Pound lock.

A "pound lock" is a type of lock that is used almost exclusively nowadays on canals and rivers. A pound lock has a chamber with gates at both ends that control the level of water in the pound. In contrast, an earlier design with a single gate was known as a flash lock.  Pound locks were first used in medieval China during the Song Dynasty (960–1279 AD), having been pioneered by the Song politician and naval engineer Qiao Weiyue in 984. They replaced earlier double slipways that had caused trouble and are mentioned by the Chinese polymath Shen Kuo (1031–1095) in his book "Dream Pool Essays" (published in 1088), and fully

Use in river navigation.

When a stretch of river is made navigable, a lock is sometimes required to bypass an obstruction such as a rapid, dam, or mill weir – because of the change in river level across the obstacle.  In large scale river navigation improvements, weirs and locks are used together. A weir will increase the depth of a

Use in canals.

Early completely artificial canals, across fairly flat countryside, would get round a small hill or depression by simply detouring ("contouring") around it. As engineers became more ambitious in the types of country they felt they could overcome, locks became essential to effect the necessary changes in water level without

Basic construction and operation.

All pound locks have three elements:  The principle of operating a lock is simple. For instance, if a boat travelling downstream finds the lock already full of water:  If the lock were empty, the boat would have had to wait 5 to 10 minutes while the lock was filled. For a boat travelling upstream, the process is reversed; the boat enters the empty lock, and then the chamber is filled

Details and terminology.

For simplicity, this section describes a basic type of lock, with a pair of gates at each end of the chamber and simple rack and pinion paddles raised manually by means of a detachable windlass operated by lock-keepers or the boat's shore crew. This type can be found all over the world, but the terminology here is that used on the British canals. A subsequent section explains common variations.

Rise.

The "rise" is the change in water-level in the lock. The two deepest locks on the English canal system are Bath deep lock on the Kennet and Avon Canal and Tuel Lane Lock on the Rochdale Canal, which both have a rise of nearly. Both locks are amalgamations of two separate locks, which were combined when the canals were restored to accommodate changes in road crossings. The deepest "as-built" locks in England are considered to be

Pound.

A "pound" is the level stretch of water between two

Chamber.

The "chamber" is the main feature of a lock. It is a watertight (masonry, brick, steel or concrete) enclosure which can be sealed off from the pounds at both ends by means of "gates". The chamber may be the same size (plus a little manoeuvring room) as the largest vessel for which the waterway

Cill.

The "cill", also spelled "sill", is a narrow horizontal ledge protruding a short way into the chamber from below the upper gates. Allowing the rear of the boat to "hang" on the cill is the main danger when descending a lock, and the position of the forward edge of the cill is usually marked on the

Gates.

Gates are the watertight doors which seal off the chamber from the upper and lower pounds. Each end of the chamber is equipped with a gate, or pair of half-gates, made of oak or elm (or now sometimes steel). The most common arrangement, usually called "miter gates", was invented by Leonardo da Vinci, sometime around the late 15th century. When closed, a pair meet at an angle like a chevron pointing upstream and only a very small difference in water-level is necessary to squeeze the closed

Balance beam.

A "balance beam" is the long arm projecting from the landward side of the gate over the towpath. As well as

Paddle.

A "paddle" – sometimes known as a "slacker", "clough", or (in American English) "wicket" – is the simple valve by which the lock chamber is filled or emptied. The paddle itself is a sliding wooden (or nowadays plastic) panel which when "lifted" (slid up) out of the way allows water to either enter the chamber from the upper pound or flow out to the lower pound. A "gate paddle" simply covers a hole in the lower part of a gate; a more sophisticated "ground paddle" blocks an underground culvert. There can be up to 8 paddles (two gate paddles and two ground paddles at both upper and lower ends of the chamber)

Winding gear or paddle gear.

"Winding gear" is the mechanism which allows paddles to be lifted (opened) or lowered (closed). Typically, a square-section stub emerges from the housing of the winding gear. This is the axle of a sprocket ("pinion") which engages with a toothed bar ("rack") attached by rodding to the top of the paddle. A lock-keeper or member of the boat's shore crew engages the square socket of their windlass (see below) onto the end of the axle and turns the windlass perhaps a dozen times. This rotates the pinion and lifts the paddle. A pawl engages with the rack to prevent the paddle from dropping inadvertently while being raised, and to keep it raised when the windlass is removed,

Hydraulic paddle gear.

During the 1980s, British Waterways began to introduce a hydraulic system for operating paddles, especially those on bottom gates, which are the heaviest to operate. A metal cylinder about a foot in diameter was mounted on the balance beam and contained a small oil-operated hydraulic pump. A spindle protruded from the front face and was operated by a windlass in the usual way, the energy being transferred to the actual paddle by small bore pipes. The system was

Windlass ("lock key").

A "windlass" (also variously 'lock handle', 'iron' or simply 'key') is a detachable crank used for opening lock paddles (the word does not refer to the winding mechanism itself).  The simplest windlass is made from an iron rod of circular section, about half an inch in diameter and two feet long,

"Turning" a lock.

"Turning" a lock can simply mean emptying a full lock, or filling an empty one ("We entered the lock, and it only took us five minutes to turn it"). It is used more often to

Swell or swelling.

A "swell" was caused by opening suddenly the paddle valves in the lock gates, or when emptying a lock. To help boats leave (downstream) a lock, the locksman would sometimes open the paddles to create a swell, which would help "flush" the boat out of the lock. In one case, a boatsman asked for a back swell, that is, open and shut the paddles a few times to create some waves, to help him get off the bank where he was stuck. If boats ran aground (from being overloaded) they sometimes asked passing crews to tell the

"Lock mooring".

"Lock mooring" was a commonly used method of navigating into a lock by a barge travelling upstream. The barge would be directed to the slack water to one side of the lock gates

Snubbing posts.

On horse-drawn and mule-drawn canals, snubbing posts were used to slow or stop a boat in the lock. A 200-ton boat moving at a few miles an hour could destroy the lock gate. To prevent this, a rope was wound around the snubbing post as the boat entered the lock. Pulling on the rope slowed the boat, due to the friction of the rope against the post. A rope 21⁄2 inches (6.3 cm) in diameter and about 60 feet (18 meters) long was typically

Variations.

Variations exist for types of locks and the terminology used for them.

Single gates.

Single gates are often installed on narrow canals (locks approx. wide).  On most English narrow canals, the upper end of the chamber is closed by a single gate the full width of the lock. This was cheaper to construct and is quicker to operate with a small crew, as only one gate needs to be opened. These were often fitted with a post allowing a rope to be used to stop the boat and close the

Steel gates.

Steel gates and/or balance beams are frequently

Different paddle gear.

Some manually operated paddles do not require a detachable handle (windlass) because they have their handles ready-attached.  On the Leeds and Liverpool Canal there is a variety of different lock gear. Some paddles are raised by turning what is in effect a large horizontal wing nut (butterfly nut) lifting a screw-threaded bar attached to the top of the paddle. Others are operated by lifting a long wooden lever, which operates a wooden plate which seals the culvert. These are known locally as "jack cloughs". Bottom gate paddles

Composite locks.

To economise, especially where good stone would be prohibitively expensive or difficult to obtain, composite locks were made, i.e. they were constructed using rubble or inferior stone, dressing the inside walls of the lock with

Lock keepers.

Some locks are operated (or at least supervised) by professional or volunteer lock keepers. This is particularly true on commercial waterways, or where locks are large or have complicated features that the average

Powered operation.

On large modern canals, especially very large ones such as ship canals, the gates and paddles are too large to be hand operated, and are operated by hydraulic or electrical equipment. On the Caledonian Canal the lock gates were operated by man-powered capstans, one connected by chains to open the

Fish ladders.

The construction of locks (or weirs and dams) on rivers obstructs the passage of fish. Some fish such as lampreys, trout and salmon

Weigh lock.

A weigh lock is a specialized canal lock designed to determine the weight of barges to assess toll payments based upon the

Special cases.

Lock flights.

Loosely, a flight of locks is simply a series of locks in close-enough proximity to be identified as a single group. For many reasons, a flight of locks is preferable to the same number of locks spread more widely: crews are put ashore and picked up once, rather than multiple times; transition involves a concentrated burst of effort, rather than a continually interrupted journey; a lock keeper may be stationed to help crews through the flight quickly; and where water is in short supply, a single pump can recycle water to the top of the whole flight. The need for a flight

Staircase locks.

Where a very steep gradient has to be climbed, a lock staircase is used. There are two types of staircase, "real" and "apparent".  A "real" staircase can be thought of as a "compressed" flight, where the intermediate pounds have disappeared, and the upper gate of one lock is also the lower gate of the one above it. However, it is incorrect to use the terms "staircase" and "flight" interchangeably: because of the absence of intermediate pounds, operating a staircase is very different from operating a flight. It can be more useful to think of a staircase as a single lock with intermediate levels (the top gate is a normal top gate, and

Doubled, paired or twinned locks.

