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Vojvodina

Vojvodina (Војводина, ), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia, located in Central Europe. It lies within the Pannonian Basin, bordered to the south by the national capital Belgrade and the Sava and Danube Rivers. The administrative centre, Novi Sad, is the second-largest city in Serbia.

The historic regions of Banat, Bačka, and Syrmia overlap the province. Modern Vojvodina is multi-ethnic and multi-cultural, with some 26 ethnic groups and six official languages. Less than two million people, nearly 27% of Serbia's population, live in the province.

Name
Vojvodina is also the Serbian word for voivodeship, a type of duchy overseen by a voivode. The Serbian Voivodeship, a precursor to modern Vojvodina, was an Austrian province from 1849 to 1860.

Its official name is the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. Its name in the province's six official languages is:
 * Serbian: Аутономна Покрајина Војводина / Autonomna Pokrajina Vojvodina
 * Croatian: Autonomna Pokrajina Vojvodina
 * Pannonian Rusyn: Автономна Покраїна Войводина (Avtonomna Pokrayina Voyvodina)
 * Slovak: Autonómna pokrajina Vojvodina
 * Romanian: Provincia Autonomă Voivodina
 * Hungarian: Vajdaság Autonóm Tartomány

Pre-Roman times and Roman rule
In the Neolithic period, two important archaeological cultures flourished in this area: the Starčevo culture and the Vinča culture. Indo-European peoples first settled in the territory of present-day Vojvodina in 3200 BC. During the Eneolithic period, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age, several Indo-European archaeological cultures were centered in or around Vojvodina, including the Vučedol culture, the Vatin culture, and the Bosut culture, among others.

Before the Roman conquest in the 1st century BC, Indo-European peoples of Illyrian, Thracian and Celtic origin inhabited this area. The first states organized in this area were the Celtic State of the Scordisci (3rd century BC-1st century AD) with capital in Singidunum (Belgrade), and the Dacian Kingdom of Burebista (1st century BC).

During Roman rule, Sirmium (modern Sremska Mitrovica) was one of the four capital cities of the Roman Empire, and six Roman Emperors were born in this city or in its surroundings. The city was also the capital of several Roman administrative units, including Pannonia Inferior, Pannonia Secunda, the Diocese of Pannonia, and the Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum.

Roman rule lasted until the 5th century, after which the region came into the possession of various peoples and states. While Banat was a part of the Roman province of Dacia, Syrmia belonged to the Roman province of Pannonia. Bačka was not part of the Roman Empire and was populated and ruled by Sarmatian Iazyges.

Early Middle Ages and Slavic settlement
After the Romans were driven away from this region, various Indo-European and Turkic peoples and states ruled in the area. These peoples included Goths, Sarmatians, Huns, Gepids and Avars. For regional history, the largest in importance was a Gepid state, which had its capital in Sirmium. According to the 7th-century Miracles of Saint Demetrius, Avars gave the region of Syrmia to a Bulgar leader named Kuber circa 680. The Bulgars of Kuber moved south with Maurus to Macedonia where they co-operated with Tervel in the 8th century. Slavs settled today's Vojvodina in the 6th and 7th centuries, before some of them crossed the rivers Sava and Danube and settled in the Balkans. Slavic tribes that lived in the territory of present-day Vojvodina included Abodrites, Severans, Braničevci and Timočani.

In the 9th century, after the fall of the Avar state, the first forms of Slavic statehood emerged in this area. The first Slavic states that ruled over this region included the Bulgarian Empire, Great Moravia and Ljudevit's Pannonian Duchy. During the Bulgarian administration (9th century), local Bulgarian dukes, Salan and Glad, ruled over the region. Salan's residence was Titel, while that of Glad was possibly in the rumoured rampart of Galad or perhaps in the Kladovo (Gladovo) in eastern Serbia. Glad's descendant was the duke Ahtum, another local ruler from the 11th century who opposed the establishment of Hungarian rule over the region.

In the village of Čelarevo archaeologists have also found traces of people who practised the Judaic religion. Bunardžić dated Avar-Bulgar graves excavated in Čelarevo, containing skulls with Mongolian features and Judaic symbols, to the late 8th and 9th centuries. Erdely and Vilkhnovich consider the graves to belong to the Kabars who eventually broke ties with the Khazar Empire between the 830s and 862. (Three other Khazar tribes joined the Magyars and took part in the Magyar conquest of the Carpathian basin including what is now Vojvodina in 895–907.)

Hungarian rule
Following territorial disputes with Byzantine and Bulgarian states, most of Vojvodina became part of the Kingdom of Hungary between the 10th and 12th century and remained under Hungarian administration until the 16th century (Following periods of Ottoman and Habsburg administrations, Hungarian political dominance over most of the region was established again in 1867 and over entire region in 1882, after abolition of the Habsburg Military Frontier).

The regional demographic balance started changing in the 11th century when Magyars began to replace the local Slavic population. But from the 14th century, the balance changed again in favour of the Slavs when Serbian refugees fleeing from territories conquered by the Ottoman army settled in the area. Most of the Hungarians left the region during the Ottoman conquest and early period of Ottoman administration, so the population of Vojvodina in Ottoman times was predominantly Serbs (who comprised an absolute majority of Vojvodina at the time), with significant presence of Muslims of various ethnic backgrounds.

Ottoman rule
After the defeat of the Kingdom of Hungary at Mohács by the Ottoman Empire, the region fell into a period of anarchy and civil wars. In 1526 Jovan Nenad, a leader of Serb mercenaries, established his rule in Bačka, northern Banat and a small part of Syrmia. He created an ephemeral independent state, with Subotica as its capital.

At the peak of his power, Jovan Nenad proclaimed himself Serbian Emperor in Subotica. Taking advantage of the extremely confused military and political situation, the Hungarian noblemen from the region joined forces against him and defeated the Serbian troops in the summer of 1527. Emperor Jovan Nenad was assassinated and his state collapsed. After the fall of emperor's state, the supreme military commander of Jovan Nenad's army, Radoslav Čelnik, established his own temporary state in the region of Syrmia, where he ruled as Ottoman vassal.

A few decades later, the whole region was added to the Ottoman Empire, which ruled over it until the end of the 17th and the first half of the 18th century, when it was incorporated into the Habsburg monarchy. The Treaty of Karlowitz of 1699, between Holy League and Ottoman Empire, marked the withdrawal of the Ottoman forces from Central Europe, and the supremacy of the Habsburg monarchy in that part of the continent. According to the treaty, the western part of Vojvodina passed to Habsburgs. The eastern part (eastern Syrmia and Province of Tamışvar) remained in Ottoman hands until Austrian conquest in 1716. This new border change was ratified by the Treaty of Passarowitz in 1718.

Hungarian Crown land (1699–1849)
During the Great Serb Migration, Serbs from Ottoman territories settled in the Habsburg monarchy at the end of the 17th century (in 1690). Most settled in what is now Hungary, with the lesser part settling in western Vojvodina. All Serbs in the Habsburg monarchy gained the status of a recognized nation with extensive rights, in exchange for providing a border militia (in the Military Frontier) that could be mobilized against invaders from the south (such as the Ottomans), as well as in case of civil unrest in the Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary. Wallachian Right became the point of reference in the 18th century for military settlement in lowland region. The Vlachs who settled there were actually mainly Serbs, although there were also and Romanians while Aromanians lived in the urban areas.

At the beginning of Habsburg rule, most of the region was integrated into the Military Frontier, while western parts of Bačka were put under civil administration within the County of Bač. Later, the civil administration was expanded to other (mostly northern) parts of the region, while southern parts remained under military administration. The eastern part of this area was held again by the Ottoman Empire between 1787 and 1788, during the Russo-Turkish War. In 1716, Vienna temporarily forbade settlement by Hungarians and Jews in the area, while large numbers of German speakers were settled in the region from Bavaria and southern areas, in order to repopulate it and develop agriculture. From 1782, Protestant Hungarians and ethnic Germans settled in larger numbers.

During the 1848–49 revolutions, Vojvodina was a site of a war between Serbs and Hungarians, due to the opposite national conceptions of the two peoples. At the May Assembly in Sremski Karlovci (13–15 May 1848), Serbs declared the constitution of the Serbian Voivodship (Serbian Duchy), a Serbian autonomous region within the Austrian Empire. The Serbian Voivodship consisted of Srem, Bačka, Banat, and Baranja.

The head of the metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci, Josif Rajačić, was elected patriarch, while Stevan Šupljikac was chosen as first voivod (duke). The ethnic war erupted violently in the area, with both sides committing atrocities against the civilian populations.

