Biography.

Early years.

Karrer was born in Moscow, Russia to Paul Karrer and Julie Lerch, both Swiss nationals. In 1892 Karrer's family returned to Switzerland where he was educated at Wildegg and at the grammar school in Lenzburg, Aarau, where he matriculated in 1908. He studied chemistry at the University of Zurich under Alfred Werner and after gaining his Ph.D. in 1911, he spent a further year as assistant in the Chemical Institute. He then took a post as chemist with Paul Ehrlich at the Georg Speyer Haus, Frankfurt-am-Main. In 1919 he became Professor of Chemistry and Director of the Chemical Institute.

Research.

Karrer's early research concerned complex metal compounds but his most important work has concerned plant pigments, particularly the yellow carotenoids. He elucidated their chemical structure and showed that some of these substances are transformed in the body into vitamin A. His work led to the establishment of the correct constitutional formula for beta-carotene, the chief precursor of vitamin A; the first time that the structure of a vitamin or provitamin had been established. George Wald worked briefly in Karrer's lab while studying the role of vitamin A in the retina. Later, Karrer confirmed the structure of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and extended his researches into the vitamin B and E. His important contributions to the chemistry of the flavins led to identification of lactoflavin as part of the complex originally thought to be vitamin B.  Karrer published many papers, and received many honours and awards, including the Nobel Prize in 1937. His textbook "Lehrbuch der Organischen Chemie (Textbook of Organic Chemistry)" was published in 1927, went through thirteen editions, and was published in seven languages.

Personal life.

Karrer was married to Helena Froelich in 1914 and had three sons, one of whom died in infancy. He died on 18 June 1971, at the age of 82 in Zürich. His wife died in 1972.

Legacy.

The prestigious Paul Karrer Gold Medal and lecture was established in his honour in 1959 by a group of leading companies such as CIBA AG, J.R. Geigy, F. Hoffmann-La Roche & Co. AG, Sandoz AG, Société des Produits Nestlé AG and Dr. A. Wander AG. It is awarded annually or biannually to an outstanding chemist who delivers a lecture at the University of Zurich.  The Paul Karrer Lecture Foundation is based at the Chemistry Institute of the University of Zurich at Rämistrasse 71, in Zürich.

Professor Paul Karrer FRS FRSE FCS (21 April 1889 – 18 June 1971) was a Swiss organic chemist best known for his research on vitamins. He and Norman Haworth won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1937.

Paul Karrer (21. dubna 1889 Moskva – 18. června 1971 Curych) byl švýcarský organický chemik nejznámější pro svůj výzkum vitamínů. V roce 1937 spolu s Walterem Haworthem získal Nobelovu cenu za chemii za „práce na karotenoidech, flavonoidech a vitamínech A a B2“.


Definitions.

According to sociologist Allan G. Johnson, "misogyny is a cultural attitude of hatred for females because they are female". Johnson argues that: Sociologist Michael Flood at the University of Wollongong defines misogyny as the hatred of women, and notes: Philosopher Kate Manne finds the "hatred of women" definition too simplistic, because it does not account for how perpetrators of misogynistic violence may love certain women; for example, their mothers. Manne distinguishes sexism, which she says seeks to rationalize and justify patriarchy, from misogyny; she calls this the "law enforcement" branch of patriarchy: Dictionaries define misogyny as "hatred of women" and as "hatred, dislike, or mistrust of women". In 2012, primarily in response to events occurring in the Australian Parliament, the Macquarie Dictionary (which documents Australian English and New Zealand English) expanded the definition to include not only hatred of women but also "entrenched prejudices against women". The counterpart of misogyny is misandry, the hatred or dislike of men; the antonym of misogyny is philogyny, the love or fondness of women.  "Misogynous" can be used as adjectival forms of the word.

Historical usage.

Classical Greece.

In his book "City of Sokrates: An Introduction to Classical Athens", J.W. Roberts argues that older than tragedy and comedy was a misogynistic tradition in Greek literature, reaching back at least as far as Hesiod. The term "misogyny" itself comes directly into English from the Ancient Greek word "misogunia" (), which survives in several passages.  The earlier, longer, and more complete passage comes from a moral tract known as "On Marriage" ("c". 150 BC) by the stoic philosopher Antipater of Tarsus. Antipater argues that marriage is the foundation of the state, and considers it to be based on divine (polytheistic) decree. He uses "misogunia" to describe the sort of writing the tragedian Euripides eschews, stating that he "reject[s] the hatred of women in his writing" (ἀποθέμενος τὴν ἐν τῷ γράφειν μισογυνίαν). He then offers an example of this, quoting from a lost play of Euripides in which the merits of a dutiful wife are praised.  The other surviving use of the original Greek word is by Chrysippus, in a fragment from "On affections", quoted by Galen in "Hippocrates on Affections". Here, "misogyny" is the first in a short list of three "disaffections"—women ("misogunia"), wine ("misoinia", μισοινία) and humanity ("misanthrōpia", μισανθρωπία). Chrysippus' point is more abstract than Antipater's, and Galen quotes the passage as an example of an opinion contrary to his own. What is clear, however, is that he groups hatred of women with hatred of humanity generally, and even hatred of wine. "It was the prevailing medical opinion of his day that wine strengthens body and soul alike." So Chrysippus, like his fellow stoic Antipater, views misogyny negatively, as a disease; a dislike of something that is good. It is this issue of conflicted or alternating emotions that was philosophically contentious to the ancient writers. Ricardo Salles suggests that the general stoic view was that "[a] man may not only alternate between philogyny and misogyny, philanthropy and misanthropy, but be prompted to each by the other."  Aristotle has also been accused of being a misogynist; he has written that women were inferior to men. According to Cynthia Freeland (1994):  In the "Routledge philosophy guidebook to Plato and the Republic", Nickolas Pappas describes the "problem of misogyny" and states:  "Misogynist" is also found in the Greek—"misogunēs" ()—in "Deipnosophistae" (above) and in Plutarch's "Parallel Lives", where it is used as the title of Heracles in the history of Phocion. It was the title of a play by Menander, which we know of from book seven (concerning Alexandria) of Strabo's 17 volume "Geography", and quotations of Menander by Clement of Alexandria and Stobaeus that relate to marriage. A Greek play with a similar name, "Misogunos" (Μισόγυνος) or "Woman-hater", is reported by Marcus Tullius Cicero (in Latin) and attributed to the poet Marcus Atilius. Cicero reports that Greek philosophers considered misogyny to be caused by gynophobia, a fear of women.  In summary, Greek literature considered misogyny to be a disease—an anti-social condition—in that it ran contrary to their perceptions of the value of women as wives and of the family as the foundation of society. These points are widely noted in the secondary literature.

Religion.

Ancient Greek.

In "Misogyny: The World's Oldest Prejudice", Jack Holland argues that there is evidence of misogyny in the mythology of the ancient world. In Greek mythology according to Hesiod, the human race had already experienced a peaceful, autonomous existence as a companion to the gods before the creation of women. When Prometheus decides to steal the secret of fire from the gods, Zeus becomes infuriated and decides to punish humankind with an "evil thing for their delight". This "evil thing" is Pandora, the first woman, who carried a jar (usually described—incorrectly—as a box) which she was told to never open. Epimetheus (the brother of Prometheus) is overwhelmed by her beauty, disregards Prometheus' warnings about her, and marries her. Pandora cannot resist peeking into the jar, and by opening it she unleashes into the world all evil; labour, sickness, old age, and death.

Buddhism.

In his book "The Power of Denial: Buddhism, Purity, and Gender", professor Bernard Faure of Columbia University argued generally that "Buddhism is paradoxically neither as sexist nor as egalitarian as is usually thought." He remarked, "Many feminist scholars have emphasized the misogynistic (or at least androcentric) nature of Buddhism" and stated that Buddhism morally exalts its male monks while the mothers and wives of the monks also have important roles. Additionally, he wrote:

Christianity.

Differences in tradition and interpretations of scripture have caused sects of Christianity to differ in their beliefs with regard to their treatment of women.  In "The Troublesome Helpmate", Katharine M. Rogers argues that Christianity is misogynistic, and she lists what she says are specific examples of misogyny in the Pauline epistles. She states:  In K. K. Ruthven's "Feminist Literary Studies: An Introduction", Ruthven makes reference to Rogers' book and argues that the "legacy of Christian misogyny was consolidated by the so-called 'Fathers' of the Church, like Tertullian, who thought a woman was not only 'the gateway of the devil' but also 'a temple built over a sewer'."  However, some other scholars have argued that Christianity does not include misogynistic principles, or at least that a proper interpretation of Christianity would not include misogynistic principles. David M. Scholer, a biblical scholar at Fuller Theological Seminary, stated that the verse Galatians 3:28 ("There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus") is "the fundamental Pauline theological basis for the inclusion of women and men as equal and mutual partners in all of the ministries of the church." In his book "Equality in Christ? Galatians 3:28 and the Gender Dispute", Richard Hove argues that—while Galatians 3:28 does mean that one's sex does not affect salvation—"there remains a pattern in which the wife is to emulate the church's submission to Christ () and the husband is to emulate Christ's love for the church."  In "Christian Men Who Hate Women", clinical psychologist Margaret J. Rinck has written that Christian social culture often allows a misogynist "misuse of the biblical ideal of submission". However, she argues that this a distortion of the "healthy relationship of mutual submission" which is actually specified in Christian doctrine, where "[l]ove is based on a deep, mutual respect as the guiding principle behind all decisions, actions, and plans". Similarly, Catholic scholar Christopher West argues that "male domination violates God's plan and is the specific result of sin".

Islam.

The fourth chapter (or "sura") of the Quran is called "Women" (An-Nisa). The 34th verse is a key verse in feminist criticism of Islam. The verse reads: "Men are the maintainers of women because Allah has made some of them to excel others and because they spend out of their property; the good women are therefore obedient, guarding the unseen as Allah has guarded; and (as to) those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and beat them; then if they obey you, do not seek a way against them; surely Allah is High, Great."  In his book "Popular Islam and Misogyny: A Case Study of Bangladesh", Taj Hashmi discusses misogyny in relation to Muslim culture (and to Bangladesh in particular), writing:  In his book "", University of Southern California professor Reza Aslan wrote that "misogynistic interpretation" has been persistently attached to An-Nisa, 34 because commentary on the Quran "has been the exclusive domain of Muslim men".

