title: Saudi riyal

text: On May 20, 2007, "the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, pursuant to article (4) of the Saudi Currency Law, issued under the Royal Decree No. (6) and dated 1/7/1379H." announced the fifth domination of the Saudi riyal that features King Abdullah's picture on all notes except the 500 riyals, which features King Abdulaziz. The 100 and 50 riyal notes were released on May 21, 2007. The 10 and 5 riyal notes followed in June 2007, then the 500 riyal followed in September 2007, and finally the 1 riyal note completed the series in December 2007. It is expected by the SAMA that the fourth (current) series will take approximately two years to phase out, although a complete removal of the current series require more than two years since the fourth series has been in circulation for well over 25 years. The fourth series which feature King Fahd's picture will remain legal tender under the Saudi Arabian monetary law. The new series have the latest and most advanced security system to prevent from counterfeiting and other similar activities.


title: Saudi riyal

text: The newly renamed Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority unveiled a new family of banknotes with the portrait of King Salman on banknotes from 5 to 100 riyals, with a portrait of King Abdulaziz Al Saud on the 500 riyals banknote. On the 4 October 2020, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority announced the first polymer note to be used in Saudi Arabia, being the 5 riyals note, to replace the current paper banknote, without any announcement on the other banknotes. The banknote was said to feature more environmentally friendly materials and additional security features, in addition to a much longer lifespan.


title: Saudi riyal

text: In June 1986, the riyal was officially pegged to the IMF's special drawing rights (SDRs). In practice, it is fixed at 1 U.S. dollar = 3.75 riyals, which translates to approximately 1 riyal = 0.266667 dollar. This rate was made official on January 1, 2003.


title: Saudi riyal

text: The riyal briefly rose to a 20-year high after the US Federal Reserve cut interest rates on September 18, 2007, and the SAMA chose not to follow suit, partially due to concerns about the inflationary effects low interest rates and a lower value for the riyal. The riyal returned to its peg against the U.S. dollar in early December 2007.