Austrian Crown land (1849–1860)
Following the Habsburg-Russian and Serb victory over the Hungarians in 1849, a new administrative territory was created in the region in November 1849, in accordance with a decision made by the Austrian emperor. By this decision, the Serbian autonomous region created in 1848 was transformed into the new Austrian crown land known as Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar. It consisted of Banat, Bačka and Srem, excluding the southern parts of these regions which were part of the Military Frontier. An Austrian governor seated in Temeschwar ruled the area, while the title of Voivod belonged to the emperor himself. The full title of the emperor was "Grand Voivod of the Voivodship of Serbia" (German: Großwoiwode der Woiwodschaft Serbien). German and Serbian were the official languages of the crown land. In 1860, the new province was abolished and most of it (with exception of Syrmia) was again integrated into the Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary.

Hungarian Crown land (1860–1867)

Vojvodina remained Austrian Crown land until 1860, when Emperor Franz Joseph decided that it would be Hungarian Crown land again. After 1867, the Kingdom of Hungary became one of two self-governing parts of Austria-Hungary, and the territory was returned again to Hungarian administration.

Counties in the Kingdom of Hungary (1867–1920)
In 1867, a new county system was introduced. This territory was organized among Bács-Bodrog, Torontál and Temes counties. The era following the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 was a period of economic flourishing. The Kingdom of Hungary had the second-fastest growing economy in Europe between 1867 and 1913, but ethnic relations were strained. According to the 1910 census, the last census conducted in Austria-Hungary, the population of Vojvodina included 510,754 (33.8%) Serbs; 425,672 (28.1%) Hungarians; and 324,017 (21.4%) Germans.

Kingdom of Yugoslavia
At the end of World War I, the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed. On 29 October 1918, Syrmia became a part of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. On 31 October 1918, the Banat Republic was proclaimed in Timișoara. The government of Hungary recognized its independence, but it was short-lived.

On 25 November 1918, the Great People's Assembly of Serbs, Bunjevci and other Slavs in Banat, Bačka and Baranja in Novi Sad proclaimed the unification of Vojvodina (Banat, Bačka and Baranja) with the Kingdom of Serbia (The assembly numbered 757 deputies, of which 578 were Serbs, 84 Bunjevci, 62 Slovaks, 21 Rusyns, 6 Germans, 3 Šokci, 2 Croats and 1 Hungarian). One day before this, on 24 November, the Assembly of Syrmia also proclaimed the unification of Syrmia with Serbia. On 1 December 1918, Vojvodina (as part of the Kingdom of Serbia) officially became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.

Between 1929 and 1941, the region was part of the Danube Banovina, a province of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Its capital city was Novi Sad. Apart from the core territories of Vojvodina and Baranja, it included significant parts of Šumadija and Braničevo regions south of the Danube (but not the capital city of Belgrade).

World War II and immediate aftermath
Between 1941 and 1944, during World War II, Nazi Germany and its allies, Hungary and the Independent State of Croatia, occupied Vojvodina and divided it. Bačka and Baranja were annexed by Hungary and Syrmia was included in the Independent State of Croatia. A smaller Danube Banovina (including Banat, Šumadija, and Braničevo) was designated as part of the area governed by the Military Administration in Serbia. The administrative center of this smaller province was Smederevo. But, Banat was a separate autonomous region ruled by its ethnic German minority.

The occupying powers committed numerous crimes against the civilian population, especially against Serbs, Jews and Roma; the Jewish population of Vojvodina was almost completely killed or deported. In total, Axis occupational authorities killed about 50,000 citizens of Vojvodina (mostly Serbs, Jews and Roma) while more than 280,000 people were interned, arrested, violated or tortured. Such crimes in varying regions of Vojvodina were carried out by Nazi Germans, Ustaše and Hungarian Axis forces. Many historians and authors describe the Ustashe regime's mass killings as genocide of the Serbs, including Raphael Lemkin. In 1942, in the Novi Sad Raid, a military operation carried out by the Királyi Honvédség, the armed forces of Hungary, during World War II, after occupation and annexation of former Yugoslav territories. It resulted in the deaths of 3,000–4,000 civilians in the southern Bačka (Bácska) region. Under the Hungarian authority, 19,573 people were killed in Bačka, of which the majority of victims were of Serb, Jewish and Romani origin.

When Axis occupation ended in 1944, the region was temporarily placed under a military administration (1944–45) run by the new communist authorities. During and after the military administration, several thousands of citizens were killed. Victims were mostly ethnic Germans, but Hungarian and Serb populations were also killed. Both the war-time Axis occupational authorities and the post-war communist authorities ran concentration/prison camps in the territory of Vojvodina (see List of concentration and internment camps). While war-time prisoners in these camps were mostly Jews, Serbs and communists, post-war camps were formed for ethnic Germans (historically known as Danube Swabians).

Most Vojvodina ethnic Germans (about 200,000) fled the region in 1944, together with the defeated German army. Most of those who remained in the region (about 150,000) were sent to some of the villages cordoned off as prisons. It is estimated that some 48,447 Germans died in the camps from disease, hunger, malnutrition, mistreatment, and cold. Some 8,049 Germans were killed by partisans during military administration in Vojvodina after October 1944.

It has also been estimated that post-war communist authorities killed some 15,000–20,000 Hungarians and some 23,000–24,000 Serbs during Communist purges in Serbia in 1944–45. According to Dragoljub Živković, some 47,000 ethnic Serbs were murdered in Vojvodina between 1941 and 1948. About half were killed by occupational Axis forces and the other half by the post-war Communist authorities.

The region was politically restored in 1944 (incorporating Syrmia, Banat, Bačka and Baranja) and became an autonomous province of Serbia in 1945. Instead of the previous name (Danube Banovina), the region regained its historical name of Vojvodina, while its capital city remained Novi Sad. When the final borders of Vojvodina were defined, Baranja was assigned to Croatia, while the northern part of the Mačva region was assigned to Vojvodina.

Socialist Yugoslavia
For decades, the province enjoyed only a small level of autonomy within Serbia. Under the 1974 Yugoslav constitution, it gained extensive rights of self-rule, as both Kosovo and Vojvodina were given de facto veto power in the Serbian and Yugoslav parliaments. Changes to their status could not be made without the consent of the two Provincial Assemblies.

The 1974 Serbian constitution, adopted at the same time, reiterated that "the Socialist Republic of Serbia comprises the Socialist Autonomous Province of Vojvodina and the Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo, which originated in the common struggle of nations and nationalities of Yugoslavia in the National Liberation War (the Second World War) and socialist revolution".

In 1990s, during the war in Croatia in persecution of Croats in Serbia during Yugoslav Wars was organized and participated in the expulsion of the Croats in some places in Vojvodina. Based on an investigation by the Humanitarian Law Fund from Belgrade in the course of June, July, and August 1992, more than 10,000 Croats from Vojvodina exchanged their property for the property of Serbs from Croatia, and altogether about 20,000 Croats left Serbia. According to other estimations, the number of Croats which have left Serbia under political pressure of Milošević's regime might be between 20,000 and 40,000. According to Petar Kuntić of Democratic Alliance of Croats in Vojvodina, 50,000 Croats were pressured to move out from Serbia during the Yugoslav wars.

Under the rule of Serbian president Slobodan Milošević, a series of protests against Vojvodina's party leadership took place during the summer and autumn of 1988, which forced it to resign. Eventually Vojvodina and Kosovo had to accept Serbia's constitutional amendments that practically dismissed the autonomy of the provinces in Serbia. Vojvodina and Kosovo lost elements of statehood in September 1990 when the new constitution of the Republic of Serbia was adopted.

Vojvodina was still referred to as an autonomous province of Serbia, but most of its autonomous powers – including, crucially, its vote on the Yugoslav collective presidency – were transferred to the control of Belgrade, the capital. The province still had its own parliament and government, and some other autonomous functions as well. According to Đorđe Tomić, this is an example of a phantom border.

Contemporary period
The fall of Milošević in 2000 created a new political climate in Vojvodina. Following talks between the political parties, the level of the province's autonomy was somewhat increased by the omnibus law in 2002. The Vojvodina provincial assembly adopted a new statute on 15 October 2008, which, after being partially amended, was approved by the Parliament of Serbia.

On 28 January 2013, as an answer to the proposal of the Third Serbia political organization from Novi Sad to abolish the autonomy of Vojvodina, the pro-autonomist Vojvodina's Party performed a campaign that involved the posting of "Republic of Vojvodina" posters in Novi Sad.

