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Bill Kreutzmann

William Kreutzmann Jr. (born May 7, 1946) is an American drummer and founding member of the rock band Grateful Dead. He played with the band for its entire thirty-year career, usually alongside fellow drummer Mickey Hart, and has continued to perform with former members of the Grateful Dead in various lineups, and with his own bands BK3, 7 Walkers and Billy & the Kids.

Early life

Kreutzmann was born in Palo Alto, California, the son of Janice Beryl (née Shaughnessy) and William Kreutzmann Sr. His father was of German descent. His maternal grandfather was football coach and innovator Clark Shaughnessy.

Kreutzmann started playing drums at the age of 13. At first he practiced on a Slingerland drum kit lent to him. As a teenager, he was practicing drums alone in a large building at his high school when Aldous Huxley and another man walked in. Huxley told Bill he'd never heard anything like it, and encouraged him in his drumming – despite the fact Bill had been told by his sixth grade music teacher that he could not keep a beat. Kreutzmann continued to practice a great deal. His earliest enthusiasm was for the music of Ray Charles and other R&B musicians. He has explained that later he learned some advanced technique or tricks from Mickey Hart.

Kreutzmann listened to jazz groups in clubs when he found an opportunity for an under-age guy to get in. After joining the Warlocks (later called the Grateful Dead), bassist Phil Lesh introduced him the work of one of the top jazz drummers of the time, Elvin Jones. Kreutzmann became an enthusiast, also, for the funk music of The Meters.

Grateful Dead
At the end of 1964 Kreutzmann co-founded the band the Warlocks, along with Dana Morgan, Jr. (who was soon replaced by Phil Lesh), Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, and Ron "Pigpen" McKernan. Their first gig was May 5, 1965, two days before Kreutzmann's nineteenth birthday. During the band's early days, Kreutzmann sometimes used a fake draft card with the name "Bill Sommers" to be admitted to bars where the band was playing, since he was underage. In November 1965, the Warlocks became the Grateful Dead.

Meeting fellow percussionist Mickey Hart in the fall of 1967 had a big impact on Kreutzmann's career. Hart soon joined the Dead, making it one of the first (and few) rock bands to feature two drummers. The combination of their playing was an important part of the band's sound and earned them the nickname "the Rhythm Devils" (the name being quipped to them by Francis Ford Coppola). Their lengthy drum duets were a feature of nearly every show from 1978 to 1995, and are documented in a number of recordings by the band.

During the 80s Kreutzmann formed and performed with three side-bands: The Billy Kreutzmann All-stars, Kokomo, and Go Ahead, mostly playing San Francisco Bay Area clubs, although Go Ahead toured somewhat in 1986–87. The All-Stars were Kreutzmann, David Nelson, guitar, Larry Murphy, Sr. on fiddle and Larry Murphy, Jr. on bass. Kokomo and Go Ahead featured Dead keyboardist Brent Mydland, David Margen played bass for Kokomo as well as Go Ahead. Kevin Russell was guitarist for Kokomo. Another brief early-80s configuration was billed as the "Kreutzmann-Margen Band."

Kreutzmann remained with the Grateful Dead until its dissolution after the death of Jerry Garcia in 1995, making him one of four members to play at every one of the band's 2,300 shows, along with Garcia, Weir and Lesh.

In 1994, Kreutzmann and the other members of the Grateful Dead were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

In 2007, they won a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Post-Grateful Dead
Kreutzmann's first post-Grateful Dead musical project was Backbone, a trio with guitarist Rick Barnett and bassist Edd Cook. They released one album, Backbone, in 1998.

In June 1997 Kreutzmann pleaded no contest in Kauai, Hawaii to charges of beating his former girlfriend at the home they shared. He served two days in jail.

In 1998, former Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, and Mickey Hart formed a band called the Other Ones, which played a number of shows as part of the Furthur Festival. The band did not play live in 1999. In 2000, Kreutzmann joined The Other Ones.

The band, with Kreutzmann, toured in 2000 and 2002.

In 2003, they changed their name to The Dead. The Dead played a number of live concerts in 2003, 2004 and 2009. Kreutzmann collaborated with Journey guitarist Neal Schon, Sy Klopps, Ira Walker, and Ralph Woodson to form the Trichromes in 2002. They released an EP, Dice with the Universe, and an album, Trichromes.

On December 17, 2005, he participated in the 17th Annual Warren Haynes Christmas Jam as the drummer for SerialPod, a group which also included Phish members Trey Anastasio and Mike Gordon.

During 2006, Kreutzmann teamed up with fellow Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart, Phish bassist Mike Gordon, and former The Other Ones guitarist Steve Kimock to form the Rhythm Devils. The band features songs from their respective former bands as well as new songs written by Jerry Garcia's songwriting companion Robert Hunter. The Rhythm Devils played their first tour in 2006, which ended at the popular Vegoose festival in Las Vegas, Nevada over the Halloween weekend. In 2008 they released a DVD called The Rhythm Devils Concert Experience.

In 2008, Kreutzmann toured the eastern United States with bassist Oteil Burbridge of the Allman Brothers Band and guitarist Scott Murawski of Max Creek as BK3.

In 2009, Burbridge was replaced by former Neville Brothers and longtime Bonnie Raitt bassist James "Hutch" Hutchinson. Hutchinson had performed with Kreutzmann, Papa Mali and keyboardist Matt Hubbard earlier in the year at a New Year's Eve concert in Haiku on the island of Maui. Some 2009 shows also featured Donna the Buffalo singer/instrumentalist Tara Nevins. In February 2010 the trio played several concerts with Burbridge again assuming the bassist role. On August 2, 2009, Kreutzmann played with Phish during most of the second set at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Along with other members of The Dead, he also visited the White House and met with President Obama.

In 2010, Kreutzmann formed a new band, called 7 Walkers, with guitarist Papa Mali, multi-instrumentalist Matt Hubbard, and bassist Reed Mathis. They toured the southern U.S. in the spring of 2010, with George Porter Jr. playing bass while Mathis toured with Tea Leaf Green. 7 Walkers has recorded a studio album which was released on November 2, 2010.

In October 2014, Kreutzmann announced he had formed a new band, called Billy & the Kids, which would begin performing live in December. The other band members are Reed Mathis on bass, Aron Magner of the Disco Biscuits on keyboards, and Tom Hamilton Jr. of American Babies on guitar and vocals.

Kreutzmann's memoir, Deal: My Three Decades of Drumming, Dreams, and Drugs with the Grateful Dead, was published by St. Martin's Press on May 5, 2015.

In 2015, Kreutzmann formed Dead & Company with former Grateful Dead members Weir and Hart, with other members including Jeff Chimenti, Otiel Burbridge, and John Mayer. They toured from 2015 to 2019, in the fall of 2021, as well as in the summer of 2022. In September 2022, Dead & Company announced the Final Tour, which would take place in Summer 2023, and would be their last. On April 22, 2023, Dead & Company released a statement stating Kreutzmann would not be performing these final tour dates, due to a "shift in creative direction".

Visual arts
In 1995, Kreutzmann produced a film called Ocean Spirit. The film is a documentary about the six-week expedition that involved a 3,000-mile ocean voyage from San Francisco to the Revillagigedo Islands, 400 miles southwest of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Kreutzmann is featured in the film and was the executive producer. Wesley C. Skiles, noted underwater filmmaker, wrote and directed the project. "We went with no preconceived notions," says Kreutzmann, "except that we were committed to the concept of nonintrusive interaction. We were seeking a way to go beyond our own boundaries as human beings, to meet with the creatures of the sea on their terms. And I hoped somehow to combine film and music to capture that moment of contact." The film has a strong environmental message and "exquisite photography", wrote John Metzger of the Music Box.

Kreutzmann also does work as a visual artist that began in 1993 when he acquired his first computer, a Powerbook 540C with Photoshop installed. Jerry Garcia, already a proficient computer artist, taught Kreutzmann the basics. In 2001, he began releasing limited edition reproductions of his digital artwork. His work can be found at Walnut Street Gallery.

Political activism
On October 29, 2010, Bill Kreutzmann endorsed Proposition 19, which would have legalized marijuana in California. Kreutzmann made the endorsement on the California Marijuana Report radio show. "I smoke marijuana and I'm not a criminal; please vote Yes on 19", Kreutzmann told Eric Brenner, the show's host. "Jerry Garcia would have voted Yes," he added.

Discography
As band leader
 * Backbone – Backbone (1999)
 * Dice with the Universe (EP) – The Trichromes (2002)
 * Trichromes – The Trichromes (2002)
 * 7 Walkers – 7 Walkers (2010)

Grateful Dead

Rhythm Devils
 * The Apocalypse Now Sessions: The Rhythm Devils Play River Music (1980)
 * The Rhythm Devils Concert Experience (DVD) (2008)

With other artists
 * Blows Against The Empire – Paul Kantner and Jefferson Starship (1970)
 * If I Could Only Remember My Name – David Crosby (1971)
 * James and the Good Brothers – James and the Good Brothers, 1971
 * Powerglide – New Riders of the Purple Sage (1971)
 * Garcia – Jerry Garcia (1972)
 * Graham Nash and David Crosby – Graham Nash and David Crosby (1972)
 * Ace – Bob Weir (1972)
 * Demon in Disguise – David Bromberg (1972)
 * The Rowan Brothers – The Rowan Brothers (1972)
 * Fire Up – Merl Saunders (1973)
 * Wanted Dead or Alive – David Bromberg (1974)
 * Reflections – Jerry Garcia (1976)
 * Texican Badman – Peter Rowan (1980)
 * Livin' the Life – The Rowan Brothers (1980)
 * A Wing and a Prayer – Matt Kelly (1987)
 * Retrospective Dreams – RJ Fox (1991)
 * Fire Up Plus – Merl Saunders (1992)
 * Fiesta Amazonica – Merl Saunders and the Rainforest Band (1998)
 * Live at the Fillmore – Denver (DVD) – The String Cheese Incident (2003)
 * Now and Then – The Rowan Brothers (2004)
 * Out Beyond Ideas – David Wilcox and Nance Pettit (2005)
 * The Green Sparrow – Mike Gordon (2008)
 * Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of the Grateful Dead (2015)
 * Garcia Live Volume Nine – Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders (2017)

title: Bill Kreutzmann


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Clarence House

Clarence House is a royal residence on The Mall in the City of Westminster, London. It was built in 1825–1827, adjacent to St James's Palace, for the royal Duke of Clarence, the future King William IV.

The four-storey house is faced in pale stucco. Over the years, it has undergone much extensive remodelling and reconstruction, most notably after being heavily damaged in the Second World War by enemy bombing during The Blitz. Little remains of the original structure designed by John Nash. It is Grade I listed on the National Heritage List for England. The house is open to visitors for about one month each summer, usually in August.

