title: Inverness

text: Inverness College is situated in the city and is a part of the University of the Highlands and Islands, a federation of 15 colleges and research institutions in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland delivering higher education. With around 8,420 students, Inverness College hosts around a quarter of all the University of the Highlands and Islands' students, and 30% of those studying to degree level.


title: Inverness

text: In 2015 the college moved to a new campus to the East of the A9. The original outline planning application forms a vision for the development over the next thirty years. The application includes:


title: Inverness

text: The campus at Beechwood, just off the A9 east of Inverness, is considered to be one of the most important developments for the region over the next 20 years. The principal of UHI, James Fraser, said: "This is a flagship development which will provide Inverness with a university campus and vibrant student life. It will have a major impact on the city and on the Highlands and Islands. UHI is a partnership of colleges and research centres throughout the region, and the development of any one partner brings strength to the whole institution."


title: Inverness

text: It is estimated that the new campus would contribute more than £50m to the economy of the Highlands because it could attract innovative commercial businesses interested in research and development, while increasing the number of students who study within the city by around 3,000.


title: Inverness

text: Plans are in place to convert the A96 between Inverness and Nairn to a dual carriageway and to construct a southern bypass that would link the A9, A82 and A96 together involving crossings of the Caledonian Canal and the River Ness in the Torvean area, southwest of the town.


title: Inverness

text: The bypass, known as the Inverness Trunk Road Link (TRL), is aimed at resolving Inverness's transport problems and has been split into two separate projects, the east and west sections.


title: Inverness

text: In late 2008 the controversial decision by the Scottish Government not to include the full Inverness bypass in its transport plan for the next 20 years was made. The government's Strategic Transport Projects Review did include the eastern section of the route, which will see the A9 at Inshes linked to the A96.


title: Inverness

text: But the absence of the TRL's western section, which would include a permanent crossing over the Caledonian Canal and River Ness, sparked dismay among several Highland councillors and business leaders in Inverness who feel the bypass is vital for the city's future economic growth. Ultimately both sections received funding from the Inverness and Highland city-region deal. The eastern section now also includes a commitment to upgrade the Longman Roundabout to a grade separated interchange.


title: Inverness

text: The east section will bypass Inshes Roundabout, a notorious traffic bottleneck, using a new road linking the existing Southern Distributor with the A9 and the A96, both via grade separated interchanges. This proposed new link road would separate strategic traffic from local traffic. It will also accommodate the proposed developments at:


title: Inverness

text: An indicative timescale for completion of this section is the dualling of the A96 from Inverness to Nairn.


title: Inverness

text: The west section is intended to provide an alternate route connecting the A9 with the A82. This will bypass the city centre by providing additional crossings of the River Ness and Caledonian Canal.


title: Inverness

text: At the west end, two options for crossing the River Ness and Caledonian Canal were developed. One involving a high level vertical opening bridge which will allow the majority of canal traffic to pass under without the need for opening. The other involved a bridge over the river and an aqueduct under the canal. Both of these designs are technically complex and were considered in detail along by the key stakeholders involved in the project.


title: Inverness

text: Ultimately it was decided that a bridge would be constructed over the River Ness and a second swing bridge be constructed over the Caledonian Canal. This second swing bridge would operate in tandem with the current swing bridge enabling a constant flow of traffic. The works started on site on the 10 June 2019 and include a roundabout, realignment of General Booth Road onto the A82, and a second bridge across the Caledonian Canal.


title: Inverness

text: The works were programmed to be complete in December 2020. However, due to a number of construction delays the section was opened in August 2021.


title: Inverness

text: In late 2008 the Scottish Government's transport plan for the next 20 years was announced. It brings forward planned improvements to the A9 in an attempt to stimulate the economy and protect jobs.


title: Inverness

text: Work costing a total of £8.5 million was undertaken at Moy, Carrbridge, and Bankfoot. Northbound overtaking lanes were created and the carriageway was reconstructed at both Moy and Carrbridge. Junction improvements were also made at Moy.


title: Inverness

text: In November 2011 the Scottish Government announced that it will upgrade the entire road from Perth to Inverness to dual carriageway. Work on this project is expected to start in 2015 is scheduled to be completed in 2025, at a cost of £3 billion.


title: Inverness

text: In July 2013, the Scottish Government announced a plan to install average speed cameras on the A9 between Perth and Inverness. This has been undertaken with an aim to reduce accidents and fatalities on the road, and will be the second permanent average speed camera scheme in Scotland.


title: Inverness

text: As of October 2021, 2 sections of the upgraded route have been opened. In August 2021 the procurement process for the Tomatin to Moy section was started. Once this section is completed, there will be 20 miles (32 km) of continuous dual carriageway south of Inverness.


title: Inverness

text: In December 2011, The Scottish Government announced its intention to dual the A96 between Inverness and Aberdeen. The project will include upgrading the remaining 86 miles (138 km) of single carriageway along the route to dual carriageway at a cost of £3 billion.


title: Inverness

text: The first section to be dualled will be the section between Inverness and Auldearn. This will include a bypass of Nairn and the construction of a number of grade separated interchanges along the route.


title: Inverness

text: Inverness bus station is situated at Farraline Park and can be accessed from Academy Street and Margaret Street. The bus station is managed by The Highland Council and is a short walk away from the Inverness railway station and the main shopping area.


title: Inverness

text: Permission was granted to demolish the existing bus station in 2000. It was then replaced with a new terminal building in the early 2000s.


title: Inverness

text: The bus station's main operators include Stagecoach in Inverness and Stagecoach in Lochaber. Buses operate from the bus station around the town of Inverness and to Inverness Airport and to places as far afield as Fort William, Ullapool, Thurso, and Aberdeen.


title: Inverness

text: Megabus and Scottish Citylink operate a regular coach service to the Scotland's capital Edinburgh with connections to Glasgow at Perth.


title: Inverness

text: National Express Coaches operate an overnight service from Inverness to London (Victoria) via Edinburgh taking 15 hours 5 minutes.


title: Inverness

text: Stagecoach Highlands is the division of the Stagecoach Group which covers most of the former Rapson Group operations after the take-over by Stagecoach.


title: Inverness

text: The operation from Aviemore depot comes under the East Scotland division as it trades as Stagecoach in Inverness.


title: Inverness

text: ScotRail services connect Inverness to Perth, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Thurso, Wick, and Kyle of Lochalsh. Inverness is connected to London Euston by the "Caledonian Sleeper", which departs six times a week and by the London North Eastern Railway operated "Highland Chieftain" to London King's Cross which runs daily.


title: Inverness

text: The Port of Inverness is located at the mouth of the River Ness. It has four quays and receives over 300 vessels a year.


title: Inverness

text: Inverness Airport is located northeast of the city and has scheduled flights to airports across the UK including London, Manchester, Belfast and the islands to the north and west of Scotland, as well as a number of flights to Europe. Loganair operate Saab 340 and Saab 2000 aircraft on routes to Benbecula, Dublin, Kirkwall, Stornoway, and Sumburgh. EasyJet operate Airbus aircraft to London Gatwick three times per day, Luton twice a day and Bristol. British Airways operates a daily service to London Heathrow, and KLM operate a daily service to Amsterdam.


title: Inverness

text: Inverness was an autonomous royal burgh, and county town for the county of Inverness (also known as Inverness-shire) until 1975, when local government counties and burghs were abolished, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, in favour of two-tier regions and districts and unitary islands council areas. The royal burgh was then absorbed into a new district of Inverness, which was one of eight districts within The Highland Council region. The new district combined in one area the royal burgh, the Inverness district of the county and the Aird district of the county. The rest of the county was divided between other new districts within the Highland region and the Western Isles. Therefore, although much larger than the royal burgh, the new Inverness district was much smaller than the county.


title: Inverness

text: In 1996, under the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994, the districts were abolished and the region became a unitary council area. The new unitary The Highland Council, however, adopted the areas of the former districts as council management areas, and created area committees to represent each. The Inverness committee represented 23 out of the 80 Highland Council wards, with each ward electing one councillor by the first past the post system of election. Management area and committee area boundaries later became disconnected as a result of changes to ward boundaries in 1999. Ward boundaries changed again in 2007, and the council management areas were replaced with three new corporate management areas.


title: Inverness

text: Ward boundary changes in 2007, under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, created 22 new Highland Council wards, each electing three or four councillors by the single transferable vote system of election, a system designed to produce a form of proportional representation. The total number of councillors remaining the same. Also, the Inverness management area was merged into the new Inverness, Nairn and Badenoch and Strathspey corporate management area, covering nine of the new wards and electing 34 of the 80 councillors. As well as the Inverness area, the new area includes the former Nairn management area and the former Badenoch and Strathspey management area. The corporate area name is also that of a constituency, but boundaries are different.


title: Inverness

text: Within the corporate area there is a city management area covering seven of the nine wards, the Aird and Loch Ness ward, the Culloden and Ardersier ward, the Inverness Central ward, the Inverness Millburn ward, the Inverness Ness-side ward, the Inverness South ward and the Inverness West ward. The Nairn and Cawdor ward and the Badenoch and Strathspey ward complete the corporate area. Wards in the city management area are to be represented on a city committee as well as corporate area committees.


title: Inverness

text: In 2001, city status was granted to the Town of Inverness, and letters patent were taken into the possession of the Highland Council by the convener of the Inverness area committee. These letters patent, which were sealed in March 2001 and are held by Inverness Museum and Art Gallery, create a city of Inverness, but do not refer to anywhere with defined boundaries, except that "Town of Inverness" may be taken as a reference to the burgh of Inverness. As a local government area the burgh was abolished 26 years earlier, in 1975, and so was the county of Inverness for which the burgh was the county town. Nor do they refer to the former district or to the royal burgh.