Geography
Vojvodina is situated in the northern quarter of Serbia, in Central Europe. In the southeast part of the Pannonian Plain, the plain that remained when the Pliocene Pannonian Sea dried out. As a consequence of this, Vojvodina is rich in fertile loamy loess soil, covered with a layer of chernozem. The region is divided by the Danube and Tisa rivers into: Bačka in the northwest, Banat in the east and Syrmia (Srem) in the southwest. A small part of the Mačva region is also located in Vojvodina, in the Srem District.

Today, the western part of Syrmia is in Croatia, the northern part of Bačka is in Hungary, the eastern part of Banat is in Romania (with a small piece in Hungary), while Baranja (which is between the Danube and the Drava) is in Hungary and Croatia. Vojvodina has a total surface area of 21500 km2. Vojvodina is also part of the Danube-Kris-Mures-Tisa euroregion. The Gudurica peak (Gudurički vrh) on the Vršac Mountains, is the highest peak in Vojvodina, at an altitude of 641 m above sea level.

The climate of the area is moderate continental, including cold winters and hot and humid summers. The Vojvodina climate is characterized by a vast range of extreme temperatures and very irregular rainfall distribution per month.

Politics
The Assembly of Vojvodina is the provincial legislature composed of 120 proportionally elected members. The current members were elected in the 2020 provincial elections. The Government of Vojvodina is the executive administrative body composed of a president and cabinet ministers.

The current ruling coalition in the Vojvodina parliament is composed of the following political parties: Serbian Progressive Party, Socialist Party of Serbia and Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians. The current president of Vojvodinian government is Igor Mirović (Serbian Progressive Party), while the president of the provincial Assembly is István Pásztor (Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians).

Administrative divisions
Vojvodina is divided into seven districts. They are regional centers of state authority, but have no powers of their own; they present purely administrative divisions. The seven districts are further subdivided into 37 municipalities and the 8 cities of Kikinda, Novi Sad, Subotica, Zrenjanin, Pančevo, Sombor, Sremska Mitrovica, and Vršac.

Demographics

Vojvodina is more diverse than the rest of Serbia with more than 25 ethnic groups and six languages which are in official use by the provincial administration.

Population by ethnicity:

Population by mother tongue:

Population by religion:

Culture
There are two daily newspapers published in Vojvodina, Dnevnik in Serbian and Magyar Szó in Hungarian. Monthly and weekly publications in minority languages include Hrvatska riječ ("Croatian Word") in Croatian, Hlas Ľudu ("The Voice of the People") in Slovak, Libertatea ("Freedom") in Romanian, and Руске слово ("Rusyn Word") in Rusyn. There is also Bunjevačke novine ("The Bunjevac newspaper") in Bunjevac.

Public Broadcasting Service of Vojvodina was founded in 1974 as Radio Television of Novi Sad, as an equal member of the association of JRT, Yugoslav Radio Television. Radio Novi Sad's first broadcast was on 29 November 1949. During the NATO bombing in the spring of 1999, the RT Novi Sad building of 20 thousand square meters was completely destroyed along with its basic production and technical premises. The Venac terrestrial broadcasting site was heavily damaged.

The Radio-Television of Vojvodina produces and broadcasts regional programming on two channels, RTV1 (Serbian language) and RTV2 (minority languages), and three radio frequencies: Radio Novi Sad 1 (Serbian), Radio Novi Sad 2 (Hungarian), Radio Novi Sad 3 (other minority communities).

Economy
The economy of Vojvodina is largely based on developed food industry and fertile agricultural soil. Agriculture is a priority sector in Vojvodina. Traditionally, it has always been a significant part of the local economy and a generator of positive results, due to the abundance of fertile agricultural land which makes up 84% of its territory. The share of agribusiness in the total industrial production is 40%, that is 30% in the total exports of Vojvodina.

The metal industry of Vojvodina has a long tradition and consists of smaller metal processing companies for components manufacturing and, to a lesser extent, of original equipment manufacturers (OEM) with their own brand name products. Vojvodina Metal Cluster gathers 116 companies with 6,300 employees. Other branches of industry are also developed such as the chemical industry, electrical industry, oil industry and construction industry. In the past decade, ICT sector has been growing rapidly and has taken significant role in Vojvodina's economic development.

High- tech sector is a fast-growing sector in Vojvodina. Software development represents the main source of revenue, particularly development of ERP solutions, Java applications and mobile applications. IT sector companies mainly deal with software outsourcing, based on demands of international clients or with development of their own software products for purposes of domestic and international market. Vojvodina pays particular attention to interregional and cross-border economic cooperation, as well as to implementation of priorities defined within the EU Strategy for the Danube Region.

Some of the companies from Vojvodina:
 * Naftna Industrija Srbije
 * Srbijagas
 * HIP Petrohemija
 * Apatin Brewery
 * Novosadski sajam

Vojvodina promotes its investment potentials through the Vojvodina Investment Promotion (VIP) agency, which was founded by the Parliament of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina.

Transport
There are many important roads which pass through Vojvodina. First of all, the motorway A1 motorway which goes from Central Europe and the Horgos border crossing to Hungary, via Novi Sad to Belgrade and further to the southeast toward Niš, where it branches: one way leads east to the border with Bulgaria; the other to the south, towards Greece. Motorway A3 in Srem separates the west, towards the neighboring Croatia and further to Western Europe. There is also a network of regional and local roads and railway lines.

The three largest rivers in Vojvodina are navigable stream. Danube River with a length of 588 kilometers and its tributaries Tisa (168 km), Sava (206 km) and Bega (75 km). Among them was dug extensive network of irrigation canals, drainage and transport, with a total length of 939 km, of which 673 km navigable.

Tourism
Tourist destinations in Vojvodina include well known Orthodox monasteries on Fruška Gora mountain, numerous hunting grounds, cultural-historical monuments, different folklores, interesting galleries and museums, plain landscapes with a lot of greenery, big rivers, canals and lakes, sandy terrain Deliblatska Peščara ("the European Sahara"), etc. In the last few years, Exit has been a popular music festival.

Media

 * Oko sveta, television news magazine
 * Radio Television of Vojvodina, regional public broadcaster

title: Vojvodina


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Talk:German (Deutsch)

German: Deutsch: Wie gehts, Alles!

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

title: Talk:German (Deutsch)


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Wikipedia:Guide for h2g2 Researchers

Welcome to Wikipedia, Researcher! Like h2g2, Wikipedia is a collaborative online project. However, there are some major differences between the two, so this guide has been put together to help you. Our general Help and FAQ pages are at your disposal.

Cultural differences
Wikipedia is focused on making an encyclopedia. Unlike h2g2, there's not a lot of unrelated socializing; almost all of Wikipedia's chat is about improving specific articles or the project as a whole. Wikipedia's style may sound dry at first to you. This reaction is natural. Remember that it's not Wikipedia's place, as an encyclopedia, to give advice or suggest good restaurants. The Edited Guide Entries Knocking on Doors and First Kiss, Last Kiss, Best Kiss and Worst Kiss for instance, are great h2g2 content but would be out of place here.

Anyone can edit any article here. Your contributions will be edited, rearranged, re-worded and expanded, and you shouldn't be shy about doing the same to other people's work. Be bold in updating pages!

Wikipedia is self-moderated to a greater extent than h2g2's reactive moderation system. Like h2g2 Researchers, most Wikipedians try to avoid personal attacks. If you say something you regret, just say you're sorry and delete it. If someone offends you, we have some advice on staying cool when the editing gets hot.

Good neighbours
Many people are members of several different collaboratively written encyclopedia projects at once. Here on Wikipedia, you will have a "User Page" with a function similar to your own Personal Space on h2g2. Unlike the rest of the site, you can put whatever you want on your User Page - opinions, hobbies, news, random humor and links to your home pages on other encyclopedia sites - as long as you don't dump a huge amount of content on your user page that is unrelated to Wikipedia.

For example, you may want to link to your h2g2 Personal Space from your Wikipedia User Page. A userbox has been created specifically to help you do this, called User:UBX/h2g2. It looks like this:

Use this code to add it to your User Page, replacing U123 with your own U-number from h2g2:

You may also be interested in reading h2g2's entry about Wikipedia.

Moving content from h2g2 to Wikipedia
Please copy your good encyclopedic content from h2g2 to Wikipedia! Don't forget to search for related Wikipedia content first—if Wikipedia already has an article on the subject, just merge your own content into it: be bold!