title: Saudi riyal

text: Saudi Arabia is a member of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, which planned a monetary union with a single currency by 2010. However, all GCC countries operate with their own currency so far.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: The Gibson Les Paul is a solid body electric guitar that was first sold by the Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1952. The guitar was designed by factory manager John Huis and his team with input from and endorsement by guitarist Les Paul. Its typical design features a solid mahogany body with a carved maple top and a single cutaway, a mahogany set-in neck with a rosewood fretboard, two pickups with independent volume and tone controls, and a stoptail bridge, although variants exist.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: The Les Paul was originally offered with a gold finish and two P-90 pickups. In 1957, humbucking pickups were added, along with sunburst finishes in 1958. The 1958–1960 sunburst Les Paul, today one of the best-known electric guitar types in the world, was considered a commercial failure, with low production and sales. For 1961, the Les Paul was redesigned into what is now known as the Gibson SG. The original single-cutaway, carved top bodystyle was re-introduced in 1968. The Les Paul has been produced in many versions and editions since. Along with Fender's Telecaster and Stratocaster, it was one of the first mass-produced electric solid-body guitars. Due to their versatility, Les Paul electric guitars have been used in a wide range of music genres, including rock, country, pop, soul, rhythm and blues, blues, jazz, reggae, punk, and heavy metal.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: In 1950, the ancestors of the Fender Telecaster (Fender Esquire and Fender Broadcaster) were introduced to the musical market and solid-body electric guitars became a public craze. In reaction to market demand, Gibson Guitar president Ted McCarty brought guitarist Les Paul into the company as a consultant.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: Les Paul was a respected innovator who had been experimenting with guitar design for years. He had hand-built a solid-body prototype nicknamed "The Log," named after the pine block running through the middle of the guitar whose width and depth are a little more than the width of the fretboard. Conventional hollow guitar sides or "wings" were added for shape. In 1945 or 1946, Paul had approached Gibson with "The Log" prototype, but his design was rejected.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: In 1951, McCarty and his team at Gibson began work on what would eventually become the Les Paul Model. Early prototypes of the Les Paul model are very similar to the final version. The new Les Paul guitar was to be an expensive, well-made instrument in accordance with Gibson's reputation at the time, and distinct from growing rival guitar manufacturer Fender's models.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: McCarty approached Les Paul for the right to imprint the musician's name on the headstock with the intention of increasing sales; in 1951, Gibson presented Paul a nearly finished instrument for approval. McCarty stated that design discussions with Les Paul were limited to the tailpiece and the fitting of a maple cap over the mahogany body for increased density and sustain, which Les Paul had requested reversed. However, this reversal would have caused the guitar to become too heavy, and Paul's request was refused. Paul states that the original Custom should have had the maple cap and the Goldtop was to be all mahogany. The Custom did not appear on the market for another two years following the introduction of the Goldtop; it is possible that Gibson had planned a full model range of guitars (with a roll-out over the course of several years) at the time when initial specifications were being set. Les Paul's contributions to the guitar line bearing his name were more than cosmetic; for example, Paul specified that the guitar be offered in a gold finish, not only for flashiness, but to emphasize the high quality of the Gibson Les Paul instrument. Later Les Paul models included flame maple (tiger stripe) and "quilted" maple tops, again in contrast to the competing Fender line's range of car-like custom color finishes.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: The 1952 Les Paul featured a mahogany body with a one-inch-thick maple cap, a mahogany neck with a rosewood fretboard, two P-90 single coil pickups, and a one-piece, 'trapeze'-style bridge/tailpiece with strings fitted under (instead of over) a steel stop-bar.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: The guitar made its public debut when Paul used it onstage in June 1952 at the Paramount theatre in New York. On July 24, 1952, at a special musicians clinic at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel, it was previewed by prominent guitarists such as Tiger Haynes, George Barnes, Mundell Lowe, Tony Mottola, and Billy Mure.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: A second Les Paul model was introduced in 1953. Called the Les Paul Custom, this black guitar with gold-plated hardware was dubbed the "Black Beauty". New bridge and tailpiece designs were rapidly adopted. The one-piece "wraparound" stopbar was introduced in 1953. The following year saw the introduction of the fully-adjustable Tune-o-matic bridge. The Goldtop and Custom models continued without significant changes until 1957. New humbucker pickups designed by Seth Lover in 1955 debuted on Les Pauls in 1957 and P-90 pickups were no longer offered. These pickups carried the markings "PAF", for "Patent Applied For" (referring to ). This innovation in pickups became the flagship pickup design most associated with Gibson. Many other guitar companies followed suit, outfitting their electrics with versions of the humbucking pickup.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: In 1958, the Les Paul saw its first major design change. A new model, called the Standard, retained most features of the 1957 Goldtop. However, Standards featured a cherry-red sunburst finish. These guitars were priced higher than the Goldtop models, but lower than the Customs. At this time, Gibson instruments were marketed toward an older, jazz-oriented audience rather than young burgeoning guitarists. As a result, over the three-year period of production, only about 1,700 Standards were made.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: These Les Pauls were considered to be too heavy and old-fashioned, and they initially did not find favor amongst guitarists. In 1961, Gibson stopped producing the traditional Les Paul in favor of a lighter redesign which was later called the SG. The mid-1960s, however, brought a resurgence of interest in the Les Paul Standard. In 1964, The Rolling Stones' Keith Richards began using a sunburst, 1959 Les Paul Standard — becoming the first "star-guitarist" to play a Les Paul on the British scene. The guitar, outfitted with a Bigsby tailpiece, served as one of the guitarist's prominent instruments and provided the first impetus to the use of Les Pauls during the British blues boom. In 1965, Eric Clapton began using Les Pauls because of the influence of Freddie King and Hubert Sumlin, and played a 1960 Standard on the groundbreaking album "Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton". In America, Mike Bloomfield began using a 1954 Les Paul goldtop while touring with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, and recorded most of his work on the band's "East-West" album with that guitar. A year later, he traded it for a 1959 Standard with which he became most identified. By 1967, Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead was using mid-1950s, P-90 pickup-equipped goldtops or black custom models, which he used through 1968. Concurrently in the late 1960s, artists such as Peter Green, Jeff Beck, Paul Kossoff, and Jimmy Page began using sunburst Les Paul Standards. Responding to this influence and increased pressure from the public, Gibson reintroduced the Les Paul single-cutaway guitar in July 1968, and the guitar remains in production today.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: In 1969, Gibson's parent company (Chicago Musical Instruments) was taken over by the conglomerate ECL. Gibson remained under the control of CMI until 1974 when it became a subsidiary of Norlin Musical Instruments.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: These ownership changes, often called the "Norlin Era", caused Gibson products of the time to undergo changes in manufacturing and construction. Les Paul designs were altered and a reinforced upper neck volute was added to decrease headstock breaks. Neck woods were changed from one-piece mahogany to a three-piece maple design. The body was also changed from one-piece mahogany with a maple top to multiple slabs of mahogany with multiple pieced maple tops. This is referred to as "multipiece" construction, and sometimes incorrectly referred to as a "pancake" body. The expression "pancake body" actually refers to a body made of a thin layer of maple sandwiched between two slabs of mahogany, with a maple cap. The grain of the maple was placed at 90 degrees to that of the mahogany. The "pancake"-like layers are clearly visible when looking at the edge of the guitar. This process is also known as "crossbanding", and was done to make use of less expensive and more readily available thinner mahogany. Crossbanding was phased out by 1977.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: In this era, Gibson began experimenting with new models, such as the Les Paul Recording. This guitar was generally unpopular with guitarists because of its complex electronics. Less noticeable changes included, but were not limited to, optional maple fingerboards (added in 1976), pickup cavity shielding, and the crossover of the ABR1 Tune-o-matic bridge into the wide "Nashville" bridge. During the 1970s, the Les Paul body shape was incorporated into other Gibson models, including the S-1, the Sonex, the L6-S, and other models that did not follow the classic Les Paul layout.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: In January 1986, Gibson again changed ownership and began manufacturing a range of varied Les Paul models. The 1980s also saw the end to several design characteristics, including the volute and maple neck. However, because of consumer demand, the Gibson Les Paul guitar is available today in a wide array of choices, ranging from guitars equipped with modern digital electronics to classic re-issue models built to match the look and specifications of the guitar's earliest production runs from 1952 to 1960.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: In 1986, responding to the high demand for vintage models, Gibson formed a Custom Shop division. Originally, the Custom Shop began producing accurate reproductions of early Les Pauls, as well as one-offs. Today, the Custom Shop produces numerous limited-run "historic-spec" models, as well as signature artist models. The first Custom Shop artist guitar was the 1996 Joe Perry Les Paul, and today, several artist models are offered. "Reliced" or "aged" models are made in the Custom Shop to replicate well used vintage guitars.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: , Gibson offers several variations of the Les Paul guitar with differences in price, features, electronics and finishes. For example, the modern 'Standard' offers split-coil pickups for a wider range of sounds. The 'Traditional' model offers the more basic features of guitars available during the 1950s to 1980s, and the 'Classic' model offers yet other features. 'Special' and 'Studio' models have a more basic level of finish and are lower-priced. These models are marketed as 'Gibson USA' guitars, capitalizing on their American heritage.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: The first model, simply called the "Gibson Les Paul", was released in 1952. This style has since been retroactively named "The Goldtop", as the model came only in one finish: an old gold solid paint, with two P-90 pickups and nickel plated hardware. In 1954, the Gibson Les Paul Custom was added to the model line. The Custom featured a solid black finish, gold-plated hardware, and other high-end appointments, including becoming one of the first Gibson models to have 3 pickups. The standard goldtop model received PAF humbucking pickups in 1957, and the goldtop paint job was retired in 1958 and replaced with a two-tone translucent sunburst paint job. From 1958 onwards, this main model was known as the Les Paul Standard, nicknamed "the Burst", and is known for its high collectability. The original Les Paul body shape was retired in 1961 and radically redesigned as the Gibson SG (which for the first several years was known as the Les Paul SG, before Les Paul's endorsement deal ran out). In the mid-late 1960s, the unique tonal quality of the humbucker-equipped "Burst" models became a favorite among rock guitarists, and this renewed interest caused Gibson to bring back the Standard and Custom models in 1968. They have remained in production ever since; as well Gibson added a number of other model lines over the years, including budget/student lines such as the Les Paul Junior and Les Paul Special, studio-quality guitars with basic appointments but upgraded electronics, such as the Les Paul Professional and Les Paul Recording, and other short-lived models, including dozens of celebrity endorsed models.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: The first Les Paul model Goldtops were produced from 1952–1957. Early 1952 Les Pauls were not issued serial numbers, did not have bound fingerboards, and are considered by some as "LP Model prototypes". However, later 1952 Les Pauls were issued serial numbers and also came with bound fingerboards. The design scheme of some of these early models varied. For instance, some early Les Pauls were fitted with black covered P-90 pickups instead of the usual cream-colored plastic covers. The weight and the tonal characteristics of the Goldtop Les Paul were largely due to the mahogany and maple construction.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: In 1953, the trapeze tailpiece was dropped, and a new stopbar design was added. This design combined a pre-intonated bridge and tailpiece with two studs just behind the bridge pickup. This increased the sustain of the Goldtop noticeably; however, the intonation and string height adjustability were limited. A new design, the Tune-o-matic, replaced the stopbar in 1955. It consisted of a separate bridge and tailpiece attached directly to the top of the guitar, combining an easily adjustable bridge with a sustain-carrying tailpiece. This design has been used on most Les Pauls ever since. The tuners were produced by Kluson.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: The Les Paul Custom features gold hardware, multilayer binding including the headstock, ebony fingerboard, real mother-of-pearl inlays and two or three-pickup layout. 1950s Customs were all-mahogany, rather than the mahogany-with-maple-cap of the Goldtop. The original Customs were fitted with a P-90 pickup in the bridge position and an Alnico V "staple" pickup in the neck. In 1957, the Custom was fitted with Gibson's new PAF humbucker pickups, and later became available with three pickups instead of the usual two. The traditional Les Paul Custom was discontinued in 1961 and its name transferred to the custom version of the then-new Gibson SG.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: In 1968, Gibson reintroduced the Les Paul Custom as a two-pickup-only model. The headstock angle was changed from 17 degrees to 14, and a wider headstock and a maple top (in lieu of the original 1953–1961 mahogany top construction) were added. White and two sunburst finish options were added to the color palette in 1974. Also new in 1974 was the optional TP-6 fine-tuner tailpiece, allowing for micro-adjustment of string tuning from the bridge. The mahogany neck was replaced with a three-piece maple neck in 1975 (though mahogany still saw limited use) with this change lasting until around 1982. Popular colors, such as wine red and "silverburst," were added in the 1970s and '80s. Gibson currently produces several Custom models with various finishes and pickups.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: In 1958, new Standard model retained most specifications of the 1957 Goldtop, including PAF humbucker pickups, a maple top, and a tune-o-matic bridge with a stop tailpiece or Bigsby vibrato tailpiece. The gold color used since 1952 was replaced by a cherry-red version of the Sunburst finish long used on Gibson's flat-top and archtop acoustic and hollow electric guitars. Since the maple cap was now visible, tops were made either with a solid "plaintop" piece of maple or two bookmatched pieces of figured (curly or quilted) maple. To differentiate from the earlier Goldtop model, the new Les Paul was referred to as The Les Paul Standard. Specifications during 1958–60 varied from year to year and also from guitar to guitar. Typical 1958 Les Paul Standard necks had a thicker neck, thinner frets and lower fret height, which changed during the course of 1959 to develop into typical 1960 necks with a thinner cross-section and wider, higher frets. The cherry dye used on the 1958–59 models faded rapidly from ultraviolet light exposure, so in early 1960 Gibson switched to a new, fade-resistant formulation which was also less translucent and slightly more orange; this is sometimes called the "tomato soup burst." Fading of the original paint job was unpredictable, as the red color could either lighten or darken depending on the specific formulation and on the conditions the guitar had been exposed to, resulting in a wide array of nicknames, such as "lemon burst" or "tobacco burst", for the resulting colorations. Despite the wide variety of color variations now found on the original 1958–59 models, they all went to market with nearly identical paint jobs. Furthermore, during the production run, Gibson changed the color of plastic used on the pickup bobbins multiple times between black and white again; however during assembly, pickups were assembled semi-randomly, with no attention given to matching the two single-coil bobbins to each other when building the humbucking pickups; the guitar was sold with a nickel-plated pickup cover, so Gibson didn't consider the color of the bobbins to be an aesthetic consideration. Additionally, since the translucent finish allowed the wood grain to show, each Sunburst model has a unique combination of finish fade, wood grain, and pickup colors resulting in a highly individualized guitar, adding to the collectability of the model. Many famous original Les Paul standards can be easily identified by their unique appearance.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: Original production of the Standards lasted from 1958 to early 1961. As Gibson only kept records on shipments of "Les Paul" models, and the Sunburst Standard overlapped production years with both the earlier Goldtop and later SG models, nailing down exact production numbers is difficult. Depending on the source, it is estimated anywhere from 1,200 to 1,700 of these early models were made and have subsequently become highly valuable.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: Production ended in 1961 when Gibson redesigned the Les Paul to feature a "double cutaway" body, which has subsequently become the Gibson SG. The model was quietly reintroduced to dealers as early as 1972 before production of Les Paul Standards "officially" resumed in 1976 due to high demand. They have remained in continuous production since then, as well as periodic reissues from the Gibson Custom Shop, using the original 1958–60 specs.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: In 1954, the Les Paul Junior debuted, targeted the beginning or student guitarist. As a cost-saving measure, many of the appointments of the Standard and Custom models are absent from the Junior. The Junior is characterized by its flat-top "slab" mahogany body (in contrast to the carved maple top on other models), finished in sunburst. It had a single P-90 pickup (in contrast to the two- and three-humbucker pickup configurations on the more expensive models), simple volume and tone controls, an unbound rosewood fingerboard with plain dot-shape position markers, and a combination bridge/tailpiece unit similar to the Goldtop.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: In 1955, Gibson launched the Les Paul TV model, which was identical to the Junior except for the name and a fashionable contemporary "limed oak" style finish, later more accurately named "limed mahogany". This natural wood finish with white grain filler often aged into a natural wood or dull yellow appearance, and eventually evolved into the opaque mustard yellow, popularly called "TV yellow". The model was not, as a popular myth says, to avoid glare from old TV cameras, but a modern look and a name to promote "The Les Paul & Mary Ford Show" then on television.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: Gibson made a radical design change to their Junior and TV models in 1959: to accommodate player requests for more access to the top frets than the previous designs allowed, these electric guitar models were revamped with a new double-cutaway body shape. In addition, Juniors were now available with a cherry red finish, while the re-shaped TV adopted a more yellow-tinged finish.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: The Les Paul Special was released in 1955, featuring a slab body, two soapbar P-90 single coil pickups, and was finished in a color similar to TV Yellow (but not called a TV model). It fit in the model line between the Junior and the Standard, having the two-pickup configuration of the Standard, but featuring the simpler, more basic appointments of the Junior.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: In 1959, the Special was given the same new double-cutaway body shape as the Junior and the TV received in 1959. Around this time, Les Paul decided to discontinue his affiliation with Gibson; the model was renamed "SG Special" in late 1959. However, when the new design was applied to the two-pickup Special, the cavity for the neck pickup overlapped the neck-to-body joint. This weakened the joint to the point that the neck could break after only moderate handling. The problem was soon resolved when Gibson designers moved the neck pickup farther down the body, producing a stronger joint and eliminating the breakage problem.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: In 1960, Gibson experienced a decline in electric guitar sales due to strong competition from Fender's comparable but much lighter double-cutaway design, the Stratocaster. In response, Gibson modified the Les Paul line. For 1961, the Les Paul was thinner and much lighter than earlier models, with two sharply pointed cutaways and a vibrato system. However, the redesign was done without Les Paul's knowledge, and he hated the design, so he asked Gibson to remove his name. The double cutaway design retained the "Les Paul" name until 1963 when Les Paul's endorsement deal with Gibson ended. Without a contract, Gibson could no longer call its guitars "Les Pauls', and it renamed them "SGs" (for "Solid Guitars").