title: Inverness

text: The Highland area was created as a two-tier local government region in 1975, and became a unitary local government area in 1996. The region consisted of eight districts, of which one was called Inverness. The districts were all merged into the unitary area. As the new local government authority, the Highland Council then adopted the areas of the districts as council management areas. The management areas were abolished in 2007, in favour of three new corporate management areas. The council has defined a large part of the Inverness, Nairn and Badenoch and Strathspey corporate area as the Inverness city management area. This council-defined city area includes Loch Ness and numerous towns and villages apart from the former burgh of Inverness.


title: Inverness

text: In January 2008 a petition to matriculate armorial bearings for the City of Inverness was refused by Lord Lyon King of Arms on the grounds that there is no legal persona to which arms can be granted.


title: Inverness

text: These existing constituencies are effectively subdivisions of the Highland council area, but boundaries for Westminster elections are now very different from those for Holyrood elections. The Holyrood constituencies are also subdivisions of the Highlands and Islands electoral region.


title: Inverness

text: Inverness Burghs was a district of burghs constituency, covering the parliamentary burghs of Inverness, Fortrose, Forres, and Nairn. Inverness-shire covered, at least nominally, the county of Inverness minus the Inverness parliamentary burgh. As created in 1918, Inverness covered the county minus Outer Hebridean areas, which were merged into the Western Isles constituency. The Inverness constituency included the former parliamentary burgh of Inverness. As created in 1983, Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber was one of three constituencies covering the Highland region, which had been created in 1975. As first used in 1997, the Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, and Ross, Skye and Inverness West constituencies were effectively two of three constituencies covering the Highland unitary council area, which had been created in 1996.


title: Inverness

text: Prince Andrew, Duke of York is known by the title "Earl of Inverness." In 2019 Inverness residents started a campaign to strip him of that title, stating that "it is inappropriate that Prince Andrew is associated with our beautiful city."


title: Inverness

text: The main theatre, cinema and arts centre in Inverness is called Eden Court Theatre. Other venues in the city include Inverness Museum and Art Gallery, The Iron Works, The Norther Meeting Park and Wasp Studios.


title: Inverness

text: Inverness is an important centre for bagpipe players and lovers, since every September the city hosts the Northern Meeting. The Inverness cape, a garment worn in the rain by pipers the world over, is not necessarily made in Inverness.


title: Inverness

text: Another major event in calendar is the annual City of Inverness Highland Games. The event can trace its roots back to one of the first Highland Games staged in the modern era; the True Highland Games which was staged in 1822 by members of the Northern Meeting Society. In 1864 the Northern Meeting Society built the world's first Highland Games stadium, the Northern Meeting Park. The last Northern Meeting Highland Games was staged in 1938 and following the second world war, responsibility for the organisation of the annual event passed to the Town Council who moved the event to Bught Park in 1948. In 2006 Inverness hosted Scotland's biggest ever Highland Games over two days in July, featuring the Masters' World Championships, the showcase event for heavies aged over 40 years. The first year that the Masters' World Championships had been held outside the United States was 2006, and it attracted many top heavies from around the world to the Inverness area. The Masters World Championships returned in 2009 when it was staged as part of the Homecoming celebrations. In 2010, the City of Inverness Highland Games returned to Northern Meeting Park where it remains to this day.


title: Inverness

text: Inverness has gained notoriety as well for being featured in the "Outlander" novel series by author Diana Gabaldon.


title: Inverness

text: The Tartan Heart Festival in the nearby village of Kiltarlity, is a summer festival that brings a variety of music to the area.


title: Inverness

text: Inverness Botanic Gardens is located in Bught Park a few minutes walk from the west bank of the River Ness near to the Ness Islands.


title: Inverness

text: In 2007, the city hosted Highland 2007, a celebration of the culture of the Highlands, and will also host the World Highland Games Heavy Championships (21 & 22 July) and European Pipe Band Championships (28 July). 2008 saw the first Hi-Ex (Highlands International Comics Expo), held at the Eden Court Theatre.


title: Inverness

text: Inverness Library is located in Farraline Park, housed in what was originally the Bell's school, designed by William Robertson in the Greek Revival style. The school was built with help from a £10,000 donation from Dr Andrew Bell in 1837.


title: Inverness

text: Historically, Inverness had a solidly Scottish Gaelic speaking population, with the majority of the population having Gaelic as their first language. From approximately the end of the 19th century, following the 1872 Education Act, Inverness suffered a decline in the number of Gaelic speakers in line with the rest of the once Gaidhealtachd / Scottish Highlands. Despite the local dialect of Scottish Gaelic gradually falling out of use (although it continued to affect local English language dialect), the language is still spoken in other dialects and standardised forms. By the end of the 19th century, some rural areas to the south east of Inverness still had completely Gaelic speaking populations, such as Strath Dearn where almost 100% of the population were still Gaelic speaking.


title: Inverness

text: 1704: Close to 100% of the population was fluent in Gaelic with over 75% of the population only able to speak Gaelic. Edward Lhuyd published major work on Inverness Gaelic and after collecting data from between 1699 and 1700, his findings showed a distinct dialect in the area. The clear dialect of Inverness Gaelic was held in high regard by speakers of other forms, such as those from Lewis, Sutherland and Ross. Gaelic remained the principal language of Invernessians for the rest of the 18th century, despite growing pressure from outwith the Highlands in both political and social contexts.


title: Inverness

text: 1798: Thomas Garnett (Professor of Natural Philosophy and Chemistry in the Royal Institution of Great Britain) observed that Inverness had become largely bilingual with Invernessians using Gaelic as the language of the home but English as the language of foreign trade – however, the older generation at the time generally only had the Gaelic. Speaking of those in the countryside immediately surrounding Inverness, Garnett stated that although in Inverness both Gaelic and English "are spoken promiscuously...the language of the country people is Gaelic."


title: Inverness

text: 1828: John Wood praised the standard of both the Gaelic and English spoken in Inverness stating that both languages were spoken with "utmost purity." He noted that children would casually flit between the two languages while playing, asking questions in Gaelic while receiving answers in English and vice versa.


title: Inverness

text: 1882: The Celtic Magazine, published in Inverness, complained that enumerators of the 1881 census who assessed whether families were Gaelic speaking, English speaking or both, had supplied false information. The magazine wrote that "whole families ... scarcely any member of whom can express the commonest idea intelligently in English – who are in every sense Gaelic-speaking people only – were returned by the enumerators as English-speaking."


title: Inverness

text: 1901: Inhabitants of Inverness voiced regret at the very swift decay of the native language in the short space of twenty years following a complete absence of bilingual education and disregard for Gaelic.


title: Inverness

text: For its size, Inverness today still has a relatively high density of Gaelic speakers and a relatively lively Gaelic scene, making it one of the centres of the Scottish Gaelic Renaissance. According to the 2011 census, 4.8% of residents of greater Inverness over age 3 speak Gaelic compared to 1.1% nationally. At 2,800 Gaelic speakers, only Greater Glasgow and Edinburgh have a higher absolute total. The number of Gaelic speakers has fluctuated over the last century. In 1881, the census reported 4,047 Gaelic speakers in Inverness (23.3% of the population) which by 1891 had risen to 6,356 speakers (30.47%). By 1901 this figure had dropped to 5,072 speakers (23.88%) of the population, from which it continued to drop to present day numbers through emigration and language shift. Scottish Gaelic is slowly re-appearing in the linguistic landscape, appearing on some signs around Inverness. Bun-sgoil Ghàidhlig Inbhir Nis, which opened in August 2007 offering primary school education through the medium of Gaelic, is nearing full capacity and was extended to allow for more pupils in August 2010. Bòrd na Gàidhlig, an organisation responsible for supporting and promoting the use of Scottish Gaelic, has its main office in Inverness. Other Gaelic related groups include the Inverness Gaelic Choir which has existed for over 70 years. Inverness also hosted the Royal National Mòd in 2014, a festival celebrating Gaelic culture.


title: Inverness

text: The castle was built in 1835 on the site of its medieval predecessor. Until 30 March 2020, it housed Inverness Sheriff Court: this has now been moved to the Inverness Justice Centre.


title: Inverness

text: Inverness Cathedral, dedicated to St Andrew, is a cathedral of the Scottish Episcopal Church and seat of the ordinary of the Diocese of Moray, Ross and Caithness. The cathedral has a curiously square-topped look to its spires, as funds ran out before they could be completed.


title: Inverness

text: The oldest church is the Old High Church, on St Michael's Mount by the riverside, a site perhaps used for worship since Celtic times. The church tower dates from mediaeval times, making it the oldest surviving building in Inverness. It is used by the Church of Scotland congregation of Old High St Stephen's, Inverness, and it is the venue for the annual Kirking of the council, which is attended by local councillors.


title: Inverness

text: There is no Catholic cathedral in the area as the Diocese's cathedral (St Mary) is at Aberdeen, the seat of the Diocese of Aberdeen. The Catholic population is served by two parish churches: St Mary's, Inverness founded in 1837, is the older of the two and the first Catholic church founded in Inverness since the Reformation. St Ninian's was built during the 1960s and 1970s.


title: Inverness

text: Porterfield Prison, officially HMP Inverness, serves the courts of the Highlands, Western Isles, Orkney Isles and Moray, providing secure custody for all remand prisoners and short-term adult prisoners, both male and female, who are segregated.


title: Inverness

text: The city is home to four football clubs that are recognised in the SFA Pyramid, though two are part of a league that hasn't been fully incorporated. Inverness Caledonian Thistle was formed in 1994 from the merger of two Highland League clubs, Caledonian and Inverness Thistle. "Caley Thistle" of the Scottish Championship plays at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, and have proven themselves to be the dominant team in the highlands after winning the Scottish Cup and participating in the Europa League in 2015, as well as many giant killings. The city's second football club, Clachnacuddin, plays in the Highland League. Inverness Athletic became the third, joining the North Caledonian Football League in 2016, with Loch Ness, becoming the 4th in 2020, after stepping up from Amateur Football. Inverness Citadel was another popular side which became defunct, but had its name revived. Inverness City played in the North Region Juniors and were formed in 2006, but folded in 2019.


title: Inverness

text: Highland RFC is the local rugby union club that competes in the Scottish National League Division One. It has enjoyed recent promotions in the past several years and continues to be a hub for rugby in the North of Scotland.


