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Larry Gelbart

Larry Simon Gelbart (February 25, 1928 – September 11, 2009) was an American television writer, playwright, screenwriter, director and author, most famous as a creator and producer of the television series M*A*S*H, and as co-writer of the Broadway musicals A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and City of Angels.

Early life
Gelbart was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Jewish immigrants Harry Gelbart, "a barber since his half of a childhood in Latvia," and Frieda Sturner, from what is now Dąbrowa Górnicza (Poland), who migrated to the United States. Larry Gelbart had a sister, Marcia Gelbart Walkenstein.

His family later moved to Los Angeles and he attended Fairfax High School. Drafted into the United States Army shortly after World War II, Gelbart worked for the Armed Forces Radio Service in Los Angeles. Attaining the rank of sergeant, Gelbart was honorably discharged after serving 1 year and 11 days. Those last 11 days prevented Gelbart from being drafted for service during the Korean War.

Television
Gelbart began as a writer at the age of sixteen for Danny Thomas's radio show after his father, who was Thomas's barber, showed Thomas some jokes Gelbart had written. During the 1940s Gelbart also wrote for Jack Paar and Bob Hope. In the 1950s, his most important work in television involved writing for Red Buttons, Sid Caesar on Caesar's Hour, and in Celeste Holm's Honestly, Celeste!, as well as with writers Mel Tolkin, Michael Stewart, Selma Diamond, Neil Simon, Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner and Woody Allen on two Caesar specials.

In 1972, Gelbart was one of the main forces behind the creation of the television series M*A*S*H, writing the pilot (for which he received a "Developed for Television by __" credit); then producing, often writing and occasionally directing the series for its first four seasons, from 1972 to 1976. M*A*S*H earned Gelbart a Peabody Award and an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series and went on to considerable commercial and critical success.

Films
Gelbart's best known screen work is perhaps the screenplay for 1982's Tootsie, which he co-wrote with Murray Schisgal. He was nominated for an Academy Award for that script, and also was Oscar-nominated for his adapted screenplay for 1977's Oh, God! starring John Denver and George Burns. On his relationship with actor Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie, Gelbart is reported to have said, "Never work with an Oscar-winner who is shorter than the statue". He later retracted this statement, saying it was just a joke.

He collaborated with Burt Shevelove on the screenplay for the 1966 British film The Wrong Box. Gelbart also co-wrote the golden-era film spoof Movie Movie (1978) starring George C. Scott in dual roles, the racy comedy Blame It on Rio (1984) starring Michael Caine and the 2000 remake of Bedazzled with Elizabeth Hurley and Brendan Fraser. His script for Rough Cut (1980), a caper film starring Burt Reynolds, Lesley-Anne Down and David Niven, was credited under the pseudonym Francis Burns.

Gelbart-scripted films for television included Barbarians at the Gate (1993), a true story about the battle for control of the RJR Nabisco corporation starring James Garner that was based on the best-selling book of that name; the original comedy Weapons of Mass Distraction (1997) starring Ben Kingsley and Gabriel Byrne as rival media moguls; and And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself (2003) starring Antonio Banderas as the Mexican revolutionary leader.

Broadway
Gelbart co-wrote the long-running Broadway musical farce A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum with Burt Shevelove and Stephen Sondheim in 1962. After the show received poor reviews and box-office returns during its previews in Washington, D.C., rewrites and restaging helped; it was a smash Broadway hit and ran for 964 performances. Its book won a Tony Award. In a 1991 published edition of the musical, Gelbart wrote "it remains for me the best piece of work I've been lucky enough to see my name on." A film version starring Zero Mostel and directed by Richard Lester, was released in 1966. Gelbart was critical of the movie, as most of his and Shevelove's libretto was largely rewritten.

Gelbart's other Broadway credits include the musical City of Angels, which won him the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical, the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical, and an Edgar Award and an off-Broadway musical, In The Beginning, a satirical take on the Bible, with music and lyrics by Maury Yeston. He also wrote the Iran-Contra satire Mastergate, as well as Sly Fox and a musical adaptation of the Preston Sturges movie Hail the Conquering Hero, whose grueling development inspired Gelbart to utter what evolved into the classic quip, "If Hitler is alive, I hope he's out of town with a musical."

Memoirs
In 1997, Gelbart published his memoir, ''Laughing Matters: On Writing M*A*S*H, Tootsie, Oh, God! and a Few Other Funny Things''.

Blogger
Gelbart was a contributing blogger at The Huffington Post, and also was a regular participant on the alt.tv.mash Usenet newsgroup as "Elsig".

Honors
In 1995, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.

He won a Tony Award for the book of A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to The Forum.

He won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1974 for M*A*S*H.

In 2002, Gelbart was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.

In 2008, he was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame.

Death
Gelbart was diagnosed with cancer in June and died at his Beverly Hills home on September 11, 2009, aged 81. His wife of 53 years, Pat Gelbart, said that after being married for so long, "we finished each other's sentences." She declined to specify the type of cancer he had. He was interred at the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California.

Writing credits

 * Duffy's Tavern (1941–1951) (Radio)
 * The Red Buttons Show (1952) (TV)
 * Honestly, Celeste! (1954) (TV)
 * Caesar's Hour (1954–1957) (TV)
 * The Patrice Munsel Show (1957) (TV)
 * The Dinah Shore Chevy Show (1958) (TV)
 * The Art Carney Show (1959) (TV)
 * Startime (1959) (TV)
 * The Best of Anything (1960) (TV)
 * Hooray for Love (1960) (TV)
 * A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (with Burt Shevelove) (1962) (Theater)
 * The Notorious Landlady (with Blake Edwards) (1962)
 * Judy and her guests, Phil Silvers and Robert Goulet (1963) (TV)
 * The Thrill of It All (1963) (story only)
 * The Danny Kaye Show (1963) (TV)
 * The Wrong Box (with Burt Shevelove) (1966)
 * Not with My Wife, You Don't! (with Norman Panama and Peter Barnes) (1966)
 * A Fine Pair (1967) (uncredited)
 * Eddie (1971) (TV)
 * The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine (1971) (TV)
 * M*A*S*H (1972–1983) (TV) (also Co-Creator, with Gene Reynolds)
 * Roll Out (1973) (TV)
 * If I Love You, Am I Trapped Forever? (1974) (TV)
 * Karen (1975) (TV)
 * Sly Fox (1976) (Theater)
 * Three's Company (1976) (TV) (unaired pilot)
 * Oh God! (1977)
 * Movie Movie (1978)
 * United States (1980) (TV)
 * Rough Cut (1980) (as Francis Burns)
 * Neighbors (1981)
 * Tootsie (with Murray Schisgal) (1982)
 * AfterMASH (1983–1984) (TV) (also Creator)
 * Blame it on Rio (1984)
 * In The Beginning (1988) (with Maury Yeston) (Theater)
 * City of Angels (1989) (Theater)
 * Mastergate (1990) (Theater)
 * Barbarians at the Gate (1993) (TV)
 * Weapons of Mass Distraction (1997) (TV)
 * Laughing Matters: On writing M*A*S*H, Tootsie, Oh, God! And A Few Other Funny Things (1999) (Autobiography)
 * C-Scam (2000) (TV)
 * Bedazzled (with Harold Ramis and Peter Tolan) (2000)
 * And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself (2003) (TV)

M*A*S*H episodes
The following is a list of M*A*S*H episodes (42 Total) written and/or directed by Gelbart.

