diff --git a/_index.db b/_index.db index 18224a70d..50d86c878 100644 Binary files a/_index.db and b/_index.db differ diff --git a/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Leishman-0.md b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Leishman-0.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..508659eef --- /dev/null +++ b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Leishman-0.md @@ -0,0 +1,19 @@ +--- +title: "Alan Leishman" +chunk: 1/1 +source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Leishman" +category: "reference" +tags: "science, encyclopedia" +date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:05:04.047935+00:00" +instance: "kb-cron" +--- + +Alan Leishman is a now retired Australian garden administrator and amateur ornithologist. He previously worked for the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney. He is a bird-bander and has had a long association with the Australian Bird Study Association, serving as foundation editor of its journal Corella 1977–1983, and production editor 1984–1989. In 1998 he was awarded the RAOU's John Hobbs Medal for outstanding contributions to Australian ornithology as an amateur. + + +== See also == +List of ornithologists + + +== References == +Robin, Libby. (2001). The Flight of the Emu: a hundred years of Australian ornithology 1901–2001. Carlton, Vic. Melbourne University Press. ISBN 0-522-84987-3 \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Barr_(naturalist)-0.md b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Barr_(naturalist)-0.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..34166ace6 --- /dev/null +++ b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Barr_(naturalist)-0.md @@ -0,0 +1,24 @@ +--- +title: "Billy Barr (naturalist)" +chunk: 1/1 +source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Barr_(naturalist)" +category: "reference" +tags: "science, encyclopedia" +date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:05:00.637727+00:00" +instance: "kb-cron" +--- + +Billy Barr, stylized as billy barr, is an American amateur scientist known for his collection of over 50 years of data on snow levels, temperatures and animal migration in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Barr's data collection is recognized as critical evidence of the effects of climate change. + + +== Life and work == +Barr grew up in Trenton, New Jersey. In 1972, as a student researcher from Rutgers University, he took a short-term job at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory measuring water quality near Crested Butte in the West Elk Mountains, Colorado. After some time, he featured in a local newspaper as an eccentric mountain hermit. +In the mid 1970s, with the initial intention of escaping the boredom of living in the remote location of Gothic, Barr began meticulously collecting environmental data by measuring the snow depth, temperatures and noting the arrival of different species in the spring. Around the same time, he became "an unofficial caretaker" of the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory. In late 1990s, the lab's resident ecologist David Inouye recognized the significance of Barr's data and began sharing it with other scientists. Since then, Barr's records have been used in numerous scientific articles on climate change. +The 2016 documentary film The Snow Guardian is dedicated to Barr. + + +== References == + + +== External links == +Official website \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fellows_of_the_Network_Science_Society-0.md b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fellows_of_the_Network_Science_Society-0.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..fdd32271a --- /dev/null +++ b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fellows_of_the_Network_Science_Society-0.md @@ -0,0 +1,102 @@ +--- +title: "Fellows of the Network Science Society" +chunk: 1/1 +source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fellows_of_the_Network_Science_Society" +category: "reference" +tags: "science, encyclopedia" +date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:05:06.842110+00:00" +instance: "kb-cron" +--- + +Each year since 2018, the Network Science Society (NetSci Society) selects up to 7 members of the network science community to be Fellows based on their enduring contributions to network science research and to the community of network scientists. Fellows are chosen from nominations received by the Network Science Society Fellowship Committee and are announced at the NetSci Conference hosted every year. + + +== 2025 Fellows of the Network Science Society == +Francesco Bullo +Guanrong Chen +Hawoong Jeong +János Kertész +Renaud Lambiotte +Philippa E. Pattison +Mason A. Porter +Eckehard Schöll +Sara A. Solla + + +== 2024 Fellows of the Network Science Society == +Katy Börner +Albert Díaz-Guilera +Sergey Dorogovtsev +Shlomo Havlin +Petter Holme +Cristopher Moore +M. Ángeles Serrano + + +== 2023 Fellows of the Network Science Society == +Nicholas Christakis +Aaron Clauset +Tina Eliassi-Rad +Ernesto Estrada +Marta González +Stanley Wasserman + + +== 2022 Fellows of the Network Science Society == +Fan Chung +Vittoria Colizza +Noshir Contractor +Santo Fortunato +Byungnam Kahng +Yamir Moreno +Olaf Sporns + + +== 2021 Fellows of the Network Science Society == +Lada Adamic +Albert-László Barabási +Peter Sheridan Dodds +Jürgen Kurths +Vito Latora +Marta Sales-Pardo + + +== 2020 Fellows of the Network Science Society == +Alex Arenas +Alain Barrat +Ginestra Bianconi +Jennifer A. Dunne +Michelle Girvan +Adilson E. Motter +Brian Uzzi + + +== 2019 Fellows of the Network Science Society == +The 2019 Fellows of the Network Science Society were honored at the 2019 NetSci Conference in Vermont, USA. + +Guido Caldarelli +Raissa M. D'Souza +Stuart A. Kauffman +Jon M. Kleinberg +José Fernando F. Mendes +Anna Nagurney +Luís A. Nunes Amaral + + +== 2018 Fellows of the Network Science Society == +The 2018 Fellows of the Network Science Society were honored at the 2018 NetSci Conference in Paris, France. + +Réka Albert +Mark Granovetter +Yoshiki Kuramoto +Mark E. J. Newman +Steven H. Strogatz +Alessandro Vespignani +Duncan J. Watts + + +== References == + + +== External links == +Network Science Society \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Bleyl-0.md b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Bleyl-0.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..69435d4b7 --- /dev/null +++ b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Bleyl-0.md @@ -0,0 +1,19 @@ +--- +title: "Karl Bleyl" +chunk: 1/1 +source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Bleyl" +category: "reference" +tags: "science, encyclopedia" +date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:05:01.794670+00:00" +instance: "kb-cron" +--- + +Karl Bleyl (4 December 1908 – 28 April 1995) was an amateur German entomologist who specialised in Hymenoptera. His collection of Hymenoptera (Apoidea) is held by the German Entomological Institute. His Lepidoptera are in the collection of Thomas Lehmann in Oranienbaum. +Bleyl was born on Gut Seeben near Halle, Germany. He began collecting insects at the age of 6. Bleyl was influenced by entomologist and Hymenoptera researcher Ernst Heidenreich. He died in Oranienbaum, Germany on 28 April 1995. + + +== References == + + +== Further reading == +Lehmann, T. 1995: [Bleyl, K.] Naturwiss. Beitr. Mus. Dessau 1995 5-6, Portr. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla_in_popular_culture-0.md b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla_in_popular_culture-0.