Sir Simon Kirwan Donaldson  (born 20 August 1957) is an English mathematician known for his work on the topology of smooth (differentiable) four-dimensional manifolds, Donaldson–Thomas theory, and his contributions to Kähler geometry. He is currently a permanent member of the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics at Stony Brook University in New York, and a Professor in Pure Mathematics at Imperial College London.

Biography
Donaldson's father was an electrical engineer in the physiology department at the University of Cambridge, and his mother earned a science degree there. Donaldson gained a BA degree in mathematics from Pembroke College, Cambridge, in 1979, and in 1980 began postgraduate work at Worcester College, Oxford, at first under Nigel Hitchin and later under Michael Atiyah's supervision. Still a postgraduate student, Donaldson proved in 1982 a result that would establish his fame. He published the result in a paper "Self-dual connections and the topology of smooth 4-manifolds" which appeared in 1983. In the words of Atiyah, the paper "stunned the mathematical world."

Whereas Michael Freedman classified topological four-manifolds, Donaldson's work focused on four-manifolds admitting a differentiable structure, using instantons, a particular solution to the equations of Yang–Mills gauge theory which has its origin in quantum field theory. One of Donaldson's first results gave severe restrictions on the intersection form of a smooth four-manifold. As a consequence, a large class of the topological four-manifolds do not admit any smooth structure at all. Donaldson also derived polynomial invariants from gauge theory. These were new topological invariants sensitive to the underlying smooth structure of the four-manifold. They made it possible to deduce the existence of "exotic" smooth structures—certain topological four-manifolds could carry an infinite family of different smooth structures.

After gaining his DPhil degree from Oxford University in 1983, Donaldson was appointed a Junior Research Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. He spent the academic year 1983–84 at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, and returned to Oxford as Wallis Professor of Mathematics in 1985. After spending one year visiting Stanford University, he moved to Imperial College London in 1998 as Professor of Pure Mathematics.

In 2014, he joined the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics at Stony Brook University in New York, United States.

Awards
Donaldson was an invited speaker of the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) in 1983, and a plenary speaker at the ICM in 1986, 1998, and 2018.

In 1985, Donaldson received the Junior Whitehead Prize from the London Mathematical Society. In 1994, he was awarded the Crafoord Prize in Mathematics. In February 2006, Donaldson was awarded the King Faisal International Prize for science for his work in pure mathematical theories linked to physics, which have helped in forming an understanding of the laws of matter at a subnuclear level. In April 2008, he was awarded the Nemmers Prize in Mathematics, a mathematics prize awarded by Northwestern University.

In 2009, he was awarded the Shaw Prize in Mathematics (jointly with Clifford Taubes) for their contributions to geometry in 3 and 4 dimensions.

In 2014, he was awarded the Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics "for the new revolutionary invariants of 4-dimensional manifolds and for the study of the relation between stability in algebraic geometry and in global differential geometry, both for bundles and for Fano varieties."

In January 2019, he was awarded the Oswald Veblen Prize in Geometry (jointly with Xiuxiong Chen and Song Sun). In 2020 he received the Wolf Prize in Mathematics (jointly with Yakov Eliashberg).

In 1986, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and received a Fields Medal at the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) in Berkeley. In 2010, Donaldson was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

He was knighted in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to mathematics. In 2012, he became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society.

In March 2014, he was awarded the degree "Docteur Honoris Causa" by Université Joseph Fourier, Grenoble. In January 2017, he was awarded the degree "Doctor Honoris Causa" by the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain.

Research

Donaldson's work is on the application of mathematical analysis (especially the analysis of elliptic partial differential equations) to problems in geometry. The problems mainly concern gauge theory, 4-manifolds, complex differential geometry and symplectic geometry. The following theorems have been mentioned:

 The diagonalizability theorem : If the intersection form of a smooth, closed, simply connected 4-manifold is positive- or negative-definite then it is diagonalizable over the integers. This result is sometimes called Donaldson's theorem.
 A smooth h-cobordism between simply connected 4-manifolds need not be trivial . This contrasts with the situation in higher dimensions.
 A stable holomorphic vector bundle over a non-singular projective algebraic variety admits a Hermitian–Einstein metric , proven using an inductive proof and the theory of determinant bundles and Quillen metrics.
 A non-singular, projective algebraic surface can be diffeomorphic to the connected sum of two oriented 4-manifolds only if one of them has negative-definite intersection form . This was an early application of the Donaldson invariant (or instanton invariants).
 Any compact symplectic manifold admits a symplectic Lefschetz pencil .

Donaldson's recent work centers on a problem in complex differential geometry concerning a conjectural relationship between algebro-geometric "stability" conditions for smooth projective varieties and the existence of "extremal" Kähler metrics, typically those with constant scalar curvature (see for example cscK metric). Donaldson obtained results in the toric case of the problem (see for example ). He then solved the Kähler–Einstein case of the problem in 2012, in collaboration with Chen and Sun. This latest spectacular achievement involved a number of difficult and technical papers. The first of these was the paper of  on Gromov–Hausdorff limits. The summary of the existence proof for Kähler–Einstein metrics appears in . Full details of the proofs appear in .

Conjecture on Fano manifolds and Veblen Prize

In 2019, Donaldson was awarded the Oswald Veblen Prize in Geometry, together with Xiuxiong Chen and Song Sun, for proving a long-standing conjecture on Fano manifolds, which states "that a Fano manifold admits a Kähler–Einstein metric if and only if it is K-stable". It had been one of the most actively investigated topics in geometry since its proposal in the 1980s by Shing-Tung Yau after he proved the Calabi conjecture. It was later generalized by Gang Tian and Donaldson. The solution by Chen, Donaldson and Sun was published in the Journal of the American Mathematical Society in 2015 as a three-article series, "Kähler–Einstein metrics on Fano manifolds, I, II and III".

Selected publications

Books

References

External links

 Home page at Imperial College
  (Plenary Lecture 1)

1957 births
Living people
20th-century English mathematicians
21st-century English mathematicians
Differential geometers
Algebraic geometers
Fellows of the Royal Society
Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences
Foreign Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Members of the French Academy of Sciences
Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars
Fields Medalists
Wallis Professors of Mathematics
Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford
Academics of Imperial College London
Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge
Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford
Royal Medal winners
Whitehead Prize winners
Knights Bachelor
Fellows of the American Mathematical Society

Simon Donaldson


Boeber () is the Cape Malay name for a South African pudding. It has become a traditional Cape Malay sweet, milk drink, made with vermicelli, sago, sugar, and flavoured with cardamom, stick cinnamon, and rose water. The pudding is traditionally served on the 15th night of Ramadan to celebrate the middle of the fast, for those who have completed the first 15 days of fasting. They are also known as people who are  ().

Origin
In South Africa, boeber was originally made by Cape Malays, whose ancestors came from Indonesia, East Africa, and India. Bubur in modern Malay is the generic word for any kind of porridge. A similar drink called Sawine or Sewine is served in Trinidad and Tobago homes on Eid al-Fitr (the festival marking the end of Ramadan). Globally, there are similar drinks such as Asian kheer and sweet congee. Boeber bears the closest resemblance to kheer or payasam, a dessert hailing from the Indian subcontinent, which is likely to be either introduced by Indian slaves, or the 1860 Indentured Indian immigrants. In South Africa, an Afrikaans dish known as melkkos is similar to boeber. A boeber mix is available in some supermarkets, corner cafes, and spice shops in South Africa.

References
Smith S. Cape Malay Cooking & Other Delights. 2015, p. 106.
Field S, Meyer R, Swanson F. Imagining the City : memories and cultures in Cape Town. HSRC Press, 2007, p. 126.
Baderoon G. Representation of Islam in South African media and culture. University of Cape Town, 2014, p. 113

South African cuisine

Boeber


In mathematics, an affine space is a geometric structure that generalizes some of the properties of Euclidean spaces in such a way that these are independent of the concepts of distance and measure of angles, keeping only the properties related to parallelism and ratio of lengths for parallel line segments. Affine space is the setting for affine geometry.

As in Euclidean space, the fundamental objects in an affine space are called points, which can be thought of as locations in the space without any size or shape: zero dimensional. Through any pair of points an infinite straight line can be drawn, a one-dimensional set of points; through any three points which are not collinear, a two-dimensional plane can be drawn; and in general through  points in general position a -dimensional flat or affine subspace can be drawn. Affine space is characterized by a notion of pairs of parallel lines which lie within the same plane but never meet each-other (non-parallel lines within the same plane intersect in a point). Given any line, a line parallel to it can be drawn through any point in the space, and the equivalence class of parallel lines are said to share a direction.

Unlike for vectors in a vector space, in an affine space there is no distinguished point that serves as an origin. There is no predefined concept of adding or multiplying points together, or multiplying a point by a scalar number. However, for any affine space, an associated vector space can be constructed from the differences between start and end points, which are called displacement vectors, translation vectors or simply translations. Likewise, it makes sense to add a displacement vector to a point of an affine space, resulting in a new point translated from the starting point by that vector. While points cannot be arbitrarily added together, it is meaningful to take affine combinations of points: weighted sums with numerical coefficients summing to 1, resulting in another point. These coefficients define a barycentric coordinate system for the flat through the points.

Any vector space may be viewed as an affine space; this amounts to "forgetting" the special role played by the zero vector. In this case, elements of the vector space may be viewed either as points of the affine space or as displacement vectors or translations. When considered as a point, the zero vector is called the origin. Adding a fixed vector to the elements of a linear subspace (vector subspace) of a vector space produces an affine subspace of the vector space. One commonly says that this affine subspace has been obtained by translating (away from the origin) the linear subspace by the translation vector (the vector added to all the elements of the linear space). In finite dimensions, such an affine subspace is the solution set of an inhomogeneous linear system. The displacement vectors for that affine space are the solutions of the corresponding homogeneous linear system, which is a linear subspace. Linear subspaces, in contrast, always contain the origin of the vector space.