Clarence House serves as the London residence of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. It has been Charles's residence since 2003. From 1953 until 2002 it was home to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and before her, it was the official home of her daughter, Princess Elizabeth, the future Queen Elizabeth II.

History

The house was built between 1825 and 1827 to a design by John Nash. It was commissioned by the Duke of Clarence, who in 1830 became King William IV of the United Kingdom (reigned 1830–1837). He moved there in preference to the adjoining St James's Palace, an antiquated Tudor building which he found too cramped. When he became king, he remained at Clarence House, in preference to Buckingham Palace, and had John Nash create a direct passageway into the State Apartments of St James's Palace, where he could conduct royal business. Built on palace grounds, Clarence House faces greenspace and The Mall and is next to Stable Yard road, across which lies Lancaster House.

From William IV, the house passed to his sister Princess Augusta Sophia, and, following her death in 1840, to Queen Victoria's mother, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Duchess of Kent. In 1866 it became the London home of Queen Victoria's second son Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (also Duke of Edinburgh), until his death in 1900.

Alfred's younger brother Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, Queen Victoria's third son, used the house from 1900 until his death in 1942. During his tenure, for a brief period in the 1930s, it was the location of the library of the School of Oriental and African Studies, until all universities in London were evacuated in 1939 and the school temporarily relocated to Cambridge.

During World War II, Clarence House suffered damage by enemy bombing during The Blitz (1940–1941). Following the death of the Duke of Connaught in 1942, it was used by the Red Cross and the St John Ambulance Brigade as their headquarters during the rest of World War II.

After their marriage in 1947, it became the residence of Princess Elizabeth and her husband, Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Their daughter, Princess Anne, was born there in August 1950. In 1953, after the death of her father King George VI (d. 6 February 1952), Princess Elizabeth acceded to the throne as Queen Elizabeth II and moved to Buckingham Palace. Her mother, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and sister Princess Margaret moved into Clarence House.

Princess Margaret later moved into an apartment in Kensington Palace following her marriage in 1960, whilst the Queen Mother remained in residence at Clarence House until her death in March 2002. Charles, at that time Prince of Wales, took up residence in 2003. Clarence House was also the official residence of Prince William from 2003 until April 2011, and of Prince Harry from 2003 until March 2012.

Currently, Clarence House is the London residence of King Charles III and his wife, Queen Camilla. They intend to continue to use Clarence House as their London home until at least 2027 during renovations to Buckingham Palace. Buckingham Palace will remain the administrative headquarters for the monarchy and the location of state events during this time.

Tenants of Clarence House
 * King William IV and Queen Adelaide (1827–1837)
 * Duchess of Kent and Strathearn (1841–1861)
 * Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and Maria, Duchess of Edinburgh (1866–1900)
 * Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn and Princess Louise, Duchess of Connaught and Strathearn (1901–1942)
 * Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1947–1952)
 * Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother (1953–2002)
 * Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (1953–1960)
 * King Charles III and Queen Camilla (2003–present)
 * Prince William of Wales (2003–2011)
 * Prince Harry of Wales (2003–2012)

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

title: Clarence House


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Nieuw-Vennep

Nieuw-Vennep is a town in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is located near the capital city Amsterdam as well as Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. It has a population of 31,415 (2021), and is a part of the municipality of Haarlemmermeer, which ranks in top 15% of Dutch municipalities by income level.

Geography and demographics
Nieuw-Vennep has 31,415 inhabitants (2021). The town has two districts, the Old Town and the newly built Getsewoud, with each being home to around half the town's population.

In 2001, before the development of Getsewoud, Nieuw-Vennep had 17,886 inhabitants. The development of Getsewoud doubled the number of homes in the town and the population followed soon after.

The built-up area of the town was 3.71 km2, and contained 7,513 residences. The wider statistical area of Nieuw-Vennep has a population of around 40,000.

History
Northwest of present-day Nieuw-Vennep lay the island Vennip or Vennep, to which Nieuw-Vennep owes its name, meaning "New Vennep". Nieuw-Vennep is one of two towns officially founded after the lake Haarlemmermeer was made into a dry land polder in 1852. The other town was Hoofddorp, at the time still named Kruisdorp. Until 1868 Nieuw-Vennep was called Venneperdorp, both towns have used their current name since that time.

The first inhabitants were farm laborers living under poor circumstances. As a result of the conditions, the town was nicknamed De Krim, in reference to the Crimea war fought between 1853 and 1856. As Hoofddorp became the governmental and economic center of the municipality, the development of Nieuw-Vennep lagged behind. On 2 November 1862 the construction of a new church ("De Witte Kerk") was initiated by the Dutch Reformed Church.

Economics
The municipality of Haarlemmermeer, of which Nieuw-Vennep is a part, ranks in the top 15% of the country's richest municipalities by income level. Nieuw-Vennep is located close to Amsterdam, as well as the main airport of the country which provides around 65,000 jobs. Many people who work in Amsterdam or other nearby cities, have chosen to settle in Nieuw-Vennep for its peacefulness and family-friendly facilities.

However, during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, it was also one of the economically hardest-hit regions, with its GDP shrinking 28% as the nearby airport Schiphol suffered a big blow.

Transportation
Besides several bus lines going in and out, there is also the Railway station Nieuw-Vennep, which includes a 10-minute train ride to Schiphol, a 30 min ride to Amsterdam Central station, and other destinations.

Trivia

 * The town of Nieuw-Vennep is mentioned at the beginning of the Ash song Jack Names the Planets.

Notable people from Nieuw Vennep

 * Mitchell Donald (1988) a Surinamese professional footballer who previously played for AFC Ajax
 * Calvin Stengs (1998) a Dutch professional footballer who is currently playing for Feyenoord

title: Nieuw-Vennep


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Nimbus program

The Nimbus satellites were second-generation U.S. robotic spacecraft launched between 1964 and 1978 used for meteorological research and development. The spacecraft were designed to serve as stabilized, Earth-oriented platforms for the testing of advanced systems to sense and collect atmospheric science data. Seven Nimbus spacecraft have been launched into near-polar, Sun-synchronous orbits beginning with Nimbus 1 on August 28, 1964. On board the Nimbus satellites are various instrumentation for imaging, sounding, and other studies in different spectral regions. The Nimbus satellites were launched aboard Thor-Agena rockets (Nimbus 1–4) and Delta rockets (Nimbus 5–7).

Over a 20-year period from the launch of the first satellite, the Nimbus series of missions was the United States' primary research and development platform for satellite remote sensing of the Earth. The seven Nimbus satellites, launched over a fourteen-year period, shared their space-based observations of the planet for thirty years. NASA transferred the technology tested and refined by the Nimbus missions to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for its operational satellite instruments. The technology and lessons learned from the Nimbus missions are the heritage of most of the Earth-observing satellites NASA and NOAA have launched over the past three decades.

Weather forecasting
At the time of its launch, the idea that intangible properties such as air pressure could be observed using a satellite orbiting hundreds of miles above the Earth was revolutionary. With each Nimbus mission, scientists broadened their ability to collect atmospheric characteristics that improved weather forecasting, including ocean and air temperatures, air pressure, and cloudiness. Beginning with the Nimbus 3 satellite in 1969, temperature information through the atmospheric column began to be retrieved by satellites from the eastern Atlantic and most of the Pacific Ocean, which led to significant forecast improvements. The global coverage provided by Nimbus satellites made accurate 3–5 day forecasts possible for the first time.

The ability of the Nimbus satellites to detect electromagnetic energy in multiple wavelengths (multi-spectral data), in particular the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum, made it possible for scientists to look into the atmosphere and tell the difference between water vapor and liquid water in clouds. In addition, they were able to measure atmospheric temperature even in the presence of clouds, a capability that allowed scientists to take the temperature in the "warm core" of hurricanes.

Radiation budget
One of the most important scientific contributions of the Nimbus missions was their measurements of the Earth's radiation budget. For the first time, scientists had global, direct observations of the amount of solar radiation entering and exiting the Earth system. The observations helped to verify and refine the earliest climate models, and are still making important contributions to the study of climate change. As scientists consider the causes and effects of global warming, Nimbus radiation budget data provide a base for long-term analyses and make change-detection studies possible. The Nimbus technology gave rise to current radiation-budget sensors, such as the CERES instruments on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites.

Ozone layer
Even before the Nimbus satellites began collecting their observations of Earth's ozone layer, scientists had some understanding of the processes that maintained or destroyed it. They were pretty sure they understood how the layer formed, and they knew from laboratory experiments that halogens could destroy ozone. Finally, weather balloons had revealed that the concentration of ozone in the atmosphere changed over time, and scientists suspected weather phenomena or seasonal change were responsible. But how all of these pieces of information worked together on a global scale was still unclear.

Scientists conducted experiments from NASA experimental aircraft and proved that atmospheric chemicals such as the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) released from refrigerants and aerosol sprays did destroy ozone. As Nimbus 7 satellite observations accumulated between 1978 and 1994, it became increasingly clear that CFCs were creating an ozone hole each winter season over Antarctica. Not only that, but despite some year-to-year variations, it appeared the hole was becoming larger. The Nimbus measurements made clear how severe the ozone hole problem was.

Sea ice
Nimbus satellites collected orbital data on the extent of the polar caps in the mid-1960s, recorded in the visible and infrared parts of the spectrum. These first global snapshots of Earth's icecaps provide invaluable reference points for climate change studies. During a narrowing window of opportunity for data archaeology, the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NDISC) and NASA were able to recover data that allowed the reconstruction of high-resolution Nimbus 2 images from 1966 showing the entire Arctic and Antarctic ice caps.

When the Nimbus 5 spacecraft launched in 1972, scientists planned for its Electrically Scanning Microwave Radiometer to collect global observations of where and how much it rained across the world. However, a new priority for the sensor evolved in the months following its launch: mapping global sea ice concentrations. When Nimbus 7 launched in 1978, technology had improved enough for scientists to distinguish newly formed (i.e., "first year") sea ice from older ice, with the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) sensor. The data it collected during its 9-year lifespan provide a significant chunk of the long-term record of Earth's sea ice concentration that today's scientists use for studies of climate change.

Among the most serendipitous discoveries that the Nimbus missions made possible was that of a gaping hole in the sea ice around Antarctica in the Southern Hemisphere winters of 1974–76. In a phenomenon that has not been observed since, an enormous, ice-free patch of water, called a polynya, developed three years in a row in the seasonal ice that encases Antarctica each winter. Located in the Weddell Sea, each year the polynya vanished with the summer melt, but returned the following year. The open patch of water may have influenced ocean temperatures as far down as 2,500 meters and influenced ocean circulation over a wide area. The Weddell Sea Polynya has not been observed since the event witnessed by the Nimbus satellites in the mid-70s.