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..41ffdb0fa --- /dev/null +++ b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla_in_popular_culture-0.md @@ -0,0 +1,40 @@ +--- +title: "Nikola Tesla in popular culture" +chunk: 1/5 +source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla_in_popular_culture" +category: "reference" +tags: "science, encyclopedia" +date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:04:56.506096+00:00" +instance: "kb-cron" +--- + +Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943) is portrayed in many forms of popular culture. The Serbian-American engineer has particularly been depicted in science fiction, a genre which is well suited to address his inventions; while often exaggerated, the fictionalized variants build mostly upon his own alleged claims or ideas. A popular, growing fixation among science fiction, comic book, and speculative history storytellers is to portray Tesla as a member of a secret society, along with other luminaries of science. The impacts of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla are a recurring theme in the steampunk genre of alternate technology science-fiction. + +== Board games == +In the alternate World War I setting in the board game Tannhäuser, Nikola Tesla is a major figure in the Russian Matriarchy faction, where his inventions have not only been used to create deadly weaponry but also harness the power of otherworldly forces. + +== Books == + +=== Appearances === +Weldon J. Cobb's novel To Mars With Tesla; or, the Mystery of the Hidden World (1901) is an adventure where Tesla, aided by Young Edison (Thomas Edison's fictional nephew) and a couple of scientists, seeks to communicate with Mars. An adaptation of this "lost classic" was published as a Kindle ebook on Tesla's 160th birthday, 10 July 2016. +In Jacek Dukaj's 2007 novel Ice, Tesla is one of the major characters. +In geomorphologist and author Sesh Heri's novel Wonder of the Worlds (2005), published by Lost Continent Library, Tesla journeys to Mars with Mark Twain and Harry Houdini to retrieve a stolen crystal and confront Kel, the emperor of the Red Planet, on the eve of the Martian invasion of Earth. +In Ralph Vaughan's four Sherlock Holmes/H. P. Lovecraft crossovers, The Adventure of the Ancient Gods (1990), The Adventure of the Dreaming Detective (1992), "The Adventure of the Laughing Moonbeast" (1992), and Sherlock Holmes and the Terror Out of Time (2001), Tesla and Professor Challenger play major roles. +Tesla is one of the main characters in The Tesla Legacy, a novel by Australian author Robert G. Barrett (2006). In the novel, Tesla builds a 'doomsday machine' hidden in the Hunter Valley area of New South Wales that could disrupt all wireless communication on Earth. +In Ron Horsley's Sherlock Holmes novella, The Polyphase-Powered Man (2002).Tesla is the narrator and "Watson proxy". +The Invention of Everything Else, by Samantha Hunt (2008), is a novel blending fact with fiction. It centers on the relationship between Nikola Tesla and a maid at the New Yorker Hotel. +Tesla is an important supporting character in Christopher Priest's 1995 novel The Prestige (he is portrayed in Christopher Nolan's 2006 film adaptation by David Bowie). In the story, Tesla builds a machine that is intended to enable physical teleportation for use in the stage act of magician Robert Angier. The machine is flawed, and merely creates a duplicate of the original item or person. Tesla improves the machine, but warns Angier to destroy it. His mountain laboratory is destroyed by Edison's henchmen and Tesla is forced to leave Colorado Springs, Colorado. +The 2011 novel Goliath by Scott Westerfeld depicts Tesla when the crew of the airship Leviathan come across the blast zone of the Tunguska event. Tesla had come to the site to research the blast and claims it was caused by a weapon created by him, the Goliath. Towards the end of the book it is revealed that the event was caused by a meteor after all, but Tesla was too unhinged to believe it. +Paul Malmont's 2011 novel The Astounding, the Amazing, and the Unknown launches during World War II with a dying Tesla secreting the key to a mysterious device called Wardenclyffe Tower. The tower ultimately excites the interest the staff at the "Philadelphia Experiment" U.S. Navy laboratory. The staff members include Robert Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, Isaac Asimov and L. Sprague de Camp. +Nikola Tesla is a member of a fellowship of vampire hunters set in the year 1888 in the novel Modern Marvels - Viktoriana (2013) written by Wayne Reinagel. The fellowship includes Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, Jules Verne, Bram Stoker, Arthur Conan Doyle, H. G. Wells, Harry Houdini and H. Rider Haggard. +Seth Grahame-Smith's novel The Last American Vampire (2015), Tesla plays a supporting role; he aids the protagonist in the assassination of Rasputin. +In Spider Robinson's 1992 novel Lady Slings the Booze, Nikola Tesla has been brought forward in time (and possibly been rejuvenated) and is resident in Lady Sally's House. Among other things, he has rigged every light in the building to operate off broadcast power. +In Graham Moore's novel The Last Days of Night (2016), which is about the current wars of the 1880s and 1890s, Tesla features as a major character. +In The Accelerati Trilogy by Neal Shusterman and Eric Elfman (2014–2016), Tesla's secret inventions are rediscovered. The race is on to solve the uses of the inventions and stop an extinction level event. +In S. M. Stirling's alternate history Black Chamber series (2018 —) Tesla is mentioned as "T", head of the eponymous spy-organization's technical department. + +=== Allusions === + +Some researchers have suggested that the character of Nyarlathotep in H P Lovecraft's short story "Nyarlathotep" (1920), was inspired by Tesla. + +== Comics and graphic novels == \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla_in_popular_culture-1.md b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla_in_popular_culture-1.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..6f72bbf68 --- /dev/null +++ b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla_in_popular_culture-1.md @@ -0,0 +1,39 @@ +--- +title: "Nikola Tesla in popular culture" +chunk: 2/5 +source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla_in_popular_culture" +category: "reference" +tags: "science, encyclopedia" +date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:04:56.506096+00:00" +instance: "kb-cron" +--- + +=== Appearances === +In The Light and Darkness War (1988–89) by Tom Veitch and Cam Kennedy, Tesla appears as a supporting character who has been transported, upon death, to another dimension where other deceased human warriors and scientists, such as Leonardo da Vinci, are engaged in a never-ending battle against the forces of Outer Darkness. A biography of Tesla featured in the second issue in order to introduce Tesla to contemporary readers unfamiliar with the scientist. +In the eight-issue Serbian comic book series Generation Tesla (1995), created by writer Milan Konjević, and artists Siniša Radović and Zdravko Zupan, Tesla evades his own death by transferring himself to another plane of existence. In 2020, he resurrects a number of humans slain by the evil Kobalt, transforming them into superhumans who can counter the threats of such villains. He is founder and mentor of super-hero team Generation Tesla. +In Matt Fraction and Steven Sanders' graphic novel The Five Fists of Science (2006), Tesla teams up with Mark Twain to battle Thomas Edison. +The Inventor: The Story of Tesla (2012) written by Ravé Mehta with art by Erik Williams, is a graphic novel based on the story of Nikola Tesla. It begins with Tesla's birth in Smiljan, continues through Tesla's battle with Thomas Edison during the war of the currents, and ends when J.P. Morgan pulls the plug on Tesla's Wardenclyffe Tower project. Other major characters in the graphic novel are George Westinghouse, Mark Twain, Guglielmo Marconi, Lord Kelvin, U.S. President Herbert Hoover, and Swami Vivekananda. +JLA: Age of Wonder (2003) is a two-issue mini-series from DC Comics' Elseworlds line, in which Superman lands in Kansas in the 1850s and emerges on the world stage at the 1876 Centennial Exposition. He teams up with Edison but ends up working with