text:
Vivian de Sola Pinto

Vivian de Sola Pinto (9 December 1895 – 27 July 1969) was a British poet, literary critic and historian. He was a leading scholarly authority on D. H. Lawrence, and appeared for the defence (Penguin Books) in the 1960 Lady Chatterley's Lover trial.

Pinto was born and grew up in Hampstead. He became a close friend of Siegfried Sassoon, having fought in World War I alongside him, as his second-in-command, in France. He appears in the 'Sherston' books (Memoirs of an Infantry Officer etc.), Sassoon's fictionalised biography, under the pseudonym of "Velmore".

After the war he was at the University of Oxford. Later he was Professor in the Department of English at the University of Nottingham, from 1938 until 1961.

He is also known as the translator of France Prešeren's poetry into the English language.

He was the great-grandson of Rabbi David Aaron de Sola.

Works

 * Works of Sir Charles Sedley, with a Study of Sedley (1928)
 * The Tree of Life: An Anthology (1929), editor with George Neill Wright
 * Peter Sterry: Platonist and Puritan, 1613-1672 (1934)
 * The Invisible Sun - poems
 * Crisis in English Poetry: 1880-1940
 * The Common Muse: An Anthology of Popular British Ballad Poetry 15th-20th Century, editor with Allan Edwin Rodway
 * Restoration Carnival: Five courtier poets: Rochester, Dorset, Sedley, Etherege & Sheffield (1954)
 * Reginald Mainwaring Hewitt: A Selection from his Literary Remains (1955)
 * The Divine Vision: Studies in the Poetry and Art of William Blake (1957) editor
 * Complete Poems of D. H. Lawrence (1964), editor with F. Warren Roberts
 * Bulgarian Prose and Verse (1957)
 * Enthusiast in Wit: A Portrait of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, 1647-1680 (1962)
 * The Restoration Court Poets: John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester; Charles Sackville, Earl of Dorset; Sir Charles Sedley; Sir George Etheredge (1965)
 * The English Renaissance 1510-1680

title: Vivian de Sola Pinto


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Religion in Africa

Religion in Africa is multifaceted and has been a major influence on art, culture and philosophy. Today, the continent's various populations and individuals are mostly adherents of Christianity, Islam, and to a lesser extent several traditional African religions. In Christian or Islamic communities, religious beliefs are also sometimes characterized with syncretism with the beliefs and practices of traditional religions.

Traditional African religions

Africa encompasses a wide variety of traditional beliefs. Although religious customs are sometimes shared by many local societies, they are usually unique to specific populations or geographic regions. All traditional African religions are united by a shared animistic core with special importance to ancestor worship.

According to Dr J Omosade Awolalu, The "olden" in this context means indigenous, that which is foundational, handed down from generation to generation, meant as to be upheld and practised today and forevermore. A heritage from the past, yet not treated as a thing of the past but that which connects the past with the present and the present with eternity.

Often spoken of in the terms of a singularity, deliberate; yet conscious of the fact that Africa is a large continent with multitudes of nations who have complex cultures, innumerable languages and myriad dialects.

West African
The essence of this school of thought is based mainly on oral transmission; that which is written in people's hearts, minds, oral history, customs, temples and religious functions. It has no founders or leaders like Gautama Buddha, Jesus, or Muhammed. It has no missionaries or the intent to propagate or to proselytise. Some of the African traditional religions are those of the Serer of Senegal, the Yoruba of Nigeria, and the Akan of Ghana and the Ivory Coast, and the Bono of Ghana and Ivory Coast. The western coast is also consisted of the Yoruba and Anglican religion of syncretism. The religion of the Gbe peoples (mostly the Ewe and Fon) of Benin, Togo and Ghana is called Vodun and is the main source for similarly named religions in the diaspora, such as Louisiana Voodoo, Haitian Vodou, Cuban Vodú, Dominican Vudú and Brazilian Vodum.

Some distinctions between West African and East or Hornn religion often includes considering the supernatural and natural or tangible as being one and the same, and using this stance to incorporate divination. Clergymen from this region who would historically catechize to the masses was often referred to as waganga. Another distinction of East African and Horners is the greater prevalence of prophets within the oral traditionas and other forms of generational transmissions of traditional African religion.

The most prominent indigenous deity among Cushitic Horners is Waaq, which continues to be manifested into the modern era with religions such as Waaqeffanna and Waaqism. According to the author Lugira, the Traditional African religions are the only religions "that can claim to have originated in Africa. Other religions found in Africa have their origins in other parts of the world."

Abrahamic religions
The majority of Africans are adherents of Christianity or Islam. African people often combine the practice of their traditional belief with the practice of Abrahamic religions. Abrahamic religions are widespread throughout Africa. They have both spread and replaced indigenous African religions, but are often adapted to African cultural contexts and belief systems. The World Book Encyclopedia has estimated that in 2002 Christians formed 45% of the continent's population, with Muslims forming 40%. It was also estimated in 2002 that Christians form 45% of Africa's population, with Muslims forming 40.6%.

Christianity
Christianity is the most widely practiced religions along with Islam and is the largest religion in Sub-Saharan Africa. Several syncretistic and messianic sects have formed throughout much of the continent, including the Nazareth Baptist Church in South Africa and the Aladura churches in Nigeria. There is also fairly widespread populations of Seventh-day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses. The oldest Christian denominations in Africa are the Eastern Orthodox Church of Alexandria, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church (which rose to prominence in the fourth century AD after King Ezana the Great made Ethiopia one of the first Christian nations. )

In the first few centuries of Christianity, Africa produced many figures who had a major influence outside the continent, including St Augustine of Hippo, St Maurice, Origen, Tertullian, and three Roman Catholic popes (Victor I, Miltiades and Gelasius I), as well as the Biblical characters Simon of Cyrene and the Ethiopian eunuch baptised by Philip the Evangelist. Christianity existed in Ethiopia before the rule of King Ezana the Great of the Kingdom of Axum, but the religion grasped a strong foothold when it was declared a state religion in 330 AD, becoming one of the first Christian nations.

The earliest and best known reference to the introduction of Christianity to Africa is mentioned in the Christian Bible's Acts of the Apostles, and pertains to the evangelist Phillip's conversion of an Ethiopian traveller in the 1st century AD. Although the Bible refers to them as Ethiopians, scholars have argued that Ethiopia was a common term encompassing the area South-Southeast of Egypt.

Other traditions have the convert as a Jew who was a steward in the Queen's court. All accounts do agree on the fact that the traveller was a member of the royal court who successfully succeeded in converting the Queen, which in turn caused a church to be built. Tyrannius Rufinus, a noted church historian, also recorded a personal account as do other church historians such as Socrates and Sozemius.

Some experts predict the shift of Christianity's center from the European industrialized nations to Africa and Asia in modern times. Yale University historian Lamin Sanneh stated, that "African Christianity was not just an exotic, curious phenomenon in an obscure part of the world, but that African Christianity might be the shape of things to come." The statistics from the World Christian Encyclopedia (David Barrett) illustrate the emerging trend of dramatic Christian growth on the continent and supposes, that in 2025 there will be 633 million Christians in Africa.

A 2015 study estimates 2,161,000 Christian believers from a Muslim background in Africa, most of them belonging to some form of Protestantism.

Islam
Islam is the other major religion in Africa alongside Christianity, with over 40% of the population being Muslim, accounting for about one fourth of the world's Muslim population. The faith's historic roots on the continent stem from the time of Muhammad, whose early disciples migrated to Abyssinia (hijira) in fear of persecution from the pagan Arabs.

The spread of Islam in North Africa came with the expansion of Arab empire under Caliph Umar, through the Sinai Peninsula. The spread of Islam in West Africa was through Islamic traders and sailors. The religion had also began influencing Harla Kingdom in the Horn of Africa early on.

Islam is the dominant religion in North Africa and the Horn of Africa. It has also become the predominant religion on the Swahili Coast as well as the West African seaboard and parts of the interior. There have been several Muslim empires in Western Africa which exerted considerable influence, notably the Mali Empire, which flourished for several centuries and the Songhai Empire, under the leadership of Mansa Musa, Sunni Ali and Askia Mohammed.

The vast majority of Muslims in Africa are followers of Sunni Islam. There are also small minorities of other sects.

Judaism
Adherents of Judaism can be found scattered in a number of countries across Africa; including North Africa, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Cameroon, Gabon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Southern Africa.

Baháʼí Faith
The Baháʼí Faith in Africa has a diverse history. It especially had wide-scale growth in the 1950s which extended further in the 1960s. The Association of Religion Data Archives (relying on World Christian Encyclopedia) lists many large and smaller populations of Baháʼís in Africa with Kenya (#3: 512,900), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (#5: 282,900), South Africa (#8: 238,500) and Zambia (#10: 190,400) among the top ten numerical populations of Baháʼís in the world in 2010, and Mauritius (#4: 1.8% of population) joining Zambia (#3: 1.8%) and Kenya (#10: 1.0%) in the top ten in terms of percentage of the national population.

All three individual heads of the religion, Bahá'u'lláh, `Abdu'l-Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi, were in Africa at various times. More recently the roughly 2000 Baháʼís of Egypt have been embroiled in the Egyptian identification card controversy from 2006 through 2009. Since then there have been homes burned down and families driven out of towns. On the other hand, Sub-Saharan Baháʼís were able to mobilize for nine regional conferences called for by the Universal House of Justice 20 October 2008 to celebrate recent achievements in grassroots community-building and to plan their next steps in organizing in their home areas.

Hinduism

Hinduism has existed in Africa mainly since the late 19th century. There are an estimated 2-2.5 million adherents of Hinduism in Africa. It is the largest religion in Mauritius, and several other countries have Hindu temples. Hindus came to South Africa as indentured laborers in the 19th century. The young M.K. Gandhi lived and worked among the Indian community in South Africa for twenty years before returning to India to participate in India's freedom movement.

Buddhism and folk religions

Buddhism is a tiny religion in Africa with around 250,000 practicing adherents, and up to nearly 400,000 if combined with Taoism and Chinese Folk Religion as a common traditional religion of mostly new Chinese migrants (significant minority in Mauritius, Réunion, and South Africa). About half of African Buddhists are now living in South Africa, while Mauritius has the highest Buddhist percentage in the continent, between 1.5% to 2% of the total population.

Other religions
Other faiths are practiced in Africa, including Sikhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism and Rastafari among others.

