Houston, Texas

Houston (pronounced /'hjuːstən/) is the largest city in the state of Texas and has the fourth-largest population in the United States. As of July 1, 2006, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates the Houston population at 2,144,491, covering more than 600 square miles (1,600 km²). Houston is the county seat of Harris County and part of the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area, the sixth-largest metropolitan area in the U.S., with a population of more than 5.5 million.[3]
Houston was founded on August 30, [1836]] by brothers Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen on land near the banks of Buffalo Bayou. The city was incorporated on June 5, 1837 and named after the current President of the Republic of Texas, former General Sam Houston, who had commanded at the Battle of San Jacinto which took place 25 miles (40 km) east of where the city was established. The burgeoning port and railroad industry, combined with oil discovery in 1901, has induced continual surges in Houston's population. In the 20th century, Houston became the home of the Texas Medical Center, the world's largest concentration of healthcare and research institutions, and NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center.
Houston's economy has a broad industrial base in the energy, aeronautics, and technology industries; only New York City is home to more Fortune 500 headquarters. The Port of Houston ranks first in the United States in international waterborne tonnage handled and second in total cargo tonnage handled.[4] Houston is also home to Rice University, one of the United States' leading teaching and research universities, and the University of Houston, Texas's third-largest public research university, with more than 36,000 students from 130 countries.
Houston is a multicultural city, with a large and growing international community. The Museum District is home to many cultural institutions and exhibits, attracting more than 7 million visitors a year. Houston has an active visual and performing arts scene and is one of five U.S. cities that offer year-round resident companies in all major performing arts.[5]

History
In August 1836, John Kirby Allen and Augustus Chapman Allen, two real estate entrepreneurs from New York City, purchased 6,642 acres (27 km²) of land along Buffalo Bayou with the intent of founding a city.[6] The Allen brothers decided to name the city after Sam Houston, the popular general of the Texans at the Battle of San Jacinto.[6] Houston was granted incorporation on June 5, 1837, with James S. Holman becoming its first mayor.[7] In the same year, Houston became the county seat of Harrisburg County (now Harris County) and the temporary capital of the Republic of Texas.[8] In 1840, the community established a Chamber of Commerce in part to promote shipping and waterborne business at the newly created port on Buffalo Bayou.[9]
By 1860, Houston had emerged as a commercial and railroad hub for the export of cotton.[8] Railroad spurs from the Texas inland converged in Houston, where they met rail lines to the ports of Galveston and Beaumont. During the Civil War, Houston served as a headquarters for General John Bankhead Magruder, who used Houston as an organization point for the Battle of Galveston.[10] After the Civil War, Houston businessmen initiated efforts to widen the city's extensive system of bayous so the city could accept more commerce between downtown and the nearby port of Galveston. In 1900, after Galveston was struck by a devastating hurricane, efforts to make Houston into a viable deepwater port were accelerated.
The following year, oil discovered at Spindletop, an oil field near Beaumont, prompted the development of the U.S. petroleum industry.[11] In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt approved a $1 million improvement project for the Houston Ship Channel. President Woodrow Wilson opened the Port of Houston in 1914, 7 years after digging began. By 1930, Houston had become Texas' most populous city.[12]
When World War II started, tonnage levels at the port decreased and shipping activities were suspended; however, the war did provide economic benefits for the city. Petrochemical refineries and manufacturing plants were constructed along the ship channel because of the demand for petroleum and synthetic rubber products during the war.[13] Ellington Field, initially built during World War I, was revitalized as an advanced training center for bombardiers and navigators.[14] The M. D. Anderson Foundation formed the Texas Medical Center in 1945. After the war, Houston's economy reverted to being primarily port-driven. In 1948, several unincorporated areas were annexed into the city limits, which more than doubled the city's size, and Houston proper began to spread across the region.[7][15]
In 1950, the availability of air-conditioning provided impetus for many companies to relocate to Houston, including Continental Oil, Prudential Insurance, Mobil Oil, Gulf Oil, Texaco Oil, Tidewater Associated and Sunray MidContinent, resulting in an economic boom and producing a key shift in the city's economy toward the energy sector.[16][17] The increased production of the local shipbuilding industry during World War II spurred Houston's growth,[18] as did the establishment in 1961 of NASA's "Manned Spacecraft Center" (renamed the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in 1973), which created the city's aerospace industry. The Astrodome, nicknamed the "Eighth Wonder of the World,"[19] opened in 1965 as the world's first indoor domed sports stadium.
During the late 1970s, Houston experienced a population boom as people from Rust Belt states moved to Texas in large numbers.[20] The new residents came for the numerous employment opportunities in the petroleum industry, created as a result of the Arab Oil Embargo. The population boom ended abruptly in the mid-1980s, as oil prices fell precipitously. The space industry also suffered in 1986 after the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after launch. The late 1980s saw a recession affect the city's economy. Since the 1990s, as a result of the recession, Houston has made efforts to diversify its economy by focusing on aerospace and biotechnology and by reducing its dependence on the petroleum industry. In 1997, Houstonians elected Lee P. Brown as the city's first African American mayor.[21] In June 2001, Tropical Storm Allison dumped up to 37 inches of rain on parts of Houston, causing the worst flooding in the city's history; the storm cost billions of dollars in damage and killed 20 people in Texas.[22] Many neighborhoods and communities have changed since the storm. By December of that same year, Houston-based energy company Enron collapsed into the second-largest ever U.S. bankruptcy during an investigation surrounding fabricated partnerships that were allegedly used to hide debt and inflate profits. In August 2005, Houston became a shelter to more than 150,000 people from New Orleans who evacuated from Hurricane Katrina.[23] One month later, approximately 2.5 million Houston area residents evacuated when Hurricane Rita approached the Gulf Coast, leaving little damage to the Houston area. This event marked the largest urban evacuation in the history of the United States.[24][25]

