after some hesitancy selected Hernán Cortés. Relations between them had been turbulent. Cortés served as the governor's private secretary during the initial conquest but was later involved in a plot to overthrow him. The attempted coup nearly cost Cortés his life but Velázquez pardoned him and awarded Cortés with one of the first encomiendas in Cuba.

Cortés readily accepted the commission and quickly began to organize a fleet and recruit volunteers. The governor soon regretted his choice when friends and allies warned him that his former secretary could not be trusted to remain loyal. In response, Velázquez named Vasco Porcallo to replace Cortés but when messages were sent ordering him to relinquish command, Cortés refused and even managed to recruit one of the messengers to his cause. Despite further requests and demands, Cortés refused to turn over his command. In February 1519, he left Havana for Mexico with ten ships and about 500 fighting men, effectively declaring himself free of Velázquez's authority.

In August 1519, Velázquez received word that Cortés had sent a ship to Spain carrying Aztec treasure and a request to be recognized as the rightful leader of the new territory. Velázquez hurriedly sent an emissary to Spain, contesting Cortés and reasserting his authority. The Crown agreed to hear the dispute but postponed a decision for two years, perhaps waiting to see how the struggle was resolved in the field.

Velázquez was determined to remove Cortés by force if necessary. In early 1520, he organized an armada of about 1,000 fighting men and 18 ships equipped with both light and heavy artillery. Pánfilo de Narváez was selected to lead the force with instructions to arrest Cortés and assume the government of the new territory on behalf of Velázquez.  Instead, Narváez was easily defeated and Cortés persuaded most of the force to switch sides and join his invasion of the Aztec empire. The failed adventure was a disaster for Velázquez; he lost a substantial fortune invested in the fleet and left Cuba seriously depopulated and vulnerable to a Native uprising.

Later life
Velázquez spent the remaining few years of his life defending his governorship in Cuba and continuing his dispute with Cortes. Diego Colón perhaps sensed that Velázquez was politically vulnerable; he sent Alonso Zuazo to Cuba in January 1521, to replace the governor and conduct his residencia. However, Colon himself was in political difficulties and under investigation by the Crown. Finally, by July 1523, Colon was recalled to Spain and Velázquez was fully restored to office.

In 1522, Carlos I formally recognized Cortes as governor of New Spain, thus ending Velázquez's claims to the newly conquered territory. In 1523, Cortés made Cristóbal de Olid the leader of an expedition to conquer Honduras. While resupplying in Havana, Olid conspired with Velázquez and they agreed that Olid would renounce Cortez and capture Honduras on behalf of Velázquez. When Cortes heard of this plot, he wrote a letter of protest to the king and then dispatched his agents to Honduras where they eventually killed Olid.

Velázquez's health began to fail in the summer of 1523; a year later, he died on June 11 or 12, 1524. At his request, he was buried under the altar steps of the new cathedral in Santiago. His close associate, Gonzalo de Guzman, was the principal heir of his estate and would later serve two terms as governor. Even before he died, plans were underway to replace Velázquez. In May 1524, Carlos II named Juan Altamirano to conduct a residencia and become the new governor of Cuba.

At the time of his death at the age of 59, Velázquez was "the richest Spaniard in the Americas," despite financial losses on the expedition of Francisco Hernández de Córdoba and of Hernán Cortés. He completed the successful conquest and colonization of Cuba, founded towns that remain important today, made Cuba economically prosperous, and positioned it as a center of trade and a staging point for expeditions of conquest elsewhere.

See also
 List of viceroys of New Spain
 Viceroyalty of New Spain
 History of Cuba
 History of Havana
 Juan de Grijalva

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

External links

 Enciclopedia Libre Universal
 Biography, with a bibliography
Short biography
 Encarta (Archived 2009-10-31)

Spanish conquistadors
Governors of Cuba
Spanish city founders
People of the Spanish colonial Americas
15th-century Castilians
16th-century Spanish people
1465 births
1524 deaths
Spanish colonial period of Cuba
Spanish West Indies
16th-century South American people

Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar


Skancke is a Norwegian family name with some slightly different spellings as Skanke, Schanke, Schanche and others. It is not proved whether all persons with those names descend from the same family line in the Middle Ages. One famous Skancke family is from the 17th Century situated in the old mining town of Røros in Mid-Norway.

Some alleged medieval ancestors of the Skancke families, had coats of arms with one armoured leg in the shield and one armoured leg in the crest. From that fact, some persons have made a theory that the two legs mean a link to the three legs in the arms of the monarchical dynasty of the Isle of Man. Norwegian genealogists and heraldists of today, however, provide little further support to such a theory, and there are many coats of arms with armoured legs exist in other countries. The name Skanke might mean a leg and the arms thus being canting arms. There are several variants of the arms through the ages: the shield divided, a rose at the knee of the leg, the crest with an armoured arm holding a sword, and the crest with peacock feathers.

Several family members belong to Skanke Family Association.

The Skancke/Schancke/Schanche etc. families have had - and still have today - many prominent members and descendants in Norway. They have been i.a. famous clergymen, civil servants, business men, sportsmen and politicians.

Notable people
Martin Skancke (born 1966), Norwegian sovereign wealth fund and asset manager expert
Ragnar Skancke (1890–1948), Norwegian politician

References
Hans Cappelen: Norske slektsvåpen, Oslo 1969 (2nd edition Oslo 1976) page 26 and 195 (with further references)
G.V.C Young O.B.E. Fra Skanke-slektens historie, 1986
The three legs go to Scandinavia a monograph on the Manx royal family and their Scandinavian descendants, Peel: Mansk-Svenska Pub.Co.17 North View, 1981

Noble families
Norwegian families
Irish families

Skancke


Rzepicha (pronounced ) (also Rzepka) was the wife of the semi-legendary Piast the Wheelwright (founder of the Piast dynasty) and the mother of Siemowit. She is mentioned in Gallus Anonymus' Polish Chronicle (Cronicae et gesta ducum sive principum Polonorum), where her name is explicitly referred to twice.

Biography
According to Gallus Anonymus, she lived in the 9th century. Her ancestors are unknown. In the story described in the chronicle she keeps a house together with Piast and hospitably entertains two guests who came to Piast to celebrate their son's first haircut.

References

9th-century Slavs
Legendary Polish monarchs
Piast dynasty
People whose existence is disputed

Rzepicha


Hover Chamber Choir is an Armenian choir. It was established in 1992 in Armenia by Sona Hovhannisyan and students at Yerevan State Komitas Conservatory. Hover received the Gold Medal at the International Choir Olympiad in Linz, Austria in 2000, became a prize winner at the International Competition in Tours, France, and received diplomas at the International Polyphonic Music Festival in Arezzo, Italy in 1997.

Hover's repertoire includes baroque, classical, contemporary, folk, and sacred music. Among the major works they have premiered in Armenia are J. S. Bach's St John and St Matthew Passions and Britten's Cantata Missericordia, in addition to performances of Requiems by Mozart and Cherubini, Avet Terterian's Sixth Symphony, and Stepan Rostomian's "Entrance" chamber opera (conducted by Diego Masson). Hover has also participated in concert performances of operas Madama Butterfly, The Barber of Seville, and Pagliacci and toured Great Britain, France, and Germany. In 2007, the male contingent of the choir appeared in sacred music festivals in Poland.
In 2008, a performance of choral pieces by Penderecki was praised by the composer as one of the best. The choir has released numerous CDs and a DVD. It has also contributed to the soundtracks for Ararat by Atom Egoyan and the restoration of Armenia's first silent film Namus.

Discography
Spiritual Choir Music by Ludwig Bazil (Venice, 1998)
Armenian Voices (Pomegranate Music, United States 2002)
Six Fables. Music by Stepan Babatorosyan to the fables by Mkhitar Aigektsi (Pomegranate Music, United States 2003; received Armenian Music Awards)
The Way (VEM, United States, 2005)
Armenian Divine Liturgy by Komitas, (Hover Recordings, Germany, 2006)
Armenian Folk Songs arr. by Komitas (Hover Recordings, Germany, 2007)

Management

 Arman Padaryan since 2004

References

Hover Official Site

Armenian choirs
Musical groups established in 1992

Hover Chamber Choir


The 1994 UMass Minutemen football team represented the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the 1994 NCAA Division I-AA football season as a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference. The team was coached by Mike Hodges and played its home games at Warren McGuirk Alumni Stadium in Hadley, Massachusetts. UMass finished the season with a record of 5–6 overall and 4–4 in conference play.

Schedule

References

UMass
UMass Minutemen football seasons
UMass Minutemen football

1994 UMass Minutemen football team


Earth's rotation or Earth's spin is the rotation of planet Earth around its own axis, as well as changes in the orientation of the rotation axis in space. Earth rotates eastward, in prograde motion. As viewed from the northern polar star Polaris, Earth turns counterclockwise.