Irreligion
A Gallup poll found that the irreligious comprise 20% in South Africa, 16% in Botswana, 13% in Mozambique, 13% in Togo, 12% in Ivory Coast, 10% in Ethiopia and Angola, 9% in Sudan, Zimbabwe and Algeria, 8% in Namibia and 7% in Madagascar.

Syncretism
Syncretism is the combining of different (often contradictory) beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. In the commonwealth of Africa syncretism with indigenous beliefs is practiced throughout the region. It is believed by some to explain religious tolerance between different groups. Kwesi Yankah and John Mbiti argue that many African peoples today have a 'mixed' religious heritage to try to reconcile traditional religions with Abrahamic faiths.

Jesse Mugambi claims that the Christianity taught to Africans by missionaries had a fear of syncretism, which was carried on by current African Christian leadership in an attempt to keep Christianity "pure." Syncretism in Africa is said by others to be overstated, and due to a misunderstanding of the abilities of local populations to form their own orthodoxies and also confusion over what is culture and what is religion. Others state that the term syncretism is a vague one, since it can be applied to refer to substitution or modification of the central elements of Christianity or Islam with beliefs or practices from somewhere else.

The consequences under this definition, according to missiologist Keith Ferdinando, are a fatal compromise of the religion's integrity. However, communities in Africa (e.g. Afro-Asiatic) have many common practices which are also found in Abrahamic faiths, and thus these traditions do not fall under the category of some definitions of syncretism.

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

title: Religion in Africa


text:
Rock DJ

"Rock DJ" is a song by English singer and songwriter Robbie Williams, featured on his third studio album, Sing When You're Winning (2000). The song was released on 31 July 2000 as the lead single from the album. It samples Barry White's song "It's Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next to Me", "Can I Kick It?" by A Tribe Called Quest and has a quote from "La Di Da Di" by Slick Rick and Doug E. Fresh.

"Rock DJ" reached number one in Costa Rica, Iceland, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom whilst reaching the top 10 in Australia, Austria, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, and Switzerland. It was the fourth-best-selling song of 2000 in the UK. The music video features Williams trying to impress a female DJ by stripping naked and eventually resorting to removing his skin and muscles, ending up as a skeleton. The song won British Single of the Year, and the video won British Video of the Year at the 2001 Brit Awards.

Chart performance
The song became Robbie Williams' third number-one solo single in the United Kingdom, going on to sell over 600,000 copies and being certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). The song also became a hit around Europe, charting inside the top 10 in several countries and becoming his first number-one single in New Zealand. The song also became a top-five hit in Australia, where it went on to sell over 70,000 copies, being certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). In the United States, the track reached number 24 on the Billboard Dance Club Play chart. "Rock DJ" was named the Best Song of 2000 at the MTV Europe Music Awards and Best Single and Best Video at the Brit Awards 2001.

Music videos
The accompanying music video for "Rock DJ" was directed by Vaughan Arnell. It was released on 6 July 2000. It begins with Williams dancing on a roller disco with women skating around him. He wants to get the attention of the female DJ (played by Lauren Gold) standing above the stage, so he begins taking off his clothes. She ignores him at first, but after she finally notices he is completely naked, he proceeds with stripping off his skin, muscles and organs, until the only thing left of him are his bones, which is performed by special effects. In the end, the DJ dances with his skeleton. The video ends with the note, "No Robbies were Harmed During the Making of this Video", a jocular take on the "No animals were harmed" note. The skinless Robbie also appears on the single's cover art, as well as on the cover of the DVD release of In and Out of Consciousness: Greatest Hits 1990–2010 in 2010.

The video's ending (beginning with Williams taking off his skin) was cut by most music channels around Europe, including VIVA, MCM, The Box and VH1 Europe. However, in the recent years, some of the music channels in Europe (including MTV Classic and VH1 Europe) airs the "studio recording" version of the music video, even on late night, which made the edited version of the music video fall into obscurity. Examples of TV stations that still play the full video are Bulgarian channel MM, former German located channel B.TV (often in daytime) and Canadian channel MusiquePlus, some channels ran the edited video during the day and the unedited one overnight, while The Hits played a version which cut from Williams dancing in his underwear to dancing as a skeleton, filling the gap by repeating previous footage. This is the version that is currently played on channels owned by The Box Plus Network. In 2001, "Rock DJ" won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Special Effects. In 2006, it was voted by viewers as the seventh Most Groundbreaking Video Ever on MTV and in 2007 it was ranked at number 48 on MuchMusic's 50 Most Controversial Videos. The video was banned in Dominican Republic due to allegations of Satanism.

The video has been shown numerous times on Fuse's Pants-Off Dance-Off, despite its gory content. Toward the end of the dancer's dancing/stripping to it when the video is shown in the background like any other, they only show Williams, briefly, ripping and throwing his skin, and dancing in muscle form before cutting to the hostess of the show. The video appears as an instance of the re-use of the motif of "dancing with the dead" in a book about medieval images of death and dying in art and literature.

A second video shows Williams in a studio while recording the song.

Track listings
UK CD and cassette single, Australian CD single
 * 1) "Rock DJ" – 4:15
 * 2) "Talk to Me" – 3:28
 * 3) "Rock DJ" (Player One remix) – 5:34

UK DVD single
 * 1) "Rock DJ" (full length video)
 * 2) "Rock DJ" (a short documentary feature)

European CD single
 * 1) "Rock DJ" – 4:15
 * 2) "Talk to Me" – 3:28

European maxi-CD single
 * 1) "Rock DJ" – 4:15
 * 2) "Talk to Me" – 3:28
 * 3) "Rock DJ" (Player One remix) – 5:34
 * 4) "Rock DJ" (video)

Credits and personnel
Credits are taken from the Sing When You're Winning album booklet.

Studios
 * Recorded at Master Rock Studios (North London, England) and Sarm Hook End (Reading, England)
 * Mixed at Battery Studios (London, England)
 * Mastered at Metropolis Mastering (London, England)

Personnel

 * Robbie Williams – writing, lead vocals
 * Guy Chambers – writing, all keyboards, production, arrangement
 * Kelvin Andrews – writing
 * Nelson Pigford – writing
 * Ekundayo Paris – writing
 * Andy Caine – backing vocals
 * Derek Green – backing vocals
 * Katie Kissoon – backing vocals
 * Sylvia Mason-James – backing vocals
 * Tessa Niles – backing vocals
 * Paul "Tubbs" Williams – backing vocals
 * Steve Power – vocoder, production, mixing
 * Neil Taylor – electric guitar
 * Winston Blissett – bass guitar
 * Andy Duncan – drum programming
 * Dave Bishop – brass
 * Neil Sidwell – brass
 * Steve Sidwell – brass
 * London Session Orchestra – orchestra
 * Gavyn Wright – concertmaster
 * Nick Ingman – orchestration
 * Isobel Griffiths – orchestral contractor
 * Steve Price – orchestral engineering
 * Richard Flack – Pro Tools
 * Tony Cousins – mastering

title: Rock DJ


text:
Talk:Natural proof

My addition is based on "Natural Proofs" by A. Razborov and S. Rudich, September 11 1999. The reference (the one that was already there) mentions an article published in 1994. I don't know why this difference.

The link to the article, as given, does not work.

 * The original paper was published in 1994. You will have to look for the pdf in the article link. It worked for me. Josh 21:37, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

Added details
I added some details to the paper. I'm not an expert, so I asked for one with the template. Also, I'm fairly sure, but not positive, that my statements are correct. For example, I stated that, "Properties that are easy to understand are likely to satisfy this condition, so simple proof techniques will probably not resolve the P vs. NP question." I'm fairly sure this is true (and the whole point of the paper). If someone knows better, please feel free to correct this. Josh 21:37, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

The article is basically fine. Three touch-ups, and one-or-two suggested additions: (1) After "one-way functions exist," add `with "exponential hardness" as specified in their main theorem,' then finish the sentence with "Razborov and Rudich..." as you have it.

(2) Insert "(quasi-)" before "polynomial" in the sentence beginning "Roughly". OK, maybe this is too stilted for Wikipedia's standards, but it's efficient:

"Roughly speaking, ... be decidable in (quasi-)polynomial time when the 2^n-sized truth-table of an n-input Boolean function is given as input, asymptotically as n increases. This is the same as time singly-exponential in n.  Properties..." [rest as you have it]

(3) After defining /useful/, instead of saying (too narrowly) "P/poly in the paper", write:

"A property is /useful/ against a complexity class C if every sequence of Boolean functions having the property defines a language outside of C.

Razborov and Rudich give a number of examples of lower-bound proofs against classes C smaller than P/poly that can be "naturalized", i.e. converted into natural proofs. An important example treats proofs that the parity problem is not in the class AC^0. They give strong evidence..." [rest as you have it]

The suggestion addition at the end is:

There is strong current belief that the mechanism of this paper actually blocks lower-bound proofs against the complexity class TC^0 of constant-depth, polynomial-sized threshold circuits, which is believed but not proven smaller than P/poly, as discussed in the "Complexity Zoo" entry for TC^0 here. However, some researchers believe that the Razborov-Rudich limitations are actually good guidance for what a "super-natural" lower-bound proof might involve, such as properties hard or complete for exponential space.

If you use my last sentence and need a cite, my 2002 survey of the Mulmuley-Sohoni proof strategy for NP != P addresses this issue (PDF file. Please excuse my not taking time right now to seek more recent ones, as you're welcome to do.  Also relevant is May 10, 2006 discussion in Lance Fortnow's Weblog here.

KWRegan 22:38, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

And of course, one should add or replace the reference by the journal version, as it went through much more substantial refereeing than conference papers typically get: A.~Razborov and S.~Rudich. Natural proofs. {\em J. Comp. Sys. Sci.}, 55:24--35, 1997. ScienceDirect entry for the official journal version.

This paper won the 2007 Gödel Prize, as already noted in Wikipedia's Gödel Prize entry. Is there a standard format for referencing such prizes, e.g. including a link to the prize citation itself?