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 601.7 square miles (1,558.4 km²); this comprises 579.4 square miles (1,500.7 km²) of land and 22.3 square miles (57.7 km²) of water.
Most of Houston is located on the gulf coastal plain, and its vegetation is classified as temperate grassland and forest. Much of the city was built on forested land, marshes, swamp, or prairie, which are all still visible in surrounding areas. Flatness of the local terrain, when combined with urban sprawl, has made flooding a recurring problem for the city.[26] Downtown stands about 50 feet (15 m) above sea level,[27] and the highest point in far northwest Houston is about 125 feet (38 m) in elevation.[28][29] The city once relied on groundwater for its needs, but land subsidence forced the city to turn to ground-level water sources such as Lake Houston and Lake Conroe.[30][7]
Houston has four major bayous passing through the city. Buffalo Bayou runs through downtown and the Houston Ship Channel, and has three tributaries: White Oak Bayou, which runs through the Heights neighborhood and towards downtown; Braes Bayou, which runs along the Texas Medical Center; and Sims Bayou, which runs through the south of Houston and downtown Houston The ship channel continues past Galveston and then into the Gulf of Mexico.

Geology
Underpinning Houston's land surface are unconsolidated clays, clay shales, and poorly-cemented sands up to several miles deep. The region's geology developed from river deposits formed from the erosion of the Rocky Mountains. These sediments consist of a series of sands and clays deposited on decaying organic matter that, over time, transformed into oil and natural gas. Beneath the layers of sediment is a water-deposited layer of halite, a rock salt. The porous layers were compressed over time and forced upward. As it pushed upward, the salt dragged surrounding sediments into salt dome formations, often trapping oil and gas that seeped from the surrounding porous sands. The thick, rich, sometimes black, surface soil is suitable for rice farming in suburban outskirts where the city continues to grow.[31][32]
Despite over 150 active surface faults (estimated to be 300 active faults)[33] with an aggregate length of up to 310 miles (500 km)[34][35] within the city of Houston alone, the region is generally earthquake-free. Land in some communities southeast of Houston is sinking because water has been pumped out from the ground for many years and may be associated with slip along faults. However, the slippage is slow and not considered an earthquake where stationary faults must slip suddenly enough to create seismic waves.[36] These faults also tend to move at a smooth rate in what is termed "fault creep,"[30] which further reduces the risk of an earthquake.

Earth

Earth (IPA: /ɜ(ɹ)θ/) is the third planet from the Sun and is the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System, in both diameter and mass. It is also referred to as "the Earth", "Planet Earth", "Gaia", "Terra",[2] and "the World".
Home to millions of species[3] including humans, Earth is the only place in the universe known to harbor life. The planet formed about 4.57 billion years[4] ago, and life appeared on its surface within a billion years. Since then, Earth's biosphere has significantly altered the atmosphere and other abiotic conditions on the planet. Oxygenic photosynthesis evolved 2.7 billion years ago, forming the primarily nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere that exists today. This change enabled the proliferation of aerobic organisms as well as to the formation of the ozone layer which, together with Earth's magnetic field, blocks harmful radiation, permitting life on land.
Earth's outer surface is divided into several rigid segments, or tectonic plates, that gradually migrate across the surface over periods of many millions of years. About 71% of the surface is covered with salt-water oceans, the remainder consisting of continents and islands; liquid water, necessary for life as we know it, is not known to exist on any other planet's surface.[5][6] Earth's interior remains active, with a thick layer of relatively solid mantle, a liquid outer core that generates a magnetic field, and a solid iron inner core.
Earth interacts with other objects in outer space, including the Sun and the Moon. At present, Earth orbits the Sun once for every roughly 366.26 times it rotates about its axis. This length of time is a sidereal year, which is equal to 365.26 solar days.[7] The Earth's axis of rotation is tilted 23.5°[8] away from the perpendicular to its orbital plane, producing seasonal variations on the planet's surface with a period of one tropical year. Earth's only known natural satellite, the Moon, which began orbiting it about 4.53 billion years ago, provides ocean tides, stabilizes the axial tilt and gradually slows the planet's rotation. A cometary bombardment during the early history of the planet played a role in the formation of the oceans. Later, asteroid impacts caused significant changes to the surface environment. Long term periodic changes in the Earth's orbit, caused by the gravitational influence of other planets, are believed to have given rise to the ice ages that have intermittently covered significant portions of Earth's surface in glacial sheets.