The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. This point is distinct from Earth's North Magnetic Pole. The South Pole is the other point where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface, in Antarctica.

Earth rotates once in about 24 hours with respect to the Sun, but once every 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds with respect to other distant stars (see below). Earth's rotation is slowing slightly with time; thus, a day was shorter in the past. This is due to the tidal effects the Moon has on Earth's rotation. Atomic clocks show that the modern day is longer by about 1.7 milliseconds than a century ago, slowly increasing the rate at which UTC is adjusted by leap seconds. Analysis of historical astronomical records shows a slowing trend; the length of a day increased by about 2.3 milliseconds per century since the 8th century BCE.

Scientists reported that in 2020 Earth had started spinning faster, after consistently spinning slower than 86,400 seconds per day in the decades before. On June 29, 2022, Earth's spin was completed in 1.59 milliseconds under 24 hours, setting a new record. Because of that trend, engineers worldwide are discussing a 'negative leap second' and other possible timekeeping measures.

This increase in speed is thought to be due to various factors, including the complex motion of its molten core, oceans, and atmosphere, the effect of celestial bodies such as the Moon, and possibly climate change, which is causing the ice at Earth's poles to melt. The masses of ice account for the Earth's shape being that of an oblate spheroid, bulging around the equator. When these masses are reduced, the poles rebound from the loss of weight, and Earth becomes more spherical, which has the effect of bringing mass closer to its centre of gravity. Conservation of angular momentum dictates that a mass distributed more closely around its centre of gravity spins faster.

History

Among the ancient Greeks, several of the Pythagorean school believed in the rotation of Earth rather than the apparent diurnal rotation of the heavens. Perhaps the first was Philolaus (470–385 BCE), though his system was complicated, including a counter-earth rotating daily about a central fire.

A more conventional picture was supported by Hicetas, Heraclides and Ecphantus in the fourth century BCE who assumed that Earth rotated but did not suggest that Earth revolved about the Sun. In the third century BCE, Aristarchus of Samos suggested the Sun's central place.

However, Aristotle in the fourth century BCE criticized the ideas of Philolaus as being based on theory rather than observation. He established the idea of a sphere of fixed stars that rotated about Earth. This was accepted by most of those who came after, in particular Claudius Ptolemy (2nd century CE), who thought Earth would be devastated by gales if it rotated.

In 499 CE, the Indian astronomer Aryabhata suggested that the spherical Earth rotates about its axis daily, and that the apparent movement of the stars is a relative motion caused by the rotation of Earth. He provided the following analogy: "Just as a man in a boat going in one direction sees the stationary things on the bank as moving in the opposite direction, in the same way to a man at Lanka the fixed stars appear to be going westward."

In the 10th century, some Muslim astronomers accepted that Earth rotates around its axis. According to al-Biruni, al-Sijzi (d. c. 1020) invented an astrolabe called al-zūraqī based on the idea believed by some of his contemporaries "that the motion we see is due to the Earth's movement and not to that of the sky." The prevalence of this view is further confirmed by a reference from the 13th century which states: "According to the geometers [or engineers] (muhandisīn), the Earth is in constant circular motion, and what appears to be the motion of the heavens is actually due to the motion of the Earth and not the stars." Treatises were written to discuss its possibility, either as refutations or expressing doubts about Ptolemy's arguments against it. At the Maragha and Samarkand observatories, Earth's rotation was discussed by Tusi (b. 1201) and Qushji (b. 1403); the arguments and evidence they used resemble those used by Copernicus.

In medieval Europe, Thomas Aquinas accepted Aristotle's view and so, reluctantly, did John Buridan and Nicole Oresme in the fourteenth century. Not until Nicolaus Copernicus in 1543 adopted a heliocentric world system did the contemporary understanding of Earth's rotation begin to be established. Copernicus pointed out that if the movement of Earth is violent, then the movement of the stars must be very much more so. He acknowledged the contribution of the Pythagoreans and pointed to examples of relative motion. For Copernicus this was the first step in establishing the simpler pattern of planets circling a central Sun.

Tycho Brahe, who produced accurate observations on which Kepler based his laws of planetary motion, used Copernicus's work as the basis of a system assuming a stationary Earth. In 1600, William Gilbert strongly supported Earth's rotation in his treatise on Earth's magnetism and thereby influenced many of his contemporaries. Those like Gilbert who did not openly support or reject the motion of Earth about the Sun are called "semi-Copernicans". A century after Copernicus, Riccioli disputed the model of a rotating Earth due to the lack of then-observable eastward deflections in falling bodies; such deflections would later be called the Coriolis effect. However, the contributions of Kepler, Galileo and Newton gathered support for the theory of the rotation of Earth.

Empirical tests
Earth's rotation implies that the Equator bulges and the geographical poles are flattened.
In his Principia, Newton predicted this flattening would amount to one part in 230, and pointed to the pendulum measurements taken by Richer in 1673 as corroboration of the change in gravity, but initial measurements of meridian lengths by Picard and Cassini at the end of the 17th century suggested the opposite.
However, measurements by Maupertuis and the French Geodesic Mission in the 1730s established the oblateness of Earth, thus confirming the positions of both Newton and Copernicus.

In Earth's rotating frame of reference, a freely moving body follows an apparent path that deviates from the one it would follow in a fixed frame of reference. Because of the Coriolis effect, falling bodies veer slightly eastward from the vertical plumb line below their point of release, and projectiles veer right in the Northern Hemisphere (and left in the Southern) from the direction in which they are shot. The Coriolis effect is mainly observable at a meteorological scale, where it is responsible for the opposite directions of cyclone rotation in the Northern and Southern hemispheres (anticlockwise and clockwise, respectively).

Hooke, following a suggestion from Newton in 1679, tried unsuccessfully to verify the predicted eastward deviation of a body dropped from a height of , but definitive results were obtained later, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, by Giovanni Battista Guglielmini in Bologna, Johann Friedrich Benzenberg in Hamburg and Ferdinand Reich in Freiberg, using taller towers and carefully released weights. A ball dropped from a height of 158.5 m departed by 27.4 mm from the vertical compared with a calculated value of 28.1 mm.

The most celebrated test of Earth's rotation is the Foucault pendulum first built by physicist Léon Foucault in 1851, which consisted of a lead-filled brass sphere suspended  from the top of the Panthéon in Paris. Because of Earth's rotation under the swinging pendulum, the pendulum's plane of oscillation appears to rotate at a rate depending on latitude. At the latitude of Paris the predicted and observed shift was about  clockwise per hour. Foucault pendulums now swing in museums around the world.

Periods

True solar day

Earth's rotation period relative to the Sun (solar noon to solar noon) is its true solar day or apparent solar day. It depends on Earth's orbital motion and is thus affected by changes in the eccentricity and inclination of Earth's orbit. Both vary over thousands of years, so the annual variation of the true solar day also varies. Generally, it is longer than the mean solar day during two periods of the year and shorter during another two. The true solar day tends to be longer near perihelion when the Sun apparently moves along the ecliptic through a greater angle than usual, taking about  longer to do so. Conversely, it is about  shorter near aphelion. It is about  longer near a solstice when the projection of the Sun's apparent motion along the ecliptic onto the celestial equator causes the Sun to move through a greater angle than usual. Conversely, near an equinox the projection onto the equator is shorter by about . Currently, the perihelion and solstice effects combine to lengthen the true solar day near  by  solar seconds, but the solstice effect is partially cancelled by the aphelion effect near  when it is only  longer. The effects of the equinoxes shorten it near  and  by  and , respectively.

Mean solar day

The average of the true solar day during the course of an entire year is the mean solar day, which contains 86,400 mean solar seconds. Currently, each of these seconds is slightly longer than an SI second because Earth's mean solar day is now slightly longer than it was during the 19th century due to tidal friction. The average length of the mean solar day since the introduction of the leap second in 1972 has been about 0 to 2 ms longer than 86,400 SI seconds. Random fluctuations due to core-mantle coupling have an amplitude of about 5 ms. The mean solar second between 1750 and 1892 was chosen in 1895 by Simon Newcomb as the independent unit of time in his Tables of the Sun. These tables were used to calculate the world's ephemerides between 1900 and 1983, so this second became known as the ephemeris second. In 1967 the SI second was made equal to the ephemeris second.

The apparent solar time is a measure of Earth's rotation and the difference between it and the mean solar time is known as the equation of time.

Stellar and sidereal day

Earth's rotation period relative to the International Celestial Reference Frame, called its stellar day by the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS), is  seconds of mean solar time (UT1) , ). Earth's rotation period relative to the precessing mean vernal equinox, named sidereal day, is  of mean solar time (UT1) , ). Thus, the sidereal day is shorter than the stellar day by about .

Both the stellar day and the sidereal day are shorter than the mean solar day by about  . This is a result of the Earth turning 1 additional rotation, relative to the celestial reference frame, as it orbits the Sun (so 366.24 rotations/y). The mean solar day in SI seconds is available from the IERS for the periods  and .

