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Binding site

In biochemistry and molecular biology, a binding site is a region on a macromolecule such as a protein that binds to another molecule with specificity. The binding partner of the macromolecule is often referred to as a ligand. Ligands may include other proteins (resulting in a protein–protein interaction), enzyme substrates, second messengers, hormones, or allosteric modulators. The binding event is often, but not always, accompanied by a conformational change that alters the protein's function. Binding to protein binding sites is most often reversible (transient and non-covalent), but can also be covalent reversible or irreversible.

Function
Binding of a ligand to a binding site on protein often triggers a change in conformation in the protein and results in altered cellular function. Hence binding site on protein are critical parts of signal transduction pathways. Types of ligands include neurotransmitters, toxins, neuropeptides, and steroid hormones. Binding sites incur functional changes in a number of contexts, including enzyme catalysis, molecular pathway signaling, homeostatic regulation, and physiological function. Electric charge, steric shape and geometry of the site selectively allow for highly specific ligands to bind, activating a particular cascade of cellular interactions the protein is responsible for.

Catalysis
Enzymes incur catalysis by binding more strongly to transition states than substrates and products. At the catalytic binding site, several different interactions may act upon the substrate. These range from electric catalysis, acid and base catalysis, covalent catalysis, and metal ion catalysis. These interactions decrease the activation energy of a chemical reaction by providing favorable interactions to stabilize the high energy molecule. Enzyme binding allows for closer proximity and exclusion of substances irrelevant to the reaction. Side reactions are also discouraged by this specific binding.

Types of enzymes that can perform these actions include oxidoreductases, transferases, hydrolases, lyases, isomerases, and ligases.

For instance, the transferase hexokinase catalyzes the phosphorylation of glucose to make glucose-6-phosphate. Active site residues of hexokinase allow for stabilization of the glucose molecule in the active site and spur the onset of an alternative pathway of favorable interactions, decreasing the activation energy.

Inhibition
Protein inhibition by inhibitor binding may induce obstruction in pathway regulation, homeostatic regulation and physiological function.

Competitive inhibitors compete with substrate to bind to free enzymes at active sites and thus impede the production of the enzyme-substrate complex upon binding. For example, carbon monoxide poisoning is caused by the competitive binding of carbon monoxide as opposed to oxygen in hemoglobin.

Uncompetitive inhibitors, alternatively, bind concurrently with substrate at active sites. Upon binding to an enzyme substrate (ES) complex, an enzyme substrate inhibitor (ESI) complex is formed. Similar to competitive inhibitors, the rate at product formation is decreased also.

Lastly, mixed inhibitors are able to bind to both the free enzyme and the enzyme-substrate complex. However, in contrast to competitive and uncompetitive inhibitors, mixed inhibitors bind to the allosteric site. Allosteric binding induces conformational changes that may increase the protein's affinity for substrate. This phenomenon is called positive modulation. Conversely, allosteric binding that decreases the protein's affinity for substrate is negative modulation.

Active site
At the active site, a substrate binds to an enzyme to induce a chemical reaction. Substrates, transition states, and products can bind to the active site, as well as any competitive inhibitors. For example, in the context of protein function, the binding of calcium to troponin in muscle cells can induce a conformational change in troponin. This allows for tropomyosin to expose the actin-myosin binding site to which the myosin head binds to form a cross-bridge and induce a muscle contraction.

In the context of the blood, an example of competitive binding is carbon monoxide which competes with oxygen for the active site on heme. Carbon monoxide's high affinity may outcompete oxygen in the presence of low oxygen concentration. In these circumstances, the binding of carbon monoxide induces a conformation change that discourages heme from binding to oxygen, resulting in carbon monoxide poisoning.

Allosteric site
At the regulatory site, the binding of a ligand may elicit amplified or inhibited protein function. The binding of a ligand to an allosteric site of a multimeric enzyme often induces positive cooperativity, that is the binding of one substrate induces a favorable conformation change and increases the enzyme's likelihood to bind to a second substrate. Regulatory site ligands can involve homotropic and heterotropic ligands, in which single or multiple types of molecule affects enzyme activity respectively.

Enzymes that are highly regulated are often essential in metabolic pathways. For example, phosphofructokinase (PFK), which phosphorylates fructose in glycolysis, is largely regulated by ATP. Its regulation in glycolysis is imperative because it is the committing and rate limiting step of the pathway. PFK also controls the amount of glucose designated to form ATP through the catabolic pathway. Therefore, at sufficient levels of ATP, PFK is allosterically inhibited by ATP. This regulation efficiently conserves glucose reserves, which may be needed for other pathways. Citrate, an intermediate of the citric acid cycle, also works as an allosteric regulator of PFK.

Single- and multi-chain binding sites
Binding sites can be characterized also by their structural features. Single-chain sites (of “monodesmic” ligands, μόνος: single, δεσμός: binding) are formed by a single protein chain, while multi-chain sites (of "polydesmic” ligands, πολοί: many) are frequent in protein complexes, and are formed by ligands that bind more than one protein chain, typically in or near protein interfaces. Recent research shows that binding site structure has profound consequences for the biology of protein complexes (evolution of function, allostery).

Cryptic binding sites
Cryptic binding sites are the binding sites that are transiently formed in an apo form or that are induced by ligand binding. Considering the cryptic binding sites increases the size of the potentially “druggable” human proteome from ~40% to ~78% of disease-associated proteins. The binding sites have been investigated by: support vector machine applied to "CryptoSite" data set, Extension of "CryptoSite" data set, long timescale molecular dynamics simulation with Markov state model and with biophysical experiments, and cryptic-site index that is based on relative accessible surface area.

Binding curves
Binding curves describe the binding behavior of ligand to a protein. Curves can be characterized by their shape, sigmoidal or hyperbolic, which reflect whether or not the protein exhibits cooperative or noncooperative binding behavior respectively. Typically, the x-axis describes the concentration of ligand and the y-axis describes the fractional saturation of ligands bound to all available binding sites. The Michaelis Menten equation is usually used when determining the shape of the curve. The Michaelis Menten equation is derived based on steady-state conditions and accounts for the enzyme reactions taking place in a solution. However, when the reaction takes place while the enzyme is bound to a substrate, the kinetics play out differently.

Modeling with binding curves are useful when evaluating the binding affinities of oxygen to hemoglobin and myoglobin in the blood. Hemoglobin, which has four heme groups, exhibits cooperative binding. This means that the binding of oxygen to a heme group on hemoglobin induces a favorable conformation change that allows for increased binding favorability of oxygen for the next heme groups. In these circumstances, the binding curve of hemoglobin will be sigmoidal due to its increased binding favorability for oxygen. Since myoglobin has only one heme group, it exhibits noncooperative binding which is hyperbolic on a binding curve.

Applications
Biochemical differences between different organisms and humans are useful for drug development. For instance, penicillin kills bacteria by inhibiting the bacterial enzyme DD-transpeptidase, destroying the development of the bacterial cell wall and inducing cell death. Thus, the study of binding sites is relevant to many fields of research, including cancer mechanisms, drug formulation, and physiological regulation. The formulation of an inhibitor to mute a protein's function is a common form of pharmaceutical therapy. In the scope of cancer, ligands that are edited to have a similar appearance to the natural ligand are used to inhibit tumor growth. For example, Methotrexate, a chemotherapeutic, acts as a competitive inhibitor at the dihydrofolate reductase active site. This interaction inhibits the synthesis of tetrahydrofolate, shutting off production of DNA, RNA and proteins. Inhibition of this function represses neoplastic growth and improves severe psoriasis and adult rheumatoid arthritis.

In cardiovascular illnesses, drugs such as beta blockers are used to treat patients with hypertension. Beta blockers (β-Blockers) are antihypertensive agents that block the binding of the hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline to β1 and β2 receptors in the heart and blood vessels. These receptors normally mediate the sympathetic "fight or flight" response, causing constriction of the blood vessels.

Competitive inhibitors are also largely found commercially. Botulinum toxin, known commercially as Botox, is a neurotoxin that causes flaccid paralysis in the muscle due to binding to acetylcholine dependent nerves. This interaction inhibits muscle contractions, giving the appearance of smooth muscle.

Prediction
A number of computational tools have been developed for the prediction of the location of binding sites on proteins. These can be broadly classified into sequence based or structure based. Sequence based methods rely on the assumption that the sequences of functionally conserved portions of proteins such as binding site are conserved. Structure based methods require the 3D structure of the protein. These methods in turn can be subdivided into template and pocket based methods. Template based methods search for 3D similarities between the target protein and proteins with known binding sites. The pocket based methods search for concave surfaces or buried pockets in the target protein that possess features such as hydrophobicity and hydrogen bonding capacity that would allow them to bind ligands with high affinity. Even though the term pocket is used here, similar methods can be used to predict binding sites used in protein-protein interactions that are usually more planar, not in pockets.

title: Binding site


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Sabriel

Sabriel is a fantasy novel by Garth Nix, first published in 1995. It is the first in his Old Kingdom series, followed by Lirael, Abhorsen, Clariel, Goldenhand, and Terciel and Elinor.

Plot introduction
The novel is set in two neighbouring fictional countries: To the South lies Ancelstierre, which has a technology level and society similar to that of early-20th century Australia, and to the North lies the Old Kingdom, where both Free magic and Charter Magic exist—a fact officially denied by the government of Ancelstierre and disbelieved by most of Ancelstierre's inhabitants. A wall separates the two countries. Near the border some magic crosses the Wall, especially on days when the wind is blowing out of the Old Kingdom. Since the fall of the Royal Family, dangerous entities roam, ranging from the undead to powerful sorcerers and Free Magic elementals.

These living Dead are raised by Necromancers, diviners of the dead who roam the Old Kingdom or live in Death, using Hands to do their bidding. To remedy the problem of dangerous living dead, a necromancer under the title of Abhorsen uses a bandolier of Bells and a sword to put the dead to rest. At the time of Sabriel, it is her father Terciel who has the job of putting the dead to rest in the Old Kingdom, especially difficult since a new evil is rising.

