The wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) is an upland game bird native to North America, one of two extant species of turkey and the heaviest member of the order Galliformes. It is the ancestor to the domestic turkey, which was originally derived from a southern Mexican subspecies of wild turkey (not the related ocellated turkey).

Description

Fully-grown wild turkeys have long, reddish-yellow to grayish-green legs. The body feathers are generally blackish and dark, sometimes gray-brown, overall, with a coppery sheen that becomes more complex in older male birds. Mature males, called toms (or 'gobblers'), have a large, featherless, reddish head and red throat, with red wattles on the throat and neck. The head has fleshy, unique growths called caruncles, which may be used to identify certain birds from one another. When toms are excited, a fleshy flap on the bill (called a snood) expands, and this, the wattles and the bare skin of the head and neck all become red with enhanced flow of blood to the head.

Juvenile males are called jakes; the difference between jakes and toms is that jakes have very short 'beards' and tail fans with longer feathers in the middle. The tom's tail fan feathers will be uniform in length. On their feet and claws, each foot has three toes in front, with a shorter, rear-facing toe in back; males have a spur behind each of their lower legs, used in sparring with other males.

Male turkeys have a long, dark, fan-shaped tail and glossy, bronze wings. As with many other species of Galliformes, turkeys exhibit strong sexual dimorphism. The male is substantially larger than the female, and his feathers have areas of red, purple, green, copper, bronze, and gold iridescence. The preen gland (uropygial gland) is also larger in male turkeys compared to females. In contrast to the majority of other birds, they are colonized by bacteria of unknown function (Corynebacterium uropygiale). Females, called hens, have feathers that are duller overall, in shades of brown and gray. Parasites can dull the coloration of both sexes; in males, vivid coloration may serve as a signal of health. The primary wing feathers have white bars. Turkeys have approximately 5,000 to 6,000 feathers.

Tail feathers are of the same length in adults but of different lengths in juveniles. Males typically have at least one "beard", a tuft of coarse hair-like filaments (mesofiloplumes), growing from the center of the breast. Beards grow continuously during the turkey's lifespan and a one-year-old male has a beard up to  long.  Approximately 10% of females have a beard, usually shorter and thinner than that of the male.

An adult male normally weighs from  and measures  in length. The adult female (or hen) is typically much smaller at  and is  long. Per two large studies, the average weight of adult males is  and the average weight of adult females is . The wings are relatively small, as is typical of the galliform order, and the wingspan ranges from . The wing chord is only . The bill is also relatively small, as adults measure  in culmen length. The tarsus of the wild turkey is quite long and sturdy, measuring from . The tail is also relatively long, ranging from .

The record-sized adult male wild turkey, according to the National Wild Turkey Federation, weighed , with records of tom turkeys weighing over  uncommon but not rare. Despite usually being rather lighter than the waterfowl, the turkey has the second-heaviest maximum weight of any North American bird, after the trumpeter swan (Cygnus buccinator). By average mass, several other American birds surpass the mean weight of turkeys, including the American white pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos), the tundra swan (Cygnus columbianus columbianus) and the endangered California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) and whooping crane (Grus americana).

Habitat

Wild turkeys prefer hardwood and mixed conifer-hardwood forests with scattered openings such as pastures, fields, orchards and seasonal marshes. They seemingly can adapt to virtually any dense native plant community as long as coverage and openings are widely available. Open, mature forest with a variety of interspersion of tree species appear to be preferred. In the Northeast of North America, turkeys are most profuse in hardwood timber of oak-hickory (Quercus-Carya) and forests of red oak (Quercus rubra), beech (Fagus grandifolia), cherry (Prunus serotina) and white ash (Fraxinus americana). Best ranges for turkeys in the Coastal Plain and Piedmont sections have an interspersion of clearings, farms, and plantations with preferred habitat along principal rivers and in cypress (Taxodium distichum) and tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica) swamps.

In Appalachian and Cumberland plateaus, birds occupy mixed forest of oaks and pines on southern and western slopes, also hickory with diverse understories. Bald cypress and sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua) swamps of s. Florida; also hardwood of Cliftonia (a heath) and oak in north-central Florida. Lykes Fisheating Creek area of s. Florida has up to 51% cypress, 12% hardwood hammocks, 17% glades of short grasses with isolated live oak (Quercus virginiana); nesting in neighboring prairies. Original habitat here was mainly longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) with turkey oak (Quercus laevis) and slash pine (Pinus caribaea) "flatwoods", now mainly replaced by slash pine plantations.

In California, turkeys live in a wide range of habitats; acorns are a favorite food, in addition to wild oats (Avena barbata), drawing turkeys to areas of open oak forest and oak savanna across the central areas of the state. They frequent the lower-elevation oak woodlands of the Sierra Nevada foothills and Coast Ranges, and the central coast north through Mendocino County, which is primarily open conifer forest with various species of ferns growing in the understory. They can also be found in the conifer foothills and fern-heavy forested areas of the Klamath Mountains and Cascade Range in the northern areas of the state. In San Diego County, turkeys tend to be found farther from the coast, usually a minimum of 30–50 miles inland, at reasonably higher elevation; there is a healthy turkey population inhabiting the montane conifer woods and open oak forest habitats of the Cleveland National Forest, a region which borders on high desert and generally receives very minimal annual precipitation. Turkeys in these areas can be found in dense thickets of manzanita (Arctostaphylos), often growing on arid hillsides, for shelter and nesting sites, as well as rocky and boulder-strewn chaparral foothills.

Behavior

Flight

Despite their weight, wild turkeys, unlike their domesticated counterparts, are agile, fast fliers. In ideal habitat of open woodland or wooded grasslands, they may fly beneath the canopy top and find perches. They usually fly close to the ground for no more than 400 m (a quarter mile).

Wild turkeys have very good eyesight, but their vision is very poor at night. They will generally not see a predator until it is too late. At twilight most turkeys will head for the trees and roost well off the ground: it is safer to sleep there in numbers than to risk being victim to predators who hunt by night. Because wild turkeys do not migrate, in snowier parts of the species's habitat like the Northeast, Rockies, much of Canada, and the Midwest, it is very important for this bird to learn to select large conifer trees where they can fly onto the branches and shelter from blizzards.

Vocalizations
Wild turkeys have many calls: assembly call, gobble, plain yelp, purr, cluck and purr, cluck, cutt, excited yelp, fly-down cackle, tree call, kee kee run, and putt. In early spring, males older than a year old (called gobblers or toms) and, occasionally to a lesser extent, males younger than a year old (called "jakes") gobble to announce their presence to females and competing males. The gobble of a wild turkey can be heard up to a mile away. Males also emit a low-pitched "drumming" sound, produced by the movement of air in the air sac in the chest, similar to the booming of a prairie chicken. In addition they produce a sound known as the "spit" which is a sharp expulsion of air from this air sac.

Foraging

Wild turkeys are omnivorous, foraging on the ground or climbing shrubs and small trees to feed. They prefer eating acorns, nuts and other hard mast of various trees, including hazel, chestnut, hickory, and pinyon pine as well as various seeds, berries such as juniper and bearberry, buds, leaves, fern fronds, roots and insects. Turkeys also occasionally consume amphibians such as salamanders and small reptiles such as lizards and small snakes. Poults have been observed eating insects, berries, and seeds. Wild turkeys often feed in cow pastures, sometimes visit backyard bird feeders, and favor croplands after harvest to scavenge seeds on the ground. Turkeys are also known to eat a wide variety of grasses.

Turkey populations can reach large numbers in small areas because of their ability to forage for different types of food. Early morning and late afternoon are the desired times for eating.

Social structure and mating

Males are polygamous, mating with as many hens as they can. Male wild turkeys display for females by puffing out their feathers, spreading out their tails and dragging their wings. This behavior is most commonly referred to as strutting. Their heads and necks are colored brilliantly with red, white, and blue. The color can change with the turkey's mood, with a solid white head and neck being the most excited. They use gobbling, drumming/booming and spitting as signs of social dominance, and to attract females. Courtship begins during the months of March and April, which is when turkeys are still flocked together in winter areas.

Males may be seen courting in groups, often with the dominant male gobbling, spreading his tail feathers (strutting), drumming/booming and spitting. In a study, the average dominant male that courted as part of a pair of males fathered six more eggs than males that courted alone. Genetic analysis of pairs of males courting together shows that they are close relatives, with half of their genetic material being identical. The theory behind the team-courtship is that the less dominant male would have a greater chance of passing along shared genetic material than if it were courting alone.

When mating is finished, females search for nest sites. Nests are shallow dirt depressions engulfed with woody vegetation. Hens lay a clutch of 10–14 eggs, usually one per day. The eggs are incubated for at least 28 days. The poults are precocial and nidifugous, leaving the nest in about 12–24 hours. Turkeys are a ground nesting bird, because of this they are heavily predated on. Reproductively active wild turkeys have a lower annual survival rate due to predation on the nest.

Positive relationships with other wild species

Turkey are known to occasionally forage with deer and squirrels, and may even play with them. By foraging together, each can help the other watch for predators with their different senses: the deer with their improved olfactory sense, the turkey with its superior sight, and squirrels providing an additional set of eyes from the air.

Predators
Predators of eggs and nestlings include raccoons (Procyon lotor), Virginia opossums (Didelphis virginiana), striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis), spotted skunks (Spilogale ssp.), red foxes (Vulpes vulpes),  gray foxes (Urocyon citnereoargenteus), groundhogs (Marmota monax), among other rodents. Predators of poults in addition to nestlings and eggs also include several species of snake, namely rat snakes (Elaphe ssp.), gopher snakes (Pituophis catenifer) and pinesnakes (Pituophis ssp.).

Avian predators of poults include raptors such as bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), barred owl (Strix varia), red-shouldered (Buteo lineatus), red-tailed (Buteo jamaicensis), white-tailed (Geranoaetus albicaudatus), and Harris's hawks (Parabuteo unicinctus)—and the smallish Cooper's hawk (Accipiter cooperii) and broad-winged hawk (Buteo platypterus) (both likely of very small poults). Mortality of poults is greatest in the first 14 days of life, especially of those roosting on the ground, decreasing most notably after half a year, when they attain near adult sizes.