Recently (1999–2010) the average annual length of the mean solar day in excess of 86,400 SI seconds has varied between  and , which must be added to both the stellar and sidereal days given in mean solar time above to obtain their lengths in SI seconds (see Fluctuations in the length of day).

Angular speed

The angular speed of Earth's rotation in inertial space is  ± . Multiplying by (180°/π radians) × (86,400 seconds/day) yields , indicating that Earth rotates more than 360 degrees relative to the fixed stars in one solar day. Earth's movement along its nearly circular orbit while it is rotating once around its axis requires that Earth rotate slightly more than once relative to the fixed stars before the mean Sun can pass overhead again, even though it rotates only once (360°) relative to the mean Sun. Multiplying the value in rad/s by Earth's equatorial radius of  (WGS84 ellipsoid) (factors of 2π radians needed by both cancel) yields an equatorial speed of . Some sources state that Earth's equatorial speed is slightly less, or . This is obtained by dividing Earth's equatorial circumference by . However, the use of the solar day is incorrect; it must be the sidereal day, so the corresponding time unit must be a sidereal hour. This is confirmed by multiplying by the number of sidereal days in one mean solar day, , which yields the equatorial speed in mean solar hours given above of 1,674.4 km/h.

The tangential speed of Earth's rotation at a point on Earth can be approximated by multiplying the speed at the equator by the cosine of the latitude. For example, the Kennedy Space Center is located at latitude 28.59° N, which yields a speed of: cos(28.59°) × 1,674.4 km/h = 1,470.2 km/h. Latitude is a placement consideration for spaceports.

The peak of the Cayambe volcano is the point of Earth's surface farthest from its axis; thus, it rotates the fastest as Earth spins.

Changes

In rotational axis

Earth's rotation axis moves with respect to the fixed stars (inertial space); the components of this motion are precession and nutation. It also moves with respect to Earth's crust; this is called polar motion.

Precession is a rotation of Earth's rotation axis, caused primarily by external torques from the gravity of the Sun, Moon and other bodies. The polar motion is primarily due to free core nutation and the Chandler wobble.

In rotational speed

Tidal interactions
Over millions of years, Earth's rotation has been slowed significantly by tidal acceleration through gravitational interactions with the Moon. Thus angular momentum is slowly transferred to the Moon at a rate proportional to , where  is the orbital radius of the Moon. This process has gradually increased the length of the day to its current value, and resulted in the Moon being tidally locked with Earth.

This gradual rotational deceleration is empirically documented by estimates of day lengths obtained from observations of tidal rhythmites and stromatolites; a compilation of these measurements found that the length of the day has increased steadily from about 21 hours at 600 Myr ago to the current 24-hour value. By counting the microscopic lamina that form at higher tides, tidal frequencies (and thus day lengths) can be estimated, much like counting tree rings, though these estimates can be increasingly unreliable at older ages.

Resonant stabilization

The current rate of tidal deceleration is anomalously high, implying Earth's rotational velocity must have decreased more slowly in the past. Empirical data tentatively shows a sharp increase in rotational deceleration about 600 Myr ago. Some models suggest that Earth maintained a constant day length of 21 hours throughout much of the Precambrian. This day length corresponds to the semidiurnal resonant period of the thermally driven atmospheric tide; at this day length, the decelerative lunar torque could have been canceled by an accelerative torque from the atmospheric tide, resulting in no net torque and a constant rotational period. This stabilizing effect could have been broken by a sudden change in global temperature. Recent computational simulations support this hypothesis and suggest the Marinoan or Sturtian glaciations broke this stable configuration about 600 Myr ago; the simulated results agree quite closely with existing paleorotational data.

Global events

Some recent large-scale events, such as the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, have caused the length of a day to shorten by 3 microseconds by reducing Earth's moment of inertia. Post-glacial rebound, ongoing since the last ice age, is also changing the distribution of Earth's mass, thus affecting the moment of inertia of Earth and, by the conservation of angular momentum, Earth's rotation period.

The length of the day can also be influenced by man-made structures. For example, NASA scientists calculated that the water stored in the Three Gorges Dam has increased the length of Earth's day by 0.06 microseconds due to the shift in mass.

Measurement

The primary monitoring of Earth's rotation is performed by very-long-baseline interferometry coordinated with the Global Positioning System, satellite laser ranging, and other satellite geodesy techniques. This provides an absolute reference for the determination of universal time, precession and nutation.
The absolute value of Earth rotation including UT1 and nutation can be determined using space geodetic observations, such as very-long-baseline interferometry and lunar laser ranging, whereas their derivatives, denoted as length-of-day excess and nutation rates can be derived from satellite observations, such as GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and satellite laser ranging to geodetic satellites.

Ancient observations
There are recorded observations of solar and lunar eclipses by Babylonian and Chinese astronomers beginning in the 8th century BCE, as well as from the medieval Islamic world and elsewhere. These observations can be used to determine changes in Earth's rotation over the last 27 centuries, since the length of the day is a critical parameter in the calculation of the place and time of eclipses. A change in day length of milliseconds per century shows up as a change of hours and thousands of kilometers in eclipse observations. The ancient data are consistent with a shorter day, meaning Earth was turning faster throughout the past.

Cyclic variability
Around every 25–30 years Earth's rotation slows temporarily by a few milliseconds per day, usually lasting around five years. 2017 was the fourth consecutive year that Earth's rotation has slowed. The cause of this variability has not yet been determined.

Origin

Earth's original rotation was a vestige of the original angular momentum of the cloud of dust, rocks and gas that coalesced to form the Solar System. This primordial cloud was composed of hydrogen and helium produced in the Big Bang, as well as heavier elements ejected by supernovas. As this interstellar dust is heterogeneous, any asymmetry during gravitational accretion resulted in the angular momentum of the eventual planet.

However, if the giant-impact hypothesis for the origin of the Moon is correct, this primordial rotation rate would have been reset by the Theia impact 4.5 billion years ago. Regardless of the speed and tilt of Earth's rotation before the impact, it would have experienced a day some five hours long after the impact. Tidal effects would then have slowed this rate to its modern value.

See also

 Allais effect
 Diurnal cycle
 Earth's orbit
 Earth orientation parameters
 Formation and evolution of the Solar System
 Geodesic (in mathematics)
 Geodesics in general relativity
 Geodesy
 History of Earth
 History of geodesy
 Inner core super-rotation
 List of important publications in geology
 Nychthemeron
 Rossby wave
 Spherical Earth
 World Geodetic System

Notes

References

External links
USNO Earth Orientation new site, being populated
USNO IERS old site, to be abandoned
IERS Earth Orientation Center: Earth rotation data and interactive analysis
International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS)
If the Earth's rotation period is less than 24 hours, why don't our clocks fall out of sync with the Sun?

Dynamics of the Solar System
Rotation
Rotation

Earth's rotation


Negaprion is one of the 12 genera in the family Carcharhinidae. There are currently two known living species in this genus: the Lemon shark, and the Sicklefin lemon shark.

Both species are large and stocky, have a wide, blunt snout, and have two large dorsal fins of similar size. They are both yellowish-brown on their dorsal surface, and have a white belly.
They also both have a similar diet consisting of bony fish, crustaceans, stingrays, and smaller sharks. Also, both species are viviparous.

Lemon shark
The Lemon shark is the smaller of the two species, reaching a maximum length of 3.4 metres, but usually ranges between the lengths of 2.4 to 3 metres long. Pups are around 24 to 26 inches long when born.

The Lemon shark inhabits tropical and subtropical shallow waters of coastal areas of the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. It is often found in coral reefs, mangroves, enclosed bays, and even river mouths.

Sicklefin lemon shark
The Sicklefin lemon shark is the larger of the two species, reaching a maximum length of 3.8 metres. Pups are around 18 to 32 inches long when born.

The Sicklefin lemon shark inhabits continental and insular shelves, and is common on coral reefs, as well as in shallow, sandy-bottom lagoons, and mangrove swamps.

Species
 Sicklefin lemon shark, Negaprion acutidens
 Lemon shark, Negaprion brevirostris
 †Negaprion eurybathrodon

References

Sharks

Negaprion


An eye care professional is an individual who provides a service related to the eyes or vision. It is any healthcare worker involved in eye care, from one with a small amount of post-secondary training to practitioners with a doctoral level of education.