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: The Deluxe was among the "new" 1968–1969 Les Pauls and seen as an evolution of the Special. This model featured "mini-humbuckers", also known as "New York" humbuckers, and did not initially prove popular. The mini-humbucker pickups fit into the pre-carved P-90 pickup cavity using an adaptor ring developed by Gibson in order to use a surplus supply of Epiphone mini-humbuckers. The Deluxe was introduced in 1969 and helped to standardize production among Gibson's U.S.-built Les Pauls. The first incarnation of the Deluxe featured a one-piece body and slim three-piece neck. (It has been thought that some of these early "one-piece" bodies were actually leftovers from original 1950's Les Paul parts) The multipiece body (a thin layer of maple on top of two layers of Honduran mahogany) arrived later in 1969. Towards the end of that year, a reinforcing neck volute was added. 1969 Deluxes feature the Gibson logo devoid of the dot over the "i" in Gibson. By late 1969/early 1970, the dot over the "i" had returned, plus a "Made In USA" stamp on the back of the headstock. Gibson produced 216 Deluxe Gold Top as specially-ordered guitars with full-size humbucker t-tops pickups between 1972 and 1974 (179 in 1973, 28 in 1974 and 9 in 1972), as a Les Paul Standard pickup specification. These Gold Tops are quite rare to find today and are worth US$9,000 to US$10,000 in the collector's market, because they were the first guitars since the Gold Top 1958 fitted with humbucker pickups from the factory.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: Until the end of the year 1974, 90% of the Gibson Les Paul Deluxe manufactured were Gold Top. New colors emerged from 1975, less valued than the Gold Top. By in late 1975, the neck construction was changed from mahogany to maple. This lasted until the early 1980s, when the construction returned to mahogany. The body changed back to solid mahogany from the pancake design in late 1976 or early 1977. In 1985 Gibson discontinued the Deluxe model.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: Adrian Smith, of Iron Maiden, uses a Gibson Les Paul Deluxe Gold Top 1972, with the bridge pickup converted to a humbucker, and has been using it since joining Iron Maiden in 1980. Pete Townshend used Les Paul Deluxes onstage almost exclusively between 1973 and 1979, often with additional middle pickups.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: Jimmy Page, of Led Zeppelin, used a Gibson Les Paul Deluxe 1969 Red, converted to humbuckers, during the 1970s, and reunion of 2007. Vivian Campbell, of Dio, used a Deluxe Black 1977, with a humbucker conversion, during his period in the band. Ace Frehley used Deluxe 1973 converted humbucker in 70s. Steve Lukather has Deluxe Gold Top 1974 original humbucker.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson, of Thin Lizzy, also used Les Paul Deluxes in the 1970s (Robertson converted his Deluxe Cherry Sunburst 1973 to humbuckers in 1977, and plays the guitar to this day). Slash has a Deluxe Tobacco Sunburst 1975, converted to Humbuckers, and uses it during live shows. Yngwie Malmsteen had a Gibson Les Paul Deluxe Gold Top 1969 in his collection for more than 30 years, converted to humbuckers. It was sold for over US$25,000 a few years ago.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: The Les Paul Professional was produced from 1969–1971, it was a rare model as only around 118 were ever produced. Designed primarily as a studio guitar, it featured an unadorned dark-stained mahogany slab body with two low-impedance pickups mounted at an angle and a unique control layout that included not only the standard "rhythm/lead" switch, but also two toggles between the tailpiece and the volume/tone knobs that allowed for additional tone options. The low-impedance pickups required a special cable that included an on-board transformer. The model came with either a stop tailpiece or a Gibson-branded Bigsby vibrato tailpiece. Chicago guitarist Terry Kath used a Les Paul Professional both in the studio and on stage. The model was never popular, and was phased out in 1971 and replaced with the Les Paul Recording model, which itself was replaced in 1983 by the Les Paul Studio model. A few Professionals shipped in 1972 and 1973, though the catalogues had switched to the Recording model by then.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: The Les Paul Recording was produced from late 1971–1979 (the first models shipped in 1972). It was a slightly modified version of the Professional model, and featured the same low-impedance pickups and same body, though with a lighter-colored stain. The control layout was changed, the rhythm/lead selector switch was moved near the other controls from the upper left to lower right side of the guitar body, and the tone control toggle switches were rotated 90 degrees. The plastic plate to label the switches and knobs was larger than the Professional model as well. Les Paul himself favored the Recording model among all of the guitars to bear his name; it was his main guitar during his years playing at the Iridium Jazz Club and other New York venues. The model was re-issued in 2014.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: A single sharp cutaway Les Paul-style walnut body, set walnut neck, pearl dot inlays, walnut headstock overlay with gold Gibson logo (1978–1981) or Gibson logo branded into the headstock (Firebrand, 1981–1982). Hardware included three-per-side tuners, stop tailpiece, two exposed humbucker pickups, four knobs (two volume, two tone), three-way pickup switch, chrome hardware, available in Natural Walnut finish. It was manufactured between 1978 and 1982. It included such high end items as Grover tuning keys and the Tune-O-Matic bridge. It has become affectionately referred to as "The Coffee Table Burst" because of its natural finish.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: The Studio model was introduced in 1983, and is still in production. The guitar is intended for the studio musician; therefore, the design features of the "Les Paul Studio" are centered on optimal sound output and not on flashy appearance. This model retains only the elements of the Gibson Les Paul that contribute to tone and playability, including the carved maple top and standard mechanical and electronic hardware. However, the Studio design, until 2017, omits several stock Gibson ornamentations that do not affect sound quality, including body/neck binding. The first Studios from 1983 to 1986 were made with alder bodies rather than mahogany/maple. The current Studios come with a chambered mahogany body with either a maple or mahogany cap. The entry level Les Paul Studio "faded" has a weight relieved mahogany body and top and a satin finish. In 2018 neck binding and a pair of Gibson's most popular humbucking pickups, 57 Classic and 57 Classic+, and two push-pull pots were introduced. In order to guarantee the stability of the tuning and an excellent sustain were introduced the Grover tuners, the self-lubricating nut and the aluminium tune-o-matic bridge.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: Gibson also offered the Studio in a "standard" model. This variant was adorned with neck and body binding, ebony fretboard and sunburst paint job. All Studios at the time had dot fretboard markers and a thinner body.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: Gibson released the Memphis ES-Les Paul in 2014. It is a semi-acoustic model with f-holes and most with two Alnico humbuckers. There was a limited Custom Shop run of VOS Black Beauty ES Les Pauls with three humbuckers. Some of these limited run guitars were also fitted with Bigsby tailpieces. The neck is mahogany, but the sides and back are laminated maple and poplar. A mahogany block runs throughout the body to increase sustain.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: The Les Paul Memphis ES was released with Gibson’s MHS (Memphis Historic Spec) humbuckers. These scatter wound pickups have unbalanced coils to emulate vintage PAFs. The bridge and middle pickups both have Alnico II magnets while the neck pickup houses an Alnico III.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: Due to its limited run the Memphis ES-Les Paul has become a sought-after and collectible Les Paul model.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: The Gibson Les Paul HP – which stands for "High Performance" – was introduced in 2016, intending to be a Les Paul version featuring the most modern features, like the G-Force automatic tuner, a compound radius fretboard, a titanium adjustable zero-fret nut, and a carved fast access neck heel, similar to the Axcess model. Each knob had a push/pull function allowing to split the pickups and transient suppression. The guitar came in a special hardshell case, with a polished aluminium finish.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: The model was slightly modified in 2017, when the toggle-switch plate was removed, the knobs changed from ordinary speed knobs to chrome top hat ones, and the pickup rings changed from white to chrome.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: The model had a major change in 2018, with the complete removal of the pickup rings – the pickups were now mounted at the back of the guitar, with two screws for each pickup. This change made pickup swap noticeably harder, demanding a modification of the mounting piece of each pickup, which had to be bent inwards.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: The model was again changed in 2019, reversing the 2018 pickup ring removal. The knobs changed to transparent top hat ones, and the G-Force tuner was removed with locking tuners being added. This was the last of the HP series, which was discontinued in 2020.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: The Gibson Dark Fire is a variant of the Les Paul. It was a second generation Robot Guitar, using an updated version of the Powertune self-tuning system produced by Tronical Gmbh. The Dark Fire also introduced Gibson's Chameleon Tone Technology, a system consisting of onboard electronics designed to simulate various guitar tones. Additionally, the guitar included an audio interface called the Robot Interface Pack or RIP.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: The Dark Fire had one Burstbucker 3 humbucker in the bridge position, a P-90H at the neck, and a special Tronical-designed piezoelectric tune-o-matic sat in place of the bridge. The Burstbucker 3 and P-90H were selected via the three-way selector switch. The piezoelectric could be activated via the MCK, blending the magnetic and piezoelectric together under a standard 1/4" guitar cable. Gibson supplied a TRS stereo cable that allowed the piezo signal and the magnetic signal to be split between two different amps.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: The Gibson-owned Epiphone Company makes around 20 models of the Les Paul; most are similar copies of Gibson-made models. Made outside the United States, the Epiphone Les Pauls are made from more commonly available woods using less expensive foreign labor and have less hand detailing than the Gibson models, and as a result sell for a lower price. Epiphone has been owned by Gibson Guitars since the 1950s.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: Epiphone also makes several less common models of the Les Paul such as the Les Paul Goth, Les Paul Ultra/Ultra II, Les Paul Prophecy, and Les Paul Tribute Plus.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: Gibson has produced three Jimmy Page signature models. The first was issued in the mid-1990s. It is based on a stock sunburst Les Paul Standard. In 2005, the Gibson Custom Shop issued a limited run of Jimmy Page Signature guitars based on Page's 1959 "No. 1". Several years later, Gibson issued its third Jimmy Page Signature guitar, this one based on Page's #2, issued in a production run of 325 guitars.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: Gary Moore created his own signature Les Paul in the early 2000s, characterised by a yellow flame top, no binding and signature truss rod cover. It featured two open-topped humbucker pickups, one with "zebra coils" (one white and one black bobbin). In 2009, Gibson released another Gary Moore signature guitar, the Gibson Gary Moore BFG Les Paul. The Gary Moore BFG is much like their previous Les Paul BFG series, with the added styling of Moore's various 1950s Les Paul Standards.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: The first of these guitars is the Slash "Snakepit" Les Paul Standard, which was introduced by the Gibson Custom Shop in 1996, based on the smoking snake graphic off the cover of Slash's Snakepit's debut album and a mother of pearl snake inlay covering the length of the ebony fretboard. An Epiphone version was released as well. Production was limited to 100.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: In 2004, the Gibson Custom Shop introduced the Slash Signature Les Paul Standard, a guitar that Gibson has used ever since as the "standard" non-limited edition Slash Les Paul. In 2008, Gibson USA released the Slash Signature Les Paul Standard Plus Top, an authentic replica of one of two Les Pauls Slash received from Gibson in 1988. It has an Antique Vintage Sunburst finish over a solid mahogany body with a maple top. An Epiphone version was released as well. Also in 2008, the Gibson Custom Shop introduced the Slash "Inspired By" Les Paul Standard. This guitar is a replica of his 1987 Les Paul Standard.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: In 2010, Gibson released the Slash "AFD/Appetite for Destruction" Les Paul Standard II as a tribute to Guns N' Roses' debut album, "Appetite for Destruction", which resembles the Kris Derrig built 1959 Les Paul replica Slash used for the recording of the album. Production was limited to 400, with 100 aged guitars signed by Slash, and another 300 finished with the Custom Shop's VOS process. An Epiphone version was simultaneously released as well.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: In 2013, Gibson and Epiphone both released the Slash "Rosso Corsa" Les Paul Standard, and also the Gibson USA's Slash "Vermillion" Les Paul Standard. In the year of 2017, Gibson released Slash "Anaconda Burst" Les Paul, which consist of both a Plain Top, as well as a Flame Top. An Epiphone version of the guitar was released as well. In 2017, Gibson Custom Shop released the Slash Firebird, a guitar which is a radical departure from the Les Paul style association he is well known for. The finish was produced in only two separate colors, which is Trans Black and Trans White. Only 50 copies of each color were produced.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: Gibson has issued two signature Les Paul guitars for Joe Perry of Aerosmith. The first was developed in 1996 and was customized with an active mid-boost control, black chrome hardware, and a translucent black finish. It was replaced in 2004 by a second, more visually distinctive Les Paul, the "Boneyard" Les Paul. This guitar is characterized by Perry's custom "Boneyard" logo on the headstock and a figured maple top with a green tiger finish, and is available with either a stop bar tailpiece or a Bigsby tailpiece.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: Joe Perry owned a 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard. Perry is not sure how, but he lost track of his 1959 Les Paul in 1982. When he wanted to get the guitar back it was in the possession of Slash (which he later used in the music video for November Rain). Perry asked if he could buy back the guitar but Slash refused. Perry continued to ask about the guitar from time to time, and eventually received the guitar back from Slash as a 50th birthday present in 2000.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: A replica of the three-pickup "Black Beauty" Les Paul Custom used by Peter Frampton as his main guitar from his days in Humble Pie through his early solo career was introduced through the Gibson Custom Shop in 2012. Frampton's original guitar was a 1954 Les Paul modified extensively. His guitar was presumed lost in a South American plane crash in 1980, but was returned to Frampton in 2011.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: Gibson used hundreds of photographs of the late blues guitarist's instrument to produce the limited-edition Bloomfield signature. The company produced one hundred Bloomfield models with custom-aged finishes and two hundred more with the company's VOS finishing in 2009. They reproduced the tailpiece crack on the aged version, plus the mismatched volume and tone control knobs and the "Les Paul"-engraved truss rod cover on both versions, while including a toggle switch cover. The headstock was characterized by the kidney-shaped Grover tuning keys installed on the guitar before Bloomfield traded for it.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: In 2005, Gibson issued three Pete Townshend signature edition Les Paul Deluxe guitars, based on Townshend's heavily customised "#1" Wine Red 1976 Les Paul Deluxe, "#3" Gold top 1976, and "#9" Cherry Sunburst 1976. These guitars were modified by Alan Rogan and used extensively on stage and in the studio with The Who. In addition to the two mini-humbuckers the guitar carried, Rogan modified Townshend's originals with a DiMarzio humbucker in the middle. Toggle switches located behind the guitar's tailpiece turned the pickup on and off and added volume boost. The control knobs were wired for volume, one for each pickup and a master tone. The reissues differed from Townshend's originals in that the reissues had an inlay at the first fret while the originals did not.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: The Ace Frehley signature model (released in 1997 and re-released in 2012) has three double-white DiMarzio pickups, a cherry sunburst finish (AAAA), a color image of Frehley's face in his Kiss make-up on the headstock, mother-of-pearl lightning bolt inlays, and Frehley's simulated signature on the 12th fret. A Custom Shop run of only 300 guitars were built with DiMarzio PAF, Super Distortion, and Dual Sound pickups. The production run model was only built with DiMarzio Super Distortion pickups. This was one of Gibson's best selling artist runs. The more recent 2012 "Budokan" model, intended to pay tribute to the guitar used during the Kiss' first trip to Japan in 1977, features mother-of-pearl block inlays (no signature at the 12th fret), Grover machine heads with pearloid banjo buttons, and a grade A maple top.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top has a signature model, featuring his signature Seymour Duncan pickup set, based on his "Pearly Gates" 1959 Les Paul Standard.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: Clapton played a 1960 Standard as a member of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers as well as in the early days of Cream. The guitar was said to have been stolen while Clapton was preparing for the first Cream tour in 1966, following the recording of "Fresh Cream", and was long considered an iconic instrument by Clapton's fans. Gibson announced production of the Clapton 1960 Standard, also nicknamed the "Beano Burst", in 2010. Gibson says the instrument "accurately represents what Eric Clapton personally feels his 1960 Les Paul should be", with Clapton consulting on the design of the guitar. Production is limited but all feature period-correct hardware, two Gibson reproduction PAF humbucking pickups, and subtly figured "antiquity burst" maple tops.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: Paul Kossoff, of Free and Back Street Crawler, favored a 1959 Les Paul Standard. In 2011–12, Gibson's Custom Shop made a reproduction of Kossoff's Standard, featuring a so-called "green-lemon" flametop, two-piece carved maple top, mahogany body and neck, Custom Bucker humbucking pickups and kidney-bean shaped Grover tuners similar to those Kossoff had installed on the instrument. One hundred Kossoff models were made to resemble the guitar at the time of Kossoff's death in 1976, with another 250 in a VOS finish.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: Marc Bolan of T.Rex played a late-50s Les Paul, potentially a stripped Goldtop, later refitted with a Les Paul Custom neck. Gibson recreated this unique guitar in 2011, producing 450 examples including 100 hand-aged, numbered versions and 350 utilising the vintage original spec process. The guitars are notable for the custom-made PAF-reproduction uncovered humbucker pickups. The guitars feature a custom finish, referred to by Gibson as "Bolan chablis".