In addition to poults, hens and adult-sized fledglings (but not, as far as is known, adult male toms) are vulnerable to predation by great horned owls (Bubo virginianus), northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis), domestic dogs (Canis familiaris), domestic cats (Felis catus), and red foxes (Vulpes vulpes). Predators of both adults and poults include coyotes (Canis latrans), gray wolves (Canis lupus), bobcats (Lynx rufus), cougars (Puma concolor), Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis), golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos), and possibly American black bears (Ursus americanus), which also will eat the eggs if they find them. The American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) is a predator to all turkeys of all ages in the Southeast and will eat them if they get too close to water. Humans are now the leading predator of adult turkeys. When approached by potential predators, turkeys and their poults usually run away rather than fly away from potential predators, though they may also fly short distances if pressed. Another alternative behaviour, common in Galliformes, is when surprised with no time to flee is for the poulets to hide under the wings and body of the hen while she sits tight and still. Presumably, the hen has vocal and behavioural signals  that trigger the poults to instinctively run to the hen for cover.

Occasionally, if cornered, adult turkeys may try to fight off predators and large male toms can be especially aggressive in self-defense. When fighting off predators, turkeys may kick with their legs, using the spurs on their back of the legs as a weapon, bite with their beak and ram with their relatively large bodies and may be able to deter predators up to the size of mid-sized mammals. Hen turkeys have been seen to chase off at least two species of hawks in flight when their poults are threatened.

Wild turkeys are not usually aggressive towards humans, but can be frightened or provoked to behave with aggression. They are most likely to attack if startled, cornered or harassed, or if approached too closely. They also have been seen to chase off humans as well. However, attacks and potential injuries can usually be avoided by giving wild turkeys a respectful amount of space and keeping outdoor spaces clean and undisturbed. Also, turkeys that are habituated to seeing people, at places like parks or campgrounds, can be very tame and will even feed from the hands of people. Male toms occasionally will attack parked cars and reflective surfaces, thinking they see another turkey and must defend their territory, but starting a car engine and moving the car is typically enough to scare it away.

Range and population

The Californian turkey (Meleagris californica) is an extinct species of turkey indigenous to the Pleistocene and early Holocene of California. It became extinct about 10,000 years ago. The present Californian wild turkey population derives from wild birds re-introduced during the 1960s and 70s from other areas by game officials. They proliferated after 2000 to become an everyday sight in the East Bay Area by 2015.

At the beginning of the 20th century the range and numbers of wild turkeys had plummeted due to hunting and loss of habitat. When Europeans arrived in the New World, they were found from Canada to Mexico in the millions. Europeans and their successors knew nothing about the life cycle of the bird and ecology itself as a science would come too late, not even in its infancy until the end of the 19th century whereas heavy hunting began in the 17th century. Deforestation destroyed trees turkeys need to roost in. Destruction of subtypes of environment like prairie grassland in the Midwest, canebrakes in the Southeast, and pine in the desert highlands made them easy prey for predators as there was nowhere to hide or lay eggs.

Game managers estimate that the entire population of wild turkeys in the United States was as low as 30,000 by the late 1930s. By the 1940s, it was almost totally extirpated from Canada and had become localized in pockets in the United States, in the north-east effectively restricted to the Appalachians, only as far north as central Pennsylvania. Early attempts used hand reared birds, a practice that failed miserably as the birds were unable to survive in the wild at all and many had imprinted far too much on people to effectively survive. Game officials later made efforts to protect and encourage the breeding of the surviving wild population. They would wait for numbers to grow, catch the surplus birds with a device that would have a projectile net that would ensnare the creature, move it to another unoccupied territory, and repeat the cycle. Over time this included some in the western states where it was not native. There is evidence that the bird does well when near farmland, which provides grain and also berry-bearing shrubs at its edges. As wild turkey numbers rebounded, hunting became legal in 49 U.S. states (excluding Alaska). In 1973, the total U.S. population was estimated to be 1.3 million, and current  estimates place the entire wild turkey population at 7 million individuals. Since the 1980s, "trap and transfer" projects have reintroduced wild turkeys to several provinces of Canada as well, sometimes from across the border in the United States. They appear to be very successful as of 2018 as wild turkeys have multiplied rapidly and flourished in places where they were not expected to survive by Canadian scientists, often quite far north of their original expected range.

Attempts to introduce the wild turkey to Britain as a game bird in the 18th century were not successful. George II is said to have had a flock of a few thousand in Richmond Park near London, but they were too easy for local poachers to destroy, and the fights with poachers became too dangerous for the gamekeepers. They were hunted with dogs and then shot out of trees where they took refuge. Several other populations, introduced or escaped, have survived for periods elsewhere in Britain and Ireland, but seem to have died out, perhaps from a combination of lack of winter feed and poaching. Small populations, probably descended from farm as well as wild stock, in the Czech Republic and Germany have been more successful, and there are wild populations of some size following introductions in Hawaii and New Zealand.

Subspecies
There are subtle differences in the coloration, habitat, and behavior of the different subspecies of wild turkeys. The six subspecies are:

Eastern wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) (Viellot, 1817)

This was the turkey subspecies Europeans first encountered in the wild: by the Puritans, the founders of Jamestown, the Dutch who lived in New York, and by the Acadians. Its range is one of the largest of all subspecies, covering the entire eastern half of the United States from Maine in the north to northern Florida and extending as far west as Minnesota, Illinois, and into Missouri. In Canada, its range extends into Southeastern Manitoba, Ontario, Southwestern Quebec (including Pontiac, Quebec and the lower half of the Western Quebec Seismic Zone), and the Maritime Provinces. They number from 5.1 to 5.3 million birds. They were first named 'forest turkey' in 1817, and can grow up to  tall. The upper tail coverts are tipped with chestnut brown. Males can reach  in weight. The eastern wild turkey is heavily hunted in the Eastern USA and is the most hunted wild turkey subspecies.

Osceola wild turkey or Florida wild turkey (M. g. osceola) (Scott, 1890)
Most common in the Florida peninsula, they number from 80,000 to 100,000 birds. This bird is named for the famous Seminole leader Osceola, and was first described in 1890. It is smaller and darker than the eastern wild turkey. The wing feathers are very dark with smaller amounts of the white barring seen on other subspecies. Their overall body feathers are an iridescent green-purple color. They are often found in scrub patches of palmetto and occasionally near swamps, where amphibian prey is abundant. Osceola turkeys are the smallest subspecies weighing .

Rio Grande wild turkey (M. g. intermedia) (Sennett, 1879)

The Rio Grande wild turkey ranges through Texas to Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, Colorado, Oregon, Utah, and was introduced to central and western California, as well as parts of a few northeastern states. It was also introduced to Hawaii in the late 1950s. Population estimates for this subspecies are around 1,000,000. This subspecies, native to the central plain states, was first described in 1879, and has relatively long legs, better adapted to a prairie habitat. Its body feathers often have a green-coppery sheen. The tips of the tail and lower back feathers are a buff-to-very light tan color. Its habitats are brush areas next to streams, rivers or mesquite, pine and scrub oak forests. The Rio Grande turkey is gregarious.

Merriam's wild turkey (M. g. merriami) (Nelson, 1900)

The Merriam's wild turkey ranges through the Rocky Mountains and the neighboring prairies of Wyoming, Montana and South Dakota, as well as much of the high mesa country of New Mexico, Arizona, southern Utah and The Navajo Nation, with number from 334,460 to 344,460 birds. The subspecies has also been introduced into Oregon. The initial releases of Merriam's turkeys in 1961 resulted in establishing a remnant population of Merriam's turkeys along the east-slope of Mt. Hood and natural immigration of turkeys from Idaho has established Merriam's flocks along the eastern border of Oregon. Merriam's wild turkeys live in ponderosa pine and mountainous regions. The subspecies was named in 1900 in honor of Clinton Hart Merriam, the first chief of the U.S. Biological Survey. The tail and lower back feathers have white tips and purple and bronze reflections.

Gould's wild turkey (M. g. mexicana) (Gould, 1856)

Native from the central valleys to the northern mountains of Mexico and the southernmost parts of Arizona and New Mexico. Gould's wild turkeys are heavily protected and regulated. The subspecies was first described in 1856. They exist in small numbers in the U.S. but are abundant in northwestern portions of Mexico. A small population has been established in southern Arizona. Gould's are the largest of the six subspecies. They have longer legs, larger feet, and longer tail feathers. The main colors of the body feathers are copper and greenish-gold. This subspecies is heavily protected owing to its skittish nature and threatened status.

South Mexican wild turkey (M. g. gallopavo) (Linnaeus, 1758)
The south Mexican wild turkey is considered the nominate subspecies, and the only one that is not found in the United States or Canada. In central Mexico, archaeological M. gallopavo bones have been identified at sites dating to 800–100 BC [10], [11]. It is unclear whether these early specimens represent wild or domestic individuals, but domestic turkeys were likely established in central Mexico by the first half of the Classic Period (c. AD 200–1000). Late Preclassic (300 BC–AD 100) turkey remains identified at the archaeological site of El Mirador (Petén, Guatemala) represent the earliest evidence of the export of the south Mexican wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo gallopavo) to the ancient Maya world. The south Mexican wild subspecies, M. g. gallopavo, was domesticated either in Mexico or by Preclassic peoples in Mesoamerica, giving rise to the domestic turkey (M. g. domesticus). The Spaniards brought this tamed subspecies back to Europe with them in the mid-16th century; from Spain it spread to France and later Britain as a farmyard animal, usually becoming the centerpiece of a feast for the well-to-do. By 1620 it was common enough so that Pilgrim settlers of Massachusetts could bring turkeys with them from England, unaware that it had a larger close relative already occupying the forests of Massachusetts. It is one of the smallest subspecies and is best known in Spanish from its Aztec-derived name, guajolote. This wild turkey subspecies is thought to be critically endangered, as of 2010.