Tesla, who eventually deploys a death ray during World War I. +In Jeff Smith's comic book series Rasl, Tesla's ideas are prominently featured as the foundation of travel between alternate realities. The story also features an alternate take on Tesla's biography and uses his journals as a plot device. +Red Giant Entertainment's comic book series Tesla features Nikola Tesla as he uses his greatest inventions to battle against a shadowy organization of the planet's most brilliant minds, who are bent on world domination. +Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener's Atomic Robo is a comic book series about a robot that was invented by Nikola Tesla, which also features fictionalised representations of other scientists such as Carl Sagan and Thomas Edison. + +=== Allusions === +Although Nikola Tesla doesn't make a direct appearance in the comic book series The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill, it is implied very early on that Tesla (and also Thomas Edison) is responsible for some of the steampunk technology seen in the series. A circuit breaker on the last page of Empire Dreams, the first issue of Volume 1 bears the logo "Edison Teslaton". + +== Companies == +Tesla, Inc. and Nikola Motor Company are both named after Nikola Tesla. + +== Events and holidays == + +=== Nikola Tesla Day === +Tesla's birthday, 10 July, is celebrated by some as World Tesla Day, Nikola Tesla Day, or simply, Tesla Day. Some organizations celebrate Tesla Day informally on 10 July. However, The Tesla Memorial Society wrote letters to several officials asking to commemorate 10 July as international Nikola Tesla Day. +Tesla's birthday (or in one case, both the day itself and the week leading up to it) is officially celebrated as a holiday in various parts of the world. In Serbia, 10 July is celebrated as the National Day of Science. In Croatia, it is called Nikola Tesla Day. In Niagara Falls, Canada, it is named as the Day of Nikola Tesla. In the autonomous province of Vojvodina in Serbia, the local Association of Teachers also officially celebrate 10 July as the Day of Nikola Tesla though in practice, the celebrations last the seven days (one week) from 4 July to 10 July inclusive. +Google honored Tesla on his birthday on 10 July 2009 by displaying a Google Doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a Tesla coil. + +On 7 January 2021 (which is both Orthodox Christmas and the anniversary of Nikola Tesla's death), the Tesla Science Foundation Serbia (TSFA) sent a petition to the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church proposing that the Synod consider the canonization of Nikola Tesla as an Orthodox saint with his birthday, 10 July as his feast day. +At Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe an annual Tesla Expo is held each year near the date of Nikola Tesla Day and celebrates with a STEM festival highlighting Tesla's accomplishments and impact on today's science and technology. + +== Film == + +=== Appearances === \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla_in_popular_culture-2.md b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla_in_popular_culture-2.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..00958bc2e --- /dev/null +++ b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla_in_popular_culture-2.md @@ -0,0 +1,47 @@ +--- +title: "Nikola Tesla in popular culture" +chunk: 3/5 +source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla_in_popular_culture" +category: "reference" +tags: "science, encyclopedia" +date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:04:56.506096+00:00" +instance: "kb-cron" +--- + +In 1941, the first of Max Fleischer's Superman cartoons (titled The Mad Scientist or just Superman) depicted Superman fighting a character named "Mad Scientist", which is very similar to Tesla (a 1999 VHS release of the movie was titled Superman vs. Tesla). +The Secret of Nikola Tesla (1980; Serbo-Croatian: Tajna Nikole Tesle), a Yugoslav film directed by Krsto Papić and notable for its inclusion of Orson Welles as banking baron J.P. Morgan, touches on Tesla's psychic powers and lost vision of the future. +David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the movie The Prestige (2006), in which one of the main characters gets Tesla to develop a remarkable electro-replicating device for him. +An independent Tesla film, Fragments from Olympus-The Vision of Nikola Tesla, producers of the film made news by using part of their budget to make a $33,333 donation to help save Tesla's Wardenclyffe lab during a crowd-funding campaign started by the popular internet comic known as The Oatmeal. The story of Wardenclyffe and the effort to save it was the subject of a documentary from the same filmmakers called Tower to the People – Tesla's Dream at Wardenclyffe Continues in 2014. +Red Giant Entertainment's Benny Powell was working on a film adaptation of the popular comic book in 2013. +Tesla – a 2016 documentary film by David Grubin presented on the American Experience series. +In 2017 American biographical historical film The Current War Tesla is portrayed by Nicholas Hoult. Film is directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon and written by Michael Mitnick. +In 2020, the American biographical/historical/fanciful film Tesla premiered at The Sundance Film Festival. Written and directed by Michael Almereyda, it features Ethan Hawke as Tesla, and Kyle MacLachlan as Thomas Edison. +Tesla is portrayed by Canadian actor Robert Vilar in Matthew Rankin's 2017 experimental short film The Tesla World Light. +Tesla Nation, a 2018 documentary film on Serbian Americans +In Record of Ragnarok (2021 —) by Shinya Umemura and Takumi Fukui, Tesla is depicted as a fighter for humanity. + +=== Allusions === +Disney's Tomorrowland depicts Nikola Tesla as one of four members (with Thomas Edison, Gustave Eiffel, and Jules Verne) of a group of inventors called Plus Ultra, dedicated to finding dreamers and inventors who wanted to create a better future. Plus Ultra later discovers an alternate dimension in which the titular City of Tomorrow is constructed. +In Jim Jarmusch's film Coffee and Cigarettes, the vignette "Jack Shows Meg His Tesla Coil" features Jack White of the band The White Stripes praising Tesla's work and showing his bandmate Meg a Tesla coil he built; Jack is also a fan of Tesla in real life. +The 1986 Science Fiction Comedy The American Way (also known as Riders of the Storm) features a character named "Tesla" (played by Michael J. Pollard), an engineer on an airborne pirate television station. + +== Music == + +=== Allusions === +The American rock band Tesla is named after Nikola Tesla since 1986. They have referenced his life and works a number of times, such as in their debut album Mechanical Resonance (1986), their second album The Great Radio Controversy (1989) and the song "Edison's Medicine" (and accompanying music video), from their 1991 album Psychotic Supper +Russian synthpop band Tesla Boy formed in 2008 is named after Tesla. +Yugoslav rock band Teška Industrija recorded the rock epic "Nikola Tesla" for their 1976 studio album Teška Industrija. In 2017, the band rerecorded the song with singer Goran Karan for the large Tesla exhibit held in Zagreb, Croatia. +"Tesla Girls" was a 1984 single by English band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. +Tesla is the subject of the song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the American duo The Handsome Family. The song is featured on the duo's 2006 album Last Days of Wonder. +American metal band The Human Abstract released the album Midheaven (2008), which includes songs referring to Tesla and his struggles. +Some of lyrics from the 2011 album החבר אני (The Friend Me) by Israeli rock singer Rami Fortis was inspired by the life and works of Tesla. Fortis had dedicated the album to Tesla, and said his works inspired him. +The electronic dance album RISE (2013) by American electro-pop band Renaiszance is themed