The dimension of an affine space is defined as the dimension of the vector space of its translations. An affine space of dimension one is an affine line. An affine space of dimension 2 is an affine plane. An affine subspace of dimension  in an affine space or a vector space of dimension  is an affine hyperplane.

Informal description

The following characterization may be easier to understand than the usual formal definition: an affine space is what is left of a vector space after one has forgotten which point is the origin (or, in the words of the French mathematician Marcel Berger, "An affine space is nothing more than a vector space whose origin we try to forget about, by adding translations to the linear maps"). Imagine that Alice knows that a certain point is the actual origin, but Bob believes that another point—call it —is the origin. Two vectors,  and , are to be added. Bob draws an arrow from point  to point  and another arrow from point  to point , and completes the parallelogram to find what Bob thinks is , but Alice knows that he has actually computed
 .

Similarly, Alice and Bob may evaluate any linear combination of  and , or of any finite set of vectors, and will generally get different answers. However, if the sum of the coefficients in a linear combination is 1, then Alice and Bob will arrive at the same answer.

If Alice travels to

then Bob can similarly travel to
 .

Under this condition, for all coefficients , Alice and Bob describe the same point with the same linear combination, despite using different origins.

While only Alice knows the "linear structure", both Alice and Bob know the "affine structure"—i.e. the values of affine combinations, defined as linear combinations in which the sum of the coefficients is 1. A set with an affine structure is an affine space.

Definition
While affine space can be defined axiomatically (see  below), analogously to the definition of Euclidean space implied by Euclid's Elements, for convenience most modern sources define affine spaces in terms of the well developed vector space theory.

An affine space is a set  together with a vector space , and a transitive and free action of the additive group of  on the set . The elements of the affine space  are called points. The vector space  is said to be associated to the affine space, and its elements are called vectors, translations, or sometimes free vectors.

Explicitly, the definition above means that the action is a mapping, generally denoted as an addition,

that has the following properties.
 Right identity:
 , where  is the zero vector in
 Associativity:
  (here the last  is the addition in )
 Free and transitive action:
 For every , the mapping  is a bijection.

The first two properties are simply defining properties of a (right) group action. The third property characterizes free and transitive actions, the onto character coming from transitivity, and then the injective character follows from the action being free. There is a fourth property that follows from 1, 2 above:
Existence of one-to-one translations
For all , the mapping  is a bijection.

Property 3 is often used in the following equivalent form (the 5th property).
Subtraction:
For every  in , there exists a unique , denoted , such that .
Another way to express the definition is that an affine space is a principal homogeneous space for the action of the additive group of a vector space. Homogeneous spaces are by definition endowed with a transitive group action, and for a principal homogeneous space such a transitive action is by definition free.

Subtraction and Weyl's axioms
The properties of the group action allows for the definition of subtraction for any given ordered pair  of points in , producing a vector of . This vector, denoted  or , is defined to be the unique vector in  such that

Existence follows from the transitivity of the action, and uniqueness follows because the action is free.

This subtraction has the two following properties, called Weyl's axioms:
 , there is a unique point  such that

The parallelogram property is satisfied in affine spaces, where it is expressed as: given four points  the equalities  and  are equivalent. This results from the second Weyl's axiom, since

Affine spaces can be equivalently defined as a point set , together with a vector space , and a subtraction satisfying Weyl's axioms. In this case, the addition of a vector to a point is defined from the first of Weyl's axioms.

Affine subspaces and parallelism
An affine subspace (also called, in some contexts, a linear variety, a flat, or, over the real numbers, a linear manifold)   of an affine space  is a subset of  such that, given a point , the set of vectors  is a linear subspace of . This property, which does not depend on the choice of , implies that  is an affine space, which has  as its associated vector space.

The affine subspaces of  are the subsets of  of the form

where  is a point of , and  a linear subspace of .

The linear subspace associated with an affine subspace is often called its , and two subspaces that share the same direction are said to be parallel.

This implies the following generalization of Playfair's axiom: Given a direction , for any point  of  there is one and only one affine subspace of direction , which passes through , namely the subspace .

Every translation  maps any affine subspace to a parallel subspace.

The term parallel is also used for two affine subspaces such that the direction of one is included in the direction of the other.

Affine map
Given two affine spaces  and  whose associated vector spaces are  and , an affine map or affine homomorphism from  to  is a map

such that

is a well defined linear map. By  being well defined is meant that  implies  .

This implies that, for a point  and a vector , one has

Therefore, since for any given  in ,  for a unique ,  is completely defined by its value on a single point and the associated linear map .

Endomorphisms

An affine transformation or endomorphism of an affine space  is an affine map from that space to itself.  One important family of examples is the translations: given a vector , the translation map  that sends  for every  in  is an affine map.  Another important family of examples are the linear maps centred at an origin: given a point  and a linear map , one may define an affine map  by

for every  in .

After making a choice of origin , any affine map may be written uniquely as a combination of a translation and a linear map centred at .

Vector spaces as affine spaces
Every vector space  may be considered as an affine space over itself. This means that every element of  may be considered either as a point or as a vector. This affine space is sometimes denoted  for emphasizing the double role of the elements of . When considered as a point, the zero vector is commonly denoted  (or , when upper-case letters are used for points) and called the origin.

If  is another affine space over the same vector space (that is ) the choice of any point  in  defines a unique affine isomorphism, which is the identity of  and maps  to . In other words, the choice of an origin  in  allows us to identify  and  up to a canonical isomorphism. The counterpart of this property is that the affine space  may be identified with the vector space  in which "the place of the origin has been forgotten".

Relation to Euclidean spaces

Definition of Euclidean spaces
Euclidean spaces (including the one-dimensional line, two-dimensional plane, and three-dimensional space commonly studied in elementary geometry, as well as higher-dimensional analogues) are affine spaces.

Indeed, in most modern definitions, a Euclidean space is defined to be an affine space, such that the associated vector space is a real inner product space of finite dimension, that is a vector space over the reals with a positive-definite quadratic form . The inner product of two vectors  and  is the value of the symmetric bilinear form

The usual Euclidean distance between two points  and  is

In older definition of Euclidean spaces through synthetic geometry, vectors are defined as equivalence classes of ordered pairs of points under equipollence (the pairs  and  are equipollent if the points  (in this order) form a parallelogram). It is straightforward to verify that the vectors form a vector space, the square of the Euclidean distance is a quadratic form on the space of vectors, and the two definitions of Euclidean spaces are equivalent.

Affine properties
In Euclidean geometry, the common phrase "affine property" refers to a property that can be proved in affine spaces, that is, it can be proved without using the quadratic form and its associated inner product. In other words, an affine property is a property that does not involve lengths and angles. Typical examples are parallelism, and the definition of a tangent. A non-example is the definition of a normal.

Equivalently, an affine property is a property that is invariant under affine transformations of the Euclidean space.

Affine combinations and barycenter
Let  be a collection of  points in an affine space, and  be  elements of the ground field.

Suppose that . For any two points  and  one has

Thus, this sum is independent of the choice of the origin, and the resulting vector may be denoted

When , one retrieves the definition of the subtraction of points.

Now suppose instead that the field elements satisfy . For some choice of an origin , denote by  the unique point such that

One can show that  is independent from the choice of . Therefore, if

one may write

The point  is called the barycenter of the  for the weights . One says also that  is an affine combination of the  with coefficients .

Examples
 When children find the answers to sums such as  or  by counting right or left on a number line, they are treating the number line as a one-dimensional affine space.
 The space of energies is an affine space for , since it is often not meaningful to talk about absolute energy, but it is meaningful to talk about energy differences. The vacuum energy when it is defined picks out a canonical origin.
 Physical space is often modelled as an affine space for  in non-relativistic settings and  in the relativistic setting. To distinguish them from the vector space these are sometimes called Euclidean spaces  and .
 Any coset of a subspace  of a vector space is an affine space over that subspace.
 If  is a matrix and  lies in its column space, the set of solutions of the equation  is an affine space over the subspace of solutions of .
 The solutions of an inhomogeneous linear differential equation form an affine space over the solutions of the corresponding homogeneous linear equation.
 Generalizing all of the above, if  is a linear map and  lies in its image, the set of solutions  to the equation  is a coset of the kernel of , and is therefore an affine space over .
 The space of (linear) complementary subspaces of a vector subspace  in a vector space  is an affine space, over . That is, if  is a short exact sequence of vector spaces, then the space of all splittings of the exact sequence naturally carries the structure of an affine space over .
 The space of connections (viewed from the vector bundle , where  is a smooth manifold) is an affine space for the vector space of  valued 1-forms. The space of connections (viewed from the principal bundle ) is an affine space for the vector space of -valued 1-forms, where  is the associated adjoint bundle.

Affine span and bases
For any non-empty subset  of an affine space , there is a smallest affine subspace that contains it, called the affine span of . It is the intersection of all affine subspaces containing , and its direction is the intersection of the directions of the affine subspaces that contain .

The affine span of  is the set of all (finite) affine combinations of points of , and its direction is the linear span of the  for  and  in . If one chooses a particular point , the direction of the affine span of  is also the linear span of the  for  in .

One says also that the affine span of  is generated by  and that  is a generating set of its affine span.

A set  of points of an affine space is said to be  or, simply, independent, if the affine span of any strict subset of  is a strict subset of the affine span of . An  or barycentric frame (see , below) of an affine space is a generating set that is also independent (that is a minimal generating set).