Types

Ophthalmologist

Ophthalmology (/ˌɒfθælˈmɒlədʒi/ OFF-thal-MOL-ə-jee) is a surgical subspecialty within medicine that handles the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders. Ophthalmologists are physicians(M.D./D.O/have a doctorate in medicine) that undergo subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. To become an ophthalmologist the provider must first become a physician. To become a physician, after college they must go through 4 years of medical and surgical training where they are extensively educated in treating all parts of the human anatomy, including the eye. Their training includes, but is not limited to, coursework(classroom, clinical, and community experiences) that covers science, the latest innovations in treatment and diagnosis, problem-solving and communication skills, prevention and care, professionalism, and medical ethics. After receiving the doctorate in medicine, the ophthalmologist completes 4 additional years of subspecialty training that includes an internship year, where they are exposed to broad clinical, hospital consultative and operative experiences in a variety of disciplines (subspecialties) covering every part of the eye including: cataract/anterior segment, cornea/external disease, glaucoma, neuro-ophthalmology/orbit, ocular pathology/oncology, oculoplastic/orbit, pediatric ophthalmology/strabismus, refractive management/intervention, retina/vitreous, and uveitis.  Because of this training, ophthalmologists are the only physicians medically trained to manage the complete range of eye and vision care. After 8 years of post college education, about 40% of ophthalmologists choose to further subspecialize in a specific part of the eye, by completing 1-2 more years of fellowship training. Because of their extensive medical and surgical training, ophthalmologists can and do handle general eyecare, including but not limited to general eye exams, prescribing glasses and contact lenses, and dispensing medications(eye drops and oral/I.V. medications including all scheduled substances). Because of their first hand knowledge and access to all medical and surgical facilities and imaging modalities(ie CT/MRI), they diagnose and treat eye conditions and diseases, and perform in office procedures such as lasers, out-patient surgeries such as cataract surgery and in hospital surgeries, such as extensive eye tumor removal. They are the only eye care provider with this extensive amount of medical and surgical training, as well as clinical expertise and exposure to all aspects of the eye, orbit, optic tract and visual cortex.

Ophthalmic medical practitioner

An ophthalmic medical practitioner is a physician who specializes in ophthalmic conditions but who has not completed a specialization in ophthalmology. This title only relates to providers in Europe.

Optometrist

Optometrists are healthcare professionals with a degree in eye care, specifically. In the United States and Canada, they are Doctors of Optometry (O.D.) - this includes optical, medical and some surgical eye care. Their training typically includes four years of college followed by four years of eye specific training (Optometry school). Some complete an additional 5th year in a specialty area. Optometry school is a specialized program - specific to the eyes and related structures. Optometrists receive their medical eye training while in Optometry school and during internships (hospitals, private practices, universities, VA's etc.). Education is provided by professors, optometrists and physicians. Often, Optometry students and Ophthalmology residents will work together to co-manage medical cases. O.D.'s are trained and licensed to manage any eye disease (infections, glaucoma, macular degeneration, etc.) and practice medicine for eye related conditions - including topical medications (eye drops) or those taken by mouth including some schedule controlled substances. They may also order imaging tests (CT/MRI), remove ocular foreign bodies and perform some laser procedures. They are also qualified to perform some surgical procedures. Optometrists have the most optical training of any eye care professional and are the only eye care providers with a degree specific to eye care.

In the United States, Optometrists in some cases are considered doctors within their scope of practice and bill medical insurances according to Medicare.

Outside of the United States and Canada, Optometrists typically do not hold a doctorate degree and may be limited in providing surgical treatments. However, some countries such as the UK, include a combination of providers where some Optometrists hold postgraduate doctorate degrees and some do not.

Orthoptist

Orthoptists specialize in diagnosis and management of eye movement and coordination problems, misalignment of the visual axis, convergence and accommodation problems, and conditions such as amblyopia, strabismus, and binocular vision disorders, as outlined by the International Orthoptic Association. They may assist ophthalmologists in surgery, teach orthoptic students, students of other allied health professions, medical students, and ophthalmology residents and fellows, act as vision researchers, perform vision screening, perform low vision assessments and act as clinical administrators.

Ocularist

Ocularists specialize in the fabrication and fitting of ocular prostheses for people who have lost eyes due to trauma or illness.

Optician

Opticians specialize in the fitting and fabrication of ophthalmic lenses, spectacles, contact lenses, low vision aids and ocular prosthetics.  They may also be referred to as an "optical dispenser", "dispensing optician", "ophthalmic dispenser".  The prescription for the corrective lenses must be supplied by an ophthalmologist, optometrist or in some countries an orthoptist. This is a regulated profession in most jurisdictions.

Ophthalmic medical personnel

A collective term for allied health personnel in ophthalmology. It is often used to refer to specialized personnel (unlike ocularists or opticians). In many countries these allied personnel may just be known as an "ophthalmic assistant". Their training is usually combined with a two or three year applied science degree and they assist an ophthalmologist or optometrist in the hospital or clinic with vision testing.

In the USA the Joint Commission on Allied Health Personnel in Ophthalmology administers OMP certifications:

Oculist
Oculist is an older term that was primarily used to describe eye care professionals that are trained and specialized in the eye care field, specifically ophthalmologists and optometrists.  The term is no longer used in the United States.

Vision therapist

A vision therapist, usually either an orthoptist or optometrist, works with patients that require vision therapy, such as low vision patients. Commonly, vision therapy is performed in children who develop problems with their vision mostly because they are using their eyes up close. This type of therapy is however generally used in patients who need visual correction but for whom the corrective lenses are not enough to reverse the condition. Visual therapy in children is performed by optometrists who specialize in children's eye care. To specialize in vision therapy, doctors must complete extensive post-graduate training beyond their optometric degree, at which time they are eligible to sit for their national boards to become fully certified as specialists in children's vision. A doctor's title after passing the national board in vision therapy is Fellow in the College of Optometrists in Vision Development, or F.C.O.V.D. Optometrists who provide vision therapy but who have not yet sat for their certification exams are board-eligible Associates in the College of Optometrists in Vision Development. Vision therapists typically use prisms, eye patches, filtered lenses, and computerized systems to conduct therapy sessions.

Most eye care professionals do not practice iridology, citing a significant lack of scientific evidence for the practice.

Distinction between ophthalmologists, optometrists and orthoptists
Ophthalmologists generally provide specialty eye care and manage late stage eye disease (often only mitigated with surgery).

Optometrists typically provide comprehensive eye care - including medical, up to a moderate stage (managed with prescription medications). There is considerable overlap in scope of practice between professions. Optometrists are licensed to provide exactly the same medical care as ophthalmologists, but not invasive surgery.

Orthoptists specialize in the diagnosis and management of problems with eye movement and coordination, such as misalignment of the visual axis, binocular vision problems, and pre/post surgical care of strabismus patients.  They do not directly treat ocular disease with medications or surgery. Orthoptists are trained to treat patients using optical aids and eye exercises. Orthoptists are primarily found working alongside ophthalmologists and optometrists to co-manage binocular vision treatment, visual field loss management and accommodative therapy. They often do standard eye and vision testing along with computerised axillary testing.

All three types of professional perform screenings for common ocular problems affecting children (such as amblyopia and strabismus) and adults (such as cataracts, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy). All are required to participate in ongoing continuing education courses to maintain licensure and stay current on the latest standards of care.

See also

American Academy of Ophthalmology
American Academy of Optometry
American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus
American Optometric Association
British Optical Association
College of Optometrists
College of Optometrists in Vision Development
International Orthoptic Association
Irish College of Ophthalmologists
Joint Commission on Allied Health Personnel in Ophthalmology
Optometric Extension Program
Royal College of Ophthalmologists
The Institute of Optometry
World Council of Optometry
Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers

References

Optometry
Ophthalmology

fi:Silmälääkäri

Eye care professional


300: Rise of an Empire is a 2014 American epic historical action film directed by Noam Murro from a screenplay by Zack Snyder and Kurt Johnstad, based on Frank Miller's graphic novel Xerxes. It is a follow-up to the 2007 film 300, taking place before, during, and after the main events of that film, and is loosely based on the Battle of Artemisium and the Battle of Salamis. The cast includes Lena Headey, Peter Mensah, David Wenham, Andrew Tiernan, Andrew Pleavin, and Rodrigo Santoro reprising their roles from the first film, alongside Sullivan Stapleton, Eva Green, Hans Matheson, and Callan Mulvey.

300: Rise of an Empire was released theatrically on March 7, 2014, by Warner Bros. Pictures. Like its predecessor, it received mixed reviews, with critics praising the action sequences, music, cinematography, visual effects and Green's performance but criticizing the story and overstylized gore. However, the film was a box-office success, grossing $337 million worldwide from a $110 million budget.

Plot
Queen Gorgo of Sparta tells her men about the Battle of Marathon, in which King Darius of Persia was killed by Themistocles of Athens. Darius's son, Xerxes, witnesses his father's death and is advised to never wage war against the Greeks. Darius's naval commander, Artemisia, persuades Xerxes to become a god and sends Xerxes on a journey through the desert. Xerxes reaches a cave and bathes in an otherworldly liquid, emerging as a "God-King". He returns to Persia and declares war on Greece to avenge his father.