Definition of "natural proof"?
The article describes "natural properties" and "useful properties", but not "natural proofs". AxelBoldt (talk) 09:23, 9 August 2010 (UTC)

 * Ok, I added their definition of natural proofs. AxelBoldt (talk) 13:26, 27 August 2010 (UTC)

Example Proof?
This article talks more about what you can't do with natural proofs than what you can do. An example of a natural proof would be nice. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 138.57.212.12 (talk) 21:10, 22 September 2013 (UTC)

title: Talk:Natural proof


text:
Talk:Hamiltonian (quantum mechanics)

Quality of English
Why are so many articles in this field written in such appallingly poor English? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.240.248.160 (talk) 17:46, 17 February 2023 (UTC)

 * I think you mean written using. Written in would refer to the language, but if you mean the structure and syntax, written using such appallingly poor English would be more appropriate. DareManWin (talk) 12:10, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

Cross terms for kinetic energy?
Which is it?

$$\hat{H}=-\frac{\hbar^2}{2}\left( \sum_i \frac{1}{m_i} \nabla^2_{\mathbf{r}_i}\right) + V(\mathbf{r}_1,\ldots ,\mathbf{r}_N,t)$$

or

$$\hat{H}=-\frac{\hbar^2}{2}\left( \sum_i \frac{1}{m_i}\nabla^2_{\mathbf{r}_i} + \frac{1}{2}\sum_{i\neq j} \frac{1}{m_i+m_j}\nabla_{\mathbf{r}_i}\cdot \nabla_{\mathbf{r}_j}\right)+ V(\mathbf{r}_1,\ldots ,\mathbf{r}_N,t)$$ ???

(N-particle Hamiltonians)

Under what conditions is the latter more appropriate than the former? Where, mathematically, do these terms come from? This needs expansion. My text doesn't mention anything about cross terms. I would be very grateful for clarification!

24.22.53.72 (talk) 06:32, 10 April 2013 (UTC)

 * The former is the correct one in typical canonical coordinates. Cross terms in the kinetic energy can appear if one e.g. uses relative coordinates (see e.g. https://physics.stackexchange.com/a/80719) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.153.73.30 (talk) 07:37, 4 January 2018 (UTC)

Total Energy?
I came to this page looking for clarification on what my physics text states, however it falls into the exact same esoteric pattern. Exactly what does "total energy of the system" quantify? Further, the next sentence talks about variability in the total energy measured. Thus, in what sense is it total energy? Is it a probability distribution? An average?

 * "Total energy" just means kinetic + potential energy. Why don't they just call it energy and be done with it? It's because the motion of bodies is calculated a different way. Normally, we use Newton's law F=ma, and we can say that a body of mass m moved with this trajectory because ot was accelerated by these forces. If we want to calculate the energy total energy = sum of potential and kinetic energies, we can derive it from the speed of the body, and it's movement against the forces. However, you could derive the trajectory of the body a completely different way: use your knowledge of the total energy of the body. If it was a bead moving along a wire, you might know that the total energy is constant. It would be hard to use Newtonian mechanic to calculate what the bead will do. The alternate way of calculating it is called Hamiltonian (classical) mechanics, and the Hamiltonian is just the energy, as I said. But we came at the problem from a different direction, so historically "energy" here has a different name - "hamiltonian".

Similarly, I think it's foolish that no where on the page can the equation H*Phi=E*Phi can be found. I know that equation is a huge simplification, but I think I can say with certainty that 80% of the people who come to the page will be most familiar with that equation given that it's frequently the first equation presented in Quantum classes having reference to the Hamiltonian operator.

Finally, I agree with the previous poster that this page has come down with "properties but not essence" syndrome, wherein the text rambles on about the properties of the subject but not the subject itself. If, as with many things in physics, it's difficult to describe it should be broken down into different conceptions or interpretations.

"total energy of the system" isn't jargon, it states the Hamiltonian of a system is the total amount of energy of the system. Besides lacking a definition of energy which is not approriate here.

 * Per WP:JARGON terms that will not be understood by the average reader are especially important to define before they are used. I believe this is recursive, and introductory background is often paragraphs in length in similar articles. Listing Port (talk) 23:04, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Some questions

 * 1) "In quantum mechanics, the Hamiltonian is the observable state of a system corresponding to the total energy of that system."
 * 2) *Is there anything wrong with phrasing it this way?
 * 3) "The eigenkets" — link to Bra-ket notation? Explain the relationship with Bra-ket notation?
 * 4) "Depending on the Hilbert space of the system" How do Hilbert spaces differ?  How do they relate to the modeling of physical systems? Are the Hilbert spaces used here of infinite dimensions?
 * 5) *The relationship between the Hilbert space containing all possible states of the system (?) and the equation given is not clear. Where is the vector in this space?

In response to 3, it depends. Say your system consists of one particle with two internal states (say, "spin up" and "spin down") and some finite number n of possible positions. Then the particle has a total of 2n possible states, and your Hilbert space is 2n dimensional. However, if your particle can be anywhere in some region of space (i.e., it's not constrained to a discrete set of positions) then your Hilbert space will be infinite dimensional. Your Hilbert space also depends on how many particles are in your system, how many internal states those particles have, whether they're distinguishable or indistinguishable particles, etc.

If this is unclear, it should probably be clarified somewhere, but I'm not sure if it should be here or in the article on Hilbert spaces. The latter seems much more focused on the mathematical definition of a Hilbert space... although I think that's probably appropriate. Perhaps we could create a separate article (or subsection of that article) entitled "Uses of Hilbert spaces in physics" -- Tim314

 * 1) The Hamiltonian is the operator, not the system itself, so this change would be incorrect.
 * 2) Bra-ket notation has nothing to do with the Hamiltonian specifically, but that link will be for people who haven't come across bra-ket notation yet.
 * Marbini (talk) 23:29, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

I've not found the information I was looking for (what "Cauchy propagators" are). I think this is the wrong branch of QM; I need one of the time dependent formulations (?) such as Feynman's. Interesting, though, and worth reviewing before I try to understand that.

Mr. Jones 21:07, 1 Oct 2004 (UTC)

What is the hamiltonian?
This page (like other pages that just jump into bra-ket notation) doesn't explain what the article's subject really is. Hyperphysics seems to suggest that the hamiltonian can be defined like this:
 * $$H = - \frac{\hbar^2}{2m} \frac{\partial^2}{(\partial x)^2} + U(x) $$

where U is potential energy.

Is this correct? Incorrect? Close? I have no idea how to read bra-ket notation (and the article on it doesn't help) - so I'm completely lost on this page, as I would guess that *most* people are who've come here. Fresheneesz 06:37, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

 * I agree, this page does jump into rather technical definitions right away. People don't really need to understand Hilbert spaces to get an idea of what the Hamiltonian is.  The hyperphysics definition is an appropriate one for a 1-dimensional system.  In general, it's a measure of the total energy of the system - the first term above is the kinetic energy (simply $$p^{2}/2m$$, see the article on momentum), and the second term is potential. KristinLee 00:28, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

 * The problem here isn't that the article isn't clear, simply that people are demanding you be able to read the text without having any knowlage needed to understant what an Hamiltonian is. Referencing hilbertspaces and dirac notation should be sufficient. The Hamiltonian in the link is one possible Hamiltonian, depending on what forces and interactions you include, the total energy of the given system be defined differently, and thus the Hamiltonian will change.

 * WP:JARGON has some different advice, which, it says, is particularly important for math articles. Listing Port (talk) 23:12, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

spectrum conflicts with set
The text says that the spectrum ... is the set...., but the Wiki article for spectrum says that it represents a continuum, whereas, although not linked, the Wiki definition of set refers to "distinct things".

My guess is that spectrum is referring to some quantum mechanics definition, which is not presently in Wikipedia, so probably needs to be set (quantum mechanics) (broken at time of writing). I.E. it looks like an over enthusiastic wikification to me.

David Woolley 19:28, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

 * The term spectrum is used in a variety of contexts. Here, the term is probably borrowed from functional analysis but I don't think it should be thought of as a quantum mechanics term of art.  In functional analysis, the spectrum of an operator is defined by its set of eigenvalues.  The spectrum of an operator is sometimes discrete, sometimes continuous and sometimes a combination.  Outside of quantum machinics, the term continues to be used in the same sense.  A given operator may have various particular spectrums depending upon boundary conditions.  In general fixed boundaries produce descrete spectrums and free boundaries produce continues spectra. (I hope you are still monitoring after the long wait for an answer!) --scanyon 06:14, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

I am not really sure, whether you should give some definition of the hamiltonian without using fundamental concepts like hilbert space and diracs notation. The hyperphysics definiton is just a special case for 1D, 1 Particle etc... for the sake of unversality, one should use the proper notation, maybe with a comment like "If you are not familiar with Dirac-Notation click ->here<-" or something... regards, sascha —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.11.194.95 (talk) 11:34, 3 June 2008 (UTC)
 * Much of this article is described with infinite dimensional vectors. That complicates the distinction between discrete and continuum. It might be one of the simplest, yet least obvious, parts of quantum mechanics. Gah4 (talk) 20:08, 17 August 2022 (UTC)
 * More specifically, there is Infinite set and especially the uncountable Infinite set. The latter allows for a continuum, such as the set of all real numbers. Gah4 (talk) 23:10, 17 August 2022 (UTC)
 * More specifically, there is Infinite set and especially the uncountable Infinite set. The latter allows for a continuum, such as the set of all real numbers. Gah4 (talk) 23:10, 17 August 2022 (UTC)
 * More specifically, there is Infinite set and especially the uncountable Infinite set. The latter allows for a continuum, such as the set of all real numbers. Gah4 (talk) 23:10, 17 August 2022 (UTC)

"Free States" article has nothing to do with quantum states.
I just noticed that the link to "Free States" takes you to a political page about governments and other such nonsense unrelated to the free states of particles in quantum physics. Don't know how to fix it, but there you have it.71.125.60.42 05:44, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

 * thanks for pointing it out. that link has been removed. Mct mht 15:27, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Eigenket?
Shouldn't it be eigenkeit instead of eigenket? It's spread around the article and even appears in one of the headings. Sakkura 14:55, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

I've always heard eigenket- not that I've covered bra-ket notation in university yet but I read a lot, and have never come across the word eigenkeit- it's not a word I can find a translation for online either. I'm inclined to say it's a typo, as I think Dirac invented the notation and he certainly refers to them as kets.Marbini (talk) 16:14, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

 * Have a look here. --TraceyR (talk) 11:22, 16 May 2009 (UTC)

Eigenket is correct, since it is referring to Dirac bra-ket notation.

