Introduction.

Any system of measurement may be assigned a mutually independent set of base quantities and associated base units, from which all other quantities and units may be derived. In the International System of Units, for example, the SI base quantities include length with the associated unit of the metre. In the system of Planck units, a similar set of base quantities may be selected, and the Planck base unit of length is then known simply as the Planck length, the base unit of time is the Planck time, and so on. These units are derived from the five dimensional universal physical constants of Table 1, in such a manner that these constants are eliminated from fundamental selected equations of physical law when physical quantities are expressed in terms of Planck units. For example, Newton's law of universal gravitation,  can be expressed as:  Both equations are dimensionally consistent and equally valid in "any" system of units, but the second equation, with "G" missing, is relating only dimensionless quantities since any ratio of two like-dimensioned quantities is a dimensionless quantity. If, by a shorthand convention, it is understood that all physical quantities are expressed in terms of Planck units, the ratios above may be expressed simply with the symbols of physical quantity, without being scaled explicitly by their corresponding unit:  This last equation (without "G") is valid only if "F", "m", "m", and "r" are the dimensionless numerical values of these quantities measured in terms of Planck units. This is why Planck units or any other use of natural units should be employed with care. Referring to, Paul S. Wesson wrote that, "Mathematically it is an acceptable trick which saves labour. Physically it represents a loss of information and can lead to confusion."

Definition.

Key: L = length, M = mass, T = time, Q = electric charge, Θ = temperature.  A property of Planck units is that in order to obtain the value of any of the physical constants above it is enough to replace the dimensions of the constant with the corresponding Planck units. For example, the gravitational constant ("G") has as dimensions L M T. By replacing each dimension with the value of each corresponding Planck unit one obtains the value of (1 "l") × (1 "m") × (1 "t") = (1.616255×10 m) × (2.176435×10 kg) × (5.391247×10 s) = 6.674...×10 m kg s (which is the value of "G").  This is the consequence of the fact that the system is internally coherent. For example, the gravitational attractive force of two bodies of 1 Planck mass each, set apart by 1 Planck length is 1 coherent Planck unit of force. Likewise, the distance traveled by light during 1 Planck time is 1 Planck length.  To determine, in terms of SI or another existing system of units, the quantitative values of the five base Planck units, those two equations and three others must be satisfied:  Solving the five equations above for the five unknowns results in a unique set of values for the five base Planck units:  Table 2 clearly defines Planck units in terms of the fundamental constants. Yet relative to other units of measurement such as SI, the values of the Planck units are only known approximately. This is due to uncertainty in the values of the gravitational constant "G" and "ε" in SI units.  The values of "c", "h", "e" and "k" in SI units are exact due to the definition of the second, metre, kilogram and kelvin in terms of these constants, and contribute no uncertainty to the values of the Planck units expressed in terms of SI units. The vacuum permittivity "ε" has a relative uncertainty of The numerical value of "G" has been determined experimentally to a relative uncertainty of "G" appears in the definition of every Planck unit other than for charge in Tables 2 and 3. Hence the uncertainty in the values of the Table 2 and 3 SI equivalents of the Planck units derives almost entirely from uncertainty in the value of "G". (The propagation of the error in "G" is a function of the exponent of "G" in the algebraic expression for a unit. Since that exponent is ± for every base unit other than Planck charge, the relative uncertainty of each base unit is about one half that of "G".)  Although the values of the single units can be known only with some uncertainty, one of the consequences of the definitions of "c" "h" and "k" in SI units is that one Planck mass multiplied by one Planck length is equal "exactly" to 1 "l" × 1 "m" = = m⋅kg, while one Planck mass divided by one Planck temperature is equal "exactly" to = = kg/K, and finally one Planck length divided by one Planck time is equal "exactly" to = "c" = 299792458 m/s. As for the gravitational constant and the Coulomb constant instead, although their value is not exact by definition in SI units and must be measured experimentally, the attractive gravitational force "f" that two Planck masses placed at a distance "r" exert on each other is equal to the attractive/repulsive electrostatic force between two Planck charges placed at the same distance, which is equal "exactly" to "f" = = N.

Derived units.

In any system of measurement, units for many physical quantities can be derived from base units. Table 3 offers a sample of derived Planck units, some of which in fact are seldom used. As with the base units, their use is mostly confined to theoretical physics because most of them are too large or too small for empirical or practical use and there are large uncertainties in their values.  Most Planck units are many orders of magnitude too large or too small to be of practical use, so that Planck units as a system are typically only relevant to theoretical physics. In fact, 1 Planck unit is often the largest or smallest value of a physical quantity that makes sense within present-day theories of physics. For example, our understanding of the Big Bang begins with the Planck epoch, when the universe was 1 Planck time old and 1 Planck length in diameter. Understanding the universe when it was less than 1 Planck time old requires a theory of quantum gravity that would incorporate quantum effects into general relativity. Such a theory does not yet exist.  An exception to the general pattern of Planck units being "extreme" in magnitude is the Planck mass, which is about 22 micrograms: very large compared to subatomic particles, but well within the mass range of living things.

History.

The concept of natural units was introduced in 1881, when George Johnstone Stoney, noting that electric charge is quantized, derived units of length, time, and mass, now named Stoney units in his honor, by normalizing "G", "c", and the electron charge, "e", to 1.  In 1899 (one year before the advent of quantum theory), Max Planck introduced what became later known as the Planck constant. At the end of the paper, Planck proposed, as a consequence of his discovery, the base units later named in his honor. The Planck units are based on the quantum of action, now usually known as the Planck constant. Planck called the constant "b" in his paper, though "h" (or the closely related "ħ") is now common. However, at that time it was part of Wien's radiation law, which Planck thought to be correct. Planck underlined the universality of the new unit system, writing: Planck considered only the units based on the universal constants "G", "ħ", "c", and "k" to arrive at natural units for length, time, mass, and temperature. Planck's paper also gave numerical values for the base units that were close to modern values.  The original base units proposed by Planck in 1899 differed by a factor of formula_9 from the Planck units in use today. This is due to the use of the reduced Planck constant (formula_10) in the modern units, which did not appear in the original proposal.  Planck did not adopt any electromagnetic units. However, since the spirit of the system is that of setting all constants to 1, the scientific community has gradually adopted the common habit of setting the Coulomb constant to 1 as well and include the electric charge among the Planck base units. Setting the Coulomb constant to 1 yields for the charge a value identical to the charge unit used in QCD units. Depending on the focus, however, other physicists have kept a more minimalist approach and have referred to the Planck units mentioning only length, mass and time.  A 2006 internal proposal of the SI Working Group of fixing the Planck charge instead of the elementary charge (since "fixing "q" would have kept "μ" at its familiar value of 4π × 10 H/m and made "e" dependent on measurements of "α"") was rejected, and instead the value of the elementary charge was chosen to be fixed by definition. Currently to calculate the Planck charge it is necessary to use the elementary charge (whose value is currently exact by definition) and the fine-structure constant (whose value needs to be measured and is susceptible to measurement errors).

Significance.

Planck units have little anthropocentric arbitrariness, but do still involve some arbitrary choices in terms of the defining constants. Unlike the metre and second, which exist as base units in the SI system for historical reasons, the Planck length and Planck time are conceptually linked at a fundamental physical level. Consequently, natural units help physicists to reframe questions. Frank Wilczek puts it succinctly: While it is true that the electrostatic repulsive force between two protons (alone in free space) greatly exceeds the gravitational attractive force between the same two protons, this is not about the relative strengths of the two fundamental forces. From the point of view of Planck units, this is comparing apples to oranges, because mass and electric charge are incommensurable quantities. Rather, the disparity of magnitude of force is a manifestation of the fact that the charge on the protons is approximately the unit charge but the mass of the protons is far less than the unit mass.

Planck scale.

In particle physics and physical cosmology, the Planck scale is an energy scale around 1.22 × 10 GeV (the Planck energy, corresponding to the mass–energy equivalence of the Planck mass, 2.17645 × 10 kg) at which quantum effects of gravity become strong. At this scale, present descriptions and theories of sub-atomic particle interactions in terms of quantum field theory break down and become inadequate, due to the impact of the apparent non-renormalizability of gravity within current theories.

Relationship to gravity.

At the Planck length scale, the strength of gravity is expected to become comparable with the other forces, and it is theorized that all the fundamental forces are unified at that scale, but the exact mechanism of this unification remains unknown. The Planck scale is therefore the point where the effects of quantum gravity can no longer be ignored in other fundamental interactions, and where current calculations and approaches begin to break down, and a means to take account of its impact is required.  While physicists have a fairly good understanding of the other fundamental interactions of forces on the quantum level, gravity is problematic, and cannot be integrated with quantum mechanics at very high energies using the usual framework of quantum field theory. At lesser energy levels it is usually ignored, while for energies approaching or exceeding the Planck scale, a new theory of quantum gravity is required. Other approaches to this problem include string theory and M-theory, loop quantum gravity, noncommutative geometry, scale relativity, causal set theory and P-adic quantum mechanics.

In cosmology.

In Big Bang cosmology, the Planck epoch or Planck era is the earliest stage of the Big Bang, before the time passed was equal to the Planck time, "t", or approximately 10 seconds. There is no currently available physical theory to describe such short times, and it is not clear in what sense the concept of time is meaningful for values smaller than the Planck time. It is generally assumed that quantum effects of gravity dominate physical interactions at this time scale. At this scale, the unified force of the Standard Model is assumed to be unified with gravitation. Immeasurably hot and dense, the state of the Planck epoch was succeeded by the grand unification epoch, where gravitation is separated from the unified force of the Standard Model, in turn followed by the inflationary epoch, which ended after about 10 seconds (or about 10 "t").  Relative to the Planck epoch, the observable universe today looks extreme when expressed in Planck units, as in this set of approximations:  The recurrence of large numbers close or related to 10 in the above table is a coincidence that intrigues some theorists. It is an example of the kind of large numbers coincidence that led theorists such as Eddington and Dirac to develop alternative physical hypotheses (e.g. a variable speed of light or Dirac varying-"G" hypothesis). After the measurement of the cosmological constant in 1998, estimated at 10 in Planck units, it was noted that this is suggestively close to the reciprocal of the age of the universe squared. Barrow and Shaw (2011) proposed a modified theory in which Λ is a field evolving in such a way that its value remains Λ ~ "T" throughout the history of the universe.