title: Inverness

text: Shinty is an integral part of the Highlands and Islands. As the capital of the Highlands, Camanachd Association is based in Inverness and the city often hosts a wealth of Shinty finals such as the Camanachd Cup Final (the pinnacle of Shinty) as well as the international game of Shinty and Irish hurling. Despite Inverness Shinty Club not being particularly successful in recent years, some of the towns and villages that surround the city have been, such as Kiltarlity who are the home of Lovat Shinty Club (recent winners of the MacTavish Cup 2013) and Glen Urquhart.


title: Inverness

text: Highland HC is the local hockey team, it consists of two men's teams, two ladies teams and a junior team. with both Men's & Ladies' 1st teams in Scottish National Division 2. The Men's 1st team successfully gained promotion from Scottish National Division 3 in 2011.


title: Inverness

text: Inverness Blitz is a charity that promotes the development of American football in Inverness and the surrounding area. Bught Park, located in the centre of Inverness is the finishing point of the annual Loch Ness Marathon and home of Inverness Shinty Club.


title: Inverness

text: In 2011, Inverness hosted professional golf with the Scottish Open on the European Tour, played at Castle Stuart the week before The Open Championship.


title: Inverness

text: Cricket is also played in Inverness, with both Highland CC and Northern Counties playing in the North of Scotland Cricket Association League and 7 welfare league teams playing midweek cricket at Fraser Park. Both teams have been very successful over the years.


title: Inverness

text: Inverness has a mixed basketball team, the Inverness Giants, who play exhibition games against local teams throughout the North and Islands.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: The Bayeux Tapestry (, ; or ; ) is an embroidered cloth nearly long and tall that depicts the events leading up to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, led by William, Duke of Normandy challenging Harold II, King of England, and culminating in the Battle of Hastings. It is thought to date to the 11th century, within a few years after the battle. It tells the story from the point of view of the conquering Normans but is now widely accepted to have been made in England.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: According to Sylvette Lemagnen, conservator of the tapestry, in her 2005 book "La Tapisserie de Bayeux":


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: The cloth consists of 58 scenes, many with Latin "tituli", embroidered on linen with coloured woollen yarns. It is likely that it was commissioned by Bishop Odo, William's maternal half-brother, and made in England – not Bayeux – in the 1070s. In 1729, the hanging was rediscovered by scholars at a time when it was being displayed annually in Bayeux Cathedral. The tapestry is now exhibited at the Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux in Bayeux, Normandy, France


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: The designs on the Bayeux Tapestry are embroidered rather than in a tapestry weave, so it does not meet narrower definitions of a tapestry. Nevertheless, it has always been referred to as a tapestry until recent years when the name "Bayeux Embroidery" has gained ground among certain art historians. It can be seen as a rare example of secular Romanesque art. Tapestries adorned both churches and wealthy houses in Medieval Western Europe, though at , the Bayeux Tapestry is exceptionally large. Only the figures and decoration are embroidered, on a background left plain, which shows the subject very clearly and was necessary to cover large areas.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: The earliest known written reference to the tapestry is a 1476 inventory of Bayeux Cathedral, but its origins have been the subject of much speculation and controversy.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: French legend maintained the tapestry was commissioned and created by Queen Matilda, William the Conqueror's wife, and her ladies-in-waiting. Indeed, in France, it is occasionally known as ("The Tapestry of Queen Matilda"). However, scholarly analysis in the 20th century concluded it was probably commissioned by William's half-brother, Bishop Odo, who, after the Conquest, became Earl of Kent and, when William was absent in Normandy, regent of England.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: Assuming Odo commissioned the tapestry, it was probably designed and constructed in England by Anglo-Saxon artists (Odo's main power base being by then in Kent); the Latin text contains hints of Anglo-Saxon; other embroideries originate from England at this time; and the vegetable dyes can be found in cloth traditionally woven there. Howard B. Clarke has proposed that the designer of the tapestry was Scolland, the abbot of St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury, because of his previous position as head of the scriptorium at Mont Saint-Michel (famed for its illumination), his travels to Trajan's Column, and his connections to Wadard and Vital, two individuals identified in the tapestry. The actual physical work of stitching was most likely undertaken by female needleworkers. Anglo-Saxon needlework of the more detailed type known as Opus Anglicanum was famous across Europe. It was perhaps commissioned for display in the hall of his palace and then bequeathed to the cathedral he built, following the pattern of the documented but lost hanging of the Anglo-Saxon warrior Byrhtnoth, bequeathed by his widow to Ely Abbey.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: Alternative theories exist. Carola Hicks has suggested it could possibly have been commissioned by Edith of Wessex, widow of Edward the Confessor and sister of Harold. Wolfgang Grape has challenged the consensus that the embroidery is Anglo-Saxon, distinguishing between Anglo-Saxon and other Northern European techniques; Medieval material authority Elizabeth Coatsworth contradicted this: "The attempt to distinguish Anglo-Saxon from other Northern European embroideries before 1100 on the grounds of technique cannot be upheld on the basis of present knowledge." George Beech suggests the tapestry was executed at the Abbey of Saint-Florent de Saumur in the Loire Valley and says the detailed depiction of the Breton campaign argues for additional sources in France. Andrew Bridgeford has suggested that the tapestry was actually of English design and encoded with secret messages meant to undermine Norman rule.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: The first reference to the tapestry is from 1476 when it was listed in an inventory of the treasures of Bayeux Cathedral. It survived the sack of Bayeux by the Huguenots in 1562; and the next certain reference is from 1724. Antoine Lancelot sent a report to the "Académie Royale des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres" concerning a sketch he had received about a work concerning William the Conqueror. He had no idea where or what the original was, although he suggested it could have been a tapestry. Despite further enquiries he discovered no more.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: The Benedictine scholar Bernard de Montfaucon made more successful investigations and found that the sketch was of a small portion of a tapestry preserved at Bayeux Cathedral. In 1729 and 1730 he published drawings and a detailed description of the complete work in the first two volumes of his "Les Monuments de la Monarchie française". The drawings were by Antoine Benoît, one of the ablest draughtsmen of that time.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: The tapestry was first briefly noted in English in 1746 by William Stukeley, in his "Palaeographia Britannica". The first detailed account in English was written by Smart Lethieullier, who was living in Paris in 1732–3, and was acquainted with Lancelot and de Montfaucon: it was not published, however, until 1767, as an appendix to Andrew Ducarel's "Anglo-Norman Antiquities".


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: During the French Revolution, in 1792, the tapestry was confiscated as public property to be used for covering military wagons. It was rescued from a wagon by a local lawyer who stored it in his house until the troubles were over, whereupon he sent it to the city administrators for safekeeping. After the Terror the Fine Arts Commission, set up to safeguard national treasures in 1803, required it to be removed to Paris for display at the Musée Napoléon. When Napoleon abandoned his planned invasion of Britain the tapestry's propaganda value was lost and it was returned to Bayeux where the council displayed it on a winding apparatus of two cylinders. Despite scholars' concern that the tapestry was becoming damaged the council refused to return it to the cathedral.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: In 1816 the Society of Antiquaries of London commissioned its historical draughtsman, Charles Stothard, to visit Bayeux to make an accurate hand-coloured facsimile of the tapestry. His drawings were subsequently engraved by James Basire jr. and published by the Society in 1819–23. Stothard's images are still of value as a record of the tapestry as it was before 19th-century restoration.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: By 1842 the tapestry was displayed in a special-purpose room in the Bibliothèque Publique. It required special storage in 1870 with the threatened invasion of Normandy in the Franco-Prussian War and again in 1939–1944 by the Ahnenerbe during the German occupation of France and the Normandy landings. On 27 June 1944 the Gestapo took the tapestry to the Louvre and on 18 August, three days before the Wehrmacht withdrew from Paris, Himmler sent a message (intercepted by Bletchley Park) ordering it to be taken to "a place of safety", thought to be Berlin. It was only on 22 August that the SS attempted to take possession of the tapestry, by which time the Louvre was again in French hands. After the liberation of Paris, on 25 August, the tapestry was again put on public display in the Louvre, and in 1945 it was returned to Bayeux, where it is exhibited at the Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: The inventory listing of 1476 shows that the tapestry was being hung annually in Bayeux Cathedral for the week of the Feast of St John the Baptist; and this was still the case in 1728, although by that time the purpose was merely to air the hanging, which was otherwise stored in a chest. Clearly, the work was being well cared for. In the eighteenth century, the artistry was regarded as crude or even barbarous—red and yellow multi-coloured horses upset some critics. It was thought to be unfinished because the linen was not covered with embroidery. However, its exhibition in the Louvre in 1797 caused a sensation, with "Le Moniteur", which normally dealt with foreign affairs, reporting on it on its first two pages. It inspired a popular musical, "La Tapisserie de la Reine Mathilde". It was because the tapestry was regarded as an antiquity rather than a work of art that in 1804 it was returned to Bayeux, wherein 1823 one commentator, A. L. Léchaudé d'Anisy, reported that "there is a sort of purity in its primitive forms, especially considering the state of the arts in the eleventh century".


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: The tapestry was becoming a tourist attraction, with Robert Southey complaining of the need to queue to see the work. In the 1843 "Hand-book for Travellers in France" by John Murray III, a visit was included on "Recommended Route 26 (Caen to Cherbourg via Bayeux)", and this guidebook led John Ruskin to go there; he would describe the tapestry as "the most interesting thing in its way conceivable". Charles Dickens, however, was not impressed: "It is certainly the work of amateurs; very feeble amateurs at the beginning and very heedless some of them too."


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: During the Second World War Heinrich Himmler coveted the work, regarding it as "important for our glorious and cultured Germanic history".