History

Scientists have been able to reconstruct detailed information about the planet's past. Earth and the other planets in the Solar System formed 4.57 billion years ago[4] out of the solar nebula, a disk-shaped mass of dust and gas left over from the formation of the Sun. Initially molten, the outer layer of the planet Earth cooled to form a solid crust when water began accumulating in the atmosphere. The Moon formed soon afterwards, possibly as the result of a Mars-sized object (sometimes called Theia) with about 10% of the Earth's mass[9] impacting the Earth in a glancing blow.[10] Some of this object's mass merged with the Earth and a portion was ejected into space, but enough material survived to form an orbiting moon.
Outgassing and volcanic activity produced the primordial atmosphere. Condensing water vapor, augmented by ice delivered by comets, produced the oceans.[11] The highly energetic chemistry is believed to have produced a self-replicating molecule around 4 billion years ago, and half a billion years later, the last common ancestor of all life existed.[12]
The development of photosynthesis allowed the Sun's energy to be harvested directly by life forms; the resultant oxygen accumulated in the atmosphere and resulted in a layer of ozone (a form of molecular oxygen [O3]) in the upper atmosphere. The incorporation of smaller cells within larger ones resulted in the development of complex cells called eukaryotes.[13] True multicellular organisms formed as cells within colonies became increasingly specialized. Aided by the absorption of harmful ultraviolet radiation by the ozone layer, life colonized the surface of Earth.[14]
As the surface continually reshaped itself, over hundreds of millions of years, continents formed and broke up. The continents migrated across the surface, occasionally combining to form a supercontinent. Roughly 750 million years ago (mya), the earliest known supercontinent, Rodinia, began to break apart. The continents later recombined to form Pannotia, 600–540 mya, then finally Pangaea, which broke apart 180 mya.[15]
Since the 1960s, it has been hypothesized that severe glacial action between 750 and 580 mya, during the Neoproterozoic, covered much of the planet in a sheet of ice. This hypothesis has been termed "Snowball Earth", and is of particular interest because it preceded the Cambrian explosion, when multicellular life forms began to proliferate.[16]
Following the Cambrian explosion, about 535 mya, there have been five mass extinctions.[17] The last extinction event occurred 65 mya, when a meteorite collision probably triggered the extinction of the (non-avian) dinosaurs and other large reptiles, but spared small animals such as mammals, which then resembled shrews. Over the past 65 million years, mammalian life has diversified, and several mya, an African ape-like animal gained the ability to stand upright.[18] This enabled tool use and encouraged communication that provided the nutrition and stimulation needed for a larger brain. The development of agriculture, and then civilization, allowed humans to influence the Earth in a short time span as no other life form had,[19] affecting both the nature and quantity of other life forms.
The present pattern of ice ages began about 40 mya, then intensified during the Pleistocene about 3 mya. The polar regions have since undergone repeated cycles of glaciation and thaw, repeating every 40–100,000 years. The last ice age ended 10,000 years ago.[20]

Chemical composition

The mass of the Earth is approximately 5.98 ×1024 kg. It is composed mostly of iron (32.1%), oxygen (30.1%), silicon (15.1%), magnesium (13.9%), sulfur (2.9%), nickel (1.8%), calcium (1.5%), and aluminum (1.4%); with the remaining 1.2% consisting of trace amounts of other elements. Due to mass segregation, the core region is believed to be primarily composed of iron (88.8%), with smaller amounts of nickel (5.8%), sulfur (4.5%), and less than 1% trace elements.[27]
The geochemist F. W. Clarke calculated that a little more than 47% of the Earth's crust consists of oxygen. The more common rock constituents of the Earth's crust are nearly all oxides; chlorine, sulfur and fluorine are the only important exceptions to this and their total amount in any rock is usually much less than 1%. The principal oxides are silica, alumina, iron oxides, lime, magnesia, potash and soda. The silica functions principally as an acid, forming silicates, and all the commonest minerals of igneous rocks are of this nature. From a computation based on 1,672 analyses of all kinds of rocks, Clarke deduced that 99.22% were composed of 11 oxides (see the table at right.) All the other constituents occur only in very small quantities.[28]