Benjamin Franklin and the myth of U.S. national bird suggestion
The idea that Benjamin Franklin preferred the turkey as the national bird of the United States comes from a letter he wrote to his daughter Sarah Bache on 26 January 1784. The main subject of the letter is a criticism of the Society of the Cincinnati, which he likened to a chivalric order, which contradicted the ideals of the newly founded American republic. In one section of the letter, Franklin remarked on the appearance of the bald eagle on the Society's crest:

Franklin never publicly voiced opposition to the bald eagle as a national symbol, nor did he ever publicly suggest the turkey as a national symbol.

Significance to Native Americans

The wild turkey, throughout its range, plays a significant role in the cultures of many Native American tribes all over North America. It is a favorite meal in eastern tribes. Eastern Native American tribes consumed both the eggs and meat, sometimes turning the latter into a type of jerky to preserve it and make it last through cold weather. They provided habitat by burning down portions of forests to create meadows which would attract mating birds, and thus give a clear shot to hunters. The feathers of turkeys also often made their way into the rituals and headgear of many tribes. Many leaders, such as Catawba chiefs, traditionally wore turkey feather headdresses.

Significant peoples of several tribes, including Muscogee Creek and Wampanoag, wore turkey feather cloaks. The turkey clan is one of the three Lenape clans. Movements of wild turkeys inspired the Caddo tribe's turkey dance. The Navajo people of Northeastern Arizona, New Mexico and Utah call the turkey Tązhii and relate the bird to the corn and seeds which The Turkey in Navajo folklore brought from the Third Navajo World. It is one of the Navajos' sacred birds, with the Navajo people using the feathers and parts in multiple traditional ceremonies.

See also
 Heritage turkey
 Turkey calls
 Turkeypox virus

Notes

References
 Dickson, James G., The Wild Turkey: Biology and Management (A National Wild Turkey Federation and USDA Forest Service book), 1992, Stackpole Books, , 9780811718592, google books
 Pritzker, Barry M. A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. .

External links

 Turkey as U.S. national bird
 Turkeys from England
National Wild Turkey Federation – Map of the locations of the five sub-species of wild turkey
View the turkey genome in Ensembl

Wild Turkey
Birds described in 1758
Birds of Canada
Game birds
Native American cuisine
Hunting in the United States
Birds of the United States
Birds of Mexico
Wild Turkey
Symbols of Alabama

nv:Tązhii

Wild turkey


Ardgour () ( ; meaning high place of goats) is an area of the Scottish Highlands on the western shore of Loch Linnhe. It lies north of the district of Morvern and east of the district of Sunart. Administratively it is now part of the ward management area of Lochaber, in Highland council area. It forms part of the traditional shire and current registration county of Argyll.

The modern term Ardgour, together with Kingairloch, is applied to a large area of countryside around the village, from the Glensanda Superquarry, Kingairloch and Kilmalieu in the south and west (bordering Morvern and Sunart districts), up to Conaglen, Stroncreggan, Treslaig, Camasnagaul, Achaphubuil, Blaich, Duisky, Garvan and Drumfin in the north (bordering Glenfinnan).

Until 1829 Ardgour was part of Kilmallie Parish – the largest in Scotland – at which time a Quoad Sacra Parish (QSP) – 'Ballachulish & Corran of Ardgour' – was formed, together with Ballachulish, in Inverness-shire across Loch Linnhe. Parliamentary churches were built at Creag Mhòr, (north) Ballachulish and at Corran, Ardgour with the Manse at the former in Onich. 'Ardgour' and 'Ballachulish & Onich' became Parishes in their own rights in 1894. Ardgour took in Kingairloch when this was dis-joined from Lismore and Appin Parish in 1911.

From 1930 to 1975 Ardgour formed part of the (civil) landward district of Ardnamurchan in Argyll. From 1975 it was subsumed civilly into the Lochaber District of Highland (Region)

The area is served by the A861 road. The easiest access from the A82 (Glasgow – Inverness Trunk road) is via a short ferry crossing from Corran to Ardgour; the alternative is a  trip around Loch Linnhe and Loch Eil. The ferry runs every half-hour from about 6:30 am (8:45 am on Sunday) until about 9:30 pm and costs £8.00 per PLG vehicle (wef 1 Apr 2018) for a single ticket – passengers/pedestrians free. Foot passengers and bicycles are carried free of charge.

Ardgour has formed part of the territory of the Clan MacLean ever since the MacMasters were removed from the territory in the 15th century. The current Laird of Ardgour, Robin Maclean, is a MacLean by adoption. He is the nephew of the last hereditary Maclean of Ardgour – a lady Laird – having changed his name by legal action in The Court of the Lord Lyon in Edinburgh.

Lairds
At the instigation of MacDonald of the Isles, the MacMasters were usurped by Donald Maclean 1st of Ardgour in circa 1432. A Maclean of Ardgour has been Laird till the current time, Robin Maclean, 18th Laird of Ardgour succeeding his aunt, Catriona Louise Maclean, 17th Laird in 1988.

See also
Maclean of Ardgour
Corran Ferry
Crofting

References

Lochaber
Highland Estates
Civil parishes of Scotland

Ardgour


Harlow Shapley (November 2, 1885 – October 20, 1972) was an American scientist, head of the Harvard College Observatory (1921–1952), and political activist during the latter New Deal and Fair Deal.

Shapley used Cepheid variable stars to estimate the size of the Milky Way Galaxy and the Sun's position within it by using parallax. In 1953 he proposed his "liquid water belt" theory, now known as the concept of a habitable zone.

Background

Shapley was born on a farm five miles outside Nashville, Missouri, to Willis and Sarah (née Stowell) Shapley. He went to school in Jasper, Missouri, but not beyond elementary school. He worked as a journalist after studying at home and covering crime stories as a newspaper reporter for the Daily Sun in Chanute, Kansas, and intermittently for the Times of Joplin, Missouri. In Chanute, he found a Carnegie library and started reading and studying on his own. Shapley returned to complete a six-year high school program in 1.5 years, graduating as class valedictorian.

In 1907, Shapley went to the University of Missouri to study journalism. When he learned that the opening of the School of Journalism had been postponed for a year, he decided to study the first subject he came across in the course directory. Rejecting Archaeology, which Shapley later claimed he could not pronounce, he chose the next subject, Astronomy.

Early years
After graduation, Shapley received a fellowship to Princeton University for graduate work, where he studied under Henry Norris Russell and used the period-luminosity relation for Cepheid variable stars (discovered by Henrietta Swan Leavitt) to determine distances to globular clusters. He was instrumental in moving astronomy away from the idea that Cepheids were spectroscopic binaries, and toward the concept that they were pulsators.

He realized that the Milky Way Galaxy was far larger than previously believed, and that the Sun's place in the galaxy was in a nondescript location. This discovery supports the Copernican principle, according to which the Earth is not at the center of our Solar System, our galaxy, nor our Universe.

The Great Debate of 1920
Shapley participated in the "Great Debate" with Heber D. Curtis on the nature of nebulae and galaxies and the size of the Universe. The debate took place on April 26, 1920, in the hall of the United States National Academy of Sciences in Washington DC. Shapley took the side that spiral nebulae (what are now called galaxies) are inside our Milky Way, while Curtis took the side that the spiral nebulae are "island universes" far outside our own Milky Way and comparable in size and nature to our own Milky Way. This issue and debate are the start of extragalactic astronomy, while the detailed arguments and data, often with ambiguities, appeared together in 1921.

Characteristic issues were whether Adriaan van Maanen had measured rotation in a spiral nebula, the nature and luminosity of the exploding novae and supernovae seen in spiral galaxies, and the size of our own Milky Way. However, Shapley's actual talk and argument given during the Great Debate were completely different from the published paper. Historian Michael Hoskin says "His decision was to treat the National Academy of Sciences to an address so elementary that much of it was necessarily uncontroversial", with Shapley's motivation being only to impress a delegation from Harvard who were interviewing him for a possible offer as the next Director of Harvard College Observatory.  With the default by Shapley, Curtis won the debate. The astronomical issues were soon resolved in favor of Curtis' position when Edwin Hubble discovered Cepheid variable stars in the Andromeda Galaxy.

At the time of the debate, Shapley was working at the Mount Wilson Observatory, where he had been hired by George Ellery Hale. After the debate, however, he was hired to replace the recently deceased Edward Charles Pickering as director of the Harvard College Observatory (HCO).

Conversion to Hubble's ideas
He is also known to have opposed Edwin Hubble's observations that there are additional galaxies in the universe other than the Milky Way. Shapley fiercely critiqued Hubble and regarded his work as junk science. However, after he received a letter from Hubble showing Hubble's observed light curve of V1, a Cepheid variable star in the Andromeda galaxy, he withdrew his criticism. He reportedly told a colleague, "Here is the letter that destroyed my universe." He also encouraged Hubble to write a paper for a joint meeting of the American Astronomical Society and American Association for the Advancement of Science. Hubble's findings went on to fundamentally reshape the scientific view of the universe.

Despite having earlier argued strongly against the idea of galaxies other than our Milky Way, Shapley went on to make significant progress in the research of the distribution of galaxies, working between 1925 and 1932. In this time period, with the Harvard College Observatory, he worked to map 76,000 galaxies. One of the first astronomers to believe in the existence of galaxy superclusters, Shapley later discovered a large and distant example, which was later named the Shapley Supercluster. He estimated the distance to this supercluster at 231 Mpc, which is within 15% of the currently accepted value.

Harvard College Observatory
He served as director of the HCO from 1921 to 1952. During this time, he hired Cecilia Payne, who, in 1925, became the first person to earn a doctorate at Radcliffe College in the field of astronomy, for work done at Harvard College Observatory.

From 1941 he was on the original standing committee of the Foundation for the Study of Cycles. He also served on the board of trustees of Science Service, now known as Society for Science & the Public, from 1935 to 1971.

Activism
In the 1940s, Shapley helped found government funded scientific associations, including the National Science Foundation. He shares credit with British biochemist Joseph Needham for the addition of the "S" in UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).

