title: Alchemy

text: As early as 317 AD, Ge Hong documented the use of metals, minerals, and elixirs in early Chinese medicine. Hong identified three ancient Chinese documents, titled "Scripture of Great Clarity, Scripture of the Nine Elixirs", and "Scripture of the Golden Liquor," as texts containing fundamental alchemical information. He also described alchemy, along with meditation, as the sole spiritual practices that could allow one to gain immortality or to transcend. In his work "Inner Chapters of the Book of the Master Who Embraces Spontaneous Nature" (317 AD), Hong argued that alchemical solutions such as elixirs were preferable to traditional medicinal treatment due to the spiritual protection they could provide. In the centuries following Ge Hong's death, the emphasis placed on alchemy as a spiritual practice among Chinese Daoists was reduced. In 499 AD, Tao Hongjing refuted Hong's statement that alchemy is as important a spiritual practice as Shangqing meditation. While Hongjing did not deny the power of alchemical elixirs to grant immortality or provide divine protection, he ultimately the found the "Scripture of the Nine Elixirs" to be ambiguous and spiritually unfulfilling, aiming to implement more accessible practicing techniques.


title: Alchemy

text: In the early 700s, Neidan (also known as internal alchemy) was adopted by Daoists as a new form of alchemy. Neidan emphasized appeasing the inner gods that inhabit the human body via by practicing alchemy with compounds found in the body, rather than the mixing of natural resources that was emphasized in early Dao alchemy. For example, saliva was often considered nourishment for the inner gods and didn't require any conscious alchemical reaction to produce. The inner gods were not thought of as physical presences occupying each person, but rather a collection of deities that are each said to represent and protect a specific body part or region. Although those who practiced Neidan prioritized meditation over external alchemical strategies, many of the same elixirs and constituents from previous Daoist alchemical schools of thought continued to be utilized in tandem with meditation. Eternal life remained a consideration for Neidan alchemists, as it was believed that one would become immortal if an inner god were to be immortalized within them through spiritual fulfillment.


title: Alchemy

text: Black powder may have been an important invention of Chinese alchemists. It is said that the Chinese invented gunpowder while trying to find a potion for eternal life. Described in 9th-century texts and used in fireworks in China by the 10th century, it was used in cannons by 1290. From China, the use of gunpowder spread to Japan, the Mongols, the Muslim world, and Europe. Gunpowder was used by the Mongols against the Hungarians in 1241, and in Europe by the 14th century.


title: Alchemy

text: Chinese alchemy was closely connected to Taoist forms of traditional Chinese medicine, such as Acupuncture and Moxibustion. In the early Song dynasty, followers of this Taoist idea (chiefly the elite and upper class) would ingest mercuric sulfide, which, though tolerable in low levels, led many to suicide. Thinking that this consequential death would lead to freedom and access to the Taoist heavens, the ensuing deaths encouraged people to eschew this method of alchemy in favor of external sources (the aforementioned Tai Chi Chuan, mastering of the qi, etc.) Chinese alchemy was introduced to the West by Obed Simon Johnson.


title: Alchemy

text: The introduction of alchemy to Latin Europe may be dated to 11 February 1144, with the completion of Robert of Chester's translation of the Arabic "Book of the Composition of Alchemy". Although European craftsmen and technicians pre-existed, Robert notes in his preface that alchemy (though here still referring to the elixir rather than to the art itself) was unknown in Latin Europe at the time of his writing. The translation of Arabic texts concerning numerous disciplines including alchemy flourished in 12th-century Toledo, Spain, through contributors like Gerard of Cremona and Adelard of Bath. Translations of the time included the Turba Philosophorum, and the works of Avicenna and Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi. These brought with them many new words to the European vocabulary for which there was no previous Latin equivalent. Alcohol, carboy, elixir, and athanor are examples.


title: Alchemy

text: Meanwhile, theologian contemporaries of the translators made strides towards the reconciliation of faith and experimental rationalism, thereby priming Europe for the influx of alchemical thought. The 11th-century St Anselm put forth the opinion that faith and rationalism were compatible and encouraged rationalism in a Christian context. In the early 12th century, Peter Abelard followed Anselm's work, laying down the foundation for acceptance of Aristotelian thought before the first works of Aristotle had reached the West. In the early 13th century, Robert Grosseteste used Abelard's methods of analysis and added the use of observation, experimentation, and conclusions when conducting scientific investigations. Grosseteste also did much work to reconcile Platonic and Aristotelian thinking.


title: Alchemy

text: Through much of the 12th and 13th centuries, alchemical knowledge in Europe remained centered on translations, and new Latin contributions were not made. The efforts of the translators were succeeded by that of the encyclopaedists. In the 13th century, Albertus Magnus and Roger Bacon were the most notable of these, their work summarizing and explaining the newly imported alchemical knowledge in Aristotelian terms. Albertus Magnus, a Dominican friar, is known to have written works such as the "Book of Minerals" where he observed and commented on the operations and theories of alchemical authorities like Hermes and Democritus and unnamed alchemists of his time. Albertus critically compared these to the writings of Aristotle and Avicenna, where they concerned the transmutation of metals. From the time shortly after his death through to the 15th century, more than 28 alchemical tracts were misattributed to him, a common practice giving rise to his reputation as an accomplished alchemist. Likewise, alchemical texts have been attributed to Albert's student Thomas Aquinas.


title: Alchemy

text: Roger Bacon, a Franciscan friar who wrote on a wide variety of topics including optics, comparative linguistics, and medicine, composed his "Great Work" () for as part of a project towards rebuilding the medieval university curriculum to include the new learning of his time. While alchemy was not more important to him than other sciences and he did not produce allegorical works on the topic, he did consider it and astrology to be important parts of both natural philosophy and theology and his contributions advanced alchemy's connections to soteriology and Christian theology. Bacon's writings integrated morality, salvation, alchemy, and the prolongation of life. His correspondence with Clement highlighted this, noting the importance of alchemy to the papacy. Like the Greeks before him, Bacon acknowledged the division of alchemy into practical and theoretical spheres. He noted that the theoretical lay outside the scope of Aristotle, the natural philosophers, and all Latin writers of his time. The practical confirmed the theoretical, and Bacon advocated its uses in natural science and medicine. In later European legend, he became an archmage. In particular, along with Albertus Magnus, he was credited with the forging of a brazen head capable of answering its owner's questions.


title: Alchemy

text: Soon after Bacon, the influential work of Pseudo-Geber (sometimes identified as Paul of Taranto) appeared. His "Summa Perfectionis" remained a staple summary of alchemical practice and theory through the medieval and renaissance periods. It was notable for its inclusion of practical chemical operations alongside sulphur-mercury theory, and the unusual clarity with which they were described. By the end of the 13th century, alchemy had developed into a fairly structured system of belief. Adepts believed in the macrocosm-microcosm theories of Hermes, that is to say, they believed that processes that affect minerals and other substances could have an effect on the human body (for example, if one could learn the secret of purifying gold, one could use the technique to purify the human soul). They believed in the four elements and the four qualities as described above, and they had a strong tradition of cloaking their written ideas in a labyrinth of coded jargon set with traps to mislead the uninitiated. Finally, the alchemists practiced their art: they actively experimented with chemicals and made observations and theories about how the universe operated. Their entire philosophy revolved around their belief that man's soul was divided within himself after the fall of Adam. By purifying the two parts of man's soul, man could be reunited with God.


title: Alchemy

text: In the 14th century, alchemy became more accessible to Europeans outside the confines of Latin speaking churchmen and scholars. Alchemical discourse shifted from scholarly philosophical debate to an exposed social commentary on the alchemists themselves. Dante, Piers Plowman, and Chaucer all painted unflattering pictures of alchemists as thieves and liars. Pope John XXII's 1317 edict, "Spondent quas non-exhibent" forbade the false promises of transmutation made by pseudo-alchemists. Roman Catholic Inquisitor General Nicholas Eymerich's "Directorium Inquisitorum", written in 1376, associated alchemy with the performance of demonic rituals, which Eymerich differentiated from magic performed in accordance with scripture. This did not, however, lead to any change in the Inquisition's monitoring or prosecution of alchemists. In 1403, Henry IV of England banned the practice of multiplying metals (although it was possible to buy a licence to attempt to make gold alchemically, and a number were granted by Henry VI and Edward IV). These critiques and regulations centered more around pseudo-alchemical charlatanism than the actual study of alchemy, which continued with an increasingly Christian tone. The 14th century saw the Christian imagery of death and resurrection employed in the alchemical texts of Petrus Bonus, John of Rupescissa, and in works written in the name of Raymond Lull and Arnold of Villanova.


title: Alchemy

text: Nicolas Flamel is a well-known alchemist, but a good example of pseudepigraphy, the practice of giving your works the name of someone else, usually more famous. Although the historical Flamel existed, the writings and legends assigned to him only appeared in 1612. Flamel was not a religious scholar as were many of his predecessors, and his entire interest in the subject revolved around the pursuit of the philosopher's stone. His work spends a great deal of time describing the processes and reactions, but never actually gives the formula for carrying out the transmutations. Most of 'his' work was aimed at gathering alchemical knowledge that had existed before him, especially as regarded the philosopher's stone. Through the 14th and 15th centuries, alchemists were much like Flamel: they concentrated on looking for the philosophers' stone. Bernard Trevisan and George Ripley made similar contributions. Their cryptic allusions and symbolism led to wide variations in interpretation of the art.


title: Alchemy

text: During the Renaissance, Hermetic and Platonic foundations were restored to European alchemy. The dawn of medical, pharmaceutical, occult, and entrepreneurial branches of alchemy followed.


title: Alchemy

text: In the late 15th century, Marsilio Ficino translated the Corpus Hermeticum and the works of Plato into Latin. These were previously unavailable to Europeans who for the first time had a full picture of the alchemical theory that Bacon had declared absent. Renaissance Humanism and Renaissance Neoplatonism guided alchemists away from physics to refocus on mankind as the alchemical vessel.


title: Alchemy

text: Esoteric systems developed that blended alchemy into a broader occult Hermeticism, fusing it with magic, astrology, and Christian cabala. A key figure in this development was German Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486–1535), who received his Hermetic education in Italy in the schools of the humanists. In his "De Occulta Philosophia", he attempted to merge Kabbalah, Hermeticism, and alchemy. He was instrumental in spreading this new blend of Hermeticism outside the borders of Italy.