Legal issues
When you contributed to h2g2, you retained the copyright to those contributions—Not Panicking Ltd. is simply granted non-exclusive license to use them as they see fit. You can, therefore, move any unedited entries that you have personally written on h2g2 to Wikipedia. Mention on the Wikipedia article's talk page (click "Discuss this page") that you originally wrote the material for h2g2 and give your Researcher Number (U-number), so that nobody thinks you're committing plagiarism. For collaborative unedited entries, or entries you did not write, you will need the permission of all major contributors (see Copyright).

The major exception to this is Approved Entries. These may incorporate work from multiple people, and their copyright status is unclear. However, you can contribute the original version to Wikipedia. You could also ask Not Panicking Ltd for permission to submit the approved version to Wikipedia.

Any contributions you make to Wikipedia are released under the Creative Commons ShareAlike License. However, you retain the copyright to your own work and are free to modify and distribute it in any way you wish.

Changes to make
Content needs to be converted from GuideML to wiki markup. Generally it's easiest to copy and paste the text and add markup rather than copying the GuideML. Wikipedia titles are generally shorter, so phrases like "a short guide to" should be removed, and most titles should only have lower-case letters. See the article titles for all the details.

Wikipedia has a different manual of style from h2g2. However, if your article doesn't match that style, someone will change it so it does, so don't panic. Also, Wikipedia has a much higher proportion of links per article than h2g2. It's easy to link something by putting it in square brackets. Don't forget to add links from other articles to yours, where it's appropriate.

On h2g2 you can sometimes use devices like "one Researcher recalls" or quotes to add experiences of individual Researchers. On Wikipedia we try to quote opinions from people who are influential, or have some special expertise, and the best people for that generally won't be Wikipedians. We have a policy called the neutral point of view (NPOV). It is similar to h2g2's requirements for balance in Edited Entries on controversial subjects, but there are subtle differences in the two policies. It may take you a little time to get used to the Wikipedia approach, but don't worry too much about it. Anyone can fix your mistakes while you're getting the hang of things.

Moving content from Wikipedia to h2g2
Moving articles from Wikipedia to h2g2 is tricky because of certain conditions required by Not Panicking Ltd. While you are welcome to copy and reuse any Wikipedia article, e.g. on your own web site, the requirements of Not Panicking Ltd are not compatible with the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA 3.0 license.

Typically you can only move Wikipedia articles to h2g2 in the event that you are the only person who has worked on that article. The best course of action would be to save a local copy of your Wikipedia article on your computer before anyone else edits it. Another option is to pull your original version out of the article's history; click the "history" link at the top of any page for older versions.

Someone to ask
On Wikipedia there's a genuine plethora of people and locations to ask for help, either generally or more specifically about the transfer from h2g2 to Wikipedia. Some possibilities are given below. Individuals who are happy to be contacted, please add yourselves:
 * The Teahouse - a help desk dedicated to helping new editors
 * The Media Copyright Helpdesk - any queries about moving copyrighted material not answered above, they should be able to help
 * The Reference Desk - a library reference desk that can answer both an actual content question or a sourcing query.
 * Nosebagbear - Hi there! I was an h2g2 researcher for 5 years, including being an ACE. I moved to Wikipedia a couple of years back and am now an admin. Ask me anything!

Final words
We hope you find working on Wikipedia to be fun and rewarding. If you have questions that you can't find the answers to, drop by the village pump and ask away. Chances are a friendly Wikipedian or three will have some answers for you.

There is also a Guide for Everything2 noders.

title: Wikipedia:Guide for h2g2 Researchers


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Physical geodesy

Physical geodesy is the study of the physical properties of Earth's gravity and its potential field (the geopotential), with a view to their application in geodesy.

Measurement procedure
Traditional geodetic instruments such as theodolites rely on the gravity field for orienting their vertical axis along the local plumb line or local vertical direction with the aid of a spirit level. After that, vertical angles (zenith angles or, alternatively, elevation angles) are obtained with respect to this local vertical, and horizontal angles in the plane of the local horizon, perpendicular to the vertical.

Levelling instruments again are used to obtain geopotential differences between points on the Earth's surface. These can then be expressed as "height" differences by conversion to metric units.

Units
Gravity is commonly measured in units of m·s−2 (metres per second squared). This also can be expressed (multiplying by the gravitational constant G in order to change units) as newtons per kilogram of attracted mass.

Potential is expressed as gravity times distance, m2·s−2. Travelling one metre in the direction of a gravity vector of strength 1 m·s−2 will increase your potential by 1 m2·s−2. Again employing G as a multiplier, the units can be changed to joules per kilogram of attracted mass.

A more convenient unit is the GPU, or geopotential unit: it equals 10 m2·s−2. This means that travelling one metre in the vertical direction, i.e., the direction of the 9.8 m·s−2 ambient gravity, will approximately change your potential by 1 GPU. Which again means that the difference in geopotential, in GPU, of a point with that of sea level can be used as a rough measure of height "above sea level" in metres.

Geoid
Due to the irregularity of the Earth's true gravity field, the equilibrium figure of sea water, or the geoid, will also be of irregular form. In some places, like west of Ireland, the geoid—mathematical mean sea level—sticks out as much as 100 m above the regular, rotationally symmetric reference ellipsoid of GRS80; in other places, like close to Sri Lanka, it dives under the ellipsoid by nearly the same amount. The separation between the geoid and the reference ellipsoid is called the undulation of the geoid, symbol $$N$$.

The geoid, or mathematical mean sea surface, is defined not only on the seas, but also under land; it is the equilibrium water surface that would result, would sea water be allowed to move freely (e.g., through tunnels) under the land. Technically, an equipotential surface of the true geopotential, chosen to coincide (on average) with mean sea level.

As mean sea level is physically realized by tide gauge bench marks on the coasts of different countries and continents, a number of slightly incompatible "near-geoids" will result, with differences of several decimetres to over one metre between them, due to the dynamic sea surface topography. These are referred to as vertical datums or height datums.

For every point on Earth, the local direction of gravity or vertical direction, materialized with the plumb line, is perpendicular to the geoid (see astrogeodetic leveling).

Geoid determination
The undulation of the geoid is closely related to the disturbing potential according to the famous Bruns' formula:

N=T/\gamma\,, $$ where $$\gamma$$ is the force of gravity computed from the normal field potential $$U$$.

In 1849, the mathematician George Gabriel Stokes published the following formula, named after him:

N=\frac{R}{4\pi \gamma_0}\iint_\sigma \Delta g \,S(\psi)\, d\sigma. $$

In Stokes' formula or Stokes' integral, $$\Delta g$$ stands for gravity anomaly, differences between true and normal (reference) gravity, and S is the Stokes function, a kernel function derived by Stokes in closed analytical form.

Note that determining $$N$$ anywhere on Earth by this formula requires $$\Delta g$$ to be known everywhere on Earth, including oceans, polar areas, and deserts. For terrestrial gravimetric measurements this is a near-impossibility, in spite of close international co-operation within the International Association of Geodesy (IAG), e.g., through the International Gravity Bureau (BGI, Bureau Gravimétrique International).

Another approach is to combine multiple information sources: not just terrestrial gravimetry, but also satellite geodetic data on the figure of the Earth, from analysis of satellite orbital perturbations, and lately from satellite gravity missions such as GOCE and GRACE. In such combination solutions, the low-resolution part of the geoid solution is provided by the satellite data, while a 'tuned' version of the above Stokes equation is used to calculate the high-resolution part, from terrestrial gravimetric data from a neighbourhood of the evaluation point only.

Gravity anomalies
Above we already made use of gravity anomalies $$\Delta g$$. These are computed as the differences between true (observed) gravity $$g=\|\vec{g}\|$$, and calculated (normal) gravity $$\gamma=\|\vec{\gamma}\|=\|\nabla U\|$$. (This is an oversimplification; in practice the location in space at which γ is evaluated will differ slightly from that where g has been measured.) We thus get

\Delta g = g - \gamma.\, $$

These anomalies are called free-air anomalies, and are the ones to be used in the above Stokes equation.

In geophysics, these anomalies are often further reduced by removing from them the attraction of the topography, which for a flat, horizontal plate (Bouguer plate) of thickness H is given by

a_B=2\pi G\rho H,\, $$

The Bouguer reduction to be applied as follows:

\Delta g_B = \Delta g_{FA} - a_B,\, $$

so-called Bouguer anomalies. Here, $$\Delta g_{FA}$$ is our earlier $$\Delta g$$, the free-air anomaly.

