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Grazia Deledda

Grazia Maria Cosima Damiana Deledda (Sardinian: Gràssia or Gràtzia Deledda ; 27 September 1871 – 15 August 1936) was an Italian writer who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1926 "for her idealistically inspired writings which with plastic clarity picture the life on her native island [i.e. Sardinia] and with depth and sympathy deal with human problems in general". She was the first Italian woman to receive the prize, and only the second woman in general after Selma Lagerlöf was awarded hers in 1909.

Biography
Deledda was born in Nuoro, Sardinia, into a middle-class family, to Giovanni Antonio Deledda and Francesca Cambosu, as the fourth of seven siblings. She attended elementary school (the minimum required at the time) and was then educated by a private tutor (a guest of one of her relatives) and moved on to study literature on her own. It was during this time that she started displaying an interest in writing short novels, mostly inspired by the life of Sardinian peasants and their struggles. Her teacher encouraged her to submit her writing to a newspaper and, at age 13, her first story was published in a local journal. Some of Deledda's early works were published in the fashion magazine L'ultima moda between 1888 and 1889. In 1890 Trevisani published Nell'azzurro (Into the Blue), her first collection of short stories. Deledda's main focus was the representation of poverty and the struggles associated with it through a combination of imaginary and autobiographical elements. Her family wasn't particularly supportive of her desire to write.

Deledda's first novel, Fiori di Sardegna (Flowers of Sardinia) was published in 1892. Her 1896 book Paesaggi sardi, published by Speirani, is characterized by a prose both informed by fiction and poetry. Around this time Deledda initiated a regular collaboration with newspapers and magazines, most notably La Sardegna, Piccola Rivista and Nuova Antologia. Her work earned significant visibility as well as critical interest. In October 1899, Deledda met Palmiro Madesani, a functionary of the Ministry of Finance, in Cagliari. Madesani and Deledda were married in 1900 and the couple moved to Rome right after the publication of Deledda's Il vecchio della montagna (The Old Man from the Mountain, 1900). Despite the birth of her two sons, Sardus (1901) and Francesco "Franz" (1904), Deledda managed to continue to write prolifically, publishing about a novel a year. In 1903 she published Elias Portolu, which was met with commercial and critical success, boosting her reputation as a writer. This was followed by Cenere (Ashes, 1904); L'edera (The Ivy, 1908); Sino al confine (To the Border, 1910); Colombi e sparvieri (Doves and Sparrows, 1912); and her most popular book, Canne al vento (Reeds in the Wind, 1913).

In 1916 Cenere was the inspiration for a silent movie with famed Italian actress Eleonora Duse. It was the first and only time that Duse, a theatre performer, appeared in a film. Deledda was one of the contributors of the nationalist women's magazine, Lidel, which was established in 1919.

In 1926 Henrik Schück, a member of the Swedish Academy, nominated Deledda for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Deledda won "for her idealistically inspired writings which with plastic clarity picture the life on her native island and with depth and sympathy deal with human problems in general." She was awarded the Prize in a ceremony in Stockholm in 1926. Her initial response to the news was "Già?" ("Already?")

Deledda's win contributed to an increase in popularity of her writing. Benito Mussolini, who had just consolidated his grip on power, sent Deledda a signed portrait of himself with a dedication where he expressed his "profound admiration" for the writer. Flocks of journalists and photographers started visiting her home in Rome. Deledda initially welcomed them but eventually grew tired of the attention. One day she noticed that her beloved pet crow, Checca, was visibly irritated by the commotion, with people constantly coming in and out of the house. "If Checca has had enough, so have I," Deledda was quoted as saying, and she returned to a more retired routine. The events also put a strain on Deledda's extremely methodical writings schedule. Her day would start with a late breakfast, followed by a morning of hard reading, lunch, a quick nap and a few hours of writing before dinner.

Deledda continued to write even as she grew older and more fragile. Her subsequent works, La Casa del Poeta (The House of the Poet, 1930) and Sole d'Estate (Summer Sun, 1933), indicate a more optimistic view of life even as she was experiencing serious health issues.

Deledda died in Rome at the age of 64 of breast cancer. La chiesa della solitudine (The Church of Solitude, 1936), Deledda's last novel, is a semi-autobiographical depiction of a young Italian woman coming to terms with a fatal disease. A completed manuscript of the novel Cosima was discovered after her death and published posthumously in 1937.

Accolades
Deledda's work has been highly regarded by writers of Italian literature, including Luigi Capuana, Giovanni Verga, Enrico Thovez, Pietro Pancrazi, Renato Serra. Sardinian writers including Sergio Atzeni, Giulio Angioni and Salvatore Mannuzzu, were greatly influenced by her work, prompting them to found what has later become known as the Sardinian Literary Spring. In 1947 artist Amelia Camboni was commissioned a portrait of Deledda, currently standing close to her home in Rome in the Pincio neighbourhood.

Deledda's birthplace and childhood home in Nuoro was declared a national heritage building and purchased in 1968 by the Municipality of Nuoro, which in 1979 handed it over to the Regional Ethnographic Institute (ISRE) for the symbolic price of 1,000 Italian Lire. The Institute transformed the house into a museum commemorating the writer, and it's now called the Museo Deleddiano. The museum consists of ten rooms showcasing the most important episodes in Deledda's life.

A coal power plant opened in Portoscuso in 1965. , this powerplant called Grazia Deledda has a capacity of 590 MW.

On 10 December 2017 Google celebrated her with a Google Doodle.
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Work
The life, customs, and traditions of the Sardinian people are prominent in Deledda's writing. She often relies on detailed geographical descriptions and her characters often present a strong connection with their place of origins. Many of her characters are outcasts who silently struggle with isolation. Overall Deledda's work focuses on love, pain and death, upon which rests feelings of sin and fatality. Her novels tend to criticize social values and moral norms rather than the people who are victims of such circumstances. In her works it can be recognized the influence of the verism of Giovanni Verga and, sometimes, also that of the decadentism of Gabriele D'Annunzio, although her writing style is not so ornate. Despite her groundbreaking role in Italian and World literature, Deledda has failed to be acknowledged as a feminist writer, possibly due to her tendency of depicting women's pain and suffering as opposed to women's autonomy.

Complete list of works
Below is a complete list of Deledda's works:

 * Stella d'Oriente (1890)
 * Nell'azzuro (1890)
 * Fior di Sardegna (1891)
 * Racconti sardi (1894)
 * Tradizioni popolari di Nuoro in Sardegna (1894)
 * La via del male (1896)
 * Anime oneste (1895)
 * Paesaggi sardi (1897)
 * La tentazioni (1899)
 * Il tesoro (1897)
 * L'ospite (1897)
 * La giustizia (1899)
 * Nostra Signora del buon consiglio: leggenda sarda (1899)
 * Le disgrazie che può causare il denaro (1899)
 * Il Vecchio della montagna (1900)
 * Dopo il divorzio (1902; English translation: After the Divorce, 1905)
 * La regina delle tenebre (1902)
 * Elias Portolu (1900)
 * Cenere (1904; English translation: Ashes, 1908)
 * Odio Vince (1904)
 * Nostalgie (1905)
 * L'ombra del passato (1907)
 * Amori moderni (1907)
 * L'edera (1908), English translation as Ivy by Mary Ann Frese Witt and Martha Witt (2019)
 * Il nonno (1908), English translation of the short story "Il ciclamino" as "The Cyclamen" by Maria Di Salvatore and Pan Skordos, in "Journal of Italian Translation", Volume XIV, Number 1, Spring 2019
 * Il nostro padrone (1910)
 * Sino al confine (1910)
 * I giuochi della vita (1911)
 * Nel deserto (1911)
 * L'edera: dramma in tre atti (1912)
 * Colombi e sparvieri (1912)
 * Chiaroscuro (1912)
 * Canne al vento (1913), Reeds in the Wind (1999 English translation by Martha King)
 * Le colpe altrui (1914)
 * Marianna Sirca (1915)
 * Il fanciullo nascosto (1915)
 * L'incendio nell'oliveto (1918)
 * Il ritorno del figlio (1919)
 * Naufraghi in porto (1920)
 * La madre (1920; English translation: The Woman and the Priest, 1922; English translation: The Mother, by Mary G. Steegman, 1923)
 * Il segreto dell'uomo solitario (1921)
 * Cattive compagnie: novelle (1921)
 * La grazia (1921)
 * Il Dio dei viventi (1922)
 * Silvio Pellico (1923)
 * Il flauto nel bosco (1923)
 * La danza della collana; A sinistra (1924)
 * La fuga in Egitto (1925)
 * Il sigillo d'amore (1926)
 * Annalena Bilsini (1927)
 * Il vecchio e i fanciulli (1928)
 * Il dono di natale (1930)
 * La casa del poeta (1930)
 * Eugenia Grandet, Onorato di Balzac (1930)
 * Il libro della terza classe elementare: letture, religione, storia, geografia, aritmetica (1931)
 * Giaffa: racconti per ragazzi (1931)
 * Il paese del vento (1931)
 * Sole d'estate (1933)
 * L'argine (1934)
 * La chiesa della solitudine (1936); English translation by E. Ann Matter, The Church of Solitude (University of New York Press, 2002)
 * Cosima (1937) published posthumously, English translation by Martha King (1988)
 * Il cedro del Libano (1939) published posthumously
 * Grazia Deledda: premio Nobel per la letteratura 1926 (1966)
 * Opere scelte (1968)
 * Letter inedite di Grazia Deledda ad Arturo Giordano direttore della rivista letteraria (Alchero: Nemaprress, 2004)

Voice recording
The voice of Grazia Deledda speaking (in Italian) at the Nobel Prize Ceremony in 1926.

title: Grazia Deledda


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Glenn T. Seaborg

Glenn Theodore Seaborg (April 19, 1912 – February 25, 1999) was an American chemist whose involvement in the synthesis, discovery and investigation of ten transuranium elements earned him a share of the 1951 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. His work in this area also led to his development of the actinide concept and the arrangement of the actinide series in the periodic table of the elements.