As Xerxes's forces advance towards Thermopylae, Themistocles meets with the council and convinces them to provide him with a fleet to engage the Persians at sea. Themistocles travels to Sparta to ask King Leonidas for help but is informed by Dilios that Leonidas is consulting the Oracle, and Gorgo is reluctant to side with Athens. Themistocles reunites with his old friend Scyllias, who infiltrated the Persian troops and reveals Artemisia was born Greek, but defected to Persia after her family was raped and murdered by Greek hoplites. Rescued and adopted by a Persian emissary, she was trained and eventually rose up to become a naval commander. Themistocles also learns that Leonidas has marched to fight the Persians with only 300 men.

Themistocles leads his fleet of fifty warships and several thousand men, which include Scyllias, Scyllias's son Calisto, and Themistocles' right-hand man Aeskylos to the Aegean Sea, starting the Battle of Artemisium. They ram their ships into the Persian ships and attack them before retreating. The following day, the Greeks feigned a retreat and led a group of Persian ships into a crevice, where they became stuck. The Greeks attacked the Persian ships from the cliffs above. Impressed with Themistocles, Artemisia brings him onto her ship and attempts to lure him to the Persian side as her second-in-command, but he refuses her offer.

The Persians attack the Greek ships with tar and flame bombs, but an Athenian kills one of the Persians, who falls into the tar carrying a torch, damaging ships from both sides. Themistocles is thrown into the sea by an explosion and nearly drowns before being rescued by Aeskylos, and stands by Scyllias's side as he succumbs to his injuries. Believing Themistocles to be dead, Artemisia and her forces withdraw. After recovering from his injuries, Themistocles learns that only a few hundred of his warriors and six of his ships survived the disastrous attack.

Daxos, an Arcadian general, tells Themistocles that Leonidas and his 300 men were killed after Ephialtes betrayed the Greeks to Xerxes. Themistocles returns to Athens and confronts Ephialtes, who reveals that Xerxes plans to attack and burn Athens to the ground. Ephialtes regrets his betrayal and welcomes death, but is spared so he can warn Xerxes that the Greek forces are gathering at Salamis. Themistocles visits Gorgo in Sparta to ask for help, but Gorgo is mourning Leonidas's death and is angry for what the goal of a united Greece has cost. Before departing, Themistocles returns Leonidas's sword, which had been delivered to him by Ephialtes under Xerxes's orders, and urges Gorgo to avenge Leonidas.

In Athens, Xerxes's army is laying waste when Ephialtes arrives to deliver Themistocles' message. Upon learning he is alive, Artemisia leaves to ready her navy for battle. The remaining Greek ships charge into the Persian ships, beginning the decisive Battle of Salamis. Themistocles and Artemisia engage in a duel, which ends in a stalemate with both receiving severe injuries.

Gorgo arrives at the battle along with ships from numerous Greek city-states including Delphi, Thebes, Olympia, Arcadia, and Sparta, all uniting against the surrounded Persians. Daxos leads the Arcadian army while Themistocles urges Artemisia to surrender. Xerxes, watching the battle from a cliff, turns his back on her, acknowledging his naval defeat and continuing the march of his army. Artemisia tries to kill Themistocles, but he stabs her, killing her. While Dilios leads the Greek assault, Themistocles and Gorgo charge at the Persians with the entire Greek army.

Cast

Sullivan Stapleton as Themistocles
 Eva Green as Artemisia
 Caitlin Carmichael as 8-year-old Artemisia
 Jade Chynoweth as 13-year-old Artemisia
 Lena Headey as Queen Gorgo
 Rodrigo Santoro as King Xerxes
 Jack O'Connell as Calisto
 Hans Matheson as Aeschylus
 Callan Mulvey as Scyllias
 David Wenham as Dilios
 Andrew Tiernan as Ephialtes
 Yigal Naor as King Darius I
 Andrew Pleavin as Daxos
 Ben Turner as General Artaphernes
 Ashraf Barhom as General Bandari
 Christopher Sciueref as General Kashani
 Peter Mensah as Artemisia's trainer / Persian messenger
 Gerard Butler as King Leonidas (archive footage)
 Additionally, a computer-generated facsimile is used to represent Leonidas in a separate scene.
 Michael Fassbender as Stelios (archive footage)

Production
In June 2008, producers Gianni Nunnari, Mark Canton, and Bernie Goldmann revealed that work had begun on a sequel to 300. Legendary Pictures announced that Frank Miller, who wrote the 1998 comic book limited series on which the film 300 was based, was writing a follow-up graphic novel, and Zack Snyder, co-screenwriter and director of 300, was interested in directing the adaptation, but instead chose to develop and direct the Superman reboot Man of Steel. Noam Murro directed instead, while Snyder produced and co-wrote. The film was centered on the Greek leader Themistocles, portrayed by Australian actor Sullivan Stapleton. During pre-production, the film was titled 300: Battle of Artemisium (although this was widely misreported as "Battle of Artemisia"); the film was retitled 300: Rise of an Empire in September 2012.

Principal photography commenced in early July 2012 at the Nu Boyana Film Studios in Sofia, Bulgaria. Underwater greenscreen scenes were also filmed at Leavesden Studios. On May 10, 2013, it was announced the film's release date would be pushed back from August 2, 2013, to March 7, 2014.

Music

The film's score was composed by Junkie XL, being the first film in an ongoing partnership with Snyder. He attempted to research on the ancient Persian and Greek music instrumentation to match the time period and culture, while also being a fantasy film, he tried to blend the sounds with electronic instruments here and there. The album featuring Junkie XL's score was released by WaterTower Music on March 4, 2014.

Reception

Box office
300: Rise of an Empire grossed $106.6 million in North America and $231 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $337.6 million, against a production budget of $110 million.

In North America, the film opened to number one in its first weekend with $45 million. In its second weekend, the film dropped to number two, grossing an additional $19.2 million. In its third weekend, the film dropped to number five, grossing $8.5 million. In its fourth weekend, the film dropped to number nine, grossing $4.2 million.

Critical response
Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 45% based on 200 reviews, with an average rating of 5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "It's bound to hit some viewers as an empty exercise in stylish gore, and despite a gonzo starring performance from Eva Green, 300: Rise of an Empire is a step down from its predecessor." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 48 out of 100 score, based on 34 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, down the A− received by its predecessor.

Several critics compared the film negatively to its predecessor. Todd Gilchrist of The Wrap wrote: "Rise of an Empire lacks director Snyder's shrewd deconstruction of cartoonish hagiography, undermining the glorious, robust escapism of testosterone-fueled historical reenactment with an underdog story that's almost too reflective to be rousing." Nicolas Rapold of The New York Times gave a mixed review: "The naval collisions and melees play out in panel-like renderings that are bold and satisfying for the first half-hour but lack the momentum and bombastic je ne sais quoi of 300." Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter thought it was  "more monochromatic and duller in appearance, lacking the bold reds and rich earth tones" of the earlier film. Scott Foundas of Variety gave a positive review: "This highly entertaining time-filler lacks the mythic resonances that made 300 feel like an instant classic, but works surprisingly well on its own terms." Soren Anderson of The Seattle Times thought it "very impressive in its single-minded dedication to creating a moviegoing experience designed to totally engulf its audience." James Rocchi of Film.com gave the film a zero out of ten and called it "a 3D joke."

Kyle Smith of the New York Post felt "The film works as a high-tech boy-fantasy successor to Conan the Barbarian." James Berardinelli wrote, "The movie delivers all the necessary elements but their impact is dull." Joe Neumaier of the New York Daily News thought it looked "like an ashen video game. It's even more muddy in IMAX and 3-D." Colin Covert of the Star Tribune felt it "plays like a collaboration between the Marquis de Sade and Michael Bay. Or maybe the History Channel and the Saw franchise." Guy Lodge of Time Out wrote, "It's flesh and carnage that the audience is here to see, and Murro delivers it by the glistening ton, pausing only for stray bits of backstory." Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post said "Rise of an Empire is no fun at all – even those famous six-pack abs from 300 seem to be missing a can or two." In a negative review, Drew Hunt of the Chicago Reader wrote "The slow-motion battle scenes are technically impressive and occasionally elegant, but there's enough machismo here to choke a thousand NFL locker rooms." Richard Roeper called the film "A triumph of production design, costumes, brilliantly choreographed battle sequences and stunning CGI."

Scott Bowles of USA Today gave the film two out of four stars: "For anyone looking for a sense of script (forget plausibility), Empire is a Trojan horse." Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times thought "The spectacularly brutal fighting is the film's main calling card, and in that Rise of an Empire doesn't disappoint." David Hiltbrand of The Philadelphia Inquirer praised "its slo-mo ultraviolence" and "impressive 3-D effects", calling it "a fan boy's fantasy, a four-star wonderment." Tom Long of The Detroit News gave the film a D, "a bloodbath and not much else." Adam Nayman of The Globe and Mail called it "an add-on content pack for a video game." Mark Jenkins of NPR gave the film a negative review, saying "If the movie's action recalls video games, the dramatically artificial lighting suggests 1980s rock videos. Indeed, Rise of an Empire is so campy that it might work better as a musical." Stephen Whitty of the Newark Star-Ledger gave the film one and a half stars out of four, saying "There is much grinding of teeth, and mauling of history, and anachronistic use of gunpowder, until we plug our ears and desperately pray to the gods of Olympus, or the brothers of Warner, that they might make an end."