On November 14, 1946, Shapley appeared under subpoena by the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA) in his role as member of the Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences and Professions (ICCASP), which HCUA described as a "major political arm of the Russophile left". It had opposed re-election of U.S. Representative Joseph William Martin Jr. during mid-term elections that year and was asked to answer questions about the ICCASP's Massachusetts' chapter. HCUA committee chairman John E. Rankin commented about Shapley's attitude, "I have never seen a witness treat a committee with more contempt" and considered contempt of Congress charges. Shapley accused HCUA of "Gestapo methods" and advocated for its abolition, saying that it had made "civic cowards of many citizens" by pursuing the "bogey of political radicalism."

A few weeks later, in early 1947, Shapley became President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). At the time, the AAAS's choice appeared to be a "rebuke" of HCUA and a positive championing of scientists.  In his inaugural address, Shapley referred to the danger of the "genius maniac" and proposed the elimination of "all primates that show any evidence or signs of genius or even talent". Other global threats he listed were: drugs that suppressed the desire for sex; boredom; world war with weapons of mass destruction; a plague epidemic.

In March 1949, Shapley chaired the Cultural and Scientific Conference for World Peace at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York. It was sponsored by the National Council of Arts, Sciences and Professions. Arch-conservative William F. Buckley, Jr., authored a 1951 book, God and Man at Yale: The Superstitions of "Academic Freedom," wherein, in the eve of McCarthyism, he attacked liberalism (Buckley's adopted perception of liberalism) at Yale and academia in general. In the book, Buckley cited Shapley's participation and averred that event was "Communist-inspired" and "Russian-dominated."

In 1950, Shapley was instrumental in organizing a campaign in academia against Worlds in Collision by Russian expatriate psychiatrist Immanuel Velikovsky. Scientists generally considered this controversial US bestseller to be pseudoscience.

Global policy
He was one of the signatories of the agreement to convene a convention for drafting a world constitution. As a result, for the first time in human history, a World Constituent Assembly convened to draft and adopt the Constitution for the Federation of Earth.

Personal life
Shapley married Martha Betz (1890–1981) in April 1914, whom he had met in Missouri. She assisted her husband in astronomical research both at Mount Wilson and at Harvard Observatory. She wrote numerous articles on eclipsing stars and other astronomical objects.

They had one daughter, editor and writer Mildred Shapley Matthews; and four sons. These included Lloyd Shapley, a mathematician and economist who won a Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 2012, and Willis Shapley, who became a Senior Executive Service leader at NASA. His eldest granddaughter, June Lorraine Matthews, became a physicist.

Although Shapley was an agnostic, he was greatly interested in religion.

Shapley died in a nursing home in Boulder, Colorado on October 20, 1972, shortly before his 87th birthday.

Awards and honors
 Elected Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1920)
 Elected Member of the American Philosophical Society (1922)
 Elected Member of the United States National Academy of Sciences (1924)
 Henry Draper Medal of the National Academy of Sciences (1926)
 Prix Jules Janssen of the Société astronomique de France (French Astronomical Society) (1933)
 Rumford Prize of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1933)
 Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1934)
 Bruce Medal of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (1939)
 Janssen Medal from the French Academy of Sciences (1940)
 Pius XI Medal (1941)
 Franklin Medal (1945)
 Henry Norris Russell Lectureship of the American Astronomical Society (1950)

Legacy

Named after him are:
 The crater Shapley on the Moon
 Asteroid 1123 Shapleya
 Shapley Supercluster
 Harlow Shapley Visiting Lectureships In Astronomy, American Astronomical Society

Before the anti-communist phrase "Better Dead Than Red" became popular during McCarthyism in the 1950s, Shapley said in a 1947 speech entitled "Peace or Pieces" that "A slave world is not worth preserving. Better be lifeless like the cold moon, or primitively vegetal like desolate Mars, than be a planet populated by social robots."

Works
Shapley wrote many books on astronomy and the sciences. Among these was  Source Book in Astronomy (New York: McGraw–Hill, 1929, co-written with Helen E. Howarth, also on the staff of the Harvard College Observatory), the first of the publisher's series of source books in the history of the sciences.

In 1953, he wrote the "Liquid Water Belt" which gave scientific credence to the ecosphere theory of Hubertus Strughold.

In his 1957 book "Of Stars and Men", Shapley proposed the term Metagalaxies for what are now called superclusters.

Shapley attended Institute on Religion in an Age of Science conferences at Star Island and was the editor of the book  Science Ponders Religion (1960).

Books

Papers

See also

 Habitable zone
 Milky Way Galaxy
 National Science Foundation
 RR Lyrae
 UNESCO

References

Further reading

External links

  Harlow Shapley Project
 Nature – Obituary
The Great Debate
Collection of  Pieces on The Great Debate

 at antwiki.org

1885 births
1972 deaths
Princeton University alumni
Harvard University faculty
People from Barton County, Missouri
University of Missouri alumni
Physicists from Missouri
Scientists from Missouri
20th-century American astronomers
American agnostics
Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society
Harvard College Observatory people
Presidents of the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science
World Constitutional Convention call signatories
Members of the American Philosophical Society
Recipients of Franklin Medal

Harlow Shapley


Durrington is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. The village lies about  north of the town of Amesbury,  north-northeast of the city of Salisbury, and  northeast of the Stonehenge monument. It is on the eastern part of Salisbury Plain, the largest remaining area of chalk grassland in northwest Europe. The parish includes the hamlet of Hackthorn, on the northern outskirts of Durrington, and the military settlement of Larkhill,  to the west.

Durrington has a long history, dating back to the Neolithic era. Two ancient sites lie in the parish: Durrington Walls and Woodhenge. The parish is in the Upper Avon valley, with the River Avon forming its eastern boundary; Durrington village is close to the river. The toponym is derived from the Old English Deor ingtūn, meaning 'farm or settlement connected with Deor', Deor being a personal name.

The village's population of about 5,000 is served by several shops, two pubs, schools covering all levels of compulsory education, and a swimming pool and fitness centre.

History

Prehistory
The area had been occupied since Neolithic times but not necessarily continuously. The parish contains two important Neolithic sites: Durrington Walls and Woodhenge. Archaeological excavations indicate that the Neolithic inhabitants of the village kept a large number of pigs, with bone evidence suggesting that the pigs were unusually large for the time. This may be because inhabitants fattened them up to sell them to visitors to nearby Stonehenge.

Middle Ages
There is little evidence of Saxon occupation, but this may be because buildings and utensils of that time were made of wood, so little survives. The Domesday Book recorded two estates in 1086, having land for one plough team and with  of meadow. These two estates may represent the later two manors.

West End manor was part of the king's estate of Amesbury until 1120 but East End manor had different origins, being privately owned by Patrick de Salisbury. At this time each manor was using the open field system, but over time this system evolved into a two, and then a three, field system. The population also began increasing and in 1377 there were 139 poll tax payers making Durrington one of the most populous villages in the hundred of Amesbury.

In 1390, Durrington's manors had a rental income of £40 which gradually decreased to £29 8s 6d in 1521.

In 1399 the West End manor was given as an endowment of the newly created Winchester College, and an excellent collection of documents on its management and usage has been preserved by the College. They have also provided the name for College Road.

In 1405 the Durrington Fire occurred, the cause of which is unknown. It is widely theorised that a lamp falling onto a bale of hay caused it to ignite, or possibly that a house fire got out of control. Whatever the cause, the fire resulted in the destruction of most of the West End because most of the houses were built in an unusually close proximity to one another. Many of the West End families were left homeless, but were generously compensated by Winchester College.

There were notable problems in collecting rent from tenants in the 15th and 16th centuries. Winchester College, as lord of the manor, had to pardon a great deal of rent after failing to collect it for several years. In 1461, the college decided its only option was to lower rents, cutting the rent on virgates from 20s to 16s and half-virgates from 9s to 7s, yet problems persisted. In 1480, a local tenant, John Langford, was pardoned £58 because he did not have goods from which the proceeds could be raised.

Reformation to 19th century
The village remained a prosperous farming community although, apart from the church, there is little visual evidence before the 17th century. In 1610 East End Manor was extended with an east-west range, changing it into an L–shaped building. This new extension was used to shelter Catholic priests during the Reformation, with a number of priest holes being found here. There are 17th-century houses of timber and cob, with thatched roofs, surviving in College Road, High Street and Church Street. In 1676 the population was said to be 334 people. Despite evidence of a substantial amount of building work, mainly farmhouses, in the 18th century the village did not really increase in size and remained concentrated around its two main streets.

One of the Salisbury Plain's last great bustards was shot in Durrington by a shepherd in 1802. He gave it to a Mr Moore, who commissioned a painting of it by a Mr Dudman.

Recent history
A second Durrington Fire occurred in 1921 when the thatch to the Old Rectory on Church Street caught fire, the wind took the embers over the Church tower landing on the thatched tied cottages to the south, razing most and leaving the remainder ruined. The Old Rectory was rebuilt under a tiled roof, and is now one of the village's more substantial houses. The cottages were removed and are now replaced by small number of residential mobile homes.

Judaism
Although John Burgess asserted (without evidence) that a community of Jews settled in the East Side of the village shortly before 1405, this cannot be true as there were no Jewish communities present in England at that time.

Governance
Durrington has its own fifteen-member parish council with responsibility for local issues, including setting an annual precept (local rate) to cover the council's operating costs and producing annual accounts for public scrutiny. The parish council evaluates local planning applications and works with the local police, Wiltshire Council officers, and neighbourhood watch groups on matters of crime, security, and traffic. The council's role also includes initiating projects for the maintenance and repair of parish facilities, as well as consulting with Wiltshire Council on the maintenance, repair, and improvement of highways, drainage, footpaths, public transport, and street cleaning. Conservation matters (including trees and listed buildings) and environmental issues are also the responsibility of the council.

In 2008, the parish council voted to unilaterally declare itself a town council. This did not affect its functions or powers.

The civil parish also forms the ward of Durrington & Larkhill in the unitary authority of Wiltshire, which has the wider responsibility for providing services such as education, refuse collection, and tourism. The ward is currently represented by independent Councillor Graham Wright. It is also part of the Devizes parliamentary constituency, represented by Danny Kruger, a Conservative.

