The Republic of Florence (), known officially as the Florentine Republic (, ), was a medieval and early modern state that was centered on the Italian city of Florence in Tuscany, Italy. The republic originated in 1115, when the Florentine people rebelled against the Margraviate of Tuscany upon the death of Matilda of Tuscany, who controlled vast territories that included Florence. The Florentines formed a commune in her successors' place. The republic was ruled by a council known as the Signoria of Florence. The signoria was chosen by the  (titular ruler of the city), who was elected every two months by Florentine guild members.

During the Republic's history, Florence was an important cultural, economic, political and artistic force in Europe. Its coin, the florin, was the dominant trade coin of Western Europe for large scale transactions and became widely imitated throughout the continent. During the Republican period, Florence was also the birthplace of the Renaissance, which is considered a fervent period of European cultural, artistic, political and economic "rebirth".

The republic had a checkered history of coups and countercoups against various factions. The Medici faction gained governance of the city in 1434 under Cosimo de' Medici. The Medici kept control of Florence until 1494. Giovanni de' Medici, who later became Pope Leo X, reconquered the republic in 1512.

Florence repudiated Medici authority for a second time in 1527, during the War of the League of Cognac. The Medici reassumed their rule in 1531 after an 11-month siege of the city, aided by Emperor Charles V. Pope Clement VII, himself a Medici, appointed his relative Alessandro de' Medici as the first "Duke of the Florentine Republic", thereby transforming the Republic into a hereditary monarchy.

The second Duke, Cosimo I, established a strong Florentine navy and expanded his territory, conquering Siena. In 1569, the pope declared Cosimo the first grand duke of Tuscany. The Medici ruled the Grand Duchy of Tuscany until 1737.

Background

The city of Florence was established in 59 BC by Julius Caesar. Since 846 AD, the city had been part of the Marquisate of Tuscany. After Margravine Matilda of Tuscany died in 1115, the city did not submit readily to her successor, Rabodo (r. 1116–1119), who was killed in a dispute with the city.

It is not known precisely when Florence formed its own republican/oligarchical government independent of the marquisate, although the death of Rabodo in 1119 should be a turning point. The first official mention of the Florentine republic was in 1138, when several cities around Tuscany formed a league against the then-margrave of Tuscany, Duke Henry X of Bavaria. The country was nominally part of the Holy Roman Empire.

According to a study carried out by Enrico Faini of the University of Florence, there were about fifteen old aristocratic families who moved to Florence between 1000 and 1100: Amidei; Ardinghi; Brunelleschi; Buondelmonti; Caponsacchi; Donati; Fifanti; Gherardini of Montagliari; Guidi; Nerli; Porcelli; Sacchetti; Scolari; Uberti; and Visdomini.

History

12th century
The newly independent Florence prospered in the 12th century through extensive trade with foreign countries. This, in turn, provided a platform for the demographic growth of the city, which mirrored the rate of construction of churches and palazzi. This prosperity was shattered when Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa invaded the Italian peninsula in 1185. As a result, the margraves of Tuscany reacquired Florence and its townlands. The Florentines reasserted their independence when Emperor Henry VI died in 1197.

13th century
Florence's population continued to grow into the 13th century, reaching 30,000 inhabitants. As has been said, the extra inhabitants supported the city's trade and vice versa. Several new bridges and churches were built, most prominently the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, begun in 1294. The buildings from this era serve as Florence's best examples of Gothic Architecture. Politically, Florence was barely able to maintain peace between its competing factions. The precarious peace that existed at the beginning of the century was destroyed in 1216 when two factions, known as the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, began to war. The Ghibellines were supporters of the noble rulers of Florence, whereas the Guelphs were populists.

The Ghibellines, who had ruled the city under Frederick of Antioch since 1244, were deposed in 1250 by the Guelphs. The Guelphs led Florence to prosper further. Their primarily mercantile orientation soon became evident in one of their earliest achievements: the introduction of a new coin, the florin, in 1252. It was widely used beyond Florence's borders due to its reliable, fixed gold content and soon became one of the common currencies of Europe and the Near East. The same year saw the creation of the Palazzo del Popolo. The Guelphs lost the reins of power after Florence suffered a catastrophic defeat at the Battle of Montaperti against Siena in 1260. The Ghibellines resumed power and undid many of the advances of the Guelphs, for example the demolition of hundreds of towers, homes, and palaces. The fragility of their rule caused the Ghibellines to seek out an arbitrator in the form of Pope Clement IV, who openly favoured the Guelphs, and restored them to power.

The Florentine economy reached a zenith in the latter half of the 13th century, and its success was reflected by the building of the famed Palazzo della Signoria, designed by Arnolfo di Cambio. The Florentine townlands were divided into administrative districts in 1292. In 1293, the Ordinances of Justice were enacted, which effectively became the constitution of the republic of Florence throughout the Italian Renaissance. The city's numerous luxurious palazzi were becoming surrounded by townhouses built by the ever prospering merchant class. In 1298, the Bonsignori family of Siena, one of the leading banking families of Europe, went bankrupt, and the city of Siena lost its status as the most prominent banking center of Europe to Florence.

14th century
In 1304, the war between the Ghibellines and the Guelphs led to a great fire that destroyed much of the city. Napier gives the following account:

The golden florin of the Republic of Florence was the first European gold coin struck in sufficient quantities to play a significant commercial role since the 7th century. As many Florentine banks were international companies with branches across Europe, the florin quickly became the dominant trade coin of Western Europe for large scale transactions, replacing silver bars in multiples of the mark.

In fact, with the collapse of the Bonsignori family, several new banking families sprang up in Florence: the Bardis, Peruzzis and the Acciaioli. The friction between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines did not cease, authority still passed between the two frequently.

Florence's reign as the foremost banking city of Europe did not last long; the aforesaid families were bankrupt in 1340, not because of Edward III of England's refusal to pay his debts, as is often stated (the debt was just £13,000) but because of a Europe-wide economic recession. While the banks perished, Florentine literature flourished, and Florence was home to some of the greatest writers in Italian history: Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio. They were Europe's first vernacular writers, choosing the Tuscan dialect of Italian (which, as a result, evolved into the standard Italian language) over Latin.

Florence was hit hard by the Black Death. Having originated in the Orient, the plague arrived in Messina in 1347. The plague devastated Europe, robbing it of an estimated one-third of its population. This, combined with the economic downturn, took its toll on the city-state. The ensuing collapse of the feudal system changed the social composition of Europe forever; it was one of the first steps out of the Middle Ages.

The war with Avignon papacy strained the regime. In 1378 discontented wool workers revolted. The Ciompi revolt, as it is known, established a revolutionary commune. In 1382 the wealthier classes crushed the seeds of rebellion.

The famous Medici bank was established by Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici in October 1397. The bank continued to exist (albeit in an extremely diminished form) until the time of Ferdinando II de'Medici in the 17th century. But, for now, Giovanni's bank flourished.

Beginning in 1389, Gian Galeazzo Visconti of Milan expanded his dominion into the Veneto, Piedmont, Emilia and Tuscany. During this period Florence, under the leadership of Maso degli Albizzi and Niccolò da Uzzano was involved in three wars with Milan (1390–92, 1397–98, 1400–02). The Florentine army, commanded by John Hawkwood, contained the Milanese during the first war. The second war started in March 1397. Milanese troops devastated the Florentine contado, but were checked in August of that year.

The war expenses exceeded one million florins and necessitated tax raises and forced loans. A peace agreement in May 1398 was brokered by Venice, but left the struggle unresolved. Over the next two years Florentine control of Tuscany and Umbria collapsed. Pisa and Siena as well as a number of smaller cities submitted to Gian Galeazzo, while Lucca withdrew from the anti-Visconti league, with Bologna remaining the only major ally. In November 1400 a conspiracy involving both exiles and internal opponents was uncovered. Two Ricci were implicated as leaders of a plot to eliminate the regime's inner circle and open the gates to the Milanese. Confessions indicated that the plan had wide support among the elites, including a Medici and several of the Alberti.

The republic bankrolled the emperor-elect Rupert. However, he was defeated by the Milanese in the fall of 1401. Visconti then turned to Bologna. On 26 June 1402, combined Bolognese-Florentine forces were routed at
Casalecchio, near Bologna, which was taken on the 30th. The road to Tuscany was open. However, Florence was saved after an outbreak of plague had spread from Tuscany to Emilia and Lombardy: Gian Galeazzo died from it on 3 September 1402.

15th century

The Visconti domains were divided between three heirs. Gabriele Maria Visconti sold Pisa to the Republic of Florence for 200,000 florins. Since the Pisans did not intend to voluntarily submit to their long-time rivals, the army under Maso degli Albizzi took Pisa on 9 October 1406 after a long siege, that was accompanied by numerous atrocities.

The state authorities had been approached by the Duchy of Milan in 1422, with a treaty, that prohibited Florence's interference with Milan's impending war with the Republic of Genoa.Florence obliged, but Milan disregarded its own treaty and occupied a Florentine border town. The conservative government wanted war, while the people bemoaned such a stance as they would be subject to enormous tax increases. The republic went to war with Milan, and won, upon the Republic of Venice's entry on their side. The war was concluded in 1427, and the Visconti of Milan were forced to sign an unfavourable treaty.

The debt incurred during the war was gargantuan, approximately 4,200,000 florins. To pay, the state had to change the tax system. The current estimo system was replaced with the catasto. The catasto was based on a citizen's entire wealth, while the estimo was simply a form of income tax. Apart from war, Filippo Brunelleschi created the renowned dome of the Santa Maria del Fiore, which astounded contemporaries and modern observers alike.

Medicis' rule

The son of Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici, Cosimo de' Medici succeeded his father as the head of the Medici Bank. He played a prominent role in the government of Florence until his exile in 1433, after a disastrous war with Tuscany's neighbour, the Republic of Lucca. Cosimo's exile in Venice lasted for less than a year, when the people of Florence overturned Cosimo's exile in a democratic vote. Cosimo returned to the acclaim of his people and the banishment of the Albizzi family, who had exiled him.