Sikhism.

Scholars William M. Reynolds and Julie A. Webber have written that Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh faith tradition, was a "fighter for women's rights" that was "in no way misogynistic" in contrast to some of his contemporaries.

Scientology.

In his book "Scientology: A New Slant on Life", L. Ron Hubbard wrote the following passage: In the same book, he also wrote:  These passages, along with other ones of a similar nature from Hubbard, have been criticised by Alan Scherstuhl of "The Village Voice" as expressions of hatred towards women. However, Baylor University professor J. Gordon Melton has written that Hubbard later disregarded and abrogated much of his earlier views about women, which Melton views as merely echoes of common prejudices at the time. Melton has also stated that the Church of Scientology welcomes both genders equally at all levels—from leadership positions to auditing and so on—since Scientologists view people as spiritual beings.

Misogynistic ideas among prominent western thinkers.

Numerous influential Western philosophers have been expressed ideas that can be characterized as misogynistic, including Aristotle, René Descartes, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, David Hume, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, G. W. F. Hegel, Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche, Charles Darwin, Sigmund Freud, Otto Weininger, Oswald Spengler, and John Lucas. Because of the influence of these thinkers, feminist scholars trace misogyny in western culture to these philosophers and their ideas.

Aristotle.

Aristotle believed women were inferior and described them as "deformed males". In his work "Politics", he states  as regards the sexes, the male is by nature superior and the female inferior, the male ruler and the female subject 4 (1254b13-14).  Another example is "Cynthia's catalog" where Cynthia states "Aristotle says that the courage of a man lies in commanding, a woman's lies in obeying; that'matter yearns for form, as the female for the male and the ugly for the beautiful'; that women have fewer teeth than men; that a female is an incomplete male or 'as it were, a deformity'. Aristotle believed that men and women naturally differed both physically and mentally. He claimed that women are "more mischievous, less simple, more impulsive... more compassionate[,]... more easily moved to tears[,]... more jealous, more querulous, more apt to scold and to strike[,]... more prone to despondency and less hopeful[,]... more void of shame or self-respect, more false of speech, more deceptive, of more retentive memory [and]... also more wakeful; more shrinking [and] more difficult to rouse to action" than men.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau is well known for his views against equal rights for women for example in his treatise "Emile", he writes: "Always justify the burdens you impose upon girls but impose them anyway.... They must be thwarted from an early age.... They must be exercised to constraint, so that it costs them nothing to stifle all their fantasies to submit them to the will of others." Other quotes consist of "closed up in their houses", "must receive the decisions of fathers and husbands like that of the church".

Arthur Schopenhauer.

Arthur Schopenhauer has been noted as a misogynist by many such as the philosopher, critic, and author Tom Grimwood. In a 2008 article published in the philosophical journal of "Kritique," Grimwood argues that Schopenhauer's misogynistic works have largely escaped attention despite being more noticeable than those of other philosophers such as Nietzsche. For example, he noted Schopenhauer's works where the latter had argued women only have "meagre" reason comparable that of "the animal" "who lives in the present". Other works he noted consisted of Schopenhauer's argument that women's only role in nature is to further the species through childbirth and hence is equipped with the power to seduce and "capture" men. He goes on to state that women's cheerfulness is chaotic and disruptive which is why it is crucial to exercise obedience to those with rationality. For her to function beyond her rational subjugator is a threat against men as well as other women, he notes. Schopenhauer also thought women's cheerfulness is an expression of her lack of morality and incapability to understand abstract or objective meaning such as art. This is followed up by his quote "have never been able to produce a single, really great, genuine and original achievement in the fine arts, or bring to anywhere into the world a work of permanent value". Arthur Schopenhauer also blamed women for the fall of King Louis XIII and triggering the French Revolution, in which he was later quoted as saying:  "At all events, a false position of the female sex, such as has its most acute symptom in our lady-business, is a fundamental defect of the state of society. Proceeding from the heart of this, it is bound to spread its noxious influence to all parts."  Schopenhauer has also been accused of misogyny for his essay "On Women" (Über die Weiber), in which he expressed his opposition to what he called "Teutonico-Christian stupidity" on female affairs. He argued that women are "by nature meant to obey" as they are "childish, frivolous, and short sighted". He claimed that no woman had ever produced great art or "any work of permanent value". He also argued that women did not possess any real beauty:

Nietzsche.

In "Beyond Good and Evil", Friedrich Nietzsche stated that stricter controls on women was a condition of "every elevation of culture". In his "Thus Spoke Zarathustra", he has a female character say "You are going to women? Do not forget the whip!" In "Twilight of the Idols", Nietzsche writes "Women are considered profound. Why? Because we never fathom their depths. But women aren't even shallow." There is controversy over the questions of whether or not this amounts to misogyny, whether his polemic against women is meant to be taken literally, and the exact nature of his opinions of women.

Hegel.

Hegel's view of women can be characterized as misogynistic. Passages from Hegel's "Elements of the Philosophy of Right" illustrate the criticism:

Online misogyny.

Misogynistic rhetoric is prevalent online and has grown rhetorically more aggressive. The public debate over gender-based attacks has increased significantly, leading to calls for policy interventions and better responses by social networks like Facebook and Twitter.  A 2016 study conducted by the think tank Demos concluded that 50% of all tweets on Twitter containing the misogynistic words "whore" and "slut" come from women themselves.  Most targets are women who are visible in the public sphere, women who speak out about the threats they receive, and women who are perceived to be associated with feminism or feminist gains. Authors of misogynistic messages are usually anonymous or otherwise difficult to identify. Their rhetoric involves misogynistic epithets and graphic and sexualized imagery, centers on the women's physical appearance, and prescribes sexual violence as a corrective for the targeted women. Examples of famous women who spoke out about misogynistic attacks are Anita Sarkeesian, Laurie Penny, Caroline Criado Perez, Stella Creasy, and Lindy West.  The insults and threats directed at different women tend to be very similar. Sady Doyle who has been the target of online threats noted the "overwhelmingly impersonal, repetitive, stereotyped quality" of the abuse, the fact that "all of us are being called the same things, in the same tone".

Psychological impact.

Internalized misogyny.

Internalized sexism is when an individual enacts sexist actions and attitudes towards themselves and people of their own sex. On a larger scale, internalized sexism falls under the broad topic of internalized oppression, which "consists of oppressive practices that continue to make the rounds even when members of the oppressor group are not present". Women who experience internalized misogyny may express it through minimizing the value of women, mistrusting women, and believing gender bias in favor of men. Women, after hearing men demean the value and skills of women repeatedly, eventually internalize their beliefs and apply the misogynistic beliefs to themselves and other women. A common manifestation of internalized misogyny is lateral violence.

Feminist theory.

Subscribers to one model say that some misogyny results from the Madonna–whore complex, which is the inability to see women as anything other than "mothers" or "whores"; people with this complex place each encountered woman into one of these categories. Another variant model alleges that one cause of misogyny is some men thinking in terms of a virgin/whore dichotomy, which results in them considering as "whores" any women who do not adhere to an Abrahamic standard of moral purity.  In the late 20th century, second-wave feminist theorists argued that misogyny is both a cause and a result of patriarchal social structures.  Sociologist Michael Flood has argued that "misandry lacks the systemic, trans-historic, institutionalized, and legislated antipathy of misogyny".

British legal situation.

In recent years, there has been increasing discussion in the UK of misogyny being added to the list of aggravating factors that are commonly referred to by the media as “hate crimes”. Aggravating factors in criminal sentencing currently include hostility to a victim due to characteristics such as sexuality, race or disability.  In 2016, Nottinghamshire Police began a pilot project to record misogynistic behaviour as either hate crime or hate incidents, depending on whether the action was a criminal offence. Over two years (April 2016-March 2018) there were 174 reports made, of which 73 were classified as crimes and 101 as incidents.  In September 2018, it was announced that the Law Commission would conduct a review into whether misogynistic conduct, as well as hostility due to ageism, misandry or towards groups such as goths, should be treated as a hate crime.  In October 2018, two senior police officers, Sara Thornton, chair of the National Police Chiefs' Council, and Cressida Dick, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, stated that police forces should focus on more serious crimes such as burglary and violent offences, and not on recording incidents which are not crimes. Thornton said that "treating misogyny as a hate crime is a concern for some well-organised campaigning organisations", but that police forces "do not have the resources to do everything".

Criticism of the concept.

Camille Paglia, a self-described "dissident feminist" who has often been at odds with other academic feminists, argues that there are serious flaws in the Marxism-inspired interpretation of misogyny that is prevalent in second-wave feminism. In contrast, Paglia argues that a close reading of historical texts reveals that men do not "hate" women but "fear" them. Christian Groes-Green has argued that misogyny must be seen in relation to its opposite which he terms philogyny. Criticizing R. W. Connell's theory of hegemonic masculinities, he shows how philogynous masculinities play out among youth in Maputo, Mozambique.

Misogyny () is the hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women or girls. Misogyny manifests in numerous ways, including social exclusion, sex discrimination, hostility, androcentrism, patriarchy, male privilege, belittling of women, disenfranchisement of women, violence against women, and sexual objectification. Misogyny can be found within sacred texts of religions, mythologies, and Western philosophy and Eastern philosophy.

Misogynie obecně označuje nenávist, pohrdání nebo předsudky vůči ženám. Misogynie na sebe může brát mnoho podob a forem, jakými jsou například sociální vyloučení, přímá nebo nepřímá diskriminace, hostilita, androcentrismus, patriarchát, ponižování, podceňování nebo omezování žen, násilí na ženách nebo jejich sexuální objektivizace.


Early life.