Seaborg spent most of his career as an educator and research scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, serving as a professor, and, between 1958 and 1961, as the university's second chancellor. He advised ten US presidents—from Harry S. Truman to Bill Clinton—on nuclear policy and was Chairman of the United States Atomic Energy Commission from 1961 to 1971, where he pushed for commercial nuclear energy and the peaceful applications of nuclear science. Throughout his career, Seaborg worked for arms control. He was a signatory to the Franck Report and contributed to the Limited Test Ban Treaty, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. He was a well-known advocate of science education and federal funding for pure research. Toward the end of the Eisenhower administration, he was the principal author of the Seaborg Report on academic science, and, as a member of President Ronald Reagan's National Commission on Excellence in Education, he was a key contributor to its 1983 report "A Nation at Risk".

Seaborg was the principal or co-discoverer of ten elements: plutonium, americium, curium, berkelium, californium, einsteinium, fermium, mendelevium, nobelium and element 106, which, while he was still living, was named seaborgium in his honor. He said about this naming, "This is the greatest honor ever bestowed upon me--even better, I think, than winning the Nobel Prize. Future students of chemistry, in learning about the periodic table, may have reason to ask why the element was named for me, and thereby learn more about my work." He also discovered more than 100 isotopes of transuranium elements and is credited with important contributions to the chemistry of plutonium, originally as part of the Manhattan Project where he developed the extraction process used to isolate the plutonium fuel for the implosion-type atomic bomb. Early in his career, he was a pioneer in nuclear medicine and discovered isotopes of elements with important applications in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases, including iodine-131, which is used in the treatment of thyroid disease. In addition to his theoretical work in the development of the actinide concept, which placed the actinide series beneath the lanthanide series on the periodic table, he postulated the existence of super-heavy elements in the transactinide and superactinide series.

After sharing the 1951 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Edwin McMillan, he received approximately 50 honorary doctorates and numerous other awards and honors. The list of things named after Seaborg ranges from the chemical element seaborgium to the asteroid 4856 Seaborg. He was a prolific author, penning numerous books and 500 journal articles, often in collaboration with others. He was once listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the person with the longest entry in Who's Who in America.

Early life
Glenn Theodore Seaborg was born in Ishpeming, Michigan, on April 19, 1912, the son of Herman Theodore (Ted) and Selma Olivia Erickson Seaborg. He had one sister, Jeanette, who was two years younger. His family spoke Swedish at home. When Glenn Seaborg was a boy, the family moved to Los Angeles County, California, settling in a subdivision called Home Gardens, later annexed to the City of South Gate, California. About this time he changed the spelling of his first name from Glen to Glenn.

Seaborg kept a daily journal from 1927 until he suffered a stroke in 1998. As a youth, Seaborg was both a devoted sports fan and an avid movie buff. His mother encouraged him to become a bookkeeper as she felt his literary interests were impractical. He did not take an interest in science until his junior year when he was inspired by Dwight Logan Reid, a chemistry and physics teacher at David Starr Jordan High School in Watts.

Seaborg graduated from Jordan in 1929 at the top of his class and received a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in chemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1933. He worked his way through school as a stevedore and a laboratory assistant at Firestone. Seaborg received his PhD in chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1937 with a doctoral thesis on the "Interaction of Fast Neutrons with Lead", in which he coined the term "nuclear spallation".

Seaborg was a member of the professional chemistry fraternity Alpha Chi Sigma. As a graduate student in the 1930s Seaborg performed wet chemistry research for his advisor Gilbert Newton Lewis, and published three papers with him on the theory of acids and bases. Seaborg studied the text Applied Radiochemistry by Otto Hahn, of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry in Berlin, and it had a major impact on his developing interests as a research scientist. For several years, Seaborg conducted important research in artificial radioactivity using the Lawrence cyclotron at UC Berkeley. He was excited to learn from others that nuclear fission was possible—but also chagrined, as his own research might have led him to the same discovery.

Seaborg also became an adept interlocutor of Berkeley physicist Robert Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer had a daunting reputation and often answered a junior colleague's question before it had even been stated. Often the question answered was more profound than the one asked, but of little practical help. Seaborg learned to state his questions to Oppenheimer quickly and succinctly.

Pioneering work in nuclear chemistry
Seaborg remained at the University of California, Berkeley, for post-doctoral research. He followed Frederick Soddy's work investigating isotopes and contributed to the discovery of more than 100 isotopes of elements. Using one of Lawrence's advanced cyclotrons, John Livingood, Fred Fairbrother, and Seaborg created a new isotope of iron, iron-59 in 1937. Iron-59 was useful in the studies of the hemoglobin in human blood. In 1938, Livingood and Seaborg collaborated (as they did for five years) to create an important isotope of iodine, iodine-131, which is still used to treat thyroid disease. (Many years later, it was credited with prolonging the life of Seaborg's mother.) As a result of these and other contributions, Seaborg is regarded as a pioneer in nuclear medicine and is one of its most prolific discoverers of isotopes.

In 1939 he became an instructor in chemistry at Berkeley, was promoted to assistant professor in 1941 and professor in 1945. University of California, Berkeley, physicist Edwin McMillan led a team that discovered element 93, which he named neptunium in 1940. In November, he was persuaded to leave Berkeley temporarily to assist with urgent research in radar technology. Since Seaborg and his colleagues had perfected McMillan's oxidation-reduction technique for isolating neptunium, he asked McMillan for permission to continue the research and search for element 94. McMillan agreed to the collaboration. Seaborg first reported alpha decay proportionate to only a fraction of the element 93 under observation. The first hypothesis for this alpha particle accumulation was contamination by uranium, which produces alpha-decay particles; analysis of alpha-decay particles ruled this out. Seaborg then postulated that a distinct alpha-producing element was being formed from element 93.

In February 1941, Seaborg and his collaborators produced plutonium-239 through the bombardment of uranium. In their experiments bombarding uranium with deuterons, they observed the creation of neptunium, element 93. But it then underwent beta-decay, forming a new element, plutonium, with 94 protons. Plutonium is fairly stable, but undergoes alpha-decay, which explained the presence of alpha particles coming from neptunium. Thus, on March 28, 1941, Seaborg, physicist Emilio Segrè and Berkeley chemist Joseph W. Kennedy were able to show that plutonium (then known only as element 94) was fissile, an important distinction that was crucial to the decisions made in directing Manhattan Project research. In 1966, Room 307 of Gilman Hall on the campus at the Berkeley, where Seaborg did his work, was declared a US National Historic Landmark.

In addition to plutonium, he is credited as a lead discoverer of americium, curium, and berkelium, and as a co-discoverer of californium, einsteinium, fermium, mendelevium, nobelium and seaborgium, the first element named after a living person. He shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1951 with Edwin McMillan for "their discoveries in the chemistry of the first transuranium elements."

Scientific contributions during the Manhattan Project
On April 19, 1942, Seaborg reached Chicago and joined the chemistry group at the Metallurgical Laboratory of the Manhattan Project at the University of Chicago, where Enrico Fermi and his group would later convert uranium-238 to plutonium-239 in a controlled nuclear chain reaction. Seaborg's role was to figure out how to extract the tiny bit of plutonium from the mass of uranium. Plutonium-239 was isolated in visible amounts using a transmutation reaction on August 20, 1942, and weighed on September 10, 1942, in Seaborg's Chicago laboratory. He was responsible for the multi-stage chemical process that separated, concentrated and isolated plutonium. This process was further developed at the Clinton Engineering Works in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and then entered full-scale production at the Hanford Engineer Works, in Richland, Washington.

Seaborg's theoretical development of the actinide concept resulted in a redrawing of the periodic table into its current configuration with the actinide series appearing below the lanthanide series. Seaborg developed the chemical elements americium and curium while in Chicago. He managed to secure patents for both elements. His patent on curium never proved commercially viable because of the element's short half-life, but americium is commonly used in household smoke detectors and thus provided a good source of royalty income to Seaborg in later years. Prior to the test of the first nuclear weapon, Seaborg joined with several other leading scientists in a written statement known as the Franck Report (secret at the time but since published) unsuccessfully calling on President Truman to conduct a public demonstration of the atomic bomb witnessed by the Japanese.

