Datasets:

Shahzebbb

/

wiki_processed

like 0

eligions promote altruism as a very important moral value. Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, and Sikhism, etc., place particular emphasis on altruistic morality. Buddhism Altruism figures prominently in Buddhism. Love and compassion are components of all forms of Buddhism, and are focused on all beings equally love is the wish that all beings be happy, and compassion is the wish that all beings be free from suffering. "Many illnesses can be cured by the one medicine of love and compassion. These qualities are the ultimate source of human happiness, and the need for them lies at the very core of our being" Dalai Lama. Still, the notion of altruism is modified in such a worldview, since the belief is that such a practice promotes our own happiness "The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater our own sense of wellbeing becomes" Dalai Lama. In the context of larger ethical discussions on moral action and judgment, Buddhism is characterized by the belief that negative unh

appy consequences of our actions derive not from punishment or correction based on moral judgment, but from the law of karma, which functions like a natural law of cause and effect. A simple illustration of such cause and effect is the case of experiencing the effects of what one causes if one causes suffering, then as a natural consequence one would experience suffering; if one causes happiness, then as a natural consequence one would experience happiness. Jainism The fundamental principles of Jainism revolve around the concept of altruism, not only for humans but for all sentient beings. Jainism preaches the view of Ahimsa to live and let live, thereby not harming sentient beings, i.e. uncompromising reverence for all life. It also considers all living things to be equal. The first Tirthankara, Rishabhdev, introduced the concept of altruism for all living beings, from extending knowledge and experience to others to donation, giving oneself up for others, nonviolence and compassion for all living things.

Jainism prescribes a path of nonviolence to progress the soul to this ultimate goal. A major characteristic of Jain belief is the emphasis on the consequences of not only physical but also mental behaviors. One's unconquered mind with anger, pride ego, deceit, greed and uncontrolled sense organs are the powerful enemies of humans. Anger spoils good relations, pride destroys humility, deceit destroys peace and greed destroys everything. Jainism recommends conquering anger by forgiveness, pride by humility, deceit by straightforwardness and greed by contentment. Jains believe that to attain enlightenment and ultimately liberation, one must practice the following ethical principles major vows in thought, speech and action. The degree to which these principles are practiced is different for householders and monks. They are Nonviolence Ahimsa; Truthfulness Satya; Nonstealing Asteya; Celibacy Brahmacharya; Nonpossession or nonmaterialism Aparigraha; The "great vows" Mahavrata are prescribed for monks and "li

mited vows" Anuvrata are prescribed for householders. The householders are encouraged to practice the abovementioned five vows. The monks have to observe them very strictly. With consistent practice, it will be possible to overcome the limitations gradually, accelerating the spiritual progress. The principle of nonviolence seeks to minimize karmas which limit the capabilities of the soul. Jainism views every soul as worthy of respect because it has the potential to become Siddha God in Jainism. Because all living beings possess a soul, great care and awareness is essential in one's actions. Jainism emphasizes the equality of all life, advocating harmlessness towards all, whether the creatures are great or small. This policy extends even to microscopic organisms. Jainism acknowledges that every person has different capabilities and capacities to practice and therefore accepts different levels of compliance for ascetics and householders. Christianity St Thomas Aquinas interprets 'You should love your neighbou

r as yourself' as meaning that love for ourselves is the exemplar of love for others. Considering that "the love with which a man loves himself is the form and root of friendship" and quotes Aristotle that "the origin of friendly relations with others lies in our relations to ourselves", he concluded that though we are not bound to love others more than ourselves, we naturally seek the common good, the good of the whole, more than any private good, the good of a part. However, he thinks we should love God more than ourselves and our neighbours, and more than our bodily lifesince the ultimate purpose of loving our neighbour is to share in eternal beatitude a more desirable thing than bodily wellbeing. In coining the word Altruism, as stated above, Comte was probably opposing this Thomistic doctrine, which is present in some theological schools within Catholicism. Many biblical authors draw a strong connection between love of others and love of God. 1 John 4 states that for one to love God one must love his fe

llowman, and that hatred of one's fellowman is the same as hatred of God. Thomas Jay Oord has argued in several books that altruism is but one possible form of love. An altruistic action is not always a loving action. Oord defines altruism as acting for the other's good, and he agrees with feminists who note that sometimes love requires acting for one's own good when the other's demands undermine overall wellbeing. German philosopher Max Scheler distinguishes two ways in which the strong can help the weak. One way is a sincere expression of Christian love, "motivated by a powerful feeling of security, strength, and inner salvation, of the invincible fullness of one's own life and existence". Another way is merely "one of the many modern substitutes for love, ... nothing but the urge to turn away from oneself and to lose oneself in other people's business". At its worst, Scheler says, "love for the small, the poor, the weak, and the oppressed is really disguised hatred, repressed envy, an impulse to detract,

etc., directed against the opposite phenomena wealth, strength, power, largesse." Islam In Islam, the concept "thr" altruism is the notion of "preferring others to oneself". For Sufis, this means devotion to others through complete forgetfulness of one's own concerns, where concern for others is deemed as a demand made by Allah i.e. God on the human body, considered to be property of Allah alone. The importance of thr lies in sacrifice for the sake of the greater good; Islam considers those practicing thr as abiding by the highest degree of nobility. This is similar to the notion of chivalry, but unlike that European concept, in thr attention is focused on everything in existence. A constant concern for Allah results in a careful attitude towards people, animals, and other things in this world. Judaism Judaism defines altruism as the desired goal of creation. The famous Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook stated that love is the most important attribute in humanity. This is defined as bestowal, or giving, which is th

e intention of altruism. This can be altruism towards humanity that leads to altruism towards the creator or God. Kabbalah defines God as the force of giving in existence. Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto in particular focused on the 'purpose of creation' and how the will of God was to bring creation into perfection and adhesion with this upper force. Modern Kabbalah developed by Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag, in his writings about the future generation, focuses on how society could achieve an altruistic social framework. Ashlag proposed that such a framework is the purpose of creation, and everything that happens is to raise humanity to the level of altruism, love for one another. Ashlag focused on society and its relation to divinity. Sikhism Altruism is essential to the Sikh religion. The central faith in Sikhism is that the greatest deed any one can do is to imbibe and live the godly qualities like love, affection, sacrifice, patience, harmony, truthfulness. The concept of seva, or selfless service to the community for

its own sake, is an important concept in Sikhism. The fifth Guru, Arjun Dev, sacrificed his life to uphold "22 carats of pure truth, the greatest gift to humanity", the Guru Granth. The ninth Guru, Tegh Bahadur, sacrificed his head to protect weak and defenseless people against atrocity. In the late seventeenth century, Guru Gobind Singh the tenth Guru in Sikhism, was at war with the Mughal rulers to protect the people of different faiths when a fellow Sikh, Bhai Kanhaiya, attended the troops of the enemy. He gave water to both friends and foes who were wounded on the battlefield. Some of the enemy began to fight again and some Sikh warriors were annoyed by Bhai Kanhaiya as he was helping their enemy. Sikh soldiers brought Bhai Kanhaiya before Guru Gobind Singh, and complained of his action that they considered counterproductive to their struggle on the battlefield. "What were you doing, and why?" asked the Guru. "I was giving water to the wounded because I saw your face in all of them", replied Bhai Kanha

iya. The Guru responded, "Then you should also give them ointment to heal their wounds. You were practicing what you were coached in the house of the Guru." Under the tutelage of the Guru, Bhai Kanhaiya subsequently founded a volunteer corps for altruism, which is still engaged today in doing good to others and in training new recruits for this service. Hinduism In Hinduism Selflessness Atmatyag, Love Prema, Kindness Daya and Forgiveness Kshama are considered as the highest acts of humanity or "Manushyattva". Giving alms to the beggers or poor people is considered as a divine act or "Punya" and Hindus believe it will free their souls from guilt or "Paapa" and will led them to heaven or "Swarga" in afterlife. Altruism is also the central act of various Hindu mythology and religious poems and songs. The founder of warkari samprdaya the great saint "Dhnyaneshwar Maharaj" 12751296 in his "Pasaydan" pray to the supreme lord "Vitthal" for the wellbeing of all living organisms of the universe. Swami Vivekananda,

the legendary Hindu monk, has said "Jive prem kare jeijon, Seijon sebiche Iswar" Whoever loves any living being, is serving god.. Mass donation of clothes to poor people Vastraseva, or blood donation camp or mass food donation Annaseva for poor people is common in various Hindu religious ceremonies. Swami Sivananda, an Advaita scholar, reiterates the views in his commentary synthesising Vedanta views on the Brahma Sutras, a Vedantic text. In his commentary on Chapter 3 of the Brahma Sutras, Sivananda notes that karma is insentient and shortlived, and ceases to exist as soon as a deed is executed. Hence, karma cannot bestow the fruits of actions at a future date according to one's merit. Furthermore, one cannot argue that karma generates apurva or punya, which gives fruit. Since apurva is nonsentient, it cannot act unless moved by an intelligent being such as a god. It cannot independently bestow reward or punishment. However the very well known and popular text, the Bhagavad Gita supports the doctrine of k

arma yoga achieving oneness with God through action "Nishkam Karma" or action without expectation desire for personal gain which can be said to encompass altruism. Altruistic acts are generally celebrated and very well received in Hindu literature and is central to Hindu morality. Philosophy There exists a wide range of philosophical views on humans' obligations or motivations to act altruistically. Proponents of ethical altruism maintain that individuals are morally obligated to act altruistically. The opposing view is ethical egoism, which maintains that moral agents should always act in their own selfinterest. Both ethical altruism and ethical egoism contrast with utilitarianism, which maintains that each agent should act in order to maximise the efficacy of their function and the benefit to both themselves and their coinhabitants. A related concept in descriptive ethics is psychological egoism, the thesis that humans always act in their own selfinterest and that true altruism is impossible. Rational

egoism is the view that rationality consists in acting in one's selfinterest without specifying how this affects one's moral obligations. Effective altruism Effective altruism is a philosophy and social movement that uses evidence and reasoning to determine the most effective ways to benefit others. Effective altruism encourages individuals to consider all causes and actions and to act in the way that brings about the greatest positive impact, based upon their values. It is the broad, evidencebased and causeneutral approach that distinguishes effective altruism from traditional altruism or charity. Effective altruism is part of the larger movement towards evidencebased practices. While a substantial proportion of effective altruists have focused on the nonprofit sector, the philosophy of effective altruism applies more broadly to prioritizing the scientific projects, companies, and policy initiatives which can be estimated to save lives, help people, or otherwise have the biggest benefit. People associated