after The Inventor: The Story of Tesla graphic novel created by Ravé Mehta. The first single and "I Will Rise" are written to Tesla's story and use edgy electronic Tesla coil sounds and dubstep in the production. RISE was produced by Ravé Mehta and co-written with his sister and Renaiszance lead singer Radha Mehta. +Tesla is the subject of the song "Tesla" by the American rock band They Might Be Giants which appears on their 2013 album Nanobots, with lyrics covering his involvement in X-rays, AC power, radio, and neon lights. The song also references Tesla's death at the New Yorker Hotel. +Tesla featured in the official "My Demons" (2013) music video by the American electronic rock group Starset. +The Norwegian artist Sturle Dagsland released a single in 2013 entitled "Wardenclyffe Auquarium" with reference to Nikola Tesla's Wardenclyffe Tower. + +== Online == +In the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History, in season 2, Tesla is depicted in a rap battle against Thomas Edison. Tesla is portrayed by Dante Cimadamore and his singing voice is provided by both Cimadamore and Nice Peter. +The Oatmeal, a website created by Matthew Inman, contains a comic explaining "Why Nikola Tesla Was The Greatest Geek Who Ever Lived". +In the animated series Super Science Friends, a fictional Nikola Tesla is one of the main characters and is voiced by Hayden Finkelshtain. +In online culture, Tesla's quote regarding the number 369 is thought to refer to the supposed natural vibration of the mind. The body opens counterclockwise, so the mind is also thought to operate in a counter-clockwise current. Some speculate attunement to this frequency may assist in helping their thoughts 'manifest' into their reality, though experts consider this to be pseudoscience. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla_in_popular_culture-3.md b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla_in_popular_culture-3.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..4ae95062a --- /dev/null +++ b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla_in_popular_culture-3.md @@ -0,0 +1,38 @@ +--- +title: "Nikola Tesla in popular culture" +chunk: 4/5 +source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla_in_popular_culture" +category: "reference" +tags: "science, encyclopedia" +date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:04:56.506096+00:00" +instance: "kb-cron" +--- + +== Stage productions == +A number of live theatrical plays based on Tesla's life have been produced and staged worldwide. + +=== Opera === +Australian composer Constantine Koukias's two-act opera Tesla - Lightning in His Hand, about the life and times of Nikola Tesla, premiered at the 10 Days on the Island Festival in Hobart, Tasmania, in 2003. +Violet Fire is an opera centered on Tesla, with score by Jon Gibson and libretto by Miriam Seidel. It premiered on July 9-15, 2006 at the National Theater in Belgrade, as part of the celebration of Tesla's 150th birthday. +The 2021 opera Les Éclairs, by Philippe Hersant, is based on a fictionalized version of Tesla's biography; the Tesla figure is named 'Gregor'. + +== Television == + +=== Appearances === +Nikola Tesla was a Yugoslav TV series in 1977 which featured Rade Šerbedžija as Tesla, as well as Mustafa Nadarević, Špiro Guberina, Izet Hajdarhodžić, Ljuba Tadić, Ivo Serdar, and a number of other nationally renowned actors. +Tesla: Master of Lightning, a 2003 documentary by Robert Uth, featuring Stacy Keach as the voice of Tesla. +Tesla was a crucial character in the pilot episode, "Power" (January 20, 2008), of Canadian television period drama Murdoch Mysteries, in "The Tesla Effect" (June 13, 2010), episode 13 of season 3, in "Murdoch and the Undetectable Man" (January 28, 2019), episode 13 of season 12, and in "Staring Blindly into the Future" (January 13, 2020), episode 11 of season 13. He was played in all episodes by Canadian Ukrainian actor Dmitry Chepovetsky. +In Sanctuary (2008), a fictional version of Tesla is revealed to have been transformed into a semi-vampire as a result of being injected with vampire blood. He appears to be one of the primary antagonists of the series' first season, but becomes more friendly later on. He is played by actor Jonathon Young. +In one of the "Drunk History" series of comedy sketches, Duncan Trussell while intoxicated tells a story of Nikola Tesla's life and his encounters with Thomas Edison. Tesla is portrayed in the reenactment by John C. Reilly while Thomas Edison is portrayed by Crispin Glover. +He is referenced many times on the show Ancient Aliens including an episode called "The Tesla Experiment". +In 2015, Tesla was a pivotal figure in a science fiction series with four episodes, Nikola Tesla and the End of the World. In 2019, a second season was picked up by CBC Gem. Paul O'Neill plays Tesla. The series won or was nominated for several indie film awards, including grand prize at the Los Angeles New Media Film Festival, 2020. +The fourth episode of Doctor Who’s series 12 aired in 2020, "Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror", featured Nikola Tesla as portrayed by Goran Višnjić. +A 2018 non-fiction series on the History Channel called The Tesla Files is based on the life and mysteries surrounding the work of inventor Nikola Tesla. +Season 4 Episode 10 of MacGyver features John Ales as Tesla, both in a 1922 prologue and an induced dream state MacGyver uses to "meet" Tesla and glean clues to the location of a "superweapon" Tesla built. + +=== Allusions === +On a 2006 episode of MythBusters titled "Earthquake Machine", hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman debunked the claim that Tesla's oscillator could be used to create an earthquake. + +== Video games == +Tesla's proposal of teleforce weapons and the destructive possibilities of massive electric arcs created by tesla coils have inspired many video game designers to incorporate Tesla weapons and armors. +The asymmetrical horror multiplayer game Identity V developed by Netease released a character named Luca Balsa ( also known as "the Prisoner" ) who shares the same birthday as Tesla. In game, Balsa is characterized as a young and aspiring inventor working as an apprentice under Alva Lorenz, who shares his name with the middle name of Thomas Edison. The two worked together until they had an argument, resulting in Lorenz's accidental death and Balsa's imprisonment. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla_in_popular_culture-4.md b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla_in_popular_culture-4.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..2c24d1513 --- /dev/null +++ b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla_in_popular_culture-4.md @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@ +--- +title: "Nikola Tesla in popular culture" +chunk: 5/5 +source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla_in_popular_culture" +category: "reference" +tags: "science, encyclopedia" +date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:04:56.506096+00:00" +instance: "kb-cron" +--- + +=== Appearances === +In the Command & Conquer Red Alert series of video games, Nikola Tesla is a scientist working for the USSR, and "Tesla" is the name of the technology the Soviets use to generate power and for their lightning-based weapons. Perhaps the most widely known example is the Tesla Coil defense structure, capable of sending short electric arcs towards oncoming units, also in their arsenal are Tesla troopers, who carry portable tesla coil-based weaponry and tesla tanks, which have a large glowing blue sphere that ejects great bolts of electricity (the Red Alert 2 version is a small tracked vehicle with a pair of forward-facing, miniature Tesla coils mounted on a turret). +Nikola Tesla is also one of the characters in the game Martian Dreams, by Origin, which is part of the Worlds of Ultima series. +In Frostpunk, an alternate history Nikola Tesla is the founder and leader of Tesla