Professor and Chancellor at the University of California, Berkeley
After the conclusion of World War II and the Manhattan Project, Seaborg was eager to return to academic life and university research free from the restrictions of wartime secrecy. In 1946, he added to his responsibilities as a professor by heading the nuclear chemistry research at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory operated by the University of California on behalf of the United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). Seaborg was named one of the "Ten Outstanding Young Men in America" by the US Junior Chamber of Commerce in 1947 (along with Richard Nixon and others). Seaborg was elected a Member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1948. From 1954 to 1961 he served as associate director of the radiation laboratory. He was appointed by President Truman to serve as a member of the General Advisory Committee of the AEC, an assignment he retained until 1960.

Seaborg served as chancellor at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1958 to 1961. His term coincided with a relaxation of McCarthy-era restrictions on students' freedom of expression that had begun under his predecessor, Clark Kerr. In October 1958, Seaborg announced that the university had relaxed its prior prohibitions on political activity on a trial basis, and the ban on communists speaking on campus was lifted. This paved the way for the Free Speech Movement of 1964–65.

Seaborg was an enthusiastic supporter of Cal's sports teams. San Francisco columnist Herb Caen was fond of pointing out that Seaborg's surname is an anagram of "Go Bears", a popular cheer at UC Berkeley. Seaborg was proud of the fact that the Cal Bears won their first and only National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball championship in 1959, while he was chancellor. The football team also won the conference title and played in the Rose Bowl that year. He served on the Faculty Athletic Committee for several years and was the co-author of a book, Roses from the Ashes: Breakup and Rebirth in Pacific Coast Intercollegiate Athletics (2000), concerning the Pacific Coast Conference recruiting scandal, and the founding of what is now the Pac-12, in which he played a role in restoring confidence in the integrity of collegiate sports.

Seaborg served on the President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC) during the Eisenhower administration. PSAC produced a report on "Scientific Progress, the Universities, and the Federal Government", also known as the "Seaborg Report", in November 1960, that urged greater federal funding of science. In 1959, he helped found the Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory with Clark Kerr.

Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission
After appointment by President John F. Kennedy and confirmation by the United States Senate, Seaborg was chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) from 1961 to 1971. His pending appointment by President-elect Kennedy was nearly derailed in late 1960 when members of the Kennedy transition team learned that Seaborg had been listed in a U.S. News & World Report article as a member of "Nixon's Idea Men". Seaborg said that as a lifetime Democrat he was baffled when the article appeared associating him with outgoing Vice President Richard Nixon, a Republican whom Seaborg considered a casual acquaintance.

During the early 1960s, Seaborg became concerned with the ecological and biological effects of nuclear weapons, especially those that would impact human life significantly. In response, he commissioned the Technical Analysis Branch of the AEC to study these matters further. Seaborg's provision for these innovative studies led the US Government to more seriously pursue the development and possible use of "clean" nuclear weapons.

While chairman of the AEC, Seaborg participated on the negotiating team for the Limited Test Ban Treaty (LTBT), in which the US, UK, and USSR agreed to ban all above-ground test detonations of nuclear weapons. Seaborg considered his contributions to the achievement of the LTBT as one of his greatest accomplishments. Despite strict rules from the Soviets about photography at the signing ceremony, Seaborg used a tiny camera to take a close-up photograph of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev as he signed the treaty.

Seaborg enjoyed a close relationship with President Lyndon Johnson and influenced the administration to pursue the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Seaborg was called to the White House in the first week of the Nixon Administration in January 1969 to advise President Richard Nixon on his first diplomatic crisis involving the Soviets and nuclear testing. He clashed with Nixon presidential adviser John Ehrlichman over the treatment of a Jewish scientist, Zalman Shapiro, whom the Nixon administration suspected of leaking nuclear secrets to Israel.

Seaborg published several books and journal articles during his tenure at the AEC. He predicted the existence of elements beyond those on the periodic table, the transactinide series and the superactinide series of undiscovered synthetic elements. While most of these theoretical future elements have extremely short half-lives and thus no expected practical applications, he also hypothesized the existence of stable super-heavy isotopes of certain elements in an island of stability. Seaborg served as chairman of the AEC until 1971.

Return to California
Following his service as Chairman of the AEC, Seaborg returned to UC Berkeley where he was awarded the position of University Professor. At the time, there had been fewer University Professors at UC Berkeley than Nobel Prize winners. He also served as Chairman of the Lawrence Hall of Science where he became the principal investigator for Great Explorations in Math and Science (GEMS) working with director Jacqueline Barber. Seaborg served as chancellor at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1958 to 1961, and served as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1972 and as president of the American Chemical Society in 1976.

In 1980, he transmuted several thousand atoms of bismuth-209 into gold at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. His experimental technique, using the lab's Bevalac particle accelerator, was able to remove protons and neutrons from the bismuth atoms by bombarding it with carbon and neon nuclei traveling near the speed of light. Seaborg's technique would have been far too expensive to enable routine manufacturing of gold, but his work was close to the mythical Philosopher's Stone. As gold has four fewer protons and (taking the only naturally occurring bulk isotopes of either) eight fewer neutrons than bismuth, a total of twelve nucleons have to be removed from the bismuth nucleus to produce gold using Seaborg's method.

In 1981, Seaborg became a founding member of the World Cultural Council.

In 1983, President Ronald Reagan appointed Seaborg to serve on the National Commission on Excellence in Education. The commission produced a report "A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform", which focused national attention on education as a national issue germane to the federal government. In 2008, Margaret Spellings wrote that

"A Nation at Risk delivered a wake up call for our education system. It described stark realities like a significant number of functionally illiterate high schoolers, plummeting student performance, and international competitors breathing down our necks. It was a warning, a reproach, and a call to arms."

Seaborg lived most of his later life in Lafayette, California, where he devoted himself to editing and publishing the journals that documented both his early life and later career. He rallied a group of scientists who criticized the science curriculum in the state of California, which he viewed as far too socially oriented and not nearly focused enough on hard science. California Governor Pete Wilson appointed Seaborg to head a committee that proposed changes to California's science curriculum despite outcries from labor organizations and others.

Personal life
In 1942, Seaborg married Helen Griggs, the secretary of physicist Ernest Lawrence. Under wartime pressure, Seaborg had moved to Chicago while engaged to Griggs. When Seaborg returned to accompany Griggs for the journey back to Chicago, friends expected them to marry in Chicago. But, eager to be married, Seaborg and Griggs impulsively got off the train in the town of Caliente, Nevada, for what they thought would be a quick wedding. When they asked for City Hall, they found Caliente had none—they would have to travel 25 mi north to Pioche, the county seat. With no car, this was no easy feat, but one of Caliente's newest deputy sheriffs turned out to be a recent graduate of the Cal Berkeley chemistry department and was more than happy to do a favor for Seaborg. The deputy sheriff arranged for the wedding couple to ride up and back to Pioche in a mail truck. The witnesses at the Seaborg wedding were a clerk and a janitor. Glenn Seaborg and Helen Griggs Seaborg had seven children, of whom the first, Peter Glenn Seaborg, died in 1997 (his twin Paulette having died in infancy). The others were Lynne Seaborg Cobb, David Seaborg, Steve Seaborg, Eric Seaborg, and Dianne Seaborg.

Seaborg was an avid hiker. Upon becoming Chairman of the AEC in 1961, he commenced taking daily hikes through a trail that he blazed at the headquarters site in Germantown, Maryland. He frequently invited colleagues and visitors to accompany him, and the trail became known as the "Glenn Seaborg Trail." He and his wife Helen are credited with blazing a 12 mi trail in the East Bay area near their home in Lafayette, California. This trail has since become a part of the American Hiking Association's cross-country network of trails. Seaborg and his wife walked the trail network from Contra Costa County all the way to the California–Nevada border.

Seaborg was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1972 and a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) of London in 1985. He was honored as Swedish-American of the Year in 1962 by the Vasa Order of America. In 1991, the organization named "Local Lodge Glenn T. Seaborg No. 719" in his honor during the Seaborg Honors ceremony at which he appeared. This lodge maintains a scholarship fund in his name, as does the unrelated Swedish-American Club of Los Angeles.

Seaborg kept a close bond to his Swedish origin. He visited Sweden every so often, and his family were members of the Swedish Pemer Genealogical Society, a family association open for every descendant of the Pemer family, a Swedish family with German origin, from which Seaborg was descended on his mother's side. (In recent years, after both men's passings, it has been discovered that physicist colleague Edward J. Lofgren was also descended from the Pemer family.) Seaborg even responded to the Swedish king's Nobel prize toast in his mother's native region's dialect, which he described as "It was as if a Swede had ''y' alled" in English with a Southern Accent."".

Death
On August 24, 1998, while in Boston to attend a meeting by the American Chemical Society, Seaborg suffered a stroke, which led to his death six months later on February 25, 1999, at his home in Lafayette.

