1.
Burlington House
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Burlington House is a building on Piccadilly in London. It was originally a private Palladian mansion, and was expanded in the century after being purchased by the British government. The house was one of the earliest of a number of large private residences built on the north side of Piccadilly, previously a country lane. The first version was begun by Sir John Denham about 1664 and it was a red-brick double-pile hip-roofed mansion with a recessed centre, typical of the style of the time, or perhaps even a little old fashioned. In 1704 the house passed to the ten-year-old Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, who was to become the patron of the Palladian movement in England. The colonnade separated the house from increasingly urbanized Piccadilly with a cour dhonneur, inside, Baroque decorative paintings in the entrance hall and staircase by Sebastiano Ricci and Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini resulted in some of the richest interiors in London. In between his two Grand Tours of Italy young Lord Burlingtons taste was transformed by the publication of Giacomo Leonis Palladio. In 1717 or 1718, Colen Campbell was appointed to replace Gibbs, the ground floor became a rusticated basement, which supported a monumental piano nobile of nine bays. This had no centrepiece, but was highlighted by venetian windows in the end bays. Other alterations included a monumental screening gateway to Piccadilly and the reconstruction of most of the principal interiors, with typical Palladian features such as rich coved ceilings. The Saloon, constructed immediately after William Kents return from Rome in December 1719, has survived in the most intact condition and its plaster putti above the pedimented doorcases were probably by Giovanni Battista Guelfi. Lord Burlington transferred his energies to Chiswick House after 1722. On Burlingtons death in 1753, Burlington House passed to the Dukes of Devonshire, the 4th Dukes younger son Lord George Cavendish and a Devonshire in-law, the 3rd Duke of Portland, each used the house for at least two separate spells. Portland had some of the interiors altered by John Carr in the 1770s. Eventually Lord George, who was a man in his own right due to a marriage to an heiress. Like Carrs work Wares was sympathetic with the Palladian style of the house, providing an example of the Kent Revival. In 1819 the Burlington Arcade was built along the part of the grounds. In 1854, Burlington House was sold to the British government for £140,000 and this plan, however, was abandoned in the face of strong opposition and in 1857 Burlington House was occupied by the Royal Society, the Linnean Society and the Chemical Society
2.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
3.
Non-governmental organization
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A non-governmental organization is a not-for-profit organization that is independent from states and international governmental organizations. They are usually funded by donations but some avoid formal funding altogether and are run primarily by volunteers, NGOs are highly diverse groups of organizations engaged in a wide range of activities, and take different forms in different parts of the world. Some may have charitable status, while others may be registered for tax exemption based on recognition of social purposes, others may be fronts for political, religious, or other interests. The number of NGOs worldwide is estimated to be 3.7 million, India is estimated to have had around 2 million NGOs in 2009, just over one NGO per 600 Indians, and many times the number of primary schools and primary health centres in India. China is estimated to have approximately 440,000 officially registered NGOs, NGOs are difficult to define, and the term NGO is not always used consistently. In some countries the term NGO is applied to an organization that in another country would be called an NPO, there are many different classifications of NGO in use. The most common focus is on orientation and level of operation, an NGOs orientation refers to the type of activities it takes on. These activities might include human rights, environmental, improving health, an NGOs level of operation indicates the scale at which an organization works, such as local, regional, national, or international. The term non-governmental organization was first coined in 1945, when the United Nations was created, later the term became used more widely. One characteristic these diverse organizations share is that their non-profit status means they are not hindered by short-term financial objectives. Accordingly, they are able to devote themselves to issues which occur across longer time horizons, such as change, malaria prevention. Public surveys reveal that NGOs often enjoy a degree of public trust. NGO/GRO types can be understood by their orientation and level of how they operate, charitable orientation often involves a top-down paternalistic effort with little participation by the beneficiaries. It includes NGOs with activities directed toward meeting the needs of the poor people, in the classical community development project, participation begins with the need definition and continues into the planning and implementation stages. There is maximum involvement of the beneficiaries with NGOs acting as facilitators, community-based organizations arise out of peoples own initiatives. They can be responsible for raising the consciousness of the poor, helping them to understand their rights in accessing needed services. City-wide organizations include organizations such as chambers of commerce and industry, coalitions of business, ethnic or educational groups, national NGOs include national organizations such as the YMCAs/YWCAs, professional associations and similar groups. Some have state and city branches and assist local NGOs and they can be responsible for funding local NGOs, institutions and projects and implementing projects
4.
Charitable organization
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A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization. It differs from types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals as well as social well-being. The legal definition of charitable organization varies according to the country, the regulation, tax treatment, and the way in which charity law affects charitable organizations also varies. Financial figures are important indicators to assess the sustainability of a charity. This information can impact a charitys reputation with donors and societies, and thus, Charitable organizations often depend partly on donations from for-profit-organizations. Such donations to charitable organizations represent a form of corporate philanthropy. Until the mid-18th century, charity was mainly distributed through parish relief, churches, almshouses, Charities were also responsible for education, health, housing and even prisons. It was in the Enlightenment era that charitable and philanthropic activity among voluntary associations, societies, gentlemans clubs, and mutual associations began to flourish in England and the upper-classes increasingly adopted a philanthropic attitude toward the disadvantaged. This new social activism was channeled into the establishment of charitable organizations and this emerging upper-class fashion for benevolence resulted in the incorporation of the first charitable organizations. This was the first such charity in the world and served as the precedent for incorporated associational charities everywhere. Jonas Hanway, another notable philanthropist of the era established The Marine Society in 1756 as the first seafarers charity, by 1763, the Society had recruited over 10,000 men and it was incorporated by an Act of Parliament in 1772. Hanway was also instrumental in establishing the Magdalen Hospital to rehabilitate prostitutes and these organizations were funded by subscription and run as voluntary associations. Charities also began to adopt campaigning roles, where they would champion a cause, the process was however a lengthy one being finally concluded when Saudi Arabia abolished slavery in 1962. This period also saw growing philosophical debate between those who championed state intervention and those who believed that private charities should provide welfare, thomas Malthus, the political economist, criticized poor relief for paupers on economic and moral grounds and proposed leaving charity entirely to the private sector. His views were influential and informed the Victorian laissez-faire attitude toward state intervention for the poor. During the 19th century, a profusion of charitable organizations were set up to alleviate the conditions of the working class in the slums. The Labourers Friend Society, chaired by Lord Shaftesbury in the United Kingdom in 1830, was set up to working class conditions. This included the promotion of allotment of land to labourers for cottage husbandry that later became the allotment movement and this was one of the first housing associations, a philanthropic endeavour that flourished in the second half of the nineteenth century brought about by the growth of the middle class
5.