Locks can be built side by side on the same waterway. This is variously called "doubling", "pairing", or "twinning". The Panama Canal has three sets of double locks. Doubling gives advantages in speed, avoiding hold-ups at busy times and increasing the chance of a boat finding a lock set in its favour. The Belgian Company SBE Engineering worked on this project. There can also be water savings: the locks may be of different sizes, so that a small boat does not need to empty a large lock; or each lock may be able to act as a side pond (water-saving basin) for the other. In this latter case, the word used is usually "twinned": here indicating the possibility of saving water by synchronising the operation of the chambers so that some water from the emptying chamber helps to fill the other. This facility has long been withdrawn on the

Stop locks.

A "stop" lock is a (very) low-rise lock built at the junction of two (rival) canals to prevent water from passing between them.  During the competitive years of the English waterways system, an established canal company would often refuse to allow a connection from a newer, adjacent one. This situation created the Worcester Bar in Birmingham, where goods had to be transshipped between boats on rival canals only feet apart.  Where a junction was built, either because the older canal company saw an advantage in a connection, or where the new company managed to insert

Round locks.

There are several examples where locks have been built to a round plan, with more than two exits from the lock chamber, each serving a different water level. Thus the lock serves both as a way of changing levels and as a junction. The circular plan of the lock allows boats within it to

Drop locks.

A drop lock allows a short length of canal to be lowered temporarily while a boat passes under an obstruction such as a low bridge. During canal restoration, a drop lock may be used where it is impractical or prohibitively expensive to remove or raise a structure that was built after the canal was closed (and where re-routing the canal is not possible).  A drop lock can consist of two conventional lock chambers leading to a sump pound, or a single long chamber incorporating the sump - although the term properly applies only to the second case. As the pounds at either end of the structure are at the same height, the lock can only be emptied either by allowing water to run to waste from the sump

Flood locks.

A "flood lock" is to prevent a river from flooding a connected waterway. It is typically installed where a canal leaves a river. At normal river levels, the lock gates are left open, and the height of the canal is allowed to rise and fall with the height of the river.  However, if the river floods beyond a safe limit for the canal, then the gates are closed (and an extra lock created) until the river drops again. Since this is a true lock it is possible for boats to leave the canal for the flooded river despite the difference in water levels (though this is not likely to

Flood gates.

A "flood gate" or "stop gate" is the cheaper equivalent of a flood lock. Only one set of gates exist, and so when the river is higher than the canal, the gates are closed and navigation ceases. These are quite common in the French inland

Bi-directional gates and locks.

Where a lock is tidal (i.e. one side of the lock has water whose level varies with the tide) or where a canal meets a river whose level may vary, the water on the tidal or river side (the "downstream" side) may rise above the water on the normal "upper" side. The "upstream" pointing doors will then fail to do their job, and will simply drift open. To prevent water flowing the wrong way through the lock, there will need to be at least one set of gates pointing in

Tidal locks.

A tidal lock is generally any lock that connects tidal with non-tidal water. This includes a lock between a tidal river and the non-tidal

Inlet Locks.

An inlet lock is to regulate water from a feeder canal or a river into the main canal. In some cases, the inlet lock may double as a lift lock

Very large locks.

The world's largest lock was, until 2016, the Berendrecht Lock, giving access to the Port of Antwerp in Belgium. In 2016 the Kieldrecht Lock in the same port became the largest. The lock is long, and wide and drops, and has four sliding lock gates. The size of locks cannot be compared without considering the difference in water level that they are designed to operate under. For example, the Bollène lock on the River Rhône has a fall of at least, the Leerstetten, Eckersmühlen and Hilpoltstein locks on the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal have a fall of, each and the Oskemen Lock on the Irtysh River in Kazakhstan has a drop of. The total volume of water to be considered in any lock equals the product of its length, breadth and the difference in water levels. Lock staircases are used in an attempt to reduce

Hiram M. Chittenden Locks.

Every November, the large lock of the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks (better known locally as the "Ballard Locks" in reference to the Seattle neighborhood they are located in) was emptied for maintenance, as seen in the November 2004 pictures below. This provides an opportunity to visualize how a lock works without the water obscuring the bottom of the lock. For reference, the picture far left shows the lock in operation, with a tug and a barge (loaded with sand and gravel) waiting for the gates to open.

Van gate.

This type of gate was a Dutch invention in the early 19th century. The Van gate has the special property that it can open in the direction of high water solely using water pressure. This gate type was primarily used to purposely flood certain regions, for instance in the case of the Hollandic Water Line. Nowadays this type of gate can still be found in a few places, for example

History and development.

Dams and weirs.

In ancient times river transport was common, but rivers were often too shallow to carry anything but the smallest boats. Ancient people discovered that rivers could be made to carry larger boats

Flash locks.

The development of dams and weirs created the problem of how to get the boats between these "steps" of water. An early and crude way of doing this was by a flash lock. A flash lock consisted essentially of a small opening in the dam, which could be quickly opened and closed. On the Thames in England, this was closed with vertical posts (known as rymers) against which boards were placed to block the gap.  When the gap was opened, a torrent of water would spill out, carrying a "downstream" boat with it, or allowing an "upstream" boat to be man hauled or

Staunch.

A more sophisticated device was the staunch or water gate, consisting of a gate (or pair of mitred gates) which could be closed and held shut by water pressure when the river was

Pound lock.

The natural extension of the staunch was to provide an upper gate (or pair of gates) to form an intermediate "pound" which was all that need be emptied when a boat passed through. This type of lock, called a pound lock was known in Imperial China and Europe.  Pound locks were first used in medieval China during the Song Dynasty (960–1279 AD). The Songshi or History of the Song Dynasty, volume 307, biography 66, records how Qiao Weiyue, a high-ranking tax

Turf-sided lock.

A turf-sided lock is an early form of canal lock design that uses earth banks to form the lock chamber, subsequently attracting grasses and other vegetation, instead of the now more familiar and widespread brick, stone, or concrete lock wall constructions. This early lock design was most often used on river navigations in the early 18th century before the advent of

Use of water.

The main problem caused by locks is that, each time a lock goes through one fill–empty cycle, a lockful of water (tens of thousands up to millions of litres) is released to the lower pound. In more simplistic terms, on a canal where only one boat will fit into a lock, a boat travelling from the summit pound to the lowest pound is accompanied on its journey by one 'personal' lockful of water. A boat going the other way also transfers a lockful of water from the summit pound to the lowest pound. To prevent the canal from running dry, some method must be used to ensure that the water supply at the canal summit is constantly replenished at the rate that the water is being drained downwards. This is, of course much more of a problem on an artificial canal crossing a watershed than on a river navigation.

Design.

When planning a canal, the designer will attempt to build a summit level with a large reservoir, or one supplied by an artificial watercourse from a distant source, or one as

Pumping.

Where it is clear that natural supply will not be sufficient to replenish the summit level at the rate that water will be used (or to allow for unexpected periods of drought) the designer may plan for water to be

Water saving basins.

A way of reducing the water used by a lock is to give it one or multiple reservoirs, whose levels are intermediate between the upper and lower pounds. These reservoirs can store the water drained from the lock as a boat descends, and release it to fill the next time a boat ascends. This saves half the amount of water lost downhill in each fill–empty cycle. Generally these reservoirs are called "saving basins".  Installing a single side pond will save 1/3 of the water, whereas three side ponds will save 60% of the water: the first 1/5 of the water goes into the top pond, the 2nd 1/5 into the middle pond, the 3rd 1/5 into the bottom pond – and 2/5 is wasted at each passage (assuming the area of each pond equals the area of the lock). The formula for formula_1 side

Alternatives.

As well as the "static" approaches mentioned earlier (various types of contouring, excavating, and spanning), there were many ingenious "dynamic" solutions, mostly variations on the boat lift or the inclined plane. These tend to be more expensive to install and operate, but offer faster transit and waste less water.

Inclined plane.

An inclined plane consists of a cradle (to hold a barge) or caisson (a box full of water in which a barge can float) which moves on rails sideways up a slope from one waterway to the other. Since the box is "wet" (filled with water), Archimedes' principle ensures that the caisson always weighs the same, regardless of the size of boat being carried (or even if it contains only water). This makes for easy counterbalancing by a fixed weight or by a second caisson. The motive power may be steam or hydraulic, or may come from overbalancing the top caisson with extra water from the upper waterway.  There are no working waterway inclined planes in the UK at the moment, but the remains of a famous one can be seen at Foxton in Leicestershire on the Leicester arm of the Grand Union Canal. The plane enabled wide-beam boats to bypass the flight of ten narrow locks, but failure to make improvements at the other end of the arm and high running costs led to its early demise. There are plans to restore it, and some funding has been obtained.

Marine railway.

A marine railway is similar to a canal inclined plane in that it moves boats up or down a slope on rails. However, the vessel is carried in a dry carrying frame, or cradle, rather than in a water-filled caisson. The principle is based on the patent slip, used for hauling vessels out of the water for maintenance.  In operation, a boat is navigated into the carrying frame, which has been lowered into the water. The boat is secured to the cradle, possibly by raising slings under the hull using hydraulics, and the cradle is hauled out

Boat lift.

The Falkirk Wheel, the world's first rotating boat lift, acts as the centrepiece of the restoration of the Forth and Clyde and Union Canals. The Wheel replaced a flight of locks which formerly connected the canals and which were filled in in 1930. It was the winning design in a competition to design a new lock. Visitors can now take a boat trip on the Wheel and be lifted over in a few minutes compared to the time it took when the original lock staircase operated.  The Victorian Anderton Boat Lift, the world's

Caisson lock.