Honors and awards
During his lifetime, Seaborg is said to have been the author or co-author of numerous books and 500 scientific journal articles, many of them brief reports on fast-breaking discoveries in nuclear science while other subjects, most notably the actinide concept, represented major theoretical contributions in the history of science. He held more than 40 patents—among them the only patents ever issued for chemical elements, americium and curium, and received more than 50 doctorates and honorary degrees in his lifetime. At one time, he was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as having the longest entry in Marquis Who's Who in America. In February 2005, he was posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. In April 2011 the executive council of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) selected Seaborg for inclusion in CSI's Pantheon of Skeptics. The Pantheon of Skeptics was created by CSI to remember the legacy of deceased fellows of CSI and their contributions to the cause of scientific skepticism. His papers are in the Library of Congress.

Seaborg was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1948, the American Philosophical Society in 1952, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1958. The American Chemical Society-Chicago Section honored him with the Willard Gibbs Award in 1966. The American Academy of Achievement presented Seaborg with the Golden Plate Award in 1972. The element seaborgium was named after Seaborg by Albert Ghiorso, E. Kenneth Hulet, and others, who also credited Seaborg as a co-discoverer. It was named while Seaborg was still alive, which proved controversial. He influenced the naming of so many elements that with the announcement of seaborgium, it was noted in Discover magazine's review of the year in science that he could receive a letter addressed in chemical elements: seaborgium, lawrencium (for the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory where he worked), berkelium, californium, americium. Seaborgium is the first element ever to have been officially named after a living person. The second element to be so named is oganesson, in 2016, after Yuri Oganessian.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Glenn T. Seaborg


text:
Province of Grosseto

The province of Grosseto (provincia di Grosseto) is a province in the Tuscany region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Grosseto. As of 2013 the province had a total population of 225,098 people.

Geography
The Province of Grosseto completely occupies the southern end of Tuscany, and with a territorial area of 4504 km2, it is the most extensive in the region and one of the least dense in population in Italy. The province is bordered to the northwest by the Province of Livorno, to the north by the Province of Pisa, to the northeast by the Province of Siena, and to the southeast by the Province of Viterbo in Lazio. To the south is the Tyrrhenian Sea, which includes the southern islands of the Tuscan archipelago, including Isola del Giglio and the smaller Giannutri islands and Formiche di Grosseto and Formica di Burano. The Arcipelago Toscano National Park spans both the provinces of Grosseto and Livorno, and includes the seven main islands of the Tuscan Archipelago: Elba, Isola del Giglio, Capraia, Montecristo, Pianosa, Giannutri, Gorgona, and some of the minor islands and rock outcrops. The highest point in the park is Mount Capanne, at 1019 m in elevation, on the island of Elba.

The Colline Metallifere (Metalliferous Hills) line the border in the south with Lazio, and contain the Natural Park of Maremma, that protects also some of the remainings of the large swamps that once covered the area. Other protected areas are the Diaccia Botrona marshland. The principal rivers are the Ombrone, Fiora, Albegna, Pecora, Bruna, Merse, Lente (river), Farma and Chiarone. The coastline between the Gulf of Follonica and the mouth of the Chiarone is dominated by blue waters and pine forests, and is home to resorts such as Marina di Grosseto, Principina a Mare, Castiglione della Pescaia, Punta Ala, Puntone di Scarlino and Talamone. Lakes include Lago dell'Accesa, Lago di Burano, Lago di San Floriano and Lago Acquato. Also of note is the volcanic cone of Mount Amiata, Bandite di Scarlino (213 m), Promontorio di Punta Ala e delle Rocchette (350 m), Monti dell'Uccellina (417 m), Monte Argentario (635 m), and Promontorio di Ansedonia (113 m).

Comuni
There are 28 comuni (singular: comune) in the province. As of June 2014, the main comuni by population are:

This is the complete list of comuni in the province of Grosseto:

 * Arcidosso
 * Campagnatico
 * Capalbio
 * Castel del Piano
 * Castell'Azzara
 * Castiglione della Pescaia
 * Cinigiano
 * Civitella Paganico
 * Follonica
 * Gavorrano
 * Grosseto
 * Isola del Giglio
 * Magliano in Toscana
 * Manciano
 * Massa Marittima
 * Monte Argentario
 * Monterotondo Marittimo
 * Montieri
 * Orbetello
 * Pitigliano
 * Roccalbegna
 * Roccastrada
 * Santa Fiora
 * Scansano
 * Scarlino
 * Seggiano
 * Semproniano
 * Sorano

Frazioni
This is the complete list of the frazioni (singular: frazione) – towns and villages – in the province of Grosseto:

 * Alberese
 * Albinia
 * Ansedonia
 * Arcille
 * Baccinello
 * Bagno di Gavorrano
 * Bagnoli
 * Bagnolo
 * Bagnore
 * Batignano
 * Boccheggiano
 * Borgo Carige
 * Borgo Santa Rita
 * Braccagni
 * Buriano
 * Caldana
 * Cana
 * Capalbio Scalo
 * Casale di Pari
 * Casone
 * Castellaccia
 * Castell'Ottieri
 * Castiglioncello Bandini
 * Catabbio
 * Cellena
 * Cerreto
 * Chiarone Scalo
 * Civitella Marittima
 * Dogana
 * Elmo
 * Filare
 * Fonteblanda
 * Frassine
 * Gerfalco
 * Ghirlanda
 * Giannella
 * Giannutri
 * Giardino
 * Giglio Campese
 * Giglio Castello
 * Giglio Porto
 * Giuncarico
 * Grilli
 * Istia d'Ombrone
 * La Torba
 * Lago Boracifero
 * Le Macchie
 * Marina di Grosseto
 * Marroneto
 * Marrucheti
 * Marsiliana
 * Monte Antico
 * Montebamboli
 * Montebuono
 * Montegiovi
 * Montelaterone
 * Montemassi
 * Montemerano
 * Montenero d'Orcia
 * Montepescali
 * Montevitozzo
 * Montiano
 * Monticello Amiata
 * Montorgiali
 * Montorio
 * Montorsaio
 * Murci
 * Niccioleta
 * Nomadelfia
 * Paganico
 * Pancole
 * Pari
 * Pereta
 * Pescia Fiorentina
 * Pescina
 * Petricci
 * Pian d'Alma
 * Pian di Rocca
 * Piloni
 * Poderi di Montemerano
 * Poggi del Sasso
 * Poggio Capanne
 * Poggio Murella
 * Poggioferro
 * Polveraia
 * Pomonte
 * Porrona
 * Porto Ercole
 * Porto Santo Stefano
 * Potassa
 * Prata
 * Preselle
 * Principina a Mare
 * Principina Terra
 * Punta Ala
 * Puntone di Scarlino
 * Ravi
 * Ribolla
 * Rispescia
 * Roccamare
 * Roccatederighi
 * Rocchette
 * Rocchette di Fazio
 * Roselle
 * Salaiola
 * San Donato
 * San Giovanni delle Contee
 * San Lorenzo
 * San Martino sul Fiora
 * San Quirico
 * San Valentino
 * Santa Caterina
 * Sasso d'Ombrone
 * Sassofortino
 * Saturnia
 * Scarlino Scalo
 * Selva
 * Selvena
 * Sovana
 * Sticciano
 * Stribugliano
 * Talamone
 * Tatti
 * Tirli
 * Torniella
 * Travale
 * Triana
 * Vallerona
 * Valpiana
 * Vetulonia
 * Zancona

title: Province of Grosseto


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Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis

Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis (21 May 1792 – 19 September 1843) was a French mathematician, mechanical engineer and scientist. He is best known for his work on the supplementary forces that are detected in a rotating frame of reference, leading to the Coriolis effect. He was the first to apply the term travail (translated as "work") for the transfer of energy by a force acting through a distance, and he prefixed the factor ½ to Leibniz's concept of vis viva, thus specifying today's kinetic energy.

Biography
Coriolis was born in Paris in 1792. In 1808 he sat the entrance exam and was placed second of all the students entering that year, and in 1816, he became a tutor at the École Polytechnique, where he did experiments on friction and hydraulics. In 1829, Coriolis published a textbook, Calcul de l'Effet des Machines ("Calculation of the Effect of Machines"), which presented mechanics in a way that could readily be applied by industry. He established the correct expression for kinetic energy, ½mv2, and its relation to mechanical work.

During the following years, Coriolis worked to extend the notions of kinetic energy and work to rotating systems. The first of his papers, Sur le principe des forces vives dans les mouvements relatifs des machines (On the principle of kinetic energy in the relative motion in machines), was read to the Académie des Sciences (Coriolis 1832). Three years later came the paper that would make his name famous, Sur les équations du mouvement relatif des systèmes de corps (On the equations of relative motion of a system of bodies). Coriolis's papers do not deal with the atmosphere or even the rotation of the Earth, but with the transfer of energy in rotating systems like waterwheels. Coriolis discussed the supplementary forces that are detected in a rotating frame of reference and he divided these forces into two categories. The second category contained the force that would eventually bear his name. A detailed discussion may be found in Dugas.

In 1835, he published a mathematical work on collisions of spheres: Théorie Mathématique des Effets du Jeu de Billard, considered a classic on the subject.

Coriolis's name began to appear in the meteorological literature at the end of the 19th century, although the term "Coriolis force" was not used until the beginning of the 20th century. Today, the name Coriolis has become strongly associated with meteorology, but all major discoveries about the general circulation and the relation between the pressure and wind fields were made without knowledge about Gaspard Gustave Coriolis.