Despite mixed reviews for the film as a whole, Eva Green's performance as the naval officer Artemisia received positive reviews, with some going so far as to say she was more interesting than the heroes, and saved the film. Ty Burr of The Boston Globe stated, "Rise of an Empire may strike some as an improvement on the first film, if only for two reasons: naval warfare and the glorious absurdity of Eva Green." According to Rafer Guzman's Newsday review, "The one bright spot is Eva Green as Xerxes' machinator, Artemesia, a raccoon-eyed warrior princess... Green plays a snarling, insatiable, self-hating femme fatale and completely steals the show." Stephanie Zacharek writing for The Village Voice exclaimed, "Mere mortals of Athens, Sparta, and every city from Mumbai to Minneapolis, behold the magnificent Eva Green, and tremble!"

Historical accuracy
The Guardian's historical films reviewer, Alex von Tunzelmann, discredited the film's historical legitimacy, giving it the classification of "History grade: Fail." She itemizes numerous historical discrepancies in the film, including the pivotal scene in which Themistocles kills Darius the Great at the Battle of Marathon even though he was really absent and died of natural causes only years later. Tunzelmann further quotes the Persian Fire author and historian Tom Holland, who translated Herodotus's Histories, and who is an expert on the Greco-Persian wars, as comparing the film to a wild fantasy substitute for actual historic reality.

Paul Cartledge, a professor of Greek culture at Cambridge University, also noted historical inaccuracies in the film. For example, Darius was not killed as depicted, and neither he nor Xerxes was present at the Battle of Marathon. Artemisia, historically a queen and not an abused orphaned slave, actually argued against sailing into the straits and survived the Persian Wars. In addition, the Spartan Navy contributed a mere 16 warships to the Greek fleet of 400 warships in the ending battle scene, rather than the huge armada shown.

Some critics have identified the film as an example of Iranophobia. Tunzelmann found the film being the same "massive gilded embodiment of orientalism from [its predecessor]". According to Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, Professor of Ancient History at Cardiff University: "Indeed, the Persians of 300: Rise of an Empire remain the incarnation of every Orientalist cliché imaginable: they are as decadent and oversexed as they are weak and spineless. They are also incapable of winning battles without the help of a Greek traitor: Artemisia, a woman who may be costumed like Xena, warrior princess, but whose heart is consumed by a crazy desire for power and destruction."

Home media
300: Rise of an Empire was released on the iTunes Store on June 3, 2014, and was released on DVD and Blu-ray 3 weeks later, on June 24.

Cancelled sequel
In a 2016 interview, Snyder stated that more sequels to 300 would focus on topics beyond Ancient Greece, such as the American Revolutionary War, the Battle of the Alamo or a battle in China.

In May 2021, Snyder revealed that he had written an Alexander the Great film that was intended to function as a conclusion to the 300 trilogy, but it evolved into having a greater focus on a love story between Alexander and Hephaestion, leading Snyder to think it could not function as a third 300 film. The script was retitled Blood and Ashes but it failed to be greenlit by Warner Bros. Pictures.

See also
 List of historical drama films

Notes

References

External links

2014 films
2014 3D films
2010s action war films
2010s historical action films
American 3D films
American action war films
American sequel films
The Stone Quarry films
American historical action films
Legendary Pictures films
Warner Bros. films
2010s English-language films
Films scored by Junkie XL
Films about naval warfare
Films based on Dark Horse Comics
Films based on works by Frank Miller
Films produced by Deborah Snyder
Films produced by Zack Snyder
Films set in the 5th century BC
Films set in ancient Greece
Films set in Greece
Films set in the Mediterranean Sea
Films shot at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden
Films shot at Nu Boyana Film Studios
IMAX films
American epic films
Films with screenplays by Kurt Johnstad
Films with screenplays by Zack Snyder
Sea adventure films
Seafaring films
War epic films
Cultural depictions of Darius the Great
Cultural depictions of Xerxes I
2010s American films

300: Rise of an Empire


The fallacy of division is a fallacy where someone believes that is something is true for the whole, then it must be true for the parts of the whole as well. For example, if a basketball team is very good, then all the players on the team must be good. The opposite of this is the fallacy of composition.

Logical fallacies

Fallacy of division


The Miracle in Miami, also known as the Miami Miracle, was an American football play that took place at the end of a National Football League regular season game on December 9, 2018, between the Miami Dolphins and the New England Patriots. It was the first walk-off game-winning touchdown in NFL history to involve multiple lateral passes, and the first multi-lateral touchdown since the River City Relay in December 2003. After the game, the play was known by several names, most commonly the "Miami Miracle" and the "Miracle in Miami". The play went on to win the Bridgestone Performance Play of the Year Award at the 8th Annual NFL Honors Award Show on February 2.

History
Desperation lateral attempts have been used before in American football. In the history of the NFL, only once in the 21st century has a team successfully converted a lateral pass for a touchdown at the end of a game. It occurred in the River City Relay on December 21, 2003, where the New Orleans Saints successfully completed three lateral passes culminating in a 75-yard touchdown by Jerome Pathon against the Jacksonville Jaguars. However, kicker John Carney missed the extra point, resulting in a 20–19 loss by the Saints.

Several years after the New Orleans game, Miami almost lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers via lateral passes.  Referees correctly ruled Antonio Brown, the last Steeler to touch the ball on that play, out of bounds at the 13-yard line to end that game in a Miami victory.

Lead-up to the play
Entering the game, the Patriots were leading the AFC East with a record of 9–3, while the Dolphins had a record of 6–6. A Patriots win would clinch them their 10th consecutive AFC East title. After the Patriots struck first with a touchdown, there would be a total of eight lead changes, but Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski would miss not only the extra point on the aforementioned first touchdown, but a field goal attempt later on. Leading 30–28 after an unsuccessful attempt to score a touchdown in the waning seconds, he would score another field goal to put them up 33–28 with 16 seconds left to play.

The play
Trailing by five points with seven seconds to go, the Dolphins had the ball at their own 31-yard line. Quarterback Ryan Tannehill threw a pass over the middle that was caught by wide receiver Kenny Stills, who lateraled the ball to the right side of the field that was caught by DeVante Parker at midfield. Parker then tossed the ball to running back Kenyan Drake, who ran the ball 52 yards for a touchdown to win the game 34–33. The Dolphins declined to kick the extra point, per the rule change for the 2018 season following the Minneapolis Miracle.

One of the keys to the play was the Dolphins left guard Ted Larsen diligently following the play 40 yards downfield and springing a vicious block on the Patriots' Patrick Chung, who otherwise might have tackled Drake.

Game box score

Broadcaster calls
 Commentators Ian Eagle and Dan Fouts called the game for CBS's NFL coverage.  Eagle and Fouts also called the near miracle in Pittsburgh against Miami five years earlier, when the Steelers tried a similar play and appeared to have pulled it off, except for Antonio Brown stepping out of bounds at the thirteen.

Eagle's call of the play:Seven seconds left. Tannehill will throw it... and this will end it after the shovel. Or will it? Miami running around. Circling. Oh look out! Gronkowski! Didn't have the angle! Touchdown! Oh ho Kenyan Drake! A miracle! Miraculous in Miami! Stills... to Parker, to Drake! A lateral... heard 'round the world!

 Dolphins radio announcers Jimmy Cefalo, Bob Griese, and Joe Rose:

Tannehill. Last shot. Back to throw. They throw it down, they try to pitch it, and they do. To Parker, Parker pitches it, and it's Drake. DRAKE! 30, 20, GRONKOWSKI'S GONNA TACKLE! OH! THAT'S IT! HE GOES INTO THE END ZONE! TOUCHDOWN! UNBELIEVABLE! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? THAT IS UNBELIEVABLE! I DON'T BELIEVE WHAT I JUST SAW! There are no flags and the game is over!

 Patriots radio announcers Bob Socci and Scott Zolak:

Tannehill throws down the middle caught by Stills, laterals, back to Butler. (sic) Or rather Parker, who flips it to Drake, he runs across the 40 of New England, angling inside to the 30, 25, 20, 15, 10, He's gonna win the footrace to the end zone! The Dolphins are going to win it! On the lateral! Once then twice! And Drake takes it in! And the Patriots stand stunned in disbelief!

Reactions
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was criticized after the game for substituting out safety Devin McCourty for tight end Rob Gronkowski, who missed the final tackle leading to Drake's touchdown. Retired Patriots players Rodney Harrison and Tedy Bruschi, as well as McCourty and Patriots safety Duron Harmon, argued that since the Dolphins were too far away from the end zone to try a conventional Hail Mary pass play, Gronkowski, who had historically been used to defend against long passes in late-game situations, should not have been substituted in for a defensive back on the play.