Around 1800 the use of caisson locks was proposed by Robert Weldon for the Somerset Coal Canal in England. In this underwater lift, the chamber was 80 ft long and deep and contained a completely enclosed wooden box big enough to take a barge. This box moved up and down in the deep pool of water. Apart from inevitable leakage, the water never left

Hydro-pneumatic canal lift.

Possibly inspired by Weldon's caisson lock, William Congreve in 1813 patented a "hydro-pneumatic double balance lock" in which two adjacent locks containing pneumatic caissons could be raised and lowered in counterbalance by the movement of compressed air from

Shaft lock.

Looking superficially similar to the caisson lock is the shaft lock. Shaft locks consist of a deep shaft with conventional upper gates. The lower gates are reached through a short tunnel. The gates only close off this approach tunnel so do not have to reach the full height of the lock. Notable examples have been built at Saint Denis (Paris, France), Horin (near Melnik, Czech Republic) and Anderten (Hannover Germany). The

Diagonal lock.

This new concept in lock design has yet to be installed on any waterway. It is basically a shaft lock with a diagonal shaft. The proposal is for a long tube of reinforced concrete, of a size to accommodate the boats being lifted, to be built on the slope between the upper and lower levels. The bottom of the tube is sealed with a strong watertight door, but there is a single pair of conventional lock gates at the top, installed a boat's length from the far wall of the tube. The change in level is

A combined system – the Three Gorges Dam.

At the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) in China there are two stairsteps of five large ship locks (each 300 m long and 35

Ship sizes named after locks.

Locks restrict the maximum size of ship able to navigate a waterway, and some key canals have given rise to the name of standard ship sizes, such as the Panamax and the Seawaymax.

A lock is a device used for raising and lowering boats, ships and other watercraft between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. The distinguishing feature of a lock is a fixed chamber in which the water level can be varied; whereas in a caisson lock, a boat lift, or on a canal inclined plane, it is the chamber itself (usually then called a caisson) that rises and falls.

船闸(navigation lock),使船舶通过航道中有集中水位落差河段的一种通航建筑物。船闸由闸室(lock chamber)、闸首(lock head)、输水系统、引航道等组成。在闸首上设有工作闸门、检修闸门、船闸阀门、启闭机械及信号、通讯等设备。引航道内设有导航建筑物和靠船建筑物等。


History.

Before they became known by their Latin variations ("artes liberales, septem artes liberales", "studia liberalia"), the liberal arts were the continuation of Ancient Greek methods of enquiry that began with a "desire for a universal understanding." Pythagoras argued that there was a mathematical and geometrical harmony to the cosmos or the universe; his followers linked the four arts of astronomy, mathematics, geometry and music into one area of study to form the "disciplines of the mediaeval Quadrivium". In 4th century Athens, the government of the polis, or city-state, respected the ability of rhetoric or public speaking above almost everything else. Eventually rhetoric, grammar and dialectic (logic) became the educational programme of the Trivium. Together they came to be known as the seven liberal arts. Originally these subjects or skills were held by classical antiquity to be essential for a free person (, "worthy of a free person") to acquire in order to take an active part in civic life, something that included among other things participating in public debate, defending oneself in court, serving on juries, and participating in military service. While the arts of the quadrivium might have appeared prior to the arts of the trivium by the middle ages educational programmes taught the trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) first while the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy) were the following stage of education. Rooted in the basic curriculum – the or "well-rounded education" – of late Classical and Hellenistic Greece, the "liberal arts" or "liberal pursuits" (Latin ) were already so called in formal education during the Roman Empire. The first recorded use of the term "liberal arts" () occurs in by Marcus Tullius Cicero, but it is unclear if he created the term. Seneca the Younger discusses liberal arts in education from a critical Stoic point of view in "Moral Epistles". The exact classification of the liberal arts varied however in Roman times, and it was only after Martianus Capella in the 5th century AD influentially brought the seven liberal arts as bridesmaids to the "Marriage of Mercury and Philology", that they took on canonical form.  The four "scientific" – music, arithmetic, geometry and astronomy (or astrology) – were known from the time of Boethius onwards as the "quadrivium". After the 9th century, the remaining three arts of the "humanities" – grammar, logic, and rhetoric – were grouped as the "trivium". It was in that two-fold form that the seven liberal arts were studied in the medieval Western university. During the Middle Ages, logic gradually came to take predominance over the other parts of the "trivium".  In the 12th century the iconic image – (Philosophy and seven liberal arts) "–" was produced by Alsatian nun and abbess Herrad of Landsberg with her community of women as part of the "Hortus deliciarum." Their encyclopedia compiled ideas drawn from philosophy, theology, literature, music, arts, and sciences and was intended as a teaching tool for women of the abbey. Compiled between 1167 and 1185 it contained humanity's most significant ideas. The image "Philosophy and seven liberal arts" represents the circle of philosophy, and is presented as a rosette of a cathedral: a central circle and a series of semicircles arranged all around. It shows learning and knowledge organised into seven relations, the or Seven Liberal Arts. Each of these arts find their source in the Greek φιλοσοφία, philosophia, literally “love of wisdom”.  In the Renaissance, the Italian humanists and their Northern counterparts, despite in many respects continuing the traditions of the Middle Ages, reversed that process. Re-christening the old trivium with a new and more ambitious name:, and also increasing its scope, they downplayed logic as opposed to the traditional Latin grammar and rhetoric, and added to them history, Greek, and moral philosophy (ethics), with a new emphasis on poetry as well. The educational curriculum of humanism spread throughout Europe during the sixteenth century and became the educational foundation for the schooling of European elites, the functionaries of political administration, the clergy of the various legally recognized churches, and the learned professions of law and medicine. The ideal of a liberal arts, or humanistic education grounded in classical languages and literature, persisted until the middle of the twentieth century.  Similarly, Wilhelm von Humboldt's educational model in Prussia (now Germany), which later became the role model for higher education also in North America, went beyond vocational training. In a letter to the Prussian king, he wrote:  The philosopher Julian Nida-Rümelin has criticized discrepancies between Humboldt's ideals and the contemporary European education policy, which narrowly understands education as a preparation for the labor market, arguing that we need to decide between "McKinsey and Humboldt".

Modern usage.

The modern use of the term "liberal arts" consists of four areas: the natural sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities. Academic areas that are associated with the term liberal arts include:  For example, the core courses for Georgetown University's Doctor of Liberal Studies program cover philosophy, theology, history, art, literature, and the social sciences. Wesleyan University's Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program includes courses in visual arts, art history, creative and professional writing, literature, history, mathematics, film, government, education, biology, psychology, and astronomy.

Secondary school.

Liberal arts education at the secondary school level prepares students for higher education at a university.  Curricula differ from school to school, but generally include language, mathematics, informatics, physics, chemistry, biology, geography, art, music, history, philosophy, civics, social sciences, and foreign languages.

In the United States.

In the United States, liberal arts colleges are schools emphasizing undergraduate study in the liberal arts. The teaching at liberal arts colleges is often Socratic, typically with small classes; professors are often allowed to concentrate more on their teaching responsibilities than are professors at research universities.  In addition, most four-year colleges are not devoted exclusively or primarily to liberal arts degrees, but offer a liberal arts degree, and allow students not majoring in liberal arts to take courses to satisfy distribution requirements in liberal arts.  Traditionally, a bachelor's degree in one particular area within liberal arts, with substantial study outside that main area, is earned over four years of full-time study. However, some universities such as Saint Leo University, Pennsylvania State University, Florida Institute of Technology, and New England College have begun to offer an associate degree in liberal arts. Colleges like the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts offer a unique program with only one degree offering, a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies, and colleges like the University of Oklahoma College of Liberal Studies offer an online, part-time option for adult and nontraditional students.  Most students earn either a Bachelor of Arts degree or a Bachelor of Science degree; on completing undergraduate study, students might progress to either a liberal arts graduate school or a professional school (public administration, engineering, business, law, medicine, theology).

In Europe.

