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Mineral wool

Mineral wool is any fibrous material formed by spinning or drawing molten mineral or rock materials such as slag and ceramics.

Applications of mineral wool include thermal insulation (as both structural insulation and pipe insulation), filtration, soundproofing, and hydroponic growth medium.

Naming
Mineral wool is also known as mineral cotton, mineral fiber, man-made mineral fiber (MMMF), and man-made vitreous fiber (MMVF).

Specific mineral wool products are stone wool and slag wool. Europe also includes glass wool which, together with ceramic fiber, are entirely artificial fibers that can be made into different shapes and are spiky to touch.

History
Slag wool was first made in 1840 in Wales by Edward Parry, "but no effort appears to have been made to confine the wool after production; consequently it floated about the works with the slightest breeze, and became so injurious to the men that the process had to be abandoned". A method of making mineral wool was patented in the United States in 1870 by John Player and first produced commercially in 1871 at Georgsmarienhütte in Osnabrück Germany. The process involved blowing a strong stream of air across a falling flow of liquid iron slag which was similar to the natural occurrence of fine strands of volcanic slag from Kilauea called Pele's hair created by strong winds blowing apart the slag during an eruption.

According to a mineral wool manufacturer, the first mineral wool intended for high-temperature applications was invented in the United States in 1942 but was not commercially viable until approximately 1953. More forms of mineral wool became available in the 1970s and 1980s.

High-temperature mineral wool

High-temperature mineral wool is a type of mineral wool created for use as high-temperature insulation and generally defined as being resistant to temperatures above 1,000 °C. This type of insulation is usually used in industrial furnaces and foundries. Because high-temperature mineral wool is costly to produce and has limited availability, it is almost exclusively used in high-temperature industrial applications and processes.

Definitions
Classification temperature is the temperature at which a certain amount of linear contraction (usually two to four percent) is not exceeded after a 24-hour heat treatment in an electrically heated laboratory oven in a neutral atmosphere. Depending on the type of product, the value may not exceed two percent for boards and shaped products and four percent for mats and papers.

The classification temperature is specified in 50 °C steps starting at 850 °C and up to 1600 °C. The classification temperature does not mean that the product can be used continuously at this temperature. In the field, the continuous application temperature of amorphous high-temperature mineral wool (AES and ASW) is typically 100 °C to 150 °C below the classification temperature. Products made of polycrystalline wool can generally be used up to the classification temperature.

Types
There are several types of high-temperature mineral wool made from different types of minerals. The mineral chosen results in different material properties and classification temperatures.

Alkaline earth silicate wool (AES wool)
AES wool consists of amorphous glass fibers that are produced by melting a combination of calcium oxide (CaO−), magnesium oxide (MgO−), and silicon dioxide (SiO2). Products made from AES wool are generally used in equipment that continuously operates and in domestic appliances. Some formulations of AES wool are bio-soluble, meaning they dissolve in bodily fluids within a few weeks and are quickly cleared from the lungs.

Alumino silicate wool (ASW)
Alumino silicate wool, also known as refractory ceramic fiber (RCF), consists of amorphous fibers produced by melting a combination of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) and silicon dioxide (SiO2), usually in a weight ratio 50:50 (see also VDI 3469 Parts 1 and 5, as well as TRGS 521). Products made of alumino silicate wool are generally used at application temperatures of greater than 900 °C for equipment that operates intermittently and in critical application conditions (see Technical Rules TRGS 619).

Polycrystalline wool (PCW)
Polycrystalline wool consists of fibers that contain aluminum oxide (Al2O3) at greater than 70 percent of the total materials and is produced by sol–gel method from aqueous spinning solutions. The water-soluble green fibers obtained as a precursor are crystallized by means of heat treatment. Polycrystalline wool is generally used at application temperatures greater than 1300 °C and in critical chemical and physical application conditions.

Kaowool
Kaowool is a type of high-temperature mineral wool made from the mineral kaolin. It was one of the first types of high-temperature mineral wool invented and has been used into the 21st century. It can withstand temperatures close to 1650 C.

Manufacture
Stone wool is a furnace product of molten rock at a temperature of about 1600 °C through which a stream of air or steam is blown. More advanced production techniques are based on spinning molten rock in high-speed spinning heads somewhat like the process used to produce cotton candy. The final product is a mass of fine, intertwined fibers with a typical diameter of 2 to 6 micrometers. Mineral wool may contain a binder, often a terpolymer, and an oil to reduce dusting.

Use
Though the individual fibers conduct heat very well, when pressed into rolls and sheets, their ability to partition air makes them excellent insulators and sound absorbers. Though not immune to the effects of a sufficiently hot fire, the fire resistance of fiberglass, stone wool, and ceramic fibers makes them common building materials when passive fire protection is required, being used as spray fireproofing, in stud cavities in drywall assemblies and as packing materials in firestops.

Other uses are in resin bonded panels, as filler in compounds for gaskets, in brake pads, in plastics in the automotive industry, as a filtering medium, and as a growth medium in hydroponics.

Mineral fibers are produced in the same way, without binder. The fiber as such is used as a raw material for its reinforcing purposes in various applications, such as friction materials, gaskets, plastics, and coatings.

Hydroponics
Mineral wool products can be engineered to hold large quantities of water and air that aid root growth and nutrient uptake in hydroponics; their fibrous nature also provides a good mechanical structure to hold the plant stable. The naturally high pH of mineral wool makes them initially unsuitable to plant growth and requires "conditioning" to produce a wool with an appropriate, stable pH. Conditioning methods include pre-soaking mineral wool in a nutrient solution adjusted to pH 5.5 until it stops bubbling.

High-temperature mineral wool
High-temperature mineral wool is used primarily for insulation and lining of industrial furnaces and foundries to improve efficiency and safety. It is also used to prevent the spread of fire.

The use of high-temperature mineral wool enables a more lightweight construction of industrial furnaces and other technical equipment as compared to other methods such as fire bricks, due to its high heat resistance capabilities per weight, but has the disadvantage of being more expensive than other methods.

Safety of material

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) reviewed the carcinogenicity of man-made mineral fibers in October 2002. The IARC Monograph's working group concluded only the more biopersistent materials remain classified by IARC as "possibly carcinogenic to humans" (Group 2B). These include refractory ceramic fibers, which are used industrially as insulation in high-temperature environments such as blast furnaces, and certain special-purpose glass wools not used as insulating materials. In contrast, the more commonly used vitreous fiber wools produced since 2000, including insulation glass wool, stone wool, and slag wool, are considered "not classifiable as to carcinogenicity in humans" (Group 3).

High bio soluble fibers are produced that do not cause damage to the human cell. These newer materials have been tested for carcinogenicity and most are found to be noncarcinogenic. IARC elected not to make an overall evaluation of the newly developed fibers designed to be less bio persistent such as the alkaline earth silicate or high-alumina, low-silica wools. This decision was made in part because no human data were available, although such fibers that have been tested appear to have low carcinogenic potential in experimental animals, and because the Working Group had difficulty in categorizing these fibers into meaningful groups based on chemical composition.

The European Regulation (CE) n° 1272/2008 on classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures updated by the Regulation (CE) n°790/2009 does not classify mineral wool fibers as a dangerous substance if they fulfil criteria defined in its Note Q.

The European Certification Board for mineral wool products, EUCEB, certify mineral wool products made of fibers fulfilling Note Q ensuring that they have a low bio persistence and so that they are quickly removed from the lung. The certification is based on independent experts' advice and regular control of the chemical composition.

Due to the mechanical effect of fibers, mineral wool products may cause temporary skin itching. To diminish this and to avoid unnecessary exposure to mineral wool dust, information on good practices is available on the packaging of mineral wool products with pictograms or sentences. Safe Use Instruction Sheets similar to Safety data sheet are also available from each producer.

People can be exposed to mineral wool fibers in the workplace by breathing them in, skin contact, and eye contact. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has set the legal limit (permissible exposure limit) for mineral wool fiber exposure in the workplace as 15 mg/m3 total exposure and 5 mg/m3 respiratory exposure over an 8-hour workday. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has set a recommended exposure limit (REL) of 5 mg/m3 total exposure and 3 fibers per cm3 over an 8-hour workday.

Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) is a European Union regulation of 18 December 2006. REACH addresses the production and use of chemical substances, and their potential impacts on both human health and the environment. A Substance Information Exchange Forum (SIEF) has been set up for several types of mineral wool. AES, ASW and PCW have been registered before the first deadline of 1 December 2010 and can, therefore, be used on the European market.

 * ASW/RCF is classified as carcinogen category 1B.
 * AES is exempted from carcinogen classification based on short-term in vitro study result.
 * PCW wools are not classified; self-classification led to the conclusion that PCW are not hazardous.