Astronomy
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Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It applies mathematics, physics, and chemistry, in an effort to explain the origin of those objects and phenomena and their evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, galaxies, and comets, while the phenomena include supernovae explosions, gamma ray bursts, more generally, all astronomical phenomena that originate outside Earths atmosphere are within the purview of astronomy. A related but distinct subject, physical cosmology, is concerned with the study of the Universe as a whole, Astronomy is the oldest of the natural sciences. The early civilizations in recorded history, such as the Babylonians, Greeks, Indians, Egyptians, Nubians, Iranians, Chinese, during the 20th century, the field of professional astronomy split into observational and theoretical branches. Observational astronomy is focused on acquiring data from observations of astronomical objects, theoretical astronomy is oriented toward the development of computer or analytical models to describe astronomical objects and phenomena. The two fields complement each other, with theoretical astronomy seeking to explain the results and observations being used to confirm theoretical results. Astronomy is one of the few sciences where amateurs can play an active role, especially in the discovery. Amateur astronomers have made and contributed to many important astronomical discoveries, Astronomy means law of the stars. Astronomy should not be confused with astrology, the system which claims that human affairs are correlated with the positions of celestial objects. Although the two share a common origin, they are now entirely distinct. Generally, either the term astronomy or astrophysics may be used to refer to this subject, however, since most modern astronomical research deals with subjects related to physics, modern astronomy could actually be called astrophysics. Few fields, such as astrometry, are purely astronomy rather than also astrophysics, some titles of the leading scientific journals in this field includeThe Astronomical Journal, The Astrophysical Journal and Astronomy and Astrophysics. In early times, astronomy only comprised the observation and predictions of the motions of objects visible to the naked eye, in some locations, early cultures assembled massive artifacts that possibly had some astronomical purpose. Before tools such as the telescope were invented, early study of the stars was conducted using the naked eye, most of early astronomy actually consisted of mapping the positions of the stars and planets, a science now referred to as astrometry. From these observations, early ideas about the motions of the planets were formed, and the nature of the Sun, Moon, the Earth was believed to be the center of the Universe with the Sun, the Moon and the stars rotating around it. This is known as the model of the Universe, or the Ptolemaic system. The Babylonians discovered that lunar eclipses recurred in a cycle known as a saros
6.
Geophysics
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Although geophysics was only recognized as a separate discipline in the 19th century, its origins date back to ancient times. The first magnetic compasses were made from lodestones, while more modern magnetic compasses played an important role in the history of navigation, the first seismic instrument was built in 132 BC. Geophysics is applied to societal needs, such as resources, mitigation of natural hazards. Geophysics is a highly interdisciplinary subject, and geophysicists contribute to area of the Earth sciences. To provide an idea of what constitutes geophysics, this section describes phenomena that are studied in physics and how they relate to the Earth. The gravitational pull of the Moon and Sun give rise to two high tides and two low tides every lunar day, or every 24 hours and 50 minutes, therefore, there is a gap of 12 hours and 25 minutes between every high tide and between every low tide. Gravitational forces make rocks press down on rocks, increasing their density as the depth increases. Measurements of gravitational acceleration and gravitational potential at the Earths surface, the surface gravitational field provides information on the dynamics of tectonic plates. The geopotential surface called the geoid is one definition of the shape of the Earth, the geoid would be the global mean sea level if the oceans were in equilibrium and could be extended through the continents. The Earth is cooling, and the heat flow generates the Earths magnetic field through the geodynamo. The main sources of heat are the heat and radioactivity. Some heat is carried up from the bottom of the mantle by mantle plumes, the heat flow at the Earths surface is about 4.2 ×1013 W, and it is a potential source of geothermal energy. Seismic waves are vibrations that travel through the Earths interior or along its surface, the entire Earth can also oscillate in forms that are called normal modes or free oscillations of the Earth. Ground motions from waves or normal modes are measured using seismographs, if the waves come from a localized source such as an earthquake or explosion, measurements at more than one location can be used to locate the source. The locations of earthquakes provide information on plate tectonics and mantle convection, measurements of seismic waves are a source of information on the region that the waves travel through. If the density or composition of the rock changes suddenly, some waves are reflected, reflections can provide information on near-surface structure. Changes in the direction, called refraction, can be used to infer the deep structure of the Earth. Earthquakes pose a risk to humans, understanding their mechanisms, which depend on the type of earthquake, can lead to better estimates of earthquake risk and improvements in earthquake engineering
7.
Piccadilly
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Piccadilly is a road in the City of Westminster, London to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road that connects central London to Hammersmith, Earls Court, Heathrow Airport, St Jamess is to the south of the eastern section, while the western section is built up only on the northern side. At just under 1 mile in length, Piccadilly is one of the widest and straightest streets in central London, Piccadilly has been a main road since at least medieval times, and in the middle ages was known as the road to Reading or the way from Colnbrook. Around 1611 or 1612, a Robert Baker acquired land in the area, shortly after purchasing the land, he enclosed it and erected several dwellings, including his home, Pikadilly Hall. Some of the most notable homes in London were built on the northern side of the street during this period, including Clarendon House. Berkeley House, constructed around the time as Clarendon House, was destroyed by a fire in 1733 and rebuilt as Devonshire House in 1737 by William Cavendish. It was later used as the headquarters for the Whig party. Burlington House has since been home to several noted societies, including the Royal Academy of Arts, the Geological Society of London, several members of the Rothschild family had mansions at the western end of the street. St Jamess Church was consecrated in 1684 and the area became St James Parish. The Old White Horse Cellar, at No,155, was one of the most famous coaching inns in England by the late-18th century, by which time the street had become a favourable location for booksellers. The Bath Hotel emerged around 1790, and Walsingham House was built in 1887, both the Bath and the Walsingham were purchased and demolished when the prestigious Ritz Hotel was built on the site in 1906. Piccadilly Circus station, at the east end of the street, was designed by Charles Holden and it was the first underground station to have no above-ground premises, the station is only accessible by subways from street level. The clothing store Simpsons was established at 203 -206 Piccadilly by Alec Simpson in 1936, during the 20th century, Piccadilly became known as a place to acquire heroin, and was notorious in the 1960s as the centre of Londons illegal drug trade. Today, Piccadilly is regarded as one of Londons principal shopping streets and its landmarks include the Ritz, Park Lane, Athenaeum and Intercontinental hotels, Fortnum & Mason, the Royal Academy, the RAF Club, Hatchards, the Embassy of Japan and the High Commission of Malta. Piccadilly has inspired works of fiction, including Oscar Wildes The Importance of Being Earnest. It is one of a group of squares on the London Monopoly board, the street has been part of a main road for centuries although there is no evidence that it was part of a Roman Road, unlike Oxford Street further north. In the Middle Ages it was known as the road to Reading or the way from Colnbrook, during the Tudor period, relatively settled conditions made expansion beyond Londons city walls a safer venture. Property speculation became an enterprise and developments grew so rapidly that the threat of disease
8.
Independent scientist
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The expression gentleman scientist arose in post-Renaissance Europe but became less common in the 20th century as government and private funding increased. Most independent scientists have at some point in their career been affiliated with some academic institution, many early fellows of the Royal Society in London were independent scientists. It also permits the scientist to have control over research directions. Furthermore, intellectual property of the inventions belongs to the inventor, modern science requires competence and may require access to scientific equipment. If the research succeeds, independent scientists may publish results in the same peer-reviewed journals as funded scientists do, Scientists may choose to work on unusual projects with high risk of failure also when the grant system does not fund them. A scientist could be attributed the status of independent scientist if they work on projects during a gap between two academic positions, for example. Peter Rich said of Peter D. Mitchell, I think he would have found it difficult to have gotten funding because his ideas were rather radical, Mitchell went on to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1978. Chemist Luis Leloir funded the institute he headed, the Institute for Biochemical Research, in Buenos Aires. He won the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1970, citizen science Small Science and Big Science Martello, Robert. The Life and Times of Sir Goldsworthy Gurney, Gentleman Scientist and Inventor, the Life and Times of Sir Goldsworthy Gurney, Gentleman Scientist and Inventor, 1793–1875. Cohen, J. RESEARCH FUNDING, Scientists Who Fund Themselves
9.