Global positioning system
Nimbus satellites (beginning with Nimbus 3 in 1969) blazed the trail into the modern GPS era with operational search and rescue and data collection systems. The satellites tested the first technology that allowed satellites to locate weather-observation stations set up in remote locations and to command the stations to transmit their data back to the satellite. The most famous demonstration of the new technology was through the record-breaking flight of British aviator Sheila Scott, who tested the Nimbus navigation and locator communication system when she made the first-ever solo flight over the North Pole in 1971.

The Nimbus ground-to-satellite-to-ground communication system demonstrated the first satellite-based search and rescue system. Among the earliest successes were the rescue of two hot air balloonists who went down in the North Atlantic in 1977 and, later that year, tracking a Japanese adventurer on his first attempt to be the first person to dogsled solo to the North Pole through Greenland. Tens of thousands of people over the past three decades have been rescued through the Search and Rescue Satellite-aided Tracking (SARSAT) operational system on NOAA satellites.

Nuclear power
Nimbus-3 was the first satellite to use a SNAP-19 radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) in space. A previous attempt was made to launch a SNAP-19 RTG on Nimbus-B-1, but the rocket was destroyed and the nuclear fuel landed in the Santa Barbara Channel. Later, the fuel was recovered from the wreckage at a depth of 300 ft and re-purposed for Nimbus-3 as the SNAP-19B. This power source augmented the solar array with an additional $28.2 W$ of electrical power.

title: Nimbus program


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Torrance

Torrance, also spelled Torrence, is an originally Scottish surname. Torrance may also refer to:

Places

 * Torrance, California, United States
 * Torrance, East Dunbartonshire, Scotland
 * Torrance, South Lanarkshire, Scotland
 * Torrance railway station
 * Torrance, Ontario, Canada
 * Torrance, Pennsylvania, United States
 * Torrance Barrens, a conservation area near Torrance, Ontario
 * Torrance County, New Mexico, United States

Given name

 * Street Symphony (producer), alias of Torrance Esmond, an American record producer and music executive
 * Torry Castellano (born 1979), nickname of Torrance Castellano, retired former drummer of the rock band, The Donnas
 * Torrance Coombs (born 1983), Canadian-American actor
 * Torrance Daniels (born 1981), former American football linebacker and current football coach
 * Torrance Gillick (1915–1971), Scottish footballer
 * Torrance Marshall (born 1977), American former footballer
 * Torrance Small (born 1970), former professional American football wide receiver
 * Torrance Watkins (born 1949), American equestrian and Olympic champion
 * Torrance Zellner (born 1970), American track and field athlete

Surname

 * Alex A. Torrance, Scottish curler
 * Alex F. Torrance, Scottish curler and coach
 * Alan Torrance (born 1956), Scottish theologian
 * Bill Torrance (born 1946), Scottish broadcaster
 * Bobby Torrance (born 1958), Scottish footballer
 * Chris Torrance (born 1941), British poet
 * David Torrance (disambiguation), various people with the name
 * Ellis Paul Torrance (1915–2003), American psychologist
 * George William Torrance (1835–1907), Irish composer
 * Iain Torrance (born 1949), Scottish theologian
 * Isobel Torrance Jr. (later in marriage Hannen) (born 1962), Scottish curler and coach
 * Jack Torrance (athlete) (1912–1969), American football player and shot putter
 * Jamaal Torrance (born 1983), American sprinter
 * Jared Sidney Torrance (1852–1921), American real estate developer
 * John Torrance (1786–1870), Scottish merchant and entrepreneur
 * Robert Torrance (born 1939), American Professor Emeritus of literature
 * Russell Torrance, ABC Classic FM presenter and musician
 * Sam Torrance (born 1953), Scottish golfer
 * Sandy Torrance (1901–1941), Scottish footballer
 * Thomas Torrance (1871–1959), Scottish missionary to China
 * Thomas F. Torrance (1913–2007), Scottish theologian

Other uses

 * Torrance Shipman, fictional character in the film Bring It On, portrayed by Kirsten Dunst
 * Jack Torrance, fictional character in Stephen King's The Shining
 * Torrance (film), an upcoming American drama film

title: Torrance


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Cleopatra's Needles

Cleopatra's Needles are a separated pair of ancient Egyptian obelisks now in London and New York City. The obelisks were originally made in Heliopolis (modern Cairo) during the New Kingdom period, inscribed by the 18th dynasty pharaoh Thutmose III and 19th dynasty pharaoh Ramesses II. They were later moved to the Caesareum of Alexandria, which had been conceived by Ptolemaic Queen Cleopatra VII, for whom the obelisks are named. They stood in Alexandria for almost two millennia until they were re-erected in London and New York City in 1878 and 1881 respectively. Together with Pompey's Pillar, they were described in the 1840s in David Roberts' Egypt and Nubia as "[the] most striking monuments of ancient Alexandria".

The removal of the obelisks from Egypt was presided over by Isma'il Pasha, who had greatly indebted the Khedivate of Egypt during its rapid modernization. The London needle was presented to the United Kingdom in 1819, but remained in Alexandria until 1877 when Sir William James Erasmus Wilson, a distinguished anatomist and dermatologist, sponsored its transportation to London. In the same year, Elbert E. Farman, the then-United States Consul General at Cairo secured the other needle for the United States – the needle was transported by Henry Honychurch Gorringe. Both Wilson and Gorringe published books commemorating the transportation of the Needles: Wilson wrote Cleopatra's Needle: With Brief Notes on Egypt and Egyptian Obelisks (1877) and Gorringe wrote Egyptian Obelisks (1885).

The London needle was placed on the Victoria Embankment, which had been built a few years earlier in 1870, whilst the New York needle was placed in Central Park just outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art's main building, also built just a few years earlier in 1872.

Damage to the obelisks by weather conditions in London and New York has been studied, notably by Professor Erhard M. Winkler of the University of Notre Dame. Zahi Hawass, a former Egyptian Minister of Antiquities, has called for their restoration or repatriation.

Alexandria
The name Cleopatra's Needles derives from the French name, "Les aiguilles de Cléopâtre", when they stood in Alexandria.

The earliest known post-classical reference to the obelisks was by the Cairo-based traveller Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi in c.1200 CE, who according to E. A. Wallis Budge described them as "Cleopatra's big needles". At this point, both obelisks were still standing – it is thought that the toppling of one of the obelisks happened during the 1303 Crete earthquake, which also damaged the nearby Lighthouse of Alexandria.

George Sandys wrote of his 1610 journey: "Of Antiquities there are few remainders: onely an Hieroglyphicall Obelisk of Theban marble, as hard welnigh as Porphir, but of a deeper red, and speckled alike, called Pharos Needle, standing where once stood the pallace of Alexander: and another lying by, and like it, halfe buried in rubbidge." Two decades later, another English traveller Henry Blount wrote "Within on the North towards the Sea are two square obeliskes each of one intire stone, full of Egyptian Hieroglyphicks, the one atanding, the other fallen, I thinke either of them thrice as bigge as that at Constantinople, or the other at Rome, & therefore left behind as too heavy for transportation: neere these obeliskes, are the ruines of Cleopatraes Palace high upon the shore, with the private Gate, whereat she received her Marke Antony after their overthrow at Actium".

In 1735, the former French consul in Egypt, Benoît de Maillet, wrote in his Description de l'Egypte: "Cleopatra's Needles: After this famous monument, the oldest and most curious in modern Alexandria are these two Needles, or Obelisks, which are attributed to Cleopatra, without anyone knowing too well on what basis. One is now overturned, and almost buried under the sands; the other still remains upright."

In 1755, Frederic Louis Norden wrote in his Voyage d'Egypte et de Nubie that: "Some ancient authors have written that these two Obelisks were found in their time in the Palace of Cleopatra; but they do not tell us who had placed them there. It is believed that these monuments are much older than the City of Alexandria, and that they were brought from some place in Egypt, to decorate this Palace. This conjecture is well founded, as we know that at the time of the foundation of Alexandria, these monuments covered with hieroglyphs were no longer made, the understanding and use of which had already been lost long before."

Images from 18th and 19th century Alexandria show two needles, one standing and the other fallen. The London needle was the fallen needle.

The location is now the site of a statue of Egyptian statesman Saad Zaghloul.

London needle
The London needle is in the City of Westminster, on the Victoria Embankment near the Golden Jubilee Bridges. It was originally erected in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis on the orders of Thutmose III, around 1450 BC.

In 1819, Muhammad Ali Pasha gave Britain the obelisk as a gift. However, Britain's prime minister at the time, Lord Liverpool, hesitated on having it brought to the country due to shipping expenses.

Two prior suggestions had been made to transport the needle to London – in 1832 and in the 1850s after the Great Exhibition; however, neither proceeded.

In 1867, James Edward Alexander was inspired on a visit to Paris' Place de la Concorde to arrange for an equivalent monument in London. He stated that he was informed that the owner of the land in Alexandria where the British needle lay had proposed to break it up for building material. Alexander campaigned to arrange for the transportation. In 1876 he went to Egypt and met Isma'il Pasha, the Khedive of Egypt, together with Edward Stanton then the British Consul-General. Alexander's friend, William James Erasmus Wilson, agreed to cover the costs of the transportation, which took place in October 1877.

New York needle
In 1869, at the opening of the Suez Canal, Isma'il Pasha suggested to American journalist William Henry Hurlbert the possible transportation of an obelisk from Egypt to the United States.

The New York City needle was erected in Central Park, just west of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, on 22 February 1881. It was secured in May 1877 by judge Elbert E. Farman, the then-United States Consul General at Cairo, as a gift from the Khedive for the United States remaining a friendly neutral as the European powers – France and Britain – maneuvered to secure political control of the Egyptian Government.

title: Cleopatra's Needles


text:
Lahn

The Lahn is a 245.6 km, right (or eastern) tributary of the Rhine in Germany. Its course passes through the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia (23.0 km), Hesse (165.6 km), and Rhineland-Palatinate (57.0 km).

It has its source in the Rothaargebirge, the highest part of the Sauerland. It meets the Rhine at Lahnstein, near Koblenz. Important cities along the Lahn include Marburg, Gießen, Wetzlar, Limburg an der Lahn, Weilburg and Bad Ems.

Tributaries to the Lahn include the Ohm, Dill, the Weil and the Aar. The lower Lahn has many dams with locks, allowing regular shipping from its mouth up to Runkel. Riverboats also operate on a small section north of the dam in Gießen.

Source area
The Lahn is a 245.6 km-long, right (or eastern) tributary of the Rhine in Germany. Its course passes through the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia (23.0 km), Hesse (165.6 km), and Rhineland-Palatinate (57.0 km).

The Lahn originates at the Lahnhof, a locality of Nenkersdorf, which is a constituent community of Netphen in southeastern North Rhine-Westphalia, near the border with Hesse. The source area is situated along the Eisenstraße scenic highway and the Rothaarsteig hiking trail.