On 13 January 2010, some of the aluminosilicate refractory ceramic fibers and zirconia aluminosilicate refractory ceramic fibers have been included in the candidate list of Substances of Very High Concern. In response to concerns raised with the definition and the dossier two additional dossiers were posted on the ECHA website for consultation and resulted in two additional entries on the candidate list. This actual (having four entries for one substance/group of substances) situation is contrary to the REACH procedure intended. Aside from this situation, concerns raised during the two consultation periods remain valid.

Regardless of the concerns raised, the inclusion of a substance in the candidate list triggers immediately the following legal obligations of manufacturers, importers and suppliers of articles containing that substance in a concentration above 0.1% (w/w):

 * Notification to ECHA -REACH Regulation Art. 7
 * Provision of Safety Data Sheet- REACH Regulation Art. 31.1
 * Duty to communicate safe use information or responding to customer requests -REACH Regulation Art. 33

Crystalline silica
Amorphous high-temperature mineral wool (AES and ASW) is produced from a molten glass stream which is aerosolized by a jet of high-pressure air or by letting the stream impinge onto spinning wheels. The droplets are drawn into fibers; the mass of both fibers and remaining droplets cool very rapidly so that no crystalline phases may form.

When amorphous high-temperature mineral wool is installed and used in high-temperature applications such as industrial furnaces, at least one face may be exposed to conditions causing the fibers to partially devitrify. Depending on the chemical composition of the glassy fiber and the time and temperature to which the materials are exposed, different stable crystalline phases may form.

In after-use high-temperature mineral wool crystalline silica crystals are embedded in a matrix composed of other crystals and glasses. Experimental results on the biological activity of after-use high-temperature mineral wool have not demonstrated any hazardous activity that could be related to any form of silica they may contain.

Substitutes for mineral wool in construction
Due to the mineral wool non-degradability and potential health risks, substitute materials are being developed: hemp, flax, wool, wood, and cork insulations are the most prominent. Biodegradability and health profile are the main advantages of those materials. Their drawbacks when compared to mineral wool are their substantially lower mold resistance, higher combustibility, and slightly higher thermal conductivity (hemp insulation: 0.040 Wm$-1$k$-1$, mineral wool insulation: 0.030-0.045 Wm$-1$k$-1$).

title: Mineral wool


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Talk:Perspective distortion (photography)

Untitled
Moved material relevent to photography to "Distortion caused by the camera lens" Pat Kelso 02:56, Mar 7, 2004 (UTC)

 * Rather inaccurate title, was moved to "Perspective_distortion_caused_by_lens_focal_length" instead -- Egil 20:29, 7 Mar 2004 (UTC)

 * Very good. I like that and hope original poster agrees. .... Pat Kelso 20:41, Mar 7, 2004 (UTC)

 * Since the effect described here is not caused by lens focal length, but rather camera-to-subject distance, the title is still bad. I've moved the article to Perspective distortion (caused by camera to subject distance), and updated and factually corrected it. Jeff Medkeff | Talk 16:01, Jan 31, 2005 (UTC)

What is this article about ? Is it possible to start this with a sentence according to Wikipedia standards ? Ericd 09:57, 7 Mar 2004 (UTC)

 * I tried to begin with a general definition - needs more work I would think.
 * -- Egil 10:44, 7 Mar 2004 (UTC)

After closer examination I think this article conclusions are globally inaccurate. It's well known that the human eyes are optical device that have a 180° stereoscopic coverage with a huge loss of definition at the edges (to describe them in photographic language). It's also clear that they project the image on a (more or less) spherical surface. This is also famous that there is a sort of big CPU behind the eyes (the human brain) that is able to correct perpective (and color and a lot of things too....) quicker than a Photoshop on a Pentium IV. Concluding that photography and perception of perspective by humans are very different (BTW this is my opinion too) by only geometrical reasoning address only a little part of the question. Ericd 19:45, 7 Mar 2004 (UTC)

 * Not addressing "eyes" here, only "eye" as in the station point of a perspective projection, i.e., steroscoptic coverage is irrelevant. RE "more or less", it is spherical or else rr tracks would not seem concurrent at horizon. I do not address photography except to note that distortion, per se, is independent of lenses. re "only a little part of the question", what part of the question do you see was omitted? .... Pat Kelso 20:08, Mar 7, 2004 (UTC)

 * None, as far as you deal with geometrical aspects. I only disagree with your conclusion they deal with part of the question being the whole question, they should give some "fresh air" about other aspects like an "information processing" analysis that complement a geometrical analysis.
 * Ericd 20:20, 7 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Articles has been split in two - should probably be combined again. -- Egil 20:15, 7 Mar 2004 (UTC)

 * Egil I would suggesst a "Middle of the Road Approach" as I thinks this question can go very far (What about "Perspective distortion caused by curved mirrors ?"). I think "Perspective distortion" needs a real article instead of a disanbig page and specialized artices about various "flavors" of distortion.

Ericd 20:27, 7 Mar 2004 (UTC)

 * I have fought this battle before with those who wanted to bring theology into the discussion. That is why I specified the title Perspective projection distortion for my new (moved) post.. Pat Kelso 20:41, Mar 7, 2004 (UTC)

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


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Urbain Le Verrier

Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier (11 March 1811 – 23 September 1877) was a French astronomer and mathematician who specialized in celestial mechanics and is best known for predicting the existence and position of Neptune using only mathematics.

The calculations were made to explain discrepancies with Uranus's orbit and the laws of Kepler and Newton. Le Verrier sent the coordinates to Johann Gottfried Galle in Berlin, asking him to verify. Galle found Neptune the same night he received Le Verrier's letter, within 1° of the predicted position.

The discovery of Neptune is widely regarded as a dramatic validation of celestial mechanics, and is one of the most remarkable moments of 19th-century science.

Early years
Urbain Le Verrier was born at Saint-Lô, Manche, France, to a modest bourgeois family, his parents being Louis-Baptiste Le Verrier and Marie-Jeanne-Josephine-Pauline de Baudre.

He studied at the École Polytechnique – briefly chemistry, under Gay-Lussac, writing papers on the combinations of phosphorus and hydrogen, and of phosphorus and oxygen.

He then switched to astronomy, particularly celestial mechanics, and accepted a job at the Paris Observatory. He spent most of his professional life there, eventually becoming director of the institution, 1854–1870 and again 1873–1877.

In 1846 Le Verrier became a member of the French Academy of Sciences, and in 1855 was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. His name is one of the 72 names inscribed on the Eiffel Tower.

Early work
Le Verrier's first work in astronomy was presented to the Académie des Sciences in September 1839, entitled Sur les variations séculaires des orbites des planètes (On the Secular Variations of the Orbits of the Planets). This work addressed the then most-important question in astronomy: the stability of the Solar System, first investigated by Laplace. He was able to derive some important limits on the motions of the system, but due to the inaccurately-known masses of the planets, his results were tentative.

From 1844 to 1847, Le Verrier published a series of works on periodic comets, in particular those of Lexell, Faye and DeVico. He was able to show some interesting interactions with the planet Jupiter, proving that certain comets were actually the reappearance of previously-known comets flung into different orbits.

Discovery of Neptune

Le Verrier's most famous achievement is his prediction of the existence of the then unknown planet Neptune, using only mathematics and astronomical observations of the known planet Uranus. Encouraged by physicist Arago, Director of the Paris Observatory, Le Verrier was intensely engaged for months in complex calculations to explain small but systematic discrepancies between Uranus's observed orbit and the one predicted from the laws of gravity of Newton. At the same time, but unknown to Le Verrier, similar calculations were made by John Couch Adams in England. Le Verrier announced his final predicted position for Uranus's unseen perturbing planet publicly to the French Academy on 31 August 1846, two days before Adams's final solution was privately mailed to the Royal Greenwich Observatory. Le Verrier transmitted his own prediction by 18 September in a letter to Johann Galle of the Berlin Observatory. The letter arrived five days later, and the planet was found with the Berlin Fraunhofer refractor that same evening, 23 September 1846, by Galle and Heinrich d'Arrest within 1° of the predicted location near the boundary between Capricorn and Aquarius.

There was, and to an extent still is, controversy over the apportionment of credit for the discovery. There is no ambiguity to the discovery claims of Le Verrier, Galle, and d'Arrest. Adams's work was begun earlier than Le Verrier's but was finished later and was unrelated to the actual discovery. Not even the briefest account of Adams's predicted orbital elements was published until more than a month after Berlin's visual confirmation. Adams made full public acknowledgement of Le Verrier's priority and credit (not forgetting to mention the role of Galle) when he gave his paper to the Royal Astronomical Society in November 1846:

"I mention these dates merely to show that my results were arrived at independently, and previously to the publication of those of M. Le Verrier, and not with the intention of interfering with his just claims to the honours of the discovery; for there is no doubt that his researches were first published to the world, and led to the actual discovery of the planet by Dr. Galle, so that the facts stated above cannot detract, in the slightest degree, from the credit due to M. Le Verrier."