Rinat Akhmetov was born in Donetsk, Ukrainian SSR, to a working-class family. He is an ethnic Volga Tatar and a practicing Sunni Muslim. His father, Leonid Akhmetov (d. 1991) was a coal-miner, and his mother, Nyakiya Nasredinovna, was a shop assistant. Rinat Akhmetov has an older brother, Igor, who also worked as a coal miner but had to resign due to work-related health complications.  Akhmetov earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Donetsk National University in 2001.

Business career.

Beginnings.

Details regarding Akhmetov's past, how he obtained his wealth after the fall of communism in Ukraine, and the decade between 1985 and 1995 remain controversial. Akhmetov has stated in interviews that he obtained his wealth by making risky business investments in the first years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and responded to allegations in 2010, denying he has ever inherited any money from Akhat Bragin or anyone else: "I have earned my first million by trading coal and coke, and spent the money on assets that no one wanted to buy. It was a risk but it was worth it". Many publications in Ukraine and other European countries have made claims about Akhmetov's alleged "criminal past", some of which later retracted their statements.  In 2005 Akhmetov hired American lawyers Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, who issued a statement denying that Akhmetov has any ties with the criminal world. In his documentary book "Donetsk Mafia: Anthology", Ukrainian author Serhiy Kuzin claims Akhmetov held the role of a'mafia thug' in his early years; according to Hans van Zon, Professor of Central and Eastern European Studies in the University of Sunderland, "As early as 1986, Rinat and his brother Igor were involved in criminal activities."  In the 1980s, Akhmetov acted as an assistant to Akhat Bragin, whom law enforcement agencies regarded as a powerful crime boss; allegedly in the illegal cloth trading business. Andrew Wilson, a scholar specializing in Ukrainian politics, categorized Akhmetov as an alleged former 'enforcer' and 'leader' of "[Akhat] Bragin's 'Tatar' clan", responsible for the use of "mafia methods to push aside the'red directors' of the [Industrial Union of the Donbass] (IUD)". By the early 1990s, Akhmetov began acquiring property in Donetsk allegedly by means of extortion with the assistance of Volodymyr Malyshev, Lieutenant-General of The Head of Ministry of Internal Affairs Department in Donetsk Oblast. Malyshev, now a member of Ukraine's Parliament on the committee controlling law enforcement, is accused by Kuzin of using his position to do away with previously existing police records concerning Akhmetov shortly before becoming chief of security for Akhmetov's company. "In [the 1990s], Akhmetov was very different – he was totally private with no public persona, and was trying to find ways to deal with his 'difficult past'", noted U.S. ambassador William Taylor, citing prominent Ukrainian businessman Serhiy Taruta. Further in that article cited the answer of the spokesperson for Akhmetov addressed to the Kyiv Post: "We don't know whether this phrase is authentic and what it actually means. Although, any accusations of Mr Akhmetov's involvement in criminal structures is slander."  In October 1995, Bragin, president of Shakhtar Donetsk football club, was killed in a mysterious bombing along with six of his bodyguards at the team's stadium during a match. Some rumours associate Akhmetov with the death of Bragin. Following the assassinations, Akhmetov is said to have "inherited a vast financial empire from Bragin". Akhmetov would head Dongorbank (formerly Akceptbank) in 1995.  In September 1999, an official Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs report titled the "Overview of the Most Dangerous Organized Crime Structures in Ukraine" identified Akhmetov as a leader of an organized crime syndicate. The report tied the group to money laundering, financial fraud, and the control of numerous large and fictitious companies. The report also says that the group's activities "have been stopped," and says further that their criminal natures "have not been confirmed".  Released in a WikiLeaks diplomatic cable, Volodymyr Horbulin, one of Ukraine's most respected policy strategists and former presidential advisor, told the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine in 2006 that the Party of Regions, which "enjoyed deep pockets, being largely financed by billionaire Donetsk boss Rinat Akhmetov" is partly composed of "pure criminals" and "criminal and anti-democracy figures". In a U.S. diplomatic cable dated 3 February 2006, then U.S. Ambassador John Herbst referred to Akhmetov's Party of Regions as "long a haven for Donetsk-based mobsters and oligarchs" and called Akhmetov the "godfather" of the Donetsk clan.  After Ukraine's Orange Revolution of late 2004, in an attempt to fight corruption, several prominent businessmen who were also Party of Regions members came under criminal investigation; In 2011, Hennadiy Moskal, who in 2005 acted as Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, gave an interview to Ukrainian magazine Профиль (profil-ua), where he claimed to have been under Presidential orders in 2005 to investigate and audit Akhmetov for his alleged role in organized crime. Concrete evidence was never officially revealed against him, nor his company. According to Moskal, the MVS investigated all incidents related to missing people in 1990s in Donetsk region, who had any property left, and its current owners, but no connections with Rinat Akhmetov and his entourage were found. Looking back, Moskal concluded that "we had nothing on Akhmetov in 2005". According to political journal's "Post-Soviet Affairs", and "The Nation", Akhmetov was investigated on murder charges and for his alleged role in organized crime in the Donetsk region. To avoid prosecution he was prompted to flee the country to Monaco. In June 2005, Serhiy Kornich, then head of the Interior Ministry's economic crimes department, stated publicly that Akhmetov was "the head of [an] organized crime group." That year, Borys Kolesnikov, a friend and associate who had been tied to Akhmetov since the 1980s, was arrested on charges of extortion and conspiracy to assassinate a rival Donetsk businessman. Charges against Akhmetov and Kolesnikov were dropped in 2006 amid a significant rise in political power by the former, and the cooperation of the Yuschenko government, ending Akhmetov's exile.

SCM Group.

Akhmetov founded System Capital Management Group (JSC "SCM") in 2000, and has been its sole proprietor since 2009. During his career SCM has grown to be one of Ukraine's leading financial and industrial firms with assets including over 100 businesses in metals and mining, power generation, banking and insurance, telecommunications, media and real estate; and revenues of around $12.8 billion and has assets worth over $22.7 billion. The largest company in the SCM Group is Metinvest, which is a mining and steel business and is generally agreed to be Ukraine's largest private business and is one of the larger steel businesses in Europe.  In 2001, Epic, a Vienna-based investment company agreed to purchase 93% of Ukrtelecom, a telephone monopoly owned by SCM, for $1.3 billion.  In June 2004, Akhmetov and Viktor Pinchuk (the son-in-law of then-President Leonid Kuchma) acquired the steel factory Kryvorizhstal for roughly $800 million from the state in a 2004 tender despite much higher bids made by foreign companies. Later, in 2005, the first Tymoshenko Government reversed this sale, and held a nationally televised repeat auction that netted a record-breaking $4.8 billion.  SCM has been recognized as a leader of Ukrainian corporate social responsibility ratings, garnering the top nomination by Gvardiya Magazine's rankings of Ukraine's "Socially Responsible Companies" in 2011. SCM had previously won in 2009, and 2010.  In 2008, UAH 3.4 million was given to compensate the victims and people whose relatives died in the blasts at Akhmetov's Krasnolimanskaya and Karla Marksa coal mines. A further UAH 600,000 was given to relatives of 6 miners killed in a methane blast at the Duvannaya coal mine.  Akhmetov's business empire has benefited enormously from his access to power. Forbes reports that in January 2014, for example, his businesses won 31% of all state tenders.  In March 2017, after the DPR leadership announced that it would establish external control over all Ukrainian businesses in the republic's responsibility zone, Akhmetov released a statement saying that his businesses in the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR) would remain under Ukrainian jurisdiction and would not pay taxes to "self-proclaimed LPR and DPR".  In April 2017, a court in Pechersk, Kyiv seized Akhmetov's shares in Ukrtelecom and TriMob, telephony and cellphone companies owned by Akhmetov. The assets seized were part of an investigation into the privatization of Ukrtelecom in 2011 and Akhmetov's ties to Victor Yanukovich, exiled to Russia in 2014. SCM has denied all allegations and issued a statement saying they would defend their ownership rights. On 19 October 2017, the state ruled that Akhmetov was to return all ownership rights to the state and pay a fine of $82 million for failing to fulfill privatization obligations. In December 2017, as part of the Ukrtelecom ownership legal battle, a court in Cyprus issued an order to freeze $820 million in assets held by Akhmetov. In January 2018, a Dutch court issued an order, based on the same litigation, to "freeze SCM's Netherlands-registered businesses, which include Ukraine's largest steel company Metinvest and largest private power and coal producer, DTEK."  In June 2018 the Ukraine Supreme Economic Court ruled against the renationalization of Ukrtelecom and Akhemtov controls ownership of the company through SCM Holdings.  In September of the same year Akhmetov was criticized over environmental concerns faced by residents of Mariupol caused by two steel plants, Ilyich Iron and Steel Works Plant and the Azov Stal Steel Plant, both owned by Metinvest.

Wealth.

Rinat Akhmetov has been number one in "Korrespondent" magazine annual Ukraine's Top 50 richest people rating with the estimated wealth of:  "Forbes" The World's Billionaires rating:  In 2018 Akhmetov's fortune was valued at approx. $5.9 billion. Bloomberg reported that he was the richest person in the Ukraine and that he had regained all of his losses suffered after the conflict with Russia in 2013–2014.

Political activity.

Akhmetov has been noted as a financier and unofficial leader of the Party of Regions political party.  Following the Orange Revolution, Akhmetov was pivotal in arranging a lasting relationship between his employee and close friend Paul Manafort and defeated presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovich. Also, Akhmetov ensured proper translation services for Manafort through Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russia Army trained linguist and known Russian intelligence operative that operates Manafort's office in Kiev. Kilimnik has been central to collecting fees owed to Manafort's company by the Russia-friendly political party called Opposition Bloc.  In a 13 September 2007 diplomatic cable released between prominent Ukrainian business partners Serhiy Taruta, Vitaliy Haiduk, and U.S. ambassador William Taylor, Taruta alleged that Akhmetov had in 1997 persuaded Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma to appoint Viktor Yanukovych governor of Donetsk oblast, who then in turn made Haiduk his deputy. In follow up of the released cables, Akhmetov's spokesperson refused comment and Haiduk denied the conversation taking place.  Akhmetov was elected as a member of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada (parliament) during the 2006 Ukrainian parliamentary election as a member of the Party of Regions. Akhmetov was reelected during the 2007 parliamentary election again as a member of the Party of Regions. However, he only appeared once in the Verkhovna Rada building during his inauguration. Leader of the party's faction in the Verkhovna Rada, Oleksander Yefremov, has mentioned that Rinat Akhmetov provides "substantive support" to the faction by providing what he referred to as "functioning expert groups he established that are counseling on draft laws". In December 2011 Akhmetov announced he was not going to participate in the 2012 parliamentary election.  U.S. diplomatic cables revealed that Akhmetov posted $2 million bail in 2007 for the release of three members of the Party of Regions, including former Sumy Governor Volodymyr Shcherban, who was accused of election rigging, extortion, tax evasion and abuse of office.  The Russian-language newspaper Segodnya, owned by Akhmetov, has drawn criticism for its alleged mandate favoring coverage of certain politicians and public figures, the journalists at the paper admitted.