In case the terrain is not a flat plate (the usual case!) we use for H the local terrain height value but apply a further correction called the terrain correction.

title: Physical geodesy


text:
Parker–Hulme murder case

The Parker–Hulme murder case was the murder of Honorah Rieper in Christchurch, New Zealand, on 22 June 1954. The perpetrators were Rieper's teenage daughter Pauline Parker and her friend Juliet Hulme. Parker was 16 at the time, while Hulme was 15.

The murder received wider public attention following the release of Peter Jackson's 1994 film Heavenly Creatures.

Background
Pauline Yvonne Parker (also known as Pauline Rieper) was born on 26 May 1938. She met Juliet Hulme when they were both in their early teens. Parker came from a working-class background. Her parents were part-time house staff and gardeners, employed by the University of Canterbury. Her father, Herbert Rieper, and her mother, Honorah Mary Parker, were living together but were not actually married (this was not public knowledge and was only revealed at the trial).

Juliet Hulme was born in London in 1938 and emigrated to New Zealand in 1948 with her parents. She was the daughter of Henry Hulme, a physicist who became the rector of University of Canterbury. The university provided their accommodation and the family lived at Ilam Homestead. Both Hulme and Parker attended Christchurch Girls' High School. The girls had both suffered illnesses as children – Parker osteomyelitis and Hulme tuberculosis – which formed the basis of an initial connection.

As their friendship developed, Parker and Hulme formed an elaborate fantasy life together. They wrote plays, books, and stories centred in this world. The girls had an intense friendship which caused concern in Parker's parents that they were engaged in a sexual relationship; homosexuality at the time was considered a mental illness. The Hulmes also had concerns, but both families continued to allow the girls to see one another, and Parker was accepted at the Hulme home in Ilam for overnights and vacations. Hulme became withdrawn and ill when Parker would leave her home without her.

During their relationship, the girls invented their own personal religion, with their own ideas on morality. They rejected Christianity and worshipped their own saints, envisioning a parallel dimension called The Fourth World, essentially their version of Heaven. The Fourth World was a place that they felt they were already able to enter occasionally, during moments of spiritual enlightenment. By Parker's account, they had achieved this spiritual enlightenment because of their friendship.

Parker was not invited to go to Ilam over the summer holidays in 1953 as she had been in previous years. In 1954, Hulme's parents separated. Problems with faculty and the board forced Hulme’s father to resign from his position as rector of the university, and her mother was involved in an extramarital affair. Hulme's family planned to return to England, but it was decided that Hulme herself would be sent to live with relatives in South Africa—ostensibly for her health.

Both girls were heartbroken over their upcoming separation and decided that Parker should go to South Africa as well. They thought the Hulmes would agree to this plan. Parker was certain her mother would not allow her to go with Hulme. The girls formed a plan to murder Parker's mother in order to remove their perceived obstacle in them remaining together. Their long term plan was to go to South Africa and then head to Hollywood or New York City, where they believed they would publish their writing and work in film.

Murder
On the afternoon of 22 June 1954, Parker and Hulme had afternoon tea with Parker's mother, Honorah Rieper, in a tea kiosk in Victoria Park, Christchurch. Following their meal they walked through a wooded area of the park approximately 130 m down the path, where Hulme and Parker bludgeoned Rieper to death with half of a brick enclosed in an old stocking. After committing the murder, the two girls ran back to the Tea Kiosk. They were met by Agnes and Kenneth Ritchie, owners of the tea shop, whom they told that Rieper had fallen and hit her head.

Rieper's body was discovered in Victoria Park by Ritchie. Major lacerations were found about her head, neck, and face, with minor injuries to her fingers. Police soon discovered the murder weapon in the nearby woods. The girls' story of Rieper's accidental death quickly fell apart.

Trial and conviction
Prior to the trial, Parker had been known as Pauline Rieper. Her mother had been living with her father, Herbert Rieper, but the police investigations revealed that they were not, in fact, married. Thus, during the trial, both Honorah and Pauline were referred to with the surname "Parker".

The trial was a sensational affair, with speculation about the girls' possible lesbianism and insanity. Parker and Hulme were convicted on 28 August 1954; and, as they were too young to be considered for the death penalty, each spent five years in prison. Juliet Hulme served her sentence at Mount Eden prison in Auckland. Some sources say they were released on condition that they never contact each other again, but Sam Barnett, then Secretary for Justice, told journalists there was no such condition. Hulme's release was unconditional, and she immediately rejoined her father in Italy, while Parker was placed on six months' parole in New Zealand, after which she left the country.

Less than four months later, the murder was taken as strong evidence of moral decline by the Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents in what became known as the Mazengarb Report, named after Ossie Mazengarb, who chaired the committee.

Release
Following her release from prison, Parker was given a new identity as Hilary Nathan, and spent some time in New Zealand under close surveillance before being allowed to leave for England. From at least 1992, she was living in the small village of Hoo, near Strood, Kent, and running a children's riding school. As an adult, she became a devout Roman Catholic. While she has never spoken to the press, in a 1996 statement released through her sister she expressed strong remorse for having killed her mother. Her sister further stated that "[Pauline] committed the most terrible crime and has spent 40 years repaying it by keeping away from people and doing her own little thing ... After it happened, she was very sorry about it. It took her about five years to realise what she had done."

After her release from prison, Hulme spent time in England and the United States, later settling in Scotland and becoming a successful historical detective novelist under her new name, Anne Perry. She had been a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since about 1968. Until 1994, it was not well-known that Perry was Hulme. In March 2006, Hulme/Perry stated that, while her relationship with Parker was obsessive, they were not lesbians.

Hulme/Perry died on 10 April 2023, at the age of 84.

Film

 * Mais ne nous délivrez pas du mal (1971)
 * Heavenly Creatures (1994)
 * Reflections of the Past (2011)

Books

 * The Evil Friendship by M. E. Kerr (1958)
 * Harriet Said... (1972)
 * "So Brilliantly Clever," (2011)
 * The 2013 edition was retitled as "Anne Perry and the Murder of the Century".
 * All The Birds, Singing (2013)
 * These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever (2020)

Theatre

 * The Christchurch Murder by Angela Carter aired on BBC Radio 4 in September 2018.
 * Mary Orr and Reginald Denham's 1967 play Minor Murder,
 * Michelanne Forster's 1992 New Zealand play Daughters of Heaven
 * Folie à Deux (2010)

title: Parker–Hulme murder case


text:
Babson College

Babson College is a private business school in Wellesley, Massachusetts. It was established in 1919 by Roger W. Babson as an all-male business institute and became coeducational in 1970.

20th century
On September 3, 1919, with an enrollment of twenty-seven students, the Babson Institute held its first classes in the former home of Roger and Grace Babson on Abbott Road in Wellesley Hills. The Institute provided intensive training in the fundamentals of production, finance and distribution in one academic year.

The institute's curriculum focused on practical experience. Students worked on group projects and class presentations, observed manufacturing processes during field trips to area factories and businesses, met with managers and executives, and viewed industrial films on Saturday mornings.

The institute also maintained a business environment as part of the students' everyday life. The students, required to wear professional attire, kept regular business hours and were monitored by punching in and out on a time clock. They were also assigned an office desk equipped with machiners standard at the time. Personal secretaries typed the students' assignments and correspondence in an effort to accurately reflect the business world. Roger Babson aimed to "prepare his students to enter their chosen careers as executives, not anonymous members of the work force."

In 1969, Babson converted its three-year Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree into a four-year Bachelor of Science degree. That same year, the institute became a college, and women were admitted for the first time.

21st century
Babson is involved in a three-college collaboration with Olin College and Wellesley College (a collaboration often referred to as BOW).

Wellesley Main Campus
The main residential campus of Babson College is 350 acre and located in the "Babson Park" section of Wellesley, Massachusetts, just fifteen miles west of Boston.

Undergraduate program
Babson College offers a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. Students can choose from 24 concentrations in business and other fields during their junior and senior years. Programs are accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and the college itself has been institutionally accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education or its predecessor since 1950.

Graduate program
The F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College offers a One-Year MBA Program, a Two-Year MBA Program, a 42-month Evening MBA Program and a Blended Learning MBA Program with campuses located in Boston, San Francisco and Miami. It also offers a Master's of Science in Entrepreneurial Leadership, Business Analytics, Finance, and a Certificate of Advanced Management.

Rankings and reputation
Babson's undergraduate school and MBA program have ranked #1 by the U.S. News & World Report for entrepreneurship

In 2024, Babson ranked tenth on The Wall Street Journal 's best colleges, ranking first for career preparedness. Because Babson solely offers programs in business administration, many publications do not include the college in their overall rankings.