- Adams (1846)

Tables of the planets
Early in the 19th century, the methods of predicting the motions of the planets were somewhat scattered, having been developed over decades by many different researchers. In 1847, Le Verrier took on the task to "... embrace in a single work the entire planetary system, put everything in harmony if possible, otherwise, declare with certainty that there are as yet unknown causes of perturbations...", a work which would occupy him for the rest of his life.

Le Verrier began by re-evaluating, to the 7th order, the technique of calculating the planetary perturbations known as the perturbing function. This derivation, which resulted in 469 mathematical terms, was complete by 1849. He next collected observations of the positions of the planets as far back as 1750. Examining these and correcting for inconsistencies with the most recent data occupied him until 1852.

Le Verrier published, in the Annales de l'Observatoire de Paris, tables of the motions of all of the known planets, releasing them as he completed them, starting in 1858. The tables formed the fundamental ephemeris of the Connaissance des Temps, the astronomical almanac of the Bureau des Longitudes, until about 1912. About that time, Le Verrier's work on the outer planets was revised and expanded by Gaillot.

Precession of Mercury
Le Verrier began studying the motion of Mercury as early as 1843, with a report entitled Détermination nouvelle de l 'orbite de Mercure et de ses perturbations (A New Determination of the Orbit of Mercury and its Perturbations). In 1859, Le Verrier was the first to report that the slow precession of Mercury's orbit around the Sun could not be completely explained by Newtonian mechanics and perturbations by the known planets. He suggested, among possible explanations, that another planet (or perhaps, instead, a series of smaller 'corpuscules') might exist in an orbit even closer to the Sun than that of Mercury, to account for this perturbation. (Other explanations considered included a slight oblateness of the Sun.) The success of the search for Neptune based on its perturbations of the orbit of Uranus led astronomers to place some faith in this possible explanation, and the hypothetical planet was even named Vulcan. However, no such planet was ever found, and the anomalous precession was eventually explained by general relativity theory.

Later life
Le Verrier's methods of management were disliked by the staff of the Observatoire, and the disputes became so great that he was driven out in 1870. He was succeeded by Delaunay, but was reinstated in 1873 after Delaunay accidentally drowned. Le Verrier held the position until his death in 1877.

Le Verrier married Lucille Clotilde Choquet in 1837 and had 3 children. He died in Paris, France and was buried in the Montparnasse Cemetery. A large stone celestial globe sits over his grave. He will be remembered by the phrase attributed to Arago: "the man who discovered a planet with the point of his pen."

In 1847, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society.

Honours

 * Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society – 1868 and 1876
 * Namesake of craters on the Moon and Mars, a ring of Neptune, and the asteroid 1997 Leverrier
 * One of the 72 names engraved on the Eiffel Tower

title: Urbain Le Verrier


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John Couch Adams

John Couch Adams (5 June 1819 – 21 January 1892) was a British mathematician and astronomer. He was born in Laneast, near Launceston, Cornwall, and died in Cambridge.

His most famous achievement was predicting the existence and position of Neptune, using only mathematics. The calculations were made to explain discrepancies with Uranus's orbit and the laws of Kepler and Newton. At the same time, but unknown to each other, the same calculations were made by Urbain Le Verrier. Le Verrier would send his coordinates to Berlin Observatory astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle, who confirmed the existence of the planet on 23 September 1846, finding it within 1° of Le Verrier's predicted location. (There was, and to some extent still is, some controversy over the apportionment of credit for the discovery; see Discovery of Neptune.) Later, Adams explained the origin of meteor showers, which holds to the present day.

Adams was Lowndean Professor in the University of Cambridge from 1859 until his death. He won the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1866. In 1884, he attended the International Meridian Conference as a delegate for Britain.

A crater on the Moon is jointly named after him, Walter Sydney Adams and Charles Hitchcock Adams. Neptune's outermost known ring and the asteroid 1996 Adams are also named after him. The Adams Prize, presented by the University of Cambridge, commemorates his prediction of the position of Neptune. His personal library is held at Cambridge University Library.

Early life
Adams was born at Lidcot, a farm at Laneast, near Launceston, Cornwall, the eldest of seven children. His parents were Thomas Adams (1788–1859), a poor tenant farmer, and his wife, Tabitha Knill Grylls (1796–1866). The family were devout Wesleyans who enjoyed music and among John's brothers, Thomas became a missionary, George a farmer, and William Grylls Adams, professor of natural philosophy and astronomy at King's College London. Tabitha was a farmer's daughter but had received a rudimentary education from John Couch, her uncle, whose small library she had inherited. John was intrigued by the astronomy books from an early age.

John attended the Laneast village school where he acquired some Greek and algebra. From there, he went, at the age of twelve, to Devonport, where his mother's cousin, the Rev. John Couch Grylls, kept a private school. There he learned classics but was largely self-taught in mathematics, studying in the Library of Devonport Mechanics' Institute and reading Rees's Cyclopædia and Samuel Vince's Fluxions. He observed Halley's comet in 1835 from Landulph and the following year started to make his own astronomical calculations, predictions and observations, engaging in private tutoring to finance his activities.

In 1836, his mother inherited a small estate at Badharlick and his promise as a mathematician induced his parents to send him to the University of Cambridge. In October 1839 he entered as a sizar at St John's College, graduating B.A. in 1843 as senior wrangler and first Smith's prizewinner of his year.

Discovery of Neptune
In 1821, Alexis Bouvard had published astronomical tables of the orbit of Uranus, making predictions of future positions based on Newton's laws of motion and gravitation. Subsequent observations revealed substantial deviations from the tables, leading Bouvard to hypothesise some perturbing body. Adams learnt of the irregularities while still an undergraduate and became convinced of the "perturbation" theory. Adams believed, in the face of anything that had been attempted before, that he could use the observed data on Uranus, and utilising nothing more than Newton's law of gravitation, deduce the mass, position and orbit of the perturbing body. On 3 July 1841, he noted his intention to work on the problem.

After his final examinations in 1843, Adams was elected fellow of his college and spent the summer vacation in Cornwall calculating the first of six iterations. While he worked on the problem back in Cambridge, he tutored undergraduates, sending money home to educate his brothers, and even taught his bed maker to read.

Apparently, Adams communicated his work to James Challis, director of the Cambridge Observatory, in mid-September 1845, but there is some controversy as to how. On 21 October 1845, Adams, returning from a Cornwall vacation, without appointment, twice called on Astronomer Royal George Biddell Airy in Greenwich. Failing to find him at home, Adams reputedly left a manuscript of his solution, again without the detailed calculations. Airy responded with a letter to Adams asking for some clarification. It appears that Adams did not regard the question as "trivial", as is often alleged, but he failed to complete a response. Various theories have been discussed as to Adams's failure to reply, such as his general nervousness, procrastination and disorganisation.

Meanwhile, Urbain Le Verrier, on 10 November 1845, presented to the Académie des sciences in Paris a memoir on Uranus, showing that the preexisting theory failed to account for its motion. On reading Le Verrier's memoir, Airy was struck by the coincidence and initiated a desperate race for English priority in discovery of the planet. The search was begun by a laborious method on 29 July. Only after the discovery of Neptune on 23 September 1846 had been announced in Paris did it become apparent that Neptune had been observed on 8 and 12 August but because Challis lacked an up-to-date star-map it was not recognized as a planet.

A keen controversy arose in France and England as to the merits of the two astronomers. As the facts became known, there was wide recognition that the two astronomers had independently solved the problem of Uranus, and each was ascribed equal importance. However, there have been subsequent assertions that "The Brits Stole Neptune" and that Adams's British contemporaries retrospectively ascribed him more credit than he was due. But it is also notable (and not included in some of the foregoing discussion references) that Adams himself publicly acknowledged Le Verrier's priority and credit (not forgetting to mention the role of Galle) in the paper that he gave 'On the Perturbations of Uranus' to the Royal Astronomical Society in November 1846:

"I mention these dates merely to show that my results were arrived at independently, and previously to the publication of those of M. Le Verrier, and not with the intention of interfering with his just claims to the honours of the discovery; for there is no doubt that his researches were first published to the world, and led to the actual discovery of the planet by Dr. Galle, so that the facts stated above cannot detract, in the slightest degree, from the credit due to M. Le Verrier."