Font
Shouldn't the Hamiltonian be represented with a curly capital H? $$\mathcal{H}$$ produces $$\mathcal{H}$$, which would appear to be the closest symbol available, and is used in the Hamiltonian mechanics article. Modest Genius talk 03:15, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

 * I've always seen the Hamiltonian written as a straight H or as $$\hat H$$ The $$\mathcal{H}$$ symbol usually represents Hilbert space. Hilbert space is relevant to the Hamiltonian operator, so the symbols should be different to avoid confusion.
 * Ghazwozza (talk) 23:20, 20 October 2008 (UTC)

 * The Hamiltonian written as H usually refers to the quantum mechanical Hamiltonian, while a cursive version is reserved for the classical Hamiltonian (not the $$\mathcal{H}$$, but an even fancier version which I haven't found in TeX yet). See (for example) Shankar's quantum mechanics text book, which uses this convention. I believe I have seen other texts which use this convention as well, and I have certainly had professors use this convention in most of my undergraduate and graduate physics courses. zipz0p (talk) 04:44, 19 April 2009 (UTC)

While this does not pertain directly to quantum mechanics, Jackson's electrodynamics text uses the script H as a Hamiltonian density (describing the Hamiltonian in terms of continuous fields rather than discrete coordinates), and reserves the typical H for the discrete Hamiltonian of point particles (and charges). 128.101.126.238 (talk) 05:27, 21 April 2009 (UTC)

 * It turns out this does have relevance to QM, in the context of quantum field theory. Marbini (talk) 23:16, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Notation
Shouldn't there be some sort of link explaining the use of the vertical bar preceding and the arrow following the wave-function phi ? The meaning is not at all clear and therefore the article in its entirety is of little use. Could the author not correct this please ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.236.77.63 (talk) 14:46, 21 November 2008 (UTC)
 * It is a ket, described in Bra–ket notation. Gah4 (talk) 20:02, 17 August 2022 (UTC)
 * It is a ket, described in Bra–ket notation. Gah4 (talk) 20:02, 17 August 2022 (UTC)

Sir William Rowan Hamilton
The above Irish mathematician seems to be ignored throughout Wikipedia wherever the term "Hamiltonian" is used. --TraceyR (talk) 11:18, 16 May 2009 (UTC)

Definition at the top
Regarding this sentence at the beginning: "It is a Hermitian matrix, that, when multiplied by the column vector representing the state of the system, gives a vector representing the total energy of the system."

It gives a vector "representing" the total energy? Are you sure? In what way does this vector represent the total energy? As I understand it, the vector that it produces will be the sum of the total energy eigenstate components of the original vector, each multiplied by its corresponding total energy. Not much of a "representation", if you ask me. I think this statement may be someone's misunderstanding.

Also, a lot of people seem to be complaining that the page uses jargon and is inaccessible to laymen. While I agree with these statements entirely (as a neophyte the subject myself), and in other cases I sympathize, I can't imagine how you can make such a sophisticated and complex concept as a quantum operator accessible to a non-physicist. I mean, even physicists often struggle to completely understand these things at an intuitive level. This stuff is just plain intrinsically hard. What is the solution to such a problem? Should the page just be deleted? 24.174.30.146 (talk) 03:07, 25 June 2009 (UTC)

 * Re "if you ask me. I think this statement may be someone's misunderstanding.": Yes, that is not correct. The Hamiltonian itself is the energy observable. Mct mht (talk) 17:42, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

 * Agreed. I'll try and clean the introduction up a bit now. Marbini (talk) 23:33, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

I really don't think the amount of "jargon" this page uses can be substantially further reduced without teaching people quantum mechanics. Should this tag really still be there? Marbini (talk) 00:25, 10 October 2009 (UTC)

 * I concur. Perhaps some of the words can become links?

bi — Preceding unsigned comment added by 42.106.85.153 (talk) 15:11, 9 October 2011 (UTC)

Sign error?
Under "Schrodinger formalism", shouldn't the kinetic energy be given as below?

$$\hat{T} = \frac{\mathbf{\hat{p}}\cdot\mathbf{\hat{p}}}{2m} = \frac{\hat{p}^2}{2m} = -\frac{\hbar^2}{2m}\nabla^2$$

Fixed.--Maschen (talk) 17:39, 8 January 2012 (UTC)

Hamiltonian...what?
I realize that one often sees the the thing discussed in this article referred to as "The Hamiltonian", but names like this, in the obvious form of an adjective, cry out the question "Hamiltonian what?". The absence of that being spelled out propagates foggy confusion.

I gather from the article that the full name of the thing under discussion is "Hamiltonian operator", or "Hamiltonian function" (are these the same thing?), and to say so explicitly would be an improvement, I think.

There are apparently also Hamiltonian spaces, paths, matrices and so on. Any overview info that would help clarify which of these are related would be welcome!

By the way, the above point aside, I applaud the clarity of the first sentence "In quantum mechanics, the Hamiltonian is the operator corresponding to the total energy of the system." One question though: I wonder if the word "corresponding" is less precise than it might be: Are these other bolder sentences still correct: If these aren't correct, then what does "correspond" mean?
 * "In quantum mechanics, the Hamiltonian is the operator which specifies the total energy of the system, or
 * "In quantum mechanics, the Hamiltonian is the function which calculates the total energy of the system."

Gwideman (talk) 11:09, 19 August 2012 (UTC)

 * Using "the Hamiltonian" as a noun to refer to the Hamiltonian operator (an operator is a kind of function, so yes they are the same) is a standard shorthand in physics. Another that might trip you up is "Hamiltonian of a system" to mean the value of the Hamiltonian operator for a given system. The other ways "Hamiltonian" is used as an ajective are afaik unrelated. Hope this helps.
 * Also, I am not totally sure of this, but I believe "corresponding" refers to the Correspondence principle.
 * Xuanji (talk) 11:12, 20 August 2012 (UTC)
 * It is a Hamiltionian function when the Hamiltonian operator has something to operate on. Conveniently, though, you can do the problems without knowing what it is operating on. I suspect that is the reason for the ambiguity. Gah4 (talk) 18:32, 17 February 2023 (UTC)
 * It is a Hamiltionian function when the Hamiltonian operator has something to operate on. Conveniently, though, you can do the problems without knowing what it is operating on. I suspect that is the reason for the ambiguity. Gah4 (talk) 18:32, 17 February 2023 (UTC)

I'm no expert, but the first and second sentences of the Introduction seem to me to say practically the same thing, or almost. Surely this badly needs editing. Seems that way to me anyway. AP — Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.109.71.99 (talk) 04:41, 1 September 2013 (UTC)

This sentence is probably wrong; It takes the same form as the Hamilton–Jacobi equation since the HJE is first order and non linear.. see this; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamilton%E2%80%93Jacobi_equation  the Hamilton–Jacobi equation is written as a first-order, non-linear partial differential equation for the Hamilton's principal function {\displaystyle S(q,t)}  Riadh A Rabeh. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.192.6.212 (talk) 19:37, 18 October 2019 (UTC)

Notation question
What is the significance of the following notation variants in this article: I appreciate that these variants may signify vector, normalized, array and so on, but it's sometimes not clear which meanings apply on this page, why they appear only sometimes, and indeed whether this page uses a particular convention consistently. Thanks. Gwideman (talk) 23:37, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
 * hat vs no hat (on H for example)
 * bold vs not bold on various variables

In general, a hat signifies it's a unit vector quantity, a small arrow pointing to the right just above the letter signifies it is a general vector quantity as does a bold symbol. Dots on top signify time derivates and a single quote after the symbol indicates spatial differentiation. If it is not bold and there is not vector symbol, it should be italic and that represents a magnitude. This is all universal notation. Footlessmouse (talk) 02:51, 2 November 2020 (UTC)

classical and quantum teaching
Discussion in talk:Hamiltonian suggests that in the usual schooling one should learn Hamilton's (classical) mechanics before the quantum mechanical Hamiltonian operator. As well as I remember, I had both courses at the same time, and am not sure in which order I actually learned them, or understood the connection. As is usual in many courses, the connections to other courses are often assumed, not taught, and often not quite learned. Is it really usual to teach Hamilton's mechanics before the quantum operator? Gah4 (talk) 01:07, 2 November 2020 (UTC)
 * That raises a fair point, the classes are taken simultaneously. There is, however, always some introduction to the classical concept before diving straight into operators, in my experience. I have withdrawn that request due to pushback and changes made in the DAB page itself. Footlessmouse (talk) 01:18, 2 November 2020 (UTC)

not to be confused with the gyromagnetic ratio
Regarding g-factor, the article says: not to be confused with the gyromagnetic ratio. It seems to me, and I note on the Talk:Gyromagnetic_ratio page, the two are actually the same thing but with different units. That is, it is exactly the same physics. For the most part, we don't have separate articles for the same quantity but in different unit systems. Note, for example, that magnetic field includes both B and H, and we also don't have separate articles for tesla and gauss. Gah4 (talk) 12:31, 16 August 2022 (UTC)
 * I have proposed merging gyromagnetic ratio and G-factor (physics). Discussion is in: Talk:Gyromagnetic_ratio. Gah4 (talk) 07:31, 17 August 2022 (UTC)
 * I have proposed merging gyromagnetic ratio and G-factor (physics). Discussion is in: Talk:Gyromagnetic_ratio. Gah4 (talk) 07:31, 17 August 2022 (UTC)

Define variables
V(r,t): what is r?  This should be defined (so should t, although it is probably time). 129.2.192.123 (talk) 18:11, 7 March 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Hamiltonian (quantum mechanics)


text:
Mazinger

Mazinger (マジンガー) is a long-running series of manga and anime featuring giant robots or mecha created by Go Nagai in 1972. It introduced the concept of mecha as robots which are ridden by humans and controlled like vehicles to Japanese science fiction (previous depictions of human-controlled giant robots in Japan, such as in Tetsujin 28-go, depicted the robot as remote-controlled, rather than vehicle-like); it would thereby be a primary source of inspiration for the Super Robot sub-genre, particularly throughout the 1970s.

Series
The series in order:

God Mazinger is related by name only and Mazinkaiser is an OVA retelling of earlier Mazinger stories, based partly on designs created by Nagai for the Super Robot Wars series of video games and also on Nagai's original Mazinger manga stories.

Mazinger-Z also featured in a video game for the Genesis/Mega Drive. It went by several names like MazinWars and MazinSaga.

Anime series staff

 * NOTE: Not including parodies and crossovers series/films.

Common elements
Throughout the storylines, common characters and traits tie the series together.

Body structure & colouring scheme
Except God Mazinger, the other mazingers share a very distinctive physiognomy, though the proportions and overall presence is modified in each one.

