Microorganism
A microorganism, or microbe, is a microscopic organism, which may exist in its single-celled form or in a colony of cells. The possible existence of unseen microbial life was suspected from ancient times, such as in Jain scriptures from 6th century BC India and the 1st century BC book On Agriculture by Marcus Terentius Varro. Microbiology, the scientific study of microorganisms, began with their observation under the microscope in the 1670s by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek. In the 1850s, Louis Pasteur found that microorganisms caused food spoilage, debunking the theory of spontaneous generation. In the 1880s, Robert Koch discovered that microorganisms caused the diseases tuberculosis and anthrax. Microorganisms include all unicellular organisms and so are diverse. Of the three domains of life identified by Carl Woese, all of the Archaea and Bacteria are microorganisms; these were grouped together in the two domain system as Prokaryotes, the other being the eukaryotes. The third domain Eukaryota includes all multicellular organisms and many unicellular protists and protozoans.
Some protists are related to some to green plants. Many of the multicellular organisms are microscopic, namely micro-animals, some fungi and some algae, but these are not discussed here, they live in every habitat from the poles to the equator, geysers and the deep sea. Some are adapted to extremes such as hot or cold conditions, others to high pressure and a few such as Deinococcus radiodurans to high radiation environments. Microorganisms make up the microbiota found in and on all multicellular organisms. A December 2017 report stated that 3.45-billion-year-old Australian rocks once contained microorganisms, the earliest direct evidence of life on Earth. Microbes are important in human culture and health in many ways, serving to ferment foods, treat sewage, produce fuel and other bioactive compounds, they are essential tools in biology as model organisms and have been put to use in biological warfare and bioterrorism. They are a vital component of fertile soils. In the human body microorganisms make up the human microbiota including the essential gut flora.
They are the pathogens responsible for many infectious diseases and as such are the target of hygiene measures. The possible existence of microorganisms was discussed for many centuries before their discovery in the 17th century. By the fifth century BC, the Jains of present-day India postulated the existence of tiny organisms called nigodas; these nigodas are said to be born in clusters. According to the Jain leader Mahavira, the humans destroy these nigodas on a massive scale, when they eat, breathe and move. Many modern Jains assert that Mahavira's teachings presage the existence of microorganisms as discovered by modern science; the earliest known idea to indicate the possibility of diseases spreading by yet unseen organisms was that of the Roman scholar Marcus Terentius Varro in a 1st-century BC book titled On Agriculture in which he called the unseen creatures animalcules, warns against locating a homestead near a swamp: … and because there are bred certain minute creatures that cannot be seen by the eyes, which float in the air and enter the body through the mouth and nose and they cause serious diseases.
In The Canon of Medicine, Avicenna suggested that tuberculosis and other diseases might be contagious. Akshamsaddin mentioned the microbe in his work Maddat ul-Hayat about two centuries prior to Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek's discovery through experimentation: It is incorrect to assume that diseases appear one by one in humans. Disease infects by spreading from one person to another; this infection occurs through seeds that are so small they are alive. In 1546, Girolamo Fracastoro proposed that epidemic diseases were caused by transferable seedlike entities that could transmit infection by direct or indirect contact, or without contact over long distances. Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek is considered to be the father of microbiology, he was the first in 1673 to discover, describe and conduct scientific experiments with microoorganisms, using simple single-lensed microscopes of his own design. Robert Hooke, a contemporary of Leeuwenhoek used microscopy to observe microbial life in the form of the fruiting bodies of moulds.
In his 1665 book Micrographia, he made drawings of studies, he coined the term cell. Louis Pasteur exposed boiled broths to the air, in vessels that contained a filter to prevent particles from passing through to the growth medium, in vessels without a filter, but with air allowed in via a curved tube so dust particles would settle and not come in contact with the broth. By boiling the broth beforehand, Pasteur ensured that no microorganisms survived within the broths at the beginning of his experiment. Nothing grew in the broths in the course of Pasteur's experiment; this meant that the living organisms that grew in such broths came from outside, as spores on dust, rather than spontaneously generated within the broth. Thus, Pasteur supported the germ theory of disease. In 1876, Robert Koch established, he found that the blood of cattle which were infected with anthrax always had large numbers of Bacillus anthracis. Koch found that he could transmit anthrax from one animal to another by taking a small sample of blood from the infected animal and injecting it into a healthy one, this caused the healthy animal to become sick.