title: Alchemy

text: Paracelsus (Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, 1493–1541) cast alchemy into a new form, rejecting some of Agrippa's occultism and moving away from chrysopoeia. Paracelsus pioneered the use of chemicals and minerals in medicine and wrote, "Many have said of Alchemy, that it is for the making of gold and silver. For me such is not the aim, but to consider only what virtue and power may lie in medicines."


title: Alchemy

text: His hermetical views were that sickness and health in the body relied on the harmony of man the microcosm and Nature the macrocosm. He took an approach different from those before him, using this analogy not in the manner of soul-purification but in the manner that humans must have certain balances of minerals in their bodies, and that certain illnesses of the body had chemical remedies that could cure them. Iatrochemistry refers to the pharmaceutical applications of alchemy championed by Paracelsus.


title: Alchemy

text: John Dee (13 July 1527 – December, 1608) followed Agrippa's occult tradition. Although better known for angel summoning, divination, and his role as astrologer, cryptographer, and consultant to Queen Elizabeth I, Dee's alchemical "Monas Hieroglyphica", written in 1564 was his most popular and influential work. His writing portrayed alchemy as a sort of terrestrial astronomy in line with the Hermetic axiom "As above so below". During the 17th century, a short-lived "supernatural" interpretation of alchemy became popular, including support by fellows of the Royal Society: Robert Boyle and Elias Ashmole. Proponents of the supernatural interpretation of alchemy believed that the philosopher's stone might be used to summon and communicate with angels.


title: Alchemy

text: Entrepreneurial opportunities were common for the alchemists of Renaissance Europe. Alchemists were contracted by the elite for practical purposes related to mining, medical services, and the production of chemicals, medicines, metals, and gemstones. Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, in the late 16th century, famously received and sponsored various alchemists at his court in Prague, including Dee and his associate Edward Kelley. King James IV of Scotland, Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Henry V, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Augustus, Elector of Saxony, Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn, and Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel all contracted alchemists. John's son Arthur Dee worked as a court physician to Michael I of Russia and Charles I of England but also compiled the alchemical book "Fasciculus Chemicus".


title: Alchemy

text: Although most of these appointments were legitimate, the trend of pseudo-alchemical fraud continued through the Renaissance. "Betrüger" would use sleight of hand, or claims of secret knowledge to make money or secure patronage. Legitimate mystical and medical alchemists such as Michael Maier and Heinrich Khunrath wrote about fraudulent transmutations, distinguishing themselves from the con artists. False alchemists were sometimes prosecuted for fraud.


title: Alchemy

text: The terms "chemia" and "alchemia" were used as synonyms in the early modern period, and the differences between alchemy, chemistry and small-scale assaying and metallurgy were not as neat as in the present day. There were important overlaps between practitioners, and trying to classify them into alchemists, chemists and craftsmen is anachronistic. For example, Tycho Brahe (1546–1601), an alchemist better known for his astronomical and astrological investigations, had a laboratory built at his Uraniborg observatory/research institute. Michael Sendivogius ("Michał Sędziwój", 1566–1636), a Polish alchemist, philosopher, medical doctor and pioneer of chemistry wrote mystical works but is also credited with distilling oxygen in a lab sometime around 1600. Sendivogious taught his technique to Cornelius Drebbel who, in 1621, applied this in a submarine. Isaac Newton devoted considerably more of his writing to the study of alchemy (see Isaac Newton's occult studies) than he did to either optics or physics. Other early modern alchemists who were eminent in their other studies include Robert Boyle, and Jan Baptist van Helmont. Their Hermeticism complemented rather than precluded their practical achievements in medicine and science.


title: Alchemy

text: The decline of European alchemy was brought about by the rise of modern science with its emphasis on rigorous quantitative experimentation and its disdain for "ancient wisdom". Although the seeds of these events were planted as early as the 17th century, alchemy still flourished for some two hundred years, and in fact may have reached its peak in the 18th century. As late as 1781 James Price claimed to have produced a powder that could transmute mercury into silver or gold. Early modern European alchemy continued to exhibit a diversity of theories, practices, and purposes: "Scholastic and anti-Aristotelian, Paracelsian and anti-Paracelsian, Hermetic, Neoplatonic, mechanistic, vitalistic, and more—plus virtually every combination and compromise thereof."


title: Alchemy

text: Robert Boyle (1627–1691) pioneered the scientific method in chemical investigations. He assumed nothing in his experiments and compiled every piece of relevant data. Boyle would note the place in which the experiment was carried out, the wind characteristics, the position of the Sun and Moon, and the barometer reading, all just in case they proved to be relevant. This approach eventually led to the founding of modern chemistry in the 18th and 19th centuries, based on revolutionary discoveries and ideas of Lavoisier and John Dalton.


title: Alchemy

text: Beginning around 1720, a rigid distinction began to be drawn for the first time between "alchemy" and "chemistry". By the 1740s, "alchemy" was now restricted to the realm of gold making, leading to the popular belief that alchemists were charlatans, and the tradition itself nothing more than a fraud. In order to protect the developing science of modern chemistry from the negative censure to which alchemy was being subjected, academic writers during the 18th-century scientific Enlightenment attempted, for the sake of survival, to divorce and separate the "new" chemistry from the "old" practices of alchemy. This move was mostly successful, and the consequences of this continued into the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.


title: Alchemy

text: During the occult revival of the early 19th century, alchemy received new attention as an occult science. The esoteric or occultist school, which arose during the 19th century, held (and continues to hold) the view that the substances and operations mentioned in alchemical literature are to be interpreted in a spiritual sense, and it downplays the role of the alchemy as a practical tradition or protoscience. This interpretation further forwarded the view that alchemy is an art primarily concerned with spiritual enlightenment or illumination, as opposed to the physical manipulation of apparatus and chemicals, and claims that the obscure language of the alchemical texts were an allegorical guise for spiritual, moral or mystical processes.


title: Alchemy

text: In the 19th-century revival of alchemy, the two most seminal figures were Mary Anne Atwood and Ethan Allen Hitchcock, who independently published similar works regarding spiritual alchemy. Both forwarded a completely esoteric view of alchemy, as Atwood claimed: "No modern art or chemistry, notwithstanding all its surreptitious claims, has any thing in common with Alchemy." Atwood's work influenced subsequent authors of the occult revival including Eliphas Levi, Arthur Edward Waite, and Rudolf Steiner. Hitchcock, in his "Remarks Upon Alchymists" (1855) attempted to make a case for his spiritual interpretation with his claim that the alchemists wrote about a spiritual discipline under a materialistic guise in order to avoid accusations of blasphemy from the church and state. In 1845, Baron Carl Reichenbach, published his studies on Odic force, a concept with some similarities to alchemy, but his research did not enter the mainstream of scientific discussion.


title: Alchemy

text: In 1946, Louis Cattiaux published the Message Retrouvé, a work that was at once philosophical, mystical and highly influenced by alchemy. In his lineage, many researchers, including Emmanuel and Charles d'Hooghvorst, are updating alchemical studies in France and Belgium.


title: Alchemy

text: Several women appear in the earliest history of alchemy. Michael Maier names four women who were able to make the philosophers' stone: Mary the Jewess, Cleopatra the Alchemist, Medera, and Taphnutia. Zosimos' sister Theosebia (later known as Euthica the Arab) and Isis the Prophetess also played roles in early alchemical texts.


title: Alchemy

text: The first alchemist whose name we know was Mary the Jewess (). Early sources claim that Mary (or Maria) devised a number of improvements to alchemical equipment and tools as well as novel techniques in chemistry. Her best known advances were in heating and distillation processes. The laboratory water-bath, known eponymously (especially in France) as the bain-marie, is said to have been invented or at least improved by her. Essentially a double-boiler, it was (and is) used in chemistry for processes that required gentle heating. The tribikos (a modified distillation apparatus) and the kerotakis (a more intricate apparatus used especially for sublimations) are two other advancements in the process of distillation that are credited to her. Although we have no writing from Mary herself, she is known from the early-fourth-century writings of Zosimos of Panopolis. After the Greco-Roman period, women's names appear less frequently in alchemical literature.


title: Alchemy

text: Towards the end of the Middle Ages and beginning of the Renaissance, due to the emergence of print, women were able to access the alchemical knowledge from texts of the preceding centuries. Caterina Sforza, the Countess of Forlì and Lady of Imola, is one of the few confirmed female alchemists after Mary the Jewess. As she owned an apothecary, she would practice science and conduct experiments in her botanic gardens and laboratories. Being knowledgable in alchemy and pharmacology, she recorded all of her alchemical ventures in a manuscript named ('Experiments'). The manuscript contained more than four hundred recipes covering alchemy as well as cosmetics and medicine. One of these recipes was for the water of talc. Talc, which makes up talcum powder, is a mineral which, when combined with water and distilled, was said to produce a solution which yielded many benefits. These supposed benefits included turning silver to gold and rejuvenation. When combined with white wine, its powder form could be ingested to counteract poision. Furthermore, if that powder was mixed and drunk with white wine, it was said to be a source of protection from any poison, sickness, or plague. Other recipes were for making hair dyes, lotions, lip colors. There was also information on how to treat a variety of ailments from fevers and coughs to epilepsy and cancer. In addition, there were instructions on producing the quintessence (or aether), an elixir which was believed to be able to heal all sicknesses, defend against diseases, and perpetuate youthfulness. She also wrote about creating the illustrious philosophers' stone.


title: Alchemy

text: Due to the proliferation in alchemical literature of pseudepigrapha and anonymous works, it is difficult to know which of the alchemists were actually women. As the sixteenth century went on, scientific culture flourished and people began collecting "secrets". During this period "secrets" referred to experiments, and the most coveted ones were not those which were bizarre, but the ones which had been proven to yield the desired outcome. Some women known for their interest in alchemy were Catherine de' Medici, the Queen of France, and Marie de' Medici, the following Queen of France, who carried out experiments in her personal laboratory. Also, Isabella d'Este, the Marchioness of Mantua, made perfumes herself to serve as gifts. In this period, the only book of secrets ascribed to a woman was ('The Secrets of Signora Isabella Cortese'). This book contained information on how to turn base metals into gold, medicine, and cosmetics. However, it is rumored that a man, Girolamo Ruscelli, was the real author and only used a female voice to attract female readers. This contributed to a bigger problem in which male authors would credit prominent noblewomen for beauty products with the purpose of appealing to a female audience. For example, in ("Gallant Recipe-Book"), the distillation of lemons and roses was attributed to Elisabetta Gonzaga, the duchess of Urbino. In the same book, Isabella d'Aragona, the daughter of Alfonso II of Naples, is accredited for recipes involving alum and mercury. Ippolita Maria Sforza is even referred to in an anonymous manuscript about a hand lotion created with rose powder and crushed bones.