Student life

Student publications include a literary magazine and the Babson Built Podcast. There are several fraternities and sororities on campus. Babson College Radio was started in 1998.

Athletics
Babson's teams are known as the "Beavers" and its colors are green and white. The school has 23 varsity sports teams, the majority of which compete in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) of the NCAA Division III. Babson's Baseball team has won 7 Conference Championships and been to 5 NCAA Tournaments, including the 2019 College World Series. Additionally, the men's soccer team have won 3 NCAA National Championships, 27 NCAA tournaments wins and 12 conference championships. The men's and women's alpine ski teams compete in the United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association (USCSA) and the men's lacrosse team competes in the Pilgrim League. Babson College's men's hockey team competes in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) and has won (1) NCAA D3 National title, (1) ECAC D2 title, six ECAC East Championships, appearing in the championship game in 9 of the last 12 seasons. Babson College's men's golf team competes in the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) and won the title in 2011. Babson United Rugby Club won Northeast region of NSCRO 7's in 2016. In March 2017, Babson's basketball team won the Division III National Championship.

Business and athletics

 * Ernesto Bertarelli '89: Swiss businessman
 * Arthur M. Blank '63 H'98: co-founder, former CEO of The Home Depot
 * Peter Boss MBA '10: race car driver
 * Edward Maurice Bronfman '50 (1927–2005): businessman, founder of Edper Investments
 * Matt Chatham MBA '11: former NFL linebacker with the New England Patriots
 * Anthony Chiasson '95: hedge fund manager
 * Matt Coffin '90: founder and former President of LowerMyBills.com
 * Andrónico Luksic Craig '76: businessman
 * Bob Davis MBA '85: founder and CEO of Lycos
 * Edsel Bryant Ford II '73 H'00: Board Director of the Ford Motor Company
 * Scott Fraser MBA '05, former NHL hockey player
 * William D. Green '76 MBA '77 H'07: Former Chairman and CEO of Accenture
 * Frederic C. Hamilton '48 H'98 MP'82 (1927–2016): oil pioneer
 * Peter R. Kellogg '64: financial broker
 * John Kluge Jr. MBA '17, venture capitalist, philanthropist, son of billionaire John Kluge
 * Will Langhorne '95: former race car driver
 * Peter E. Madden '64 P'04 Honorary Trustee: former President of the State Street Corporation
 * Charles Dean Metropoulos '67 MBA '68: co-owner of Hostess Brands and former owner of Pabst Brewing Company
 * Geoffrey Eric Molson MBA '96: co-owner, President and CEO of the Montreal Canadiens
 * David G. Mugar '62: businessperson
 * Gunnar S. Overstrom Jr. '65 (1942–2001): former Vice Chairman of FleetBoston Financial
 * Aly Raisman Olympic gold medalist for United States women's national gymnastics team
 * Tim Ryan, Senior Partner and Chairman of PwC US
 * Scott Sharp '90: race car driver
 * Jacob Sprague '07: rugby player
 * Akio Toyoda MBA '82 MP' 14: President and CEO of Toyota Motor Corporation

Food and entertainment

 * Marc Bell '89: entrepreneur, Three-Time Tony Award Winner (Jersey Boys, August: Osage County and Stereophonic)
 * Terrell Braly '77: founder of Quiznos
 * Gustavo Cisneros '68 H'19: President/CEO of Organizacion Diego Cisneros
 * Roger Enrico '65 H'86 (1994–2016): former CEO of PepsiCo and DreamWorks Animation SKG
 * Stephen Gaghan '88: screenwriter
 * Daniel Frank Gerber '20 H'67 (1898–1974): founder of Gerber Products Company
 * Bernard Lee MBA '99: professional poker player
 * John LeFevre '01: former Citibank banker
 * Mir Ibrahim Rahman '00: CEO of GEO TV
 * Nelson Woss '91: Australian film producer of Ned Kelly & Red Dog

Government, education, and other

 * Craig Robert Benson '77, businessperson, former Governor of New Hampshire
 * Vincent E. Boles MBA '88: Major General US Army
 * W. Haydon Burns '34 (1912–1987): 35th Governor of Florida, 1965–67 and 35th Mayor of Jacksonville, Florida, 1949–1965
 * Nick Collins '08: Massachusetts State Senator
 * Rudy Crew '72 H'96: President of Medgar Evers College
 * Princess Marie of Denmark: attended 1995-97
 * Kathleen M. Gainey MBA '89: lieutenant general US Army
 * James A. Lewis '58 (1932–1997): American politician
 * Patricia E. McQuistion MBA '88: lieutenant general US Army
 * Lafayette Morgan '58 (1931–2005): former Economic Advisor of Liberia
 * Ernest Dichmann Peek '29 (1878–1950): major general, U.S. Army
 * Gustavo Adolfo Carvajal Sinisterra MBA '84: the 24th Ambassador of Colombia to France
 * Don Strauch '49 (1926–2016): former Mayor of Mesa, Arizona
 * Jack Tilton (1951–2017) '74 P'09: art dealer

Fashion and fitness

 * Michael Bastian '87: business person
 * Count Enrico Marone Cinzano '85: artist, furniture designer and member of Italy's prominent Cinzano liquor family
 * Ruthie Davis MBA '93: founder, president and designer of the fashion and footwear firm RUTHIE DAVIS
 * Natasha Esch '93: former president of Wilhelmina Models
 * Mohan Murjani '67: as chairman of the Murjani Group Murjani developed, launched and built Tommy Hilfiger as well as Gloria Vanderbilt fashion empires
 * Alberto Perlman '98: co-founder of Zumba Fitness

title: Babson College


text:
Roger Babson

Roger Ward Babson (July 6, 1875 – March 5, 1967) was an American entrepreneur, economist, and business theorist in the first half of the 20th century. He is best remembered for founding Babson College. He also founded Webber College, now Webber International University, in Babson Park, Florida, and the defunct Utopia College, in Eureka, Kansas.

Babson was born to Nathaniel Babson and his wife Ellen Stearns as part of the 10th generation of Babsons to live in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Roger attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology and worked for investment firms before founding Babson's Statistical Organization (1904), which analyzed stocks and business reports; it continues today as Babson-United, Inc.

On March 29, 1900, Babson married his first wife, Grace Margaret Knight, who died in 1956. In 1957, he married Nona M. Dougherty, who died in 1963. Babson died in 1967.

Work on financial theory
Babson's success as an investor was based on unorthodox views of the operation of markets. According to his biographer John Mulkern, Babson attributed the business cycle "to Sir Isaac Newton's law of action and reaction... (with a) pseudoscientific notion that gravity can be used to explain movement in the stock markets." His market forecasting techniques are expounded in articles in Traders World Magazine and the Gravity Research Foundation he founded.

He graduated from MIT with a degree in engineering. As a college student, he lobbied the dean to include a business course, which resulted in a course known as "Business Engineering." Eventually, the business engineering program was expanded, and it is now seen as the forerunner of the MBA degree.

Babson authored more than 40 books on economic and social problems, the most widely read being Business Barometers (eight editions) and Business Barometers for Profits, Security, Income (10 editions). Babson also wrote hundreds of magazine articles and newspaper columns. He was a popular lecturer on business and financial trends.

Babson was an investor and sometimes director of many corporations, including some traded on the New York Stock Exchange. He established the investment advisory company Babson's Reports, which published one of the first investment newsletters in the U.S.

Babson's Ten Commandments of Investing
Babson had "Ten Commandments" he followed in investing and encouraged his readers to do the same. These were:
 * 1) Keep speculation and investments separate.
 * 2) Don't be fooled by a name.
 * 3) Be wary of new promotions.
 * 4) Give due consideration to market ability.
 * 5) Don't buy without proper facts.
 * 6) Safeguard purchases through diversification.
 * 7) Don't try to diversify by buying different securities of the same company.
 * 8) Small companies should be carefully scrutinized.
 * 9) Buy adequate security, not super abundance.
 * 10) Choose your dealer and buy outright (don't buy on margin).

Forecast of Wall Street Crash
On September 5, 1929, Babson gave a speech to the National Business Conference at Babson College, in which he proclaimed, "More people are borrowing and speculating today than ever in our history. Sooner or later a crash is coming, and it may be terrific". Speaking at a time when expectations of a continuing boom economy were high, Babson's prescient advice was "wise are those investors who now get out of debt and reef their sails. This does not mean selling all you have, but it does mean paying up your loans and avoiding margin speculation".