Adams held no bitterness towards Challis or Airy and acknowledged his own failure to convince the astronomical world:

"I could not expect however that practical astronomers, who were already fully occupied with important labours, would feel as much confidence in the results of my investigations, as I myself did."

Work style
His lay fellowship at St John's College came to an end in 1852, and the existing statutes did not permit his re-election. However, Pembroke College, which possessed greater freedom, elected him in the following year to a lay fellowship which he held for the rest of his life. Despite the fame of his work on Neptune, Adams also did much important work on gravitational astronomy and terrestrial magnetism. He was particularly adept at fine numerical calculations, often making substantial revisions to the contributions of his predecessors. However, he was "extraordinarily uncompetitive, reluctant to publish imperfect work to stimulate debate or claim priority, averse to correspondence about it, and forgetful in practical matters". It has been suggested that these are symptoms of Asperger syndrome which would also be consistent with the "repetitive behaviours and restricted interests" necessary to perform the Neptune calculations, in addition to his difficulties in personal interaction with Challis and Airy.

In 1852, he published new and accurate tables of the Moon's parallax, which superseded Johann Karl Burckhardt's, and supplied corrections to the theories of Marie-Charles Damoiseau, Giovanni Antonio Amedeo Plana, and Philippe Gustave Doulcet.

He had hoped that this work would leverage him into the vacant post as superintendent of HM Nautical Almanac Office but John Russell Hind was preferred, Adams lacking the necessary ability as an organiser and administrator.

Lunar theory — Secular acceleration of the Moon
Since ancient times, the Moon's mean rate of motion relative to the stars had been treated as being constant, but in 1695, Edmond Halley had suggested that this mean rate was gradually increasing. Later, during the eighteenth century, Richard Dunthorne estimated the rate as +10" (arcseconds/century2) in terms of the resulting difference in lunar longitude, an effect that became known as the secular acceleration of the Moon. Pierre-Simon Laplace had given an explanation in 1787 in terms of changes in the eccentricity of the Earth's orbit. He considered only the radial gravitational force on the Moon from the Sun and Earth but obtained close agreement with the historical record of observations.

In 1820, at the insistence of the Académie des sciences, Damoiseau, Plana and Francesco Carlini revisited Laplace's work, investigating quadratic and higher-order perturbing terms, and obtained similar results, again addressing only a radial, and neglecting tangential, gravitational force on the Moon. Hansen obtained similar results in 1842 and 1847.

In 1853, Adams published a paper showing that, while tangential terms vanish in the first-order theory of Laplace, they become substantial when quadratic terms are admitted. Small terms integrated in time come to have large effects and Adams concluded that Plana had overestimated the secular acceleration by approximately 1.66" per century.

At first, Le Verrier rejected Adams's results. In 1856, Plana admitted Adams's conclusions, claiming to have revised his own analysis and arrived at the same results. However, he soon recanted, publishing a third result different both from Adams's and Plana's own earlier work. Delaunay in 1859 calculated the fourth-order term and duplicated Adams's result leading Adams to publish his own calculations for the fifth, sixth and seventh-order terms. Adams now calculated that only 5.7" of the observed 11" was accounted for by gravitational effects. Later that year, Philippe Gustave Doulcet, Comte de Pontécoulant published a claim that the tangential force could have no effect though Peter Andreas Hansen, who seems to have cast himself in the role of arbitrator, declared that the burden of proof rested on Pontécoulant, while lamenting the need to discover a further effect to account for the balance. Much of the controversy centred around the convergence of the power series expansion used and, in 1860, Adams duplicated his results without using a power series. Sir John Lubbock also duplicated Adams's results and Plana finally concurred. Adams's view was ultimately accepted and further developed, winning him the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1866. The unexplained drift is now known to be due to tidal acceleration.

In 1858 Adams became professor of mathematics at the University of St Andrews, but lectured only for a session, before returning to Cambridge for the Lowndean professorship of astronomy and geometry. Two years later he succeeded Challis as director of the Cambridge Observatory, a post Adams held until his death.

The Leonids
The great meteor shower of November 1866 turned his attention to the Leonids, whose probable path and period had already been discussed and predicted by Hubert Anson Newton in 1864. Newton had asserted that the longitude of the ascending node, that marked where the shower would occur, was increasing and the problem of explaining this variation attracted some of Europe's leading astronomers.

Using a powerful and elaborate analysis, Adams ascertained that this cluster of meteors, which belongs to the Solar System, traverses an elongated ellipse in 33.25 years, and is subject to definite perturbations from the larger planets, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus. These results were published in 1867.

Some experts consider this Adams's most substantial achievement. His "definitive orbit" for the Leonids coincided with that of the comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle and thereby suggested the, later widely accepted, close relationship between comets and meteors.

Later career
Ten years later, George William Hill described a novel and elegant method for attacking the problem of lunar motion. Adams briefly announced his own unpublished work in the same field, which, following a parallel course had confirmed and supplemented Hill's.

Over a period of forty years, he periodically addressed the determination of the constants in Carl Friedrich Gauss's theory of terrestrial magnetism. Again, the calculations involved great labour, and were not published during his lifetime. They were edited by his brother, William Grylls Adams, and appear in the second volume of the collected Scientific Papers. Numerical computation of this kind might almost be described as his pastime. He calculated the Euler–Mascheroni constant, perhaps somewhat eccentrically, to 236 decimal places and evaluated the Bernoulli numbers up to the 62nd.

Adams had boundless admiration for Newton and his writings and many of his papers bear the cast of Newton's thought. In 1872, Isaac Newton Wallop, 5th Earl of Portsmouth, donated his private collection of Newton's papers to Cambridge University. Adams and G. G. Stokes took on the task of arranging the material, publishing a catalogue in 1888.

The post of Astronomer Royal was offered him in 1881, but he preferred to pursue his teaching and research in Cambridge. He was British delegate to the International Meridian Conference at Washington in 1884, when he also attended the meetings of the British Association at Montreal and of the American Association at Philadelphia.

Honours

 * 1847 He is reputed to have been offered a knighthood on Queen Victoria's 1847 Cambridge visit but to have declined, either out of modesty, or fear of the financial consequences of such social distinction;
 * 1847 Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences;
 * 1848 Copley medal of the Royal Society;
 * 1848 Adams Prize, founded by the members of St John's College, to be given biennially for the best treatise on a mathematical subject;
 * 1849 Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of London and Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh;
 * 1851 and 1874 President of the Royal Astronomical Society (1851–1853 and 1874–1876).

Family and death
After a long illness, Adams died at Cambridge on 21 January 1892 and was buried near his home in St Giles Cemetery, now the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge. In 1863 he had married Miss Eliza Bruce (1827–1919), of Dublin, who survived him, and is buried with him. His wealth at death was £32,434 (£2.6 million at 2003 prices).

Memorials

 * Memorial in Westminster Abbey with a portrait medallion, by Albert Bruce-Joy;
 * A bust, by Joy in the hall of St John's College, Cambridge;
 * Another youthful bust belongs to the Royal Astronomical Society;
 * Portraits by:
 * Hubert von Herkomer in Pembroke College;
 * Paul Raphael Montord in the combination room of St John's;
 * A memorial tablet, with an inscription by Archbishop Benson, in Truro Cathedral;
 * Passmore Edwards erected a public institute in his honour at Launceston, near his birthplace;
 * Adams Nunatak, a nunatak on Neptune Glacier in Alexander Island in Antarctica, is named after him.
 * Statue by Joy in Albert Square, Manchester.