Mazinger Z usually looks shorter and wider compared to Great Mazinger, who has a more slender physique. This is mainly due to the "helmets", which is how one can tell them apart. The helmet of Great Mazinger is pointed while the top of Mazinger Z's is "flat-topped". MazinKaiser looks more heavily built than either of them, and sports the typical over-detailed (more ornate) style of more modern mechas (consider there's a 30-year gap between the first two and him). MazinKaiser is also the bigger/taller of the three.

The main colours are always black (torso, hips, shoulders, sometimes limbs), white ("steel colored") (waist and limbs, with slight variations towards light shades of yellow and blue tones depending on the version), very dark blue or almost black, depending on the depiction (face, limbs) and red (chest plate and flying devices). The head is usually steel/grey, with a cavity for the ship that controls the mecha.

This cavity becomes increasingly complex in each incarnation. Mazingers have characteristic horns at each side of the head where the ears would go on a human head, always coloured yellow, the eyes are yellow with the exception of Mazinkaiser SKL which has blue eyes. The face is completed with a mouthplate with several narrow apertures on it.

Even though Grendizer strays a bit from these guidelines, the resemblance to the other Mazingers is obvious.

Weaponry
Each Mazinger builds on the previous one by enhancing the power of an attack that already existed, plus adding some new ones. Weapons like Rust Hurricane (or "Booster Hurricane"), Rocket Punch, and Breast Fire are shared by Mazinger Z, Great Mazinger and MazinKaiser; Mazinkaiser comprises the weapons of the two previous Mazingers and adds a factor of uncontrollable energy associated to them (for example, sometimes it's hard for Koji to keep the mecha stable when using the two attacks previously mentioned). All Mazingers, except God Mazinger, have "Rocket Punch" attacks, in which they launch their arms as projectiles, which return after being shot towards the enemy.

Grendizer has few similar weapons, but it even expands its arsenal with several large ships that give him different capabilities, such as the Spaizer, Double Spaizer, Drill Spaizer, Marine Spaizer and other related machines. (These are also called "Spacer")

Hover Pilder
Traditionally, Mazingers are controlled thanks to a flying vehicle that docks on the mecha's head and activates it.

The first one, built for Mazinger Z, was the Hover Pilder, a small hovercraft, later replaced by the Jet Pilder. In Great Mazinger, this device takes the form of Brain Condor, and in Mazinkaiser it's called the Kaiser Pilder, which resembles Brain Condor more closely due to its sharp shape (in contrast to Mazinger Z's Pilder, that had a more bulbous shape) and the way it rests on Kaiser's head, leaving one of its fins standing vertically like the crest of a rooster.

These aircraft are always red, except in the Mazinkaiser OVA version of Mazinger Z, where the Hover Pilder is white. Grendizer doesn't have a small aircraft, instead the robot itself is fitted inside a larger ship called the spazer for aerial attacks and the robot can launch from it when ever there is a need for a ground battle. Some times Grendizer can stand on top of the spaizer and use it to fly so it can have more freedom in aerial battles.

Jet Scrander / Jet Scrambler
Mazinger Z wasn't conceived as a flying robot, and hence he is later equipped with Jet Scrander (or "Jet Scrambler"), a detachable device that allows him to face aerial monsters. This machine also had razor-sharp wings that could be used to cut enemies while in flight.

Great Mazinger has an incorporated Scramble Dash, that can retract itself when not needed. However, he is also given Great Booster, a very powerful device that attached itself to Great's body pretty much the same way Jet Scrander did to Z's and allowed him to fly at higher speeds.

Mazinkaiser has Kaiser Scrander (or "Kaiser Scrambler"), which is very similar to Jet Scrander in its colour scheme (red and yellow) and the fact that it's not part of the mecha but connects to it when required. Notably, since Kaiser can't use his chest plate as boomerang (a Great Mazinger gimmick) he uses Kaiser Scrander in a similar fashion, due to its sharp wings.

The Shin Mazinger incarnation presents the God Scrander ("God Scrambler"), which appears on the first chapters and in the latter part of the series. It also allows Mazinger to use a new attack, the Big Bang Punch, which consists in Shin combining with the God Scrander and transforming into a gigantic hand, and later making a fist that immediately turns golden-coloured, and is used as a scaled-up Rocket Punch. During the transformation, the God Scrander would compose three of the "fingers", and Mazinger uses his arms as the other two.

Female mecha
Mazinger pioneered the concept of female mechas that, while not nearly as powerful as the main robot (with the probable exception of Minerva X, as she was designed to be a direct counterpart to Mazinger Z), play a significant role in the battle against the enemy.

Their most noticeable characteristic is their main weapon, the Oppai Missiles, missiles posing as breasts placed on the mecha's chest. Again, Minerva doesn't follow this canon completely since her breast fire is identical to the male Mazingers, and she wasn't controlled by a human being (until her appearance in the Mazinger Angels series).

No female mechas were included in Grendizer, but characters like Hikaru and Maria prove to be helpful and brave in battle. They are (in order of appearance): Aphrodite A, Minerva X, Diana A, and Venus A.

Notably, in Mazinger Angels, Minerva has a special berserker mode, the "Sirene Mode", in which she takes a form similar to that of Silene, a character from Nagai's Devilman.

Shared characters
Many characters appear in different points of each plot;
 * Kouji Kabuto: The original Mazinger Z pilot reappears towards the ending of the Great Mazinger series, again piloting Mazinger Z. He then appears in Grendizer, but this time he does not pilot a mecha but a spaceship, and later the Double Spaizer. Koji becomes the pilot of MazinKaiser in the most recent incarnation of the series. Sayaka Yumi also appears in the three main Mazinger sagas.
 * Dr. Hell: Mazinger Z's nemesis, this evil scientist dies at the end of that storyline, but is brought back to life as the Great Marshall of Hell in Great Mazinger. He reappears in Mazinkaiser and Shin Mazinger Z-Hen.
 * Shiro Kabuto: Koji's little brother, appears in Mazinger Z and Great Mazinger, where he learns that Kenzo Kabuto is his father, thought to be dead in the previous series.
 * Archduke Gorgon: In Mazinger Z he plays a treacherous role as Hell's collaborator, when in reality he is a messenger from the Mikene Empire, who are using Hell to their own profit. Only in Great Mazinger his true hierarchy among the Mikenese armies is revealed.
 * Hikaru Makiba and Maria Fleed: two female characters from Grendizer, pilots of Marine Spaizer and Drill Spaizer respectively, appear as pilots in Mazinger Angels, Hikaru piloting Diana and Maria piloting Minerva.

Villains
Mazinger villains tend to be bizarre, having a dual nature or bodies that are made of disparate parts:
 * Baron Ashura's body is half male and half female, he/she resulted from a bizarre experiment of Dr. Hell who stitched together incomplete parts of two ancient mummies and then revived the resulting body 'à-la-Frankenstein'.
 * Count Blocken was a German Waffen-SS officer who, gravely wounded, was given to the unearthly cares of Dr. Hell, a Nazi collaborator during the second World War. He managed to save his life by keeping alive his severed head, which can float on its own and never rests on his shoulders.
 * Viscount Pigman has the body of a large tribal warrior and where the head should be there's a mannequin-like upper body of a pygmy shaman.
 * Archduke Gorgon's trunk is placed on the back of a sabretooth tiger.
 * Marquis Janus can twist her neck 180 degrees, shifting from the face of a beautiful woman to that of a haggard witch.
 * The Seven Generals of Mikene are composed of different parts of animals grouped together, like mammals, birds, humanoids, etc.
 * General Gandal, of the Vegan empire, shares the same body with Lady Gandal; at first his face would split to show a feminine figure from the inside; later her face alternatively replaces Gandal's, often taking control of the body. This is a similar masculine-feminine duality to the one seen in Baron Ashura.

Evil mecha armies
One of the main attributes of the Mazinger series is the existence of a large amount of evil mechas, which are incredibly varied in shape and weapons and serve as monsters of the week. Dr. Hell's Mechanical Beasts, the Mikene Empire Warrior Beasts and the Vegan Empire Spacial Monsters usually have nightmarish appearances, and though they are never as powerful as the hero robot, they are quite capable of putting him against the ropes.

title: Mazinger


text:
User talk:Jstyons

Hello, "Jstyons" and welcome to Wikipedia. A few tips for you:

. After you look over some of the links, you might wish to edit Hardy murfree in Wikipedia style (for example link to Murfreesboro, Tennessee). Perhaps you could explain why he did not capitalize his last name? Or if that was a typo, move the page to his correct name. Cheers, -- Infrogmation 21:11, 1 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Peruse Welcome, newcomers and associated pages, such as
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title: User talk:Jstyons


text: Category:The Waterboys albums

title: Category:The Waterboys albums


text:
User talk:Happyvalley

Hello, "Happyvalley" and welcome to Wikipedia. A few tips for you:

-- Infrogmation 21:13, 1 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Peruse Welcome, newcomers and associated pages, such as
 * How to edit a page
 * How to write a great article
 * Naming conventions
 * Manual of Style
 * You can experiment in the Sandbox.
 * Sign talk page entries with ~, which is automatically converted to a name and date.
 * If you have any questions, see Help, or you can a question at the Help desk.
 * I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian.

title: User talk:Happyvalley


text:
Talk:Riddler

Authorship
Who did this article?

 * Wikipedia. (Check the history.) --Chris Griswold 17:24, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

Respone to "Is He Murderous?"
At one point the article says that in The Batman, Riddler unites with the Joker and Penguin to murder Batman. I just saw that episode today and I got the impression they were just trying to capture and unmask him.
 * I saw it today as well! We're twins! --Chris Griswold 06:28, 28 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Well, in the 1966 movie as well as in Batman Forever, he does indeed plot to kill Batman (in fact he becomes obsessed with the idea and tries very hard). I am not sure about the comics, or the animated series, though. Rifter0x0000 (talk) 12:54, 2 December 2010 (UTC)

Most incarnations of the Riddler are not murderous but the one in The Batman seems to have to problem with it. He attempted to kill Julie but he was stopped.