The river arises in the southeastern Rothaargebirge in the Ederkopf-Lahnkopf-Rücken ridge-line natural area. This ridge is the drainage divide between the Rhine and Weser, and, within the Rhine system, the watershed between the rivers Lahn and Sieg.

The source is at an elevation of 600 m and is located southwest of the 624 m high Lahnkopf. In the vicinity are also the origins of the Eder (5.5 km northwest of the Lahnhof) and the Sieg (another 3 km north). Whereas the Sieg takes the shortest route to the Rhine (to the west), the Lahn first runs in the opposite direction, paralleling the Eder for many kilometers.

Course
The Lahn first flows in a northeasterly direction through the southeastern Rothaargebirge and its foothills. From about the Bad Laasphe community of Feudingen, it turns primarily to the east.

Upper Lahntal and Wetschaft Depression
The section of the Lahn below the town of Bad Laasphe is geographically known as the Upper Lahn Valley (German: Ober Lahntal). Above Bad Laasphe, where the river flows between the Rothaargebirge on the left (i.e. to the north) and the Gladenbach Uplands on the right, the Lahn Valley is simply considered part of these mountains.

Between Niederlaasphe (of Bad Laasphe) and Wallau (of Biedenkopf), the river crosses the border between North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse. It then flows in an easterly direction through some districts of Biedenkopf (but not the central town) and the towns of Dautphetal and Lahntal. It is joined from the right by the Perf at Wallau and at Friedensdorf (of Dautphetal) by the Dautphe (which flows in a side valley to the south).

Shortly after the village of Caldern (of Lahn Valley), the ridgeline of the Rothaargebirge on the north ends with the Wollenberg and that of the Gladenbach Bergland with the Hungert. The Lahn leaves the Rhenish Slate Mountains for a long section and reaches the West Hesse Highlands, where it flows through the extreme south of the Wetschaft Depression, north of the Marburger Rücken. Where the Wetschaft flows into it from the Burgwald forest in the north (near the Lahntal village of Göttingen), the Lahn immediately changes direction by 90° to the right.

Marburg-Gießen Lahntal
The now southward-flowing Lahn then enters the Marburg-Gießen Lahntal. Shortly before Cölbe, the Ohm enters from the left at the Lahn-Knie named area. Flowing from the Vogelsberg through the Ohmtal, the Ohm is the Lahn's longest tributary, with a length of 59.7 km.

The river then breaks through a sandstone mesa (the Marburger Rücken to the west and the Lahnberge to the east) into a valley which encompasses the entire territory of the city of Marburg and its suburbs. The valley begins after the river passes the Marburger Rücken near Niederweimar, where the Allna enters from the right. At the valley's southern end, the Zwesten Ohm enters from the Lahnberge. The right (western) side of the valley is again formed by the Gladenbacher Bergland, from which the Salzböde enters the Lahn. On the left rises the Lumda Plateau, from which the eponymous river Lumda flows into the Lahn near Lollar. Gradually the valley widens into the Gießen Basin.

In Gießen, after the inflow of the Wieseck from the left, the Lahn's general direction of flow changes from the south to the west. The Gießen Basin extends a few more miles downstream to Atzbach, a suburb of Lahnau. From the 1960s until the 1980s, there was extensive gravel mining in this area. The area between Heuchelheim, Lahnau, and the Wetzlar borough of Dutenhofen was to be completely mined and a water sports center with an Olympic-suitable rowing course built. This plan was partly realized, and the Heuchelheim Lake and Dutenhofen Lake are now popular recreational destinations for the surrounding region. Nature conservation organizations, however, were able to prevent further gravel mining, so the area is now one of the largest nature reserves in Hesse. Dutenhofen Lake marks Kilometer 0 of the Lahn as a federal waterway.

The Gießen Basin is surrounded by the mountain peaks of the Gleiberg, the Vetzberg, the Dünsberg, and the Schiffenberg. At Wetzlar, the Lahn is joined by its second longest tributary, the Dill, which has a length of 55.0 km. At this location, the valleys of the Lahn and Dill separate three parts of the Rhenish Slate Mountains from each other: the Gladenbach Bergland, the Westerwald to the northwest, and the Taunus to the south.

Weilburg Lahntal
After Wetzlar, the valley of the Lahn gradually narrows and at Leun enters the Weilburger Lahntal. The Weilburger Lahntal belongs to the larger Gießen-Koblenzer Lahntal physiographic province, considered part of the Rhenish Slate Mountains.

In the upper area of the Weilburg Lahntal (the Löhnberg Basin) are mineral springs, such as the famous Selters mineral spring in the municipality of Löhnberg. In the lower area, where the river turns again to the south, the Lahn is entrenched canyon-like below the level of the surrounding geographic trough.

The city of Weilburg is wrapped by a marked loop of the river. The neck of this noose is traversed by a boat tunnel, unique in Germany. A little below Weilburg, the Weil, originating in the High Taunus, enters the Lahn.

Limburger Basin
At Aumenau in the municipality of Villmar, the course of the Lahn reverses to the west again and enters the fertile Limburger Basin, where the river is incised to a depth of about 50 m. Here the river is joined by two tributaries, the Emsbach coming from the Taunus and the Elbbach from the Westerwald. In this area are frequent outcroppings of Devonian limestone, the so-called Lahn Marble (German: Lahnmarmor), such as at Limburg an der Lahn, where the Limburg Cathedral crowns such an outcropping. At Limburg, the river again enters a wider valley.

Lower Lahntal
Below Diez, the Lahn absorbs the Aar from the south. At Fachingen in the municipality of Birlenbach, it leaves the Limburger Basin and enters the Lower Lahntal. Its course is incised over 200 m deep in the Slate Mountains. Near Obernhof, the Gelbach enters the Lahn opposite Arnstein Abbey. Then, after passing Nassau and Bad Ems, where, as in Fachingen, mineral springs (sources of Emser salt) can be found, it completes its 242 km run, entering the Rhine in Lahnstein, located five kilometers south of Koblenz at an elevation of 61 m.

Early history
The Lahn area was settled as early as in the Stone Age, as shown by archeological finds near Diez, in Steeden in the community of Runkel, and in Wetzlar. Recent discoveries in Dalheim on the western edge of Wetzlar show a ca. 7000-year-old Linear Pottery culture settlement. There are also remains a Germanic settlement in the location, dated to around the 1st century, situated above a bend of the Lahn.

In the Roman Era, the Lahn presumably was used by the Romans to supply their fort at Bad Ems, Kastell Ems. Here the Limes Germanicus on the borders of Germania Superior and Rhaetia crossed the Lahn. Archaeological finds are known from Niederlahnstein, as well as from Lahnau. One Lahnau site, the Waldgirmes Forum in the community of Waldgirmes, was discovered in the 1990s and had been the site of a Roman town. Another site in the community of Dorlar has the remains of a Roman marching camp (or castra). These Lahnau sites have significant altered the current understanding of the history of the Romans east of the Rhine and north of the Limes.

During the Migration Period, the Alamanni settled in the lower Lahntal. They were later ousted by the Franks.

The origin and meaning of the name Lahn are uncertain; it is possible that it is a pre-Germanic word. The form of the name changed over time; before 600, variations like Laugona, Logana, Logene or Loyn are typical. The oldest known use of the current spelling of the name dates to 1365.

The oldest mention of the staple right of Diez dates to the early 14th century and is an indication of significant shipping on the Lahn by that time. In 1559, John VI of Nassau-Dillenburg laid out a towpath on the lower Lahn. In 1606, for the first time, the Lahn was deepened to allow small scale shipping and the lower reaches became navigable for four to five months of the year. However, there were numerous weirs with only narrow gaps, so the traffic remained restricted to small boats.

In the 17th and early 18th centuries, there were several initiatives of adjacent princes to further expand the Lahn as a waterway, but they all failed due to lack of coordination. In 1740, the Archbishopric of Trier began construction to make the mouth of the Lahn passable for larger vessels. In winter of 1753/54, bank stabilization and creation of towpaths were done along the entire length of the river. Then the river was passable for vessels with up to 240 hundredweights of cargo downstream and up to 160 hundredweights upstream.

By the end of the 19th century, over 300 castles, fortresses, fortified churches, and similar buildings were built along the river.

Shipping during the Industrial Revolution
During the French occupation, inspections of the river began in 1796, which were to be followed by a comprehensive expansion. Due to political developments, however, this expansion did not take place. The newly created Duchy of Nassau eventually began work from 1808 under the Chief Construction Inspector of Kirn to make the Lahn fully navigable. In the first winter, the section of the riverside from the mouth to Limburg was stabilized, particularly so that the course could be narrowed in shallow places. It was planned in the long run to make the Lahn navigable as far as Marburg and from there to construct a canal to Fulda to connect it with the Weser. This would create a waterway from France to North Sea via the states of the Confederation of the Rhine. Upstream of Limburg, however, the work was slow, partly because the population pressed into emergency service only reluctantly cooperated. Large parts of the shore were only secured with fascines, which rotted shortly thereafter.

In 1816 the Duchy of Nassau and the Kingdom of Prussia agreed to expand the Lahn as far as Giessen, where it joined the Grand Duchy of Hesse. Little is known about the work that followed, but in the 1825 boatmen on the Lahn who shipped mineral water from springs in Selters and Fachingen addressed a letter of appreciation to the Nassau government in Wiesbaden for the rehabilitation of river systems. Overall, however, there seems to have been only repairs and temporary works accomplished through the 1830s.

The earliest attempts to count ship traffic on the Lahn dated from 1827. At the lock at Runkel, 278 vessels were counted in that year, with the state government of Nassau explicitly pointing out that most of the river traffic travelled from the mouth to Limburg, or with smaller boats from the upper reaches to Weilburg, and only a small part passed Runkel. In 1833, however, 464 vessels were counted. The main reason for the increase is likely the increase in iron ore mining in the surroundings of Weilburg. An estimate from 1840 placed the quantity of iron ore transported on the entire river at approximately 2000 boat loads, though the river was only navigable from the mouth to Weilburg. In addition, mainly cereals and mineral water were transported downriver. Upriver, the boats carried primarily coal, charcoal, gypsum, and colonial goods. Around 1835, about 80 larger shallow-draft boats were in operation on the Lahn.