In most parts of Europe, liberal arts education is deeply rooted. In Germany, Austria and countries influenced by their education system it is called '"humanistische Bildung"' (humanistic education). The term is not to be confused with some modern educational concepts that use a similar wording. Educational institutions that see themselves in that tradition are often a "Gymnasium" (high school, grammar school). They aim at providing their pupils with comprehensive education ("Bildung") to form personality with regard to a pupil's own humanity as well as their innate intellectual skills. Going back to the long tradition of the liberal arts in Europe, education in the above sense was freed from scholastic thinking and re-shaped by the theorists of the Enlightenment; in particular, Wilhelm von Humboldt. Since students are considered to have received a comprehensive liberal arts education at "gymnasia", very often the role of liberal arts education in undergraduate programs at universities is reduced compared to the US educational system. Students are expected to use their skills received at the "gymnasium" to further develop their personality in their own responsibility, e.g. in universities' music clubs, theatre groups, language clubs, etc. Universities encourage students to do so and offer respective opportunities but do not make such activities part of the university's curriculum.  Thus, on the level of higher education, despite the European origin of the liberal arts college, the term "liberal arts college" usually denotes liberal arts colleges in the United States. With the exception of pioneering institutions such as Franklin University Switzerland (formerly known as Franklin College), established as a Europe-based, US-style liberal arts college in 1969, only recently some efforts have been undertaken to systematically "re-import" liberal arts education to continental Europe, as with Leiden University College The Hague, University College Utrecht, University College Maastricht, Amsterdam University College, Roosevelt Academy (now University College Roosevelt), ATLAS University College, Erasmus University College, the University of Groningen, Bratislava International School of Liberal Arts, Leuphana University of Lüneburg and Bard College Berlin, formerly known as the European College of Liberal Arts. As well as the colleges listed above, some universities in the Netherlands offer bachelors programs in Liberal Arts and Sciences (Tilburg University). Liberal arts (as a degree program) is just beginning to establish itself in Europe. For example, University College Dublin offers the degree, as does St. Marys University College Belfast, both institutions coincidentally on the island of Ireland. In the Netherlands, universities have opened constituent liberal arts colleges under the terminology since the late 1990s. The four-year bachelor's degree in Liberal Arts and Sciences at University College Freiburg is the first of its kind in Germany. It started in October 2012 with 78 students. The first Liberal Arts degree program in Sweden was established at Gothenburg University in 2011, followed by a Liberal Arts Bachelor Programme at Uppsala University's Campus Gotland in the autumn of 2013. The first Liberal Arts program in Georgia was introduced in 2005 by American-Georgian Initiative for Liberal Education (AGILE), an NGO. Thanks to their collaboration, Ilia State University became the first higher education institution in Georgia to establish a liberal arts program.  In France, Chavagnes Studium, a Liberal Arts Study Centre in partnership with the Institut Catholique d'études supérieures, and based in a former Catholic seminary, is launching a two-year intensive BA in the Liberal Arts, with a distinctively Catholic outlook. It has been suggested that the liberal arts degree may become part of mainstream education provision in the United Kingdom, Ireland and other European countries. In 1999, the European College of Liberal Arts (now Bard College Berlin) was founded in Berlin and in 2009 it introduced a four-year Bachelor of Arts program in Value Studies taught in English, leading to an interdisciplinary degree in the humanities.  In England, the first institution to retrieve and update a liberal arts education at the undergraduate level was the University of Winchester with their BA (Hons) Modern Liberal Arts programme which launched in 2010. In 2012, University College London began its interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences BASc degree (which has kinship with the liberal arts model) with 80 students. King's College London launched the BA Liberal Arts, which has a slant towards arts, humanities and social sciences subjects. The New College of the Humanities also launched a new liberal education programme. Durham University has both a popular BA Liberal Arts and a BA Combined Honours in Social Sciences programme, both of which allow for interdisciplinary approaches to education. The University of Nottingham also has a Liberal Arts BA with study abroad options and links with its Natural Sciences degrees. In 2016, the University of Warwick launched a three/four-year liberal arts BA degree, which focuses on transdisciplinary approaches and problem-based learning techniques in addition to providing structured disciplinary pathways. And for 2017 entry UCAS lists 20 providers of liberal arts programmes.  In Scotland, the four-year undergraduate Honours degree, specifically the Master of Arts, has historically demonstrated considerable breadth in focus. In the first two years of Scottish MA and BA degrees students typically study a number of different subjects before specialising in their Honours years (third and fourth year). The University of Dundee and the University of Glasgow (at its Crichton Campus) are the only Scottish universities that currently offer a specifically named 'Liberal Arts' degree.  In Slovakia, the Bratislava International School of Liberal Arts (BISLA) is located in the Old Town of Bratislava. It is the first liberal arts college in Central Europe. A private, accredited three-year degree-granting undergraduate institution, it opened in September 2006.

In Asia.

The Commission on Higher Education of the Philippines mandates a General Education curriculum required of all higher education institutions; it includes a number of liberal arts subjects, including history, art appreciation, and ethics, plus interdisciplinary electives. Many universities have much more robust liberal arts core curricula; most notably, the Jesuit universities such as Ateneo de Manila University have a strong liberal arts core curriculum that includes philosophy, theology, literature, history, and the social sciences. Forman Christian College is a liberal arts university in Lahore, Pakistan. It is one of the oldest institutions in the Indian subcontinent. It is a chartered university recognized by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan. Habib University in Karachi, Pakistan offers a holistic liberal arts and sciences experience to its students through its uniquely tailored liberal core program which is compulsory for all undergraduate degree students. The Underwood International College of Yonsei University, Korea, has compulsory liberal arts course for all the student body.  In India, there are many institutions that offer undergraduate UG or bachelor's degree/diploma and postgraduate PG or master's degree/diploma as well as doctoral PhD and postdoctoral studies and research, in this academic discipline. Manipal Academy of Higher Education – MAHE, an Institution of Eminence as recognised by MHRD of Govt of India in 2018, houses a Faculty of Liberal Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, and also others like Symbiosis & FLAME University in Pune, Ahmedabad University, Ashoka University. Lingnan University and University of Liberal Arts- Bangladesh (ULAB) are also a few such liberal arts colleges in Asia. International Christian University in Tokyo is the first and one of the very few liberal arts universities in Japan. Fulbright University Vietnam is the first liberal arts institution in Vietnam.

In Australia.

Campion College is a Roman Catholic dedicated liberal arts college, located in the western suburbs of Sydney. Founded in 2006, it is the first tertiary educational liberal arts college of its type in Australia. Campion offers a Bachelor of Arts in the Liberal Arts as its sole undergraduate degree. The key disciplines studied are history, literature, philosophy, and theology.  The Millis Institute is the School of Liberal Arts at Christian Heritage College located in Brisbane. Founded by Dr. Ryan Messmore, former President of Campion College, the Millis Institute offers a Bachelor of Arts in the Liberal Arts in which students can choose to major in Philosophy, Theology, History or Literature. It also strongly endorses a 'Study Abroad' program whereby students can earn credit towards their degree by undertaking two units over a five-week program at the University of Oxford. The Millis Institute is currently directed under Dr. Benjamin Myers.

The Great Books Movement.

In 1936 St. John's College changed its curriculum to focus on the Great Books of Western Civilization to provide a new sort of education that separated itself from the increasingly specialized nature of higher schooling. This was one of the first instances of a revival for the more classical approach to the liberal arts as expounded by Plato and Cicero. That work was continued by a number of small Catholic liberal arts institutions, like the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, that adopted the Great Books as a core for their Humanities program while at the same time preserving the seven liberal arts as a way of preparing their students to think for themselves rather than accept what their professors told them to think. With the introduction of the Great Books, the liberal arts education was now in direct conversation with the great minds of history who have shaped the modern world as we know it. At the same time these colleges focused on the basic formation of one's intellect that came from exercising the tools of logic, grammar, and rhetoric.

Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic program in Western higher education. "Liberal arts" generally covers four areas: the natural sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities. Its central academic disciplines include physics, chemistry, biology, philosophy, logic, linguistics, literature, history, political science, sociology, psychology, but, notably, not mathematics. "Liberal arts education" can refer to studies in a liberal arts degree program or to a university education more generally. Such a course of study contrasts with those that are principally vocational, professional, or technical.

博雅教育(,英语:liberal arts;又译为文理教育、人文教育、通才教育、全人教育)原是指一个自由的古代西方城市自由人(有产者,即不需要出卖劳动力,仅凭产业就能生活的人,如贵族。不包括手工业者和奴隶)所应该学习的基本学科,现代则是作为生活常识的内容,可以在社会学校修习、也可以透过参加展览等方式获得知识。


Globular cluster.

Globular clusters are roughly spherical groupings of from 10,000 to several million stars packed into regions of from 10 to 30 light-years across. They commonly consist of very old Population II stars—just a few hundred million years younger than the universe itself—which are mostly yellow and red, with masses less than two solar masses. Such stars predominate within clusters because hotter and more massive stars have exploded as supernovae, or evolved through planetary nebula phases to end as white dwarfs. Yet a few rare blue stars exist in globulars, thought to be formed by stellar mergers in their dense inner regions; these stars are known as blue stragglers.  In our Galaxy, globular clusters are distributed roughly spherically in the galactic halo, around the Galactic Centre, orbiting the centre in highly elliptical orbits. In 1917, the astronomer Harlow Shapley made the first reliable estimate of the Sun's distance from the galactic centre based on the distribution of globular clusters.  Until the mid-1990s, globular clusters were the cause of a great mystery in astronomy, as theories of stellar evolution gave ages for the oldest members of globular clusters that were greater than the estimated age of the universe. However, greatly improved distance measurements to globular clusters using the Hipparcos satellite and increasingly accurate measurements of the Hubble constant resolved the paradox, giving an age for the universe of about 13 billion years and an age for the oldest stars of a few hundred million years less.  Our Galaxy has about 150 globular clusters, some of which may have been captured from small galaxies disrupted by the Milky Way, as seems to be the case for the globular cluster M79. Some galaxies are much richer in globulars: the giant elliptical galaxy M87 contains over a thousand.  A few of the brightest globular clusters are visible to the naked eye, with the brightest, Omega Centauri, having been known since antiquity and catalogued as a star before the telescopic age. The brightest globular cluster in the northern hemisphere is Messier 13 in the constellation of Hercules.

Super star cluster.

Super star clusters are very large regions of recent star formation, and are thought to be the precursors of globular clusters. Examples include Westerlund 1 in the Milky Way.

Open clusters.

