title: Lil Jon

text: In 2003, Lil Jon was the voice of Jang Ryang in the American remake of the South Korean film "Volcano High", broadcast on MTV. After he was famously parodied by comedian Dave Chappelle, he would go on to make numerous appearances on the Comedy Central series "Chappelle's Show". He has since appeared on various TV shows including André 3000's animated series "Class of 3000", "Crank Yankers", "Robotomy", "Hell's Kitchen", "Tiny House Nation", "Hollywood Puppet Show", "American Idol", "About A Boy", "Celebrity Apprentice", and "All-Star Celebrity Apprentice", "Bar Rescue", "The Bachelorette", "Hip Hop Squares", and a commercial for Bud Light. Lil Jon is a fan of the television show "The Walking Dead" and has made multiple appearances as a guest on "Talking Dead". On January 29, 2019, a Pepsi Super Bowl commercial featuring Lil Jon, rapper Cardi B and actor Steve Carell was released.


title: Lil Jon

text: Jason Birchmeier of AllMusic has described Lil Jon's production as "bass-heavy", and his album "Put Yo Hood Up" as having "a long and varied list of guest rappers to accompany the beats". Describing that album with guest performers, Birchmeier remarked: "The end result is an album that resembles a street-level mixtape rather than a traditional artist-oriented album".


title: Lil Jon

text: Lil Jon was specifically influenced by 2 Live Crew, 8Ball & MJG, Three 6 Mafia, OutKast, Geto Boys, UGK, N.W.A, Dr. Dre, and Sir Mix-A-Lot. Alex Henderson, also of AllMusic, contrasted Lil Jon's style of "rowdy, in-your-face, profanity-filled party music" with other Southern rappers, those who "have a gangsta/thug life agenda" and those who convey "serious sociopolitical messages". Lil Jon has also found influence in rock music, having worked with Rick Rubin and Korn. He expresses this influence in his aggressive delivery and 'yelling' style of rap. He was seen on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of All-Time program wearing a Bad Brains T-shirt, and he used to listen to Lynyrd Skynyrd while growing up in the South in the 1970s. For Trick Daddy's "Let's Go", Lil Jon sampled the bass line from Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train".


title: Lil Jon

text: Since 2004, Lil Jon married his wife Nicole and together they have a son, Nathan (known as DJ Young Slade). Lil Jon has stated that one of his greatest joys is seeing everything come full circle with his son, who has been DJing since the age of 11.


title: Lil Jon

text: He is an avid fan of all of Atlanta's sports teams which included the NHL's Atlanta Thrashers until they relocated to Winnipeg in 2011. He has since become a fan of the Vegas Golden Knights, and appears in the team 2019 documentary Valiant. He is also a fan of University of Tennessee Volunteers, which adopted his hit song "Turn Down for What" on third downs, changing it to "Third Down for What". On October 4, 2014, Lil Jon made an appearance via Jumbotron encouraging the Volunteers to beat the University of Florida Gators also visited the team, giving them a pep talk.


title: Lil Jon

text: Lil Jon has been using his star power and wealth to help children in underdeveloped countries gain access to a proper education. He has helped to fund two schools in the village of Mafi Atitekpo in Ghana, in partnership with the charity Pencils of Promise. The first, Abomayaw D.A. Kindergarten, opened in October 2017. The second school, Mafi Atitekpo DA Primary School, broke ground in January 2018 and will enroll 313 children. In 2019, Pencils of Promise honored both Lil Jon and Trevor Noah in recognition of their charitable efforts at the charity's annual gala.


title: Lil Jon

text: In 2018, a 16-year-old student of Douglass High School reached out to rapper and alumnus Killer Mike via Instagram in a last-chance attempt to raise money to cover expenses for the marching band to travel to New Orleans to march in the annual Mardi Gras parade. To his surprise, Killer Mike not only responded voicing his support, but he also recruited fellow alumni Lil Jon and T.I., who both jumped at the chance to help out their alma mater. Together with additional donors, the trip was covered for the students.


title: Lil Jon

text: Lil Jon supports his hometown of Atlanta and is one of Atlanta's famous residents that appear on the LED screen in Hartsfield-Jackson Airport to welcome new arrivals to the city. He also appears on the Jumbotron at Mercedes Benz Stadium to hype up fans during Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United games. During Super Bowl LIII held in Atlanta in 2019, Lil Jon appeared in the NFL's "This Is Atlanta" promotional video to welcome incoming visitors to the city, alongside fellow Atlanta residents, former Atlanta Hawks basketball player Dominique Wilkins, former Atlanta Braves baseball player Chipper Jones, civil right icons Congressman John Lewis and former congressman, Ambassador to the United Nations and Mayor of Atlanta Andrew Young, rappers Big Boi and Killer Mike, singer Chili (TLC), comedian Jeff Foxworthy, and television personality Ryan Seacrest. Organized by musician Jermaine Dupri, a host of Atlanta area high school drummers, local brass musicians and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra also appear and supply the underlying music. Lil Jon also appeared in CBS Sports' official open of the network's coverage of the game.


title: Lil Jon

text: A Grammy Award (stylized as GRAMMY) is an award presented by the Recording Academy to recognize achievement in the music industry.


title: Lil Jon

text: An MTV Video Music Award (abbreviated as a VMA) is an award presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in the music video medium.


title: Lil Jon

text: The American Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony created by Dick Clark in 1973. Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz has received two nominations, winning one for Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Band/Duo/Group.


title: Alloy

text: An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductility, opacity, and luster, but may have properties that differ from those of the pure metals, such as increased strength or hardness. In some cases, an alloy may reduce the overall cost of the material while preserving important properties. In other cases, the mixture imparts synergistic properties to the constituent metal elements such as corrosion resistance or mechanical strength.


title: Alloy

text: Alloys are defined by a metallic bonding character. The alloy constituents are usually measured by mass percentage for practical applications, and in atomic fraction for basic science studies. Alloys are usually classified as substitutional or interstitial alloys, depending on the atomic arrangement that forms the alloy. They can be further classified as homogeneous (consisting of a single phase), or heterogeneous (consisting of two or more phases) or intermetallic. An alloy may be a solid solution of metal elements (a single phase, where all metallic grains (crystals) are of the same composition) or a mixture of metallic phases (two or more solutions, forming a microstructure of different crystals within the metal).


title: Alloy

text: Examples of alloys include red gold (gold and copper) white gold (gold and silver), sterling silver (silver and copper), steel or silicon steel (iron with non-metallic carbon or silicon respectively), solder, brass, pewter, duralumin, bronze, and amalgams.


title: Alloy

text: Alloys are used in a wide variety of applications, from the steel alloys, used in everything from buildings to automobiles to surgical tools, to exotic titanium alloys used in the aerospace industry, to beryllium-copper alloys for non-sparking tools.


title: Alloy

text: An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements, which forms an impure substance (admixture) that retains the characteristics of a metal. An alloy is distinct from an impure metal in that, with an alloy, the added elements are well controlled to produce desirable properties, while impure metals such as wrought iron are less controlled, but are often considered useful. Alloys are made by mixing two or more elements, at least one of which is a metal. This is usually called the primary metal or the base metal, and the name of this metal may also be the name of the alloy. The other constituents may or may not be metals but, when mixed with the molten base, they will be soluble and dissolve into the mixture.


title: Alloy

text: The mechanical properties of alloys will often be quite different from those of its individual constituents. A metal that is normally very soft (malleable), such as aluminium, can be altered by alloying it with another soft metal, such as copper. Although both metals are very soft and ductile, the resulting aluminium alloy will have much greater strength. Adding a small amount of non-metallic carbon to iron trades its great ductility for the greater strength of an alloy called steel. Due to its very-high strength, but still substantial toughness, and its ability to be greatly altered by heat treatment, steel is one of the most useful and common alloys in modern use. By adding chromium to steel, its resistance to corrosion can be enhanced, creating stainless steel, while adding silicon will alter its electrical characteristics, producing silicon steel.


title: Alloy

text: Like oil and water, a molten metal may not always mix with another element. For example, pure iron is almost completely insoluble with copper. Even when the constituents are soluble, each will usually have a saturation point, beyond which no more of the constituent can be added. Iron, for example, can hold a maximum of 6.67% carbon. Although the elements of an alloy usually must be soluble in the liquid state, they may not always be soluble in the solid state. If the metals remain soluble when solid, the alloy forms a solid solution, becoming a homogeneous structure consisting of identical crystals, called a phase. If as the mixture cools the constituents become insoluble, they may separate to form two or more different types of crystals, creating a heterogeneous microstructure of different phases, some with more of one constituent than the other. However, in other alloys, the insoluble elements may not separate until after crystallization occurs. If cooled very quickly, they first crystallize as a homogeneous phase, but they are supersaturated with the secondary constituents. As time passes, the atoms of these supersaturated alloys can separate from the crystal lattice, becoming more stable, and forming a second phase that serves to reinforce the crystals internally.


title: Alloy

text: Some alloys, such as electrum—an alloy of silver and gold—occur naturally. Meteorites are sometimes made of naturally occurring alloys of iron and nickel, but are not native to the Earth. One of the first alloys made by humans was bronze, which is a mixture of the metals tin and copper. Bronze was an extremely useful alloy to the ancients, because it is much stronger and harder than either of its components. Steel was another common alloy. However, in ancient times, it could only be created as an accidental byproduct from the heating of iron ore in fires (smelting) during the manufacture of iron. Other ancient alloys include pewter, brass and pig iron. In the modern age, steel can be created in many forms. Carbon steel can be made by varying only the carbon content, producing soft alloys like mild steel or hard alloys like spring steel. Alloy steels can be made by adding other elements, such as chromium, molybdenum, vanadium or nickel, resulting in alloys such as high-speed steel or tool steel. Small amounts of manganese are usually alloyed with most modern steels because of its ability to remove unwanted impurities, like phosphorus, sulfur and oxygen, which can have detrimental effects on the alloy. However, most alloys were not created until the 1900s, such as various aluminium, titanium, nickel, and magnesium alloys. Some modern superalloys, such as incoloy, inconel, and hastelloy, may consist of a multitude of different elements.