Reaction to the south-eastern conflict in Ukraine.

Akhmetov has denied claims made by Pavel Gubarev (self-proclaimed "People's Governor" of the Donetsk People's Republic) in an interview published in the Russian state-controlled newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta on 12 May 2014. According to Gubarev, Akhmetov has financed the separatist movement in the region, and that the separatists "all took money" from Akhmetov and others, saying that "As it turned out, two-thirds of the activists were supported by the oligarch Akhmetov". On 10 May 2014, Akhmetov's Metinvest company announced it would be forming an unarmed militia of steelworker employees to stop looting by separatists and criminals in the city of Mariupol. In a 19 May (2014) breaking news message on Ukrayina TV Akhmetov claimed the representative "of this Donetsk People's Republic" were committing "genocide of Donbass". At his initiative the next day a so-called Peace March was held in the stadium Donbass Arena in Donetsk accompanied by cars beeping their horns at noon. Akhmetov has vowed that "siren [will be] ringing every day at noon across all of Donbas until peace is established".  Akhmetov is helping the victims of the War in Donbass in South-Eastern Ukraine. As of March 2014 he had allocated UAH 35 million. for this assistance. The Rinat Akhmetov Humanitarian Centre was established in August 2014 to provide maximum assistance to all civilians of Donetsk and Luhansk Regions affected by the military actions. The Centre has pooled resources of the Foundation and all SCM Group's businesses and FC Shakhtar. The activity of the Centre is dedicated to financial, humanitarian, medical and psychological assistance for the victims of the conflict in the South-Eastern Ukraine and evacuation from the hot spots in the East of Ukraine.  In August 2014 Akhmetov's Foundation for Development of Ukraine also started a new particular project called Humanitarian Aid Drives. The purpose of this project is the regular delivery of food and children's packages to Donbass. As of October 2016 over 10 million food packages were provided to IDPs and residents of 57 districts and settlements of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The package includes flour, sugar, cereals, oats, tinned foods, sunflower oil, stew, pasta, canned corn, gingerbreads and condensed milk.  Akhmetov also made numerous statements, since March 2014, appealing for integrity of Ukraine and finding peaceful solutions of the crisis. He believes decentralization should be part of this peaceful solution.  In March 2017 protesters attacked Akhmetov's offices in Russian controlled areas. Pro-Russian separatists in the Donbas region seized control of companies owned by energy conglomerate DTEK and steel company Metinvest both owned by Akhmetov. In addition, companies in the region controlled by the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) took control of several Akhmetov owned companies.  Continued protests throughout 2017 have led to allegations of corruption and profiteering between Akhmetov and President Petro Poroshenko specifically over pricing for domestic coal suppliers and the buyout of DTEK debts by the government.

Sports and patronage.

Following the mysterious October 1995 bombing assassination of former team president Akhat Bragin at the team's stadium, Akhmetov (who had served as Bragin's right-hand man and himself narrowly missed the attempt on his life), subsequently inherited operation of the Shakhtar Donetsk football club. On 11 October 1996, Akhmetov was appointed president of the team and began investing heavily in both players and their training facilities. Under his command, FC Shakhtar became Ukrainian Premier League Champions in 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2017; Domestic Cup champions in 1997, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016 and 2017; Super-Cup in 2005, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017; and UEFA Cup in 2009.  In 2009, Donbass Arena stadium was built in Donetsk at Rinat Akhmetov's initiative. It is the first stadium in Eastern Europe that was designed and built to the elite UEFA standards; its seating capacity holds over 50,000 persons. Rinat Akhmetov had dreamt about such a stadium long before Ukraine had acquired the right to host EURO 2012.  Due to the War in Donbass in Ukraine FC Shakhtar moved to Kiev. Since May 2014 the team is based in Kiev and plays their home games in Lviv. Meanwhile, the club's home stadium Donbass Arena in August 2014 became a center of humanitarian aid in Donetsk. Volunteers unload the food products, form the individual sets and pass them to people in need there. During the fighting the Donbass Arena was seriously damaged as a result of shelling several times, the humanitarian aid distribution was continued.  In March 2017, a spokesperson for Akhmetov's foundation reported that humanitarian aid had been discontinued in the region after rebel organizations blocked access to the Shakhtar FC stadium, which serves as a center for relief efforts in the area.

Personal life.

Rinat Akhmetov is married to Liliya Nikolaievna Smirnova (born 1965), and has two sons with her, Damir (born 1988) and Almir (born 1997).  Akhmetov owns London's most expensive penthouse at One Hyde Park, which was originally purchased for a reported $213 million as a portfolio investment and spent another reported $120 million to fix them up. The information about the deal was disclosed only four years later, in April 2011, after the asset has shown a steady annual rise. In May 2013, the property was transferred from his company, SCM, to himself.

Philanthropy.

Akhmetov is involved with charities that support Ukrainian citizens. Akhmetov established the Foundation for Development of Ukraine in 2005, which is "determined to eliminate the roots of social problems" in Ukraine. In 2008, it has been reported that within next 5 years the Organization planned to spend $150 million to fulfill its programs. In 2007, Akhmetov founded the Foundation for Effective Governance (FEG) to support economic development of Ukraine. Founded with a goal to improve the standard of living of each Ukrainian citizen; it was shut down in January 2014 amid protests against Akhmetov.  In 2008, Akhmetov donated UAH 258,600 million to charity, that made him the No.2 in a list of top ten businessmen who donated for charity in 2008. In the following year, Ukrainian business weekly "Kontrakty" named Akhmetov the top businessmen-philanthropist in Ukraine. In 2010, Akhmetov's total charitable contributions amounted to UAH 155,65 million, making him No. 1 philanthropist in Ukraine. For 2011, Akhmetov donated UAH 222.7 million to charity. Starting from the year 2000, Rinat Akhmetov and his friend Igor Krutoy have been involved in a charity campaign on Saint Nicholas' Day in Donetsk and Donetsk Oblast, visiting children deprived of parental care, orphans and children in hospitals. In 2012, he donated $19 million to build an oncology research center.  Akhmetov' salary for being a member of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada (parliament) was traditionally deferred to charity.

Notable donations.

In 2016, Akhmetov as owner of football team Shaktar Donetsk, visited children's hospitals and orphanages on St Nicholas Day, delivering gifts to nearly 140,000 children.

Controversies.

Euromaidan.

During the 2013–14 Euromaidan anti-government protests, Akhmetov became a target of protest as he was seen as a symbol of oppression. In December 2013 protesters picketed his residence in London on several occasions, urging him to cut ties with incumbent president Viktor Yanukovych. In response, Akhmetov issued a statement condemning police brutality. On 31 December, Akhmetov reprimanded a group of protesters in public near his home in Donetsk.  Following the Euromaidan revolution Akhmetov lost more than half of his wealth. His net value went down from $11.2 billion to $2.9 billion in 2017. News reports suggest that much of his former wealth has been redistributed to other Russian oligarchs.

Disputes in the media.

When dealing with public criticism and allegations concerning his past, Akhmetov has utilized a team of PR consultants and lawyers to protect his image and name. His team often contests reports on him that they consider to be libelous, scandalous, or inaccurate. To date, his legal team has obtained many retractions, apologies, and libel settlements. Critics accuse Akhmetov of going beyond protecting his name, but rather fear mongering investigative journalists. As many court cases occur in London for its lax free speech laws, critics accuse Akhmetov and his legal team of abuse of libel tourism. In January 2008, Akhmetov won a London libel court case "for damage to his reputation" for such claims, while several other statements about his "criminal past" have been retracted by the media.  In a statement issued by Akhmetov's lawyer Mark MacDougall, "Akhmetov has done a lot of work to protect his good name from false accusations, which might hurt the reputation of his family and business. As the result of it, many publications in Ukraine and other European countries had published retractions and apologies... [and] admitted that their claims are false. We think that these facts speak for themselves".  In 2007, the Kyiv Post, the primary English language daily newspaper in Ukraine, published an article relating to Mr. Akhmetov's business transactions relating to the Dniproenergo thermoelectric generator and the Kryvorizhstal steel mill. The newspaper published an apology stating that "on closer examination, we concluded these allegations relating to Mr. Akhmetov were untrue and have no basis in fact."  In 2007, the German language Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung ("NZZ") retracted defamatory statements from published earlier article regarding Mr. Akhmetov's early business career in the 1990s, noting that "there is no connection between Akhmetov... and organized crime in Ukraine" and "[t]he economic success of Akhmetov is not based by any means on criminally acquired starting capital."  In 2008, a judgment was obtained from the High Court of Justice in London after Obozrevatel, a Ukrainian language Internet publication refused to retract false and libelous statements alleging that Mr. Akhmetov was connected to criminal activity and violence. The Obozrevatel reporter (Tetiana Chornovol) interviewed his former classmates and neighbors, and delved into his early years. Following court pressure Obozrevatel issued an official apology stating: "The editorial hereby admits that there was unchecked and false information about Rinat Akhmetov present in the... articles... We hereby give our apologies to Rinat Akhmetov for the problems resulted from the above-mentioned publications." Tetiana Chornovol, who has political ambitions, refused to issue an apology or acknowledge any wrongdoing.  The website GoLocalProv.com, based in Providence, Rhode Island, published in 2010 allegations that Akhmetov had ties to organized crime. Subsequently, PolitiFact engaged in a review of the allegations on GoLocalProv's site and disputed the sources on which they were based, stating that "key elements of the [GoLocalProv] story are false or unproven" and that the story presented "suspicions, suggestions, innuendo, and conspiracy theories" as fact. The GoLocalProv articles and audio shortly after their publishing were removed from the site. The publisher, Josh Fenton, explained that they disappeared for "technical reasons" and the radio station which aired the interview containing the allegations refused comment.  In 2010, the French daily newspaper Le Figaro issued a retraction of false allegations it published on 18 January 2010 regarding Rinat Akhmetov, due to a lack of evidence to support their claims, and issued an apology. Le Figaro had claimed that Akhmetov was "a scandalous Ukrainian oligarch" and that he was "a bandit in the past".  In 2013, Akhmetov's legal representatives issued a press release in response to accusations in the media, which cited politicians and journalists, that implicated Akhmetov in the 1996 murder of Donetsk-based Ukrainian oligarch Yevhen Shcherban. The official statement stated that they "have not found any proof suggesting that Akhmetov was involved in Scherban's or other businessmen's killings. To be honest, some of the businessmen killed in the 1990s were Mr. Akhmetov's close friends."