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: In 2018, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that the Bayeux Tapestry would be loaned to Britain for public display. It had been expected to be exhibited at the British Museum in London in 2022, but a date has not yet been finalised. If it does cross the Channel, it will be the first time that it has left France in 950 years, assuming as much evidence suggests that it was made in Canterbury.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: In common with other embroidered hangings of the early medieval period, this piece is conventionally referred to as a "tapestry", although it is not a "true" tapestry in which the design is woven into the cloth in tapestry weave; it is technically an embroidery, although it meets the traditional broader definition of "tapestry" as: "A textile fabric decorated with designs of ornament or pictorial subjects, painted, embroidered, or woven in colours, used for wall hangings, curtains, covers for seats, ..."


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: The Bayeux tapestry is embroidered in crewel (wool yarn) on a tabby-woven linen ground 68.38 metres long and 0.5 metres wide () and using two methods of stitching: outline or stem stitch for lettering and the outlines of figures, and couching or laid work for filling in figures. Nine linen panels, between fourteen and three metres in length, were sewn together after each was embroidered and the joins were disguised with subsequent embroidery. At the first join (start of scene 14) the borders do not line up properly but the technique was improved so that the later joins are practically invisible. The design involved a broad central zone with narrow decorative borders top and bottom. By inspecting the woollen threads behind the linen it is apparent all these aspects were embroidered together at a session and the awkward placing of the "tituli" is not due to them being added later. Later generations have patched the hanging in numerous places and some of the embroidery (especially in the final scene) has been reworked. The tapestry may well have maintained much of its original appearance—it now compares closely with a careful drawing made in 1730.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: The end of the tapestry has been missing from time immemorial and the final "titulus" "Et fuga verterunt Angli" ("and the English left fleeing") is said to be "entirely spurious", added shortly before 1814 at a time of anti-English sentiment. Musset speculates the hanging was originally about 1.5 metres longer. At the last section still remaining the embroidery has been almost completely restored but this seems to have been done with at least some regard to the original stitching. The stylised tree is quite unlike any other tree in the tapestry. The start of the tapestry has also been restored but to a much lesser extent.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: Norton has reviewed the various measurements of the length of the tapestry itself and of its nine individual linen panels. He has also attempted to estimate the size and architectural design of the 11th-century Bayeux Cathedral. He considers the tapestry would have fitted well if it had been hung along the south, west, and north arcades of the nave and that the scenes it depicts can be correlated with positions of the arcade bays in a way that would have been dramatically satisfying. He agrees with earlier speculation that a final panel is missing—one that shows William's coronation and which he thinks was some three metres long. Norton concludes that the tapestry was definitely designed to be hung in Bayeux Cathedral specifically; that it was designed to appeal to a Norman audience; and that it was probably designed for Bishop Odo so as to be displayed at the dedication of the cathedral in 1077 in the presence of William, Matilda, their sons, and Odo.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: The main yarn colours are terracotta or russet, blue-green, dull gold, olive green, and blue, with small amounts of dark blue or black and sage green. Later repairs are worked in light yellow, orange, and light greens. Laid yarns are couched in place with yarn of the same or contrasting colour.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: The tapestry's central zone contains most of the action, which sometimes overflows into the borders either for dramatic effect or because depictions would otherwise be very cramped (for example at Edward's death scene). Events take place in a long series of scenes which are generally separated by highly stylised trees. However, the trees are not placed consistently and the greatest scene shift, between Harold's audience with Edward after his return to England and Edward's burial scene, is not marked in any way at all.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: The "tituli" are normally in the central zone but occasionally use the top border. The borders are otherwise mostly purely decorative and only sometimes does the decoration complement the action in the central zone. The decoration consists of birds, beasts, fish and scenes from fables, agriculture, and hunting. There are frequent oblique bands separating the vignettes. There are nude figures, some of corpses from battle, others of a ribald nature. A harrow, a newly invented implement, is depicted (scene 10) and this is the earliest known depiction. The picture of Halley's Comet, which appears in the upper border (scene 32), is the first known picture of this comet.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: In 1724 a linen backing cloth was sewn on comparatively crudely and, in around the year 1800, large ink numerals were written on the backing which broadly enumerate each scene and which are still commonly used for reference.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: In a series of pictures supported by a written commentary, the tapestry tells the story of the events of 1064–1066 culminating in the Battle of Hastings. The two main protagonists are Harold Godwinson, recently crowned King of England, leading the Anglo-Saxon English, and William, Duke of Normandy, leading a mainly Norman army, sometimes called the companions of William the Conqueror.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: William was the illegitimate son of Robert the Magnificent, Duke of Normandy, and Herleva (or Arlette), a tanner's daughter. William became Duke of Normandy at the age of seven and was in control of Normandy by the age of nineteen. His half-brother was Bishop Odo of Bayeux.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: King Edward the Confessor, king of England and about sixty years old at the time the tapestry starts its narration, had no children or any clear successor. Edward's mother, Emma of Normandy, was William's great aunt. At that time succession to the English throne was not by primogeniture but was decided jointly by the king and by an assembly of nobility, the Witenagemot.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: Harold Godwinson, Earl of Wessex and the most powerful noble in England, was Edward's brother-in-law. The Norman chronicler William of Poitiers reported that Edward had previously determined that William would succeed him on the throne, and Harold had sworn to honour this, and yet later that Harold had claimed Edward, on his deathbed, had made him heir over William. However, other sources, such as Eadmer dispute this claim.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: Tapestry fragments have been found in Scandinavia dating from the ninth century and it is thought that Norman and Anglo-Saxon embroidery developed from this sort of work. Examples are to be found in the grave goods of the Oseberg ship and the Överhogdal tapestries.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: A monastic text from Ely, the "Liber Eliensis", mentions a woven narrative wall-hanging commemorating the deeds of Byrhtnoth, killed in 991. Wall-hangings were common by the tenth century with English and Norman texts particularly commending the skill of Anglo-Saxon seamstresses. Mural paintings imitating draperies still exist in France and Italy and there are twelfth-century mentions of other wall-hangings in Normandy and France. A poem by Baldric of Dol might even describe the Bayeux Tapestry itself. The Bayeux Tapestry was therefore not unique at the time it was created: rather it is remarkable for being the sole surviving example of medieval narrative needlework.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: The tapestry begins with a panel of Edward the Confessor sending Harold to Normandy. Later Norman sources say that the mission was for Harold to pledge loyalty to William but the tapestry does not suggest any specific purpose. By mischance, Harold arrives at the wrong location in France and is taken prisoner by Guy, Count of Ponthieu. After exchanges of messages borne by mounted messengers, Harold is released to William who then invites Harold to accompany him on a campaign against Conan II, Duke of Brittany. On the way, just outside the monastery of Mont Saint-Michel, the army become mired in quicksand and Harold saves two Norman soldiers. William's army chases Conan from Dol de Bretagne to Rennes, and Conan finally surrenders at Dinan. William gives Harold arms and armour (possibly knighting him) and Harold takes an oath on saintly relics. Although the writing on the tapestry explicitly states an oath is taken there is no clue as to what is being promised.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: Harold leaves for home and meets again with the old king Edward, who appears to be remonstrating with him. Harold is in a somewhat submissive posture and seems to be in disgrace. However, possibly deliberately, the king's intentions are not made clear. The scene then shifts by about one year to when Edward has become mortally ill and the tapestry strongly suggests that, on his deathbed, he bequeaths the crown to Harold. What is probably the coronation ceremony is attended by Stigand, whose position as Archbishop of Canterbury was controversial. Stigand is performing a liturgical function, possibly not the crowning itself. The tapestry labels the celebrant as "Stigant Archieps" (Stigand the archbishop) although by that time he had been excommunicated by the papacy who considered his appointment unlawful.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: A star with a streaming tail, now known to be Halley's Comet, then appears. At this point, the lower border of the tapestry shows a fleet of ghost-like ships thus hinting at a future invasion. The news of Harold's coronation is taken to Normandy, whereupon we are told that William is ordering a fleet of ships to be built although it is Bishop Odo shown issuing the instructions. The invaders reach England, and land unopposed. William orders his men to find food, and a meal is cooked. A house is burnt by two soldiers, which may indicate some ravaging of the local countryside on the part of the invaders, and underneath, on a smaller scale than the arsonists, a woman holds her boy's hand as she asks for humanity. News is brought to William. The Normans build a motte and bailey at Hastings to defend their position. Messengers are sent between the two armies, and William makes a speech to prepare his army for battle.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: The Battle of Hastings was fought on 14 October 1066 less than three weeks after the Battle of Stamford Bridge but the tapestry does not provide this context. The English fight on foot behind a shield wall, whilst the Normans are on horses. Two fallen knights are named as Leofwine and Gyrth, Harold's brothers, but both armies are shown fighting bravely. Bishop Odo brandishes his baton or mace and rallies the Norman troops in battle. To reassure his knights that he is still alive and well, William raises his helmet to show his face. The battle becomes very bloody with troops being slaughtered and dismembered corpses littering the ground. King Harold is killed. This scene can be interpreted in different ways, as the name "Harold" appears above a number of knights, making it difficult to identify which character is Harold, since one character appears with an arrow shot in his head under the name "Harold" while another character is slain by a sword underneath the words "he is slain". The final remaining scene shows unarmoured English troops fleeing the battlefield. The last part of the tapestry is missing; however, it is thought that the story contained only one additional scene.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: "Tituli" are included in many scenes to point out names of people and places or to explain briefly the event being depicted. The text is in Latin but at times the style of words and spelling shows an English influence. A dark blue wool, almost black, is mostly used but towards the end of the tapestry other colours are used, sometimes for each word and other times for each letter. The complete text and English translation are displayed beside images of each scene at Bayeux Tapestry tituli.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: The identification of Harold II of England in the vignette depicting his death is disputed. Some recent historians disagree with the traditional view that Harold is the figure struck in the eye with an arrow. The view that it is Harold is supported by the fact that the words "Harold Rex" (King Harold) appear right above the figure's head. However, the arrow is a later addition following a period of repair, as can be seen by comparison with Bernard de Montfaucon's engravings of the tapestry as it was in 1729, in which the arrow is absent (see illustration above). However, needle holes in the linen do suggest that something had originally been in the place of the arrow, though it may have been a lance rather than an arrow. A figure is slain with a sword in the subsequent plate, and the phrase above the figure refers to Harold's death ("interfectus est", "he is slain"). This would appear to be more consistent with the labeling used elsewhere in the work. It was common medieval iconography that a perjurer was to die with a weapon through the eye. Therefore, the tapestry might be said to emphasize William's rightful claim to the throne by depicting Harold as an oath breaker. Whether he actually died in this way remains a mystery and is much debated.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: There is a panel with what appears to be a clergyman touching or possibly striking a woman's face. No one knows the significance of this scene or the caption above it: "ubi unus clericus et Ælfgyva" ("where [or "in which"] a certain cleric and Ælfgyva"), where Ælfgyva is the Latinised spelling of Ælfgifu, a popular Anglo-Saxon woman's name (literally "elf-gift"). The use of the grapheme Æ shows familiarity with English spelling. There are two naked male figures in the border below this figure; the one directly below the figure is in a pose mirroring that of the cleric, squatting and displaying his genitalia (a scene that was frequently censored in historical reproductions). However, similar naked figures appear elsewhere in the lower border where there seems to be no connection at all with the main action. Harold had a younger sister named Ælfgifu (her name is spelt Alveva in the Domesday Book of 1086) who was possibly promised to William by Harold or even betrothed to him, but she died c. 1066, prior to the invasion. Ælfgifu was also the name of the mother of Sweyn Knutsson and Harold Harefoot, past kings of Denmark and England respectively, via Cnut the Great. It has been speculated that this scene, occurring after the meeting of Harold and William, is to remind the contemporary viewers of a scandal that occurred between Ælfgifu of Northampton and Emma of Normandy, Cnut's wives, that eventually led to the crowning of Edward the Confessor, child of Cnut and Emma.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: At least two panels of the tapestry are missing, perhaps even another in total. This missing area may have depicted William's coronation as King of England.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: The Bayeux Tapestry was probably commissioned by the House of Normandy and essentially depicts a Norman viewpoint. However, Harold is shown as brave, and his soldiers are not belittled. Throughout, William is described as "dux" ("duke"), whereas Harold, also called "dux" up to his coronation, is subsequently called "rex" ("king"). The fact that the narrative extensively covers Harold's activities in Normandy (in 1064) indicates that the intention was to show a strong relationship between that expedition and the Norman Conquest starting two years later. It is for this reason that the tapestry is generally seen by modern scholars as an apologia for the Norman Conquest.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: The tapestry's narration seems to place stress on Harold's oath to William, although its rationale is not made clear. Norman sources claim that the English succession was being pledged to William, but English sources give varied accounts. Today it is thought that the Norman sources are to be preferred. Both the tapestry and Norman sources name Stigand, the excommunicated archbishop of Canterbury, as the man who crowned Harold, possibly to discredit Harold's kingship; one English source suggests that he was crowned by Ealdred, archbishop of York, and favoured by the papacy, making Harold's position as legitimate king more secure. Contemporary scholarship has not decided the matter, although it is generally thought that Ealdred performed the coronation.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: Although political propaganda or personal emphasis may have somewhat distorted the historical accuracy of the story, the Bayeux Tapestry constitutes a visual record of medieval arms, apparel, and other objects unlike any other artifact surviving from this period. There is no attempt at continuity between scenes, either in individuals' appearance or clothing. The knights carry shields, but show no system of hereditary coats of arms—the beginnings of modern heraldic structure were in place, but would not become standard until the middle of the 12th century. It has been noted that the warriors are depicted fighting with bare hands, while other sources indicate the general use of gloves in battle and hunt.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: The American historian Stephen D. White, in a study of the tapestry, has "cautioned against reading it as an English or Norman story, showing how the animal fables visible in the borders may instead offer a commentary on the dangers of conflict and the futility of pursuing power".