title: Alloy

text: An alloy is technically an impure metal, but when referring to alloys, the term "impurities" usually denotes undesirable elements. Such impurities are introduced from the base metals and alloying elements, but are removed during processing. For instance, sulfur is a common impurity in steel. Sulfur combines readily with iron to form iron sulfide, which is very brittle, creating weak spots in the steel. Lithium, sodium and calcium are common impurities in aluminium alloys, which can have adverse effects on the structural integrity of castings. Conversely, otherwise pure-metals that contain unwanted impurities are often called "impure metals" and are not usually referred to as alloys. Oxygen, present in the air, readily combines with most metals to form metal oxides; especially at higher temperatures encountered during alloying. Great care is often taken during the alloying process to remove excess impurities, using fluxes, chemical additives, or other methods of extractive metallurgy.


title: Alloy

text: Alloying a metal is done by combining it with one or more other elements. The most common and oldest alloying process is performed by heating the base metal beyond its melting point and then dissolving the solutes into the molten liquid, which may be possible even if the melting point of the solute is far greater than that of the base. For example, in its liquid state, titanium is a very strong solvent capable of dissolving most metals and elements. In addition, it readily absorbs gases like oxygen and burns in the presence of nitrogen. This increases the chance of contamination from any contacting surface, and so must be melted in vacuum induction-heating and special, water-cooled, copper crucibles. However, some metals and solutes, such as iron and carbon, have very high melting-points and were impossible for ancient people to melt. Thus, alloying (in particular, interstitial alloying) may also be performed with one or more constituents in a gaseous state, such as found in a blast furnace to make pig iron (liquid-gas), nitriding, carbonitriding or other forms of case hardening (solid-gas), or the cementation process used to make blister steel (solid-gas). It may also be done with one, more, or all of the constituents in the solid state, such as found in ancient methods of pattern welding (solid-solid), shear steel (solid-solid), or crucible steel production (solid-liquid), mixing the elements via solid-state diffusion.


title: Alloy

text: By adding another element to a metal, differences in the size of the atoms create internal stresses in the lattice of the metallic crystals; stresses that often enhance its properties. For example, the combination of carbon with iron produces steel, which is stronger than iron, its primary element. The electrical and thermal conductivity of alloys is usually lower than that of the pure metals. The physical properties, such as density, reactivity, Young's modulus of an alloy may not differ greatly from those of its base element, but engineering properties such as tensile strength, ductility, and shear strength may be substantially different from those of the constituent materials. This is sometimes a result of the sizes of the atoms in the alloy, because larger atoms exert a compressive force on neighboring atoms, and smaller atoms exert a tensile force on their neighbors, helping the alloy resist deformation. Sometimes alloys may exhibit marked differences in behavior even when small amounts of one element are present. For example, impurities in semiconducting ferromagnetic alloys lead to different properties, as first predicted by White, Hogan, Suhl, Tian Abrie and Nakamura.


title: Alloy

text: Unlike pure metals, most alloys do not have a single melting point, but a melting range during which the material is a mixture of solid and liquid phases (a slush). The temperature at which melting begins is called the solidus, and the temperature when melting is just complete is called the liquidus. For many alloys there is a particular alloy proportion (in some cases more than one), called either a eutectic mixture or a peritectic composition, which gives the alloy a unique and low melting point, and no liquid/solid slush transition.


title: Alloy

text: Alloying elements are added to a base metal, to induce hardness, toughness, ductility, or other desired properties. Most metals and alloys can be work hardened by creating defects in their crystal structure. These defects are created during plastic deformation by hammering, bending, extruding, et cetera, and are permanent unless the metal is recrystallized. Otherwise, some alloys can also have their properties altered by heat treatment. Nearly all metals can be softened by annealing, which recrystallizes the alloy and repairs the defects, but not as many can be hardened by controlled heating and cooling. Many alloys of aluminium, copper, magnesium, titanium, and nickel can be strengthened to some degree by some method of heat treatment, but few respond to this to the same degree as does steel.


title: Alloy

text: The base metal iron of the iron-carbon alloy known as steel, undergoes a change in the arrangement (allotropy) of the atoms of its crystal matrix at a certain temperature (usually between and , depending on carbon content). This allows the smaller carbon atoms to enter the interstices of the iron crystal. When this diffusion happens, the carbon atoms are said to be in "solution" in the iron, forming a particular single, homogeneous, crystalline phase called austenite. If the steel is cooled slowly, the carbon can diffuse out of the iron and it will gradually revert to its low temperature allotrope. During slow cooling, the carbon atoms will no longer be as soluble with the iron, and will be forced to precipitate out of solution, nucleating into a more concentrated form of iron carbide (FeC) in the spaces between the pure iron crystals. The steel then becomes heterogeneous, as it is formed of two phases, the iron-carbon phase called cementite (or carbide), and pure iron ferrite. Such a heat treatment produces a steel that is rather soft. If the steel is cooled quickly, however, the carbon atoms will not have time to diffuse and precipitate out as carbide, but will be trapped within the iron crystals. When rapidly cooled, a diffusionless (martensite) transformation occurs, in which the carbon atoms become trapped in solution. This causes the iron crystals to deform as the crystal structure tries to change to its low temperature state, leaving those crystals very hard but much less ductile (more brittle).


title: Alloy

text: While the high strength of steel results when diffusion and precipitation is prevented (forming martensite), most heat-treatable alloys are precipitation hardening alloys, that depend on the diffusion of alloying elements to achieve their strength. When heated to form a solution and then cooled quickly, these alloys become much softer than normal, during the diffusionless transformation, but then harden as they age. The solutes in these alloys will precipitate over time, forming intermetallic phases, which are difficult to discern from the base metal. Unlike steel, in which the solid solution separates into different crystal phases (carbide and ferrite), precipitation hardening alloys form different phases within the same crystal. These intermetallic alloys appear homogeneous in crystal structure, but tend to behave heterogeneously, becoming hard and somewhat brittle.


title: Alloy

text: In 1906, precipitation hardening alloys were discovered by Alfred Wilm. Precipitation hardening alloys, such as certain alloys of aluminium, titanium, and copper, are heat-treatable alloys that soften when quenched (cooled quickly), and then harden over time. Wilm had been searching for a way to harden aluminium alloys for use in machine-gun cartridge cases. Knowing that aluminium-copper alloys were heat-treatable to some degree, Wilm tried quenching a ternary alloy of aluminium, copper, and the addition of magnesium, but was initially disappointed with the results. However, when Wilm retested it the next day he discovered that the alloy increased in hardness when left to age at room temperature, and far exceeded his expectations. Although an explanation for the phenomenon was not provided until 1919, duralumin was one of the first "age hardening" alloys used, becoming the primary building material for the first Zeppelins, and was soon followed by many others. Because they often exhibit a combination of high strength and low weight, these alloys became widely used in many forms of industry, including the construction of modern aircraft.


title: Alloy

text: When a molten metal is mixed with another substance, there are two mechanisms that can cause an alloy to form, called "atom exchange" and the "interstitial mechanism". The relative size of each element in the mix plays a primary role in determining which mechanism will occur. When the atoms are relatively similar in size, the atom exchange method usually happens, where some of the atoms composing the metallic crystals are substituted with atoms of the other constituent. This is called a "substitutional alloy". Examples of substitutional alloys include bronze and brass, in which some of the copper atoms are substituted with either tin or zinc atoms respectively.


title: Alloy

text: In the case of the interstitial mechanism, one atom is usually much smaller than the other and can not successfully substitute for the other type of atom in the crystals of the base metal. Instead, the smaller atoms become trapped in the interstitial sites between the atoms of the crystal matrix. This is referred to as an "interstitial alloy". Steel is an example of an interstitial alloy, because the very small carbon atoms fit into interstices of the iron matrix.


title: Alloy

text: Stainless steel is an example of a combination of interstitial and substitutional alloys, because the carbon atoms fit into the interstices, but some of the iron atoms are substituted by nickel and chromium atoms.


title: Alloy

text: The use of alloys by humans started with the use of meteoric iron, a naturally occurring alloy of nickel and iron. It is the main constituent of iron meteorites. As no metallurgic processes were used to separate iron from nickel, the alloy was used as it was. Meteoric iron could be forged from a red heat to make objects such as tools, weapons, and nails. In many cultures it was shaped by cold hammering into knives and arrowheads. They were often used as anvils. Meteoric iron was very rare and valuable, and difficult for ancient people to work.


title: Alloy

text: Iron is usually found as iron ore on Earth, except for one deposit of native iron in Greenland, which was used by the Inuit. Native copper, however, was found worldwide, along with silver, gold, and platinum, which were also used to make tools, jewelry, and other objects since Neolithic times. Copper was the hardest of these metals, and the most widely distributed. It became one of the most important metals to the ancients. Around 10,000 years ago in the highlands of Anatolia (Turkey), humans learned to smelt metals such as copper and tin from ore. Around 2500 BC, people began alloying the two metals to form bronze, which was much harder than its ingredients. Tin was rare, however, being found mostly in Great Britain. In the Middle East, people began alloying copper with zinc to form brass. Ancient civilizations took into account the mixture and the various properties it produced, such as hardness, toughness and melting point, under various conditions of temperature and work hardening, developing much of the information contained in modern alloy phase diagrams. For example, arrowheads from the Chinese Qin dynasty (around 200 BC) were often constructed with a hard bronze-head, but a softer bronze-tang, combining the alloys to prevent both dulling and breaking during use.


title: Alloy

text: Mercury has been smelted from cinnabar for thousands of years. Mercury dissolves many metals, such as gold, silver, and tin, to form amalgams (an alloy in a soft paste or liquid form at ambient temperature). Amalgams have been used since 200 BC in China for gilding objects such as armor and mirrors with precious metals. The ancient Romans often used mercury-tin amalgams for gilding their armor. The amalgam was applied as a paste and then heated until the mercury vaporized, leaving the gold, silver, or tin behind. Mercury was often used in mining, to extract precious metals like gold and silver from their ores.