Generally, the Riddler of the comics wasn't particularly murderous, since he got more thrills from trying to defeat Batman (and everyone else) on an intellectual level. In fact, for a very long time, Batman regarded him more as a nuisance than a genuine threat. However, as the years have gone on, the Riddler has, at times, turned very nasty or even downright insane. In Dark Knight, Dark City, he discovers an obscure and violent religious text which he uses as a basis to try and kill Batman, but not before putting him through some tests, one of which involved forcing a ping-pong ball down a baby's throat. He even kills some of the henchmen he brought along to help him. So, he can be quite murderous if driven nuts enough. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.210.48.155 (talk) 15:51, 18 October 2011 (UTC)

Dark Knight, Dark City doesn't quite count as he was possessed by a demonic entity at the time. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.214.49.106 (talk) 12:12, 18 April 2012 (UTC)

HUSH
You do not "suffer" cancer, you contract it. You can suffer from it after you have contracted it.

Writer's problem
The series' creators admit they didn't use him very much because his character often made story plots too long, too complex, or too bizarre.

The writers described this problem with the Riddler in an article in Comics Scene#43, published by Starlog.[citation needed]. Enda80 13:16, 28 January 2007 (UTC)Enda80

Just Now A Toy Sells Death
Does this actually have any meaning and where was it in the game? I never saw it.

Rumors
Unless it's CONFIRMED, there should be no mention of Riddler being in The Dark Knight. If it can't be cited with a reliable source, it can't be in the article. DurinsBane87 06:45, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

Filmick and freezedriedmovies reported it. I'm not very familiar with either website so I don't know how reliable they are. 75.153.231.20 05:25, 23 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Then that's not a confirmation. Get direct information, not second-hand or worse. Wryspy 06:04, 23 July 2007 (UTC)

There are unconfirmed claims that The Riddler will be in The Dark Knight or the third Nolan film (assuming there will be one), but as of now those are rumors and it is confirmed that Anthony Michael Hall is NOT Edward Nashton, he is reporter Mike Engel.AuthorNeubius —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.185.133.255 (talk) 02:45, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

Johnny Depp
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/showbiz/2008-08/01/content_6895691.htm Is this a believeable reference? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.69.80.14 (talk) 22:33, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

 * No. it's just a regurgitation of al lthe other rumors which have circulated all summer. ThuranX (talk) 00:15, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

TNBA's Riddler
Can I add this picture of the Riddler's appearence in "Knight Time"?Image:RiddlerTNBA.jpg Also, since it is from a Superman episode, maybe I should put in one from Judgement Day?Claycrow 17:51, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

 * First, non-free images shouldn't be posted directly to talk pages. The call, as edited above, should be used.
 * Second, we've already got the major variations covered, so adding the other minor ones would only be decoration, something that cannot be supported by a fair use rationale. - J Greb 22:06, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Post-Hush era
There is hardly any information about the character's exploits before the Hush story ark. I'd contribute the information myself, but honestly, I know next to nothing about the Riddler. Anyone else want to take care of this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by DCfanatic (talk • contribs) 21:41, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Mr Reese Redirect
Why? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.185.202.9 (talk) 13:21, 24 July 2008 (UTC)

Edward Nashton
ThuranX: Read the names and variations section. It states that several adaptations including Countdown claim The Riddler's real name is Edward Nashton, and that Edward Nigma is an alias. Is this still not enough evidence to include Edward Nashton in the opening sentence of the article? (Edwardnashton (talk) 06:31, 23 July 2008 (UTC))

 * Edward Nashton was introduced as an identity in the mid 90's, as I recall. An issue of the Question, to be specific. The accuracy of this name as being "real" depends upon who is writing which particular story, and varies from medium to medium. Nigma, on the other hand, was introduced at the inception of the character in Detective issue 140 by the actual creator of the character. Nigma stood as the sole "real" name of the character for about five decades. Both Nashton and Nygma have been around for for a fraction of this time without any full commitment to either. Nashton (and Nygma) should be mentioned in the article, but as for the character overall, Nigma is the original, and the most consistently used.Theplanetsaturn (talk) 08:12, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

 * And that's why 'Nashton' is lsited as an alias in the infobox, and that's enough. Burden of change is on the changer. ThuranX (talk) 16:20, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

WikiProject Comics B-Class Assesment required
This article needs the B-Class checklist filled in to remain a B-Class article for the Comics WikiProject. If the checklist is not filled in by 7th August this article will be re-assessed as C-Class. The checklist should be filled out referencing the guidance given at Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Assessment/B-Class criteria. For further details please contact the Comics WikiProject. Comics-awb (talk) 17:21, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

International names section
Do we really need this section? We don't offer that for all the different fictional characters on Wikipedia. Those who really want to know can look at the links along the side of the page. Further, not one is actually cited, nor does the section assert a particular notability. As such, I'm removing it. Please comment here before restoring. ThuranX (talk) 05:20, 4 August 2008 (UTC)

Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson wanted to play the Riddler? Give me a break. I clicked the link to the cite reference and it was just the main page of Chicago Times, I'm deleting it. This was obviously a joke.

--p4 (talk) 22:27, 2 September 2008 (UTC)p4poetic--p4 (talk) 22:27, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

 * No, sorry. It's not a joke, but a dead link to a real citation. A quick google search shows comments about it as far back as 2003, so it's clearly not some hoax, but a dead link. As such, I've restored it. ThuranX (talk) 22:44, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

"The Batman" Riddler
This is the first time I've seen the Ridder from the "The Batman" series, and yet my first impression, despite not even being a hardcore Naruto fan, is that he looks surprisingly like Orochimaru (Naruto). Does this or does this not deserve a mention in the article? --Antoshi~! T 11:33, 10 October 2008 (UTC)

 * it does not. Your personal feeling is that there's a similarity. There's no citation of anyone involved in the creation of the show that a similarity, intended or accidental, exists, nor a comparison from any outside reliable reviewer. ThuranX (talk) 17:18, 13 October 2008 (UTC)

Just Wondering
I noticed that if you abreviate his first name, it spells E. Nigma. I'm sure others have put this together, but I thought I'd mention it since I could ctrl-f find it on the article or the discussion page. --Daniel Berwick (talk) 02:49, 12 October 2008 (UTC)

 * It's not there because there's no good source for it. Find one, add it. ThuranX (talk) 17:16, 13 October 2008 (UTC)
 * wow; have you batmkan forever yet? wow; i never knew that his first name's first letter and his last name was enigma--Jakezing (talk) 17:33, 21 November 2008 (UTC)

Eddie Nash?
I glimpse on Neil Gaimen's "Whatever", and Riddler said his name was "Eddie Nash". Is this true? (JoeLoeb (talk) 03:54, 15 February 2009 (UTC))

C-Class rated for Comics Project
As this B-Class article has yet to receive a review, it has been rated as C-Class. If you disagree and would like to request an assesment, please visit WikiProject_Comics/Assessment and list the article. Hiding T 14:24, 24 February 2009 (UTC)

Vertigo? What the?
The Question never had a Vertigo series. His series was part of DC's For Mature Readers line, as were most of the series that later became Vertigo titles, but it was never published by Vertigo. I'm going to move the information from that section to the appropriate place in the timeline. 59.167.188.242 (talk) 17:25, 8 May 2009 (UTC)

Gary Oldman's remarks on Riddler
I can't find anywhere where Oldman said anything about the Riddler being a "cyberterrorist". The only stuff I have seen on Riddler being a cyberterrorist was fan speculation. This should be dropped from the page if there isn't an actual quote. Fardawg (talk) 18:52, 15 September 2009 (UTC)

Question
Why is the page entitled only "Riddler" instead of "The Riddler"? I don't understand this, and would appreciate a clarification. Thank you. -- ҚЯĀŽΨÇÉV 13  other crap 21:20, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

 * Standard on the project to not use articles before names. Same reason it's Joker or Batman. ThuranX (talk) 05:53, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Is Question the hero similar to the riddler? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.112.215.50 (talk) 01:38, 28 April 2023 (UTC)

This article needs to be updated
I would love to update it (specifically the two-part arc in 698-99) but I had no idea what was going in that arc if someone who at least partly understands could update it it would be great!Hollister4Mayor (talk) 05:03, 13 July 2010 (UTC)

The Picture
While a Green Arrow cover picture seems a bit odd for a villain known for fighting the Batman...well, I went looking for other good pics I can't find them. We seem to have gotten the best (picture) of a bad situation here. But I recommend we keep looking. Lots42 (talk) 08:40, 16 August 2012 (UTC)

"Joker" by Brian Azarello - Damaged Hip
Passage deleted: "(revealed to have been caused by a previous encounter with the Joker, resulting in the Riddler getting shot in the hip)". I have gone over "Joker" by Brian Azarello and there is no mention of this in the graphic novel. Please cite reference to verify accuracy of this detail. NorthernDragon (talk) 00:16, 1 September 2012 (UTC)

IGN Rankings overused
Are these rankings really so authoritative? Why are they creeping into every article on popular culture? I suspect henchmen of Murdoch at work. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Plantinga radio (talk • contribs) 02:07, 2 October 2012 (UTC)

Appearance in Gotham (TV series)
It may be in the best interest of the article to limit the amount of detail the character is provided in the section explaining his role on the TV series, Gotham. Unless his character is at the focal point of an episode, the mentioning of his appearance should be limited to his overall role in the GCPD. Since he seems to be a recurring character (albeit on the screen for only a minute each time), adding each appearance to the article may make the section longer than it needs to be. Dustman15 (talk) 22:53, 19 October 2014 (UTC)

Superhero
I think Riddler can be included on this category, because, as we can see, several Marvel Comics' supervillains (like Sabretooth, Juggernaut and Magneto) are included on Marvel's superheroes list, because they have already helped the heroes at some histories (not brief alliances). So, since Riddler once teamed up with Batman, I put him on the list of heroes. But I think someone will not agree with that and try to remove it. What can I do.Brazilian Man (talk) 22:56, 26 October 2014 (UTC)

The Riddle that Stuck out (The Riddler's Story)
Edward Nygma (Nigma) A.K.A. The Riddler is one of Batman's Smartest foes. Edward Nygma was abused by his dad as a child and he would love to play word games and when he got older, he was into crime. Then some tragedy will occur in one of his stories, then turn into The Riddler. He would give hints or clues to where he goes next which would lead to his downfall and be put in Arkham Asylum with the other villains. Edward Nygma was one of the best Batman Villains of all time.