Royal charter
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A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organisations such as cities or universities, Charters should be distinguished from warrants and letters of appointment, as they have perpetual effect. Typically, a Royal Charter is produced as a high-quality work of calligraphy on vellum, the British monarchy has issued over 980 royal charters. Of these about 750 remain in existence, the earliest was to the town of Tain in 1066, making it the oldest Royal Burgh in Scotland, followed by the University of Cambridge in 1231. Charters continue to be issued by the British Crown, a recent example being that awarded to the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity, Charters have been used in Europe since medieval times to create cities. The date that such a charter is granted is considered to be when a city is founded, at one time, a royal charter was the sole means by which an incorporated body could be formed, but other means are generally used nowadays instead. In the period before 1958,32 higher education institutes had been created by royal charter and these were typically engineering or technical institutions rather than universities. Royal decrees can therefore no longer grant higher education status or university status. A Royal Charter is granted by Order in Council, either creating an incorporated body and this is an exercise of the Royal Prerogative, and, in Canada, there are hundreds of organisations under Royal Charters. Such organisations include charities, businesses, colleges, universities, today, it is mostly charities and professional institutions who receive Royal Charters. Application for a charter is a petition to the Queen-in-Council, however, meeting these benchmarks does not guarantee the issuance of a Royal Charter. Companies, corporations, and societies in Canada founded under or augmented by a Royal Charter include, Royal Charter was issued in August 1826 to purchase and develop lands. Purchased the Crown Reserve of 1,384,413 acres, cities under Royal Charter are not subject to municipal Acts of Parliament applied generally to other municipalities, and instead are governed by legislation applicable to each city individually. The Royal Charter codifies the laws applied to the particular city, the Universitys Pontifical Charter was granted by Pope Leo XIII in 1889. Several Canadian private schools were founded or reconstituted under Royal Charter, the Royal Gibraltar Post Office was granted Royal Charter in 2005. The Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club obtained Royal Charter in 1959 and it is one of the three banknote-issuing banks in Hong Kong. The Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch Chartered originally in 1847, disbanded 1859, the Institution of Engineers was incorporated by royal charter in 1935. A number of Irish institutions retain the Royal prefix, even though Republic of Ireland severed all remaining connections between the state and the British monarch in 1949, the University of South Africa received a Royal Charter in 1877
10.
William IV of the United Kingdom
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William IV was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death. The third son of George III and younger brother and successor to George IV, he was the last king, William served in the Royal Navy in his youth and was, both during his reign and afterwards, nicknamed the Sailor King. He served in North America and the Caribbean, in 1789, he was created Duke of Clarence and St Andrews. Since his two brothers died without leaving legitimate issue, he inherited the throne when he was 64 years old. Although William did not engage in politics as much as his brother or his father, through his brother, the Viceroy of Hanover, he granted his German kingdom a short-lived liberal constitution. William was succeeded in the United Kingdom by his niece, Victoria, William was born in the early hours of the morning on 21 August 1765 at Buckingham House, the third child and son of King George III and Queen Charlotte. He had two brothers, George and Frederick, and was not expected to inherit the Crown. He was baptised in the Great Council Chamber of St Jamess Palace on 20 September 1765 and his godparents were his paternal uncles, the Duke of Gloucester and Prince Henry, and his paternal aunt, Princess Augusta, then hereditary duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. He spent most of his life in Richmond and at Kew Palace. At the age of thirteen, he joined the Royal Navy as a midshipman and his experiences in the navy seem to have been little different from those of other midshipmen, though in contrast to other sailors he was accompanied on board ships by a tutor. He did his share of the cooking and got arrested with his shipmates after a brawl in Gibraltar. He served in New York during the American War of Independence, I am fully persuaded, that it is unnecessary to caution you against offering insult or indignity to the persons of the Prince or Admiral. The plot did not come to fruition, the British heard of it and assigned guards to William and he became a lieutenant in 1785 and captain of HMS Pegasus the following year. The two were friends, and dined together almost nightly. At Nelsons wedding, William insisted on giving the bride away and he was given command of the frigate HMS Andromeda in 1788, and was promoted to rear-admiral in command of HMS Valiant the following year. William sought to be made a duke like his brothers, and to receive a similar parliamentary grant. To put pressure on him, William threatened to stand for the House of Commons for the constituency of Totnes in Devon, Williams political record was inconsistent and, like many politicians of the time, cannot be certainly ascribed to a single party. William ceased his active service in the Royal Navy in 1790, the following year he spoke in favour of the war, expecting a command after his change of heart, none came
11.
International Astronomical Union
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The International Astronomical Union is an international association of professional astronomers, at the PhD level and beyond, active in professional research and education in astronomy. Among other activities, it acts as the recognized authority for assigning designations to celestial bodies. The IAU is a member of the International Council for Science and its main objective is to promote and safeguard the science of astronomy in all its aspects through international cooperation. The IAU maintains friendly relations with organizations that include amateur astronomers in their membership, the IAU has its head office on the second floor of the Institut dAstrophysique de Paris in the 14th arrondissement of Paris. The IAU is also responsible for the system of astronomical telegrams which are produced and distributed on its behalf by the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams, the Minor Planet Center also operates under the IAU, and is a clearinghouse for all non-planetary or non-moon bodies in the Solar System. The Working Group for Meteor Shower Nomenclature and the Meteor Data Center coordinate the nomenclature of meteor showers, the IAU was founded on July 28,1919, at the Constitutive Assembly of the International Research Council held in Brussels, Belgium. The 7 initial member states were Belgium, Canada, France, Great Britain, Greece, Japan, the first executive committee consisted of Benjamin Baillaud, Alfred Fowler, and four vice presidents, William Campbell, Frank Dyson, Georges Lecointe, and Annibale Riccò. Thirty-two Commissions were appointed at the Brussels meeting and focused on topics ranging from relativity to minor planets, the reports of these 32 Commissions formed the main substance of the first General Assembly, which took place in Rome, Italy, May 2–10,1922. By the end of the first General Assembly, ten nations had joined the Union. Although the Union was officially formed eight months after the end of World War I, the first 50 years of the Unions history are well documented. Subsequent history is recorded in the form of reminiscences of past IAU Presidents, twelve of the fourteen past General Secretaries in the period 1964-2006 contributed their recollections of the Unions history in IAU Information Bulletin No.100. Six past IAU Presidents in the period 1976–2003 also contributed their recollections in IAU Information Bulletin No.104, the IAU includes a total of 12,664 individual members who are professional astronomers from 96 countries worldwide. 83% of all members are male, while 17% are female, among them the unions current president. Membership also includes 79 national members, professional astronomical communities representing their countrys affiliation with the IAU, the sovereign body of the IAU is its General Assembly, which comprises all members. The Assembly determines IAU policy, approves the Statutes and By-Laws of the Union, the right to vote on matters brought before the Assembly varies according to the type of business under discussion. On budget matters, votes are weighted according to the subscription levels of the national members. A second category vote requires a turnout of at least two-thirds of national members in order to be valid, an absolute majority is sufficient for approval in any vote, except for Statute revision which requires a two-thirds majority. An equality of votes is resolved by the vote of the President of the Union, since 1922, the IAU General Assembly meets every three years, with the exception of the period between 1938 and 1948, due to World War II
12.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
13.