He found that he could grow the bacteria in a nutrient broth inject it into a heal
Porto Venere
Porto Venere is a town and comune located on the Ligurian coast of Italy in the province of La Spezia. It comprises the three villages of Fezzano, Le Grazie and Porto Venere, the three islands of Palmaria and Tinetto. In 1997 Porto Venere and the villages of Cinque Terre were designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site; the ancient Portus Veneris is believed to date back to at least the middle of the 1st century BC. It has been said that the name refers to a temple to the goddess Venus, sited on the promontory where the church of Peter the Apostle now stands; the name has been linked to that of the hermit Saint Venerius. In Roman times the city was a fishing community. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Porto Venere became the base of the Byzantine fleet in the northern Tyrrhenian Sea, but was destroyed by the Lombards in 643 AD, it was a frequent target of Saracen raids. First indications of the existence of a castle date from 1113, in 1161 the walls were erected. Porto Venere became a fiefdom of a family from Vezzano before passing to Genoa in the early 12th century.
In 1494, it suffered a devastating bombardment from the Aragonese fleet during their war with Genoa: subsequently the old part of the town declined in importance, giving way to the development of the Borgo Nuovo, which had existed from 1139 and is centred on the church of St. Peter. On 2 December 1797, after the French established their domination in Italy, the town became part of the Department of the Gulf of Venus, with the capital in La Spezia, in the Ligurian Republic annexed to the First French Empire. From 28 April 1798 with the new French law, the territory of Portovenere fell in the seventh canton, as the capital, the Jurisdiction of the Gulf of Venus since 1803 and the main center of the third State of the Gulf of Venus in the jurisdiction of the Gulf of Venus. From 13 June 1805 to 1814 it was included in the Department of the Apennines, it was at this point which, in 1812, it became part of the coastal route called "Route Napoleon" in honor of the French general and now known as localized road 530, which still connects the marine center with La Spezia via Fezzano, Le Grazie and Terizzo.
In 1815 it was incorporated in the Kingdom of Sardinia, according to the decisions of the Congress of Wien of 1814, subsequently in the Kingdom of Italy from 1861. From 1859 to 1927 the territory was included in the First district of La Spezia, part of the Eastern District of the Province of Genoa before and, with the establishment in 1923, the Province of La Spezia then. In 1998 it obtained for its architectural heritage and natural entry in the list of protected World Heritage Site, with the Rolli in Genoa's historic center and the only two goods entered for Liguria, in 2001 established eponymous Regional Natural Park; the municipal Coat of arms was approved by the special decree of the Head of the Government dated 19 April 1933. In addition to the emblem and banner of the city is the cross of St. George to be a symbol of civic and historical community of Porto Venere, including banner bearing its coat of arms and wants to emphasize the secular alliance of the village with the ancient Republic of Genoa.
This "objective" is mentioned in the municipal charter. The village lies at the southern end of a peninsula, breaking away from the jagged coastline of the Riviera di Levante, forming the western tip of the Gulf of La Spezia. At the end of this peninsula are three small islands: Palmaria and Tinetto. Bordered to the north by the municipality of La Spezia and south and east is washed by the Mediterranean Sea. Is about 3.2 kilometres south of La Spezia and 72 kilometres southeast of Genoa. There is a conveyor system with the sewer grates and pumps that push the waste into a subsea pipeline that comes out to about 200 metres beyond the toe of St. Peter; the strong current and high depth of discharge, about 35 metres, contribute to the rapid dispersion of the fluid. The beaches of the area are a tourist attraction; the climate is Mediterranean, with no excess heat in summer and freezing in winter episodes. However, rainfall can be abundant in autumn and spring, due to the orography of the Riviera di Levante.
In the municipal area, the weather station is located on Island of Palmaria, where data can be considered similar to those occurring in Porto Venere and the surrounding areas. The area of Portovenere-Palmaria Island is the only point behind in the Ligurian Sea between the Isle of Elba and the islands of Hyères, France. Hence the strategic role in the history of seafaring. In the municipality of PortoVenere, in Panigaglia, into the Gulf of Spezia, there is a regasification plant, thanks to which it can import by sea, in the liquid state, natural hydrocarbon gas such as liquified natural gas. Portovenere is a town that lives tourist trade and activities related to tourist accommodation. In recent years have become important activities such as hotels and Breakfast, guest houses and residences. Popular shopping promenade in the Doria quay and picturesque Alley and panoramic views to the church of St. Peter and the Doria Castle; the harbor of Portovenere, although the smallest of Liguria, is always sold out in the summer season and hosts many celebrities.