Season one (9/17/72–3/25/73)

 * Episode 1: The Pilot (Written)
 * Episode 4: "Chief Surgeon Who?" (Written)
 * Episode 11: "Germ Warfare" (Written)
 * Episode 12: "Dear Dad" (Written)
 * Episode 18: "Dear Dad...Again" (Written with Sheldon Keller)
 * Episode 21: "Sticky Wicket" (Teleplay with Laurence Marks)
 * Episode 23: "Ceasefire" (Teleplay with Laurence Marks)
 * Episode 24: "Showtime" (Teleplay with Robert Klane; Story)

Season two (9/15/73–3/2/74)

 * Episode 1: "Divided We Stand" (Written)
 * Episode 2: "Five O'Clock Charlie" (Written with Laurence Marks & Keith Walker)
 * Episode 6: "Kim" (Written with Marc Mandel & Laurence Marks)
 * Episode 7: "L.I.P. (Local Indigenous Personnel)" (Written with Carl Kleinschmitt & Laurence Marks)
 * Episode 9: "Dear Dad...Three" (Written with Laurence Marks)
 * Episode 11: "Carry On, Hawkeye" (Written with Bernard Dilbert & Laurence Marks)
 * Episode 12: "The Incubator" (Written with Laurence Marks)
 * Episode 13: "Deal Me Out" (Written with Laurence Marks)
 * Episode 16: "Henry in Love" (Written with Laurence Marks)
 * Episode 19: "The Chosen People" (Written Laurence Marks & Sheldon Keller)
 * Episode 20: "As You Were" (Written with Laurence Marks)
 * Episode 21: "Crisis" (Written with Laurence Marks)
 * Episode 23: "Mail Call" (Written with Laurence Marks)
 * Episode 24: "A Smattering of Intelligence" (Written with Laurence Marks; Directed)

Season three (9/10/74–3/18/75)

 * Episode 1: "The General Flipped at Dawn" (Directed)
 * Episode 2: "Rainbow Bridge" (Written with Laurence Marks)
 * Episode 4: "Iron Guts Kelly" (Written with Sid Dorfman)
 * Episode 5: "O.R." (Written with Laurence Marks)
 * Episode 10: "There's Nothing Like a Nurse" (Written)
 * Episode 16: "Bulletin Board" (Written with Simon Muntner)
 * Episode 17: "The Consultant" (Story)
 * Episode 19: "Aid Station" (Written with Simon Muntner)
 * Episode 23: "White Gold" (Written with Simon Muntner)
 * Episode 24: "Abyssinia, Henry" (Directed)

Season four (9/12/75–2/24/76)

 * Episode 1: "Welcome to Korea" (Written with Everett Greenbaum & Jim Fritzell)
 * Episode 3: "It Happened One Night" (Teleplay with Simon Muntner)
 * Episode 9: "Quo Vadis, Captain Chandler?" (Directed)
 * Episode 13: "The Gun" (Written with Gene Reynolds)
 * Episode 15: "The Price of Tomato Juice" (Written with Gene Reynolds)
 * Episode 18: "Hawkeye" (Written with Simon Muntner; Directed)
 * Episode 21: "Smilin' Jack" (Written with Simon Muntner)
 * Episode 22: "The More I See You" (Written with Gene Reynolds)
 * Episode 23: "Deluge" (Written with Simon Muntner)
 * Episode 24: "The Interview" (Written and Directed)

title: Larry Gelbart


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Robert Watson-Watt

Sir Robert Alexander Watson Watt (13 April 1892 – 5 December 1973) was a Scottish pioneer of radio direction finding and radar technology.

Watt began his career in radio physics with a job at the Met Office, where he began looking for accurate ways to track thunderstorms using the radio waves given off by lightning. This led to the 1920s development of a system later known as high-frequency direction finding (HFDF or "huff-duff"). Although well publicized at the time, the system's enormous military potential was not developed until the late 1930s. Huff-duff allowed operators to determine the location of an enemy radio transmitter in seconds and it became a major part of the network of systems that helped defeat the threat of German U-boats during World War II. It is estimated that huff-duff was used in about a quarter of all attacks on U-boats.

In 1935, Watt was asked to comment on reports of a German death ray based on radio. Watt and his assistant Arnold Frederic Wilkins quickly determined it was not possible, but Wilkins suggested using radio signals to locate aircraft at long distances. This led to a February 1935 demonstration where signals from a BBC short-wave transmitter were bounced off a Handley Page Heyford aircraft. Watt led the development of a practical version of this device, which entered service in 1938 under the code name Chain Home. This system provided the vital advance information that helped the Royal Air Force in the Battle of Britain.

After the success of his invention, Watson Watt was sent to the U.S. in 1941 to advise on air defence after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. He returned and continued to lead radar development for the War Office and Ministry of Supply. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1941, was given a knighthood in 1942 and was awarded the US Medal for Merit in 1946.

Early years
Watson-Watt was born in Brechin, Angus, Scotland, on 13 April 1892. He claimed to be a descendant of James Watt, the famous engineer and inventor of the practical steam engine, but no evidence of any family relationship has been found. After attending Damacre Primary School and Brechin High School, he was accepted at University College, Dundee (then part of the University of St Andrews and which became Queen's College, Dundee in 1954 and then the University of Dundee in 1967). Watson-Watt had a successful time as a student, winning the Carnelley Prize for Chemistry and a class medal for Ordinary Natural Philosophy in 1910.

He graduated with a BSc in engineering in 1912, and was offered an assistantship by Professor William Peddie, the holder of the Chair of Physics at University College, Dundee from 1907 to 1942. It was Peddie who encouraged Watson-Watt to study radio, or "wireless telegraphy" as it was then known, and who took him through what was effectively a postgraduate class on the physics of radio frequency oscillators and wave propagation. At the start of the Great War Watson-Watt was working as an assistant in the college's Engineering Department.

Early experiments
In 1916, Watson-Watt wanted a job with the War Office, but nothing obvious was available in communications. Instead, he joined the Meteorological Office, which was interested in his ideas on the use of radio for the detection of thunderstorms. Lightning gives off a radio signal as it ionizes the air, and his goal was to detect this signal to warn pilots of approaching thunderstorms. The signal occurs across a wide range of frequencies and could be easily detected and amplified by naval longwave sets. In fact, lightning was a major problem for communications at these common wavelengths.

His early experiments were successful in detecting the signal and he quickly proved to be able to do so at ranges up to 2,500 km (1500 miles). Location was determined by rotating a loop antenna to maximise (or minimise) the signal, thus "pointing" to the storm. The strikes were so fleeting that it was very difficult to turn the antenna in time to positively locate one. Instead, the operator would listen to many strikes and develop a rough average location.

At first, he worked at the Wireless Station of Air Ministry Meteorological Office in Aldershot, Hampshire. In 1924 when the War Department gave notice that they wished to reclaim their Aldershot site, he moved to Ditton Park near Slough, Berkshire. The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) was already using this site and had two main devices that would prove pivotal to his work.

The first was an Adcock antenna, an arrangement of four masts that allowed the direction of a signal to be detected through phase differences. Using pairs of these antennas positioned at right angles, one could make a simultaneous measurement of the lightning's direction on two axes. Displaying the fleeting signals was a problem. This was solved by the second device, the WE-224 oscilloscope, recently acquired from Bell Labs. By feeding the signals from the two antennae into the X and Y channels of the oscilloscope, a single strike caused the appearance of a line on the display, indicating the direction of the strike. The scope's relatively "slow" phosphor only allowed the signal to be read long after the strike had occurred. Watt's new system was being used in 1926 and was the topic of an extensive paper by Watson-Watt and Herd.

The Met and NPL radio teams were amalgamated in 1927 to form the Radio Research Station with Watson-Watt as director. Continuing research throughout, the teams had become interested in the causes of "static" radio signals and found that much could be explained by distant signals located over the horizon being reflected off the upper atmosphere. This was the first direct indication of the reality of the Heaviside layer, proposed earlier, but at this time largely dismissed by engineers. To determine the altitude of the layer, Watt, Appleton and others developed the 'squegger' to develop a 'time base' display, which would cause the oscilloscope's dot to move smoothly across the display at very high speed. By timing the squegger so that the dot arrived at the far end of the display at the same time as expected signals reflected off the Heaviside layer, the altitude of the layer could be determined. This time-base circuit was key to the development of radar. After a further reorganization in 1933, Watt became Superintendent of the Radio Department of NPL in Teddington.

The air defence problem
During the First World War, the Germans had used Zeppelins as long-range bombers over Britain and defences had struggled to counter the threat. Since that time, aircraft capabilities had improved considerably and the prospect of widespread aerial bombardment of civilian areas was causing the government anxiety. Heavy bombers were now able to approach at altitudes that anti-aircraft guns of the day were unable to reach. With enemy airfields across the English Channel potentially only 20 minutes' flying-time away, bombers would have dropped their bombs and be returning to base before any intercepting fighters could get to altitude. The only answer seemed to be to have standing patrols of fighters in the air, but with the limited cruising time of a fighter, this would require a huge air force. An alternative solution was urgently needed and, in 1934, the Air Ministry set up a committee, the CSSAD (Committee for the Scientific Survey of Air Defence), chaired by Sir Henry Tizard to find ways to improve air defence in the UK.