Connected to 2016 Donald Trump United States Presidential Campaign and the Robert Mueller Special Counsel investigation.

In January 2019, Paul Manafort's lawyers submitted a filing to the court, in response to the Robert Mueller Special Counsel's accusation that Manafort had lied to investigators while supposedly co-operating with the investigation. Through an error in redacting, the document accidentally revealed that while Manafort was Donald Trump's campaign chairman, Manafort met with Konstantin Kilimnik, gave Kilimnik polling data related to Donald Trump's 2016 United States Presidential campaign, and discussed a Ukraine-Russia peace plan for the ongoing Russia invasion of Ukraine with Kilimnik. As a Russian Main Intelligence Directorate GRU agent, Konstantin Kilimnik is known member of Russia's intelligence community. Although most of the polling data was reportedly public, some was private Trump campaign polling data managed by Brad Parscale. Manafort asked Kilimnik to pass the data to Ukrainians Serhiy Lyovochkin and Rinat Akhmetov.

Rinat Leonidovych Akhmetov ( ; ; ; born on 21 September 1966) is a Ukrainian billionaire businessman, and oligarch. He is the founder and president of System Capital Management (SCM), and ranked among the wealthiest men in Ukraine., he was listed as the 272nd richest man in the world with an estimated net worth of US 6.4 billion. Some sources have claimed that Akhmetov has been involved in organized crime, but Akhmetov has never been charged with a crime, his lawyers successfully refuted these accusations. Akhmetov is the owner and president of the Ukrainian football club Shakhtar Donetsk. In 2006–2007 and 2007–2012, Akhmetov was a member of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada (parliament) for the Party of Regions. Akhmetov also made numerous statements, since March 2014, appealing for integrity of Ukraine and finding peaceful solutions of the crisis.

Rinat Achmetov ( Рінат Леонідович Ахметов, Ринат Леонидович Ахметов Ренат Леонид улы Әхмәтов; * 21. září 1966) je ukrajinský oligarcha. Vlastní a řídí ukrajinský finanční a průmyslový konglomerát SCM Holdings. Je dlouholetým prezidentem fotbalového klubu FK Šachtar Doněck, od roku 2007 je poslancem ukrajinského parlamentu za Stranu regionů, bývá také označován za neoficiálního šéfa této strany. Je nejbohatším Ukrajincem a patří mezi 50 nejbohatších na světě, v roce 2011 odhadoval časopis Forbes hodnotu jeho majetku na 16 miliard dolarů (asi 270 miliard Kč).


Biography.

Early life.

Kuhn was born in Vienna, Austria, where he attended grammar school and high school. His interest in chemistry surfaced early; however he had many interests and decided late to study chemistry. Between 1910 and 1918 he was a schoolmate of Wolfgang Pauli, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for 1945. Beginning in 1918, Kuhn attended lectures at the University of Vienna in chemistry. He finished his chemistry studies at University of Munich and received his doctoral degree in 1922 with Richard Willstätter for a scientific work on enzymes.  After graduating, Kuhn continued his scientific career, first in Munich, then at the ETH Zurich and from 1929 onwards at the University of Heidelberg, where he was head of the chemistry department beginning in 1937. In 1928 he married Daisy Hartmann and the couple subsequently had two sons and four daughters.

Research.

Kuhn's areas of study included: investigations of theoretical problems of organic chemistry (stereochemistry of aliphatic and aromatic compounds; syntheses of polyenes and cumulenes; constitution and colour; the acidity of hydrocarbons), as well as extensive fields in biochemistry (carotenoids; flavins; vitamins and enzymes). Specifically, he carried out important work on vitamin B and the antidermatitis vitamin B.  In 1929 he became Principal of the Institute for Chemistry at the newly founded Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research (which, since 1950, has been renamed the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg). By 1937 he also took over the administration of this Institute.  In addition to these duties he also served as of Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Heidelberg, and for one year he was at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, as a Visiting Research Professor for Physiological Chemistry.  He was subsequently awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1938 for his "work on carotenoids and vitamins," but rejected the prize as Hitler had forbidden German citizens to accept it. In a hand-written letter, he even described the awarding of the prize to a German as an invitation to violate a decree of the Führer. He received the award after World War II. Kuhn is also credited with the discovery of the deadly nerve agent Soman in 1944.  Kuhn was editor of "Justus Liebigs Annalen der Chemie" from 1948.  Kuhn died in 1967 in Heidelberg, Germany, aged 66.

Nazi era.

Kuhn collaborated with high-ranking Nazi officials and denounced three of his Jewish co-workers in 1936.  In 2005, the Society of German Chemists (Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker, GDCh) declared their intention to no longer award the Richard Kuhn Medal: “The board of the GDCh intends to discontinue awarding the Medal named after the organic chemist, Nobel Prize laureate of the year 1938 and President of the GDCh in 1964–65, Richard Kuhn. The board thereby draws the consequences out of research on Richard Kuhn’s behaviour during National Socialism. Even though the question of whether Kuhn was a convinced National Socialist or just a career-oriented camp follower is not fully answered, he undisputably supported the Nazi-regime in administrative and organizational ways, especially by his scientific work. Despite his scientific achievements, Kuhn is not suitable to serve as a role model, and eponym for an important award, mainly due to his unreflected research on poison gas, but also due to his conduct towards Jewish colleagues” (Nachrichten aus der Chemie 54, May 2006, p. 514).

Richard Johann Kuhn (; 3 December 1900 – 1 August 1967) was an Austrian-German biochemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1938 "for his work on carotenoids and vitamins".

Richard Kuhn (3. prosince 1900 Vídeň – 1. srpna 1967 Heidelberg) byl německý biochemik narozený v Rakousku, který v roce 1938 získal Nobelovu cenu za chemii za „práce na karotenoidech a vitamínech“.


In the Gospels.

According to, Bethsaida was the hometown of the apostles Peter, Andrew, and Philip. In the Gospel of Mark (), Jesus reportedly restored a blind man's sight at a place just outside the ancient village of Bethsaida. In, Jesus miraculously feeds five thousand near Bethsaida.

Location: historical sources.

Pliny the Elder, in his "Natural History", places Bethsaida on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee. The historian Josephus says that the town of Bethsaida - at that time called "Julias" (), was situated 120 stadia from the lake Semechonitis, not far from the Jordan River as it passes into the middle of the Sea of Galilee. "De Situ Terrae Sanctae", a 6th-century account written by Theodosius the archdeacon describes Bethsaida's location in relation to Capernaum, saying that it was distant from Capernaum. The distance between Bethsaida and Paneas is said to have been.

Identification: the candidates.

Although Bethsaida is believed to be located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, there is disagreement among scholars as to precisely where. Since the nineteenth century, three places have been considered as the possible location of Biblical Betsaida: the Bedouin village of Messadiye; the small, deserted settlement of El-Araj (Beit HaBek, "House of the Bey"); and the archaeological site (tell) of Et-Tell. Over time, the latter two locations have come to appear more likely. While Messadiye and El-Araj are closer to the Sea of Galilee, Et-Tell shows significant archaeological remains including fragments of fishing equipment.  No trace of the name Bethsaida has been found in the district, but any one of the sites named would meet the requirements.

Et-Tell.

Archaeologists tend to agree that the capital of the kingdom of Geshur was situated at et-Tell, a place also inhabited on a lesser scale during the first centuries BCE and CE and sometimes identified with the town of Bethsaida of New Testament fame.  The first excavations of the site were conducted in 1987–1989, by the Golan Research Institute. In 2008–2010, and in 2014, archaeological excavations of the site were conducted by Rami Arav on behalf of the University of Nebraska of Omaha, Nebraska. According to Arav, the ruin of "et-Tell" is said to be Bethsaida, a ruined site on the east side of the Jordan on rising ground, from the sea. This distance poses a problem, however, insofar that if it were a fishing village, it is situated far from the shore of the Sea of Galilee. In an attempt to rectify the problem, the following hypotheses have been devised:

Bronze and Iron Ages.

Excavations indicate that the settlement was founded in the 10th century BCE, in the biblical period. Et-Tell was inhabited during both the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. The fortified town there is associated by researchers with the biblical kingdom of Geshur.  Imposing archaeological finds, mainly the Stratum V city gate, date to the post-Geshurite 8th century BCE, but there are indications, as of 2016, that the archaeologists are close to locating the 10th-century BCE, that is: Geshurite, city gate as well. The et-Tell site would have been easily the largest and strongest city to the east of the Jordan Valley during the Iron Age II era.  In July 2018, a group of twenty archaeologists led by Rami Arav discovered a structure identified as a city gate. They tentatively identified the city with biblical Zer, a name used during the First Temple period.

Hellenistic and Roman periods.