The Gothic Church of St. Peter, consecrated in 1198, it was built over a pre-existing 5th century Palaeo-Christian church, which had rectangular plan and semicircular apse. The new pa
Ordination
Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart as clergy to perform various religious rites and ceremonies. The process and ceremonies of ordination vary by denomination. One, in preparation for, or, undergoing the process of ordination is sometimes called an ordinand; the liturgy used at an ordination is sometimes referred to as an ordination. The tradition of the ordained monastic community began with the Buddha, who established orders of monks and of nuns; the procedure of ordination in Buddhism is laid down in the Vinaya and Patimokkha or Pratimoksha scriptures. There exist three intact ordination lineages nowadays in which one can receive an ordination according to the Buddha's teachings: Dharmaguptaka Lineage Mulasarvastivadin Lineage Theravada Lineage Saicho requested that the Japanese government allow the construction of a Mahayana ordination platform. Permission was granted in 822 CE; the platform was finished in 827 CE at Enryaku-ji temple on Mount Hiei, was the first in Japan.
Prior to this, those wishing to become monks/nuns were ordained using the Hinayana precepts, whereas after the Mahayana ordination platform, people were ordained with the Bodhisattva precepts as listed in the Brahma Net Sutra. Pabbajja is an ordination procedure for novice Buddhist monks in the Theravada tradition; the legitimacy of ordained nuns has become a significant topic of discussion in recent years. Texts passed down in every Buddhist tradition record that Gautama Buddha created an order of ordained nuns, but the tradition has died out in some Buddhist traditions such as Theravada Buddhism, while remaining strong in others such as Chinese Buddhism. In the Tibetan lineage, which follows the Mulasarvastivadin lineage, the lineage of ordained nuns was not brought to Tibet by the Indian Vinaya masters, hence there is no rite for the ordination of full nuns; however th 14th Dalai Lama has endeavored for many years to improve this situation. In 2005, he asked ordained nuns in the Dharmaguptaka lineage Jampa Tsedroen, to form a committee to work for the acceptance of the bhiksuni lineage within the Tibetan tradition, donated €50,000 for further research.
The "1st International Congress on Buddhist Women’s Role in the Sangha: Bhikshuni Vinaya and Ordination Lineages" was held at the University of Hamburg from July 18–20, 2007, in cooperation with the University’s Asia-Africa Institute. Although the general tenor was that full ordination was overdue, the Dalai Lama presented a pre-drafted statement saying that more time was required to reach a decision, thus nullifying the intentions of the congress. In Medieval Sōtō Zen, a tradition of posthumous ordination was developed to give the laity access to Zen funeral rites. Chinese Ch’an monastic codes, from which Japanese Sōtō practices were derived, contain only monastic funeral rites. To solve this problem, the Sōtō school developed the practice of ordaining laypeople after death, thus allowing monastic funeral rites to be used for them as well; the Buddhist ordination tradition of the New Kadampa Tradition-International Kadampa Buddhist Union is not the traditional Buddhist ordination, but rather one newly created by Kelsang Gyatso.
Although those ordained within this organisation are called'monks' and'nuns' within the organisation, wear the robes of traditional Tibetan monks and nuns, in terms of traditional Buddhism they are neither ordained monks and nuns nor are they novice monks and nuns. Unlike most other Buddhist traditions, including all Tibetan Buddhist schools, which follow the Vinaya, the NKT-IKBU ordination consists of the Five Precepts of a lay person, plus five more precepts created by Kelsang Gyatso, he is said to view them as a “practical condensation” of the 253 Vinaya vows of ordained monks. There are no formal instructions and guidelines for the behaviour of monks and nuns within the NKT; because the behaviour of monks and nuns is not defined “each Resident Teacher developed his or her own way of ‘disciplining’ monks and nuns at their centres …”. Kelsang Gyatso's ordination has been publicly criticised by Geshe Tashi Tsering as going against the core teachings of Buddhism and against the teachings of Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelugpa school from which Kelsang Gyatso was expelled Ordination is one of the seven sacraments, variously called holy orders or cheirotonia.