When the current Abhorsen is overcome by one such evil and beyond the Seventh Gate, he sends his bells (the primary tools of a necromancer and used in various ways to control the Dead) and sword to his daughter Sabriel via an undead messenger bound and under his control. Sabriel is at an Ancelstierre school for girls to remain out of reach of those who might try to strike at her father through her and end the Abhorsen bloodline. The bound undead is also attempting to speak, but she must enter death in order to make out the words. She is instructed by her father (speaking through the undead messenger in Death) to return to the Old Kingdom to take on the role of Abhorsen and stop Kerrigor's return to Life. While in Death obtaining her father's guidance, she narrowly avoids a fatal altercation with a Lesser Dead.

Plot summary
The book opens with Sabriel raising a freshly killed rabbit from death. She is a young girl attending Wyverly College, an all-female boarding school in Ancelstierre. An undead creature enters the dormitory where Sabriel lives and frightens all of the girls. Sabriel, however, notices it is holding a satchel and is attempting to speak. She enters Death to see what it is and notices strings attached to it passing over the waterfall of the First Gate; a sign that the creature is under the control of a necromancer further in Death. It is very weak, but Sabriel makes out that it is a messenger bound by her father who is past the Seventh Gate of Death. She is instructed by her father (through the messenger) that she is to take on the role of Abhorsen and defeat Kerrigor (a powerful Free Magic necromancer) who is attempting to make his way back into Life to break the Charter which binds the Free Magic and thus destroy the Charter of the Old Kingdom. She retrieves the satchel which contains the Abhorsen's bandelier of bells, the Abhorsen's sword and a map of the Old Kingdom.

Having left her school, Sabriel crosses the Wall using papers given to her by her father. Her destination is Abhorsen's House, the home of her father. Near the wall, she meets a southern colonel and his troops. The soldiers are using brute force to stop hordes of Shadow Hands from dismantling the Wall and crossing over. The areas near the Wall are being evacuated and only those who are inhabitants of the Old Kingdom are allowed the cross.

As she continues her journey, Sabriel becomes aware that she is being stalked by a Mordicant, a powerful Dead creature. She is able to outrun the creature and reach the safety of Abhorsen's House, which is located on an island in the center of the river. (The Dead cannot cross fast and deep running water.)

Inside Abhorsen's house, Sabriel is able to rest and obtain food and other supplies, as well as armor. She also meets Mogget, a Free Magic construct who takes the form of a small white cat, wearing a collar with a powerful binding spell on it and a miniature Saraneth hanging from it. Mogget insists on accompanying her on her journey to find her father. Later, they look out over the walls surrounding the house and discover the Dead attempting to build a bridge. Sabriel performs a ritual to summon a flood of water and then flees the house by Paperwing (a magically propelled plane-like structure.) While in the air, Sabriel and Mogget are attacked by the Dead, and Sabriel loosens Mogget's collar to avoid a fatal crash. They fall into a sinkhole, where Mogget, in his unbound form, attempts to murder Sabriel. However, she is able to bind him anew with a ring given to her for that purpose.

The next day, Sabriel and Mogget walk through a tunnel to another sinkhole, which Mogget determines to be Holehallow, the historical burial place of the royal family. Each king is buried in a boat. Sabriel discovers that the figurehead on one of the boats is not a wooden carving but an actual man, who has been imprisoned in that form for two hundred years. The man tells Sabriel that he was a Royal Guard before his imprisonment, and asks to be called Touchstone (a jester's name) for reasons that remain cryptic.

Sabriel, Touchstone, and Mogget continue their journey, stopping to help rid a seaside village of a Dead creature. They obtain a boat there and sail up the coast of the Old Kingdom until they reach Belisaere, the capital. They find the Abhorsen in an underground reservoir in Belisaere, trapped in Death. Since he has stayed too long in Death, he cannot return for long, but with what little time he has left, the Abhorsen tells Sabriel about the evil known as Kerrigor. Kerrigor has risen far from Death and intends to wreak havoc in the Old Kingdom and Ancelstierre. Sabriel releases her father from Death, and once they emerge from Death, father and daughter part for the last time—he, to ring the bell Astarael (the sound of which throws everyone who hears it far into the realm of Death) and delay Kerrigor's havoc; and she, to save Touchstone by bringing him (and herself) as far away from Astarael's music as possible. To prevent him from losing to Death, she kisses him roughly in order to keep him focused on Life. In the process of ringing Astarael, Sabriel's father releases Mogget.

They succeed, but as long as Kerrigor's body is intact, he will rise from Death again and again. Sabriel and Touchstone use another Paperwing to bring them as close to the Wall as possible, and cross over to Ancelstierre to find Kerrigor's body, following the clairvoyant guidance of the Clayr twins Sanar and Ryelle. They find the body, and Sabriel finally defeats Kerrigor by binding him with Ranna and Mogget's collar.

She dies but the previous Abhorsens prevent her from crossing into Final Death as she cannot die without someone else to take her place as Abhorsen. She wakes up with Touchstone before her, and both Mogget and Kerrigor asleep, bound by Ranna (the first of seven necromantic bells that instills sleep and quiescence in those who hear it).

The Bloodlines
Thousands of years ago, seven of the Nine Bright Shiners sacrificed their powers to create the Charter: a combination of powerful objects (the Great Stones and the Wall) and three magic blood lines, known as the Abhorsen, the Clayr and the Royal Family. Five of the Seven completely lost themselves (one in each object or blood line) while two remained somewhat independent. One invested his/her power in the Royal bloodline, one in the Abhorsen's and one in the Clayr's (which is why the Clayr greet Sabriel as "cousin"). The remaining two, known as the "Wallmakers" invested themselves in several objects of power, including the Stones and Wall, then disappeared. These artifacts, the Charter Stones, are sources of the web of Charter magic that maintains peace and order over the kingdom. The Bloodlines all have a higher concentration of strong Charter mages than the general populace.

The Abhorsens
One of the most respected figures in the Old Kingdom, the Abhorsen uses both the dangerous Free Magic-based powers of a necromancer and the benevolent magic of the Charter to keep the gates of Death against the return of Dead spirits back into Life. Sabriel and her father are members of the Abhorsen family. They use the bells, named after the seven bright shiners that established the old kingdom, in tandem with their natural affinity with Death, granted by their ancestor bright shiner, to amplify their powers. The bells, smallest to largest, are Ranna, Mosrael, Kibeth, Dyrim, Belgaer, Saraneth, and Astarael. Saraneth, the "binder", is thought to be the original Abhorsen, and the bright shiner who invested her powers in this bloodline. Her gift is "binding", just as the Abhorsens job is to "bind" the dead to Death. Ranna the "sleepbringer", causing listeners to fall asleep; she is the least tricksome. Mosrael, "the waker", wakes the dead, bringing them into life as it throws the necromancer farther into death. Kibeth, "walker", forces the dead to march back into death, or wherever the ringer desires, although if the ringer is not careful it may end up "walking" her. Dyrim is the "speaker", granting the ability of speech to the dead, or taking it away. Belgaer is the "thinker" and can restore independent thought to the dead and resurrect old memories, but can also erase them in a careless hand. Astarael is the "Sorrowful". Last and final of the bells, she sends all who hear her, including the ringer, deep into death. It is nearly impossible to return after hearing Astarael. Like all three bloodlines, the Abhorsen bloodline not only defines their job (the Abhorsen may only be chosen from direct blood relatives) and grants them their powers, but also determines their appearance. All members of the Abhorsen family have black hair and their skin is unnaturally pale. Among the families guarding the Old Kingdom from disaster, and the only family guarding it from disasters from Death, Abhorsens are unique in their ability to sense Death. They are able to identify undead creatures and differentiate them from the living, and cross over into Death to fight undead minions there and banish them to a final death. They are also the only ones who have the proper authority to enter Death, and therefore the only Necromancers who retain uncorrupted charter marks and mage powers. Their symbol is a silver key on a background of blue.

The Royal Family
For centuries, the royalty justly ruled the Old Kingdom from their palace at the capital Belisaere as powerful upholders of the peace, until their fall by the hands of Kerrigor, or Prince Rogirek nicknamed Rogir, a rogue member of the royal family who killed his sisters and mother to use their blood to break the Great Charter Stones. The Kingdom now suffers from their 200-year absence. Unlike the Abhorsens, the Royalty cannot cross into Death at will and do not usually use Free Magic. Their specialty lies in diplomacy and Charter magic. They are connected to the Clayr and Abhorsens in that they're a Great Charter. It is thought they are descended from Dyrim, the "speaker", because of their skill in diplomacy. Their symbol is a golden tower on a sea of red.

The Clayr
The largest family among the magical bloodlines, the Clayr are arbiters of justice and foresight who see all from their glacier in the northernmost parts of the Old Kingdom. The Clayr are a family of seers who may, when there is need, pool their powers together to see clear visions of the future, while individually they see only splinters. The Clayr also possess abilities in Charter Magic, but to a lesser extent than the Abhorsen or Royal family lines. They are descended from Mosrael, the "waker". The Clayr celebrate the young's "awakening" of their sight when they receive their first vision. Like the Abhorsen, the Clayr have a strong family resemblance. All daughters of the Clayr (they have few sons), excluding Remembrancers, have brown skin and blonde, almost white, hair. The Glacier of the Clayr is home to a great library, as well, which is a repository of magic and history, and is even used as "cold storage" for particularly dangerous, but immortal, creatures. Their symbol is a seven pointed star.

The Wallmakers
The Wallmakers were the builders of the Wall that divides the Old Kingdom from Ancelstriere and creators of the Charter Stones; A Charter Magic bloodline particularly skilled in the creation of magical objects. They created the weaponry of the Royal Family (such as the twin swords wielded by Touchstone), the ceramic, nearly impervious armor known as Gethre owned by the Abhorsens, the Abhorsen's sword, and other powerful Charter Magic objects and weapons possessed by the Clayr. It can be deduced that they were the last 2 bright shiners, Ranna and Belgaer. They invested all of their power in their creations, thus leaving no bloodline. Therefore, for the majority of the books, it is apparent that the Wallmakers are 'extinct' and no longer exist. By the end of Lirael and for the whole of Abhorsen, we find out that the Wallmaker bloodline has been reconstituted in Prince Sameth, explaining his uncanny ability to create magical "toys" and enchant weaponry, which otherwise would 'take months' to do. The line was probably brought back for the sole purpose of defeating Orannis. The symbol of the Wallmaker is a silver trowel or spade.