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The history of the Riddler
This means there have been countless retcons of him. (Although for the first 20-30 years, The Riddler, as with many comic book characters at the time, accumulated little history that carried over from one appearance to the next: he'd appear in one story, perform a crime, get caught & go to jail for a felony that in the real world would keep him behind bars for a decade or more, then appear in another story a few months later.) However, in discussing the history of The Riddler, it is unclear which version of the various statements pertain to. If I had to guess, I'd say what this article presents is the character as he was portrayed over the last two decades -- but barely a mention of what he was in the prior decades. And until this is included in this article, it will not be more than B-class at best. -- llywrch (talk) 20:36, 25 February 2018 (UTC)

Nigma>Nygma
The historically accurate version of the name of the character is "Nigma". Nygma, Nashton, and all other versions are relatively modern and not universally used. I know Nygma is the best known due to films and cartoons, but again, it is not the primary identity of the character through the course of his history. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.6.6.25 (talk) 06:59, 29 May 2018 (UTC)

 * Check out this DC Who's Who entry from the mid-80's for confirmation - http://tessatechaitea.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-riddler-as-seen-in-batman-and-shit.html

 * Again, because people keep changing it, the Riddler's identity has predominantly been "Edward Nigma". Not Nygma and not Nashton. Those are relatively modern and not universal.

Real-world rise to prominence
It should be worth mentioning in the article in real-world perspective how the Riddler rose to prominence in the Batman mythos from relative obscurity: He had been a minor villain, who had appeared in one two-part story arc in the late 1940s, until he was brought back for one issue in 1965, which in turn happened to be used as the basis of the pilot for the 1960s Adam West TV series, which became phenomenally popular in its first season — which included a total of four appearances of the Riddler, played electrifyingly by Frank Gorshin, turning the character into a villain "star" during that season, making him an indelible part of the Batman landscape. 2601:545:8201:6290:7982:E2A6:133E:3203 (talk) 07:12, 7 May 2020 (UTC)
 * If you have the proper citations, then by all means.  Dark Knight  2149  06:31, 8 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Thank you; I was recommending that it be done, although I don't personally have the research resources handy to do it up proper. 2601:545:8201:6290:7982:E2A6:133E:3203 (talk) 13:25, 8 May 2020 (UTC)

title: Talk:Riddler


text:
Princess Cecilia of Sweden

Cecilia of Sweden (Swedish: Cecilia Gustavsdotter Vasa) (16 November 1540 in Stockholm – 27 January 1627 in Brussels), was Princess of Sweden as the daughter of King Gustav I and his second wife, Margaret Leijonhufvud, and Margravine of Baden-Rodemachern as the wife of Christopher II, Margrave of Baden-Rodemachern. She is the most famous daughter of Gustav I, known for a courtship scandal in connection with a sister's wedding and for a lengthy stay in England under Elizabeth I where her first child was born.

Early life
Cecilia was described as the most beautiful of the daughters of Gustav I, and was frequently mentioned because of her beauty. She has been referred to as somewhat of a Black Sheep of the family, because of the scandals she was involved in. During her early childhood, she, as well as her siblings in the royal nursery, were primarily under the care of her mother's trusted nurse, Brigitta Lars Anderssons, her mother's cousin Lady Margareta and the noble widow Ingrid Amundsdotter. After the death of her mother in 1551, she as well as her siblings were placed in the care of Christina Gyllenstierna and then under her aunts Brita and Martha Leijonhufvud before her father's marriage to Catherine Stenbock. They were then under the responsibility of their stepmother and, more precisely, the head lady-in-waiting Anna Hogenskild.

In 1556, she and her sisters were given a dowry of 100.000 daler, had their portraits painted and their personal qualities described in Latin by the court poet Henricus Mollerus and presented on the dynastic marriage market. The same year, her father presented Ostfriesland (East Frisia) with a trading treaty and a marriage alliance. Ostfriesland was chosen because it was strategically placed toward Denmark, and because the Calvinistic Emden was a rival to Lubeck and a treaty could break the domination of the Hanseatic league in Sweden. In 1557, the trading treaty was completed, and in 1558, Edzard visited Sweden to meet Cecilia and her sister Catherine Vasa and chose one of them to complete the marriage treaty, and Edzard chose Catherine.

The wedding between Catherine and Edzard took place in Stockholm 1 October 1559. In November, Catherine and Edzard left for Ostfriesland. Upon their journey through Sweden, they were accompanied by Cecilia and the brother of Edzard, John II of Ostfriesland. While staying at the residence of Prince Magnus in Vadstena Castle on the way, a great scandal erupted when John was discovered in Cecilia's chamber without his trousers. The scandal became famous under the name Vadstenabullret (The Vadstena Thunder). The king had been reluctant to let Cecilia follow, as there were at the time negotiations of a marriage between her and George John of Palatine Veldenz, and asked for her to return early: he also asked Catherine and Edzard to remain in Sweden for the winter, so he asked Magnus to delay their departure.

Several nights in a row, the palace guards observed a man climbing in through the window of Cecilia's bedroom. After this had happened four times a row, they informed her brother Prince Eric, who asked his brother Magnus and his courtiers to advise him. They decided to keep Cecilia's window under guard, so that the man in question could not be in a position to deny the matter if he was caught. When the same thing happened the night of 13–14 December, Eric sent Charles de Mornay with some guards to arrest the man, and when they entered Cecilia's bedroom, they found the brother of the groom, John II of Ostfriesland, in Cecilia's bedroom without any hose (pants) on. Eric had John imprisoned, held interrogations then sent John to the king, who imprisoned him in Örbyhus Castle. The 17 December, Catherine and Edzard were sent to Västerås Castle and placed under house arrest, while Eric and Cecilia were both recalled to Stockholm.

Cecilia accused her father of having beaten her and ripped her hair off. The king is said to have cried when he told the story to his wife. He accused Catherine and Erik for not having restrained Cecilia as they should, he had Charles de Mornay arrested and reprimanded Erik for having caused the scandal by his way of handling the whole affair by not having dealt with it in secret but instead exposed it in public. Catherine was allowed to see the king in June 1560: she acted as mediator and tried to issue John's, her own and her consort's release, protested against the confiscation of Cecilia's jewelry and asked the queen, Catherine Stenbock to speak for her, which it seems as the queen did. The mother of John had several foreign powers send ambassadors to Sweden to speak for John's release. Erik suggested that Cecilia and John be forced to marry each other, but the king did not like the idea and it is unknown whether the suggestion was ever presented to the two. In the summer of 1560, John was released after having been forced to swear before the monarch and the royal council that nothing sexual had taken place between him and Cecilia. The brothers of Cecilia stamped a coin which pictured her as Susanna in the bath, indicating that she was as innocent as the legendary Susanna of the Bible.

In 1563, Eric XIV discovered Cecilia and her sister having a party in their rooms in the middle of the night. This led to an argument between Cecilia and Eric. It is presumed that it was because of this incident, as well as the Vadstena scandal, that Eric issued a new protocol for the royal court, in which his sisters were to be placed under more a strict observation to prevent them from damaging their reputation, such as leaving the palace at night or early morning or accepting guests at night or letters without permission. This was particularly in regard to Cecilia, as Eric accused her of mixing with questionable people. The rules also banned the princesses from receiving supplicants and meddle in politics on their behalf, or to in any way interfere in affairs of state: the same year, Cecilia, Anna and Sophia had sent a letter of protest to Eric regarding his imprisonment of their brother John, something he had a very negative reaction to. Cecilia had protested openly toward these regulations.

Cecilia and her sister Anna were long supposed to be married to Louis of Palatine-Simmern, George John of Palatine-Veldenz or Poppo of Henneberg. The purpose was to make the Vasa Dynasty related to the more influential German families. The negotiation with Georg John was advanced when he chose Anna over her after the Vadstena scandal. In 1561, she was proposed to by Henry, the earl of Arundel. She was willing to accept, but Eric does not seem to have given it much consideration. In 1562, she was proposed by the Polish magnate count Johan (Jan) Tenczynski. Eric liked the idea, and according to Cecilia, he forced her to agree, but the plans did not materialize.

Cecilia married Christopher II, Margrave of Baden-Rodemachern (1537–1575), in June 1564 in Stockholm. It is noted that the wedding was far less luxurious than that of her sister Anna, and that it seem to have taken place without much negotiation: the first contract had been signed as late as March the same year. Neither does there seem to have been any political purpose behind the marriage.

English journey
Immediately after the wedding, she traveled to England on an official state visit. She arrived in the autumn of 1565 after traveling some 400 miles by water and 750 miles on ice and snow. Cecilia had been engaged in a correspondence with Elizabeth for several years and seems to have felt admiration for her on a personal level. She successfully asked Elizabeth for an invitation to England already in 1562, and learned to speak English from English people in Sweden. Cecilia traveled to England through Estonia, Prussia, Poland and Germany (without visiting the home of her consort) to Antwerp in the Spanish Netherlands. She managed to meet her imprisoned brother John before her departure, and when she arrived in Swedish Estonia, Eric asked his governor in Reval to keep her under supervision, as he suspected her to be more loyal to their brother John than to him. In the Duchy of Prussia, she successfully asked the duke to work with the Danish monarch to free her brother John. During her stay with her sister Catherine in East Frisia, she is believed to have discussed the imprisonment of John, as Catherine soon after sent Eric a furious letter about his imprisonment of John.

Cecilia left for England from Calais in September 1565. She was given Bedford House in London as her residence, where she was welcomed by the Countess of Sussex and the wife of William Cecil. After a couple of days rest, Cecilia made her formal entrance to London on 11 September, dressed in black velvet trimmed with silver and surrounded by her ladies-in-waiting dressed in red. After this, Elizabeth visited Cecilia in Bedford House. According to the Spanish ambassador to England, Cecilia and Elizabeth got along very nicely. They visited weddings and dinners together, at Christmas 1565, Cecilia received communion directly after Elizabeth, and her consort was given an allowance as long as he allowed Cecilia to remain in England. While there she delivered her first child, Edward, who was carried to his christening by Elizabeth. One of her maids-of-honor was Helena Snakenborg (later Marchioness of Northampton), who was to stay at the English court when Cecilia left in May 1566.

Cecilia's visit to England was part of an attempt to convince Queen Elizabeth I to marry her half-brother King Eric XIV. She was also to recruit English pirates to attack hostile Danish, German and Polish ships on the Baltic Sea. In January 1566, Eric also gave her the task of negotiating an alliance between Sweden and England to assist Sweden in its attempt to have peace in the war between Sweden and Denmark. There are conflicting reports as to how she managed these negotiations. As for the marriage question, some reports claim that she tried to go through the Earl of Leicester. However, Cecilia had her own agenda, and also tried to make Elizabeth interfere in the matter of her brother John's imprisonment, and in October, Elizabeth wrote to Eric and asked him to release John. She upheld a contact with the Duke of Prussia regarding her attempts to free John. She was also in close contact with the Spanish ambassador at the English court, because the lands of her consort were partially placed in Spanish Luxembourg.