Harold and Inge Marcus Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The Harold and Inge Marcus Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering is the industrial engineering department at the Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) in State College, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. Founded in 1908, it is the oldest such department in the world.[1][2] According to the most recent U.S. News & World Report university rankings, both the graduate and undergraduate programs ranked fourth in the United States.[3] The department is currently headed by Richard J. Koubek[4] and since 2000 has been based in the Leonhard Building, a $12 million structure containing the FAME manufacturing lab. Named for alumnus Harold Marcus and his wife Inge, the department employs 25 faculty members, who in 2007 served 163 graduate and 345 undergraduate students.[5] Among the department's alumni are Harold W. Gehman, a former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic, and Gregory Lucier, the President and CEO of Invitrogen.

History

Penn State at the turn of the 20th century had developed a national reputation for its engineering curriculum,[1] but industrial engineering was only beginning to emerge as an academic discipline. Noted efficiency expert Frederick Taylor recommended that university president James A. Beaver hire Hugo Diemer, a professor from the University of Kansas, in the hope that Diemer would create an industrial engineering curriculum at Penn State. A two-year option was ready by 1908, and a four-year bachelor's degree program emerged the following year, the first of its kind in the world. At the time, courses consisted of modern industrial engineering fundamentals such as time and motion study, plant layout optimization, and engineering economics, in addition to courses on advertising and sales. The new department also took over the instruction of manual shop skills, including carpentry and metalworking.[1]
At the time, the department did not have its own building, and for many years shared building space with other departments in the university's College of Engineering. In the 1980s, Penn State board members began to consider expanding the campus toward the west, and by 1987, initial plans to construct a new engineering building were in place. The Penn State Board of Trustees funded the project in 1995 amid concerns of damaging the aesthetics of the previously undeveloped western edge of campus. Some trustees disapproved of the building design, but the board ultimately released $5 million from its fund dedicated to expanding west campus.[6] In 1998, the project received additional funding from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.[7] The building opened in 2000 and was named after William E. Leonhard, a 1936 Penn State alumnus who with his wife has donated in excess of $1 million toward engineering at Penn State.[8] In 1999, the department itself was named after Harold and Inge Marcus, a couple living in Washington who donated $5 million to the department.[2][9]
In 2005, the department restructured the undergraduate industrial engineering curriculum for the first time in 21 years. Shifting its focus somewhat from its traditional manufacturing emphasis, the new curriculum introduced several courses related to the service industry. An industry advisory board in conjunction with faculty helped guide the changes, mentioning healthcare, supply chains, and e-commerce as service industry opportunities for industrial engineers. Under the new curriculum, students take a number of refactored courses, and are offered a choice between three separate subject tracks, allowing them to focus their major on manufacturing, the service industry, or information technology.[10][11]

Academics

The department is recognized as one of the country's premier industrial engineering departments. The 2007 U.S. News & World Report undergraduate program rankings placed the department fourth in the country, as did the magazine's 2008 graduate program rankings.[3] Twenty-five full-time faculty served 163 graduate and 345 undergraduate students in 2007.[5]
At the undergraduate level, students can pursue a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial and manufacturing engineering. The first two years of the program consist primarily of general engineering courses, including math and science. Once these introductory courses are complete, students begin taking industrial engineering courses on topics such as engineering economy, manufacturing technology, statistics, work design, and operations research.[12] Of the 129 credits required for graduation, nine are devoted to a specialization, allowing students to focus their degree on a specific area within industrial engineering. The available tracks are manufacturing engineering, engineering service systems, and engineering information systems. Undergraduates are also permitted to pursue an approved minor and count three of the credits earned toward their Industrial Engineering (IE) degree.[13][14]
Graduate students have a greater variety of options. Master of Science (M.S.) and Master of Engineering (M. Eng.) degrees are available, and may be supplemented by options in manufacturing engineering, human factors/ergonomics engineering, or quality engineering. Furthermore, dual M.S. degrees in industrial engineering and operations research are offered. At the Ph.D. level, students may pursue an industrial engineering degree, a dual-degree in industrial engineering and operations research, or a degree in industrial engineering with a minor in operations research.[15] Besides coursework, a thesis is required for the M.S. and Ph.D. programs. For the M.Eng. degree, a shorter scholarly paper must be written.[16]
In addition to the study abroad opportunities available to all engineering students at Penn State, the industrial engineering department offers two study abroad programs specifically for industrial engineering students. The first, at the University of Navarra in San Sebastian, Spain, is offered to undergraduate juniors and seniors in the department. The second, at the Technion in Haifa, Israel, is open to both graduate and undergraduate students. Each offers a variety of industrial engineering coursework, taught both in English and the language of the host country.[17]

York City F.C.