City, a possible location to discover in-game. It appears that Tesla became an authoritarian dictator of his city, exiling many unfit individuals and attempting to shield his city from a perpetual winter using electricity, which ends up killing everyone inside Tesla City. Later, a group of exiles finds and kills him, before the player's scouts bury his body. +Tesla features in The Order: 1886, and aids the main character in the game set in an alternate history 1886. +Tesla is one of the main characters in the game Dark Void, where he is kept in an alternate universe, like a 'skin' between universes, to which one can travel through the Bermuda Triangle. He uses his great intelligence to create a huge spaceship called the Ark, kept in another, tropical Earth-like universe called the Void. The Ark can be used by others stranded in the alternate universe to defeat the post-singularity robotic AI that manifests itself as an army of anthropomorphic robots. After defeating the robotic menace, Tesla and the other protagonists return to the 'skin' universe, where Tesla stays to keep his youth and his inventions. +In the Rockstar Games 2018 title Red Dead Redemption 2, Tesla is paid homage to with a character called “Marko Dragic”. In the game, the player meets Dragic in the town of Saint Denis where he is convincing investors to invest in his work on electromagnetic waves, showing off a remotely controlled boat. A later mission entails the player helping Dragic set up a series of lightning rods, assisting Dragic in the activation of an automaton, and a return to the laboratory uncovers a deceased Marko Dragic, and awarding the player with the “Artificial Intelligence” achievement or trophy. Exploration into the mountain region will allow the player to find the automaton sitting on the edge of a mountain, regretting its transgressions. +Tesla is the protagonist of Tesla vs Lovecraft and fights monsters summoned by Lovecraft. +Tesla is an ally of the Assassin's order in the Assassin's Creed series. +In Fate/Grand Order, Tesla appears in the London Singularity and briefly in E Pluribus Unum Singularity as an Archer-class Servant. His Noble Phantasm, System Keraunos, is a powerful electromagnetic attack that deals extra damage against servants with Earth or Sky Attribute. +Zen Studios developed a virtual pinball table about Tesla's work and experiments, which became one of the first four tables in its first pinball game, Zen Pinball, released in 2009. It went on to appear in the game's subsequent ports and is available as add-on content for the game's sequels. Nikolai Tesla himself, portrayed by a voice actor, is the table's unseen announcer. +Tesla appears in the 2019 adventure horror video game Close to the Sun, voice acted by Jannik Archer. Set in an alternate reality in 1897, he has created a company called Wardenclyffe, and has pulled ahead in a technology war against American inventor Thomas Edison. +In the 2020 game Iron Harvest, the mechs, or automachines as they are called, are inventions of Tesla, which he had created to improve Human quality of life, but instead they were used by the various world powers in the Great War. Dismayed that his inventions were used for war, he shut himself, and his personal Factory, away from the nations of the world. Tesla, and his Factory, play a major role throughout the game's campaign story. + +=== Allusions === +The 2014 adventure game Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure deals with many of Tesla's inventions such as the Spirit Radio, Tesla's Egg, the Death Ray, and a recreation of the Wardenclyffe Tower. It also includes an organization called the "Tesla Legacy Society" dedicated to solving the problems of humanity through the works and inspiration of Tesla. + +== Banknotes and coins == +Nikola Tesla is portrayed on some Croatian euro coins (10, 20 and 50 cents coins). +Nikola Tesla is portrayed on the 100 Serbian dinar banknote. + +== Theme Parks == +The 2024 roller coaster Voltron Nevera is inspired by the life and work of Nikola Tesla and features an animatronic of him during the queue line. + +== See also == +Category:Cultural depictions of scientists + +== References == + +== External links == +"To Mars with Tesla; or, the Mystery of Hidden Worlds, a Science Fiction Tale from 1901, Tesla and the Exploration of Cosmos". Tesla Society. 1901. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_Thomas_Young-0.md b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_Thomas_Young-0.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..bfb7acb7c --- /dev/null +++ b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_Thomas_Young-0.md @@ -0,0 +1,49 @@ +--- +title: "Portrait of Thomas Young" +chunk: 1/1 +source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_Thomas_Young" +category: "reference" +tags: "science, encyclopedia" +date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:04:58.904308+00:00" +instance: "kb-cron" +--- + +Thomas Young is an 1822–6 oil painting of the polymathic scientist Thomas Young (1773–1829) by the English painter Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769–1830). A number of portraits of Thomas Young, based on the original Lawrence painting, have been made in various media, such as oil paintings, engravings, and mezzotints, including for illustrations in books and magazines. + + +== Paintings == +The original painting is in a private collection. The antiquarian Hudson Gurney (1775–1864), who had been educated by Young, among others, and was a close friend, owned the original Lawrence portrait; it hung in his home, Keswick Hall, southwest of Norwich in Norfolk. +There are several other portrait paintings of Thomas Young, largely based on the Lawrence portrait. + +Henry Perronet Briggs (1791–1844) painted a copy of the original portrait by Lawrence. Thomas Young was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1794. This portrait was commissioned by Hudson Gurney (the owner of the original Lawrence portrait), and presented to the Royal Society in 1842, after Young's death. This version of the portrait was used for the cover of the 2006 1st UK edition and the 2023 2nd UK edition of the Thomas Young biography The Last Man Who Knew Everything by Andrew Robinson. +Another painted copy of the portrait is held by the Royal Institution in London, where Young was appointed professor of natural philosophy in 1801 and gave lectures. This painting was commissioned by James Dewar, the Fullerian Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution, to help in completing its portrait collection of important professors there. It was gifted by Dewar in 1922. This version was painted by Hugh Goldwin Riviere (1869–1956) or Mabel Beatrice Messer (1874–1950). +Thomas Brigstocke (1809–1881) painted a copy of the Lawrence portrait that is held by City St George's, University of London, associated with St George's Hospital, where Young was a physician. + + +== Engravings and mezzotints == +There are also 1831 stipple engravings of the painting by Henry Adlard (active 1824–1869). Copies are held by the National Portrait Gallery in London, the Whipple Museum in Cambridge, and the Smithsonian Libraries in Washington, D.C. A stipple engraving by the printmaker George Henry Adcock (1803–1850/1) is held by the Royal Society and the Wellcome Collection in London. +The engraver James Thomson (1788–1850) produced a stipple engraving of Young based on the Lawrence portrait in 1840. +Charles Turner (1774–1857) produced a mezzotint based on the painting in 1830. A copy is held by the National Portrait Gallery. +The painter and engraver George Raphael Ward (1799–1878) produced mezzotints based on the painting. There are two copies in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery. A copy dating from 1855 is held by the Wellcome Collection. +The Wellcome Collection includes a range of engravings of Thomas Young, based on the Lawrence portrait. + + +== Illustrations == +A number of publications have included portraits of Young, based on Lawrence's painting, such as: + +Life of Thomas Young (1855) +Thomas Young (1874) +Oeuvres ophthalmologiques de Thomas Young (1894) +The Century's Progress in Physics (1897) +Some Apostles of Physiology – being an account of their lives and labours, labours that have contributed to the advancement of the healing art as well as to the prevention of disease (1902) +The Decrees of Memphis and Canopus (1904) +Handbuch der Gesamten Augenheilkunde (1911) +Britain's Heritage of Science (1917) +The Last Man Who Knew Everything (2006) + + +== References == + + +== External links == + Media related to Portraits of Thomas Young at Wikimedia Commons \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanisław_Staszic_Memorial-0.md b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanisław_Staszic_Memorial-0.