with the movement include philosopher Peter Singer, Facebook co founder Dustin Moskovitz, Cari Tuna, Ben Delo, Oxfordbased researchers William MacAskill and Toby Ord, and professional poker player Liv Boeree, Genetics The genes OXTR, CD38, COMT, DRD4, DRD5, IGF2, and GABRB2 have been found to be candidate genes for altruism. Digital Altruism Digital Altruism is the notion that some are willing to freely share information based on the principle of reciprocity and in the belief that in the end, everyone benefits from sharing information via the Internet. This term is coined by Dr. Dana Klisanin, the founder and CEO of Evolutionary Guidance Media RD Inc., and is a recipient of the Early Career Award for Scientific Achievement in Media Psychology from the American Psychological Association's Division of Media Psychology. According to Klisanin, "the notion that "some are willing to freely reveal what they know" is interesting. Types of Digital Altruism There are three types of digital altruism 1 "everyday d

igital altruism," involving expedience, ease, moral engagement, and conformity; 2 "creative digital altruism," involving creativity, heightened moral engagement, and cooperation; and 3 "cocreative digital altruism" involving creativity, moral engagement, and meta cooperative efforts. See also Altruria, California Charitable organization Comedy of the commons Consideration Egotism Family economics Golden Rule Genecentered view of evolution Humanity virtue Misanthropy Mutual aid Non nobis solum Prisoner's dilemma Random act of kindness Social preferences Social psychology Solidarity sociology Spite game theory Notes References Comte, Auguste, Catechisme positiviste 1852 or Catechism of Positivism, tr. R. Congreve, London Kegan Paul, 1891 Kropotkin, Peter, Mutual Aid A Factor of Evolution 1902 Nietzsche, Friedrich, Beyond Good and Evil PierreJoseph Proudhon, The Philosophy of Poverty 1847 Lysander Spooner, Natural Law Matt Ridley, The Origins of Virtue Oliner, Samuel P

. and Pearl M. Towards a Caring Society Ideas into Action. West Port, CT Praeger, 1995. External links Richard Kraut 2016 Altruism Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Auguste Comte Defence mechanisms Morality Moral psychology Philanthropy Social philosophy Interpersonal relationships Virtue

Alice O'Connor born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum; , 1905  March 6, 1982, better known by her pen name Ayn Rand , was a Russianborn American writer and philosopher. She is known for her fiction and for developing a philosophical system she named Objectivism. Born and educated in Russia, she moved to the United States in 1926. She wrote a play that opened on Broadway in 1935. After two early novels that were initially unsuccessful, she achieved fame with her 1943 novel, The Fountainhead. In 1957, Rand published her bestknown work, the novel Atlas Shrugged. Afterward, until her death in 1982, she turned to nonfiction to promote her philosophy, publishing her own periodicals and releasing several collections of essays. Rand advocated reason as the only means of acquiring knowledge; she rejected faith and religion. She supported rational and ethical egoism and rejected altruism. In politics, she condemned the initiation of force as immoral and opposed collectivism, statism, and anarchism. Instead, she supported lai

ssezfaire capitalism, which she defined as the system based on recognizing individual rights, including private property rights. Although Rand opposed libertarianism, which she viewed as anarchism, she is often associated with the modern libertarian movement in the United States. In art, Rand promoted romantic realism. She was sharply critical of most philosophers and philosophical traditions known to her, except for Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, and classical liberals. Rand's fiction received mixed reviews from literary critics. Although academic interest in her ideas has grown since her death, academic philosophers have generally ignored or rejected her philosophy because of her polemical approach and lack of methodological rigor. Her writings have politically influenced some libertarians and conservatives. The Objectivist movement attempts to spread her ideas, both to the public and in academic settings. Life Early life Rand was born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum on February 2, 1905, to a RussianJewish bourge

ois family living in Saint Petersburg. She was the eldest of three daughters of Zinovy Zakharovich Rosenbaum, a pharmacist, and Anna Borisovna ne Kaplan. Rand later said she found school unchallenging and began writing screenplays at age eight and novels at age ten. At the prestigious , her closest friend was Vladimir Nabokov's younger sister, Olga; the pair shared an intense interest in politics. She was twelve at the time of the February Revolution of 1917, during which Rand favored Alexander Kerensky over Tsar Nicholas II. The subsequent October Revolution and the rule of the Bolsheviks under Vladimir Lenin disrupted the life the family had enjoyed previously. Her father's business was confiscated, and the family fled to the Crimean Peninsula, which was initially under the control of the White Army during the Russian Civil War. While in high school there, Rand concluded she was an atheist and valued reason above any other virtue. After graduating in June 1921, she returned with her family to Petrograd as

Saint Petersburg was then named, where they faced desperate conditions, occasionally nearly starving. Following the Russian Revolution, universities were opened to women, allowing her to be in the first group of women to enroll at Petrograd State University. At 16, she began her studies in the department of social pedagogy, majoring in history. At the university, she was introduced to the writings of Aristotle and Plato; Rand came to see their differing views on reality and knowledge as the primary conflict within philosophy. She also studied the philosophical works of Friedrich Nietzsche. Along with many other bourgeois students, she was purged from the university shortly before graduating. After complaints from a group of visiting foreign scientists, many of the purged students were allowed to complete their work and graduate, which she did in October 1924. She then studied for a year at the State Technicum for Screen Arts in Leningrad. For an assignment, Rand wrote an essay about the Polish actress Pola

Negri, which became her first published work. By this time, she had decided her professional surname for writing would be Rand, possibly because it is graphically similar to a vowelless excerpt of her birth surname in Cyrillic. She adopted the first name Ayn. Arrival in the United States In late 1925, Rand was granted a visa to visit relatives in Chicago. She departed on January 17, 1926. Arriving in New York City on February 19, 1926, Rand was so impressed with the Manhattan skyline that she cried what she later called "tears of splendor". Intent on staying in the United States to become a screenwriter, she lived for a few months with her relatives. One of them owned a movie theater and allowed her to watch dozens of films free of charge. She then left for Hollywood, California. In Hollywood, a chance meeting with famed director Cecil B. DeMille led to work as an extra in his film The King of Kings and a subsequent job as a junior screenwriter. While working on The King of Kings, she met an aspiring you

ng actor, Frank O'Connor; the two married on April 15, 1929. She became a permanent American resident in July 1929 and an American citizen on March 3, 1931. She made several attempts to bring her parents and sisters to the United States, but they were unable to obtain permission to emigrate. During these early years of her career, Rand wrote a number of screenplays, plays, and short stories that were not produced or published during her lifetime; some were published later in The Early Ayn Rand. Early fiction Although it was never produced, Rand's first literary success came with the sale of her screenplay Red Pawn to Universal Studios in 1932. Her courtroom drama Night of January 16th, first produced by E. E. Clive in Hollywood in 1934, reopened successfully on Broadway in 1935. Each night, a jury was selected from members of the audience; based on its vote, one of two different endings would be performed. Her first published novel, the semiautobiographical We the Living, was published in 1936. Set in So

viet Russia, it focused on the struggle between the individual and the state. Initial sales were slow, and the American publisher let it go out of print, although European editions continued to sell. She adapted the story as a stage play, but producer George Abbott's Broadway production was a failure and closed in less than a week. After the success of her later novels, Rand was able to release a revised version in 1959 that has since sold over three million copies. In a foreword to the 1959 edition, Rand wrote that We the Living "is as near to an autobiography as I will ever write. ... The plot is invented, the background is not ...". Rand wrote her novella Anthem during a break from writing her next major novel, The Fountainhead. It presents a vision of a dystopian future world in which totalitarian collectivism has triumphed to such an extent that even the word I has been forgotten and replaced with we. Published in England in 1938, Rand could not find an American publisher initially. As with We the Livin

g, Rand's later success allowed her to get a revised version published in 1946, which has sold over 3.5 million copies. The Fountainhead and political activism During the 1940s, Rand became politically active. She and her husband worked as fulltime volunteers for Republican Wendell Willkie's 1940 presidential campaign. This led to Rand's first public speaking experiences; she enjoyed fielding sometimes hostile questions from New York City audiences who had seen proWillkie newsreels. Her work brought her into contact with other intellectuals sympathetic to freemarket capitalism. She became friends with journalist Henry Hazlitt, who introduced her to the Austrian School economist Ludwig von Mises. Despite her philosophical differences with them, Rand strongly endorsed the writings of both men throughout her career, and both of them expressed admiration for her. Mises once referred to her as "the most courageous man in America", a compliment that particularly pleased her because he said "man" instead of "woman

". Rand became friends with libertarian writer Isabel Paterson. Rand questioned her about American history and politics long into the night during their many meetings, and gave Paterson ideas for her only nonfiction book, The God of the Machine. Rand's first major success as a writer came in 1943 with The Fountainhead, a romantic and philosophical novel that she wrote over seven years. The novel centers on an uncompromising young architect named Howard Roark and his struggle against what Rand described as "secondhanders"those who attempt to live through others, placing others above themselves. Twelve publishers rejected it before the BobbsMerrill Company finally accepted it at the insistence of editor Archibald Ogden, who threatened to quit if his employer did not publish it. While completing the novel, Rand was prescribed the amphetamine Benzedrine to fight fatigue. The drug helped her to work long hours to meet her deadline for delivering the novel, but afterwards she was so exhausted that her doctor order

ed two weeks' rest. Her use of the drug for approximately three decades may have contributed to what some of her later associates described as volatile mood swings. The Fountainhead became a worldwide success, bringing Rand fame and financial security. In 1943, she sold the film rights to Warner Bros. and returned to Hollywood to write the screenplay. Producer Hal B. Wallis hired her afterwards as a screenwriter and scriptdoctor. Her work for him included the screenplays for the Oscarnominated Love Letters and You Came Along. Rand worked on other projects, including a nevercompleted nonfiction treatment of her philosophy to be called The Moral Basis of Individualism. Rand extended her involvement with freemarket and anticommunist activism while working in Hollywood. She became involved with the antiCommunist Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals and wrote articles on the group's behalf. She also joined the antiCommunist American Writers Association. A visit by Paterson to meet with