Obituaries

 * The Times, 22 January 1892, p. 6 col.d (link on this page)
 * [Anon.] (1891–92) Journal of the British Astronomical Association 2: 196–7
 * [Anon.] (1891–92) Journal of the British Astronomical Association 2: 196–7
 * [Anon.] (1891–92) Journal of the British Astronomical Association 2: 196–7
 * [Anon.] (1891–92) Journal of the British Astronomical Association 2: 196–7

About Adams and the discovery of Neptune

 * from Project Gutenberg
 * Doggett, L. E. (1997) "Celestial mechanics", in
 * Harrison, H. M (1994). Voyager in Time and Space: The Life of John Couch Adams, Cambridge Astronomer. Lewes: Book Guild, ISBN 0-86332-918-7
 * Lyttleton, Raymond Arthur, (1968) Mysteries of the Solar System, Clarendon, Oxford, UK (1968), Chapter 7: The discovery of Neptune
 * Doggett, L. E. (1997) "Celestial mechanics", in
 * Harrison, H. M (1994). Voyager in Time and Space: The Life of John Couch Adams, Cambridge Astronomer. Lewes: Book Guild, ISBN 0-86332-918-7
 * Lyttleton, Raymond Arthur, (1968) Mysteries of the Solar System, Clarendon, Oxford, UK (1968), Chapter 7: The discovery of Neptune
 * Harrison, H. M (1994). Voyager in Time and Space: The Life of John Couch Adams, Cambridge Astronomer. Lewes: Book Guild, ISBN 0-86332-918-7
 * Lyttleton, Raymond Arthur, (1968) Mysteries of the Solar System, Clarendon, Oxford, UK (1968), Chapter 7: The discovery of Neptune
 * Lyttleton, Raymond Arthur, (1968) Mysteries of the Solar System, Clarendon, Oxford, UK (1968), Chapter 7: The discovery of Neptune
 * Lyttleton, Raymond Arthur, (1968) Mysteries of the Solar System, Clarendon, Oxford, UK (1968), Chapter 7: The discovery of Neptune
 * Lyttleton, Raymond Arthur, (1968) Mysteries of the Solar System, Clarendon, Oxford, UK (1968), Chapter 7: The discovery of Neptune
 * Lyttleton, Raymond Arthur, (1968) Mysteries of the Solar System, Clarendon, Oxford, UK (1968), Chapter 7: The discovery of Neptune
 * Lyttleton, Raymond Arthur, (1968) Mysteries of the Solar System, Clarendon, Oxford, UK (1968), Chapter 7: The discovery of Neptune
 * Lyttleton, Raymond Arthur, (1968) Mysteries of the Solar System, Clarendon, Oxford, UK (1968), Chapter 7: The discovery of Neptune
 * Lyttleton, Raymond Arthur, (1968) Mysteries of the Solar System, Clarendon, Oxford, UK (1968), Chapter 7: The discovery of Neptune
 * Lyttleton, Raymond Arthur, (1968) Mysteries of the Solar System, Clarendon, Oxford, UK (1968), Chapter 7: The discovery of Neptune
 * Lyttleton, Raymond Arthur, (1968) Mysteries of the Solar System, Clarendon, Oxford, UK (1968), Chapter 7: The discovery of Neptune

By Adams

 * Adams, J. C., ed. W. G. Adams & R. A. Sampson (1896–1900) The Scientific Papers of John Couch Adams, 2 vols, London: Cambridge University Press, with a memoir by J. W. L. Glaisher:
 * Vol.1 (1896) Previously published writings;
 * Vol.2 (1900) Manuscripts including the substance of his lectures on the Lunar Theory.
 * Adams, J. C., ed. R. A. Sampson (1900) Lectures on the Lunar Theory, London: Cambridge University Press
 * A collection, virtually complete, of Adams's papers regarding the discovery of Neptune was presented by Mrs Adams to the library of St John's College, see: Sampson (1904), and also:
 * "The collected papers of Prof. Adams", Journal of the British Astronomical Association, 7 (1896–97)
 * Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 53 184;
 * Observatory, 15 174;
 * Nature, 34 565; 45 301;
 * Astronomical Journal, No.254;
 * R. Grant, History of Physical Astronomy, p. 168; and
 * Edinburgh Review, No.381, p. 72.
 * The papers were ultimately lodged with the Royal Greenwich Observatory and evacuated to Herstmonceux Castle during World War II. After the war, they were stolen by Olin J. Eggen and only recovered in 1998, hampering much historical research in the subject.

title: John Couch Adams


text:
Talk:Graviton

How does it escape a black hole?
Does it travel faster than light? Nothing traveling under the speed of light can escape a black hole and if it doesn't leave a black hole the hole will not attract other objects. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 154.20.199.45 (talk) 01:53, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

 * Planting a flag here on ideas for the hypothetical graviton and a different narrative consistent with experimental observation. Imagine that there are two fundamental particles, the electrino and positrino, which are -/+ 1/3 charge. Black holes are like compost piles - the more matter and energy added, the hotter the core gets, until it ignites and the ingested matter-energy is decomposed into electrinos and positrinos and form a plasma. An electrino/positrino pair in the plasma could be called a graviton. Gravitons are emitted/jetted via the polar jets of sufficiently energetic SMBH. The gravitons in the plasma can decay in energy and at sufficiently low energy they can emerge from the plasma as standard matter particles. For example, a free graviton (electrino/positrino pair) is a neutrino. An electron is a triplet of electrinos. A positron is a triplet of positrinos. It's easy to reverse engineer the standard model chart. This is a new hypothetical narrative, so I am only planting a flag here, not suggesting article changes at this time. J Mark Morris (talk) 18:15, 30 December 2018 (UTC)
 * This is a dead comment for certain but I would like to clarify for future readers: the graviton is massless and therefore doesn’t experience any gravitational force. A theory of quantum gravity will be needed to explain how it escapes the screwed-up spacetime behind the event horizon, but the graviton has no issue escaping a gravitational field. OverzealousAutocorrect (talk) 18:42, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

Last section / difficulties
The description of the last section is redundant. It talks about gravity being non renormalisable, but in a language that ignores the notion of effective field theory. It is not a problem per se for a theory to be non-renormalisable. Once you have done a few measurements you can even _use_ this EFT. For instance the Fermi theory, you need to measure the four fermion interaction and then you can use this EFT to some higher energy scale. Same for gravity. This should be written more clearly. Pitorki (talk) 07:38, 8 October 2023 (UTC)

Too difficult? Are there sources which give simpler explanations?
@Schwabeditor you added a tag to the article claiming it was too technical. Obviously the article is not too mathematical. What is it that you think is too technical? Do you know of source which give simpler explanations? How can we improve and remove the tag? Johnjbarton (talk) 16:02, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

 * I think that the concept of “graviton” is already highly technical. Just like articles on advanced Ricci calculus shouldn’t require too-technical tags because they are, by definition, very technical, this article shouldn’t either.
 * If a plain-English definition must be given, simply say that the graviton is to gravity as the photon is to electromagnetism. Unfortunately it doesn’t get much simpler than that. OverzealousAutocorrect (talk) 18:15, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

Gravitons in speculative theories
I deleted a subsection of history named "Gravitons in speculative theories". Gravitons are speculative already. These works were not in any way "history". Only one could be considered possibility notable by citation count but there are many many "theories" of gravitation. Picking any without using a review reference is not fair. Johnjbarton (talk) 15:55, 7 April 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Graviton


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User talk:Fonzy/sandbox

I like it. Very nice. We should also think about finding HTML color codes for the un-discovered elements so they match what you have done with the image of the table. --mav 19:06 Jan 29, 2003 (UTC)

Are you sure it would be "positronpositivity"? It looks to me like the first part of "electronegativity" ("electro-") refers to the fact that the negativity is of an electrical sort, rather than to the electrons themselves, by which reasoning that property should be called "electropositivity" instead. But if it's already used that way in the literature, I'll certainly defer to that. -- John Owens 09:44 Apr 30, 2003 (UTC)

acording to http://www.matter-antimatter.com it is. -fonzy

 * OK, good enough for me, then. -- John Owens
 * Hmm, I'm having second thoughts about that now that I've looked the site over. That's not quite the kind of thing I had in mind when I said "the literature". But I realize that's what you're going to find on the web a lot, so I'll still let that stand unless I find something more professional that says otherwise. -- John Owens

also electronegativity is to do with electrons, Electronegativity -FONZY

title: User talk:Fonzy/sandbox


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A Staircase in Surrey

A Staircase in Surrey is a sequence of five novels by Scottish novelist and academic J. I. M. Stewart (1906–1994), and published between 1974 and 1978 by Victor Gollancz in London. The word "Surrey" in the title of the quintet refers to student accommodation in an imaginary Oxford college. (A staircase, in the more traditionally designed colleges, is a group of students' rooms, with a ground-floor entrance leading off a quadrangle.)

The series
The books, in order of publication, are:
 * The Gaudy (1974)
 * Young Pattullo (1975)
 * A Memorial Service (1976)
 * The Madonna of the Astrolabe (1977)
 * Full Term (1978)

Plot
The narrator and central character is playwright Duncan Pattullo, son of Lachlan Pattullo, a noted Scottish artist specializing in landscapes but occasionally painting portraits. He is educated in Edinburgh, at a school clearly intended to recall Fettes, and then at the unnamed College in Oxford (of which Surrey is one of the quadrangles) as the John Ruskin Scholar.

In the first novel of the sequence, The Gaudy, Pattullo returns to his Oxford College, after a long absence (and a successful career as a playwright, including extended residence abroad), and encounters a number of old friends, including Albert Talbert, his former tutor in English Literature; Lord Marchpayne, formerly Tony Mumford (an undergraduate contemporary who lived in the set of rooms opposite his); fellow Scot and schoolmate Ranald McKechnie, now Regius Professor of Greek at the college (McKechnie's wife, Janet, is Duncan's first love); Cyril Bedworth (now the college's Senior Tutor but formerly an undergraduate friend who lived at the top of Pattullo's staircase); and Robert Damien (College doctor, but also a contemporary of Pattullo's who embarrassed him by replacing the sketch for a famous painting that he owned with a bawdy picture of Mumford's at exactly the point when the great and the good had assembled to view it).