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..b60e39495 --- /dev/null +++ b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanisław_Staszic_Memorial-0.md @@ -0,0 +1,29 @@ +--- +title: "Stanisław Staszic Memorial" +chunk: 1/1 +source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanisław_Staszic_Memorial" +category: "reference" +tags: "science, encyclopedia" +date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:04:55.218873+00:00" +instance: "kb-cron" +--- + +The Stanisław Staszic Memorial (Polish: Pomnik Stanisława Staszica) is a memorial in Warsaw, Poland, placed at the campus of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences, at 159 Nowoursynowska Street, in the neighbourhood of Stary Służew within the district of Ursynów. It is dedicated to Stanisław Staszic, a leading figure of the Polish Enlightenment in the 18th century, a writer, activist, geologist and geographer. The monument consists of a bust carved into a side of a large rock. It was made by sculptor Stanisław Lipski and unveiled in 1976 in front of the Primate Palace at 13/15 Senatorska Street, before being moved to its current location in 2007. + + +== History == + +The monument, made by Stanisław Lipski, was erected in 1976, on the 150th anniversary of Stanisław Staszic's death. It was placed next to the Primate Palace at 13/15 Senatorska Street, owned by the Warsaw University of Life Sciences. The monument was proposed by the Society of the Friends of Warsaw, and financed, among other donors, by the association of school's alumni. +The monument has the form of a large glacial erratic rock, donated by the Museum of the Earth of the Polish Academy of Sciences, with a bust of Staszic carved within it. It was planned to erect a statue leaning onto the rock, however this was never realised. +After the building was sold by the school, it was proposed to different location, such as in front of the 14th Stanisław Staszic Genera Education High School, or onto the courtyard of the University of Warsaw Library. However, the creator of the monument rejected either of the ideas. +In 2007, during the renovations of the palace's courtyard, the monument was removed and placed in a warehouse in Julinek. From there, it was then moved to the campus of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences, and placed in front of the Faculty of Wood Technology at 159 Nowoursynowska Street. + + +== Design == +The monument consists of a large glacial erratic rock placed on a low granite pedestal. It features a bust of Stanisław Staszic, carved into a niche at one of its upper corners. The monument is around 2.5 metres tall. On its side, it bears the following inscription: + +Stanisław Staszic1755−1826Wielki patriota, mąż stanu, przyrodnik, działacz oświatowy, społeczny. Prekursor geologii, górnictwa, hutnictwa i spółdzielczości. Protektor nauk rolnictwa i leśnictwa. W 1976 roku w 150 rocznicę śmierci składa hołd – Naród +English translation:Stanisław Staszic1755−1826Great patriot, statesman, naturalist, activists for the education and society. Forerunner of the geology, mining, metallurgy, and cooperation. Protector of agricultural and forestry sciences. In 1976, in the 150th anniversary of his death, we pay our tribute – the Nation + + +== References == \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Friede-0.md b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Friede-0.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..4e0177a75 --- /dev/null +++ b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Friede-0.md @@ -0,0 +1,29 @@ +--- +title: "Tim Friede" +chunk: 1/1 +source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Friede" +category: "reference" +tags: "science, encyclopedia" +date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:05:02.900619+00:00" +instance: "kb-cron" +--- + +Timothy Friede (born c. 1968) is an American mechanic and snake collector who intentionally exposed himself to various forms of snake venom in order to acquire immunity. A lifelong enthusiast of snakes, he began injecting himself with snake venom in 2000 after taking a venom extraction class. After being bitten by two cobras on the same night in 2001 and being left comatose for four days, he resolved to develop an advanced immunity to a variety of snakebites, amassing a collection of over sixty snakes and teaching himself immunology. He injected himself with snake venom over 800 times, and was bitten around 200. +After receiving perennial media attention over the 2000s and 2010s, he was contacted by immunologist and biotechnology researcher Jacob Glanville, who saw his acquired resistance as crucial to the development of a broad-spectrum snake antivenom. In a 2025 study published in Cell, two of these antibodies, combined with the anti-inflammatory agent varespladib, proved effective in countering thirteen out of nineteen venoms in a sample of nineteen snake venoms, and was partially effective against the remaining six. He works as the director of herpetology at Glanville's biotechnology company, Centivax. + + +== Biography == +Timothy Friede was born around 1968. He was adopted when he was three months old, and spent his childhood living in a suburb around Milwaukee. He had a lifelong interest in snakes, and was first bitten by a harmless garter snake when he was five years old. In high school, he frequently hunted garter snakes in rural Wisconsin, and acquired a snake as a pet. Initially planning to join the United States military, he fractured his ankle at an Army boot camp when he was 19, and instead took up a job as a window-washer for high-rise buildings in Milwaukee. He later got a job working in construction. + +When Friede was 30, he enrolled in a venom extraction class, learning how to milk venom from spiders and scorpions. After acquiring a copperhead as a pet in 2000, he became interested in self-immunization to snake bites, and began injecting himself with small amounts of venom extracted from his snakes. He amassed a large collection of snakes, at one point housing over sixty in his basement. On September 12, 2001, drunk and distracted by the recent death of a family friend, he was bitten by two different snakes; an Egyptian cobra bit one of his fingers while he was milking it, although he was little-affected due to his prior injections of cobra venom. He was bitten by a monocled cobra in his bicep an hour later, leaving him temporarily paralyzed. Rushed to the hospital by his wife and his neighbor, he was revived with antivenom acquired from a local zoo, and awoke from a coma four days later. +After the incident, Friede aimed to be able to survive two venomous snakebites in one night without requiring antivenom. He taught himself immunology, using Stanley Plotkin's textbook Vaccines as a guide, and became more methodical with his venom injections, using carefully measured and timed doses. These practices frequently resulted in side effects such as anaphylactic shocks, allergic reactions, and blackouts. Over the following 18 years, he injected himself with venom over 800 times, and was bitten around 200. He was bitten by various deadly species such as coastal