Rand's California associates led to a falling out between the two when Paterson made comments to valued political allies which Rand considered rude. In 1947, during the Second Red Scare, Rand testified as a "friendly witness" before the United States House UnAmerican Activities Committee that the 1944 film Song of Russia grossly misrepresented conditions in the Soviet Union, portraying life there as much better and happier than it was. She also wanted to criticize the lauded 1946 film The Best Years of Our Lives for what she interpreted as its negative presentation of the business world, but was not allowed to do so. When asked after the hearings about her feelings on the investigations' effectiveness, Rand described the process as "futile". After several delays, the film version of The Fountainhead was released in 1949. Although it used Rand's screenplay with minimal alterations, she "disliked the movie from beginning to end" and complained about its editing, the acting and other elements. Atlas Shrugged

and Objectivism Following the publication of The Fountainhead, Rand received numerous letters from readers, some of whom the book had influenced profoundly. In 1951, Rand moved from Los Angeles to New York City, where she gathered a group of these admirers around her. This group jokingly designated "The Collective" included a future chair of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan, a young psychology student named Nathan Blumenthal later Nathaniel Branden and his wife Barbara, and Barbara's cousin Leonard Peikoff. Initially, the group was an informal gathering of friends who met with Rand at her apartment on weekends to discuss philosophy. Later, Rand began allowing them to read the drafts of her new novel, Atlas Shrugged, as she wrote the manuscript. In 1954, her close relationship with Nathaniel Branden turned into a romantic affair, with the knowledge of their spouses. Published in 1957, Atlas Shrugged was considered Rand's magnum opus. She described the novel's theme as "the role of the mind in man's existen

ceand, as a corollary, the demonstration of a new moral philosophy the morality of rational selfinterest". It advocates the core tenets of Rand's philosophy of Objectivism and expresses her concept of human achievement. The plot involves a dystopian United States in which the most creative industrialists, scientists, and artists respond to a welfare state government by going on strike and retreating to a hidden valley where they build an independent free economy. The novel's hero and leader of the strike, John Galt, describes it as "stopping the motor of the world" by withdrawing the minds of the individuals contributing most to the nation's wealth and achievements. With this fictional strike, Rand intended to illustrate that without the efforts of the rational and productive, the economy would collapse and society would fall apart. The novel includes elements of mystery, romance, and science fiction, and contains an extended exposition of Objectivism in a lengthy monologue delivered by Galt. Despite many ne

gative reviews, Atlas Shrugged became an international bestseller; however, the reaction of intellectuals to the novel discouraged and depressed Rand. Atlas Shrugged was her last completed work of fiction marking the end of her career as a novelist and the beginning of her role as a popular philosopher. In 1958, Nathaniel Branden established the Nathaniel Branden Lectures, later incorporated as the Nathaniel Branden Institute NBI, to promote Rand's philosophy. Collective members gave lectures for the NBI and wrote articles for Objectivist periodicals that Rand edited. She later published some of these articles in book form. Rand was unimpressed by many of the NBI students and held them to strict standards, sometimes reacting coldly or angrily to those who disagreed with her. Critics, including some former NBI students and Branden himself, later described the culture of the NBI as one of intellectual conformity and excessive reverence for Rand. Some described the NBI or the Objectivist movement as a cult or r

eligion. Rand expressed opinions on a wide range of topics, from literature and music to sexuality and facial hair. Some of her followers mimicked her preferences, wearing clothes to match characters from her novels and buying furniture like hers. However, some former NBI students believed the extent of these behaviors was exaggerated, and the problem was concentrated among Rand's closest followers in New York. Later years Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Rand developed and promoted her Objectivist philosophy through her nonfiction works and by giving talks to students at institutions such as Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Harvard, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She began delivering annual lectures at the Ford Hall Forum, responding to questions from the audience. During these appearances, she often took controversial stances on the political and social issues of the day. These included supporting abortion rights, opposing the Vietnam War and the military draft but condemning many draft dodgers as

"bums", supporting Israel in the Yom Kippur War of 1973 against a coalition of Arab nations as "civilized men fighting savages", saying European colonists had the right to invade and take land inhabited by American Indians, and calling homosexuality "immoral" and "disgusting", while also advocating the repeal of all laws concerning it. She endorsed several Republican candidates for president of the United States, most strongly Barry Goldwater in 1964, whose candidacy she promoted in several articles for The Objectivist Newsletter. In 1964, Nathaniel Branden began an affair with the young actress Patrecia Scott, whom he later married. Nathaniel and Barbara Branden kept the affair hidden from Rand. When she learned of it in 1968, though her romantic relationship with Branden had already ended, Rand ended her relationship with both Brandens, and the NBI was closed. She published an article in The Objectivist repudiating Nathaniel Branden for dishonesty and other "irrational behavior in his private life". In su

bsequent years, Rand and several more of her closest associates parted company. Rand underwent surgery for lung cancer in 1974 after decades of heavy smoking. In 1976, she retired from writing her newsletter and, after her initial objections, allowed a social worker employed by her attorney to enroll her in Social Security and Medicare. During the late 1970s, her activities within the Objectivist movement declined, especially after the death of her husband on November 9, 1979. One of her final projects was work on a nevercompleted television adaptation of Atlas Shrugged. On March 6, 1982, Rand died of heart failure at her home in New York City. She was interred in the Kensico Cemetery, Valhalla, New York. At her funeral, a floral arrangement in the shape of a dollar sign was placed near her casket. In her will, Rand named Leonard Peikoff as her beneficiary. Literary method and influences Rand described her approach to literature as "romantic realism". She wanted her fiction to present the world "as it cou

ld be and should be", rather than as it was. This approach led her to create highly stylized situations and characters. Her fiction typically has protagonists who are heroic individualists, depicted as fit and attractive. Her stories' villains support duty and collectivist moral ideals. Rand often describes them as unattractive and they sometimes have names that suggest negative traits, like Wesley Mouch in Atlas Shrugged. Rand considered plot a critical element of literature, and her stories typically have what biographer Anne Heller described as "tight, elaborate, fastpaced plotting". Romantic triangles are a common plot element in Rand's fiction; in most of her novels and plays, the main female character is romantically involved with at least two different men. Influences In school Rand read works by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Victor Hugo, Edmond Rostand, and Friedrich Schiller, who became her favorites. She considered them to be among the "top rank" of Romantic writers because of their focus on moral themes an

d their skill at constructing plots. Hugo, in particular, was an important influence on her writing, especially her approach to plotting. In the introduction she wrote for an Englishlanguage edition of his novel NinetyThree, Rand called him "the greatest novelist in world literature". Although Rand disliked most Russian literature, her depictions of her heroes show the influence of the Russian Symbolists and other nineteenthcentury Russian writing, most notably the 1863 novel What Is to Be Done? by Nikolay Chernyshevsky. Rand's experience of the Russian Revolution and early Communist Russia influenced the portrayal of her villains. This is most apparent in We the Living, set in Russia. The ideas and rhetoric of Ellsworth Toohey in The Fountainhead and the destruction of the economy by the looters in Atlas Shrugged also reflect it. Rand's descriptive style echoes her early career writing scenarios and scripts for movies; her novels have many narrative descriptions that resemble early Hollywood movie scenario

s. They often follow common film editing conventions, such as having a broad establishing shot description of a scene followed by closeup details, and her descriptions of women characters often take a "male gaze" perspective. Philosophy Rand called her philosophy "Objectivism", describing its essence as "the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute". She considered Objectivism a systematic philosophy and laid out positions on metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, political philosophy, and aesthetics. In metaphysics, Rand supported philosophical realism and opposed anything she regarded as mysticism or supernaturalism, including all forms of religion. Rand believed in free will as a form of agent causation and rejected determinism. In epistemology, she considered all knowledge to be based on sense perception, the validity of which Rand considered axiomatic, and reason, which s

he described as "the faculty that identifies and integrates the material provided by man's senses". Rand rejected all claims of nonperceptual or a priori knowledge, including instinct,' 'intuition,' 'revelation,' or any form of 'just knowing. In her Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, Rand presented a theory of concept formation and rejected the analyticsynthetic dichotomy. In ethics, Rand argued for rational and ethical egoism rational selfinterest, as the guiding moral principle. She said the individual should "exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself". Rand referred to egoism as "the virtue of selfishness" in her book of that title. In it, she presented her solution to the isought problem by describing a metaethical theory that based morality in the needs of "man's survival qua man". She condemned ethical altruism as incompatible with the requirements of human life and happiness, and held the initiation of force was evil and irrational, writing

in Atlas Shrugged that, "Force and mind are opposites." Rand's political philosophy emphasized individual rightsincluding property rights. She considered laissezfaire capitalism the only moral social system because in her view it was the only system based on protecting those rights. Rand opposed statism, which she understood included theocracy, absolute monarchy, Nazism, fascism, communism, democratic socialism, and dictatorship. She believed a constitutionally limited government should protect natural rights. Although her political views are often classified as conservative or libertarian, Rand preferred the term "radical for capitalism". She worked with conservatives on political projects, but disagreed with them over issues such as religion and ethics. Rand denounced libertarianism, which she associated with anarchism. She rejected anarchism as a naive theory based in subjectivism that could only lead to collectivism in practice. In aesthetics, Rand defined art as a "selective recreation of reality accor

ding to an artist's metaphysical valuejudgments". According to her, art allows philosophical concepts to be presented in a concrete form that can be grasped easily, thereby fulfilling a need of human consciousness. As a writer, the art form Rand focused on most closely was literature. She considered romanticism to be the approach that most accurately reflected the existence of human free will. Rand said her most important contributions to philosophy were her "theory of concepts, ethics, and discovery in politics that evilthe violation of rightsconsists of the initiation of force". She believed epistemology was a foundational branch of philosophy and considered the advocacy of reason to be the single most significant aspect of her philosophy, stating "I am not primarily an advocate of capitalism, but of egoism; and I am not primarily an advocate of egoism, but of reason. If one recognizes the supremacy of reason and applies it consistently, all the rest follows." Criticisms Rand's ethics and politics are the