The Dead And Free Magic Creatures
The Greater Dead: The souls of dead necromancers who have used their dark knowledge to rise from Death. These creatures are the strongest of the Dead and with their necromantic powers they can raise and command the lesser dead. The most powerful of the Greater Dead is Kerrigor, who is the only undead creature to retain his full potential for Free magic after death. Sabriel implies that the true home of the greater dead is beyond the Seventh Gate of Death.

The Lesser Dead: The collective name for all dead spirits which lack the knowledge and power it takes to become one of the greater dead. Most lesser dead are the souls after ordinary mortals who refused to accept death. They often died under unfortunate circumstances, like Thralk who died in a hunting accident. It is also implied that powerful undead can enslave unwilling souls and force them to become lesser dead. Sabriel fears this fate when she is running from the Mordicant.

Mordicant: A powerful Lesser Dead Free Magic creature which can easily pass through the Gates of Death and into Life where it has a strong hold. It is created by a necromancer by molding bog-clay and human blood, infusing it with Free Magic, and placing a Dead spirit inside. It is described as man-like, with eyes like fire, and grey-green flesh that drips with flames and smoke. Sabriel defeated a weak Mordicant when she was fourteen years old. However, a very strong one stalked Sabriel on her journey from Ancelstierre to the Abhorsen's House. As Sabriel drew closer to the Door in the Long Cliffs leading to the Abhorsen's House, it gave chase, but Sabriel made it to the door and through a passageway due to its Charter Magic Guard which momentarily held off the Mordicant. The Abhorsen's bridge leading to the house stopped the Mordicant as the undead cannot cross fast and deep running water. The Mordicant then led a siege using Shadow hands and living human slaves who worked non-stop for days to fill the river with earth to allow him to cross. To end the siege, Sabriel called on the Clayr's gift of water bringing forth a massive wave to wipe the Mordicant and his slaves away.

Thralk: A dead spirit that slipped out of Death after the commotion Kerrigor caused in breaking through all the gates single-handedly. It stayed in Life for decades, feeding off humans. It found Sabriel in Life on Cloven Crest while she was in Death, though surrounded by a diamond of protection. Sabriel sensed when the creature broke through her protection, and banished it to death with the Abhorsen's sword and the bell Kibeth. Thralk died 300 years before when a hunting spear rebounded off a rock and cut his throat.

Shadow Hands: Dead creatures controlled and created by a necromancer. Usually a skilled necromancer uses the heads of dead humans to bring back only their spirits, forming an incorporeal, and dark shadow that only has a pair of hands and does the bidding of the necromancer. Shadow Hands are difficult to destroy by mere force, but can be easily put to rest by the bells of the Abhorsen. Sabriel suspected a necromancer of having formed Shadow Hands from the soldiers close to Cloven Crest. They attacked Wyverly College after the Dead Hands made it past the soldiers and while Sabriel was attempting to destroy Rogirrek (Rogir)/Kerrigor's body.

Mordaut: One of the weaker Dead creatures; a parasite. It cohabits a human body, controlling and hiding in it, and slowly saps the life from it in order to avoid Death. Once it has nearly consumed the soul of the host, it comes out at night and takes the life of any other human around it. It has no definite form and moves like a pool of darkness from host to host. Sabriel encountered a Mordaut on the tiny rocky islet of Nestowe, inhabiting the body of a fisherman named Patar. Once she had sensed it and was putting it to sleep with Ranna, the Mordaut killed Patar by sucking all the life out of him instantly. Sabriel stabbed it with her sword and sent it deep into Death using the bells Saraneth (the Binder), Ranna (the Sleepbringer), and Kibeth (the Walker).

Gore Crows: Ordinary crows trapped, killed with a ritual, and infused with a single human spirit by a necromancer. They disintegrate in the sun, are torn apart by wind, and decay over time, but they can fly over running water. They are strongest when freshly killed, infused with a strong spirit, and are great in numbers. They seemingly fly without the use of wings or plumage as they are suspended by the Free Magic which was used to create them. A flock of gore crows attacks Sabriel when she is flying in the Paperwing after escaping from Abhorsen's house.

Characters in Sabriel

 * Sabriel — Title character. 53rd Abhorsen. She is 18 and finishing her last year at Wyverly College at the start of the novel.
 * Mogget — An ancient Free Magic construct of unknown origin; appears in the form of a white cat and is bound by a red Charter magic collar to serve the Abhorsen.
 * Touchstone — A bastard prince, son of a former Queen and a nobleman, and is the only remaining heir of the Royal Blood. He was trapped as the wooden figurehead of a ceremonial boat for two hundred years by the Abhorsen of that time in order to save him (and his Blood) from death.  He is also Sabriel's growing love interest as the story progresses.
 * Kerrigor — Formerly known as Rogir, or Rogirrek. A Greater Dead adept in Free Magic necromancy, former member of the Royal Family, and who is at odds with the Charter. Powerful Spells of past Abhorsens bound him to Death and his body was buried in Ancelstierre beyond the Wall where magic was not present; but during Sabriel's father's time, he has awoken and once again trying to destroy the Charter which binds Free Magic. The name Kerrigor, as is revealed by Touchstone, was a childhood nickname, made up by the royal prince himself.  It is derived from his full ceremonial name, Rogirek.
 * Terciel (known as "Abhorsen") — Sabriel's father, Abhorsen before Sabriel. Revived his daughter after she died at birth. He was unable to save his wife, who died during child birth. Although he rarely visited her physically while she was at school, he would often visit her through sendings of himself in the fireplace at the dark of the moon each month.

Major themes
This book deals with the loss of family (Sabriel's and Touchstone's) and coming to terms with oneself and one's responsibilities. Abhorsen's final words to Sabriel, "Everyone and everything has a time to die," refer to the idea of sacrifice. Another theme is that of destiny. Both the Book of the Dead and Sabriel's almanac contain the lines:

Does the Walker choose the Path, or the Path the Walker?

Death is not considered a bad thing as such, and loss is shown to be something that builds character.

Awards
Sabriel won the Aurealis Award for best young-adult novel and best fantasy novel in 1995. It is also an ALA Notable Book and was a short-list nominee for the 1996 Ditmar Award for best long fiction.

Film
According to Publishing News, Garth Nix was preparing to pitch a Sabriel film to studios in mid-2008 via Steve Fisher at Agency for the Performing Arts. Nix co-wrote the screenplay with Dan Futterman, actor and Oscar-nominated screenwriter of Capote (2005), and Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner at Plan B Entertainment were to produce. The director would be Anand Tucker. Planning for the pitch was delayed by the writer's strike, and resumed in February. While the current status of any film is unknown, Nix is now represented by Matthew Snyder at Creative Artists Agency.

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

title: Sabriel


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Marquardt Corporation

Marquardt Corporation was an aeronautical engineering firm started in 1944 as Marquardt Aircraft Company and initially dedicated almost entirely to the development of the ramjet engine. Marquardt designs were developed from the mid-1940s into the early 1960s, but as the ramjet disappeared from military usage, the company turned to other fields.

In 1968 Marquardt was merged with CCI Inc. of Tulsa, OK. The newly merged firm became known as "CCI-Marquardt, Inc.". That name changed back to "CCI Inc." after a few years. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s pieces of Marquardt were sold off or merged with other firms. By the 1990s, one of the remnants of the company, called Marquardt Manufacturing Inc. (MMI) was embroiled in a legal suit with its predecessor organization, which had become principally a landlord who owned the buildings and land where MMI was located. By then, most of the remaining pieces of Marquardt were part of Ferranti in England which was in bankruptcy. MMI subsequently declared bankruptcy and sank into oblivion. The remaining piece, Marquardt Jet Laboratories was sold to Kaiser Aerospace. Kaiser-Marquardt was later sold to Primex in Florida. Primex finally became part of Aerojet Rocketdyne.

History
Roy Edward Marquardt was a 1940 aeronautical engineering graduate of The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) who was employed at Northrop during World War II on the YB-35 flying-wing bomber project. While working on problems cooling the engines of the YB-35, which were buried in the trailing edge of the wings, he found that the engine heat could be used to provide useful thrust. This created an interest in the ramjet principle, and in November 1944 he started Marquardt Aircraft in Venice, California to develop and sell ramjet engines. In the late 1940s, the company relocated to Van Nuys, California, adjacent to the Van Nuys Airport.

Marquardt's initial products were wind tunnels, but by the end of their first year they had delivered an experimental 20 inch (0.51 m) ramjet to the United States Navy for testing. The United States Army Air Forces purchased two of the same design early in 1946, and fitted them to the wingtips of a P-51 Mustang fighter for in-flight testing. By this time the Navy had installed theirs on an F7F Tigercat; flight tests commenced in late 1946. Later, the Navy tested the same engines on an XP-83 and F-82 Twin Mustang.

Another early product developed by Marquardt Aircraft was a pulse-jet powered helicopter which was assembled and flown, but never put into production.

Marquardt also provided space and capital for the James B. Lansing Company, a manufacturer of high-quality audio speakers known by the brand "JBL". In the late 1940s, Marquardt took over JBL operations, but the firm was divested when Marquardt was acquired by General Tire and Rubber Company in 1949. JBL speakers are still in production.

Growth and acquisitions
In 1947 Martin built the Gorgon IV missile testbed, powered by the 20" engine. Four Gorgon flights with the new engines were made that year at Mach 0.85 at 10,000 feet (3,000 m) altitude, and in 1948 a newer engine pushed the speeds to Mach 0.9. Martin eventually won a contract to convert the Gorgon design into a target drone, becoming the KDM-1 Plover, and delivering Marquardt a contract for 600 more 20" engines.

In 1948 the newly created United States Air Force took delivery of several larger 30" (0.76 m) designs and fitted them to the wingtips of a P-80 Shooting Star, which became the first manned aircraft to be powered by ramjets alone. An even larger 48" (1.22 m) design was built as a booster for a new interceptor design, but not put into production.

The same year the company also started conversion of the existing engine designs to operate at supersonic speeds. This requires the airflow to be slowed to subsonic speeds for combustion, which is accomplished with a series of shock waves created by a carefully designed inlet. Starting with the existing 20" design from 1947, work progressed until the new engine was ready for use in 1949.