taipans, water cobras, diamondback rattlesnakes, mojave rattlesnakes, and all four species of mamba. +He began to receive perennial media attention; he was interviewed by National Geographic in 2002, and was featured on an episode of Stan Lee's Superhumans in 2010. He began to film videos of himself being bit by snakes, which attracted considerable attention on YouTube and Facebook. He became a major figure within an emerging self-immunization hobbyist community which organized on Facebook. Friede's intense interest in self-immunization created tensions with his wife and children, and he separated from his wife in 2010. He moved his laboratory to a property in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, where he slept in a tent. + + +=== Contributions to antivenom === +Friede had believed since 2003 that his blood could be used to create an antivenom, but did not initially find interest among immunologists he contacted. He began to be disillusioned with the self-immunization practice by the mid-2010s. By 2017, he worked building military trucks in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, when he was contacted by immunologist Jacob Glanville, an antivenom researcher, who had discovered Friede through a newspaper story about his YouTube videos and felt that he could be instrumental in developing a general-purpose snake antivenom. Friede agreed to supply Glanville with his blood for antibodies, agreeing to split any profits from a resulting antivenom equally. +Glanville and Columbia University vaccine researcher Peter Kwong isolated antibodies from Friede's blood. In a 2025 study published in Cell, two of these antibodies, combined with the anti-inflammatory agent varespladib, proved effective in countering thirteen out of nineteen venoms in a sample of nineteen snake venoms, and was partially effective against the remaining six. It offers no resistance to viper venom, which operate using a different mechanism which attacks tissues and the cardiovascular system. +Friede stopped injecting himself with venom and getting bit by snakes, receiving his last bite from a water cobra in November 2018. He became the director of herpetology at Glanville's California-based biotechnology company, Centivax. The development of a broad-spectrum antivenom would likely allow Centivax to control large portions of the antivenom industry, which is currently split between several dozen antivenoms which target specific species. + + +== References == \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trouble_with_Lichen-0.md b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trouble_with_Lichen-0.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..2d5aa4c95 --- /dev/null +++ b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trouble_with_Lichen-0.md @@ -0,0 +1,35 @@ +--- +title: "Trouble with Lichen" +chunk: 1/1 +source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trouble_with_Lichen" +category: "reference" +tags: "science, encyclopedia" +date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:04:57.744008+00:00" +instance: "kb-cron" +--- + +Trouble with Lichen (published 1960) is a science fiction novel by British writer John Wyndham. +The plot concerns a young female biochemist who discovers that a chemical extracted from an unusual strain of lichen can be used to slow down the ageing process, enabling people to live to around 200–300 years. Wyndham speculates how society would deal with this prospect. + + +== Plot summary == +The two central characters are Diana Brackley and Francis Saxover, two biochemists who run parallel investigations into the properties of a specific species of lichen after Diana notices that a trace of the specimen prevents some milk turning sour. +She and Francis separately manage to extract from the lichen a new drug, dubbed Antigerone, which slows down the body's ageing process. While Francis uses it only on himself and his immediate family (without their knowledge), Diana founds a cosmetic spa, and builds up a clientele of some of the most powerful women in England, giving them low doses of Antigerone, preserving their beauty and youth. When Francis finds out about the spas, he erroneously assumes that Diana's motive is profit. Diana's aim, however, is actually female empowerment, intending to gain the support of these influential women, believing that if Antigerone became publicly known, it would be reserved only for the men in power. +After a customer suffers an allergic reaction to one of Diana's products, the secret of the drug begins to emerge. Diana tries to cover up the real source of the drug, since the lichen is very rare and difficult to grow, but when it is finally discovered she fakes her own death in the hope of inspiring the women of Britain to fight for the rights she tried to secure for them. +Francis realises that Diana may not really be dead, and tracks her down to a remote farm where she has succeeded in growing a small amount of the lichen. Diana plans to rejoin the world under the guise of being her own sister, and continue the work she left off. + + +== Adaptations == +The BBC Home Service broadcast a 90-minute radio adaptation by Archie Campbell on 26 November 1962, with Rosalie Crutchley as Diana Brackley and Hugh Latimer as Francis Saxover. +A five-part abridged reading of the novel read by Joanna Tope was broadcast on BBC Radio 7 from 29 October to 2 November 2007, and later re-broadcast in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2017, 2019, 2021 and most recently 2022. + + +== References == + + +== External links == +Trouble with Lichen at Faded Page (Canada) +review by Branislav L. Slantchev +BBC TV interview with John Wyndham on the publication of Trouble With Lichen (Only available United Kingdom) +Abridged 5-part reading of 'Trouble with Lichen' broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra +Radio dramatization of 'Trouble with Lichen' broadcast on BBC Home Service on 26 November 1962 \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Garrow_Lettsom-0.md b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Garrow_Lettsom-0.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..3e06415b3 --- /dev/null +++ b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Garrow_Lettsom-0.md @@ -0,0 +1,34 @@ +--- +title: "William Garrow Lettsom" +chunk: 1/2 +source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Garrow_Lettsom" +category: "reference" +tags: "science, encyclopedia" +date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:05:05.311039+00:00" +instance: "kb-cron" +--- + +William Garrow Lettsom (1805 – 14 December 1887) was a British diplomat and scientist. He was instrumental in revealing the text of the secret Treaty of the Triple Alliance between Argentina, the Empire of Brazil and Uruguay. + +== Early life == +Lettsom was born into a Quaker family at Fulham in March 1805. His paternal grandfather John Coakley Lettsom was a famous physician, philanthropist and abolitionist who held that sea-bathing was good for public health. His maternal grandfather − with whom he lived in his youth − was Sir William Garrow the celebrated criminal defender, afterwards a judge, who introduced the phrase "presumed innocent until proven guilty" into the common law and whose life inspired the television drama series Garrow's Law. Lettsom was educated at Westminster School and Cambridge University. + +== Literary acquaintance == + +As an undergraduate at Cambridge University Lettsom befriended the author William Makepeace Thackeray and was the (or an) editor of The Snob in which some of Thackeray's earliest work appeared; Lettsom has been identified as the character Tapeworm in Thackeray's novel Vanity Fair, a diplomat who fancies himself as a ladies' man. Lettsom was well acquainted with the cartoonist George Cruikshank, illustrator of the early works of Charles Dickens. Lettsom was a contributor to various literary periodicals under the pseudonym Dr. Bulgardo. + +== Scientist == +Lettsom was