Later that day, the stock market declined by about 3%. This became known as the "Babson Break." The Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression soon followed.

Role in development of Andrews Pitchfork
Babson learned to draw a nominal line through zigzagging market action on charts from George F. Swain, a Professor of Engineering, when he worked with him, and he later taught this technique to Alan H. Andrews, who further refined it into "Andrews Pitchfork," a now-commonly used trendline indicator.

Political career
Babson was the Prohibition Party's candidate for President of the United States in 1940. The election was won by incumbent President Franklin Delano Roosevelt of the Democratic Party. Babson was surpassed by two other unsuccessful candidates:
 * Wendell Lewis Willkie of the Republican Party
 * Norman Mattoon Thomas of the Socialist Party of America

Role in development of the parking meter
In the late 1920s, Babson filed several patents for a parking meter. The meters were suggested to operate on power from the battery of the parking vehicle and required a connection from the vehicle to the meter. In 1932, Carl Magee began to work on the parking meter and since his parking meter was the first to be installed for actual use in July 1935 in Oklahoma City, Magee is known as the inventor of the parking meter.

Establishment of the Gravity Research Foundation
Babson founded the Gravity Research Foundation in 1948. The Foundation established a research facility in the town of New Boston, New Hampshire after Babson determined that this location was far enough away from the city of Boston, Massachusetts to survive a nuclear attack.

Interest in Isaac Newton
Throughout Babson's life, he had a strong interest in Isaac Newton, especially after learning how "Newton had combined the practical with the theoretical," similar to how Babson applied Newton's third law to finance. Babson's wife, Grace Babson, also had a strong interest in Newton, collecting much of Newton's work in a variety of translations, editions, and commentaries over many years. At the time, it was much easier to amass a large collection of scientific writing as book collectors valued them much less than in later years. Following some financial success, Grace was able to pursue her collection even further, later amounting to over 1,000 editions of Newton materials, being the largest source in the United States. In 1995, the Babson College collection was placed on loan to MIT's Burndy Library, and in 2006, to the Huntington Library in San Marino, California, where it is available for scholarly research.

Between Sir Isaac Newton Library (now known as Tomasso Hall) and the Lunder Admission Center lay descendants of the original apple trees that had purportedly inspired Newton's idea of gravity. Grace also saved the parlor of Newton's last residence before its demolition and created a replica in Babson Park.

The "Babson Boulders" of Dogtown, Massachusetts
Babson was interested in the history of an abandoned settlement in Gloucester known as Dogtown. To provide charitable assistance to unemployed stonecutters in Gloucester during the Great Depression, Babson commissioned them to carve inspirational inscriptions on approximately two dozen boulders in the area surrounding Dogtown Common. The Babson Boulder Trail exists today as a well-known hiking and mountain-biking trail. The inscriptions are clearly visible. The boulders are scattered, not all are on the trail, and not all of the inscriptions face it, making finding them something of a challenge. Samples of some of the two dozen inscriptions include "," "," "," "," and "."

title: Roger Babson


text:
White Christmas (weather)

A white Christmas is a Christmas with the presence of snow, either on Christmas Eve or on Christmas Day, depending on local tradition. The phenomenon is most common in the northern countries of the Northern Hemisphere. This is because December is at the beginning of the Southern Hemisphere summer, and so white Christmases there are extremely rare - with the exception being Antarctica, the Southern Alps of New Zealand's South Island, and parts of the Andes in South America as well as the southern tip of the continent, in places like Ushuaia, Argentina.

History
The notion of "white Christmas" was popularized by writings of Charles Dickens. The depiction of snow-covered Christmas season found in The Pickwick Papers (1836), A Christmas Carol (1843), and his short stories was apparently influenced by memories of his childhood, which coincided with the coldest decade in England in more than a century.

The song, "White Christmas", written by Irving Berlin and sung by Bing Crosby (with the Ken Darby singers and John Scott Trotter and his orchestra) and featured in the 1942 Paramount Pictures film Holiday Inn, is the best-selling single of all time and speaks nostalgically of a traditional white Christmas and has since become a seasonal standard.

Definition
The criteria for a "white Christmas" varies. In most countries, it simply means that the ground is covered by snow at Christmas, but some countries have more strict definitions. In the United States, the official definition of a white Christmas is that there has to be a snow depth of at least 1 in on the ground on 25 December in the contiguous United States, and in Canada the official definition is that there has to be more than 2 cm on the ground on Christmas Day. In the United Kingdom, although for many a white Christmas simply means a complete covering of snow on Christmas Day, the official definition by the British Met Office and British bookmakers is for snow to be observed falling, however little (even if it melts before it reaches the ground), in the 24 hours of 25 December. Consequently, according to the Met Office and British bookmakers, even 3 ft of snow on the ground at Christmas, because of a heavy snow fall a few days before, will not constitute a white Christmas, but a few snowflakes mixed with rain will, even if they never reach the ground. In the United Kingdom the most likely place to see snowfall on a Christmas Day is in North and North Eastern Scotland, in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire or the Highlands.

Although the term white Christmas usually refers to snow, if a significant hail accumulation occurs in an area on Christmas Day, as happened in parts of Melbourne on 25 December 2011, this can also be described as a white Christmas, due to the resulting white appearance of the landscape resembling snow cover.

Croatia
In recent decades, white Christmases in Zagreb have been observed in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001 and – most recently, as of 2018 – in 2007. The probability of white Christmas in Zagreb has been estimated at 25%.

In continental Croatia, the estimated probability of white Christmas is highest in Gorski Kotar and Lika (50-70%), followed by northwestern Croatia (40-60%) and Slavonia (20-40%). Climate projections suggest white Christmases in Croatia might become rarer in the future.

Ireland
In Ireland, the prospect of early winter snow is always remote due to the country's mild and wet climate (snowfall is most common in January and February). Bookmakers offer odds every year for a white Christmas, which is officially lying snow being recorded at 09:00 local time on Christmas Day, and recorded at either Dublin Airport or Cork Airport (bets are offered for each airport).

Since 1961, countrywide, snow has fallen on 17 Christmas Days (1961, 1962, 1964, 1966, 1970, 1980, 1984, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2009 and 2010), with nine of these having snow lying on the ground at 09:00 (1964, 1970, 1980, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2010). The maximum amount of lying snow ever recorded on Christmas Day was 27 cm at Casement Aerodrome in 2010.

At Dublin Airport, there have been 12 Christmas Days with snowfall since 1941 (1950, 1956, 1962, 1964, 1970, 1984, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2000 and 2004). The statistical likelihood of snow falling on Christmas Day at Dublin Airport is approximately once every 5.9 years. However, the only Christmas Day at the airport ever to have lying snow at 09:00 was 2010 (although no snow actually fell that day), with 20 cm recorded.

Canada
In most parts of Canada it is likely to have a white Christmas in most years, except for the coast and southern interior valleys of British Columbia, southern Alberta, southern Ontario, and parts of Atlantic Canada – in those places Christmas without snow is not uncommon in warmer years, with the British Columbia coast the least likely place to have a white Christmas. The definition of a white Christmas in Canada is 2 cm of snow-cover or more on Christmas morning at 7 am. Environment Canada started to analyze data from 1955 to 2017 for a total of 63 years, It shows the chance of a White Christmas for several Canadian cities.

The year 2006 saw some of the warmest weather on record, with such places as Quebec City experiencing their first green Christmas in recorded history. In 2008, Canada experienced the first nationwide white Christmas in 37 years, as a series of pre-Christmas storms hit the nation, including the normally rainy BC Pacific coast. In 2015, the weather was mild in the east, with record-setting warm temperatures in Toronto and southern Ontario which made 2015 a green Christmas while the west saw cold and snowy weather.

United States
In the United States, there is often—but not always—snow on the ground at Christmas in the northern states, except in the Pacific Northwest, with Alaska the most likely to see snow on the ground at Christmas. In the contiguous United States, the highest probabilities are in the Upper Midwest and parts of northern New England, along with higher elevations of the Rockies. Some of the least likely white Christmases that have happened include the 2004 Christmas Eve Snowstorm, which brought the first white Christmas in 50 years to New Orleans. The 2004 storm also brought the first measurable snow of any kind since 1895 to Brownsville, Texas, and its twin city of Matamoros, Mexico. The Florida winter storm of 1989 also occurred immediately before Christmas causing a white Christmas for cities like Pensacola and Jacksonville. The same storm buried Wilmington, North Carolina and the rest of southeastern North Carolina under 15 in of snow.