Cosimo de' Medici

The Renaissance began during Cosimo's de facto rule of Florence, the seeds of which had arguably been laid before the Black Death tore through Europe. Niccolò Niccoli was the leading Florence humanist scholar of the time. He appointed the first Professor of Greek, Manuel Chrysoloras (the founder of Hellenic studies in Italy), at the University of Florence in 1397. Niccoli was a keen collector of ancient manuscripts, which he bequeathed to Cosimo upon his death in 1437. Poggio Bracciolini succeeded Niccoli as the principal humanist of Florence. Bracciolini was born Arezzo in 1380. He toured Europe, searching for more ancient Greco-Roman manuscripts for Niccoli. Unlike his employer, Bracciolini also authored his own works. He was made the Chancellor of Florence shortly before his death, by Cosimo, who was his best friend.

Florence hosted the Great Ecumenical Council in 1439; this council was launched in an attempt to reconcile the Byzantine Eastern Orthodox Church with Roman Catholicism. Pope Eugenius IV convened it in reply to a cry for assistance from the Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire (also known as the Byzantine Empire) John VIII Palaiologos. John VIII's empire was slowly being devoured by the Ottoman Turks.The council was a huge boost to Florence's international prestige. The council deliberated until July 1439. Both parties had reached a compromise, and the Pope agreed to militarily aid the Byzantine Emperor. However, upon John VIII's homecoming to Constantinople, the Greeks rejected the compromise, leading to riots throughout what remained of the Byzantine Empire. John VIII was forced to repudiate the agreement with the Roman church to appease the rioters. As a result, no Western aid was forthcoming and the Byzantine Empire's fate was sealed. Fourteen years later in 1453, Constantinople fell to the Ottomans.

Cosimo's fervent patronage transformed Florence into the epitome of a Renaissance city. He employed Donatello, Brunelleschi, and Michelozzo. All these artistic commissions cost Cosimo over 600,000 florins.

Foreign relations, both as a backdrop to Cosimo's rise to power and during first twenty years of his rule, were dominated by the Wars in Lombardy. This series of conflicts between the Venetian Republic and the Duchy of Milan for hegemony in Northern Italy lasted from 1423 to 1454 and involved a number of Italian states, that occasionally switched sides according to their changing interests. Filippo Maria Visconti of Milan invaded Florence twice in the 1430s, and again in 1440, but his army was finally defeated in the battle of Anghiari. The Milanese invasions were largely instigated by the exiled Albizzi family. Death of Filippo Maria in 1447 led to a major change in the alliances. In 1450 Cosimo's current ally Francesco Sforza established himself as the Duke of Milan. Florentine trade interests made her support Sforza's Milan in the war against Venice, while the fall of Constantinople in 1453 dealt a blow to Venetian finances. Eventually, the Peace of Lodi recognized Venetian and Florentine territorial gains and the legitimacy of the Sforza rule in Milan. The Milan-Florence alliance played a major role in stabilizing the peninsula for the next 40 years.

The political crisis of 1458 was the first serious challenge to the Medici rule. The cost of wars had been borne by the great families of Florence, and disproportionately so by Medici's opponents. A number of them (Serragli, Baroncelli, Mancini, Vespucci, Gianni) were practically ruined and had to sell their properties, and those were acquired by Medici's partisans at bargain prices. The opposition used partial relaxation of Medici control of the republic institutions to demand political reforms, freedom of speech in the councils and a greater share in the decision-making. Medici's party response was to use threats of force from private armies and Milanese troops and arranging a popular assembly dominated by Cosimo's supporters. It exiled the opponents of the regime and introduced the open vote in councils, "in order to unmask the anti-Medician rebels".

From 1458 Cosimo withdrew from any official public role, but his control of Florence was greater than ever. In the spring of 1459 he entertained the new pope Pius II, who stopped in Florence on his way to the Council of Mantua to declare a crusade against the Ottomans, and Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Francesco's son, who was to escort the pope from Florence to Mantua. In his memoirs, Pius said that Cosimo "was considered the arbiter of war and peace, the regulator of law; less a citizen than master of his city. Political councils were held in his home; the magistrates he chose were elected; he was king in all but name and legal status…. Some asserted that his tyranny was intolerable."

Piero de' Medici

Piero the Gouty was the eldest son of Cosimo. Piero, as his sobriquet the gouty implies, suffered from gout and did not enjoy good health. Lorenzo the Magnificent was Piero's eldest son by his wife Lucrezia Tornabuoni. Piero's reign furthered the always fractious political divisions of Florence when he had called up huge debts owed to the Medici Bank. These debts were owed primarily by a Florentine nobleman, Luca Pitti. Lucca called for an armed insurrection against Piero, but a co-conspirator rebutted this. Duke Francesco Sforza of Milan died in 1466, and his son Galeazzo Maria Sforza became the new Milanese duke. With the death of Francesco Sforza, Florence lost a valuable ally among the other Italian states.

In August 1466, the conspirators acted. They received support from the Duke of Ferrara, who marched troops into the Florentine countryside with the intent of deposing Piero. The coup failed. The Florentines were not willing to support it, and soon after their arrival, Ferrara's troops left the city. The conspirators were exiled for life. While the internal problems were fixed, Venice took the opportunity to invade Florentine territory in 1467. Piero appointed Federigo da Montefeltro, Lord of Urbino, to command his mercenaries. An inconclusive battle ensued, with the Venetians forces retreating. In the winter of 1469 Piero died.

Lorenzo de' Medici

Lorenzo succeeded his father, Piero. Lorenzo, as heir, was accordingly groomed by his father to rule over Florence.

Lorenzo was the greatest artistic patron of the Renaissance. He patronised Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Botticelli, among others. During Lorenzo's reign, the Renaissance truly descended on Florence. Lorenzo commissioned a multitude of amazing pieces of art and also enjoyed collecting fine gems. Lorenzo had many children with his wife Clarice Orsini, including the future Pope Leo X and his eventual successor in Florence, Piero the Unfortunate.

Lorenzo's brother Giuliano was killed before his own eyes in the Pazzi conspiracy of 1478. This plot was instigated by the Pazzi family. The coup was unsuccessful, and the conspirators were executed in a very violent manner. The scheme was supported by the Archbishop of Pisa, Francesco Salviati, who was also executed in his ceremonial robes. News of this sacrilege reached Pope Sixtus IV (who had also supported the conspiracy against the Medicis). Sixtus IV was "outraged" and excommunicated everyone in Florence. Sixtus sent a papal delegation to Florence to arrest Lorenzo. The people of Florence were obviously enraged by the Pope's actions, and the local clergy too. The populace refused to resign Lorenzo to the papal delegation. A war followed, which lasted for two years until Lorenzo tactfully went about diplomatically securing a peace. Lorenzo died in 1492 and was succeeded by his son Piero.

Piero 'the Unfortunate'

Piero ruled Florence for a mere two years. Charles VIII of France invaded Italy in September 1494. He demanded passage through Florence to Naples, where he intended to secure the throne for himself. Piero met Charles at the fringes of Florence to try and negotiate. Piero capitulated to all Charles' demands, and upon arriving back in the city in November, he was branded as a traitor. He was forced to flee the republic with his family.

Savonarola

After the fall of the Medici, Girolamo Savonarola ruled the state. Savonarola was a priest from Ferrara. He came to Florence in the 1480s. By proclaiming predictions and through vigorous preaching, he won the people to his cause. Savonarola's new government ushered in democratic reforms. It allowed many exiles back into Florence, who were banished by the Medici. Savonarola's ulterior goal, however, was to transform Florence into a "city of God". Florentines stopped wearing garish colours, and many women took oaths to become nuns. Savonarola became most famous for his "Bonfire of the Vanities", where he ordered all "vanities" to be gathered and burned. These included wigs, perfume, paintings, and ancient pagan manuscripts.
Savonarola's rule collapsed a year later. He was excommunicated by Pope Alexander VI in late 1497. In the same year, Florence embarked on a war with Pisa, which had been de facto independent since Charles VIII's invasion three years before. The endeavour failed miserably, and this led to food shortages. That, in turn, led to a few isolated cases of the plague. The people blamed Savonarola for their woes, and he was tortured and executed in the Piazza della Signoria by being burned at the stake by Florentine authorities, in May 1498.

16th century

Piero Soderini

In 1502, the Florentines chose Piero Soderini as their first ruler for life. Soderini succeeded where Savonarola had failed, when the Secretary of War, Niccolò Machiavelli, recaptured Pisa in 1509. It was at this time that Machiavelli introduced a standing army in Florence, replacing the traditional use of hired mercenaries.

Giovanni de' Medici

Soderini was repudiated in September 1512, when Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici captured Florence with Papal troops during the War of the League of Cambrai. The Medici rule of Florence was thus restored.

Soon after retaking Florence, Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici was recalled to Rome. Pope Julius II had just died, and he needed to be present for the ensuing Papal conclave. Giovanni was elected Pope, taking the name Leo X. This effectively brought the Papal States and Florence into a political union. Leo X ruled Florence by proxy, first appointing his brother Giuliano de' Medici to rule in his stead, and then in 1513, replacing Giuliano with his cousin, Lorenzo II de' Medici.

Lorenzo II's government proved unpopular in Florence. According to U.S. President and historian John Adams, "at this time the citizens of the state of Florence were in secret very discontented, because the Duke Lorenzo, desiring to reduce the government to the form of a principality, appeared to disdain to consult any longer with the magistrates and his fellow-citizens as he used to do, and gave audiences very seldom, and with much impatience; he attended less to the business of the city, and caused all public affairs to be managed by Messer Goro da Pistoia, his secretary." In 1519, Lorenzo died from syphilis, shortly before his wife gave birth to Catherine de' Medici, the future Queen of France.

Giulio de' Medici

Following the death of Lorenzo II, Cardinal Giulio de' Medici governed Florence until 1523, when he was elected Pope Clement VII. U.S. President John Adams later characterized his administration of Florence as "very successful and frugal." Adams chronicles Cardinal Giulio as having "reduced the business of the magistrates, elections, customs of office, and the mode of expenditure of public money, in such a manner that it produced a great and universal joy among the citizens."

On the death of Pope Leo X in 1521, Adams writes there was a "ready inclination in all of the principal citizens [of Florence], and a universal desire among the people, to maintain the state in the hands of the Cardinal de' Medici; and all this felicity arose from his good government, which since the death of the Duke Lorenzo, had been universally agreeable."