The press conference following this game is where the well-known "Nobody died" comment from Belichick hails from. Following the game he replied to questioning from reporters by saying, "Look it's the National Football League. Nobody died. Gotta big game against Pittsburgh this week."

Aftermath
The Dolphins improved to 7–6 with the victory and remained in contention for a postseason berth and an AFC East title. For the Patriots, the loss prevented them from clinching the AFC East, although they maintained their division lead.

The play proved inconsequential to the season as the Dolphins lost all of their remaining games to finish 7–9 and miss the playoffs for a second consecutive year. The Patriots clinched the division for a 10th consecutive year with a 11–5 record and although the defeat prevented them from obtaining the top seed in the AFC, their season ultimately concluded with a victory in Super Bowl LIII. After the Super Bowl, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said he didn't consider the Miami game a loss.

The game was also the final victory with the Dolphins for head coach Adam Gase, who was fired after the season, and quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who was traded to the Tennessee Titans. Gase was succeeded by Patriots assistant coach Brian Flores, the team's defensive playcaller in 2018. In their final game of following season, Flores led the Dolphins to an upset victory over New England, which dropped the Patriots to the conference's third seed and forced them to play the Titans in the wild card round. Tannehill went on to help Tennessee defeat the Patriots in Brady's final game with the team.

Four years later on December 18, 2022, the Patriots attempted a lateral pass play of their own against the Las Vegas Raiders with the game tied, but the attempt notably failed and resulted in the opposite intended effect: a walk-off game-winning touchdown for the Raiders, as Las Vegas defensive end (and former Patriot) Chandler Jones picked off New England's second lateral pass attempt and ran it in for the score. The Patriots were later criticized for the play, with some analysts such as Charles Curtis of USA Today Sports comparing it to the Butt Fumble, Colts Catastrophe, and other inept plays in NFL history.

Officials
Referee: Pete Morelli (#135)
Umpire: Steve Woods (#54)
Down Judge: Steve Stelljes (#22)
Line Judge: Jeff Seeman (#45)
Back Judge: Keith Ferguson (#61)
Side Judge: Boris Cheek (#41)
Field Judge: Anthony Jeffries (#36)
Replay Official: Brian Matoren

See also
 Dolphins–Patriots rivalry
 Hook and lateral
 Lunatic Lateral

References

External links
  (via the NFL's YouTube channel)

Miami Dolphins
New England Patriots
2018 National Football League season
National Football League games
American football incidents
2018 in sports in Florida
December 2018 sports events in the United States
American football in Florida
Sports competitions in Miami Gardens, Florida
Tom Brady

Miracle in Miami


Shockoe Slip is a district in the downtown area of Richmond, Virginia. The name "slip" referred to a narrow passageway leading from Main Street to where goods were loaded and unloaded from the former James River and Kanawha Canal. The rough boundaries of Shockoe Slip include 14th Street, Main Street, Canal Street and 12th Street.

Architecturally, many of the buildings in Shockoe Slip were constructed during the rebuilding following the Evacuation Fire of 1865, especially in a commercial variant of the Italianate style. It is centered on a 1909 fountain, dedicated to "one who loved animals." The buildings in the district, which historically housed a variety of offices, wholesale and retail establishments, are now primarily restaurants, shops, offices, and apartments.

History
Shockoe Slip began developing in the late 18th century following the move of the state capital to Richmond, aided by the construction of Mayo's bridge across the James River (ultimately succeeded by the modern 14th Street Bridge), as well as the siting of key tobacco industry structures, such as the public warehouse, tobacco scales, and the Federal Customs House in or near the district.

On the eve of the fall of Richmond to the Union Army in April 1865, evacuating Confederate forces were ordered to set fire to the city's tobacco warehouses. The fires spread, and completely destroyed Shockoe Slip and several other districts. The district was quickly rebuilt in the late 1860s, flourishing further in the 1870s, and forming much of its present historic building stock.

The district began declining in the 1920s, as other areas of the city rose in prominence with the advent of the automobile. Numerous structures would be demolished and cleared, including (in the 1950s), the Tobacco Exchange, which had been at the heart of the district.

Redevelopment: 1970s to present
Beginning in the 1960s and accelerating in the 1970s, Shockoe Slip was redeveloped as a commercial and entertainment district; the nightlife district came just after Richmond passed liquor-by-the-drink laws, and when the so-called fern bar became popular across the United States. The restoration came at the time of an increased interest in historic preservation around the time of the Bicentennial, with the district being added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. Early pioneer restaurants included The Tobacco Company, Stuffy's Going Bananas, Commercial Cafe and Sam Miller's, the last two being revived restaurant names from Richmond's 19th century.

One of the earliest and oldest of Richmond's artist-run galleries, was Artspace 1306 located at 1306 East Cary Street in Shockoe Slip. Artspace 1306 retained its original name when the gallery moved to North 18th Street in Shockoe Bottom. Only when Artspace 1306 moved to 6 East Broad Street did the gallery drop the original address from its name. The Broad Street location became the home of another 501 C-3 gallery, Art6 Gallery, when Artspace moved to Plant Zero in the Manchester area of the city.

Shockoe Slip also included some of the earliest rehabilitated downtown apartments; at the time of the restoration asphalt paving was removed to expose historic Belgian block streets.

Shockoe Slip continues to be a popular place to live and work. The Martin Agency has maintained its headquarters in Shockoe Slip since 1997. In 2015 digital marketing agency Workshop Digital relocated to the Turning Basin Building in Shockoe Slip, and in 2016 CarMax relocated 125 designers, developers, and programmers to the adjacent Lady Byrd Hat building. Residential development surrounding the James River continues with the influx of students and professionals and an increased interest in urban living.

Shockoe Slip was the site of the passage of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. To commemorate this event the First Freedom Center opened there in 2015.

See also
 Shockoe Bottom

References

Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia
Neighborhoods in Richmond, Virginia
National Register of Historic Places in Richmond, Virginia
Tobacco in the United States

Shockoe Slip


Muhammad Yunus is a Bangladeshi banker and economist who was born on 28 June 1940. He was a professor of economics and is famous for his work in microcredit. Microcredit is a name for giving small loans. These loans are given to people with very little money. Most banks do not give microcredit. Yunus started the Grameen Bank. In 2006, Yunus and the bank together, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, "for their efforts to create economic and social development from below." Yunus himself has received several other national and international awards. He published a book called Banker to the Poor and helped start the Grameen Foundation. In 2007 Yunus planned to start a political group called Nagorik Shakti ("Citizen Power") in Bangladesh, but he has chosen not to start this group. He is one of the founding members of Global Elders.

Yunus was one of 20 Nobel Laureates such as Peter Agre, Nadine Gordimer, Yuan T. Lee, Elinor Ostrom, Werner Arber, David Gross, James Mirrlees, Carlo Rubbia, Paul J. Crutzen, Mario J. Molina, Amartya Sen, Peter Doherty (scientist), Walter Kohn, Douglass North, John Sulston, Murray Gell-Mann, Harold Kroto, Douglas Osheroff who signed the "Stockholm memorandum" at the 3rd Nobel Laureate Symposium on Global Sustainability in Stockholm, Sweden on 18 May 2011.

Early life

Muhammad Yunus born on 28 June 1940. He was the third child born to a Muslim family in the village of Bathua near the Boxirhat Road in Hathazari, Bangladesh (Bangladesh was called British India at that time). Six more children were born in Muhammad's family making nine altogether.

His father was Hazi Dula Mia Shoudagar, and worked as a jeweller. His mother was Sofia Khatun. His early childhood years were spent in his village. In 1944, his family moved to the city of Chittagong, and he went to Lamabazar Primary School. By 1949, his mother had a mental illness. Muhammad went to Chittagong Collegiate School and became the 16th best student out of 39,000 in East Pakistan. During his school years, he was a Boy Scout, and travelled to West Pakistan and India in 1952, and to Canada in 1955 to attend Jamborees. When Yunus was studying at Chittagong College, he won awards for drama acting. In 1957, he started studying at the department of economics of Dhaka University. Chittagong College awarded him with a BA in 1960, and a MA in 1961.