Geography
The development of the village throughout the 20th century has been shaped by the presence of the military in the area. Through this, the parish population has grown to that of a town, mainly due to the presence of the Larkhill military camp. However, the lack of a cohesive infrastructure means that this cannot be considered an urban development.

The civil parish covers 2,696 acres (1,091 hectares), and has long east-west and short north-south axes, stretching from the downs west of the River Avon to the watershed of the Avon and Till rivers in the east. Most of it is chalk downland, but there is some alluvial gravel deposited around the river. The village was formerly in two parts based around two manors: East End and West End. The East End was in the vicinity of Bulford Road, while the West End was based at the High Street. These streets are aligned north and south and the church is set between them, in the north of the village. The East/West dichotomy was brought to an end with the construction of a large council estate centred on Coronation Road during the 1950s between the East and West Ends. Therefore, it would be better to say that the village is, nowadays, divided into a North End and South End: the North contains the old, pre-20th-century village, with expensive, mainly thatched houses, whereas the South contains the council houses (many of which are now privately owned).

Demographics
The 2011 Census recorded a population of 7,379, which includes people living in both the village and Larkhill. Larkhill alone had a population of 2,358, meaning that the population of the village proper was 5,021.

According to the 1801 census, the population of Durrington was 339. The number remained relatively steady during the 19th century, rising to 477 in 1851 before falling back to 393 in 1891. This radically changed at the start of the 20th century, when much of the parish was acquired by the army. The first tented army camp in the parish was set up in 1899, eventually becoming the permanent camp of Larkhill. Census data from then on includes the population of the whole parish, including the military camp. The result was the parish population doubled between 1901 and 1911 and then trebled during the First World War. The population continued to increase as both the camp and village grew, eventually reaching 7,182 in 2001, seventeen times larger than that of 1901.

Amenities

Shops
The village has three small convenience stores: a Nisa, a Sainsbury's Local and also a Tesco Express that opened in 2008. It has an Esso filling station with a small shop and repair yard. There is also the hardware shop Bits & Pieces, a furniture shop and several hairdressers and barber's shops. Palmer's paper shop in the middle of Durrington.

Banking
No bank branches remain in the village. The Post Office closed in 2005; a Post Point opened in the village hall in October 2010 but it does not offer banking facilities. A Post Point exists as of 2019 in the Nisa but it does not offer banking facilities.

Education
The village has three schools providing all levels of compulsory education. Durrington All Saints CofE Infant School provides lower primary education (reception to year 2); Durrington CofE VC Junior School provides upper primary education (years 3 to 6); and Avon Valley Academy provides secondary education (years 7 to 11).

Public houses
There are two public houses: the Plough and the Stonehenge Inn, at opposite ends of the village.

Leisure
The village has a small swimming pool and fitness centre, which is next to the secondary school. There is also a recreation ground with football pitch, two tennis courts, a park, BMX jumps and skateboarding facilities.

Transport
The A345 Salisbury to Swindon road runs along the western side of the village, and the A303 trunk road runs a mile to the south. Salisbury Reds buses provide a half-hourly service west to Larkhill and south to Amesbury and Salisbury, and an hourly service north to Pewsey, Marlborough and Swindon. The nearest railway stations are  and  on the West of England Main Line and Wessex Main Line to the south, and  on the Reading to Taunton line to the north.

Churches

Church of England

The Church of England parish church existed by 1179, when it was confirmed to the Fontrevist Amesbury Priory. The church is likely to have had a dedication but by 1763 it was unknown. The building's earliest surviving features include its Norman south doorway and three-bay late-12th-century arcade.

The chancel was rebuilt in the 13th century and the Perpendicular gothic west window of the nave was added in about 1500.  The 15th-century tower has six bells, of which five are 17th-century. In 1851 the church was rebuilt to designs by the Gothic Revival architect J.W. Hugall and dedicated to All Saints. Hugall retained original features including the 13th-century Norman lancet windows on the south side of the chancel, and added the north aisle.

The church is a Grade II* listed building. The parish is now part of the Avon River Team ministry.

Larkhill has a garrison church, St Alban the Martyr, built in brick in 1938.

Congregational
Durrington had a small Presbyterian congregation in the 1660s and 1670s. No nonconformists were recorded in the parish in 1783. An independent chapel had opened by 1824 and was rebuilt or altered in 1860. It may have been Wesleyan Methodist in about 1880 but by 1899 it was Congregationalist. In 1905 it was replaced by a new chapel in Bulford Road, which since 1965 has been a member of the Evangelical Fellowship of Congregational Churches. Additionally there is a small evangelical church called Durrington Community Church, which meets weekly in the Village Hall; this has been running since 1991.

Jehovah's Witnesses
Durrington has had an active community of Jehovah's Witnesses since the 1960s.  At first they met in various rented properties, such as the former Conservative Hall in College Road.  During 1999 the function room to the rear of the Stonehenge Inn was purchased and a new, purpose built Kingdom Hall was constructed on the site the following year. The Congregation now has approximately 85 active members.

Roman Catholic
Our Lady Queen of Heaven Roman Catholic church was opened in 1960. It was still open in 1995, but has since closed.

References

Sources

External links

 Durrington Town Council
 Wiltshire Council – Wiltshire Community History – Durrington

Villages in Wiltshire
Civil parishes in Wiltshire

Durrington, Wiltshire


Pierre Mollet (23 March 1920, Neuchâtel - 27 October 2007) was a Canadian operatic baritone. He was born in Switzerland. He became a naturalized Canadian citizen in 1974 and in 1979, he married the Canadian pianist Suzanne Blondin.

Mollet was trained at the Lausanne Conservatory where he was a pupil of Charles Panzéra. In 1946, he won second prize at the Geneva International Music Competition. The following year he began studies in music interpretation with Nadia Boulanger in Paris, France and became highly active performing as a concert soloist with orchestras in that city during the late 1940s and 1950s. From 1948 to 1962, he traveled throughout Northern Africa and France performing in concerts sponsored by the Jeunesses Musicales International. He also sang in concerts at a number of notable music festivals such as the Strasbourg Festival and the Aix-en-Provence Festival.

Mollet made his professional opera debut in 1952 portraying Pelléas in Claude Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande at the Opéra-Comique; recording the part later that year with conductor Ernest Ansermet. He went on to sing that role for performances in cities throughout Europe and South America. He created the role of Eraste in Frank Martin's opera Monsieur de Pourceaugnac; other significant roles include Albert in Massenet's Werther and Mercutio in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette.

References

1920 births
2007 deaths
Canadian operatic baritones
20th-century Swiss male opera singers
20th-century Canadian male opera singers
Swiss emigrants to Canada
Lausanne Conservatory alumni

Pierre Mollet


Pentylenetetrazol, also known as pentylenetetrazole, leptazol, metrazol, pentetrazol (INN), pentamethylenetetrazol, Corazol, Cardiazol, Deumacard, or PTZ, is a drug formerly used as a circulatory and respiratory stimulant. High doses cause convulsions, as discovered by Hungarian-American neurologist and psychiatrist Ladislas J. Meduna in 1934. It has been used in convulsive therapy, and was found to be effective—primarily for depression—but side effects such as uncontrolled seizures were difficult to avoid. In 1939, pentylenetetrazol was replaced by electroconvulsive therapy, which is  easier to administer,  as the preferred method for inducing seizures in England's mental hospitals.  In the US, its approval by the Food and Drug Administration was revoked in 1982. It is used in Italy as a cardio-respiratory stimulant in combination with codeine in a cough suppressant drug.

Mechanism
The mechanism of pentylenetetrazol is not well understood, and it may have multiple mechanisms of action. In 1984, Squires et al. published a report analyzing pentylenetetrazol and several structurally related convulsant drugs. They found that in vivo convulsant potency was strongly correlated to in vitro affinity to the picrotoxin binding site on the GABA-A receptor complex. Many GABA-A ligands, such as the sedatives diazepam and phenobarbital, are effective anticonvulsants, but presumably pentylenetetrazol has the opposite effect when it binds to the GABA-A receptor.

Several studies have focused on the way pentylenetetrazol influences neuronal ion channels. A 1987 study found that pentylenetetrazol increases calcium influx and sodium influx, both of which depolarize the neuron. Because these effects were antagonized by calcium channel blockers,  pentylenetetrazol apparently acts at calcium channels, and it causes them to lose selectivity and conduct sodium ions, as well.

Research
Pentylenetetrazol has been used experimentally to study seizure phenomena and to identify pharmaceuticals that may control seizure susceptibility. For instance, researchers can induce status epilepticus in animal models. Pentylenetetrazol is also a prototypical anxiogenic drug and has been extensively used in animal models of anxiety. Pentylenetetrazol produces a reliable discriminative stimulus, which is largely mediated by the GABAA receptor. Several classes of compounds can modulate the pentylenetetrazol discriminative stimulus, including 5-HT1A, 5-HT3, NMDA, glycine, and L-type calcium channel ligands.

See also
 List of investigational sleep drugs
 GABAA receptor negative allosteric modulator
 GABAA receptor § Ligands

References

Antidepressants
Stimulants
GABAA receptor negative allosteric modulators
Withdrawn drugs
Respiratory agents
Convulsants
Tetrazoles

Pentylenetetrazol


The Battle of Monte Pelado ("Bald Mountain") was an engagement of the Spanish Civil War fought on 28 August 1936. It was notable as the first major engagement of the Italian Republican volunteers of the Matteotti Battalion.

Monte Pelado, in Aragon, between Huesca and Almudévar, was the site of a Francoist gun emplacement and a concentration of around five hundred Nationalist troops.  In bitter fighting from five until nine in the morning, Italians and the Spanish anarchists of the Francisco Ascaso column seized the Nationalist position while suffering heavy losses.

Amongst those Italian volunteers killed were republican Mario Angeloni, commander of the Column, the anarchist Michele Centrone, the "giellista" Giuseppe Zuddas, the  anarchist Fosco Falaschi, the Communist Attilio Papparotto and the anarchist Vincenzo Perrone.

Among those Italians who survived were socialist Carlo Rosselli, anarchists Camillo Berneri, Maria Zazzi, and Leonida Mastrodicasa.