When Cardinal Giulio was elected Pope Clement VII, he appointed Ippolito de' Medici and Alessandro de' Medici to rule Florence, under the guardianship of Cardinal Passerini.  Ippolito was the son of Giuliano de' Medici, while Alessandro was allegedly the son of Clement VII. Cardinal Passerini's regency government proved highly unpopular.

In May 1527, Rome was sacked by the Holy Roman Empire. The city was destroyed, and Pope Clement VII was imprisoned. During the tumult, a faction of Republicans drove out the Medici from Florence. A new wave of Puritanism swept through the city. Many new restricting fundamentalist laws were passed.

In 1529, Clement VII signed the Treaty of Barcelona with Charles V, under which Charles would, in exchange for the Pope's blessing, invade Florence and restore the Medici. They were restored after a protracted siege.

"Dukes of the Republic of Florence"

Following the Republic's surrender in the Siege of Florence, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor issued a proclamation explicitly stating that he and he alone could determine the government of Florence. On 12 August 1530, the Emperor created the Medici hereditary rulers (capo) of the Republic of Florence. The title "Duke of the Florentine Republic" was chosen because it would bolster Medici power in the region.

Alessandro de' Medici

Pope Clement VII intended his relative Alessandro de' Medici to be the ruler of Florence, but also wanted to give the impression that the Florentines had democratically chosen Alessandro as their ruler.
Even after Alessandro's accession in 1530 (he reigned as Duke of the Florentine Republic from 1532 on), Imperial troops remained stationed in Florence. In 1535, several prominent Florentine families, including the Pazzi (who attempted to kill Lorenzo de' Medici in the Pazzi Conspiracy) dispatched a delegation under Ippolito de' Medici, asking Charles V to depose Alessandro. Much to their dismay, the Emperor rejected their appeal. Charles had no intention of deposing Alessandro, who was married to Charles' daughter Margaret of Parma.

Alessandro continued to rule Florence for another two years until he was murdered on 1 January 1537 by his distant relative Lorenzino de' Medici.

Cosimo I de' Medici

As Alessandro left no legitimate issue, the question of succession was open. Florentine authorities selected Cosimo I in 1537. At the news of this, the exiled Strozzi family invaded and tried to depose Cosimo, but were defeated at Montemurlo. Cosimo completely overhauled the bureaucracy and administration of Florence. In 1542, the Imperial troops stationed in Florence by Charles V were withdrawn.

In 1548, Cosimo was given a part of the Island of Elba by Charles V, and based his new developing navy there. Cosimo founded the port city of Livorno and allowed the city's inhabitants to enjoy freedom of religion. In alliance with Spain and the Holy Roman Empire, Cosimo defeated the Republic of Siena, which was allied with France, in the Battle of Marciano on 2 August 1554. On 17 April 1555, Florence and Spain occupied the territory of Siena, which, in July 1557 Philip II of Spain bestowed on Cosimo as a hereditary fiefdom. The ducal family moved into the Palazzo Pitti in 1560. Cosimo commissioned the architect Vasari to build the Uffizi, as offices for the Medici bank, continuing the Medici tradition of patronage of the arts.

End of the Republic

In 1569, Cosimo was elevated to the rank of the Grand Duke of Tuscany by Pope Pius V. This marks the end of the Florence Republic, and the beginning of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.

Medici rule continued into the Grand Duchy of Tuscany until the family became extinct in 1737.

Administrations of the Republic
Florence was governed by a council called the signoria, which consisted of nine men. The head of the signoria was the gonfaloniere, who was chosen every two months in a lottery, as was his signoria. To be eligible, one had to have sound finances, no arrears or bankruptcies, he had to be older than thirty, had to be a member of Florence's seven main guilds (merchant traders, bankers, two clothe guilds, and judges). The lottery was often pre-determined, and the results were usually favourable to influential families. The roster of names in the lottery were replaced every five years.

The main organs of government were known as the tre maggiori. They were: the twelve good men, the standard bearers of the gonfaloniere, and the signoria. The first two debated and ratified proposed legislation, but could not introduce it. The gonfaloniere'''s initial two month-term in office was expanded upon the fall of Savonarola in 1498, to life, much like that of the Venetian doge. The signoria held meetings each day in the Palazzo della Signoria. Various committees controlled particular aspects of government, e.g. the Committee of War. For administrative purposes, Florence was divided into four districts, which were divided into four sub-districts. The main purpose of these counties was to ease the gathering of local militias.

To hold an elective office, one had to be of a family that had previously held office. The Medici family effectively ruled Florence on a hereditary basis, from 1434 to 1494, and 1512–1527.

After Alessandro de' Medici was installed as the "Duke of the Florentine Republic" in 1530, in April 1532, Pope Clement VII convinced the Balía, Florence's ruling commission, to draw up a new constitution, which formally created a hereditary monarchy. It abolished the age-old signoria (elective government) and the office of gonfaloniere (titular head-of-state elected for a two-month term) and replaced it with three institutions:

 the consigliere, a four-man council elected for a three-month term, headed by the "Duke of the Florentine Republic".
 the Senate, composed of forty-eight men, chosen by the Balía'', was vested with the prerogative of determining Florence's financial, security, and foreign policies. Additionally, the senate appointed the commissions of war and public security, and the governors of Pisa, Arezzio, Prato, Voltera and Cortona and ambassadors.
 the Council of Two Hundred was a petitions court; membership was for life.

See also
 Grand Duchy of Tuscany
 Guilds of Florence
 Lords and Dukes of Florence

Notes

References

Sources

External links

 Pbs.org: Medicis and the Republic of Florence
 The Florentine school of the Renaissance

Republic of Florence
1115 establishments in Europe
12th-century establishments in Italy
1532 disestablishments in Europe
1530s disestablishments in Italy
2nd millennium in Italy
Christian states
Republic of Florence
Florence
History of Tuscany
Republic of Florence
House of Medici
Italian city-states
Italian Renaissance
States and territories established in 1115
States and territories disestablished in 1532
Theocracies

Republic of Florence


Triploblasty is a condition of the gastrula in which there are three primary germ layers: the ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm. Germ cells are set aside in the embryo at the blastula stage, and are incorporated into the gonads during organogenesis. The germ layers form during the gastrulation of the blastula. The term triploblast may refer to any egg cell in which the blastoderm splits into three layers.

All bilaterians, which are the animals with bilaterally symmetrical embryos, are triploblastic. Other animal taxa, namely the ctenophores, placozoans, and cnidarians, are diploblastic, which means that their embryos contain only two germ layers. Sponges are even less developmentally specialized, because they lack both true tissues and organs.

The earliest triploblasts are thought to have evolved from the diploblasts at some time during the proterozoic era, establishing themselves as a group prior to their diversification during the cambrian explosion.

See also

References

Animal developmental biology

Triploblasty


Crossing over is a basic concept of genetics and cell biology, often called recombination. It occurs during meiosis.

Crossing over is the exchange of chromosome segments between non-sister chromatids during the production of gametes. The effect is to assort (shuffle) the alleles on parental chromosomes, so that the gametes carry combinations of genes different from either parent. This has the overall effect of increasing the variety of phenotypes present in a population.

The process can be seen directly in stained cells, and indirectly if there are genetic markers or not on the chromosomes. The visible crossovers are called chiasma (plural: chiasmata), which is Greek for a cross. F. A. Janssens was the first to suggest what chiasmata meant.

The large-scale effect of crossing over is to spread variation through a population. This is the main result of sexual reproduction compared to non-sexual modes of reproduction.

The main advantage to the parents is the greater variety in their offspring. This, it is thought, increases the chance that some of the offspring will survive and reproduce. This has been the subject of much investigation and discussion.

References

Chromosomes

Crossing over


James L. Edwards is the former president of the Anderson University, a position he had held since July 1, 1990, and the former president of the Anderson School of Theology.

Education

Edwards completed his bachelor's and master's degree from Anderson University and the Anderson University School of Theology. In 1987, he went on to receive his Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Policy and Leadership from Ohio State University. His dissertation was titled Connections: Things That Matter to Teachers in Small Colleges. While completing his doctoral studies, he received the Earl W. Anderson Award for Research in Higher Education from Ohio State's College of Education.

Career
Edwards became president of Anderson University on July 1, 1990. He was the fourth president in the university's history and also presided over the Anderson University School of Theology. President Edwards is commonly and popularly referred to as "P. Eddy" by the Anderson University students. This is from the abbreviation of the word "President" and the shortening of the name "Edwards." As of 2014, Edwards has officially announced that he is stepping down as president and will conclude by the end of the 2014-2015 academic year. His last year of service will mark 25 years.

References

Living people
Heads of universities and colleges in the United States
Year of birth missing (living people)
Ohio State University College of Education and Human Ecology alumni
Anderson University (Indiana) alumni

James L. Edwards (academic administrator)


The Degree Angular Scale Interferometer (DASI) was a telescope installed at the U.S. National Science Foundation's Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica. It was a 13-element interferometer operating between 26 and 36 GHz (Ka band) in ten bands. The instrument is similar in design to the Cosmic Background Imager (CBI) and the Very Small Array (VSA).
In 2001 The DASI team announced the most detailed measurements of the temperature, or power spectrum of the Cosmic microwave background (CMB). These results contained the first detection of the 2nd and 3rd acoustic peaks in the CMB, which were important evidence for inflation theory. This announcement was done in conjunction with the BOOMERanG and MAXIMA experiment. In 2002 the team reported the first detection of polarization anisotropies in the CMB.

In 2005, the vacant DASI mount was used for the QUaD experiment, which was another CMB imager focussed on the E-mode spectrum.
In 2010, the DASI mount was again repurposed for the Keck Array, which also measures CMB polarization anisotropy.

Introduction
The CMB was created when the universe was about 380,000 years old, when the opaque plasma fog which existed after the Big Bang began to recombine into hydrogen atoms and allowed photons to travel freely through space. This radiation has since been redshifted by the expansion of the universe and can be seen faintly in the microwave part of the electromagnetic spectrum. In 1992 it was observed that there are very slight anisotropies in the effective temperature of the CMB, and the DASI telescope was outfitted to precisely measure these temperature anisotropies and then to detect polarization; the first to look at the polarization of the CMB. The ΛCDM (dark energy and cold dark matter) theory, regarded as the standard model of cosmology, predicted polarization of the CMB due to the scattering effects of the first atoms in the universe. Project leader John Carlstrom said that if polarization had not been found, astrophysicists would have to reject all their interpretations of recent data.