The relationship between Cecilia and Elizabeth was damaged because of Cecilia's close contact with the Spanish ambassador, and because of the scandals caused by her debts. Cecilia acquired enormous debts because of the style she felt was necessary to live according to her status at court. In November 1566, her consort was forced to leave for Germany in an attempt to borrow money for her. Her greatest creditors were George North and John Diamond (also called Dymoch): she also used the doctor Cornelius Alnetanus who borrowed her money and pawned things for her. Alnetanus was previously exiled from court by Elizabeth for trying to convince her that he could make gold, and Elizabeth imprisoned him after he violated her order not to have anything to do with Cecilia. In March, Christopher returned to England in secret and tried to abduct Cecilia from her creditors, but was discovered and put in prison by his creditors. Elizabeth had him freed, but this definitely ended the friendship between Cecilia and the queen. In April 1566, Cecilia pawned her jewelry and wardrobe to finance their trip to Baden. In Dover, however, they were stopped and most of their luggage was confiscated in the names of their creditors North and Diamond. However, not only was Cecilia's and Christopher's luggage confiscated, but also that of Cecilia's Swedish ladies-in-waiting (who had no debts), and Cecilia and her courtiers regarded themselves to have been subjected to theft. She was pregnant at this point, and when she finally reached Rodemachern (now Rodemack) her son was born handicapped, for which she blamed her creditors for the rest of her life.

Countess of Arboga
In August 1566, Cecilia arrived to Baden-Rodemachern, where she stayed for five years. The religious war in the Netherlands was ongoing and the troops of the Duke of Alba moved around the territory of her residence and occupied her dower lands, which caused her economic distress. In 1569, the second half of Baden, Baden-Baden, was inherited by the underage nephew of her consort and placed under the rule of his Catholic relative Albert V of Bavaria, who treated the Protestants with brutality. Cecilia wrote to her brother John III of Sweden and stated that she feared for their safety, and asked for permission to return to Sweden.

Upon their arrival in Kalmar in Sweden in 1571, she was informed of the arrival of an English merchant, John Dymosh (also called John Diamond), with a fleet of 50 ships. This was her former creditor, who had confiscated her property in lieu of debts upon her departure. Cecilia was given permission from John to arrest Dymosh, whose fleet was confiscated – he was to spend five years in prison. Christopher left Sweden soon after to fulfill his promise to John in exchange for his permission to live in Sweden: to provide Sweden with mercenaries upon the ongoing war with Russia. He never returned. In Sweden, Cecilia was granted the city of Arboga as her personal fief, and styled herself Countess of Arboga. Cecilia had the authority to manage the trading policy and the legal system and see to it that the royal laws were respected, and she also managed certain taxation on import and export. In addition to earning income on mining and farming, Cecilia was also active within piracy. One of her missions in Sweden was to have her dowry finally paid to her. John III could not afford to do so. Cecilia was given a fleet of ships from John as partial payment of her dowry, and used this fleet to attack ships on the Baltic Sea. John had several licences issued to pirates on the Baltic Sea with permission to attack ships on their way to Russia, often English and Dutch, to disturb Russian trade during the war between Sweden and Russia. Cecilia, however, also came in conflict with John because she violated her permission by also attacking ships from friendly nations, such as Danish, which created tension between Sweden and Denmark.

In the autumn of 1573, the Mornay plot was prepared to assassinate John III. The plot was led by Charles de Mornay, who was in contact with Christina of Denmark and the French ambassador in Copenhagen Charles Dancay. John III was to be killed during a swords dance performed by Scottish mercenaries at the party which was to be given in October that year before the Scottish mercenaries departure to the Baltic. After the assassination, Duke Charles was to be placed upon the throne. Charles de Mornay, who had previously been the favorite of Eric XIV, promised that he knew the location of Eric's alleged hidden gold reserve, which he would reveal after the coup in exchange for better conditions for Eric in prison. However, the plot did not materialize because at the party, de Mornay never dared to give the sign to the mercenaries to take action. In September 1574, the plot was revealed and Charles de Mornay was arrested, interrogated and executed. It was never made clear who participated in the plot. However, it is noted, that the suspected conspirators Hogenskild Bielke, Gustaf Banér and Pontus De la Gardie often gathered at meetings in the apartment of Princess Elizabeth, meetings where Princess Cecilia had also frequently been seen, and the two sisters and their brother Charles were somewhat compromised though they were never accused. It seem that John III suspected her to have prepared a rebellion against him: in 1573, he gave order that Cecilia was not to be allowed in the Stockholm Castle during his absence, and in 1574, after the plot had been exposed, he gave orders to the governors in Östergötland to keep Cecilia under watch and not to let her have access to any royal castle.

On 2 August 1575, her absent consort Christopher died, and her under age son Edvard Fortunatus formally succeeded him as Margrave of Baden-Rodemarchern, albeit in his absence with her in Sweden. According to the marriage contract, Cecilia was secured the right to be regent should her son succeed while still minor. However, upon the death of Christopher, her former in-laws had the documents which secured her rights confiscated and took control over her dower lands as well as the rule of the entire Baden-Rodemarchern officially as the guardians and regents of her son. When Cecilia sent representatives to Baden to secure her rights in 1576, they were turned away and her authority as regent was not acknowledged. At this time, Elizabeth I of England for some reason offered her the hand of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, but Cecilia was advised to decline by her brother king, John III of Sweden, which she did. Cecilia converted to Catholicism as a way to secure her and her sons rights to the domains of her late spouse. Her conversion likely took place in connection to the visit of the papal legate Antonio Possevino to Sweden in 1577.

In the summer of 1578, a Spanish ambassador, Francisco de Eraso, arrived to Sweden. John III wished to make an alliance with Spain to prevent Denmark and Poland to interfere with the Swedish war against Russia. He also wished Spanish assistance to secure the Italian lands which he had the right to after his mother-in-law Bona Sforza. John III suggested that Cecilia, being a Catholic, could be made governor in one of the Spanish lands in Europe, preferably Luxembourg. Cecilia invited Eraso to Arboga and issued her own negotiations with him. She supported the plans of making her Spanish governor and offered her own pirate fleet to serve in the Spanish war in the Netherlands. This caused a conflict with her Protestant brother Charles, who begun to attack her fleet with his own. According to Eraso's reports, Cecilia acted as a valuable informer to Spain. When John's negotiations with Spain failed, he became suspicious of Cecilia's dealings with Eraso. John had Eraso placed in house arrest and banned him from any contact with Cecilia. In the night of 17–18 June 1579, Cecilia bribed her way in to Stockholm in secret and attempted to see Eraso. The alarm rang, and Cecilia and her retinue was captured by the guard and brought to John, which caused a great scene between the siblings. Shortly after, Cecilia returned to Germany, followed by the exiled Francisco de Eraso.

Baden
Upon her return to Baden in 1579, Cecilia sought to take control over her dower lands and of Baden-Rodemachen from the relatives of her late consort in name of her son. Francisco de Eraso and Cecilia lived together in Baden for a time before Eraso continued on his way to Spain. During this time, she gave birth to a daughter, which caused a scandal as she had by that time been a widow for four years. The daughter, who was fathered by Eraso, was placed in the convent of Liethentahl by Edvard Fortunatus against Cecilia's will, and she was not allowed to see her again until 1622: she took the vows as an adult and is known only by her name as a nun, Charitas.

In her struggle against the family of her late consort, she was supported by the papal legate Antonio Possevino, Eraso and John III: her other brother Charles IX, however, broke with her after the birth of Charitas. She also had her sons placed in care of the Jesuits. Her alliance with Spain, however, eventually made her lose the support of John as well, who in 1581 refused her to return to Sweden. Cecilia lived on the income of her Swedish estate, but this was confiscated by John in 1585 after her opposition to his marriage with Gunilla Bielke.

In 1588, her son Edvard Fortunatus took control of Baden-Rodemachen. He confiscated Cecilia's dower lands, and as both he and Cecilia amounted huge debts. Cecilia became a known diplomat when she courted various Catholic power holders on behalf of herself and her son in economical and political matters on constant journeys. This became even more necessary in 1596, when her son was deposed by the Protestant line of the Baden dynasty after his unequal 1593 marriage to Maria van Eicken. She is described as a talented diplomat with a great wit and verbal talent. She courted her nephew the Polish monarch, the German Roman Emperor and the Pope. As margravine within the Holy Roman Empire, she had the right to a seat at the empirical German-Roman assembly, a right she also used: in 1613, she addressed the Imperial German Roman Assembly in Regensburg in favor of her second son, who had been imprisoned by the Protestant line of Baden. She was often successful as she secured favorable sentences in her favor at the Imperial Court, but as the sentences could not be carried out in territories which was de jure but not de facto controlled by the Emperor, they were of little practical value. Cecilia was a target of Protestant propaganda for her conversion to Catholicism and political activity. The perhaps most known slander against her was a story by Everhard van Reyd: he claimed that she hosted a brothel in Antwerp, and that her son had to drag her from it in her hair (1590). She was also compared to Empress Messalina.

Cecilia lived in a difficult situation, as she was forced to support herself by loans due to her lack of income and was often hunted by her creditors. In 1618, her estate was taken and she fled by carriage to make contact with the archbishop of Trier in Luxembourg: to escape her persecutors, she was forced to abandon her carriage and jump over the border to Lorraine. Upon the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War, the Protestant line of the Baden dynasty was deposed by the Imperial army and her grandson was as a Catholic allowed to take control over the entire territory of Baden. Cecilia was able to return to her estate in Rodemachen and spend her last years in comfort. She died at a very advanced age for that time and is buried beneath the floor in the church in Rodemack.

Issue

 * Edward Fortunatus, Margrave of Baden-Rodemachern (1565–1600)
 * Kristoffer Gustav of Baden-Rodemachern (1566–1609)
 * Philip III, Margrave of Baden-Rodemachern (1567–1620)
 * Karl of Baden-Rodemachern (1569–1590)
 * Bernhard of Baden-Rodemachern (1570–1571)
 * Johann Karl of Baden-Rodemachern (1572–1599) in the Knights Hospitaller
 * Charitas Cecilia (1579–1629), illegitimate daughter, placed in a convent.

title: Princess Cecilia of Sweden