Recall that the dimension of an affine space is the dimension of its associated vector space. The bases of an affine space of finite dimension  are the independent subsets of  elements, or, equivalently, the generating subsets of  elements. Equivalently, } is an affine basis of an affine space if and only if } is a linear basis of the associated vector space.

Coordinates
There are two strongly related kinds of coordinate systems that may be defined on affine spaces.

Barycentric coordinates

Let  be an affine space of dimension  over a field , and  be an affine basis of . The properties of an affine basis imply that for every  in  there is a unique -tuple  of elements of  such that

and

The  are called the barycentric coordinates of  over the affine basis . If the  are viewed as bodies that have weights  (or masses) , the point  is thus the barycenter of the , and this explains the origin of the term barycentric coordinates.

The barycentric coordinates define an affine isomorphism between the affine space  and the affine subspace of  defined by the equation .

For affine spaces of infinite dimension, the same definition applies, using only finite sums. This means that for each point, only a finite number of coordinates are non-zero.

Affine coordinates
An affine frame of an affine space consists of a point, called the origin, and a linear basis of the associated vector space. More precisely, for an affine space  with associated vector space , the origin  belongs to , and the linear basis is a basis  of  (for simplicity of the notation, we consider only the case of finite dimension, the general case is similar).

For each point  of , there is a unique sequence  of elements of the ground field such that

or equivalently

The  are called the affine coordinates of  over the affine frame .

Example: In Euclidean geometry, Cartesian coordinates are affine coordinates relative to an orthonormal frame, that is an affine frame  such that  is an orthonormal basis.

Relationship between barycentric and affine coordinates
Barycentric coordinates and affine coordinates are strongly related, and may be considered as equivalent.

In fact, given a barycentric frame

one deduces immediately the affine frame

and, if

are the barycentric coordinates of a point over the barycentric frame, then the affine coordinates of the same point over the affine frame are

Conversely, if

is an affine frame, then

is a barycentric frame. If

are the affine coordinates of a point over the affine frame, then its barycentric coordinates over the barycentric frame are

Therefore, barycentric and affine coordinates are almost equivalent. In most applications, affine coordinates are preferred, as involving less coordinates that are independent. However, in the situations where the important points of the studied problem are affinely independent, barycentric coordinates may lead to simpler computation, as in the following example.

Example of the triangle
The vertices of a non-flat triangle form an affine basis of the Euclidean plane. The barycentric coordinates allows easy characterization of the elements of the triangle that do not involve angles or distances:

The vertices are the points of barycentric coordinates ,   and  . The lines supporting the edges are the points that have a zero coordinate. The edges themselves are the points that have one zero coordinate and two nonnegative coordinates. The interior of the triangle are the points whose coordinates are all positive. The medians are the points that have two equal coordinates, and the centroid is the point of coordinates .

Change of coordinates

Case of affine coordinates

Case of barycentric coordinates

Properties of affine homomorphisms

Matrix representation

Image and fibers
Let

be an affine homomorphism, with

its associated linear map.  The image of  is the affine subspace  of , which has  as associated vector space. As an affine space does not have a zero element, an affine homomorphism does not have a kernel. However, the linear map  does, and if we denote by  its kernel, then for any point  of , the inverse image  of  is an affine subspace of  whose direction is . This affine subspace is called the fiber of .

Projection

An important example is the projection parallel to some direction onto an affine subspace. The importance of this example lies in the fact that Euclidean spaces are affine spaces, and that these kinds of projections are fundamental in Euclidean geometry.

More precisely, given an affine space  with associated vector space , let  be an affine subspace of direction , and  be a complementary subspace of  in  (this means that every vector of  may be decomposed in a unique way as the sum of an element of  and an element of ). For every point  of , its projection to  parallel to  is the unique point  in  such that

This is an affine homomorphism whose associated linear map  is defined by

for  and  in .

The image of this projection is  , and its fibers are the subspaces of direction  .

Quotient space
Although kernels are not defined for affine spaces, quotient spaces are defined. This results from the fact that "belonging to the same fiber of an affine homomorphism" is an equivalence relation.

Let   be an affine space, and   be a linear subspace of the associated vector space . The quotient   of   by   is the quotient of   by the equivalence relation such that  and  are equivalent if

This quotient is an affine space, which has  as associated vector space.

For every affine homomorphism , the image is isomorphic to the quotient of   by the kernel of the associated linear map. This is the first isomorphism theorem for affine spaces.

Axioms
Affine spaces are usually studied by analytic geometry using coordinates, or equivalently vector spaces. They can also be studied as synthetic geometry by writing down axioms, though this approach is much less common. There are several different systems of axioms for affine space.

 axiomatizes the special case of affine geometry over the reals as ordered geometry together with an affine form of Desargues's theorem and an axiom stating that in a plane there is at most one line through a given point not meeting a given line.

Affine planes satisfy the following axioms :
(in which two lines are called parallel if they are equal or
disjoint):
 Any two distinct points lie on a unique line.
 Given a point  and line  there is a unique line which contains the point and is parallel to the line
 There exist three non-collinear points.
As well as affine planes over fields (or division rings), there are also many non-Desarguesian planes satisfying these axioms.  gives axioms for higher-dimensional affine spaces.

Purely axiomatic affine geometry is more general than affine spaces and is treated in a separate article.

Relation to projective spaces

Affine spaces are contained in projective spaces.  For example, an affine plane can be obtained from any projective plane by removing one line and all the points on it, and conversely any affine plane can be used to construct a projective plane as a closure by adding a line at infinity whose points correspond to equivalence classes of parallel lines.  Similar constructions hold in higher dimensions.

Further, transformations of projective space that preserve affine space (equivalently, that leave the hyperplane at infinity invariant as a set) yield transformations of affine space. Conversely, any affine linear transformation extends uniquely to a projective linear transformation, so the affine group is a subgroup of the projective group. For instance, Möbius transformations (transformations of the complex projective line, or Riemann sphere) are affine (transformations of the complex plane) if and only if they fix the point at infinity.

Affine algebraic geometry
In algebraic geometry, an affine variety (or, more generally, an affine algebraic set) is defined as the subset of an affine space that is the set of the common zeros of a set of so-called polynomial functions over the affine space. For defining a polynomial function over the affine space, one has to choose an affine frame. Then, a polynomial function is a function such that the image of any point is the value of some multivariate polynomial function of the coordinates of the point. As a change of affine coordinates may be expressed by linear functions (more precisely affine functions) of the coordinates, this definition is independent of a particular choice of coordinates.

The choice of a system of affine coordinates for an affine space  of dimension  over a field  induces an affine isomorphism between  and the affine coordinate space . This explains why, for simplification, many textbooks write , and introduce affine algebraic varieties as the common zeros of polynomial functions over .

As the whole affine space is the set of the common zeros of the zero polynomial, affine spaces are affine algebraic varieties.

Ring of polynomial functions
By the definition above, the choice of an affine frame of an affine space  allows one to identify the polynomial functions on  with polynomials in  variables, the ith variable representing the function that maps a point to its th coordinate. It follows that the set of polynomial functions over  is a -algebra, denoted , which is isomorphic to the polynomial ring .

When one changes coordinates, the isomorphism between  and  changes accordingly, and this induces an automorphism of , which maps each indeterminate to a polynomial of degree one. It follows that the total degree defines a filtration of , which is independent from the choice of coordinates. The total degree defines also a graduation, but it depends on the choice of coordinates, as a change of affine coordinates may map indeterminates on non-homogeneous polynomials.

Zariski topology

Affine spaces over topological fields, such as the real or the complex numbers, have a natural topology. The Zariski topology, which is defined for affine spaces over any field, allows use of topological methods in any case. Zariski topology is the unique topology on an affine space whose closed sets are affine algebraic sets (that is sets of the common zeros of polynomial functions over the affine set). As, over a topological field, polynomial functions are continuous, every Zariski closed set is closed for the usual topology, if any. In other words, over a topological field, Zariski topology is coarser than the natural topology.

There is a natural injective function from an affine space into the set of prime ideals (that is the spectrum) of its ring of polynomial functions. When affine coordinates have been chosen, this function maps the point of coordinates  to the maximal ideal . This function is a homeomorphism (for the Zariski topology of the affine space and of the spectrum of the ring of polynomial functions) of the affine space onto the image of the function.

The case of an algebraically closed ground field is especially important in algebraic geometry, because, in this case, the homeomorphism above is a map between the affine space and the set of all maximal ideals of the ring of functions (this is Hilbert's Nullstellensatz).

This is the starting idea of scheme theory of Grothendieck, which consists, for studying algebraic varieties, of considering as "points", not only the points of the affine space, but also all the prime ideals of the spectrum. This allows gluing together algebraic varieties in a similar way as, for manifolds, charts are glued together for building a manifold.

Cohomology
Like all affine varieties, local data on an affine space can always be patched together globally: the cohomology of affine space is trivial. More precisely,  for all coherent sheaves F, and integers . This property is also enjoyed by all other affine varieties. But also all of the étale cohomology groups on affine space are trivial. In particular, every line bundle is trivial. More generally, the Quillen–Suslin theorem implies that every algebraic vector bundle over an affine space is trivial.

See also

 Barycentric coordinate system

Notes

References

Affine geometry
Linear algebra
Space (mathematics)

Affine space


Founded in 1938, the Estonian Academy of Sciences (, ) is Estonia's national academy of science in Tallinn.  As with other national academies, it is an independent group of well-known scientists whose stated aim is to promote research and development, encourage international scientific cooperation, and disseminate knowledge to the public.  As of March 2017, it had 77 full members and 20 foreign members.  Since 15 October 2014, the president of the Academy is the mathematician Tarmo Soomere.