most criticized areas of her philosophy. Numerous authors, including Robert Nozick and William F. O'Neill, in some of the earliest academic critiques of her ideas, said she failed in her attempt to solve the isought problem. Critics have called her definitions of egoism and altruism biased and inconsistent with normal usage. Critics from religious traditions oppose her rejection of altruism in addition to atheism. Essays criticizing Rand's egoistic views are included in a number of anthologies for teaching introductory ethics, which often include no essays presenting or defending them. Multiple critics, including Nozick, have said her attempt to justify individual rights based on egoism fails. Others, like Michael Huemer, have gone further, saying that her support of egoism and her support of individual rights are inconsistent positions. Some critics, like Roy Childs, have said that her opposition to the initiation of force should lead to support of anarchism, rather than limited government. Commentators,

including Hazel Barnes, Albert Ellis, and Nathaniel Branden, have criticized Rand's focus on the importance of reason. Branden said this emphasis led her to denigrate emotions and create unrealistic expectations of how consistently rational human beings should be. Relationship to other philosophers Except for Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas and classical liberals, Rand was sharply critical of most philosophers and philosophical traditions known to her. Acknowledging Aristotle as her greatest influence, Rand remarked that in the history of philosophy she could only recommend "three A's"Aristotle, Aquinas, and Ayn Rand. In a 1959 interview with Mike Wallace, when asked where her philosophy came from, she responded "Out of my own mind, with the sole acknowledgement of a debt to Aristotle, the only philosopher who ever influenced me. I devised the rest of my philosophy myself." In an article for the Claremont Review of Books, political scientist Charles Murray criticized her claim that her only "philosophical debt"

was to Aristotle. He asserted her ideas were derivative of previous thinkers such as John Locke and Friedrich Nietzsche. Rand found early inspiration from Nietzsche, and scholars have found indications of this in Rand's private journals. In 1928, she alluded to his idea of the "superman" in notes for an unwritten novel whose protagonist was inspired by the murderer William Edward Hickman. There are other indications of Nietzsche's influence in passages from the first edition of We the Living which Rand later revised, and in her overall writing style. By the time she wrote The Fountainhead, Rand had turned against Nietzsche's ideas, and the extent of his influence on her even during her early years is disputed. Rand considered her philosophical opposite to be Immanuel Kant, whom she referred to as "the most evil man in mankind's history"; she believed his epistemology undermined reason and his ethics opposed selfinterest. Philosophers George Walsh and Fred Seddon have argued she misinterpreted Kant and exagge

rated their differences. Rand's relationship with contemporary philosophers was mostly antagonistic. She was not an academic and did not participate in academic discourse. She was dismissive toward critics and wrote about ideas she disagreed with in a polemical manner without indepth analysis. She was in turn viewed very negatively by many academic philosophers, who dismissed her as an unimportant figure who need not be given serious consideration. Reception and legacy Critical reception The first reviews Rand received were for Night of January 16th. Reviews of the Broadway production were largely positive, but Rand considered even positive reviews to be embarrassing because of significant changes made to her script by the producer. Although Rand believed that her novel We the Living was not widely reviewed, over 200 publications published approximately 125 different reviews. Overall, they were more positive than those she received for her later work. Her 1938 novella Anthem received little review attenti

on, both for its first publication in England and for subsequent reissues. Rand's first bestseller, The Fountainhead, received far fewer reviews than We the Living, and reviewers' opinions were mixed. Lorine Pruette's positive review in The New York Times, which called the author "a writer of great power" who wrote "brilliantly, beautifully and bitterly", was one that Rand greatly appreciated. There were other positive reviews, but Rand dismissed most of them for either misunderstanding her message or for being in unimportant publications. Some negative reviews said the novel was too long; others called the characters unsympathetic and Rand's style "offensively pedestrian". Atlas Shrugged was widely reviewed, and many of the reviews were strongly negative. Atlas Shrugged received positive reviews from a few publications, but Rand scholar Mimi Reisel Gladstein later wrote that "reviewers seemed to vie with each other in a contest to devise the cleverest putdowns", with reviews including comments that it was

"written out of hate" and showed "remorseless hectoring and prolixity". Whittaker Chambers wrote what was later called the novel's most "notorious" review for the conservative magazine National Review. He accused Rand of supporting a godless system which he related to that of the Soviets, claiming, "From almost any page of Atlas Shrugged, a voice can be heard ... commanding 'To a gas chambergo!. Rand's nonfiction received far fewer reviews than her novels. The tenor of the criticism for her first nonfiction book, For the New Intellectual, was similar to that for Atlas Shrugged. Philosopher Sidney Hook likened her certainty to "the way philosophy is written in the Soviet Union", and author Gore Vidal called her viewpoint "nearly perfect in its immorality". These reviews set the pattern for reaction to her ideas among liberal critics. Her subsequent books got progressively less review attention. On the 100th anniversary of Rand's birth in 2005, writing for The New York Times, Edward Rothstein referred to her

written fiction as quaint utopian "retro fantasy" and programmatic neoRomanticism of the misunderstood artist, while criticizing her characters' "isolated rejection of democratic society". Popular interest With over 30 million copies sold , Rand's books continue to be read widely. A survey conducted for the Library of Congress and the BookoftheMonth Club in 1991 asked club members to name the most influential book in their lives. Rand's Atlas Shrugged was the second most popular choice, after the Bible. Although Rand's influence has been greatest in the United States, there has been international interest in her work. Rand's contemporary admirers included fellow novelists, like Ira Levin, Kay Nolte Smith and L. Neil Smith; she has influenced later writers like Erika Holzer and Terry Goodkind. Other artists who have cited Rand as an important influence on their lives and thought include comic book artist Steve Ditko and musician Neil Peart of Rush, although he later distanced himself. Rand provided a positi

ve view of business and subsequently many business executives and entrepreneurs have admired and promoted her work. John Allison of BBT and Ed Snider of Comcast Spectacor have funded the promotion of Rand's ideas. Mark Cuban owner of the Dallas Mavericks as well as John P. Mackey CEO of Whole Foods, among others, have said they consider Rand crucial to their success. Television shows including animated sitcoms, liveaction comedies, dramas, and game shows, as well as movies and video games have referred to Rand and her works. Throughout her life she was the subject of many articles in popular magazines, as well as booklength critiques by authors such as the psychologist Albert Ellis and Trinity Foundation president John W. Robbins. Rand, or characters based on her, figure prominently in novels by prominent American authors, including Mary Gaitskill, Matt Ruff, Kay Nolte Smith, and Tobias Wolff. Nick Gillespie, former editorin chief of Reason, remarked that, "Rand's is a tortured immortality, one in which she'

s as likely to be a punch line as a protagonist. Jibes at Rand as cold and inhuman run through the popular culture." Two movies have been made about Rand's life. A 1997 documentary film, Ayn Rand A Sense of Life, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. The Passion of Ayn Rand, a 1999 television adaptation of the book of the same name, won several awards. Rand's image also appears on a 1999 U.S. postage stamp illustrated by artist Nick Gaetano. Rand's works, most commonly Anthem or The Fountainhead, are sometimes assigned as secondary school reading. Since 2002, the Ayn Rand Institute has provided free copies of Rand's novels to teachers who promise to include the books in their curriculum. The Institute had distributed 4.5 million copies in the U.S. and Canada by the end of 2020. In 2017, Rand was added to the required reading list for the A Level Politics exam in the United Kingdom. Political influence Although she rejected the labels "conservative" and "libertarian", Rand has ha

d a continuing influence on rightwing politics and libertarianism. Rand is often considered one of the three most important women along with Rose Wilder Lane and Isabel Paterson in the early development of modern American libertarianism. David Nolan, one founder of the Libertarian Party, said that "without Ayn Rand, the libertarian movement would not exist". In his history of that movement, journalist Brian Doherty described her as "the most influential libertarian of the twentieth century to the public at large". Historian Jennifer Burns referred to her as "the ultimate gateway drug to life on the right". The political figures who cite Rand as an influence are usually conservatives often members of the Republican Party, despite Rand taking some atypical positions for a conservative, like being prochoice and an atheist. She faced intense opposition from William F. Buckley Jr. and other contributors to the conservative National Review magazine, which published numerous criticisms of her writings and ideas. Ne

vertheless, a 1987 article in The New York Times referred to her as the Reagan administration's "novelist laureate". Republican congressmen and conservative pundits have acknowledged her influence on their lives and have recommended her novels. She has influenced some conservative politicians outside the U.S., such as Sajid Javid in the United Kingdom, Siv Jensen in Norway, and Ayelet Shaked in Israel. The financial crisis of 20072008 spurred renewed interest in her works, especially Atlas Shrugged, which some saw as foreshadowing the crisis. Opinion articles compared realworld events with the novel's plot. Signs mentioning Rand and her fictional hero John Galt appeared at Tea Party protests. There was increased criticism of her ideas, especially from the political left. Critics blamed the economic crisis on her support of selfishness and free markets, particularly through her influence on Alan Greenspan. In 2015, Adam Weiner said that through Greenspan, "Rand had effectively chucked a ticking time bomb into

the boiler room of the US economy". Lisa Duggan said that Rand's novels had "incalculable impact" in encouraging the spread of neoliberal political ideas. In 2021, Cass Sunstein said Rand's ideas could be seen in the tax and regulatory policies of the Trump administration, which he attributed to the "enduring influence" of Rand's fiction. Academic reaction During Rand's lifetime, her work received little attention from academic scholars. Since her death, interest in her work has increased gradually. In 2009, historian Jennifer Burns identified "three overlapping waves" of scholarly interest in Rand, including "an explosion of scholarship" since the year 2000. However, as of that same year, few universities included Rand or Objectivism as a philosophical specialty or research area, with many literature and philosophy departments dismissing her as a pop culture phenomenon rather than a subject for serious study. From 2002 to 2012, over 60 colleges and universities accepted grants from the charitable foundatio

n of BBT Corporation that required teaching Rand's ideas or works; in some cases, the grants were controversial or even rejected because of the requirement to teach about Rand. In 2020, media critic Eric Burns said that, "Rand is surely the most engaging philosopher of my lifetime", but "nobody in the academe pays any attention to her, neither as an author nor a philosopher. That same year, the editor of a collection of critical essays about Rand said academics who disapproved of her ideas had long held "a stubborn resolve to ignore or ridicule" her work, but he believed more academic critics were engaging with her work in recent years. To her ideas In 1967, John Hospers discussed Rand's ethical ideas in the second edition of his textbook, An Introduction to Philosophical Analysis. That same year, Hazel Barnes included a chapter critiquing Objectivism in her book An Existentialist Ethics. When the first fulllength academic book about Rand's philosophy appeared in 1971, its author declared writing about Ran