title: Alchemy

text: Mary Anne Atwood's "A Suggestive Inquiry into the Hermetic Mystery" (1850) marks the return of women during the nineteenth-century occult revival.


title: Alchemy

text: The history of alchemy has become a significant and recognized subject of academic study. As the language of the alchemists is analyzed, historians are becoming more aware of the intellectual connections between that discipline and other facets of Western cultural history, such as the evolution of science and philosophy, the sociology and psychology of the intellectual communities, kabbalism, spiritualism, Rosicrucianism, and other mystic movements. Institutions involved in this research include The Chymistry of Isaac Newton project at Indiana University, the University of Exeter Centre for the Study of Esotericism (EXESESO), the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE), and the University of Amsterdam's Sub-department for the History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents. A large collection of books on alchemy is kept in the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica in Amsterdam. A recipe found in a mid-19th-century kabbalah based book features step by step instructions on turning copper into gold. The author attributed this recipe to an ancient manuscript he located.


title: Alchemy

text: Journals which publish regularly on the topic of Alchemy include 'Ambix', published by the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry, and 'Isis', published by The History of Science Society.


title: Alchemy

text: Western alchemical theory corresponds to the worldview of late antiquity in which it was born. Concepts were imported from Neoplatonism and earlier Greek cosmology. As such, the classical elements appear in alchemical writings, as do the seven classical planets and the corresponding seven metals of antiquity. Similarly, the gods of the Roman pantheon who are associated with these luminaries are discussed in alchemical literature. The concepts of prima materia and anima mundi are central to the theory of the philosopher's stone.


title: Alchemy

text: Due to the complexity and obscurity of alchemical literature, and the 18th-century disappearance of remaining alchemical practitioners into the area of chemistry, the general understanding of alchemy has been strongly influenced by several distinct and radically different interpretations. Those focusing on the exoteric, such as historians of science Lawrence M. Principe and William R. Newman, have interpreted the 'decknamen' (or code words) of alchemy as physical substances. These scholars have reconstructed physicochemical experiments that they say are described in medieval and early modern texts. At the opposite end of the spectrum, focusing on the esoteric, scholars, such as Florin George Călian and Anna Marie Roos, who question the reading of Principe and Newman, interpret these same decknamen as spiritual, religious, or psychological concepts.


title: Alchemy

text: New interpretations of alchemy are still perpetuated, sometimes merging in concepts from New Age or radical environmentalism movements. Groups like the Rosicrucians and Freemasons have a continued interest in alchemy and its symbolism. Since the Victorian revival of alchemy, "occultists reinterpreted alchemy as a spiritual practice, involving the self-transformation of the practitioner and only incidentally or not at all the transformation of laboratory substances", which has contributed to a merger of magic and alchemy in popular thought.


title: Alchemy

text: In the eyes of a variety of modern esoteric and Neo-Hermeticist practitioners, alchemy is fundamentally spiritual. In this interpretation, transmutation of lead into gold is presented as an analogy for personal transmutation, purification, and perfection.


title: Alchemy

text: According to this view, early alchemists such as Zosimos of Panopolis () highlighted the spiritual nature of the alchemical quest, symbolic of a religious regeneration of the human soul. This approach is held to have continued in the Middle Ages, as metaphysical aspects, substances, physical states, and material processes are supposed to have been used as metaphors for spiritual entities, spiritual states, and, ultimately, transformation. In this sense, the literal meanings of 'Alchemical Formulas' were like a veil, hiding their true spiritual philosophy. In the Neo-Hermeticist interpretation, both the transmutation of common metals into gold and the universal panacea are held to symbolize evolution from an imperfect, diseased, corruptible, and ephemeral state toward a perfect, healthy, incorruptible, and everlasting state, so the philosopher's stone then represented a mystic key that would make this evolution possible. Applied to the alchemist, the twin goal symbolized their evolution from ignorance to enlightenment, and the stone represented a hidden spiritual truth or power that would lead to that goal. In texts that are held to have been written according to this view, the cryptic alchemical symbols, diagrams, and textual imagery of late alchemical works are supposed to contain multiple layers of meanings, allegories, and references to other equally cryptic works; which must be laboriously decoded to discover their true meaning.


title: Alchemy

text: In his 1766 "Alchemical Catechism", Théodore Henri de Tschudi denotes that the usage of the metals was merely symbolic:


title: Alchemy

text: Alchemical symbolism has been important in analytical psychology and was revived and popularized from near extinction by the Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung. Jung was initially confounded and at odds with alchemy and its images but after being given a copy of "The Secret of the Golden Flower", a Chinese alchemical text translated by his friend Richard Wilhelm, he discovered a direct correlation or parallel between the symbolic images in the alchemical drawings and the inner, symbolic images coming up in his patients' dreams, visions, or fantasies. He observed these alchemical images occurring during the psychic process of transformation, a process that Jung called "individuation." Specifically, he regarded the conjuring up of images of gold or Lapis as symbolic expressions of the origin and goal of this "process of individuation." Together with his alchemical "mystica soror" (mystical sister) Jungian Swiss analyst Marie-Louise von Franz, Jung began collecting old alchemical texts, compiled a lexicon of key phrases with cross-references, and pored over them. The volumes of work he wrote shed new light onto understanding the art of transubstantiation and renewed alchemy's popularity as a symbolic process of coming into wholeness as a human being where opposites are brought into contact and inner and outer, spirit and matter are reunited in the "hieros gamos", or divine marriage. His writings are influential in general psychology, but especially to those who have an interest in understanding the importance of dreams, symbols, and the unconscious archetypal forces (archetypes) that comprise all psychic life.


title: Alchemy

text: Both von Franz and Jung have contributed significantly to the subject and work of alchemy and its continued presence in psychology as well as contemporary culture. Among the volumes Jung wrote on alchemy, his magnum opus is Volume 14 of his Collected Works, "Mysterium Coniunctionis".


title: Alchemy

text: Alchemy has had a long-standing relationship with art, seen both in alchemical texts and in mainstream entertainment. "Literary alchemy" appears throughout the history of English literature from Shakespeare to J. K. Rowling, and also the popular Japanese manga "Fullmetal Alchemist". Here, characters or plot structure follow an alchemical magnum opus. In the 14th century, Chaucer began a trend of alchemical satire that can still be seen in recent fantasy works like those of the late Sir Terry Pratchett.


title: Alchemy

text: Visual artists had a similar relationship with alchemy. While some of them used alchemy as a source of satire, others worked with the alchemists themselves or integrated alchemical thought or symbols in their work. Music was also present in the works of alchemists and continues to influence popular performers. In the last hundred years, alchemists have been portrayed in a magical and spagyric role in fantasy fiction, film, television, novels, comics and video games.


title: Alchemy

text: One goal of alchemy, the transmutation of base substances into gold, is now known to be impossible by chemical means but possible by physical means. Although not financially worthwhile, Gold was synthesized in particle accelerators as early as 1941.


title: Shopping mall

text: A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refer to the walkway itself which was merely bordered by such shops), but in the late 1960s, it began to be used as a generic term for the large enclosed shopping centers that were becoming commonplace at the time. In the U.K., such complexes are considered shopping centres (Commonwealth English: shopping centre), though "shopping center" covers many more sizes and types of centers than the North American "mall". Other countries may follow U.S. usage (Philippines, India, U.A.E., etc.) and others (Australia, etc.) follow U.K. usage. In Canadian English, and oftentimes in Australia and New Zealand, 'mall' may be used informally but 'shopping centre' or merely 'centre' will feature in the name of the complex (such as Toronto Eaton Centre). The term 'mall' is less-commonly a part of the name of the complex.


title: Shopping mall

text: Many malls have declined considerably in Northern America, and some have closed and become so-called "dead malls". Successful exceptions have added entertainment and experiential features, added big-box stores as anchors, or converted to other specialized shopping center formats such as power centers, lifestyle centers, factory outlet centers, and festival marketplaces. In Canada, shopping centres have frequently been replaced with mixed-use highrise communities.


title: Shopping mall

text: The International Council of Shopping Centers classifies two types of shopping centers as malls: regional malls and superregional malls.


title: Shopping mall

text: A regional mall is as per the International Council of Shopping Centers, in the United States, a shopping mall with to gross leasable area with at least two anchor stores.


title: Shopping mall

text: A super-regional mall is, per the International Council of Shopping Centers, in the US, a shopping mall with over of gross leasable area, three or more anchors, mass merchant, more variety, fashion apparel, and serves as the dominant shopping venue for the region () in which it is located.


title: Shopping mall

text: Not classified as malls are smaller formats such as strip malls and neighborhood shopping centers, and specialized format such as power centers, festival marketplaces, and outlet centers.


title: Shopping mall

text: On the other hand, in some countries, many shopping centres less than half or a quarter of the size of the U.S. minimum to be considered a mall, , have "mall" in their names – see List of shopping centres in Namibia or List of shopping centres in Zambia for examples.


title: Shopping mall

text: The world's largest malls with over of gross leasable area are in China, Thailand, and the Philippines – more than half again as large as previous contenders such as the Dubai Mall.


title: Shopping mall

text: The International Council of Shopping Centers classifies Asia-Pacific, European, U.S., and Canadian shopping centers into the following types:


title: Shopping mall

text: Shopping centers in general, may have their origins in public markets and, in the Middle East, covered bazaars. In 1798 the first covered shopping passage was built in Paris, the Passage du Caire. The Arcade in Providence, Rhode Island claims to be the first shopping arcade in the United States in 1828.


title: Shopping mall

text: In the mid-20th century, with the rise of the suburb and automobile culture in the United States, a new style of shopping center was created away from downtowns. Early shopping centers designed for the automobile include Market Square, Lake Forest, Illinois (1916), and Country Club Plaza, Kansas City, Missouri (1924).