Other uses.

The Planck length is related to Planck energy by the uncertainty principle. At this scale, the concepts of size and distance break down, as quantum indeterminacy becomes virtually absolute. Because the Schwarzschild radius of a black hole is roughly equal to the Compton wavelength at the Planck scale, a photon with sufficient energy to probe this realm would yield no information whatsoever. Any photon energetic enough to precisely measure a Planck-sized object could actually "create" a particle of that dimension, but it would be massive enough to immediately become a black hole (a.k.a. Planck particle), thus completely distorting that region of space, and swallowing the photon. This is the most extreme example possible of the uncertainty principle, and explains why only a quantum gravity theory reconciling general relativity with quantum mechanics will allow us to understand the dynamics of space-time at this scale. Planck scale dynamics are important for cosmology because by tracing the evolution of the cosmos back to the very beginning, at some very early stage the universe should have been so hot that processes involving energies as high as the Planck energy (corresponding to distances as short as the Planck length) may have occurred. This period is therefore called the Planck era or Planck epoch.

Analysis of the units.

Planck density.

The Planck density is a very large unit, about equivalent to 10 solar masses squeezed into the space of a single atomic nucleus. The Planck density is thought to be the upper limit of density.

Planck energy.

Most Planck units are extremely small, as in the case of Planck length or Planck time, or extremely large, as in the case of Planck temperature or Planck acceleration. For comparison, the Planck energy is approximately equal to the energy stored in an automobile gas tank (57.2 L of gasoline at 34.2 MJ/L of chemical energy). The ultra-high-energy cosmic ray observed in 1991 had a measured energy of about 50 joules, equivalent to about 2.5×10. Theoretically, the highest energy photon carries about 1 of energy (see Ultra-high-energy gamma ray), after which it becomes indistinguishable from a Planck particle carrying the same energy.

Planck force.

The Planck force is the derived unit of force resulting from the definition of the base Planck units for time, length, and mass. It is equal to the natural unit of momentum divided by the natural unit of time.  The Planck force is associated with the equivalence of gravitational potential energy and electromagnetic energy: the gravitational attractive force of two bodies of 1 Planck mass each, set apart by 1 Planck length is 1 Planck force; equivalently, the electrostatic attractive/repulsive force of two Planck charges set apart by 1 Planck length is 1 Planck force.  The Planck force appears in the Einstein field equations, describing the properties of a gravitational field surrounding any given mass:  where formula_13 is the Einstein tensor and formula_14 is the energy–momentum tensor. The Planck force thus describes how much or how easily space-time is curved by a given amount of mass-energy.  Since 1993, various authors (De Sabbata & Sivaram, Massa, Kostro & Lange, Gibbons, Schiller) have argued that the Planck force is the maximum force value that can be observed in nature. This limit property is valid both for gravitational force and for any other type of force.

Planck momentum.

The Planck momentum is equal to the Planck mass multiplied by the speed of light. Unlike most of the other Planck units, Planck momentum occurs on a human scale. By comparison, running with a five-pound object (10 × Planck mass) at an average running speed (10 × speed of light in a vacuum) would give the object Planck momentum. A 70 kg human moving at an average walking speed of would have a momentum of about 15 formula_15. A baseball, which has mass formula_16 0.145 kg, travelling at would have a Planck momentum.

Planck temperature.

The Planck temperature of 1 (unity), equal to, is considered a fundamental limit of temperature. An object with the temperature of ("T") would emit a black body radiation with a peak wavelength of (Planck length), where each photon and each individual collision would have the energy to create a Planck particle. There are no known physical models able to describe temperatures greater than or equal to "T".

Planck time.

A Planck time unit is the time required for light to travel a distance of 1 Planck length in a vacuum, which is a time interval of approximately 5.39 × 10 s (Gaussian version). All scientific experiments and human experiences occur over time scales that are many orders of magnitude longer than the Planck time, making any events happening at the Planck scale undetectable with current scientific technology., the smallest time interval uncertainty in direct measurements was on the order of 850 zeptoseconds (8.50 × 10 seconds).

List of physical equations.

Physical quantities that have different dimensions (such as time and length) cannot be equated even if they are numerically equal (1 second is not the same as 1 metre). In theoretical physics, however, this scruple can be set aside, by a process called nondimensionalization. Table 7 shows how the use of Planck units simplifies many fundamental equations of physics, because this gives each of the five fundamental constants, and products of them, a simple numeric value of 1. In the SI form, the units should be accounted for. In the nondimensionalized form, the units, which are now Planck units, need not be written if their use is understood.

Alternative choices of normalization.

As already stated above, Planck units are derived by "normalizing" the numerical values of certain fundamental constants to 1. These normalizations are neither the only ones possible nor necessarily the best. Moreover, the choice of what factors to normalize, among the factors appearing in the fundamental equations of physics, is not evident, and the values of the Planck units are sensitive to this choice.  The factor 4 is ubiquitous in theoretical physics because the surface area of a sphere of radius "r" is 4"r". This, along with the concept of flux, are the basis for the inverse-square law, Gauss's law, and the divergence operator applied to flux density. For example, gravitational and electrostatic fields produced by point charges have spherical symmetry (Barrow 2002: 214–15). The 4"r" appearing in the denominator of Coulomb's law in rationalized form, for example, follows from the flux of an electrostatic field being distributed uniformly on the surface of a sphere. Likewise for Newton's law of universal gravitation. (If space had more than three spatial dimensions, the factor 4 would have to be changed according to the geometry of the sphere in higher dimensions.)  Hence a substantial body of physical theory developed since Planck (1899) suggests normalizing not "G" but either 4"G" (or 8"G" or 16"G") to 1. Doing so would introduce a factor of (or or ) into the nondimensionalized form of the law of universal gravitation, consistent with the modern rationalized formulation of Coulomb's law in terms of the vacuum permittivity. In fact, alternative normalizations frequently preserve the factor of in the nondimensionalized form of Coulomb's law as well, so that the nondimensionalized Maxwell's equations for electromagnetism and gravitoelectromagnetism both take the same form as those for electromagnetism in SI, which do not have any factors of 4. When this is applied to electromagnetic constants, "ε", this unit system is called ""rationalized"" Lorentz–Heaviside units. When applied additionally to gravitation and Planck units, these are called rationalized Planck units and are seen in high-energy physics.  The rationalized Planck units are defined so that formula_17.  There are several possible alternative normalizations.

Gravitational constant.

In 1899, Newton's law of universal gravitation was still seen as exact, rather than as a convenient approximation holding for "small" velocities and masses (the approximate nature of Newton's law was shown following the development of general relativity in 1915). Hence Planck normalized to 1 the gravitational constant "G" in Newton's law. In theories emerging after 1899, "G" nearly always appears in formulae multiplied by 4 or a small integer multiple thereof. Hence, a choice to be made when designing a system of natural units is which, if any, instances of 4 appearing in the equations of physics are to be eliminated via the normalization.

Coulomb constant.

Planck units normalize to 1 the Coulomb force constant "k" = (as does the cgs system of units). This sets the derived unit of impedance, "Z" equal to, where "Z" is the characteristic impedance of free space.

Boltzmann constant.

Planck normalized to 1 the Boltzmann constant "k".

Reduced Planck constant.

Modern Planck units normalize to 1 the reduced Planck constant. This is the only constant in the system that affects all base units altogether in the same proportional way.

Planck units and the invariant scaling of nature.