d "a treacherous undertaking" that could lead to "guilt by association" for taking her seriously. A few articles about Rand's ideas appeared in academic journals before her death in 1982, many of them in The Personalist. One of these was "On the Randian Argument" by libertarian philosopher Robert Nozick, who criticized her metaethical arguments. Other philosophers, writing in the same publication, argued that Nozick misstated Rand's case. In an article responding to Nozick, Douglas Den Uyl and Douglas B. Rasmussen defended her positions, but described her style as "literary, hyperbolic and emotional". The Philosophic Thought of Ayn Rand, a 1984 collection of essays about Objectivism edited by Den Uyl and Rasmussen, was the first academic book about Rand's ideas published after her death. In one essay, political writer Jack Wheeler wrote that despite "the incessant bombast and continuous venting of Randian rage", Rand's ethics are "a most immense achievement, the study of which is vastly more fruitful than an

y other in contemporary thought". In 1987, Allan Gotthelf, George Walsh, and David Kelley cofounded the Ayn Rand Society, a group affiliated with the American Philosophical Association. In a 1995 entry about Rand in Contemporary Women Philosophers, Jenny A. Heyl described a divergence in how different academic specialties viewed Rand. She said that Rand's philosophy "is regularly omitted from academic philosophy. Yet, throughout literary academia, Ayn Rand is considered a philosopher." Writing in the 1998 edition of the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, political theorist Chandran Kukathas summarized the mainstream philosophical reception of her work in two parts. He said most commentators view her ethical argument as an unconvincing variant of Aristotle's ethics, and her political theory "is of little interest" because it is marred by an "illthought out and unsystematic" effort to reconcile her hostility to the state with her rejection of anarchism. The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, a multidisciplinary,

peerreviewed academic journal devoted to the study of Rand and her ideas, was established in 1999. R. W. Bradford, Stephen D. Cox, and Chris Matthew Sciabarra were its founding coeditors. In a 2010 essay for the Cato Institute, libertarian philosopher Michael Huemer argued very few people find Rand's ideas convincing, especially her ethics. He attributed the attention she receives to her being a "compelling writer", especially as a novelist, noting that Atlas Shrugged outsells Rand's nonfiction works and the works of other philosophers of classical liberalism. In 2012, the Pennsylvania State University Press agreed to take over publication of The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, and the University of Pittsburgh Press launched an "Ayn Rand Society Philosophical Studies" series based on the Society's proceedings. The Fall 2012 update to the entry about Rand in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy said that "only a few professional philosophers have taken her work seriously". That same year, political scientist

Alan Wolfe dismissed Rand as a "nonperson" among academics, an attitude that writer Ben Murnane later described as "the traditional academic view" of Rand. To her fiction Academic consideration of Rand as a literary figure during her life was even more limited than the discussion of her philosophy. Mimi Reisel Gladstein could not find any scholarly articles about Rand's novels when she began researching her in 1973, and only three such articles appeared during the rest of the 1970s. Since her death, scholars of English and American literature have continued largely to ignore her work, although attention to her literary work has increased since the 1990s. Several academic book series about important authors cover Rand and her works. These include Twayne's United States Authors Ayn Rand by James T. Baker, Twayne's Masterwork Studies The Fountainhead An American Novel by Den Uyl and Atlas Shrugged Manifesto of the Mind by Gladstein, and Rereading the Canon Feminist Interpretations of Ayn Rand, edited by Gladste

in and Sciabarra, as well as in popular study guides like CliffsNotes and SparkNotes. In The Literary Encyclopedia entry for Rand written in 2001, John David Lewis declared that "Rand wrote the most intellectually challenging fiction of her generation." In 2019, Lisa Duggan described Rand's fiction as popular and influential on many readers, despite being easy to criticize for "her cartoonish characters and melodramatic plots, her rigid moralizing, her middle to lowbrow aesthetic preferences ... and philosophical strivings". Objectivist movement After the closure of the Nathaniel Branden Institute, the Objectivist movement continued in other forms. In the 1970s, Leonard Peikoff began delivering courses on Objectivism. In 1979, Objectivist writer Peter Schwartz started a newsletter called The Intellectual Activist, which Rand endorsed. She also endorsed The Objectivist Forum, a bimonthly magazine founded by Objectivist philosopher Harry Binswanger, which ran from 1980 to 1987. In 1985, Peikoff worked with b

usinessman Ed Snider to establish the Ayn Rand Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting Rand's ideas and works. In 1990, after an ideological disagreement with Peikoff, philosopher David Kelley founded the Institute for Objectivist Studies, now known as The Atlas Society. In 2001, historian John McCaskey organized the Anthem Foundation for Objectivist Scholarship, which provides grants for scholarly work on Objectivism in academia. Selected works Fiction and drama Night of January 16th performed 1934, published 1968 We the Living 1936, revised 1959 Anthem 1938, revised 1946 The Unconquered performed 1940, published 2014 The Fountainhead 1943 Atlas Shrugged 1957 The Early Ayn Rand 1984 Ideal 2015 Nonfiction For the New Intellectual 1961 The Virtue of Selfishness 1964 Capitalism The Unknown Ideal 1966, expanded 1967 The Romantic Manifesto 1969, expanded 1975 The New Left 1971, expanded 1975 Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology 1979, expanded 1990 Philosophy Who Needs It 1

982 Letters of Ayn Rand 1995 Journals of Ayn Rand 1997 Notes References Works cited Reprinted from Esquire, July 1961. External links Frequently Asked Questions About Ayn Rand from the Ayn Rand Institute Rand's papers at The Library of Congress Ayn Rand Lexicon searchable database "Writings of Ayn Rand" from CSPAN's American Writers A Journey Through History 1905 births 1982 deaths Writers from Saint Petersburg Writers from New York City 20thcentury American dramatists and playwrights 20thcentury American novelists 20thcentury American philosophers 20thcentury American women writers 20thcentury atheists 20thcentury essayists 20thcentury Russian philosophers Activists from New York state American abortionrights activists American anticommunists American antifascists Jewish American atheists American atheist writers American essayists

American ethicists American people of RussianJewish descent American political activists American political philosophers American science fiction writers American women activists American women dramatists and playwrights American women essayists American women novelists American women philosophers American women screenwriters American secularists American writers of Russian descent Aristotelian philosophers Atheist philosophers Critics of Marxism Epistemologists Exophonic writers Female critics of feminism Atheists of the Russian Empire Jews of the Russian Empire Jewish American dramatists and playwrights Jewish American novelists Jewish activists Jewish anticommunists Jewish antifascists Jewish philosophers Jewish women writers Metaphysicians Novelists from New York state Objectivists Old Right United States People of the New Deal arts projects People with acquired American citizenship Philosophers from New York state Political philosophers Pseudonymous women writers Dramatists and playwrights of the Russia

n Empire Saint Petersburg State University alumni Screenwriters from New York state Soviet emigrants to the United States Women science fiction and fantasy writers Burials at Kensico Cemetery 20thcentury American screenwriters Deaths from organ failure 20thcentury pseudonymous writers Critics of Christianity Social critics

Alain Connes ; born 1 April 1947 is a French mathematician, and a theoretical physicist, known for his contributions to the study of operator algebras and noncommutative geometry. He is a professor at the Collge de France, IHS, Ohio State University and Vanderbilt University. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 1982. Career Connes was an Invited Professor at the Conservatoire national des arts et mtiers 2000. Research Alain Connes studies operator algebras. In his early work on von Neumann algebras in the 1970s, he succeeded in obtaining the almost complete classification of injective factors. He also formulated the Connes embedding problem. Following this, he made contributions in operator Ktheory and index theory, which culminated in the BaumConnes conjecture. He also introduced cyclic cohomology in the early 1980s as a first step in the study of noncommutative differential geometry. He was a member of Bourbaki. Connes has applied his work in areas of mathematics and theoretical physics, including number

theory, differential geometry and particle physics. Awards and honours Connes was awarded the Fields Medal in 1982, the Crafoord Prize in 2001 and the gold medal of the CNRS in 2004. He was an invited speaker at the ICM in 1974 at Vancouver and in 1986 at Berkeley and a plenary speaker at the ICM in 1978 at Helsinki. He is a member of the French Academy of Sciences and several foreign academies and societies, including the Danish Academy of Sciences, Norwegian Academy of Sciences, Russian Academy of Sciences, and US National Academy of Sciences. Books Alain Connes and Matilde Marcolli, Noncommutative Geometry, Quantum Fields and Motives, Colloquium Publications, American Mathematical Society, 2007, Alain Connes, Andre Lichnerowicz, and Marcel Paul Schutzenberger, Triangle of Thought, translated by Jennifer Gage, American Mathematical Society, 2001, JeanPierre Changeux, and Alain Connes, Conversations on Mind, Matter, and Mathematics, translated by M. B. DeBevoise, Princeton University Press, 1998,

Alain Connes, Noncommutative Geometry, Academic Press, 1994, See also BostConnes system Cyclic category Cyclic homology Factor functional analysis Higgs boson Calgebra Noncommutative quantum field theory Mtheory Groupoid Spectral triple Criticism of nonstandard analysis Riemann hypothesis References External links Alain Connes Official Web Site containing downloadable papers, and his book Noncommutative geometry, . Alain Connes' Standard Model An interview with Alain Connes and a discussion about it 1947 births Living people 20thcentury French mathematicians Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences 21stcentury French mathematicians Collge de France faculty Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars Fields Medalists Mathematical analysts Differential geometers cole Normale Suprieure alumni Vanderbilt University faculty Foreign Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences Members of the French Academy of Sciences Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters

Members of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters Clay Research Award recipients