Coriolis became professor of mechanics at the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures in 1829. Upon the death of Claude-Louis Navier in 1836, Coriolis succeeded him in the chair of applied mechanics at the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées and to Navier's place in the Académie des Sciences. In 1838, he succeeded Dulong as Directeur des études (director of studies) in the École Polytechnique.

He died in 1843 at the age of 51 in Paris. His name is one of the 72 names inscribed on the Eiffel Tower.

title: Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis


text:
Talk:Glass

Solid?
I thought the process of relaxation showed that glass isn't really a solid or a liquid. 2600:6C44:6E00:178B:FA4:406B:E95A:EC85 (talk) 08:48, 15 June 2023 (UTC)
 * No, that's a myth, as explained in the article. Polyamorph (talk) 08:55, 15 June 2023 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 9 August 2023
In the intro, please change "3,600 BC" to "3600 BC". Commas aren't usually used for digit grouping in year numbers (it's not 2,023 right now), and they're not used in any of the other pre-1000BC years that appear in the history section. 123.51.107.94 (talk) 23:31, 9 August 2023 (UTC)
 * ✅ RudolfRed (talk) 00:38, 10 August 2023 (UTC)

Wrong date
The Roman cage cup photo under the History section should say 4th century C.E., not B.C. 2601:19D:403:DFE0:257D:4F2B:5656:37FC (talk) 05:34, 21 December 2023 (UTC)

 * ✅ kind of an embarrassing mistake. Recon  rabbit  12:38, 9 July 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Glass


text:
Géza, Grand Prince of the Hungarians

Géza (c. 940 – 997), also Gejza, was Grand Prince of the Hungarians from the early 970s. He was the son of Grand Prince Taksony and his Oriental—Khazar, Pecheneg or Volga Bulgarian—wife. He married Sarolt, a daughter of an Eastern Orthodox Hungarian chieftain. After ascending the throne, Géza made peace with the Holy Roman Empire. Within Hungary, he consolidated his authority with extreme cruelty, according to the unanimous narration of nearly contemporaneous sources. He was the first Hungarian monarch to support Christian missionaries from Western Europe. Although he was baptised (his baptismal name was Stephen), his Christian faith remained shallow and he continued to perform acts of pagan worship. He was succeeded by his son Stephen, who was crowned the first King of Hungary in 1000 or 1001.

Early life
Géza was the elder son of Taksony, Grand Prince of the Hungarians. His mother was his father's wife "from the land of the Cumans", according to the anonymous author of the Gesta Hungarorum. This anachronistic reference to the Cumans suggests that she was of Khazar, Pecheneg or Volga Bulgarian origin. The Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, who listed the descendants of Grand Prince Árpád around 950, did not mention Géza. Even so, Gyula Kristó wrote that Géza was born around 940 and the emperor ignored him because of his youth. The genuine form of his name was either "Gyeücsa" or "Gyeusa", which is possibly a diminutive form of the Turkic title yabgu. Géza's father arranged his marriage with Sarolt—a daughter of a Hungarian chieftain called Gyula, who ruled Transylvania independently of the grand prince and had converted to Christianity in Constantinople. Sarolt seems to have also adhered to Eastern Orthodox Christianity, according to Bruno of Querfurt's remark on her "languid and muddled Christianity".

Reign
Géza succeeded his father around 972. He adopted a centralizing policy, which gave rise to his fame as a merciless ruler. The longer version of his son's Life even states that Géza's hands were "defiled with blood". Pál Engel wrote that Géza carried out a "large-scale purge" against his relatives, which explains the lack of references to other members of the Árpád dynasty from around 972. Koppány, who continued to rule the southern parts of Transdanubia, is the only exception to this dearth of references. A marriage alliance between the German and Byzantine dynasties brought about a rapprochement between the two powers neighboring Hungary in 972. Géza decided to make peace with the Holy Roman Empire. First, a monk named Bruno sent by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor arrived in Hungary around 972. Hungarian "legates" were present at a conference held by the emperor in Quedlinburg in 973. "Geyza, who was strict and cruel, acting in a domineering way, as it were, with his own people, but compassionate and generous with strangers, especially with Christians, although [he was] still entangled in the rite of paganism. At the approach of the light of spiritual grace, he began to discuss peace attentively with all the neighboring provinces ... Moreover, he laid down a rule that the favor of hospitality and security be shown to all Christians wishing to enter his domains. He gave clerics and monks leave to enter his presence; he offered them a willing hearing, and delighted them in the germination of the seed of true faith sown in the garden of his heart." A record on one Bishop Prunwart in the Abbey of Saint Gall mentions his success in baptising many Hungarians, including their "king". The nearly contemporaneous Thietmar of Merseburg confirms that the conversion to Christianity of the pagan Hungarians started under Géza, who became the first Christian ruler of Hungary. His baptismal name was Stephen. However, Géza continued to observe pagan cults, which proves that his conversion to Christianity was never complete. Kristó and other historians have said that the first Roman Catholic diocese in Hungary, with its seat in Veszprém, was set up in Géza's reign, but their view has not been unanimously accepted. A charter issued during his son's reign states that Géza was the founder of the Benedictine Pannonhalma Archabbey.

"[Géza] was very cruel and killed many people because of his quick temper. When he became a Christian, however, he turned his rage against his reluctant subjects, in order to strengthen this faith. Thus, glowing with zeal for God, he washed away his old crimes. He sacrificed both to the omnipotent God and to various false gods. When reproached by his priest for doing so, however, he maintained that the practice had brought him both wealth and great power."

- Thietmar of Merseburg: Chronicum

Taking advantage of internal conflicts which emerged in the Holy Roman Empire after Emperor Otto II's death, Géza invaded Bavaria and took the fortress of Melk in 983. In 991, the Bavarians launched a counter-attack which forced Géza to withdraw Hungarian forces from the territories east of the Vienna Woods. Furthermore, he renounced the lands east of the river Leitha in his peace treaty of 996 with Henry IV of Bavaria. Géza also arranged the marriage of his son and heir Stephen to Henry IV's sister Giselle. Even before this marriage alliance, Géza convoked the Hungarian leaders to an assembly and forced them to take an oath confirming his son's right to succeed him.

Family
Sarolt gave birth to at least three of Géza's children: Stephen, who succeeded his father on the throne, and two unnamed daughters. Sarolt survived Géza, which suggests that she was also the mother of Géza's daughters. Based on the Polish-Hungarian Chronicle, Szabolcs de Vajay wrote that the daughters' mother was Géza's alleged second wife Adelaide of Poland, but this has not been widely accepted. Adelaide is only mentioned in the Polish–Hungarian Chronicle, which describes her as the sister of Mieszko I of Poland, but specialists have often questioned her existence. The chronicle attributes Géza's conversion to Adelaide's influence.

The following family tree presents Géza's ancestry and his offspring.

*Whether Menumorut is an actual or an invented person is debated by modern scholars. **A Khazar or Pecheneg lady. ***Samuel Aba might have been Géza's grandson instead of his son-in-law. ****The Aba family descending from them still flourished in the 14th century.

title: Géza, Grand Prince of the Hungarians


text:
Talk:Géza, Grand Prince of the Hungarians

Name of Géza's daughters (WP:NOR)
, would you, please, refer to academic sources substantiating your edits on the names of Géza's daughters? Thank you in advance. Borsoka (talk) 04:38, 25 October 2014 (UTC)

 * Well, I copy the names from the article Sarolt, Géza's first wife (in Hungarian and English versions); but if i made a mistake, please be free to reverted. Thanks a lot! Aldebaran69 (talk) 00:07, 26 October 2014 (UTC)
 * Thank you for your answer. Their names are invented (unreferred) in the Sarolt article as well (the two books which are cited in that article do not mention these names). As per WP:NOR, I delete them. Borsoka (talk) 02:55, 26 October 2014 (UTC)

Here you can explain your edits
Anon, here you can explain your edits. Please verify your edits with references to reliable sources. Borsoka (talk) 12:37, 24 July 2021 (UTC)


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Gecko

Geckos are small, mostly carnivorous lizards that have a wide distribution, found on every continent except Antarctica. Belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, geckos are found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from 1.6 to 60 cm.

Geckos are unique among lizards for their vocalisations, which differ from species to species. Most geckos in the family Gekkonidae use chirping or clicking sounds in their social interactions. Tokay geckos (Gekko gecko) are known for their loud mating calls, and some other species are capable of making hissing noises when alarmed or threatened. They are the most species-rich group of lizards, with about 1,500 different species worldwide.

All geckos, except species in the family Eublepharidae lack eyelids; instead, the outer surface of the eyeball has a transparent membrane, the brille. They have a fixed lens within each iris that enlarges in darkness to let in more light. Since they cannot blink, species without eyelids generally lick their own brilles when they need to clear them of dust and dirt, in order to keep them clean and moist.

Unlike most lizards, geckos are usually nocturnal and have excellent night vision; their colour vision in low light is 350 times more sensitive than human eyes. The nocturnal geckos evolved from diurnal species, which had lost the rod cells from their eyes. The gecko eye, therefore, modified its cone cells that increased in size into different types, both single and double. Three different photo-pigments have been retained, and are sensitive to ultraviolet, blue, and green. They also use a multifocal optical system that allows them to generate a sharp image for at least two different depths. While most gecko species are nocturnal, some species are diurnal and active during the day, which have evolved multiple times independently.