Some theorists (such as Dirac and Milne) have proposed cosmologies that conjecture that physical "constants" might actually change over time (e.g. a variable speed of light or Dirac varying-"G" theory). Such cosmologies have not gained mainstream acceptance and yet there is still considerable scientific interest in the possibility that physical "constants" might change, although such propositions introduce difficult questions. Perhaps the first question to address is: How would such a change make a noticeable operational difference in physical measurement or, more fundamentally, our perception of reality? If some particular physical constant had changed, how would we notice it, or how would physical reality be different? Which changed constants result in a meaningful and measurable difference in physical reality? If a physical constant that is not dimensionless, such as the speed of light, "did" in fact change, would we be able to notice it or measure it unambiguously? – a question examined by Michael Duff in his paper "Comment on time-variation of fundamental constants".  George Gamow argued in his book "Mr Tompkins in Wonderland" that a sufficient change in a dimensionful physical constant, such as the speed of light in a vacuum, would result in obvious perceptible changes. But this idea is challenged:  Referring to Duff's "Comment on time-variation of fundamental constants" and Duff, Okun, and Veneziano's paper "Trialogue on the number of fundamental constants", particularly the section entitled "The operationally indistinguishable world of Mr. Tompkins", if all physical quantities (masses and other properties of particles) were expressed in terms of Planck units, those quantities would be dimensionless numbers (mass divided by the Planck mass, length divided by the Planck length, etc.) and the only quantities that we ultimately measure in physical experiments or in our perception of reality are dimensionless numbers. When one commonly measures a length with a ruler or tape-measure, that person is actually counting tick marks on a given standard or is measuring the length relative to that given standard, which is a dimensionless value. It is no different for physical experiments, as all physical quantities are measured relative to some other like-dimensioned quantity.  We can notice a difference if some dimensionless physical quantity such as fine-structure constant, "α", changes or the proton-to-electron mass ratio,, changes (atomic structures would change) but if all dimensionless physical quantities remained unchanged (this includes all possible ratios of identically dimensioned physical quantity), we cannot tell if a dimensionful quantity, such as the speed of light, "c", has changed. And, indeed, the Tompkins concept becomes meaningless in our perception of reality if a dimensional quantity such as "c" has changed, even drastically.  If the speed of light "c", were somehow suddenly cut in half and changed to "c" (but with the axiom that "all" dimensionless physical quantities remain the same), then the Planck length would "increase" by a factor of 2 from the point of view of some unaffected observer on the outside. Measured by "mortal" observers in terms of Planck units, the new speed of light would remain as 1 new Planck length per 1 new Planck time – which is no different from the old measurement. But, since by axiom, the size of atoms (approximately the Bohr radius) are related to the Planck length by an unchanging dimensionless constant of proportionality:  Then atoms would be bigger (in one dimension) by 2, each of us would be taller by 2, and so would our metre sticks be taller (and wider and thicker) by a factor of 2. Our perception of distance and lengths relative to the Planck length is, by axiom, an unchanging dimensionless constant.  Our clocks would tick slower by a factor of 4 (from the point of view of this unaffected observer on the outside) because the Planck time has increased by 4 but we would not know the difference (our perception of durations of time relative to the Planck time is, by axiom, an unchanging dimensionless constant). This hypothetical unaffected observer on the outside might observe that light now propagates at half the speed that it previously did (as well as all other observed velocities) but it would still travel of our "new" metres in the time elapsed by one of our "new" seconds ("c" × 4 ÷ 2 continues to equal ). We would not notice any difference.  This contradicts what George Gamow writes in his book "Mr. Tompkins"; there, Gamow suggests that if a dimension-dependent universal constant such as "c" changed significantly, we "would" easily notice the difference. The disagreement is better thought of as the ambiguity in the phrase ""changing a physical constant""; what would happen depends on whether (1) all other "dimensionless" constants were kept the same, or whether (2) all other dimension-"dependent" constants are kept the same. The second choice is a somewhat confusing possibility, since most of our units of measurement are defined in relation to the outcomes of physical experiments, and the experimental results depend on the constants. Gamow does not address this subtlety; the thought experiments he conducts in his popular works assume the second choice for ""changing a physical constant"". And Duff or Barrow would point out that ascribing a change in measurable reality, i.e. "α", to a specific dimensional component quantity, such as "c", is unjustified. The very same operational difference in measurement or perceived reality could just as well be caused by a change in "h" or "e" if "α" is changed and no other dimensionless constants are changed. It is only the dimensionless physical constants that ultimately matter in the definition of worlds.  This unvarying aspect of the Planck-relative scale, or that of any other system of natural units, leads many theorists to conclude that a hypothetical change in dimensionful physical constants can only be manifest as a change in dimensionless physical constants. One such dimensionless physical constant is the fine-structure constant. There are some experimental physicists who assert they have in fact measured a change in the fine structure constant and this has intensified the debate about the measurement of physical constants. According to some theorists there are some very special circumstances in which changes in the fine-structure constant "can" be measured as a change in "dimensionful" physical constants. Others however reject the possibility of measuring a change in dimensionful physical constants under any circumstance. The difficulty or even the impossibility of measuring changes in dimensionful physical constants has led some theorists to debate with each other whether or not a dimensionful physical constant has any practical significance at all and that in turn leads to questions about which dimensionful physical constants are meaningful.

In particle physics and physical cosmology, Planck units are a set of units of measurement defined exclusively in terms of five universal physical constants, in such a manner that these five physical constants take on the numerical value of 1 when expressed in terms of these units.

Planckovy jednotky představují přirozený způsob zavedení fyzikálních jednotek tak, že gravitační konstanta, redukovaná Planckova konstanta a rychlost světla mají jednotkovou velikost. V těchto jednotkách jsou obvykle výpočty v téměř všech fundamentálních teoriích algebraicky jednodušší.


History.

The Romans formed their first orphanages around 400 AD. Jewish law prescribed care for the widow and the orphan, and Athenian law supported all orphans of those killed in military service until the age of eighteen. Plato ("Laws", 927) says: "Orphans should be placed under the care of public guardians. Men should have a fear of the loneliness of orphans and of the souls of their departed parents. A man should love the unfortunate orphan of whom he is guardian as if he were his own child. He should be as careful and as diligent in the management of the orphan's property as of his own or even more careful still." The care of orphans was referred to bishops and, during the Middle Ages, to monasteries. As soon as they were old enough, children were often given as apprentices to households to ensure their support and to learn an occupation.  In medieval Europe, care for orphans tended to reside with the Church. The Elizabethan Poor Laws were enacted at the time of the Reformation, and placed public responsibility on individual parishes to care for the indigent poor.

Foundling Hospitals.

The growth of sentimental philanthropy in the 18th century led to the establishment of the first charitable institutions that would cater to orphans. The Foundling Hospital was founded in 1741 by the philanthropic sea captain Thomas Coram in London, England, as a children's home for the "education and maintenance of exposed and deserted young children." The first children were admitted into a temporary house located in Hatton Garden. At first, no questions were asked about child or parent, but a distinguishing token was put on each child by the parent.  On reception, children were sent to wet nurses in the countryside,

19th century.

By the early nineteenth century, the problem of abandoned children in urban areas, especially London, began to reach alarming proportions. The workhouse system, instituted in 1834, although often brutal, was an attempt at the time to house orphans as well as other vulnerable people in society who could not support themselves in exchange for work. Conditions, especially for the women and children, were so bad as to cause an outcry among the social reform-minded middle-class; some of Charles Dickens' most famous novels, including "Oliver Twist", highlighted the plight of the vulnerable and the often abusive conditions that were prevalent in the London orphanages.  Clamour for change led to the birth of the orphanage movement. In England, the movement really took off in the mid-19th century although orphanages such as the Orphan Working Home in 1758 and the Bristol Asylum for Poor Orphan Girls in 1795, had been set up earlier. Private orphanages were founded by private benefactors; these often received royal patronage and government oversight. Ragged schools, founded by John Pounds and the Lord Shaftesbury were also set up to provide

Deinstitutionalization.

Evidence from a variety of studies support the vital importance of attachment security and later development of children. Deinstitutionalization of orphanages and children's homes program in the United States began in the 1950s, after a series of scandals involving the coercion of birth parents and abuse of orphans (notably at Georgia Tann's Tennessee Children's Home Society). In Romania, a decree was established that aggressively promoted population growth, banning contraception and abortions for women with fewer than four children, despite the wretched poverty of most families. After Ceausescu was overthrown, he left a society unable and unwilling to take care of its children. Researchers conducted a study to see what the implications of this early childhood neglect were on development. Typically reared Romanian children

Comparison to alternatives.

Orphanages, especially larger ones, have had some well publicised examples of poor care. In large institutions children, but particularly babies, may not receive enough eye contact, physical contact, and stimulation to promote proper physical, social or cognitive development. In the worst cases, orphanages can be dangerous and unregulated places where children are subject to abuse and neglect.  One significant study, which disputes this, was carried out by Duke University. Their researchers concluded that institutional care in America in the 20th century produced the same health, emotional, intellectual, mental, and

Criticism.

Most of the children living in institutions around the world have a surviving parent or close relative, and they most commonly entered orphanages because of poverty. It is speculated that, flush with money, orphanages are increasing and push for children to join even though demographic data show that even the poorest extended families usually take in children whose parents have

Scams.

Visitors to developing countries can be taken in by orphanage scams, which can include orphanages created for the day or orphanages set up as a front to get foreigners to pay school fees of orphanage directors' extended families. Alternatively the children whose upkeep is being funded by foreigners may be sent to work, not to school, the exact opposite of what the donor is expecting. The worst even sell children. In Cambodia, from 2005–2017, the number of orphanages increased by 75%, with many of these orphanages renting children from

Worldwide.

Europe.

The orphanages and institutions remaining in Europe tend to be in Eastern Europe and are generally state-funded.

Albania.

There are approximately 10 small orphanages

Bosnia and Herzegovina.

SOS Children's Villages giving

Bulgaria.

The Bulgarian government has shown interest in strengthening children's rights.  In 2010, Bulgaria adopted a national strategic plan for the period 2010–2025 to improve the living standards of the country's children. Bulgaria is working hard to get all institutions closed within the next few years and find alternative ways to take care of the children.  "Support

Estonia.

As of 2009,

Hungary.

A comprehensive national strategy for strengthening the rights of children was adopted by Parliament in 2007 and will

Lithuania.

In Lithuania there are 105 institutions. 41 percent of the institutions

Poland.

Children's rights enjoys a relatively strong protection in Poland. Orphaned children are now protected by social services.

Moldova.

More than 8800 children are being raised

Romania.

The Romanian child welfare system is in the process of being revised and has reduced the flow of infants into orphanages.  According to Baroness Emma Nicholson, in some counties Romania now has "a completely new,

Serbia.

There are many state orphanages "where several thousand children are kept and which are still part of an outdated child

Slovakia.

The Committee made recommendations, such as proposals for the adoption of a new "national 14" action

Sweden.

One of the first orphanages in Sweden was the "Stora Barnhuset" (1633-1922) in Stockholm, which remained the biggest orphanage in Sweden for centuries. In 1785, however, a reform by Gustav III of Sweden stipulated that orphans

United Kingdom.

During the Victorian era, child abandonment was rampant, and orphanages were set up to reduce infant mortality. Such places were often so full of children that nurses often administered Godfrey's Cordial, a special concoction of opium and treacle, to soothe baby colic.  Orphaned children were placed in either prisons or the poorhouse/workhouse, as there were so few places in orphanages, or else they were left to fend for themselves on the street. Such openings in orphanages as were available could only be obtained by collecting votes for admission, placing them out of reach of poor families.  Known orphanages are:

Sub-Saharan Africa.

The majority of African orphanages (especially in Sub-Saharan Africa) appear to be funded by donors, often from Western nations, rather than by domestic governments.

Ethiopia.

"For example, in the Jerusalem Association Children's Home (JACH), only 160 children remain of the 785 who were in JACH's three orphanages." / "Attitudes regarding the institutional care of children have shifted dramatically in recent years

Ghana.

A 2007 survey sponsored by OAfrica (previously OrphanAid Africa) and carried out by the Department of Social Welfare came up with the figure of 4,800 children in institutional care in 148 orphanages.

Kenya.

A 1999 survey of 36,000 orphans found the following

Malawi.