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: Adam Jones of Tool has played a 1979 Silverburst Les Paul since the bands inception. The guitars themselves were created for a short amount of time. Jones said in an interview in 1995 that he once owned 5 at a time. In June of 2020, Adam Jones announced via his Instagram that a signature model made by Gibson based off his guitar was in production. Two different models were made: a custom version that was sold for a limited time and a standard version which is more readily available. Jones later teased an Epiphone signature in 2021 of the same guitar, but such a model has yet to be released.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: Although early Les Paul imitations in the 1960s and 1970s, such as those made by Höfner, Hagström, Harmony Company, and Greco differed from Gibson's designs, with different electronics and even bolt-on necks, in the late 1970s some Japanese companies came very close to perfecting copies of the original 1958–1960 Standards.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: A lawsuit was brought by the Norlin Corporation (the parent company of Gibson) in 1977, against Elger/Hoshino U.S.A. (manufacturer and distributor, respectively, of Ibanez) over use a headstock shape and logo, both considered similar to the Gibson designs. However, the suit was based on an Ibanez headstock design that had been discontinued by 1976. The case was officially closed on February 2, 1978. Those mid-1970s guitars later became known as "lawsuit era" guitars.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: ESP Guitars makes several guitars based on the Les Paul design. The Edwards and Navigator lines are made in Japan in the vein of the late 1970s and 1980s guitars from Tokai, Burny, and Greco, complete with Gibson style headstocks.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: Heritage Guitars, founded in 1985 by four long-time Gibson employees when Gibson relocated to Nashville, continues to build guitars at the original factory in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Many of their models are inspired by Gibson's late-1950s/early-1960s sunbursts and Customs.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: In 2006, Gibson lost a lawsuit against PRS Guitars, Gibson claiming PRS was infringing on the Les Paul shape and design. The court's decision allowed PRS to reintroduce single cutaway versions of its instruments.


title: Gibson Les Paul

text: In 2008, Gibson lost the trademark for the Les Paul in Finland. According to the court, "Les Paul" has become a common noun for guitars of a certain type. The lawsuit began when Gibson sued Musamaailma, which produces Tokai guitars, for trademark violation. However, several witnesses testified that the term "Les Paul" denotes character in a guitar rather than a particular guitar model. The court also found it aggravating that Gibson had used Les Paul in the plural form and that the importer of Gibson guitars had used Les Paul as a common noun. The court decision will become effective, as Gibson is not going to appeal.


title: Natural satellite

text: A natural satellite is, in the most common usage, an astronomical body that orbits a planet, dwarf planet, or small Solar System body (or sometimes another natural satellite). Natural satellites are often colloquially referred to as moons, a derivation from the Moon of Earth.


title: Natural satellite

text: In the Solar System, there are six planetary satellite systems containing 207 known natural satellites altogether. Seven objects commonly considered dwarf planets by astronomers are also known to have natural satellites: , Pluto, Haumea, , Makemake, , and Eris. , there are 442 other minor planets known to have natural satellites.