Apostolic succession is considered an essential and necessary concept for ordination, in the belief that all ordained clergy are ordained by bishops who were ordained by other bishops tracing back to bishops ordained by the Apostles who were ordained by Christ, the great High Priest, who conferred his priesthood upon his Apostles. There are three "degrees" of ordination: deacon and bishop. Both bishops and presbyters have authority to celebrate the Eucharist. In common use, the term priest, when unqualified, refers to the rank of presbyter, whereas presbyter is used in rites of ordination and other places where a technical and precise term is required. Ordination of a bishop is performed by several bishops; the ordination of a new bishop is called a consecration. Many ancient sources specify that at least three bishops are necessary to consecrate another, e.g. the 13th Canon of the Council of Carthage states, "A bis
Mathematics
Mathematics includes the study of such topics as quantity, structure and change. Mathematicians use patterns to formulate new conjectures; when mathematical structures are good models of real phenomena mathematical reasoning can provide insight or predictions about nature. Through the use of abstraction and logic, mathematics developed from counting, calculation and the systematic study of the shapes and motions of physical objects. Practical mathematics has been a human activity from as far back; the research required to solve mathematical problems can take years or centuries of sustained inquiry. Rigorous arguments first appeared in Greek mathematics, most notably in Euclid's Elements. Since the pioneering work of Giuseppe Peano, David Hilbert, others on axiomatic systems in the late 19th century, it has become customary to view mathematical research as establishing truth by rigorous deduction from appropriately chosen axioms and definitions. Mathematics developed at a slow pace until the Renaissance, when mathematical innovations interacting with new scientific discoveries led to a rapid increase in the rate of mathematical discovery that has continued to the present day.
Mathematics is essential in many fields, including natural science, medicine and the social sciences. Applied mathematics has led to new mathematical disciplines, such as statistics and game theory. Mathematicians engage in pure mathematics without having any application in mind, but practical applications for what began as pure mathematics are discovered later; the history of mathematics can be seen as an ever-increasing series of abstractions. The first abstraction, shared by many animals, was that of numbers: the realization that a collection of two apples and a collection of two oranges have something in common, namely quantity of their members; as evidenced by tallies found on bone, in addition to recognizing how to count physical objects, prehistoric peoples may have recognized how to count abstract quantities, like time – days, years. Evidence for more complex mathematics does not appear until around 3000 BC, when the Babylonians and Egyptians began using arithmetic and geometry for taxation and other financial calculations, for building and construction, for astronomy.
The most ancient mathematical texts from Mesopotamia and Egypt are from 2000–1800 BC. Many early texts mention Pythagorean triples and so, by inference, the Pythagorean theorem seems to be the most ancient and widespread mathematical development after basic arithmetic and geometry, it is in Babylonian mathematics that elementary arithmetic first appear in the archaeological record. The Babylonians possessed a place-value system, used a sexagesimal numeral system, still in use today for measuring angles and time. Beginning in the 6th century BC with the Pythagoreans, the Ancient Greeks began a systematic study of mathematics as a subject in its own right with Greek mathematics. Around 300 BC, Euclid introduced the axiomatic method still used in mathematics today, consisting of definition, axiom and proof, his textbook Elements is considered the most successful and influential textbook of all time. The greatest mathematician of antiquity is held to be Archimedes of Syracuse, he developed formulas for calculating the surface area and volume of solids of revolution and used the method of exhaustion to calculate the area under the arc of a parabola with the summation of an infinite series, in a manner not too dissimilar from modern calculus.
Other notable achievements of Greek mathematics are conic sections, trigonometry (Hipparchus of Nicaea, the beginnings of algebra. The Hindu–Arabic numeral system and the rules for the use of its operations, in use throughout the world today, evolved over the course of the first millennium AD in India and were transmitted to the Western world via Islamic mathematics. Other notable developments of Indian mathematics include the modern definition of sine and cosine, an early form of infinite series. During the Golden Age of Islam during the 9th and 10th centuries, mathematics saw many important innovations building on Greek mathematics; the most notable achievement of Islamic mathematics was the development of algebra. Other notable achievements of the Islamic period are advances in spherical trigonometry and the addition of the decimal point to the Arabic numeral system. Many notable mathematicians from this period were Persian, such as Al-Khwarismi, Omar Khayyam and Sharaf al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī. During the early modern period, mathematics began to develop at an accelerating pace in Western Europe.