At this point the company had outgrown its Venice plant, and lacked the resources to fund a larger facility. Roy Marquardt sold a controlling interest in the company to General Tire and Rubber Company in 1949, and used the funds to move to a new site in Van Nuys, the former Timm Aircraft factory. The purchase wasn't a happy one for General Tire due to management differences, and after making "only" 25% return in one year, they agreed to sell their share of the company to another investor. Eventually, such an investor was found, and General Tire sold their stake to Laurance Rockefeller in 1950 for $250,000.

In the early 1950s supersonic cruise missile and target drone projects for various roles were quite common. Many of them were designed to be shot down as target drones, or simply crash or explode at the end of their mission, so simplicity and low cost was as important as high-speed performance. This made the ramjet ideally suited to those roles. By 1952 Marquardt was involved in a number of projects, including the Navy's Rigel missile, and the Air Force's CIM-10 Bomarc anti-aircraft missile. To test the new engine design for the Bomarc, the Lockheed X-7 high-speed radio control test aircraft was built.

Over the next few years, the X-7 missile broke many records, and led the Air Force to award Marquardt a contract for the BOMARC missile engines. Originally they had intended to award the production to a larger company with better manufacturing abilities, as the Van Nuys plant wouldn't be able to build the 1,500 engines quickly enough. Instead, the Air Force and Marquardt collaborated on a new plant on the shores of Great Salt Lake just outside Ogden, Utah. The plant opened in June 1957 and delivered the first engines a month ahead of schedule. By 1958 the engine was in full production, leading to an additional engine contract from the Air Force for an equally large run of a more advanced version for the IM-99B "Super BOMARC". Meanwhile, the X-7 continued to break records, eventually setting the speed record for air-breathing vehicles at Mach 4.31.

In 1958 Marquardt purchased the assets of Associated Missile Products Company in Pomona, California (AMPCO), part of AMF Atomic, and named it the Pomona Electronics Division. The Pomona Division designed and manufactured radar simulators used to train navigators, bombardiers, and radar systems operators. In the years following the Marquardt purchase, the Pomona Division created radar simulators for the 412L Weapon Control System in Europe; the GAM-72 (Quail) decoy missile; the GAM-77 (Hound Dog) nuclear missile; the AN/APQ T-10 Simulator for the B-52 Navigator and Bombardier; an Atlas Missile launch simulator; the AN/GPS T-4 air defense radar simulator; and other weapon systems trainers. By 1963, the electronics division accounted for ⅓ of Marquardt's total sales.

Also in 1958, Marquardt purchased the Cooper Development Corporation of Monrovia, California (CDC). Clifford D. Cooper, the founder and president, became a Marquardt vice-president. CDC manufactured high-altitude solid-fuel sounding and weather rockets. Cooper Development had been the company responsible for the upper stages of the missile used to place the first U.S. satellite in orbit - the Explorer I.

By 1959 the company had sales of $70 million (equal to over $600 million in 2020 dollars), and had purchased several other smaller aerospace firms. One of these purchases, Power Systems, led to a number of designs for small rocket motors used as positioning thrusters. This would eventually become one of Marquardt's biggest and most important product lines in the 1960s. During this period the main Van Nuys plant was also involved in research into new systems, including a nuclear-powered ramjet for Project Pluto and a liquid air cycle engine (LACE) for the Air Force's Aerospaceplane efforts. Another new product line started with the introduction of their first ram-air turbine, small air-powered generators for providing aircraft with electric power if the main engine failed. Marquardt also developed and produced thrust reversers for jet engines, as well as afterburners (which are functionally the same as a ramjet). With this diversification came a name change, to Marquardt Corporation.

In 1960, Marquardt established a small research laboratory in Maryland named "Marquardt Special Projects Laboratory" (MSPL), whose principal scientist was Dr. Oleg Enikeieff. Enikeiff, a 1943 graduate of California Institute of Technology, had joined Marquardt after being a research engineer for the Harry C. Miller Lock Company, the owner of Sargent Locks. Oleg's expertise was centered on security devices, and some of his unclassified work while at MSPL included patents for an ID card identification system that would scramble its coded contents after each use so it could not be copied, as well as a system to jam microphones in rooms being used as secure locations, so they could not be 'bugged'. Other work at MSPL was classified.

In 1962, Marquardt was licensed by the Southern Pacific Railroad to design and produce a device called the "Grade Crossing Predictor", developed at Stanford University. Marquardt formed a subsidiary, Marquardt Industrial Products Company (MIPCO), as part of the Pomona, California electronics operations, and began selling the computer to major railroads across the country, and eventually world-wide. It enabled the warning lights and gates at grade-level crossings to be lowered based on the speed of an approaching train, rather than at a fixed distance, reducing grade-crossing congestion in populated areas like Chicago.

In 1964, Marquardt purchased a small aerospace firm in Mineola, New York named Automation Laboratories, Inc. (ALI), principally to use their television broadcast expertise in developing a missile launch simulator for the Sheridan Battle Tank. Marquardt had invented a hemispherical photographic system it named VueMarq, and the marriage of the VueMarq system with the ALI TV technology produced a very advanced Sheridan/Shillelagh gunnery simulator. Marquardt was not the successful bidder on the program, and later in 1965 after the GASL merger was completed, ALI was absorbed into GASL and disappeared as a stand-alone entity.

In 1965, Marquardt merged General Applied Science Laboratories, Inc. (GASL), of Westbury, New York, into the company. GASL had been founded in 1956 by Antonio Ferri and Theodore von Karman.

Von Karman was a Hungarian-born scientist who had emigrated to the United States in 1930. It was von Karman who founded the Jet Propulsion Laboratories (JPL) at the California Institute of Technology in 1944.

Antonio Ferri was an Italian aerospace scientist who studied supersonic flight in Italy prior to World War II. Ferri had doctorates in both Aeronautical Engineering and Electrical Engineering from the University of Rome. During World War II, after the Germans invaded Italy, Ferri destroyed much of his laboratory equipment and hid his research papers from the Germans. Ferri was in hiding as part of a partisan group when President Roosevelt sent the American wartime spy Morris (Moe) Berg of the Office of Strategic Services (forerunner to the CIA) to Europe to convince Italian scientists to emigrate to the U.S., particularly the aeronautical genius Antonio Ferri. Berg had been a major-league catcher prior to the war, and when he returned with Ferri, President Roosevelt remarked "... I see that Moe Berg is still catching very well". Ferri pioneered many breakthroughs in hypersonic flight, including Supersonic Combustion Ramjet (SCRAMJET) propulsion, and research into the proper shaping of airfoils, engine inlets, and hypersonic reentry phenomena. He was one of the early advocates of swept-back wings for high-speed aircraft.

In 1966, Marquardt bought The R. W. Neill Company in Chicago, a manufacturer of communications systems for railroads. Two smaller firms, Howard+Gould, and Western Industries, also in Chicago, were purchased and merged with R. W. Neill. The Neill company was operated as a subsidiary of the Industrial Products group, MIPCO.

Small Rocket Engines
In 1962 North American Aviation selected Marquardt to provide the reaction control system engines for the Apollo program spacecraft. By 1970 Marquardt was known primarily as "the" company for small rocket engines and thrusters. Practically all US space vehicles and satellites used their designs, eventually including a major win for the Space Shuttle program. The company developed and provided the 25 and 870 lb. thrusters for the space shuttle.

Research and Development Activities
In 1960, Roy Marquardt had told the employees of the company that government procurement of the Bomarc Missile would end in mid-1962, and that an effort must be made to replace that business. His solution was to use the great scientific and engineering capabilities of the company to develop new technologies. In a newsletter for summer, 1960, he said "I believe that one of our more important actions this year has been to greatly increase company-sponsored and financed research and development, a program started late last year ... Much hard work lies ahead if we are to develop the programs and business replacing the Bomarc as it phases out..."

Throughout the late 1950s and 1960s, Marquardt and its subsidiaries were a hot bed of scientific research activity. Marquardt made significant advances in many fields, including space propulsion, medicine, optics, life in space, panoramic photography (the VueMarq System), transportation, hypersonic flight, high-temperature metallurgy, water desalination, slurry fuels, underwater propulsion, ram air turbines, afterburners and thrust-reversers for jet aircraft, computer storage, anti-mortar defense systems, FAX machines, television transmission, LED research, and devices as seemingly mundane as pick-up shoes for electric locomotives powered by third-rail power. Roy Marquardt had always believed that the primary mission of the company was "Dedicated to Keeping the United States First in Technology". He kept a large roster of scientists and engineers in the company, and believed that the technical staff should make up about ⅓ of all the personnel of Marquardt. These large engineering and development costs taxed Marquardt's profits, and although the company remained profitable throughout this period, by 1964 the board of directors hired a new president to change the focus toward more profitability. Unfortunately, this meant Marquardt would have to move forward with only the existing product offerings then being manufactured, with little hope of new breakthroughs and future growth. In 1966, the new president announced that in his first year (1965) he had increased profits in part by the "... elimination of research and development efforts that weren't directly related to the company's current activities".

Decline of the Ramjet Market
The market for ramjet engines had largely disappeared by the mid-1960s due to increased performance from turbojet engines, and the belief that rockets were more appropriate for the nation's defense. Marquardt continued low-level development on advanced designs. One system, developed in partnership with Morton Thiokol, placed a solid fuel booster inside the ramjet core. When the solid fuel burned out the ramjet would ignite as normal. The idea was to combine the booster and ramjet into a single airframe, thereby reducing cost, size, and range safety requirements, as nothing would be jettisoned in flight.

Marquardt took advantage of its advanced metal-forming talents to fill the void left by the end of Bomarc ramjet production. Products such as air inlets for the F-4 Phantom, cases for the submarine-launched Polaris missile, leading-edge slats for the Lockheed L-1011, and launch rocket motor cases for TOW missiles became main products of the firm.

However, the sales volume of the company was still below the peak of the early 60s, due to the end of the Bomarc program in Ogden and the B-52 bombardier/navigator simulator program in Pomona.

Mergers, Sale, and Break-up
In 1964, the board of directors appointed a new president, John B. Montgomery; the founder, Roy Marquardt, was retained as chairman of the board. The gradual reduction of the company's focus on research and development was begun at that point to improve profitability. Pieces of Marquardt were then sold off over time.