Geophysical Journal International
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The journal published original research papers, research notes, letters, and book reviews. The journal covers research on all aspects of geophysics, including planetary science, the journal was formerly entitled Geophysical Journal from January 1988 to June 1989. Geophysical Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society was in existence from March 1958 to December 1987 and was preceded by Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, the Journal of Geophysics was in existence from 1974 to 1987, and preceded by the German-language journal, Zeitschrift für Geophysik. Finally, Annales Geophysicae, Series B, Terrestrial and Planetary Physics was in existence from 1986 to 1987, Annales Geophysicae was formed by the merger of two other journals, Annales de Geophysique, and Annali di Geofisica
14.
NASA
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President Dwight D. Eisenhower established NASA in 1958 with a distinctly civilian orientation encouraging peaceful applications in space science. The National Aeronautics and Space Act was passed on July 29,1958, disestablishing NASAs predecessor, the new agency became operational on October 1,1958. Since that time, most US space exploration efforts have led by NASA, including the Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylab space station. Currently, NASA is supporting the International Space Station and is overseeing the development of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, the agency is also responsible for the Launch Services Program which provides oversight of launch operations and countdown management for unmanned NASA launches. NASA shares data with various national and international such as from the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite. Since 2011, NASA has been criticized for low cost efficiency, from 1946, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics had been experimenting with rocket planes such as the supersonic Bell X-1. In the early 1950s, there was challenge to launch a satellite for the International Geophysical Year. An effort for this was the American Project Vanguard, after the Soviet launch of the worlds first artificial satellite on October 4,1957, the attention of the United States turned toward its own fledgling space efforts. This led to an agreement that a new federal agency based on NACA was needed to conduct all non-military activity in space. The Advanced Research Projects Agency was created in February 1958 to develop technology for military application. On July 29,1958, Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, a NASA seal was approved by President Eisenhower in 1959. Elements of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency and the United States Naval Research Laboratory were incorporated into NASA, earlier research efforts within the US Air Force and many of ARPAs early space programs were also transferred to NASA. In December 1958, NASA gained control of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA has conducted many manned and unmanned spaceflight programs throughout its history. Some missions include both manned and unmanned aspects, such as the Galileo probe, which was deployed by astronauts in Earth orbit before being sent unmanned to Jupiter, the experimental rocket-powered aircraft programs started by NACA were extended by NASA as support for manned spaceflight. This was followed by a space capsule program, and in turn by a two-man capsule program. This goal was met in 1969 by the Apollo program, however, reduction of the perceived threat and changing political priorities almost immediately caused the termination of most of these plans. NASA turned its attention to an Apollo-derived temporary space laboratory, to date, NASA has launched a total of 166 manned space missions on rockets, and thirteen X-15 rocket flights above the USAF definition of spaceflight altitude,260,000 feet. The X-15 was an NACA experimental rocket-powered hypersonic research aircraft, developed in conjunction with the US Air Force, the design featured a slender fuselage with fairings along the side containing fuel and early computerized control systems
15.
Astronomy & Geophysics
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Astronomy & Geophysics, also known as A&G, is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society by Oxford University Press. It was established in 1997 as a replacement for The Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, as of November 2016, it is edited by Sue Bowler. The journal covers astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology, planetary science, solar-terrestrial physics, global and regional geophysics, and it also publishes thematic articles regarding interdisciplinary research, science policy, news, opinions, correspondence, and book and software reviews. Royal Astronomical Society communications about events and people and obituaries are also within this journals purview, furthermore, in keeping with the tradition of the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, it publishes discussions of fundamental science and scientific debates. The journal also functions as a channel of communication between the membership, the Council, and the Societys Officers, during that time 37 volumes were issued. It gave less emphasis to detailed scientific research papers, which instead were published in the societys Monthly Notices, before 1960 the Royal Astronomical Society had published proceedings of its activities in its Monthly Notices alongside research papers, and published research reviews in its Occasional Notes. The Quarterly Journal was established in 1960 to free the Monthly Notices to concentrate on research. The editor was successively David Dewhirst, C. Andrew Murray, jack Meadows, Simon Mitton, David W. Hughes, George H. A. Coles, Robert C. Smith, and David W. Hughes for a second time, series A Chemical Abstracts All articles are indexed, with abstracts, in the Astrophysics Data System, which includes scans of all pages. The ADS bibliographic code is QJRAS, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Geophysical Journal International Official website
16.
Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society
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Fellowship of the Royal Astronomical Society is a fellowship granted to individuals whose application is acceptable to the Royal Astronomical Society. Around a third of Fellows are based outside the United Kingdom, Fellows are entitled to use the post-nominal letters FRAS. As of 2016 examples of fellows include Yvonne Elsworth, Jocelyn Bell Burnell, see the Category, Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society for more examples
17.
Astronomer
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An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who concentrates their studies on a specific question or field outside of the scope of Earth. They look at stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies, as well as other celestial objects — either in observational astronomy. Examples of topics or fields astronomers work on include, planetary science, solar astronomy, there are also related but distinct subjects like physical cosmology which studies the Universe as a whole. Astronomers usually fit into two types, Observational astronomers make direct observations of planets, stars and galaxies, and analyze the data, theoretical astronomers create and investigate models of things that cannot be observed. They use this data to create models or simulations to theorize how different celestial bodies work, there are further subcategories inside these two main branches of astronomy such as planetary astronomy, galactic astronomy or physical cosmology. Today, that distinction has disappeared and the terms astronomer. Professional astronomers are highly educated individuals who typically have a Ph. D. in physics or astronomy and are employed by research institutions or universities. They spend the majority of their time working on research, although quite often have other duties such as teaching, building instruments. The number of astronomers in the United States is actually quite small. The American Astronomical Society, which is the organization of professional astronomers in North America, has approximately 7,000 members. This number includes scientists from other such as physics, geology. The International Astronomical Union comprises almost 10,145 members from 70 different countries who are involved in research at the Ph. D. level. Before CCDs, photographic plates were a method of observation. Modern astronomers spend relatively little time at telescopes usually just a few weeks per year, analysis of observed phenomena, along with making predictions as to the causes of what they observe, takes the majority of observational astronomers time. Astronomers who serve as faculty spend much of their time teaching undergraduate and graduate classes, most universities also have outreach programs including public telescope time and sometimes planetariums as a public service to encourage interest in the field. Those who become astronomers usually have a background in maths, sciences. Taking courses that teach how to research, write and present papers are also invaluable, in college/university most astronomers get a Ph. D. in astronomy or physics. Keeping in mind how few there are it is understood that graduate schools in this field are very competitive
18.