Rumours that Nazi Germany had developed a "death ray" that was capable of destroying towns, cities and people using radio waves, were given attention in January 1935 by Harry Wimperis, Director of Scientific Research at the Air Ministry. He asked Watson-Watt about the possibility of building their version of a death-ray, specifically to be used against aircraft. Watson-Watt quickly returned a calculation carried out by his young colleague, Arnold Wilkins, showing that such a device was impossible to construct, and fears of a Nazi version soon vanished. He also mentioned in the same report a suggestion that was originally made to him by Wilkins, who had recently heard of aircraft disturbing shortwave communications, that radio waves might be capable of detecting aircraft, "Meanwhile, attention is being turned to the still difficult, but less unpromising, problem of radio detection and numerical considerations on the method of detection by reflected radio waves will be submitted when required". Wilkins's idea, checked by Watt, was promptly presented by Tizard to the CSSAD on 28 January 1935.

Aircraft detection and location
On 12 February 1935, Watson-Watt sent the secret memo of the proposed system to the Air Ministry, Detection and location of aircraft by radio methods. Although not as exciting as a death-ray, the concept clearly had potential, but the Air Ministry, before giving funding, asked for a demonstration proving that radio waves could be reflected by an aircraft. This was ready by 26 February and consisted of two receiving antennae located about 6 mile away from one of the BBC's shortwave broadcast stations at Daventry. The two antennae were phased such that signals travelling directly from the station cancelled themselves out, but signals arriving from other angles were admitted, thereby deflecting the trace on a CRT indicator (passive radar). Such was the secrecy of this test that only three people witnessed it: Watson-Watt, his colleague Arnold Wilkins, and a single member of the committee, A. P. Rowe. The demonstration was a success: on several occasions, the receiver showed a clear return signal from a Handley Page Heyford bomber flown around the site. Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin was kept quietly informed of radar progress. On 2 April 1935, Watson-Watt received a patent on a radio device for detecting and locating an aircraft.

In mid-May 1935, Wilkins left the Radio Research Station with a small party, including Edward George Bowen, to start further research at Orford Ness, an isolated peninsula on the Suffolk coast of the North Sea. By June, they were detecting aircraft at a distance of 16 mi, which was enough for scientists and engineers to stop all work on competing sound-based detection systems. By the end of the year, the range was up to 60 mi, at which point, plans were made in December to set up five stations covering the approaches to London.

One of these stations was to be located on the coast near Orford Ness, and Bawdsey Manor was selected to become the main centre for all radar research. To put a radar defence in place as quickly as possible, Watson-Watt and his team created devices using existing components, rather than creating new components for the project, and the team did not take additional time to refine and improve the devices. So long as the prototype radars were in workable condition, they were put into production. They conducted "full scale" tests of a fixed radar radio tower system, attempting to detect an incoming bomber by radio signals for interception by a fighter. The tests were a complete failure, with the fighter only seeing the bomber after it had passed its target. The problem was not the radar but the flow of information from trackers from the Observer Corps to the fighters, which took many steps and was very slow. Henry Tizard, Patrick Blackett, and Hugh Dowding immediately set to work on this problem, designing a 'command and control air defence reporting system' with several layers of reporting that were eventually sent to a single large room for mapping. Observers watching the maps would then tell the fighters what to do via direct communications.

By 1937, the first three stations were ready, and the associated system was put to the test. The results were encouraging, and the government immediately commissioned construction of 17 additional stations. This became Chain Home, the array of fixed radar towers on the east and south coasts of England. By the start of World War II, 19 were ready for the Battle of Britain, and by the end of the war, over 50 had been built. The Germans were aware of the construction of Chain Home but were not sure of its purpose. They tested their theories with a flight of the Zeppelin LZ 130 but concluded the stations were a new long-range naval communications system.

As early as 1936, it was realized that the Luftwaffe would turn to night bombing if the day campaign did not go well. Watson-Watt had put another of the staff from the Radio Research Station, Edward Bowen, in charge of developing a radar that could be carried by a fighter. Night-time visual detection of a bomber was good to about 300 m and the existing Chain Home systems simply did not have the accuracy needed to get the fighters that close. Bowen decided that an airborne radar should not exceed 90 kg (200 lb) in weight or 8 ft³ (230 L) in volume and should require no more than 500 watts of power. To reduce the drag of the antennae, the operating wavelength could not be much greater than one metre, difficult for the day's electronics. However, aircraft interception (AI) radar was perfected by 1940 and was instrumental in eventually ending The Blitz of 1941. Watson-Watt justified his choice of a non-optimal frequency for his radar, with his oft-quoted "cult of the imperfect", which he stated as "Give them the third-best to go on with; the second-best comes too late; the best never comes".

Civil Service trade union activities
Between 1934 and 1936, Watson-Watt was president of the Institution of Professional Civil Servants, now a part of Prospect, the "union for professionals". The union speculates that at this time he was involved in campaigning for an improvement in pay for Air Ministry staff.

Contribution to Second World War
In his English History 1914–1945, the historian A. J. P. Taylor paid the highest of praise to Watson-Watt, Sir Henry Tizard and their associates who developed radar, crediting them with being fundamental to victory in the Second World War.

In July 1938, Watson-Watt left Bawdsey Manor and took up the post of Director of Communications Development (DCD-RAE). In 1939, Sir George Lee took over the job of DCD and Watson-Watt became Scientific Advisor on Telecommunications (SAT) to the Ministry of Aircraft Production, travelling to the US in 1941 to advise them on the severe inadequacies of their air defence, illustrated by the Pearl Harbor attack. He was knighted by George VI in 1942 and received the US Medal for Merit in 1946.

Ten years after his knighthood, Watson-Watt was awarded £50,000 by the UK government for his contributions in the development of radar. He established a practice as a consulting engineer. In the 1950s, he moved to Canada and later he lived in the US, where he published Three Steps to Victory in 1958. Around 1958, he appeared as a mystery challenger on the American television programme To Tell The Truth. In 1956, Watson-Watt reportedly was pulled over for speeding in Canada by a radar gun-toting policeman. His remark was, "Had I known what you were going to do with it I would never have invented it!". He wrote an ironic poem ("A Rough Justice") afterwards,

Pity Sir Robert Watson-Watt, strange target of this radar plot

And thus, with others I can mention, the victim of his own invention.

His magical all-seeing eye enabled cloud-bound planes to fly

but now by some ironic twist it spots the speeding motorist

and bites, no doubt with legal wit, the hand that once created it.

...

Honours

 * In 1945, Watson-Watt was invited to deliver the Royal Institution Christmas Lecture on Wireless.
 * In 1949, a Watson-Watt Chair of Electrical Engineering was established at University College, Dundee.
 * In 2013, he was one of four inductees to the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame.

Legacy
On 3 September 2014, a statue of Sir Robert Watson-Watt was unveiled in Brechin by the Princess Royal. One day later, the BBC Two drama Castles in the Sky, aired with Eddie Izzard in the role of Watson Watt.

A collection of some of the correspondence and papers of Watson-Watt is held by the National Library of Scotland. A collection of papers relating to Watson-Watt is also held by Archive Services at the University of Dundee.

A briefing facility at RAF Boulmer has been named the Watson-Watt auditorium in his honour.

Business and financial life
Watson-Watt had a problematic business and financial life.

Family life
Watson-Watt was married on 20 July 1916 in Hammersmith, London to Margaret Robertson (d.1988), the daughter of a draughtsman; they later divorced and he remarried in 1952 in Canada. His second wife was Jean Wilkinson, who died in 1964. He returned to Scotland in the 1960s.