There are about 101 orphanages in Malawi. There is a UNICEF/Government driven program on de-institutionalisation, but few orphanages are yet involved in the program.  Amitofo Care Centre ("ACC"), a charitable, non-governmental and nonprofit making orphanage organization, which comprises an administration centre, children's dormitories, youth dormitories, preparatory school, Yuan Tong Primary and Secondary schools, library, activity centre, medical center, religious centre, Community Bases Organization (CBO), etc. - is

Rwanda.

Out of 400,000 orphans, 5,000 are living in orphanages. The Government of Rwanda are working with Hope

Tanzania.

"Currently, there are 52 orphanages in Tanzania caring for about 3,000 orphans and vulnerable children." A world bank

Nigeria.

In Nigeria, a rapid assessment of orphans and vulnerable children conducted in 2004 with UNICEF support revealed that there were about seven million orphans in 2003 and that 800,000

South Africa.

Since 2000, South Africa does not license orphanages any more but they continue to be set up unregulated

Zambia.

A 1996 national survey of orphans revealed no evidence of orphanage care. The breakdown of care was

Zimbabwe.

There are 39 privately run children's charity homes, or orphanages, in the country, and the government operates eight of its own. Privately run Orphanages can accommodate an average of 2000 children, though some are very small and located in very remote areas, hence can take

Togo.

In Togo, there were an estimated 280,000 orphans under 18 years of age in 2005, 88,000 of them orphaned by AIDS. Ninety-six thousand orphans in Togo attend school.

South Asia.

Nepal.

There are at least 602 child care homes housing 15,095 children in Nepal "Orphanages have turned into a

Afghanistan.

"At Kabul's two main orphanages, Alauddin and Tahia Maskan, the number of children enrolled has increased almost 80 percent since last January, from 700 to over 1,200 children. Almost

Bangladesh.

"There are no statistics regarding the actual number of children in welfare institutions in Bangladesh. The Department of Social Services, under the Ministry of Social Welfare, has a major programme named Child Welfare and Child Development in order to provide access to food, shelter, basic education, health services and other basic opportunities for hapless children." (The following numbers

Maldives.

Orphans, Children (0–17 years) orphaned

India.

India is in top 10 and also has a very large number of orphans as well as destitute child population. Orphanages operated by the state are generally known as juvenile homes. In addition there is a vast number of privately run orphanages running into thousands spread across the country. These area run by various trusts, religious groups, individual

Pakistan.

According to a UNICEF report in 2016 there are around 4.2 million orphaned children in Pakistan. Pakistan has had sizable economic growth from 1950-1999 yet they aren't performing well in multiple social indicators like education and health, and this is mainly due to the corrupt and unstable government. Pakistan heavily relies on the nonprofit sector and zakat to finance social issues such as aid for orphans. Zakat is a financial obligation on Muslims which requires one to donate 2.5% of the family's income to charity, and it is specifically mentioned in the Quran to take care of orphans. With the new use of zakat money from donations to investments it has a lot of potential in benefiting the development as well as the ultimate goal of poverty alleviation. The Pakistan government relies on this public sector on taking care of local issues so that they do not have the burden. Furthermore, only 6 percent of cash revenues are contributed to non-profits in Pakistan, and they are heavily favored by the government because its saves them money as non-profits are taking care of issues such as orphan care.

East and Southeast Asia.

Taiwan.

The number of orphanages and orphans drastically dropped from 15 institutions

Thailand.

There are still a substantial number of NGO's and informal Orphanages in Thailand, particularly in Northern Thailand near the borders of Laos and Myanmar, e.g. around Chiang Rai. Very few of the children in these establishments are orphans, most have living parents. They attract funding from well meaning tourists. Often protecting the children from trafficking/abuse is cited but the names and photographs of the children are published in marketing material to attract more funding. The

South Korea.

"There are now 17,000 children in public

Japan.

As off 2015, Japanese orphanages are severely underfunded, relying heavily on volunteer work. There are 602 foster homes across Japan, each with 30-100 children. The government allocates a large amount of funding to

Cambodia.

There are numerous NGOs focusing their efforts on assisting Cambodia's orphans: one group, World Orphans, constructed 47 orphanages housing over 1500 children in a three-year period. The total number of orphans is much higher, but unknown: "There

China.

"Currently there are 50,000 children in Chinese orphanages, while the number of abandoned children shows no sign of slowing. Official figures show that fewer than 20,000 of China's orphans are now in any form of institutional care." Chinese official records fail to account for most of the country's abandoned infants and children, only a small proportion

Laos.

"It is stated that there are 20,000 orphaned children in Laos. There are only three orphanages in the whole country providing places for a total of 1,000 of these children." No Title. By Anneli Dahlbom One of the largest orphanages in Laos is in the town of Phonsavan. It is an S.O.S. orphanage and there are over 120 orphans living in the facility.

Middle East and North Africa.

Egypt.

"The [Mosques of Charity] orphanage houses about 120 children in Giza, Menoufiya and Qalyubiya." "We [Dar Al-Iwaa] provide free education and accommodation for over 200 girls and boys." "Dar Al-Mu'assassa Al-Iwaa'iya (Shelter Association), a government association affiliated with the Ministry of Social Affairs, was established in 1992. It houses about

Sudan.

There is still at least one orphanage

Bahrain.

The "Royal Charity Organization" is a Bahraini governmental charity organization founded in 2001 by King Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifah to sponsor all helpless Bahraini orphans and widows. Since then

Iraq.

UNICEF maintains the same number at present. "While the number of state homes for orphans in the whole of Iraq was 25 in 1990 (serving 1,190 children); both the number

Palestinian Territory.

"In 1999, the number of children living in orphanages witnessed a considerable drop as compared to 1998. The number dropped from 1,980 to 1,714 orphans. This is due to the policy of child re-integration in their household adopted by the Ministry of Social Affairs."

Former Soviet Union.

In the post-Soviet countries, orphanages are better known as "children's homes" (). After reaching school age, all children enroll at internats () (boarding schools).

Russia.

Over 700,000 orphans live in Russia, increasing at the rate of 113,000 per year. UNICEF estimates that 95% of these children are "social orphans", meaning that they have at least one living parent who has given them up to the state. In 2011 Russian authorities registered 88,522 children who became orphans that year (down from 114,715

Azerbaijan.

"Many children are abandoned due to extreme poverty and harsh living conditions. Some may be raised by family

Belarus.

Approximate total – 1,773

Kyrgyzstan.

Partial information:

Tajikistan.

"No one can be sure how many lone children

Ukraine.

103,000 Of this number about 80 percent are described as "social orphans", because the parents are either too poor, abusive, or too addicted to drugs or alcohol to

Uzbekistan.

Partial Information: 80 – Takhtakupar Orphanage

Oceania.

Australia.

Orphanages in Australia mostly closed after World War II and up to the 1970s. Children

Indonesia.

No verifiable information for the number of children

Fiji.

Orphans, children (0–17 years) orphaned due to all causes, 2005, estimate 25,000

North America and Caribbean.

Haiti.

Haitians and expatriate childcare professionals are careful to make it clear that Haitian orphanages and children's homes are not orphanages in the North American sense, but instead shelters for vulnerable children, often housing children whose parent(s) are poor as well as those who are abandoned, neglected or abused by family guardians. Neither the number of children or the number of institutions is officially known, but Chambre de L'Enfance Necessiteusse Haitienne (CENH) indicated that it has received requests for assistance from nearly 200 orphanages from around the country for more than 200,000 children.

Mexico.

"...at least 10,000 Mexican children live

United States.

Some private orphanages still exist in the United States apart from governmental child protective services processes. Following World War II, most orphanages in the U.S. began closing or converting to boarding schools or different kinds of group homes. Also, the term "children's home" became more common for those still existing. Over the past few decades, orphanages in the U.S. have been replaced with smaller institutions that try to provide a group home or boarding school environment. Most children who would have been in orphanages are in these residential treatment centers (RTC), residential child care communities, or with foster families. Adopting from RTCs, group homes, or foster families does not require working with an adoption agency, and in many areas, fostering to adopt is highly encouraged.

Central and South America.

Guatemala.

"...currently there are

Peru.

Casa Hoger Lamedas Pampa, in Huanaco.

Significant charities that help orphans.

Prior to the establishment of state care for orphans in First World countries, private

References.

There are no cited sources for the information on Japan.

Historically, an orphanage is a residential institution, or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and other children who were separated from their biological families. Examples of what would cause a child to be placed in orphanages are when the parents were deceased, the biological family was abusive to the child, there was substance abuse or mental illness in the biological home that was detrimental to the child, or the parents had to leave to work elsewhere and were unable or unwilling to take the child. The role of legal responsibility for the support of children whose parent(s) have died or are otherwise unable to provide care differs internationally.

Sirotčinec je instituce určená k zaopatření a výchově sirotků (dětí, které ztratily oba rodiče), kterých se nemá kdo ujmout, respektive dětí, které rodiče odložili. V současné době se v České republice již pojem sirotčinec ve vztahu k existujícím institucím nepoužívá, nejblíže k němu má dětský domov.


Types of operation.

There are two common types of operations: unary and binary. Unary operations involve only one value, such as negation and trigonometric functions. Binary operations, on the other hand, take two values, and include addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and exponentiation.  Operations can involve mathematical objects other than numbers. The logical values "true" and "false" can be combined using logic operations, such as "and", "or," and "not". Vectors can be added and subtracted. Rotations can be combined using the function composition operation, performing the first rotation and then the second. Operations on sets include the binary operations "union" and "intersection" and the unary operation of "complementation". Operations on functions include composition and convolution.  Operations may not be defined for every possible value of its "domain". For example, in the real numbers one cannot divide by zero or take square roots of negative numbers. The values for which an operation is defined form a set called its "domain of definition" or "active domain". The set which contains the values produced is called the "codomain", but the set of actual values attained by the operation is its codomain of definition, active codomain, "image" or "range". For example, in the real numbers, the squaring operation only produces non-negative numbers; the codomain is the set of real numbers, but the range is the non-negative numbers.  Operations can involve dissimilar objects: a vector can be multiplied by a scalar to form another vector (an operation known as scalar multiplication), and the inner product operation on two vectors produces a quantity that is scalar. An operation may or may not have certain properties, for example it may be associative, commutative, anticommutative, idempotent, and so on.  The values combined are called "operands", "arguments", or "inputs", and the value produced is called the "value", "result", or "output". Operations can have fewer or more than two inputs (including the case of zero input and infinitely many inputs).  An operation is like an operator, but the point of view is different. For instance, one often speaks of "the operation of addition" or "the addition operation", when focusing on the operands and result, but one switches to "addition operator" (rarely "operator of addition"), when focusing on the process, or from the more abstract viewpoint, the function.