Given the increasing ore mining in the Lahn Valley, officials from Nassau and Prussia in 1841 made an inspection trip along the river from Marburg to the Rhine. The Prussians were the driving force behind river expansion projects, seeking to establish a connection between Wetzlar and their Rhine Province and to secure the iron ore supply for the growing industry in the Ruhr Valley. Until 1844, Hesse-Darmstadt also joined expansion efforts, while Hesse-Kassel declined participation. The participating governments agreed to make the Lahn passable as far as Gießen for boats that were significantly larger than the existing vehicles on the river. In Prussian territory, the work was largely completed by 1847, including construction of locks in Dorlar, Wetzlar, Wetzlar-Blechwalze, Oberbiel and Niederbiel. In Nassau's territory, locks were built at Löhnberg, Villmar, and Balduinstein, as well as the greatest technical achievement: the Weilburg ship tunnel. The river bank reinforcement and channel deepening along Nassau's section of the Lahn, however, was slow. Moreover, when the lock at Limburg fell short of the width contractually agreed upon, Nassau refused an extension. This led to several clashes between Nassau and Prussia in the following years until Nassau had finally fulfilled its obligations in 1855.

Despite the expansion, boats on the Lahn could travel fully loaded only from Gießen to Löhnberg. There, they had to lighten their load in order to reduce their draft and continue the journey. Also, this was only during two to three months. In a further four to five months per year, the load had to be reduced even earlier due to the low water level. The rest of the year the Lahn was not passable. From Wetzlar to Lahnstein, where the freight was unloaded onto the large barges of the Rhine, the boats took three to four days. A trip from Wetzlar to the mouth and then towed back with horses lasted for about 14 days in good conditions. At that time, there were mainly two types of transport boats in use: those with a capacity of 350 hundredweights and a larger variant with a capacity of 1300 hundredweights.

In 1857 to 1863, the Lahntal railway (Lahntalbahn) was built, with nine major bridges and 18 tunnels along the river. Afterward, Prussia and Nassau tried to keep shipping along the Lahn alive through the lowering of tariffs. Ultimately, however, rail gained acceptance as a means of transport and cargo shipping on the Lahn gradually declined. Several projects begun in 1854 to operate steamboats on the Lahn died in their infancy. In 1875, 1885 and 1897 the Prussian government discussed plans for the transformation of the Lahn into a canal, which would allow the passage for larger vessels, but these plans were never implemented. Only in places was the riverbed dredged, such as around 1880 near Runkel, from 1905 to 1907 from the mouth to Bad Ems, and from 1925 to 1928 from the mouth to Steeden.

In 1964, an expansion of the Lahn for 300-ton vessels was completed. In 1981, freight shipping on the Lahn came to an end. Today, the Lahn is used exclusively for recreational boats.

Recent history
In 1960, gravel mining began in the broad plains of the Lahn Valley in Marburg and Giessen. This ended in 1996 and large sections of Lahn Valley in Hesse were set aside as a nature reserve

On 7 February 1984, the Lahn experienced a 100-year flood, which caused millions of German Marks in damage. This has since led to a central flood warning system and coordination of flood control efforts through the regional council of Giessen.

Boating
The Lahn, from a point between Lahnau and Dutenhofen (Wetzlar) to its confluence the Rhine, is designated as a federal waterway. In this area, it is subject to the Water and Shipping Administration of the federal government, with the responsible office being that at Koblenz.

The middle and lower section of the Lahn is navigable and has a large number of locks. The waterway is used almost exclusively by smaller motor yachts for tourists, as well as paddled- and rowboats. For non-motorized watercraft, the Lahn can be used for the entire length between Roth (of Weimar) and the Rhine.

From the mouth upwards to Dehrn (of Runkel), Lahn-km 70 (above Limburg), the river is consistently passable for larger vessels, with locks operated by personnel. The Water and Shipping Administration guarantees a minimum water depth of 1.60 m in the navigation channel. There are stream gauges at Kalkofen (of Dörnberg) (normal water level 1.80 m) and at Leun. Above Dehrn there are manual locks and frequent shoals, making the passage of boats difficult. Two weirs in Wetzlar are an obstruction to shipping further upriver.

Economy and tourism
Since the late 1980s, there have been increasing attempts to promote the Lahn for ecotourism and to coordinate and expand the existing uses. There were first tourism associations at the state level, and these have now joined into the Lahntal Tourist Association.

The Lahntal bike path 'Lahntalradweg' leads through the Lahn Valley, along the Lahn Holiday Road. It is accessible from the Upper Lahn Valley Railway between Feudingen and Marburg, the Main-Weser Railway between Marburg and Giessen, as well as the Lahntal railway between Giessen and Friedrichssegen. For walkers there is the Lahnhöhenwege along both sides of the Lahn from Wetzlar to Oberlahnstein. The first partial section of a pilgrimage route, the Lahn-Camino on the left side of the Lahn, leads from Wetzlar Cathedral to Lahnstein via Castle Lahneck and the Hospital Chapel.

There are 19 hydroelectric plants using the Lahn to generate electricity. Wine is produced in Obernhof and Weinähr. The wines of the Lahn region are marketed under the trade name Lahntal as Middle Rhine wines.

Fauna and flora
In 1999, the Lahn was classified as Biological Grade II and Chemical Grade I. Overall it is considered natural. The migrations of fish such as salmon are hindered by the river's weirs and water levels, but attempts have been made through the installation of fish ladders to reintroduce formerly native fish. After the end of gravel mining in mid-1990s, the river between Lahnau, Heuchelheim, and Dutenhofen (of Wetzlar) in the middle Lahn Valley has developed into one of the largest nature reserves in Hesse, known as the Lahnau Nature Preserve.

Tributaries
The two most important tributaries of the Lahn, and those with the largest catchment inflows, are the Ohm and the Dill. The Dill originates in the southwestern foothills of the Rothaargebirge (the Haincher Höhe) and enters the Lahn from the right. The Ohm flows from the Vogelsberg and enters from the left. It is notable that not only is the Ohm at the point of its confluence with the Lahn only one kilometre shorter from its source than the Lahn itself, but the Ohm's catchment area of 984 km2 is significantly larger than that of the Lahn above the confluence, 652 km2, or only 452 km2 before the inflow of the Wetschaft only 2 kilometres upstream.

Between the Lahn's source area in the Rothaargebirge and Gießen, all of the left tributaries are from the less mountainous parts of the West Hessian Bergland. After the turn towards the west or southwest near Gießen, all the left tributaries flow from the Hochtaunus. The right tributaries between the source area and the confluence of the Dill near Wetzlar come from the Gladenbach Bergland, while downstream they originate in the (High) Westerwald. Much of the Westerwald, in contrast, has no significant watershed, so the streams are almost random in finding their direction.

Because the highest point of the Westerwald is near the Sieg, and especially because the Taunus is very close to the Main, both Mittelgebirge are each considerably more than half drained by the Lahn. Especially the left tributaries from the Taunus flow with a strong south-north orientation. The river Emsbach runs through the Idstein Basin, which divides the (Hinter-) Taunus into two parts, while the Aar is central for the (Western and Eastern) Aartaunus.

List of all tributaries
A list of all the tributaries of the Lahn, including their position relative to the main river (l = left; r = right) and length in kilometers, are listed in downstream order as follows:

Municipalities (from source to mouth)
{|
 * width = "500"|

Kreis Siegen-Wittgenstein, North Rhine-Westphalia

 * Netphen
 * Bad Laasphe

Landkreis Marburg-Biedenkopf, Hesse

 * Biedenkopf
 * Dautphetal
 * Lahntal
 * Cölbe
 * Marburg
 * Weimar
 * Fronhausen

Landkreis Gießen, Hesse

 * Lollar
 * Wettenberg
 * Gießen
 * Heuchelheim
 * width = "500" valign=top |

Lahn-Dill-Kreis, Hesse

 * Lahnau
 * Wetzlar
 * Solms
 * Leun

Landkreis Limburg-Weilburg, Hesse

 * Löhnberg
 * Weilburg
 * Weinbach
 * Runkel
 * Limburg an der Lahn

Rhein-Lahn-Kreis, Rhineland-Palatinate
Verbandsgemeinden:
 * Diez
 * Bad Ems-Nassau
 * Lahnstein (Verband-free town)
 * }

title: Lahn


text:
Thames Embankment

The Thames Embankment is a work of 19th-century civil engineering that reclaimed marshy land next to the River Thames in central London. It consists of the Victoria Embankment and Chelsea Embankment.

History
There had been a long history of failed proposals to embank the Thames in central London. Embankments along the Thames were first proposed by Christopher Wren in the 1660s, then in 1824 former soldier and aide to George IV, Sir Frederick Trench suggested an embankment known as 'Trench's Terrace' from Blackfriars to Charing Cross. Trench brought a bill to Parliament which was blocked by river interests.

In the 1830s, the painter John Martin promoted a version, as realised later, to contain an intercepting sewer. In January 1842 the City Corporation backed a plan designed by James Walker but which was dropped due to government infighting. The government itself built the Chelsea Embankment in 1854 from Chelsea Hospital to Millbank.

Started in 1862, the Victoria Embankment starting from Millbank on the main, north (or "left" bank) was primarily designed by Sir Joseph Bazalgette with architectural work on the embankment wall and river stairs by Charles Henry Driver. It incorporates the main low level interceptor sewer from the then limits of west London's growth, and an underground railway over which a wide road and riverside walkway were built and run today, shored up by the sturdy retaining wall along the tidal River Thames (the Tideway). In total, Bazalgette's scheme reclaimed 22 acre of land from the river. It prevented flooding, such as around what had been the remnants of Thorney Island, much of which was owned by the Duke of Westminster. Those waterfront hotels, supply warehouses and genteel "town houses" which had boat access by inlets and watergates lost this.

Much of the granite used in the projects was brought from Lamorna Cove in Cornwall. The quarried stone was shaped into blocks on site before being loaded on to barges and transported up the English Channel into the Thames.

From Battersea Bridge in the west, it includes Cheyne Walk, Chelsea Embankment, Grosvenor Road, Millbank and Victoria Tower Gardens.

Beyond the Houses of Parliament, it is named Victoria Embankment as it stretches to Blackfriars Bridge; this stretch incorporates part of the shared District/Circle Line bi-directional tunnel of the London Underground and passes Shell Mex House and the Savoy Hotel. It likewise incorporates gardens and open space, here at their greatest, and collectively known as the Embankment Gardens, which provide a peaceful oasis in the heart of Central London. The gardens include many statues, including a memorial with a bust of Bazalgette.

The smaller and shorter Albert Embankment is on the south side of the river, opposite the Millbank section of the Thames Embankment. It was created by Bazalgette for the Metropolitan Board of Works and built by William Webster between July 1866 and November 1869.

Some parts of the Embankment were rebuilt in the 20th century due to wartime bomb damage or natural disasters such as the 1928 Thames flood.