Many species are well known for their specialised toe pads, which enable them to grab and climb onto smooth and vertical surfaces, and even cross indoor ceilings with ease. Geckos are well known to people who live in warm regions of the world, where several species make their home inside human habitations. These, for example the house gecko, become part of the indoor menagerie and are often welcomed, as they feed on insect pests; including moths and mosquitoes. Like most lizards, geckos can lose their tails in defence, a process called autotomy; the predator may attack the wriggling tail, allowing the gecko to escape.

The largest species, Gigarcanum delcourti, is only known from a single, stuffed specimen probably collected in the 19th century found in the basement of the Natural History Museum of Marseille in Marseille, France. This gecko was 600 mm long, and it was likely endemic to New Caledonia, where it lived in native forests. The smallest gecko, the Jaragua sphaero, is a mere 16 mm long, and was discovered in 2001 on a small island off the coast of Hispaniola.

Etymology
The Neo-Latin gekko and English 'gecko' stem from Indonesian-Malaysian gēkoq, it is a Malay word borrowed from Javanese, from tokek, which imitates the sounds that some species like Tokay gecko make.

Common traits
Like other reptiles, geckos are ectothermic, producing very little metabolic heat. Essentially, a gecko's body temperature is dependent on its environment. Also, to accomplish their main functions; such as locomotion, feeding, reproduction, etc., geckos must have a relatively elevated temperature.

Shedding or molting
All geckos shed their skin at fairly regular intervals, with species differing in timing and method. Leopard geckos shed at about two- to four-week intervals. The presence of moisture aids in the shedding. When shedding begins, the gecko speeds the process by detaching the loose skin from its body and eating it. For young geckos, shedding occurs more frequently, once a week, but when they are fully grown, they shed once every one to two months.

Adhesion ability
About 60% of gecko species have adhesive toe pads which allow them to adhere to most surfaces without the use of liquids or surface tension. Such pads have been gained and lost repeatedly over the course of gecko evolution. Adhesive toepads evolved independently in about eleven different gecko lineages, and were lost in at least nine lineages.

It was previously thought that the spatula-shaped setae arranged in lamellae on gecko footpads enable attractive van der Waals' forces (the weakest of the weak chemical forces) between the β-keratin lamellae / setae / spatulae structures and the surface. These van der Waals interactions involve no fluids; in theory, a boot made of synthetic setae would adhere as easily to the surface of the International Space Station as it would to a living-room wall, although adhesion varies with humidity. However, a 2014 study suggests that gecko adhesion is in fact mainly determined by electrostatic interaction (caused by contact electrification), not van der Waals or capillary forces.

The setae on the feet of geckos are also self-cleaning, and usually remove any clogging dirt within a few steps. Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), which has very low surface energy, is more difficult for geckos to adhere to than many other surfaces.

Gecko adhesion is typically improved by higher humidity,    even on hydrophobic surfaces, yet is reduced under conditions of complete immersion in water. The role of water in that system is under discussion, yet recent experiments agree that the presence of molecular water layers (water molecules carry a very large dipole moment) on the setae, as well as on the surface, increase the surface energy of both, therefore the energy gain in getting these surfaces in contact is enlarged, which results in an increased gecko adhesion force. Moreover, the elastic properties of the b-keratin change with water uptake.

Gecko toes seem to be double-jointed, but this is a misnomer, and is properly called digital hyperextension. Gecko toes can hyperextend in the opposite direction from human fingers and toes. This allows them to overcome the van der Waals force by peeling their toes off surfaces from the tips inward. In essence, by this peeling action, the gecko separates spatula by spatula from the surface, so for each spatula separation, only some force necessary. (The process is similar to removing Scotch Tape from a surface.)

Geckos' toes operate well below their full attractive capabilities most of the time, because the margin for error is great depending upon the surface roughness, and therefore the number of setae in contact with that surface.

Use of small van der Waals force requires very large surface areas; every square millimetre of a gecko's footpad contains about 14,000 hair-like setae. Each seta has a diameter of 5 μm. Human hair varies from 18 to 180 μm, so the cross-sectional area of a human hair is equivalent to 12 to 1300 setae. Each seta is in turn tipped with between 100 and 1,000 spatulae. Each spatula is 0.2 μm long (one five-millionth of a metre), or just below the wavelength of visible light.

The setae of a typical mature 70 g gecko would be capable of supporting a weight of 133 kg: each spatula could exert an adhesive force of 5 to 25 nN. The exact value of the adhesion force of a spatula varies with the surface energy of the substrate to which it adheres. Recent studies have moreover shown that the component of the surface energy derived from long-range forces, such as van der Waals forces, depends on the material's structure below the outermost atomic layers (up to 100 nm beneath the surface); taking that into account, the adhesive strength can be inferred.

Apart from the setae, phospholipids; fatty substances produced naturally in their bodies, also come into play. These lipids lubricate the setae and allow the gecko to detach its foot before the next step.

The origin of gecko adhesion likely started as simple modifications to the epidermis on the underside of the toes. This was recently discovered in the genus Gonatodes from South America. Simple elaborations of the epidermal spinules into setae have enabled Gonatodes humeralis to climb smooth surfaces and sleep on smooth leaves.

Biomimetic technologies designed to mimic gecko adhesion could produce reusable self-cleaning dry adhesives with many applications. Development effort is being put into these technologies, but manufacturing synthetic setae is not a trivial material design task.

Skin
Gecko skin does not generally bear scales, but appears at a macro scale as a papillose surface, which is made from hair-like protuberances developed across the entire body. These confer superhydrophobicity, and the unique design of the hair confers a profound antimicrobial action. These protuberances are very small, up to 4 microns in length, and tapering to a point. Gecko skin has been observed to have an anti-bacterial property, killing gram-negative bacteria when they come in contact with the skin.

The mossy leaf-tailed gecko of Madagascar, U. sikorae, has coloration developed as camouflage, most being greyish brown to black, or greenish brown, with various markings meant to resemble tree bark; down to the lichens and moss found on the bark. It also has flaps of skin, running the length of its body, head and limbs, known as the dermal flap, which it can lay against the tree during the day, scattering shadows, and making its outline practically invisible.

Teeth
Geckos are polyphyodonts, and able to replace each of their 100 teeth every 3 to 4 months. Next to the full grown tooth there is a small replacement tooth developing from the odontogenic stem cell in the dental lamina. The formation of the teeth is pleurodont; they are fused (ankylosed) by their sides to the inner surface of the jaw bones. This formation is common in all species in the order Squamata.

Taxonomy and classification

The infraorder Gekkota is divided into seven families, containing about 125 genera of geckos, including the snake-like (legless) pygopods.

 * Family Carphodactylidae
 * Family Diplodactylidae
 * Family Eublepharidae
 * Family Gekkonidae
 * Family Phyllodactylidae
 * Family Pygopodidae
 * Family Sphaerodactylidae

Legless lizards of the family Dibamidae, also referred to as blind lizards, have occasionally been counted as gekkotans, but recent molecular phylogenies suggest otherwise.

Evolutionary history
Several species of lizard from the Late Jurassic have been considered early relatives of geckos, the most prominent and most well supported being the arboreal Eichstaettisaurus from the Late Jurassic of Germany. Norellius from the Early Cretaceous of Mongolia is also usually placed as a close relative of geckos. The oldest known fossils of modern geckos are from the mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber of Myanmar (including Cretaceogekko), around 100 million years old, which have adhesive pads on the feet similar to those of living geckos.

Species
More than 1,850 species of geckos occur worldwide, including these familiar species:
 * Coleonyx variegatus, the western banded gecko, is native to the southwestern United States and northwest Mexico.
 * Cyrtopodion brachykolon, the bent-toed gecko, is found in northwestern Pakistan; it was first described in 2007.
 * Eublepharis macularius, the leopard gecko, is the most common gecko kept as a pet; it does not have adhesive toe pads and cannot climb the glass of a vivarium.
 * Gehyra mutilata (Pteropus mutilatus), the stump-toed gecko, is able to vary its color from very light to very dark to camouflage itself; this gecko is at home in the wild, as well as in residential areas.
 * Gekko gecko, the Tokay gecko, is a large, common, Southeast Asian gecko known for its aggressive temperament, loud mating calls, and bright markings.
 * Hemidactylus is genus of geckos with many varieties.
 * Hemidactylus frenatus, the common house gecko, thrives around people and human habitation structures in the tropics and subtropics worldwide.
 * Hemidactylus garnotii, the Indo-Pacific gecko, is found in houses throughout the tropics, and has become an invasive species of concern in Florida and Georgia in the US.
 * Hemidactylus mabouia, the tropical house gecko, Afro-American house gecko, or cosmopolitan house gecko, is a species of house gecko native to sub-Saharan Africa and also currently found in North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean.
 * Hemidactylus turcicus, the Mediterranean house gecko, is frequently found in and around buildings, and is an introduced species in the US.
 * Lepidodactylus lugubris, the mourning gecko, is originally an East Asian and Pacific species; it is equally at home in the wild and residential neighborhoods.
 * Pachydactylus bibroni, Bibron's gecko, is native to southern Africa; this hardy arboreal gecko is considered a household pest.
 * Phelsuma laticauda, the gold dust day gecko, is diurnal; it lives in northern Madagascar and on the Comoros. It is also an introduced species in Hawaii.
 * Ptychozoon is a genus of arboreal geckos from Southeast Asia also known as flying or parachute geckos; they have wing-like flaps from the neck to the upper leg to help them conceal themselves on trees and provide lift while jumping.
 * Rhacodactylus is genus of geckos native to New Caledonia.
 * Rhacodactylus ciliatus (now assigned to the genus Correlophus), the crested gecko, was believed extinct until rediscovered in 1994, and is gaining popularity as a pet.
 * Rhacodactylus leachianus, the New Caledonian giant gecko, was first described by Cuvier in 1829; it is the largest living species of gecko.
 * Sphaerodactylus ariasae, the dwarf gecko, is native to the Caribbean Islands; it is the world's smallest lizard.
 * Tarentola mauritanica, the crocodile or Moorish gecko, is commonly found in the Mediterranean region from the Iberian Peninsula and southern France to Greece and northern Africa; their most distinguishing characteristics are their pointed heads, spiked skin, and tails resembling those of a crocodile.