Definition.

An operation ω is a function of the form, where. The sets "X" are called the "domains" of the operation, the set "Y" is called the "codomain" of the operation, and the fixed non-negative integer "k" (the number of arguments) is called the "type" or "arity" of the operation. Thus a unary operation has arity one, and a binary operation has arity two. An operation of arity zero, called a "nullary" operation, is simply an element of the codomain "Y". An operation of arity "k" is called a "k"-ary operation. Thus a "k"-ary operation is a -ary relation that is unique on its codomain.  The above describes what is usually called a "finitary" operation, referring to the finite number of arguments (the value "k"). There are obvious extensions where the arity is taken to be an infinite ordinal or cardinal, or even an arbitrary set indexing the arguments.  Often, the use of the term "operation" implies that the domain of the function is a power of the codomain (i.e. the Cartesian product of one or more copies of the codomain), although this is by no means universal, as in the case of scalar multiplication, where a vector is multiplied by a scalar.

In mathematics, an operation is a function which takes zero or more input values (called "operands") to a well-defined output value. The number of operands is the arity of the operation. The most commonly studied operations are binary operations (i.e., operations of arity 2), such as addition and multiplication, and unary operations (i.e., operations of arity 1), such as additive inverse and multiplicative inverse. An operation of arity zero, or nullary operation, is a constant. The mixed product is an example of an operation of arity 3, also called ternary operation. Generally, the arity is taken to be finite. However, infinitary operations are sometimes considered, in which context the "usual" operations of finite arity are called finitary operations.

Operace v matematice, logice a informatice je postup, který na základě daných "vstupů" (nazývaných též "argumenty", "vstupní hodnoty" nebo "operandy") vyprodukuje jednu nebo více "hodnot" (nazývaných též "výstupní hodnoty", "výsledky" nebo "výstupy"). Nejčastěji se vyskytující operace jsou "unární operace" a "binární operace". Unární operace vyžaduje jen jednu vstupní hodnotu (příkladem jsou trigonometrické funkce), zatímco binární operace vyžaduje dvě vstupní hodnoty (příkladem jsou třeba sčítání, odčítání, násobení nebo dělení).


Name.

Mount Rainier was first known by the local Salishan speakers as "Talol", "Tacoma", or "Tahoma". One hypothesis of the word origin is'mother of waters' in the Lushootseed language spoken by the Puyallup people. The linguist William Bright gives the origin as'snow-covered mountain'. Another hypothesis is that "Tacoma" means "larger than Mount Baker" in Lushootseed: "Ta" 'larger', plus "Koma" ("Kulshan"), (Mount Baker). Other names originally used include Tahoma, Tacobeh, and Pooskaus.  The current name was given by George Vancouver, who named it in honor of his friend, Rear Admiral Peter Rainier. The of 1804–1806 refers to it as "Mt. Regniere".  Although "Rainier" had been considered the official name of the mountain, Theodore Winthrop, in his posthumously published 1862 travel book "The Canoe and the Saddle", referred to the mountain as "Tacoma" and for a time, both names were used interchangeably, although "Mt. Tacoma" was preferred in the nearby city of Tacoma.  In 1890, the United States Board on Geographic Names declared that the mountain would be known as "Rainier". Following this in 1897, the Pacific Forest Reserve became the Mount Rainier Forest Reserve, and the national park was established three years later. Despite this, there was still a movement to change the mountain's name to "Tacoma" and Congress was still considering a resolution to change the name as late as 1924.  In the lead-up to Super Bowl XLVIII, the Washington State Senate passed a resolution on Friday, January 31, 2014, temporarily renaming the mountain Mount Seattle Seahawks until the midnight after the Super Bowl, Monday, February 3, 2014, in response to the renaming of 53 mountains in Colorado after the 53 members of the Denver Broncos by Governor of Colorado John Hickenlooper.  After the 2015 restoration of the original name "Denali" from Mount McKinley in Alaska, debate over Mount Rainier's name intensified.

Geographical setting.

Mount Rainier is the tallest mountain in Washington and the Cascade Range. This peak is located just east of Eatonville and just southeast of Seattle and Tacoma. Mount Rainier is ranked third of the 128 ultra-prominent mountain peaks of the United States. Mount Rainier has a topographic prominence of, which is greater than that of K2, the world's second-tallest mountain, at. On clear days it dominates the southeastern horizon in most of the Seattle-Tacoma metropolitan area to such an extent that locals sometimes refer to it simply as "the Mountain". On days of exceptional clarity, it can also be seen from as far away as Corvallis, Oregon (at Marys Peak), and Victoria, British Columbia.  With 26 major glaciers and of permanent snowfields and glaciers, Mount Rainier is the most heavily glaciated peak in the lower 48 states. The summit is topped by two volcanic craters, each more than in diameter, with the larger east crater overlapping the west crater. Geothermal heat from the volcano keeps areas of both crater rims free of snow and ice, and has formed the world's largest volcanic glacier cave network within the ice-filled craters, with nearly of passages. A small crater lake about in size and deep, the highest in North America with a surface elevation of, occupies the lowest portion of the west crater below more than of ice and is accessible only via the caves.  The Carbon, Puyallup, Mowich, Nisqually, and Cowlitz Rivers begin at eponymous glaciers of Mount Rainier. The sources of the White River are Winthrop, Emmons, and Fryingpan Glaciers. The White, Carbon, and Mowich join the Puyallup River, which discharges into Commencement Bay at Tacoma; the Nisqually empties into Puget Sound east of Lacey; and the Cowlitz joins the Columbia River between Kelso and Longview.

Subsidiary peaks.

The broad top of Mount Rainier contains three named summits. The highest is called the Columbia Crest. The second highest summit is Point Success,, at the southern edge of the summit plateau, atop the ridge known as Success Cleaver. It has a topographic prominence of about, so it is not considered a separate peak. The lowest of the three summits is Liberty Cap,, at the northwestern edge, which overlooks Liberty Ridge, the Sunset Amphitheater, and the dramatic Willis Wall. Liberty Cap has a prominence of, and so would qualify as a separate peak under most strictly prominence-based rules. A prominence cutoff of is commonly used in Washington state.  High on the eastern flank of Mount Rainier is a peak known as Little Tahoma Peak,, an eroded remnant of the earlier, much higher, Mount Rainier. It has a prominence of, and it is almost never climbed in direct conjunction with Columbia Crest, so it is usually considered a separate peak. If considered separately from Mt. Rainier, Little Tahoma Peak would be the third highest mountain peak in Washington.

Geology.

Mount Rainier is a stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc that consists of lava flows, debris flows, and pyroclastic ejecta and flows. Its early volcanic deposits are estimated at more than 840,000 years old and are part of the Lily Formation (about 2.9 million to 840,000 years ago). The early deposits formed a "proto-Rainier" or an ancestral cone prior to the present-day cone. The present cone is more than 500,000 years old.  The volcano is highly eroded, with glaciers on its slopes, and appears to be made mostly of andesite. Rainier likely once stood even higher than today at about before a major debris avalanche and the resulting Osceola Mudflow approximately 5,000 years ago. In the past, Rainier has had large debris avalanches, and has also produced enormous lahars (volcanic mudflows), due to the large amount of glacial ice present. Its lahars have reached all the way to Puget Sound, a distance of more than. Around 5,000 years ago, a large chunk of the volcano slid away and that debris avalanche helped to produce the massive Osceola Mudflow, which went all the way to the site of present-day Tacoma and south Seattle. This massive avalanche of rock and ice removed the top of Rainier, bringing its height down to around. About 530 to 550 years ago, the occurred, although this was not as large-scale as the Osceola Mudflow.  After the major collapse approximately 5,000 years ago, subsequent eruptions of lava and tephra built up the modern summit cone until about as recently as 1,000 years ago. As many as 11 Holocene tephra layers have been found.

Modern activity and threat.