The development of calculus by Newton and Leibniz in the 17th century revolutionized mathematics. Leonhard Euler was the most notable mathematician of the 18th century, contributing numerous theorems and discoveries; the foremost mathematician of the 19th century was the German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss, who made numerous contributions to fields such as algebra, differential geometry, matrix theory, number theory, statistics. In the early 20th century, Kurt Gödel transformed mathematics by publishing his incompleteness theorems, which show that any axiomatic system, consistent will contain unprovable propositions. Mathematics has since been extended, there has been a fruitful interaction between mathematics and science, to
Digestion
Digestion is the breakdown of large insoluble food molecules into small water-soluble food molecules so that they can be absorbed into the watery blood plasma. In certain organisms, these smaller substances are absorbed through the small intestine into the blood stream. Digestion is a form of catabolism, divided into two processes based on how food is broken down: mechanical and chemical digestion; the term mechanical digestion refers to the physical breakdown of large pieces of food into smaller pieces which can subsequently be accessed by digestive enzymes. In chemical digestion, enzymes break down food into the small molecules. In the human digestive system, food enters the mouth and mechanical digestion of the food starts by the action of mastication, a form of mechanical digestion, the wetting contact of saliva. Saliva, a liquid secreted by the salivary glands, contains salivary amylase, an enzyme which starts the digestion of starch in the food. After undergoing mastication and starch digestion, the food will be in the form of a small, round slurry mass called a bolus.
It will travel down the esophagus and into the stomach by the action of peristalsis. Gastric juice in the stomach starts protein digestion. Gastric juice contains hydrochloric acid and pepsin, it contains rennin in case of infants and toddlers. As the first two chemicals may damage the stomach wall, mucus is secreted by the stomach, providing a slimy layer that acts as a shield against the damaging effects of the chemicals. At the same time protein digestion is occurring, mechanical mixing occurs by peristalsis, waves of muscular contractions that move along the stomach wall; this allows the mass of food to further mix with the digestive enzymes. After some time, the resulting thick liquid is called chyme; when the pyloric sphincter valve opens, chyme enters the duodenum where it mixes with digestive enzymes from the pancreas and bile juice from the liver and passes through the small intestine, in which digestion continues. When the chyme is digested, it is absorbed into the blood. 95% of absorption of nutrients occurs in the small intestine.
Water and minerals are reabsorbed back into the blood in the colon where the pH is acidic about 5.6 ~ 6.9. Some vitamins, such as biotin and vitamin K produced by bacteria in the colon are absorbed into the blood in the colon. Waste material is eliminated from the rectum during defecation. Digestive systems take many forms. There is a fundamental distinction between external digestion. External digestion developed earlier in evolutionary history, most fungi still rely on it. In this process, enzymes are secreted into the environment surrounding the organism, where they break down an organic material, some of the products diffuse back to the organism. Animals have a tube in which internal digestion occurs, more efficient because more of the broken down products can be captured, the internal chemical environment can be more efficiently controlled; some organisms, including nearly all spiders secrete biotoxins and digestive chemicals into the extracellular environment prior to ingestion of the consequent "soup".
In others, once potential nutrients or food is inside the organism, digestion can be conducted to a vesicle or a sac-like structure, through a tube, or through several specialized organs aimed at making the absorption of nutrients more efficient. Bacteria use several systems to obtain nutrients from other organisms in the environments. In a channel transupport system, several proteins form a contiguous channel traversing the inner and outer membranes of the bacteria, it is a simple system, which consists of only three protein subunits: the ABC protein, membrane fusion protein, outer membrane protein. This secretion system transports various molecules, from drugs, to proteins of various sizes; the molecules secreted vary in size from the small Escherichia coli peptide colicin V, to the Pseudomonas fluorescens cell adhesion protein LapA of 900 kDa. A type III secretion system means that a molecular syringe is used through which a bacterium can inject nutrients into protist cells. One such mechanism was first discovered in Y. pestis and showed that toxins could be injected directly from the bacterial cytoplasm into the cytoplasm of its host's cells rather than be secreted into the extracellular medium.