In 1966, at the age of 74, he proposed to Dame Katherine Trefusis Forbes, who was 67 years old at the time and had also played a significant role in the Battle of Britain as the founding Air Commander of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, which supplied the radar-room operatives. They lived together in London in the winter, and at "The Observatory": Trefusis Forbes' summer home in Pitlochry, Perthshire, during the warmer months. They remained together until her death in 1971. Watson-Watt died in 1973, aged 81, in Inverness. They are buried together in the churchyard of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Trinity at Pitlochry.

title: Robert Watson-Watt


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Nuclear engineering

Nuclear engineering is the engineering discipline concerned with designing and applying systems that utilize the energy released by nuclear processes. The most prominent application of nuclear engineering is the generation of electricity. Worldwide, some 440 nuclear reactors in 32 countries generate 10 percent of the world's energy through nuclear fission. In the future, it is expected that nuclear fusion will add another nuclear means of generating energy. Both reactions make use of the nuclear binding energy released when atomic nucleons are either separated (fission) or brought together (fusion). The energy available is given by the binding energy curve, and the amount generated is much greater than that generated through chemical reactions. Fission of 1 gram of uranium yields as much energy as burning 3 tons of coal or 600 gallons of fuel oil, without adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

What nuclear engineers do
Nuclear engineers work in such areas as the following:
 * Nuclear reactor design, which has evolved from the Generation I, proof-of concept, reactors of the 1950s and 1960s, to Generation II, Generation III, and Generation IV concepts
 * Thermal hydraulics and heat transfer. In a typical nuclear power plant, heat generates steam that drives a steam turbine and a generator that produces electricity
 * Materials science as it relates to nuclear power applications
 * Managing the nuclear fuel cycle, in which fissile material is obtained, formed into fuel, removed when depleted, and safely stored or reprocessed
 * Nuclear propulsion, mainly for military naval vessels, but there have been concepts for aircraft and missiles. Nuclear power has been used in space since the 1960s
 * Plasma physics, which is integral to the development of fusion power
 * Weapons development and management
 * Generation of radionuclides, which have applications in industry, medicine, and many other areas
 * Nuclear waste management
 * Health physics
 * Nuclear medicine and Medical Physics
 * Health and safety
 * Instrumentation and control engineering
 * Process engineering
 * Project Management
 * Quality engineering
 * Reactor operations
 * Nuclear security (detection of clandestine nuclear materials)
 * Nuclear engineering even has a role in criminal investigation, and agriculture.

Many chemical, electrical and mechanical and other types of engineers also work in the nuclear industry, as do many scientists and support staff. In the U.S., nearly 100,000 people directly work in the nuclear industry. Including secondary sector jobs, the number of people supported by the U.S. nuclear industry is 475,000.

History of nuclear engineering
Nuclear engineering was born in 1938, with the discovery of nuclear fission. The first artificial nuclear reactor, CP-1, was designed by a team of physicists who were concerned that Nazi Germany might also be seeking to build a bomb based on nuclear fission. (The earliest known nuclear reaction on Earth occurred naturally, 1.7 billion years ago, in Oklo, Gabon, Africa.) The second artificial nuclear reactor, the X-10 Graphite Reactor, was also a part of the Manhattan Project, as were the plutonium-producing reactors of the Hanford Engineer Works. The first nuclear bomb was code named Gadget which was used in the Trinity Nuclear Test. The weapon was believed to have a yield of around 20 kilotons of TNT.

The first nuclear reactor to generate electricity was Experimental Breeder Reactor I (EBR-I), which did so near Arco, Idaho, in 1951. EBR-I was a standalone facility, not connected to a grid, but a later Idaho research reactor in the BORAX series did briefly supply power to the town of Arco in 1955.

The first commercial nuclear power plant, built to be connected to an electrical grid, is the Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant, which began operation in 1954. The second appears to be the Shippingport Atomic Power Station, which produced electricity in 1957.

For a brief chronology, from the discovery of uranium to the current era, see Outline History of Nuclear Energy or History of Nuclear Power.

See List of Commercial Nuclear Reactors for a comprehensive listing of nuclear power reactors and IAEA Power Reactor Information System (PRIS) for worldwide and country-level statistics on nuclear power generation.

Where nuclear engineers work
In the United States, nuclear engineers are employed as follows:
 * Electric power generation 25%
 * Federal government 18%
 * Scientific research and development 15%
 * Engineering services 5%
 * Manufacturing 10%
 * Other areas 27%

Worldwide, job prospects for nuclear engineers are likely best in those countries that are active in or exploring nuclear technologies:

Nuclear engineering schools and training
Organizations that provide study and training in nuclear engineering include the following:

Nuclear engineering organizations

 * American Nuclear Society
 * Asian Network for Education in Nuclear Technology (ANENT) https://www.iaea.org/services/networks/anent
 * Canadian Nuclear Association
 * Chinese Nuclear Society
 * International Atomic Energy Agency
 * International Energy Agency (IEA)
 * Japan Atomic Industrial Forum (JAIF)
 * Korea Nuclear Energy Agency (KNEA)
 * Latin American Network for Education in Nuclear Technology (LANENT) https://www.iaea.org/services/networks/lanent
 * Minerals Council of Australia
 * Nucleareurope
 * Nuclear Institute
 * Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI)
 * Nuclear Industry Association of South Africa (NIASA)
 * Nuclear Technology Education Consortion https://www.ntec.ac.uk/
 * OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA)
 * Regional Network for Education and Training in Nuclear Technology (STAR-NET) https://www.iaea.org/services/networks/star-net
 * World Nuclear Association
 * World Nuclear Transport Institute

title: Nuclear engineering


text:
Landslide

Landslides, also known as landslips, or rockslides,  are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, mudflows, shallow or deep-seated slope failures and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of environments, characterized by either steep or gentle slope gradients, from mountain ranges to coastal cliffs or even underwater, in which case they are called submarine landslides.

Gravity is the primary driving force for a landslide to occur, but there are other factors affecting slope stability that produce specific conditions that make a slope prone to failure. In many cases, the landslide is triggered by a specific event (such as a heavy rainfall, an earthquake, a slope cut to build a road, and many others), although this is not always identifiable.

Landslides are frequently made worse by human development (such as urban sprawl) and resource exploitation (such as mining and deforestation). Land degradation frequently leads to less stabilization of soil by vegetation. Additionally, global warming caused by climate change and other human impact on the environment, can increase the frequency of natural events (such as extreme weather) which trigger landslides. Landslide mitigation describes the policy and practices for reducing the risk of human impacts of landslides, reducing the risk of natural disaster.

Causes

Landslides occur when the slope (or a portion of it) undergoes some processes that change its condition from stable to unstable. This is essentially due to a decrease in the shear strength of the slope material, an increase in the shear stress borne by the material, or a combination of the two. A change in the stability of a slope can be caused by a number of factors, acting together or alone. Natural causes of landslides include:
 * increase in water content (loss of suction) or saturation by rain water infiltration, snow melting, or glaciers melting;
 * rising of groundwater or increase of pore water pressure (e.g. due to aquifer recharge in rainy seasons, or by rain water infiltration);
 * increase of hydrostatic pressure in cracks and fractures;
 * loss or absence of vertical vegetative structure, soil nutrients, and soil structure (e.g. after a wildfire);
 * erosion of the top of a slope by rivers or sea waves;
 * physical and chemical weathering (e.g. by repeated freezing and thawing, heating and cooling, salt leaking in the groundwater or mineral dissolution);
 * ground shaking caused by earthquakes, which can destabilize the slope directly (e.g., by inducing soil liquefaction) or weaken the material and cause cracks that will eventually produce a landslide;
 * volcanic eruptions;
 * changes in pore fluid composition;
 * changes in temperature (seasonal or induced by climate change).

Landslides are aggravated by human activities, such as:
 * deforestation, cultivation and construction;
 * vibrations from machinery or traffic;
 * blasting and mining;
 * earthwork (e.g. by altering the shape of a slope, or imposing new loads);
 * in shallow soils, the removal of deep-rooted vegetation that binds colluvium to bedrock;
 * agricultural or forestry activities (logging), and urbanization, which change the amount of water infiltrating the soil.
 * temporal variation in land use and land cover (LULC): it includes the human abandonment of farming areas, e.g. due to the economic and social transformations which occurred in Europe after the Second World War. Land degradation and extreme rainfall can increase the frequency of erosion and landslide phenomena.

Hungr-Leroueil-Picarelli classification
In traditional usage, the term landslide has at one time or another been used to cover almost all forms of mass movement of rocks and regolith at the Earth's surface. In 1978, geologist David Varnes noted this imprecise usage and proposed a new, much tighter scheme for the classification of mass movements and subsidence processes. This scheme was later modified by Cruden and Varnes in 1996, and refined by Hutchinson (1988), Hungr et al. (2001), and finally by Hungr, Leroueil and Picarelli (2014). The classification resulting from the latest update is provided below. Under this classification, six types of movement are recognized. Each type can be seen both in rock and in soil. A fall is a movement of isolated blocks or chunks of soil in free-fall. The term topple refers to blocks coming away by rotation from a vertical face. A slide is the movement of a body of material that generally remains intact while moving over one or several inclined surfaces or thin layers of material (also called shear zones) in which large deformations are concentrated. Slides are also sub-classified by the form of the surface(s) or shear zone(s) on which movement happens. The planes may be broadly parallel to the surface ("planar slides") or spoon-shaped ("rotational slides"). Slides can occur catastrophically, but movement on the surface can also be gradual and progressive. Spreads are a form of subsidence, in which a layer of material cracks, opens up, and expands laterally. Flows are the movement of fluidised material, which can be both dry or rich in water (such as in mud flows). Flows can move imperceptibly for years, or accelerate rapidly and cause disasters. Slope deformations are slow, distributed movements that can affect entire mountain slopes or portions of it. Some landslides are complex in the sense that they feature different movement types in different portions of the moving body, or they evolve from one movement type to another over time. For example, a landslide can initiate as a rock fall or topple and then, as the blocks disintegrate upon the impact, transform into a debris slide or flow. An avalanching effect can also be present, in which the moving mass entrains additional material along its path.