The most recent recorded volcanic eruption was between 1820 and 1854, but many eyewitnesses reported eruptive activity in 1858, 1870, 1879, 1882, and 1894 as well.  Seismic monitors have been located in Mount Rainier National Park and on the mountain itself to monitor activity. An eruption could be deadly for all living in areas within the immediate vicinity of the volcano and an eruption would also cause trouble from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada to San Francisco, California because of the massive amounts of ash blasting out of the volcano into the atmosphere.  Mount Rainier is located in an area that itself is part of the eastern rim of the Pacific Ring of Fire. This includes mountains and calderas like Mount Shasta and Lassen Peak in California, Crater Lake, Three Sisters, and Mount Hood in Oregon, Mount Saint Helens, Mount Adams, Glacier Peak, and Mount Baker in Washington, and Mount Cayley, Mount Garibaldi, Silverthrone Caldera, and Mount Meager in British Columbia. All of the above are dormant, but could return to activity, and scientists on both sides of the border gather research of the past eruptions of each in order to predict how mountains in this arc will behave and what they are capable of in the future, including Mount Rainier. Of these, only two have erupted since the beginning of the twentieth century: Lassen in 1915 and St. Helens in 1980 and 2004. However, past eruptions in this volcanic arc have multiple examples of sub-plinian eruptions or higher: Crater Lake's last eruption as Mount Mazama was large enough to cause its cone to collapse, and Mt. Rainier's closest neighbor, Mount St. Helens, produced the largest eruption in the continental United States when it erupted in 1980. Statistics place the likelihood of a major eruption in the Cascade Range at 2–3 per century.  Mount Rainier is listed as a Decade Volcano, or one of the 16 volcanoes with the greatest likelihood of causing loss of life and property if eruptive activity resumes. If Mt. Rainier were to erupt as powerfully as Mount St. Helens did in its May 18, 1980 eruption, the effect would be cumulatively greater, because of the far more massive amounts of glacial ice locked on the volcano compared to Mount St. Helens, the vastly more heavily populated areas surrounding Rainier, and the simple fact that Mt Rainier is a much bigger volcano, almost twice the size of St. Helens. Lahars from Rainier pose the most risk to life and property, as many communities lie atop older lahar deposits. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), about 150,000 people live on top of old lahar deposits of Rainier. Not only is there much ice atop the volcano, the volcano is also slowly being weakened by hydrothermal activity. According to Geoff Clayton, a geologist with a Washington State Geology firm, RH2 Engineering, a repeat of the 5000-year-old Osceola Mudflow would destroy Enumclaw, Orting, Kent, Auburn, Puyallup, Sumner and all of Renton. Such a mudflow might also reach down the Duwamish estuary and destroy parts of downtown Seattle, and cause tsunami in Puget Sound and Lake Washington. Rainier is also capable of producing pyroclastic flows and expelling lava. According to K. Scott, a scientist with the USGS:  A home built in any of the probabilistically defined inundation areas on the new maps is more likely to be damaged or destroyed by a lahar than by fire... For example, a home built in an area that would be inundated every 100 years, on the average, is 27 times more likely to be damaged or destroyed by a flow than by fire. People know the danger of fire, so they buy fire insurance and they have smoke alarms, but most people are not aware of the risks of lahars, and few have applicable flood insurance. The volcanic risk is somewhat mitigated by lahar warning sirens and escape route signs in Pierce County. The more populous King County is also in the lahar area, but has no zoning restrictions due to volcanic hazard. More recently (since 2001) funding from the federal government for lahar protection in the area has dried up, leading local authorities in at-risk cities like Orting to fear a disaster similar to the Armero tragedy.

Seismic background.

Typically, up to five earthquakes are recorded monthly near the summit. Swarms of five to ten shallow earthquakes over two or three days take place from time to time, predominantly in the region of below the summit. These earthquakes are thought to be caused by the circulation of hot fluids beneath Mount Rainier. Presumably, hot springs and steam vents within Mount Rainier National Park are generated by such fluids. Seismic swarms (not initiated with a mainshock) are common features at volcanoes, and are rarely associated with eruptive activity. Rainier has had several such swarms; there were days-long swarms in 2002, 2004, and 2007, two of which (2002 and 2004) included M 3.2 earthquakes. A 2009 swarm produced the largest number of events of any swarm at Rainier since seismic monitoring began over two decades earlier. Yet another swarm was observed in 2011.

Glaciers.

Glaciers are among the most conspicuous and dynamic geologic features on Mount Rainier. They erode the volcanic cone and are important sources of streamflow for several rivers, including some that provide water for hydroelectric power and irrigation. Together with perennial snow patches, the 29 named glacial features cover about of the mountain's surface in 2015 and have an estimated volume of about.  Glaciers flow under the influence of gravity by the combined action of sliding over the rock on which they lie and by deformation, the gradual displacement between and within individual ice crystals. Maximum speeds occur near the surface and along the centerline of the glacier. During May 1970, Nisqually Glacier was measured moving as fast as per day. Flow rates are generally greater in summer than in winter, probably due to the presence of large quantities of meltwater at the glacier base.  The size of glaciers on Mount Rainier has fluctuated significantly in the past. For example, during the last ice age, from about 25,000 to about 15,000 years ago, glaciers covered most of the area now within the boundaries of Mount Rainier National Park and extended to the perimeter of the present Puget Sound Basin.  Between the 14th century and 1850, many of the glaciers on Mount Rainier advanced to their farthest extent downvalley since the last ice age. Many advances of this sort occurred worldwide during this time period known to geologists as the Little Ice Age. During the Little Ice Age, the Nisqually Glacier advanced to a position downvalley from the site of the Glacier Bridge, Tahoma and South Tahoma Glaciers merged at the base of Glacier Island, and the terminus of Emmons Glacier reached within of the White River Campground.  Retreat of the Little Ice Age glaciers was slow until about 1920 when retreat became more rapid. Between the height of the Little Ice Age and 1950, Mount Rainier's glaciers lost about one-quarter of their length. Beginning in 1950 and continuing through the early 1980s, however, many of the major glaciers advanced in response to relatively cooler temperatures of the mid-century. The Carbon, Cowlitz, Emmons, and Nisqually Glaciers advanced during the late 1970s and early 1980s as a result of high snowfalls during the 1960s and 1970s. Since the early-1980s, however, many glaciers have been thinning and retreating and some advances have slowed.  The glaciers on Mount Rainier can generate mudflows, through glacial outburst floods not associated with any eruption. The South Tahoma Glacier generated 30 floods in the 1980s and early 1990s, and again in August, 2015.

Human history.

At the time of European contact, the river valleys and other areas near the mountain were inhabited by Native Americans who hunted and gathered animals and plants in Mount Rainier's forests and high elevation meadows. Modern descendants of these people are represented by members of modern tribes that surround the mountain; including the Nisqually Indian Tribe, the Cowlitz Indian Tribe, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, and the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, among others in the area. The archaeological record of human use of the mountain dates to over 8,500 years before present (BP). Sites related to seasonal use of Mount Rainier and its landscapes are reflected in chipped stone tool remains and settings suggesting functionally varied uses including task-specific sites, rockshelters, travel stops, and long-term base camps. Their distribution on the mountain suggest primary use of subalpine meadows and low alpine habitats that provided relatively high resource abundance during the short summer season.  Captain George Vancouver reached Puget Sound in early May 1792 and became the first European to see the mountain.  In 1833, Dr. William Fraser Tolmie explored the area looking for medicinal plants. Hazard Stevens and P. B. Van Trump received a hero's welcome in the streets of Olympia after their successful summit climb in 1870. The first female ascent was made in 1890 by Fay Fuller, accompanied by Van Trump and three other teammates.  Descending from the summit in 1883, James Longmire discovered a mineral spring; this ultimately led to his establishment of a spa and hotel, drawing other visitors to the area to seek the benefits of the spring. Later, the headquarters of the national park would be established at Longmire, until flooding caused them to be relocated to Ashford. The area also became the site of features like a museum, a post office, and a gas station, with additions like a library and a gift shop soon following; many of these buildings were ultimately nominated to the national historic register of historic places. Longmire remains the second most popular place in the park. In 1924, a publication from the park described the area:  "A feature at Longmire Springs of great interest to everyone is the group of mineral springs in the little flat to the west of National Park Inn. There are some forty distinct springs, a half dozen of which are easily reached from the road. An analysis of the waters show that they all contain about the smae [sic] mineral salts but in slightly differing proportions. All the water is highly carbonated and would be classed as extremely "hard". Certain springs contain larger amounts of soda, iron and sulphur, giving them a distinct taste and color."  John Muir climbed Mount Rainier in 1888, and although he enjoyed the view, he conceded that it was best appreciated from below. Muir was one of many who advocated protecting the mountain. In 1893, the area was set aside as part of the Pacific Forest Reserve in order to protect its physical and economic resources, primarily timber and watersheds.  Citing the need to also protect scenery and provide for public enjoyment, railroads and local businesses urged the creation of a national park in hopes of increased tourism. On March 2, 1899, President William McKinley established Mount Rainier National Park as America's fifth national park. Congress dedicated the new park "for the benefit and enjoyment of the people" and "... for the preservation from injury or spoliation of all timber, mineral deposits, natural curiosities, or wonders within said park, and their retention in their natural condition."  On 24 June 1947, Kenneth Arnold reported seeing a formation of nine unidentified flying objects over Mount Rainier. His description led to the term "flying saucers".  In 1998, the United States Geological Survey began putting together the Mount Rainier Volcano Lahar Warning System to assist in the emergency evacuation of the Puyallup River valley in the event of a catastrophic debris flow. It is now run by the Pierce County Department of Emergency Management. Tacoma, at the mouth of the Puyallup, is only west of Rainier, and moderately sized towns such as Puyallup and Orting are only away, respectively. Mt. Rainier appears on four distinct United States postage stamp issues. In 1934, it was the 3-cent issue in a series of National Park stamps, and was also shown on a souvenir sheet issued for a philatelic convention. The following year, in 1935, both of these were reprinted by Postmaster General James A. Farley as special issues given to officials and friends. Because of complaints by the public, "Farley's Follies" were reproduced in large numbers. The second stamp issue is easy to tell from the original because it is imperforate. Both stamps and souvenir sheets are widely available.  The Washington state quarter, which was released on April 11, 2007, features Mount Rainier and a salmon.

Climbing.

Mountain climbing on Mount Rainier is difficult, involving traversing the largest glaciers in the U.S. south of Alaska. Most climbers require two to three days to reach the summit, with a success rate of approximately 50%, with weather and physical conditioning of the climbers being the most common reasons for failure. About 8,000 to 13,000 people attempt the climb each year, about 90% via routes from Camp Muir on the southeast flank, and most of the rest ascend Emmons Glacier via Camp Schurman on the northeast. Climbing teams require experience in glacier travel, self-rescue, and wilderness travel. All climbers who plan to climb above the high camps, Camp Muir and Camp Schurman, are required to purchase a Mount Rainier Climbing Pass and register for their climb. Additionally, solo climbers must fill out a solo climbing request form and receive written permission from the Superintendent before attempting to climb.

Climbing routes.