After his MA studies, Yunus became part of the Bureau of Economics as a research assistant for Professor Nurul Islam and Rehman Sobhan. In 1961 he was given work as a lecturer in economics in Chittagong College. During that time he started a packaging factory. He was given a Fulbright scholarship in 1965, to study in the United States. He was awarded his Ph.D. in economics from Vanderbilt University in the United States, in 1969. From 1969 to 1972, Yunus was an assistant professor of economics at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

During the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971, Yunus and other people from Bangladesh living in the United States started a citizens committee and controlled the Bangladesh Information Center to find help for the war. He published the Bangladesh Newsletter from his home in Nashville. After the War, Yunus returned to Bangladesh and was given a job with the governments' Planning Commission which was controlled by Nurul Islam. He thought the job was boring so he took a job at Chittagong University as Head of the Economics department. He worked with poverty reduction after he saw the Bangladesh famine of 1974, and started a research project to help people who lived in the countryside. In 1975, he started a Nabajug Tebhaga Khamar (new era three share farm) which the government called the Packaged Input Programme. Yunus and his friends started the Gram Sarkar (the village government) programme to make the farm project better.
Ziaur Rahman,(the president of Bangladesh in the late 1970s), was in control of starting 40,392 village governments (gram sarkar) in 2003. On 2 August 2005, after a petition by the Bangladesh Legal Aids and Services Trust (BLAST) the High Court had declared Gram Sarkar illegal and unconstitutional.

Grameen Bank

In 1976, Yunus visited the poorest households in the village of Jobra near Chittagong University. He discovered that very small loans could be a lot of help to a poor person. Some Jobra women were making bamboo furniture and had to take loans for buying bamboo but all their profits were being paid towards the loans. The first loan Muhammad Yunus gave was USD 27.00 from his pocket. This $27 was loaned to 42 women in the village, who made a profit of $00.02 each from the loan

In December 1976 the government bank Janata Bank gave Yunus a loan that he could use to make lots of small loans to very poor people. His group got more loans from other banks and by 1982, 28,000 people had jobs with Grameen. On 1 October 1983, Grameen was made a full bank and renamed the Grameen Bank (Village Bank) to give loans to poor Bangladeshis. Yunus and his workers were threatened and women were told they would not have a Muslim burial if they borrowed money from the Grameen Bank, but they have given many, many loans to poor people. As of July 2007, Grameen Bank has loaned US$6.38 billion to 7.4 million people. The bank loans money to "solidarity groups". These small groups are given loans together and if one person can not pay, the rest of the group pays for them.

The Grameen Bank started other groups in the 1980s to do things such as keeping fishing ponds clean and building irrigation pumps. In 1989, these groups started to get their own names. The fisheries project became Grameen Motsho (Grameen Fisheries Foundation) and the irrigation project became Grameen Krishi (Grameen Agriculture Foundation).

The Grameen group has grown into many groups of profitable and non-profit, such as the Grameen Trust, the Grameen Fund, Grameen Software Limited, Grameen CyberNet Limited, Grameen Knitwear Limited, Grameen Telecom, and Grameenphone (GP) (Grameenphone is the biggest private sector phone company in Bangladesh). The Village Phone (Polli Phone) project of Grameenphone has made it possible for 260,000 poor people in over 50,000 villages to own mobile phones since March 1997.

The Grameen ideas have been used in many countries throughout the world, such as the United States. More than 94% of Grameen loans have been given to women, who have less money and give more to their families. For his work with the Grameen Bank, Yunus was named an Ashoka: Innovators for the Public Global Academy Member in 2001.

Awards

Muhammad Yunus was awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, along with Grameen Bank, for their efforts to create economic and social developments. The Norwegian Nobel Committee said:

Muhammad Yunus has shown himself to be a leader who has managed to translate visions into practical action for the benefit of millions of people, not only in Bangladesh, but also in many other countries. Loans to poor people without any financial security had appeared to be an impossible idea. From modest beginnings three decades ago, Yunus has, first and foremost through Grameen Bank, developed micro-credit into an ever more important instrument in the struggle against poverty.

Muhammad Yunus was the first Bangladeshi and third Bengali to ever get a Nobel Prize. After being told of the important award, Yunus said that he would use part of his share of the $1.4 million award money to create a company that makes good food that the poor can afford and the rest would go toward starting an eye hospital for the poor in Bangladesh.

Former U.S. president Bill Clinton was one of the people who said the Nobel Prize should go to Muhammed Yunus. He said this in Rolling Stone magazine and in his autobiography: My Life. In a speech given at University of California, Berkeley in 2002, President Clinton said Dr. Yunus was "a man who long ago should have won the Nobel Prize [and] I'll keep saying that until they finally give it to him."

He has won many other awards, such as the Ramon Magsaysay Award, the World Food Prize the Sydney Peace Prize, the Four Freedoms Award in the category Freemdom from want in 2006, and the Ecuadorian Peace Prize in December 2007. Dr. Yunus has been awarded 26 honorary doctorate degrees, and 15 special awards. The Bangladesh government made a postage stamp to honour his Nobel Award. In January 2008, Houston, Texas declared 14 January as "Muhammad Yunus Day".

Politics
In 2006 Doctor Yunus and other important people, such as Professor Rehman Sobhan, Justice Muhammad Habibur Rahman, Doctor Kamal Hossain, Matiur Rahman, Mahfuz Anam and Debapriya Bhattchariya, tried to find good people to be elected for government. Yunus thought about joining government himself that year. On 11 February 2007, Yunus wrote a letter, published in the Bangladeshi newspaper Daily Star, and he asked what people thought of creating a good government. The letter asked everyone to give ideas for this and to offer him help Dr. Yunus started a political group called Citizens' Power (Nagorik Shakti) on 18 February 2007. There was speculation that the army supported a move by Yunus into politics. but on 3 May, Yunus stopped the group after a meeting with Fakhruddin Ahmed (government politician).

On 18 July 2007 in Johannesburg, South Africa, Nelson Mandela, Graça Machel, and Desmond Tutu began a group of world leaders to help the world. Nelson Mandela announced this new group, The Global Elders, in a speech he on his 89th birthday. Archbishop Tutu is to serve as the Chair of The Elders. Yunus is one of the first members of this group. Other members include Machel, Kofi Annan, Ela Bhatt, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Jimmy Carter, Li Zhaoxing, and Mary Robinson. The Elders are to be funded by some of its first members, such as Richard Branson, Peter Gabriel, Ray Chambers, Michael Chambers, Bridgeway Foundation, Pam Omidyar, Humanity United, Amy Robbins, Shashi Ruia, Dick Tarlow, and The United Nations Foundation.

Professor Yunus Family
In 1967 Yunus studied at Vanderbilt University. He met Vera Forostenko, a student of Russian literature there. Vera is the daughter of Russian immigrants to Trenton, New Jersey in the United States. They were married in 1970. Yunus marriage with Vera ended a few months after the birth of their baby girl, Monica Yunus (b. 1979 Chittagong). Vera returned to New Jersey and said that Bangladesh was not a good place to raise a baby. After some time, Yunus married Afrozi Yunus, who was a researcher in physics at Manchester University. She was appointed as a professor of physics at Jahangirnagar University. Their daughter Deena Afroz Yunus was born in 1986.

Professor Yunus brother Muhammad Ibrahim is a professor of physics at Dhaka University and the founder of The Center for Mass Education in Science (CMES). They teach science to girls in villages. His younger brother Muhammad Jahangir is a popular television presenter. Yunus oldest daughter, Monica, is an soprano singer in New York City.

Books
By Muhammad Yunus

 Grameen Bank, as I See it; Grameen Bank; 1994
 Jorimon and Others: Faces of Poverty (co-authors: Saiyada Manajurula Isalama, Arifa Rahman); Grameen Bank; 1991
 Planning in Bangladesh: Format, Technique, and Priority, and Other Essays; Rural Studies Project, Department of Economics, Chittagong University; 1976
 Three Farmers of Jobra; Department of Economics, Chittagong University; 1974

On Muhammad Yunus

Related pages
 List of Nobel Prize winners by country
 Grameen Bank
 Bangladesh

References

Other websites

 Grameen Bank - Grameen Bank's Official Web Site.
 MuhammadYunus.org - Official website of Dr. Muhammad Yunus.
 Grameen Foundation - Dr. Yunus led Organization.
 Grameen America - The US Part of Grameen Foundation.
 Instant USA Loan website -USA Small Business loans
 Muhammad Yunus Receives the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize  - A Photo Essay by Scott London
 Microcredit Missionary - A BusinessWeek Profile
 The next steps for microcredit  Interview with Muhammad Yunus
 Audio Interview with Muhammad Yunus  - By Wolfgang Blau (a.k.a. Harrer) and Alysa Selene, ZDF Germany
 PBS Biography  An article on Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank.
 A short biography

Videos
 A Collection of Video Documentaries about Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank
 "Pennies A Day" video featuring Muhammad Yunus
 The poor need infotech, says Mohd Yunus by Venkatesan Vembu, Daily News & Analysis
 International Forum Social Entrepreneurship Award: Honoring Muhammad Yunus -- video
 Charlie Rose interview Muhammad Yunus -- 58 mins video interview
 Yunus speaks at Council on Foreign Relations - Nov 16th, 2006

1940 births
Living people
Bangladeshi businesspeople
Economy of Bangladesh
People from Chittagong Division

Muhammad Yunus