Divisions
The Academy has four divisions:
 Division of Astronomy and Physics (Estonian: Astronoomia ja füüsika osakond)
 Division of Informatics and Engineering (Estonian: Informaatika ja tehnikateaduste osakond)
 Division of Biology, Geology and Chemistry (Estonian: Bioloogia, geoloogia ja keemia osakond)
 Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences (Estonian: Humanitaar- ja sotsiaalteaduste osakond)

History
The Academy was established in 1938 as a learned society.  When Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union the Academy was dissolved on July 17, 1940.  In June 1945 it was reestablished as the Academy of Sciences of the Estonian SSR ().  In Soviet times, it consisted of a central library and four divisions containing 15 research institutes as well as other scientific societies and museums. In April 1989, shortly before Estonian independence, the academy regained its original name of Estonian Academy of Sciences.  At this time it was also restructured into its present form.Kronoloogia, web page at  the Estonian Academy of Sciences.  Accessed on line September 12, 2007.

Presidents
 1946–1950 Hans Kruus
 1950–1968 Johan Eichfeld
 1968–1973 Arnold Veimer
 1973–1990 Karl Rebane
 1990–1994 Arno Köörna
 1994–2004 Jüri Engelbrecht
 2004–2014 Richard Villems
 since 2014 Tarmo Soomere

Prizes

The Academy's most prestigious prize is the Medal of the Estonian Academy of Sciences''. This is awarded "for outstanding services in development of Estonian science or in helping forward its development, as well as for services in performance of tasks of the Estonian Academy of Sciences."

Location
The Academy is located on Kohtu Street in Tallinn.  Its building is the so-called palace of Ungern-Sternberg, built in 1865 by the architect Martin Gropius.

Estonian Academy Publishers
At the academy, the Estonian Academy Publishers () is located. As of 2021 the publisher publishes seven journals:
 Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of Sciences
 Estonian Journal of Earth Sciences
 Oil Shale
 Linguistica Uralica
 Trames
 Estonian Journal of Archaeology
 Acta Historica Tallinnensia

In addition, the publisher publishes The Yearbook of the Estonian Mother Tongue Society.

The publisher published the following journals:
 Estonian Journal of Ecology
 Estonian Journal of Engineering
 Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of Sciences. Geology
 Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of Sciences. Chemistry
 Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of Sciences. Physics. Mathematics

Associated organizations
Several organizations are associated with the Academy.
These institutions or societies have activities and goals that conform to the objectives of the academy.
They include:

Estonian Naturalists' Society
Estonian Geographical Society
Society of Estonian Regional Studies
Estonian Mother Tongue Society
Estonian Union of the History and Philosophy of Science
Estonian Learned Society in Sweden
Estonian Literary Society
Learned Estonian Society
Estonian Musicological Society
Estonian Physical Society
Estonian Association of Engineers
Estonian Biochemical Society
Estonian Semiotics Association
Estonian Chemical Society
Estonian Society of Human Genetics
Estonian Society for Economics
Estonian Society for the Study of Religions

The press is also a member of the Association of European University Presses.

References

External links

Scientific organizations established in 1938
1938 establishments in Estonia
National academies of sciences
National academies of arts and humanities
Science and technology in Estonia
USSR Academy of Sciences
Members of the International Council for Science
Members of the International Science Council

Estonian Academy of Sciences


The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA), infrequently spelt as the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency is a statutory authority founded in 2010 which is responsible, in collaboration with the Medical Board of Australia, for registration and accreditation of health professionals as set out in the Australian legislation called the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme. , approximately 586,000 health professionals were registered with the AHPRA, containing 98,400 medical practitioners (which includes general practitioners, medical specialists and some hospital workers), and 334,000 nurses and midwives. This rose to 825,720 registered health professionals in 2021.

The AHPRA is intended to facilitate public safety of health practice in Australia, and is used to assess the qualifications of overseas health practitioners. According to the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme, it is required to be registered with the AHPRA to self-identify with one of the "protected titles" set out in the legislation, and it is an offence to do so without registration. The AHPRA maintains a public register of those registered and related qualifications accessible from their website. The AHPRA is responsible for hearing and investigating complaints (which are legally termed "notifications") of "performance, health and conduct" by those registered. The AHPRA is also responsible for hearing complaints about unregistered professions, which includes "unregistered health care workers who provide a health service", in violation of the National Code of Conduct for health care workers by behaving in an incompetent, exploitative, predatory or illegal manner.

Martin Fletcher has been the chief executive officer of the AHPRA since its inception. According to a 2011 publication, "Australia  the first country in the world to have a national registration and accreditation scheme regulating health practitioners."

Regulated professions
, the AHPRA regulates 16 medical professions in Australia. 12 of these were enacted under the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme on 1 July 2010, listed exactly as:

 Chiropractors
 Dental practitioners (including dentists, dental hygienists, dental prosthetists, and dental therapists)
 Medical practitioners
 Nurses and midwives
 Optometrists
 Osteopaths
 Pharmacists
 Physiotherapists
 Podiatrists
 Psychologists

In July 2012, this was expanded to include 4 additional professions:

 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practitioners
 Chinese medicine practitioners (including acupuncturists, Chinese herbal medicine practitioners and Chinese herbal dispensers)
 Medical radiation practitioners (including diagnostic radiographers, radiation therapists and nuclear medicine technologists)
 Occupational therapists

The set of "protected titles" also includes common variations on these profession titles. , the following professions are not regulated by, and do not have "protected titles", under the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme:

 Social workers
 Speech pathologists
 Dieticians
 Audiologists
 Sonographers
 Orthotist/ prosthetists
 Perfusionists
 Exercise and sport scientists

, although there exists guidelines under the AHPRA for "medical practitioners who perform cosmetic medical and surgical procedures", the term "surgeon" and related terms like "cosmetic surgeon" are not "protected titles". This meant that registered medical practitioners in Australia could these titles even when having different training and qualifications. A public consultation about this began on 1 December 2021 via Engage Victoria, an online platform run by the Victoria government department of health, which closed feedback submissions on 1 April 2022.

Each regulated health profession is represented by a national board, of which there are 15, along with 21 specialist organisations.

Registration
There are four categories of registration conducted through the Medical Board of Australia, depending on training and expertise, including "general", "specialist", "provisional", "limited" and "non-practicing", along with a student registration. Medical graduates applying from New Zealand are treated with the same registration standards as Australians, differing from the international registration process. , there are separate fees for both registration and application. Initial registration and application fees for general, specialist and limited registrations is $835 AUD, with some categories of New South Wales registrations receiving rebates.

The registration process includes a criminal history check, where individuals must inform the national board under application jurisdiction if they have been "charged with an offence punishable by 12 months imprisonment or more, or convicted or found guilty of an offence punishable by imprisonment in Australia and/or overseas". There exists a dispute resolution process with the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission and relevant police departments, if the result of a criminal history check prevents registration under the AHPRA.

Complaint process
In the AHPRA, complaints are termed "notifications". The complaints process includes several stages, which may advance a stage, result in disciplinary action, a fast-track process called "immediate action", or the complaint may be dropped. The stages include a receipt of the complaint, preliminary assessment, investigation, panel hearing, and a tribunal hearing, and at any stage of the process the complaint to advance immediately to a tribunal hearing. Unlike the other stages, a tribunal hearing outcome is made to the public, and a tribunal typically consists of "a District Court judge, two medical practitioners and a lay person, specifically appointed to consider the evidence".

According to AHPRA, in 2021 there were 10,147 notifications about 7,858 health practitioners, and 1.6% of those registered were the subject of a complaint. According to Sharon Russell, "many medical practitioners will be the subject of an AHPRA complaint at some stage during their career".

Complaints can be made online via the AHPRA website, by mail, telephone or attending an office. There is also a whistleblower policy governed under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013 where anonymous complaints can be made for serious misconduct.

Criticism
The AHPRA has been subject to criticism, including for medical right to privacy and informed consent of those registered, and the long amount of time taken to resolve complaints. There was an investigation in 2014 following complaints to the AHPRA about how complaints are managed, including a lack of transparency over the complaint review process, and delays in investigations, with one case taking 2,368 days to resolve. There have been senate inquiries (see Australian Senate committees) by the Parliament of Australia in 2011, 2017 and 2021 over related issues. The 2021 public submission of support from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners identified the main issues with the AHPRA as being "communication, transparency and timeliness of the complaints mechanism, and the importance of appropriate recognition of the impacts of assessment and investigation on a practitioner's mental health".

Submissions for the 2021 senate inquiry were extended to March 2022, with the final senate report being released on 1 April 2022. The senate inquiry resulted in 14 recommendations, including improving the complaints process, more flexible re-registration after a period of absence, and the regulation of surgeons, social workers, aged care workers and personal care workers along with adding these professions to the list of "protected titles".

External links

 National Code of Conduct for health care workers
 AHPRA Regulatory Guide - June 2022
 AHPRA Regulatory Guide Overview - June 2020
 Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act 2009, the legislation governing the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme, current to at least 1 August 2018

References

Regulatory authorities of Australia
2010 establishments in Australia
Medical and health regulators


Ricky Gianco (born Riccardo Sanna, Lodi 1943), formerly known as Ricky Sanna, is an Italian singer, songwriter, guitarist and record producer, considered one of the founders of Italian rock music. He reached the apex of his popularity as a singer in the 1960s, when he was one of the so-called "urlatori" (literally: "screamers"), a group of early rock singers which also included Adriano Celentano, Little Tony, Tony Dallara, and others.