Open clusters are very different from globular clusters. Unlike the spherically distributed globulars, they are confined to the galactic plane, and are almost always found within spiral arms. They are generally young objects, up to a few tens of millions of years old, with a few rare exceptions as old as a few billion years, such as Messier 67 (the closest and most observed old open cluster) for example. They form H II regions such as the Orion Nebula.  Open clusters usually contain up to a few hundred members, within a region up to about 30 light-years across. Being much less densely populated than globular clusters, they are much less tightly gravitationally bound, and over time, are disrupted by the gravity of giant molecular clouds and other clusters. Close encounters between cluster members can also result in the ejection of stars, a process known as 'evaporation'.  The most prominent open clusters are the Pleiades and Hyades in Taurus. The Double Cluster of h+Chi Persei can also be prominent under dark skies. Open clusters are often dominated by hot young blue stars, because although such stars are short-lived in stellar terms, only lasting a few tens of millions of years, open clusters tend to have dispersed before these stars die.  Establishing precise distances to open clusters enables the calibration of the period-luminosity relationship shown by Cepheids variable stars, which are then used as standard candles. Cepheids are luminous and can be used to establish both the distances to remote galaxies and the expansion rate of the Universe (Hubble constant). Indeed, the open cluster NGC 7790 hosts three classical Cepheids which are critical for such efforts.

Embedded clusters.

Embedded clusters are groups of very young stars that are partially or fully encased in an Interstellar dust or gas which is often impervious to optical observations. Embedded clusters form in molecular clouds, when the clouds begin to collapse and form stars. There is often ongoing star formation in these clusters, so embedded clusters may be home to various types of young stellar objects including protostars and pre-main-sequence stars. An example of an embedded cluster is the Trapezium Cluster in the Orion Nebula. In ρ Ophiuchi cloud (L1688) core region there is an embedded cluster.  The embedded cluster phase may last for several million years, after which gas in the cloud is depleted by star formation or dispersed through radiation pressure, stellar winds and outflows, or supernova explosions. In general less than 30% of cloud mass is converted to stars before the cloud is dispersed, but this fraction may be higher in particularly dense parts of the cloud. With the loss of mass in the cloud, the energy of the system is altered, often leading to the disruption of a star cluster. Most young embedded clusters disperse shortly after the end of star formation.  The open clusters found in the Galaxy are former embedded clusters that were able to survive early cluster evolution. However, nearly all freely floating stars, including the Sun, were originally born into embedded clusters that disintegrated.

Intermediate forms.

In 2005, astronomers discovered a new type of star cluster in the Andromeda Galaxy, which is, in several ways, very similar to globular clusters although less dense. No such clusters (which also known as "extended globular clusters") are known in the Milky Way. The three discovered in Andromeda Galaxy are M31WFS C1 M31WFS C2, and M31WFS C3.  These new-found star clusters contain hundreds of thousands of stars, a similar number to globular clusters. The clusters also share other characteristics with globular clusters, "e.g." the stellar populations and metallicity. What distinguishes them from the globular clusters is that they are much larger – several hundred light-years across – and hundreds of times less dense. The distances between the stars are thus much greater. The clusters have properties intermediate between globular clusters and dwarf spheroidal galaxies.  How these clusters are formed is not yet known, but their formation might well be related to that of globular clusters. Why M31 has such clusters, while the Milky Way has not, is not yet known. It is also unknown if any other galaxy contains this kind of clusters, but it would be very unlikely that M31 is the sole galaxy with extended clusters.  Another type of cluster are "faint fuzzies" which so far have only been found in lenticular galaxies like NGC 1023 and NGC 3384. They are characterized by their large size compared to globular clusters and a ringlike distribution around the centres of their host galaxies. As the latter they seem to be old objects.

Astronomical significance of star clusters.

Stellar clusters are important in many areas of astronomy. Because the stars were all born at roughly the same time, the different properties of all the stars in a cluster are a function only of mass, and so stellar evolution theories rely on observations of open and globular clusters.  Clusters are also a crucial step in determining the distance scale of the universe. A few of the nearest clusters are close enough for their distances to be measured using parallax. A Hertzsprung–Russell diagram can be plotted for these clusters which has absolute values known on the luminosity axis. Then, when similar diagram is plotted for a cluster whose distance is not known, the position of the main sequence can be compared to that of the first cluster and the distance estimated. This process is known as main-sequence fitting. Reddening and stellar populations must be accounted for when using this method.  Nearly all stars in the Galactic field, including the Sun, were initially born in regions with embedded clusters that disintegrated. This means that properties of stars and planetary systems may have been affected by early clustered environments. This appears to be the case for our own Solar System, in which chemical abundances point to the effects of a supernova from a nearby star early in our Solar System's history.

Star Clouds.

A large group of many stars spread over very many light-years of space; the stars are not part of any structure but are in an area of greater than average stellar density.

Nomenclature.

In 1979, the International Astronomical Union's 17th general assembly recommended that newly discovered star clusters, open or globular, within the Galaxy have designations following the convention "Chhmm±ddd", always beginning with the prefix "C", where "h", "m", and "d" represent the approximate coordinates of the cluster centre in hours and minutes of right ascension, and degrees of declination, respectively, with leading zeros. The designation, once assigned, is not to change, even if subsequent measurements improve on the location of the cluster centre. The first of such designations were assigned by Gosta Lynga in 1982.

Star clusters are very large groups of stars. Two types of star clusters can be distinguished: globular clusters are tight groups of hundreds to millions of old stars which are gravitationally bound, while open clusters, more loosely clustered groups of stars, generally contain fewer than a few hundred members, and are often very young. Open clusters become disrupted over time by the gravitational influence of giant molecular clouds as they move through the Galaxy, but cluster members will continue to move in broadly the same direction through space even though they are no longer gravitationally bound; they are then known as a stellar association, sometimes also referred to as a "moving group".

恒星集团或恒星云是恒星的集团,可以区分为两种类型:球状星团是由成千上万颗老年恒星被万有引力紧密束缚在一起的恒星集团;而疏散星团一般只有数百颗恒星,而且通常都很年轻的恒星组成,是结构较为松散的恒星集团。疏散星团在银河系中运动时会受到巨大分子云的影响,而随着时间的流易逐渐瓦解,但星团中的成员即使不再受彼此间的引力约束,但仍将继续维持大致相同的运动方向在空间中移动;然后他们会被称为星协或是移动星群。肉眼可见的恒星集团包括昴宿星团、毕宿星团和蜂巢星团。


Life and career.

Early life.

Takeshi Kitano was born in Adachi, Tokyo, with two older brothers and an older sister. His father worked as a house painter, with Kitano revealing that he was also possibly a yakuza, while his mother was a strict disciplinarian and educator who worked in a factory. In his working-class neighborhood, the children looked up to baseball players and yakuza, with many of his neighbors being the latter. Kitano entered Meiji University and studied engineering, before dropping out at age 19. He went to the Asakusa district in 1972 to become a comedian. While working as an elevator operator at the Asakusa France-za strip club, he became an apprentice of its comedian Senzaburo Fukami and eventually the theater's MC.

Comedy career and success.

In the 1970s, he formed a comedy duo with his friend Nirō Kaneko (also called Kiyoshi Kaneko). They took on the stage names "Beat Takeshi" and "Beat Kiyoshi"; together referring to themselves as. This sort of duo comedy, known as "manzai" in Japan, usually features a great deal of high-speed back-and-forth banter between the two performers. Kiyoshi played the straight man ("tsukkomi") against Takeshi's funny man ("boke"). In 1976, they performed on television for the first time and became a success, propelling their act onto the national stage. The reason for their popularity had much to do with Kitano's material, which was much more risqué than traditional "manzai". The targets of his jokes were often the socially vulnerable, including the elderly, the handicapped, the poor, children, women, the ugly and the stupid. Complaints to the broadcaster led to censorship of some of Kitano's jokes and the editing of offensive dialogue. Kitano confirmed in a video interview that he was forbidden to access the NHK studios for five years for having exposed his body during a show when it was totally forbidden.  Although Two Beat was one of the most successful acts of its kind during the late 1970s and early 1980s, Kitano decided to go solo and the duo was dissolved. Together with Sanma Akashiya and Tamori, Kitano is said to be one of the "" television comedians ("owarai" "tarento") of Japan. Some autobiographical elements relating to his "manzai" career can be found in his 1996 film "Kids Return". Beat Kiyoshi has a bit part in Kitano's 1999 film "Kikujiro", as "Man at the Bus Stop". Kitano had also become a popular television host. "Takeshi's Castle" was a game show hosted by Kitano in the 1980s, featuring slapstick-style physical contests. It was broadcast years later in the United States under the title "Most Extreme Elimination Challenge", with Takeshi renamed "Vic Romano".  Many of Kitano's routines involved him portraying a gangster or other harsh characters. Kitano said that after playing comedy clubs he would be invited to drink with yakuza, who would tell him stories about the big crime bosses. His first major film role in Nagisa Oshima's "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" (cast as a tough POW camp sergeant during World War II opposite Tom Conti, Ryuichi Sakamoto and David Bowie). Kitano said that he was happy with his performance and snuck into a showing of the film to see how the audience would accept him as a serious actor instead of a comedian. He was devastated when the audience burst into laughter upon his appearing on screen, but vowed to stick to serious and dark characters in film.  In 1986, Kitano worked on the Family Computer video game "Takeshi no Chōsenjō" (translated as "Takeshi's Challenge"), as a consultant and partial designer. He was the first Japanese celebrity to actively contribute to the development of a video game and starred in several commercials promoting its release. Due to the title's difficulty and confusing gameplay mechanics, it was placed first in Famitsu magazine's "kusoge" (shit game) ranking, and is often referred to as one of the worst video games of all time. "Takeshi no Chōsenjō" and its development was later the subject of the first episode of "GameCenter CX", a gaming variety show hosted by Osaka comedian Shinya Arino.  In 1988, he published a memoir, "Asakusa Kid". He has also published a number of novels and other books which have been translated into French. After several other acting roles, mostly comedic, in 1989 he was cast as the lead in "Violent Cop". When director Kinji Fukasaku stepped down over scheduling conflicts with Kitano, due to Kitano's TV commitments, the distributor suggested the comedian direct it at his own pace. He also rewrote the script heavily, and this marked the beginning of Kitano's career as a filmmaker.