title: Alloy

text: Many ancient civilizations alloyed metals for purely aesthetic purposes. In ancient Egypt and Mycenae, gold was often alloyed with copper to produce red-gold, or iron to produce a bright burgundy-gold. Gold was often found alloyed with silver or other metals to produce various types of colored gold. These metals were also used to strengthen each other, for more practical purposes. Copper was often added to silver to make sterling silver, increasing its strength for use in dishes, silverware, and other practical items. Quite often, precious metals were alloyed with less valuable substances as a means to deceive buyers. Around 250 BC, Archimedes was commissioned by the King of Syracuse to find a way to check the purity of the gold in a crown, leading to the famous bath-house shouting of "Eureka!" upon the discovery of Archimedes' principle.


title: Alloy

text: The term pewter covers a variety of alloys consisting primarily of tin. As a pure metal, tin is much too soft to use for most practical purposes. However, during the Bronze Age, tin was a rare metal in many parts of Europe and the Mediterranean, so it was often valued higher than gold. To make jewellery, cutlery, or other objects from tin, workers usually alloyed it with other metals to increase strength and hardness. These metals were typically lead, antimony, bismuth or copper. These solutes were sometimes added individually in varying amounts, or added together, making a wide variety of objects, ranging from practical items such as dishes, surgical tools, candlesticks or funnels, to decorative items like ear rings and hair clips.


title: Alloy

text: The earliest examples of pewter come from ancient Egypt, around 1450 BC. The use of pewter was widespread across Europe, from France to Norway and Britain (where most of the ancient tin was mined) to the Near East. The alloy was also used in China and the Far East, arriving in Japan around 800 AD, where it was used for making objects like ceremonial vessels, tea canisters, or chalices used in shinto shrines.


title: Alloy

text: The first known smelting of iron began in Anatolia, around 1800 BC. Called the bloomery process, it produced very soft but ductile wrought iron. By 800 BC, iron-making technology had spread to Europe, arriving in Japan around 700 AD. Pig iron, a very hard but brittle alloy of iron and carbon, was being produced in China as early as 1200 BC, but did not arrive in Europe until the Middle Ages. Pig iron has a lower melting point than iron, and was used for making cast-iron. However, these metals found little practical use until the introduction of crucible steel around 300 BC. These steels were of poor quality, and the introduction of pattern welding, around the 1st century AD, sought to balance the extreme properties of the alloys by laminating them, to create a tougher metal. Around 700 AD, the Japanese began folding bloomery-steel and cast-iron in alternating layers to increase the strength of their swords, using clay fluxes to remove slag and impurities. This method of Japanese swordsmithing produced one of the purest steel-alloys of the ancient world.


title: Alloy

text: While the use of iron started to become more widespread around 1200 BC, mainly because of interruptions in the trade routes for tin, the metal was much softer than bronze. However, very small amounts of steel, (an alloy of iron and around 1% carbon), was always a byproduct of the bloomery process. The ability to modify the hardness of steel by heat treatment had been known since 1100 BC, and the rare material was valued for the manufacture of tools and weapons. Because the ancients could not produce temperatures high enough to melt iron fully, the production of steel in decent quantities did not occur until the introduction of blister steel during the Middle Ages. This method introduced carbon by heating wrought iron in charcoal for long periods of time, but the absorption of carbon in this manner is extremely slow thus the penetration was not very deep, so the alloy was not homogeneous. In 1740, Benjamin Huntsman began melting blister steel in a crucible to even out the carbon content, creating the first process for the mass production of tool steel. Huntsman's process was used for manufacturing tool steel until the early 1900s.


title: Alloy

text: The introduction of the blast furnace to Europe in the Middle Ages meant that people could produce pig iron in much higher volumes than wrought iron. Because pig iron could be melted, people began to develop processes to reduce carbon in liquid pig iron to create steel. Puddling had been used in China since the first century, and was introduced in Europe during the 1700s, where molten pig iron was stirred while exposed to the air, to remove the carbon by oxidation. In 1858, Henry Bessemer developed a process of steel-making by blowing hot air through liquid pig iron to reduce the carbon content. The Bessemer process led to the first large scale manufacture of steel.


title: Alloy

text: Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon, but the term "alloy steel" usually only refers to steels that contain other elements— like vanadium, molybdenum, or cobalt—in amounts sufficient to alter the properties of the base steel. Since ancient times, when steel was used primarily for tools and weapons, the methods of producing and working the metal were often closely guarded secrets. Even long after the Age of reason, the steel industry was very competitive and manufacturers went through great lengths to keep their processes confidential, resisting any attempts to scientifically analyze the material for fear it would reveal their methods. For example, the people of Sheffield, a center of steel production in England, were known to routinely bar visitors and tourists from entering town to deter industrial espionage. Thus, almost no metallurgical information existed about steel until 1860. Because of this lack of understanding, steel was not generally considered an alloy until the decades between 1930 and 1970 (primarily due to the work of scientists like William Chandler Roberts-Austen, Adolf Martens, and Edgar Bain), so "alloy steel" became the popular term for ternary and quaternary steel-alloys.


title: Alloy

text: After Benjamin Huntsman developed his crucible steel in 1740, he began experimenting with the addition of elements like manganese (in the form of a high-manganese pig-iron called "spiegeleisen"), which helped remove impurities such as phosphorus and oxygen; a process adopted by Bessemer and still used in modern steels (albeit in concentrations low enough to still be considered carbon steel). Afterward, many people began experimenting with various alloys of steel without much success. However, in 1882, Robert Hadfield, being a pioneer in steel metallurgy, took an interest and produced a steel alloy containing around 12% manganese. Called mangalloy, it exhibited extreme hardness and toughness, becoming the first commercially viable alloy-steel. Afterward, he created silicon steel, launching the search for other possible alloys of steel.


title: Alloy

text: Robert Forester Mushet found that by adding tungsten to steel it could produce a very hard edge that would resist losing its hardness at high temperatures. "R. Mushet's special steel" (RMS) became the first high-speed steel. Mushet's steel was quickly replaced by tungsten carbide steel, developed by Taylor and White in 1900, in which they doubled the tungsten content and added small amounts of chromium and vanadium, producing a superior steel for use in lathes and machining tools. In 1903, the Wright brothers used a chromium-nickel steel to make the crankshaft for their airplane engine, while in 1908 Henry Ford began using vanadium steels for parts like crankshafts and valves in his Model T Ford, due to their higher strength and resistance to high temperatures. In 1912, the Krupp Ironworks in Germany developed a rust-resistant steel by adding 21% chromium and 7% nickel, producing the first stainless steel.


title: Alloy

text: Due to their high reactivity, most metals were not discovered until the 19th century. A method for extracting aluminium from bauxite was proposed by Humphry Davy in 1807, using an electric arc. Although his attempts were unsuccessful, by 1855 the first sales of pure aluminium reached the market. However, as extractive metallurgy was still in its infancy, most aluminium extraction-processes produced unintended alloys contaminated with other elements found in the ore; the most abundant of which was copper. These aluminium-copper alloys (at the time termed "aluminum bronze") preceded pure aluminium, offering greater strength and hardness over the soft, pure metal, and to a slight degree were found to be heat treatable. However, due to their softness and limited hardenability these alloys found little practical use, and were more of a novelty, until the Wright brothers used an aluminium alloy to construct the first airplane engine in 1903. During the time between 1865 and 1910, processes for extracting many other metals were discovered, such as chromium, vanadium, tungsten, iridium, cobalt, and molybdenum, and various alloys were developed.


title: Alloy

text: Prior to 1910, research mainly consisted of private individuals tinkering in their own laboratories. However, as the aircraft and automotive industries began growing, research into alloys became an industrial effort in the years following 1910, as new magnesium alloys were developed for pistons and wheels in cars, and pot metal for levers and knobs, and aluminium alloys developed for airframes and aircraft skins were put into use.


title: T cell

text: A T cell is a type of lymphocyte. T cells are one of the important white blood cells of the immune system and play a central role in the adaptive immune response. T cells can be distinguished from other lymphocytes by the presence of a T-cell receptor (TCR) on their cell surface.


title: T cell

text: T cells are born from hematopoietic stem cells, found in the bone marrow. Developing T cells then migrate to the thymus gland to develop (or mature). T cells derive their name from the thymus. After migration to the thymus, the precursor cells mature into several distinct types of T cells. T cell differentiation also continues after they have left the thymus. Groups of specific, differentiated T cell subtypes have a variety of important functions in controlling and shaping the immune response.


title: T cell

text: One of these functions is immune-mediated cell death, and it is carried out by two major subtypes: CD8+ "killer" and CD4+ "helper" T cells. (These are named for the presence of the cell surface proteins CD8 or CD4.) CD8+ T cells, also known as "killer T cells", are cytotoxic – this means that they are able to directly kill virus-infected cells, as well as cancer cells. CD8+ T cells are also able to use small signaling proteins, known as cytokines, to recruit other types of cells when mounting an immune response. A different population of T cells, the CD4+ T cells, function as "helper cells". Unlike CD8+ killer T cells, the CD4+ helper T (T) cells function by further activating memory B cells and cytotoxic T cells, which leads to a larger immune response. The specific adaptive immune response regulated by the T cell depends on its subtype, which is distinguished by the types of cytokines they secrete.


title: T cell

text: Regulatory T cells are yet another distinct population of T cells that provide the critical mechanism of tolerance, whereby immune cells are able to distinguish invading cells from "self". This prevents immune cells from inappropriately reacting against one's own cells, known as an "autoimmune" response. For this reason, these regulatory T cells have also been called "suppressor" T cells. These same regulatory T cells can also be co-opted by cancer cells to prevent the recognition of, and an immune response against, tumor cells.