National Astronomy Meeting
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The National Astronomy Meeting is an annual scientific conference of astronomers, usually held in the British Isles. It is sponsored and coordinated by the Royal Astronomical Society, NAM is one of the largest professional astronomy conferences in Europe, with typically around 600 delegates attending. The meetings began when the RAS decided to hold some of its meetings outside London. Known as the out of meetings, the first was held in 1948. The meetings ran in most years until 1966, when they were discontinued, the RAS resumed the series in 1976. An expanded format was adopted from 1992 onwards, to reflect this broader remit the name was changed to the National Astronomy Meeting. Since 1976 the meeting has been every year, except in 2000 when the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union was held in the UK instead. The Royal Astronomical Society was formed in 1820, and from the beginning one of its major activities was to host scientific meetings. Typically eight meetings each year were held at its headquarters in London, the growth of astronomical research throughout the UK and concurrent increase in the number of RAS Fellows beyond the London area lead to a demand for meetings outside the capital. The solution was to one of the societys meetings outside London each year. The first of these was held in Edinburgh in 1948 and they were held in the summer or early autumn in most years until 1966, when the RAS Council decided to stop asking groups to host them. The subsequent lack of meetings outside London was unpopular with Fellows, so the out of meetings were reintroduced in 1976. They replaced the usual monthly RAS meeting for that month, and were held during universities Easter holidays. There was no set format to the meetings, which were originally held over a single day. They were often limited in topical scope, the goal was to attract a broad section of the UK astronomy research community and provide a focus for media attention on the discipline. To reflect this newly expanded format, the series was re-named the National Astronomy Meeting from 1992 onwards, the meetings continued to be held around Easter until 2012, except in 1999 when NAM moved to August to coincide with the 1999 solar eclipse, visible from the venue. From 2013 onwards NAM has been held in late June or early July, since 1994, each meeting has lasted four or five days. Each NAM lasts four or five days and normally includes, Plenary talks every day on topics of broad interest to astronomy, parallel sessions on specialised areas of research every day, with several running concurrently
19.
Public lecture
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A public lecture is one means employed for educating the public in the arts and sciences. The Royal Institution has a history of public lectures and demonstrations given by prominent experts in the field. The Royal Institutions Christmas Lectures for young people are also shown on television. Alexander von Humboldt delivered a series of lectures at the University of Berlin in the winter of 1827–1828. Besides public lectures, public autopsies have been important in promoting knowledge of medicine, public autoposies have sometimes verged on entertainment, American showman P. T. Barnum held a public autopsy of Joice Heth after her death. Heth was a woman whom Barnum had been featuring as being over 160 years old, the autopsy demonstrated that she had in fact been between 76 and 80 years old. The Royal Institution of Great Britain, review of The Showman and the Slave, Race, Death, and Memory in Barnums America by Benjamin Reiss. Gary Cross, Journal of American History, archived from the original on December 28,2004. Mind Games, A look at phrenology in the 1830s, tom Kelleher, Research Historian, Old Sturbridge Visitor, Fall,1997, pp. 13–15. Lecture List of public lecture series Online Lectures, webcasts Lecturefinder, Search academic and college grade lectures online. Platformed. org, A New York-based organization advocating public lecture attendance, yovisto. com, An academic e-lecture search engine. Open Lectures & Talks, Find lists of UK public lectures and talks
20.
NASA Astrobiology Institute
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The NAI is a virtual, distributed organization that integrates astrobiology research and training programs in concert with the national and international science communities. In 1996, the announcement of possible traces of ancient life in the Allan Hills 84001 meteorite from Mars led to new interest in the subject. At the same time, NASA developed the Origins Program, broadening its reach from exobiology to astrobiology, the study of the origin, evolution, distribution, gerald Soffen former Project Scientist with the Viking program, helped coordinate the new institute. In May, NASA selected eleven science teams, each with a Principal Investigator, NAI was established in July with Scott Hubbard as interim Director. Nobel laureate Baruch S. Blumberg was appointed the first Director of the institute, the GFAJ-1 bacterium was found by team researchers at Mono Lake in California, but other researchers questioned and debunked the findings. Program budgets for fiscal year 2008 were as follows, NAI, $16 million, Grants for the Exobiology and Evolutionary Biology Program, $11 million, ASTID, $9 million, ASTEP, as of 2015, the NAI has 12 teams including about 600 researchers distributed across ~100 institutions. It also has 13 international partner organizations, after a decade in the cold, SETI gets money from NASA. NASA Astrobiology Institute awarded the SETI Institute $5 million spread over five years for 10 projects and this project aims to target specific solar systems that are likely to support life, and will use telescopes to screen a type of star called an M-star Dick, Steven J. The Living Universe, NASA and the Development of Astrobiology, the NASA Astrobiology Institute, Reaching Within and Beyond. American Association for the Advancement of Science, Astrobiology team taking shape at Ames. Out of the Lab, And This World, Hands-On Nobel Laureate to Lead NASA Agency Studying Lifes Origins
21.
Institute of Physics
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The Institute of Physics is a scientific charity that works to advance physics education, research and application. It has a membership of over 50,000. The IOP supports physics in education, research and industry, the IOPs publishing company, IOP Publishing, publishes more than 70 academic journals and magazines. The Institute of Physics was formed in 1960 from the merger of the Physical Society, founded as the Physical Society of London in 1874, the Physical Society of London had been officially formed on 14 February 1874 with John Hall Gladstone as its first president. From its beginning, the society held meetings and demonstrations. In the early part of the 20th century, the profession of physicist emerged, in 1920, the Institute of Physics was created under special license from the Board of Trade. Sir Richard Glazebrook was elected first President of the Institute, as with the Physical Society, dissemination of knowledge was fundamental to the Institute, which began publication of the Journal of Scientific Instruments in 1922. The annual Reports on Progress in Physics began in 1934 and is published today. In 1952, the Institute began the Graduateship course and examination, upon being granted a royal charter in 1970, the organization renamed itself to Institute of Physics. There are four grades of membership, iMember, Associate Member, Member, qualification for AMInstP is normally by completion of an undergraduate degree that is recognised by the Institute – this covers almost all UK physics degrees. An AMInstP can become an MInstP by gaining experience as a physicist. MInstP and FInstP are the two grades of membership, granting the right to vote in Institute elections. The Institute grants academic dress to the grades of membership. Those who have passed the Institutes graduateeship examination are entitled to a violet damask Oxford burgon-shaped hood, corporate members are entitled to wear a hood of Toronto full shape in violet damask, lined in violet and faced on the cowl with 2/5 cm shot crimson silk. Fellows wear a doctors bonnet in bkack velvet with red tassels, until 1998 CPhys was granted automatically with MInstP, however since then it has become a separate qualification that is equal in stature to Chartered Engineer. From 2012, it requires re-validation every three years, the IOP accredits undergraduate degrees in physics in British and Irish universities. At post-16 level, the IOP developed the Advancing Physics A-level course, in conjunction with the OCR examining board, Advancing Physics was sold to Oxford University Press in January 2011. The IOP also developed the Integrated Sciences degree, which is run at four universities in England, the IOP provides an important educational service for secondary schools in the UK
22.