In the United States the notion of a white Christmas is often associated in the American popular consciousness with a Christmas celebration that includes traditional observances in the company of friends and family. "White Christmas" is an Irving Berlin song reminiscing about an old-fashioned Christmas setting.

According to research by the CDIAC, the United States during the second half of the 20th century experienced declining frequencies of white Christmases, especially in the northeastern region. The National Climatic Data Center based the probability of a white Christmas (1 in of snow on the ground) at selected cities upon the 1981–2010 numbers from stations with at least 25 years of data.

Poland
The last white Christmas in Kraków was in 2010. Rzeszów had a white Christmas in 2016, the first since 2011.

Romania
White Christmases in Romania have been rare in recent times, and this is likely to continue due to the geographic position of Romania and climate change. In recent years, blizzard and snow falls usually start in January and they usually end at the beginning of March. However, at high altitudes, white Christmases are common.

United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, white Christmases were more common from the 1550s to the 1850s, during the Little Ice Age; the last frost fair on the River Thames, however, was in the winter of 1813–14. The shift from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar in 1752 also slightly reduced the chance of a white Christmas, by moving Christmas earlier in the winter.

Before 2006 for betting purposes, a Met Office employee was required to record if any snow fell on the London Weather Centre over the 24 hours of Christmas Day; after 2006 computers were used. An "official" white Christmas is defined by the Met Office as "one snowflake to be observed falling in the 24 hours of 25 December somewhere in the UK", but formerly the snow had to be observed at the Met Office building in London. By the newer measure, over half of all years have white Christmases, with snow being observed 38 times in the 54 years A more "traditional" idea of snow-covered ground is less common, however, with only 4 occasions in the 51 years  reporting snow on the ground at 9am at more than 40% of weather stations.

Although most places in the UK do tend to see some snow in the winter, it generally falls in January and February. However white Christmases do occur, on average every 6 years.

Christmas 2009 was a white Christmas in some parts of Britain, with thick lying snow which easterly winds had brought over the previous week. Travel over much of Britain was badly affected by ice and snow on roads, and was made more slippery by partial daytime thaw followed by overnight refreezing. It was the first white Christmas anywhere in the United Kingdom since 2004. There was another white Christmas in 2010, it was also the coldest Christmas Day ever recorded in the United Kingdom. In 2014, parts of the Northern Isles had a white Christmas and again in 2017, Northern England and Southern Scotland had a white Christmas.

Other parts of Europe
In Europe, snow at Christmas is common in Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Baltic states, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Belarus, and northeastern Poland. In general, due to the influence of the warm Gulf Stream on European climate, chances of a white Christmas are lower farther west. For example, in southern France a white Christmas is rare, while in Bucharest, Romania, which is at a similar latitude, it is much more likely. Northern Italy and the mountain regions of central-south Italy may also have a white Christmas. In cities such as Turin, Milan or Bologna a Christmas with falling snow or snow on the ground is not a rarity. White Christmases are also common in the Carpathian Mountains, as well as the Alps.

Southern Hemisphere
Because Christmas occurs during the summer in the Southern Hemisphere, white Christmases are especially rare events there, apart from Antarctica, which is generally uninhabited. A white Christmas elsewhere in the Southern Hemisphere is approximately equivalent to having snow in the Northern Hemisphere on 25 June. Some places like Ushuaia, Argentina and Stanley, Falkland Islands have received measurable snowfall on Christmas Day on numerous occasions.

In 2006, a snowstorm hit the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales and Victoria, Australia, arriving on Christmas morning and bringing nearly 12 in of snow in higher areas.

In New Zealand's Southern Alps, snow can fall any day of the year, and a white Christmas is possible. The same situation can be seen in the Andes at elevations above 4000 m, with some locations on the Bolivian altiplano, such as El Alto, having the theoretical possibility of a white Christmas.

title: White Christmas (weather)


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Gravity Research Foundation

The Gravity Research Foundation is an organization established in 1948 by businessman Roger Babson (founder of Babson College) to find ways to implement gravitational shielding. Over time, the foundation turned away from trying to block gravity and began trying to understand it. It holds an annual contest rewarding essays by scientific researchers on gravity-related topics. The contest, which awards prizes of up to $4,000, has been won by at least six people who later won the Nobel Prize in physics.

The foundation held conferences and conducted operations in New Boston, New Hampshire through the late 1960s, but that aspect of its operation ended following Babson's death in 1967. It is mentioned on stone monuments, donated by Babson, at more than a dozen American universities.

History
Thomas Edison apparently suggested the creation of the Gravity Research Foundation to Babson, who established it in several scattered buildings in the small town of New Boston, New Hampshire. Babson said he chose that location because he thought it was far enough from big cities to survive a nuclear war. Babson wanted to put up a sign declaring New Boston to be the safest place in North America if World War III came, but town fathers toned it down to say merely that New Boston was a safe place.

In an essay titled Gravity – Our Enemy Number One, Babson indicated that his wish to overcome gravity dated from the childhood drowning of his sister. "She was unable to fight gravity, which came up and seized her like a dragon and brought her to the bottom", he wrote.

The foundation held occasional conferences that drew such people as Clarence Birdseye of frozen-food fame and Igor Sikorsky, inventor of the helicopter. Sometimes, attendees sat in chairs with their feet higher than their heads, to counterbalance gravity. Most of the foundation's work, however, involved sponsoring essays by researchers on gravity-related topics. It had only a couple of employees in New Boston.

The physical Gravity Research Foundation disappeared some time after Babson's death in 1967. Its only remnant in New Boston is a granite slab in a traffic island that celebrates the foundation's "active research for antigravity and a partial gravity insulator". The building that held the foundation's meetings has long held a restaurant, and for a time had a bar called Gravity Tavern, since renamed.

The essay award lives on, offering prizes of up to $4,000. As of 2020, it is still administered out of Wellesley, Massachusetts, by George Rideout, Jr., son of the foundation's original director.

Over time, the foundation shed its crankish air, turning its attention from trying to block gravity to trying to understand it. The annual essay prize has drawn respected researchers, including physicist Stephen Hawking, who won in 1971, mathematician/author Roger Penrose (Nobel Prize in Physics, 2020), who won in 1975, and astrophysicist and Nobel laureate George Smoot, who won in 1993. Other notable award winners include Jacob Bekenstein, Sidney Coleman, Bryce DeWitt, Julian Schwinger (Nobel Prize in Physics, 1965), Martin Perl (Nobel Prize in Physics, 1995), Demetrios Christodoulou, Dennis Sciama, Gerard 't Hooft (Nobel Prize in Physics, 1999), Arthur E. Fischer, Jerrold E. Marsden, Robert Wald, John Archibald Wheeler and Frank Wilczek (Nobel Prize in Physics, 2004).

Monuments
In the 1960s, Babson gave grants to a number of colleges that were accompanied by stone monuments. The monuments are inscribed with a variety of similar sayings, such as "It is to remind students of the blessings forthcoming when a semi-insulator is discovered in order to harness gravity as a free power and reduce airplane accidents" and "It is to remind students of the blessings forthcoming when science determines what gravity is, how it works, and how it may be controlled."

Colleges that received monuments include:
 * Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach, Florida
 * Colby College in Waterville, Maine
 * Eastern Baptist College in St. Davids, Pennsylvania
 * Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy, Massachusetts
 * Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia
 * Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts
 * Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York
 * Keene State College in Keene, New Hampshire
 * Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont
 * Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut
 * Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts
 * Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama
 * University of Tampa in Tampa, Florida
 * Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois.

Hobart College's "H-Book" contains a description of the circumstances surrounding the placement of its Gravity Monument: "The location of the stone on campus was linked to a gift to the Colleges of 'gravity grant' stocks, now totaling more than $1 million, from Roger Babson, the founder of Babson College. The eccentric Babson was intrigued by the notion of anti-gravity and inclined to further scientific research in this area. The Colleges used these funds to help construct Rosenberg Hall in 1994. Two trees that shade the stone are said to be direct descendants of Newton’s famous apple tree."

The stone at Colby College was once in front of the Keyes Building on the main academic quadrangle but was moved to a more obscure location near the Schair-Swenson-Watson Alumni Center. Students would often knock it over in an ironic testament to gravity's power. At Tufts, the monument is the site of an "inauguration ceremony" for students who receive PhDs in cosmology, in which a thesis advisor drops an apple on the student's head.

Links about monument stones

 * The story of the Emory Gravity Monument
 * Colby's Gravity Monument
 * Article about Colby College monument

title: Gravity Research Foundation