1990–2000: Film recognition.

Kitano's second film as director and first as screenwriter was "Boiling Point" ("3-4X10 October") released in 1990. Mark Schilling cited it as the film in which Kitano defined his style with long takes, minimal camera movement, brief dialogue, sly humor, and sudden violence.  Kitano's third film, "A Scene at the Sea", was released in 1991. It follows a deaf garbage collector who is determined to learn how to surf after discovering a broken surfboard. Kitano's more delicate, romantic side came to the fore here, along with his trademark deadpan approach. The film garnered numerous nominations and awards, including Best Film at the prestigious Blue Ribbon Awards. It also started a long-running collaboration with composer Joe Hisaishi, which would last until 2002.  Although 1993's "Sonatine" did poorly in Japan, it received rave reviews in Europe when it was shown at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. Kitano plays a Tokyo yakuza who is sent by his boss to Okinawa to help end a gang war there. He is tired of gangster life, and when he finds out the whole mission is a ruse, he welcomes what comes with open arms. All four of his films were screened at the 1994 London Film Festival.  In August 1994, Kitano was involved in a motorscooter accident and suffered injuries that caused partial paralysis of the right-side of his face. As reported by Dan Edwards, Kitano later said that the accident was an "unconscious suicide attempt". Kitano made "Kids Return" in 1996, soon after his recovery.  The 1995 release of "Getting Any?" ("Minna Yatteruka!"), which was filmed before the accident, showed Kitano returning to his comedy roots. This "Airplane!"-like assemblage of comedic scenes, all centering loosely around a Walter Mitty-type character trying to have sex in a car, met with little acclaim in Japan. Much of the film satirizes popular Japanese culture, such as "Ultraman" or "Godzilla" and even the Zatoichi character that Kitano himself would go on to play eight years later. That year Kitano also appeared in the film adaptation of William Gibson's 1995 "Johnny Mnemonic", credited by the mononym "Takeshi", although his on-screen time was greatly reduced for the American cut of the film.  After his motorscooter accident, Kitano took up painting. His paintings have been published in books, featured in gallery exhibitions, and adorn the covers of many of the soundtrack albums for his films. His paintings were featured prominently in his most critically acclaimed film, 1997's "Hana-bi". Although for years already Kitano's largest audience had been the foreign arthouse crowd, "Hana-bi" cemented his status internationally as one of Japan's foremost modern filmmakers. Although it was not a big success financially, it won the Golden Lion award at the 1997 Venice Film Festival. Kitano himself said it was not until he won this award that he was accepted as a serious director in Japan; prior his films were looked at as just the hobby of a famous comedian.  Among his most significant acting roles were Nagisa Oshima's 1999 film "Taboo", in which he played Captain Hijikata Toshizo of the Shinsengumi. "Kikujiro", released in 1999 and named after his father, was a semi-comedy featuring Kitano as a ne'er-do-well crook who winds up paired up with a young boy looking for his mother, and goes on a series of misadventures with him.  He hosted "Koko ga Hen da yo Nihonjin" (English translation, "This doesn't make sense, Japanese people!") which was a Japanese TV show that was broadcast weekly from 1998 to 2002, a talk show on which a large panel of Japanese-speaking foreigners from around the world debate current issues in Japanese society. He currently hosts "Unbelievable", which was relaunched in 2001, and the weekly television program "Beat Takeshi's TV Tackle". "TV Tackle" is a kind of panel discussion among entertainers and politicians regarding controversial current events. Another of his shows is "Sekai Marumie TV" ("The World Exposed"), a weekly collection of various interesting video clips from around the world, often focusing on the weird aspects of other countries. On this show, he plays a childlike idiot, insulting the guests, and usually appearing wearing strange costumes during the show.

2000–present.

Kitano played a similarly named character in the 2000 controversial Japanese blockbuster "Battle Royale", which takes place in a future in which a group of teenagers are randomly selected each year to eliminate each other on a deserted island.  His 2000 film "Brother" was deliberately intended to be a hit abroad. Shot in Los Angeles, it starred Kitano as a deposed and exiled Tokyo yakuza setting up a drug empire in Los Angeles with the aid of a local gangster played by Omar Epps. However, the film met with tepid international response. Although in Japan it did better financially than "Hana-bi". "Dolls" in 2002 had Kitano directing but not starring in a romantic drama with three different stories about undying love, and was loosely based on a bunraku play.  Following the disappointing response to the film "Brother" and the film "Dolls", Kitano received a sequence of unsympathetic reviews from the press in the United States. Criticism was less severe in Europe and Asia though many commentators were not as lavish with their praise as they had been with his previous films. 2003's "Zatōichi", directed by and starring Kitano, silenced many of these dissenters. With a new take on the character from Shintaro Katsu's long-running film and TV series, "Zatōichi" was Kitano's biggest box office success in Japan, did quite well in limited release across the world, and won countless awards at home and abroad, including the Silver Lion award at the Venice Film Festival. Kitano revealed that he was approached by others to create the film and therefore differed from his own techniques and followed the common filmmaking process in order to please them and make a pure-entertainment film.  From April 2005 to 2008, Kitano was an instructor at the Graduate School of Visual Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts.  Kitano's film, "Takeshis'" was released in Japan in November 2005, as the first installment in his surrealist autobiographical series. This was followed in 2007, by his second surrealist autobiographical film "Glory to the Filmmaker!" (appearing as Beat Takeshi), and a third in 2008, titled "Achilles and the Tortoise". In between these films, Kitano appeared in a number of other television projects and smaller projects. In 2007 he appeared in "Dots and Lines" (a TV mini-series) as Jūtarō Torikai. Also in 2007, Kitano appeared in "To Each His Own Cinema" as the projectionist (in the segment "Rencontre unique") as Beat Takeshi, and in the TV movie "Wada Akiko Satsujin Jiken". In 2008, he did the voice-over in "The Monster X Strikes Back: Attack the G8 Summit", for Take-Majin, a heroic monster based on Kitano.  In 2010, the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain in Paris held a one-man show displaying his paintings and installations. A room in the basement played a 12-hour loop of his work as a TV host.  Kitano's 2010 film "Outrage" was screened at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. He admitted he tried something different for "Outrage" by adding a lot of dialogue, stepping back as the main character to make an ensemble piece, and having the feel of a nature documentary watching the characters kill each other. A sequel, 2012's "Outrage Beyond", was screened in competition at the 69th Venice International Film Festival. He also appeared in Yasuo Furuhata's 2012 film, "Dearest". In September 2012, Takeshi Kitano said that the producers wanted him to make a third "Outrage" film depending on the box office. On 7 March 2013, "Minkei News" of Hong Kong reported that Kitano won the Best Director award for "Outrage Beyond" at the 7th Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong.  On 10 August 2013, in an interview reported by John Bleasdale, Kitano revealed his current plans for a sequel to "Outrage Beyond" and an untitled personal film project. As Kitano stated, "Ideally what would happen would be this: "Outrage Beyond" becomes a huge hit, so huge that my producer allows me to make one film I really want to do and then come back to the sequel after I've made the film I really want to do."  In September 2015, it was announced that Kitano would be contributing his voice and likeness to the character Toru Hirose in the SEGA video game "". This collaboration marked Kitano's first involvement with the video game industry in 30 years since the 1986 release of "Takeshi no Chōsenjō".  Takeshi co-starred in the live action adaptation of the manga "Ghost in the Shell", marking his return to American cinema nearly twenty years after "Johnny Mnemonic" in 1995. Although he has expressed his dislike of anime and manga in the past, he accepted the role because "even though this stylish piece of entertainment is totally different from the films I've directed, I thought it was interesting that Aramaki, the role I play, is a character who gives off a peculiar vibe and, in various episodes, is set at the core of the characters' relationships. I'm looking forward to see how the movie turns out."  In 2017, Kitano released the third and final installment in the successful "Outrage" series titled "Outrage Coda".

Awards.

Kitano won the Golden Lion award at the 54th Venice International Film Festival in 1997 for his film "Hana-bi". In 2008, at the 30th Moscow International Film Festival, Kitano was given the Lifetime Achievement Award. In March 2010 Kitano was named a Commander of the Order of the Arts and Letters of France.