York City Football Club is an English football club based in York, North Yorkshire. The club participates in the Conference National, the fifth tier of English football. Founded in 1922, they joined The Football League in 1929, and have spent most of their history in the lower divisions. The club briefly rose as high as the second tier of English football, spending two seasons in the Second Division in the 1970s. At the end of the 2003–04 season the club lost their League status when they were relegated from the Third Division, and have since remained in the Conference.
York have enjoyed more success in cup competitions than in the league, with highlights including an FA Cup semi-final appearance in 1955. In the 1995–96 Coca-Cola Cup, York beat Manchester United 3–0 at Old Trafford; Manchester United went on to win the FA Cup and Premiership double that season.
York play their home games at KitKat Crescent in York. This stadium was formerly known as Bootham Crescent, but was renamed KitKat Crescent as part of a sponsorship deal with Nestlé, whose confectionery factory, formerly known as Rowntrees, is one of the city's largest employers.

History

York City Football Club was first founded in 1903,[1] although some sources state the roots of the club can be traced as far back as 1897 when the York and District League was formed.[4] The club joined the Northern League in 1908, but left after two seasons to form the Yorkshire Combination (a proto-Yorkshire League). The club turned professional in 1912 and joined the Midland League, where they played for three seasons, rising as high as tenth position. They played their final season in 1914–15 before folding in 1917 during the First World War.[5]

The club was re-founded in 1922 by members of the former club. These members founded a limited company and gained admission to the Midland League where they played in for seven seasons, achieving a highest finish of sixth, in both 1924–25 and 1926–27.[1][6] York were elected to the Football League in 1929,[7] and spent the following 22 seasons in Division Three North, from 1929–30 to 1957–58. The club ended the majority of seasons in the bottom half of the table until the 1950s, when they reached fourth in both the 1952–53 and 1954–55 seasons.[7]
The club fared better in cup competitions and built a reputation for "giant killing",[8] the earliest example being in the 1937–38 season FA Cup tournament, when the club, then playing in the Third Division managed to knock out First Division West Bromwich Albion and Middlesbrough. They met Huddersfield Town in a quarter-final which was drawn 0–0, before losing the replay 2–1 at Leeds Road.[7] The club's longest cup run came when they reached the FA Cup semi-final in the 1954–55 season, a campaign in which Arthur Bottom scored eight goals for the club, and the team eliminated a Blackpool side featuring Stanley Matthews.[4] In the semi-final, York drew 1–1 with Newcastle United, taking the tie to a replay, in which City were defeated 2–0.[7]
In 1958, York became founding members of the Fourth Division, as the Third Divisions North and South were restructured into new Third and Fourth divisions, based on league positions at the end of the 1957–58 season. They missed out on the runner-up spot in the inaugural season only on goal average, and were promoted to the Third Division in third place,[9] but were relegated back after just one season.[10] A second promotion in 1964–65, again in third place in the Fourth Division,[11] saw a similar instant relegation back from the Third Division the next season.[12] York's record of promotion every six years was maintained by a team sporting the future England forward Phil Boyer in 1970–71,[13][14] and this time the team managed to stay in the Third Division, albeit only on goal average in both the next two seasons.[15][16]
After these two seasons the team hit form in the 1973–74 season, when "three up, three down" promotion and relegation was introduced to the Football League. After being among the leaders all season York City were eventually promoted to Division Two in third place. Their first season in the Second Division saw York finish in their highest ever league position, 15th place.[7] On March 29, 1975, they played in front of the highest ever League crowd to see them – 46,802 at Old Trafford in a 2–1 defeat to Manchester United. The following season York finished in 21st place in the Second Division and were relegated back to the Third Division.[7] Under former Manchester United manager Wilf McGuinness, the club dropped further still, into Division Four in the 1976–77 season after finishing bottom of the Third Division. In the 1981–82 season, York failed to win in 12 home games, a club record, and lost to non-league side Altrincham in the FA Cup. In the 1983–84 season York won the Fourth Division with a record 101 points,[7] the first team to do so in the Football League.[17] In January 1985, York City recorded a shock result in the Fourth Round of the FA Cup by beating Arsenal 1–0 at Bootham Crescent, courtesy of a penalty from Keith Houchen.[18] York proceeded to draw 1–1 with Liverpool at Bootham Crescent on 16 February 1985, but lost 7–0 in the replay at Anfield, York's record cup defeat.[7]