title: Shopping mall

text: The suburban shopping center concept evolved further in the United States after World War II (see table above) with larger open-air shopping centers anchored by major department stores, such as the Broadway-Crenshaw Center in Los Angeles built in 1947, anchored by a five-story Broadway and a May Company California.


title: Shopping mall

text: In the late 1950s and into the 1960s, the term "shopping mall" was first used, but in the original sense of the word "mall", that is, a pedestrian promenade (in U.K. usage a "shopping precinct"). Early downtown pedestrianized malls included the Kalamazoo Mall (the first, in 1959), "Shoppers' See-Way" in Toledo, Lincoln Road Mall in Miami Beach, Santa Monica Mall (1965). Although Bergen Mall (opened 1957) led other suburban shopping centers in using "mall" in their names, these types of properties were still referred to as "shopping centers" until the late 1960s, when the term "shopping mall" started to be used generically for large suburban shopping centers.


title: Shopping mall

text: The enclosed shopping center, which would eventually be known as the shopping mall, did not appear until the mid-1950s. One of the earliest examples was the Valley Fair Shopping Center in Appleton, Wisconsin, which opened on March 10, 1955. Valley Fair featured a number of modern features including central heating and cooling, a large outdoor parking area, semi-detached anchor stores, and restaurants. Later that year the world's first fully enclosed shopping mall was opened in Luleå, in northern Sweden (architect: Ralph Erskine) and was named "Shopping"; the region now claims the highest shopping center density in Europe.


title: Shopping mall

text: The idea of a regionally-sized, fully enclosed shopping complex was pioneered in 1956 by the Austrian-born architect and American immigrant Victor Gruen. This new generation of regional-size shopping centers began with the Gruen-designed Southdale Center, which opened in the Twin Cities suburb of Edina, Minnesota, United States in October 1956. For pioneering the soon-to-be enormously popular mall concept in this form, Gruen has been called the "most influential architect of the twentieth century" by Malcolm Gladwell.


title: Shopping mall

text: The first retail complex to be promoted as a "mall" was Paramus, New Jersey's Bergen Mall. The center, which opened with an open-air format on November 14, 1957 and was enclosed in 1973. Aside from Southdale Center, significant early enclosed shopping malls were Harundale Mall (1958) in Glen Burnie, Maryland, Big Town Mall (1959) in Mesquite, Texas, Chris-Town Mall (1961) in Phoenix, Arizona, and Randhurst Center (1962) in Mount Prospect, Illinois.


title: Shopping mall

text: Other early malls moved retailing away from the dense, commercial downtowns into the largely residential suburbs. This formula (enclosed space with stores attached, away from downtown, and accessible only by automobile) became a popular way to build retail across the world. Gruen himself came to abhor this effect of his new design; he decried the creation of enormous "land wasting seas of parking" and the spread of suburban sprawl.


title: Shopping mall

text: Even though malls mostly appeared in suburban areas in the U.S., some U.S. cities facilitated the construction of enclosed malls downtown as an effort to revive city centers and allow them to compete effectively with suburban malls. Examples included Main Place Mall in Buffalo (1969) and The Gallery (1977, now Fashion District Philadelphia) in Philadelphia. Other cities created open-air pedestrian malls.


title: Shopping mall

text: In the United States, developers such as A. Alfred Taubman of Taubman Centers extended the concept further in 1980, with terrazzo tiles at the Mall at Short Hills in New Jersey, indoor fountains, and two levels allowing a shopper to make a circuit of all the stores. Taubman believed carpeting increased friction, slowing down customers, so it was removed. Fading daylight through glass panels was supplemented by gradually increased electric lighting, making it seem like the afternoon was lasting longer, which encouraged shoppers to linger.


title: Shopping mall

text: In the United States, in the mid-1990s, malls were still being constructed at a rate of 140 a year. But in 2001, a PricewaterhouseCoopers study found that underperforming and vacant malls, known as "greyfield" and "dead mall" estates, were an emerging problem. In 2007, a year before the Great Recession, no new malls were built in America, for the first time in 50 years. City Creek Center Mall in Salt Lake City, which opened in March 2012, was the first to be built since the recession.


title: Shopping mall

text: In recent years, the number of dead malls increased significantly in the early 21st century because the economic health of malls across the United States has been in decline, as identified by high vacancy rates. From 2006 to 2010, the percentage of malls that are considered to be "dying" by real estate experts (have a vacancy rate of at least 40%), unhealthy (20–40%), or in trouble (10–20%) all increased greatly, and these high vacancy rates only partially decreased from 2010 to 2014. In 2014, nearly 3% of all malls in the United States were considered to be "dying" (40% or higher vacancy rates) and nearly one-fifth of all malls had vacancy rates considered "troubling" (10% or higher). Some real estate experts say the "fundamental problem" is a glut of malls in many parts of the country creating a market that is "extremely over-retailed".


title: Shopping mall

text: Online shopping has also emerged as a competition to shopping malls. In the United States, online shopping has accounted for an increasing share of total retail sales. In 2013, roughly 200 out of 1,300 malls across the United States were going out of business. To combat this trend, developers have converted malls into other uses including attractions such as parks, movie theaters, gyms, and even fishing lakes. In the United States, the 600,000 square foot Highland Mall will be a campus for Austin Community College. In France, the So Ouest mall outside of Paris was designed to resemble elegant, Louis XV-style apartments and includes of green space. The Australian mall company Westfield launched an online mall (and later a mobile app) with 150 stores, 3,000 brands and over 1 million products.


title: Shopping mall

text: The COVID-19 pandemic also significantly impacted the retail industry. Government regulations temporarily closed malls, increased entrance controls, and imposed strict public sanitation requirements.


title: Shopping mall

text: High land prices in populous cities have led to the concept of the "vertical mall", in which space allocated to retail is configured over a number of stories accessible by elevators and/or escalators (usually both) linking the different levels of the mall. The challenge of this type of mall is to overcome the natural tendency of shoppers to move horizontally and encourage shoppers to move upwards and downwards. The concept of a vertical mall was originally conceived in the late 1960s by the Mafco Company, former shopping center development division of Marshall Field & Co. The Water Tower Place skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois was built in 1975 by Urban Retail Properties. It contains a hotel, luxury condominiums, and office space and sits atop a block-long base containing an eight-level atrium-style retail mall that fronts on the Magnificent Mile.


title: Shopping mall

text: Vertical malls are common in densely populated conurbations in East and Southeast Asia. Hong Kong in particular has numerous examples such as Times Square, Dragon Centre, Apm, Langham Place, ISQUARE, Hysan Place and The One.


title: Shopping mall

text: A vertical mall may also be built where the geography prevents building outward or there are other restrictions on construction, such as historical buildings or significant archeology. The Darwin Shopping Centre and associated malls in Shrewsbury, UK, are built on the side of a steep hill, around the former town walls; consequently the shopping center is split over seven floors vertically – two locations horizontally – connected by elevators, escalators and bridge walkways. Some establishments incorporate such designs into their layout, such as Shrewsbury's former McDonald's, split into four stories with multiple mezzanines which featured medieval castle vaults – complete with arrowslits – in the basement dining rooms.


title: Shopping mall

text: A common feature of shopping malls is a food court: this typically consists of a number of fast food vendors of various types, surrounding a shared seating area.


title: Shopping mall

text: When the shopping mall format was developed by Victor Gruen in the mid-1950s, signing larger department stores was necessary for the financial stability of the projects, and to draw retail traffic that would result in visits to the smaller stores in the mall as well. These larger stores are termed anchor store or draw tenant. In physical configuration, anchor stores are normally located as far from each other as possible to maximize the amount of traffic from one anchor to another.


title: Shopping mall

text: "Shopping mall" is a term used predominantly in North America and some other countries that follow U.S. usage (India, U.A.E., etc.) and others (Australia, etc.) follow U.K. usage.


title: Shopping mall

text: In the United States, Persian Gulf countries, and India, the term "shopping mall" is usually applied to enclosed retail structures (and is generally abbreviated to simply "mall"), while "shopping center/centre" usually refers to open-air retail complexes; both types of facilities usually have large parking lots, face major traffic arterials, and have few pedestrian connections to surrounding neighbourhoods. Outside of North America, "shopping precinct" and "shopping arcade" are also used.


title: Shopping mall

text: In Canada, "shopping centre" is often used officially (as in Square One Shopping Centre), but conversationally, "mall" is mostly used.


title: Shopping mall

text: There are a reported 222 malls in Europe. In 2014, these malls had combined sales of US$12.47 billion. This represented a 10% bump in revenues from the prior year.


title: Shopping mall

text: In the United Kingdom and Ireland, both open-air and enclosed centers are commonly referred to as "shopping centres". "Mall" primarily refers to either a shopping mall – a place where a collection of shops all adjoin a pedestrian area – or an exclusively pedestrianized street that allows shoppers to walk without interference from vehicle traffic.


title: Shopping mall

text: The majority of British enclosed shopping centres, the equivalent of a U.S. mall, are located in city centres, usually found in old and historic shopping districts and surrounded by subsidiary open air shopping streets. Large examples include West Quay in Southampton; Manchester Arndale; Bullring Birmingham; Liverpool One; Trinity Leeds; Buchanan Galleries in Glasgow; and Eldon Square in Newcastle upon Tyne. In addition to the inner city shopping centres, large UK conurbations will also have large out-of-town "regional malls" such as the Metrocentre in Gateshead; Meadowhall Centre, Sheffield serving South Yorkshire; the Trafford Centre in Greater Manchester; White Rose Centre in Leeds; the Merry Hill Centre near Dudley; and Bluewater in Kent. These centres were built in the 1980s and 1990s, but planning regulations prohibit the construction of any more. Out-of-town shopping developments in the UK are now focused on retail parks, which consist of groups of warehouse style shops with individual entrances from outdoors. Planning policy prioritizes the development of existing town centres, although with patchy success. Westfield London (White City) is the largest shopping centre in Europe.


title: Shopping mall

text: In Russia, on the other hand, a large number of new malls had been built near major cities, notably the MEGA malls such as Mega Belaya Dacha mall near Moscow. In large part they were financed by international investors and were popular with shoppers from the emerging middle class.