Et-Tell was inhabited on a lesser scale during the first centuries BCE and CE than in the Bronze Age and Iron Ages. Archaeological excavations at site have revealed fishing gear, including lead weights used for fishing nets, as well as sewing needles for repairing fishing nets. The findings indicate that most of the city's economy was based on fishing on the Sea of Galilee. Two silver coins dating to 143 BCE, as well as Slavonic bronze coins, bronze coins from the time of Alexander Jannaeus, King of the Hasmonean dynasty (reigned c. 103-76 BCE), and one coin from the time of Philip the Tetrarch (a son of Herod the Great), ruler of the Bashan (reigned 4 BCE - 34 CE), were discovered at the site. Philip the Tetrarch applied the name "Julias" () to the site, which he named after Caesar's daughter.

Al-Araj.

According to Josephus, around the year 30/31 CE (or 32/33 CE) Herod Philip II raised the village of Bethsaida in Lower Gaulanitis to the rank of a polis and renamed it "Julias," in honor of Livia, the wife of Augustus. It lay near the place where the Jordan enters the Sea of Galilee.  Julias/Bethsaida was a city east of the Jordan River, in a "desert place" (that is, uncultivated ground used for grazing). If this is the location to which Jesus retired by boat with his disciples to rest a while. The multitude following on foot along the northern shore of the lake would cross the Jordan by the ford at its mouth, which is used by foot travelers to this day. The "desert" of the narrative is just the "barrīyeh" of the Arabs, where the animals are driven out for pasture. The "green grass" of, and the "much grass" of John 6:10, point to some place in the plain of "el-Baṭeiḥah", on the rich soil of which the grass is green and plentiful, compared to the scanty herbage on the higher slopes.

Excavation.

In 2017, archaeologists announced the discovery of a Roman bathhouse at el-Araj, which is taken as proof that the site was a polis in the Roman Empire period. The bathhouse was located in a layer below the Byzantine layer, with an intervening layer of mud and clay that indicated a break in occupation between 250 and 350 CE. They also found what might be the remains of a Byzantine church building, matching the description of a traveller in 750 CE. On account of these discoveries, the archaeologists believe that el-Araj is now the most likely candidate for the location of Bethsaida.  In 2019, what some describe as the Church of Apostles was unearthed by the El-Araj excavations team during the fourth season at the site of Bethsaida-Julias / Beithabbak (El-Araj), on the north shore of Sea of Galilee near where the Jordan river enters the lake. The excavation was carried out by Prof. Mordechai Aviam of Kinneret College and Prof. R. Steven Notley of Nyack College. This Byzantine period church is believed by some to have been built over the house of the apostle brothers, Peter and Andrew. Only the southern rooms of the church were excavated. A well-protected ornamental mosaic floor, gilded glass tesserae, and a marble chancel decorated with a wreath have been found in some of the excavated rooms. According to Professor Notley:

El-Mesydiah.

El-Mesydiah, also spelled el-Mes‛adīyeh is a third, but generally considered least likely possibility. It is located on the present shoreline, but preliminary excavations, including the use of ground penetrating radar, initially revealed only a small number of ruins dating from before the Byzantine period. Some were inclined to favor el-Mes‛adīyeh which stands on an artificial mound about from the mouth of the River Jordan. However, the name is in origin radically different from Bethsaida. The substitution of "sīn" for "ṣād" is easy, but the insertion of the guttural "‛ain" is impossible.

One or two Bethsaidas?

Many scholars maintain that all the New Testament references to Bethsaida apply to one place, namely, Bethsaida Julias. The arguments for and against this view may be summarized as follows.

A Golan site could be called "Galilean".

Galilee ran right round the lake, including most of the level coastland on the east. Thus Gamala, on the eastern shore, was within the jurisdiction of Josephus, who commanded in Galilee. Judas of Gamala is also called Judas of Galilee. If Gamala, far up the slope towering over the eastern shore of the sea, were in Galilee, "a fortiori" Bethsaida, a town which lay on the very edge of the Jordan, may be described as in Galilee.

Gaulanitis distinct from Galilee.

Josephus makes it plain that Gamala, while added to his jurisdiction, was not in Galilee, but in Gaulanitis. Even if Judas were born in Gamala, and so might properly be called a Gaulanite, he may, like others, have come to be known as belonging to the province in which his active life was spent. "Jesus of Nazareth" for instance was born in Bethlehem in Judaea. Josephus also explicitly says that Bethsaida was in Lower Gaulanitis. Further, Luke places the country of the Gerasenes on the other side of the sea from Galilee (Luke 8:26) – "antipéra tês Galilaías" ("over against Galilee").

Arguments for one Bethsaida.

In support of the single-city theory it is further argued that

Arguments for two Bethsaidas.

But:

1217 battle.

During the Fifth Crusade, the well-mounted crusader army led by King Andrew II of Hungary defeated Sultan Al-Adil I at Bethsaida on the Jordan River on 10 November 1217. Muslim forces retreated to their fortresses and towns.

Bethsaida (from Hebrew/Aramaic "beth-tsaida", lit. "house of hunting" or "fishing", from the Hebrew root or ), also known as Julias, is a place mentioned in the New Testament. Julias lay in an administrative district known as Gaulonitis. Historians have suggested that the name is also referenced in rabbinic literature under the epithet "Ṣaidan" ().

Betsaida ( Βηθσαΐδά "bēthsaidá", בית צידה "bet cajda") je rybářská vesnice severně od Galilejského jezera v Izraeli zmiňovaná v Novém zákoně, kterou navštívil Ježíš a provedl zde některé zázraky, např. uzdravení slepého. Pocházeli z ní apoštolové Ondřej, Petr a Filip. Název Betsaida znamená v hebrejštině doslovně Dům rybáře. V roce 1987 byly ruiny Betsaidy objeveny Bargilem Pixnerem během vykopávek prováděných v lokalitě Et-Tel archeology z Haifské univerzity.


Early life.

Kevin James LaBrie was born in Penetanguishene, Ontario, Canada and started playing drums at age 5. By his mid-teens, he was a member of several bands as a front man that attempted singing and/or drumming. He stopped playing drums at age 17 and in 1981, at age 18, he moved to Toronto.

Career.

Coney Hatch.

LaBrie joined Coney Hatch in 1986 when they were attempting a new lineup. The band recorded a number of demonstration tapes in their rehearsal studio and performed live in Ontario clubs for several months. When their record company (Anthem) expressed their disapproval of the lineup, the band replaced LaBrie with Phil Naro in one last ditched attempt at forging ahead without Carl Dixon. That lineup was to be short lived as well.

Winter Rose.

Soon after parting ways with Coney Hatch, LaBrie became the vocalist for the glam metal band Winter Rose. The group also included Richard Chycki on guitar and bass, Randy Cooke on drums, and Sebastian Bach on vocals. Chycki had also worked with Bach under the band names Sebastian and Hope. The band recorded a series of demos through 1988 and 1989 with guest musicians Bruce Dies and Rob Laidlaw. The tracks were commercially released in 1989 as a self-titled album by Inside Out Music. All the songs on the album were written by Richard Chycki and James LaBrie, except two which Richard Chycki wrote alone.

Dream Theater.

In 1990, LaBrie learned that American progressive metal band Dream Theater was looking for a new singer, so he submitted a tape and was quickly flown to New York for a full audition. The trial went well, and he was chosen ahead of 200 other hopefuls to fill the full-time vocalist position in that band.  LaBrie has since had a significant impact on the vocal melodies on each Dream Theater album, but until recently has had little input on the instrumentation of Dream Theater's music - 2011's "A Dramatic Turn of Events" features LaBrie in the music credits on three songs. To date he has written or co-written lyrics for at least one song on eight of the twelve albums Dream Theater has released with him in the band, "Images and Words," "Black Clouds & Silver Linings", "Dream Theater" and "The Astonishing" containing none of them.  Asked by Prog-Sphere.com what is his favorite Dream Theater song to play live, James says "The favorite song for me is Scarred, I love performing that live. And... well, Octavarium, that whole freakin’ thing."

Solo.

With Matt Guillory, LaBrie has released five solo albums under various names (Mullmuzzler, James LaBrie's Mullmuzzler, and simply James LaBrie).  In an interview from "Beyond The Dark Horizon" on June 12, 2010, James LaBrie stated that his next solo album entitled "Static Impulse", is in the mixing stages and will contain 12 tracks. James stated "It's very heavy and I'm really excited."  On July 27, 2010 it was announced on Dream Theater's website that "Static Impulse" would be released on September 27, 2010 through InsideOut Music. It features longtime collaborator Matt Guillory on keyboards, Marco Sfogli ("Elements of Persuasion") on guitars, Peter Wildoer from DARKANE on drums/screaming vocals, and Ray Riendeau on bass.  James LaBrie stated "The release of Static Impulse is one that the whole band is psyched about. This is modern metal and as heavy and relevant as any other band out there going in a similar musical direction. There are riffs that will blow your head off and melodies both musically and vocally that are hypnotic. Get in the driver's seat and let the ears bleed. Enjoy and see you out there with a tour to follow up and support this release."  In 2011's interview for Prog-Sphere.com, LaBrie stated that the US tour got cancelled, saying "Because it was so disorganized last time. That's why I basically said, 'You don't have the visas yet. Where we're at this point, by the time you get the visas processed, we're gonna have one rehearsal and then we're gonna go out.' And I said, 'I'm not doing that.'"  In July 2013, LaBrie's album "Impermanent Resonance" was released at Inside Out Music.

Other projects.

Throughout his career with Dream Theater, LaBrie has lent his voice to many other artists' records as well as tribute albums. In 1991, not long after joining Dream Theater (and before ever appearing on a Dream Theater recording), he sang background vocals on the song "Life in Still Water" on Fates Warning's "Parallels" album. He has appeared on many Trent Gardner releases (including "" and "Explorer's Club"), as well as appearing on albums by such artists as Shadow Gallery, Tim Donahue and Frameshift.  LaBrie provided the lead vocals for the main character in the rock opera album "The Human Equation" by Ayreon; in 2015, he reprised his role for a live version, "The Theater Equation". He was also featured as the character "The Historian" in the album "The Source".  LaBrie is also a featured vocalist on Henning Pauly's "Babysteps" project released in 2006; LaBrie plays the role of the arrogant doctor.  Since 2004, LaBrie has been working with the True Symphonic Rockestra project, along with Thomas Dewald, Vladimir Grishko, Dirk Ulrich, Christoph Wansleben, Sandro Martinez, Paul Mayland, Marvin Philippi, and Igor Marin. Their album, "Concerto In True Minor - 3 Rock Tenors" was released on iTunes and for download on Amazon on March 28, 2008 by Brainworx and Marinsound.  In 2016 LaBrie was the special guest on the Last Union debut album firstly meant to be named "Most Beautiful Day". He sang in three songs: "President Evil", "Taken" and "A Place In Heaven". Eventually the album was called "Twelve" and finally released on December 21, 2018. "Twelve" was written and pieced together over a -year period.