The conjugation machinery of some bacteria is capable of transporting proteins. It was discovered in Agrobacterium tumefaciens, which uses this system to introduce the Ti plasmid and proteins into the host, which develops the crown gall; the VirB complex of Agrobacterium tumefaciens is the prototypic system. The nitrogen fixing Rhizobia are an interesting case, wherein conjugative elements engage in inter-kingdom conjugation; such elements as the Agrobacterium Ti or Ri plasmids contain elements that can transfer to plant cells. Transferred genes enter the plant cell nucleus and transform the plant cells into factories for the production of opines, which the bacteria use as carbon and energy sources. Infected plant cells form crown root tumors; the Ti and Ri plasmids are thus endosymbionts of the bacteria, which are in turn endosymbionts of the infected plant. The Ti and Ri plasmids are themselves conjugative. Ti and Ri transfer between bacteria uses an inde
Büyükada
Büyükada is the largest of the nine so-called Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmara, near Istanbul, with an area of about 2 square miles. It is a neighbourhood in the Adalar district of Istanbul Province, Turkey; the island's name means "Big Island" in Turkish. Alternative Greek names are Πρίγκηψ or Πρίγκιψ meaning "Prince" or "Foremost". Büyükada consists of two peaks; the one nearest to the ferry landing, İsa Tepesi Hristos, is topped by the former Greek orphanage, a huge wooden building now in decay. In the valley between the two hills sit the church and monastery of Agios Nikolaos and a former fairground called Luna Park. Byzantine Emperor Justin II had built a palace and monastery on Büyükada in C. E. 569. A convent on Büyükada was the place of exile for the Byzantine empresses Irene, Theophano and Anna Dalassena. There are several historical buildings on Büyükada, such as the Hagia Yorgi Greek Orthodox Church and Monastery dating back to the 6th century, the Agios Dimitrios Church, the Hamidiye Mosque built by Abdul Hamid II.
The pier was designed by Armenian architect Mihran Azaryan. Princess Fahrelnissa Zeid was born in 1901 on the island. After his deportation from the Soviet Union in February 1929, Leon Trotsky was moved to Büyükada in April 1929, where he lived until July 1933. While on Prinkipo, Trotsky stayed at a house called the Yanaros mansion. For the first half of the 20th century, the island was popular among prosperous Turks, Greeks and Armenians; the population of the island today is about 7,000 people. As on the other eight islands, motorised vehicles – except service vehicles – are forbidden so residents and visitors ride bicycles or more take a horse and carriage to travel around the island. Visitors can take the'small tour' of the island by a phaeton, leading to the point from where it is a strenuous climb to Agia Yorgi, a tiny hilltop church with a magnificent panoramic view, a café in its garden that serves wine and sausage sandwiches, this being a part of the "classic" Agia Yorgi experience. Ferries and ships depart from Bostancı, Kartal and Maltepe on the Asian side, from Kabataş on the European side, to Büyükada.
The conditions in which the horses on the island live and the lack of a treatment centre for horses on the island has been criticised by animal rights groups. According to official figures, 400 horses die each year, although activists consider this to be an underestimate, claim that the lifespans of the horses on the islands are reduced. Büyükada has many historic churches and mansions that tourists can visit; the main churches in Buyukada are the Greek Orthodox Churches of Panagia, Hagios Demetrios, Franciscan Church of San Pacifico and the Armenian Church of the Surp Astvadzadzin Verapolium. The Greek Orthodox Hagios Georgios Koudonas and Sotiros Christou are the two monasteries available on the island; the island has a large number of historic mansions however the most popular ones are: Con Pasa, Yelkencizade and Mizzi Mansions. In addition, on the island there is the Prinkipo Greek Orthodox Orphanage, the largest wooden construction in Europe and second largest in the world. Büyükada at Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality websiteBüyük Ada Travel Notes
Pavia
Pavia is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 35 kilometres south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,000. The city was the capital of the Kingdom of the Lombards from 572 to 774. Pavia is the capital of the fertile province of Pavia, known for agricultural products including wine, rice and dairy products. Although there are a number of industries located in the suburbs, these tend not to disturb the peaceful atmosphere of the town, it is home to the ancient University of Pavia, which together with the IUSS, Ghislieri College, Borromeo College, Nuovo College, Santa Caterina College and the EDiSU, belongs to the Pavia Study System. Pavia is the episcopal seat of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Pavia; the city possesses many artistic and cultural treasures, including several important churches and museums, such as the well-known Certosa di Pavia. The Central Hospital of Pavia is one of the most important hospitals in Italy.