title: Shopping mall

text: A shopping property management firm is a company that specializes in owning and managing shopping malls. Most shopping property management firms own at least 20 malls. Some firms use a similar naming scheme for most of their malls; for example, Mills Corporation puts "Mills" in most of its mall names and SM Prime Holdings of the Philippines puts "SM" in all of its malls, as well as anchor stores such as The SM Store, SM Appliance Center, SM Hypermarket, SM Cinema, and SM Supermarket. In the UK, The Mall Fund changes the name of any center it buys to ""The Mall (location)"", using its pink-M logo; when it sells a mall the center reverts to its own name and branding, such as the Ashley Centre in Epsom. Similarly, following its rebranding from Capital Shopping Centres, intu Properties renamed many of its centres to ""intu (name/location)"" (such as intu Lakeside); again, malls removed from the network revert to their own brand (see for instance The Glades in Bromley).


title: Shopping mall

text: One controversial aspect of malls has been their effective displacement of traditional main streets or high streets. Some consumers prefer malls, with their parking garages, controlled environments, and private security guards, over Central business districts (CBD) or downtowns, which frequently have limited parking, poor maintenance, outdoor weather, and limited police coverage.


title: Shopping mall

text: In response, a few jurisdictions, notably California, have expanded the right of freedom of speech to ensure that speakers will be able to reach consumers who prefer to shop, eat, and socialize within the boundaries of privately owned malls. The Supreme Court decision "Pruneyard Shopping Center v. Robins" was issued on 9 June 1980 which affirmed the decision of the California Supreme Court in a case that arose out of a free speech dispute between the Pruneyard Shopping Center in Campbell, California, and several local high school students.


title: Shopping mall

text: This is an incomplete list of the world's largest shopping malls based on their gross leasable area (GLA), with a GLA of at least .


title: Shopping mall

text: Some wholesale market complexes also function as shopping malls in that they contain retail space which operate as stores in normal malls do but also act as producer vendor outlets that can take large orders for export.


title: Joel Embiid

text: Joel Hans Embiid ( ; born 16 March 1994) is a Cameroonian professional basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), who also holds French and American citizenship. After one year of college basketball with the Kansas Jayhawks, he was drafted third overall by the 76ers in the 2014 NBA draft. Multiple foot and knee injuries delayed his debut for two seasons until 2016–17, when he was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team despite playing only 31 games. Embiid is a five-time NBA All-Star, a four-time member of the All-NBA Team and a three-time member of the All-Defensive Team. He has nicknamed himself "the Process" in response to a refrain from 76ers fans during the Sam Hinkie era to "trust the process". Embiid led the NBA in scoring during the 2021–22 season, becoming the first center and seven footer since Shaquille O'Neal (2000), and was also the first center since Moses Malone (1982) to average over 30 points per game, while also being the first foreign player to lead the NBA in scoring.


title: Joel Embiid

text: Embiid was born in Yaoundé, Cameroon, to military officer Thomas Embiid and his wife, Christine. He played volleyball and soccer in childhood and originally planned to play professional volleyball in Europe but started playing basketball at age 15, modeling his game after NBA Hall of Fame center Hakeem Olajuwon. Embiid was discovered at a basketball camp by Luc Mbah a Moute, a fellow native of Yaoundé and an NBA player. With Mbah a Moute as his mentor, Embiid moved to the United States at age 16 to devote himself to becoming a professional basketball player.


title: Joel Embiid

text: Embiid enrolled at Montverde Academy, Mbah a Moute's alma mater, but transferred after his first year due to a lack of playing time. He then attended The Rock School, a Christian academy, in Gainesville, Florida. As a senior, he led their team to a 33–4 record and state championship, averaging 13.0 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks per game.


title: Joel Embiid

text: Embiid attended the University of Kansas for one year. On 13 February 2014, he was named one of the 30 finalists for the Naismith College Player of the Year. In 2013–14, he played 28 games, averaging 11.2 points, 8.1 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 2.6 blocks in 23.1 minutes per game. He had over 15 points in seven games and over 5 blocks in six games. He subsequently earned Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year honors and was named second-team All-Big 12.


title: Joel Embiid

text: Embiid suffered a stress fracture in his back in March 2014. He missed that year's Big 12 tournament and NCAA tournament. Kansas lost in the second round (Round of 32) of the NCAA Tournament.


title: Joel Embiid

text: On 9 April 2014, Embiid declared for the 2014 NBA draft, forgoing his final three years of college eligibility. On 20 June 2014, he underwent surgery on a broken navicular bone in his right foot, and was subsequently ruled out for four to six months. Six days later, he was selected with the third overall pick by the Philadelphia 76ers. That selection made him the third Cameroonian-born NBA player after Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje and Luc Mbah a Moute, as well as the highest selected player from Cameroon.


title: Joel Embiid

text: On 26 August 2014, Embiid signed his rookie scale contract with the 76ers. He was later ruled unlikely to play at all in the 2014–15 season due to the broken navicular bone in his foot. After missing the entire 2014–15 season, it was announced on 13 June 2015 that Embiid had suffered a setback in his recovery after a CT scan revealed less healing than anticipated. It was later determined that Embiid's chances of playing in the 2015–16 season were slim following a second round of surgery on his right foot on 18 August 2015. He missed the entire 2015–16 season.


title: Joel Embiid

text: On 4 October 2016, Embiid started at center in the 76ers' first preseason game against the Boston Celtics. In his first action, he recorded six points, four rebounds, and two blocks in 13 minutes en route to a 92–89 victory. On 26 October 2016, Embiid made his long-awaited NBA regular-season debut in the 76ers' season opener against the Oklahoma City Thunder. In 25 minutes as the starting center, he recorded 20 points, seven rebounds and two blocks in a 103–97 loss. On 1 November, he recorded his first career double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds in a 103–101 loss to the Orlando Magic. On 11 November, his 25-point effort helped the 76ers claim their first win of the season, defeating the Indiana Pacers 109–105. On 19 November, he scored a then-career high 26 points in 20 minutes in a 120–105 win over the Phoenix Suns. On 1 December, he was named Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month for games played in October and November. On 18 December, he set a new career high with 33 points in a 108–107 win over the Brooklyn Nets. On 3 January 2017, he was named Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month for games played in December.


title: Joel Embiid

text: On 11 January 2017, Embiid grabbed a then-career high 14 rebounds in a 98–97 win over the New York Knicks. On 23 January, he was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played Monday, 16 January through Sunday, 22 January. Two days later, he was named in the World Team for the 2017 Rising Stars Challenge. On 2 February 2017, he was named Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month for games played in January, while also being named a Taco Bell Skills Challenge participant. On 11 February 2017, it was revealed that Embiid had a torn meniscus in his left knee, but that surgery would not be required. As a result of the injury, Embiid was ruled out of the All-Star Weekend festivities. After initially ruling him out indefinitely on 27 February with swelling in his left knee, the 76ers issued a statement two days later announcing that Embiid would miss the rest of the 2016–17 season, an MRI on his left knee having revealed that the area affected by the bone bruise had improved significantly while the previously identified meniscus tear appeared more pronounced. On 24 March 2017, he underwent successful minor arthroscopic surgery to address the meniscus tear in his left knee. At the season's end, he was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team.


title: Joel Embiid

text: On 10 October 2017, Embiid signed a five-year, $148 million designated rookie scale maximum contract extension with the 76ers, with the ability to earn an additional $30 million if he earns an All-NBA first-, second- or third-team selection, or is named MVP in 2017–18. In the 76ers' season opener against the Washington Wizards on 18 October, Embiid had 18 points and 13 rebounds in a 120–115 loss. Five days later, he scored 30 points in a 97–86 win over the Detroit Pistons. On 30 October, he had 22 points, nine rebounds, five assists, and two steals in 25 minutes in a 115–107 win over the Houston Rockets, becoming just the third player to post such numbers in 25 minutes of play or less since 1983–84, joining Pau Gasol (2015) and Fat Lever (1990). On 15 November, Embiid scored a then-career high 46 points—the most by a Philadelphia player in 11 years—and grabbed 15 rebounds in a 115–109 win over the Los Angeles Lakers. Embiid also had seven assists and seven blocked shots, making him the first NBA player with 40 points, seven assists and seven blocks in a game since Julius Erving against the Pistons in 1982. Embiid shot 14 for 20 from the field and 16 of 19 at the free throw line, giving him the most points by a Sixers player since Allen Iverson scored 46 against the Chicago Bulls in 2006. In addition, the previous 35 times someone scored at least 44 for the 76ers, it was Iverson.


title: Joel Embiid

text: On 18 January, he was named a starter for the 2018 NBA All-Star Game, becoming the first Philadelphia player selected as an All-Star starter since Allen Iverson in the 2009–10 season, and the first Sixers All-Star since Jrue Holiday in 2013. Later that day, he scored 26 points and matched a then-career best with 16 rebounds in an 89–80 win over the Boston Celtics. He was subsequently named Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played between Monday, 15 January and Sunday, 21 January. On 10 February, he had 29 points and tied a then-career high with 16 rebounds in a 112–98 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. Two days later, he was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played between Monday, 5 February and Sunday, 11 February. On 15 March, he scored 29 points in a 118–110 win over the New York Knicks, becoming the first Sixers player to notch 40 20-point performances in a season since Andre Iguodala in 2007–08. A day later, on his 24th birthday, Embiid had 24 points and a then-career high 19 rebounds in a 120–116 win over the Brooklyn Nets. On 28 March against the Knicks, Embiid suffered an orbital fracture of his left eye. He underwent surgery three days later, with a two-week return date the likely outcome.


title: Joel Embiid

text: After missing the first two games of the 76ers' first-round playoff series against the Miami Heat with the left eye injury, Embiid made his playoff debut in Game 3 on 19 April. He helped the 76ers take a 2–1 lead in the series with a 128–108 win behind his 23 points. Embiid helped the 76ers move on to the second round of the playoffs with a 4–1 defeat of the Heat, as he recorded 19 points and 12 rebounds in a 104–91 win in Game 5. In Game 1 of the 76ers' second-round series against the Celtics, Embiid recorded 31 points and 13 rebounds in a 117–101 loss. The 76ers went on to lose to the Celtics in five games, with Embiid recording 27 points and 12 rebounds in a 114–112 loss in Game 5. Embiid said in his postgame press conference after Game 5 that he felt there should have been a foul called on his potential game-tying layup attempt with under 20 seconds left. The NBA later confirmed that a foul should have been called on the play.