Construction

Location
The DASI telescope was set up over the 1999–2000 austral summer, on the inner of the two towers of the Martin A.Pomerantz Observatory at the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station 0.7 km from the geographic south pole. The southern polar site is an exceptional location for this sort of telescope because of the extremely favourable atmospheric conditions. The high altitude and extreme dryness means the air is thinner and contains much less water vapour than other climates, which is important as water is a good absorber of microwave radiation and blocks a portion of the CMB signal. Also, the sun is only visible for six months of the year negating the need to shield the telescope from it during that time.

Other telescopes which have been or are at the station include the Viper, Python, and the South Pole Telescope.
See the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station article for a list of astrophysics experiments at the site.

Design
The DASI was a compact interferometer made up of 13 small telescope elements in a pattern with three lines of symmetry. Each of the 13 telescopes had a  lensed corrugated horn, with a corrugated shroud to reduce crosstalk between the antennae. Each of the telescopes had a high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) amplifier working at the frequencies 26–36 GHz (Ka band), cryogenically cooled to about 10K. The receiver noise temperatures ranged from 15K-26K at band centre, and 30K at the edges. The overall system temperature reached about 26K.

For the polarization observations, the telescope was reconfigured during the 2000-2001 austral summer with achromatic polarizers, providing the telescope with sensitivity in all four Stokes parameters.

The telescope mount was of an altitude-azimuth (altazimuth) design, with a counterbalanced gear and pinion elevation drive, that gave great stability when tracking and pointing. The mount had a heavy box steel construction, which was necessary to ensure stability of the  mass of the telescope.

The telescope was designed to provide the most reliable results possible by minimising any factor which could affect the images produced, for example the  tower where the telescope was situated was mechanically isolated to prevent vibrations from the rest of the building affecting the equipment.  The telescope was inside a large upside-down dome which served as a ground shield to minimise interfering thermal radiation from the earth.

To avoid human exposure to the  temperatures of the Antarctic winter, there was a canopy between the telescope and the ground shield which created a sealed cabin allowing access by ladder to the instruments without leaving the safety of the building.

The design of the DASI was very similar to that of the VSA and the CBI. The electronic equipment behind the CBI and DASI were actually identical as were the 26–36 GHz frequencies operated at. However the CBI was designed for smaller angular scales, so it had a greater resolution over a smaller area of the sky, and so had 0.9m dishes instead of DASI's 20 cm horns. The VSA was also similar in concept and operated at the same frequency, but operated at smallerangular resolutions of 0.2-3°.

Funding
The project was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) office of polar programs, first through the Centre for Astrophysical Research in Antarctica and then directly through the office. It was additionally supported by the Centre for Cosmological Physics in Chicago.

Results
DASI made its first observations over 97 days during the 2000 austral winter, measuring temperature anisotropies of the CMB in 32 roughly adjacent circular areas of the sky, each 3.4° in diameter. These observations were highly sensitive, typically at an rms precision of 10μK. After another set of measurements in 2001 the team reported the results the first measurements of the 2nd and 3rd acoustic peaks in the CMB's power spectrum, the 1st had been discovered by earlier experiments MAT/TOCO, BOOMERanG and MAXIMA.
The cuts of DASI's data were done with a strict "jackknife" test which removed data which was gathered when certain parameters were exceeded, for example if the sun rose more than 5° over the horizon, or there was a large offset or excessive noise in the data suggesting a hardware glitch. This is a standard practise which sacrifices some accuracy for improved reliability.

In December 2002, the DASI team reported the discovery of polarization anisotropies in the CMB. This followed 2 years and 271 days of observations of two of the previous 3.4° diameter FWHM areas. 22 days of data was cut.

The experiment was continued through the austral winter of 2003, and the new data confirmed the conclusions of the previous two years.

Conclusions
The 2001 discovery of the 2nd and 3rd acoustic peaks in the CMB was an important piece of evidence for the inflation theory of the expansion of the universe. According to the theory, acoustic peaks are caused by the oscillations of matter during the Big Bang, which should be measurable as one main frequency or tone, with a series of overtones or harmonics. The 1st acoustic peak represents the main tone, and the 2nd and 3rd peaks discovered by DASI represent the 2nd and 3rd harmonics. These readings can also be used to measure the baryon density of the early universe, and these measurements provided evidence for the existence of dark matter and dark energy. This has since become the ΛCDM Standard Model of Cosmology.

From the more recent polarization results scientists could have "high confidence" of the presence of E-modes in the CMB, which added to the evidence supporting the ΛCDM Standard Model of Cosmology; the data is also helpful to understanding the mass distribution of the early universe. The temperature anisotropies revealed the existence of formations of matter in the early universe, and the polarization revealed how these formations were moving. The developments in interferometric technique achieved by this project were also thought to be helpful for future projects seeking to discover B-modes as evidence for gravitational waves. The DASI however, was not large enough to be useful in the search for B-modes, and having accomplished what it had been designed for, was decommissioned.

References

External links
 Nature article on the CMB polarization discovery

Astronomical telescopes and observatories in the Antarctic
Cosmic microwave background experiments
Interferometric telescopes
Radio telescopes

Degree Angular Scale Interferometer


Marcia Tucker, nascuda Marcia Silverman (11 d'abril de 1940 – 17 d'octubre de 2006) va ser una historiadora de l'art, crítica d'art i conservadora de museus estatunidenca. El 1977 va fundar el New Museum, un museu dedicat a l'art innovador i a la pràctica artística contemporània a Nova York, on va treballar com a directora fins al 1999. Tucker va morir el 17 d'octubre de 2006 a Santa Barbara, Califòrnia.

Catàlegs i publicacions
 "No Title," in The Space of Art: Buddha and the Culture of Now, ed. Jacqueline Baas and Mary Jane Jacob, University of California Press, 2005.
 "No Title," in Buddha Mind in Contemporary Art, ed. Jacquelynn Baas and Mary Jane Jacob, University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles & London, 2004.
 "A Labor of Love," in Objects and Meaning: Readings that Challenge the Norm, ed. Anna Fariello and Paula Owen, Scarecrow Press, Maryland, 2003.
 Talking Visions: Multicultural Feminism in a Transnational Age, Documentary Sources in Contemporary Art, Vol. V, published by the New Museum of Contemporary Art in conjunction with The M.I.T. Press, 1998, Series editor and foreword.
 "Museums Experiment with New Exhibition Strategies," The New York Times, Arts and Leisure section, Sunday, January 10, 1999.
 "Questing for New Definitions of Contemporary Art," The New York Times, Arts and Leisure section, Sunday, March 29, 1998.
 "Adventures in Liza Land," Liza Lou, Smart Art Press, 1997.
 "A [Re]Movable Feast," Grantsmakers in the Arts, Spring 1997, Volume 8, Number 1.
 "The New Museum: Documentary Sources in Contemporary Art," American Art Review, (Special Issue: The Henry Luce Foundation), February/March 1995.
 "Collecting: The Strategy of Desire," a catalogue essay for the exhibition, Mettlesome & Meddlesome: Selections from the Robert J. Shiffler Collection, The Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1994.
 "A Moment in Reverse," The Hamburger Monument against Fascism by Jochen and Esther Gerz, Verlag Gerd Hatje, Germany, 1994
 Condensed version of a presentation delivered at The Contemporary Museum, Hawaii, on July 25, 1993, ARTbeat, November 1993.
 Different Voices: A Social, Cultural, and Historical Framework for Change in the American Art Museum, Project Director. Introductory essay, "Who's on First? Issues of Cultural Equity in Today's Museums," by Marcia Tucker, Association of Art Museum Directors, New York, 1992.
 Out There: Marginalization and Contemporary Cultures, Documentary Sources in Contemporary Art, Vol. IV, published by the New Museum of Contemporary Art in conjunction with The M.I.T. Press, 1990, Series Editor and foreword.
 Discourses: Conversations in Postmodern Art and Culture, Documentary Sources in Contemporary Art, Vol. III, published by the New Museum of Contemporary Art in conjunction with The M.I.T. Press, 1990, Series Editor and foreword.
 "Common Ground," Museum News, July/August 1990.
 "Nancy Dwyer Makes Trubble," Artforum, November 1989.
 "Women Artists Today: Revolution or Regression?" Making Their Mark: Women Artists Move into the Mainstream, Maidenform, Inc., 1989.
 "Equestrian Mysteries: An Interview with Deborah Butterfield," Art in America, June 1988.
 "The Painted Equation: An Artist's [Alfred Jensen] Rendering of Nature's Laws," The Sciences, March/April 1988.
 Blasted Allegories: An Anthology of Writings by Contemporary Artists, Documentary Sources in Contemporary Art, Vol. II, published by the New Museum of Contemporary Art in conjunction with The M.I.T. Press, 1987, Series Editor and foreword.
 "Not Just for Laughs: The Art of Subversion," SF Camerawork Quarterly, March 1987.
 PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE: Photographs by Daniel Faust, Amanda Means, Andres Serrano, Susan Unterberg, and Carrie Mae Weems, 1986.
 Art After Modernism: Rethinking Representation, Documentary Sources in Contemporary Art, Vol. I, published by the New Museum of Contemporary Art in conjunction with David R. Godine, 1984, Series Editor and foreword.
 "An Iconography of Recent Figurative Painting: Sex, Death, Violence and the Apocalypse," Artforum, Summer 1982.
 "Terry Allen (on everything)," Artforum, October 1982.
 "The Ring: 'A Story which Swallows its Own Tale,'" Terry Allen, exhibition catalogue, The Nelson Gallery/Atkins Museum, Kansas City, Missouri, 1981.
 "An Interview with Jack Tworkov," Jack Tworkov, Paintings 1950-1978, Third Eye Centre, Glasgow, Scotland, 1979.
 "Mythical Vision: The Work of Alfred Jensen," Alfred Jensen: Paintings and Diagrams from the Years 1957-1977, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, N.Y., 1978.
 "Cultural Irony," (Charles Garabedian, H.C. Westerman, Jim Roche), Critical Perspectives in American Art, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1976.
 Introduction, Heavily Tattooed Men and Women, compiled by Spider Webb, McGraw Hill, Inc., N.Y., 1976.
 Preface, Art Talk: Conversations with Twelve Women Artists, by Cindy Nemser, Charles Scribner & Sons, N.Y., 1975.
 Guest Editor, Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Arts Journal, (New York/California Issue), No. 10, March/April, 1976.
 "Bypassing the Gallery System," Ms. Magazine, February 1973.
 "Pat Steir: 'The Thing Itself, Made by Me,'" Art in America, January/February, 1973.
 "The Anatomy of a Brush Stroke: Recent Paintings by Joan Snyder," Artforum, May 1971.
 Robert Morris, Praeger Books, Inc., N.Y., 1970.
 "PheNAUMANology," Artforum, December 1970. Reprinted in "Bruce Nauman," Hayward Gallery, London: 1998.
 American Painting in the Ferdinand Howald Collection, Catalogue Raisonné, The Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Columbus, Ohio, 1969.