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: Other modern artists have attempted to complete the work by creating panels depicting subsequent events up to William's coronation, though the actual content of the missing panels is unknown. In 1997, the embroidery artist Jan Messent completed a reconstruction showing William accepting the surrender of English nobles at Berkhamsted ("Beorcham"), Hertfordshire, and his coronation. In early 2013, 416 residents of Alderney in the Channel Islands finished a continuation including William's coronation and the building of the Tower of London.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: Because it resembles a modern comic strip or movie storyboard, is widely recognised, and is so distinctive in its artistic style, the Bayeux Tapestry has frequently been used or reimagined in a variety of different popular culture contexts. George Wingfield Digby wrote in 1957:


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: It has been cited by Scott McCloud in "Understanding Comics" as an example of early sequential-narrative art; and Bryan Talbot, a British comic book artist, has called it "the first known British comic strip".


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: Other embroideries more loosely inspired by it include the Hastings Embroidery (1966), the New World Tapestry (1980–2000), the Quaker Tapestry (1981–89), the Great Tapestry of Scotland (2013), the Scottish Diaspora Tapestry (2014–15), "Magna Carta (An Embroidery)" (2014–15), and (in this case a woven tapestry with embroidered details) the Game of Thrones Tapestry (2017–19).


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: A number of films have used sections of the tapestry in their opening credits or closing titles, including Disney's "Bedknobs and Broomsticks", Anthony Mann's "El Cid", Franco Zeffirelli's "Hamlet", Frank Cassenti's "La Chanson de Roland", Kevin Reynolds' "", and Richard Fleischer's "The Vikings".


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: The design and embroidery of the tapestry form one of the narrative strands of Marta Morazzoni's 1988 novella "The Invention of Truth".


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: The tapestry is referred to in Tony Kushner's play "". The apocryphal account of Queen Matilda's creation of the tapestry is used, perhaps in order to demonstrate that Louis, one of the main characters, holds himself to mythological standards.


title: Bayeux Tapestry

text: In March 2022 the French specialist factual documentary "Mysteries of the Bayeux Tapestry" was broadcast by BBC Four. The programme explores both the history of the tapestry and the scientific and archaeological stories that lie within its embroidery. The original 90-minute documentary, written by Jonas Rosales, directed by Alexis de Favitski and produced by Antoine Bamas, was cut to 59 minutes for the BBC broadcast. The documentary includes the work of scientists from the Laboratoire d'Archéologie Moléculaire et Structurale (LAMS) at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, using a hyperspectral camera, measuring 215 different colours, to analyse the exact pigments used to produce the original colours for the dyed woollen threads, derived from madder, weld and indigo.


title: Iridium

text: Iridium is a chemical element with the symbol Ir and atomic number 77. A very hard, brittle, silvery-white transition metal of the platinum group, it is considered the second-densest naturally occurring metal (after osmium) with a density of as defined by experimental X-ray crystallography. It is one of the most corrosion-resistant metals, even at temperatures as high as . However, corrosion-resistance is not quantifiable in absolute terms; although only certain molten salts and halogens are corrosive to solid iridium, finely divided iridium dust is much more reactive and can be flammable, whereas gold dust is not flammable but can be attacked by substances that iridium resists, such as aqua regia.


title: Iridium

text: Iridium was discovered in 1803 among insoluble impurities in natural platinum. Smithson Tennant, the primary discoverer, named it after the Greek goddess Iris, personification of the rainbow, because of the striking and diverse colors of its salts. Iridium is one of the rarest elements in Earth's crust, with annual production and consumption of only . Ir and Ir are the only two naturally occurring isotopes of iridium, as well as the only stable isotopes; the latter is the more abundant.


title: Iridium

text: The dominant uses of iridium are the metal itself and its alloys, as in high-performance spark plugs, crucibles for recrystallization of semiconductors at high temperatures, and electrodes for the production of chlorine in the chloralkali process. Important compounds of iridium are chlorides and iodides in industrial catalysis. Iridium is a component of some OLEDs.


title: Iridium

text: Iridium is found in meteorites in much higher abundance than in the Earth's crust. For this reason, the unusually high abundance of iridium in the clay layer at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary gave rise to the Alvarez hypothesis that the impact of a massive extraterrestrial object caused the extinction of dinosaurs and many other species 66 million years ago, now known to be produced by the impact that formed the Chicxulub crater. Similarly, an iridium anomaly in core samples from the Pacific Ocean suggested the Eltanin impact of about 2.5 million years ago.


title: Iridium

text: It is thought that the total amount of iridium in the planet Earth is much higher than that observed in crustal rocks, but as with other platinum-group metals, the high density and tendency of iridium to bond with iron caused most iridium to descend below the crust when the planet was young and still molten.


title: Iridium

text: A member of the platinum group metals, iridium is white, resembling platinum, but with a slight yellowish cast. Because of its hardness, brittleness, and very high melting point, solid iridium is difficult to machine, form, or work; thus powder metallurgy is commonly employed instead. It is the only metal to maintain good mechanical properties in air at temperatures above . It has the 10th highest boiling point among all elements and becomes a superconductor at temperatures below .


title: Iridium

text: Iridium's modulus of elasticity is the second-highest among the metals, being surpassed only by osmium. This, together with a high shear modulus and a very low figure for Poisson's ratio (the relationship of longitudinal to lateral strain), indicate the high degree of stiffness and resistance to deformation that have rendered its fabrication into useful components a matter of great difficulty. Despite these limitations and iridium's high cost, a number of applications have developed where mechanical strength is an essential factor in some of the extremely severe conditions encountered in modern technology.


title: Iridium

text: The measured density of iridium is only slightly lower (by about 0.12%) than that of osmium, the densest metal known. Some ambiguity occurred regarding which of the two elements was denser, due to the small size of the difference in density and difficulties in measuring it accurately, but, with increased accuracy in factors used for calculating density, X-ray crystallographic data yielded densities of for iridium and for osmium.


title: Iridium

text: Iridium is extremely brittle, to the point of being hard to weld because the heat-affected zone cracks, but it can be made more ductile by addition of small quantities of titanium and zirconium (0.2% of each apparently works well).-


title: Iridium

text: The Vickers hardness of pure platinum is 56 HV, whereas platinum with 50% of iridium can reach over 500 HV.