In 1993 York ended a five year spell in the Third Division by gaining promotion to the Second Division via the playoffs, beating Crewe Alexandra on penalties in the final at Wembley Stadium.[19] York stayed in the Second Division for six seasons, during which they reached the playoffs in their first season, but lost to Stockport County in the semi-finals.[7]
York recorded a shock victory in the 1995–96 League Cup Second Round, when they beat Manchester United 3–0 at Old Trafford.[20] York then went on to beat Everton in the Second Round of the League Cup the following season in 1996.[7] They drew the first leg 1–1 at Goodison Park, but won the second leg 3–2 at Bootham Crescent.[21] In December 2001, long-serving chairman Douglas Craig put the club and its ground up for sale for £4.5 million, announcing that unless a new owner was found before April 1, 2002, York City would be withdrawn from the Football League.[22] Team B&Q racing driver and team owner John Batchelor took over as chairman in March 2002.[23] Batchelor promised the club he would buy the ground, give the trust 24% of the shares and would invite two supporters onto the board, but after these promises all went undelivered,[24] a group of York supporters formed the Supporters’ Trust who took control of the club in 2003.[25]
York failed to win any of their final 20 league fixtures in the 2003–04 season and were relegated to the Conference after 75 years of league membership.[7] This was followed by the sacking of manager Chris Brass in November 2004.[26] Billy McEwan eventually succeeded Brass,[27] and led the team to 17th place during their first season in the Conference.[28] York finished in 8th place in the 2005–06 season,[29] missing out on the playoffs. The following season, York reached the play-off semi-finals, where they were beaten by Morecambe.[30]

Galileo Galilei

Galileo Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642)[1][2] was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher closely associated with the scientific revolution. His achievements include the first systematic studies of uniformly accelerated motion, improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations, and support for Copernicanism. Galileo's empirical work was a significant break from the abstract Aristotelian approach of his time.
Galileo has been called the "father of modern observational astronomy",[3] the "father of modern physics",[4] and the "father of science".[4] The motion of uniformly accelerated objects, taught in nearly all high school and introductory college physics courses, was studied by Galileo as the subject of kinematics. His contributions to observational astronomy include the discovery of the four largest satellites of Jupiter, named the Galilean moons in his honour, and the observation and analysis of sunspots. Galileo also worked in applied science and technology, developing a microscope and improving compass design.
Galileo's championing of Copernicanism, particularly the heliocentric model of the universe, was controversial within his lifetime. The geocentric view had been dominant since the time of Aristotle, and the controversy engendered by Galileo's opposition to this view resulted in the condemnation of heliocentrism in 1616 by the Catholic Church as contrary to Scripture. Galileo was eventually forced to recant his heliocentrism and spent the last years of his life under house arrest on orders of the Inquisition.

Life

Galileo was born in Pisa (then part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany), the first of six children of Vincenzo Galilei, a famous lutenist and music theorist, and Guilia Ammannati. Although he seriously considered the priesthood as a young man, he enrolled for a medical degree at the University of Pisa at his father's urging. He did not complete this degree, but instead studied mathematics and in 1589 was appointed to the chair of mathematics in Pisa. In 1591 his father died and he was entrusted with the care of his younger brother Michelagnolo. In 1592 he moved to the University of Padua, teaching geometry, mechanics, and astronomy until 1610. During this period Galileo made significant discoveries in both pure science (for example, kinematics of motion, and astronomy) and applied science (for example, strength of materials, improvement of the telescope). His multiple interests included the study of astrology, which in premodern disciplinary practice was seen as correlated to the studies of mathematics and astronomy.[5]
Although a devout Roman Catholic, Galileo fathered three children out of wedlock with Marina Gamba. They had two daughters (Virginia in 1600 and Livia in 1601) and one son (Vincenzio, in 1606). Because of their illegitimate birth, the girls would never be allowed to marry any higher than a farm-hand or a criminal.[citation needed] Their only other choice was the religious life. Both girls were sent to the convent of San Matteo in Arcetri around age 10 and remained there for the rest of their lives. Virginia (b. 1600) took the name Maria Celeste upon entering the convent. She died on April 2, 1634, and is buried with Galileo at the Basilica di Santa Croce di Firenze. Livia (b. 1601) took the name Suor Arcangela and was ill for most of her life. Vincenzio (b. 1606) was later legitimized and married Sestilia Bocchineri.
In 1610 Galileo published an account of his telescopic observations of the moons of Jupiter, using this observation to argue in favor of the sun-centered, Copernican theory of the universe against the dominant earth-centered Ptolemaic and Aristotelian theories. The next year Galileo visited Rome in order to demonstrate his telescope to the influential philosophers and mathematicians of the Jesuit Collegio Romano, and to let them see with their own eyes the reality of the four moons of Jupiter. While in Rome he was also made a member of the Accademia dei Lincei. In 1612, opposition arose to the Sun-centered solar system which Galileo supported. In 1614, from the pulpit of Santa Maria Novella, Father Tommaso Caccini (1574–1648) denounced Galileo's opinions on the motion of the Earth, judging them dangerous and close to heresy. Galileo went to Rome to defend himself against these accusations, but, in 1616, Cardinal Roberto Bellarmino personally handed Galileo an admonition enjoining him neither to advocate nor teach Copernican astronomy.[6] In 1622, Galileo wrote his first book, The Assayer (Saggiatore), which was approved and published in 1623. In 1624, he developed the first known example of the microscope. In 1630, he returned to Rome to apply for a license to print the Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, published in Florence in 1632. In October of that year, however, he was ordered to appear before the Holy Office in Rome.