Premis i reconeixements
Va rebre el Premi Skowhegan Governors pel seu servei vital al món de les Arts (1988), i va rebre el Premi Bard College Award el 1999 pels seus èxits curatorials, així com l'Art Table Award pel seu servei a les arts visuals l'any 2000.

Referències

Persones de Brooklyn
Directors de museu estatunidencs
Crítics d'art estatunidencs
Alumnes del Connecticut College
Morts a Califòrnia

Marcia Tucker


Deshret was the name for the Red Crown of Lower Egypt. When joined with the Hedjet, the White Crown of Upper Egypt, it forms the Pschent. This double crown was called the sekhemti in ancient Egyptian. Deshret was also the name for the desert Red Land on either side of the Nile river.

The Red Crown in Egyptian language hieroglyphs became the vertical letter "n" . The old "n" hieroglyph from the Predynastic Period, and the Old Kingdom was a sign showing ripples in water.

Significance
In mythology, the earth god Geb, the first ruler of Egypt, gave Horus the power to rule over Lower Egypt. The Egyptian pharaohs, who saw themselves as successors of Horus, wore the deshret to show their authority over Lower Egypt. Other gods wore the deshret too, such as the protective serpent goddess Wadjet and the creator-goddess of Sais, Neith, who often is shown wearing the Red Crown.

The Red Crown would later be joined with the White Crown of Upper Egypt to form the Double Crown. This was a symbol to show their rule over the whole country, which they called "The Two Lands".

The Red Land, the deserts and foreign lands around Egypt, was ruled by Seth. The Egyptians saw it as a dangerous confusing place, without laws or any order.

Records of the Red Crown
None of the red crowns have survived. It is not known how the crown was made or what materials were used. It could have been made from copper, reeds, cloth, or even leather.

The Red Crown is often shown in texts, wall carvings and statues. An early example shows a victorious pharaoh wearing the deshret on the Narmer Palette. A text from the reign of Djer records a royal visit to the shrine of the Deshret which may have been at Buto in the Nile delta.

No crown has ever been found buried with any of the pharaohs, even in tombs that have not been robbed. This suggests that the deshret was passed from one king to the next, much as in present-day monarchies.

Deshret (vertical letter N) in hieroglyphic writing

References

Related pages
Hedjet - White Crown of Upper Egypt
Pschent - Double Crown of Lower and Upper Egypt

Ancient Egypt

Deshret


"The Three Fairies" is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone.

It is Aarne–Thompson tale 480, the kind and the unkind girls, and appears to stem from an oral source.  Others of this type include "Diamonds and Toads", "Shita-kiri Suzume", "Mother Hulda", "The Three Heads in the Well", "Father Frost", "The Three Little Men in the Wood", "The Enchanted Wreath", "The Old Witch" and "The Two Caskets".  Another literary variant is "Aurore and Aimée".  In this tale, like many others of this type, the heroine descends into another world where she is tested.

Synopsis

An envious widow, Caradonia, had an ugly daughter, Grannizia.  She married a rich landowner with a lovely daughter, Cicella, and in her envy tormented her stepdaughter, dressing her badly, giving her poor food, and making her work.  One day, Cicella dropped her basket over a cliff.  She saw, below, a hideous ogre and politely asked him to help her.  He said if she climbed, she would get it.  She climbed down and found three beautiful fairies at the bottom of the cliff.   She was polite with them, combing their hair and claiming to find pearls and rubies along with lice.  They took her to their castle and showed her their treasures; she admired them but was not bedazzled.  Finally, they showed her rich clothing and asked her to choose a dress; she chose a cheap one.  They asked her how she wanted to leave, and she said the stable door was good enough for her.  They gave her a splendid gown, dressed her hair, and brought her to a golden door, telling her to look up when she went through it.  A star fell on her forehead.

Grannizia went to the same place and was rude, complaining of the lice in their hair.  They brought her to the wardrobe, and she grabbed the fanciest dress.  They did not give it to her, but sent her out the stable door, where a donkey's testicle fell on her forehead.  Her furious mother took Cicella's clothing and gave it to Grannizia, and sent Cicella to tend pigs.  There, a nobleman, Cuosemo, saw her and asked her stepmother for leave to marry her.  Caradonia agreed, sealed up Cicella in a barrel, and presented Grannizia as the bride instead.  After the wedding night, he went back to the house, and a tabby cat told him that Cicella was in the barrel.  He let her out, put Grannizia in her place, and fled with her.  Caradonia returned with wood, created a fire, and boiled water to scald Cicella to death.  She poured it in the barrel.  Grannizia died, and Caradonia opened the barrel, saw her own daughter, and drowned herself in the well.

References

Italian fairy tales
Fictional fairies and sprites
Fiction about suicide
Fictional suicides
ATU 460-499

The Three Fairies


Winneconne is a town in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 2,350 at the 2010 census. The Village of Winneconne is located within the town, on both sides of the Wolf River. The unincorporated community of Butte des Morts, named for a French and Native American trading war, is also located in the town. The town's water resources of rivers and lakes makes it a center of hunting and fishing, including winter ice fishing.

History
The name is a word derived from the Menominee language meaning "place of skulls". It refers to a battle site of the French colonial era, in which the Sauk and Fox fought against the French, Menominee and Chippewa for control over the regional fur trade and other resources. It also refers to a nearby prehistoric indigenous burial mound, the namesake for Lake Butte des Morts.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which  is land and , or 36.02%, is water. This is the area of the Wolf Chain, a series of connected lakes along the river.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 2,145 people, 838 households, and 666 families residing in the town.  The population density was 97.6 people per square mile (37.7/km2).  There were 1,020 housing units at an average density of 46.4 per square mile (17.9/km2).  The racial makeup of the town was 99.44% White, 0.23% Native American, 0.19% Asian, and 0.14% from two or more races.  0.19% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 838 households, out of which 30.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 71.5% were married couples living together, 4.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.5% were non-families. 16.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.  The average household size was 2.56 and the average family size was 2.87.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 23.2% under the age of 18, 5.4% from 18 to 24, 27.1% from 25 to 44, 30.3% from 45 to 64, and 14.1% who were 65 years of age or older.  The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 103.1 males.  For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.6 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $60,385, and the median income for a family was $65,893. Males had a median income of $42,566 versus $27,692 for females. The per capita income for the town was $27,274.  About 0.3% of families and 2.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.3% of those under age 18 and 8.8% of those age 65 or over.

20th-century Secession
In 1967, the town name was inadvertently left off the official Wisconsin road map. When residents noticed, they formed a secret committee and formulated a plan to secede from Wisconsin, set up toll gates on local roads and begin annexation of nearby communities (starting with the city of Oshkosh) to form a Sovereign State of Winneconne.

As an alternative plan, they intended to seek annexation by another state, preferably one with better weather. The deadline for secession was 21 July 1967. A proclamation was issued, naming village president, "James Coughlin to be president of the new state of Winneconne; Vera Kitchen to be prime minister and custodian of Vera's Kitchen Cabinet." Wisconsin Governor Warren Knowles entered into negotiations with the former village officials; as a result, Winneconne rejoined the State of Wisconsin at 12:01 AM on 22 July 1967. An annual Sovereign State Days celebration commemorates the event.

References

External links
Town of Winneconne official website

Towns in Winnebago County, Wisconsin
Towns in Wisconsin

Winneconne (town), Wisconsin


The Harwich Historic District is a historic district encompassing the historic portions of the Harwich Center village of Harwich, Massachusetts.  The village, originally known as Broadbrooks after a prominent local family, was developed beginning in the 18th century, and features a high quality concentration of Greek Revival and Italianate architecture.  It extends along Main and Parallel Streets between the cemetery in the west and Brooks Park in the east.  It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

Description and history
The area that is now Harwich was settled in the 17th century as part of Yarmouth, and was separately incorporated in 1694.  Part of the area that is now Harwich Center was settled by members of the Broadbrooks family, who later shortened their name to Brooks.  This family became one of the leading forces in the civic and economic development of the village, building at least eight of its buildings.  Brooks Park, at the eastern end of the village, is where the 1732 homestead of Ebenezer Broadbrooks was located; no longer standing, its site is marked by millstones from his mill that are placed near the park entrance.  Sidney Brooks founded what eventually became known as the Brooks Academy in 1844; its Greek Revival building later served as the town high school.  Sidney's brother Henry donated funds for the construction of the village library.

The historic district is primarily defined by Main Street, extending east-west between the cemetery to the west and Brooks Park to the east.  The aptly named Parallel Street runs south of Main Street, and is joined to it by a number of smaller side streets.  The village has a rural feel due to open spaces and narrow side streets.  Most of the buildings in the district are of wood frame construction, and are Greek Revival or Italianate in style, reflecting their mid-19th century construction period.  The village's most prominent building is the First Congregational Church, built in 1832 in the Greek Revival style, but altered in 1854 in a more Italianate Renaissance Revival style.