In his early career, between the late 1950s and the early 1960s, Gianco played in several bands, including I Ribelli (also known as Celentano's Clan Celentano) and I Quelli (which would later develop into Premiata Forneria Marconi). He also collaborated with Luigi Tenco, Enzo Jannacci, and Gino Paoli, among others. His most renowned solo works are from the mid-1960s, when he became a declared fan of The Beatles and moved from rock and roll to a more oriented pop sound.

In the 1970s, he began expanding his range activities, working on theatre projects and as a record producer as well as a musician. He is co-writer of Michelle Beatles song

Discography

Albums
1963: Una giornata con Ricky Gianco (Jaguar, JGR 73000)
1965: Ai miei amici di "Ciao amici" (Jaguar, JGR 74002)
1965: Ricky Gianco Show (Jaguar, JGR 74003)
1968: Ricky Gianco Special (Dischi Ricordi, MRP 9051)
1975: Braccio di Ferro (Intingo, ITGL 14005)
1976: Quel rissoso, irascibile, carissimo Braccio di Ferro (Intingo, ITGL 14007)
1976: Alla mia mam... (Ultima Spiaggia, ZLUS 55187)
1978: Arcimboldo (Ultima Spiaggia, ZPLS 34046)
1979: Liquirizia (soundtrack) (Fontana Records, 6323 811)
1982: Non si può smettere di fumare (Fonit-Cetra, LPX 100)
1989: Di nuca (New Enigma, NEM 47714)
1991: È Rock'n Roll (Fonit-Cetra, TLPX 277)
1992: Piccolo è bello (Fonit-Cetra)
1995: Il meglio di Ricky Gianco (compilation, D.V. MORE)
1997: Ricky Gianco: i successi (compilation, D.V. MORE)
2000: Tandem (Ricky Gianco & ...) (compilation of collaborations, CBS, COL 497529 1)
2005: Ricky Gianco Collection (compilation, EDEL)
2009:  Di santa ragione, EDEL
2010:  Come un bambino (On Sale Music, 64 OSM 084)

Italian male singers
Italian male songwriters
Italian songwriters
Male songwriters
Italian guitarists
Italian male guitarists
1943 births
Living people

Ricky Gianco


An artificial brain (or artificial mind) is software and hardware with cognitive abilities similar to those of the animal or human brain.

Research investigating "artificial brains" and brain emulation plays three important roles in science:
An ongoing attempt by neuroscientists to understand how the human brain works, known as cognitive neuroscience.
A thought experiment in the philosophy of artificial intelligence, demonstrating that it is possible, at least in theory, to create a machine that has all the capabilities of a human being.
A long-term project to create machines exhibiting behavior comparable to those of animals with complex central nervous system such as mammals and most particularly humans. The ultimate goal of creating a machine exhibiting human-like behavior or intelligence is sometimes called strong AI.

An example of the first objective is the project reported by Aston University in Birmingham, England where researchers are using biological cells to create "neurospheres" (small clusters of neurons) in order to develop new treatments for diseases including Alzheimer's, motor neurone and Parkinson's disease.

The second objective is a reply to arguments such as John Searle's Chinese room argument, Hubert Dreyfus's critique of AI or Roger Penrose's argument in The Emperor's New Mind. These critics argued that there are aspects of human consciousness or expertise that can not be simulated by machines. One reply to their arguments is that the biological processes inside the brain can be simulated to any degree of accuracy. This reply was made as early as 1950, by Alan Turing in his classic paper "Computing Machinery and Intelligence".

The third objective is generally called artificial general intelligence by researchers. However, Ray Kurzweil prefers the term "strong AI". In his book The Singularity is Near, he focuses on whole brain emulation using conventional computing machines as an approach to implementing artificial brains, and claims (on grounds of computer power continuing an exponential growth trend) that this could be done by 2025. Henry Markram, director of the Blue Brain project (which is attempting brain emulation), made a similar claim (2020) at the Oxford TED conference in 2009.

Approaches to brain simulation
 Although direct human brain emulation using artificial neural networks on a high-performance computing engine is a commonly discussed approach, there are other approaches. An alternative artificial brain implementation could be based on Holographic Neural Technology (HNeT) non linear phase coherence/decoherence principles. The analogy has been made to quantum processes through the core synaptic algorithm which has strong similarities to the quantum mechanical wave equation.

EvBrain is a form of evolutionary software that can evolve "brainlike" neural networks, such as the network immediately behind the retina.

In November 2008, IBM received a US$4.9 million grant from the Pentagon for research into creating intelligent computers. The Blue Brain project is being conducted with the assistance of IBM in Lausanne. The project is based on the premise that it is possible to artificially link the neurons "in the computer" by placing thirty million synapses in their proper three-dimensional position.

Some proponents of strong AI speculated in 2009 that computers in connection with Blue Brain and Soul Catcher may exceed human intellectual capacity by around 2015, and that it is likely that we will be able to download the human brain at some time around 2050.

While Blue Brain is able to represent complex neural connections on the large scale, the project does not achieve the link between brain activity and behaviors executed by the brain. In 2012, project Spaun (Semantic Pointer Architecture Unified Network) attempted to model multiple parts of the human brain through large-scale representations of neural connections that generate complex behaviors in addition to mapping.

Spaun's design recreates elements of human brain anatomy. The model, consisting of approximately 2.5 million neurons, includes features of the visual and motor cortices, GABAergic and dopaminergic connections, the ventral tegmental area (VTA), substantia nigra, and others. The design allows for several functions in response to eight tasks, using visual inputs of typed or handwritten characters and outputs carried out by a mechanical arm. Spaun's functions include copying a drawing, recognizing images, and counting.

There are good reasons to believe that, regardless of implementation strategy, the predictions of realising artificial brains in the near future are optimistic. In particular brains (including the human brain) and cognition are not currently well understood, and the scale of computation required is unknown. Another near term limitation is that all current approaches for brain simulation require orders of magnitude larger power consumption compared with a human brain. The human brain consumes about 20 W of power, whereas current supercomputers may use as much as 1 MW—i.e., an order of 100,000 more.

Artificial brain thought experiment
Some critics of brain simulation believe that it is simpler to create general intelligent action directly without imitating nature. Some commentators have used the analogy that early attempts to construct flying machines modeled them after birds, but that modern aircraft do not look like birds.

See also

 AI takeover
 Animat
 Artificial consciousness
 Artificial intelligence
 Artificial Intelligence System
 Artificial life
 Artificial philosophy
 Biological neural networks
 Blue Brain
 CoDi
 Cognitive architecture
 Effective altruism
 Existential risk from advanced artificial intelligence
 Future of Humanity Institute
 Human Brain Project
 Multi-agent system
 Neuromorphic computing
 Never-Ending Language Learning
 Nick Bostrom
 Outline of artificial intelligence
 OpenWorm
 Robotics
 Simulated reality
 Superintelligence
 Turing's Wager

Notes

References

External links

 Artificial Brains – the quest to build sentient machines

Computational neuroscience
Robotics
Emerging technologies
Brain
Thought experiments in philosophy of mind

Artificial brain


Dub mac Maíl Choluim (Modern Gaelic: Dub mac Mhaoil Chaluim; 20 May 928 — 20 July 967) nicknamed the Vehement (Scottish Gaelic: a' Chaisteil) or the Black (Scottish Gaelic: an Dubh) was the King of Scotland from 962 to 967. He was the son of Malcolm I of Scotland and Bethoc. He succeded his first cousin twice removed Indulf, the Scottish king who succeeded his father.

Reign
On 1 July 962, King Indulf was killed at the Battle of Bauds while trying to kick off Viking invaders from Scotland. As the son and heir of Indulf's predecessor, Malcolm I, Dub ascended to the throne instead of Indulf's son and heir, Culen. When Dub first realized that he is now king, he was overjoyed as he had been waiting eight years for this.

Since Indulf had many success at the Battle of Bauds, Dub's first act as king was to continue the battle. He actively fought in the battle and won against the Vikings. Next Dub wanted to expand  stabilize, and make the kingdom more powerful. In 963, he builded many towns for the poor people and would bring peace, stability, and prosperity to the Scottish people. All of this made him very popular and effective.

Dub then planned to reform the country and improve relations with England in 967. However, Dub was assassinated by a Scottish nobleman in Forres, Moray in July of the same year. It is exactly unclear who murdered Dub and why but it was said that the person who murdered Dub was a supporter of Culen, the son of the deceased Indulf. Culen then succeded to the throne.

Dub's body was not found until six days later on 26 July 967 where someone found his dead body under the bridge of Kinloss, around 4km from Forres, where Dub was killed. His body was taken on a bier to Iona where he was buried in Iona Abbey. Dub left behind one son, Cináeda, who would become the King of Scotland in 997 as Kenenth III after he killed King Constantine III, who was the son of Culen, Dub's successor.

Death
He died in 967, leaving behind 2 children. His burial place has been lost and no one knows the exact place of his burial although it was most likely in 967 just after his death and in Iona, Scotland.

References

Kings and Queens of Scotland
910s births
967 deaths
10th century in Scotland

Dub of Scotland


The 12th Canadian Parliament was in session from 15 November 1911 until 6 October 1917. The membership was set by the 1911 federal election on 21 September 1911, and it changed only somewhat due to resignations and by-elections until it was dissolved prior to the 1917 election.  At 5 years, 10 months and 22 days, it was the longest parliament in Canadian history. The parliament was extended beyond the normal limit of five years by the British North America Act, 1916 as a result of World War I.