Flows
Slope material that becomes saturated with water may produce a debris flow or mud flow. However, also dry debris can exhibit flow-like movement. Flowing debris or mud may pick up trees, houses and cars, and block bridges and rivers causing flooding along its path. This phenomenon is particularly hazardous in alpine areas, where narrow gorges and steep valleys are conducive of faster flows. Debris and mud flows may initiate on the slopes or result from the fluidization of landslide material as it gains speed or incorporates further debris and water along its path. River blockages as the flow reaches a main stream can generate temporary dams. As the impoundments fail, a domino effect may be created, with a remarkable growth in the volume of the flowing mass, and in its destructive power.

An earthflow is the downslope movement of mostly fine-grained material. Earthflows can move at speeds within a very wide range, from as low as 1 mm/yr to many km/h. Though these are a lot like mudflows, overall they are more slow-moving and are covered with solid material carried along by the flow from within. Clay, fine sand and silt, and fine-grained, pyroclastic material are all susceptible to earthflows. These flows are usually controlled by the pore water pressures within the mass, which should be high enough to produce a low shearing resistance. On the slopes, some earthflow may be recognized by their elongated shape, with one or more lobes at their toes. As these lobes spread out, drainage of the mass increases and the margins dry out, lowering the overall velocity of the flow. This process also causes the flow to thicken. Earthflows occur more often during periods of high precipitation, which saturates the ground and builds up water pressures. However, earthflows that keep advancing also during dry seasons are not uncommon. Fissures may develop during the movement of clayey materials, which facilitate the intrusion of water into the moving mass and produce faster responses to precipitation.

A rock avalanche, sometimes referred to as sturzstrom, is a large and fast-moving landslide of the flow type. It is rarer than other types of landslides but it is often very destructive. It exhibits typically a long runout, flowing very far over a low-angle, flat, or even slightly uphill terrain. The mechanisms favoring the long runout can be different, but they typically result in the weakening of the sliding mass as the speed increases. The causes of this weakening are not completely understood. Especially for the largest landslides, it may involve the very quick heating of the shear zone due to friction, which may even cause the water that is present to vaporize and build up a large pressure, producing a sort of hovercraft effect. In some cases, the very high temperature may even cause some of the minerals to melt. During the movement, the rock in the shear zone may also be finely ground, producing a nanometer-size mineral powder that may act as a lubricant, reducing the resistance to motion and promoting larger speeds and longer runouts. The weakening mechanisms in large rock avalanches are similar to those occurring in seismic faults.

Slides
Slides can occur in any rock or soil material and are characterized by the movement of a mass over a planar or curvilinear surface or shear zone.

A debris slide is a type of slide characterized by the chaotic movement of material mixed with water and/or ice. It is usually triggered by the saturation of thickly vegetated slopes which results in an incoherent mixture of broken timber, smaller vegetation and other debris. Debris flows and avalanches differ from debris slides because their movement is fluid-like and generally much more rapid. This is usually a result of lower shear resistances and steeper slopes. Typically, debris slides start with the detachment of large rock fragments high on the slopes, which break apart as they descend.

Clay and silt slides are usually slow but can experience episodic acceleration in response to heavy rainfall or rapid snowmelt. They are often seen on gentle slopes and move over planar surfaces, such as over the underlying bedrock. Failure surfaces can also form within the clay or silt layer itself, and they usually have concave shapes, resulting in rotational slides

Shallow and deep-seated landslides

Slope failure mechanisms often contain large uncertainties and could be significantly affected by heterogeneity of soil properties. A landslide in which the sliding surface is located within the soil mantle or weathered bedrock (typically to a depth from few decimeters to some meters) is called a shallow landslide. Debris slides and debris flows are usually shallow. Shallow landslides can often happen in areas that have slopes with high permeable soils on top of low permeable soils. The low permeable soil traps the water in the shallower soil generating high water pressures. As the top soil is filled with water, it can become unstable and slide downslope.

Deep-seated landslides are those in which the sliding surface is mostly deeply located, for instance well below the maximum rooting depth of trees. They usually involve deep regolith, weathered rock, and/or bedrock and include large slope failures associated with translational, rotational, or complex movements. They tend to form along a plane of weakness such as a fault or bedding plane. They can be visually identified by concave scarps at the top and steep areas at the toe. Deep-seated landslides also shape landscapes over geological timescales and produce sediment that strongly alters the course of fluvial streams.

Related phenomena

 * An avalanche, similar in mechanism to a landslide, involves a large amount of ice, snow and rock falling quickly down the side of a mountain.
 * A pyroclastic flow is caused by a collapsing cloud of hot ash, gas and rocks from a volcanic explosion that moves rapidly down an erupting volcano.
 * Extreme precipitation and flow can cause gully formation in flatter environments not susceptible to landslides.

Resulting tsunamis
Landslides that occur undersea, or have impact into water e.g. significant rockfall or volcanic collapse into the sea, can generate tsunamis. Massive landslides can also generate megatsunamis, which are usually hundreds of meters high. In 1958, one such tsunami occurred in Lituya Bay in Alaska.

Landslide prediction mapping
Landslide hazard analysis and mapping can provide useful information for catastrophic loss reduction, and assist in the development of guidelines for sustainable land-use planning. The analysis is used to identify the factors that are related to landslides, estimate the relative contribution of factors causing slope failures, establish a relation between the factors and landslides, and to predict the landslide hazard in the future based on such a relationship. The factors that have been used for landslide hazard analysis can usually be grouped into geomorphology, geology, land use/land cover, and hydrogeology. Since many factors are considered for landslide hazard mapping, GIS is an appropriate tool because it has functions of collection, storage, manipulation, display, and analysis of large amounts of spatially referenced data which can be handled fast and effectively. Cardenas reported evidence on the exhaustive use of GIS in conjunction of uncertainty modelling tools for landslide mapping. Remote sensing techniques are also highly employed for landslide hazard assessment and analysis. Before and after aerial photographs and satellite imagery are used to gather landslide characteristics, like distribution and classification, and factors like slope, lithology, and land use/land cover to be used to help predict future events. Before and after imagery also helps to reveal how the landscape changed after an event, what may have triggered the landslide, and shows the process of regeneration and recovery.

Using satellite imagery in combination with GIS and on-the-ground studies, it is possible to generate maps of likely occurrences of future landslides. Such maps should show the locations of previous events as well as clearly indicate the probable locations of future events. In general, to predict landslides, one must assume that their occurrence is determined by certain geologic factors, and that future landslides will occur under the same conditions as past events. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a relationship between the geomorphologic conditions in which the past events took place and the expected future conditions.

Natural disasters are a dramatic example of people living in conflict with the environment. Early predictions and warnings are essential for the reduction of property damage and loss of life. Because landslides occur frequently and can represent some of the most destructive forces on earth, it is imperative to have a good understanding as to what causes them and how people can either help prevent them from occurring or simply avoid them when they do occur. Sustainable land management and development is also an essential key to reducing the negative impacts felt by landslides.

GIS offers a superior method for landslide analysis because it allows one to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, and display large amounts of data quickly and effectively. Because so many variables are involved, it is important to be able to overlay the many layers of data to develop a full and accurate portrayal of what is taking place on the Earth's surface. Researchers need to know which variables are the most important factors that trigger landslides in any given location. Using GIS, extremely detailed maps can be generated to show past events and likely future events which have the potential to save lives, property, and money.

Since the ‘90s, GIS have been also successfully used in conjunction to decision support systems, to show on a map real-time risk evaluations based on monitoring data gathered in the area of the Val Pola disaster (Italy).