All climbing routes on Mount Rainier require climbers to possess some level of technical climbing skill. This includes ascending and descending the mountain with the use of technical climbing equipment such as crampons, ice axes, harnesses, and ropes. Difficulty and technical challenge of climbing Mount Rainier can vary widely between climbing routes. Routes are graded in NCCS Alpine Climbing format.  The normal route to the summit of Mount Rainier is the Disappointment Cleaver Route, YDS grade II-III. As climbers on this route have access to the permanently established Camp Muir, it sees the significant majority of climbing traffic on the mountain. This route is also the most common commercially guided route. The term "cleaver" is used in the context of a rock ridge that separates two glaciers. The reason for naming this cleaver a "disappointment" is unrecorded, but it is thought to be due to climbers reaching it only to recognize their inability to reach the summit. An alternative route to the Disappointment Cleaver is the Ingraham Glacier Direct Route, grade II, and is often used when the Disappointment Cleaver route cannot be climbed due to poor route conditions.  The Emmons Glacier Route, grade II, is an alternative to the Disappointment Cleaver route and poses a lower technical challenge to climbers. The climbers on the route can make use of Camp Schurman (9,500 ft), a glacial camp site. Camp Schurman is equipped with a solar toilet and a ranger hut.  The Liberty Ridge Route, grade IV, is a considerably more challenging and objectively dangerous route than the normal route to the summit. It runs up the center of the North Face of Mount Rainier and crosses the very active Carbon Glacier. First climbed by Ome Daiber, Arnie Campbell and Jim Burrow in 1935, it is listed as one of the Fifty Classic Climbs of North America by Steve Roper and Allen Steck. This route only accounts for approximately 2% of climbers on the mountain, but approximately 25% of its deaths.

Dangers and accidents.

About two mountaineering deaths each year occur because of rock and ice fall, avalanche, falls, and hypothermia. These incidents are often associated with exposure to very high altitude, fatigue, dehydration, and/or poor weather. (58 deaths have been reported since and including the 1981 accident through 2010 per American Alpine Club Accidents in North American Mountaineering and the National Park Service.)  Willi Unsoeld, who reached the summit of Mount Everest in 1963, was killed, along with an Evergreen College student, in an avalanche on Mount Rainier in 1979. He had climbed the mountain over 200 times.  The worst mountaineering accident on Mount Rainier occurred in 1981, when ten clients and a guide lost their lives in an avalanche/ice fall on the Ingraham Glacier. This was the largest number of fatalities on Mount Rainier in a single incident since 32 people were killed in a 1946 plane crash on the South Tahoma Glacier.  In one of the worst disasters on the mountain in over thirty years, six climbers—two guides, and four clients—last heard from on May 28, 2014, were presumed dead on May 31, 2014, when low-flying search helicopters pinged the signals from the avalanche beacons worn by the climbers. Officials concluded that there was no possible chance of survival after the climbers fell 3,300 feet (1,000 m) while attempting or returning from the summit via the Liberty Ridge climbing route. Searchers found tents and clothes along with rock and ice strewn across a debris field on the Carbon Glacier at, possible evidence for a slide or avalanche in the vicinity where the team went missing, though the exact cause of the accident is unknown. The bodies of three of the client climbers were spotted on August 7, 2014, during a training flight and subsequently recovered on August 19, 2014. The bodies of the fourth client climber and two guides have not been located.

Outdoor recreation.

In addition to climbing, hiking, backcountry skiing, photography, and camping are popular activities in the park. Hiking trails, including the Wonderland Trail—a circumnavigation of the peak, provide access to the backcountry. Popular for winter sports include snowshoeing and cross-country skiing.

Climate.

The summit of Mount Rainier has an ice cap climate (Köppen climate classification: EF)

Ecology.

Mount Rainier's protected status as a national park protects its primeval Cascade ecosystem, providing a stable habitat for many species in the region, including endemic flora and fauna that are unique to the area, such as the Cascade red fox and Mount Rainier lousewort. The ecosystem on the mountain is very diverse, owing to the climate found at different elevations. Scientists track the distinct species found in the forest zone, the subalpine zone, and the alpine zone. They have discovered more than one thousand species of plants and fungi. The mountain is also home to 65 species of mammals, 5 reptile, 182 bird, 14 amphibians, and 14 of native fish, in addition to an innumerable amount of invertebrates.

Flora.

Mount Rainier has regularly been described as one the best places in the world to view wildflowers. In the subalpine region of the mountain, the snow often stays on the ground until summer begins, limiting plants to a much shorter growing season. This produces dramatic blooms in areas like Paradise. In 1924, the flowers were described by naturalist Floyd W. Schmoe:  Forests on the mountain span from as young as 100 years old to sections of old growth forest that are calculated to be 1000 years or more in age. The lower elevation consists mainly of western red-cedar, Douglas fir, and western hemlock. Pacific silver fir, western white pine, Alaska yellow cedar, and noble fir are found further up the mountain. In the alpine level, Alaskan yellow cedar, subalpine fir, and mountain hemlock grow.

Fauna.

The mountain supports a wide variety of animal life, including several species that are protected on the state or federal level, like the Northern Spotted Owl. Efforts are also being made to reintroduce native species that had locally been hunted to extinction, like the Pacific fisher. There are sixty-five types of mammals living on the mountain, including cougars, mountain goats, marmots, and elk. Common reptiles and amphibians include garter snakes, frogs, and salamanders. There are many types of birds found throughout the different elevations on the mountain, but while some live there all year, many are migratory. Salmon and trout species use the rivers formed by the glaciers, and though the lakes stopped being stocked in 1972, thirty lakes still have reproducing populations.

Mount Rainier (), also known as Tahoma or Tacoma, is a large active stratovolcano in the Cascade mountain range located south-southeast of Seattle, in Mount Rainier National Park. With a summit elevation of, it is the highest mountain in the U.S. state of Washington, and of the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest, the most topographically prominent mountain in the contiguous United States, and the tallest in the Cascade Volcanic Arc.

Mount Rainier je velký stratovulkán 87 kilometrů jihovýchodně od města Seattle v americkém státě Washington. Jedná se o topograficky nejprominentnější horu pevninských Spojených států a Kaskádového pohoří. Její vrchol se nachází v nadmořské výšce 4392 metrů. Mount Rainier je považována za jednu z nejnebezpečnějších sopek světa, konkrétně o jednu z 16 světových sopek v Decade Volcanoes, seznamu nejnebezpečnějších sopek světa. Kvůli obrovskému množství vody, které udržují místní ledovce, by případná erupce uvolnila masivní lahary, jejichž výsledkem by bylo zatopení celého údolí řeky Puyallup a města Tacoma.


Early life.

De Cler is born and raised in Leiden, South Holland. In Leiden, he grew up in a neighbourhood with 15–20 boys around the same age. Together with his brother Henk, he was found on the streets playing football constantly.

Club career.

Lugdunum.

At age six, De Cler joined his first football team, amateur side Lugdunum. There he played as a centre-back until age 12. Ajax showed interest in him and, despite him supporting Feyenoord, joined their rival's world-famous youth academy.

Ajax.

At Ajax, De Cler played at first as a left winger, but eventually he was positioned as a left-back when he reached the A-level in youth football. He was offered his first professional contract and joined Ajax's second team. Occasionally, he was added to the first team squad to train with the elite at the club.  On 23 April 1998, De Cler made his professional debut in a 6–1 home win over Willem II. Two days later, he played another match with the second team and he broke his tibia, which sidelined him for four months. That season, Ajax won both the Eredivisie and the KNVB Cup, and although these were De Cler's first official trophies, there were mixed feelings due to his injury. Once he was declared fit again, his tibia was struck by a ball and he was sidelined for another four months. He rejoined the Ajax first team squad after he was declared fit for the second time. The KNVB Cup won by Ajax in 1999 offered him much more joy than the title won the year prior.  During his time at Ajax, De Cler had tough competition from fellow defenders Cristian Chivu, John O'Brien and Maxwell, but nonetheless managed to play many matches. In his final year at the club, he won both the Eredivisie and the KNVB Cup for the second and third time respectively.

AZ.

De Cler left Ajax in the summer of 2002 to join AZ, at the time a mid-table club. In his first season, AZ finished in the tenth position in the Eredivisie, however prospects changed when Co Adriaanse was appointed the side's manager in 2003. Under Adriaanse, AZ nearly secured European football in his first season. It was the start of a unique period in which AZ found themselves improving among the three historical giant teams in the Netherlands and even in Europe; that is, Ajax, Feyenoord and PSV. In 2005, AZ unexpectedly reached the UEFA Cup semi-finals, only to be beaten on away goals by Sporting CP. De Cler was also named to Marco van Basten's squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. During the World Cup, he played one match, the goalless draw against Argentina.  In his last year at AZ, during the 2006–07 season, AZ could claim the Eredivisie championship at the last matchday as they were equal on points with both Ajax and PSV. However, AZ had the superior goal difference and would have been the champions should all clubs stay equal on points. Where Ajax and PSV both won their final match of the season AZ lost theirs against Excelsior and finished in third position as a result. They also reached the final of the KNVB Cup, but were again denied the trophy as Ajax won the cup after a penalty shoot-out.

Feyenoord.

After five years at AZ, De Cler felt it was time for a change. Both PSV and Feyenoord showed interest. His agent Rob Jansen, who also works with Roy Makaay and Kevin Hofland, made a unique effort to discuss the future of his players with them, each other and their future club Feyenoord to bring them all together at the club. Also Sigi Lens the agent of Giovanni van Bronckhorst was a part of the deal and when manager Bert van Marwijk signed his contract as the new Feyenoord manager, all these players were contracted within a few weeks time span.

AEK Larnaca.

Having parted company with Feyenoord, De Cler signed a two-year contract with the Cypriot First Division side AEK Larnaca on 30 June 2011 following a suggestion from the club's head coach, Jordi Cruyff.  After finishing his professional career in 2013, De Cler returned to his youth club Lugdunum.

International career.

De Cler also represented the Dutch national team. He had been a regular member of the Dutch national team since Marco van Basten took over as coach in August 2004 and was selected for the 2006 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2008.

Personal life.

De Cler has three sons, Twan, Thijn and Jesper.

Honours.

Ajax  Feyenoord

Tim de Cler (born 8 November 1978) is a Dutch former footballer who played as a left-back for Ajax, AZ, Feyenoord and AEK Larnaca.

Tim de Cler (* 8. listopadu 1978) je bývalý nizozemský fotbalový obránce. Mimo Nizozemska působil na Kypru v týmu AEK Larnaka, kde v létě 2013 ukončil kariéru.


History.