Allan Dwan born Joseph Aloysius Dwan; April 3, 1885 December 28, 1981 was a pioneering Canadianborn American motion picture director, producer, and screenwriter. Early life Born Joseph Aloysius Dwan in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Dwan, was the younger son of commercial traveler of woolen clothing Joseph Michael Dwan 18571917 and his wife Mary Jane Dwan, ne Hunt. The family moved to the United States when he was seven years old on December 4, 1892 by ferry from Windsor to Detroit, according to his naturalization petition of August 1939. His elder brother, Leo Garnet Dwan 18831964, became a physician. Allan Dwan studied engineering at the University of Notre Dame and then worked for a lighting company in Chicago. He had a strong interest in the fledgling motion picture industry, and when Essanay Studios offered him the opportunity to become a scriptwriter, he took the job. At that time, some of the East Coast movie makers began to spend winters in California where the climate allowed them to continue productio

ns requiring warm weather. Soon, a number of movie companies worked there yearround, and in 1911, Dwan began working parttime in Hollywood. While still in New York, in 1917 he was the founding president of the East Coast chapter of the Motion Picture Directors Association. Career Dwan operated Flying A Studios in La Mesa, California from August 1911 to July 1912. Flying A was one of the first motion pictures studios in California history. On August 12, 2011, a plaque was unveiled on the Wolff building at Third Avenue and La Mesa Boulevard commemorating Dwan and the Flying A Studios origins in La Mesa, California. After making a series of westerns and comedies, Dwan directed fellow CanadianAmerican Mary Pickford in several very successful movies as well as her husband, Douglas Fairbanks, notably in the acclaimed 1922 Robin Hood. Dwan directed Gloria Swanson in eight feature films, and one short film made in the shortlived soundonfilm process Phonofilm. This short, also featuring Thomas Meighan and Henri de l

a Falaise, was produced as a joke, for the April 26, 1925 "Lambs' Gambol" for The Lambs, with the film showing Swanson crashing the allmale club. Following the introduction of the talkies, Dwan directed childstar Shirley Temple in Heidi 1937 and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm 1938. Dwan helped launch the career of two other successful Hollywood directors, Victor Fleming, who went on to direct The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind, and Marshall Neilan, who became an actor, director, writer and producer. Over a long career spanning almost 50 years, Dwan directed 125 motion pictures, some of which were highly acclaimed, such as the 1949 box office hit, Sands of Iwo Jima. He directed his last movie in 1961. He died in Los Angeles at the age of 96, and is interred in the San Fernando Mission Cemetery, Mission Hills, California. Dwan has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6263 Hollywood Boulevard. Daniel Eagan of Film Journal International described Dwan as one of the early pioneers of cinema, stating that

his style "is so basic as to seem invisible, but he treats his characters with uncommon sympathy and compassion." Partial filmography as director The Gold Lust 1911 The Picket Guard 1913 The Restless Spirit 1913 Back to Life 1913 Bloodhounds of the North 1913 The Lie 1914 The Honor of the Mounted 1914 The Unwelcome Mrs. Hatch 1914 Remember Mary Magdalen 1914 Discord and Harmony 1914 The Embezzler 1914 The Lamb, the Woman, the Wolf 1914 The End of the Feud 1914 The Test 1914 writer The Tragedy of Whispering Creek 1914 The Unlawful Trade 1914 The Forbidden Room 1914 The Hopes of Blind Alley 1914 Richelieu 1914 Wildflower 1914 A Small Town Girl 1915 David Harum 1915 A Girl of Yesterday 1915 The Pretty Sister of Jose 1915 Jordan Is a Hard Road 1915 Betty of Graystone 1916 The Habit of Happiness 1916 The Good Bad Man 1916 An Innocent Magdalene 1916 The HalfBreed 1916 Manhattan Madness 1916 Accusing Evidence 1916 Panthea 1917 A Modern Musketeer 1917 Bound in Morocco 1918 Headin' South 1918 Mr. FixIt 1918 He Co

mes Up Smiling 1918 Cheating Cheaters 1919 The Dark Star 1919 Getting Mary Married 1919 Soldiers of Fortune 1919 In The Heart of a Fool 1920 also producer The Forbidden Thing 1920 also producer A Splendid Hazard 1920 A Perfect Crime 1921 The Sin of Martha Queed 1921 A Broken Doll 1921 Robin Hood 1922 Zaza 1923 Big Brother 1923 Manhandled 1924 Argentine Love 1924 The Coast of Folly 1925 Night Life of New York 1925 Stage Struck 1925 Gloria Swanson Dialogue 1925 short film made in Phonofilm for The Lambs annual "Gambol" held at Metropolitan Opera House Padlocked 1926 Sea Horses 1926 Summer Bachelors 1926 Tin Gods 1926 French Dressing 1927 The Joy Girl 1927 East Side, West Side 1927 The Big Noise 1928 Frozen Justice 1929 The Iron Mask 1929 Tide of Empire 1929 The Far Call 1929 What a Widow! 1930 Man to Man 1930 Chances 1931 Wicked 1931 While Paris Sleeps 1932 Counsel's Opinion 1933 Black Sheep 1935 Navy Wife 1935 High Tension 1936 15 Maiden Lane 1936 One Mile from Heaven 1937 Heidi 1937 Rebecca of Sunnybrook Fa

rm 1938 Suez 1938 Josette 1938 The Three Musketeers 1939 The Gorilla 1939 Frontier Marshal 1939 Sailor's Lady 1940 Young People 1940 Trail of the Vigilantes 1940 Look Who's Laughing 1941 also producer Rise and Shine 1941 Friendly Enemies 1942 Around the World 1943 also producer Up in Mabel's Room 1944 Abroad with Two Yanks 1944 Getting Gertie's Garter 1945 also screenwriter Brewster's Millions 1945 Rendezvous with Annie 1946 Driftwood 1947 Calendar Girl 1947 Northwest Outpost 1947 also associate producer The Inside Story 1948 Angel in Exile 1948 with Philip Ford Sands of Iwo Jima 1949 Surrender 1950 Belle Le Grand 1951 Wild Blue Yonder 1951 I Dream of Jeanie 1952 Montana Belle 1952 Woman They Almost Lynched 1953 Sweethearts on Parade 1953 Silver Lode 1954 Passion 1954 Cattle Queen of Montana 1954 Tennessee's Partner 1955 Pearl of the South Pacific 1955 Escape to Burma 1955 Slightly Scarlet 1956 Hold Back the Night 1956 The Restless Breed 1957 The River's Edge 1957 Enchanted Island 1958 Most Dangerous Man Al

ive 1961 See also Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood References Further reading Brownlow, Kevin, The Parade's Gone By... 1968 Bogdanovich, Peter, Allan Dwan The Last Pioneer 1971 Foster, Charles, Stardust and Shadows Canadians in Early Hollywood 2000 Lombardi, Frederic, Allan Dwan and the Rise and Decline of the Hollywood Studios 2013 Print Ebook External links Allan Dwan profile, virtualhistory.com; accessed June 16, 2014 1885 births 1981 deaths 20thcentury American male writers 20thcentury American screenwriters American film directors American film producers American male screenwriters Burials at San Fernando Mission Cemetery Canadian emigrants to the United States Film directors from Toronto Western genre film directors Writers from Toronto

Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. The country is the largest country by total area in Africa and in the Arab world, and is bordered to the northeast by Tunisia; to the east by Libya; to the southeast by Niger; to the southwest by Mali, Mauritania, and Western Sahara; to the west by Morocco; and to the north by the Mediterranean Sea. It has a semiarid geography, with most of the population living in the fertile north and the Sahara dominating the geography of the south. Algeria covers an area of , making it the world's tenth largest nation by area, and the largest nation in Africa. With a population of 44 million, Algeria is the ninthmost populous country in Africa, and the 32ndmost populous country in the world. The capital and largest city is Algiers, located in the far north on the Mediterranean coast. Pre1962 Algeria has seen many empires and dynasties, including ancient Numidians, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Vandal

s, Byzantines, Umayyads, Abbasids, Rustamids, Idrisids, Aghlabids, Fatimids, Zirids, Hammadids, Almoravids, Almohads, Zayyanids, Spaniards, Ottomans and finally, the French colonial empire. The vast majority of Algeria's population is ArabBerber, practicing Islam, and using the official languages of Arabic and Berber. However, French serves as an administrative and educational language in some contexts. The main spoken language is Algerian Arabic. Algeria is a semipresidential republic, with local constituencies consisting of 58 provinces and 1,541 communes. Algeria is a regional power in North Africa, and a middle power in global affairs. It has the highest Human Development Index of all nonisland African countries and one of the largest economies on the continent, based largely on energy exports. Algeria has the world's sixteenthlargest oil reserves and the ninthlargest reserves of natural gas. Sonatrach, the national oil company, is the largest company in Africa, supplying large amounts of natural gas to

Europe. Algeria's military is one of the largest in Africa, and has the largest defence budget on the continent. It is a member of the African Union, the Arab League, the OIC, OPEC, the United Nations, and the Arab Maghreb Union, of which it is a founding member. Name Other forms of the name are , ; ; ; ; . It is officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria ; , , ; , abbreviated as RADP. Etymology The country's name derives from the city of Algiers which in turn derives from the Arabic , "The Islands", a truncated form of the older , "Islands of the Mazghanna Tribe", employed by medieval geographers such as alIdrisi. History Prehistory and ancient history Around 1.8millionyearold stone artifacts from Ain Hanech Algeria were considered to represent the oldest archaeological materials in North Africa. Stone artifacts and cutmarked bones that were excavated from two nearby deposits at Ain Boucherit are estimated to be 1.9 million years old, and even older stone artifacts to be as old as 2.4 mil

lion years. Hence, the Ain Boucherit evidence shows that ancestral hominins inhabited the Mediterranean fringe in northern Africa much earlier than previously thought. The evidence strongly argues for early dispersal of stone tool manufacture and use from East Africa or a possible multipleorigin scenario of stone technology in both East and North Africa. Neanderthal tool makers produced hand axes in the Levalloisian and Mousterian styles 43,000 BC similar to those in the Levant. Algeria was the site of the highest state of development of Middle Paleolithic Flake tool techniques. Tools of this era, starting about 30,000 BC, are called Aterian after the archaeological site of Bir el Ater, south of Tebessa. The earliest blade industries in North Africa are called Iberomaurusian located mainly in the Oran region. This industry appears to have spread throughout the coastal regions of the Maghreb between 15,000 and 10,000 BC. Neolithic civilization animal domestication and agriculture developed in the Saharan and