Scientific methods

Galileo Galilei pioneered the use of quantitative experiments whose results could be analyzed with mathematical precision (More typical of science at the time were the qualitative studies of William Gilbert, on magnetism and electricity). Galileo's father, Vincenzo Galilei, a lutenist and music theorist, had performed experiments establishing perhaps the oldest known non-linear relation in physics: for a stretched string, the pitch varies as the square root of the tension. These observations lay within the framework of the Pythagorean tradition of music, well-known to instrument makers, which included the fact that subdividing a string by a whole number produces a harmonious scale. Thus, a limited amount of mathematics had long related music and physical science, and young Galileo could see his own father's observations expand on that tradition. Galileo is perhaps the first to clearly state that the laws of nature are mathematical. In The Assayer he wrote "Philosophy is written in this grand book, the universe ... It is written in the language of mathematics, and its characters are triangles, circles, and other geometric figures; ...".[7] His mathematical analyses are a further development of a tradition employed by late scholastic natural philosophers, which Galileo learned when he studied philosophy.[8] Although he tried to remain loyal to the Catholic Church, his adherence to experimental results, and their most honest interpretation, led to a rejection of blind allegiance to authority, both philosophical and religious, in matters of science. In broader terms, this aided to separate science from both philosophy and religion; a major development in human thought.
By the standards of his time, Galileo was often willing to change his views in accordance with observation. Philosopher of science Paul Feyerabend also noted the supposedly improper aspects of Galileo's methodology, but he argued that Galileo's methods could be justified retroactively by their results. The bulk of Feyerabend's major work, Against Method (1975), was devoted to an analysis of Galileo, using his astronomical research as a case study to support Feyerabend's own anarchistic theory of scientific method. As he put it: 'Aristotelians [...] demanded strong empirical support while the Galileans were content with far-reaching, unsupported and partially refuted theories. I do not criticize them for that; on the contrary, I favour Niels Bohr's "this is not crazy enough."'[9] In order to perform his experiments, Galileo had to set up standards of length and time, so that measurements made on different days and in different laboratories could be compared in a reproducible fashion. For measurements of particularly short intervals of time, Galileo sang songs with whose timing he was familiar.
Galileo showed a remarkably modern appreciation for the proper relationship between mathematics, theoretical physics, and experimental physics. He understood the parabola, both in terms of conic sections and in terms of the ordinate (y) varying as the square of the abscissa (x). Galilei further asserted that the parabola was the theoretically-ideal trajectory for uniformly accelerated motion, in the absence of friction and other disturbances. He also noted that there are limits to the validity of this theory, stating that it was appropriate only for laboratory-scale and battlefield-scale trajectories, and noting on theoretical grounds that the parabola could not possibly apply to a trajectory so large as to be comparable to the size of the planet.[10] Thirdly, Galilei recognized that his experimental data would never agree exactly with any theoretical or mathematical form, because of the imprecision of measurement, irreducible friction, and other factors.
Albert Einstein, in appreciation, called Galileo the "father of modern science". According to Stephen Hawking, Galileo probably contributed more to the creation of the modern natural sciences than anybody else.[citation needed]