The second novel, Young Pattullo, tells the story of their former relationships and Pattullo's undergraduate career. In A Memorial Service Pattullo is instrumental in resolving the crisis caused by the academic insufficiency and aggressively anti-institutional behaviour of Ivo Mumford, his friend Tony's son, and begins a tentative involvement with his cousin Fiona Petrie, a don at one of the women's Colleges, as well as rekindling a friendship with Janet McKechnie. The title refers obliquely to the character of Paul Lusby, who committed suicide in the first novel as a result of a foolish wager proposed by Ivo Mumford, and whose brother Peter is seeking admission to the College, partly in memory of his brother. In The Madonna of the Astrolabe Pattullo has to cope with his ex-wife and her sexual designs on current undergraduates, the undergraduates' production of Tamburlaine, and the problems of raising enough money for the urgently needed restoration of the crumbling Great Tower (modelled on Tom Tower). The discovery of a lost masterpiece by Piero della Francesca proves crucial to the college's future fortunes, and Pattullo is able to help when it is stolen.  Full Term takes up Pattullo's emotional conflicts but focuses on the scandalous, and apparently treasonous, behaviour of the College's Physics tutor, William Watershute, which are dramatically resolved at the end.

Roman à clef
A Staircase in Surrey functions partly as a Roman à clef, with multiple allusions to thinly-veiled people and places. The College, which is not named in the novels, is very clearly based on one of Stewart's own Colleges, Christ Church, where he was Student (i.e. Fellow and Tutor) from 1949 until 1973, and University Reader in English. Surrey is modelled on Peckwater Quadrangle, which houses the College library as the novels suggest, but does not have a statue of a former Head of House (in the middle of Surrey there is a statue of Provost Harbage). The character of the Provost (Head of the College) is based on that of Henry Chadwick, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford during Stewart's own time there. His name is taken from that of Edward Pococke (1604–91), seventeenth century Regius Professor of Hebrew (1648–91), after whom the Pococke Tree (the inspiration for Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky) and the Pococke Garden in Christ Church are named. The fantasy writer and Oxford don J. R. R. Tolkien appears (or is remembered) as the elderly "Professor J. B. Timbermill" in all the novels. The character of Arnold Lempriere, an ancient and semi-retired history don at the College, is based on the eccentric Christ Church Censor R. H. Dundas. Tony Mumford's title "Marchpayne" is obviously both a nod to the Marquess of Marchmain, a character in Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited (another novel partly set in Christ Church, Oxford), but also a joke on "marchpane", an old name for marzipan. Stewart makes an oblique reference to himself in Full Term: 'the other [new fellow], bald and abraded, was understood to have escaped in middle age from some professorial assignment in the antipodes' (p. 37) – Stewart had been Jury Professor of English at the University of Adelaide before obtaining his post in Christ Church.

Evaluation
Stewart's sequence of novels is much appreciated for his learned allusiveness and the sheer polish of his narrative style, for his command of irony, and for his remarkable gift for accompanying dialogue with an acute psychological commentary on the contextual motivation for what is said. The quintet is unashamedly nostalgic for an era of Oxford manners that was in the 1970s waning if not already gone, and this has put some readers off (whilst probably attracting others). He reproduces authentic views held by the community he evokes about society, sex, politics, race and education that are by no means widely held nowadays. Few readers will now acquiesce in many of the assumptions made or implied in these areas by the characters or even the narrator. Stewart narrates a world in which privilege and snobbery are normal; he critiques this, but he does not transcend it. In the story about Ivo Mumford's parachuting out of a rape charge a modern reader will surely regret any meaningful reflection on the situation of the victim. The sense that "boys will be boys" abounds in these novels, and there is a simplistic acceptance (on a narrative level) of the normality of class distinction and the way this impacts upon educational opportunity and success. Nevertheless, there is much sensitivity shown towards students who encounter problems. The novels are valuable above all for their insight into the social and intellectual dynamics of academic communities. In this respect Stewart is much more insightful than C.P. Snow, some of whose "Strangers and Brothers" novels from a previous era focus on similar bodies of people, and he is no less successful in plot-construction than his Cambridge counterpart.

title: A Staircase in Surrey


text:
Pavement

Pavement or paving may refer to:

Surfacing

 * Road surface, the durable surfacing of roads and walkways
 * Sidewalk, a walkway along the side of a road, called a pavement in British English
 * Asphalt concrete, a common form of road surface
 * Cool pavement, pavement that delivers higher solar reflectance than conventional dark pavement
 * Crazy paving, a means of hard-surfacing used outdoors
 * Nicolson pavement, a road surface material consisting of wooden blocks
 * Pavers (flooring), an outdoor floor done in blocks
 * Permeable paving, made of either a porous material that enables stormwater to flow through it or nonporous blocks spaced so that water can flow between the gaps
 * Portuguese pavement, the traditional paving used in most pedestrian areas in Portugal
 * Resin-bound paving, a mixture of aggregate stones and resin used to pave footpaths, driveways, etc.
 * Tactile paving, textured ground surface indicators found at roadsides (such as at curb cuts), by and on stairs, and on railway station platforms, to assist pedestrians who are vision impaired
 * Whitetopping, the covering of an existing asphalt pavement with a layer of Portland cement concrete

Geology

 * Desert pavement, a desert ground surface covered with closely packed rock fragments of pebble and cobble size
 * Glacial striation or glacial pavement, a rock surface scoured and polished by glacial action
 * Limestone pavement, a naturally occurring landform that resembles an artificial pavement
 * Tessellated pavement, a rare sedimentary rock formation that occurs on some ocean shores

Geography

 * Pavement (York), a street in York, England
 * Finsbury Pavement, a street in London, England
 * High Pavement, a street in Nottingham, England
 * Low Pavement, a street in Nottingham, England; see 10, Low Pavement and 24-26, Low Pavement

Arts and entertainment

 * Pavement (band), an indie rock band from Stockton, California, US
 * Pavement (magazine), a youth culture magazine
 * "Pavement" (Space Ghost Coast to Coast), an episode of the American animated TV series Space Ghost Coast to Coast

title: Pavement


text:
Gaudy

Gaudy or gaudie (from the Latin, "gaudium", meaning "enjoyment" or "merry-making") is a term used to reflect student life in a number of the ancient universities in the United Kingdom as well as other institutions such as Durham University and Reading University. It is generally believed to relate to the traditional student song, "De Brevitate Vitae" (On the Shortness of Life), which is commonly known as the Gaudeamus (Let's make merry) by its first word.

Durham University
At St Chad's College the College feast day begins with a proclamation of the feast and includes an early rise, college invasions, green breakfast, as well as a host of competitions that see students spread out into the City vying to win various awards. More serious highlights include a service in the Cathedral and musical performances in the Quad. Alumni have a parallel set of events on or around the same day in Durham and (usually) in London. Previous events that were termed 'gaudies' are now more often called 'feasts' (by the college) or 'mega-formals' (by the JCR): these are all black-tie and gowned affairs that occur several times a term to mark major feasts and special events.

University of Oxford
At the University of Oxford a gaudy ('gaude' at New College, Oxford, pronounced the same) is a college feast. It is often a reunion for its alumni. The origin of the term may be connected to the traditional student anthem, Gaudeamus.

Gaudies generally involve a celebratory formal dinner, generally in black tie and academic gowns (scarlet festal robes for doctors), and may include events such as chapel services, lectures, or concerts beforehand. For reunions, the invitees are generally graduate alumni from a number of (usually two or three) consecutive matriculation years, e.g. 1999–2001. Typically, gaudies are held for each year-group on around a ten-year cycle.

University of Reading
Wantage Hall, one of the university's halls of residence, holds an annual Freshers Gaudie, which is a legacy from when the University of Reading was an extension college of Christ Church, Oxford University.

University of Aberdeen
At the University of Aberdeen, the Gaudie is the name of the student newspaper produced under the auspices of the Aberdeen University Students' Association. It is recognised as the oldest student newspaper in Scotland.

Universities of Dundee and St Andrews
At the University of Dundee, gaudie nights are traditional student celebrations involving the issue of junior students (male "bejants" and female "bejantines") with senior 'academic parents' (typically one male, one female – a "senior man" and a "senior woman") in order to introduce them to higher education and to provide socialisation. These events are usually held a short time after the institution's Freshers' Week. The Night itself involves the academic parents taking their younger charges out for an evening's entertainment at the parent's expense.