Prehistoric landslides

 * Storegga Slide, some 8,000 years ago off the western coast of Norway. Caused massive tsunamis in Doggerland and other areas connected to the North Sea. A total volume of 3,500 km3 debris was involved; comparable to a 34 m thick area the size of Iceland. The landslide is thought to be among the largest in history.
 * Landslide which moved Heart Mountain to its current location, the largest continental landslide discovered so far. In the 48 million years since the slide occurred, erosion has removed most of the portion of the slide.
 * Flims Rockslide, about 12 km3, Switzerland, some 10,000 years ago in post-glacial Pleistocene/Holocene, the largest so far described in the Alps and on dry land that can be easily identified in a modestly eroded state.
 * The landslide around 200 BC which formed Lake Waikaremoana on the North Island of New Zealand, where a large block of the Ngamoko Range slid and dammed a gorge of Waikaretaheke River, forming a natural reservoir up to 256 m deep.
 * Cheekye Fan, British Columbia, Canada, about 25 km2, Late Pleistocene in age.
 * The Manang-Braga rock avalanche/debris flow may have formed Marsyangdi Valley in the Annapurna Region, Nepal, during an interstadial period belonging to the last glacial period. Over 15 km3 of material are estimated to have been moved in the single event, making it one of the largest continental landslides.
 * Tsergo Ri landslide, a massive slope failure 60 km north of Kathmandu, Nepal, involving an estimated 10 to 15 km3. Prior to this landslide the mountain may have been the world's 15th mountain above 8000 m.

Historical landslides

 * The 1806 Goldau landslide on 2 September 1806
 * The Cap Diamant Québec rockslide on 19 September 1889
 * Frank Slide, Turtle Mountain, Alberta, Canada, on 29 April 1903
 * Khait landslide, Khait, Tajikistan, Soviet Union, on 10 July 1949
 * A magnitude 7.5 earthquake in Yellowstone Park (17 August 1959) caused a landslide that blocked the Madison River, and created Quake Lake.
 * Monte Toc landslide (260 e6m3) falling into the Vajont Dam basin in Italy, causing a megatsunami and about 2000 deaths, on 9 October 1963
 * Hope Slide landslide (46 e6m3) near Hope, British Columbia on 9 January 1965.
 * The 1966 Aberfan disaster
 * Tuve landslide in Gothenburg, Sweden on 30 November 1977.
 * The 1979 Abbotsford landslip, Dunedin, New Zealand on 8 August 1979.
 * The eruption of Mount St. Helens (18 May 1980) caused an enormous landslide when the top 1300 feet of the volcano suddenly gave way.
 * Val Pola landslide during Valtellina disaster (1987) Italy
 * Thredbo landslide, Australia on 30 July 1997, destroyed hostel.
 * Vargas mudslides, due to heavy rains in Vargas State, Venezuela, in December, 1999, causing tens of thousands of deaths.
 * 2005 La Conchita landslide in Ventura, California causing 10 deaths.
 * 2006 Southern Leyte mudslide in Saint Bernard, Southern Leyte, causing 1,126 deaths and buried the village of Guinsaugon.
 * 2007 Chittagong mudslide, in Chittagong, Bangladesh, on 11 June 2007.
 * 2008 Cairo landslide on 6 September 2008.
 * The 2009 Peloritani Mountains disaster caused 37 deaths, on October 1.
 * The 2010 Uganda landslide caused over 100 deaths following heavy rain in Bududa region.
 * Zhouqu county mudslide in Gansu, China on 8 August 2010.
 * Devil's Slide, an ongoing landslide in San Mateo County, California
 * 2011 Rio de Janeiro landslide in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 11 January 2011, causing 610 deaths.
 * 2014 Pune landslide, in Pune, India.
 * 2014 Oso mudslide, in Oso, Washington
 * 2017 Mocoa landslide, in Mocoa, Colombia
 * 2022 Ischia landslide

Extraterrestrial landslides
Evidence of past landslides has been detected on many bodies in the solar system, but since most observations are made by probes that only observe for a limited time and most bodies in the solar system appear to be geologically inactive not many landslides are known to have happened in recent times. Both Venus and Mars have been subject to long-term mapping by orbiting satellites, and examples of landslides have been observed on both planets.

Climate-change impact on landslides
Climate-change impact on temperature, both average rainfall and rainfall extremes, and evapotranspiration may affect landslide distribution, frequency and intensity (62). However, this impact shows strong variability in different areas (63). Therefore, the effects of climate change on landslides need to be studied on a regional scale. Climate change can have both positive and negative impacts on landslides Temperature rise may increase evapotranspiration, leading to a reduction in soil moisture and stimulate vegetation growth, also due to a CO2 increase in the atmosphere. Both effects may reduce landslides in some conditions. On the other side, temperature rise causes an increase of landslides due to
 * the acceleration of snowmelt and an increase of rain on snow during spring, leading to strong infiltration events (64).
 * Permafrost degradation that reduces the cohesion of soils and rock masses due to the loss of interstitial ice (65). This mainly occurs at high elevation.
 * Glacier retreat that has the dual effect of relieving mountain slopes and increasing their steepness.

Since the average precipitation is expected to decrease or increase regionally (63), rainfall induced landslides may change accordingly, due to changes in infiltration, groundwater levels and river bank erosion. Weather extremes are expected to increase due to climate change including heavy precipitation (63). This yields negative effects on landslides due to focused infiltration in soil and rock (66) and an increase of runoff events, which may trigger debris flows.

title: Landslide


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William I of the Netherlands

William I (Willem Frederik; 24 August 1772 – 12 December 1843) was king of the Netherlands and grand duke of Luxembourg from 1815 until his abdication in 1840.

Born as the son of William V, Prince of Orange, the last stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, and Wilhelmina of Prussia, William experienced significant political upheavals early in life. He fought against the French invasion during the Flanders campaign, and after the Batavian Revolution in 1795, his family went into exile. He briefly ruled the Principality of Nassau-Orange-Fulda before Napoleon's conquests forced him out of power. Following the defeat of Napoleon in 1813, William returned to the Netherlands, where he was invited to assume the role of Sovereign Prince of the United Netherlands.

In 1815, William proclaimed himself king of the Netherlands and concurrently became the grand duke of Luxembourg. His reign saw the adoption of a new constitution, which granted him extensive powers, and he was a strong proponent of economic development, founding several universities and promoting trade. However, his efforts to impose the Reformed faith and the Dutch language in the southern provinces, combined with economic grievances, sparked the Belgian Revolution in 1830. Unable to suppress the rebellion, William ultimately accepted Belgian independence in 1839 under the Treaty of London.

William's later years were marked by dissatisfaction with constitutional changes and personal reasons, leading to his abdication in 1840 in favor of his son, King William II. He spent his final years in Berlin, where he died in 1843.

Life
William was the son of William V, Prince of Orange, the last stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, and Wilhelmina of Prussia. During the Flanders campaign, he commanded the Dutch troops and fought against the French invasion. The family went into exile in London in 1795 following the Batavian Revolution. As compensation for the loss of his father's possessions in the Low Countries, William was appointed ruler of the newly created Principality of Nassau-Orange-Fulda in 1803. When Napoleon invaded Germany in 1806, William fought on the Prussian side and was deposed upon French victory. With the death of his father in 1806, he became Prince of Orange and ruler of the Principality of Orange-Nassau, which he also lost the same year after the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire and subsequent creation of the Confederation of the Rhine. He spent the following years in exile in Prussia. In 1813, following Napoleon's defeat at Leipzig, the Orange-Nassau territories were restored to William; he also accepted the offer to become Sovereign Prince of the United Netherlands.

William proclaimed himself king of the Netherlands in 1815. In the same year, he concluded a treaty with King Frederick William III in which he ceded the Orange-Nassau to Prussia in exchange for becoming the new grand duke of Luxembourg. As king, he adopted a new constitution, presided over strong economic and industrial progress, promoted trade and founded the universities of Leuven, Ghent and Liège. The imposition of the Reformed faith and the Dutch language, as well as feelings of economic inequity, caused widespread resentment in the southern provinces and led to the outbreak of the Belgian Revolution in 1830. William failed to crush the rebellion and in 1839 he accepted the independence of Belgium in accordance with the Treaty of London.

William's disapproval of changes to the constitution, the loss of Belgium and his intention to marry Henrietta d'Oultremont, a Roman Catholic, led to his decision to abdicate in 1840. His eldest son acceded to the throne as King William II. William died in 1843 in Berlin at the age of 71.

Prince of Orange

King William I's parents were the last stadtholder William V, Prince of Orange of the Dutch Republic, and his wife Wilhelmina of Prussia. Until 1806, William was formally known as William VI, Prince of Orange-Nassau, and between 1806 and 1813 also as Prince of Orange. In Berlin on 1 October 1791, William married his maternal first cousin (Frederica Louisa) Wilhelmina of Prussia, born in Potsdam. She was the daughter of King Frederick William II of Prussia. After Wilhelmina died in 1837, William married Countess Henrietta d'Oultremont (28 February 1792, in Maastricht – 26 October 1864, in Schloss Rahe), created countess of Nassau, on 17 February 1841, also in Berlin.