Royal Society of Chemistry
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The Royal Society of Chemistry is a learned society in the United Kingdom with the goal of advancing the chemical sciences. At its inception, the Society had a membership of 34,000 in the UK. The headquarters of the Society are at Burlington House, Piccadilly and it also has offices in Thomas Graham House in Cambridge where RSC Publishing is based. The Society has offices in the United States at the University City Science Center, Philadelphia, the organisation carries out research, publishes journals, books and databases, as well as hosting conferences, seminars and workshops. The designation FRSC is given to a group of elected Fellows of the society who have made contributions to chemistry. The names of Fellows are published each year in The Times, Honorary Fellowship of the Society is awarded for distinguished service in the field of chemistry. The rim of the wheel is gold, and the spokes are of non-tarnishable metals. The current president is Sir John Holman, AMRSC, Associate Member, Royal Society of Chemistry The entry level for RSC membership, AMRSC is awarded to graduates in the chemical sciences. HonFRSC, Honorary Fellow of the Society Honorary Fellowship is awarded for distinguished service in the field of chemistry, CChem, Chartered Chemist The award of CChem is considered separately from admission to a category of RSC membership. Candidates need to be MRSC or FRSC and demonstrate development of specific attributes and be in a job which requires their chemical knowledge. CSci, Chartered Scientist The RSC is a licensed by the Science Council for the registration of Chartered Scientists, eurChem, European Chemist The RSC is a member of the European Communities Chemistry Council, and can award this designation to Chartered Chemists. MChemA, Mastership in Chemical Analysis The RSC awards this postgraduate qualification which is the UK statutory qualification for practice as a Public Analyst and it requires candidates to submit a portfolio of suitable experience and to take theory papers and a one-day laboratory practical examination. The qualification GRSC was awarded from 1981 to 1995 for completion of college courses equivalent to a chemistry degree. It replaced the GRIC offered by the Royal Institute of Chemistry, the society is organised around 9 divisions, based on subject areas, and local sections, both in the United Kingdom and overseas. Divisions cover broad areas of chemistry but also many special interest groups for more specific areas. Analytical Division for analytical chemistry and promoting the aims of the Society for Analytical Chemistry. Dalton Division, named after John Dalton, for inorganic chemistry, Faraday Division, named after Michael Faraday, for physical chemistry and promoting the original aims of the Faraday Society. There are 12 subjects groups not attached to a division, there are 35 local sections covering the United Kingdom and Ireland
23.
Geological Society of London
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The Geological Society of London is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe with over 12,000 Fellows, Fellows are entitled to the postnominal FGS, over 2,000 of whom are Chartered Geologists. The Society is a Registered Charity, No.210161 and it is also a member of the Science Council, and is licensed to award Chartered Scientist to qualifying members. The Society was founded on 13 October 1807 at the Freemasons Tavern, Great Queen Street and it was partly the outcome of a previous club known as the Askesian Society. It received its Royal Charter on 23 April 1825 from George IV, since 1874, the Society has been based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London. This building houses the Societys library, which more than 300,000 volumes of books. It is a member of the UK Science Council, in 1991 it merged with the Institution of Geologists, which had been formed in 1977 to represent the geological profession. The Society celebrated its bicentenary in 2007 and it ran programmes in the geosciences in Britain and abroad, under the auspices of the science writer and palaeontologist Professor Richard Fortey, the president that year. The Society has 24 specialist groups and 15 regional groups which serve as an opportunity for those with specific interests to meet and they are all free for members to join and some are open to non-members. It also publishes the magazine Geoscientist for Fellows, and has a share in Geology Today and it also co-publishes journals and publishes on behalf of other organisations. The society counts many famous geologists amongst its past presidents, later well-known names include Alfred Harker, Arthur Trueman, H. H. Read, and Frederick Shotton. In 1831 it began issuing an annual award for geology. This is still the Societys premier medal, which in 2006 was awarded to James Lovelock, worth Prize The William Smith Fund The Distinguished Service Award Herries Davies, G. L
24.
President of the Royal Astronomical Society
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The President of the Royal Astronomical Society chairs the Council of the Royal Astronomical Society and its formal meetings. They also liaise with government organisations, similar societies in countries. Future presidents serve one year as President Elect before succeeding the previous president, there have been 89 RAS presidents as of 2015. The first president was William Herschel in 1821, though he never chaired a meeting, the post has generally had a term of office of two years, but some holders resigned after one year e. g. due to poor health. Francis Baily and George Airy were elected a record of four times each, bailys eight years in the role are a record. Since 1876 no-one has served for more than two years in total, dreyer, John L. E. Turner, Herbert H. eds. History of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 1, 1820–1920, history of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 2, 1920–1980
25.
William Herschel
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Frederick William Herschel, KH, FRS was a British astronomer and composer of German origin, and brother of fellow astronomer Caroline Herschel, with whom he worked. Born in the Electorate of Hanover, Herschel followed his father into the Military Band of Hanover, Herschel constructed his first large telescope in 1774, after which he spent nine years carrying out sky surveys to investigate double stars. The resolving power of the Herschel telescopes revealed that the nebulae in the Messier catalogue were clusters of stars, Herschel published catalogues of nebulae in 1802 and in 1820. In the course of an observation on 13 March 1781, he realized that one celestial body he had observed was not a star and this was the first planet to be discovered since antiquity and Herschel became famous overnight. As a result of this discovery, George III appointed him Court Astronomer and he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society and grants were provided for the construction of new telescopes. Herschel pioneered the use of astronomical spectrophotometry as a tool, using prisms. Other work included a determination of the rotation period of Mars, the discovery that the Martian polar caps vary seasonally. In addition, Herschel discovered infrared radiation, Herschel was made a Knight of the Royal Guelphic Order in 1816. He was the first President of the Royal Astronomical Society when it was founded in 1820 and he died in August 1822, and his work was continued by his only son, John Herschel. Herschel was born in the Electorate of Hanover in Germany, then part of the Holy Roman Empire and his father was an oboist in the Hanover Military Band. In 1755 the Hanoverian Guards regiment, in whose band Wilhelm, at the time the crowns of Great Britain and Hanover were united under King George II. As the threat of war with France loomed, the Hanoverian Guards were recalled from England to defend Hanover, after they were defeated at the Battle of Hastenbeck, Herschels father Isaak sent his two sons to seek refuge in England in late 1757. Although his older brother Jakob had received his dismissal from the Hanoverian Guards, Wilhelm, nineteen years old at this time, was a quick student of the English language. In England he went by the English rendition of his name, in addition to the oboe, he played the violin and harpsichord and later the organ. He composed numerous works, including 24 symphonies and many concertos. Six of his symphonies were recorded in April 2002 by the London Mozart Players, Herschel moved to Sunderland in 1761 when Charles Avison immediately engaged him as first violin and soloist for his Newcastle orchestra, where he played for one season. In ‘Sunderland in the County of Durh, apprill 20th 1761’ he wrote his Symphony No.8 in C Minor. He was head of the Durham Militia band 1760–61 and visited the home of Sir Ralph Milbanke at Halnaby Hall in 1760, after Newcastle he moved to Leeds and Halifax where he was the first organist at St John the Baptist church
26.