These evenings are followed by Raisin Monday which is used by the junior students to thank the academic parents (usually in a ritualised fashion) for gaudie night. The junior student provides a gift for the senior student, and in turn receives a "receipt" from the senior – this receipt can be an item of clothing such as a hat or costume, or something challenging to carry, such as a car tyre or a lavatory seat, and the receipt is worn or carried by the bejant or bejantine until midday. Raisin Monday typically happens at some point in the early winter of the first semester.

Similar traditions remain at Dundee University's erstwhile parent institution, the University of St Andrews, but are however incorporated into a Raisin Weekend and the term gaudie night is not used for the first night. Many traditions surround this event including Raisin receipts in Latin, a foam fight, and Raisin strings given by the academic mother to be hung on the Bejant/Bejantine's academic gown.

St Andrews has a separate ceremony known as the gaudie which involves a gowned torchlight procession and singing of the Gaudeamus in memory of a student, John Honey who risked his life in 1800 to save survivors of a shipping accident offshore.

Schools

 * At St Edward's School, Oxford and Radley College in Oxfordshire, gaudy is the name given to the end-of-year celebrations; occasionally taking the form of an evening event.

Cultural references
The Lord Peter Wimsey mystery Gaudy Night, by Dorothy Sayers, is partly set at such a reunion at a fictional women's college at Oxford. Sayers also uses "Gaudy" as the name of one of the bells in The Nine Tailors.

The Gaudy (1974), set in an unnamed Oxford college, is the first novel in the A Staircase in Surrey quintet by J. I. M. Stewart.

title: Gaudy


text:
Porsgrunn

is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Porsgrunn. Some other notable settlements in Porsgrunn include the town of Brevik and the villages of Langangen and Heistad.

The 164 km2 municipality is the 315th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Porsgrunn is the 29th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 37,056. The municipality's population density is 230.5 PD/km2 and its population has increased by 4.7% over the previous 10-year period. The conurbation of the cities of Porsgrunn and Skien is called Porsgrunn/Skien by Statistics Norway and it is considered to be the seventh-largest urban area in Norway.

General information
The town of Porsgrunn was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). The small urban town of Porsgrunn grew over time. On 1 July 1920, the growing town annexed some adjacent areas of some of the neighboring rural municipalities: an area of Gjerpen Municipality (population: 437), an area of Eidanger Municipality (population: 550), and an area of Solum Municipality (population: 1,614).

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, there was a major municipal merger where the following areas were merged to form a new Porsgrunn Municipality.
 * the town of Porsgrunn (population: 10,863)
 * the town of Brevik (population: 2,498)
 * all of Eidanger Municipality (population: 13,018)
 * the Bakke area (population: 75) of Hedrum Municipality in Vestfold county
 * the Enigheten, Høyberg, and Skavåsen areas (population: 12) of Brunlanes Municipality in Vestfold county

On 1 January 1968, an area of Skien Municipality (population: 3,554) was transferred to Porsgrunn Municipality (these areas had originally been part of Solum and Gjerpen municipalities).

Name
The place is first mentioned in existing historical records in 1576 ("Porsgrund") by the writer Peder Claussøn Friis in his work Concerning the Kingdom of Norway (see the article: Norwegian literature). He writes: "Two and a half miles from the sea, the Skien River flows into the fjord, and that place is called Porsgrund." The name was probably given during medieval times to the then swampy area by the nuns of Gimsøy Abbey, who went here to collect the shrub pors ("Bog Myrtle"). The last element of the name which means "ground". The name was historically spelled Porsgrund. On 1 January 1930, the spelling of the name of the municipality was changed to Porsgrunn, giving it a more "Norwegianized" spelling.

Coat of arms
The coat of arms was originally granted on 16 January 1905 for the town of Porsgrunn. The arms were originally devised in 1905 when the city needed a new city hall. After the municipal merger on 1 January 1964, the old arms were re-adopted by the new, larger Porsgrunn Municipality. The blazon is "Gules and azure, a bend between a bog myrtle branch and an anchor argent" (Delt av sølv skråbjelke. Øvre felt i rødt en sølv pors-kvist, nedre felt i blått et sølv anker). This means the arms have a red (above) and blue (below) field (background) and the charge is a diagonal bend (stripe) with an anchor below it and the branch of a bog myrtle plant above it. The charge has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The silver bend (stripe) symbolizes the small river running through the city. The bog myrtle plant is a canting symbol since the name Porsgrunn comes from the Norwegian word for the plant. The anchor on a blue background symbolizes the importance of the local harbor and sea. The arms were designed by Wilhelm Rudolph.

Churches
The Church of Norway has two parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Porsgrunn. It is part of the Skien prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Agder og Telemark.

History
Porsgrunn has been an important harbor town in the Grenland area since the late 16th century. In 1653, the Customs House was moved further down the Skien river from Skien to Porsgrunn mainly because industrial waste such as sawdust and mud made the river too shallow to allow boats to go any further up the river. Moving the Custom House to Porsgrunn added to the flourishing harbor activity and Porsgrunn became a thriving market town with a ladested status.

In the 18th century, Porsgrunn was the home of some of Norway's most influential families at the time, such as the Aalls, Cappelens, Løvenskiolds, and Deichmans. Also in this period, Porsgrunn was considered the cultural centre of Norway. The city was granted limited city status as a kjøpstad in 1807. The town was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838, and it was expanded to full city status in 1842.

Porsgrunn was once home to Skomvær, the country's largest sailing ship. In 1985, the sculpture Amphitrite, the wave and the sea birds was unveiled in Porsgrunn. The sculpture, which is one of Jørleif Uthaug's best known works, has a nautical theme in honor of Porsgrunn's maritime history.

Geography
Porsgrunn Municipality borders the municipalities of Skien and Siljan to the north, Bamble in the west, and Larvik in the east. It is part of a cluster of municipalities in southern Telemark that constitute the Grenland area of Norway. The Frierfjorden, Gunnekleivfjorden, and the mouth of the river Telemarksvassdraget or Porsgrunn River (Porsgrunnselva) are located in the western part of the municipality. The peninsula of Herøya, southeast of the main city centre, was originally an industrial park and has grown into a suburb of Porsgrunn. The Eidangerfjorden runs through the central part of the municipality.

Government
Porsgrunn Municipality is responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Telemark District Court and the Agder Court of Appeal.

Municipal council
The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Porsgrunn is made up of 49 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.

Mayors
The mayors (ordfører) of Porsgrunn (incomplete list):

 * 1838-1838: Jørgen Flood
 * 1839-1840: Jens Gasmann
 * 1841-1841: Jørgen Flood
 * 1842-1842: Ole Hersted Schjøtt
 * 1843-1844: Peter Bøyesen
 * 1845-1845: Paulus Flood
 * 1846-1846: Peter Bøyesen
 * 1847-1849: E.R. Pedersen
 * 1850-1853: Thorvald Olsen
 * 1854-1854: Thobias Petter Wiibe
 * 1855-1855: Simon Karenius Høegh
 * 1856-1856: Thobias Petter Wiibe
 * 1857-1857: Jørgen Aall Flood
 * 1858-1859: Thobias Petter Wiibe
 * 1860-1860: Jørgen Aall Flood
 * 1861-1862: Niels Mathiesen
 * 1863-1864: Hans Møller
 * 1865-1865: Niels Mathiesen
 * 1866-1866: Hans Møller
 * 1867-1867: Niels Mathiesen
 * 1868-1869: Hans Møller
 * 1870-1870: Niels Mathiesen
 * 1871-1871: Hans Møller
 * 1872-1872: Niels Mathiesen
 * 1873-1873: Hans Møller
 * 1874-1874: Niels Mathiesen
 * 1875-1875: Hans Møller
 * 1876-1876: Niels Mathiesen
 * 1877-1877: Hans Møller
 * 1878-1878: Niels Mathiesen
 * 1879-1879: Hans Møller
 * 1880-1880: Niels Mathiesen
 * 1881-1883: Hans Møller
 * 1884-1884: Niels Mathiesen
 * 1885-1890: Hans Møller
 * 1891-1892: Alfred P. Wright
 * 1893-1893: Jørgen C. Knudsen
 * 1894-1899: Alfred P. Wright
 * 1900-1907: H. Jeremiassen
 * 1926-1930: Lars Andersen (Ap)
 * 1931-1931: Arvid Frisak (Ap)
 * 1931-1936: Carl P. Wright (H)
 * 1964-1984: Harald Moen (Ap)
 * 1984-1988: Kristen Waaland (Ap)
 * 1988-1991: Ivar Moen (Ap)
 * 1991-2003: Elisabeth A. Nilsen (Ap)
 * 2003-2015: Øystein Kåre Beyer (Ap)
 * 2015–2023: Robin Martin Kåss (Ap)
 * 2023-present: Janicke Andreassen (Ap)