In 1966, Marquardt sold the Pomona Electronics Division, excluding the Industrial Products subsidiary MIPCO, to Conductron, a subsidiary of McDonnell Aircraft. Conductron later became McDonnell-Douglas Electronics.

In 1967, both Dr. Antonio Ferri and Roy Marquardt resigned from the company, completely ending the founders' association with their firms. Roy Marquardt subsequently engaged in numerous charitable activities in the Los Angeles area, while Antonio Ferri became the Vincent Astor Professor of Aerospace Sciences at New York University.

In 1968 Marquardt merged with CCI Inc. in Tulsa, OK, and formed a new company CCI-Marquardt. This merger permitted CCI to become listed on the New York Stock Exchange, using the listing that had been Marquardt's. Within a few years, the name of the company was changed back to "CCI Inc." and the effort intensified to spin-off or sell the balance of Marquardt it had acquired in 1968.

Also in 1968, The R. W. Neill Company, part of the industrial products group MIPCO, was spun off for an undisclosed amount and became the Larry McGee Company. Larry McGee had been the vice-president of sales and marketing for R. W. Neill Company. The Larry McGee Company is now part of Miller Ingenuity in Minnesota.

General Applied Sciences Laboratories (GASL) in New York was divested. Its ownership has passed through a series of owners including GenCorp, Allied Aerospace, and Alliant Techsystems; it is now part of Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems, located on eastern Long Island, New York.

Over the next few years, several additional parts of Marquardt were sold or spun off. In 1971 MIPCO (Marquardt Industrial Products Company) was combined with another CCI rail equipment subsidiary and named Safetran Systems, a company that has subsequently passed through several ownerships including Hawker Siddeley in England, and is now part of Siemens Rail Systems.

In 1971, Marquardt Marine Products Division was sold to Ametek. MMP had been formed originally to manufacture and market the doppler navigation products of the Janus Division of GASL in New York.

In 1973, CCI formed a company named CCI Life Products to develop and market a Marquardt-invented kidney dialysis machine. The device, using a method called sorbent dialysis had been developed by Marquardt while its scientists were conducting a study for NASA on water purification during long-duration space missions. In 1978 this subsidiary was sold to Akzo NV in the Netherlands, which became Organon Teknika. The REDY system for home dialysis was then marketed world-wide.

Finally, in 1983 the balance of the company was purchased by the ISC Defense and Space Group International Signal and Control. In 1987, ISC was purchased by British-based Ferranti.

Ferranti Bankruptcy
In 1989, Ferranti discovered a huge defense contract fraud at ISC amounting to $1-billion (perhaps equivalent to $3 billion in 2020 dollars), masterminded by James Guerin, ISC's deputy chairman prior to the merger. Guerin subsequently received a 15-year prison sentence for fraud and arms smuggling. This led to a restructuring at Ferranti and the plan to sell off some of the assets they had acquired from ISC.

Ferranti declared bankruptcy in 1991. In August 1991 one of the main Marquardt businesses, the manufacturing of components for Rockeye cluster bombs and other weapons, was sold to a group of investors who formed a new company called Marquardt Manufacturing Inc. In December 1991, the other main business, a rocket-propulsion division, was sold to Kaiser Aerospace & Electronics Corp. The original Marquardt Co. became principally a landlord, retaining ownership of 56 acres and several buildings near Van Nuys Airport. MMI and the original Marquardt Co. became embroiled in a lawsuit, which led to the bankruptcy and disappearance of Marquardt Manufacturing.

Kaiser reportedly picked up the Marquardt Jet Laboratory for a mere $1 million, with about $50 million in outstanding Space Shuttle contracts. Kaiser sold the bipropellant rocket engine product line to Primex Technologies in 2000 (now Aerojet Rocketdyne) and closed the Van Nuys plant in 2001.

With the sale of Kaiser-Marquardt and the thruster rocket business to Primex in 2000, the name Marquardt disappeared completely from American aerospace industry.

Pulsejets

 * Marquardt PJ40
 * Marquardt PJ46

Ramjets

 * Marquardt RJ30
 * Marquardt RJ31
 * Marquardt RJ34
 * Marquardt RJ39
 * Marquardt RJ43
 * Marquardt RJ57
 * Marquardt RJ59

Other

 * Marquardt Space Sled
 * Marquardt R-4D 100 lbf thrust reaction control engines were used on both the Apollo Lunar Module and the Command Service Module on all the crewed moon flights.
 * Bigeye bomb, a binary chemical weapon

title: Marquardt Corporation


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Brewster H. Shaw

Brewster Hopkinson Shaw Jr. (born May 16, 1945) is a retired NASA astronaut, U.S. Air Force colonel, and former executive at Boeing. Shaw was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame on May 6, 2006.

Shaw is a veteran of three Space Shuttle missions and has logged 533 hours of space flight. He was pilot of Space Shuttle Columbia in November 1983, commander of Space Shuttle Atlantis in November 1985 and commander of Columbia in August 1989.

Following the Space Shuttle Challenger accident in 1986, he supported the Rogers Presidential Commission investigating the accident. Shaw subsequently led the Space Shuttle Orbiter return-to-flight team chartered to enhance the safety of the vehicles’ operations.

Shaw worked as a manager at NASA until 1996 when he left the agency, retired from the Air Force and went to work in the private sector as an aerospace executive.

Early life and education
Shaw is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Brewster H. Shaw Sr. He was born May 16, 1945, and grew up in Michigan. He graduated from Cass City High School in Cass City, Michigan, in 1963. Shaw received a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering Mechanics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1968. He completed a Master of Science degree in Engineering Mechanics in 1969, also at UW-Madison. Shaw joined the Delta Upsilon fraternity while attending UW-Madison.

While attending college Shaw was the member of a band called The Gentlemen. He credits his flying career to a fellow band member: “Our drummer, Steve Schimming, had a private pilot’s license, and one day he took me up in his plane. From that moment on, I wanted to be a pilot.”

U.S. Air Force pilot
Shaw entered the Air Force in 1969 after completing Officer Training School and attended undergraduate pilot training at Craig Air Force Base, Alabama. He received his pilot wings in 1970 and was then assigned to the F-100 Replacement Training Unit at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona.

In April 1973 Shaw reported to George Air Force Base, California, for F-4 instructor duties. Shaw attended the USAF Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California, starting in July 1975. Following the completion of this training, he remained at Edwards as an operational test pilot. He served as an instructor at the USAF Test Pilot School from August 1977 to July 1978.

NASA career
Shaw was selected by NASA to be an astronaut in January 1978 where he served on loan from the Air Force.

STS-9
Shaw's first trip to space was as pilot on STS-9 Columbia from November 28 to December 8, 1983.

His fellow crew included Commander John W. Young, mission specialists Owen Garriott and Robert Parker, and payload specialists, Byron Lichtenberg and Ulf Merbold. This was the largest crew to fly aboard a single spacecraft, the first international Shuttle crew and the first to carry payload specialists.

The crew conducted more than seventy multi-disciplinary scientific and technical investigations in the fields of life sciences, atmospheric physics and earth observations, astronomy and solar physics, space plasma physics, and materials processing. After ten days of spacelab hardware verification and around-the-clock scientific operations, Columbia and its laboratory cargo (the heaviest payload to be returned to Earth in the shuttle's cargo bay) returned to land on the dry lake bed at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

STS-61B
Brewster Shaw first served as shuttle commander on STS-61B Atlantis. The mission launched at night on November 26 and returned on December 3, 1985.

The crew included spacecraft commander Brewster Shaw; pilot, Bryan O'Connor; mission specialists, Mary Cleave, Jerry Ross, and Woody Spring; as well as payload specialists Rodolfo Neri Vela (Mexico), and Charles Walker (McDonnell Douglas).

During the mission the crew deployed the communications satellites, conducted two six-hour spacewalks to demonstrate space station construction techniques with the EASE/ACCESS experiments, operated the Continuous Flow Electrophoresis (CRFES) experiment for McDonnell Douglas and a Getaway Special (GAS) container for Telesat, Canada, conducted several Mexican Payload Specialists Experiments for the Mexican Government and tested the Orbiter Experiments Digital Autopilot (OEX DAP). This was the heaviest payload weight carried to orbit by the Space Shuttle to date. After completing 108 orbits of the Earth in 165 hours, Shaw landed Atlantis on Runway 22 at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

Brewster Shaw told the NASA oral historian for STS-61-B that he installed a padlock on the hatch control because he was “particularly concerned” that the Mexican Rodolfo Neri Vela could “flip out” during the mission. Shaw noted that he didn’t think that Neri Vela noticed the padlock at the time, but that other members of the crew did.

STS-28
Shaw was the commander of STS-28 Columbia (August 8–13, 1989). The mission included pilot Dick Richards and three mission specialists: Jim Adamson, Dave Leestma and Mark Brown. The shuttle carried classified Department of Defense payloads and a number of secondary payloads. After 80 orbits of Earth the five-day mission concluded with a dry lake bed landing on Runway 17 at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

NASA management
Shaw left the Johnson Space Center in October 1989 to assume the NASA Headquarters senior executive position of deputy director, Space Shuttle operations, located at the Kennedy Space Center. As operations manager, Shaw was responsible for all operational aspects of the Space Shuttle Program and had Level II authority over the Space Shuttle elements from the time the Orbiters left the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF), were mated to the external tank and solid rocket boosters, transported to the launch pad, launched and recovered and returned to the Orbiter Processing Facility. He was the final authority for the launch decision, and chaired the Mission Management Team.

Shaw moved on to serve as the Deputy Program Manager, Space Shuttle, as a NASA Headquarters employee located at the Kennedy Space Center. In addition to the duties he previously held, he also shared with the Space Shuttle Program Manager, full authority and responsibility for the conduct of the Space Shuttle Program.

He then served as Director, Space Shuttle Operations, with responsibility for the development of all Space Shuttle elements, including the Orbiter, external tank, solid rocket boosters, Space Shuttle main engines, the facilities required to support mission operations and in the planning necessary to efficiently conduct Space Shuttle operations.

Rockwell and Boeing
Shaw joined Rockwell in 1996 after 27 years with the U.S. Air Force and NASA. The Boeing Company acquired Rockwell in December 1996.