Reproduction
Most geckos lay a small clutch of eggs. Some are live-bearing, and a few can reproduce asexually via parthenogenesis. Geckos also have a large diversity of sex-determining mechanisms, including temperature-dependent sex determination and both XX/XY and ZZ/ZW sex chromosomes with multiple transitions among them over evolutionary time. Madagascar day geckos engage in a mating ritual in which sexually mature males produce a waxy substance from pores on the back of their legs. Males approach females with a head swaying motion along with rapid tongue flicking in the female.

Obligate parthenogenesis as a reproductive system has evolved multiple times in the family Gekkonidae. It has been shown that oocytes are able to undergo meiosis in three different obligate parthenogenetic complexes of geckos. An extra premeiotic endoreplication of chromosomes is essential for obligate parthenogenesis in these geckos. Appropriate segregation during meiosis to form viable progeny is facilitated by the formation of bivalents made from copies of identical chromosomes.

title: Gecko


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Game show

A game show (or gameshow) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a host, who explains the rules of the game as well as commentating and narrating where necessary. The history of the game shows dates back to the late 1930s when both radio and television game shows were broadcast. The genre became popular in the United States in the 1950s, becoming a regular feature of daytime television.

On most game shows, contestants answer questions or solve puzzles, and win prizes such as cash, trips and goods and services.

1930s–1950s
Game shows began to appear on radio and television in the late 1930s. The first television game show, Spelling Bee, as well as the first radio game show, Information Please, were both broadcast in 1938; the first major success in the game show genre was Dr. I.Q., a radio quiz show that began in 1939.

Truth or Consequences was the first game show to air on commercially licensed television; CBS Television Quiz followed shortly thereafter as the first to be regularly scheduled. The first episode of each aired in 1941 as an experimental broadcast. Over the course of the 1950s, as television began to pervade the popular culture, game shows quickly became a fixture. Daytime game shows would be played for lower stakes to target stay-at-home housewives. Higher-stakes programs would air in prime time. (One particular exception in this era was You Bet Your Life, ostensibly a game show, but the game show concept was largely a framework for a talk show moderated by its host, Groucho Marx.) During the late 1950s, high-stakes games such as Twenty-One and The $64,000 Question began a rapid rise in popularity. However, the rise of quiz shows proved to be short-lived. In 1959, many of the higher stakes game shows were exposed as being either biased or outright scripted in the 1950s quiz show scandals and ratings declines led to most of the primetime games being canceled.

An early variant of the game show, the panel show, survived the quiz show scandals. On shows like What's My Line?, I've Got a Secret, and To Tell the Truth, panels of celebrities would interview a guest in an effort to determine some fact about them; in others, celebrities would answer questions. Panel games had success in primetime until the late 1960s, when they were collectively dropped from television because of their perceived low budget nature. Panel games made a comeback in American daytime television (where the lower budgets were tolerated) in the 1970s through comedy-driven shows such as Match Game and Hollywood Squares. In the UK, commercial demographic pressures were not as prominent, and restrictions on game shows made in the wake of the scandals limited the style of games that could be played and the amount of money that could be awarded. Panel shows there were kept in primetime and have continued to thrive; they have transformed into showcases for the nation's top stand-up comedians on shows such as Have I Got News for You, Would I Lie to You?, Mock the Week, QI, and 8 Out of 10 Cats, all of which put a heavy emphasis on comedy, leaving the points as mere formalities. The focus on quick-witted comedians has resulted in strong ratings, which, combined with low costs of production, have only spurred growth in the UK panel show phenomenon.

1950s–1970s
Game shows remained a fixture of US daytime television through the 1960s after the quiz show scandals. Lower-stakes games made a slight comeback in daytime in the early 1960s; examples include Jeopardy! which began in 1964 and the original version of The Match Game first aired in 1962. Let's Make a Deal began in 1963 and the 1960s also marked the debut of Hollywood Squares, Password, The Dating Game, and The Newlywed Game.

Though CBS gave up on daytime game shows in 1968, the other networks did not follow suit. Color television was introduced to the game show genre in the late 1960s on all three networks. The 1970s saw a renaissance of the game show as new games and massive upgrades to existing games made debuts on the major networks. The New Price Is Right, an update of the 1950s-era game show The Price Is Right, debuted in 1972 and marked CBS's return to the game show format in its rural purge. The Match Game became "Big Money" Match Game 73, which proved popular enough to prompt a spin-off, Family Feud, on ABC in 1976. The $10,000 Pyramid and its numerous higher-stakes derivatives also debuted in 1973, while the 1970s also saw the return of formerly disgraced producer and game show host Jack Barry, who debuted The Joker's Wild and a clean version of the previously rigged Tic-Tac-Dough in the 1970s. Wheel of Fortune debuted on NBC in 1975. The Prime Time Access Rule, which took effect in 1971, barred networks from broadcasting in the 7–8 p.m. time slot immediately preceding prime time, opening up time slots for syndicated programming. Most of the syndicated programs were "nighttime" adaptations of network daytime game shows. These game shows originally aired once a week, but by the late 1970s and early 1980s most of the games had transitioned to five days a week. Many people were amazed at this and in the late 2000's, gameshows were aired 7 times a week, twice a day.

1980s–1990s
Game shows were the lowest priority of television networks and were rotated out every thirteen weeks if unsuccessful. Most tapes were wiped until the early 1980s. Over the course of the 1980s and early 1990s, as fewer new hits (e.g. Press Your Luck, Sale of the Century, and Card Sharks) were produced, game shows lost their permanent place in the daytime lineup. ABC transitioned out of the daytime game show format in the mid-1980s (briefly returning to the format for one season in 1990 with a Match Game revival). NBC's game block also lasted until 1991, but the network attempted to bring them back in 1993 before cancelling its game show block again in 1994. CBS phased out most of its game shows, except for The Price Is Right, by 1993. To the benefit of the genre, the moves of Wheel of Fortune and a modernized revival of Jeopardy! to syndication in 1983 and 1984, respectively, was and remains highly successful; the two are, to this day, fixtures in the prime time "access period".

Cable television also allowed for the debut of game shows such as Supermarket Sweep and Debt (Lifetime), Trivial Pursuit and Family Challenge (Family Channel), and Double Dare (Nickelodeon). It also opened up a previously underdeveloped market for game show reruns. General interest networks such as CBN Cable Network (forerunner to Freeform) and USA Network had popular blocks for game show reruns from the mid-1980s to the mid-'90s before that niche market was overtaken by Game Show Network in 1994.

In the United Kingdom, game shows have had a more steady and permanent place in the television lineup and never lost popularity in the 1990s as they did in the United States, due in part to the fact that game shows were highly regulated by the Independent Broadcasting Authority in the 1980s and that those restrictions were lifted in the 1990s, allowing for higher-stakes games to be played.

After the popularity of game shows hit a nadir in the mid-1990s United States (at which point The Price Is Right was the only game show still on daytime network television and numerous game shows designed for cable television were canceled), the British game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? began distribution around the globe. Upon the show's American debut in 1999, it was a hit and became a regular part of ABC's primetime lineup until 2002; that show would eventually air in syndication for seventeen years afterward. Several shorter-lived high-stakes games were attempted around the time of the millennium, both in the United States and the United Kingdom, such as Winning Lines, The Chair, Greed, Paranoia, and Shafted, leading to some dubbing this period as "The Million-Dollar Game Show Craze". The boom quickly went bust, as by July 2000, almost all of the imitator million-dollar shows were canceled (one of those exceptions was Winning Lines, which continued to air in the United Kingdom until 2004 even though it was canceled in the United States in early 2000); these higher stakes contests nevertheless opened the door to reality television contests such as Survivor and Big Brother, in which contestants win large sums of money for outlasting their peers in a given environment. Several game shows returned to daytime in syndication during this time as well, such as Family Feud, Hollywood Squares, and Millionaire.