See also
National Register of Historic Places listings in Harwich, Massachusetts

References

Historic districts in Barnstable County, Massachusetts
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Harwich, Massachusetts

Harwich Historic District


Ha Gorge () is a narrow gorge, at the Monasteraki Dakos, on the eastern part of the island of Crete in Greece. It is located in the west slope of Thrypti mountain range, and exits east
of Vasiliki village in the plain of Ierapetra. From this location scenic views overlook Pahia Amos and the bay. Being practically inaccessible to people, the gorge maintains a rich and diverse flora and fauna. Its depth is about  and the fissure is said to be one of the largest in the world. Late Minoan IIIC sites are in the area.

Etymology
The name 'Ha Gorge' is derived from the Greek Cretan dialect hasko () meaning "separate" or "to gape".

Location

The gorge is located on the north end of the Isthmus of Hierapetra. Access to the geological fault is very difficult. The road approach to the gorge is  along the national highway from Iraklio to Agios Nikolaos and then the approach leads through Ierapetra and the village of Episkopi. From this village, a diversion road over a distance of  leads to the Thripti, a location of a church. From this location access to the gorge is only by walking.

Features
The gorge has an elevation of  at the entrance where the width is about . It is about  long, particularly narrow at several points and has rocky walls rising up to , in cascade form. The gorge splits "at right angles a fault-cliff which divides east Crete". The width of the gorge varies from ; at some locations it is as narrow as . Its depth is about  and the fissure is said to be one of the largest in the world. It has a number of falls along its length out of which a fall of 250 m is the steepest.

The geological formations created by this wide fault exposes the rock-beds and their folds which are identical on both banks of the gorge. Geologically it is interpreted as a "r Tectonics" active normal fault, known as the Ierapetra active fault with a northeast–southwest orientation.

The stream emerging from the gorge is diverted to drive two watermills.
Abseiling is conducted in the vicinity; the gorge has 26 abseils of varying length from .

Archeological excavations
Archeological excavations in the vicinity of Ha gorge have revealed Late Neolithic-Final Neolithic (4000 BC -3000BC) occupation on the Monastiraki Katalimata, which is precariously located at the edge of Ha Gorge. Monasteraki Halasmenos is nearby. Halasmenos, a Late Minoan IIIC site, lies on a hill near the end of the gorge's mouth, and with Kavousi and Vasiliki-Kephala, it forms a triad of important sites from this period. A number of ruins and artifacts have been unearthed on the northern bank of the Ha gorge, with some of the ruins perched on the individual narrow rock shelves near vertical face of the cliff. Apart from archaeologists, a few adventure seeking rock climbers are seen in the area, which otherwise is almost inaccessible.

Wildlife
Smyrnium, a genus of flowering plants in the family Apiaceae, the umbellifers found in Crete is also found in the inaccessible Ha gorge; there are three species of this plant. The gorge is home to many migratory and endemic birds, mammals, reptiles and insects.

References

Bibliography

External links

Gorges of Crete
Landforms of Lasithi

Ha Gorge


Prof Henry John Stephen Smith FRS FRSE FRAS LLD (2 November 1826 – 9 February 1883) was an Irish mathematician and amateur astronomer remembered for his work in elementary divisors, quadratic forms, and Smith–Minkowski–Siegel mass formula in number theory. In matrix theory he is visible today in having his name on the Smith normal form of a matrix.  Smith was also first to discover the Cantor set.

Life

Smith was born in Dublin, Ireland, the fourth child of John Smith (1792–1828), a barrister, who died when Henry was two. His mother, Mary Murphy (d.1857) from Bantry Bay, very soon afterwards moved the family to England. He had thirteen siblings, including Eleanor Smith, who became a prominent educational activist.  He lived in several places in England as a boy. His mother did not send him to school but educated him herself until age 11, at which point she hired private tutors. At age 15 Smith was admitted in 1841 to Rugby School in Warwickshire, where Thomas Arnold was the school's headmaster. This came about because his tutor Henry Highton took up a housemaster position there.

At 19 he won an entrance scholarship to Balliol College, Oxford. He graduated in 1849 with high honours in both mathematics and classics. Smith was fluent in French having spent holidays in France, and he took classes in mathematics at the Sorbonne in Paris during the 1846–7 academic year. He was unmarried and lived with his mother until her death in 1857. He then brought his sister, Eleanor Smith, to live with him as housekeeper at St Giles.

Smith remained at Balliol College as a mathematics tutor following his graduation in 1849 and was soon promoted to Fellow status.

In 1861, he was promoted to the Savilian Chair of Geometry at Oxford. In 1873, he was made the beneficiary of a fellowship at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and gave up teaching at Balliol.

In 1874 he became Keeper of the University Museum and moved (with his sister) to the Keeper's House on South Parks Road in Oxford.

On account of his ability as a man of affairs, Smith was in demand for academic administrative and committee work: he was Keeper of the Oxford University Museum; a Mathematical Examiner for the University of London; a member of a Royal Commission to review scientific education practice; a member of the commission to reform University of Oxford governance; chairman of the committee of scientists overseeing the Meteorological Office; twice president of the London Mathematical Society; etc.

He died in Oxford on 9 February 1883. He is buried in St Sepulchre's Cemetery in Oxford.

Work

Researches in number theory
An overview of Smith's mathematics contained in a lengthy obituary published in a professional journal in 1884 is reproduced at NumberTheory.Org. The following is an extract from it.

Smith's two earliest mathematical papers were on geometrical subjects, but the third concerned the theory of numbers. Following the example of Gauss, he wrote his first paper on the theory of numbers in Latin: "De compositione numerorum primorum formæ  ex duobus quadratis." In it he proves in an original manner the theorem of Fermat---"That every prime number of the form  ( being an integer) is the sum of two square numbers." In his second paper he gives an introduction to the theory of numbers.

In 1858, Smith was selected by the British Association to prepare a report upon the Theory of Numbers. It was prepared in five parts, extending over the years 1859–1865. It is neither a history nor a treatise, but something intermediate. The author analyzes with remarkable clearness and order the works of mathematicians for the preceding century upon the theory of congruences, and upon that of binary quadratic forms. He returns to the original sources, indicates the principle and sketches the course of the demonstrations, and states the result, often adding something of his own.

During the preparation of the Report, and as a logical consequence of the researches connected therewith, Smith published several original contributions to the higher arithmetic. Some were in complete form and appeared in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London; others were incomplete, giving only the results without the extended demonstrations, and appeared in the Proceedings of that Society. One of the latter, entitled "On the orders and genera of quadratic forms containing more than three indeterminates," enunciates certain general principles by means of which he solves a problem proposed by Eisenstein, namely, the decomposition of integer numbers into the sum of five squares; and further, the analogous problem for seven squares. It was also indicated that the four, six, and eight-square theorems of Jacobi, Eisenstein and Liouville were deducible from the principles set forth.

In 1868, Smith returned to the geometrical researches which had first occupied his attention. For a memoir on "Certain cubic and biquadratic problems" the Royal Academy of Sciences of Berlin awarded him the Steiner prize.

In February, 1882, Smith was surprised to see in the Comptes rendus that the subject proposed by the Paris Academy of Science
for the Grand prix des sciences mathématiques was the theory of the decomposition of integer numbers into a sum of five squares; and that the attention of competitors was directed to the results announced without demonstration by Eisenstein, whereas nothing was said about his papers dealing with the same subject in the Proceedings of the Royal Society. He wrote to M. Hermite calling his attention to what he had published; in reply he was assured that the members of the commission did not know of the existence of his papers, and he was advised to complete his demonstrations and submit the memoir according to the rules of the competition. According to the rules each manuscript bears a motto, and the corresponding envelope containing the name of the successful author is opened. There were still three months before the closing of the concours (1 June 1882) and Smith set to work, prepared the memoir and despatched it in time.

Two months after Smith's death, the Paris Academy made their award. Two of the three memoirs sent in were judged worthy of the prize. When
the envelopes were opened, the authors were found to be Smith and Minkowski, a young mathematician of Königsberg, Prussia. No notice was taken of Smith's previous publication on the subject, and M. Hermite on being written to, said that he forgot to bring the matter to the notice of the commission.

Work on the Riemann integral
In 1875 Smith published the important paper  on the integrability of discontinuous functions in Riemann's sense. In this work, while giving a rigorous definition of the Riemann integral as well as explicit rigorous proofs of many of the results published by Riemann, he also gave an example of a meagre set which is not negligible in the sense of measure theory, since its measure is not zero: a function which is everywhere continuous except on this set is not Riemann integrable. Smith's example shows that the proof of sufficient condition for the Riemann integrability of a discontinuous function given earlier by Hermann Hankel was incorrect and the result does not hold: however, his result remained unnoticed until much later, having no influence on successive developments. In an 1875 paper, he discussed a nowhere-dense set of positive measure on the real line, an early version of the Cantor set, now known as the Smith–Volterra–Cantor set.

Publications

.

See also
Smith–Volterra–Cantor set

Notes

References
J.T.Fleron, "A Note on the History of the Cantor Set and Cantor Function", Math Magazine, Vol 67, No. 2, April 1994, 136–140.
H.J.S. Smith: "On the Integration of Discontinuous Functions", Proceedings London Mathematical Society, (1875) 140–153.
K. Hannabuss, "Forgotten fractals", The Mathematical Intelligencer, 18 (3) (1996), 28–31.
. An article on the history of measure theory, analyzing deeply and comprehensively every early contribution to the field, starting from Riemann's work and going to the works of Hermann Hankel, Gaston Darboux, Giulio Ascoli, Henry John Stephen Smith, Ulisse Dini, Vito Volterra, Paul David Gustav du Bois-Reymond and Carl Gustav Axel Harnack.

Further reading

 (complete text at Project Gutenberg)

External links

 The grave of Henry John Stephen Smith and his sister Eleanor in St Sepulchre's Cemetery, Oxford, with biography
 Henry John Stephen Smith at Wikiquote

1826 births
1883 deaths
Scientists from County Dublin
People educated at Rugby School
Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
19th-century British mathematicians
Number theorists
Presidents of the Oxford Union
Savilian Professors of Geometry
Fellows of Balliol College, Oxford
Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Directors of museums in the United Kingdom
Fellows of the Royal Society
Presidents of the London Mathematical Society
19th-century British businesspeople
Burials at St Sepulchre's Cemetery

Henry John Stephen Smith


Aanakkulam is a tourist place in Idukki district of Kerala state, India. Aanakkulam is in Mankulam Village, about 40 km away from Adimali. Aanakkulam means Pond of Elephants in local malayalam language.