Initially, Shaw served as director of major programs, Boeing Space and Defense Group. Then he became vice president and program manager of International Space Station (ISS) electrical power systems at Rocketdyne Propulsion and Power. The contract included the development, test, evaluation and production of the electrical power system to be assembled in space during multiple space shuttle launches. Shaw's next role was to lead the consolidated Boeing teams at Huntsville, Alabama, Canoga Park and Huntington Beach, California, in the design, development, test, evaluation, production and flight preparation of ISS hardware and software. Boeing was NASA's prime contractor and supplier for the ISS.

United Space Alliance
In mid-2003, Brewster Shaw left Boeing and became the chief operating officer of United Space Alliance (USA). In that position he had primary responsibility for the day-to-day operations and overall management of USA, the prime contractor for the Space Shuttle Program, and its 10,000 employees in Florida, Texas, Alabama and Russia.

Return to Boeing
In January 2006 he returned to the Boeing Company's Houston campus, to serve as the Vice President & General Manager of the division which controls Boeing's International Space Station and Space Shuttle programs.

He retired from Boeing on August 26, 2011.

Personal life
He is married and is the father of three children. His youngest son, Brandon (born in 1976), was murdered by carjackers in Austin, Texas in July 1997.

Shaw is a descendant of William Brewster of the Mayflower.

Awards and honors
Shaw has earned numerous honors and awards including 28 medals in Vietnam. He received the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross with 7 Oak Leaf Cluster and the Defense Meritorious Service Medal.

title: Brewster H. Shaw


text:
User:CeltMDC

Hello! I'm new. I'll add more later.

title: User:CeltMDC


text:
Owen Garriott

Owen Kay Garriott (November 22, 1930 – April 15, 2019) was an American electrical engineer and NASA astronaut, who spent 60 days aboard the Skylab space station in 1973 during the Skylab 3 mission, and 10 days aboard Spacelab-1 on a Space Shuttle mission in 1983.

After serving in the United States Navy, Garriott was an engineering professor at Stanford University before attending the United States Air Force Pilot Training Program and later joining NASA. After his NASA career, he worked for various aerospace companies, consulted on NASA-related committees, taught as an adjunct professor, and conducted research on microbes found in extreme environments.

Early life
Owen Kay Garriott was born in Enid, Oklahoma, on November 22, 1930, to Owen (1909–1981) and Mary Catherine Garriott (Mellick; 1912–1993). Owen's middle name was based on his mother's middle name. He was a Boy Scout (earning the rank of Star Scout), and graduated from Enid High School in 1948, where he served as senior class president and was voted "Most Likely To Succeed." He received a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Oklahoma in 1953, where he was a member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. He was also the elected president of the senior class. He later earned Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees from Stanford University in electrical engineering in 1957 and 1960, respectively.

U.S. military
Garriott served as electronics officer in the United States Navy from 1953 to 1956. From 1961 through 1965, he was an assistant professor and associate professor of electrical engineering at Stanford University. He performed research and led graduate studies in ionospheric physics after obtaining his doctorate, and authored or co-authored more than 45 scientific papers, chapters and one book, principally in areas of the physical sciences.

As a prerequisite of the era's scientist-astronaut training, he completed a one-year United States Air Force pilot training program in 1966, receiving qualification as pilot in jet aircraft.

NASA
In 1965, Garriott was one of the six scientist-astronauts selected by NASA. His first spaceflight, the Skylab 3 mission in 1973, set a world record for duration of approximately 60 days, more than double the previous record. Extensive experiments were conducted of the Sun, of Earth resources and in various life sciences relating to human adaptation to weightlessness.

His second space flight was aboard STS-9 (Spacelab-1) in 1983, a multidisciplinary and international mission of 10 days aboard Space Shuttle Columbia. Over 70 separate experiments in six different disciplines were conducted, primarily to demonstrate the suitability of Spacelab for research in all these areas. Garriott was also an Extra Class amateur radio operator holding call sign W5LFL. He operated the world's first amateur radio station in space and, on December 1, 1983, made the first amateur radio contact from space using a Motorola handheld 2-meter radio while on board the STS-9 Space Shuttle Columbia mission. Amateur radio subsequently expanded into an important activity on dozens of shuttle flights, Space Station Mir and the International Space Station, with scores of astronauts and cosmonauts participating.

Between these missions, Garriott received a NASA fellowship in the Space Station Project Office. In this position, he worked closely with the external scientific communities and advised the project manager concerning the scientific suitability of the space station design.

Garriott held the distinction of being the NASA astronaut with the earliest-obtained PhD degree, having earned his PhD from Stanford University in 1960, two years before Robert A. Parker who obtained his PhD from Caltech in 1962.

The Skylab "stowaway" prank
On September 10, 1973, controllers in Houston were startled to hear a woman's voice beaming down from Skylab. The voice startled capsule communicator (CAPCOM) Bob Crippen by calling him by name, and then the woman explained: "The boys haven't had a home-cooked meal in so long I thought I'd bring one up." After several minutes in which she described forest fires seen from space and the beautiful sunrise, the woman said: "Oh oh. I have to cut off now. I think the boys are floating up here toward the command module and I'm not supposed to be talking to you." As the Skylab astronauts later revealed, Garriott had recorded his wife, Helen, during a private radio transmission the night before.

Post-NASA career
After leaving NASA in June 1986, Garriott consulted for various aerospace companies and served as a member of several NASA and National Research Council Committees.

From January 1988 until May 1993, he was vice president of space programs at Teledyne Brown Engineering. This division, which grew to over 1,000 people, provided payload integration for all Spacelab projects at the Marshall Space Flight Center and had a substantial role in the development of the U.S. laboratory for the International Space Station.

Garriott devoted time to several charitable activities in his hometown, including the Enid Arts and Sciences Foundation of which he was a co-founder in 1992. Later, he accepted a position as adjunct professor in the Laboratory for Structural Biology at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and participated in research activities there involving new microbes he returned from extreme environments such as very alkaline lakes and deep sea hydrothermal vents. Hyperthermophiles were returned from several dives in Russian MIR submersibles to the Rainbow Vent Field at a depth of 2,300 meters near the Azores in the central Atlantic Ocean. Other research activities included three trips to Antarctica from which 20 meteorites were returned for laboratory study. Garriott formed a 501(c)(3) public philanthropic Garriott Family Foundation to finance the aforementioned adventure travel for himself, his wife and other members of his family.

Personal life and death
Garriott married Helen Mary Walker, his high school sweetheart, in 1952. They had four children, including Robert Garriott and Richard Garriott. After he divorced his first wife, Garriott married Evelyn L. Garriott, who had three children from a previous relationship.

His son Richard was launched as a space tourist on board Soyuz TMA-13 on October 12, 2008, the first American and the second person worldwide to follow a parent into space. Owen Garriott was in mission control at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for the launch and was in attendance when his son returned 12 days later.

Garriott died on April 15, 2019, at his home in Huntsville, Alabama.

Organizations
Garriott was a member of the following organizations: American Astronautical Society (fellow), American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (associate fellow), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, American Geophysical Union, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Association of Space Explorers (Board of Directors), Astronaut Scholarship Foundation (vice president and vice chairman).

Awards and honors
Garriott received the following honors: National Science Foundation Fellowship, 1960–1961; Honorary Doctorate of Science, Phillips University (Enid, Okla.), 1973; NASA Distinguished Service Medal, 1973; Fédération Aéronautique Internationale V. M. Komarov Diploma for 1973; the Octave Chanute Award for 1975; and the NASA Space Flight Medal, 1983.

The three Skylab astronaut crews were awarded the 1973 Collier Trophy "For proving beyond question the value of man in future explorations of space and the production of data of benefit to all the people on Earth." Gerald Carr accepted the 1975 Dr. Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy from President Ford, awarded to the Skylab astronauts.

He was one of five Oklahoman astronauts inducted into the Oklahoma Aviation and Space Hall of Fame in 1980, the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1997, the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame in 2000, and the Enid Public Schools Hall of Fame in 2001.

Garriott was presented an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Phillips University in 1973.

A street named after him in Enid, Oklahoma, serves as one of the city's main thoroughfares. It is part of U.S. Route 412.

Books
Garriott was co-author, with fellow astronaut Joseph Kerwin and writer David Hitt, of Homesteading Space, a history of the Skylab program, published in 2008. He was co-author of Introduction to Ionospheric Physics with Henry Rishbeth. Garriott was also a contributor to the book NASA's Scientist-Astronauts by David Shayler and Colin Burgess. Garriott wrote the foreword to the book.

title: Owen Garriott


text:
Talk:Hartley oscillator

Cleanup?
This is listed on cleanup for expansion, and I can't see why. It looks excellent to me other than some minor grammar issues.

There are certainly things that could be added, mainly historical things like who was Hartley, some of the many valve circuits that used this oscillator design, and more recent applications. But I can't help wondering, if someone knows of more material that belongs here, why they just don't add it themselves? I'll try to dig out some history myself. Andrewa 00:29, 16 Mar 2004 (UTC)

 * I added part of the circuit of the Scott 310E receiver, and a tiny little bit about its usage. TuringBirds 22:06, 7 Sep 2006

 * I Listed this, as it looked like the single sentences for structures and advantages/disadvantages could probably be expanded, and explained, rather than that there are particular grammatical or other errors in the text. I don't know of more material that belongs here, but it seemed likely, when I looked at it, that there was some, but I don't know enough about the subject to add anything, so added it to cleanup, so if there was anything useful to add, someone who knows about the subject can add it. Silverfish 16:54, 16 Mar 2004 (UTC)

 * I think that's just a matter of the style in which it's written. I could easily rewrite it in essay fashion, but for this material IMO the existing style is fine. Andrewa 01:48, 17 Mar 2004 (UTC)

 * I'll defer to you on this, as you seem to know more about the subject than me. Silverfish 12:49, 17 Mar 2004 (UTC)

The article starts by saying that the Hartley oscillator is a "... type of inductively coupled oscillator ...". This is not true. Granted the design is usually implemented using a tapped inductor, but there is no requirement to do so. The oscillator design is just as valid if there is no mutual coupling beween the two parts of the inductor. The circuit works by deriving the feed back from the tapping point, something that is will still work with no mutual coupling. This is analagous to the Colpitts oscillator where there is no mutual coupling between the capacitors.