It was controlled by a Conservative/Liberal-Conservative majority under Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden and the 9th Canadian Ministry.  The Official Opposition was the Liberal Party, led by Wilfrid Laurier. The last year of the wartime parliament was dominated by the Conscription Crisis of 1917. At the end of the parliament, a new ministry, the Union Government, was formed by Borden as a wartime coalition government including Liberals. Laurier refused to join and those Liberals who supported Borden took the name Liberal Unionists. The Union Government went on to win the 1917 federal election.

The Speaker was first Thomas Simpson Sproule, and later Albert Sévigny.  See also List of Canadian electoral districts 1907-1914 for a list of the ridings in this parliament.

There were seven sessions of the 12th Parliament:

List of members

Following is a full list of members of the twelfth Parliament listed first by province, then by electoral district.

Electoral districts denoted by an asterisk (*) indicates that district was represented by two members.

Alberta

British Columbia

Manitoba

New Brunswick

Nova Scotia

Ontario

Prince Edward Island

Quebec

Saskatchewan

Yukon

By-elections

References

Succession

Canadian parliaments
1911 establishments in Canada
1917 disestablishments in Canada
1911 in Canada
1912 in Canada
1913 in Canada
1914 in Canada
1915 in Canada
1916 in Canada
1917 in Canada

12th Canadian Parliament


A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, and a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections.

A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumbent dying or resigning, or when the incumbent becomes ineligible to continue in office (because of a recall, a prohibited dual mandate, criminal conviction, or failure to maintain a minimum attendance), or when an election is invalidated by voting irregularities. In some cases a vacancy may be filled without a by-election or the office may be left vacant.

An election to fill a vacancy created when a general election cannot take place in a particular constituency may be called a by-election in some jurisdictions, or may have a distinct name (e.g. supplementary election, as in Australia).

Origins

The procedure for filling a vacant seat in the House of Commons of England was developed during the Reformation Parliament of the 16th century by Thomas Cromwell; previously a seat had remained empty upon the death of a member. Cromwell devised a new election that would be called by the king at a time of the king's choosing. This made it a simple matter to ensure the seat rewarded an ally of the crown.

During the eighteen-year Cavalier Parliament of Charles II, which lasted from 1661 to 1679, by-elections were the primary means by which new members entered the House of Commons.

In single-member constituencies

By-elections are held in most nations that elect their parliaments through single-member constituencies, whether with or without a runoff round. This includes most Commonwealth countries, such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, as well as non-Commonwealth countries such as France and Italy (until 2006). However, in some cases, such as the French National Assembly, by-elections are only used to fill some vacancies, with the others being filled by the assumption of a seat by a running mate nominated by the vacator.

In the United States, these contests have been called "special elections" because they do not always occur on Election Day like regular congressional elections. Special elections are held when a seat in the House of Representatives, state legislature, or local legislature becomes vacant.  At the federal level, the U.S. Constitution requires that vacancies in the House of Representatives be filled with a special election (unlike the Senate, where it is up to law of the state involved to determine how the vacancy is filled).  In most cases where a vacancy is filled through a special election, a primary will also be held to determine which candidates will represent the major parties.

In multi-member constituencies

When one seat in a multi-member constituency becomes vacant, the consequences vary. For example, a by-election may be held to fill just the vacancy, all the seats in the constituency could be contested in the by-election, or the vacancy could be filled by other means.

Typically, party-list proportional representation systems do not hold by-elections. Instead, the most successful unelected candidate named on the vacator's list fills the vacancy automatically. However, Turkey is an exception, as it holds by-elections when too many seats become vacant in the parliament (as in 1986) or a repeat vote has to be held (as in 2003).

In multi-member district systems that do not employ party lists – single transferable vote, single non-transferable vote and plurality at-large – vacancies may be filled by a by-election. This is done, for example, in the Dáil of the Republic of Ireland (STV), in the Parliament of Vanuatu (SNTV), and in the Senate of the Philippines (Pl. AL). In those systems, alternatives to holding a by-election include:

 re-determining the election results with the vacators disregarded, as in Tasmania or the Australian Capital Territory,
 keeping the seat vacant until the next general election. This usually occurs if a vacancy arises shortly before a planned general election (within six months in New Zealand).
 nominating another candidate with the same affiliation as the former member, such as European Parliament seats in the Republic of Ireland.

For the Australian Senate (in which each state forms a multi-member constituency elected via single transferable vote), the state parliament appoints a replacement in the event of a vacancy; in 1977 a referendum amended the Constitution to require that the person appointed must belong to the same political party (if any) as the Senator originally elected to that seat. The states with an upper house elected via STV (NSW, Victoria, and South Australia) use the same method, except for Western Australia, which holds a recount of ballots to determine the new winner, with sitting members retaining their seats.

In mixed systems

Mixed-member proportional representation, additional member, and parallel voting systems, in which some members are chosen by party lists and some from single-member constituencies, usually hold by-elections to fill a vacancy in a constituency seat; for example, the assassination of Shinzo Abe resulted in a by-election in Yamaguchi's 4th district, which Abe represented in the House of Representatives of Japan (elected under parallel voting). If a vacancy arises in a party list seat, it would be filled in the manner usual for party-list proportional systems; for example, on the resignation of Darren Hughes from the Parliament of New Zealand in March 2011, Louisa Wall filled the seat after all the five candidates above her on the New Zealand Labour Party's list declined it.

Exceptions to this rule exist: In the German Bundestag, which uses mixed-member proportional representation, by-elections were originally held upon the vacancy of any constituency seat, in the same manner as Scotland and New Zealand. This was changed in January 1953, since which time vacancies in constituency seats have been filled by the next candidate on the state list of the party which won the seat, in the same manner as vacancies among list seats. By-elections are now only held if a vacancy arises in a constituency seat and there is no associated party list with which to fill it – typically, if the former member was elected as an independent. This is referred to as a substitute election (Ersatzwahl). Since no independents have been elected to the Bundestag since the first legislative period, no such substitute election has ever taken place.

Significance and consequences

Direct effects

By-elections can be crucial when the ruling party has only a small majority. In parliamentary systems, party discipline is often so strong that the governing party or coalition can only lose a vote of no confidence after losing enough supporters, whether by floor-crossing or through losing by-elections, for it to become a minority government. Examples are the Labour government of James Callaghan 1976–1979 and Conservative government of John Major 1992–1997. In the United States Senate, Scott Brown's election in 2010 ended the filibuster-proof supermajority formerly enjoyed by Democrats.

By-elections can also be important if a minority party needs to gain one or more seats in order to gain official party status or the balance of power in a minority or coalition situation. For example, Andrea Horwath's win in an Ontario provincial by-election in 2004 allowed the Ontario New Democratic Party to regain official party status with important results in terms of parliamentary privileges and funding.

In 1996 in the Australian state of Queensland the seat of Mundingburra where in the 1995 state election Wayne Goss and his Labor Party won by a slim 45 seat majority in a 89 seat parliament. The seat was decided by 16 votes but due to difficulties and irregularities in the voting led to a by-election where the rival Liberal Party won the seat pushing Goss' government in minority and with Independent Liz Cunningham teaming up to push a motion of no confidence in the government. After the motion or no confidence Rob Borbidge the leader of the Nationals the senior partner in the coalition became premier until his government's defeat in the 1998 state election.

Predictive value
Non-experts often interpret by-election results as a bellwether or early indicator of the results of the next general election, but political scientists generally caution against overinterpretation. The evidence suggests that while the margin of victory relative to the district's normal performance may be relevant, other indicators generally provide stronger evidence with a larger sample size.

A 2016 study of special elections to the United States House of Representatives found "that while candidate characteristics affect special election outcomes, presidential approval is predictive of special election outcomes as well. Furthermore, we find that the effect of presidential approval on special election outcomes has increased in magnitude from 1995 to 2014, with the 2002 midterm representing an important juncture in the nationalization of special elections."

Seats which have unexpectedly changed hands in by-elections often revert to the former party in the next general election. One reason for this is that voter turnout at by-elections tends to be lower and skewed toward highly motivated supporters of the opposition party.

Indirect impact

By-election upsets can have a psychological impact by creating a sense of momentum for one party or a sense of impending defeat for a government. For example, in Canada, Deborah Grey's 1989 by-election victory in Beaver River was seen as evidence that the newly formed Reform Party of Canada would be a serious political contender and that it posed a serious political threat for the ruling Progressive Conservatives. Similarly, the upset 1960 by-election victory of Walter Pitman in Peterborough as a "New Party" candidate was a significant boost for the movement to replace the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation with an unnamed "New Party" which would be integrated with the labour movement. Pitman's candidacy in a riding in which the CCF was traditionally weak was seen as a test of this concept, and his upset victory convinced the CCF and the labour movement to launch the New Democratic Party (NDP). Gilles Duceppe's 1990 upset landslide by-election victory in Laurier—Sainte-Marie with 66% of the vote on behalf of the newly formed Bloc Québécois was the first electoral test for what was initially a loose parliamentary formation created two months earlier after several Quebec MPs defected from the Progressive Conservative and Liberal parties to protest the failure of the Meech Lake Accord and provided the first indication that the party could be a serious force in the province of Quebec. On the strength of the by-election victory, the BQ went on to be officially formed as a party in 1991 and win 54 seats in the 1993 federal election, enough to form the Official Opposition.

By-elections may occur singly or in small bunches, especially if the authority responsible for calling them has discretion over the timing and can procrastinate. They are sometimes bunched to save money, as holding multiple by-elections is likely to cost more than holding a by-election to fill the vacancies all at once. In Canada, in 1978, 15 by-elections were held on a single date, restoring the House of Commons to 264 members. The media called it a "mini-election", a test of the Liberal government's popularity with a general election due in less than a year. In Hong Kong, in January 2010, five members of the Legislative Council from the Pro-democracy camp, one from each of Hong Kong's five geographical constituencies, resigned and stood in simultaneous by-elections, at which the entire electorate would participate, in an attempt to stage a de facto referendum on democratizing the Hong Kong political system. The effect of the manoeuvre was blunted when the Pro-Beijing camp refused to stand candidates against them.