See also

 List of Spanish Republican military equipment of the Spanish Civil War
 List of Spanish Nationalist military equipment of the Spanish Civil War

References

Gli antifascisti grossetani nella guerra civile spagnola in La Risveglia, quadrimestrale di varia umanità. (n°3/4 Gennaio - Aprile 2000, Maggio - Agosto 2000).
La colonna antifascista italiana si batte vittoriosamente davanti a Huesca, in Giustizia e Libertà,( n.36, 4 set. 1936).
Calosso, Umberto. La guerra di Angeloni, in  Il mondo, (1 set. 1951), p. 8
Bifolchi, Giuseppe. Monte Pelato: prima battaglia dell'antifascismo italiano in difesa della rivoluzione in Spagna, in Umanità nova, (27 August 1966).

Monte Pelado
Province of Huesca
Monte Pelado
1936 in Spain
Monte Pelado
August 1936 events

Battle of Monte Pelado


The Royal Palace (official name Haw Kham,  ) in Luang Prabang, Laos, was built in 1904 during the French colonial era for King Sisavang Vong and his family. The site for the palace was chosen so that official visitors to Luang Prabang could disembark from their river voyages directly below the palace and be received there. After the death of King Sisavang Vong, the Crown Prince Savang Vatthana and his family were the last to occupy the grounds. In 1975, the monarchy was overthrown by the communists and the royal family were taken to re-education camps. The palace was then converted into a national museum.

The Grounds

On the palace grounds, there are other buildings surrounding the palace which includes:
Kitchen/Storage
Royal Barge Shelter
Conference Hall
Haw Pha Bang
Staff Headquarters

There is a lotus pond and two cannons at the entrance of the palace. A statue of King Sisavang Vong is outside the conference hall.

Architecture and furnishings
The architecture of the palace has a mixed of traditional Lao motifs and French Beaux Arts styles. It was laid out in a double-cruciform shape with the entrance on one side of the lower crossbar. Above the entrance is a three-headed elephant sheltered by the sacred white parasol, the symbol of the Lao monarchy. The steps to the entrance are made of Italian marble. There are royal religious objects on display in the large Entrance Hall.

On the right of the entrance is the King's reception room, where busts of the Luang Phrabang and, later, Lao monarchs are displayed along with two large gilded and lacquered Ramayana screens, crafted by the local artisan Thit Tanh. The walls are covered with murals that depict scenes from traditional Lao lifestyles, painted in 1930 by a French artist, Alix de Fauntereau. Each of the walls is intended to be viewed at a different time of day, depending on the light that enters the windows on one side of the room, which matches the time of day depicted.

In the right front corner room of the palace, which opens to the outside, is a collection of the palace's most prized art, including the Phra Bang, cast of a gold, silver and bronze alloy. This Buddha stands 83 cm tall and weighs around 50 kg. Legend has it that the statue was made around the 1st century in Sri Lanka and was later gifted by the Khmer king to his son-in-law : King Fa Ngum in 1359.

The Siamese twice took the image to Thailand in 1779 and 1827, but it was returned to Laos by King Mongkut in 1867. There are rumours that the one on display is a copy and the original is stored in Vientiane or Moscow. It is said the real one had gold leaf over the eyes and a hole drilled through one of its ankle. Also in the room are another Buddha, engraved with large elephant tusks, and three beautiful saew mâi khán (embroidered silk screens with religious imagery) that were crafted by the Queen.

On the left of the Entrance Hall, the secretary's reception room is filled with paintings, silver and china that have been presented to Laos as diplomatic gifts from Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, Poland, Hungary, Russia, Japan, Vietnam, China, Nepal, United States, Canada and Australia. These objects are grouped by "socialist" and "capitalist" countries. One exhibit donated by the USA is a piece of Moon rock obtained by an Apollo mission.

The next room to the left was once the Queen's reception room. Large royal portraits of King Savang Vatthana, Queen Khamphoui and Crown Prince Vong Savang, painted by Russian artist Ilya Glazunov in 1967, are hung on the walls. There are friendship flags from China and Vietnam and replicas of sculpture from the National Museum, New Delhi.

In the far rooms are the royal family's bedrooms and living quarters. The bedrooms have been preserved as they were in 1975 when the King was forced from the palace. There is a dining hall and a room that contains royal seals and medals.

The Throne Room contains the Crown Jewels of Laos.

Gallery

Literature

External links

 Photos of Luang Prabang's Royal Palace Museum
 Asia for Visitors information
 Lao Embassy in Washington D.C. | National Museum

Palaces in Laos
Royal residences in Laos
Museums in Laos
History museums
Buildings and structures in Luang Prabang

Royal Palace, Luang Prabang


Cerebrovascular disease, stroke or cerebrovascular accident, is a vascular disease of the cerebral circulation. Arteries supplying oxygen to the brain are affected resulting in one of a number of cerebrovascular diseases. Most commonly this is a stroke or mini-stroke and sometimes can be a hemorrhagic stroke. Any of these can result in vascular dementia.

Causes
Causes of cerebrovascular disease can be divided into: atherosclerosis, embolism, aneurysms, low flow states, and other rare causes. Major modifiable risk factors include:
hypertension
smoking
obesity
diabetes.

Treatment
Treatment for cerebrovascular disease includes medication, lifestyle changes and surgery.

Examples of medications are:
Antiplatelets (Aspirin, Clopidogrel)
Blood thinners (Heparin, Warfarin )
Antihypertensives (ACE inhibitors, Beta blockers)
Anti-diabetic medications

Surgical procedures include:
Endovascular surgery and Vascular surgery (for future stroke prevention)

Notable cases
 Walter Cronkite, American news journalist. Died in 2010.
 Roberts Blossom, American actor and poet. Died in 2011.
 Shirley Hufstedler, American judge, first United States Secretary of Education. Died in 2016.

References

Stroke

Cerebrovascular disease


The pickerel frog (Lithobates palustris, formerly Rana palustris) is a small frog in North America. It has dark squares on its back. The squares are in lines instead of randomly scattered. Leopard frogs have circular spots. They have an orange or yellow coloration on the inside of their back legs. They are found in the east of North America. They have toxic glands in their skin that can kill other frogs.

Related pages
Bullfrog

Frogs of North America

Pickerel frog


In Zen Buddhism, the keisaku (Japanese: 警策, Chinese: 香板, xiāng bǎn; kyōsaku in the Soto school) is a flat wooden stick or slat used during periods of meditation to remedy sleepiness or lapses of concentration. This is accomplished through a strike or series of strikes, usually administered on the meditator's back and shoulders in the muscular area between the shoulder and the spine. The keisaku itself is thin and somewhat flexible; strikes with it, though they may cause momentary sting if performed vigorously, are not injurious.

Purpose
The word "keisaku" may be translated as "warning stick", or "awakening stick", and is wielded by the jikijitsu.  "Encouragement stick" is a common translation for "kyōsaku". In Soto Zen, the kyōsaku is always administered at the request of the meditator, by way of bowing one's head and putting the palms together in gassho, and then exposing each shoulder to be struck in turn. The kyōsaku may also be administered as a means of shaming one for sitting in a slouching position. In Rinzai Zen, the stick is requested in the same manner, but may also be used at the discretion of the Ino, the one in charge of the meditation hall. Even in such cases, it is not considered a punishment, but a compassionate means to reinvigorate and awaken the meditator who may be tired from many sessions of zazen, or in the "monkey mind" state (overwhelmed with thoughts).

See also
Jikijitsu
Shippei
Sluggard waker – a similar custom and tool used in 18th century British churches

References

Buddhist ritual implements
Culture articles needing translation from Japanese Wikipedia
Zazen

Keisaku


Marcial del Adalid y Gurréa (24 August 1826 – 16 October 1881) was a Spanish composer. He studied music in London between 1840 and 1844 with Ignaz Moscheles and it is possible that he also studied with Chopin in Paris. Both men influenced the style and form of his musical compositions. After finishing his studies, Adalid y Gurréa returned to Spain where he lived in A Coruña and later Madrid. Highly influenced by lieder, his most important compositions were vocal art songs and songs for the piano. A particularly fine example of his work is his 1877 composition Cantares nuevos y viejos de Galicia where he successfully blended the folklore of Galicia with the technique and spirit of Romantic piano music. He also composed one opera Inese e Bianca, which was never staged. In addition to composing, Adalid y Gurréa spent much of his time teaching music courses and organizing music competitions.

He was married to writer Fanny Garrido and the father of painter .

References

Sources
López-Calo, José. The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, edited by Stanley Sadie (1992).  and

1826 births
1881 deaths
19th-century classical composers
Spanish classical composers
Spanish male classical composers
Spanish opera composers
Male opera composers
19th-century Spanish male musicians

Marcial del Adalid y Gurréa


Emily Dorothy Scarborough (January 27, 1878 – November 7, 1935) was an American writer who wrote about Texas, folk culture, cotton farming, ghost stories and women's life in the Southwest.

Early life
Scarborough was born in Mount Carmel, Texas. At the age of four she moved to Sweetwater, Texas for her mother's health, as her mother needed the drier climate. The family soon left Sweetwater in 1887, so that the Scarborough children could get a good education at Baylor College.

Academics and writing
Even though Scarborough's writings are identified with Texas, she studied at University of Chicago and Oxford University and, beginning in 1916, taught literature at Columbia University.

While receiving her PhD from Columbia, she wrote a dissertation, "The Supernatural in Modern English Fiction". Sylvia Ann Grider writes in a critical introduction that the dissertation "was so widely acclaimed by her professors and colleagues that it was published and it has become a basic reference work".

Dorothy Scarborough came in contact with many writers in New York, including Edna Ferber and Vachel Lindsay. She taught creative writing classes at Columbia. Among her creative writing students were Eric Walrond and Carson McCullers, who took her first college writing class from Scarborough.

Her most critically acclaimed book, The Wind (first published anonymously in 1925), was later made into a film of the same name starring Lillian Gish.