Dating back to pre-Roman times, the town of Pavia known as Ticinum, was a municipality and an important military site under the Roman Empire. It was said by Pliny the Elder to have been founded by the Laevi and Marici, two Ligurian tribes, while Ptolemy attributes it to the Insubres; the Roman city most began as a small military camp, built by the consul Publius Cornelius Scipio in 218 BC to guard a wooden bridge he had built over the river Ticinum, on his way to search for Hannibal, rumoured to have managed to lead an army over the Alps and into Italy. The forces of Rome and Carthage ran into each other soon thereafter, the Romans suffered the first of many crushing defeats at the hands of Hannibal, with the consul himself losing his life; the bridge was destroyed, but the fortified camp, which at the time was the most forward Roman military outpost in the Po Valley, somehow survived the long Second Punic War, evolved into a garrison town. Its importance grew with the extension of the Via Aemilia from Ariminum to the Po River, which it crossed at Placentia and there forked, one branch going to Mediolanum and the other to Ticinum, thence to Laumellum where it divided once more, one branch going to Vercellae - and thence to Eporedia and Augusta Praetoria - and the other to Valentia - and thence to Augusta Taurinorum.
It was at Pavia in 476 AD that the reign of Romulus Augustulus, the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire ended and Roman rule ceased in Italy. Romulus Augustulus, while considered the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, was a usurper of the imperial throne. Though being the emperor, Romulus Augustulus was the mouthpiece for his father Orestes, the person who exercised power and governed Italy during Romulus Augustulus's short reign. Ten months after Romulus Augustulus's reign began, Orestes's soldiers under the command of one of his officers named Odoacer and killed Orestes in the city of Pavia in 476; the rioting that took place as part of Odoacer's uprising against Orestes sparked fires that burnt much of Pavia to the point that Odoacer, as the new king of Italy, had to suspend the taxes for the city for five years so that it could finance its recovery. Without his father, Romulus Augustulus was powerless. Instead of killing Romulus Augustulus, Odoacer pensioned him off at 6,000 solidi a year before declaring the end of the Western Roman Empire and himself king of the new Kingdom of Italy.
Odoacer's reign as king of Italy did not last long, because in 488 the Ostrogothic peoples led by their king Theoderic invaded Italy and waged war against Odoacer. After fighting for 5 years, Theoderic defeated Odoacer and on March 15, 493, assassinated Odoacer at a banquet meant to negotiate a peace between the two rulers. With the establishment of the Ostrogoth kingdom based in northern Italy, Theoderic began his vast program of public building. Pavia was among several cities that Theodoric chose to expand, he began the construction of the vast palace complex that would become the residence of Lombard monarchs several decades later. Theoderic commissioned the building of the Roman-styled amphitheatre and bath complex in Pavia. Near the end of Theoderic's reign the Christian philosopher Boethius was imprisoned in one of Pavia's churches from 522 to 525 before his execution for treason, it was during Boethius's captivity in Pavia that he wrote his seminal work the Consolation of Philosophy. Pavia played an important role in the war between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Ostrogoths that began in 535.
After the Eastern Roman general Belisarius's victory over the Ostrogothic leader Wittigis in 540 and the loss of most of the Ostrogoth lands in Italy, Pavia was among the last centres of Ostrogothic resistance that continued the war and opposed Eastern Roman rule. After the capitulation of the Ostrogothic leadership in 540 more than a thousand men remained garrisoned in Pavia and Verona dedicated to opposing Eastern Roman rule; the resilience of Ostrogoth strongholds like Pavia against invading forces allowed pockets of Ostrogothic rule to limp along until being defeated in 561. Pavia and the peninsula of Italy didn't remain long under the rule of the Eastern Roman Empire, for in 568, a new people invaded Italy; this new invading people in 568
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Spallanzani, Lazaro". Encyclopædia Britannica. 25 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 592–593.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the 