title: T cell

text: All T cells originate from c-kitSca1 haematopoietic stem cells (HSC) which reside in the bone marrow. In some cases, the origin might be the fetal liver during embryonic development. The HSC then differentiate into multipotent progenitors (MPP) which retain the potential to become both myeloid and lymphoid cells. The process of differentiation then proceeds to a common lymphoid progenitor (CLP), which can only differentiate into T, B or NK cells. These CLP cells then migrate via the blood to the thymus, where they engraft:. Henceforth they are known as thymocytes, the immature stage of a T cell.


title: T cell

text: The earliest cells which arrived in the thymus are commonly termed "double-negative", as they express neither the CD4 nor CD8 co-receptor. The newly arrived CLP cells are CD4CD8CD44CD25ckit cells, and are termed early thymic progenitor (ETP) cells. These cells will then undergo a round of division and downregulate c-kit and are termed "double-negative one" (DN1) cells. To become T cells, the thymocytes must undergo multiple DN stages as well as positive selection and negative selection.


title: T cell

text: Double negative thymocytes can be identified by the surface expression of CD2, CD5 and CD7. Still during the double negative stages, CD34 expression stops and CD1 is expressed. Expression of both CD4 and CD8 makes them "double positive", and matures into either CD4+ or CD8+ cells.


title: T cell

text: A critical step in T cell maturation is making a functional T cell receptor (TCR). Each mature T cell will ultimately contain a unique TCR that reacts to a random pattern, allowing the immune system to recognize many different types of pathogens. This process is essential in developing immunity to threats that the immune system has not encountered before, since due to random variation there will always be at least one TCR to match any new pathogen.


title: T cell

text: A thymocyte can only become an active T cell when it survives the process of developing a functional TCR. The TCR consists of two major components, the alpha and beta chains. These both contain random elements designed to produce a wide variety of different TCRs, but due to this huge variety they must be tested to make sure they work at all. First, the thymocytes attempt to create a functional beta chain, testing it against a 'mock' alpha chain. Then they attempt to create a functional alpha chain. Once a working TCR has been produced, the cells then must test if their TCR will identify threats correctly, and to do this it is required to recognize the body’s major histocompatibility complex (MHC) in a process known as positive selection. The thymocyte must also ensure that it does not react adversely to "self" antigens, called negative selection. If both positive and negative selection are successful, the TCR becomes fully operational and the thymocyte becomes a T cell.


title: T cell

text: At the DN2 stage (CD44CD25), cells upregulate the recombination genes RAG1 and RAG2 and re-arrange the TCRβ locus, combining V-D-J recombination and constant region genes in an attempt to create a functional TCRβ chain. As the developing thymocyte progresses through to the DN3 stage (CD44CD25), the thymocyte expresses an invariant α-chain called pre-Tα alongside the TCRβ gene. If the rearranged β-chain successfully pairs with the invariant α-chain, signals are produced which cease rearrangement of the β-chain (and silence the alternate allele). Although these signals require the pre-TCR at the cell surface, they are independent of ligand binding to the pre-TCR. If the chains successfully pair a pre-TCR forms, and the cell downregulates CD25 and is termed a DN4 cell (CD25CD44). These cells then undergo a round of proliferation, and begin to re-arrange the TCRα locus during the "double-positive" stage.


title: T cell

text: The process of positive selection takes 3 to 4 days and occurs in the thymic cortex. Double-positive thymocytes (CD4/CD8) migrate deep into the thymic cortex, where they are presented with self-antigens. These self-antigens are expressed by thymic cortical epithelial cells on MHC molecules, which reside on the surface of cortical epithelial cells. Only thymocytes that interact well with MHC-I or MHC-II will receive a vital "survival signal", while those that cannot interact strongly enough will receive no signal and die from neglect. This process ensures that the surviving thymocytes will have an 'MHC affinity' that means they can serve useful functions in the body, responding to MHC molecules to assist immune responses. The vast majority of developing thymocytes will not pass positive selection, and die during this process.


title: T cell

text: A thymocyte's fate is determined during positive selection. Double-positive cells (CD4/CD8) that interact well with MHC "class II" molecules will eventually become CD4 "helper" cells, whereas thymocytes that interact well with MHC "class I" molecules mature into CD8 "killer" cells. A thymocyte becomes a CD4 cell by down-regulating expression of its CD8 cell surface receptors. If the cell does not lose its signal, it will continue downregulating CD8 and become a CD4, both CD8 and CD4 cells are now "single positive" cells.


title: T cell

text: This process does not filter for thymocytes that may cause autoimmunity. The potentially autoimmune cells are removed by the following process of negative selection, which occurs in the thymic medulla.


title: T cell

text: Negative selection removes thymocytes that are capable of strongly binding with "self" MHC molecules. Thymocytes that survive positive selection migrate towards the boundary of the cortex and medulla in the thymus. While in the medulla, they are again presented with a self-antigen presented on the MHC complex of medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTECs). mTECs must be Autoimmune regulator positive (AIRE) to properly express self-antigens from all tissues of the body on their MHC "class I" peptides. Some mTECs are phagocytosed by thymic dendritic cells; this makes them AIRE antigen presenting cells (APCs), allowing for presentation of self-antigens on MHC "class II" molecules (positively selected CD4 cells must interact with these MHC class II molecules, thus APCs, which possess MHC class II, must be present for CD4 T-cell negative selection). Thymocytes that interact too strongly with the self-antigen receive an apoptotic signal that leads to cell death. However, some of these cells are selected to become Treg cells. The remaining cells exit the thymus as mature naive T cells, also known as recent thymic emigrants. This process is an important component of central tolerance and serves to prevent the formation of self-reactive T cells that are capable of inducing autoimmune diseases in the host.


title: T cell

text: β-selection is the first checkpoint, where thymocytes that are able to form a functional pre-TCR (with an invariant alpha chain and a functional beta chain) are allowed to continue development in the thymus. Next, positive selection checks that thymocytes have successfully rearranged their TCRα locus and are capable of recognizing MHC molecules with appropriate affinity. Negative selection in the medulla then eliminates thymocytes that bind too strongly to self-antigens expressed on MHC molecules. These selection processes allow for tolerance of self by the immune system. Typical naive T cells that leave the thymus (via the corticomedullary junction) are self-restricted, self-tolerant, and single positive.


title: T cell

text: About 98% of thymocytes die during the development processes in the thymus by failing either positive selection or negative selection, whereas the other 2% survive and leave the thymus to become mature immunocompetent T cells.


title: T cell

text: The thymus contributes fewer cells as a person ages. As the thymus shrinks by about 3% a year throughout middle age, a corresponding fall in the thymic production of naive T cells occurs, leaving peripheral T cell expansion and regeneration to play a greater role in protecting older people.


title: T cell

text: T cells are grouped into a series of subsets based on their function. CD4 and CD8 T cells are selected in the thymus, but undergo further differentiation in the periphery to specialized cells which have different functions. T cell subsets were initially defined by function, but also have associated gene or protein expression patterns.


title: T cell

text: T helper cells (T cells) assist other lymphocytes, including the maturation of B cells into plasma cells and memory B cells, and activation of cytotoxic T cells and macrophages. These cells are also known as CD4 T cells as they express the CD4 glycoprotein on their surfaces. Helper T cells become activated when they are presented with peptide antigens by MHC class II molecules, which are expressed on the surface of antigen-presenting cells (APCs). Once activated, they divide rapidly and secrete cytokines that regulate or assist the immune response. These cells can differentiate into one of several subtypes, which have different roles. Cytokines direct T cells into particular subtypes.


title: T cell

text: Cytotoxic T cells (T cells, CTLs, T-killer cells, killer T cells) destroy virus-infected cells and tumor cells, and are also implicated in transplant rejection. These cells are defined by the expression of the CD8 protein on their cell surface. Cytotoxic T cells recognize their targets by binding to short peptides (8-11 amino acids in length) associated with MHC class I molecules, present on the surface of all nucleated cells. Cytotoxic T cells also produce the key cytokines IL-2 and IFNγ. These cytokines influence the effector functions of other cells, in particular macrophages and NK cells.


title: T cell

text: Antigen-naive T cells expand and differentiate into memory and effector T cells after they encounter their cognate antigen within the context of an MHC molecule on the surface of a professional antigen presenting cell (e.g. a dendritic cell). Appropriate co-stimulation must be present at the time of antigen encounter for this process to occur. Historically, memory T cells were thought to belong to either the effector or central memory subtypes, each with their own distinguishing set of cell surface markers (see below). Subsequently, numerous new populations of memory T cells were discovered including tissue-resident memory T (Trm) cells, stem memory TSCM cells, and virtual memory T cells. The single unifying theme for all memory T cell subtypes is that they are long-lived and can quickly expand to large numbers of effector T cells upon re-exposure to their cognate antigen. By this mechanism they provide the immune system with "memory" against previously encountered pathogens. Memory T cells may be either CD4 or CD8 and usually express CD45RO.


title: T cell

text: Regulatory T cells are crucial for the maintenance of immunological tolerance. Their major role is to shut down T cell–mediated immunity toward the end of an immune reaction and to suppress autoreactive T cells that escaped the process of negative selection in the thymus.


title: T cell

text: Regulatory T cells can develop either during normal development in the thymus, and are then known as thymic Treg cells, or can be induced peripherally and are called peripherally derived Treg cells. These two subsets were previously called "naturally occurring" and "adaptive" (or "induced"), respectively. Both subsets require the expression of the transcription factor FOXP3 which can be used to identify the cells. Mutations of the "FOXP3" gene can prevent regulatory T cell development, causing the fatal autoimmune disease IPEX.


title: T cell

text: Several other types of T cells have suppressive activity, but do not express FOXP3 constitutively. These include Tr1 and Th3 cells, which are thought to originate during an immune response and act by producing suppressive molecules. Tr1 cells are associated with IL-10, and Th3 cells are associated with TGF-beta. Recently, Th17 cells have been added to this list.