Personal life.

LaBrie had said in many older interviews that he was Christian, and actively practiced the religion. However, in 2005 he revealed that he's since strayed from organized religion, and now considers himself "a more spiritual-directed person."

Singing.

Influences.

His musical inspiration comes from many different genres, including such artists as Sebastian Bach, Aerosmith, Don Dokken, Metallica, The Doors, Ludwig van Beethoven, Nat King Cole, Queen, Sting, and Muse whose inspiration, according to LaBrie, is shown on Dream Theater's album, "Octavarium". LaBrie lists Freddie Mercury as his "all-time favorite" singer, and also admires such singers as Steve Perry, Lou Gramm, Rob Halford, Steven Tyler, Robert Plant, and Jeff Buckley, among others.

Reception.

LaBrie is widely known for his lyric tenor style singing voice. He was voted by fans to #16 on MusicRadar's "The greatest vocalists of all time" in 2010. During his career with Dream Theater, LaBrie's singing voice has received both praise and criticism. In response to detractors of his vocal abilities, LaBrie has said, "These people are pathetic and need to move on. I say get a life and maybe work on making your life a better one instead of thinking the answer lies in cutting someone else up to raise your miserable spirit."

Food poisoning incident.

On December 29, 1994, while vacationing in Cuba, LaBrie was stricken with a severe case of food poisoning from contaminated shrimp and while vomiting, he ruptured his vocal cords. He saw three throat specialists who all said there was nothing they could do except have him rest his voice as much as possible. However, on January 12, 1995, against doctor's orders, he was on the Waking Up the World Tour in Japan promoting Dream Theater's "Awake" album with his voice far from normal. LaBrie has said he did not feel vocally "normal" until at least 2002. He has also said that this era was a very hard time for him as a singer, and depression as a result caused him to consider departing from the band, although his bandmates supported him and urged him to stay. After the World Tourbulence tour, he discovered that his voice had fully returned. He said that his voice was fully healed by time and training. However, while speaking to Greg Prato of Songfacts in 2019, LaBrie explained how the incident affected his vocal range. "So, instead of hitting D's and E's and F-sharps and all that stuff, I was able to hit C, C-sharp, and D. But I had to really watch it. I have hit F notes here and there, but I have to really watch it. But that was probably the darkest moment in my life, for sure."

Discography.

Winter Rose  Dream Theater MullMuzzler  Solo

Kevin James LaBrie (born May 5, 1963) is a Canadian vocalist and songwriter, who is best known as the singer of the American progressive metal band Dream Theater, which he has fronted since 1991.

Kevin James "Two Knees" LaBrie (5. května 1963 Penetanguishene, Ontario, Kanada) je kanadský zpěvák, nejvíce známý jako frontman progressive metalové skupiny Dream Theater.


Gameplay.

"Portal 2" is a first-person perspective puzzle game. The player takes the role of Chell in the single-player campaign, as one of two robotsAtlas and P-Bodyin the cooperative campaign, or as a simplistic humanoid icon in community-developed puzzles. These three characters can explore and interact with the environment. Characters can withstand limited damage but will die after sustained injury. There is no penalty for falling onto a solid surface, but falling into bottomless pits or toxic pools kills the player character immediately. When Chell dies in the single-player game, the game restarts from a recent checkpoint; in the cooperative game, the robot respawns shortly afterwards without restarting the puzzle. The goal of both campaigns is to explore the Aperture Science Laboratory—a complicated, malleable mechanized maze. While most of the game takes place in modular test chambers with clearly defined entrances and exits, other parts occur in behind-the-scenes areas where the objective is less clear.  The initial tutorial levels guide the player through the general movement controls and illustrate how to interact with the environment. The player must solve puzzles using the 'portal gun' or 'Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device', which can create two portals connecting two distant surfaces depicted as matte white, continuous, and flat. Characters can use these portals to move between rooms or to "fling" objects or themselves across a distance. Outlines of placed portals are visible through walls and other obstacles for easy location.  Game elements include Thermal Discouragement Beams (lasers), Excursion Funnels (tractor beams), and Hard Light Bridges, all of which can be transmitted through portals. Aerial Faith Plates launch the player or objects through the air and sometimes into portals. The player must disable turrets or avoid their line of sight. The Weighted Storage Cube has been redesigned, and there are new

Plot.

Backstory.

The "Portal" series is linked to the "Half-Life series". The events in "Portal" take place between the first and second "Half-Life" games, while most of "Portal 2" is set "a long time after" the events in "Portal" and "Half-Life 2".  Before "Portal", Aperture Science conducted experiments to determine whether human subjects could safely navigate

Single-player campaign.

In the Aperture Science facility, Chell wakes in a stasis chamber resembling a motel room. The complex has become dilapidated and is on the verge of collapse. Wheatley (Stephen Merchant), a personality core, guides her through old test chambers in an attempt to escape. They accidentally reactivate the dormant GLaDOS (Ellen McLain), who separates Chell from Wheatley and begins rebuilding the laboratory. GLaDOS subjects Chell to new tests until Wheatley helps her escape again. They sabotage Aperture's manufacturing plants, then confront GLaDOS and perform a core exchange; replacing her with Wheatley as the laboratory's controller. Wheatley, driven mad with power, attaches GLaDOS's personality core to a potato battery. GLaDOS tells Chell that Wheatley was designed as an "intelligence dampening core" producing illogical thoughts, created to hamper her own personality. Infuriated, Wheatley drops Chell and GLaDOS through an elevator shaft to the laboratories' lowest levels.  Chell retrieves the potato battery and

Cooperative campaign.

The cooperative story takes place after the single-player campaign, but players are not required to play them in order. Player characters ATLAS and P-Body are bipedal robots who navigate test chambers together, each with a fully functioning portal gun. After completing a test chamber, the robots are disassembled and reassembled at the next chamber. After completing each set, they are returned to a central hub. The puzzles in each set of tests focus on

"Peer Review" DLC campaign.

The robots are reactivated by GLaDOS one week after the original co-op campaign, during which GLaDOS has already wiped out all of the found test subjects after attempting to turn them into "killing machines". The robots are sent to find a saboteur that has taken control of a prototype central core and is causing problems in the facility.

Development.

After the success of "Portal", Valve decided to make "Portal 2" a standalone product, partly because of pressure from other developers within Valve who wanted to work on a "Portal" product. Work began almost immediately after the release of "Portal". Valve committed more resources to "Portal 2"s development than they had for the first game; "Portal" had a team of seven or eight people, but "Portal 2" had a team of 30 or 40. The initial team of four was expanded as subgroups formed to devise game mechanics and to plot the story. Participants in internal review processes were inspired by what they saw to join the project. According to Erik Wolpaw, some "Portal 2" developers worked on the "Left 4 Dead" games to help them meet milestones, but returned to "Portal 2", "with extra people in tow." Kim Swift, "Portal"s designer, left Valve for Airtight Games halfway through "Portal 2"s development.  Project manager Erik Johnson said Valve's goal for "Portal 2" was to find a way to "re-surprise" players, which he considered a "pretty terrifying" prospect. In March 2011, one month before the game's release, Valve president Gabe Newell called "Portal 2" "the best game we've ever done". After "Portal 2"s release, Geoff Keighley wrote that according to Newell, ""Portal 2" will probably be Valve's last game with an isolated single-player experience". Keighley later stated that the use of the word "probably" suggests that "this could change." Newell said that Valve is not "giving up on single-player", but intends to include more social features on top of the single player experience, akin to the cooperative mode in "Portal 2".

Design.

Initially, Valve planned to exclude portals from "Portal 2." For five months, they focused on a gameplay mechanic called "F-Stop"; Valve did not discuss the specifics of the idea as they may use it in a future game. In 2020, developer LunchHouse Software revealed they were using Valve's F-Stop code in their upcoming game "Exposure." The mechanic was based on an "Aperture Camera", with which users could take photos of objects, store the object in a camera, and then replace it while rotating or scaling it. Valve's F-Stop game was set in the 1950s, and would not have featured Chell

Cooperative mode.

The cooperative mode originated from players' requests and from anecdotes of players working together on the same computer or console to solve the game's puzzles. Wolpaw likened this to players working together on the same computer to solve point-and-click adventure games. The cooperative campaign was also inspired by Valve's "Left 4 Dead" cooperative games, in which players enjoyed discussing their personal experiences with the game when they had finished playing it.  While the single player campaign in "Portal 2" is designed to avoid frustrating the player, the cooperative levels focus on coordination and communication, and Valve recognizes they are much more difficult than the single-player puzzles. Valve did not include timed puzzles in the single-player campaigns in "Portal" and "Portal 2", but found that their inclusion in the cooperative mode is effective and gives players a positive feeling after they successfully plan and execute difficult

Writing.

Wolpaw and ex-"National Lampoon" writer Jay Pinkerton wrote the single-player story, while "Left 4 Dead" writer Chet Faliszek wrote GLaDOS's lines for the cooperative campaign. The game has 13,000 lines of dialogue. The writers felt they needed to create a larger story for a stand-alone title, and wanted the game to "feel relatively intimate", and avoided adding too many new characters. They considered expanding the "sterility and dryness" of "Portal" and adding more comedy to the script. Wolpaw said that while some developers have been moving towards art games, no one had made a comedic video game. The game's story development was tightly coordinated with the gameplay development and testing.  The developers initially envisioned a prequel set in the 1950s, long before GLaDOS took over the Aperture Science facility, with events set in

Character design.