The Thames and Albert embankments are but a fraction of the 200 miles of walls that prevent the Thames from flooding adjoining lands, and which were begun in the Middle Ages.

title: Thames Embankment


text:
Girard

Girard may refer to:

Places in the United States

 * Girard, Alabama
 * Girard, Georgia
 * Girard, Illinois
 * Girard, Kansas
 * Girard, Michigan
 * Girard, Minnesota
 * Girard, Ohio
 * Girard, Pennsylvania
 * Girard, Texas
 * Girard, West Virginia
 * Girard Township, Macoupin County, Illinois
 * Girard Township, Michigan
 * Girard Township, Minnesota
 * Girard Township, Erie County, Pennsylvania
 * Girard Township, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania
 * Girard Avenue, a street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, served by two SEPTA stations:
 * Girard station (Broad Street Line), a subway station on serving the Broad Street Line
 * Girard station (SEPTA Market-Frankford Line), a rapid transit station on Market-Frankford Line
 * SEPTA Route 15, a trolley line also known as the Girard Avenue Line
 * Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, was known as Girard until 1941

People

 * Girard I of Roussillon (died 1113), count of Roussillon
 * Girard II of Roussillon (died 1172), count of Roussillon
 * Gerard la Pucelle (1117–1184), Anglo-French scholar of canon law, clerk, and Bishop of Coventry
 * Girard of Buonalbergo, Norman chieftain in the middle of the eleventh century in the Mezzogiorno
 * Girard Cavalaz (1225–1247), Italian troubadour from Lombardy
 * Girard Desargues (1591–1661), French mathematician and engineer, considered one of the founders of projective geometry
 * Girard "Gerry" McDonald (born 1958), American ice hockey player

Other uses

 * Girard (surname)
 * Girard (grape), red wine grape that is also known as Carignan
 * Girard-Perregaux, Swiss manufacturer of complex timepieces
 * Girard College, private philanthropic boarding school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
 * Girard Estate, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

title: Girard


text:
Talk:PSL(2,7)

Some links
http://mathforum.org/kb/message.jspa?messageID=227628 - min. pols. taken from here

http://math.berkeley.edu/~dpenneys/math252/cueto_16_8.pdf character table

http://crazyproject.wordpress.com/2011/11/08/exhibit-a-set-of-representatives-of-the-conjugacy-classes-of-gl3-zz2/ representative of conj. classes

--Alexander Chervov (talk) 19:46, 11 August 2012 (UTC)

Not every automorphism

 * Title added. —Nils von Barth (nbarth) (talk) 04:23, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

I have the nagging doubt that not "every automorphism of P1(7) is of this form", (in PSL(2,7)) since I seem to remember the symmetry group (group of projectivities) of P1(7) is PGL(2,7), not PSL(2,7). Of course, for P2(2), this doesn't matter, since PSL(3,2) = SL(3,2) = GL(3,2) = PGL(3,2). Revolver

If anyone is familiar with the actual isomorphism (or AN actual isomorphism) between PSL(2,7) and SL(3,2), this would be great. I did it as a homework problem a few years ago, but I don't remember all the details. Revolver

 * Thanks! You are correct – PGL(2,7) acts (sharply) 3-transitively one the projective line (as the order suggests: 8*7*6=336), while PSL(2,7) does not, as the order indicates. Further, some people talk about collineations, so I’ve clarified this is the text.
 * —Nils von Barth (nbarth) (talk) 04:23, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

 * Hey, Nils! Just reading up on PSL(3,2). simon 192.12.12.217 (talk) 02:18, 8 June 2011 (UTC)

one of my favorite groups
It all depends what you mean by an automorphism of a projective line.

There are 336 transformations of the projective line over the field with 7 elements coming from the action of PGL(2,7), but only 168 coming from the PSL(2,7). The former group action is triply transitive, and indeed there are 8 x 7 x 6 = 336 triples of distinct points in this projective line. The latter group action is only transitive on oriented triples of points.

I would probably consider PGL(2,F) to be the 'full' symmetry group of the projective line over a field F, and PSL(2,F) to be the subgroup of orientation preserving symmetries.

I don't yet know an explicit isomorphism between PSL(2,7) and SL(3,2), but it's something I've been thinking about lately, so maybe I'll figure out a nice way to describe one.

John Baez 23:55, 23 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Dead link
During several automated bot runs the following external link was found to be unavailable. Please check if the link is in fact down and fix or remove it in that case!

 * http://www.innerx.net/personal/tsmith/cdomain.html
 * In PSL(2,7) on Mon Jul 17 14:36:09 2006, Socket Error: (-3, 'Temporary failure in name resolution')
 * In PSL(2,7) on Thu Jul 27 00:34:07 2006, Socket Error: (-3, 'Temporary failure in name resolution')

maru  (talk)  contribs 04:34, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Cayley graph
I've just drawn a Cayley graph for this group, it's at http://www.weddslist.com/groups/genus3/psl(2,7).html. Unfortunately it's too big to fit into an article sensibly. Maproom (talk) 22:57, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

Wrong argument
There was an affirmation that 21 does not divide 168 (=8*21) as a justification for it being not transitive on 21 points! The consequence is true in this case but not the argument. Ogerard (talk) 18:48, 28 September 2011 (UTC)

The isomorphism between PSL(2,7) and PSL(3,2) should be described
One of the most fascinating things about PSL(2,7) and PSL(3,2) is that the two groups are isomorphic -- a very rare occurrence in the world of PSL's. (There is only one other nontrivial coincidence: PSL(2,4) ≈ PSL(2,5), both being isomorphic to A5.)

This fact that PSL(2,7) ≈ PSL(3,2) is fortunately mentioned in the article, though not elaborated on. It seems weirdly asymmetrical to me that the name of the article is PSL(2,7) but the isomorphic group PSL(3,2) is almost not mentioned at all, and the isomorphism between them is not described.

I am not an expert in group theory, but someone who is might try their hand at describing an isomorphism between these two groups — especially one of the most natural isomorphisms, if such exist. (I also believe the two groups should be treated more or less symmetrically in the article, and the name of the article should ideally be changed to PSL(2,7) and PSL(3,2). Or at minimum any search for PSL(3,2) should be redirected here.)Daqu (talk) 20:06, 3 May 2012 (UTC)

 * A good source would be  Deltahedron (talk) 07:07, 27 September 2014 (UTC)

D. Richter's web page describing a "polyhedral immersion" of the triangular tiling of the Klein quartic is erroneous
D. Richter claims on his web page http://homepages.wmich.edu/~drichter/mathieu.htm (and since when do we use web pages as references????? They haven't been peer-reviewed) that the tiling by 56 triangles of the Klein quartic can be polyhedrally immersed in 3-space via the small cubicuboctahedron. But this is wrong, as I have edited the article on that polyhedron to reflect: it is not immersed in 3-space because it contains singularities that are cones on the figure-8. And so I have removed the article's mention of this erroneous claim.

Although one can correct the statement to make it accurate, the corrected statement is so tenuously related, if at all, to the subject PSL(2,7) of this article that it is a far better thing to omit it entirely.Daqu (talk) 14:20, 16 August 2012 (UTC)

title: Talk:PSL(2,7)


text:
Prospect

Prospect may refer to:

General

 * Prospect (marketing), a marketing term describing a potential customer
 * Prospect (sports), any player whose rights are owned by a professional team, but who has yet to play a game for the team
 * Prospect (mining), a particular geological area on which searching for minerals or fossils is commonly carried out

Periodicals

 * Prospect (architecture magazine), a Scottish architecture magazine
 * Prospect (magazine), a monthly British essay and comment magazine
 * The American Prospect, an American quarterly policy magazine

Other uses in arts, entertainment, and media

 * Prospect (film), 2018 American science fiction film starring Sophie Thatcher, Jay Duplass, and Pedro Pascal
 * Prospect (rapper), American rapper and former member of Terror Squad
 * Prospect (Slovenian band), a progressive metal band from Ljubljana, Slovenia
 * "Prospect" (song), by Iann Dior featuring Lil Baby
 * Prospects (TV series), British series
 * "Prospects", a song by Madness from the 1984 album Keep Moving

Organizations and enterprises

 * Prospect (trade union), a United Kingdom trade union of professionals
 * Prospect Pictures, a television production company in London, England
 * The Prospect Studios, a television studio in Los Angeles, United States
 * Prospects (charity), a UK Christian charity
 * King's Academy Prospect, a secondary school in West Reading, Berkshire, England

Sports

 * Edmonton Prospects, baseball team in the Western Canadian Baseball League

Australia

 * Prospect, New South Wales, suburb of the City of Blacktown, near Sydney
 * Division of Prospect, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives, in New South Wales, surrounding the suburb
 * Prospect, Queensland, Queensland
 * Prospect, Tasmania, suburb of Launceston, Tasmania
 * City of Prospect, a local government area in South Australia
 * Prospect, South Australia, seat of City of Prospect council, Adelaide

Canada

 * Prospect, Nova Scotia
 * Lower Prospect, Nova Scotia
 * Prospect Bay, Nova Scotia

United Kingdom

 * Prospect, Cumbria, a settlement in Oughterside and Allerby
 * Prospect, a townland in County Antrim, Northern Ireland
 * Prospect, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland

United States

 * Prospect (Topping, Virginia), listed on the NRHP in Virginia
 * Prospect, Connecticut
 * Prospect, Georgia
 * Prospect, Indiana
 * Prospect, Kentucky
 * Prospect, Maine
 * Prospect, New York
 * Prospect, North Carolina
 * Prospect, Ohio
 * Prospect, Oregon
 * Prospect, Pennsylvania
 * Prospect, Bradley County, Tennessee
 * Prospect, Giles County, Tennessee
 * Prospect, Virginia
 * Prospect House (Princeton, New Jersey), the former president's house and current faculty house, known also as Prospect (and listed as that on U.S. National Register)
 * Mount Prospect, Illinois

Elsewhere

 * Prospect, Corlough, a townland in County Cavan, Republic of Ireland
 * Prospect, a place in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

title: Prospect


text:
Mars Polar Lander

The Mars Polar Lander, also known as the Mars Surveyor '98 Lander, was a 290-kilogram robotic spacecraft lander launched by NASA on January 3, 1999, to study the soil and climate of Planum Australe, a region near the south pole on Mars. It formed part of the Mars Surveyor '98 mission. On December 3, 1999, however, after the descent phase was expected to be complete, the lander failed to reestablish communication with Earth. A post-mortem analysis determined the most likely cause of the mishap was premature termination of the engine firing prior to the lander touching the surface, causing it to strike the planet at a high velocity.

The total cost of the Mars Polar Lander was US$165 million. Spacecraft development cost US$110 million, launch was estimated at US$45 million, and mission operations at US$10 million.

History
As part of the Mars Surveyor '98 mission, a lander was sought as a way to gather climate data from the ground in conjunction with an orbiter. NASA suspected that a large quantity of frozen water may exist under a thin layer of dust at the south pole. In planning the Mars Polar Lander, the potential water content in the Martian south pole was the strongest determining factor for choosing a landing location. A CD-ROM containing the names of one million children from around the world was placed on board the spacecraft as part of the "Send Your Name to Mars" program designed to encourage interest in the space program among children.

The primary objectives of the mission were to:
 * land on the layered terrain in the south polar region of Mars;
 * search for evidence related to ancient climates and more recent periodic climate change;
 * give a picture of the current climate and seasonal change at high latitudes and, in particular, the exchange of water vapor between the atmosphere and ground;
 * search for near-surface ground ice in the polar regions, and analyze the soil for physically and chemically bound carbon dioxide and water; and
 * study surface morphology (forms and structures), geology, topography, and weather of the landing site.

Deep Space 2 probes
The Mars Polar Lander carried two small, identical impactor probes known as "Deep Space 2 A and B". The probes were intended to strike the surface with a high velocity at approximately -73°N, -210°W to penetrate the Martian soil and study the subsurface composition up to a meter in depth. However, after entering the Martian atmosphere, attempts to contact the probes failed.

Deep Space 2 was funded by the New Millennium Program, and their development costs was US$28 million.

Spacecraft design
The spacecraft measured 3.6 meters wide and 1.06 meters tall with the legs and solar arrays fully deployed. The base was primarily constructed with an aluminum honeycomb deck, composite graphite–epoxy sheets forming the edge, and three aluminum legs. During landing, the legs were to deploy from stowed position with compression springs and absorb the force of the landing with crushable aluminum honeycomb inserts in each leg. On the deck of the lander, a small thermal Faraday cage enclosure housed the computer, power distribution electronics and batteries, telecommunication electronics, and the capillary pump loop heat pipe (LHP) components, which maintained operable temperature. Each of these components included redundant units in the event that one may fail.

Attitude control and propulsion
While traveling to Mars, the cruise stage was three-axis stabilized with four hydrazine monopropellant reaction engine modules, each including a 22-newton trajectory correction maneuver thruster for propulsion and a 4-newton reaction control system thruster for attitude control (orientation). Orientation of the spacecraft was performed using redundant Sun sensors, star trackers, and inertial measurement units.

During descent, the lander used three clusters of pulse modulated engines, each containing four 266-newton hydrazine monopropellant thrusters. Altitude during landing was measured by a doppler radar system, and an attitude and articulation control subsystem (AACS) controlled the attitude to ensure the spacecraft landed at the optimal azimuth to maximize solar collection and telecommunication with the lander.

The lander was launched with two hydrazine tanks containing 64 kilograms of propellant and pressurized using helium. Each spherical tank was located at the underside of the lander and provided propellant during the cruise and descent stages.

Communications
During the cruise stage, communications with the spacecraft were conducted over the X band using a medium-gain, horn-shaped antenna and redundant solid state power amplifiers. For contingency measures, a low-gain omni-directional antenna was also included.

The lander was originally intended to communicate data through the failed Mars Climate Orbiter via the UHF antenna. With the orbiter lost on September 23, 1999, the lander would still be able to communicate directly to the Deep Space Network through the Direct-To-Earth (DTE) link, an X band, steerable, medium-gain, parabolic antenna located on the deck. Alternatively, Mars Global Surveyor could be used as a relay using the UHF antenna at multiple times each Martian day. However the Deep Space Network could only receive data from, and not send commands to, the lander using this method. The direct-to-Earth medium-gain antenna provided a 12.6-kbit/s return channel, and the UHF relay path provided a 128-kbit/s return channel. Communications with the spacecraft would be limited to one-hour events, constrained by heat-buildup that would occur in the amplifiers. The number of communication events would also be constrained by power limitations.

Power
The cruise stage included two gallium arsenide solar arrays to power the radio system and maintain power to the batteries in the lander, which kept certain electronics warm.

After descending to the surface, the lander was to deploy two 3.6-meter-wide gallium arsenide solar arrays, located on either side of the spacecraft. Another two auxiliary solar arrays were located on the side to provide additional power for a total of an expected 200 watts and approximately eight to nine hours of operating time per day.

While the Sun would not have set below the horizon during the primary mission, too little light would have reached the solar arrays to remain warm enough for certain electronics to continue functioning. To avoid this problem, a 16-amp-hour nickel hydrogen battery was included to be recharged during the day and to power the heater for the thermal enclosure at night. This solution also was expected to limit the life of the lander. As the Martian days would grow colder in late summer, too little power would be supplied to the heater to avoid freezing, resulting in the battery also freezing and signaling the end of the operating life for the lander.

Scientific instruments

 * Mars Descent Imager (MARDI): Mounted to the bottom of the lander, the camera was intended to capture 30 images as the spacecraft descended to the surface. The images acquired would be used to provide geographic and geologic context to the landing area.
 * Surface Stereo Imager (SSI): Using a pair of charge coupled devices (CCD), the stereo panoramic camera was mounted to a one-meter-tall mast and would aid in the thermal evolved gas analyzer in determining areas of interest for the robotic arm. In addition, the camera would be used to estimate the column density of atmospheric dust, the optical depth of aerosols, and slant column abundances of water vapor using narrow-band imaging of the Sun.
 * Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR): The laser sounding instrument was intended to detect and characterize aerosols in the atmosphere up to three kilometers above the lander. The instrument operated in two modes: active mode, using an included laser diode, and acoustic mode, using the Sun as the light source for the sensor.  In active mode, the laser sounder was to emit 100-nanosecond pulses at a wavelength of 0.88-micrometer into the atmosphere, and then record the duration of time to detect the light scattered by aerosols.  The duration of time required for the light to return could then be used to determine the abundance of ice, dust and other aerosols in the region. In acoustic mode, the instrument measures the brightness of the sky as lit by the Sun and records the scattering of light as it passes to the sensor.
 * Robotic Arm (RA): Located on the front of the lander, the robotic arm was a meter-long aluminum tube with an elbow joint and an articulated scoop attached to the end. The scoop was intended to be used to dig into the soil in the direct vicinity of the lander.  The soil could then be analyzed in the scoop with the robotic arm camera or transferred into the thermal evolved gas analyzer.
 * Robotic Arm Camera (RAC): Located on the robotic arm, the charge coupled camera included two red, two green, and four blue lamps to illuminate soil samples for analysis.
 * Meteorological Package (MET): Several instruments related to sensing and recording weather patterns, were included in the package. Wind, temperature, pressure, and humidity sensors were located on the robotic arm and two deployable masts: a 1.2-meter main mast, located on top of the lander, and a 0.9-meter secondary submast that would deploy downward to acquire measurements close to the ground.
 * Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA): The instrument was intended to measure abundances of water, water ice, adsorbed carbon dioxide, oxygen, and volatile-bearing minerals in surface and subsurface soil samples collected and transferred by the robotic arm. Materials placed onto a grate inside one of the eight ovens, would be heated and vaporized at 1,000 °C.  The evolved gas analyzer would then record measurements using a spectrometer and an electrochemical cell. For calibration, an empty oven would also be heated during this process for differential scanning calorimetry.  The difference in the energy required to heat each oven would then indicate concentrations of water ice and other minerals containing water or carbon dioxide.
 * Mars Microphone: The microphone was intended to be the first instrument to record sounds on another planet. Primarily composed of a microphone generally used with hearing aids, the instrument was expected to record sounds of blowing dust, electrical discharges and the sounds of the operating spacecraft in either 2.6-second or 10.6-second, 12-bit samples. The microphone was built using off-the-shelf parts including a Sensory, Inc. RSC-164 integrated circuit typically used in speech-recognition devices.

Launch and trajectory
Mars Polar Lander was launched on January 3, 1999, at 20:21:10 UTC by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration from Space Launch Complex 17B at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, aboard a Delta II 7425–9.5 launch vehicle. The complete burn sequence lasted for 47.7 minutes after a Thiokol Star 48B solid-fuel third stage booster placed the spacecraft into an 11-month, Mars transfer trajectory at a final velocity of 6.884 kilometers per second with respect to Mars. During cruise, the spacecraft was stowed inside an aeroshell capsule and a segment known as the cruise stage provided power and communications with Earth.

Landing zone
The target landing zone was a region near the south pole of Mars, called Ultimi Scopuli, because it featured a large number of scopuli (lobate or irregular scarps).

Landing attempt
On December 3, 1999, Mars Polar Lander arrived at Mars and mission operators began preparations for landing. At 14:39:00 UTC, the cruise stage was jettisoned, which began a planned communication dropout to last until the spacecraft had touched down on the surface. Six minutes prior to atmospheric entry, a programmed 80-second thruster firing turned the spacecraft to the proper entry orientation, with the heat shield positioned to absorb the 1,650 °C heat that would be generated as the descent capsule passed through the atmosphere.

Traveling at 6.9 kilometers per second, the entry capsule entered the Martian atmosphere at 20:10:00 UTC, and was expected to land in the vicinity of -76°N, -195°W in a region known as Planum Australe. Reestablishment of communication was anticipated for 20:39:00 UTC, after landing. However communication was not reestablished, and the lander was declared lost.

On May 25, 2008, the Phoenix lander arrived at Mars, and has subsequently completed most of the objectives of the Mars Polar Lander, carrying several of the same or derivative instruments.

Intended operations
Traveling at approximately 6.9 kilometers/second and 125 kilometers above the surface, the spacecraft entered the atmosphere and was initially decelerated by using a 2.4 meter ablation heat shield, located on the bottom of the entry body, to aerobrake through 116 kilometers of the atmosphere. Three minutes after entry, the spacecraft had slowed to 496 meters per second signaling an 8.4-meter, polyester parachute to deploy from a mortar followed immediately by heat shield separation and MARDI powering on, while 8.8 kilometers above the surface. The parachute further slowed the speed of the spacecraft to 85 meters per second when the ground radar began tracking surface features to detect the best possible landing location and determine the vertical speed via the Doppler effect for thrust control.

When the spacecraft had slowed to 80 meters per second, one minute after parachute deployment, the lander separated from the backshell and began a powered descent at 1.3 kilometers aloft. Vertical speed was intended to drop to 2.4 meters per second at 12 m height and then be constant until touchdown. Below 40 meters, the radar would become unreliable by raised dust and was switched off already at that height — for the final seconds, the thrust would be controlled by inertial sensors. A function to switch off the thrust immediately at touchdown was also armed at 40 meters. Touchdown was expected at 20:01 UTC, given as 20:15 ″Earth-received time″.

Lander operations were to begin five minutes after touchdown, first unfolding the stowed solar arrays, followed by orienting the medium-gain, direct-to-Earth antenna to allow for the first communication with the Deep Space Network. A 45-minute transmission was to be broadcast to Earth containing 30 landing images acquired by MARDI. Arrival of that signal of a successful landing was expected at 20:39 UTC. The lander would then power down for six hours to allow the batteries to charge. On the following days, the spacecraft instruments would be checked by operators and science experiments were to begin on December 7 and last for at least the following 90 Martian Sols, with the possibility of an extended mission.

Loss of communications
On December 3, 1999, at 14:39:00 UTC, the last telemetry from Mars Polar Lander was sent, just prior to cruise stage separation and the subsequent atmospheric entry. No further signals were received from the spacecraft. Attempts were made by the Mars Global Surveyor to photograph the area in which the lander was believed to be. An object was visible and believed to be the lander. However, subsequent imaging in September 2005 resulted in the identified object being ruled out. Mars Polar Lander remains lost.

The cause of the communication loss is not known. However, the Failure Review Board concluded that the most likely cause of the mishap was a software error that incorrectly identified vibrations, caused by the deployment of the stowed legs, as surface touchdown. The resulting action by the spacecraft was the shutdown of the descent engines, while still likely 40 meters above the surface. Although it was known that leg deployment could create the false indication, the software's design instructions did not account for that eventuality.

In addition to the premature shutdown of the descent engines, the Failure Review Board also assessed other potential modes of failure. Lacking substantial evidence for the mode of failure, the following possibilities could not be excluded:

 * surface conditions exceed landing design capabilities;
 * loss of control due to dynamic effects;
 * landing site not survivable;
 * backshell/parachute contacts lander;
 * loss of control due to center-of-mass offset; or
 * heatshield fails due to micrometeoroid impact.

The failure of the Mars Polar Lander took place two and a half months after the loss of the Mars Climate Orbiter. Inadequate funding and poor management have been cited as underlying causes of the failures. According to Thomas Young, chairman of the Mars Program Independent Assessment Team, the program "was under funded by at least 30%." ''

Aftermath
Despite the Mars Polar Lander's failure, Planum Australe, which served as the exploration target for the lander and the two Deep Space 2 probes, would in later years be explored by European Space Agency's MARSIS radar, which examined and analyzed the site from Mars' orbit.

title: Mars Polar Lander


text:
Agnes de Mille

Agnes George de Mille (September 18, 1905 – October 7, 1993) was an American dancer and choreographer.

Early years
Agnes de Mille was born in New York City into a well-connected family of theater professionals. Her father William C. deMille and her uncle Cecil B. DeMille were both Hollywood directors. Her mother, Anna Angela George, was the daughter of Henry George, the economist. On her father's side, Agnes was the granddaughter of playwrights Henry Churchill de Mille and Matilda Beatrice deMille. Her paternal grandmother was of German-Jewish descent.

She had a love for acting and originally wanted to be an actress, but was told that she was "not pretty enough", so she turned her attention to dance. As a child, she had longed to dance, but dance at this time was considered more of an activity, rather than a viable career option, so her parents refused to allow her to dance. She did not seriously consider dancing as a career until after she graduated from college. When de Mille's younger sister was prescribed ballet classes to cure her flat feet, de Mille joined her. De Mille lacked flexibility and technique, though, and did not have a dancer's body. Classical ballet was the most widely known dance form at this time, and de Mille's apparent lack of ability limited her opportunities. She taught herself from watching film stars on the set with her father in Hollywood; these were more interesting for her to watch than perfectly turned out legs, and she developed strong character work and compelling performances. One of de Mille's early jobs, thanks to her father's connections, was choreographing Cecil B. DeMille's film Cleopatra (1934). DeMille's dance director LeRoy Prinz clashed with the younger de Mille. Her uncle always deferred to Prinz, even after agreeing to his niece's dances in advance, and Agnes de Mille left the film.

De Mille graduated from UCLA with a degree in English where she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, and in 1933 moved to London to study with Dame Marie Rambert, eventually joining Rambert's company, The Ballet Club, later Ballet Rambert, and Antony Tudor's London Ballet.

Career
De Mille arrived in New York in 1938 and later began her association with the fledgling American Ballet Theatre (then called the Ballet Theatre) in 1939. One of Agnes de Mille’s most overlooked but important pieces was Black Ritual or Obeah, which she began choreographing for the newly formed Ballet Theatre’s first season. Lasting 25 minutes, this performance was created for the “Negro Unit” of the dance company and was performed by 16 black female dancers. This was the first representation of black dancers in a New York ballet performance within the context of a dominantly white company. Therefore, although it was only performed three times before being disbanded, Black Ritual was an unprecedented performance and played a significant role in the history of the ballet industry of the country. While white people often had misconceptions about black dancers and the styles they would arbitrarily be best in, this performance forced them to contemplate and reevaluate these thoughts about how black people danced.

De Mille’s first actually recognized significant work was Rodeo (1942), whose score was by Aaron Copland, and which she staged for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. Although de Mille continued to choreograph nearly up to the time of her death—her final ballet, The Other, was completed in 1992—most of her later works have dropped out of the ballet repertoire. Besides Rodeo, two other de Mille ballets are performed regularly, Three Virgins and a Devil (1934) adapted from a tale by Giovanni Boccaccio, and Fall River Legend (1948) based on the life of Lizzie Borden.

While she lived in New York and was working for the previously mentioned Ballet Theatre in 1941, de Mille choreographed Drums Sound in Hackensack for the Jooss Ballet (originally located in Germany), which had just moved to New York in 1939. This was an important step in the company’s history being that it was the first performance not choreographed by Kurt Jooss himself. Although there are no film recordings of the performance, de Mille’s choreography notes and personal reflections of the dancers shed light on the characteristics of the performance. The piece was placed in a historical context with an American theme and fit the traditional mold for de Mille’s pieces featuring a female perspective. Being one of the first pieces de Mille choreographed for a group of dancers rather than simply one or two people, the performance was significant in her career as a choreographer.

Later on, after her success with Rodeo, de Mille was hired to choreograph the musical Oklahoma! (1943). The dream ballet, in which dancers Marc Platt, Katherine Sergava, and George Church doubled for the leading actors, successfully integrated dance into the musical's plot. Instead of functioning as an interlude or divertissement, the ballet provided key insights into the heroine's emotional troubles. This performance is just one example of how de Mille brought new ideas to the performing arts industry. Through her production of Oklahoma!, she integrated dance into musical theater as a way of enhancing the original musical. This production is widely known for this innovative idea and is credited for starting de Mille’s fame as a choreographer, both for Broadway and in the dance industry. De Mille went on to choreograph over a dozen other musicals, most notably Bloomer Girl (1944), which presented her feelings of loneliness as a woman who saw her husband leave to serve for the army, Carousel (1945), Allegro (1947, Director as well as choreographer), Brigadoon (1947, for which she was co-recipient of the inaugural Tony Award for Best Choreography), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1949), Paint Your Wagon (1951), The Girl in Pink Tights (1954), Goldilocks (1957), and 110 in the Shade (1963). These many dance performances within the musical theater industry produced by Agnes de Mille enriched Broadway musicals in the way that they provided perspective on the events of the time period, including World War II.

De Mille's success on Broadway did not translate into success in film. Her only significant film credit is Oklahoma! (1955). She was not invited to recreate her choreography for either Brigadoon (1954) or Carousel (1956). Nevertheless, her two specials for the  Omnibus TV series titled "The Art of Ballet" and "The Art of Choreography" (both televised in 1956) were immediately recognized as landmark attempts to bring serious dance to the attention of a broad public.

During his presidency, John F. Kennedy appointed de Mille as a member of the National Advisory Committee on the Arts, the predecessor to the National Endowment for the Arts, to which she was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson after its creation.

Her love for acting played a very important role in her choreography. De Mille revolutionized musical theatre by creating choreography that not only conveyed the emotional dimensions of the characters but enhanced the plot. Her choreography, as a reflection of her awareness of acting, reflected the angst and turmoil of the characters instead of simply focusing on a dancer's physical technique.

De Mille regularly worked with a recognizable core group of dancers, including Virginia Bosler, Gemze de Lappe, Lidija Franklin, Jean Houloose, Dania Krupska, Bambi Linn, Joan McCracken, James Mitchell, Mavis Ray, and, at American Ballet Theatre, Sallie Wilson. Krupska, Mitchell, and Ray served as de Mille's assistant choreographers, and de Lappe took an active role in preserving de Mille's work.

In 1973, de Mille founded the Agnes de Mille Dance Theatre, which she later revived as Heritage Dance Theatre.

De Mille developed a love for public speaking, becoming an outspoken advocate for dance in America. She spoke in front of Congress three times: once in the Senate, once in the House of Representatives, and once for the Committee for Medical Research.

She was interviewed in the television documentary series Hollywood: A Celebration of the American Silent Film (1980) primarily discussing the work of her uncle Cecil B. DeMille.

Agnes de Mille appears in a wheelchair in Frederick Wiseman's 1995 film Ballet rehearsing her final piece, “The Other.” She tells her star “You must look like something that’s absolutely broken, and stuck up in the wind.”

Writings
DeMille's 1951 memoir Dance to the Piper was translated into five languages. It was reissued in 2015 by New York Review Books.

De Mille was a lifelong friend of modern dance legend Martha Graham. De Mille, in 1992, published Martha: The Life and Work of Martha Graham, a biography of Graham that de Mille worked on for more than 30 years.

After suffering from a near-fatal stroke, she wrote five books: Reprieve (which outlined the experience), Who Was Henry George?, Where the Wings Grow, America Dances, Portrait Gallery, and Martha: The Life and Work of Martha Graham. She also wrote And Promenade Home, To a Young Dancer, The Book of Dance, Lizzie Borden: Dance of Death, Dance in America, Russian Journals, and Speak to Me, Dance with Me.

De Mille also wrote an introduction entitled "Anna George de Mille - A Note About the Author" to the book Henry George: Citizen of the World by Anna George de Mille (daughter of Henry George & Agnes' mother) which was published in 1950 by the University of North Carolina Press.

Personal life
De Mille married Walter Prude on June 14, 1943. They had one child, Jonathan, born in 1946.

Agnes de Mille donated her papers to the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College "between 1959 and 1968, and her Dance To The Piper was purchased in 1994. Three films were donated by Lester Tome in 2010. The bulk of the papers date from 1914 to 1960 and focus on both personal and professional aspects of de Mille's life."

She suffered a stroke on stage in 1975, but recovered. She died in 1993 of a second stroke in her Greenwich Village apartment.

Legacy
De Mille was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1973. De Mille's many other awards include the Tony Award for Best Choreography (1947, for Brigadoon; 1962, for Kwamina), the Handel Medallion for achievement in the arts (1976), an honor from the Kennedy Center (1980), an Emmy for her work in The Indomitable de Mille (1980), Drama Desk Special Award (1986) and, in 1986, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts. De Mille also received seven honorary degrees from various colleges and universities. She was featured on a U.S. postage stamp in 2004.

At present, the only commercially available examples of de Mille's choreography are parts one and two of Rodeo by the American Ballet Theatre, Fall River Legend (filmed in 1989 by the Dance Theatre of Harlem) and Oklahoma!

title: Agnes de Mille