title: T cell

text: Innate-like T cells or unconventional T cells represent some subsets of T cells that behave differently in immunity. They trigger rapid immune responses, regardless of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) expression, unlike their conventional counterparts (CD4 T helper cells and CD8 cytotoxic T cells), which are dependent on the recognition of peptide antigens in the context of the MHC molecule. Overall, there are three large populations of unconventional T cells: NKT cells, MAIT cells, and gammadelta T cells. Now, their functional roles are already being well established in the context of infections and cancer. Furthermore, these T cell subsets are being translated into many therapies against malignancies such as leukemia, for example.


title: T cell

text: Natural killer T cells (NKT cells – not to be confused with natural killer cells of the innate immune system) bridge the adaptive immune system with the innate immune system. Unlike conventional T cells that recognize protein peptide antigens presented by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules, NKT cells recognize glycolipid antigens presented by CD1d. Once activated, these cells can perform functions ascribed to both helper and cytotoxic T cells: cytokine production and release of cytolytic/cell killing molecules. They are also able to recognize and eliminate some tumor cells and cells infected with herpes viruses.


title: T cell

text: Mucosal associated invariant T (MAIT) cells display innate, effector-like qualities. In humans, MAIT cells are found in the blood, liver, lungs, and mucosa, defending against microbial activity and infection. The MHC class I-like protein, MR1, is responsible for presenting bacterially-produced vitamin B metabolites to MAIT cells. After the presentation of foreign antigen by MR1, MAIT cells secrete pro-inflammatory cytokines and are capable of lysing bacterially-infected cells. MAIT cells can also be activated through MR1-independent signaling. In addition to possessing innate-like functions, this T cell subset supports the adaptive immune response and has a memory-like phenotype. Furthermore, MAIT cells are thought to play a role in autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease, although definitive evidence is yet to be published.


title: T cell

text: Gamma delta T cells (γδ T cells) represent a small subset of T cells which possess a γδ TCR rather than the αβ TCR on the cell surface. The majority of T cells express αβ TCR chains. This group of T cells is much less common in humans and mice (about 2% of total T cells) and are found mostly in the gut mucosa, within a population of intraepithelial lymphocytes. In rabbits, sheep, and chickens, the number of γδ T cells can be as high as 60% of total T cells. The antigenic molecules that activate γδ T cells are still mostly unknown. However, γδ T cells are not MHC-restricted and seem to be able to recognize whole proteins rather than requiring peptides to be presented by MHC molecules on APCs. Some murine γδ T cells recognize MHC class IB molecules. Human γδ T cells that use the Vγ9 and Vδ2 gene fragments constitute the major γδ T cell population in peripheral blood. These cells are unique in that they specifically and rapidly respond to a set of nonpeptidic phosphorylated isoprenoid precursors, collectively named phosphoantigens, which are produced by virtually all living cells. The most common phosphoantigens from animal and human cells (including cancer cells) are isopentenyl pyrophosphate (IPP) and its isomer dimethylallyl pyrophosphate (DMPP). Many microbes produce the active compound hydroxy-DMAPP (HMB-PP) and corresponding mononucleotide conjugates, in addition to IPP and DMAPP. Plant cells produce both types of phosphoantigens. Drugs activating human Vγ9/Vδ2 T cells comprise synthetic phosphoantigens and aminobisphosphonates, which upregulate endogenous IPP/DMAPP.


title: T cell

text: Activation of CD4 T cells occurs through the simultaneous engagement of the T-cell receptor and a co-stimulatory molecule (like CD28, or ICOS) on the T cell by the major histocompatibility complex (MHCII) peptide and co-stimulatory molecules on the APC. Both are required for production of an effective immune response; in the absence of co-stimulation, T cell receptor signalling alone results in anergy. The signalling pathways downstream from co-stimulatory molecules usually engages the PI3K pathway generating PIP3 at the plasma membrane and recruiting PH domain containing signaling molecules like PDK1 that are essential for the activation of PKC-θ, and eventual IL-2 production. Optimal CD8 T cell response relies on CD4 signalling. CD4 cells are useful in the initial antigenic activation of naive CD8 T cells, and sustaining memory CD8 T cells in the aftermath of an acute infection. Therefore, activation of CD4 T cells can be beneficial to the action of CD8 T cells.


title: T cell

text: The first signal is provided by binding of the T cell receptor to its cognate peptide presented on MHCII on an APC. MHCII is restricted to so-called professional antigen-presenting cells, like dendritic cells, B cells, and macrophages, to name a few. The peptides presented to CD8 T cells by MHC class I molecules are 8–13 amino acids in length; the peptides presented to CD4 cells by MHC class II molecules are longer, usually 12–25 amino acids in length, as the ends of the binding cleft of the MHC class II molecule are open.


title: T cell

text: The second signal comes from co-stimulation, in which surface receptors on the APC are induced by a relatively small number of stimuli, usually products of pathogens, but sometimes breakdown products of cells, such as necrotic-bodies or heat shock proteins. The only co-stimulatory receptor expressed constitutively by naive T cells is CD28, so co-stimulation for these cells comes from the CD80 and CD86 proteins, which together constitute the B7 protein, (B7.1 and B7.2, respectively) on the APC. Other receptors are expressed upon activation of the T cell, such as OX40 and ICOS, but these largely depend upon CD28 for their expression. The second signal licenses the T cell to respond to an antigen. Without it, the T cell becomes anergic, and it becomes more difficult for it to activate in future. This mechanism prevents inappropriate responses to self, as self-peptides will not usually be presented with suitable co-stimulation. Once a T cell has been appropriately activated (i.e. has received signal one and signal two) it alters its cell surface expression of a variety of proteins. Markers of T cell activation include CD69, CD71 and CD25 (also a marker for Treg cells), and HLA-DR (a marker of human T cell activation). CTLA-4 expression is also up-regulated on activated T cells, which in turn outcompetes CD28 for binding to the B7 proteins. This is a checkpoint mechanism to prevent over activation of the T cell. Activated T cells also change their cell surface glycosylation profile.


title: T cell

text: The T cell receptor exists as a complex of several proteins. The actual T cell receptor is composed of two separate peptide chains, which are produced from the independent T cell receptor alpha and beta ("TCRα" and "TCRβ") genes. The other proteins in the complex are the CD3 proteins: CD3εγ and CD3εδ heterodimers and, most important, a CD3ζ homodimer, which has a total of six ITAM motifs. The ITAM motifs on the CD3ζ can be phosphorylated by Lck and in turn recruit ZAP-70. Lck and/or ZAP-70 can also phosphorylate the tyrosines on many other molecules, not least CD28, LAT and SLP-76, which allows the aggregation of signalling complexes around these proteins.


title: T cell

text: Phosphorylated LAT recruits SLP-76 to the membrane, where it can then bring in PLC-γ, VAV1, Itk and potentially PI3K. PLC-γ cleaves PI(4,5)P2 on the inner leaflet of the membrane to create the active intermediaries diacylglycerol (DAG), inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3); PI3K also acts on PIP2, phosphorylating it to produce phosphatidlyinositol-3,4,5-trisphosphate (PIP3). DAG binds and activates some PKCs. Most important in T cells is PKC-θ, critical for activating the transcription factors NF-κB and AP-1. IP3 is released from the membrane by PLC-γ and diffuses rapidly to activate calcium channel receptors on the ER, which induces the release of calcium into the cytosol. Low calcium in the endoplasmic reticulum causes STIM1 clustering on the ER membrane and leads to activation of cell membrane CRAC channels that allows additional calcium to flow into the cytosol from the extracellular space. This aggregated cytosolic calcium binds calmodulin, which can then activate calcineurin. Calcineurin, in turn, activates NFAT, which then translocates to the nucleus. NFAT is a transcription factor that activates the transcription of a pleiotropic set of genes, most notable, IL-2, a cytokine that promotes long-term proliferation of activated T cells.


title: T cell

text: PLC-γ can also initiate the NF-κB pathway. DAG activates PKC-θ, which then phosphorylates CARMA1, causing it to unfold and function as a scaffold. The cytosolic domains bind an adapter BCL10 via CARD (Caspase activation and recruitment domains) domains; that then binds TRAF6, which is ubiquitinated at K63. This form of ubiquitination does not lead to degradation of target proteins. Rather, it serves to recruit NEMO, IKKα and -β, and TAB1-2/ TAK1. TAK 1 phosphorylates IKK-β, which then phosphorylates IκB allowing for K48 ubiquitination: leads to proteasomal degradation. Rel A and p50 can then enter the nucleus and bind the NF-κB response element. This coupled with NFAT signaling allows for complete activation of the IL-2 gene.


title: T cell

text: While in most cases activation is dependent on TCR recognition of antigen, alternative pathways for activation have been described. For example, cytotoxic T cells have been shown to become activated when targeted by other CD8 T cells leading to tolerization of the latter.


title: T cell

text: In spring 2014, the T-Cell Activation in Space (TCAS) experiment was launched to the International Space Station on the SpaceX CRS-3 mission to study how "deficiencies in the human immune system are affected by a microgravity environment".


title: T cell

text: A unique feature of T cells is their ability to discriminate between healthy and abnormal (e.g. infected or cancerous) cells in the body. Healthy cells typically express a large number of self derived pMHC on their cell surface and although the T cell antigen receptor can interact with at least a subset of these self pMHC, the T cell generally ignores these healthy cells. However, when these very same cells contain even minute quantities of pathogen derived pMHC, T cells are able to become activated and initiate immune responses. The ability of T cells to ignore healthy cells but respond when these same cells contain pathogen (or cancer) derived pMHC is known as antigen discrimination. The molecular mechanisms that underlie this process are controversial.


title: T cell

text: Causes of T cell deficiency include lymphocytopenia of T cells and/or defects on function of individual T cells. Complete insufficiency of T cell function can result from hereditary conditions such as severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), Omenn syndrome, and cartilage–hair hypoplasia. Causes of partial insufficiencies of T cell function include acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), and hereditary conditions such as DiGeorge syndrome (DGS), chromosomal breakage syndromes (CBSs), and B cell and T cell combined disorders such as ataxia-telangiectasia (AT) and Wiskott–Aldrich syndrome (WAS).