Mediterranean Maghreb perhaps as early as 11,000 BC or as late as between 6000 and 2000 BC. This life, richly depicted in the Tassili n'Ajjer paintings, predominated in Algeria until the classical period. The mixture of peoples of North Africa coalesced eventually into a distinct native population that came to be called Berbers, who are the indigenous peoples of northern Africa. From their principal center of power at Carthage, the Carthaginians expanded and established small settlements along the North African coast; by 600 BC, a Phoenician presence existed at Tipasa, east of Cherchell, Hippo Regius modern Annaba and Rusicade modern Skikda. These settlements served as market towns as well as anchorages. As Carthaginian power grew, its impact on the indigenous population increased dramatically. Berber civilisation was already at a stage in which agriculture, manufacturing, trade, and political organisation supported several states. Trade links between Carthage and the Berbers in the interior grew, but terr

itorial expansion also resulted in the enslavement or military recruitment of some Berbers and in the extraction of tribute from others. By the early 4th century BC, Berbers formed the single largest element of the Carthaginian army. In the Revolt of the Mercenaries, Berber soldiers rebelled from 241 to 238 BC after being unpaid following the defeat of Carthage in the First Punic War. They succeeded in obtaining control of much of Carthage's North African territory, and they minted coins bearing the name Libyan, used in Greek to describe natives of North Africa. The Carthaginian state declined because of successive defeats by the Romans in the Punic Wars. In 146 BC the city of Carthage was destroyed. As Carthaginian power waned, the influence of Berber leaders in the hinterland grew. By the 2nd century BC, several large but loosely administered Berber kingdoms had emerged. Two of them were established in Numidia, behind the coastal areas controlled by Carthage. West of Numidia lay Mauretania, which extended

across the Moulouya River in modernday Morocco to the Atlantic Ocean. The high point of Berber civilisation, unequalled until the coming of the Almohads and Almoravids more than a millennium later, was reached during the reign of Masinissa in the 2nd century BC. After Masinissa's death in 148 BC, the Berber kingdoms were divided and reunited several times. Masinissa's line survived until 24 AD, when the remaining Berber territory was annexed to the Roman Empire. For several centuries Algeria was ruled by the Romans, who founded many colonies in the region. Like the rest of North Africa, Algeria was one of the breadbaskets of the empire, exporting cereals and other agricultural products. Saint Augustine was the bishop of Hippo Regius modernday Annaba, Algeria, located in the Roman province of Africa. The Germanic Vandals of Geiseric moved into North Africa in 429, and by 435 controlled coastal Numidia. They did not make any significant settlement on the land, as they were harassed by local tribes. In fact,

by the time the Byzantines arrived Leptis Magna was abandoned and the Msellata region was occupied by the indigenous Laguatan who had been busy facilitating an Amazigh political, military and cultural revival. Furthermore, during the rule of the Romans, Byzantines, Vandals, Carthaginians, and Ottomans the Berber people were the only or one of the few in North Africa who remained independent. The Berber people were so resistant that even during the Muslim conquest of North Africa they still had control and possession over their mountains. The collapse of the Western Roman Empire led to the establishment of a native Kingdom based in Altava modern day Algeria known as the MauroRoman Kingdom. It was succeeded by another Kingdom based in Altava, the Kingdom of Altava. During the reign of Kusaila its territory extended from the region of modernday Fez in the west to the western Aurs and later Kairaouan and the interior of Ifriqiya in the east. Middle Ages After negligible resistance from the locals, Muslim Arabs

of the Umayyad Caliphate conquered Algeria in the early 8th century. Large numbers of the indigenous Berber people converted to Islam. Christians, Berber and Latin speakers remained in the great majority in Tunisia until the end of the 9th century and Muslims only became a vast majority some time in the 10th. After the fall of the Umayyad Caliphate, numerous local dynasties emerged, including the Rustamids, Aghlabids, Fatimids, Zirids, Hammadids, Almoravids, Almohads and the Abdalwadid. The Christians left in three waves after the initial conquest, in the 10th century and the 11th. The last were evacuated to Sicily by the Normans and the few remaining died out in the 14th century. During the Middle Ages, North Africa was home to many great scholars, saints and sovereigns including Judah Ibn Quraysh, the first grammarian to mention Semitic and Berber languages, the great Sufi masters Sidi Boumediene Abu Madyan and Sidi El Houari, and the Emirs Abd Al Mu'min and Yghmrasen. It was during this time that the Fa

timids or children of Fatima, daughter of Muhammad, came to the Maghreb. These "Fatimids" went on to found a long lasting dynasty stretching across the Maghreb, Hejaz and the Levant, boasting a secular inner government, as well as a powerful army and navy, made up primarily of Arabs and Levantines extending from Algeria to their capital state of Cairo. The Fatimid caliphate began to collapse when its governors the Zirids seceded. In order to punish them the Fatimids sent the Arab Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym against them. The resultant war is recounted in the epic Tghribt. In AlTghrbt the Amazigh Zirid Hero Khlf AlZnat asks daily, for duels, to defeat the Hilalan hero bu Zayd alHilal and many other Arab knights in a string of victories. The Zirids, however, were ultimately defeated ushering in an adoption of Arab customs and culture. The indigenous Amazigh tribes, however, remained largely independent, and depending on tribe, location and time controlled varying parts of the Maghreb, at times unifying it as und

er the Fatimids. The Fatimid Islamic state, also known as Fatimid Caliphate made an Islamic empire that included North Africa, Sicily, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, the Red Sea coast of Africa, Tihamah, Hejaz and Yemen. Caliphates from Northern Africa traded with the other empires of their time, as well as forming part of a confederated support and trade network with other Islamic states during the Islamic Era. The Amazighs historically consisted of several tribes. The two main branches were the Botr and Barns tribes, who were divided into tribes, and again into subtribes. Each region of the Maghreb contained several tribes for example, Sanhadja, Houara, Zenata, Masmouda, Kutama, Awarba, and Berghwata. All these tribes made independent territorial decisions. Several Amazigh dynasties emerged during the Middle Ages in the Maghreb and other nearby lands. Ibn Khaldun provides a table summarising the Amazigh dynasties of the Maghreb region, the Zirid, Ifranid, Maghrawa, Almoravid, Hammadid, Almohad,

Merinid, Abdalwadid, Wattasid, Meknassa and Hafsid dynasties. Both of the Hammadid and Zirid empires as well as the Fatimids established their rule in all of the Maghreb countries. The Zirids ruled land in what is now Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Libya, Spain, Malta and Italy. The Hammadids captured and held important regions such as Ouargla, Constantine, Sfax, Susa, Algiers, Tripoli and Fez establishing their rule in every country in the Maghreb region. The Fatimids which was created and established by the Kutama Berbers conquered all of North Africa as well as Sicily and parts of the Middle East. A few examples of medieval Berber dynasties which originated in Modern Algeria Ifranid Dynasty Maghrawa Dynasty Zirid dynasty Hammadid dynasty Fatimid Caliphate Kingdom of Tlemcen Following the Berber revolt numerous independent states emerged across the Maghreb. In Algeria the Rustamid Kingdom was established. The Rustamid realm stretched from Tafilalt in Morocco to the Nafusa mountains in Libya includin

g south, central and western Tunisia therefore including territory in all of the modern day Maghreb countries, in the south the Rustamid realm expanded to the modern borders of Mali and included territory in Mauritania. Once extending their control over all of the Maghreb, part of Spain and briefly over Sicily, originating from modern Algeria, the Zirids only controlled modern Ifriqiya by the 11th century. The Zirids recognized nominal suzerainty of the Fatimid caliphs of Cairo. El Mu'izz the Zirid ruler decided to end this recognition and declared his independence. The Zirids also fought against other Zenata Kingdoms, for example the Maghrawa, a Berber dynasty originating from Algeria and which at one point was a dominant power in the Maghreb ruling over much of Morocco and western Algeria including Fez, Sijilmasa, Aghmat, Oujda, most of the Sous and Draa and reaching as far as Msila and the Zab in Algeria. As the Fatimid state was at the time too weak to attempt a direct invasion, they found another means

of revenge. Between the Nile and the Red Sea were living Bedouin nomad tribes expelled from Arabia for their disruption and turbulency. The Banu Hilal and the Banu Sulaym for example, who regularly disrupted farmers in the Nile Valley since the nomads would often loot their farms. The then Fatimid vizier decided to destroy what he couldn't control, and broke a deal with the chiefs of these Beduouin tribes. The Fatimids even gave them money to leave. Whole tribes set off with women, children, elders, animals and camping equipment. Some stopped on the way, especially in Cyrenaica, where they are still one of the essential elements of the settlement but most arrived in Ifriqiya by the Gabes region, arriving 1051. The Zirid ruler tried to stop this rising tide, but with each encounter, the last under the walls of Kairouan, his troops were defeated and the Arabs remained masters of the battlefield. They Arabs usually didn't take control over the cities, instead looting them and destroying them. The invasion kep

t going, and in 1057 the Arabs spread on the high plains of Constantine where they encircled the Qalaa of Banu Hammad capital of the Hammadid Emirate, as they had done in Kairouan a few decades ago. From there they gradually gained the upper Algiers and Oran plains. Some of these territories were forcibly taken back by the Almohads in the second half of the 12th century. The influx of Bedouin tribes was a major factor in the linguistic, cultural Arabization of the Maghreb and in the spread of nomadism in areas where agriculture had previously been dominant. Ibn Khaldun noted that the lands ravaged by Banu Hilal tribes had become completely arid desert. The Almohads originating from modern day Morocco, although founded by a man originating from Algeria known as Abd alMu'min would soon take control over the Maghreb. During the time of the Almohad Dynasty Abd alMu'min's tribe, the Kouma, were the main supporters of the throne and the most important body of the empire. Defeating the weakening Almoravid Empire an

d taking control over Morocco in 1147, they pushed into Algeria in 1152, taking control over Tlemcen, Oran, and Algiers, wrestling control from the Hilian Arabs, and by the same year they defeated Hammadids who controlled Eastern Algeria. Following their decisive defeat in the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212 the Almohads began collapsing, and in 1235 the governor of modernday Western Algeria, Yaghmurasen Ibn Zyan declared his independence and established the Kingdom of Tlemcen and the Zayyanid dynasty. Warring with the Almohad forces attempting to restore control over Algeria for 13 years, they defeated the Almohads in 1248 after killing their Caliph in a successful ambush near Oujda. The Zayyanids retained their control over Algeria for 3 centuries. Much of the eastern territories of Algeria were under the authority of the Hafsid dynasty, although the Emirate of Bejaia encompassing the Algerian territories of the Hafsids would occasionally be independent from central Tunisian control. At their peak