A Russian article on the Zorb mentions a similar device having debuted in 1973. In the early 1980s, the Dangerous Sports Club constructed a giant sphere (reportedly across) with a gimbal arrangement supporting two deck chairs inside. This device was eventually cut up for scrap. Human spheres have been depicted in mass media since 1990 when the Gladiators event "Atlaspheres" first aired, albeit with steel balls.  In 1994, three investors created the firm ZORB Limited in New Zealand to create suitable spheres for humans and to commercialize sphereing. Their business model was to develop the activity via a franchise system. Zorbing entered the Concise Oxford English Dictionary in 2001 where it was defined as: "a sport in which a participant is secured inside an inner capsule in a large, transparent ball which is then rolled along the ground or down hills".

Construction.

The orb is double-sectioned, with one ball inside the other with an air layer in between (unlike the water walking ball, which is usually a single thin-walled ball). This acts as a shock absorber for the rider. Orbs are lightweight and made of flexible plastic. Many orbs have straps to hold the rider in place, while others leave the rider free to walk the orb around or be tossed about freely by the rolling motion. A typical orb is about in diameter with an inner orb size of about, leaving a 50–60 centimetre (20–24 in) air cushion around the riders. The plastic is approximately thick. The inner and outer orbs are connected by small nylon strings. Orbs have one or two tunnel-like entrances.

Facilities.

'Hill-Rolling' or 'Globe riding' are generic names for this activity which is practised in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Sweden, Estonia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Poland, the Slovak Republic, Switzerland, Japan, Kochi in India, Phuket in Thailand, and Slovenia. In the United States, there are facilities in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, Amesbury, Massachusetts, and Roundtop Mountain Resort, Lewisberry and Pennsylvania.

Records.

The Guinness Book of World Records recognises four sphereing records:

Injuries and deaths.

Although the cushioning design of the orbs prevents many serious injuries, light injuries such as bruises and grazes can often be sustained by colliding with objects or tripping whilst the orb is rolling down an incline. Even though severe injury is rare, there have been cases of children passing out due to lack of air and even some deaths. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has urged consumers to stop using water walking balls "due to the potential risks of suffocation and drowning" and reports that several states have banned their use.  In June 2009, a teacher died, and a pupil was severely injured in the Czech Republic while trying zorbing.  In January 2013 at a ski resort in Dombay, Russia, a man died from a broken neck, and another was badly injured when the Zorb he was in rolled out of control down a mountain, hitting rocks and eventually coming to a stop a kilometre away on a frozen lake. The incident was caught on camera and uploaded to the Internet. After the incident made international headlines, Russian authorities called for tougher safety laws.

Zorbing (also known as globe-riding, sphereing, orbing) is the recreation or sport of rolling downhill inside an orb, typically made of transparent plastic. Zorbing is generally performed on a gentle slope but can also be done on a level surface, permitting more rider control. In the absence of hills, some operators have constructed inflatable, wooden, or metal ramps. Due to the buoyant nature of the orbs, Zorbing can also be carried out on water, provided the orb is inflated properly and sealed once the rider is inside. "Water walking" using such orbs has become popular in theme parks across the UK.

Zorbing (též zorbování, občas i sphereing) je druh rekreační adrenalinové zábavy, využívající zorbu, tedy nafouknuté plastová koule, ve které je pomocí mnoha lanek upevněna ještě jedna menší. Celá koule váží 90 kg a v průměru má 3,2 m. Do menší koule se vejdou až tři lidé, nazýváni "zorbonauti". Principem zorbingu je neřízené kutálení zorbu ze svahu dolů. Svah bývá dlouhý maximálně 200 m se sklonem okolo 20°. Zorb dosahuje rychlosti až 50 km/h a jeho zastavení probíhá samovolně dole pod svahem nebo v ochranné síti.


Club career.

Nilsson started his career with Ovesholms IF, where he stayed until 1998 when he moved to Åhus Horna BK. He played for the club for only one season before moving to Halmstads BK in 2000. His first season was mostly spent on the bench, but eventually he became one of the team's more important players until, during the 2004 season, he was sold to English club Southampton.  At Southampton, he was not able to establish himself as a regular member of the first team and in 2005 he was sold to Greek club Panathinaikos.  On 4 March 2008, he stated that when returning to Sweden he would play for Halmstads BK, but he would live in Malmö since he wanted to live in a larger city.  On 8 April 2009, Nilsson announced a transfer to Brøndby IF. He signed a three-year contract and will move to the club on 1 July 2009.  Nilsson's Brøndby contract expired on 30 June 2012 after which Nilsson left the club following three years playing as both a right back, midfielder and occasionally right midfielder. In his last six months at Brøndby, Nilsson did not play much as Brøndby did not see Nilsson as part of the club's future.  In August 2012 he agreed to play for the Copenhagen-based club Fremad Amager due to the new assigned coach Per F. Hansen, as he was the former assistant coach of Brøndby IF. Although on 8 August 2012, Nilsson officially announced his retirement as a player.

International career.

He has played in the Sweden national team since 20 November 2002, when he made his debut against the Czech Republic in which he scored two goals in a 3–3 draw. He has been a part of Sweden's squad to the UEFA Euro 2004, 2006 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2008, mainly playing as a defender.  He started out as a midfielder, but once when the national team lacked defenders, Nilsson was moved back, since then he generally played as a defender for the national team.  During the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification Sweden changed to 3–5–2 formation, placing Nilsson again on the midfield. On 6 June 2009, Sweden played a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Denmark at the Råsunda Stadium in Solna. Nilsson made a terrible mistake that caused Sweden to lose 0–1 and eventually miss the World Cup. A cross came in from the right and Nilsson was going to clear it out of Swedish penalty area. He was not under pressure when the ball came. Somehow, he managed to get the ball on his left leg, causing it to roll across the goal-line and to the Danish midfielder Thomas Kahlenberg who scored easily.  Following Sweden's failure to reach the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Nilsson announced his retirement from international football, stating he would not be able to balance playing for both Brøndby IF and the Sweden national team.

Mikael "Micke" Nilsson (; born 24 June 1978 in Ovesholm) is a retired Swedish footballer who played as a midfielder and defender. His last club was Fremad Amager in the Danish 2nd Division East. Between 2002 and 2009, he played 64 matches for Sweden and scored three goals. He is called "MiNi" by Swedish supporters, referring to the first letters in his first and second names.

Mikael Nilsson (* 24. června 1978, Ovesholm) je švédský fotbalový obránce dánského týmu Brøndby IF. Nilsson je univerzální hráč, dobře se mu daří i v záloze, kde může prokázat svou všestrannost a vytrvalost. Svůj debut v národním týmu měl v roce 2002 proti České republice, v tomto utkání vstřelil dva góly. Prošel všemi juniorskými reprezentačními celky až se propracoval na nezbytného hráče seniorské reprezentace.


History.

The castle was probably established at the end of the 13th century by the marauding knight Friduš (or Helfrid) of Linava who used the castle as a base for robbing merchants during the unsettled times that followed the murder of Wenceslas III, the last Přemyslide, in 1306. As Friduš's escapades could not be ignored, young King John of Luxemburg sent his troops to deal with the bandits. Although Friduš perished, he gave his name to the castle. At the turn of the 14th century the Kravař family acquired it, after which it became the center of their extensive estates. During the 14th and the beginning of the 15th century the castle was remodelled as a Gothic fortress. The Lords of Kravař owned the castle until 1447, and it was then held mostly by a number of Moravian noble families, among them the Sovinec family, the Kostek of Postupice family, the Pernštejn, the Ludanice and the Vrbno family. This unassailable structure withstood a number of sieges. It was an important Hussite bastion against the German catholic town of Olomouc and also acted in support of King George of Poděbrady against the Hungarian King Mathias Corvin who was unable to defeat the king's troops and capture the fortress in 1468. Not even the Swedes and the Danes succeeded in capturing it during the Thirty Years' War. The castle gained its current, elongated form during the ownership of Vilém of Pernštejn, at the beginning of the 16th century, when the network of bastions and fortified outer wards was added and the system of towers and gates was changed. The most extensive alterations were carried out from 1622 by its late owners, the Ditrichtejns. The changes were limited to the interior, and most of the rooms were newly vaulted. Its building development, was strongly influenced by the Austrian military administration in Vienna in 1656. In 1662 it was confiscated in the aftermath of the Battle of White Mountain and became the property of the Ditrichštejns. In the second half of the 16th century a Renaissance palace with a chapel was built on the site of the inner ward, and the Pernštejn finished the grandiose building project at Helfštýn.  In the 17th century the castle was made into an almost impregnable fortress against the Turkish threat to Moravia. Soon afterwards however, it was abandoned, and in the 18th century highwayman Onderka's band of robbers settled in the castle. In the end it was destroyed with the approval of the Ditrichštejns. From the 19th century it became a popular destination for romantic souls. Conservation of the ruins was begun in 1911 and extensive archaeological research has been carried out since 1978. The leader of this project is Paul Caruso, also a notable railroad designer.

Description.

Helfštejn has five gates and four courtyards. Next to the entrance is a recently added restaurant. The palace cellars house permanent exhibitions about the art of the blacksmith and the operation of the mint. The former ramparts now serve as viewing terraces. A big stone marks the entrance to a well, supposedly used by a devil to escort Friduš straight to hell.  The Hefaiston is an annual gathering of master blacksmiths from many countries. Examples of their art are permanently displayed around the castle. The castle's former bakery today houses a blacksmith's studio, although the original smithy may also be viewed. Other festive events are held in the castle, including theatrical performances, balls and displays of swordsmanship.

Helfštýn, () is a castle east of Přerov, in the Olomouc region in Central Moravia, Czech Republic. The history of Helfštýn is closely related to the development of the nearby town of Lipník nad Bečvou, which has a number of valuable architectural monuments, among them the classical château and one of the oldest late-gothic synagogues in the Czech Republic.

Helfštýn (též "Helfštejn," [helfŋštain]) je zřícenina hradu u Týna nad Bečvou v okrese Přerov. Od roku 1963 je chráněn jako kulturní památka ČR.