title: T cell

text: The main pathogens of concern in T cell deficiencies are intracellular pathogens, including "Herpes simplex virus", "Mycobacterium" and "Listeria". Also, fungal infections are also more common and severe in T cell deficiencies.


title: T cell

text: Cancer of T cells is termed T-cell lymphoma, and accounts for perhaps one in ten cases of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The main forms of T cell lymphoma are:


title: T cell

text: T cell exhaustion is a poorly defined term that scholars do not necessarily mean the same thing. There are three different approaches to how it is defined. "The first approach primarily defines as exhausted the cells that present the same cellular dysfunction (typically, the absence of an expected effector response). The second approach primarily defines as exhausted the cells that are produced by a given cause (typically, but not necessarily, chronic exposure to an antigen). Finally, the third approach primarily defines as exhausted the cells that present the same molecular markers (typically, programmed cell death protein 1 [PD-1])."


title: T cell

text: Dysfunctional T cells is characterized by progressive loss of function, changes in transcriptional profiles and sustained expression of inhibitory receptors. At first cells lose their ability to produce IL-2 and TNFα followed by the loss of high proliferative capacity and cytotoxic potential, eventually leading to their deletion. Exhausted T cells typically indicate higher levels of CD43, CD69 and inhibitory receptors combined with lower expression of CD62L and CD127. Exhaustion can develop during chronic infections, sepsis and cancer. Exhausted T cells preserve their functional exhaustion even after repeated antigen exposure.


title: T cell

text: T cell exhaustion can be triggered by several factors like persistent antigen exposure and lack of CD4 T cell help. Antigen exposure also has effect on the course of exhaustion because longer exposure time and higher viral load increases the severity of T cell exhaustion. At least 2–4 weeks exposure is needed to establish exhaustion. Another factor able to induce exhaustion are inhibitory receptors including programmed cell death protein 1 (PD1), CTLA-4, T cell membrane protein-3 (TIM3), and lymphocyte activation gene 3 protein (LAG3). Soluble molecules such as cytokines IL-10 or TGF-β are also able to trigger exhaustion. Last known factors that can play a role in T cell exhaustion are regulatory cells. Treg cells can be a source of IL-10 and TGF-β and therefore they can play a role in T cell exhaustion. Furthermore, T cell exhaustion is reverted after depletion of Treg cells and blockade of PD1. T cell exhaustion can also occur during sepsis as a result of cytokine storm. Later after the initial septic encounter anti-inflammatory cytokines and pro-apoptotic proteins take over to protect the body from damage. Sepsis also carries high antigen load and inflammation. In this stage of sepsis T cell exhaustion increases. Currently there are studies aiming to utilize inhibitory receptor blockades in treatment of sepsis.


title: T cell

text: While during infection T cell exhaustion can develop following persistent antigen exposure after graft transplant similar situation arises with alloantigen presence. It was shown that T cell response diminishes over time after kidney transplant. These data suggest T cell exhaustion plays an important role in tolerance of a graft mainly by depletion of alloreactive CD8 T cells. Several studies showed positive effect of chronic infection on graft acceptance and its long-term survival mediated partly by T cell exhaustion. It was also shown that recipient T cell exhaustion provides sufficient conditions for NK cell transfer. While there are data showing that induction of T cell exhaustion can be beneficial for transplantation it also carries disadvantages among which can be counted increased number of infections and the risk of tumor development.


title: T cell

text: During cancer T cell exhaustion plays a role in tumor protection. According to research some cancer-associated cells as well as tumor cells themselves can actively induce T cell exhaustion at the site of tumor. T cell exhaustion can also play a role in cancer relapses as was shown on leukemia. Some studies have suggested that it is possible to predict relapse of leukemia based on expression of inhibitory receptors PD-1 and TIM-3 by T cells. Many experiments and clinical trials have focused on immune checkpoint blockers in cancer therapy, with some of these approved as valid therapies that are now in clinical use. Inhibitory receptors targeted by those medical procedures are vital in T cell exhaustion and blocking them can reverse these changes.


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: The religious beliefs of Adolf Hitler, dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, have been a matter of debate. His opinions regarding religious matters changed considerably over time. During the beginning of his political life, Hitler publicly expressed favorable opinions towards Christianity. Some historians describe his later posture as being "anti-Christian". He also criticized atheism.


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: Hitler was born to a practicing Catholic mother, Klara Hitler, and was baptized in the Roman Catholic Church; his father was a free-thinker and skeptical of the Catholic Church. In 1904, he was confirmed at the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Linz, Austria, where the family lived. According to John Willard Toland, witnesses indicate that Hitler's confirmation sponsor had to "drag the words out of him ... almost as though the whole confirmation was repugnant to him". Hitler biographer John Toland offers the opinion that Hitler "carried within him its teaching that the Jew was the killer of God. The extermination, therefore, could be done without a twinge of conscience since he was merely acting as the avenging hand of God ..." Rissmann notes that, according to several witnesses who lived with Hitler in a men's home in Vienna, he never again attended Mass or received the sacraments after leaving home at 18 years old. Krieger claims that Hitler abandoned the Catholic Church while Hitler's last secretary asserted that he was not a member of any church. Otto Strasser stated critically of the dictator, "Hitler is an atheist." for his unsettling sympathy to "Rosenberg's paganism". Hitler privately assured General Gerhard Engel in 1941 that "I am now as before a Catholic and will always remain so."


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: In a speech in the early years of his rule, Hitler declared himself "Not a Catholic, but a German Christian". The German Christians were a Protestant group that supported Nazi Ideology. Hitler and the Nazi party also promoted "nondenominational" positive Christianity, a movement which rejected most traditional Christian doctrines such as the divinity of Jesus, as well as Jewish elements such as the Old Testament. In one widely quoted remark, he described Jesus as an "Aryan fighter" who struggled against "the power and pretensions of the corrupt Pharisees" and Jewish materialism. Hitler demonstrated a preference for Protestantism and Lutheranism, stating, "Through me the Evangelical Protestant Church could become the established church, as in England" and that the "great reformer" Martin Luther "has the merit of rising against the Pope and the Catholic Church".


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: Hitler's regime launched an effort toward coordination of German Protestants into a joint Protestant Reich Church (but this was resisted by the Confessing Church), and moved early to eliminate political Catholicism. Even though Nazi leadership was excommunicated from the Catholic Church, Hitler agreed to the Reich concordat with the Vatican, but then routinely ignored it, and permitted persecutions of the Catholic Church.


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: Several historians have insisted that Hitler and his inner circle were influenced by other religions. In a eulogy for a friend, Hitler called on him to enter Valhalla but he later stated that it would be foolish to the worship of Odin (or Wotan) within Germanic paganism. Some historians argue he was prepared to delay conflicts for political reasons and that his intentions were to eventually eliminate Christianity in Germany, or at least reform it to suit a Nazi outlook.


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: Alan Bullock wrote that Hitler had been raised Catholic, but, though impressed by its organizational powers, repudiated Christianity on what he considered to be rational and moral grounds. Bullock wrote that Hitler believed neither in "God nor conscience", but found both "justification and absolution" in a view of himself echoing Hegel's view that heroes were above conventional morality, and that the role of "world-historical individuals" as the agents by which the "Will of the World Spirit", the plan of Providence is carried out. Following his early military successes, Hitler "abandoned himself entirely to megalomania" and the "sin of "hubris"", an exaggerated self-pride, believing himself to be more than a man. Once the war was over, wrote Bullock, Hitler wanted to root out and destroy the influence of the churches, though until then he would be circumspect for political reasons:


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: At the turn of the century, leading Hitler expert Ian Kershaw wrote an influential biography of Hitler which used new sources to expound on Hitler's religious views. He concluded that Hitler was spiritual, but nevertheless critical of Christian churches:


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: British historian Richard J. Evans, who writes primarily on Nazi Germany and World War II, noted Hitler claiming that Nazism is founded on science: "Science, he declared, would easily destroy the last remaining vestiges of superstition' Germany could not tolerate the intervention of foreign influences such as the Pope and 'Priests', he said, were 'black bugs', 'abortions in black cassocks'."


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: British historian Richard Overy, biographer of Hitler, sees Hitler as having been a skeptic of religion: "Both Stalin and Hitler wanted a neutered religion, subservient to the state, while the slow programme of scientific revelation destroyed the foundation of religious myth." Overy writes of Hitler as skeptical of all religious belief, but politically prudent enough not to "trumpet his scientific views publicly", partly in order to maintain the distinction between his own movement and the godlessness of Soviet Communism . In 2004, he wrote:


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: Historian Percy Ernst Schramm describes Hitler's personal religious creed, after his rejection of the Christian beliefs of his youth, as "a variant of the monism so common before the First World War". According to Schramm, these views were indirectly influenced by the work of Ernst Haeckel and his disciple, Wilhelm Bölsche. Schramm quotes Dr. Hanskarl von Hasselbach, one of Hitler's personal physicians, as saying that Hitler was a "religious person, or at least one who was struggling with religious clarity". According to von Hasselbach, Hitler did not share Martin Bormann's conception that Nazi ceremonies could become a substitute for church ceremonies, and was aware of the religious needs of the masses. "He went on for hours discussing the possibility of bridging the confessional division of the German people and helping them find a religion appropriate to their character and modern man's understanding of the world."


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: Hitler's personal conception of God was as "Providence". For instance, when he survived the assassination attempt of July 20, 1944, he ascribed it to Providence saving him to pursue his tasks. In fact, as time went on, Hitler's conception of Providence became more and more intertwined with his belief in his own inability to make an error of judgment. Alfred Jodl stated at Nuremberg that Hitler had "an almost mystical conviction of his infallibility as leader of the nation and of the war". Another of his physicians, Dr. Karl Brandt, said that Hitler saw himself as a "tool of Providence. He was ... consumed by the desire to give the German people everything and to help them out of their distress. He was possessed by the thought that this was his task and that only he could fulfill it."