There is a lot of fundamental information missing that could make it a better entry for both novice and experienced students of electronics. Since this is an oscillator I would like to see some maths describing the operation of all oscillators. There is no reference made to the two fundamental building blocks of oscillators, namely a tuned circuit and amplifier. Coupled to this the Barkhausen criteria for oscillators is also a necessity.

Information of a more technical nature about how oscillation is started in the LC circuit at the moment power is applied and how the amplifier reacts to this is is also a must have for any serious discussion of oscillators. Positive feedback loops should be discussed and how it is special to oscillators. Also, sketches of the Hartley oscillator utilising different amplifier topologies with the pros and cons of each will be useful.

In short, there is a lot of superficial information about the Hartley oscillator available on the web, but nothing of substance. The Wikipedia entry should be the de facto standard. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.114.124.241 (talk) 04:39, 4 June 2012 (UTC)

Scott 310E oscillator schematic
I think the tube based Scott 310E oscillator should be replaced with a more modern BJT or FET version. The audience for these articles probably knows very little about tubes (myself included) and the schematic is more confusing than helpful. -Roger 20:00, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

 * but where did the circuit go? It is referred to in the text "(see the Scott circuit below)" but only the simple, without grid leak, version is shown.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Maitchy (talk • contribs) 20:24, 25 November 2013 (UTC)

Missing item
Presumably the oscillator requires either a valve or a transistor but there is no mention of this in the article. Biscuittin (talk) 23:09, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

Disadvantages
There is much hearsay that the circuit is not suitable to generate a pure sine wave. This is simply not true for a properly designed circuit; it depends on the place where the signal is obtained. The signal on the coil tap is rather good, if the amplifier is not too much overloaded, i.e. the tap is small enough; then, the source is of relatively low amplitude and impedance. Or a low capacity buffer can to be used at the hot end of the coil (see the EDN article, where the buffer is coupled to the gate and not the source, as is often shown elsewhere).

Because using the LC circuit as a source gives problems with (capacitive) load and stability, often the current of the amplifier is used directly or indirectly. This waveform, however, is normally far away from a sine wave. But this is true for practically every LC oscillator, unless its gain is controlled by amplitude stabilisation.

Otherwise, I would be interested in reliable references. -- Rainglasz (talk) 09:54, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

Cleanup still required?
I cannot see that cleanup is still required. Maybe the article could still be improved; but the cleanup mark signals from my understanding that the article is still not mature, which is not my impression.

So I would like to remove the cleanup mark. Is that ok? Otherwise, I would like to have some hints in this discussion page.

 * Well, having a deeper look reveals for me several points for improvement:
 * * The pictures are not at the right place
 * * The pricipial circuit should use a FET to be closer to the original circuit
 * * The patent drawing should be accompanied by a modern variant and explained
 * * contents should be on top
 * etc etc
 * Rainglasz (talk) 18:58, 20 December 2009 (UTC)

 * First round for the easier changes done.
 * Used reference to LC circuit instead of tank circuit; both lead to the same article, but the latter looks a bit colloquial for a non-native speaker.
 * Rainglasz (talk) 19:53, 20 December 2009 (UTC)

Rainglasz (talk) 16:48, 20 December 2009 (UTC)

Basic Theory
The original text placed too much emphasis on the requirement of an inductive feedback voltage divider. This is very misleading as the Hartley oscillator does not require such a connection. Kevin aylward (talk) 16:32, 26 December 2012 (UTC)

Circuit is wrong?
This circuit looks wrong to me. It appears that the JFET's junction will be forward-biased during at least part of the cycle. Isn't that usually a no-no? Also, I notice that most other JFET circuits on the internet have this same flaw. I'm beginning to wonder whether everyone else is wrong or I was just taught wrong. Would it be possible to make this a depletion-mode MOSFET instead to solve the problem? Xezlec (talk) 19:56, 20 January 2013 (UTC)

 * As a simplified circuit, it's probably OK. The forward bias on the junction would work as an amplitude limiter; amplifier gain would decrease. Some real circuits may have a form of grid leak bias, but I think the junction is still overdriven. It's been too long. Some circuits use a diode to ground to avoid forward biasing the junction, but those designs may have poor noise performance. Glrx (talk) 01:56, 5 February 2013 (UTC)

 * I added a practical example. I used the grid leak from the original schematic to give the JFET proper bias, but I did not include the diode. There is no "correct" solution. AndreAdrian (talk) 21:26, 19 February 2024 (UTC)

 * Simulation with LTSpice gives easy oscillation and breadboarding of circuit was a success after I increased C2 from 4.7pF to 10pF. AndreAdrian (talk) 14:36, 20 February 2024 (UTC)

Several errors
The article appears to contain some significant errors:

1 The simplified circuit is described as providing feedback from the inductor tap, the source of the FET. Since the gate is the input terminal to the FET, that surely is the feedback 'output' from the LC circuit. The tap is the input in this configuration, driven by the low-impedance source;

2 The polarity marking on the op-amp version is reversed;
 * I really wonder whether this opamp circuit, even after correction (it would not work properly as-is) is widely recognised as truely "Hartley"... meanwhile a common-base version of tapped-coil oscillator is quite often referred to as "Hartley" yet not mentioned here... until now. Maitchy (talk) 21:52, 25 November 2013 (UTC)

3 The original patent confirms that the Hartley oscillator, like its Colpitts analogue, relies on reactive phase inversion, not inductive coupling. Kevin Aylward, above, is therefore right to challenge this confused wording. Using inductive coupling, only one inductor is required, with a close-coupled feedback winding - an entirely different animal. Of course, both forms of feedback can be present in the same circuit - a hybrid case.

4 I would be happier to see a clearer statement of the requisites for an oscillator - the combination of a gain device (with intrinsic feedback that is normally negative); a mechanism to provide phase inversion, to overcome that negative feedback and make it oscillate, and something to define the frequency. If you feel picky, add parts to set operating conditions and the maths to define whether oscillation starts and its amplitude if it does. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mjbtnc (talk • contribs) 16:36, 29 April 2013 (UTC)

Circuit operation
I don't have time to go into it, but the simplified circuit description has many flaws. If the common drain amplifier is a voltage controlled voltage source, then it would destroy the tank Q. Tap selection is much more involved. JFET will limit amplitude. JFET input Z inf only at low freq. Glrx (talk) 17:39, 14 August 2015 (UTC)

Impractical circuit schematics
I don't think any of the circuits presented in this article are practical. The common-drain JFET implementation does not show biasing (file:Hartley osc.svg). The op-amp implementation does not show gain (file:Oscillator hartley opamp.svg). The electronic oscillator article has an article that also lacks biasing (file:Oscillator comparison.svg). I simulated each one of the circuits in PSpice without any success. If any of you had success, I would like to know how you implemented the missing details and what component sizes you used.

The only circuit I got to work is a circuit I found on the Internet (http://www.circuitstoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/hartley-oscillator.png).

I think this article should show practical circuits. The circuits should be simple and they should not hide important details like biasing and gain.

ICE77 (talk) 20:19, 14 August 2015 (UTC)

 * I don't see any fundamental problem with file:Hartley osc.svg. It may forward bias the gate, but that should just impact amplitude and stability. Choosing the product of drain current and load resistance less than 0.5 V would keep things in reasonable shape.
 * The op amp implementation file:Oscillator hartley opamp.svg has the inputs backwards (see above), the low-Z output should drive the tap, and the design should not use an infinite gain op amp. The figure should be nuked.
 * I don't see any problems with file:Oscillator comparison.svg; they should work. One resistor biasing is not the best, but the high Z collector drives top of tank and lower Z input is taken from tap.
 * The .png is the same as the third .svg but uses more robust three resistor biasing with Ce bypass. If you can make the .png work, then you can make the third .svg work.
 * I'm not so sure that practical circuits should be shown. WP is an encyclopedia and not tutorial about circuit design. There are many subtle details to real circuits.
 * Glrx (talk) 21:42, 14 August 2015 (UTC)

Glrx, if the second circuit (file:Oscillator hartley opamp.svg) has the inputs swapped then the image is clearly wrong and it should either be removed or fixed because it only leads to confusion.

I spent some more time simulating and I was able to get another circuit I found on the Internet to work. Since both Hartley and Colpitts are described as dual of each other and appear to have an inductor at the collector of their BJTs, I figured that the new circuit I found is more appropriate (http://www.expertsmind.com/CMSImages/1598_hartley%20oscillator.png).

I am not saying that Wikipedia should be the place to find all the details about circuits but this place should not propose impractical circuits, let the reader assume things he or she does not know and, most of all, present bad examples of circuits.

ICE77 (talk) 00:57, 15 August 2015 (UTC)

 * The two off-wiki circuits are essetially identical; R or L makes little difference. Glrx (talk) 01:09, 15 August 2015 (UTC)

The impedance of an inductor depends on frequency. The impedance of a resistor is independent of frequency. I don't think there is a little difference. If there is I would like to know what is the small difference and what is the purpose of using an inductor or a resistor on the collector of a BJT-implemented Hartley or Colpitts oscillator?

ICE77 (talk) 23:39, 26 August 2015 (UTC)

 * Both R and L are being used as load impedances; there is little difference in how the circuit functions. In the typical case, an output load resistance would swamp the L's impedance and avoid significant phase shift. Glrx (talk) 18:37, 29 August 2015 (UTC)

 * I added a practical circuit. But, oscillators are hard to simulate and even harder to build. For example: the load resistor in simulation is 3 kiloohm, but zero picofarad capacitance. If you use your oscilloscope probe you have 1 megaohm (no problem) but 20 picofarad capacitance (can be a problem). AndreAdrian (talk) 21:36, 19 February 2024 (UTC)

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General approach to article
It is not clear to me how this article should approach the subject. I understand it is not intended to be a tutorial. Do any actual real-world implementations belong here? Or should the approach be a generic one -- for example a circuit model containing only a generic transconductance for instance?

Or should it contain both? First a presentation of a generic circuit, not specific to any particular technology, followed by some examples of implementation in various technologies (e.g. vacuum tube triode, jfet, bipolar transistor, op-amp, etc)?