title: Joel Embiid

text: On 24 October 2018, Embiid had 30 points and 19 rebounds in a 123–108 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, becoming the franchise's first player to reach those marks in the same game since Charles Barkley did so in November 1991. On 27 October, he had 27 points and 14 rebounds in a 105–103 win over the Charlotte Hornets, thus registering a double-double in all six games to start the season. He became one of seven players with 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, and 200 blocks in his first 100 games, joining Tim Duncan, Shaquille O'Neal, Alonzo Mourning, David Robinson, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Ralph Sampson. On 1 November, he had 41 points and 13 rebounds in a 122–113 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. Two days later, he recorded 39 points and 17 rebounds in a 109–99 win over the Detroit Pistons. Thirty-two of his 39 points came in the first half, the highest for a Sixer since Allen Iverson had 33 points in the first half on 18 December 2004 against the Milwaukee Bucks. On 9 November, he recorded 42 points and 18 rebounds in a 133–132 overtime win over the Hornets. On 14 November, he recorded his first career triple-double with 19 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists in a 111–106 loss to the Orlando Magic. On 14 December, he recorded 40 points and 21 rebounds in a 113–101 loss to the Indiana Pacers, becoming the first Sixers player with at least 30 points and 20 rebounds in a game since Barkley on 7 December 1990. On 2 January, he matched his season high with 42 points, including 30 in the first half, and grabbed 18 rebounds in a 132–127 win over the Phoenix Suns. On 10 March, he returned from an eight-game absence with a sore left knee and recorded 33 points and 12 rebounds in a 106–89 win over the Pacers. On 17 March, he had 40 points and 15 rebounds in a 130–125 win over the Bucks. On 20 March, Embiid scored 37 points and had a career-high 22 rebounds in a 118–115 win over the Boston Celtics. On 28 March, he had 39 points, 13 rebounds, and six assists in a 123–110 win over the Brooklyn Nets. On 4 April, he returned from a three-game absence and had 34 points, 13 rebounds, 13 assists, and three blocks in a 128–122 loss to the Bucks. He joined Wilt Chamberlain as the only other big man in team history with multiple triple-doubles in the same season. Embiid finished the season missing 14 games after the All-Star break, including five of the final seven games, due to rest and injury. In Game 4 of the 76ers' first-round playoff series against the Nets, Embiid had 31 points, 16 rebounds, seven assists, and six blocks in a 112–108 win. Embiid battled through illness and flu-like symptoms during the second round of the playoffs, which the Sixers lost in seven games to the Toronto Raptors.


title: Joel Embiid

text: On 31 October 2019, Embiid was suspended for two games without pay due to an altercation with Karl-Anthony Towns during a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. On 25 November, Embiid grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds but went scoreless in an NBA game for the first time in his career in the 76ers' 101–96 loss to the Toronto Raptors. On 20 February 2020, Embiid scored a then season-high 39 points, along with 16 rebounds, to lead Philadelphia to a 112–104 overtime win against the Brooklyn Nets. Four days later, Embiid scored a then-career high 49 points and recorded 14 rebounds in a 129–112 win against the Atlanta Hawks. On 1 August, Embiid scored 41 points, as well as 21 rebounds, in a 127–121 loss to the Indiana Pacers. This was the 76ers’ first game in the Orlando bubble, returning from a four-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the playoffs, the Sixers were eliminated in the first round despite Embiid averaging a playoff career-high 30 points per game.


title: Joel Embiid

text: On 20 February 2021, Embiid recorded a double-double with a then-career high 50 points and 17 rebounds in the 76ers' 112–105 win against the Chicago Bulls. Embiid finished the regular season with a then career-high 28.5 points, 10.6 rebounds, and 2.8 assists in 51 games played, leading the Sixers to the best record in the Eastern Conference. He was second in NBA Most Valuable Player Award voting. On 8 June, Embiid had a playoff career-high 40 points alongside 13 rebounds, in a second round win against the Atlanta Hawks. Philadelphia would go on to lose to Atlanta in seven games despite Embiid averaging 30.4 points, 12.7 rebounds, and 3.9 assists.


title: Joel Embiid

text: On 17 August 2021, Embiid signed a four-year, $196 million extension with the 76ers. Embiid missed nine games due to testing positive for COVID-19. In his first game back, he scored 42 points and recorded 14 rebounds in a 121–120 double overtime loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves. On 6 December, Embiid scored 43 points, grabbed 15 rebounds, and dished out seven assists on 15-of-20 shooting from the field in a 127–124 overtime win over the Charlotte Hornets.


title: Joel Embiid

text: On 19 January 2022, Embiid matched his then-career high of 50 points, along with 12 rebounds, and three blocks on 17-for-23 shooting from the field, in a 123–110 win over the Orlando Magic. On 12 February, Embiid logged his fourth career triple-double with 40 points, 14 rebounds, 10 assists, and three steals in a 103–93 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. He became the first Sixers player with a 40-point triple-double since Wilt Chamberlain in 1968. On 17 February, Embiid had 42 points, 14 rebounds, and five assists in a 123–120 win over the reigning champions Milwaukee Bucks. On 9 April, Embiid had 41 points, a season-high 20 rebounds, four assists and two steals on 14-of-17 shooting from the field in a 133–120 win over the Indiana Pacers. Since the introduction of shot clock in 1954–55, Embiid became the fifth player in NBA history to score at least 40 points and grab 20 rebounds while shooting 80 percent or better from the field, joining former NBA All-Star John Drew and Hall of Famers Charles Barkley, Wilt Chamberlain, and Bob Pettit. At the end of the regular season, Embiid was named the NBA scoring champion, becoming the first center to do so since Shaquille O'Neal in 2000, and also the first center to average over 30 points per game since Moses Malone in 1982. Embiid also became the first foreign player to win an NBA scoring title and the first Sixer to lead the league in scoring since Allen Iverson won the title for the fourth and final time in 2005.


title: Joel Embiid

text: On 18 April, during Game 2 of the first round of the playoffs, Embiid recorded a double-double of 31 points and 11 rebounds in a 112–97 win over the Toronto Raptors. On April 20, during Game 3 of the first round, Embiid scored a game-winning three-pointer with under 1 second left in overtime against the Raptors. He finished the game with 33 points and 13 rebounds. During that game, Embiid injured his thumb and was relegated to a soft cast for the second half of the game and during the following Friday practice. After the game it was reported that he was experiencing "pain and discomfort". Although Embiid played through the pain in Game 4 and scored 21 points and had eight rebounds, the 76ers fell to the Toronto Raptors in a 110–102 loss. It was later reported that Embiid would require surgery on the thumb, but that he would postpone the surgery until the end of the 76ers' season. On 28 April, Embiid had 33 points, 10 rebounds, and three blocks to lead the 76ers to a 132–97 win in Game 6 to end their first round series. The next day, the Sixers announced that Embiid had suffered a mild concussion and a right orbital fracture and would be out indefinitely. The injuries occurred in the fourth quarter of Game 6, when power forward Pascal Siakam hit Embiid while driving to the basketball net. Because of the injury, Embiid missed the first two games of the Eastern Conference Semifinals where Philadelphia would go on to lose to Miami in six games.


title: Joel Embiid

text: On November 13, 2022, Embiid scored a career-high 59 points along with 11 rebounds, eight assists, and seven blocks in a 105–98 victory over the Utah Jazz, with 26 points and five blocks coming in the fourth quarter. He became the first player in NBA history with 50 points, 10 boards, five assists and five blocks in a game since blocks became an official stat in the 1973–74 season. This was also the fifth best scoring performance in 76ers franchise history. He managed to top 101 total points in less than 24 hours, following up a 42-point, 10-rebound and six-assist performance on November 12 in a 121–109 win over the Atlanta Hawks. On December 11, Embiid had 53 points and 11 rebounds, leading the Philadelphia 76ers to a 131–113 win over the Charlotte Hornets. He became the third player in Sixers history to have multiple 50-point games in the same season, joining Allen Iverson (2000–01 and 2004–05) and Wilt Chamberlain (1965–66 and 1967–68). It is also the 30th game in Embiid's career with 40 points and 10 rebounds. The only other player in franchise history to accomplish that feat was Chamberlain.


title: Joel Embiid

text: Embiid is eligible to compete for Cameroon national basketball team. On 7 February 2017, Embiid was named to the preliminary team to compete in the 2017 FIBA AfroBasket in the Republic of Congo, with the group qualifier taking place in March, during the NBA regular season. Fellow Cameroon-born NBA player Luc Mbah a Moute has voiced his opinion on Embiid representing his country saying, "It would be great for our team, our country and Joel". Embiid ultimately did not compete for Cameroon at AfroBasket 2017.


title: Joel Embiid

text: In July 2022, Embiid was granted citizenship by France as "a foreigner [...] whose naturalization is of exceptional interest". Later in September, he also became a U.S. citizen.


title: Joel Embiid

text: Embiid's younger brother, Arthur, died on 16 October 2014 in Cameroon in a car crash. He also has a younger sister. In addition to English, Embiid is fluent in French and Basaa. Embiid has been in a relationship with Brazilian model Anne de Paula since 2018. In September 2020, they had their first child together: a son named Arthur in honor of his late brother.


title: Joel Embiid

text: Embiid is known for his playful personality and social media presence, particularly for his trolling. He is a teetotaler.


title: Joel Embiid

text: Embiid is an avid supporter of Real Madrid CF, frequently posting on Twitter during the team’s matches.


title: Joel Embiid

text: In March 2021, Embiid donated $100,000, his 2021 NBA All-Star Game winnings, to fight homelessness in Philadelphia, for which he received the NBA Cares Community Assist Award in April 2021.


title: Legally Blonde

text: Legally Blonde is a 2001 American comedy film directed by Robert Luketic in his feature-length directorial debut, and scripted by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith from Amanda Brown's 2001 novel of the same name. It stars Reese Witherspoon, Luke Wilson, Selma Blair, Matthew Davis, Victor Garber, and Jennifer Coolidge. The story follows Elle Woods (Witherspoon), a sorority girl who attempts to win back her ex-boyfriend Warner Huntington III (Davis) by getting a Juris Doctor degree at Harvard Law School, and in the process, overcomes stereotypes against blondes and triumphs as a successful lawyer.