title: Iridium

text: Iridium is the most corrosion-resistant metal known: it is not attacked by acids, including aqua regia. In the presence of oxygen, it reacts with cyanide salts. Traditional oxidants also react, including the halogens and oxygen. at higher temperatures. Iridium also reacts directly with sulfur at atmospheric pressure to yield iridium disulfide.


title: Iridium

text: Iridium has two naturally occurring, stable isotopes, Ir and Ir, with natural abundances of 37.3% and 62.7%, respectively. At least 37 radioisotopes have also been synthesized, ranging in mass number from 164 to 202. Ir, which falls between the two stable isotopes, is the most stable radioisotope, with a half-life of 73.827 days, and finds application in brachytherapy and in industrial radiography, particularly for nondestructive testing of welds in steel in the oil and gas industries; iridium-192 sources have been involved in a number of radiological accidents. Three other isotopes have half-lives of at least a day—Ir, Ir, and Ir. Isotopes with masses below 191 decay by some combination of β decay, α decay, and (rare) proton emission, with the exception of Ir, which decays by electron capture. Synthetic isotopes heavier than 191 decay by β decay, although Ir also has a minor electron capture decay path. All known isotopes of iridium were discovered between 1934 and 2008, with the most recent discoveries being Ir.


title: Iridium

text: At least 32 metastable isomers have been characterized, ranging in mass number from 164 to 197. The most stable of these is Ir, which decays by isomeric transition with a half-life of 241 years, making it more stable than any of iridium's synthetic isotopes in their ground states. The least stable isomer is Ir with a half-life of only 2 μs. The isotope Ir was the first one of any element to be shown to present a Mössbauer effect. This renders it useful for Mössbauer spectroscopy for research in physics, chemistry, biochemistry, metallurgy, and mineralogy.


title: Iridium

text: Iridium forms compounds in oxidation states between −3 and +9, but the most common oxidation states are +1, +3, and +4. Well-characterized compounds containing iridium in the +6 oxidation state include and the oxides and . iridium(VIII) oxide () was generated under matrix isolation conditions at 6 K in argon. The highest oxidation state (+9), which is also the highest recorded for "any" element, is found in gaseous .


title: Iridium

text: Iridium does not form binary hydrides. Only one binary oxide is well-characterized: Iridium dioxide, . It is a blue black solid that adopts the fluorite structure. A sesquioxide, , has been described as a blue-black powder, which is oxidized to by . The corresponding disulfides, diselenides, sesquisulfides, and sesquiselenides are known, as well as .


title: Iridium

text: Binary trihalides, are known for all of the halogens. For oxidation states +4 and above, only the tetrafluoride, pentafluoride and hexafluoride are known. Iridium hexafluoride, , is a volatile yellow solid, composed of octahedral molecules. It decomposes in water and is reduced to . Iridium pentafluoride is also a strong oxidant, but it is a tetramer, , formed by four corner-sharing octahedra.


title: Iridium

text: Iridium in its complexes is always low-spin). Ir(III) and Ir(IV) generally form octahedral complexes. Polyhydride complexes are known for the +5 and +3 oxidation states. One example is . The ternary hydride is believed to contain both the and the 18-electron anion.


title: Iridium

text: Iridium also oxyanions with oxidation states +4 and +5. and can be prepared from the reaction of potassium oxide or potassium superoxide with iridium at high temperatures. Such solids are not soluble in conventional solvents.


title: Iridium

text: As for many elements, the chlorides are key complexes. Hexachloroiridic (IV) acid, , and its ammonium salt are the most common iridium compounds from an industrial and preparative perspectives. They are intermediates in the purification of iridium and used as precursors for most other iridium compounds, as well as in the preparation of anode coatings. The ion has an intense dark brown color, and can be readily reduced to the lighter-colored and vice versa. Iridium trichloride, , which can be obtained in anhydrous form from direct oxidation of iridium powder by chlorine at 650 °C, or in hydrated form by dissolving in hydrochloric acid, is often used as a starting material for the synthesis of other Ir(III) compounds. Another compound used as a starting material is ammonium hexachloroiridate(III), .


title: Iridium

text: In the presence of air, iridium metal dissolves in molten alkali-metal cyanides to produce the (hexacyanoiridate) ion.


title: Iridium

text: Organoiridium compounds contain iridium–carbon bonds. Early studies identified the very stable tetrairidium dodecacarbonyl, . In this compound, each of the iridium atoms is bonded to the other three, forming a tetrahedral cluster. The discovery of Vaska's complex () opened the door for oxidative addition reactions, a process fundamental to useful reactions. For example, Crabtree's catalyst, a homogeneous catalyst for hydrogenation reactions.


title: Iridium

text: Iridium complexes played a pivotal role in the development of Carbon–hydrogen bond activation (C–H activation), which promises to allow functionalization of hydrocarbons, which are traditionally regarded as unreactive.


title: Iridium

text: The discovery of iridium is intertwined with that of platinum and the other metals of the platinum group.


title: Iridium

text: The first European reference to platinum appears in 1557 in the writings of the Italian humanist Julius Caesar Scaliger as a description of an unknown noble metal found between Darién and Mexico, "which no fire nor any Spanish artifice has yet been able to liquefy". From their first encounters with platinum, the Spanish generally saw the metal as a kind of impurity in gold, and it was treated as such. It was often simply thrown away, and there was an official decree forbidding the adulteration of gold with platinum impurities.


title: Iridium

text: In 1735, Antonio de Ulloa and Jorge Juan y Santacilia saw Native Americans mining platinum while the Spaniards were travelling through Colombia and Peru for eight years. Ulloa and Juan found mines with the whitish metal nuggets and took them home to Spain. Antonio de Ulloa returned to Spain and established the first mineralogy lab in Spain and was the first to systematically study platinum, which was in 1748. His historical account of the expedition included a description of platinum as being neither separable nor calcinable. Ulloa also anticipated the discovery of platinum mines. After publishing the report in 1748, Ulloa did not continue to investigate the new metal. In 1758, he was sent to superintend mercury mining operations in Huancavelica.


title: Iridium

text: In 1741, Charles Wood, a British metallurgist, found various samples of Colombian platinum in Jamaica, which he sent to William Brownrigg for further investigation.


title: Iridium

text: In 1750, after studying the platinum sent to him by Wood, Brownrigg presented a detailed account of the metal to the Royal Society, stating that he had seen no mention of it in any previous accounts of known minerals. Brownrigg also made note of platinum's extremely high melting point and refractoriness toward borax. Other chemists across Europe soon began studying platinum, including Andreas Sigismund Marggraf, Torbern Bergman, Jöns Jakob Berzelius, William Lewis, and Pierre Macquer. In 1752, Henrik Scheffer published a detailed scientific description of the metal, which he referred to as "white gold", including an account of how he succeeded in fusing platinum ore with the aid of arsenic. Scheffer described platinum as being less pliable than gold, but with similar resistance to corrosion.


title: Iridium

text: Chemists who studied platinum dissolved it in aqua regia (a mixture of hydrochloric and nitric acids) to create soluble salts. They always observed a small amount of a dark, insoluble residue. Joseph Louis Proust thought that the residue was graphite. The French chemists Victor Collet-Descotils, Antoine François, comte de Fourcroy, and Louis Nicolas Vauquelin also observed the black residue in 1803, but did not obtain enough for further experiments.


title: Iridium

text: In 1803, British scientist Smithson Tennant (1761–1815) analyzed the insoluble residue and concluded that it must contain a new metal. Vauquelin treated the powder alternately with alkali and acids and obtained a volatile new oxide, which he believed to be of this new metal—which he named "ptene", from the Greek word "ptēnós", "winged". Tennant, who had the advantage of a much greater amount of residue, continued his research and identified the two previously undiscovered elements in the black residue, iridium and osmium. He obtained dark red crystals (probably of ]·"n") by a sequence of reactions with sodium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid. He named iridium after Iris (), the Greek winged goddess of the rainbow and the messenger of the Olympian gods, because many of the salts he obtained were strongly colored. Discovery of the new elements was documented in a letter to the Royal Society on June 21, 1804.


title: Iridium

text: British scientist John George Children was the first to melt a sample of iridium in 1813 with the aid of "the greatest galvanic battery that has ever been constructed" (at that time). The first to obtain high-purity iridium was Robert Hare in 1842. He found it had a density of around and noted the metal is nearly immalleable and very hard. The first melting in appreciable quantity was done by Henri Sainte-Claire Deville and Jules Henri Debray in 1860. They required burning more than of pure and gas for each of iridium.


title: Iridium

text: These extreme difficulties in melting the metal limited the possibilities for handling iridium. John Isaac Hawkins was looking to obtain a fine and hard point for fountain pen nibs, and in 1834 managed to create an iridium-pointed gold pen. In 1880, John Holland and William Lofland Dudley were able to melt iridium by adding phosphorus and patented the process in the United States; British company Johnson Matthey later stated they had been using a similar process since 1837 and had already presented fused iridium at a number of World Fairs. The first use of an alloy of iridium with ruthenium in thermocouples was made by Otto Feussner in 1933. These allowed for the measurement of high temperatures in air up to .


title: Iridium

text: In Munich, Germany in 1957 Rudolf Mössbauer, in what has been called one of the "landmark experiments in twentieth-century physics", discovered the resonant and recoil-free emission and absorption of gamma rays by atoms in a solid metal sample containing only Ir. This phenomenon, known as the Mössbauer effect resulted in the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1961, at the age 32, just three years after he published his discovery.


title: Iridium

text: Along with all elements having atomic weights higher than that of iron, iridium is only naturally formed by the r-process (rapid neutron capture) in supernovae and neutron star mergers.


title: Iridium

text: Iridium is one of the nine least abundant stable elements in Earth's crust, having an average mass fraction of 0.001 ppm in crustal rock; platinum is 10 times more abundant, gold is 40 times more abundant, and silver and mercury are 80 times more abundant. Tellurium is about as abundant as iridium. In contrast to its low abundance in crustal rock, iridium is relatively common in meteorites, with concentrations of 0.5 ppm or more. The overall concentration of iridium on Earth is thought to be much higher than what is observed in crustal rocks, but because of the density and siderophilic ("iron-loving") character of iridium, it descended below the crust and into Earth's core when the planet was still molten.