2000s–present
Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy! and Family Feud have continued in syndication. To keep pace with the prime-time quiz shows, Jeopardy! doubled its question values in 2001 and lifted its winnings limit in 2003, which one year later allowed Ken Jennings to become the show's first multi-million dollar winner; it has also increased the stakes of its tournaments and put a larger focus on contestants with strong personalities. The show has since produced four more millionaires: tournament winner Brad Rutter and recent champions James Holzhauer, Matt Amodio, and Amy Schneider. Family Feud revived in popularity with a change in tone under host Steve Harvey to include more ribaldry.

In 2009, actress and comedienne Kim Coles became the first black woman to host a prime time game show, Pay It Off.

The rise of digital television in the United States opened up a large market for rerun programs. Buzzr was established by Fremantle, owners of numerous classic U.S. game shows, as a broadcast outlet for its archived holdings in June 2015. There was also a rise of live game shows at festivals and public venues, where the general audience could participate in the show, such as the science-inspired Geek Out Game Show or the Yuck Show.

Since the early 2000s, several game shows were conducted in a tournament format; examples included History IQ, Grand Slam, PokerFace (which never aired in North America), Duel, The Million Second Quiz, 500 Questions, The American Bible Challenge, and Mental Samurai. Most game shows conducted in this manner only lasted for one season.

A boom in prime time revivals of classic daytime game shows began to emerge in the mid-2010s. In 2016, ABC packaged the existing Celebrity Family Feud, which had returned in 2015, with new versions of To Tell the Truth, The $100,000 Pyramid, and Match Game in 2016; new versions of Press Your Luck and Card Sharks would follow in 2019. TBS launched a cannabis-themed revival of The Joker's Wild, hosted by Snoop Dogg, in October 2017. This is in addition to a number of original game concepts that appeared near the same time, including Awake, Deal or No Deal (which originally aired in 2005), Child Support, Hollywood Game Night, 1 vs. 100, Minute to Win It (which originally aired in 2010), The Wall, and a string of music-themed games such as Don't Forget the Lyrics!, The Singing Bee, and Beat Shazam.

International issues
The popularity of game shows in the United States was closely paralleled around the world. Reg Grundy Organisation, for instance, would buy the international rights for American game shows and reproduce them in other countries, especially in Grundy's native Australia. Dutch producer Endemol (later purchased by American companies Disney and Apollo Global Management, then resold to French company Banijay) has created and released numerous game shows and reality television formats popular around the world. Most game show formats that are popular in one country are franchised to others.

Game shows have had an inconsistent place in television in Canada, with most homegrown game shows there being made for the French-speaking Quebec market and the majority of English-language game shows in the country being rebroadcast from, or made with the express intent of export to, the United States. There have been exceptions to this (see, for instance, the long-running Definition). Unlike reality television franchises, international game show franchises generally only see Canadian adaptations in a series of specials, based heavily on the American versions but usually with a Canadian host to allow for Canadian content credits (one of those exceptions was Le Banquier, a Quebec French-language version of Deal or No Deal which aired on TVA from 2008 to 2015). The smaller markets and lower revenue opportunities for Canadian shows in general also affect game shows there, with Canadian games (especially Quebecois ones) often having very low budgets for prizes, unless the series is made for export. Canadian contestants are generally allowed to participate on American game shows, and there have been at least three Canadian game show hosts – Howie Mandel, Monty Hall and Alex Trebek – who have gone on to long careers hosting American series, while Jim Perry, an American host, was prominent as a host of Canadian shows.

American game shows have a tendency to hire stronger contestants than their British or Australian counterparts. Many of the most successful game show contestants in America would likely never be cast in a British or Australian game show for fear of having them dominate the game, according to Mark Labbett, who appeared in all three countries on the game show The Chase.

Japanese game show
The Japanese game show is a distinct format, borrowing heavily from variety formats, physical stunts and athletic competitions. The Japanese style has been adapted overseas (and at one point was parodied with an American reality competition, I Survived a Japanese Game Show, which used a fake Japanese game show as its central conceit).

Prizes
Many of the prizes awarded on game shows are provided through product placement, but in some cases they are provided by private organizations or purchased at either the full price or at a discount by the show. There is the widespread use of "promotional consideration", in which a game show receives a subsidy from an advertiser in return for awarding that manufacturer's product as a prize or consolation prize. Some products supplied by manufacturers may not be intended to be awarded and are instead just used as part of the gameplay such as the low-priced items used in several The Price is Right pricing games. Although in this show the smaller items (sometimes even in the single digits of dollars) are awarded as well when the price is correctly guessed, even when a contestant loses the major prize they were playing for.

For high-stakes games, a network may purchase prize indemnity insurance to avoid paying the cost of a rare but expensive prize out of pocket. If the said prize is won too often, the insurance company may refuse to insure a show; this was a factor in the discontinuation of The Price Is Right $1,000,000 Spectacular series of prime-time specials. In April 2008, three of the contestants on The Price Is Right $1,000,000 Spectacular won the top prize in a five-episode span after fifteen episodes without a winner, due in large part to a change in the rules. The insurance companies had made it extremely difficult to get further insurance for the remaining episodes. A network or syndicator may also opt to distribute large cash prizes in the form of an annuity, spreading the cost of the prize out over several years or decades.

From about 1960 through the rest of the 20th century, American networks placed restrictions on the amount of money that could be given away on a game show, in an effort to avoid a repeat of the scandals of the 1950s. This usually took the form of an earnings cap that forced a player to retire once they had won a certain amount of money or a limit on how many episodes, usually five, on which a player could appear on a show. The introduction of syndicated games, particularly in the 1980s, eventually allowed for more valuable prizes and extended runs on a particular show. British television was under even stricter regulations on prizes until the 1990s, seriously restricting the value of prizes that could be given and disallowing games of chance to have an influence on the results of the game. (Thus, the British version of The Price Is Right at first did not include the American version's "Showcase Showdown", in which contestants spun a large wheel to determine who would advance to the Showcase bonus round.) In Canada, prizes were limited not by bureaucracy but necessity, as the much smaller population limited the audience of shows marketed toward that country. The lifting of these restrictions in the 1990s was a major factor in the explosion of high-stakes game shows in the later part of that decade in both the U.S. and Britain and, subsequently, around the world.

Bonus round
A bonus round (also known as a bonus game or an end game) usually follows a main game as a bonus to the winner of that game. In the bonus round, the stakes are higher and the game is considered to be tougher.

The game play of a bonus round usually varies from the standard game play of the front game, and there are often borrowed or related elements of the main game in the bonus round to ensure the entire show has a unified premise. Though some end games are referred to as "bonus rounds", many are not specifically referred to as such in games but fit the same general role.

There is no one formula for the format of a bonus round. There are differences in almost every bonus round, though there are many recurring elements from show to show. The bonus round is often played for the show's top prize. It is almost always played without an opponent; two notable exceptions to this are Jeopardy! and the current version of The Price Is Right. On Jeopardy!, the final round involves all remaining contestants with a positive score wagering strategically to win the game and be invited back the next day; Jeopardy! attempted to replace this round with a traditional solo bonus round in 1978, but this version was not a success and the round was replaced by the original Final Jeopardy! when the show returned in 1984. The Price Is Right uses a knockout tournament format, in which the six contestants to make it onstage are narrowed to two in a "Showcase Showdown;" these two winners then move on to the final Showcase round to determine the day's winner.

Until the 1960s, most game shows did not offer a bonus round. In traditional two-player formats, the winner – if a game show's rules provided for this – became the champion and simply played a new challenger either on the next show or after the commercial break.

One of the earliest forms of bonus rounds was the Jackpot Round of the original series Beat the Clock. After two rounds of performing stunts, the wife of the contestant couple would perform at a jackpot board for a prize. The contestant was shown a famous quotation or common phrase, and the words were scrambled. To win the announced bonus, the contestant had to unscramble the words within 20 seconds. The contestant received a consolation gift worth over $200 if she was unsuccessful.

Another early bonus round ended each episode of You Bet Your Life with the team who won the most money answering one final question for a jackpot which started at $1,000 and increased $500 each week until won.

Another early example was the Lightning Round on the word game Password, starting in 1961. The contestant who won the front game played a quick-fire series of passwords within 60 seconds, netting $50 per correctly guessed word, for a maximum bonus prize of $250.

The bonus round came about after game show producer Mark Goodson was first presented Password, contending that it was not enough to merely guess passwords during the show. "We needed something more, and that's how the Lightning Round was invited," said Howard Felsher, who produced Password and Family Feud. "From that point on every game show had to have an end round. You'd bring a show to a network and they'd say, 'What's the endgame?' as if they had thought of it themselves."

The end game of Match Game, hosted for most of its run by Gene Rayburn, served as the impetus for a completely new game show. The first part of Match Game's "Super-Match" bonus round, called the "Audience Match", asked contestants to guess how a studio audience responded to a question. In 1975, with then regular panelist Richard Dawson becoming restless and progressively less cooperative, Goodson decided that this line of questioning would make a good game show of its own, and the concept eventually became Family Feud, as whose inaugural host Dawson was hired.

title: Game show