title: Legally Blonde

text: The outline of "Legally Blonde" originated from Brown's experiences as a blonde going to Stanford Law School while being obsessed with fashion and beauty, reading "Elle" magazine, and frequently clashing with the personalities of her peers. In 2000, Brown met producer Marc Platt, who helped her develop her manuscript into a novel. Platt brought in screenwriters McCullah Lutz and Smith to adapt the book into a motion picture. The project caught the attention of director Luketic, an Australian newcomer who came to Hollywood on the success of his quirky debut short film "Titsiana Booberini". "I had been reading scripts for two years, not finding anything I could put my own personal mark on, until "Legally Blonde" came around," Luketic said.


title: Legally Blonde

text: The film was released on July 13, 2001, and was a hit with audiences, grossing $141 million worldwide on an $18 million budget, as well as receiving moderately positive reviews from critics, with particular praise going to Witherspoon's performance. It was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture: Musical or Comedy. Witherspoon received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, and the 2002 MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance.


title: Legally Blonde

text: The box office success led to a series of films: a 2003 sequel, "", and a 2009 direct-to-DVD spin-off, "Legally Blondes". Additionally, "Legally Blonde: The Musical" premiered on January 23, 2007, in San Francisco and opened in New York City at the Palace Theatre on Broadway on April 29, 2007, starring Laura Bell Bundy.


title: Legally Blonde

text: In May 2020, it was announced that Mindy Kaling and Dan Goor were signed to write a third film. The third film was set to release mid 2022 but has been delayed to an undisclosed date.


title: Legally Blonde

text: Fashion merchandising student and sorority girl Elle Woods is taken to an expensive restaurant by her boyfriend, Warner Huntington III. She expects a proposal, but he breaks up with her instead. Intending to go to Harvard Law School and become a successful politician, he believes that Elle is not "serious" enough for that kind of life. Elle believes she can win Warner back if she shows herself capable of achieving the same things. After months of studying, Elle scores a 179 on the Law School Admission Test and, combined with her 4.0 GPA, is accepted to Harvard Law School.


title: Legally Blonde

text: Upon arriving at Harvard, Elle's SoCal personality is a complete contrast to her East Coast classmates, who frequently distrust her. She soon encounters Warner but discovers he is engaged to his old girlfriend, Vivian Kensington, who considers Elle a fool. Later, Elle tells Warner that she intends to apply for one of her professor's internships, but he tells her that she is wasting her time as she is not intelligent enough. Realizing that Warner will never take her back or take her seriously, Elle finds motivation to prove herself by working hard and demonstrating her understanding of the subject.


title: Legally Blonde

text: The following semester, Professor Callahan, the school's most respected teacher, decides to take on some first-year interns to help with a high-profile case. Among those chosen are Elle, Warner, and Vivian. Callahan is defending a prominent fitness instructor named Brooke Windham, one of Elle's role models. Accused of murdering her husband, Brooke is unwilling to produce her alibi, and she later reveals to Elle that she was having liposuction, a fact that would ruin her reputation, which Elle promises not to disclose. Vivian gains a new respect for Elle and reveals that Warner could not get into Harvard without his father's help. Emmett Richmond, Callahan's junior partner, has also taken notice of her potential.


title: Legally Blonde

text: One night, Callahan tries seducing Elle, who now believes that is why she got the internship. Devastated, she quits and nearly returns home to California, telling Emmett what happened. When he tells Brooke, she fires Callahan, replacing him with Elle under Emmett's guidance; as she is only a law student, Brooke cites a Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling that law students may represent clients if they do so under the supervision of a licensed attorney.


title: Legally Blonde

text: Elle begins to cross-examine Brooke's stepdaughter, Chutney, and catches her in a lie when she discovers significant inconsistencies in her story: Chutney testified that she was home during her father's murder but did not hear the gunshot because she was in the shower after getting her hair permed that morning. Elle says that washing permed hair within the first 24 hours would deactivate the ammonium thioglycolate, pointing out that Chutney's curls are still intact. A distraught Chutney admits her culpability in inadvertently killing her father as she really intended to kill Brooke because she hated the fact that her father married someone the same age as her.


title: Legally Blonde

text: After the trial, Chutney is sent to jail, and Warner approaches Elle and asks her to take him back as she has proven herself. She rejects him, realizing that he is shallow and a "complete bonehead". However, she and Vivian become good friends, especially after Vivian dumps Warner. Elle gives the graduation speech two years later, while Warner graduates with no honors, no job offers, and no girlfriend. Emmett has started his own law firm and has been dating Elle for two years, with plans to propose to her later that night.


title: Legally Blonde

text: Amanda Brown published "Legally Blonde" in 2001, basing it upon her real life experiences as a blonde attending Stanford Law School, while being obsessed with fashion and beauty, reading "Elle" magazine, and frequently clashing with the personalities of her peers.


title: Legally Blonde

text: Brown said that when she first arrived at Stanford, she discovered she had made a big mistake. "I was in my first week of law school, in 1993, and I saw this flyer for "The Women of Stanford Law," so I was like, 'I'll go and meet some nice girls. Whatever.' I went to the meeting, and these were not women. These were really angry people. The woman who was leading it spent three years at Stanford trying to change the name 'semester' to 'ovester.' I started laughing and I realized everyone in the room took it very seriously. So I didn't make any friends there."


title: Legally Blonde

text: Brown wrote letters to her parents about these experiences and originally thought about writing a book of essays about her law school experience until a literary agent advised her to adapt them into a novel. Brown took a community college writing class, put together a manuscript, and shopped the book around but was unsuccessful. She later resubmitted her manuscript again, this time in pink, which got the attention of an agent, and "movie people went nuts." Amanda's mother, Suzanne, remembers the day of the bidding war and thought she would be lucky to get $10,000 but the final figure was considerably more.


title: Legally Blonde

text: Producer Marc Platt was intrigued by the character of Elle Woods when an unpublished novel manuscript was delivered to him. "What I loved about this story is that it's hilarious, it's sexy and, at the same time, it's empowering," says Platt. "The world looks at Elle and sees someone who is blonde and beautiful but nothing more. Elle, on the other hand, doesn't judge herself or anybody else. She thinks the world's great, she's great, everyone's great and nothing can change that. She's truly an irrepressible modern heroine."


title: Legally Blonde

text: Screenwriters Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith spent two days on Stanford's campus in the spring of 2000 doing research for their screenplay based on Brown's novel. Director Robert Luketic, an Australian newcomer who came to Hollywood on the success of his quirky debut short film "Titsiana Booberini," was drawn to the project while looking for a breakthrough film. "I had been reading scripts for two years, not finding anything I could put my own personal mark on, until "Legally Blonde" came around," Luketic said.


title: Legally Blonde

text: Luketic explained that when the studio first green-lit the project, they were not aware that the film would be structured as a progressively feel-good, women's empowerment movie. "Initially, they thought it was going to be much more wet T-shirts and boobs than it actually turned out to be", said Luketic. In fact, the first script for "Legally Blonde" was edgy and raunchy in a similar vein to "American Pie". The murder trial was not part of the plot and the film ended with Elle getting into a relationship with a professor. "It transformed from nonstop zingers that were very adult in nature to this universal story of overcoming adversity by being oneself," said Smith. When it was decided to change the film's plot, McCullah and Smith finessed some details and added a few characters, like Paulette.


title: Legally Blonde

text: Charlize Theron, Gwyneth Paltrow, Alicia Silverstone, Katherine Heigl, Christina Applegate, Milla Jovovich and Jennifer Love Hewitt were all considered for the lead role but Luketic said he "knew on page five of the script that [he] wanted Reese to play Elle." "I wanted someone with gravitas and brains," he explained. "There had to be more behind the face, and Reese just fit the bill." Witherspoon was the first person who read the script, and it was not sent to any other actresses; casting director Joseph Middleton had also previously worked with Witherspoon in "The Man in the Moon" and "A Far Off Place", so he strongly believed in her for the role when Platt brought up Witherspoon's name. Applegate turned down the role and Platt suggested at one point to cast Britney Spears, but McCullah convinced him to not cast Spears after her "Saturday Night Live" appearance. Despite Luketic's enthusiasm for Witherspoon to be cast as the lead, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was not convinced. Witherspoon's performance as Tracy Flick in "Election" put her at risk of being typecast by the studio heads. "They thought I was a shrew," Witherspoon told "The Hollywood Reporter". Witherspoon had been passed over for several other post-"Election" roles. "My manager finally called and said, 'You've got to go meet with the studio head because he will not approve you. He thinks you really are your character from "Election" and that you're repellent.' And then I was told to dress sexy." Witherspoon went through several rounds of auditions for the part, even meeting with executives in character with a Southern California accent. "I remember a room full of men who were asking me questions about being a coed and being in a sorority," Witherspoon recalled. "Even though I had dropped out of college four years earlier and I have never been inside a sorority house." Luketic remembered meeting with her to discuss how she'd approach the role. "We met at a hotel on Sunset Boulevard and discussed the film...we were both concerned about some aspects, like how can the audience feel sorry for a rich girl driving a Porsche; and she had to dress in a very particular way that wasn't distracting or off-putting...And every decision came from a certain innocence [of the character]."


title: Legally Blonde

text: Jennifer Coolidge was cast as Elle's manicurist friend Paulette, a role which according to some rumors Coolidge heard, Courtney Love and Kathy Najimy were up for. For the role of Warner's new girlfriend Vivian, Smith suggested to cast Chloë Sevigny in the role, but such suggestion did not work out, so Selma Blair was cast instead; Blair and Witherspoon had previously been together in "Cruel Intentions", allowing their friendship to be an anchor between their characters. Ali Larter was originally wanted to play one of Elle's sorority sisters, but upon reading the script, she fell in love with the character of Brooke Taylor Windham, the fitness instructor on trial for murder.


title: Legally Blonde

text: The screenwriters envisioned Luke Wilson as they were coming up with Elle's love interest Emmett Richmond. "They auditioned a bunch of other guys and we're like, 'How about auditioning Luke Wilson for the Luke Wilson role?'" McCullah Lutz said. Middleton desired to cast Paul Bettany as Emmett, but the crew felt that the character should be American whereas Bettany is British.