Elephants comes to this particular place for drinking water as the water here has some kind of tastes which attracts them. Although there are many such water outlets throughout in that area, elephants come only to this place. It is 45km from Kothamangalam.

References

Villages in Idukki district

Aanakkulam


The Payload Operations and Integration Center, also known as the Huntsville Operations Support Center (HOSC), radio callsign  Huntsville, or the Payload Operations Center, is a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) facility located at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. It is the headquarters for the science operations of the International Space Station (ISS), working in conjunction with the ISS control center in Houston, Texas. The Payload Operations Center links Earth-bound researchers and developers from around the world with their experiments and astronauts on board the ISS.

The everyday tasks performed at the center during the life of the ISS include:
 Integrating research requirements
 Planning science missions
 Ensuring the safe execution of research
 Integrating the crew and ground team training, and research mission timelines
 Managing use of space station payload resources
 Handling science communications with the crew
 Managing command and data transmissions to and from the orbiting research center

The Payload Operations Center is staffed around the clock by three shifts of flight controllers.

Payload Operations Center

Console Positions

A total of eight flight controllers staff the Payload Operations Center front room. They are:

Payload Operations Director (POD)
The POD manages day-to-day operations of payloads on board the space station. This position is the single point-of-authority to the International Space Station Mission Control Center Flight Director in Houston for all of NASA's payload operations. The POD oversees team members responsible for managing payload mission planning, ground commanding of space station payloads, communications with the crew, use of the payload support system, the video system and the data systems. The POD ensures compliance with established safety requirements, flight rules and payload regulations. The POD also leads the review and approval of all change requests to the timeline.

Operations Controller (OC)
The Operations Controller leads a team that is responsible for maintaining the daily payload work assignments; ensuring scheduled research activities are accomplished safely and on time, and managing and tracking available resources.

The OC leads resolution of NASA payload anomalies, and monitors troubleshooting of on board systems to identify possible impacts to payload operations. The position assesses change requests for impacts to the current science timeline, payload hardware assets and resources required for science such as crew time and electrical power. The OC also is responsible for evaluating requests by scientists for changes to the experiment timeline, and then implementing changes to the science operations plan on board.

Payload Rack Officer (PRO)
The PRO is responsible for the configuration of ExPRESS payload racks in the International Space Station's US Lab, JEM, and Columbus modules, and for coordinating the configuration of systems resources to all NASA payload racks. When a new payload is installed, the PRO configures the rack interfaces to properly support the payload. For existing payloads, the PRO configures the EXPRESS racks to power payloads on or off, monitors the health and status of both the payload and the rack and if necessary, coordinates troubleshooting of the payload support structure and payload interfaces.

The PRO also is responsible for managing all ground commanding of U. S. payload systems and experiments on board the International Space Station. The PRO manages the command system, receives and sends command files to the mass storage device and configures the system to allow flight controllers in the Payload Operations Center and remote users to send commands to their equipment on the space station.

Data Management Coordinator (DMC)
The Data Management Coordinator is responsible for command, control, data handling, communications and tracking for science payloads on the space station. The DMC manages the integrated high data rate (Ku-band) communications link between the ground and the station. This position manages data system traffic, downlink video, assures ground data quality with NASA users, and assesses data system change requests. The DMC ensures that the data system is properly configured to support payload operations. The DMC also is responsible for managing video coverage of research activity on the station. The DMC monitors, configures and coordinates the use of the video system.

Payload Communications Manager (PAYCOM)
The PAYCOM, using the call sign, "Huntsville," is the prime communicator with the International Space Station astronaut crew on payload matters. The PAYCOM is responsible for enabling researchers around-the-world to talk directly with the crew about their experiments, and for managing payload conferences. Additionally, the PAYCOM reviews requests for changes to payload activity to assess their impact on the crew.

POIC Stowage
The POIC Stowage console position is responsible for tracking the stowage locations of payload hardware, tools, and items on the International Space Station. This console position develops products that ensure the ISS crew knows where to locate every item they need for their day to day experiments, and helps maintain an inventory database for accurate tracking of those items. They also support the crew by helping them locate missing items. When the crew calls down and reports an item lost, the POIC Stowage console conducts investigations using video, imagery, and many other resources to come up with alternate search locations. The Stowage Team maintains a high level of situational awareness and knowledge of the current layout of station to ensure the crew can always find what they need to perform payload ops successfully.

Marshall GC (GC)
The Marshall GC (Marshall Ground Control) is responsible for troubleshooting ground system issues as the ground system expert. Marshall GC leads troubleshooting of real time commanding, telemetry, communication, and facility issues.

Other duties that Marshall GC perform are coordinating payload video restrictions, space-to-ground enablement, space-to-ground restrictions, and ground system maintenance. If payload developers have any ground system issues, Marshall GC is the real time coordinator to resolve such issues.

As the ground system expert, Marshall GC is the HOSC interface for Backup Control Center (BCC) operations.

Timeline Change Officer (TCO)
The Timeline Change Officer (TCO) serves as the real-time expert on all NASA payload planning-related information for the International Space Station. Coordinating with NASA control centers, International Partners, and NASA Payload Developers, the TCO bridges the gap between long range planning and execution of the plan on board by the crew. The TCO team supports real-time operations seven days a week, twenty-four hours per day; in addition, short term planning operations are supported five days a week, eight hours per day.

See also
 Flight controller
 Human spaceflight programs
 Space Shuttle program
 International Space Station program

References

External links
 NASA's Payload Operations Center page

International Space Station
Marshall Space Flight Center
Space Shuttle facilities


A Nepali passport () is issued from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Nepal to Nepali citizens for the purpose of international travel. The Department of Passport (DoP), a Department under Ministry of Foreign Affairs functions as the issuing authority and is responsible for issuing Nepali passports on application to all eligible Nepali citizens. It enables the bearer to travel internationally and serves as proof of Nepali citizenship.

Ordinary Nepali passports are chocolate brown in color with a chip symbol on their cover, which is commonly known as e-passport. It has Coat of arms of Nepal emblazoned in the center of the front cover. The words Nepali: "राहदानी" and "नेपाल " are inscribed above the coat of arms and words English: "PASSPORT" and "NEPAL" are inscribed below the coat of arms. The ordinary e-passport contains either 34 pages or 66 pages.

History

Early passports
The early passports in Nepal were used for internal and external travel for religious and business purposes. The oldest passport in Nepal is a handwritten passport issued in  1957 BS to a person named Kaliprasad (no surname disclosed) and his ten porters to travel to Butwal and Taulihawa from Kathmandu. The passport holder is identified with their physical description because there was no photography available at that time. A guarantor was needed to issue the passport. These old passports are showcased in the passport museum in Kathmandu.

Modern passports
The modern passports were issued in 2012 BS. The first of this kind was issued in 10 Shrawan 2012 BS which was issued by the secretary of the ministry. These passports were in a form of sheet paper. The booklet form of the passport was issued in the 1960s. It is estimated that about 1 lakh passport was issued in sheet paper form. Up to 2052 BS, all passports were issued in Kathmandu only. This was changed in 2052 BS to issue a passport from five development regions as per government's policy of decentralization.

Machine readable passport (MRP)
As a member of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Nepal was obliged to issue machine-readable passports (MRP) after 2010. Nepal stopped issuing hand-written passports on 31 March 2010.

Electronic passport
On 17 November 2021, the first electronic passport, or e-passport was introduced and Nepalese writer Satya Mohan Joshi was the first to receive the e-passport.

The Nepalis e-passports are produced by IDEMIA, the software that the Passport office uses is also from the same company.

Other forms of passport

All traditional hand written passports were honoured as a bona fide travel document issued by the Nepalese Government until 24 November 2015. All traditional passports are withdrawn from circulation as of November 2015.

Design
Each passport contains a note in English from the foreign ministry that is addressed to the authorities of all other states, identifying the bearer as a citizen of that state and requesting that he or she be allowed to pass and be treated according to international norms. The note inside Nepalese passport says:

Current e-passport contains the following data:
Type
Passport Number
Surname
Given Names
Nationality
Date of Birth
Gender
Date of Issue
Date of Expiry
Citizenship/ National Identity Number
Place of Birth
Issuing Authority
Holder's Signature

Types of passports
There are 4 different types of passports issued by the government of Nepal. These are ordinary, official, diplomatic and travel documents. These passports are distinguished by their cover. The cover of ordinary e-passports is chocolate-brown. Diplomatic e-passports have a crimson-red cover, official e-passports navy-blue, and peacekeepers' e-passports are tiger-orange colour.

Issuence of passport

Fees
As of 2022, an ordinary e-passports is issued for NPR 5,000 (adult 34 pages), NPR 10,000 (adult 66 pages), NPR 12,000 (Fast track service, 34 pages), NPR 20,000 (Fast track service, 66 pages).
Applicants for Nepalese passports are required to pay the authorised passport issuing office a sum of NPR 15000 or NPR 12,000 for issuance of passport on same day of application or for the day after the day of application respectively. Or, the sum of 10,000.00 (US$90.76 ) as fees for an Ordinary passport for urgent processing which takes 3–4 business day and NPR 5,000 for normal processing. Urgent processing is done by the ministry of foreign affairs and takes 2 to 3 days. Normal processing takes around 4 weeks but sometime it may take up to 6 weeks and is done from the Chief District officer's office. However, the Official and the Diplomatic passports are exempted from fees.

Validity period
The passports are valid for 10 years from the date of issue and are issued by the Central Passport Office, District Administration Office in all 77 district headquarters as well as Nepalese embassies and consulates abroad. However, as per new regulation, validity is for 5 years in case of minor under 10 years of age.

Visa requirements

In 2016, Nepalese citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 38 countries and territories, ranking the Nepalese passport 98th in the world according to the Visa Restrictions Index. Passports are not needed by citizens of India and Nepal to travel within each other's country by land or by air, but some identification may be required for border crossing or at the airport.