Though "Portal 2" introduced some new characters, the writers wanted to maintain the one-on-one relationships between each character and the player-character. Valve explored the possibility of introducing a new protagonist for "Portal 2". The playtesters accepted playing as a different character for the first part of the game, but they became disoriented when GLaDOS did not recognize them. The writers returned to using Chell, the protagonist of "Portal". Valve artists experimented with Chell's attire, and considered changing her (ambiguous) nationality. They returned to the orange "dehumanizing" jumpsuit from "Portal" with the top tied around Chell's waist to enhance her freedom of movement and help her "stand out more as an individual". "PSM3" called the new look "controversially sexy". As in the first game, Chell's facial appearance is based on that of voice actress Alésia Glidewell. Chell continues her role as a silent observer, as the straight man in response to the insanity around her and refuses to give her antagonists any satisfaction.  As part of her character arc, the plot moves GLaDOS from her anger with Chell for her actions in "Portal", which Wolpaw said "was going to

Voice cast.

GLaDOS returns from "Portal" as a major character and the game's antagonist, and is voiced by Ellen McLain. The writers found that they needed another character to play off Johnson, but did not want to hire another voice actor. Having already recruited McLain to play GLaDOS, they asked her to provide the voice for Caroline, Cave Johnson's assistant. Wheatley is voiced by Stephen Merchant; early demonstrations at trade shows used the voice of Valve animator Richard Lord. The writers wrote Wheatley's lines with Merchant in mind, citing his unique "vocal silhouette" and his ability to ad lib in a "frantic" manner. They had assumed that Merchant would be unavailable and contacted "The IT Crowd"s writer Graham Linehan to try to get Richard Ayoade, but then discovered that Merchant was interested. Merchant spent around sixteen hours recording lines and was given freedom to improvise.  J.

Music.

"Portal 2" contains both scored and procedurally generated music created by Valve's composer, Mike Morasky, and two songs; "Want You Gone" recorded by Jonathan Coulton, used on the final credits of the single-player mode, and "Exile Vilify"

Release.

Announcement.

In January 2008, Valve spokesman Doug Lombardi told Eurogamer, "There'll be more Portal, for sure", and "Portal" designer Kim Swift confirmed that work on "Portal 2" would begin the following month. Swift said that a multiplayer mode in "Portal" was "technically possible", but that it was "less fun than you'd think."  "Portal 2" was officially announced on March 5, 2010, via "Game Informer". Events during the preceding week foreshadowed the announcement. On March 1, Valve released a patch for "Portal" that included a new achievement, "Transmission Received", requiring the player to manipulate in-game radios. This revealed new sound effects that became part of an alternate reality game (ARG). Some of the new effects were of Morse code strings that suggested GLaDOS was rebooting, while others could be decoded as SSTV images from grainy Aperture Science videos. The images included hints to a BBS phone number that, when accessed, provided a large number of ASCII-based images relating to "Portal" and segments of Aperture Science documents. Many of these ASCII pictures were later published in the "Game Informer"

Marketing and release.

The March 2010 announcement said that "Portal 2" would be released in late 2010. In August 2010, Valve postponed the release to February 2011, with a Steam release date of February 9, to allow it to complete changes to the game's dialogue, to fill and connect about sixty test chambers, and to finish refinements to the gel gameplay mechanic. Valve announced a further delay in November 2010, and gave a worldwide release date through retail and online channels of April 18, 2011. Wolpaw stated that this eight-week delay was used to expand the game's content before reaching an internal milestone called a "content lock", after which no further content could be added. The remaining development work involved debugging. Newell allowed the delay considering the added benefits of the new content, because he thought the company would not lose any commercial opportunities because of it. On February 18, 2011, Newell confirmed that Valve had completed the development work on "Portal 2" and that they were "waiting for final approvals and to get the discs manufactured". "Portal 2" was the first Valve product simultaneously released for Windows and Mac OS X computers

Additional and downloadable content.

"Portal 2" includes bonus content, including four promotional videos, a "Lab Rat" comic, and an interactive trailer for the 2011 film "Super 8", constructed with the Source game engine. A feature called "Robot Enrichment" allows players to customize the cooperative campaign characters with new gestures and cosmetic items such as hats or flags. These can be earned in-game, traded with other players, or bought through microtransactions at the in-game store.  Valve planned to produce downloadable content for "Portal 2", beginning with "Peer Review", released on October 4, 2011. The content, which is free regardless of platform, includes a new cooperative campaign which extends

Use in education.

Teach with Portals.

Valve announced "Teach with Portals" and "Steam for Schools" in June 2012, initiatives that offered "Portal 2" and "Portal 2 Puzzle Maker" for education. The educational version was free but only contained the single-player campaign and "Puzzle Maker", and was only available for "Steam for Schools" users.  Several critics wrote that "Portal 2" excels in teaching the player to solve puzzles; in a review for the "New York Times", Seth Schiesel wrote, "Somewhere out there an innovative, dynamic high school physics teacher will use "Portal 2" as the linchpin of an entire series of lessons and will immediately become the most important science teacher those lucky students have ever had." Mathematics and science teachers wrote e-mails to Valve to tell them how they had included "Portal" in their

Research.

In 2016, a study demonstrated that the "Portal 2 Puzzle Maker" can be used as a measure of fluid intelligence, similar to the (BOMAT). Referred to as the Portal 2 Test Battery, the participants of the study completed a series of test chambers that progressively became harder.  Some studies have been

Hardware support.

Razer Hydra.

Sixense developed a version of "Portal 2" to support the Razer Hydra motion controller for PC that allows enhanced control of some game elements. Ten extra single-player levels are

PlayStation 3.

The announcement that "Portal 2" would be available on PlayStation 3 came as a surprise to the industry because Gabe Newell had criticized that console in the past, citing difficulties in the port of "The Orange Box". The move toward the PlayStation 3 was a result of growing frustration with Microsoft's policies for Xbox 360 content, including the difficulty of releasing patches and new content. Newell saw Sony's publication model as more open, allowing Steam-like features to be used on the console. "Portal 2" was the first PlayStation 3 game to support a subset of features from Steamworks, including automatic updates, downloadable content, and community support. The game supports cross-platform play between the PlayStation 3, Windows, and OS

SteamOS and Linux.

As of February 2014, SteamOS, Valve's own Linux-based operating system, supports "Portal 2" and its predecessor, as do most modern Debian-based Linux distributions on

Reception.

Pre-release.

"Portal 2" was a strong favorite of gaming journalists during closed-door previews at the E3 2010 convention. The Game Critics Awards, selected by journalists and critics, awarded "Portal 2" the title of Best PC Game and Best Action/Adventure Game, and nominated the game

Post-release.

"Portal 2" received universal acclaim from reviewers on its release, and received an average score of 95 out of 100 according to review aggregator Metacritic, and between the different platform versions was ranked as the third- to fifth-highest rated game by the aggregator throughout 2011. Several reviewers identified "Portal 2" as an early contender for "Game of the Year", while others called it one of the best games of all time. Upon release, the game was widely considered to be as good as or better than the original. Eurogamer's Oli Welsh said that the game avoids the normal pitfalls that developers introduce in sequels, stating that "Portal is perfect. Portal 2 is not. It's something better than that.". Gus Mastrapa of "The A.V. Club" wrote that with "Portal 2", Valve had alleviated any doubts that ""Portal" could be expanded into a big, narrative experience with all the bells and whistles of a mainstream gaming hit". IGN's Charles Onyett wrote that the sequel "makes the original look like the prototype it was" by expanding the game in gameplay and story.  Most reviewers praised the writing and voice acting in

Awards.

"Portal 2" won the title of "Ultimate Game of the Year" at the 2011 Golden Joystick Awards, and ranked second place on "Time's" "Top 10 Video Games of 2011". Gamasutra, IGN, Eurogamer, Kotaku, the Associated Press, and "The Mirror" listed "Portal 2" as their top video game of 2011. The game received twelve nominations including "Game of the Year" for the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards, where it was the most-nominated title, and won for "Best PC Game", "Best Male Performance" for Stephen Merchant, "Best Female Performance" for Ellen McLain, "Best Downloadable Content", and "Best Multiplayer Game". The title was nominated for five Game Developers Choice Awards for 2012, including "Game of the Year",

Sales.

Based on sales data from Amazon.com, "Portal 2" was the best-selling game in the United States in the first week of its release, but was overtaken by "Mortal Kombat" in its second week. According to NPD Group, "Portal 2" was the second-best selling game in the U.S. in April 2011, at 637,000 copies, and the fourth-best selling in May. However, NPD does not include sales on Valve's Steam platform. "Portal 2" was the best selling game in the U.K. in the first week of its release, the first number-one for a Valve game. It retained the top spot during its second week.  "Portal

Mods.

In addition to player-created levels, there have been complete mods of "Portal 2" created by users.

"Portal Stories: Mel".

"Portal Stories: Mel" is a single-player mod of "Portal 2" developed by Prism Studios, a group made up of eight

"Aperture Tag: The Paint Gun Testing Initiative".

"Aperture Tag: The Paint Gun Testing Initiative" is a single-player modification of "Portal 2" developed by "The Aperture Tag Team"

"Thinking with Time Machine".

"Thinking with Time Machine" is a single player mod for "Portal 2" created by Ruslan Rybka and released in

Portal 2 is a puzzle-platform game developed by Valve. It was released in April 2011 for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. The digital PC version is distributed online by Valve's Steam service, while all retail editions were distributed by Electronic Arts.

Portal 2 je logická FPS počítačová hra vydaná společností Valve Corporation v dubnu 2011 a distribuovaná elektronicky přes službu Steam nebo v krabicové verzi společností Electronic Arts. Jde o pokračování původní hry Portal, která byla v roce 2007 vydána pouze jako doplněk balíčku Orange box. Hlavní postavou hry je opět Chell, původně pouze testovací objekt v Aperture Science. Chell se tentokrát probouzí ve své stázové komoře a snaží se nadobro již opustit ruiny bývalého komplexu Aperture.