Upsets

Australia

The 1918 Swan by-election was held following the death of John Forrest. The seat was traditionally a safe seat for the Nationalist Party against the Labor Party, but the emergence of the Country Party lead to a "three-cornered contest". As Australia used a first-past-the-post system at the time, the conservative vote was split between the Country and Nationalists, allowing Labor candidate Edwin Corboy to come in first place and win the seat. The Swan by-election is cited as the reason for the introduction of preferential voting, to prevent Labor from benefiting from a divided opposition in the future.

The 2018 Wentworth by-election was held after the resignation of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, who had served as the member for Wentworth since 2004. Wentworth was considered an exceptionally safe seat for the Liberal Party, as it had only ever been held by the Liberal Party and its predecessor parties since its creation in 1901. Former Ambassador to Israel Dave Sharma was preselected as the Liberal Party's candidate for the by-election. The major challenger in the by-election was independent candidate Kerryn Phelps. A huge 17.7% two-party-preferred swing was required for the Liberal Party to lose the seat. Ultimately, the Liberals suffered a 19.0% swing to Phelps, the largest by-election swing in Australian history, which won her the seat. This loss deprived the Liberal Party of its majority in federal Parliament, forcing them into a minority government.

Canada
In 1942, the Conservatives' Arthur Meighen (who had already served as Prime Minister during the 1920s) sought to re-enter the House of Commons of Canada through a by-election in York South. His surprise defeat at the hand of Joseph Noseworthy of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation ended his political career, and may also have been a factor in the Conservative Party's decision to move to the left and rebrand itself the Progressive Conservative Party under Meighen's replacement. Noseworthy's victory was also a significant breakthrough for the CCF giving it credibility as a national party where it has previously been seen as a Western Canadian regional protest party.

On November 1, 1944, General Andrew McNaughton was appointed to Cabinet as Minister of Defence without having a seat in parliament, after his predecessor resigned during the Conscription Crisis of 1944. A by-election was arranged in Grey North which the opposition Progressive Conservative party contested. The major campaign issue became the government's policy of "limited conscription" during World War II, which McNaughton supported, and which the Conservatives rejected. They called, instead, for "full conscription". McNaughton was defeated in the February 5, 1945 by-election. As a result, with confidence in his government undermined, Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King called the 1945 federal election several weeks later; originally he had intended to postpone the election until the war was clearly won. McNaughton sought a seat in the 1945 contest but was again defeated, and resigned shortly after.

The most recent example of a cabinet minister appointed from outside parliament having to resign after losing a by-election was in 1975, when Minister of Communications Pierre Juneau was appointed to Pierre Trudeau's Liberal cabinet directly from the private sector, and tried to enter parliament through a by-election in Hochelaga. Juneau unexpectedly lost to the Progressive Conservative candidate and resigned from cabinet 10 days after his by-election defeat.

In Ontario, John Tory, leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario ran in a 2009 by-election in Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, after he convinced one of his caucus members to step down, in hopes of re-entering the Ontario legislature. His by-election defeat resulted in his resignation as party leader.

Hong Kong

In the March 2018 Hong Kong by-elections, the pro-democracy camp lost their majority status for the first time in the Geographical constituency part of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong By-elections were held after six pro-democracy lawmakers were disqualified by the High Court of Hong Kong during the oath-taking controversy. The pro-democracy camp was considered safe in the de facto first past the post by-election because both pro-democracy camp and pro-Beijing camp would only nominate one candidate to fill in the by-election. However, the pro-democracy camp lost twice in Kowloon West, which had been considered a safe seat for them.

Singapore
Under Article 49(1) of the Constitution of Singapore, a by-election should be called for any vacancy arising from a constituency - particularly Single Member Constituency - within a reasonable time period. Since the introduction of partial self-governance in 1955, 34 by-elections have been held, and some have been major upsets.

1957 Cairnhill by-election
Former Chief Minister of Singapore David Marshall and then Member of the Legisaltive Assembly for Cairnhill resigned his seat on 30 April 1957. In the ensuing by-election, the ruling Labour Front Government only polled 19.23% compared to 47.58% in the general elections held two years back - a swing of 28.35%. The government, as a result, lost the seat to the newly formed LSP - an amalgamation of the Progressive Party and Democratic Party.

1961 Hong Lim and Anson by-elections
By 1961, the ruling PAP was on the verge of collapse due to internal rivalries from the leftists and from former Minister for National Development, Ong Eng Guan. Ong had won the Hong Lim Constituency with 77.02% of the vote in a four-way contest in 1959. After his dismissal as Minister, he resigned from the PAP and his seat on 29 December 1960. In the subsequent by-election, Ong (contesting as an independent) polled 73.31% of the votes, effecting a loss of 50.33% of the votes for the ruling PAP. This represented the largest loss of votes for an incumbent party in a by-election.

On 20 April 1961, then PAP Member of the Legislative Assembly Baharuddin Ariff died, thus vacating his seat of Anson. Ariff had won the seat with 60.75% in a 5-way contest in 1959. However, the subsequent by-election saw the Workers' Party Chairperson and former Chief Minister, David Marshall winning 43.32% of the votes with PAP coming in second - polling 36.75% (a loss of 24.00%).

The two by-election losses came at a time when PAP was struggling to keep its hard-fought majority in the Legislative Assembly due to strong internal rivalries and defections by the leftists. Due to their small majority, the by-elections were critical for the government's survival then.

1981 Anson by-election
After independence in 1965, the PAP became the dominant party in Singapore. Since 1967, the PAP had occupied every single seat in Parliament - even winning all by-elections (mostly uncontested). Since the 1963 Singaporean general election, the PAP had strongly entrenched itself in Anson. In the general election held in December 1980, the PAP polled 84.10% of the votes - thus cementing Anson as a PAP fortress.

Prior to the 1991 constitutional amendments, the President of Singapore was selected by the Parliament for a term of four-years. In December 1978, incumbent President Benjamin Sheares was appointed President for a third consecutive term. However,he died on 12 May 1981, triggering a parliamentary vote for the next President. This took place on 23 October 1981, when incumbent MP for Anson, Devan Nair was chosen to be Singapore's 3rd President.

Consequent on Nair's ascension to the Presidency, his seat of Anson was left vacant - thus triggering a by-election. Coming in less than a year since the general election held in December 1980, the PAP was expected to retain the seat comfortably. This was given the fact that PAP had polled around 84%.

However, to everybody's surprise, the Workers' Party Secretary-General J. B. Jeyaretnam defeated the PAP with 51.93% of the votes. PAP came in second with just 47.10% - a loss of 37% in just 10 months. The defeat broke PAP's monopoly in Parliament, marked the first opposition presence since 1966 and marked the re-entry of the Workers' Party into Singapore's legislature since 1961, when then Workers' Party Chairperson and former Chief Minister of Singapore David Marshall won a by-election in 1961 - also, in Anson.

2013 Punggol East by-election
On 12 December 2012, then Speaker of Parliament and incumbent MP for Punggol East SMC, Michael Palmer resigned his speakership and seat due to having an extra-marital affair. The PAP had only won the seat with 54.54%, a margin of 13.53% of the votes over the WP's Lee Li Lian. The subsequent by-election saw WP's Lee Li Lian polling 54.50% over PAP's 43.73%, effecting a swing of 10.81% against the ruling PAP and causing PAP to lose a seat in a by-election for the first time since 1981.

As of the 2020, the 2013 Punggol East by-election was the last time the ruling party failed to retain a constituency in a by-election.

Ireland

A by-election held in Dublin South-West during 2014 provided a very surprising upset. The Sinn Féin candidate, Cathal King, was the favourite to take the seat. Sinn Féin had done extremely well in the area during that year's local elections. Sinn Féin captured high percentages of the first preference vote across the constituency. However, the Anti-Austerity Alliance candidate, Paul Murphy, was elected on the eighth count. Despite Murphy having received a lower first preference total than Cathal King, he outperformed the Sinn Féin candidate in attracting transfers. Murphy then took his seat in the 31st Dáil. As a direct result of this defeat in the by-election, Sinn Féin hardened their stance against Irish Water and called for the complete abolition of water charges in Ireland.

United Kingdom

In 1965, the British Foreign Secretary Patrick Gordon Walker stood in the Leyton by-election for election to the UK Parliament, having been defeated in controversial circumstances in Smethwick at the previous year's general election. His appointment as a senior minister while not a member of either house of Parliament was against convention, and he therefore sought to regularise the position by standing in the first available by-election, which was at Leyton in January 1965. However a strong swing against Labour resulted in Gordon Walker's defeat: as a result, he resigned as Foreign Secretary.

United States

In 2010, Republican Scott Brown defeated Martha Coakley in the Massachusetts special election to the United States Senate. Coakley, a Democrat, had been widely expected to win, but Brown unexpectedly closed the gap and won, a shocking result in the heavily-Democratic state of Massachusetts. This eliminated the Democratic Party's filibuster-proof majority of 60 votes. Another shocking upset occurred in the 2017 special election in Alabama, one of the most heavily Republican states in the nation. Democrat Doug Jones defeated Republican Roy Moore in a close race after Moore was credibly accused of sexual assault by multiple women.