Industry
Porsgrunn is an important center of industry and has a long history of heavy industry. Important industries in Porsgrunn include:

 * Norsk Hydro (magnesium)
 * Elkem (silicon)
 * Yara International (nitrogen fertilizers)
 * Porsgrund Porcelænsfabrik (porcelain)
 * Renewable Energy Corporation (solar power products)
 * Isola (building materials, roofing)
 * Norcem
 * Eramet

Transportation
Transportation links from Porsgrunn:
 * Bus (Oslo, Kristiansand, Notodden)
 * Train (stops at Porsgrunn Station)
 * The Vestfold Line to Drammen Station and onwards to Oslo Central Station
 * The Bratsberg Line to Skien Station and Notodden Station
 * Ferry (Fjordbåtene i Brevik)

Public service and public thinking

 * Cort Adeler (1622–1675), a Norwegian/Danish admiral
 * Niels Aall (1769–1854), an estate owner, businessman and politician who built Ulefos Manor
 * Severin Løvenskiold (1777–1856), a nobleman, politician, and Prime Minister of Norway 1828/1841
 * Thobias Petter Wiibe (1815–1891), a politician and Mayor of Porsgrund in the 1850s
 * Niels Mathiesen (1829–1900), a politician, merchant, and Mayor of Porsgrund during the 1860s to 1880s
 * Jørgen Christian Knudsen (1843–1922), a ship-owner and politician
 * Johan Castberg (1862–1926), a politician and government minister during the 1900s & 1910s
 * Carl P. Wright (1893–1961), a politician who was Mayor of Porsgrunn during the 1930s
 * Erik Hesselberg (1914–1972), a sailor, author, painter, sculptor, and Kon-Tiki crewmember
 * Einar Tufte-Johnsen (1915–1985), an aviation officer and head of NATO Defense College
 * Finn Kristensen (born 1936), an electrician, trade unionist, and government minister during the 1980s & 1990s
 * Ann-Marit Sæbønes (born 1945), a physiotherapist and first female Mayor of Oslo during 1992-1995
 * Mads Gilbert (born 1947), a physician, humanitarian, activist, and politician
 * Kristin Halvorsen (born 1960), the former leader of Socialist Left Party and a government minister
 * Vibeke Hein Bæra (born 1964), a lawyer, defended Anders Behring Breivik at his trial
 * Robin Kåss (born 1977), a politician who was elected Mayor of Porsgrunn in 2015 & 2019
 * Torbjørn Røe Isaksen (born 1978), the former leader of Norwegian Young Conservatives and the Minister of Education and Research
 * brothers Kjetil Aleksander Lie (born 1980) & Espen Lie (born 1984), chess players

Business

 * Hans Eleonardus Møller Sr. (1780–1860), a businessperson
 * Jørgen Wright Cappelen (1805–1878), a bookseller and publisher who co-founded Cappelen Damm
 * Johan Jeremiassen (1843–1889), an entrepreneur, ship-owner, consul, and politician who founded the porcelain flatware company Porsgrund Porselænsfabrik
 * Petter Stordalen (born 1962), a billionaire businessman, real estate developer, and hotel owner

The Arts

 * Halfdan Christensen (1873–1950), a stage actor and theatre director
 * Tone Schwarzott (born 1941), an actress and poet
 * Yngvar Numme (born 1944), a singer, actor, revue writer, and director
 * Bugge Wesseltoft (born 1964), a jazz musician, pianist, composer, and producer
 * Stephen Ackles (born 1966), a vocalist, pianist, and songwriter
 * Øyvind Torvund (born 1976), a composer
 * Aleksander Walmann (born 1986), a singer for Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017
 * Didrik Solli-Tangen (born 1987), a singer for Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010
 * Emil Solli-Tangen (born 1990), a opera singer

Sport

 * Jørgen Juve (1906–1983), a football player, jurist, journalist, and non-fiction writer who was the highest scoring player for Norway with 33 goals in 45 games; captain of Norway, which won Olympic bronze medals in the 1936 Summer Olympics
 * Cathrine Roll-Matthiesen (born 1967), a former handball player and team silver medallist at the 1988 & 1992 Summer Olympics
 * sisters Anita Valen (born 1968) & Monica Valvik (born 1970), racing cyclists who won the Norwegian National Road Race Championships eleven times between them
 * Ronny Deila (born 1975), a football manager who was head coach of New York City FC and former player with 352 club caps
 * Tony Capaldi (born 1981), a professional footballer with nearly 300 club caps
 * Rune Jarstein (born 1984), a football goalkeeper with about 400 club caps and 69 for Norway
 * Espen Ruud (born 1984), a football defender with 430 club caps and 35 for Norway
 * Fredrik Nordkvelle (born 1985), a footballer with 360 club caps

Twin towns – sister cities
Porsgrunn is twinned with:
 * 🇰🇪 Kisumu, Kenya
 * 🇫🇮 Pori, Finland
 * 🇸🇪 Sigtuna, Sweden
 * Sønderborg, Denmark
 * 🇸🇪 Sundsvall, Sweden

title: Porsgrunn


text:
Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov

Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov (Влади́мир Дми́триевич Набо́ков; 21 July [ O.S. 8 July] 1870 – 28 March 1922) was a Russian criminologist, journalist, and progressive statesman during the last years of the Russian Empire. He was the father of Russian-American author Vladimir Nabokov.

Early life
Nabokov was born in Tsarskoe Selo, into a wealthy and aristocratic family. His father Dmitry Nabokov (1827–1904) was a Justice Minister in the reign of Alexander II from 1878 to 1885, and his mother Maria von Korff (1842–1926) was a Baroness from a prominent Baltic German family in Courland.

He studied criminal law at the University of St. Petersburg and taught criminology at the Imperial School of Jurisprudence.

Nabokov married Elena Ivanovna Rukavishnikova in 1897 with whom he had five children. Their eldest son was the writer and lepidopterist Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov, who portrayed his father in his memoirs (Speak, Memory, 1967) and included in his novel Pale Fire a scene of misdirected assassination evoking the death of his father. Other children were Sergey (1900–1945), Kirill (1911–1964), Elena (1906–2000) and Olga (1903–1978), who was a childhood friend of Russian-American novelist Ayn Rand. His son Sergei was gay and was sent to Neuengamme labour camp, where he died on the 9 January 1945 due to a combination of dysentery, starvation and exhaustion.

Career
From 1904 until 1917 he was the editor of the liberal newspaper Rech ("The Speech").

A prominent member of the Constitutional Democratic Party (CD, the "Kadets"), Nabokov was elected to Russia's parliament, the First Duma. He was regarded as the most outspoken defender of Jewish rights in the Russian Empire, continuing in a family tradition that had been led by his own father, Dmitry Nabokov, who as Justice Minister under Tsar Alexander II successfully opposed anti-semitic measures being passed in the government. He was also a passionate opponent of the death penalty. He was identified with the party's "center" and in favor of working with left-wing parties during the First State Duma and again during Russia's second revolutionary period.

In 1917, after the February Revolution, Nabokov helped draft the document for Grand Duke Michael's refusal of the throne. Nabokov was made secretary to the Provisional Government; however, he was forced to leave St. Petersburg in December 1917 after the Provisional Government was overthrown by the Bolshevik revolution. In 1918 he served as minister of justice in the Crimean Regional Government, where he and his family had taken refuge. In 1919 the Nabokovs fled to England and later settled in Berlin.

From 1920 until his death, Nabokov was the editor of the Russian émigré newspaper Rul ("The Rudder"), which continued to advocate a pro-Western democratic government in Russia.

Death
Nabokov attended a CD political conference in Berlin on 28 March 1922. During the proceedings, Pyotr Shabelsky-Bork and Sergey Taboritsky approached the stage singing the Tsarist national anthem and then opened fire on liberal politician and publisher Pavel Milyukov. In response, Nabokov jumped off the stage and wrestled Shabelsky-Bork down to the floor. Taboritsky then shot Nabokov three times at point-blank range, killing him instantly. The assailants failed even to wound their intended target Milyukov.

The assassins were subsequently convicted of the murder and sentenced to a 14-year prison term, but served only a fraction. The German judicial system was far more lenient with right-wing criminals than with their leftist counterparts. Upon his release, Shabelsky-Bork befriended Alfred Rosenberg, the notorious Nazi ideologue.

Nabokov is buried at the Berlin-Tegel Russian Orthodox Cemetery.

Personal life
Nabokov was an active member of the irregular freemasonic lodge, the Grand Orient of Russia’s Peoples.

title: Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov