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Mestwin II, Duke of Pomerania

Mestwin II (Mściwój II or Mszczuj II) (c. 1220 – December 25, 1294) was a Duke of Pomerelia, member of the Samborides dynasty. He ruled Pomerelia as a sole ruler from 1273 to 1294.

Early life
Mestwin II was the son of Swietopelk II and the Přemyslid dynasty princess Eufrozyna. As a young man, in 1243 he was taken into the Teutonic Order custody as a hostage, part of the ceasefire agreement between his father and the Order, but the Order did not keep their part of this agreement and failed to return Mestwin II who was held by them until 1248 (for some time in the Order castle in Austria) when finally released.

Acquiring power
Most likely upon returning from Teutonic Order captivity his father made Mestwin II the Duke of Świecie (Schwetz) province circa 1250, and upon his father's death he began his challenge against his younger brother for Gdańsk (Danzig) in 1266, starting the so-called Pomerelian Civil War that lasted until 1273. He fought his younger brother and uncles until he emerged victorious and finally became the principal Pomerelia prince and sole ruler in 1273. He united all the lands of Pomerelia (after the death of his uncles, Sambor II, prince of Lubiszewo (Lübschau) and Racibor Białogardzki, prince of Białogarda.

Alliances
In 1269, while searching for allies, Mestwin II entered into an alliance with expanding at the cost of Slavic lands and ever aggressive Brandenburg margraves,  Treaty of Choszczno, and most likely in return for military and financial help he gave oath of fealty and  paid homage over a couple Pomeralian towns (Świecie and Białogard) to these dukes.

Mestwin's brother Wratislaw II of Pomerania, principal Pomerelian duke and ruler of Gdańsk (Danzig), was forced out of his duchy by Mestwin II and most likely his new ally in 1271. This action resulted in Wratislaw II and Sambor II military action against Mestwin II, and his own knights and nobles rebelled against him. Surrounded by adversity and even taken prisoner (for a short time in 1270) Mestwin II gave the possession of Gdansk to the Brandenburg duke Conrad who was holding the city of Gdansk until Mestwin II forced them to resign from their possession of the city by use of force in 1273, having been strengthened by new alliance with his maternal cousin Bolesław Pobożny, the duke of Great Poland. Defeated Wartislaw II found refuge with Ziemomysł of Kuyavia, the duke of Inowrocław and sought assistance from the Order, but he died unexpectedly in Wyszogród in 1271. The remaining male relatives of Mestwin II, his uncles Sambor II and Racibor, allied with the Order and various Piast princes, lost their possession within the Pomerelia due to Mestwin II actions against them, and also sought refuge with the Order and their daughters in Kujawy (Sambor) and Śląsk (Racibor). Both uncles died in the 1270s leaving Mestwin II the sole ruler of all unified Duchy of Pomerelia. Now he was faced with challenges from Brandenburg, the Order, Pomeranian and Piast princes. As a result of the Order actions he was forced to give his castles and villages on the right bank of Vistula to them, and also the important left bank Pomerelian stronghold of Gniew, willed to the Order by his uncle Sambor II, a claim Mestwin II recognized under duress and Papal mediation in 1282. These pressures forced Mestwin II to tighten his alliance with Greater Poland's Bolesław and his successor Przemysł II.

Treaty of Kępno
Mestwin II and Przemysl II, new duke of Greater Poland and future king of Poland, concluded the Treaty of Kępno in 1282 that was at first kept secret. The treaty, confirmed by magnates and nobles of both duchies, made both Mestwin and Przemysł II either a successor per donatio inter vivos or  successor in all his possessions. It is known that Mestwin II remained the Pomerelia ruler until his death in 1294. It seems that the treaty of Kępno in fact unified Pomerelia and Greater Poland, starting the long process of reunification of Polish principalities by the Piast dynasts. During the life of Mestwin II nobles and magnates of Greater Poland received grants and appointments to Pomerelian offices and estates. In 1287 both princes entered into another successor treaty in Słupsk, and there they included in their succession treaty another Western Slavic prince, Bogusław IV of Szczecin (Bogislaw IV, Duke of Pomerania). This treaty was confirmed and arrangement made public in Nakło, in 1291. These treaties resulted directly from aggressive policies of March of Brandenburg and the Teutonic Order against the territories of these Slavic duchies and provinces.

Relations
He had three wives. First came princess Judith, daughter of Ditrich I duke of Brenna i Wettin, who died before 1275, then he married Piast princess Euphrosyne of Opole circa 1275 and they divorced in 1288, and finally married rather unknown Sulisława who died in 1292. He had two daughters: Katarzyna (Katherine), who married Pribislaw II, and Eufemia, eventually married to a Slavic or German prince.

He died in Gdańsk and was buried in the Cistercian Oliwa monastery. His own sarcophagus did not survive, most likely having been destroyed when the army of Gdańsk burned down the abbey during their rebellious war against king Stephen Báthory in 1577. However, the cumulative sepulcher of the Samboride dynasty still remains, founded in 1615 by one of the Oliwa abbots, Dawid Konarski.

title: Mestwin II, Duke of Pomerania


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Southern African Large Telescope

The Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) is a 9.2-metre optical telescope designed mainly for spectroscopy. It consists of 91 hexagonal mirror segments each with a 1-metre inscribed diameter, resulting in a total hexagonal mirror of 11.1 by 9.8 m. However, its effective aperture is only 9.2 m. It is located close to the town of Sutherland in the semi-desert region of the Karoo, South Africa. It is a facility of the South African Astronomical Observatory, the national optical observatory of South Africa.

SALT is the largest optical telescope in the southern hemisphere. It enables spectroscopic and polarimetric analysis and imaging of the radiation from astronomical objects that are out of reach of northern hemisphere telescopes.

It is closely based on the Hobby–Eberly Telescope (HET) at McDonald Observatory, with some changes in its design, especially to the spherical aberration corrector. The main purpose for these changes was to improve the telescope's field of view. It shares the same fixed mirror altitude design, which limits access to 70% of the visible sky.

First light with the full mirror was declared on 1 September 2005, with 1-arc-second resolution images of globular cluster 47 Tucanae, open cluster NGC 6152, spiral galaxy NGC 6744, and the Lagoon Nebula. The official opening by President Thabo Mbeki took place during the inauguration ceremony on 10 November 2005.

South Africa contributed about a third of the total of US$36 million that will finance SALT for its first 10 years (US$20 million for the construction of the telescope, US$6 million for instruments, and US$10 million for operations). The rest was contributed by the other partners: Germany, Poland, the United States, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand.

General information
SALT is located on a hilltop 1837 m above sea level in a nature reserve in the Hantam, Karoo 370 km north-east of Cape Town, near the small town of Sutherland. In March 2004, installation of the massive mirror began. The last of the 91 smaller mirrored hexagon segments was put in place in May 2005.

Korea, Japan, Poland and Google have telescopes at the site and South Africa has at least five optical telescopes there. The University of Birmingham has a solar telescope to help monitor the Sun. SALT will probe quasars and enable scientists to view stars and galaxies a billion times too faint to be seen by the naked eye.

Primary mirror

Both SALT and HET have an unusual design for an optical telescope. Similar to the Keck Telescopes, the primary mirror is composed of an array of mirrors designed to act as a single larger mirror; however, the SALT mirrors produce a spherical primary, rather than the paraboloid shape associated with a classical Cassegrain telescope. Each SALT mirror is a 1-meter hexagon, and the array of 91 identical mirrors produces a hexagonally shaped primary 11 by 9.8 meters in size. To compensate for the spherical primary, the telescope has a four-mirror spherical aberration corrector (SAC) that provides a corrected, flat focal plane with a field of view of 8 arcminutes at prime focus.

Each of the 91 mirrors is made of low-expansion Sitall glass and can be adjusted in tip, tilt and piston in order to properly align them so as to act as a single mirror. Because the mirror is spherical, light emitted from a position corresponding to the center of curvature of the mirror is reflected and refocused to the same position. Therefore, the telescope employs a center-of-curvature alignment sensor (CCAS) situated at the top of a tall tower adjacent to the dome. Laser light is shone down on all the segments, and the position of the reflections from each mirror measured. A process called "stacking" thus allows the telescope operator to optimize the adjustments of the mirrors.

The telescope is also unusual in that during an observation, the mirror remains at a fixed altitude and azimuth, and the image of an astronomical target produced by the telescope is tracked by the "payload", which resides at the position of prime focus and includes the SAC and prime-focus instrumentation. This is similar in operation to the Arecibo Radio Telescope. Although this results in only a limited observing window per target, it greatly simplifies the primary mirror mount, when compared to a fully steerable telescope, transferring the complexity to the smaller and lighter payload tracking system, providing for an overall reduction in total telescope construction cost. SALT has a fixed zenith angle of 37 degrees, optimised for the Magellanic clouds, but because of the full range of azimuths and the celestial rotation, SALT has access to a good fraction of the sky available at the Sutherland site.

Another consequence of this design is that the entrance pupil varies in size during the tracking of a target.

Instrumentation
The first generation instrumentation for SALT includes the SALT Imaging Camera (SALTICAM), designed and built by the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO); the Robert Stobie Spectrograph (RSS) (née Prime Focus Imaging Spectrograph), a multi-purpose long-slit and multi-object imaging spectrograph and spectropolarimeter, designed and built by the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Rutgers University, and the SAAO; and a fiber-fed High Resolution Spectrograph (HRS), designed by the University of Canterbury (New Zealand). SALTICAM was installed in early 2005, while the RSS was installed on 11 October 2005.

Internet connectivity
The telescope is connected to the SAAO site in Cape Town via a 1 Gbit/s fibre connection over the SANREN network. The SAAO has a 1 Gbit/s connection to the SANREN network with 30 Mbit/s of that link being the international portion.

Science working group
Membership of the SALT science working group:

David Buckley, Gerald Cecil, Brian Chaboyer, Richard Griffiths, Janusz Kałużny, Michael Albrow, Karen Pollard, Kenneth Nordsieck, Darragh O'Donoghue, Larry Ramsey, Anne Sansom, Pat Cote.

Partners

 * Dartmouth College
 * Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
 * Hobby-Eberly Telescope Board
 * National Research Foundation of South Africa
 * Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences
 * Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
 * University of Wisconsin–Madison
 * University of Canterbury (New Zealand)
 * University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
 * United Kingdom SALT Consortium (UKSC), comprising:
 * Armagh Observatory
 * Keele University
 * University of Central Lancashire
 * University of Nottingham
 * Open University
 * University of Southampton

In 2007, the following new partners joined the SALT consortium:
 * American Museum of Natural History
 * Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (India)

Research
Research using SALT at the South African Astronomical Observatory has led the facility to important discoveries. By using the Southern African Large Telescope, SAAO has the ability to take "snapshots" of stars in very quick succession. It is optimized for wavelengths and observing modes not available on other very large telescopes. As a result, astronomers can study rapidly changing properties of compact stars, primarily as they pull in gas from their companion stars or surroundings. The significance of this discovery allows us to detect black holes. The gravitational field of a compact star commonly pulls in gas from a companion star, thus radiation (especially X-ray) is emitted. Scientists used this as an indirect way to locate black holes. Another phenomenon that SALT has helped astronomers investigate is the way that masses build up on some compact stars until supernova explosions blow them apart, which gives scientists a "Type 1a" supernovae used to show that the expansion of the universe is speeding up.

Other note-worthy research the South African Astronomical Observatory has achieved using SALT include the discovery of a class of stars known as "polar", or a pair of stars. The "polar" binary star system, where a compactor star called a "white dwarf" whose volume has shrunk about one millionth of a star like the Sun. Studies using SALT concluded that these polar binary star systems take only an hour and a half to complete an orbit. Also, the SALT telescope allows scientists to study the rapid brightness changes in exotic stars.

More research using SALT has aided astronomers to investigate the structure and evolution of our galaxy, such as quasars, Magellanic clouds, the galactic structure and stellar astrophysics. SALT released its first color images, which marked the achievement of the "first light". This also marked the debut of the fully operating SALTICAM, which is a $600,000 digital camera designed and built for SALT.

Tourism
Despite initial estimates by SAAO that SALT would bring up to 30,000 tourists to Sutherland, the telescope has so far only resulted in about 14,000 annual visitors, which has nevertheless resulted in the creation of at least 300 jobs in the town of 5,000.

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

title: Southern African Large Telescope


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15760 Albion

15760 Albion (provisional designation ) was the first trans-Neptunian object to be discovered after Pluto and Charon. Measuring about 108–167 kilometres in diameter, it was discovered in 1992 by David C. Jewitt and Jane X. Luu at the Mauna Kea Observatory, Hawaii. After the discovery, they dubbed the object "Smiley" and it was shortly hailed as the tenth planet by the press. It is a "cold" classical Kuiper belt object and gave rise to the name cubewano for this kind of object, after the portion of its designation. Decoding its provisional designation, "QB1" reveals that it was the 27th object found in the second half of August of that year. As of January 2018, around 2,400 further objects have been found beyond Neptune, a majority of which are classical Kuiper belt objects. It was named after Albion from William Blake's mythology.

Naming
This minor planet was named after Albion from the complex mythology of English poet and painter William Blake (1757–1827). Albion is the island-dwelling primeval man whose division resulted into The Four Zoas: Urizen, Tharmas, Luvah/Orc and Urthona/Los. The name Albion itself derives from the ancient and mythological name of Britain. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 31 January 2018 (M.P.C. 108697).

The discoverers suggested the name "Smiley" for, but the name was already used for an asteroid 1613 Smiley, named after the American astronomer Charles Hugh Smiley. It has received the number 15760 and remained unnamed until January 2018 (it was normally referred to simply as "QB1", even though this was technically ambiguous without the year of discovery).

Legacy
The next year in 1993, objects in similar orbits were found including (15788) 1993 SB, (15789) 1993 SC, (181708) 1993 FW, and (385185) 1993 RO.

Over one thousand bodies were found in the Kuiper belt orbiting between about 30 and 50 AU from the Sun in the twenty years after finding 15760 Albion. This revealed a vast belt of bodies, more than just Pluto and Albion themselves. By 2018, over 2000 Kuiper belt objects were discovered.

title: 15760 Albion


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Mushroom bodies

The mushroom bodies or corpora pedunculata are a pair of structures in the brain of arthropods, including insects and crustaceans, and some annelids (notably the ragworm Platynereis dumerilii). They are known to play a role in olfactory learning and memory. In most insects, the mushroom bodies and the lateral horn are the two higher brain regions that receive olfactory information from the antennal lobe via projection neurons. They were first identified and described by French biologist Félix Dujardin in 1850.

Structure
Mushroom bodies are usually described as neuropils, i.e., as dense networks of neuronal processes (dendrite and axon terminals) and glia. They get their name from their roughly hemispherical calyx, a protuberance that is joined to the rest of the brain by a central nerve tract or peduncle.

Most of our current knowledge of mushroom bodies comes from studies of a few species of insect, especially the cockroach Periplaneta americana, the honey bee Apis mellifera, the locust and the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Studies of fruit fly mushroom bodies have been particularly important for understanding the genetic basis of mushroom body functioning, since their genome has been sequenced and a vast number of tools to manipulate their gene expression exist.

In the insect brain, the peduncles of the mushroom bodies extend through the midbrain. They are mainly composed of the long, densely packed nerve fibres of the Kenyon cells, the intrinsic neurons of the mushroom bodies. These cells have been found in the mushroom bodies of all species that have been investigated, though their number varies. Fruit flies, for example, have around 2,500, whereas cockroaches have about 200,000.

A locust brain dissection to expose the central brain and carry out electro-physiology recordings can be seen here.

Evolutionary history
Historically, it was believed that only insects had mushroom bodies, because they were not present in crabs and lobsters. However, their discovery in the mantis shrimp in 2017 lead to the later conclusion that the mushroom body is the ancestral state of all arthropods, and that this feature was later lost in crabs and lobsters.

Function
Mushroom bodies are best known for their role in olfactory associative learning. These olfactory signals are received from dopaminergic, octopaminergic, cholinergic, serotonergic, and GABAergic neurons outside the MB. They are largest in the Hymenoptera, which are known to have particularly elaborate control over olfactory behaviours. However, since mushroom bodies are also found in anosmic primitive insects, their role is likely to extend beyond olfactory processing. Anatomical studies suggest a role in the processing of visual and mechanosensory input in some species. In Hymenoptera in particular, subregions of the mushroom body neuropil are specialized to receive olfactory, visual, or both types of sensory input. In Hymenoptera, olfactory input is layered in the calyx. In ants, several layers can be discriminated, corresponding to different clusters of glomeruli in the antennal lobes, perhaps for processing different classes of odors. There are two main groups of projection neurons dividing the antennal lobe into two main regions, anterior and posterior. Projection neuron groups are segregated, innervating glomerular groups separately and sending axons by separate routes, either through the medial-antenno protocerebral tract (m-APT) or through the lateral-antenno protocerebral tract (l-APT), and connecting with two layers in the calyx of the mushroom bodies. In these layers the organization of the two efferent regions of the antennal lobe is represented topographically, establishing a coarse odotopic map of the antennal lobe in the region of the lip of the mushroom bodies.

Mushroom bodies are known to be involved in learning and memory, particularly for smell, and thus are the subject of current intense research. In larger insects, studies suggest that mushroom bodies have other learning and memory functions, like associative memory, sensory filtering, motor control, and place memory. Research implies that mushroom bodies generally act as a sort of coincidence detector, integrating multi-modal inputs and creating novel associations, thus suggesting their role in learning and memory. Recent work also shows evidence for the involvement of the mushroom body in innate olfactory behaviors through interactions with the lateral horn, possibly making use of the partially stereotyped sensory responses of the mushroom body output neurons (MBONs) across individuals. Although the connections between the projection neurons and the Kenyon cells are random (i.e., not stereotyped across individuals), the stereotypy in MBON responses is made possible by the dense convergence of many Kenyon cells onto a few MBONs along with other network properties.

Information about odors may be encoded in the mushroom body by the identities of the responsive neurons as well as the timing of their spikes. Experiments in locusts have shown that Kenyon cells have their activity synchronized to 20-Hz neural oscillations and are particularly responsive to projection neuron spikes at specific phases of the oscillatory cycle.

Sleep
The neurons which receive signals from serotonergic and GABAergic neurons outside the MB produce wakefulness, and experimentally stimulating these serotonergic upstream neurons forces sleep. The target neurons in the MB are inhibited by serotonin, GABA, and the combination of both. On the other hand octopamine does not seem to affect the MB's sleep function.

Drosophila melanogaster
We know that mushroom body structures are important for olfactory learning and memory in Drosophila because their ablation destroys this function. The mushroom body is also able to combine information from the internal state of the body and the olfactory input to determine innate behavior. The exact roles of the specific neurons making up the mushroom bodies are still unclear. However, these structures are studied extensively because much is known about their genetic make-up. There are three specific classes of neurons that make up the mushroom body lobes: α/β, α’/β’, and γ neurons, which all have distinct gene expression. A topic of current research is which of these substructures in the mushroom body are involved in each phase and process of learning and memory. Drosophila mushroom bodies are also often used to study learning and memory and are manipulated due to their relatively discrete nature. Typically, olfactory learning assays consist of exposing flies to two odors separately; one is paired with electric shock pulses (the conditioned stimulus, or CS+), and the second is not (unconditioned stimulus, or US). After this training period, flies are placed in a T-maze with the two odors placed individually on either end of the horizontal ‘T’ arms. The percent of flies that avoid the CS+ is calculated, with high avoidance considered evidence of learning and memory.

Cellular memory traces
Recent studies combining odor conditioning and cellular imaging have identified six memory traces that coincide with molecular changes in the Drosophila olfactory system. Three of these traces are associated with early forming behavioral memory. One such trace was visualized in the antennal lobe (AL) by synapto-pHluorin reporter molecules. Immediately after conditioning, an additional set of projection neurons in a set of eight glomeruli in the AL becomes synaptically activated by the conditioned odor, and lasts for only 7 minutes. A second trace is detectable by GCaMP expression, and thus an increase in Ca2+ influx, in the α’/β’ axons of the mushroom body neurons. This is a longer-lasting trace, present for up to one hour following conditioning. The third memory trace is the reduction of activity of the anterior-paired lateral neuron, which acts as a memory formation suppressor through one of its inhibitory GABAergic receptors. Decrease in calcium response of APL neurons and subsequent decrease in GABA release onto the mushroom bodies persisted up to 5 minutes after odor conditioning.

The intermediate term memory trace is dependent on expression of the amn gene located in dorsal paired medial neurons. An increase in calcium influx and synaptic release that innervates the mushroom bodies becomes detectable approximately 30 minutes after pairing of electric shock with an odor, and persists for at least an hour. Both long-term memory traces that have been mapped depend on activity and protein synthesis of CREB and CaMKII, and only exist after spaced conditioning. The first trace is detected in α/β neurons between 9 and 24 hours after conditioning, and is characterized by an increase in calcium influx in response to the conditioned odor. The second long-term memory trace forms in the γ mushroom bodies and is detected by increase calcium influx between 18 and 24 hours after conditioning

cAMP dynamics
Cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP or cyclic AMP) is a second messenger that has been implicated in facilitating mushroom body calcium influx in Drosophila melanogaster mushroom body neurons. cAMP elevation induces presynaptic plasticity in Drosophila. cAMP levels are affected by both neurotransmitters, such as dopamine and octopamine, and odors themselves. Dopamine and octopamine are released by mushroom body interneurons, while odors directly activate neurons in the olfactory pathway, causing calcium influx through voltage-gated calcium channels.

In a classical conditioning paradigm, pairing neuronal depolarization (via acetylcholine application to represent the odor or CS) with subsequent dopamine application (to represent the shock or US), results in a synergistic increase in cAMP in the mushroom body lobes. These results suggest that the mushroom body lobes are a critical site of CS/US integration via the action of cAMP. This synergistic effect was originally observed in Aplysia, where pairing calcium influx with activation of G protein signaling by serotonin generates a similar synergistic increase in cAMP.

Additionally, this synergistic increase in cAMP is mediated by and dependent on rutabaga adenylyl cyclase (rut AC), which is sensitive to both calcium (which results from voltage-gated calcium channel opening by odors) and G protein stimulation (caused by dopamine). While a forward pairing of neuronal depolarization and dopamine, (acetylcholine followed by dopamine) results in a synergistic increase in cAMP, a forward pairing of neuronal depolarization and octopamine produces a sub-additive effect on cAMP. More specifically, this means that this pairing produces significantly less cAMP than the sum of each stimulus individually in the lobes. Therefore, rut AC in mushroom body neurons works as a coincidence detector with dopamine and octopamine functioning bidirectionally to affect cAMP levels.

PKA dynamics
Protein kinase A (PKA) has been found to play an important role in learning and memory in Drosophila. When calcium enters a cell and binds with calmodulin, it stimulates adenylate cyclase (AC), which is encoded by the rutabaga gene (rut). This AC activation increases the concentration of cAMP, which activates PKA. When dopamine, an aversive olfactory stimulant, is applied it activates PKA specifically in the vertical mushroom body lobes. This spatial specificity is regulated by the dunce (dnc) PDE, a cAMP-specific phosphodiesterase. If the dunce gene is abolished, as found in the dnc mutant, the spatial specificity is not maintained. In contrast, an appetitive stimulation created by an octopamine application increases PKA in all lobes. In the rut mutant, a genotype in which the rutabaga is abolished, the responses to both dopamine and octopamine were greatly reduced and close to experimental noise.

Acetylcholine, which represents the conditioned stimulus, leads to a strong increase in PKA activation compared to stimulation with dopamine or octopamine alone. This reaction is abolished in rut mutants, which demonstrates that PKA is essential for sensory integration. The specificity of activation of the alpha lobe in the presence of dopamine is maintained when dopamine is in combination with acetylcholine. Essentially, during a conditioning paradigm when a conditioned stimulus is paired with an unconditioned stimulus, PKA exhibits heightened activation. This shows that PKA is required for conditioned learning in Drosophila melanogaster.

Apis mellifera
Stimulus output responses are the product of pairs of excitation and inhibition. This is the same pattern of organisation as with mammals' brains. These patterns may, as with mammals, precede action. this is an area only recently elucidated by Zwaka et al 2018, Duer et al 2015, and Paffhausen et al 2020.

title: Mushroom bodies


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Scotty Bowman

William Scott Bowman (born September 18, 1933) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey head coach. He holds the record for most wins in National Hockey League (NHL) history, with 1,244 wins in the regular season and 223 in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and his 14 Stanley Cup wins ranks second most of all time for any player, coach or executive. He coached the St. Louis Blues, Montreal Canadiens, Buffalo Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings. He was most recently the senior advisor of hockey operations for the Chicago Blackhawks, until stepping down in July 2022. Bowman is often regarded as the greatest coach in NHL history.

As head coach, Bowman has won a record nine Stanley Cup championships; five with the Canadiens (1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1979), one with the Penguins (1992) and three with the Red Wings (1997, 1998, and 2002). He has also won the Stanley Cup five times as a member of an organization's front office. He was director of player development for the 1991 Penguins, Consultant with the 2008 Detroit Red Wings, and senior advisor of hockey operations for the 2010, 2013, and 2015 Chicago Blackhawks. Bowman is the only NHL coach to lead three teams to Stanley Cup victories. Bowman won the Jack Adams Award in 1977 and 1996. In the 1976–77 season, he won a record 60 games, breaking his own record of 58 wins the year before. He broke his own record again in the 1995–1996 season, with 62 wins; overall, he held the record for 46 years, until. His eight losses in 1976–77 are a modern record for the fewest defeats incurred. His teams also made it to the Stanley Cup Finals a record 13 times and the semi-finals a record 16 times.

Career
Bowman played junior league hockey with the Montreal Junior Canadiens until a fractured skull, resulting from repeated intentional slashes by Jean-Guy Talbot during the 1951 playoffs, ended his long term playing aspirations.

Bowman started coaching, in 1956, as an assistant to head coach Sam Pollock with the Ottawa-Hull Canadiens in the Quebec Junior Hockey League. The following season, as head coach, Bowman's team won the 1958 Memorial Cup. Soon thereafter, he moved into a coaching job with the Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey League (OHA), the Montreal Canadiens' junior farm team.

St. Louis Blues
Bowman moved into the NHL in 1967 when he joined the expansion St. Louis Blues as an assistant coach under general manager and head coach Lynn Patrick. However, Patrick resigned as coach after a slow start, and Bowman took over at age 34. The Blues made it to the Stanley Cup finals in their first three years of existence as Western Conference (Expansion) champs. Bowman assumed general manager duties after Patrick gave up that job in the summer of 1968. Bowman remained in St. Louis until the end of the 1970–71 season but left due to a dispute with team ownership.

Montreal Canadiens
Bowman then joined the Montreal Canadiens as head coach. Though the Canadiens were the defending champions, Al MacNeil had been fired as head coach due to accusations of favoritism toward the team's anglophone players. Bowman was hired in part because he is fluently bilingual in English and French. His team lost in the first round of the playoffs in 1972 but won the Stanley Cup in 1973. The Canadiens would make the playoffs over the next two seasons but lost in the first and third rounds, as the rival Philadelphia Flyers won the Stanley Cup.

From 1976 to 1979, Bowman won four consecutive Stanley Cups with a talented Canadiens squad that included Guy Lafleur, Steve Shutt, Larry Robinson, and Ken Dryden. Bowman's team won at least 45 games in each of his eight seasons. However, after a falling-out with ownership, Bowman stepped down after the 1978–79 season. The reason for the falling-out was the team's decision to pass him over as the new general manager of the club in 1978 after Sam Pollock's retirement, as they hired Irving Grundman instead. The Canadiens' dynasty ended after Bowman and several key players left the team. Bowman remains second all-time in Canadiens history in both wins and winning percentage, behind Toe Blake in both categories.

Not only did Bowman and general manager Sam Pollock preside together over a Canadiens dynasty, but also many of their players went on to have successful coaching and managing roles with their own teams.

Buffalo Sabres
For the 1979–80 season, Bowman moved to the Buffalo Sabres as coach and general manager. He served as the team's general manager until 1987, doubling as coach on three separate occasions. During this time, he missed the playoffs for the only time in his coaching career, in the 1985–86 season. He left the Sabres as coach with the most wins in their history; he has since been passed by Lindy Ruff.

Bowman joined the Sabres around the same time that their stars were growing old. While the Sabres remained competitive for much of his tenure, he was unable to build them into anything approaching the powerhouses he'd coached in Montreal. Bowman resigned during the 1986–87 season and was replaced by Gerry Meehan 12 games into the season. He then become the color commentator for the CBC's Hockey Night in Canada usually alongside Don Wittman.

Pittsburgh Penguins
He became the director of player personnel of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1990 and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1991 as a builder.

In the summer, Bob Johnson, who had just won the Stanley Cup with the Penguins, was diagnosed with brain cancer, forcing him to step down, and died on November 26, 1991. Bowman took over as the team's head coach. Under Bowman, the Penguins repeated as Stanley Cup champions in a season dedicated to Johnson.

The next season, the Penguins had their first 100-point season in franchise history and finished with the league's best record. The 1992–93 Penguins under Bowman set the NHL record for consecutive wins in the regular season with 17. Their 119 points is still a franchise record. In the playoffs, the Penguins were upset in seven games in the Patrick Division finals by the New York Islanders coached by Al Arbour, a former Bowman player with the Blues.

After his two seasons as head coach in Pittsburgh, he was offered a long-term deal by the club. However, he indicated that he was not interested in their initial offer, which was not disclosed to the public, so they rescinded it. "We have to get somebody who wants to coach this team," Penguins owner Howard Baldwin said. "Scotty was clearly looking elsewhere."

Detroit Red Wings
In 1993–94, Bowman became coach of the Detroit Red Wings, and led them to a first-place finish in the Western Conference, but his Red Wings were ousted in the first round by the young San Jose Sharks. According to an apocryphal story, Bowman had difficulty in the maze-like tunnels of the San Jose Arena, eventually having to be rescued after getting lost and twice locking himself into rooms.

In 1995, the Red Wings made it to the Stanley Cup Finals, their first finals appearance in 29 years, but were swept by the New Jersey Devils in four straight. In the 1995–96 regular season, he won a record 62 games. However, they lost to the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Finals.

In the 1997 playoffs, Bowman led the team to its first Stanley Cup in 42 years by sweeping the Philadelphia Flyers 4–0. The Red Wings repeated the feat the following season (1998) by defeating the Washington Capitals in 4 games.

In 1999 and 2000, they lost to the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Semi-Finals, and in 2001 they were eliminated by the Los Angeles Kings in the first round.

Bowman decided in February 2002 that he would retire at the end of the season, and he went out as a winner as his Red Wings won the Stanley Cup by defeating the Carolina Hurricanes, 4 games to 1. During the presentation of the Cup on the ice, Bowman put on an old pair of skates so he could take a lap with the Cup. He then publicly announced his retirement from coaching. At the time of his retirement, he was second on the Red Wings' all-time wins list, behind Jack Adams. He is now third, behind Adams and Mike Babcock.

Bowman received the Wayne Gretzky International Award in 2002.

Team Canada
Bowman has coached the Canada men's national ice hockey team at the international level twice in his career. In the 1976 Canada Cup his team won gold over Czechoslovakia and silver in the 1981 Canada Cup against the Soviet Union.

Retirement
In 2003, Bowman was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.

Since his retirement as coach in 2002, Bowman worked as a special consultant to the Red Wings. On August 3, 2007, it was reported that Bowman was offered the position of President of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Bowman later appeared in an interview on Hockey Night in Canada on January 12, 2008, confirming that he was very close to taking the job only to be turned away by Richard Peddie, CEO of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd. (MLSE). In July 2008, he took a position as senior advisor of hockey operations for the Chicago Blackhawks to work alongside his son Stan Bowman, who was the general manager. The Blackhawks' Stanley Cup victory in 2010 gave Bowman his 12th Stanley Cup including coaching and team management, and the Blackhawks' 2013, and 2015 Stanley Cup victories were Bowman's 13th and 14th respectively. Bowman stepped down from his advisory role in Chicago on July 1, 2022, saying that "it was time to move on."

In 2012, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada "for his contributions to hockey as a coach and mentor".

On February 8, 2017, it was announced that Bowman would receive Order of Hockey in Canada award in a ceremony on June 19.

Personal life
As of January 2018, Bowman was living in Sarasota, Florida, attending all of the Tampa Bay Lightning home games in his role as the senior advisor of hockey operations for the Chicago Blackhawks, which were managed by his son Stan Bowman until October 26, 2021, when Stan resigned from the Blackhawks organization.

title: Scotty Bowman


text:
Clandestine

Clandestine may refer to:

 * Secrecy, the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups, perhaps while sharing it with other individuals
 * Clandestine operation, a secret intelligence or military activity

Music and entertainment

 * Clandestine (album), a 1991 album by Entombed
 * Clandestine (band), a Celtic music band from Texas, U.S.
 * Clandestine, a short film included with the special limited edition of the album Sing the Sorrow by AFI
 * ClanDestine, a comic book series by Alan Davis published by Marvel Comics
 * Clandestine (novel), a 1983 novel by James Ellroy

Other uses

 * Clandestine Industries (Fashion), a merchandise line by Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy
 * La Clandestine Absinthe, a Swiss absinthe brand
 * Clandestine is a name for the parasitic plant Lathraea clandestina
 * Clandestine cell system, a method of organizing people

title: Clandestine


text:
Abraham Abulafia

Abraham ben Samuel Abulafia (אברהם בן שמואל אבולעפיה) was the founder of the school of "Prophetic Kabbalah". He was born in Zaragoza, Spain, in 1240, and is assumed to have died sometime after 1291 following a stay on the small and windswept island of Comino (the smallest of the three inhabited islands that make up the Maltese archipelago).

Early life and travels
Very early in life he was taken by his parents to Tudela, Navarre, where his aged father, Samuel Abulafia, instructed him in the Hebrew Bible and Talmud. In 1258, when Abulafia was eighteen years old, his father died, and Abulafia began a life of ceaseless wandering shortly thereafter. His first journey, in 1260, was to the Land of Israel, where he intended to begin a search for the legendary Sambation and the Ten Lost Tribes. He got no further than 'Akko, however, because of the desolation and lawlessness in the Holy Land stemming from the chaos following the recent Crusade. The battle that year between the Mongol Empire and Mamluk Sultanate forced his return to Europe via Greece. He had determined to go to Rome but stopped short in Capua, where during the early 1260s, he devoted himself with passionate zeal to the study of philosophy and The Guide for the Perplexed of Maimonides under the tutelage of a philosopher and physician named Hillel—probably the well-known Hillel ben Samuel of Verona.

Although he always held Maimonides in the highest esteem, and often made use of sentences from his writings, he was as little satisfied with his philosophy as with any other branch of knowledge which he acquired. He was highly articulate, and able and eager to teach others. He wrote industriously on Kabbalistic, philosophical, and grammatical subjects, and succeeded in surrounding himself with numerous pupils to whom he imparted much of his own enthusiasm.

On his return to Spain he became subject to visions, and, at the age of thirty-one, in Barcelona, began to study a particular kind of Kabbalah whose most important representative was Barukh Togarmi, and received a revelation with messianic overtones. He immersed himself in the study of the Sefer Yetzirah ("Book of Creation"), which explained the creation of the world and humankind as based on Hebrew letter combinations, as well as its commentaries. The Sefer, and particularly the commentary and method of the German Jewish mystic Eleazar of Worms, exercised a deep influence upon Abulafia and had the effect of greatly increasing his mystical bent. Letters of the alphabet, numerals, and vowel-points all assumed mystical meaning to him, and their combinations and permutations, supplementing and explaining one another, possessed an illumining power most effectively disclosed in a deep study of the divine names (especially of the consonants of the Tetragrammaton). With such auxiliaries, and with the observance of certain rites and ascetic practises, men, he said, may attain the highest aim of existence and become prophets; not in order to work miracles and signs, but to reach the highest degree of perception and be able to penetrate intuitively into the inscrutable nature of the Deity, the riddles of creation, the problems of human life, the purpose of the precepts, and the deeper meaning of the Torah.

He soon left for Castile, where he disseminated his prophetic Kabbalah among figures like Rabbi Moses of Burgos and his most important disciple, Joseph ben Abraham Gikatilla. However, it bears mention that Abulafia is not mentioned in any of Gikatilla's works.

Some time around 1275; he taught The Guide for the Perplexed and his Kabbalah in a few cities in Greece. He wrote the first of his prophetic books, Sefer haYashar ("Book of the Upright/Righteous"), in Patras in 1279. That same year, he made his way through Trani back to Capua, where he taught four young students.

Journey to Rome
He went to Rome in 1280 in order to convert Pope Nicholas III to Judaism on the day before Rosh Hashanah. The Pope was in Soriano when he heard of it, and he issued orders to "burn the fanatic" as soon as he reached that place. The stake was erected in preparation close to the inner gate; but Abulafia set out for Soriano all the same and reached there August 22. While passing through the outer gate, he heard that the Pope had died from an apoplectic stroke during the preceding night. He returned to Rome, where he was thrown into prison by the Order of Friars Minor but was liberated after four weeks' detention. He was next heard of in Sicily.

Decline and exile to Comino
He remained active in Messina for a decade (1281–91), presenting himself as a "prophet", "messiah" and "son of God". He had several students there as well as some in Palermo. The local Jewish congregation in Palermo energetically condemned Abulafia's conduct, and around 1285 addressed the issue to Shlomo ben Aderet of Barcelona, who devoted much of his career to calming the various messianic hysteriae of the day. Shlomo ben Aderet subsequently wrote a letter against Abulafia. This controversy was one of the principal reasons for the exclusion of Abulafia’s Kabbalah from the Spanish schools.

Abulafia had to take up the pilgrim's staff anew, and under distressing conditions compiled his Sefer haOt "Book of the Sign" on the little island of Comino, near Malta, between 1285 and 1288. In 1291 he wrote his last, and perhaps his most intelligible work, the meditation manual Imrei Shefer "Words of Beauty"; after this, all trace of him is lost.

Writings
Abulafia’s literary activity spans the years 1271–1291 and consists of several books, treatises on grammar, and poems, but amongst which only thirty survive. He wrote many commentaries: three on the Guide of the Perplexed – Sefer ha-Ge’ulah (1273), Sefer Chayei ha-Nefesh, and Sefer Sitrei Torah (1280); on Sefer Yetzirah: – Otzar Eden Ganuz (1285/6), Gan Na'ul, and a third untitled; and a commentary on the Pentateuch – Sefer-Maftechot ha-Torah (1289).

More influential are his handbooks, teaching how to achieve the prophectic experience: Chayei ha-Olam ha-Ba (1280), Or ha-Sekhel, Sefer ha-Cheshek, and Imrei Shefer (1291).

Of special importance for understanding his messianology are his "prophetic books" written between 1279 (in Patras) and 1288 (in Messina), in which revelations including apocalyptic imagery and scenes are interpreted as pointing to spiritual processes of inner redemption. The spiritualized understanding of the concepts of messianism and redemption as an intellectual development represents a major contribution of the messianic ideas in Judaism. As part of his messianic propensity, Abulafia become an intense disseminator of his Kabbalah, orally and in written form, trying to convince both Jews and Christians.

In his first treatises, Get ha-Shemot and Maftei’ach ha-Re'ayon, Abulafia describes a linguistic type of Kabbalah similar to the early writings of Rabbi Joseph Gikatilla. In his later writings, the founder of prophetic Kabbalah produces a synthesis between Maimonides' Neoaristotelian understanding of prophecy as the result of the transformation of the intellectual influx into a linguistic message and techniques to reach such experiences by means of combinations of letters and their pronunciation, breathing exercises, contemplation of parts of the body, movements of the head and hands, and concentration exercises. Some of the elements of those techniques stem from commentaries on Sefer Yetzirah of Ashkenazi. He called his Kabbalah "the Kabbalah of names," that is, of divine names, being a way to reach what he called the prophetic experience, or "prophetic Kabbalah," as the ultimate aims of his way: unitive and revelatory experiences. In his writings expressions of what is known as the unio mystica of the human and the supernal intellects may be discerned. Much less concerned with the theosophy of his contemporary kabbalists, who were interested in theories of ten hypostatic sefirot, some of which he described as worse than the Christian belief in the trinity, Abulafia depicted the supernal realm, especially the cosmic Agent Intellect, in linguistic terms, as speech and letters.

In his later books, Abulafia repeatedly elaborated upon a system of seven paths of interpretation, which he used sometimes in his commentary on the Pentateuch, which starts with the plain sense, includes also allegorical interpretation, and culminates in interpretations of the discrete letters, the latter conceived of as the path to prophecy. Abulafia developed a sophisticated theory of language, which assumes that Hebrew represents not so much the language as written or spoken as the principles of all languages, namely the ideal sounds and the combinations between them. Thus, Hebrew as an ideal language encompasses all the other languages. This theory of language might have influenced Dante Alighieri. In his writings Abulafia uses Greek, Latin, Italian, Arabic, Tatar, and Basque words for purpose of gematria.

Abulafia's Kabbalah inspired a series of writings which can be described as part of his prophetic Kabbalah, namely, as striving to attain extreme forms of mystical experiences. The most important among them are the anonymous Sefer ha-Tzeruf (translated into Latin for Pico), Sefer Ner Elohim, and Sefer Shaarei Tzedek by Rabbi Nathan ben Saadiah Harar, who influenced the Kabbalah of Rabbi Isaac of Acre. The impact of Abulafia is evident in an anonymous epistle attributed to Maimonides; Rabbi Reuven Tzarfati, a kabbalist active in 14th century Italy; Abraham Shalom, Yohanan Alemanno, Judah Albotini, and Joseph ibn Zagyah; Moses Cordovero and Chaim Vital's influential Shaarei Kedushah; Sabbatai Zevi, Joseph Hamitz, Pinchas Horowitz, and Menahem Mendel of Shklov.

Extant in many manuscripts, Abulafia's writings were not printed by kabbalists, most of whom banned his brand of Kabbalah, and only by chance introduced in their writings a few short and anonymous fragments. Scholarship started with an analysis of his manuscript writings by M. H. Landauer, who attributed the book of the Zohar to him. Adolf Jellinek refuted this attribution and compiled the first comprehensive list of Abulafia's writings, publishing three of Abulafia's shorter treatises (two epistles, printed in 1853/4, and Sefer ha-Ot in 1887), while Amnon Gross published 13 volumes, which include most of Abulafia's books and those of his students' books (Jerusalem, 1999–2004). Major contributions to the analysis of Abulafia's thought and that of his school have been made by Gershom Scholem, Chaim Wirszubski, Moshe Idel, and Elliot R. Wolfson. Some of Abulafia's treatises were translated into Latin and Italian in the circle of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, mostly by Flavius Mithridates, and Pico’s vision of Kabbalah was significantly influenced by his views. This is the case also with Francesco Giogio Veneto's De Harmonia Mundi.

Abulafia's life inspired a series of literary works such as poems by Ivan Goll, Moses Feinstein (not Rabbi Moshe Feinstein) and Nathaniel Tarn; Umberto Eco's novel Foucault's Pendulum; and a play by George-Elie Bereby; in art, Abraham Pincas' paintings and Bruriah Finkel's sculptures; and several musical pieces.

Abulafia's writings include:
 * Sefer ha-Geulah (1273), a commentary on The Guide for the Perplexed
 * Sefer Chayei ha-Nefesh, a commentary on The Guide for the Perplexed
 * Sefer ha-Yashar ("Book of the Upright/Righteous") (1279)
 * Sefer Sitrei Torah (1280), a commentary on The Guide for the Perplexed
 * Chayei ha-Olam ha-Ba ("Life of the World to Come" ) (1280)
 * Or ha-Sekhel ("Light of the Intellect")
 * Get ha-Shemot
 * Maftei’ach ha-Re'ayon
 * Gan Na'ul, a commentary on Sefer Yetzirah
 * Otzar Eden Ganuz, another commentary on Sefer Yetzirah
 * Sefer ha-Cheshek
 * Sefer ha-Ot ("Book of the Sign") (1285 x 1288)
 * Imrei Shefer ("Words of Beauty") (1291)
 * Ve-Zot Li-Yehuda ("And this is for Yehuda")

Abulafia's meditation techniques
In his numerous works Abulafia focuses on complex devices for uniting with the Agent Intellect, or God, through the recitation of divine names, together with breathing techniques and cathartic practices. Some of Abulafia’s mystic ways were adapted by the Ashkenazi Hasidim. Taking as his framework the metaphysical and psychological system of Moses Maimonides (1135/8–1204), Abulafia strove for spiritual experience, which he viewed as a prophetic state similar to or even identical with that of the ancient Jewish prophets.

Abulafia suggests a method that is based on a stimulus that continuously changes. His intention is not to relax the consciousness by meditation, but to purify it via a high level of concentration which requires doing many actions at the same time. For this, he uses Hebrew letters.

Abulafia’s method includes a number of steps.
 * The first step, preparation: the initiate purifies himself through fasting, the wearing of tefillin, and donning pure white garments.
 * The second step: the mystic writes out specific letter groups and their permutations.
 * The third step, physiological maneuvers: the mystic chants the letters in conjunction with specific respiratory patterns, as well as head positioning.
 * The fourth step, mental imagery of letters and human forms: the mystic imagines a human form, and himself without a body. Then the mystic ‘draws’ the letters mentally, projects them onto the ‘screen’ of the ‘imaginative faculty’, i.e. he mentally imagines the patterns of letters. He then rotates the letters and turns them, as Abulafia describes in Imrei Shefer: "And they [the letters], with their forms, are called the Clear Mirror, for all the forms having brightness and strong radiance are included in them. And one who gazes at them in their forms will discover their secrets and speak to them, and they will speak to him. And they are like an image in which a man sees all his forms standing in front of him, and then he will be able to see all the general and specific things (Ms. Paris BN 777, fol. 49)."

During the final step of mental imagery, the mystic passes a succession of four experiences. The first is an experience of body-photism or illumination, in which light not only surrounds the body but also diffuses into it, giving impression that the body and its organs have become light. As the ecstatic Kabbalist continues to practice, combining letters and performing physiological maneuvers, the result is the second experience: weakening of the body, in an ‘absorptive’ manner. Subsequently, the mystic may feel an enhancement of his thoughts and imaginative capacity. This is the third experience. The fourth experience is characterized mainly by fear and trembling.

Abulafia emphasizes that trembling is a basic and necessary step to obtain prophecy (Sitrei Torah, Paris Ms. 774, fol. 158a). In another place he writes: ‘all your body will begin to tremble, and your limbs begin to shake, and you will fear a tremendous fear […] and the body will tremble, like the rider who races the horse, who is glad and joyful, while the horse trembles beneath him’ (Otzar Eden Ganuz, Oxford Ms. 1580, fols. 163b-164a; see also Hayei Haolam Haba, Oxford 1582, fol. 12a).

For Abulafia the fear is followed by an experience of pleasure and delight. This feeling is a result of sensing another ‘spirit’ within his body, as he describes in Otzar Eden Ganuz: ‘And you shall feel another spirit awakening within yourself and strengthening you and passing over your entire body and giving you pleasure’ (Oxford Ms. 1580 fols. 163b-164a).

Only after passing these successive experiences does the mystic reach his goal: the vision of a human form, which is closely linked to his own physical appearance and generally experienced as standing in front of the mystic. The experience is increased when the mystic experiences his autoscopic form (or ‘double’) as speaking: the double begins to talk to the mystic, teaching him the unknown and revealing the future.

Abraham Abulafia describes the experience of seeing a human ‘form’ many times in his writings. However, initially it is not clear who this ‘form’ is. As the dialog between the mystic and the ‘form’ proceeds, the reader understands that the ‘form’ is the image of the mystic himself. Addressing his students and followers in Sefer haKheshek, Abulafia further elaborates the scenario:"[A]nd sit as though a man is standing before you and waiting for you to speak with him; and he is ready to answer you concerning whatever you may ask him, and you say "speak" and he answers […] and begin then to pronounce [the name] and recite first "the head of the head" [i.e. the first combination of letters], drawing out the breath and at great ease; and afterwards go back as if the one standing opposite you is answering you; and you yourself answer, changing your voice[.]"

Apparently, by utilizing the letters of ‘the Name’ with specific breath techniques, a human form should appear. Only in the last sentence Abulafia suggests that this form is ‘yourself’.

Yet he explicitly put it, as he has also explained in another book, Sefer haYei haOlam haBa: "And consider his reply, answering as though you yourself had answered yourself" (Oxford Ms. 1582, fol. 56b). Most of Abulafia’s descriptions are written in a similar fashion. In Sefer haOt, Abulafia describes a similar episode, but from an explicit self-perspective:"I saw a man coming from the west with a great army, the number of the warriors of his camp being twenty-two thousand men […] And when I saw his face in the sight, I was astonished, and my heart trembled within me, and I left my place and I longed for it to call upon the name of God to help me, but that thing evaded my spirit. And when the man had seen my great fear and my strong awe, he opened his mouth and he spoke, and he opened my mouth to speak, and I answered him according to his words, and in my words I became another man (pp. 81–2)."

Influence
Abulafia's subterranean influence is evident in the large number of manuscripts of his major meditation manuals that flourished down to the present day until all his works were finally published in Mea Shearim in Jerusalem during the 1990s.

Abulafia’s prophetic and messianic pretensions prompted a sharp reaction on the part of Shelomoh ben Avraham Adret, a famous legal authority who succeeded in annihilating the influence of Abulafia’s ecstatic Kabbalah in Spain (responsa volume 1 #548)

According to Besserman's The Shambhala Guide to Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism, Abulafia's "prophetic approach to meditation included manipulating the Hebrew letters in a nondenominational context that brought him into conflict with the Jewish establishment and provoked the Inquisition."

In Italy, however, his works were translated into Latin and contributed substantially to the formation of Christian Kabbalah.

In the Middle East, ecstatic Kabbalah was accepted without reservation. Clear traces of Abulafian doctrine are evident in the works of Isaac ben Samuel of Acre, Yehudah Albotini and Hayyim ben Joseph Vital. In Israel, Abulafia’s ideas were combined with Sufi elements, apparently stemming from the school of Ibn Arabi; thus Sufi views were introduced into European Kabbalah.

After the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, Spanish theurgical Kabbalah, which had developed without any significant influence from ecstatic Kabbalah, was integrated with the latter; this combination became, through the book Pardes Rimmonim by Mosheh Cordovero, part of mainstream Kabbalah. Hayyim Vital brought Abulafian views into the fourth unpublished part of his Shaarei Kedushah, and the eighteenth-century qabalists of the Beit El Academy in Jerusalem perused Abulafia’s mystical manuals. Later on, mystical and psychological conceptions of Kabbalah found their way directly and indirectly to the Polish Hasidic masters. The influence of ecstatic Kabbalah is to be seen in isolated groups today, and traces of it can be found in modern literature (e.g., the poetry of Yvan Goll), mainly since the publication of Gershom Scholem’s researches, and subsequently the groundbreaking studies of Moshe Idel.

title: Abraham Abulafia


text:
Aeolian

Aeolian commonly refers to things related to either of two Greek mythological figures:

 * Aeolus (son of Hippotes), ruler of the winds
 * Aeolus (son of Hellen), son of Hellen and eponym of the Aeolians
 * Aeolians, an ancient Greek tribe thought to be descended from Aeolus, son of Hellen

Aeolian or Eolian may also refer to:

Music

 * Aeolian (album), an album by German post-metal band The Ocean Collective
 * Aeolian Company (1887–1985), a maker of organs, pianos, sheet music, and phonographs
 * Aeolian Hall (disambiguation), any one of a number of concert halls of that name
 * Aeolian harp, a harp that is played by the wind
 * Aeolian mode, a musical mode, the natural minor key
 * Aeolian Quartet (1952–1981), a string quartet based in London
 * Aeolian-Skinner (1932–1972), pipe organ builder

Other uses

 * Aeolian dialect, a dialect of Ancient Greek
 * Aeolian Islands, islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea, named after Aeolus the ruler of the winds
 * Aeolian or Aeolic order, an early order of Classical architecture
 * Aeolian landform, landforms, such as sand dunes, formed by wind
 * Aeolian processes, eolian sedimentation, wind-generated geologic processes
 * Eolian (Solar car), a solar car designed at the University of Chile

title: Aeolian


text:
Polymer degradation

Polymer degradation is the reduction in the physical properties of a polymer, such as strength, caused by changes in its chemical composition. Polymers and particularly plastics are subject to degradation at all stages of their product life cycle, including during their initial processing, use, disposal into the environment and recycling. The rate of this degradation varies significantly; biodegradation can take decades, whereas some industrial processes can completely decompose a polymer in hours.

Technologies have been developed to both inhibit or promote degradation. For instance, polymer stabilizers ensure plastic items are produced with the desired properties, extend their useful lifespans, and facilitate their recycling. Conversely, biodegradable additives accelerate the degradation of plastic waste by improving its biodegradability. Some forms of plastic recycling can involve the complete degradation of a polymer back into monomers or other chemicals.

In general, the effects of heat, light, air and water are the most significant factors in the degradation of plastic polymers. The major chemical changes are oxidation and chain scission, leading to a reduction in the molecular weight and degree of polymerization of the polymer. These changes affect physical properties like strength, malleability, melt flow index, appearance and colour. The changes in properties are often termed "aging".

Susceptibility
Plastics exist in huge variety, however several types of commodity polymer dominate global production: polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET, PETE), polystyrene (PS), polycarbonate (PC), and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA). The degradation of these materials is of primary importance as they account for most plastic waste.

These plastics are all thermoplastics and are more susceptible to degradation than equivalent thermosets, as those are more thoroughly cross-linked. The majority (PP, PE, PVC, PS and PMMA) are addition polymers with all-carbon backbones that are more resistant to most types of degradation. PET and PC are condensation polymers which contain carbonyl groups more susceptible to hydrolysis and UV-attack.

Degradation during processing

Thermoplastic polymers (be they virgin or recycled) must be heated until molten to be formed into their final shapes, with processing temperatures anywhere between 150-320 °C (300–600 °F) depending on the polymer. Polymers will oxidise under these conditions, but even in the absence of air, these temperatures are sufficient to cause thermal degradation in some materials. The molten polymer also experiences significant shear stress during extrusion and moulding, which is sufficient to snap the polymer chains. Unlike many other forms of degradation, the effects of melt-processing degrades the entire bulk of the polymer, rather than just the surface layers. This degradation introduces chemical weak points into the polymer, particularly in the form of hydroperoxides, which become initiation sites for further degradation during the object's lifetime.

Polymers are often subject to more than one round of melt-processing, which can cumulatively advance degradation. Virgin plastic typically undergoes compounding to introduce additives such as dyes, pigments and stabilisers. Pelletised material prepared in this may also be pre-dried in an oven to remove trace moisture prior to its final melting and moulding into plastic items. Plastic which is recycled by simple re‑melting (mechanical recycling) will usually display more degradation than fresh material and may have poorer properties as a result.

Thermal oxidation
Although oxygen levels inside processing equipment are usually low, it cannot be fully excluded and thermal-oxidation will usually take place more readily than degradation that is exclusively thermal (i.e. without air). Reactions follow the general autoxidation mechanism, leading to the formation of organic peroxides and carbonyls. The addition of antioxidants may inhibit such processes.

Thermal degradation
Heating polymers to a sufficiently high temperature can cause damaging chemical changes, even in the absence of oxygen. This usually starts with chain scission, generating free radicals, which primarily engage in disproportionation and crosslinking. PVC is the most thermally sensitive common polymer, with major degradation occurring from ~250 C onwards; other polymers degrade at higher temperatures.

Thermo-mechanical degradation
Molten polymers are non-Newtonian fluids with high viscosities, and the interaction between their thermal and mechanical degradation can be complex. At low temperatures, the polymer-melt is more viscous and more prone to mechanical degradation via shear stress. At higher temperatures, the viscosity is reduced, but thermal degradation is increased. Friction at points of high sheer can also cause localised heating, leading to additional thermal degradation.

Mechanical degradation can be reduced by the addition of lubricants, also referred to as processing aids or flow aids. These can reduce friction against the processing machinery but also between polymer chains, resulting in a decrease in melt-viscosity. Common agents are high-molecular-weight waxes (paraffin wax, wax esters, etc.) or metal stearates (i.e.zinc stearate).

In-service degradation

Most plastic items, like packaging materials, are used briefly and only once. These rarely experience polymer degradation during their service-lives. Other items experience only gradual degradation from the natural environment. Some plastic items, however, can experience long service-lives in aggressive environments, particularly those where they are subject to prolonged heat or chemical attack. Polymer degradation can be significant in these cases and, in practice, is often only held back by the use of advanced polymer stabilizers. Degradation arising from the effects of heat, light, air and water is the most common, but other means of degradation exist.

The in-service degradation of mechanical properties is an important aspect which limits the applications of these materials. Polymer degradation caused by in-service degradation can cause life threatening accidents. In 1996, a baby was fed via a Hickman line and suffered an infection, when new connectors were used by a hospital. The reason behind this infection was the cracking and erosion of the pipes from the inner side due to contact with liquid media.

Chlorine-induced cracking

Drinking water which has been chlorinated to kill microbes may contain trace levels of chlorine. The World Health Organization recommends an upper limit of 5 ppm. Although low, 5 ppm is enough to slowly attack certain types of plastic, particularly when the water is heated, as it is for washing. Polyethylene, polybutylene  and acetal resin (polyoxymethylene) pipework and fittings are all susceptible. Attack leads to hardening of pipework, which can leave it brittle and more susceptible to mechanical failure.

Electronics
Plastics are used extensively in the manufacture of electrical items, such as circuit boards and electrical cables. These applications can be harsh, exposing the plastic to a mixture of thermal, chemical and electrochemical attack. Many electric items like transformers, microprocessors or high-voltage cables operate at elevated temperatures for years, or even decades, resulting in low-level but continuous thermal oxidation. This can be exacerbated by direct contact with metals, which can promote the formation of free-radicals, for instance, by the action of Fenton reactions on hydroperoxides. High voltage loads can also damage insulating materials such as dielectrics, which degrade via electrical treeing caused by prolonged electrical field stress.

Galvanic action
Polymer degradation by galvanic action was first described in the technical literature in 1990 by Michael C. Faudree, an employee at General Dynamics, Fort Worth Division. The phenomenon has been referred to as the "Faudree Effect", and can possibly be used as a sustainable process to degrade non-recyclable thermoset plastics, and also has had implications for preventing corrosion on aircraft for safety such as changes in design. When carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer is attached to a metal surface, the carbon fiber can act as a cathode if exposed to water or sufficient humidity, resulting in galvanic corrosion. This has been seen in engineering when carbon-fiber polymers have been used to reinforce weakened steel structures. Reactions have also been seen in aluminium and magnesium alloys, polymers affected include bismaleimides (BMI), and polyimides. The mechanism of degradation is believed to involve the electrochemical generation of hydroxide ions, which then cleave the amide bonds.

Degradation in the environment
Most plastics do not biodegrade readily, however, they do still degrade in the environment because of the effects of UV-light, oxygen, water and pollutants. This combination is often generalised as polymer weathering. Chain breaking by weathering causes increasing embrittlement of plastic items, which eventually causes them to break apart. Fragmentation then continues until eventually microplastics are formed. As the particle sizes get smaller, so their combined surface area increases. This facilitates the leaching of additives out of plastic and into the environment. Many controversies associated with plastics actually relate to these additives.

Photo-oxidation
Photo-oxidation is the combined action of UV-light and oxygen and is the most significant factor in the weathering of plastics. Although many polymers do not absorb UV-light, they often contain impurities like hydroperoxide and carbonyl groups introduced during thermal processing, which do. These act as photoinitiators to give complex free radical chain reactions where the mechanisms of autoxidation and photodegradation combine. Photo-oxidation can be held back by light stabilizers such as hindered amine light stabilizers (HALS).

Hydrolysis
Polymers with an all-carbon backbone, such as polyolefins, are usually resistant to hydrolysis. Condensation polymers like polyesters, polyamides, polyurethanes and polycarbonates can be degraded by hydrolysis of their carbonyl groups, to give lower molecular weight molecules. Such reactions are exceedingly slow at ambient temperatures, however, they remain a significant source of degradation for these materials, particularly in the marine environment. Swelling caused by the absorption of minute amounts of water can also cause environmental stress cracking, which accelerates degradation.

Ozonolysis of rubbers
Polymers, which are not fully saturated, are vulnerable to attack by ozone. This gas exists naturally in the atmosphere but is also formed by nitrogen oxides released in vehicle exhaust pollution. Many common elastomers (rubbers) are affected, with natural rubber, polybutadiene, styrene-butadiene rubber and NBR being most sensitive to degradation. The ozonolysis reaction results in immediate chain scission. Ozone cracks in products under tension are always oriented at right angles to the strain axis, so will form around the circumference in a rubber tube bent over. Such cracks are dangerous when they occur in fuel pipes because the cracks will grow from the outside exposed surfaces into the bore of the pipe, and fuel leakage and fire may follow. The problem of ozone cracking can be prevented by adding antiozonants.

Biological degradation
The major appeal of biodegradation is that, in theory, the polymer will be completely consumed in the environment without needing complex waste management and that the products of this will be non-toxic. Most common plastics biodegrade very slowly, sometimes to the extent that they are considered non-biodegradable. As polymers are ordinarily too large to be absorbed by microbes, biodegradation initially relies on secreted extracellular enzymes to reduce the polymers to manageable chain-lengths. This requires the polymers bear functional groups the enzymes can 'recognise', such as ester or amide groups. Long-chain polymers with all-carbon backbones like polyolefins, polystyrene and PVC will not degrade by biological action alone and must first be oxidised to create chemical groups which the enzymes can attack.

Oxidation can be caused by melt-processing or weathering in the environment. Oxidation may be intentionally accelerated by the addition of biodegradable additives. These are added to the polymer during compounding to improve the biodegradation of otherwise very resistant plastics. Similarly, biodegradable plastics have been designed which are intrinsically biodegradable, provided they are treated like compost and not just left in a landfill site where degradation is very difficult because of the lack of oxygen and moisture.

Degradation during recycling

The act of recycling plastic degrades its polymer chains, usually as a result of thermal damage similar to that seen during initial processing. In some cases, this is turned into an advantage by intentionally and completely depolymerising the plastic back into its starting monomers, which can then be used to generate fresh, un-degraded plastic. In theory, this chemical (or feedstock) recycling offers infinite recyclability, but it is also more expensive and can have a higher carbon footprint because of its energy costs. Mechanical recycling, where the plastic is simply remelted and reformed, is more common, although this usually results in a lower-quality product. Alternatively, plastic may simply be burnt as a fuel in a waste-to-energy process.

Remelting
Thermoplastic polymers like polyolefins can be remelted and reformed into new items. This approach is referred to as mechanical recycling and is usually the simplest and most economical form of recovery. Post-consumer plastic will usually already bear a degree of degradation. Another round of melt-processing will exacerbate this, with the result being that mechanically recycled plastic will usually have poorer mechanical properties than virgin plastic. Degradation can be enhanced by high concentrations of hydroperoxides, cross-contamination between different types of plastic and by additives present within the plastic. Technologies developed to enhance the biodegradation of plastic can also conflict with its recycling, with oxo-biodegradable additives, consisting of metallic salts of iron, magnesium, nickel, and cobalt, increasing the rate of thermal degradation. Depending on the polymer in question, an amount of virgin material may be added to maintain the quality of the product.

Thermal depolymerisation & pyrolysis
As polymers approach their ceiling temperature, thermal degradation gives way to complete decomposition. Certain polymers like PTFE, polystyrene and PMMA undergo depolymerization to give their starting monomers, whereas others like polyethylene undergo pyrolysis, with random chain scission giving a mixture of volatile products. Where monomers are obtained, they can be converted back into new plastic (chemical or feedstock recycling),   whereas pyrolysis products are used as a type of synthetic fuel (energy recycling). In practice, even very efficient depolymerisation to monomers tends to see some competitive pyrolysis. Thermoset polymers may also be converted in this way, for instance, in tyre recycling.

Chemical depolymerisation
Condensation polymers baring cleavable groups such as esters and amides can also be completely depolymerised by hydrolysis or solvolysis. This can be a purely chemical process but may also be promoted by enzymes. Such technologies are less well developed than those of thermal depolymerisation, but have the potential for lower energy costs. Thus far, polyethylene terephthalate has been the most heavily studied polymer. Alternatively, waste plastic may be converted into other valuable chemicals (not necessarily monomers) by microbial action.

Stabilisers
Hindered amine light stabilizers (HALS) stabilise against weathering by scavenging free radicals that are produced by photo-oxidation of the polymer matrix. UV-absorbers stabilise against weathering by absorbing ultraviolet light and converting it into heat. Antioxidants stabilise the polymer by terminating the chain reaction because of the absorption of UV light from sunlight. The chain reaction initiated by photo-oxidation leads to cessation of crosslinking of the polymers and degradation of the property of polymers. Antioxidants are used to protect from thermal degradation.

Detection

Degradation can be detected before serious cracks are seen in a product using infrared spectroscopy. In particular, peroxy-species and carbonyl groups formed by photo-oxidation have distinct absorption bands.

title: Polymer degradation


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Fred Kavli

Fred Kavli (August 20, 1927 – November 21, 2013) was a Norwegian-American businessman and philanthropist. He was born on a small farm in Eresfjord, Norway. He founded the Kavlico Corporation, located in Moorpark, California. Under his leadership, the company became one of the world's largest suppliers of sensors for aeronautic, automotive, and industrial applications supplying General Electric and the Ford Motor Company.

In 2000 he established The Kavli Foundation to "advance science for the benefit of humanity and to promote public understanding and support for scientists and their work". The Foundation's mission is implemented through an international program of research institutes, professorships, and symposia in the scientific fields of astrophysics, nanoscience, neuroscience, and theoretical physics. The foundation awards the Kavli Prize in astrophysics, nanoscience, and neuroscience.

He was featured in the media primarily for his philanthropic efforts.

Kavli's life
Born in 1927, Kavli grew up on the family farm in the Norwegian village of Eresfjord (pop. 450).

At 14, together with his brother Aslak, he began his first enterprise creating wood pellet fuel for cars. This was during the Second World War and the Nazi occupation of Norway.

Inspired by his father's 13 years in San Francisco the young Kavli wanted to move to the US. Three days after he received his engineering degree from the Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH) in Trondheim he left for America on the SS Stavangerfjord.

Having no job or sponsor waiting for him, his visa application was initially rejected, and so in 1955 he immigrated to Montreal, Quebec, Canada instead. The following year his visa was approved and he moved to the United States. He found work as an engineer for a Los Angeles business that developed feedback flight controls for Atlas missiles. He would rise to the position of Chief Engineer here.

Looking to start his own business he advertised in the Los Angeles Times newspaper soliciting financial backers with the simple but effective text "Engineer seeking financial backing to start own business". Two years later he founded the Kavlico Corporation, located in Moorpark, California. Under his leadership, the company became one of the world's largest suppliers of sensors for aeronautic, automotive, and industrial applications supplying amongst others General Electric and the Ford Motor Company.

In 2000, he sold Kavlico for $345 million to C-Mac Industries Inc. Kavlico is today owned by the French company Schneider Electric. Much of Kavli's wealth is a result of his real estate investments in Southern California. As a philanthropist, Kavli subsequently established The Kavli Foundation and dedicated much of his wealth to funding research institutions and programs worldwide.

On June 19, 2006, he was appointed Grand Officer, Commander with Star, of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit by King Harald V of Norway in recognition of his work on behalf of Norway and humanity. In 2008, he was also awarded an honorary doctorate, Doctor Honoris Causa, by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, in recognition of his work to the benefit and advancement of science and research.

Kavli was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was also a former member of the U.S. President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, and former member of the University of California President's Board on Science and Innovation.

In 2009, Mr. Kavli received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Northwestern University. In 2011, he received the Bower Award for Business Leadership from the Franklin Institute, one of the oldest science education centers in the United States, and the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy, which is given biennially to one or more individuals who, like Andrew Carnegie, have dedicated their private wealth to the public good, and who have sustained impressive careers as philanthropists. Also, in 2011, Mr. Kavli was conferred the degree of doctor philosopliae honoris causa by the University of Oslo.

A Trustee of the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) Foundation, in addition to supporting scientific research and education, his philanthropic activities include the Fred Kavli Theatre for Performing Arts at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, California, as well as other projects. He was divorced and had two grown children.

On November 21, 2013, Kavli died at his Santa Barbara, California home after surgery for cholangiocarcinoma, a rare form of cancer.

Kavli Prizes
Through The Kavli Foundation, Kavli established scientific prizes in the fields of Astrophysics, Nanoscience, and Neuroscience. The Kavli Prizes are presented in cooperation with the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research, and have been awarded biennially at a ceremony in Oslo since 2008. Each prize consists of a scroll, gold medal, and $1,000,000 cash.

Kavli chose to focus on these three areas of interest – "from the biggest, to the smallest, to the most complex" – because he thinks these fields are the most exciting scientific fields for the 21st century with potentially great benefits. Kavli has also noted his intent that the Prizes distinguish themselves from the Nobel prizes in science. Consequently, one key distinction between the prizes: Kavli Prize laureates are selected by committees composed of distinguished international scientists. These committee members are recommended by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the French Academy of Sciences, the Max Planck Society, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and The Royal Society, with committee chairs chosen by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.

The first Kavli Prize winners were announced on May 28, 2008, simultaneously in Oslo and at the opening of the World Science Festival in New York City. The first Kavli Prize for astrophysics was awarded to Maarten Schmidt and Donald Lynden-Bell. Louis E. Brus and Sumio Iijima shared the nanoscience prize, while Pasko Rakic, Thomas Jessell and Sten Grillner were awarded the neuroscience prize. The four US winners of the Kavli Prize were honored by President George W. Bush and Science Advisor, Dr. John Marburger, at an Oval Office reception in the White House on November 12, 2008. (See Kavli Prize for laureates in subsequent years.)

The Kavli Foundation
The Kavli Foundation, based in Oxnard, California, is dedicated to the goals of advancing science for the benefit of humanity and to promote public understanding and support for scientists and their work. It was established in 2000 by Mr. Kavli and is actively involved in establishing major research institutes at leading universities and institutions in the United States, Europe and Asia.

The Kavli Foundation has made grants to establish Kavli Institutes on the campuses of the University of California Santa Barbara, University of California Berkeley, Stanford University, the California Institute of Technology, the University of Chicago, Columbia University, Yale University, New York University, Cornell University, the University of California, San Diego, Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Peking University, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Harvard University, University of Cambridge and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. These institutions are the beneficiaries of the Kavli Foundation to date, and the list is bound to grow in the future.

In addition to the Kavli Institutes, six Kavli professorships have been established: two at the University of California Santa Barbara, one at the University of California Los Angeles, one at the University of California Irvine, one at Columbia University, and one at the California Institute of Technology.

Kavli Institutes
The Kavli Foundation has established 20 research institutes at leading universities worldwide. These institutes focus on astrophysics, nanoscience, neuroscience and theoretical physics. Consistent with its business-like approach, Kavli requires each partner University to match the average $7.5 million donation. The institutes are not required to focus on any specific subject but are free to do any basic research they see fit.

Seven researchers associated with the Kavli institutes have been awarded Nobel prizes: David Gross, Frank Wilczek, Richard Axel, Eric Kandel, Edvard Moser, May-Britt Moser and Rainer Weiss.

As of October 2023, there are 13 institutes in the United States, 2 in China, 1 in the Netherlands, 1 in Norway, 2 in the United Kingdom, and 1 in Japan.

The 20 Kavli Institutes are:

Astrophysics

 * The Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology at Stanford University
 * The Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago
 * The Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
 * The Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics at Peking University
 * The Kavli Institute for Cosmology at the University of Cambridge
 * The Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe at the University of Tokyo

Nanoscience

 * The Kavli Institute for Nanoscale Science at Cornell University
 * The Kavli Institute of Nanoscience at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands
 * The Kavli Nanoscience Institute at the California Institute of Technology
 * The Kavli Energy NanoSciences Institute at University of California, Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
 * The Kavli Institute for NanoScience Discovery at the University of Oxford

Neuroscience

 * The Kavli Institute for Brain Science at Columbia University
 * The Kavli Institute for Brain & Mind at the University of California, San Diego
 * The Kavli Institute for Neuroscience at Yale University
 * The Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology
 * The Kavli Neuroscience Discovery Institute at Johns Hopkins University
 * The Kavli Neural Systems Institute at The Rockefeller University
 * The Kavli Institute for Fundamental Neuroscience at the University of California, San Francisco

Theoretical physics

 * Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara
 * The Kavli Institute for Theoretical Sciences (KITS) at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

Honours

 * Royal Norwegian Order of Merit - Grand Officer.
 * Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences – fellow.
 * Norwegian University of Science and Technology – honorary doctor.

Quotes
"The curiosity of the human being is what has brought us where we are today, and I have complete confidence that it will take us where we need to be in the future."

title: Fred Kavli


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Norman Atkins

Norman Kempton Atkins (June 27, 1934 – September 28, 2010) was a Canadian Senator and a political figure in Canada.

Born in Montclair, New Jersey, Atkins was a graduate of Appleby College in Oakville and of Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, where he completed the Bachelor of Arts program in 1957. He subsequently received an Honorary Doctorate in Civil Law in 2000, from Acadia University.

Atkins was a leading figure in advertising and a senior Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario and Progressive Conservative Party of Canada strategist. He was especially associated with the Big Blue Machine, which helped elect the Ontario PC Party under Bill Davis. In the 1980s, he was a strategist for the federal Conservatives, led by Brian Mulroney, who recommended him to Governor General Jeanne Sauvé for appointment to the Senate in 1986.

Atkins opposed the merger of the Progressive Conservative Party with the Canadian Alliance, and refused to join the product of that merger, the Conservative Party of Canada. Instead, he continued to sit in the Senate as a "Progressive Conservative" along with Lowell Murray and Elaine McCoy. He did not initially rule out joining the new Conservative Party caucus in the future, saying in February 2004, "I will be watching with interest, both the Leadership and the policies of the new party, to see whether they address my concerns. It is my hope that they will reflect the values and beliefs Progressive Conservatives hold so strongly". However, he continued to sit as a Progressive Conservative for the duration of his time in the Senate.

On February 27, 2007, Atkins was elected vice-chairman of the Senate's National Security and Defence Committee. He was elected with the support of defiant Liberal senators after moderate Conservative Senator Michael Meighen resigned his position at the direction of the Prime Minister's Office who reportedly wished to install a more ideologically conservative co-chair.

Atkins retired from the Senate upon turning 75 on June 27, 2009. He died in Fredericton on September 28, 2010, at the age of 76.

Archives
There is a Norman Atkins fonds at Library and Archives Canada. Archival reference number is R5376.

title: Norman Atkins


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Julito Collazo

Julio "Julito" Collazo (1925 – March 5, 2004) was a master percussionist.

Collazo was born in Havana, Cuba. He began playing the ritual music of Santería on the batá drums at the age of fifteen. He moved to United States in the 1950s to join in a world tour with the Afroamerican dancer Katherine Dunham and her Dance Company. Julito Collazo is one of a handful of Cuban percussionists who came to the United States in the 1940s and 1950s. Other notable Cuban percussionists who came to the U.S. during that time include Luciano "Chano" Pozo, Mongo Santamaría, Armando Peraza, Francisco Aguabella, Candido Camero, Carlos Vidal Bolado and Modesto Durán. In the United States Collazo rose to prominence recording and performing with Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, Mongo Santamaría, Silvestre Méndez, Dizzy Gillespie and Machito, among others. These collaborations were magisterial and provide motivation and feedback for researchers, and assure the relevance of the research to the goal of improving the performance of batá drums. Collazo died in New York City of undisclosed causes at age 78.

Recordings

 * Caliente ("Hot") (Puerto Rican and Cuban musical expression in New York City) clicking here:

With Eddie Palmieri With Tito Puente
 * Lo Que Traigo Es Sabroso (Tico, 1964)
 * Top Percussion (RCA, 1957)

title: Julito Collazo