title: Iridium

text: Iridium is found in nature as an uncombined element or in natural alloys; especially the iridium–osmium alloys, osmiridium (osmium-rich), and iridosmium (iridium-rich). In the nickel and copper deposits, the platinum group metals occur as sulfides (i.e. (), tellurides (i.e. PtBiTe), antimonides (PdSb), and arsenides (i.e. ). In all of these compounds, platinum is exchanged by a small amount of iridium and osmium. As with all of the platinum group metals, iridium can be found naturally in alloys with raw nickel or raw copper. A number of iridium-dominant minerals, with iridium as the species-forming element, are known. They are exceedingly rare and often represent the iridium analogues of the above-given ones. The examples are irarsite and cuproiridsite, to mention some. Within Earth's crust, iridium is found at highest concentrations in three types of geologic structure: igneous deposits (crustal intrusions from below), impact craters, and deposits reworked from one of the former structures. The largest known primary reserves are in the Bushveld igneous complex in South Africa, (near the largest known impact structure, the Vredefort impact structure) though the large copper–nickel deposits near Norilsk in Russia, and the Sudbury Basin (also an impact crater) in Canada are also significant sources of iridium. Smaller reserves are found in the United States. Iridium is also found in secondary deposits, combined with platinum and other platinum group metals in alluvial deposits. The alluvial deposits used by pre-Columbian people in the Chocó Department of Colombia are still a source for platinum-group metals. As of 2003, world reserves have not been estimated.


title: Iridium

text: Iridium is found within marine organisms, sediments, and the water column. The abundance of iridium in seawater and organisms is relatively low, as it does not readily form chloride complexes. The abundance in organisms is about 20 parts per trillion, or about five orders of magnitude less than in sedimentary rocks at the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–T) boundary. The concentration of iridium in seawater and marine sediment is sensitive to marine oxygenation, seawater temperature, and various geological and biological processes.


title: Iridium

text: Iridium in sediments can come from cosmic dust, volcanoes, precipitation from seawater, microbial processes, or hydrothermal vents, and its abundance can be strongly indicative of the source. It tends to associate with other ferrous metals in manganese nodules. Iridium is one of the characteristic elements of extraterrestrial rocks, and, along with osmium, can be used as a tracer element for meteoritic material in sediment. For example core samples from the Pacific Ocean with elevated iridium levels suggested the Eltanin impact of about 2.5 million years ago.


title: Iridium

text: Some of the mass extinctions, such as the Cretaceous extinction, can be identified by anomalously high concentrations of iridium in sediment, and these can be linked to major asteroid impacts.


title: Iridium

text: The Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary of 66 million years ago, marking the temporal border between the Cretaceous and Paleogene periods of geological time, was identified by a thin stratum of iridium-rich clay. A team led by Luis Alvarez proposed in 1980 an extraterrestrial origin for this iridium, attributing it to an asteroid or comet impact. Their theory, known as the Alvarez hypothesis, is now widely accepted to explain the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs. A large buried impact crater structure with an estimated age of about 66 million years was later identified under what is now the Yucatán Peninsula (the Chicxulub crater). Dewey M. McLean and others argue that the iridium may have been of volcanic origin instead, because Earth's core is rich in iridium, and active volcanoes such as Piton de la Fournaise, in the island of Réunion, are still releasing iridium.


title: Iridium

text: Worldwide production of iridium is about . The price is high and varying (see table). Illustrative factors that affect the price include oversupply of Ir crucibles


title: Iridium

text: Platinum metals occur together as dilute ores. Iridium is one of the rarer platinum metals: for every 190 tonnes of platinum obtained from ores, only 7.5 tonnes of iridium is isolated. To separate the metals, they must first be brought into solution. Two methods for rendering Ir-containing ores soluble are (i) fusion of the solid with sodium peroxide followed by extraction of the resulting glass in aqua regia and (ii) extraction of the solid with a mixture of chlorine with hydrochloric acid. From soluble extracts, iridium is separated by precipitating solid ammonium hexachloroiridate () or by extracting with organic amines. The first method is similar to the procedure Tennant and Wollaston used for their original separation. The second method can be planned as continuous liquid–liquid extraction and is therefore more suitable for industrial scale production. In either case, the product, an iridium chloride salt, is reduced with hydrogen, yielding the metal as a powder or "sponge", which is amenable to powder metallurgy techniques. Iridium is also obtained commercially as a by-product from nickel and copper mining and processing. During electrorefining of copper and nickel, noble metals such as silver, gold and the platinum group metals as well as selenium and tellurium settle to the bottom of the cell as "anode mud", which forms the starting point for their extraction.


title: Iridium

text: The main areas of use of iridium are electrodes for producing chlorine and other aggressive products, OLEDs, crucibles, catalysts (e.g. acetic acid), and ignition tips for spark plugs.


title: Iridium

text: Owing to its high melting point, hardness, and corrosion resistance, iridium is used to make crucibles. Such crucibles are used in the Czochralski process to produce oxide single-crystals (such as sapphires) for use in computer memory devices and in solid state lasers. The crystals, such as gadolinium gallium garnet and yttrium gallium garnet, are grown by melting pre-sintered charges of mixed oxides under oxidizing conditions at temperatures up to .


title: Iridium

text: Certain long-life aircraft engine parts are made of an iridium alloy, and an iridium–titanium alloy is used for deep-water pipes because of its corrosion resistance. Iridium is used for multi-pored spinnerets, through which a plastic polymer melt is extruded to form fibers, such as rayon. Osmium–iridium is used for compass bearings and for balances.


title: Iridium

text: Because of their resistance to arc erosion, iridium alloys are used by some manufacturers for electrical contacts for spark plugs, and iridium-based spark plugs are particularly used in aviation.


title: Iridium

text: Iridium compounds are used as catalysts in the Cativa process for carbonylation of methanol to produce acetic acid.


title: Iridium

text: Iridium complexes are often active for asymmetric hydrogenation both by traditional hydrogenation. and transfer hydrogenation. This property is the basis of the industrial route to the chiral herbicide (S)-metolachlor. As practiced by Syngenta on the scale of 10,000 tons/year, the complex [[ [Ir(COD)Cl] in the presence of [[Josiphos ligands]].


title: Iridium

text: The radioisotope [[iridium-192]] is one of the two most important sources of energy for use in industrial [[Industrial radiography#Radioisotope sources|γ-radiography]] for [[non-destructive testing]] of [[metal]]s. Additionally, Ir is used as a source of [[gamma radiation]] for the treatment of cancer using [[brachytherapy]], a form of radiotherapy where a sealed radioactive source is placed inside or next to the area requiring treatment. Specific treatments include high-dose-rate prostate brachytherapy, biliary duct brachytherapy, and intracavitary cervix brachytherapy. [[iridium-192]] is normally produced by neutron activation of isotop [[iridium-191]] in natural-abundance iridium metal


title: Iridium

text: Iridium complexes are key components of white [[OLED]]s. Similar complexes are used in [[photocatalysis]].


title: Iridium

text: An alloy of 90% platinum and 10% iridium was used in 1889 to construct the [[International Prototype Metre]] and [[Kilogram#International prototype kilogram|kilogram]] mass, kept by the [[Bureau International des Poids et Mesures|International Bureau of Weights and Measures]] near [[Paris]]. The meter bar was replaced as the definition of the fundamental unit of length in 1960 by a line in the [[atomic spectrum]] of [[Krypton#Metric role|krypton]], but the kilogram prototype remained the international standard of mass [[2019 redefinition of SI base units|until 20 May 2019]], when the kilogram was redefined in terms of the [[Planck constant]].


title: Iridium

text: Iridium–osmium alloys were used in [[fountain pen]] [[Nib (pen)#Nib tipping|nib tip]]s. The first major use of iridium was in 1834 in nibs mounted on gold. Since 1944, the famous [[Parker 51]] fountain pen was fitted with a nib tipped by a ruthenium and iridium alloy (with 3.8% iridium). The tip material in modern fountain pens is still conventionally called "iridium", although there is seldom any iridium in it; other metals such as [[ruthenium]], [[osmium]], and [[tungsten]] have taken its place.


title: Iridium

text: An iridium–platinum alloy was used for the [[touch hole]]s or vent pieces of [[cannon]]. According to a report of the [[Exposition Universelle (1867)|Paris Exhibition of 1867]], one of the pieces being exhibited by [[Johnson and Matthey]] "has been used in a Whitworth gun for more than 3000 rounds, and scarcely shows signs of wear yet. Those who know the constant trouble and expense which are occasioned by the wearing of the vent-pieces of cannon when in active service, will appreciate this important adaptation".


title: Iridium

text: The pigment "iridium black", which consists of very finely divided iridium, is used for painting [[porcelain]] an intense black; it was said that "all other porcelain black colors appear grey by the side of it".


title: Iridium

text: Iridium in bulk metallic form is not biologically important or hazardous to health due to its lack of reactivity with tissues; there are only about 20 [[parts per notation|parts per trillion]] of iridium in human tissue. Like most metals, finely divided iridium powder can be hazardous to handle, as it is an irritant and may ignite in air. By 2015 very little is known about the toxicity of iridium compounds, primarily because it is used so rarely that few people come in contact with it and those who do only with very small amounts. However, soluble salts, such as the iridium halides, could be hazardous due to elements other than iridium or due to iridium itself. At the same time, most iridium compounds are insoluble, which makes absorption into the body difficult.


title: Iridium

text: A radioisotope of iridium, , is dangerous, like other radioactive isotopes. The only reported injuries related to iridium concern accidental exposure to radiation from used in [[brachytherapy]]. High-energy gamma radiation from can increase the risk of cancer. External exposure can cause burns, [[radiation poisoning]], and death. Ingestion of Ir can burn the linings of the stomach and the intestines. Ir, Ir, and Ir tend to deposit in the [[liver]], and can pose health hazards from both [[Gamma radiation|gamma]] and [[Beta particle|beta]] radiation.