a competent scientist in an age when this was still possible for an amateur. He was best known as the joint author of Greg and Lettsom's Manual of the Mineralogy of Great Britain and Ireland, which was the most complete and accurate work that had appeared on the mineralogy of the British Isles. First published in 1858, a century later it was still the standard work on the subject, when a reprint was issued. The mineral lettsomite is named after him. +But his scientific interests were wider, and he corresponded with the most eminent workers in spectroscopy. He was a member of the London Electrical Society and the author of several papers on geological, electrical and spectroscopic subjects. +He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1849. In that year he communicated an experiment in bioelectricity: by making a wound in a finger and inserting the electrode of a galvanometer, while placing the other electrode in contact with an unwounded finger, a current was observed to flow. Lettsom observed that the experiment was repeatable for he had tried it himself. In 1857 while on diplomatic service in Mexico he sent to the Royal Entomological Society of London some seeds which, when put in a warm place, became "very lively". The grub responsible had not been investigated scientifically before, wrote Lettsom, and he asked the Society to do so. These were the celebrated Mexican jumping beans. +While on diplomatic service in Uruguay he brought a 9 inch Henry Fitz telescope for astronomical observations in the southern hemisphere. Owing to unknown problems he sent the telescope back to New York to be checked and adjusted by the telescope maker. The telescope was received by Lewis Rutherford, pioneer astrophotographer and spectroscopist and associate of the Royal Astronomical Society, who helped Henry Fitz on this task. The telescope was left in Uruguay and is in use to this day by the Uruguayan Amateur Astronomers' Association. + +== Diplomat == + +Having been called to the Bar by Lincoln's Inn he entered the diplomatic service. After postings in Berlin, Munich (1831), Washington (1840), Turin (1849) and Madrid (1850) he was appointed secretary to the Legation at Mexico (1854) and became the Chargé d'affaires. + +In the unreformed British diplomatic service there were no examinations; candidates were appointed by the influence of political friends. This caused criticism. In the House of Commons on 22 May 1855 the motion wasThat it is the opinion of this House that the complete Revision of our Diplomatic Establishment recommended in the Report of the Select Committee of 1850 on Official Salaries should be carried into effect. +In this debate Lettsom was used as a case in point to illustrate the defects of the unreformed system. It has been noted that Lettsom, "who had invariably conducted himself to the satisfaction of those who employed him", received one of the slowest promotions in the diplomatic service. A diplomat was expected to be a gentleman and to have a private income whereby he could receive unpaid diplomatic appointments. Hence nine of the twenty-three years of Lettsom's service were unsalaried; promotion was slow. This glacial treatment did not apply, however, to those who had powerful political friends, for they were soon appointed to agreeable capitals at enormous salaries. The motion was carried by 112 votes to 57, Mr Otway MP remarking that "The person who had shown himself to be the fittest man, whether he was the son of a Peer or a tailor, should be chosen". +While in Mexico the British government suspended relations with that country on Lettsom's representation, and he was the object of an attempted assassination. Between 1859 and 1869 Lettsom was appointed Consul-General and Chargé d'Affaires to the Republic of Uruguay. + +=== Treaty of the Triple Alliance === \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Garrow_Lettsom-1.md b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Garrow_Lettsom-1.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..67435880d --- /dev/null +++ b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Garrow_Lettsom-1.md @@ -0,0 +1,35 @@ +--- +title: "William Garrow Lettsom" +chunk: 2/2 +source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Garrow_Lettsom" +category: "reference" +tags: "science, encyclopedia" +date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:05:05.311039+00:00" +instance: "kb-cron" +--- + +In 1864 and early 1865 Paraguayan forces under the orders of Francisco Solano López seized Brazilian and Argentine shipping and invaded the provinces of the Mato Grosso and Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil) and Corrientes (Argentina). On 1 May 1865 Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay signed the Treaty of the Triple Alliance against Paraguay. By Article XVIII of the Treaty its provisions were to be kept secret until its "principal object" should be obtained. +One of its provisions concerned the acquisition by Argentina of large tracts of territory then in dispute between it and Paraguay. Lettsom was not satisfied about this and surreptitiously obtained a copy of the Treaty from the Uruguayan diplomat Dr Carlos de Castro. He forwarded it to London and the British government ordered it to be translated into English and published to Parliament. When the text became available in South America there was outrage in several quarters, some because of the Treaty's content, others because it had been published at all. + +Lettsom has been cited as an exemplar of the nuance with which a substantial part of the British diplomatic corps saw the Paraguayan War. + +== Later == +Lettsom retired from the diplomatic service in 1869. He never married. He died of acute bronchitis on 14 December 1887. + +== Notes == + +== References == +Benét, Laura (1947). Thackeray, of the Great Heart and Humorous Pen. Dodd Mead. +Bindoff, S.T. (1935). "The Unreformed Diplomatic Service, 1812–60". Transactions of the Royal Historical Society. 18. Cambridge University Press: 143–172. doi:10.2307/3678607. JSTOR 3678607. S2CID 154655198. +Greg, Robert Philips; Lettsom, William G (1858). Manual of the Mineralogy of Great Britain and Ireland. London: John Van Voorst. +Greig, John Young Thomson (1950). Thackeray: A reconsideration. Oxford: Oxford University Press. +Hansard's Parliamentary Debates Third Series 18 & 19 Victoriae 1855. Vol. 138. London: Cornelius Buck. 1855. +Hostettler, John; Braby, Richard (2020). Sir William Garrow: His Life, Times and Fight for Justice. Sherfield on Loddon, Hampshire: Waterside Press. ISBN 978-190-438-0-559. +McIntyre, Michael (2011). "When Hegemony Fails: British Imperialism in India and Brazil from the Nineteenth to the Early Twentieth Centuries". Western Political Science Association 2011 Annual Meeting Paper. San Antonio: SSRN. pp. 1–175. +"Obituary: List of Fellows and Associates deceased Lettsom, W.G." (PDF). Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 68: 165. February 1888. Bibcode:1888MNRAS..48R.165. +Proceedings of the Entomological Society of London 1856. London: Entomological Society of London. 1858. +Spencer, L.J. (1958). "Third supplementary list of British minerals". Mineralogical Magazine and Journal of the Mineralogical Society. 3 (240): 78–810. Bibcode:1958MinM...31..787S. doi:10.1180/minmag.1958.031.240.07. Retrieved 15 November 2021. +Thompson, George (1869). The War in Paraguay. London: Logmans, Green. Retrieved 17 November 2021. +Urban, Sylvanus (1817). The Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Quarterly. Vol. 87. London: Nichols Son & Bentley. +Vanable, Joseph W Jr (2007). "A History of bioelectricity in development and regeneration". In Dinsmore, Charles E. (ed.). A History of Regeneration Research. Cambridge University Press. pp. 151–178. ISBN 978-0-521-04796-8. +Whigham, Thomas L (2017). Road to Armageddon: Paraguay Versus the Triple Alliance, 1866–70. University of Calgary Press. ISBN 978-1-55238-810-5. \ No newline at end of file