title: Natural satellite

text: A planet usually has at least around 10,000 times the mass of any natural satellites that orbit it, with a correspondingly much larger diameter. The Earth–Moon system is a unique exception in the Solar System; at 3,474 km (2,158 miles) across, the Moon is 0.273 times the diameter of Earth and about of its mass. The next largest ratios are the Neptune–Triton system at 0.055 (with a mass ratio of about 1 to 5000), the Saturn–Titan system at 0.044 (with the second mass ratio next to the Earth–Moon system, 1 to 4250), the Jupiter–Ganymede system at 0.038, and the Uranus–Titania system at 0.031. For the category of dwarf planets, Charon has the largest ratio, being 0.52 the diameter and 12.2% the mass of Pluto.


title: Natural satellite

text: The first known natural satellite was the Moon, but it was considered a "planet" until Copernicus' introduction of "De revolutionibus orbium coelestium" in 1543. Until the discovery of the Galilean satellites in 1610 there was no opportunity for referring to such objects as a class. Galileo chose to refer to his discoveries as "Planetæ" ("planets"), but later discoverers chose other terms to distinguish them from the objects they orbited.


title: Natural satellite

text: The first to use the term "satellite" to describe orbiting bodies was the German astronomer Johannes Kepler in his pamphlet "Narratio de Observatis a se quatuor Iouis satellitibus erronibus" ("Narration About Four Satellites of Jupiter Observed") in 1610. He derived the term from the Latin word "satelles", meaning "guard", "attendant", or "companion", because the "satellites" accompanied their primary planet in their journey through the heavens.


title: Natural satellite

text: The term "satellite" thus became the normal one for referring to an object orbiting a planet, as it avoided the ambiguity of "moon". In 1957, however, the launching of the artificial object Sputnik created a need for new terminology. The terms "man-made satellite" and "artificial moon" were very quickly abandoned in favor of the simpler "satellite", and as a consequence, the term has become linked primarily with artificial objects flown in space –


title: Natural satellite

text: Because of this shift in meaning, the term "moon", which had continued to be used in a generic sense in works of popular science and in fiction, has regained respectability and is now used interchangeably with "natural satellite", even in scientific articles. When it is necessary to avoid both the ambiguity of confusion with Earth's natural satellite the Moon and the natural satellites of the other planets on the one hand, and artificial satellites on the other, the term "natural satellite" (using "natural" in a sense opposed to "artificial") is used. To further avoid ambiguity, the convention is to capitalize the word Moon when referring to Earth's natural satellite (a proper noun), but not when referring to other natural satellites (common nouns).


title: Natural satellite

text: Many authors define "satellite" or "natural satellite" as orbiting some planet or minor planet, synonymous with "moon" – by such a definition all natural satellites are moons, but Earth and other planets are not satellites.


title: Natural satellite

text: A few recent authors define "moon" as "a satellite of a planet or minor planet", and "planet" as "a satellite of a star" – such authors consider Earth as a "natural satellite of the Sun".


title: Natural satellite

text: There is no established lower limit on what is considered a "moon". Every natural celestial body with an identified orbit around a planet of the Solar System, some as small as a kilometer across, has been considered a moon, though objects a tenth that size within Saturn's rings, which have not been directly observed, have been called "moonlets". Small asteroid moons (natural satellites of asteroids), such as Dactyl, have also been called moonlets.


title: Natural satellite

text: The upper limit is also vague. Two orbiting bodies are sometimes described as a double planet rather than primary and satellite. Asteroids such as 90 Antiope are considered double asteroids, but they have not forced a clear definition of what constitutes a moon. Some authors consider the Pluto–Charon system to be a double (dwarf) planet. The most common dividing line on what is considered a moon rests upon whether the barycentre is below the surface of the larger body, though this is somewhat arbitrary, because it depends on distance as well as relative mass.


title: Natural satellite

text: The natural satellites orbiting relatively close to the planet on prograde, uninclined circular orbits ("regular" satellites) are generally thought to have been formed out of the same collapsing region of the protoplanetary disk that created its primary. In contrast, irregular satellites (generally orbiting on distant, inclined, eccentric and/or retrograde orbits) are thought to be captured asteroids possibly further fragmented by collisions. Most of the major natural satellites of the Solar System have regular orbits, while most of the small natural satellites have irregular orbits. The Moon and possibly Charon are exceptions among large bodies in that they are thought to have originated by the collision of two large proto-planetary objects (see the giant impact hypothesis). The material that would have been placed in orbit around the central body is predicted to have reaccreted to form one or more orbiting natural satellites. As opposed to planetary-sized bodies, asteroid moons are thought to commonly form by this process. Triton is another exception; although large and in a close, circular orbit, its motion is retrograde and it is thought to be a captured dwarf planet.


title: Natural satellite

text: The capture of an asteroid from a heliocentric orbit is not always permanent. According to simulations, temporary satellites should be a common phenomenon. The only observed examples are , , .


title: Natural satellite

text: Most regular moons (natural satellites following relatively close and prograde orbits with small orbital inclination and eccentricity) in the Solar System are tidally locked to their respective primaries, meaning that the same side of the natural satellite always faces its planet. This phenomenon comes about through a loss of energy due to tidal forces raised by the planet, slowing the rotation of the satellite until it is negligible. The only known exception is Saturn's natural satellite Hyperion, which rotates chaotically because of the gravitational influence of Titan.


title: Natural satellite

text: In contrast, the outer natural satellites of the giant planets (irregular satellites) are too far away to have become locked. For example, Jupiter's Himalia, Saturn's Phoebe, and Neptune's Nereid have rotation periods in the range of ten hours, whereas their orbital periods are hundreds of days.


title: Natural satellite

text: No "moons of moons" or subsatellites (natural satellites that orbit a natural satellite of a planet) are currently known. In most cases, the tidal effects of the planet would make such a system unstable.


title: Natural satellite

text: However, calculations performed after the 2008 detection of a possible ring system around Saturn's moon Rhea indicate that satellites orbiting Rhea could have stable orbits. Furthermore, the suspected rings are thought to be narrow, a phenomenon normally associated with shepherd moons. However, targeted images taken by the "Cassini" spacecraft failed to detect rings around Rhea.


title: Natural satellite

text: It has also been proposed that Saturn's moon Iapetus had a satellite in the past; this is one of several hypotheses that have been put forward to account for its equatorial ridge.


title: Natural satellite

text: Light-curve analysis suggests that Saturn's irregular satellite Kiviuq is extremely prolate, and is likely a contact binary or even a binary moon.


title: Natural satellite

text: Two natural satellites are known to have small companions at both their and Lagrangian points, sixty degrees ahead and behind the body in its orbit. These companions are called trojan moons, as their orbits are analogous to the trojan asteroids of Jupiter. The trojan moons are Telesto and Calypso, which are the leading and following companions, respectively, of the Saturnian moon Tethys; and Helene and Polydeuces, the leading and following companions of the Saturnian moon Dione.


title: Natural satellite

text: The discovery of 243 Ida's natural satellite Dactyl in the early 1990s confirmed that some asteroids have natural satellites; indeed, 87 Sylvia has two. Some, such as 90 Antiope, are double asteroids with two comparably sized components.


title: Natural satellite

text: Neptune's moon Proteus is the largest irregularly shaped natural satellite; the shapes of Eris' moon Dysnomia and Orcus' moon Vanth are unknown. All other known natural satellites that are at least the size of Uranus's Miranda have lapsed into rounded ellipsoids under hydrostatic equilibrium, i.e. are "round/rounded satellites" and are sometimes categorized as planetary-mass moons. (Dysnomia's density is known to be high enough that it is probably a solid ellipsoid as well.) The larger natural satellites, being tidally locked, tend toward ovoid (egg-like) shapes: squat at their poles and with longer equatorial axes in the direction of their primaries (their planets) than in the direction of their motion. Saturn's moon Mimas, for example, has a major axis 9% greater than its polar axis and 5% greater than its other equatorial axis. Methone, another of Saturn's moons, is only around 3 km in diameter and . The effect is smaller on the largest natural satellites, where their own gravity is greater relative to the effects of tidal distortion, especially those that orbit less massive planets or, as in the case of the Moon, at greater distances.


title: Natural satellite

text: Of the twenty known natural satellites in the Solar System that are large enough to be gravitationally rounded, several remain geologically active today. Io is the most volcanically active body in the Solar System, while Europa, Enceladus, Titan and Triton display evidence of ongoing tectonic activity and cryovolcanism. In the first three cases, the geological activity is powered by the tidal heating resulting from having eccentric orbits close to their giant-planet primaries. (This mechanism would have also operated on Triton in the past, before its orbit was circularized.) Many other natural satellites, such as Earth's Moon, Ganymede, Tethys and Miranda, show evidence of past geological activity, resulting from energy sources such as the decay of their primordial radioisotopes, greater past orbital eccentricities (due in some cases to past orbital resonances), or the differentiation or freezing of their interiors. Enceladus and Triton both have active features resembling geysers, although in the case of Triton solar heating appears to provide the energy. Titan and Triton have significant atmospheres; Titan also has hydrocarbon lakes. Also Io and Callisto have atmospheres, even if they are extremely thin. Four of the largest natural satellites, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, and Titan, are thought to have subsurface oceans of liquid water, while smaller Enceladus may have localized subsurface liquid water.


title: Natural satellite

text: Beside planets and dwarf planets objects within our Solar System known to have natural satellites are 76 in the asteroid belt (five with two each), four Jupiter trojans, 39 near-Earth objects (two with two satellites each), and 14 Mars-crossers. There are also 84 known natural satellites of trans-Neptunian objects. Some 150 additional small bodies have been observed within the rings of Saturn, but only a few were tracked long enough to establish orbits. Planets around other stars are likely to have satellites as well, and although numerous candidates have been detected to date, none have yet been confirmed.


title: Natural satellite

text: Of the inner planets, Mercury and Venus have no natural satellites; Earth has one large natural satellite, known as the Moon; and Mars has two tiny natural satellites, Phobos and Deimos.