title: Mutual fund

text: A mutual fund is a professionally managed investment fund that pools money from many investors to purchase securities. The term is typically used in the United States, Canada, and India, while similar structures across the globe include the SICAV in Europe ('investment company with variable capital') and open-ended investment company (OEIC) in the UK.


title: Mutual fund

text: Mutual funds are often classified by their principal investments: money market funds, bond or fixed income funds, stock or equity funds, or hybrid funds. Funds may also be categorized as index funds, which are passively managed funds that track the performance of an index, such as a stock market index or bond market index, or actively managed funds, which seek to outperform stock market indices but generally charge higher fees. Primary structures of mutual funds are open-end funds, closed-end funds, unit investment trusts.


title: Mutual fund

text: Open-end funds are purchased from or sold to the issuer at the net asset value of each share as of the close of the trading day in which the order was placed, as long as the order was placed within a specified period before the close of trading. They can be traded directly with the issuer.


title: Mutual fund

text: Mutual funds have advantages and disadvantages compared to direct investing in individual securities. The advantages of mutual funds include economies of scale, diversification, liquidity, and professional management. However, these come with mutual fund fees and expenses.


title: Mutual fund

text: Mutual funds are regulated by governmental bodies and are required to publish information including performance, comparison of performance to benchmarks, fees charged, and securities held. A single mutual fund may have several share classes by which larger investors pay lower fees.


title: Mutual fund

text: At the end of 2020, open-end mutual fund assets worldwide were $63.1 trillion. The countries with the largest mutual fund industries are:


title: Mutual fund

text: At the end of 2019, 23% of household financial assets were invested in mutual funds. Mutual funds accounted for approximately 50% of the assets in individual retirement accounts, 401(k)s and other similar retirement plans.


title: Mutual fund

text: Luxembourg and Ireland are the primary jurisdictions for the registration of UCITS funds. These funds may be sold throughout the European Union and in other countries that have adopted mutual recognition regimes.


title: Mutual fund

text: The first modern investment funds, the precursor of mutual funds, were established in the Dutch Republic. In response to the financial crisis of 1772–1773, Amsterdam-based businessman Abraham (or Adriaan) van Ketwich formed a trust named Eendragt Maakt Magt ("unity creates strength"). His aim was to provide small investors with an opportunity to diversify.


title: Mutual fund

text: Mutual funds were introduced to the United States in the 1890s. Early U.S. funds were generally closed-end funds with a fixed number of shares that often traded at prices above the portfolio net asset value. The first open-end mutual fund with redeemable shares was established on March 21, 1924, as the Massachusetts Investors Trust, which is still in existence today and managed by MFS Investment Management.


title: Mutual fund

text: In the United States, closed-end funds remained more popular than open-end funds throughout the 1920s. In 1929, open-end funds accounted for only 5% of the industry's $27 billion in total assets.


title: Mutual fund

text: After the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the United States Congress passed a series of acts regulating the securities markets in general and mutual funds in particular.


title: Mutual fund

text: These new regulations encouraged the development of open-end mutual funds (as opposed to closed-end funds).


title: Mutual fund

text: Growth in the U.S. mutual fund industry remained limited until the 1950s when confidence in the stock market returned. In the 1960s, Fidelity Investments began marketing mutual funds to the public, rather than only wealthier individuals or those working in the finance industry. The introduction of money market funds in the high-interest rate environment of the late 1970s boosted industry growth dramatically.


title: Mutual fund

text: The first retail index funds appeared in the early 1970s, aiming to capture average market returns rather than doing detailed company-by-company analysis as earlier funds had done. Rex Sinquefield offered the first S&P 500 index fund to the general public starting in 1973, while employed at American National Bank of Chicago. Sinquefield's fund had $12 billion in assets after its first seven years. John "Mac" McQuown also began an index fund in 1973, though it was part of a large pension fund managed by Wells Fargo and not open to the general public. Batterymarch Financial, a small Boston firm then employing Jeremy Grantham, also offered index funds beginning in 1973 but it was such a revolutionary concept they did not have paying customers for over a year. John Bogle was another early pioneer of index funds with the First Index Investment Trust, formed in 1976 by The Vanguard Group; it is now called the "Vanguard 500 Index Fund" and is one of the largest mutual funds.


title: Mutual fund

text: Beginning the 1980s, the mutual fund industry began a period of growth. According to Robert Pozen and Theresa Hamacher, growth was the result of three factors:


title: Mutual fund

text: The 2003 mutual fund scandal involved unequal treatment of fund shareholders whereby some fund management companies allowed favored investors to engage in prohibited late trading or market timing. The scandal was uncovered by former New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and led to an increase in regulation.


title: Mutual fund

text: In a 2007 study about German mutual funds, Johannes Gomolka and Ralf Jasny found statistical evidence of illegal time zone arbitrage in trading of German mutual funds. Though reported to regulators, BaFin never commented on these results.


title: Mutual fund

text: Like other types of investment funds, mutual funds have advantages and disadvantages compared to alternative structures or investing directly in individual securities. According to Robert Pozen and Theresa Hamacher, these are:


title: Mutual fund

text: Mutual funds are overseen by a board of directors if organized as a corporation, or by a board of trustees, if organized as a trust. The Board must ensure that the fund is managed in the interests of the fund's investors. The board hires the fund manager and other service providers to the fund.


title: Mutual fund

text: The sponsor or fund management company often referred to as the fund manager, trades (buys and sells) the fund's investments in accordance with the fund's investment objective. Funds that are managed by the same company under the same brand are known as a fund family or fund complex. A fund manager must be a registered investment adviser.


title: Mutual fund

text: In the European Union, funds are governed by laws and regulations established by their home country. However, the European Union has established a mutual recognition regime that allows funds regulated in one country to be sold in all other countries in the European Union, if they comply with certain requirements. The directive establishing this regime is the Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities Directive 2009, and funds that comply with its requirements are known as UCITS funds.


title: Mutual fund

text: Regulation of mutual funds in Canada is primarily governed by National Instrument 81-102 "Mutual Funds", which is implemented separately in each province or territory. The Canadian Securities Administrator works to harmonize regulation across Canada.


title: Mutual fund

text: Mutual funds in India are regulated by Securities and Exchange Board of India, the regulator of the securities and commodity market owned by the Government of India. under the SEBI(Mutual Funds)


title: Mutual fund

text: regulations 1996. The functional aspect of Mutual Funds industry comes under the purview of AMFI, a sub division of SEBI. Formed in August 1995, the body undertook the Mutual Funds Sahi hai campaign in March 2017 for promoting investor awareness on mutual funds in India.


title: Mutual fund

text: There are three primary structures of mutual funds: open-end funds, unit investment trusts, and closed-end funds. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are open-end funds or unit investment trusts that trade on an exchange.


title: Mutual fund

text: Open-end mutual funds must be willing to buy back ("redeem") their shares from their investors at the net asset value (NAV) computed that day based upon the prices of the securities owned by the fund. In the United States, open-end funds must be willing to buy back shares at the end of every business day. In other jurisdictions, open-end funds may only be required to buy back shares at longer intervals. For example, UCITS funds in Europe are only required to accept redemptions twice each month (though most UCITS accept redemptions daily).


title: Mutual fund

text: Most open-end funds also sell shares to the public every business day; these shares are priced at NAV.


title: Mutual fund

text: In the United States at the end of 2019, there were 7,945 open-end mutual funds with combined assets of $21.3 trillion, accounting for 83% of the U.S. industry.


title: Mutual fund

text: Unit investment trusts (UITs) are issued to the public only once when they are created. UITs generally have a limited life span, established at creation. Investors can redeem shares directly with the fund at any time (similar to an open-end fund) or wait to redeem them upon the trust's termination. Less commonly, they can sell their shares in the open market.


title: Mutual fund

text: Unlike other types of mutual funds, unit investment trusts do not have a professional investment manager. Their portfolio of securities is established at the creation of the UIT.


title: Mutual fund

text: In the United States, at the end of 2019, there were 4,571 UITs with combined assets of less than $0.1 trillion.


title: Mutual fund

text: Closed-end funds generally issue shares to the public only once, when they are created through an initial public offering. Their shares are then listed for trading on a stock exchange. Investors who want to sell their shares must sell their shares to another investor in the market; they cannot sell their shares back to the fund. The price that investors receive for their shares may be significantly different from NAV; it may be at a "premium" to NAV (i.e., higher than NAV) or, more commonly, at a "discount" to NAV (i.e., lower than NAV).


title: Mutual fund

text: In the United States, at the end of 2019, there were 500 closed-end mutual funds with combined assets of $0.28 trillion.


title: Mutual fund

text: Mutual funds may be classified by their principal investments, as described in the prospectus and investment objective. The four main categories of funds are money market funds, bond or fixed-income funds, stock or equity funds, and hybrid funds. Within these categories, funds may be sub-classified by investment objective, investment approach, or specific focus.


title: Mutual fund

text: The types of securities that a particular fund may invest in are set forth in the fund's prospectus, a legal document that describes the fund's investment objective, investment approach and permitted investments. The investment objective describes the type of income that the fund seeks. For example, a capital appreciation fund generally looks to earn most of its returns from increases in the prices of the securities it holds, rather than from dividend or interest income. The investment approach describes the criteria that the fund manager uses to select investments for the fund.


title: Mutual fund

text: Bond, stock, and hybrid funds may be classified as either index (or passively-managed) funds or actively managed funds.


title: Mutual fund

text: Alternative investments which incorporate advanced techniques such as hedging known as "liquid alternatives".


title: Mutual fund

text: Money market funds invest in money market instruments, which are fixed income securities with a very short time to maturity and high credit quality. Investors often use money market funds as a substitute for bank savings accounts, though money market funds are not insured by the government, unlike bank savings accounts.