the Zayyanid kingdom included all of Morocco as its vassal to the west and in the east reached as far as Tunis which they captured during the reign of Abu Tashfin. After several conflicts with local Barbary pirates sponsored by the Zayyanid sultans, Spain decided to invade Algeria and defeat the native Kingdom of Tlemcen. In 1505, they invaded and captured Mers el Kbir, and in 1509 after a bloody siege, they conquered Oran. Following their decisive victories over the Algerians in the westerncoastal areas of Algeria, the Spanish decided to get bolder, and invaded more Algerian cities. In 1510, they led a series of sieges and attacks, taking over Bejaia in a large siege, and leading a semisuccessful siege against Algiers. They also besieged Tlemcen. In 1511, they took control over Cherchell and Jijel, and attacked Mostaganem where although they weren't able to conquer the city, they were able to force a tribute on them. Ottoman era In 1516, the Ottoman privateer brothers Aruj and Hayreddin Barbarossa, who o

perated successfully under the Hafsids, moved their base of operations to Algiers. They succeeded in conquering Jijel and Algiers from the Spaniards with help from the locals who saw them as liberators from the Christians, but the brothers eventually assassinated the local noble Salim alTumi and took control over the city and the surrounding regions. When Aruj was killed in 1518 during his invasion of Tlemcen, Hayreddin succeeded him as military commander of Algiers. The Ottoman sultan gave him the title of beylerbey and a contingent of some 2,000 janissaries. With the aid of this force and native Algerians, Hayreddin conquered the whole area between Constantine and Oran although the city of Oran remained in Spanish hands until 1792. The next beylerbey was Hayreddin's son Hasan, who assumed the position in 1544. He was a Kouloughli or of mixed origins, as his mother was an Algerian Mooresse. Until 1587 Beylerbeylik of Algiers was governed by Beylerbeys who served terms with no fixed limits. Subsequently, wit

h the institution of a regular administration, governors with the title of pasha ruled for threeyear terms. The pasha was assisted by an autonomous janissary unit, known in Algeria as the Ojaq who were led by an agha. Discontent among the ojaq rose in the mid1600s because they were not paid regularly, and they repeatedly revolted against the pasha. As a result, the agha charged the pasha with corruption and incompetence and seized power in 1659. Plague had repeatedly struck the cities of North Africa. Algiers lost from 30,000 to 50,000 inhabitants to the plague in 162021, and suffered high fatalities in 165457, 1665, 1691 and 174042. The Barbary pirates preyed on Christian and other nonIslamic shipping in the western Mediterranean Sea. The pirates often took the passengers and crew on the ships and sold them or used them as slaves. They also did a brisk business in ransoming some of the captives. According to Robert Davis, from the 16th to 19th century, pirates captured 1 million to 1.25 million Europeans a

s slaves. They often made raids, called Razzias, on European coastal towns to capture Christian slaves to sell at slave markets in North Africa and other parts of the Ottoman Empire. In 1544, for example, Hayreddin Barbarossa captured the island of Ischia, taking 4,000 prisoners, and enslaved some 9,000 inhabitants of Lipari, almost the entire population. In 1551, the Ottoman governor of Algiers, Turgut Reis, enslaved the entire population of the Maltese island of Gozo. Barbary pirates often attacked the Balearic Islands. The threat was so severe that residents abandoned the island of Formentera. The introduction of broadsail ships from the beginning of the 17th century allowed them to branch out into the Atlantic. In July 1627 two pirate ships from Algiers under the command of Dutch pirate Jan Janszoon sailed as far as Iceland, raiding and capturing slaves. Two weeks earlier another pirate ship from Sal in Morocco had also raided in Iceland. Some of the slaves brought to Algiers were later ransomed back to

Iceland, but some chose to stay in Algeria. In 1629, pirate ships from Algeria raided the Faroe Islands. In 1671, the taifa of raises, or the company of corsair captains rebelled, killed the agha, and placed one of its own in power. The new leader received the title of Dey. After 1689, the right to select the dey passed to the divan, a council of some sixty nobles. It was at first dominated by the ojaq; but by the 18th century, it had become the dey's instrument. In 1710, the dey persuaded the sultan to recognise him and his successors as regent, replacing the pasha in that role. Although Algiers remained nominally part of the Ottoman Empire, in reality they acted independently from the rest of the Empire, and often had wars with other Ottoman subjects and territories such as the Beylik of Tunis. The dey was in effect a constitutional autocrat. The dey was elected for a life term, but in the 159 years 16711830 that the system was in place, fourteen of the twentynine deys were assassinated. Despite usurpatio

n, military coups and occasional mob rule, the daytoday operation of the Deylikal government was remarkably orderly. Although the regency patronised the tribal chieftains, it never had the unanimous allegiance of the countryside, where heavy taxation frequently provoked unrest. Autonomous tribal states were tolerated, and the regency's authority was seldom applied in the Kabylia, although in 1730 the Regency was able to take control over the Kingdom of Kuku in western Kabylia. Many cities in the northern parts of the Algerian desert paid taxes to Algiers or one of its Beys, although they otherwise retained complete autonomy from central control, while the deeper parts of the Sahara were completely independent from Algiers. Barbary raids in the Mediterranean continued to attack Spanish merchant shipping, and as a result, the Spanish Navy bombarded Algiers in 1783 and 1784. For the attack in 1784, the Spanish fleet was to be joined by ships from such traditional enemies of Algiers as Naples, Portugal and the K

nights of Malta. Over 20,000 cannonballs were fired, much of the city and its fortifications were destroyed and most of the Algerian fleet was sunk. In 1792, Algiers took back Oran and Mers el Kbir, the two last Spanish strongholds in Algeria. In the same year, they conquered the Moroccan Rif and Oujda, which they then abandoned in 1795. In the 19th century, Algerian pirates forged affiliations with Caribbean powers, paying a "licence tax" in exchange for safe harbour of their vessels. Attacks by Algerian pirates on American merchantmen resulted in the First and Second Barbary Wars, which ended the attacks on U.S. ships. A year later, a combined AngloDutch fleet, under the command of Lord Exmouth bombarded Algiers to stop similar attacks on European fishermen. These efforts proved successful, although Algerian piracy would continue until the French conquest in 1830. French colonization 18301962 Under the pretext of a slight to their consul, the French invaded and captured Algiers in 1830. Historian Ben

Kiernan wrote on the French conquest of Algeria "By 1875, the French conquest was complete. The war had killed approximately 825,000 indigenous Algerians since 1830." French losses from 1831 to 1851 were 92,329 dead in the hospital and only 3,336 killed in action. The population of Algeria, which stood at about 2.9 million in 1872, reached nearly 11 million in 1960. French policy was predicated on "civilising" the country. The slave trade and piracy in Algeria ceased following the French conquest. The conquest of Algeria by the French took some time and resulted in considerable bloodshed. A combination of violence and disease epidemics caused the indigenous Algerian population to decline by nearly onethird from 1830 to 1872. On 17 September 1860, Napoleon III declared "Our first duty is to take care of the happiness of the three million Arabs, whom the fate of arms has brought under our domination." During this time, only Kabylia resisted, the Kabylians were not colonized until after the Mokrani Revolt in 18

71. From 1848 until independence, France administered the whole Mediterranean region of Algeria as an integral part and dpartement of the nation. One of France's longestheld overseas territories, Algeria became a destination for hundreds of thousands of European immigrants, who became known as colons and later, as PiedNoirs. Between 1825 and 1847, 50,000 French people emigrated to Algeria. These settlers benefited from the French government's confiscation of communal land from tribal peoples, and the application of modern agricultural techniques that increased the amount of arable land. Many Europeans settled in Oran and Algiers, and by the early 20th century they formed a majority of the population in both cities. During the late 19th and early 20th century, the European share was almost a fifth of the population. The French government aimed at making Algeria an assimilated part of France, and this included substantial educational investments especially after 1900. The indigenous cultural and religious re

sistance heavily opposed this tendency, but in contrast to the other colonised countries' path in central Asia and Caucasus, Algeria kept its individual skills and a relatively humancapital intensive agriculture. During the Second World War, Algeria came under Vichy control before being liberated by the Allies in Operation Torch, which saw the first largescale deployment of American troops in the North African campaign. Gradually, dissatisfaction among the Muslim population, which lacked political and economic status under the colonial system, gave rise to demands for greater political autonomy and eventually independence from France. In May 1945, the uprising against the occupying French forces was suppressed through what is now known as the Stif and Guelma massacre. Tensions between the two population groups came to a head in 1954, when the first violent events of what was later called the Algerian War began after the publication of the Declaration of 1 November 1954. Historians have estimated that betwee

n 30,000 and 150,000 Harkis and their dependants were killed by the Front de Libration Nationale FLN or by lynch mobs in Algeria. The FLN used hit and run attacks in Algeria and France as part of its war, and the French conducted severe reprisals. The war led to the death of hundreds of thousands of Algerians and hundreds of thousands of injuries. Historians, like Alistair Horne and Raymond Aron, state that the actual number of Algerian Muslim war dead was far greater than the original FLN and official French estimates but was less than the 1 million deaths claimed by the Algerian government after independence. Horne estimated Algerian casualties during the span of eight years to be around 700,000. The war uprooted more than 2 million Algerians. The war against French rule concluded in 1962, when Algeria gained complete independence following the March 1962 Evian agreements and the July 1962 selfdetermination referendum. The first three decades of independence 19621991 The number of European PiedNoirs who

fled Algeria totaled more than 900,000 between 1962 and 1964. The exodus to mainland France accelerated after the Oran massacre of 1962, in which hundreds of militants entered European sections of the city, and began attacking civilians. Algeria's first president was the Front de Libration Nationale FLN leader Ahmed Ben Bella. Morocco's claim to portions of western Algeria led to the Sand War in 1963. Ben Bella was overthrown in 1965 by Houari Boumdine, his former ally and defence minister. Under Ben Bella, the government had become increasingly socialist and authoritarian; Boumdienne continued this trend. But, he relied much more on the army for his support, and reduced the sole legal party to a symbolic role. He collectivised agriculture and launched a massive industrialisation drive. Oil extraction facilities were nationalised. This was especially beneficial to the leadership after the international 1973 oil crisis. In the 1960s and 1970s under President Houari Boumediene, Algeria pursued a program of i