title: Natural satellite

text: The giant planets have extensive systems of natural satellites, including half a dozen comparable in size to Earth's Moon: the four Galilean moons, Saturn's Titan, and Neptune's Triton. Saturn has an additional six mid-sized natural satellites massive enough to have achieved hydrostatic equilibrium, and Uranus has five. It has been suggested that some satellites may potentially harbour life.


title: Natural satellite

text: Among the objects generally agreed by astronomers to be dwarf planets, Ceres and have no known natural satellites. Pluto has the relatively large natural satellite Charon and four smaller natural satellites; Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra. Haumea has two natural satellites; , , Makemake, , and have one each. The Pluto–Charon system is unusual in that the center of mass lies in open space between the two, a characteristic sometimes associated with a double-planet system.


title: Natural satellite

text: The seven largest natural satellites in the Solar System (those bigger than 2,500 km across) are Jupiter's Galilean moons (Ganymede, Callisto, Io, and Europa), Saturn's moon Titan, Earth's moon, and Neptune's captured natural satellite Triton. Triton, the smallest of these, has more mass than all smaller natural satellites together. Similarly in the next size group of nine mid-sized natural satellites, between 1,000 km and 1,600 km across, Titania, Oberon, Rhea, Iapetus, Charon, Ariel, Umbriel, Dione, and Tethys, the smallest, Tethys, has more mass than all smaller natural satellites together. As well as the natural satellites of the various planets, there are also over 80 known natural satellites of the dwarf planets, minor planets and other small Solar System bodies. Some studies estimate that up to 15% of all trans-Neptunian objects could have satellites.


title: Natural satellite

text: The following is a comparative table classifying the natural satellites in the Solar System by diameter. The column on the right includes some notable planets, dwarf planets, asteroids, and trans-Neptunian objects for comparison. The natural satellites of the planets are named after mythological figures. These are predominantly Greek, except for the Uranian natural satellites, which are named after Shakespearean characters. The twenty satellites massive enough to be round are in bold in the table below. Minor planets and satellites where there is disagreement in the literature on roundness are italicized in the table below.


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: Algebraic notation (or AN) is the standard method for recording and describing the moves in a game of chess. It is based on a system of coordinates to uniquely identify each square on the chessboard. It is used by most books, magazines, and newspapers. In English-speaking countries, the parallel method of descriptive notation was generally used in chess publications until about 1980. A few players still use descriptive notation, but it is no longer recognized by FIDE, the international chess governing body.


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: Algebraic notation exists in various forms and languages and is based on a system developed by Philipp Stamma. Stamma used the modern names of the squares, but he used p for pawn moves and the original of a piece (a through h) instead of the initial letter of the piece name.


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: The term "algebraic notation" may be considered a misnomer, as the system is unrelated to algebra. Other terms such as "standard notation" and "coordinate notation" have been proposed, but the traditional term persists.


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: Each square of the chessboard is identified by a unique coordinate pair—a letter and a number—from White's point of view. The vertical columns of squares, called , are labeled a through h from White's left (the ) to right (the ). The horizontal rows of squares, called , are numbered 1 to 8 starting from White's side of the board. Thus each square has a unique identification of file letter followed by rank number. For example, the initial square of White's king is designated as "e1".


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: Each piece type (other than pawns) is identified by an uppercase letter. English-speaking players use the letters K for king, Q for queen, R for rook, B for bishop, and N for knight (since K is already used and is a silent letter in knight). S (from the German "Springer") was also used for the knight in the early days of algebraic notation and is still used in some chess problems (where N stands for nightrider, a popular fairy chess piece).


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: Different initial letters are used by other languages. In chess literature, especially that intended for an international audience, the language-specific letters are often replaced by universally recognized piece symbols; for example, ♞c6 in place of Nc6. This style is known as Figurine Algebraic Notation (FAN). The Unicode Miscellaneous Symbols set includes all the symbols necessary for FAN.


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: In both standard algebraic notation and FAN, pawns are not identified by a letter or symbol, but rather by the absence of one.


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: Each move of a piece is indicated by the piece's uppercase letter, plus the coordinate of the destination square. For example, Be5 (bishop moves to e5), Nf3 (knight moves to f3). For pawn moves, a letter indicating pawn is not used, only the destination square is given. For example, c5 (pawn moves to c5).


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: When a piece makes a , an "x" (or the multiplication sign "×") is inserted immediately before the destination square. For example, Bxe5 (bishop captures the piece on e5). When a pawn makes a capture, the file from which the pawn departed is used to identify the pawn. For example, exd5 (pawn on the e-file captures the piece on d5). In older German, Russian, or Italian publications, a colon (:) is sometimes used instead of "x", either in the same place the "x" would go (B:e5) or at the end (Be5:).


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: "En passant" captures are indicated by specifying the capturing pawn's file of departure, the "x", the destination square (not the square of the captured pawn), and (optionally) the suffix "e.p." indicating the capture was "en passant". For example, exd6 e.p.


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: Some texts, such as the "Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings", omit any indication that a capture has been made. (For example, Be5 instead of Bxe5; ed6 instead of exd6 or exd6 e.p.) When it is unambiguous to do so, a pawn capture is sometimes described by specifying only the files involved (exd or even ed). These shortened forms are sometimes called minimal or abbreviated algebraic notation.


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: When two (or more) identical pieces can move to the same square, the moving piece is uniquely identified by specifying the piece's letter, followed by (in descending order of preference):


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: In the diagram, both black rooks could legally move to f8, so the move of the d8-rook to f8 is disambiguated as Rdf8. For the white rooks on the a-file which could both move to a3, it is necessary to provide the rank of the moving piece, i.e., R1a3.


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: In the case of the white queen on h4 moving to e1, neither the rank nor file alone are sufficient to disambiguate from the other white queens. As such, this move is written Qh4e1.


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: As above, an "x" can be inserted to indicate a capture; for example, if the final case were a capture, it would be written as Qh4xe1.


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: Per FIDE rules, the third form (indicating both the file and rank of departure) is always acceptable, but the first two forms are preferred if they are unambiguous enough (C.8; C.10.3).


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: When a pawn promotes, the piece promoted to is indicated at the end of the move notation, for example: e8Q (promoting to queen). In standard FIDE notation, no punctuation is used; in Portable Game Notation (PGN) and many publications, pawn promotion is indicated by the equals sign (e8=Q). Other formulations used in chess literature include parentheses (e.g. e8(Q)) and a forward slash (e.g. e8/Q).


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: FIDE specifies draw offers to be recorded by an equals sign with parentheses "(=)" after the move on the . This is not usually included in published game scores.


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: Castling is indicated by the special notations 0-0 (for castling) and 0-0-0 ( castling). While the FIDE standard is to use the digit zero (0-0 and 0-0-0), PGN uses the uppercase letter "O" (O-O and O-O-O).


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: A move that places the opponent's king in check usually has the symbol "+" appended. Alternatively, sometimes a dagger (†) or the abbreviation "ch" is used. Some publications indicate a discovered check with an abbreviation such as "dis ch", or with a specific symbol. Double check is usually indicated the same as check, but is sometimes represented specifically as "dbl ch" or "++", particularly in older chess literature. The "Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings" omits any indication of check.


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: Checkmate at the completion of moves is represented by the symbol "#" in standard FIDE notation and PGN. The word mate is commonly used instead; occasionally a double dagger () or a double plus sign (++) is used, although the double plus sign is also used to represent "double check" when a king is under attack by two enemy pieces simultaneously. A checkmate is represented by "" (the not equal sign) in the macOS chess application. In Russian and ex-USSR publications, where captures are indicated by ":", checkmate can also be represented by "X" or "x".


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: The notation 1–0 at the completion of moves indicates that White won, 0–1 indicates that Black won, and ½–½ indicates a draw. In case of forfeit, scores 0–0, ½–0, and 0–½ are also possible. If player(s) lost by default, results are +/−, −/+, or −/−.


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: Often there is no indication regarding how a player won or lost (other than checkmate, see above), so simply 1–0 or 0–1 may be written to show that one player resigned or lost due to time control or forfeit. (Similarly, there is more than one way for a game to end in a draw.) Sometimes direct information is given by the words "White resigns" or "Black resigns", though this is not considered part of the notation but rather a return to the surrounding narrative text.


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: Besides the FIDE standard (or short) algebraic notation (SAN) already described, several similar systems have been used.


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: In long algebraic notation, also known as fully expanded algebraic notation, both the starting and ending squares are specified, for example: e2e4. Sometimes these are separated by a hyphen, e.g. Nb1-c3, while captures are indicated by an "x", e.g. Rd3xd7. Long algebraic notation takes more space and is no longer commonly used in print; however, it has the advantage of clarity. Some books using primarily short algebraic notation use the long notation instead of the disambiguation forms described earlier.


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: A form of long algebraic notation (without piece names) is also used by the Universal Chess Interface (UCI) standard, which is a common way for graphical chess programs to communicate with chess engines (e.g., for AI).


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: In international correspondence chess the use of algebraic notation may cause confusion, since different languages employ different names (and therefore different initial letters) for the pieces, and some players may be unfamiliar with the Latin alphabet. Hence, the standard for transmitting moves by post or email is ICCF numeric notation, which identifies squares using numerical co-ordinates, and identifies both the departure and destination squares. For example, the move 1.e4 is rendered as 1.5254. In recent years, the majority of correspondence games have been played on on-line servers rather than by email or post, leading to a decline in the use of ICCF numeric notation.


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: Portable Game Notation (PGN) is a text-based file format for storing chess games, which uses standard English algebraic notation and a small amount of markup. PGN can be processed by almost all chess software, as well as being easily readable by humans. For example, the Game of the Century could be represented as follows in PGN:


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: A game or series of moves is generally written in one of two ways; in two columns, as White/Black pairs, preceded by the move number and a period:


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: Moves may be interspersed with commentary (annotations). When the resumes with a Black move, an ellipsis (...) fills the position of the White move, for example:


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: Descriptive notation was usual in the Middle Ages in Europe. A form of algebraic chess notation that seems to have been borrowed from Muslim chess, however, appeared in Europe in a 12th century manuscript referred to as “MS. Paris Fr. 1173 (PP.)”. The files run from a to h, just as they do in the current standard algebraic notation. The ranks, however, are also designated by letters, with the exception of the 8th rank which is distinct because it has no letter. The ranks are lettered in reverse – from the 7th to the 1st: k, l, m, n, o, p, q.