Bibliography

Original works

 Fugitive Verses (1912), original verses
 The Supernatural in Modern English Fiction (1917); available in its entirety at Google Book Search
 From a Southern Porch (1919), viewable in full at Google Book Search or viewable at the Portal to Texas History
 Humorous Ghost Stories (1921)  Free download from Project Gutenberg
 In the Land of Cotton (1923)
 The Wind (1925), considered her most acclaimed work.
 The Unfair Sex (serialized, 1925–26)
 Impatient Griselda (1927)
 Can't Get a Redbird (1929)
 Stretch-Berry Smile (1932)
 The Story of Cotton (1933) juvenile reader
 Selected Short Stories of Today (1935)

Folklore
 On the Trail of Negro Folk-songs (1925)  available at archive.org
 Song Catcher in Southern Mountains; American Folk Songs of British Ancestry (1937, posthumous)

Biographical and critical essays
Biographical Essay on the Handbook of Texas Online
Foreword to The Wind by Sylvia Ann Grider, Barker Texas History Center series, University of Texas Press, 1979.

References

Sources

External links

Dorothy Scarborough at the University of Houston site

1878 births
1935 deaths
20th-century American novelists
American women novelists
Novelists from Texas
People from Smith County, Texas
People from Sweetwater, Texas
University of Chicago alumni
Alumni of the University of Oxford
Columbia University alumni
Columbia University faculty
20th-century American women writers
Novelists from New York (state)
American women academics

Dorothy Scarborough


Misericors Dei Filius is the title of the 1883 "Constitution On the Law of the Franciscan Third Order" by Pope Leo XIII.

In it Leo XIII declared that wearing of medium-sized scapulars of the "Third Order" or the miniature forms of the smaller devotional scapular entitled the wearer equally to gain the indulgences associated with the order.

Sources

Documents of Pope Leo XIII
1883 documents
1883 in Christianity

Misericors Dei Filius


The VT420 is an ANSI standard computer terminal introduced in 1990 by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). The 420 is the only model in the 400 series, replacing the VT320. There are no color or graphics-capable 400 series terminals; the VT340 remained in production for those requiring ReGIS and Sixel graphics and color support. The entire lineup of VT300s and VT420 was eventually replaced by the relatively unknown VT500 series starting in 1993.

Description
The VT420 is essentially an updated VT320, adding the multi-session capabilities originally introduced on the VT330 and VT340.

Those two models include a system known as TD/SMP which allows two sessions to be multiplexed over a single serial connection to a compatible terminal server. Alternately, the two sessions can be supported by separate serial connections on those models with multiple MMJ ports. Using either method, the VT330/340/420 can either show the two sessions behind each other, using a key sequence to flip back and forth, or split the screen horizontally to display the sessions one above the other, or vertically side-by-side.

The VT420 also added a number of more minor features. One was to add a number of PC character sets, allowing the terminal to be used with a variety of PC programs. Another allows the terminal to generate the proper character sequences to produce rectangular-area commands. For instance, one can select a rectangular area and fill it with a particular character, or blank it out. This is in addition to the terminal-side editing system introduced on the VT300s.

The VT420 has a total of 5 sets of 94 characters for normal VT operation, another 3 sets of 128 PC characters, and 1 set of 96 characters containing various graphics and math symbols. Like all models since the VT200 series, the user can also upload a custom character set of their own design using the Sixel system. Likewise, it also supports the National Replacement Character Set system, which swaps out single characters in 7-bit modes to allow basic changes like swapping the  for the  for use on UK systems.

All DEC terminals that came after the VT100, including the VT420, are able to emulate their ancestors. The VT420 has VT100 and VT52 emulating modes.

The screen itself is a 14" flat CRT with a resolution of 800 (horizontal) by 400 (vertical) pixels. A variety of glyphs are available that provide 80 or 132 characters across, and 24, 36 or 48 lines of text vertically. The screen has room for 25 lines at normal font sizes, but the last line was normally used for status indications, like . The MMJ ports can operate at speeds up to 38,400 bit/s, double that of the VT300s' maximum 19,200 bit/s.

Notes

References
 Installing and Using the VT420 Video Terminal, DEC, 1990
 VT420 Programmer Reference Manual, DEC, 1992

External links

vt100.net

DEC computer terminals
Character-oriented terminal
Computer-related introductions in 1990

VT420


The Avicenna Prize for Ethics in Science is awarded every two years by UNESCO and rewards individuals and groups in the field of ethics in science.
The aim of the award is to promote ethical reflection on issues raised by advances in science and technology, and to raise global awareness of the importance of ethics in science. The prize was named after the 11th century Persian physician and philosopher Avicenna (980-1038).

The Prize consists of a gold medal, a certificate, US$10,000, and a one-week academic visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Since it was founded, the award has been given to five individuals.

Award recipients
 2004   Margaret Somerville, Canada
 2006   Abdallah Daar, Canada
 2010   Renzong Qiu, China
 2015   Zabta Khan Shinwari, Pakistan
 2019   Donald A. Brown, USA

References

External links
 Official site

Science and technology awards
Philosophy awards
Awards established in 2004
UNESCO awards

Avicenna Prize


The baculum (also penis bone),  is a bone found in the penis of many male mammals. It is absent in the human penis, but present in the penises of our close relatives the apes, such as the gorilla and chimpanzee.
The bone is located along the top of the penis and it aids in sex  by keeping it stiff for a long time during the sex act.

A bone in the penis allows a male to mate for a much longer time with a female. This can be an advantage as it prevents a rival male from having sex with the female for some time.

Male animals without a penis bone tend to form close emotional bonds with a female and so ensure they are the father of her offspring.

References
How do you Sex a fossil? The Guardian Wed 24 Jan 2018
Reproductive system

Baculum


Eicosanoids (or icosanoids) are hormones made of lipids. They are signaling molecules made by the oxidation of 20-carbon fatty acids.

They have control over many bodily systems. They influence growth during and after physical activity, inflammation or immunity after the intake of toxic compounds and pathogens. They are also messengers in the central nervous system.

The networks of controls that depend upon eicosanoids are among the most complex in the human body.

References

Hormones

Eicosanoid


PetroKazakhstan is a Canadian oil company, based in Calgary, Alberta, that has all of its business focused on Kazakhstan where it had some  of oil and  of natural gas reserves (January 2005 estimate) in the Turgai basin region. These are the second largest Kazakhstani proven reserves after ChevronTexaco's TengizChevroil. Estimated production is  of oil per day.  In 2005, PetroKazakhstan was acquired by  China National Petroleum Corporation and then in 2006 transferred to PetroChina.

Origins - Hurricane
Formerly known as Hurricane Hydrocarbons Ltd. the company was founded in 1981 and initially operated in Western Canada. It changed to a more international focus and grew after making several major oil and gas finds in Southern Kazakhstan, in 1991 becoming a partner in a JV to develop the Kyzylkiya, Aryskum, Maibulak and South Kumkol fields.

In 1996, it purchased Yuzhneftegaz from the Kazakh government, making it one of the largest players in the country.

However, the company ran into severe problems in the late 1990s. All the company's oil went through refineries owned by Central Asian Industrial Holdings N.V. (CAIH), a Dutch-registered offshore affiliate of Kazkommertsbank (KKB) Kazakhstan's leading banking group, which used their monopoly to charge high prices. At the same time, oil prices plunged. In 1999 the company was forced into receivership and almost broken up.

The company was saved by Bernard Isautier, a board member who had long been involved in the Canadian oil industry and in Central Asia. He became CEO and negotiated a merger with Central Asian Industrial Holdings N.V. From mid-October 1999 to 2000 Hurricane acquired 88.4% of OJSC Shymkentnefteorgsintez (now PetroKazakhstan Oil Products LLP) which owns the 160,000 bpd Shymkent Oil Refinery, the most modern of the country's three refineries (commissioned 1985). In doing so, Isautier put 30% of Hurricane's stock in CAIH's hands. This eventually made the investors in both companies very wealthy, especially Isautier who had demanded no salary and was at first only paid in stock options. The rapid increase in the stock's value made Isautier by far the most generously compensated executive in Canada in 2004.

Renamed PetroKazakhstan
In 2003 Hurricane was renamed PetroKazakhstan to reflect that its entire operations are in that country.

In the following years Hurricane/PetroKazakhstan saw considerable conflict with the government of Kazakhstan, including a fine for anti-competitive behaviour and protests of its environmental and labour record reportedly organized by government agents. In June 2005 PetroKazakhstan announced that it had been approached for a possible takeover or merger, sending stock prices up significantly. The most frequently mentioned possible suitor was a branch of India's ONGC. The stock quickly fell back down when the government of Kazakhstan announced that it would demand the right to acquire PetroKazakhstan prior to any merger, in part because India would have to export their oil through Russia, thus increasing Kazakhstan's dependence on Russia.

CNPC and PetroChina
On 21 August 2005 China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), agreed to buy the company for US$4.18 billion via CNPC International Ltd. (CNPCI), a 100% subsidiary of China National Oil & Gas Exploration and Development Corp. (CNODC). This made the PetroKazakhstan deal the largest overseas acquisition by a Chinese company. PetroKazakhstan was delisted in Kazakhstan, Toronto, New York, London and Frankfurt Stock Exchanges.

As part of the deal with CNPC, on 15 October 2005, according to the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan On Subsoil Use, CNPC agreed to sell back 33% of the shares of PetroKazakhstan Inc. to KazMunaiGas (KMG), a transaction which was completed on 5 July 2006. Further on 6 July 2007 KMG bought back a 50% share in PetroKazakhstan subsidiary PetroKazakhstan Oil Products LLP [PKOP) thereby allowing the Kazakh government to regain  an equal share of the nation's most modern oil refinery.

In 2006 CNPC transferred its remaining 67% of shares to China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Company (CPECC), a 50/50 joint venture with its own listed subsidiary PetroChina, who currently manage and operate the company.