Youth and early military career
As eldest son of the William V, Prince of Orange, William was informally referred to as Erfprins (Hereditary Prince) by contemporaries from his birth until the death of his father in 1806 to distinguish him from William V.

Like his younger brother Prince Frederick of Orange-Nassau he was tutored by the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler and the Dutch historian Herman Tollius. They were both tutored in the military arts by General Frederick Stamford. After the Patriot revolt had been suppressed in 1787, he in 1788–89 attended the military academy in Brunswick which was considered an excellent military school, together with his brother. In 1790 he visited a number of foreign courts like the one in Nassau and the Prussian capital Berlin, where he first met his future wife.

William subsequently studied briefly at the University of Leiden. In 1790 he was appointed a general of infantry in the Dutch States Army of which his father was Captain general, and he was made a member of the Council of State of the Netherlands. In November 1791 he took his new bride to The Hague.

After the National Convention of the French Republic had declared war on the Dutch Republic in February 1793, William was appointed commander-in-chief of the veldleger (mobile army) of the States Army (his father remained the nominal head of the armed forces). As such he commanded the troops that took part in the Flanders Campaign of 1793–95. He took part in the Battles of Veurne and Menin (where his brother was wounded) in 1793, and commanded during the Siege of Landrecies (1794), whose fortress surrendered to him. In May 1794 he had replaced general Kaunitz as commander of the combined Austro-Dutch forces on the instigation of Emperor Francis II who apparently had a high opinion of him. William was victorious at the Battles of Gosselies and Lambusart and proved to be an able commander, but the French armies ultimately proved too strong, and the general allied leadership too inept. Despite a well-executed attack by William on the French left, the allied army under Coburg was finally defeated at the Battle of Fleurus. The French first entered Dutch Brabant which they dominated after the Battle of Boxtel. When in the winter of 1794–95 the rivers in the Rhine delta froze over, the French breached the southern Hollandic Water Line and the situation became militarily untenable. In many places Dutch revolutionaries took over the local government. After the Batavian Revolution in Amsterdam on 18 January 1795 the stadtholder decided to flee to Britain, and his sons accompanied him. (On this last day in Holland his father relieved William honorably of his commands). The next day the Batavian Republic was proclaimed.

Exile
Soon after the departure to Britain the hereditary prince went back to the continent, where his brother was assembling former members of the States Army in Osnabrück for a planned invasion into the Batavian Republic in the summer of 1795. However, the neutral Prussian government forbade this.

In 1799, William landed in the current North Holland as part of an Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland. The hereditary prince was instrumental in fomenting a mutiny on the Batavian naval squadron in the Vlieter, resulting in the surrender of the ships without a fight to the Royal Navy, which accepted the surrender in the name of the stadtholder. Not all the local Dutch population, however, was pleased with the arrival of the prince. One local Orangist was even executed. The hoped-for popular uprising failed to materialise. After several minor battles the hereditary prince was forced to leave the country again after the Convention of Alkmaar. The mutineers of the Batavian fleet, with their ships, and a large number of deserters from the Batavian army accompanied the retreating British troops to Britain. There William formed the King's Dutch Brigade with these troops, a military unit in British service, that swore oaths of allegiance to the British king, but also to the States General, defunct since 1795, "whenever those would be reconstituted." This brigade trained on the Isle of Wight in 1800 and was eventually used by the British in Ireland.

When peace was concluded between Great Britain and the French Republic under First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte the Orange exiles were at their nadir. The Dutch Brigade was dissolved on 12 July 1802. Many members of the brigade went home to the Batavian Republic, thanks to an amnesty. The surrendered ships of the Batavian Navy were not returned, due to an agreement between the stadtholder and the British government of 11 March 1800. Instead the stadtholder was allowed to sell them to the Royal Navy for an appreciable sum.

The stadtholder, feeling betrayed by the British, left for Germany. The hereditary prince, having a more flexible mind, went to visit Napoleon at St. Cloud in 1802. He apparently charmed the First Consul, and was charmed by him. Napoleon raised hopes for William that he might have an important role in a reformed Batavian Republic. Meanwhile, William's brother-in-law Frederick William III of Prussia, neutral at the time, promoted a Franco-Prussian convention of 23 May 1802, in addition to the Treaty of Amiens, that gave the House of Orange a few abbatial domains in Germany, that were combined to the Principality of Nassau-Orange-Fulda by way of indemnification for its losses in the Batavian Republic. The stadtholder gave this principality immediately to his son.

When war broke out between the French Empire and Prussia in 1806, William supported his Prussian relatives, though he was nominally a French vassal. He received command of a Prussian division which took part in the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt. The Prussians lost that battle and William was forced to surrender his troops rather ignominiously at Erfurt the day after the battle. He was made a prisoner of war, but was paroled soon. Napoleon punished him for his betrayal, however, by taking away his principality. As a parolee, William was not allowed to take part in the hostilities anymore. After the Peace of Tilsit William received a pension from France in compensation.

In the same year, 1806, his father, the Prince of Orange died, and William not only inherited the title, but also his father's claims on the inheritance embodied in the Nassau lands. This would become important a few years later, when developments in Germany coincided to make William the Fürst (Prince) of a diverse assembly of Nassau lands that had belonged to other branches of the House of Nassau.

But before this came about, in 1809 tensions between Austria and France became intense, resulting in the War of the Fifth Coalition. William did not hesitate to join the Austrian army as a Feldmarschalleutnant (major-general) in May 1809 As a member of the staff of the Austrian supreme commander, Archduke Charles he took part in the Battle of Wagram, where he was wounded in the leg.

Tsar Alexander I of Russia played a central role in the restoration of the Netherlands. Prince William VI (as he was now known), who had been living in exile in Prussia, met with Alexander I in March 1813. Alexander promised to support William and help restore an independent Netherlands with William as king. Russian troops in the Netherlands participated with their Prussian allies in restoring the dynasty. Dynastic considerations of marriage between the royal houses of Great Britain and the Netherlands, assured British approval.

Return

After Napoleon's defeat at Leipzig (October 1813), the French troops retreated to France from all over Europe. The Netherlands had been annexed to the French Empire by Napoleon in 1810. But now city after city was evacuated by the French occupation troops. In the ensuing power vacuum a number of former Orangist politicians and former Patriots formed a provisional government in November 1813. Although a large number of the members of the provisional government had helped drive out William V 18 years earlier, it was taken for granted that his son would have to head any new government. They also agreed it would be better in the long term for the Dutch to restore him themselves, rather than have the Great Powers impose him on the country. The Dutch population were pleased with the departure of the French, who had ruined the Dutch economy, and this time welcomed the prince.

After having been invited by the Triumvirate of 1813, on 30 November 1813 William disembarked from HMS Warrior (1781) and landed at Scheveningen beach, only a few yards from the place where he had left the country with his father 18 years before, and on 6 December the provisional government offered him the title of king. William refused, instead proclaiming himself "Sovereign Prince of the Netherlands". He also wanted the rights of the people to be guaranteed by "a wise constitution".

The constitution offered William extensive, nearly absolute powers: ministers were only responsible to him, while a unicameral parliament (the States General) exercised only limited power. He was inaugurated as sovereign prince in the New Church in Amsterdam on 30 March 1814. In August 1814, he was appointed Governor-General of the former Austrian Netherlands and the Prince-Bishopric of Liège (more or less modern-day Belgium) by the Allied Powers who occupied that country, ruling them on behalf of Prussia. He was also made Grand Duke of Luxembourg, having received that territory in return for trading his hereditary German lands to Prussia and the Duke of Nassau. The Great Powers had already agreed via the secret Eight Articles of London to unite the Low Countries into a single kingdom, it was believed that this would help keep France in check. With the de facto addition of the Austrian Netherlands and Luxembourg to his realm, William had fulfilled his family's three-century dream of uniting the Low Countries.

King of the Netherlands

Feeling threatened by Napoleon, who had escaped from Elba, William proclaimed the Netherlands a kingdom on 16 March 1815 at the urging of the powers gathered at the Congress of Vienna. His son, the future king William II, fought as a commander at the Battle of Waterloo. After Napoleon had been sent into exile, William adopted a new constitution which included many features of the old constitution, such as extensive royal powers. He was formally confirmed as hereditary ruler of what was known as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands at the Congress of Vienna.