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: Another system of notation using only letters appears in a book of Mediaeval chess, Rechenmeister Jacob Köbel's "Schachzabel Spiel" of 1520.


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: Algebraic notation is described in 1847 by Howard Staunton in his book "The Chess-Player's Handbook". Staunton credits the idea to German authors, and in particular to "Alexandre, Jaenisch, and the "Handbuch" ." While algebraic notation has been used in German and Russian chess literature since the 19th century, the Anglosphere was slow to adopt it, using descriptive notation for much of the 20th century. Beginning in the 1970s, algebraic notation gradually became more common in English language publications, and by 1980 it had become the prevalent notation. In 1981, FIDE stopped recognizing descriptive notation, and algebraic notation became the accepted international standard.


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: The table contains names for all the pieces as well as the words for chess, check, and checkmate in several languages. Several languages use the Arabic loanword "alfil" for the piece called bishop in English; in this context it is a chess-specific term which no longer has its original meaning of "elephant".


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: Though not technically a part of algebraic notation, the following are some symbols commonly used by annotators, for example in publications "Chess Informant" and "Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings", to give editorial comment on a move or position.


title: Algebraic notation (chess)

text: The symbol chosen is simply appended to the end of the move notation, for example, in the Soller Gambit: 1.d4 e5?! 2.dxe5 f6 3.e4! Nc6 4.Bc4+/−


title: Ai Weiwei

text: Ai Weiwei (, ; born 28 August 1957) is a Chinese contemporary artist, documentarian, and activist. Ai grew up in the far northwest of China, where he lived under harsh conditions due to his father's exile. As an activist, he has been openly critical of the Chinese Government's stance on democracy and human rights. He investigated government corruption and cover-ups, in particular the Sichuan schools corruption scandal following the collapse of "tofu-dreg schools" in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. In 2011, Ai Weiwei was arrested at Beijing Capital International Airport on 3 April, for "economic crimes". He was detained for 81 days without charge. Ai Weiwei emerged as a vital instigator in Chinese cultural development, an architect of Chinese modernism, and one of the nation's most vocal political commentators.


title: Ai Weiwei

text: Ai Weiwei encapsulates political conviction and his personal poetry in his many sculptures, photographs, and public works. In doing this, he makes use of Chinese art forms to display Chinese political and social issues.


title: Ai Weiwei

text: After being allowed to leave China in 2015, he has lived in Berlin, Germany, in Cambridge, UK, with his family, and in Portugal.


title: Ai Weiwei

text: Ai's father was the Chinese poet Ai Qing, who was denounced during the Anti-Rightist Movement. In 1958, the family was sent to a labour camp in Beidahuang, Heilongjiang, when Ai was one year old. They were subsequently exiled to Shihezi, Xinjiang in 1961, where they lived for 16 years. Upon Mao Zedong's death and the end of the Cultural Revolution, the family returned to Beijing in 1976.


title: Ai Weiwei

text: In 1978, Ai enrolled in the Beijing Film Academy and studied animation. In 1978, he was one of the founders of the early avant garde art group the "Stars", together with Ma Desheng, Wang Keping, Mao Lizi, Huang Rui, Li Shuang, Ah Cheng and Qu Leilei. The group disbanded in 1983, yet Ai participated in regular Stars group shows, "The Stars: Ten Years," 1989 (Hanart Gallery, Hong Kong and Taipei), and a retrospective exhibition in Beijing in 2007: "Origin Point" (Today Art Museum, Beijing).


title: Ai Weiwei

text: From 1981 to 1993, he lived in the United States. He was among the first generation of students to study abroad following China's reform in 1980, being one of the 161 students to take the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) in 1981. For the first few years, Ai lived in Philadelphia and San Francisco. He studied English at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of California, Berkeley. Later, he moved to New York City. He studied briefly at Parsons School of Design. Ai attended the Art Students League of New York from 1983 to 1986, where he studied with Bruce Dorfman, Knox Martin and Richard Pousette-Dart. He later dropped out of school and made a living out of drawing street portraits and working odd jobs. During this period, he gained exposure to the works of Marcel Duchamp, Andy Warhol, and Jasper Johns, and began creating conceptual art by altering readymade objects.


title: Ai Weiwei

text: Ai befriended beat poet Allen Ginsberg while living in New York, following a chance meeting at a poetry reading where Ginsberg read out several poems about China. Ginsberg had traveled to China and met with Ai's father, the noted poet Ai Qing, and consequently Ginsberg and Ai became friends.


title: Ai Weiwei

text: When he was living in the East Village (from 1983 to 1993), Ai carried a camera with him all the time and would take pictures of his surroundings wherever he was. The resulting collection of photos were later selected and is now known as the New York Photographs. At the same time, Ai became fascinated by blackjack card games and frequented Atlantic City casinos. He is still regarded in gambling circles as a top tier professional blackjack player according to an article published on blackjackchamp.com.


title: Ai Weiwei

text: In 1993, Ai returned to China after his father became ill. He helped establish the experimental artists' Beijing East Village and co-published a series of three books about this new generation of artists with Chinese curator Feng Boyi: "Black Cover Book" (1994), "White Cover Book" (1995), and "Gray Cover Book" (1997).


title: Ai Weiwei

text: In 1999, Ai moved to Caochangdi, in the northeast of Beijing, and built a studio house – his first architectural project. Due to his interest in architecture, he founded the architecture studio FAKE Design, in 2003. In 2000, he co-curated the art exhibition "Fuck Off" with curator Feng Boyi in Shanghai, China.


title: Ai Weiwei

text: In 2011, Ai was arrested in China on charges of tax evasion, jailed for 81 days, and then released. The government had kept his passport confiscated and refused him any other travel papers. Following the return of his passport in 2015, Ai moved to Berlin where he maintained a large studio in a former brewery. He lived in the studio and used it as the base for his international work.


title: Ai Weiwei

text: In 2019, he announced he would be leaving Berlin, saying that Germany is not an open culture. In September 2019, he moved to live in Cambridge, England.


title: Ai Weiwei

text: As of 2021, Ai lives in Montemor-o-Novo, Portugal. He still maintains a base in Cambridge, where his son attends school, and a studio in Berlin. Ai says he will stay in Portugal long-term "unless something happens".


title: Ai Weiwei

text: In 2005, Ai was invited to start blogging by Sina Weibo, the biggest internet platform in China. He posted his first blog on 19 November. For four years, he "turned out a steady stream of scathing social commentary, criticism of government policy, thoughts on art and architecture, and autobiographical writings." The blog was shut down by Sina on 28 May 2009. Ai then turned to Twitter and wrote prolifically on the platform, claiming at least eight hours online every day. He wrote almost exclusively in Chinese using the account @aiww. As of 31 December 2013, Ai has declared that he would stop tweeting but the account remains active in forms of retweets and Instagram posts. In 2013, Dale Eisinger of "Complex" ranked Ai's blog as the fourth greatest work of performance art ever, with the writer arguing, "Much in the way early performance artists documented with film and video, Ai used the prevalent medium of his time—the web—to examine the increasingly fine line between public life and the artist's work. Ai here used his presence to create something full and tangible rather than just a symbolic representation of his critique."


title: Ai Weiwei

text: Ten days after the 8.0-magnitude earthquake in Sichuan province on 12 May 2008, Ai led a team to survey and film the post-quake conditions in various disaster zones. In response to the government's lack of transparency in revealing names of students who perished in the earthquake due to substandard school campus constructions, Ai recruited volunteers online and launched a "Citizens' Investigation" to compile names and information of the student victims. On 20 March 2009, he posted a blog titled "Citizens' Investigation" and wrote: "To remember the departed, to show concern for life, to take responsibility, and for the potential happiness of the survivors, we are initiating a 'Citizens' Investigation.' We will seek out the names of each departed child, and we will remember them."


title: Ai Weiwei

text: As of 14 April 2009, the list had accumulated 5,385 names. Ai published the collected names as well as numerous articles documenting the investigation on his blog which was shut down by Chinese authorities in May 2009. He also posted his list of names of schoolchildren who died on the wall of his office at FAKE Design in Beijing.


title: Ai Weiwei

text: Ai suffered headaches and claimed he had difficulty concentrating on his work since returning from Chengdu in August 2009, where he was beaten by the police for trying to testify for Tan Zuoren, a fellow investigator of the shoddy construction and student casualties in the earthquake. On 14 September 2009, Ai was diagnosed to be suffering internal bleeding in a hospital in Munich, Germany, and the doctor arranged for emergency brain surgery. The cerebral hemorrhage is believed to be linked to the police attack.


title: Ai Weiwei

text: According to the "Financial Times", in an attempt to force Ai to leave the country, two accounts used by him had been hacked in a sophisticated attack on Google in China dubbed Operation Aurora, their contents read and copied; his bank accounts were investigated by state security agents who claimed he was under investigation for "unspecified suspected crimes".


title: Ai Weiwei

text: Ai was placed under house arrest in November 2010 by the Chinese police. He said this was to prevent the planned party marking the demolition of his brand new Shanghai studio.


title: Ai Weiwei

text: The building was designed by Ai himself with assistance, and potency coming from a "high official [from Shanghai]" the new studio was a part of a new traditionally design by Shanghai Municipal jurisdiction. He was going to use it as a studio and mentor different architecture courses. After Ai was charged with constructing the studio without the required approval and the knockdown notice had been processed, Ai said officials had been anxious and the paperwork and planning process was "under government supervision". According to Ai, a few different artists were invited to create and structure new studios in this area of Shanghai because officials wanted to create a friendly environment.