Term of office
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A term of office is the length of time a person serves in a particular elected office. In many jurisdictions there is a limit on how long terms of office may be before the officeholder must be subject to re-election. Some jurisdictions exercise term limits, setting a number of terms an individual may hold in a particular office. Being the origin of the Westminster system, aspects of the United Kingdoms system of government are replicated in other countries. The monarch serves as head of state until his or her death or abdication, in the United Kingdom Members of Parliament in the House of Commons are elected for the duration of the parliament. Following dissolution of the Parliament, an election is held which consists of simultaneous elections for all seats. For most MPs this means that their terms of office are identical to the duration of the Parliament, an MP elected in a by-election mid-way through a Parliament, regardless of how long they have occupied the seat, is not exempt from facing re-election at the next general election. The Septennial Act 1715 provided that a Parliament expired seven years after it had been summoned, prior to the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 parliaments had no minimum duration. Parliaments could be dissolved early by the monarch at the Prime Ministers request, the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 mandated that Parliaments should last their full five years. Early dissolution is possible, but under much more limited circumstances. Hereditary peers and life peers retain membership of the House of Lords for life, Lords Spiritual hold membership of the House of Lords until the end of their time as bishops, though a senior bishop may be made a life peer upon the end of their bishopric. The devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are variations on the system of government used at Westminster, the office of the leader of the devolved administrations has no numeric term limit imposed upon it. However, in the case of the Scottish Government and the Welsh Assembly Government there are fixed terms for which the legislatures can sit and this is imposed at four years. Elections may be held before this time but only if no administration can be formed, offices of local government other regional elected officials follow similar rules to the national offices discussed above, with persons elected to fixed terms of a few years. Federal judges have different terms in office, however, the majority of the federal judiciary, Article III judges, such as those of the Supreme Court, courts of appeal, and federal district courts, serve for life. The terms of office for officials in state governments according to the provisions of state constitutions. The term for state governors is four years in all states but Vermont and New Hampshire, the National Conference of State Legislatures reported in January 2007 that among state legislatures,44 states had terms of office for the lower house of the state legislature at two years. Five had terms of office at four years,37 states had terms of office for the upper house of the state legislature at four years
27.
Francis Baily
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Francis Baily was an English astronomer. He is most famous for his observations of Bailys beads during an eclipse of the Sun, Baily was also a major figure in the early history of the Royal Astronomical Society, as one of the founders and president four times. Baily was born at Newbury in Berkshire in 1774 to Richard Baily, after a tour in the unsettled parts of North America in 1796–1797, his journal of which was edited by Augustus de Morgan in 1856, Baily entered the London Stock Exchange in 1799. Later, in 1843, he would win the Gold Medal again and he was elected as President of the Royal Astronomical Society four times, with two-year terms each. No other person has served in the more than Bailys four times. The reform of the Nautical Almanac in 1829 was set on foot by his protests and he was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1832. His observations of Bailys Beads, during an eclipse of the sun on 15 May 1836, at Inch Bonney in Roxburghshire. In other work, he completed and discussed H, fosters pendulum experiments, deducing from them an ellipticity for the earth of 1/289.48. This value was corrected for the length of the seconds-pendulum by introducing an element of reduction. His laborious operations for determining the density of the earth, carried out by Henry Cavendishs method. Baily died in London on 30 August 1844 and was buried in the vault in St Marys Church in Thatcham. His Account of the Rev. John Flamsteed is of importance to the scientific history of that time. It included a republication of the British Catalogue, the lunar crater Baily was named in his honour, as was the rigid and thermally insensitive alloy used to cast the 1855 standard yard and a local primary school in his home town of Thatcham. Memoir of the late Francis Baily, monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Works written by or about Francis Baily at Wikisource Baily, Francis, map of Etoiles fixes Awarding of RAS gold medal,1827, MNRAS114 Awarding of RAS gold medal,1843, MNRAS5248 Archival material relating to Francis Baily
28.
George Airy
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Sir George Biddell Airy KCB PRS was an English mathematician and astronomer, Astronomer Royal from 1835 to 1881. His reputation has been tarnished by allegations that, through his inaction, Airy was born at Alnwick, one of a long line of Airys who traced their descent back to a family of the same name residing at Kentmere, in Westmorland, in the 14th century. The branch to which he belonged, having suffered in the English Civil War, moved to Lincolnshire, Airy was educated first at elementary schools in Hereford, and afterwards at Colchester Royal Grammar School. An introverted child, Airy gained popularity with his schoolmates through his skill in the construction of peashooters. From the age of 13, Airy stayed frequently with his uncle, Arthur Biddell at Playford, Biddell introduced Airy to his friend Thomas Clarkson, the slave trade abolitionist who lived at Playford Hall. As a result, he entered Trinity in 1819, as a sizar, meaning that he paid a reduced fee, here he had a brilliant career, and seems to have been almost immediately recognised as the leading man of his year. In 1822 he was elected scholar of Trinity, and in the year he graduated as senior wrangler. On 1 October 1824 he was elected fellow of Trinity, and this chair he held for little more than a year, being elected in February 1828 Plumian professor of astronomy and director of the new Cambridge Observatory. In 1836 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and in 1840, in 1859 he became foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. At the Cambridge Observatory Airy soon showed his power of organisation, the only telescope in the establishment when he took charge was the transit instrument, and to this he vigorously devoted himself. Before long a mural circle was installed, and regular observations were instituted with it in 1833, Airys writings during this time are divided between mathematical physics and astronomy. In 1831 the Copley Medal of the Royal Society was awarded to him for these researches. One of the sections of his able and instructive report was devoted to A Comparison of the Progress of Astronomy in England with that in other Countries and this reproach was subsequently to a great extent removed by his own labours. One of the most remarkable of Airys researches was his determination of the density of the Earth. In 1826, the idea occurred to him of attacking this problem by means of experiments at the top. His first attempt, made in the year, at the Dolcoath mine in Cornwall. A second attempt in 1828 was defeated by a flooding of the mine, the experiments eventually took place at the Harton pit near South Shields in 1854.566. The currently accepted value for Earths density is 5.5153 g/cm³, in 1830, Airy calculated the lengths of the polar radius and equatorial radius of the earth using measurements taken in the UK
29.
Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society
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The Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society is the highest award given by the RAS. The RAS Council have complete freedom as to the grounds on which it is awarded and it has been awarded both for research that has taken a lifetime and for specific pieces of research. The first Gold Medals were awarded in 1824, silver medals were also awarded in 1824 and 1827, but that practice was quickly abandoned, instead the RAS established other awards. In the early years, more than one medal was awarded in a year. This caused a problem when Neptune was discovered in 1846, because many felt an award should jointly be made to John Couch Adams, a controversy arose and no award was made in 1847. The controversy was resolved by giving 12 testimonial awards in 1848 to various people including Adams and Le Verrier, Adams and Le Verrier did not get their gold medals until 1866 and 1868, respectively. Adams, as President, presented Le Verrier with the medal, in some years, particularly early on, the RAS sometimes decided that there were no suitable nominations and so did not award the Gold Medal. There are therefore 17 years without an award, the most recent being 1942, one medal per year was the usual practise, although two medals were awarded in both 1867 and 1886. To ensure balance in areas, in 1964 the award was expanded to two medals per year, one in astronomy and one in geophysics, which remains the current system. All recipients are listed below, along with the years no award was made. The first woman to receive the Gold Medal was Caroline Herschel in 1828, no other woman received the award until Vera Rubin in 1996. Margaret and Geoffrey Burbidge were jointly awarded the 2005 Gold Medal in astronomy, the medal features an image of the 40-foot telescope that was constructed by astronomer Sir William Herschel, who was the first President of the RAS
30.