title: Legally Blonde

text: The final product came after "something like 10 drafts of the script. I worked with the writers (Kirsten Smith, Karen McCullah Lutz, working from Amanda Brown's novel) who stayed on after we started shooting," Luketic explained. "And we'd have re-thinks and re-writes, often in the middle of the night." An unused idea for the finished film included having a cameo appearance of "Judge Judy" during Elle's Harvard video essay in which Elle and her friends chased down the show's host, but the scene was cut when Judge Judy Sheindlin could not get on board. Alanna Ubach suggested instead to cast Witherspoon's then husband Ryan Phillippe for the part, rewritten as a male character, but Witherspoon did not feel the idea would play out.


title: Legally Blonde

text: Witherspoon researched the character by studying sorority girls on their campuses and associated hot spots. She went to dinner with them and joked she was conducting an "anthropological study". "I could have gone into this and been really ditsy and played what I would have thought this character was, and I would have missed a whole other side of her," Witherspoon added. "But by going down to Beverly Hills, hanging out in Neiman Marcus, eating in their cafe and seeing how these women walk and speak, I got into the reality of the character. I saw how polite these women are, and I saw how much they value their female friendships and how important it is to support each other".


title: Legally Blonde

text: The cast and crew also did a lot of research, with McCullah and Smith visiting the Stanford Law School for a week during orientation time; a scene of a group composed of new students going around in a circle was inspired on law students the screenwriters eavesdropped during their visit. They also sat for the criminal law and constitutional law classes; McCullah particularly got bored during the second class despite finding the first interesting, but this inspired her to write some scenes during that class.


title: Legally Blonde

text: The film's costume designer, Sophie De Rakoff, became fast friends with Witherspoon on the set, bonding over Dolly Parton. "It was that simple. We just liked each other, and geeked out on Dolly," De Rakoff said. The dominant color palette for Elle's outfits in the film is pink. "The backstory is, Reese and I, and maybe the production designers, went to visit some sororities [in downtown Los Angeles]. We knew that she needed a signature color, and we were like, 'Do we really want it to be pink? It's so on the nose. It's so feminine. Could we do lavender? Could we do light blue? Is there another color that we could do?' When we met all the sorority girls, it had to be pink."


title: Legally Blonde

text: Witherspoon sported 40 different hairstyles in the film. "Oh my God, it became known as 'The Hair That Ate Hollywood,'" Luketic said. "It became all about the hair. I have this obsession with flyaways. It would annoy Reese a little bit because I would always have hairdressers in her face. But really the most time and research and testing on the set went into getting the color right, because 'blonde' is subject to interpretation, I found."


title: Legally Blonde

text: Luketic said he was "terrified" on his first day of filming. "I come from making a ten-minute short with a crew of ten people to a crew of 200 and having enough trucks and trailers to wrap around a city block."


title: Legally Blonde

text: Both the University of Southern California and Stanford refused to allow the producers to use their college names in the film. "[The producers of the film] asked if they could set the film at USC, but the images of her as an undergraduate and being in a sorority ... we felt there was too much stereotyping going on," says Elijah May, campus filming coordinator at USC. The production settled on having Elle go to a fictional college called CULA.


title: Legally Blonde

text: Although the film was primarily set at Harvard University, campus scenes were filmed at USC, University of California, Los Angeles, California Institute of Technology, and Rose City High School in Pasadena, California. Production initially lasted from October to December 2000.


title: Legally Blonde

text: The "bend and snap" scene — where Elle explains to Paulette how to get her crush's attention — almost did not make it into the movie.


title: Legally Blonde

text: "[Producer] Marc Platt wanted a B plot for Paulette (Jennifer Coolidge)," McCullah Lutz told "Entertainment Weekly". "At first we were like, 'Should the store be robbed?'" Co-writer Kirsten Smith observed, "I think we spent a week or two trying to figure out what the B plot and this big set piece should be. There were crime plots. We were pitching scene after scene and it all felt very tonally weird".


title: Legally Blonde

text: Later, while brainstorming at a bar in Los Angeles, McCullah Lutz came up with a solution: "What if Elle shows [Paulette] a move so she can get the UPS guy?" On the spur of the moment, Smith invented a move, standing up and demonstrating what would become the bend and snap. Smith explains, "It was a spontaneous invention. It was a completely drunken moment in a bar." Director Robert Luketic later adapted the "bend and snap" move into a dance number for the film.


title: Legally Blonde

text: "... It was a fully choreographed number by Toni Basil, and she was awesome," Witherspoon recalls. "She did the whole dance." "I remember just reading it and thinking it was the most hysterical thing ever," she added. "That is still the most asked request I get from people. Even this past year, when I have been giving speeches or talking about whatever, they always ask me, 'Will you do the bend and snap?' I have a feeling I will be doing the bend and snap until I am 95". While filming the courthouse scenes, Raquel Welch requested cinematographer Anthony B. Richmond special lightning for her scenes as Mrs. Windham Vandermark due to her obsession with light and dressed on her own accord to look better.


title: Legally Blonde

text: The film originally ended at the courthouse right after Woods won the case, with Elle on the courthouse steps sharing a victory kiss with Emmett, then cutting one year into the future to her and a now-blonde Vivian starting their own Blonde Legal Defense Club at law school. After test audiences revealed they did not like this ending, McCullah Lutz and Smith consulted with Luketic, Platt and other members of the production team while still in the lobby of the movie theater and they all agreed a new conclusion was necessary. "It was just kind of a weak ending," explained screenwriter McCullah Lutz. "The kiss didn't feel right because it's not a rom-com — it wasn't about their relationship. So test audiences were saying, 'We want to see what happens — we want to see her succeed.' So that's why we rewrote for graduation". Ubach and Jessica Cauffiel claim that the original ending also included Elle and Vivian drinking margaritas in Hawaii, with the implication that they were either now best friends or involved romantically although Smith and McCullah never wrote such ending. Other endings proposed for the film included a musical number in which Elle, the judge, the jury and everyone in the courthouse broke into singing and dancing.


title: Legally Blonde

text: The screenwriters wrote a new ending taking place at graduation, which was filmed at Dulwich College in London, England since Witherspoon was in that city filming "The Importance of Being Earnest". Witherspoon had also cut her hair for that film and Wilson had shaved his head for "The Royal Tenenbaums". As both actors had changed their hair for their next movies, each had to wear wigs for the scene.


title: Legally Blonde

text: "Legally Blonde" was released on July 13, 2001 in North America. Its opening weekend gross of $20 million made it a sleeper hit for the struggling MGM studio, and it went on to gross $96.5 million in North America and $45.2 million elsewhere, for a worldwide total of $141.7 million. The film was released in the United Kingdom on October 26, 2001, and opened on #2, behind "American Pie 2".


title: Legally Blonde

text: On Rotten Tomatoes "Legally Blonde" has an approval rating of 70% based on reviews from 147 critics, with an average rating of 6.20/10. The site's consensus reads, "Though the material is predictable and formulaic, Reese Witherspoon's funny, nuanced performance makes this movie better than it would have been otherwise." On Metacritic the film has a score of 59 out of 100, based on 32 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "A−" on scale of A to F.


title: Legally Blonde

text: Roger Ebert gave it three out of four stars, saying the film was "impossible to dislike" and "Witherspoon effortlessly animated this material with sunshine and quick wit." Todd McCarthy of "Variety" said Witherspoon gave a "wonderful and winning" performance. "Beaming star wattage out of every pore, not to mention her hair, Witherspoon once again proves herself a comedienne worthy of comparison to such golden era greats as Carole Lombard and Ginger Rogers." Michael Wilmington of "Chicago Tribune" also commended Witherspoon's performance, saying her "comic timing immaculate, her persona irresistible. But it's her spirit and immersion in the part that really infuse the whole film and make it work." He added that Witherspoon [pours] "so much humor and pizazz into Elle that she lifts up the whole movie." B. Ruby Rich of "The Nation" called it "the best empowerment movie for teenage girls to come along in ages." CNN's Paul Clinton lauded the film as a "sassy satire that retains a message: believe in yourself and follow your dreams."


title: Legally Blonde

text: Others were more critical of the film and its screenplay. Kirk Honeycutt of "The Hollywood Reporter" described the film as "predictable, cutesy and surprisingly short on genuine humor" but "still gets by thanks to the magnetic presence of Witherspoon." Michael O'Sullivan of "The Washington Post" called the movie a ""Clueless" redux but without the edgy, knowing wit." Jessica Winter of "The Village Voice" panned the film as a "junk-food movie striving to be nutritious." "It's one of your racier Be Yourself after-school specials crossed with "Who Moved My Cheese?" for Cosmo girls," Winter asserted.


title: Legally Blonde

text: "Legally Blonde" has received mixed reviews among legal scholars for its depiction of law school and the accuracy of its application of the law.


title: Legally Blonde

text: Devin Stone, better known online as LegalEagle, a YouTuber and American lawyer, observed that the application process portrayed in the movie in which Elle Woods sent the Harvard Law School admissions board a video essay was not possible. "There's no way to upload that on the law school application system," Stone noted. "During orientation, Harvard Law School actually played the clip of Elle's admissions video with the admissions committee deciding to let her in, and then they swore that's not how they made decisions," explained Jameyanne Fuller, a student at Harvard Law School.


title: Legally Blonde

text: Certain elements of law school are also omitted from the film. "The movie totally skipped first semester exams which is like the most stressful time in law school ever," said Fuller.


title: Legally Blonde

text: Stone said Woods had no authority to act as a lawyer when she represented Paulette Bonafonté over custody of her dog from her ex-husband and called her conduct a "huge ethical violation." "She hasn't finished law school, she's never passed the bar and she has absolutely no right to call herself an attorney," Stone observed. "That's called the unauthorized practice of law. If anyone finds out that she committed this...while she was at Harvard Law School, she'd probably be barred from entering the bar in virtually any state in the United States." Unauthorized practice of law in Massachusetts carries a fine of $100 or imprisonment for not more than six months.


title: Legally Blonde

text: Contrary to what is shown in the film, Woods would not be able to question a witness on the stand during a criminal trial, W. Bradley Wendel, a law professor at Cornell Law School, explained in his book, "Professional Responsibility: Examples & Explanations."