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: BBC historian Laurence Rees characterises Hitler's relationship to religion as one of opportunism and pragmatism: "his relationship in public to Christianityindeed his relationship to religion in generalwas opportunistic. There is no evidence that Hitler himself, in his personal life, ever expressed any individual belief in the basic tenets of the Christian church". Considering the religious allusions found in "Mein Kampf", Rees writes that "the most coherent reading" of the book is that Hitler was prepared to believe in an initial creator God, but did "not accept the conventional Christian vision of heaven and hell, nor the survival of an individual 'soul'."


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: Max Domarus has written that Hitler replaced belief in the Judeo-Christian God with belief in a peculiarly German "god". He promoted the idea of this god as the creator of Germany, but Hitler "was not a Christian in any accepted meaning of that word." Domarus writes that Hitler neither believed in organized religion nor saw himself as a religious reformer. Hitler had fully discarded belief in the Judeo-Christian conception of God by 1937, writes Domarus, but continued to use the word "God" in speeches – but it was not the God "who has been worshiped for millennia", but a new and peculiarly German "god" who "let iron grow". Thus Hitler told the British journalist Ward Price in 1937: "I believe in God, and I am convinced that He will not desert 67 million Germans who have worked so hard to regain their rightful position in the world." Although Hitler did not "abide by its commandments", Domarus believed that he retained elements of the Catholic thinking of his upbringing even into the initial years of his rule: "As late as 1933, he still described himself publicly as a Catholic. Only the spreading poison of his lust for power and self idolatry finally crowded out the memories of childhood beliefs and in 1937 he jettisoned the last of his personal religious convictions, declaring to comrades, 'Now I feel as fresh as a colt in the pasture'".


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: Author Konrad Heiden has quoted Hitler as stating, "We do not want any other god than Germany itself. It is essential to have fanatical faith and hope and love in and for Germany." Derek Hastings considers it "eminently plausible" that Hitler was a believing Catholic as late as his trial in 1924, but writes that "there is little doubt that Hitler was a staunch opponent of Christianity throughout the duration of the Third Reich".


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: The biographer John Toland, recounts that in the aftermath of an attempted assassination in 1939, Hitler told dinner guests that Pope Pius XII would rather have seen the "plot succeed" and "was no friend of mine", but also writes that in 1941 Hitler was still "a member in good standing of the Church of Rome despite his detestation of its hierarchy" According to Guenter Lewy, Hitler was not excommunicated from the Catholic Church prior to his death. Yet, these authors seem to have missed the fact that Hitler was in fact excommunicated, along with all other Nazi leaders, in 1931. Although he had received the Catholic sacraments of Baptism as an infant, and Confirmation later in his youth, there is little evidence he considered himself subject to the teaching of the Church from adolescence onward, whatever cultural affiliation he claimed, and the excommunication would have meant nothing to him.


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: Samuel Koehne of Deakin University wrote in 2012: "Was Hitler an atheist? Probably not. But it remains very difficult to ascertain his personal religious beliefs, and the debate rages on." While Hitler was emphatically not "Christian" by the traditional or orthodox notion of the term, he did speak of a deity whose work was nature and natural laws, "conflating God and nature to the extent that they became one and the same thing" and that "For this reason, some recent works have argued Hitler was a Deist". In his writings on Hitler's recurrent religious images and symbols, Kenneth Burke concluded that "Hitler's modes of thought are nothing more than perverted or caricatured forms of religious thought".


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: Richard Steigmann-Gall finds Hitler a Christian. He wrote in 2003 that even after Hitler's rupture with institutional Christianity (which he dated to around 1937), he sees evidence that he continued to hold Jesus in high esteem, and never directed his attacks on Jesus himself. Use of the term "positive Christianity" in the Nazi Party Program of the 1920s is commonly regarded as a tactical measure, but Steigmann-Gall believes it may have had an "inner logic" and been "more than a political ploy". He considers that Hitler was Christian at least until the early 1930s, and that he saw Jesus as an Aryan opponent of the Jews.


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: In his memoirs, Hitler's confidant, personal architect, and Minister of Armaments Albert Speer, wrote: "Amid his political associates in Berlin, Hitler made harsh pronouncements against the church", yet "he conceived of the church as an instrument that could be useful to him":


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: The Goebbels Diaries also remark on this policy. Goebbels wrote on 29 April 1941 that though Hitler was "a fierce opponent" of the Vatican and Christianity, "he forbids me to leave the church. For tactical reasons."


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: According to Speer, Hitler's private secretary, Martin Bormann, relished recording any harsh pronouncements by Hitler against the church. Speer considered Bormann to be the driving force behind the regime's campaign against the churches. Speer thought that Hitler approved of Bormann's aims, but was more pragmatic and wanted to "postpone this problem to a more favourable time":


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: Hitler, wrote Speer, viewed Christianity as the wrong religion for the "Germanic temperament": Speer wrote that Hitler would say: "You see, it's been our misfortune to have the wrong religion. Why didn't we have the religion of the Japanese, who regard sacrifice for the fatherland as the highest good? The Mohameddan religion too would have been much more compatible to us than Christianity. Why did it have to be Christianity with its meekness and flabbiness?" Speer also wrote of observing in Hitler "quite a few examples", and that he held a negative view toward Himmler and Rosenberg's mystical notions.


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: Martin Bormann, who was serving as Hitler's private secretary, persuaded Hitler to allow a team of specially picked officers to record in shorthand his private conversations for posterity. Between 1941 and 1944, Hitler's words were recorded in transcripts now known as "Hitler's Table Talk". The transcripts concern not only Hitler's views on war and foreign affairs, but also his characteristic attitudes on religion, culture, philosophy, personal aspirations, and his feelings towards his enemies and friends. Speer noted in his memoirs that Bormann relished recording any harsh pronouncements made by Hitler against the church: "there was hardly anything he wrote down more eagerly than deprecating comments on the church". Within the transcripts, Hitler speaks of Christianity as "absurdity" and "humbug" founded on "lies" with which he could "never come personally to terms."


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: The widespread consensus among historians is that the views expressed in Hugh Trevor-Roper's translation of "Table Talk", are credible and reliable, although as with all historical sources, a high level of critical awareness about its origins and purpose are advisable. The remarks from "Table Talk" accepted as genuine include such quotes as "Christianity is the prototype of Bolshevism: the mobilization by the Jew of the masses of slaves with the object of undermining society." Alan Bullock's seminal biography "" quotes Hitler as saying, "Taken to its logical extreme, Christianity would mean the systematic cultivation of the human failure"; found also in "Table Talk", and repeats other views appearing in "Table Talk" such as: the teachings of Christianity are a rebellion against the natural law of selection by struggle and survival of the fittest.


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: Michael Burleigh contrasted Hitler's public pronouncements on Christianity with those in "Table Talk", suggesting that Hitler's real religious views were "a mixture of materialist biology, a faux-Nietzschean contempt for core, as distinct from secondary, Christian values, and a visceral anti-clericalism." Richard Evans also reiterated the view that Nazism was secular, scientific and anti-religious in outlook in the last volume of his trilogy on Nazi Germany: "Hitler's hostility to Christianity reached new heights, or depths, during the war;" his source for this was the 1953 English translation of "Table Talk". "Table Talk" has the dictator often voicing stridently negative views of Christianity, such as: "The heaviest blow that ever struck humanity was the coming of Christianity. Bolshevism is Christianity's illegitimate child. Both are inventions of the Jew. The deliberate lie in the matter of religion was introduced into the world by Christianity."


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: Transcripts contained in "Table Talk" have Hitler expressing favor towards science over Christianity. On 14 October 1941, in an entry concerning the fate of Christianity, Hitler says: "Science cannot lie, for it's always striving, according to the momentary state of knowledge, to deduce what is true. When it makes a mistake, it does so in good faith. It's Christianity that's the liar. It's in perpetual conflict with itself." Religion will crumble before scientific advances, says Hitler: "The dogma of Christianity gets worn away before the advances of science. Religion will have to make more and more concessions. Gradually the myths crumble. All that's left is to prove that in nature there is no frontier between the organic and the inorganic. When understanding of the universe has become widespread, when the majority of men know that the stars are not sources of light but worlds, perhaps inhabited worlds like ours, then the Christian doctrine will be convicted of absurdity."


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: Hitler feared the collapse of the pact with churches, leading to conversion to atheism, which he equates to "the state of the animal": "I'm convinced that any pact with the Church can offer only a provisional benefit, for sooner or later the scientific spirit will disclose the harmful character of such a compromise. Thus the State will have based its existence on a foundation that one day will collapse. An educated man retains the sense of the mysteries of nature and bows before the unknowable. An uneducated man, on the other hand, runs the risk of going over to atheism (which is a return to the state of the animal) as soon as he perceives that the State, in sheer opportunism, is making use of false ideas in the matter of religion, whilst in other fields it bases everything on pure science. That's why I've always kept the Party aloof from religious questions."


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: According to "Table Talk", Hitler believed that Jesus' true Christian teachings had been corrupted by the apostle St Paul, who had transformed them into a kind of Jewish Bolshevism, which Hitler believed preached "the equality of all men amongst themselves, and their obedience to an only god. This is what caused the death of the Roman Empire."


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: In "Table Talk", Hitler praised Julian the Apostate's "Three Books Against the Galileans", an anti-Christian tract from AD 362, in the entry dated 21 October 1941, stating: "When one thinks of the opinions held concerning Christianity by our best minds a hundred, two hundred years ago, one is ashamed to realise how little we have since evolved. I didn't know that Julian the Apostate had passed judgment with such clear-sightedness on Christianity and Christians. ... Originally, Christianity was merely an incarnation of Bolshevism the destroyer. Nevertheless, the Galilean, who later was called the Christ, intended something quite different. He must be regarded as a popular leader who took up His position against Jewry... and it's certain that Jesus was not a Jew. The Jews, by the way, regarded Him as the son of a whore—of a whore and a Roman soldier. The decisive falsification of Jesus's doctrine was the work of St. Paul. He gave himself to this work with subtlety and for purposes of personal exploitation. For the Galilean's object was to liberate His country from Jewish oppression. He set Himself against Jewish capitalism, and that's why the Jews liquidated Him. Paul of Tarsus (his name was Saul, before the road to Damascus) was one of those who persecuted Jesus most savagely."