See also

 Shanghai Cooperation Organisation – of which Kazakhstan and China are both members

References

External links
PetroKazazhstan company site
China Ups the Ante in Its Bid for Oil

Defunct oil companies
Oil companies of Canada
Oil and gas companies of Kazakhstan
Companies based in Calgary
Energy companies established in 1981
Non-renewable resource companies established in 1981
Non-renewable resource companies disestablished in 2006
1981 establishments in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic
2000s disestablishments in Kazakhstan
Defunct companies of Alberta
Defunct energy companies of Kazakhstan
Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange
Canadian companies disestablished in 2006
Canadian companies established in 1981
Defunct energy companies of Canada

PetroKazakhstan


A terminology-oriented database or terminology-oriented database management system is a conceptual extension of an object-oriented database. It implements concepts defined in a terminology model. Compared with object-oriented databases, the terminology-oriented database requires some minor conceptual extensions on the schema level as supporting set relations (super-set, subset, intersection etc.), weak-typed collections or shared inheritance.

The data model of a terminology-oriented database is high-level; the terminology-oriented database provides facilities for transforming a terminology model provided by subject area experts completely into a database schema. The target schema might be the database schema for an object-oriented database as well as a relational database schema, or even an XML schema. Typically, terminology-oriented databases are not bound on a specific database type. Since the information content, which can be stored in object-oriented databases and in relational databases, is identical, data for a terminology-oriented database can be stored theoretically in any type of database as well as in an XML file. Thus, terminology-oriented databases may support several database systems for storing application data.
Terminology Databases, when these contain Terms and Vocabularies, these become valuable for Ontologies and in turn ontologies can help process associated triples or complex predicates thus going deeper than hierarchies or keys in RDBMS. Semantic mapping can also enhance performance.

References

Translation databases
Object-oriented database management systems

Terminology-oriented database


Herman Y. Carr (November 28, 1924 – April 9, 2008), who published as H. Y. Carr, was an American physicist and pioneer of magnetic resonance imaging.

Carr was born in Alliance, Ohio, where he was an Alliance High School graduate in January 1943; he later was inducted into their Hall of Fame. He served in the army as a sergeant in the 12th Weather Squadron Air Corps during World War II in Italy.

After the war he received a Harvard National Scholarship from Harvard University and graduated summa cum laude in 1948 and also earned his master's degree in 1949 and a Ph.D. in physics in 1953 from Harvard University. His doctorate thesis, published in 1952, described the first techniques for using gradients in magnetic fields and is the first example of magnetic resonance imaging.  He later moved to Rutgers University, where he was professor.  Carr became professor emeritus in 1987 and was actively involved in the area of MRI with studies up until his death.

In 2003 the Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to Paul C. Lauterbur and Peter Mansfield for their work on MRI.  There was some controversy when Carr was not awarded the prize jointly with Lauterbur and Mansfield. See Nobel Prize controversies.

Ten years before the Nobel announcement, Carr wrote to Physics Today noting that both his 1952 demonstration of use of magnetic gradients for spatial localization and his actual demonstration of 1-D "imaging" had been overlooked  by the radiologist Felix Wehrli in a 1992 article.  In a later letter to Physics Today,  Carr noted that the 1952 MRI demonstration had also been overlooked by Bertram Schwarzschild in a 2003 article which referred to Wehrli's 1992 article. Schwarzschild did mention the 1952 use of field gradients to correlate nuclear signals to spatial location and thus enable the measurements of both diffusion and flow, but the 1952 MRI measurement of structure was not mentioned.

As a professed pacifist he served on the National General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church where he was a representative to Russia during glasnost promoting Christianity, justice and world peace. He was recognized and honored in 1995 with the Francis Asbury Award for fostering United Methodist Ministries in Higher Education. He was a very active member of the United Methodist Church of New Brunswick where he served many capacities as a church layman. His special interest was focused on the church's Urban Outreach to area public housing and men's shelters, world peace and social justice.

Carr was known as a fine teacher and received a Guggenheim Fellowship where he participated in a cooperative research program at Cornell University, Oxford University in England and at the University of Amsterdam the Netherlands.

In addition to numerous scientific publications Carr co-authored the introductory textbook Physics From the Ground Up published in 1971. In 2001 an anonymous donation created two Herman Y. Carr Scholarships in Physics and Astronomy at Rutgers University. Carr became professor emeritus in 1987 and was actively involved in the area of MRI studies up until his death.

Carr, 83, died peacefully on April 9, 2008 at his home in Bridgewater Township, New Jersey. He was the husband of Hilda Hagen Kinney, who had died on August 29, 1986. Surviving are his children, Robert Carr and Amanda Carr-Sozer.

Notes

External links
 Carr Scholarship

1924 births
2008 deaths
20th-century American physicists
Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
People from Alliance, Ohio
People from Bridgewater Township, New Jersey
Rutgers University faculty
American United Methodists
Fellows of the American Physical Society
20th-century Methodists

Herman Carr


Cardiac arrest happens when the heart suddenly stops beating.  This can be caused by a heart attack in which the heart's demand for oxygen is not met and the heart muscle begins to die. With cardiac arrest, normal circulation of blood stops, because of a failure of the heart to contract. This results in the body not getting enough oxygenated blood, which  causes cells to start to die from oxygen starvation. Cerebral hypoxia (lack of oxygen to the brain) makes a person lose consciousness and stop breathing, and this makes the heart stop completely. Unless the person is in hypothermia, brain damage usually occurs after three to five minutes. (In some cases, the person is put into hypothermia on purpose, to help the person recover better with less damage.)

Cardiac arrest is a medical emergency. If it is treated early enough, some damage done can be reversed in certain groups of patients. When cardiac arrest leads to a person's death, this is called sudden cardiac death (SCD). First aid treatment for cardiac arrest usually begins with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to keep oxygenated blood flowing until medical treatment is available.

Heart
Medical emergencies

Cardiac arrest


Jan Frans van Bloemen (baptized 12 May 1662 - buried 13 June 1749) was a Flemish landscape painter mainly active in Rome.  Here he was able to establish himself as the leading painter of views (vedute) of the Roman countryside depicted in the aesthetic of the classical landscape tradition.

Life
Born in Antwerp, Jan Frans van Bloemen was a younger brother of Pieter van Bloemen. He likely trained with his brother.   Between 1681 and 1684, he was in his native Antwerp a pupil of Anton Goubau, a painter of market scenes and bamboccianti (low-life) subjects situated in Roman or Mediterranean settings.

He travelled to Paris around 1682 and resided there for a few years. He then moved to Lyon where his brother Pieter van Bloemen was staying. He probably met the painter Adriaen van der Kabel around this time. Via Turin, Jan Frans and Pieter van Bloemen travelled on to Rome where in 1688 they were registered in the parish of Sant'Andrea delle Fratte. In 1690 a third painting brother, Norbert van Bloemen (1670-1746), joined them as well. Whereas Pieter returned to Antwerp in 1694 and Norbert left for Amsterdam before 1724, Jan Frans remained in Rome for the rest of his life, except for a few trips to Naples, Sicily and Malta, which he undertook with his brother Pieter. The Dutch-born painter Caspar van Wittel, who lived in Rome since 1675, became the godfather of his first child.

Van Bloemen was successful in Rome and received commissions for the painting of large vedute from prominent patrons such as the Queen of Spain Elizabeth Farnese, the Roman nobility and the Pope.

He joined the Bentvueghels, the association of Dutch and Flemish artists in Rome, where he took the nickname Orizzonte or Horizonti.  This nickname referred to the distance he painted in his landscapes.  While van Bloemen was a much locally patronized painter, he was unable to gain acceptance into the pre-eminent Roman painter's guild, the Accademia di San Luca, until he was over 70 years old. Some of the resistance may have arisen from the Roman establishment's disdain for landscape painting as a demonstration of skill.

Among his pupils were Franz Ignaz Oefele, Gabrielle Ricciardelli, and Nicolò Bonito. He died in Rome in 1749.

Work

Van Bloemen predominantly painted classical landscapes, taking his inspiration from the Roman Campagna. His landscapes, with their recession through a series of planes, soft, warm lightning and classical and religious subject matter, drew on the examples of artists such as Claude Lorrain and Gaspard Dughet. Van Bloemen's paintings are exquisitely imbued with that "difficult-to-define pastoral ambience" which helped to make him such a great painter in the eyes of his contemporaries. His vedute fall into the category that combine reality with imaginary elements.

His landscapes have an Arcadian lushness, with mountains, streams, distant hamlets, and small inhabitants painted with imprecise pittura di tocco ('painting of touch') using small dotting and spirited brush-strokes. Unlike van Wittel, van Bloemen did not generally depict views of areas distant from Rome such as the Tiber valley or the Alban hills.  His subjects were limited to views in the immediate vicinity of Rome, an outline of which was typically visible in his compositions. Van Bloemen was in particular known for his 'estate views' representing the estates of the nobility in the Roman Campagna.  His views aim to associate the modern estate view with the classical arcadian landscape.  Rather than offering the wide panoramic views, distant horizon and atmospheric effects associated with topographical landscapes, van Bloemen's estate views emphasize minute observation of reality and a limited viewpoint.  The estates are thus made to appear as immutable features of the local landscape.

He worked together with other painters who painted the figures in his landscapes such as Carlo Maratti, Placido Costanzi and Pompeo Batoni. However, he only relied on such collaboration with figure painters in the last decades of his life when he produced his most ambitious classicising compositions. Even then he only relied on these figure specialists for the most prominent figures in the foreground while he took care of the minor characters.  In fact, van Bloemen was an accomplished staffage painter and he was very skilled at quickly learning to imitate the style of his collaborators.  As a result, many of the figures in his paintings that are attributed to prestigious contemporaries were actually by his own hand.  He collaborated most frequently with Placido Costanzi.  He regarded the pair of paintings representing The Flight to Egypt and The Rest on the Flight to Egypt as his best collaboration with Placido Costanzi who painted the figures.

His landscape drawings, which often depict imaginary ruins, have been confused with those of his brother Pieter, who is better known for his drawings of figures and animals.  Jan Frans van Bloemen also made pen drawings of buildings in and around Rome.

Gallery

Notes

References

External links

1662 births
1749 deaths
Painters from Antwerp
Flemish landscape painters
Flemish Baroque painters
Italian vedutisti
Painters from Rome
Members of the Bentvueghels

Jan Frans van Bloemen