Agency.

is a Japanese talent management and film production company founded and managed by Takeshi Kitano. It launched the Tokyo Filmex in 2000.

Kitano rose to prominence in the 1970s as one half of the comedy duo "Two Beat", before going solo and becoming one of the three biggest comedians in the country. After several small acting roles, he made his directorial debut with 1989's "Violent Cop" and garnered international acclaim for "Sonatine" (1993). He was not widely accepted as an accomplished director in Japan until "Hana-bi" won the Golden Lion in 1997. In October 2017, Kitano completed his "Outrage" crime trilogy with the release of "Outrage Coda".

北野武(;1947年-1月18日)是日本搞笑艺人,东京都足立区出身。原本与以搞笑二人组「」的名义活动,后来身兼电影导演、演员、电视节目主持人,并因电影导演身份使其国际知名度大开。


Origins of the concept.

According to historians such as Roger Luckhurst and Janet Oppenheim the origin of the concept of telepathy in Western civilization can be tracked to the late 19th century and the formation of the Society for Psychical Research. As the physical sciences made significant advances, scientific concepts were applied to mental phenomena (e.g., animal magnetism), with the hope that this would help to understand paranormal phenomena. The modern concept of telepathy emerged in this context.  Psychical researcher Eric Dingwall criticized SPR founding members Frederic W. H. Myers and William F. Barrett for trying to "prove" telepathy rather than objectively analyze whether or not it existed.

Thought reading.

In the late 19th century, the magician and mentalist, Washington Irving Bishop would perform "thought reading" demonstrations. Bishop claimed no supernatural powers and ascribed his powers to muscular sensitivity (reading thoughts from unconscious bodily cues). Bishop was investigated by a group of scientists including the editor of the "British Medical Journal" and the psychologist Francis Galton. Bishop performed several feats successfully such as correctly identifying a selected spot on a table and locating a hidden object. During the experiment Bishop required physical contact with a subject who knew the correct answer. He would hold the hand or wrist of the helper. The scientists concluded that Bishop was not a genuine telepath but using a highly trained skill to detect ideomotor movements.  Another famous thought reader was the magician Stuart Cumberland. He was famous for performing blindfolded feats such as identifying a hidden object in a room that a person had picked out or asking someone to imagine a murder scene and then attempt to read the subject's thoughts and identify the victim and reenact the crime. Cumberland claimed to possess no genuine psychic ability and his thought reading performances could only be demonstrated by holding the hand of his subject to read their muscular movements. He came into dispute with psychical researchers associated with the Society for Psychical Research who were searching for genuine cases of telepathy. Cumberland argued that both telepathy and communication with the dead were impossible and that the mind of man cannot be read through telepathy, but only by muscle reading.

Case studies.

In the late 19th century the Creery Sisters (Mary, Alice, Maud, Kathleen, and Emily) were tested by the Society for Psychical Research and believed to have genuine psychic ability. However, during a later experiment they were caught utilizing signal codes and they confessed to fraud. George Albert Smith and Douglas Blackburn were claimed to be genuine psychics by the Society for Psychical Research but Blackburn confessed to fraud:  For nearly thirty years the telepathic experiments conducted by Mr. G. A. Smith and myself have been accepted and cited as the basic evidence of the truth of thought transference... ...the whole of those alleged experiments were bogus, and originated in the honest desire of two youths to show how easily men of scientific mind and training could be deceived when seeking for evidence in support of a theory they were wishful to establish.  Between 1916 and 1924, Gilbert Murray conducted 236 experiments into telepathy and reported 36% as successful, however, it was suggested that the results could be explained by hyperaesthesia as he could hear what was being said by the sender. Psychologist Leonard T. Troland had carried out experiments in telepathy at Harvard University which were reported in 1917. The subjects produced below chance expectations.  Arthur Conan Doyle and W. T. Stead were duped into believing Julius and Agnes Zancig had genuine psychic powers. Both Doyle and Stead wrote the Zancigs performed telepathy. In 1924, Julius and Agnes Zancig confessed that their mind reading act was a trick and published the secret code and all the details of the trick method they had used under the title of "Our Secrets!!" in a London newspaper.  In 1924, Robert H. Gault of Northwestern University with Gardner Murphy conducted the first American radio test for telepathy. The results were entirely negative. One of their experiments involved the attempted thought transmission of a chosen number, out of 2010 replies none were correct.  In February 1927, with the co-operation of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), V. J. Woolley who was at the time the Research Officer for the SPR, arranged a telepathy experiment in which radio listeners were asked to take part. The experiment involved 'agents' thinking about five selected objects in an office at Tavistock Square, whilst listeners on the radio were asked to identify the objects from the BBC studio at Savoy Hill. 24, 659 answers were received. The results revealed no evidence for telepathy.  A famous experiment in telepathy was recorded by the American author Upton Sinclair in his book "Mental Radio" which documents Sinclair's test of psychic abilities of Mary Craig Sinclair, his second wife. She attempted to duplicate 290 pictures which were drawn by her husband. Sinclair claimed Mary successfully duplicated 65 of them, with 155 "partial successes" and 70 failures. However, these experiments were not conducted in a controlled scientific laboratory environment. Science writer Martin Gardner suggested that the possibility of sensory leakage during the experiment had not been ruled out:  The Turner-Ownbey long distance telepathy experiment was discovered to contain flaws. May Frances Turner positioned herself in the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory whilst Sara Ownbey claimed to receive transmissions 250 miles away. For the experiment Turner would think of a symbol and write it down whilst Ownbey would write her guesses. The scores were highly successful and both records were supposed to be sent to J. B. Rhine; however, Ownbey sent them to Turner. Critics pointed out this invalidated the results as she could have simply written her own record to agree with the other. When the experiment was repeated and the records were sent to Rhine the scores dropped to average.  Another example is the experiment carried out by the author Harold Sherman with the explorer Hubert Wilkins who carried out their own experiment in telepathy for five and a half months starting in October 1937. This took place when Sherman was in New York and Wilkins was in the Arctic. The experiment consisted of Sherman and Wilkins at the end of each day to relax and visualise a mental image or "thought impression" of the events or thoughts they had experienced in the day and then to record those images and thoughts on paper in a diary. The results at the end when comparing Sherman's and Wilkins' diaries were claimed to be more than 60 percent.  The full results of the experiments were published in 1942 in a book by Sherman and Wilkins titled "Thoughts Through Space". In the book both Sherman and Wilkins had written they believed they had demonstrated that it was possible to send and receive thought impressions from the mind of one person to another. The magician John Booth wrote the experiment was not an example of telepathy as a high percentage of misses had occurred. Booth wrote it was more likely that the "hits" were the result of "coincidence, law of averages, subconscious expectancy, logical inference or a plain lucky guess". A review of their book in the "American Journal of Orthopsychiatry" cast doubt on their experiment noting "the study was published five years after it was conducted, arouses suspicion on the validity of the conclusions.  In 1948, on the BBC radio Maurice Fogel made the claim that he could demonstrate telepathy. This intrigued the journalist Arthur Helliwell who wanted to discover his methods. He found that Fogel's mind reading acts were all based on trickery, he relied on information about members of his audience before the show started. Helliwell exposed Fogel's methods in a newspaper article. Although Fogel managed to fool some people into believing he could perform genuine telepathy, the majority of his audience knew he was a showman.  In a series of experiments Samuel Soal and his assistant K. M. Goldney examined 160 subjects over 128,000 trials and obtained no evidence for the existence of telepathy. Soal tested Basil Shackleton and Gloria Stewart between 1941 and 1943 in over five hundred sittings and over twenty thousand guesses. Shackleton scored 2890 compared with a chance expectation of 2308 and Gloria scored 9410 compared with a chance level of 7420. It was later discovered the results had been tampered with. Gretl Albert who was present during many of the experiments said she had witnessed Soal altering the records during the sessions. Betty Marwick discovered Soal had not used the method of random selection of numbers as he had claimed. Marwick showed that there had been manipulation of the score sheets "all the experiments reported by Soal had thereby been discredited."  In 1979 the physicists John G. Taylor and Eduardo Balanovski wrote the only scientifically feasible explanation for telepathy could be electromagnetism (EM) involving EM fields. In a series of experiments the EM levels were many orders of magnitude lower than calculated and no paranormal effects were observed. Both Taylor and Balanovski wrote their results were a strong argument against the validity of telepathy.  Research in anomalistic psychology has discovered that in some cases telepathy can be explained by a covariation bias. In an experiment (Schienle "et al". 1996) 22 believers and 20 skeptics were asked to judge the covariation between transmitted symbols and the corresponding feedback given by a receiver. According to the results the believers overestimated the number of successful transmissions whilst the skeptics made accurate hit judgments. The results from another telepathy experiment involving 48 undergraduate college students (Rudski, 2002) were explained by hindsight and confirmation biases.

In parapsychology.

Within parapsychology, telepathy, often along with precognition and clairvoyance, is described as an aspect of extrasensory perception (ESP) or "anomalous cognition" that parapsychologists believe is transferred through a hypothetical psychic mechanism they call "psi". Parapsychologists have reported experiments they use to test for telepathic abilities. Among the most well known are the use of Zener cards and the Ganzfeld experiment.

Types.

Several forms of telepathy have been suggested:

Zener Cards.