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: Richard Carrier made some isolated comparisons of passages from the German, French and English editions of Table Talk, and found in each case that the English edition by Trevor-Roper was a translation of the French edition by Francois Genoud, rather than from the German editions; and also that the French translation contained significant distortions, which generally heightened the impression of Hitler's hatred for Christianity. Carrier concluded that "the Trevor-Roper edition is to be discarded as worthless." However, Carrier found that three German versions "have a common ancestor, which must be the actual bunker notes themselves", and recommended that scholars needed to work directly with the German editions.


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: In his introduction to a 2013 edition of Trevor-Roper's "Table Talk", Gerhard Reinberg agreed that the Trevor-Roper edition "derives from Genoud's French edition and not from either of the German texts." After examining Trevor-Roper's personal correspondence and papers, Mikael Nilsson concluded that Trevor-Roper was fully aware of the fact that his edition was based on the French text, but failed to reveal the problems in public.


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: The "Goebbels Diaries", written by Hitler's Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, provide important insights into Hitler's thinking and actions. In a diary entry of 28 December 1939, Goebbels wrote that "the Fuhrer passionately rejects any thought of founding a religion. He has no intention of becoming a priest. His sole exclusive role is that of a politician." In an 8 April 1941 entry, Goebbels wrote "He hates Christianity, because it has crippled all that is noble in humanity."


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: In 1937, Goebbels noted that Hitler's impatience with the churches "prompted frequent outbursts of hostility. In early 1937 he was declaring that 'Christianity was ripe for destruction', and that the Churches must yield to the "primacy of the state", railing against any compromise with "the most horrible institution imaginable". In his entry for 29 April 1941, Goebbels noted long discussions about the Vatican and Christianity, and wrote: "The Fuhrer is a fierce opponent of all that humbug".


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: In 1939, Goebbels wrote that the Fuhrer knew that he would "have to get around to a conflict between church and state" but that in the meantime "The best way to deal with the churches is to claim to be a 'positive Christian'."


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: In another entry, Goebbels wrote that Hitler was "deeply religious but entirely anti-Christian". Goebbels wrote on 29 December 1939:


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: Goebbels notes in a diary entry in 1939 a conversation in which Hitler had "expressed his revulsion against Christianity. He wished that the time were ripe for him to be able to openly express that. Christianity had corrupted and infected the entire world of antiquity." Hitler, wrote Goebbels, saw the pre-Christian Augustan Age as the high point of history, and could not relate to the Gothic mind nor to "brooding mysticism".


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: The diaries also report that Hitler believed Jesus "also wanted to act against the Jewish world domination. Jewry had him crucified. But Paul falsified his doctrine and undermined ancient Rome."


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: Otto Strasser was a German politician and an early member of the Nazi Party, he together with his brother Gregor Strasser, was a leading member of the party's left-wing faction. "Despite the fact that Hitler never renounced his membership in the Catholic Church, before he seized power in 1933 and for about two months thereafter", wrote Weikart, during the conversation with his brother in 1920, Strasser stated that he was disappointed with Hitler because:


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: Ernst Hanfstaengl was a German-American businessman and intimate friend of Hitler. He eventually fell out of favour with Hitler, however, and defected from Nazi Germany to the United States. He later described Hitler to be an atheist to all intents and purposes:


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: The Anschluss saw the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in early 1938. The Austrian chancellor, Kurt von Schuschnigg, had traveled to Germany to meet Hitler, who, according to Schuschnigg's later testimony, went into a threatening rage against the role of Austria in German history, saying, "Every national idea was sabotaged by Austria throughout history; and indeed all this sabotage was the chief activity of the Habsburgs and the Catholic Church." This ended in Hitler's ultimatum to end Austrian independence and hand the nation to the Nazis.


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: Following the 1944 assassination attempt in the "20 July plot", Hitler credited his survival to fate in a radio broadcast the following day. German deputy press chief Helmut Suendermann declared, "The German people must consider the failure of the attempt on Hitler's life as a sign that Hitler will complete his tasks under the protection of a divine power".


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: Following a meeting with Hitler, Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber, a man who had "courageously criticized the Nazi attacks on the Catholic Church—went away convinced that Hitler was deeply religious", noted Kershaw. In November 1936 the Roman Catholic prelate met Hitler at Berghof for a three-hour meeting. He left the meeting and wrote "The Reich Chancellor undoubtedly lives in belief in God. He recognises Christianity as the builder of Western culture".


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: Kershaw cites Faulhaber's case as an example of Hitler's ability to "pull the wool over the eyes of even hardened critics", demonstrating Hitler's "evident ability to simulate, even to potentially critical church leaders, an image of a leader keen to uphold and protect Christianity".


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: Adolf Hitler was raised in a Roman Catholic family in Habsburg Austria. However, reliable historical details on his childhood are scarce. According to Hitler historian Ian Kershaw, the reflections Hitler provided on his own life in "Mein Kampf" are "inaccurate in detail and coloured in interpretation", while information that was given during the Nazi period is "dubious", as can be the postwar recollections of family and acquaintances.


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: Hitler was baptised as a Catholic in the same year he was born, 1889. Hitler's father Alois, though nominally a Catholic, was somewhat religiously skeptical and anticlerical, while his mother Klara was a devout practising Catholic. Wilson wrote: "Much is sometimes made of the Catholic upbringing of Hitler ... it was something to which Hitler himself often made allusion, and he was nearly always violently hostile. 'The biretta! The mere sight of these abortions in cassocks makes me wild! Hitler boasted of expressing skepticism to clergyman-teachers when taught religious instruction school. He attended several primary schools. For six months, the family lived opposite a Benedictine Monastery at Lambach, and on some afternoons, Hitler attended the choir school there. Hitler later wrote in "Mein Kampf" that at this time he dreamed of one day taking holy orders.


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: Hitler was confirmed on 22 May 1904. According to Rissmann, as a youth Hitler was influenced by Pan-Germanism and began to reject the Catholic Church, receiving confirmation only unwillingly. Biographer John Toland wrote of the 1904 ceremony at Linz Cathedral that Hitler's confirmation sponsor said he nearly had to "drag the words out of him... almost as though the whole confirmation was repugnant to him". Rissmann notes that, according to several witnesses who lived with Hitler in a men's home in Vienna, Hitler never again attended Mass or received the sacraments after leaving home.


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: In 1909, Hitler moved to Vienna and according to Bullock his intellectual interests there vacillated and his reading included "Ancient Rome, Eastern religions, Yoga, Occultism, Hypnotism, Astrology, Protestantism, each in turn excited his interest for a moment ... He struck people as unbalanced. He gave rein to his hatredsagainst the Jews, the priests, the Social Democrats, the Habsburgswithout restraint".


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: In Percy Ernst Schramm's "The Anatomy of a Dictator", which was based on an analysis of the transcripts of the "Table Talk" recordings, Hitler is quoted as saying that "after a hard inner struggle" he had freed himself from the religious beliefs of his youth, so that he felt "as fresh as a foal in the pasture".


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: Although personally skeptical, Hitler's public relationship to religion was one of opportunistic pragmatism. In religious affairs he readily adopted a strategy "that suited his immediate political purposes." He typically tailored his message to his audience's perceived sensibilities and Kershaw considers that few people could really claim to "know" Hitler, who was "a very private, even secretive individual", able to deceive "even hardened critics" as to his true beliefs. In private, he scorned Christianity, but when out campaigning for power in Germany, he made statements in favour of the religion.


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: Hitler's public utterances were peppered with references to "God" and "Spirit". In "", Bullock wrote that Hitler, like Napoleon before him, frequently employed the language of "divine providence" in defence of his own personal myth, but ultimately shared with the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin "the same materialist outlook, based on the nineteenth century rationalists' certainty that the progress of science would destroy all myths and had already proved Christian doctrine to be an absurdity":


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: Hitler had an "ability to simulate, even to potentially critical Church leaders, an image of a leader keen to uphold and protect Christianity [from Bolshevism]" wrote Kershaw, which served to deflect direct criticism of him from Church leaders, who instead focused their condemnations on the known "anti-Christian party radicals".


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: "Mein Kampf" (1924–25), written while Hitler was in prison after his failed 1923 putsch, contains numerous references to "God", "the Creator", "Providence" and "the Lord".


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: Laurence Rees described the thrust of the work as "bleak nihilism" revealing a cold universe with no moral structure other than the fight between different people for supremacy: "What's missing from "Mein Kampf"", wrote Rees"and this is a fact that has not received the acknowledgement it shouldis any emphasis on Christianity"though Germany, Rees noted, had been Christian for a thousand years. So, concluded Rees, "the most coherent reading of "Mein Kampf" is that whilst Hitler was prepared to believe in an initial creator God, he did not accept the conventional Christian vision of heaven and hell, nor the survival of an individual "soul" ... we are animals and just like animals we face the choice of destroying or being destroyed."


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: Paul Berben wrote that insofar as the Christian denominations were concerned, Hitler declared himself to be neutral in "Mein Kampf"but argued for clear separation of church and state, and for the church not to concern itself with the earthly life of the people, which must be the domain of the state. According to William Shirer, Hitler "inveighed against political Catholicism in "Mein Kampf" and attacked the two main Christian churches for their failure to recognise the racial problem", while also warning that no political party could succeed in "producing a religious reformation".


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: In "Mein Kampf" Hitler wrote that Jesus "made no secret of his attitude toward the Jewish people, and when necessary he even took the whip to drive from the temple of the Lord this adversary of all humanity, who then as always saw in religion nothing but an instrument for his business existence. In return, Christ was nailed to the cross."


title: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

text: Hitler wrote of the importance of a definite and uniformly accepted "Weltanschauung" (world view), and noted that the diminished position of religion in Europe had led to a decline in necessary certainties"yet this human world of ours would be inconceivable without the practical existence of religious belief". The various substitutes hitherto offered could not "usefully replace the existing denominations".