Principal changes
The States General was divided into two chambers. The Eerste Kamer (First Chamber or Senate or House of Lords) was appointed by the king. The Tweede Kamer (Second Chamber or House of Representatives or House of Commons) was elected by the Provincial States, which were in turn chosen by census suffrage. The 110 seats were divided equally between the north and the south, although the population of the north (2 million) was significantly less than that of the south (3.5 million). The States General's primary function was to approve the king's laws and decrees. The constitution contained many present-day Dutch political institutions; however, their functions and composition have changed greatly over the years.

The constitution was accepted in the north, but not in the south. The under-representation of the south was one of the causes of the Belgian Revolution. Referendum turnout was low, in the southern provinces, but William interpreted all abstentions to be yes votes. He prepared a lavish inauguration for himself in Brussels, where he gave the people copper coins (leading to his first nickname, the Copper King).

The spearhead of King William's policies was economic progress. As he founded many trade institutions, his second nickname was the King-Merchant. In 1822, he founded the Algemeene Nederlandsche Maatschappij ter Begunstiging van de Volksvlijt, which would become one of the most important institutions of Belgium after its independence. Industry flourished, especially in the South. In 1817, he also founded three universities in the southern provinces, such as a new University of Leuven, the University of Ghent and the University of Liège. The northern provinces, meanwhile, were the centre of trade. This, in combination with the colonies (Dutch East Indies, Surinam, Curaçao and Dependencies, and the Dutch Gold Coast) created great wealth for the kingdom. However, the money flowed into the hands of Dutch directors. Only a few Belgians managed to profit from the economic growth. Feelings of economic inequity were another cause of the Belgian uprising.

William was also determined to create a unified people, even though the north and the south had drifted far apart culturally and economically since the south was reconquered by Spain after the Act of Abjuration of 1581. The north was commercial, Protestant and entirely Dutch-speaking; the south was industrial, Roman Catholic and divided between Dutch and French-speakers.

Officially, a separation of church and state existed in the kingdom. However, William himself was a strong supporter of the Reformed Church. This led to resentment among the people in the mostly Catholic south. William had also devised controversial language and school policies. Dutch was imposed as the official language in (the Dutch-speaking region of) Flanders; this angered French-speaking aristocrats and industrial workers. Schools throughout the kingdom were required to instruct students in the Reformed faith and the Dutch language. Many in the south feared that the king sought to extinguish Catholicism and the French language.

Revolt of the Southern Provinces
In August 1830 Daniel Auber's opera La muette de Portici, about the repression of Neapolitans, was staged in Brussels. Performances of this opera seemed to crystallize a sense of nationalism and "Hollandophobia" in Brussels, and spread to the rest of the south. Rioting ensued, chiefly aimed at the kingdom's unpopular justice minister, Cornelis Felix van Maanen, who lived in Brussels. An infuriated William responded by sending troops to repress the riots. However, the riots had spread to other southern cities. The riots quickly became popular uprisings. An independent state of Belgium emerged out of the 1830 Revolution.

The next year, William sent his sons William, the Prince of Orange, and Prince Frederick to invade the new state. Although initially victorious in this Ten Days' Campaign, the Royal Netherlands Army was forced to retreat after the threat of French intervention. Some support for the Orange dynasty (chiefly among the Flemish) persisted for years, but the Dutch never regained control over Belgium. William nevertheless continued the war for eight years. His economic successes became overshadowed by a perceived mismanagement of the war effort. High costs of the war came to burden the Dutch economy, fueling public resentment. In 1839, William was forced to end the war. The United Kingdom of the Netherlands was dissolved by the Treaty of London (1839) and the northern part continued as the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It was not renamed, however, as the "United"-prefix had never been part of its official name, but rather was retrospectively added by historians for descriptive purposes.

Constitutional changes and abdication in later life

Constitutional changes were initiated in 1840 because the terms which involved the United Kingdom of the Netherlands had to be removed. These constitutional changes also included the introduction of judicial ministerial responsibility. Although the policies remained uncontrolled by parliament, the prerogative was controllable now. The very conservative William could not live with these constitutional changes. This, the disappointment about the loss of Belgium, and his intention to marry Henrietta d'Oultremont (paradoxically both "Belgian" and Roman Catholic) made him wish to abdicate. He fulfilled this intent on 7 October 1840 and his eldest son acceded to the throne as King William II. William I died in 1843 in Berlin at the age of 71.

Children
With his wife Wilhelmina, King William I had six children:

 * Willem Frederik George Lodewijk (b. The Hague, 6 December 1792 – d. Tilburg, 17 March 1849) later King William II of the Netherlands from 1840. Married Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna of Russia.
 * Stillborn son (Hampton Court, Palace, Middlesex, 18 August 1795).
 * Willem Frederik Karel (b. Berlin, 28 February 1797 – d. Wassenaar, 8 September 1881), married on 21 May 1825 his first cousin Louise, daughter of Frederick William III of Prussia.
 * Wilhelmina Frederika Louise Pauline Charlotte (b. Berlin, 1 March 1800 – d. Freienwalde, 22 December 1806).
 * Stillborn son (Berlin, 30 August 1806).
 * Wilhelmina Frederika Louise Charlotte Marianne (b. Berlin, 9 May 1810 – d. Schloss Reinhartshausen bei Erbach, 29 May 1883), married on 14 September 1830 with Prince Albert of Prussia. They divorced in 1849.

Honours

 * 🇳🇱 Netherlands:
 * Founder and Grand Master of the Military Order of William, 30 April 1815
 * Founder and Grand Master of the Order of the Netherlands Lion, 29 September 1815
 * Sweden: Knight of the Order of the Seraphim, 14 April 1813
 * 🇪🇸 Spain: 876th Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece, 5 July 1814
 * 🇬🇧 United Kingdom:
 * 648th Knight of the Order of the Garter, 10 August 1814
 * Honorary Knight of the Order of the Bath, 16 August 1814; Grand Cross (military), 2 January 1815
 * Prussia: Knight of the Order of the Black Eagle, 8 February 1787
 * Portugal: Grand Cross of the Sash of the Three Orders, October 1825
 * undefined: Grand Cross of the Order of St. Stephen, 1837
 * Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach: Grand Cross of the Order of the White Falcon, 20 November 1839

title: William I of the Netherlands


text:
User:Joakim Ziegler

Born 1977 in Norway, currently living in Mexico City, Mexico. Programmer, graphical designer, actor and writer, very interested in intellectual property issues and the creation of a large body of freely redistributable IP for the good of society in general.

Home page: http://www.avmaria.com/

My blog about working in Mexican direct to video movie production and generally about my movie activities: http://joakimziegler.blogspot.com/

Pages I wrote large pieces of, or started:

 * Miguel de Icaza
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 * Nazgûl
 * Ghost in the Shell
 * Lester Bangs
 * Hunter S. Thompson
 * Preacher comic
 * Clive Barker
 * Django Reinhardt
 * Akira (film)
 * Coat hanger
 * Tlatelolco massacre
 * Tlatelolco
 * Nick Cave
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 * Álvaro Delgado
 * El Yunque (organization)
 * Andrés Manuel López Obrador
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 * ZeroC and Internet Communications Engine

title: User:Joakim Ziegler


text:
Billung

The House of Billung was a dynasty of Saxon noblemen in the 9th through 12th centuries.

The first known member of the house was Count Wichmann, mentioned as a Billung in 811. Oda, the wife of Count Liudolf, oldest known member of the Liudolfing House, was also a Billung as was Matilda of Ringelheim.

In the 10th century, the property of the family was centered in the Bardengau around Lüneburg and they controlled the march named after them. In the middle of the 10th century, when the Saxon dukes of the House of Liudolfing had also become German kings, King Otto the Great entrusted more and more of his ducal authority to Hermann Billung. For five generations, the House of Billung ruled the Duchy of Saxony.

The house submerged into the Welf and Ascania dynasties when Duke Magnus died in 1106 without sons; the family's property was divided between his two daughters. His daughter Wulfhilde married Henry IX, Duke of Bavaria, a member of the House of Welf; his daughter Eilika married Otto, Count of Ballenstedt, a member of the House of Ascania. As a consequence, for the following decades control of Saxony was contested between the Welfs and Ascanians.

The Billung dukes of Saxony were:

 * Hermann, died 973
 * Bernard I, died 1011
 * Bernard II, died 1059
 * Ordulf, died 1072
 * Magnus, died 1106

title: Billung