title: Ai Weiwei

text: Ai stated on 3 November 2010 that authorities had let him know him two months earlier that the newly-completed studio would be knocked down because it was illegal and did not meet the needs. Ai criticized that this was biased, stating that he was "the only one singled out to have my studio destroyed". "The Guardian" reported Ai saying Shanghai municipal authorities were "upset " by documentaries on subjects they considered delicate—in particular a documentary featuring Shanghai resident Feng Zhenghu, who lived in forced separation for three months in Narita Airport, Tokyo, and one focused on Yang Jia, who murdered six Shanghai police officers.


title: Ai Weiwei

text: At the end of the term, the gathering took place without Ai. All of his fans had a river crab, an allusion to "harmony", and a euphemism used to jeer official censorship. Ai was eventually released from house arrest the next day.


title: Ai Weiwei

text: Like other activists and intellectuals, Ai was stopped from leaving China in late 2010. Ai suggested that the higher ups wanted to stop him from attending a ceremony in December 2010 to award the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize to fellow dissident Liu Xiaobo. Ai said that he was never invited to the ceremony and was attempting to travel to South Korea where he had an important meeting when he was told that he could not leave for reasons of national security.


title: Ai Weiwei

text: On 3 April 2011, Ai was arrested at Beijing Capital International Airport just before catching a flight to Hong Kong and his studio facilities were searched. A police contingent of approximately 50 officers came to his studio, threw a cordon around it and searched the premises. They took away laptops and the hard drive from the main computer; along with Ai, police also detained eight staff members and Ai's wife, Lu Qing. Police also visited the mother of Ai's two-year-old son. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on 7 April that Ai was arrested under investigation for alleged economic crimes. Then, on 8 April, police returned to Ai's workshop to examine his financial affairs. On 9 April, Ai's accountant, as well as studio partner Liu Zhenggang and driver Zhang Jingsong, disappeared, while Ai's assistant Wen Tao has remained missing since Ai's arrest on 3 April. Ai's wife said that she was summoned by the Beijing Chaoyang district tax bureau, where she was interrogated about his studio's tax on 12 April. "South China Morning Post" reports that Ai received at least two visits from the police, the last being on 31 March – three days before his detention – apparently with offers of membership to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. A staff member recalled that Ai had mentioned receiving the offer earlier, "[but Ai] didn't say if it was a membership of the CPPCC at the municipal or national level, how he responded or whether he accepted it or not."


title: Ai Weiwei

text: On 24 February, amid an online campaign for Middle East-style protests in major Chinese cities by overseas dissidents, Ai posted on his Twitter account: "I didn't care about jasmine at first, but people who are scared by jasmine sent out information about how harmful jasmine is often, which makes me realize that jasmine is what scares them the most. What a jasmine!"


title: Ai Weiwei

text: Analysts and other activists said Ai had been widely thought to be untouchable, but Nicholas Bequelin from Human Rights Watch suggested that his arrest, calculated to send the message that no one would be immune, must have had the approval of someone in the top leadership. International governments, human rights groups and art institutions, among others, called for Ai's release, while Chinese officials did not notify Ai's family of his whereabouts.


title: Ai Weiwei

text: State media started describing Ai as a "deviant and a plagiarist" in early 2011. A Chinese Communist Party tabloid "Global Times" editorial on 6 April 2011 attacked Ai, and two days later, the journal scorned Western media for questioning Ai's charge as a "catch-all crime", and denounced the use of his political activism as a "legal shield" against everyday crimes. Frank Ching expressed in the "South China Morning Post" that how the "Global Times" could radically shift its position from one day to the next was reminiscent of "Alice in Wonderland".


title: Ai Weiwei

text: Michael Sheridan of "The Times" suggested that Ai had offered himself to the authorities on a platter with some of his provocative art, particularly photographs of himself nude with only a toy alpaca hiding his modesty – with a caption『草泥马挡中央』 ("grass mud horse covering the middle"). The term possesses a double meaning in Chinese: one possible interpretation was given by Sheridan as: "Fuck your mother, the party central committee".


title: Ai Weiwei

text: "Ming Pao" in Hong Kong reacted strongly to the state media's character attack on Ai, saying that authorities had employed "a chain of actions outside the law, doing further damage to an already weak system of laws, and to the overall image of the country." Pro-Beijing newspaper in Hong Kong, "Wen Wei Po", announced that Ai was under arrest for tax evasion, bigamy and spreading indecent images on the internet, and vilified him with multiple instances of strong rhetoric. Supporters said "the article should be seen as a mainland media commentary attacking Ai, rather than as an accurate account of the investigation."


title: Ai Weiwei

text: The United States and European Union protested Ai's detention. The international arts community also mobilised petitions calling for the release of Ai: "1001 Chairs for Ai Weiwei" was organized by Creative Time of New York that calls for artists to bring chairs to Chinese embassies and consulates around the world on 17 April 2011, at 1 pm local time "to sit peacefully in support of the artist's immediate release."> Artists in Hong Kong, Germany and Taiwan demonstrated and called for Ai to be released.


title: Ai Weiwei

text: One of the major protests by U.S. museums took place on 19 and 20 May when the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego organized a 24-hour silent protest in which volunteer participants, including community members, media, and museum staff, occupied two traditionally styled Chinese chairs for one-hour periods. The 24-hour sit-in referenced Ai's sculpture series, "Marble Chair", two of which were on view and were subsequently acquired for the Museum's permanent collection.


title: Ai Weiwei

text: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and the International Council of Museums, which organised petitions, said they had collected more than 90,000 signatures calling for the release of Ai. On 13 April 2011, a group of European intellectuals led by Václav Havel had issued an open letter to Wen Jiabao, condemning the arrest and demanding the immediate release of Ai. The signatories include Ivan Klíma, Jiří Gruša, Jáchym Topol, Elfriede Jelinek, Adam Michnik, Adam Zagajewski, Helmuth Frauendorfer; Bei Ling (Chinese:贝岭), a Chinese poet in exile drafted and also signed the open letter.


title: Ai Weiwei

text: On 16 May 2011, the Chinese authorities allowed Ai's wife to visit him briefly. Liu Xiaoyuan, his attorney and personal friend, reported that Wei was in good physical condition and receiving treatment for his chronic diabetes and hypertension; he was not in a prison or hospital but under some form of house arrest.


title: Ai Weiwei

text: He is the subject of the 2012 documentary film "", directed by American filmmaker Alison Klayman, which received a special jury prize at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and opened the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, North America's largest documentary festival, in Toronto on 26 April 2012.


title: Ai Weiwei

text: On 22 June 2011, the Chinese authorities released Ai from jail after almost three months' detention on charges of tax evasion. Beijing Fa Ke Cultural Development Ltd. (), a company Ai controlled, had allegedly evaded taxes and intentionally destroyed accounting documents. State media also reports that Ai was granted bail on account of Ai's "good attitude in confessing his crimes", willingness to pay back taxes, and his chronic illnesses. According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, he was prohibited from leaving Beijing without permission for one year. Ai's supporters widely viewed his detention as retaliation for his vocal criticism of the government. On 23 June 2011, professor Wang Yujin of China University of Political Science and Law stated that the release of Ai on bail shows that the Chinese government could not find any solid evidence of Ai's alleged "economic crime". On 24 June 2011, Ai told a Radio Free Asia reporter that he was thankful for the support of the Hong Kong public, and praised Hong Kong's conscious society. Ai also mentioned that his detention by the Chinese regime was hellish (Chinese: 九死一生), and stressed that he is forbidden to say too much to reporters.


title: Ai Weiwei

text: After his release, his sister gave some details about his detention condition to the press, explaining that he was subjected to a kind of psychological torture: he was detained in a tiny room with constant light, and two guards were set very close to him at all times, and watched him constantly. In November, Chinese authorities were again investigating Ai and his associates, this time under the charge of spreading pornography.


title: Ai Weiwei

text: Lu was subsequently questioned by police, and released after several hours though the exact charges remain unclear.


title: Ai Weiwei

text: In January 2012, in its International Review issue "Art in America" magazine featured an interview with Ai Weiwei at his home in China. J.J. Camille (the pen name of a Chinese-born writer living in New York), "neither a journalist nor an activist but simply an art lover who wanted to talk to him" had travelled to Beijing the previous September to conduct the interview and to write about his visit to "China's most famous dissident artist" for the magazine.


title: Ai Weiwei

text: On 21 June 2012, Ai's bail was lifted. Although he was allowed to leave Beijing, the police informed him that he was still prohibited from traveling to other countries because he is "suspected of other crimes", including pornography, bigamy and illicit exchange of foreign currency. Until 2015, he remained under heavy surveillance and restrictions of movement, but continued to criticize through his work. In July 2015, he was given a passport and permitted to travel abroad.


title: Ai Weiwei

text: Ai says that at the beginning of his detention he was proud of being detained much like his father had been earlier. He also says it allowed him to try a dialogue with the authorities, something which had never been possible before.


title: Ai Weiwei

text: In June 2011, the Beijing Local Taxation Bureau demanded a total of over 12 million yuan (US$1.85  million) from Beijing Fa Ke Cultural Development Ltd. in unpaid taxes and fines, and accorded three days to appeal the demand in writing. According to Ai's wife, Beijing Fa Ke Cultural Development Ltd. has hired two Beijing lawyers as defense attorneys. Ai's family state that Ai is "neither the chief executive nor the legal representative of the design company, which is registered in his wife's name."


title: Ai Weiwei

text: Offers of donations poured in from Ai's fans across the world when the fine was announced. Eventually, an online loan campaign was initiated on 4 November 2011, and close to 9 million RMB was collected within ten days, from 30,000 contributions. Notes were folded into paper planes and thrown over the studio walls, and donations were made in symbolic amounts such as 8964 (4 June 1989, Tiananmen Massacre) or 512 (12 May 2008, Sichuan earthquake). To thank creditors and acknowledge the contributions as loans, Ai designed and issued loan receipts to all who participated in the campaign. Funds raised from the campaign were used as collateral, required by law for an appeal on the tax case. Lawyers acting for Ai submitted an appeal against the fine in January 2012; the Chinese government subsequently agreed to conduct a review.