Asaph Hall
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Asaph Hall III was an American astronomer who is most famous for having discovered the moons of Mars, Deimos and Phobos, in 1877. He determined the orbits of satellites of planets and of double stars, the rotation of Saturn. Hall was born in Goshen, Connecticut, the son of Asaph Hall II, a clockmaker and his paternal grandfather Asaph Hall I was a Revolutionary War officer and Connecticut state legislator. His father died when he was 13, leaving the family in financial difficulty and he later enrolled at the Central College in McGrawville, New York, where he studied mathematics. There he took classes from an instructor of geometry and German, in 1856, Hall took a job at the Harvard College Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and turned out to be an expert computer of orbits. Hall became assistant astronomer at the US Naval Observatory in Washington DC in 1862, in 1875 Hall was given responsibility for the USNO 26-inch telescope, the largest refracting telescope in the world at the time. It was with this telescope that he discovered Phobos and Deimos in August 1877, Hall also noticed a white spot on Saturn which he used as a marker to ascertain the planets rotational period. In 1884, Hall showed that the position of the orbit of Saturns moon, Hyperion, was retrograding by about 20° per year. Hall also investigated stellar parallaxes and the positions of the stars in the Pleiades star cluster, Hall was responsible for apprenticing Henry S. Pritchett at the Naval Observatory in 1875. On June 5,1872 Hall submitted an article entitled On an Experimental Determination of Pi to the journal Messenger of Mathematics, the article appeared in the 1873 edition of the journal, volume 2, pages 113–114. In this article Hall reported the results of an experiment in random sampling that Hall had persuaded his friend, Fox, to perform when Fox was recuperating from a wound received at the Second Battle of Bull Run. The experiment involved repetitively throwing at random a fine wire onto a plane wooden surface ruled with equidistant parallel lines. Pi was computed as 2ml/an where m is the number of trials, l is the length of the steel wire and this paper, an experiment on the Buffons needle problem, is a very early documented use of random sampling in scientific inquiry. Hall retired from the Navy in 1891 and he became a lecturer in celestial mechanics at Harvard University in 1896, and continued to teach there until 1901. Asaph Hall, Jr. Angeline Hall died in 1892, Hall married Mary Gauthier after he fully retired to Goshen, Connecticut in 1901. Hall died in November 1907 while visiting his son Angelo in Annapolis, Hall crater on the Moon as well as Hall crater on the Martian moon Phobos are named in his honor. Asteroid 3299 Hall is also named in his honor, an Astronomers Wife, The Biography of Angeline Hall. A Biographical Memoir of Asaph Hall, 1829–1907, judd and Detwiler, Washington, DC,1908
31.
Albert Einstein
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Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist. He developed the theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of modern physics, Einsteins work is also known for its influence on the philosophy of science. Einstein is best known in popular culture for his mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc2, near the beginning of his career, Einstein thought that Newtonian mechanics was no longer enough to reconcile the laws of classical mechanics with the laws of the electromagnetic field. This led him to develop his theory of relativity during his time at the Swiss Patent Office in Bern. Briefly before, he aquired the Swiss citizenship in 1901, which he kept for his whole life and he continued to deal with problems of statistical mechanics and quantum theory, which led to his explanations of particle theory and the motion of molecules. He also investigated the properties of light which laid the foundation of the photon theory of light. In 1917, Einstein applied the theory of relativity to model the large-scale structure of the universe. He was visiting the United States when Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933 and, being Jewish, did not go back to Germany and he settled in the United States, becoming an American citizen in 1940. This eventually led to what would become the Manhattan Project, Einstein supported defending the Allied forces, but generally denounced the idea of using the newly discovered nuclear fission as a weapon. Later, with the British philosopher Bertrand Russell, Einstein signed the Russell–Einstein Manifesto, Einstein was affiliated with the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, until his death in 1955. Einstein published more than 300 scientific papers along with over 150 non-scientific works, on 5 December 2014, universities and archives announced the release of Einsteins papers, comprising more than 30,000 unique documents. Einsteins intellectual achievements and originality have made the word Einstein synonymous with genius, Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, in the Kingdom of Württemberg in the German Empire, on 14 March 1879. His parents were Hermann Einstein, a salesman and engineer, the Einsteins were non-observant Ashkenazi Jews, and Albert attended a Catholic elementary school in Munich from the age of 5 for three years. At the age of 8, he was transferred to the Luitpold Gymnasium, the loss forced the sale of the Munich factory. In search of business, the Einstein family moved to Italy, first to Milan, when the family moved to Pavia, Einstein stayed in Munich to finish his studies at the Luitpold Gymnasium. His father intended for him to electrical engineering, but Einstein clashed with authorities and resented the schools regimen. He later wrote that the spirit of learning and creative thought was lost in strict rote learning, at the end of December 1894, he travelled to Italy to join his family in Pavia, convincing the school to let him go by using a doctors note. During his time in Italy he wrote an essay with the title On the Investigation of the State of the Ether in a Magnetic Field
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Stephen Hawking
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Hawking was the first to set forth a theory of cosmology explained by a union of the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. He is a supporter of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. In 2002, Hawking was ranked number 25 in the BBCs poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, Hawking has a rare early-onset, slow-progressing form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis that has gradually paralysed him over the decades. He now communicates using a single cheek muscle attached to a speech-generating device, Hawking was born on 8 January 1942 in Oxford, England to Frank and Isobel Hawking. Despite their families financial constraints, both attended the University of Oxford, where Frank read medicine and Isobel read Philosophy. The two met shortly after the beginning of the Second World War at a research institute where Isobel was working as a secretary. They lived in Highgate, but, as London was being bombed in those years, Hawking has two younger sisters, Philippa and Mary, and an adopted brother, Edward. In 1950, when Hawkings father became head of the division of parasitology at the National Institute for Medical Research, Hawking and his moved to St Albans. In St Albans, the family were considered intelligent and somewhat eccentric. They lived an existence in a large, cluttered, and poorly maintained house. During one of Hawkings fathers frequent absences working in Africa, the rest of the family spent four months in Majorca visiting his mothers friend Beryl and her husband, Hawking began his schooling at the Byron House School in Highgate, London. He later blamed its progressive methods for his failure to learn to read while at the school, in St Albans, the eight-year-old Hawking attended St Albans High School for Girls for a few months. At that time, younger boys could attend one of the houses, the family placed a high value on education. Hawkings father wanted his son to attend the well-regarded Westminster School and his family could not afford the school fees without the financial aid of a scholarship, so Hawking remained at St Albans. From 1958 on, with the help of the mathematics teacher Dikran Tahta, they built a computer from clock parts, although at school Hawking was known as Einstein, Hawking was not initially successful academically. With time, he began to show aptitude for scientific subjects and, inspired by Tahta. Hawkings father advised him to medicine, concerned that there were few jobs for mathematics graduates. He wanted Hawking to attend University College, Oxford, his own alma mater, as it was not possible to read mathematics there at the time, Hawking decided to study physics and chemistry