Tropical cyclone

A tropical cyclone is a meteorological term for a storm system characterized by a low pressure center and thunderstorms that produces strong wind and flooding rain. A tropical cyclone feeds on the heat released when moist air rises and the water vapor it contains condenses. They are fueled by a different heat mechanism than other cyclonic windstorms such as nor'easters, European windstorms, and polar lows, leading to their classification as "warm core" storm systems.
The adjective "tropical" refers to both the geographic origin of these systems, which form almost exclusively in tropical regions of the globe, and their formation in Maritime Tropical air masses. The noun "cyclone" refers to such storms' cyclonic nature, with counterclockwise rotation in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise rotation in the Southern Hemisphere. Depending on their location and strength, tropical cyclones are referred to by various other names, such as hurricane, typhoon, tropical storm, cyclonic storm, and tropical depression.
While tropical cyclones can produce extremely powerful winds and torrential rain, they are also able to produce high waves and damaging storm surge. They develop over large bodies of warm water, and lose their strength if they move over land. This is the reason coastal regions can receive significant damage from a tropical cyclone, while inland regions are relatively safe from receiving strong winds. Heavy rains, however, can produce significant flooding inland, and storm surges can produce extensive coastal flooding up to 25 mi (40 km) from the coastline. Although their effects on human populations can be devastating, tropical cyclones can also relieve drought conditions. They also carry heat and energy away from the tropics and transport it towards temperate latitudes, which makes them an important part of the global atmospheric circulation mechanism. As a result, tropical cyclones help to maintain equilibrium in the Earth's troposphere, and to maintain a relatively stable and warm temperature worldwide.
Many tropical cyclones develop when the atmospheric conditions around a weak disturbance in the atmosphere are favorable. Others form when other types of cyclones acquire tropical characteristics. Tropical systems are then moved by steering winds in the troposphere; if the conditions remain favorable, the tropical disturbance intensifies, and can even develop an eye. On the other end of the spectrum, if the conditions around the system deteriorate or the tropical cyclone makes landfall, the system weakens and eventually dissipates.

Physical structure

All tropical cyclones are areas of low atmospheric pressure near the Earth's surface. The pressures recorded at the centers of tropical cyclones are among the lowest that occur on Earth's surface at sea level.[1] Tropical cyclones are characterized and driven by the release of large amounts of latent heat of condensation, which occurs when moist air is carried upwards and its water vapor condenses. This heat is distributed vertically around the center of the storm. Thus, at any given altitude (except close to the surface, where water temperature dictates air temperature) the environment inside the cyclone is warmer than its outer surroundings.[2]

Banding

Rainbands are bands of showers and thunderstorms that spiral cyclonically toward the storm center. High wind gusts and heavy downpours often occur in individual rainbands, with relatively calm weather between bands. Tornadoes often form in the rainbands of landfalling tropical cyclones.[3] Intense annular tropical cyclones are distinctive for their lack of rainbands; instead, they possess a thick circular area of disturbed weather around their low pressure center.[4] While all surface low pressure areas require divergence aloft to continue deepening, the divergence over tropical cyclones is in all directions away from the center. The upper levels of a tropical cyclone feature winds directed away from the center of the storm with an anticyclonic rotation, due to the Coriolis effect. Winds at the surface are strongly cyclonic, weaken with height, and eventually reverse themselves. Tropical cyclones owe this unique characteristic to requiring a relative lack of vertical wind shear to maintain the warm core at the center of the storm.[5][6]

Eye and inner core

A strong tropical cyclone will harbor an area of sinking air at the center of circulation. If this area is strong enough, it can develop into an eye. Weather in the eye is normally calm and free of clouds, though the sea may be extremely violent.[3] The eye is normally circular in shape, and may range in size from 3 to 370 km (2–230 miles) in diameter.[7][8] Intense, mature hurricanes can sometimes exhibit an inward curving of the eyewall's top, making it resemble a football stadium; this phenomenon is thus sometimes referred to as the stadium effect.[9]
There are other features that either surround the eye, or cover it. The central dense overcast is the concentrated area of strong thunderstorm activity near the center of a tropical cyclone;[10] in weaker tropical cyclones, the CDO may cover the center completely.[11] The eyewall is a circle of strong thunderstorms that surrounds the eye; here is where the greatest wind speeds are found, where clouds reach the highest, and precipitation is the heaviest. The heaviest wind damage occurs where a hurricane's eyewall passes over land.[3] Associated with eyewalls are eyewall replacement cycles, which occur naturally in intense tropical cyclones. When cyclones reach peak intensity they usually—but not always—have an eyewall and radius of maximum winds that contract to a very small size, around 10–25 km (5 to 15 miles). At this point, some of the outer rainbands may organize into an outer ring of thunderstorms that slowly moves inward and robs the inner eyewall of its needed moisture and angular momentum. During this phase, the tropical cyclone weakens (i.e., the maximum winds die off somewhat and the central pressure goes up), but eventually the outer eyewall replaces the inner one completely. The storm can be of the same intensity as it was previously or, in some cases, it can be even stronger after the eyewall replacement cycle. Even if the cyclone is weaker at the end of the cycle, the storm may strengthen again as it builds a new outer ring for the next eyewall replacement.[12]