Issues with Passport Distribution

 Complaints of long lines at Babarmahal Passport Office are common as of January, 2023. This the passport office claims is because of very high demand and insufficient capacity in printing and distribution of completed passports.
 Passport distribution disruption: Passport printing and distribution was halted since 3 January 2023 Passport office claimed it as a software issue and that technicians from IDEMIA  (passport and passport software provider) are looking into it. Passport distribution was resumed 7 January 2023.

Gallery

See also
 Department of Passport (Nepal)
 Visa policy of Nepal
 Visa requirements for Nepalese citizens
 National Identity Card (Nepal)

References

Foreign relations of Nepal
Passports by country

Nepalese passport


Oh! Heavenly Dog is a 1980 American fantasy comedy film written by Rod Browning and stars Benjean, billed here as Benji (she was the daughter of Higgins, who originated the role of Benji), Chevy Chase, Jane Seymour, and Omar Sharif.  The film was directed by Joe Camp and released by 20th Century Fox.

It was the third film in the Benji series.

Plot
On a rainy day in London, private investigator Benjamin Browning (Chevy Chase) accepts a ride from his friend, Freddie (Alan Sues), who is a dangerous driver. As Freddie drops Benjamin near his office, the investigator collides on the street with writer Jackie Howard (Jane Seymour). When Benjamin asks her for a date, she tells him to contact her upon her return from Paris. Back at his office, Benjamin's secretary, Margaret (Barbara Leigh-Hunt), leaves for lunch, and a stranger named Quimby Charles (Richard Vernon), claiming to be a member of Parliament, proposes to hire Benjamin as a bodyguard for a friend, Mrs. Patricia Elliot (Marguerite Corriveau). Benjamin is uncertain, but Quimby offers a great deal of money. Benjamin accepts the assignment and goes to visit Patricia at her flat, where he discovers the door unlocked. As he searches the residence, decorated with artwork, he discovers Patricia dead on the bedroom floor, bleeding from a knife wound. Suddenly, an intruder fatally stabs Benjamin, steals Patricia's gold pendant and leaves.

In the afterlife, Benjamin awakens at an "intermediate destination evaluation facility", where a counselor named Mr. Higgins (Stuart Germain) informs Benjamin of his death. Before Benjamin can enter heaven or hell, he must complete an assignment that requires him to return to life to solve his own murder. Seeing a front-page newspaper story about the crime, Benjamin realizes that a man impersonated Quimby. Benjamin soon learns, much to his annoyance, that he will return to life in a dog's body. As Browning the dog, Benjamin lands in Paris and hitches a ride in Jackie's car.

In London, he searches for his killer, and is thrown out of Carlton Court, the building where he was murdered. Behind the hotel, Benjamin converses with Freddie, who has been reincarnated as a cat after being killed in a car accident. Freddie directs him to Patricia's flat, where he wanders around, searching for clues, while Malcolm Bart (Omar Sharif), the man who pretended to be Quimby, watches from a closet. Browning notices a telephone number in Patricia's calendar, marked on the day before he died. Using a pencil to dial a rotary phone, Browning discovers the phone number is the Needham Gallery. Soon, Browning sees Jackie in a conversation with the building manager. When the manager threatens to notify Scotland Yard about the dog, Browning disappears. As Margaret cleans out Benjamin's office, Browning appears. Jackie arrives, wanting to interview Margaret about the crime for a book she is writing. Margaret shows Jackie a photograph of Benjamin; and the writer realizes that she met him the day he was killed. Meanwhile, Jackie mentions that she lives at the Stanley Towers, and later, Browning follows her there. Jackie interviews Quimby at Scotland Yard, who insists on access to her research, which he hopes will clear his name as a suspect. Jackie soon visits the Needham Gallery, and leaves Browning in her parked car. There, she meets Montanero, an artist whose work Patricia often used in her interior design work, and Jackie invites him to her flat for dinner. Jackie is introduced to Alistair Becket (John Stride), an up-and-coming candidate for prime minister, who shows great interest in her book. Browning searches the gallery, and soon sees Jackie talking to Bart, the killer. At the sight of the dog on Jackie's lap, Bart becomes nervous and leaves. Browning wiggles free from Jackie's grasp and follows Bart.

Jackie later asks for Patricia's client list, but her building manager refuses. Later still, Jackie interviews Becket, and asks his help to gain access to Patricia's flat. He then summons Bart, his assistant. While the men talk with Jackie, a painting of the Swiss Alps hanging in Becket's office reminds Browning that Patricia vacationed there, and he suspects a connection. Later in Patricia's flat, Browning sees Bart remove evidence. Suddenly, Mr. Higgins appears, and temporarily switches the dog back to his human form to warn him that a mistake was made. His dog body will expire sooner than expected, and he will have to leave before he solves his murder. Benjamin protests, and says he will not leave before the crime is solved.

Meanwhile, Becket alerts Jackie that her dog was found by building security, and is being held in Bart's office. Browning sees a calendar entry on Bart's desk, noting Becket's birthday and a street address. When Jackie notices the entry, she wishes Becket a happy birthday. However, he says that his birthday is 3 March not October, and casually invites her to lunch. Browning soon investigates the address, which is a post office, and decides to search postal box no. thirty-three, based on the numerals of Becket's birthday. Browning grabs a letter out of the box and escapes. At Jackie's apartment, Browning rips open the envelope to find Patricia's pendant with the word "ALP" stamped on the back. Upon realizing the letters stand for "Alistair loves Patricia", Browning searches Jackie's police photographs and notices that Patricia was no longer wearing the pendent. He deduces that Patricia became a political liability for the married Becket once he intended to run for prime minister, and she became engaged to his rival, Quimby. Therefore, Becket and Bart schemed to get rid of her. Browning grabs the pendent in his mouth and heads to Jackie's lunch. However, Bart chases him until Browning runs into an alley. There, Browning transforms into human form, and Mr. Higgins appears, saying Benjamin's time on Earth is over. Bart is shaken to see Benjamin, and leaves after the dog is nowhere to be found.

Meanwhile, Benjamin will not cooperate with Higgins, and shows up at the restaurant as Browning with the pendant in his mouth. Becket grabs the pendant away from Jackie, and accuses her of derailing his plan to become prime minister. Browning turns on Jackie's tape recorder just as Becket confesses his love for Patricia. When Jackie accuses Becket of murder, Bart appears and confesses to the crime. After twelve years preparing Becket to become prime minister, Bart did not want Patricia to ruin their political ambitions. Bart is arrested when he tries to shoot Browning but accidentally hits Jackie instead as she sacrifices herself to protect the dog. Although, Browning is miserable over Jackie's death, he is overjoyed to be reunited with her when she returns to Earth as a cat.

Cast

Production
Chase later said Camp "came to me  with a script that I thought was very  funny. I said yes, did it and left after six weeks."

The film was shot in London, Paris and Montreal. Because of England's quarantine laws – which required dogs to be in quarantine for six months – the scenes with Benji were shot in Montreal's old city.

Chase says after he left Camp "shot the rest of the scenes with the dog and  changed all the lines. I had to come back, go onto the looping stage and loop completely different dialogue than I had read in the script. It was very infuriating; I was so upset that to this day I have never actually seen the movie."

Behind the scenes
Outtakes and behind-the-scenes footage from this film were used in making the short feature Benji at Work (1980), a 30-minute documentary about the career of Benjean as a dog actor.

Reception
In his one star review, critic Roger Ebert stated it was not nearly as funny as the Saturday Night Live ads it could have inspired, calling it a "total miscalculation from beginning to end". Janet Maslin called it a film that "Shows few signs of life, and many signs of depressing modernism".

See also
 You Never Can Tell (1951 film)
 Fluke (1995 film)
 Quigley (2003 film)
 A Dog's Purpose (2017 film)

References

External links

1980 films
1980s crime comedy films
1980s fantasy comedy films
American crime comedy films
American detective films
American fantasy comedy films
Benji
Films about dogs
Films about the afterlife
Films about reincarnation
Films directed by Joe Camp
Films scored by Euel Box
Films set in London
Resurrection in film
20th Century Fox films
1980 comedy films
1980s English-language films
1980s American films

Oh! Heavenly Dog


Trial in absentia (literally in absence in the Latin language) means a person is held responsible for a crime and tried although he or she is not present during the proceedings. It may be because the person is at an unknown location or has escaped justice, for example after paying bail and then refused to return to the court on the date set anyway, or because the person may not be even alive (a famous case is Martin Bormann, who most likely died in May 1945 and was sentenced to death in November 1946, as part of the Nuremberg Trials). It is controversial, especially if a person is convicted and sentenced to a hard punishment, because the basic premise of a trial is thus violated, and everyone has a right to defend oneself. Others point out, however, that this right is waived when one doesn't show up without a good reason and that the court must make its best, through appointing a defender for instance, to determine guilt or innocence even if the person is not present. Most defendants make their case through a defender anyway, especially when the crime is serious.

Another case is when a court or committee must determine whether a person, such as a suspected terrorist, is going to be surveilled or wire-tapped, and whether there is enough suspicion of criminal activity or intent to do so. In that case, the person himself can of course not be asked to appear, as the idea is to hold the surveillance secret. In that case, a defender is appointed to make the case that the suspected person does not want to and does not deserve to be subjected to surveillance and that it should not be permitted, although he/she doesn't know of the proceedings. Most of such hearings, however, are not a trial in the technical sense of the term, though they may involve a judge and lawyer and so on.
Criminal justice

Trial in absentia


Vietnam! Vietnam! is a United States Information Agency (USIA) film about the Vietnam War. The film, narrated by Charlton Heston, was shot on location in Vietnam in October–December 1968 but not released until 1971. Though John Ford, the executive producer, went to Vietnam, he did not participate in production work there. Ford later did supervise the editing and rewrote the film scenario.

Bruce Herschensohn, the producer, remarked that the purpose of the film was to provide a "balance" to the view which critics of the war were providing. Due to the changing political situation in Vietnam, the film went through numerous cuts and script alterations over a three-year period and, when finally released, managed to offend almost everyone. Critical reviews were unfavorable. USIA Director Frank Shakespeare left the decision on whether to order a copy of the film up to individual US Embassies abroad, and only a few did.

See also
 List of American films of 1971

References

External links

1971 films
Documentary films about the Vietnam War
United States Information Agency films
American propaganda films
1970s English-language films
1970s American films

Vietnam! Vietnam!