See also

 UK parliamentary by-elections
 Widow's succession
 List of democracy and elections-related topics
 Lists of by-elections and special elections by jurisdiction
 Australia: List of Australian federal by-elections
 New South Wales: List of New South Wales state by-elections
 Northern Territory: List of Northern Territory by-elections
 Queensland: List of Queensland state by-elections
 South Australia: List of South Australian state by-elections
 Victoria: List of Victorian state by-elections
 Western Australia: List of Western Australian state by-elections
 Canada: List of federal by-elections in Canada
 Alberta: List of Alberta by-elections
 British Columbia: List of British Columbia by-elections
 Manitoba: List of Manitoba by-elections
 New Brunswick: List of New Brunswick by-elections
 Newfoundland and Labrador: List of Newfoundland and Labrador by-elections
 Nova Scotia: List of Nova Scotia by-elections
 Ontario: List of Ontario by-elections
 Saskatchewan: List of Saskatchewan by-elections
 Quebec: List of Quebec by-elections
 Yukon: List of Yukon by-elections
 Falkland Islands: List of Falkland Islands by-elections
 France: List of by-elections to the National Assembly (France)
 Hong Kong: List of Hong Kong by-elections
 Hungary: List of Hungarian by-elections
 Jamaica: Jamaican Parliamentary by-elections
 Ireland: List of Dáil by-elections, List of Seanad by-elections
 Italy: Italian by-elections
 Malaysia: List of parliamentary by-elections in Malaysia
 States in Malaysia: List of state by-elections in Malaysia
 New Zealand: List of New Zealand by-elections
 Philippines: List of special elections in the Philippines
 Solomon Islands: List of Solomon Islands by-elections
 South Korea: List of South Korea by-elections
 Tuvalu: List of by-elections in Tuvalu
 United Kingdom: Lists of United Kingdom by-elections
 Scotland: List of Scottish parliamentary by-elections
 Wales: List of by-elections to the Senedd
 United Kingdom by-election records
 United States: List of special elections to the United States House of Representatives
 United States: List of special elections to the United States Senate
 Zimbabwe: 2022 Zimbabwean by-elections

Notes

References

External links

 Electing Local Authorities—article from the ACE Project

Elections by type

By-election


Hatfield Peverel Priory (also known as Hatfield Priory) was a Benedictine priory in Essex, England, founded as a secular college before 1087 and converted into priory as a cell of St Albans by William Peverel ante 1100. It is in the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England and is located on the south side of the village of Hatfield Peverel, about 5 miles north-east of Chelmsford. At the Dissolution of the Monasteries, a timber-frame structure dominated the property.

According to tradition the priory was founded by the Saxon Ingelrica, wife of Ranulph Peverel and reputed to be the mistress of William the Conqueror, to atone for her sins. The parish church, St Andrew's (Church of England) is the surviving fragment of the Norman priory church nave.

The property was acquired by the Wright family when John Wright, a coachmaker, first landed his family in Essex in 1764. The current house, in a park designed by Richard Woods in 1765 and built in 1769, stands on a rise of land overlooking the Chelmer valley. The property passed to Wright's son, John Wright II, who died in 1796 without a male issue.  The estate then passed under entail to his nephew (i.e. his sister's son) Peter Luard, who took the name and arms of Wright as required under the will. Peter (Luard) Wright, elder brother of William Wright Luard of The Lodge, Witham (and father of Admiral William Luard), occupied and expanded the property considerably. John Wright V, having suffered financial difficulties, in 1912 let the estate to Philip Charles Tennant (1867–1936), 7th son of Robert Tennant (1828-1900) of Chapel House in the parish of Conistone, Yorkshire, Member of Parliament for Leeds from 1874 to 1880. Tennant eventually purchased Hatfield Priory in 1928, following the death of the widow of John Wright V. In 1935, one year before his death, Tennant sold it to the Marianhill Mission, a Catholic lay brotherhood, which made it their European headquarters until their closure in 1972, when the property, now with derelict grounds, was purchased as a speculation by Dolph Claydon, a property developer, who quickly sold it on to Derek Marriott who used it as a school, which closed in 1979. In 2000 the property was owned by Adrian and Fiona Cowell, who have undertaken much restoration to house and grounds.

See also
List of monastic houses in Essex
List of English abbeys, priories and friaries serving as parish churches

References

Monasteries in Essex
Benedictine monasteries in England
11th-century church buildings in England
Christian monasteries established in the 11th century
1536 disestablishments in England
Hatfield Peverel

Hatfield Peverel Priory


James Robert Knox GCC (2 March 1914 – 26 June 1983) was an Australian prelate of the Catholic Church. After years as a Vatican diplomat, he served as Archbishop of Melbourne from 1967 to 1974, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments from 1974 to 1981, and president of the Pontifical Council for the Family from 1981 until his death in 1983. Created a cardinal in 1973, he was the first Australian to serve in the Roman Curia.

Early years
Knox was born in Bayswater, Western Australia, the second of three sons of Irish-born parents John and Emily (née Walsh) Knox. His father was a storekeeper and native of Kilkenny, and his mother died when Knox was still a child. He worked as a tailor's apprentice before applying to the Archdiocese of Perth to study for the priesthood. However, he was rejected because the archdiocese did not have a seminary at the time and relied on recruiting priests from Ireland. He was instead accepted at the Benedictine abbey in New Norcia, completing his secondary education at St Ildephonsus' College and entering the abbey's seminary in March 1936.

In September that year, Knox was transferred to the Pontifical Urban University in Rome, an institution belonging to the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples to train missionaries. He was ordained a priest on 22 December 1941 by Cardinal Pietro Fumasoni Biondi, the congregation's prefect. Unable to return to Australia during World War II, he remained in Rome and served as chaplain and vice-rector at the Pontifical Urban University. He also pursued his postgraduate studies, earning doctorates in theology (1944) and canon law (1949).

Knox joined the Vatican diplomatic corps a staff member of the Secretariat of State in 1948, serving under Giovanni Battista Montini (later Pope Paul VI). He also worked in the English section of Vatican Radio. In 1950, he was sent to Tokyo as secretary to then-Archbishop Maximilian von Fürstenberg, the newly appointed Apostolic Delegate in Japan. At the same time, he was raised to the rank of privy chamberlain with the title of monsignor.

Episcopate
On 20 July 1953, Knox was appointed Apostolic Delegate to British Africa and titular archbishop of Melitene by Pope Pius XII. He received his episcopal consecration on the following 8 November in Rome from Cardinal Celso Costantini, with Archbishops Filippo Bernardini and Antonio Samorè serving as co-consecrators. During his four years stationed in Mombasa, he worked to increase the number of native Africans among the local Catholic clergy.

Following the death of Archbishop Martin Lucas, Knox was transferred to New Delhi and named Apostolic Internuncio to India on 14 February 1957. He simultaneously served as the Vatican's top diplomat to Myanmar and Sri Lanka. During his tenure, he oversaw a significant expansion of the Catholic Church in India, including the creation of many new dioceses and the development of religious communities like the Missionaries of Charity founded by Mother Teresa. He participated in the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965, and helped organize Pope Paul VI's visit to India in December 1964.

On 13 April 1967, Knox was appointed to succeed Justin Simonds as the fifth Archbishop of Melbourne, despite the fact he had not lived in Australia for 30 years and had no direct pastoral experience. Implementing the decrees of the Second Vatican Council was the driving force of his years in Melbourne. In 1970 he approved the extension of St Patrick's Cathedral's sanctuary to provide the space required for the reformed liturgical rites. The new sanctuary worked admirably for the many ceremonies of the 40th International Eucharistic Congress held in Melbourne in February 1973. Knox reorganised the structure of the archdiocese, establishing four regions headed by auxiliary bishops, the creation of 12 archdiocesan departments headed by episcopal vicars, as well as the establishment of a Senate of Priests and other advisory bodies. During his episcopacy as archbishop, Knox was also instrumental in the creation of the Melbourne College of Divinity and later, some of the constituent parts which became the Australian Catholic University.

Cardinal
Knox was created Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria in Vallicella by Pope Paul VI in the consistory of 5 March 1973. Less than a year later, on 25 January 1974, he was called to Rome to serve as prefect of two congregations, Discipline of the Sacraments and Divine Worship. These were merged into one body, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, in August 1975. As head of the Vatican office with liturgical oversight, Knox became the first Australian to serve in the Roman Curia.

Knox was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the conclaves of August and October 1978, which selected Popes John Paul I and John Paul II, respectively. After playing a major role in the 1980  bishops synod on the modern Christian family, he was appointed the first president of the reconstituted Pontifical Council for the Family on 4 August 1981, replacing the Committee for the Family. His health began to decline the following year, and in May 1983 he suffered a stroke and collapsed during a meeting at the Vatican. He laid in coma for two weeks before his death on 26 June at Gemelli Hospital, aged 69. He was buried on 6 July in the crypt of St Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne.

A 1974 portrait of Knox by Melbourne artist Paul Fitzgerald is held by the cathedral.

Honours
 Grand-Cross of the Order of Christ, Portugal (2 September 1983)

References

1914 births
1983 deaths
Australian cardinals
Australian people of Irish descent
Participants in the Second Vatican Council
Roman Catholic archbishops of Melbourne
20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Australia
Burials at St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne
Members of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
Cardinals created by Pope Paul VI
Pontifical Urban University alumni
Australian Roman Catholic archbishops

James Knox


Webster is an unincorporated community in Webster Township, Rice County, Minnesota, United States.

The community is located at the junction of Rice County Roads 3 and 5.  Porter Creek flows through the community.

Nearby places include Lonsdale, Veseli, Hazelwood, and Elko New Market.

Webster is located within ZIP code 55088.  The boundary line between Rice and Scott counties is near Webster.

References

Unincorporated communities in Minnesota
Unincorporated communities in Rice County, Minnesota

Webster, Minnesota