It seems to me the presentation of a generic circuit with a VCCS (transconductance) can be used to show not only the operation of the circuit, but to analyze the necessary conditions for oscillation to occur (e.g. RHP poles in a transfer function).

Anyone interested in seeing that? 142.254.37.91 (talk) 18:01, 7 March 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Hartley oscillator


text:
Emerald, Victoria

Emerald is a town in the Greater Melbourne area of Victoria, Australia, 44 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Shires of Cardinia and Yarra Ranges local government areas. Emerald recorded a population of 5,890 at the 2021 census.

Emerald also includes Cardinia Reservoir, Melbourne's second largest reservoir.

History
The Emerald Post Office opened on 22 December 1899.

Puffing Billy and Emerald Lake
Emerald is known for the Emerald Lake (Lake Treganowan). The lake offers barbecue facilities, children's playgrounds, a pool, paddle boats, walking tracks, fishing, Environment Centre, model railway, café, and a railway station on the Puffing Billy Railway.

The Puffing Billy Railway is a heritage steam-operated railway, opened in 1900, which runs between Belgrave and Gembrook, recreating the 1920s heyday of this narrow-gauge line. It has three stations within Emerald: at Emerald itself, Nobelius and Lakeside, with Nobelius being a "stops-if-required" station. There is also Nobelius Siding, located at the former Nobelius Nurseries Packing Shed, between Emerald and Nobelius stations. It is only used for functions, or the regular "Dinner Train".

Other attractions
The areas around Emerald are excellent for finding chanterelles and other edible mushrooms, and are a popular destination for mushroom hunters each autumn. There is also an Emerald and District museum set in the Nobelius Heritage Park. It adjoins Emerald Lake Park.

Emerald FunFest
FunFest is a day-long family street party event which kicks off the PAVE Festival which runs annually for 7–10 days in April. On FunFest day there are road closures on the northern part of Kilvington Drive, all of Puffing Billy Place and the western part of Heroes Avenue, to prevent motor vehicle traffic entering, allowing many stalls to be established and enjoyed by the thousands of local residents and visitors that attend the event. FunFest has a great community feel with stalls, music, dance and plenty of free entertainment for all ages. The FunFest was preceded for many years by the Emerald WinterFest which was held annually in July.

Great Train Race
The Great Train Race (GTR) was an annual fun run from Belgrave to Emerald Lake in which participants attempt to beat Puffing Billy to the finish line and is organised by volunteers of the Puffing Billy Preservation Society.

The route from Belgrave to Emerald Lake which participants run is 13.2 km long, and in 2006 had 2,403 participants in the 25th Great Train Race. Participants of the GTR may win prizes; The first Male and Female runners of the 2007 GTR held on 6 May received a return flight to Antarctica as well as a unique Great Train Race trophy. For details on the Great Train Race, visit Great Train Race.

PAVE Arts Festival
The PAVE Festival is the largest festival in the Dandenong Ranges and Cardinia Shire, running over 7–10 days and incorporating all forms of the Arts. PAVE stands for "Performing And Visual arts in Emerald", which is an Annual Festival which takes place every year in mid April, having started in 2006. The festival includes a number of activities taking place at different locations around Emerald over a number of days. Such activities include the Emerald Arts Society art exhibition at the Environment Centre at Emerald Lake, a burlesque dance and circus performance, the popular "Women in Song" featuring 4 female singer songwriters, live Comedy, a photography exhibition, an exhibition and demonstration of local art courses and lessons, The Emerald FunFest, Literary events such as Poet's Breakfast, Yarn Event and Golden Cow Literary night, Voice concert, classical performance by Dandenong Ranges Orchestra, Storytelling, Open Gardens, a historic tour of Emerald and top quality live music. The 2011 festival featured Joe Camilleri and the Black Sorrows, The Ska Vendors and Kerri Simpson, Lloyd Spiegel, Lily and King.

Other events
For many years, Emerald had an annual Carols by Candlelight at Worrell Reserve. However, it ceased to run in 2009 due to insurance issues. It moved instead to a smaller version at St. Mark's Church.

Cardinia Reservoir
Cardinia Reservoir is situated entirely in Emerald, Victoria. It is south of the main township and the southern border of the suburb follows the Reservoir Boundary. It is the second largest reservoir in Melbourne's water supply.

Cardinia Reservoir Park
On the southern side of the reservoir there is a large park run by Parks Victoria. Facilities include barbecues and toilets and is open every day of the year. The park is home to many species of wildlife including Kangaroos, Wombats and Possums. It is even possible to walk across one of the dam walls at the park. Despite being predominately located in the suburb of Emerald, the entrance to the park is approximately 10 minutes drive out of Emerald in Narre Warren East.

Cardinia Reservoir is the designated place to hold water when the Desalination plant is operating. There is a pipe running between Wonthaggi and Cardinia Reservoir to make this possible.

Education
Emerald has a Kindergarten and a Pre School, Emerald Primary School (with roughly 400 students) which serves the local area and a secondary school, Emerald Secondary College which serves the Southern Dandenong Ranges region. Emerald has its own library at Worrell Reserve as part of the Casey Cardinia Library Corporation.

The Emerald Community House runs adult education, pre-accredited ACFE training courses and hobby courses. There are also childcare programs, out of school hours care and children's extension programs and disability services. The University of the Third Age (U3A) is located in U3A House, 402 Main Street.

Emergency services
Emerald has a part-time Police Station, a full-time Ambulance Station as well as a volunteer CFA Brigade and SES Unit. The Emerald Fire Brigade is located on Emerald-Monbulk Road near the roundabout of Belgrave-Gembrook Road, and attends approximately 190 Emergency Incidents per year. The Brigade trains on Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings and new members are always welcome.

The Emerald Volunteer State Emergency Service Unit is located at 277 - 287 Belgrave-Gembrook Rd. It attends several hundred storm and wind damage incidents every year and also attends 20–30 road accidents a year for rescue purposes using such tools as the jaws of life. The Unit trains on Monday evenings and new members are very welcome to join.

Demographics
Emerald's population as of the 2006 Census was 6,135 (a decrease of 9 from the 2001 census), (3,050 male, 3,085 female), 4,662 people were aged 15 years and over (2,280 male, 2,382 female) and 460 were aged 65 years and over (200 male, 260 female).

According to the 2001 Census, 17 people identified themselves as indigenous persons (comprises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander).

5,461 are Australian Citizens, while 4,770 people were identified as having been born in Australia. 1,365 were born overseas. 5,608 people speak English alone.

Sport and recreation
The town has an Australian Rules football team competing in the Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League and a basketball team competing in the Knox Amateur Basketball Association. Emerald also consists of a tennis club and a netball club.

Emerald is also home to Kreationz Cheerleading and Dance School where the local children and young adults compete statewide and nationally. Kreationz also perform for the locals at local fates, markets and events.

'Emerald City School of Dance' have dance classes for children and adults. Classes are held at the Emerald Community House.

Emerald Cricket Club celebrated its 125-year anniversary in 2018.

Local media
Emerald receives standard Melbourne Television and radio broadcasts. However Emerald also has its own local radio station 3MDR, located in the Emerald Hall. 3MDR broadcasts are aimed at the Dandenong Ranges region with Volunteer staff and announcers.

The two local newspapers are the Ranges Trader Mail and the Free Press Leader. However neither paper is actually published in Emerald.

The monthly Signpost magazine is also published in Emerald.

Television dramas set in Emerald
Solo One is a TV series screened in 1976 set in Emerald, about a local (fictional) policeman dealing with crime in Emerald.

Filming of A Country Practice in the fictional town of Wandin Valley was moved to Emerald when the show moved to Network Ten for one series in 1994.

Filming for the ABC children's drama Come Midnight Monday was effected in and around Emerald, Belgrave & Cockatoo, depicting the fictional country town of Widgery.

Notable people

 * Kade Simpson, Australian rules football player
 * Matthew Lobbe, Australian rules football player
 * Vanessa Amorosi, singer-songwriter
 * Red Symons, musician and media personality
 * Alfred Gregory, mountaineer, explorer and photographer
 * Jesse Martin, sailor

title: Emerald, Victoria


text:
Robert A. Parker

Robert Allan Ridley Parker (born December 14, 1936) is an American physicist and astronomer, former director of the NASA Management Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and a retired NASA astronaut. He was a mission specialist on two Space Shuttle missions, STS-9 and STS-35.

He has logged over 3,500 hours flying time in jet aircraft and 463 hours in space.

Early life
Parker was born December 14, 1936, in New York City, but grew up in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. He attended primary and secondary schools in Shrewsbury. He received a BA in astronomy and physics from Amherst College in 1958 and a PhD in astronomy from the California Institute of Technology in 1962. His doctoral dissertation, The physical conditions pertaining to some possible supernova remnants, was supervised by Guido Münch. Prior to his selection for astronaut training, Parker was an associate professor of astronomy at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

NASA career
Parker was selected as a scientist-astronaut by NASA in August 1967. He was a member of the Astronaut Support Crews for the Apollo 15 and 17 missions, and was the person to whom the final words spoken by a man standing on the surface of the Moon (Gene Cernan) were addressed. Later, he served as program scientist for the Skylab Program Director's Office during the three crewed Skylab flights.

From March 1988 to March 1989, Parker was stationed at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., where he served as director of the Space Flight/Space Station Integration Office.

A veteran of two Spacelab missions, Parker was a mission specialist on STS-9/Spacelab-1 (November 28–December 8, 1983) and on STS-35 (December 2–10, 1990); which featured the ASTRO-1 ultraviolet astronomy laboratory.

Post-NASA career
Parker was director of the Division of Policy and Plans for the Office of Space Flight at NASA Headquarters from January 1991 to December 1991. From January 1992 to November 1993, he was director of the Spacelab and Operations Program. From December 1993 to August 1997 he was manager of the Space Operations Utilization Program. In August 1997, Parker was named director of the NASA Management Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Parker retired from NASA on August 31, 2005.

Personal life
Parker married the former Judy Woodruff of San Marino, California. They have five children and nine grandchildren. Parker resides with his wife in La Cañada Flintridge, California.

Honors and memberships
Parker is a member of the American Astronomical Society and of the International Astronomical Union. He was awarded the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal (1973) and the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal (1974).

Media
In the 1998 miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, Parker was portrayed by Chris Ellis.

title: Robert A. Parker