Zener cards are marked with five distinctive symbols. When using them, one individual is designated the "sender" and another the "receiver". The sender selects a random card and visualizes the symbol on it, while the receiver attempts to determine that symbol telepathically. Statistically, the receiver has a 20% chance of randomly guessing the correct symbol, so to demonstrate telepathy, they must repeatedly score a success rate that is significantly higher than 20%. If not conducted properly, this method is vulnerable to sensory leakage and card counting.  J. B. Rhine's experiments with Zener cards were discredited due to the discovery that sensory leakage or cheating could account for all his results such as the subject being able to read the symbols from the back of the cards and being able to see and hear the experimenter to note subtle clues. Once Rhine took precautions in response to criticisms of his methods, he was unable to find any high-scoring subjects. Due to the methodological problems, parapsychologists no longer utilize card-guessing studies.

Dream telepathy.

Parapsychological studies into dream telepathy were carried out at the Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York led by Stanley Krippner and Montague Ullman. They concluded the results from some of their experiments supported dream telepathy. However, the results have not been independently replicated. The psychologist James Alcock has written the dream telepathy experiments at Maimonides have failed to provide evidence for telepathy and "lack of replication is rampant."  The picture target experiments that were conducted by Krippner and Ullman were criticized by C. E. M. Hansel. According to Hansel there were weaknesses in the design of the experiments in the way in which the agent became aware of their target picture. Only the agent should have known the target and no other person until the judging of targets had been completed, however, an experimenter was with the agent when the target envelope was opened. Hansel also wrote there had been poor controls in the experiment as the main experimenter could communicate with the subject.  An attempt to replicate the experiments that used picture targets was carried out by Edward Belvedere and David Foulkes. The finding was that neither the subject nor the judges matched the targets with dreams above chance level. Results from other experiments by Belvedere and Foulkes were also negative.

Ganzfeld experiment.

When using the Ganzfeld experiment to test for telepathy, one individual is designated as the receiver and is placed inside a controlled environment where they are deprived of sensory input, and another person is designated as the sender and is placed in a separate location. The receiver is then required to receive information from the sender. The nature of the information may vary between experiments.  The Ganzfeld experiment studies that were examined by Ray Hyman and Charles Honorton had methodological problems that were well documented. Honorton reported only 36% of the studies used duplicate target sets of pictures to avoid handling cues. Hyman discovered flaws in all of the 42 Ganzfeld experiments and to access each experiment, he devised a set of 12 categories of flaws. Six of these concerned statistical defects, the other six covered procedural flaws such as inadequate documentation, randomization and security as well as possibilities of sensory leakage. Over half of the studies failed to safeguard against sensory leakage and all of the studies contained at least one of the 12 flaws. Because of the flaws, Honorton agreed with Hyman the 42 Ganzfeld studies could not support the claim for the existence of psi.  Possibilities of sensory leakage in the Ganzfeld experiments included the receivers hearing what was going on in the sender's room next door as the rooms were not soundproof and the sender's fingerprints to be visible on the target object for the receiver to see.  Hyman also reviewed the autoganzfeld experiments and discovered a pattern in the data that implied a visual cue may have taken place:  Hyman wrote the autoganzfeld experiments were flawed because they did not preclude the possibility of sensory leakage. In 2010, Lance Storm, Patrizio Tressoldi, and Lorenzo Di Risio analyzed 29 ganzfeld studies from 1997 to 2008. Of the 1,498 trials, 483 produced hits, corresponding to a hit rate of 32.2%. This hit rate is statistically significant with p <.001. Participants selected for personality traits and personal characteristics thought to be psi-conducive were found to perform significantly better than unselected participants in the ganzfeld condition. Hyman (2010) published a rebuttal to Storm "et al". According to Hyman "reliance on meta-analysis as the sole basis for justifying the claim that an anomaly exists and that the evidence for it is consistent and replicable is fallacious. It distorts what scientists mean by confirmatory evidence." Hyman wrote the ganzfeld studies have not been independently replicated and have failed to produce evidence for telepathy. Storm "et al". published a response to Hyman claiming the ganzfeld experimental design has proved to be consistent and reliable but parapsychology is a struggling discipline that has not received much attention so further research on the subject is necessary. Rouder "et al". 2013 wrote that critical evaluation of Storm "et al".'s meta-analysis reveals no evidence for telepathy, no plausible mechanism and omitted replication failures. A 2016 paper examined questionable research practices in the ganzfeld experiments.

Twin telepathy.

Twin telepathy is a belief that has been described as a myth in psychological literature. Psychologists Stephen Hupp and Jeremy Jewell have noted that all experiments on the subject have failed to provide any scientific evidence for telepathy between twins. According to Hupp and Jewell there are various behavioral and genetic factors that contribute to the twin telepathy myth "identical twins typically spend a lot of time together and are usually exposed to very similar environments. Thus, it's not at all surprising that they act in similar ways and are adept at anticipating and forecasting each other's reactions to events."  A 1993 study by Susan Blackmore investigated the claims of twin telepathy. In an experiment with six sets of twins one subject would act as the sender and the other the receiver. The sender was given selected objects, photographs or numbers and would attempt to psychically send the information to the receiver. The results from the experiment were negative, no evidence of telepathy was observed.  The skeptical investigator Benjamin Radford has noted that "Despite decades of research trying to prove telepathy, there is no credible scientific evidence that psychic powers exist, either in the general population or among twins specifically. The idea that two people who shared their mother's womb — or even who share the same DNA — have a mysterious mental connection is an intriguing one not borne out in science."

Scientific reception.

A variety of tests have been performed to demonstrate telepathy, but there is no scientific evidence that the power exists. A panel commissioned by the United States National Research Council to study paranormal claims concluded that "despite a 130-year record of scientific research on such matters, our committee could find no scientific justification for the existence of phenomena such as extrasensory perception, mental telepathy or'mind over matter' exercises... Evaluation of a large body of the best available evidence simply does not support the contention that these phenomena exist." The scientific community considers parapsychology a pseudoscience. There is no known mechanism for telepathy. Philosopher and physicist Mario Bunge has written that telepathy would contradict laws of science and the claim that "signals can be transmitted across space without fading with distance is inconsistent with physics".  Physicist John Taylor has written that the experiments that have been claimed by parapsychologists to support evidence for the existence of telepathy are based on the use of shaky statistical analysis and poor design, and attempts to duplicate such experiments by the scientific community have failed. Taylor also wrote the arguments used by parapsychologists for the feasibility of such phenomena are based on distortions of theoretical physics as well as "complete ignorance" of relevant areas of physics.  Psychologist Stuart Sutherland wrote that cases of telepathy can be explained by people underestimating the probability of coincidences. According to Sutherland, "most stories about this phenomenon concern people who are close to one another - husband and wife or brother and sister. Since such people have much in common, it is highly probable that they will sometimes think the same thought at the same time." Graham Reed, a specialist in anomalistic psychology, noted that experiments into telepathy often involve the subject relaxing and reporting the'messages' to consist of colored geometric shapes. Reed wrote that these are a common type of hypnagogic image and not evidence for telepathic communication.  Outside of parapsychology, telepathy is generally explained as the result of fraud, self-delusion and/or self-deception and not as a paranormal power. Psychological research has also revealed other explanations such as confirmation bias, expectancy bias, sensory leakage, subjective validation and wishful thinking. Virtually all of the instances of more popular psychic phenomena, such as mediumship, can be attributed to non-paranormal techniques such as cold reading. Magicians such as Ian Rowland and Derren Brown have demonstrated techniques and results similar to those of popular psychics, without paranormal means. They have identified, described, and developed psychological techniques of cold reading and hot reading.

Psychiatry.

The notion of telepathy is not dissimilar to two clinical concepts: delusions of thought insertion/removal. This similarity might explain how an individual might come to the conclusion that they were experiencing telepathy. Thought insertion/removal is a symptom of psychosis, particularly of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder or substance-induced psychosis. Psychiatric patients who experience this symptom falsely believe that some of their thoughts are not their own and that others (e.g., other people, aliens, demons or fallen angels, or conspiring intelligence agencies, or artificial intelligences) are putting thoughts into their minds (thought insertion). Some patients feel as if thoughts are being taken out of their minds or deleted (thought removal). Along with other symptoms of psychosis, delusions of thought insertion may be reduced by antipsychotic medication. Psychiatrists and clinical psychologists believe and empirical findings support the idea that people with schizotypy and schizotypal personality disorder are particularly likely to believe in telepathy.

Use in fiction.

Telepathy is a common theme in modern fiction and science fiction, with many extraterrestrials (such as the Protoss in the "StarCraft" franchise), superheroes, and supervillains having telepathic ability.

Telepathy (from the Greek τῆλε, "tele" meaning "distant" and πάθος, "pathos" or "-patheia" meaning "feeling, perception, passion, affliction, experience") is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person to another without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR), and has remained more popular than the earlier expression "thought-transference".

心灵感应(telepathy)佛学中所属神通,意为“远距(tele-)感应(-pathy)”, 是指不借助任何感官或物理途径,将信息传递给另一个人的现象或能力;在报导中,这些讯息往往被描述为和普通感官接收的讯息相同。该词由F. W. H. 梅耶尔1882年所创,又译作心电感应、他心通或心有灵犀。读心术一词有其他含义,不宜与此混淆。